#easy right? no. i forgot i changed my name through the benefits system to my chosen name

[nepetaleiyawn]

life really just loves to drop kick me down the stairs sometimes

[darkmindsthinktwistedthoughts]

Market in Details

This was a marvellous little prompt from @naiyabladesinger who wondered what it would be like to see our smooth operating warlord as an information broker in a modern au setting. It was fun to write. Hope you all enjoy - Aerion x

Warnings: Smooth operating darker Shingen. Shady dealings.

Masterlist

---

Market in Details

The room he was shown to was a balance of opulent period style and functionality. To the average person on the street, it looked like a comfortable reception room for an old house. To him, it looked like a very good magic trick.

He had been looking for months to find the root of the issues he had been put up against. All those loose ends cut just as he was about to close his hand around them, slipping through his fingers like water. It had started as an intriguing little game. Now it was just flat out frustrating.

When you deal in information the last thing you wanted was someone to beat you to the kill. It was common enough if you swam in ordinary circles, but he was not a small fish he was a shark. People went to him when they needed information to make things happen. It cut both ways, his information gained them their desired outcome and he gained wealth and protection.

Ever since he was a child watching his father working he was struck by a rather obvious thing. Information was everywhere and all of it was valuable. He became very good at reading people. Facial expressions, body language, tone and inflection in their voices. By the time he took over the family business, he had his own network of intel gathers positioned exactly where he needed them to be. Primed and set within his web to gather some of the biggest most lucrative bits of information he knew to be available.

---

“I have a question about some of this information.” Kaito said from the other desk in the office. He had been one of his father’s best men and he had kept him on so as to help with the filing systems.

“And what would that be?” His pen scratched across the papers in front of him as he answered.

“You aren’t stopping where your father did. You are gathering everything, and I mean everything right down to how often they change their socks at times.” Kaito sounded a little worried.

“There is no such thing as pointless information. Sometimes even the smallest and apparently insignificant detail can be the key to unlocking your desires.” His reply was cold but still, he did not stop. The paperwork was a shambles, the disorganisation of the information they had was a nightmare.

“Yes I understand but. Some of our clients will use this to bribe, blackmail and extort. And that would only be the beginning in some instances.” Kaito was a kind and honest man. It made him wonder how he even became connected with his family. His concern was justified and a voice inside him agreed with Kaito completely. But is was not that voice that ruled him at that time.

“And that would be for them to decide. I am merely providing a service. What the client chooses to do with the information acquired is on them not me.” The arrogance in his own voice even in a memory stung.

---

That whole conversation had been so long ago it was like it had happened with a completely different person. He had been young and ambitious. After seeing his father pushed out of work he had vowed to make it so it wouldn’t happen again. How much of himself had he ignored that day? How much had that small seed of darkness, the anger, and fear, taken from him as it grew before he found a way to keep it in check?

He was not the man he was when he was younger. He was established now. The work he did was sought after and highly valued. It gained him what he desired and although he could never relax he could revert to something close to what he really was. Behind the mask he had worn, all that armour he created for himself he was still that curious little boy. He was happy to watch people and talk to them. He missed the human connection. He saw it, but he hadn’t felt it since he took over the company.

It seemed silly to say he longed for a simpler time where he followed the same path his father had taken. He might have found a nice girl and settled down and been happy with a family of his own by now. But he remembered when his father had lost most of what he had set up. The look of pain on his face as he told staff they were being paid off. It had angered him and he held on to that making a promise that it would not happen again and he would regain everything his father had lost that day.

When he was younger that kept him going it gave him focus but now he was older he seemed to have matured. Kaito had said before he left for his retirement that he was happy to see the boy he remembered once more. It had touched him because he knew what the old man had meant. He was no longer feeding off a dark energy within like before. He had grown past it. He couldn’t deny that it was still there but he was less focused on that and had turned his mind to maintaining the business without pushing it further. He was content.

That was what he thought up until a few months ago when it happened.

---

It was a quiet day nothing out of the ordinary. He had a meeting with the subordinate of a new client who was interested in acquiring his services but requested a meeting beforehand. He was not aware of anyone seeking out another company once deciding to meet with him. He found it interesting that they would send a lackey to negotiate terms and conditions. Not a lot of people locally traded like he did, and his was the biggest network. However, his natural curiosity won out and he agreed to the meeting at a small hotel that rented conference rooms.

“You are an information broker?” The slender man sitting at the pine table in the room enquired. The man was smartly dressed in a new business suit that looked to be right off the rack, a few sheets of paper in front of him. Smiling he took a seat opposite.

“I always preferred the term information specialist.” He noticed the man shift his gaze with a predictable question, ‘what makes you different?’. “You see while others provide information gathered from standard sources, those publicly accessible databases of stored snippets of interesting information that benefits everything from stocking your local shop with the correct items to increase turnover, to predicting where the flop of a hand will fall during those discussions around a table with your shareholders. I don’t just stop there. While it is arduous and time-consuming to just trawl through data it is also something that any broker can do.” Smiling he kept his own body language as open as he dared mirroring the client’s employee. It was the easiest and fastest way to gain someone’s trust. He was a master at the sales pitch, and this was his prime time slot.

“When you say you don’t stop there? Exactly what do you mean?” There was a hint of suspicion in the man's voice. It was clear he was uncomfortable but trying to hold his nerve and see the task through to the end for his employer.

If He hadn’t already investigated the man’s employer he might have been a lot less forthcoming with his reply. After all his protection could only help him as long as he didn’t create a direct confession that could be submitted as evidence.

“That is easy. Do you know the biggest and best source of information out there is not something correlated on a compiling system given access to by anyone with a set of eyes and a basic level of understanding? It is people. The information is all in the people.” He paused for a bit of dramatic effect allowing the words to sink in. “I specialise in that. Do you want to know what Mr. X was up to last night? I can tell you what he had for his dinner, what time he went to the toilet and who he made a phone call too. Do you want to know who has access to a computer system? I can tell you their choice of outfit that day, who forgot to brush their hair and who takes sugar in their tea. You want to know where a stockpile of armour and weapons is and who you have to contact to negotiate a deal? I can tell you his asking price, who else he is trading with and what type of movie he prefers all before I have finished my morning coffee. I can get you information not found on any database. I can provide you with photographs, transcripts, recordings... you only have to name it. Information is knowledge and that is power.” Yes, he knew the value in even the smallest insignificant detail when it came to deals and transactions. He saw it clearly when he was a child and built on it.

“At what price?” The man opposite grabbed a glass of water from beside him in an attempt to hide how uncomfortable he was.

“Oh, that is the golden phrase. What is the price? You are of course completely right you see everything and I do mean everything has a price. The only question is do you have the ability to pay it?” The smile on his face was fearless, predatory he could see the man in front of him move. It was not a task he had signed up for to be in a room with a dealer like him that was all too clear. The conversation should have won him the contract. It should have... but what happened next was not something he had predicted at all.

“Thank you for your time Mr. Takeda. My Employer shall be in touch after we have compared your quote with the other firm.” The slender man shuffled the papers back into a briefcase he took from beside his chair.

“Other firm?” His voice hid his shock beautifully. It had been a long time since someone had made him feel like the air had been removed from his lungs. Flashes of his father sprouting up rather unhelpfully in his mind.

“Yes. Being a shrewd businessman yourself I’m sure you can appreciate that from a business point of view it makes sense to consult more than one specialist and ensure the necessary work be carried out at the best price.” The man before him smiled blissfully unaware of what his words had triggered in his mind.

“Naturally. Thank you for your time, I'll see myself out.” Standing from the table he moved to the door and lobby beyond. To anyone else looking they would see a nonchalant man smiling after a successful meeting. The truth was Shingen Takeda was not a happy man.

---

Arriving back at his own office he received word that the client had taken the opportunity of employing the other firm. Other firm? It had been years since he had been passed over in preference of another company. It had maybe made him a little too complacent but now he wanted something. He wanted details. Who were they? What did they do? Where did they come from? After a few short emails and phone calls, he cast his net into the city and waited for the information to flow in.

---

Nothing. Complete radio silence on anything involving the other firm. The only thing that happened was he lost more clients. Whilst he still remained the largest information broker in the city he was becoming annoyed at fighting shadows. It was not something he was happy doing. He liked to see the faces of the ones he was at war with. Knowing your enemy was one strategy he had used in the past thanks to his reading of Sun Tzu, and it had served him well. But it appeared his opponent had employed a lesson from the same book, all warfare is based on deception.

He was coming up with shadows and whispers on the wind. Nothing concrete, nothing helpful. It was frustrating and made his blood boil. Nothing was distracting him now. The women he usually turned too in times like this were not able to distract his mind. Their touches nothing more than meaningless gestures. There was no thrill, no excitement. The food he ate tasted bland, even his beloved sweets were sour. Everything was wrong.

It occurred to him one morning as he was getting dressed that what he felt wasn’t exactly anger. It was not as tangible as that. Somewhere between the frustration and the agitated raw emotions stemming from that day when he lost his first client in years, he had begun to enjoy it.

No one had challenged him like this before. That was why his usual entertainments hadn’t captivated his interest, this battle was already doing it. He was lost to it. His beloved pursuit of information and knowledge had gripped him in a way nothing else had. He wanted to know who it was behind the smoke and shadows. But now he also wanted to see who was pulling his own strings too.

---

So that was how he came to be at this property. It was in the oldest part of the city where the buildings were still ornately built in carved stone. The rooms were large but full of character and history. The blend between the modern and the old was subtle and comforting. It was so easy to go too far with it and leave a place feeling lacking in some way. Yes, this was definitely a reception room of someone who understood more than basic levels of things. Shingen smiled to himself as he took a seat and waited for the secretary that had greeted him at the door to return.

He unfolded the note he had received at his office. “A little bird told me you are looking for me.” On the back of the note was an address. It crossed his mind it was a trap but after arranging a few things that would be triggered in the event of anything happening to him he decided to try his luck. There was nothing before this and if this was the one he was looking for, the boss of the other firm. Well, he might not be given another opportunity to meet them.

It was peaceful but he could feel the tension build in his body. He had been a fool to not notice but he had been feeling like this since day one. Time had done nothing but elevate his interest and arousal with this whole affair. He was caught somewhere in a flux of emotions, the frustrated anger turning towards something he was more familiar with when laying in bed.

The door behind opened and he was just about to turn and give a pleasant if not entirely friendly greeting to the one who had been a major thorn in his side and distraction for the last few months. However, his voice caught in his throat, mouth suddenly as dry as a desert. All he could do was watch as they entered the room and sat on a sofa in front of him, crossing their legs and flashing a smile that he swore should have been labelled as a weapon of mass destruction.

“Mr. Takeda I presume? My name is _____. I believe you have been looking for me.” Her eyes were bright and intelligent. Her voice was like a drug. Every little movement had him completely captivated.

“All of my life.” He had no idea how but he managed to locate his voice for that little phrase.

She laughed and it resonated in the room like a celestial choir. This was the owner of the other firm? He allowed her to continue her conversation as he listened secretly thanking whoever it was that allowed him to be with her like this. The puppet master was his mistress. She plucked his strings like a harp, and he found he was more than happy to dance to her tune.

