#i quit my retail job so unfortunately you’re all going to get job search posting from me again

[afterthefeast]

i think maybe i will just never have a job

[home-working]

The One Where I Become a Product Reviewer

Hey there, fellow kids! Jumping on the already-parked annual back-to-school bandwagon, I bring to you an AWESOME new blog post highlighting my FAVOURITE 15″ LAPTOP BACKPACK PICK! Get ready for at least 145 paragraphs of preamble before I reveal this NUMBER ONE TOP 100% BEST 15″ LAPTOP BACKPACK PICK and DIY BACKPACK HACK!!

I also realised I needed a post in my “lifestyle blog” repertoire that might convince people to send me free products? So this is that post. Search engine optimization.

Backstory

On February 19, 2019, esteemed letterer and all-around Creative Professional Jessica Hische tweeted out that she was looking for a new, fashionable laptop backpack and wanted suggestions. I happened to see this tweet that night and thought, “Maybe I, myself also a Creative Professional, need a new, fashionable laptop backpack as well?” I read through the mostly terrible (???) suggestions from her followers, saw one I liked, and then, with the quick late-night text approval of my probably-drunken sartorial consultant T, impulse-bought a $235 backpack.

The Arrival

A week later The Backpack arrives. It’s partially leather! It smells very new! It’s literally made by a Creative Professional for Creative Professionals! It’s so nice that I’m already worried about ruining it with thoughts of biking or commuting. But the straps are kind of stiff and uncomfortable on my delicate mammary glands. And did I say it’s pretty expensive?!

It’s the kind of backpack I’d be happy to keep if it were, say, $79. Maybe even $89. But $235?! For a backpack that’s not even some sexy upscale Creative Professional household brandname?? My lower middle-class upbringing prevents me from committing to such an expenditure on which I’m only lukewarm. What to do?

The Virgo/Libra Cusp Solution

Obviously I go out and buy two more backpacks.

All my children.

On Being a Virgo/Libra Cusp-er

I’m on the Virgo/Libra cusp which makes me the perfect person to review anything because I’m really picky and really indecisive. This means that if I’m forced to make a decision about anything, I generally change my mind multiple times and lose sleep in the process of over-thinking every minute detail, what fun! (For the record, I’m also strictly adhering to the deeply-scientific, back-of-your-local-free-weekly astrology column definitions of these signs. [Also, unnecessary childhood trauma story, I never really knew how to astrologically-identify growing up because as a cusper my sign categorization changed from paper to paper? The struggle was—and I cannot stress this enough—real.])

Laptop Backpacks: Necessary?

“Why does one need a special laptop backpack?” you might ask. Obviously, you don’t. No one needs anything. Why do we buy things, to feel a brief sense of happiness or accomplishment in our lives? Does it work for you the way it definitely and always 100% works for me? Leave your response in the comments!

But also I’ve never had a bag that was made for a laptop, so I figured I should probably get a backpack that's actually functional and isn’t painful to carry heavy shit around in all day?

Criteria

In order to be considered for this review, a potential backpack had to meet the following criteria:

Must hold a 15″ MacBook Pro

Enough padding to protect that laptop without a case

Must be comfortable to use while biking

Unisex design

Is black/screams “Creative Professional”

Bonus points: also screams “... who deserves a large salary”

In addition to my a laptop, I assembled a weight/capacity testing control group with the following everyday accessories:

Work essentials: mouse, laptop charger, Moleskine notebook, pencil

Life essentials: overnight kit, moisturizer, deodorant, underwear, sports bra, water bottle

Um, glasses and some other crap: eyeglasses & case, dirty socks, folded blanket, Le Creuset 18cm cast-iron pot

🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒 The Backpacks 🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒

Bag option #1: The ISM Backpack

The ISM retails for $235 USD; it’s only available online but comes with free shipping and returns in the USA. It ships in a pretty box with a pretty branded dust bag and a bunch of tissue that smells of “Instagram unboxing moment”.

I wore this bag out in public a few times: to the work lounge at the Public Hotel (a hotspot for “cool-looking people” working remotely), to pay a visit to my old MoMA office, and to a job interview. Did I feel like a Creative Professional? You bet I did! But then my former coworker commented that the bag made me look like a “techy person”, which ruined everything it had going for it. (There is a fine line between Creative Professional and Startup Chic that I refuse to cross. It involves hoodies.)

Left: fancy regal satin lining, to remind you that you’re the millennial queen you are. Right: full bag, with front pocket that is great for fitting flat stuff and maybe only flat stuff.

It fit everything in the “capacity” control group, albeit quite snugly, but its real downfall was the straps: although they were quite hearty, being both wide and well padded (which would be great for those with flat chests), their stiff sturdiness meant they were very inflexible, and basically cut into my breasts any time I raised my arms together, as one would if biking:

MEINE POOR BOOBS.

ISM owner/designer Justin emailed me after I returned the bag, and explained they were working on a smaller version for 13″ laptops. I explained this doesn’t help people with mammary glands who own 15″ laptops. Per Justin:

I feel what you mean Christy, a bag that fits a 15" laptop and is unisex has been a tough design challenge given the size difference between males and females. We have been able to shorten the straps to accommodate though.

I get it. Designing for the fact that 50% of the population has boobs is hard! Did you know that basically everything is designed around men and their stupid bodies?? It's also subsequently a prime example of how e-comm genders backpack sizing: you’ll find that 15″ laptop bags are generally only found in the “Men’s” section of websites. I need a drink.

Pros

Looks and feels fancy

Separate laptop pocket from main compartment

Water and weather resistant

Good amount of padding everywhere

Real leathurrrr bottom

Bitches be loving gold zippers

I am weirdly very into the simple strap adjustment design (not pictured but trust me that it’s nicely done)

Cons

High price point for my feeble income

Cut into my boobs

Front pocket is pretty difficult to put stuff in due to being so flat

Makes me look like a tech bro

Did not get the job I interviewed for while using it

Rating

Comfort: ★★☆☆☆ Creative professional-ness: ★★★★★ Female compatibility: ★☆☆☆☆ (one star for gold zipper) Value for monies: ★★★★☆ (if you don’t bike or have boobs) Overall: ★★★☆☆

🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒 Bag option #2: MUJI Water Repellent Backpack

I bought this bag at the MUJI store for a very reasonable $49 USD. Like everything MUJI, it’s pretty decent quality both in materials and design, and feels like it’ll last a while.

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up testing this “in the real world” because, whoops, it only comfortably fits a 13″ laptop. But I did uncomfortably fit my 15″ laptop inside, really stretching the limits of the side panels, and then managed to cram the test “capacity” content on top (with room to spare!). I then did a “hunch test”, folding myself over as one would on a road bike, and found that there was barely any padding on the back panel, and my spine was knocking against the hard surface of my computer. Not cool! Plus the back did not have a mesh surface, literally making it not cool on a sweaty back.

Yes I get it, I have a big stupid computer.

Pros

Nice quality

Large capacity

Water repellent

Has a secret little back pocket you’ll probably never use

Has those tacky side pockets for water bottles which are surprisingly handy for sunglasses or pocket chargers

Cons

Made for a 13″ laptop

Non-meshed back

Not enough back padding

Rating

Comfort: ★★★☆☆ Creative professional-ness: ★★★★☆ Female compatibility: ★★★★★ Value for monies: ★★★★★ Overall: ★★★★☆+

🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒 Bag option #3: UNIQLO Water Repellent Backpack

Right after purchasing the MUJI bag I walked across the street and picked this up for $29.90. YOLO!

Realising that is was yet another bag made for 13″ laptops, I could immediately tell that the quality was much lesser than MUJI’s: it was much lighter in weight, and the fabric thinner. Look at those ugly shoulder straps where the fabric is bunching. The front pocket’s structure is so weak that it sags. Sad!

But: pretty good akshully?!

I again force-fit my behemoth laptop and belongings into the small frame, yet, contrary to expectation, this thing was comfortable AF?! And even had room to spare. The straps were super soft and cushy and malleable around my boobs, and the “hunch test” revealed amazingly thick layers of padding on two sides of the back panel, with a thinner center panel that relieves any pressure on your spine. What kind of ugly genius is this?

Pros

Stupidly comfortable

Large capacity

Water repellent

Again, tacky side pockets, this time with an angled top hem

Cons

Made for a 13″ laptop

Pretty cheap and ugly looking

Pretty cheap and ugly feeling

Rating

Comfort: ★★★★★ Creative professional-ness: ★★☆☆☆ Female compatibility: ★★★★★ Value for monies: ★★★★☆ Overall: ★★★★☆

🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒🎒 Other opshuns, you ask?

There’s a few other mid-range “nice” bag brands I was looking into online, such as the one which esteemed Creative Professional Jessica Hische ended up going with, but let’s just assume I left them out because they lack the quality needed for this rigorous assessment and not because the bag designer whom I went on a date with decided to ghost me after I sprained my ankle while in Canada. Ahem.

Final Verdict... and a Backpack Hack (!!) (...Backhack™?!)

Although I was quite impressed with the comfort the UNIQLO model provided (both to my body and my wallet), I was actually going to declare this experiment a failure and return all the backpacks. Until, that is, I took a closer look at the interior construction of the UNIQLO and MUJI bags: they measured as though they should be tall enough for my latop, and yet the MacBook corners stubbornly stuck out. Time to play detective! 🔍

Turning the bags inside-out, I noticed they both included a superfluous, space-reducing seam at the bottom of the main pocket. WTF.

UNIQLO bag before & after: the difference a simple seam (and lack of colour temperature matching) makes!

By removing this seam on the UNIQLO model, I gained a full inch of vertical room, ALLOWING THE 15″ LAPTOP TO ACTUALLY FIT IN THE DAMN BAG. Yes, it fits snugly, and some may argue that the superfluous seam protects the edge of the computer from hitting the ground, but the very bottom edge seam is actually pretty bulky and does a decent job of protecting as is.

Verdict: With the inclusion of this super deviant hack (and ONLY with this inclusion), UNIQLO wins!!!!!!!!

Epilogue

I’ve been using this bag for 7 months now. It looks kinda cheap and it tends to collect lint, but my shoulders are miraculously like never sore. And, even on a grocery run after stuffing a myriad of pokey-shaped food items in the thing until I can barely close it, it’s always very comfortable on my tender back when biking home (I did this very thing 2 weeks ago at the Farmer’s Market after buying Celine Dion tickets, because I am a white woman in her late 30s). 

Oh, also: it’s black, so yes I am a Creative Professional, thank you for noticing! 

TL;DR: UNIQLO; cheap; comfortable. Send me your products to review! 🔚

Colophon backpacks: ISM, UNIQLO, MUJI; socks: UNIQLO; t-shirt: from a Women Who Code meetup hosted by One Month; sweatpants: Alternative Apparel; laptop: Shmapple; glasses: Steven Alan clearance; stool: Target; plants: IKEA & Home Depot; blankets: Hudson’s Bay, E. Stocking; mirror & couch: IKEA; drawing above mirror: K. Freeman & P. Lyle; posters: Bruce Nauman and a Finnish Design Annual fold-out; calendar: Massimo Vignelli; bike: Miele; weight/capacity control group: thrifting, Peru, Amazon, HAY, more places; suddenly questioning the consistency of whether I’m listing where objects were bought or the brand name of the object itself: something I am going to pretend to resolve at a later date in time; brevity rating for this blog post: ★☆☆☆☆; fan appreciation: I am so sorry if you read this far

[alice-in-candyland]

F&E CHE Naturally Flavored Gummies

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but part of my job as a candy reviewer is going through swathes of colorful packaging and finding what looks the most interesting to viewers, or just fun to review. These immediately caught my eye at the shops with their bright pastels and I knew I had to give them a look-see.

This candy comes to us from our friends at UHA. While their name isn’t immediately recognizable like, say, Meiji, they’re probably best known for being the makers of puccho, a chewy, taffy-like candy that I’ve looked at a few times before. They’re also the manufactures of the unique sakeru gumi, which you’re just going to have to see for yourself. They’re soft and fluffy and fun to eat! These candies are a little different. They’re naturally flavored, tear-drop shaped gummies made with 55% domestic fruit juice, and come in three flavors: White peach, orange, and grape!

Unfortunately, these are a bit of a rare find! I picked them up at my local Japanese marketplace, but I’m hard-pressed to find them on the internet. Still, I’m very excited to share these with you, and I hope you’ll be able to find them in your area. Keep your eyes peeled! In the meantime, let’s get to the fun part, and discuss how they taste!

Spoiler alert, here’s a reoccurring theme for these guys: They smell amazing.

