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fridayfirefly · 4 years ago

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Hardcore Hide-and-Seek

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Written for Maribat March Day 27 - Contest

There was a dull ache behind his temples that just wouldn't go away. The harsh, bright lights of his computer screen and the fact that he hadn't slept in almost 36 hours combined to give Tim a headache so powerful he could barely think.

"Sweetheart. Honeybunch. Cupcake. Darling." Marinette poked him in the shoulder after each pet name. "You need to go to bed now before you pass out on the keyboard." She gently pulled on his arm, guiding him away from the computer.

"Not yet. Give me... two more hours."

"No way. You need to sleep."

"I just need to finish this one program to search and identify every pedestrian walking by all five of Jason's safehouses, get it up and running, and check it for bugs. Then I can go to sleep."

Marinette groaned. "Nine hours, that's all I'm asking."

"You know how much can be done in nine hours? In nine hours Damian will have checked half of The Bowery, Cass and Steph will have combed through all of Crime Alley, and Dick and Babs will have hacked their way into every street-facing camera in Gotham."

"First of all, you're not going to find Jason if you're too tired to think straight. Second, finding Jason first means nothing if you're too tired to catch him." Marinette rolled her eyes. "Third, I think this whole contest is ridiculous. I swear, you Bats play the weirdest games."

"It isn't weird. It's good practice for our tracking abilities," protested Tim.

"It's extreme hide-and-seek tag, that's what it is. Now get to bed. If you get nine hours of sleep tonight, I'll help you catch Jason tomorrow morning."

"Fine." Tim cast one last longing look at the computer before Marinette pulled him out of the Batcave.

----------

The light of morning woke Tim up, reminding him that he had been too tired the night before to set an alarm. "What time is it?"

"It's nine in the morning. You were right that Cass and Steph searched through Crime Alley. They checked all three of Jason's safehouses but found nothing. Damian got sidetracked by an armed robbery while searching through The Bowery and was barely able to check a few blocks. Dick and Babs got access to the traffic camera and the video of two different security companies, but they weren't able to get any of your facial recognition programs to run on any of the feeds."

"Wait, what?" asked Tim, still not fully awake.

"I was serious about helping you. I don't do anything halfway," said Marinette.

Tim sat up, "That's great! Our odds of winning triple when we team up. What were you saying about Babs and Dick?"

"They can't get your facial recognition program to run."

"That's because I tweaked some of the code right at the end to require a confirmation from my laptop. That way if any of my codes fall into the wrong hands, I'll know." Tim grabbed his laptop off of his desk and opened it. A pop-up appeared in the corner of the screen.

[user: Babs requests access for FACIAL RECOGNITION]

There were three options underneath: YES, NO, and IMITATION RUN. Tim clicked the third.

"What does imitation run do?" asked Marinette.

"It will go through to all of the video feeds, but it won't actually flag anything. It will just run passively. Dick and Babs, however, won't know that."

"Clever. That should set Dick and Babs back. Now how are we going to find Jason?"

"Jason knows that we have programs to monitor anywhere where there are security cameras. That means he'll be staying away from traffic cameras. He's lying low - probably in a safehouse."

"Cass and Steph checked all three of the safehouses in Crime Alley," objected Marinette.

Tim shook his head. "Jason has more than three safehouses in Crime Alley. Those three are just the ones we know about."

"How are we going to find these safehouses?" asked Marinette. "If there's one thing Jason's good at, it's disappearing."

"That's the problem. Jason only has to last three more days before he wins. It's entirely possible for him to just hole up in his safehouse and never leave."

"On the other hand, that means that we've got him cornered once we figure out the location of his safehouse."

Tim nodded. "Let's get searching."

The problem with finding a safehouse is that there isn't much to do once a person is successfully hidden inside. It's impossible to search every single building in all of Crime Alley (though Steph and Cass together were giving a remarkably good effort of scouring for signs of Jason), so Tim and Marinette took a different approach.

"I designed the burner phones that all of the Bats use in our safehouses, which is how I know for certain that there are no trackers in them. However, if I send out a system update, they all update automatically. When the update is installed, it will send back a confirmation to the main servers. I can trace that message back to figure out the location of all of the burner phones."

"How long will that take?"

"Half an hour to get everything ready to send out a system update. Fifteen minutes after that before all the phones are updated and send their confirmation messages. From there we can start checking safehouses."

Marinette grinned. "See, I told you that you would think better with a full night of sleep."

"You were right," Tim admitted.

"You start the system update, I'm going to make breakfast."

Marinette left the bedroom and Tim wondered how he got so lucky as to have her with him.

----------

After collecting the locations of all the safehouse burner phones and cross-checking the results with the list of known safehouses, there were five unconfirmed safehouses left.

"Two in Crime Alley, two in The Bowery, and one in East End," reported Tim.

"Let's hit East End first, then move onto The Bowery, and end in Crime Alley," Marinette formulated the plan over a plate of pancakes. "What are the official rules to this game, anyway?"

"Jason got twelve hours to hide. Then we get five days to track him down and tag him. The winner gets to drive the Batmobile anytime Bruce isn't in town for the next six months."

Marinette playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course the prize is driving the Batmobile." Getting up from her finished breakfast, Marinette started putting on her coat and shoes. "Come on, Tim, let's go win you Batmobile privileges."

The apartment in East End was empty, save a few rats that scurried across the hallway of the apartment. Marinette wrinkled her nose and she peered out the grimy window. "Who's safehouse do you think this was?"

Tim fished a half-empty carton of cigarettes out of a drawer in the kitchen. "Jason's, probably, but given the amount of dust in here, I don't think he's been here for a while."

The brick house in The Bowery was a little cleaner but still abandoned. The little front yard was half dirt and half weeds. Pinned up on a bulletin board in the front hallway was an empty postcard decorated with the logo for Haly's Circus. Tim concluded that it was Dick's safehouse and they moved onto the next safehouse. It was in an apartment complex in Crown Point, the seediest district of The Bowery. It was stocked with knives, guns, and a box of neatly labeled poisons.

"Damian's safehouse?" guessed Marinette. "He's the only one I could see having poison kept on hand."

Tim nodded, "Probably."

The second-to-last safehouse was on the border between The Bowery and Crime Alley. It was small and run-down, but it seemed that at one point it had been well-maintained. The mailbox was hand-painted yellow, with blue letters reading: The Brown's.

"Stephanie's old house," said Tim, realization.

"Sentimental choice for a safehouse," noted Marinette.

It felt wrong to enter the house that Steph grew up in, so they moved on from it. There was no way Jason was inside, not when Steph and Babs had already search the known safehouses in Crime Alley.

Tim sighed as they drove to the last location. "We've only got one safehouse left to check. I'm not sure what we'll do if Jason isn't in it." Tim had forgotten to consider that Jason might have gotten a burner phone from somewhere else, other than the supply cupboard in the Batcave.

