#you choose every single day what you are going to commit to no shortcuts

[thebaldergatescandal]

my cleaving the What Astarion Sex is More Moral To Have discourse down the middle by saying of course I think he wants to be a slut again, and feels frustrated and limited and damaged by the effect his past still has on him, but I think he would be happiest with a long-lived character who's already had decades long relationships that flow naturally from friends to lovers to a weird undefinable middle ground to back again as they go through life, where waiting several years or more for emotions to turn again into something physical is not a remarkable or difficult length of time to wait.

[debbierhea]

I love your analyses of BCS and what you said about Jimmy really just wanting love, etc., while Walt is more selfish. I keep thinking about a quote--I think Peter Gould said it--about s6: "while wrapping up the show, we kept thinking 'what does Jimmy/Saul/Gene *really* deserve? Is it death? Is it love?" And deep down I think he's going to be caught and put in jail and it will be ambiguous about whether kim will ever visit (let's be real: Kim will NOT die. Mr. Gilligan & Gould are not that lazy). But?? I mean, yes, Saul did bad things. He committed fraud, he helped drug dealers/a meth kingpin, he cheated people out of money, he even stole from his father, etc., but I get so sad because I think Jimmy deserves at least a little bit of love. Death feels so cheap for his character. But am I being biased? What do you think Saul Goodman REALLY deserves in the end, after all he's done? Where do you see his story ending in a way that feels the most emotionally satisfying to his arc?

i’m obsessed with this question and i’m also obsessed with you for loving my incoherent babbling <3 mwah

i find the question of “deserving” both intriguing and impossible (not just wrt jimmy, but irl as well). it’s truly an impossible question to answer in any universal way imo because the what someone quote unquote deserves based on the totality of their life/actions is completely dependent on the principles/morality you ascribe to. It’s very much a question of is there objective good and bad or are all things relative? does the end justify the means? do the intentions behind an action matter if there ends up being collateral damage? it could be argued that these are the very questions bcs is attempting to parse out. is jimmy staging the rescue of a man from a billboard bad because it is, at its core, a lie? and if you find that con permissible, for whatever reason—it’s victimless and causes harm to no one, it was just a ~clever marketing campaign, howard deserved it because he is Bad, etc—then why do we all cringe when jimmy turns irene’s friends against her? aren't his motives the same in both cons? and what is truly justice in the situation with mesa verde? did chuck deserve to keep them as a client after kim worked so hard to get them and he did nothing to “earn” it? did jimmy go “too far” by doctoring documents to win back kim’s only client or was he, in fact, the one exacting justice by righting the situation and awarding the client to its rightful owner? was jimmy’s public annihilation of his brother deserved after all chuck had put him through? did jimmy “deserve” to be disbarred? The show is constructed around these very questions of what justice truly is and who deserves it and how to deliver it. these questions are also integral to the development of kim’s character. to quote miss queen rhea seehorn “good and bad is not the same as legal and illegal all the time. unfortunately, they don’t always line up that way. all the characters are just sort of struggling with dealing with the fact that life just isn’t black and white.”

with all that being said, what jimmy “deserves” is not so easily answered. i find so much of what jimmy does to be motivated by his own self-loathing. he vacillates so rapidly between earnestly wanting to prove everyone wrong—he’s more than just slippin’ jimmy, he’s a man of intelligence and drive and heart, he doesn’t have to live in his brother’s shadow!—and simply giving in to the weight of the identity everyone in his life has crafted for him and projected onto him. i think of the quote, i think Peter Gould said it, “sometimes people don’t know you, they know who you are to them.” jimmy is constantly chafing against the idea of himself that exists in the minds of those around him, even though, deep down, i think he believes a lot of what they say. which is why Kim’s steadfast belief in him knocks him off balance every single time. i relate to jimmy a lot in this way which might be why i’m so desperately fond of him. does he do morally questionable things? yes. he so often lives in the grey areas of the show which, again, i would argue is the point. jimmy’s actions, and as we journey further into the series, even kim’s, bring up a lot of conflicting feelings in us as audience members. even though jimmy’s motives are often good—though not always—his actions *do* cause harm to people, even if it’s just playing on their emotions or relationships (think: irene). but, at the same time, not all of jimmy’s “victims” are innocent either (think: skateboarders in s1). 

Anyway, moral quandaries aside, i don’t know what jimmy “deserves.” in my mind, i think he is simply a beaten down man trying his best. he wants to find his place in the world, but playing by the rules and the politics of the status quo is not something he feels capable of doing. i think we can all relate to reaching some modicum of success and receiving praise while inside thinking, “this is not what i thought it was going to be. i don’t think i like this. shouldn’t i like this? shouldn’t i feel differently?” and that’s jimmy in a nutshell, i think, moving from fuck you I’m better than you think watch I’ll show you and oh you think I’m a piece of shit, you don’t even KNOW how bad I can be. again, I feel so much empathy and kinship with so much of jimmy’s inner turmoil, his need for love and success and acceptance while not really believing he deserves any of it, which plays into why he’s always coming up with a new way (a shortcut as Kim says) to maybe, just maybe, get to where he’s “supposed” to be. And then finally he’ll feel better, be better.

if i could choose one thing to give jimmy at the end of bcs, i would give him peace. i would give him freedom from his personal insecurities and then i would give him kim. he has done bad things, yes absolutely, but i personally don’t think of jimmy as a “bad person.” he’s a man with a big heart and a cunning mind and a deep sadness that envelops all that he is most days. kim helps lift that cloud of sadness—sometimes by making him better, and sometimes by making him worse. but she understands him. and, in the end, everyone “deserves” someone that truly understands them, don’t they?

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Dating For Successful Professionals

Although many people hate “the game,” or the process of dating, the reality is that there are no shortcuts. If you are looking for love, companionship, or someone to fill your Saturday nights, you will have to go out there and find it—which means navigating the complex minefield of dating. Fortunately, while shortcuts don’t exist, you can vastly improve your chances for success by following a few simple tips.

Dating Websites For Successful Professionals

Professionals need to verify certain information in order to be deemed legit, including a phone number that verifies your location. They're committed to providing an authentic millionaire dating. 5 Tips for Successful Dating. Although many people hate “the game,” or the process of dating, the reality is that there are no shortcuts. If you are looking for love, companionship, or someone to fill your Saturday nights, you will have to go out there and find it—which means navigating the complex minefield of dating. Professional Dating Services Boost Your Dating Success. Online dating services are becoming an essential tool for finding success on any online dating site like Match.com, eHarmony, or Zoosk. The competition for your perfect date is just too great and too important to not take seriously. If you were looking for a new job you might hire a resume.

1. Know Yourself- That’s part of our motto: Know Thy Brain, Know Thyself, Know Thy Partner

With millions of single people from which to choose, how can you possibly decide where to start? Before diving into the singles scene at your corner bar, take some time to genuinely get to know yourself. Try Helen Fisher’s Personality Quiz here on our website. Dating is ultimately a social contract, and the more closely you and your dates match up to what each other is looking for, the more likely you are to find a contract that works for both of you.

Never make a date out of desperation, clinging to the first person who will have you. Likewise, don’t make an impossibly specific list of the qualities that someone must have to date you. Instead, write down a few generalizations that would make a potential mate a good match with you.

For example, if sports are your life, it might be wise to seek a sports fan. If you love intellectual debates, you might prefer someone of above average intelligence. Are you a cuddler or do you like your space? Do you think talking every day is needy or necessary? Are you hoping to find a lifelong commitment, or someone to hang out and have fun with for a few weeks or months?

It is equally important to figure out what you have to offer. Make a general list of the qualities you can bring to a relationship. Your dates probably have their own lists of what they are looking for, so you need to know what you bring to the table.

2. Assess the Market

With your lists completed, get to know some people who match your general criteria. Find out what they are looking for, and see if it matches what you have to offer. Be prepared to negotiate, but never try to become something you aren’t. Do your wants and theirs seems to mesh? If not, you might need to rethink your list of desires or think about other ways to give a bit more.

3. Be Direct

If you are above middle-school age, there is no reason to play games. If you see someone who looks promising, start a conversation. If you want a date, ask for it. With a good sense of who you are, what you want, and what you will give, you do not need to fear rejection. Someone who rejects you clearly isn’t the right fit, so simply cross that person off your list and move on.

During dates, keep the social contract in mind. Don’t get so hung up on worrying about whether people like you that you forget to determine whether you like them. A date is nothing more than an obligation to spend a specific period of time with someone. If one or both of you don’t feel the chemistry, nothing was really lost.

4. Take it Slow

If you are physically attracted to a date, biochemical reactions in your brain can spark deep feelings of passion and romance. If the feelings are mutual, you might embark on a whirlwind relationship that feels too good to be true. There is nothing wrong with riding the wave, but it is wise to maintain a healthy distance and detachment during this time.

If you stay together, sooner or later you will fall headlong into what some people call the hangover phase. No matter how impossible it might seem at the moment, the day will come when you will look at each other in the harsh light of day and wonder what you were thinking. Arguments, annoyances, and even breakups are common at that point, but couples who persevere eventually reach the attachment phase, which is better suited to lifelong love.

Many people careen from relationship to relationship, riding the passionate highs of the early stage and then dramatically breaking up when that stage crashes and burns. If you want to be truly successful at the dating game, enjoy the passion but recognize it for what it is.

5. Make a Friend

If you are looking for love, you might consider any date without instant chemistry a failure. Some people go through dates like they were working through a checklist, discarding anyone with whom they do not immediately “click.” Yet this can be a huge mistake.

We all know people who were friends for years before finally deciding to couple up, and went on to completely fulfilled lifelong marriages. If you and your date have fun together and enjoy each other’s company, don’t be so quick to write him or her off. Continue having fun and develop the friendship.

Even if you are not destined to be together, keep in mind that people tend to have friends similar to themselves. Perhaps the girl who feels more like a sister has a best friend that is perfect for you, or the guy who isn’t looking for commitment has a cousin who hopes to marry and start a family within two years.

Dating does not come with any guarantees, and it can be challenging for even the most level-headed singles. But taking the time to slow down and get to know both yourself and your dates can vastly increase your chances for finding your heart’s desire.

To “Know Thyself,” try taking Helen Fisher’s Personality Quiz here on the website.

Dating Site For Successful Professionals

Looking for verifiable information on the science of attraction and relationships? We’re a neuroscientist and a biological anthropologist eager to help you put The Anatomy of Love to work in your own life.

[bloomking]

Beginners Guide to B2B Content Syndication

What is Content Syndication

Content syndication is taking an existing piece of long-form content and placing it on another web property to expand the content's exposure and to support your desired goals, especially if you are looking to generate leads.

Syndication a great method if you want to see an immediate impact from your content marketing efforts.

It can take several months for organic content to build backlinks and authority and start to see results.

In the meantime, content syndication is a proactive way to fill the short-term need for leads, branding, and credibility. Content syndication works in parallel with your organic traffic efforts to amplify results.

For B2B marketers targeting a fixed list of accounts, known as Account-Based Marketing or ABM, SEO is not as effective as paid content syndication. If you’re doing ABM, you need content syndication services.

According to Demandbase, 70% of B2B marketers will pilot or launch full-scale ABM programs in 2021.

Benefits of Free Content Syndication

Exposure - It makes sense that if you publish your content to more places off your site, it will get seen more.  

Authority - If you’re producing high-quality informative content that answers your target audience’s questions, this will increase your authority in the industry.  

Increased authority helps you move up the ladder of industry recognition, which amplifies your content further.  It’s a virtuous cycle.

Backlinks - You probably know that backlinks help fuel better search results.  When you place your content on other sites, you will almost always get to put a link back to your site as the ‘original author’ of the piece.

