#the clients give us the max score (the projects i do with him)

[outrosword]

today had a meeting at work for performance evaluation c:

it went very well and i got a raise C:

[beautyslave17]

Produced Houses

. Is It Worth Making A Top Quality Build?

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Content

How The Property Improvement As Well As Repair Solutions In London Job.

Rj Repair Services.

Beginning Your Project.

Tiny Orangery Conservatories And Also Glass Conservatories.

This did not take place and also at 1920 on 13th Jun he mentioned he reimbursed the cash but would certainly take two days to clear, something my financial institution educated me would only take about two hours max as was a financial institution transfer. Having sent out messages today giving more opportunity to reimbursement I left adverse comments on Facebook. He has actually ultimately taken the page down, not the actions of a person that is genuine. I understand he made use of to trade as WBA Cleaning as well as Maintenance according to his invoice he sent. Please do not make use of NewLook building services Ltd based in Chesterfield.

Are orangeries warm in winter?

No - orangeries are not cold in winter, in fact they are very warm. Orangery roofs are highly thermally efficient, meaning that orangeries are warm and comfortable, whatever the time of year. building contractors local are as warm as any other room in your home – even in winter.

However, every sector has its cowboys and also plainly the structure trade is an industry. You'll be functioning closely with the builder of your new house for a minimum of six months, and you want to ensure you know with that you're. agreeing to work. The exhilaration of beginning construction on your new house might make you wish to hurry with this procedure, yet take your time; it's certainly worth it. Double check that the building contractors you want are actively constructing in those areas. If you're moving to a McMansion in Arizona, it won't be useful to fall in love with a builder that just constructs little residences in Alaska.

The very first tip-off is if they asked to be paid in cash, or cash-in-hand all with a pledge on no BARREL to be paid. There are, usually, a minimum of 100,000 grievances each year about them. They wreck points for completely trusted contractors, as well as for all the discuss them, they're in the minority-- it simply happens to be a minority that gets a great deal of promotion. When builders have an excess of finished new buildings, there is commonly higher inspiration to market.

If you are an accredited building contractor or tradesperson in NSW, you require to get residence building payment cover for each house structure job over $20,000 including GST. If you fail to show you have relevant site-based experience in a wide range of structure construction job, we can not accept your application. This includes dealing successfully with sub-contractors, customers and also others. As soon as you recognize what licence kind you want, and also you have actually examined you have the right credentials as well as experience, you can get a permit or certificate.

Just How The Residential Property Improvement As Well As Repair Solutions In London Work.

If you pick among these uninhabited brand-new residences, switching over out specific attributes for upgraded variations is often a straightforward procedure, as well as the home builder might agree to include a few of these upgrades as a reward. Don't depend on the builder to tell you when that factor has actually been gotten to. Instead, appoint Thame builder to check out the work and confirm that what you are paying for deserves the cash, and is full to constructing codes. Structure agreements are written by specialists accustomed to building terms and trade techniques. As well as it's likely that individuals who have put together the file you are informed is there to secure you, was, or is, a builder or market expert.

What is the difference between an orangery and a sun room?

The most striking difference between sunrooms, conservatories, and orangeries are: Orangeries are supported by solid brick-built pillars, low-level walls and/or an insulated internal pelmet. Orangeries tend to feature bright & airy roof lanterns, although these can be added to conservatories too.

While you don't want a home builder that purposely takes a long time to finish a task, neither do you want a builder who is eager to do the job quickly, or that regularly knocks off early during the task. Making your Certificateor Diplomain building as well as building and construction must not gobble every one of your time and savings.

Rj Repair Providers.

Are orangeries warmer than conservatories?

Orangeries tend to be a little warmer than conservatories because they have brick walls which can be insulated to keep in the warmth. Because of the brick walls, the heat will have a harder time escaping. The cold will also have a harder time getting in thanks to the insulated walls.

Sign-up to our newsletter and keep up to day with everything home building/ layout associated including information from your much-loved neighborhood home building contractors. If you are a person that holds a structure or swimming pool building licence or certificate, you are needed to do Continuing Specialist Development. Your permit will certainly be automatically suspended if you do not adhere to an order by a court or the NSW Civil or Administrative Tribunal to pay money for a building case.

Do glass box extensions need foundations?

The principal of a glass room does mean the base required is fairly flexible as you do not actually require foundations as you would for a conservatory or brick built extension but only require concrete pads where the support legs are situated.

Most rogue builders do not bring insurance, either, which once again could function to your detriment if an accident took place. Cowboy contractors are merely rogue investors, of course, usually with little or no knowledge of structure, so you wind up with a messed up work-- that's if it's ended up in all. Experience as a Proprietor Building contractor, or as the owner of a Proprietor Building Contractor Authorization, is not appropriate to satisfy the functional experience needs to get a permit or certificate as a contractor. From this moment forward, Checkatrade worked to assist display the best tradespeople from around the UK and has continued to do so since.

Beginning Your Project.

