#it would almost be an improvement on any love interest or potential love interest buck or eddie have had

[hildy-stan]

wow this fandom has really decided it hates natalia huh

[sleepingpatterns]

“Should I use InDesign to lay out my books?” - A Passionate Guide

Ok, if you are like me, you recently stumbled upon @armoredsuperheavy​‘s brilliant blog about bookbinding and fanfiction, and now you are excited to throw yourself head-first into bookbinding.

This also means that you are about to invest a fair amount of time into figuring out how exactly to lay out books. What you end up getting comfortable with will most likely be what you end up using long term, so it is worthwhile giving it some thought. The question really comes down to this: who's name will you be cursing for the foreseeable future? Adobe? Or Microsoft?

Full disclosure: I only started using InDesign because I was forced to. I worked as an editor at a newspaper, and that was what we used. The beginning was hell. I won’t sugar coat it, it sucks. In the end it was worth it. Once you figure it out, InDesign’s potential far outstrips Microsoft Word (in my opinion).

That encouragement means very little when you open this treacherous program for the first time and see THIS:

“What?! I will literally give you $100 if you guess what all the buttons on the left are for. How the fuck do I make the margins disappear!?”

So, if using InDesign means figuring out what at least one third of the tools on the left are for, lets talk pros and cons.

Let’s get the cons out of the way.

It is expensive. Adobe is not fucking around. This puppy costs 20 bucks a month (Canadian) to RENT. If this is out of your price range, do you still have options? Yes. Do they range in legality? Also yes. I think I could potentially get in trouble for telling you to find your friendly neighborhood torrenting site and steal this software. I will say, outright, that no one should steal software ever. Got it? I would be very upset if someone were to message me for specifics. As you naturally wish to be law-abiding, there is also the quasi-legal option of repeating the 14-day free trial. My friend works at a professional print studio in Russia, and this is the tactic they use: every 14 days they uninstall all of the software from all of the computers, and reinstall it with a new trial. Every 14 days! At a professional operation! My friend hates working there.

It is not initially intuitive. I’ve covered this, but it bears repeating because it is a serious hurdle. Keep in mind, that with time, InDesign becomes more helpful than other software. Now when I use Word I find myself reaching for keyboard shortcuts automatically, and feeling bereft at the lack of my favorite tools. Nonetheless, expect a time commitment up front learning how to harness this glorious and confusing computer program.

It can run kinda slowly, depending on your computer. Up until two months ago, I had the world’s most precarious laptop. I bought it for $200 in 2015. It once took half an hour to restart. Inexplicably, when it got stressed, it would switch to Spanish. It was literally and figuratively falling apart. And yet, it ran InDesign. Granted, it worked slowly. If I asked it to process too many images at once it would panic (again with the Spanish), but for the most part, it worked. If you have a slow computer and are patient, then InDesign will probably work fine on your computer. If you are not willing to suffer, stick to Word.

You will also need Photoshop (sometimes). Part of what makes InDesign glorious is that it is professional software that is designed specifically to work with print and anything text-heavy. I love that about it. It even manages to do some handy things with images! But, inevitably, you will need to learn some Photoshop to punch up your graphics. I have, admittedly, only learned the bare minimum Photoshop in order to feed my InDesign addiction. It was a pain in the butt. For example, inexplicably, Adobe has not standardized keyboard shortcuts across the suite. As with InDesign, now that I’ve learned the tricks, I adore it. But you should go into this knowing that with Adobe, the fun never ends.

Printing signatures is the WORST. Adobe, please explain to me, in front of God and everyone, why the hell you would make this software specifically for laying out books etc. and not include a method of printing signatures?! I’m livid. This is absolutely where Word wins the day. It is almost worth using Word just to print the signatures so nicely and easily. I’m not kidding. Me—a person who has used InDesign professionally—almost wanted to switch software entirely just because of this. Hands down, InDesign’s biggest goof. Despite this crime against bookbinders everywhere, you have options. You can export your design to a PDF and literally print each signature separately (I am fucking livid) or you can complain enough to your friends that they offer to buy you a lovely program called BookletCreator for your birthday. It costs $20 bucks USD and it was worth every penny. However, Adobe, FOR THE AMOUNT THAT YOU CHARGE FOR YOUR PROGRAM, I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PURCHASE ANY ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO PRINT MY BOOK. Did I mention that I am livid?!

But InDesign must be worth something, right?! Otherwise why would I be writing a long post encouraging people to use it? Let’s talk pros:

The horsepower on this baby will blow your mind. Forget what I just said about printing signatures; imagine using software that was literally made for this. You wanna do a thing? InDesign has got you. Are you a perfectionist? This software was designed by people as pedantic and obsessive as yourself. It gets you. Dream it, google how to do it, and InDesign will deliver. This is really the main reason to use InDesign; it is the professional standard for a reason.

There are so SO many resources available to help you learn. Almost everything I’ve learned about InDesign I learned from Google or YouTube. Honestly, if you have a question, I promise that other people have already asked and answered it. The advantage is that because this software is specifically for laying out books, there is lots of information available specifically about how to do what you want to do. (This may also be true for Word, but I’ll be honest, I only used Word for a book layout once, so I can’t say for certain either way.)

Once you figure it out, InDesign will give you back hours of your life. Things like master page spreads, clipping paths, tint, the eyedropper tool, and the one-hundred-percent adjustable text are just... lifesavers. My experience with Word is limited, so my frustration using it was probably due to my own ineptitude, but honestly, when putting together my thesis, the tears I cried trying to get page numbers to format correctly were some of the most bitter text-related tears I have ever shed. I can take care of the whole operation in InDesign in a matter of minutes. Hours. Of. My. Life. Saved.

This is an actual marketable skill. Ok, bear with me here. I have used InDesign for every single job I have had since I worked at the newspaper. That includes working as a bookkeeper and a kindergarten teacher. Hell, I even made my resume to get those jobs in InDesign. There is no job that I forsee in my future that doesn’t include some form of text-based design. Even when my work has absolutely nothing to do with layout (see: kindergarten teacher) I still found some way to use it. My previous boss was actually so thrilled about my InDesign skills that she had me run a 101 seminar for the other employees. (Did any of them end up using it? I suspect not. Did they look at me strangely for being so enthusiastic about design software? Absolutely.) I’ve even managed to use InDesign to branch out from freelance editing to take on design projects as well. In short: if you learn how to use InDesign, put in on your resume. You will be surprised at how much mileage you get out of it.

With Adobe, the fun never ends. I know I joked about it before, but really, I love seeing what this program has in store for me next. For example, thanks to bookbinding, I discovered that InDesign will do a lot of things that I had previously assumed were the domain of Word, such as spell check. I literally stumbled onto a measuring tool today that I wish existed irl to help me glue my covers together. Part of the beauty of this software being so intricate is that there is always something new you can do. I love learning how to harness a new feature, and then watch my design improve over time. Using this program you really get the feeling that the sky is the limit. Look, just the fact that I’ve now resorted to saccharine platitudes about computer software tells you that InDesign is remarkable. Considering that this program has made me suffer so significantly, I have either seen the face of God, or I have Stockholm syndrome. Take your pick.

TL;DR, at long last:

How complicated would you like to go? Either way, for bookbinding you’ve got to learn to use software in a new way.

Do you just want to get your book laid out reliably with little fuss? Word is for you! Are you interested in delving into the details? Do you have the patience of a saint? Try InDesign!

Both work. Both are good. But you can pry InDesign from my cold dead hands because I adore it.

[shmisolo]

For Anyone Looking for Not-Super-Angsty-Stuff

I’m compiling mine (or at least the less-angsty stuff) into one list for ya.  

Seen ✔️✔️ 

His lock screen has three texts from Rey on it:

Rey Wife: Babe I know you’re probably busy right now, but you sent that pic to the wrong chat. Rey Wife: Bennnnnnn Rey Wife: Call me when you’re done processing your trauma.

And then about ninety chats from the Skywalker Ranch WhatsApp thread.

--

In which Ben sends a picture to the wrong chat.

The Sweater Curse

She’s never made a sweater before, but she saw the pattern on Ravelry and who cares if she’s only made (lumpy) hats before—she has to try it.  She has to make it. She has to make it for Ben.

“You realize that Hannukah isn’t an important holiday, right?” Ben asks as she makes eye contact with him.  His eyes are big and brown and—at this moment—mildly annoyed.

“Really?  Is it a giant conspiracy theory?  Part of the war on Christmas?”

“More than you realize,” Ben says and for the life of her she can’t tell if he’s joking.  He does this thing sometimes that’s confusing—where he’ll say something that sounds mopey but is actually snarky and it disarms her every damn time.  “In any event, ugly Hanukkah sweaters definitely aren’t a thing the way ugly Christmas sweaters are.”

“Well, they are now,” Rey says firmly.  “I’m making you an ugly Hanukkah sweater.  Deal with it. And stop moving.”

it's you and me (i know it's our destiny) 

It’s just a kid’s game, he thinks when jealousy pangs in his heart. But it’s more than just a kid’s game.

It’s Pokémon.

It’s the only good thing in his life.

Shalom Rav!

In which Rey comes to terms realizing that she is attracted to the rabbi.

Apples and Honey

When Ben catches wind that his mother is planning to foist a potential girlfriend on him when he comes home for Rosh Hashanah, he takes matters into his own hands: specifically, he runs to Rey and asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend.

atlanta > all atlanta > community > missed connections

In which Rey meets a cosplayer at DragonCon. 

Two to Tango

Rey: I need to ask you something awkward. Ben: What’s up? Rey: Can I give you a blowjob? Please?

Bang for your Buck

“We ready?” he asks her, sounding huffy.

“Nice to meet you Ben, I’m just familiarizing myself with your training,” she replies.

“Ok, well I don’t have all day.”

“No, you have,” she checks her watch, “another hour.” Because of course he’d booked an extra long session. Bless that sweet, sweet overtime pay.

“And you’re sure you know what you’re doing?” he asks her and she glances up at him, sure that her eyes are flashing because that’s fucking rude. She’s a professional. Amilyn wouldn’t have hired her if she didn’t know what she’s doing, and just because he apparently thinks he’s the center of the universe doesn’t change that fact.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your bang for your buck,” she tells him icily.

A Picture's Worth

reyjay: hiya your art is amazing

reyjay: it’s a big ask but could you draw me for my art final tomorrow? i’m shit at drawing people and i can’t fail this. can you help?

He stares.

And stares.

And stares.

kyloren: is this some kind of a joke?

reyjay: no?? why??

kyloren: you’re asking me to help you cheat your exam, but you’re not even offering me money?

Forged

There are several reasons that Ben would never have dreamed he’d ever receive this text. The first is that he’d be invited to a Halloween party. The second is that he’d never in his life expected to be in a serious relationship, much less the sort of serious relationship where his partner would suggest matching Halloween costumes. And the last is that he is dating someone who’s show only and they’ve only almost murdered one another twice. Because he’s an A Song of Ice and Fire fan. He hates Game of Thrones.

(Not) Interested

We're bringing Speed Dating back to Space Battles Bonanza! Register online for one of our special Bonanza sessions of 15 three-minute dates so you’ll no longer have to look for love in a galaxy far far away. Choose from one of seven speed dating sessions, two of which are queer focused. If the Insurgents can blow up the Doom Moon in 11 minutes, let’s see if you can make a love connection in only three.

There’s a history of successful Speed Dating at Space Battles Bonanzas, with long-term couples, engagements and marriages now among the alumni.

--

In which Rey & Kylo meet at their fancon's speed dating.

do or do not (do the do)

In which Ben, in an effort to improve his stamina (look he's making progress, ok?) after reading some articles that he'll never be able to unread, receives some coaching (that he very much did not ask for).

(Very much did not ask for.)

A for... 

Rey’s seeing double by the time there’s food on her plate. Oh. There’s food on her plate. That’s good. That’s unexpected at this point. “Eat,” Ben tells her.

So she does. It tastes good. Very good. She likes this food a lot.

“I’ll make sure she knows,” Ben says.

Oh she’s at that point of drunk where she’s just saying things out loud instead of keeping them in her internal monologue.

“You are,” Ben says, looking very amused.

She hopes she doesn’t say anything embarrassing.

“I promise, you haven’t yet, but oh boy, I’m looking forward to this.”

She shoves food into her mouth to keep herself from thinking out loud about his dick in her ass at his mother’s Passover seder.

The Love Committee 

In which Rey, tired of her bad luck with dating apps and failed relationships, enlists her friends' help in determining who she should date next.

They take it a little too seriously.

💦💦💦💦 

In which Ben accidentally implies that he gets his cardio from having sex on national television.

You, Me, and He

When they say that Kylo's brain is in his groin, they're not far from the truth.

Alternatively,

In which Kylo Ren is his own penis.

and beyond 

“Please?”

For a moment, he thinks it will be like the first time, him begging, her crying and saying no and him not knowing how to protect his crushed heart.

But she doesn’t cry, she doesn’t say, “Please don’t go this way,” she doesn’t look horrified or disgusted. She just grabs him by the front of his shirt and tugs his lips down to hers before reaching down to cup his cock.

we decided not to kill the wolves (we wanted to be wolves)

A pack of wolves lives in the woods to the north of Raddus and as winter looms, they have their eyes set on Leia Organa’s stronghold. Rey may be new to Raddus, but she’s not about to do nothing while it may be in danger. And besides, Poe must be exaggerating about wolves the size of bears. She’s not afraid of monsters.

myosotis 

Ben picked the flowers for their wedding.

The Kitchen

Rey and Ben, hunting for their first house.

Investiture 

In which Ben goes to daven for his father’s yahrtzeit and manages to prove to himself once again that he is both a terrible person and a terrible Jew.

Oh and he sort of falls in love.

The Sweetest Thing 

A post-coital trip to Waffle House.

with you i shall play

And when it's dry and ready, then Ben's dick Rey shall play.

Everything to Prove

“The show,” he says. “It’s probably best if they don’t—if we don’t—”

And Rey follows his line of thought at once. For all the program is one that doesn’t seem melodramatic—the height of drama in previous seasons came from someone’s cake falling over and that was about it—she does not doubt that the producers and cameramen would leap at the opportunity to make there be something out of nothing in their relationship—especially if there was something out of something.

��Yeah,” she agrees. “Yeah, probably. We can pick baking stations that are…” but she doesn’t want to complete the thought. She likes baking next to Ben.

“Or we can just be careful?” he suggests, sounding quite as pained by the prospect as Rey feels.

