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lermisv4 · 3 years

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Zelda ost is vanishing

So, many of you Zelda fans out there look up Zelda music on YouTube. To study, to chill, to vibe, etc. Some of you may pick a specific game and listen to the whole soundtrack, while some others may put a playlist of some mix of games. I know there are many people who listen specifically the the dungeon OSTs. If you look up “zelda dungeon music”, the very first result on a blank browser (not logged in) is a list titled “zelda dungeon music - UPDATED”.

I am the one who created and maintains that list. And I’m posting this to complain about Nintendo.

I honestly can’t remember when I made the list, only why. I noticed that the previously most popular list was incomplete. I think they did not have the Link Between Worlds soundtrack? I don’t know. But I was kind of disappointed about that so I figured “hey I’m doing nothing on my account” (I haven’t uploaded a single video, lol - hell, at the time the only reason I even HAD an account was because Google had just bought YouTube) “so may as well make the list myself!”

It was... mildly difficult. For the most popular games, I could just go to GilvaSunner’s channel and pick the tracks, but for most of the 2D games I had to look for channels of the same quality and pick tracks from there. There was also the fact that I REALLY wanted the playlist to cover everything, so I had to make a few choices on WHAT to choose. Do I include caverns? If not, why? If yes, why? Is it fair to include the caverns of one game and not the other? (eventually I decided on “depends on whether you get a key item from them / plot significance”) Do I include spinoff titles, like Hyrule Warriors? (I decided no) How do I manage games with a stage-type structure, like Four Swords? Do I put the songs in the order I find them on the playlists or according to their in-game appearance? Do I include the dungeon intros? I tried that, but it didn’t flow well. Hell, at one point I tried to add ALL THE VARIATIONS OF THE TRIFORCE HEROES STAGES but not even a third through I was like NOPE. Yes, I know the titles in that part in the playlist are in french, I honestly thought it was a quirk of the game due to the whole “fashion” thing.

Eventually, I had a cool playlist I was happy with more songs than THE most popular playlist, and I was secretely hoping it would surpass the other playlist in views because clearly mine is the better one! (yeah, I know how that sounds) It was slow going at first and I was frustrated when for a long time YouTube searches would not show it among the results - I can’t remember how long it took me to make, but it was a while. But over time some people started noticing, I got a few thousand views, and it started growing increasingly popular until it had almost as many views as the most popular one. I added UPDATED on the title to let people know that THIS list was up to date.

That playlist had become really important to me at that time. I know it’s stupid of being proud of something like that, but I listened to it all the time - whether I was studying or writing fanfiction and needed a vibe trip to the fantasy realm or whatever. It got me through some pretty tough exam periods, let me tell you.

Then Breath of the Wild came out. That was when I started noticing problems.

I was a few months late to the party because real life kicked my ass (still does), but eventually I watched a full walkthrough of the game and obviously decided it high-time I add the new tracks. After all, it has “UPDATED” in the title, I can’t leave it without the tracks of such an immensely popular game.

So first I went to GilvaSunner’s channel to add the new tracks. But they weren’t there. Okay... I found a different channel. Oh nice. I added the new tracks, making sure to include additional ones in accordance to my broadened standards. I left the list alone, happy once again.

A few months later, I noticed that all the BotW tracks had been deleted. I was EXTREMELY weirded out. I found another channel which took those tracks and reuploaded them. Oh, okay, problem solved. Then THOSE tracks were taken down. The channel reuploaded them again. I readded them. Then slowly, over the course of time, I noticed that various tracks in the playlist would randomly go missing. Like the dungeon theme from Phantom Hourglass, or the stuff from a Link to the Past, or that something happened to the Spirit tracks soundtrack. Each and every time, I would search YouTube, trying to recall WHICH tracks were missing (I never wrote the list anywhere because I have my criteria memorized), reorganising them - sometimes on my phone, during class - and always with a low-key nervousness that I may have forgotten something. Oftentimes I would find notices of the type “this video is not available in your country” which REALLY pissed me off.

Then, last year, all the Ocarina of Time songs went missing. I borderline panicked back then, but I was able to - once again - find the tracks and replace them, but with the thought of “who tf would take them down”.

I know who would. Nintendo, that’s who. By that point I kept hearing stuff about how they would take down stuff like mods, or some channels, but I never thought they’d attack a channel that’s been there forever and was abandoned for a few years.

Yesterday, I decided to replay the list. The entirety of Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Link Between Worlds, and most of the Skyward Sword and Link to the Past soundtracks were taken down. And I DON’T KNOW WHEN.

I freaked the F out. I spent literal hours looking for the tracks online, wondering what else was missing, if I would even find what I needed online, how long would it take, and when the hell did this happen!? I slapped an “under repairs” notice on the playlist and went searching. Eventually I found replacements for everything.

Then today, the original LOZ soundtrack and the rest of the Skyward Sword ones went missing. The LOZ dungeon theme I had on the playlist was a 30 second video. And they deleted that. It was online for about TEN YEARS. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find replacements for that stuff? You’ll find extended versions and dozens of different covers, but never the originals.

As for Skyward Sword? Today I was only able to find a few extended versions of the missing tracks. NONE of the originals. So I put the “under repairs” label on the list again, and now I can only hope somebody uploads them, and that no more game music channels will be attacked within the month.

I freaking HATE Nintendo for doing this. Remove the soundtrack? Some of these games are older than I am. Piracy? Bitch please. If you didn’t want people pirating your content, THEN YOU WOULD HAVE MADE IT AVAILABLE TO ALL. Yeah, I pirate the shit out of everything. But I WOULD buy if it was AVAILABLE! “Buy the official comic” they say WELL MAKE AN OFFICIAL TRANSLATION SO WE CAN. “Buy the official version” well maybe if you would sell it without requiring some weird regional check and subscription - if you even sell it to begin with.

I hate this. I freaking hate this.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make a community post so I would at least have a means for others to inform me if they noticed something wrong. I have like - only eleven subscribers but that’s not the issue, I have a playlist with over 200.000 views that people obviously like and I want to deliver. I failed at making a post because I couldn’t find the freaking option and I gave up out of frustration. And today THIS happened.

I am seriously considering downloading all those tracks in a sound only format on my laptop, and if something gets deleted again to upload it myself. But the thought scares me. I did not even WANT that Youtube account. I have uploaded absolutely no videos. I simply have a few playlists of shit that I like. But like I said, that Zelda dungeon music playlist is the most popular on YouTube. What if they decide that “no, that’s not acceptable” and decide to strike with the banhammer?

I don’t know if anyone CAN offer a solution, but I really needed to vent. I started this thing for the vibes, I don’t want to chase around the uploads for who knows how many years in the future. Sometimes I even think that whoever takes down this stuff may be finding obscure YouTube channels BECAUSE of my playlist. But... I know it sounds stupid but I can’t let go of it.

So here. That’s my confession. I needed to get this out of my chest. You can look it up yourselves. Yeah, that’s my real name there I won’t deny it, nothing to hide. Enjoy my playlist because I don’t know how long it’s going to be around. And please keep in mind that as of the time of writing, the Skyward Sword section is missing most of the tracks.

Thank you for reading.

EDIT: UPDATE - I managed to restore the full playlist and download all the tracks I needed on my PC. Here’s hoping there’s no new round of takedowns on 2023.

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aeonmagnus · 3 years

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Happy 20th Anniversary Robots In Disguise!

This year, and today in particular, marks the 20-year anniversary of Transformers Robots in Disguise airing in the United States. This was the official English language dub of the Japanese show Transformers Car Robots, which aired in Japan the year before. This show and it’s accompanying toy line were a big shift in the Transformers brand and affected how things moved forward in the new millennium. It was also a big influence on me and this website in it’s early years, so both the brand and TFW2005 may not be what it is today without it.

We hope you will read on after the break to check out our celebration of Robots in Disguise on it’s 20th!

Intro

The following is not a comprehensive article on the show proper, but rather a trip down memory lane from my personal perspective. It was a period of change in my life, in the fandom, in the brand, and in the world – all happening at once. Robots in Disguise was smack dab in the middle of it all and I think that’s why it still resonates with me all these years later. For a deeper dive into the world of Robots In Disguise you can check RIDForever.info, a site I maintain just about RID and Car Robots. The 2021 updates are here, and the 2017 round of updates are here. I’d also suggest checking the TFWe issue all about RID over on the 2005 Boards. Now, onto today’s festivities…

The Show

RID, and yes I say RID as if it is the only RID. If you must reference that other RID show and it’s off-shoots, refer to it as RID 201x, thanks. 😊 RID aired during the Fox Kids programming block on a Saturday morning, with additional episodes set to air each weekday during the afternoon hours. Instead of stretching the show out over the course of 30+ weeks with only a new ep each weekend, they were going to blaze through it non-stop. By the end of the first week, we would have been 7 eps in. That however hit a big roadblock due to 9/11 just three days later. While some local markets did air the episodes, many larger city networks, and especially east coast markets, stuck with news coverage. Many of us did not catch the early episodes on TV the first go around. In addition, several of the episodes got pulled from TV due to depictions of buildings being destroyed and other similar visuals which understandably could upset children that just experienced 9/11. So right off the bat, the new millennium and new era of Transformers were dealing with a new reality.

The show, for those that don’t know – was a weird one-off in Transformers history. We had G1 and then the G2 remixes for a bit. Beast Wars came on the scene and ran all the way through 2000 with it’s successor – Beast Machines. During the Beast Wars era – Japan did a couple of their own Beast Wars shows, non-CGI extensions of what we saw in the US. Their market wasn’t quite ready for full CGI so they stuck with traditional anime. When Hasbro decided to continue Beast Wars into Beast Machines, Takara went a completely different way – a traditional animated show which brought back Autobots and “Decepticons”, mixing them in with the beasts. They focused the toys on a couple new and complex molds, then filled the rest of the line with repaints of previous toys. Old 2nd tier Beast Wars toys, G2 Laser Prime, and even some Generation 1 molds in the form of the Combaticons got new life as new characters in this show, capped with the biggest TF of them all at the time – a repainted G1 Fortress Maximus, now Brave Maximus. It was the prototype for what the Transformers brand did for years to come – repainting old toys into new characters. Universe, Classics, Botcon, and even some Generations runs used this method to give us some great toys in the 00s.

While there is a very complicated and long explanation for how every single Japanese show is one continuity, to someone casually starting with Car Robots it was a refresh, a new story, a new arrival on Earth. The Autobots vs the Predacons, and eventually the Combatrons/Decepticons. It was a hard cut from the last 5 years or so of CGI Beasts. Hand drawn traditional animation featuring vehicle Transformers. It wasn’t G1, but many of the folks who grew up with G1 were just getting out of college around this time. They were rediscovering their childhood love of Transformers through Beast Wars, flea market finds, raids on their parents’ attics and basements, and for the internet savvy – imports of Japanese reissues from Takara. It was a perfect storm of nostalgia; a return to Autobots and Decepticons was welcomed by kids and adults alike.

RID and TFW2005

In the years leading up to Car Robots, I was just getting into the internet, coding, design, some digital music, and all the possibility that came with it. Beast Wars, especially when it hit Season 2/3 and the inclusion of G1 lore, really got me focusing on Transformers again as a hobby. I eventually combined the two newfound hobbies into one and Transformer World 2005 was born. At no point did I ever think it would last 20+ years and take over my life in the way it did. I started the full version of TFW2005 around April 2000, with some starts and stops before that. That was right around when Car Robots started airing in Japan. Through the magic of 56k internet, I was able to connect with folks in Japan and get them to send me VHS tapes of Car Robots. Really nice, high-quality tapes too, I still have them hehe. To the younglings reading – try to picture this: no youtube, no video sharing. The concept of streaming anything did not exist yet. Napster and the eventual peer to peer stuff hadn’t fully kicked off. Plus, we were all viewing the internet on giant computers in our rooms at the speed of 1x on your phone. Less than 1 bar 3G mobile speeds today.

Yes, someone recorded episodes from TV to video tape over there, did that a couple weeks at a time, then physically mailed them across the world to me, who then got them on the internet. Can you imagine waiting weeks to watch an episode of TV the size of a twitter profile avatar? Crazy. Uploading a full episode to the internet was a big pain in the ass, not easily done. I decided to get a converter that allowed me to plug my VCR into the computer and encode the tape into digital format. From there, it was reduced using Microsoft’s WMV technology so that the episodes were about 5 MB each. 30 minute episodes at 5MB each. Dimensions – 176 x 144 pixels. 4k video today – 3840 x 2160 pixels. You can imagine that video looked like crap. But we didn’t care – we were blown away. Old school animation, vehicles, some cool Japanese anime vibes, it was what we as G1 fans kinda had in the back of our heads on what Transformers should be in a new era, and we were seeing it. Most of us had no clue what they were saying or what was going on. Also didn’t care. I still to this day think CR/RID is better like that.

So one of the first things TFW2005 did on the internet was provide these super small windows into Car Robots and what was going on in Japan. It helped get US fans hyped up for what Transformers could be. It got us wanting the toys, and importers bringing the Takara toy line over were moving serious product. It helped swing Hasbro, who was planning to return to Autobots and Decepticons again down the road, to move that schedule up. Instead of running Beast Machines until 2002 and then starting what we now know as the Unicron Trilogy, it was cut short. Robots in Disguise as a toy line and show came over in 2001, ran fast and hard for a year with non stop releases, got extended because it did so well, and then faded into the Universe line of repaints. The new millennium of Transformers was here and Robot In Disguise kicked it off with a bang.

Wrap Up

As we all continue with collecting Transformers now, regardless if you tagged into the fandom during G1, Beasties, the Unicron Trilogy, the Movies, or just yesterday – let’s take the time to give Car Robots and RID some props! It set the tone for what the new millennium of the brand would be. It gave us some toys ahead of their time. It solidified the repaint as an accepted thing in the hobby. And it gave us one crazy 39 episode run of TV that’s still a fun ride 20 years later.

For those that would like to learn more about RID and Car Robots – I still maintain a Robots in Disguise website that archives everything I have or came across. There is a lot there if you want to go on a tour of all the awesome Car Robots and Robots In Disguise era stuff. Check it out at RIDFOREVER.INFO! FIYAH!

Let us know what you think and remember from the good old days of RID on the 2005 Boards here!

Epilogue

If someone over there at Hasbro is reading – can someone please figure out who owns the rights to the show in the US market and then get it out on DVD in full, finally? Work all that funky licensing stuff out (if there is any) and get it done. The US has never had access to it via an official release. Maybe get it up on YouTube like G1? Something. Announcing plans for that before the end of 2021 would be a nice 20th anniversary tribute.

#Transformers #Transformers: Robots in Disguise #20th Anniversary #Robots in Disguise #Optimus Prime #Megatron #Car Robots #Transformers: Car Robots

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yuthoe · 4 years

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aaa okay so looked at the rules and could you do their idol crush admitting that they’re their type but with yuto, wooseok and kino? 🥺

HELLO, I FINALLY DID IT, SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT.It’s almost 4AM here and I wanted to get this out in case I become unproductive again when I wake up. I was halfway through Kino’s part when I realized the reader should be gender-neutral, oops. It’s too late for me to edit it again right now, so it’s gonna stay like that. I’ll take care next time, tho.

WARNINGS: none. WORD COUNT: 842, 971, 632.

—

Yuto

“Yuto-ya,” Hui called from his spot on his tiny couch in Yuto’s studio. It’s one of his rare days-off, but he isn’t in the mood to go into the city, and staying in the dorm is too boring since everyone else is busy with their other stuff. So he just decided to tag along with Yuto to his studio and listen to him make some songs. He might even sneak in a nap or two since he hasn’t been sleeping well later—but all thoughts of sleep fly out the window as soon as he sees on his phone a newly uploaded video starring you, known in Pentagon as Yuto’s crush. “Yuto-ya, come here!” he says, tossing the stuffed teddy bear at the boy sitting by the computers.

The toy hits Yuto square in the head and he jumps, turning the seat around in confusion. “What is it, hyung?”

Hui turns the phone so the screen is visible to Yuto. “Isn’t this Y/N?”

A quick glance and, yes, it’s you. Yuto likes to think he can find you in a crowd, no matter how many hairstyle changes you gave or how much you try to blend in with your clothes, but that just comes off kind of creepy. He has watched a lot of your interviews; and you have a lot of them, being a big figure in a famous idol group. He’s just so captivated by your range, your stage presence… It just gets him breathless whenever he sees you perform.

