#whole part for my tag collection and educational purposes you could say

[scarefox]

"Every you, Every me" preparation for ep4 NC scene

[bitchofdarkness]

How to Tumblr

(there are probably endless posts like this, but I'm too lazy to look them up)

I want to start this post by saying this is not to shame/call out anyone and that it's for educational purposes only. In this case @key2525 commented on one of my posts-- letting me know they are new to the world of social media and reblogging. And I figured a lot of twitter (X) refugees and the like ended up here as well. And maybe some other people could use the refresher on how to participate in fandom aka reblogging creators stuff.

The best way to start and prevent other people from assuming you're a bot (yeah, we got a huge issue on this website with those) is by changing your banner and profile picture. Now, you do NOT have to (and I highly advise you don't) use a real photo of yourself. Never. Just don't. It's the internet and you're entitled to privacy. You can use a screenshot or photo of your favorite character or scene or a random picture off the internet that is free to use. If you wanna use license free pictures that won't get you into trouble, you might wanna look at pages like pexels, pixabay or vecteezy to find something that fits you and your blog. You can search up any type of theme/topic on those pages and find nice pictures to use.

If you want to use a gif from someone who made said gif on tumblr, then please ask permission first, wait for their answer and credit them in your blog bio once given permission. And I mean actual credit and not "credit to the owner" kinda sentences one might find under some peoples instagram posts, I mean (i.e.) "gif in banner/pfp made by @/1liv". (The / is so the user isn't drawn to this post right now, I don't wanna bother them, but they are the gifmaker of the one shown in the posts screenshots underneath)

(This will be a longer post, stay with me and tap on the readmore below)

So, if you have made your blog look a little more like a person by adding those two and perhaps a bio stating your age (some people who post mature or explicit content block you if you have no age listed or if you're underage) and/or preferred pronouns. Or add a title. (tumblr also gives you the option to switch off the title from being visible btw).

The red arrow points to the part that would be seen by people who look at your blog. All the posts that are not posted privately will show up on your followers dashboard. It also helps making you look like a person and not a bot. The green arrow is all the things you like. That ones not shown as the first page to anyone and you can turn it private. Liking something is more like collecting something into a little box for no one else but you to see. Reblogging is where it's at.

Now comes the part that is important for fandom.

Red arrow is reblog 🔁, which means it will end up visible on your blog (won't be empty anymore). Green arrow is likes ❤️. And the blue one is pointed at the comments 💬. Easy so far. All the hashtags like #sweet home 2 in the picture above can be added when you reblog something. It often helps when you add the name of a movie or show that you reblog in the tags, in case you ever want to look up something on your own blog. It'll pop right up under the hashtag you used. This also works for when you want to search someone else's blog for a specific show or movie. You just tap on the magnifying glass 🔍 next to "posts" on anyones blog.

Now, when you click on the reblog button this is what you would see:

"#add tags" - this is where you put the show or movie name, the actors name or a shipname. You can also ramble to the creator what you liked about whatever it is you are reblogging. Or on other types of posts add your opinion.

The black arrow on the right bottom corner points to more options:

All pretty self-explanatory. What I personally like is that if you come across a lot of posts you want to reblog but are afraid you might spam the whole dash of your followers, you can tap on "Schedule" at the bottom:

And it'll give you options when to reblog a post. You can pick the date and the time and fan out the posts you want to reblog. That way you won't lose the posts you found and you won't reblog in bulk at the same moment. It's honestly really useful. I tend to forget stuff and then not find it again, so I either schedule the posts or put them in my drafts to reblog later.

You might think "what followers, I have no followers yet" Well, if you continue to have a blank blog, no one will even consider following you since there is nothing you ever reblog. Would you voluntarily want to stare at a shut off tv for hours? I don't think so.

Tumblr isn't like twitter (X) or instagram where a lot of people have this "follow for follow" mentality. People follow the blogs that look interesting and interaction between the posts you reblogged as well as those you might make in the future will grow.

Think about it this way: If everyone stopped reblogging, users dashboards will stay empty except for the wacky tumblr ads and blazed posts. There is no algorithm on tumblr, you see what you want to see by following the people who post and reblog what you like. By continuing that tradition you'll inspire other people to do the same and keep this website as well as fandoms alive. And that's honestly kinda cool, if you think about it, right?

Hope this helped anyone who needed some sort of direction 💕

[paper-n-ashes]

The Late Shift - Part 2

Characters: Paul Sevier x Female Reader

Words: 2k

Warnings/Tags: Little inklings of sexual themes. Otherwise we’re still in PG territory. Oh and mutual pining from two idiots. My favourite kind.

Authors Note: One shot? I don’t know her. Honestly, I don’t have any excuse. I just felt the urge to continue on with this dumb fluffy story because it makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside and I needed that. Will we drive this car straight into smut town afterwards? Ah you’ll just have to see. 

Catch up with Part 1 here

*

Paul always considered himself a smart guy. Perceptive, knowledgeable, with years of grueling education behind him to be where he is today.

His schooling, work, almost every minute of his waking moments was spent in the realm of artificial illustrations of correspondence. He could happily spend hours sifting through the words and numbers that made up all types of message transmission, might even admit he had a talent for decoding their significance and origin. Exchanges born from machinery were easy to analyse – they had set rules and gave little room for differing interpretation. He was comfortable in that world. Knew how things worked, what paths data and carefully devised information would take.

Human communication was infinitely harder to navigate. It was a skill he knew he was lacking in, compared to others at least. His words never came out the way he wanted, he struggled to say exactly what was wished to convey and agonised over the fact expression and tone could morph any remark into something with a whole different meaning.

Every day, he encountered people who used this as a tool - a weapon to obscure the truth and conceal hidden agendas. It was hard not to, working for the US government. In time, he’d become cynical. Wary of what people spoke aloud, assuming it was all said without much sincerity or reliability unless proven otherwise.

And then after another arduous day, there you were. Out of nowhere. Kind. Honest. Genuine. Within such an excruciatingly short interaction, you’d exuded all these traits so effortlessly. A breath of fresh air after being smothered by the smog the rest of his life contained.

Paul would easily admit his attraction to you was surprisingly swift. The rapturing smile you wore when you’d looked up from your notepad had him snared from the moment it appeared, an aura of natural vibrance and radiant energy shimmering out from your animated expression. What he’d expected to be a dry, tedious endeavour turned into a spark-filled scene, where an excited stranger made him feel both horrendously nervous and unusually at-ease. It had been a long time since someone made him feel like that.

It had also been a long time since he’d asked someone out on a date, for more than a few reasons. The more prolific Paul became in his job, the more unpredictable and unstable his life outside of it was. It took him across the country at a moments’ notice and consumed most hours of his day, meaning forging even short relationships was fairly difficult.

Plus… he just wasn’t good at it. Putting himself out there. He was shy, paralyzingly so. It’s not exactly something he could refute. His confidence was always born from experience and understanding, in knowing the reasons behind why things worked the way they did, along with being able to calculate what would happen next. No textbook could ever cover the entire spectrum of human personality, and there was no way to truly predict what a person might do or say. 

So, without the security of knowledge behind him, uneasiness and apprehension took over in most of his social interactions, particularly with those he felt a magnetism to. It’s exactly how he thought he seemed during his time with you. Awkward and floundering. Not exactly the most charming attributes for a man to have. And yet, the longer he was in your presence, the more he sensed those foibles fade into the back of his mind.

Talking to you was easy. Easier than it had been with anyone during a first meeting. What hadn’t been easy was enduring the seconds your touch grazed over him in your delicate workings while taking each different measurement - his heart beating a little faster, his muscles becoming a little more tense. When you’d eventually let your stare reach his, he’d seen how your eyes moved to trace the lines of his mouth, and it set his insides on fire. He’d been frozen by the unique type of burn, his body locked in place while a rare impulse begged him to sink his lips onto yours. In the past, he struggled to kiss a woman even after several dates, unable to push past the fear and doubt to turn his desire into action. However, in that moment, he’d been all too eager. His hand had moved on its own accord, fingers slinking up your waist, about to pull you closer when interruption instantly shattered his resolve.