These internet sites hold the information of countless home builders and structure business. Home builders' scores on these sites are based upon the responses from clients, so the much better the task done by the home builder, the greater the ranking. Keep an eye out for boards on building sites in your area, yet always do your own research study also.

Do conservatories need foundations?

Like other new extensions, conservatories must have foundations in place. Foundations are necessary for transmitting the building's weight safely to the ground. Without adequate foundations, the structural integrity of a conservatory is severely affected.

As the day progressed we heard nothing and also I started to try to call. Ultimately he addressed and reiterated his purpose to do the job. When he fell short to do so or even allow us know as it was obtaining later wouldn't show up we realised something was incorrect. The following day after countless efforts through message and also calls,, he eventually agreed to refund the money after 1430.

Small Orangery Conservatories And Also Glass Conservatories.

Let The Sunlight In! Everything You Needed To Know Regarding Sunrooms

They are cowboy builders.They took our deposit worth ₤ 5000 as well as vanished. We took care of to track them down and also found they own one more registered business called NewLook plastics Limited.

Does an orangery add value to your home?

An orangery can increase the value of your property by almost as much as adding a traditional extension. On average, an orangery will cost upwards of £20,000, but it can be cheaper, depending on the size, style, features, and materials you choose.

Newly Constructed Houses.

Information regarding general building work permits and certifications. lately conducted a study finding that possibly 2.5 m people have had a conflict with their building contractor or designer in the past 3 years. does not claim the number of individuals it checked so, if you read my current short article The dangers of studies, you must understand to take the number with a pinch of salt.

It's a help, as well, if the builders and participants of some profession group-- although check that too, given that cowboy structure companies have been known to fake membership. Ultimately, never ever pay in money, as well as absolutely never ahead of time-- you need to only spend for work that's been finished. The very best thing is to learn to identify the cowboy home builders early, so you can transform them away-- it saves a great deal of difficulty later.

Anybody building a brand-new residence needs to sign a contract, as well as while the builder states it is "typical documentation", to lots of people, it's anything however. Besides the late shipment of the ownership a number of other malpractices are complained versus the building contractors.

Inspect online for testimonials as well as get comments from individuals that have actually used the home builders prior to. We reserved WBA building as well as building based in Cheltenham using Facebook search, to provide and also fit a garden bar at expense of ₤ 550. The Thursday beforehand he got in touch with to state as the climate was poor he would not be able to execute the job. Nevertheless, on the Saturday we called him as well as said as the weather condition looked great would he be concerning finish the work. This he stated he would as well as would certainly call 30 minutes in advance so we really did not have to wait in.

Also, the warranty solution has actually been really fast when required.

Beazer Houses - Exceptional experience with the sales group and also the constructionOmar E.

Exceptional experience with the sales group and the construction manager cooperating with me on all queries.

Victoria was currently the biggest market in the country for new detached residences as well as the state has actually uploaded a near-record variety of beginnings in 2017/18.

They don't feedback as well as we could not acquire anyone to help accessibility services.

Brain was our sale's rep. He was excellent in assisting us seal the deal.

It needs to be a fulfilling experience that arms you with important knowledge and also establishes a straight path to your job advancement. A degree from an Australian university (in building, construction, building task management, building management, used scientific research, amount surveying, or building and construction business economics). The level must require the applicant "to undertake the equivalent of 4 years' full time research and also a required job placement".

[perfectirishgifts]

$50K AI Prediction Contest Launches Today

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/50k-ai-prediction-contest-launches-today-2/

$50K AI Prediction Contest Launches Today

A cityscape with an experimental filter.

A forecasting platform that aggregates insight from thousands of technology experts announced a two-year contest today focused on AI predictions: the future state of key benchmarks in machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.

At stake is $50,000 in prize money.

The platform is Metaculus, which says it “maps the future.”

Current predictions on Metaculus include whether Donald Trump will be the president of the United States on January 21, 2021 (spoiler: 2,840 predictions give him close to a 1% probability) and whether the price of Bitcoin will drop below $10,000 next year (the community says there’s a 35% probability.) There’s also an current prediction about whether Americans will accept the results of the 2020 election, and just to keep things light, a prediction on whether the universe will end.

Whether this is a crystal ball or a dime-store Magic 8 Ball is the operative question, of course. Or, as is most likely, something in between.

Metaculus says its community has an “established track record predicting key advances in science and technology.” And, in fact, the platform publishes its track record, getting positive results on past questions in politics, history, science, and AI.

Advisors for the new contest include scientists and founders at Stanford University, OpenAI, and the AI foundation.

I asked Gaia Dempsey, the CEO of Metaculus, for more details.

Metaculus is a predictions platform and community. The latest contest: AI forecasting questions.

Koetsier: Who’s entering the contest? Who do you want to enter?

Dempsey: First and foremost, we are inviting the thousands of expert forecasters already on the Metaculus platform to participate in this tournament. Beyond those that are already part of our ecosystem, we are planning additional outreach to people who are part of the AI industry and AI research communities, as well as data scientists, ML engineers, and anyone with a passion for AI development.  