With free syndication, there are two options:

Find sites that accept user-generated content such as Quora, Reddit, or LinkedIn and republish your content

Negotiate with the owner of a site in your target niche to republish your content or create an original guest post  

Benefits of Paid Syndication

Guaranteed results - You are paying for an outcome that is either a click to your content with a conversion widget or a direct lead itself through the Cost Per Lead (CPL) model

Guaranteed budget - You get to set a budget.  The paid services will stop when you reach it.

Leads to match ABM & Intent - If you are doing ABM marketing, paid content syndication is one of the most efficient ways to reach your narrow targets.

Paid syndication is performance-based and guarantees a certain amount of traffic or leads.  

There are 2 types of paid syndication:

Self-serve

Full service via publishers or agencies

Popular self-service syndication services are

Outbrain

Taboola

Zemanta

With self-service, you upload your content and creative, select your audience targets and set a budget.  The services generate and place the ads for you.  You pay for each click to your conversion page on a cost-per-click (CPC) model.

Publishers and Content Marketing Agencies

For B2B marketers, especially those with ABM lists, industry publications, and content marketing agencies offer custom, targeted syndication opportunities on a cost per click or cost per lead (CPL) model.

These programs guarantee results at a fixed budget.  For example, under a CPL program, a publisher can guarantee you get 500 qualified leads at $30 per lead.

Publishers and agencies can also set up retargeting efforts via their publications and partners.  

To set up a direct relationship with a publisher, go to your industry publications, find the number or email for advertising contacts, and ask them about their content syndication programs.

How to Syndicate Content

How you syndicate your content depends on how targeted the audience is and your potential syndication partners’ popularity and authority.

Targets and the web properties you choose can fall into three categories:  

Broad

More narrow

Very narrow

Broad - The platforms

These are the all-topic public discussion forums such as Quora, Reddit, Medium, Slideshare, LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Business, Hacker News, and many others.

These are communities that have groups of like-minded people with an interest in your industry.  

There are no shortcuts to success on the community platforms.  You need to pick the ones with your target audience and good reach and then commit time and effort (probably single to double digits of hours per week) to grow your reputation.

Once you have the right groups, you can’t start on the first day by dropping a self-promoting plug with a link to your blog.  You will be ignored, or worse, banned.  This is the driveby approach.

The drive-along approach is the only way.  Here you’re moving along with the group to answer common questions and solve new problems.  This is taking the content you built in your garage (aka your website) and running it out on the track to see how it performs.

To give thoughtful answers, you’re essentially guest blogging when addressing people’s issues.  You can undoubtedly repurpose ideas from your existing content.  Don’t just cut and paste the same blog in 10 Reddit forums that vaguely answer a question.

Do

End your posts with a link to your site

Offer something of value in your community profile such as a free assessment or consultation

Link to your posts with anchor text to relevant content on your site (or other sites if it adds value to the post).

Don’t

Plug your service as an answer to all questions

Be rude or inappropriate

Great For Content Ideas

As you get more engaged with the community, you’ll also start to see new or different problems buyers are struggling with.  Look at what is popular, then read the comments to find out why it’s resonating.  Use those insights as new ideas for content.

More Narrow - The Blogs

You probably know the prominent blogs and publishers in your industry.  These are ‘rich’ sites that keep getting richer because they have high domain authority and significant traffic.  Anything they publish is automatically amplified.

Your buyers know about these sites and spend time on them researching and downloading content. These are the ideal sites where you would like to get your content published.  They are also the most difficult for syndication partnerships (unless you’re willing to pay).

You need a practical list of web properties where your buyers go for research but are also realistic for getting your content published.

Start With Guest Blogging on Sites

To get published on big sites, you probably need to have big authority.  The people who run these sites get dozens of requests for syndication partnerships.  

The best way to start getting authority (if you don’t already have it) is to guest blog.  

Start with lower authority sites (60 and below is a good start) and build up over time.  A great discovery tool for blogs, communities, social accounts, and publishers in your industry is SparkToro.

Here you can enter some keywords that reflect your industry, and SparkToro will list all the places where it detects your buyers are going for information.

They have a feature called ‘Hidden Gems’, highlighting target audience properties with good traffic and authority, but not necessarily the biggest.  These sites will be more receptive to your pitch.

In the screencap above, using the keyword ‘content marketing’, you can see the ‘majors’ listed on top and the hidden gems next to them.

You can export a list of these sites, and SparkToro will provide the contact information for each one.  Send a short pitch asking for a guest blog opportunity along with some highlights of your best work to date.

Another way is to use Google to find sites that accept guest posts.

Assume your content is around email marketing. To build out your list of syndication partners, start with a search like this:

There are dozens of pages of similar results.  Record the sites.  If you have a keyword research tool like Ahrefs, or Moz, enter the domains and note their domain authority, traffic, and the keywords driving that traffic. If it looks like a good fit for domain authority and target audience, find the ‘Write For Us’ section’s contact information.  

A few weeks after your guest post, you can repurpose the whole post or key ideas to the content platforms like Medium and Quora.

Syndicate Your Original, Existing Content

After you’ve been guest blogging for a few months and you’ve had some wins, it’s time to start asking higher domain sites to syndicate your original, existing content.  

Here is where you can move up the authority hierarchy and generate exposure and backlinks on quality sites.

Asking For Elite Sites to Publish Your Content

The bloggers and editors who run these sites get hundreds of pitches every month to post content to their site.  The problem is that the relationship is one way.  You get expanded traffic, and they don’t.

The best way to pitch elite DA sites (80 or greater) with good traffic is to offer to co-author a blog post and then work on syndicating to new audiences for them by sharing credit and backlinks with the high DA site and helping to expand their audience.

By ‘co-author’, you don’t need to be locked up in a room writing away with them for 8 hours. You can interview them over the phone, Zoom, or email, whichever they prefer. Offer to collect their insight on a particular topic.  Add your insight, create a piece of content and syndicate it with credit and backlinks to their page.  

You do the work, they get the benefit, and you get exposure and a backlink from a high DA site.  It’s a win-win.

Asking High DA Sites

You always want to pitch to sites with higher authority than you, and a DA of at least 50.

Similar to the process for guest blogging, research syndicating your existing content to other web properties.  

Use SparkToro or Google Search to find sites or both.  If you use Google, start with the phrases:

"originally published in"

"republished with permission"

"originally appeared on"

And then use the Google search parameter INURL:{your topic} to find pages that have your keyword in the url.  For example:

Do your DA, keyword, and traffic research on the sites you see.  Your keyword research tool should have a browser plugin that can help you decide which sites have good potential by showing you DA and traffic within the Google search results.

Here is how Google search looks with the Ahrefs browser plugin if you were looking for sites that accept syndication requests on the topic of ‘b2b marketing’:

There’s information about the site’s domain rating called DR (Ahref’s version of domain authority) how many backlinks they have and so on.  You can export the results to Excel for as many results pages as you need to track opportunities.  

Start clicking through to the articles on sites you want to partner with.  You’ll typically find a link that invites you to submit posts for syndication:

Highly Targeted - Publisher Email Lists

If you’re doing ABM or need leads quickly, you can pay publishers to syndicate your content directly to their targeted audience on a Cost Per Lead (CPL) basis.

It works by taking an authoritative piece of content like a white paper and putting it behind a registration page hosted by the publisher.

They often use their high-value direct opt-in email list to place your offer in front of a targeted audience using filters specified by you, such as company size, industry, and job role.

Give your ABM/Intent list to the publisher or agency and have them do a direct email campaign for you that only returns leads from these accounts at a guaranteed price and volume.

Cold Email

Cold email usually involves building a targeted list and then sending out requests for a meeting.  Five years ago, it was more effective than it is today.

If you don't offer something of value, 99% of cold email ends up in the trash.

Writing an authoritative content marketing piece and turning that into a cold email offer is a great way to increase the response rate for cold email.

Mailshake is a great platform for cold email.  They also have a comprehensive set of educational videos to learn how to build lists, and how to best craft and send cold emails.

Newsletters

For B2B, especially new companies starting out, it's difficult to build a meaningful newsletter subscriber base right away.

You should always have a newsletter sign-up option on your content pages, but it can take months or even years to build a meaningful audience in B2B.

Today, there are other options via newsletter discovery sites to have readers find your valuable content.  The most prominent is Substack.

Substack has been growing steadily since 2017 and now offers thousands of newsletters people can search for on their site.  Ahrefs estimates they get over 326,000 organic visitors per month.

If you're worried about having enough content each week to do a newsletter you can take your original content as the headliner piece, and then add curated content from other web properties.

You can do this by taking the web properties in your industry that you normally read, and save the articles you like in a repository like a spreadsheet or a document.  Then assemble a weekly 'best of' newsletter for your industry that you can post on Substack.

Conclusion

The goal of content syndication is to get your ideas off your site and out into the world so you can be 'seen everywhere' by your target buyers.

A comprehensive content syndication strategy requires a written 'media' plan ahead of time to decide where to put your time and effort.

Use your tools like Google, community forums, Sparktoro, Substack, and your industry knowledge to ask as many sites as possible to publish your content.

If you don't have a budget don't worry, there are plenty of great free resources.

To get on high-quality sites, be persistent, and always offer to add value to the elite sites.

If you can pay, do so to guarantee a certain level of leads for your sales team.

With a broad, consistent effort both free and paid channels will start to position you and your website well for authority in your industry.  You have to earn it, but it's well worth the effort.

[stormconduit]

secretist but tomik is emmara part 1

Jace crept down the stairs to the main floor and approached the door. Kavin wouldn’t have knocked, and he didn’t expect any other visitors. He prepared a spell to sense the mind of whoever was outside. When he detected the thoughts of his old friend, he threw the door open wide. Tomik looked as youthful as ever, but as he was an Orzhov oligarch, his age tended not to show. He wore a pair of white robes embroidered with a sunburst pattern that wound around his sleeves. Jace knew he possessed a wisdom and quiet power that belied his youthful appearance.

“Good evening, old friend,” he said with a partial smile.

“Tomik! It’s been a while. Come in.”

As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Jace’s sanctum was not exactly fit for visitors. As soon as he stepped through the door, he had to guide Tomik apologetically through the detritus of his research. He shoved some pieces of stonework out of the way and they sat down on the floor by an old, unused fireplace, where the threadbare carpet gave way to a wide hearth.

Tomik scanned the place. “You’ve taken up archaeology?”

“It’s a new project, I guess you could say. A colleague and I are studying patterns in old stonework. I’ve seen the same patterns used in dozens of different sites around the district. They’re geometric carvings with repeating elements. I’m fascinated. Did you know that almost every building on this street has stone sourced from the same salvage yard?”

“I didn’t.” his face was placid, but from the way he clasped his hands in his lap, Jace knew this wasn’t a social call.

“What brings you from Irbitov?”

“I live here now, in the Tenth,” said Tomik. He offered a small object to Jace, holding it delicately in his fingers: a golden broach in the shape of an intricate sun. It was too detailed to have been carved even by a master artisan; it must have been molded by magic.

“What is this?”

“A gift. From my master.”

Jace took the golden sun in two hands. “Master?” He glanced at the bundle of scrolls and papers stored in his satchel. “You’re working for someone?”

“Yes. Teysa Karlov. I’ve been working as an Advokist—before you were born, in fact. And now that Orzhov Syndicate is rebuilding, Teysa wants me back again as an advisor. You must have seen how the guilds have come back in force.”

“To be honest, I haven’t seen much beyond this building lately,” Jace said with a shrug. He realized that his hair was probably sticking out in every direction, and that Tomik had dramatically upped the cleanliness ante by his visit.

Tomik focused on him intently. “Jace, what do you know of the Guildpact?” It was a delicate question. Jace had never been fully honest with Tomik—had never told him he was a planeswalker, a mage capable of traveling between planes of existence. Most people had no idea there were planes beyond their own, and those who were bound to a single plane didn’t enjoy hearing that their familiar home was only one of a potentially infinite array of worlds. Jace tended to keep his planeswalker nature a secret. That meant that sometimes Jace had to put on a bit of an act, to display enough knowledge that he could seem like a native, such as in conversations like this. He knew about the history of the city-world Ravnica only through what he had gleaned from his research—and from seeing into other people’s minds. He considered trying to poke around in Tomik’s mind to see if he could learn more about the Guildpact. His magical specialty was a shortcut, but sometimes a necessary one. However, Tomik was a skilled mage in his own right and tended to be able to detect his mind magic when he used it around him.