"If he isn't there then we'll go back to the drawing board, I suppose. But don't lose hope yet. I have a good feeling about this one," Marinette reasoned.

The final safe house was a nondescript apartment building: brown brick exterior, cigarette butts on the sidewalk, and grimy windows.

"Do you think this is it?" asked Marinette.

Tim shrugged. "We'll just have to find out."

There were eight apartments in the building, four on the first floor and four on the second. Tim and Marinette quickly swept the first floor, but none of the apartments were Jason's. They then moved to the second floor. Tim quickly picked up on a dusty footprint on the carpet. He recognized the tread-marks from the bottoms of Jason's shoes. "Second door on the left," whispered Tim. "You head outside and make sure he doesn't escape through the windows."

"I'll let you tag him," Marinette whispered in response, slipping down the stairs.

Tim waited a full minute for Marinette to get into position, then crept up to the door. Taking a deep breath, Tim waited for the moment to feel right. Then another breath. Bang!

Tim broke through the door, revealing Jason sitting on the bed, scrolling on his phone.

Jason swore and reached for the gun on the bedside table, but he didn't get a chance to fully react before Tim tagged him out.

"Goddammit!" Jason threw the gun on the bed in frustration. "How did you find me?"

"Burner phone," chimed in Marinette as she popped through the window.

"You said they didn't contain trackers," Jason accused.

"They don't. But when I issued a system update, they all sent a confirmation which I was able to track," Tim said smugly, trying not to gloat too hard.

Jason whipped open a drawer in the cramped kitchen and pulled out the burner phone, tossing it to Tim. "Next time, I'm picking out my own burner phone."

"If it wasn't the phone, we'd have found something else. Admit it, we were good," said Marinette.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Good job, Replacement. You too, Pixie Pop."

"See you at home," Marinette chirped. "Now that this silly contest is over, I have Tim to myself for the next two days. No more sharing his with his computer."

Tim smiled at the thought of finally spending time with Marinette. "Let's go."

"I thought you'd never ask."

@maribatmarch-2k21

#maribat #MaribatMarch2021 #timari #timinette #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Tim Drake #my work #miraculous ladybug fic

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dramaticviolincrescendo · 4 years ago

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A Fitting Finale: Bringing Ian Full-Circle

Is everyone sick of my essays yet? Excellent. Here’s another anyway!

I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it is about Ian’s story in s11 that I love so much. It’s clear that he’s struggling on a number of levels, and he’s certainly spent the first third of the season under so much stress that it’s impacted his moods and marriage. In 11x04, we began to see hints of the tension breaking, and it made me realize that there’s a common trend in Ian’s behavior throughout the series coming to a head in his final act. It’s part of what has him so passionately advocating for Mickey to get a legal job, communicating their need to hammer out the specifics of what their marriage means, and upset at his own employment status.

From start to finish, Ian has been driven by two important motivators: love and fear.

Ian’s deep sense of love and compassion for others is well documented. We know that he will do anything for his family. I’ve mentioned before that Ian is at his best when he’s with them and his worst when he’s not. They’re his support system, and he’s a key part of theirs. They look after each other and rely on one another when the chips are down. They’re all grown up now, Liam being the exception, but those bonds are strong. They’ve matured and branched out to include Mickey, Tami, Franny, and Freddie. Ian’s heart belongs to his family, and he’s given as much of himself as he can to the people he’s been with over the years in whatever capacity they’ve needed him to.

Ian has also always been a fearful character, though not in the manner we typically visualize. He’s strong and motivated, ambitious and sensible, clever and insightful. When he decides that he wants something, he goes for it, from a South Side thug hovering in his orbit to pursuing the highest military accolades despite his small beginnings. Over and over again, we’ve seen him leap into serious and often strange situations in order to achieve his ends or something for the people he cares about. This man stole a water heater from a dead person’s house with his brother and tried to help his best friend hide a body. Certainly, he doesn’t fit the traditional stereotype. He’s not a coward.

But Ian is terrified—of everything:

· Not amounting to anything

· Not being worthy of love

· Being the center of attention

· Fading into the background and being forgotten

· Not being able to help other people or those he loves

· Not having a path

· Not being in control of himself

· Not being enough

He’s never said it. He’s never discussed these issues, except perhaps not having control. That isn’t who he is. That’s never been his way. Maybe we should add fear of communicating too, or fear of being seen as weak.

In s1, Ian makes a lot of brave choices. He comes out to three people, two of them family members, knowing how that is viewed in their neighborhood. When Mickey is after him, Ian takes the battle to his doorstep. He turns his back on an arguably easier life in a nice, middle-class neighborhood and a home with a father who would provide for him to live in the constant struggle to which he has grown accustomed. On the surface, he’s one put together kid. But then there’s Kash. There’s this man who preys on him, a middle child so responsible (and so male) that no one thinks he’d fall into any sort of trap—and Ian is desperate to keep him. He fights Lip over it and so painfully tries to make him understand his perspective, that he’s spending money he should probably be using for things he needs to buy Kash music and baseball tickets, to make him like what Ian does so that they can build their so-called relationship. That Kash is married with kids is unimportant to him; that he’s exploiting Ian’s fear of loneliness and not finding love outside his siblings, unthinkable. We know it. Lip sees it, powerless as he feels to do anything about it. Ian can’t. To date, he never will. He’s blinded by a culture that doesn’t believe such things can happen to males, and until Mickey comes along as a viable outlet for his affections and source of the ones he needs, he’s too afraid to be cautious.

Throughout s2 and s3, Ian makes difficult decisions. They’re not always smart, but it takes great strength to commit to the choices he makes: allowing Monica into his life, voicing even an ounce of his feelings to Mickey, pursuing West Point, and running away. All of them, however, are driven by love and fear alike. He’s vulnerable and needs his mother, the one who slaps Frank for shoving him and listens when he feels alone. She assuages his fears by telling him what he needs to hear: that he can do and be anything. We know there’s a danger in that, especially when she takes him to enlist when he’s nowhere near old enough, but it’s still validating for him. It feeds that need for attention but not too much attention, for understanding but not coddling, for love that originates from someone who isn’t his siblings. We see similar trends emerge: fear of losing Mickey on multiple occasions, fear that he’ll forever be in Lip’s shadow when he receives a letter of recommendation instead of Ian, and fear of never having Mickey’s full affections spiraling into fear of facing his own emotions in the aftermath of the wedding. We’ve seen that Ian runs from what he can’t process. He runs from what he can’t handle. He runs when he’s scared, especially of himself.