Koetsier: What are you looking for forecasts on, specifically?

Dempsey: Metaculus already has one of the largest collections of publicly accessible AI forecasts anywhere in the world. As an example, here is a question about breakthroughs in protein folding predictive capacity launched two years ago (with some recent updates), and here you can explore a wide range of forecasts on the topic of AI progress. 

For this tournament, forecasting questions will focus on the future state of key benchmarks of AI progress in machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing, specifically excluding benchmarks that are nearly maxed out (leaving little room for additional progress). 

In addition to ML benchmarks, we will also solicit quantitative forecasts on AI compute performance, research productivity, and key economic indicators such as metrics around profitability and revenue in the AI industry. 

Forecasts like these are designed to provide specific insights on numerical KPI’s, which can be used to build up a richer, fuller understanding of likely future scenarios and trends. 

Here are example forecasting questions:

What is the maximum amount of computation (in PetaFlops) that will be used to train an ML system in the year 2021?

What will the top performing ML model score on Atari 2600 Montezuma’s Revenge be by the end of 2021?

How many papers on AI safety, interpretability, transparency, and explainability will be published in 2021?

What will the top performance (in terms of Top-1 accuracy) be on ImageNet by the end of 2021?

What will the market capitalization of Alphabet Inc be on December 30th, 2022?

How many reinforcement learning papers will be published in the year 2025?

Across the course of the entire tournament, there will be roughly 100 questions for forecasting in total.

Koetsier: This is a two-year contest, right? What’s the mix of awards over the interim stages and the end?

Dempsey: The first round questions will resolve in 6 months, the second round questions will resolve in 12 months, and the third round forecasts will cover a 24 month timeframe. However, forecasters won’t have 6, 12, or 24 months, in each round respectively, to submit their forecasts – the ones submitted a month before the resolution would have a significant advantage! Instead, in all three rounds, forecasts must be submitted within 2 months after questions open, after which point tournament submissions will no longer be accepted.

Here is an overview of the three rounds and their prizes, plus a fourth overview round that rewards participation across the tournament as a whole:

Round 1, Maximum Likelihood Prize: First Prize $2,200, $7,000 in total, rewarding those scoring in the top 5 places in round 1. 

Round 2, Hill Climbing Prize: 1st Prize $3,000, $9,000 in total, rewarding those scoring in the top 5 places in round 2.

Round 3, Deep Learning Prize: 1st Prize $2,500, $7,500 in total rewarding scoring in the top 5 places in round 3. 

The Bayes Prize: 1st Prize $7,500, $20,000 in total. This prize will be awarded to the top 5 who perform the best across all three rounds.

Lastly, we are also offering the Dreyfus Prize, with a total of $6,500 in prize funds, for an essay contest rewarding forecasters who write the most convincing analysis of their reasoning for long-term AI forecasts that contemplate timelines of a decade or more. 

Total prize funds across the entire tournament equal $50,000. 

Koetsier: Who’s judging?

Dempsey: For the three tournament rounds focused on forecasting AI benchmarks, reality is the judge! We utilize Brier and log scores in order to evaluate performance, which are the most common and reliable measures of forecasting accuracy. 

(Side note: our team and our community are profoundly excited by a system that actually enables reality to be the judge for the quality of human reasoning, as measured by quantitative, probabilistic forecasting. Accountability is a sorely lacking factor in most public forecasting forums, where plenty of public figures, politicians, economists, and pundits are free to make predictions that repeatedly fail to come true, without any sort of reputational repercussions. On Metaculus, your forecasting track record accrues over time and is publicly accessible.)

Participants will forecast the future state of a given benchmark – such as the sum of compute performance of TOP500 supercomputers, or the market capitalization of NVIDIA – at the 6-month, 12-month, and 24-month milestones. Then, Metaculus’s capabilities as a forecasting platform will enable us to resolve each open question at the appropriate time, and our scoring system will be able to determine which forecasters have achieved the best Brier and log scores – in other words, who was the most accurate.

The Dreyfus Prize will launch next year, and we will announce the judges for it then. (They will probably be 1-2 well-respected AI researchers, similar in background and standing to those in our advisory group.)

Koetsier: This is the largest-ever AI forecasting awards show? What other ones have there been?

Dempsey: This is the largest AI forecasting tournament to date – that we know of – both in terms of the scale of the prize funds and the expected number of participants. 

There have been many forecasting tournaments on topics such as automotive innovation, Covid vaccines, and geopolitical outcomes, and there have been expert surveys on AI timelines, but to our knowledge there has been no large-scale forecasting tournament dedicated to predicting AI timelines.

Metaculus is differentiated by our powerful data science capabilities and highly technical forecaster community, which is why we are the best equipped for this kind of advanced tech science forecasting.

[Note from the author: there are a variety of AI contests, some with large prizes. Determining which is the largest for forecasting specifically is likely a matter of opinion.)

Koetsier: What’s the goal here?

