#in all fairness I have the same like 3 passwords for many of my accounts

[jesseweneedtocuck]

Not to be a boomer or anything but I absolutely hate multi-factor authentication. Cyber security blah blah blah whatever WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU NEED TO TEXT ME A CODE I JUST TOLD YOU MY PASSWORD

[ridiculousravenclaw]

The life of Elara Ware - chapter 3

So, funny story. I accidentally shut myself out of this account when I forgot my damn password. Then there was this pandemic and being technically a key worker, that was stress. Then I just started writing other stuff. So yeah, I kinda left this behind, which was a shame because I had a lot planned for it. But anyway here's chapter 3 as I wrote it ages ago and who knows, maybe I'll keep going. FYI I could not be bothered to go back and check it so theres almost definitely a spelling mistake or some grammatical errors. Sorry about it.

The next few days at The Burrow passed far too quickly for Elaras liking. It could be hectic at times with so many of them in one house. A fact Mrs Weasley continuously apologised for. But Elara, so used to being alone, loved the business of life at the Weasleys. She had missed George more than she thought she could. They relished in the time they spent together and, when they were sure no one was around to see, stole as many kisses as they could. With so many of them in the house though the later was practically impossible and more than once their embrace had been broken up my someone walking suddenly into the room. Ron couldn't look Elara in the eye for days after he walked in to find a particularly passionate scene. In fairness it was actually his room.

The fullness of the house had at least meant that they could stage 4 a side quidditch matches in the garden with the Weasleys and Harry. Hermione preferred to watch. When they weren't doing that Elara found she enjoyed chatting with Ginny, who to Elaras great surprise was not as girly or shy as she thought she was. Or talking with the eldest 2 Weasley boys; neither of whom she'd met before and had a number of interesting tales about the twins growing up. Then there was Harry, Ron and Hermione. They were a bit of an unlikely trio and Elara was convinced Ron fancied Hermione, but nether the less they were obviously good friends and Elara enjoyed spending time with them. Especially Harry. She'd always really liked Harry Potter, he didn't want the pitty the world gave him, he just wanted a normal life. Elara found she really respected that. The only person in the house Elara found she clashed with was Percy. Though she got the impression that it wasn't just her he had that affect on. For lack of a better word, Percy was a bit of a snob. Thankfully she rarely saw him as he spent most days at work and often chose to stay late most nights.

It was the last day of the holidays and they were all sat in the living room except for Mr Weasley who still wasn't back from work. Elara had parked herself on the furthest seat from her boyfriend and his twin. There was 2 reasons for this. First it meant she didnt have to resist the temptation of his soft lips whilst everyone was here to see. Secondly it made it far easier to feign ignorance to what the pair were currently doing. As they sat huddled together, talking in hushed whispers. She wasnt entirely sure what they were up to but it was almost certainly to do with Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, something Mrs Weasley highly disapproved of. As she sat alone she found her mind wondering and without meaning to found herself going over the dream she'd had the night before. She couldn't explain why but it had been bothering her all day. It wasn't a scary dream or in anyway disturbing. But Elara found herself shaken up by it none the less. Especially as she was almost certain she'd had that exact dream before.

In the dream Elara was walking through the woods at night. The only respite from the dark provided by the moon as its faint light battled through the thick branche above. She's looking for something but what it is or where she should look remains a mystery. Still she keeps going. Undeterred as the trees and undergrowth becomes denser and more wild. Then all of a sudden she sees a shape moving through the shadows. It slides slowly through the trees towards her until it stops in a clearing ahead. Bathing in the moonlight is a great white fox. Larger than any fox had the right to be and more majestic than any she'd seen. Its pure white coat shining brightly as though lighting up from within. Elara feels a pang of familiarity deep in her heart as she looks into its eyes. She doesn't run or scream. She knows she's safe. The white fox is here to help her, like a mother looking out for her cub. Its gaze is mesmerising and Elara could read the message in its eyes. 'follow me. I'll show you where it is'

"hey! daydreamer! wake up!" Elara was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts to find the whole room staring at her. She shakes herself mentally, uncomfortable by the sudden attention on her.

"sorry" she said trying to laugh it off dismissively "miles away"

"whatcha thin huh in abou?" asked Ron mid yawn. Elara sighed

"that out of all Georges siblings I like you the least" she said dryly

"really?"

"no" she says with a smile, earning a few laughs. Ron a few seconds behind the others before he got the joke.

Suddenly his face changed

"woah!" he said, staring at Elara in amazement.

"what?" Elara said. she suddenly felt a bit self conscious.

"your eyes are different colours!"

"oh" She giggled breathing a sigh of relief. "you've just noticed? really? how long have I known you?"

Everyone was laughing again

"what. have they always been like that?"

"yes!" everyone else said in chorus.

"Since I was a baby Ron. what did you think I did it deliberately? I got bored one day and coloured one in with a sharpie?"

Ron made a face somewhere between confusion and embarrassment.

"what's a sharpie?" Ah, Elara thought. muggle reference, complete miss.

" Well we all know ickle Ronnie kins is a complete idiot at the best of times. "Said George as he crossed the room and squeezed on the armchair next to Elara before pulling her onto his lap.

"what is a sharpie?" he added to her at a whisper. Elara smiled and shook her head dismissively. The rest of the room going back to their individual conversations.

"muggle stuff" she answered

"Ah. well then whatever you do, dont mention it in front of dad. he'll get all excited and interrogate you again." George said as he started rubbing small circles onto her hip with his thumb. Elara couldn't help but smile at the gesture.

"oh stop it hes not that bad. " She said rolling her eyes.

"yes he is, remember when you mentioned the cinema?" Elara laughed. She did remember that. It had taken her the best part of an hour to explain the concept to Mr Weasley.

"Anyway. Don't be so mean to your brother, as I recall it took you months to bloody notice." George looked blank for a moment.

"notice what?" he asked

"my eyes!"

"oh" he remarked, realisation dawning.

"it wasnt months was it? maybe a few weeks" Elara was giggling now, enjoying the slight embarrassment creeping into George's cheeks.

"nope definitely months. it was around Christmas time. remember? you thought I'd done it with magic to be all christmassy. Though how that's a christmassy thing to do I dont know."

"oh. yeah. well... that's only cause I'm not a weird person who stares at pretty girls eyes" George said, mockingly batting his eyelids at her. Elara grinned fondly at him, then leaned forward and left a light peck on his lips.

"Yeah you are."

"a couple of months is good for him" Fred said " George didn't realise we were identical until we were 7" Elara started slightly having not realised Fred had come over. He was sat on the floor next Charlie looking amused.

"in fairness that's not so obvious as I have always been way better looking than you." George retorted quickly.

Both twins sniggered and Elara noted that even their laughter was the same.

"did we mention he's delusional? sure you want him El?" Fred said

"Oh someone sounds jealous to me. Don't worry Fred I'm sure we can find a girl to take pity and go out with you"

Elara could tell this verbal tennis wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

" *cough* testosterone *cough* "

"oh look your fathers coming" Mrs Weasley suddenly announced getting everyones attention. Sure enough the hand on the grand father clock which bore mr Weasleys likeness had moved and now pointed at travelling. Then it moved once more settleing with the other hands on home. At the same time the door opened and Mr Weasleys voice could be heard from the kitchen. Mrs Weasley scuttled out to greet him. With the others distracted by this Elara inexplicably found her mind once again wondering back to her dream and the White Fox. Its magnetic familiar eyes drawing her in.

"you okay?" George said quietly. Wrapping his arms around Elara protectively and pulling her back to the present.

"yeah of course" She said trying to sound as casual as possible. George wasnt convinced. He knew her far too well and having shared it with him that morning knew what she was thinking about.

"It was just a dream you know El. I know it was a bit freaky. But it cant hurt you" he said, squeezing her arm reassuringly. That's just the thing, she thought, it wasn't scary to me. But she smiled at him appreciatively.

"I know"

[edales-drabbles]

Green Thumb 3

First / Previous

Alec left around noon. Walter’s headache was gone and he was in working condition. Alec hadn’t done too much on his laptop. Just log out of a few websites that Walter had to try to remember his password to get back on. Alec had logged back out of his own accounts of course. Walter grumbled and got to work on a project. Answered some work emails and generally did the day to day things he had to do in order to get paid and live a happy-ish life. Not to mention start his next assignments for university.

He checked his phone regularly, answering messages from worried friends. Alec sent some pictures of him out with Tristian. Walter smiled and sent a thumbs-up emoji. Tristian was similar to Alec in many ways. On the shorter side and slender. Tristian was a few shades darker than Alec, who was tanned compared to Walter’s fair skin. Tristian was a rich brown compared to Alec’s warm beige. 

They looked happy together but Walt could see the distress in Alec’s eyes. How he was draped over Tristian in every shot. “You really should just pick one of us,” Walter shook his head, leaning back on the sofa. 

Truthfully Walter wasn’t sure Alec could. He’d never seen Alec willingly have less than three fancies at any time. He was happiest with around four. The largest was six but that hadn’t been for long. Too much work and not enough people were willing to put up with so many people with Alec’s attention. Walter was the only one who was required to put up with it. Everyone else had been free agents or from other fractions. It was just Walter who was under Lord Barrow’s protection. 

Walter looked over at the bonsai tree sitting on the coffee table. It looked better there than on the table. He had found a pot to put it in, thankfully. It couldn’t get rid of it, he knew that for sure. Recollections of his sisters’ first trees, of his brother’s, filled his mind. His one was rather nice and well-formed, a good sign. One of his cousins had been malformed. His aunt had taken her to the clinic immediately and cancer had been found. These trees showed the inner workings of their creators. His mothers and fathers were planted at the family home, their son and daughters with them. It was good luck. And now Walter had one. 

He clenched his hand. Why now? Why when he was only months away from completing university were his powers beginning to form. After 21, people never had their powers awake and yet here they were. 

[Walter, are you coming to the bar tonight?] 

Walter swallowed at the message. Lord Barrow’s messages from the previous night had all been deleted. Clearly, Walter had looked truthful enough that Barrow had felt the need to rescind any unseen threats. It did mean replying to this one a little harder. 

[I would prefer not to. I’d like one more night to recover, sir.]

[Understood, petal. Let me know tomorrow.]

[It is appreciated]

He closed his laptop. He wasn’t getting anything more done today. He still needed to go ground himself in something proper. If the new moon had been last night, today was likely as good as any to try to sneak out of the city for an hour. He checked the time. It was only five. If he went now, he’d be back before Barrow was likely to notice. 

Alec sent him another picture as Walter was heading the communal stairway. Tristian looking a little embarrassed and Alec looking smug. Alec was playing games with his toys. [Be gentle on him] Walter sent as put on his helmet and started up his bike. 

The bike rumbled to life beneath him and Walter sped out onto the road. Getting out of the city was fairly easy on the face of it. Almost too easy, when Walter thought too hard on it. Hopefully, the fact he was heading to a park and not the highway would keep Barrow’s men off his back. And out of his way. Nothing happened between the apartment and the park. No car tried to stop him, no strange diversions.

It somehow made Walter feel more concerned. He parked up and jogged down the nearest trail before anyone could appear.  His hands were trembling and he could feel the trees around him whispering. Something new was in the forest, something interesting. They guided him. He let them. 

It was too loud. The road, the city, the lights, all of it was pounding against his skin and in his head. Pinging about like a ping pong ball and he fell to his knees and let his hands sing into the mud. He couldn’t see. Even without his left eyes being blind, it was dark now. He could feel though. The wind on his face, his roots growing around his knees and hands; Not engulfing, just there. They brushed passed him and gained healing energy from his centre. He was a rose, not a thorn. Or possibly in between but he was healing, not fortifying.

His phone went off. Someone was phoning him. 

He answered, falling back so his back was against a tree. Night birds called in the night, the other animals were avoiding the big thing in the forest. There weren’t any predators here. He was safe for the most. 

“Walter, where are you?” 

“Having a panic attack,” Why had he admitted that? Why was that a smart thing to say? Regardless of who it was on the sodding phone.  

“Ok,” Barrow acknowledged, because of course, it was Barrow, who else would be able to get a call through in the forest? “Same question with an added, are you safe?”

“Safe? Probably not,” Walter focused on those words. His head felt light and dizzy. “I’m following what you’re supposed to do. Hard in the city. Needed soil, water and air. Got the soil and air. Just need to make it to the river.”

“No, not while you’re like this,” Barrow said firmly. “What’s the rules with secrets, Walter?”

“Allowed until dangerous. This isn’t dangerous, just a touch …” Walter couldn’t find the word. He breathed in the clean air and felt the trees whisper around him. He was close to the river. He could feel the dampness in the air. “Unusual, I guess?” He shifted and stumbled back up to his feet. “I’ll be fine. Tomorrow things will go back to normal. I promise.” It was going to rain soon then the river would grow deadly. He needed to do this tonight. 

“My dear boy, just what have you gotten yourself into that you uttered that phrase?” Barrow exhaled. 

Walter laughed, tears rolling down his face. Who was he kidding? Things weren’t going back to normal. Even if he did ground himself. Barrow knew something. Now it was just a matter of time until it all came out. “Nothing, nothing at all. This is all past stuff,”

“I see. Walter, I know you don’t want to tell me yet, I can hazard a few guesses as to why but you are not safe. I want you either here or supervised by someone I trust.” Barrows words faded a bit and Walter fell to his knees again as he reached the river. Walter wasn’t sure where his phone ended up but he let his arms sink into the icy cold water and the world around him stopped. 

A chill blew down his back. The water spilt passed him. The current was strong and Walter almost fell in but he stayed up. Breathing got easier. He slumped, the river hitting his face and washing it clean. Something unravelling at the back of his neck and he felt his powers spread. Roots yanked with from the water and he curled at the base of the tree. Hands firmly planted on the bark as he closed his eyes and let everything go. 

Next

[thewritewolf]

Marinette March Day 10 - Video Games

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The Girl Squad gets together for a sleepover. No boys allowed. This is a longer drabble, so I put most of it under a read more.

@marinettemarch

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

“Marinette! One of your friends is here!” Her maman’s voice called up the stairs, interrupting a frantic bout of cleaning. She’d lost track of time and put it off until the last minute once again, but at least now her room looked presentable when (or if) the party moved upstairs.

“Coming!” With a few last minute adjustments, she raced down the stairs to see who had arrived first. When she saw her maman chatting away with Alya in the kitchen with her duffel bag, she shook her head with a smile. Who else would’ve showed up an hour early? Her best friend noticed her arrival and grinned.

“Hey, girl! You ready to party it up this weekend?” Alya held out her fist, which Marinette gladly bumped. Before she could respond, her maman cut in.