It continues repeatedly throughout the series. In s4, Ian is afraid of going backwards and once again losing his position in Mickey’s life. In s5, he’s afraid of being a burden on everyone around him, changing them, and losing control of his own mind. In s6, he’s afraid that this is it: his path and his goals have come to nothing, and he’s doomed to fall into the shadows where no one will ever see or love him. In s7, that fear of himself re-emerges when a patient is hurt on his watch and he has to come to terms with the fact that being better doesn’t mean he’s “cured.” In s8, he’s afraid of the void where Monica and Mickey used to be, and it sends him spiraling into a deeper one he doesn’t fear until it’s too late. In s9, he fears a lack of guidance, an indecisiveness born of having been able to rely on his hallucinations to tell him what to do. His path is gone, and he has no options. And that’s terrifying. Then Mickey is there, and he can put some of his fears to rest until they resurge with the idea of marriage in s10. All of a sudden, he’s back where he was in s5, fearing himself but also what he’ll do to someone he loves.

In s11, we’re seeing an Ian far more like he was in earlier seasons: rigidly devoted to having a plan, knowing what’s coming next, and ticking off certain boxes on the list of things you’re “supposed to do” as a married adult male. He’s spent a lot of this season seeking value in his employment and position in their marriage, and the stress has been dragging him down—quickly.

And it’s no wonder: he has every reason to be scared right now.

The thing about prison is that it is what’s known as a total institution. It is removed from society and, as such, operates under its own social beliefs, values, and norms. Like the military, another total institution, prison involves an initial period of sloughing off roles and identities from the greater society and subsequently being resocialized into a new role set. Upon release, a person undergoes the same process in reverse, and there’s an adjustment period to reintegrate into normal society. We can see that process begin when Ian gets in the car with Lip and shudders a bit, unsettled at the prospect of being outside these walls for the first time in months—going home far earlier than anticipated. For many people, it’s a difficult transformation, especially once they realize the full extent of how your life changes as an ex-convict in the U.S.

Ian doesn’t really get to adjust. From s8 to the start of s11, he undergoes a whirlwind of emotion and change. He literally loses touch with reality, starts a cult, commits a felony, is on the run from law enforcement, allows himself to be captured with one final display, goes to jail, remains unmedicated until he’s bailed out, panics at what his movement became, feels alone in the house as everyone deals with their own business and leaves him to his own devices, seeks guidance from above only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it was, can’t find answers, has warring factions telling him how to plead in court, ostensibly takes a plea deal that requires some amount of time behind bars, goes to prison, finds the love of his life there waiting for him, has to let his sister go, is released without Mickey, gets repeatedly screwed over by a corrupt PO, gets engaged, breaks up (sort of), gets engaged again, sees his wedding venue burned down, gets married, and hurtles straight into a pandemic. That’s… That’s a lot. Being a newlywed in a pandemic is a lot without all the rest of it, but this is what Ian is dealing with going into s11, and he hasn’t had the benefit of a stable readjustment and reintegration period.

He’s drowning.

He’s scared.

He has every reason to be. Marriage is scary, especially if you are so young and so in love with the person you’re marrying. Employment is scary, especially for them, because it could mean the difference between paying the utilities and running out of water. Change in general is scary, especially when it hasn’t done you any favors before.

Add all that to what Ian’s behavior has indicated that he’s been afraid of since the start, and you have a recipe for disaster.

To a great extent, that’s what I think his arc is all about this season: learning how to live again. It’s about not being so afraid of himself that he desperately grasps for any stereotypical structure for married life that he can. It’s about regaining the confidence that has always left him clawing his way to the top instead of letting life beat him down. It’s about finding the happy medium where he and Mickey aren’t doing anything illegal but aren’t stuck in a valueless spiral, scrambling and struggling to pay the bills like when they were kids.

It’s about learning not to be so afraid anymore, and I think that’s a beautiful goodbye for a beautiful character.

#shameless #shameless meta #shameless spoilers #ian gallagher #uh oh #guess what time it is #you bet #it's ian gallagher loving hours #please do not add hate for the writers or JW to my post

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vindvind94-blog · 6 years ago

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Rising Veggies And Fruit Organically: Tips And Tricks

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By adding a new nice layer involving bio-degradable material (mulch) all-around your current plants, you can use this natural pest-fighting ability within just the mulch to be able to stop potential predators to your own personal plants. By locating a a single to two inch level around your plants, anyone are as well adding a new source of vitamins in addition to a source of drinking water. A terrific tip when starting your organic garden is usually to dust milled peat moss moss with your seeds around order to prevent damping-off. Damping-off is a yeast disorder that will lead to your seed products and seedlings to go rotten. If your own personal seeds need light-weight, a person should sprinkle this tree prior to dropping your plant seeds in the moss. Since you have noticed, gardening will be not as frightening like it may appear. Simply think of all of the benefits the idea has to provide you with in relation to health and fitness in addition to food. The aforementioned list associated with tips should have provided you with the good starting spot, to be able to start growing cleverer.

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mediacalling · 6 years ago

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8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders

This week we’re taking a journey through time and uncovering some of the greatest, yet most unexpected marketing lessons from some of history’s most influential thinkers, philosophers, and leaders.

You may not realize it now, but there is so much we can learn from leaders like Socrates and Oprah and Cleopatra. Much of what they would consider their mantra has a ton of implications on marketing today.

In episode 141 of the Science of Social Media, Brian and Hailley break down concepts like the Socratic Method, transparency, rhetoric, and lots more.

8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders

What follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:

1. Aristotle

2. Socrates

3. Oprah Winfrey

4. Abraham Lincoln

5. Catherine the Great

6. Martin Luther King Jr.

7. Cleopatra

8. Eleanor Roosevelt

Let’s dive in!

1. Aristotle

One of the most well-known philosophies of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (born in 384 BC), is his idea of persuasion, otherwise known as rhetoric.

He breaks down persuasion into the three categories: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.

These three concepts can be valuable for content marketers, writers, and bloggers. After all, isn’t persuasion one of the most important parts in marketing?

Logos: The application of logic in efforts to persuade. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence.

Pathos: Playing to human emotions. Using anecdotes and stories, marketers can connect with their audience, adding a human element to content.

Ethos: The concept of ethics. It works off the idea that it is impossible to persuade anyone of anything if you’re not credible.

You must establish your credibility and reputation as a writer. This is done through personal branding and your ability to build a following. Ideally this would results in brand building and thought leadership.

2. Socrates

Next up on our list of marketing lessons from historical leaders, born 90 years before Aristotle, is Socrates.

Those that took a middle school science class learned about the Socratic Method. The Socratic Method is used in asking questions and posing theories to investigate and to stimulate the foundation of new ideas.

The Socratic Method applies to the interactive aspect of marketing. Get your readers involved by asking them questions or looking for their ideas on certain issues and engage them with interactive content.

Invite your audience to engage in a lively debate. Actively involve them in your marketing process so that your team can generate new product ideas, marketing campaigns, and content topics based on the feedback you’ve received directly from the people that matter most.

Most of all, don’t forget that the Socratic Method applies internally as well. Your team should be debating and questioning trends, norms, traditions, and ideas at all times.

3. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has built much of the rapport she has with fans by being honest throughout her career.

Oprah stayed true to herself and was honest to her audience through ups and downs. She also held her guests to this standard as well – ensuring that honesty was always the number one priority.

The benefit of this honesty and transparency in marketing is that it helps to build trust with your customers. Think of all of the brands that create a memorable customer experience by being genuine, human and transparent.

A modern social media strategy demands authenticity and being transparent is something you can’t ignore. That is one of the most important marketing lessons Oprah has taught us from her success.

4. Abraham Lincoln

As the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln became famous primarily because of his contributions to the abolition of slavery and the American Civil War. But aside from his political and human rights achievements, Lincoln is also known for his oratory skills.

He has articulated some of the most memorable lines throughout his political career. In fact, his Gettysburg Address in 1863 became the most quoted speech in US history.

His words live on as we apply them in the perspective of marketing, particularly when it comes to planning and preparation.

Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

Marketers should understand that the more time spent on preparation, the less work they have to do in executing.

In addition, Lincoln taught us that it’s not about the amount of hours you work or the number of projects you launch, it’s about the quality of those hours and projects.

Focusing on fewer, but more impactful projects and campaigns will improve your brand’s results and most likely make you more successful in your career as well.

5. Catherine the Great

One of the most influential political leaders of the Eighteenth Century, Catherine the Great was said to have played an important role in improving the welfare of Russian serfs.

She placed emphasis on the arts and helped to cement Russia as one of the dominant countries in Europe.

Catherine the Great is a shining example to modern marketers that it often takes incredible courage to make your vision come true.

In Catherine the Great’s time, smallpox was a terrible problem throughout what is now the united kingdom and Russia. Catherine heard of the new inoculation treatments in England and risked the entire dynasty to travel and get her and her son inoculated.

We know that creativity requires original thinking and transcending traditional ideas, yet we’re so inundated with incoming information, that it becomes harder and harder to truly think for ourselves.

6. Martin Luther King Jr.

Very few people in American history are as celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and social activist who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

When examining King from a marketing perspective, he teaches us that not only carefully crafting, but truly believing in and embodying your brand message is critical for people to buy into what you’re saying.

As marketers, it’s only when we truly believe in our message and stand behind it 100% that can it be successful.

Carefully crafting your message is time well spent and pays ten-fold in the long run.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is world-famous still today. We might compare that world-famous effect with going viral. Messages that are particularly well-crafted spread like wildfire throughout the Internet.

The marketing lessons bestowed from MLK Jr. include saying what you want to say as quickly and clearly as you can.

Use words everyone understands. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech isn’t an hour long or even 30 minutes. It’s 17-minutes in total and something that changed the course of history forever.

7. Cleopatra

One of the more interesting, yet fairly unknown historical leaders on our list is Cleopatra. C

Cleopatra ruled ancient Egypt for almost three decades. Well-educated and clever, Cleopatra could speak 6 different languages and was known as a strong and charismatic ruler. During her reign, she forged political alliances with Roman military leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony – which helped to hold many regions together over decades.

In terms of marketing lessons, Cleopatra had an incredible knack for seeing the bigger picture.

As marketers it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day: writing articles, posting to social media, analyzing our efforts, and everything that comes with the role.

Sometimes we forget to look up and ask: “why”? Why are we doing this? How does what we’re doing at this moment contribute to the greater goal?

We need to understand how our tactics relate to the strategy and matching our behavior to that understanding.

8. Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt is a perfect example of a leader that practiced creative innovation – including helping redefine and shape the role of the First Lady.

She not only participated in radio broadcasts, she also authored a daily syndicated column, held press conferences to discuss women’s issues, and was an active supporter of civil rights policies and New Deal social-welfare programs.

Her ability to redefine expectations is a reminder that great marketers always look for opportunities to break the mold. To get to the next level in marketing, we must think outside the box to what seems unimaginable.

Make space to think. Make space to challenge assumptions. Make space to break things.

So what is it that you hope to accomplish? Does it seem too big or too scary to do?

We hope you challenge that notion and set your goals as high as they can go.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com

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mariemary1 · 6 years ago

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8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders

In episode 141 of the Science of Social Media, Brian and Hailley break down concepts like the Socratic Method, transparency, rhetoric, and lots more.

8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders

1. Aristotle

2. Socrates

3. Oprah Winfrey

4. Abraham Lincoln

5. Catherine the Great

6. Martin Luther King Jr.

7. Cleopatra

8. Eleanor Roosevelt

Let’s dive in!

1. Aristotle

One of the most well-known philosophies of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (born in 384 BC), is his idea of persuasion, otherwise known as rhetoric.

He breaks down persuasion into the three categories: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.

These three concepts can be valuable for content marketers, writers, and bloggers. After all, isn’t persuasion one of the most important parts in marketing?

Logos: The application of logic in efforts to persuade. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence.

Pathos: Playing to human emotions. Using anecdotes and stories, marketers can connect with their audience, adding a human element to content.

Ethos: The concept of ethics. It works off the idea that it is impossible to persuade anyone of anything if you’re not credible.

2. Socrates

Next up on our list of marketing lessons from historical leaders, born 90 years before Aristotle, is Socrates.

Most of all, don’t forget that the Socratic Method applies internally as well. Your team should be debating and questioning trends, norms, traditions, and ideas at all times.

3. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has built much of the rapport she has with fans by being honest throughout her career.

Oprah stayed true to herself and was honest to her audience through ups and downs. She also held her guests to this standard as well – ensuring that honesty was always the number one priority.

A modern social media strategy demands authenticity and being transparent is something you can’t ignore. That is one of the most important marketing lessons Oprah has taught us from her success.

4. Abraham Lincoln

He has articulated some of the most memorable lines throughout his political career. In fact, his Gettysburg Address in 1863 became the most quoted speech in US history.

His words live on as we apply them in the perspective of marketing, particularly when it comes to planning and preparation.

Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

Marketers should understand that the more time spent on preparation, the less work they have to do in executing.

In addition, Lincoln taught us that it’s not about the amount of hours you work or the number of projects you launch, it’s about the quality of those hours and projects.

Focusing on fewer, but more impactful projects and campaigns will improve your brand’s results and most likely make you more successful in your career as well.

5. Catherine the Great

One of the most influential political leaders of the Eighteenth Century, Catherine the Great was said to have played an important role in improving the welfare of Russian serfs.

She placed emphasis on the arts and helped to cement Russia as one of the dominant countries in Europe.

Catherine the Great is a shining example to modern marketers that it often takes incredible courage to make your vision come true.

6. Martin Luther King Jr.

Very few people in American history are as celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and social activist who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

As marketers, it’s only when we truly believe in our message and stand behind it 100% that can it be successful.

Carefully crafting your message is time well spent and pays ten-fold in the long run.

The marketing lessons bestowed from MLK Jr. include saying what you want to say as quickly and clearly as you can.