The urge was still there in the dialogue that followed, although the promise of seeing you tomorrow made it easier to walk away, safe in the knowledge he had another opportunity to ask you out when his confidence was properly steeled. For once, he could be smart about this. Use his natural intellect to plan and act accordingly, giving him the best odds of securing more time with you.

Oh, but that all went to shit when your text message popped up on his phone screen. Seeing those words, even if they were meant for someone else, made his excitement reach an unfathomable peak, and in turn made him recklessly send a response without taking a second to think about the consequences.

And now, Paul had never felt so stupid in his entire life.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, the phone in his palm lit up with your conversation on display, he felt his stomach spasm with anxiety. Were you going to reply? What would you say? What if his bluntness freaked you out? What if you weren’t even talking about him? Was this all something his mind conjured up?

As the minutes passed without any sign of a response, the initially minor sense of panic began to compound, weighing heavy on his chest, the chaos of his mind soon melting into one certainty - he’d totally fucked this up.

About to slump his forehead into the steering wheel in a display of despondency, Paul suddenly felt a flash of courage at remembering the view of your face peering up at him. He knew the image of it would haunt him if he didn’t do something. He had to fix this. Explain himself. But it needed to be in person. He wouldn’t let technology mess this up for him again.

With a purposeful breath, Paul exited his car and began to retrace his steps past the other shopfronts, silently rehearsing what he wanted to say to you. He hoped to surrender himself to a collectively embarrassing situation, laugh off the turn of events, having it all culminate in an offer of dinner once your shift had finished. He already had a place in mind, only a street away, a little dumpling house that was always open late. Perfect for a cosy, quiet date after a chance meeting.

When his eyes latched onto your figure through the glass window, he stopped his hand from reaching for the door handle. You were crouching down in front of a small boy, his mother behind him cradling a newborn baby, your hand gesturing towards an array of child size suits. Paul couldn’t help but watch as your warming smile beamed, guiding the boys hands to touch and feel over the material, your words evidently making him feel more at ease as his expression slowly relaxed out of its worried frown.

Creeping backwards to make sure you didn’t catch him in your periphery, Paul felt a wave of relief wash over his skin, having evidence that your lack of reply wasn’t due to any of the worst case scenarios he’d been fretting over. You were just busy, concentrated on your work, giving your time and expertise to others in the same way you’d given to him.

The realisation was enough for him slink away, still impatient for your next encounter but assured in it being set within the next day cycle. He just had to wait.

Although, waiting wasn’t exactly a talent of his either.

 *

You were dying inside.

A friendly grin was plastered on your face as you conversed sweetly with the woman in front of you, making idle chit-chat while her son changed out of the suit you’d picked together, but the smile had never felt so insincere. Usually you loved when children came in to pick out ensembles for weddings and similarly formal events, but at the moment your mind was stuck on a small battery-powered rectangle sitting at your desk with a half-written message remaining under your lock-screen.

In the time before Paul’s response came through, you’d never felt more humiliated in your whole existence. Evaporating into thin air would have been a welcomed miracle. But when the returning text slid into focus, your whole mindset shifted.

He felt the same. He wanted you too.

You’d been in the middle of typing out a hasty invitation to come back and make true on his intentions when this overwhelmed mother with a fussy baby caught your attention. Her eldest son had done his best to iron out his only formal suit for the role of ring bearer in an aunt’s wedding this coming weekend, unfortunately resulting an a house full of smoke and a clump of burnt wool.

Personal matters withered into the background at the comprehension of her drained, exhausted demeanour, all your focus pointed back towards the job you’d been distracted from. Well, mostly.

You couldn’t avoid the thoughts and questions glinting in the back of your mind. Of what might have happened if this woman never appeared. What might be happening in an alternate timeline where you’d been able to send that waiting reply. Without intention, your wonderings turned into moving pictures – leading Paul into the back workshop, being roughly picked up onto the cutting table, his lips and yours finally connected in a heated clash, shedding all of his clothing until that heinous mustard shirt was crumpled on the floor-

The high pitched beep of the receipt machine snapped you back into reality, noting the relieved smile the mother wore while her son excitedly grabbed at the bags containing his dashing new suit.

“Thank you!” he hollered without needing to be prompted, waving his hand vigorously before skittering away to the door.

“You’re an absolute lifesaver,” the woman echoed, taking the receipt from your outstretched hand. “I’m really sorry for keeping you so late.”

“Oh don’t worry about it.” The time on the monitor screen just ticked over to 8:17pm, long after you would usually shut up shop and head home to your empty apartment. “I've got nowhere special to be.”

You each said your goodbyes, waiting until the precise moment her silhouette was out of sight before jumping to your phone. The same half written message was there, but now it felt impossible to finish. All traces of adrenaline had long since worn off, and the bravery that made you type out the risqué proposition was reduced to almost nothing. Your timid nature rushed back in full force, a thumb pressing hard on the little x button to erase all evidence of your out of character impulses.

Who were you kidding. You weren’t this person. Unashamed and brazen enough to dive into a fiery entanglement with a handsome stranger in the same evening you’d met. You wished you could be. There was never a time the concept was so enticing. But… it was a fantasy not meant for you to live out. They were destined for the outgoing, the cool and composed, the bold and sure-footed. You rarely felt like any of those things. And Paul, like most men, probably reserved their interest and attraction for those types of women. It was so silly of you to think any different. Getting your hopes up was foolish, and would only end in-

The tingle of the shopkeepers bell sounded, internally groaning as you slid your phone back onto the desk. “We’re closed,” you hawked, a coldness in your tone you couldn’t hide. Eyes snapping up to the intruder, a bolt of lightening shot through, barely able to stop the delight mixing into your blood.

“I just, uh, figured out something more that I needed,” Paul said softly, scratching the back of his neck, clearly nervous.

“You did?” you breathed. “W-what was it?”

His chest rose and fell with a calming exhale, making sure your stares were secured before giving his answer. “…You.”

*

Tagging some lovelies who might want to read. Feel free to let me know if you don’t want to tagged in future works!

@tlcwrites @roanniom @princessxkenobi @hopeamarsu @blowthatpieceofjunk @mariesackler @leatherboundriot @foxilayde @modernpaw @cornmousequeen @direnightshade @mylifeisactuallyamess @caillea @jynz-andtonic @paterson-blue @miraclesabound @prismaticpizza​ @millenialcatlady​ 

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

#i wonder what your thoughts on diaspora in hetalia are#cause its a pretty interesting topic (the post in question)

@urmomsstuntdouble a collection of things that I think about on a semi-regular basis below the cut (also thank you for the tags!)

Disclaimer: I think this turned into more of a discussion of immigration and immigrants, but I hope this strikes your fancy anyways 😅. Also this got SO LONG and I explained quite a bit of history (because idk whether anyone knows much about this), so the key thoughts will be bolded!

My thoughts are kinda complicated about this tbh; it’s weird, because if China really did exist as a personification in real life, we’d probably both be judging each other, just for different reasons 😅.

General Hetalia Cases

I think when discussing immigrants/diaspora, you have to think about why different immigrants left. @cupofkey kinda discussed that a while ago (if anyone hasn’t seen this superb post, GO READ IT NOW) about the Vietnamese diaspora, and I think there’s some of that in every country. How do the immigrants feel about the home country? Why did they leave: because of hard times, poverty? Political instability/revolution/war? Opportunities overseas? Are they doing well in their new home, or still struggling? Does their new country treat them like foreigners or outcasts, unworthy of even arriving, or doing anything besides menial labor, or have they been welcomed (rather unlikely)? Do they hate their home country (politically), or miss them? Would they ever go back, not just to visit family or the place of their birth, but to return permanently?