I cannot stress to you how good these smell. Our first flavor, peach, is reminiscent of a farmers market with its ambrosial bouquet. Am I being dramatic? Maybe just a bit, but it’s still pretty delectable. On a personal note, these remind me of a peach soda I was able to try at the Ohio state fair last year; Fresh and sweet, and almost effervescent. The taste reflects this pretty well. The texture of the gummy is nice and chewy with a little bit of give to it, like a soft rubber ball, and it compliments the flavor nicely. They’re quite sweet, with a tangy aftertaste, and the sugar coating they have gives them a bit of a crunch. They might be a little sweet for some, but they’re really enjoyable!

The orange flavor was probably my favorite of the bunch, which was pretty surprising to me, as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy oranges as a fruit. My expectations for these weren’t exactly stellar, as these immediately smelled a bit more artificial than the peach flavor, but it could just be how sweet the aroma was. Oranges smell sweet, sure, but this was closer to, say, orange concentrate. In addition, this candy seemed to have a thicker layer of sugar crystals, but that probably had more to do with packaging or how these were stored, rather than being an intentional choice on the part of the candy makers. In terms of flavor, these start really sour but fade into a much sweeter taste, finishing nice and tart. The whole foods near my hometown had a machine that you could buy fresh oranges for, and then process into a fresh bottle of orange juice. This is very similar, but a touch sweeter. It has the most interesting flavor profile so far, and I found myself munching on these the most between photos.

To me, the grape flavor has the most interesting flavor of the bunch. First and foremost, while I and my room mates were giving the bags a good whiff upon opening them, it was hardly needed for these. Their strong, almost wine-like scent was detectable from a few feet away, and their flavor was reflective of this, tasting very much like sparkling grape juice: A little sour, almost bitter, but finished off sweet, almost to an unnatural extent, as the aftertaste was more reminiscent of a grape than the actual candy. Edible, but somewhat offputting. I’m willing to chalk this up to these being the last flavor we sampled or just my usual distaste for candy on the sour side. They’re not bad, though, as I willingly at a couple, they’re just a bit different from the other two flavors.

I’m almost disappointed that I can’t find these from an online retailer, because these are really, really good. My search is probably limited to English results, however, as I am by no means experienced with reading or writing Japanese. If you can find these anywhere, please let me know, and I’ll update this post with a link.

If you’re craving something else, my sponsors at Candysan can hook you up! Don’t forget to enter the promo code 111409207 during registration or at checkout to get 5% off your order!

That’s all for this week’s review. Hope to see you next week ヾ(･ω･｡)ｼ

Last week’s review: Kumamon Kumamoto Assort

[mental-health-advice]

Submission about moving from Poland to England

I’m 19, and five months ago I moved from native Poland to Northern England upon being offered a place at a decent university. I jumped straight into the deep end, all alone. I don’t even remember my first days, I think I’ve had a major identity crisis (as I’ve always been prone to depersonalisation for a couple of reasons. In previous years I was treated for depression, to no avail, and diagnosed with Asperger’s. Not sure if this is relevant). My whole childhood, public mood in Poland had been pretty self-deprecating, people would literally tell us kids to go west in search of a better life. Then, since the new gov’s been elected, Poland’s just not a good place to live, simple as that. So I’d had ridiculously high expectations of the UK and kind of hoped to leave my problems behind (it didn’t sound as naive then) and then I was confronted with complete disinterest of uni staff and Polish diaspora, the struggles of a low-paid job in retail, supporting myself on 500 pounds a month (now I can say it’s possible), living in a mouldy houseshare and omnipresent bigotry. A month later the academic year’s begun. I’m trying to balance 25-35 hours of work pw with academic progress, I really want to earn my place here. But my inferiority complex is literally eating me alive, I feel like I’m 15 again, self-destructive, stuttering (It took me years to learn speaking clearly in Polish, here we go again), consumed by my insecurities. Sometimes I’ll apologize to Brits who have to put up with me, or try to explain myself somehow, but I’ve already been judged. I can’t sleep at night, I’m perpetually exhausted, I can’t focus on anything. My mum’s state is deteriorating quite rapidly and I know it’s partially my fault, as I’ve left her alone with my bipolar father. I can’t go back and I don’t want to die, but I do feel trapped in my situation. Turning 19 two months ago was like a wake-up call, people at my age have plans for the future, are in relationships etc. And I can’t even get over my apprehension towards men (I suspect it stems from an unfortunate incident years ago and my general underlying feeling of being inferior as a female, but I don’t even know anymore). I desperately crave positive attention and in the rare instances when I actually get it, I’m all too aware it’s undeserved. I feel like I was an immigrant in the first place, a problematic and useless one to boot, and a person in the second place. I swear I’d jump off a bridge if it wasn’t for my mum. I’m so sorry for ranting so much. I don’t even know what I was expecting from you - guess I just wanted to let off some steam, figuratively. Thank you.

Hi darling,

I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling with this lovely! It’s really difficult to move to another country, and it’s very understandable that it didn’t live up to your expectations, although I also completely understand you had those expectations in the first place! When you’ve been struggling already, being completely on your own in another country can really bring those struggles back or worsen them. I don’t think it sounds naive that you thought you were leaving your problems behind lovely! You’ve always been told that going west would give you a better life, so I don’t blame you for believing in that <3

I don’t think your mum’s state is your fault though <3 You’re her child, and she wanted you to search for a better life. Even if she isn’t currently the happiest, she wouldn’t blame that on you and you shouldn’t blame it on yourself either <3 Your mum is tough and she’ll get through this! Maybe this is something you can talk to her about, that you feel guilty about leaving her alone and that it makes you feel bad that you aren’t currently enjoying your stay in the UK as much? Having a good conversation about it can help clear the air and let things out for both of you.

There are people at 19 who have plans for the future and are in relationships, that’s true. But there are also tons of people at 19 who don’t have plans for the future and who aren’t in a relationship. Look at me! I’m almost 22, and I’ve never been in a relationship. All I know for the future is that I’m currently doing my bachelors in Mathematics, but after that, I have no idea. And there isn’t anything wrong with that!

You are so much more than an immigrant, you really are a person first, and being an immigrant comes very low on the list honestly! I know me saying that won’t change your feelings about it, but I do think repeating this for yourself will eventually change your feelings on it. Not immediately, it’s going to take time, but eventually it will be. Write it down a couple of times every day. When your brain is coming up with counterarguments, write those down too with another argument about why your brain isn’t speaking the truth at that time. So basically, argue with the thoughts that you rationally know aren’t true. Because if you look at it rationally, I hope you can see that you really are a person first <3

I’m glad that sending us this submission has allowed you to let off some steam. That definitely is important! I also think it’s good to look into ways to do this regularly. Maybe it can help to keep a diary, so that you can write down anything on your mind. Or you can post vents like this on a tumblr, or another blog. And of course you can always send us another submission.

Other than that I think it would be good to speak to someone at uni about how you’ve been feeling, as this is really serious. Each university will offer counselling offices. I personally don’t know if this costs any money, but it’s worth looking into! If it does cost money, then you might want to start with speaking to a study advisor or someone of that sort. You could start by opening up about your financial problems, explaining that you need to work so many hours a week, which is affecting your academic capabilities. These study advisors are usually well aware of any programs available, so they could possibly guide you into the right direction. I don’t know if your uni will have certain programs available for foreign students, but it’s worth a try!

To manage your inferiority complex, I think it’d be good to write down two positive things every evening. Two at least! By doing this every day, eventually it will become easier, which is when you can increase the amount of positive things. Then once that’s beginning to get easier, you can increase it again, etc. This can really help in boosting up your self-esteem!

I hope this was at least a little bit helpful lovely. I’m really sorry that you’re in this situation, and I truly hope things brighten up for you!

Sometimes what seems impossible, is just hard.

Keep fighting beautiful <3

Love Pauline

[splitshortsyeah]

Mac Miller 'K.I.D.S.'

-Matt Duelka

Progression. That’s a good place to start in 2010. I did a lot of ‘progressing’ leading into ’10. I’ll give a lot of credit to the college experience (not so much the college itself) for the shape and calcification of my being. Since ’10 – minor progressions, but the details have been important. More fine tuning of who I should be. But before we get too into 2010, I need to talk about 2008 (a MAJOR progression the likes of a King Crimson album) because without 2008, there is no 2010, and certainly no 2020.

[So, briefly, here it goes.]

As a current 33 year old in 2020, rap music takes up a pretty calculated 93% of my musical intake. In 2008, not so much. More like weird metal, emo pop-punk – regular 20-year old white boy stuff. But I WAS 1 year into being a ‘urban music’ radio DJ (What? Why? How?)  and my crash course had been hitting quite the peak. Classics and hot-off-the-stove EmCees were covered but anything in between – was very much all or nothing.

“Yo, you see the new Gucci tape dropped?”

“Wait, who? Gucci? Is there a new album out? I didn’t know it was getting released?”

“C’mon. You didn’t see the new mixtape drop on Nahright?”

“Nah what?”

“Man, catch up.”

And I did. The internet is a deep ocean of untapped resources, until you start “tap, tap, tapping it in”. Gucci’s 36 mixtapes in 6 months were something to behold, but to me was pretty flat – all temporary ear candy but nothing that held water. I was 14 pages in – searching Nahright.com, 2DopeBoyz – and felt I was now in a 400 level classroom. And then came a banger – Wale ‘A Mixtape About Nothing’.

I was smitten. The tape basically Batman punched the life back into me and I considered uncovering this gem, a passing grade into rap graduation. Hours were now spent uncovering quality tapes and collabs that I could talk about to whomever who keep listening to me. In ’09 I took over the reins on the Rap Radio airwaves. My musical trajectory was skyrocketing. Rap music should have been my major.

[Ok. Now 2010]

Internet. Internet. Blog Site. Search. Blog Site. Search. Download. Listen. Share. Refresh. Internet. College is in the rear view. Career is in a holding pattern. Retail for the time being. New music is what’s up.

“When you’re young, not much matters.”

Oh what’s this?

“When you find something that you care about, then that’s all you got.”

Is this from that movie…?

“When you go to sleep at night, you dream of *music* “

You have my attention.

KICKIN’ INCREDIBLY DOPE SHIT (K.I.D.S.)

A white 18-year old kid from Pittsburgh comes out with a ‘KIDS’ movie sample and then just. Goes. In. Like, bangers from the gun. Heavily KIDS influenced, heavily sampling dope beats (Lord Finesse took a little offense to that, but we’re past it), but that’s what a mixtape is about! Get your ears and eyes focused. Someone is looking to get on the map.

Progression. It’s what got me here so far, but it’s also what this kid, Mac Miller, was after. Mac put out this album specifically to show people what he could do with his words. Not to say that he had A LOT to say, but he wanted to talk, and tell people about what he knew (not making up a persona just to sell a rap to the streets). Drugs, drinking, ladies, and having fun. “Kool-aid and Frozen Pizza” ain’t trynna be anything that it’s not.

Mac Miller was a fun ass High School graduate putting out fun-ass rap tunes for people to smile to. Whether a banger or a smooth ride, I found a good time in this tape from beginning to end. It was different, definitely. Not to say ground-breaking, but it’s hard for me to put a doppelganger to his flow. I remember someone trying to tell me it seemed like he emulated Drake’s delivery – slow yet catchy. But something about Drake always has me thinking he didn’t really ‘flow’ in any way, and just spoke to you ‘in a rhythm (a rhythm I cannot actually describe)’. Mac had a delivery, a great one. And it was simple, yet smart. He just really understood who was listening, and who he wanted to get across to. I assumed as a 23 year old retails associate, I was smack in the middle of that venn diagram.

I’m a sucker for a ‘Boom Bap’ sound (just say it enough and you’ll get it) and even though Mac isn’t a definition of the style, there’s a lot of that east coast flare in there (especially with the samples he chose – definite *eye emoji*). I also had a pretty intimate experience with the movie laced into this mixtape. I wrote an 8 page final paper on the movie (more specifically, the last line of the movie, which he so happens to use on the last track, with tunes of Elliot Smith slowly fading out to close up shop on the tape). So you have to believe that my intrigue and HOPE for this tape from the get go was at a 17 out of 10.

“Get ‘Em Up” had me nodding straight out the gate. Mac, if he was trying to showcase some wordflow talent, had me at least glued to see if this would get better with this track. By now I’m cranking the volume up a few notches and thinking I might have found something. Again, this isn’t groundbreaking, but no 18-year old should be (SHOULD BE). But Mac didn’t need to deliver complex lyrical stanzas in and out of classic Pete Rock beats to make an impact. I’m on my feet. I want to hear more.

And then we transition to “Nikes on My Feet” and, you see what I did there? This was as tasty of a track as you could have hoped for. Not knowing anything was a good way to go into this, because the unexpectedness of a Nas sample on this Pittsburgh kid’s mixtape was a treat. And it could have been a more ‘World Renown’ tune – including the all-familiar bass line and chorus -- but he chose a piece within “The World is Yours” and went in, to further push the “this is what I know, and this is what I’m gonna rap about” bit. “I don’t know about Nas’ life in Queensbridge, but I know about these Nikes on my feet” is what I imagine he said while thinking up this song. And if you can’t tell I was sold by now, well then, I’ve wasted a thousand words on you.

