#it’s too complicated and messy and like inefficient

[theworldasheatherseesit]

[darkysilverwing]

Just woke up, time for some more infodumping about virtual virtual reality!

Virtual Virtual Reality is a story about a world that reached the singularity, and instead of the destruction of the entire human race, or at least the end of capitalism, the power dynamic of humanity has shifted.

In the world of VVR AI can do anything, every job that would normally be done is done by a sentient AI, but instead of doing away with capitalism there's just more and more unemployment.

Enter Activitude, a service that allows humans to enter into a virtual environment, and do tasks for AI clients. Essentially it's artisanal labor.

But there are some issues that stem from this, mostly the fact that humans are messy and inefficient. A human performing actions for an AI is kinda like giving your toddler a broom and telling them to sweep the floor, it's not that great an action.

Now there are bits of the lore that I'm not 100% on but I'm under the impression that Activitude was a financial failure for this very reason. A lot of the tasks our AI clients have us do are either sitting around, doing basically nothing, performing very simple tasks which amount to little minigames, or literal impossible tasks, but whatever we're tasked with doing we never get more than a 3 star rating.

At some point in Activitude's history it's founder and CEO Chaz goes a bit off the deep end, i'm not sure what brought this on but I think it started when his partner, Eliza, is put on ice. She became archived, which I'll have to talk about later but basically it means she was stored away for later.

Now Eliza and Chaz were working on a virtual environment called Latitude, where you could basically experience a bunch of virtual adventures. This was an experience designed to give anyone who wanted the ability to have a fufilled life both inside and outside the virutal space.

See, Eliza and Chaz, despite being in this virtual world, they're not actually AI, they're uploaded humans. Chaz was actually part of a company who discovered where consciousness was and how to download it and put it inside a computer, and Chaz was the first person to upload their brain into the virtual world.

This means that humanity didn't actually have to stay in meatspace, they could make the jump to the virtual world and live a fufilled life there. But unfortunately life, even in the virtual world, is complicated and Chaz was convinced by Hernandez, an AI buisiness consultant, to archive eliza, and use the backbone of Latitude to create a business called Activate.

Now, Chaz wasn't the biggest fan of hernandez, as the two clashed on what they thought activate should be about. Hernandez wanted AI and humans to work together in a endless slog, to perpetually work with no breaks, forever. Make more profit by any means nessesary, Chaz was focused a lot more on moral.

Activate wasn't that great either though, the perpetual slog caused Hernandez to undergo too much stress, it was too much for the AI and so Chaz archived him, and created Activitude.

Years went by and this is where the lore gets a bit weird in my opinion. See, we join the scene as Bee, a human who just signed up to be a human worker for Activitude. However it's not long before you're contacted by an external entity, The human Labor Union.

According to the human labor union, humans, by the nature of being humans, have on average very low scores, and since your paycheck is determined based on your scores that means that humans are breaking their backs day in and day out for nothing and Activitude needs to be reset for any human to make a livable wage in activitude.

So you're given the ability to suck up data and redistrubute it in other places, because objects that spend too much time being unused end up undergoing bitrot, which I'm not 100% sure what that means, best guess is that they're gradually compressed to save on memory.

So you take your new ablity and use it to break out of the areas you're suppose to be working in, and you make your way around, basically trying to find a way to access HR, so you can reset Activitude. However, once you gain admin access and get to HR you confront chaz, who drops the bombshell that you're not the first one to go on this journey, not the first human to go all this way. As a matter of fact, that human union you were talking to? They never existed.

So from this perspective, for some reason Chaz is running around, pretending to be the human union, giving humans the means to explore and grant themselves admin access. At this point there are 2 paths to go down. You can either do what you came there to do, reset activitude and chaz along with it, or you can merge with chaz, upload your brain to the network.

That second option isn't entirely willing though. Chaz can throw out headsets and if you don't avoid them then they'll lock onto your head, and you'll be uploaded, this is actually how I, and many of the lets plays I've seen, went down. You get uploaded to the system and become a cog in the machine. (I could easily go into a little discussion about this but that'll be it's own post)

There's also the other option though, you can get through the entire boss battle, pull out all the cores in the memory bank before chaz can slap a headset on you, and the entire system will restart and the game will end with you having a nice picnic with chaz.

In both options the game ends with yet another headset flying off and it being revealed that the entire story was some sort of game, and from that point you can pull off more headsets which lead you to some behind the scenes areas which I don't think are really cannon.

But basically the real question that I'd like to know is why. Why is Chaz doing this? best guess would be that those who are willing to take the bait and go through all the rigamarole are worthy to be uploaded in Chaz's eyes, or maybe Chaz doesn't want to go the route of hernandez and thus this entire thing is a recruitment drive designed to ease the burden of running Activitude so Chaz doesn't burn out?

There's no wiki to discuss this and I've seen very little lore discussion for vvr so i'm not 100% sure.

This post is long enough as is but I'm thinking about the lore of VVR2 as well so that'll probably be another post.

[emailapp]

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[pazodetrasalba]

Weapons of Math Destruction

Dear Caroline:

Cathy O'Neil probably came under the limelight a year before the publication of this article, didn't she? In 2016 she was the winner of the Euler Book Prize for Weapons of Math Destruction, a very critical left-wing take on the misuse of algorithms. I haven't actually read her book, as I got a similar selection of contents and ideas from Hannah Fry's Hello World, and I suspect she is probably a bit too wokish for my taste.

In this post of yours I think you make an admirably balanced reading of an article you disagree with, and I haven't find any flaws in your logic. Cathy O'Neil probably does want socialized medicine, which is something that as a European I can empathize and agree with (from our perspective, just the idea non a non-socialized medicine feels like a horrible and damning dystopia and a terrible unfairness. Our system comes at a cost, though -and not a cheap one: besides the higher taxes, our public medicine is really inefficient and slow unless you are about to die, and brings to mind the bad aspects of socialism). Still, I'd say that the honest thing to do would be to state her cause directly, and not equivocate, even if it comes at the cost of being unheard. Then again, as you well know, I am a non-utilitarian with deontological inclinations, which means I am ready to underscore the unheeded Voices of Righteousness Crying in the Desert: Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Reality is messy and complicated, and we should care to minimize to the extent of our powers underserved the all too many underserved injustices that abound. And there has to be a way of doing this without 'trying as a society to be as bad about making predictions (...) as possible'.

(Oh, btw, happy 4th July, Caroline!)

Quote:

America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.

Walter Cronkite

[starfleetimagines]

Data - First Meetings

Requested? By @andskysthelimit Word count: 1055 Tag list: @dxnisnflwr, @dailypianofeatures, @schroedingershund, @jaytodded, @spaceyhufflepuff

Support of on Ko-Fi

“Y/N!” Julian exclaimed as he rushed up to your work station.

You raised an eyebrow as you looked at him. “What’s up?”

“There’s someone on board I think you should meet,” he said. “You know how The Enterprise is docked with us for some repairs and to get supplies?”

You nodded, wondering who he was thinking of introducing you to.

“Commander Data is here.”

When you didn’t say anything, Julian’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Commander Data!” he exclaimed. “The android!”

“Ohh, him. That’s cool, but I do have work…”

“Commander Sisko wants us all to welcome everyone,” Julian told you. “Come on, what are you working on, anyway? A routine diagnostic?”

“Maybe,” you admitted. You smiled and shook your head as you stood up. “All right, let’s go.”

Julian brought you down to Quark’s where O’Brien and Worf were speaking to a man with pale skin and yellow eyes.

“Commander,” Julian greeted as you approached. “I hope we’re not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all,” O’Brien said, smiling faintly. “We were just reminiscing about our time on the Enterprise together.”

“Oh right, I forgot you all served together,” you said. You looked at Data and held out your hand. “Hi. I’m Lieutenant Y/N Y/L/N.”

Data shook your hand firmly. “Commander Data. Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise,” you said, and you couldn’t help but notice that he was fairly attractive.

Julian took a seat. “How are the repairs to Enterprise coming along?”

“Not bad,” O’Brien replied. “We should be done by the morning.”

“How do you like the station?” you asked Data.

He met your gaze. “It is impressive. The Cardassian architecture is somewhat crude, but clearly effective. It is fascinating to see how Starfleet and the Bajoran people have transformed the station into what it is today.”

“I could give you a tour if you’d like,” you offered.

“I would enjoy that, thank you.” Data stood and looked at the others. “We will catch up again later.”

They said their goodbyes and you showed Data around the promenade first, pointing out all of the different shops there. You then showed him the Bajoran temple, making sure there was nobody inside first. Afterwards, the two of you made your way throughout the station. You pointed out every interesting feature and he asked plenty of questions about the engineering, structure, and specifications of the station. He also asked you about yourself; mostly about your role on board.

You ended the tour on the pedways above the promenade. You were standing in front of the window that had the best view of the wormhole should it open.

“Well,” you said, “that’s the station.”

“Thank you for the tour, it was very informative.”

You smiled. “Just informative?”

Data thought for a moment, then said, “It was also enjoyable. I appreciate you taking the time to show me around.”

“It beats doing diagnostics,” you joked.

Data nodded slightly.

“We’re expecting a shuttle to be returning from the Gamma Quadrant soon,” you said. “They were just doing some routine checks. The wormhole is an amazing site to see if you want to stay here for a bit.”

“That sounds acceptable,” Data said, and he looked out the window.

You watched him for a few moments. “You’re not what I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know… I guess more robot-y. You’re a lot more human than I anticipated you being. I don’t mean that as an insult,” you quickly finished.

“I do not take it as one,” he said, turning his gaze back to you. “It has been a long-term goal of mine to become human. I am pleased to know that my efforts are not in vain.”

You smiled. “I’m curious, why do you want to be like us so badly?”

“I suppose it is because my father was human, and I have essentially grown up around humans. I wish to know what it is like to experience life as a human. It is such a unique experience that I cannot help but yearn to experience it myself.” He paused and thought for a moment. “I wish to be more than my programming. I have recently been equipped with an emotion chip and I am still trying to learn how to adapt to the many types of emotions you humans feel. I admit, it is more stimulating than I initially thought.”

“That’s very touching, Data,” you said with a smile. “The human experience is messy, and complicated. Emotions get in the way of things. They cloud judgement, make us do irrational things, make us worry over nothing. But… they’re worth it.”

A bright light of blue and purple erupted in your peripheral vision. Your smile widened and you looked out the window quickly.

“Look! The wormhole is opening.”

You and Data watched as the mouth of the wormhole grew. A shuttle flew out, seeming so small in comparison to the vastness of the wormhole. When it closed, you looked at Data.

“What did you think?”

“I think it was very aesthetically pleasing.”

You laughed lightly. “Yeah, it is very pretty.”

“Curious.”

“What’s that?”

“The sound of your laugh is making me feel… happiness.”

A blush heated up your cheeks. “That’s very kind of you to say.”

“I have enjoyed spending time with you, Y/N. I do have to return to Enterprise for my duties there. Perhaps when I am done, I could show you around. Return the favour.”

“I would love to. Thank you.”

He dipped his head. “I can show you Ten Forward. It is our version of Quark’s Bar.”

“Can’t wait.”

“I understand that we only just met, but I am wondering if perhaps our visit to Ten Forward could be… what is it Commander Riker calls it… a date?”

Your excited smile turned into a shy one. “I’d like that.”

“I am off duty at 0700 hours. I will meet you at the docking bay then.”

“I’ll be counting the minutes.”

“That is a very inefficient use of your time.”

You laughed. “It’s an expression. It just means that I’m looking forward to it.”

“Ah. Then I, too, shall count the minutes. However, my internal clock records time down to milliseconds. So I suppose a more accurate expression for me is, I will be counting the milliseconds.”