“Hopefully you’ll remind your friends not to ‘party it up’ too hard, right dear?”

Marinette gave her most winning smile. “Right, we’ll be on our best behavior.”

Her maman seemed dubious. “Even Alix?”

The smile became strained and uncertain. “Y-yes. I’ll do my best.”

With a kiss on her forehead, her maman replied, “That’s all I ask. Have fun, dear.”

Once she left the room, cup of tea in hand, Marinette turned back to Alya. “Did you bring everything you’ll need?”

“Relax, girl. I’m psyched and ready to go for this weekend-long slumber party.”

Doing her best to play the part of the unconvinced friend, Marinette crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow, though her grin gave her away. “So we aren’t going to have a repeat of last time?”

Alya threw her hands up. “Come on, girl! It was one time. What’s a midnight convenience store run between friends?”

They chatted until the sound of the front door opening drew their attention. Marinette rushed over to greet her guests, only to have Rose rushing to meet her at the same time.

“Marinette! I’m so happy to see you!” She collided with Marinette, ensnaring her in a hug. Over Rose’s head - the bubbly girl being one of few people Marinette was taller than - she saw Juleka give a small smile and a timid wave.

“Rose, Juleka! It’s great you could make it. Did you remember to bring everything?”

Rose nodded enthusiastically in way of response, while Juleka said while reaching into her bag, “We even brought games like you asked…”

“Hang on, don’t tell me what game you brought until everyone gets here. It met all the requirements, right?”

“Mhmm. It works on one of your consoles and we could theoretically do multiplayer on it. Or be fun to watch.”

“Awesome!” She lead her three guests into the living room. “We’ll be sleeping in here tonight since the bakery is closed on Sundays and we won’t have to worry about papa waking us up at four in the morning.”

“Sweet, there’s a little more space down here.” Alya sat down on the couch facing the TV. “Any clue when Mylene and Alix are supposed to arrive?”

Scrolling through her texts, Marinette replied, “Alix is going to be late-”

“-as usual-”

“-but Mylene should be showing up any minute now. Once she’s here we can make some snacks while we wait on Alix.”

Rose, seated next to Alya, bounced up and down on the couch. “And then we can start the gaming marathon!”

“Yup! I just hope we can get through all the games…”

“Don’t sweat it, girl!” Alya leaned back. “I was kinda hoping to play mine after everyone was gone anyway. It wouldn’t be that exciting for everyone, and it’d just get jumbled with too many people around. And it would take awhile to get through.”

She could already guess what Alya had brought, given what had been occupying her free time outside hanging out and her work on the Ladyblog. Before she could dwell on it too much, the door opened once again. Marinette went to get her, the others following shortly after.

“Hello!” Mylene waved with one hand while clutching the strap of her backpack with the other. “Everyone else here?”

“We’re waiting on Alix.” Marinette pointed out the way they came from. “You can drop your stuff off in the living room. We’re going to make some food while we wait.”

They had burned an hour cooking in the kitchen, doing their best to stay out of the way of her parents as they went about running the bakery. By the time the last guest arrived, it was midday and the bakery wasn’t going to be open for much longer anyway. Marinette crowded around the living room table as she considered this. It would probably be best to do Mecha Strike III first then, so papa would be less likely to interrupt for a challenge bout. She loved him to pieces, but maman and him seemed to enjoy butting in when she was trying to have friends over.

“Okay everyone. Pull out the game each of you brought and show it to the rest of us.” Marinette suited action to words by slapping down the Mecha Strike III case as though it was a gauntlet. The groans and grumbling she got from the rest of them was like music to her ears.

“We’re agreed that we’ll deal with Marinette trouncing us for as little as possible?” Alix looked around the table and the rest of the girl squad resolutely nodded back at her, like the judgement of a sage council.

“Oh come on! It isn’t that bad,” Marinette attempted to get their hopes up, secretly relishing the thought of dashing it against the ground.

“Max trained for a year and you tore him apart.”

“Well, duh. Fighting the AI only gets you so far!”

“Whatever, here’s my pick.” Alix tossed her game on top of Marinette’s - Grand Theft Auto. Somehow Marinette wasn’t surprised.

“That game doesn’t have split screen and it’s mostly just messing around. How does that fit the requirements?” Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, still slightly miffed from the resolute dismissal of her choice.

“Oh don’t worry about that, pigtails.” Alix smirked. “I have a plan.”

“Well… okay. Mylene?”

“I, uh, brought a Mario Party.” She began to get quieter as she rambled on. “I don’t have a lot of games and we play it a lot at my house so, I, uh… thought you guys might like it. I know it has a bit of a reputation as a friendship-ended, but still-”

“Chill, girl.” Alya patted her shoulder. “It’ll be fun losing to someone who isn’t Marinette for once.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out at Alya as Juleka gently sat her game, the remake of Resident Evil 2, on the table. When the rest of the girls looked to her for any kind of explanation or defense of it, she simply shrugged and said, “I liked it. Plus, not a lot of split screen horror games, you know? Have to take what I can.”

“Fair enough. What about you, Alya? Still playing those detective games?”

“Of course! Gotta keep my mind razor sharp if I’m going to unravel Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities.” The aspiring reporter shuffled in place, hands empty as she didn’t reach for her duffle bag. “It’s a computer game though, so I don’t have a physical copy. If you don’t mind, I’ll start downloading it now and we can play it tomorrow.”

“Sure. You know the password and everything so go ahead.” While Alya left the room, Marinette turned to the last member of the group. She never really gamed with Rose before, so she didn’t know what to expect. What she definitely didn’t expect was Dark Souls III. Yet, that was the game Rose was waving above her head excitedly. Her mind reeled for a moment before settling on something to say. “Uh, Rose? Isn’t that also single player? What is everyone else going to do?”

Juleka smiled as she put her arm on Rose’s shoulder. “Watching her get into the zone is something to behold.” Seeing the dubious expression on Marinette’s face only caused her grin to widen. “You’ll see.”

Leaving the matter at that, they settled into place to start their marathon. First up - Mecha Strike III.They were packed tightly on the couch, except for Alix and Rose who preferred the ground anyway. The latter leaned back against her girlfriend’s legs while playing, and the former kept scooting closer and closer to the television as the loses piled up. It only took an hour of easy victories for Marinette before they unanimously decided to not play it again for the rest of the night.

Next up was Grand Theft Auto V. While Alix clambered forward to switch out the games, she explained to them. “Here’s the plan - we’re each going to take turns at it. Our goal is to steal a tank.” She whipped back to look at them, a manic glint in her eyes. “Clearly, since I’m the best at this, I’ll go last to give you all a chance at it before I sweep in.” She brandished the controller. “Who wants first?”

After half an hour of a cycle of spawning, charging into a military base via ramping car, dying, and repeating like the world’s worst version of Valhalla, the controller finally ended up in Alix’s hands. She had spent the entire time smugly commenting on how each person messed up, detailing what they should have done. The next person would take that into account and fail at a completely different obstacle. With a knowing smirk, she turned to everyone else and said, “Now watch the master at work.”

The first step was to get a car, which everyone had accomplished in true GTA fashion by standing in the middle of the road and carjacking whoever stopped to avoid hitting them. Alix stepped onto the road boldly, an admirable start. Instead of slowing, however, she was hit full speed and sent flying by wonky physics. Immediately the screen turned black and white and the text ‘Wasted’ appeared on the screen as her character sailed through the air. There was a moment of stunned silence before everyone (sans Alix) absolutely lost it. She didn’t even look back to hand Marinette the controller, simply thrusting it behind her. After a few more rounds, Alix’s as unlucky as always, the person who ended up winning the challenge was none other than Rose. After a celebratory rampage, she closed the game and they were free to move on to Mario Party.

Looking back, Marinette couldn’t remember much about the two (or was it three?) matches they played, probably because each match had been about an hour long. The turns ran together after a while. They passed by in a blur of competitiveness, fully absorbed with the friendly and eventually not-so-friendly banter. At the end all she could say was that she didn’t win. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mylene took that honor for at least one of the matches, having had the most practice with the minigames and the layout of the maps.

The change from Mario Party to Dark Souls was as sudden as it was jarring, trading bright, cheerful colors for the bleak wastes of a ruined kingdom. It didn’t take long for Marinette to figure out what Juleka had been talking about; immediately, Rose became hyper focused on the game as she laid in front of the television on her stomach, tongue sticking out in concentration as she deftly ducked and rolled away from enemy lunges. Marinette watched carefully, but the first time she saw Rose get hit was about an hour in, long after the fight with the first boss.

When she finally put down the controller, the only thing the rest of them could do was applaud.

Which left the last game of the day, Juleka’s horror game. Fitting, since by this point it was later in the evening, though not quite midnight. Marinette remembered even less of this game, at least partly because of how often she excused herself to the kitchen for any number of excuses - wanting everyone to have full drinks, extra snacks, stretch her legs, whatever she could do. Horror… not her favorite genre of movie or game.

At least I’m not alone, she thought while eating some cookies with Mylene in the kitchen. If the danger was real, it was much easier to handle for reasons even Marinette herself couldn’t wrap her head around. By the time they finally out of excuses, everyone was getting tired and they agreed to turn off the games and go to sleep in the living room. They managed it, even if Alix kept deliberately annoying everyone by asking random inane questions at all hours. Marinette could practically hear Alix’s smirk as she lobbed at pillow at her face. But eventually even Alix got tired and fell asleep, a fitting end to an eventful day.

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

When Marinette managed to drag herself out of bed, two things became apparent - one, the sun was unfortunately up and preventing her from drifting back to sleep and two, everyone else was gone. It was this second fact that caused Marinette to actually get up rather than stay wrapped up on the floor for a little while longer.

“Hey, girl,” Alya quirked an eyebrow over her toast as Marinette walked into the kitchen. “Pleasant dreams, Sleeping Beauty?”

Deciding that the smell was delightful, Marinette elected to make herself some toast too. “Mhmm.” Once she had her breakfast in front of her, she asked, “Everybody else leave?”

“Yup! They’ve got early plans.” She winked. “But don’t worry, you won’t be getting rid of me that easily. We still have some investigative work to do, if you remember.”

Playing along, Marinette asked, “What’s the case?”

“‘Shadow At Water’s Edge.’”

“Sounds spooky. Thankfully, we can count on each other.” She swallowed the last of her toast and added, “Let’s get to it then. After you, detective.”

The two rushed upstairs, Marinette eager to continue her well deserved break in excellent company. It felt good take a break in fiction - reality was far too strange a place for her anyway.

[matheuspedroh86-blog]

Startling Information Regarding Pokemon Go Spoofers Unveiled

In the nation, however, it is a labor of Hercules.  The sentiment appears to be banning has increased over the previous week or so, but they're isolated incidents.  And that makes a lot of ill-will locally.  Seems they don't like the easy farm life.  Spoofers ought to be permabanned, period.

The Downside Risk of Pokemon Go Spoofers

On the flip side, some individuals would just like to be the best without putting much effort it.  So you ought to use your creativity to form your distinctive nickname so you may feel proud even if you get to the level 30.  Our aim is to supply a fair, fun and legitimate game experience for everybody.  Just my thoughts on this scenario, other folks might have a different outlook on it so I would like to understand what you think. This can lead to your in-game character to walk a great deal as you are stuck at a desk.  Since they should find the username in order that they can ban that person.  These types of people have kept Pokemon Go revenue remarkably high over the past several months.