“Yeah, careful. I can do careful,” Rey says at once and her lips are on his again and he’s laughing now, and she’s laughing, and she didn’t think laughter would be part of all this. She didn’t think it could be. But here she is, laughing and kissing and holding a man who, at some point, she’s going to want to beat.

She does her best not to think of that now.

It’s a friendly competition, after all.

It’s not life and death.

It’s baking.

Brightblades 

In which Rey learns about a startling kink of her new boyfriend, and in which, much later, they roleplay it.

The Knotting Shop 

Ben realizes upon entering the shop that he had gotten the complete wrong impression from the name of it.

What the fuck sort of shop calls itself The Knotting Shop if it’s not about, well, knotting?

The answer, apparently, is a knitter with a sense of humor. An Omega, by the scent that seems to have landed in every colorful ball of yarn in the shop and which hits him right in the groin.

Let Go (Never Let Me Go) 

In which Rey swipes right on Ben, 35. Probably too much of an asshole for you, but my therapist is trying to convince me that assholes deserve love too, so here’s me on Tinder, and it does not proceed as she expects.

crossfade (cursed and blessed)

The Talmud states that on Purim one is to drink to the point of not knowing the difference between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordechai.” In other words, you’re supposed to get so blitzed you can’t tell your friends from your enemies. Rey and Ben might be taking this a little too literally at Leia’s annual Purim Party.

Kind Stranger

Ben stares at the text for a minute before opening up his computer and typing “+7793 area code” into his web search. Jakku. Of course he wouldn’t have recognized it. He confessed himself surprised to know that Jakku even had an area code. Did people still live in Jakku?

#kylothekiller 

It’s not the first time that Rey has seen Kylo pop up in her Fido stream, but it is the first time she’s clicked on him fast enough to be scheduled for a meet and greet with dog and owner on Saturday.

All Bets Are Off 

“Fake girlfriend. What does that even mean?” Ben asks her.

Rey rests a hand on his arm, feeling the muscles underneath his sleeve. “Babe,” she says, leaning close to him. “It means we pretend we’re madly in love. Think you can pull that off for your office pool?” Ben’s eyes flicker softly between each of hers and he swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

[ba-mi-soro-orisha]

when youre done recovering id love to hear your thoughts on the book(even if the post ends up being almost as long lmao)

Buckle up, y’all, cause this is going DEEP INTO SPOILERS. This is my no-holds-barred take on Children of Virtue and Vengeance!

SPOILER WARNING

SPOILER WARNING

SPOILER WARNING

.

If you read any further past this, CoVaV is gonna be majorly spoiled for you. This is your last warning.

.

Okay, I gotta open with a minor - but really the only - critique I had about CVV: we know Tomi was rushed in finishing the book in time for the third pushed back date, and the book kinda reads like it. Book 1, I felt like we got a lot more detail and getting to know characters and buildup of the plot. Book 2, it felt like we were just rushing to get through all the action planned. There wasn’t very much in between downtime, which resulted in not only a kinda rushed book with way more plot than pages, but also a very emotionally devastating book. 

Which leads me to: I feel like the central theme of CoBaB was more “hope”, while in CoVaV it was straight up “conflict”. And there was no recovery time. Even the precious few hopeful times that were in the book, I didn’t really have time to process or chill or cope. I always knew something worse was coming, which is what made this such a raw read. I do think the book could have benefited from giving us a little more hope. Like three-quarters of the way through, I had to keep thinking back to CBB and how I felt reading it and hoping there would be more hopeful and optimistic feelings in book 3. I couldn’t put the book down, but as a result, I pretty much just sobbed through the last fourth (at least) of the book, finished the book, sat in shock, and then went to bed. This book literally exhausted me. What a godsdamned ride.

I completely get why the book was like this, even if it wasn’t as a result of being rushed, but I feel a little more for the readers to balance it out helps us survive, lol.

That aside, there was SO MUCH in this book, I have SO MANY feelings!!!

Firstly, the worldbuilding was GREAT. I loved the new insight we got on magic. I totally didn’t realize frm book 1 that tîtans and maji were different and used magic differently for the most part.

With the direction of the ending, I’m not sure Tomi will go in this direction, but I’d like to know more about these differences. Why is it that chants can work for tîtans but maji can only use magic through chants? Is it just most effective? Will we discover they can use raw magic in book 3? I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Learning about the maji clan setups was also really interesting, but I have to admit it threw me for a bit of a loop referring to the leaders as elders and then they were all children. xP

Also, I’m really glad Tomi listened and gave us queer characters. I love Nâo and Khani. Powerful leader girlfriends? HELL YEAH.

I think this book made it really clear that Zélie x Amari is not end game and will not happen. I know a lot of people were/still are hopeful for that, but I think there’s just too much set up that says otherwise. They love each other, but imo they firmly think of each other as family. I’m going to put my stock in our canon queer couple and support them 10,000%.

Next big one: FUCKING HELL INAN STILL BEING ALIVE, I AM REALLY NOT HAPPY. I didn’t check out the chapters in the table of contents, so I didn’t have the forewaring to see that Inan was getting perspective chapters again, so it took my by quite a bit of surprise. A lot of you called that Inan would still be alive, but I honestly so prefer “dead means dead” in stories (otherwise, I find deaths are used too much for shock value and it just devalues the overall story and plot) that I had myself convinced he really was dead. He got a convincing death scene. Listen, if you kill off a character, I am going to grieve them. It is not going to be the same if you bring them back. I will have completely detached feelings for them and have to form a whole new relationship and perspective on them, and I am always going to keep them at a distanced because they were dead, I saw it happen, and there is no going back.

But no. BAM! He’s not only alive but Zélie is the one to wake him from his connector coma. Not happy. I really feel that Inan’s story played out in CoBaB. It’s interesting that I’ve seen some real anti-Inan folk feeling more sympathy for Inan in this book, while I’ve talked about feeling that Inan was a really compelling villain in book 1, but I’ve got much more negative feelings towards him throughout book 2.  (And also why the hell should Inan get to come back but all these little maji kids - Zulaikha and Mazeli, c’mon - die and die for real??? It feels very cheap and very shock value to me. I don’t know if it was like some statement on privilege or Tomi just didn’t want to be done with Inan, but yeah.)

Honestly, the way Inan and Amari think in this book is so similar, and I found it so fucking conceited and narrow-minded. My view on both of them went down in this book. They just kept talking about how they have to be so selfish and they’re the only ones who can see things for how they are and how damn much they sacrifice and how tired they are because it’s up to them to sacrifice everything. Like!!! GUYS. No.

From the beginning when the CVV summary was released, I was wary of the plot focusing on Amari leading the people. It’s one of those things like: the system is not broken. It’s functioning exactly as it intends to. The monarchy has evolved to uphold a class system where diviners and maji are at the bottom. That’s what it wants to be doing. Can you really effectively change the system by accepting the system as your basis for change? Maybe it’s time to deconstruct the system and build something better. Not just put a royal back on the throne and think that’s gonna go smoothly.

And that’s exactly what happened here. They tried to use the system to buck the system and everything collapsed around them.

But I’m getting a little off topic - fixing a system of bigotry and oppression that your people built is not a sacrifice. You are still in the position of power here.

And Inan’s little bit where he thinks he’s so good and pure and better than his father because he offers the maji a place in society if they bend to his rules and follow him when the other option is that he will murder them had me wanting to tear my hair out. “Follow me or perish” is not a compromise. It’s not improvement. It’s literally a threat. And then when the maji don’t take this offer, Inan takes this as a sign that his mother was right and they can’t trust the maji to make the right decisions!?!?

Ugh. I was just done. I know all the factors of why I originally had sympathy for Inan are still there, and they largely control how he acts and thinks in CVV. (What he really needs for character growth and development is to be away from toxic influences and given time to grieve and work on figuring himself out. Not thrust into a position of power with his mother holding all the strings.) So, for me, Inan’s character really hit a wall, always getting stuck in the same patterns. And so now I feel less sympathy for him and find his story less compelling.

I honestly found Inan’s cousin, Ojore, really interesting. I think it could have been a really compelling story if somehow Ojore was allowed to take up the throne. WIth his background, being there in the burner attack that killed Saran’s father, he had a lot of backstory that we could have explored. And Tomi still could have revealed that it was Nehanda that manipulated things and let the burners in to encourage the war and the genocide against maji. Without Inan, we could have really gotten to explore how Ojore would react to that while on the throne. He could have potentially gone through the character development that Inan will never really get to see. Instead of him being killed pretty much immediately after he learns the truth behind his family’s death and the attack on him.

That being said, I do respect Inan’s decision to give up his position in the end. I think the whole “I’ll let your murder me” and Zélie apparently going to go through this was a little… contrived. But at least Inan did pull it out in the end. It will be interesting to see how these last moments between Inan and Zélie come into play in the next book. I’m assuming either Inan has been taken with the rest or will mount a rescue to go after them, so you know we’re going to get more on how this relationship develops. 

(I think with Tzain done with Amari right now, Amari and Inan trying to navigate a new siblingship with each other will be a more interesting relationship than Inan x Zélie, and I would look forward to getting to see these sibs talk and get to actually be there for each other like they never have before.)

And since I just went through Inan, let’s go ahead and talk about Amari.

Oh, Amari.

Amari, Amari, Amari.

GIRL. Why did it take you this entire book to realize that making decisions based off of what your father would have done was the wrong damn thing to do!?!?!? Omg, we all knew that was gonna crash and burn on you. The entire purpose of overthrowing your father’s rule was to not do things his way because his way was cruel and malicious. smdh

I was still rooting for Amari throughout the book. I am still rooting for Amari, but damn. She sure did try to make it hard doing things like going back on promises right after she made them (forcing Zélie to teach her chants that didn’t belong to her and then immediately using them on a maji) and acting like she new better than all the maji (I agree that just wanting to kill all the nobles and other peoples wasn’t a feasible plan, but GIRL. These are a traumatized, hunted people. They’re going to be angry, especially right in the thick of a war. Strongarming your way into a position of power over them is not going to make them feel any better about you or bring about peace. It’s just going to show them that they cannot trust you). And her move at the end? Sacrificing Zélie and all those people in that village? Being willing to murder them all? … If killing her father fucked her up, what’s this going to do? I still have faith in her. I want her to come back from this. But she’s going to have to majorly confront her own feelings and actions and work very hard to come back from this. Though, I have a feeling that she’ll mostly get forgiven in the next book because bigger and worse things will happen and they’ll have to come together, regardless of how they feel about each other.

Amari’s realization in the end when she decides she doesn’t have to kill her mother (uh… was I the only one expecting some sort of Avatar moment like when Aang took away Ozai’s bending? Like… Nehanda is still a threat… this part of the story can’t just be over) and that killing her father just fucked her up kinda made me feel ashamed for feeling so proud of her when she did kill Saran in CBB. Like, it was just such a powerful moment, and I think too many (simple “good vs evil”) stories fall prey to poor and simplistic messages like “killing in self-defense is evil and makes the good people as bad as the villains”. But it’s just been weighing on Amari this whole time and fucking her up, and now I feel bad. =(

Speaking of Amari feeling bad, though: Ramaya. The connector Amari beat for connector elder.

I hope either Inan was taken with everybody else or Amari will connect with him via their connector-sibling connection. It seems incredibly likely that Ramaya is stuck in her dreamscape similarly to how Inan was stuck in his before Zélie somehow entered it and woke him. Considering they were constantly saying Ramaya was their best soldier, it seems like it would also come in handy to wake Ramaya and be able to utilize her skills to help rescue the kidnapped crew. Like, this HAS to come up at some point, doesn’t it? She can’t just be forgotten in a coma. Did anybody stay behind to take care of her when they marched on the capitol? D|

Other relationships!

Fuck, I fell so hard for Roën in this book. He’s just so endearing. And it seems like it was really only Roën that was able to keep Zélie grounded and moving forward in this book. I didn’t really support Roën and Zélie getting together in book 1, but book 2 absolutely made me support the ship.

However, I think Roën’s actions at the end of the book are a very good insight into the types of things that Roën is capable of. I don’t know if this is endgame for Tomi, but after Zélie’s constant struggle of just wanting to leave and be free and start over in this book and how her rage towards Inan consumed her and caused her to make some short-sighted mistakes (promising she’d protect Mazeli at the temple, then Ojore almost killing him while she tussled with Inan), I just don’t know that this is a particularly healthy relationship. The bit where Roën takes her out to see and they get a ride from a whale? Absolutely adorable. Just what Zélie (and I suspect Roën) needed. But long-term? I have a feeling that Roën is going to have to let more of that mercenary self of his out, and it’s going to scare and wear on Zélie, and erode their relationship. I think this is one of those relationships that is good in the short-term but isn’t long-term sustainable.

Speaking of long-term - I know Tzain is absolutely done with Amari right now, but I think he’s overall shown a great capacity for forgiveness, and I do think Tzain and Amari are endgame for Tomi. I don’t think this break between them is permanent. 

But you know who we really need to talk about?

MAMA AGBA

What a heartbreaking arc. You know she had to sever the tie between Mazeli and Zélie to save Zélie’s life. I so wish she had gotten more time with Zélie for them to reform their trust and love for one another. I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to survive the maji elders sacrificing Amari to complete the linking ritual, but I can’t believe they really did sacrifice Mama Agba like that. She was really the only guidance these poor kids had. I can’t believe they really sacrificed her.

RIP Mama Agba. I hope you’re helping to look after Mazeli. 3

Now, for that damn epilogue.

I don’t know if I can take the next book. I don’t know how Tomi’s gonna make it through the next book.

Getting gassed and waking up on an eerie ship with the other elders? Anybody else get the feeling that Tomi is going to dive into a trans atlantic slave trade parallel? I hope I’m just being paranoid here (hey, the book seriously played with my emotions; I have no idea where I’m at anymore). What were y’alls takeaways from that part?

Predictions!

- Harum obviously has something to do with all the elders being taken and them being on a boat now, right? Tomi was totally setting him up as an antagonist and he got very little antag action in this book. He’s got to have something to do with this.

- This was always intended to be a trilogy, but I have to wonder if this isn’t going to end up turning into a couple more books than intended. There was so much to go over in book 2 and then the twist of an epilogue. They’re not even getting to rebuild yet. It just feels like Tomi has so much more planned it can’t possibly be wrapped up in just one more book.

- I feel like something’s gotta happen to sever or dampen the connection the elders (and Roën and Tzain) have with each other. After how powerful they were in the end, Tomi’s gotta counter that somehow. I just don’t know if she’s gonna dampen the powers or pull out an even BIGGER bad than Nehanda was.

