#even though one listing had two brand new for ¥1500

[01tsubomi]

for literal yeeeeears at this point i’ve occasionally checked the “misc anime” bins around my town’s resale shops looking for kagepro stuff, knowing it was in vain, so IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when i landed on this today!!!! an angel lost its wings at my city’s bookoff!!!!!! if they’d had kido too i def would have taken mekatrio home (or maybe not - they were p expensive at ~¥1500 each). the second konoha was hanging on a different hook and was actually the first one i spotted - took me like 15 seconds to believe what i was seeing - so i had to take him home. he was just lost. it’s ok i’ve got him now

in related news, the mekatrio mug w the disappearing kido which is the coolest thing ever and of which i came into possession in february 2021 by paying ~$50 including shipping, is in fact, available with high supply on japanese mercari

[bunkershotgolf]

Adams Golf’s Idea–Direct to Customer

By ED TRAVIS

The selling of golf clubs and balls is a predictable process, at least for the major manufacturers. Though each spends millions for endorsement by professional tour stars marketing plans usually place emphasis on where the company feels they have an advantage—for example, Callaway Golf’s Paradym drivers or Acushnet Company’s Titleist golf balls.

A key for the big manufacturers to pushing club and ball sales is establishing relationships with the so-called green grass shops found at every golf course and run by a PGA Professionals plus off-course vendors especially big box multiple location retailers while promoting online sales through their own websites and sites run by independents.

Adams Golf, which had all but disappeared after TaylorMade’s purchase in 2012 for $70 million, is taking a different route to re-establish itself with golfers. They have introduced a club family under the Idea brand name which is being sold DTC only from its website…no green-grass, no big box, no brick and mortar.

Of course, smaller, niche-focused makers sell online but often offer only a limited selection, perhaps just putters or balls. None of the major brands have opted to enter the market with a separate brand and then sell only DTC. For example, Callaway has the Big Bertha family and Tour Edge Golf the Hot Launch line, but neither is sold solely over the Internet.

To add to the attractiveness Adams/TaylorMade has decided to price the Idea clubs at the lower end of the current price spectrum with shaft selection limited to a single stock model though options of steel or graphite are offered in the irons. An Adams Idea driver, a fairway wood, two hybrids and seven irons may be purchased for just about $1500 while the latest from parent TaylorMade, a Stealth 2 driver, one fairway wood and two hybrids lists cost approximately the same amount and that doesn’t include the Stealth irons which could be another $1000. Adams ships at no cost for orders over $99.

An interesting business plan, TaylorMade creating in-house competition. Not unheard of in retail but always to be approached with a complete understanding of how the main, money-making brand will be affected when faced with a lower priced rival offering presumably the same quality though it could be argued performance may be significantly different. The company certainly believes that for a generation of consumers familiar with online purchasing, golf clubs on the web without a potentially intimidating store visit is worth the investment.

Adams Golf was started by Barney Adams in 1991 and his Tight Lies hybrid design changed hybrids forever with its innovative Tri-Sole that helped average players get the ball out of most any lie, long grass or even sand.

The Idea line can boast some of the latest design features and though they may not be as sophisticated as the TaylorMade Stealth still are attractive for use by new golfers and those returning to the game. For example, the draw-bias Idea driver has a carbon fiber crown, an adjustable hosel and sole slot while the cavity back irons are a hollow body construction with a variable thickness face.

In other words, many of the same talking points as any of the major makers competing clubs. The question is can TaylorMade revive Adams Golf with this one-of approach or will Adams slip back into obscurity.

[dtechsavvy]

Top 10 Less Known Facts About Apple

Today, we know Apple as the world's greatest tech company. But Apple too, as a company, has had its fair share of ups and downs, and has made interesting history. Here are 10 facts about Apple that not many people know of.

1. Apple Has Three Founders

Apple Inc. was actually started by three people. While two of them are well known, the third person is known by fewer people, his name is Ronald Wayne. He was born on May 17, 1934. He provided administrative oversight and documentation for the company, and was the person to illustrate the first Apple logo. Due to his earlier experiences with his slot machine business, which had him indebted, he was not willing to take risks with Apple. A few days later he sold his 10% share of the company to Jobs and Wozniak for US$ 800, and about a year later he accepted $1500 to forfeit any potential claims against Apple in the future.

2. Apple Was Started With A Calculator

While Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen van to raise some money for starting Apple, Steve Wozniak sold his HP 65 scientific calculator. Now, this might not seem like a fair deal, but scientific calculators at that time were much more expensive than they are today. While the van generated $750, the calculator was able to bring in $500.

3. Apple Started A Clothing Line In 1986

Over the years we have seen that Apple's brilliant sense of product design, with its stunningly minimal looking products and its sense of what people want next, has developed an enormous following for Apple. But even Apple hasn't done everything right. In 1986, a year after Steve Jobs left his position as the chairman of the company, Apple started a clothing line named as "The Apple Collection". Under this brand, Apple developed clothing accessories ranging from shirts and pants to watches and sunglasses. This actually did not turn out very well, you would understand when you check out the collection.

4. Steve Jobs Invented The Computer Mouse By Stealing It From Xerox

It is quite commonly believed that the computer mouse was invented by Steve Jobs. But this is not true, Steve Jobs took the concept from Xerox. When he visited Xerox's Palo Alto research centre in the 1970s, he was amazed to see a new three buttoned computer mouse. Upon realizing that it would be the perfect interface device for his Apple computers, he took the concept to Dean Hovey, an industrial designer, who removed two of the buttons, improving the concept for Jobs and also reducing the cost from $300 to $15. This is how Jobs made the design more practical and affordable for consumers.

5. In 1997 Apple Was Saved By Microsoft

In the year 1997, Apple was about to go bankrupt. Jobs had just become the CEO of Apple, he made some serious moves to save the company, one of them was to make a deal with Bill Gates. Apple and Microsoft are companies founded around the same time, though one was more focused on making computers and the other, on software, they still had a rivalry. Apple had filed a copyright infringement suit against Microsoft. When Jobs called Bill Gates, he talked about leaving behind the competitive approach to their existence in the business and rather have a supportive attitude towards each other. After that Microsoft agreed to invest $150 million in Apple stocks, both the companies agreed to settle their court matters, Microsoft Office was made available for Macintosh, and Internet Explorer was made the default browser on the mac, with no restrictions on other browsers.

6. Apple Has More Cash In Hand Than The US Treasury

Being the world's greatest tech company, Apple has got to have some perks for itself. It has more cash in hand than the US government does. But if we really look at it, the government has a virtually unlimited amount of cash, they are the ones who print it, they can always get more for themselves. But until they don't, we are going to say Apple has more. In 2015, Apple had almost twice as much cash as the US government.

7. If You Use iTunes, You Have Already Agreed To Not Use It To Create Nuclear Weapons

There is a clause in Apple end user license agreement, which says that you have agreed to not use the shiny music app for the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Now you would think, who in the world would use iTunes for such a purpose or how in the world could it even be used in that way. I would say that Apple just maybe likes to fill all the gaps.

8. You Have A Better Chance Of Getting Accepted At Harvard Than Getting A Job At An Apple Store

Apple once had an acceptance rate of 2% for an Apple store, in the same year the acceptance rate at Harvard was 7%. Now, it can't be a direct comparison, as the conditions for acceptance for a retail job and for acceptance at a university are very different. It is still a fun comparison though. There is a quite significant difference between the acceptance rates. Now you know that it is not so hard getting accepted at Harvard, that you have a better chance at it than you have at being employed at an Apple store.

9. Smoking Near Apple Computers Voids The Warranty

Though there is no direct statement in Apple's warranty clause which says that cigarette smoke voids the warranty, there have been a number of cases where Apple has refused repairs to computers damaged by cigarette residue. It is not the smoke that is the reason behind it, Apple clarifies that it is actually the nicotine residue and nicotine is on OSHA's list of hazardous substances, therefore they cannot make a repair employee work on a computer contaminated with it. You've got one more reason to not smoke now, if you use an Apple computer.

10. Siri Will Flip A Coin For You If you Can't Make A Decision

Sometimes, it is just hard to make small decisions and you might not even have a coin to toss. But if you have Siri, you aren't yet completely out of luck. Siri can always help you decide which ice cream you should get, you just have to summon Siri and say, "flip a coin" and it will flip a coin for you. Of course, it won't be as good as an actual coin, with which you come to know what you actually want when it's in the air, but it's going to be random enough. Siri can also help you when you want to play a dice game but you somehow don't have the dice, mind you, it's not that difficult to lose those small cubes. You just have to summon Siri and say, "roll dice" and it will do it for you.

Top 10 Less Known Facts About Apple, originally posted on Dtechsavvy.

[arthurhwalker]

Thinkpad Yoga 2021, Buying Guidance

It's a banner year for Thinkpad Yoga devices, with a lot of keen changes. The Thinkpad products I've been wanting to see for years, are starting to appear.

As always, my buying advise includes the following:

Lurk the Lenovo website for coupons, and sales. They run all the time, but there is often a day or two where a sale, and a coupon, overlap.

Upgrade the Warranty. I've had to make a dozen warranty calls to Lenovo, for myself, and other folks, and having an upgraded warranty on a Thinkpad makes a big difference. The warranty service is always good in my experience, but it can be amazing for a little more.

This year, get the RAM you want, installed at the time of purchase. The new Intel SoC for a lot of products has a the RAM soldered, and can't be upgraded later.

Lenovo has really embraced Linux compatibility of late. You almost don't even need to check with Thinkpads anymore, they are going to be compatible, fit, and ready to go. Many can be ordered to ship with Linux already on board.

Let’s dig in!

X1 Yoga Gen 6 (14" Intel)

The highlights here are a 16:10 aspect ratio for the display, rechargeable Lenovo Integrated Pen, on board in a silo, Intel Iris Xe Graphics (finally, you guys, finally), and up to 32 GB of RAM (also, finally!). 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 Processors, 1145G7, 1135G7, 1165G7, 1185G7, are top performers in realm of UltraBook ULV options. Depending on your region, there will be 4G / 5G LTE WANN options. Also, there is a 57Wh battery that supports rapid charge with a 65W Adapter.

Those display options though:

14" UHD+ 4K (3840 x 2400) IPS, anti-reflection, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™, HDR400, 500 nits, 90% DCI P3 Color Gamut, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions

14" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen with Privacy Guard, 500 nits

14" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen, 400 nits, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions

Those options are according to the website, where the PSREF lists four options, one with 100% DCI P3 Color Gamu, and 1500:1 Contrast Ratio. I'll try to get some clarity on that. All have 100% sRGB Anti-Glare, or Anti-Reflective glass treatments, and so forth. I have a Lenovo Yoga product with a UHD 4K Display, and one with a Low-Power FHD display. For working with home, I like the Low-Power because I can make it dim in a dark room. The 500 nit HDR displays can't be turned down enough to be comfortable for my eyes. Awesome in a bright office, or outdoor environment, not great for working from your couch.

Aluminum chassis, top and bottom, AND Lenovo seems to be getting aluminum anodizing and milling down to a fine science. Normally, aluminum products, made by anyone, are kinda sloppy with seams and fit being a little off. The last few recent Lenovo devices with aluminum chassis have been really good. Good enough to not set off my OCD.

As I write this, there is no build your own option for this model, because they just released it recently.

L13 Yoga Gen 2 (Intel)

If you owned an S1 Yoga (the first Thinkpad Yoga), way back in 2013, and loved it, you'll really like the L13 Yoga Gen 1, or Gen 2. They have the same case color, feel, pen-silo placement, and so forth. The Gen 2 does have an option for Integrated Intel Iris X Graphics, with the 11th Gen G7 SoC. A Thunderbolt 4 port has been added to the Gen 2, and it has a MicroSD card reader, which I really appreciate having. Keyboard on these feels deep and nice, even compared to more expensive Thinkpad Yoga products.

The display option, battery life, and so forth are very last year, but I've seen the Gen 1 as cheap as 700 USD, at retailers.

This is the Thinkpad Yoga if you want to get one just for travel, for a young person, carrying around at college, and similar. My S1 Yoga from 2013 has been loaned out many times, case paint rubbed down to the metal at the corners, and it still runs. The L13 Yoga has the same design language, and in some markets I believe they are actually called S2 Yoga Gen 5 and 6.

X13 Yoga Gen 2 (13" Intel)

Announced back on February 23rd, this 2-in-1 laptop has a lot of people very excited. It kinda has all the things.

Up to 11th Gen Intel (hopefully the nicer G7 SoC, as opposed to the lower powered one, but we'll see), with Integrated Intel Iris X Graphics. Premium graphics option, check.

Up to 32 GB LPDDR4 (4266MHz) RAM. More than 16GB RAM option, check.

52.8 Whr Battery, with rapid charge. Something more than a mid 40 Whr battery, check.

Integrated rechargeable pen stylus. Check.

13.3" 16:10 WQXGA or WUXGA sisplay options, Check. (This is incredible news, btw).

Thunderbolt 4 x2 Ports, check.

LTE WANN option, check.

Lighter than 3lb, at 2.65 lb, check.

POWER ON MoC TOUCH FINGER PRINT READER! (Applause, Check)

Black Carbon Fiber Hybrid color / chassis treatment, check

This is the Thinkpad Yoga I have been dreaming about since 2015. I can't think of a single thing I would add or take away from it. It might be perfect.

Press Release says it'll be around in April, starting at 1379 USD. Believe I will be lurking the Lenovo Website for sales and double coupons the latter part of the year. The rest of the Press Release is here.

X1 Titanium Yoga (13.5" Intel) Gen 1

There's a lot to talk about here, but the main reason to get one of these is the 3:2 Aspect Ratio display option.

The 13.5" QHD (2256 x 1504) IPS, anti-reflective, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision, 450 nits has 1200:1 contrast ratio (better than average), with 72% NTSC Color Gamut (average).

But, it's a 3:2 aspect ratio, 2-in-1 Thinkpad Yoga. That said, I haven't held one in my hands, or used one. The general warning with some of the Thinkpad Yoga products for 2021, the keyboard isn't as deep or nice as usual. With how thin and light they are getting Thinkpads, that isn't a surprise. I suspect that this model might have that issue. If you're all right with a shallower feeling keyboard, and just gotta have a 3:2 aspect ratio 2-in-1, maybe pull the trigger on this one.

