#that tag is my life philosophy in a nutshell

[whereisthedamndaddymanual]

There is a certain beauty I think

Spilling that sweet honey for Love when I was surrounded by foul things spilling other things.

I will take the Pepsi challenge with my preferred slurp

[basimdasasonst]

tos spock: logic may be a philosophical path that i have dedicated much of my life to the path of -- as far as considering and almost completing kolinahr -- but it does not make me all that i am. i am a person outside of my physicalities, with wants, needs, and other such things that i can allow myself through the cracks of my teachings

snw spock: did u know im a vulcan. only half tho ... raagaghaahhah ... (meek noises of protest against his humanity)

no. but seriously. on that ... thing of an snw s3 recap: others have divested much more time and energy into talking about vulcan philosophy vs biology (and there's a plethora of very good takes about it if you do only the most minor of searching) so i won't harp on the matter, but i want to step back and observe the writing and characterisation beyond the colossal fuck up that is -- well, their disintegration of vulcan culture/complexities.

[i'll -- try to keep this brief but no promises. i did spend 2000 words ranting about how badly they did spock so, brevity thy name is not basimdasas]

let me just. let's just pretend we can get over the fact they mixed biology with philosophy. let's just let that slide for a second. why -- and i cannot stress this enough -- the fuck do (pike, uhura, la'an, chapel -- i'll call them fake vulcans for my own sake) the fake vulcans talk the fucking same ... ? moreover -- why are they the same person -- logical. Purely Wholey Logical (trademark). if you transcribed the text of the 5 minute episode we were given and took out the dialogue tags -- they're. they're all the same person. you cannot tell who's talking, maybe through context clues. Guys. (shakes the writers really hard, enough to give an adult shaken baby syndrome) VULCANS HAVE PERSONALITIES TOO. i've felt a small undercurrent of this in the previous seasons but it feels directly amplified to me now -- spock's "humanity" is -- is his personality. They're making his personality his humanity. dude.

let me put it this way: you put two nihilists in a room. they've grown up in different ways, in different places, and were introduced to nihilism by their parents who also believed and practised in the philosophy. you let them talk. they're going to disagree, they might even get angry at the other. they'll agree. if there is something inherently correct that they can both acknowledge, they will have different viewpoints of tackling the concept -- based not just on the objective teachings, but the environment they grew up in, their communities, their parents, and their own personal traits. now let's take them out of the box. you compare the two at a distance: one likes grape smoothies, the other likes peach. one is a morning person, one is not. one is a competitive swimmer. one works in an office. they both find relative comfort from their jobs, even if in different ways. they are both nihilists. yet, inextricably, they are different in many ways.

ONLY VULCANS WHO HAVE UNDERGONE KOLINAHR WOULD LACK EMOTIONS. VULCANS STILL HAVE EMOTIONS THEY JUST TAMP THEM DOWN.

ok. calm. i'm drawing a tad on my experience as a trans man with gender here, but there are some things about us that are fundamental to our being that we are inherently drawn to for various reasons, i believe. i mean, that's what personality is, in a severe nutshell. that's why we have assholes who continue to be assholes (garner pleasure from it, usually). people who continue to let themselves get stepped over (never learned to stand up for themselves, environmental factor, or is afraid, or what have you). people who learn from their mistakes (ambition, or an intense desire for personal growth. where does this desire come from? changes per person. it's never the same). people who don't. kind people. mean people. we can change our personalities (with heavy work), but they are as much a product of emotion as they are environment, personal wants, personal needs, etc. everyone is built different (lol, but literally) -- and there really are truly some things we cannot just -- purge, by a point. example: i know in my heart that i am not a woman. i gravitate towards anger. i have never been good at history, no matter the angle i tackle it from. there will never be a day where i read the fine print of a legal document. i could become good at history, i am fixing my anger, but i will always naturally gravitate right where i want to be, and right where i need to be. i will always understand numbers better than words, because that's -- just how my brain works. my memory might always be a little wonky. this is all ok. fuck, it might not be logical that i'm so utterly useless at history, and sure i can work to change it, but i will always find myself more comfortable and more at ease in physics with the same amount of work. the logical thing from there is to just accept my weaknesses and move with my strengths. see where i'm going with this? and sure, i can definitely change most of my personality, but it's hard. sometimes that effort is good sometimes it's not. we have natural tendencies. we have different wants, different needs. and by the universe do we not all share the same body -- we will amble around in our flesh suits differently. my gait will be different than yours; it is no less of a walk.

anyway. tangent aside. short story -- we gravitate to things. that's natural. that's logical. diversity of a species is logical -- especially for society.

now, vulcans, in my heart of hearts, are definitely more subtle about these things because, you know, surak, but. if every vulcan was the same and had the same inherent -- wants, needs, interests, subdued emotions, way of headbutting logic -- then you have a society of mirrors. snw is trying to make vulcan society a society of mirrors.

pike is caring. la'an is quiet, strict, efficent. uhura, also, is caring but in a different way to pike. chapel is enthusiastic. by embracing suraks teachings and (magically, mysteriously) acting in accordance to them fully, they are effectively tamping down their greater feelings. not completely ridding of them. despite the fact that vulcan!pike would logically find no sense in compassion, he would also find no sense in cruelty. he is, to his heart, a compassionate person because he has made himself one. one philosophical revelation wouldn't remove decades of that. sure, he might tamp it down, but he'd still be more compassionate than anything else. he would not be cruel for logic's sake -- even if, yes, there's only "4.5 vulcans", logically -- he wouldn't say that. he wouldn't fucking say that because he is kind hearted and though it's true, it would feel "illogical to point out" -- he is good with people. has been for the duration of the show, and probably a good majority before that. he'd understand the emotions of others regardless, he's very perceptive. he'd see spock flinch at "a half". he'd roundabout it in that way that tos spock loved to do -- talk in half truths. "5 people to beam down" is not wrong. it is imprecise but not wrong. (bones voice) goddammit, they're not all the same damn stereotypical rude vulcan asshole. i haven't read surak's teachings but i severely doubt he said, at any point: "harp on an unnecessary fact to be a total douchebag as often as vulcanely possible".