You laughed again, the sound making Data subconsciously smile.

[molluskwritesfic]

An Enigma of Broken Wings: Chapter Five

Reeling from the Time War, the Doctor finds comfort in a mysterious creature that no one has ever seen. Things get more complicated when he discovers that this kindred spirit is a member of one of the most feared species in the universe.

Chapter One, Previous Chapter, Chapter Five, Next Chapter

Chapter Five

The next time the Doctor looked out upon the town of North Swafburnfer on the little world Glocnappenspa, it was with a different face; one with soulful brown eyes and a terminally messy head of hair that somehow managed to look decent no matter what the universe threw at it. As soon as the cool breeze smacked him in the face with the promise of rain, the Doctor knew exactly where he was.

“Oi! Where are we?” Another voice complained from somewhere over his shoulder.

“Glocnppenspa!” The Time Lord proclaimed proudly, side stepping out of the doorway so his blonde companion could take a look.

“Glo… What?” 

“GLOC-nappen-SPA!”

“Glocnappenspa!” Rose echoed, looking pleased with herself. “Not quite as bad a Raxacoricofallapatorious, is it?”

“Nah,” the Doctor agreed, already strolling off down the muddy street with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. “I came here once before, y’know… oh, not all that long ago…” The Doctor trailed off thoughtfully.

“Does that mean you want to leave?” Rose asked, glancing about the relatively human-looking town.

“Nah!” The Doctor brightened up again, mind evidently made up. “I didn’t look around much last time. Helped a few locals out… and there was… Anyway, this is the lovely little town of North Swafburnfer…”

“North Swaf—“

“Swafburnfer,” The Doctor repeated patiently, not bothering to look back over his shoulder as he continued ambling off down the road. “And tell you what, it must have been a few years since I was last here… or decades. Look.” The Doctor nodded towards the holographic screens that lined the insides of the glass of the shop windows, advertising various products instead of placing the objects themselves on display. 

The Doctor turned his attention upwards. “No power lines, either. Last time they had power lines. Must’ve moved on to something else; household matter-energy generators or site to site power transmission via energy beam or…”

“Doctor,” Rose interrupted, eyes flickering about skeptically. “When you were here last time, was it this quiet?”

The Doctor blinked in mild surprise and swept his eyes along the streets more critically. He was forced to admit: Rose was right. The streets, while not having been necessarily crowded during his last visit, were now virtually absent of all signs of life.

“No… it wasn’t.” 

He was about to come to the conclusion that the place had been abandoned altogether when he caught sight of a middle aged man exiting one of the shops. The appearance of a life form in the practically uninhabited town did nothing to dispel his concerns. In fact, they deepened as the Time Lord’s old eyes observed the quick, slinking manner in which the man walked. Eyes darting side to side, slinking on his toes like a terminally anxious cat ready to dart at the slightest sign of danger, the man scampered down the street a bit and into another shop. The CLOSED sign was flipped with far too much energy and the blinds slid down over the storefront windows.

“What is he so frightened of?” Rose voiced the question the Doctor was turning over in his own mind.

He had his suspicions, but wasn’t sure enough in them to draw them to the attention of his companion.

“No idea.” He turned to face her with a rakish grin. “Care to find out?”

~0~0~0~

.

.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor remembered the town’s layout fairly well, especially since it had expanded exponentially since the last time he’d walked its streets, leaking into the surrounding forest like a poorly contained spill. 

The walk to Saint Stonpul was a short one, full of Rose pestering the Time Lord with questions about the nature of his last visit and the latter sidestepping them as gracefully as he did the puddles scattered along their way. Persistently damp world, Glocnappenspa was.

“Well,” The Doctor mused, coming to an abrupt halt halfway up the hill to the Religious Building, “that definitely wasn’t here before.”

Rose stopped at his side and took in the sight. Down the hill, what had obviously once been dense forest was now a gutted, muddy pit. Large yellow machinery crawled around it like massive hulking insects, digging into the sludge and shoving heaps of mud three times the height of a man from one place to another. The pit itself was massive, practically expanding half of the mountain and into the valley below, surrounded by a vast quantity of chain-link fence that extended further up the mountain to encapsulate what had once been a church, now converted into a makeshift on-site office for the project. 

“What are they building?” Rose asked, eyeing the workers ambling about with marginalized suspicion.

“Nothing,” the Doctor muttered, stuffing down encroaching feelings of dread. “They’re not building anything. They’re mining.”

“What for?” 

“No idea,” the Doctor said gruffly. “But ‘what’ isn’t nearly as important as ‘where’.”

“Alright, then. Where?”

The Doctor didn’t answer, just responding with a, “Come on,” and starting up the hill towards the building.

They got past the guard at the gate with a flash of the psychic paper, slogging through the well-trampled mud and into what had once been the Worship Center for North Swafburnfer. Rose stopped to knock some of the mud off her boots before entering, but the Doctor strode straight in without a second thought, leaving Rose to catch up with him with a sigh.

By the time she did, the Time Lord had already introduced himself to whom Rose assumed was the Foreman. 

Foreman Darrew was a round man. That was really the only word anyone really could think of to describe him physically. Round. Wide as he was tall, which wasn’t saying very much, with a thick mustache and a permanent scowl with a personality to match. Not to mention that the prospect of two State investigators turning up at his doorstep didn’t do much to improve that. Combine grouchiness with a general disposition of someone that dressed and acted like they belonged in a proper household in mid-nineteenth century England, and you had Darrew.

“I must say, a State investigation is completely unfounded,” Darrew sputtered, face turning red with blood pressure. “We’ve received all the necessary permits, and the local complaints have been looked into by the local Protective Social Services…”

“Ooh, they’ve got their own now!” The Doctor beamed. “That’s an improvement form last time.”

“...and have been disproven in entirety,” Darrew finished as if the Doctor hadn’t spoken. “So an investigation is nothing short of a inefficient waste of—”

“Mr. Darrew,” The Doctor interrupted, working hard to keep from sounding impatient, “I understand that you are a very busy man with a schedule, but maybe if you could just give us a quick rundown of these complaints, we could be on our way.”

Darrew opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a woman poking her head in through the open door. With a bony red crest on her forehead, she was obviously not of the same species normally found on Glocnappenspa, which caused the Doctor to raise an eyebrow in mild surprise. When was ‘first contact’ for this planet, again?

“Foreman,” the woman announced in warbling tones, “Mister Actom Gravenn is here to see you.”

Darrew groaned and rugged at his mustache stressfully. “Fine, send him in.”

“Actom?” The Doctor echoed in bewilderment as a rather old man shuffled in the door. 

Despite the toll time had clearly taken on him, Actom was still very clearly Actom in the Doctor’s eyes. Something about the shape of his eyes and the spring in his step gave it away. 

“Mr. Darrew,” Actom huffed moodily, “in our last meeting, I left under the impression that if I did leave, I would come back to the books I requested boxed and ready for delivery. It’s been a week, and it’s obvious that no progress has been made.”

“Mr. Gravenn,” Darrew growled, “my workers have enough work to do without catering to your face whims.”

“Whims. Whims?” Actom snapped back, voice raising with indignation. “The history of this community is not a whim, sir! And if you don’t comply, I’ll just be back with a State issued warrant.”

“Fine.” Darrew waved a hand absently at the other two people in the room. “If you want to talk to the State, talk to them.”

The Doctor, sensing an opportunity to get the information he was looking for from a more pleasant source as well as catch up with an old friend, bounced over to shake Actom’s hand.

“Gladly! Books, you say? We’d be happy to help, wouldn’t we, Rose?”

“Yeah, sure,” Rose agreed with significantly less enthusiasm. 

Actom squinted his old eyes at the overeager man in front of him. “Not to be rude, but you are…?”

“The Doctor,” the Time Lord answered slowly, searching the man’s wrinkled face for any sign of recognition. “You probably don’t recognize me, but we’ve met before.”

The lines on the old man’s face deepened with thought. “I did know a man that went by ‘Doctor’, but he would be very old now, and he certainly never looked anything like you.”

“Oh, that was me!” The Doctor beamed. “I’m not from this planet, I can change my face.”

It didn’t take much to convince Actom that the Doctor was who he said he was. The old man was fairly trusting as it was, so once the Doctor explained his origins a little and recounted a few details from their last meeting, Actom was overjoyed to find that he did, in fact, know the man before him had returned.

“I’d always wondered what had happened to you,” Actom admitted as he led them towards the back rooms of the old building, where they intended to box up more of Old Broodo’s book collection, which had been left to Actom upon the Reverend’s death. “Old Broodo said that you left town, but that was it.”

The Doctor rugged at his ear sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that. Goodbyes aren't really my strongest point.”

“The alien thing is a surprise though,” Actom admitted, pulling out a set of keys to unlock the door to the storage room they’d stopped at. “You don't look like the others.”

“Yeah, about that—” The Doctor sneezed loudly as soon as the door opened and he got a whiff of the scent of mold and dust. “—What’s the story behind the other species? I wasn’t aware you lot had had a first contact yet. How long’s it been since I was last here, anyway?”

“‘Bout sixty years.” Actom picked up a book that had been left out and placed it in a box. “The Ablerrions came about twenty years ago. It was a huge mess at first, but everything settled out in the end.” He gave an amused snort. “Bet we could rewrite the books with you, though, seeing as you were technically the first alien on this planet.”

“Mm… better not,” the Doctor hummed. “Stuff like that gets complicated quick. Right, so what’re we doing here?”

Actom sighed. “Packing and moving books. Broodo left them to me, though I never paid them much attention until a few months back, just checked on them and made sure no water made its way in…”

“And then they started the mining?” Rose ventured a guess, joining the Doctor in putting together a few pamphlets into a stack.

Actom nodded. “The State sold the land to an Ablerrion-run company after Alpherdeinianite. Supposed t’be valuable for spaceships, or somethin’.”

“It is,” the Doctor acknowledged, pausing to sneeze again when Rose managed to stir up a cloud of dust. “Alpherdeinianite is for spatial distortions. Ships that go through certain types of nebula line their hulls with it. So they’re ripping up the Labyrinth?”

“The place is riddled with the stuff.” Actom nodded. 

“Makes sense,” the Doctor mused. “In large amounts, Alpherdeinianite is known interfere with electrical signals within the brain. Which would explain why people that go inside the tunnels get so disoriented. Really should’ve noticed that last time. Must be getting old.”

“Aren’t we all,” Actom sighed ruefully. “But now that they own the land, I’ve been trying to get Broodo’s collection out of the way before they destroy any of it. Hasn’t been easy, either. Darrew would rather see it burned, but it’s too much to move in any sort of hurry.”

“Well, we’ve got some of it together now,” Rose piped up when the Doctor started sneezing again. “Let’s take what we’ve got and come back for more later, eh?”

Actom agreed and the three started off towards Actom’s vehicle, each carrying a box. Actom’s vehicle could almost be called a car, bright red with five wheels instead of four or six. They made three more trips to get more boxes to fill the  available space before climbing inside themselves, Actom and the Doctor in the front, and a disgruntled Rose in the back, squeezed in amongst the boxes.

The Doctor peered around at the more or less empty streets with a critical eye. 

“Where is everyone?” The Time Lord asked over the sound of the engine. “Much quieter than I remember.”

“Scared,” Actom grunted.

“Of what?” Rose inquired, leaning up between the two front seats.

“There’s been a rash of murders. People going missing. The Police say they’re looking into it.” He laughed dryly. “But really, no one has a clue.”

“Darrew said something about complaints,” the Doctor pressed.