I think on the whole, hetalia nations would still maintain a connection to their immigrants, especially since most are still in touch with their culture, although they’ve crossed borders or changed nationalities. (However, the angst of not being as in touch with your culture as you think you should is so real; would our home countries be disappointed? Or do they sympathize, somehow?) In the end, we’re all the same that way. Plus, the alternative thought of them just disowning immigrants feels weird; I don’t even know how that would be possible. But I think that connection gets complicated by the reason people left, and their feelings for their place of origin; I’ll be using APH China and Chinese Americans as an example to discuss this hksdgsdf (sorry I don’t want to do more research than necessary and I have Thoughts about this)

**OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER that immigration/diaspora discussions are almost always case by case and will vary greatly based on things like country of origin/race/ethnicity, country immigrated to, initial socioeconomic status, time period, etc. And even among diaspora, people can and will have vastly different experiences, and it’s not good to generalize. These are just some thoughts with one example.**

1. Waves of Immigration 

Depending on when people arrive, they’ve got different push/pull factors drawing them to a country and it also factors into how the nation feels about them and vice versa... Chinese immigration to the US has mostly two major waves (you could also say there were 3, counting the post-WWII/Communist China wave, but I won’t talk about that): one in the mid 1800s and the other after the 1970s/1980s into modern day; the gap is because the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) that banned most immigration from China wasn’t repealed until 1943 (because of Japan’s attack on the US in WWII, the US needed China as an ally).

IMMIGRATION WAVE 1: MID 1800s

These immigrants were mostly from southern China (Canton area), and they came to the US because of hard times (Opium Wars + political instability because of things like the Taiping Rebellion) and economic opportunity in the West (eg. Gold Rush (San Francisco is literally “Old Gold Mountain” in Chinese today) + industrialization, railroads, expansion etc.). There was Much Discrimination against those immigrants, and many worked as hard laborers in a variety of occupations (on railroads, gold mine, farms (in the South esp), laundry businesses; there were merchants as well, but they were the minority); many were looking to get some money that they could send back to their families in China and planned to return, but over time, they settled down and stayed. I think for those immigrants, Yao would definitely be understanding, even if he might not be empathetic. After all, he’s not thriving at that time either, and although he thinks Alfred is inferior to him (in many ways), he understands why people would be drawn by economic promise and quick wealth, even if it might not be the best strategy for getting rich. It’s not like staying in China would be better lmao. However, I don’t think he would approve (?) how many of his immigrants stayed in the US when most viewed it as a temporary move; I think Yao is very surprised by how so many of them persisted to carve out a home there, despite the discrimination and limited opportunities. Perhaps he admires their resilience, the creation of Chinatowns and community and how they still come to a country that doesn’t even let them in (see the San Francisco Fire of 1906 and the boon for paper sons), but still wishes they would come back, however unlikely that hope is. Personally, Yao would never be able to stay in Alfred’s country, the beautiful country, if Alfred’s hypocrisy prevented his experience, his immigrant’s experience, from being anything close to beautiful. (You were founded by immigrants and foreigners, but now you spurn them: the poor sojourners who continue to flee to your shores, and refuse them respite from the disasters at home.) And anyways, Alfred is just the next scrappy young upstart, barely 70 years old but with a swagger like he rules the world; how could he have something over himself, the Middle Kingdom, who has stood the test of time? (Admittedly, he’s doing nowhere as well as Alfred—even he can see that, despite his pride, and despite the haze of opium in his brain. Leaving is the logical, objectively sound choice. Still, his pride hurts vaguely when he thinks how his immigrants keep choosing a country that keeps rejecting them, over and over again, instead of himself. But it is no matter. The injury to his ego is inconsequential and easily brushed aside; for they are still his people, and they deserve a good life, wherever they are. His distaste for Alfred flares up again: Arthur’s bastard child, who takes advantage of his trade (see the Open Door Notes, 1899-1900), but refuses his people.)

if anyone wants more context or is interested in the history I mentioned, I highly recommend this pdf (from the book A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki)

IMMIGRATION FROM 1949 TO 1980: according to Wikipedia, there was very little immigration from mainland China during this period due to the Cold War and China becoming Communist; most of the immigration was from Taiwan/ROC but counted in the quota for China. Since there’s a separate Hetalia personification for TWN, I’m not going to go over that. However, there were also many people from Mainland China who escaped to Hong Kong, still a British colony, during that period (I hope it’s clear why, but if anyone asks I’ll put it in a separate post); some stayed there, while others emigrated to the US; both trips were for more freedoms and a better life etc because China was really really messed up for a bit (also keep in mind the people emigrating all had the means to and were at least middle class, usually somewhat educated, etc.). I will not be talking about that group either because I don’t think it’s my place to, but please know they exist as well.

IMMIGRANT WAVE 2: 1980s ONWARD

A lot of people came from mainland China for education; there was also an. exodus of intellectuals following 1989 (which I Will Not get into). Many of these people sought job opportunities, like those that rapidly opened up in the computer industry, there are many students who come here to study abroad, who take SATs and TOEFLs to get into good US colleges or to conduct graduate research and get PhDs; some stay, others have gone back to like, advance China’s development (this sentiment of getting good students to go abroad and then go back to China to use their talents for Patriotic Purposes isn’t a new thing, stretches back to like the late 1800s). I don’t really have much to say about this group besides what’s below ↓. 

2. Immigrant Thoughts On Their Home Country

more complicated, because it varies by generation and time period and probably 203943 other things. Mainlanders that came over starting in the 1990s till now have relatively positive feelings towards China (imo, extrapolating from my life experiences); I think part of that is also because most* of these immigrants aren’t really escaping from something? They’re coming for an education/job opportunities (students studying abroad in the US (留学生 or liuxuesheng) for graduate school or university come to mind as one example), and they’re still very much connected to China politically and culturally, sometimes* more so than to the US. For these immigrants, I think Yao doesn’t worry too much about them? They’re pretty successful* overall*, and discrimination, although still A Large Problem™, isn’t the same from stuff that Yao (or his immigrants) remember from, say the mid 1800s (see above), or even during the paranoia about Communists after WWII and the subsequent Chinese Confession Program that made many people really scared of being deported. (Red China made Chinese Americans a target of the Communist panic, and the confession program was instated in order to make sure Communist spies couldn’t infiltrate the US. Those who immigrated illegally could confess that and gain citizenship; however you also had to weed out everyone you knew who also immigrated illegally.) I think Yao would see them as an extension of himself in a different land; they’re very much still part of him, and he gives them his well wishes.

However, I think that immigrants born in the US in modern day at least (1990s onwards) are definitely more ambivalent about China’s legacy + modern day Issues™, as much as we are connected via culture and heritage. Not quite sure how Yao would feel about that, because I’m not quite sure how much Yao is the state and how much he represents the people. However, I think there would be some mutual unease; does he see this as betrayal of some kind? Perhaps he doesn’t blame us for feeling as we do? Maybe he wonders what we feel about him; maybe he doesn’t want to know. Maybe he chooses the easier route: to focus on the bonds between him and his huayi instead of the grievances, and leave the rest unsaid. 

Additionally with first gen immigrants, there’s the conflicting feeling of being stuck between two worlds and value systems that oppose each other in many respects. Also there’s sometimes a feeling of not-quite-being-in-touch-with-your-culture (in other diaspora as well, ofc. here it’s often exemplified by forgetting or not knowing how to read and write Chinese proficiently, among other things 🙃); idk. does Yao see that as a bit of a disappointment? Would he wish us to try harder? Does he view it as inevitable, for those raised in the US; the environment is too different, and perhaps he won’t blame us for those differences, or shortcomings. Does Yao know, or care, about the racism? What about his immigrants who try to assimilate completely into American culture, who try to erase the Chinese part of their identity? Those that have tried it, but regretted it? Are they still his, when they have tried rejecting their connection to him, choosing to drop the “Chinese” from Chinese American? Does he consider racism when thinking about them? What about international adoptees? Does he claim them, when some have not been raised in a culturally Chinese environment, and when it’s still a sensitive subject on both sides of the ocean? I don’t have answers to many of these questions.