Dempsey: We know that it is possible to develop and scale quantifiable, accurate forecasts on highly complex topics, with the right infrastructure. We utilize proven methods in human judgment aggregation and statistical modeling, combined with data science and AI, to produce granular, reliable forecasts for our clients, which in turn enable better planning and decision-making.

The aim of the Forecasting AI Progress Tournament is to significantly improve the accuracy of forecasts made on AI development, thereby enabling better preparation for its many anticipated impacts. 

It will also provide a unique proof of concept for aggregate probabilistic forecasting in the realm of AI. Participants will be contributing to the development of important new knowledge on this subject, since the resulting forecasts will be made publicly available.

Metaculus’ partner Open Philanthropy is the sponsor of the project. 

Koetsier: Anything else you want to share?

Dempsey: Some food for thought: the first-order problem that Metaculus as a platform solves is the need for reliable forecasts. But as a crowdsourcing platform with thousands of participants, the second-order problem we uniquely solve is really one of incentives (including accountability, as I mentioned earlier). 

Our proprietary scoring system produces the most accurate forecasts available on a wide range of topics thanks in no small part to our incentive system and our incredible community of forecasters. We’re excited to pioneer the use of this state-of-the-art system in AI forecasting, because it would represent a major breakthrough in the technology forecasting space. 

What if you could ask any question about the future and get an answer that you knew was reliable about 85% of the time? It’s a powerful capability, and it’s exactly what Metaculus provides.

Koetsier: Thank you for your time!

Anyone interested in entering the contest can do so here.

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

[white-collar-lawmen-and-conmen]

Never Con a Conman

Summary: Even con artists can be conned – a lesson you thought you were teaching; instead, it turned out that you were the one being taught.

Word Count: 3,235

            There was a method to your madness. One day you would work out what it was. Until then, you lived crazily. There was nothing more exhilarating than getting away with something you shouldn’t be doing.

            Right now, you were in Times Square with a satchel at your waist, beating against your hip with every step you took, pounding to the rhythm of your gait as you matched the tempo of the city. New York was one of your favorite cities. No matter how far you ventured, you always came back here. You used your contacts as an excuse, but the truth was that you were a Yankee in spirit. You passed by hundreds and hundreds of unknown strangers, innocent and oblivious to what you had hidden in your bag – gorgeous natural red rubies, an entire set of them, each plated into a solid golden chain. They were treasures you weren’t supposed to have, but Africa wasn’t nearly as hard to steal from as America, and you had done far more complicated jobs with far fewer resources.

            You imagined showing off your wealth just by donning the necklace and strolling about your day, being part of the flashy one percent in appearance, but you were smarter than that. Showing off for the sake of showing off was dangerous. Pretty much everyone who tried ended up caught, either by enemies or by cops.

            Speaking of being smarter, you needed to get a new fence. Your dumb contact had been passed to you by a friend, but despite your so-called friend’s competence, the fence was slipping. He was an older man, well-respected, very skilled, but his age was letting his mind go. He’d sold your looted necklace to two different buyers. Two different, very influential, very intimidating buyers – buyers that would kill you and your fence if you didn’t give them what they expected to have.

            Thus, you came to New York not just because it was where you might’ve lived, had you been a civilian with a nine-to-five job, but because it was home to the best forger you knew of, and you were prepared to make his acquaintance. You had a plan. You’d have him forge two identical necklaces just like the ones in your bag, give those to the buyers, and melt down the real gold and the rubies through a proxy, then reshape them into something else entirely. In a different fashion, they’d sell under the radar on the black market, and you could use the cuts from the unexpected second and third sales to bolster not only your own account, but to afford the services and the discretion of your forger and your better fence.

            You chose to think of it as an opportunity – an opportunity to make a contact and a lot more money than you otherwise would have. You regretted that you’d have to destroy such a beautiful piece of jewelry, but you couldn’t leave the real thing floating around. There was too much risk if you kept it on your person, but if it got back to either of your buyers and they compared the real stuff to the synthetics they would be given, you’d be screwed.

             You left Times Square with a smirk on your face and decided to cut through Central Park and get a crepe from a vendor on your way. The address you’d gotten had been a little trickier to come by and cost a few grand for the cooperation of various players, but you were certain that with your score in mind, it would be worth it. Maybe you could even take a vacation.

            Neal Caffrey spent four years in a federal super-max prison, but the people he still talked to said he was just as smooth as ever and hadn’t even come close to losing his touch. You doubted he’d talk to them much more once he knew they’d given his location to someone who wanted to find him, but that was okay. You’d have built a bridge by that point, and his contacts weren’t of any particular use to you, now that they’d set up a meeting.

            You were a little wary of entering the church of a known Italian mobster, but the pews contained scattered amounts of civilians. You weren’t entirely alone, but you weren’t exactly standing up at the front of the room and discussing your potential partnership through a microphone, either. You appreciated that it was a territory where neither of you were the alphas, and so, since you really didn’t know where you could find a more renowned forger at such short notice, you slipped into the church, kept your head down docilely when the Father observed you, and slid into the pew at the back beside a suit-clad man with a jauntily-tipped fedora.