The Fight Against Pokemon Go Spoofers Each time you wish to move to a different location or a different spot, you must return to FakeGPS and engage a new site. If you would like to reset your location services to your real place, then all you need to do is remove the pin that you dropped. It appears this is a bright cheater and doesn't demonstrate the spots that we could observe the username in any respect. Setting in their house at their very own comfort. Pokemon Go Spoofers: the Ultimate Convenience! Notes This update is necessary for your game to get online. A number of the other comments follow the exact same theme. Besides that, the app is capable of keeping an eye on your location history and lets you add customized locations to your favorites list for a simple access later. If you've accessed certain unauthorized third-party apps or websites, it is also feasible your account might have been compromised. What Everybody Dislikes About Pokemon Go Spoofers and Why I understand the idealized vision for trading is that everybody will just wind up trading with friends. Localizing trading doesn't fix this issue, and in a number of ways, it makes it worse. A Magikarp encounter is among the feasible rewards for this. You can examine your regional Facebook group and see what trackers people in your region are using. A Startling Fact about Pokemon Go Spoofers Uncovered Without this, not one of the other methods would look workable. It's very easy to do and you should follow the directions. If you want to make your own adjustments, ensure you obey the pull request template, and make sure your PR is created against the `dev' branch. You don't need to be worried about this error now as it's entirely connected to the Airplane mode. The Advantages of Pokemon Go Spoofers I will attempt to reach you once possible. You won't be able to bypass this message. But even then maybe it does not help. You won't have the ability to catch it. So get the most out of it while you can. Most Noticeable Pokemon Go Spoofers Last, throw up a beacon when you find a raid. I can't supply an in-depth tutorial for each potential Android device, but the general procedure and the apps you should install will be the same across the overwhelming majority of devices. Dronpes also indicated that if one received such notice, they should alter the PTC password to make sure that no third-party app is accessing her or his account. As soon as your phone restarts, you ought to have an app named FakeLocation installed. This is what's going to permit you to install the fake location app that you have to do the GPS spoofing. The Upside to Pokemon Go Spoofers In reality, there's a subreddit devoted to Pokemon GO spoofing. What's more, you will see that there's an over-the-screen joystick on the Pokemon Go game which you can utilize to move your character in any direction you desire. As long as they GO exists, there will always be people who want to do stuff the easy way. They Go includes a built-in appraisal system but it's not very granular. The Pokemon GO app should be restarted a significant lot. What's more, certain Pokemon like Aerodactyl and Snorlax is going to be featured in Raid Battles all over the world. In real life, Tony Blair might be a distinctive mix of irrelevance and pariah, but Tony doesn't need to dwell in real life. Distinct Pokemon GO hack have been released to create the game lot simpler. Without further ado, take a look at our favourite areas to catch Pokemon in the vicinity of the Syracuse region. Top Choices of Pokemon Go Spoofers For new or returning players, it supplies plenty of incentive to stay with Pokemon Go. Hope our workarounds can enable you to resume your game play today. Utilizing this strategy can help it become a lot easier for GPS spoofers to conquer and hold several gyms. Players earn experience points for assorted in-game pursuits. Ok, I Think I Understand Pokemon Go Spoofers, Now Tell Me About Pokemon Go Spoofers! In some instances, the ban is permanent! In case the industry mechanics make it even more uncomplicated than simply flying over to catch them. Some men and women put their favourite dates or numbers in their username just since it's special for them. This is your very last opportunity to turn away. But still insufficient for a ban. What Everybody Dislikes About Pokemon Go Spoofers and Why At least I received my Deoxys. You won't be able to bypass this message. So yeah, it is not perfect. You won't have the ability to catch it. Here's the way you can do that! Pokemon Go Spoofers Secrets That No One Else Knows About Start Pokemon and you'll now be in the new site. Now you're all set to discover some Pokemon! Pokemon Go is an excellent entertainment tool for individuals of all ages. Whether you opt to apply that saying to Pokemon Go is all up to you. If they is defeated, the players gain the chance to capture a regular version of it. What's more, certain Pokemon like Aerodactyl and Snorlax is going to be featured in Raid Battles all over the world. It is possible to either utilize partial or complete name of a Pokemon in combination with another popular name. All of which makes it simple that you take your character to any region of the world to capture Pokemon. Without further ado, take a look at our favourite areas to catch Pokemon in the vicinity of the Syracuse region. Introducing Pokemon Go Spoofers Some folks could live outside of areas with lots of of Pokemon activity, and thus they will need to cheat in some manner so as to create the game playable. Yes, it is a step in the correct direction that trading would need to be local between players. In order to do trades, Pokemon GO players have to be within 100 meters of one another. Our group spread across the region, making sure to remain in range of the Gym. Some say they're too busy to play the game truthfully. Suffice to say, plenty of players are not happy with the way in which the gym process is working. There are plenty of players who don't understand all this technical stuff. Pokemon Go Spoofers Options Though you may add some random number to your preferred name and get your nickname readily, doing so won't be satisfying in the long term. So you ought to use your creativity to form your distinctive nickname so you may feel proud even if you get to the level 30. If you wind up getting banned from breaking the in-game rules, we're not responsible. Some of them are a small morePokemon GOoriented than others, but it actually doesn't matter. This can lead to your in-game character to walk a great deal as you are stuck at a desk. Since they should find the username in order that they can ban that person. Remember that when you use a Pokemon Go cheat to modify where you are, the organization could possibly be in a position to choose that up on their end, even in the event that you hide your jailbreak or root. Pokemon Go Spoofers Secrets There are a lot of reasons for this. It is advised that you purchase the super incubators in this event in contrast to the regular so that you can receive a ton more candies even faster than before! This produces the stream a significant lot more enjoyable. Over the last few months, we've been collecting mostly 100 Pokecoins each day. Attempt to hatch because many eggs as possible before the event to generate space for those special Safari eggs. Pokemon Go Spoofers Secrets That No One Else Knows About It makes it a lot simpler to coordinate with others and get to the suitable Raid at the most suitable time. PokemonGo-Bot is a project made by the PokemonGoF team. Now the program code is a significant portion of any videogame. But slowly the raid groups have started to dissipate. Pokemon Go Spoofers - Dead or Alive? It resembles Niantic altered the app server communication to ensure it is effortless to recognize 3rd party software as they don't communicate in how the new Pokemon Go app is. On Android, you have to allow developer choices. BotNumber6 is only one of the few bots whom I've seen. GPS JoyStick location spoofing app is made specifically for those Pokemon Go users who are seeking an approach to mock their location working with an overlay joystick controller. To gather extra information on pokemon go kindly go to appinject.co What Everybody Dislikes About Pokemon Go Spoofers and Why I have to say that I agree with this kind of perspective. Even Google wouldn't be in a position to distinguish the difference. Moving them where ever they want to go. Go back to Location, and hit the 3 dot menu in the top right-hand corner and select Scanning. Go to GymHuntr on the net. Why Almost Everything You've Learned About Pokemon Go Spoofers Is Wrong This event still is apparently the very best Niantic has held and they still appear to be attempting to make certain it's their very best event. And that is precisely what happened with Ingress. This isn't an easy thing to obtain access to for individuals who don't do the job for Niantic. Setting in their house at their very own comfort. Pokemon Go Spoofers: the Ultimate Convenience! It's actually for quite a very good cause. In summary, cheating became the only means to stay informed about the remainder of the cheaters. This wouldn't be an issue if there would be unlimited quantity of people actually working with these reports but there's a limit how many they're able to go through a day. The very first strike can last up to a week, and then everything will return to usual. Ruthless Pokemon Go Spoofers Strategies Exploited Up to now, it seems that the security measure is effective across the world. Put simply, it seems that maps operating from cloud servers are banned. If you notice any matter then don't hesitate to ask in the comments section. But some spoofers have claimed they have never been affected by the ban wave yet. If our system has determined that you cheated, then you'll get an email stating your account was terminated. Pokemon Go Spoofers Secrets That No One Else Knows About Since Niantic has implemented this update and has decided to produce shiny Pokemon spawns unique, perchance a huge wave of shinies are going to be on the manner. The shadow ban stops you from seeing anything besides common Pokemon when playing Pokemon Go. To spoof where you are in Pokemon GO, you will require a jailbroken iOS device. All of which makes it simple that you take your character to any region of the world to capture Pokemon. Now let's look at different heights of Friendship in Pokemon GO, bear in mind all trading in pokemon go will expect a stardust price. Pokemon Go Spoofers - Is it a Scam? At least I received my Deoxys. But some misbehaviors may come in an immediate permaban. So yeah, it is not perfect. But that isn't precisely what you find when you look. Here's the way you can do that! But What About Pokemon Go Spoofers? This shows exactly how popular spoofing is. There are lots of guides on the internet about using Xcode for spoofing in Pokemon GO game utilizing PC but they all are extremely difficult if you want to modify locations quickly. According to a user, they've received a permanent ban. You will have to use the identical workaround shown above to get this on Cydia if you're on iOS 9.3.3. Employing the spoofing software is considered cheating, since it's against the terms and terms of the games. The Basic Facts of Pokemon Go Spoofers Naturally, the battle against cheating will never truly end. Once it seems to be an easy content, APK miners uncovered intriguing facts about it. To catch Mew, you're need to take part in eight quests. Pokemon GO will now be a good deal more random than it's been previously, and as a consequence, hacking collaborators will no longer have the ability to collaborate. So, to assist you on this quest, below are some Pokestop-dense places for you to attain this noble quest! Pokemon Go Spoofers: the Ultimate Convenience! This tremendous number is simply from users in america, UK and Germany claims the Financial Times. Even Google wouldn't be in a position to distinguish the difference. Moving them where ever they want to go. Go back to Location, and hit the 3 dot menu in the top right-hand corner and select Scanning. Then hunt for PokemonGoAnywhere. The Good, the Bad and Pokemon Go Spoofers Some folks could live outside of areas with lots of of Pokemon activity, and thus they will need to cheat in some manner so as to create the game playable. But all this doesn't alter the simple fact that players using them have an unfair advantage over other players who don't. The mobile ARG title has long suffered from numerous players using location exploits, frequently with the goal to access region-specific Pokemon they would otherwise never be in a position to acquire. Our group spread across the region, making sure to remain in range of the Gym. It's a superb mobile game that's both highly addictive and simple to learn. The player is simply able to go around the world in the game when staying in 1 place in actual life just so they are in a position to capture rare Pokemon that cannot be found where they are. Wait around for the game to load and select your preferred character and commence playing. Pokemon Go Spoofers at a Glance You need to uninstall any such applications to be able to continue gameplay. Along with what's already been launched, there's a whole slew of updates deliberate for the rest of the yr. The second strike is a short-term suspension. In a few countries, it's even illegal to hold such a system and of course activate one. Fixed several audio troubles. The Good, the Bad and Pokemon Go Spoofers The very first Mew was caught by means of a spoofer, so Niantic will probably be taking some larger steps to cut back on spoofers in the not too distant future. Naturally, you also need to report GPS spoofing in the event that you see it but until Niantic kicks it up a notch with punishing those using it, we're probably not going to find a substantive effect. This might have become the spot where we might have notified Niantic regarding the cheater. If Poke Radar's app is still blocked, it's an obvious indication that Niantic will go after these kinds of trackers too. What's unique in the GPS JoyStick app is the fact that it supplies you with ultimate location option flexibility which means that you may use three different location choices, and all them may be configured in accordance with your requirements. Maybe Niantic is going to be prepared to release the feature to all this week, but don't bet on it. Niantic has introduced a new measure to recognize 3rd party computer software trackers. Things You Won't Like About Pokemon Go Spoofers and Things You Will Put simply, GPS spoofing makes it possible for you to move in the game without moving in the actual world. Three PokeStops were later removed from Rhodes to minimize the variety of folks playing. In the following piece, I will explain a way, using which you are able to play Pokemon Go on PC from the comfort and security of your residence. Youll receive a bigger bonus whenever you do this seven days in a row.

Pokemon Go Spoofers Features

The close of the beginning Over time, all this makes it harder and not as enjoyable for legitimate players.  The sentiment appears to be banning has increased over the previous week or so, but they're isolated incidents.  And that makes a lot of ill-will locally.  Seems they don't like the easy farm life.  On the flip side, some folks simply don't reside in Pokemon-rich locations.

The Pain of Pokemon Go Spoofers

Also check out the way to catchGen two baby Pokemon, our analysis of post-balance updateChanseyandRhydonand all you want to understand about finding the long-awaited PokemonDitto. You are able to use this to make your character walk when you're not, which will hatch eggs and you could also utilize it to acquire closer to Pokestops that are just outside your present site.  They will only have the ability to see and locate the common ones including Pidgeys and Rattatas.  Over the last few months, we've been collecting mostly 100 Pokecoins each day.  Attempt to hatch because many eggs as possible before the event to generate space for those special Safari eggs.

[fwr-justicehunters-blog]

Exposé on Fungwan Reborn

Exposé on Fungwan Reborn

TLDR: FWR appears to be corrupted. Spend at your own risk.

(This entry shall only contain FACTS. It will not contain anything made up or hypotheticals.)

Greetings Warriors (how cliche), if you are reading this, then I assume word has began to spread. For the convenience and easy reading of the viewers here, I have broken down this exposé into various sections, namely (a) the changes in this server; (b) the alleged competency and integrity of the GMs; and (c) the intentions/purpose of this server. However, if you cannot be bothered to read through this entry, there is a TLDR above somewhere.

(a) Changes in this Server

We have been promised many things. For one, a brand new experience that is fresh, free from exploits and easy-to-obtain-end-game gear.

Having been on the server myself for 3 days now, the main identifiable difference would be the re-imaged mobs and the addition of boss mobs. My personal take on this is as such, even if you put lipstick on a pig, it remains a pig.

As for the various fixes on bugs and exploits, I believe the video below/below should show you how thorough the GMs have been (yes, this is sarcasm - incase you are a dill-wit)

[See video in other post]

And this "promise" of delivering a workable FWO2.0 which would introduce new concepts/content to the existing framework of the game will always remain a myth. The accessible database that the GMs of FWR have are just a bunch of string texts with the remaining being "uncrackable" in the hardcoding of the files. It requires years of unravelling and/or building from scratch. It is not feasible with the current talent crop of these GMs (more on this further below on their competency) and/or it will expand too much resources to actually get a working FWO2.0 in place.

Realistically speaking, any "promise" of a FWO2.0 is merely a candy to lure all the kids with a sweet-tooth with pockets full of parents pocket money to "buy" into their “prospective” idea nothingness.

Lastly, on the much advertised "end-game-gear lootable ingame" and "log in to earn mall gold" which would resolve this timeless debate of playing2win vs paying2win. Admittedly, some of their implementations here do actually hold water (i.e. boss mobs dropping gear etc). However, whether these gear will be able to stand the test of time, where the developments over the months and/or fresh new items being introduced into the mall, remains to be seen. There is also the "silent-hushhush" factor of paying off/buying off items from the supposed incorruptible GMs, and how these looted gear would be able to stand against the "GM gear". This will be elaborated further in the section below.

(b) Competency and Integrity of the GMs

So before I begin my tirade on this current crop of GM, why not have an proper introduction to who they are:

Wohali - Deranged/James

Ganesh - TnT/Kevin

Saltybeernut - Falcon/Kieran

Sqitshi - Lynix/Hans

xFive - Beyu/Amirul

Fedex - Jabif/Aaron

NicolaiVds - No alias

WhiteWalker - PoisonIvy 

Haipeth - 

(PS: the last names were omitted intentionally to maintain a measure of decorum for their identities).

Now that there is some transparency as to whose bellies you all have been feeding, lets begin the witchhunt starting with the infamous TnT. Where do we even begin. For all the complaints on the past servers for "edited character","GM items/GM Spawns", "duplicating of items" and "2hit KO", our dear TnT has been front and center to all these complaints (and no, I am not saying he was the only one, but he has been/remained a key figure to all these). So how does that affect our current FWR? The screenshot below truly reflects a thousand words.

For our HGM, Deranged, while I personally still believe he is nice, I actually bought my first Hcomp off him (from the old days of EdenII - before Hcomps were widely released - and this is purely from personal experience). So infer what you would like into this. The same (while no personal experience, only hearsay) could be said about Falcon and Beyu. 

Beyu gets special mention because he is responsible for the handling of the Malaysian transactions who are unable to buy anything without a paypal account.

Now onto the next target, our ever-active SaltyBeerNut. (PS: For a chav, and I mean him hailing from the UK, he sure has terrible English). Well lets start with the recent “apparent breach” of the server through a back-door that has been “fixed”. This what was said in discord:

What I am willing to assure you, is that, this cannot be further from the truth. In other words: SaltyBeerNut/Kieran is LYING. Now what I could do is to provide a list of usernames and passwords, but that would be against my policy of merely serving justice. But the below screenshots, I believe, should suffice as empirical proof that I do have access to everyones account:

[insert screenshots of players login 2 or 3].

So other than the obvious lie that Salty has led every other person to believe, here is his next lie: 

So what really happened, was completely the other way around. SaltyBeerNut used his ingame character (Pritesneniye) and GM account to find my location. Thereafter he pk-ed me for my MJ. So, in essence, what truly happened was entirely the furthest thing from the truth.

I think I’ll stop my witch-hunt here for now. I believe I have given good enough reasons why I, in my personal opinion, am of the view that not only these GMs are full of shit, but corrupt at the same time.

PS: There is probably good reason not to “come out” and reveal themselves, although it is very very cringe-y to see them having 2 discord accounts (i.e. 1 under the GM alias and another under their “player” alias) - I believe I dont need to show proof of that, just scroll through the list, you will see them there :)

- Competency

So lets leave aside the apparent "corruptibility" of our GMs for now and lets just look at the competency of our current crop.

