#relatively simple thought process for most of these in terms of typing

[almond-tofu-chan]

my silly goofy take on the alien stage pokemon teams that i simultaneously put too much effort into, and none at all :3

[originalartblog]

"Nawy what do you MEAN quick-ish 3D render it's got scratches and everything and I thought this was real for a minute!!"

Well, first, thank you very much that was the intention ❤, and second, you see, all speed is relative, and between finding my references, modeling, texturing and lighting, on top of having to learn how to make convincing gems, it still took me quite a few hours. I, however, cut corners everywhere for speed, and I wouldn't put this piece in a portfolio in its current state.

But! for the curious, I thought I could do a simple breakdown of how the witchcraft happens, without using too much specialized language to make it more accessible. In short,

In this case, I’m talking about a 3D model that was textured (colours and stuff) and then lit (lights on!) to make a pretty final picture. The objective is not to make a tutorial, but to put in simple terms what a 3D artist does to make something go from this, to that:

(people curious and/or trying to see if this interests them welcome)

I'm skipping the 3D modeling part altogether, since it isn't where most of the magic happens here. Just know that to be able to add colour and stuff on a 3D object, you have to go through the process or "unwrapping" it, which is like doing those foldable cubes in reverse

and then we can draw on it!!

Now, the good stuff:

Surfaces (metal, plastic, fabric, wood, skin, etc.) have different looks that make you able to differentiate them on sight. To make something look realistic, you have to try to replicate real life into the 3D world (duh.)

The software developers took care of the hard part (math and coding), so as artists we can play with the parameters available to make something pretty. What those parameters are depend on which "recipe" we're using. One of the most common "recipes" for realistic results is called PBR: Physically Based Rendering, named that way because it's trying to replicate real-life light physics. In this case, the 4 basic parameters are called albedo, roughness, metalness, and normal.

Albedo is the base colour of the surface (easy stuff). Roughness is to determine if a surface is rough or shiny. Metalness is to say if something is made out of metal or not. The normal is there to add all those tiny details you don't want to or can't sculpt on your 3D model (engravings, fabric bumps, etc.)

The roughness and metalness are black and white images because the information you're giving to the software is black = no and white = yes. It's easier to understand in the metalness image, where everything that is NOT a metal is black, and everything that IS a metal is white.

The normal is a bit more complex, but in short, it uses the colours green and red to know what is up/down or left/right, and will help the software fake relief on top of the model. You don't make it by hand; it's computer-generated from other stuff I'm not getting into.

With the technical stuff out of the way, we can actually use these. There are specialized softwares that will let you preview the results of each parameter in real time, so you can see what you're doing easily. This is what I have.

That software comes with some types of surfaces that are already set up, like the fabric in my piece, which was already 85% good for me straight out of the box. Then, it's up to me to use the tools available to decide how shiny a surface is, if there's dust or scratches and where, what colours things are, if there's metal parts, etc. That's where you can see a 3D artist's skills.

And finally, you bring it all together into a specialized software that can render 3D stuff and use those images on the corresponsing parameters, and then light the scene.

Because it all comes down to this: the light! For something realistic, light is vital to get right. You can pour your heart and soul into those tiny scratches, but if you don't light the scene correctly, well...

So we carefully light the scene to get some nice highlights to make the textures look good and highlight our subject (it's basically a photography studio inside a computer)

And then we add some camera effects...

and voilà! pretty picture!!

... and if you somehow did notice something different with the bolo tie from my last post, I did find out while taking all these screenshots that I messed up my initial renders in a way that made everything darker than it was supposed to be and that's why my gold looked so muddy...

I hope this was interesting and that you learned a thing or two!

[evillemons]

heyy! i hope you’re doing well :) i was wondering what do you think bts would be like courting someone? e.g making CDs, or writing love letters or giving just cute simple dates. more romantic gestures or more simpler / practical ones?

and how long do you think they would court someone until they give up💀(if they do lmao). also i love ur writing :)) 🧡💜

Hello! I am doing excellent, thank you. And I'm glad to hear you enjoy my writing! I often get demotivated, but knowing that there are people out there who actually read my content makes me want to keep going :) Here is my take on this prompt:

How BTS would court someone

V - It would take Tae quite a while to develop feelings for someone that are beyond surface level (and I don't think he would approach someone unless he feels a strong emotional pull towards them). However, the hopeless romantic that he is, he would be relentless when it comes to winning over his crush's affection. He would definitely be the type to deliver flowers to her work or home on the regular (by hand), or show up at her house spontaneously to ask for an impromptu date. He might also try to impress her with his creative side by taking her to a pottery/painting class or playing his beloved saxophone for her. While I think he would be relatively persistent and not be quick to give up, he might lose interest or motivation if she does not reciprocate after a while.

Jungkook - It wouldn't take much to fall for Jungkook for most people (because look at him) but I have a feeling he will end up falling for a girl one day that is completely uninterested in him and his fame. In this case, he would become completely tunnel-visioned towards winning her over. All the romantic gestures - offering to take her on fancy dinner dates, inviting her to watch rehearsals/shows backstage, driving around the city in his Mercedes, buying her a pair of luxury shoes - anything flashy to impress her. I think he would be so blinded by the fact that that he likes someone so much and be inclined to skip the "get to know you phase" completely. I don't think he would be unreceptive to feedback, though; if he senses that she's uncomfortable, he'd probably back off a little and take things slower.

RM - Namjoon wouldn't be very likely to court someone "officially", as he would prefer to observe and learn first. He would start by getting to know her very slowly and gradually, maybe slipping out a witty compliment or two to peak her interest. When he's ready to pursue a relationship, he might gift her something small but thoughtful like a plushie that she admired in a store alongside a handwritten note, or a delicately selected music playlist based on her tastes (I truly see gift giving being his love language). If she's an intellectual, he would want to impress her by reading up on a topic she's interested in or by having a deep conversation. He definitely would not go overboard in fear of scaring her away or making her uncomfortable. He also would disengage immediately if she gave him the slightest hint that she wasn't interested, not because he gave up, but because he's a gentleman who respects people's boundaries.

SUGA - Not much of a courter at all. It's much more likely that someone would approach him first, or that a long-term friendship would evolve into a relationship gradually. His version of courting someone, however, would be getting to know all the little things about them, discovering their interests (especially their music taste), and figuring out what makes them happy. This would be all be done quietly, and then shown in subtle ways like making a playlist he thought she would like or joining her in an activity she enjoys (that he may not necessarily care for otherwise). It would be an organic process with someone he has a natural connection with, so there wouldn't really be an opportunity for "giving up"; it would just naturally fizzle out if it didn't work.

Jin - As I've mentioned many times, Jin is a major introvert and doesn't like to expend too much of his energy on other people. However, I don't think he would be lazy when it comes to someone he likes. Like many of the other boys, flowers would be a go to, but likely shipped to her rather than hand delivered because he would get too shy to do it himself. Courting would be a rather slow process, with interactions being more "formal" in the early days, and there would be absolutely no physical touch until the relationship is official. Outings would be traditional and romantic - dinner dates, walks along the river, a drive-in movie theater. If he's really brave he might hold her hand. I actually do think Jin would be very determined when courting someone because he does like to hold that traditional "masculine" role.

j-hope - Hobi would hardly need to go out of his way to peak someone's interest, as his naturally vibrant and positive energy would make anyone fall for him. He's also quite attentive and considerate towards the people he cares about, so I think this would be magnified x10 when he's interested in someone romantically. He might bring her flowers if he's feeling extra romantic, but his displays of affection would mostly be via acts of service like bringing her lunch at work or offering to run errands with her. Although Hoseok is the bougie king himself, he would offer more casual dates like a picnic at the park or a local fair or couples class. I actually do see him being relatively determined in courting her - he would be consistent in trying to talk to her on the daily/asking her on weekly dates. And it's not because he's trying too hard, that's just how he is.

Jimin - Jimin would be the sweetest man alive when he's smitten. He is visibly loving and affectionate, so it wouldn't be difficult to tell when he's interested in someone. He would use a combination of light physical touch, teasing, compliments, lighthearted dates, and maybe small gifts, to woo her. I see Jimin being the type to want to go above and beyond and put maximum effort into showing someone that he likes them, but I also think he would be aware that it might come across as overbearing. He would start with something small, like giving her a bouquet of flowers with a note asking her on a date, and then following her lead based on what she likes from there (by possibly straight up asking what she would like him to do). Jimin is persistent in the sense that he would not give up easily even if one of his plans doesn't go well, but only up to a point where she is comfortable and receptive.