            “I expected slightly less Freddy Krueger and a little more Jason Bourne.” You commented quietly, already recognizing his face from his Wanted posters. “You know, a little more sneaky, a little more scary.”

            “A little more CIA,” he countered, lifting his head and raising an eyebrow at you. “For shame. This isn’t Krueger, this is Sinatra.”

            You smirked at him and studied the hat again. You supposed you could see it. He was hot, and one of the few men in the twenty-first century who you’d seen successfully pull it off without giving you Wes Craven flashbacks. His striking blue eyes complimented the dark blue silk around the brim and almost matched his tie.

            “Alright, I relent. You’re sophisticated, classy, and old-fashioned.” Your lips quirked as you teased. Neal chuckled.

            Internally, you felt a thrill. This was going better than you had hoped. Neal was calm and engaging; not flighty in the least. His confidence inspired some of your own, but that was an old trick of the trade, and you knew better than to fall for it too hard.

            “Is it really a two-person job?” You cynically asked, looking Neal’s friend up and down.

            He was a short bald guy in glasses, skittish and fidgety, and he’d had more glasses of wine since you all sat down than the number of burner phones you owned. You could tell just by his demeanor that he was an anxious little fella, and you tried to avoid partnering with the overly-nervous. Too many nerves made it hard to effectively pull off a job.

            “Haversham has all the equipment we need.” Neal told you, topping off your glass like any hospitable host would’ve. “No one’s as good as me. But he comes pretty close.”

            “What’s the job for?” Haversham, as he was apparently called, asked you. Unlike Neal, he struck you as incredibly flighty. His voice was a little loud and confrontational. Neal shot him a look, practically screaming at him with his eyes to calm down.

            You liked Neal, but you liked a lot of people. You weren’t a con woman because you disliked people. And besides, trusting and liking a person were entirely different ball games. Your life was at risk because of this stupid necklace; no way in hell were you going to tell them the truth about what they were working on, lest they backstab you or use the threat to your health as a means of exploiting more money out of you. They didn’t strike you as the type, but anyone could be a good actor.

            You just needed to pull a con on the conmen you wanted to help you with yours. It was a simple process, really; you just needed a lie with as much background information as you wanted to share. You’d already thought of one, anticipating that the question would come up sooner or later.

            “There’s a hefty buyer looking to pass off a piece of jewelry as the real thing for a very large sum.” You put your wine glass on the table delicately and crossed your legs at the ankles. “Unfortunately, the real thing was looted in the seventeenth century and reportedly melted down. Discovering part of the horde would be… financially beneficial… but my client is far more interested in putting it on display.” You grimaced as if the idea sickened you. “He’s offering me too much to pass on, no matter how little I approve.”

            Neal and Haversham looked at each other.

            “If the real piece was melted down four hundred some years ago, how do you expect us to recreate it?” Haversham challenged you, narrowing his eyes while his fingers tapped bouncily on his knee.

            You smiled politely. “My client is convinced he can have this authenticated based on the records kept by the original owners. He’s created approximations and send photographs with the dimensional specifications. It’s not perfect, but he can’t very well put plastic and colored glass on display with a price tag as large as we’re talking. So he needs real rubies and real gold.”

            Neal winced. “To each his own. A score’s a score.” He raised his glass towards you. “I think we can do this project. Shall we discuss rates?”

            You tapped your glass against the side of his gingerly and then took a sip, feigning consideration. It was your life on the line; you would happily pay more than you’d normally like for their cooperation, but you had to behave as though it were any other con. If Neal knew that he was as much of a mark as anyone else in your scheme, you doubted he’d still be singing the same tune.

            “We can work something out.” You decided. “Five percent?”

            Neal tilted his head at you, scoffing slightly. “Your entire plan is contingent on the products of our labor.”

            “Fine.” You huffed. “Ten percent each. You wouldn’t be getting this job if I wasn’t facilitating it.”

            Haversham scoffed. “Twenty-five combined!”

            “Twenty-two,” you deadpanned. He seemed easily spooked, so you locked your eyes on him in a mean, cool stare.

            He sat back. “That’s fair,” he said compliantly, avoiding looking at you. You smiled slightly at Neal, who was giving you a vaguely scolding expression for scaring his friend.

            After five days, you had developed a routine of sorts. Neal and his odd friend would be in your secured warehouse by the portside, working on developing the synthetic rubies with tools you didn’t even recognize. You kept the real necklace far from the pickpocket, but brought photographs with you to compare the gems, and recorded the specs for their use.

            Haversham had on thick, flame-retardant gloves up to his elbows when you entered with your electronic key. Neal was set up at a table several yards away from the superhot industrial oven. Haversham was wearing a welding mask and thick clothes. The temperature made you start sweating even after you’d been inside for a few seconds, so you imagined he was sweltering. His dedication to protecting himself from boiling gold was laudable. When it splashed, it left burn scars. You’d heard of more than one person convicted for their carelessness.

