#everything is factually incorrect but nonetheless

[autistme]

how i restringed this guitar is between me and god

[mmhcs]

They've Got Chemistry!

Miguel O'Hara x Science-Lover!Reader

A/N: Big hearts and big brains.

Warnings: Long fic, Miguel is (sort of) bad/rusty at science, and, while I tried to make this as accurate as possible, I must admit that I'm not as well-versed in the sciences as I'd like to be (I'm trying, though!) and so some information may be incorrect (I apologize to any science lovers/studiers in advance!)

As a geneticist, Miguel is obviously well-versed in all branches of science. But he loves biology. He loves all branches but that's where it's at for him. There's just something so interesting about what two organisms can create and how certain things can be moved around for better or worse. He likes the foresight that comes with the study, how one can predict and prevent.

Due to his role within the Spider Society, Miguel has taken a special interest in molecular biology. His favorite part is seeing how a Spider-person's DNA structure changes after being bitten. His least favorite part is seeing the damage that can be done when a person who doesn't belong travels to another universe. From what he's concluded, DNA becomes damaged following exposure to another universe. He wishes he would have known that sooner.

When Miguel first sees you, it's at one of the many labs within the Spider Society. You're sitting at a table with Miles, helping him with his Physics homework. The first thing that comes to Miguel's mind is wow. Because you mean to tell him that you're pretty and smart? And you're a science fanatic like him? Most Spiders he works with a smart (even Peter B.), yes, but whenever he starts going into the specific details of what makes up the Arachno-Humanoid Poly-Multiverse, their eyes start to glaze over.

But you - you explain everything to Miles with evident eagerness. It makes Miguel want to go up and say something, pick your brain and have his own conversation with you.

"...Now, Miles, when you want to find the density, it's mass divided by volume—" "Could you please keep it down in here? I'm feeling the reverberation of your soundwaves in the next room," Miguel says as he casually strolls up to you and Miles. "Excuse me?" You watch as this big man saunters over to the two of you. "If we're being factual, the frequency that we're speaking at right now wouldn't even be enough to be picked up from behind the door of this room." Though almost unnoticeable, Miguel's false irritated demeanor falters at your words. It was a joke. He was joking. Nonetheless, he continues walking towards the table, stealing a chair and plopping down opposite to you. "Hey!" Miles yells, almost knocked out of his chair by Miguel's hasty actions. "Relax, kid, you're fine," he hisses before turning back to you. "Miguel O'Hara" —he extends his hand, hoping that his eagerness isn't evident—"and you are?"

He basically hijacks Miles's study session with you. And, while annoyed (because physics is way harder than it sounds), Miles finds great amusement in seeing Miguel get fact-checked back-to-back.

Following your "conversation", Miguel makes more of an effort to brush up on his knowledge of science. You made him realize that he's been neglecting so much of the scientific world in favor of work.

He totally doesn't use this as an excuse to spend more time around you, though. The reason why Miguel silently observes you as you work in the lab is because he has to make sure that you don't accidentally screw something up, not because he wants to get to know you more but he's nervous and afraid that he'll say something stupid.

Oddly enough, you also bring Miguel and Miles closer together. After noticing his behavior around you, Miles goes to him, hoping that he can offer some advice.

"Look, it's a crush—no biggie!" Miles says, lackadaisically waving a hand. "I get them all the time!" Miguel doesn't say anything, only looks down at Miles from his platform. "Hey, my Uncle Aaron always used to tell me that when you like someone, you go up to them, put your hand on their shoulder and say 'Hey' really smoothly. Gotta make your voice come out like mantequilla, y'know? Makes 'em go crazy—" "Get out." "Huh? What? But tío, I'm just trying to offer some advice man-to-man—" "Get. Out." Slightly defeated, Miles turns to head for the door, mouth scrunched into a tight knob. "And that's what you're having trouble with in Physics?" Miguel adds. "A baby could do those problems!" "Hey, you got three of them wrong!" Miles calls back.

When you two finally start dating, Miguel tries his best to be the smartest, most educated version of himself. He's constantly spitting out random scientific facts or calling you to do experiments with him. He wants to impress you.

As the leader of the Spider Society, it's very rare that Miguel asks for help. He doesn't even like calling for backup when he needs it. But whenever he's working on something or needs to be reminded of what correct term to use, he calls you. You're the only one allowed in the lab with him while he's working and you're the only one allowed to pitch and test new ideas. It's a great display of trust and vulnerability on Miguel's part, given out of his trust and love for you.

He even allows you to make jokes when he messes up.

Carefully, Miguel picks up a piece of potassium with a pair of tweezers. In front of him is a row of beakers, filled with everything from water to new, colorful concoctions that he'd mixed together. He studies the potassium and then eyes the row of beakers, deciding on which one to drop the sucker in. "Cariño, come look at this, porfa," Miguel says once he's decided. You swivel around in your chair to look back at him just as he drops the potassium into the beaker of water. Before you can say anything, sparks fizzle within the glass followed by two loud pops. Miguel remains frozen in place, both in embarrassment and disbelief. He meant to drop it in the beaker next to the water. It's only when you come up and peck him on his ear does Miguel finally snap out of his thoughts. "Was that deliberate or are you just excited to see me?" you ask with a chuckle.

While you're not a fan of Miguel staying late and overworking himself, sometimes you plan dates in the lab where you two do fun, non-work-related experiments. While it's not as good as having him home and resting, you take solace in the fact that he's taking a break from work to do something fun.

Miguel dedicates himself to learning more about your favorite branch of science. Whether it's chemistry, physics, or a subfield such as acoustics, you best believe that he's going to read every book, do every experiment with you, and make sure that he understands how to better relate to you.

Likewise, you and Miguel also do a lot of biology experiments together. Even if it's something as plain as extracting and comparing DNA from different fruits, he likes to hear you prattle off facts and make observations and hypotheses.

You also use "research experiments" such as "the effects of sleep and relaxation" in order to coax Miguel into taking care of himself.

Miguel's favorite cheesy joke to make is that you two are like protons and electrons because you're a beam of positivity in his life and he, like an electron, is insanely attracted to you.

Your late-night talks are both existential and logical as you discuss how the Web of Life and Destiny bought you two together and whether or not it's a canon event, you two were meant to be.

Overall, Miguel loves you. Not just how easy it is to get lost doing something he loves but just you in general. Your brain, knowledge, face, body, how you keep him on his toes and constantly inspire him to learn and relearn—he loves all of it. And he forever cherishes you.

A/N: Once again, so sorry about the length of this! If any science aficionados would be so kind as to share some links to videos, websites, etc. that help them to better understand science, that would be much appreciated! Hope y'all enjoyed!

[reikuto]

CONTENT! quirkless!au, bakudeku, angst, established relationship. SUMMARY! completely inspired by the movie little fish. this is NOT my idea. in a world where there’s a global memory-loss pandemic called neuro inflammatory affliction, katsuki struggles to help izuku keep his memories. A/N! enjoy!! (p.s. this fic takes places over the course of several months!!!) UNEDITED. i was too excited to post!!!!!! GO WATCH LITTLE FISH, ITS FREE ON AMAZON PRIME

HE SHOULDN’T HAVE IGNORED THE SIGNS. it’s not like he hadn’t seen the news; the fisherman who jumped off his boat to swim home, the marathon runner who forgot to stop running, the pilot who forgot how to fly a plane mid flight, katsuki had seen it all and yet he shrugged it off. instead he’d shift his focus to the man beside him, who somehow always uttered the most factually incorrect sentences in hopes of getting a reaction out of the blond. bakugou katsuki would narrow his eyes at the freckled man, whose lips quirked up into a knowing smirk. “was it something i said?” izuku midoriya chuckles, sliding the blonde his coffee.

“that’s not what happened.” katsuki scoffs, bringing his mug to his lips. “but whatever.”

“you sure?” izuku cocks an eyebrow. “pretty sure that’s how it went down.”

“nope,” katsuki says simply, resisting the urge to take the bait. “it’s alright though, i know you’re just trying to piss me off.”

it’s never been anything but a stupid joke; a silly way they - mostly izuku - would poke fun at each other. the freckled man would smile cheekily as he spewed out some half-assed version of the truth and katsuki would roll his eyes before almost always giving izuku the exact reaction he wanted. in the end, it never mattered, the blonde would still begrudgingly accept the shorter man’s soft kisses and teasing apologies. it was never serious, it was never supposed to be serious, katsuki was never supposed to feel genuine fear inking through him when izuku recalled a memory incorrectly.

the government said there was no known cure for NIA; there was no avoiding it, no preventing it, no stopping it. people would inevitably forget their memories, some steadily and others in one fell swoop, but they’d lose it nonetheless. katsuki believed - prayed - that somehow he and izuku would be spared, that there was some sort of immunity and they had been fortunate enough to get it.

there wasn’t.

for izuku midoriya it happened slowly, over the course of six months. katsuki didn’t know if he was supposed be grateful for the steady decline; while it gave them more time together, it only made it harder to witness the man he loved lose everything that made him…him. the first sign of NIA that katsuki had recognized in izuku occurred on a chilly saturday morning. walking back to their shared apartment, hand in hand, when izuku nodded at a restaurant they’d frequent at and said: do you think that place is any good?

it took a couple seconds for his question to register, but when it did, katsuki brought the two of them to a halt. “what did you say?”

“hm?” izuku innocently turned to katsuki. “i asked if you thought it looked like it was any good.”

“are you being serious?”

“yes?” izuku laughed. “it’s close to our place, we should check it out.”