---

[annyeongkc]

G-Dragon (Motte Act:III) Experience

Okay.. This is one of the best night of My Life, I have been through so much just to get into this Coliseum, I will give you my schedule that day

First I started to find a Concert buddy since none of my real life friends is crazy enough to go with me they are muggles that are not listening to k pop that much I have a few but not as crazy me. I go to twitter to find VIPs (Big bang fandom name) I actually found loads of them and I was thankful to them we have a system you see.. We made a CSI-like plan to get the best seats since it a free seating

Chapter 1:

will camp out in-front of the Coliseum and take turns to sleep and of course protect our spot.

make a queue number for the whole seating section

take turns again so the others that camp out can take a nap

there is someone who is a look out for freebies (our fandom is the best, they give free water and cookies and oh there is a banner and a lot more actually)

meet up is 9AM

Chapter: 2 The Execution of the plan (Drama starts.. here)

Yes, We are 50% successful here.. You see the picture we are quite proud other members are not here since they are taking a nap but so.. everything went smooth till its my turn to take a shower (this boo do shit always happens to me)

~~Before the queue numbers were agreed to be given since the promoter of the concert is a freaking dumb ass and I am giving a shout out to IME-PH you guys royally screwed up both our boys. (white night is scheduled to be on in about 22 days here y'all already know) The guard who are in-charged of the event started to get all cocky and says that we are not authorized to organize the line because they have a way of doing things and the mini fight we had with them (was one of the most stressful hour of my life) and then finally agreeing to our terms.

I took a shower around 2 pm been protecting the spot for about 8 hrs now,  So my friend chatted me that they started to open the gates and the line broke apart and was not in order and the queue number we gave that was like 700+papers.. while I was there in my dorm.. I quickly change and wanted to teleport to the coliseum.. when I arrived there is  chaos indeed and I took the chaotic atmosphere to my advantage and waltz my way in the entrance and internally praying I wont get caught that I just got there, and guess what? (y'all say what in your head right?) Okay.. I got in like a boss yess a boss and walk thru the long ass line and find my squad in front of those thingies you see only in sub-ways and train stations and found my squad but y'all there was a lot of things that happened but if you are really curious just searched about this in Twitter #MotteinManila to get bits of info, I was really lucky that day, if you have seen the line and the chaos on the line, You will get down on your knees and thank god real time, Anyways I kind of feel bad to the members that took a nap. they were left outside and here we are the one who benefited for their hard work, and just going to give them a shout out, Hi Guys!! you guys are on my first blog!! yay!!

Chapter III: (inside the coliseum)

I can't express with words oh how overwhelming I felt that night, It feels surreal. The person you liked for years, listening for years.. Finally I can see him live with the people around me who loves him just as much, This is my first k-pop concert and it did not disappoint guys. He gave his all like always he sings and rap and it is legit and oh dances like a God, The concert, the set up of his intro of the concert was like a movie and a key pass into his inner thoughts like saying "Welcome to Kwon, Ji Yong's world" not G-Dragon but Kwon Ji Yong and he started with Heart-breaker! I CAN'T EVEN SCREAM BECAUSE I WAS IN COMPLETE AWE. like you rarely see me quite and I am usually a person who jumped around like a madman but I. DID. NOT. It was like.. I am absorbing his presence and aura and at the same time pinching myself asking "Fuck!! is this real? I looked to the people around singing their heart our for Jiyong and chanting his name every chance we get! the beautiful yellow ocean.. is L I T fam

Chapter IV: Jiyong-Dara collab stage after 8ryrs (Daragon whats good?!)

I was not expecting much since these two is not really vocal on whats their relationship to each other they often says that they the following:

Friends

She is My Noona (GD)

He is My Deongsaeng (Dara)

YG Family

Label mates

office mates

But I like them yes, I am a shipper but I don't shove that the people's faces I think there is nothing wrong with, Yes I am a delusional fan at times. You want them to be together that is why you ship people they are like my ultimate OTP (one true pair) I like the concept of this two the Bad boy meets the Good Girl vibe. They have these chemistry and weird tension when these two are around each other they have known each other for almost 11yrs? maybe more.. and still.. it is a mystery to me that why they are awkward on-camera than off-camera but anyways.. Dara of 2ne1 is a guest in Motte in Manila best believe ya girl was ecstatic about this just them on stage singing for 3mins is heaven for and to feed my shipper-self little did my shipper-self know that OTP will serve a buffet meal for applers and did 2 songs plus an Encore with matching couple hoodie!!!!! I was like "!!!!!!! triggered !!!!! triggered !!!" Dara improved and her vocals are on point that night, tho I can't hear that much because these two slayed that stage and all you hear is apols screaming and shouting "Daragon" for a good 2 minutes? maybe less.. then back to "Kwon, Jiyong" chant. they sang Missing you and it was very appropriate to my feels they have not had any form of interaction for months since that "joke of the year" that they pulled then hello was next then who you of Jiyong he was so extra and cute calling her Noona "Baby" the feed us well and Encore was a pleasant surprise btw Jiyong hurt his lips and it was bleeding and that boy joked that the mic love him too much then he went back stage and was Dark for a while and then Crooked started playing and the lights went back up fans starting to scream Jiyong's name again when the box thing in middle opened I thought jiyong will pop up but it ain't Ji instead it was Dara Dancing and Jumping like a kid I assumed that jiyong was seriously hurt and got treatment that is why Dara will do the encore instead, To my freaking surprised again it was Jiyong started singing crooked they are so cute let me tell ya.. just look the picture

(ctto: google)

Chapter V: MOTTE

This is the most important part of the concert, where he was in a room looking himself in a mirror like reflecting.. it was very raw we all know him as the Super star of South Korea, One of the best artist Asia has to offer he is expected to be always number 1 and consistently doing it slaying day by day just to perfect his craft,  half his life he dedicated it to performing and making music that will stay as his legacy but he is human that is what I was reminded while watching that monologue, like he is telling me that he has flaws and he is not perfect I felt sad when he said that sometimes G-Dragons clothes feels heavy on his shoulders, I was thinking as a fan I only admire him as GD untouchable in Music Charts, living a very glamorous life he is that Trendsetter everyone wants to follow.. there are two questions in the video and I thought about it.

Who is G-Dragon to you?

He is a Leader of the Best Boy Group I have come to love over the years, He is a music producer and founder of peaceminusone , He is one of the best rapper in his generation and one of the people who paved the way for Korean Music to get recognized all over world Him and Bigbang help other Artist to be recognized internationally for me, they hold the key for me to appreciate the other culture and language. He is a national treasure to me.

2. Who is Kwon Ji yong to you?

I shall ask his family? But watching the concert and observing him over the years.. Kwon Jiyong is a shy guy and He is a Brother, Son and a Friend ~ I have seen a glimpsed of Kwon Jiyong on his concert and I want to know him more, I hope you continue to live as Kwon Jiyong more do whatever makes you happy and be careful when you enter the Military we are all going to wait for all of you.

~ He's life was never easy probably feel like he was isolated and while making his Album he thought of a lot of things and wanted to sort who he is, since he had lived as GD half his life and forgot who is Kwon Jiyong, But one of the reason why I made this blog is to Thank him, I know he will never see this. At least in the cyber world I get say Thank you for letting us see the other side of you. The person in you not the celebrity you, Thank you and stay safe.

-- Pyooong!

[vagrantblvrd]

Echoes (1/1)

Summary: The end of the world should probably have been a bigger deal, really, when you think about it.

Notes: Sky Factory-ish AU idea based on my ramblings here that mutated on me along the way???

AO3

The end of the world should probably have been a bigger deal, really, when you think about it.

“Don't you think, Jeremy?” Gavin asks, because a second opinion wouldn't be amiss right now. “It's kind of weird we all just got with things afterward, isn't it?”

Jeremy grunts, and Gavin leans around him to inspect the lock that's been giving him trouble. Simple little electronic keypad, a technology that was reclaimed decades ago. The numbers on the keypad are worn down from frequent use. It should be easy enough to crack the pass-code, but Jeremy's been hacking at it for ages now.

Gavin sighs, eyes roving around the compound they've found their way into.

Most of the buildings are dark, but there are a few lights in the distance. Powered by the solar arrays they'd been careful to avoid on their way in earlier. No doubt under guard or wired to some form of alarm system. He can make out the edges of a sign, one that isn't rusted over like most of the ones scattered about the place.

Most likely put up by its new occupants, and that pokes at a half-forgotten memory, rumors and whispers about this place he'd heard about years and years ago. Picked up along the way, bits and pieces of legends and myths and stories salvaged from old books and recovered technology.

“Jeremy,” Gavin says, “try 'Olympus'.”

Jeremy pauses, and Gavin can imagine the frown he must have on his face before he shrugs and types the numerical equivalent in. A soft chime fills the air before the light at the top of the keypad glows a soft, inviting green, mechanism inside the door unlocking.

“Seriously?” Jeremy asks, shooting Gavin a look, and Gavin shrugs.

“You've heard the rumors, haven't you?” he asks, slipping past Jeremy to push the door open. “Compound like this at the top of the highest mountain in the area? Bunch of lunatics playing at being gods?”

The compound isn't exactly at the top of the highest mountain, so much as midway up. And they aren't playing at being gods so much as they're trying to recreate the things humanity lost when the world as everyone back then knew it ended. (Lunatics, though. That's a very apt description for the lot of them.)

There have been successes here and there. Enough that the settlements in the area have benefited from them. Bits and pieces of old technology reclaimed and adapted among the greater whole that's been lost to time and mankind's own hubris. Thinking such simple creations, inventions, would surely never be lost, so why worry?

The strides that have been made since people took their first, tentative steps in the new world they found themselves in after what they've taken to calling the Calamity have been...interesting, to be certain.

Monstrous hybrids marrying old technology and comparatively primitive bits and bobs with the magic growing up through the cracks in the foundations of this new world. Wild and untamed and stronger with each passing day until it was a thing people couldn't pretend wasn't real anymore, that it didn't exist.

But among the successes, major and minor, there have also been -  

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck is that?”

There are a few torches on the walls offering cutting through the inky darkness, the whole thing not exactly ideal given what they're doing sneaking in here.

When Gavin looks over at Jeremy, he sees him backing away from a small, feathered thing.

Well, somewhat feathered in that there are a few of the pitiful little things scattered in among the naked, mottled flesh. It eyes Jeremy up and makes this sound partway between what a normal chicken might make and this horrible little groaning noise.

Hideous really, and the singular eye staring up at Jeremy isn't doing it any favors.

“Ah,” Gavin says, and reaches over to push Jeremy's arm down, point the knife he's holding at the floor. “That's Clive.”

“...Clive,” Jeremy says, taking a step back when the creature takes an experimental peck at his foot.

Gavin watches Clive, something a little fond at the way she flaps her wings at Jeremy. Territorial little thing. Protective.

“Clive,” Jeremy says again, accusatory as he turns scowl at Gavin. “You named it already?”

And, yes, all right.

