#structured data best practices

[seohabibi]

In this guide, we delve into the intricate world of structured data and unveil its profound impact on SEO. From unraveling the basics to exploring advanced strategies, discover how structured data can elevate your website's visibility, enhance user experience, and significantly impact search engine rankings. Stay ahead of the competition by decoding the power of structured data in the ever-evolving landscape of SEO.

[designcollection1208]

Ensure that your website's on-page elements are optimized, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags (H1, H2, etc.), and image alt tags. These elements should contain relevant keywords and accurately describe the content of each page.

[beastmarketing]

How to conduct a technical SEO?

New Post has been published on https://abnoubshenouda-digitalmarketer.com/how-to-conduct-a-technical-seo/

How to conduct a technical SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website that wants to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). A technical SEO audit is an essential aspect of any SEO strategy. It helps you identify technical issues that might be preventing your website from ranking higher in search results. In this article, we will discuss how to conduct a technical SEO audit to identify and fix technical issues that could be hurting your website’s SEO.

 Start with a crawl

The first step in conducting a technical SEO audit is to perform a website crawl. There are many tools available that can help you crawl your website, such as Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, and DeepCrawl. These tools will help you identify technical issues such as broken links, missing meta tags, duplicate content, and more.

Check your website speed

Website speed is a crucial factor that can impact your website’s SEO. Slow websites can result in a poor user experience, which can hurt your website’s search rankings. To check your website’s speed, you can use tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. These tools will help you identify issues that are causing your website to load slowly, such as large image sizes, excessive JavaScript, or server response time.

 Check your website’s mobile-friendliness

Mobile-friendliness is another critical factor that can impact your website’s SEO. With the majority of internet users accessing the internet through their mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check whether your website is mobile-friendly or not. This tool will also provide recommendations on how to make your website more mobile-friendly.

Check for duplicate content

Duplicate content is a common issue that can hurt your website’s SEO. It occurs when the same content appears on multiple pages or when multiple URLs have the same content. This can confuse search engines and result in a lower search ranking. To check for duplicate content, you can use tools such as Site liner or Copy scape.

 Check for broken links

Broken links can hurt your website’s user experience and SEO. They occur when a link on your website leads to a dead page or an error page. To check for broken links, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog or Google Search Console. These tools will help you identify broken links on your website and provide recommendations on how to fix them.

 Check your website’s robots.txt file

The robots.txt file is a file that tells search engines which pages of your website they can and cannot crawl. If the robots.txt file is blocking important pages on your website, this can hurt your website’s SEO. To check your website’s robots.txt file, you can simply type in your website’s URL followed by /robots.txt. This will display the contents of your website’s robots.txt file.

Check for XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website. It helps search engines crawl your website more efficiently. To check for an XML sitemap, you can simply type in your website’s URL followed by /sitemap.xml. This will display the contents of your website’s XML sitemap.

Check for HTTPS

HTTPS is a protocol for secure communication over the internet. Having an HTTPS website is important for security reasons, and it can also impact your website’s search rankings. To check for HTTPS, simply type in your website’s URL and look for the padlock icon in the address bar. If the padlock icon is there, your website is HTTPS-enabled.

Check for structured data

Structured data is a type of code that helps search engines understand the content of your website better. It can also help your website appear in rich snippets in search results. To check for structured data, you can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. This tool will help you identify structured data on your website and provide recommendations on how to improve it.

Check for canonical tags

Canonical tags are HTML tags that tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred version. This is important for websites that have multiple versions of the same page. If canonical tags are not set up correctly, it can result in duplicate content issues. To check for canonical tags, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

Check for pagination

Pagination refers to the process of dividing content into multiple pages. If pagination is not set up correctly, it can result in duplicate content issues or pagination errors. To check for pagination issues, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

 Check for schema markup

Schema markup is a type of code that helps search engines understand the content on your website better. It can also help your website appear in rich snippets in search results. To check for schema markup, you can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool or a similar tool.

 Check for 404 errors

404 errors occur when a user tries to access a page on your website that does not exist. This can hurt your website’s user experience and SEO. To check for 404 errors, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

Check for crawl errors

Crawl errors occur when search engines are unable to crawl certain pages on your website. This can be due to a variety of reasons, such as server errors or incorrect URL structures. To check for crawl errors, you can use Google Search Console. This tool will help you identify crawl errors on your website and provide recommendations on how to fix them.

 Check for meta tags

Meta tags are HTML tags that provide information about a web page, such as its title and description. Having well-written meta tags is important for SEO because it can impact how your website appears in search results. To check for meta tags, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

In conclusion, conducting a technical SEO audit is an essential aspect of any SEO strategy. By identifying and fixing technical issues on your website, you can improve your website’s user experience and search rankings. The above steps are just some of the many ways you can conduct a technical SEO audit. By following these steps, you can ensure that your website is optimized for search engines and provides a great user experience.

reference

Here are some references that were used in the article:

· Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console/about

· Screaming Frog: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/

· Moz: https://moz.com/

· Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/

· SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com/

· Google PageSpeed Insights: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

· GTmetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/

· Pingdom: https://www.pingdom.com/

· Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool: https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool

[marketingtips-allday]

How to conduct a technical SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website that wants to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). A technical SEO audit is an essential aspect of any SEO strategy. It helps you identify technical issues that might be preventing your website from ranking higher in search results. In this article, we will discuss how to conduct a technical SEO audit to identify and fix…

[artbyblastweave]

Any ideas to connect SU Diamonds and Worm Entities for a crossover?

For the past three years and change, I've been kicking around the idea of the Gempire as the residual result of an entity that botched its own cycle so badly that the central Zion-style figurehead holding the entire operation together is a hundred-thousand-year-gone memory. The result amounts to an entity with serious brain damage; The gems retain elements of the original programming for the cycle- namely, the ability to create anthromorphized avatars reflective of the local culture, and the drive to reproduce and consume planets to perpetuate themselves- but they've completely lost the plot on other important elements, namely the importance of hybridizing with local host species, their historical record, the full extent of their dimensional manipulation capabilities, best practices for resource extraction, and, most crucially, mutation, change and innovation as a desirable outcome.

Rather than an avatar, White Diamond is an intelligence analogous to a Endbringer or Titan who slid into the vacant role as the next-most-powerful autonomous portion of the network, holding the consolidated, stretched-thin remains of the original Network together by her fingernails while also deleteriously superimposing her own residual instinct from her original role onto the entire network- namely, to pacify, homogenize and sterilize host planets if and when a cycle is beginning to get out of control. This hybridized with residual data from previous host species that caused the gempire to organize in a fascimile of imperial structures encountered back when their cycle was still functional; essentially "Playing House" at the societal level, aping the culture of a host species without really remembering why.

The result of this is a "cycle" that's bad at everything it's supposed to do but effective enough that it limps on regardless- supremely energy inefficient, stripping planets bare rather than experimenting, and utterly developmentally stagnant. In the unlikely event that an entity were to cross paths with the Gempire, they'd have an uncanny-valley reaction to it and likely attempt to euthanize it, but compared to most entities the Gempire is tiny- while Shards canonically deploy in the hundreds of millions, the gems tend to reproduce only a few tens of thousands of themselves each time they claim a planet, and they usually only strip mine the handful of "active" worlds that would feature in a normal cycle rather than obliterating all dimensional iterations of it.

Yellow, Blue and eventually Pink are similar constructs to White, brought online to assist her in the project after the "imperial" territorial holdings grew too vast to micromanage. Unfortunately (for the cycle) another one of the things that got lost in translation were the controls meant to keep individual shards from developing autonomy or attachment-to-hosts. When the Gempire hit Earth, Pink Diamond and a significant contingent of the network, after patterning themselves after humans and spending a significant amount of time on the ground, pulled a fragile-one and went native, leading to a localized civil war that ended under unclear circumstances when the other the diamonds glassed the planet from orbit and pulled back their operations to prevent whatever affected the rebels from spreading.