this goes for everyone too -- la'an is more the silent efficent type. why would she feel the need to say ... much of anything to the effect? spock knows he's half vulcan. everyone does. what the fuck does it bring to the table to reiterate it? nothing.

you're doing the jj abrams special: creating conflict where they should be none, and ignoring a greater place to create conflict. seriously, even if i do believe the whole thing about genetics that chapel does (WHICH! BY THE WAY! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IT'S BEEN MENTIONED/PLOT RELEVANT SINCE 1X01!) why is spock not, instead, helping them regulate their emotions? why are they not like pre-reform vulcans? why not use this to help us stir a bit in spock's head instead of using an out that isn't "making spock the butt of the joke". why can't he show vulcan!kindness as he's so often showing in tos. mf let me into that writers room i just want to talk i ju-

also, the dialogue was super cringy. sorry, it was. i say this as a writer who has written super cringy dialogue before and occasionally does so now. it was cringy. i've written better at the age of 12 in the margins of my maths notebook while bored out of my mind. some of these lines made me tense up. misplaced, or corny, or so severely out of character that it gave me a genuine headache by minute 2 of 5, or what have you: t'was cringy. so so so bad.

i -- selfishly, almost -- hope that it's not too late to go back and fix it, but since filming has long wrapped up -- well. it's probably a moot point, but i'm deeply annoyed. again, i really want to like snw, but everything "spock" (and, by extension, vulcan) has been butchered so badly that watching the show is rather like reading a fic you really like with one tag that just ruins the whole thing. like you'll stick it out, but begrudgingly, and not with a lot of joy in your heart because of -- i don't know, some weirdly prevalent "daddy kink".

tl;dr -- we are not just a product of the objective teachings of our beliefs, and vulcans are not only reflections of surak's teachings.

snw writers: please kick jj abrams out of your writing room. he's not doing you any favours

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

okay, gonna like, spend as little time as possible on this sorry bc the more effective way to do this would just to write the damn essay. but you'll have to wait for that i guess. sorry for not responding to every point as detailed. also sorry in advance im sure this is gonna get longer than i want it to

to the personal views & general philosophy: yeah, agree, generally, more or less. some parts slightly more some parts slightly less, but like not enough for our actual politics to end up in different places, obviously. pretty sure we knew that. this imaginary essay is a lot more about philosophy than politics. it's about doctor who, not real life (by which i mean it's art for fun and thinking. it's not about What We Should Do About The World) im not prescribing anyone anything, im not saying They Shouldnt Call The Doctor Things In The Text. im not saying it's harmful or anything, this isnt about that.

what im saying is i think it's more interesting when we dont. like we can accept the trans stuff in the star beast bc it's good for trans people right? but we can still think it sucks artistically a little bit? same thing. people can call the doctor audhd nonbinary ace, im not saying that Harms The World Or People. i just dont like it, thats all. arguing about taste, again, theres no point.

Within the Doctor’s own culture, they are extremely different, and if their culture had the words for autistic/adhd/genderqueer/whatever they would be them by their own society’s culture too, not just ours. Saying that they’re not those things they’re just Not From Here doesn’t make sense cus the Place They’re From thinks it about them too. For it to be a they’re ‘Not From Here’ thing the Doctor would fit normally within their own society but they don’t.

i know theyre alien inside their culture too, thats part of the Not From Here. what they are, fundamentally, is an outsider. alien on earth, renegade on gallifrey, timeless child in the universe. they are From Somewhere Else. they are Off. Wrong. Different. theyre Not Like Us. doesnt matter who us is. theyre on the outside looking in. theyre the perpetual other. which like i said is an experience most people can relate to for many different reasons. and also like i said this is why their (non)whiteness is integral to this too. but again, i want to see more of what we're doing with 15 in the text and also i need to read more books first to be able to think anything about that

Trying to follow. But might not be, the idea that you can’t label the ‘other’ parts would seem to contradict that - that the Doctor and us share the same sorts of experiences of othering (despite alien society) that allows one to see ‘same hat!’ and label it so would…fit that, wouldn’t it? Perhaps with the same fluidity we give them on assigning a political spectrum to them, but ‘being defined by what you aren’t’ is surely labelling of ones’ characteristics in a nutshell. That is the construction of ones’ sense of self. The definition of one as an entity and how best to navigate the world with those tools.

not entirely sure i follow you here either so 🤝but i think i get sort of what youre saying bc ive heard these kinda words before i think. im gonna try to say again what i think im trying to say in those tags and if that doesnt work i'll just be back next year with the essay and we can do this when i actually have words for what i mean, alright?