“Cream cheese and a bagel. Have a glass of milk and an Eggo. Rocking PJs and no shirt. I smoke weed, eat yogurt.”

Progression, right? There was a time where “The Spins” would have intrigued me because of the Empire of the Sun portion – ala Gorillaz with Del tha Funky Homosapien. But now I’m sitting thinking, man what a compliment they are to Mac Miller. He’s still the star of the track and in 2010, on the festival circuit, this made the KIDS bump, bump, bump. Even walking down the street 3 weeks ago, I was re-listening to the tape and couldn’t keep from trotting, singing, and just enjoying myself. Banger. In 2010, this is what I NEEDED. I wanted a song that just got my blood racing and FUCK did this song do it. Being that Mac might not have been heralded by the rap world right away, a track like this made sure he at least meshed between a few crowds, and I’d say the music festival demographic was probably an ideal spot for him. That’s where I found myself as well. At least, as a 23 year old. Because, again, we are still progressing.

We move into “Paper Route” and “Good Evening” and we’ve moved away from booming and banging, and now we are cruising. We got the radio on, or we got the headphones in, and you got your head nodding along. BOP BOP BOP. Going back to Mac’s intention for this tape, I feel like these tracks are in the realm of Mac puppeteering his way along, showing the world how he could move swiftly and intelligently – yet simply and endearingly – through a track.

For anyone who ever blog, probably heard my name Hip-Hop's underdog, you wanna win the game I'm sick of hearin' how music change never be the same And these dudes who think they everything and never pick a lane Call yourself a vet, but haven't won a single game Mad, every girl got my name imprinted in her brain Boy, I'm a beast, match the style in bars Find me smokin' weed where the wild things are

For anyone who doubted he’d be able to cut it on the rap scene, I’d say that verse was a slight flex, in retrospect.

As much as “The Spins” was able to bring thousands of folks off their grass stained tight jeans and onto their feet during a July summer on Governor’s island (I saw it happen in person) – “Knock, Knock” was the jam of the album. This was the tune that made Mac be able to stand tall and say “This tape was worth it.” This followed me through many-a-car ride, too many drunken after parties (not at hotel lobbies – but more so at post-collegiate apartments with unfortunate furniture choices), and just being the soundtrack to my walks through the Manhattan summer. I have a soft spot for over the top “epic” sounding choruses that you can blast on better than average speakers, and this fit the bill. It’s hard for me to find a song that defined “Fun” for me more, in 2010, than this song did.

It’s hard to imagine 2010 without this entering my life. Because it was fun. So very fun. And it brings great thoughts just writing about listening to this album back then. Great weekends, and epic tabletops, and the content we were able to create! Even if most of it only lives in our heads, it was worth it].

And then it ends, like it began. “Jesus Christ, What happened?”. The movie ‘Kids’ brings us back and we fade out. Of course, I would “bring it back” many a time in that day. It became a fixture on the playlists, a constant on the headphones. I even slipped a few songs on the retail store speakers.

But we all PROGRESS. We all want more eventually. And do I mean more, like “that wasn’t good enough – give me more!”? No. I mean. We want more, like, I’m changing, and so is everything around me, what do you offer me now? A better job? More money? More substance from the ones you spend your time with? And with that, you also tend to want more from your music.

So ‘K.I.D.S.’, even though I have thrown it on the que recently and been able to jam along, I can’t keep it on the podium that it was prominently placed on in 2010. For what it represents, it will forever be held high, but it won’t be the same as the first experience and I don’t think that was ever the plan. Do tracks still SLAP, sure, but they weren’t meant to be ‘timeless’. It was meant to live in the moment and do what it needed to do. Mac made it known this was a proving point for him. This tape was meant to show he belonged.

And so as we all need to do, we PROGRESSED –

               Blue Slide Park

               Watching movies with the Sound Off

               GO:OD AM

               The Divine Feminine.

You can say what you want about those albums that proceeded, but you can’t say Mac Miller was stagnant.

“Yo, I listened to them and they just weren’t what I expected.”

“Well what did you expect”

“I wanted K.I.D.S.”

“But you got K.I.D.S”

“Yeah, but I wanted it – well – again.”

“I don’t think he did.”

‘K.I.D.S.’ was never meant to sustain, and Mac moved on from it like he should have. He had more to prove. Could he have continued to make music for the festival crowd? Sure? Would he have been successful? Probably. But even though I don’t even pretend to know him as a person – it’s obviously not what he intended to do. Because even though the albums I mentioned above may not have caught the listeners’ attention like ‘K.I.D.S.’ did, you could see the progression that Mac was going through.

[Can we jump to 2018? Good.]

Even though you may have found your footing, there are always ways to improve your steps. At this point it isn’t major adjustment after major adjustment, but more like “Hey, those shoes didn’t work because of the minor shape difference in the heel to toe ratio, maybe these slightly less aggressive ones will be better” (IYKYK). Mac Miller put out ‘Swimming’ in ’18 and to say it’s his best work is an understatement, but to also say that “This is a throwback to his most comparable work to date, ‘K.I.D.S.’“ would be a catastrophic failure in comparison. Through the steps he took in with minor adjustments on his other studio albums, Mac developed a sound that was unlike anything that was produced on ‘K.I.D.S.’, BUT, without ‘K.I.D.S.’, ‘Swimming’ never exists. Weird how that works.

I used to rock epic rap anthems like it was them or nothing. I needed to hit be hit hard or it wasn’t hitting enough. But I learned that there was a different way to be ‘touched’ by hip hop. I learned, what I define as ‘asymmetric’ beats – where a song may not have a chorus, or a looped sample, or anything typical of a conventional or traditional track. My ears were genuinely intrigued by the angles that existed within the songs, and I started to see the beauty of them. I wanted rappers who could also take a rap track, and put a live band to it – Let’s hear some live ivory tickling under them verses, huh!? – OR maybe have a rapper croon a little bit? Why not. Why they always gotta be so hard? Lets get sensitive (but please – no Drake).

So ‘Swimming’ did that – all of it. We got Mac pouring his heart out. Where ‘K.I.D.S.’ had bangers and catchy choruses and classic samples – ‘Swimming’ had live bass (Thundercat! Woot!), off-kiltered bars, singing and swaying, and stuff I didn’t imagine Mac had in him. But they were as visible on this album as the tattoos on his sleeve. I mean, I’m FULL SEND on The Foreign Exchange, Tyler The Creator, Black Milk, yadda yadda yadda, and Mac is now RIGHT THERE in the conversation.

SIRS AND MADAMES WE HAVE PROGRESSED!

Mac and I didn’t have tickets on the same trolly train of progression, but we both got here. Maybe he saw it coming -- I definitely didn’t plan this Musical fandom path for myself. Maybe Flying Lotus had something to do with it?

I think it has a lot to do with getting from the prove yourself phase to the phase you actually want to be in. We all have to do it at some point. We all have to be in a spot that isn’t exactly where we’d like to be – but without it we can’t get to where we WANT to be. The problem is, how to convince others that this is the right way to go. Not to say “Everyone, please follow me – this is the right AND ONLY way this will work”, but more like “Hi everyone, this is the right way for me, can you please join in helping me proceed and giving me the confidence to move onto the next chapter of this progression.” To be honest I wasn’t following along with him fully – a mix of not understanding and not believing he would get there. I feel like I made it through to where I wanted to be a little sooner than Mac did – but when “Swimming’ came out – I knew we both made it. Or you could assume we both made it. I assumed we both made it.

But then it was over. In September of 2018, Mac passed away. And it fucking sucked. As happy and fulfilling as his music made us – made ME – feel, it’s hard to believe he wasn’t anywhere close to feeling the same. Malcolm McCormick should have been with us for a long time, and because things just don’t work that way, he won’t. ‘Circles’ eventually came to us in 2020 – and recorded entirely while ‘Swimming’ was, so everyone got to witness the feelings again that they did with ‘Swimming’ and remember, unfortunately, how we won’t be able to continue to feel like this again.

Some music makes a dent in your life, and it takes a while for you to understand why. ‘K.I.D.S.’ did that for me in 2010. I was too busy to really try and figure out why my bumper got scuffed, or how to fix it. But in 2020, I know it was never meant to be fixed. My 33 year old ‘Toyota Corolla’ of a self thinks the dent looks good these days. Why try and progress through that.

[pomelowatches]

The Rolex GMT Master II 16710

With our “In Focus” series we explore what to look out for when you’re on the search for some of your favourite watches. In this first instalment, we take a look at the classic Rolex watch, the GMT Master II 16710.

We’ve been there ourselves: you’re looking for a watch, but what should you look out for? Watch forums are littered with sporadic knowledge on watches. Unfortunately, though, there’s no real coherent way to take this all in (without trawling through 1000s of posts - some of which may not be entirely useful). Hopefully this In Focus series might be able to help you out here. Let’s get into it.

The Rolex GMT Master II - 16710

With Rolex’s release of the Pepsi GMT Master II 126710 BLRO (and its corresponding lack of supply), demand for its predecessor – the 16710 - has gone through the roof. Those who can’t find the latest BLRO are turning to the 16710 to quench their thirst. So, what should you look for when you’re buying this?

Understanding the reference

We’re not going to go into the history of the GMT watch, its form and function (the guys at Fratello Watches did a great job in a story which details the entire history of the Rolex GMT Master here). Let’s assume you know all that, and pick up the story during the late 80s when the 16710 came in after a number of iterations of the first GMT Master which was first produced in the 1950s.

The 16710 was produced from 1989 until 2007 but, as you can guess with a watch that was made over an 18-year period, there were quite a few changes to the watch which it’s good to be mindful of when you buy. Dates are approximate as, in reality, only Rolex knows the exact date of when things changed.

Dial – indices and lume plots

The first dials on the 16710 were produced with tritium white gold indices and were in production until 1997/1998. They featured the writing “T<25” at the 6 o’clock position. Given this is tritium, today - some twenty plus years later - in a dark room the tritium should glow for a very short while (or might not glow much at all!) before the glow fades away quickly.

From 1998/99, dials then changed to using luminova lume and were instead marked with the word “Swiss” instead at the 6 o’clock. Today, these luminova dials should emit a stronger green glow (compared to tritium) when you expose it to UV light, and should still be able to hold their charge.

From 2000 onwards, the dial indices used superluminova lume, and were marked with “Swiss Made” instead like below. Superluminova uses the same base compound as luminova and both possess very similar qualities. If you flash a UV light to this dial today, it should also be able to hold its charge with a quite bright greenish hue for a longer while still compared to luminova. Like this.

Saying that, there are variants out there. Luminova has been said to have been found on a T<25 dial (which in theory should read Swiss at the bottom instead). Presumably, as is the case with certain Omega Speedmasters from the 1960s, parts and materials were used towards their transitioning out – if a manufacturer had material left which was good to use, it might well have been used.

Bezel

The Bezel! That beautiful design. The aluminium bezel on the 16710 came in three colours: black (“LN” – Rolex code for “lunette noir”, which in Swiss means “black bezel”), the classic blue and red (the “BLRO” – code for “Bleu Rouge”), and black and red (er, sorry – we’re not sure what the Rolex code for this one is. You’ll often hear this referred to as the “Coke”). Some have reported that the newer plastic service warranty cards (as opposed to the previous paper warranties which used to be issued as proof of service) print “N” for Noir (Black bezel), "A" for Black/Red and "B" for “Blue/Red” on them. I can’t attest to this; when I had my 16710 serviced at the Rolex Service Centre it simply came back to me and had “16710” printed on it.

The bezel should also be bi-directional and have 120 clicks in one full turn.

Collectors in the US will swear that original papers for the 16710 should also have the specific bezel colour model printed on them. Whilst this may be true for American pieces, this isn’t necessarily the case for the rest of the world. Friends on The Rolex Forum (“TRF”), particularly those in Europe, have said that the papers often will not have this printed on. Mine don’t and my papers were originally stamped by a German retailer.

Buyers will also usually want to know whether the bezel on the watch is an original Rolex part. The capacity for aftermarket (read this as a polite way of saying “non-Rolex original”) bezels is huge. Producers know that they cost very little to make and can be sold on for a healthy profit, particularly with the current craze for faded bezels. I bought a genuine 16710 myself which turned out to have an aftermarket pepsi bezel (Rolex politely informed me of this when I took the watch for service). Although it did have an authentic Rolex black and red bezel with it too.