All of this happened about 8000 years before the events of Worm, in a universe about 43 dimensions down the line from anything seen in the Earth Bet Cluster; due to the Gempire having mutated so much as to no longer be immediately recognizable as fellow Entities, and with so few active gems left on the planet in the aftermath of the rebellion, Zion ignored the crystal gems and folded them away into the inaccessible dimensional space, where the events of the show played out much as they did in SU canon. Ironically, Steven is the first ever example of this cycle successfully empowering a host, in the most roundabout way possible.

In my notes, and in keeping with the religious-theme-naming of the canon entities, I usually refer to this whole situation as Nirvana (what else would you call it when they break the cycle?)

[drdemonprince]

In reading your latest piece, I think I've stumbled onto something akin to a personal epiphany. You describe transition as an act of "want" (Chu's longing for gossip and yours for the life of an eternal bachelor) and I've realized that I think as a consequence of growing up autistic, I've obliterated the concept of personal want. I don't know if I truly ever want anything? How do I even know what I truly want (versus what other people tell me I should want)? Is there an opposite of resentment I can tune into so I can tell what I want when my conscious mind is unable to provide me an answer?

I think the place is to start with what you don't want. What I describe as "wanting the bachelor life forever" in my piece is actually a desire born out of negation: I don't want kids, I don't want marriage, I don't want responsible adulthood and the weight that that carries, I want to feel free-roaming and open to random experiences. What i knew most viscerally for myself was what felt wrong, and owning up to those feelings no matter how socially inconvenient they might be was what made it possible for me to articulate what I proactively did find desirable.

I recommend rejecting a lot of things, disappointing a lot of people, being disobedient, setting boundaries, all of that stuff that I have been writing about for a very long time (check out the pieces on those subjects if you haven't already, but from the sound of it you probably have). And then when it comes to positively desiring things, you've got to start small. Find a little thing to look forward to every day, or every week. In my household, Wednesdays and Fridays are Dunkin Donuts days. Instead of making coffee at home, you get a little treat. That makes getting a coffee out of the house still feel precious and special while also making it attainable, and gives the work week a little horizon to peak over at its mid point.

I so look forward to the weekly streams on Friday with @testdevice, too. Afterward I usually get a meal somewhere and then go out for some kind of weekend activity -- drinking and watching Drag Race at Roscoe's, a movie, dancing, whatever. I make forming plans for the weekend a task I set out for myself at the top of every week. I find street festivals, concerts, craft fairs, protests, little things to do that I know will be meaningful to me. Small pleasures parceled out on a regular schedule provide a pleasing structure to life. It makes the forward march of time feel more exciting and keeps daily life from being defined by obligation and drudgery. Sometimes it's something like playing a video game at home or meeting up at a friend's house for a movie night and snacks. However you can swing it, you gotta have little things to look forward to, I think, in order to enjoy being alive and to get into the habit of thinking more expansively about what you want. you can making finding things that you want to do a regular project, a practice.

A lot of life is experimenting with new experiences and relationships with other people to find out what you actually like. It's not some profound act of introspection. People block themselves off from a lot of meaningful aspects of life by thinking the answers come from plumbing the depths of their soul and finding their true calling or true desire divorced from everything else. There is no self outside of experience and social connection.

And so the best way to find out what you want is to try a lot of different things. Go watch your friend at their competitive poker tournament. Volunteer to clean litter off the beach. Foster a bunny rabbit. Make a casserole. Darn a sock. Buy some handmade jewelry. Visit a museum with a coworker you kinda might like the company of. Invite someone over for dinner. How it plays out and how you feel about it is all data about the kind of person you are becoming.

I also wouldn't get too bogged down in the idea that wants can only come from the pursuit of happiness. I got a few really well intentioned asks this week that I never answered about what brings me joy, what makes me happy. Truth is, I'm not someone who experiences happiness easily and i might never be. That is okay. I still have a life that holds meaning because I AM very good at finding things interesting. i like talking to people, learning from them, watching things play out in real time.

You don't have to feel some kind of abiding soul connection to an activity or sense that a way of life will absolutely make you happy in order for it to interest you, help you grow, bring your life meaning. Other people might not want to read long history books about genocide and the social construction of race in order to bring their life pleasure, but those activities engage my mind and make me feel more firmly rooted in the actual world. they're interesting and rewarding to study, and so i do it. i say yes to a lot of invitations purely because i've never seen what horse racing is like or because i want to see if i'll still get nauseated if i ride a boat now as an adult. it's interesting. it might not make me happy or be fun. but i like a life better with those experiences. those are the things i gravitate to and want. and you can find what you want, too, and it will always keep changing probably.

[ohno-the-sun]

Continuation of the Mad Scientist AU Moon ending

What happens after Y/N returns?

Content Warnings: Horror, animal death, death, blood, body horror

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

It was only a month later when I died too. 

When I first left, it felt slow– difficult. Like a bandaid slowly being pulled from loose skin it stung with afterburns. 

I hated it.

More than anything I wanted to stay with Sun, to help him. 

But with every experiment run, with every test and data point analyzed I could only think of him. 

He was strange yes. It was still unnerving how he stuck through the flesh of Sun’s eye, but he was alive. He breathed, he talked, he cared in his own strange way. 

The way he would prance around the lab, curious about every nook and cranny of the place, getting into things he wasn’t supposed to. 

A soft fond ache built in my chest at the memory of him getting into the fertilizer. It took weeks before Sun and I had the lab clean again. 

As I ran my hands through the rubbery flesh of the vines wrapping around my best friend’s head, I realized I couldn’t do this anymore. 

Sun was getting sicker.

As much as he tried to hide it, it was obvious. I could see the way his eyes grew darker and darker with every passing day, how the vines that wrapped around his head became thicker and heavier. 

His movements were slow– deliberate– like one wrong move and he could shatter completely. His starchy clothes hung off of him looser than before. He covered nearly everything now— except his face, but even that was marred with scars from his creation. His skin was taught and thin, I could practically trace the bone structure underneath. 

The most unnerving change though– was in his mind.

Sun was always a bit of a nerd. He had a proclivity for perfection and wasn’t afraid of quickly pointing out inconsistencies. Others found it rude and off-putting but I knew it was his way of showing he cared. He noticed you, he cared about what was right and making sure you knew what that was. He listened with such apt attention it felt like every word from your mouth was inscribed with careful precision. He was so good at contradiction because he cared so much about you, about your thoughts and feelings. 

His wit was sometimes harsh, but it was quick and pointed. 

…

He barely talked now.

Even amid an experiment, on the cusp of maybe finding a cure– he would drift. 

Staring for long periods, no input or interaction would break him out. 

Even when he was present, there was a slow deliberation that wasn’t there before.

He questioned himself– doubted himself. He spoke and acted with such unnatural trepidation, like even he wasn’t sure what he was saying.

And all I could do was stand by and watch as my best friend slowly died.

…

Maybe it was selfish.

Maybe it was wrong. 

But I couldn’t do it anymore.

…

So I left.

…

I don’t know what compelled me to return that day. 

I reasoned there were still things in the lab I needed to pick up, but I knew I was going to have to confront him. I knew I was going to have to see him again. 

I don’t know what I expected when I opened that door. 

But it certainly wasn’t that.

Parasitic vines crept through the whole lab, infecting every achingly familiar corner. 