Not many will know about this (but I have verified the truth behind it), our current GMs were clueless on the runnings of a server. In fact, they sort help from Jumanji (who coincidentally runs a similar server called Fung Wan World). Jumanji taught them the basics of server setup, gave them pointers on what needs to be done for them to have a bare-working server.

This, in itself, highlights the "capabilities" of the GMs (which is accentuated through the various bugs/exploits that the GMs have so foolhardily declared as "fixed"). PS: These information would not have been so easily obtained but for their inability. And the above “hacker” infiltrating our server sage above should show you the clear limitations of our crop of GMs and their complete disregard for security.

( c) True purpose of this server

How much weight do we put on the "promises" of the GMs to develop this game? As was mentioned before, the only main change I see is the textural graphics of it. But my opinion on this remains the same - you can dress a pig up with a tiara, a frilly dress and high heels, but it doesnt change the nature of it being a pig.

So after going through all the above, you may now start to question what exactly is the true intention of this server?

Admittedly, at this stage it is purely based on conjecture and a matter of inference.

But it does appear that this server was setup to be "cash cow" for the respective GMs to fund their own personal pursuits.

Where does this leave us? For the us plebians who do not have access to the GM accounts/characters (oh and friends of the GM with added benefits), we will be required to spend monies and/or vast amounts of time to start competing with these other characters-with-advantage.

With all that in mind, on a fair and objective evaluation of all the factors, I personally believe that the risks (i.e. wasting time, money and effort) involved to even start playing an "already biased" game is simply too high. Perhaps if you-dear-reader are truly interested in reviving your memories of this game, I believe there are other servers out there where the balance is at least "moderately" controlled.

Yours, Legion of Anonymous.

[adieka]

11 Points to Protect Multiple Domains From Malware, Phishing, and Code Injections

Amine Our WP sites get hacked/compromized too many times for my liking. What do you guys use to protect multiple domains from malware, phishing and code injections? WordFence? CodeGuard? SiteLock? Sucuri? What's the best solution pricewise? 7 👍🏽 7 [filtered from 51 💬🗨]📰👈

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Raef I answered a similar question in another group. If it's not okay for me to copy and paste my own answer, please delete and may the fleas from a thousand camels infect my jockey shorts. These are best practices: Most of what I'll share with you is for Apache based websites. Nginx is different. 1. Keep hackers out of wp-includes and wp-admin with some .htaccess files. 2. If you have more than one website accessible from one cPanel, lock each site down individually with php.ini files. Use the open_basedir command to specify the exact path to each site. 3. Always use a good strong anti-virus program on your local computer. ALWAYS! It's astonishing to me how many websites we remove malware from that were hacked due to a password-stealing trojan on their computer. 4. Keep all plugins updated daily. There have been so many websites infected recently that were the result of the elementor-pro plugin not being updated. Recently. After the plugin was patched. 5. Me personally, I would never give someone an admin level account on my WordPress site. Never. If I did, as soon as they were finished, I would delete the account. 6. You must have file monitoring. No other way about it. You need to know that any files added or modified are safe or not. Not just notified that they've changed or been added, but are they safe. 7. Disable PHP in the wp-content/uploads folder. Nothing in there needs to be executed. Nothing. 8. Change your passwords frequently and change the password salts in wp-config.php just as frequently. 9. I have little faith in WAFs. Read their blogs and updates. They all say after finding a new vulnerability, "Now our customers are protected from this exploit". Really? Why wasn't this attack blocked before? Block SQL injection, cross-site scripting and other attack METHODS. Stop chasing the latest exploit. Block the methods hackers use and you'll be ahead of the game. 10. If you're on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated server, block countries by IP address. Do you need traffic from Ukraine, Russia or a host of other countries? If not, block them. It's one less avenue to worry about. However, don't do it at the application layer with a web application firewall (WAF). That's chewing up resources. Do it at the application layer. 11. You must have the logs monitored. Want to know what's going on with your website? It's all in the logs. (Even what Google is crawling, how long and how often they crawl too! 😉😉😉) Log monitoring along with file monitoring will tell you exactly how the sites were infected and when. From there, if your security needs tightening, it's relatively easy. Any questions? Fire away.

Adly Great checklist! thank you. may i ask which tools do you recommend for log and file monitoring? Raef » Adly I wrote my own. I stream logs from customers sites to my servers where I analyze them "on the fly". Kieran Awesome response. 💟1 Loga » Raef Thank you for taking the time to share this. Superb insights. Thanks. 💟1

Martinez Among other things we rename the login URLs. If hackers cannot find them they cannot break into them. I believe this is the most effective strategy.

Anton » Martinez How does this help? Users will have login buttons on top and find the page very easily. Igor That's only on sites that have accounts enabled. Most businesses don't have this. Martinez » Anton What Igor says is correct, but many of the bots used to attack login URLs are preprogrammed to go after a small number of URLs. If you rename the URLs the number of brute force dictionary attacks should decline. If you leave comments open on Posts or Pages, closing those off after a couple of weeks also helps. Most comments that are left after 15-30 days are just spambots anyway. Some of them will attempt to dump SQL injections into the comments,

Edward WordFence severely slowed our site down we had to ditch it. Sucuri does a fair job of spotting injections and vulnerabilities. Problem with WP is the update addiction. Every update - apart from potentially breaking the whole site - may fix one vulnerability, but may open up several others unknowingly. So you keep updating, and keep hitting the same problem going round in circles. Instead of doing minor dangerous updates often, I'm inclined to test and launch sites as-is, fix vulnerabilities in existing plugins manually where possible - then look at upgrading everything properly as a new project down the line. 📰👈

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These may satisfy you: » Some Advice if your Server Get Hacked » How to Delete Hacked Urls From Google SERPs? A New Owner Has Been Added on GSC

[speeddating710]

Eharmony Monthly

Eharmony Monthly Subscription

Eharmony Monthly

Eharmony Monthly Charge

Eharmony Monthly Rate

EHarmony pricing:Free to sign up$59.95 for a 1-month plan$23.95 a month for a 3-month plan$29.95 a month for a 6-month plan$19.95 a month for a 12-month plan Sign up for free now Read in-depth review eHarmony is a dating platform that is primarily designed to help users find serious matches. The company uses a compatibility. The service often features huge discounts on monthly subscriptions depending on the duration of the membership. One of the most popular eHarmony coupons that appeared recently gave singles 20% off. Starting a great, new relationship shouldn’t be rushed. Since shorter plans wouldn’t allow you to take full advantage of eharmony to get to know your matches online first, we offer our Premium Membership in 6, 12, or 24-month plans. The Premium Light Plan includes a six-month membership with unlimited messaging and the ability to see who’s viewed your eharmony dating profile. Another perk is that you can search the eharmony database by distance and view all the photos shared by members on the site. Get the Premium Light for $54.90/mo for 6 months. This depends greatly on you. Individual singles have to consider their own budgets, time restraints, and relationship goals. An eharmony account does take some time to set up and use properly, and it does cost a fair bit of money (premium memberships start at about $30 a month), so don’t enter this signup process lightly.

Cancel eHarmony subscription or membership is not a hard task at all. Many people after finding their loved ones, want to disable or delete the eHarmony account subscription. This tutorial is very useful to those who have already found their partners and do not want to use the paid service of eHarmony.

There are a lot of online dating platforms out there filled with people seeking their perfect life partner. Even though the concept of finding your perfect match online among thousands of other registered profiles in the directory based on your interests, likes and dislikes without actually taking the pain of dating each and every person individually may seem like a very soothing idea, it does not work most of the time.

Eharmony Monthly Subscription

With all those online dating sites available out there, finding the perfect match always comes down to your luck.

However, Dr. Neil Clark, CEO of eHarmony.com will disagree. After practicing as a clinical psychologist and counselor for over 35 years, back in 2000, Dr. Neil Clark started the eHarmony.com dating platform with a belief that you need not rely only on luck to help find you the love of your life.

‘eHarmony’ is a Los Angeles based online dating platform that is currently the USA’s No.1 relationship service provider. Overall the eHarmony has helped couples finding the love of their life, thanks to the patented Compatibility Matching System from eHarmony itself. No matter what your age, origin or political and religious beliefs are, eHarmony will help you find the perfect match of your dreams.

The stats from around the world also proves this. On an average, over 600,000 eHarmony members gets married throughout all the countries that the service is active in, including the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK.

Well, if you are already an active member of the eHarmony online dating platform, and if you have already found the match of your life, thanks to eHarmony, then it’s time for you to end the subscription of your eHarmony account. And if you are unaware on how to deactivate or cancel your eHarmony account, then today we are here with a detailed article that will be taking you through all the procedures required to unsubscribe yourself from eHarmony and all of it’s services.

The Easiest Way to Cancel your eHarmony Subscription

Here is how you can easily cancel your eHarmony subscription without costing you any more money:

Turning off eHarmony auto-renewal:

First of all, sign-in to your existing eHarmony web account.

Under the Settings option, click on “Account Settings”.

Now at the bottom of your page, you will find an option with the title “Cancel My Subscription” under the Billing section. Click on the same and then complete the procedures that appear on the screen to cancel your existing subscription with eHarmony.

Your subscription with eHarmony has not yet been canceled, the above step helps you prevent your existing subscription with eHarmony from being auto renewed.

On the same page as on Step 2, now search and click on the “Close Account” option and then complete the on-screen procedures to completely cancel your current subscription with eHarmony. The “Close Account” option is not visible to you until you disable the eHarmony auto-renewal option.

How to Verify Auto-renewal has been Turned-off

After you turning off the auto-renewal feature of eHarmony, you need to make sure whether the auto renew has been turned off or not. To ensure yourself follow the steps mentioned below.

Login to your eHarmony account with your login id and password.

Go to “My Settings” page and select “Account Settings” option.

Look at the bottom area of your page and see the subscription information. If you find “set to expire” option then it is sure that the auto-renew option is OFF. If you find “set to renew” option there, then you have not turned off the auto-renew of eHarmony yet.

Unless you choose to permanently closure of your account, you can enable auto-renew any time direct from the “Account Settings” page.

Please do mind that as you are canceling or closing your entire eHarmony account, all your paired matches will also be deleted and also your profile will also be hidden from searches and no one will be able to match with you anymore.

Please do note that this does not mean that you account is completely deleted from the eHarmony system. Your account still exists along with your photos and all the profile details that were earlier uploaded into the website, so that if you wish to come back at a later point of time, you need not go through all the initial setup once more.

How to Get a Refund upon Ending the eHarmony Subscription

The best thing of eHarmony is you will get the refund on canceling the current eHarmony subscription. If you want to cancel the subscription keeping all data intact, you need to cancel the account within the fourteenth day (midnight) of your current subscription. If you are living in the USA or in Canada, then you can cancel the eHarmony membership and get refunded on making a call to 844-544-3179 number. Otherwise, you can contact the support team anytime between 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time. After the above-mentioned fourteen days period, if you cancel your eHarmony account, you will not get any refund.

If you wish to delete your account entirely from the eHarmony system without trace, then after following the 5 steps mentioned above, you will also be required to send a mail to “deletemyinfo@eharmony.co.uk” with the subject “Delete my Account Information” containing a request to delete all the details related to you from the eHarmony database. Once requested, it may take anywhere from 5-10 business days for your request to be processed.

Eharmony Monthly

Final Words:

Eharmony Monthly Charge

I hope this article on how to cancel existing eHarmony subscription helps you to cancel and delete your eHarmony account without any issue. This article is also helpful to those who does not know how to delete the eHarmony account and who does not know how to stop the auto renewal and get a refund from eHarmony. In the case of any queries, please do leave them as comments below.

Eharmony Monthly Rate

Also useful:How to change your Facebook name

[investedin]

How To Get Your Free Equifax Credit Score & Annual Credit Report Online?

Big dream expects Big steps, and these steps often require creditors on the way to achieve them. But the lenders also want evidence if you could handle the repayment of the loan once provided. Credit Score works as a sign for the lenders to evaluate the borrower based on history. Therefore, in this article, you will find detailed information on How to get your Free Equifax Credit Score & Annual Equifax Credit Report online?

Why Should You Consider Equifax Credit Report And Scores As The Right One For You?

It is one of its kind where you can get your first credit report for free. You would be wondering why you should consider Equifax for Credit Report as helpful. Equifax India is one of the 4 leading companies providing Credit Information of an individual in India. Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited and Equifax Analytics Pvt Ltd. in India are the companies that are handling Equifax Credit Report and various other services provided by them. This bureau is a USA based company having its Indian headquarters located in Mumbai. It is a joint venture between Equifax Inc., USA, and seven major Indian financial institutions of India, which are Religare Finvest Limited, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited, Sundaram Finance Limit, Bank of India, and Union Bank of India. Since major these institutions have a stake in this bureau, it is a great company for the credit reports.

What Does Equifax Credit Score Means And What Is Its Importance?

So, the Equifax credit score is a 3 digit number derived from the individual’s past financial data. It ranges from 300 and goes up to 850, where 300 is the worst and 850 is the best score. These scores are derived using an algorithm that performs analysis and drafts out a credit report. This report contains your credit score in the mentioned range. It holds value for them, which helps lenders evaluate the prospective borrower’s credit worthiness and the risk involved in lending money to the applicant.

Therefore by knowing your score, you can improve or maintain the same to make you a more eligible borrower. So if you want to improve, you might be wondering how these scores work? Is there any range to be safe? What scores should be avoided such that I am not in a danger zone?

Therefore, let’s discuss the ranges within the mentioned range to have quantitative information on the range scores.

Zone 1 – It ranges between 300- 579 within Equifax Score timeline

An Equifax score in this range is considered a poor score. It suggests you have been either late/ defaulted in paying your past credit card bills or EMIs that you were liable to pay on time. With an Equifax score in this range, it is unimaginable for anyone to obtain any credit from a verified lender as you are prone to be a defaulter.

Zone 2 -This zone ranges from 580 to 669 in the Equifax score sheet

A  score in this range is regarded as a fair one. A very few institutions could lend you credit, but this would come with strings connected to it. The interest rate would be much higher than the market rate. The credit amount provided would be less, force you to take various insurance from them, and many more. A score in this zone illustrates that you might face difficulties in paying credit bills, not having a disproportionate mix credit, or many more factors listed below. You need to get these scores up by taking serious actions to enhance your Equifax score to have reasonable deals on loans.

Zone 3 – It lies in the range starting from 670 to 739

A score in this range displays that you have good credit behavior. A good amount of organizations would consider you for your credit request. But with this, you are required to have the good negotiating power to have loans granted without bounding conditions. But for a hassle-free process, you might look to advance to the next zone bypassing some small hurdles.