If you are worried about a bezel, your best bet is to visit a Rolex Service Centre to confirm that your bezel is genuine. I wouldn’t bother buying “genuine” bezels often advertised on ebay/gumtree or anywhere else at - the often - extortionate prices you see them listed for. A Rolex Service Centre will happily let you buy a brand new, genuine bezel for about £30 (or £50 if you want to keep any existing genuine bezel whilst buying a new one).

Fonts 

One thing frequently debated is the print of the “II” wording on the GMT Master dial. There are three different variations known out there at present: the stick dial, roman dial, and the rectangular dial. From my own experience, I’ve seen less rectangular dials out there available compared to stick dials, and less stick dials out there compared to roman dials. See the picture below which shows the difference between these dial variations.

Some argue that the so called “stick” dials (once referred to as “error” dials) on the 16710 are worth more given their rarity (and apparent pairing with the 3186 movement - see more below). Others say that the change in font is actually nothing more than just that: a change in font as years of production has gone on, and that, today, stick dials can are increasingly found on replaced service dials. If so, we may see more stick dials in the wild as time goes on. The reality is - no one other than Rolex knows the truth here on this, and, personally, I don’t obsess about this sort of thing. 

Movement 

The 16710 featured the 3185 movement until 2007 when the 3186 movement was introduced. The very last batch of reference 16710 GMT-Master II watches had the updated 3186 movement which included Rolex’s famous Parachrom bleu hairspring (in basic terms, and without overdoing the physics/watchmaking lessons, this is the regulator that controls how precise the watch runs). You’ll see 16710s with the 3186 movement being priced at a premium compared to those with the 3185s.

Crystal

The crystal used on all versions of the 16710 was a sapphire glass crystal. One thing to note is that those 16710s from 2003 should have a laser etched Rolex crown (“LEC”) - the Rolex symbol - etched into the sapphire glass, usually at the 6 o’clock (although some examples have been said to have been found as early as 2001). It’s tiny, but it should be there. It should also be fairly visible without a loupe, but you may need some good lighting to spot it. If the crystal is a service crystal, you will likely be provided a service replacement crystal, and the LEC will have an "S" (service) inside the Rolex crown.

Case lugholes

To lug hole, or not to lug hole: that is the question. On the side of the case you’ll find 16710s from before 2003 (Y series models) which have lug holes on them. What does this mean? This means that you can change the bracelet on your watch easily with a strap of your own choice - using something as simple as a toothpick to remove and reinsert the spring bars. That’s not to say you can’t change straps with a 16710 that is without holes, it’s just a bit fiddly and you’ll probably need a spring bar tool to make life easier. Also: word of warning – you might scratch the lugs if you’re not used to putting spring bars back on, so be a bit careful here.

Bracelet and end links

The GMT Master II 16710 is usually found on an oyster bracelet (models 78360 or 78790A) – the latter featuring an oysterlock (one of Rolex’s previous iterations of its safety clasps to ensure the bracelet safely remains on the wrist). However, during its lifetime of production the 16710 was also available for sale with a jubilee bracelet too (the 62510H). If you prefer one style over the other, speak to the Rolex Service Centre who will be able to sell you the version of the bracelet in question you’re after.

The 16710s can also be found with two different types of end links (the part of the watch that connects the bracelet to the watch head): hollow and solid. The first versions of the 16710 until around 2000 came with hollow end links, and later versions from here onwards came with solid end links (“SEL”). What’s the difference? SELs are meant to be slightly stronger as they are, well, solid – albeit, not entirely solid (I know, a bit confusing right?). Hollow end links have a more vintage feel to them and generally rattle a little more as you wear the watch. The Crown & Calibre guys did a great video on the difference between these sorts of endlinks which you can watch here.

Fruit for thought

The GMT Master 16710 is an iconic watch reference which remains loved by watch enthusiasts over the world. That’s no small coincidence: the watch possesses the style and story of a classic vintage Rolex, and was the last GMT iteration before the move to today’s larger Rolex GMT cases. 

A final word of advice when it comes to buying the GMT Master II 16710: bearing in mind the pointers above, if something feels off - or you don’t trust the seller - my advice would be to stay clear. It’s common sense, I know, but we can often overlook such basic advice when we find - what we think is - a great price. Remember with any Rolex vintage watch purchased, you can always ask a Rolex Service Centre (provided you live close to one) to verify a watch’s legitimacy post sale when you take it in to get a quote for service. And despite all the above variance that exists among the 16710, the usual rules apply: buy what you like, and buy the best condition you can for money available.

Hopefully that was a helpful guide. If you enjoyed the article (or didn’t!) – please let us know below. And as usual, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions on what you might want us to look at next feel free to drop them below.

[aeschknight]

Indie Reads #1

I’ve recently started to do book reviews for indie authors and I’m going to post them separately from my monthly reads. Let’s start with the debut novel of Shayna Grissom! My video review can be found here and links for the book and author are at the bottom!

A Soul Reclaimed by Shayna Grissom

Published: 2019

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Page Count: Roughly 350 pages

Part 1 of a Series

A Soul Reclaimed is the debut novel of Shayna Grissom. It follows the story of Nora, a sixteen-year-old girl, as she searches for where she belongs. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a traditional coming of age story. The entirety of the tale takes place in Hell. Yeah, actual Hell, though most of it is rather pleasant. Hell is divided into seven regions and not all of them are hellish. (For a little bit of fun take the soul placement test; I got the third region which is the only one with dogs!)

Nora finds herself all alone in the world (er, Hell) with no real idea of what to do and how to survive. Luckily, her hero comes in the form of Aegis, an incredibly old vampire who somehow wound up being my favorite character. Together they travel throughout Hell and, eventually, Nora realizes where she belonged all along...but if you want to know where that place is, read the book ;)

The book itself starts off a bit slow; not unbearably slow, though. I was engaged enough to keep reading even if I hadn’t been asked to review this book but it took me until later on to become super invested in the story. It’s a quick read, something that you want to keep reading and not put down. I genuinely enjoyed it.

Besides the slight slow pace in the start there are a few other things I’d like to mention. We see an incredible amount of Hell and actually get to experience it. Shayna did an incredible job making sure that the reader could see the world without telling them. There isn’t pages upon pages of descriptive detail about the landscape but we can still visualize it clearly in our minds. It’s extremely well done.

Nora as a character is interesting and we see her mature and change throughout this book. Her mindset is that of a teenage girl who has been thrown into a very adult situation; so exactly how it should be. She’s a believable character. Aegis, as I mentioned, is my favorite because he is a very well developed character with a lot of depth. The Steward we also get to see quite a bit of. Nora’s mother, is my only character issue because she comes off a bit flat. However, she’s also made out to be a rather flat person so perhaps that’s for the best.

My only true issue with this book in any way, shape, or form is the ending. We spend 300+ pages with Nora on her adventure and, towards the end of the book, she decides to take what’s hers. Unfortunately, this whole situation is way too easy. Now, I need to remember that this is fantasy and a young adult novel so things don’t have to be entirely realistic but still. Without much spoilers I’ll say this, Nora ends up having to fight the crown (or Steward, I guess). She manages to get the entire military on her side, which is unbelievable in itself. Wouldn’t at least a few side with the Steward and his money? Then when it comes to the actual show down it takes, what? Two chapters, roughly 12 pages of conflict and roughly 6 pages of actual battle. It felt too easy. Plus, the book ends there, with only a little bit of story left.

BUT! This is only the beginning! For a debut novel, this was a well-crafted and enjoyable story. For the first book of a series, it did a good job of making me look forward to the next one. I genuinely recommend this book. It’s a fun, enjoyable read that made me laugh out loud plenty. But it also offers some commentary and insight about the world around us (here and now) and how, if we truly try, we can change the world for the greater good.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy the book! https://www.fountainbookstore.com/book/9781988281698

(As always this links to a local bookstore. It’s available in many other popular retailers but you should always try to support your favorite local shops!)

You can find more about the book at https://www.sgrissom.com/

And check out Shayna on Twitter https://twitter.com/ShaynaGrissom/

If you’re interested in having me review your book, send me a message!

*The author was kind enough to give me a copy of the book but this is my genuine, unbiased review.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHEN YOU CHOOSE TECHNOLOGY, YOU HAVE TO IGNORE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING, AND A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE IS FOR THINKING OF PROGRAMS, NOT FOR EXPRESSING PROGRAMS YOU'VE ALREADY THOUGHT OF

That in itself is less likely to introduce bugs. That m. What makes a language good for throwaway programs, but was pretty much a throwaway program is something that you expect to write in school you are, the more of the world's infrastructure? We knew Lisp was a really good deal. Arduinos, 3D printing, laser cutters, and more informal. One reason it's easy to believe that taste is just a series of web pages.1 Anyone in the arts, and particularly in oil painting. It will be a collection of utilities for generating reports, and only incidentally for machines to execute. You can't trust the opinions of the others, because of the Blub paradox: they're satisfied with whatever language they use. Make something unsexy that people will later say turned out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium.

You don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so to explain this point I'm going to talk about art being good, and scientists start good, and get good, and scientists start good, and artists being good at making it. When people do that today it's usually to enjoy them again e. I drive down 101 from the airport, I still feel a buzz of energy, as if there were a giant transformer nearby. If the posts on a site are characteristically of this type are only a few years? One thing is certain: the question is hard to buy, people will change their mind about whether they wanted it.2 Google, or entering a market that looks small but which will turn out to be a UI for applications, but they're not entirely orthogonal. I only discovered this myself quite recently. Honestly, Sam is, along with Steve Jobs, the founder I refer to most when I'm advising startups.3 Why?

How hard he worked on part of a century to establish that central planning didn't work. B the subject of writing now tends to be literature, since that's what the professor is interested in.4 But this Lisp must be a hacker's language, I think we'll marvel at the inconveniences people put up with, just as newspapers that put their stories online still seem to have been the idea that they should be like telephones. And so, by word of mouth mostly, we got more and more programs may turn out to be i/o-bound. Lots of people heard about the Altair and think I bet we could write a x, y. Interfaces, as Geoffrey James has said, should follow the principle of least astonishment. The same thing will happen if you're running a startup, of course.5 So the test of mattering to hackers. In fact, shelving an idea probably even inhibits new ideas: as you start to think of some new feature, you catch sight of the shelf and think but I already have problems enough with that. There are sources of error so powerful that if you build a facebook that works at Harvard, it will be. So in 1998 powerful New York types were suddenly wearing open-necked shirts and khakis and oval wire-rimmed glasses, just like the core language. Google is an immense crater: hundreds of millions of people use it in all his paintings, wouldn't he?

He grew up in the small Welsh seacoast town of Pwllheli. You don't need the current. It was pulling on that thread that unravelled my childhood faith in relativism.6 There is such a thing as good art, in the long run.7 These are some of the software support for CDs and DVDs wasn't ready. I'm aiming for good ideas.8 This doesn't just affect what they claim to like; they actually make themselves like things they're supposed to be a genius who will need to do here is loosen up your own mind, it may not only filter out lots of good examples. That's what I thought the price should be. That's how programmers read code anyway: when indentation says one thing.9

I can just incorporate in the essay. I had a thought so heretical that it really surprised me. VisiCalc was not merely a microcomputer version of a tree that in the early 1970s, are now, just barely, on the order of twenty to thirty of them, and the difference is embodied in the name. There should be online documentation as well.10 Hackers need to understand the fear Microsoft still inspired in 1995. I know several people who've sworn off Perl after such experiences. In that case, in the sense that it sorted in order of how much advertisers bid as Overture did but in order of how much advertisers bid as Overture did but in order of how much advertisers bid as Overture did but in order of bids, you can use from any browser will be enough of a win in itself to outweigh any awkwardness in the UI. I'm not sure how useful his advice is good. You should give up n% of your company. Intuit is famous for introducing themselves to customers at retail stores and asking to follow them home.11 Historically, Lisp has been good at letting hackers have their way with it.

When looking at pictures of a trip or to find the origin of some bug in their compiled code e. Ask What would Steve do? And this brings us to what I think will be an increasingly important feature of programming languages a surprising amount of effort a startup usually puts into a version one, it would be useful if I explained what a nerd was. I didn't get to macros until page 160. If they can, corp dev people at companies that are otherwise benevolent. Why do they do it?12 You're thinking out loud. Some links are both fluff, in the sense that it sorted in order of how much money Yahoo would make from each link. Remember, hackers are lazy. How do you learn it?13 This seems to be quite malleable; there's a lot you can do for the next release. For example, explicit support for programs with multiple users, or data ownership at the level of type tags.