“we’ve been eating there for months, deku.” katsuki frowned, and the way izuku’s smile faltered made him wish he would’ve just kept his mouth shut.

katsuki refused to give up though, adorning every picture in their apartment with sticky notes of names, ages, and their relationship to izuku. he’d talk about their childhood at dinner, ignoring the pang in his chest at izuku’s reactions as if these memories weren’t his too. he’d let izuku spend hours scrolling through social media, grateful that their friends had always documented every birthday and outing. he’d watch izuku take in the pictures and videos in awe, with only one thought on his mind: why was the universe trying to take izuku away?

one early morning, when izuku thought katsuki was still asleep, he had gotten up and stared at the pictures littered on their dresser. katsuki watched with a knot in his throat as izuku’s fingers delicately traced the frames, the way his hands trembled as he picked them up, and the way he looked around their apartment as if he were a guest sleeping over for the first time.

katsuki sat up then, his rustling garnering the attention of izuku, who only stared at him silently. katsuki could almost see the gears turning in his head when at last, izuku said, “bakugou?”

katsuki ignored the churn in his stomach because this didn’t mean anything. they could still get past this, the fact that izuku still knew his name is a good thing right? katsuki just had to work a little harder to make izuku remember details.

“kacchan,” katsuki corrected gently. “you call me kacchan.”

“kacchan,” izuku repeated, and katsuki felt the relief wash over him when he sees izuku smile. “good morning, kacchan.”

unfortunately, katsuki wasn’t always as successful, such as the time he and and izuku were cuddled on the couch watching tv when izuku’s phone started ringing. with a sigh, izuku picked up his phone and glanced at the screen before tossing it aside.

“who was it?” katsuki asked, absentmindedly playing with izuku’s fingers as he watched tv.

“someone named uraraka.”

katsuki tore his eyes from the television to look at izuku’s phone. “you’re not gonna answer?”

“i don’t know an uraraka.” izuku shrugged.

bakugou’s eyes furrowed, picking up the remote to lower the volume. “yeah you do. ochako uraraka? we graduated with her.”

izuku remained silent for a couple seconds, “what was she like?“

fuck. “uh…short, round cheeks, nice.”

izuku laughed, and the sound eases katsuki’s heart. “that doesn’t really help, kacchan.”

katsuki took his hand off of izuku’s, crossing his arms as he tried to think of any information on the girl. “you dated her for a while. a long time ago. you’re still friends though.”

“oh,”

“listen, i don’t know her all that well but i know you two are close.” katsuki shrugged a shoulder. “she would’ve liked to talk to you.”

izuku didn’t respond, instead he quietly got up from his spot beside katsuki and walked over to the kitchen. internally debating whether or not to answer the call and let izuku hear her, katsuki mumbled a curse word and stood up to follow him into the kitchen. he recognized that the shift in izuku’s expression meant that he was struggling to put pieces together.

“what’s your name?” katsuki urged.

izuku pursed his lips, grabbing a glass and pouring himself water. “i’m fine, kacchan, we don’t have to do this right now.”

“when’s your birthday?”

that question made izuku roll his eyes but nonetheless he answered, “june.”

katsuki barely succeeded in hiding the slight temble of his lips, “june what.”

izuku took a long sip of his water before setting the glass down, staring at the counter as he struggled to recall a date. “i don’t know.”

bakugou sighed, walking around the island to pull izuku into an embrace, who accepted it in defeat. katsuki squeezed him a bit tighter, taking a minute to appreciate izuku’s warmth. “july.”

“what?”

katsuki’s voice came out in a whisper, “your birthday’s july fifteenth.”

the two of them stood in silence, arms wrapped one another with the looming dread of the situation sitting heavy in the room. katsuki often wondered when he’d wake up from this nightmare, when it would all be over. katsuki didn’t think he was capable of facing the day izuku forgot him entirely.

“your birthday’s in april.” izuku stated softly, and it’s enough to have katsuki’s eyes welling up in tears. izuku never stated anything anymore, his words always carried traces of uncertainty, always waiting for katsuki to confirm or deny them.

“yeah, it is.” katsuki nodded, his hand reaching up to rest on the back of izuku’s head.

“you’re katsuki bakugou.” izuku was just speaking out loud now, reinstating what little he could remember. “you’re twenty-four.”

“keep going.”

“we met when we were…in kindergarten.” the confidence in izuku’s voice faltered. “you were mean to me.”

that made katsuki laugh, and he pulled away from their embrace to cradle izuku’s face in his hands. “yeah, i was real mean to you.”

“you’re crying,” izuku frowned, gentle hand reaching up to wipe katsuki’s cheek. “you don’t have to cry, i’m okay.” a lie.

katsuki closed his eyes, feeling another tear fall as he rested his forehead against izuku’s. “i love you, deku.”

“i love you too, kacchan.”

katsuki wanted to scream out into the sky. curse the world for taking izuku away from him like this. for taunting him with the crippling fear of waking up and finding that izuku’s doesn’t recognize him anymore. katsuki’s almost convinced himself that it’s a punishment. he’s finally paying for the years he spent being so negligent of others. why else was he being tormented like this? forced to watch izuku succumb to this virus, forced to watch izuku forget him, forced to watch as izuku stopped loving him. karma was the only logical explanation for the position he found himself in today, standing across from a distraught izuku midoriya in their shared bedroom, trying to remind the boy of his identity.

“hey, hey, could you stop for a second?” bakugou begs, trailing behind izuku as he leaves their bedroom in search for his clothes. “listen to me, deku.”

“that’s not my name.” izuku hisses as he snatches a pair of pants off the floor.

“please, just stop—“

“i’m sure we had a great time, but really, i need to go.” izuku apologizes as he zips up his pants, although his kindness is strained as he keeps his distance from the blond.

“you live here,” bakugou says, finally closing the distance between them to show izuku the photos on his phone. “we live here.”

on the screen was the two of them at mina’s halloween party a couple years ago, the picture capturing the moment izuku pressed a kiss on katsuki’s cheek. the blond slid his finger across the screen to reveal another picture, a selfie taken by izuku of the both of them cuddled up on their shared bed. izuku finally settles down, cautiously taking the phone from katsuki and swiping the screen. the next image was of them at the beach, izuku latched onto bakugous’s back with a big grin. the blonde can do nothing but watch in silence as the images register in izuku’s head.

after what felt like ages, izuku looked up at him with watery eyes. “i-i’m-i don’t—“

“it’s okay,” katsuki hushes, feeling his own blood pressure ease up once he wraps his arms around izuku. “just take a deep breath.”

izuku hesitantly reciprocates the hug, and katsuki feels the way his body instantly relaxes in his embrace. the dam broke then, izuku beginning to sob as he mumbles why can’t i remember anything? katsuki feels like someone is trying to pull his heart out of his chest, unable to do anything but murmur soft words as he gently rubs izuku’s back.

after a couple minutes, izuku’s cries finally soften, but katsuki still holds him in him arms. in fact, if it were up to him, he’d never let izuku go, maybe then izuku wouldn’t forget him. hands clenched around bakugou’s shirt, izuku exhales a breath before whispering, “april.”

“what about it,” katsuki pries gently, careful not to overwhelm him.

“y-your birthday’s in april.”

“that’s right.” katsuki nods, “keep going, deku. whatever you can remember.”

“you’re twenty-four.” twenty five now, but wasn’t going to tell izuku that today was his birthday.

“what about you, can you remember anything about yourself? the smallest thing.”

“my name is izuku...” he hums before abruptly pulling away from the embrace, “we talked about getting married.”

katsuki can’t hide the surprise on this face as he wipes away the tears on izuku’s cheeks. “you remember that?“

the conversation occurred earlier that year, barely a month after moving into their apartment and before the virus was brought onto society. they were chatting idly on their balcony while drinking wine — because deku is a grandma — while the hour pushed four in the morning. katsuki had never been one to stay up late, but he’d always cherish that night; no noise, no work keeping them apart, no hectic schedules, just izuku.

the topic of marriage had come up, and he easily recalled the way izuku’s cheeks had flushed. ‘we’ve only been living together for three weeks, kacchan.’ izuku had mumbled. is it so bad that i want to spend the rest of my life with you?’ kacchan had responded in a drunken haze - not that it didn’t reflect his true feelings. nonetheless they proceeded to talk about the must-haves at their wedding, bakugou butting in whenever izuku’s vision got a little bit too ambitious.

“i do remember. ” izuku smiles breathlessly, “and i think we should get married.”

“what?”

“i want to marry you, kacchan, while i’m still me.” izuku pleads as he takes katsuki’s hand in his. “while i still remember us.”

katsuki couldn’t say no even if he wanted to, he just wishes these weren’t the circumstances that they were getting married under. had this virus never occurred, he would’ve given izuku the wedding he knew he wanted, with all those stupid extras and their families gathered together. they’d take a sweet honeymoon and everything would be perfect because why wouldn’t it be, they were together.

instead, they both agreed on eloping secretly; katsuki’s parents had long succumbed to NIA while izuku had forgotten the existence of his mother entirely. their friends most likely had their own set of problems so it felt unfair to pressure them with premise of a wedding. besides, it wasn’t guaranteed that they remembered who katsuki and izuku even were. ever since izuku’s memory began to fade, katsuki hadn’t dedicated any time towards keeping up with any of them.

they found themselves in the lobby of a courthouse on the beautiful saturday morning of may second. katsuki couldn’t recall the last time izuku had looked so happy, hand squeezing his own, “i’ll be right back, yeah?”

katsuki gives him a small smile and watches as izuku goes into the bathroom. he feels the anxious churn of his stomach because holy shit he’s gonna marry izuku midoriya. the day he has long awaited is finally here, and maybe now it’ll be easier to remind izuku of the role katsuki has in his life. from now on, when izuku has his episode, katsuki can say ‘it’s me, your husband’ because that’s sure to hold more weight than boyfriend, right? from now on, izuku will have a ring on his finger to remind him that he has someone else in his life, even if katsuki isn’t right next to them. today feels like a hopeful step forward, and katsuki let’s himself get swept up in the potential of their future.

the anxiety that sat in his gut dissolves the longer katsuki stood in that lobby. he looks around the room and takes in the decorations, analyzes the occasional employee that walks by him, and his eyebrows furrow as he turns around and cautiously exits the building.

the sunlight hits katsuki’s face, making him squint out at the world around him. the grass on the buildings is dewey, the breeze is cool and slight against his cheeks, there are people walking their dogs and cars driving by. katsuki pats his body, feeling something in his pocket and shoving his hand inside to retrieve a phone. the screen lights up to reveal a wallpaper of sleeping man, drowning comfortably in sheets, his face hidden. when the phone asks for a passcode, katsuki scoffs, shoving the damned device back in his pocket.