X1 Nano Gen 1 (13" Nano)

This isn't a Thinkpad Yoga, but because of the Thinkvision M14t portable pen display, I feel like the Nano needs to get talked about a little bit. The non-touch screen, WiFi only model, is 1.99 lbs. The M14t portable pen display is about a 1.5 lb. With a Nano and a an M14t display, one could have a dual-display option, all Think branded, for about the same weight as an X1 Yoga Gen 6. Also, the Thinkpad Nano has a really nice 2K (I love 2k) 16:10 aspect ratio, low power, 100% sRGB color gamut, display.

Having a portal rig that light, with a dual-display set up would be amazing. I could have my basis pics and reference work on the Nano's display, while I was drawing or writing on the M14t. If you're a digital artist that works with two display, one above the other, this could be a silver bullet for working mobile. There is a touch-screen model for the Nano, but I don't recommend getting that to work with a pen display.

Windows 10 really struggles to parse more than one touch screen, or pen display, connected. Getting your pen stylus buttons to work is tough. If the X1 Nano + M14t Setup sounds awesome, get the non-touch display option. It's lighter, and your pen stylus settings should just work on the portable display without fiddling. The M14t display monitor is a really good buy, just in general, because it is one of those products that doesn't come around too often.

Finding an M14t monitor could be tricky. It is often sold out, so some hunting and lurking online may be required.

Non-Yoga Thinkpads

The standout models here are basically anything with an AMD chipset (yay, options!), and the the Thinkpad T15g.

I've recommended a few AMD models since they've been a regular offering in different Thinkpad lines. All good news, people are happy, and I'm much relieved the recommendations worked out. I figured they would, but like most folks that live in Thinkpad Land, we're a little nervous about big changes.

What I'm not nervous about is the Thinkpad T15g.

It's a desktop replacement option that isn't in the X1 line (and limited in configuration options), or in the P Series (expensive, NVIDIA Quadro standard). It has processor options that range from the Core i5-10400H up to a Xeon W-10885M. It's listed as being compatible with all the Linux, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, Ubuntu, and so forth.

Graphics Options are NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080 SUPER Max-Q.

It can have up to 128 GB of RAM, DDR4 or ECC for models with a Xeon Processor.

Up to two M.2 2280 SSD drives, with 2 TB each.

There's standard FHD display options, a UHD option, and an OLED UHD option with a 100,000:1 Contrast Ratio, 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut. With that particular option, a pen stylus will work on it.

The Thinkpad T15g is big (6 lb), and ugly (standard Thinkpad Black chassis finish), but you could work, and game on it with pretty equal ability. It's a Thinkpad ... but for gaming, too?

[destieltropecollection]

Destiel Trope Collection 2019 Day 17: Friends To Lovers

No Longer A Bat-chelor | @envydean Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 6787 Main Tags and Warnings: Wildlife Rescuer!Dean, Wildlife Vet!Cas, fluff, blanket sharing Summary: Dean's always been too busy for a relationship, but, after a visit to the wildlife vet with his latest rescues, Cas asks him out and Dean agrees. Maybe the universe just needed him to wait until the right time.

Catch 22 | @dmsilvisart Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 3664 Main Tags and Warnings: friends to lovers, pining, halloween, swearing, suggested or mild sexual content Summary: Their entire town knew that Dean or Cas were a sure thing if you wanted meaningless sex and you were in for a damn good time. Word got around and neither man left their partner wanting when the night was through. DEAN A year ago, at this Halloween party, Cas and Dean ended up tumbling into bed together after the festivities. They had been friends for ages and occasionally fuck buddies when one of their dates hadn’t panned out. Since then, they’ve been a regular for each other but still not exclusive. Dean knew Cas occasionally had other partners and so did Dean. Truth be told, it had been a couple months since Dean got any enjoyment out of sex that wasn’t with Cas. CASTIEL Cas was leaving his schedule open in case Dean called. It was pathetic but that's what it was. He wanted his best friend around as more than just a hookup, He wanted Dean to himself. He hadn’t enjoyed sex for months unless it was with Dean. Don’t get him wrong, he still had sex, but there was no connection. He couldn’t leave fast enough when all was said and done. He always spent the night with Dean though.

C Is For... | @spinnerjen Rating: Mature Word Count: 24369 Main Tags and Warnings: Major Character Death, Cancer, Terminal Illnesses Summary: Summary: Health expert and dietician, Castiel has just been told he has two years to live... He plans to make the most of it.

Since Always | @casbeanwrites Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 1936 Main Tags and Warnings: friends to lovers, fluff, mutual pining, best friends, first kiss Summary: They are best friends, they always have been. Or so Dean constantly tells himself.

Memories Can Hurt or Heal | @fangirlingtodeath513 Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 1606 Main Tags and Warnings: Alternate Universe - No Monsters Summary: Dean moved into this house months ago. There's one box on the top shelf of his closet that remains unpacked. A rainy Saturday morning seems like the perfect time to reminisce, doesn't it?

Goddamnit, Cas! | @imbiowaresbitch Rating: Explicit Word Count: 3932 Main Tags and Warnings: Friends to lovers, human Cas, porn without plot, fluff Summary: Human!Cas has an oral fixation and it is positively destroying Dean's ability to think. Cas isn't trying to be a cocktease, but Dean is about to burst. And yeah, Cas is a total cocktease.

Not a couple | @huntersandwerewolves Rating: Explicit Word Count: 2426 Main Tags and Warnings: school reunion, friends to lovers, confessions, first kiss, frottage Summary: Castiel had had enough. After years of sexual tension, unrequited feelings and being teased by their friends, he was done. Dean wasn’t in love with him and he was fine with that, but he didn’t have to rub it in. The length Dean went through to make sure people knew they WEREN’T dating was ridiculous and frankly, Cas had had enough.

trustworthy for such work | @reallyelegantsharkfish Rating: Explicit Word Count: 7474 Main Tags and Warnings: Dragon Castiel, djinn dean, Dragons, Djinni & Genies, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Demisexual Castiel, Mutual Pining, Magic, Wishes References to Addiction, References to Knotting Summary: Cas hugs his pillow, and he’s mostly asleep when a memory works its way in. His father watching Fox news, a fearmongering piece about ifrits in healthcare. His father’s voice, saying, Blood is how they take your wishes. Cas always assumed that meant through feeding. But —

First Words | @suckerfordeansfreckles Rating: General Word Count: 1051 Main Tags and Warnings: friends to lovers, mild hurt/comfort, mentions of alcohol, Cas had too many drinks, love confessions Summary: Cas isn’t sure why he decides to text Dean now, at 3:24 a.m. — but with how his stomach is roaring and his head is pounding, his mouth still tasting like cheap tequila, all he wants is his best friend to take care of him. Cas: I don’t know why i even let Meg drag me out to party, but this isit Cas: i think i’ll die Cas: i didn’t realize i had such a low alcohol tolernce

Untimely Confessions of Love and Other Things - A Hunter's Realization in 5 Parts | @lemonsorbae Rating: General Word Count: 1732 Main Tags and Warnings: Post-Canon, Pining Dean, Oblivious Castiel, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers Summary: They’re dangling off his tongue again, those three little words; the three most terrifying words in the entire English language. It’s getting harder and harder to hang on to them, to keep them imprisoned.

Adventures in Problem Solving | @blueeyesandpie Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 5726 Main Tags and Warnings: no warnings, fluff and goodness, College/University AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Christmas, Fluff, Russian Castiel, Human Castiel, Student Castiel, Student Dean Winchester Summary: Dean and Cas have been living together since freshman year and despite their many differences, that's how Dean wants to keep it. Then senior year rolls around and Castiel reminds Dean that his student visa expires soon after he graduates. Dean has a mad plan, but can they keep up the charade long enough for Cas to stay in America where he belongs, or will Dean's growing feelings get in the way?

i need you | @breathingdestiel Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 1688 Main Tags and Warnings: au, actor!cas, actor!dean Summary: Dean and Cas are acting in the same movie after a long time. This would be fantastic if Dean didn’t have a huge crush on his best friend.

Sweeten My Heart | @breathingdestiel Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 2332 Main Tags and Warnings: hs!au, pining Summary: Cas is in love with his best friend who is straight and could never love him back. But why is Dean all of a sudden calling him sweetheart, sunshine, and other pet names? Is it possible that Cas's love isn't unrequited after all?

Pen Pal | @peanutbutterjelly-pie Rating: General Word Count: 5246 Main Tags and Warnings: Alternate Universe, Pen Pals, Friends to Lovers, Fluff Summary: “Hey, Cas, you wanna be my pen pal?” * * * * * * * * * (Dean is twelve years old when he asks Castiel to be his pen pal, not knowing that it will change his life completely.)

I'm Okay With That | @DesiraeLovesDestiel Rating: Explicit Word Count: 6221 Main Tags and Warnings: Professor Cas/Mechanic Dean, best friends to lovers, pining, love confssions Summary: "Look Cas, I'm sorry, okay? Really. I never meant for you to find out, or make you uncomfortable. We can just pretend this whole thing never happened." "Seriously? Pretend that I didn't just learn you've been in love with me for fourteen years?" Dean has been in love with his best friend Castiel Novak since they were children. A fact that Cas was NEVER supposed to find out.

Hands | @marian-elisa Rating: Explicit Word Count: 2297 Main Tags and Warnings: Friendship/Love, Canon compliant, missing moments Summary: Dean wasn’t sure of when it happened, but holding Cas’ hand had become just as vital as breathing for him. Or: a reflection written from the point of view of their hands.

Let's Just Get a Beer Instead | @a-winchester-scorned  Rating: Explicit Word Count: 5941 Main Tags and Warnings: Destiel, Bottom Castiel, PWP, Top Dean, First Time Summary: Dean’s plan to get Cas laid didn’t go as planned, so they settle for a few beers at a dive bar.

Dean Likes (Cas') Anatomy | @braezenkitty Rating: Explicit Word Count: 2328 Main Tags and Warnings: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, First Time, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Time, Blow Jobs, Frottage Summary: Dean and Cas have been best friends since they were kids, and they've also had crushes on each other for just about as long. They finally get their shit together thanks to an Anatomy midterm.

Not good enough? | @notfunnydean Rating: General Word Count: 6099 Main Tags and Warnings: sad!dean, Crying!Dean, pining!dean, Pining!Cas, two idiots in love Summary: When Dean finds a list in Cas’ room, where Cas has written down everything he hates about him, Dean tries to become a brand new person. But Castiel seems to hate that as well.

Ten Years Gone | @mittensmorgul Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 4011 Main Tags and Warnings: Fluff, Anniversary, Feelings, Dean's Top 13 Zepp Traxx Mixtape Summary: Ten years after Cas first pulled Dean out of Hell, they both realized that somewhere along the way, they'd saved each other.

What Do You Wish For? | @envydean Rating: Explicit Word Count: 1500 Main Tags and Warnings: Camping, Fluff, Smut, Fingering, semi-public smut, First Time, allusions to Dean/Others, Wishes, Recreational Drug Use, Weed, sharing joints Summary: Dean, Cas, and their senior high school friends are on their annual camping trip. The sun has set and Cas wants some space to reset himself after a lot of socialising and Dean joins him.

Cold-Hearted | @supernatural9917fic Rating: Explicit Word Count: 1595 Main Tags and Warnings: they were roommates, Friends to Lovers, angry breakup songs, Fluff and Smut Summary: Dean's just gone through a bad break-up, so Cas helps him the best way he knows how- booze and angry break-up songs.

Never or Forever | @almaasi Rating: General Word Count: 5604 Main Tags and Warnings: Canon Universe, Fluff, Romance, Relationship Reveal, Best Friends, Friends to Lovers, Mistaken for a Couple, Resolved Romantic Tension, First Kiss, Family Dinners, Everyone Ships Castiel/Dean, Bisexual Dean, Bisexual Jody, Matchmaker Jody Mills, Wayward Sisters, Everyone Is Alive, Kaia Nieves Lives, Eileen Leahy Lives, POV Jody Mills, Eavesdropping Summary: During an impromptu family dinner, Jody figures out that Dean is in a happy long-term relationship. But does he even know? Cas is clearly paying attention. Yet Dean seems to think he's single. Jody never thought of herself as a meddler – but clearly, under circumstances such as these, something must be done.

Gulls N' Roses | @almaasi Rating: General Word Count: 2414 Main Tags and Warnings: Canon Universe, Romance, Fluff, Gift Exchange, True Love, Roses, Misunderstandings, First Kiss, Holding Hands, Ghost Hunters, Seaside Storms, Arcades, Dean Loves Pie, Angel Castiel, Autistic Castiel Summary: While mid-hunt, Dean gives Cas a red rose. Interpreting the gift as a gesture of true love, Cas decides to give Dean something very special in return.

Prince of the Ether Realms | @almaasi Rating: General Word Count: 5423 Main Tags and Warnings: Canon Universe, Fluff, Romance, Weddings, Misunderstandings, Marriage of Convenience, Dean is Bad at Feelings, Sam Knows, Shipper Sam, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Portals, Cuddly Dean, Angel Castiel, Agender Castiel, Prince Castiel Summary: To complete a spell, Castiel needs to marry a human. Sam, Dean, and Cas make do with a simple two-minute ceremony in the bunker's library. It means nothing, it's just a means to an end. But what begins as a shortcut for spellwork becomes something far more important, as the human Cas chooses to marry is Dean. As it happens, the shift in their relationship is very real – and the effects, one might say, are universe-bending.

Whoa There Cowboy | @almaasi Rating: Explicit Word Count: 5381 Main Tags and Warnings: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Smut, Fluff, Romance, Dean's Cowboy Fetish, Cowboy Dean, Bisexual Dean, Cowboy Castiel, Porn Watching, Misunderstandings, First Kiss, First Time, Masturbation, Roleplay, Frottage, Love Confessions, Cuddling & Snuggling, Castiel Watches Dean Winchester Sleep, Episode: s13e06 Tombstone Summary: If you're gonna jerk off, watch something you find sexy, Dean said. There's a dirty cowboy movie on TV, and that suits him perfectly. But he never expected that Cas would want to watch /him/.