(please just bear with me for these last few paragraphs because im speaking at you now from the future where ive written these last few paragraphs and i think i managed to make my points clear)

first part: the doctor

the doctor is a perpetual other (agree/disagree? check which applies?)

the doctor is stuck in the narrative that has their name on it (this is my pet train of thought/fave thing to think about with doctor whomst, youve probably heard me vaguely gesture at this idea before)

this stuckness consists of their role/function as a main character in an ongoing adventure show (adventure=we dont see the downtime much. ongoing=60 years of yes-anding stacking plot upon plot upon plot. plot=dangerous dramatic situations with high personal stakes. (these definitions are for the purposes of this sentence only, not at all an attempt at defining these things in general)

this stuckness means that they experience emotional and physical traumas (not necessarily always/ever called that in the text, but at least in new who i think written and watched with a degree of understanding thats what they are (the emotional traumas perhaps more so than the physical ones) that they because of the no-downtime-just-more-plot nature of the show dont get screentime to heal from

screentime equals actual time because as a fictional character the doctor, by their own acknowledgement (hello 4th wall beloved), doesnt exist without an audience

because of the longrunning yes-and nature of how the show is written, these constraints brought on by the format of the narrative have to be absorbed by the narrative itself. whats on our side of the fourth wall moves through it to the doctor's side. what was out-of-universe becomes in-universe (this connection and its potential to move things through it has existed since the show's first episode because of the name of the show being the same as the name of the character)

second part: us, i guess?

i think everything is stories (this is another agree/disagree checkpoint. in contrast to the first one i dont necessarily expect anyone reading this to agree with this one (i do think we agree on the first one or this entire conversation is like a moot point) i just think it's useful to see that this is a premise we have the option to disagree on and if we do i think it's useful to know that before moving on and confusing ourselves more) when 11 said souls are made of stories not atoms, i agree with that. an identity is a story, a history is a story, memories are stories. everything is stories. history, nations, ethnicity, race, culture, it's all stories. i think we construct the world by naming it. in this philosophy words=names and concepts=stories. everything is stories.

if every social category we can belong to is a story, then i think the way we as people are stuck in the stories that are applied to us (willingly by ourselves, or against our will by others, and even/especially the ones we dont even realise are there) mirrors how the doctor as literal fictional character is stuck in their literal story. our birth & our bodies are our destiny in the same way that the doctor's scripts are. but we can name them, right? queer, disabled, autistic, english, dutch, white, european etc we can name them. we might be aware of some stories more than others, we might bang on the walls a bit, we might stretch the walls. like the doctor talking to the camera or humming their own theme song.

but to me (and this is another agree/disagree and i think i can guess you guys will land on disagree but thats alright, i dont need to convince, i just want to convey) knowing the story doesnt make me feel less trapped. knowing the word for it just lets me see the camera, if that makes sense, the story stays the same. i'd rather try to break the walls down. not "we're all a little autistic uwu", but we all have the same needs that must be met. they cant be met in all the same ways and some people have more needs already met than others do, but fundamentally they are the same needs. and meeting them is what makes you a person. having those needs acknowledged and worked to be met by other people is what makes you a person, that is being treated as a person.

and somewhere in all those bullet points i think is what i want to write an essay about

the doctor isnt neurodivergent or autistic or adhd or nonbinary or genderqueer or asexual. what the doctor is, is Not From Here

[daniellesteenbrink]

My unique & amazing 230 domains list! <3

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HostessElegance.nl: talent agency (also AI models) (& hostesses specialized in various subjects eg technology/videogames) 💁‍♀

ModelElegance.nl: talent agency (also AI influencers/models) (eg alternative models/cosplayers/niches) 💁‍♀

TalentElegance.nl: talent agency (also AI influencers/models) (also specialized in various subjects eg technology/videogames) (also alternative specialized public speakers to hire) (hostesses that are starlets that spark anybody's interest, ready for any camera) 💁‍♀

ServiceSphere.nl: important services for anybody & rent my (IT) partner service 👌

StartBuddy.nl: supporting you in various ways & computer/tech sales advisor for your specific wishes! & rent my (IT) partner service

HideNSeek.nl: find in your city 👌🌋

VerborgenJuweeltjes.nl: find in your city 👌🌋

VerstopEnZoek.nl: find in your city 👌🌋

HealComputer.nl: services (computer & phones/tablets support especially aimed at the high society) & technology/computer company advisor for your specific wishes! 🖥💻

TechRehab.nl: services; smart devices & gadgets support especially aimed at the high society (searching to rehab from your tech? See Redhuman.nl) 🖥💻

TechFuturist.nl: ready for the future, aimed at cutting edge technology! Launching new ventures/accelerator. Donate and/or invest in great products and services! Investing in them 🌋

OperationZero.nl: startup incubator/accelerator program, launching new ventures from ground zero! Aimed at cutting-edge technology! Investing in them 🌋

YourFinalDream.nl: invest in things that change the world! 🏳

YourLastWish.nl: invest in things that change the world! 🏳

YourLastBreath.nl: invest in things that change the world! 🏳

Byteflowstudio.nl: Bytes (and investments)

Byteflowstudio.com: forwarded to Byteflowstudio.nl

---- PRODUCTS ----

IWantThat.nl: (the main company where everything is part of) everyday needed services/products (overview off all the products above) & shopping/product advisor (electronics/computer/clothing) = you want it? I will get it for you! 👌🖐

& IWantHat.nl: forwarded to IWantThat.nl (in case you make a typo, or you maybe really want to buy a hat 👒 )

Bodna.nl: a product everybody just needs to have in there house! Say goodbye to harsh toilet paper or boring bodnas, have a beautiful artfull (eg rickshaw art) Bodna (Lota) in your house to really clean your booty! 🚽

MemoryJar.nl: a jar to put in all your beautiful memories!