Use words everyone understands. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech isn’t an hour long or even 30 minutes. It’s 17-minutes in total and something that changed the course of history forever.

7. Cleopatra

One of the more interesting, yet fairly unknown historical leaders on our list is Cleopatra. C

In terms of marketing lessons, Cleopatra had an incredible knack for seeing the bigger picture.

As marketers it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day: writing articles, posting to social media, analyzing our efforts, and everything that comes with the role.

Sometimes we forget to look up and ask: “why”? Why are we doing this? How does what we’re doing at this moment contribute to the greater goal?

We need to understand how our tactics relate to the strategy and matching our behavior to that understanding.

8. Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt is a perfect example of a leader that practiced creative innovation – including helping redefine and shape the role of the First Lady.

Make space to think. Make space to challenge assumptions. Make space to break things.

So what is it that you hope to accomplish? Does it seem too big or too scary to do?

We hope you challenge that notion and set your goals as high as they can go.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Thank 8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders for first publishing this post.

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waynekelton · 6 years ago

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The Best Puzzle Games on Android & iOS

There’s perhaps no genre synonymous with mobile platforms - especially iPhone or Android devices - than puzzle games. Low intensity inputs are good for a device with no buttons, and the pace of these games plays well with the low session time, start-and-stop nature of mobile gaming. Puzzle games also take so many unique forms nowadays that a top list in the genre can produce completely different looking games.

If you're looking to test your literacy skills, we've got a great collection of Word puzzle games as well!

As you'll see below, we have our own menagerie of titles that we feel represent the best Puzzle games have to offer across iPhone, iPad and Android devices...

Other Recommendations

Not every puzzle release earns a place in our 'Best of' list - so here's a round-up of some recent releases that you can check out, make up your own minds about:

Marching Order

Donut County

One More Button

Alphabear 2

Divide by Sheep (Review)

Developer: tinybuild LLC Platforms: iOS & Android Price: $2.99

This gem was released way back in 2015, but it was brought to our attention earlier this year simply because I was asked to review a game we hadn't reviewed before and picked this one. (Because reasons?-ED) Regardless, this is a vibrant and friendly educational puzzle game that uses maths, and is an excellent example of hay-day app store design practices. It's a bit lighter than your usual fair, and some of the puzzles can be brute-forced, but if you're looking for something different and accessible to fill your puzzle needs, then you could do worse than this four year old diamond in the rough.

ELOH (Review)

Developer: Broken Rules Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $2.99

A cheap & cheerful puzzler that's especially great on phones, ELOH is a kinetic game that's colourful, challenging, and possess some great attention to detail. The basic challenge is to position blocks in the right positions to bounce balls into the the correct holes. There's a light rhythmic element to this, and as things get more complicated the blocks take on more creative forms. Some will move along specific axis, for example.

None of the puzzles should take longer than a few minutes to bounce your way through, but there's over eighty of them, so you're looking at a few good hours of gameplay for your minimal upfront investment, and no IAPs to boot!

Where Shadows Slumber (Review)

Developer: Game Revenant Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $4.99

This is an excellent pick for fans of both Monument Valley and Square's GO games. It lacks the variety and the degree of 'cleverness' that those other game's possess, but there's an ingenuity to its design that still does a great job at scratching that itch. The use of light and dark to change the scene in front of you is especially creative.

This is a maze-based puzzle game with intuitive controls and a satisfying gameplay loop. Atmospheric and imaginative, Where Shadows Slumber is a worthy new addition to our 'best of' roster.

Evergarden (Review)

Developer: Flippfly Platforms: iOS Universal Price: $4.99

This recent release is an easy inclusion in our best-of collection not only for its accessible nature, but also because it requires a lot of careful thought and planning. It's more of a high-score puzzler than anything else, but the floral theme and impressive nuances make for some entertaining sessions. Evergarden’s developers estimate that the game will take between four to eight hours to fully explore. After this, it is all about breaking into the global high score tables.

Consequently, it is more of a Tetris high score chaser rather than the type of puzzler where you have to pit your wits against increasingly difficult levels. Unlocking all of the game’s secrets does not require particularly high levels of skill, just the persistence to keep playing and adding to your gem collection.

Death Coming (Review)

Developer: SixJoy Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $1.99

Death Coming is a cute pixel game of Where's Wally twisted in with Final Destination. It's a murder simulator with the player taking the role of an omnipresent servant of Death. You are tasked with offing a certain number of people in a detailed pixel-art scene through manipulating the environment towards various horrible accidents and mayhem. The pixel artwork is awesome, reminiscent of a really great Kairosoft game. Everything is clear and distinct even at a distance, although the game is definitely better sized for tablets and larger phones. The characters are cute and expressive in their tiny little animations. It's a shame the devs didn't trust their core gameplay enough to avoid gumming it up with unnecessary frustrations.

Infinite West (Review)

Developer: APE-X GAmes Platforms: iOS, Android Price: Free with IAPs

Infinite West is a puzzler that resembles more boardgame than match-3. It’s difficult to find which had a bigger influence on it, the sombre motif of the Ed Porter/Sergio Leone style western or Square Enix Montreal’s critically acclaimed GO series. What’s easy to see is that developers APE-X have a clear reverence of both and have done their best to highlight what makes both strong while adapting it to a unique vision. Achievement hunting and score chasing in Infinite West can throw you in that fervent, 'just one more map' loop because of the solid core concept, and the presence of IAPs is by no means a deal-breaker as you get given a modest amount of freebies anyway.

Lara Croft GO (Review)

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $7.49, $4.99

Many a sterling series has seen its reputation dinged by weaker entries. In particular, the sophomore slump, that challenge to recapture what made the original great without slavish repetition. Every member of the GO series has its unique merits and mechanics, but Lara Croft GO stands as the series best. Hitman GO was plagued by odd turn-counter challenges which offer only derivative challenges and pad the playtime without expanding content; Deus Ex GO’s grand plan for daily challenges and community-generated puzzles largely fell flat, but Lara Croft GO along with its two expansions hit the sweet spot of challenge, presentation and pacing. Its focused treasure hunts will keep the best minds, most any mind, really, engaged. (There’s even a maddening hidden-object sidegame to unlock cosmetic goodies if either of those are your wont) Its solutions were exclusive and in many cases immune to the kind of brute-force, mindlessly-spam-moves approach to puzzling, and the whole adventure felt like just that.

Cosmic Express (Review)

Developer: Draknek Limited Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $4.99

Cute little aliens harumph and squidge themselves into unlikely spherical compartments as they commute to their destinations in outer space. In Cosmic Express, the puzzles are pickup-and-deliver, drawing train paths for a route that allows for no cross-overs or doubling-back. The game includes a ton of levels and gets surprisingly difficult (or rather: uncompromising, since difficulty is always a relative, judgmental term) sooner rather than later. Every level feels crystal clear in the post-solved hindsight; nothing is superfluous. Cosmic Express winds its way through the galaxy and wends its way into your heart.