“excuse me?”

katsuki turns around to meet the bright, green eyes of another man, and he can’t help but take a mental note of the freckles that adorned his nose and cheeks. “yeah?”

“did you by any chance see who i walked in with?” the man asks nervously. “i think i’m supposed to meet someone here but..i can’t remember.”

“no,” katsuki grunts stiffly, watching as the man’s face contorts into confusion.

“okay, well thanks.” he mutters, turning around and walking away, although it’s obvious that he doesn’t know where he’s going.

bakugou katsuki watches him leave, the remnants of something foreign in his chest that he can’t quite place.

[jechristine]

Your statement about Z being responsible for switching the release date of Challengers just reflects your ignorance of the industry. And that's ok. We can't know everything about everything. Those decisions are at the hands of the distributors of the films and the distributor in this case is the behemoth of Amazon. Z simply erased the now incorrect date of Challengers release. She didn't change with a new one, posted a story or tweeted about it

We would love if all our faves posted some general pronouncements about the strikes (also keeping in mind how the union president stated that this strike was not for the Tom Cruise's and other rich actors which would include Tom and Z), but to blame Z for the release date change is just factually false

I had to look back to see what you were referring to. I think that is to an anon earlier who said that Zendaya “made [the change in release date] happen.” I don’t even think that that anon meant that Zendaya is an omnipotent wizard or something with exclusive say over these things, but that Zendaya likely participated in conversations about the change. We got word a few days ago that Luca was asking for it, and I think that is evidence that the creatives played a role (not merely the distributor, who, as you say, nonetheless made the final call). If Luca was asking, my guess is that Zendaya could have given some input, too. And that is what I took to be that anon’s point, which I blogged.

What I called her choice was the fact of the movie continuing to be on her IG page. (Initially I misunderstood and thought that she had listed the new date. It’s good I guess that she didn’t do that.) I think to honor the spirit of the “no promotion” rule, she ought to take it down. That’s all.

[saint-ambrosef]

The "Christmas was created to replace pagan festivals and is actually cultural appropriation" is a major myth invented by the Victorians that has been soundly debunked thoroughly in recent years. I myself have discussed it exhaustively multiple times on this blog, so I am not going to re-hash everything in addressing that part of your initial response, for the sake of brevity and to instead focus on addressing your main overall complaint with my post.

I do not care if people say "Happy Holidays". I am not one of those people who gets mad a Starbucks cups for "taking the Christ out of Christmas". As stated in my original post, I do not mind if people choose to personally subscribe reasons for which they find Christmas irreligiously meaningful.

The issue I'm specifically highlighting is that Christmas is fundamentally religious in its origins. The reason it exists is because of Christianity. The reason it is so widely celebrated in Western cultures is because of the West's historically Christian roots, and celebrating it secularly was essentially unheard of until relatively recently in history. The intended purpose of the holiday is religious.

I have no problem with non-Christians nonetheless finding alternative meanings so that they can enjoy the relevance of Christmas as a culturally shared holiday; I have no problem with them saying, "I still choose to celebrate the holiday, because for me it's about [x]."

However, the problem is when non-Christians then try to claim matter-of-factly that the objective meaning of Christmas is irreligious in nature. That's where I draw the line and will say that it is religious erasure - erasing what is an incredibly spiritual meaning of one of the holiest days of the year for practitioners of that religion. You can have personal meaning in the holiday that is unrelated to its original purpose, but it's both factually incorrect and incredibly arrogant to claim that non-religious people's attributed meaning to what is at its core still a religiously observed holiday is "the true meaning". The true meaning is that a historical figure named Jesus was born and Western society decided that was something to celebrate for religious reasons.

The problem seems to be that many non-Christian folks find this fact a bit hard to swallow, and would prefer to come up with reasons why their personal meaning for Christmas is actually the "real" one, or split hairs on how there's actually "two different holidays whose names are simply homophones". Rather than just admit that a holiday they dearly enjoy is ultimately about a religion they don't believe in, but being okay with that fact and still finding meaning in it anyways due to cultural prevalence.

Also - someone celebrating a different winter holiday around the same time as Christmas, such as the examples you gave (Kwanza, the solstice, etc.), isn't an issue because those people are not claiming anything about Christmas or its meaning, and is unrelated to anything in my post.

"the true meaning of Christmas is-" you're going to say Christ, right? right?? and not erase the fact that this is a fundamentally religious holiday by claiming the true meaning is not religious at all and is instead some feel-good secular vibes or basic value like "family" or "kindness"???

i dont care if secular people want to celebrate Christmas in their own non-religious way and as a result they subscribe a different personal meaning to the holiday, but do NOT spout bullshit about how the "true meaning" is irreligious and co-op the actual reason for the holiday to make it more palatable to your non-religious palate

[audreydoeskaren]

Thank you for posting a review on the book Evolution & Revolution Chinese Dress 1700s - 1990s. It’s so disappointing how the book potentially could’ve been good. What are your favorite books on Chinese fashion history?

Hi, great that you found the review useful! To be completely honest, I haven't really read any books on Chinese fashion before I started this blog, because I mostly used online resources like museums' websites, archaeology reports and other blogs. I actually started this blog in the hopes that people might recommend me some books😅 And I only ever read about the Ming, Qing and republican era so my knowledge is very limited.

Anyway, here are some books people recommended to me that I found great, some that I'm currently reading and some I know to be objectively good:

Ming Dynasty

Q版大明衣冠图志 (2011) 董进著

A classic made by the popular fashion history blogger 撷芳主人 (real name Dong Jin), this book is the ultimate compilation of Ming Dynasty looks illustrated by the most adorable drawings. It has basically everything you need to know about Ming Dynasty garments from informal civilian fashion and theater costumes to the most formal court dress and military uniforms. My only quibble with this book is that it doesn’t specify the decade/year each look is from, giving the false impression that everything could be worn throughout the Ming Dynasty (I heard that he did specify some eras in the new version? I don’t have it so I’m not sure). You can follow the author on Weibo where he regularly posts stuff about the Ming Dynasty, or check out other books and articles written by him. Even if you don’t have the book, you could probably find images of individual entries on the internet. Unfortunately all of it is in Chinese and no English version is available :(

华夏衣冠 中国古代服饰文化 (2016) 孙机著

More of a collection of essays Sun Ji wrote on historical Chinese clothing from a variety of eras, I got it for the chapters on Ming Dynasty xiapei 霞帔 and headwear. Professional, academic language that is still easy to read, plenty of references and neatly traced line drawings of artifacts. Useful diagrams on the structure of 狄髻 diji. However if I remember correctly, Sun had some beef with Dong Jin on the terminology of parts of diji, not sure if that was ever resolved; here’s an article about that. Also only in Chinese (that I know of).

Qing Dynasty

Chinese Reverse Glass Painting 1720-1820 (2020) by Thierry Audric

This is the book form transcript of a dissertation given by the author in 2016. It's more Chinese painting than Chinese fashion but has a lot of wonderful images of 18th century export paintings (with dates even), which depicted fashion realistically. I love 18th century export art in general, they're really beautiful and unusual so I would recommend everybody to check them out. I love this because Chinese oil painting outside of a court context (and all other forms of art that were not literati painting e.g. woodblock print, lithograph, pen and ink illustration) gets very little attention from Chinese art historians. This book could be downloaded for free in pdf form the publisher Peter Lang.

A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing (2020) by Rachel Silberstein

This book focuses on the 19th century and has some interesting insights on the impact of commercial workshops on Qing fashion, which is a welcome break from the “dragon robes” and women’s domestic work stereotyped in most literature on the Qing. It has rich descriptions of the decoration patterns and fabrics used in the 19th century, accompanied by paintings and photographs. It did kind of fall into the trap of “the late Ming continued into the early Qing” and just dismissed the 18th century altogether, which is a shame. Silberstein’s dating of several prints also appears somewhat incorrect, but it’s still a very useful analysis of the 19th century nonetheless. I read this for free on JSTOR through my university login.

Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (2005) by Dorothy Ko

This book is absolutely epic and an undeniable classic on the subject. Ko masterfully avoids all the surface level problematic takes on footbinding and offers an extremely nuanced, extremely well researched overview on the history of footbinding in the Ming, Qing and republican eras, the reasons for its popularity and demise, with a most interesting analysis of the problems with the way people in the republican era went about the abolition of it. The book is more heavy on the social analysis side but also contains a lot of factual description of the process of footbinding, styles popular in different eras etc. I just love how she approaches the topic in the most factual and non-emotionally charged way possible, which is refreshing considering the sheer volume of literature on footbinding that is just brainless condemnation without any nuance, a lot of which also unconsciously perpetuate misogynistic ideas rather than combat them. I don’t know of a way to read this for free, I bought it from Amazon.

Every Step a Lotus (2001) by Dorothy Ko

I haven’t read this yet but apparently it works well as a supplement to Cinderella’s Sisters. Also on footbinding.

China Trade Painting 1750s to 1880s (2014) by Jack S C Lee / 中国外销画 1750s - 1880s 李世庄著

Another book on export art, focusing more on the established painters. Lee digs a bit more into the painters’ experiences and biographies, with big portions on George Chinnery and Lam Qua, but also includes plenty of portraits and scenery paintings depicting men’s clothing and the architecture of the studios at the Guangzhou factories (十三行). It’s great because the paintings included were super realistic and well made with accurate proportions and anatomy----the quality on a par with those produced by the European academies----so they contemplate conventional Chinese portraits made in the same era in showing how the clothing fits on the body. Again I bought this book second hand from Amazon.