AlternativeTo.nl: product/service advisor (alternative to)

Givemesomething.nl: random interesting products! 🖐

MyPick.nl: curated by influencers/others worldwide, cheaper and expensive

MyPicks.nl: curated by influencers/others worldwide, cheaper and expensive

MillionEuro.nl: super exclusive products and services! (high society) (including millionaires club memberships!) 💶🎩

MillionaireSociety.nl: super exclusive products and services! (high society) (including millionaires club memberships!) 💶🎩

Vipy.nl: ‘VIP’ (high society) exclusive services/products (including millionaires club memberships!) + invest in lovely projects 🎩💶

LuxeLuxe.nl: luxe (luxurious) products! + invest in lovely projects! 🎩💶

Kochira.nl: personal shopping & technology assistants. We give you direction via a beautiful selection products! (also check Mapsy.nl to find direction) 🔥💃

OddityMall.nl: mall page (odd cheap and expensive products eg upcycling projects of others & own projects: retro computer and laptops & DIY & other retro projects - don't throw away your products eg computers/tablet/phones, we upcycle it!) 👌

UncommonGoods.nl: mostly custom uncommon exclusive (cheap/expensive) products (upcycling projects of others & own projects: retro computer and laptops & DIY & other retro projects - don't throw away your products eg computers/tablet/phones, we upcycle it!)

BlowMyBudget.nl: exclusive and (mostly) more expensive products, you are bored and you want to blow your budget! 👌🔥

YupThatExists.nl: see and buy products and services you never thought about! 👌🔥

ProductVersiering.nl: lovely accesoires for your products eg waterbottles, bags and other 👌🔥

LocalArtist.nl: buy products from local artists and/or hire them! 👌🏙️

LocalCraft.nl: buy local crafts per city! 👌🏙️

LocalCanvas.nl: buy local art (eg canvas) per city! 👌🏙️

DesiArt.nl: beautiful art from Desi countries for anywhere in your house! 👌

DesiCrafts.nl: beautiful crafts (various) from Desi countries for anywhere in your house! 👌

ArtisticWear.nl: beautiful artistic clothing and accesoires👌🏙️

StatementStyle.nl: beautiful clothing and accesoires to make a statement👌💎

OnThisDay.nl: on this day in time, cool products and services! 🔥

OnThatDay.nl: on that specific day in time, cool products and services! 🔥

Keewl.nl: making (cool) custom art eg shoe art + noodling + sketches + tie and dyes and upcycling products like VHSes and LP's’ for business and personal use! (eg rickshaw art)

GeneralPixel.nl: custom art, especially aimed at digital art eg 8bit/Vaporware & digital paintings (also possible to make these digitals things physical)

CustomCraft.nl: custom crafted products, uniquely made (eg 3D printed products) or upcycled from 2nd hand products for personal and business use! (eg rickshaw art)

JawDrop.nl: get a jawdrop! 👄

JawDropping.nl: jawdropping products! 👄

Playsie.nl: kits to learn programming/science/microcontrollers in a fun way! (young/old) + accesoires & merchandise videogames + playfull/crazy services eg gamification!

MyPersonalizedBox.nl: boxes personalized

MyTailoredBox.nl: boxes tailored to wishes and trends

JokeParcels.nl: pre-made parcels to joke people via the products inside 🔥

PrankParcels.nl: parcels that look funny from the outside to prank somebody 🔥

Boxely.nl: custom themed (shoe) boxes for in-home and fashion advise boxes’ 👌

Surprisy.nl: surprise surprise! & suprise consultancy, how to surprise people with there order 👌

Wizardy.nl: follow the wizard (questions) and get your picked products!

FestiveDays.nl: advent calendars and holiday themed festive products! 👌👒

HiddenJoy.nl: get surprised and feel joy by opening these gifts/products!

ThoughtfulGestures.nl: thoughtful products and gestures!

UniqueDateIdeas.nl: surprise the love of your life via unique and sweet products and/or services! ❤️👌

AdoptA.nl: adopt a console, computer and other electronics & talented employees 👌

AdoptAn.nl: adopt a console, computer and other electronics & talented employees 👌

AdopteerEen.nl: adopt a console, computer and other electronics & talented employees 👌

BirthCertificate.nl: your own birth certificate for your new car, smartphone, house, console and so on 👌❤️

PersonalizedProof.nl: custom made concert tickets and other kind of experiences 👌❤️

ColorBoutique.nl: shop by specific colors ❤️

ShopByColor.nl: shop by specific colors ❤️

DatenVoor.nl: specific events and companies ❤️

DatingFor.nl: specific events and companies ❤️

FeelTech.nl: feel it, eg like AMBX, senses and experiences! The next step ❤️👌

FeelTheScreen.nl: feel it, eg like AMBX, hardware to let you feel things! The next step ❤️👌

MeetnGreet.nl: meet your favorite people ❤️👌

StelJeVragen.nl: grow ❤️👌

TruthTees.nl: show the truth, where you stand for this via clothing ❤️👌

GameTeacher.nl: specific games ❤️👌

VideogameTeacher.nl: videogames teacher eg Phasmophobia ❤️👌

VoteUp.nl: vote up any ideas ❤️👌

WeWillMakeIt.nl: we will make anything you want ❤️👌

Cupido3.nl: love products (and services) that will make your date/partner happy (eg cute hair accesoires, jewelry and more) & your dream partner matching services ❤️👌

ModernDesi.nl: your dream partner matching services! ❤️

Seraphic.nl: specialized in custom wedding products eg accesoires like beautiful princess tiara's, lovely wedding jewelry, dresses and even interior products (feel like an beautiful angel!) 👑👰

CustomJewelry.nl: beautiful custom jewelry for anybody, shine!