Your group is in the middle of a comeback right now, and Yuto has been religiously keeping up with any promotional material for your group that’s been coming up, but he’s just been super focused on his music today that the only thing that shocked him out of the haze was the teddy bear thrown at his head. Yuto stares at the tiny phone screen for a second longer before getting off the office chair and squishing beside Hui on the couch that isn’t really made for someone of his size.

The video continues playing as his leader turns up the volume. Your group is sat on swivel bar chairs in a white studio set. Gosh, you look radiant, as always. The pleasantries are over and the topic has gone to the announcement your company made about being able to date openly. Yuto isn’t lying that there was a tiny spark of hope that lit up inside him when he first heard of the news. But of course, that was just wishful thinking, since he doesn’t think you actually know him anyway. Sure, you may have heard of Pentagon the group, but there isn’t as big a chance of you taking an interest in him.

Being seated on the farthest chair from the hosts, your answer is saved for last. The other members of your group dodged the question by saying they weren’t really looking to date anyone or dropping names like J.Seph from KARD or Vernon from Seventeen being their ideal type of guy. You take a second or two more to think about your answer and say, “I’d like to get to know Yuto from Pentagon more.”

“Oooohhh,” the hosts exclaim. “He’s one of the rappers isn’t he?” one of them asks.

“Yes,” you say politely, smiling. Yuto isn’t sure if you’re actually red in the face or if that’s just the blush on your cheeks. “I really like the flow of his raps, and his voice is really nice.”

“Ahh, so you’re saying you like tall guys, yes?” the other host teases.

You laugh, slightly embarrassed. “I guess? I don’t really have a type, but Yuto was the first person to pop into my head who I am really interested in and would like to get to know.”

The hosts nod in approval, and your group members seated around you slap you playfully for admitting something like that.

Hui releases a high-pitched siren sound and playfully slaps Yuto playfully on the arm with his free hand. “Do you hear that, Yuto? Seems they like you, too. I wonder if we can go to one of their recordings for this comeback, hmm… Or maybe if our comebacks coincide you can talk to them then, huh?...” Hui continues to rattle off possibilities of Yuto getting into contact with you.

Meanwhile Yuto is still staring at the screen, frozen. The video continues to play, but he isn’t registering anything. Did you really just say, out loud, with a mic on, that you want to get to know him more? Like, he isn’t hallucinating that? Those words really came out of your mouth?

His chest is tight. It burns, but it’s also light. Yuto can’t put into words the feeling. Your sentiments are intangible, and there weren’t even any promises of actually going through with meeting up or exchanging numbers…

But it made him giddy. Indescribably happy.

He lets slip the tiniest of smiles as he continues watching the video and Hui mutters to himself about possible get-togethers with your groups.

Kino

It’s been a habit of Kino lately to listen to podcasts when he gets back to the dorm, as a way to unwind after a busy day. Not because he listens to them (although he does find time to listen and pay attention some other time), but the sound of amicable voices in the sometimes empty dorm is a comforting presence.

One of the podcasts he’s been listening to lately is called Ladies’ Room. His sister told him to listen to one of the episodes, and he found the discussions fun and educational, so he decided to just follow it and he’s updated with the latest one. So when a notification pops up on his phone about a new episode with a special guest, he immediately blasted it on his Bluetooth speaker.

“Hey, guys! This is Soo Ri and you’re listening to Ladies’ Room,” the host’s voice, like a droplet of water falling into a crystal clear puddle, slithers out from the speaker. “Today, we’re talking about love and relationships with a very special guest… idol-slash-actor-slash model, Y/N!”

“Hello, everybody!” you say, in a sweet cadence like a breeze rustling windchimes.

Kino almost drops the container of microwavable tteokkbokki he’s holding and looks at his phone, scandalized, as if it personally offended him. Obviously, it wouldn’t be a stretch for you to guest in podcasts, and even less of a stretch for you to guest-host this particular podcast, but Kino is still surprised. He can’t deny that it feels nice to know that he found you so unexpectedly.

Kino can’t remember when he started taking an interest on you. There was just one time when everytime he turned on the TV he would see your face—in a commercial, a variety show, a drama, that he finally decided to check you out. And from the first music video he clicked, he was hooked on you. Your way with words, your voice, your personality all just made him really want to know you more.

He doesn’t call it a crush, although to Yuto and Wooseok, the only two other people who know about his fanaticism, it comes off that way in droves. He shakes his head and finally unfreezes, putting the tteokbokki in the microwave to heat up. His ears automatically pick up the conversation.

“I know you must be really annoyed and fed up by questions like these, since I watch a lot of your interviews and the hosts ask about it a lot,” Soo Ri begins. “But what’s your stance on ideal types—like your ideal guy, or girl—and do you have one yourself?”

“Aahh, yeah, I do get questions like that sometimes, but they’re in different contexts, so I don’t really mind them.” Kino thinks that’s a polite answer and mentally claps. He hears you take a deep breath before saying, “I don’t think having an ideal type is realistic, though. I mean, that’s what ‘ideal’ means: it’s your idea of perfection, the best. I guess it could be like a blueprint for what you want in a partner, but I don’t think it’s possible for you to be able to tick off all those boxes.”

“Oh, yeah, I get what you’re saying. That’s a really good point.”

“As for my ideal type…” You hum, seeming deep in thought, but not enough to cause dead air. “It’s not really an ‘ideal’ type,” Kino can almost hear the air quotation marks when you said the word and it makes him smile, “but Kino from Pentagon has a lot of the qualities I like in someone.”

By now, Kino had taken his food from the microwave and taken a bite. He freezes with a mouth stuffed with tteokbokki. The spicy soup stinging his lips assures him that he is definitely awake and definitely not dreaming. Did she just—?

“Yeah,” he hears, desperately trying to tune back into the conversation. “He has a very bubbly and fun personality. He’s humble and loves his members and his fans. He’s also very good at what he does—I’ve listened to some of his stuff on SoundCloud, and they’re really good,” you say, and Kino thinks he should probably start chewing before he chokes on the rice cakes. “I mean, his dancing is excellent, his voice is so nice, and he’s also super cute.”

At this, you and Soo Ri both laugh conspiratorially, as if sharing a secret only between you two, as if this podcast isn’t going to be uploaded somewhere anyone who has access to the Internet can listen to, somewhere Kino can access at a moment’s notice.

Kino’s sure his face is as red as the tteokbokki soup right now. Literally no one can see because he’s the only one in the kitchen, but his face is on fire. He continues chewing and stuffing the rice cake strips into his mouth as he spirals into a crisis. His idol crush actually likes him back? He doesn’t think you actually like him, but you did say that there’s some aspects of him you like. That’s kind of similar, right? Right?

The whine comes out garbled from his full mouth. On one hand, he feels way lighter, bouncier, more energetic at knowing that the idol he likes knows about his existence and that she actually likes things about him and openly talked about it on a podcast, oh my goodness is this really real, like no one is messing with me right now?

So Kino sits there, lost in thought as he continues spearing food with his chopsticks, thinking. About how to reach you, maybe get your number, maybe propose a tiny collaboration? Maybe? About how he’s going to act in front of you in the off-chance that you do meet, as you and Soo Ri continue chatting in the background.

Wooseok

He can’t help stealing glances at you—you look really good in this comeback, and it takes everything for Wooseok to not be too conspicuous and focus on the interview that coincidentally has Pentagon and your group as guests. He’d like to think it’s a dream, but really, it feels more like a nightmare because he’s seated right next to you and his members literally won’t stop looking back and giving him mischievous smiles, or turning their chairs towards your group and making small talk, trying to drag him into the conversation and he feels like a fool because he seems incapable of replying with more than two-syllable words.

And it somehow gets worse during the segments. Not that the hosts are bad—they’re really good hosts. It’s just that there’s a segment where they read selected fan mail, so they would all have to answer it because they don’t really want to disappoint the fans by deflecting. The first few were harmless: what food they like eating during summer, if you were an animal what would you be? But then it went from zero to 100 real quick as the third question is read by your group’s leader, “Which idol is your ideal type?”

Everyone can’t help but make exclamations, oohs and ahs as they think of an appropriate answer. The hosts are gracious and give everyone ten seconds or so to come up with their answers before coaxing out some people’s. Eventually the line snaked to you and you timidly replied, “Wooseok-sunbae,” while avoiding his eyes.

If Wooseok could see himself in a mirror, he would see his eyes bug out and threatening to pop from their sockets, mouth desperately pursing to prevent the huge smile forming on his face. He doesn’t know how to react—what should he do, Cube didn’t train them for this. He needs help and Shinwon keeps slapping his thigh and arm like that isn’t the most obvious thing to do when they’re being filmed.

He can tell you’re embarrassed. You’re facing the hosts, your back to Wooseok, though he’s assuming your face is super red right now, and it’s not because of the blush. He kind of just wants this to be over so you can have a reprieve, but the hosts (being hosts), ask you to elaborate.

“Um, he’s a really great rapper, and he seems really caring,” you say softly. “I watched a program with him once taking care of his cats, and I thought it was really cute.” Wooseok recalls that show and his chest loosens slightly at the mention of it, touched that you remember that tiny segment he did. He really loves his cat, and he’s not gonna admit it, but he likes that your takeaway from the program is that he looks cute playing with tiny animals.

“Ooh, yes, we love guys who are nice to animals,” one of the hosts says, and turns directly to Wooseok. “Wooseok-sshi, since she mentioned you, we’ll leave you for last, okay? So we can properly build up the hype for the viewers back at home.” The boy nods; at least this gives him time to think of nice things to say to you amidst the flurry of thoughts running through his head at the moment.

He imagines talking to you after filming is over and exchanging numbers. He imagines hanging out with you if you have any free time. He imagines maybe doing a small collaboration with you, wishes it were possible. The images he conjures up make him smile, even if he is still kind of embarrassed—he was never one of the cucumber-cool members of the group—but he decides that since you threw yourself off the boat, he might as well throw himself off and join you.

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nanonaturalist · 6 years

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Using iNaturalist Tutorial 1: Making Observations (Mobile App)

Welcome to the first part in a series of tutorials on using the world-wide citizen science website/app/paradise that is iNaturalist [link]. They have their own tutorials on using the website [link], but *coughs* they haven’t been updated in a while and the interface changed a little.

I’m trying to encourage tumblr peeps to try out iNaturalist, so I created an “iNatters of tumblr” group [link] for us all to see what everybody else encounters, help each other ID things, and otherwise just have a fun time while contributing to science! Want to join us? Just create an account on iNaturalist, and either send me your username (on tumblr or on iNat!) and/or follow the group (click the button in the top right corner of the group page). I will add you to the list of identifiers, and all of your observations, past and present, will be added to the group! Check out my tagged posts about this project! [link]

Figuring out any new website or app can be confusing and frustrating, and I hope these tutorials will make it easier to start using iNaturalist. If anything I say is unclear, confusing, or doesn’t match what you see, just let me know and I will update this tutorial with a better explanation.

These tutorials are image-heavy and kinda long, so they will be under a cut. Note: I have the iPhone version of the app, so you may see a slightly different interface on another device.

Observation Tutorial Part 1: Making Observations with the Mobile App

First Thing’s First! Let’s check out your settings!

Most of these settings are self-explanatory. Automatic Upload The app defaults to automatic upload, which means it will start uploading your observations as soon as you save them. If you are doing a bioblitz, or are in an area with limited cell reception, this option can slow down the app and drain your battery. If you turn off this option, you will need to push the “upload” button to post your observations so others can see them.

Suggest Species This option is MAGICAL. It was first rolled out about a year ago, and HOLY CARP it’s pretty good! But, it does have limitations. First, it requires a good signal and can slow you down and eat up your battery. Also, it works based off a machine-learning system from observations previously uploaded and verified on iNaturalist. What this means: The identify tool can only successfully identify things that have been observed and identified by other real humans. Also, it only uses your main photo (the first one), and it can get thrown off if it was taken at a weird angle, or if there is lots of other stuff in the background (like plants, rocks, other bugs). And, very important to note: it does not take your location into consideration. There is a very heavy user-base in New Zealand, so it is fairly common for species that only occur in New Zealand to be suggested. So, use your best judgement. If you think something is a Booger Beetle, but the app suggests Snot Weevil, ignore the app. OR, you can stick to a higher classification (Beetles) and come back to it later. You can always change your mind!

iNaturalist Network You don’t really need to worry about this too much. There are a bunch of “flavors” of iNaturalist, and which network you select is the one your data will stick to in the event that the iNaturalist Network breaks up. They are more or less regional. More information about the networks here [link]

Okay, let’s take some photos!

Wow, nice! You have two options for making observations with the mobile app. Option 1: Take the photo now, worry about iNat later Option 2: Take the photo using the iNat app

I recommend choosing Option 1 if you are taking photos of things that may move, because the app has a bit of a delay, and the quality tends to not be as good. I use Option 1 almost exclusively, because it’s easier to take my photos and do bulk uploads when I’m inside and not being chased by mosquitos. Option 2 is better if your subject isn’t moving too fast, and if you are just observing a couple things (and also if you don’t want to build up a several-month-long backlog of photos on your phone...).

You can take and select multiple photos! Try to get different angles, and photograph different parts of your subject to help with IDs later.

Advanced iNatter Option If you take photos with your phone to upload later, you have the option of annotating your photos! This is helpful if you have more than one specimen in the photo, or if your specimen is well camouflaged. You can also point out important features, like I did below. Any edits you do to your photos before you upload them can really help out people who do IDs!

Regardless of which option you choose, you will end up at your observation page!

Adding identifications to your observations

From your observation page (on the left above), you can add more photos, add an ID, write notes, and edit time and location information. More on those options later! First, let’s click “What did you see?” to get to the ID page.

If you have “Suggest species” turned on, the app guesses what you saw. Clicking the information symbol to the right will show you more information on each species to help you decide if that ID is a good fit. Feel free to pick whatever you think is closest, and other people will agree with you OR suggest other identifications later.

If you know what you saw, or if you have a guess, go ahead and type it into the search bar. If you have autocomplete on, it will (guess what!) autocomplete what you are typing. If you have a slow connection, LOOK OUT because you might accidentally select the wrong ID due to lag.

Editing Location and Privacy

Depending on your phone’s privacy settings, your photos will automatically have a GPS stamp on them, so if you are adding photos to iNat later, you usually don’t need to worry about remembering where you took them. If you have this feature turned off for your phone, that’s fine! Or, if you have that option turned on, and your photos are GPS tagged, you can still protect your privacy while keeping the location data useful for scientists and researchers.

If you are wondering, “Why is location even important? Why should I bother?” There are a couple answers! First, there are very few species present worldwide. For the most part, in order to identify something, it is essentially to know where it was. Sometimes, you can be vague, and just stating the country is good enough detail to identify something (common for larger animals, like birds and mammals, and larger plants like trees). But other times, you need to be extremely specific. Some insects look nearly identical to each other, but there will be different species living on one side of a mountain range vs the other side, even if they are only 20 miles apart. And also, researchers who are tracking the movement of species in response to climate change can benefit from having access to accurate data--showing that a species of plant is appearing even several miles north each year is crucial to understanding how to manage environmental stewardship.

If you are out and about, and have GPS phototagging on, you don’t really need to edit your location (unless you want to!). If you have GPS tagging off, or the location data was a little off, OR you want to protect your privacy (observations at your house, for example), here’s what ya do:

Click the area on your observation page with location (I blanked those details out of my screencap). You will be taken to a map. Clicking the green arrow takes you to your current location. You can zoom in or out of the map (unfortunately, you can’t just type in an address on the mobile app, but you CAN on the website, and you CAN edit posts you made from the mobile app on the website later!). When the location you want is centered on the map, zoom in or out to set your accuracy (if you can’t remember where you were, but you KNOW you were somewhere in Austin, you would basically do what I have above in my map).