Zone 4 – This is the zone in the credit score timeline varying from 740 till 799

This zone is considered to be a perfect zone. You might think of it as a zone wherein lenders will be willing to grant you loans. It demonstrates your impressive payment history and smart work done by you in handling credits. Banks will give you credit at the lowest possible rates that you look for as there are the least chances that you might become a defaulter.

Zone 5 – This is the topmost zone of the credit score tower ranging from 800 – 850

This zone is considered to be an excellent one. You might find the highest score to be 900, but these are physically impossible to have them. So, you can assume that this zone is anything above 800 marks. This zone is exceptional for a borrower to have banks would be more than happy to have you with the conditions you said. An individual in this zone can assume an interest rate to be even a bit lower than the market rate. This the ideal zone you want to be in.

However, there is another zone, which is NA/NH. If you have no past credit history, your Equifax score will show NA/NH, signifying that it is either “not applicable” or has ” no history.” If you have never obtained a credit card or a loan, then you will have no credit history in the database.

So, by far, we know that the credit score is a part of the credit report, so the additional information is accounted for.

Basic Credit Information Report

A  Basic Credit Information Report or CIR is the exact view of the borrower’s credit history and rating. Their readability is quite good and can be easily interpreted by a customer. This report contains 5 sections having both personal and credit information of the customer, which are as follows :

Section 1: Identification And Contact Section

This section contains your personal details, which include :

Name of the customer

Age and D.O.B of the individual

Permanent Address, and many more

Section 2: Credit History And Scores

This section contains all the crucial credit characteristics of the consumer based on past credit bills. It will quote the borrower’s credit type and the amount in the mentioned period. This section will also demonstrate how the consumer organized and utilized his/her credit.

Section 3: Latest Actions And Activities

The borrower highly values this section. The client will have information about the consumer’s recent activity, and actions are taken. It will reflect the credit that has been attained by the consumer. The report will also quote if the consumer has applied for a new account or loan in other banks related to it. If the account has been used for any offense, this section will emphasize it.

Section 4: All Type Of Account Details

This part of the report will show the client’s accounts that he/she possess. It gives account-wise details of the consumer’s repayment history to the client and monetary transactions involving a considerable amount of money. The account details will show the lender how a consumer has handled his credit and whether he/she has made the repayments on time.

Furthermore, this section will also highlight if the consumer has missed any payments and whether he has settled any accounts. The lender will avoid lending money to someone who has settled accounts or missed the repayments as it is a huge risk.

Section 5: Inquiry Section

This section delivers details of the number and the type of inquiries that are performed on the consumer. A high number of inquiries suggest that the consumer is desperately looking for credit. With several inquiries, if the consumer is yet unable to obtain a credit, it marks that the consumer cannot organize and use his/her credit efficiently.

How Can I Get My Equifax Credit Report Online? Can I Get It For Free?

Due to some amendments in 2017, it has been made mandatory for your country’s credit bureaus to provide a credit report for free. Keep in mind that it can only be availed once in a financial year. So, to get it from Equifax, download the Equifax mobile app from the play store. It is available both on android and iPhone, so don’t get disheartened. After installing the same, follow the steps mentioned below:

i. Sign in to the Equifax App on Android or iPhone

After downloading and installing the app on your smartphone, you will be asked to provide your email address to receive a temporary verification PIN. You will be required to login to this app using your email-id and the temporary pin received in the mail to create a personal 6-digit login PIN.

ii. Entering the KYC details and Validating yourself/KYC

You will be required to enter your enter personal details such as name, age, etc. along with Aadhaar and PAN card number to verify your identity. Once your authentication is done, you will receive an OTP on your Aadhaar registered mobile number. Upon entering the one-time password and validating it, you will be taken to the Equifax App homepage.

iii. Getting a soft copy of your Credit Report

Provide additional information which includes your gender, date of birth, address, etc. You would also be required to give in your identification (ID) like Passport, PAN, or Voter ID. The authentication will be conducted further based on your credit history. Here, you will need to respond to the questionnaire based on your history. You will have to answer three questions based on your credit history to authenticate yourself, and then you will attain your credit report on your registered email address within 24 hours.

Your credit report will be password protected. Equifax will provide you with a unique password for your report, which will be delivered to your mobile app on your phone. You will have to sign in to your  Equifax app to get the password. Entering the same in the file that will provide you access to your Equifax credit report.

If you want to avail of this feature through offline mode, whatsoever may be the reason.

You can send the above mentioned scanned documents via email to ecissupport@equifax.com. You can also post the filled out credit report application form and documents through the postal services to their headquarters in Mumbai. If you want to have these reports from time to time for yourself, you will need to choose a subscription plan and make payments according to their portal.

Factors That Help In The Credit Card Scores Calculation

You might be wondering how these scores are calculated, and factors are taken into account while doing these same. So let’s dive deep into it:

Credit Score is evaluated using the credit history establish during the drafting of the Credit Report. Credit Report comprises data that analyses consumers’ credit behavior, including their credit payment and borrowing patterns, credit utilization ratio, etc. Therefore the key factors that are used and their importance, solutions are displayed below :

1. Repayment History Of Past Credits

Your credit repayment history accounts for a significant impact on your credit score, which is about 30% of the total. Have a credible track record regarding timely payment of credit bills and EMIs dramatically impacting your credit score and contemplating responsible credit behavior. This will boost your Equifax score. Whereas frequently defaults on EMIs and credit card payments affect your credit score negatively. It demonstrates poor financial planning and management, which decreases your score.

2. Credit Utilization Ratio

The credit availed to the credit limit for all the credits, such as credit card, loan, and overdraft accounts. A high credit utilization ratio reflects a higher dependence on credit and a rise in the repayment burden. It portraits the hunger of the individual for credit to get his/her things done. This affects your credit score in a hard way. However, a low credit utilization ratio (around a mark of 35% ) indicates higher credit credibility and enhances your Equifax credit score.

3. A mix Of Credit Types Used

The category of credit classified into secured and unsecured credit that you use also affects your credit score. Having a high number of unsecured loans like personal loans, credit cards, etc. are unfavorable for your credit score because it is frequently deduced as a sign of inefficiency in managing personal finances. It is nice to have a proper mix of credit, i.e., a balanced of secured loans like Home, Auto loans, and unsecured credit. It has a favorable influence on your credit score computed by Equifax.

4. The Number Of Recent Credit Applications

The number of new credit accounts and the credit inquiries that have been carried out recently also affect your credit score. Applying for multiple numbers of new credits portraits you to be credit hungry. Moreover, the increase in the number of hard inquiries performed by banks affects scores adversely.

5. Length Of Credit History

The length of your credit history, i.e., the period from when you first applied for a credit till now, affects your credit score. Periods over which credit accounts have been active are duly noted. The longer the track record of responsible credit, the better is the effect on your credit score.

FAQs

1. How long does it take to get EquifaxCredit Report?

If you have applied through the offline mode, when all the relevant documents are submitted, Equifax posts your Credit Report and Credit Score through post or courier within a week as soon as the verification and authentication of all the provided documents are done successfully. However, using an online mode through your mobile app, you can get a soft copy mailed to your registered email address within 24 hours.

2. Why is there a difference between my Equifax Score and my CIBIL Score?

Though both the CIBIL and Equifax have a similar score range of 300-900, each bureau is inclined to provide a different credit score for the same individual conditions being the same. This is because each bureau has its own scoring algorithm and minor different factors used to calculate an individual’s credit score.

3. How can I get in touch with Equifax if there are discrepancies/ a query related to my Equifax Credit Report/Credit Score generated?

You can get in touch with then on working days from Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 7:00 pm through their : Toll-free customer care number 1800-209-3247 Emailing your queries at ecissupport@equifaxindia.com Write an application and post it to Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited. Unit No. 931, 3rd floor, Building no. 9, Solitaire Corporate Park, Andheri Ghatkopar Link Road, Andheri East, Mumbai – 400 093

4. How much does it cost to have an Equifax report?

You can get 1 free credit report from Equifax in a financial year. To get more than that, you will have to spend Rs.400 (excluding GST ) for each report.

5. Can anyone accesses my Equifax credit report?

No. Only you and legal, financial organizations that are members of the Equifax credit bureau have a permit to your credit report. These authorized members are specified by the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 by the government. Only those you have permitted to check your report when you apply for a loan or a credit card have a permit to your credit report.

Bottom Line

To cope with the necessities and luxuries of life, we try our level best to provide them to our loved ones. To procure them, we might require credit that might be high about our current income. So we apply for credits from the lenders. But to convince them to provide us with the asked credit, the lenders require a concrete piece of evidence that you would be able to pay them up with interest.

So, the Credit Score serves as a medium to convince them to provide us with the credit. So it is on us to provide them with that reason by which they should willingly provide us with the credits. Following the above cheat sheet and rectifying errors, if any, in the annual report will help you to maintain or improve your score to get the loans on your desired conditions and market rates.

source http://invested.in/get-free-equifax-credit-score-annual-report-online/

[ask-my-girl]

You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this email

You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this email

It starts with a simple opening introduction..You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e mail Once you finish reading this post please share it via Facebook or LinkedIn so we can build awareness and protect the general public. There are many online scams and it can be a dangerous place to spend your time, in saying this the world revolves around being connected and almost everyone now owns a smartphone and an email address. The latest scam to hit is a sophisticated blackmail that has tricked 100’s if not thousands around the world and its making a nice little savings account for the scammers. The email reads… “This account has been hacked! Change your password right now!” This is the point curiosity takes over and you open the email to see what’s going on. It is then followed by a message that may deviate slightly from the below You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e mail, right? I’m a hacker who cracked your email and devices a few months ago. Do not try to contact me or find me, it is impossible, since I sent you an email from YOUR hacked account. I setup a malware on the adult vids (porno) web-site and guess what, you visited this site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching videos, your internet browser started out functioning as a RDP (Remote Control) having a keylogger which gave me accessibility to your screen and web cam. After that, my software program obtained all information. You entered a passwords on the websites you visited, and I intercepted it. Of course you can will change it, or already changed it. But it doesn’t matter, my malware updated it every time. What did I do? I backuped device. All files and contacts. I created a double-screen video. 1st part shows the video you were watching (you’ve got a good taste haha . . .), and 2nd part shows the recording of your web cam. exactly what should you do? Well, in my opinion, $1000 (USD) is a fair price for our little secret. You’ll make the payment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, search “how to buy bitcoin” in Google). My Bitcoin wallet Address: 14j6dFsCbqVFwycojmkqAsPtmZd7ewamdB (It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it) Important: You have 48 hour in order to make the payment. (I’ve a unique pixel in this e mail, and at this moment I know that you have read through this email message). To track the reading of a message and the actions in it, I use the facebook pixel. Thanks to them. (Everything that is used for the authorities can help us.) If I do not get the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, coworkers, and so on.

By this stage your blood pressure has increased and you are likely hitting a state of panic. (Please note over 75% of the population have watched porn) Take a big breath and feel safe knowing this is an elaborate scam and they do not have footage or photos of you jacking off over some online fantasy. The business plan for these scammers is to send an email out like the above to hundreds of thousands of people knowing that a small percentage will pay their demands. NEVER PAY ANY MONEY TO A SCAMMER. First of all yes people can watch you without you knowing but if this scammer was for real they would have included proof of the video like a small video snippet or photo. Keep Your Friends And Family Safe Take the time to speak to your family and friends about the scams that are going around, you never know it could save a life. The thought of this information being shared around your friends, family and coworkers could very easily spin you out of control and into a world of depression. Please remember if you think you are being scammed, trying Googling it as its likely hundreds of other people have received the same message. Next time you receive an email along the lines of “You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e mail” stay calm knowing they don’t have any dirt on you. Please remember to never reply to any email like the one above and delete it as soon as you discover it in your inbox. Even if you reply to tell them to piss off they will likely target you further as they know our email is active.. trust me it’s not worth it : ) Get Protected Today - Always Stay Protected Online

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Price: $24.99 SAVE $55.00 AWARD WINNING ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE: Defend against viruses and online threats with a combination of cloud based and offline protection for your privacy, identity and your devices. (Protect up to 3 devices) BUY NOW FROM AMAZON

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Price: $24.99 SAVE $65.00 REAL-TIME THREAT PROTECTION Advanced security protects against existing and emerging malware threats, including ransomware and viruses, and it won’t slow down your device performance. Download instantly & install protection for up to 5 PCs, Macs, iOS or Android devices in minutes. BUY NOW FROM AMAZON But how do they send emails from your own email account? There are countless data breaches every week and personal data often gets in the hands of not so good characters, this is usually the way people get into your email and social media accounts. Security tip: Never use the same password on more than one website – I understand how annoying and hard this can be. Another way the scammers trick you and no matter how many times you change your password it won’t stop them. Savvy scammers are now able to mimic your email address through poorly secured email hosting agents, if you notice this is happening to you reach out to your email hosting company so they can help block this type of intrusion. “You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e mail” – Wrong you now know and you are not fooling for their dirty tricks anymore! Please leave a comment if this article was helpful. Thanks – Ask My Girl Team Feedback Have you received scams like “You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e mail” If so send us a message or leave a comment so we can share it with the general public. Online Safety Website Links USA GOV - Online Safety WebsiteSAFEKIDSFamily Online Safety Institute https://youtu.be/aMSHtE42mmI Security Tip Cover the camera on your laptop or webcam when not in use.. it is very easy for someone to gain control of the camera without you knowing : /

Other Posts That You May Like Because You Viewed You May Not Know Me And You Are Probably Wondering Why You Are Getting This Email https://www.askmygirl.com/the-terrifying-truth-about-skin-bleaching-products/ https://www.askmygirl.com/how-to-travel-india-but-is-it-safe/ Read the full article

[newstfionline]

Six Ways to Save Money

Eric Barker, Barking Up The Wrong Tree, December 31st, 2017.

We’d all like to have more money. (That stuff is really useful, ain’t it?)

Being worried about makin’ the bacon can end your marriage, skyrocket your blood pressure, and even cause your brain to malfunction.

According to Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, “Money is the top reason for divorce and the number one cause of stress in Americans. People are demonstrably worse at all kinds of problem solving when they have money problems on their mind.”

Thing is, we all make dumb money mistakes, many of which we’re not even aware of. And a lot of those are due to quirks of human psychology.

Luckily, Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University, has a new book out that explains some of the problems we’re prone to when it comes to moolah and what we can do about them. The book is Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter.

Let’s look at some of what Dan has to say and see how we can save some shekels...