Beglitched

Developer: Alec Thompson Platforms: iOS Price: $3.99

Beglitched is the story of the Glitch Witch’s sudden disappearance from a computer OS and the player character’s sudden quest to train and replace her. You’ll open ‘files’ to find items, other avatars and programs, and enemies. The game is split between overland mode, which utilizes a minesweeper-like method of divining connecting spaces, and the match-three battle mode. The tone is light and idiosyncratic, and the level design is inspired and gimmicky in a good way. Constraints, properly applied, stimulate creativity. (Or else we’d be without the phrase ‘thinking outside of the box’). Beglitched was released without much fanfare and then subsequently ported to mobile, where it shines even more because of its screen-within-a-screen schtick.

Mini Metro (Review)

Developer: Dinosaur Polo Club Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $4.99

Logistics makes the world go around. These often break down into math and logic puzzles, even to the point that we have fields dedicated to studying the topology of knots. But maybe none of this matters and you just need to get to work. Well, Mini Metro folds all of this and makes for an amusing, minimalistic puzzle about ordering and sequencing the right trains in the right time to complete the right route. So, programming motion to meet specific goals, and tinkering towards that end. Some puzzles rely unduly on shifts in perspective or tricks of the light to interpret what happens next; not so with Mini Metro. The needs and requirements of the puzzles are always clear, the demand is upfront: all the player has to supply is the way forward, that vital connection which will close the gap and make everything come together.

Framed 2 (Review)

Developer: Loveshack Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $4.99

The search for the story is the story in Framed 2. Cleverly partitioning and recombining what made the original so great, the follow-up refines and refreshes the initial conceit. Comic book action meets stealth in a cheesy noirish setting. One could even say it...re-frames...what made the original great. Yes, it is probably the shortest and most easily exhausted member of this list but it still has a little extra panache that merits some special attention. There are games to play for months or years, trying to crack their mysteries or refine skills. Then there are those games to consume in an afternoon, letting the whole experience become a unified and unbroken memory. Framed 2 belongs to the latter category, a class of brief puzzlers definitely worth playing.

The Room Three (Review)

Developer: Fireproof Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $3.99

What can be said about The Room series that hasn’t been said before? Its excellent value and construction, or the heaps of critical awards? Not to mention the host of mistaken-identity jokes based on the so-bad-it-is-a-phenomenon film of the same name. Puzzle boxes are a unique tactile treat which shrink a world into a single object and then propel one to open it based on nothing more than curiosity and the hint that something might wait inside. The Room has digitized this experience as well as it could have been, all while making the experience portable and affordable and just a skosh mysterious.

Hall of Fame

As new great puzzle apps get released, we need to rotate our list so that it's kept lean and relevent. Just because a game loses it's spot though, doesn't mean it no longer deserves to be there. Here are some past greats that deserve to be remembered.

Hadean Lands

The Witness

Monument Valley

Monument Valley 2

What would your list of the best puzzle games look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best Puzzle Games on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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popcornbutterflymedia · 7 years ago

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there are things i just cannot let go of. there are stories that haunt, there are heavy emotions that i would gladly carry around with as much grace and privilege as i could muster. there are films that take hold of the heart, clings to your soul and leaves you breathless. this is one film, that refuses to leave me. this is me trying to find words for what this movie made me feel. imagine this being written after consuming boxes upon boxes of those magical honesty cookies. this isn’t a review, that’s just too generic for where i feel this post could go. think of this as my attempt at capturing where the film took my heart.

i had every intention to see this movie ever since it was announced. there are only a few people i would blindly go into a movie for. it’s john lloyd, it’s sarah, and it’s direk ted. they were all the guarantees i needed. because of them, i knew what i was getting myself into, but because of john lloyd and sarah’s last three movies, and direk ted’s previous two, (yes, i’ve seen all five movies), i also did not know what will become of this new combination.

it’s a love story of a man and a woman who meet at such defining times in their lives. april is a woman who flourished her entire life in love, and is ready to embark on a love journey of her own. she has no reason to question love’s beauty and authenticity, until that idealism is challenged on what was supposed to be the beginning of her fairy tale. raffy is living life on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, stoically so, to focus all his attention on his job and nothing else. his tendency to want success and control are notable, the fact that as a strategist, his job description entails manipulating the truth is a red flag, a reference point in the story. they meet at a crossroad in each of their lives and a change is about to take place. aren’t all love stories, stories of change? it messes with the way one feels, and rearranges how one thinks. until everything that is true is questioned, challenged and flipped over its head.

i genuinely cannot remember the details of the story, but i do remember how it made me feel. and how it still is making me feel to this day. why do you think it took me this long to write it all down? i couldn’t bring myself to part with the weight of emotion it that it took up.

this is an entirely new story, and a new director who i love, whose last two films before this matter to me. i got a taste of the ashlloyd chemistry, and have an idea of what a direk ted film looks like. on one hand, not having the laida/miggy template left me a bit unsteady, on the other, not outgrowing that template will leave this team up stunted. to say that i went into this straddling the line between expecting too much and not hoping for anything at all is an understatement.

a little bit of history: i saw the mmk episode that started it all. she was already sarah geronimo and he was already john lloyd cruz, both powerhouses in their own right, but such unlikely partners. i remember not knowing what to think when i saw their plugs. it made me a bit nervous. when the episode aired, i remember not being able to look away. i did not cringe, it shouldn’t work, but it did, i was fixated, and could not stop smiling.

watching the trilogy left me with a happy heart. i could not look away. the chemistry was real, but i did not bother to understand why, charging it to sarah’s natural charm and john lloyd’s ever reliable skill. the movies always gave me a lovely high for a certain amount of time, which would eventually die down when sarah went back to her popstar thrown and john lloyd went back to bea, or whoever he was working with, in a new film or tv show after each film. this was my routine three times every four years, because this was sarah and john lloyd’s routine, and i did not think much of it. until this movie.

john lloyd to me has always been a no brainer, a foregone conclusion, a default and reliable choice. people on social media would ask me who i think the best local actors are, and i would give them a list of my usual suspects. john lloyd has never been part of that list. he doesn’t need my approval.

let’s talk about the two times i saw john lloyd in person: the first was at a mall one day. mama and i passed by an autograph line of up and coming celebrities giving away calendars to be signed. i was young and so awkward with any human interaction, not just celebrities. he was busy signing calendars when i saw him look up for a moment and made eye contact. i walked away quickly from that table, not knowing that my mother stopped, and was having a calendar signed for me. that woman was hard to please, but oddly supportive to the point of my embarrassment.