A Place and a Feeling | @almaasi Rating: Explicit Word Count: 24402 Main Tags and Warnings: Alternate Universe, Romance, Schmoop, Domestic Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Feelings With Porn, Real Estate Agent Castiel, Castiel in Glasses, Castiel in Panties, Bisexual Dean, Workplace Relationship, House Hunting, Love Confessions, Desk Sex, Premature Ejaculation, Moving In Together, Cuddling & Snuggling, Pets, Adopted Children, Adoptive Parents Castiel & Dean Summary: Human AU. Dean Winchester still hasn't found the perfect little house in the suburbs he's always dreamed of. On the off-chance that another meeting with his totally adorkable realtor could finally change everything, Dean keeps going back to Castiel's agency. Like Cas always says, home is both a place and a feeling. But what if the place Dean's looking for is Castiel's house, and the feeling is Castiel himself? Sometimes the most unprofessional choices lead to the most enjoyable personal consequences. This is one of those times.

...and so you fell 'verse (WIP) (Series) | @babybluecas 

Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 15605 Main Tags and Warnings:canon divergence, alt-season 9, fallen!Cas, fluff and angst Summary: After the fall, Cas finds his way to the Bunker, but that's hardly the end of his road. Humanity comes with its burdens, but it might have some perks as well.

Tag Your Porn | jscribbles (AO3) Rating: Mature Word Count: 3517 Main Tags and Warnings: panty kink, fourth wall, TFW reads fanfiction, naughty Summary: When Becky sends Sam some of EllenOfOz's fanfiction, he makes it his mission to use Destiel fanfiction to mortify Dean. But to his surprise, Cas seems intrigued by panties, Dean slowly becomes engrossed in fanfic, and what the hell are they doing cooped up in Dean's room for so goddamn long? Sam is scarred for life when he goes to find out exactly what they're up to.

[drferox]

Pet Insurance

To be honest, I'm not totally convinced with this whole 'Pet Insurance' thing.

It certainly exists, and it's becoming increasingly common, but it's not exactly a good product and it's getting harder to recommend to my pet owning clients, as well as a general pain in the patootie to get money of sometimes. I have to say, I'm becoming increasingly disappointed and disillusioned with it.

I got curious the other day and looked up what it would cost me to get Accident & Illness cover for Trash Bag. No preventative care (it's cheap enough for me anyway as I can do a lot myself), just for sicknesses and illnesses. He's a 2yo neutered male, indoor only cat. He's a really low risk cat, and that's a quote without pouring through his medical history or pre-existing conditions. Even though any issues he'd had before taking out insurance would have been automatically excluded.

And it's still about $600 for the year, with only reimbursing 75% of the bills back, with no excess. What that means in real terms is that I'd have to have a $1200 vet bill in order for me to break even with pet insurance.

That would be plausible, with the median sort of 'expensive' vet bill for a stay at a 24 hour clinic or major surgery being around $3k, but the odds of that actually happening for me are extremely unlikely at his age.

Now, it might be a good deal, if I could expect to have that rate for his entire life. But that isn't going to happen.

Pet Insurance in Australia will guarantee 'lifetime cover' but what that means is not that you're paying this rate for the animal's entire life, but that they will give you a new offer of cover every year and it's up to you to accept it. They can't stop covering my cat, but they can make it more expensive every year so maybe I'll stop covering my cat. If they don't want to cover me, they will make me an offer they hope I will refuse.

Let's say I have a lot of small claims. The insurer might amend their letter of offer to include a $100 excess. That means I have to pay the first $100 of any vet bill on my own, and now they reimburse me 75% of the rest. So for a $100 vet bill, I can't claim anything. For a $200 vet bill, I get $75 back, and I'm still paying at least $600 a year at this point. Now I need a $1500 vet bill to break even.

They may also limit the amount payable for certain types of things. For example, a lot of the Australian policies have a $300 annual limit on consultation fees. In practice that translates to about 5 consults with a general practice vet, or two with a specialist. That's not a whole lot if you've got a pet with something chronic.

Tick paralysis and cruciate ligament injury have annual limits to their payouts too, and they're not quite what these things would really cost to treat.

And to add to the deception, some insurers will exclude bilateral conditions. If your pet had a sore eye one year, they may exclude all eye conditions going forward, even if they're not related, and even for the unaffected eye. Sometimes they will exclude unrelated conditions for the same organ system. Demodex as a puppy? Wont cover skin allergies now.

Pet insurance works like a bet. You're betting that your pet will get sick, and the insurer is betting that it wont. If you win, you get paid out.

But if the insurer doesn't like those odds, they change them, or they change the rules for the payout. They're not going to lose, they're going to change the rules to make sure of it, and you either agree to their terms or you stop playing.

So how do they make you stop playing?

The insurer is entitled to increase the cost of the pet insurance policy each year, based on the age of the pet and previous claims. Or they can increase the excess you pay for each claim. Or they can exclude covering conditions that you've claimed for in the past.

Progressively, it gets more and more expensive to cover your pet for less and less, and this is something veterinarians are progressively less happy about.

Now, if we were talking about a car and not a cat, you could take your quote and shop around for a better deal. But the catch with pet insurance is that if you switch providers, then suddenly everything you've ever claimed for, or that appeared in the medical history, now counts as a pre-existing condition and wont be covered. You lose coverage by switching providers, and probably don't save all that much.

Oh, there is, to my current knowledge, only two insurance underwriters for pet insurance in Australia right now. So of the 200 or so brands out there, 199 are actually all written by the same mob. Because that's not ripe for corruption at all...

Every 12 months, the insurer can review and change your premiums, excess, excluded conditions and rebate rate.

And unlike human health insurance where you scan a card, the total comes off your bill, and you pay the rest, with pet insurance you're still paying the vet clinic everything up front, and then get money back after your claim is processed, which may be a few months.

Pet insurance companies are really trying not to pay out, they want to make money, not give it away.

This makes writing medical histories a little bit tricky, because it's not vets reviewing the history to decide what they will and wont pay out on. If the insurance employee doesn't know what pemphigus folleaceous is, they might decide not to pay out. Then I have to call them up, request a review, talk it through, or send more documentation to explain what's going on.

Pet Insurance requests, demands, access to the pet's medical history. It's not like human insurance where they just see an itemized invoice. And this makes vets not entirely happy about handing over medical histories all the time when client's money is at stake. Especially when any potential mention of a vaccine preventable illness gets the whole claim thrown out, even if it's in the differentials list and not the final diagnosis.

So pet insurance is nice to have if you end up with a single, large vet bill, but it's not so helpful for chronic conditions, and you still need access to that cash BEFORE you get any back.

So, honestly, it just wouldn't work for me, and I'm a vet.

The point I would like to get to, other than Pet Insurance in general needing to be better regulated and honestly a bit of a gamble, is that is can't be used as a solution to everyone's problem, especially after a pet is already sick. You still need cash to pay the bills up front, even with pet insurance.

There are other options besides pet insurance. I can never recommend against it, but I do recommend people understand what they're signing up for, and as long as they've got some sort of plan in place for paying vet bills that's okay.

Popular in my area is just using a mortgage redraw facility. With these home loans you can pay extra into your mortgage each week/fortnight/month and it counts against the interest you pay, as a method to pay it down early. But because it's being paid 'early' you can withdraw the extra funds again if you need them, such as for a vet bill. It functions like a savings account, but you're paying down a debt you already have instead of accruing interest.

An emergency credit card is another option, one you just keep paid off unless you genuinely need it.

And 3rd party payment plans exist. Most vet clinics will not do their own payment plans, or will not admit to ever offering them, because we simply don't want people to rely on the vet clinic, a small business, taking on the financial risk on behalf of the owners because, frankly, most people never pay. This is especially true if the pet dies. A clinic might offer them for immediate life saving treatment if they know the client well, but the emergency last resort should never be anybody's number one plan. That's not fair.

Wonka also does not have pet insurance. I asked a couple of insurers at an industry exhibit once whether, because he has a neurological condition, whether he'd be covered for a broken leg if he fell off the couch. And none of them could assure me they would, in case in fell off because of the neurological condition. And that was not reassuring.

So when do I recommend pet insurance? Well I kind of don’t, specifically. I advise which companies other clients have been happy with, and what sort of things a pet owner needs to look for in terms of exclusions, limits, and fine print.

There are always some breeds I do recommend it for, because they are disasters waiting to happen, and for many young animals when the insurance is still cheap, nothing is pre-existing and we don’t yet know if they have a congenital condition, at least for that first 12-18 months of life. There are some you can look at as puppies and be highly suspicious this animal is going to be a money sink.

I see a lot of internet comments saying “should have had pet insurance!” or “go get pet insurance!” on various posts about affording pets or vet bills or emergencies, but pet insurance doesn’t help at all in these scenarios. Pet insurance gives you money back, you had to already have had money in the first place to take advantage of it. Pet insurance is no panacea or cure-all.

I just have a savings account. Putting aside what you would have paid in pet insurance anyway is a decent estimate for how much you’d need to save for a normal pet.

This post was accessed early by my Patreon Supporters.

[noutenki-scans]

Jun, do you think you could walk us through how you buy your doujins? I've been wanting to buy some kros doujins FOREVER, and I know there are multiple tutorials/advice online but I want to get advice from someone who's actually gotten their doujins successfully shipped to them! Is there a website you recommend using, or a tutorial online that you follow? Would appreciate it greatly ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

How I order doujinshis online?I’m always happy to help a fellow karaoso enthusiast! I hope you have basic knowledge of Japanese so you can navigate easily. Otherwise chrome automatically translating the site works too I guess.

This post may end up pretty lengthy since I babble a lot. So continue ahead only if you want to.

Many sites don’t do international shipping so you will need to find yourself a proxy service or a freight forwarding site. Freight forwarding is the cheaper option of the two. Tenso is a fan favourite it seems but I use TensoJapan cause the fees are cheaper. You’ll need to provide your ID verification to use either of their services though. As for proxy services. I’ll mention some later below. It seems TensoJapan also provides this service now. ^^ 

The sites I use varies. If possible I like to support the artist and use the link they provide in their pixiv post for that particular work. (Usually toranoana) However if it’s quite old, chances are that it’s already sold out.

Toranoana A great site to buy new doujinshis. It’s far the easiest site to navigate and has the best range in terms of new books. Most of the products also have the synopsis and a few sample pages as well! The go to place to really support the artist! This post explains really well on how to shop there! Really use that auto translation on chrome to your advantage if you need to! If you are soley looking for KaraOso djs, here has all the instock books for that pair. And here is the full list, although most are out of stock lmao. (good reference when you want to buy second hand books though!)

If you plan to use a freight forwarding service, you need to create a Toranoana account yourself. When you write in the detail, make sure to input the Japanese address that you were given for shipping details. For when Toranoana charges you for your order, it’s quite funny cause they charge you then return the money straight away (I guess it’s to check if your card works) and when your order is ready to be sent, they’ll take the payment properly. They don’t accept PayPal as payment though. So if you don’t have a credit card, you’ll have to use a proxy service instead.

For proxy service, try using the one toranoana is advertising at the moment, AOCS. AOCS creates a toranoana account for you when you register with them and also you don’t need to provide them your ID for verification! At checkout you just need to select the acos option for delivery! from here, AOCS will pay for your goods on delivery and send you an invoice. They accept PayPal as payment. Once that’s all paid up, they will send you your goods. :)I’ve tried it and yes, it’s very simple to use and convenient but the shipping is a lil pricey since they only send by EMS. Fast shipping though!

Pros:

Easy navigation. They have tags for coupling names and filters to narrow down your search. 

Free domestic shipping if you spend over ¥9720.

Toranoana is fast with processing your order and getting it to your freight forwarder/proxy service.

Cons:

Once it’s out of stock, it’s gone. You can apply for a re-sell or set an notification alarm if it ever restocks.

A bit pricey because you pay for tax.

They may cancel your order if they notice you are using a proxy. I don’t know if they still do, it’s just what I’ve heard over the years. For sure tenso and tensojapan are in the green though!

Ok, so you really want a particular work by a certain circle, or just their works in general but it’s out of print…Usually this is the case for me when I see all those out of print djs on Toranoana…You can try your luck in 2nd hand stores! Or even Yahoo auctions. 

Yahoo auctions would be the last place I’d go for, cause ordering from there can kill your wallet. Especially if you buy from different sellers. You’ll have to pay for domestic shipping on each of the auctions. There are proxy services designed for Yahoo auctions, but the one I have tried is DeJapan. Their service is good and their processing and shipping is fast too! My order came 3-4 days after it was sent! They only send by EMS though. Quite pricey but reliable. if you are still interested in purchasing osmt djs from yahoo auctions, try ‘おそ松さん 同人’ in the search bar.

MandarakeSells second hand goods. I like this site a lot! They do international shipping with several options too. So you can skip the whole middle-man business and having the option to choose for the slower, but cheaper postage.The search bar isn’t as friendly but if you know what you are after, or the circle you are interested in, then it’s a lot easier to navigate. Just be aware mandarake has different stores so if you end up getting anything from this site, make sure to check which store it’s in! Try getting all your items from the same store, otherwise you’ll be paying a lot for shipping!! When I make orders I like to at least group 5 djs from each store if I can’t get it all from the same store. But I LOVE their quality!! Their second hand stuff look pretty much brand new! Unless stated otherwise in their listing. I’ve had some djs where it didn’t even look opened! 

Pros: 

Usually cheaper than buying new. 

Can find the older titles here. 

Tax free. 

Has English support and navigation. 

Relatively fast processing time. 

They send internationally! 

Cons: 

No consolidation. Each store=different order=more shipping cost. 

Second hand goods. So it’s not brand new. 

Price can be ridiculously expensive based on its rarity/popularity even though it’s not a new book. I actually bought 2 titles for 4k yen each when the original price is just over 1k. But I really wanted those books soo….I just bit the bullet lol.