If you don’t want to edit the location, but you don’t want the entire world to know where your photos were taken, you can change the GeoPrivacy setting (kinda cut off in the screencap, but it’s directly underneath location). You can select three options: Open: Everybody can see where your observations were made Obscured: iNaturalist will create large square that contains your true location at some random point within the square. All observations with obscured coordinates will be randomly assigned to one point in that square. Only you can see those coordinates (one exception is if you join a very specific type of project, and you have opted-in to let project curators see obscured coordinates). Private: No location information is shared. You may select this option if you want, BUT keep in mind it will be very difficult for people to help identify your observations! For more information on GeoPrivacy, iNaturalist provides more information here [link]

Adding Observations to Projects

iNaturalist has many different kinds of projects [link]. The “iNatters of tumblr” project is a “collection” project type, which automatically adds observations meeting specific criteria (in our case, all observations made by users I have added to the project). Another type of of project, the “traditional” project type, was originally the only type of project available. It’s great for collecting some very specific observations that you can’t really search for. Two of my favorites are “Mating Behaviour” and “Animated Observations” [both are links]. The downside of these kinds of projects is somebody has to manually add each observation to the project. If you have joined one of these kinds of projects, you can link them to your observation before you save it. You can also add observations to projects any time later.

To link your observation with a project, you must have joined a project first. Afterwards, just click the button and you’re done!

Saving and Uploading

You’re almost done! Just ONE final step. Save!!! Click the big green SAVE button at the bottom, and you see your beautiful observation:

If you have Auto Uploads turned off, you need to click the upload button to start uploading. That’s it! Congratulations!

If you take your photos with a camera, or if you want to upload a BUNCH of observations at one time, you will want to make your observations on the website, rather than the mobile app. Making observations on the iNaturalist website will be the subject of Tutorial 2!

September 18, 2018

#this post took me three hours you're welcome #tumblr inat project #inaturalist #inat #citizen science #inat tutorial #how to #informational #time to go home #insects #beetles

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psiscans · 6 years

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Love your work! Total noobie here though, but how does the process of translation goes? I expect it to be long and hard ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) but don’t know exactly.

Thank you for the message!

Scanlation really is a difficult process, check out everything we do for you under the break:

1. Raw prep! First, we have to get a copy of the manga in Japanese. If it's not already uploaded somewhere online in decent quality, then that means we've got to buy the digital volumes ourselves. After that, the pages need to be properly organized: re-named, re-sized, and separated into chapters. We also do a little bit of touching up in terms of black/white levels to get rid of any specks or spots. The volume version of the manga doesn't have any color pages (aside from the volume covers) so for any chapters with color pages we have to go find the magazine versions and take the color pages from those.

2. Cleaning! After the pages are all up, we've got to go through the pages and erase every last bit of Japanese text out of the bubble. Cleaning is a pretty simple process, but since this manga is pretty text heavy it takes a while to get everything done~

3. Redraws! This is where things get difficult: Sometimes text is covering up parts of the picture instead of sitting nicely in a speech bubble. When that text gets erased, so do parts of the manga behind it. Since the English text we fill in later will almost never be the same size/shape as the Japanese text, we have to re-create what was by literally re-drawing the parts of the manga that got erased. This takes a looot of time, and a decent amount of artistic skill: Especially when it comes to large blocks of text over detailed pictures.

4. Translation! While we're getting the pages all ready, our translators are hard at work putting that Japanese text into a language you can understand. Some parts of translating are pretty straight forward, but gag manga like Saiki tend to be full of odd references that need to be researched to translate properly, and puns that need brainstorming to figure out a way to make it work in English. There's even a haiku at the beginning of every chapter that we have to translate while making sure it stays in haiku format. We also have to be careful to make sure that the way we spell/translate names of things like people, places, and Saiki's powers is consistent with previous chapters. Plus the chapters are pretty wordy- it's usually about 2000-3000 words for a 15-16 page chapter (or twice that if it's an Akechi chapter)

5. Typesetting! Finally, once we have the pages all cleaned and redrawn, and the translation all finished, we need to put that text on the page! You may think it's not too hard to just copy/paste the translation onto the page, but it's more than just that! You also have to change up all the fonts to match what the Japanese text looked like, and you have to make sure everything is sized/arranged properly so that it's easy to read and pleasant to look at. Saiki is not only a wordy manga, but it also has a looot of different fonts, plus a ton of sound effects and background signs, so it takes a lot of dedication and a good eye for fonts to be able to make the text on the page look beautiful~

6. Quality check! Just kidding about that "Finally"! After the typeset is done, we have to take one more sweep over the chapter to make sure there are no typos or grammar errors, and that the translation still reads smoothly when placed on the page (we actually do two sweeps just to be safe). We're also double checking for missing pages or missing text or just anything that might be out of place.

7. Upload! The true final step: Once everything is all ready to go, we zip up the chapters and upload them to Mega for download, and also to Mangadex and our website for reading. Then we have to update both our website and on our tumblr with links to the chapters to let you all know they're up and ready to be read!

Other than that, the only thing we have to do is answer any questions sent to our tumblr or our e-mail~

A lot of work, right? Is it as long and hard ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) as you imagined?

#mePSIges #Anonymous

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ts-akhmim · 4 years

Text

Episode 2 | “GET ME OUT OF HERE ” - Devon

okay so i filmed a video confessional earlier which is uploading where i basically talked about dealing with being a winner/the tomb and having an idol/potentially wanting to go to tribal pre-swap/deliberately choosing the puzzle/how much i love jake so that'll come at some point after this but just KNOW that came first. anyway just wanted to talk MORE because i have more thoughts. last round i was really conscious of needing to micro-manage my threat level and i think im putting in work to do that? im very concious that i cant play the same game as montenegro because im coming into it from a very different perspective/position. However, one thing I can do this season is transfer my prejury game, because i think it still works. What I need to do is to some extent take a backseat, where I'm not actively messaging people first, and keeping game talk kinda limited (but acknowledging it when people talk to me). Like I have the safety cushion of my idol, and my connection to jake/jordan, and to some extent dan and lovelis? like im not gonna be a target (touch wood) and hopefully if i am my men tm going to keep an eye out for me.... hopefully? it also means im not gonna be pushy about votes im gonna hear names and run with it (as long as its not jake/jordan, or lovelis tbh i get real good vibes from him). but yeah id really love the beauty tribe to go to tribal this round ive literally never spoken to a single one of them so i'd love one of that tribe that is a complete unknown quantity to go home DJDKLFSF. but yis so im feeling good taking a backseat but im gonna ejector seat myself forwards at some point, just got to figure out when to push the button

Okay so Bodhi left last night and that was really sad. We had nice conversations but i told him that if the rest of the tribe wanted him out i wasn't going to campaign for him. He ended up making his rounds but at the end of the day, no one felt strongly about keeping him. He speaks so well that it took me a night's rest to get my head straight. Also Trace got an alliance together of himself, myself, Scott and Isaac. Bitch i was SHOOK! I am so glad to be likable enough to be brought into someone else's core. So this kind of perfectly positioned myself and Scott between 2 alliances. I believe we're both more loyal to the one we formed before we found out we were going to tribal, but who knows. I did tell Autumn of the news because i figure if we were to lose again. Whichever of Isaac of Trace remains is going to feel on bottom and blow up that Scott and I were two-timing the DADS. Btw that is the dumbest alliance name I have ever been a part of but whatever. The rat pack has also formed and now him and I are in a good spot. I will say that i am nervous that MISS ALYSSA spoke the comparison into existence, but i really hope we don't continue to flop like Luzon did on Cagayan. But hey! If Denise can go to every tribal council in one season and win, maybe i can too. (PS i pissed myself with my score in winterbells but also F*CK WINTERBELLS, thats all, ty)

Honestly I’m really regretting not participating in this challenge because I feel like our scores are.......not great. I feel like I could have turned out the puzzle and even winterbells. The flag Lovelis made is super cute and i think will fair well bc it’s very clean and neat. It’s not super creative, but it’s definitely well made. I think even if we went to tribal I would be okay though. Liam seems like an easy enough boot for us. No one seems that dazzled by his contributions to the tribe.

i literally am the biggest clown who ever clowned for continuing to overdo it in challenges, if i'm allowed to make it to merge at this point it will literally be a miracle.

So Bodhi left on a unanimous vote yesterday and I'm glad that it worked out as planned! I definitely felt bad lying to him about it all and stuff, but I think it was the best for the tribe going forward. What does suck however is that we lost AGAIN! And it was actually close this time! I'm actually annoyed that we lost this time because I submitted my challenge at 4PM and the reason why we lost was because the last submission was at 8 :/ like... y'all couldn't get it in any earlier? Plus I'm annoyed because I find myself in the swing position between the DADS and The Rat Pack. Personally I don't trust Trace after finding out he tried to play the Rat Pack off as my idea when it was really his all along. To me, it shows that he'd betray me later on down the line. And the only purpose for "The Rat Pack" is so they feel like they're in the majority. So since we lost, I don't mind voting out Trace. Duncan and I called to confirm that we're on the same page. We also found out that Devon is telling us the same things about loyalty and allegiances and I don't like that. He also told Duncan that he would throw immunities and play idols for him if he needed it, and that Duncan was his number 1 ally. But he said the same exact thing to me. So... that has me a little sketch. But I also think that Autumn/Duncan are a close pair, so I may need to stick close to Devon for the long hall. But if Autumn/Duncan think I'm more with them than Devon, I'll take it. I'm supposed to go on call with the Dads soon. Duncan wants to tell them about the rat alliance so that Isaac doesn't use it as motive to get us out. Which i agree that it'd be a good idea as long as devon/autumn stick with us. Duncan and I both feel like Devon might be thrown off since he always likes to be in control, but not actually being in charge. So we'll need to do damage control when that happens. But for now it seems like Trace is going unless things change. If things go how I would want it to, then Trace leaves tomorrow.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JKqH3EQMlugIe-lwHMYMG2qoVZ7dvIzr/view?usp=sharing

Omg!!!!! Another win that makes me so happy . The tribe is all getting along great and I couldnt all for better ppl. I'm hoping soon to get some kind of solid group together. Kendell adam and amiry are ppl I def wanna work with long term at the time. Just gotta see what happens.

youtube

Not much has been happening lately so I might be able to keep this short and not ramble on and on like i usually do (ill still end up writing a novel probably) yippy yay it's day 5 and everything is still all smiles and giggles over here because we've won yet another immunity!! kinda boring tbh but obviously im happy we won immunity because now that buys me one more day and at the end of it that's all i care about. I kinda did want the brauns to go to tribal however instead of the brains because i just really would like my beauties to get a nice foot hold and a lead in the game, i actually enjoy taking to some of these people, and im trying my best to talk to as many people as i can, which anyone who knows me knows isn't the easiest thing for me, i was reading some of my old confessionals from both my past games and the one thing i consistently got dragged for was not being as present with people, which granted i did improve a lot on last time around for sure, but i still got work to do and im realizing that more each day when i have no urge whatsoever to talk to anyone (don't worry, it's not you, it's (crippling depression) me! I understand socializing is part of the game and i do think my social game is my strongest asset but to me i like to think of my social game as a more distinct kind, im more elusive and i like to be that, if you leave them wanting more dahling they'll keep you around, i dont like to show all my cards, and that's a quality that i reflect in both survivor and life, and it has advantages and disadvantages in both but ANYWHO despite all that dare i say i think im still doing *decent* ? I'm making it a priority to reach out at least once a day to *most people (AJ, Augusto, Amir, Austin) are the ones ive probably had some of the best conversations with where it was the most natural and just flowed you know, and still is on day 5, and with kendall ive had some talks with her i do like her but idk i get this vibe she's kinda holding back when talking to me, and ESPECIALLY same with connor? we only had one private conversation and he gave me about a 3 word response, and if you havent guessed by now i like elaboration or at least a lil bit of personality when you talk, no shade just an observation, so that's a small red flag im very much a person who matches energy, one of my go to's in survivor is being open to the possibility of anything, ill always work with anyone who will work with me, and i think thats how everyone should play so hopefully the people ive been talking a lot to feel similar but i guess we'll have to wait until a vote of some sort to see about all that.. I still havent heard any idol talk or even game talk quite frankly so im guessing people are just still keeping the friendly facade up..... or ...... is it me?? am i the one on the outs looking like boo boo the fool or is that just my paranoia getting to me??? im not gonna send myself into a tizzy about getting voted out when we're not even going to tribal i- lemme calm down. If i had to guess I'd say Kendall, Connor, or Amir have the idol probably but sounds like a mystery for another day because im DONE im clocking out for the night until other people wanna wake up and play the game too oop final note: ok but it would be sick and twisted if it turns out they are all playing the game just without me and im the first boot of the tribe

Waking up on this glorious Day 5 with a new perspective. I originally applied to be on the brains tribe and was shook when I got brawn because let’s face it, my arms are akin to overcooked spaghetti noodles. BUT my tribe is so much stronger than the brains. I’m hoping for a big name to go to shake things up. AND I’m not really looking to swap onto a tribe with Trace or Autumn due to our past game history. Love them both dearly, but it’s gonna be a no from me.

okie so! update from me is i think im doing okay. like i think the benefit of no dua lipa cave is you can just build connections with everyone, you aren't voting someone out every round so why not capitalise on that? i'm so afraid of the fact that i'm overdoing it in challenges like i really need to calm. down. but im reassuring myself with the fact that in the first challenge i only was top because i did like... one more thing than others like its not thattt big of a deal? my puzzle time was clownery but hopefully people don't pay attention to it? im getting very anxious about overdoing it in challenges, but my thought process now is like. i need to act like people have an awareness of it, without getting kinda consumed by my anxiety about it? idk im hoping since most of these people don't know me, they wont notice me doing good in the challenge but truly who can be sure also am really just liking my tribe? like jake is ofc a king, i love jordan (who im gonna talk to later, he is the only one i feel like i have to talk to today), i also really like TJ who i was super harsh on at the start for no reason, i get good ally vibes from lovelis, liam m is super sweet even tho he is kinda inactive and dan is so fun (plus he told jake that he speaks to me one of the most so we love that!!). i've been trying to figure out what i even do about a lot of the super old school players that i have no connection/point of reference with? like people like scott, adam, kendall, aj i have truly no basis with? thats whats so scary about a swap, is at this point in the game i know 10/20 people left aka the brawn tribe + duncan/isaac/autumn, and like 10/20 isnt bad... BUT then the other 10 aka the beauty tribe + trace/scott/devon i have literally no connection to which is super scary JAKSDFA. im just real afraid of a swap. just swap me with jordan/jake/autumn/isaac PLEATHE. im just a pile of anxiety this season idk what to do im like frozen because of how scared i am... maybe it'll be all fine

Well, that was a close one. I struggled with that comp all day and I feel like absolute shit that I only got our team that 1 point. To me, it's inexcusable not to have be able to help my tribe as I wanted to contribute and make sure I made my worth known. So now I'm just this paranoid mess that I would have been in trouble had we gone to tribal. It's been hard to talk to some of these people or for most of those who I do talk to, I just don't really know where there head is at. I'm not sure if this is just a really guarded tribe, or if I really should be concerned. So I don't know what to do just yet. And that's not a feeling I like when playing TS.

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty sad that Bodhi left the game like he was so active pre-season so I was expecting him to do his best to go super far and maybe he did? I don’t know, but I did want a chance to actually get to play with him in TS but we keep passing each other by! I hope he is doing good despite how he might feel being the first boot yknow but yeah <3

The way I absolutely flopped with the idol system stuff is all types of funny and sad at the same time like I REALLY thought I did something only for it to be part of the challenge… That being said, Amir did tell me that he has a theory the idol system might be based on numbers which is interesting! I am super thankful he decided to tell me and we went on this long talk about how we are each other’s #1s which is super cute! I really do trust Amir and I do want to go far with him because he’s awesome but that being said, my #1 is me like I promised myself that I’d be selfish this time around just because being the selfless person I am hasn’t gotten me a win but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We did go over a lot of stuff in terms of tribe dynamics and we both kinda agreed that AJ would be the first boot from the time if we went to tribal, we like our alliance with Kendall/Connor, we both like Adam and we both think Austin is sweet/genuine even if we don’t talk to him tons so yay for that too <3

I am SO trying to sell the fact that me and Kendall are a duo to Kendall which is funny to me idk hjfkds like she did approach me super early on about aligning but I do have the tiniest feeling she did that to mostly everyone but I’m trying to pin us with each other to her so she trusts me more, especially since I do feel as though she is the best connected on the tribe. I even called us Crystal Cox (me bc blazing speed and challenge flop ofc) and Ken(dell) ghfjdksl, I’m doing the most but yeah, I just want Kendall to see me as her #1 in the game on the off chance anything happens yknow?