1) “On Sale” Signs Are The Devil

More generally, Dan’s advice is “ignore relative comparisons.” Focus on what the thing costs, not how big a discount you’re getting.

Saving 90% on a bus pass isn’t a great deal if you never take the bus--but we make dumb purchases similar to that one all the time.

It seems that discounts are a potion for stupidity. They simply dumb down our decision-making process. When an item is “on sale,” we act more quickly and with even less thought than if the product costs the same but is marked at a regular price.

And we’re assaulted by these relative comparisons all the time...

You’d never have paid a few hundred dollars for heated seats--but when you’re shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for a car, that extra seems relatively cheap--and so you say, “Ah, what the heck... Sure.” You should judge add-ons separately by their value, not by comparison.

Similarly, paying percentages can be dangerous. 5% might seem small but, again, that can be deceptive. Change the percentage into a dollar amount and objectively ask: “Am I comfortable paying this figure for this service?”

2) It’s Not A “Bonus.” Money Is Money.

Your paycheck goes toward bills and serious stuff. But that unexpected check you received in the mail? That money you won at the casino? That gift card aunt Phyllis sent you? Well, it’s okay to spend that money on frivolous goodies because that’s “different.”

No, it’s not. Money is money.

Every dollar is the same. It doesn’t matter where money comes from… just because in our mind the money belongs to the “bonuses” or “winnings” account--we need to pause, think, and remind ourselves that it’s just money. Our money.

Researchers refer to this as “emotional accounting.” Rationally, a dollar is a dollar. But as rationality-challenged humans, we feel the source of the money affects how we should use it. Bad idea.

People are likely to spend something like their salary on “responsible” things like paying bills, because it feels like “serious money.” On the other hand, money that feels fun--like $300 million in casino winnings--is likely to be spent on fun things, like more gambling.

Studies show that when $200 is called a “rebate” we’re inclined to deposit it in the bank. But when that $200 is called a “bonus” we’re more likely to buy a treat.

Many people treat a tax refund as a “bonus” that they can have fun with. Again, that’s tricky emotional accounting. You didn’t get a bonus; you gave the government an interest-free loan and they’re returning the principal.

How do we actually spend less without having to use any willpower? That’s easy. Make spending painful...

3) Use Cash More Often

Handing someone cash hurts your brain. Seriously. Neuroscience research shows it’s indistinguishable from physical pain.

But we ever-resourceful humans have found a way (many ways, actually) to spend a lot and not feel that pain. The biggest culprit? Credit cards.

Studies have found not only that people are more willing to pay when they use credit cards, but also that they make larger purchases, leave larger tips, are more likely to underestimate or forget how much they spent, and make spending decisions more quickly.

Ever find yourself treating foreign currency like it’s Monopoly money? Ever abuse that Amazon one-click button? Anything that makes transactions simpler and quicker or blurs the process of handing over greenbacks reduces the pain of paying--and makes you more likely to spend.

Writing checks doesn’t cause the same amount of ouch that forking over cash does, but it’s still pretty good because having to write out “five thousand dollars” will give you pause. But credit cards, gift cards, casino chips and nearly all online shopping is a financial opiate and dramatically reduces the pain that keeps your bank account flush.

There is an exception worthy of mention here. The vast majority of the time, increasing the pain of paying is a great idea. But there are occasions where it’s worth it to be pain-free. You don’t want to be saying “owwwww” repeatedly on your honeymoon or during other big milestones. You want to just enjoy the moment.

So whip out the plastic and have fun. But make those occasions rare.

4) “Fair” Is A Four-Letter Word

It’s pouring outside so you’re going to get an Uber. But Uber is surge pricing. “That’s unfair! Forget it. I’ll walk.”

Maybe Uber is taking advantage of you. Maybe they’re not. But the real question is: would you pay the surge price to not arrive home soaking wet? Probably. So you’re not punishing them. You’re punishing yourself.

“Fair is a four-letter word.” That’s what my friend, Chris Voss, former lead international hostage negotiator for the FBI, likes to say. And Ariely’s research agrees.

The concept of “fair” messes with our heads and causes us to reject deals that still offer plenty of value.

Let’s not get caught up in whether something is priced fairly; instead, consider what it’s worth to us. We shouldn’t pass up great value--access to our home, a salvaged computer, getting a ride in winter weather--just to punish the provider for what we think is unfairness.

The concept of “fairness” runs very deep in the human psyche. Nobody likes to feel exploited. And nobody wants to be known as someone who can be exploited.

But most of the time it doesn’t pay to get hung up on the concept of “fair.” Think about whether you’re getting reasonable value for the money you’re paying. Otherwise the person who gets punished will probably be you.

5) Try A “Ulysses Contract”

In Homer’s “The Odyssey”, Ulysses tied himself to the mast of his ship to resist the Sirens’ song.

When you’re thinking about the future you’re pretty rational. But when you’re in the moment, face it: you can be an impulsive moron. So do something now that constrains your behavior later.

Metaphorically, tie yourself to the mast of your ship with a Ulysses Contract. (Or “Odyssesus Contract” if you prefer the Greek. Hey, I’m open-minded.)

A Ulysses contract is any arrangement by which we create barriers against future temptation. We give ourselves no choice; we eliminate free will.

You probably already use a financial Ulysses Contract and don’t even realize it--you call it a 401(k). You made the decision in advance to save for retirement and now your hands are tied.

So go into your online banking account and set up a recurring automatic transfer for every time you get a paycheck. When your salary gets deposited, X amount is immediately shuttled into savings. Research shows this will help you save--a lot.

A study by Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin found that one group of participants who had their bank accounts restricted--that is, they chose to have money automatically deposited in a savings account--increased their savings by 81 percent within a year.

And Ulysses Contracts aren’t just good for finances; they work for almost any future temptation. Hand your keys to a friend before you go drinking. Have a pal change your passwords on social media accounts when you absolutely need to focus.

6) Drop Anchor

“Anchoring” is a potentially devastating cognitive bias where the first number mentioned in a given scenario unconsciously influences your future choices.

Well-designed menus often have a very high-priced item at the top. It doesn’t make you more likely to buy the filet mignon but it does insidiously make everything else look like a bargain.

Few people pay the manufacturer suggested retail price for a car. But that number is always big and visible when you look at the specs. Whether you realize it or not, it’s affecting the offer you end up making.

So how do you resist an anchor? By having a different anchor in advance. Do your research and know what most people end up paying for that car and the MSRP will have less influence.

Look at your regular purchases and ask if they really make sense and whether there are cheaper alternatives. Personally, I have not updated my phone plan in two decades and am still paying $9 a minute for calls.

Okay, we’re no longer money morons. So when you have more money, then you won’t need to worry about these silly psychology quirks that affect your spending, right?

Wrong.

About 16 percent of NFL players file for bankruptcy within twelve years of retirement, despite average career earnings of about $3.2 million. Some studies say the number of NFL players “under financial stress” is much higher--as high as 78 percent--within a few years of retirement. Similarly, about 60 percent of NBA basketball players are in financial trouble within five years of leaving the game. There are similar stories about lottery winners losing it all. Despite their big paydays, about 70 percent of lottery winners go broke within three years.

The more you earn, the bigger your mistakes will be. So review the common problems your grey matter has with money and learn to make smarter choices. This way you can keep your millions.

[otomequeen]

Transfer Nightmare

This post ended up a lot longer that I intended. I needed to rant and get it off my chest, otherwise it would fester and get into my land of slumber. I would have nightmares about it and I just want peaceful sleep. 

For those of you that know I’m trying to restore my transfer data on Kissed by the Baddest Bidder. (make sure the stories I’ve purchased don’t ask me to buy them again) So I can take all of them to Love 365. 

Also a information nugget that some may or may not know, transfer data wasn’t a thing until I wanna say mid 2016. Because when it became announced I went through all my apps and sent the transfer data to myself and the earliest dates start somewhere in 2016. Before they got all cool and hip with emails and passwords, they used to send you two numbers. Well numbers with letters mixed in with them. Something like

App ID: 3kfc49df03kd Sub ID: 33kgfd9xzn3

Note those aren’t real. I literally just pushed keys at the same time on the keyboard. They are just examples of that it looked like

So the idea behind transfer ID is that if you don’t play the game for a while you can put in your id and get all your shit back. Which is cool. I never really worried about progress, I would always reread the stories to read the stories and get cgs back. But it was nice having the backup for my purchases. 

I’m an android user, and using google play if you purchased something and it asks you to buy it again and you click purchase. It will go black for a second as I assume it looks through your order history, and if you have already purchased it you can continue on your merry way without paying for anything else. I know that tech isn’t 100% full proof. So even through I didn’t care about my progress within the games, I cared about the purchases and got those transfer ID’s ready.

NOW

Kissed by the Baddest Bidder was released overseas in February of 2014. Cool. New game, sprites where you get their back, awesome. I try not to get super far into a game because I want to dip my toe into all the characters in all the games. I’m not made of money, so I stick to season 1 stuff. Main stories of course, pov if they have them. I’m not huge into epilogues, and rarely go into sequel territory. So between the day is was released and right now, after going through my history, I own 14 routes and 6 sub stories. If you are doing the math, and I can see how many epilogues/mains/etc there are. It’s roughly $60.00. 

Now that doesn’t seem like a large number. I could get food for a week with that amount. But it’s been small amounts that have been accumulated over the span of almost 4 years. And I’m ok with that. I planned my money and decided I have a few extra dollars here and there to spend each month and that’s exactly what I did. 

So Love 365 comes out, and you can now transfer all your shit from the stand alone apps to the super app. Cool. This will free up space on my memory card, all for it. But when I opened KBTBB none of my purchases were there. Guess it’s been a while since I’ve opened the app. Fair enough, I mean I moved half way across the world twice in the span of 7 months. I’ve been pretty busy I haven’t played much of anything. But putting in the transfer ID they had sent me wasn’t working. I kept getting an error message. I tried typing it in slowly, I tried seeing if maybe I was reading some of the zeros as ‘o’ and vice versa. I copied and pasted it in directly and it wouldn’t budge. So what do I do, obviously I send an email. I don’t want to lose my shit. 

And I know voltage has a bad rep for their customer service. I get that it’s a large company. I’m honestly impressed that I generally got a reply within a day. But instead of going, ‘huh, that’s odd. I don’t know why your code that we provided you isn’t working. Maybe there is a bug preventing it, lets see what we can do to fix it.’ They decided to go with. 

Dear , Thank you for contacting us. Same title apps can transfer your data from old app. Please take a look following steps: 1.) Go on the old app TOP page and tap news button 2.) There is a banner says "How to Transfer Data to Love 365" so tap it 3.) You can find your token IDs so please copy it 4.) Go to Love 365, you can find "Transfer from old apps" button on Start page or Transfer page as well *Please note that Token ID can be used only once. Also before use it, please make sure to restore your ALL purchases otherwise you will lose them. Please feel free to contact us again if we can be of any assistance.

I mean alright. I guess they are getting a lot of emails about transferring to love 365, and in my initial email they just saw the word transfer and assumed it was about that. So I replied along the lines of. ‘sorry no, that’s not what I meant. I want to get my transfer data back before I moved to 365 so I don’t lose any of my purchases’

I got a mixed response. Because for those that remember KBTBB didn’t have that coin system. It used to be old fashioned like the rest of them. So first they gave me a solution for if I made purchases with the coins. Which I appreciated the information. And then they told me that they really couldn’t do much about if it was before the system change. I would have to send them screenshots of my order history, showing proof I purchased stories and they would give them to me through the system. Manually. I don’t know how that end works. 

Alright fine. I’m okay with that. I had to do with with lovestruck and castaway love’s adventure because that just wasn’t working for me either. Not a stranger to extra work I opened up my history to hit a small problem. Looking on my computer I found that I couldn’t go further into my order history beyond January 2015. Now if you remember the game came out in February 2014. So on my laptop I couldn’t prove that I purchased anything between February 2014-January 2015. I sent the screenshots I could get and told them the same thing. The response was we can only give you what we see, which was 2 sub stories.

UM. WHAT.

There was no way I was going to settle for that. There had to be something. Anything that would work. I tried sending them my transfer info sent to me from the game when I registered to see if they could use that. Didn’t really get a response from that idea. So at this point I’m trying anything. Remember how I was looking on my laptop through my order history. I don’t know why but I decided to try my phone, or maybe my laptop was in the other room and I just wanted to mess around with settings to see if I could go further. Either way I ended up on my phone through my history and it went back! 

Huzzah!

Kinda. Even though it went back far enough and I could screenshot everything, it doesn’t show prices. Everything before January 2015 just has a big old 0 as the price. Great. Now I’m worried they are going to think I’ve edited an order history to fake receipts to get these routes. In the hopes they don’t think I’m trying to scam them I take a screenshot of where you can see this change take place. The top have shows prices next to everything and the bottom half shows 0.00. I also explained that in the email in hopes that it all goes well. 

I felt a small wave of relief when it looked like everything was going to be ok. I got an email saying they gave me the stories and if I was missing any just send them the name and a receipt of purchase and they will get them to me. That’s wonderful news. I mean I hate making people work more than they have to, but something wasn’t working right and I didn’t want to lose anything. They could understand that, right?

I checked the app to find that nothing has changed. Then I thought maybe they just meant the games where you can see the prices. So I went to the sub story section and they weren’t there either. Which is kind of what prompted this rant, and a few other things that have been slowly building. 

I’m slowly losing my patients. I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Lots of changes, I’m sure lots of people are getting a hold of them all the time for different things. They are a big company after all, and I feel that the international market’s is low on their priority list. As far as happiness, customer service, not screwing us over by making us repurchase apps like Seduced in the Sleepless City (let’s all agree that was a hot mess. I can’t wait for round two when pirates join in) 

But for an app to glitch, and bug out with an error message that a code provided by the game doesn’t work. And then telling me it’s not the game, and they will only restore some of my purchases, and then not even restore those purchases saying they already have. That’s really pushing it for me. 

I sent an email with a full list of routes I have purchased, copies of my order history that show it (maybe they couldn’t read the names?), copies of my otome id email folder, showing emails from other games, and then from KBTBB. I provided my game name, my device information, the email linked to my account. Everything is now in their corner and depending on the response I really might just lose it. 

I don’t want to cut my losses but I feel like I’m talking to a wall. Nothing is getting through and I keep getting the same repeated copied and paste replies back. I don’t know what else to do other than give up if this turns up nothing. No way in hell will I be purchases routes I’ve already paid for again, so it might be it for me and the bidders. 