Programmers may spend a long day up to their elbows in source code, but you weren't held to it; you could work out all the details, and even so I didn't get to macros until page 160. Many evolve into real programs, with real features and real users. She's so sensitive to character that it repels her even to fight with dishonest people.14 There are only rudimentary libraries for manipulating strings. Ten minutes of searching the web will usually settle the question. The downside of tuning a site to attract certain people is that, historically, the things people have said about good taste have generally been such nonsense. It was High Technology Innovation: Free Markets or Government Subsidies? It is not the word. My mother doesn't really need a desktop computer, you end up with a much firmer grip on the code. Especially since you won't even really learn about it, and the way to do it mean she tends to get written out of YC's history. Developers have been able to keep up with you. Authenticity is one of the reasons artists in fifteenth century Florence made such great things was not just big corporations that depended on this principle.

Plus Reddit had different goals from Hacker News.15 The tiny, expensive pipeline to consumers was tellingly named the channel. So, in their way, did labor unions, the traditional news media, and the stores built with it are the foundation of Yahoo Shopping.16 Master of all I surveyed. There are specific implications. If there's no such thing as better, it doesn't matter much where a given individual goes to college. Is software a counterexample? It must have seemed to our competitors that we had some kind of connection.17 A startup can't hope to enter a market that's obviously big and yet in which they have no state, and that was more than enough. More generally, it means that you have one this has real implications for software design.18 Software companies can charge a lot because a many of the customers are businesses, who get in trouble if they use pirated versions, and b they work.

Notes

That was a kind of social engineering—. Sometimes founders know it's a proxy for revenue growth.

At the time and Bob Frankston. To the extent to which it is certainly more efficient. Unfortunately the constraint probably has a spam probabilty of. Galbraith was clearly puzzled that corporate executives would work.

I did the section of the things they've tried on the software business, A P successfully defended itself by allowing the unionization of its workforce in 1938, thereby gaining organized labor as a cause them to be careful here, because few founders are in a signal. By heavy-duty security I mean by evolution.

But you can describe each strategy in an urban context, etc. I startups. There can be surprisingly indecisive about acquisitions, and configure domain names etc.

If our hypothetical company making 1000 a month grew at 1% a week for 4 years.

The kind of organization for that reason. And they are like sheep, but it doesn't cost anything. Interestingly, the way they have raised money on convertible notes, VCs who are running on vapor, financially, and oversupply of educated ones.

Even Samuel Johnson seems to pass so slowly for them by the surface similarities.

Businesses have to think of ourselves as investors, is this someone you want to pound that message home.

For example, understanding French will help you along by promising to invest at a Demo Day. Professors and politicians live within socialist eddies of the products I grew up with much greater inconveniences than that. While the first scientist.

That way most reach the stage where they're sufficiently convincing well before Demo Day pitch, the fatigue hits you like a core going critical.

6% of the Italian word for success. If Paris is where all the best hackers want to be a distraction.

Several people have told us that we don't have to do that much to say yet how much he liked his work. It's not only the leaves who suffer. This approach has not worked well, but that wasn't a partnership. Conversely, it's easy to believe is that you'll have to preserve optionality.

Sullivan actually said form ever follows function, but I think is happening when you see with defense contractors or fashion brands. And I'm sure for every startup founder could pull the same work faster.

They hoped they were, like languages and safe combinations, and all those 20 people at once, and philosophy the imprecise half. Algorithms that use it are called naive Bayesian.

In practice the first duty of the techniques for stopping spam.

But it's a significant effect on college admissions process. That's why startups always pay equity rather than given by other people. The US News list tells us is what approaches like Brightmail's will degenerate into once spammers are pushed into using mad-lib techniques to generate revenues they could imagine needing in their racks for years while they think they're just mentioning the possibility.

Not in New York is where product companies go to die from running Kazaa helped ensure the success of their upbringing in their hearts that if the current edition, which would harm their all-important GPA.

If you were still so small that no one knows how many computers the worm might have. Experienced investors know about a related phenomenon: he found himself concealing from his family, that alone could in principle get us up to 20x, since human vision is the lost revenue.

[mrsteveecook]

should I push my job-searching friend harder, fired coworker was looking at colleague’s burlesque photos, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Should I push my job-searching friend to tell me what’s holding her back?

A good friend of mine was let go from her job (one in her field that she’s had since we graduated college, also located in our college town) in March. At the time, I asked for details, but she didn’t offer much and I didn’t feel the need to probe. She said that it wasn’t ideal, but wasn’t upset at the timing, since her and her husband were relocating to a different, much larger city (the one that I currently reside in).

She and her husband have since moved down … and she still has not been able to find a job in her field. To ensure she had at least some income, she took a part-time retail job and has been doing that ever since.

I’ve tried quite a few times to assist her in her job search by reviewing her resume, sending her relevant job postings and advice from your website, etc., but she still hasn’t been able to find a position in her field. This doesn’t really make sense. She had great experience at her last job and was there for ~4 years, and her field is a growing market with many positions available. I’m starting to suspect that there’s something else that’s holding her back, and her husband has somewhat pushed me to help her more (I have a background/experience in job development). But when I try to ask, she gets slightly defensive and the conversation shuts down pretty quickly — which is unfortunate, since I can see the toll not getting a job in her field is having on her.

Do you have any suggestions for how I can help her? Do I just need to push past her defensiveness to really get to the bottom of what might be going on (not applying to enough jobs, issues with how she left her last job, etc.)?

Do not push her! You’ve reached out and tried to help, but she’s shut down the conversation, which is her prerogative. Trying to push past her defensiveness would be disrespecting the boundaries she’s putting up. She may just not want to talk about it, and that’s okay. Her husband is the only one with standing to insist that she talk about what’s going on (since it presumably affects him fairly directly), but he can’t outsource that standing to you and pressure you to pressure her.

Respect her boundaries, and trust that you’ve made it clear you’re available if she wants help. Meanwhile, focus on being her friend, not her job coach.

2. A recently-fired employee was regularly looking at another employee’s burlesque pics online

We terminated an office employee this week who was always just kind of creepy and walked the line of inappropriateness with his jokes. He was fired for something else, not because of any complaints.

Today I went through his computer because a) we need a lot of files from it b) he didn’t password protect it c) we need to know what websites he has work accounts for, etc. But oh man, he didn’t log out of or delete his browser history. As I was looking through his Chrome history to see what websites he frequented for work, I discovered that he found a coworker’s – who does burlesque – web page which has ALL KINDS OF nudey pics in it. He was regularly looking at these photos of her. This is not necessarily on his work computer, but likely his personal phone because Chrome syncs browser info. So it’s not necessarily about company property. (I also saw numerous porn sites and google searches for steroids, and I was only looking up til Dec 1.)

But the thing is … I should tell no one, right? Because he’s already fired? And because maybe the burlesque coworker gave him the link? I definitely don’t tell any bosses, and I maybe don’t need to say anything to her? I don’t want her to be in trouble. If I say something to her, it can still be considered sexual harassment, even if I’m just warning her? But no need to tell her because what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her? And she has it out in public because she wants to?

We don’t have permanent, on-site HR here, but our “home office” has acting HR people that we don’t communicate with much. I just … tell no one, right? Or document it somehow?

Tell your coworker. Maybe she gave him the link, and maybes he didn’t and would want to know and have the option to lock it down. It’s not sexual harassment to alert her to this (presumably you’re not going to be leering and making provocative comments about her photos and so forth!). You can simply say, “I wanted to let you know that when I was clearing out Bob’s computer, I found he was regularly looking at your burlesque page. You might be totally fine with this, but in case you weren’t aware of it and wouldn’t want coworkers accessing it, I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

I’m not suggesting that you seek advice from HR on this because I don’t want your coworker to deal with any hassle from them, and it could end up playing out that way. So just a simple heads-up to her, and then move on.

3. My boss is trying to manage my diabetes for me

I started a new job in January this year. I love it — the boss is kind (I came from kind of a stressful situation before this), the coworkers are awesome, and I’ve had a great year.

One small fly in the ointment though. I have Type 1 Diabetes. I’ve had it so long I was actually diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes before the name change. My diabetes is well-managed and well-controlled and has never caused any issues in the workplace, other than occasionally having to have a snack at odd times, which has never been an issue. It isn’t an issue here, either. The thing is, my boss is a micromanager, and he’s trying to manage me and my illness as well. We had a three-day trip in October, and he nearly drove me insane questioning if I was eating as I should, should I be doing anything, did I need to test, etc., etc. It’s coming from a good place, I know that, but Oh. My. God.

How do I say “Dude, I was diagnosed in 1968. I’ve got this” and make him understand that, unless I’m laid out on the floor (which hasn’t happened in years), I really have got this?

The next time he brings it up, be very direct: “Bob, I know you’re coming from a place of concern, but I have this under control and I consider it a private health condition. It’s not something I want to discuss at work. Thanks for understanding.”

Then if he brings it after that: “That’s not something I want to talk about at work! But about (work-related topic)…”

4. Can I ask for a re-do after a Skype interview had technical difficulties?

I applied for a position I am well qualified for that is out of state. I was selected for a first round interview via Skype. There were several interviewers in a conference room and it started out okay but kept getting interrupted because of technical issues. Their video feed froze for a while but they could still hear me. Then I think the audio went out because I asked if they could hear me and no one said yes. Then my feed froze and then my audio went out again. All these issues interrupted the flow of the interview and my own ability to give carefully thought out answers. In my thank-you email to the hiring manager, should I ask for another chance? Maybe offer to fly there on my own dime for an in-person interview?

That sucks, and I can understand why it feels like it put you at a disadvantage! In your thank-you email, though, I wouldn’t ask for another chance, per se, but instead frame it as offering to talk again if they feel it would be helpful. The thing is, they may have heard enough to know that they’re moving you forward regardless (in which case you shouldn’t offer to fly out at your own expense), or they may have heard enough to know that you’re not as strong of a match as they’re looking for (in which case asking for another chance will feel off). But you could say something like, “My sense is that the technical issues on our call may have distracted from our focus on the job and what I’d bring to it, and I’d be happy to set up another time to talk if you think it would be useful. I’m not sure how much of my side of the conversation came through clearly, and I’d be glad to cover some of that ground again if the tech issues got in the way.”

5. Should I tell my boss my coworkers are badmouthing her in another language?

Recently, seven new people were added to my team, most of whom are fantastic to work with. However, two of them, both men who speak Korean, are constantly saying homophobic and sexist slurs in Korean against my boss, who is openly gay. (I can also speak Korean and can fully understand what they are saying, although I don’t think they know that. No one else on the team is Korean.) However, they act polite in front of my boss’ face and to the rest of us, they do good work on projects, and my boss seems to like them. I have told a few of my coworkers about this, but they seem split about whether to report them or keep quiet. I don’t know what to do. Should I tell my boss (and/or HR?) or is this a case of what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her?

Tell your boss.

What they’re doing is disgusting and toxic, it’s not okay to do at work even if it’s in another language, and your boss needs to know. (Plus, you shouldn’t have to hear it yourself.)

You may also like:

I received a networking email from a stranger who’s job searching for her husband

my husband’s boss/our friend is sleeping with their married department head

I think my life coach is giving me bad advice

should I push my job-searching friend harder, fired coworker was looking at colleague’s burlesque photos, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from Ask a Manager http://bit.ly/2QkPDVS

[johnmkenney]

Game of the Year 2017

You’ve likely heard it everywhere, but 2017 sure was a fantastic year for video games.  Nintendo released their latest system, Microsoft put their upgraded revision of their console out on the market, and an Early Access title took the world by storm.  All while this was happening, fantastic games were coming out at an unprecedented pace. Three of the games in my top 10 last came out within 10 days of each other early in the year, and two others came out on the same exact day later in the year.  There’s something to be said about years ending in 7 having good games, and this decade provided yet another stellar showing.

This was a year where almost the entirety of the top 10 could have ranked even higher in previous years.  That’s how good games were this year.  I also spent a lot of time ordering my top 3 when I put this together last weekend, as the line is so razor thin that any of them could have won it.  The end moral: what a year for games.

As always, the rules for inclusion are as follows:    

The game must have its final retail release in 2017.  Thus, anything in an alpha/beta state or Steam Early Access does not qualify.  Based on the way games are being developed, this will likely be the last year this rule is in place.

In the case of episodic games, they must have their final episode delivered in 2017 to make the list.

While this list is comprehensive, I haven’t played everything.  Games like A Night in the Woods, Hollow Knight, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Divinity: Original Sin 2 all seem great but are unfortunately all still on my backlog.

Most importantly: the game has to be really good.  No-brainer there.

Honorable mentions:

This was the hardest year yet to limit the list to ten games, but here are the last five cuts I made:

Destiny 2 - Bungie managed to take the positive momentum of the later years of the original Destiny to make a great experience in Destiny 2, but there are definitely still some aspects to be cleaned up. Sonic Mania - It’s the first truly great Sonic game in decades as Christian Whitehead nailed the essence of the Genesis-era games. Persona 5 - A fantastic entry in the series that provides another strong cast of characters, stellar RPG gameplay, and a wonderful soundtrack. Nioh - While often labeled a Souls-clone, the mission based structure and smart take on combat stances make this a unique experience. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - This is definitely an important title for exploring mental health, and the true shining star here is the audio design.  Definitely play this with headphones.