There are also immigrants who fled China because of war or persecution or upheaval, (one example is with regards to the Cultural Revolution), but I don’t feel qualified to discuss it here, and I don’t want to take it lightly.

But, despite everything I’ve discussed above, I’d like to think that however an immigrant feels about their home country or however long they’ve been there, all nation personifications would still wish them a better life (even Yao). I mean, it’s not always easy being an immigrant/part of a diaspora (especially when race becomes a factor). I really don’t think any of the hetalia characters would say “look at your struggles. What a mistake it was to immigrate somewhere where you still face so many challenges, although they might be different from the ones back home”. that’s just No. Also, I think that when you disregard sentimentality and their inherent connection to the people, countries would still be able to sympathize with people trying to strive for better, you know? People immigrate for a better life, whether it’s because it was getting rough when they left or because other places had more potential, and like. although nation-people can’t leave their own country, I think they understand the people who do, because it’s a chance to make a new life, and it would be unkind, counterproductive, limiting, to prevent someone from taking that opportunity if it came. And their children, and grandchildren; they are still connected to their origins even in a new country, by blood if nothing else, and nations are people too; they must have some sentimentality for their people born in a different land. I’d like to think that if Yao met a Chinese American kid running around San Francisco’s Chinatown, or bumped into an ABC high schooler in a well to do Massachusetts suburb, he’d stop and nod and maybe say hello, and wish them luck, wherever they go in the future. After all, they are the products of his immigrant’s hopes and dreams, and they are his too, as much as they live in Alfred’s land.

* (asterisks): this is a) from my experience and research; not everyone will have the same experiences! please keep this in mind and don’t generalize a very vast group of people. :)

Idk if that was too sentimental or rambly or something, but yeah, those are some of the things I consider when I think about nations and their diasporas. If you made it down here, thanks for reading! I greatly appreciate it. Also I hope I got all my facts correct, but if anyone spots anything incorrect, especially regarding the post 1980s immigration wave, please tell me! Tried doing my research but there are still a few things I’m unsure about rip. 

This might be deleted tomorrow because I’m feeling weird about it, but feel free to reblog! I’d also very much love some feedback too if any of y’all are feeling up to it

[veryvincible]

how do you draw faces? mine look okay in sketches but lining them ruins them 😢

I may not be the best person to ask, given that I’m a self taught artist in the same way someone who watches a lot of Synesthesia videos might be a self taught pianist. I can certainly pick up a pen and draw, but I’m not super well versed in terminology or, uh, really anything specific that might be of help to you. I’ve just been doing it for so long that my hands know how to do it. I will respectfully tag @ghosthan here, though, and if she’s willing to give some advice of her own (and possibly correct some advice I’m giving you, if any of it is not up to par), she’s more than welcome to. She is the Art School friend.

But, since you’re here, here’s my basic process:

I’d suggest using a lot of reference images if you’ve got a particular look in mind, especially as someone who’s not super practiced with faces. This is especially helpful for angles that might seem unfamiliar to you. I’ve kind of collected all the knowledge there is to collect from my usual references (Steve, Tony, and Tiberius), so I don’t have to do much searching when I draw them, but when I pick up a new character, I tend to scroll through images of people that match their age, race, etc. to see what vibe I’m going for.

For our purposes, I’ll just pull up the reference I used to solidify my 616 Tony. I don’t think this is a perfect faceclaim by any means, and there are a lot of changes I tend to make with his face shape and facial structure overall (mostly jaw, cheekbone, and nose changes), but. Here’s David Gandy, tumblr’s favorite.

I usually do this part by eye, to the point where I’m not actually sure whether or not this is how you’re supposed to do it anymore, but breaking the face with three lines and comparing the widths of the sections you get as a result is very helpful for proportions.

Kiiind of like this? I know some people are very particular about where these lines are supposed to be (like, where they fall on the eyes, nose, and mouth) and what the circle is supposed to be focused on (I’ve heard someone say it should be from the top of the skull to the bottom of the nose?), but as a general guide, my rough sketch when I’m looking at a reference kind of resembles this minus the lines. I just start the circle at the top of the skull and try not to make it much wider than the ears, then adjust later on to accommodate the rest of the skull.

So, this is kind of rough, and I can explain how I do it by eye if it’ll help, but.

As you can see, the middle of the nose here kind of splits the face (from the forehead to the jaw) in half, at least on Gandy. By eye, I’d take more care to notice the bottom of the nose as well as the middle to create kind of a diamond shape in my sketch (we’ll get to that in a minute), as well as the top and bottom lines of the lips, but that’s more intuitive.

So, you can kind of place placeholders for everything here, and I’ll go more into detail about how I do individual facial features, but.

This is basically the most bare bones one of my sketches will get. I put in little lines for the cheekbones, and I start sketching in some basic features. I sharpened the jaw as well, because I like a Tony with a sharp jaw. :)

For the eye shape, I basically get down the shape of the eyeball we see+the inner corner of the eye.  Then you can focus a little more on studying the eyelids, the wrinkles, etc. And then I added in a little iris+pupil, which is... you know, circles.

The nose is pretty simple. You get down the ball and the little shapes above the nostrils (nostril houses..?), and then you start to build the bridge off of that. Some people’s noses don’t have very pronounced bridges, so you don’t have to bring it up that high. I’ve drawn some noses that just kind of fizzled out at the top of the ball (and then defined the very slight bridge later on in coloring/shading).

The last bit is just erasing most of that circle and then stylizing the bridge/ball a bit.

Excuse the rough, rough erasing here, but this is basically the deal for lips. You can squash/stretch/whatever the circles as needed to match the face shape you’re going for, and you can add some fun shines if that pleases you. Lips, I mostly play by ear, but this is the method I used when I was first starting out.

Speaking of ears. I would help you with those if I had any idea how. I feel like I use a reference every single time I draw an ear. Sometimes, I just scribble whatever the fuck into the lines and just let it happen. This was one of those times. My bad.

So, you just take what you’ve done there and plop them onto the sketch (I usually lower the first rough sketch’s opacity and then make the neater sketch over it, as opposed to having a rough sketch that I then try to line-- it’s not that time consuming once rough sketches come more naturally to you), and:

You get something like this! Some details have been changed (bridge of his nose, lip shape), but all of these were small modifications that worked to personalize the reference. I tend to do my face very cleanly the first time to get all the details right, and sometimes this works so well that I can just copy+paste everything inside the face and color it black for the finished lineart. This isn’t a must or anything, but it’s my preference. Even if you’re rougher than this, sticking to lines that you’re pretty confident will be placed similarly in the final lineart can help a lot with finalizing the portrait. 

Add some facial hair, some hair, and more details, and... There he is! The reference was used more for a general “feeling” of a face and proper proportioning than anything else, and then you can switch up facial features, push things up or down, and sharpen or round out whatever you’d like to make the character look more identifiable. If you sketch like this, your lineart might be a lot easier to work with. Or you could just use this as your lineart, color it in messily, and pretend the whole thing was intentional from the start.

A few last notes that I’ve learned from actual professional/educated artists, and then you’re in @ghosthan’s ghost hands:

1) You should always be able to draw a straight line across the nose from the corner of one eye to the corner of the other. This doesn’t necessarily mean a horizontal line on your page, it just means that it’s perpendicular to the line you’d draw vertically down the face if you were to half it. To make this clearer, I’ll do the same on some stock photos.