Austin thinks I’m his #1 which is really sweet? I do like Austin even if it is hard to talk to him sometimes but hey, that happens. He told me that he’s really glad I’m on this tribe (which I have heard from basically everyone especially Adam and Amir which makes me feel cute omg) and that we might need to get a group going soon. I was like…. Tea but I also don’t know how quickly I want to get an alliance including Austin going just because it’s like… do I reveal that Austin and I are close-ish and be seen as a social threat? That just ain’t cute sis! But yeah, Austin told me he also really likes Kendall and Amir and that’s awesome that the two people I feel the closest to are ALSO doing THAT but at the same time, I want to be the one doing THAT the most because I’m greedy (by Ariana Grande) so it’s something to keep in mind!

The way I absolutely flopped at that puzzle… this is why I’m a Beauty cause a sis ain’t smart to complete a puzzle and I’m not brawn-y enough to do well in a challenge hgjfdk BUT that being said, Hagthor beat the thots and apiss and I couldn’t be any happier! I do wish Brawn lost over Brain but yknow, you can’t have everything go your way (‘: it’s funny how I slayed the last challenge and flopped this one tho like a bitch really lacks consistency huh ghfjndmks

Ugh fineeeee since I've been called out... by myself. I guess I'll do the bare minimum. So we won immunity!!!! Wooo!!!!!! Low-key though through out the entire process of making the flag, I just kept thinking darn I wish we voted out someone last tribal because drawing 7 people is annoying... watch me get voted out next tribal council lol. That would be quality foreshadowing. Today I have two goals. 1. Figure out what the method of entering the tomb. I intend on getting in contact with Augusto or Connor for that one. Augusto because he is low-key my number one. Connor because I feel if anyone can solve it he probably could. 2. Set up group chat with me, Augusto, and Austin. So Austin can feel a false sense of reassurance and Augusto and I have options. Write more later maybe.

Honestly im feeling kind of trepidatious going forward which is a little wierd, i just dont feel like ive gotten my footing yet in this game. I think like, im in a good spot to be fine on this tribe because of my social game and how I contribute in challenges, but I dont know if I feel good about anything longterm just yet. What really is bothering me is the tomb. Its gonna be round 3 tonight and I haven't made any more progress on getting in than I have night one. I feel like I have a lot of pieces to this puzzle but nothing is fitting together and its bothering me. I'm also a little upset that if we lose, I could see Liam being the target and I can't see my self risking my position to save him if he cant save himself. He has my name on his wiki page its an obvious association to me, and while I think hed be loyal to me, I'm just wondering honestly if him as an ally is worth the target it may bring. Im cautiously moving through the beginning of this game with a lot of unnease and hopefully I find some steady ground soon.

I am annoyed that we are yet again at tribal. I played so fucking hard at winter bells but of course someone on another tribe got like 238593277 billion which threw us back into tribal... So annoying truthfully. But it's alright, I should be able to make it out alive. I want Devon to go home. But I also don't want to let my guard down. This vote is important for a few reasons. The first reason is that our tribe is very close, so I am nervous that lines are going to be drawn in the sand. The second is that, after this vote, we will be down to five, making 3 the majority. We have an alliance of 4, and lord knows that when you are down to 5, whoever feels like 3 and 4 of the alliance are most likely going to try and rope in the 5th person to get rid of each other. So my plan is to make Isaac and Scott BOTH feel as though they are my number 1s so that they actually stick to our alliance of 4 thinking that I will be keeping them both if we lose again. This is the only way that i can see it working, but idk. I feel bad if Devon ends up going because he's a nice guy, but we have to make choices about strengthening our team, and then I have to make a choice about strengthening my place in the game. Hopefully this doesn't come to bite me in the ass.

Things have been going pretty well for my tribe! We won the first immunity challenge and that really seemed to boost tribe morale. Granted, these past couple of days I've been quiet since I'm trying to boost grades that are literally 0s into something manageable before I graduate hehe. I've tried to keep up with people through small conversations, which seems to work better for me at the moment until I get myself together. Adam wants to create an alliance with Augusto and Amir, which I'm totally for. I understand, though, that he doesn't wanna do it immediately since there's really no urgency to? We didn't go to tribal, so why did it matter! That excuse aside, I do hope that us holding our breath to say something doesn't bite us in the ass because these are people I want to work with! I wanna get something going with Kendall as well hopefully, since I adore her! Earlier, I stated that Adam and I (Adam, really) found our way into the tomb and both flopped in the questions. Adam took another stab at it and found out we've been bamboozled! Someone beat us to the punch and has whatever contents were inside the tomb. I'm assuming it was an idol, but who knows what else is in there! It kinda made me lose motivation to keep searching inside but when in Rome? I'll probably end up trying again despite knowing the end result just because I wanna prove I can be a smart cookie as well. I also didn't gloss over this but I'll mention it really quickly, but I'm sad Bodhi went! He was one of the few people I was familiar with on the other tribes so it's unfortunate we aren't going to be able to connect with each other this game. A king has fallen. In lighter and more recents events, my tribe crushed the second immunity challenge. Kendall stunned with her artistry and I'm still gushing over how cute everyone's character was. I kinda like decimated Winterbells, but I've always been good at the game, and Amir did really well in the scavenger hunt. Augusto and Austin did really well in the puzzle also, despite their lack of confidence in offering a strong performance. We appear to be THEE tribe to beat honestly and I'm loving that. I love our tribe! I LOVE OUR TRIBE! It really would be a tragedy if we aren't able to keep up this win streak we're manifesting.

Sorry for not writing this sooner! Been having a bad depressive episode for the last couple days and it makes me unmotivated to write c': I feel like a flop so far in this game, not because I submit shit scores, but because I find it exhausting to connect with some of these people. They're all very nice in their own special ways, but interacting w some is like pulling teeth, and I guarantee they feel the same about me, which I would expect. That being said, I hope we keep winning, cause I don't have the energy to go to tribal right now.

Heading into a second tribal council, there is becoming less and less room to hide. I am struggling to hold my own against the other tribes when it comes to competitions, but thank goodness it's a numbers game. If everything goes accordingly, I am taking a backseat this vote and allowing a 4-2 vote out when it comes to Trace. I appreciated Duncan coming to me with the alliance chat information with him/Scott/Trace/Isaac, but didn't like how Autumn needed to tell me first. Shows that I really can't trust Scott/Duncan after a swap comes up. In regards to Scott, he outright didn't say anything. I like him and all, but it was a slimy move to say the least. He only said something because he HAD to vote out someone in one of his two alliances. This group will be dumb as hell if they let me swap. I'll flip on them as soon as possible and invite anyone into my alliance. The tribe swap is where I made my 'Slithers' game infamous last time, so I'm hoping for a similar output. Don't forget: I swapped with the minority last time in Guyana (shout out to Jess), so I'm not worried about the numbers and how its split. ALL I NEED IS A SWAP OR TWIST. GET ME OUT OF HERE.

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Thank God we won that based on the tiebreaker, but yikes I didn't think my flag would've tanked so hard. Guess I've gotta get better at perfecting my craft huh, but at least we're safe. I feel nervous on this tribe to be honest, because I think I'm the second to bottom on the totem pole after the other Liam, so it isn't reassuring that if we lose twice I'll either be gone, or I could even be gone at our first tribal if he's got a solid alliance going...the only alliance I have right now is with Jordan and I don't really know where I sit with everyone else, but I'm afraid of overplaying... ugh so annoying! I think I just need to force a couple of game related conversations with people to build up some trust, just hope it wouldn't paint a target on my back for trying I guess...

oh gorl, some of these people on my tribe really think im just the clown of the tribe and cant put two and two together, well guess what, IM NOT. So Amir messages me, which nothing out of the ordinary there, ive been talking to him every day so far for the most part like i said we're a little familiar with each other from our pasts, but i was VERY surprised today at what had happened... what had happened was....he starts talking the smallest bit of game with me, basically he just said, "is it me or is everyone really quiet here?" and so i just agreed with him and i said yeah i dont think people are talking game yet which is a little weird, and then i threw the TINEST tea crumpet out there and i said "yeah ive talked to some people so easily like you, but then there's others who.....i cant say the same for" and i was absolutely hinting at connor/kendall just because i havent had the longest convos with them, which no biggie, but THEN about 20 minutes later i get a message from CONNOR of all people saying "hey adam!" ..... obviously im glad to talk to him and im all for getting to know everyone, but my instincts immediately went off and told me it's a little sus....how not even a few minutes ago i was saying how some people never talk to me and then out of no where the one person i was mainly talking about messages me?? Coincidences don't exist in survivor. Now I really have no choice but to think that amir in someway mentioned to connor that i said theres some people i havent talked to at all and that he probably needed to work on that.. which is true, but cmon. i know the tribe brain cell is missing but at least put a little thought into this and message me later tonight or not right after i say it?? I'm not sure if they have any type of past connection and while I definitely do wanna keep building my relationship with Amir, this will definitely make me question him a little bit at least until i see how some votes fall when we eventually go to tribal. Amir also told me he's had the most convos with Augusto, which is funny because thats exactly how both me and aj feel about augusto, which tells me augusto is really playing the game rn, and while thats someone i want to work with, it's also someone i need to be extremely careful with if we're still playing together down the road. plot twist: connor messaging me has absolutely nothing to do with amir and i just made this whole conspiracy for nothing but idk.... it's a conspiracy IM interested in.

***last add on because i forgot to say how the hell im gonna HANDLE this amir/connor situation... im keeping my eyes on it incase theyre in kahoots and also if they think im that dumb then clearly they havent watched me play before, which is great for me but bad for them, you cant trick a trickster try all you want, There's nothing I love more than being underestimated in survivor because it kinda makes it a little easier to play and gives me more options, so sure ill keep up my fake smiles and act like we're all fine and dandy, ill play dumb and wont even act like im onto them but i absolutely am and ill be ready to make my move the second it seems right

Ugh I feel so DIRTY. I feel so GROSS. Poor Devon, truly. I spoke with Autumn and told her about Devon, and she was in without a fight and told me that it should be 5-1. And then Devon came to me and was like... we all good for the vote tonight? And I'm like ................yes? Lol. I'm good, you're probably not. ugh, this is the part of this game that I hate. I want to never lose immunity ever again, let someone else break someone else's heart!

Something about Kendall is so chaotic and terrifying and I can’t put a finger on why.her aligning was her talking to me for the first time in a day saying “let’s align” and created an alliance chat without even asking who else should be in it which leads me to believe her Augusto and Connor already have a trio and I was the 4th. Are all these focking people playing me?? Like i still cant tell if this is a real alliance but i want to believe it is and not a bluff to vote me out. But also like why even do that, the only person on this cast that I trust and have played with, bodhi, has just been voted out. I’m a free agent and I can help that alliance make it far in the game, but they also have lots of relationships on other tribes so like I might not even be that valuable to them. I mentioned to Augusto about the numbers on the blog, hoping to create more trust because I really really love him and want to trust him but I’m still just so damn unsure. if we lose this immunity and I get one bad signal from any of those 3, if they slip up even once, I won’t hesitate to align and gather the minority. But if they are playing me properly, then kudos to them!

I am just happy i have the idol i am going to put it in my ass.

me when the brains tribe only has 5 members left http://prntscr.com/s8y76g

You know what? https://66.media.tumblr.com/b7b4accba586ad321141b6ba80d69044/tumblr_omule3fwZC1w1swfno1_250.gifv I'm mad but I'm not tight because that same alliance that Duncan and I orchestrated is the same alliance that will get us through. So do I enjoy going to tribal? No. And do I enjoy knowing that Trace created an alliance w/ everyone except me and Devon? No. But the Dads will prevail and I trust Scott and the gang. I mean Ducnan is family so as long as we don't go it's fine. But Devon is my baby so absolutely gotta kill for him. That's what keep em close hahaha But no the Trace vote is a dream come true that I only crossed my mind once and STILL got manifested. Like Duncan suggested it and I said you got it because Trace will be the FIRST to rally all the white boys against me in a swap. Cute or not, Trace will kill me I'm convinced. Like something in my spirit told me not to trust Trace and low and behold: Duncan reveals that alliance to me on Day 3. So confirmed, Trace is leaving so that I don't fall to the bottom of the tribe. But it's all good- Isaac listens to Fleetwood Mac and watches Schitt's Creek so he's a good guy. And Scott is literally a cinammon roll who's too busy to snitch or flip. I don't have time to discuss how much I love Duncan or Devon so we're tabling that. Anyway If y'all need me I'll be doing this 4 part immunity challenge that determines whether I make Final 3 in the other org I'm in so try not to need me lmao

okay so... we aren't going to tribal but its still kinda messy on brawn beach. i kinda have felt this energy for a while, but i don't think jake and jordan have enough trust between the two of them for us to be a continual three person alliance. jake is a very reactive, gut-impulse kind of player which is honestly to his benefit since he is super perceptive. however that also means he is quick to be anxious about stuff in the game, which is the same as me and that is why we click. BUT. he thinks something is up with dan/jordan and honestly i see that and feel it. jordan keeps hinting at dan being the one to loop in and i think that does say something about them having some sort of game dynamic. however, jordan is maybe downplaying that relationship which is scary KLAF tbh i still like jordan and wanna work with him, but i do 100% have to keep tabs on him, his social connections could definitely become a problem if he has other priorities over me! so i think i just have to make sure im a continuing priority for him, so i have to find some sort of information to bring to him (maybe when dan proposes the alliance of me/jordan/jake/dan to me ill run to jordan and be like hey did dan suggest this to you how do you feel) to solidify that sort of trust? idk... i want my j-men to stick together and they ARENT. maybe i need to solidify stuff with TJ specifically more, he gives good ally vibes? but ya... its a mess tm

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trentteti · 5 years

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Tips for Making the Career Change to Lawyer

It’s funny, if you Google “career change to lawyer,” you’ll find article after article providing tips to people transitioning from their careers as lawyers to some other field. Keep scrolling and you’ll find the occasional article about making the transition from law student to actual attorney. You won’t find many articles about making a career change from one field to the legal field, however. As a bit of a corrective, that’s what we’ll discuss today. So, assuming the deluge of articles about leaving the field of law didn’t already deter you from pursuing a legal education or career, here are some things you might want to know about making such a career change.

1. You might feel a little rusty taking a standardized test … but almost no one feels on top of their game taking the LSAT

To make this career change into the legal industry, you’ll have to go to law school. And to apply to law school, you’ll almost certainly be taking the LSAT. Which will abruptly end your blissful retirement from the world of classrooms, grades, and standardized tests.

Almost every career-changer I encounter in the LSAT classroom comments on how strange it feels to be studying for a test after years in the workforce, or how rusty they felt taking their first practice exam, or just how out of place they feel among the more traditional, recently-delivered-from-the-university, pre-law student. Many seem to worry that this put them at a competitive disadvantage relative to these more traditional pre-law students. While it’s true that you may need to use a little more electrolysis than those other students to feel comfortable in the classroom, this won’t put you at a significant disadvantage in preparing for the LSAT.

And that’s mostly due to the unfortunate truth that most everyone — including the more traditional pre-law student and the later-in-life career-changer — will have some challenges adapting to the LSAT. This exam tests skills that most do not already possess and thought processes that most do not typically undergo. These are learnable skills and thought processes, to be sure. But it’s not the case that the fresh-faced university grads have studied these things any more than you have. Say what you will about the LSAT — and you may eventually say some very profane things about it during your studies — but it does have a nice sort of leveling effect.

In short, don’t worry about being out practice; very few feel truly comfortable with this exam, so you’ll be in the same rusty dinghy as everyone else.

2. You’ll have to budget some study time, though

But the above does mean that you’ll have to study for the LSAT, just like everyone else. Now, you don’t have to do anything drastic like immediately quit your job to study for this exam. But those LSAT-takers who work full-time jobs will have to budget a study schedule and be steadfast in sticking to it.

For full-timers, we tend to recommend a consistent schedule of two-to-four hours of study time per day, for at least five days per week. If you’re able to adhere to this schedule, you can expect to complete your LSAT studies in a two-to-four month period. We wouldn’t recommend that you save all your studies for the weekend. Studying for the LSAT is really a process of developing certain skills; acquiring and refining such skills requires consistent practice. Practicing every five or six days will likely delay the study process. Plus, studying for anytime over four hours a day can lead to diminishing returns. You’re better off spreading the study hours over the course of the week rather than trying to save them for the weekend. And you’ll need the occasional Saturday or Sunday off to rest up, engage in self-care, participate in your hobbies, or do whatever else you do to stay happy and sane.