SurugayaA real gem! ♡My favourite second hand store for djs~ Their navi is a lot better than mandarake and has way more items! This is the place to go for any rare goods~ here is the search page for karaxoso. 

Did I tell you they have free domestic shipping if you spend over ¥1500?? That’s like $15 lol. They do however have a processing fee if your order is under 5k yen. It’s under ¥300 so still very cheap! Surugaya often have ‘time sales’ and campaigns too! So it’s good to keep an eye out. When you click on an item, there’ll be a red text saying “this product will have a time sale soon” if that’s the case. So if you time it right…maybe you can get it cheaper. But I had many djs go out of stock on me while I waited for a campaign to come (some items sell out within a couple of days) so I don’t risk it anymore if there are items that have only 1 in stock in my cart. 

Also this is one of the stores where you can buy without a credit card and use PayPal instead! But if you are buying R18 goods, you can only pay by credit card. They don’t accept foreign credit cards apparently. I did have an order cancel on me when I paid by credit card and I got an email saying I used a foreign card and they can’t accept it. I’m still very gutted about that one. But I’ve also had successful orders using the same exact card…..so it’s really a gamble. PayPal as payment is friendlier I heard! But if you really want to buy r18 goods from here, may luck be on your side and hope they don’t detect your card. (or use a proxy service that allows you to buy R18 goods) 

The other downside for this site is the waiting time. Surugaya also has many warehouses and so they have to wait for all the books to arrive in one place before they ship it out to you. But usually with my experiences it takes them about 4 days to complete my order and ship it out. But I did have orders take over a week to process before. As long as you don’t order during the busy times of the year it should be fine.

Pros: 

Usually cheaper than buying new. (Most of the time the djs are cheaper than mandarake.) 

Best range. 

Often have sales and campaigns 

Has English support (But they will answer in Japanese) 

Free shipping on orders over 1.5k yen 

Cons: 

Slow processing time. 

Like mandarake, some items are ridiculously expensive. 

Your card may get declined for being a foreign card. 

Note: Previously, I’ve noted you can use debit card as payment…but honestly? it’s kinda weird. From personal experience, make sure you have double the amount of money in your account of what you need to pay for. Until the day it’s ship it. Surugaya likes to take money from you…how should I say…twice(?). Like….how do I explain this…on the day you place the order, money is taken from your card. Your payment will appear as pending on your bank statement. But actually they don’t approve your payment until it’s all ready to be sent to you. On that day, they take the payment from your account again. Like. It’s weird. And if you don’t have that amount available on your card on that day, you get an email from customer service saying they couldn’t go through with the payment. That there was a problem. If you paid by paypal (using your debit card), they will retry the payment if you can provide them evidence that it wasn’t PayPal that made the error. If you paid by using credit card (with your debit) they will cancel your order since the only other option to send the money is by bank. So if you have enough money in your debit card to pay for your order twice, your payment will go smoothly. And that extra payment they tried to make? It won’t even appear on your statement lol. In the end that money isn’t taken from you, so don’t worry about them actually charging you twice for your order.I was so confused why my payments weren’t going through and I only found out by contacting both my card dealer and PayPal. I use my debit card for online purchases so I only put in the amount necessary you see… 

Tldr; Surugaya tries to take money from you twice but only one goes through and you need enough funds for both in order for your transaction to go through smoothly if you are using your debit card.

[heartcravings]

50 Questions Tag!

@jongin-be-my-jagi​ tagged me for this a while ago, but I took my sweet time to answer. Here is my secret intel if you want to know me a little bit more!! Check hers as well, she’s an amazing writer and friend. 1. What takes up too much of your time? Tumblr, my stupid procrastination prone brain and my thesis. 

2. What makes your day better? Friends and loved ones, music and these absolute dorks (Channie especially) 

3. What’s the best thing that happened to you today? I hopped on the mat today in the early hours of the morning, rain on my window and the neighbours cat peeking at me from his window across the street.

4. What fictional place would you like to go to? Wonderland, bacause it’s “curiouser and curiouser!”

'Who are you?' said the Caterpillar.  Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I — I hardly know, sir, just at present — at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'

5. Are you good at giving advice? I think so. Not so good at following my own advice though.  I do always consider where the other is standing and if I don’t know how to proceed then I’ll just be honest and say I can’t help. But i’ll always listen with my heart. 

 6. Do you have any mental illnesses? Not diagnosed. I do think i might be going through something now. 

7. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? No, but i have a recurring nightmare: the world is made of black and white paper thin layers. I am a paper thin person walking along a street surrounded by paper thin buildings. I walk for a long time, looking up at the white sky. Until the street ends, there is no more building and i fall into the abyss of a blank page.  I have had this dream since the age of 8 or 9 years old. Fear of not being good enough, you say?! Ding, ding, ding!! We got a winner in the back!  8. What musician inspired you the most? I get inspired by music all the time!! One of my all time favourite songs is Spanish Sahara by Foals. Its sublime!

So I’d say I’m mainly inspired by these artists: Queen, Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Radiohead, Bowie, Daughter, Bob Dylan, Beirut, Yeah yeah yeahs, Arcade Fire, The National, Joy Division, Blur, Warpaint, Gorillaz, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Chet Baker, The Cure, Courtney Barnett, The Maccabees, Car Seat Headrest, Florence + The Machine, Editors, Kasabian, Crystal Fighters, Death Cab for a cutie, The Doors, Efterklang, Explosions in the Sky, Franz Ferdinand, The Horrors, James Blake, José Gonzalez, Los Campesinos!,  Metronomy, Nick Cave, Nina Simone, Patrick Watson,  Phoenix, Sharon Van Etten, The Shins, Simon & Garfunkel, The Smiths, St.Vincent, The Strokes, Toro y Moi, tricot, Tune-Yards, TV on the radio, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend, The Velvet Underground, The War on Drugs, Wild Beasts and Yo La Tengo.

And the electro, pop and hip-hop groves of my heart: EXO, 2NE1, Janelle Monáe, Big Bang, Kris Wu,LCD soundsystem, SBTRKT, Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar and Daft Punk. 

And special mentions to the portuguese ones (learning from yixing and promoting when i can :P): Capicua, Joana Espadinha, The Legendary Tigerman, Linda Martini, Mayra Andrade, Noiserv, Ornatos Violeta, Paus, Samuel Uria, You Can’t Win Charlie Brown and The Silence 4. I know, tldr right? Sorry folks! 9. Have you ever fallen in love? Yes I have. I have mistaken a crush for love too. But i have definitely been very deeply in love. A wrecked kintsugi heart over here people! 10. What’s your dream date? I don’t think I have one. I’d love to do something unique with that someone special, something special for the two of us. It could be as simple as riding the subway while sharing earphones & listening to our playlist or walking the dogs out! Idk, I’m easy to please. But right now it would have to be with this handsome man :D pretty please?!

11. What do others notice about you? I am very kind and warm hearted, so I think that’s what people first notice when meeting me. Although I maintain good eye contact, I am also timid and will be quieter if there are very energetic people in the group. When alone, I usually take the first step and try to meet people, but only if i really must.  12. What’s an annoying habit you have? It’s really hard for me to ask for help. I also like to tell detailed descriptions of everything... Couldn’t you tell? 13. Do you still talk to your first love? I’ll text him on his birthday and he does the same to me. We met when we were 10 years old and that childhood friendship remains. But regarding my one and truly deep relationship, no we do not talk, unless we randomly meet.

14. How many exes do you have? I have three exes. The first love who was just an idealized crush on my childhood friend: we dated for 2 weeks during summer break xD Then my first real boyfriend, we met in my first year at university, dated for quite some time, he really loved me and made me love myself a little more. Finally the one i loved too much. I mended his wounds and made him love himself as much as I did. I always say all the love we feel makes our hearts grow bigger. I do not regret loving any of them, I am me now due to them and I would not change it if I could. 15. How many songs are in your playlist? I have way too many playlists for each and every mood... But my favourite songs list on spotify has about 1500 songs! uwu!  16. What instruments can you play? Triangles and flute?! I had mandatory music classes in school... so in reality I can’t really play a instrument...

17. Who do you have the most pictures of? Probably my cat, Sushi. With a second close of my doodles and sketches. 

18. Where would you like to go before you die? EVERY WHERE!!! But I really want to go to Japan and Scotland and Iceland and South Korea and New Zealand and i’ll shut up. 19. What’s your zodiac? Capricorn. 20. Do you relate to it? Sort of.

21. What is happiness to you? You know when it’s really cold outside in the winter and you manage to find a sheltered place where no wind can hit you and you still get to feel the warm rays of the winter suns on your skin? You hear the birds outside and you are contempt in that moment, at peace. That is happiness to me.   22. Are you going through anything right now? Yes, I am a bit lost. Trying to finish my thesis and trying to find what I want to do after. It’s liberating but also pretty scary. 23. What’s the worst decision you ever made? It’s a series of small decisions really. It started with going for a phd with the same people i worked in my msc. Should have gone to a different place. Then deciding to come home after a traumatic loss in the family. Should have kept my life going but I stalled it then. (I don’t regret helping my loved ones though).

24. What’s your favourite store? Probably Wishtrend for beauty stuff. Other than that I don’t have any favourite brands/stores. 25. (HALFWAY!) What’s your opinion on abortion? I think everyone is free to decide what they want or need to do. I couldn’t possible judge. If I would it? Probably not.

27. Do you have a favourite album? I don’t think so, I have favourite tunes for different moods and moments in my life. But if threatened with my life, I’d maybe say Total Life Forever from Foals.

28. What do you want for your birthday? It’s such a long time until my birthday comes! But maybe a real EXO ot9 reunion as a goodbye to Minseok?

29. What is most people’s first impression of you? Friendly and easy to open up to, i think.

30. What age do you seem according to most people? In real life, people usually think I am way younger than I am.  31. Where do you keep your phone when you’re sleeping? In the crook of my bed, between the mattress and the bed frame.

32. What word do you say the most? No idea really! 33. What’s the oldest age you’d date? 40s? I don’t think too much about age actually. 

34. What’s the youngest age you’d date? 20s? Again not very important to me. Love is love, whomever, whenever and wherever <3

35. What job / career do most people say would suit you? I don’t know! People always say i don’t totally fit in anything... so there’s that. If you have an idea please let me know! 36. What’s your favourite music genre? Go back to question 8. I listen to everything! :D 37. If you could live in any country in the world where would it be? I’d like to live around the world, every few months a different place and get to know different cultures.

38. What is your current favourite song? I’ve been obsessed with RM’s intro/teaser song, Map of the Soul: Persona. (I’m not even a bts fan, but this music and lyrics just touched me a lot.)

39. How long have you had this blog for? I think for about 6 years? It’s my personal space, where I dump all my obsessions.  

40. What are you excited for? I’m visiting some friends in Granada in a couple of weeks. Yay, tapas!

41. Are you a better talker or listener? Normally I am a better listener. But there are a few people to whom i open like a book. Either words flow right out of me without even thinking or they see throw me. Those truly are my people.

42. What is the last productive thing you did? Prepped meals and cleaned the kitchen. Open the folder and file of my thesis. Read the latest chapter I wrote.  43. What do you want for Christmas? Well, just like for my birthday, there is still such a long time to it! But let’s say i want to have already finish this part of my life and want to find my next adventure.

44. What class do you get the best grades in? No more exams! Ehehe! But I used to have good grades at everything. Physical Education was my lowest mark i think.

45. On a scale of 1-10 how do you feel right now? Right now, a 4? I have a headache.

46. What can you see yourself doing in 10 years? Smiling? :D I want to be happy in my own skin. To feel contempt in my life, doing something that gives me a sense of purpose and having time to share and enjoy with my friends and family. 47. When did you get your first heartbreak? Oh my kintsugi heart has been broken quiet a lot. By friends and lovers and even by myself. I keep patching it up with gold dreams though.  48. At what age do you wanna be married? I will only want to be married if i find the one. So until then I guess. 

49. What career did you want to have as a child? I wanted to be an astronaut and a ballerina. Preferably both!

50. What do you crave right now? Just sitting somewhere and listening to Yeol play the guitar.

Well i finished it! :D I’ll tag @thedeviousdo @ohsenhun @hongseok and @paepsi. I’d love to read yours! Feel free to dismiss it though, it is quite a lot.  Lots of love everyone!! <3 <3 <3

[bobbynolanios88]

DASH Cryptocurrency – Explained! – CryptoNewsZ

DASH Cryptocurrency – Explained! – CryptoNewsZ

Dash – An Overview

Dash is not like other digital money projects like Ethereum or Straits which are into a development platform. Dash advocates itself as shared decentralized electronic money. It plans to be as fluid as genuine money which we use in our respective nations like USD/GBP/EUR/INR or CNY. Dash is based upon Bitcoin’s core code with the expansion of new highlights like security and quick transactions. Like BTC, Dash is open-source and has its very own blockchain, wallet foundation, and network. Unlike BTC, its transaction expense is negligible. Moreover, it would appear that from the frame of mind of the development network that Dash will just stay as digital cash for the internet, which is something good.

Why and When Dash was created

Dash was made three years back on 18th January 2014 by its developer Evan Duffield. Dash was initially discharged as XCoin (XCO). The name was changed to Darkcoin, in February 2014. Also, on 25th March 2015, Darkcoin was rebranded as “Dash.” Evan Duffield went over Bitcoin in 2010 and was impressed by its innovation. However, he soon understood that Bitcoin was not private and quick enough. So to change this essential drawback of Bitcoin, Evan chose to utilize Bitcoin’s core code and construct his own cryptographic money, which is called today as Dash.

Dash Coin Supply

Dash is intended to have a total supply of 18 million coins. Currently, the circling supply of Dash is 7.4 million, and it will achieve 18 million in the year 2300. Dash has a variable square reward which diminishes at a 7.1 % rate every year. The normal block mining time is 2.5 minutes on the Dash blockchain, which makes it multiple times quicker than Bitcoin.