No matter what angle the character’s at or how their head is tilted, if both eyes are showing, I’m pretty sure they follow this rule.

2) The pupil is usually centered in the center of the iris, and it’s also usually showing in full. Yes, that middle circle in there is supposed to be a pupil. I know. I draw them funny. (There are some anatomical mistakes here made in how I moved the iris along the eye, as it’s important to remember that the eye is a sphere and the iris will move around it, as opposed to the iris moving up/down/left/right on a flat plane). The biggest mistake artists make with this is that they’ll move the pupil to the side of the iris that the iris is pointed toward; if the eye is looking left, the iris will be to the left (correct) and the pupil will be to the left of the iris (less correct). A lot of people cut off the top half of the pupil when stylizing eyes as well, which is... I mean, again, it’s just slightly less correct. Honestly, I’ve seen some art styles where these “mistakes” worked fine, and I don’t really think your art style has to be perfectly anatomically correct with every single tiny detail of the pupils and iris and whatnot, if you’re not submitting it to any critics or competitions or w/e. But if you would like this information, here you go. I have it.

3) Identify the hairline, then draw your hair in sections before adding detail. I didn’t learn this one from an art school source (I picked it up naturally, just from photo/comic panel studies), but this is art school friend approved, so! Apparently, a lot of beginner artists struggle a lot with rendering believable hair. These sketches are by no means flawless, but the gist is there: cut it up into sections, draw those first, then fill in the details afterward. It’ll give you a more cohesive looking style and make it easier for you to fiddle with the hairstyle as you go along.

That’s all I have for now! I know this is nowhere near fully comprehensive (and it doesn’t cover a lot of angles, nor coloring, nor... okay, a lot’s missing), but here’s how I generally go about fully sketching a straight-on face.

If you have any more questions, please let me know! Or you can ask @ghosthan directly and get actual art school advice.

[thewriterslament]

writing a resume from scratch

as with literally everything i write, this got really fucking long! like, wordcounter.net estimates this will take 7 minutes to read. so i’ve placed the bulk of this post under a read more

this is not a quick tips kind of post; this is a detailed breakdown of how to write a resume from scratch, with examples that are largely taken from my own resume. this is primarily a resource for people who don’t know where to start with writing a resume, not for people who just want resume hacks

i’m saying all this so i don’t get people in my inbox complaining about how long this is. writing a resume takes a lot of time and effort, and this post does not shy away from that

creating a resume will take you a while, especially if this is your first attempt. don’t be discouraged! take breaks, and don’t try to make the perfect resume on the first try. this tutorial is designed to be completed in rounds

it usually takes me a week to get a new master resume into working order

don’t worry about page length right now. you should make a multipage master resume that contains every relevant experience before making a 1-page resume. after you’ve made the master, you can build custom resumes from it for job applications

this post is best viewed on desktop, because i use nested bullets, and tumblr mobile hates those

let’s get into it!

step 1:

list out everything you’ve ever done that could feasibly count as a resume entry: extracurriculars, jobs, volunteer positions, research, organizations you were a part of (professional or casual), freelance work, long-term hobbies. i will refer to each different experience as an “entry”

for each entry, write where (city + state) and when (timespan) you did that thing 

ex. tritones a cappella group, los angeles, ca, august 20xx - present

going forward, update this list as you join or complete new jobs/hobbies/whatever so that you don’t have to wrack your brain a year down the road wondering how long you held down that job or leadership role

step 2:

describe each entry

use bullet points to list out all the things you did within that role. start with the big picture, then move on to the small stuff

big picture: the goal of the role/organization/research, overarching and long-term projects, what results you were trying to achieve + why

ex. “studied the neuroanatomy and synaptopathy of the inner ear to determine the role of glutamate receptors in hearing loss”

small stuff: literal day-to-day tasks, every software and hardware you worked with, any particularly successful moments

basically, walk through a typical day or week in this role and list out every single thing you have to do, even the grunt work.

ex. “used redcap to administer neuropsychological batteries and collect biological data”

ex. “designed and implemented a novel article format that yielded a 10% increase in audience retention”

if you still have access to the original job posting or a corporate description of responsibilities for your role, pull that up and see how much you can paraphrase from it

no duty is too stupid rn. did you google weather forecasts for your boss every week? write it down. you can make it fancy or choose to delete it later

step 3:

fancify this shit

rewrite your bullet points from step 2 with better jargon. tell your employers what you did in a concise yet assertive manner

it helps to break down each point into its most basic components, which you can then generalize or rephrase 

ex. “googled weather forecasts” might become “compiled weekly reports on changing data points to assess weather trends over time”

use action words. you can find resources all over the internet for this, but if you’re still struggling, shoot me an ask and i’ll link some of the resources i’ve used myself

caution: you don’t want to sound like you used a thesaurus on every word. make sure you aren’t obscuring the meaning of your bullet points. “googled weather forecasts” should not become “utilized online databases to assemble weekly communications on meteorological variations”

start thinking about how your responsibilities for each entry relate to a) what skills you want to showcase and b) what the employer wants from you. does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with online databases, or does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with weather forecasts? your bullet point for “googled the weather” will change depending on the answer to these questions

step 4: 

look at the big picture

you probably have a metric buttload of bullet points for each entry. now you need to cut that down to what’s relevant. think about which bullets are most impressive, noteworthy, and descriptive of each entry

aim for 3-5 bullet points. any less than that and you have to ask why you’re including that entry. any more than that and the employer’s eyes will glaze over

try to combine bullet points

ex. “identify content and write articles when necessary,” “maintain a pool of freelancers,” and “identify key graphics and maintain tagging structure when uploading articles” all involve the process of creating an article, so they can be combined into: “identify content, assign stories to freelancers, write articles when necessary, and upload with appropriate graphics and tags”

start thinking about tailoring your word choices and bullet points to what the employer is looking for

if you can, pull up the job posting or a sample resume for the job you’re applying to and compare your resume to it. are you using similar language? are you demonstrating similar skills?

jobhero.com is a lifesaver

finally, eliminate redundancy in your resume, both in every individual entry and in the resume as a whole. if a skill can be demonstrated by multiple entries, you only need to list it once

kill your darlings! it may sound harsh, but the things that seem super impressive to you probably won’t even be a blip on the employer’s radar. “but saying i made coffee runs shows i’m dependable and a team player!” the employer isn’t looking that deep, my dude. you can showcase your dependability in your cover letter or your interview

you should redo steps 3 and 4 several times, soliciting feedback from your parents, peers, career center, etc each time

step 5:

add the Other Stuff

education

typically, you should only include institutions for the highest level of education you’ve attended. (undergrad and grad school both count as college for this purpose)

there are exceptions to this, depending on how long you’ve spent at a higher level of education, whether your alma mater will earn you brownie points, whether you had genuinely impressive accomplishments earlier in your life, etc.

once you hit, like, 2 years in college, you should try to get rid of high school achievements and showcase college achievements instead

list the school name, city + state, degree type (BA/MA/etc) and expected graduation date (even if it’s in the future), your major(s) + minor(s), and any related coursework (ie preprofessional tracks, specific courses related to the job). you can list your gpa if you feel it’s relevant, but i caution against doing this once you’ve graduated

ex. (where // indicates a new line) harvard university, boston, ma, may 2020 // bachelor of arts in cognitive neuroscience // minor: english: focus in creative writing // related coursework: pre-medicine, computer science 101 and 102 // gpa: 3.9/4.0 (dean’s list, all semesters)

skills

a list of items without descriptions. you can do a bulleted list or you can list the entries in paragraph form, separated by commas or bold bullets

hard skills: hardware, software, languages (spoken and programming), digital and communication platforms, social media proficiencies, other technologies and devices

ex. microsoft office suite, java, wordpress, slack, familiarity with ap and chicago style

soft skills: general qualities, buzzwords, personality traits

ex. leadership, conflict resolution, time management

certifications and awards

can be one section or two depending on how many of each you have

list each one on a separate bullet point

for each, write the certification or award, the institution that granted it, and the month and/or year you received it if relevant

publications

tbh i just cite my publications in the following format instead of following a style guide

lastname, firstname. “article or chapter title.” book title, publisher (aka company or website). publication date.