            Neal wore long pants and a tight wife-beater shirt and thick-soled, metal-toed boots to protect his feet, but aside from protective goggles on the table near where he stood over the fake rubies, he wore nothing else. You could see his abs through his clothes, and sweat glistened on his arms. You liked how he was strong and built, but not obnoxiously so, and you gave yourself a second to pretend that you were allowed to be enjoying the view as much as you were.

            “Hey, boys,” you called, raising an arm to wave lazily at Haversham, who didn’t respond. You walked to the side of the table and pushed yourself up to sit on the edge. Neal looked up at you, a curl of hair falling over his face and a satisfied, self-indulgent smile on his mouth. “How’re things coming?”

            “We finished making the rubies this morning.” He placed his fingers in the group of gems and divided them into two groups, each corresponding to one of the false necklaces. “We should be able to leave them in the gold plating by tomorrow and have them finished days before your deadline.”

            “Uh-huh.” You admired the rubies. They looked gorgeous; picture-perfect. Unrealistically beautiful, in fact. “Now, how are you going to make them look like they weren’t manufactured?”

            Neal’s lips quirked appreciatively at your catch. “Imperfections on the jewels, forced oxidation on the gold. We have the photographs to go off of.” He cocked his head and stalked to you slowly. You hoped it wasn’t just your imagination that you had his complete, rapt attention. You spread your legs so he could stand between your knees, and he put his hands down on the table on either side of your thighs, leaning over you. “Of course,” he whispered, leaning down. You could see the flecks of shades in his irises. “It would be much easier if we could model off the physical approximation.”

            It was hard to act like you didn’t care. You flirted a lot yourself, and you knew it was a ploy. Still, Neal attracted you like few people managed to. He was smart, he was gorgeous, and he had a sense of humor – and, unlike most decent guys you met, he was in the lifestyle. No normal man would understand not to ask questions if you had to take off to Bohemia or be absent for months at a time. You wished you could return the flirtations, maybe even invite him out for drinks, but mixing work and pleasure wasn’t a great idea, especially when failure to deliver the goods would get a target on your back. Self-preservation was always your first concern.

            “I love your enthusiasm,” you whispered back playfully, “But I haven’t forgotten that you’re a thief as well as a forger.”

            “Touché.” He smiled at you more sincerely then. “I had to ask.”

            “Sure,” you compliantly agreed.

            “In that case, I should tell you what else I am.” His smile faded. Your expression darkened and you tensed, prepared to shove him away. Sudden mood swings were never reassuring. “Y/N, I might have misled you slightly. I am criminally active – however, those crimes have been more often than not sanctioned by the FBI as of late.”

            You swallowed and stared up at him darkly. “If you don’t move, I’m going to punch you in the nose and walk out of here.”

            “I just had to see if you would give up the necklace, but Agent Burke will get a warrant to search your hotel room.” Still, he stepped back and gave you room. You hopped off of the table swiftly, backing away while keeping your eyes locked on him.

            Your heart raced. Is he lying? You couldn’t find any tells. His tone was even, his expression was wry and bittersweet, and as you listened for anything else in the room, you realized you couldn’t hear the bubbling gold anymore. You held out a hand to stop Neal from advancing and spun quickly to see over your shoulder. Mozzie had moved away from the oven, turned it down, and was taking off his mask to fix his fogged and dripping glasses.

            “Please don’t make a scene,” Neal requested, pulling on his lower lip with his teeth. “I like you. I’d rather not watch this get messier than it has to be.” He pulled on the strap of his shirt over his shoulder and turned it inside out so you could see a small microphone on the inside. “Clear, guys. Come on in.”

            The door to the warehouse clanged open. “FBI!” A man shouted, his gun out.

            Self-preservation.

            You put your hands up harmlessly, but glowered at Neal for a moment before lowering your eyes. Maybe this was your karma for your madness. Everything caught up to everyone eventually. It wasn’t really his fault if you were the one morally in the wrong (you were big enough to admit that you were the antihero, even from your own perspective). Besides, working with the FBI was probably the best for his self-preservation.

            “Y/N Y/L/N,” the first man called to you, lowering his weapon. The other agent, a beautiful woman, kept hers out and she approached behind him, keeping an eye on you. The man stuck his hand out as he came closer, smiling genially. “Special Agent Peter Burke.”

            “No,” Neal sighed, crossing his arms. “Peter, don’t say it.”

            Peter’s grin widened. “It’s a pleasure to catch you.”

            Neal sighed again, looking away. You ground your teeth and stared at his outstretched hand skeptically.

            Self-preservation.

            “I should probably mention that the real reason I want fake necklaces is so that I don’t get killed by people rich enough to hire hitmen,” you blandly stated to the federal agent. It felt like you were in shock. You knew you’d rail against it once you had time to process and understand what had happened, but at the moment, you were working to make the most out of it for yourself.

            Peter nodded sympathetically and realized you weren’t going to shake his hand. He dropped it to his side. “We can take care of that.” He took up handcuffs from his belt. “Behind your back, please.”