Gavin might have mislead Jeremy a bit when he stumbled on him in a bar in one of the settlements far below them. Might not have told him the truth about who he is, or what he was doing down there, but it's not as though Jeremy asked him really, now is it?

Didn't so much as bother with a “Hello, how are you?” when he sat himself at Gavin's table, half-drunk and cheerful with it. Babbling about the madmen at the top of the mountain and the stories about them that have spread over the years. The wonders that must be hidden away in that compound of theirs, what they would find if they just went up for a quick peek.

“Er,” Gavin says, and freezes when he hears the door shut somewhere behind them.

Hears the sound of a sword being drawn because weapons are a tricky thing in this day and age. Things like bows and blades being by far more reliable than finicky things like guns. Less likely to backfire in spectacular ways when unpredictable magic is thrown into the mix.

“Ah,” Gavin says, and turns to see a familiar figure walking towards them with slow, measured steps.

Hears a drawled, “You forgot the fucking password for the front gate again, didn't you.”

Gavin huffs, because it's not likely he'd remember after having a few with Jeremy at the bar, and he's been away gathering resources for weeks>. Not his fault if the paranoid bastards had Ryan create a system that changes it every so often and Gavin's mind too muddled to remember the pattern it.

“Well that's a fine way to say hello, isn't it?”

Michael snorts, stepping into a patch of light. Slight curl to his mouth when he looks at Gavin, eyebrows going up when his gaze shifts over to Jeremy.

“Who's your friend?”

Gavin grins because Jeremy is a gem. Bright and clever and Ryan is going to love him. They all will, really.

“This is Jeremy,” Gavin says, patting Jeremy on the shoulder. “He's lovely, Michael. Please don't kill him.”

Jeremy stiffens under Gavin's hand.

Goes very, very still as though he honestly thinks that would help him if Michael thought he was some sort of threat.

Michael's watching, of course he is, and sighs as he sheathes his sword. “Did you even tell the poor guy what he was getting into when you dragged him up here?”

Well, not in so many words, no.

It was more of an overwhelming amusement at Jeremy's enthusiasm. His determination to see what all the hubbub was about the compound and their motley little group and the strange goings on here. Some form of agreement when Jeremy invited Gavin along on his little adventure, a quest that had taken him a long way from home.

“Er...”

“Goddammit, Gavin,” Michael says, rubbing his temples as he looks at them. “You know why we don't let people up here.”

Clive makes a sound of protest, this eerie little thing that sounds a bit like a wail.

“That,” Michael says, pointing at Clive when Jeremy flinches away from her. “That right there, that is why. Geoff and his godforsaken abominations. You remember what happened when Edgar got out?”

Gavin winces, remembering the poor little...thing Ryan had named. Part cow, part something Geoff had never come clean about because Edgar had been a misstep in his experiments.

Ugly and misshapen and dumb as anything, but a gentle creature under it all.

When it had become clear his lifespan would be a short one, they'd decided to let him live out his days in the pasture at the edge of the compound, but somehow he'd managed to slip past the gates. Caused a bit of a panic when some unsuspecting forager from one of the nearby settlements stumbled on him, thinking he'd contracted some kind of disease, plague.

Brought up concerns about what was going on up here that had put everyone at odds for a long, long time in spite of all the scientific evidence Geoff and Ryan put forth to soothe fears.

The whole situation had made venturing past the compound's gates a dangerous thing for any of them for a long, long time.

“Ah,” Gavin says again, watching Jeremy watching Clive as she pecks at his foot once more, the flinch he tries to hide with two of them looking at him. “True.”

Michael sighs, shaking his head as he gestures for the two of them to follow him. “Come on, the others want to talk to you – both of you – and it's fucking late. Get a move on, assholes.”

Gavin glances at Jeremy who doesn't seem angry about the bit of misinformation on Gavin's part. More like -

“We're going to have a talk later, buddy,” Jeremy says, more of a promise than a threat as he walks after Michael, and Gavin.

Gavin sighs and crouches down to gather Clive in his arms because Geoff will pitch a fit if he loses another chicken, and really, she's lovely.

“Well then,” Gavin says to her as he trails after the others. “That went about as well as I expected it to, now didn't it?”

Clive clucks, this odd little trilling noise that ends on a gurgle with a bit of an upward lilt to it like she's asking him if he's sure about that.

Gavin stifles a laugh as he hears Michael yelling at him to hurry the hell up because she's got a point. One thing's certain, things are definitely going to be interesting in the coming days.

[checkessayplagiarism986]

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[aiethflx-blog]

We are in the generation where childrens are more smarter in terms of using gadgets or technology.

1970's is the start of computer age, digital age or new media age. Technology helps people to search, ascertain things which leads to development of someone's ability, skills, talents, mind through different social media platforms or apps for different technologies. There is youtube, in which there are free tutorial of anything you wanted to know since then and building your self confidence through making vlogs. There is google, if you want to know something even the symptomps of diseases and etc. in text version. There is messenger & facebook for practicing your social skills. Technology helps in making arduous tasks effortless and smooth, in just one click of your finger you can get what you want without having sweat all over your body. Technology has helped create the information revolution. On the other hand, it is also bad for the health of humans because some, don't eat for games. They forgot to eat and intentionally didn't ate because gadgets has their focus and attention. Also radiation that can be get from it which can cause cancer to humans.

As the quote says, all excess is bad.

So, is technology bad? Go on and read 'til the end.

This generation is so tech-savvy. It is nice knowing that people do know what gadgets are and how to use it but the matter is, even though a child is 4-5 year old, he knows or even masters using it. Children supposed to or should enjoy their childhood playing hide and seek/ice water/jump over the cow and other street games, playing with their friends, spending time with their family which makes kids genuinely happy but sadly, some are eaten by technology. When a baby shed tears, activated their built-in microphones in their mouth, throwing things because they don't want it, parents grabs slippers, hanger, belts, hard wood sticks and anything that they first see as a substitute for whip but now, parents hands cellphone to them for the sake of quietness and peace. Teachers are not comfortable or habituated in using powerpoints & other teacher aids using technology. They even ask students about it, in the end they use ordinary type of teaching wherein the tools are manila paper, marker, board and chalk. Elders, before, used to talk to each other more often and spend their time talking to one another face to face and not only face timing. Humans used to drink coffee while reading a newspaper or listening to radios. Humans now, can't live without cellphone. Even in the comfort room, even when eating, even in serious moments or worse is using gadgets 24/7. Simply, technology and gadgets are indispensable in human life. All I can ask is when will things go back to its origin?

When...

When was the last time you wrote a letter for your love?

When was the last time writers wrote using type writers?

When was the last time you spend your time eating with your family with the cold wind without using gadgets?

When was the last time children used to play outdoor games?

When was the last time entertainment comes from sports, boardgames, watching movies?

When was the last time you had your life simple yet genuinely happy?

W h e n ?

As the technology evolve, the way of living evolves too.

Life is two faced. If you have seen the other side & judged it quickly, you are doing it wrong. Let us peel the cover of technology. I have mentioned the effects of overusing technology in everyday basis of human life but I also did said the good effects of technology. Come with me as we continuously discovering each and every side of technology.

Technology makes life easier.

One example of that is the computer itself. Computer back then was named as ENIAC and was done on 1946. We can say that ENIAC is part of technology because basically it is computer but still it is not easy to use. You can use it by walking and standing, you should follow many rules in order to operate it. Years passed, the evolution of computers has made. Today's computer is easier.

Another benefit of technology is about medicine. Since human was made, even our ancestors lack of resourced when it comes to medicines. That's why when a person got sick, diseases or cancers they easily die because no equipment surround them. All they have and they can afford is herbal medicines and some equipment that aren't enough for their sickness. Luckily, we, the millennials and generation Z were born in the age of modernization. It is easy to cure cancers because machine for diseases are already in our hands. Technology also paved a way for the rise of science discovery. Scientist now has the actual pictures of galaxy, planets, moon, asteroids and other heavenly bodies. Astronaut can personally see and admire the beauty of God's creation, not only in painting but astronaut can't experience that without the use transportation.

Transportation is also part of technology, transportation is now easy. Back then, Filipinos use Kalesa for travelling but now, we have jeeps, motorcycles, cars. Through transporation we can get what we want because it is used for delivery. Business also can be done through transporation. We can ride other's car because of transportation app or what we call "grab" and etc. Businesses can be done everywhere. Robots, they are part of it. Google play is also an example. Ask what you want to ask, command what you want to command because it controls your house.

But there are questions running in my mind...

Is anyone from ancient times would have thought that super advanced technology will happen?

Do modern world makes you happy or ancient time where you live simple makes you satisfied?

If today, some are eaten by technology, how much if more centuries will come? How advance do the world will be?

On the other hand, technology won't exist if there's no God behind it. Who gave humans intelligence to make what has been made?

G O D

Technology is made for a purpose,

To enlighten one's mind

Not to destroy someone's mind.

Not to destroy someone's behavior.

Not to destroy someone's good habbits.

Not to destroy someone's relationship toward his/her loveones.

Technology has many branches in terms of its effect, it can change the behavior of a person and they can be bullied but aside from that, did this question ever crossed your mind,

"Is technology still under control of God?"

If yes, then my answer will be yes too. God controls everything. The reason why some persons are in the street, getting garbage is that because they didn't asked God

"Is my path right?"

"Is this the path you have reserved for me?"

Same goes in technology. The purpose of it is Good, it is not meant for cyber bully, watching p*rns and other wrong doings in social media. It is just that, we misuse technology, we overuse it, we misunderstood it's purpose.

He under controls technology, but the bad effects that happen to us is also cause by non other than us, we, humans ourselves.

We shouldn't forget that God sees and knows everything. He sees what we do in technologies, in cellphones, in social media platforms. Don't even think that he doesn't care about technology just because He lived many decades ago, we think that He is old but the truth is

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT

We should base everything that we do in God's scripture. Not because something is in trend, we should do the same. Not because that's how they use technology or specifically social media, we should do the same. Not because we used to do something like doing bad things in social media means we have no chance to change. Change is the only constant. According to Romans 12:2, be transformed in the renewing of thalamus. Basically, thalamus is the place for addiction, some is addicted to p*rns, or addicted to games or anything that s connected in technologies, but still thalamus can be trained and we have the chance to change.

Change comes from ourselves not what others wants to change for ourselves. Know who are worth following. Know which person helps you to go to the path where God wants you to go because that person is important.

You only live once, they said. The life of our loved ones has limit and sadly, we don't know when. We should spend our time wisely,

Wisely with our parents

Wisely with our family

Wisely with our friends

Help yourself get up and don't be a loser when your opponent is just technology. Don't let your system be eaten by it. Don't let modernization invade your privacy in life. Never go with the flow.

Time spent in your family and in God is worth more than the time wasted from technology.

First and foremost, before using technologies, ask and consult yourself...

Do I need this?

Will this help me grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually?

What is my purpose in using these?

What can I get from these?

What possible habits of mine can be taken away by this?

What possible habits can I adapt from this?