- Obviously “Children of Gods” has to do with the title of book 3. If it’s not just Children of Gods, I predict: Children of Gods and Ghosts.

Ending Thoughts

CVV was well worth the wait and lived up to the hype, but if we don’t get some hope and optimism in the next book, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need these poor kids to get some semblance of a happy ending. They’ve been through so much.

[soaringlanddormitory]

Fun Fact 101: Dai Adachi

You’ll get to know the origin of “The Bartender”!!

There are a lot of people who made Dai- “Dai” He was actually based on a lot of things, not only culture. Kaoru was mostly based on culture of Thailand itself from my researches, but Dai is a combination of three things which I’ll mention as you continue reading!

The first thing I will mention would of course be the culture of Indonesia- but unlike Kaoru, I didn’t follow what his culture is like, but almost quite the opposite. The reason for this is that he doesn’t know about the culture of Indonesia and he focused much more on the cooking style than anything else [It is also hinted by his title he goes out of the country he’s supposed to focus on a lot, and uses alcohol instead]

He didn’t have time to follow the culture, as he made his own personality as he grew up and never really followed customs, and he may be considered as a deviant for that matter. The most notable characteristics would be this

Indonesians are indirect communicators. This means they do not always say what they mean. It is up to the listener to read between the lines or pay attention to gestures and body language to get the real message.

Generally speaking Indonesians speak quietly and with a subdued tone. Loud people would come across as slightly aggressive.

As well all know how Dai is, he’s almost the complete opposite of this. He is direct with his words, and he doesn’t even think too much before he speaks. He’s more verbal than any of his family members, but he also may exaggerate some gestures. He does not speak quietly, and he’s actually one of the more vocal ones.

Consequently, people are very careful how they interact and speak.

As stated before, he isn’t careful about his words. He realizes he hurts someone after the person he is talking to displays another emotion. This shows that he isn’t entirely careful and he has to face the consequences because of doing so.

The reason why I didn’t make him completely match was because I wanted to point out in his character that there are some people who aren’t completely one with their culture, and it’s a fact that people actually do not look at a lot. However he does have one thing that is similar to his culture and that is

Indonesians abhor confrontation due to the potential loss of face. To be polite, they may tell you what they think you want to hear. If you offend them, they will mask their feelings and maintain a veil of civility. If an Indonesian begins to avoid you or acts coldly towards you, there is a serious problem.

This is most hinted during the post-Central arc where he couldn’t bring himself to bond with Masae again but this was quickly changed once Masae began talking to him and reassure him that it was fine. Dai is not confrontational once he makes a big mistake, and he would accept any consequence that comes. He also acted towards people during Central itself, and this heavily implies that he, as said, “would sacrifice people for Central” and that also means lose friends- which he feared but greatly masked.

Outside of culture, he was also greatly influenced by one of my closest friends, who is @nightcrownsking [Hi there you’re getting tagged]. Dai is a cheerful individual who is fine with bonding with people, even humorous if I may say. Also a matchmaker who loves making ships that he sees a possibility for. Mostly his personality and interests came from him. They both love photography, they’re both matchmakers, and they’re pretty fun! So yes, my friend has greatly influenced him- but the funny thing is that he and the culture actually came after the song which pushed me to develop him further. [Fun fact: His design was made before his personality]

The one that made me know Dai’s goals to change the world in a way might be surprising, but it was something he wanted to be ever since he was young after experiencing being poor for several years- “Billionaire”. I believe everybody knows this song but there are some specific lyrics that inspired me to make him-  someone who wants to make a change. For short, some lyrics made me want to make an oc who wanted to make equality.

And adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had shit Give away a few Mercedes like here lady have this And last but not least grant somebody their last wish

I'll probably take whatever's left and just split it up So everybody that I love can have a couple bucks And not a single tummy around me would know what hungry was Eating good sleeping soundly I know we all have a similar dream Go in your pocket pull out your wallet And put it in the air and sing

The reason why he joined Central was because he wanted this equality because he already knew from the start that he’d probably not end up completing his dream to be a millionaire [He wanted to be a teacher because that’s what he thought fit him most and that he wanted to help others in his own manner, so why not share knowledge?]. These lyrics has always stroke me in the song, so I made this a part of him. He wanted equality, he wants the poor and the rich to be happy, and he wants peace to be the end result.

Also may I say, that he’s actually one of my most generous ocs? 

Once he actually becomes a teacher, he doesn’t only share his knowledge. He shares his time and effort so his students can improve. He gives his money to people he thinks needs it more [He thinks he has enough, his wife is literally a celebrity] and this is mostly shown in the future.

But here is the origin of our matchmaker, Dai Adachi! <3

[theaurorfileshq]

R I V K A   W A L D R O N  /  A U R O R   C O R P O R A L

AGE:  Thirty-Three

BADGE NUMBER: R38N11

BLOODSTATUS: Pureblood

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Gendervoid, She/Her

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: blackwork sigil tattoos covering back, shoulders, arms, & feet ; usually wearing black (or red, on occasion) ; hair never longer than shoulder-length, rarely brushed ; constantly has sweets in pockets ; always looks like she’s slept six hours or less

STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES:

(+): Dueling/Combat Magic, Occlumency, Wandless Magic

(-): Protective Magic (Cannot Conjure a Patronus), Touch Aversion, Maledictus - Raven Form (Beginning to Lose Control of Shifting Episodes)

BACKGROUND:

CW: implied domestic abuse, child abuse  

Rivka grew up deep enough in the Mississippi swamps that it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly where on a map. It was a place so drenched in old magic that it was palpable in the very air and water, and seemed to make the environment around them constantly shift. She and her mother - Delvene, father - Gil, and paternal grandfather - Lochar lived in an old manor house that had previously belonged to her mother’s proud Pureblood parents… Leaving them the place in their will was just about the best thing they ever did for their daughter, a squib, who otherwise would have inherited nothing. That they died only months after a short & sweet little wedding on the front porch wouldn’t arouse suspicions for many years.

Contrary to her mother, she displayed her magical abilities early, around age four. Young Riva left a trail of mayhem in her wake whenever she went tearing off into the swamps to play. And when she came back it was with all manner of critters and trinkets she shouldn’t have been capable of collecting herself while she was so small… She had a knack for making things move without touching them, going so far as to levitate some crawdads right out of the river. At age five, a particularly bad argument between her parents in the kitchen resulted in a lot of upturned chairs and broken dishes, as well as one dark-eyed toddler up a tree in the shape of a raven. They couldn’t manage to get her down again until she fell asleep and naturally shifted back in the middle of the night. But by then the damage had already been done… she had gained her father’s attention.

Her wild ways would only continue to intensify as time went on, especially after Gil decided in a fit of devilish inspiration he was prone to that he needed to harness the raw potential of her magic as soon as possible. He set Rivka to task running errands for him, usually to harvest potion ingredients, but sometimes to sit in certain places to listen and watch, sometimes to carry little packages or scrolls back and forth… He twisted what should have been a carefree and adventurous childhood into a rigorous training regimen. And the more she tried to resist his lessons, the crueler and more insistent Gil became. He demanded absolute obedience and deference and, brilliant little thing that she was, Rivka realized quickly enough that it was better to do as he said rather than risk the consequences. But, instead of controlling her, as he anticipated, his abuses only made her find every possible route of escape and every reason to buck authority. It made her elusive and feral, incapable of letting anyone in close enough to touch.

The one exception to this rule came in the form of Fidel Romero, a local auror in Mississippi who had been tasked with monitoring large-scale truancy & neglect cases of newly school age magical children in the area. Despite the many messages sent to the manor house in the swamp, the last officially known address for Rivka, now eleven, none of her Ilvermorny letters had been opened, nor had they received any indication she would be attending. When Fidel visited, he found that only Delvene remained, among a mountain of unopened envelopes, in a crumbled shell which had formerly been a stately Pureblood house of some repute. And all he could get out of her as she sat nearly catatonic on the porch in an old grey rocking chair was that a demon had crawled out of the swamp and swallowed her whole. With no other clues to go by, he ended up encountering Riva by chance… when he caught her stealing a handful of candies from a corner store in town. Once he plied her with a sundae the size of her head, Fidel got enough out of her to determine that her father clearly had no interest in her attending Ilvermorny. And so, he didn’t hesitate. He took her into protective custody that very evening.

Riva may have put something of a target on her back when she loudly declared in the entrance hall upon first entering Ilvermorny that she was not afraid of any bullies. That she did so while single-handedly dispatching of one such bully before ever laying hands on a wand did nothing to dissuade the particularly vicious or determined among them; but all the same, she took to Thunderbird house and to her studies like a lightning bolt to the tallest tree in the forest. Contrary to what her wild demeanor and odd social habits outwardly suggested, it was an environment that she thrived in. She was even capable of being attentive and quiet during class, although her reputation of wildness suggested otherwise. All it took was a good teacher to recognize her struggles and advise her to redirect her anger and frustrations elsewhere. After Riva became captain of the dueling club, there was a decided shift around her. The bullies that once targeted her were suddenly less eager to engage when she challenged them to a formal duel, in the proper arena.

In the summers between school, she would return to Fidel’s care briefly before vanishing again into the swamps she loved so dearly. He worried over her constantly, always concerned she was with her father. He had grown to distrust and despise the man over time, after gleaning what he could from Riva about his cruelties. Every time she left, he almost expected to never see her again, but miraculously, about two weeks before the end of summer, she would reliably arrive on Fidel’s doorstep again like clockwork, as if nothing had ever happened. He learned to be content with that for a while, until she came home one year with tattoos on her hands and back. Seeing red, he tore through the swamps looking for Gil for days and found nothing but a low, faraway sound like an echoing laugh taunting him. Despite his best efforts, Fidel couldn’t keep her away from him, as no lock or barrier would keep her. She flew through his fingers time and time again like a bird slipping through the bars of a cage. But he didn’t want to cage Riva… he only ever wanted to protect her.

She managed to hide any new tattoos or bruises she came home with after that, not out of fear of her father, but to protect Fidel and his big stupid heart as best as she could. She knew he wanted to tear Gil apart, that if he could he’d spend his whole life hunting through the ever-shifting landscape of the Mighty Mississippi bogs until he brought him to justice. But as much as she wanted to, Riva found herself unable to resist each time Gil summoned her to that old house constantly moving through the swamps. Somehow he held Dominion over her thoughts and actions, so much like that name she always overheard coming in hushed whispers from the darkest corners. The summer before her final year was when everything came to a head, when one night she returned unexpectedly early, in strange clothes, scratched and bruised and bloody, hands and feet and hair all torn from her flight… She would never fully explain to Fidel what happened, but what she saw that fateful night would come out in pieces, in nightmares, in long silent stares into the darkness. There had been fire, blood, and shadow, ancient tongues, and strangers in the woods. In the end, although she managed to claw herself out of her father’s grasp, she would never feel truly free of him.

The Mississippi River had always been her deepest & truest love, and the most comfortable home she had ever known. And so it only made sense that she’d follow it to its end. Living with Fidel and getting close to his family had helped guide her there, to the NOLA auror academy. Riva knew it was an opportunity, not only to improve her skills, but to further distance herself from the life with her father she had escaped. However, this time had its own share of challenges… It was in the academy that she finally had it explained to her exactly what being a Maledictus meant. To say that the diagnosis devastated her would be an understatement. In many ways, Riva felt that her world ended right there. In others, she knew she needed to do what she could for the people she loved in the time she had left. Becoming an auror was suddenly so much more important and urgent for that reason, and because she wanted to follow in Fidel’s footsteps while still walking her own path. But as it turned out, protecting him would also eventually mean deceiving him.

In her first year as an auror, Fidel got too close to finding Gil, close enough that she took it upon herself to throw him off the trail. Riva knew the swamps better than anyone, knew how to get to her father wherever he was, like her life depended on it. And so she also knew exactly how to keep Fidel away, this man that she had somehow grown to love more than her own blood. She followed him, carefully manipulating the clues as he came upon them, throwing her voice here or there, making just the right noise at the right time to get him to turn and miss something. She always kept just out of sight or out of reach in the dark, her heart pounding in her throat whenever he grew within arm’s length. It was one of the most difficult things she ever had to do, and not just because of the emotional toll it took on her, or the hurt she knew it would cause if he ever discovered the truth; but also because Fidel was damn good at what he did. It would be a few years before she saw him set the case aside, and even then she understood that it wouldn’t be forever.

Despite her adventurous nature, Riva was content to stay in Mississippi for a long while, perhaps because she found it difficult to miss out on even one moment with the ones she loved, knowing she would eventually run out of time with them. Instead of pushing to climb the ranks as quickly as possible, she focused on making herself like water, flowing easily along her path, trying not to rush too quickly towards or away from anything. She worked this way for ten years, collecting cases under her belt but largely avoiding anything that might draw too much attention to herself. But fate, as always, demonstrated that it had other plans for her… that it was not content to see her wasting away in one place, however comfortable she was to stay there. About a year ago, fate quite literally snatched her away in the middle of a case. Her superiors knew for certain that something was wrong when they didn’t hear from her for a week. But as soon as they mobilized a force to search for her, she turned up with a fuzzy memory in northern Minnesota, prompting investigation into the incident from MACUSA (since she had been transported over state lines such a significant distance). In the days following her recovery, she fervently worked on a list of codes that would not stop running through her head, insisting to anyone who would listen that they were significant to her abduction. Finally, about five days after turning up on the other side of the country, she saw the strange messages for what they were: a set of clues she had left for herself. Once she deciphered them, she was able to lead MACUSA to the northern branch of an Animagus trafficking ring operating along the Mississippi River, where they managed to take five or six smugglers into custody. This prompted her superiors to recommend her to MACUSA, after over a decade of solid work for them. And after meditating on it for a while, and receiving some vital encouragement from a certain gruff father figure, she agreed to apply.

[allenmendezsr]

Deal Poker At Casino Standards & Make Money

New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/deal-poker-at-casino-standards-make-money/

Deal Poker At Casino Standards & Make Money

 Buy Now

    What about the economy? I know poker was hot when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series… but are people still playing cards today?

In short, yes.

Historically, gambling has always been extremely popular and people will always find money to do a little gambling with.

Live tournament poker fields are having record entries, and poker leagues like the Atlanta Poker Club are springing up all around the country and growing in volume.

People love to gamble, plain and simple.