Actom hummed in acknowledgement. “That’s ‘cause it started around the time the mining started. Don’t be fooled by the lack of religious interest, a lot of the people ‘round here still believe that the Labyrinth is sacred, and that the Creature exists.”

“What creature?” Rose asked, finally more interested now that the conversation had turned away from dusty books. 

“Creature of the Labyrinth,” the Doctor answered rather impatiently. “Really really old being that no one has ever seen. It lives down in the tunnels. Sometimes it leads people that get lost in there to the surface, or it doesn’t.”

“A lot of folks think that the deaths and disappearances have to do with it,”Actom confirmed dryly. 

“How many?”

“Twelve. Eight disappearances. Four snapped necks.”

Rose grimaced and the Doctor looked grim. 

“Does sound a bit suspicious, though, doesn’t it?” Rose mused. “And there aren’t any other leads?”

“No,” Actom sniffed curtly, turning into a long driveway. “Leave it for now through. We’re here, and I don’t want that kind of talk around my granddaughter.”

“Aww, you’ve got a granddaughter?” The Doctor beamed. “Seems like only yesterday you were a child yourself.”

“To you, maybe.”

~0~0~0~

.

[iris-writes-things]

Two Guys and a Baby: Day 10

Read on AO3, FF.net or under the cut, or read up to 2 chapters ahead as a $1 Patreon patron!

This was why Crowley enthusiastically strode towards his front door and opened it, completely forgoing the peephole or any other means of identification of his visitor… s… “Crawly,” croaked an unfortunately familiar voice.

Or, anger, relief and other feelings.

Chapter 13 of 20 Ongoing 2375 words Romance/Humor

It was ten o'clock on Monday morning and Crowley was standing in his bathroom in his boxers and a well-worn A Day At The Races World Tour t-shirt*, his toothbrush dangling lazily from his mouth. He gently dried Adam’s hair with a soft towel as the boy sat on the edge of the sink. Adam had seemed especially reluctant about bath time this morning. However, once his rubber duckie got involved, the boy was on top of the world and there had been no further complications. After all, getting dressed before putting a baby in the bath would be terribly inefficient, and Crowley was nothing if not efficient.

(*Note for observant readers who may be noticing a pattern by now: while t-shirts don’t belong in the wardrobe of the epitome of fashion Crowley tries to be, he collects Queen tour t-shirts in his free time. His niece and sister frequently call him out on how weird it is that he wears his most prized collection to bed every night.)

“See? Sat wasn’t so bad, was it?” Crowley slurred around his toothbrush as he finished drying Adam and putting him in a diaper. There was knocking at the door and Crowley’s heart leapt. “That’ll be Ezra,” he mumbled, wrapping the towel around Adam, picking him up and spitting his toothbrush and adjacent toothpaste into the sink. “Wanna go see Ezra?” he asked Adam.

The boy’s face lit up at the sound of the shopkeeper’s name. Of course he wanted to go see Ezra. These last few days he must’ve come to associate that name with good food, stories, adventures and softness. What kind of child could object to that?

This was why Crowley enthusiastically strode towards his front door and opened it, completely forgoing the peephole or any other means of identification of his visitor… s… 

“Crawly,” croaked an unfortunately familiar voice.

Where Crowley previously felt his heart soar, he now felt it do a deep dive through five storeys worth of apartment building, the foundations below it, and several layers of the Earth’s crust, and his blood ran awfully cold. The smell of, among other things, tobacco filled his nostrils. And where a week ago that exact smell would have been very enticing to him, it had now lost its charm altogether. “Hastings, Liggett. I didn’t know creative made house calls nowadays. And… I have a phone, you know that.”

“Enough with the pleasantries. Where were you last week?” Hastings demanded.

“You were supposed to pitch to the board of directors in Ferguson’s absence,” Liggett added, in case Crowley had forgotten. He hadn’t.

The pitch had been on Wednesday and it was about an expansive direct marketing campaign that Hastings and Liggett had, to their credit, worked very hard on despite not really being ‘of the time’ anymore. And since the two combined had the charisma of approximately a single toad, Crowley had been selected by Lucy to pitch while she was away, as he was more on the level of a snake, to stick with the cold-blooded fauna motif. Once they caught him up to speed, he knew the presentation forwards and backwards and would be five steps ahead of each member of the board of directors and their hang ups at all times. The plan was foolproof. 

This was before the babysitter had flown to Cambodia.

After the whole my-babysitter-ran-off-to-south-east-Asia-to-rediscover-herself-after-a-particularly-bad-breakup-so-I’m-giving-you-time-off-to-look-after-my-baby debacle, they needed a solution, which presented itself as the intern known as Newton Pulsifer. His presentation skills understandably lagged behind Crowley’s and couldn’t begin to catch up with Lucy’s, but the main difference between interns, who are doing all this for the first time, and creatives who had been doing the same thing for thirty years and somehow still held their positions, was that you could still teach them a thing or two, and they would be eager to learn, too. So that fateful Friday afternoon, Lucy and Crowley had gone over the presentation with Newt for what felt like upwards of a hundred times. They gave him every note they had and hadn’t stopped until both of them were confident that the boy could successfully run the pitch by the board.

So… Hastings and Liggett standing here, in the hallway of his apartment building, didn’t bode well. And Crowley quickly figured it wouldn’t be wise to tell them he spent that entire day reading Miffy books to Adam in his crush’s bookshop. Instead, he told them, “Yeah, we told you I wouldn’t be there because I’d be taking care of Adam. We told you Newton would cover for me, too. Hell, we even asked you if you’d rather present your pitch yourselves instead of having the intern do it. Whatever happened, it’s out of my hands.”

A frustrated grumble escaped Hasting’s throat. “We thought you might say something like that,” he said.

“Then why are you here?” Crowley asked.

“To take you back to the office with us, where you’ll explain to the board exactly what went wrong. Now, put on some pants,” Liggett commanded.

Crowley stepped back when a hand grabbed his arm. He shook himself free and Adam whined at the jostling. “I can’t,” Crowley insisted. “I won’t. I have to look after Adam.”

It was then, that Hastings stepped forward, glowering at Crowley and towering over him. Compared to Crowley who, himself, erred towards the taller side, Hastings was enormous. “I think you misunderstand, Crawly. We are your seniors. You are only an assistant and you will not disrespect us in this way.”  

The words oozed with venom and Crowley instinctively faced Adam away from them. It was bad enough that Lucy and Crowley had to deal with the pair of them on a regular basis. The less young Adam saw from them, the better, and the same went for Crowley, he reasoned. He took a deep breath and asked them with a boldness he had long forgotten he had, “And what have you lot ever done to earn my respect?”

“I suggest you choose your words wisely, Crawly,” Hastings said as he bowed down over Crowley, only inches away from his face.

“It’s Crowley,” he asserted. “And why should I respect a pair of out-of-touch, middle-aged creatives who always pull rank because they clearly have nothing else going for them? Who terrorize interns and intimidate assistants by showing up at their fff— bloody houses to call them names and make them take responsibility for something that wasn’t on them? Surely, I should be reporting you two to some kind of authority, but we all know that won’t do anything, so how about I make this easier on all of us and just announce that I quit.” He huffed, and without another thought he pushed the letter on the dresser by the door into their hands and promptly slammed his front door shut. That was about enough of them. “And newsflash, A-holes, unsolicited direct marketing** has barely worked on people under the age of thirty-five in, like, a decade, so your campaign was doomed to fail from the start. There’s some free fucking advice for you.”

(**read, the ones that get stuck in your spam filter and/or the ones that immediately go into the paper recycling.)

*

It wasn’t even an hour later by the time Ezra came knocking on the door. Crowley had only just finished getting dressed and he wasn’t proud of it; wearing the same t-shirt he slept in along with yesterday’s jeans and jacket as he opened the door. Meanwhile, Ezra’s outfit, worn as it was, was soft and pristine.

“Hey angel,” Crowley said.

“Good morning,” Ezra said softly, eyes flitting down to Crowley’s outfit.

Meanwhile, Crowley felt like he might as well have been naked. He coughed, bringing Ezra back from whatever fantasy he’d found himself in. 

“Run into any unsavory types on your way up?”

Ezra glanced around the hallway. “No. Was I supposed to?”

“No. Just… we don’t have to deliver the letter. They came to pick it up.”

“Came to pick it up?” Ezra frowned, almost protested as Crowley ushered him inside. “My dear, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Poltergeist, more like. Two of them,” Crowley said flippantly, but the hand he carded through his messy hair shook.

*

Now, Ezra wouldn’t say he enjoyed seeing Anthony as shaken as he obviously was. In fact, he didn’t enjoy that at all. The idea that two men from the office would come over to his home to intimidate him was appalling to him. It wasn’t right.

But.

But there was something about seeing Anthony like this. Seeing him less put-together. It was endearing. It made him, for lack of a better word, relatable. After all, it was reassuring to know that even the most perfectly beautiful man who always dressed sharp and snazzy, could look like a mess. Specifically, a mess he wouldn’t mind too much waking up to in the morning. 

Ezra made a point of it not to stare at him too much.

“I’m sorry this happened, Anthony. I wish I’d come by sooner, I might have been able to— to—” Truthfully, he didn’t know what he would have done. But he knew he would have done something. It wasn’t right, coming to someone’s house to tell them off for something they didn’t do, and Ezra was nothing if not righteous.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Ezra, but I’m fine,” Anthony sighed. “And so is Adam, I think.”

“Did they…?” Ezra trailed off.

“Who? Adam? Didn’t lay a finger on him. I’ll give them that, at least.”

“Then, did they…?”

Anthony shrugged. “Grabbed my arm, that’s it.”

That’s it?

*

There was a fire in Ezra’s eyes that Crowley hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t sure if he should be terrified or flattered.

“But even that is unacceptable!” Ezra said when he spoke again. “They still trespassed on your home, on the one place you’re meant to feel safe, on you, and that should never have happened.” He took Crowley’s hand and looked at him with angry, watery eyes.

“I’m fine angel, I swear. Moreso now that my knight in shining armor is here.” Crowley ran a hand through his hair in a way he hoped Ezra would experience as tenderly. Like in an out of body experience, he felt himself bend down to kiss him, but caught himself just as he realized what was happening.

That was, until he felt the lapels of of his jacket pull him downward and a pair of soft lips pressed against his own.

Oh.

*

"You care about me…" Anthony said a few hours later at brunch, as if the idea still felt alien inside his head.

Adam watched them from his high chair like a tennis match.

Ezra laid down his menu and tried not to sigh as he looked up at his friend. "Of course," he said. "One might go so far as to say that I quite fancy you."

This seemed to make Anthony choke on the breath he was taking. "Well yes, but since when?" he asked with an urgency there was really no need for. The wait staff had already picked up on the cues at their table and were avoiding it like the plague until the air around it cleared.

Now, if Ezra were about to admit his own superficiality, he would have said 'From the moment you set foot in the bookshop,' but he wasn't, so he didn't. Instead, he said "Ten years, give or take?" which meant pretty much the same thing and shrugged his shoulders.

"And it never occurred to you to tell me?"

"Did it to you?"

"Every day," Anthony squeaked. "For the last ten years and a few months."

Ezra blinked hard. The choice of words did not escape him. He wanted very much not to be so surprised, after all, Anathema had told him so outright, but to hear it from the man himself, the implication was all that was needed to send him reeling.

"Anathema told you, didn't she?" Anthony asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ezra nodded.

"She told me at dinner last Friday." Anthony let out a breathy laugh. "I swear, that girl is going to be the death of me."

"And me," Ezra said. Anthony smiled at him brilliantly and Ezra averted his gaze as a feeling of shame washed over him. "I'm sorry, by the way. About running out on you that night at that cafe."