If you’re planning on taking a comprehensive LSAT course as part of this study process, consider the various online courses on the market. Courses in which the lectures are transmitted to you through the internet — either in the form of on-demand lesson videos or live online lectures — can be a boon to those with busy schedules. Since you can view these classes anywhere you have an internet connection, won’t have to spend any more time commuting than you already do, freeing up more study time.

3. Your letters of rec? It’s fine if they’re from professional sources

After you take the LSAT, you’ll have to get your application materials together. We have a handy guide for all the application materials you’ll eventually require, but we’ll highlight a few that might be relevant to you in this blog.

The most common question we tend to get from career-changers is whether they have to track down some long-forgotten professors to provide a letter of recommendation. Most law schools require at least two letters of recommendation as part of their applications, which will be uploaded to Credential Assembly Service (CAS) account you make through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) website. And for those more traditional, recently bachelor degreed applicants, we recommend at least two letters of recommendation from a professor. After all, admissions departments are primarily interested whether applicants will be a good students, and professors can speak most directly to that point.

But for anyone who’s been out of school for five or more years, we think it’s totally fine to get letters of recommendation from people in your professional life. Unless you’ve maintained very close relationships with old professors, you’re going to have a ton of trouble finding any former professor who is willing to write you a recommendation, and even more trouble finding one who can write a non-generic recommendation. So it’s preferable to go with those who can speak to the qualities and capabilities you exhibit in your work field. Enough of those qualities and capabilities are relevant in the academic field that you shouldn’t think of that as a weakness in your application.

4. In your law school application, only your undergrad GPA will calculated, but you’ll still need to include transcripts from any graduate or professional schools you attended

Another common question from career-changers regards their transcripts. Since many career-changers attended some graduate or professional institutions, they want to know whether their graduate or professional grades will be factored into their applications. While any law school will take a look at your grades from graduate or professional institutions — and, to be clear, you’ll need to include in your application transcripts from any graduate or professional institutions you attended (as well as transcripts from any community colleges, summer programs, or international programs) — your Undergraduate Grade-Point Average (UGPA) is the top-line figure that LSAC will calculate and many law schools will use (along with your LSAT score) to get an initial read on your application. And, true to its name, your UGPA will only include grades earned as an undergraduate.

That said, the fact you attended graduate or professional institutions can still be a positive factor in your application, even your work will not be counted in your UGPA. Which brings us to our final point …

5. Think of your pre-law career as an asset to your application

Sure, there’s a renewable energy source of green recent poli-sci grads to fill the incoming classes of law schools. And yes, most of your eventual classmates will fit that description. But just because you don’t fit that mold won’t be a shortcoming in your application. Quite the contrary, in fact. Law schools want diverse classes. They want people from a variety of professional, social, and economic backgrounds. They want people of different ages and experiences to fill their halls.

Lean in to your career when writing your personal statement and updating your résumé. You can show how your experiences both sparked an interest in the law and will help as you pursue a legal career. Making a career change is a huge decision that requires a ton of courage. Emphasize that in your application narrative, and there’s no reason to think law schools will view your career change any differently.

Tips for Making the Career Change to Lawyer was originally published on Blueprint LSAT Blog

#admissions #applications #Career Change #Law School #LSAT #trent teti #lsat

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supercoolgamesstuff-blog · 5 years

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Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

New Post has been published on https://www.coolgamingzone.com/google-stadia-reviewed-against-the-stream/

Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

Introduction

By the mid-2000s, Blu-ray felt like the future of media. Blu-ray video looked incredible and offered cleaner picture and sound quality than previous media formats. “Surely,” we thought, “the technology that comes after Blu-ray will look even more impressive!” But then something strange happened; as streaming services like Netflix took off, more and more of us ditched physical media in favor of the cloud. Streaming didn’t offer the same level of fidelity as Blu-ray – or sometimes even DVD – but it was good enough. More importantly, it was convenient. The desire to watch anything anywhere outpaced our desire for image quality.

Now it’s 2019, streaming services have come a long way, and tech goliath Google thinks it has figured out how to Netflix the gaming industry. The tech is surprisingly functional, but its ability to upturn the industry will depend largely on its ability to implement its grand blueprint. Sadly, Stadia’s current design is missing several important pillars.

Gaming on Stadia

Stadia’s concept still sounds a bit like science fiction: Earlier this year, Google sold a vision of players using wi-fi-enable controllers to communicate with a hive of supercomputers in the cloud, which would allow users to stream the most advanced gaming software to decade-old laptops and mobile phones. Google’s system worked well at trade shows, but those were highly controlled environments. How does the service work now that we’ve been able to test it in the wild? Surprisingly well … if you have a stable internet connection.

On the whole, Stadia performs better than I expected. The high-speed internet at the Game Informer offices regularly gets download/upload speeds of 280 Mbps, so I rarely noticed even a hiccup while playing games at work. Mortal Kombat 11 on a stable Stadia connection booted up in seconds and feels about as responsive as its console counterparts. I had no problem dialing in combos and Fatalities even though my inputs had to travel through miles of infrastructure to bounce off Google servers.

Unfortunately, the experience quickly degrades as your internet speeds dial down. At a nearby coffee shop, where I recorded download speeds of 38 Mbps, I noticed a few frame skips every couple minutes. At home, where my speeds regularly drop to 20 Mbps, I experienced some visual artifacting and a regular picture stutter. With these slower internet speeds, I didn’t feel competitive in Destiny 2’s PvP modes, but I was able to complete a strike without a problem. Everyone’s tolerance for this kind of experience will vary, but my frustration over the occasional hiccup was mitigated by the revelation that I could play Destiny 2 in public on my phone (see the controller sidebar for more).

Stadia’s service only dropped out completely on me once due to a poor signal, but an instance of my game was saved and I had five minutes to hop back online and pick up where I’d left off. I wish Google would extend that grace period and allow users to create their own save states (a feature called State Share, which is still in the works), but I never lost any progress in a game, and my experience was stable enough across the board that I didn’t live in fear of being unable to access my games.

Google’s service isn’t a one-size-fits-all streaming solution, and you should carefully measure your internet speeds before committing to the platform. Many will find Stadia’s occasional stutters unbearable, while others will feel that it’s good enough. Personally, I can’t imagine trading any of my game consoles for a Stadia stream anytime soon.

What about that controller?

An online-only streaming service seems like a bold new direction for the gaming industry, but Google isn’t interested in reinventing the controller. The Stadia controller smartly hews close to modern controller design. The pad itself has a nice weight and feels a lot like the PS4 controller thanks to its ergonomic shell and symmetrical analog sticks. The buttons produce a satisfying click and feel sturdy, and I got about seven hours of use from a single charge. Of course, Google has its equivalent of the start, options, and home buttons. However, Google added a screen capture and virtual assistant button to the mix, and this creates a jumble of buttons near the center of the controller. I constantly hit the screen-capture button when I meant to pause a game, which was frustrating.

At launch, the controller also doesn’t work wirelessly with any device other than the Chromecast. This means that in order to play on a laptop or phone you have to connect your device to a controller using a USB C cord, which I found cumbersome. In fact, I was actually a little embarrassed to pull out my tangle of gadgets to play games at Starbucks.

I also wasn’t able to connect the Stadia controller to wi-fi that featured a web browser login, meaning you probably won’t be able to use Google’s controllers wirelessly in locations like hotels that -require a secondary login screen. The Stadia controller might be a nice piece of physical hardware, but these tech issues need to get ironed out as soon as possible.

Under Construction

Google’s streaming tech might be ready for prime time, but its service certainly isn’t. Many of the more exciting features either aren’t available for launch or won’t roll out until 2020. For starters, Google’s Pixel smartphones are the only phones that Stadia users will be able to use for streaming at launch. Achievements also won’t be viewable at this time, but Google says that Stadia is recording your progress, so once the feature is enabled, users will receive credit for everything they’ve done since then.

The Google Assistant is another exciting feature that is being kicked down the road. During the Stadia reveal event, Google said that with the tap of a button users could speak into their Stadia controller and pull up YouTube walkthroughs or other helpful advice for any game they played. This feature is absent at launch. Google says that the Google Assistant will be available soon, but even then, the Assistant will only be available from the Stadia home screen and only allow users to launch games or turn on their TV.

Stadia’s incomplete feature list is so long it’s a little embarrassing. What about Stream Connect, which is Google’s way of supporting multiplayer by allowing Stadia users to create local couch co-op experiences via split-screen? Coming later this year. What about Family Sharing, which lets you share games with other users in your family? Sometime soon. What about Crowd Play, which lets streamers play games with their viewers? Hopefully, sometime next year. What about streaming over cellular networks? I’ll let you take a guess. If Stadia had all these features, it might feel like the next big leap in gaming, but as it is, the platform is just a basic streaming platform that offers less than a home console.

In the end, Stadia’s biggest problem is likely its lack of software. Stadia doesn’t have many dedicated experiences that will drive longtime gamers to the platform. The system’s launch lineup features some great games, such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Red Dead Redemption 2, but those are all more than a year old and there isn’t a single triple-A exclusive on the horizon. This is a big problem for Google. If the company hopes to attract more people to the service, it needs to provide a reason to be on Stadia. In other words: It needs more games.

A look at Google’s data center that allows Stadia to run

Launch Lineup

Google Stadia Launch Lineup:

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2

Destiny 2: The Collection (available in Stadia Pro)

Farming Simulator 2019

Final Fantasy XV

Football Manager 2020

Grid 2019

Gylt

Just Dance 2020

Kine

Metro Exodus

Mortal Kombat 11

NBA 2K20

Rage 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Red Dead Redemption 2

Samurai Shodown (available in Stadia Pro)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Thumper

Tomb Raider 2013

Trials Rising

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Reportedly Releasing Before The End Of 2019:

Borderlands 3

Darksiders Genesis

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line: 6 out of 10

Stadia seems tailored for a different crowd – the kind of game-curious individual who only pays attention to the occasional blockbuster release and isn’t willing to throw down a few hundred dollars on a dedicated piece of gaming hardware. Next year, when Google launches the free version of the Stadia service, the platform might find that audience. On the other hand, Stadia’s service isn’t currently valuable enough to justify the $129.99 early adopters price tag. Anyone devoted enough to follow industry trends probably cares enough about this hobby to spend the extra money on a console that provides a lag-free experience.

Still, I want something like Stadia to succeed. Purchasing a game and immediately booting it up without concern for downloads or updates is liberating, and when you have a stable internet connection, streaming games off the cloud feels like magic. Oddly enough, Stadia filled me with excitement for a game-streaming future, but it left me with less confidence that Stadia would be the platform to usher us forward.

Editorial Note: This review was conducted in a pre-release environment. We may revisit this review as we play more games after launch and as Google releases console updates.

Understanding Pricing

On day one, consumers can purchase the Stadia Premiere Edition for $129, which includes three free months of Stadia Pro, a Google Chromecast Ultra, and a Stadia Controller. Stadia Pro is Google’s subscription service, which costs $9.99 a month and gives players access to the highest quality streams (4K/60 fps/HDR/5.1 sound) as well as exclusive discounts on game purchases (TBA). Early next year, everyone will be able to stream games through Stadia at no cost, however, the streaming quality will be throttled to 1080p/60fps with stereo sound. No matter how you approach the service, games still need to be purchased à la carte.

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sunset-wishes-upon-hill · 7 years

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Pandora Chapter 2 (Re-written)

Pandora (First chapter of re written ver uploaded): FF l Wattpad l Quotev

A/N: Hello guys, been a year since I’ve made this account - can you believe it?! Anywhoo, I would like to notify you guys that the first re-written chapter for Pandora has been uploaded on the links above. I suggest you click and re-read it again because I have made some major changes after I have uploaded on Tumblr.

Therefore, please be reminded that the re written chapters I upload on Tumblr may undergo changes by the time I upload them on FF/Wattpad/Quotev. I will put a note on every chapter updates whether the chapters that were uploaded here stayed the same or changed on my other accounts.

It was a week later that they met again. It was a coincidence that she happened to catch a glimpse of Heidi leading the cattle into the secret tunnels that would directly lead them to the castle.

Jessica regarded it suspiciously but otherwise stayed quiet and pushed it back into her mind until she absentmindedly seemed to wander around the ‘forbidden’ area. It was like something was trying to tell her. After the phone call with Alec, Bella seemed a lot more occupied with giving her an extra attention with calls and messages every few hours a day.

Bella: Hey, what you doing?

Jess: Nothing. You?

Bella: Doing my homework. Just thought I’d check up on you since you’re so far away.

Jess: I’m doing fine : ) the Volterra is so nice, you should come visit!

Bella: haha I will someday! Any plans for today?

Jess: Nothing really. There isn’t so much to look at here but it’s the peace and calmness that I like.

Bella: haha I need that peace and calmness in my life lmao

Jess: saw Heidi today again. She had group of tourists with her and I think they went into some kind of tunnel or something. Weird. I don’t really see them again.

Bella: oh. You shouldn’t really care about that too much. Probably they are those crammed tour where you spend like few hours in one place then quickly move to the next.

Jess: yah, probably. So bored I’m like observing everything lol.

Bella: hahaha! So when you coming back?

Jess: not sure. Probably gonna stay for a few months or something.

Bella: yaa, wish you were here! It’s so boring without you!

Jess: I know XD like it’s moi’s presence that made the school bearable! I’m the beacon of light to Forks High. Anywhoo, I’ll text ya later. Gotta go.

Bella: okay! Just text me when you get back in the hotel or something!

Jess: will do, bye!

Bella: : )

Jessica thought bizarre how Bella wanted her to not worry about Heidi or Alec when just a week ago she had called her, crying, as if Alec might have done something to her. It was almost as if she was saying, ‘don’t ask about them, don’t care about them, just ignore them and don’t try get involved’. She wasn’t stupid to not realise they were hiding something from her and it was clear that they didn’t want her to uncover it.

Even so, at least she had Bella for company. Jessica let out a breathy sigh through her nose and looked up from her phone.

“Maybe I chose the wrong destination.” She murmured to herself. Lonely. It was such a foreign concept in a sense that she was actually alone. Physically. She was never alone. Well most of the time. For once, she actually managed to message and reply to all of her parents’ and friends’ messages without taking weeks and weeks to reply. For someone who was so social, she was lame at replying straight away.

Maybe I should go to a bar. She thought, shit..I can’t buy alcohol can I.

A bottle of vodka, mango juice and plastic cups in a non-conspicuous black plastic bag swung in rhythm as Jessica hummed gaily with a spring in her steps. The shop keeper didn’t bother looking up at her as he scanned her items and paid for it. She headed for place she knew would have a nice view of forest and hills surrounding the walls of Volterra. It was an area in the outskirt, just north from the main part of the town and very isolated from the busy life of the inhabitants there.

Jessica poured vodka until it filled the half of the cup then the rest with mango juice. Covering the opening with her palm, she gave it a quick swirl to create a mini hurricane in the liquid. Tipping the cup on her lip, Jessica gulped down the burning sensation.

“Shit, this is good.”

Her eyes landed on the castle that stood tall, its keep clear even from distance. It was Volterra’s core historic monument, having been around for centuries. The history of how it came to be was vague but it was rumoured that it was built by the vampires that came to reside here long ago until St. Marcus drove them away. Vampires. It was an interesting an urban legend for the hilly town but it was eerily fitting for a place so far from civilisation, surrounded by vast forests. It was like a haven.

“Vampires, huh…” She muttered.

She wished she brought her favourite drunk food but it was inconvenient to eat outside like this. Apparently, rice and peanut butter or rice and black coffee; vanilla ice cream and black pepper and ramen and tortilla chips did not qualified as post-drink food and was far from being tasty. Jessica begged to differ, even Michelin star dish could not compare to her go-to munchies snacks.

Plopping back on the grass, she gazed at the clear night sky lit by the bright starlight and silvery crescent moon. The night was so beautiful here, calm even. Her lid drooped heavily and before she could register, Jessica had fallen into a deep sleep.

She had woken up to the dewy cold of an early morning, shivering as wetness sipped through her thin clothes materials. The sun had managed to reveal half of its dome to the world but the moon and the stars were still visible to the naked eye. The empty bottles and cup laid by her side just as she had left it before drifting into unconsciousness. The alcohol was still in her system.

Then she heard the sound of a jet engine making a land from afar. Its deafening sound disturbing the eerie silence of the forest before its engine swiftly died away.

A jet? Jessica frowned, must be some sort of rich people travelling over from the main city.