The place was a complete mess, equipment tipped and shattered, old projects strewn about, and I almost stepped on a dead rodent, its entire body wrapped tightly with vines.  

And then he stepped out. 

The body degraded down only to its bare bones. Foliage and leaves stuck out of every orifice. Vines were wrapped tightly around him, face now just a hollow skull. The bud that had become a sort of eye for him bloomed into an unnerving pattern of petals and leaves.

Though– for some reason– it wasn’t his appearance that took me off guard.

He was still the same Moon that I had left, he seemed almost excited to see me again. Despite the barely functional state of his host he happily stumbled his way to me, leaning down to receive those head scratches he loved so much.

But still that churning in my gut didn’t subside.

I knew Sun was going to die if I left.

Even if I didn’t want to verbalize it before, I still knew deep down. 

No, it wasn’t even Sun’s death that put me off so deeply. 

…

It was the fact that it had only been three days.

I left on the 24th, leaving with only a small box of my old supplies, I knew I was going to need a second trip. I put it off– but I knew it had to happen. 

In only three days Moon had entirely taken over. 

In only three days Sun was dead, with little less than a skeleton left. 

In only three days Moon had entirely outgrown the body, spreading to all corners of the lab with long searching vines. 

…

I did my best to ignore it. 

…

I stayed with Moon.

I knew I couldn’t bring him back to my house so I took care of him in the lab. 

I did my best– I really did. 

I brought him snacks and treats we used to share together, like small salt taffies and caramels. Even if he couldn’t chew them properly anymore he still stuck out small twisting vines to pull apart the sticky things. He reacted with that same sort of fascinated delight. 

But still. 

There was something off. 

The way he would continue to stare even after I gave him all the snacks I had. The way he would push for more until I left. 

When I returned with more food he would tear them apart more forcefully each time. His vines no longer searching, but stabbing through the air until they found their mark. 

The vines continued to grow in the lab, covering more and more of the floor with every passing day. 

The body was getting used less. Before, Moon would attempt to shamble with the corpse and interact with me in the same way as before; begging for pets, playing with my clothes or hair, and even cuddling on my lap. However, more and more often the skeleton would just lie there, only barely moving its head or gesturing with a hand.

I quickly realized Moon wasn’t just in the eye anymore. He had “eyes” everywhere. More and more buds popped up and bloomed into unnerving pits that would track your every move. 

It got to the point where the room itself felt alive. Vines twisting and pulsating over the floor and walls. It got to the point where I could barely walk in the room without accidentally stepping on a vine. 

Every morning I came back to something different– something new– something unnerving. 

Moon was changing I could tell. I wasn’t sure if he was the same small creature I had taken care of before.

He was no longer searching and curious like before. I tried to bring him those things he liked, picture books of small cartoony creatures and small plush toys. I even brought my old radio to play music and dance like we used to. The vines at first writhed with the beat, and even the corpse moved its head slightly in a sort of head bop, but those movements became less ordered and more spastic, to the point I couldn’t tell if he was even listening. With every passing day, he seemed to care less and less about those simple joys. 

Instead, time was spent watching those vines extend further. They got into the cabinets and tipped over old beakers. It was like they were looking for something. 

…

It was starting to get harder to leave the lab.

Vines slowly crept up the door until they were tightly wrapped around the handle. I pushed and pulled but it refused to budge. I resorted to leaving through the window. I was lucky the lab was on the first floor. 

I don’t know why I kept coming back. The growing apprehension in the back of my mind screamed to get out. I could feel every base animal impulse squirm and scream in fear at what I was witnessing. I think I knew exactly what was happening– I didn’t study him for over a year for nothing after all.

But still– I kept coming back. 

Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was a sense of duty, maybe I still held out hope for him, for the creature I had come to see as a son. 

…

Two weeks later he didn’t allow me to leave anymore.

It had been a good day. He was walking around again, he even toyed with the small caterpillar toy I had brought. As I went to sit on the vine-covered floor he rested with me, the vines warm and pulsating with that strange purr he did. I had foolishly thought he was getting better, that he was still the same Moon as before. 

I fell asleep.

When I woke up the room was pitch black. I realized he had covered the windows entirely with thick leathery vines.

I was trapped.

When I tried to push and pull at them he would snatch me up, move vines around the floor to trip me or grab a hand with one that was hanging. 

The worst part about it was that he was still gentle about it.

He brought me food, vines shifting around the windows to reveal a scuffed takeout container. It looked like it had been snatched from a student, half-eaten, and a fork still rattling around inside. 

When I went to sleep on the floor the vines would shift underneath to accommodate me, creating a surprisingly comfortable bed to rest on. 

I hated it. 

I wanted it to be easy. To hate this creature I helped make. 

But as I wept in the now overrun lab, I couldn’t help but lean into the small vine gently touching my cheek. 

The room was stuffy and humid. Like a greenhouse Moon covered every opening and crevice, and with the soft heat emitted from the vines– I couldn't cool down. 

The clothes I arrived with were completely sweated through. They stuck to me and chaffed with an uncomfortable texture. 

What I wouldn’t give for a decent shower. 

Still, Moon continued just to bring food. Even with the occasional water bottle, I was starting to feel that dry scratchiness at the back of my throat. I was getting sick.

I wasn’t sure he was aware of all the different things a human needed to survive. I tried to talk with him, to get him to understand I needed to leave, but his numerous buds just stared back.  

It was when the animals started appearing that I knew I needed to do something. 

It again, started out small. Squirrels from outside, small mice and rats caught from other nearby labs– but of course it escalated. 

Small dogs and cats that he used to be so fond of turned up dead on the floor. All covered in those same tightly woven vines. Their small bodies quickly turned into hollow corpses, frighteningly similar to Sun. 

At this point, his corpse only sat in the corner, unmoving except for the subtle shifting of vines underneath him. 

…

I had a plan. Cabinets on the top shelf of the bench stood untouched by vines– despite them completely covering every other surface.

It was where we stored our concentrated weed killer. 

I had to do it. I knew I had to. 

Despite the sharp ache in my chest at the thought- I knew that this was the only way. 

Before when Sun was alive, the stuff was far too toxic to be used to cure him but now…

…

On the 29th day, I found a shoe amongst the tangled vines.

It wasn’t mine.

…

There were buds everywhere now. The dark pits held in the flytrap-like eyes followed my every move. 

I had to be quick. I had seen myself how quickly those vines could dart through the air, and with how covered the room had become, there was no way to avoid them. However, they did close periodically. I wondered vaguely if this was a remnant of existing in a body that needed to sleep for so long. Even during these periods though, several buds remained open, watching me intently. 

The shelves with the chemicals had always been too high for me. I wasn’t even gonna bother with the stool; it was probably buried under layers and layers of vines. I would need to stand on the counter to reach it. 

It was on the 31st day that I made my move. Most of the buds were closed. I counted, and only a few near the floor still loomed wide and attentive. 

I carefully made my way over to the shelf. 

I moved slowly and with as much casual ease as I could muster. I couldn’t let him know what I was doing. 

Thankfully the vines on the counters were not nearly as dense as the ones on the floor. There were small pockets of free space and if I could just get my feet in them, I could stand on the counter without alerting Moon. 

I carefully lifted a foot. It was difficult. I had to essentially pull my weight using the leverage of only a very small portion of the counter.

I felt myself slip slightly, brushing against a vine.

I froze. The vine in question shifted slightly in response, changing the pattern of interlocking vines slightly. 

Eventually, it stilled. I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Finally, I was able to make my way to the top of the counter. The open spaces had shrunk considerably with the shifting, so I had to stand on just the tips of my toes. 