GeekJewelry.nl: lovely geeky jewelry for any kind of geek

ThanksExpress.nl: lovely thank you gifts to anybody that deserves it! 🌋

FeelFoxy.nl: feel foxy 👠

FeelGlamour.nl: feel glamorous 👠

FeelHot.nl: feel hot 👠

FeelSexy.nl: feel sexy 👠

OfficeWear.nl: rock the office 👠

GirlParty.nl: life is a party! 👠

JustTakeMyMoney.nl: exclusive and custom (cool) products!👌🎊

AwesomeStuffToBuy.nl: product advisor (cool products) 👌🎊

AwesomeStuff.nl: awesome stuff 👌🎊

TrulyUnique.nl: the names says it all 👌🎊

VideoParcel.nl = = custom loving/cute/smart/funny (even roasting!) or interesting video messages (themed/holidays) by everyday people or by influencers at your digital or physical doorstep! 🎊

LaughingOutLoud.nl: humor/fun services (eg our total unique roasting service) and crazy products that will let you LOL or maybe even cry! 🤣😭

RoastMaster.nl: roasting you! Your friends or EVEN your family members in a triggering way! Done by 1 professional roaster (master) or even by a professionally selected team of roasters! & ALSO roasting your website or software UX is possible but then we call it consultancy! (anything else is optional and please don't get triggered!) 🤣😭

LiveLaughs.nl: hire a comedian to make you laugh & funny sketches 🔥

Entertainje.nl: unique experiences (go on crazy adventures!) & services

Unwoke.nl: freedom of speech is the most important thing in any society, show who you are and/or support a specific cause via various kinds of products eg via clothing (eg caps/shirts) and accessories (eg phone cases) & also selling products from Unwoke companies! 👌🔥

BackToThePast.nl: retro/classic products from the past! 👌

Surprise9.nl: surprising products (art), boxes and services, let us surprise you in an unique way! - especially also personal products! (including upcycled products) 🌊

TotallyPersonal.nl: personal products and services eg your name written on Japanese firework for good luck and many others special personal things to celebrate things! 🌊

TotallyUnique.nl: to unique products (eg custom designs by artists) (all kinds of upcycled products) that make you happy! 💎

RenewedTreasures.nl: upcycling 2nd hand products into treasures! 💎

RenewedDesign.nl: re-designing shoes, bags, caps and anything else! 💎

ReviveRetro.nl: reviving retro devices and upcycling retro products! 🖥📼

RetroRealm.nl: beautiful retro products 🖥📼

GeekMart.nl: geek products eg merchandise + newest tech eg electronics/computer & advice/review webshow 🏪

Geekette.nl: lovely products for female geeks & nerds! 🤓💃

GeekProducts.nl: 🤓

GeekProducten.nl: 🤓

SceneCraft.nl: dioramas of amazing videogames and shows 💃

MiniatureWorlds.nl: dioramas of amazing videogames and shows 💃

Nichey.nl: special, custom (art), exclusive (including upcycling) products, boxes and services (general and high society, including club memberships) (upcycling projects of others & own projects: retro computer and laptops & DIY & other retro projects - don't throw away your products eg computers/tablet/phones, we upcycle it!)

Scarcity.nl: special, custom (art), exclusive products, boxes and services (upcycling projects of others & own projects: retro computer and laptops & DIY & other retro projects - don't throw away your products eg computers/tablet/phones, we upcycle it!) 💾💻

Bundly.nl: Bundles (themed/influencer bundles)

MysticalCrates.nl: crates (surprise!) 🔥

LightVillage.nl: light it beautifully up with colorful LEDs and other beautiful light products💡

TemuTemu.nl: buy products that are in trend (on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Google trends) in various categories (eg electronics) worldwide

HappyDesi.nl: Desi themed restaurant with unique & innovative dishes! & and our foodtruck/foodstand! = yummy soul food! 🍲

---- ERO ----

SexVR.nl: next-gen VR experiences/videogames

Peitho.nl: services (including lovely AI models) & FMV videogames (publisher) & products

SeksGadget.nl: playful/useful (remote) interactive erotic products

SantaBaby.nl: AI models (photos/videos on request) on socials (+ donating!)

BondGirl.nl: AI models (photos/videos on request) on socials (+ donating!)

-------------------------------------------

OLD domains I had and/or sold: Servy.nl + Loovio.nl + TellyTalk.nl

[lucashawro]

Marketing Automation

I have yet to meet a business owner who has never been in need of automation. Today startups, SMBs and large companies have one thing in common - they're all thrown in the game of pursuing the holy grail of business and marketing automation (The Automation Singularity).

As you’re reading this, I wouldn't be surprised if you've got your feet wet trying a marketing automation software at some point. MailChimp for example or even chatbots...?

  Marketing Automation

But maybe you have been doing all your marketing the "old school" way, and you want to get some of the piling work volumes off your shoulders, and you don't want to hire, train, pay and manage additional employee(s). Well, I share your viewpoint, because running a business means innovation. So, you either work on out-innovating your competition or your practices get inefficient and your business becomes outdated pretty quickly.

I will try my best in this article to help you get started with choosing the lowest hanging fruit of marketing autopilot platforms. You should finish the piece having a grasp on what is marketing automation, why marketing automation is the next big thing in coming years, and how to use the power of automation platforms and tools to their fullest potential.

Remember, you can't turn your eyes away and pretend the business innovations don't affect you. I will argue here that 2018/19 is a perfect time to jump on board and benefit from at least some of the cheap and accessible business automation out there. As you read on pick one or two solutions and over the next few weeks try to integrate them for the betterment of your business and your life.

Why do businesses need marketing automation?