Lastly, surround yourself of things that will help you grow. Make sure that using technologies will help in developing yourself so that you can be a better person. Another impact of technology is that, when you watch horror movie, yes, it has thrill but it brings fear. Absolutely, horror movies do have spirit that's why we are scared. Fear refuses your faith in God. When you are in fear of other things, the tendency is that you will be afraid to try it. For example, you are afraid of going to the comfort room alone because you watched horror movies, you will forget your faith in Lord. You will forget to remember that "God is with me, why do I need to fear?"

Now let me ask you.

IS TECHNOLOGY GOOD OR BAD?

[a-alex-hammer]

Who legally owns all the shares? Not you. – Bits on Blocks

In this post I explore how legal title to publicly listed shares works in Hong Kong, the USA, and Singapore. Then I relate this to tokens recorded on blockchains.

Hong Kong

I learnt something interesting on Monday when the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission published a consultation paper on paperless securities. (Disclosure: I am a member of the SFC’s FinTech advisory committee though I am not an expert in share ownership). They say, with my emphasis:

Hong Kong law currently still requires the use of paper documents to evidence and transfer legal title to certain securities, including in particular shares. Because of this limitation, as well as other practical business and operational considerations, most investors in listed securities hold and transfer their securities through the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS) where the securities are “immobilised” and held under the name of a single nominee (i.e. HKSCC Nominees Limited, HKSCCNOMS).

However, this also means that investors only hold and transfer the beneficial interest in the securities, and not legal title to them. In other words, the securities are not held in the name of the investor concerned.

Being only beneficial owners, investors holding securities through CCASS have no direct relationship with the issuer. In the context of shares, this also means they are not conferred shareholder rights under the law. They must instead rely on the registered owner (i.e. HKSCC-NOMS), and any intermediating entities in between, to exercise these rights on their behalf (such as any voting rights), and to pass on any entitlements (such as dividends, bonuses, etc) to them.

https://www.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/consultation/openFile?refNo=19CP1

USA

This reminded me of something I read in Matt Levine’s Money Stuff a few years ago. He discusses the situation for the majority of publicly listed shares in the USA in a piece entitled “Banks Forgot Who Was Supposed to Own Dell Shares“:

Nobody owns stock. What you own is an entitlement to stock held for you by your broker. But your broker doesn’t own the stock either. What your broker owns is an entitlement to stock held for it by Cede & Co., which is a nominee of the Depository Trust Company, which is a company that is in the business of owning everyone’s stock for them. This system sounds convoluted but actually makes it easy to keep track of things: If I sell stock to you, I don’t have to courier over a paper share certificate, or call up the company and have it change its shareholder register. Our brokers just change some electronic entries at their DTC accounts and everything is cool.

He also quotes an opinion submitted to the court of Chancery of the state of Delaware, USA which provides the historical background:

DTC’s place in the ownership structure results from the federal response to a paperwork crisis on Wall Street during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Increased trading volume in the securities markets overwhelmed the back offices of brokerage firms and the capabilities of transfer agents. No one could cope with the burdens of documenting stock trades using paper certificates. The markets were forced to declare trading holidays so administrators could catch up. With trading volumes continuing to climb, it was obvious that reform was needed. Congress directed the SEC to evaluate alternatives that would facilitate trading.

After studying the issue, the SEC adopted a national policy of share immobilization. To carry out its policy, the SEC placed a new entity—the depository institution—at the bottom the ownership chain. DTC emerged as the only domestic depository. Over 800 custodial banks and brokers are participating members of DTC and maintain accounts with that institution. DTC holds shares on their behalf in fungible bulk, meaning that none of the shares are issued in the names of DTC‘s participants. Instead, all of the shares are issued in the name of Cede. Through a Fast Automated Securities Transfer account (the “FAST Account”), DTC uses an electronic book entry system to track the number of shares of stock that each participant holds.

By adding DTC to the bottom of the ownership chain, the SEC eliminated the need for the overwhelming majority of legal transfers. Before share immobilization, custodial banks and brokers held shares through their own nominees, so new certificates had to be issued frequently when shares traded. With share immobilization, legal title remains with Cede. No new certificates are required.

https://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?ID=226510

Singapore

What’s the situation in Singapore? It’s a little better. According to insideINVEST, normal people can open accounts at the Central Depository (CDP). The CDP keeps track of the list of owners of shares traded on the SGX, the stock exchange in Singapore. Those with accounts at the CDP have legal title to their shares, though many people still nominate their broker to have legal title. Usually this is because brokers like this control over their clients’ assets, and so offer trading discounts to incentivise this behaviour. In short, in Singapore there doesn’t seem to be a single company that has legal title to all the shares, unlike USA and Hong Kong.

Nominees all the way down

Today, the ownership of legal title plus conferring of rights to beneficiaries via a chain (ahem) of commercial agreements between nominated custodians seems to be a “hack” rather than a target end state. You’d think you’d never design a system to have to work like this, yet we are here because the world evolves organically. Processes, such as the payment of dividends, are initiated by the issuer of the share, and can take a long time to reach the ultimate beneficial owner of the share. Parties in the middle need to be relied upon, and they don’t work for free.

At the same time, sometimes the chains need to be there; some level of complexity is necessary or desired.

For example perhaps a citizen or entity of one country may not be allowed to directly own a piece of a company in a different country. So an opportunity opens up for an enterprising middleman who can buy the share and confer the benefits to a party who really wants it.

Or perhaps for financial privacy, someone may not want to let the world know that they have a relationship (financial or otherwise) to a certain company or companies. Or a hedge fund may not want to signal to the market what exposures they have.

And we want to reduce the temptation for a fund manager to run away with his client’s assets under management, hence the separation of custody from the asset management (though there are more elegant solutions for this in a tokenised world).

We have optionality

So chains of parties who confer rights up the chain can be useful. More generally, is it useful to have the optionality of having these intermediaries.

We have learnt that with tokens recorded on blockchains, beneficial owners can now have the choice to hold tokens (as a direct link to the issuing company) on their own behalf, without necessarily needing a chain of custodians to pass through beneficial ownership rights, causing commercial drag and latency lags.

So the tokenisation of agreements, whether those agreements are regarded as financial securities or not, and whether these are recorded on public blockchains or not, is a fascinating area for research and development for this year and beyond. I recently wrote about tokens lowering the barriers to innovation. Here’s something else I wrote about token maximalism and why it can be beneficial not to need to rely on private sector systemically important third parties to execute your wishes for you.

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Source/Repost=> http://technewsdestination.com/who-legally-owns-all-the-shares-not-you-bits-on-blocks/ ** Alex Hammer | Founder and CEO at Ecommerce ROI ** http://technewsdestination.com

[euphorianyx]

We Don’t Talk Anymore Part 3

Something short, Angsty, Based on JungKook’s cover of We don’t talk anymore, VKook, Best Friends with Y/N, Friends with benefits

The door JungKook harshly has been knocking finally opened but not exactly by whom he expected. Tae was standing right in front of him, wearing just a bathrobe. JungKook’s voice was raspy, giving his thoughts away.

“What are you…”

Then he heard you speaking sweet and soft.

“Tae who is…”

Both your sentences lingered in the air as you stared at each other blankly. You were shocked, obvious by the wide eyes.

“JungKook”

The way his name fell from your lips was what made JungKook stay. The way your voice broke through the end… He didn’t know what it was but he knew he had to talk to you.

When you saw JungKook right in front of the door all the control you fought to keep left your body and mind. You didn’t want to give anything away but that trembling voice betrayed you. JungKook’s dark eyes burned into yours. He hesitantly took a step inside.

“Y/N… Um I thought it wouldn’t be right to use keys”

Not knowing what to say you just nodded. Then you noticed JungKook’s eyes travelled between you and Tae. He uncomfortably cleared his throat.

“So you two are…”

You completely forgot that were only in a tshirt and your panties. Normally it would not matter standing like this in front of JungKook but the situation was way too awkward. 

Saying “Uh… Sorry I will just go and change.” you turned away.

You noticed his fists turned into balls but tried to ignore that fact. Closing the bedroom door behind, you let a breath out. The questions were twirling like a dark grey fog around your head.

Why did he come? He obviously noticed you and Tae… What does he think?

You put your sweatpants on as you kept thinking.

”So you two are…”

After my question she awkwardly left and I was alone with Tae’s small smile.

“Ohhh we are… well… you could say friends with benefits…for now”

To JungKook, it felt like being punched or even worse.He only stood there bitting his lips and digging his nails into his own fists. Tae took a step forward.

“Man no hard feelings, right? You have your own girl so…”

JungKook was having a fit.

“So you replaced me… How thoughtful.”

Tae fired back right away.

“You knew she was in love with you… I told you yet you found another girl. Don’t act like I am the one at fault.”

JungKook pushed Tae back forcefully that he stumbled.

“And I can see you are grateful for that fault.”

Tae’s face hardened. His words were sharp and certain.

“Look… I was in love with her the whole time while you were playing around. Stop showing up and quit playing with her head. You better go back to your girlfriend.”

There was nothing left for JungKook to say. What was he expecting? Were you going to keep waiting for him? JungKook was stunned as he left the keys.

“I won’t need these from now on it seems”

JungKook slammed the door before you could turn back. He could have never stand seeing you next to someone else. The wind blew into his face just as reality did. You were with Tae and there was noway for him to go back.

You slowly opened the door and was surprised upon seeing Tae standing in front of the door alone. You made your way to him, curiously asking.

“Where is JungKook?”

Tae handed you the keys as he explained with a low voice.

“He left.”

Seeing those keys you couldn’t believe it. So JungKook came along just to leave these and he couldn’t wait to hand them to you himself. 

He couldn’t have make it more obvious that he didn’t want to see you ever again. You didn’t cry this time. It was worse because you were numb. Your system was refusing to let what happened to sink in. You didn’t eat or slept by the night. 

Whole your feelings were eating you out. You were not going to go down with this. Even if you were just friends with benefits you deserved better than this. You deserved an explanation. God even if there was no explanation you at least deserved a goodbye for the sake of all those times you have spent together.

Hissing you just stormed back to your room. Throwing every single material that has something to do with JungKook into the box. Tae stood by the doorstep, arms crossed.

“What are you doing?” He asked softly.

You put the dvd he bought for you two to watch in as you answer.

“Well he handed my keys so I will return his stuff.”

You had no idea if it was anger, frustration or despair but you knew you had to do something. You threw the box at the backseat of your car and hoped in the driver seat. 

When the doorbell rang JungKook’s feet made their way to the door lazily. It was a shock for him to see you standing there with a box in your hands.

“Y/N” he said with huge eyes and a whisper.

You kept the poker face and not be able to read you was annoying to JungKook.

“Just came to give you these.”

JungKook took a look inside the box, trying to process what was going on. When he saw his stuff he let out a bitter laugh.

“Ohhh right… You don’t need these anymore.”

Seeing his bitter laugh mirrored by you JungKook arched an eyebrow as he listens to you.

“Yeah just like you don’t need my keys apperantly.”

JungKook couldn’t keep it anymore. He pulled you to himself by the arm.

“Why would I need them? Tae replaced me obviously.”

The way your eyes squinted when you heard that wasn’t something he would miss. 

“Tae replaced you? Really JungKook? Thats the reason you have made up?”

JungKook arched his eyebrows after he has been accused like that.