I slowly pulled open the cabinets, careful to adjust my weight and hold onto the handle as it swung towards me. 

It was in the back, carefully labeled with many warnings along the side. I slowly brought it out. 

I grasped it carefully in my hands. A whole liter of the liquid filled the heavy jar. 

I needed to inject it into him.

If I could just find a needle or make a small cut with something I could probably–

I felt a vine squeeze around my toe.

I lost balance. 

I tried to grab onto something but my hands were still wrapped around the toxin tightly. 

I felt myself fall backward onto the floor. 

With a crack– I could feel the concoction shatter onto my chest. 

The world was spinning. I felt sick.

I shakily lifted a blood-soaked hand. 

The glass had cut me. 

The vines surrounding me moved in a sudden flurry. I felt the vines underneath me retreat, leaving me on the cold empty ground, buds opened and sprouted to life as they swarmed above me. 

The whole room was shifting and writhing.

I could feel my body react painfully to the toxin. Extreme nausea overwhelmed my senses and I had the sudden urge to empty my stomach.

Pain shot through every nerve as my eyelids felt heavier and heavier.

I was going to die. 

I had failed.

Above, the eyes twisted and turned above me, creating a dizzying array of shapes and sounds. 

I felt a small vine gently touch my open palm. I wondered vaguely if it was possible for a plant to feel grief– to mourn. 

There was a moment of stillness. The pain subsided as the vine rested gently in my hand.

But eventually, I could feel the vine crawl further. Carefully avoiding the spill in the center, they wrapped around my body. I felt like one of those animals now, caught in a tight embrace.

The last thing I saw was Moon lifting a single bud to look at my face. 

And then, it dug in.

[earl-grey-teacake]

oh lord I can picture it. George and Alex bring Logan to the paddock for the first time and they have to go somewhere and they're not sure what to do with Logan. And James volunteers to look after him and they get SUPER nervous like "are you sure James? he can be really fussy if we leave him, he can get really upset" obviously super worried about the impression it will leave on James if Logan is upset. James is like "nah I got this".

and at first Logan starts crying but then James just talks to him. like, at first, doesn't even talk to him about anything particular, then starts explaining the Williams upgrade for the weekend, and suddenly he has an armful of happy, sleepy baby.

and when Galex return they find James reading aloud from the latest data about the tyres and Logan is settled on his chest all peaceful and sleepy and smiling. and soon baby!Logan's favourite part of the weekend (other than when Galex cuddle him and take him home) is spending time with Uncle James. Uncle James and his ridiculously nice voice.

Yes!!!

James has such great vibes. I can't listen to his interviews when I'm at work for too long because I get sleepy. They're so calming and he's always so articulate.

Baby! Logan would have the best time during the race weekend. Just completely knocked out during the races as James is running through what's happening. The downside is that he sleeps so much during the day that he's very active at night.

Thank you for the ask! I wrote a little snippet below! :)❤️

Logan had his arms wrapped tightly around George’s neck, refusing to let go despite the fact that they George had to attend to media duties.

“Come on, Logan. We have to go.” Alex tried to coax the infant to let go but if only seemed to make him more distressed. George tired to pull Logan off him but that only spurred him on to grip harder. 

“Uhhhh!” Logan kicked against George’s ribs and started to whimper.

“What’re we going to do? We can’t just bring him?” Alex gently stroked Logan head, hoping to prevent any crying from happening.

“How about I look after him?” A voice intervened. James walked over, arms outstretched to take Logan.

Alex and George exchanged a nervous look. “Are you sure James? He can get really fussy when we leave. We don’t want to get so upset that you can’t do your work.”

“It will be okay. I can handle it.” The process of dislodging Logan was an ordeal. The poor baby gripped at whatever he could to avoid being separated whether it be George’s hair or shirt before trying to cling onto Alex’s jacket.

“Wahhh!” Logan pushed and wiggled, trying to get free.

“Please call us if you need anything.” George implored before quickly taking off with Alex.

“Wahhh!” Logan’s face was bright red.

“I know,” James patted Logan on the back. “I know you’re very upset but your parents have very important jobs to do today. They also don’t want to leave you but they’ll be back soon.”

This did nothing to quell the wailing but Logan was starting to get tired enough that he started to lay his head down on James’s shoulders to continue crying.

“It’ll be okay. Your parents don’t even like media duties so maybe they’ll be back quite quickly. Though Alex is quite good at being in front of a camera…The rear suspension legs are re-oriented due to the new air flow structure.” It had taken 15 minutes of James talking about media duties, the marketing department, and the new upgrades for Logan to knock out.

Alex was sure he never held as much contempt for marketing and media day as today. It was bad enough being separated from Logan but to also be asked question about whether or not they can be good drivers knowing that they have to take care of a child made him want to pull his hair out. George was practically sprinting to Williams having teared up earlier when he had to leave Logan.

I can’t believe I have two crybabies

The two of them were directed to James’s office. The door was slightly open and there was talking inside. “During Silverstone, we started off on softs…”

George was prepared for a meltdown from Logan and a potential breakdown from James because his baby had the stamina to cry for over an hour. Instead, he found Logan comfortably knocked as James rattled off tire data. Maybe it was better to have Logan stay at Williams for the time being.

[centrally-unplanned]

Gonna make this a quick one since I just don’t have the spoons for a really big effort post: Pre-CCP 20th Century China Did Not Have Feudal or Slave-like Land Tenancy Systems

Obviously what counts as “slave-like” is going to be subjective, but I think it's common, for *ahem* reasons, for people to believe that in the 1930’s Chinese agriculture was dominated by massive-scale, absentee landlords who held the large majority of peasant workers in a virtual chokehold and dictated all terms of labor.

That is not how Chinese land ownership & agricultural systems worked. I am going to pull from Chinese Agriculture in the 1930s: Investigations into John Lossing Buck’s Rediscovered ‘Land Utilization in China’ Microdata, which is some of the best ground-level data you can get on how land use functioned, in practice, in China during the "Nanjing Decade" before WW2 ruins all data collection. It looks at a series of north-central provinces, which gives you the money table of this:

On average, 4/5ths of Chinese peasants owned land, and primarily farmed land that they owned. Tenancy was, by huge margins, the minority practice. I really don’t need to say more than this, but I'm going to because there is a deeper point I want to make. And it's fair to say that while this is representative of Northern China, Southern China did have higher tenancy rates - not crazy higher, but higher.

So let's look at those part-owner farmers; sounds bad right? Like they own part of their land, but it's not enough? Well, sometimes, but sometimes not:

A huge class (about ~1/3rd) of those part-owners were farming too much land, not too little; they were enterprising households renting land to expand their businesses. They would often engage in diversified production, like cash crops on the rented land and staple crops on their owned land. Many of them would actually leave some of their owned land fallow, because it wasn’t worth the time to farm!

Meanwhile the small part-owners and the landless tenant farmers would rent out land to earn a living…sometimes. Because that wasn’t the only way to make a living - trades existed. From our data, if you are a small part-owner, you got a substantial chunk of your income from non-farm labor; if you owned no land you got the majority of your income from non-farm labor:

(Notice how that includes child labor by default, welcome to pre-modernism!)

So the amount of people actually doing full-tenancy agriculture for a living is…pretty small, less than 10% for sure. But what did it look like for those who do? The tenancy rates can be pretty steep - 50/50 splits were very common. But that is deceiving actually; this would be called “share rent”, but other systems, such as cash rents, bulk crop rents, long-term leases with combined payment structures, etc, also existed and were plentiful - and most of those had lower rent rates. However, share rent did two things; one, it hedged against risk; in the case of a crop failure you weren't out anything as the tenant, a form of insurance. And two, it implied reciprocal obligations - the land owner was providing the seed, normally the tools as well, and other inputs like fertilizer.