[worldscollidinginone]

Chapter 8a - What's Next?

Book masterlist

I broke up with Sid. I felt a little sad about it, but I felt as if I was stuck. There was no newness in the relationship and besides, I like what I have with Raghuvendra. 

I know what I have done to Sid is not right. I had slept with Raghuvendra, to get close and, maybe get some more information about the American project that Riya is producing. Maybe, I also felt that if he had found out from somewhere else, he would have left me, so I left him. 

There's fun, a little bit of competition but it's healthy, kind of. Hopefully, this one will be different. 

I saw Riya and Raghuvendra arguing about something, and she looks pissed. Like it's about to blow. 

I hope they resolve it between them. 

We took the cab home, and they all crashed at my place. But I felt that something wrong was going to happen, I just didn’t know what. 

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ 

The next day

After the catastrophe that was last night, I decided the best way to start a new day was to indulge in my own thoughts and imagination and starting the process of writing the script. And I also must talk about what happened last night with HR, I think. In case that was not clear, I did not go to work today. 

I woke up relatively early, washed myself, made myself a cup of tea, and sat in front of the blinking Word document, hoping that imagination comes knocking on my brain, so I can start writing, but nothing. 

My brain was so fried that, I couldn’t even formulate a simple sentence. It also didn’t help that my own office is covered in trinkets that I found during my travels, and there is a special place where I left sone of the most important, happy, and painful things stored in that little steel container, hidden away on the top of my wardrobe. 

Today, it felt like the memories were calling me again, so that they could wash me again for the umpteenth time. So, I let them. 

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ 

After a few weeks

Everyone knew or maybe they assumed that I would let Raghuvendra on my project that the stunt he pulled that night, so HR got notified and that effectively meant that he was out of my project. 

While I was nearly finishing the call with HR, I received a text message. I thought it was going to be an update on my Amazon delivery, but it wasn’t. 

It was a text from an old friend, a friend that supported me, but I couldn't stay back. 

The text asked how was I? 

How am I? 

To be honest, I… 

I couldn’t text them back, so it remained in the cluster that my messages were, unanswered, unseen, and unread. 

In the meantime, I got another text and this time it was Ahaana.

After a few minutes, she starts typing again.

After I had sent that last message, I felt faint, so I went to the bathroom to face. After the cool water touched my face, and started dripping on my t-shirt, I felt like my breath was stuck in my throat. How could I say to her that she should move on, when I couldn’t do it myself. 

I heard another ping coming off my phone from my office, so I went to check.

After that, he left to go to her and that was the last I heard from them. As for my project, I finally decided that I was going to produce it myself. No external force would be included in here, in terms of producing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After a few days

It’s a relatively normal day at the office, except it doesn’t feel like it. 

I can sense something is about to happen. 

Riya is in her office, working but she seems on edge and fidgety as though she is going to burst. 

During lunch, she calls Fatty into the office. I wonder what they are talking about. The discussion seems to have started well; they are both smiling, and Fatty gets offered a glass of water. It looks like Riya is trying to reassure her that there is nothing wrong, yet. 

I wait for her to look towards me, but she never does. 

Later, I get called to an ad shoot to help, since the original cinematographer got sick suddenly and that took the whole morning. 

Fatty left Riya’s office a little shaken up, but she was well. 

When we get together for lunch, I see that she is a little fidgety. 

“Well, will you spit it out, I can see you vibrating over there!” 

“It’s about Raghuvendra...” 

“What about it? Actually, I didn’t see him this morning. I assumed he was here, but now that you mentioned it, I didn’t see him.” 

“He left.” 

“Left? What do you mean, left like left to take a break or...” 

“Left like he left the country to get married to his ex” 

There was silence, almost deathly silence. And then, chaos. 

“What do you mean!!? I mean how is that possible... we were talking a few days ago...how could he do this me.... wait he left to get married... Married!?” 

“He went there to get engaged...” 

“Does it matter?!!!!” 

I didn’t realise that, from the glass window covering a part of her office, Riya was trying to contact Aahana, her “supposed” friend/ acquaintance to confirm that what Aahana told her was the truth. 

Following the tragedy that was lunch, everyone got to work. Some were happy, and some were in shock. Kaira was working robotically, and Fatty was trying to get to talk about her feelings. 

At the end of the day, she was also going to get another nasty surprise and this time, the landlord was going to deliver this. 

The landlord tells her to vacate her apartment because the building association wants to rent apartments only to married couples. 

With all the support from her friend and her irritating call from her mother, she packs her bags to go home, in Goa. 

Within her thoughts, she said: “What’s next!?”

Go to Chapter 9

[lauvra]

I've never experienced whatever emotional muck this is, but because of that I'm a little intrigued, like oh they just released a new version of despair and it's automatically downloaded to library. Some of you are too young for the U2/iTunes reference but it's just like that time... Anyway, I was in an actively cynical state of aggression for hours today. I snapped out of it by painting while watching comedy podcasts. Theo Von interviewed some anger specialist recently who barely said much but did talk about how exercise and things like break rooms (smashing shit) is less effective in resolving anger than calmer activities / creates bad habits / encourages the need to act out in a specific way so I guess it's lucky I'm lazy and enjoy painting. Here's a frankly shitty trait about me. I'll feel really lonely all day, then when people get home I'm pissed off they've impeded on my isolated protocol of rotting. It's self-pity pure and simple. Disgusting. There's an italian-american guy inside me (don't) slapping the hood of a taxi, and everybody who crosses his path becomes the taxi when I'm like this. Oh, you're existing in a perfectly reasonable way in a perfectly reasonable area—I'm fuckin' walkin' 'ere! It's awful. I've got a real temper problem, and yes it's funny when a short person's angry. Basically always. It's our lot. Not to say we aren't powerful though, our centre of gravity is *mwa* bueno. Getting to the barrier at a gig and staying upright? Oisy. So anyway. What else? Yeah I think everything I say is bullshit. It's laughably hard to live with myself lately. To be so honest, this anonymous writer began a satirical Substack mocking tumblr girls like me, essentially, and it goes so hard—is so eerily astute that my friend thought it was me. To be fair, he also thought that because Substack auto-subbed him to the page since I'd recommended it lmao. I cherish that which wounds me. The personality wounded my psyche deeply at the level as effective as holding a baby by their soft-spot with two fingers as if gearing to knock down all ten pins. What else? It's probably an age thing too. I'm suddenly coming to terms with thE ReALitY in general, but also deep into the specifics. See, everything I say is such bullshit. I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown. I'm trying to maintain my curiosity about the process. It's quite seriously the only tool in my tin. It's very possible I'm becoming a bad person, which does draw into question whether that's always been the case, because usually there's foreshadowing and when I look back it's awful. What you look for, you'll find. That's the thing. When I consider everything kind and golden about myself, I become enchanted again. It's a lifelong struggle for some people not to let other people's actions reflect on one's own self-image in the type of way that feeds the inner villain. It just looks so easy for some people to be good, I can't relate to that in a lot of ways, and sometimes I think "was anybody ever good who never had to choose?" because for real I've sorted through trash and treasure for 30 years inside my own gut, I've barely ridden a bicycle, and I'm convinced that's largely the source of all my turmoil. Plus, like if I was worth knowing, why would people act like I'm not? I push the feeling aside, it grows in the most barren, nutrient-shallow environments. Touch grass, bitch. I miss the ocean, rolling hills and car-window-wound-downness of the Sunshine Coast lately. I think about "going home" all the time, then remember all my books and Penny and the pursuit of independence. And the pursuit of pursuit. I miss my family, our gatherings around the fire and the red skin of my relatives. All month I've written long posts like this then backspaced them, pointless. I'll post this.

[technicallyfadingperfection]

Beat Drug Tests - The Certo Detox Method to Success!

When it comes to detoxification, many people turn to various products and methods to help cleanse their bodies of toxins and impurities. One such product that has gained attention is certo detox . Often associated with a specific, short-term use to assist with drug testing, Certo detox is a popular remedy among those seeking a quick way to clear their system. However, its use and effectiveness have raised questions about its true potential for overall detoxification.

In this comprehensive blog, we will dive into what Certo detox is, how it works, and whether it is a reliable solution for detoxing your body. Additionally, we’ll explore some of the benefits, risks, and considerations that come with using Certo as a detox method.

What is Certo Detox?

Certo is a brand of liquid fruit pectin, commonly used in making jelly or jams, but it has also gained notoriety as a home remedy for detoxification. The process of detoxing with Certo typically involves drinking the liquid pectin along with a combination of water and other ingredients to help flush out toxins from the body, particularly in situations where individuals are attempting to pass a drug test.