the second time was on the set of ‘close to you,’ a bea/john lloyd movie. i got there on a saturday afternoon, the terrace was full of busy production people and bea was there in one of the wicker seats talking to a couple of people from the crew. john lloyd came later. i did not see him until i went to find my lola, and he was seated beside the telephone table inside, away from the crowd. he was keeping to himself. i think i tried to smile, and he just looked me straight in the eye, and it was enough for me to be intimidated. i ran upstairs to continue finding lola, feeling his eyes behind my back. i had no time to think he was suplado, because i only visited for a few hours on one shooting day. days after there were pictures of happy, friendly john lloyd smiling in a picture with people i know. there was even a photo of bespectacled john lloyd, looking cute and in character, alone in the den. i remembered those encounters enough though, to not bother about his personal life and just enjoy what he has to offer as an actor. I may have watched almost all jlc/bea movies, together, and individually. of my newer favorites, I always try to get to know them, through interviews, clips and things. it's easy, they are accessible. john lloyd was launched as part of one of the last star circle batches before reality entertainment changed the way we found celebrities, not necessarily for the better. and for years that was that.

i need to talk about that ggv episode. the ggv episode of sarah and john lloyd plays such a big part in my experience of the movie. his work has always been personal to me. i have seen him in tabing-ilog, which was filmed in the town next to ours. I would not understand my love for the show until later when i realized the show was proof that people from the river, the rural areas have stories that matter too. my friends know that i am pushing for that kind of progressive and daring youth oriented show again. i remember the loveteams, but not as much as i remember rovic’s relationship with lola juling. i woke up late the morning of that first ‘magandang buhay’ episode for this film. a friend linked me to a video clip of him reading a letter from miss caridad sanchez as he was tearing up. i was nostalgic for that show, and steeped in emotion. the night before, was that legendary ggv episode. as in any other ggv episodes, i was ready to laugh out loud and get kilig, and have a good night’s sleep, instead that episode left me sleepless, wanting to write, and my heart bursting with emotion that i did not understand. i was struck by their honesty, and was restless because of it. you see, sarah is always candid, but she also always managed to keep it together. i could count on her for the giggles and carefully constructed publicly acceptable answers. and john lloyd, he always spoke from the heart, but has always been clever enough to save some truth for himself. he has always been a transparent vessel for other characters’ truths to speak through him, and because he is so good at it, that was enough for me. for the first time, i was hearing his own truth. i had this moment, it felt like seeing him for the first time. ‘oh there you are, the actor i grew up with, the constant, the actor who figured in all the shows that meant so much in my lola’s, my family’s life, and therefore my life, as well, my history.’ i suddenly understood it all, my heart was still heavy with their individual and shared bittersweet truths, but lighter by the moment of realization. and i cried.

the movie was opening the next day, it was raining hard and i almost did not get to go see it, but we made it. i was even in the same screening as my great aunt and her son, my uncle. it was a full house, mostly of seniors on a day with a proper storm outside. the reaction to the movie was visceral. people were laughing out loud, squeeling, screaming and being kilig. i was happy about that. it started out deceptively light. i was even worried that it would follow that airy theme and won’t show enough growth. until it plunged into the deep end and got real. i wasn’t prepared for that, but was incredibly glad it happened. by the third half of the film i was already in tears, not by a moment alone, but by the feeling it gave me, by opening up my heart. i was breathless but i was also coming up for air. i was relived by the fact that i finally know the people i was watching on the screen. after that ggv episode, i rewatched all of his and hers old interviews, some i’ve seen before. this time i paid attention. i asked. sometimes i did not have to ask. i was told, and i understood. it’s rewarding to know people as human beings, more than just actors or celebrities. it’s a gift.

at this point i usually make a list of all my favorite moments in the movie, but it all boils down to relationships: the reckless honesty with which they chose to play their parts. the honesty cookies, the banter, the no acting acting mystery only this pair could take advantage of. i loved that definitive confrontation between raffy and april. sarah was so mature as an actress in that moment, even for her own standards. raffy’s moment with his mother is the reason why john lloyd is the john lloyd we could count on. he invests the same commitment and emotional intensity into every single one of his characters. it’s a gift that does not discriminate, a gift that is respectful, and he is an actor who is so full of love, of reverence for the people he works with, for his craft. i adore every moment john lloyd and sarah shared the screen. the idea of someone looking into your eyes and is seeing imto your soul floors me. my heart is filled with memories of workshops and scene work. feeling utterly safe to be vulnerable, and the privilege it must be to be handed another person’s heart, trusting the person will be gentle with it. this why films exist: to make and maintain connections, it is for us to hear what we so desperately need to hear, and what we so desperately crave to say. movies are there for us to feel as though there are safe places to be genuine and honest and sincere. if only we lived our lives with such reckless authenticity.

i no longer charge the ashlloyd box office success to her charm and his skill alone. i now appreciate the history, the connection, the journey, and the road they are still on, on their own, and with each other. sarah has expressed interest in doing more dramatic films. this is me explicitly wishing that at least in her first foray into drama, john lloyd is at her side. i don’t think i have seen a connection this real, this strong. i am excited for her growth as an actress. in one of his interviews, he has said that when they are together things just happen. that’s beautiful. john lloyd strikes me as someone who knows what he is doing, no matter the co-actor you give him. it’s exciting to know that it takes a sarah for him to be on his knees and have no control, perhaps just letting things happen. this movie matters because it took so many years and this film to finally get to know an actor i grew up with. it took a sarah geronimo, and a direk ted.

there is nothing the mind needs to understand that the heart does not already know. direk ted’s films have nothing to prove to me. it’s simple and unpretentious, and only asks of you to feel. and in a time when my heart is required of me, it matters a great deal.

i still could not put this film down, i don’t think i ever will. i am doubting the presence of my heart these days. it’s unnerving to be told to feel, feel, and feel some more, after years of chasing being right, and good enough. those who are part of this movie (the entire production, writers ms carmi and gillian, and support cast, the family units, Christian, Milo and joj, who gave me so much joy), must have gentle and courageous hearts to allow me to be in touch with my own.

this post isn’t to add merit to the movie, if it does, then, great, but this movie isn’t to be judged, it’s enough that it lives it’s core of ‘love needing truth to be true.’ this movie is to be felt and it is to be experienced.

i am glad for this journey, and grateful for the experience. my heart is awake. ❤

#film #film: finally found someone #actor; john lloyd cruz #actress: sarah geronimo #team up: john lloyd cruz and sarah geronimo #ashlloyd #director: ted boborol

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atticusblog2016-blog · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Atticusblog

New Post has been published on https://atticusblog.com/pai-keeping-open-mind-on-mobile-consolidation/

Pai keeping open mind on mobile consolidation

Federal Communications Fee (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai (pictured) refused to rule out permitting consolidation inside the US wireless market, that may see the wide variety of national operators reduced from four to 3.

Speak at the yank Agency Institute, Pai stated he had no preconceived plan as to the best variety of operators which have to be within the marketplace and could compare any proposed transactions based on their effect on opposition and customers.