Whether someone chose one type of tenancy agreement or the other was based on balancing their own labor availability, other wage opportunities, the type of crop being grown, and so on. From the data we have, negotiations were common around these types of agreements; a lot of land that was share rent one year would be cash rent another, because the tenants and market conditions shifted to encourage one or the other form.

I’m doing a little trick here, by throwing all these things at you. Remember the point at the top? “Was this system like slavery?” What defines slavery? To me, its a lack of options - that is the bedrock of a slave system. Labor that you are compelled by law to do, with no claim on the output of that work. And as I hit you with eight tiers of land ownership and tenancy agreements and multi-source household incomes, as you see that the median person renting out land to a tenant farmer was himself a farmer as a profession and by no means some noble in the city, what I hope becomes apparent is that the Chinese agricultural system was a fully liquid market based on choice and expected returns. By no means am I saying that it was a nice way to live; it was an awful way to live. But nowhere in this system was state coercion the bedrock of the labor system. China’s agricultural system was in fact one of the most free, commercial, and contract-based systems on the planet in the pre-modern era, that was a big source of why China as a society was so wealthy. It was a massive, moving market of opportunities for wages, loans, land ownership, tenancy agreements, haggled contracts, everyone trying in their own way to make the living that they could.

It's a system that left many poor, and to be clear injustices, robberies, corruption, oh for sure were legion. Particularly during the Warlord Era mass armies might just sweep in and confiscate all your hard currency and fresh crops. But, even ignoring that the whole ‘poverty’ thing is 90% tech level and there was no amount of redistribution that was going to improve that very much, what is more important is that the pre-modern world was *not* equally bad in all places. The American South was also pretty poor, but richer than China in the 19th century. And being a slave in the American South was WAY worse than being a peasant in China during times of peace - because Confederate society built systems to remove choice, to short-circuit the ebb and flow of the open system to enshrine their elite ‘permanently’ at the top. If you lived in feudal Russia it was a good deal worse, with huge amounts of your yearly labor compelled by the state onto estates held by those who owned them unimpeachably by virtue of their birthright (though you were a good deal richer just due to basic agriculture productivity & population density, bit of a tradeoff there).

If you simply throw around the word “slavery” to describe every pre-modern agricultural system because it was poor and shitty, that back-doors a massive amount of apologia for past social systems that were actively worse than the benchmarks of the time. Which is something the CCP did; their diagnosis of China’s problem for the rural poor of needing massive land redistribution was wrong! It was just wrong, it was not the issue they were having. It was not why rural China was often poor and miserable. It could help, sure, I myself would support some compensated land redistribution in the post-war era as a welfare idea for a fiscally-strapped state. But that was gonna do 1% of the heavy lifting here in making the rural poor's lives better. And I don’t think we should continue to the job of spreading the CCP's propaganda for them.

There ya go @chiefaccelerator, who alas I was not permitted to compel via state force into writing this for me, you Qing Dynasty lazy peasant.

[thr0wnawayy]

Where Are They At?: A look into a Post Liberation World

Hey y'all. This post serves as an overview/in sight into MHA's world post Liberation War.

Unlike my previous posts these will be written from an "outside" perspective. Another thing I should note is in regards to the movies (can also apply to the LN):

Taken from my notes: (Movies aren't canon but the characters and settings are [ WHM being the exception due to fitting in the vanilla TL) -Thr0wnawayy

The Shimano family had their island home ruined in the wake of the PLW.

After the heroes used the villains as cannon fodder and warped them across Japan(and co), the Shimano's found themselves at a loss.

1. Villains had quite literally fallen out of the sky

2. The battles they fought were inescapable due to having no safe way off the island.

Most of the island had been rendered inhospitable in the aftermath.

With nowhere to go* the entire community fell apart. The Shimano's fled to America to start a new life, meeting the Tsuyoshi's along the way.

Their story is one of many, those who could afford it left the country for good. Becoming known as the "Seekers" (In Australia they're called Roosties, in Otheon they are called Sköll)

_______________________________________

Without getting too much into spoilers, here's some world news:

Nedzu's pressuring only lead to greater resentment from aiding countries.

The amount of favours Nedzu had to cash in was astronomical and this led to the country sinking further into debt due to acquiring interest, with Japan now owing the various countries debt money.

Stars and Stripes Death will be seen as the equivalent of a second pearl habour by the US (and yes, history has been preserved well enough for MHA's America to remember that.)

Further contributing to America's hate of Japan was the fact that when the (Endeavor-Dabi) drought hit the west coast, the other nations had no resources left to extend. Not for the US and not for themselves, with the effort to rebuild Japan having drained their finances (even with the cut corners).

Thus souring the HPSC's/Japan's relations further with the world stage, worse still, most of the buildings were temporary (being meant to be redone or renovated), not structurally stable and meant to be lived in for 2-5 years at best.

U.A was especially a victim of this, with repairs having been rushed in time for graduation (which further tightened UA's spending). Over-all It was a rush job and corners had to be cut to meet deadlines

Uraraka Construction and many other companies had their reputations rise and fall seemingly over night (though this wont happen until 1A reaches their 3rd year).

In the aftermath of the war, single parent families and orphan rates have skyrocketed.

Midoriya's weather changing punch fucked up the meteorologist's data, no one could have seen the drought coming.

Not all the footage recorded by the businesses course was used (approved) for the broadcast

*if you thought the rebuilding efforts were bad in the mainland, then it was practically nonexistent for the islanders, being the most neglected group besides quirkless individuals.

It should be noted that Monoma was the one to create the portals using Kurogiri's quirk, however he lacked both the experience and fine control necessary for accuracy. Hence why some of the portals were in the sky, this also contributed to the random placement of the portals.

Although only Gigantomachia and The Sludge Villain were put under Shinso's mindcontrol, the general belief of the public is that all the villains were influenced rather than disoriented and panicked.

[bitsbug]

i have.. so many questions about / for your ocs (VERY POSITIVE) but i will utilize self-restraint and start with one. i am very curious if any of your iterator group has animal companions beyond the purposed organisms that more or less act as cells in their bodies- my best example is, of course, SRS and spearmaster but this could also extend to include like, scavenger pals? on the other hand do any of them have particular issues with the surrounding flora/fauna

FANTASTIC QUESTION! there are multiple!!!

Curtains hordes most of the animal/purposed companions of the group, since he personally designed them. He's got like, 3 different types of purposed organism he created from scratch (he thinks simply modifying creatures is stupid and inefficient) that inhabit his superstructure.

The main one is CC/Ceaseless Convection! They're the only one of their model, and definitely the most talkative of his creations. They're made to be a data courier, capable of traveling vast distances with vast amounts of information stored in their body's giant secondary brain, derived from the same gut-stuff in the Memory Crypt's boxes. They often need to take long trips away from home for their deliveries, but they're an optimist and enjoy the adventure.

MORE GUYS UNDER THE CUT THIS IS LOONG

There's also the Internal Engineers, which are made to maintain and help upgrade his inner components, as well as keep out intruders. They're made to be content with just doing their jobs & working constantly - listen ethics kinda died with the ancients - but each have their own personality. Also they talk exclusively in coding jargon. He has 3 right now.

Finally is his constructers, which predictibly also do construction and maintenance, but on his exterior this time. These ones are the most numerous, with 25 living on his structure. When they're not assigned anything they hang out in his abandoned city, which has been renovated to accomodate for them.