Certo Detox is primarily known for its use in masking the presence of THC or other drugs in urine for a short period. Some people claim that consuming Certo, along with large amounts of water, helps to cleanse the body temporarily, making it easier to pass a drug test. The idea behind this is that the pectin in Certo binds with toxins in the body, allowing them to be flushed out more quickly through urination.

How Does Certo Detox Work?

The basic concept behind certo detox is relatively simple. The fruit pectin in Certo is a type of fiber that can bind with certain substances in the digestive system. When consumed, the liquid pectin is believed to interact with toxins, including drug metabolites, helping to trap and remove them from the body. This process is thought to temporarily lower the concentration of toxins in the urine, allowing individuals to pass drug tests with a cleaner result.

Certo detox usually involves consuming the following:

Certo liquid fruit pectin (about 1-2 pouches)

Water (to help flush out toxins)

Lemon or other acidic substances (sometimes included to enhance the detox process)

The idea is to consume the Certo mix a few hours before a drug test to give it time to work. People typically follow up with drinking plenty of water to aid in flushing out toxins.

Benefits of Certo Detox

Temporary Detoxification:The most popular use of Certo detox is for individuals attempting to pass a drug test. Its effectiveness lies in its ability to temporarily dilute the urine and mask the presence of drugs, particularly THC. When used correctly, Certo detox may help users avoid detection in urine tests.

Natural Ingredients:Certo is made from fruit pectin, a naturally occurring substance. This makes it a more "natural" option compared to synthetic detox products, which may contain harsh chemicals or unknown ingredients.

Quick and Easy Process:Certo detox is relatively simple to use and requires minimal preparation. For those in a pinch, the simplicity and convenience of Certo as a detox method make it an attractive option.

Digestive Support:Fruit pectin is a source of soluble fiber, which may have mild digestive benefits. While Certo is not a dedicated digestive supplement, some users claim that it helps support bowel regularity and may improve gut health when consumed over time.

Risks and Considerations

Temporary and Inconsistent Results:While Certo may help mask toxins temporarily, it is not a guaranteed method for passing a drug test. The effectiveness of certo detox can vary based on factors like body composition, metabolism, and the amount of toxins present in the system. There are no scientific studies that conclusively prove Certo’s effectiveness in drug testing situations, so it’s important to approach its use with caution.

Unproven Detoxification Claims:Certo detox is not a scientifically validated method for overall detoxification. While it may help temporarily dilute toxins for a short period, it does not provide long-term cleansing benefits. The human body already has natural mechanisms (such as the liver and kidneys) to detoxify and eliminate waste, and there is little evidence that Certo offers significant detox advantages outside of the context of passing a drug test.

Potential Side Effects:Some users report mild digestive discomfort, such as bloating or gas, after consuming Certo due to its high pectin content. Additionally, drinking excessive amounts of water in an attempt to flush out toxins could lead to water intoxication or electrolyte imbalances, which can be dangerous.

Ethical and Legal Concerns:Using Certo detox to pass a drug test could lead to ethical and legal issues, especially in professional environments where drug testing is a requirement. It is important to consider the potential consequences of attempting to cheat a drug test, which may include job loss, legal ramifications, or reputational damage.

Is Certo Detox Effective?

The short answer is: it depends. While many users claim Certo detox has worked for them in passing a drug test, the results can be inconsistent. The effectiveness of Certo detox is based on anecdotal evidence and is not supported by scientific research. The product itself is not intended for detox purposes, and its ability to help clear toxins from the body is not conclusively proven.

If you're looking to pass a drug test, Certo detox may offer a temporary solution, but it is far from a foolproof method. Additionally, if you're seeking a genuine detox for health or wellness purposes, there are other more reliable and natural options available, such as improving hydration, increasing fiber intake, and supporting liver function with a balanced diet.

Final Thoughts

Certo Detox may be a helpful, short-term solution for those attempting to mask toxins from drug tests, but it is not a comprehensive or reliable detox strategy. It’s important to approach certo detox with realistic expectations and to fully understand the limitations of this method. If you are concerned about drug testing or detoxification for health reasons, consulting with a healthcare professional or considering more evidence-backed detox methods may be a better choice for long-term wellness.

[visa166]

Apply Emirates Visa From Qatar Easily and Quickly 2025

Do you stay or are you a citizen of Qatar and eagerly want to visit these amazing cities and attractions in the Emirates? Apply Emirates visa from Qatar, which has never been that easy! For a more leisurely holiday, a meeting with business partners, or attending a family visit, Emirates visa acquisition is fast and easy.

All you would want to know about an Emirates visa for Qatar residents.

Why Visit the Emirates?

Indeed, it is a land of unforgettable experiences-from towering skyscrapers, luxurious shopping centers, cultural landmarks, and thrilling adventures.

Clearly, the Emirates offers something for everyone, and that's the very reason why it will forever remain one of the most sought-after destinations for travelers from Qatar.

If you are ready to visit then Apply Emirates Visa From Qatar could be the first step towards the exciting journey.

How to Apply Emirates Visa From Qatar

The Emirates Visa application from Qatar is relatively easy. With this application site you can fill in your application without much delay.

The process involves the following simple steps:

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3. Provide Required Documents: Upload your scanned copies of essential documents, including your passport and recent photograph.

4. Pay the Fees: The Emirates visa from Qatar cost will depend on your chosen visa type and duration.

5. Wait Processing Upon submission, your application is processed. And you'll have your visa electronically.

Go to [Emirates Visa Online]and it's on to a smooth experience! End

Who is Eligible?

Emirates visa for Qatar citizens: Citizens of Qatar can easily apply for a visa that will take them to the Emirates.

- Emirates visa for Qatar residents: Even the residents holding a valid Qatar residence permit have an entitlement to apply for a visa with minimal requirements.

Emirates Visa Requirements for Qatar

To apply successfully, one should check whether he qualifies for the Emirates visa for Qatar, which includes:

Passport issued is original and valid for six months beyond the entry date.

- Recent passport-sized photographs.

Flight booking to confirm.

- Accommodation proof, such as a hotel reservation or address of the place you’ll stay.

Emirates Visa Categories and Fees

The price of the Emirates visa from Qatar varies with the type and duration you will take. Some of the most popular options are:

- The Emirates tourist visa from Qatar for short-term visits.

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An online application is the fastest method to acquire an entrance. Qatar residents can apply for an Emirates visa online using the website and get the process done in a few easy steps.

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The advantages of applying for your visa using an online platform comprise of

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Discover the Emirates With Ease

An Emirates visa is the key to discover a world of wonders. Explore:

Iconic landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa and all cultural icons. Some exciting activities include desert safaris and water parks. - The poshest hotels, whitest sands, and longest nights. From a solo trip to a family visit or business travel, an Emirates visa ensures that your trip goes problem-free, from booking to landing.

Final Thoughts Emirates Visa for Qatar Passport Holder ; we've made it easy. The process is simple, affordable, and will be saving you time. Start your journey today by visiting.

[lakshinandeibam]

The Beginner's Guide to Domain Flipping: How to Profit from Digital Real Estate

In the vast online business world, domain flipping has emerged as one of the most lucrative yet often overlooked opportunities. It’s like real estate, but instead of buying and selling physical properties, you’re dealing with virtual real estate—domain names. If you’ve ever thought of turning a profit by buying and selling domain names, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know, from understanding the basics to learning how to get started.

What is Domain Flipping?

Domain flipping refers to purchasing domain names at a low price and selling them at a higher price. The goal is simple: buy low and sell high. Like flipping houses or cars, the value of the domain you buy is determined by demand, scarcity, and trends. Some domain names are more valuable than others because they are short, catchy, or tied to a booming industry.

In today’s digital-first world, a good domain name is like beachfront property. Brands are constantly looking for the perfect name that represents their business and appeals to their audience, making domain flipping a potentially profitable endeavor if you know what you're doing.

How Does Domain Flipping Work?

The process of domain flipping involves several steps:

Research and Purchase: You start by identifying valuable domain names that are either available at a low cost or could be bought cheaply from current owners. Tools like GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Sedo provide platforms where you can purchase domain names.

Hold or Improve: Once you have a domain, you can either flip it quickly for a fast return or hold onto it for a while in hopes of its value increasing. Some flippers also choose to "improve" a domain by adding basic websites or increasing its traffic, which can make it more appealing to buyers.

Sell: When you're ready, list the domain on marketplaces such as Flippa, Sedo, or eBay. You can either set a fixed price or let buyers compete in an auction format, driving up the sale price.