Regardless of how the economy is doing people find money to play poker with.

Dealing texas holdem is a great part time job opportunity. You can quickly make some “pocket money” so next time it’s your turn to buy your friends a round of drinks at the bar you do not have to put it on the Visa or stress out about if the card is going to clear.

Lean how to deal texas holdem like a pro and you will have a skill you can use to make money virtually on demand.

Every city, town, suburb and neighborhood across the USA and growing around the world are running poker games every night of the week and the players crave professional dealers!

Plus, most dealers say they enjoy dealing poker! Wouldn’t it be cool if you actually had fun, or improved your own poker game, while going to work?

It does not matter whether you’re looking to deal for your friends, local tournaments, or under the bright lights of Vegas or Atlantic City, our home based poker dealing course has provided results time and time again for many hundreds (if not thousands) of poker dealers, and it will do this for you.

Let Me Share a Secret With You . . .

If you are already a poker player and are looking for a way to supplement your bank roll then there is hardly any better time spent than that of the poker dealer. Aside from the fantastic income potential that poker dealing offers, it’s drop dead effective for improving your own poker play because you get to see so many hands from an impartial, unbiased view point. And you can use that information to improve your own game, as well.

Not many people know that two-time World Series of Poker champion Johnny Chan, or Layne Flack (who has total winnings of over $4.2 million dollars as of 2008) were professional poker dealers before going pro in the poker leagues.

In fact, in the 2004 WSOP No-Limit Event, all three players were former dealers! Scott Fischman, a player in that game, even admitted to learning to deal strictly for the sake of improving his poker play (I’m thinking he didn’t mind the extra bulk in his wallet, either).

What Gives These Guys Such an Unfair Advantage at the Tables?

Look, it doesn’t matter how many books, charts, theories, and other technical poker knowledge that you consume; there is no substitute for table experience.

Imagine getting paid several hundred dollars a night to be right in the middle of the action, discovering how to spot tells, put players on hands, and fine-tune your reads to an almost psychic ability – all without risking a dime from your pocket . . .

And of course maybe there’s the possibility that you have no interest in playing poker, and are just looking for a fast-paced, high-paying work experience – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Discover Poker Dealer Secrets From One of the World’s Best

Back in April of 2004, when we were just about to open the doors on the Atlanta Poker Club, we needed to score top-notch dealer training.

Anyone on the Strip knows that the Bellagio has some of the absolute top-of-the-line dealers in Vegas, or anywhere else in the world for that matter…

And so we tracked down one of the Bellagio’s top dealers, Tami D., and were able to enlist her services to create our one of a kind home based poker dealing school.

We put together 10 chapters, 70 lessons, over 400 photos, and 35 videos, uncovering every last technique and tactic used by Tami, and other professional dealers, and we Tami packaged it into a course called Dealer Training.

Needless to say, the Atlanta Poker Club has become a raging success, thanks to the professional caliber of our poker dealers, and we’re proud to say that the exact same course is now available to you.

Why pay the thousands of dollars it takes to go to a land based poker dealing school?

Packed full of videos, professional photo’s and comprehensive chapters covering in detail everything you need to know to deal poker as a professional. We designed the course to quickly you teach you the casino poker dealing standards, techniques and how to’s.

“Can I really make $250 bucks dealing poker?”

It’s a fair question, so I would like to break it down for you.

A professional poker dealer can average roughly 35 hands per hour depending on the game they are dealing. Limit games go faster while no-limit games generally take a little longer per hand on average.

Most dealers are paid via tips, usually from each hand dealtl. Dealing 35 hands per hour at $1 tip per hand then it is going to take roughly three hours to earn $100 dollars.

Earning $100 for three hours of work is not bad at all in todays job market…

If you deal a big pot, you will see bigger tips…

Bigger tips increase your earnings exponentially. Now we are talking sometimes up to $50, $60 or even $70 more per hour in your pocket.

In an average $1/2 game many dealers make over $250 of cold hard cash for an evenings worth of work.

Money in your pocket money, too. And you do not have to live near a casino to make this kind of money dealing poker!

Here’s just a taste of what’s included in Dealer Training . . .

Professional Instruction. Professional Casino Dealer (Tami D.) guides you every single step of the way …

35 Poker Dealing Videos that you can watch as many times as you’d like. Need to see something again, or brush up on your skills? No problem …

Poker Dealer Tricks of the Trade – Devestatingly simple tips and strategies to make dealing poker easy and efficient. dealer training product image 400 + Photo’s Every technique, captured in painstaking detail. Perfect form laid bare before your eyes.

10 Chapters covering the entire poker dealing process. Running the gamut from start to finish on dealing a hand of poker.

70 lessons – Each lesson is step-by-step and easy-to-implement, allowing you to go at your own pace …

10 Practice Lessons to hone your skills – Simple and entertaining ways to commit your new-found poker dealing skills to muscle memory.

A Certificate of Completion – Get your foot in the door and gain credibility for table auditions …

List of quality poker dealing supplies – What you need to deal poker, and where to find it.

How to find a job in or out of a casino – No matter your desire, we’ll show you how to uncover the best opportunities and get the work you want.

Bonus chapter on making extra money while you deal. Battle-tested techniques that will have your players singing your praises, while also lining your pockets.

Here’s What Dealer Training Will Do For You . . .

How to shuffle the right way. The exact process for a true random shuffle that is not only devastatingly efficient and effective, but most importantly, to actual casino standards.

How to sort side pots accurately and quickly. A fast and easy technique that lets you calculate multiple side pots quickly and easily and it is 100% accurate. Even if you almost failed math, you can do this!

How to calculate and take a rake. An easy way to calculate the rake, and examples of casino rake schedules.

How to pitch the cards. Pitch quickly and accurately with this casino method.

How to cut, count and manage chips. Handle and count cheques like a champ once you learn the easy-to-follow process.

How to manage your table. Run your table with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine – The players will thank you for it, and so will your wallet …

Where to put the pot, the muck, the burn cards, the flop, turn and river. The casino standard layout, and why it makes your job so much easier …

Where to put side pots, and how to award them. A no-brainer method to ensure that your side pots are awarded to the right person every time.

How to handle misdeals and what causes a misdeal. What constitues a misdeal, how to declare a misdeal and more importantly when to not declare a misdeal.

How to handle a hand from start to finish. Follow the professional poker dealer process to efficiently deal poker and you will make more money. And so much more…

Want to see an example? Check out this video sample!

“So What Makes Dealer Training Different From a Land-Based School?”

Good question. One of the most unique aspects of Dealer Training is that it’s a 100% online course.

What that means: No matter if it’s 2pm or 2am, you can order Dealer Training at any time and you’ll receive immediate access.

What’s even better is that because of this 100% online nature, you’re able to complete the course at your own leisure.

Compare that to a land-based school, where not only do you have to figure in travel and accomodations, but you’re also having to take 6-8 weeks off of work, and you can see just how much more convenient the Dealer Training program really is.

In addition to training at your own schedule, our program allows you to repeat any training modules as many times as you may want or need; something that’s just not an option with land-based training.

No hidden or additional fees . . . EVER. You see, not only is Dealer Training available for 1/6th of the cost of tuition at a land-based school, you’ll never have to worry about paying a single additional cent outside of the original cost. No monthly fees, no “upgrade charges,” nothing.

And speaking of upgrades . . . Any future upgrades to the Dealer Training course will be provided to you absolutely free of charge!

“Ok, This Sounds Great, But What’s it Gonna Cost Me?”

Considering that tuition for the average dealer training school starts at $1200 (then add on travel expenses, accomodations, and time spent away from work), surely offering you a program led by one of the top dealers in Vegas… one that you can follow along with at home, at your own pace… could easily sell for as much.

Add to that the fact that we invested over $30,000 in production cost in order to bring this program to life… And not to mention just how lucrative just a single night of dealing at a professional level can be…

But we didn’t want to make this something only for the rich… No, we wanted to make Dealer Training available to anyone who truly wanted to get the skills necessary to deal professionally…

We’ve decide to offer Dealer Training for only $197 only $97! That’s $120 off of the price we’ve sold it for since 2004!

Here, let me break it down for you . . .

Earlier I mentioned how a professionally trained dealer can deal an average of about 35 hours an hour, can expect a minimum of a $1-2 tip per hand, and to work around a 4 hour shift . . .

Using those numbers, we’re talking about $175-$350… In other words, it is possible to cover the cost of this program in your first night of dealing!

Not Sure? Let Me Shoulder All of The Risk . . .

Here’s What You Need To Do Next …

If you’re ready to start dealing poker like a true pro, then click on the button below to secure your access to Dealer Training!

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Yes! I’m ready to receive immediate access to the Dealer Training program for only $ 97 (limited time only, normal price is $197).

I understand that I have 8 full weeks to review the course and if at any time I decide that it is not right for me, I may simply request a refund, for any reason whatsoever (or for no reason at all).

My order will be processed by ClickBank, the world’s largest payment processor of online goods.

ClickBank’s secure ordering process is tested by McAfee, as well as Verisign, to ensure total privacy of my information.

It is on this basis that I’m ready to order Dealer Training now!

Internet Security Note: Your order form will look like this:

[auburnfamilynews]

https://twitter.com/height_romello/status/1207368332279713796

Hype train engaged

Auburn signed the 7th ranked class in the 2020 recruiting cycle. That means the recruiting services thought very highly of Auburn’s signees overall. While the Tigers did not have a single 247 Composite five-star, their class did include 16 four star prospects. That’s pretty durn good.

At a macro level, these sites do a great job of identifying what programs are doing the best job at bringing in the most top-level talent. But on an individual basis there are always misses. A guy like Byron Cowart struggles to see snaps and transfers out while a late addition like Daniel Thomas emerges as a top SEC safety and ends up a 5th round NFL Draft pick.

When I look at Auburn’s 2020 signing class and their individual rankings, one player stands out as being undervalued. That player? Surprise Early Signing Day flip Romello Height.

Height finished ranked #392 by 247 Composite barely missing blue chip status with a 0.8884 rating. Both 247 and ESPN graded Height as four star calibre player but just barely while Rivals was the lowest ranking Height as the 34th best OLB prospect in the 2020 class.

I think they are all wrong.

Romello Height committed to Miami in July. He then spent most of the next four to five months, being an incredibly vocal supporter of the Canes and denying any interest in other programs. On his highlight tape, you can even see him sometimes throw up the U after a sack. But while publicly Height seemed locked in as a Cane (including that 1,000% committed tweet) behind the scenes things were not as they seemed.

As that fall went on there was buzz that Auburn had made the Dublin High School stand out their top priority at the Buck. Possibly even liking him more for that position than top 100 player 4* LB Phillip Webb. That buzz got even louder when Webb and Auburn mutually parted ways cancelling his official visit. On early signing day, Height announced he was in fact switching his pledge to the Tigers while Webb eventually signed with LSU.

Ready for a hot take? I think Auburn got the better player. I don’t mean that as a put down on Webb. The kid is elite. I just think Romello Height has 1st round NFL Draft type of upside as a pass rusher. Let’s see why

247 is doing a really cool series where they breakdown what lessons they have learned from recent NFL Drafts when it comes to evaluating prospects. Last week, 247’s posted an article on edge prospects and what they look for when evaluating a prospect. Here’s an excerpt:

The group averaged 6-foot-3.9 and 220.5 pounds as high school prospects. Just five of the 32 were under 6-foot-3 at the NFL Combine (which often tends to be shorter than high school listings) with one under 6-foot-2 – Michigan’s Josh Uche who was athletic as a high school prospect running a verified 4.59 second 40-yard dash. On the flip-side, none were 6-foot-6 or taller. Six of the 32 weighed over 240 pounds as high school prospects with just one over 260 (Rashan Gary).

If you’re assuming the group is full of long, big-framed athletes given the average height and weight, you’d be correct. Many of these edges have the length and frames to pack on weight once in a college strength program. The group averaged a 33.7 inch arm, 9.8 inch hand and 80.5 inch (6-foot-8.5) wingspan. For those not well-versed in dimensions, those are all on the high end. Just one had an arm length shorter than 32.5 inches. There was one hand under 9 inches and 1 wingspan under 6-foot-5.5. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that over half of the group played basketball in high school, many at a high level.

So what do they look like as high school prospects? I mentioned earlier most showed pass rush ability in high school. We have stats on 25 of the 32. The group as a whole was quite productive on the field, averaging 74 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 13.2 sacks as seniors in high school. Over two-thirds of those with stats had double-digit sacks.

So how does Height stack up to these comparisons? Well first off, there’s his frame. Auburn’s official site lists him at 6’4” 217 lbs. That’s almost a perfect match to the average size 247 lists as ideal for edge prospects coming out of high school.

As for production? Height was incredibly productive as a senior at Dublin High School putting up 27 tackles for loss and 16 sacks as a senior. That’s better production than the average 247sports.com found when looking at 25 of the 32 most recently drafted edge players during their senior seasons in high school.

But numbers and frame are just a piece of a puzzle. Some players are just more athletic than their opponents and thrive by simply bulldozing would be blockers or running around them. That happens some in Height’s tape, just like every top prospect, but I was consistently impressed by HOW Height generate pressure. He wasn’t totally reliant on his freak athleticism. Here’s a great example.

Working on an article next week explaining why I think Romello Height is Auburn's most underrated 2020 signee Here's a taste pic.twitter.com/vhxbvRz6DG

— AUNerd (@AUSportsNerd) May 24, 2020

So what makes this play so great? Well first, I love that he’s rushing from a 4i technique (meaning he’s lined up on the tackle’s inside shoulder) out of a Tite front (two 4is and a nose tackle) which has become ubiquitous in college football and a favorite of Kevin Steele’s. I doubt Height will do this much for Auburn as in these types of looks the Buck is used as an outside rusher from an OLB spot but it shows some great versatility.

His rush starts with him going outside and he does a great job winning the initial hand fight. He gets his inside arm lock on the tackle’s chest and attempts to combine that leverage with his speed to get the corner. But what I love about this play is he doesn’t just continue to blindly rush up field. His eyes are still on the QB and when he sees the quarterback step up in the pocket and look to escape to his right, Height slams on the brakes while using that leverage he’s created from his hand placement to spin back and make the sack. That’s a kid deploying his elite tools in a way that can translate to the next level.

Time and time again, I saw Height not rely just on speed or power. Even on this play, where he doesn’t end up with the sack, you can see his skills.