“Politics was never my best subject,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be surprised that the guilds are on the rise again,” said Tomik. “The guilds are the pillars of history. The backbone of our entire civilization for thousands of years, and no matter what anyone said, the Guildpact was what held them together. But the Guildpact is gone. Dissolved. No magical enforcement of any of the treaties or laws. The guild leaders aren’t bound by the old strictures anymore.”

Jace thought of those he had known who sought power—Liliana, Tezzeret, Nicol Bolas. He thought of how they always used their power to gain more of it. “Any center of power is going to test its boundaries.”

Tomik nodded. “And without those boundaries …”

“You think they’re going to try to exceed them.”

Tomik looked at the golden sun in Jace’s hands. “They’ve already begun to.”

“Who? The Rakdos?” Jace guessed. He had never understood why Ravnicans had allowed a murderous, demon-venerating cult to remain one of the ten official guilds—it just seemed too dangerous. The going theory was that the Rakdos guild provided wellsought services of mayhem and perverse entertainment to those who possessed wealth and power, and that this was enough for them to be kept around.

“No,” Tomik said. “It’s the Izzet. Izzet mages have made illegal incursions into other guilds’ territories.” The Izzet League—the same guild of magical experimenters that had often been present when Jace had uncovered stone artifacts carved with the code.

“But isn’t that an issue for the lawmages? Shouldn’t the Azorius maintain those Borders?”

“They’re trying. The Azorius Senate has been issuing injunctions and rulings against the Izzet day after day, at the request of the other guilds. But without the Guildpact, the

Azorius have become toothless bureaucrats. Their legislation is just words on paper. Niv-Mizzet doesn’t seem to care.”

Niv-Mizzet was the guildmaster and founder of the Izzet League, an inquisitive and profoundly ingenious archmage who also happened to be an ancient dragon. If the Izzet had a new scheme, Niv-Mizzet was sure to be its source. “What has the dragon said?”

“Nothing. Whatever the Izzet are undertaking, they’re keeping it secret.”

“And you want to find out what their project is about.” You want me to find out what it’s about, he thought.

“The Obzedat, my guildmaster, thinks it’s urgent for the Izzet to be open about what they’re planning. But if they won’t cooperate, suspicions will grow among the guilds. Tensions will rise. It could lead to a conflict that could tear the guilds apart.” He spread his hands, and clasped them again. “We need the Izzet to cooperate.”

Jace sat back and took a breath, examining Tomik’s face. He was trying not to plead with him, but he could see the urgency behind Tomik’s expression. There was an edge to his manner that he hadn’t seen in him before. It wasn’t fear. Tomik had no concern for any threat to his own safety. He sensed that Tomik spoke out of an obligation—something deeply felt, a concern over and above loyalty to his guild. Jace wondered if there was someone else whom his was protecting.

“How can I help?”

His smile glowed. “Join us,” he said. “Help us. Help us to understand what the Izzet might be doing, so we can maintain peace in this district, and all the districts.” “You want me to join your guild?” “You’d be welcome in the Syndicate. The Orzhov believe in helping people, in lifting others up and forming alliances to connect people together. Jace, with your talents—you’d have such potential for helping us. We could use you.”

“I don’t know.” A guild would mean tying himself to a set of values, to one point of view. Most of all, it meant tying himself to the plane of Ravnica. And he wasn’t sure, even if he were to select one of Ravnica’s guilds, that he would choose the Orzhov. Jace looked around the sanctum, indicating the research around them with a vague gesture. “I have a lot of projects going on … I can’t commit to that right now.”

“But you’d be able to help so many people. I’m influential in the guild, Jace. Teysa has selected me as a kind of dignitary. And you could be such a natural at reading people. We could work toward the same ends. We could learn the truth. Together.” Jace hesitated. Not many people had ever looked at him the way Tomik was looking at him in that moment. He wanted to say something that would make Tomik look at him that way for a lot longer. Jace imagined the way his face would brighten even more if he told him yes—how he could touch Tomik’s hand and tell him that nothing was more important to Jace than joining him, helping him. He wished he could go through with it, for Tomik’s sake.

But he couldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t join the Orzhov. But maybe I could help in another way.”

Tomik’s smile melted. “Oh. I’m too late, then. You’re part of another guild already?”

“No. That’s not it.” He thought of all the time he spent on other planes. He thought of all the mysteries that drew him from one side of the Multiverse to the other. “I’m just not … someone who likes to get too attached.”

That struck him. “I see,” he said and stood. His demeanor reverted to formality and etiquette. “Well, I should be going. I have a lot of guild matters to attend to. Thank you for your time, Jace. It was good to see you.”

“No, Tomik, I’m sorry,” he said, standing with him. “I just meant I can’t afford to get mixed up in any of the … guild politics right now. I’m researching something important, and it’s taking up all of my time. I’d love to help you after I solve this.”

He nodded. “We’d love to have you,” he said. When he was at Jace’s door, he turned. “That sun I gave you is an Orzhov artifact, made by goldsmith. You can use it to contact me, if you want. Just say the activating words into it, and I’ll be able to hear you.”

Jace looked at his gift in his hand. “What are the words?”

“ ‘I need you.’ ”

[dionnecox0576-blog]

GYM FITNESS - a Short Overview

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[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

10th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 4:1-13 for the First Sunday in Lent, Year C: 'The devil left him to return at the opportune time.'

First Sunday of Lent, Year C.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 4:1-13

The temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

You must worship the Lord your God,

and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

He will put his angels in charge of you

to guard you,

and again:

They will hold you up on their hands

in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:

You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 4:1–13

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert and was tempted.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written:

You shall worship the Lord, your God,

and him alone shall you serve.”

Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you,

to guard you,

and:

With their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says,

You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Reflections (3)

(i) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. In the fast-moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the fastest way from A to B? What is the quickest way to get this done?’ We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much more quickly than they used to in the past. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts. His mission was to lead people to God. Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one-man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else, knowing that God would protect him, he could perform a series of heroic feats without getting hurt, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would necessitate the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus and to reveal him to others. That involves setting out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what seems very attractive and beguiling. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal calling is to confess Jesus as Lord, not just on our lips but in our hearts, with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to live as his servants, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This will often mean going the long way around for the sake of others rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a small seed and it would go on to become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than instant success, as this world measures success. If we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they don’t appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with temptation, we have the same resource to help us that Jesus had. According to the gospel reading, Jesus entered the wilderness ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. That same Spirit has been poured into our hearts at our baptism. In the wilderness, Jesus drew inspiration from the word of God every time he was put to the test by Satan. That same word of God has been given to us, a word which, according to Paul in the second reading, ‘is very near to you’. In our own testing times, we can pray in the words of today’s psalmist, ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

And/Or

(ii) First Sunday of Lent

We have all experienced testing times in the course of our lives. School and college examinations test our knowledge. Our patience can be tested by someone whom we experience as annoying or troublesome. Our courage can be put to the test by the onset of serious illness. Our integrity can be tested when an opportunity comes along to make easy money at other people’s expense. Our fidelity to someone can be tested, when that relationship proves more demanding that we had anticipated. Our faith in God can be put to the test when, finding ourselves in a dark valley, our prayers seem to go unanswered.

Jesus knew what it was to be tested. The gospels tell us that, from time to time, individuals or groups deliberately set out to test him. Today’s gospel reading describes how Jesus endured a very difficult test immediately after his baptism. He left the river Jordan where he had been baptized and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tested or tempted for forty days. The gospel reading suggests that during these forty days Jesus was tested in a very fundamental way. His very baptismal identity was put to the test. Who he was and what his life was about was at issue. Will he use his power to satisfy his own physical appetites or will he use it to serve others? Will he compromise on his worship of God so as to gain worldly power and honours for himself? Will he take the short cut to gaining followers by relying on spectacular stunts, thereby putting God to the test? Jesus came through that testing time because he did not face it alone. God was with him in the test. He was supported by the word of God, and he was strengthened by the Spirit of God, whom he had received at his baptism. In the wilderness of temptation, he remained true to his baptismal identity.

Like Jesus, we have all been baptized. We have each received the Holy Spirit at our baptism, as he did. Our own baptismal identity will certainly be put to the test from time to time, as his was. Our baptism has made us sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, members of Christ’s body the church. Because of our baptism, we have a certain set of beliefs. In the words of today’s second reading, we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord. Who we are as baptized Christians and what we believe will often be put to the test. We may not be led into the physical wilderness as Jesus was after his baptism, but the world in which we live can be experienced as something of a wilderness when it comes to living out our baptism and being true to our baptismal identity. We often experience pressure from our culture to be someone other than what our baptism calls us to be; our peers can tempt us to live in a way that is at odds with our baptismal calling. As he was tempted to take various paths that were contrary to what God wanted for him, we will be tempted in a similar way. As his faithfulness to God’s call was severely tested, so also will our faithfulness be tested.

We are at the beginning of the seven week season of Lent. Lent is a season when we face the reality that our baptismal identity is always being put to the test, when we remind ourselves of the struggle we are always engaged in to be faithful to the call of our baptism. If remaining faithful to his baptism was a struggle for Jesus, it will certainly be a struggle for us. You could say that Lent is a season when we look temptation in the eye as it were, when we try to identity the particular ways in which we are being pulled away from the path the Lord is asking us to take. It is a season when we try to grow in our freedom to say ‘no’ to the subtle, and not-so-subtle, seductions of every day living. It is a time when we take an honest look at ourselves, and at the direction our lives are taking. This is not something we can do overnight. The season of Lent is nearly seven weeks long. We are given time, because when it comes to getting the basics right, like who we want to be and how we want to live, we need time.

The same resources that were available to Jesus in the wilderness are available to us as we enter this Lenten time. When Jesus was tempted, he fell back on the word of God to help him through. That same word of God has been given to us as a resource in coping with the various assaults on our baptismal identity. Lent is a good time to make greater use of that resource. Perhaps one Lenten exercise we might consider is to take away the Sunday Mass leaflet, and each day of the week to read the readings of the previous Sunday in a prayerful way for a few minutes, inviting the Lord to speak to us through them. We might begin our daily reading of those readings with the prayer, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’. The Holy Spirit also helped Jesus to be faithful to his baptismal call. We might conclude our prayerful reading of the Sunday readings with the prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit; keep me faithful to my baptismal calling’. As we begin our Lenten journey together, we ask the Lord to help us to travel it well, so that when Easter comes we can wholeheartedly renew our baptismal promises together.

And/Or

(iii) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. If we have a journey to make on foot or by car and one day we discover a shortcut we are delighted. In the fast moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the quickest way from A to B? What is the fastest way to get this done?’ Instant this, that or the other has become commonplace. We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much quickly than they used to in the past. We are also very aware that more speed in one area of life has been counterbalanced by less speed in other areas. It takes much longer to drive across the city than it used to, which is why the discovery of the shortcut has become so important. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts or easy options. His mission was to reveal God to people and to lead people to God. This was the mission Jesus publicly undertook at the moment of his baptism. In the gospel reading, Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else he could perform a whole series of heroic feats without getting hurt, knowing that God would protect him, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would involve the long haul, necessitating the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus, to take the path that he took, to set out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what a lot of our contemporaries are saying ‘yes’ to. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal faith finds expression in confessing Jesus as Lord, not just with our lips but with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to acknowledge ourselves as his servants, called to serve as he did, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This is our baptismal calling that we try to say ‘yes’ to everyday of our lives. It will often mean going the long way round for the sake of the other rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a mustard seed that would become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than success, as this world measures success. If we are rooted in the gospel, if we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, to shape how we live, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they do not appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with the temptation to sell ourselves short as the Lord’s followers, we have the same resource to help us as Jesus had in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit who came down upon us at our baptism, as he came down upon him as his baptism.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin

[sleepymarmot]

Twilight Mirage liveblog 5/5 (finale & post-mortem)

64-67

Found a new shortcut to my heart: announcing your finale is going to be a mashup of The Quiet Year and Firebrands 

Why is it surpising that the Qui Err Coalition allies with the Waking Cadent? That was my first thought when Iota was making her speech! The Qui Err thinks the humans should leave, the Cadent thinks the humans should leave, sounds pretty compatible to me. 