“Made up? He told me he was your new friend with benefits.”

Your face was twisted in confusion.

“What? No… Oh for God’s sake JungKook You don’t know, do you? You were more than that for me.”

JungKook’s heart felt heavier than ever. It was so hard to breathe.

“I knew”

JungKook looked down as he couldn’t face you.

“Tae told me but I… I just kept doing what I do. I thought…”

Words were stuck in his throat.

“I thought you would always be here with me. I… I am an idiot. I haven’t noticed earlier.”

You were struck by his words. It wasn’t easy to keep track so you asked.

“Noticed what?”

JungKook fixed his eyes to yours. They were too dark, deep and mysterious that you were lost in them. His voice was husky.

“That I am in love with you.”

All these got you weak in the knees. You just began hitting his chest.

“You… Than what is that girl? You love her more than me or…”

JungKook grabbed your wrists, pushed you back at the wall behind you. Trapping you between the cold wall and his warm body, he stopped your aloud monologue with a kiss. It was hot, desperate, passionate but also caring and heavy. It was the first time Jungkook kissed you that way. You both were out of breath when he pulled away.

“I love you… I still do. Will you forgive me and start again?”

The way he caressed you cheek as he asks… You didn’t need to hear anything else or think. You just kissed him back. You would start again because there were noway you could stop loving him. JungKook smiled back at you.

“So I take this as a yes…”

And you just nodded.

[pixelonline]

GW2 Story Week - Tor: The First Meeting

Tor never liked sailing much, or flying, or dolyak carts, or really anything that jostled him about while he was trying to read or write. Was it really so hard to just stay still so he could finish this new design? Really? Though this particular complaint had him barred from many an owner’s mode of transportation it never stopped him from voicing it.

“Asura gates exist for a damn reason,” he muttered for what felt like the millionth time. His journal open on his lap, with a sketch of what looked like a hawk coming to realization. Why his father had forced him into this barbaric traveling was still beyond his realm of understanding. He was supposed to replace his father at a trial in Divinity’s Reach, not go on some scenic tour. What good did it do commoners to see a noble traveling? To have one temporarily insert himself into their lives for the sake of appearing like he cared? They worked and lived and loved just fine without his presence, and he worked and dreamed and lived just as well without being directly involved with them. A pompous attitude, sure, but was it really different from what reality had decided was true? He cared no more for the person in the third house of the second village than they did for some Human noble’s bookah son gallivanting around. His father was an ambassador, in any case, so it’s not like anything he did even mattered to people. So long as the waypoint taxes were low and some useful Asura tech made their way to the farms there was no reason to even bother remembering the Human ambassador and his family living in Rata Sum.

The harsh ring of Fort Salma’s watchtower bell forced him out of his pity party. Next stop, this place. Check on some Human/Asura relations at the first human fort between the two capitals, chat with a trader or two, pet a cat, maybe even have dinner with some Seraph commanders or whatever. Then, his trip continues on, stopping at small settlements and trading posts, meeting those who wouldn’t know or bother to remember his face. End up at Dvinity’s Reach and spend the next few months flittering about like some self important toadstool. What a lovely trip, really. With a sigh, his journal carefully closed and fit into the small pouch at his hip, he glanced out the cart’s window to the farmland around him. Inspiration struck whenever it might, and he preferred to be able to jot them down immediately. Propriety be damned.  

His cart rolled to a harsh stop, the dolyak doing their obnoxious dolyak yell as stable hands begin the process of cooling them down. He stepped out of the covered cart, dust rising as his boots hit the ground harshly. With Tor’s face an immediate mask of noble dignity and grace, he greeted the people nearby as if he’d known them all his life. He shook hands with a Sergeant Yarbrough who didn’t seem all that pleased to meet him, and was led from the front gates through the small marketplace and into the fort’s more fortified walls. He stopped abruptly in what appeared to be the dining hall.

“My time is precious, my lord, so forgive me if I don’t spend quality time showing you about. We have centaurs invading all around here and I’m needed to protect the villagers. Your quarters are to the left, down the hall. Last room, can’t miss it.” the Sergeant was curt in his statement, already turned from the room and walking out. “The Captain will meet with you tonight, though. She’s dealing with some issues around the fort. We have a higher rank visiting as well, but she’ll be leaving soon. On some mission for the Queen.” Tor nodded, uninterested in responding. He was already planning his report of the place. The farms were a distance from the market and dolyaks were slow. They’d definitely benefit from the efficiency and speed of a hovering...well...anything.

Tor began to wander about the building. Clearly the center of the Seraph’s settlement, the rooms were all packed with either beds, weapons, or supplies. Still considering what tech would make the Fort and its residents safer, maybe a laser turret system for the centaur issue wouldn’t be the best after all, he wandered through a large door to an open plaza in the center of the keep. Obviously redesigned to be a training area, worn out straw dummies hung off wooden poles sadly and blunt weapons littered the ground. A small well in the center drew his attention. More accurately, the sound coming from the well. A woman, clad in red and gold armor sat with her back against it, humming softly as she sharpened arrows. Her long red hair kept away from her neck and face by a single hair pin, her expression serious and focused on her task.

Girenadayle.

He hadn’t seen her since he was a child. A noble as well, he recalled the times he’d seen her play in the central plaza of Divinity’s Reach. Unafraid of adventure even as a kid, she would throw herself fearlessly into whatever game they were playing. He’d watched from the royal library’s window as she bothered her Seraph sister each day to teach her how to hold a sword, what stances would bring the most to her attacks. Tor had been young when his father was chosen to move to the Asura capital, but he never forgot how this one girl stood out to him. He’d heard about her from time to time. Her sister, murdered on patrol. She joining the ranks after her father was claimed by them as well. She rose to lieutenant quickly, rumors claimed it to be because of her nobility, though he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it couldn’t be true.

“Are you going to stare much longer? It’s getting annoying.” She glared in his direction and a thousand daggers pierced his body. No, there was no way she used her noble rank to gain her military one. Her eyes had been sharpened by many, many battles, that much was obvious.

“Er...I-I, yes. I mean, no! I mean...it’s nice to see you. Again. Once more.” Shut up, shut up, shut up! Mashed onions for brains, Tordacien. He stepped towards her and offered a polite bow. Perfectly noble. Not at all weird. It was completely normal to bow to a soldier. Yep. Everyone did it. All the time. She...she was still staring at him. Slowly from boot tip to skull. He felt like a show moa. Had he been assessing her like this? Surely not. ...Right?

“Book kid. You went to Rata Sum. Not much of a dancer, if my feet remember. What are you doing here?” She set down her arrows and stood. “There isn’t much in the way of Asura here, and if you’re heading to Divinity’s Reach I’m fairly certain the gates are much faster.”

He let out a sigh so deep his entire body slacked, the ping of embarrassment at her remembering his two left feet immediately gone. “Thank you. That’s what I said, but no, I’m supposed to see how the settlements between here and Metrica are, get an idea of how the people we govern live, but we get reports every week so how is seeing it myself supposed to change anything? I’m replacing my father at the royal court this year, not taking a nice tour of the territory and have inane talks about things those living it understand much better than I.” She chuckled as he ran out of air for his sarcastic rant. Leaning against the well she seemed entirely at ease now that he’d dropped his own formal posture.

“Well, you can’t do good with laws and whatnot if you don’t see what the needs are, can you? You sound an awful lot like Faren, though you’d think all the books would have made you far more intelligent. You have a responsibility as a noble and representative of Kryta, you should probably act like it. These people, all people, work hard and deserve your full respect.”

He gaped. She just compared him to the most pompous imbecile in all of Tyria. That pinhead couldn’t be a decent Lord if someone covered the goal in women and coin. A constant fountain of ego, even as a child. He’d never liked Faren. None of that having to do with him easily becoming friends with every child, while Tor found himself lacking the skill, of course. Unable to retort, Tor stood there, completely engulfed in old jealousies and new shame. She definitely had a point. Multiple, even. He’d been treating these people as if they didn’t matter, and she saw right through him. Damn fool, even as an adult.

“I’ll be a court in a few days, myself. Captain Thackeray and I have been building a case against someone very dangerous. We may see each other then, Lord Tordacien.” She walked past him, bumping her armored shoulder against his. The shock of her so close, so warm, drove him out of his thoughts.

“Lady...Lieutenant...er...G-Girenadayle. You, uh, you know...I prefer Tor. My name is kind of a mouthful. And overly grandiose.” He hated stuttering. He thought he’d conquered this while attending the College of Statics, but it would seem that the case not so.

She smiled. “I completely agree. Giren, for me. See you in Divinity’s Reach, Tor.”

He didn’t move, didn’t breathe, until she was completely out of sight. She knew his name. She knew his name. They’d only spoken a handful of times at social gatherings. Years, and years ago. He sat down with a thud. She knew his name, wanted to see him again! ....And most likely thought he was a complete ass. Of course, he sounded like one. The commoners, farmers, tradesmen mattered, dammit. How could he have even thought otherwise?! Without them, nothing would function. Every person in Kryta mattered, made their society function and flow. He was no better than them, he’d never had to do hard labor in his life. There’s no way he’d be able to survive the way these people did with what looked like ease. He rubbed a hand over his face, exhausted suddenly. Yep, he’d been a right bear’s rear end. He left the plaza consumed with examining his past behaviors. He’d have to treat his traveling companions when they reached their final destination. He had no doubt that he’d been a pain to be around. As the Sergeant said, his quarters were easy to find, much nicer than any of the other sleeping areas he’d seen. He was grateful that they’d tried to make him feel welcome, though the streak of guilt at the residents going out of their way to make a room nicer just for him still struck. Sitting at the small writing desk in the far corner of the room underneath a window with just enough of the setting sun’s light creeping through, he pulled out his journal. Opening to a new page, he began to write.

Entry 1: Fort Salma

I’ve been quite terrible, recently. Lady Gi Giren reminded me of that. She’s very much the same as I remember her, and so much better. I know now why I’d never seen her around when visiting the capital from time to time, she was out changing, learning, being someone people needed. And what have I done? Wallow in my own thoughts and never once thought of anyone else. That changes, as of now. I’ll take on this duty to meet the people of Kryta seriously and listen to their concerns. What I can’t change myself I’ll take to the ministers. Surely someone has the capability to fix what’s wrong. It’s well past time to get serious. After father’s task is completed, I’ll find something to do that puts some meaning in my life. Continue working on those elixirs I had such an affinity for in my schooling, maybe. We only met for a moment, but still she is an inspiration, isn’t she?

[eddiecowell]

MAGENTO COMMERCE EXTENSIONS – TOP 10 BEST FREE: WHAT DID USERS SAY?

In this day and age, e-commerce development is a must for every business that wants to take benefits from the rise of the Internet. Magento – one of the best e-commerce platform, is a wise choice that should never be overlooked. However, to make a website really become “your website”, you need to build it base on your requirements, which can be satisfied by adding Magento commerce extensions one by one.

In this article, CO-WELL will summarize users’ reviews about top 10 free Magento commerce extensions that rated by users. They can be free, but we are sure that they work.