            You sent another look at Neal. He shrugged at you, his eyes compassionate. He didn’t seem at all surprised that you’d lied about your motivations. You wondered if he’d gone running to the feds as soon as you approached him. You chewed on the inside of your cheek, thinking, before you turned to Peter and asked, “Can I have a moment?”

            Though confused, Peter agreed. “Yeah…?” He said it like a question and turned to look at the woman with him.

            “No funny business,” she warned you. “I have excellent aim and I’m looking right at your knees.”

            You stepped up to Neal. He leaned back on the table warily. “Nice one, Caffrey.” You defeatedly admitted. “I didn’t see it coming.” You paused. If your work wasn’t going to be finished, there was nothing to mix the pleasure with. You’d be damned if you went to all this trouble to partner up with Neal and didn’t get anything out of it.

            You reached for his waist and tugged on the belt loops in his pants, pulling him closer to you. Neal moved his hands to your hips impulsively and you reached for his shoulder, sliding your hand easily across his slippery skin, dragging him down to meet you halfway, pressing your lips to his. Neal kissed you softly, gently; his lips were soft and full and his mouth tasted rich with an aftertaste of coffee.

            Peter coughed when you pulled back, your hands still on his hips. Neal looked down at you, blinking in surprise, but with a charmed, happy grin on his face. You hoped it didn’t last too long – you still wanted him to feel at least a little bit guilty about getting you arrested.

            After a few more seconds of feeling the warmth of his body, you dropped your arms and took a step back. “Alright,” you said exasperatedly, turning around so your back was to Peter. You held your hands behind your back. “I’m cooperating, lady. Leave my knees alone.”

            “Thanks for your help, Mozzie,” Peter said to someone.

            “Suit!” Haversham hissed, stripping off his gloves. “Why would you say my name?! I don’t want her to know who I am!”

            “It’s a bit late for that,” you grumbled.