The traditional marketing as a scientific field goes back to early 1900s or even earlier with the development of modern capitalism and consumerism. In a nutshell, business owners and (modern) marketers discovered that by studying consumer behaviour they can predict and influence sales profits. Businesses then went on developing step-by-step processes to anticipate the needs and wants of potential consumers so they could satisfy them more effectively in comparison to its competitors. Several decades later we use complex data and scientific methods to measure and design specific procedures to sell more to more people.

Marketing and sales funnels evolved and it's no longer just printed ads in papers and magazines or lump mail ads. With the technological revolution, especially the Internet and social media's worldwide blitz, we've opened several channels enabling us to communicate more effectively and build relevant relationships with our customers. What it means for marketers like you is that a need for a more sophisticated and technologically enhanced approach with complex, multivariate sales funnels is required. Hence, marketing automation.

  Marketing Automation Sales Funnels

What Marketing Automation meant up until 2018

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

Despite the overblown claims and inflated marketing slogans, marketing automation is NOT an artificial intelligence (AI). The real AI doesn't exist (yet) and we're likely far away from it. Some moderate that and use "semi-AI" but it's misleading because the "semi-" isn't clearly defined and means anything. I just call it for what it is for now. Marketing automation is a set of logical rules, processes and tactics that run on autopilot, making some tasks or even segments of your business autonomous and independent from human input. Besides the obvious profits like time, money and energy saving, such marketing practices bring a real and quantifiable added value to your business.

Although the philosophy of business management and marketing orientation remains intact and pretty solid, the tools and methodology seem to evolve and set new milestones almost every week.

Today, marketing automation software has never been more accessible. And in such high demand. Entrepreneurs keep coming up with creative ideas and cutting-edge technology to help businesses design their perfect strategies to predict the needs and personalise the copywriting.

So new marketing software is springing up like mushrooms.

But let's step back to something basic, like MailChimp which is an email auto-responding system. Their automated software is free (to the extent) and allows for:

Easy integration on your website so you can quickly start building your email list

Getting your prospects details in an engaging form (MailChimp Lead Magnet)

Designing an auto-responder with a drag-and-drop visual builder

... and Sending automated and targeted emails to your recipient's list

----------------------・・・----------------------

Here're a few triggers you can use:

Email your tagged contacts - Send a targeted message when you add a tag to a contact.

Welcome new subscribers - Introduce yourself to people when they sign up for your list.

Say 'happy birthday' - Celebrate with an exclusive offer or cheerful message that will be sent out based on the birthday field in your list.

Share blog updates - Help contacts keep up with your blog by sending new posts straight to their inboxes.

Now you can essentially build "set and forget" email sequences.

(did I mention it's free? ;)

----------------------・・・----------------------

Check this video on how to set one up with this step-by-step tutorial:

----------------------・・・----------------------

The top 5 essential gains of automation

To summarise, here are the top 5 essential gains of automation in the area specific to marketing:

Automated marketing tools build complex customer journeys and sales funnels (e.g. MailChimp)

Marketing artificial intelligence software learns your customers' behaviour or who they are and tries to make your product and services highly personalised (e.g. UNLESS)

Marketing bots aim to leave your customer informed, happy and engaged (e.g. Quriobot)

Marketing analytics enables you to quickly test and change the direction of your marketing strategy (e.g. CustomerLabs)

Automated sales software makes your marketing efforts more efficient, faster to adapt and scale (e.g. DataGran)

What Automation means for the future of business

"In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace." - Sun Tzu.

The future of automation in 2019 and beyond looks bright. And it isn't just Tesla and their self-driving autonomous cars. Interestingly enough, I find those same principles that drive Musk and his robo-vehicles towards automation apply to any aspect of the business. Here's what we all are after:

multiplied productivity (ROI)

exponential growth

multitasking (that actually works)

large data processing power

and, yes - if used correctly, a much better life

----------------------・・・----------------------

See Marquees driving Yandex self-driving car around California

----------------------・・・----------------------

Sales and marketing automation software - who's on the frontend?

Let's bring it down to a business application and see what benefits businesses can expect from automated systems in 2019 moving forward.

The most common use of marketing automation software appears to be in sales, but this limited utility expands very quickly.

eMarketer reports that only 5% of companies have never benefited from marketing automation (I couldn't dig their source though, so take it with a grain of salt). But that makes sense, given the power of computing and how technology penetrated the entire world of economy. It is clear that customer journey maps are extensively used by Googles, Amazons and eBays of this world to accurately map out how customer behave in relation to businesses. And the same applies to Social Media giants like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Their optimisation is so granular, and it developed so fast, that <a some people stood to consider its ethics and what we want as a civilisation.

Nevertheless, the value in sales is so obvious and tempting that it only makes sense to continue using it. Providing your primary incentive is to quickly "help" your prospects who are travelling the distance from being a bystander to a raving fan. And the distance, no matter the length, is measurable and categorisable. Therefore, prone to endless optimisations (and exploitation).

Is marketing automation software difficult to access?

As of today, experts agree that by learning different ways how customers interact with businesses, pretty much guarantees big profits. For this reason, social scientist and marketers flock to use all sorts of automation tools that help with just that. Meanwhile, Marketing SaaS companies try to meet their prospects midway offering easy to understand but potentially vastly scalable in its application software. In fact, lowering entry level is now the name of the game with most marketing automation software.

One such software is FullStory. The software works based on simple principles but the results, which it draws through different modes of user interpretation, provide comprehensive and quite elaborate customer journey maps.

"See your site through your users' eyes. More than the sum of its clicks, FullStory replays your customer's journey – like a DVR for your website – so you can search, see, and understand your user experience."