----

I don’t know of any reliable books for republican era fashion because for some reasons most discourse on it is centered around the glorification and mystification of the cheongsam... Fortunately, due to the abundance of extant originals and photographs, books are largely not necessary for the research of republican era fashion :3

There are some other books and articles that were recommended to me but I haven’t yet read: x, x

@fouryearsofshades also made a post recently recommending books and it covers other time periods as well.

If anyone knows any other books on the Ming, Qing or republican era please tell me regardless of good or bad. I need to read more😅

[goblins-writing]

Request: So this may be too much, but after reading your writing I really wanted to request it. How would the brothers in Obey Me handle a situation where they meet one of the mc's alters for the first time? As in, the mc has DID and even if the demon brothers knew this, they've never actually met one of the human's "other personalities" as they would likely call it.

A/N: Not too much at all, hon!! Although I am a little uneducated on the topic so I hope everything I wrote is factual and not upsetting to read. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for the request <3

Dissociative Identity Disorder 

Pairings: Lucifer x MC, Mammon x MC, Leviathan x MC, Satan x MC, Asmodeus x MC, Beelzebub x MC, Belphegor x MC

Warnings: Mentions of DID and alters, some of which make be incorrect

Lucifer

- Boosts his ego that they were comfortable enough to front with him around

- Wants to get to know them as best as he can

- Also wants them to like him like MC likes him (romantically) but won’t get offended if they don’t

- Overall handles meeting them pretty well 

Mammon

- WHOA ANOTHER MC

- No, Mammon 

- Knew about your DID but is still confused

- Tries his best not to make them uncomfortable but it might be inevitable with this dweeb

- They might have to explain things more with him

Leviathan 

- Shy at first

- Quick to open up to them as they talk more

- Excited to have a new buddy

- Overall a total sweetheart

Satan 

- The most educated out of all of them (a given) 

- Very patient and quick to ask question

- He wants to learn as much as he can about them 

- Anything they give him, he’ll take

- Very grateful 

Asmodeus

- YAY ANOTHER FRIEND

- A sweetie right off the bat 

- Also flirts right off the bat but will stop if they’re uncomfortable

- Will do their nails or hair while they’re talking if they’re comfortable

- An extrovert through and through

Beelzebub

- Huh? 

- Like Mammon; also a little confused

- Quick learner though 

- Also a little shy but opens up nonetheless

- Happy and grateful that they were comfortable enough to front

Belphegor

- Well hi there!

- Worried at first but understands what’s happening

- Like Lucifer in the fact that he wants to get to know them as much as he can during the time with them

- Will offer a nap with them if they’d like

- Overall calm about the whole thing 

[fazbear-cryptid]

Prov backstory.

@fazbear-ent-official Prov lore.

It’s a strange thing to come into existence around a tragedy. Provs first real memory was one of horror. Prov was surrounded by screaming people and blood, and he was standing amongst rows of tables on a checkered floor. Prov’s vision was hazy as if he was seeing out of only conceptual eyes, everything was blurry and seemed to lack detail as if he was only seeing the silhouettes of everything around him.

After his first memory, he simply existed in a haze as he came to grasp the concept of his own existence. Prov soon realized no one could see him, nor could he touch anything, he was a ghost who had no past life, a shadow with no object to be cast from, or so they thought.

With every death, and every joy within the building, Prov felt himself become more real, more present. Every time a major event at Freddy’s both good and bad, Prov’s vision became more detailed, and his thoughts more coherent, like the emotional aftermath of everything was added to him.

Soon enough he began to experience warmth and cold, eventually, he could smell, no matter the event Prov became more “There”. Eventually, Prov began bumping into walls and releasing low whispers. He was now a physical presence even if he was still invisible.

One cold night in 1987, Prov wandered the halls of the location, existing as their usual invisible self. He walked towards the back rooms and entered, looking for something to entertain themselves. Instead of finding distraction, he found an older man stuffing a bloodied child into an animatronic. Despite being invisible he felt an instinctual need to hide, so he ducked under a nearby table and hid. After he heard the footsteps of the man fade away, he went to check on the child. They found the child stuffed fully inside the machine.

He went to open the machine and that's when he noticed, he could see his hands, they were jet black and looked like tar, but they were hands nonetheless. He was finally visible. He touched the animatronic and felt an unearthly chill, like the lack of life sucked the heat out from around it.

“A true tragedy isn’t it.” Said an inhuman voice behind Prov.

Prov turned around and saw a tall and imposing figure standing in front of him. It was draped in shadow, obscuring its form, yet it had two distinct details, It’s skeletal hands and cold yet comforting voice.

“This child will not come with me, it is angry and vengeful, it will not rest until its killer joins the void.” The figure said this like it wasn’t describing something totally alien.

“So your death? Well, I knew my time was coming soon, likely because I kept breaking the law by illegally living in a children's pizza place” Prov said casually.

“I am not here for you, you cannot join me. You are without a soul.” Death said factually.

“Wow harsh, I must have some soul. After all, I'm alive'' Prov said in retort.

“Incorrect, In order to be a living being, you must exist biologically to some extent. But you, you are metaphysical, more of a concept than a person.” Death pointed at Prov

“OK, that makes no sense. Explain please” Prov requested the embodiment of entropy to explain his boney self.

“Every thought, every emotion, every action, leaves an invisible piece of itself in the world. This place has had a lot of all of those things, and with so many in close vicinity, they began to merge, eventually creating you. You are every death, every birthday, every smile, and every tear that ever occurred here. All of it in one being.” Death explained.

“Ok, now why did you make your presence known to me? And why bother telling me?” Prov asked.

“It is my job to observe things that defy life and death, you are just one of those things, and I figured you deserved to know at some point.” Death turned to leave but before he did, he looked at Prov.

“There are some intact clothes in the dumpster in the back along with an old mask. You may want them since you can now be seen, especially the mask, your face will likely elicit… reactions if not covered.” Death said before vanishing.

Prov touched his face and felt nothing, well not nothing, there was definitely something there but it wasn’t normal facial features. He moved to the bathroom and looked at his face. His head was perfectly expressionless, or it would be if it weren’t for the fact it was always shifting and moving, like a bubbling pit of acid. Looking at his own visage elicited a strange sensation, like he looking into a mental mirror that was forcing him an invisible loop, of remembering the fragmented memories of those whose thoughts and feelings built him.

He looked away before he got fully caught in the cycle. He went and got the mask and clothes.

[probably-haven]

if i end up posting this feel free to ignore, i just felt like rambling about a few of my opinions on morality at 4am. 

I think a lot of people worry about blame a lot; about who is a good person and whose a bad person, about whose at fault for any given issue, about whose right and whose wrong. It’s a major issue in a lot of people’s minds, y’know? And a lot of them seem to always find the answer in themselves, defaulting to taking the blame and questioning whether or not they truly are a good or bad person.

But the way I view morality is a bit different than that. See, the world for the most part is controlled logically; with everything being one big web of cause and effect. And I say web because there’s never just one cause, it’s always a countless number of contributing factors, which were each caused by a countless number of contributing factors themselves. Of course this progression of cause and effect can’t be tracked, but it’s there nonetheless as an undeniable factual truth. 

We as a logical rule tend to blame ourselves for things, taught that it’s incorrect to blame others when we could instead take responsibility and better ourselves. And truly logically it may be our fault, but it was also the fault of countless other factors at the same time, and even the immeasurable fraction that may be one person’s fault is simultaneously caused by countless other factors in and of itself. 

This is the way that it works for any and all actions and events that take place. They are predetermined by a mix of various factors out of anybody’s control, constantly interweaving through a series of genetics and environmental factors. You heard one thing this one time and disregarded it because someone once told you something different and a mix of both your genetics and the fact that a series of events earlier in your life turned you into a person who speaks their mind, so you voice this and discuss it with the person, whose genetics and past have caused them to hold this thing that they believe as a fundamental personal truth that matters very strongly to them. They react defensively to the confrontation, snapping at the first person and it descends into an argument. 

who is at fault here? One person for having a different opinion? then which person is that? One person for voicing their disagreement? they did so respectfully. The only intent was a peaceful discussion, is that not justified? to further one’s knowledge and seek to experience multiple sides of an issue is a good thing, so how then are they at fault? The other person for snapping? The first person targeted something they held dear to them and in a natural moment of protective instinct they lashed out. The emotions caused by the first person’s actions are not under the second person’s control, they were predetermined by a countless number of factors than neither person could hope to comprehend. People are not in control of their emotions or thoughts and how they express them, so then how can any one fault the other for protecting their own personal truth?

then you can fault the causes- but which one? there’s to many to place a blame on any one thing or number of things so it just fizzles out and nobody is at fault, both just a victim of circumstance. 

See the thing is, observing this situation, who is the good person and who is the bad person. Who here is the better person, the moral high ground. And if every situation is comparable to this one, with countless more causes and factors that cover every event, then truly what is the distinction between a good person and a bad person? Luck?

See, a lot of people, when faced with someone convinced that they are bad, will take the opposite stance “no you’re good, look at all these good things you’ve done” and the first person will always be able to think of a reason why that thing was for selfish intent- which as far fetched as they may seen, could very well have been one of the contributing factors to the event in question. 

Now “a bad person” is a cruel label, as it puts a host of expectations on another, a filter through which people will view their actions, always seeing and expecting the worst, and the person will see this as well with time, unless some other factor in their life convinces them otherwise.

but i like to imagine that “a good person” is just as cruel as a label because the expectations are much greater.

so how can you take a person who sees the bad causes and reasoning behind everything they have done, and tell them that you thought all those actions were selfless, and that you believe that they can continue to fill the role of good person long enough into the future not to crash. Imagine all the bad intent and reasoning that can be found around that. 