This tackle is well aware of Height’s ability to get the corner so the tackle attempts to get great depth to cut off the edge. Height sees the tackle is over playing him, gets his inside hand into the chest of the tackle and then deploys a devastating spin move that still leaves him in a great position to make the play. He doesn’t finish but again this rep shows a prospect that is already deploying counter moves with his rush.

But speed is absolutely apart of his game and it’s something Auburn has missed since Jeff Holland’s departure in 2017.

One of the buzz words people like to use when discussing pass rushers is “bend”. What scouts/analysts/pretend experts on the internet mean when they say “this player has great bend” is that the pass rusher is able to get low at the top of the rush, drop his hips, turn his body and take a flat path to the quarterback for a sack. In this clip you get to see Height’s great bend. Notice how when he gets past the offensive tackle, he doesn’t have to take any recovery steps to get to the quarterback but is able to instead make a straight line and get the sack. That’s great bend.

But playing the Buck spot doesn’t mean just blowing by tackles to get sacks. If you are going to play for Rodney Garner you better be able to set the edge. Unsurprisingly, Height didn’t get very many opportunities as a run stopper as teams tended to either run away from him or take him out by reading him. There were some reps though that show the potential to handle that responsibility at the next level.

No player is perfect, especially a former high schooler entering his first season as an SEC football player, so I think it’s important to also highlight some areas of improvement. For me, there are three specific aspects of Height’s game I would like to see improve:

Lower Body Strength

First Step

Motor

That first note shouldn’t come as a surprise. Pretty much every freshman needs to get stronger in order for them to play at the next level. Height is far from weak and looks well-built on tape but in order for some of these pass rush moves to translate against SEC offensive tackles, he will have to improve his lower body strength. Something I expect to happen quickly given Height’s frame.

The second note is an interesting one. What I mean by “first step” is the ability to get out of his stance on the snap of the ball and into the play. Often when watching Height’s tape, he was the last player out of his stance.

It’s hard to completely see full speed in this gif but I actually froze a number of his plays right after the snap and found him more times than I would like to see still in his stance when everyone else was in motion. It was honestly bizarre because there are instances where you see him just blow by a blocker but it didn’t happen regularly enough for a kid with his talent. I think though it’s tied in some part to note #3.

Probably the biggest area of improvement for Height will be learning to play through the whistle every snap. First, let me be fair to the kid. He played almost every single snap for his high school team. Dublin used him as a run blocking tight end in their Single Wing offense and he was also asked to cover kicks. Add all that to also playing in the trenches every snap as an end and I suspect this is more due to Height trying to conserve energy than necessarily a problem with effort.

Still though there were times where I feel if he had kept playing, he could have made an impact on the play.

This is a far cry from Marlon Davidson obliterating Garrett Shrader 13+ yards down field after initially running by him in the backfield. Here the offense runs a nice little quick concept to hit the WR on the drag route. Height (#3) rushes up field, sees the ball is thrown behind him and then just casually walks down the field as the wide out picks up a huge gain. I have a hard time believing given Height’s quickness, he wouldn’t have at least stopped this play from being a 20+ yard gain if he had played through the whistle. Maybe he would not have an impact on the play but you would like to see him at least try.

That’s something though that will get corrected REALLY quick under Rodney Garner. If you wanna play for Coach G, you better bring it every single snap or you won’t see the field. I fully expect to see better from Height moving forward.

When you add up Height’s frame, athletic gifts, production and tape, I don’t see a high 3*/borderline 4* player. I see a top 100 prospect with first round potential. To me, he’s the exact type of weapon this Auburn defense has been without the past two seasons. I’m doubtful he makes a major impact as a true freshman due to the unusual offseason and Auburn’s returning depth on the edge but I firmly believe that before Height’s career is through on the Plains he will be one of the more feared pass rushers in the SEC.

War Eagle!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/5/26/21269042/romello-height-auburns-most-underrated-2020-signee

[sleepytoycollection]

SpacePops: A Review Part 2

Part 1: Here

Well, here I am again, this took me longer to get around to than I intended, but hey, I had four times as many dolls to look at. Not to mention how much drawing I’ve been doing for my main blog lately, so yeah I’ve been busy. 

Anywhoozle, as my first review can tell you, I found my Luna doll to have a certain amount of charm through all her cheapness, and if you can still find one from your local TRU; you might be lucky enough to snag them for round $2 bucks each as I did. And I def recommend getting one if you can, if nothing else for a nice, articulate spare body and some MH sized shoes. Just don’t let your self pay for than $5 for one. They’re not that fun. 

I was lucky enough to manage to get a hold of all five characters, so let’s see how they measure up to Luna. To avoid being too repetitive I’ll try to focus on their unique features only.

Let’s start with Rhea:

Rhea was actually the one I liked the best from her art work. I mean look at it, she looks amazing here, the boots, thigh high stockings, the layers, gloves and chains would’ve made for an amazing doll of the effort had been put in. 

I won’t ramble forever about the what-ifs, but it’s just so much of a punch to the stomach to know we’ll never see the real potential these had realized.

I’m not gonna go through the all the profiles, but if anyone’s interested I could scan them in for better visibility. 

Gremlin #2.

Getting her out of the box, the first thing that struck me was her hat.

And I mean that literally as there was nothing helping it attach to her head. Much as I’m grateful these dolls lack those plastic ties shot into their heads that mattel’s become so fond of; I don’t think a rubber band would’ve too much to ask for.

Here she out of the box:  

She’s...something.

After how much Luna has surprised me by simply being less bad than I feared; Rhea on the other hand was everything I’d worried these girls would be. 

Her hair is terrible, it’s the cheapest, nastiest of all the dolls, it’s literally the same stuff the Midnight magic dolls used. It had a gross, greasy feel and wants to pull away from the scalp if I dare try to run a comb through it. 

Ugh. On top of that, it became quickly clear I’d gotten a Rhea with a defective hand. Instead of the normal back and forth movement almost every other doll has, she’s got side to side movement. 

Except, her hands still have the dents in the molding indicating it’s not meant to turn that way. I’m at a loss. I really can’t tell how this happened, or how her hand isn’t falling off. 

It could’ve been worse in that regard, but there’s not many good uses for side to side movement that look natural. 

At this point I’d only opened the one doll prior, and so was extremely worried I’d simply gotten lucky with Luna. 

sigh. 

Her outfit is super cheap, made cheaper looking by how complex a design they were trying to emulate. It’s all one piece and gives the impression of a store bought Halloween costume in miniature. 

I will grant however, all the dolls having their name on their tag is cute. 

But it’s a wasted detail on something this cheap. The black band on her waist is a sort of flimsy, felt-like material, and the knit of her shorts is thin. I feel like I could easily tear a run in it if I pull just a little too much, especially being unhemmed as they are. 

She’s got a slight blue tint to her pale complexion, as you can see her here next to Catrine. 

The socks are made of paint, and I’d have rather they be left off entirely. Her left knee also doesn’t bend, and I have not been able to fix it yet.

As you can imagine, after Rhea I lost a lot of energy for these girls. She was the doll I’d wanted the most, and was just disappointing in every way, despite me already having incredibly low standards. 

Still, I was going to have to open these girls up eventually. So this time I decided to go for the design I’d liked the least with Athena: 

Every time I look at her dress I can’t help but think of the Flintstones. Not in a cute way either. 

It’s like if, after their crossover, a member of the Jestons universe tried to make a fashion version of their cave clothing as a cheap cash in, and just doesn’t work for me that much. Maybe it’s partly the colors used. 

It’s a little better art wise, but eh. Maybe if she wasn’t he same color as Rhea..?

Blah blah profile. 

Gremlin #3.

Despite my opinions on her look, out of the box she struck me as a pleasant increase in quality if nothing else.  Nothing falling off, no visible defects.

It was around this time tho I was starting to realize there seemed to be a decided aversion to hair gel. Her spiked updo’ is translated as a short ponytail here.

Can’t say I mind too much, but lack of gel means her hair gets pulled pretty easily, especially where her glasses are. She’s got nothing on Gilda Goldstag that’s for sure. 

Her tie is made of the same cheap fuzzy stuff Rhea’s belt was made of, for that matter her gold belt is the only new fabric type here. 

But to my great surprise her skirt has a separate over lay! 

And it’s even lined, I’ll admit it improved my opinion of her a good bit. It feels sturdy.

Her netted sleeve too is competently made. 

..but left a stain on her arm. 

With out the overlay her outfit looks a bit less flinstone-y, so I’m just gonna leave it off. 

Under her dress she has some pink tights, which I appreciate as they become less and less common in the doll world. Even if it makes me wonder why Rhea couldn’t have had socks. Just one of those things I guess.

Her glasses are held in neatly with, of all things, the help of tiny plastic bobby pins! 

!!! I’m sorry but that’s adorable, tiny pins! And they work! Amazing. 

Her hair is the same quality as Luna’s, thank goodness, and is easy enough to brush out.  

But to my dismay, her glasses don’t fit her face. If you put the arms over her actual ears, they set waayyyy too low. I can’t get them to twist so the bridge will set on her nose. But if I place them high enough so the lens can cover her eyes, they get stuck from her head being too wide and wont’ touch her face. 

That said, I like the shape and look of these, and I’m sure I have plenty of other dolls who can rock them. But it doesn’t say much for your line if your accessories can’t be used for the doll they were made to be used on.

Still, Athena was a huge improvement to my energy for these girls, so let’s hop over to Hera. 

I wanna take a sec to apologize for the quality of several of these pics, my camera’s very old and staring to kick the bucket. 

Hera’s pretty cute, if you like Draculaura. Which I do. The fact the lime green specifically reminds me of Snow Bite, which is my fav version of Ula helps make it a pleasant comparison. 

Gremlin #4. 

Yay! A different fabric! And hemming! It’s a dream come true~

Now if only I had the same excitement over her hair.

It’s the standard for these dolls tbh, but being curled has not agreed with it. I’m kinda afraid to touch it. She’s got a head band in there, but it’s very hidden.

even if it wasn’t, it’s just a plain ribbon, no where near the flower crown of her art.  

The dress is really the star here, of all the outfits so far it’s the one that feels the sturdiest, and no printed details. 

Her tag. 

Her tights are different fabric to the other ones we’ve seen. It’s not as stretchy, which is why you see it sagging around the knees. It’s the kind of netting you’d see as a tulle petticoat. 

It looks alright, but it makes me concerned with how durable these would be in the long run.  

Now,you may have noticed me not making any comments on the shoes. Well I have a very good reason for that:

They’re all the same. They reused the same shoe mold for all four of these girls, leaving only one who doesn’t have these heels. 

That girl being of course, Juno. 

She was my second favorite of all the girls when I saw their art all that time ago. 

Aside from how much I love the colors used, she has pants! And a shaved head! 

...And another Gremlin.

And last but not least, here she is:

Of all the girls, she’s the one who comes the closest to looking like her boxart. 

So not too surprising her outfit is to be my favorite of the bunch. 

She’s also the only one to use any kind of styling product. Fairly lightly, but it’s on there. Yet, despite how little there was used they still managed to get a good bit on her face. 

 Can’t have it all I suppose. 

But the flocking looks good. 

I also appreciate how she has the most unique face paint of all the ladies.  It’s not much by usual standards, but with every girl using the same face mold, they can use all the differences they can get.

Without her Jacket you can bein to see just how had that top is, but she can put her hands in her pockets, so if there had to be a trade off, I’ll admit they made the right one. 

Her jacket is nicely sewn, only her collar sporting an unfinished hem, but I don’t know how you’d really hem those jagged edges anyhow. It’s usable and looks alright. 

Her boots tho, no complaints there. By Spacepop standards these are the best shoes you’ll ever see. By normal doll standards they’re still not bad. 

I very serious when I say I love these pants. I feel like most of their clothing budget went into that fabric. Almost like someone was trying. 

Sigh. But then you get this. 

It’s garbage. The worst piece of all the clothing I’ve seen here, and there’s no way this would’ve held up to a child.

Now what else have I not covered..oh yeah. The gremlins. 

They suck. 

Like the shoes, the reused the same mold 4 times. Unlike the shoes, I never thought they were cute. 

Only 1 dared to use a different mold, Athen’s gremlin: 

...Who might be the only one that comes close to being endearing. The combo of a cute hair style, cute paint details, side glancing eyes, make Roxie almost a nice accessory. 

Whew, well, now I’ve gone through everything I could think to talk about. 

Having gone over every doll just cements that the execution of this line was a huge misstep on the part of Madame Alexander. Tho I can’t be sure.I get the impression they made these to compete with Monster High, but they company simply waited too long.  

By 2016 MH was going into the reboot, and with Mattel’s sales and quality going down MA seemed to lost faith in these ladies and gave up before release. It’s a shame too, Maybe the weren’t the most original idea on the market, but They could’ve been a nice solid competition. Instead we got these; and it leaves me with a sense of melancholy the more I think about the ways things are going. With new lines and experiments coming to a standstill nowadays, doll collecting has been less and less exciting. 

And now, less than a year after their debut Spacepops have gone the way of Pinkie Cooper and Novi Stars. In their own way, the last remnant of an era of collecting that’s now gone as styles shift to something else.   

Still, I plan to have fun my new new set of ladies, I haven’t completely decided how far I’ll go, maybe leave them as-is for posterity. Their flat face ups have grown on me. Maybe I just miss the bright, harsher colors that are going out of style. 

All that said, I bought a spare Athena to experiment with, so I’ll def have some follow ups with how these ladies look with a good repaint. 

Anyway, I’m tired and out of thoughts for now. Hopefully you found this somewhat informative, and as always thanks for reading. 

[gadgetsrevv]

Zidane, Valverde show Real Madrid and Barcelona players who’s in charge as Neymar links continue

I hope it’s not a revelation to you that when it comes to football managers, the four apocalyptic horsemen are injuries, defeat, the sack and the transfer market.

The first will lead to the second. Injuries provoke an increase in dropped points. Accumulate enough defeats and the clattering hooves of the third will soon be heard. But the fourth, the transfer market, can look deceptively like he’s mounted on a friendly, exquisitely-groomed, well-tamed thoroughbred until the beast rears its forelegs and thumps unsuspecting football managers full in the face. That’s why it has been fascinating and uplifting to see how Zinedine Zidane and Ernesto Valverde trying to turn into horse-whisperers over the past 10 days, each of them actively battling the collateral damage the transfer market is trying to inflict on them.