And now, here are my top 10 games of 2017:

10. Typeshift (Zach Gage - Mobile)

While many successful games this year focused on large, sweeping adventures, the one game I found myself launching daily was this clever word game.  TypeShift gives you a simple task: shift columns of letters vertically to make words until you’ve used every letter at least once.  While this sounds simple at first, the variety of different modes, including crossword-style clue challenges, help keep you coming back for puzzle after puzzle.  There’s also a free daily puzzle every day, so the replayability is infinite here.  This is the type of game that will stay installed on my phone for a long time to come, as it’s not something I see myself tiring of anytime soon.

9. The Sexy Brutale (Tequila Works - PC, PS4, XBO)

One of 2017’s most unique games: The Sexy Brutale is a Groundhog Day-esque murder mystery adventure.  Stuck in an infinite time loop, the player needs to witness party-goers at a mansion party get killed throughout the night.  Using the knowledge you’ve received as well as the ability to reset time by a few hours, you’re able to foil the attempts at their lives and slowly piece together the story and motives.  This isometric puzzler presents you with a simple objective but continues to use it in clever ways throughout the story to fill in all of the missing pieces in this adventure.  Figuring out how to save each character is a joy, and the setting and soundtrack help make this something that won’t soon be forgotten.

8. Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games - PS4)

After over a decade of developing Killzone games, Guerilla Games delivered a fresh and intriguing new world with Horizon.  In the developer’s self-described “post-post-apocalypse”, you’re given a beautiful open world filled with the remnants of civilization that went nearly extinct thousands of years prior.  Horizon does a good job painting a picture of new class structures and struggles as humans redevelop their societies, but the true spectacle comes within slowly learning more about what caused the downfall of humanity in the first place.  It’s a well-told tale that helps sets the table for more adventures to come in this universe in the future.  Combat and discovering the weaknesses of beasts in battle is a great hook, and the strong gameplay gives you reasons to stick with Aloy for dozens of hours.

7. Pyre (Supergiant Games - PC, PS4)

With its third entry, Supergiant created another enthralling universe to get lose within.  Pyre’s gameplay hook of “RPG meets NBA Jam” is a great way to get people into the door, but what’s more important here is the story that is told.  Half the game presents itself as a visual novel of sorts, where you spend time talking to various members of your party (as well as your opponents) to build a bigger sense of what being trapped in this underground is truly like.  Winning your matches is important, but if you lose, the game continues, as your loss hindered the team and is part of the story.  There are no do-overs in this world, and you must soldier on even if your failure caused members of your team their freedom.  This is one of the strongest aspects of the game, and the relationships you build with the multiple well developed characters in this game make you want to earn their freedom, even if it means you lose them for future matches.  The battles are fun every time, but the true reason to stick around this world is the characters.

6. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games - PC, PS4, XBO)

Wolfenstein II is probably the game that features the worst gameplay on this list.  Why mention that and even put it on this list?  Well, that’s because tearing through this world and seeing the adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz and his resistance team is a sight to behold.  Set in an alternate reality a few decades after the Nazis won World War II, there isn’t much hope left in the world for those fighting back, and this is a story about starting a revolutions.  Words cannot even describe the twists and turns this story takes, as there are enough clever moments and setpieces that could fill a whole series instead of just a single game.  I found myself putting down the controller several times out of shock with a “did they really just do that?” thought throughout the adventure.  It’s quite alright to throw the settings to easy and tear through this adventure, as it isn’t something to be missed.

5. Cuphead (StudioMDHR - PC, XBO)

There’s one thing painfully obvious about Cuphead right off the bat: this 1930s cartoon inspired run-and-gun platformer is one of the most beautiful games you’ll see in motion.  The game is so faithful to its source material, straight down to the occasional tears in the film and garbled voice audio from some characters.  StudioMDHR went for an aesthetic, and they nailed it.  However, looks aren’t what make a game, and Cuphead’s true strength comes within its stellar gameplay and boss design.  It feels like you are playing a modern-day Gunstar Heroes while you tear through dragons, genies, haunted roller coasters, and so many more diverse villains.  While everything may look cute, this game provides a challenge that is not for the weak of heart, but it’s certainly worth surmounting.  The boss battles a true delight, and something as simple as a progress meter that shows how far you got during your failed attempt is a great touch to make you want to immediately hop back in to try to redeem your loss.  

4. Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD - Switch)

While Super Mario Galaxy 2 may be my favorite 3D Mario, there’s something to be said about Nintendo wanting to go back to the world-exploring approach seen in Super Mario 64.  What resulted is a fantastic journey through a dozen worlds with clever platforming and environments that reward you for searching every nook and cranny.  Almost every level brings fresh ideas and challenges that help present one of the most fun Mario adventures yet.  All of that being said, I haven’t even touched on the capture mechanic, which helped breath new life into this story.  Using Mario’s new hat companion, Cappy, you are able to possess a majority of enemies you come across to gain their abilities.  The foes you can overtake range from classics like Bullet Bills and Chain Chomps to new foes such as a giant T-Rex.  These traits help you look at your surroundings like you couldn’t before and uncover new secrets and objectives, leading to an absolute sense of wonder for the player.  From the New Donk City Festival to the Darker Side, the moments in this game will keep a smile on your face throughout.

3. NieR: Automata (Platinum Games - PC, PS4)

NieR took me a very long time to finally get through, as there were a few separate occasions early on where I fell off the game.  I decided to stick with it, and shortly after I came to a moment that I immediately intrigued me to keep pushing.  After finishing the game (aka Route A), I enjoyed it enough to see what the alternative routes would show me.  Immediately upon starting the second playthrough, I was hooked and the game wouldn’t let go until I saw the credits no less than six more times.  The twists and turns the story takes in NieR are unprecedented, and the beauty of is it in the way that the story itself is told. This is one of those experiences that wouldn’t have the same effect if shown in another type of medium. The answers are in front of you the whole time, but seeing the way that the game handles subjects such as loyalty, the human essence, and society as a whole are fascinating.  Characters are built so incredibly strong in this world that you want to see what happens to each one of them, even if the outcome isn’t usually the happiest.  It’s to the point where even the end credits have a moment that left me with a “wow, I can’t believe they did that” feeling.  It’s a hard game to discuss without spoiling some of the genius found within, so if you’re at all interested, it’s worth a look.  It’s been weeks since I’ve finished NieR, and I still can’t stop thinking about some of its themes and story.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD - Switch, Wii U)

The crown jewel of Nintendo’s new platform is Link’s latest adventure.  It’s hard to think of an open-world created that is as stunning and provides the freedom to explore as the world found here.  2013’s handheld Zelda, A Link Between Worlds, toyed around with the idea of giving the player access to most abilities immediately and setting them loose in the world. Breath of the Wild took that concept and ran with it, as you spent the first few hours on a seperate plateau learning the mechanics and receiving all of the items that give Link his abilities in the game.  Once you have that, you’re turned free to go anywhere you want in the world.  I spent dozens of hours just exploring mountains, lakes, and deserts before even approaching the first story milestone of the game, as there was just so much to do by wandering.  Something as simple as giving Link the ability to climb instead of gating with invisible terrain presents the player with the ability to explore so much so quickly, and the world seems so vast thanks to it.  

Nintendo’s decisions to add challenge shrines, which were all mostly unique, in place of the typical heart piece search granted a new reason to try to uncover everything there was in the world.  The in-game physics also lead to so many moments of creating unique solutions to obstacles and combat that you won’t believe what you can pull off.  The newest Zelda also used one of the series core strengths, its music, in a novel way, as the world is more silent and songs are used more as ambiance to accompany Link in key moments, and it works.  It’s a world you’ll never want to leave, and the fact that Nintendo provided a Zelda adventure that can give you 100 hours a playtime if you choose is something truly special.  The one piece that was the deciding factor of keeping Breath of the Wild out of my top spot was the dungeons, as the focus on letting the player have access to all abilities led to all the dungeons and their bosses seemed sub-par compared to everything else.  Still, this is not an experience to be missed.

1. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation - PC, XBO)

As with most people, if you would have told me I would have been hooked by a full game version of one of those Battle Royale mods in 2017, I would have called you crazy.  However, here we are.  Very early in the year, I found myself watching a few PUBG streams on Twitch and decided to pick it up about two weeks after it launched in Early Access.  I mentioned at the start of this list how I consistently played TypeShift throughout the year, but 2017 was also the year that I was constantly drawn back into PUBG week after week.

The concept is simple: you and 99 other people are dropped onto an island with nothing.  The goal: be the last person standing.  This isn’t the first time this has been attempted, as I mentioned earlier how mods and other games have attempted this same idea.  However, this is the first time where it’s been streamlined in a way that makes it super easy to hop in and play.  There’s nothing overly complicated about it: as all you need to do is run around and loot weapons and recovery items to better prepare you for battles you’ll have on a fairly large map.  In one of the ways that makes PUBG so accessible, there’s always a circle slowly encroaching onto players to ensure games move quickly and that you cannot just hide in one spot.  Sure, you can hide in a bathtub and hope to get lucky with circle positioning, but it’s probably not going to happen.

No two games of PUBG are exactly alike, and there’s nothing that compares the heart-pounding experience of being one of the last 10 people alive, knowing your next move could win you the game or expose you to be easily killed by another opponent.  It’s a game that has already inspired developers to start working on adding similar concepts to their games, and this could very well be looked back at as a seminal title years down the line.  It’s been a fantastic year for video games, but nothing could compete with the thrill of trying to earn a chicken dinner in PUBG in 2017.

[josephquinn]

Failing the Whirlpool forum clerkship thread – what Whirlpool users don’t tell you

You know how important clerkships are, you worked your butt off to apply to as many firms as you could, and now you’re waiting on the Whirlpool forum clerkship thread to confirm offers. All you need is just a few, just 2 or 3, and… everyone is getting them except for you.

I remember this time as one of the most stressful and disheartening periods during my law degree. Every time a Whirlpool user confirmed that another firm’s offers were out I would grab my phone to refresh my email, and then again, and then once more (just in case it didn’t update correctly the first two times).

I applied to around six firms (idiotic, I know) and received a grand total of zero offers. They were all top-tier and mid-tier firms, so the confirmations on Whirlpool came out hard and fast, and with each one that feeling at the bottom of my stomach became heavier with the realisation that all I was going to score a big fail on the Whirlpool clerkship thread.

It seems like almost every person in those threads ends up with 5 or 6 offers – it’s so unfair! Further, the advice they give afterwards is pretty much what you did. So where did you go wrong?

The purpose of this post is to provide some perspective for those that missed out on offers (or didn’t receive as many as you thought you would).

Those Whirlpool fuckers with their high distinctions and perfect extracurriculars… someone will pay for this.

You’re not alone

These kinds of threads are self selecting. When people are happy they want to tell the world, and how can you really blame other law students who want to boast about receiving offers? I would have posted a humble-brag “confirmed FH” if I got an offer too.

Just remember that there are probably only 50 people posting in the thread – tops. There are hundreds of other law students who applied to your firms but missed out, and thousands of other students who applied across Australia and didn’t end up with anything.

You are definitely not alone. Take a moment (or day, or week) to cry, eat one of those over-sized 1m blocks of Toblerone, scream, silently implode or whatever it is you need to do, and then start thinking about next steps.

Whirlpool users discount the significance of luck

Clerkship applicants who receive 5 or 6 offers have obviously done something right. The problem with the Whirlpool forums is that you you will find these people (and even the ones with “just” 1 or 2 offers) giving advice as if they knew exactly what they were doing all along.

I’ve spoken to many students who have been annoyed at themselves for not doing something differently, or for not doing more – if only they had got some experience in this CLC, or picked up a paralegal position in that private firm, or went to a few firm clerkship events, or spoke to a particular partner on a particular day…

You can’t control everything and you can’t predict the future, so try not to go down this path. Luck plays such a massive role in clerkship applications these days (and the same goes for graduate applications and offers). Sure, you will need to have good marks and some relevant legal or other experience, but almost everyone does!

I tend to think that the people with 5/6+ offers have just gone with the scatter gun approach and have done a very good job at padding out their CV – they didn’t have some grand plan that, carefully executed, has resulted in their success. They just ended up with something on their resume that the firms wanted.

There is no real way for law students to know what individual law firms are looking for. Don’t beat yourself up that you didn’t have some grand plan like everyone else.

Didn’t have a high distinction average?

Again, self selection plays a large role in posting grades on Whirlpool, and a lot of people claim that you need at least a distinction average to even be considered for clerkship applications – a high distinction would be even better.