Realistically there are no good people or bad people, just people. People who enact actions that carry no moral weight, because at their core they are just actions, nothing less and nothing more. Each one has countless intents and reasons behind it but the action in an of itself is not good or bad until someone labels it as such, and naturally others will disagree and label it differently, but in truth, it is and always will be just another action, and people will always be people, neither good nor bad. To quote from a number of clichés “it doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you human”

and these factors truly are endless. They say a smile can save a life and it truly can. Maybe not directly, but by smiling at one person you can brighten their day incrementally, giving them further more positive energy to spread to countless others and from there it spreads. 

The world works through a series of logical events, yes, but to us those events are so small as to be almost completely unpredictable, so you never truly know just how much of an impact you can have. 

and i just think that’s beautiful

[minimalintelligence]

This boat that's keeping us a float (2/...)

So, I'm continuing this. Yep. It's a mess, but eh. I really wanted to thank @gridoc for reading the last part. It really made my day!

____________

Doc awoke as the sun rose above the horizon. He groaned, but nonetheless got up off of the floor. For a second he was confused as to why he was on board some dinky ship, but reality quickly settled in.

"Great." His tone of voice was both tired and annoyed. He leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh. Doc glanced around the room, at the many boring trinkets hung upon the walls. An old sword, some sea shells, bottles of cheap wine, a watch, he put the last one in his pocket. Glancing once more around the room he noticed a sleeping figure on the ground. His mood doing a complete one eighty. "Great." This time his tone was excited.

But his happiness was short-lived when the ship suddenly shook and sank a bit. He held onto the wall to keep himself steady. Doc noted that the ship seemed to be completely still. And though he could hear the wind faintly blowing outside, and the waves hit the sides of the ship, the craft in question didn't move. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a groan.

"Wha..What?" Grian, who had seemingly woken up because of the shaking of the ship, asked. After a few seconds he let out a sound of disappointment and said. "Really? I thought that was a dream."

"Nope. Sorry to say, that is not the case." Doc said startling Grian, who had apparently not noticed the pirate's presence. After a second of silence a grin spread on Doc's face and an annoyed glare appeared on Grian’s. "What pirate?"

"Oh nothing, I'd just assume that an event like that would've been classified as a nightmare, rather than a dream. Unless.." His smile widened as he took a step in Grian direction. "..my presence was enough to turn a nightmare to a dream.."

"No! That's not what I meant and you know it, pirate!" Grian yelled out, his face bright pink. Before Doc could give a witty remark, the ship once again shook and sank a bit. He sighed. "I'm going to check what's happening." Doc said before exiting the room.

Looking around the deck he noted a few things: it was covered in a layer of water, the sails were torn and there was no land in the surrounding area. At this point Doc was confused. The anchor wasn't down, there was no land nearby and it didn't seem like the sea floor was remotely close enough to hit.

Once he went below deck he saw the cause of the stop, along with the cause of the shaking. "Massive jagged stones." Grian said in a dead tone from next to him, startling Doc stightly, but the pirate tried his best not to show it. "They're all around the area, just a few meters under water. Though the waters murky so you have to know what you're looking for to see them."

The ship had been ripped through by such rocks. Though the ship seemed to mostly stop moving after the impact, which meant the holes were smaller than they could've been, but still, water was leaking in, and causing the craft to slowly sink.

"Do you have any fishing boats on this thing? Or do I have to build a raft?" Doc asked, his tone both stressed and slightly playful. Grian pointed above them, when Doc looked up he noted the two fishing boats. One seemingly older and worse for wear, the other one newer and even had a small roofed area.

"They took everything they own with them." Grian said still in the same dead tone. Doc noting the tone of Grian’s voice and the past tense responded.

"Hey just because they're not on board right now, doesn't mean they're dead." He said trying to lighten Grian’s mood. Grian just looked him dead in the eyes, before sighing.

"That sentence is factually incorrect. Completely. 1. They're on this ship. 2. It does mean they're dead." He finished by pointing his finger to the other side of the room. The water in that area was red and you could see some hair floating on the surface. Grian sighed. "Not the first time I've seen that, but I really hope it's the last." Doc looked at the area, feeling uncomfortable, sure, he's seen other people die, sure he's caused it before. But he's never the one to see them once the water calms. It's eerie, and doesn't feel very good.

"So I take one boat you take the other?" Grian said, seemingly back to normal. "I think it would be a better idea if we took the better one together." Doc stated with confidence. "You'd probably die if you took the old one alone."

Grian glared at him. "What makes you think I'd allow you to take the good one?" Doc playfully glared back. "What makes you think you have any choice in the matter?" Grian took a step in Docs direction. "I've beaten you once, pirate, I won't hesitate to do it again." Doc just grinned in response. "I'm sure you won't, but what would you win in this situation anyway? The other boat is falling apart, you'd leave another person stranded in the middle of nowhere alone? And here I thought you Navy men had honour.." Grian's face turned red in embarrassment before he turned and headed back on deck. "I'll get the supplies!" He yelled in an annoyed tone.

Doc let out a chuckle, before grabbing a barrel from the room and placing it under the boat. "Now how do I get you down and out..?"

~

Grian walked across the deck looking for anything useful. He'd already piled up some blankets, towels and cushions. He'd decided to get as much stuff as possible, then decide with Doc what they need. He decided to take some salt with them and some pickles just in case, he saw no use for the wine. As he was grabbing some fishing equipment his thoughts wandered back to Doc. He was confused as to a few things. One why had Doc and his crew even been in the area, there wasn't anything worth visiting around them, two, why hadn't the pirate's crew returned for him yet and--

A loud crash -wood splintering- interrupted Grian thoughts. He hurried below deck to check what had happened. Once he arrived he saw a massive hole is the side of the already pretty broken ship and next it was standing a very satisfied looking Doc.

"Why in the world did you do that!?" Grian yelled, getting Doc's attention on him. "Had to get the boat out." Doc stated in a matter of fact way. "And I think I did it quite well." He finished smugly.

"You know we could've gotten it up together and into the water like that? I was concerned." Grian said the last part under his breath, but Doc seemed to hear anyway. "Aww.. You were worried about me!" Grian flustered though he still attempted to glare at Doc. "I was concerned about the boat, damn pirate."

"Right, sure. What supplies did you manage to get?" Doc asked, his grin ever present on his face. Grian glared a bit before going back on deck followed by Doc. "Pickles, salt, blankets, towels, cushions, fishing equipment, rope, some bottled water, extra clothes and a few other things. We need to decide what's the most important." Doc nodded his head and grabbed a few things: two cushions, the clothes, matches and an oil lamp, the fishing equipment, the salt, a blanket and some other smaller things Grian didn't bother to note.

The two headed down to the hole in the wall Doc had made while getting the boat out of the ship. The pirate hopped over onto the fishing boat first laying down the cushions and blankets in the part of the boat covered by the roof and the rest of the supplies on them. Grian hopped over next. He stumbled slightly but Doc caught him in his arms.

Grian face once again turned pink. "..Thanks, I guess." He said quietly, but Doc's whole face seemed to light up upon hearing that, which only made Grian blush harder. 'I've got to stop being a blushing so much, he's a pirate, not just some...mildly attractive... guy.' Grian noted in his head before sitting down in the boat.

Doc started prepping the craft to sail. Doc felt comfortable in the silence, but Grian felt awkward. He cleared his throat. "So, your crew must be looking for you?"

"Nah, yelled at them not to before we separated. Plus, they wouldn't do it anyway, unless I was gone for over a month. We agreed on that after the first time I got stranded in the middle of nowhere." Grian looked at Doc with disbelief. "How many times have you been stranded..?" The boat started moving north away from the ship. "..Seve- no. Nine. Ren calls me a hazard, but I don't even know how it happens." Doc said.

The boat sailed on, the ocean much calmer this time around. The sky was clear and it seemed that it was going to be a hot day. Grian sighed and hoped they would get to land soon.

____________

[drwcn]

Why is it so hard for you to accept that madam lan was a prisoner and unhappy in CR

Short answer: BC it makes me unhappy. It's a show and I can choose to interpret whatever makes me happy. The Lan family history a)doesn't make sense; b) makes me sad. It's a show, I don't have to accept anything.

Long answer: AUs aside, canonically, I never said she was happy and I never said she wasn't put on house arrest. I only argued that those (her marriage and the existence of future children) might have been the contractual conditions that she accepted and agreed to in order to live. It makes the difference between life imprisonment and execution.

What Lan Xichen said:

She killed a Lan Elder

She didn't love their dad

Their dad married her and told his clansmen he'll love her all his life

And then she died at some point

Everything is else the fandom seems to think happened to her (including my own metas, aus, hc etc) is conjecture.

People do lots of things that make them unhappy. That doesn't mean they don't still choose to do it for whatever other reasons. People didn't always marry for love, people this day and age still don't always marry for love but do marry nonetheless out of their own free will.

What Lan Xichen didn't said:

The Elder r*ped his mother

His father r*ped his mother

His mother killed herself

Those, whether you accept it or not, are interpretations and speculations. And if that's the take you wanna go with, that's fine, but I don't have to have the same take.

Until it's in black and white written in mdzs, acted out by CQL, or said in interviews by the author, I don't have to treat it as canon and I don't have to accept it as anything.

Also, I have never once reblogged anyone else's post about their headcanon for Madam Lan and pushed my interpretation on anyone. I only reblogged that one post about the head ribbon thing because the information on that was factually incorrect. Even if Madam Lan is still alive and in love and everything in CR is happy, she would still not have a ribbon because the ribbons are only given to disciples with Lan blood. In CQL, outer disciples like Su She do not wear a ribbon, and we have never been given information to suggest people marrying into the family would be treated otherwise.

If you don't like my content, just block me or blacklist me or whatever.