She was curious. Jessica had never seen a private jet in real life other than in TV. Gathering her litters, she travelled to the directions of the sound. Just over the hill was a large vast of land she did not know existed. It was plenty of ground to land a jet or two. From a distance, the airstair slowly unravelled and stretched out toward the ground before the door opened and a figure stepped out. Jessica blinked. It was Heidi. Her usual simple red dress seemed so much glamorous on her. She had the body for it and the dress simply accentuated it.

Behind her was another group of tourists, ranging from youngsters to senior and all seemed excited to be here, taking pictures with their large cameras. Heidi led the group toward the familiar place where she was warned not to step foot in again.

What kind of tour group did Heidi worked for? Jessica thought curiously. Something wasn’t right, she could feel. There was something eerie about the two. The same feeling she got whenever she saw the Cullens’.

A light breeze brushed past her, hair swaying in the direction as it reached lower ground. Heidi caught a familiar scent, sniffing the air as it mingled with the other humans and her own. Smiling, Heidi kept on walking as her enchanted preys flocked together and blindly followed their guide.

Within minutes, Heidi and the tourists disappeared.

Jess: Hey, Bella.

Bella: Yeah, wassup?

Jess: So you know Alec and Heidi..

Bella: Yeah, what’s wrong?

Jess: Do they run their own tour company or something?

Bella: Yeah, why?

Jess: Nothing. Just found some things strange about them. Never mind.

Bella: Strange about what?

Jess: Just..nah

Bella: You can tell me, you know.

Jessica mulled for a moment, her fingers hovering above the keyboard. She quickly typed:

Jess: It’s strange because they come here on a private jet! Must have been a hella expensive holiday. Anyway, it’s just seemed weird how the tourists go to see just the castle then leave. Like there’s so many places to see here and it’s weird they only see the castle.

Bella: Maybe they only paid for the castle viewing? I mean, I don’t think there’s anything strange…are you drunk?

Jess: what? Um..no..

Bella: LOL I’ll take that as yes haha

Jess: I had a bit of vodka okay?

Bella: you mean a whole bottle of vodka

Jess: I diluted it with mango juice so it’s okay. My body doesn’t know.

Bella: …that’s not how it works tho

Jess: shhh!

Bella: Well, it seems you’re having fun..

Jess: How’s Mike doing?

Bella: um..he’s doing alright I guess?

Jess: alright?

Bella: well he seemed..Mike.

Jess: ugh of course.

Bella: Don’t you think it’s right to come back and you know, sort things out?

Jess: what’s there to sort out anyway?

Bella: Well, you did sort of.. run away…

Jess: No it’s called taking time for yourself.

Bella: Yeah, whatever you say.

Jess: I need a quality time with myself, okay?

Bella: LOL okay.

Their conversation ended. Jessica scratched her head, something about Heidi and Alec tugged her mind. Like ripples expanding across the still water and creating disturbances. The question was, how big would the disturbance become?

The next day, Jessica decided to visit the castle. She didn’t know why after weeks of coming to Volterra that visiting its emblem hadn’t cross her mind. Then again, she preferred sitting in a timeworn café tucked away from the hustle and bustle street hidden in the walls of laneways as she stared out of the window and watching the people walk by.

The castle was open to everyone, no entrance fee or renovated with gift shops or a cafe, but preserved as they had been built. The castle was like a maze with many doors, stairs and rooms, some off limit, and there were very few artificial lights. Instead there were torches situated on the walls and candle chandeliers hanging from the eye of the ceiling. There was only a reception in the front with only one woman manning the desk and her eyes followed the people coming in and out and around vigilantly.

She went to the first floor, marveling at the beautiful architecture and expensive art pieces on display. Whoever used to own it seemed to have a taste for art. And tradition.

I wonder who it belongs to… The wall was cold to her touch. Almost like Alec’s hand.

Jessica headed downstairs where the reception were and approached the counter.

“May I help you?” Asked the beautiful Italian woman. Valentina, her name tag read.

“Um, yeah, I was wondering if I can join some sort of castle tour group.”

“We do not offer any tour options, I’m afraid. However we do have a leaflet about the castle if you like.”

“Well I was wondering if you can put me in Heidi’s group.”

The receptionist froze, eyes slightly widen and jaw dropped. Composing herself, the receptionist offered a cordial smile and head shake, “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t know who Heidi is.”

“She’s a tour leader. She comes here often.” Jessica prodded carefully.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but various tour groups go in and out of here every day -- all which we do not have any affiliations with. It is simply impossible to know every single one of their faces.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Jessica nodded, taking the leaflet. She didn’t expect any answers anyway and walked away.

“Miss!” The receptionist called.

Jessica turned.

“May I take your name and if you want a contact number down?” Valentina asked, “In case I see Heidi’s group next time and pass on your interest.”

Jessica took the pen and paper, “I’ll just put my name down since I’m here for few more months so I’ll just visit again next time. Here you go.” She slid the paper and pen to Valentina.

“Thank you…Lauren?”

Jessica nodded, “Thank you. Take care.”

“Thank you, you too.” Valentina smiled.

When Jessica disappeared around the corner, Valentina pressed one on the telephone. After one dial tone, the phone was picked up.

“Lauren Mallory came to me today asking about Heidi.” She curtly said over the phone before putting the speaker back to headset. What she did not know was that Jessica had used the hidden corner to travel back to the reception area and had heard Valentina’s phone call from behind the wall.

Jessica knew there was something wrong about the whole thing.

Heidi was passed on the message regarding Lauren Mallory by Gianna and for a moment, the name was a stranger to her until a certain face flashed through her mind.

“Lauren Mallory…” Heidi muttered then corrected, “..Jessica Stanley.”

Her red cladded hip swayed seductively as she strode toward the library where the young vampire tends to reside in.

“Alec.” She called.

The young vampire sat reclined on the marble floor with his back supported by the heavy, tall bookshelf. He looked up from the book that was occupying his interest for now.

“It seemed Jessica has been asking around about me.”

Alec blinked. “Ah, the human girl.”

“Should I kill her?” She asked jestingly.

“It’s forbidden to kill anyone within these walls.”

She smiled, “I know. Thought you’d say that. Maybe you can try and slide into her DMs? Ask her what she’s been up to.”

Alec shook his head disapprovingly, “You’ve been hanging around humans too much.”

“It’s my job to blend in.” Heidi grinned, “Besides, the modern human world is interesting.”

He scoffed, “To you. They are just food.”

“They are interesting food.”

Alec closed the book with a sharp curl of his fingers at the spine, staring at the small particle of dust stirring in the air from the disturbance.

“You’re awfully curious.”

Jessica blinked as she spit out the acidic content back into the plastic cup, “Please don’t tell anyone that I’m drinking while underage. I was only gonna have two shots. With mango juice.”

“I warned you once, did I not?” He said, ignoring her obvious indulgence of illegal doing. “Before it’s too late, do what you need to do here and go quietly. Don’t stir up unnecessary conflicts.”

“I’m not stupid to not know that Valentina called you up.” She revealed, “You people are hiding something. I know.”

“There’s nothing we’re hiding.” He said, “Just leave it be.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You would not want to know.”

“Is it illegal?” She asked, “What you’re––Heidi is doing..?”

“It’s none of your business.” He sharply dismissed.

“If I find out…will I die?”

Alec stilled and this was more than enough for Jessica to realise the gravity of the situation. Her body went cold and a thought that maybe she pushed her luck too much and gave into her curiosity too much popped up.

He could hear the heart beating frantically, her breath more labored and shorter in duration and her eyes trembled ever so slightly.

“Now you’re scared.” He muttered.

“I think this is a normal reaction.” Jessica joked lightly, controlling her breath to calm down her slamming heartbeats.

“…Does the Cullens’ know?”

“Still foolishly brave enough?”

Jessica sighed at her own damn curiosity, “I just want to know. Anything! The Cullens’ always boggled my mind. And now you too. There’s just something similar about you and them. I just can’t put my finger on it. You guys aren’t like some mafia family, right? Or in a cult? Or…are you an assassin?”

“Remember what I said.”

“I’m drunk, so I won’t probably.” Jessica admitted with a hiccup she attempted to hide with her palm, “I know you people are up to something because Bella’s been texting me non-stop trying to check if I’m alive. So if I die, people will know.”

Alec sighed and turned to leave when Jessica said, “I’m not afraid of dying anyway.”

Amused, he glanced over his shoulder, “Oh?”

“Yeah, so if you gonna kill me, guess what, I’m not afraid.” She confidently revealed then added later, “After I ticked off my entire bucket list and had my last supper because even Judas was nice to let Jesus eat before he made him go through all that bullshit!”

Alec’s hands were tied. As long as she was within the walls of Volterra, no killings by vampires, no matter how inconspicuous it may be, were allowed.

Jessica stood up, collecting her half empty drinks and cup and decided to call it a day. Stretching her arms and back, she turned and asked, “Where do you even live anyway?”

“I live here.”

“Yeah, but where?” She asked.

“Here.”

“Oh I get it; you can’t tell me the exact location.” Jessica gasped then laughed, “Okay, I get it..shhh…”

Alec remained silent.

“I’ll see you around then.” She said and headed toward the cheap inn she rented.

Jessica liked taking the backstreet than through the town. There was something comfortable and familiar of the dull, broken remnant of the hidden side. It’d take her less than ten minutes of walking to get to the inn compared to almost twenty minutes with the long way. However, the short cut was too dark and too many staircases for her liking. On both sides, brick walls broken at intervals by wooden doors and houses showed back windows lighted and curtained. The light from the main street never reached the crooked alleyways and heavy, smoky smell of almost gone of perfume would irritate her nose.

Normally, the alley was empty and at a glance, there seemed to be no inhabitants in these houses if it were not for the dim lights shining through the barricaded windows. But as she descended down to her last set of narrow stairs, she noticed in the middle, two men jutted out from each corner and even in the distant; she could smell the strong liquor.

Jessica made it down half way of the stairs and few more steps down she would make it to her home. A grubby hand reached out to grab her wrist.

He said something in Italian first; a language she did not fluently understood or spoke. The coated breath of alcohol mingled with her owns’.

“Sorry, what?” Jessica asked.

“Join us?” The middle aged man slurred in thick accent.

“No, thank you.” Jessica pulled her captured arm back. He pulled back.

The other man met her stares. His steel, nonchalant gaze with her expressive clashed. Her silent cry for help only met walls as he turned away and went back into the house.

“Let go!” She demanded, grabbing his wrist with her freed hand to try and free her other arm.

“Come in.” He began to drag her into the house. The plastic bag slipped away from her arm and splashed onto the cement with a clang. Jessica swiveled desperately for help and just as she was hauled past the porch column, from the corner of her eye saw the still hood cladded figure on the top staircase.

“Alec!” She called in relief.

But he stood there, as if her cry for help fell on deaf ears. Numb. He seemed unbothered. Almost irritated even. A pang of anger shot through her like a sharp splinter embedded in her finger.

“ALEC!” She cried one last time. He might respond. He might not. He might turn and walk away like that man did. He’d be glad there isn’t anyone poking around for secrets him and Heidi was hiding. It must be a big secret. Worth more than her life. Or maybe her life wasn’t worth that much at all.

The door creaked open with stiff swing. Inside was dark and musky. A complete abyss that sucked her in like a black hole. She’d never escape if she went in.

Then something cold covered her eyes and that same coldness resonated on her chained arm before she felt airy coolness different from the solid cold she felt on her face and arm rolling around her entire form. The man said something in Italian with panic in his voice.

“Keep your eyes close and go.” He whispered to her. Even in those moment, she noticed how musical his voice was now that she heard it so close.

She clenched her eyes shut; only looking down at the steps and her shoes and made it down from the hilly stairs. There was a footstep from behind her, light and controlled until it stopped beside her. His cold hand gently pried her fingers away from her wet face and a black plastic bag appeared in her sight with a rustle. She took the bag from him.

“For once you listened.” He said.

“What happened to the guy?”

“He’s fine.” Alec said. The mist around him would disappear in few minutes and he would wake up the next morning believing it to be a dream.

“I can’t believe you just flat out ignored me like that.”

“You said you weren’t afraid to die.” He reminded her, “I wanted to see if you really meant it.”

“Yeah, but not like that!” She gasped in anger, “I meant like normal death. You know when it’s your time and death comes knocking about and you won’t be like ‘please five more days’. I meant that naturally caused death, not assaulted, murdered then thrown in a ditch kind of death!”

“Death is same.” He simply said, “And very rare few have the luxury to die at their time.”

“That’s such an asshole thing to say.”

“I never said I was kind.”

Jessica gave a pointed look before collapsing on the ground as exhaustion overwhelmed her.

“You didn’t do anything..illegal to the guy did you?”

“I can assure you that he is alive and fine.”

“Yeah but can I say the same thing for his mental health?” Jessica craned her neck toward standing Alec with a raised brow. He turned away to face the other side.

She wanted to ask what he was hiding under there that he was so desperate to keep it hidden but kept her lips pursed. Curiosity. It was her weakness and strength. It was why she wanted to major in philosophy. There was no such thing as too much questions or probing to the philosophers.

Her eyes landed on the crest that hung on his neck instead. V shaped and blazon placed proudly in the centre. The shield was divided into quarterly fields with a tree and a bird symbols mirrored diagonally.

V? Maybe that’s his family name.

“Thanks for saving me though.” She remembered to say, “Even though you were being a jerk with the five minute-let-see-what-she-does-pause, you helped in the end.”

“Perhaps you should be more careful.”

“I will, dad(!)” Jessica rolled her eyes with a smile, “You know, for a young kid, you sure can fight. I’m leaning more on the mafia theory.”

He shouldn’t have intervened. A vampire shouldn’t meddle with human affairs. But her scream of his name had reminded him of Jane when they were dragged and separated by the villagers in fear that keeping them together until the burning would make their powers stronger. In that moment, he saw Jane reaching out for his hands, tears in her wavering eyes and his name on the tip of her tongue. He reacted. His control nearly slipped and almost did the unforgivable.

“You’re irritating me.”

Jessica smiled, lowering her head, “I get that a lot. Did you know I don’t consider Forks as my home? I moved to Forks when I was young but I don’t really feel like I belong there. Bella, on the other hand, she fit right in. One moment she’s the new girl in town next she’s going out with Edward Cullen and hanging out with the other Cullens’. I don’t really see what’s so special about her. You know she went into major depressive mode after Edward dumped her..she was like a zombie. I tried to tell her she shouldn’t waste away her life pining after someone that left her buit I guess, in the end, it worked out for them. Wish I had her luck.” There was a slight bitter in her voice tinged with envy. Drunk Jessica always equaled honest Jessica who loved to talk about her feelings.

Heaving herself up and dusting away the dirt on her jeans, she faced Alec, “You might be a jerk but…I don’t think you’re that bad either. Goodnight, Alec.”

Alec watched as she disappeared into the street.

“You’re wrong.” He said after she was long gone. I’m a monster.

#pandora story #rewritten #pandora rewritten #alec volturi #alec x jessica #volturi

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bedlamgames · 7 years

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Q&A #47

Due to the overhaul I’m not responding to every question on this one as I don’t think you need to read ‘that should hopefully be sorted now’ reworded in as many ways as I can think of. Still plenty more to get through and if yours didn’t get answered and it happens again in the new update please do let me know as I really do appreciate all the feedback you send me.

Anonymous: Re: Chastity Infestation: The slaver is number 2. I can't see the slave on the stats page, but pretty sure he was my first slave. And yes, I did lose a slaver on day 2. Playing a male Nethemir. On another note, a Chastity Infestation sounds like it might be an interesting event to happen, some sort of reproducing chastity devices or something that infects the camp or something.

It’s certainly an amusing concept. Sometime I’m definitely going to bring in both the Tentacle Parasites and Tangle Infestations from Whorelock’s which might be a similar idea.

Anonymous: priestess anon here, I know that the corruption priestess occasionally corrupts you but I was talking about the big tit elf girl, specifically if you take advantage of her/corrupt her, figured eventually you'd be able to carry her away but after ~20 or so molestation/corruption she's still as chaste as ever.

Right the more common one. The art there’s more representative so it not always the same priestess and not even always the same town. She’s there for a bit of Corruption Xp or there’s a chance for a rare buff if you donate instead.

Anonymous: When I try to turn my second-in-command into a slave (by dominanting their will) I always end up betrayed, even if all my other slavers are always happy. What am I doing wrong?