What's the logic of “When Crystal Palace arrives, we will blow up this system”? It's not a bomb! But it will be in danger if a bomb goes off right next to it!

Oh no, Ali is doing the classic “shoot yourself in the foot on purpose” move

I don't get how Grand Magnificent got promoted from “got paid once to retire” to “is trusted to do actual missions for Advent”

Why the hell does Gig want to kill Ballad

The players keep underestimating how “horny” the scenes in Firebrands are and Austin is increasingly exasperated 

I would like to thank Jack from the bottom of my heart for choosing dance as a framing for making contact with Grand. Also I completely lost it at “there are talons on my shoulder”

I must have missed something, what's so bad about the Splice and Our Profit that everyone's so excited to fuck them over? The Mirage is made a renewable resource, right, so the Splice isn't a drain on anything?

The Echo-Ballad scene is so frustrating that I can't even feel appropriately bad about it! Come on Echo, just help Grand go back to Advent as an undercover spy, it doesn't have to be a competition this time!

I still don't understand Independence II… How do you send your new very conspicous and recognizable design to friends in rival factions without blowing your cover 

The timeline here is really weird… Echo rescues Grand and brings Ballad with them, Ballad calls off his people, Grand sends out his new mech design… And a week later, Grand's still on Qui Err territory having a friendly lunch with its leader? If going back is still an option, how is that going to look without making Advent seem like total idiots? Ah, it's only a day after? Okay…

I'm very glad the Volition problem was solved so peacefully!

5 minutes later: “Quire could die!” How about no??! I was so busy preparing to mourn Volition. I am completely unprepared to lose Quire just like that.

Memorious was alive and also an axiom worm this whole time? Wut

Fuck, do we need another opportunity to kill off Ballad?! This list of NPCs is making me very nervous, I don't want any of them to die… As soon as they said “tactical skirmish” I started screaming internally and likely won't stop until it is over… Wow, Ali, that was cold Oh no, Keith is really on a mission to murder Ballad

Grand how could you bring a bomb to Christmas dinner what the hell RIP bird leader / avian boss, he had an amazing unique voice and, in my head, a really cool cartoony design

Thanks for 9.5 hours of fun. Now I guess it's time for the 4 hour long brutal and heartbreaking final boss encounter

Full offence Gig, but I wouldn't log off even the real internet for lawn games

Signet fucking saved everyone single-handedly, twice. Two biggest threats. Incredible. What is the rest of the game even about

Seriously, do the players know something about Advent that I don't?! Otherwise please stop calling your cheesy space mafia “nazis”

I've been waiting for Even and Cascabel stealing time together since the beginning of the finale! For 11 hours! Finally! This finale is in dire need of more romance content I like that everyone immediately starting dragging all Bioware games at once

I don't see how a secular virtual reality is more of a “weird cult” than an augmented reality in which people maintain an actual religion worshipping the union of human and synthetic life for 30k years. Can we not do the hypocrisy again please. Why is it okay for the Divine Fleet to build their own take on utopia but when the NEH does it's portrayed as a threat and all characters treat it with suspicion and contempt

OK all these ideological debates are fine and dandy but people really should ask more practical questions like “you don't have to rush, why don't you just go back to the previous eco-friendly methods we have previously agreed upon” Glad Fourteen won, but ideologically, as you can guess from this entire liveblog, I'm with Our Profit

I don't like how Tender started with the intention of attacking Our Profit / the Splice but very much like how it somehow turned into her offering to help them and solve everyone's problems in one move

Grand Magnificent building a pseudo-Divine to blind the Crystal Palace with the power of bullshit is the ideal happy ending for him

Good on everyone for doing the best possible things with the Divines, except for the DFS for managing to do every possible bad thing simultaneously!!! My dislike of that faction is vindicated but at what cost Oh god it's even worse 

“Echo Reverie, who knew well both the value and the cost of violence, and who dreamt powerfully of peace” is such a beautiful and concise summary of their character arc God I just love how organically Echo and Gig's arcs led them to help a decolonized society lead independent, peaceful and joyful lives

A new Fleet with a healthier relationship between the Divines and everyone else is nice, thank you Signet

Oh my god, the ending titles are Gig interviewing everyone, that's so sweet!!! Really the perfect sentence to end this campaign with.

(I feel like a jerk mentioning it but… Whenever there's music overlayed with the voice track, it's almost always too loud and I have to strain my ears to hear the words… It's been like that since season one. Am I really the only one with this problem?!) 

Whew! Hard to believe this long, long listening experience is over. I have mixed feelings: sometimes it was exciting or inspiring, sometimes it was fun but I felt I could as well be doing something else, sometimes I listened to the outro and thought “this music and the montage for it in my head right now make me feel so much more than the episode I just heard”, and sometimes the ideology of the narrative or characters'/players' opinions and actions clashed enough with my worldview enough to poison the entire experience. What's new is that, unlike the previous arcs, I didn't have an urge to shake my friends and yell at them “you absolutely must listen to this!” and that made me sad. But that might be just me getting used to this show and taking its good features for granted.

Post-mortem

Oh god, the production of the final sequence sounds like absolute nightmare

Thanks for validating me with the speech about the Fleet's lack of engagement with its “original sin”, Austin 

Thanks, Janine, I hate it! This religion didn't need to get any creepier!

Yes tell us how many ears Tender has! I need to know!! Tender's fursona is the Russian food cat?! Amazing The livestream practically starts with googling animal pictures. Classic

Honestly Echo's disability was barely noticeable to me as a listener… There wasn't a lot of visible difference between the way they accessed the mesh and other PCs did, and after the nanites did activate, I don't think it was ever brought up again…

Yeah I'm genuinely upset that Tender and Fourteen didn't get together, by the way! Or at least have an overt romantic storyline! Give me that sweet sweet PC/PC romance my soul is starving Like I get what Jack is saying about the value of depicting friendship and normally I'd be on his side but 😭 😭 😭 On the other hand I didn't know Echo/Grand was a thing (And now feel kind of bitter it got more official endorsement than my ship that has more canonical foundation) This universe is actually about Austin inventing NPCs who have crushes on Keith's characters and then Keith pointedly avoiding the subject How could anyone forget about Tender's wild fangirling over Waltz lmfao

Austin calmly talking of all these things I screamed about above like “yeah that's what I intended”. Like on the one hand I'm glad, but on the other why couldn't you make it less frustrating to listen to

The rehabilitation theme is another thing that is present thematically but was not discussed on screen enough imo. One thing my mind kept returning to re: Contrition's Figure was the question of forgiveness for serious crime, personal boundaries and principles, and the policy of not disclosing the inmates' crimes. I imagine a survivor of rape or abuse wouldn't want to share space with someone who did the same kind of crime that hurt them. Even if they wouldn't be made to interact, of course, but what if that person believes those kind of people don't deserve rehabilitation at all? What if they reject that system on principle? You often encounter seemingly serious statements like “abusers/rapists/nazis should die”, especially lately. I've heard that about “fascists” (which is a separate issue) in this very campaign. Where do people with these opinions go in a utopia? Do they not exist? Do people who commit horrific crimes not exist either? Because I was listening to that arc and thinking “What if one of those undisclosed crimes was csa or serial murder or something like that? Would I be expected to shake hands and play chess with that criminal? How could I rehabilitate, heal, re-socialize, learn to trust in a space where anyone I meet could be Shrodinger's rapist?” And that leads to the bigger question of what a utopia is. Is it a better society – or better human nature? If latter (and Austin said so) – then to what extent? Because the theoretical people who are so much more advanced than us that they are, en masse, incapable of extreme cruelty, must also differ from our generation with their entire psychology. And a psychology so different would be unimaginable, unplayable, and would not provide necessary dramatic conflict or antagonistic characters. Which is why most alien characters in most stories, including this one, are just humans in silly costumes or prosthetics.

Oh dear god, that must be the heaviest personal story yet… But I understand better what Declan's Corrective was about.

Oh I've been definitely thinking about static utopias vs utopias of process while listening! When I wrote at some point that they made me stop and consider what a utopia is, it was one of the things I meant.

Yeah, sure, in our world the Splice would be terrible because of the existing power dynamics. But that's a Counter/weight story! Twilight Mirage and the Divine Fleet have been about the technologies and ideas that could have been, or were, used to terrible ends, but miraculously, we got to see them used in good faith with genuinely good intentions and good results. Divines have been all kinds of threats over the ages, and yet the Fleet managed to build a community around them that was a small paradise for 30,000 years. So why do the NEH and the Splice not get the same benefit of the doubt? Why is narrative not treating them with the same respect? Why are they always a threat? Why isn't there a major, likeable NPC whose life was enriched by the Splice to the extent that it is central to their identity, who could be our advocate for that point of view? Why are some powerful and potentially infinitely dangerous things, like Divines or religion itself, shown as more valid than others? And don't tell me that our player characters are from the Fleet – none of them are Qui Err either, and yet by the end it is a respected, lovingly portrayed player faction.

Oh, and also, speaking of the Splice's dangers, and what would have made it dangerous in the real world – one of the things that bothered me about it was that these dangers weren't actually described and addressed in the show properly! Probably at least in part because this techology is so magical it's hard to codify how it works. If it gives an indefinite amount of time, how do you sync up all these infinite amounts of timelines? Whenever anyone logs in to visit Tender, how do they know if it's been a day for her, like in the real world, or a hundred years? (Oh and by the way, I waited in vain for the explanation for these strange duplicities and possible time anomalies; what was going on with Ache and Acre?) If opposing the Splice and the NEH were about solving specific problems with the Splice, I would be all for that!

But yeah, I really do appreciate “processes that self-regulate and address their own issues”, how the story and specifically the finale were about the work of building a better world. I like the finale especially because it shows the social processes more clearly; TM's lack of a faction game and its focus on “bigger picture” was palpable, so I was happy to see again that aspect of the show I think is really good and unique. At first I thought it was anticlimactic that the main threats of the finale were solved so easily, early, and pretty much single-handedly. And, indeed, in a tv show that would have looked pretty strange (and require some rewriting, because with how it went down, Signet should have been the sole protagonist from the start lol). But on the other hand, it gave a lot of space and focus to what the whole story has been about: building a better society and future. Not just saving it from an external threat and drawing the curtain on that – but making sure the world we won is the one we want to live in. Preserve the environment! Decolonize the land! Shut off the tyrannical prophecy machine! And that's a good thing, and from my perspective very characteristic of this show. Before it, I didn't even know there were games about building and preserving communities and addressing civil issues! For years I thought “Well, stories of adventure are fun, but they don't address the real issues”, but turns out, there are people and systems that at least try to combine both. And that's a thought I can find comfort in, even if the specific choices of this campaign make me frustrated sometimes.

“I also tried to move away from violence this season and ended up making an arms manufacturer”

Somehow the end of the post-mortem feels sadder and more final than the end of the show proper

[sharengayonline]

Singles Health Insurance | Compare the Market

Sharengay Trang Tin Tức Độc Đáo VIDEO Singles Health Insurance | Compare the Market

Whether it’s exercising early in the morning, eating a healthy lunch, or stopping in at the doctor’s at the end of the day, taking care of your health is a 24/7 responsibility. However, we can help you shoulder the burden in one specific area: private health insurance.