[informativeessayexamples490]

college papers

About me

The Emoji Movie

The Emoji Movie However, that man was sporting a spacesuit and had a parachute. Even so, there were fairly a number of issues that could have gone incorrect midway, similar to all of his blood boiling in his body. This track got here out a full 52 years in the past, and yet all five members of the Sonics are alive, recording albums, and touring. First off, let’s be fair and admit the resume of Sam Cooke is unimpeachable. Even this nothing of a music has all of the informal soulfulness of all of Cooke’s work. The message is meant to be, “I could not know anything else, but a minimum of I know that I love you,” nevertheless it fails even in that simplicity of thought. The bridge in the music claims “Now, I don’t claim to be an A pupil, however I’m attempting to be. My most popular explanation right here is that he’s truly referencing going from a wood like pine (about 373 kgs/m3) to oak (about 710 kg/m3). In the process of that, he’ll blow by 451 levels, which is where wooden starts to burn. On a probably related note, the music afterwards devolves into a group of disparate actions so bizarre they defy interpretation. “I raise my flag, I dye my clothes, it’s a revolution I suppose.” Dude, when you aren’t sure, cease messing round with paint dye fumes and check your self right into a hospital. Mostly, I’m upset concerning the lack of proof cited here, Serj. Onetime American Idol decide/reluctant bikini model Kara DioGuardi! The studio loved all three songs and the brand new course, and Duff was forced to add all three to her new document. You can nonetheless turn this round although….do a comply with up that references how much you’ve learned then say things like “You say it’s time to go, however with convolution time doesn’t matter”. Not to mention, the Earthdoes look awfully blue when seen from house. Second, ALLOW ME TO CORRECT YOUR SCIENCE, BETHANY. During the period of space travel that Bowie was singing about, the walls of the Saturn rockets have been principally made from bolstered aluminum foil. Things that transfer on the pace of sound are still topic to gravity. DON’T IGNORE GRAVITY ANI THAT WILL END BADLY. We are working on jets that go 5 instances the velocity of sound, and so they still have to worry about gravity. I mean, it lacks the cache of the electromagnetic forces, sturdy pressure or weak pressure, however I still wouldn’t mess with it. On the flip facet, we don’t need to run a wellness verify on the Sonics. As for the science, all of it seems truthful – in spite of everything, “with my nostril I is aware of and with my scopes I scope” is certainly factually correct. I’m glad Bethany’s right here, although, as a result of I may use an explanation of what, exactly, “the radium, EMD squared” means. Well, that covers thegood songs, so I’m anticipating this to get meaner because it goes. “Man On The Moon” was the last song recorded for R.E.M.’s masterwork albumAutomatic For The People,and the lyrics of it came at the very last minute. The complete album had been finished and was to be despatched for mastering the next morning. It’s only tangentially connected to the topic at hand, and as such, it only gets partial credit score. Now interestingly, I discovered a couple of individuals arguing that the 2 traces are unrelated…that he’s claiming he can double his density AND go from 360 to 720 degrees. However, that might imply he’s just spinning around in a circle twice….which doesn’t look like much to brag about. They had recorded music for “Man On The Moon,” but the track was nonetheless with out vocals, or indeed, lyrics. Michael Stipe, stymied by writer’s block for weeks, walked around the block, listening to the track, and decided to write down the lyrics as a music about Andy Kaufman. The lyrics had been written and the vocals recorded only some hours later. His comparability to a tin can is apt both in visual and in follow – an aluminum soda can’s experior is about .1 mm thick, components of the Saturn shuttles were a mere .three mm thick. Our early astronauts actually had been barely greater than a hairsbreadth away from outer area. Then once more, it was pretty darn superior whenChris Hadfield took this song up a notch together with his recording of this on the International Space Station….so I’m a little torn. There’s no science here, unless the “supernova scene” is one thing much more impressive than what I imagine it to be.

[homefurnitureworld224-blog]

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Indicators on Cleaning Leather You Should Know

Do It Yourself Natural leather furnishings does not come cheap, so you intend to make certain you're taking excellent treatment of it. But despite just how mindful you are around your natural leather sofa or chairs, you're living life on and also near them, implying the occasional tarnish is inevitable. Nonetheless, that does not suggest there's absolutely nothing that can be done about spills or oil smears.

Keep in mind: Before cleansing leather, you should always seek advice from the producer's care guidelines. Whether you have actually forgotten the pen in your back pocket or among the children has chosen to tailor your furnishings, ink stains happen. When they do, they leave natural leather looking just plain dreadful, which was possibly not the visual you were going with. Seeking more ways to keep your living space festinating? Look into these ideas on living space cleaning -- that can assist you maintain your home neat as well as neat when life appears overwhelming.

( Last Upgraded On: June 25, 2019) Ever before question why natural leather is constantly in a higher grade lorry, or a greater trim? Natural leather is amazing when its fresh and soft, it defeats fabric in nearly all situations. Whether your car has synthetic plastic leather or actual leather, gradually it will experience misuse similar to most various other materials.

Not known Factual Statements About Clean Leather Upholstery

While cleaning it out can be labor intensive and also for the most part require some skill, it's possible. When using the best natural leather cleansers developed "particularly" for natural leather, you'll have the ability to bring it back to new with a great deal much less initiative. From there, it's your work to keep it shielded and soft (similar to your hair).

Right below we place with each other a list of the 6 best natural leather conditioners and also cleansers to use on both automobile applications, furnishings, and also a host of others. You can never go incorrect with Meguiar's items. Particularly when it comes down to their Natural Leather Cleanser and also Conditioner. Designed for informal usage and mainly light to tool responsibility tasks, this spray container is produced to be both a dirt combating cleaner and additionally a moisturizer.

As you most likely recognize, clean leather is vital to keep tidy for visual elements and also resale factors. The UV finish embedded enable you to obtain some security from the all-mighty SUNLIGHT's hazardous rays. Be outcomes can be discovered when light to medium stress is applied when rubbing. One bottle should last you with at least 1 full leather cleaning undertaking of your vehicle.

The Ultimate Guide To Cleaning Leather Upholstery

Relocating down to our # 5 listing for the very best leather cleaners and also ideal natural leather conditioner products, its Chemical Guys Natural Leather Cleaner and Conditioner Treatment Set. If you aren't knowledgeable about this brand, they practically are a costs upgrade from regular off the shelf items. Their existence on You Tube as well as in the automobile area establishes them apart in rather an excellent means.

Incorporated with the separate bottle for conditioning your leather, you can bring back the "brand-new" feeling it's expected to have. Dirt and oils that can often obtain caught inside natural leather pores will have a much harder time when conditioner has actually been used. According to them, their p H well balanced cleansers are reliable and also help to preserve stamina, longevity, and appearance.

Click below to see what over 200 others have actually rated this set and what the existing best rate is. If you know of any natural leather cleansers, you've most likely heard of Lexol as a brand name. Well, they make a kit that is basically everything you would certainly need to cleanse your natural leather, condition it, as well as protect it.

The Buzz on Clean Leather Upholstery

The very first product is the cleaner, made to be splashed on as well as cleaned in with a soft bristle brush. Once you have actually removed spots as well as old cruds from your natural leather, its time to spray-on conditioner. This item will guarantee your leather does moist up after the cleaning stage. Now to discuss the third product on in this leather cleaning kit, its the protectant.

To see what the existing best price is, click the switch below. For leather care that is much better than what you locate in your regional shop, you'll intend to move in the direction of products that are specifically created for natural leather of ALL kinds. Seriously, while the large describing companies make items, they actually stress over cost and making sure everyone can manage them.

Here are have the Natural Leather Honey Natural Leather Cleaner. Initially, point we such as concerning this product, is that its made 100% in the UNITED STATES. This concentrated formula is frequently as well solid to be utilized on its own, that's why weakening it to specific ratios is called for. With the 4 oz of this concentrated leather cleaner, you can make up to 32 oz of weakened cleaner.

[donnafmae]

What do dolphins eat? Lessons from how kids search

I recently came across a couple of fascinating papers (here and here) all about how kids search. I found it fascinating in its own right, and also found it thought-provoking in the new ways of searching it showed that had simply never occurred to me. Here are some of the most interesting things I found (though it’s remarkably accessible, and you should totally read the whole thing).

The researchers studied children aged 7-11, and of varying degrees of experience and comfort with the web and with computer-based research. In the course of their study, they identified seven “search roles” (almost like personas) that children display when seeking information:

Many of these are fairly self-explanatory on the surface (though it’s always interesting to read the details) and you may even identify with some of them yourself, as an adult. One of the most interesting to me was what they called the visual searcher.

People don’t all think like you

This was a mode of search that I had rarely found myself in, and had barely even considered could be a thing outside of certain forms of specific image search (e.g. [microsoft logo]). What they found was a cohort of children who turned first to image search for a wide range of their information-gathering needs. In some cases, this appeared to be motivated by discomfort with text and with reading, or at least with scanning and reading fast. In others, though, it seemed to be about veracity and trusting only what you have seen with your own eyes. For those of us who know people who write on the internet, maybe this isn’t the craziest instinct.

One example that has stayed in my mind since I read about it is the experience of certain kids when asked to answer the question what do dolphins eat?

The anecdote that stood out for me was the child who not only turned to image search to answer the question, but did the one-word image search [dolphin] and then scrolled down through pages of results until, having found a picture of a dolphin eating something, turned to the researcher to declare triumphantly that dolphins eat fish.

The lesson here is clearly about the power of observing real-world users. This is the kind of insight that is hard to glean from the raw data of keyword research. Even if you figure out that there is image search volume for [dolphin], you’re some way from the insight that someone is searching for information about what they eat.

This era (the research was published in 2010) was marked by a wide range of qualitative research coming out of Google. I might dive deeper into some other research in another post, but for now, onto the next insight.

There are searches that are hard, and people are failing to complete them

In my presentation and post the next trillion searches, I talked about the incremental search volume available in the coming years as technology progresses to the point that it can satisfy intents, and answer questions that current technology cannot:

One of the things I didn’t talk about in that post was the times that current searcher intent is not fulfilled even though the information is out there and today’s technology is more than capable of finding it. To understand more about what I mean here, let’s take another look at search challenges for kids:

For a start, it’s worth noting that Google can’t answer this query outright. Unlike with more and more factual queries, Google is not able to return a one-box with any answer, never mind the correct answer.