Repeatedly dominating someone is really not good for morale, especially if the attempt fails. Still I’m looking at ways to convert a slaver to a slave more reliably next update so watch this space.

Anonymous: ... As an aside, any idea when we can will get a more in depth respect checking and potions system? That's the aspect of the game I'm most looking forward to. Way too many times has an uppity 2nd in command needed to be taught a sissifying lesson.

More respect checking and ways to drive a slaver into a slave is coming next update proper. Potions are planned to come later.

Anonymous: Is it supposed to possible to recruit 2 unique slavers? Tried to pick Ogre Former Warlord and Osage, only Ogre shows up

Not via taking Recruiter twice, but you can take too by Strong Right Arm. Though as a note some of the uniques are only available via recruiter.

Anonymous: ... As a note you might no longer get anonymous questions (unless checkbox is ticked) since safe mode blocks all the NSFW tumblrs for logged out/unregistered folk

I’ve mentioned it before as something to be aware of. Doesn’t seem to have had an effect on my tumblr yet though as far as I’m aware which is nice.

Anonymous: no return text etc for "bimboborn" slaver, just becomes available again with whatever their last disappearance was caused by in the discription "She is wearing a leather breastplate and pauldrons.eyes went totally blank and could not be persuaded from delving even deeper into the dungeon. Whatever compulsion they were following or who they may now obey you do not know but you will never see them again" as example, before hand she was caught by human militia and lamia

Were you present in the encampment/doing slave training at the time or away?

Anonymous: you might want to put a bronze collar check in, otherwise nonsense like this [Fused into your neck is one of the dreaded bronze collars that permanently seals away all magic. Fused into your neck is one of the dreaded bronze collars that permanently seals away all magic. [tattoo] Fused into your neck is one of the dreaded bronze collars that permanently seals away all magic. etc. etc. etc. I got like 7 bronze collars by now, and their number keeps growing

...I can’t believe that’s never been spotted before. Wow, your corruption luck must be terrible :D

Seriously though, thanks for the report and that should be sorted.

Anonymous: is there a way to increase camp size for slavers/slaves past 20? if not how about giving a way by having 6 guards with str+ or something like that

There will be. The cap did used to be higher but people complained it was too hard to deal with so before I raise it again I want to make sure there’s more ways to handle larger encampments first.

Anonymous: Hi! Got a small problem after using Quick Restart after loading a previously imported character - assigmet "Tribute of the lost" disappear from mountains. You can sometimes find oppotunities for traging by scouting Mountains, but the assigmet itself don't appear. Check it several time and have the same result (0.7521).

Your timing on this was absolutely impeccable as I was minutes away from uploading a version when I saw this. Really good spot, thank you.

valhallaimmortan: I managed to get a elven smith who makes fancy armor that is usually masterwork quality, and equipped my 'Basher' Squad with it, the Basher's are all Ogre's who I recruited and I have a alchemist who seriously creeps me out with how many petrification potions he has been pumping out. I also like the Lago'mae Scholar how now the Lizard man is using her as his new project... poor Scholar... and I got to ask is it actually possible to recruit a keldan from the keldan mission in the city?

I love this question, absolutely adore it, and you made the patron who requested the lizardman unique really happy when I mentioned it to them. If people want to send in their favourite/amusing/interesting slavers/slaves that have resulted from generation and gameplay I might do a tumblr post series on them called ‘Tell me about your Character’.

As to the question yes she should be on the critical result.

#Q&A

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b0rtney · 4 years

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the shit is being painstakingly scraped out of the fan

so what you guys may know is that my updates to my fics went a little haywire last week and this week. what u may not know is why. here’s why.

Last Friday, I spent most of the day doing orientation and schedule building for my fall semester transfer to University of Iowa (:D). It’s mandatory orientation, and it has a deadline, so I prioritized that over the update of the last chapter of my friday fic, “Eight Weeks with Eri” (sorry guys, i gotta value my education <3 i still love yall). I didn’t finish until late, I was trying to simultaneously take care of my 2 foster kittens and their momma, and I didn’t feel well regardless, so I posted a quick “sorry the update is late” on ao3 and went to bed.

On Saturday, I had full intentions to write up the chapter and post it, but I did need some things for the kittens pretty urgently (out of cat litter, for one thing). My guess at a day plan was: shower, go to target, tidy up after the kittens, write chapter, post. Nope! My mom tells me that one of her clients (she’s a real estate agent) left her cat at her old house, instead of bringing it with her in the move. So. New day plan. Pick up that lady’s cat, bring her home, go to target-- and all of that takes a while, so I don’t get home until 8 pm. I didn’t even get to shower. I felt a headache coming on, so I went to bed early. I felt awful about not updating, and was worried about my monday fic too, but I was just exhausted. (for anyone who’s curious, no. the client’s cat (Angel) and my foster momma (Nikki) did not get along. at all.) My brother instantly fell in love with Angel, set up a litter box and food/water area in his room, and said he would take care of her. We all kind of agreed that lady shouldn’t get her cat back (sorry, not sorry).

On Sunday, as one of my previous posts detailed, I got taken out at the knees by a migraine so bad I could feel it in my palms. I was shivering with cold, but couldn’t understand why my body was convulsing because I didn’t feel cold, I just felt pain. This is genuinely probably the worst migraine I’ve ever had. It lasted all day and nothing helped except unconsciousness-- but even that wasn’t an option because I had to take care of my foster kittens, baby Dre, baby Eminem (I called him “nemnem”) and momma Nikki. It was genuinely awful. I remember very little starting at the time it set in the night before until I woke up on Monday. (If any of the events here are out of order (for instance, I’m not sure whether I posted the temp chapter for “Eight Weeks” on Friday or Sunday, and all the days and times are pretty iffy for me) this migraine is very likely why. It made a small resurgence on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.)

Monday, I felt much better! I played with the kittens in the morning, and figured I had earned a little bit of a break after such a shitty few days. I would write the chapters after an early lunch and post them by that night. Right before I went to sit down and write, Eminem crawled (very insistently!) into my lap. I said alright, okay, you can sit with me while I write, and I settled him into my lap and got to work on the long-overdue final chapter of “Eight Weeks with Eri.” But when I looked down to pet him, his eyes and mouth were both open. He sometimes fell asleep like that, so I went to close them for him, but he wouldn’t respond. I got worried. I tried to shake him awake. Nothing worked. He wasn’t breathing. I picked him up in my hands and ran downstairs, yelling for my parents (my dad is a firefighter/emt, and has resuscitated kittens before), but he was gone. Just like that. No warning. He had been playing, totally normally, not 30 minutes before. Of course, I cried for a while before I could even move. When I went to check on Dre, he was suddenly walking funny. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I texted the rescue org that connected me with these kittens, they sent me the phone #/address of a vet, and I drove him there (45 minutes both ways jfc). The doctor diagnosed Dre with a congenital heart murmur and some level of paralysis in 3/4 limbs, and his tail. They said the prognosis wasn’t great. A neurologist might be of some help, but it would be expensive, and life quality wouldn’t be great. The vet tech took me aside and just said to make him comfortable as he goes. I thought he was going to die that night, and I held him for hours. Every once in a while, he would stop breathing for a few seconds, until I rubbed his rib cage and he would wake up with a little start. I thought he was going to die.

Tuesday morning I woke up on the floor (I slept next to baby Dre’s little bed on te floor, just in case), and immediately began researching online. I read vetrinary textbooks mostly (thank you, GoogleBooks). I would open a vet textbook and ctrl+f for Dre’s symptoms, and I kept going and going and checking, rechecking, double-triple-quadruple-checking, I cross-referenced. Literally it was a lot. But what I found was that Dre likely has feline arterial thromboembolism. Without the jargon I had to muddle through, that means a blood clot was blocking the flow to his limbs. The textbooks said the prognosis wasn’t great. I don’t remember everything, because this was a whole three days ago, but the condition (at whatever time the textbook was written) wasn’t common, so I had to cobble together a treatment plan based on similar diagnoses, symptoms, and whatever medications we had on-hand (the vet gave us none-- but we’ve had pets with medical issues before, so we have some options). I went to the store to pick up baby aspirin, because acetaminophen is toxic to cats and we needed aspirin doses small enough to give to a 400 gram kitten who’s barely weaned. At the Rite-Aid, I picked up what would be my best friend for the next two days: a sale-pack of 3-for-$3 Charleston Chews (two of the boxes were the only thing I ate or drank until Thursday). I gave Dre the baby aspirin at the recommended dose, and when his pain got a lot worse, I gave him the recommended dose of tramadol (we had some leftover from a previous pet injury/illness). He trembled with pain that night as he fell asleep, before the tramadol kicked in. I thought he was going to die again. I fell asleep on the floor again. (at some point on this day, my brother managed to accidentally let Angel, my mom’s client’s cat, out of the house, and she ran off. We are still trying to find her.)

Wednesday, finally, some good news. Dre could use both of his front paws (one of which had been partially paralyzed), and he could flick his tail is he really, really wanted to! It was, literally, a miracle. He couldn’t get around on his own, including to eat, drink water, and use the bathroom, but with help he even accomplished these tasks with success! I continued to give him tramadol at the recommended doses every 12 hours (he hated the taste! icky!), but cats don’t metabolize aspirin fast, so that didn’t need to be taken today. He slept a lot. I was still guarded about hoping for him to make it, but there was hope! I finally wrote and updated both chapters of fics that I was late for (”Eight Weeks with Eri” and “Rest for the Wicked”), but between it all didn’t have the energy to post my wednesday fic, “their whole entire lives” (sorry yall) or respond to comments like I usually do. I finally took that shower I had planned on taking Saturday too (it was. so nice. it had been a while since I last went 5-6 days without showering (last time it was depression lmao)).

thurs (dre starts to use back paws, front paw straightens)

Thursday marks the day I’m writing this from. I slept on the floor again, but finally got fed up with waking up every few hours because my back hurt, and moved to my bed at something like 6 am, and slept until 9 am. Dre now has almost complete use of his front paws and tail, and limited use of his back legs! He can’t get around fast, but he can get around! It looks like he’s gonna make it you guys! (I think he misses his brother now that he’s feeling better. He has picked a tiny stuffed animal that he plays with, grooms, and will not fall asleep without.) I posted a chapter of my wednesday fic, “their whole entire lives” too. My friends and I might go to our local protest tomorrow, but I’m not sure how long I can stay because I don’t want to leave Dre stranded if he needs my help. If nothing else, I’ll go donate some snacks, waters, and maybe even some signs to the protesters, if they want them, so I can contribute even if I can’t leave the house for long. It’s something like midnight now, so I’m going to schedule this to upload later and head to sleep (in my bed this time, not the floor).

It’s been a rough week or so. I might take this friday (and maybe next friday) off to restock my prewritten stuff so I can give yall regular-length, on-time updates as we move forward.

In the words of AJR: a hundred bad days make a hundred good stories

so, ya know, look out for kitten fostering gone sideways in some future fics or somn XD

#wow that was longer than expected #woops #in my defense this is my emotional support hobby/career #tbh im not even gonna do real tags on this one bc im exhausted and i dont think anyone outside my followers really cares #unless youre not one of my followers and you still care #in which case #thank *you* random citizen #no but fr fr #<3 #ilyasm

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droneseco · 5 years

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Is Your House Killing You? Airthings Wave Plus Smart Air Quality Monitor Review!

Our verdict of the Airthings Wave Plus: Specifically useful for radon measurements, but with a host of other sensors too. Perfect for collecting data over the long term to see trends, or if remedial actions have had any effect. The device is limited in "smart" capabilities by the reliance on Bluetooth though. 810

Radon is apparently the leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking. It’s an invisible radioactive gas given off by the ground beneath our feet, and it seeps into our homes constantly. Testing for harmful radon levels in your home has in the past been a lengthy procedure, but Airthings introduced the first ever consumer-grade smart radon detector with the Wave device. The Wave Plus–retailing at $269–is its newest model, with some additional sensors for even more data.

Certain parts of the world have significantly higher levels of radon, such as Cornwall in the UK. Older houses are more susceptible, and it’s strongest underground. Since I live in Cornwall, in a house built in the 1850s, half underground, I’m probably what you might class as high risk.

Join me as I take a closer look at the Airthings Wave Plus with a month of data–and at the end of this review, we’re giving away an Airthings Wave Plus to one lucky reader!

youtube

What Does the Wave Plus Measure?

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The Wave Plus isn’t just for measuring radon levels, but that is the main feature that sets it apart from other indoor air quality (IAQ) monitors. It also measures:

Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs). This is a generic term given to the total amount of nasty airborne chemicals, such as paint fumes, perfumes, air “fresheners”, and aerosols. These chemicals are known to have both short and long term effects on your health, so this is one to really pay attention to. Generally, anything that smells is going to release some kind of organic compound.

I can’t explain these spikes in TVOCs that occurred at night. The dog can be quite smelly though.

Carbon Dioxide. I expect we all know what Carbon Dioxide is, but may not realize that exposure to high concentrations of it can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and the inability to concentrate.

CO2 tends to peak at night, as we stay in the same place and breathe it out. The same is true of moisture levels, since our breath tends to be wetter than the air.

Humidity. Excessive humidity can cause mold growth; not enough can cause dry skin and static build-up!

Temperature. Presumably, we all know that being too cold or too hot is bad for you.

Air Pressure. I’m still not clear how pressure can affect my health, or how you could “fix” that, given it’s primarily related to how high you are above sea level, but regardless: this measures it.

The Wave Plus runs on two AA batteries, and Airthings claim up to 16 months of life before they need replacing.

Setting Up The Wave Plus

Once you’ve removed the battery tab and created an account, adding the Wave Plus to the Airthings app is a simple process. You may need 10-15 minutes for a firmware update, but that’s only once.

You’ll find a single screw is included in the box for mounting the Wave Plus to a wall, but it’s not required. If you have a bedside table or chest of drawers, that’s an ideal height to place the device. It’ll measure the same air you’re going to breathe in when asleep.

The Wave Plus takes seven days to calibrate sensors, and you shouldn’t move it during this time. If you were hoping to walk around the house and identify problem areas, that’s not possible. The Wave Plus must be placed in one location and left alone for at least a few weeks to gather any meaningful and reliable trend data. After this, you can change the location if you want, but you should change this in the app so the sensors are recalibrated.

The Data is Beautiful

The real strength of AirThings Wave Plus is the ability to gather data and display it in a beautiful, easy to understand manner. A big aspect of this is the color-coding. Both on the summary screen and individual trend graphs, sensor data is displayed according to predefined recommended levels.

I found this really helpful to see at-a-glance where issues were, and exactly when they were becoming problematic. Spoiler alert: it’s mostly at night when everything tends to accumulate to unhealthy levels.

There’s both a mobile app–which is necessary to get data from the Wave Plus–and a web dashboard, from which the screenshots above are taken. The web dashboard offers more customization, allowing you to drag and drop widgets and resize them; though the app shares exactly the same design style and data features. You wouldn’t miss much if you ignored the web dashboard and only used the app–I just prefer using a big screen. If you have more than one device, you’re also going to really appreciate the ability to drag and drop widgets from different devices to the same dashboard.

Too cold, too wet, too radioactive. At least it doesn’t smell though?

The Wave Plus also features a simple to use wave gesture on the device itself (yes, that’s where the name comes from!), which lights up to indicate current radon levels in one of three colors.

Unfortunately, mine was red the entire time I was testing it. There’s no further customization for what this rings of LEDs displays, so you can’t change it to indicate humidity, for instance.

Bluetooth, Not Wi-Fi

The one major limitation of the Airthings Wave Plus is that it operates over Bluetooth. As well as generally causing connection headaches for Android users (I expected no issues on iOS though, I should add), this seriously limits the device’s communication abilities. Specifically, the Airthings app will need to be open (or running the background), and you’ll need to be within range of the device, in order for any data to be uploaded.

Generally, I found this wasn’t an issue: I would check the levels when I woke up, and it will have been syncing periodically as my phone charged overnight.

But on a few occasions, I would power off my phone, then check the app a few days later, perhaps from somewhere else in the house, only to find I had no data for the last few days because it hadn’t synced at all. Even when I synced to my phone, it then seemed to then take another half hour or so for the web dashboard to refresh.