There is certainly a learning curve associated with implementing any new system or technology. However, with much lowered entry-level bars the fruit has never hung so low.

Large Data Set Calculations - how to optimise your website running costs and business spending for free?

  Data analysis in marketing automation

Back in the days, gathering and calculating any large data sets was done by businesses who could afford full-time data analyst and a "numbers person". So it was reserved usually for enterprise-level companies and agencies, or outsourced and never looked at closely again. Today, with tools like Google Analytics, you have quick and easy access to software that with a click of a button displays almost complete picture of your company's money flow.

It's free and offers a tremendous amount of actionable data that is automatically gathered and calculated from your website, ads and email campaigns, to mention just a few sources.

It's also worth mentioning that Facebook, Pinterest or LinkedIn Ads platforms use sophisticated dashboards where data is calculated and presented to you in any way you want. It takes time to figure it all out, though. I'd suggest to start with finding answers to simple questions like:

What is my website's monthly traffic?

Which of my ads increased traffic the most?

How long an average visitor spends on my homepage?

Is my traffic local or international?

Using what device (mobile/tablet/desktop) people are visiting my website?

Which of my web pages are most popular?

Where is my traffic coming from?

The Rise of The Marketing Bots

One of the most significant aspects of marketing automation is the sudden spread of bots and various auto-messengers. Apart from built-in Facebook Messenger Bots, platforms like Quriobot and MobileMonkey are rapidly developing and are more and more sophisticated in methods of visitor engagement on your website. The key to a great visitors engagement appears to be:

the speed of response

24/7 availability

useful and relevant bot responses based on the keyword and intelligent intent recognition

and so-called "triggers"

Speaking of "triggers". These can be heavily customised to adhere to the customers' behaviour on your site and provide visual and heavily targeted responses. For example, imagine you have someone checking on your "Home Page" then going to "Pricing" where they spend two minutes and decide to leave. Normally this particular visitor could be classified as a prospective customer, that you may want to engage further. Therefore, at each individual stage, your bot can enhance your visitors' experience by way of targeted messages, additional content and offers. Even at the point of departure, a bot can be configured to throw an "exit intent" trigger and, hopefully, stop the visitor from leaving the website.

  AI bots - chat automation

The "AI" in bots gets also increasingly sophisticated. For example, tools like ActiveChat try to mimic human-like responses and with it infinite visual building blocks you can make it up as complicated as Lego's Star Wars Millennium Falcon set. It can also integrate with e-commerce systems so you can have an actual "digital counter" right on your website.

No wonder bots are the next big thing and we will hear about them more and more.

"I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better, and questioning yourself." - Elon Musk

Conclusion

It may be hard to start learning all these platforms today. However, in the long run, it will pay back immensely. Also, know that 99% of your competitors aren't doing it.

So, it’s better to start giving marketing automation some attention before it is too late. Whatever industry you're in, it will be driven by the same principles as any other, whoever puts in the hours to innovate will increase the odds of success over the business owners that procrastinated and neglected to do the homework.

You may not have enough resources to go all in with learning the marketing tools, but there is no harm in trying. I have probably been guilty of procrastination more than anyone in the business. But eventually I have learned to take little steps from early on, and over time I realised that I made a quantum leap in growing my business and developing myself. So, if you are reading this article right at this moment, stop wasting your time and jump right in.

These are obviously just a few tips and the ocean of automated tools is filling in with more and more fish. There are few more things that I have learned over the years, so pop back in and check this article for updates. But most importantly start with making your first marketing automation funnel, no matter how big your goals are. From my experience, the right actions will pay off. I wish you good luck with your marketing automation journey.

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This article was originally posted on: Colorpeak.co.uk

[mrandyzavala]