[blaise-comp6841-public]

Week 5 Lectures

Morning Lecture

Wired Equivalent Privacy

With WiFi, unlike a wired connection, it is easy for other people to access packets that are being sent through the air. This means that you would want to encrypt your data before sending it.

WEP is very basic encryption with many vulnerabilities. What was interesting is that even though vulnerabilities were found, people kept using it for a while because they didn’t have many alternatives. 

Data sent in a WEP frame is broadcast, and only those with the correct MAC address will read it. But this doesn’t stop other people from taking these packets, modifying them and resending them.

Encryption is done using RC4 (which uses a random number generator), and XOR. The data is encrypted, but the order and structure is still the same. So given a packet, it is known which bits correspond to the IP packet’s destination IP address.

An attacker can take a packet sent by someone else, modify the packet’s destination IP address, and send it back to the access point. Instead of the attacker doing work, the access point will decrypt it and send it back to the attacker! Note that the attacker’s IP and the victim’s IP addresses are the same for the first 3/4 of bits, so there aren’t many different combinations to try.

This is an example of mixing data and control - changing the addresses within the IP packet (which is inside the WEP frame) also changes the control.

Phreaking (phone hacking)

Phones back in the day sent tones of different frequencies for control e.g. the frequency 2600Hz was used to give a free phone call.

There was a Captain Crunch promotion where they gave out whistles with frequency 2600Hz - the same frequency as the tone for free phone calls. So people bought the cereal and abused this to get free calls.

The main problem was that tones used for control were sent along the data line.

Guest Lecture - Doctor

There is a lot of bias going on even in the medical world, with patients, pharmaceutical companies, and with doctors.

Observation bias is when seeing what other people are doing influences our decisions. For example, there is a hormone tablet for breast cancer offered after a surgery which has a chance of preventing the cancer coming back, however it has some side effects. A doctor who just saw a patient who decided to take the tablet may become biased towards supporting the decision to use the tablet for the next patient.

There is also the idea of “quid pro quo”, something mentioned in the Social Engineering lecture. Sometimes pharmaceutical representatives take doctors/nurses out for a free lunch and tell them about a new drug. Because of this favour they have done, these doctors/nurses are more likely to recommend the company’s drugs.

What’s scary is that sometimes you think you are not being biased, but in reality you are subconsciously leaning towards one side or another. Next time I make a judgement on something, I’ll try to check if I am truly being fair, or if I’m just following my instincts.

A majority of problems occuring is from human error, be it negligence or poor judgement. Take for example hygiene. It is difficult to get doctors to wash their hands regularly or follow proper hygienic procedures, because they either forget or think its too much of a hassle.

A study showed that adding checklists in surgery halved the infection rate. Checklists have really simple things on them, and are cheap to create, but its usually the simple steps that aren’t followed which lead to poor hygiene. So instead of investing in high end equipment to reduce bacteria levels slightly, in this instance, it was more effective to bring about a culture change on the simple things.

Evening Lecture

Extended seminar - OPSEC (Operations security)

Protect information that could be used by the enemy against you

Identification of critical info

Analysis of threats

Analysis of vulnerabilities

Assessment of risk

Application of appropriate OPSEC measures

Random pieces of info aren’t useful, but together they can do damage.

Origin - Vietnam war

Snowden - “What would be the impact if my adversary were aware of my activities?”

If your threat model is too high - don’t do it.

How to OPSEC?

If you don’t need to share information, don’t.

If you do something you don’t want people to know about, ensure it can’t be traced back to you

Avoid bringing attention to youself

This is hard to pull off, so tradeoffs must be made e.g. where do you want to be secure, or and where do you want to be visible. It’s hard figure out how much you want to hide.

Avoid sharing information - only share if it’s needed, beware of social media, metadata, indicators - expensive clothes

Keep identity secret - Tor browser to remain anonymous,

You can use a false identity - hard to maintain

Be forgettable - blend in with everyone else so that you don’t draw attention to yourself

“There are no case studies of good OPSEC - you never hear about them.”

Case studies

WW2 - American congressman bragged that American subs survived because Jap depth charges weren’t deep enough. This cost the US lives, as Japanese set them deeper.

MI6 agent exposed because of wife who left Facebook on public.

Harvard bomb threat

Bomb threat listed his exam hall

Guerilla mail adds originating header - found out it was Tor

Tor was used on campus wifi - don’t be logged in if you want to be anonymous

Silk road - Ross Ulbricht

Asked for help with set up on his real email

Used same alias on multiple sites

Tor and VPN used in wrong order - negligence

Richard’s comments

Someone with good OPSEC used different computers and toolkits for different personas.

Even first contact is dangerous - you can roll back in time to when people were young and connected their accounts etc.

Extended seminar - Passwords

Most passwords used are weak. It’s hard to remember and to type a complex password, so people tend not to use them.

Passwords often use personal information such as name and birthday. So hackers can try cracking passwords using this information.

Good passwords are long without english grammar patterns.

Passwords are broken

Passwords are weak - full of meaning (47% based on name), often reused over multiple sites.

Personal Information Attack

Fake Facebook profile (Sally) - can see partner’s name, birthday, education, hobbies, pet’s name

cup.py - many combinations of passwords based on personal information, common replacements (a -> 4)

Password Crackers

John the Ripper on Kali Linux

Hashcat - for hashes

Why are passwords bad?

hard to remember and type good passwords

complicated rules for generation (letters, numbers, symbols)

regular renewal

little incentive to create unique passwords

low probability, high impact risk

Password Storage: bad practice

Some are still stored in plain text - mostly small to medium sized companies

Facebook had stored plaintext passwords in an internal database

Bad hashing (md5, sha1) - Rainbow tables are designed to match with passwords

Demo - using Linkedin passwords file

In 2012 - Linkedin was hacked, and passwords leaked.

Saeed had a file with the list of userid:hashedpassword.

Used Google - sha1 to reverse the hashed password

Looking through the first 1000 lines, 4 people had the same password

10000 lines - 26 people

Passwords frequency in descending order: password, 123456, LinkedIn

If you have a bad hash, anyone with google can hack passwords

John the Ripper - automatically cracks the passwords based on the hashes

Salt - add random string to end of the password, you get 2 different hashes. This way, there isn’t a problem if many people had a password. LinkedIn did not have a salt.

Best practices for storing passwords

Use a strong encryption method like a hashing function such as sCrypt or BCrypt

Store the salted hash, not the password

Salts should be long (at least 256 bits)

Don’t store password hints

Another solution - let a bigger company handle it. Log in with Google or Facebook, however this is

Maybe we can get rid of passwords altogether - but not yet.

Password Generation

Better ways to come up with memorable passwords

correcthorsebatterystaple

length of word creates enough entropy

avoids english grammar patterns

don’t use common words

passphrases

long and with wacky lexicon but good syntax to make it hard for AI to generate

memorable

initialisation of a phrase

take first letter of each word, removes English letter frequency

New policy - NIST 2016

don’t force regular password changes

don’t enforce composition rules

don’t provide password hints

allow user to opt for passwords to be viewed while typing

limit number of failed login attempts

Richard: just keep a list of bad passwords, don’t use any.

Long passwords are better than just adding symbols and numbers.

Richard: we think our passwords are good, but we overestimate it. Humans are bad at generating passwords - we follow patterns.

Buckland’s Lecture

Merkle Damgard construction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle%E2%80%93Damg%C3%A5rd_construction

SHA2 - different types depending on size (SHA-256 means SHA2 with 256 bits)

We have a long message, but we need a small hash, so we break the message into blocks.

This is a method of building collision resistant cryptographic hash functions from collision resistant one way compression functions.

It is used in hash algorithms such as MD5, SHA1 and SHA2.

The message is split up into blocks.

The algorithm starts with an initial value, the initialisation vector (IV).

The result so far (initially just the IV) is combined with the next message blockis, then the compression function f is applied.

Step 3 is repeated until all blocks have been added.

The last result may be passed through a finalisation function.

Bank messaging problem

We want integrity and authentication. MACs give us both.

We can add the secret key before the message, and then hash it.

MAC: h(key|data)

The problem with this is that an intercepted message with known hash and message length can be extended. This is a length extension attack.

Take the hash, append a new message to it and pass it into f, the compression function. In this way, you can modify the message, even without knowing the secret key.

HMAC (hash-based message authentication code) puts the password after the message, instead of the beginning. h( key | h(key|m) )

Digital Signature

DSA - Digital Signature Algorithm

A digital signature is used to verify authenticity of digital messages or documents. A valid digital signature gives the recipient strong reason to believe the message was truly from the sender (authentication) and that the message was not altered in transit (integrity).

Signing larger files directly takes a long time. To sign large files, hash the file and then sign the encrypted hash.

Collisions with digital signatures

A collision attack requires half the number of bits in the hash size.

Example: Alice has a pdf saying “I will give Bob $100″, then Alice signs it, and sends it along with the signature to Bob. If an attacker can create another document with the same hash as Alice’s document, then the attacker can use the same signature with this new document, so it looks like Alice has signed the new document.

The attacker can change 1 bit in each document that doesn’t change anything visible (e.g. whitespace) and then keep hashing them until you find 2 identical hashes. Ask Alice to sign the first document, and you can reuse the signature for the second one.

Passwords

Password attack types:

online - typing the password on a website manually

website can detect

offline - obtaining the file containing hashes of passwords and decrypting locally

/etc/shadow

password file used to be protected by md5

Salt is random data added to the password before hashing. Salts help to prevent collisions in the case that users have the same password. Salts also protect against the use of rainbow tables, because the password will need to be hashed with the random salt to be in the table.

[gabbykaufman]

Mike Huckabee knows people hate his Twitter jokes

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee arriving at Trump Tower last November. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is well aware his Twitter witticisms elicit eye rolls and groans; he just doesn’t care.

The two-time presidential candidate’s 140-character comedy show frequently pops up in Twitter feeds of journalists and political operatives, inspiring professional critiques and even a Jimmy Kimmel skit, along with countless pleas to give his thumbs a rest.

His shtick consists of corny (and sometimes confusing) quips regarding various current events. Among other things, his freewheeling tweets have referred to Snoop Dogg as “Poop Dogg,” compared Senate Democrats to turkeys he’s hunted, and equated Comcast service, unfavorably, with the Obama administration.

Huckabee recently told Yahoo News that he embraces a genre he calls “groan humor,” and encourages his detractors to buzz off. “If it is absolutely causing you to be constipated, then for heaven’s sakes, get off my Twitter feed,” he said.

“I know there are people who will respond back with a smiley face, or an LOL, or some indication … they were at least slightly amused,” Huckabee said. “I find that pleasurable.”

A transcript of the interview, edited for clarity and length, is below.

 Do you write all your own tweets?

Yes, I don’t want to implicate anyone else in my activities that would forever scar their reputations and future.

They don’t go through any of your staff members or anything like that?

Much to their regret, no. It used to. It used to. In fact, when I was a candidate and everybody was so nervous about everything I would say. You know, I didn’t even have my own Twitter password. They kept it from me.

Really?

Yeah, there were so many people that were nervous about what I would do and of course now they know that they were very wise in feeling that way. But after the campaign I said, “I want to be able to do what I want.” So, I do.

Do you read the responses to your tweets?

Occasionally. I read some of them. And the ones that are mean towards me, I don’t care. That’s part of the deal and some of them are funny. Quite frankly, some of the things people say back to me — that are intended to be mean — I find amusing. But when they attack members of my family, to me that’s, that’s hateful.

Tell me about your joke-writing process.

Well, I tell people, look, I write for my own amusement. I find Twitter amusing to me. And so I share it, and a lot of people — you know, most of my humor is what I call groan humor, groaning people, oh boy. Groaning, g-r-o-a-n. Intentionally, It’s just sort of the kind of stuff that causes people to just maybe smile but they’re in on the joke, they get it, that it’s intended, tongue-in-cheek.

I picked out a few standout tweets of yours to see if you could give me background information or walk me through how you came up with them, or just give me your reaction to them now that some time has passed:

[Laughing] Oh, no.

During Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing:

Breaking News! Jimmy Dean Sausage Co will be renamed GORSUCH SAUSAGE because he's grinding up some Democrat Senators into PURE PORK SAUSAGE!

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 21, 2017

I grew up with Jimmy Dean Sausage commercials, first of all. It’s a little bit of a play on the thought that — there’s the old saying: ‘Two things you should never see made are sausage and laws.’

And it’s also the fact that I thought that while there were many of the Democratic senators — who I’m convinced thought they were just gonna take Gorsuch down and make him totally look like a fool — he came across as a very reasonable, responsible, very thoughtful constitutional scholar. And I was frankly stunned at how little they could go after him and get anything on him. I mean, they just couldn’t seem to lay a glove on him. … And so, for me, it was just a matter of, he ground them up into sausage. I thought it was funny.

After Rachel Maddow revealed two pages of Trump’s 2005 tax return:

Rachel Maddow tonight reveals Amelia Earhart & Jimmy Hoffa are found; they married and had a child–Snoop Dog, who paid no taxes ever!

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 15, 2017

I was embarrassed for Rachel Maddow the night that she breathlessly teased for 23 minutes that she had something really remarkable. And what she found out was that Donald Trump was very, very rich, and he paid a whole lot of money in taxes. And I thought, “Boy, now there’s a revelation for us all. Stop the presses here. Tell the New York Times to hold the front page.” I mean, seriously, I was embarrassed for her. And this will surprise you: I actually like Rachel Maddow. I think she is who she is. She’s good at what she does. And I’ve been on her show in the past and frankly enjoyed it. She was very fair to me when I was on her show.

After now Attorney General Jeff Sessions admitted to meeting with the Russian ambassador:

Full disclosure:I have NOT met with Russian AMB, but did have Russian dressing on a salad last September. I'll recuse from salads for a week

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 3, 2017

Yeah. [Laughs] Well, I’ve been amazed at how this whole Russian theme has just dominated so much of the conversation about Donald Trump. As if, you know, Donald Trump is two-stepping down Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower to Central Park every morning and making a secret phone call to Putin. With no evidence. … And, you know, to keep pretending that they interfered in our elections, I’m thinking, well I’m sure if they did, they wish they hadn’t, because Trump is not exactly making them wanna give him the “Friend of Russia Award” right now.

During the Oscars:

Watch celebs spew ignorant political venom at Oscars?? Nah…think I'd rather have a colonoscopy. Both happen from same location.

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) February 26, 2017

[Laughs] Yeah. Yeah, that one got a lot more reaction than I thought it would. First of all, I’m a movie fan. I love film … but if I watch the art of a movie, I don’t really care what the actor’s politics are. That’s not why I’m watching. And I’m watching their art. And their politics is their business and that’s fine. When they try to impose it on me in the context of the Oscars and turn something that oughta be the celebration of their art into almost some self-immolation, setting themselves on fire about who got elected, I just wanna say, you’re ruining your own moment here. You know, just go up and take the award and thank the people that helped you get it and let us enjoy your craft and your brilliance at doing it.