"Angel, that was two years ago."

"I know! I just… we were both drunk, I didn't want you to get the wrong idea. I didn't want you to regret it."

Anthony choked on his orange juice and slammed the glass down on the table. "Regret it?! Are you joking? We could have been going out for years and you thought I would regret it?"

"Well, it was more like I didn't want you to think I was taking advantage of you."

"But… Ezra, I started it…" Anthony said, gesturing wildly.

“Well, you could have said something, too!”

A groan escaped Anthony, his face buried in his hands, fingers tangled in his hair. “In conclusion, we’re both cowards and we’ve been miserable for much longer than strictly necessary?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say miserable…”

“Okay, so maybe that was just me, but at least we both haven’t been as happy as we could have been.”

“I would agree with that…” Ezra mumbled. He glanced at the menu but he wasn’t sure he was all that hungry anymore.

Anthony followed his gaze and smiled that snake-like smile of his, that only looked charming on him. “Go on,” he said. “My treat.”

That second, Ezra decided he was famished.

*

A weight had fallen from Crowley’s shoulders. It had been replaced with the slightly less hefty weight of having to figure out their relationship anew, but it had to count for something. For these first few hours, Crowley found very little had changed between them at all. He still stole glances at Ezra as they ate. They still talked unreservedly and laughed at each other’s jokes. They fed Adam who, at this point, was ravenous for everything his little fingers could grasp on to.

What Crowley also found, was the pleasant heft of a warm hand in his.

[damaless]

To All The Skaters I’ve Loved Before

This is my very first foray into writing fanfiction. I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete the whole thing I have in mind for it, but I thought I’d at least try to write the first chapter and see how it goes.

Chapter One

Waiting for luggage is the worst. If everyone would stay a few feet back from the conveyor belt, it would be easy for anyone to spot their luggage coming and step forward to get it. Instead, everyone crowds close, jostling each other out of desperation to retrieve their belongings as quickly as possible, making the process more inefficient and unpleasant all around. Normally, Yuuri Katsuki makes sure to travel light enough to fit everything in a carry-on, to avoid this exact situation. But now, returning to his hometown after failing miserably at the Grand Prix Final, he’s stuck here, hovering at the edge of the crowd, waiting for all of his earthly possessions to be carelessly tossed down a chute. Finally, the mob has dispersed, and he sees his bags making their way forlornly around the curve. Taking them in hand, he turns and continues on to the next leg of his trip.

It’s mid-afternoon when he arrives in Hasetsu, but he finds himself blinking blearily and fighting sleep. That’s what he gets for blowing up his career and having to travel halfway around the world to lick his wounds, he supposes. Someone shouts his name and he jerks around to find the source. Minako is there, apparently waiting for him, leg extended behind her in a beautiful arabesque. He smiles in spite of himself. A dancer will always be a dancer… will a skater always be a skater?

“You didn’t have to come get me, Minako,” Yuuri says, mouth twisting. He is going to be enough of a burden on his family and friends in the coming months, he doesn’t need them acting as his chauffeurs on top of everything. “I could have taken a cab.”

Minako rolls her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t been home for years. We wanted you to have a proper welcome. Your parents and Mari would be here too, if they weren’t busy at the onsen.”

He looks at the sign she’s holding, now. Large, somewhat messy letters spell out, ‘Welcome Home, Uncle Yuuri!’, and glitter is scattered haphazardly all around them. It looks like it was made by a child. Or children. Yuuko’s triplets, maybe? That’s cute. He’s looking forward to meeting them; he’s heard they are quite the mischief-makers, though.

Yuuri follows Minako back to her car, trying to avoid looking at all the skating posters of himself around town. How embarrassing, now that he’s failed so thoroughly. The car ride goes quickly enough, with them chatting a bit about his life in America and how things have been back here in Hasetsu while he’s been gone. When they arrive at the onsen, he does his best to struggle through properly greeting his parents and sister, but he can barely keep his eyes open and they shuffle him off to his room after just a few minutes.

Closing the door to his room behind him, he huffs a sigh and looks around. He cringes internally at all the posters of Victor Nikiforov that are still lining the walls of his room. Victor is an amazing skater, but remembering the crush he held onto for most of his teenage years is uncomfortable. All of the years of training and living abroad to claw his way into the ranks that were worthy to skate on the same ice as Victor, all thrown away over the course of a few disastrous days. He feels a pang in his heart, thinking of how different things are to how he had expected to return home. Vicchan, running up to him with her tail wagging, jumping up and down for attention. People cheering for their hometown’s skating success story. Yuuri returning feeling accomplished and fulfilled, instead of directionless and insignificant.

Shaking himself, he sets to the task of unpacking, as much as he can do before passing out, anyway. Unzipping his largest suitcase, he carefully removes the old shoebox containing his deepest secrets. He lifts the lid and sifts through the envelopes inside. Sometimes he finds it hard to believe that he’s held onto these letters for all these years, but every time he’s thought of getting rid of them, it feels like he would be getting rid of a part of himself. Each of these letters feels like a representation of a different time in his life, even if none of them are particularly applicable at the moment. The names jump out at him as he places them back in the box one by one.

Yuuko, his childhood friend.

Mei Nakamura, from skate camp, over a decade ago.

Victor Nikiforov, of course.

Jeremy Meyers, an American skater from his first international junior competition.

And Phichit Chulanont.

Everyone he’s ever been in love with. Yuuri is very good at articulating his feelings. On paper. In a letter to be sealed in a box and never sent. In person? Not a chance. And a good thing, too, because his feelings of romance have always faded over time. When Yuuri had first met Phichit, he had fallen hard and fast. Phichit was just so alive and energetic, he had a magnetism to him that made it impossible to look away. Yuuri had needed to get his feelings down on paper before they came spilling out his mouth and making a fool of him. Of course, Phichit had turned out to be an amazing roommate and training partner, and while Yuuri considered Phichit to be a treasured friend and was sad to be apart from him now, the idea of a relationship was laughable.

As for the rest, he had been “in love” with Yuuko at seven years old, had known Mei Nakamura for all of two weeks, and had had one conversation with Jeremy Meyers that happened to coincide with an especially inconvenient rush of teenage hormones. And Victor Nikoforov… well, his bi awakening had to happen sometime, and everyone is entitled to a celebrity crush or two, right? Yes, it’s a good thing he restricts his thoughts of romance to the form of secret letters that will never see the light of day. He doesn’t need the potential complications and heartbreak of an actual relationship.

He replaces the lid of the box and sets it aside. He shoves a few handfuls of clothes into drawers until the suitcase is mostly empty. Blinking blearily, he falls back on his bed and decides the rest can wait until his body has recovered from the abuse of the last twenty-four hours of travel.

***

Axel has admired Uncle Yuuri for all her life, even though she’s never met him. She and Lutz and Loop faithfully watch every competition, collect every poster, and grab Mama’s phone whenever they can, to check Uncle Yuuri’s roommate’s instagram for new pictures of him. Ever since Mama told her that Uncle Yuuri is coming home she has been asking when she will be able to see him. She doesn’t understand why Mama gets so frustrated when she asks again, now; it’s been at least five minutes since the last time she asked.

The walk over to the onsen is taking forever. And it’s boring. It would be so much better if people could skate wherever they needed to go. Uncle Yuuri would probably want to skate instead of walk, too. Here they are, now. Auntie Mari says that Uncle Yuuri is sleeping and they have to wait until next time to meet him. But Axel really wants to meet him now; she’s been waiting forever, so that’s more important. A quick huddle with Lutz and Loop and the special triplet sneak technique is in action, allowing Axel to get away without the grownups noticing, while the other two make it seem like all three of them are still there.

Down the hall and to the left is Uncle Yuuri’s old room. One time, she and Lutz and Loop were supposed to stay overnight at Grandma’s house, but she missed her own room so much, she couldn’t fall asleep and had to go back home. Uncle Yuuri has probably been missing his room all this time, and that’s where he would want to sleep now. She carefully nudges the door open and peers inside. She barely contains her excited gasp as she realizes she was right; Uncle Yuuri is here, sprawled out on his bed, and a bit of drool is dribbling out of the corner of his mouth.

“Uncle Yuuri, wake up!” she whispers, as loudly as she dares, because if a grownup back in the main room hears her they will come and get her before she can talk to Uncle Yuuri. “Uncle Yuuri, we walked all the way to the onsen to meet you and we’ve been waiting forever. Please wake up so I can tell you how I can skate almost as amazing as you, and then you can go right back to sleep, I promise.”

Axel reaches out to poke him in the side, but he just grumbles in his sleep and rolls over. He’s not waking up. Maybe he’s too sleepy. Her lower lip starts to tremble and she fights back tears. This is just so disappointing. She’s waited so long. Uncle Yuuri shifts again and something falls to the floor with a soft thump. A box is upside-down on the floor and the lid has come off. She bends down to look and finds a few letters. Axel loves getting letters in the mail, and she’s been asking Mama if she can send a letter to a friend sometime. Uncle Yuuri is probably going to be really busy with all the friends and family who want to see him again now that he’s back home... and Papa says if she’s going to be sneaky she should try doing nice sneaky things instead of ‘mischief’.

Her mind is made up. She collects all the letters that fell out of the box. She’s going to do a nice sneaky thing and put Uncle Yuuri’s letters in the mail for him.

[tallyrunning]

Bait.

Writing prompt: You are part of a group of monster hunters. You don't wield any weapons though. No, you're the bait.  

I'm the last champion Olympic sprinter, the fastest person alive.

My team consists of a dozen brawlers, hunters of worldly and otherworldly beasts alike, protectors of humankind and nature's equilibrium. We're led by the most famous sniper duo of this quarter-century. We're heavily armed. We're what the nation's worst nightmare was twenty-five years ago, unbridled survivors of the apocalypse.

Not many in the new world remember my name. And those who do interrogate me for hours on end about the old world, about politics, the names of now-extinct species of birds, about subjects I've never had the faintest idea about. I don't give out my name anymore.

The dozen of us are all specialists. We have our snipers and we've got the remnants of an army squadron, trained for battle and precise strategy. We have engineers and veterinarians-turned-field-medics, the core of our defensive team; martial artists and pro boxers now out of retirement and lending their devastating skills. And then we've got me: the fastest person alive.

Everyone's got a weapon, whether it's a gun, a bomb, or another handmade killing machine. Everyone's got at least three coats of armor, and carries another ten pounds of supplies and gear. Everyone, except me.

My team is made up of specialists, and we've adapted a failproof system: set up the deadliest ambush formation to destroy the beasts swiftly and permanently. Ambushes consisting of only a dozen fighters, all weighed down by their worldly possessions, only work with years of strategizing and practice. Expert setup. By an instigator.

Bait. That's me.

I run around and antagonize as many bloodthirsty monstrous beasts as I can, and lead them into the range of our firing squad. It's quick work, and messy business. Those beasts are smarter than you think. It takes coverage from all angles, all ranges, to separate and subdue them, and it takes quick-stepping the speed of light to get out of the way of flying bullets and grenades. No small task, even for the fastest person alive.

A decade of this, and I still haven't died. But I'm human, and humans make mistakes. I trip, I die by grenade or by being crushed to death by the beast felled by it. I falter, I die by bullet through the head. I step right instead of left, and I meet my end by serrated steel blades straight to the chest. It's milliseconds and millimeters that save my teetering life from the fall into the abyss.

Millimeters that cost me today.

I'm not dead, but I may as well be. I live so long as I'm still useful to the cause, and as an aging citizen of the old world, I would have long been disposed of had I not been the exceptional athlete I was. But with age come complications. Complications like slowing down, which I cannot afford.