Why is Domain Flipping Profitable?

Domain flipping can be highly profitable due to the relatively low initial investment compared to the potential returns. Domain names can be bought for as little as $10, and some have been sold for millions of dollars. For example, the domain "Voice.com" was sold for a staggering $30 million in 2019. While not every sale will be this high, it's not uncommon for domain names to sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Several factors contribute to a domain’s value:

Length and Simplicity: Short domains are easier to remember and type, which makes them more valuable.

Keywords: Domains containing popular keywords or phrases related to trending industries can command a higher price.

Brandability: Catchy and memorable names that can easily be turned into a brand are often in high demand.

Domain Extension: Domains ending in .com are typically more valuable than other extensions like .net or .org.

How to Start Domain Flipping

1. Pick a Niche

Like any business, domain flipping works best when you specialize. Picking a niche allows you to focus on industries you understand and target domain names that are likely to be in demand. For instance, if you know a lot about technology, you might focus on tech-related domains. The more knowledge you have about a specific industry, the better equipped you are to spot valuable domain names.

2. Research, Research, Research

Before purchasing any domain, always do thorough research. Use tools like Google Trends to identify rising search terms, check the availability of similar domain names, and look at recent domain sales in your niche. The more data you have, the better your decision-making will be.

Keep in mind that domain flipping is competitive, and there are millions of domain names registered daily. Your success depends on being ahead of the curve and spotting valuable opportunities before others do.

3. Buy Low, Sell High

The mantra of domain flipping is to buy low and sell high. Start by registering domains that are either undervalued or likely to become valuable shortly. You can also explore expired domains, which are domains that previous owners let expire and can sometimes be bought at a discount.

As you gain experience, you might also consider buying domains from existing owners. This requires negotiation skills but can pay off if you can buy a domain at a lower price than its market value.

4. List Your Domains

Once you’ve purchased a domain, it’s time to sell. There are many domain marketplaces to choose from, including:

Flippa: One of the most popular platforms for buying and selling domains and websites.

Sedo: A global domain marketplace with a wide range of listings.

GoDaddy Auctions: A well-known auction site for domain names.

You can either set a fixed price or let buyers compete in an auction. Listing your domain on multiple marketplaces can increase your chances of finding a buyer.

Is Domain Flipping Right for You?

While domain flipping can be highly profitable, it's not without risks. Not every domain will sell, and it can take time to see a return on your investment. Additionally, competition in the domain market is fierce, so you'll need to be strategic and persistent.

That said if you're willing to invest the time and effort, domain flipping can be a rewarding way to make money online. It’s a low-cost, high-reward business model that can be done from anywhere, making it an attractive option for entrepreneurs, digital nomads, or anyone looking to generate passive income.

[happigreens]

Sustainable Furniture: Sabai

Sabai about:

[...] In 2019, [Phantila] Phataraprasit co-founded Sabai—a Thai word that roughly translates to comfortable or relaxed—with business partner and college friend Caitlin Ellen.

[...] “The core of why we wanted to start Sabai is to make sustainable furniture that was accessible to people in our demographic, knowing that we are part of an age group that cares the most about this and wants to purchase according to those values, but are limited by things like budget, lifestyle and convenience,” she says.

Sabai CEO interview:

[Phataraprasit]: [...] We started an Instagram account that served as a great tool to leverage our community to understand what they cared about. When we started the design process, we would always go back to the Instagram community and poll them on, "What do you use your couch for?" "Do you like wide arms?" "Do you like thin arms?" It seems so simple in terms of, obviously, a couch is for sitting, but the insights that we received from that were helpful in informing the design process."

[...] It was definitely difficult for two relatively young women who had never started this type of company before and in a relatively traditional space to find any factory that was willing to work with us and basically take a bet on us. [...] When we finally did find a manufacturer who wanted to work with us, that was amazing, [...], but for us, we [...] had to find the sustainable alternatives to every component of the product so that was definitely a whole process in and of itself.

Sabai Materials blog post:

[...] OEKO-TEX certified hemp fabric is used in our Evergreen slipcovers [...] We wanted to ensure we were using [natural fibers] that uses less water than the cotton and linen options we’ve seen offered.

In place of traditionally used polyester upholstery fiber, we are using a natural fiber material made from a mix of coconut fibers and natural rubber wherever possible. The wooden legs are finished in a water based finish and the frame construction uses a non-toxic, solvent free glue.

[Sabai furniture] are designed to be assembled and disassembled easily with standard hardware and tools. Second, both seating collections are made to be repaired, individual parts can be purchased to replace in case of damage and cushion covers and slipcovers can be replaced to ensure the longevity of the product.

B Corp status of Sabai:

Sabai third-party product review:

[exactcontractors]

Installing Shingle Roofing: Key Benefits You Need to Know

Your home's curb appearance and longevity are significantly impacted by the sort of roof you have. When it comes to roofing materials for your house, you have a lot of options. All things considered, shingle roofing is a great way to identify the required roofing level.

Shingle roofs are thought to be found on several homes, and Miami has seen a significant increase in the installation of shingle roofs. Many variables contribute to the elements' immense appeal, such as their relative affordability and their striking presence on most residential buildings. They provide homeowners with options for stylish, long-lasting, and reasonably priced tenting.

Why Choose Shingle Roofing Contactors in Miami?

The degree of complexity:

You may find asphalt shingles in an abundance of beautiful colors to complement your home's exterior design. Imitating slate or cedar sapwood roofing with asphalt is a preferred option. The waterproof asphalt shingles add a rich and elegant elegance to your home. Shingle Roofing Company provides shingle installation services by skilled roofers with extensive technical knowledge to complete the work with pinpoint accuracy.

Simple Installation

Flat roof shingles are easy for homes to maintain, but some roofing components are challenging to fix, confusing both roofing help and the individual owners. Once more, asphalt shingles enable a straightforward installation method that may be adjusted to suit steep or slanted rooftops. 

With a shingle roof, repairs are rather easy, which further reduces homeowners' concerns. However, selecting the best Shingle roofing contractors in Miami has to do with moving forward with the installation process; failing to do so could result in serious difficulties down the road with your rooftop.

Diversification

In terms of appearance and distinctiveness, shingle roof designs vary widely. You can choose a uniform, smooth, and clean appearance. If you're looking for something finer, you can also go for projecting asphalt shingles that have a 3D overhung effect and are roughly consistent in contour and shade but mimic conflicting tones.

In addition, shingles with sharp edges and a rustic appearance make a great choice if you want to go with a classical exterior. However, if you're ever unsure about which to choose, you can always contact Miami's Shingle Roofing Company's roofing specialists, and they'll help you make the ideal decision.

Eco-friendly

As shingles can be recycled back into use, they are an environmentally responsible option for roofing. When it comes to quality after conversion, they are more dependable than other materials, such as polymerized replacements, which lose their quality after repeated recycling. Furthermore, only a small number of enterprises have focused on shingle disposal, ensuring that a negligible percentage of shingles end up in the environment.

In order to prevent outside noise and maintain a calm and quiet home, Miami's Shingle Roofing Company offers asphalt shingle cover systems with pitch-dismaying ability. The amount of heat and cold that a house experiences is largely dependent on how well its roof absorbs energy. 

Any dwelling needs a cold roof because it ensures that special claims, like heating and cooling, are obtained and controlled by the deflection of daylight and star radiation. Some shingle types retain their reflecting ability while appearing in outstanding shades.

Durable & Economical

Since installing shingles in Miami offers great value for the money, it's a very economical method. Shingle roof contractors also offer financing options and consistent, upfront pricing as rewards for their investment. 

As long as they are installed correctly, sturdy, long-lasting shingle roofs won't leak and can last for at least 40 years. The exact balance of shingle systems ensures durability; they are neither unduly light nor unduly heavy.

Shingle roofs are resistant to wind and fire, and they can typically endure the harshest weather conditions.

Guaranteed Happiness

When you use Shingle Roofing Company in Miami, roofing experts, your comfort is guaranteed. The professionals always use the best asphalt stocks and roof placement supplies. To make sure you get the most out of your significant investment, the skilled professional applies meticulous roofing fittings. 

Exact Contractors is a leading shingle roof contractor in Miami that provides reliable Roofing, AC, and insulation services for residential areas. 

In Conclusion

The colors, patterns, and textures of shingle roofing can differ significantly from one home to the next. Because they are waterproof and may provide a variety of unique roofing looks, the shingles are known as asphalts. Asphalt flat roof shingles are very inexpensive and easy to maintain. If asphalt roofing is done poorly by a novice team, it can be a complete financial disaster.