Working of Dash

Dash works in a way similar to Bitcoin as far as how it was released into the money framework. Dash needs to be mined, which operates at a blockchain framework, and has a decentralized record that contains data about all transactions. Dash has frequently been scrutinized for their two-level framework where miners don’t have the privilege to vote. Individuals can purchase Dash utilizing Bitcoin, Ethereum or numerous other advanced digital currencies. It is listed in multiple trades including Binance and Cryptopia. Coinswitch is additionally an excellent choice to look at pairings and locate the best price deal. It can be stored on a few advanced wallets simply like other cryptos. The most utilized wallet is the Dash wallet, which is accessible on mobile and desktop. One can likewise utilize a hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S to store Dash.

Technology of Dash

Dash has a few highlights that make it extremely one of a kind:

PrivateSend

Dash enables you to send your funds secretly by blending it with several other transactions by making it difficult to distinguish a particular transaction. It utilizes a coin mixing administration based on CoinJoin. This is an optional security aspect where the user may or may not use. Moreover, there is a constrained cap of 1000 Dash for which you can send utilizing this feature.

InstantSend

This service enables you to send your Dash transactions right away within 1.5 seconds. However, Masternodes charges higher fees for handling such transactions. InstantSend likewise takes care of the double spending issue. Attention- InstantX was rebranded to InstantSend in 2016.

Masternodes

Unlike Bitcoin, where each note is equivalent, Dash has special benefit nodes called Masternodes. Anybody can form Masternodes by holding 1000 Dash as security. These unique nodes perform PrivateSend and InstantSend functions and procure a 45% block reward.

Dash – Advantages

Confidential:

Dash has continuously focused on anonymization, and with its arrangements, nobody can track you, your transactions, balance, and payments. The data is extremely well kept as a secret.

High-Speed:

Dash utilizes its Masternode framework to influence a payment option called as ‘InstantX’ which can transfer cash in under 4 seconds. The requirement for speed in transactions has dependably been a necessity, and this lightning speed is one hotspot for Dash that has pulled in several clients.

Low-cost:

The charges for payments and transactions are lower than most other advanced cryptographic forms of money, along with other computerized options like Paypal.

Recognition:

Dash since its launch in 2014 has continuously picked up a lot of clients, and many have even trusted in it amid difficult times. Dash has given extraordinary support to its clients, and it appears that this growing fascination wouldn’t stop at any point in the near future.

Easy to use:

Though the team at Dash thought of an alternate and better framework over the current cryptographic money space, however, they have completed a lot of work to enhance the experience of their clients. Their objective has always been the group of audience who are not interested in cryptographic money, and with the work they have done, they have doubtlessly won the trust of many.

Acceptance:

Digital trades, as well as many associated online stores, are additionally accepting Dash, in such a way demonstrating the trust that Dash has picked up. Dash has done great work regarding investing their money in the correct places prompting an excellent start to the selection of their product.

Dash -Disadvantages

Despite the fact that Dash has an exceptional and well thoroughly considered framework, the digital currency space and Dash are beginners and are not perfect. Every digital money out there can fail effectively in the market today, in spite of the majority of them having incredible potential.

The name ‘Dash’ can be exceptionally problematic even in the wake of rebranding twice as of now. Numerous organizations have adopted this name, and there is also a Payments application called Dash which can frequently lead to confusion. The identity of any brand is vital for its success as well as acknowledgment among the general population.

The responsibility of Masternodes is questionable. Despite the fact that it doesn’t make a difference much at this young stage, it may detrimentally affect the best possible working of the framework in the future.

The Future of Dash

Dash has accomplished a decent position in the digital currency space, and it is a standout amongst the most acknowledged altcoins today. The coin has developed more in a hundred times in only one year between in the range of 2017 and 2018. It had entered the billion dollar market by April 2018 and is especially steady by now. Dash has plans to make the Masternode framework functional at 100% by 2020. They are centered on drawing in private ventures to Dash specifically through mobile phones. They are additionally dealing with executing InstantSend to enable clients to purchase items at stores digitally and complete the payment procedure quicker instead of holding up in a line.

Few claim that Dash is picking up usage in dark web, yet the Dash CEO has denied these claims and has marked them as false reports. Dash, though young, is investing in research and forming few partnerships. Dash without a doubt has a unique feature that it has dependably guaranteed, and the future appears to be only useful for Dash with its expanding adoption in numerous industries as of now.

Would it be a good idea to Invest in Dash?

Investors are continually searching for something new to spend and Dash with its novel features, and rising prevalence has every one of the qualities of a decent investment point. In spite of the fact that it is ceaselessly being adopted, the cost of Dash is continually fluctuating, for example, it dropped to $400 from $1500 in 2018.

Dash has achieved the twelfth position in the crypto list fast and stands to be a solid competitor to Bitcoin. Beginning with a framework dependent on Bitcoin, Dash has developed better to present better features and to get rid of aggravating ones.

A major part of their framework depends on Bitcoin, so it need not bother with much addressing in terms of their procedure. Also, there have been a few new features that have been included, and it does not neutralize them. Considering their general advancement in the crypto space, investing resources into Dash in 2019 is definitely not a bad choice.

Wrap -up

Dash has effectively demonstrated that it can succeed with fulfilling the guarantees that it makes. It has brought a few features and is currently making a beeline for the future with a different thought. Numerous cryptographic forms of money, in spite of having intelligent thoughts, are facing the test of adoption, which Dash is by all accounts handling great. If it is adopted well, Dash may end up being an essential piece of our society’s future. Dash isn’t going anyplace soon. In spite of the fact that it has competitors, as Monero and PIVX, Dash is increasingly adaptable and ready to use, and it has an extremely strong framework. This separates Dash from the group and makes it promising currency worthy of the venture.

Source link http://bit.ly/2S1O7ga

[marcellusbitsandpieces]

Bits and Pieces  -  Ice Cream History and Unusual Flavors  12/5/21

Most of us learned that the four basic food groups are:

·         Fruits and Vegetables

·         Meats and Proteins

·         Dairy

·         Grains

Today, MyPlate of the Department of Agriculture lists the basic food groups as five:

·         Fruits

·         Vegetables

·         Grains

·         Protein Foods

·         Dairy

No matter how you look at it, nothing has really changed except maybe giving our fruits and vegetables equal time rather than shared – we can no longer cut out vegetables and say we have eaten from all food groups!!

Now, my favorite food group is really – Ice Cream! I had a friend who used to call my eating of ice cream as “bellying up to the trough.”

Like with any food group, I have my favorite, my “really likes,” those I will eat and ones I try to avoid. Christmas time brings on my most favorite flavor – peppermint stick!

Yes, the one with pieces of the candy in it. I will eat peppermint chip, but most of the brands make a gummy tasting batch – not it! (Outside the holiday season, I go to #2 – Traverse City Cherry Fudge.)

When I read about the history of ice cream and unusual flavors around the country, it started to get me in the mood. (Yeh, as if I need to get into a mood for ice cream!)

According to some experts, ice cream didn’t begin as the creamy dairy product we know today. It started in ancient Persia (today’s Iran). They created an iced drink called sharbat. It is somewhat like our snow cones.)

The Persians used shaved ice or snow drenched in a sugar syrup. They would generally flavor the syrup with lemons, rosewater, citrons, violets or ambergris. Ambergris was “an aromatic sperm whale secretion.” To each their own.

This icy drink made its way to Europe from traders of the time. It took centuries before the concept of today’s ice cream came about.

In the 1500s, scientists discovered adding salt or potassium nitrate (saltpeter), lowering the temp to freezing and creating a double bucket method with agitation/paddles.

Actually, this is the method I remember as a child using at my Aunt Bobbie’s to make ice cream. The creamy mixture goes into a center bucket. The ice and salt are added around it – between it and the larger bucket. We took turns agitating the creamy mixture bucket.

Many of the first ice cream flavors originated in Italy, around Naples in 1692. Many included nuts and fruits and drink flavored (tea, coffee, chocolate) ones. It wasn’t until the mid-1700s that vanilla even came into existence.

This leads me into what I read about unusual ice cream flavors. I already thought that ambergris was exotic and different enough. Though that one has (fortunately) fallen from favor – wait until you see what you can now find around the country.

In Maine, Bar Harbor no less, get yourself a scoop or two of lobster ice cream. It’s a butter flavored ice cream with chunks of lobster.

Cross the country to Alaska, be ready for Roasted Turmeric ice cream that is topped with ginger. This might be one way to enjoy(?) ice cream and eat something healthy to fight inflammation.

In the Bread Basket of the U.S., Nebraska, have a scoop of Honey Avocado alongside your tacos.

For you hot and spicy lovers, you don’t have to go far to taste some Sriracha Ice Cream. The Mason’s Creamery in Cleveland, Ohio is ready for you.

If that just whetted your hot and spicey appetite, continue on toward New Hampshire. In Belmont at Jordan’s, you are in for a treat with White Chocolate Habanero Ice Cream topped with white chocolate chips.

Having a little sinus trouble? Steer East for Max and Mina’s in Queens New York for a scoop of Horseradish Ice Cream.

When I worked in Chicago during the summers of college years, I would stop at the counter in the lobby for a scoop of ice cream for breakfast. But they had nothing like this breakfast treat in a scoop. Pennsylvania, Maryland and D.C. have a chain (Little Baby’s Ice Cream) that serves up Everything Bagel Ice Cream.

Winona, this is for you. In Washington (state) Mallard Ice Cream is known for its Tomato Sorbet. It’s refreshing, healthy, and not sweet – made from the freshest tomatoes.

In New York City – not either Wisconsin nor Vermont, is the delectable flavor of Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream. Extra sharp white cheddar cheese is melted way down to creamy and used for this creation.

My Uncle Gerry would hastily be on a road trip and all over this ice cream selection. When he travelled, he would stop at most Howard Johnson’s for fried clams and several scoops from their 28 flavors – which was nirvana at the time. He’d go into shock at today’s ice cream aisle.

So, I come from this ice cream affliction genetically – much be a DNA gene for ice cream. As the main farmer here would say about dessert, “It always is better with ice cream.”

[hilarycaollins]

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[williamlwolf89]

21 Interesting Statistics and Facts About SEO

For any business, big or small, SEO should be more than a low-priority item on your marketing to-do list.

In fact, as we move into 2021 and beyond, SEO is becoming more vital than ever for businesses wanting to boost traffic and revenue.

But don’t take our word for it. We are going to let numbers do the talking in this article. 

If your SEO knowledge is a little rusty, these 21 facts about SEO will get you up to speed with the last tips and trends. Learn about SEO and how you can use it to get ahead with your marketing strategy this year. 

Fact #1: Three-quarters of SEO Is Off-Page

It might shock you to realize that when you are creating a new piece of content for your website, all the effort you put into creating that content will only count for 25% of Google’s ranking factors.

The truth is, most of the effort you need to put in when it comes to SEO is off-page. Off-page means getting things like backlinks from reputable websites linking to that piece of content. 

Fact #2: Top Ranked Pages On Google Have An Average Word Count Of 1447

Long, high-quality content is preferred when it comes to ranking on page 1 of Google. People spend more time on this type of content, it has more value, and it tends to get shared more frequently.

When it comes to SEO statistics if you want to make the top 10 for your preferred keyword on Google, write at length. Aim for between 1500-2000 words, and ensure the content is high quality and informative.  

Fact #3: 40% Of Users Will Abandon A Slow Loading Website

Kissmetric discovered that 4 out of 10 visitors will abandon your website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds, and a massive 47% of visitors expect your website to load in under 2 seconds.

Staggering as that sounds, think about this in the context of today’s world. Everything is fast, everything is at our fingertips, and people have a choice when it comes to their online behavior. 

Rather than fear this impatience from visitors, embrace it.

Investing your money in developing a superfast home page will pay dividends when it comes to your SEO. You’ll reduce your bounce rate and have happy visitors. 

Fact #4: 51% Of People Discover New Businesses On Their Phone

Is your website mobile-friendly? If not, this statistic from Think With Google should be a turning point for you.

You only need to sit on a train or walk down the street to realize how much people rely on their smartphones. And it’s not just social media and messaging that hooks people to their phones; shopping is increasingly popular.

If you want to get your business noticed, make it mobile-friendly. Google will expect your website to work on mobile, and you’ll improve your SEO by having a fast, mobile-friendly website (and you’ll attract new customers). 

Fact #5: Just 20% Of The Top 10 Sites On The Web Are Content-Driven

Though SEO is mainly driven by content marketing, it may surprise you to discover that some of the most popular websites globally are not content-based. They are functional (in many cases, eCommerce).

Consider, for example, Amazon and eBay, two hugely popular shopping channels that consistently rank highly. The two notable exceptions to this are Wikipedia and YouTube. 

Fact #6: Websites Convert 14.6% of Referrals From Google

Want genuine buyers to discover your website? Nothing beats Google. 

When people search for a product or service, they are more likely to already be in a buyer’s mindset. They are researching options and close to making that all-important purchase.

That’s why you should always focus on SEO as part of your online marketing, even when you have a large advertising budget or a strong presence on social media.  

Fact #7: 120 Million US Homes Had Smart Speakers In 2020

Voice SEO is a trend you can’t ignore. If you aren’t yet focused on optimizing your website for voice searches, now is the time to start. 

Voice-activated technology has improved dramatically in the past 5 years. Millions of households have eagerly purchased gadgets such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. 

As this trend continues into 2021, expect new demands from voice searches in areas like local SEO.  

Fact #8: 90% of Users Prefer Organic Search results Over PPC Ads

It’s hard to miss Google ad results at the top of searches. And there is no escaping the fact that Google PPC campaigns are big business.

However, despite the continued popularity of paid advertising, getting your website ranked on page 1 of Google still beats the ads by a large margin. In fact, for every 10 searches, 9 will click on an organic result. 

The big takeaway? Don’t ignore SEO optimization, even if you are seeing success from your PPC campaigns.  

Fact #9: The Average User Spends Less Than A Minute On Google Search Results

Google may have trillions of results, but most of us are just after one or two, and in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. 

For businesses looking to use Google for referrals, there are two critical lessons to note here. First, of course, is your ranking. When people scan that results page, they are often clicking on the very first results they see.

The second point here is that your headline for text searches has to be clickable, and for image searches, your image has to be of the highest quality. 