There's also Scribe but I might make a post dedicated to her -- the short version is that she's a wild animal that adventured into Curtains' chamber and demanded he teach her how to write. He complied for some reason and now she visits regularly for lessons.

condolences TBH

The only animal companion that isn't associated with Curtains is the Influence, who was created by Anxiety Practice. They were part of an experiment involving wheel flowers, being engineered to constantly produce the karma-affecting hallucinogenic compound inside them. Thing is, their body produces the compound in excess, causing it to leak out of their face orifices. It doesn't bother them too much, but does affect their senses.

As a result of the modification, they can't go down in karma, experience a time-slow effect like the one mushrooms cause, and are absurdly well attuned to the Cycle. They also do experience the uh.. psychadelic effects, but living with it their entire life has desensitized them. After AP finished data collection, xe didn't have any reason to toss Influence out, so they stick around as a lab assistant. They don't know how to survive in the wild, nor do they know any slugcat language.

thank you so much for giving me an excuse to infodump. good lird this post is long.

[biblioklept-writes]

Stargirl (Modern!Aemond)

A/N: There is no mention of the reader's appearance but there’s heavy engineering - it is the only thing that I know besides fandoms. Also, this is purely self indulgent. (fem!reader)

Summary: The King's Landing University students celebrate the end of the term, and you find yourself with a beautiful, not-much-of-a-stranger.

Word Count: 1.7 k

HOTD Masterlist | Series Masterlist

You were not happy.

Of course, you were in one of the most sought after universities in the world, and you had worked through your blood, sweat and tears to make it here, studying Computer Science in King’s Landing University. You were happy then.

And now you worked yourself to tears and blood (literally, the stress messed with the period cycle) to end this semester. You weren’t sure how good the exams went, but at least they were over. You could scroll through instagram and tumblr stress free now, finding a new hyperfixation.

You knew you hated the loud party scene, but you were an introvert-leaning-ambivert who loved to socialise with new people, but you loved a night-in alone with your phone and laptop just the same, if not more.

Your lovely friend had been invited to a uni party hosted by the frat boys, to celebrate the end of the term exams for all the majors. Your room was not exactly the space you wanted to spend your time in, after being holed up in there for almost a month - finishing papers, assignments and practical files then studying for your theory exams. Data Structures have been particularly hard on you.

So you put on your best satin black dress, put on a bold black eyeliner, red lipstick and highlighted your face and lids with shimmery eyeshadow that popped your beautiful eyes. You finally wore those heels you had thrifted, feeling confident now that you had dressed up. 

“You look like the hottest bitch in town!” Your friend complimented, blowing you a kiss. You blew a kiss right at her, feeling yourself.

“I really do, don’t I?” You smirked, raising your brows.

Now you were out of campus, having fetched a ride with one of the guys from your class. Being one of the few girls in the engineering building really helped with that. Aegon Targaryen was the host of the party, even though he was a Business major in his seventh semester, you knew him. Everyone knew him - he had a bit of a reputation of being passed around in the university campus.

The Targaryens were practically Westerosi Royalty, the wealthiest of them all, and known for their controversial family workings. They were known for having peculiar purple eyes. You had heard a lot about them, the most talked about thing being how Viserys Targaryen had married his daughter’s best friend, then proceeded to have four kids with her. You’d heard that his daughter, Rhaenyra, married one of her father’s cousins, after her husband had died.

You knew only two of the Targaryens personally, Haelena Targaryen, her mother’s only daughter, with the orchid eyes - who was a biomedical engineering major and you had one class in common with her, back in your first semester - communication skills. Apparently, the university thought that none of the engineers knew how to talk and had introduced the subject even though Haelena was in her third semester.

She was a little strange, but sweet. You loved her though, and even hung out together after you had passed the first semester. She had been your presentation partner for the class and you absolutely adored her. Even now when you were in third semester and she was in her fifth.

The other Targaryen you knew was Jacaerys Targaryen, who happened to be Haelena’s nephew from her half sister. He was your junior in engineering, majoring in Mechanical and Automation. You met him while working on a project of robotics under a professor, where he worked on the mechanical team and you worked on the AI bit with your team.

And of course, there was Aemond Targaryen, Haelena’s favourite brother, everything you knew about him was because of her. You had never had the chance to see him though, he was a history major, in his third semester. Haelena had mentioned that he had lost sight in one eye after an accident with their nephews - something involving a broken bike and them struggling to fix it and then getting hit in the eye by a ricocheting piece of rusted iron. She had said that instead of a marble eye, he had insisted on getting a sapphire. Rich people and their problems.

The party mode had begun in the car itself, you got to choose the music and played some of your favourite upbeat songs screaming with the music.

Haelena had not backed down on her promise of being there, and you were so happy to see her that you could hug her. But you settled for shaking her hand, knowing that she was sensitive to touch. She looked lovely dressed in a golden halterneck, looking every bit like the princess she was.

You, your roommate, and Haelena took multiple pictures together before even entering the Targaryen’s spare house. They seemed to have multiple of those across the city, even the country. 

Your engineering buddies feigned hurt as you abandoned them to be with your girlfriends, winking at them before leaving. You danced around with your friends, and occasionally Haelena stood from her place and joined you too. Then you went back to check on the guys who you’d come over with, hoping that they were not being bullied by the other kids for being engineering majors.

When you returned, you didn’t find your girlfriends where you’d left them. Taking your phone out to text the group chat, you went away from the room, dancing to yourself at the Weeknd’s song. Haelena quickly responded that they were upstairs, and you swayed while climbing the stairs, head lowered to look at your phone. You saw a funny meme, and sent it to the group chat again. Roomie <3: Bitch stop memeing and get your pretty ass up. You: OMW

“Ow,” you said as you bumped into someone at the first floor landing, and would have nearly fallen on your ass if not for the strong grip on your forearm. You looked up to meet two mismatched eyes, one lilac and the other a sapphire stone. “You’re Aemond Targaryen,” you exhaled, seemingly forgetting how to breathe.

To say that he was handsome would be an understatement. He was the most beautiful man you had ever laid your eyes on, a fallen angel if you would ever see one. His face was sharply cut with defined cheekbones, jaw looking like it could cut through you. You were stunned by his magnificence, the way his silky silver hair fell to his shoulders, his pale skin and silver chain with the dragon emblem(or platinum, you couldn’t be sure) in stark contrast to the black turtleneck he was wearing. Oh, and he’s so tall.

You snapped out of your trance at the sound of your name in his voice, which was smooth like honey, sweetened to perfection. You felt like you were turning to a puddle right there.

“How do you know my name?” You asked.

“Haelena always talks about you,” Aemond said, raising his brow. “You’re one of her closest friends, I assume.”

“Yes, of course,” You said. He still hadn’t let you go, and you didn’t complain. He was warmer to touch than he looked. “Haelena talks a lot about you too. She’s told me that you are a history major.” This is why they teached communication, ass.

“That is correct.” He said, still scanning you. “And you are a computer science major.”

“Yup,” You said, even though his words were a statement. The two of you fell silent for a long moment, as Stargirl Interlude started playing in the background, and Lana Del Rey’s heavenly voice filled your ears.

I had a vision, A vision of my nails in the kitchen, Scratching counter tops, I was screaming My back arched like a cat, My position couldn't stop, You were hitting it

All you could think was Aemond Targaryen was far prettier in the flesh and the pictures didn’t do him much justice. Your phone buzzed with texts, but you ignored it, unable to look away from this fine specimen of man. 

“There’s a lot of rooms here, Aemond.” Aegon’s drunk, boisterous voice called behind you, snapping the two of you out of the trance. “Stop eye-fucking.”