Unsurprisingly, kids struggled with this one (as I suspect would many adults). It tests their ability to string together a sequence of queries, each one building on the last, to discover the answer at the end of the rainbow. And along the way, they have to be sceptical of the information they come across and not get distracted by the pots of fools’ gold:

At certain points along the way, our intrepid searcher may come across pages that purport to give the answer, but which in fact do not for a variety of reasons (not least, as with the example above, that this information can fall easily out of date).

So it combines the ability to break down a question into structured thoughts, achieve complex stringing together of queries, and avoid pitfalls of incorrect and misleading information along the way. How many adults do you know who might trip up on this?

Amazingly, some of the older kids in the study managed to find the correct answer.

If you have kids in your life, try this out

If you have kids, or you have younger siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. I’d strongly encourage anyone interested in search to sit and watch them take on relatively undirected searching tasks while you watch. I think it’s pretty educational (for them!), but I also think there’s a good chance you will learn a good deal. In particular, since this research was done in 2010, it appears to have been entirely desktop-driven. I’d be interested in the mobile-first version if anyone wants to run it and write it up!

Anyway, it turns out my kids are (roughly) in the right age range - at the time of experimenting, my daughter was just turned 8, and my son was 5. My daughter was therefore in the age range, and it was interesting to see how she fared:

Rachel aged 8

She found it fairly easy to find out what dolphins eat. Google coped fine with her misspelling of “dolfin” and she wasn’t fazed by the results coming back for the correct spelling. She didn’t bother reading the “showing results for…” section (nor the paid ad, natch) and skipped straight to the one-box. She scanned it without reading aloud and then answered the question: telling me some things dolphins eat. In the process she went from an unmotivated searcher to a motivated searcher: she got intrigued by what a cephalopod is (it is mentioned in the one-box) and set of on an unprompted search to find out.

The next task was too much for her. She’s British, so I decided to go with prime minister, as I didn’t think she’d know what or who the vice president was. It turns out she wasn’t entirely clear on what a prime minister is either, searching for primeinister. She composed a search that could have worked as a stand-alone query: Google corrected it to [when is the prime minister’s birthday next year]. In fact, Google couldn’t answer this directly, and since it wasn’t quite the actual answer to the question as asked, she got stuck at this point, unable to structure the query quite how she wanted it.

Actually, she probably went slightly too far in the first jump. She probably should have gone with something like [when is the prime minister’s birthday] and followed with [what day is <date> next year] but she didn’t make that logical leap unprompted.

Even though my son was a little young, we thought it’d be fun to see how he fared on the “dolphin” question. The date one was a little too much of a stretch:

Adam aged 5

Interestingly, he spelled “dolfin” the same way as his sister (this must be our failing as parents!) but also went with the phonetic “wat” instead of “what”. Nonetheless, Google was quite happy interpreting his search as [what do dolphins eat] so he got the same one-box as his sister.

Just like her, he skipped everything else on the page to go straight to the one-box. This is probably not that surprising in either of their cases - it’s most likely what adults do, and it’s clearly designed to draw attention with the bright image high up on the page.

What was interesting and different was that he didn’t read the whole thing. At the time of the experiment, he was obviously a less confident reader, and preferred to read aloud rather than in his head. He didn’t scan the one-box for the answer and report it, but interestingly, nor did he read the one-box aloud. Instead, he read only the words in bold.

This isn’t the most obviously crazy strategy (at least in the mind of a 5 year old): it isn’t crazy to think that Google would have bolded the words that are the answers to the question you asked, though search professionals know that’s not what’s really going on here. It started okay but then went a little bit off the rails. Here’s what he read out as the answer to [what do dolphins eat?]:

Fishes

Herring

Killer whales

Mammals

He got a bit confused at “killer whales” and knew he was off-track, but wasn’t sure what had gone wrong.

I think the lesson here is that even though people may primarily use the obvious tools and affordances presented to them, they will also make potentially incorrect assumptions and risk being led astray by well-intentioned sign-posts in the UI.

Some other kids’ misconceptions

One child apparently thought that the autosuggest was a list of answers to the query he was typing. That doesn’t always work perfectly:

But to be fair, it’s not immediately obvious that UX like “people also ask” (which does come with embedded answers where possible):

Is entirely different to related searches which are not necessarily even suggested sensible questions:

And finally, to end on a light-hearted anecdote from the research, probably my favourite story was the child (not mine!) who looked for both dolphins and information about the Vice President of the United States on the SpongeBob SquarePants website.

Presumably unsuccessfully, at least in the case of the VP’s birthday.

If you liked this post, check out the whole session from my recent SearchLove talk in San Diego (all you need to do is create a Distilled account to access it for free). You can also check out the slides from my presentation below. Enjoy!

WATCH THE VIDEO

SearchLove San Diego 2018 | Will Critchlow | From the Horse’s Mouth: What We Can Learn from Google’s Own Words from Distilled

from Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/what-do-dolphins-eat-lessons-from-how-kids-search/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[davidrsmithlove]

What do dolphins eat? Lessons from how kids search

I recently came across a couple of fascinating papers (here and here) all about how kids search. I found it fascinating in its own right, and also found it thought-provoking in the new ways of searching it showed that had simply never occurred to me. Here are some of the most interesting things I found (though it’s remarkably accessible, and you should totally read the whole thing).

The researchers studied children aged 7-11, and of varying degrees of experience and comfort with the web and with computer-based research. In the course of their study, they identified seven “search roles” (almost like personas) that children display when seeking information:

Many of these are fairly self-explanatory on the surface (though it’s always interesting to read the details) and you may even identify with some of them yourself, as an adult. One of the most interesting to me was what they called the visual searcher.

People don’t all think like you

This was a mode of search that I had rarely found myself in, and had barely even considered could be a thing outside of certain forms of specific image search (e.g. [microsoft logo]). What they found was a cohort of children who turned first to image search for a wide range of their information-gathering needs. In some cases, this appeared to be motivated by discomfort with text and with reading, or at least with scanning and reading fast. In others, though, it seemed to be about veracity and trusting only what you have seen with your own eyes. For those of us who know people who write on the internet, maybe this isn’t the craziest instinct.

One example that has stayed in my mind since I read about it is the experience of certain kids when asked to answer the question what do dolphins eat?

The anecdote that stood out for me was the child who not only turned to image search to answer the question, but did the one-word image search [dolphin] and then scrolled down through pages of results until, having found a picture of a dolphin eating something, turned to the researcher to declare triumphantly that dolphins eat fish.

The lesson here is clearly about the power of observing real-world users. This is the kind of insight that is hard to glean from the raw data of keyword research. Even if you figure out that there is image search volume for [dolphin], you’re some way from the insight that someone is searching for information about what they eat.

This era (the research was published in 2010) was marked by a wide range of qualitative research coming out of Google. I might dive deeper into some other research in another post, but for now, onto the next insight.

There are searches that are hard, and people are failing to complete them

In my presentation and post the next trillion searches, I talked about the incremental search volume available in the coming years as technology progresses to the point that it can satisfy intents, and answer questions that current technology cannot:

One of the things I didn’t talk about in that post was the times that current searcher intent is not fulfilled even though the information is out there and today’s technology is more than capable of finding it. To understand more about what I mean here, let’s take another look at search challenges for kids:

For a start, it’s worth noting that Google can’t answer this query outright. Unlike with more and more factual queries, Google is not able to return a one-box with any answer, never mind the correct answer.

Unsurprisingly, kids struggled with this one (as I suspect would many adults). It tests their ability to string together a sequence of queries, each one building on the last, to discover the answer at the end of the rainbow. And along the way, they have to be sceptical of the information they come across and not get distracted by the pots of fools’ gold:

At certain points along the way, our intrepid searcher may come across pages that purport to give the answer, but which in fact do not for a variety of reasons (not least, as with the example above, that this information can fall easily out of date).

So it combines the ability to break down a question into structured thoughts, achieve complex stringing together of queries, and avoid pitfalls of incorrect and misleading information along the way. How many adults do you know who might trip up on this?

Amazingly, some of the older kids in the study managed to find the correct answer.

If you have kids in your life, try this out

If you have kids, or you have younger siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. I’d strongly encourage anyone interested in search to sit and watch them take on relatively undirected searching tasks while you watch. I think it’s pretty educational (for them!), but I also think there’s a good chance you will learn a good deal. In particular, since this research was done in 2010, it appears to have been entirely desktop-driven. I’d be interested in the mobile-first version if anyone wants to run it and write it up!

Anyway, it turns out my kids are (roughly) in the right age range - at the time of experimenting, my daughter was just turned 8, and my son was 5. My daughter was therefore in the age range, and it was interesting to see how she fared:

Rachel aged 8

She found it fairly easy to find out what dolphins eat. Google coped fine with her misspelling of “dolfin” and she wasn’t fazed by the results coming back for the correct spelling. She didn’t bother reading the “showing results for…” section (nor the paid ad, natch) and skipped straight to the one-box. She scanned it without reading aloud and then answered the question: telling me some things dolphins eat. In the process she went from an unmotivated searcher to a motivated searcher: she got intrigued by what a cephalopod is (it is mentioned in the one-box) and set of on an unprompted search to find out.

The next task was too much for her. She’s British, so I decided to go with prime minister, as I didn’t think she’d know what or who the vice president was. It turns out she wasn’t entirely clear on what a prime minister is either, searching for primeinister. She composed a search that could have worked as a stand-alone query: Google corrected it to [when is the prime minister’s birthday next year]. In fact, Google couldn’t answer this directly, and since it wasn’t quite the actual answer to the question as asked, she got stuck at this point, unable to structure the query quite how she wanted it.