When it’s just you working and paying the bills, it’s vital to safeguard your health as exhaustively as possible. Taking out health cover from any one of Australia’s health funds is an ideal way to do this.

Bạn đang xem: Singles Health Insurance | Compare the Market

So, why take out singles health insurance? Here are a few reasons.

Health cover when you’re young, peace of mind when you’re older

When you’re young, you likely want just the basics! After all, younger Aussies may not have as many healthcare need as the older generations. That probably means taking out low-level singles hospital cover (just in case the unexpected arises) and maybe a few benefits from an extras policy.

Extras insurance covers treatments not subsidised by Medicare, like dental check-ups, optometry (such as prescription glasses) and physiotherapy. Because of this, it can be terrific value for money and could mean you get to enjoy the Private Health Insurance Rebate – where the government helps pay for your private cover. If you’re a high-income earner, having a singles health insurance policy means you might also avoid paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge.

Taking out private health insurance when you’re aged 18-29 also means you may be able to take advantage of the Age-Based Discount, which can be up to 10% off your premiums!

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Health insurance that grows with you

As you approach your thirties, taking out hospital cover becomes more of a priority so you can avoid the Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) Loading. If you have a hospital insurance policy by 1 July following your 31st birthday, you’ll avoid this loading. If you don’t, you’ll pay two per cent more in premiums for every year you choose not to take out cover. For example, if you take it out at age 40, you’ll pay 20% more in premiums!

When you reach middle age, you probably start to take your health more seriously, since it’s something you’ll want to protect over the long haul. Because of this, many older Australians like to take out cover that’s quite comprehensive; treatment in private hospitals is a given, but also access to the full suite of extras available through your health fund.

Avoid long public waiting lists

A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) looked at the average waiting times for public hospital admissions for elective surgery in Australia. This is what they found:¹

Patients Days waited 50% of patients 40 90% of patients 268 Proportion of patients who waited more than 365 days 1.80%

¹Source: AIHW, Elective Surgery Waiting Times, pg 25

Sure, you may end up the exception to the rule and not need to wait anywhere near this long for your elective surgery. Also, you are��seen to immediately in emergencies.

However, compared to private patients’ average wait time of 22 days for elective surgery, you might understand why this is one of the more compelling reasons singles across the country enjoy private health insurance. They can avoid public hospital waiting lists for specific procedures, and you can too with singles health insurance.

Frequently asked questions

How to find great-value singles health insurance

If you want to take out singles health insurance, a great way to find a good deal of premiums and benefits is by shopping around and comparing your options.

Xem thêm: Ocean Vet Diaries: Tragic Death of Neil Burnie | Ocean Vet | S01 E11 | Free Documentary Nature

When looking for a singles health insurance policy, it’s essential to consider things like:

Which level of cover you want. The four tiers of hospital cover – Basic, Bronze, Silver and the top level of Gold, as well as the ‘plus’ policies – each include an increasing number of treatment categories, so you’ll have to work out which medical services you want to cover and choose the corresponding level.

How much you’ll pay for it. It’s generally a good idea to stick within your budget and not pay more than you can afford, but you should also make sure you’ll be getting adequate cover for your money.

How much you’ll pay when you need to claim. Make sure you check the Policy brochure of any policy before purchasing it so you know how much your excess and gap payments may be.

Luckily, you don’t have to go far to compare singles health insurance, as you can head straight over to our health insurance comparison service! Our service is fast, simple and completely free to use. Simply enter a few details about yourself and the type of coverage you want, and our service will sort through the range of policies we have on offer.

Meet our Health Insurance expert, Anthony Fleming

As General Manager of Health Insurance and Life Insurance for Compare the Market, Anthony Fleming is committed to helping Australians avoid large out-of-pocket expenses by making the system work for them. When it’s just you paying the bills, having a health insurance policy in place, can help you get back on your feet quicker after an unexpected accident.

Anthony has 17 years’ experience working in various roles across the health and general insurance industries. He’s also a Board Member of the Private Health Insurance Intermediaries Association and has appeared on Sunrise and Channel Seven News on behalf of Compare the Market.

Nguồn: https://sharengay.online Danh mục: Global Trend

Singles Health Insurance | Compare the Market

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[huntermagazine362]

Notion To Todoist

Notion Vs Todoist

Todoist Integration Office 365

Todoist Notion Integration

Notion Todoist

In a matter of minutes and without a single line of code, Zapier allows you to automatically send info between ClickUp and Todoist. Get started with workflows like: Add new ClickUp tasks to Todoist.Or check out the rest of our guided workflows.Save time with Zapier; it's free to try. Notion calls itself an all-in-one workspace for notes and documents, wikis, tasks and projects, and spreadsheets and databases. Although I still prefer Todoist as my task manager (I wish Todoist and Notion could integrate!), Notion has become my project management software tool. I’ll admit: the learning curve on Notion was a bit rough at first.

Test your Zap and if everything went according to the plan, you should see your email in your notion table. Integration #4: Send Tasks from Todoist/Tasks to Notion. The integration allows you to send tasks from pretty much any Todo app that works with Zapier. Set up a Todo table. Whilst Todoist haven’t totally changed their business model after seeing the rise of Roam, Notion and many more tools – and their expansive set of features, it has created some form of expansion of.

Using modular productivity-boosting solutions such as Notion, Coda, and Airtable may look like a challenge initially. However, you'll gradually figure out the efficient bits while keeping all information and the team in one place. On the other hand, there are proven software like Trello, Asana, and Jira with a single function in mind. If you are confused between Notion and Trello to manage projects and tasks, we'll compare them in this post to help you pick one.

At first glance, both Notion and Trello seem similar. Well, they both let you manage large projects like a pro. But the concept couldn’t have been different.

Notion relies on Project management templates to get started. While Trello follows tried and tested Kanban method to move blocks as the project goes ahead.

In this post, we will compare both Notion and Trello on various factors. The talking points include interface, features, sharing, price, management capabilities, and more. Let’s get started.

Also on Guiding Tech

How to Create a Custom Template in Notion

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Cross-Platform Availability

Notion is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Web. To provide a seamless experience across platforms, the company uses the same UI on mobile, PC, and web.

My only gripe is Notion mobile apps. Instead of being native, they are essentially web wrappers.

Visit Notion

Trello has the upper hand, for it is available on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Web. It supports all the major browsers too.

Even though both apps are accessible on mobile platforms, the experience is best served on the web.

Visit Trello

User Interface

Notion appears like a broad white canvas. You can add templates to it and start organizing the stuff.

The major options, such as pages and sub-sections, are on the left. The thing about Notion is, it won’t throw every detail at the user. The editing options are available as soon as you use the ‘/‘ command.

Memorizing the useful Notion commands will help you save time later.

On the Trello home screen, you will find boards all the recently viewed and personal boards. You can create a team, add a name, and then integrate relevant board sections related to the project.

You can also change board backgrounds to match the project sentiment and style.

Also on Guiding Tech

Notion vs OneNote: Should You Switch to Notion

Notion Vs Todoist

Read More

Project and Task Management

You can make to-do lists on Notion and Trello. That reduces your reliance on constantly moving around lists from other to-do apps such as Todoist or TickTick.

You will have to use templates on Notion. You can find several to-do templates in the Notion Template Gallery, and you can choose one according to your requirements.

Notion’s weekly agenda template is my favorite to manage small projects, and I humbly recommend it to everyone.

You can give it a relevant name, add a cover photo and icon to get started. Now, add tasks below the weekdays, and as a bonus, you can integrate reminder notifications.

Type ‘/remind’ and add the date and time to get notified on mobile or PC.

As for managing huge projects, Notion offers several project management templates. Among them, Roadmap is my favorite one. To me, the Roadmap template is like Trello on steroids.

You can keep track of ongoing projects, add issues, integrate tags, share it with a team member, and more. Not only that, but one can also tap on the tab and see all the details regarding it.

You can add as many suitable table contents as you wish. After that, you need to integrate tags and buttons to get the maximum out of the template.

Trello popularized Kanban-style project management with drag and drop function, and is sticking to its strength by setting it as the default option.

Trello sticks to the basic board view. Based on your requirements, you can give the board a relevant name and set up the whole thing. Here is how I use it.

I have added tasks to assigned, in-going, in-going, in review, and completed tabs for the Product timeline. I tag the tasks to a relevant team member, add details such as image, description, and conversation in the comments menu.

For bug tracking, I have made a separate board that shows the ongoing projects in the company. Below each project, I add app progress issues, tag the team member, add details and screenshot of the bug, and archive it once it's fixed.

That said, Notion can be a bit confusing and overwhelming folks just starting off with it. The process involves finding the right template for you. Trello has more user-friendly process to get started.

Features and Sharing

Trello relies on third-party integration with other apps. They are called power-ups. The list of apps is endless here. It's neatly categorized into sub-sections in the Power-up menu. I'm sure you will stumble upon something you use daily.

Using power-ups, you can add Trello tasks to Google Calendar as well. Trello also feels visually pleasing with minimal efforts.

Todoist Integration Office 365

Notion is can be your ultimate workspace to organize your information and work of your teams. You can build a subscription tracker, finance tool, book tracking page, and more. The possibilities are endless.

As expected, both the software allows you to invite members to a board or workspace. You will find all the member activities in the notification panel.

Pricing

Notion is free for personal use. As for team sharing, you can invite up to 5 users to a team. The paid plans start at $4 per member per month.

Trello offers the premium version called Trello Gold. With $3.75/month, you get access to all the customization features, add files more than 10MB size, and use third-party integration from the other apps.

Also on Guiding Tech

#productivity='bp-purple>

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Pick One Wisely

Both apps offer compelling task and project management capabilities with the help of templates. However, both differ when it comes to execution. For small teams and projects with minimal timeline, I would advise going with Trello. Notion is more suitable for those who want to organize every possible little detail in one place.

Next up:Notion is a joy to use with Keyboard shortcuts. Read the post below to find the top eleven Notion keyboard shortcuts to boost your productivity.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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5 Best Project Management Tools for Small Teams

Are you looking to invest in a project management tool to handle a small team? Read the post to learn about the top five project management tools for small teams and startups.

Free up your mental space

Regain clarity and calmness by getting all those tasks out of your head and onto your to-do list (no matter where you are or what device you use).

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Todoist Notion Integration

The Verge

Todoist has helped millions of people completeover 1.5 billion tasks in 150+ million projects.

I literally couldn’t do my job or even manage all the business of being a fully functioning parent and spouse without Todoist.

As a software engineer, it’s useful to break down big projects into smaller tasks, and Todoist is perfect for that purpose.

I kept track of all my school tasks in Todoist and, in 2016, I became the first one in my family to obtain a bachelor’s degree.

Todoist has revolutionized the way we run our small business by helping us simplify projects and coordinate tons of details.

Trevor Stephens

General Manager at Topline Builders

Notion Todoist

Read more

Todoist gave us the focus to scale our company from 2 to 75 employees, $12M in VC financing, and 350+ happy enterprise customers.

Todoist helps me organize all my writing projects. And that makes it an indispensable tool both in business and in life.

A task manager you can trust for life

In the 14 yearsand 87 days that we’ve been building Todoist, we’ve never considered selling out or becoming acquired.

Our team is committed to staying independent and earning your trust for as long as you need our apps.

Learn about our long-term mission

[shachamurt]

26th January, 2021

As India’s Constitution finishes its 71st year and I finish my 17th, I ardently hope I can build myself through my education to serve and represent this great Country. I don’t yet have the pride of land, but I do have a strong intent of public service -- through whichever field I will study in. I hope today that no single young person in this country, including myself, takes a shortcut to patriotism, that a Tagore is understood and a Gandhi is not misunderstood, and that we’re together in learning what makes us, us. We can be spirited when we sing the national anthem but we cannot afford anymore to leave it at that -- my experiences from 2019 in Patna and 2020 in Council punched me in the face. We also can’t afford to ignore. As Swami Vivekananda said, “I hold every person a traitor who, having been educated at the expense of the millions in hunger and ignorance, pays not the least heed to them.” Let’s do justice to our education. If ever I pray to “God”, I only pray for this and for the conviction and clarity to do so. Let us not tell ourselves that it is okay to be even a minute late, to forget a person’s name, to not have attention to detail, to be unjust or incompetent even for a second. I’ve a long way to go in each one of them but I’m committed. 