  1. Why Magento commerce extensions?

As we have mentioned, Magento extensions are essential if you want your website to meet the demand of both your company and your customers.

The word “extension” itself expresses that it can “extend” or add extra functions to your e-commerce store. From reminding about abandoned carts to calculating sales tax, extensions are indispensable elements to boost your online business. 

  2. Top 10 free Magento commerce extensions for different areas

  a. Marketing

Yotpo review

Developer: Yotpo

Particular purpose: Customer relationship management (CRM)

Yotpo helps brands easily collect and leverage customer reviews and photos throughout the buyer journey to increase trust, social proof, and sales. With Yotpo, businesses can collect user-generated content and use it to build a stronger brand and better customer experience.

How it works:

First, Yotpo enables customers to write reviews, ask questions, and upload photos in the customer journey. Then, businesses display that content on-site, establishing trust and increasing conversion rates. And finally, businesses use customer content to boost search their ranking, enhance paid ad performance, drive traffic from social networks, and more.

Pros: According to a user’s comment on Magento Marketplace, Yotpo is:

“+ Easy to install

+ Optimize For Mobile: All of Yotpo’s features are mobile-friendly. When businesses send review requests, mobile users can leave reviews without ever leaving their email app.

+ Nice design: Customization of widget onsite, you can input your exact color to use for the text, review title, etc. You really can make the widget fit into the theme of your store.

+ Notification: About customer notifications, customers can set how many days post-order they would like before Yotpo auto-sends an email to the customer requesting a review. The customer can complete their review right within their email without having to go anywhere else (they can if they choose to). And about admin notifications, when a review is left, you receive an email notification. From there, you can click within the email to “Publish to My Website” (one-click) as well as to “Push to Social” (one-click) which will auto-post it to your Facebook or Twitter accounts per your settings. (Note: these posts as well have a default template you can then edit however you’d like your post to appear)

+ Supportive: “I did have issues on my first day, which appears to have been when they had a planned system outage for some updates (bad timing); either way, every single one of my 4 rather redundant support requests was answered (within 24-hours generally) and addressed professionally.”

Cons:

+ Yotpo has both free and paid versions, though free version seems quite enough for almost requirements, it is not flawless. “It has a very, very clean layout and is very easy in use. But, the free edition lacks a few ‘simple’ features – like commenting on a review. If you want these extra options, you pay a high price. A very high price. Most of the business wouldn’t be able to spend +300$/month only a review extension (not profitable).”

+ This runs with Java script, “so only our developers can do to speed load times.” Loading time is not really an issue with Yotpo, however, if you want it to work completely smoothly, developers are required.

  Abandoned cart email

Developer: CO-WELL Asia

Particular purpose: Email marketing

Nowadays, people have many reasons to leave e-commerce websites while online shopping resulting in a large number of pending orders caused by unwelcome interruptions. In order to help lock-in those deals and reduce shopping cart abandonment, that’s why Abandoned Cart Email extension was built.

How it works

Automatically sends emails to customers who accidentally forgot their selected products based on shop owners’ set conditions such as the number of items in the abandoned cart, value of the order and quantity of selected products in stock. Customers will then receive messages about their abandoned carts, encouraging them to come back to the online store and finish their orders.

Pros:

+ Boost revenue for sellers as the buyers are encouraged to complete their shopping process

+ Improve shopping experience as the buyers feel valued.

+ Highly customizable: This extension allows you to design email templates, set schedules and make your own rules as well as support you to manage the history of sent emails effectively

+ Easy to use with a premade template

Cons: Beneficial as it is, this Magento commerce extension pre-made templates are not diverse and well-designed so users need to design or code them.

  b. Content & Customization

Drupal Integration

Developer: CO-WELL Asia

Particular purpose: Product content

Drupal is an open-source CMS (Content Management System), which offers a solid platform to create highly advanced websites, while Magento is leading E-commerce platform which has a great reputation for its excellent scalability, features, SEO friendliness, and other market-leading attributes.

Drupal Integration is the ideal solution to capitalize on the power of both Drupal and Magneto in the fierce competition among E-commerce businesses.

How it works:

Drupal Integration allows you to operate your Drupal site as the back-end and a Magento site as the front-end of your E-commerce platform.

All the data in the Drupal site will be automatically transferred to the Magento site, including images, text, and articles related to the products. The data transfer process is achieved in just a few clicks with easy-to-follow guidelines.

Pros:

+ Data utilization to reduce development time

If you’ve got some experience in developing a website, then building an entirely new site in a couple of days is totally possible. This means you’re spending less time on the actual implementation work of the site, allowing you to spend more time being creative with your designs. This helps you stand out from the rest of the competition.

+ Organize Content Easily

One of the difficult parts of many CMS tools is the ability to organize your content for later use and recall. Drupal allows you to categorize your content through path URLs, create custom lists, associate content and create defaults. This structure helps you to organize, structure, search, find and reuse content.

+ It fits within your ecosystem: Standing out from other Magento commerce extensions for providing sophisticated content management and digital marketing capabilities, Drupal also enables data modeling and integration with an endless variety of applications and services, which makes it easier to adapt within an organization. This gives organizations a great opportunity to implement functionality in the most appropriate technology and then simply connect to it via web services or other means.

+ A huge community: 

With a community of thousands of users that always can report bugs and security threats in a nick of time, security will not become your issue anymore.

Cons:

+ Compatibility: Since this extension has plenty of new solutions, if you are used to an older system, getting used to its script could take some time.

  Nosto Personalization

Developer: Nosto

Particular purpose: Personalization & Experience Management

Nosto, a Magento Premier Technology Partner, analyzes hundreds of thousands of data points across your store in real-time, to help you go beyond the numbers and see the individual. Designed for ease of use, Nosto enables marketers to build, launch and optimize powerful 1:1 multi-channel marketing campaigns without the need for dedicated IT resources.

How it works:

Nosto’s patented technology combines proprietary algorithms and big data analytics to automatically predict the best products and offers for each individual customer based on a moment-by-moment analysis of their unique user behavior.

Pros: According to users’ comment on Magento Marketplace:

“+ User-friendly: “The site personalization for Magento is fairly easy to use – and it gives our webshop some great options so that customers have better and more relevant product suggestions. You can add rows of recommendations like: “You previously viewed…”, “Customers who looked at this also looked at…”, “Top sellers in this category…”,…. The blocks of recommendations can be modified to fit your shop’s needs, avoid duplications, be relevant to the customers, etc. It does take some thought and consideration before making changes to be sure that the recommendation will do what you want, but Nosto is very eager to help, and to make sure you don’t make any mistakes.”

+ Easy retargeting ads on Facebook, e-mail followup, “We miss you” e-mails,… all with customization options that are easy to set up. Pop-ups are another great feature – we use discount codes to encourage newsletter subscriptions. And the folks at Nosto are very helpful with new ideas, downloadable documents with suggestions, timely hints for improved holiday sales and more.

+ Supportive: “The Nosto team is also very helpful. Unlike may web-based services, with Nosto I have a contact person with a name and a personal e-mail address. This person is proactive, checking in with me periodically about how it is going and what I can do better – and she answers my e-mails within minutes.”

+ And finally, from one small business owner to another, once you get the Nosto recommendations set up and running the way you want them to, you can sit back and focus on other things. The recommendations and other features run in the background and tick along all by themselves. The reporting is clear, and you can see what works – and then just let it run.”

Cons:

“Nosto is overall a great tool for a Magento webshop, BUT it’s not really working. During the creation of an account it fails, during installation from backend Magento, it fails and so it continues…

I’ll probably get back to this extension later on, but for now, it has way too many bugs.”

“This is a very good add-on but unfortunately it’s not compatible with the new Magento 1.9.2 .”

  c. Shipping & fulfillment

Global postcode finder 

Developer: CO-WELL Asia

Particular purpose: Address verification

This extension helps to enhance the shopping experience by reducing checkout time. Reports show that customers are more likely to abandon orders at checkout if there are too many information fields to complete. This Magento e-commerce extension helps improve sales performance by simplifying the checkout process.

How it works:

Global Postcode Finder supports an improved experience for both sellers and buyers. When a customer enters a postcode, several suggestions will be offered, allowing the customer to choose their address, then simply add details such as the house number or building name. Shop owners can use the same function to edit customers’ information.

Pros:

+ Simplify the checkout process

+ Minimize abandoned carts

+ Reduce manual intervention by administrators

+ Simple installation

  Shipstation

Developer: Shipstation

Particular purpose: Order Management

ShipStation leads the e-commerce world with web-based software designed to make e-commerce retailers exceptionally efficient at processing, fulfilling, and shipping their orders from all the most popular marketplaces and shopping carts using all the top carriers.

How it works:

Save time and money with efficient shipping. Sync all your orders from Magento and wherever you sell and start printing labels from all the major carriers with a few clicks.

Shipping can be unnecessarily complicated and inefficient. This Magento commerce extension makes it easy for Magento users to scale their businesses by eliminating those complications. When you install and connect the extension, ShipStation imports your orders. Process your orders with automation rules and flexible workflows and ship them out with the best carrier, service, and rates to fit your needs.

Pros: The most out-standing pro of this Magento commerce extension is that it is time-saving:

+ Time saving: “This shipping program is really amazing. I have never before witnessed one program like this being a deal changer for our online store. Order processing is so fast that we have completely restructured our online business to utilize these time-saving abilities! And there is so much more built into the program, too, like custom sales reports, a stamps.com account, among other countless added features.”

“Shipstation has been a massive time saver for us, as we are a small business with few employees. It is a very intuitive application that allows us to attach weights to all of our products and it will do the math for us while shipping.”

+ Supportive: “ The support is very friendly and knowledgeable. They have got us up and running in no time at all. I highly recommend this great product. You will not be let down!”

“+ Shipstation is an excellent feature to streamline the shipping process for our orders. It automatically imports orders, provides options for the cheapest shipping providers and has the ability to note what shipping method the customer selected. It has amazing automation features, presets and many more.”

Cons:

+ Cost issue: “I had to pay a coding team to install ShipStation and getting their help wasn’t cheap. I attempted to do it myself and try to work with the resources on ShipStation and that was too intimidating for a non-developer like myself.”

+ Bug issue: “Shipstation has a major bug with Magento. When a partial order is shipped, Magento shows the ENTIRE order as being shipped even when this is not the case. This bug has been reported to Shipstation and they keep promising to fix it. Unfortunately almost 1 year with no solution.”

  d. Accounting & pricing

TaxJar

Developer: TaxJar

Particular purpose: TaxJar helps eCommerce businesses save time on sales tax by automating the hard parts of filing a sales tax return.

It helps taking all the complicated math and calculations out of determining what you owe and even automatically filing your return for you if you want to. This is called the AutoFile.

How it works:

TaxJar helps you save hours by automating sales tax calculation, reporting, and filing for your store. Magento customers can enjoy TaxJar Reports that break down the sales taxes collected and owed by the state, county, city and other taxing districts so your sales tax filings are all ready for you. TaxJar Reports can also accommodate any of the other channels you sell on, too (Including Amazon, eBay, and more).