The main actors in this theatre of defiance and risk, directed and produced by “Zizou” and Valverde, are Ansu Fati, Gareth Bale, Carles Aleña, James Rodriguez, Luka Jovic, Carles Perez, Vinicius Jr., Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto. Neither manager actually needs to lie in bed at night cold-sweating the arrival of the third horseman. They’re not immune to being sacked, but they’re also not currently in danger.

– Ansu Fati becomes Barca’s youngest debutant in 78 years – Lowe: Jose Antonio Reyes’ death casts shadow over new season – Krichko: Inaki Williams blazes a trail at Athletic Club

Valverde has his critics, but he looks safe until his contract ends in June 2020. Zidane? In theory, given his brilliant champions league legacy as a player and coach, he should be the unsackable coach. However, on Tuesday, Marca, a newspaper consistently drip-fed information by Florentino Perez, splashed its front page with the headline “Zidane Loses His Immunity.” Zidane and President Perez are in a battle of wills as to whether it should be Paul Pogba or Neymar shipped in before the transfer market closes next Monday.

If Marca plasters “Zidane Loses His Immunity” across their front page, to be seen or read by several million people around the world, it must be accepted as a rap across the knuckles from a higher office than merely the season ticket-holders. “Get your nose out of the Neymar affair, forget about Pogba and get the team playing better” — that sort of message.

The first two apocalyptic riders, the pale and the red horses of injury and defeat, have visited Zidane and Valverde from almost the minute their summer holidays ended.

Zinedine Zidane has handled his want-away or surplus stars well at Real Madrid since the tumult of preseason, helping reintegrate Gareth Bale to the first team while slowly introducing the players signed by Florentino Perez.

Madrid have been blighted by eight major injuries in 47 days, which crippled their preseason stamina-building, team understanding, sharpness and new-player induction. It was brutal for Ferland Mendy and Eden Hazard, new arrivals, while Real also bid goodbye to Marco Asensio for most of the season. Meanwhile, Barcelona lost Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele to a plague of muscle problems that would have sent many managers gibbering to a psychiatrists couch with claims that “life has got it in for me!”

These things, while either improved or worsened by a club’s fitness practices, are largely out of the control of football managers. That particular horseman will visit: it’s inevitable.

What about defeats? Madrid lost 7-3 to Atleti in New Jersey and Barça kicked off the season with a defeat for the first time since 2008. These things do damage managers, all of which means that studying Zidane and Valverde’s decisions of who to pick or drop in their four matches, has been riveting for anyone who likes to people-watch in football and try to get under the skin of the main on-stage actors.

We’ve seen serious, ambitious but overburdened men making it crystal clear that they will embrace risk, that they will enforce principles, that they will stand defiant against certain club wishes… if it helps them deflect the damage the fourth horseman can inflict. The transfer market can become a pestilence for these two elite, seemingly untouchable and vastly successful men because it’s a beast that they cannot outright control. No way. It leaves them fighting to become survivors, not victims.

Zidane wants Pogba this summer, though not only does it seem sure he’s not going to get Manchester United’s marquee player, but Perez doesn’t appear particularly interested in trying to force a deal through. Zidane neither wants nor needs Neymar, sentiments that are of little or no interest to his employer.

Up front, Luka Jovic is far from the finished article as a striker. Zidane’s assessment seems to be that Jovic has little in his locker beyond the fact that the young, burly Serb inarguably tucks away goals. But “suck it up, Zizou!” is the message from the big Bernabeu offices. This is who you’re getting, regarding Jovic, so Zidane drops him.

As for Valverde? He’d love to be able to rely on Ivan Rakitic, one of his “most-used” footballers since the Basque (himself nicknamed “the Worker Ant”) discovered the Croatian’s unselfish, team-oriented relentless “all for one and one for all” playing ethic. But Rakitic is one of the few transfer-market coins that cash-strapped Barca have at their disposal.

Barca coach Valverde has reasserted himself as the man in charge despite complaints from senior players about a lack of minutes.

The likeliest resolution is that Rakitic’s stubborn insistence on staying will win the day when the market shuts on Monday. Meantime, the club’s requirement that Ivan-the-terribly-good doesn’t get injured, thus scuppering any possibility at all of putting him in a deal to secure Neymar, has been dominant.

Of Barcelona’s 180 competitive minutes so far in 2019-20, Rakitic has only been given 45. Those only came while Suarez was already off injured and Messi was absent. In other words, in extremis. Valverde has had no choice. The point is this: when Valverde opted to deploy 16-year-old Ansu on Sunday he did so as if he was saying “I’m taking back control!”

The previous week at San Mames, he’d already ignored Sergio Busquets and Junior Firpo on the bench and given 21-year-old winger Carles Perez only his second-ever senior appearance. Then Valverde started the kid again at the Camp Nou in week 2.

Against Betis, when Ansu was made Barcelona’s second-youngest player in club history, Valverde left on the bench two big-reputation (and big salary) players, Samuel Umtiti and Arthur, on the bench despite each of them crying out for game time.

Ansu may well be an emerging phenomenon and Perez a confident, talented young buck. But this was quite clearly a series of very firm messages. To President Bartomeu: “I don’t need Neymar, I’ve got the super-kids and I’ll use them.” To the senior players who have been ignored: “It’s time to sharpen up.” To the unreliable Dembele: “Get professional or get ready to languish on the bench or in the stands.” To the fans, media and to young academy players, including Ricki Puig, who some Barça media personalities and fans think is a mercurial genius already worthy of an automatic first-team place: “Youth will be trusted when I think it’s time.”

Zidane’s decision-making in Madrid can be regarded as a little more pragmatic but like Valverde, it’s still heavily laden with important declarations of self-determination, independence and potential conflict to come.

In order to have any chance of raising the cash to buy Neymar, Madrid’s bean-counters would need to sell or trade James or Gareth Bale. Or both. Zidane may not have been terrifically keen on either man until now but the instant the Premier League market closed, he exercised some good old common sense and extended the olive branch of peace to the Welshman, who has since started both Liga matches and played all but fifteen minutes of the 180 available.

James, ripe to be sold or traded before the other major markets close next Monday, was picked on merit against Valladolid and played well; he wasn’t wrapped in cotton-wool as Valverde has felt forced to do with Rakitic. The result? A good performance, but an injury now removes the Colombian as a trading piece from Florentino Perez’s shopping basket.

Zidane took back control. The club haven’t benefitted, but perhaps the team has. Perhaps he, himself, has. The manager’s authority, his character and how he’s viewed by the rest of the squad: all of those things have been reinforced. More, Zidane’s decision to drop Jovic demonstrated his thoughts on the Serb’s current form and preseason performances.

Cost: €50 million. The amount Zidane cares about that? Zero. It’s a message to the striker, message to those who signed him. Oh, and as for Alvaro Odriozola, signed after Zidane quit Madrid in June 2018? He was dumped out of the squad altogether at the weekend.

Neither manager has won all his bets, and each has faced criticism. But both of them wrenched back the idea that “the buck stops with me and I’m not just flotsam or jetsam to be tossed around by the furies of the transfer market.”

I think each man burnished his reputation, reaffirmed his authority, won back self-respect and faced down the fourth horseman of the apocalypse for football managers. How they must yearn to hear those hooves echoing into the distance next week.

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[feralknights]

Palablog: OB56+OB57

Hoo nelly, fellas.  OB56 + OB57 were absolute doozies for me, and I mean that in the best way possible.  I'm sorry I haven't responded to asks or been updating much lately, things just got busy and then I was running a lot of hardware upgrades so I missed a chunk of the OB56 patch cycle, and ... yeah.

I'll get the Skye gushing for OB56/OB57 out of the way now:  These two patches have been significant quality of life improvements for me as a Skye main and all across the board.  I think the art team knocked it out of the park with both the Samurai Ash skin (I didn't call it Ronin for a reason, will explain!) and Kunoichi Skye.  We saw the entrance of the Skye Mastery skins, too.  OB56 brought us the 1800->2000 HP boost as well as Retribution finally getting the nerfs it's needed since Lex was released, and OB57 gave us the reworks to Debilitate and Surprise Attack.

In a weird way, Skye having that extra 200 HP made something of a negative impact on me early on.  I was so used to the audio cues for low HP at 1800 that I'd overplay my hand and spent the first day or two fumbling around getting my butt handed to me.  I've gotten used to it over time; the tweaks to her damage dealing and range made my life a whole lot easier and has enabled me to (in some cases) actually work around people that actually buy Illuminate.

I still haven't tried Surprise Attack, but I'm actually somewhat curious to now.  At first I thought, "just slapping more damage onto it will not fix the fact that it is an objectively terrible legendary," but I gave it more thought and gave Raynday's video on SA a watch.  Now, he did amazing with it, but he also had a team comp and players on his side that allowed him to have some of that pressure aleviated from him.  Similarly, our test sample for his praise was one match-- I want to give it more hands-on time, but this means I'm probably going to have to build a deck that balances some of Skye's mandatory cards with cooldown cards and find what works right for me.

Is it weird I'm actually kind of looking forward to trying Surprise Attack at all?

Admittedly, I'm going to miss the innate cauterize effect of Poison Bolts, but if you think about it, the reworks to Decrepify allow it to actually be even more punishing, even more dangerous than it ever was before.  Decrepify is a card that rarely leaves my Debilitate decks with Skye, and now it's more than likely going to be a cornerstone for the Twilight Assassin.

With Strix's introduction, it did highlight issues that Skye still has with cards, but I can understand if the team wants to pump the brakes on further Skye adjustments for the time being:  Healing Vapors is still essentially a useless card at 1-2, mediocre at best at 3, and just not worth the value at 4.  Comperable cards on different champions grant way more value at almost any level, from Androxus' Abyss Walker healing a burst of 40/80/120/160 to Lex's Fortitude healing 25/50/75/100 damage across 1.5s, and then they have access to healing items such as Life Rip-- and Life Rip is essentially the only form of feasable long-term self-sustain that Skye has available to her.

I'm still trying really hard to Devil's Advocate myself on how to justify Slip Away still existing in the form it does.  Ninja and Dissipate both serve the purpose for stealth speed boosts, and I personally feel Victory Rush is one of the best cards in the game.  Again, personally, I'd rather it be "gain damage reduction while in stealth" at the same values it has right now.  Of course, it was easier to justify conditional up-to 20% DR when Skye was at 1800 HP.

OB56 brought a lot of exciting changes in general:  Ash was given an additional ult charge on Rally Here, arguably her weakest legendary.  Admittedly, if I know a team is going to try to maintain point presence and stay with me, I will play the hell out of Rally Here; the damage boost makes ally Ruckus players or even a good Fernando or Ying turn into crazy point-dominating monsters.  Buck's Bulk Up was given an extra boost-- and I'll be honest, I'm glad.  I sometimes feel bad for the guy, because I rarely ever see him played anymore.

Cassie's Exaction was given a light bop on the nose in OB56 though the thing I hear complained about the most is that her dodge roll is almost always up as long as you can land one shot-- and that's honestly not too hard given how much faster her projectiles move these days.  Jenos' HP reduction was warranted and welcome; I love the guy and I play him pretty hard as a support, but he was just too hard to kill.  I barely felt the adjustments to Stellar Wind or Astral Mark, I run a CD reduction build on him and just keep churning heals.

Jenos does present an interesting situation that I hope gets looked at:  Though negative status effects are cleared from her when she goes into her ice block, Astral Mark will persist.  Essentially, if Evie is running the Reprieve Legendary card, she will get all of that healing as well as the healing from Jenos, and all of that healing will just keep going right when she comes flying out of it.  In essence, this allows even a mediocre-at-best Evie to be an absolute immortal monster.

Retribution got nerfed hard in OB56, and I could not be happier.  I'm actually a bit surprised, if only because I was hoping for some QOL tweaks, or one or two touches, I didn't expect such a drastic swat on the ability.  OB57 brought some interesting changes to Lex, and slowly he's coming to the point where I feel like he could potentially be fun to play as as much as against.

The semi-auto was a good change, I feel, but after a few days I started to see the problems with Lex's new Magnums:  The ammo count is too high, the accuracy drop from rapid firing is too low, and it does nothing to address the problem of Lex having In Pursuit, still arguably one of the most devastating abilities in the game.

"Feral, you're mad.  You just hate Lex.  1050 damage over 1.5s is nothing!"

I mean yeah I do dislike Lex's kit, but you can't argue with the fact that as he is right now, Lex can pop In Pursuit for unerring auto-aim accuracy for 1.5s at long range while Combat Sliding in at a target I dare say farther and faster than even Cassie's roll, then hammering 10 shots out for long-range *and* burst potential that comes dangerously close to Point Blank Skye.

In essence, I just hope that In Pursuit's functionality is given a second glance now that he's got these devastating new Magnums.  I also would like to see if it's possible to get the rapid fire inaccuracy increased a bit, because gosh.  dang.

Lian is an interesting case; I make claim about how much I hate auto-aim on Lex but I mind it slightly less on Lian.  I really wish I could better explain it, but something just feels "off" about her kit-- maybe it realy does have something to do with her being able to have two auto-aims?  I'll have to ruminate on it more.

and the grover puns man wtf arrghghhggh

Skipping ahead a little, the Ying changes are great.  Back as recently as 3 patches ago, I was on the train that Ying needed to have Lifelike boosted by 5-10% to help address her throughput, but Illusory Rift is absolutely great and the changes to her in-hand attack are almost terrifying to play against-- but in a good way, of course.

A'right, now that we've gotten this far:  It's time for Strix.

I love Strix.  Dude is insane.  His rifle feels great, offers a lot of feedback when you're firing, and it feels responsive.  His pistol does a lot to offer him some close-range gameplay, and I like that he's so polarizing (long or short range) compared to Kinessa (long or mid-range).  Flare is incredibly powerful, and I would argue almost *too* powerful-- I don't mean that this needs to be slapped hard, but definitely monitored.  They say "large radius" in his skill description, but from some light testing it looks like it's a near-100 unit radius.  I run Flare XL 3 (increases the reveal range significantly) and Overburn 3 (increases flare duration by 3s), so I'm covering a pretty massive swath of a map for about 6 seconds-- that's basically Cassie's ult without the CC/speed boost with a pretty short downtime.

I thought I'd be a little more leery of toggle stealth, but it actually works great.  I've compared Strix a lot to some Warframe friends as being like a MOBA version of Ivara, and when I say this, I mean it in the most complimentary fashion that I can possibly achieve.  Ivara is one of my favorite Warframes as her gameplay pushes for a methodical, strategy-driven focus, stealthing at opportune times, and playing to enemy awareness.