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes. Today I feel extremely small (as I and everyone of us are) and yet I know that I am going to always choose to wear out rather than rust out as the ideal, badass women of India do - every mother, every grandmother, every leader in every house and workplace. 

Happy Republic Day! Let’s be true custodians of that great Document. 

[charger-batteries]

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ Review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is the most capable Android productivity tablet on the market. In addition to being the first to support 5G connectivity, it's also a performance powerhouse that can handle multitasking with ease. Though its starting price of $849—which doesn't include 5G capability or the carrier subscription to use it, nor the Book Cover Keyboard Case—looks steep, it's one of the few viable laptop alternatives on the market, especially if you often commute or travel and don't want to bother with a hotspot. With impressive features, incredible performance, and all-day battery life, it's the  best Android tablet  you can buy right now, and wins our Editors' Choice award.

A Beautiful, Stylus-Compatible Display

Aesthetically, little separates the Galaxy Tab S7+ from other hight end slates like the iPad Pro. The chassis and back of the Galaxy Tab S7+ are constructed of aluminum and available in black, silver, or bronze. It measures 11.25 by 7.3 by 0.2 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.3 pounds without the optional Book Cover Keyboard Case. That may sound heavy, but the weight is well-distributed, making it easy to hold for long periods. A slim camera stack and a magnetic connector for the S Pen are on the upper left corner. A word of warning: the connector for the S Pen is not as well placed or as powerful as what you'll find on the iPad Pro, making it easy to lose.

The front is dominated by a 12.4-inch, 2,800-by-1,752-pixel Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Color accuracy is spot-on, with vivid colors and inky, deep blacks. The screen is bright enough to use in direct sunlight without any problems.

Top-Notch Hardware and a Marathon Battery

A Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ chipset powers the Tab S7+. Samsung offers the tablet in 128GB/6GB, 256GB/8GB, and 512GB/8GB storage/RAM configurations. Our review unit is the 256GB/8GB version. All three support up to an additional 1TB of external storage with a microSD card.  

As expected, the Tab S7+ can chew through just about any task you throw its way. We tested it with over a dozen apps and three dozen Chrome windows open and it didn't even flinch.

The powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset on the tablet, combined with its 120Hz display makes gaming an immersive and seamless experience. We tested the tablet with Asphalt 9: Legends and PUBG Mobile and didn't encounter a single hiccup. Load times are lightning fast, and the 120Hz display means you'll never see any lag or dropped frames.

Benchmarks underscored our experience. On Geekbench 5, a suite of tests that quantify raw computing power, the Tab S7+ earned 994 single-core (SC) and 3,814 multi-core (MC) scores. That is, by far, the best score we've seen for an Android tablet sold in the US, but still falls behind the iPad Pro's 1,113 (SC) and 3,277 (MC) scores on the same tests.

Samsung packed a 10,090mAh battery in the Tab S7+ (much bigger than the Tab S7's 8,000mAh battery), which can easily carry you through through the workday with a little battery life to spare. In our battery test, which streams HD video over Wi-FI at full brightness, the Tab S7+ held on for 7 hours and 21 minutes before powering down. That's about the same as the iPad Pro (7 hours, 48 minutes), and with more conservative use you should easily be able to make it a full day between charges.

45W fast charging is with an optional power adapter. If you choose to stick with the 15W adapter that comes in the box, be prepared to let it charge overnight.

A Selfie Camera Made for Video Calls

A 13MP primary lens with an f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP ultra-wide lens with an f/2.2 aperture comprise the Tab S7+'s rear camera module. There's an 8MP sensor on the front of the tablet with an f/2.0 aperture.

With good light, the dual camera stack performs well. The 13MP lens takes an excellent shot with good depth of field and solid color accuracy. The ultra-wide lens performs nearly as well, though we did note some minor loss of fine detail.

In low light, the rear cameras do an adequate job. Our low-light test shots had some edge noise along with lens flares, but they were still good by tablet standards. That said, we doubt many people will use the tablet to grab unplanned photos when most flagship phones perform better and are easier to whip out over the dinner table.

The 8MP selfie camera is perfect for video calls no matter the time of day. It also takes a good selfie, though some of our low-light test shots appeared a little flat, with minor noise around the edges.

Immersive Audio

Samsung sells the Tab S7 in 5G and Wi-Fi versions. The base model ships with Wi-Fi 6 support. The 5G model works with every US carrier and has supports sub-6GHz and mmWave connectivity, though you'll need to pay for monthly service. We tested the Tab S7+ on a gigabit Wi-Fi network and recorded excellent results, with averages of 631.4Mbps down and 38.8Mbps up.

The four AKG-tuned speakers on the Tab S7+ are among the best we've heard on a tablet. With a maximum volume of 96dB,audio is loud enough for conference calls, and it actually sounds good when you're watching videos. There's also Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity for wireless audio with the Galaxy Buds Live or your favorite Bluetooth headphones.

S Pen Feels Great

Unlike Apple's pricey $129 Pencil, Samsung includes its S Pen in the box with the Tab S7+ Put simply, the S Pen is incredible. It comes in the box and charges wirelessly when connected to the back of the Galaxy Tab S7+.

Writing with the S Pen actually feels good. We didn't notice any lag when using the stylus, and latency has been reduced to 9ms from 26ms on the Tab S6 Lite. The tip of the S Pen is significantly thinner than the iPad Pro's Pencil, and offers a little bit of drag to make writing on the display feel more natural.

Air Actions, Samsung's set of S Pen gesture–initiated shortcuts first announced on the Galaxy Note 9, makes its big screen debut on the Tab S7+. Air Actions lets you use the S Pen to snap selfies, swipe through pages without touching the screen, and set up other custom shortcuts. If you're new to Air Actions, there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's pretty convenient once you get the hang of it.

A Pricey and Flimsy Keyboard

The optional Book Cover Keyboard Case ($229.99)is hit-or-miss. The actual keyboard has excellent travel and a satisfying tactile feedback. The trackpad is swift and gestures work without a hitch. The cover turns into a stand, with good range of motion, and has a magnetic compartment for storing the S Pen.

So what's not to like about the case? For starters, it's nearly impossible to use in your lap. The stand is made to rest against a solid surface. Even if you manage to find a comfortable spot for it on your lap, there's a lot of flex in the keyboard. And frankly, the Book Cover Keyboard Case looks cheap. From a distance you might mistake the case for leather, but up close it unquestionably looks and feels like low-grade vinyl. Anyone who's investing in a high-end tablet like the Tab S7+ will likely want a cover that gives the same impression of quality manufacture and design. The Book Cover Keyboard Case does not.

One UI Can't Save Android

The Galaxy Tab S7 Pro ships with Android 10 and the latest version of Samsung One UI. In the past, we've had mixed feelings about One UI, but Samsung has made some major changes that make it much more attractive. The latest iteration now supports live syncing between Samsung devices and PCs; Apple users are unfortunately out of luck.

Samsung's productivity apps have also gotten a significant facelift. Samsung Notes now offers easy PDF annotations with the S Pen. A handy feature that allows you to sync voice recordings with your written notes is relatively easy to use. There's also the option to sync your notes with Microsoft Outlook and OneNote, but you can easily download Microsoft 365 to the S7+ and skip syncing altogether.

Folder and file structure have been significantly improved, so it's easier to find documents if you prefer to store them directly on your tablet. There's also the option to sync your documents with Microsoft OneDrive.

One UI also improves multi-tasking on the Tab S7+. You can now have three windows open simultaneously. Multi-Active Window, a persistent tab that rests on the side of the screen, now supports app groups, so you can create quick shortcuts to open your three most-used apps simultaneously.  

Over the past year, Samsung has made some massive improvements to DeX (desktop-mimicking) mode. It's more intuitive than older versions, supports multi-touch gestures, and even connects wirelessly to compatible televisions and monitors. We wouldn't go so far as to say it can replace your desktop, but it's an excellent alternative for basic tasks.

To be honest, Samsung's One UI corrects many of the ills that hamstring Android tablets, but at the end of the day, you're still running Android apps. That means there are limited options, especially for those in creative fields, and some apps just aren't up to snuff. If you're not a fan of the iPad Pro, there are plenty of Windows 2-in-1 laptops that run full fledged versions of Adobe Creative Cloud and similar apps.

There's also the issue of updates. Samsung has committed to updating its new products "for three generations," but that's a rather ambiguous claim and it doesn't set a specific timeline for updates. Android manufacturers, for the most part, have been slow with OS upgrades, and we doubt the Tab S7+ will be an exception. Though Samsung is already upgrading some of its devices, it doesn't look like the Tab S7+ will get an Android 11 upgrade until 2021.

The Best Alternative to an iPad Pro

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is the most capable Android productivity tablet on the market. In addition to being the first to support 5G connectivity, it's also a performance powerhouse that can handle multitasking with ease. The S Pen is a pleasure to use, and the Samsung One UI actually feels like it adds to the overall experience.

What keeps the Tab S7+ from meeting its full potential is its OS. No matter how many tweaks Samsung makes to One UI, it still runs on Android and simply doesn't offer the same seamless experience you'll find on the iPad Pro. And although the optional Book Cover Keyboard Case works well on a desk, its steep price and lackluster build quality are a disappointment.

Despite these nitpicks, we still think the Tab S7+ is an extremely impressive piece of hardware. Once you're able to travel again, you'll find it by far the best Android tablet for taking work on the road and having a laptop-like experience supplemented by an outstanding stylus. It's an Editors' Choice through and through.

[bestseattleseo-blog]

Picking the right SEO Expert

Did you know that there are 4.54 billion searches performed every day on Google?

That means that no matter your line of work, people are searching for your business online.

When it comes to choosing a reputable company to manage your SEO, there’s both a right way and a wrong way to go about the SEO hiring process. In fact, finding the best SEO strategist for your website will help its online branding, presence, and traffic.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, a process used in digital marketing strategy that focuses on your website’s presence, page ranking, and visibility when it comes to search results on search engines like Google.

Overall, its a process of optimizing your website to get organic, or un-paid, traffic from the search engine results page. In other words, SEO involves making certain changes to your website and content so that it's more accurate and attractive for search engines to rank its web pages and content. SEO experts utilize a number of on-page and off-page strategies so that that the search engine will display your website as a top result during search results.

Though SEO marketing can seem complex due to the different factors that impact ranking, the process for search engine optimization is easier than it appears to be. The hardest part is it involves effort and patience.

When you are looking for something, whether it’s a company or a product, the first thing you probably do is pull up Google and type in some keywords. Then you scroll through the many listings that pop up, looking for the best match.

Search engines do all of this by discovering and cataloging all available content on the Internet. For example, from web pages, PDFs, images, and videos, etc. SEO is done correctly by SEO consultants or SEO agencies to help improve the quality and quantity of organic web traffic to your site.

How does it work?

Major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo use crawlers to gather essential and relevant information based on the contents they find on the web. Crawlers then forward the results to the search engines where an index is built. Unique algorithms kept under lock by the likes of Google allow some websites to be ranked higher than others. But SEO experts know what works and what does not. There are two kinds of SEO:

On-page SEO consists of anything you can control on your own website to improve your rankings. This refers to things like site speed, keyword presence, header text, and so on.

Off-page SEO consists of anything done on other websites that may influence your rankings. Generally, this only refers to backlinks, social media, forums, etc.

Why SEO is important?