Pros: This Magento commerce extension become many businesses’ first choice is because it helps to save their resources

+ Labor-saving: “It makes us legally compliant, keeps us up-to-date and saves us from hiring an additional person.”

+ Time saving: “We have been using this tool now for several months and it is saving us a lot of time and headache by keeping things simple.”

+ Supportive: “The support by the TaxJar staff is excellent – they reply quickly and they’ve helped us with some issues we encountered. It is drop-dead simple to set up and use. Highly recommended.”

Cons:

Need backing up the website: “Do not try and install this without backing up your site first. It totally hosed our website after throwing a bunch of errors when installing through Magento Connect. Nice concept, but definitely not a stable release. Proceed with caution.”

  eBridge Connections ERP Integration

Developer: eBridge Connections

Particular purpose: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) & Accounting

eBridge Connections delivers powerful, cloud-based ERP and accounting integration solutions that automate vital business processes and eliminate the need for manual data entry. The eBridge universal integration platform supports over 30 ERP and accounting systems including products from Sage, Microsoft, SAP, NetSuite, Epicor, and Intuit QuickBooks.

How it works:

Accounting system and ERP integration by eBridge Connections allow Magento store owners to automate orders, inventory, tracking information, customer data updates, product data and pricing and inventory levels, and more between their back-office accounting/ERP system and their Magento eCommerce store.

Pros:

“We have an old Sage system Mas 200 v4.4 and needed to integrate Our M2 Site and Amazon store with Sage.

We chose E-bridge and couldn’t be happier with the results. Now that we have the integration set up, all orders from our M2 site and our amazon store come into Sage sales order module so we don’t have to manually add them via hand typing.

Pros Huge time saver.

Implementation went very smooth, which from my experience is rare for technical projects of this nature.

The cost was very reasonable. Better than the other quotes we received from competitors.

E-bridge connector works via cloud, so you don’t need to set up hosting for the connector software.

Customization – Software allows for logic rules/customization so you can get everything mapped up just right.”

  e. Payment & security

Signifyd

Developer: Signifyd

Particular purpose: Fraud

This Magento extension solves the challenges that growing e-commerce businesses persistently face: billions of dollars lost in chargebacks, customer dissatisfaction from mistaken declines, and operational costs due to tedious, manual transaction investigation.

Signifyd’s guaranteed fraud protection is supported by a full-service cloud platform that automates fraud prevention through real-time, machine learning, allowing businesses to increase sales and open new markets while reducing risk.

How it works:

When a customer places an order with your Magento store, Signifyd automatically reviews the order and tells you whether to ship it or not. Signifyd’s guaranteed fraud protection covers merchants against chargebacks associated with fraud or unauthorized charges.

Pros:

+ Time-saving and money-saving: “Signifyd has saved us both time and money. Whenever we used to get large orders with different billing and shipping we had to contact the customer and make sure the order was legit and that took a bunch of time. No more of that. With Signifyd you get approved quickly and if the payment is disputed, they pay you back. Their service is great and highly recommended”

“It was a serious pain having to sift through international transactions and call banks to verify names and addresses. With Signifyd, it becomes a very easy process and with one click you can submit any transaction to be guaranteed by Signifyd against chargebacks. Great tool considering the amount of false credit card charges being made online. Easy to install and use, great customer support and follow up from their team”

+ Supportive: “Not only is the extension great and super easy to use, but the support that comes with it is efficient, reliable, and friendly. If I have an issue, I just pick up the phone and help is just a few minutes away.”

Cons:

“Signifyd doesn’t work with Magento cloud. If you have a bunch of e-commerce stores running on a single Magento instance it will NOT work. It only works with a single instance. So if you have 10 different stores for your clients running on a cloud, you have to have 10 different Magento instances running.”

Braintree payment

Developer: Paypal

Particular purpose: Payment Integration

Braintree helps businesses of all sizes, from small to large enterprises, accept and process payments to help maximize business opportunities and revenue growth. Companies around the world benefit from the technology and support of Braintree coupled with the scale, backing, and confidence of partnering with a PayPal service.

How it works:

This is an official Braintree extension built in collaboration with Gene Commerce. This extension updates and extends the core Braintree functionality that comes shipped with Magento 2. This extension takes advantage of the latest version of the Braintree SDK and it is strongly recommended that all Merchants using Braintree upgrade to this extension in order to benefit from many improvements and additional features such as Apple Pay and PayPal Credit.

Pros:

+ All mobile payment methods in one: “Great to have an extension with all mobile payment methods in one! We had one minor issue with Apple Pay showing up in the cart but this was linked to some CSS in the template which the developers quickly helped us identify. Great extension…it just works!”

“Great extension, exactly what Magento 2 needs, love the fact it has the latest PayPal smart buttons and all the mobile payment methods in one. Easy to set up and configure…thank you.”

Cons:

“We integrated this with 2.1.16 and found out only AFTER that the Kount fraud service we had with Braintree doesn’t work with our version and only works on the 2.2 or 2.3 versions. We have fraud orders flying through and can’t do anything to block emails, IPs, ship-to address, etc. Our sales team/support integrator and account manager take turns replying every few weeks. So if you want something that is basic, has little to no fraud filters and can’t get a reply from anyone there, pick this solution.”

“For some reason that they cannot explain, anytime an order is made the customer is charged the subtotal (even though the confirmation reads the grand total). This means that shipping and tax aren’t reaching Braintree.”

  3. CO-WELL Asia – A supreme e-commerce development service provider

There are millions of things to do when you start your e-commerce business (shipping, managing payment, improving sales,…), which can be either overwhelming or ineffective to do on your own. That’s why having outsourcing IT companies should be considered if you want your business to run smoothly and effectively in the long term.

With significant experience in building enterprise systems which manage more than 200 stores, over 20 million products and handle around 10000 orders each day, CO-WELL Asia offers consulting and development services for all levels of e-commerce systems.

We have developed the following Magento e-commerce extensions to functionally enhance our customers’ website: Abandoned cart email, Global postcode finder, and Drupal integration. 

These are unbiased reviews that we have summarized from Magento’s users. Despite some of the mentioned flaws, Magento e-commerce extensions are improving.  

  Bài viết MAGENTO COMMERCE EXTENSIONS – TOP 10 BEST FREE: WHAT DID USERS SAY? đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày Cowell Asia.

source https://co-well.vn/en/tech-blog/magento-commerce-extensions-top-10-best-free-what-did-users-say/

[kalachand97-blog]

New Post has been published on Globeinfrom

New Post has been published on https://globeinform.com/the-price-of-retaining-onto-antique-facts-tech/

The Price Of Retaining Onto Antique Facts Tech

Even greater than a lack of cash or time, company tradition can on occasion be the biggest barrier to trade within an organization — and that earrings genuine when it comes to adopting new and higher technology. Analysis these days released through Information analytics software employer SAS observed that inner management plays a key function in a company’s capability to combine new technologies.

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Modernizing existing structures no doubt has its advantages, however taking the first steps of the method are some of the toughest. Davenport outlined 5 steps the enterprise can take to start: check technical and human competencies, generate a proof of concept for brand new technology, redesign the working press, cope with relationships among the organization and IT and measure results.

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In step with Davenport, even though, corporations ought to paintings to overcome the hurdle of its own lack of ability to enact exchange.

“there’s no doubt that we’re in the age of analytics, and strong analytical abilities demand present day analytics technologies,” Davenport concluded. “Those corporations which have invested in new technologies have carried out notable results. I know of few sorts of investments to be able to yield extra returns than nicely-targeted analytical modernization applications.”

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1. Facts tough Pressure Recuperation equipment for new users:

those software program tools are designed exclusively for Those computer customers who are not properly versed with the tech aspect of their Computers. To assist the inexperienced customers, those software tools are designed in a particular manner. they have a consumer friendly interface.

  To assist the customers use those software program tools, those packages commonly consist of user publications and manuals which can be supplied inside the best language. There also are live demos which can be furnished together with those software gear making it less complicated for a new person. On most activities, those Facts difficult Power Restoration tools are supposed for man or woman customers. The stairs are defined well and punctiliously.

2. Specialized Statistics Healing software tools:

these equipment are feature wealthy in nature. maximum of those are easily downloadable on line and are used for recovering big Statistics which can be basically commonplace in case of businesses. They’re designed with some of functions that can be well understood by using the tech professionals.

Notwithstanding which kind of software tool you choose to repair deleted or lost Records, it’s far crucial to usually go for the exceptional one. by means of deciding on the correct software program device you’ll store a number of time. Similarly, it will assist you to keep cash on buying other software equipment.

Reinstalling Operating gadget Will No longer Get better Records

Here is something that receives my blood walking, stupidity from pc techs. I get incense once I listen what a so-referred to as Dell or HP tech personal does with somebody’s Facts. This is a cardinal sin whilst a tech reinstalls OS and overwrites Records. Now not lengthy in the past, a consumer called me frantically approximately their Statistics difficulty. They told me that a Dell tech did a disk Recuperation on their machine, and their Records changed into gone. I continually feel horrific for such clients, and I have wanted to do some thing in my energy to get their Statistics to them at a very minimal Fee. I am getting pissed off through the incompetence of such computer technicians. Consider me, we’ve tried all software program we realize, however the Statistics is long past. This is overwritten Facts, folks. Overwritten Records can’t be recovered.

I’ve desired to put in writing a blog approximately this for awhile. Now, due to the fact I get to hear about a similar issue, I sense that the time is good to provide you with a warning guys.

I am Not with the aid of any imply bashing computer techs Right here. I am in Information Recuperation, so every time any person, or a chum has a computer trouble, my first intuition is to backup their Information first earlier than I do something. If at all, I need to assist the best techs, and help you guys make the excellent selection if you have a tech observe your computer.

This customer came and chat on-line with me approximately their Information trouble. They had a few viruses on the PC PC, and brought their PC to a local tech. He advised me that they eliminated No longer only the viruses, however everything else like his Facts and programs.

This is classical for lots PC techs. If they don’t have the talents to restore the problem, they apply the one answer that works all the time – reinstall.

Oops! They forgot that the client had essential Information on their difficult Force. Oh no! How did they overlook about that?

Whats up! Everyone can reinstall an Operating gadget, however it takes a great tech to repair the difficulty. Agree with me, I do this too. After I’ve exhausted many hours on my friends’ PC to warfare viruses, I Simply reinstall. but Good day! I paintings in Facts Restoration; so I BACKUP THE Statistics before I reinstall.

I forgive them sometimes, however a few humans have to No longer name themselves computer technicians If they cannot suppose critically. I do not know if Information Recuperation makes me wiser, however my programming talents would have given me that understanding.

Ok-what are we pronouncing, and what may be taught Right here? Disk Recuperation, to me, is a misnomer. Disk Restoration does Now not include your Statistics. DISK Recovery IS AN Operating system Recuperation. It reinstalls your computer from scratch. This is, it reformats or deploy over preceding partition. Once you do that, your Information may be overwritten. You’ll be extremely fortunate in case your Data may be recovered. I never say never, due to the fact there are situations in which it could be recovered. but the odd is against you, length.