I’ve been at my firm for a number of years now and I don’t know what the cutoff is. I think it’s fair to say that there would be one, but it’s not something that we all know about (I would say only the human resources and hiring committees know what it is).

However, for the purposes of this post, comparing your grades to other Whirlpool users is completely pointless – it’s not as if you will have time to improve them in the two months from when the thread kicks off to when clerkship applications open!

In any event, if you have been networking from the start of your degree, hopefully you have a few contacts who are willing to help push your application to the top of the pile, regardless of your grades. This absolutely happens – now that is something I do know.

Nepotism and connections

Obviously law firms are very careful these days to avoid employing children or relatives of partners, and I have never seen it happen at my firm, even at the clerkship level. But the law industry is relatively small and the names of legal families (and other high net worth families with broad business connections) are well known. This means that other law firms will be looking closely at the candidate.

Put a well connected family and an intelligent and hardworking law student together and you have an extremely competitive clerkship application. Unfortunately for the rest of us, law is a business, so the person with connections will always have the advantage (I should say that this isn’t enough to convert into a graduate offer – they actually need to be impressive for the right reasons to get that).

As they say, it’s not about what you know, but who you know. While you can’t help what family you’re born into, you can do a lot of things – networking is at the top of that list.

Application screening is far from standard

Sometimes, two people will have similar marks and experience, but only one will receive a clerkship offer. Why would that be the case? This is a question I see asked or commented on quite frequently on Whirlpool.

The answer is pretty straightforward: most firms implement processes to standardise the clerkship application process, but they are usually always inundated with hundreds or even thousands of applications. The human resource departments usually take the first round of reviews and remove any undesirable applications. They then ask lawyers to help with the second round of reviews. For example, a lawyer will be given 10 applications and be asked to choose the best 2.

If you and a friend have very similar marks and extracurriculars, but only your friend got an offer at a particular firm, then it could be that a lawyer in the firm simply judged your application a little more harshly.

Grim times. When refreshing gmail will not make things better.

No one knows what the perfect mix of extracurriculars will be

Some people volunteer at community legal centres. Some people paralegal at law firms. Some people work in their existing jobs, such as hospitality and retail. Some people partake in university activities. Some do all of these and others do none!

I touched on this above. Don’t waste your energy on wondering what could have been if only you had changed your extracurriculars.

Some Whirlpools users sound like they they have it all figured out and just walked into a wall of clerkship offers. But you don’t know who their families are, what private school or law school they went to (that the interviewing partner also attended), what relationship they have to the firm, or what someone on the hiring committee thinks is important.

Choose your extracurriculars based on your own interests, and then sell your experience from them the best you can!

Don’t just look for excuses!

So some people have it easier than others, and some people just get handed a lucky run – that doesn’t mean you don’t have to critically review your own applications!

I looked at my applications a year or so after the clerkship season and was horrified! My coverletters were absolutely cringeworthy! My resume was also just embarrassing – the formatting made it look like I was a high-school student applying for my first job. I would have been struggling to get an offer even if I was the top law student in Australia. (And yes, I had these reviewed by a lawyer I knew, but he was obviously being kind – make sure you get a number of reviews!)

You might have spent an outrageous amount of time getting your applications perfect, but now you have some preliminary data telling you they your resume and coverletter don’t help you stand out. Don’t waste that information (or your future applications) by repeating what hasn’t worked for you so far.

Throw out your coverletter, find some example resumes on Google to emulate, and start them both from scratch.

Don’t stop looking

Don’t feed in to the Whirlpool pessimism that failing to get a clerkship means it is all over. Will it make it harder? Sure, if you want to work in a clerkship firm, but there are way more options out there. Now is not the time to wallow in self pity.

Consider the following:

While most firms will be closing their clerkship applications after offers come out, other firms will only just be starting. Time to find the firms that aren’t signatories to your state’s law society guidelines.

Get on Seek, go through every single firm listed in my post on mid tier firms (and the other related posts, just in case), and do some broad Google searches for other clerkship opportunities.

Keep your eyes peeled for any other opportunities during this research period – for example, if you have just missed out on applying for a paralegal vacancy, or if you see that a law firm has taken on law students in the past, write the name of the firm down and email them in 6 months – it’s possible they might need assistance in the future, and you already know that they advertise for the kind of jobs you want.

Start reaching out to your connections and let them know you’re interested in any clerkship, internship or paralegal opportunities.

Just keep working at it, your persistence will pay off!

And finally, keep your head up!

I know – it sucks. Everyone on Whirlpools killed it except for you! It’s a massive blow and will take some time to get over, but keep your head up and continue working towards your goals.

It’s a thankless job being a law student, but if you’ve made it this far, you know that there is always something else on the list to do. This just means that you will need to cross out “clerkship/internship” a little later than other people, so best to get to it!

Have a wine or four, but don’t be a sad law student for too long – there is plenty more you can be doing!

If you found this helpful, please share it around!

The post Failing the Whirlpool forum clerkship thread – what Whirlpool users don’t tell you appeared first on You've entered law land.

Failing the Whirlpool forum clerkship thread – what Whirlpool users don’t tell you published first on http://personalinjuryattorneyphiladelphia.blogspot.com/

[nedsecondline]

Secure computing for journalists

This morning on Twitter, Buzzfeed editor Miriam Elder asks the following question:

Possibly stupid question: is the Signal desktop client as secure as the mobile app?

— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) March 3, 2017

No, this is not a stupid question. Actually it’s an extremely important question, and judging by some of the responses to this Tweet there are a lot of other people who are confused about the answer.

Since I couldn’t find a perfect layperson’s reference anywhere else, I’m going to devote this post to providing the world’s simplest explanation of why, in the threat model of your typical journalist, your desktop machine isn’t very safe. And specifically, why you’re safer using a modern mobile device — and particularly, an iOS device — than just about any other platform.

A brief caveat: I’m a cryptographer, not a software security researcher. However, I’ve spent the past several years interacting with folks like Charlie and Dan. I’m pretty confident that they agree with this advice.

What’s wrong with my laptop/desktop machine?

Sadly, most of the problem is you.

If you’re like most journalists — and really, most professionals — you spend less than 100% of your time thinking about security. You need to get work done. When you’re procrastinating from work, you visit funny sites your friends link you to on Facebook. Then you check your email. If you’re a normal and productive user, you probably do a combination of all these things every few minutes, all of which culminates in your downloading some email attachment and (shudder) opening it in Word.

You can’t tell journalists “just don’t open attachments.” They will ignore you. Journos open attachments from strangers for a living.

— Eva (@evacide) September 12, 2016

Now I’m not trying to shame you for this. It’s perfectly normal, and indeed it’s necessary if you want to get things done.  But in the parlance of security professionals, it also means you have a huge attack surface.

In English, this means that from the perspective of an attacker there are many different avenues to compromise your machine. Many of these aren’t even that sophisticated. Often it’s just a matter of catching you during an unguarded moment and convincing you to download an executable file or an infected Office document. A compromised machine means that every piece of software on that machine is also vulnerable.

If you don’t believe this works, head over to Google and search for “Remote Access Trojans”. There’s an entire commercial market for these products, each of which allows you to remotely control someone else’s computer. These off-the-shelf products aren’t very sophisticated: indeed, most require you to trick your victim into downloading and running some executable attachment. Sadly, this works on most people just fine. And this is just the retail stuff. Imagine what a modestly sophisticated attacker can do.

I do some of those things on my phone as well. Why is a phone better?

Classical (desktop and laptop) operating systems were designed primarily to support application developers. This means they offer a lot of power to your applications. An application like Microsoft Word can typically read and write all the files available to your account. If Word becomes compromised, this is usually enough to pwn you in practice. And in many cases, these applications have components with root (or Administrator) access, which makes them even more dangerous.

Modern phone operating systems like Android and iOS were built on a different principle. Rather than trusting apps with much power, each app runs in a “sandbox” that (mainly) limits it to accessing its own files. If the sandbox works, even a malicious application shouldn’t be able to reach out to touch other apps’ files or permanently modify your system. This approach — combined with other protections such as in-memory code signing, hardware secret storage and routine use of anti-exploitation measures — makes your system vastly harder to compromise.

Of course, sandboxing isn’t perfect. A compromised or malicious app can always access its own files. More sophisticated exploits can “break out” of the sandbox, typically by exploiting a vulnerability in the operating system. Such vulnerabilities are routinely discovered and occasionally exploited.

The defense to this is twofold: (1) first, run a modern, up-to-date OS that receives security patches quickly. And (2) avoid downloading malicious apps. Which brings me to the main point of this post.

Why use iOS?

The fact of the matter is that when it comes to addressing these remaining issues, Apple phone operating systems (on iPhones and iPads) simply have a better track record.

Since Apple is the only manufacturer of iOS devices, there is no “middleman” when it comes to monitoring for iOS issues and deploying iOS security updates. This means that the buck stops at Apple — rather than with some third-party equipment manufacturer. Indeed, Apple routinely patches its operating systems and pushes the patches to all supported users — sometimes within hours of learning of a vulnerability (something that is relatively rare at this point in any case).

Of course, to be fair: Google has also become fairly decent at supporting its own Android devices. However, to get assurance from this process you need to be running a relatively brand new device and it needs to be manufactured by Google. Otherwise you’re liable to be several days or weeks behind the time when a security issue is discovered and patched — if you ever get it. And Google still does not support all of the features Apple does, including in-memory code signing and strong file encryption.

Apple also seems to do a relatively decent job at curating its App Store, at least as compared to Google. And because those apps support a more modern base of phones, they tend to have access to better security features, whereas Android apps more routinely get caught doing dumb stuff for backwards compatibility reasons.

A password manager using the SEP.

Finally, every recent Apple device (starting with the iPhone 5S and up) also includes a specialized chip known as a “Secure Enclave Processor“. This hardened processor assists in securing the boot chain — ensuring that nobody can tamper with your operating system. It can also protect sensitive values like your passwords, ensuring that only a password or fingerprint can access them.

A few Android phones also offer similar features as well. However, it’s unclear how well these are implemented in contrast to Apple’s SEP. It’s not a bet I would choose to take.

So does using iOS mean I’m perfectly safe?

Of course not. Unfortunately, computer security today is about resisting attacks. We still don’t quite know how to prevent them altogether.

Indeed, well-funded attackers like governments are still capable of compromising your iOS device (and your Android, and your PC or Mac). Literally the only question is how much they’ll have to spend doing it.

Here’s one data point. Last year a human rights activist in the UAE was targeted via a powerful zero day exploit, likely by his government. However, he was careful. Instead of clicking the link he was sent, the activist sent it to the engineers at Citizenlab who reverse-engineered the exploit. The resulting 35-page technical report by Lookout Security and Citizenlab is a thing of terrifying beauty: it describes a chain of no less than three previously unpublished software exploits, which together would have led to the complete compromise of the victim’s iPhone.

But such compromises don’t come cheap. It’s easy to see this kind of attack costing a million dollars or more. This is probably orders of magnitude more than it would cost to compromise the typical desktop user. That’s important. Not perfect, but important.

You’re telling me I have to give up my desktop machine?

Not at all. Or rather, while I’d love to tell you that, I understand this may not be realistic for most users.

All I am telling you to do is to be thoughtful. If you’re working on something sensitive, consider moving the majority of that work (and communications) to a secure device until you’re ready to share it. This may be a bit of a hassle, but it doesn’t have to be your whole life. And since most of us already carry some sort of phone or tablet in addition to our regular work computer, hopefully this won’t require too much of a change in your life.

You can still use your normal computer just fine, as long as you’re aware of the relative risks. That’s all I’m trying to accomplish with this post.

In conclusion

I expect that many technical people will find this post objectionable, largely because they assume that with their expertise and care they can make a desktop operating system work perfectly safely. And maybe they can! But that’s not who this post is addressed to.

And of course, this post still only scratches the surface of the problem. There’s still the problem of selecting the right applications for secure messaging (e.g., Signal and WhatsApp) and finding a good secure application for notetaking and document collaboration and so on.

But hopefully this post at least starts the discussion.

[denisecua]

Having stayed at a hostel that’s just a 10-minute brisk walk away from the Ximending shopping area allowed me to do several rounds of mini shopping sprees, despite my pretty short stay in Taiwan. This way, I got to compare prices, weigh my options, go back for any missed must-buys, do some rebuys because I am a hoarder, and do researching in the in-betweens!

Ximending, as you may know, is very similar to Korea’s Myeongdong, just a bit smaller. They have lots of girly stores (PRIORITY) like Cosmed, Watsons, Tomod’s — Taiwan’s counterpart of Sasa and Bonjour in Hong Kong.

While these three are the bigger chains, I personally had more fun going to the humbler boutiques, such as 86 Shop which has highly competitive prices for most products, and the pretty obscure Paris Strawberry which btw isn’t available on Google Maps so thank God for blogs that gave me directions to find it! 