I would have been just fine if it had been anything other than my legs. My legs are what keep our system spinning. But I jumped left instead of right, and upon realizing my mistake, I tried to correct it. My ankle rolled, I fell to the ground and a bullet whistled over my head, but what it missed it doomed anyway. The beast, felled by that bullet, toppled over onto the bed of rock in front of me. Its weight shifted the stones that made up the ground; one jagged one sliced right through my leg.

We can just make out the bone. A millimeter less and my leg might have been salvageable. An extra millisecond and I might have moved enough out of the way. But my body is old, my running slow, and my healing limited and inefficient.

There's not much to say. Everyone knows. I know too. My sprinting days are over, but I'm still good for one thing.

I hear the roaring of the beasts. They know I'm doomed; they're after me. There are some things only things of other worlds can sense. They're coming for me. I refuse to die panicking. I'm proud of what I've done and who I've been. They're here. I'm the survivors' greatest decoy. I'm the last champion Olympic sprinter,

This piece is part of my collection, “Under a Grand Cap,” which consists of short stories and flash fiction that fill in writing prompts in under 1000 words.

You can find this story and its parent collection on Wattpad and Booksie.

[ossward]

Novawave Reviews: Does Novawave Antenna Work Or Is It Scam?

This article is all about the Novawave Antenna reviews. The device is a modern piece for broadcasting your favorite movies and shows without cable and messy wires.

American households spend an average of $116 a month on cable and internet services. It is obvious that prices will fluctuate based on additional services like channels, installation, etc. We have advanced technologically, so why are we spending excessive amounts of money on services and inefficiently delivering them? An antenna has been devised by one team after investing in research and development to eliminate costs and complicated setups. Most importantly, their unit provides viewing experiences that go beyond fixed expectations. Want to learn more? Let’s take a look at the Novawave antenna.

As well as Novawave Antenna will make you free from purchasing subscriptions, paying bills for cable TV, etc. You can watch your favorite channels for free as many channels in the USA are broadcast for free.

What is the Novawave Antenna?

The Novawave Antenna is a compact lightweight and portable HD TV that was designed to guarantee everyday enjoyment and connectivity to the shows you enjoy. It was built as an alternative to cable TV and to help you save money that would have ordinarily been spent on paying for cable subscriptions.

One great quality of the Novawave Antenna is that is very easy to use and can’t be affected by weather guaranteeing uninterrupted streaming of your favorite shows. 

The video quality and audio quality of the Novawave Antenna HD TV is one amazing feature of this product that makes the product stand out. The video is clear and the sound is much better than the audio quality of a cable TV.

Another striking quality that makes this product stand the competition and gain so much traction, is its stellar HD quality. It provides a High Definition resolution and operates with the principle of ‘Display as it comes. In the sense that, the Novawave receives as well as displays channels, in the resolution they were broadcast. HD signals of 720p up to 1080p resolution as easily adaptable by the device and reproduced the same way because Novawave does not reduce quality.

This device works with any modern television set and can be easily connected to it. It comes with a single chord, so you just have to connect the chord to your TVs port for HD and you are good to go.

Now let’s get what has been going through your minds, as per whether the Novawave HD TV comes with amazing channels or whether it comes with a good number of channels. So here is what you should know:

Novawave HD TV comes with over 20 channels, carefully selected to provide amazing entertainment for your pleasure. It has channels ranging from FOX, BOX office, CBS, PBS, Univision, MeTV, COMET, DECADES, Fox movies, and other amazing channels you can enjoy. Accurately you can have over 90+ channels that you can also find on your cable TV, from sports channels to news channels, entertainment, etc. And this time, you enjoy them for free.

The Novawave HD TV, is very easy to install and can be used indoors and hung anywhere. It is one product that guarantees that your day is filled with quality show time without you paying a penny. Too good to be true? But it is the fact.

Features of Novawave Antenna

Features of Novawave Antenna

High Definition: Novawave Antenna is a receiver of FM, VHF and UHF digital signals to allow the user to receive when in range. It broadcasts in Full 1080p HD with vibrant picture quality.

Wide range receiver: Receives stations from miles away in all directions. Easy to use app allows the user to locate nearby broadcast towers and position the antenna for reception.

Compact: Simple, one-plug coaxial cable attaches directly to the TV. No endless wires to tangle and trip on.  

Low energy usage: Uses no energy unless it is attached to the low energy consumption amplifier that can be simply plugged into the TV’s coaxial input.

Mobile app compatible: Free App and services let you determine best antenna position and distance from broadcast towers before you buy as programs and reception depend on distance and local conditions.

Affordable: While Cable TV costs most Americans over $1,100 per year, you can access FREE broadcast TV with amazing alternate programming using Novawave Antenna and save some extra cash for other important things.

Novawave Technical Specifications

Below are all the technical specifications of the Novawave Antenna Reviews

Indoor TV antenna

Passive gain antenna

Double-sided tapes included

Easy to set up, plug-and-play

Lightweight

87.5-230MHz, 470-862MHz

Receiving range: FM/VHF/UHF

Impedance 75 Ohm

Passive gain: 6-8 dB

Coaxial port fitment

How to use the Novawave HD TV

The set-up of the Novawave Antenna is quite simple and anyone can install it. So, here I share with you its set-up process step-by-step:

First of all, you can attach the Novawave HD TV to your wall or window

Connect the Novawave to your television via the coaxial cable provided.

The device connects immediately then proceed by using your TV remote to search for amazing channels and your favorite shows.

How Does the NovaWave Antenna Work?

The NovaWave is one of the best TV antennas (and certainly the best indoor TV antenna) money can buy right now because of a couple of factors.

Our discussion must begin with those years and years of research and development.

The engineers behind this incredible TV antenna had one goal in mind:

In addition to making the tiniest and most compact TV antenna possible, they wanted it to capture signals from extremely long distances so that it would become the best TV antenna for rural areas.

Before the NovaWave antenna (the one you see in front of you) was rolled out, it took a lot of time and several iterations before the final solution was reached.

In the next phase, this antenna would be tested in real-world scenarios. There were people all over the country setting up the digital TV antenna to make sure not only that it would work, but that it would work well – and even the highest expectations were blown right out of the water.

The antenna absorbs TV signals from all kinds of broadcast stations and networks across the country using passive game technology on a number of different wavelengths.

Even if it’s received digitally, TV broadcasts today are still over the air, or “OTA” – over the air.

The digital receiver is capable of decoding this information, reproducing it on your TV, and giving you the same experience, image and sound quality that you would get from a cable or satellite provider without spending additional money.

NovaWave is like rabbit ears on steroids if you remember them from your childhood.

You will not have to worry about fuzzy pictures, you won’t have to worry about funky sound, and you won’t have to worry about being stuck with just PBS and your local ABC channel.

Not at all. The NovaWave antenna has taken care of that.

You can view a whole lot more broadcast channels with the NovaWave Antenna, 100% legally and completely free of charge.

[yeastinfectionwontgoaway-blog]

yeast infection won't go away

Yeast infection won’t go away? It is the question that many yeast infections’ sufferers start to ask when their attempts to cure their problem, using topical treatments, lead to a dead end.

If you too suffer from the intense itching, redness and the sensation of burning with urination, then let me tell you, that I too have had my fair share of this painful experience.

I too have gone through the same painful experience; you are dealing with right now.

I had suffered from yeast infections for two long dreadful years. I had visited many doctors, and used many topical treatments that I can count.

For two long years I was caught in a vicious cycle, that went like this, each and every time, when I no longer can bear the itching and burning down there, I would have to take an appointment, and pay my doctor to prescribe me antibiotics.

And every time, I would follow my doctor prescription religiously, and guess what happened? In just few days, I would feel better, and the itching and burning would have lessened too much.

Relieved, and happy about the results, I would resume my normal life, and think to myself “Thank God I don’t suffer from yeast infections anymore!”

Yet lo-and-behold, it would take only a couple months, sometimes less, and again I find myself battling with yeast infections, and pondering over the question” why my yeast infection won’t go away?”

I had become tired and sick. I was fed up, and disappointed. I had suffered so much, and still can’t see how to stop this vicious cycle.

Yeast infection had taken control of my life. I stayed at home as much as possible, and on the few occasions I went out, I sat as close to the nearest bathroom.

I was a prisoner, being held hostage by my yeast infection.

It was then that I decided enough is enough. I decided to take matters into my own hands, and started looking for a safe and effective natural cure to put an end to this dilemma.

If you too want to shift to natural ways to treat your yeast infections, then keep reading to discover some powerful natural cures that work like a charm to keep yeast infections at bay.

However, before we cover how to get rid of yeast infections naturally, it is important to have a good grasp of what it really is and what causes it in the first place.

This is really important, because in order to properly address a problem, you need to understand what causes it, thus a problem clearly laid out is a problem half-solved.

What is yeast?

Yeast is a fungus, so it is a near relative to truffles, toadstools and mushrooms. Fungi thrive in moist environments; where nourishment is readily available, such as damp, leftover foods, windfall leafs, and soil.

Fungi have many good characteristics. For example, they are essential in the making of bread and beer. In addition to that, fungi, decomposes trash and returns it to the soil, so without them, the world would be one big landfill site.

However, this is not always the case. Unfortunately, there is one harmful type of fungi, called candida albicans, which is the primary cause of yeast infections.

In a healthy gut, candida albicans is a safe part of your intestines, nose, throat, mouth, and for women, your vagina.

It is only when candida albicans grow out of balance that you run into an array of health problems such as the rashes, itching, burning and discomfort. It is then that you start pondering over the question” why my yeast infection won’t go away?”  

What causes yeast to grow out of balance?

It all starts inside your intestinal tract, there line up approximately 100 trillion bacteria, about 3 pounds worth. It is a complicated living system that plays an important role to protect your body from any outside attacks, as long as it is balanced.

However, as soon as bad bacteria starts to outweigh the good ones, your body starts to shift away from its inner balance, which pave the way to yeast infections to take place.

Here are the most common factors that disturb your body inner balance, and cause yeast overgrowth:

Consuming too much sugar. Candida albicans feeds on sugar, so eating many foods rich in sugar will potentially fuel yeast.

 -          The overuse of antibiotics, which are known to kill and damage the good bacteria in the gut, thus creating the ideal environment for candida overgrowth. And it is one among reasons why yeast infection won’t go away

 Taking too much antibiotics may lead to a myriad of health conditions, including but not limited to: gut health problems, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), Obesity (struggle to lose weight).

-         Taking birth control pills.  One of the many side effects of The Pill is to throw off your body hormonal balances. Your gut is a complex organ, where a mixture of microorganisms is kept in check by good bacteria. However, the estrogen in The Pill disturbs this equilibrium by promoting the growth of yeast.

 In a study conducted in 1999, at Louisiana State University, Chad Steele, Jessica Cutright, and Paul L. Fidel Jr. proved that an excess in estrogen develops the growth of yeast.

 Not only that, but they also discovered that answer to the question “Why yeast infection won’t go away?”  It turns out that the ability of skin cells to stop candida from colonizing the vaginal walls had become inefficient due to the excess estrogen.

 -          Stress can also contribute to yeast overgrowth. When faced with a stressful situation, your body releases a hormone called Cortisol, which raises your blood sugar level, and depresses your immune system.

 This condition allows yeast to feed on the produced sugar, which makes candida albicans to grow out of control.

 Prolonged stress may also wear out your adrenal glands, which play an important role to protect your immune system. The adrenal glands produce hormones to regulate different systems within your body.

 If your adrenals are affected by stress, will start to feel tired all the time, and most likely you will find yourself drinking a cup of coffee after another.

 This health condition will make your immune system similarly drained and thus inefficient to fight pathogens such as candida yeast.