Effective SEO is important because it ensures that search results display websites that have been optimized. In fact, there are many tricks that SEO experts can use to ensure a website stands a higher chance of ranking high. Over time Google has made it challenging and reduced shortcuts for online marketers the ability to manipulate these results. In fact, quality content coupled with user experience is the route Google and other search engines are steering towards. Hence, why hard work, technical SEO and a website that appeals to visitors correlate with high search engine rankings. Ask any reputable SEO expert or online marketer if your site meets these criteria, you’ll have a better chance of showing up in the results.

Prominent Search Results

Users trust search engines and most likely click to top ranking websites. Whether it's psychological or a time constraint, anyone looking for information via a search engine will not waste time click through subsequent search pages. Hence, the higher you rank in search results, the more clicks and traffic your site will potentially generate. In addition, effective SEO also improves the click rate based on structured data and immediate results without even clicking on a search result. For example, the introduction of structured data can make searches more prominent.

Optimizing a website and including structured data will help a website stand out from regular search results. Another good example is to include reviews, that provide additional information to search engines and potential visitors.

So What affects your SEO ranking?

On-page factors:

On-page SEO (also known as “on-site” SEO) is the act of optimizing different parts of your website that affect your search engine rankings.

The way your page is optimized has the most profound effect on its rankings. Here are some page optimization factors that can affect its search visibility.

1. Keywords in the title tag, meta description tag, and H1 tag.

The title meta tag is one of the strongest relevancy signals for a search engine. The tag itself is meant to give an accurate description of the content of the pages. Search engines use it to display the main title of a search result. Including a keyword will indicate to the search engine what keyword it should rank the page for. Ideally, the keyword should be placed at the start of the title tag. Pages optimized this way will rank better than those with keyword closer to the end of the title’s tag.

2. Duplicate content. Having similar content across various pages of your site can actually hurt your rankings. Avoid duplicating content and write that is original for each page. When strategically placing your SEO keywords and phrases on your pages, it’s important to avoid over-optimization. Google and other search engines will penalize your page if it attempts to use keywords too many times throughout the content. Hence, a good balance and ratio of keywords and synonyms are required.

In addition, you want to make sure that each page of the content focuses on primary keywords as well as long-tail keywords and is not used on any other web page. This helps ensure that your content is specific and relevant. Trying to tackle too many keywords at once may negatively impact your search engine optimization as it often results in thin content.

3. Image Optimization. It’s not only text that can be optimized on a page but other media too. Images, for instance, can send the search engine relevancy signals through their alt text, caption, and description. In addition, optimizing and compressing images will help the website speed factors.

Off-Page factors:

Off-page SEO focuses on increasing the authority of your domain through the act of getting links from other websites.

When ranking your pages, Google looks at factors outside of your site as well. Here are some key benefits in off-page SEO:

1. The number of linking domains. The number of domains linking to you is one of the most important ranking factors.

2. The number of linking pages. There might be some links from a particular domain to your site; their number is a ranking factor too. However, it is still better to have more links from individual domains rather than from a single domain.

3. Link anchor. Anchor text of a link used to be a strong ranking factor. Today it can be utilized as a web spam indicator, negatively impacting your rankings.

Though you do not have direct control over what happens outside of your organization, you can increase your chances of improving off-page SEO simply by creating quality content that others will find valuable.

The more relevant and interesting your content is, the more likely others will be to link to your content and share it. In fact, the more people trust your content, the more the search engines will too.

How do I choose an SEO expert for my website?

Be careful when you research an SEO company online because there are lots of companies that offer identical services. Some even promise their own “secret approach and instant results”. Regardless this is all talk with no action. So, how do you filter the top SEO services from the bad apples?

Here are a few points you need to keep in mind while choosing an SEO strategist for your firm:

Search Intelligently

When Googling SEO firms, you will find a large number of SEO companies. The top-ranked companies may be the best in terms of showing that they can rank their website high for a reason, but they are more than likely to be expensive too. Hence, why its best to look at mid players too. For example, SEO agencies that may not rank high or be at the top of a search page are still worth considering.

The key question you need to ask yourself is ”Is worth it?”. A small business does not require a huge and mighty SEO firm.

The best way to search will be to ask your vendors and peers. People in the same field will be able to give you honest and reliable suggestions. Also, check online reviews. Stay away from spammers and hire only trustworthy agencies for your online marketing.

Background Check

It is important to have an idea about the history of the company your about to do business with. First-hand information from previous customers would be really helpful. It's advisable to ask any potential online marketer for references and not just online reviews.

Current or previous clients will be able to tell you how long it took for them to see positive changes, how it impacted their business, how the SEO firm was able to keep up to their commitments, their satisfaction level, and so on

White-Hat Practices

Ask your SEO agency what type of strategies they use and have them explain SEO terms that you understand. Any strategies that seem manipulative or unethical should pose an immediate concern. Ethical companies will have no problem answering your questions and explaining the details of their strategy so that there are no qualms with their practices.

Work with a reliable SEO COnsultant that

It might seem fancy to choose an already established multi-million SEO company, but this might not be the best option for you when starting out. Remember SEO companies don’t have just one client. Thus, you should partner with an agency for whom you will be as important as their other customers. If the company that you pay to do SEO for your SME is already working for the bigger enterprises, you might only be a side hustle for them.

Also, if that SEO agency is also managing your competitor's website, you should avoid them due to conflict in interest.

When it comes to hiring the best SEO company for your small businesses it really comes down to background check, credibility, and experience. Agencies that are transparent on their website and in conversation with you will be a better fit. Moreover, they should have technical knowledge that is compliant with Google, Yahoo, and Bing best practices.

It’s not all about which agency is the biggest or which SEO agency is the cheapest. It’s about finding an SEO company that has the capability to deliver and cares about your business.

[collegegirlgetsfit]

Finding Time

Cheers to the freakin’ weekend! As my last first week of college comes to a close, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. My class are going to be much harder than I realized when I first registered for them and they ALL include a semester long group project. If you are anything like me, you hate the thought of group work too. I’m not an antisocial person, but I do understand the reality of group work. Basically, a few people do all of the work while the rest just coast on by, am I right??? I’m going to try to be positive about the whole thing and give these strangers the benefit of the doubt.

Speaking of college; this happens to be the topic that I will be talking about today and essentially what this whole blog is about. I’ve noticed that there are mainly two groups of people you see on campus: the insanely fit ones who carry around gallons of water like weirdos and the kids that clearly gained the “freshmen fifteen” yet continue to pound beers and stuff their faces with tacos. One of the most common excuses that people make when it comes to committing to a healthier lifestyle is “I just don’t have the time.” You’ve said it before... I’ve said it multiple times. Most college students cannot justify dedicating time to the gym and watching what they eat when they have so much on their plates (see what I did there?).  I get it. You aren’t at home anymore so you either have to cook your own food, go out to eat or drag yourself down to the food hall. Fast food seems like the best, cheapest option and honestly it tastes way too good. It all boils down to self discipline, balance and managing your priorities.

Self discipline: The only person who can truly hold you accountable is YOU. Remember back in elementary school when we had to put up those dividers when we took tests and the teachers would always say something like “The only person you are really cheating is yourself”? Well, they weren’t laying! No cares if you sit in bed eating McDonalds at midnight. Your friends aren’t going to scold you for choosing that slice of pizza instead of the salad while y’all are out. Most people won’t notice you chugging sodas during class. The only person suffering from those behaviors will be you and that is why the only person who can change those behaviors is you. The best way I stay on track is that I am constantly thinking about the payout. When all I want in the world is a bacon cheeseburger, I think about how much more I want a flat stomach. I envision how amazing it is going to feel when I final accomplish my goals. I also track everything I eat to help hold me more accountable, but I will cover the apps I use in another post. Anyways, onward!

Balance: I have tried to start my healthy lifestyle journey over and over and over again. I failed every single time. It never took long either. I would only be a month or two in when I would binge eat and just never get back on track. There were a few problems with my methods that ultimately led to my relapses. 1) I was doing fad diets or short cuts that seemed like they worked at first, but were not real solutions. Skinny teas and pills are not the way to maintain a healthy life style. They may help you lose some water weight but that’s about it. Say it with me: there are no shortcuts! 2) I was trying to do exactly what other people at done to lose their weight. It made sense to me at the time. They did it, so all I have to do is that same exact thing right? Wrong. We are all different, our bodies need different things, and no one special thing is going to shed the weight off. Be open minded to try a lot of different methods to perfectly tailor a system that works for you. 3) I went cold turkey. I am a foodie. I love to eat, I love to cook and I love to go out to new places. When I first was trying to lose weight I cut out all the things I loved and thought that I had to be super strict to stay on track. I. Was. Miserable. I was grumpy all the time and temptation was at an all time high. This time around, I’ve adopted the 80/20 rule. This isn’t the one that says bodies are made from 80% nutrition and only 20% fitness (which is true). It’s the one that encourages you to treat yourself and enjoy the things that you love to eat. 80% of the time stick to your meal prep, count your calories/track your macros, and get your workouts in. 20% of the time you need to allow yourself to be human and eat that snack you’ve been thinking all class or take that rest day. Personally, I don’t have cheat days, only cheat meals. I would get way to carried away if I had a whole day dedicated to junk food that I miss. I focus on the cheat meal all week and I make sure I work really hard to earn it. This helps with temptation too because I’m able to tell myself “You just had (insert yummy food here) so you can skip this, but maybe next week”.

Priorities: This is the point that has the must to do with time management and it is actually pretty simple. You make time for the things that are important to you. I am a busy senior in college. I have a job. I am the Vice President of my business organization on campus. I have a long distance boyfriend who I like to Facetime as much as possible and friends that I’d like to spend time with. I go to the gym every day, because my goals are important to me and I’ve learned to love working out. It is important that I also stressed that I am a sleepy girl. I love to sleep in and nap constantly. However, when I started school back up this week, I noticed that I didn’t have anymore time in my schedule for the gym. I have class at 9:30 and from that point on my day is packed. I now get up at 7 in the morning and take my sleepy butt to the gym. The crazy thing is, when I’m in the gym doing my workout I completely forget how early it is. This is HUGE for me! I’m used to waking up at 10-11 and not getting to the gym until noon. It’s important to me so I make time for it. You are the only person who can decided what you want to spend your time doing, so why not spend it making yourself the best possible version of you? As far as fitting good, healthy food into your schedule goes, you have to meal prep that stuff. It does take a bit of planning and time to come together, but there is nothing easier than grabbing one of your meals and popping it in the microwave or oven. Then it’s ready guys and that’s it. When I have to spend all day on campus, I just bring my food with me. I’ll even prep cold lunches that don’t need to be heated up so I can avoid the line at the microwave. Honestly, if you’re not as organized as I am ( I just really like making lists) it doesn’t take that much planning. If I’m in a hurry at the store I just grabbed protein, veggies and healthy crabs that I really like and throw them together that way. Not having time to go shopping or prep are not excuses for choosing poorly in the cafe. There are always better options. Always. Pick those.

That about sums up this post. I probably won’t be back on until next week so have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone! Please leave me any questions or feedback! Thank you so much for reading. You are amazing.

[northsyria04-blog]

10 Home Cooks on How They Began Meal Planning (& Stuck with it) — Smart Start

Imagine you knew exactly what you'd be eating for every single meal every single day of the week. Now, will that fantasy into existence by making a habit of meal planning! It's the answer to life's most frequent questions — especially "What's for dinner?"

Here at Kitchn, we will be the first to admit that meal planning isn't a cake walk — but it's also not a completely unattainable ideal reserved for a certain echelon of hyper-organized home cooks. Anyone can meal plan. Yes, even you.

The real mystery isn't how to meal plan, though. It's how to stick with it. We asked home cooks in various stages of their meal planning journeys how they started, and how they stick with it. Here are their best tips.

1. Start small to avoid burnout.

My meal planning journey is long and meandering. I first started trying out meal planning when I went back to work full time after the birth of my daughter — almost seven years ago now. I went too hard too fast at first and burnt out quickly, especially since I was trying to prep and plan for separate feeding supplies for a 3-month-old. About a year of trial and error helped me find a reasonable cadence for our family, which at the time meant just three planned meals a week plus a few shortcut Miracle Meals as needed. Six years and another kid later, I plan for a whole week at a time, including breakfasts and lunches for everyone.