if you’re the sole author, you don’t need to list the author’s name

interlude: stretch the truth a bit. don’t lie about having experience or skills you don’t, but if you can reasonably google how to do something, boom! you’re proficient in it. if you worked with two team members who never pulled their weight? you just became the sole project lead. were you a beta reader for anime fanfiction back in the day? you’re a freelance editor, baby!

step 6:

now you have to organize all the entries from step 4

separate your entries into relevant sections. what’s relevant might change based on what you’re applying for

i’ve had, at various points in my life, some subset of the following sections: work experience, volunteer experience, leadership experience, research experience, writing experience, other relevant experience

list sections in order of descending importance

write all entries in reverse chronological order: start with the most recent and work your way backwards

write all bullet points in order of descending importance. unfortunately, i don’t have any quick tips on determining what’s important, but it helps to look at the job posting and see what matters to the employer

i tend to list big picture goals, then personal accomplishments (leadership skills, projects), then daily tasks

step 7:

format this shit

you can find resume templates online or in your word processor. templates serve as a good starting point, but i recommend creating your own format so you can edit and customize it with ease. this will probably involve a lot of fiddling with indentations, paragraph spacing, and moving things around

don’t go smaller than 10pt font

mess around with line and paragraph spacing to get the right balance of white space. if you’re curious about what i use, shoot me an ask and i’ll share my weirdly specific settings

keep an eye out for bullet points with orphan words (ie lines containing only 1-3 words) and get rid of them to streamline your resume

margins can be anywhere between 0.5″ and 1″

consistency is key! make sure each entry has the same kind of spacing. don’t use hyphens in one entry and en dashes in another

in the header, write your name, email, phone number, and address

interlude: save this version of your resume as your master resume. this gives you an unedited list of everything you ever did that you can now pick and choose from when you apply to jobs. update this list every 3-6 months.

step 8:

customize your resume for the job application

unless you’ve been in the industry for several years, your job-specific resume should be no more than 1 page

if you have more than 1 page: compare the job listing and your resume side by side and ask which entries demonstrate your capabilities most effectively, which bullet points are the punchiest, and if there’s any extraneous info

match each job requirement to one bullet point on your resume. then match each bullet point on your resume to a requirement in the listing. get rid of any bullet points that don’t meet either of those criteria. if multiple bullet points match the same job requirement, get rid of the extra bullet points

if you have significantly less than 1 page: see if you can add more bullet points or reformat your resume to introduce some more white space. a 2-column set-up is great for this, with section headers on the left and bullets on the right. do you have any hobbies you’re forgetting about? any soft skills you could add?

emulate the language of the job posting; use the same action words, the same soft skills

coda

your resume should work in tandem with your cover letter, but that’s a topic for another post. maybe in another 6 months i’ll write a post on that, too

always save your resume as a pdf! you don’t want your employer to have access to your metadata

if you made it through this whole post... i’m so sorry lmao but also thanks for sticking with me

let me know if you found this helpful or if this method scored you a job!

[sadiki1-blog]

Entertainment Business Management Reflection By Sadiki Dhatnubia

Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

 Robert Greene’s “Mastery” was a great way to kick off the Entertainment Business Management Program. At first, I wasn’t sure of why they would be teaching from Robert Greene; but when I read the book, it made plenty of sense to lead off with some inspiration. It was a viable tool to help focus on what I was aiming to get out of the EBM program. Mastery was able to teach me in-depth on how to take an inventory of my skills and the things I’m most passionate about.

 I used to want to be like those people I looked up to. The people I idolized were great in their own areas of expertise. I learned that I can’t ever be like them because every individual is unique to their calling in life. Their calling was for an appointed time to happen. When the time comes for my ideas to take shape, those ideas will be in their appointed season to grow. It was the season for a person like Marcus Garvey to capture the minds and hearts of blacks across the world during the early 1920s. People like Marcus Garvey became masters not by focusing on what the heroes that came before them have done, but by doing what needed to be done in their appointed time. This is the essence of the book. People are good at many things, but zeroing in on the one thing that stirs your passion is the key to mastery  

 Executive Leadership

 In the last class, I spoke about Marcus Garvey as a master. In the Executive Leadership class, I spoke of Garvey as a Leader. His leadership styles were that of charisma, energy, and uniqueness for the times he lived in. Some may say he was before his time. That would be a fair assessment. He is hailed for having largest black movement in history at the time.

 When it comes to leading on an executive level, it requires that the leader have some uniqueness about themselves. The understanding I received from this class is that uniqueness can be a source strength for some leaders. It allows for them to appear different than everyone else. Of course, this is not the only characteristic or quality a leader must have to be affective. Leaders know how to speak to the people he or she is leading. Marcus Garvey spoke to the plight of all Africans who were on the continent and in the diaspora. Leadership is unifying from this aspect.

 Project and Team Management

 The Executive Leadership class taught me a lot about effective leadership that moves the team. Project and Team Management taught about the structure of the team and how it is built. A team has to have 3 key components to function. A leader with vision, the people needed to carry out that vision, and the purpose of why they have come together in the first place.

 The Program and Team Management was the start towards what it means to be organized on an executive level to complete a project. After this class was done, every other class enhanced the education I received from this class to organized my business plan. I began to think beyond personality traits and started thinking more about the skill set of each individual that would be on a team. I learned that personality is a strong factor when it comes to choosing people for a team, but it is not the only factor. Having a psychology back ground helped in the organization process of the project I had worked on while in this class.

 Business Storytelling and Brand Development

 When I started this program, I had a vision in my mind about the many plans I wanted to see birth into the world. I had already settle on a name for my company. I even had an idea of what my brand would look like. What I didn’t have was a blueprint on how I would tell the story of ZaatNu Entertainment Media. This class gave me that blueprint. It is the idea of nurturing a brand that has now given me more ideas about what my company will stand for.

 It has been said that first impressions are the lasting impressions. For someone looking to start a business, the brand is the tip of the spear that will penetrate the target population first. There was a lot to this subject I thought I knew about brands and logos. In this class I learned the difference between the two. There are millions of recognized brands people mistakenly call logos. I was one of those people. Knowing the difference had shined some light on this aspect of marketing that is essential to establishing a brand.    

 Entertainment Business Finance

 I often say, “if you want to know where the heart of any operation is, look no further than the fiscal office of that operation. Even though I may have great ideas that are rock solid, those ideas would be nothing without me understanding Entertainment Business Finance. ZaatNu Entertainment Media is a management company that assists its artists with building their company from the ground up. The foundation of that build is the finances. Before we can our clients with this part of their business plan, we must first have a thorough understanding of the business finances ourselves.

 I appreciate the knowledge given in this course. I have always had a healthy fear of math. With finances, that fear was magnified before even starting the course. Now that I look back after completing the course and passing it with a B+, I am glad I did not let fear defeat me. I am plenty confident today that I can look at a budget a feel well within my element to perform the accounting steps I learned here.    

 Digital Marketing

 The Digital Marketing class was a class I got the most out of along with the Business Story Telling and Brand Development. In the entertainment industry, digital marketing is integral to entertainment industry. I learned that the entertainment industry spends the most money on digital marketing above all other industries in the world. Those who use this tool effectively have maximized their gains significantly.

 I had the opportunity to learn about some who have capitalized on digital marketing in ways that are considered to be game changers for the entertainment industry on whole. These innovators have now set the bar for interactive fan bases. This has caused me to rethink my strategy for my target market. Not only that, I have gained some new ideas about my business plan as well.  