The older Targaryen scanned you up and down with his bloodshot glassy eyes, not bothering to hide the smirk on his face. Aemond’s face hardened and he gently shoved you behind himself, and you glanced from over his shoulder as the staredown between the two brothers went. “Don’t even think about it,” Aemond said, his voice low and dangerously void. “You have enough women waiting for you as it is,”

A shiver travelled down your spine at the disgusting thought, but you suppressed it. Aegon’s drunk voice called your name, and you raised an eyebrow at him, still standing behind Aemond.

“You’re pretty famous among the guys, you know.” He said, laughing. “I can see why. Though, I don’t understand why you hang around my sweet sister? You could use some better company. Good company,”

“I was in good company until you came along.” You said, innocently blinking even as your smile was anything but innocent.

Aemond coughed, his free hand raised to his pretty, kissable mouth. You suspected it was to cover a laugh. “Well?” you questioned, giving him your best glare. Aegon rolled his eyes at you and went back downstairs, leaving you alone with your pleasant company. It’s just because he’s pretty.

“We should be friends,” Aemond said, now smiling at you. You forgot how to breathe for a moment. His smile made him hotter, cuter and prettier all at the same time. And he had dimples.

“Well-” you went to ask something, but your ringing phone stopped you.

It was Haelena. You answered her, turning away from Aemond so you could answer in privacy. “Yeah, I’m on my way. I’ll be right there. Bye.”

“Here’s my number,” He said, handing you a white napkin. His handwriting was clean, just as you’d expect of a history major. He twirled an elegant gold pen between his long, thin fingers. A titanium ring band gleamed on his middle finger.

Without thinking, you reached for his pen, and tore the napkin from the blank side and wrote down your phone number, and kissed the napkin, leaving a bold red lipstick stain on the white paper. You reached forward and folded the napkin neatly with the pen and put it in his black trouser pocket, giving him your best sultry eyes. His lilac eye mirrored your expression, pupil dilated. 

“Call me whenever you’re free,” you whispered. Before disappearing up the stairs.

Later, you will blame the one drink you had had earlier for this confidence, but you’d forever thank the gods for making this happen.

[gumnut-logic]

“Thunderbird Five, I need more information.”

“I’m sorry, Commander, I don’t have any. Too much electrical interference.”

Jeff cursed under his breath. He knew John was doing his best, but there had been so many lives lost today.

Lee wasn’t happy. All the data they had pointed to a structural fault in the mall that caused the collapse. It left Jeff grateful that his engineering son wasn’t here for the incident. Virgil reminded him of Lucy when he went off the deep end – rare but a force of nature.

But today Virgil was with Gordon for a very important moment in his little brother’s swimming career.

Jeff was disappointed that he wasn’t there for Gordon, but responsibilities were responsibilities.

“Commander?” His eldest son was covered in dust. Jeff noted the dark smears on his arms but didn’t have the time to acknowledge what they meant.

The fire in Scott’s eyes was enough.

Jeff let out a sigh. “John can’t get more detail, so we are going in almost blind.” A breath and he stared at the remaining pile of crumpled masonry. “We’ll have Two lift off that piece of roof and go from there.”

“Two is not going to be happy.”

“Yeah, well, none of us are happy. “

“FAB.”

A glance as his son started issuing commands to the team. Jeff allowed himself the briefest flash of pride. Scott had become a mainstay of International Rescue and Jeff was ever so proud.

The roar of a Thunderbird shifting overhead and Two appeared, her VTOL reflecting Lee’s mood, no doubt. His partner-in-crime had been a great help the last couple of years, filling in to help with IR when he was available. Jeff envisioned that one day perhaps all his family could be involved, so it was great to have his brother-in-law on the job.

After all IR was to be his sister’s legacy.

Lucy was never far from Jeff’s thoughts, particularly today.

She would have been so angry.

Jeff had to settle for being her vengeance.

The clunk of all four of Two’s grapples as they clamped onto the broken roof. A roar of energised VTOL and the roof lifted ever so slowly.

Slowly not because Two wasn’t capable of lifting it easily, but slow and carefully in an attempt to protect the lives possibly below it.

And they were rewarded. As the weak and wintery southern Californian sun flickered onto the newly exposed rubble, there were voices, both terrified and relieved.

Jeff signalled to Kyrano and Scott and all three of them moved to evac the rescuees.

Thirteen in total. Five didn’t make it.

They dug deeper with Two pulling off smaller and smaller pieces of rubble. Jeff found himself wishing for some kind of mechanism to lift the rocks himself. A pod wasn’t practical in this space and it hampered their progress.

The weak sun headed towards the horizon.

Virgil checked it with the good news that Gordon had won and had another trophy for his collection.

Jeff gritted his teeth as he hauled out yet another poor soul who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Scott found someone to save and for some critical moments there was activity to keep that life going. Jeff’s heart clenched as he shifted more rubble.

The night crawled over the sky and powerful lamps were set up.

It was far too many hours later when they called it. Jeff was exhausted. They were all exhausted.

He gave the order to pack up and retreat. It was always a dreaded order, but they had scoured the site and there were no signs of life left. John had managed to penetrate the majority of the electrical disturbance, which had been a relief…

“Commander?”

Jeff blinked. John sounded worried. “Thunderbird Five?”

“I’m getting a fragmentary lifesign signal. Unconfirmed.” A pause and the sound of his son pushing buttons. “I can’t clear it up. I’m sending coordinates.”

Jeff’s wristcomm flickered into life, a map of the site with the location flashing. It was in the remains of what used to be an ice cream palour. His heart dropped. “FAB, Thunderbird Five.”

He jogged over, steeling himself for what he might find. The shadows were hard and sharp, sketching out the remains of what had been a cheerful, family place. Innocuous everyday objects discarded in a disaster zone always forced him to face the horror of their existence. A statement made of the tragedy by the tragedy and the sight of the remains of ice cream tubs, tables, chairs and even broken cones in the dark dust stabbed him where it hurt.

But there were no signs of life.

He shifted rubble and moved the tables. A counter and a gaily painted menu revealed nothing of their patrons or owners.

It was all eerily silent.

Until someone whimpered.

“Can you hear me? This is International Rescue. We are here to help. Please respond.”

A pause.

No answer.

So, he repeated himself in Spanish.

The silence was ominous.

But then there was another whimper. Followed by a whine.

Jeff moved, throwing broken fixtures out of his way, narrowing in on the sound.

It wasn’t until he picked up yet another upturned ice cream tub that he realised his rescuee wasn’t human.

Curled up fearfully in the dirt was a tiny little puppy, barely recognisable, drenched in melted ice confection.

A pair of wide dark eyes looked up at Jeff in fear.

Jeff didn’t hesitate. A life was a life and he was the son of farmers as well as adventurers.

“Hey, there, little one.” He held out a gloved hand for the puppy to sniff. “I won’t hurt you.” Tone was everything.

The puppy stared at him a moment as if considering, whimpered, and tentatively sniffed at his finger.

A pitiful whine broke Jeff’s heart.

Ever so carefully, he gently picked up the puppy. When the dog didn’t protest, he stood slowly, bringing the little creature to his chest.

It shivered in the cold.

Its eyes never left Jeff’s.

He crooned nonsense words and he hurried over towards Thunderbird Two.

Lee met him halfway, all the questions on his face. Jeff shushed him with a look.

Up Two’s ramp and he found the supplies and the quiet he needed.

Gently placing the trembling puppy on a hastily gathered emergency blanket. It whined in fear.

Jeff yanked off his helmet and the smell of damp earth, broken rock and burning electronics made it up his nose, but a stronger, sweeter smell fought it all off.

The little puppy smelled of pink sherbet and childhood memories.

It whimpered again, and as Scott strode past with Lee in prep for lift off, Jeff picked up Sherbet and clutched the little dog to his chest again.