As I said earlier in regards to Skye and her sustain cards, Strix has a card, Escape Plan.  If you aren't familiar with it, if Strix is at 65% or lower health, Escape Plan will heal Strix for 100/200/300/400.  As a burst heal sustain, this is great, and arguably as good as a maxed out Abyss Walker and close to the potential of other non-legendary sustain cards for Flanks.  I really hope the team considers giving HV a rework to be closer to this; the current state of Healing Vapors makes it take too long for too little effect.  But, again, balance, and changing too much in too short of time, etc., etc. -- I can still hope, though!

And in case you didn't know, there's another one on the horizon:  PALADINS STRIKE!  A 5v5 actual MOBA-style Paladins game for Android/iOS.  The game has me excited, and I've signed up for the alpha.  I have some concerns and criticisms about the decisions the team has made for the game, however, and I'll highlight that in my next post.

edit: Made a few tweaks for clarity, going through and highlighting/emphasizing certain words.  Also forgot:

Why did I say "Samurai Ash" instead of "Ronin Ash?"  Because ... really, there's nothing about this incarnation of Ash that makes her a ronin.  She's wearing full armor and helmet, discussing honor very heavily, and carrying a flag that would signify she's actually serving a feudal lord/house, rather than being honorless.  I was kind of bummed that the only Ash/Skye interaction we got was a one-way "poison bad!!" thing from Ash that is just basically the same thing as her default voice pack.

[laptopsite01-blog]

Sell My Laptop: Sell Your Laptop Today

I have to move my workstation! Possibly I'm intending to purchase the most recent PC in the market and get rid of my old one. Maybe a friend or family member who thinks about my adoration for contraptions like workstations has shocked me with a super-quick, smooth and incredible PC on my birthday. So since I have a superior PC phone, need to move my old PC or give it away.

I could give it to a reusing focus, however on the off chance that it is in a useful condition, I figure I might want to in any event make a couple of bucks on it? So on the off chance that I have chosen to move my workstation, there are a few different ways I can move it, however there is something I have to do before I attempt to move it.

Things to Take Care of Before You Sell

Survey

Sensibly, I have to survey the state of my old PC. Is it broken in any capacity or is there a noteworthy issue with it like a broken/split screen or terrible presentation? Are a portion of the keys missing or not working? Does it have charging issues?

I have to approach the deal as though I was purchasing my workstation. In the event that I was purchasing my workstation, I would not need it to have issues that I will need to fix except if the cost being asked backings the fixes. Most purchasers would prefer not to need to put time and cash in a PC they just purchased.

On the off chance that my PC has issues, I could fix them to make the PC increasingly profitable. In case I'm not convenient, I should pay a PC master to do the fixes. In any case, settling the issues may not be justified, despite all the trouble in the event that I need to spend more to fix the PC than you hope to get from moving it.

Move, Donate, or Recycle

On the off chance that my PC is excessively far gone to be a simple move, I might need to consider giving it to philanthropy or reusing it. At any rate, I would prefer not to discard it. Every single utilized workstation have an incentive to somebody.

Set up Your Laptop available to be purchased

Your purchaser will likewise anticipate that my workstation should contact him/her with a particular goal in mind - it ought to be sans perfect from my own information (back it up), and not have missing embellishments like its charger, guidance manual, etc.

When I promote it, I ought to most likely give potential purchasers all the workstation's particulars being sure to feature any significant advantages like unique programming or extra equipment that I will incorporate into the deal.

It's implied, however my workstation likewise should be free from infections or malware.

Request

I additionally need to think about the interest for my workstation in the market. Is a more current, better, increasingly reasonable form of the workstation accessible in the market directly? Is the PC running on an obsolete innovation? Is the gadget well known? Additionally consider the item life cycle - if the organization made my workstation is probably going to dispatch another model soon, I may not draw in a ton of purchasers.

Gaming workstations are uncontrollably well known. In the event that I have a gaming PC to move, I can anticipate higher interest. Contact screen workstations are likewise sought after. In the event that I have a touch screen workstation, it will bring a more expensive rate.

Move Your Laptop Today

I have to move my workstation today. There are various successful choices for me to investigate.

Advise Friends and Family

I have to tell my loved ones quickly that I am searching for a purchaser for my workstation phone. My relatives will happily enable me to discover purchasers, and I might not need to spend additional overall procedure.

Utilize Social Media

These are the occasions when internet based life accounts demonstrate accommodating. I have to make reference to the deal on my internet based life accounts, advising everybody about the workstation brand, model and specs. I additionally need to include an image of the workstation (ensure it is a present photo). Referencing the rough cost of the workstation is likewise proposed.

eBay and Craigslist

I have both eBay and Craigslist records and I have sold numerous things on these sites previously. This improves my validity and I am probably going to get more purchasers due to the 'believability factor'. All things being equal, almost certainly, I should set up a couple of gatherings before making an arrangement. It's my experience that many individuals move PC workstations on both eBay and Craigslist.

Exchange or Sell Online

Another choice is to exchange my PC. This includes pitching the PC to an exchange site at a moderately lower cost than my normal cost. The favorable position is that it's quick and I will spare myself from the entire procedure of making a deal myself.

Certain locales like Amazon Trade-In may offer me Amazon gift vouchers or coupons in lieu of money. The equivalent is the situation with Apple. In the event that my workstation is a MacBook for example, Apple will offer me a gift voucher dependent on what they consider to be the present estimation of my gadget.

Among the most prevalent sites to move utilized smart phones (from the ones referenced above) are Gazelle, Nextworth and Best Buy Trade-In.

At long last, before I transport my workstation, I have to ensure I'm mindful of the strategies of the site. In the event that I intend to meet the purchaser by and by, from a deal on Craigslist for example, I have to pursue Craigslist suggestions and not hand over the PC except if I get the total moving value that was arranged.Récupération de données luxembourg

On the off chance that you have an arrangement and you utilize the data in this article, you ought to most likely move your workstation quick. I expected to move my workstation quick and I utilized this data to support me.

[alliancerecruitmentmpany]

Best Recruitment Agencies In Qatar -  Starting A Recruitment Agency The 3 M's Conducive To Success

Author Name: Arnika Joshi

Address:- PO Box No : 336899,

Dubai, UAE.

Mobile No:- +971523090313

Description:

Let's concede for the fact that life stopped being a stylish walk in the park right after graduation. When all the freebies you are getting from mothers and fathers stopped, you almost called it quits with life. Nevertheless, you can get it all right back, this time, by by yourself. All you have accomplish is to stand up, move, and appear for a job. Job recruitment agencies are everywhere, so that wouldn't be a very hard task to deal with. These recruitment firms have more when compared with a single network of clients to accommodate all the skills and job-related abilities and talents anyone might have there Click Here

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Manpower Recruitment Agencies In Qatar -  Finding A Position With Evident Of A Manpower Recruitment Agencies In QatarRecruitment Corporation!

Recruitment agencies may look like glamorous places. We will will never need these people, so help you out they waste their free time? The more knowledge and experience your agents have, much better.

Always dress smartly for any interview. Either wear a suit or appropriate wearing to work. Men should always wear a tie. Make up, perfume and cologne should all be kept together with a minimum as well as be bags and version. Nails should be clean and shoes in order to polished!

For More Inforamtion: http://www.alliancerecruitmentagency.ae/recruitment-agencies-qatar/

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Qatar Recruitment Agencies - Hire The Best Recruitment Agencies In Qatar At Affordable Prices

But why would they achieve this? The answer is simple; a lot of time and excess amount. Every task in company takes time and expense and finding staff is the same. They need to advertise, interview as well as pre-screen potential employees. Businesses they do all on this when recruitment agencies take a small fee and approach to do the actual much much!

At finish of this year, iwowwee saw a shift from heavy on sales managers since June to companies hiring multiple mid and junior level sales representatives in huge. We have staffed about 9 sales professionals while in the last 5-6 weeks. All of us getting calls from clients who are telling us that they are hiring two candidates as an alternative to one. Besides from helping an older client out quickly of a base just shy of $40,000 these jobs the base salary of $42,000 to $55,000.

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A MBA is sort of like a 1 shot, one kill associated with situation. You have to do it correctly. For instance, after i graduated college, I didn't have idea the things i wanted in order to complete and I'm very thankful that I was able to not get my Mba program. Trust me, I thought about it. Main reason will be the I still can have insurance. If you were to tell me that I would personally own a recruiting firm while I thought i was in college, I typically have believed it. This because Worry me at first know this industry existed.

On the opposite hand, many Filipinos today want perform overseas because of the lure regarding a relatively higher salary. It really is mandatory ones who pursue their dreams regardless of it calls for. They're willing to pay stiff placement fees to unscrupulous Recruitment Agency In qatar so to have the chance to earn in US bucks. Just ask around, in their search for greener pastures, some people even sell their farmlands so they can pay those incredibly high placement and miscellaneous fees.

People don't change. Simply, if that guy you meet options a reputation for shagging every girl the actual world office, and he's turned over a new leaf much more positive meet him, don't accept it as true. People don't change, or at least, rarely do.

There are number net sites providing you with all of the information about Indian opportunities. Hence to a lot more about Indian jobs you'll be able to take assistance of various online websites. They are perfectly free of cost regarding accessed having a computer / laptop also as an Internet connection. Probably if happen to be reading this article then completely have all involved. Hence you are needed to conduct few clicks of your mouse find out more about various job vacancies in India. Think about you additionally apply in your job world-wide-web.

We all need jobs. We all need to sustain ourselves with our day-to-day living overheads. Unless begging and vagrancy is recognized a decent means of living, then need to concede to the actual fact that we all need jobs. Granting arguendo that a few things i am saying is correct, so really endanger that we ally ourselves with people and institutions just take very well allow us with the job that we need. That's where job recruitment agencies come in very handy. Not only do they understand our predicament, simply have all the means we require make everything lift weights for us within employment field.

Do have got any training qualifications? Maybe specialist skills like MBTI, Business consulting, NLP, advanced communication skills, what are their performance coaching abilities? Have they any experience of management practicing for recruitment companies, vital really should plan would be to grow enterprise to new heights. All queries to ask and get answers to before you progress forward.

In understanding the difference between solving our problems and resolving our problems, hence they avoid that happiness is over-rated. Fulfilment, contentment, inspiration and inner peace are very much more authentic and sustainable ambitions. Of course, it just depends a new on where we reach in our life. So, with transforming you learn that the "Purpose on the Relationship isn't happiness" - don't make that a purpose and you might well soon on your way new will always love.

It is imperative to be you're genuinely interested inside of the company and have absolutely done investigation - since you would for interviews. But of course it's not an interview, it's just one casual meeting for that you've got fully prepared (and brought a few resumes inside your bag, and dressed smartly). The idea is to produce your first impression stick so that once a position does come up, they'll think folks first; and even if they don't have a position, they usually are considering making one to suit your skillset.

As a businessman it could possibly lonely life, especially as a business begins to grow aggressively. No matter how good you're or what number of hours achievable go without sleep nonetheless need handle.

There is really a thing missing though; recruitment agencies. For anybody who is not using a Recruitment Agency In qatar, may are really missing out on potential jobs. Recruitment agencies are fast becoming the easiest places much more a business. They have connections in all sorts of industries, which mean that have jobs for your audience.

Visit Here Alliance Recruitment Agency Dubai

Conclusion:

Change modes between home and work. at work you might be open to talk about improving things, making things better, aspirational talk. within the you bring that stuff home it's basically saying to your partner "I for you to improve you because I'm not much of thankful for who are generally." I know that's not what you're really thinking, that is the conclusion.

[onlinecarreview]

Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro review - living the American dream

Seeking respite from clogged UK roads, we find solace in the freedom and isolation of California's El Mirage lake bed

Isolation is a difficult concept to truly experience in the UK. Some parts of Scotland manage it, but there’s always a wiggle of tarmac or the bobbing cable of a power line somewhere in your line of sight, evidence that humankind is never that far away.It’s something I’ve always loved about travelling in the US.

Go to the right spot, at the right time, and you might be the only human being on the planet. Stand on the parched, dusty surface of El Mirage, a dry lake bed north of Los Angeles that covers almost 76,000 acres, and as the sun dips behind the mountains to the west and the landscape adopts an eerie silence, it’s just you and your shadow, stretching dozens of metres towards the east behind you. A moment away from work, from emails, a moment alone with your thoughts.

The silence might be even more stark were it not for the shutter click of photographer Aston Parrott’s Nikon, as he captures the descending, glowing orb through the windows of the car we’re here to drive - a Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. I say car; what I mean is pickup truck, or simply ‘truck’ in local parlance.

Not a style of vehicle evo regularly gets its hands on, but we’re not entirely oblivious to the category either: we’ve run one or two in our long-term fleet, since they make brilliant workhorses for evo’s less glamourous errands.

It’s bigger, feels tougher, looks angrier

The ‘Taco’, as I quickly discovered, is a slightly different beast. What it shares with the pickups available on UK shores is utility, and rather rudimentary construction. There’s a ladder chassis, for instance, and the rear is suspended not by coils but by semi-elliptical leaf springs. Where it differs is almost everywhere else: It’s bigger, feels tougher, looks angrier, drinks petrol rather than diesel, and is - unnatural though it is to use the phrase in this context - more focused.

The focus comes courtesy of TRD, or Toyota Racing Developments. I’m most familiar with TRD through hotted-up Japanese sports cars, having steered numerous Celicas and MR2s around virtual circuits in the Gran Turismo series, but in the States it’s a name associated mostly with trophy trucks and NASCAR. The Tacoma features several TRD bits and TRD-selected improvements, from a naughty exhaust system to some trick Fox dampers and a quarter-inch aluminium skid plate under the front end.

Up front, mounted roughly chest-high if you share my 5ft 9in stature, you’ll find a 3.5-litre, naturally-aspirated V6 making 278bhp at 6000rpm and 265lb ft at 4600rpm. As the numbers suggest, and as I found out not long after leaving the confines of Los Angeles, it’s an engine completely out of step with modern expectations of performance.

The TRD Tacoma isn’t slow as such, but it needs working remarkably hard if you’re used to the relentless thump of something turbocharged. Shortly before heading to the US I’d driven the Mercedes-AMG GLC 43, whose twin-turbocharged V6 makes an extra 84 horses and 119 lb ft, and does so 500rpm and 2100rpm sooner respectively. It’s also around 150kg lighter than the 2007kg Toyota, which allows it to get to 62mph in 4.9 seconds. Toyota doesn’t quote figures for the TRD Taco, but we’d estimate it’s a good three seconds slower to 60.