Requested by @white-magician

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How did successful people spend their time when they were young, between the ages of 10 and 22? Erick Pinos Erick Pinos, works at MIT Undergraduate Admissions Updated May 22, 2015 Elon Musk (22 in 1993) read 10 hours a day, both science fiction and non-fiction. By 4th grade, he was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. At age 9, Elon got into programming and at 12 he sold his first video game, Blastar, for $500 ($1,200 today). Musk was frustrated with slow formal classroom learning and did most of his learning through reading. His first two companies, Zip2 and X.com (later  merged into PayPal) were software companies. Bill Gates (22 in 1977)'s family encouraged competition. He practiced programming using his school's computer and was excused from math classes to do so. His first computer program was a tic-tac-toe game against the computer. He and three classmates were banned from using the Computer Center Corporation's computers after exploiting bugs in the operating system to get free computer time. The four later offered to find bugs for the CCC in exchange for computer time.    In his sophomore year at Harvard, he designed an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems presented in his combinatorics class. (Before Microsoft, Gates Solved A Pancake Problem) In college he also met Steve Ballmer, who would eventually succeed him as Microsoft's CEO. When the MITS Altair 8800 came out packing the Intel 8080 CPU chip, Gates saw the opportunity to start his own computer software company with his friend Paul Allen and they both dropped out. Max Levchin (22 in 1997) had respiratory problems as a child and doctors doubted his chance of living. He practiced the clarinet to help expand lungs. He spent time programming, and in 1995 he founded SponsorNet Media with fellow college classmates. In 1997, he finished his bachelor's in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.    In 1998, Peter Thiel gave a guest lecture, after which Levchin introduced himself. The two then founded Fieldlink, a security company for handheld devices, later changed to Confinitiy, under which they developed PayPal. (History - PayPal) Steve Jobs (22 in 1977)'s father showed him how to take apart and rebuild electronics in the family garage. From that Jobs developed a hobby for technical tinkering. His mother taught him to read before he attended school. His parents elected him to skip a grade although his school recommended that he skip two on account of his test scores. In high school, Jobs became friends with Bill Fernandez, who introduced him to Steve Wozniak, a tech wiz  and his future business partner.    Jobs enrolled at Reed College and dropped out after six months. He spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes, like a course on calligraphy, which he later says is why the Mac now has multiple typefaces. He went to India in 1974 for seven months in search of spiritual enlightenment and then came back to work for Atari where he made deals with Wozniak to work together. In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed "Apple Computer Company". (The Guardian profile: Steve Jobs) Peter Thiel  (22 in 1989) became a US-rated Chess Master and one of the highest ranked under-21 players in the country. In 1989, he received a bachelor's in philosophy from Stanford in 1989 and a J.D. from Stanford Law in 1992. He founded The Stanford Review in 1987 along with Norman Book to talk about controversial campus issues like political correctness. Thiel formed many influential friendships with other students at Stanford, many of whom contributed to the Stanford Review and later took up jobs at PayPal (co-founded by Thiel). Vinod Khosala (22 in 1977) was inspired to pursue technology as a career after reading about the founding of Intel in Electronic Engineering Times. He received a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, a masters in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, and an MBA from Stanford Grad School of Business. Khosla has said that he said he looks for disruptive new ideas from young people  under 25.    “I think after you work long enough, you get used to things the way they are supposed to be … and you forget that new things can be invented,”. (Vinod Khosla: A Brutally Honest VC Tells Startup Weekenders to Make an Impact | Xconomy) Oliver Emberton (22 in 2001) started programming computers at 8 years old. He started his own video game business at 13 and sold games to fellow students, giving the money to charity. By 16, he wrote his own operating system, his own video codec, web browser, and graphical editing tools. He was once told to "stop aspiring for success". He later switched his business pursuits from video games to web development.    "I founded Silktide Ltd as soon as I graduated in 2001, on £3,000 of startup capital. It was about enough for a PC, some furniture, and a couple month’s rent in an office the size of an Oxo cube. Spent the first year barely surviving, with a total salary of less than £6k and a profit of under £200." (Oliver Emberton | About) Richard Branson (22 in 1972) struggled with dyslexia throughout school. In 1966, at age 16, he dropped out to start a youth-culture magazine called Student, selling $8,000 worth of advertising in its first edition.    The headmaster of Stowe wrote Branson a note that said "Congratulations, Branson. I predict you will either go to prison or become a millionaire." Even though Student had articles and interviews from existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, novelists James Baldwin and Alice Walker, and poet Robert Graves , the magazine never made money. (Entrepreneur | Richard Branson) In 1969, at age 19, Branson started a mail-order record company called Virgin, because everyone who worked there was a "virgin" in business, to help fund Student. He made enough money to build a record shop in Oxford Street, London. From that he made enough money to start a recording studio in 1972, Virgin Records. Gayle Laakmann McDowell (22 in 2005) was the youngest intern at Microsoft at age 18. She got her bachelor's in Computer Science in 2005 at UPenn and went back for her master's. McDowell has worked as a software engineer at Google, Microsoft, and Apple. In 2011, she received her MBA from The Wharton School, specializing in entrepreneurship. That same year, McDowell wrote a post on getting a highly coveted job where she suggests:    Start something, like a small tech company or project, that shows tech firms your creativity, passion, initiative, and leadership. She also says to create an online portfolio, build your network, make a short resume, focus on concrete accomplishments, rehearse your stories, practice interview questions, prepare questions for you to ask, admit mistakes, and be fearless. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/cioc...) Balaji Viswanathan (22 in 2005) focused on winning competitions and doing research in college. While working towards his bachelor's, he won an Honorable Mention at the 2002 Asia Finals of the prestigious ACM ICPC programming contest. From the IEEE, he also won the Lance Stafford Larson Student Paper award and UPE award for academic excellence. He even got to meet the President of India thrice to talk about his research works.    "My first internship was an opportunity to work at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a student research fellow in the summer of 2004. In 2005, I did an internship at a defense technologies startup in Washington DC. I then worked close to 4 years at Microsoft Redmond. I was a developer for Windows 7 and I have also worked in test for Windows Phone 7. Inbetween that was a period spent in Live Labs - the cutting edge futuristic incubation centre." (Balaji Viswanathan's answer to What should everyone know about Balaji Viswanathan?) Auren Hoffman (22 in 1996), who also wrote a great answer to this question, has been called an "expert networker" and a "catalyst". He graduated from UC Berkely with a degree in Industrial Engineering in 1996. Junior year, he founded Kyber Systems as a way to pay for school. In his answer, he talks about how he recommends:    Spending time alone, reading fiction AND non-fiction, play acting, experimenting, doing creative activities, spending more time creating rather than consuming, and getting away from the social pressures of school (Auren Hoffman's answer to "How did successful people spend their time when they were young, between ages of 10 and 22?") We see entrepreneurs left and right heavily programming in high school and in college. But they didn't just "learn" programming - they did projects, competed in competitions, and started businesses, like Musk, Gates, Hoffman, Viswanathan, Emberton, McDowell, and Jobs did. We also see non-technical and semi-technical businesses like from Branson and Thiel, so don't worry if coding isn't your strong suit. As McDowell and Hoffman said, just learn something and start something. Another thing a lot of them had in common is that they networked with people in their time in high school and college, many of whom ended up becoming clients, co-founders, or even successors. Gates met Ballmer in college and Jobs met Wozniak in high school. The PayPal mafia, a small, closely networked group of former PayPal founders and employees, including Musk, Thiel, and Khosla, have helped each other build their companies as they remained connected as business and social acquaintances. One last thing I would like to mention is that they all read - a lot. Read, read, read. Traditional classroom learning is designed to push everybody along at the same speed. If classes are moving too fast, then read after and before class to fill in your knowledge gaps and build a solid foundation to keep up. If class is moving too slow, then read to learn new and more advanced topics. Either way, reading will give you the edge as most people won't bother to put in the extra effort. And also read lots of fiction too to learn how to write stories and gain an appreciation for the things that make us human.