Actually, she probably went slightly too far in the first jump. She probably should have gone with something like [when is the prime minister’s birthday] and followed with [what day is <date> next year] but she didn’t make that logical leap unprompted.

Even though my son was a little young, we thought it’d be fun to see how he fared on the “dolphin” question. The date one was a little too much of a stretch:

Adam aged 5

Interestingly, he spelled “dolfin” the same way as his sister (this must be our failing as parents!) but also went with the phonetic “wat” instead of “what”. Nonetheless, Google was quite happy interpreting his search as [what do dolphins eat] so he got the same one-box as his sister.

Just like her, he skipped everything else on the page to go straight to the one-box. This is probably not that surprising in either of their cases - it’s most likely what adults do, and it’s clearly designed to draw attention with the bright image high up on the page.

What was interesting and different was that he didn’t read the whole thing. At the time of the experiment, he was obviously a less confident reader, and preferred to read aloud rather than in his head. He didn’t scan the one-box for the answer and report it, but interestingly, nor did he read the one-box aloud. Instead, he read only the words in bold.

This isn’t the most obviously crazy strategy (at least in the mind of a 5 year old): it isn’t crazy to think that Google would have bolded the words that are the answers to the question you asked, though search professionals know that’s not what’s really going on here. It started okay but then went a little bit off the rails. Here’s what he read out as the answer to [what do dolphins eat?]:

Fishes

Herring

Killer whales

Mammals

He got a bit confused at “killer whales” and knew he was off-track, but wasn’t sure what had gone wrong.

I think the lesson here is that even though people may primarily use the obvious tools and affordances presented to them, they will also make potentially incorrect assumptions and risk being led astray by well-intentioned sign-posts in the UI.

Some other kids’ misconceptions

One child apparently thought that the autosuggest was a list of answers to the query he was typing. That doesn’t always work perfectly:

But to be fair, it’s not immediately obvious that UX like “people also ask” (which does come with embedded answers where possible):

Is entirely different to related searches which are not necessarily even suggested sensible questions:

And finally, to end on a light-hearted anecdote from the research, probably my favourite story was the child (not mine!) who looked for both dolphins and information about the Vice President of the United States on the SpongeBob SquarePants website.

Presumably unsuccessfully, at least in the case of the VP’s birthday.

If you liked this post, check out the whole session from my recent SearchLove talk in San Diego (all you need to do is create a Distilled account to access it for free). You can also check out the slides from my presentation below. Enjoy!

WATCH THE VIDEO

SearchLove San Diego 2018 | Will Critchlow | From the Horse’s Mouth: What We Can Learn from Google’s Own Words from Distilled

[ronijashworth]

What do dolphins eat? Lessons from how kids search

I recently came across a couple of fascinating papers (here and here) all about how kids search. I found it fascinating in its own right, and also found it thought-provoking in the new ways of searching it showed that had simply never occurred to me. Here are some of the most interesting things I found (though it’s remarkably accessible, and you should totally read the whole thing).

The researchers studied children aged 7-11, and of varying degrees of experience and comfort with the web and with computer-based research. In the course of their study, they identified seven “search roles” (almost like personas) that children display when seeking information:

Many of these are fairly self-explanatory on the surface (though it’s always interesting to read the details) and you may even identify with some of them yourself, as an adult. One of the most interesting to me was what they called the visual searcher.

People don’t all think like you

This was a mode of search that I had rarely found myself in, and had barely even considered could be a thing outside of certain forms of specific image search (e.g. [microsoft logo]). What they found was a cohort of children who turned first to image search for a wide range of their information-gathering needs. In some cases, this appeared to be motivated by discomfort with text and with reading, or at least with scanning and reading fast. In others, though, it seemed to be about veracity and trusting only what you have seen with your own eyes. For those of us who know people who write on the internet, maybe this isn’t the craziest instinct.

One example that has stayed in my mind since I read about it is the experience of certain kids when asked to answer the question what do dolphins eat?

The anecdote that stood out for me was the child who not only turned to image search to answer the question, but did the one-word image search [dolphin] and then scrolled down through pages of results until, having found a picture of a dolphin eating something, turned to the researcher to declare triumphantly that dolphins eat fish.

The lesson here is clearly about the power of observing real-world users. This is the kind of insight that is hard to glean from the raw data of keyword research. Even if you figure out that there is image search volume for [dolphin], you’re some way from the insight that someone is searching for information about what they eat.

This era (the research was published in 2010) was marked by a wide range of qualitative research coming out of Google. I might dive deeper into some other research in another post, but for now, onto the next insight.

There are searches that are hard, and people are failing to complete them

In my presentation and post the next trillion searches, I talked about the incremental search volume available in the coming years as technology progresses to the point that it can satisfy intents, and answer questions that current technology cannot:

One of the things I didn’t talk about in that post was the times that current searcher intent is not fulfilled even though the information is out there and today’s technology is more than capable of finding it. To understand more about what I mean here, let’s take another look at search challenges for kids:

For a start, it’s worth noting that Google can’t answer this query outright. Unlike with more and more factual queries, Google is not able to return a one-box with any answer, never mind the correct answer.

Unsurprisingly, kids struggled with this one (as I suspect would many adults). It tests their ability to string together a sequence of queries, each one building on the last, to discover the answer at the end of the rainbow. And along the way, they have to be sceptical of the information they come across and not get distracted by the pots of fools’ gold:

At certain points along the way, our intrepid searcher may come across pages that purport to give the answer, but which in fact do not for a variety of reasons (not least, as with the example above, that this information can fall easily out of date).

So it combines the ability to break down a question into structured thoughts, achieve complex stringing together of queries, and avoid pitfalls of incorrect and misleading information along the way. How many adults do you know who might trip up on this?

Amazingly, some of the older kids in the study managed to find the correct answer.

If you have kids in your life, try this out

If you have kids, or you have younger siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. I’d strongly encourage anyone interested in search to sit and watch them take on relatively undirected searching tasks while you watch. I think it’s pretty educational (for them!), but I also think there’s a good chance you will learn a good deal. In particular, since this research was done in 2010, it appears to have been entirely desktop-driven. I’d be interested in the mobile-first version if anyone wants to run it and write it up!

Anyway, it turns out my kids are (roughly) in the right age range - at the time of experimenting, my daughter was just turned 8, and my son was 5. My daughter was therefore in the age range, and it was interesting to see how she fared:

Rachel aged 8

She found it fairly easy to find out what dolphins eat. Google coped fine with her misspelling of “dolfin” and she wasn’t fazed by the results coming back for the correct spelling. She didn’t bother reading the “showing results for…” section (nor the paid ad, natch) and skipped straight to the one-box. She scanned it without reading aloud and then answered the question: telling me some things dolphins eat. In the process she went from an unmotivated searcher to a motivated searcher: she got intrigued by what a cephalopod is (it is mentioned in the one-box) and set of on an unprompted search to find out.

The next task was too much for her. She’s British, so I decided to go with prime minister, as I didn’t think she’d know what or who the vice president was. It turns out she wasn’t entirely clear on what a prime minister is either, searching for primeinister. She composed a search that could have worked as a stand-alone query: Google corrected it to [when is the prime minister’s birthday next year]. In fact, Google couldn’t answer this directly, and since it wasn’t quite the actual answer to the question as asked, she got stuck at this point, unable to structure the query quite how she wanted it.

Actually, she probably went slightly too far in the first jump. She probably should have gone with something like [when is the prime minister’s birthday] and followed with [what day is <date> next year] but she didn’t make that logical leap unprompted.

Even though my son was a little young, we thought it’d be fun to see how he fared on the “dolphin” question. The date one was a little too much of a stretch:

Adam aged 5

Interestingly, he spelled “dolfin” the same way as his sister (this must be our failing as parents!) but also went with the phonetic “wat” instead of “what”. Nonetheless, Google was quite happy interpreting his search as [what do dolphins eat] so he got the same one-box as his sister.

Just like her, he skipped everything else on the page to go straight to the one-box. This is probably not that surprising in either of their cases - it’s most likely what adults do, and it’s clearly designed to draw attention with the bright image high up on the page.

What was interesting and different was that he didn’t read the whole thing. At the time of the experiment, he was obviously a less confident reader, and preferred to read aloud rather than in his head. He didn’t scan the one-box for the answer and report it, but interestingly, nor did he read the one-box aloud. Instead, he read only the words in bold.

This isn’t the most obviously crazy strategy (at least in the mind of a 5 year old): it isn’t crazy to think that Google would have bolded the words that are the answers to the question you asked, though search professionals know that’s not what’s really going on here. It started okay but then went a little bit off the rails. Here’s what he read out as the answer to [what do dolphins eat?]:

Fishes

Herring

Killer whales

Mammals

He got a bit confused at “killer whales” and knew he was off-track, but wasn’t sure what had gone wrong.

I think the lesson here is that even though people may primarily use the obvious tools and affordances presented to them, they will also make potentially incorrect assumptions and risk being led astray by well-intentioned sign-posts in the UI.

Some other kids’ misconceptions

One child apparently thought that the autosuggest was a list of answers to the query he was typing. That doesn’t always work perfectly:

But to be fair, it’s not immediately obvious that UX like “people also ask” (which does come with embedded answers where possible):

Is entirely different to related searches which are not necessarily even suggested sensible questions:

And finally, to end on a light-hearted anecdote from the research, probably my favourite story was the child (not mine!) who looked for both dolphins and information about the Vice President of the United States on the SpongeBob SquarePants website.

Presumably unsuccessfully, at least in the case of the VP’s birthday.

If you liked this post, check out the whole session from my recent SearchLove talk in San Diego (all you need to do is create a Distilled account to access it for free). You can also check out the slides from my presentation below. Enjoy!

WATCH THE VIDEO

SearchLove San Diego 2018 | Will Critchlow | From the Horse’s Mouth: What We Can Learn from Google’s Own Words from Distilled

from Digital Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/what-do-dolphins-eat-lessons-from-how-kids-search/ via http://www.rssmix.com/