It’s a difficult car to make a case for on the road too, at least if corners are your thing. The loping highway gait is actually quite pleasant and the high driving position feels purposeful, but detour into the twists and turns of the mountains around LA and you’ll go to sleep that evening with the sounds of tortured rubber in your head, and reeling from nightmares about canyon-seeking understeer. It turns out that off-road tyres aren’t conducive to on-road grip, and turning the feel-free steering in either direction feels like opening the valve on an airlock. With time its responses become predictable, but you have the most fun when you eventually stop.

But that’s not really what I came to America for, and certainly not why I paid my $15 daily fee to enjoy the El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area. Where trackdays are the last bastion of the thrill-seeking UK motorist, Americans get another option: spend a day hacking around in the wilderness, free to do largely as you please.

Within reason - the lake’s custodians take a dim view of firearms and fireworks, and you’re kindly asked not to tear up the lake surface by doing donuts - but beyond that your only real limit is your imagination. Want to zip about on quad bikes or dirt bikes? Go for it. Need somewhere to land your light aircraft? Be their guest.

Want to stage an impromptu race with your mates? That seems to be fine too (and El Mirage is more than suited to it - the Southern California Timing Association, which also runs Bonneville Speed Week, regularly hosts events at El Mirage). And if you simply want to turn up with your buddies and have a barbeque, you can do that too.

My own plan was pretty simple. I wanted to take a truck - the kind of vehicle that millions of Americans buy every year - and see how much fun I could have for my fifteen bucks.

Test number one: Speed. El Mirage is over six miles long from tip to tip, and around two miles wide. It’s also very flat and has a hard, sun-baked surface. And good visibility, so you can pretty much point your nose to the horizon and go. The Tacoma shifts clumsily down its six-speed automatic transmission, clears its lungs and emits a guttural bellow from the TRD exhaust as it heads for the red line.

Each shift is slurred like slushboxes of old, but the pace is definitely increasing. Top speed in the brochure is a limited 113mph; I lift off at a nice, round 100mph on the dial, followed by a mile of fine dust that’s almost certainly ruined the backdrop for the handful of people making what appears to be a low-budget music video.

Yumps next. The one thing we can’t find at El Mirage are proper rolling dunes, so we scout the small, sandy speedbumps that line the lakebed for potential air-worthy candidates. Photographers love jump shots whether you’re testing a Kia Picanto, a 918 Spyder or a two-ton truck.

My first attempt is little more than an uncomfortable thump, but the next is much more promising. Bit of a ramp on both sides, decent height. The TRD’s definitely getting air on this one, but Aston isn’t happy. ‘Faster, Ingram’, he says.

Faster, Ingram goes: I sink Converse to carpet and hit the ramp with a good 10mph more on the clock than last time. The front gets air, pointing the nose skywards, but then the back wheels hit the ramp and send the nose quite rapidly down. Sand replaces sky and I land with a sickening shudder. It’s enough to have set the wipers going by themselves, but a few exploratory wiggles of the steering suggests everything is still functioning.

I loop around to Aston, doubled with laughter as he shows me an image that will no doubt define my career

I loop around to Aston, doubled with laughter as he shows me an image that will no doubt define my career at evo: front wheels tucked into the arches, skid plate on the dirt, and back wheels a startling distance off the ground.

Remarkably, the only visible evidence of the landing is a scuffed skid plate. A BMW X5 would probably have set off all its airbags and auto-dialled for emergency assistance.

We try something a little closer to terra firma. One, solitary hillock standing proud of the surrounding bush looks inviting. Until we get close, that is. The damn thing looks a hell of a lot steeper than it did from half a mile away. Let’s be methodical: Clunk transmission into four-wheel drive, low range, engage the rock-crawling mode, foot off the brake... and up she goes, accompanied by the chunter and chatter of the ABS grabbing individual wheels to maintain traction.

I’m feeling quite proud of myself until it gets even steeper and I chicken out, but plans to fake the top-of-the-hill pictures and reverse back down are dashed when a couple of locals pile up the hill behind me at about eight times the speed I crawled up and park immediately behind. Bugger.

El Mirage is just one of dozens of off-road playgrounds in the area

Thankfully, they’re able to direct me to the top (‘Left a bit, you’ll clear that rock, give it some gas’), I thank them, and they say ‘no problem’, graciously pretending I’m not the most pathetic “four-wheeler” they’ve ever seen. One does take an interest in the truck - he currently drives a battleship-grey Toyota FJ Cruiser on huge tyres, and is looking to trade soon. He also tells me that El Mirage is just one of dozens of off-road playgrounds in the area, before roaring off down the hill again and shrinking to a spec in the distance.

By now the sun is sinking and I’m seeking a different, more traditionally evo kind of thrill. Lining sections of the lake are gravel roads and firm dirt trails, pockmarked by bushes and small dunes. To any self-respecting petrolhead, the rally stage builds itself.

There’s just one problem: while I’m back in rear-wheel drive, the traction control won’t fully disengage. Long, trophy truck-style skids are not there for the taking. But at low enough speeds the electronic nanny’s back is turned and I send thick clouds of ultra-fine dust into the sky as the ‘Yota slews sideways. It feels hilarious, perched so high and throwing armfuls of lock at every slide. Might be the most fun I’ve had all day. Maybe all year.

And the best thing? There’s nobody around to witness, nobody to disturb, and nobody to push passive-aggressive notes through your letterbox. Fifteen bucks doesn’t buy a lot these days. But it can buy you a few hours of blissful, automotive isolation.

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Seashell accumulating is a good activity that can give you fond thoughts of sea side vacations. Seashells may be educational for kids as well as are excellent elaborate decorations for that home.

Keeping with a interest is often quite challenging because of our active agendas. It doesn t need to be the situation once you have superb advice for example the one s within the previously mentioned report. Include these tips on hobbies and interests to assist you find that excellent one which you will stick to for a long time!

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The importance of email marketing

If content is king, email is the ace up the marketer’s sleeve. Just look at the facts:

For several years running, email marketing has been designated the most profitable content marketing channel.

More than 86 percent of organisations use email in B2C content marketing, according to The Content Marketing Institute.

Similarly, 74 percent of B2B content marketers say that email is the most successful marketing channel.

Email marketing clearly works, and businesses of all shapes and sizes have noticed.

The irony is that email predates social media and smartphones. In fact, it’s practically as old as the internet itself. The first email message was sent in 1971, just two years after the first data transmission was completed via ARPANET in 1969. The maiden message, the spark of a communication revolution, is believed to have said something to the effect of “QWERTYUIOP.”

Now, more than two decades later, email still matters. Not only that, somehow this dinosaur of the information age is the most powerful content marketing channel.

Why?

The key benefits of email

There are many reasons why email is so popular, and why it’s still the cornerstone of business communication. But we’re mainly concerned with why the messaging medium has garnered such tremendous utility as a marketing tool. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far:

(Almost) everyone uses it

The importance of email marketing stems at least in part from the sheer number of users. More than half the world’s population uses email, according to research from The Radicati Group. It’s estimated that more than 281 billion email messages were sent and received every day in 2018. By 2022, that figure will increase to 333 billion.

Chances are, you have an email account if you’re reading this blog. And if you don’t, we’d certainly be curious how you do anything at all on the internet. Email is universal across computing platforms, which is why so many service providers use it as the baseline for customer interaction and communication.

It’s as simple as this: If you’re going to go fishing, pick a pond with a lot of fish in it.

It’s cost effective

Cost effectiveness and email go hand in hand in several ways. Firstly, email is cheap. Sure, businesses need to pay email service providers, and they need to cover the monthly cost of their marketing automation platform.

But these costs are meager compared to expenses tied to other marketing channels. Direct mail, for instance, costs $600 per thousand pieces of mail, according to the Harvard Business Review, which is about 100 times more than it would cost for email marketing. In other words, you could send out 600,000 marketing emails for roughly the same price as 1,000 flyers.

Furthermore, email campaigns are highly profitable. The average return per dollar spent on email marketing is $44, according to research by Campaign Monitor. On paper at least, email appears to be among the most effective marketing channels. A 4,400 percent ROI sure is quite a bit of bang for the buck.

TL;DR: Email marketing works.

It’s mobile

The average internet user checks his or her smartphone 80 times a day as of 2017. It could be a lot more in 2020 given our increasing dependence on mobile devices. Either way, we know this for sure: Email goes everywhere a smartphone goes.

We also know that more computing is taking place on mobile devices as opposed to laptops and desktops, and email is no exception to this rule. In fact, research by Return Path found that more than half of all emails are checked on a mobile device.

And this makes perfect sense when you think about it. Smartphones let you check your email with a few swipes. Regardless of what you’re doing – waiting in the elevator, standing in line at the lunch counter – it’s just so easy to pull out your phone and see if you’ve gotten any new mail.

What does this mean for marketers? All they need is their audience’s emails to join them in the elevator, the line at the lunch counter or wherever else they may be. Email gives businesses a direct, reliable line to leads regardless of their location.

It’s personalised and precise

Email is the most direct way to reach a digital audience, which inherently boosts its personalisation potential. For instance, you can discern from the tag of an email address whether it’s associated with a business user or a personal user (@gmail.com versus @brafton.com).

Email addresses collected from opt-in forms are another great way to create segmented lists. You can use simple demographic information such as job title, location and age to get a general sense of who your audience is. If you follow a trail back to the specific blog post or gated asset that captured the email address, you can also get an idea of what that person is interested in.

Everything from previous customer engagements to prior purchases can help personalise your email marketing campaigns. And the thing about personalisation is that it works:

Email recipients are 75 percent more likely to open emails from segmented campaigns than non-segmented campaigns.

Personalised email subject lines are 26 percent more likely to be opened.

As you send more emails, you also gather more data, such as open rates (number of emails opened) and click-through rates (percent of recipients who clicked on a URL or action item in the message) that can guide future efforts. For instance, research from Experian has identified Tuesday as the best day to send promotional emails. Your results may differ, but the point is that you can track metrics with precision, and pivot accordingly.

Few if any marketing channels are as precise as email.

It works at any stage of the sales funnel

Speaking of precision, email marketing campaigns can target recipients at different stages of the sales funnel. Did someone say, “email drip campaigns”?

In a drip campaign, email copy is written for specific recipients based on prior action or inaction. For instance, a contact might receive a welcome email after signing up for a newsletter. The next email will be based on the recipient’s action (opened the email, didn’t open the email, opened the email and clicked on the call to action, etc.). Here’s an example of very basic drip campaign fueled by open rates:

The goal is to lead the email recipient deeper into the sales funnel. After your welcome email, you might share high-level blog content or a link to the “about” page on your website. If they click through, your next step might be to share whitepapers, testimonials and case studies. The effort is leading up to direct marketing, such as inquiring about a product demo.

The beauty of drips and other email campaigns is that they put your existing content to work in a very deliberate, context-rich and precise manner. They can help you raise brand awareness at the top of the sales funnel by promoting blog content and how-to videos. They can be used to build trust in your brand through social proof such as case studies and video testimonials deeper into the consideration phase.

Think of email as a content distribution channel on steroids that’s also a direct marketing platform and a form of content marketing unto itself. No wonder marketers love email. It’s the linchpin of many a marketing strategy.

It’s an inroad to customer loyalty

An often overlooked benefit of email is its ability to build customer loyalty. On a very basic level, the channel is a way for brands to send transactional emails to consumers (for instance, a purchase confirmation), and it’s also a customer support touch point.

More importantly though, many of the same marketing tactics that precede a sale apply to post-sale marketing efforts. The cheapest customer to acquire is the one you already have, after all. If existing customers continue to receive emails that are relevant to them, they might take further action.

For instance, if you sold X customer Y item, they might also be interested in Z add-on item. We see this all the time in B2C marketing. Amazon notices you visited a page for duvet covers, and figures that you might also be interested in sheets and pillow cases, so they send an email to your inbox saying as much.

In B2B markets, the effort may need to be a little more involved, but the bedrock of the idea is the same. You can put existing customers in their own email segments. When they show interest in a product or service that complements the one they have, you pounce by sending relevant content. If they bite, then you’ve set a precedent to have the discussion about a possible upsell.

What the future holds for email marketing in 2019 and beyond

Email marketing is clearly at the center of digital marketing. It’s effective for brand awareness, content distribution, content promotion, enticing leads deeper into the sales funnel, direct marketing, building customer loyalty and much more.

On top of that, it’s incredibly popular, it’s mobile (there’s no shortage of responsive email templates out there) and perhaps most importantly, it generates ROI.

For all of these reasons, we firmly believe that email is here to stay, but with some changes:

More mobility: The world is trending toward mobile, and so is email. We’re slowly but surely moving from “mobile first” to “mobile only,” and this will inevitably affect how and when brands send out marketing emails.

Greater personalisation and performance through AI: This should come as no surprise. Email’s powers of personalisation will be vastly improved as analytics become more powerful, more predictive and ultimately more prescriptive. Artificial intelligence can help determine nuances in terms of the perfect time to send emails based on the audience. It can more accurately validate existing email lists, pruning away inactive or out-of-date contacts with uncanny precision. It can improve A/B testing to help generate more effective campaigns. It can make for more intelligent segmentation. It can even help influence the language that will drive the best results. The possibilities are endless with AI.

More text-based emails: Somehow, users have come to associate overly graphic-rich email content with spam. Why? Because the messages they receive from friends, family, direct business contacts and colleagues don’t usually have super lively, polished graphic design. That’s the type of thing you expect from spam, or at best, a Dominos Pizza deal. In 2019 and beyond, design elements will be more understated, and there will be a push toward authentic-looking plain text. Does this mean the content of that plain text will be extremely important? You betcha. It’ll need to be attention-grabbing, concise, personalised and actionable.

Increased interactivity: Email marketing is all about driving recipients toward a certain action. While shiny graphics sort of talk at users, simple quizzes, surveys, links to games and other interactive prompts can help get users to do something other than download an asset or click on a link.

There was certainly a time when you could be forgiven for thinking social media marketing would supplant email marketing. But today, email is still the “first online check of the day” for nearly 60 percent of people, and it’s leveraged at least once daily by 91 percent web users, which is well above Facebook’s 57 percent.

More importantly, the number of email account holders is expected to grow through 2022, when it will achieve a staggering 4.2 billion users. Whether you’re a small business or the world’s biggest enterprise, those numbers are impossible to ignore.

And to think, it all started with “something like QWERTYUIOP.”

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