If you plan on buying monitoring multiple locations around your home or business, you may want to keep an eye on the Airthings Hub, which promises to connect the Wave Plus devices with “long-range communication” capabilities. It’s not available yet and no pricing is given, but this would suggest there’s a custom RF chip sitting in the Wave Plus waiting to be activated. This would solve the issue of data not being live, and give purpose to the various smart integrations.

IFTTT and Alexa Support (But It’s Not So Useful)

Although Airthings offers an Alexa skill and support for IFTTT recipes, they’re also hampered by the device’s reliance on Bluetooth. None of the data is actually live, so any alert systems or reports from Alexa will only be based on old data from whenever you previously synced with the device.

This also means the app can’t provide notifications or alerts when a particular measurement is high. There is the option for a radon alarm in the app, but again, it only works when data is synced. For me, the radon level was always too high, so I didn’t bother enabling it.

If the device was equipped with Wi-Fi, it would be able to provide real-time alerts, as some competing indoor air quality monitors do. Although I should stress, the Wave Plus is the only device on the market to actually measure radon levels.

If you’re at home already, constantly walking in and out of whatever you placed the Wave Plus, with your phone on you, and the app always running in the background, the integrations work perfectly. That’s a lot of “if”s though. Opting to not use Wi-Fi was likely a decision made to conserve power.

Should You Buy the Airthings Wave Plus?

If you’re worried about the air quality at home, or if you know your home has a specific issue and you want to see the effects of any remedial steps you’re taking, the Airthings Wave Plus offers a beautiful way to visualize the data. You can easily view trends over the short or long term, and identify problems quickly with clear color-coding.

Cornwall is pretty wet

The reliance on Bluetooth for uploading data via your phone is a serious limitation which means that the data isn’t live. This restricts the Wave Plus’ ability to offer alerts or notifications. A radon alarm feature is included, but only when Bluetooth communication has occurred, and it’s only for radon. Some air quality monitors will give you live notifications that a particular sensor is spiking so you can take immediate action or identify exactly what might have caused the issue.

Airthings Wave Plus Airthings Wave Plus Buy Now On Amazon $267.92

The Airthings Wave Plus is aimed more at the long-term monitoring of permanent remedial actions than short term reactionary tactics like opening a window.

Another aspect I would have appreciated is actionable advice. The Wave Plus is great for seeing that humidity is constantly high, but doesn’t tell you what to actually do about it. Advice can be found on the Airthings site, but it would have been nice to have this condensed and included directly in the app. You’ll have to figure out remedial action yourself, do something about it, then check the app a week later to see if it had any long-term effect.

The Good:

Beautiful data displays for identifying long and short term trends.

Mobile app and web dashboard.

The Bad:

No actionable advice in the app or alerts.

Bluetooth can be problematic, and the data isn’t live.

My Next Steps?

Radon levels are reported by Airthings in Bequerels per meter cubed. Anything up to 100 is considered “normal”, safe levels. 100-200 is getting into dangerous territory. Anything above 200 is recommended to seek expert advice.

The Wave Plus detected that radon levels in our bedroom averaged in the long term at around 500Bq/m3. They peaked at 1200.

I trust the measurements from the Wave Plus. I believe it to be accurate and was already aware of the elevated radon risk in Cornwall.

Yet, despite finding abnormally high levels of radon in my home, I’m still not convinced on the long term health effects. It’s the “safe” levels that I dispute. While there’s lots of evidence to show that very high level of radon exposure–such as that experienced by miners–is extremely dangerous, there appears to be little evidence that comparatively low levels are proportionally dangerous. The WHO recommended safe levels seem to have been extrapolated down in a linear fashion from the higher exposure results. Many scientists agree this simply isn’t how radioation exposure works.

A 1993 study into the relationship between radon levels in Cornwall and the occurrence of lung cancer related to radon exposure showed no correlation at all. That is: despite Cornwall residents being subjected to levels of radon five to ten times as high as other parts of the UK, they didn’t apparently develop more lung cancer.

You’ll find countless companies have popped up to offer their expert services in dealing with your new-found radon problem. Renovating your house to reduce the levels may cost many thousands of dollars. These companies also sponsor or provide “expert opinions” to newspaper articles, so be careful when doing your own research.

Personally, I just don’t think I need yet another thing to stress over.

Enter the Competition!

Airthings Wave Plus Smart Air Quality Monitor

Read the full article: Is Your House Killing You? Airthings Wave Plus Smart Air Quality Monitor Review!

Is Your House Killing You? Airthings Wave Plus Smart Air Quality Monitor Review! published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

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mazjpeginfo · 8 years

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14. AOI LECTURE.

Notes from the AOI lecture (a.k.a our shining light, illustration guru) under the read more.

Illustration – AOI Member – Robert Sea-Heng (look at his website).

- Freelance Illustrators.

- Students.

- Colleges.

- Agents.

- Collectives.

- Commissioners.

AOI is pushing for the right rights and supporting illustrators.

Objectives;

- To be a voice for illustrators and provide support and advice to their members at every stage of their careers.

- Create awareness, advance and protect illustrator’s rights.

- Encourage professional and ethical standards within the industry.

- Promote and improve the standing of illustration as a profession.

Who’s going to see your artwork and how? Nothing should be holding you back from creating your own website. Use cargo if you don’t have it. Iwantmyname.com. Your website is how you will visually communicate with your clients who you want to be.

Make sure your website works on ipad and tablets; more people in the industry are using these methods.

Nate Kitch (look at his website). Website; show work, show name, show email address. Simple. Don’t put contact forms on your website.

Collectives.

Peepshow is an example.

Starting a collective is a good way to support each other after uni and helping each other get work. Be a collective to get work together and be employed; not just displaying your work.

Blogs/social media.

Don’t do something if you don’t want to; it’s better to not have something than to do it badly.

- Keep updated regularly.

- Keep creative but professional – separate blog/social medial are separate from work/business.

- Try not to be too inspired by current trends or by your contemporaries.

Be doing personal work until the day you die. A good personal project is just as good as commission work. Do them, do them, do them.

Your contemporaries are successful because they’ve been creating their own nice; you need to do this too. Don’t copy.

John Burgerman; toddler project is successful person project.

Emma Block.

Social media is free advertising and it’s all the advertising you need.

Twitter; personally recommend twitter and Instagram. Twitter is your creative voice. Follow all the art directors you love; follow all the companies you love. You can add your voice and illustrations to trends with hashtags. All the design studios and creators and art directors are on twitter. Follow them and see what they’re talking about; get involved.

Facebook; have a separate facebook for your illustration than your personal. Not many commissions come through facebook.

Twitter and Instagram is where commissioners will look at you. Be aware of the content you’re putting out. Don’t go off and spout shit/drag your clients. It’s unprofessional. Be an adult, count to ten. The law is there to protect you and that’s what you should fall back on.

BE ON INSTAGRAM.

- Illustrator’s instagrams will be more up to date than their websites.

- Look at how AOI members are using their instagrams.

- You can curate the way your Instagram works.

- Look at marcmartinillo.

- You should be drawing and being creative every day.

- The photos you upload to your Instagram add to your BRAND. It’s how you communicate yourself to others visually.

Have your website and social media and try get your work in as many places as possible. There’s loads of agencies and directors on beehance. You have to have a digital presence.

Self-promotion – Mailers.

If you sit and wait, it’s not going to happen. You have to reach out and go places. To get people to contact you, you can contact them first.

Research your clients and who you want to work for. Drop ‘dear sir, madam, whoever this may concern’. Use the person’s name you want to work with and spell it correctly. Figure out who you want to work for. Select work from your portfolio that is appropriate for them.

Send things in the post, make them postcards, A5 cards. Send them out.

If you want to catch a good client, you must have good bait.

Follow up your emails with another email.

Everyone loves getting stuff through the post. Your work will get put up on a pinboard.

Accounts.

Half of your business as an illustrator IS business.

An illustrator has to be a book keeper for their own registered business.

- Register for Income Tax with 3 months of starting.

- Keep up to date Accounts.

- Retain all claimable receipts.

- Keep paperwork involved with every job.

Every little helps as an illustrator.

- Property Right that protects any work by a “creator”.

- It lasts for 70 years after the creator’s death.

Never give away copyrights be the hour or day.

In America it’s better if you register your illustration with clients. The Copy Right law is still there, but you’ll have more weight behind you if you pay for this thing.

No Copyright in an idea or a style.

Copying a “substantial” part of a work infringes Copyright. It is a test of quality not quantity.

Copying one key image from the work, no matter the size could be copyright infringement.

If you’re copying a photograph, that photograph will have copyright. As fanart and social media fodder, it’s chill – but don’t sell it.

Loads of followers does not equal making loads of money.

Don’t copy images directly, that infringes their copyright.

If you start financially benefiting from copied photographs, you will run into trouble.

You have the skills to create a totally new image.

The reason we say don’t do a copyright assignment is because the client will never have the right money to do it. The fee attach should be in the £1, 000’s mark. You lose control of the image. You can’t include it in your portfolio. They can sell it to anyone. All your rights are going away.

Say “I won’t assign my copyrights; however, I will license my copyright as is the industry standard.”

There is fuck all reason to do that job if your client isn’t going to pay you correctly.

Moral Rights.

Right of paternity – the right to be identified as the creator of a work.

Right of Integrity – The right for your work to not be subjected to any derogatory treatment. The right to not have works falsely attributed to you.

Moral Rights are automatic but can be waived.

Rights – online.

- Protect your work online so that you can always be identified as the author.

- Low resolution files (72dpi) and name as part of file name.

- Read Terms and Conditions of Website/Social Media image use/filenames – ‘Orphan Works’ are easily appropriated online.

Once you sign up for some social media, a worldwide, nonexclusive, will have a license to your work forever and ever and ever.

Contracts can be written (formal) or verbal (informal).

No matter the size of the commission or client, accept the commission in writing every time, before you start any work.

As a business yourself, just make your agreement fair. You are two equal parties.

This doesn’t need to be drawn up by a lawyer or full of legal jargon:

WHO is going to do WHAT by WHEN and for HOW MUCH.

To…. Is the person you are talking to directly.

When you’re doing a commission, get a nice, clean brief off them. If they don’t know what they want, ask more questions. Give them three roughs maximum, let them choose and offer alterations, and then move forward with that one final design. If they want any other additions, make them pay for extras.

You need to know who the end user is.

Contracts.

What they do:

- Make an agreement binding.

- Gives clarity and certainity – highlight points not agreed.

- Demonstrate professionalism and confidence.

- Evidence for any disputes – avoid arguments later on.

Look out for:

- Copyright Assignment, Moral Rights Waiver, Irrevocable Licenses.

Crucial Clauses:

- Termination, Cancellation, Rejection, Sub-Licensing.

Pricing – The Essentials.

DO NOT WORK FOR FREE.

Working for free undermines the industry, your future career and income potential.

Understand your worth to the client; it’s your illustration helping the them; it’s your illustration that is making their thing successful.

QUOTE ACCURATELY.

Accurate pricing and licensing is mutually beneficial to both client and illustrator.

You have the right to ask more questions of your client in order to make the right license.

Illustrators don’t work on a day fee.

Bigger clients may have non-disclosure agreement.

“I’m very happy to license my illustration, which is industry standard, once I have more information.”

Pricing – Licensing.

A license is separate to selling an original artwork or a print, no rights transfer and no licence is granted for such a transaction.

If they want a longer license, they just have to pay a higher fee and you can relicense it.

Approach Client for the information if they have not already provided it. Do not quote without the information, or provide ball-park figures.

Demonstrates professionalism.

Demonstrates accuracy and actual market value.

Makes client consider ACTUAL USES as opposed to POTENTIAL USAGE.

Allows for additional negotiations and fees for additional usages.

Pricing – Advertising.

Printing digital is too vague; could be a website, a billboard, a leaflet.

Ask questions – ask specifically what a client wants it for.

Graduates are open to exploitation; people will take advantage of you.

Know what fee you should have; when they ask for it, they will pay whatever you say (if they’re a big brand).

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Repeat clients are very important to illustrators.

Advertising.

Above the line advertising –

Publicity material appearing within paid space advertising.

The most amount of money is this one. ‘Out of home’ stuff is where more people see it.

Print – Magazine/Newspaper Adverts, Posters, Billboards etc ‘Out of Home’.

Below the line advertising –

Publicity material that is not paid space advertising. Print – fliers, direct mailing, internal documents.

Digital – Client’s website/Social Media, Newsletters

Pricing – Editorial. Clients: Consumer Magazines, Trade Magazines, Newspapers, Blogs Size of Client is based on circulation – abc.ork.uk

Usage: Print, Print & Digital, Digital Only - cover, spread, full page, half page, spot.

Territory: can vary, UK generally

Duration: Length of Issue – 1 Month, single usage.

Free Newspaper – Large Circulation UK Licence, Single Usage for Interior Article: 350-400 per illustration

Pricing – Packaging.

These are high risk clients. Make sure you are charging the right fee and have everything firmly in place so you don’t get screwed over.

Packaging licensing are one year for special addition and three/five years for standard.

Large UK Supermarket; £400-£450 per illustration (spot coverage) Large drinks brand: £2750-£30000

Pricing – Buyouts.

Generally good for illustrators.

Clients can mean copyright assignments by the term ‘buyout’.

Always confirm it is a time specific ‘licence’ not an assignment:

Duration of Licence.

1 year – 300 is the original fee.

2 years – 60-70% of the original fee.

3 years – 2x original fee

5 years – 3x original fee

10 years – 5x original fee

Re-licensing: Extending exactly same licence – 60-70% of original fee for 1 year later.

When fees start to look mental – usually past the 3x – this is when you should be looking at fee you’d accept and not necessarily go by this formula. Think of what the client can afford on their budget.

Additional fees.

Creation (origination) fees:

client speculative work (presentation licence) visualisation (presentation licence)

All illustration should be licensed, day rates only apply to the following: Day rate for live drawing/visualisation - £400 - £700 depending on client.

Additional Fees: Additional amends (more than 3 rounds) - your fee includes up to three minor revisions.

Murals; murals should have a license and set fee. If they want you to come and paint the illustration, that should be an additional day fee.

AOI Affiliated Student Membership.

- Access to the members only section Pricing Survey, Articles, Interviews, Advice and Information

- Dedicated Support led email and phone – pricing, ethics, contracts and professional practice.

Student membership.

Discounts on Publications and Events.

Portfolio Consultations with Fig Taylor.

Member News – Profiles Member’s commissions, exhibitions and projects to £50, 000 + followers.

Just £55 – same benefits as £160 membership.

Receive the all new Varoom Magazine twice a year.

Your membership pays for itself.

@theaoi

Know your worth as an illustrator.

Research the companies that are championing freelance illustrators right now.

AFTER Q&A.

A1; If work published on a client’s website can be viewed worldwide, it is a worldwide licence.

A2; Promotion should never be in lew of payment.

A4; Copy right on collage; even if you just use someone’s eye out of a newspaper, is it copyright infringement. Copyright ends – if it’s been 70 years after the person has died. Look at copyright free images. You can create your own collage images; take photos and create your own photostock. Use as much of your own work as possible. Or use older photographs.

Nine times out of ten no one will say anything to you, just be aware – like the Obama ‘Hope’ poster. More people are aware of their rights.

A5;If someone features your work as means of promotion, they won’t pay you. Unless it’s your feature on the cover, then they should pay you.

A6; Agents; 15-20% of AOI members have agents. Agents can and will exploit students. An agent should have a contract – if they don’t, run away. 15% literary agent. 35% for bigger (?). You don’t need an agent to be a successful illustrator. Most illustrators who benefit from agents were already successful before getting one. Be very cautious.

There a low brow agents who screw over illustrators taking up to 70% of illustrator’s pay.

You should have a relationship with your agent; be talking all the time. Nothing should be agreed before you understand something.

Self-promotion books should always be seen as HIGH RISK.

Q7; Someone should never offer you a part of their business; it should always be up front pay for your commission. Have all your bases covered.

Q8; Murals; licence the illustration to a client – they are either temporary or permanent licences. Usually they are permanent. The fee is based on it being interior or exterior and the size of it. Painting the mural would be a day fee on top of that original payment.

Q9; For price of your prints; take into consideration your time, the material costs, and the value the illustration has to you. It’s totally up to you. Don’t ever sell a big print for less than £50.

Newsletters; bikini lists, mail chimp are ones you can use. Pick and choose who you want to send these newsletters to.

Anyone who has contacted you, build up your own client list.

#tag: text #tag: professional practice #//#god bless this was the most insightful lecture of my life

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