 Negotiation and Deal-Making

 Understanding people has given me a great deal of insight to human interaction and relationship building. There have always been two things in my life I have been most passionate about. That being, music and people. I chose psychology for my bachelor’s because I was always fascinated by how people thought and how they come together collectively to build and create.

 To me, The Negotiation and Deal-Making can be viewed as a Psychology class in some ways. The class shows how a person can be tactful with understanding how a person’s mind works when in pursuit of reaching an agreement with another human being. Because I am seeking to start an entertainment business, I will be dealing extensively with people. A lot of agreements will be made. Deals and contracts will be negotiated upon. The class has provided me with some tips to consider that has taken my people interaction to greater level.  

 Product and Artist Management

 The Executive Leadership class and Team and Project management class fit well with this class. After understanding how to organize my team and see how I could effective lead my company, I learned in this class how I can transfer those skills into the company itself. We are an artist management company that take on a leadership role with our clients. We would often manage their products as well.  

 Advanced Entertainment Law

 ZaatNu entertainment will eventually produce its own music and videos. We will be in a position to publish our own works and publish the works of others. Being able to provide adequate business council would help ZaatNu in establishing long lasting relationships with our client base. Having a grasp on copyright, publishing, and contracts will give our artists the advantage the need to establish themselves in the entertainment industry.

 The class touched on the basics of Entertainment Law, but was very informative on the history of some of the major laws that have come down to impact the way we consume music today. When I was in the process of building my business plan, the class made me conscious of the laws that governed certain copyrighted material. It also inforce a stricter discipline for research. This same research was used in adding key elements to my business plan.    

 Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

 Another misconception I had before joining this course, was the roles of agents and managers. This class offered an extensive breakdown of both roles and how they both work in tandem for the benefit of the artist. I had to rethink my business model once more. I want to be ZaatNu to be a vehicle for artists and speakers. I also wanted to help them to find the venues they need to build up a following to take them to the next level.

 This course provided me with some solid information and practice writing should I have to pitch my company and or artists. The case studies project was very practical in its application of the curriculum learned in this part of the course. I was thankful of the resources made available during the class in the areas of publishing. I didn’t understand the role of a publicist until this class. The role of publicist opens up another aspect of what ZaatNu Ent. can be to the artists it serves.

 Business Plan Development

 By the time I started the Business Plan Development class, I had revamped my business plan quite a bit. I started out the EBM course wanting to change the way non-for-profit was done, in entertainment and education. I still want to move in this direction, but have to consider what that would mean for profitability. When I was in the entertainment finance class, I did a pro-forma for a fundraiser. The fundraiser took on a hefty price tag to launch. Although the budget was in the red and didn’t make any money, I saw how I could have reworked the numbers to provide a better outcome.

 As stated, I still would want to do a fund raiser. But, I started this program wanting to know how to create a business from start to finish. I decided to start off with my plan for artist management first. The 3-year budget plan in this class has become the holy grail for all of my future endeavors.        

 Final Project: Business Plan

 All of the pieces to the puzzle have now been added. There are a lot of adjustments that need to be made with my business plan, but I am confident that what I have learned in the last two classes will provide me with the start I have been looking for. I have received a lot of resources to use in my search for funding, but have been inspired to come up with funding using some creative ways.

 In case the business plan is some ways off for launch, I am thankful to my professor for providing some job searching tips for after graduation. I have already begun this process. I’m not the one to put irons in the fire one at a time. My goal is to land employment in the entertainment industry if the business plan hasn’t fully taken off.

[windscribeblblog-blog]

Windscribe

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Versus Anonymizer vpn linux Software

There are quite a couple of applications on the market that promise customers anonymity online. Many of them are free. These providers are typically certain to 1 particular program or one other. For example, these programs generally anonymize your Web surfing and require you to install a browser plug-in. read more on wikipedia here The browser plug-in, nonetheless, solely gives safety when you're truly utilizing your Web browser. If you happen to hook up to a networked resource utilizing one other sort of connection - akin to an utility, an FTP server, an e-mail client, and so forth - you do not have the anonymizing service.

VPN software is designed to route all your Web traffic by way of the secure tunnel. This means that any program you use, whether it's your e-mail client or your gaming platform, is routed via the VPN community. After all, a VPN community is is google chrome a vpn not superb for all purposes. What it's good for is any software that needs to have the communication it conducts with its server secured from prying eyes. That is why these programs are so widespread with individuals who work at home.

To Use or To synology nas vpn port not Use?

Because VPN software will work with any software you might have put in on your laptop, it is normally a question of whether or not or not you need safety that dictates whether or not you employ the VPN software program. Some individuals demand complete and complete privacy and, subsequently, they use their virtual non-public network for any and all Web communication during which they engage. Different folks aren't fairly so concerned concerning the safety of some of their applications and solely turn on the VPN after they're using particular purposes or after they're communicating with specific servers. The choice is actually as much as you.

Make sure that you just verify any VPN providers you're taken with for his or her bandwidth rates. For those who're using an software or in the event you're downloading information from the server, you need to make sure that the transactions may be carried out in a suitable amount of time. Free VPN software program tends to be a bit slower than the business variations. If you wish to decide up an account at a VPN service supplier, make sure you allow them to know what you are using the service for to allow them to let you understand whether or not they have a bundle that's more acceptable in your specific model of utilization.

Free medical billing software program exists, however it might not contain every thing you want. The first query that you should have a look at is just not worth, but when it may well fulfill your wants. Just because software is free doesn't suggest that is enough. Also, you will need to look at the HIPAA challenge. If a company has to come in your website to put in a server, then they should install a firewall with a VPN to have any kind of communication. A VPN (Digital Private Community) is a tool that may enable secure communications between servers over the Internet. I've not found any electronic medical billing software corporations that have a free model that works this manner.

So, how can I get free medical billing software program? Well, that's the tough part. As soon as again you should have safety to be compliant. There are quite a lot of internet primarily based medical billing software program corporations that provide a security certificates. That implies that after you check in to the website you can be directed by means of an online safety certificates or SSL. All you should look for is that no matter page that you are in on the net page begins with https. If in case you have this at the top, additionally, you will have a lock on the bottom of your browser. This lock lets you understand that you've got a safe tunnel that's encrypted between your pc and the server. Please seek the advice of your medical billing software provider for more specifics on HIPAA compliance.

Second, it's a must to look and see in case you can file your claims electronically. Electronic medical billing software program is a must. This means which you could file a claim after which it's sent to the carrier by some type of EDI (Electronic Knowledge Interface). Right here is the place the free falls out of free medical billing software. Many firms will cost you a payment for this. It does save time and will best free unlimited vpn for iphone pace up your collection time; nonetheless, it is better in case you shouldn't have to pay this expense. Medicare doesn't permit a printed HCFA anymore, so if your apply will depend on this you will be disappointed. Also, is the software up to date and the way a lot will I be charged for updates? There are corporations on the market that do not cost for updates and it's best to go together with those companies.

Third, how do I observe up on my claims after they're filed dd wrt vpn router and do I get electronic messages back from the carrier?

That is necessary. In case you get an email correspondence again by way of the software program, then you do not have to spend any overhead on your employees calling the service to see status. Additionally, most medical billing software has scrubbing features to inform you of claims that are not clean. This can prevent invaluable time not waiting for an EOB to be able to send an appeal. It is a lot easier, if a claim is rejected first before submission and allows you to repair and resend.

In conclusion, I've realized that there is nothing that is really free on this world. If a website says windscribe they are totally free, I have not found it. However I've found a pair that acquired pretty close.