Make sure you work with professionals from our Miami shingle roofing company if you're considering a domestic shingle roofing system for your home. Here, you can anticipate a trustworthy, affordable quote from the most reputable roofers who are fully committed to their assigned work and complete it as quickly as possible.

[jcmarchi]

Will AI transform law?

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/will-ai-transform-law/

Will AI transform law?

A year ago, the startup DoNotPay claimed to have built a “robot lawyer” capable of arguing cases before the Supreme Court. There is no evidence that such a technology exists, and attempts to use AI write arguments have ended badly. But DoNotPay’s marketing gimmick was successful in getting wide attention, which goes to show that in the era of large language models, the idea of AI replacing lawyers seems quite plausible to many people.

As we’ve written before, we think such expectations are extremely premature, and we shouldn’t read much into ChatGPT’s performance in simulated scenarios such as the bar exam. We teamed up with our colleague Peter Henderson to write a paper on the promises and pitfalls of AI in law. Peter is a JD/PhD who has thought deeply about these questions and has also successfully built AI for assisting with certain legal tasks. Sayash presented this paper at the conference on Cross-Disciplinary Research in Computational Law (CRCL) and we have submitted it for publication in the CRCL journal.

To get clarity on how AI might impact law, we break down the applications into three rough areas. Our key thesis is that the areas that would be most transformative if AI were successful are also harder for AI as well as more prone to overoptimism due to evaluation pitfalls.

The first area is information processing, which includes tasks like summarizing legal documents, translating text, redacting sensitive information, and e-discovery to find relevant documents for litigation. In this type of task, there is generally a clear correct answer (although there are exceptions), which makes it relatively straightforward to train, evaluate, and deploy AI. 

For this reason, even before large language models, it was possible to train special-purpose models for each task. Legal tech, which is a mature industry, has long deployed automation and AI for information processing. As these products get revamped using large language models, there will likely be improvements in terms of accuracy and usability, but not fundamentally new capabilities nor a qualitative leap in accuracy. In other words, evolution, not a revolution.

The second area consists of tasks involving creativity, reasoning, or judgment. This includes preparing drafts of legal filings and even automated mediation and dispute resolution. In contrast to information processing, if AI could indeed automate such tasks, the impact on the legal profession might be huge. The paper reiterates and sharpens the reasons why we are doubtful that current AI is good enough to be useful here.

There is one important exception: spotting errors in legal filings. While this application does require a form of reasoning, it has many differences from, say, AI for preparing legal briefs:

It is a narrow setting: a custom model can be developed for a particular type of filing. 

It has well-defined outcomes: either something is or isn’t an error (whereas what is a good legal argument is open to interpretation).

All the information needed for the task is present in the documents provided as input to the system.

The Social Security Administration already uses a simple model to spot errors in judgments on benefits claims. As a simple example, if an adjudicator denies an application that contains a medical claim without addressing that claim, the system will catch it. We point out in the paper that there are many other opportunities for deploying error-checking AI in the legal system.

The third area is AI for making predictions about the future. We’ve frequently written about the inherent limits of predictive AI and how it goes badly wrong, especially in criminal justice; the paper recaps those arguments. 

There is one other major application of prediction in law, although it (fortunately) seems to be confined to the research world: predicting judges’ decisions before they happen. For more than 60 years, people seem to have thought that this capability is just around the corner. 

Today there seem to be over 150 papers on the topic. It’s not entirely clear why one would want to predict court decisions; presumably, it could be useful to lawyers in guiding legal strategy or businesses to assess potential litigation risks. Most of the papers don’t seem to explain their motivation. It is sadly common in AI research to see papers where the task itself is just an excuse to throw machine learning at a dataset and write up the results.

Unfortunately, according to a review by Medvedeva and Mcbride, most of these papers aren’t doing prediction at all. They often use the judgment text containing the final judgment to ‘predict’ the verdict — a blatant example of leakage. Since the text of the final judgment includes the verdict, the model has access to the answer when making its prediction. Only 7% of papers actually predicted court decisions, and it is not clear that this can be done accurately enough to be useful.

Summary

The figure below summarizes the paper (click for a bigger version).

Figure: Three types of legal applications of AI. We categorize difficulty along two dimensions: clarity on correct labels and observability of relevant features. As we proceed from right to left, the clarity of correct answers and observability of relevant features roughly increase.

In the past, AI evaluation has relied on static, automated benchmarks. As AI starts to get more useful in the real world, this approach is breaking down, because the gap between benchmarks and deployment scenarios grows ever wider. What we need are socio-technical assessments carried out in the specific context in which the AI system would be deployed. In the past, this would have been summarily rejected as cost-prohibitive, but if AI developers want to make headway in consequential domains such as law, they must greatly increase the amount of time and resources devoted to evaluation.

[josnashak69]

Evaluate Hippocampus’ products and services from a user perspective

Many people have gone to photography and photo shops to take professional photos due to work needs. Now, there are many HE Tuber such offline photo shops, such as Hippocampus. So, what kind of experience can this type of offline give users? In this article, the author combines his own personal experience and talks about the products and services of Hippocampus from the user's perspective. Let's take a look.

Recently, with the needs of work, there has been a need to go to the hippocampus to take professional photos.

Why hippocampus?

Because I have long heard that the photography effects of Haimabo are pretty good, especially for ID photos; and the location of Haima is very interesting. Most other photography and photo shops are open on the street, but he opened in a shopping mall, and there is a shopping mall where I I often go to their place and often pass by their door, so I thought of giving it a try.

Because I consulted when I passed by before, I knew that I needed to make an appointment in advance, so I also made an appointment on the WeChat Hippocampus mini program several days in advance.

Why is there an appointment process? 

Because the delivery time of photography services is relatively long, it takes several hours for one customer. Failure to make an appointment may result in long waiting times for customers and chaos on site, resulting in a decline in user experience and reputation.

The product design of Haima is very interesting. It divides a simple photography service into extremely rich segments according to the needs of the crowd and users.

In terms of demand scenarios, there are ID photos, professional photos, marriage registration photos, wedding photos, birthday photos, fairy tale photos, etc.

In terms of user groups, there are children's photos, single photos of boys, single photos of girls, couple photos, friend photos, parent-child photos, family photos, etc.

What I need is men's professional image photos.

 I clicked on the page and found that men's professional image photos are divided into three categories according to age groups, namely light chasers, idealists, and top experts. The corresponding ones are young men, middle-aged men, and middle-aged men. The three groups of people have different usage scenarios, industries, and styles. It can be said that they can maximize coverage of user needs while being extremely targeted and accurately meeting user needs.

The price of hippocampal men's professional image photos is not expensive, 399 yuan, which is very popular. But if you look closely, you will find that this is only the price for a single photo. If you want to take multiple photos, I'm sorry, you have to pay extra. Each photo is charged. 120 yuan.

Of course, Haima also provides preferential packages, such as 20% off for choosing 4 extra pictures, 25% off for 6 extra pictures, 30% off for 9 extra pictures; there are also combination packages, such as professional image photo + Get an instant discount of 59 yuan for artistic photos, and an instant discount of 59 yuan for a package of 2 men's image photos.

So what can we learn from Hippocampus’ products and pricing?

First of all, we must set the price threshold of our products as low as possible.

In the environment of cost reduction and efficiency improvement, consumer demand has shrunk significantly. Everyone wants to spend a small amount of money to do big things. If your product is priced too high, customers will not even be interested in getting to know you.

Therefore, the price threshold must be low enough to attract target users first.

Secondly, we must use product mix and additional (value-added) services to increase customer consumption.

Users are attracted, but if they only consume a basic service in the end, there is actually not much money to be made.

For example, a men’s professional image photo costs 399 yuan. After deducting various costs such as makeup artists, services, photographers, post-retouchers, venues, etc., you probably won’t make much money.

However, if the customer chooses two more photos and takes an extra set of artistic photos, then if the cost remains unchanged, these additional consumption will be pure profit.

Finally, there must be VIP services for high-end customers.

There are always some quality-conscious customers who demand higher quality services and are willing to pay higher prices for them.

Therefore, it is reasonable to charge higher prices by providing them with better products and services.

There is also a high-end brand called Hippocampus Master on top of Hippocampus. It also has products for men’s professional image photos, which are also divided into three categories, but the price has become 599 yuan.

Since I didn't notice this high-end brand product when I made the reservation, I didn't experience this product. However, if I were given a chance to choose again, I would definitely choose the 599 yuan instead of the 399 yuan range. In my heart, I would trust the quality of 599 yuan more than the quality of 399 yuan.