When I Grow Up

My Harry Bryan plans arrived yesterday! I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be Harry Bryan. Harry is a boatbuilder in Letete, New Brunswick, Canada, just across the border from Maine on the Bay of Fundy. This is a breathtakingly beautiful area of wooded, rocky coastline, crystal clear water and enormous tides. Harry lives off the grid, building wooden boats with a few alternatively-powered power tools and a bunch of hand tools. His philosophy is one of slowing down, going back to the land, making rather than buying, relying on yourself, your skills and ingenuity, and never stop learning. He's extremely inventive, combining traditional boatbuilding methods with creative solutions. Anybody for a treadle-powered bandsaw? It is an idyllic life, no doubt with its challenges, but he and his wife have succeeded, raising a family and enjoying time with their grandkids. The appeal and the draw of this life are powerful. I first heard of Harry when my daughter participated in a project at her high school to build his dory skiff Daisy. Now I find that there are a number of videos featuring him online (more about that below). Here are two that captured my imagination, Slowing Down, The Schmee of a Successful Man, and The Closest Thing to Magic – Of Boats & Boathouses. Harry is like Phil Lowe and Al Breed, what I call a shut-up-and-watch master of the craft. If you get a chance to spend time with them, you don't interrupt them, you just shut up and watch, absorbing the decades of knowledge and experience. Whatever they want to show you is well worth your time. I've finally succumbed to the lure of boatbuilding. I learned to sail in 2000, and became intrigued with small wooden boats in 2005 when I found John Gardner's Building Classic Small Craft: Complete Plans and Instructions for 47 Boats at the bookstore in Boothbay Harbor, ME. At the time we had recently bought a small vacation house close to the nearby Damariscotta River, where I kept a 23' O'Day sailboat that was built the year I graduated from high school (we had to sell the place in order to afford getting the kids through college, but we'll be back, count on it). I resisted the siren call to build my own for a long time, because I knew there was no going back. Everybody who knows someone with a boat knows what boat crazy is. But wooden boats, and building them, is a special kind of insanity. Why mess about with all that rigamarole when you can throw a sleek gel-coated fiberglass modern creation in the water? First of all, because, indeed, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Second, wood adds to that romance. The history of thousands of years is under you as you glide across the surface. Plus wood is such a wonderful material to work with, engaging all the senses. You become part of it. Finally, there's the pure satisfaction of using something you've made yourself with the skill of your own hands. Even the simplest boats are complex shapes. Building them is much more an exercise in hand tool work than power tools. Sure, there are dozens, if not hundreds of board feet of planking to get out and plane to thickness, and hundreds, if not thousands, of screws to drill and drive, so a benchtop planer and a power drill/driver are huge labor savers for very repetitive tasks. But most of it is handcrafting lines that are curving continuously and fitting parts that meet at odd compound angles. Even driving screws is worth completing with a brace and driver bit to give you that delicate feedback to know when they're seated just right. When you're done, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in an intensely sensuous fashion. The Damariscotta River is a lovely small river that opens out to open ocean, with spectacularly gorgeous rocky, pine covered coastline. The tidal range in that area is a good 10'. That means it's actually a reversing river, flowing upriver on the rising tide, and downriver on the ebb. There's even a small reversing falls at the head of the river in the town of Damariscotta. This also means the river has many personalities, from a glass-still surface at slack tide, to a fast race when the downriver flow joins the tidal flow, to the chop and wild wind of a late November storm. You feel the power of nature, held in check or unleashed. Whether it's the mesmerizing burst and glide lazily pulling in a rowboat across the glassy river at slack tide, or the full heel of a sailboat close-hauled to the wind sluicing across the current, or a gentle drift from the head of the river  down to the mouth after having sailed up beat on beat on the flood, you feel it with your whole body. You are joined with that power, harnessed to it in a vessel of your own making. Learning First, of course, I need to learn how to build them. I've added significantly to my library with modern and classic books on wooden boatbuilding, rigging, and sailmaking from Amazon. You can also find supplies there, such as sailmaker's palms, needles, and thread. Additions to my library. The Internet has also provided a vast treasure trove of articles, forums, and videos.  I often watch videos at 1.5x or 2x speed. The YouTube player has a speed setting for this in Settings. The Vimeo player doesn't have a speed setting, but the unofficial Vimeo repeat and speed extension for Chrome works well, allowing any speed. There are many more to be explored, but three video sites in particular have caught my attention. Off Center Harbor First is OffCenterHarbor.com, an inexpensive membership site (it uses Vimeo for video when logged in, although some videos are also on YouTube). This is where I found the Harry Bryan videos. This was the tipping point for me, what tempted me to approach the black hole until I got sucked in. For this I can blame Al Hansen, from the Guild Of New Hampshire Woodworkers Boatbuilding subgroup. He recommended it at a Guild meeting where I was giving a demonstration on hand tool tag-teaming. OCH is filled with videos, some how-to, some just to drool over. It's headquartered in Brooklin, ME, about halfway between Boothbay and Harry's shop in Canada. They have a number of videos of Harry at work, explaining some of his nefarious devices and showing the boats he's designed and built. Based on these, I've ordered several plans from Harry, as well as for the Off Center Skiff. One of these will be my first build. Although there's also that Nutshell pram, that's cute. Auuuggghh! Traditional Maritime Skills Second is Traditional Maritime Skills, the YouTube channel of Marcus Lewis, from Cornwall, UK. He has a variety of videos showing building small sailing dinghies up to larger sailboats. Tips From A Shipwright Third is Tips From A Shipwright, the YouTube channel of Louis Sauzedde, from North Kingstown, RI. Louis is another shut-up-and-watch guy, a short, wiry ball of energy, the living embodiment of the saying "When ships were wood and men were iron." In addition to a great series on a new build, he has lots of videos of restoration work. He doesn't hesitate to open up all the planking of a boat to fit in new frames, or unstitch the entire bow to replace the stem. You can read a nice article about him in the sample digital issue of WoodenBoat Magazine, entitled "A Modern Traditional Boatbuilder." Schools In my online travels, I've come across a couple of schools. I'm sure there are many more.

The WoodenBoat School is in Brooklin, ME.

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is in Port Hadlock, Washington. They have a very nice introductory video. I like the philosophy of self-sufficiency and using boatbuilding as an approach to developing general hands-on skills, learning how to make anything.

Suppliers I've also found several suppliers. As with schools, I'm sure there are many more.

WoodenBoat is the site dedicated to all things wooden boat. Browsing it is a sure sign of that slide into insanity. But what a glorious insanity it is! In addition to the magazine, the forum, and the online store, 

Jamestown Distributors is a family-run business in Bristol, RI, and is the sponsor for Louis Sauzedde's videos. They have parts, tools, adhesives, and finishes.

Toplicht "Equipment for traditional ships and classic yachts, supplier for boat builders" in Hamburg, Germany. They appear to be a go-to supplier for all kinds of common and obscure fittings and supplies. They sell oakum!

Duckworks Boat Builder's Supply is a small family-owned business in Port Townsend, WA. Their website includes an online magazine.

Sailmaker's Supply is a small business in Gautier, Mississippi.

R&W Rope’s Traditional Rigging & Outfitting Division is a family-owned business in New Bedford, MA. In addition to rope and traditional fittings, they also have caulking and splicing tools.

Hamilton Marine is a regional boating supply chain along the Maine coast.

West Marine is a national boating supply chain.

from Close Grain http://ift.tt/2jFwPna