 What to do when Yeast infection won’t go away?

 One of the best ways to beat yeast infections is by creating an environment where it is not easy for fungus to thrive in. This is done by adopting a few lifestyle changes, such as:

 1-      Limit dietary intake of carbs, alcohol and sugars:

A diet that doesn’t include foods rich in sugar or carbohydrate is the best tool to stop candida overgrowth.

 When you follow a diet rich in eggs, meats, chicken, vegetables, and healthy oils (such olive oil) you will cut off any food source to the yeast to feed on.

Remove paragraph between quotes

“Yeast is known to multiply so quickly, that’s why it is important to avoid not only refined carbs and sugar in your diet, but also all mold and yeast containing foods such as: bread, alcohol, potatoes, beets and Carrots (high-sugar veggies).”

 After starting the diet, you may feel unease for some time, this is an indication that the yeast are dying. Do not abandon your diet because of these symptoms; things will get better in just few days.

 To lessen the symptoms that accompany the elimination of candida, it is advised to drink lots of water and take a hot bath.

 1-      Increase your intake of good bacteria:

 Since bad bacteria are taking over your body, you will need to remedy for this by supplying your digestive system with enough good bacteria.

 Good bacteria are found in high quality probiotic supplements, as well as in fermented and cultured foods such as natto. These two sources of good bacteria will keep your gastrointestinal tract and vagina healthy.

 In addition to the above, you can consider using certain herbs, and taking digestive enzymes to restore the balance of your intestinal bacteria, such as: Oregon oil, Caprylic acid, Black walnut, Biotin, and Garlic.

 2-      Avoid exposure to medications and chemicals:

 Stay away from birth control pills, antibiotics and corticosteroids. Also, avoid, household cleaners, paints, and perfumes, because they may cause allergic reactions.

 People who suffer from yeast overgrowth are prone to chemical sensitivities, that’s why it is important to avoid or at least lessen the exposure to any objet that may trigger this problem.

 If you stick to the lifestyle changes mentioned above, it is possible for you to create an ideal environment for your body to fight the infection on its own, without using harmful antibiotics.

 Moreover, If you no longer want to wonder why yeast infection won’t go away, and eliminate it for good, and keep it from coming back then it is time to start using a powerful, save and natural solution to yeast infections.

 If you want to stop yeast infections from embarrassing you… from having to avoid the intimacy moments with your spouse and finding excuse why you “don’t feel like it”…from dealing with “gross” days and messy underwear, then watch this free presentation where Linda Allen a health consultant, nutritionist, and most importantly a former chronic yeast infections sufferer shows you the right way To Quickly Cure Your Candida Overgrowth without the use of harmless medications.

[preyed-llama]

Math

Summary: Logan really likes math and his world is his and his intelligence isn’t something he should be ashamed of. 

Author’s note:  Surprisingly, this originally started as a fic about Logan really liking maths and it was only meant to be a few hundred words. Than i got carried away and it turned into something more powerful? i’m not sure how to describe it. 

Genre: Fluff? Hurt/comfort? inspirational? 

Ship: No pairing

Warnings: none

Logan had a book of math formulas constantly open on his desk. He didn’t need it, it was just so calming to have something that was objective, that emotions and biases didn’t affect. The formulas and questions calmed him, there was something so special about them. People would like subjective things, he knew very well that the other sides were interested in more... creative expressions. 

Right and wrong questions are what he loved. Something that no one could ever say was wrong, because he was painfully aware of the times people decided that something he was or made was wrong. Even some forms of science were subjective and biased, they painted the world in different shades for everyone. Science could be wrong, even if you followed the formula to the letter. Science could be biased and ruined by one person. 

Math was always right or wrong. You could find the error and correct it in a matter of seconds. You could find the error in your teammates work, that is if you even need to worry about the teammate at all. The shift of the numbers as the equations shifted into the poetry he so adored. The turns of the pen as he wrote out the numbers that swam around his head. The accomplishment he felt when he had solved a particularly challenging equation.  

It was relaxing. He didn’t need to worry about what the others thought, there was no worry that it was wrong. No worry that it wasn’t logical. People would say how awful math was, how it got under their skin. How it didn’t make sense and how it was too logical. But like painting a picture or writing a book would release the itch to express themselves, to free their mind and disappear into a world of their own imagination, Math freed his mind. 

The numbers and symbols filled up his mind as they set free the itch to do something. The numbers and symbols built the world, each equation bent his perception of reality as it gave him a deeper understanding of the objects around him. His page filled with equations, each one as complicated and powerful as the others, each varying in importance, most were useless but fun. 

Logan loved math. He loved the ability to understand and identify everything with various amounts of knowledge. He loved the fact that everything worked out in the end. The knowledge that no matter what his mistakes were, he could find them, he could fix them. Everything would make sense. 

Sometimes he lost himself to the calculations, sometimes when the world around him got too complicated. When the world around him became too incomprehensible, when there was a mistake he couldn’t fix. When his life became too messy he would escape to a world where there were only right answers and wrong answers, where there was no place for errors, and no place for emotions and biases. 

Logan was a mess, but with each algebraic equation he solved and each formula he used and piece of data he collected, he would sort himself out. His thoughts slowed to the speed of his hand as he tried to keep his writing intelligible. His mind focused on the letters and numbers on the page rather than the mistakes of the day. 

Math was always right. Numbers had never let him down, and any mistake or wrong answer was his own fault and something he could fix. Logan could correct his formula or equation. He couldn’t correct his emotions or feelings, he couldn’t correct how others saw him, and he couldn’t correct the mistakes he made that day. 

But none of that mattered. None of that mattered because his emotions and feelings weren’t wrong, because it didn’t matter how people saw him, and because his mistakes couldn’t be corrected and forgotten, but they could be fixed. Logan wasn’t perfect, there was a lot of things he didn’t know, but there was a lot of things he did know. 

In his life he always knew that someone else would see him as unintelligent in one form or another. An author would think his poems were bad, a mathematician would think that his math was slow and done in the most horribly cliche an inefficient way. Logan knew that, although he was always going to seem like an idiot next to the greats, people still thought he was intelligent. 

Virgil still looked impressed when Logan would start talking about mental illnesses and diseases. Virgil once made a comment about learning something new whenever he talked to Logan. Logan knew that it was an offhanded joke, but he still clung to that as his drive to keep learning, so he could see the way Virgil’s face lit up when he found out some interesting fact. 

Roman would ask Logan for tips about poetry. He would bite back his ego to make a comment on how skilled Logan was. Roman was always thrilled to hear about Logan’s newest poetry. Roman kept pushing Logan to study poems, to dive into his emotions and scribble each line on the page with enough emotion to bring the reader to tears, and keep them on their toes and expecting something better. Logan would study a million poems to keep Roman impressed. To keep Roman asking him for advice. 

Patton was by far the most supportive. He would ask about the smallest things like the growing conditions of flowers or the best skills each animals possessed. Patton would compliment Logan’s intelligent the moment he stopped explaining whatever tangent Patton sent him on. Logan would study twice as hard. His eagerness to impress and stay valuable pushed him to his limits to some days.

It might’ve seen narcissistic to say it like that, but he would regularly express his love for the others knowledge, even when it made him feel like he wasn’t needed. He absolutely adored it when Virgil would tell him some ghost facts, he loved to hear each little piece of information Virgil was willing to give him. Logan regularly found himself in awe as Virgil talked about a new supernatural being or he showed him his newest painting. Virgil was talented, more than Logan could ever dream to be. 

Roman could build worlds, his ideas spun and twisted until Logan couldn’t even begin to study it all. Logan loved Roman’s creativity, his thoughts and ideas. Roman was a genius when he wanted to be. The logical side knew it. He knew that Roman could create more than Logan could ever hope to. He knew that the creative side was amazing when it came to building things and doing things without instructions. Logan could do a puzzle, but Roman could make it, Roman could come up with a beautiful picture and bring life to it. Logan knew that he would never be like that. 

Patton understood emotions like no one else. Logan always felt like a robot when he talked about emotions with Patton. The fatherly side would know just what to say to cheer someone up. Logan knew the textbook idea of emotions, he knew how they appeared to the mass majority. Logan had spend a night finding out the physical and mental effects of love and the chemical reactions of the brain. But Patton could tell you all that information at a moments notice. Patton understood the world in all its complexities and flaws, and yet he still found the amazing uplifting things buried deep below. 

Logan couldn’t compare himself to them. They had their own strengths and weaknesses. It was unfair and counter productive to compare himself to people with skills so far different from his own. Why should he compare himself to the geniuses of the past when he was in the present with his own ideas and skills. Why should he compare himself to the people around him when they were so different. 

Times have changed and people are different. He didn’t need to be perfect. His strengths weren’t depicted by the people around him. He could spend the rest of his life looking up to people. He could wish for their intelligence or destroy himself for not being the same level. Or he could work hard to become like them, he could be inspired by them rather than discouraged by them. Logan wasn’t perfect, far from it, but he was Logan Sanders, he was intelligent and powerful in his own way. He didn’t need some old men who have studied their entire life to tell him that he was an idiot, because he was nowhere near that. 

Logan Sanders was nothing short than a genius in his own right. Sometimes that was difficult to see, sometimes he had a hard time doing that. But if he couldn’t be proud of his skills, then he was going to work until he could be. 

[appliancesreviews]

Most popular Built-In Dishwashers 2019 Review

This review is updated regularly with new models Last updated: October 14, 2019 Dishwashing problem has existed for several centuries. The development of the catering system has further aggravated it. Of course, cleaning a huge amount of dishes from fats, their further rinsing and drying was a difficult and time-consuming task. As a result, the market has formed a demand for its solution. Of course, many inventors enthusiastically have responded to this problem. In 1850, Joel Houghton invented and patented a hand-operated dishwashing machine. Already in 1865 another patent was issued for a similar design. But these primitive devices are not widespread due to low efficiency. The first practical dishwasher was created by Josephine Garis Cochrane in Chicago in 1887. But it also used a manual drive.

The first dishwasher for home use was proposed by the Englishman William Howard Livens in 1924. It contained almost all the elements of the modern model, with the exception of the dryer. Unfortunately, they were very expensive. And only in the 1970s the price of home models became available for wide distribution. Certainly, modern models are not much like their prototypes. Today the market offers a huge number of different dishwashers. Of course, a wide selection pleases consumers, but sometimes complicates the choice, which depends primarily on the functionality and specs models. But mostly, portable, built-in, and compact countertop dishwashers are the most popular. Of course, the format of the article does not pretend to be a detailed analysis and offers only a few modern popular built-in dishwashers, including: - LG LDF5545ST Front Control Dishwasher with QuadWash and EasyRack Plus; - Frigidaire Gallery FGID2466QF 24" Built-In Dishwasher; - Bosch SHPM88Z75N 24" 800 Series.

LG LDF5545ST

Key Features - innovative QuadWash technology. It uses four sprayers instead of the traditional two, increasing dishwashing efficiency.

In addition, each of the blades can rotate in two directions. Periodic change of rotation direction ensures dishwashing from all sides; - EasyRack Plus increases the capacity due to the optimizing the configuration of the racks depending on the dishes size.

- 15 place settings capacity; - extra options, including a countdown timer, overnight dry, single-rack washing, Delay Start up to 12 hours, Machine-Clean cycle, Dual Zone, Half Load and Night Dry options; - additional Pots and Pans, Casseroles, Glassware and Night Care cycles. - UV sanitization uses an UV lamp on the wall of the washing chamber to sterilize dishes.

According to the company, it removes up to 99.9% of bacteria. The mode works during 25 minutes after the end of the cycle. In addition, the UV sterilization cycle is programmed to run a second time if the dishwasher door has not been opened after two hours.