I arrived at the store on time at 4:30 pm on Saturday.

First, I checked in and confirmed at the front desk, and then the front desk gave me some product manuals (cases), and then someone guided me to wait next to it.

After waiting for less than 10 minutes, a makeup artist came to me and started applying makeup on me. The make-up artist is a young lady. It can be seen that she has been professionally trained. There is nothing wrong with the make-up, and the service attitude is also good.

The makeup process takes about 20-30 minutes, and then you are taken to the fitting room to change clothes.

The clothes are all provided by Haima, and the selection of clothes is okay. However, because some clothes were sent for washing, the size of the suit I was looking for was not suitable, so I ended up wearing it with a clip for the photo.

I think this link can still be optimized. After all, inappropriate clothing sizes will have a greater impact on photogenic photos.

Then the makeup artist took me to the photography room, where a young lady was waiting with a camera.

We first took a few test shots, and then based on the feedback, the makeup artist fine-tuned my makeup and hairstyle, and then the actual shooting started.

The formal shooting process is also very fast. The photographer will guide me to pose, then take a few pictures of each action, and then it is over. The whole process takes about 20 minutes.

Then there is the selection of photos. I will compare the photos of every angle and action together and choose if I am satisfied with them. If I am not satisfied, I will delete them.

At the end of my selection, I barely chose an extra card as a spare, which meant I paid an extra 120 yuan.

Since I wasn't really satisfied, I changed my clothes and took another set of professional photos.

This time the makeup artist adjusted my makeup and hair style according to my request, and then the process was the same as before, except for one photo in the end.

In other words, for this hippocampus photo shoot, I spent a total of 399+399+120=918 yuan. Since the two professional image photos were packaged, I got a discount of 59 yuan. In the end, I actually spent 859 yuan to get 3 photos.

The entire service process took almost 4 hours, from entering the store at 4:30 pm to leaving at 8:30 pm.

I noticed that during the whole process, there were neither too many nor too few customers in the store. It didn't make people feel noisy and disorderly, nor was it very deserted. It was just right.

When I left the store, I was told that the film would be released the next day, and that I could pick up the photos at the store or download the electronic version online.

Sure enough, the next morning, the WeChat applet of Hippocampus sent me a notification. I clicked on it and found three photos that had been repaired. I made some comments online, and they were quickly corrected. It was okay. Quite satisfied.

[talabib]

Warren Buffett’s Investment Tips

Have you ever thought, “You know, life is pretty good except I have all this extra money lying around”? Probably not. If there’s one thing people have in common, it’s that we want to have the maximum amount of money with the minimum amount of effort. And people like Warren Buffett, currently the fourth-richest person in the world, have made getting rich on the stock market look easy. The general idea certainly seems simple enough: buy low and sell high.

But unsurprisingly, getting rich off the stock market isn’t as easy as it looks. Luckily, Buffett has left us some clues. When he founded Buffett Partnership, Ltd. in 1956, he began writing reports to his partner. He would give insight into his views on the market, predictions for the future, and his investment ethos. Playing the market still isn’t easy. But Buffett’s wisdom, compiled in 14 years worth of his accessible and humorously written letters, is all you need to start a career in the stocks. And who knows – if you’re lucky, and more importantly, consistent, you might even get rich. 

Be patient. Careful investment, rather than frenetic speculation, is more likely to create value. 

There’s a basic rule Wall Street types don't want us to know. It’s a secret that has helped Warren Buffett amass an $88.9 billion fortune. Are you ready for it?

Investing isn’t rocket science, but there’s a catch. People frequently confuse speculation for investment. But there’s a difference. Speculators obsessively follow unpredictable market fluctuations to buy and sell stocks hoping to get rich quick. Investors, on the other hand, buy businesses based on careful assessment of their inherent value. And then they wait.

The well-known billionaire, Warren Buffett, is an investor. He attended business school in New York, but he hails from the Midwest, and his methodical, straight-talking approach characterizes his letters and overall investment philosophy. 

Inspired by his mentor Ben Graham, Buffett figured that the prices of most financial assets, like stocks, eventually fell in line with their intrinsic values. 

When buying a stock, you’re buying a tiny fraction of a business. Over time, a stock’s price changes to reflect how the business is doing. If profits are good, the business’s value grows, and the share price increases. But, if their business loses value – for example, there’s a big scandal or something  – the share price falls. 

Sometimes, the stock price doesn’t accurately reflect the value of a business. Investors who buy shares in undervalued companies, then patiently wait for the market to correct itself, can’t help but make money. 

The key, though, is to focus on what the market should do, not when it should do it. If you trust that the market price will eventually reflect the actual value of a business, you can expect to eventually make a profit. This will help you to avoid selling just because the market dips. 

And this patience rewards you with compound interest, which is the key driver of value over long-term investments. Compound interest is the process of continuously reinvesting gains so that every new cent begins earning its own returns. Einstein himself called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world, remarking that “people who understand it earn it, and people who don’t understand it pay it.”

 Buffett’s favorite story illustrating the power of compound interest involves the French government’s purchase of the Mona Lisa. King Francis I paid the equivalent of $20,000 for the painting in 1540. If he had instead invested the money at a 6 percent compound interest rate, France would have had $1 quadrillion by 1964. 

Successful investors all have one thing in common – they compulsively measure. 

Warren Buffett has always been a supremely confident investor. Even when he was a relatively inexperienced young fund manager, he saw his main competition as the Dow Jones Industrial Average – the famous New York stock index. His one job was to grow his fund at a faster rate than the market. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

We all know the stress of checking your bank balance after a big weekend or stepping on the scale when trying to lose weight. For a lot of people, the anxiety of failure might be too much to handle. But to be a successful investor in the mold of Warren Buffett, you’re going to have to get over those anxieties. Careful measurement, clear-eyed analysis, and a steady hand – even when you’re down – are the only ways to succeed as an investor. 

OK, time for some more Buffett-style straight talk. The difficult truth is that most people aren’t shrewd enough investors to beat the market. It was huge for Buffett to deliver returns greater than 7 percent annually. But the miracle of compound interest means that you only have to do a little better than the market to create the potential for serious financial gains.

Knowing what to measure – and then doing it properly – is the only way to know if you’re on the right track. So how do you compulsively measure? You need to monitor your investments every day, keep track of how they’re doing relative to past performance, and be patient when your chips are down. It takes energy, commitment, and honesty. In short, you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

You’re not just measuring your results against past performance, though. Each year’s results should also be measured against the market. This means if the market is down, and you’re slightly less down, this still counts as a win. 

There’s good news, too. When Buffett was a young investor, doing better than the market was a lot harder than it is now. It’s easier today thanks to index funds. Pioneered in 1975, index funds combine slices of many different companies on a given stock exchange. This means their returns broadly match the gains and losses of the overall market. 

Buffett advises those who don’t have the time or energy to devote to their investments to buy the index. Otherwise, compulsive measuring is the only way to determine how you’re doing.

Young investors should focus on buying shares in undervalued companies, which Buffett calls Generals. 

Once you’ve got the measuring part down, you can start developing your personal investing style. Remember, each investor is a unique snowflake. Your investing style should reflect your personality, goals, funds, and especially, your competence set. So, if you’re an alpaca rancher, you shouldn’t try to get rich off computer chips.  

Here’s more good news. If you’re a new investor with less money, you actually have an advantage over investors managing huge funds. This is because you can invest in small companies not listed on the stock exchange, making big percentage gains. Once you’re managing more money, you need much bigger deals to move the needle on your overall results. 

When Warren Buffett started his fund in 1956, he had just over $100,000 to play with. By 1960, his fund had ballooned to $1,900,000. He attributed this incredible rate of return to his focus on small, relatively unimpressive investments.

Along with his patient temperament, Buffett’s best asset as an investor is his skill at determining the value of a company. In the early years, he favored buying Generals, which he defined as “fair businesses at wonderful prices.” This means that the companies were of middling quality, but, for some reason, priced under market value. Once again, Buffett’s patience paid off. Most of the Generals he bought stayed in his portfolio for years.

Buffett also liked buying shares in companies that were worth more dead, that is in liquidation, than they were alive. That way, if the business started failing, he could liquidate it and not lose money. This type of business is called a net-net.

Ultra-cheap stocks and net-nets are not glamorous. In fact, Buffett referred to them as his “cigar butts.” But 12 years into his career as an investor, Buffett looked back and determined that this category of investment had done the best in terms of average returns. 