[grumkin]

Early, Brooklyn, Present Day

On my seventeenth birthday, my mother sent me to a psychic. It was the summer after my high-school graduation, and I was having some trouble deciding what to do with my life. Summertime in Brooklyn—the street trees fluffy with leaves, sparkling soda can discards glinting in the gutters, loud music pouring from every open window—is not conducive to buckling down and becoming a grown-up. Under the magnet on the fridge, Mom left a note that said, You have a noon appointment at La Botanica Divino Nino. You better go. Happy Birthday Love Mom. It was hot and humid that morning and although the light that pierced the curtains threatened to aggravate my headache, I put on some sunglasses, slipped on my flip-flops, and left the apartment.

           The seer operated in the back of a Dominican botanica in Brooklyn, a few blocks away from where we lived. The sign in the window flashed neon green and pink: Psychic – Palms Read – Futures Told. The seer had a slight mustache and a tragic dye job. She gripped my hand to her billowing chest as I entered the door, and cried, “My dear, I have just forseen your death!”

            I stumbled across the peeling linoleum threshold. The walls were lined with shelves containing cardboard boxes labeled in Spanish, and pungent incense wafted from a small cauldron on top of the glass display case. The seer dragged me to rest on a squeaky folding chair.    As my eyes adjusted to the dim interior, I saw my mother, Agatha, sitting in the corner, smoking and pretending to read, and I jumped almost out of my chair. She was always doing stuff like this. It was very exasperating, and hard on my nerves. While I was startled, I wasn’t surprised.

           “Mom!”

           “What? I’m reading, leave me alone.” Mom burrowed back into her book, something called Dancing with Depression, like she just happened to decide Divino Nino was the best place to catch up on her mental health. Puff-puff.

           The seer took my hand again and shook my arm a little. “Don’t you want to know the date of your death?”

           “I’m not sure I do,” I said.

           “Early,” my mother barked, “Do you want to know what it is to really live?” She shook her thick grayish-blonde braid over her shoulder and glared at me through her reading glasses.

           I, who had been listening to Rihanna, smoking cigarettes, and playing solitaire on my bed only hours before, felt this question was unfair. “Mom, could you just give me a break, please?”

           Mother believes. In all kinds of things. Psychics are high on her list. She loves the famous television psychics. She believes in television, too. She believes in angels, guardian angels, one or many of which we all have. She believes in past lives. She believes in children. She believes in the benefits of grapefruit for the digestive system. She believes in vitamins. She believes in inner light. She believes in Jesus. Mother is credulous. Mother believes there is a cure for everything.

           The seer wanted to get back on task. “I am Madame Borbala, and I see your future. Listen to me, I have foretold the hour of your death, but not its nature.”

           “You haven’t even read my palm yet; how have you foretold anything?” I looked around for cards or a crystal ball or other kind of divinatory device but saw only the bare card table, shelves full of tiny bottles, and an army of red and black candles marching in rows along one wall.

           Mom rolled her eyes at me. “This one, she doesn’t believe anything you tell her,” she said to Madame Borbala.

           “They’re so difficult at this age,” the Madame agreed. She turned my hand over and peered at my palm. “Yes, it’s very clear, here; you can see the indication on your life line. Your death,” she announced, “will be one year from now, on your eighteenth birthday.”

           “I’m hungry,” I said, gently pulling my hand out of her grasp. “Mom, can we go? I could eat a hamburger so fast right now.”

           “She’s gonna eat me out of house and home,” my mother groaned through the incense and cigarette smoke. “It’s like she’s got a bottomless stomach.” Madame Borbala made sympathetic noises. “I’m convinced she has a worm.”

           “Mom, I’m leaving now.”

           Mother sighed and tucked her book into her purse, stubbing out her cigarette into a straggly potted plant beside her. “Thank you Madame, you’ve been really helpful.”

           “No problem.” The seer nodded graciously.

           My mother discussed all of my problems with the neighborhood.  Madame Borbala probably knew all about what mom called my ‘rebellious ways,’ and not in the psychic sense, either. No, my mother had a big mouth. My drinking! My smoking! My habit of staying out till all hours of the day and night! I’m sure she told her friends all the details of my bad attitude.

           I spent the next few days considering the possibility that I might die in a year; that I might ever die at all. I have to say I just didn’t believe it at first. What teenager ever thinks she’s mortal? I ate my hamburger; later I went swimming with George at the community pool; and I forgot about the visit to Madame Borbala.

             Fast forward to this year. Brigit and I meet on June 14, at Dunkin Donuts next to the hospital. Supposed to be studying for Regents exams, I have taken to spending the mornings at Dunkin Donuts, reading books and getting hopped up on the iced hazelnut blend. DD is across the street from my apartment, and it’s got A/C, and one of the girls who works there was my partner in Earth Science before she dropped out, so they let me stay as long as I want. I always sit in the window booth, and before I met Brigid, I read and watched the street and watched my own reflection in the glass. I saw her, a tall girl with pink hair and big tits, come in almost every day. Her tattoos were kind of intimidating, and she held her mouth in a tough way, so I pretended not to notice her. Then one day she just plunked down next to me with her coffee.

           “Can I sit with you?”

           I startled and pulled myself out of my book. She was looking at me as if she expected me to say no.

           “Sure,” I said.

           “So what’s your deal?” she asked.

           “I don’t have a deal.”

           “Everyone has a deal. What are you reading?”

           Reluctantly, I showed her the cover of my book. Suddenly Psychic; a Skeptic’s Journey. “I got this one off of my Mom’s bookshelf.”

           Brigit nodded and said, “That’s cool,” in a way that didn’t make me question if she meant it.

           “What’s your deal?” If everyone had a deal, she was sure to have one as well.

           Brigit was an outpatient at the hospital’s psych ward. She came in every day for six hours of “partial hospitalization.” On her lunch break they let her come get coffee. “It’s the only drug I’m allowed to have,” she explained. “Coffee addictions are socially acceptable. Cigarettes too. Oh and the psych meds, of course! Wanna come outside and have a smoke with me?”

           I did.

           Brigit was an ex-Moonie. That is, her parents were members of the Unification Church, a religious movement started by a Korean dude named Sun Myung Moon. Members of this church think this guy is the second messiah, no shit. Brigit was brought up this way. When Brigid was ten, her parents were indicted on charges of fraud against little old ladies, and she was sent to live with her grandmother, a little old lady who was like, the OG Moonie.

“Gramma hates that I don’t believe in The Reverend any more. She’s always threatening to send me on a mission somewhere. But she won’t,” Brigit said, exhaling sharply.

“So what are you in here for?” I asked, indicating the hospital across the street. We leaned against the glass of the Dunking Donuts window and flicked ashes at the shimmering sidewalk.

           “Me? Oh, the partial hospitalization? Yeah. Um. I tried to kill myself again in March. I do it every year.”

           “How many times have you tried it?”

           “Three. Since I was fourteen. It keeps Gramma on her toes”            “In March, every year?”

           “Yeah, around there.”

           “Why March?”

           Smoke came out of Brigit’s mouth in a rush. “The spring is always a time of transformation and change for me.”

           “You’re obviously not very good at killing yourself.”            “O, I’m sure the cigs will get me one day.”

           We both took a meditative drag.

             “I hate July!” I complain to my cousin Honey, who has a straight back and a six-months-pregnant belly. It is disgustingly hot today, one day after Independence Day. The street is littered with red, white, and blue confetti. We sit on the stoop, fanning ourselves with party fliers. Honey is in her usual long white habit, which she took to wearing when she got pregnant, with a white rope tied high over her baby bump and under her rack, which is so enormous that the habit isn’t even doing a good job of hiding it. She’s practicing to become a nun, plans on entering the convent soon as she has the baby. Honey wants me to call her Clare, which is the saint name she plans to take. Everyone, in fact, has been calling her Saint Clare. Saint Clare, the pregnant teenaged nun. You could laugh, but it’s actually a shitty story, which nobody tells, as though by not telling you could, like, erase what happened to her, which involved being raped and impregnated by her own stepfather. Honey had always been religious, praying to the Heavenly Father and the Dear Lord, please this, please that, always in church, except that one fateful afternoon when she wasn’t, and after she found out she was pregnant, she decided that was all the calling she needed. Now she’s carrying her baby for Jesus.

Honey’s white hood is pushed back against her glossy dark hair, and her skin glows with a pearly sheen.  

“August is even worse!” She says, fanning herself harder, and suddenly my insides go queasy. Something ticks inside my skull and Madame Borbala comes swimming up from last summer.

           My 18th birthday is on August 13th. I’m a Leo. My little half-brother George sometimes tells me, when my hair is ‘fro-ing out, that I look like a lion. All this humidity drives my curls crazy. My mix of Dominican and Polish does not make for easy hair. If I die on my birthday, my hair better look good.

           Honey and I squint into the street and the sun presses down on us.

           “Last year a psychic told me I was gonna die on my 18th birthday.”

           Honey nods her head. “I’m pretty sure psychics are tools of the devil.”

           We contemplate that for a while. It is so hot here in this corner of Brooklyn, it is easy to believe the devil has had some influence around here. I want a cigarette but I’m trying to be good and not smoke. This morning, Mom accused me of stealing hers and if I admit it to myself, I have been doing that a lot.

           “On the other hand,” she says after a moment, “The Holy Spirit might be using this means to bring you to Jesus.”

           “I’m not sure I want to spend my last month on earth devoting my life to God.”

           “I can’t think of any better way to spend your last month on earth,” Honey says, staring nobly into the distance. She leans against the railing on the stoop, caressing her belly.  

           “You’re a little more religious than me,” I say. A cigarette would be just the thing.

           “I know,” she says, sighing. “So if not Jesus, what are you going to do with yourself?”

           “One thing for sure: if I die on my birthday, my hair better look good, “ I tell her. “That could literally take all month to achieve.”

           “You crazy-“ Honey loves calling people you crazy “- your hair better look good on your birthday whether you’re dead or not.”

           She has a point.

            “I have been thinking about it, now that it’s July,” I say. “I don’t really think I’m going to die on my birthday…but pretend I was.”

           “Are you worried you won’t go to heaven? I worry about that all the time.”

           “No,” I say, “I’m not worried about going to heaven.”            “Not at all?” She goggles at me.

           I stare back at her. “I don’t believe in heaven any more.”

           Honey turns away from me.

           “Okay, so pretend you’re gonna die in…how many days do you have?”

           “It’s July fifth. My birthday is August 13th. So that’s forty days.”

           “That’s how long it took Noah to build the ark. Or wait, was it Moses on the mount for forty days? I forget. Anyway, dang girl, you better get cracking.” She won’t say ‘damn.’

           I stare into Honey’s brown eyes.  

           “That’s what I was thinking.”

Thus the Birthday List is born. First item:

           Good hair.

  Honey leaves, hauling herself up, wiping away sweat from her forehead. She’s gotta pee, and wants to get back inside where it’s cool. She’s my uncle’s daughter, but her parents are divorced. She lives with my uncle, my missing father’s brother, Tito. She left her mom’s house after she got pregnant. My uncle lives close by, with his new wife and baby. Honey kisses me and heads down the street, slowly, her belly swinging in front of her. She’s got chores to do.