“My technique to the regulatory role is one in every of humility,” Pai said: “I don’t claim to realize in a vacuum what the most appropriate market shape is, what the ‘proper’ quantity of competition should be. Our purpose is constantly to make certain the marketplace features in a way that blessings the general public interest.”

“To me at least, we strive and take a look at the market because it stands to attempt to parent out: is their competition, are costs going down, is application and carrier innovation going up, and make the correct judgment.”

The coverage suits with Pai’s desire to go back to a “mild touch” regulatory stance, which lately noticed the FCC are seeking for to attempt to reverse a number of the preceding management’s flagship rules which includes regulations around internet neutrality.

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Consolidation in the US wireless marketplace is the situation of severe media speculation, which caused both T-Mobile US CEO John Legere and SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son fielding the question of consolidation of Sprint and T-Mobile – or potentially different partners – of their respective monetary consequences shows inside the past fortnight.

Talks of Softbank revisiting a merger of its Dash commercial enterprise with T-Cellular surfaced in advance this yr with reports in February Son changed into organized to provide T-Cellular’s minority shareholder Deutsche Telekom manipulate of Sprint to revive the deal first floated in 2014.

The original proposed deal became dropped amid sturdy regulatory stress

Open Database Connectivity

ODBC or Open Database Connectivity is an open widespread utility programming interface used for having access to heterogeneous data sources.

Believe you have written numerous Personal home page programs which make a connection to an Oracle database. For a few reason now you have got determined to use MYSQL rather than Oracle. Supposing you’ve got used a proprietary connection to Oracle, then it’d take a whole lot of coding attempt to modify each of the Personal home page packages to make it connect to MYSQL as it already has connected strings to Oracle.

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Now ODBC offers seamless open database connectivity the use of simple APIs to a selection of facts assets consisting of MYSQL, MS-Access, MSSQL, Oracle and so forth., One has to create an ODBC connection to the particular data source. This may be performed the usage of the ODBC dialog box which is offered from the manipulate panel. One calls for an ODBC driver to be established via Dynamic Hyperlink Libraries. There are 3 varieties of DSNs (statistics Supply Names), particularly Consumer DSN, Machine DSN and Report DSN.

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After making sure that the driver required to connect to a statistics Supply is present one desires to add the facts Supply by means of manually including a data Source from the ODBC conversation box in the manipulate panel. After including a database one has to configure it. The method to configure a database varies from one database to another. As an example, it’s far unique for Oracle than MS-Get admission to as Oracle has a layer of TNS (Obvious Community Substrate). inside the case of Oracle, the TNS provider call is mandatory to create an ODBC connection among patron and server. inside the case of Microsoft Get admission to one has to simply specify the Network region of the Access database and the call of the database. The ODBC manager on hand from the control panel will take care of these kinds of troubles at the same time as attempting to create a DSN call.

Is Mobile Car Valeting Service a Good Option After the Holidays?

So the holidays are over and you are now considering whether or not to have your vehicle cleaned through a cell vehicle valeting employer. This is really a smart idea, mainly in case your vehicle has persevered the elements so far and you will want to apply even greater after the vacations.

Many human beings question the usefulness of cellular automobile valeting offerings after the holidays, however, the truth of the matter is that the time is simply as precise as any to ebook a service. Despite the fact that you could sense like you have to depend on your conventional vehicle wash to clean your automobile, there are some arguments pointing toward hiring a valeting provider:

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You get it achieved at your property – nobody loves to depart their home, in particular, while it is simplest to get the automobile cleaned. Who is aware of how bloodless it is outdoor and what kingdom the roads are in. There is probably snow and ice and the forecast may not be promising. To avoid this hassle altogether, you could truly have your car cleaned at your private home, due to the fact that is what cellular vehicle valeting is all about. it is a huge advantage, which you may take advantage of at once after the holidays.

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you can recognition on different obligations – since you don’t have to waste time getting the auto to the car wash, you can actually get different work finished. This consists of taking some time to relaxation after the tense Christmas and New Year Eve’s events and perhaps getting something done in your house. In spite of everything, if you held a celebration there, it is probably clever to cognizance your attempt on coping with the mess in preference to wasting some time and electricity on car cleaning.

you can gain from special gives – it isn’t a secret that many organizations provide their services at discounted fee right now after the vacations. in case you are seeking to shop money and still get the job completed, then now’s the high-quality time to e-book one. Of course, you shouldn’t be worried that the provider you are supplied may be of terrible quality, as many organizations are extreme and will now not compromise their work.

Your car will appear like cutting-edge – they say that New Year is time for brand new things, so what better to get your vehicle looking like new than right now after that. whether you’ve got paintings to do with the car otherwise you simply want to experience appropriate in it, a right smooth can assure that it is searching immaculate.mobile

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you are spared the attempt – let’s face it: cleaning the auto within the iciness isn’t a favorable activity. You would a great deal rather be doing something else. In an effort to spare yourself the attempt, you could certainly hire a mobile automobile valeting provider and move this chore off your list without lifting your finger.

Hiring a cell car valeting service straight away after the vacations sincerely is a smart choice. you could gain first-rate advantages so don’t hesitate

Student Loans – FAQ’s for Loan Consolidation

With pupil loans, there continually appears to be some unanswered questions. There are numerous questions that students need to ask and we can solution some of the greater important ones here.

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The thing to remember, earlier than you commit to any sort of mortgage consolidation is to make certain to arm yourself with as an awful lot understanding as you may.

One of the first places you have to attempt are the councilors at your instructional organization, they may have all of the today’s neighborhood knowledge about loans and consolidation as it applies to their college mainly.

The second one region to get more solutions is an easy internet seek

The trick to consider here is that the extra questions you ask, the greater solutions you may get.

Achieve a small notebook and write all your records down in a single vicinity, preserve the front of the e-book to your answers and use the lower back of the e-book to listing your questions as you think of them. Small notebooks are very accessible to maintain with you at all times due to the fact you never recognize while a query will pop into your head.

Q 1. Why? Why is there a want to consolidate?

A. you’ll greatly lessen the month-to-month repayment amount, reduce the primary of the loan and probably pay your loans off lots quicker.

Q2. while? when is the high-quality time to get a consolidation mortgage?

To get the most advantage you need to recall consolidating instantly after your graduation. You’ll be capable of taking advantage of the grace length and therefore you will be capable of getting the pleasant feasible interest rate. Q3. What? What in case you aren’t eligible for a consolidation loan?

There may be some conditions a good way to make you ineligible to acquire a consolidation plan. Those can be such things as:

· You have had a previous consolidation

· The quantity of your mortgage is less than $20,000

· If your debt is handiest to one organization.

If this is the case, then you could bear in mind the subsequent solutions…

· Inspect a non-public consolidation plan.

· Take a look at liquefying any belongings you could have.

· Think about obtaining a loan from another institution

Suppose Outside The Field

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