Fact #10: There Are 3.8 Million Searches Every Minute On Google

Google is the most popular website in the world. A staggering 3.8 million visitors conduct searches on Google every minute of the day. 

Nothing comes close to Google in terms of the power it has to propel a website to success. Whatever online marketing trends come and go, Google seems like it is here to stay.  

As a long-term business strategy, Google SEO has got to be one of the smartest moves your business can make.  

Fact #11: Google Has Invested Over $3.9 Billion In Artificial Intelligence Acquisitions

Want to know where Google is headed as a business? Google’s head company, Alphabet, is fast becoming one of the most important companies in the world when it comes to artificial intelligence.

By 2018, Alphabet had acquired AI startups to the value of over $3.9 billion and are reputed to have recruited some of the world’s leading AI researchers and scientists.  

Artificial intelligence will definitely play a significant role in the search algorithms of the future. 

Fact #12: Nearly Half (46%) Of Google Searches Are Local

Local SEO is increasing in popularity. If your business serves customers in a particular locality, it is arguably essential to prioritize local SEO.

Local searches are fantastic when it comes to converting a click into a new purchase.

People searching in a particular area are more likely to be searching to buy a product or a service. They are also more likely to be searching for a business that they intend to use shortly. 

Local searches are an easier way for a small business to get a good SEO ranking. There is less competition for local keywords than for global keyword rankings.  

Fact #13: In 1999, It Took Google One Month To Crawl 50 Million Websites

Interested to know what that number is now? Well, you can probably guess that Google has come a long way since the ’90s. 

In 2012, Google crawled the same number of websites in under a minute. In fact, they crawled trillions of websites, billions of times each month.

These numbers are almost impossible to comprehend. But they perfectly demonstrate the sheer power of this technology. 

Fact #14: Revenue From Google Shopping Ads Rose By 38% In 2020

eCommerce saw massive growth in 2020, in part due to the pandemic and record numbers of people stuck at home, but it also followed a long-term trend for online shopping and home delivery.

Google has expanded their shopping searches in the past 2 years, and eCommerce websites of all sizes are experiencing significant success from Google shopping ads. 

If you have an eCommerce store, try testing out your products with some Google shopping ads in 2021, and see what this does for your revenue growth. 

Fact #15: The Average Person Conducts Over 1000 Searches Each Year

It’s a reality of 2021 that Google, smartphones, and the internet are a central aspect of our daily lives. We rely on these modern innovations as much as we rely on pens, paper, or clean water to wash our hands.

One of the most eye-opening SEO facts is that the average person will visit Google 3 to 4 times every day, and that means that most of us are conducting over 1000 searches on Google every year. 

When seen through this lens, it’s a wonder how the generations before us sailed through life without instant answers to some of the most complicated questions in the universe! 

Fact #16: Half Of All Visitors Favor Brands With Multiple Search Results 

What’s better than getting the number one organic ranking on Google? Getting the number 1 and the number 2 spot, of course.

The more ubiquitous and well-known a brand is, the better it performs on Google.

If you can get your business to appear twice (or more) for the same keyword, over 50% of people carrying out that search will be more likely to click on your brand rather than your competitor’s. 

This is advantageous to know. Most of us do our best to rank for as many relevant keywords as we can. But not many businesses take the time to compete against themselves for target keywords. 

Fact #17: YouTube Is The Most Searched For Term On Google

Are you using video on your website? If the answer is no, then this useful fact may change your mind.

YouTube is the most popular result on Google. And with over two billion monthly active users worldwide, YouTube continues to grow in popularity year on year. 

If you have video content for your business, it is easier to get a good ranking on Google. Video SEO is a great strategy to test in 2021 if you haven’t tried it before. 

Fact #18: The Google Algorithm Gets 500-600 Updates Every Year

If you’ve spent enough years in the field of SEO, you’ll recall war stories from websites hit hard by Google Algorithm changes. 

But outside these major updates, Google actually makes hundreds of algorithm changes every year.

What does this mean for your ability to rank on Google? The best tip is to never play the system; just produce great content consistently.

Google is always on top of websites trying to ‘game’ the rankings, and while short term gains may happen for a website, this trillion-dollar company will always be many steps ahead. 

Fact #19: Only 10% of Websites Worldwide Get Traffic Referrals From Google

Crazy as it sounds, the vast majority of websites aren’t getting any traffic from Google at all.

When you think about this in the context of what people are clicking on (most visitors never leave the first page of Google results), this figure starts to make sense.

This statistic demonstrates that a small number of companies are taking the lion’s share of the traffic. By putting your time, effort, and budget into mastering SEO, you can out-compete other businesses in most industries. 

Fact #20: Titles With 6-13 Words Perform Best In Google Searches

When it comes to creating clickable content, pay attention to your headline. Be the Goldilocks of the SEO world and craft headlines that are not too short and not too long. 

Clickable headlines will rank well on Google. They also perform better on social media and achieve more social shares. This also helps when it comes to getting ranked high in the search results.

Of course, don’t forget to make your headline meaningful and follow it up with high-quality content.

Fact #21: 40% Of Revenue For Some Industries Originates From Organic Search Traffic

If you want to understand the importance of SEO concerning what it means for your profit, just look at these industries for clues. Media, retail, technology, and B2B services all gained 40% of their revenue from search. 

Appearing in search rankings directly correlates to profitability. SEO is something you should always invest in for the long term prosperity of your business.  

These Facts About SEO Are Just The Start

If you weren’t convinced of the merits of SEO before this article, you should be now. Users are becoming ever-more demanding about what information they want, how quickly they want it, and how they want to get that information.

Technology advances, coupled with Google’s market dominance, means you can’t ignore the facts about SEO if you want to push your business forward. 

Riserr’s SEO team is here to support your business and get the presence on Google you need for your organization. Contact us today for a free consultation about how we can help your business with your SEO needs. 

from https://riserr.com/21-interesting-statistics-and-facts-about-seo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=21-interesting-statistics-and-facts-about-seo

from Riserr - Blog https://riserr.weebly.com/blog/21-interesting-statistics-and-facts-about-seo

[littlebizresources]

Kibo Code Quantum Review Plus Dropshipping Overview

Kibo Code Quantum Review 2021 Plus Dropshipping Overview

I’m doing something a little different in this post.  First, I’ll cover my review of Kibo Code Quantum and Bonuses.

After that, I’ll also include more information about dropshipping for those of you that are new to the eCommerce business model!

Plus, I’ll give you a little sneak preview of some additional “free” traffic methods you’ll get from me.

If you’ve made it here and already know about Kibo Code Quantum and just need the link, click here.

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code Quantum

Kibo Code 2021 vs. 2020

For some reason, it takes me less time to do a video – so I went ahead and started the Kibo Code Quantum Review with a video!  In this review, I talk about some of the differences and challenges we had in 2020…and why Kibo Code Quantum for 2021 has solved almost all of those challenges.

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code Quantum

How Can Kibo Code Generate Such Great Sales?

Now, when I do the written part – I’ll cover all the things I forgot to mention or expand on some thoughts.  There may be some ranting and extra videos as time goes on, too.

Back in the day, I used to see sales videos that promised tons of sales, roll my eyes and decide it was “too good to be true”.  Usually, it was.

Thankfully, times have changed and most of the shady people get kicked out of their industry within a short period of time. Don’t worry – Aidan and Steve have been around for a LONG time (and I’ve purchased many of their programs).

Yet, because I remember how I felt, I completely understand why someone would question a business model that shows such great income shots.

Is It Possible To Really Make Those Kinds of Sales?

I don’t know this person, but all of the income shots you see in my video or in the sales webinar came from Kibo members.  There are plenty of additional people who shared their success in the dedicated forum – and plenty of people that did NOT share their success (but still had success).

By law, no one can show you an income report and guarantee you will find similar success.  And really…there is no way to get two people to do the exact same level of success.  In Kim’s world (which is an interesting place), I look at an income screenshot like this and say “why not?”

Kim, Don’t You Have Experience?

Yes, and that’s part of why I now look at income screenshots differently.  I know how to read these much better than other people.  I know the good, the bad, and the hiding.

I look at the screen shot above and I see:

Gross income of $60,000 

Most likely profits between 20%-50% (depending on advertising costs), but maybe a little lower if they were “new”

So, probably at least a profit of $6,000 in a month – which would be at least $72,000 to go towards my other adventures…or maybe pay bills

What if they didn’t make a profit? Then it was probably because of advertising costs, and with that much in sales, they have a pretty good customer list.  That means lower advertising costs in the future with re-targeting/re-marketing, look-a-like audiences, etc.

I actually have a lot of additional thoughts, most of them aimed at “how can I replicate that?”

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code Quantum

What Kibo Code Quantum Does Differently

It’s hard for me, with my experience in a variety of eCommerce models, to look at Kibo Code truly objectively.  

As I mentioned in the first video, 2020 definitely had challenges with the initial Kibo Code version.  The most significant challenge was the supply chain disruption from anywhere.  If you remember – we had our ports shut down for a while.

Even now – January, 2021 – suppliers continue to have problems!  You can see a screenshot below from one of my suppliers (not for Kibo, but for another one of my stores).

Another one of my suppliers flat out told me that the reason they couldn’t get shipments out faster was because they couldn’t find people that wanted to work!

Thankfully, the world has figured out a way to keep the supply chain moving – even if it is a bit slower.

In addition to inventory issues, we also ran into additional costs with Shopify (I was paying about $100 a month and only had a fraction of the apps I needed).  Then, our marketing method was paid ads through Google Shopping.

Kibo Code Quantum Eliminates Those Challenges

Even before the 2021 Kibo Code was announced, Aidan and Steve hinted at the change of removing Shopify.  I was VERY pleased to find that they had created their own system for us to use – no need for Shopify!

Then, they mentioned using a free source of traffic.  I’m always cautious when a system relies on free traffic because those channels tend to dry up rather quickly. Yet, when I heard about the free traffic source – I new it was true! (Sorry, you’ll have to watch the webinar to see what that traffic source is!)

In fact, my sister and I had been discussing that very traffic source.  We work with a lot of other small business owners through our various businesses, and many people had reported their business had exploded with this free traffic source.

So, if I thought the Kibo Code in 2020 was great, but had challenges because of supply chain issues, using Shopify, and using paid ads – all of those are now corrected with Kibo Code Quantum!

While It Seems Perfect, I Do Have A Few Concerns

I will acknowledge that my concerns are not specific to Kibo Code – but about any system. 

 In my experience with many training programs – almost all of the times I would consider myself as “failing” was not because of the system.  Instead, it was because of my lack of action.

 With this system specifically, I do worry about the free traffic source.  It could be limited.  The good news is that I have spent the last 3 months setting up alternative free traffic methods and testing them – most likely, one or more of those could be a backup.

 Really, the main concern is that if you get Kibo Code Quantum, but don’t take action – you could end up “missing out”.  So, I guess the moral of my concerns is that you need to TAKE ACTION to make this work.  *To clarify – the training will not go away!  I just think that if you don’t take action, you’ll get overwhelmed trying to catch up (but if you do join through my link and get behind – reach out and I’ll help you get caught up).

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code Quantum

Kim's Kibo Code Quantum Bonuses

As with many of my reviews, I include bonuses for those that purchase through my link.

I have been a student of Aidan and Steve’s for several years, and I know they offer quality programs.  As such, I’m willing to offer some excellent bonuses to help you succeed!

*Disclaimer: Most of these bonuses are only available after the refund period has passed.

Bonus #1 - Visibility and Publicity Campaigns ($3,000 Value)

These are campaigns I run for my clients, usually for branding.  Even though you are not necessarily branding for this business model – you can still use this to drive MASSIVE buyer traffic to your products.

These visibility and publicity campaigns are where I get businesses (or even people) mentioned in top websites like USA Today.  You can use this for this ecommerce business or any other business/website you have!  

For the Kibo Code bonus #1, I run 2 campaigns for you.  An actual real-world value of at least $3,000 (I charge $1500 per campaign).  To see more about what these are, see the branding campaigns here.

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code

Bonus #2 - Personal Coaching Call With Me! ($2500 Value)

Everyone needs a little coaching.  Even I get coaching from time to time!  I hold a PhD in Business Administration and I specialize in systems and processes that improve traffic and SALES. I have extensive experience running my own businesses – local, eCommerce, and affiliate!

I do answer general questions (for free) in my Lead Generation Source Facebook Group, but this gives you a chance to get coaching specific to your needs and concerns.  I have had clients finally start making sales after working with me and others increase their sales and traffic significantly.  Of course, there are no guarantees, but this is a great way to get an “outside” perspective.

30-60 minute “call” – this can be by phone, or if you want to show me information on the computer, we’ll hop on my platform where you can share your computer and talk with you mic on your computer

You can also email me additional questions for 60 days after our consult.  That way, you get to ask questions about any actions you put in place.

This is your time – so we can talk about whatever you want help with.

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code

Bonus #3 - Resell EP Laser Products (Priceless - I had to have at least one listed as this)

I don’t actually offer the opportunity for people to resell the EP Laser products.  We tried it once, but the company we went through was a nightmare.

We’ve been talking about it for a while now, but it’s kind of a challenge to set up.  I’ll overcome that challenge for anyone who purchases through our link.

We primarily offer ORNAMENTS, which means they mostly sell at Christmas…but we have a pretty good variety and they sell fairly well despite massive competition.  We do have other products that we sell OFFLINE (custom order requests) that I’ll open up for you to sell if you choose.

*We may have to get creative on how we connect this, so plan on this being later – but let me know as soon as possible if you are interested!

Bonus #4 - Google My Business Workshop ($1500 Value)

Google My Business is primarily for local businesses that have a physical location or a service area.  I use it as a sort of grey area for eCommerce.

I’ll run a Google My Business workshop that will give you details on how you can rank for local searches (and ecommerce terms are frequently showing as local search terms now).  

You can decide if you want to run this as a potential source of traffic or not – either way, you’ll get some great information on marketing with Google!