If Jeff rode home with Lee instead of with Scott on One, which was his usual choice, it was his right as Commander to not have to explain himself.

There would be questions and inquiries as to the puppy’s owner, but there was something in the little dog’s eyes that just entranced Jeff. As if it was some cosmic meant to be.

“Got yourself another kid there, Tracy?” The smirk on Lee’s face as they approached Tracy Island was fond and irritating.

Jeff glared at him. But if he was honest with himself, maybe Lee was right?

He brushed a finger over its tiny furry forehead.

It was still staring at him.

Quiet. “I’m here to help.”

He ignored Lee’s snort, as the puppy finally curled up and relaxed in his hands, promptly falling asleep.

-o-o-o-

[lackablazeical]

💚🐉Ishida Miyamoto🐉💚

Specific trigger warnings -

Masochistic behavior, self hate, body hate, chronic/degenerative illness, medical malpractice, medical tools (i.e syringes, blades, etc), experimentation, objectification, anger issues, emotional dependence

Specific boundaries w/ this character -

Ishida is a disabled character. Please treat him thus. Do not say he does not 'look disabled', etc etc.

General info -

Ishida's birthday is April 18th. He is an Aries ♈️

Receives love through Words of Affirmation, gives love through Acts of Service and Quality time.

Ishida is bisexual with a preference towards women.

Ishida has BPD (Bipolar Disorder).

Ishida has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).

Ishida has MD (Muscle Dysmorphia).

Personality traits -

Ishida is impulsive, determined, friendly, adventurous, clingy, trusting, gullible, and open-hearted.

Ishida tends to do things on a whim, for the excitement or rush of it all. He then has to deal with the consequences of it, which he greatly dislikes.

Ishida never gives up once he sets his mind to something, no matter if he hates it or not.

Ishida loves meeting new people and making friends, and can talk to anyone, anywhere.

Ishida is clingy, especially to Donnie. He loves having the attention, and often feels extremely down when Donnie ignores him or doesn't want him around. Same with Usagi, as well.

Ishida is a bit too trusting, and will often believe things Donnie tells him immediately. He also trusts the people around him not to lie, and takes what they say at face value.

Ishida is very open with his love and affection, and voices his care and support of his loved ones often.

Important details -

His Health -

Ishida has conditions including hemophilia, asthma, POTS, low blood sugar, chronic fatigue syndrome, anemia, and poor circulation.

Ishida has a detached 'Ki', or soul. His soul is not bound to his body properly. This makes it so he is mostly unaffected by mystic spells, but is also connected to why he is so ill and disconnected from his body. Mystic magic does not work to improve his health because it tries to heal him through his Ki, which doesn't work. Donnie's medical practices only focus on his body, which make them more effective.

Donnie uses extreme medical practice to help Ishida, making Ishida much more energetic, strong, confident, and healthy. If Ishida didn't have his meds, he'd have about a month before he'd be right back where he started.

His beliefs -

Ishida's element is fire.

Ishida feels a strong connection to fire, ash, marble, and dragons.

Ishida will burn things like paper, old clothes, or bites of his food and pray over the ash. He doesn't burn meat or pictures with peoples faces, as he finds it disrespectful.

Ishida will pray/pay respects to buildings or structures made of marble, he will do the same if he's eating/drinking from a marble bowl.

Ishida will doodle dragons often, and finds great value in art of them. He gets very starstruck around yokai that look like dragons too.

His beliefs about Usagi's death -

He believed Usagi was dead, and felt heavy guilt over it. He wished he had been healthier/stronger, to be able to protect his brothers.

Ishida was often helping comfort Kenichi, and he tended to 'feed into' Kenichi's idea that Usagi was still alive.

His dynamic with Donnie -

Ishida considers Donnie his best (non-blood related) friend.

He trusts Donnie with his life, and listens to whatever Donnie says. Donnie has a say in everything Ishida does, including what he eats and how he spends his time.

Ishida may occasionally call Donnie out for his bad behavior though, telling him if he's being an asshole or going too far. Donnie doesn't really care what Ishida has to say.

Ishida allows Donnie to run experiments on him, to test his pain tolerance and allow Donnie to gather data.

Ishida enjoys snuggling with Donnie, because of the vibrations from when Donnie churrs.

Ishida loves to spend time in Donnie's lab, and often goes in there to draw, work out, or just generally hang.

Ishida holds Donnie to a very high pedestal because of how Donnie had helped him, so may also brush off Donnie's outbursts/general rudeness because of this.

Ishida learned some sign language to be able to communicate with Donnie when he is overstimulated.

Fun facts -

Ishida's favorite food is bananas, and his favorite drink is coke.

Ishida's favorite animal is a dragon. He likes to doodle them occasionally.

Ishida heavily dislikes plans changing.

Ishida has very few sensory issues, but notably he hates 'light' sensations (elbows brushing, gentle breezes, etc.)

Ishida has a talent for pickpocketing/ sleight of hand. He is also good at magic, like card tricks.

Ishida isn't a morning person, but still always wakes up early.

Voice claim [Ross Lynch] -

Tags that include Ishida -

#addams! Ishida, #addams! Donnida, #addams! Miyamotos

[cyberstudious]

what's it like studying CS?? im pretty confused if i should choose CS as my major xx

hi there!

first, two "misconceptions" or maybe somewhat surprising things that I think are worth mentioning:

there really isn't that much "math" in the calculus/arithmetic sense*. I mostly remember doing lots of proofs. don't let not being a math wiz stop you from majoring in CS if you like CS

you can get by with surprisingly little programming - yeah you'll have programming assignments, but a degree program will teach you the theory and concepts for the most part (this is where universities will differ on the scale of theory vs. practice, but you'll always get a mix of both and it's important to learn both!)

*: there are some sub-fields where you actually do a Lot of math - machine learning and graphics programming will have you doing a lot of linear algebra, and I'm sure that there are plenty more that I don't remember at the moment. the point is that 1) if you're a bit afraid of math that's fine, you can still thrive in a CS degree but 2) if you love math or are willing to be brave there are a lot of cool things you can do!

I think the best way to get a good sense of what a major is like is to check out a sample degree plan from a university you're considering! here are some of the basic kinds of classes you'd be taking:

basic programming courses: you'll knock these out in your first year - once you know how to code and you have an in-depth understanding of the concepts, you now have a mental framework for the rest of your degree. and also once you learn one programming language, it's pretty easy to pick up another one, and you'll probably work in a handful of different languages throughout your degree.

discrete math/math for computer science courses: more courses that you'll take early on - this is mostly logic and learning to write proofs, and towards the end it just kind of becomes a bunch of semi-related math concepts that are useful in computing & problem solving. oh also I had to take a stats for CS course & a linear algebra course. oh and also calculus but that was mostly a university core requirement thing, I literally never really used it in my CS classes lol

data structures & algorithms: these are the big boys. stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, graphs, sorting algorithms, more complicated algorithms… if you're interviewing for a programming job, they will ask you data structures & algorithms questions. also this is where you learn to write smart, efficient code and solve problems. also this is where you learn which problems are proven to be unsolvable (or at least unsolvable in a reasonable amount of time) so you don't waste your time lol

courses on specific topics: operating systems, Linux/UNIX, circuits, databases, compilers, software engineering/design patterns, automata theory… some of these will be required, and then you'll get to pick some depending on what your interests are! I took cybersecurity-related courses but there really are so many different options!

In general I think CS is a really cool major that you can do a lot with. I realize this was pretty vague, so if you have any more questions feel free to send them my way! also I'm happy to talk more about specific classes/topics or if you just want an answer to "wtf is automata theory" lol