As his success grew, Buffett’s definition of value changed. He began looking beyond cheap stock prices, toward the quality of a business and whether its earnings could be sustainable. As his experience as an investor grew, he transitioned from buying fair businesses at wonderful prices, to buying wonderful businesses at fair prices. 

Once you have more experience as an investor, you might want to get involved in the management of one of your investments. Go right ahead, Buffett might say, but you’ll need some further guidelines.

Assuming more risk in markets you know well can yield even more reward potential. 

As a kid, Warren Buffett would buy a 25-cent six-pack of Coca Cola from his grandfather’s store. He would then sell individual bottles on to his pals for a nickel each. There was certainly a risk involved: if the neighborhood kids weren’t thirsty that day, he’d have extra bottles on his hands that he couldn’t move. But if he had a good day, he would earn 20 percent on every six-pack. 

Buffett didn’t know it, but with the 25-cent Coca Cola deal, he’d done his first arbitrage. He was capitalizing on the price difference for one product – his Coca Cola – in two different markets – the store, and the neighborhood kids.

Arbitrage is a way to bet on what you think a company will be worth in the near future. Returns on arbitrage bets can be very attractive. But to get it right, you have to know the businesses, and their respective markets, intimately. 

When that product is a piece of a company, this is called merger arbitrage. “Merger arbs” were one of Buffett’s specialties during his years as an early investor. He would buy stock in a company at one price, betting that it would be worth more once it merged with another company. 

Returns on merger arbs may be enticing, but the risk can be great. That’s why arbitrage is usually tricky for the average investor. Unless the deal is in your specialized field and you’ve studied it inside and out, it’s probably best to leave it alone. 

But experienced investors who don’t want to mess with merger arbs can also get their control fix with what Buffett aptly referred to as Controls. That’s when you buy a large enough piece of a company listed on the public stock exchange that you have the right to influence how it’s run. 

As you might imagine, this type of deal can lead to stressful confrontations between company owners and new board members who may demand drastic operational changes. Buffett was vilified for these deals early in his career; he thought he was saving a company by removing the inefficiencies.

But as he matured, Buffett stopped getting involved in Controls, which could turn out to be messy and uncomfortable with layoffs or firings. His core investment principles have never changed, though.

Your methods may change with the market, but your core principles should stay the same.

Following the crowd can be an effective strategy. If everyone’s running away from something you can’t see, it’s probably a good idea to join them. But when it comes to investing, it can be problematic. By definition, the majority can’t do better than the average. So to be a successful investor, you have to train yourself to go against the crowd.

Warren Buffett’s investment style reveals that there’s only one instance in which you should put your money on the line: when you totally understand the whole picture and the best course of action. In all other cases, you should pass. Even if everyone else is making money.

Buffett has always been a cautious investor. When he began his career as a professional investor in 1956, the stock market was generally considered to be too high. But instead of correcting itself, stocks continued to creep up. Buffett not only stayed true to his strategy, but he also doubled down on his ultra-conservative investing approach. He knew a correction was coming, he just didn’t know when. 

Meanwhile, other hotshot investors were making big money. In New York, Jerry Tsai had invented a new kind of investment, which took advantage of the general public’s new appetite for speculation. Tsai’s approach was the opposite of Buffett’s. He’d jump in and out of stocks at the drop of a hat. 

Tsai’s approach worked, for a while. He earned fabulous sums for his firm, even as his fund lost and gained wildly with market swings. But Buffett remained convinced that it wouldn’t last. 

When the market reached a new high in 1966, Buffett finally acted. He announced that he wouldn’t be accepting new partners and halved his performance goal. Miraculously, his fund continued to do very well: 1968 was its best year with a 58.8 percent return. But Buffett knew when to fold his hand. He was done risking his fortune on a market that was bound to crash.

Tsai’s end was imminent, and he ultimately saw it coming too. He sold his fund at just the right moment in 1968. In the early 1970s, the Dow experienced its most spectacular crash since the Great Depression. Buffett’s net worth was unaffected, because he had taken all his money off the market. Tsai barely dodged defeat, but his investors lost 90 percent of their portfolio assets.

Buffett’s courage of conviction is a worthy goal for all investors, if not people more generally. Figure out what you believe in, and when the right opportunity comes along, bet big. You almost can’t lose. 

It’s not impossible to make money on the stock market. In fact, anyone can do it. But it’s not something that will happen overnight, and it won’t happen if you don’t take it seriously. With Buffett’s tips on careful measurement, consistency, and most importantly, patience, you too can become a successful investor.

[benkyoutobentou]

I don't have ADHD myself (I've likely got some neurodivergency, but nothing official enough to announce to the internet right now), but I thought a bit about your post and might have some ideas that helped me out that you at least find worth pondering.

First, you mentioned immersion, which is fantastic and I'm a massive supporter of early immersion in language learning, but I also wanted to add some immersion concepts which you may already know about. The first is comprehensible input, which basically means that you can understand it with relatively little help from outside dictionaries, etc. This is a great confidence booster, but based on your level, might not be the best way to get you excited about language learning. When I was first starting to read native materials in Japanese, I thought I wasn't ready to read simple manga because everyone kept recommending a series called Yotsuba&. Turns out I could read, I just couldn't force myself through the first chapter of a series that really didn't interest me. The next concept is intensive vs extensive immersion. This is typically used when reading, but can apply to most types of immersion. Intensive immersion is where you focus in on a text with the intention of understanding every single (or most) grammar point and word used. Extensive immersion, on the other hand, focuses on getting the general point of a text and not focusing on understanding each and every minute detail.

As for keeping long term focus on language study, I have multiple methods. One that might help is the structure of attaching studying to an existing routine, since that seemed to help you in the past. For example, when you eat breakfast, perhaps you could watch a grammar video or something.

Another that's currently working spectacularly for me is changing up your surroundings. I'm super late to the cafe study gang, but I've been enjoying it so much, and noticing that my productivity increases compared to when I sit at my desk at home. Additionally, the pomodoro technique (interspersing short breaks into your work time) might be a good pairing here.

Finding a study partner might also be helpful, if just for accountability. If you want to chat with a native speaker of German, there are many language exchange apps such as Tandem, HelloTalk, and Slowly (not specifically for languages, but works well enough). If you've got a friend that may not be learning your target language but maybe studies something else, it might be worthwhile to think about setting up study dates to keep each other accountable. And even if that one day per week or however long is the only time you study your language, that's still more than nothing and that's a win!

This last tip might seem counterintuitive, but I've been doing it for years, so here we go. Switch it up. Severely. I've used so many different methods to track my language learning at this point and all of them have worked in their own ways. One of my favorites was making weekly checklists to guide my studying. This way, I didn't feel bad if I was too busy to study one day and I could also make sure that I wasn't neglecting a specific aspect of my studying in favor of another. Other ways I've tracked my studies have just been taking note of what I do on a given day and in what language. This is a visual cue for me to see, again, where my studying is lacking and what could use some more attention.

Language learning is a very personal process, in that what works for me may not work for you. I hope at the very least I've given you things to consider that helps you find a method that works for you. Viel Glück!

Self-Learning Troubles

I have for a long time had troubles with learning languages by myself. I was doing Duolingo courses for German and the way I was doing them probably contributed to how I was able to maximize my time learning and also maximize my recall afterwards. Back in 2019, I was doing a tech internship and when I would go on my lovely state-mandated breaks (oh how I miss them now that I've moved to a state that doesn't have them), I would take the time to do some German Duolingo lessons (this was before the re-tool to make it more like the CEFR scale, obviously, if that makes a difference; I don't believe it would but this is an aside just for your information; I have digressed, anyway...). Of course, my life has much less structure now than it did then (plus those breaks at work are now non-existence because different state laws so), so I don't think I'd be able to do something similar.

I have since tried to just be a sponge for the languages that I'm learning. Listening to music in the language, attempting to read things in the language, and continuing to say to myself that I'll make a goalpost of trying to take a certification exam for the language that I would then have to study for and eventually hope to pass. I've been looking at said exam for German for a while now, so you can guess how that has gone.

My ADHD and other relevant neurodivergencies make it difficult for me to learn things the normal way, and I don't think there's a way to replicate the way I learned ASL (where I would often watch interpreters and listen to what was being interpreted and attempt to pick up on signs; I have actually attempted to look into this, although the answers that I got were basically "you could try to do it, but I doubt you'll get good results out of it"). Another reason that would be difficult is that I took a class for ASL where we were only allowed to use ASL during lecture hours. That added on the pressure of being graded and since I graduated university two years ago, that definitely won't work.