Bonus #5 - Pinterest Pins for 5 Products, Tailwind Tribes Submissions ($1,000 value)

Pinterest is exceptionally powerful for eCommerce products that have good images.  Since the Kibo code provides good images that are already known to convert – it’s a great place for your products!

Since most of my followers stumble with Pinterest, I’ve decided to add this on to help boost your traffic.  

You will choose 5 of your products (typically 5 products you are selling fairly regularly so you know they convert well), and I will create a variety of pins.  Then, I’ll share them to all my related boards AND I’ll submit them into all the related Tailwind Tribes.

Then, if you want to create more pins for other products, I’ll submit up to 5 more each month through the end of December!  Maybe longer, just depends on how busy we get.

  Bonus #6 - Email Help For Anything Kibo ($1,000 value)

Have you ever worked through a course and got stuck when on something, only to have to wait several days for a response from support on how to get past it?

I’m pretty good at Kibo setup (which is where most people get stuck), so I’ll be available to help you over any hurdles to help you get set up (or if you have other things you get stuck on).  

I put “email”, but last time, I hopped on a Zoom meeting when people who bought through me got stuck on something.  This is separate from the coaching call!  If we can’t coordinate a time, I’ll probably just record the fix and email you a link to the video showing you how to fix it. 

Bonus #7 - Manufacturer/White Label/Private Label Training ($297 value)

Get access to a special course that teaches you how you can manufacture, white label, or private label your own products.  One of the biggest challenges with the Kibo Code business model is finding suppliers with enough inventory to support many sellers – but when you sell your own items, you control the inventory!

This is NOT mandatory to run Kibo code, but I’ve been manufacturing and reselling my own items for over 10 years now (profitably).  I’ll teach you ways you can add on or pivot to your own products.

Bonus #8 - Lifetime Access To The 12 Week Master Marketing Course (or whatever it ends up getting named) ($3500 value)

This 12 week course starts shortly after Kibo Code closes.  We’re going to build out multiple marketing channels and boost our traffic to just about EVERYWHERE (everywhere we set up at least).

All of the secrets to marketing to multiple channels, adding in automation, driving tons of traffic – you’ll get them all.  This course is specifically designed to support Kibo members!  We’ll work around webinars and adapt the course based on training available – since I’m doing Kibo, too!

The secrets shared in this course are the combination of multiple courses – each one worth thousands of dollars.  I’m going to teach you secrets you probably can’t find elsewhere!  But the best part is that when you implement all of the methods we cover, you’ll get your Kibo store(s) and products in front of LOTS of people!

Click Here To Get The Kibo Code

Set For Success

Clearly, no one can guarantee success, but Kibo code Quantum is the closest business model RIGHT NOW that will get you there.  You still need to do the work and put in the effort.  

You will get everything you need for success within the Kibo code training and the resources provided by Aidan and Steve!  I just wanted to create bonuses that support you!

As you can see, my Kibo Code bonuses are set up to help you succeed with your marketing for your Kibo Code store(s).  Don’t be shy about reaching out to me.  I have two passions in business – digital marketing and eCommerce! 

How To Claim Your Kibo Code Bonuses From Kim

The best way to reach me is through Facebook Messenger!  When someone purchases the Kibo Code through my link, I do NOT get their information…which means you have to send me your transaction info!

You should get a receipt from Clickbank that provides that info.  Copy the transaction number, then shoot me a private message through Messenger.  Go HERE to see my personal profile and send me a message.  

More eCommerce and Dropshipping Resources

Whether you get Kibo Code or not – I’ve got a free gift for you.  It’s access to the Little Biz Resources membership area.  I’ll keep adding more courses – for now, I have a course that walks you through various monetization methods and a course on affiliate marketing.

If you would like to join the free membership area, just go here.

The post Kibo Code Quantum Review Plus Dropshipping Overview appeared first on Little Biz Resources.

[kelmcdonald]

Conventions Prep and Set Up

New Post has been published on http://sorcery101.net/news/conventions-prep-and-set-up/

Conventions Prep and Set Up

Like I said in January most of my money comes from conventions.  It’s from 10-12 different conventions a year. Here’s a break down of all the prep which goes into those trips.

HOW I PICK SHOWS

First, I need to pick which shows I go to. Since, convention sales are a big part of my income is really comes down to profit margins. I go back to any show where I have made $500 profit. (Though I might change that rule to 175 profits per day because more and more shows are becoming longer than 3 days. ) So after everything is paid for I need to take home at least $500. Some times I can make a low sales show work because I live close by or can crash at a friends house. For example, Rose City Comic Con has my lowest sales of my regular shows but I live in Portland and on the same lightrail line as the convention center. So my costs are $5 a day in public transit tickets and the table cost which is $200.  The other side of this is sometimes it means not returning to shows where I can have fun and see a lot of friends. I’m probably never going back to MoCCA because the tables are $450 (last I checked a few years ago) and a plane ticket cross country is $400-600. So it means even if I crash at a friends how I would need to sales twice as much as Rose City to just break even.

Now I am always looking for new shows, especially ones in February, June, August, and November. Those months usually don’t have shows. When I go to a new show I ask friends who have been and look at plane tickets. I try to figure out how sales will go. Right now, I’ve on the fence about trying Heroes Con, DINK, and Denver Comic Con.  I have heard good things from several friends but in both cases but I need to cover a hotel, flight, and table. So I might give one a try in 2019, but this year is out. Also keep wanting to hit up Wondercon, which would be much easier, but it keeps conflicting with Anime Boston which is one of my best shows. This year was one of the few times that conflict didn’t haven’t but I got waitlisted.

When I go to a new show I bring my 2 test boxes. My 2 test boxes includes:

10 of each Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales

10 of Can I Pet Your Werewolf

15 Misfits of Avalon vol 1

5 Misfits of Avalon vol 2

5 Misfits of Avalon vol 3

15 Fame and Misfortune

15 Better to Find You With

20 From Scratch

5 Sorcery 101 vol 1

2 Sorcery 101 vol 2

If I sell all of this that will make me 1500 gross. In most cases that will get me over my $500 profit goal. Part of why I’m hesitant about Heroes Con and the others is I would have to sell all of it to make goal. Even then I might not.

PREP

Now that the shows are picked for the year, I try to make sure I got everything organized. Every December I go through all my past convention notes. I box up or order anything I’ll need for that con every. In my closet right now are several boxes that have written on their side:

AB (short for Anime Boston)

1 of 5

Holds BTFYW/BUFFY/MOA1 (short for The Better to Find You With, Buffy, and Misfits of Avalon vol 1 respectively)

On the inside flap of the box it will say

Buffy – 10

BTFYW – 40

MOA1 – 40

So as soon as I open the box I know exactly what is inside.

I always take as many books as I sold the year before rounded up to the nearest interval of 5. If I sold out I’ll add 5-10 to that number. So in this case Misfits sold 39 copies at Anime Boston last year, which is why I’m bringing 40.

Doing this lets me know if I need to order or reprint books before the season starts. Like I bought 200 copies of Misfits of Avalon and 50 copies of Buffy from Darkhorse to have them at shows through the whole year. It’s not that I don’t expect Buffy to sell, but more I want my con sales to focus on my creator owned things rather than work for hire so I limited Buffy sales to 10 – 5 per show.

I also have a con kit box that goes to every show. In that is:

Promo Flyers

Sharpies

Cough drops

Aleve (my preferred headache medicine)

Tums

Ear plugs

Square Reader

Sold out form

This will get update before every show. Promo flyers are obviously so people can find me website later. Sharpies are for signing and sketching in books. Square reader is how I take credit card sales at shows. Paypal also makes one but I like Square better. Cough drops, Aleve, and Tums are for if I start to feel sick during the show. Usually I use Fisherman’s Friend cause they are stronger than other cough drops. Since I mostly sell books and books are heavy I do my best not to over bring those. That makes the sold out form important.

If has a blue border to match the price tags and table cloth on my con display which is the same blue on my website. I circle the book or write what they want in the blank space. I usually write the persons name and address cause I have an easier time writing my own hardwriting. Basically, someone can pay for a book or original page at the con and I will ship it to them for free.

GETTING TO THE SHOW

Books are heavy and that is mostly what I sell. This isn’t much of a problem if I’m car pooling with a friend. Load the car up and go. If I need to fly to a convention, I used to try to fly Virgin America cause they let you check up to 10 bags. But they got bought by Alaska Airlines. I can still check up to like 10 bags but it’s way more expensive. So this year I will mail them ahead. I try to send them a month ahead of me. If the books get lost, then I’ll check them.

Mailing them ahead of time is also why that “AB box 1 of 5” label is important. Because then I know which box got lost and what was in it.

If I’m not staying with a friend and I’m mailing stuff ahead of me, I need to call the hotel or convention to find out how long the hotel/con will hold my books and if there is a fee.

All of my display stuff that I’ll explain in the next part, fits into a large suitcase that I always check.

DISPLAY AT THE SHOW

The last step before the show begins is my display. I tried to brand my display with the same color scheme as my website. I linked you to my Sold Out Form and that blue is color of my table cloth and the color of my price tags.

Books are where I make most of my money and what I want people to focus on. They are front and center. My books get displayed on a colaspable shelf like this one . It is 18 inches wide which works for me because all my books are 6 inches by 9 inches or 9 inches by 6 inches. I keep meaning to paint it black or blue so it will also match my website. This keeps all my books upright and facing people who are browsing. It also keeps them close to eye level. All the covers are clearing visible. Some of the books in the back get hidden, and because of that I try to group books vertically. So Misfits of Avalon vol 3 is in front of the Misfits of Avalon vol 2 which is in front of Misfits of Avalon vol 1. Someone who is familiar with the book will still see the series clearly, but volume 3 in front will let people who have other volumes there is a new book. But the title is still clear so that new people can flip through the series. Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales also gets stacked vertically.

For each book I have made a price tag. They are 10 inches tall and 6 inches wide. They fit nicely behind each book and poke out. Sorcery 101’s price tag is 7 inches tall and 9 inches wide for the same reason. I do individual price tags because of something I learned from reading “Why We By: The Science of Shopping.” People only spend like 30 seconds reading signs. So a giant price list is less likely to me read than an individual price tag.

I have tote bags and still haven’t quite figured out how to display them. I try to find a place to lay them flat so the design is clear.

Also laying flat is my portfolio. I don’t usually sell prints because I’ve had better luck selling books. Prints of my character did okayish. But most people I sell to at shows have never heard of me and it’s easier to tell someone to try a book than to grab a print of a character they don’t know (And I don’t think people should sell fanart.) Also, laying flat is my price list for commissions. Commissions I could make more money off of if I put more focus on them. However, I don’t really like to do commissions at shows. I’d rather stay  in selling/pitching mode rather than switch back and forth between that and drawing mode. Also, I ink traditionally so it’s hard to make my work portable. All in all, I’m okay with them being an after thought. If you want a commission, you are better off shooting me an email before the show and picking it up there. I did recently get an ipad pro to draw digitally. So I might try to do digital commissions at shows now that I can be less concerned with bring all my inking stuff.

I also have two banners behind me. They are both the tallest version of this banner.   I picked that one because while most people have 3 foot wide banners, the 2 foot wide one will fit in my large suitcase. But the 3 foot one doesn’t. One design is the blue black and white color scheme of my website. That one has my name on it and characters from different comics. I might redesign it in a year or so. The other design has Danny lighting his cigarette and has Sorcery 101’s logo on it. The Kel McDonald banner is more helpful for people who already know me. The Sorcery 101 banner brings over more people who don’t know me. They ask about the title which leads to my sales pitch. The Sorcery 101 banner is also easier to spot cause it is bring orange. So if you need to design a banner and are still unknown, maybe make a banner for your comic rather than you. Both of these banners are VERY TALL.  They are hard to miss.

Giving someone a clear way to find you is important. I think that makes one of the most popular ways to display prints at shows a bad idea. I see it most at anime cons, but it happens are every show. I think it’s just more prevalent at animecons because the artists lean younger and therefore are less likely to have the funds for a big banner. There is a thin wall of prints taped together and only a small space for the artist to poke their head out. If you google anime con display you get 9 million examples of this. I don’t want to pick on anyone by grabbing a picture so I drew what I’m talking about.

First off, that display is flimsy and I’ve seen more then one fall over. Second, they are hard to put. My display can be put up by just me and takes ten minutes or so. Also, the sign being in front of the table means when the con floor is crowded someone can’t see it and therefore find you. Then the mass of images will blur together with nothing standing out from far away. If you and several other people in a row have a display like this is will be hard for someone to see you. And finally, this wall puts a wall between you and the person who wants to buy stuff. It’s hard to see if someone is browsing through that tiny window and hard to engage with a customer. If you want to do a print wall, try to put it behind you rather than in front of you. You should be visible. Part of why folks are coming to cons is to talk to/see you.

And the final part of my display is me. I’m not a very fashionable person. But I try to dress nicer than I usually do with a button up shirt. I pick button up shirts with a collar and a front pocket that has a button flap. The front pocket is where I put my large bills so the flap is to make it so they aren’t visible. Obviously most people have a cash box or bag, but I worry about losing it/forgetting it. I also wear a tie that matches Danny’s piano key tie. So I match my books and merch a little too. Now that Sorcery 101 is done I might switch to something kinda werewolfy if I can find it.

And all that is before the show even starts. Next month I’ll post about at the show stuff.

[wine-porn]

I’ve always been a fan of Aglianico. Although in America, pickings can be slim, and–as it is considered a variety of great aging potential–often moderately old. Not that there’s anything wrong with old wines, not at all. But feeling these wines in their bright freshness–at their source–and seeing all the measures taken to PRESERVE that youthful fruit is something quite overlooked when only exposed to wines developing tertiary. There were several side benefits to experiencing the Aglianico at Tenuta Del Meriggio. First of all, it exposed me to Taurasi, the very special DOCG dedicated to Aglianico, but nearly overshadowing these powerful reds are the ridiculous whites produced alongside: Greco (Tufo DOCG) and Fiano (Avellino DOCG). It should also be mentioned a couple ancient, indigenous grapes are also produced: Coda di Volpe as a DOC and Falanghina, which Americans are probably far more familiar with in relation to wines from Campania–at least when I mentioned I was traveling there, Falanghina was the first word out of my wine-friends’ mouths.