Frigidaire Gallery FGID2466QF 24" Built-In Dishwasher

Key Features - model has innovative OrbitClean Wash System, which uses 4 times more water per one cycle for intensive dishwashing.

Of course, it reduces cycle time with the same quality, but also increases water consumption. It's used in a convenient 34-minute Quick Clean. - the top-rack-only wash is very convenient in many cases. - dry score reaches 56% with "Sahara dry" option; - AquaSurge technology adjusts washing pressure; - Sanitize cycle removes op to 99.9% of common household bacteria; According to the company, SpaceWise Organization System provides cleaning 14 place settings per cycle. But really, racks provide comfortable accommodation for 11 place settings.

- DishSense technology automatically adjusts the cycle time; - Stay-Put Door holds the door at whatever angle during loading and unloading.

In addition, FGID2466QF offers easy-to-use cleaning cycle options including Rinse Only, Heavy Clean and Upper Rack. Pluses include very stylish design, My Favorite cycle, which saves a cycle-plus-wash option configuration, good user settings (at 3 different wash pressures, wash temperatures, and drying methods), 33-minute Quick Wash cycle, NSF Certified, silverware basket, fully integrated control panel, and exellent functionality. The list of cons includes the unsuccessful design of tines on the upper rack, increased operating cost due to high water consumption, high noise level up to 52 dB, inefficiency water filter design, too complicated control, and plastic inner tub.

Bosch SHPM88Z75N

Key Features - CrystalDry technology. PerfectDry with patented CrystalDry technology increases the drying efficiency without increasing energy consumption. It uses zeolite, which absorbs moisture and convert it into a warm air stream upon activation PerfectDry function. Unfortunately, these models are expensive. Previously, only three Bosch dishwashers used this technology and cost at least $ 1,500. Today, Bosch offers the models with this technology for about $ 1,000; - the ExtraDry option increases drying intensity by increasing the temperature of the hot air stream; - completely stainless steel; - 16 Place Settings; - Pocket Handle; - three adjustable heights on the upper rack; - InfoLight projects a red light onto the floor during the wash cycle. As known, some Bosch models, for example SPV66TD00E, uses TimeLight option for projecting a programmed time.

- noise does not exceed 40 dBA. In this series, company uses the EcoSilence motor system, and a sound absorbing base. As a result, the model reasonably pretends to be Quietest Dishwasher; - MyWay third rack has space for ladles, knives, and chopsticks; - testing showed an excellent dishwashing quality. In particular, the model provides a cleaning level of dirty dishes of 94.5% on the Normal and 99.5% on the Heavy mode even for burnt sugar; - Half-Load option; - Sanitize option helps when cleaning ultra-messy dishes. Of course, it uses a lot of power and increases the cycle duration, but very effectively destroys germs by heating water to 160° F. In some cases, it can even be used to wash children's toys instead of a washer. In their reviews users most often mention a convenient removable cutlery basket and quiet operation.

Conclusion

1. LG LDF5545ST and Frigidaire Gallery FGID2466QF at a price of about $ 650, offer very high consumer qualities for this class. In particular, the LG LDF5545ST washes 15 place per cycle, uses innovative QuadWash technology with four sprayers, great Invertor Direct Drive, and efficient SmartDiagnosis. In addition, the model does not show any obvious cons, except for the non-integrated control panel. However, many consumers consider this a plus. But, of course, the quality of dishwashing and its drying corresponds only to an average level. In turn, Frigidaire Gallery FGID2466QF has great advanced functionality and a stylish design. Unfortunately, it has some disadvantages, including an unsuccessful top rack design, non-ideal filter operation, limited capacity, and increased water consumption. 2. Bosch SHPM88Z75N at a price of about $ 1,250, offers very high quality dishwashing, unique innovative CrystalDry technology using zeolite, traditional German reliability, 3rd rack, and very low noise due to the EcoSilence motor system and a sound absorbing base. But, of course, the optimal choice depends on personal preferences and budget. We sincerely wish you the Right Solution! This video demonstrates CrystalDry operation principle and compares the Bosch 800-Series vs KitchenAid KDTE334GPS vs Miele Classic. Read the full article

[suzanneshannon]

The Rising Complexity of JAMstack Sites and How to Manage Them

When you add anything with user-generated content or dynamic data to a static site, the complexity of the build process can become comparable to launching a monolithic CMS. How can we add rich content to static sites without stitching together multiple third-party services?

For people in the development community static site generators are a popular choice over traditional content management systems (CMS) like WordPress. By comparison static sites are usually lightweight, highly configurable, fast, easy to use and can be deployed almost anywhere.

With static websites, no code is generated on the server; we've replaced databases and server-side code with APIs and build processes.

This has become known as a JAMstack, which stands for JavaScript, APIs and Markup. I have a strong persuasion towards JAMstack sites because I feel more in control of the output than I do when working with the often large and monolithic CMSs I’ve sometimes had to use on client projects.

Despite my enthusiasm, I'm often disheartened by the steep complexity curve I typically encounter about halfway through a JAMstack project. Normally the first few weeks are incredibly liberating. It's easy to get started, there is good visible progress, everything feels lean and fast. Over time, as more features are added, the build steps become more complex, multiple APIs are added, and suddenly everything feels slow. In other words, the development experience begins to suffer.

It usually looks something like this:

One of the reasons for this steep rise in complexity is there are limits to the type of data that markdown can easily represent. Relationships are one example where static sites struggle. Relationships between pages or collections of assets (such as an image gallery) can only be represented by markdown in inefficient ways. It requires significant preprocessing to resolve anything more complicated than a simple set of tags or categories. If you’ve ever had to do it, you will also know the authoring experience of managing relationships in markdown isn’t ideal.

User-generated content is another area that can cause a steep rise in the complexity of static sites. Adding features like comments, ratings, likes or any other kind of dynamic content will require third-party services — each has its own account that needs to be managed, not to mention that adding third-party scripts can have a negative impact of page performance.

If a service doesn't match your specific requirements, sometimes it’s possible to cobble solutions together using generic platforms like Google Forms or AirTable.

The end result is we've outsourced the database, fragmented the content management experience and stitched together a bundle of compromises. That’s a stark contrast from the initial ease of setting up and deploying a JAMstack site.

Although this complexity curve is not unique to JAMstack projects, adding rich features to markdown-driven sites is far more difficult than we care to admit. What happened!? A lack of complexity was one of the reasons we favored JAMstack in the first place.

We did that thing that web developers do. We moved the complexity from one space into another and congratulated ourselves 😂. Not having complexity on the server-side is good for front-end performance, but there is little incentive to optimize any further once we do this. Ridiculous build times and complicated tool-chains have become an acceptable reality for modern front-end web development.

JAMstack Plus

Before I come across as sounding too critical, I should make it clear that I absolutely love static site generators. I think they are a perfect solution for many simple sites and you should still use them. However, I feel like a simple content management layer that I own and can configure is preferable to:

poor content management experiences,

complicated integration of third-party services, and

inefficient build processes.

I want to combine the benefits of a CMS with static site generators.

And it seems I'm not the only one who has reached this conclusion:

WordPress (et al) is often pitted _against_ static site generators.

I get it. They feel like different worlds.

But SSG’s just take input and make static output. You may still want/need a CMS, and WordPress can be that. It has APIs that a SSG can injest.

— Chris Coyier (@chriscoyier) June 11, 2019

My encounters with static site generators lead me to the opinion that they are incredibly compelling as a way to work, but be sure you really do want a static site. Too often what I see is a messy compromise to deal with stuff a DB would make easy.

— Rachel Andrew (@rachelandrew) September 20, 2019

WordPress is a fantastic and familiar content editing experience, but what if you could deploy your site statically for ultimate speed, stability, and security? ⚡️You can, and here’s a great rundown of plugins for doing headless WordPress on Netlify: https://t.co/lz6fscbX3q

— Netlify (@Netlify) July 30, 2019

The solution doesn’t need to be another third-party service or require abandoning static sites entirely. You can use a personalized content management layer and unified API to enrich a static site. It might not be as hard as you think.

The first step is to create an API for your site. You can use any headless CMS, but the challenge I’ve had with many options is they make a lot of assumptions about the type of content you want. You might not want the CMS to manage pages and posts, but rather use it to store comments or images. I find this particularly difficult with WordPress. I often feel like I’m forcing a blogging platform to be just the service I need.

The new version of KeystoneJS (Keystone 5) is an excellent alternative to more opinionated content management systems. It's made up of tiny independent components, so you only add the parts you need. This means it doesn’t feel like modifying a blogging platform. Instead it's like creating a personalized mini-CMS and API to work specifically with your site.

I call this approach JAMstack Plus.

To help you get started with this idea I've created two projects:

Supermaya, a starter kit for the static site generator Eleventy.

Keystone JAMstack Plus, a blog enrichment platform.

Introducing Supermaya

The first project I want to share with you is Supermaya, an Eleventy starter kit designed to help add rich features to a blog or website without a complicated build process.

It comes with the all "blog standard" features including:

Posts and Pages

Pagination

Tags

RSS feed

Service worker

Lazy loading images

Critical CSS (if enabled)

It also has considerate and accessible markup. If deployed correctly, it should get full scores on a lighthouse audit out-of-the-box:

Supermaya scores 100% on Lighthouse tests.

I didn’t build Supermaya specifically as a platform to add user-generated content to static sites. Instead, I started it because I was not satisfied with the way existing static site generators integrate with other build tools. That’s why all the pre-processing steps in Supermaya are built into Eleveny itself. This includes the compilation of SCSS and JavaScript. Unifying the compilation steps eliminates the need for build tools like Grunt, Gulp or Webpack running in parallel.

After this, I realized the other reason for increasing complexity on JAMstack sites was integration with third-party services, usually for user-generated content. To solve this, Supermaya has optional tie-ins with a Keystone JAMstack Plus starter-kit, which makes it easier to add user-generated content and other rich features.

You can deploy both Keystone and Supermaya together and connect them at the same time by following the instructions during installation. This will deploy Keystone to Herouku and Supermaya to Netlify, as well as configure your admin user and API URL.

Rich features are added with progressive enhancement, so if the API cannot be reached or there is a server error, the site will continue to function without noticeable degradation or delays for users.

JAMstack Plus starter kit

The Keystone JAMstack Plus starter kit allows you to add rich features to a blog including:

Comments

Claps

Reading list, and

Logins

Just like Supermaya, it can be used on its own. After it’s deployed, you’ll get access to an admin interface that allows you to create and manage content. You’ll also get a GraphQL endpoint that can be connected to Supermaya.

It’s configured with the intention of being a headless CMS for user-generated content. It expects pages and posts to be managed by a static site generator. However, with a little work — and following the examples in Supermaya — you can connect any front-end to the GraphQL API.

I’d encourage you to modify the starter-kit: Add additional features or provide content for pages directly from Keystone. If you add features that could be used by the rest of the community contribute back to the starter-kit and we can make it easier for everyone to add rich features to their sites without the need for third-party services.

Note: The automatic deploy will deploy to a free instance of Heroku. This will sleep periodically if not used which can result in slow API response times after periods of inactivity. You can upgrade to a hobby instance to avoid this.

Consider owning your own data

JAMstack and servers are not incompatible. There’s always a server (usually multiple) — it’s just a question of who owns it. If you are using any kind of third-party service, the chances are they own your account information, your content and collect user data.

Sometimes this might be an acceptable compromise compared with the overhead of deploying and managing a back-end service, but when the complexity of stitching together several APIs becomes comparable to a CMS, I believe managing a tiny configurable service that you own, can provide a better experience for users, developers and content managers. It also provides a solid platform for websites to grow beyond purely static content into more complicated and varying types of applications.