Tbh I don't know why I decided to write this post. I'd love to be able to study languages daily and make some kind of routine where I could sit down (or probably more accurately, carve time out of my busy work schedule) and practice/learn the languages I'm learning at the time. I feel like I haven't found the right method for me. It's waiting out there somewhere, and I just have to find it. All of the conventional methods haven't worked for me as of yet, so I guess I keep searching.

This is a jumble of word salad, and if you'd like to add a proverbial salad dressing to help me out, feel free. Or don't; this is the free internet, and I have no say in what you do with it.

[cilogram]

Memory of Jacques Tati, by Ron Mael

Jacques Tati entered the lobby of the Paris Hilton looking very much like Monsieur Hulot---same raincoat, same determined gait. “Hello, I’m Jacques. You can pronounce it like ‘Jack’.”

When a band is given the opportunity to appear in a film, it usually is a cameo in a prom night scene with adoring teenage actors feigning hysteria at the lip-sync performance of their new song. Here we were, in 1975, being given the chance to make preparations to appear not in an American teen comedy, but in a French film, a Jacques Tati film, and not as a performing band in one scene, but as actors in the entire film with Mr. Tati.

A Swiss record company executive had thought there were similarities in sensibility between Tati’s view of the world and ours. We were under no illusions as to the relative genius of Tati versus Sparks, but we kept our mouths shut and a meeting was set up in the Paris Hilton.

Perhaps Tati, who we doubted had ever heard of Sparks, had accepted the meeting and the inclusion of us in his next film as an attempt to widen his audience. We, of course, never asked him whether it mattered that we weren’t actors. The process began.

Over the next several months, we had numerous discussions with Tati in his Paris office about the planned film “Confusion.” It was to be centered in a television studio with Russell playing a television director and me playing some sort of technician.

We learned that the oft-debated “auteur” theory in film did at least exist in Tati’s world. Attending the meetings were only Tati, his sketchbook and notepad, his personal assistant, and the two of us. Our job during the “collaboration” was mostly to marvel at the brilliance of his ideas, a job made easy by the brilliance of his ideas. Each meeting would typically begin in the French manner of starting a statement with “no”, as in “No. we must be certain we are completely prepared before beginning anything,” in effect contradicting a statement that had never been made.

As the meetings progressed, it seemed as if there was a basic structure in his notebook on which to hang “gags.” I use the term “gags” with some hesitation as these were not modern American comedy-type gags or even silent comedy gags, but more visual playthings or visual puns. A highly decorated military general, wearing numerous colorful battle ribbons on his chest, finds the colors of these ribbons begin to run down his uniform into a pool on the floor. Another character would be shown to leave the frame of the film, much as Tex Avery characters sometimes do, perhaps in order to make you aware that you are in fact watching a film. Jacques, tell us where to stand and we’ll do anything.

Outside of his office, Tati seemed always to be studying peoples’ movements and behavior. He would always take public transport, never a taxi and most certainly never a limousine, in order to be able to watch people and not feel sheltered from the surroundings. Even a lunch at a restaurant would be more than just steack-frites, with Tati asking a waitress what part of the animal a certain cut of meat came from. When she demonstrated and left the table, he would mimic her action, not in a mean-spirited or patronizing way, but in what seemed like the transformation of her simple act into a ballet move.

At one point in the series of discussions in Paris, Tati and Sparks were asked to be guests on a Swedish television show. Tati’s only request of the show was that they supply a white horse for his use during the TV performance as a “prop.” No problem! (Our 25 year long search for a video copy of this performance ended when our recent pilgrimage to the same Swedish television station revealed that copies of the show no longer existed. Tragic). Soon, our meetings with Jacques Tati occurred less and less frequently. Perhaps there were financial problems. Perhaps there were health problems. We never knew. Finally, sometime late in 1975, our meetings stopped.

People in bands are always selfish about one thing or another. My selfishness was wanting to forever be linked in some small way to the brilliance of Jacques Tati. How ironic that after 30 years as a musician, my sole regret is not being able to have appeared in a French film, a Tati film. I will always remember that first Jacques Tati entrance into the lobby of the Paris Hilton and how, in a sense, being in his presence for even a short period of time made me an actor in Monsieur Hulot’s world.

------- Ron Mael

This essay was written by Ron and appears on pages 30-32 of the Guide Book. Paragraph breaks added by me for readability; punctuation/spelling errors are the book’s own. For copyright reasons, I haven’t included the Japanese translation by Tsuzuki Hajime, my apologies.

[kultofathena]

Ádám Bodorics – Frame Tang Beham Messer

This late-period Messer ably strides the balance between the Messer and an early saber and in the hand it feels exceptionally responsive and capable of powerful cutting strokes and slashes. A close look shows the tell-tale signs of artisanal craftsmanship for this custom piece which gives it some great period character. A wood-core scabbard by András Mezősi complete with equally well-crafted byknives further dignifies this unique sword. Included is a signed Certificate from bladesmith and artisan Ádám Bodorics which details his though process when creating this piece. Read on to see his thoughts for this sword in his own words and his unique take on how to achieve a fine balance for the sword with its hilt construction:

“This is a relatively late-period Messer based on multiple woodcuts by Hans Sebald Beham from the 16th century. By this point, the Nagel gets rarer – mostly replaced by siderings, but sometimes missing altogether. Another common thing on pieces from this period is the partial, fully hidden tang. This allows for the cutler assembling the piece complete freedom from the smith making the blade in terms of grip shape. While there is no hard evidence for the more outlandish grip shapes shown in illustrations by, among others, Dürer and Beham, most of them are easily achievable by period tools and methods.

For this project, I got inspired by a later sidearm, the polish Karabela and wanted to create a completelyhypothetical “missing link” piece between them and 16th century Messers. To achieve this, I took a couple of Beham illustrations but I opted for a frame tang and exposed wood instead of the more likely alternatives. A frame tang is basically a fake full tang – the actual tang of the weapon is partial and hidden, with a thin sheet of metal making up the shape of the grip. Further strips of metal, soldered or brazed to the previous sheet at a right angle with the necessary offset create a frame for the grip material while giving the illusion of a full-tang grip. Somewhat similar construction methods are present on some 16th century pieces so even without evidence it’s not a huge stretch – it still makes my project a fantasy piece.

The sharp blade is a type M4B++, defined by a step down in width in the forte. It is hand-ground from 6150/51crv4 steel and heat-treated to 50-52 HrC. It has a very long and relatively deep fuller on the outside only. It also has a false edge extending 105mm from the tip. It’s a lighter and more flexible blade than it’s step-sister sword, but it’s still far away from being wobbly. The grip has the aforementioned frame tang with hand-picked walnut (juglans regia) slabs. The real tang is narrow, fullered and tapered to minimize unnecessary weight in the hilt. It’s a rather flat and wide grip, almost rectangular in cross-section which permits a good amount of control over edge alignment. While originally I wanted to use cutler’s pitch to affix the grip panels and fill any gaps, in the end sanity won and I used coloured epoxy. It’s the same colour, but it won’t start running on a hot summer day… beyond this, the panels are secured with tubular brass rivets.

The mild steel cross has a pair of finials peened on as seen on originals, and has a simple sidering. It is secured to the blade with a rivet – while it is a rarely seen method on originals, with most sideringed Messers being assembled with the cross slid upwards from the end of the tang negating the need for a Nagel or a rivet (and when not, it’s mostly not a rivet but a full-blown Nagel inside the sidering), there is a very small number of originals showing my method. The scabbard has a wooden core, wrapped in linen and covered in leather. It has a type of suspension seen on a few originals and strongly implied by several illustrations. There is a pair of vertical slits cut into the leather cover with the area between the cuts raised, forming a channel for a belt. The belt goes through with the flesh side facing the scabbard and loops around from either side. It suspends the scabbard at a slight angle from vertical. While it’s quite flexible and mobile, it’s more stable than suspending it from a separate belt by a loop formed of cord. The belt has a buckle fabricated from brass, based on a surviving drawing from 1555 by Pierre Woeiriot. It’s simplified a bit as the original drawing was for an absolutely over-the-top mannerist suspension.

The hand-forged bypieces match the materials and emulate the style of the main piece. The byknife has a stepped back and an unsharpened false edge on it’s 80crv2 blade. The tang is mild steel, forge-welded into the bolster. The mild steel frame was silver-soldered on. The heat-treated 80crv2 pricker has an elegant transition between grip and “blade”. The transition is loosely based on a number of 16th century originals. The grips are rectangular in both cases with the frame reaching up to the level of the walnut panels.”  – Ádám Bodorics