While we’re on the subject of *Compania knowledge* I should mention what EYE knew about it going in. 99% of my exposure in several decades of drinking wine in the U.S. had been under the Feudi Di San Gregorio label. This is a brand fairly common in the US and pretty much represented the extent of my experience save for a few outliers over the years. As part of my research WHILE in Campania, I picked up this same label off a local shelf just to see how it compared to the stuff I was being exposed to at a boutique winery. The results were shocking. It is–quite literally–supermarket plonk, nowhere NEAR exuding the sort or lavish fruit and mineral experienced at Meriggio. And to think I have a fair amount of this in my cellar!

The other thing I always do before such trips to relatively unknown regions is to snoop around what others say. I went through my library of Usual Suspects on all things encyclopedic to wine and came away with not much more than I already knew. While most entries were promising of decent quality and variable nuance, most indicated the best-known brand to stick to as Mastroberardino, whose ‘Radici’ bottling I ALSO experimented with while in Naples and it, too, displayed the kind of dull, safe normal-ness and un-inspiring fruit the Feudi did. An interesting aside here is this is almost IDENTICAL to the VERY BRIEF wiki-page on Taurasi, which indicates in its scant dozen-sentences the appellation was relatively unknown until early this century, where it has exploded to over 200 labels BUT–as if tearing a page directly from Karen McNeil’s book–lists solely the afore-mentioned Mastro as the only “wine-of-interest”.

Well then. I’m here to change your mind about that.

Loyal readers will know I am not one to allow *the story* to over-shadow the stuff under the cork, but one of the beauties of spending an entire week on a winery is the ability to really get to know the proprietors, their ideals, and their goals. Keep in mind this was not a week on a region, or on a variety, not even within a consorzio of producers, but an entire week on a single winery. Oh, but there are way MORE benefits. Completely immersing oneself in the dining and sources of dining in a very tight area sheds light on the symbiotic relationship between the wine and local cuisine. And in gastronomic cultures this old, the association is obvious. Not to be ignored are the local sights and sounds, and spending an entire week nearly one-on-one with the proprietors of a local business which depends on regional intricacies allows ample time to *stop and smell the roses* as it were, with plentiful side-trips to sights both adapted-to naturally and created as part of societal history. From the rocky switchbacks overlooking the colorful Amalfi coast to narrow hillside villages in the shadow of Vesuvius–castles and churches and palaces and museums in between–all proudly reflecting their stitches in the fabric of a region, and all benefiting from the bounty–and climate–of the Mediterranean. Because we’re here to talk about food & wine, remember?

Tenuta Del Meriggio is a winery born from a life-long interest in wine by a family dedicated to–and still fully immersed in–the on-the-street healthcare industry. Both Bruno and Nunzio Pizza dreamed of making wine themselves one day and this rocky little hillside above Avellino is the fruition of their physical–and financial–dedication to this goal. No expense has been spared in this state-of-the-art winery, and it shares many complements with its dug-deep hillside location. The sticky volcanic clay holds moisture indefinitely, translating to wet natural cellar walls producing near-100% humidity and shiver-inducing year-round temperatures, but also hampering off-season cultivation of the stony slopes and contributing constantly to vine-concern–especially in springtime. Unlike some wine-production facilities I have been inside of in Italy, this place is near-sterile in cleanliness, the equipment computer-controlled and several of the pieces geeky enough to have a function outside the grasp of someone fairly familiar with winery-processes.

I won’t go into a whole lot of detail about the winery. It’s brand new; It’s beautiful; The inside of almost all wineries is identical–the age and layout and whether the floor-drains work the only variables. Two or three things did pique my interest enough to bear mentioning though. They have a water-reclamation system installed downhill of the crush-pad. If you’ve ever worked in a winery, you KNOW the incredible amount of water used–not consumed, used–in keeping everything flowing. This water all has to go somewhere and it doesn’t really have anything WRONG with it. So a series of ponds and sumps and a selection of plants and gravels produce not only water which can be used as irrigation on the rare occasion, but re-used in the winery for cleaning. Another wish-list item I will mention is their own cold-room. Probably 2000-2500 sqft–not to mention the 20′ high ceilings–it is capable of (at least) 0° Celsius and is used in both pre-production fruit and post-production bottle stability. Lastly, I loved the Austrian-oak (not variable top) upright fermenters where the Aglianico spends upwards of 45 days in primary. They are big though–I mean what the hell even IS 100hl??? But they are very pretty and I kinda want one.

Are the wines organic or the property biodynamic? No. But here’s the thing you have to realize about European wineries: EVERYTHING is automatically far more “organic” than American agriculture–even without the badge–and EVERYONE is striving to both grow grapes and produce wines with as little chemical sleight-of-hand as possible. Americans have this weird black-and-white on-off switch when it comes to “organic”, and I’ve seen their faces when they ask and get the simple answer, “No.” If you stick around long enough for the FULL answer–and a complete understanding of wine-making approach in Europe–apparent is the fact the vineyard manager and winemaker are doing their best to minimize applications and additives, but a healthy vineyard is more important than an organic one and a healthy fermentation is more important than a natural one. This is the same argument I proffer constantly to the ‘Natural Wine’ crowd: There are no Natural Wines, only NATURALER wines. Being certified organic cuts hard into a wineries ability to compete in Italy, and honestly, the natives are just not as concerned about that word *officially* appearing on a label. Make sure your wines are being thoughtfully made, and vague titles won’t matter.

The winery itself sits up at about 1500 feet elevation on a fairly steep south-facing slope with various exposures of varying degrees for various small blocks of fruit. The exact town is Montemiletto, near the town of and in the province of Avellino, in the district of Irpinia–which is also the appellation? in the region of Campania. Sorry, the Irpinia part I never was quite able to get a handle on in terms of specific geographical boundaries, although it IS the appellation. Got that all straight? The Taurasi and Tufo DOCG’s are nearby at slightly lower elevations. The pecking order at this winery (and similar to others I have witnessed) is an “agronomist” (basically: vineyard manager)–and at Meriggio, Mr. Bruno Pizza is also an agronomist–who works year-round almost equally with the “oenologist” (they don’t really ever say ‘winemaker’), who here, is a rather famous Carmine Valentino and CLEARLY performing the duties which stateside would be called ‘Consulting Winemaker’ (the consulting part doesn’t translate, believe me I tried). Then there is the full-time on-site winemaker they also call an oenologist or sometimes ‘Technician’ who clearly is performing in the function we would call Assistant Winemaker. After that, it’s just a bunch of pruners, pickers and hose-draggers, the daily minutia of management I got to witness first-hand and let me tell you it differs NOT ONE SPECK from here in California. Tenuta Del Meriggio also has at the helm a Communicazione Commerciale or something something–a marketing director–by the name of Paolo Sibillo, a very focused but gregarious former boxer who speaks perfect English and naturally has his finger on everything from production and pricing to packaging and distribution. It’s quite a team, but we all know Nunzia runs the whole thing.

But how are the wines? I know you’re here for the wines. Let’s talk about the whites first. How beautiful these things were. Perfect with all the seafood we ate all over town at numerous restaurants. Everywhere, the Greco and Fiano came out. The latter far richer and rounder than the former, and naturally a favorite with the Chardonnay-drinkers in the crowd. The Greco is angular and lean, more akin to Riesling to me and was my favorite whenever the two were presented. A couple of notes about my notes which later proved themselves factually: First, I kept noting KMBS in the Greco. Turns out ‘Tufo” is the rock they quarry in the region to make the cobblestones and it has a very high sulfur content. There’s one. Secondly, I insisted the Greco was tannic. Turns out it has a very thin, delicate skin which actually GOES THROUGH the press mesh, creating a bit of skin-contact in the fermenters and with it, tannin. Lastly, I kept getting oak in the Fiano, even though it sees no oak (the reserve does). You would SWEAR there’s oak in it. In reality, this is a by-product of them freezing the grapes for 48 hrs before pressing. (remember that cold-room?) It creates a nutty, oaky, full mouthfeel while preserving the fruit. So I’m not crazy, after all.

18 irpinia coda di volpe DOC  Big citrus and austerity but it kind of turned into a bit of sweetness, candy pie or something. Kinda dusty floral really really dusty… It’s a great standalone grape they only make a little bit of it most of it goes in the blend but it’s really sharp, acidic and has an interesting floral but yet teary softness to it that belies its intensity. 18 fiano di avellino (day 2) Creamy round vanilla nutty oak. Old worldy and full of applesauce, melon and kiwi. Green cleanness reverberates throughout the cellar funk. 18 fiano di avellino (day 3) I’m getting so much richness here, more than I got last night. It’s all cream soda in the nose nice Twinkie icing but not cream cheese frosting, no citrus, all chubby roundness. … Big round old world funk in the mouth, gritty soggy soil but a granular brightness. 17 fiano di avellino Nice and clean, none of the barnyard funk I get off the 18. Nice apple and peach little bit of spice, little cardamon… In the mouth full and rich again. I could sell endcaps of this to Chard drinker and convert them. It has all the full mouth feel that Chardonnay drinker, chablis drinker and sancerre drinker needs but also the acidity and the minerality doesn’t take a break. Mouthfeel goes on and on.

18 greco di tufo (day 2) Interesting funky nose, nice reduction and stewed fruit, good earthiness and body in nose, good mineral edgy sharp in nose: cream soda and sprite notes with KMBS? … In the mouth, full and rich, 13.5 guess: 14. Full and round, almost a seedy strawberry Sierra-berry goodness. Citrus rind edge sharp and cutting. Mid palate a lil thin then comes crashing back to almost tannic bitterness. A brilliant white wine. Absolutely world-class stuff. I love this wine. 18 greco di tufo (day 3) I thought I got a touch of potassium metabisulfite off the front this morning and it’s still here. I’m getting a lot more baking spice off of this one really interesting cinnamon and nutmeg and a pastry pastry cheese note… Ridiculous mouthfeel but not a California sort of atmosphere, a raspy and honest bitter and there’s no way to argue there is not tannin in this wine. This is a winter-time wine–it won’t keep you warm but it will keep you alive. 14 greco di tufo Bad vintage? A lot creamier nose… full mouthfeel, good pomplamousse and more applesauce, all your dreams are alive here, boys & girls, ridiculous acidity, crazy mineral. Solid mouthfeel for decades. This is not made as well as the 18 and I would love to taste the 18 at this age.

18 fiano di avellino selectione A little oak on this one but really not noticeable in the nose. I was expecting something more. Solid but it actually has come and gone the other direction from the non selection it’s really really light… Rich and full in the mouth but it doesn’t let you get too far down the road before all that mineral kicks in… all the Chardonnay drinkers in the room def prefer the non-selection. Bottled 2 months ago and the feel like it’s a little awkward at this moment. Still it’s brilliant brilliant stuff. 18 greco di tufo selectione This is clean and mellow in the nose I feel like some of the lovely stuff I like about the stainless steel has been eroded. I’m getting more potassium metabisulfite I feel like it might be really recently bottled? Tomato stem and water down honey in the mouth. Very mellow and smoothed out but you’ve got tannin still there. I’m sorry I’m just not the biggest fan of these selections which is pretty much par for the course with me. The regular bottlings have more fruit. To their credit although they are both very freshly bottled and and perhaps will settle down a little bit in 6-months.

15 irpania aglianico DOC Nice dense formidable Ruby with a barely faded edge staining with good legs… Beautiful & nails all the way through. Smooth down into a nice cherry reduction pomegranate where the chocolate tobacco is just pouring out of it even though it’s only 5. Nice green-briar but it’s a polished sort of briar. Acid is going to be there it’s just a breath in the background underneath all that cinnamon. In the mouth you can definitely taste the age. It has a crazy fruit to it but also a little bit of imbalance because the the tannins and the acidity are so huge, there’s a wall of dark fruit that lingers slightly behind it and is it saving grace. This needs about 4 hours in a decanter then you possibly could approach it. So much going on in the nose and in the finish that I feel sorry for the entry and middle. There is a really nice herb or herbaceous sort of rosemary oil thing going on in the finish that I could really get addicted to. A stupidly delicious wine. 14 taurasi aglianico DOCG Plain and elegant in the nose. Subdued at first. Dull briar fruit so huge, massive cherry luxardo finally blows up. So elegant in the mouth, mouth-wrackingly dry and acidic, I could literally drink this wine all day long I’m not going to fall into the crutch of comparing it to another region it’s just not fair. This is stupidly good, perfect barrel, good fruit. I will be a little bit concerned that maybe the fruit will not out live with the tannin but there’s gobs of it back there so it’s not really my place to say. 12 taurasi aglianico DOCG Showing a bit more garnet in the glass. Just a hint of brick at the edge. A little bit oxidized in the nose to be honest, creamy buttery big bread popcorn sort of nuances borderline on banana but not quite going there. Through all this nutty and reduced fruit shine calamata and Herbs de Provence notes. Ridiculous fruit, honestly more fruit than the 14 which would bode well for my question as to whether the fruit can outlive the tannin. 10 taurasi Aglianico DOCG Really starting to smooth there. Still all there but really starting to smooth out and the reduction on fruit is just absolutely gorgeous. Lithe and bitter and green, fruit a glorious bystander in the tertiary theme.

I know I was supposed to rant and rave about the Taurasi’s–and I did, to a point–but that little 2015 “regular” Irpinia DOC Aglianico was my wine of the day several times. I kept coming back to it as a benchmark for what the variety could do. I know it has zero barrique aging and was actually released LONG before it had this much bottle-age, but it is straight-up gorgeous. Funny thing is: later on in the week we attended a big formal dinner with local celebrities and notables. They served one red. I couldn’t believe it: My WINE OF THE WEEK: the 2015 Irpinia Aglianico. Good things come to those who wait.

And what the world needs now is more Greco and Aglianiaco.

These wines are available thru Siena Imports on the West Coast.

tenutadelmeriggio.it 

Getting to know Avellino I've always been a fan of Aglianico. Although in America, pickings can be slim, and--as it is considered a variety of great aging potential--often moderately old.