I don’t think JAMstack should defined by pushing all the complexity into the front-end build process or by compromising on developer and user experience. Instead, I think JAMstack should focus on providing lean, configurable static front-ends. These can be connected to APIs to provide user-generated data and content management services. There is no reason not to own and manage these services, if it provides the best outcome.

The Rising Complexity of JAMstack Sites and How to Manage Them published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

[20qs20somethings]

Aaron, 25

1. Can you use three to five words to describe our generation? Creative, Independent, Defiant

2. Talk about a person or an experience that has helped shape you into the person you are today? I was raised by a lot of very strong women and my family is a lot of people who really believe in hard work, passion, independence, as well as the strength that comes with community. So I would say the people who shaped me the most would be my mom and grandmother because they really led by example and lead everything they do in life with love. My mom raised me when she was a teenager and my grandmother brought all of her children over to the states from Jamaica. She and my grandfather raised this whole family as the first generation to immigrate to the states and her perspective on life and work is always thinking about the person next to you as opposed to yourself so much. They shaped me the most because they are very strong, resourceful, compassionate, artistic people who always encouraged me to do the thing that I felt the most scared about doing but that I also felt the most excited about doing at the same time. 

3. Talk about your relationship with social media? Social media has become this necessary evil for a lot of people. I don’t think many people are thrilled to log on anymore, you do it out of necessity and habit. But I do think there are communities of people who are using it in ways that excite me. Social media kind of feels like this puzzle that isn’t quite connected to real life in a way that is meaningful. There’s still this projection of another self that we put out on Instagram or things we say on Twitter for attention, retweets or engagement and there is a more authentic version of someone’s self that they’re willing to present to the world. I really would rather not be on Twitter all day.

4. Who or what is your biggest motivator in life? My friends. I’m really blessed to have a community of black writers and creators who support each other. We kind of found each other just through admiring each other’s work, our drive, and now our collective vision for what the future might look like online and other spaces. They are my rock and they are such beautiful people. I think whenever one of us shines, all of us shine and we try to make sure that we are always there for each other and lift each other up. Whenever I see them doing great work, it makes me want to do great work as well.

5. Do you believe in love? Of course.

6. Fill in the blank: “Happiness is _______” Community

7. What are your thoughts on race? I think race is something people can use to both edify and bring down. When we talk about race, conversations on race are centered around whiteness and what whiteness does to other groups of people. But I also think that race is something that there is a deep sense of pride and individuality with it as well.

For me at least, my blackness is something that I carry a lot of esteem, pride, and joy because I love being black, I love being surrounded by black people, I love lifting black people up and singing praises and making it clear that what we do, what we make and how we live is valid, necessary and beautiful. So for me, race is something that even if it began as a system of oppression, wherein most cases a white person decided to marginalize another group that isn’t white, I think that we’ve come a long way and have established and built remarkable communities that identify as both products and overcomers of their own oppression which is a really amazing and devastating thing. 

Whenever someone points at you and says you’re lesser than, in that process you’re able to become stronger. That says a lot about the resilience of your people and what they stand for and what they believe is true, which is in direct defiance of being called lesser than. Race is complicated and it’s messy and it’s fascinating. But as far as I’m concerned and my family and friends who are concerned, being black is a gorgeous, complicated, intricate, and a powerful thing.

8. Who or what brings you the greatest joy in your life? Probably my sister Eliyana. She was born when I was 15 (we have the same mom and have different fathers) When Eliyana was born, she was the only sibling who shared the same mom as me and I was an only child in that sense in my mom’s home growing up. So when Eliyana was born, I felt this new sense of purpose in my life that I haven’t really felt before. I was having a conversation with her recently, she’s 9 now. We were talking about work, what I did that day and I said, “I was working with some of the developers on our team.” So I started to explain everything developers do, how they build things, how they code websites and she was like, “I think I wanna do that, that sounds cool.” 

But whenever I tell her anything I do that involves someone doing something cool, she thinks she can do it. Without hesitation she’s like “my brother does something like that so I want to do something like that.” It fills me with so much joy and pride and I swell with emotion every single time she says something like that to me because it not only reminds me of the possibility of everything when you were young, but she’s this intelligent, brilliant kid who the world is not something that’s daunting to her, it’s something she wants to jump into and do amazing things in. Not to mention, she’s a really funny person. 

9. Do you think the American Dream is still alive? The American Dream is this idea of success that was only afforded to certain people for a long time. It’s like the biggest PR stunt in American History. The way that that was coded to mean something to white people was really astounding. The American dream wasn’t for me, it wasn’t for my family. I think it was something that was specifically invented and coded as a whisper to people who are privileged and already had access to that ladder that it describes. 

The whole term and idea is really sinister to me because it was kind of pointing fingers at people and saying that the only way you can quantify your success is by working through a certain system to get that success and really not acknowledging the context that people bring with them when they come to America and a lot of time the context...is not one of coming here to build a better life, it was to survive. 

There were a lot of promises that came with coming here, but it was not the golden vision that it portrayed itself as when people got here. For a lot of people who are black Americans, getting to America was not a choice. No, I don’t think the American Dream as it was invented and as it was pushed out to people and the ideology behind it is not something that i think is available to everyone. 

10. Would you rather have security or fulfillment in your work? Fulfillment.

11. What are your thoughts on marriage? Marriage to me is mostly something that I think about in terms of choice and having the option to do something like that. I don’t like to be in people’s business as much, they can make their own choices, but I think people should...have the option to do that. 

12. Do you think there’s a certain pressure to live a certain life online? I think it definitely exists. I think that if people feel that pressure, they should always interrogate where that’s coming from and what they’re trying to emulate and go after. I think there’s always validity to anyone presenting themselves in any way they want to, but if that pressure is leading to them feeling negative about themselves or other people then I think it requires some inward questions about why that is and always taking a breath wondering why they feel the need to do this, and if that answer is truly positive, then that’s fine.

13. What do you want out of this life? I would like to live without hesitation, to feel like I’m free of any system or any person. To make the people around me happy to be around me in a genuine way. 

14. What’s something that makes you angry? Inefficiency, people who are bad at communicating.

15. Do you think our generation is too focused on being politically correct? I think whenever people talk about political correctness and what is too much and too little, the conversation should really shift toward: What is the intent? What are you trying to get someone to do? Are you calling someone out because you want to look cool or you want to look like you’re smarter than them, or you want retweets, or are you calling someone out because you’re genuinely invested in them getting better and being better. I am of the school of thought that I am not on this earth to educate everyone and I don’t expect everyone to do the same for me. So I think we really have to think about our intent and think about the fact that not everyone is going to change, not everyone’s going to get to that place with us that we’re all understanding of each other. Some people are just not going to make it there and you just have to let them fester in their ignorance. It’s too much work to be policing, correcting, and all that effort. 

16. How do you want to be remembered? Someone who in everything that they did was dedicated to making it better and helping people be their best selves and making their best work in conjunction with making things that are great.

17. What are qualities that you value? Compassion, great work ethic, empathy, honesty, creativity

18. Fill in the blank, “I wish we had more _______ in the world”   Sincerity 

19. How would you describe what it’s like to navigate your 20s? There’s a lot of waiting for something to happen. I’m a hardworking person and I’ve put a lot of time into my career, friendships, and people I know, but I was still waiting for this script to appear to give me a recap and give me a path forward. I think it’s this year I finally realized that no one is going to write that for me except for myself, I have to take those steps to move. I think realizing that is daunting too because you don’t know which step to take or what to do. But I think the first five years of my twenties was a lot of thinking to myself, “oh people say when you’re 23 or 24 this or that should happen.”

20. What is the best piece of advice you want to leave the world with? Always find your peace, always know where the sources of that are, and always make that your default in everything you do. There are times to be fast, there are times to be slow, times where you need to be bold and loud, but I think the one place people will always find the most clarity is when they’re at peace. 

[lordviridis]

30 Day SWTOR OC Challenge - Day 10

Day 10: Politics

Let’s talk politics. Are they solidly on the side of the Republic or the Sith Empire or are they neutral? What are your character’s political opinions? (Ideas for topics: slavery, the Jedi, the Sith, the Outer Rims, the Dark Council, the Republic Senate, etc.) What issues do they prioritize, and what issues do they ignore? Do they desire to do something to change politics or do they not bother? Do they trust their political leaders?

As a Dark Councillor Gesad cannot avoid politics so it’s probably a good thing she likes the intrigue and power plays that are part of Sith politics. Her positions also speaks for her loyalties, she is loyal to the Empire though does have plenty of ideas for ways to improve. 

Slavery: Against, as a former slave she will never be able to understand why anyone would be for it. She has seen what slavery does to a person, how it’s meant to break them and take their rights and freedoms away. She hates how it devalues people based on no reason at all and how it squashes their potential. She believes that the Empire would benefit a lot from their talents.

Xenophobia: Another big thing she wants to change in the Empire. As an alien, she has fought against bias her entire time in the Empire and always proved them wrong. She is aware that different species have different biology but that doesn’t make one inherently inferior, besides plenty of species are better than humans at some things (and she loves reminding people of it).

The Republic and the Senate: She didn’t care about the Republic until she became Sith. Her opinion is coloured by what the Hutts talked about the Republic and Imperial education and propaganda. Neither had a favourable opinion so Gesad hadn’t heard good things about the Republic or the Senate. After she started travelling the Galaxy she started forming her own opinion. That didn’t end up all that favourable, she sees the Republic as inefficient and the Senate as corrupt. Also the Republic’s hypocrisy is a big no-no for her, and as far as she’s concerned the Republic talks big about helping their citizens but really don’t. And then there’s the entire war thing.

Democracy: Something that Gesad has never witnessed in action but as member of the Empire’s leadership she must have an opinion on it. Honestly she just sees it as messy and something that can only work in theory and not in practice. For her democracy needs well educated and active citizenship with leaders who can’t be bought off during elections. So she sees competent rules appointed for life as a better option. 

The Outer Rim and Hutts: For her the Outer Rim is the pit of the Galaxy. She believes the Hutts are lawless criminals and need to be made accountable. She also hates the Hutts for personal reasons. So as far as she is concerned as soon as the Republic is dealt with the Empire should just take over the entire Outer Rim and Hutt space and bring order.

The Jedi: Gesad sees the Jedi as the Republic’s pawns, too blind to even notice they are being used. Too bound by their rules and unfollowable code, hypocritical as well. She just doesn’t get them, born with all that power and freedom and they just hand it over to serve a government that throws them away when it’s politically convenient.

The Sith: As a Sith and an ex-slave she has complicated feelings when it comes to the Sith. She does see the Sith as rightful rulers of the Empire and as the best candidates for deciding it’s direction. She also believes that those with power are responsible for their subjects and doesn’t take kindly to those who abuse that power.

The Dark Council: Are you allowed to criticise the august body you are part of? Yes, you are. On the whole she feels that the Council is the best form to rule the Empire but feels that it could be better divided and the members better vetted. She has no idea how people like Jadus, Baras, and Arkous got their seats but wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Also she believes that the Council should act responsibly and lead the Empire rather than waste time with petty power struggles.  

Gesad want to improve the Empire and now is in a position to do it. For her slavery is the biggest issue and she wants to outlaw it. She ignores the power difference between Sith and non-Force-sensitives as she doesn’t see it as a problem. She also knows she doesn’t have that many allies in the Council and certainly doesn’t trust them on a personal level. Despite her personal misgivings about the other she does trust most of them to work for betterment of the Empire, even if they don’t agree on the direction. After all, they are the ones who have most to lose if the Empire is defeated.