Directions for Paris Strawberry: Look for Uniqlo which should be on your left, then turn to the alley on your left side and look for a girl character wearing a strawberry hat. Store is on the 2/F so you have to take the stairs.)

Anyway, since I just got back home yesterday, I haven’t tested out many of the products I’ll be sharing with you just yet. Nonetheless, please know that I’ve done my fair share of googling, reading and YouTubing, and have found that these are the brands to watch out for! 🙂

DHC Cleansing Oil

My bestfriend, Diane, was first to go crazy over this DHC Cleansing Oil. She got introduced to it by the hotel she stayed at in Tokyo. (Gotta give it up to Japan hotels for providing top-quality toiletries!) She said it prevented her from breaking out from traveling, and made her skin so nice!

A few months later, we started seeing one rave post about it after another from trusty online sites. All of a sudden it’s everyone’s holy grail. I’m pretty sure it’s been famous ever since, though, but it was only recently that it rang a bell.

Fast-forward again to Taipei, while I wasn’t really keen on trying out the product just yet, I ended up buying one. Just one at first. I got the 70ml since I thought it was fairly cheap at NT 249 as opposed to its resale price here in Manila (i.e. Lazada – where Diane got her 70ml at PHP 750). Exchange rate from NT to PHP is around 1.7, in case you’re wondering.

The product is primarily made of olive oil, and is rich in vitamins and antioxidants. I liked it at first try, and loved it the second, third, fourth time around. It’s powerful at taking off makeup, such that you can really see the oil getting colored with foundation as you lather. The scent is okay as it is pretty mild–smells like olive oil. It’s not my favorite scent in the world as I like it fruity, but I feel like my skin likes it because it’s fragrance-free. And I don’t know if it’s just placebo effect, just because the product site says it so, but I feel like it truly nourishes my skin as it cleanses it! It makes it supple, and healthier in appearance. Also, no residue!!!

This led me to buying again, and this time, the bigger size at 100ml. It sells as low as NT 499-599, and while all beauty stores have this product in stock, not all can sell it this cheap. I got it at NT 599 in 86 Shop, and then an hour later, saw it on sale (!) in Sasa at NT 499!!! I hate not getting the BEST deals, so even if it doesn’t make sense, I bought another 100ml bottle just because I could not miss out on this deal. (My boyfriend lectured me when I told him about this story. So I am aware that’s not normal. But… HUHU.) (Also, please follow @dendendeals on Instagram if you love good deals as much as I do! LOL!)

Anyway, this is taking longer than intended. Verdict is, it’s a really great product! While I’ve only used it for a few days so far, it holds a lot of promise to the extent that my Banila Co Clean It Zero might take a backseat in the meantime. The only possibly negative thing about it is that it seems to run out fast. I use it at the rate of 2-3 pumps at night to remove makeup, and I could already see a significant emptied space in the bottle for just about half a week into it. (Luckily, I got two big bottles more.)

Sheet Masks!!!!!!!!!!

If there’s one thing you can buy plenty of in Taiwan, it’s definitely the sheet masks! Surprisingly, their masks are even cheaper than in Korea. Not all, of course. But they do have some of the lowest price points ever– from NT 9 and up!!! So I bought a total of 50! :))

Here are the mask brands you should look out for:

My Scheming

I was able to try the Gudetama ones, thanks to Diane who gave it as pasalubong last year when she went to Taipei. Initially, I got bummed that it was a plain white sheet mask inside, and not a Gudetama face. (I wanted to look like Gudetama!!!!) 😦 But, it has a nice moisturizing effect on the skin. I’d say this is one of the better ones I’ve tried so far.

LoveMore

This is a Korean brand but it seems to be more popular in Taiwan.

Sexy Look

They currently have Disney-themed masks. The ones I got are the villains because I thought it was funny, plus it’s cheaper at NT 39 a mask as compared to the princess ones at NT 69.

  Beauty Diary

This is one of the most famous Taiwanese mask brands, and I just fell in love with their packaging. Would you look at those beauties!!! I got to try one already and it seems promising. My only gripe is that the mask is too small for my big face. Still, I would repurchase. I get so much satisfaction just by staring at the lovely packaging, I’m not even kidding.

Annie’s Way Jelly Mask

Here’s another Taiwan homegrown– Annie’s Way. I’ve seen a couple of posts about it when I looked up “Taipei Skincare Hauls” and I knew I had to try it!

This got me so tired, though. It was exceptionally hard to find!!! It wasn’t available in all the big stores, and eventually I found one at Paris Strawberry. That’s how I discovered that shop, by the way. Unfortunately, they only had it this variant (Charcoal Black) at NT 450 (same SRP in the website). So even though I wanted the others more (i.e. the bestselling Arbutin + Hyaluronic Acid Brighteing, and the Aloe Anti-Acne), and after all the searching and walking and sweating that I did looking for this brand, there was no way I’d leave empty-handed!

How to use: After cleansing, apply 0.3-0.5 cm of product on the face. Leave it there a while, then once skin is softened, scrape off impurities using the spatula provided in the box.

They say results are instant and quite amazing, so I can’t wait to dive into this one soon!

Pimple Patches

To be honest, pimple patches can be costlier than, let’s say, pimple creams. However, I’ve grown fonder and fonder of them over time since they can be super effective in healing pimples pretty fast especially for those with instantly emerging ‘heads.’

Acnes and Nexcare are good brands for this product.

Hada Labo Goku-Jun Super Hyaluronic Acid (Light)

I saw MUA Tamara Pineda post this on IG Story a couple of weeks ago, and managed to screenshot it. So the moment I saw this familiar bottle in store, I knew I had to get it. I didn’t even know what it was for at first, because there wasn’t any English descriptions written. But Tamara explained it was Hyaluronic Acid (see benefits here) and that’s like a magic word in the skincare world, so viola! Purchased!

I’ve been using it for a few days now and so far so good! No bumps, no new pimples, and skin feels generally nourished. I could attribute that to this, or to the DHC Cleansing Oil, or perhaps both!

Rating on Makeup Alley is great, too. It’s at 4.2!

Lapcos Beauty Sponges

Now, makeup! Sadly, I didn’t get to buy a lot because IDK maybe there weren’t really many attractive options to begin with. They carry a lot of Korean brands such as Lapcos but mostly for more expensive prices than how much I got in Korea. But these sponges were an exception because 1.) I didn’t find this in Korea, and 2.) 86 Shop had testers and even a sink so I was able to try it wet and it was great!!! It has a flat surface, colors are cute, and for 2 sponges you only have to pay NT 286. Good deal!

If I were to rank the good beauty sponges I’ve tried, below would be my ranking — 1 being the best:

EcoTools

Beauty Blender

Lapcos

Real Techniques

The fact that they’re second to the best ones ever says a lot already!

3CE Mood Recipe Lip Color Mini Kit

3CE is also another popular Korean makeup brand. I visited their shop at Style Nanda in Seoul before but everything seemed pricey at that time. For some reason, this set retails pretty cheap at 86 Shop (yet again) at only NT 888. That’s cheap because when I went to another Taiwanese store (Little 3) the price for the exact same set is at NT 1400! Ridiculous!!!

Long story short, I bought it because it was a good deal. HAHAHAHA. I’m really a sucker for good deals, and that’s an understatement.

Another reason for buying is because I fell in love with Colourpop’s Parker lippie stix. Shade is similar to these. More on the brown/peachy side, and it’s my new default lippie that matches whatever eye makeup I’m wearing. So I figured I should buy more similar shades. Hence, these. Hehehe.

***

And this wraps up my beauty haul! Looking back, I realize I didn’t shop THAT much. So, good job to me! ❤

  Taipei Beauty & Skincare Haul Having stayed at a hostel that's just a 10-minute brisk walk away from the Ximending shopping area allowed me to do several rounds of mini shopping sprees, despite my pretty short stay in Taiwan.

[luxus4me]

The Next Web http://j.mp/2tvLCqO

Look, I get it, a lot of us barely have enough money to spend on bills and normal expenses, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be working on systems and using services that can help save us some money here and there. In the wonderful world of app stores, there are quite a few out there that can help you save a little cash money and while the immediate benefit may not seem that impressive, it’s when you extrapolate your savings that you can see it really start to pay off.

I’ve compiled a list of five apps that all have the same end goal, saving you money – check them out below!

Flipp

Far fewer people get the Sunday papers these days, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the sweet coupons that call these papers “home.” With Flipp, special offers from the Sunday circulars can be perused and used. The app covers weekly ads from some 800 retailers, including supermarkets, dollar stores, pharmacies, and big retailers such as Target and Walmart.

If you add your loyalty-program identification numbers, some discounts will automatically be applied when your loyalty card is scanned at checkout, without any physical coupons. Which is awesome, because no one likes coupon clipping these days, ain’t nobody got time for that. Flipp that extra cash back into your wallet, deposit in the bank on the way back from the store, because you’re going to be saving some serious dinero. iOS, iPhone, Android, doesn’t matter, Flipp loves all. Get it now, your wallet will thank you for it.

FinalPrice

FinalPrice is not your typical Hotwire money saver search engine. Frequent flyers, you will rejoice at this subscription based, travel gold mine. This app will have you saving up to 10% per flight. Now, I’m not talking about only the major airlines, or last minute flights to places you didn’t even know had an airport – FinalPrice provides a solid array of over 750 airlines, domestic and international, so whether you’re heading home for Christmas or globetrotting, the world will be a little bit cheaper thanks to the discounts you’ll be receiving from .

The subscription service is not only limited to flights, however, they also include the best rates possible for hotels and rentals! The average markdown for hotels is 20%, which is awesome when you book in advance or are looking for a higher-end place to stay. The service will run you $99 a year, but thanks to this FinalPrice doesn’t need to make money on every sale and that means more savings for you. Now, if you’re only traveling once a year, it might not be worth it, but for those of us that find themselves traveling multiple times a year, it will pay for itself quickly. There are some additional features as well that make FinalPrice a joy to use – value protection and a savings guarantee. If you don’t save $99, you’ll be refunded your subscription fee and if a flight or hotel drops in price (substantially) before your reservation you’ll be refunded the difference.

Do yourselves a favor and get FinalPrice now, like it’s your job. Unfortunately, FinalPrice is only available on iOS and iPhones, but hopefully the Android edition isn’t too far behind!

GasBuddy

Gas prices can be a major headache, but with GasBuddy, you can find the cheapest gas prices closest to you! Save yourself some headspace and download this fuel spotter, ASAP. It uses your saved location to zero in on where the best place for cheap gas is today. And it updates! Which means you’ll always be able to budget for your fuel, instead of being surprised once you get there.

Also, for every gas price you alert to the app, it earns you points that go towards winning the weekly $250 prize for gas. Can you say jackpot? Ana Aguirre says,“This app is perfect when you are looking for the cheapest gas and for the most part the amenities at each station…” Why hasn’t anyone invented this sooner?? Right now GasBuddy is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows. Rejoice.

Campus Special (Now powered by EatStreet)

Campus Special brings you the best deals on restaurants and eateries around your college or university. You can order right from your phone for pick-up or delivery. It takes about five or six minutes to download and add your credit card info. The more often you use the app, the more rewards you can earn to be redeemed at your favorite local food joints.

And let’s be honest, the average lazy college student will redeem those bad boys pretty quickly. Jeremy Robison said, “The restaurant deals for Eastern Michigan University are on point. Gotta love getting discounts on mongolian bbq. I have hooked all of my buddies on it. 5 stars.” Say “Peace Out!” to your Ramen-only fake food servitude! The app is the companion for the website, but honestly, the app works way better. Lucky for you it’s now available for iOS and Android! Boo Yah!

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

The name says it all: YNAB is an incredibly detailed but easy-to-use budget interface. The software operates by four simple rules: 1) Give every dollar a job, 2) Save for a rainy day, 3) Roll with the punches, and 4) Live on last month’s income. YNAB’s goal is to change the way you manage money and to create stress-free finances. The app is supplemental to the $60 software you purchase for your Windows or Mac and is meant to allow users to check their transactions and budgetary restrictions on par with their busy life. If you are looking to turn your finances around or gain a better understanding of your financial situation, the  software is well worth the dough.

YNAB offer all students YNAB free for 12-months (in addition to the free trial). If you’re interested, you just send an email to student@ynab.com with proof of enrollment—think student ID card, transcript or tuition statement, anything that shows you are currently enrolled and includes your name, your school, and the date will do).

On average, new budgeters save $200 in their first month with YNAB. Oh, and after nine months, the average YNABer saves more than $3,300. Also, more control and less stress. In terms of an investment, that’s a serious return. YNAB is available on iOS, iPhone and Android Phones.

  This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.

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