—Meghan Splawn, Associate Food Editor, @stirandscribble

2. Make meal prep fun.

I'm a happier, healthier, and more relaxed person when I enter the week with breakfast and lunch prepped and ready. There are weekends when life gets in the way, but I stick with it most Sundays by enlisting my roommate's help, turning on good music, and trying new recipes I'm excited about.

—Grace Elkus, Senior Food Editor, @graceelkus

3. Make a spreadsheet.

I created a Google doc that my husband and I share. We both drop in the dinners that we plan to have for the week and if there's a recipe associated with it, we'll drop in the link so it's easy to grab. It makes for a lot less of "What are we having for dinner tonight?" Also, it's useful for me with all of my recipe testing, so I can clearly see the nights I am testing and not testing.

—Sheela Prakash, Assistant Food Editor, @sheelafiorenzo

4. Consider your budget.

Earlier this year I decided to tackle my budget, and I found that the biggest way I could save money was by cooking (surprise, surprise). I had tried to meal plan on and off for the last few years, but really setting a budget goal every month is what finally kept me motivated. I've planned every week this year so far. I also found that the only way I don't get overwhelmed by meal planning and prep is by embracing leftovers. I usually plan on two easy breakfast options, two healthy lunch options throughout the week, and two to three dinner ideas. Most of these things (besides breakfast — I still haven't cracked that code yet) can be made in advance. I make the more complicated meals on Sunday night, and then try for easier options for weeknight cooking. I rely heavily on hearty soups, smoothies, and grain salads with lots of vegetables.

—Ariel Knutson, News and Culture Editor, @arielknutson

5. Set a big fitness goal.

I started meal planning (and prepping) a couple of years ago when I was training for an Ironman triathlon. Since I had little to no time to cook on weeknights and mornings were more rushed than ever, it was purely out of necessity to ensure I ate well enough to fuel my training. It took a little trial and error to find what worked best for my family, but I got into a good rhythm and it was easy to stick with even after the race was over. When I meal plan and prep, my week feels so much more organized, I spend a lot less on food, I waste less, and I probably make better food choices overall.

—Kelli Foster, Associate Food Editor, @kellimfoster

6. Shop in season (and consider meal kits).

Meal planning is a game changer for me — especially during the week. I start by going to the farmers market on Sundays and buying whatever is in season. I'll make a big sheet pan of roasted vegetables, steamed brown rice, and roast chicken to use throughout the week. Tuesday through Thursday night we have One Potato boxes [Ed. Note: meal kits], which truly save my life, and then use whatever leftovers we have for dinner Friday night. Saturday night is our one big night as a family.

—Catherine McCord, Founder of Weelicious and One Potato, @weelicious

7. Sync your calendar with your grocery list.

I think I've always been a meal planner in some sense because I like to know what's coming, but it was after having a kid and going back to work that it really needed to happen because I had limited time to do grocery shopping and cook. Also, I cooked all day for work and sometimes didn't want to go too elaborate for dinner. My meal planning evolved slowly with Google sheets. I look at the family calendar and note which evenings we won't be home or there's swim class that limits cooking time. I put that on the meal plan first, then I see if there are things in the freezer or fridge to use up and prioritize planning around that. My grocery shopping list is on the same doc, so once meals are planned, I add things right to the list. I also try to note which days I have to start defrosting or prepping things (like soaking beans or chopping veggies). One tip that I have is to try to do a little prep or chopping after dinner for the next day if the cutting board and knife are still out. I'm usually tired, but it only takes a minute or two and cleanup is the same, plus starting the next day's meal is faster.

—Christine Gallary, Food Editor-at-Large, @cgallary

8. Start by prepping instead of planning.

Meal planning used to be really tough for me. I'd get overwhelmed choosing recipes and often wound up wasting food or leaving ingredients languishing in the pantry. Things changed when I had kids and started stocking my fridge, freezer, and pantry with staples I could make into dinner without really making a plan. Now I plan my meals by making sure I have three to four proteins, a few varieties of fresh or frozen vegetables, a choice of grains or pasta, fruit, and a well-stocked spice rack each week. This strategy puts me firmly into meal-prepper territory rather than meal-planner — but it works for how I shop and how life works around here!

—Patty Catalano, Kitchn Contributor, @forkandswoon

9. Expect the unexpected.

I started meal planning after growing tired of that frustrating what-do-you-want-to-eat conversation that almost always ended with breakfast for dinner. I only plan three or four meals, though, because I've learned that stuff almost always comes up (read: I get a craving for Chinese food) and this ensures that we don't waste anything.

—Lisa Freedman, Lifestyle Director, @itsmelisabeth

10. Try micro meal planning.

I started micro meal planning a little while ago when I realized that I was spending too much money going to Whole Foods every day. You see, I live in walking distance to my local store, and I love the ritual of going over there and picking out what I want to eat that night based on my mood. But that's not practical — from a time or budget perspective! So to compromise, I map out what I'm going to eat for the next two to three days, and shop for those meals. That way I don't get to Friday and dread the meal I planned back on Monday. This has been sustainable for me because it's not too big of a commitment!"

—Lauren Kodiak, Managing Editor, @laurenkodiak

Source: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-start-meal-planning-and-stick-with-it-too-261517

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 4:1-13 for the First Sunday in Lent, Year C: 'The devil left him to return at the opportune time.'

First Sunday of Lent, Year C.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 4:1-13

The temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

You must worship the Lord your God,

and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

He will put his angels in charge of you

to guard you,

and again:

They will hold you up on their hands

in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:

You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 4:1–13

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert and was tempted.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written:

You shall worship the Lord, your God,

and him alone shall you serve.”

Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you,

to guard you,

and:

With their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says,

You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Reflections (3)

(i) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. In the fast-moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the fastest way from A to B? What is the quickest way to get this done?’ We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much more quickly than they used to in the past. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts. His mission was to lead people to God. Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one-man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else, knowing that God would protect him, he could perform a series of heroic feats without getting hurt, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would necessitate the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus and to reveal him to others. That involves setting out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what seems very attractive and beguiling. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal calling is to confess Jesus as Lord, not just on our lips but in our hearts, with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to live as his servants, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This will often mean going the long way around for the sake of others rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a small seed and it would go on to become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than instant success, as this world measures success. If we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they don’t appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with temptation, we have the same resource to help us that Jesus had. According to the gospel reading, Jesus entered the wilderness ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. That same Spirit has been poured into our hearts at our baptism. In the wilderness, Jesus drew inspiration from the word of God every time he was put to the test by Satan. That same word of God has been given to us, a word which, according to Paul in the second reading, ‘is very near to you’. In our own testing times, we can pray in the words of today’s psalmist, ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

And/Or

(ii) First Sunday of Lent

We have all experienced testing times in the course of our lives. School and college examinations test our knowledge. Our patience can be tested by someone whom we experience as annoying or troublesome. Our courage can be put to the test by the onset of serious illness. Our integrity can be tested when an opportunity comes along to make easy money at other people’s expense. Our fidelity to someone can be tested, when that relationship proves more demanding that we had anticipated. Our faith in God can be put to the test when, finding ourselves in a dark valley, our prayers seem to go unanswered.

Jesus knew what it was to be tested. The gospels tell us that, from time to time, individuals or groups deliberately set out to test him. Today’s gospel reading describes how Jesus endured a very difficult test immediately after his baptism. He left the river Jordan where he had been baptized and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tested or tempted for forty days. The gospel reading suggests that during these forty days Jesus was tested in a very fundamental way. His very baptismal identity was put to the test. Who he was and what his life was about was at issue. Will he use his power to satisfy his own physical appetites or will he use it to serve others? Will he compromise on his worship of God so as to gain worldly power and honours for himself? Will he take the short cut to gaining followers by relying on spectacular stunts, thereby putting God to the test? Jesus came through that testing time because he did not face it alone. God was with him in the test. He was supported by the word of God, and he was strengthened by the Spirit of God, whom he had received at his baptism. In the wilderness of temptation, he remained true to his baptismal identity.

Like Jesus, we have all been baptized. We have each received the Holy Spirit at our baptism, as he did. Our own baptismal identity will certainly be put to the test from time to time, as his was. Our baptism has made us sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, members of Christ’s body the church. Because of our baptism, we have a certain set of beliefs. In the words of today’s second reading, we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord. Who we are as baptized Christians and what we believe will often be put to the test. We may not be led into the physical wilderness as Jesus was after his baptism, but the world in which we live can be experienced as something of a wilderness when it comes to living out our baptism and being true to our baptismal identity. We often experience pressure from our culture to be someone other than what our baptism calls us to be; our peers can tempt us to live in a way that is at odds with our baptismal calling. As he was tempted to take various paths that were contrary to what God wanted for him, we will be tempted in a similar way. As his faithfulness to God’s call was severely tested, so also will our faithfulness be tested.

We are at the beginning of the seven week season of Lent. Lent is a season when we face the reality that our baptismal identity is always being put to the test, when we remind ourselves of the struggle we are always engaged in to be faithful to the call of our baptism. If remaining faithful to his baptism was a struggle for Jesus, it will certainly be a struggle for us. You could say that Lent is a season when we look temptation in the eye as it were, when we try to identity the particular ways in which we are being pulled away from the path the Lord is asking us to take. It is a season when we try to grow in our freedom to say ‘no’ to the subtle, and not-so-subtle, seductions of every day living. It is a time when we take an honest look at ourselves, and at the direction our lives are taking. This is not something we can do overnight. The season of Lent is nearly seven weeks long. We are given time, because when it comes to getting the basics right, like who we want to be and how we want to live, we need time.

The same resources that were available to Jesus in the wilderness are available to us as we enter this Lenten time. When Jesus was tempted, he fell back on the word of God to help him through. That same word of God has been given to us as a resource in coping with the various assaults on our baptismal identity. Lent is a good time to make greater use of that resource. Perhaps one Lenten exercise we might consider is to take away the Sunday Mass leaflet, and each day of the week to read the readings of the previous Sunday in a prayerful way for a few minutes, inviting the Lord to speak to us through them. We might begin our daily reading of those readings with the prayer, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’. The Holy Spirit also helped Jesus to be faithful to his baptismal call. We might conclude our prayerful reading of the Sunday readings with the prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit; keep me faithful to my baptismal calling’. As we begin our Lenten journey together, we ask the Lord to help us to travel it well, so that when Easter comes we can wholeheartedly renew our baptismal promises together.

And/Or

(iii) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. If we have a journey to make on foot or by car and one day we discover a shortcut we are delighted. In the fast moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the quickest way from A to B? What is the fastest way to get this done?’ Instant this, that or the other has become commonplace. We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much quickly than they used to in the past. We are also very aware that more speed in one area of life has been counterbalanced by less speed in other areas. It takes much longer to drive across the city than it used to, which is why the discovery of the shortcut has become so important. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts or easy options. His mission was to reveal God to people and to lead people to God. This was the mission Jesus publicly undertook at the moment of his baptism. In the gospel reading, Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else he could perform a whole series of heroic feats without getting hurt, knowing that God would protect him, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would involve the long haul, necessitating the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus, to take the path that he took, to set out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what a lot of our contemporaries are saying ‘yes’ to. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal faith finds expression in confessing Jesus as Lord, not just with our lips but with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to acknowledge ourselves as his servants, called to serve as he did, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This is our baptismal calling that we try to say ‘yes’ to everyday of our lives. It will often mean going the long way round for the sake of the other rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a mustard seed that would become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than success, as this world measures success. If we are rooted in the gospel, if we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, to shape how we live, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they do not appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with the temptation to sell ourselves short as the Lord’s followers, we have the same resource to help us as Jesus had in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit who came down upon us at our baptism, as he came down upon him as his baptism.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

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