Last month:

I Tweet for my amusement and your amazement. To haters trolls and humorless people-you really shouldn't follow me. It's way over your head!

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 21, 2017

[Laughs] Yeah, you know, one of the things that amazes me most is that everyday I probably have a hundred people tell me, “Delete your account,” “Why are you doing this?” “You’re not funny,” “You’re miserable.” And I’m thinking, “Last time I checked, there’s not a single law in any one of the 50 states that require you to follow me on Twitter.” So, if this is killing you, if it is absolutely causing you to be constipated, then for heaven sakes, get off my Twitter feed. Just go follow somebody that will let you go freely. But leave me alone! I mean, that’s what I don’t understand. … I find it absurd that people act like they have the right to shut down someone else’s speech. Now, it’s different if I’m holding them hostage, and if by law they had to read my tweets everyday. Sure, I’d get that they would be upset.

Your jokes are almost always current events, mostly political happenings. Is there any subject matter you consider off-limits?

You know, a lot of the comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld, won’t even play college campuses anymore because everybody gets offended by every joke. And I realize that comedy can be offensive. I think it’s one of the great aspects of free speech is that people should have some leeway in saying things, even offensive things. And if it’s truly offensive, and somebody can point out why it’s so offensive, then they can apologize for it. But I think a lot of the people’s hurts that they demand an apology for, it’s manufactured. They’re not really hurt. They’re not personally injured by it. Their feelings aren’t so shattered that they’re not gonna be able to have breakfast in the morning. And I just find it’s absurd and I want everybody to grow up and say, look, people say things all the time. My entire life, I had people say things that were intended to hurt me.

Have you ever tweeted something you later regretted or admit now wasn’t a good joke?

Oh, I’ve done a lot that, later on, I thought, That was really stupid. And my kids are usually the ones who are the first to either text me or call me or email and say, “Dad, are you serious? We’re gonna take the Twitter account away from you.” You know kids. Yeah, they’re my worst critics. [Laughs]

What’s the reaction like from your family, friends, and staff?

Normally, it’s, they roll their eyes and sometimes they just tell me, please, don’t do that again. But, you know, that’s OK. Occasionally they actually think something I did was funny.

You mentioned Jerry Seinfeld earlier. Do you have any favorite comedians?

Oh, there’s a lot. Seinfeld is great. I saw him in concert, he was just amazing. And … I like some of the old-school comedians. The days of Alan King, who was so funny back on the Ed Sullivan show when I was a kid and would watch stuff like that. Rita Rudner is to me one of the funniest people alive, because she’s so subtle and none of her humor is over-the-top. It’s not profane; it’s clean, but it’s hilarious. … I like it when people make me laugh because what they said is just so stinking funny. And, you know, to me, Seinfeld is that brand of comedian.

Finally, the president is an avid Twitter user. Do you have any tips for him?

[Laughs] You think he would listen if I gave him any? [Laughs] You know, I know a lot of people have been on him for it and, you know, sometimes he’ll tweet something and I’m thinking, “Uh-oh, that’s gonna leave a mark.”

But here’s my assessment of it: It’s been so rare that we’ve ever been able to kind of know what a president really thinks. Because they’re so scripted, they’re so controlled — they are so inside this very thick bubble and protected by so many people in the palace guard — that the president really is not a real person anymore. So, I find it incredibly refreshing that this president is allowing us, even when we kind of go, “Uh-oh,” and even recoil at what he might say, that we have a real clear picture. Hey, this is a real human being with passions and feelings, and he has reactions.

And I find it refreshing, because the American president was never intended to be royalty, removed from the people, but rather a servant of the people and a reflection of them. And so, rather than hope that he gives away his Twitter and never does another tweet again, I find it refreshing.

[entergamingxp]

Old School RuneScape and Shenmue • Eurogamer.net

Old School RuneScape

Matt: I have to admit, a good portion of my time allocated to this feature was spent signing up to RuneScape. It was frequently baffling – I somehow had an account already associated with Jagex which needed resetting several times, my usual handle (and my back up, and the back up to that) were already taken, and upon trying to buy membership, it wouldn’t let me type in any credit card details.

Downloading the game from the Old School RuneScape website really sets the tone straight away.

It was similar to the only other time I tried to play an MMO – an evening wasted trying to get my head around Square Enix’s account system to play Final Fantasy 14 in its infancy, forcing me to give up on what I hear is one of the best games in recent years – and a reminder of why I tend to stick to console games. There’s only so many captcha screens I can take!

Lottie: Back when I made my first RuneScape account – like a good fourteenish years ago – I’m pretty sure that it only required an unused username and a password. In fact, I don’t think I even attached my email address to that account until I signed up for membership a year later. I’m also honestly surprised you had such a time paying for your membership – you’d think Jagex would make taking your money an easy process.

Matt: You’d think so, right? However, once I was playing… I was pleasantly surprised! First, I absolutely love the way Old School RuneScape looks. I didn’t get into PC games until Half-Life, but it’s reminiscent of early PlayStation games, an era I’m more familiar with and tirelessly fond of – where everything was made of chunky, brightly coloured polygons, the world gradually clipping into view as you explore, and charming MIDI music blazing as you go.

Old School Runescape eases you into things surprisingly well.

It’s also impressively tutorialized, uncovering its menu options and associated systems one-by-one as you explore the opening island. I’ve already forgotten how to use an anvil, or how to bake some bread, but I misjudged RuneScape as something which drops you in the deep end without explaining how anything works.

I also enjoyed how the first thing you fight is a giant rat in a mine. This is an MMO all right!

Lottie: There’s a part of my brain that’s dedicated to pure RuneScape knowledge. I can write you a guide right now about how to smith a rune scimitar or how to brew a prayer potion.

I’ve always loved how so many of the skills in RuneScape are interconnected; you grow herbs using the farming skill, for example, and, thanks to herblore, use them to create potions, which can provide boosts to your hunting skill or help out in combat. There’s a real advantage to training every skill, which becomes more apparent the deeper you delve into the game.

Now that you’ve escaped Tutorial Island, how are your first real steps in Gielinor going?

True to form, you’ll fight… giant rats.

Matt: Okay, so now I’m actually playing and picking up quests, I’m starting to run up against the antiquity of it all. I’ve discovered it’s quite fiddly to get around, and my character’s stamina depletes very quickly, making exploration feel far more sluggish than I was expecting. Meanwhile, left clicking on things is unpredictable – will you converse? Will you pickpocket? Will you puncture that cow with your bronze sword instead of milking it? (I quickly discovered right clicking on things first is the way to go.)

Also, the combat is frightfully simple – you just click on a goblin (of which there are an alarming number of?) and you’ll automatically exchange blows until it dies, then repeat, occasionally pausing to eat something for health.

I ended up scrolling Twitter as I was chaining through a field of goblins, helping me get through the combat questline a little easier. At first this didn’t feel in the spirit of the game, but then I realised – that’s how MMOs are secretly supposed to work, right? It’s a thing you chip away at while doing / watching / listening to other things?

Goblins. Everywhere!

Lottie: I’ll admit that when I’m training a skill like woodcutting or mining, I usually do it while reading. Doing so has never felt like I’m betraying the game in some way, I’m still playing after all, I just don’t want to watch my adventurer chop trees for an hour. Grinding is an inevitable part of any MMO and, as long as you’re not using a bot, I don’t care how people get through it.

For me, the simplicity of the combat has always been part of the game’s charm. You can make it more complicated by using magic as your primary weapon or by training the slayer skill, which involves hunting down monsters that can only be killed using specific items, but I like how the melee combat is simplified, so that you can focus on buffing your abilities with potion or food.

(There’s also a really good questline that explores what’s happening with the goblins in the Lumbridge area.)

Matt: I’d love to find that, because there really are a lot of goblins. I was actually overjoyed when I saw a giant spider scuttling around, just for something else to fight.

I think where the game clicks for me is the non-combat stuff – I enjoyed the simplicity of milling wheat to help someone bake a cake, and digging up clues for a treasure hunt. It reminds me what I enjoy most about modern games-as-a-service stuff like Fortnite or Destiny – less the combat, but more completing challenges as an excuse to see the vast, beautiful world developers have created.

And, again, I love the look of Old School RuneScape – I might look up some YouTube videos later to see what other areas look like.

Working out Treasure Hunt clues was probably the highlight of the my brief time with Old School RuneScape.

I’m not sure whether I’ll come back to it – there are one too many rough edges with combat and controls for me, I think – but I enjoyed it more than I was expecting, enough so that it’s convinced me to finally start playing an MMO one day. Assuming they’re not all completely overrun by goblins.

Lottie: The graphics for Old School RuneScape have a special place in my heart as it manages to be both endearing and terrifying, sometimes on purpose, all at the same time! There are certainly some beautiful locations in the game, especially when you’re able to visit places like Prifddinas. I also promise that there are a lot of goblin free areas in Gielinor – you might want to avoid north of Falador though.

I do understand why you have mixed feelings about returning; MMOs require a higher time investment compared to other games, Old School RuneScape especially due to its age and, as you mentioned, certain little quirks. I’m glad, however, that you enjoy the non-combat skills, as they have always been my favourite aspect of the game. It’s really cool how, even if you completely ignore the combat system, the game still allows you to have a great time.

Now that you’ve tried Old School RuneScape, I think that it’s only fair you give RuneScape 3 a go too, just for comparison’s sake.

Matt: That’s not a bad idea. Though unless RuneScape 3 has the same incredibly cute ‘quack’ sound effect, I’m not sure it’ll ever live up to the original.

Lottie: Yes, the quack is the same!

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Shenmue

Lottie: Shenmue makes it very clear from the opening cutscene that it wants to tell a martial arts vengeance story; a mysterious stranger arrives to demand an equally mysterious artifact, a father is murdered in front of his son and revenge is sworn.

This was great for me, because I love a good revenge story, especially if it involves punching. When I began playing Shenmue, however, I realised that it doesn’t approach this story in the way you’d typically expect from a video game released in the late nineties. Instead of punching enemies in face, I was gathering clues by talking to Ryo’s neighbours and managing an allowance, which means spending it all on capsule toys.

Vengeance!

The game even used its genre to tease me; I dialled the number for the police, but Ryo refused to call them. He has to avenge his father himself after all.

Matt: First, I’m very pleased you tried to call the police! It’s one of many great Easter Eggs you can easily miss. The game rewards you for experimenting with the world around you in all sorts ways – and by Ryo reacting accordingly (i.e. being stubborn) helps establish his personality beyond a typical cutscene.

He will continue to establish his personality further through punching as you originally assumed, though, so stick with it!

Lottie: I hope so! I do like how, as you explore Ryo’s home, you can uncover little cutscenes that give more insight into his relationship with his father as well. As you said, scenes like those reward experimentation and helped me become invested in the story.

You can uncover a variety of hidden cutscenes by exploring Ryo’s home.

The more I played, the more I came to love how intricate the world of Shenmue is; the shops have different opening times, the streets grow busier throughout the day and each NPC has their routine, which means you have to learn when and where characters will be.

The game is as much about planning your day as it is revenge. Even when I found myself waiting for the local bars to open, the daily cycle continued to heighten the immersion of the game, rather than making me feel like I had hit a roadblock. It makes sense, in the story that Shenmue is telling, that Ryo’s journey begins with him patiently tracking down information and, while he waits, he can always waste some time in the Sega arcade.

You have to wait till 7pm to find this man.

Matt: Yeah – despite the heavy premise, Ryo is still a teenager, right? That’s exactly what he would do to kill time. Again, another way of establishing who Ryo is beyond a cutscene – people you talk to constantly remind he’s still in school, the cash you can spend is from pocket money, etc etc. This is also the point where the game doubles down on the time aspect which can leave many players frustrated – forcing you to wait hours or sometimes a full day in-game for the next event to happen – but it sounds like you’re fully on board?

Lottie: I am – I like games with well developed worlds, be it expressed through environmental storytelling, gradually revealing aspects of the lore or, in this case, applying aspects of reality, like the fact that most shops aren’t open 24 hours a day. What did break my immersion though were the quick time events.

For me, quick time events ruin the flow of the gameplay.

I’ve never liked quick time events, because, to me, their inclusion always feels forced; the flow of a game is brought to a standstill as you’re made to push a certain sequence of buttons, often until you’ve done it correctly.

In Shenmue, there’s always a chance that you might encounter a little side event, from a bike race to children playing football, and, like the daily cycle, these activities make the community feel more realistic. Unfortunately, a number of these hidden activities include quick time events and, of course, if you don’t do it correctly, then you have to do it again. It took me four attempts to correctly complete one such event.

Ten minutes later I discovered that the main storyline also included quick time events.

Matt: Fun fact – Shenmue was the first to feature (or at least popularise) Quick Time Events, so you’re seeing the birth of something which plagued every action adventure game for the next decade.

There are some brilliant chase sequences which use them effectively later in the game, but as you say, means you’re now on alert every time a cutscene plays out. There’s even a couple of arcade cabinets which are QTE simulators, if you need to kill some time and test your reflexes. I’ve played them so much the sound effect is forever seared into my brain.

Oh look – another quick time event…

Lottie: For me, it’s the quick time events that are really preventing me from deciding whether or not I’m going to continue playing Shenmue. The story certainly seems to be picking up pace and I would like to see what other early open world aspects this game has, but the knowledge that there’s even more quick time events to come is really off putting. I’ve had this happen with other games before when there’s an aspect of the gameplay I don’t like, such as the tests of strength in Breath of the Wild. I find myself unable to dislodge the thought of these features from my mind and, rather than simply enjoying the game for its own sake, I spend my time worrying about when I’ll have to deal with this feature once again.

Matt: The last third of the game certainly gets more punchy – and has one of the most infamous mini-games of all time, so if you can make it a little further, I would say your spirits will be… lifted.

Ultimately, I think Shenmue is a game which suffers from playing excessively in short periods, so come back to it and progress through the story whenever the mood takes you. Or not – Shenmue is a game, 20 years on, I still load up from time-to-time just to spend time in, usually waiting for the jazz bars to open by practicing martial arts or trying my hand at the Tomato Convenience Store raffle to pass the time. Either way, take your time and savour it if you do return – there’s no rush, despite how eager Ryo seems to get!

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from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/old-school-runescape-and-shenmue-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=old-school-runescape-and-shenmue-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net