VPN providers use subtle technology to supply anonymity and data security for customers. They enable customers in international nations to entry content which may be restricted. In addition they allow secure communication throughout the Internet by including information as it is exchanged. These services are some Wind scribe of the most helpful for businesses and for individuals who've a need for extra advanced security than what could be offered by free products. Whenever a dialogue about safety software and hardware takes place, the query of whether or not the security of these products could possibly be defeated comes up.

Are VPN Companies Safe?

The extent of safety available on the industrial VPN companies is basically quite excessive. In fact, it wasn't until the arrival of the non-public computer that the level of security generally out there to customers was even a sensible possibility. The encryption used on VPN servers will be sophisticated sufficient that, should you had been view it to try to penetrate it randomly, it could take greater than the combined processing energy of all the computer systems in existence longer than the entire age of the universe to actually guess at the key used to safe the info. For all practical functions, individuals are not going to get via the encryption used to guard your knowledge.

The anonymity options on VPN networks are supplied by using a different server's IP tackle instead of your personal. Between the encrypted communications and the truth that the IP handle may be hidden by layers of false IP addresses, it is unlikely that anyone goes to trace where you might be actually coming from when you use a VPN service. Once more, the general safety of those commercial products is superb on this regard. For the overwhelming majority of users and the overwhelming majority of purposes, it is best to be able to rely completely upon the security offered to you by a business VPN service. There are free variations of anonymous and VPN servers out there. These, of course, are not fairly so reliable as a result of nobody is immediately accountable for them functioning correctly.

Compromising a VPN?

The query remains: might a VPN be penetrated? In fact, the answer is yes. If the National Safety Administration or another enormous and properly-funded intelligence company really wanted to get via a VPN badly enough, they most likely may. This moderately strays into the realm of the foolish, nevertheless. Any security may be penetrated given the correct resources, a inventive and intelligent group of individuals engaged on the problem and the precise ranges of know-how.

For the vast majority of enterprise customers and positively for private customers, VPN security is greater than adequate. In reality, it is actually quite amazing how secure these companies are. If you are using a commercial VPN service, there's actually no cause to worry about accessing non-public networks https://windscribe.com over the Web, visiting web sites or doing some other actions that require anonymity and encryption. Merely due to the principles of chance, nothing is 100 percent secure. Modern VPN technology, nevertheless, comes very shut and is definitely not vulnerable to the typical, or even very advanced, hacker.

At the moment Android is essentially the most demanded platform in mobile phones. In the second quarter of 2009 Android telephones had a complete of 2.eight% share of worldwide Smartphone; by the fourth quarter of 2010 this proportion grew as much as 33% making it the market chief. On June 2011, Google said that 550,000 Android devices obtained activated on daily basis. Since May 2011, one hundred million units or more acquired activated. On the beginning date of August 2011, Canalys gave an estimation of the Android share to be about forty eight%. Android has been listed as one of the best selling smartphone platform worldwide within the fourth quarter of 2010.

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Ask D'Mine: Wearing Medical ID, Much Ado About Statins

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Ask D'Mine: Wearing Medical ID, Much Ado About Statins

Welcome back to Ask D'Mine, our new diabetes advice column, where just about anything can happen. You never know what your host —veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois — might be taking on this week. Read ahead to find out.

And don't forget to send us YOUR queries related to life with diabetes.

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Email us at AskDMine@diabetesmine.com

Joe from Oregon, type 3, asks: Who should wear a medic alert ID? All PWDs, or just type 1s?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Great question! All T1s should wear a medic alert identification, but so too should many type 2s. The purpose of a medic alert is to let the authorities know that your bizarre behavior could be a medical problem, not because you are on meth or some other mind-alerting substance. Medic alert jewelry won't necessarily keep the cops from zapping you with a Taser, but it will probably keep you from dying in a jail cell overnight while they think you are "sleeping it off."

The bottom line is that any PWD at risk of being zapped by a Taser should wear one. In short, that means anyone whose diabetes therapy includes the risk of low blood sugar. This would be anyone (T1 or T2 or a woman with gestational diabetes) who takes insulin — or takes oral meds that carry the risk of low blood sugar as a side effect, such as the family of meds called Sulfonylureas.

Of course, the cops are only half the story. A medic alert is designed to communicate to medics, after all — the original idea being that if you lose consciousness, the ID will guide the medics on the first things to check once they arrive on the scene.

A medic alert can be a necklace, bracelet, keychain watch, or even a wallet. It should say "diabetic," "diabetes," or "insulin" on it. Don't put "PWD" on your medic alert. That's a term many people in our community prefer, but medics don't know what PWDs are, and when you are unconscious is no time to be educating people about proper diabetes etiquette.

Two of my favorite places to score stylish medic alert jewelry are Sticky J and ICE Gems, as both have reasonable prices and a great selection. The company by the actual name of Medic Alert gives every member a unique number and maintains a database that stores as much or as little info on you as you'd like. An ER doc (well, more likely his nurse) can call their toll free line 24/7, 365 days a year and a live operator will be ready to tell them all about your conditions and even what meds you take.

Also, eBay has tons of medic alerts to choose from, especially of the dog-tag variety in every color of the rainbow, and Google can find you hundreds of Mom and Pops and PWDs selling "anti-Taser amulets" (aka medical IDs)for you and your diabetes.

So go on. Buy yourself something pretty. You deserve it, and the life you save might just be your own.

Steve from Oregon, pre-diabetic, writes: After 10 years of statin use, recently my fasting blood glucose level has risen above the magic 100 number. Six months ago, when the number edged over 100, my physician ordered me to drop 30 lbs. I now walk 25 miles or more a week, am a vegetarian and only eat whole grains. Unfortunately, the FBG did not go down after the weight loss, but rather increased to 104. Now the dilemma: I have heart disease (3 stents), cholesterol levels are all in control, but glucose is escalating - what is the prudent course of action? Reduce statin use slowly or develop diabetes? Seems like a catch 22.

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Wow. This is a bit of a "doctor" question and I'm sooooooooo not a doctor. But there's quite a bit of debate amongst the white coats about the relative benefits of statin use, and I think the whole matter of either/or choices between medicines and risks is worth talking about. Just remember that my viewpoint is from the patient/educator perspective. OK?

First off, there's firehouse full of alarm bells ringing in my head as I read your email. For those readers who aren't in the know, let me provide some background: Up until a few years ago the idea that there was any relationship between the family of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and blood sugar was regarded by most doctors as lunacy. And while some docs may still feel that way today, several studies have pretty much put the issue to rest. The effect is small in most people, but statins do raise blood sugar. You, my friend, are not a lunatic. Your cholesterol med may very well be having an effect on your blood sugar.

But you also have three — not one, not two, but three stents.

Stents are surgically implanted high-tech chicken wire tubes that hold blood vessels open. People usually get them after having a heart attack. So that tells me that you've had at least one heart attack already, and maybe two or three.

That's relevant because high levels of cholesterol are a huge risk factor for heart attacks. So your cardiologist has filled you with chicken wire and your primary doc has successfully medicated your cholesterol into submission. But the cost is that perhaps treating this one disease is causing another.

To keep diabetes at bay you've made huge lifestyle changes. You eat better and less. You exercise. You've lost weight. But still the diabetes keeps marching toward you just like those ants in the children's song (Hurrah, hurrah!), because that's what diabetes does.

So you asked me what I think the prudent course of action is. To me, prudence dictates that you treat the impending diabetes. Diabetes sucks, but it's highly treatable. I think most doctors would agree with me that it's easier to treat diabetes than to treat heart attack number four. And if do you develop full-blown diabetes, you're gonna be a type 2. You'll probably take one pill for 5-8 years. Then they'll add a second pill. Maybe you'll live long enough that you'll need to take insulin (sometime in the far future), but by then, who knows what kinds of meds we'll have at our disposal?

The prudent course is to take your medicine. Both for your cholesterol and for your blood sugar.

Welcome to the family.

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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