#Simplified Acquisition

[insurance-brokers-india]

What are the next steps after obtaining an insurance broker license, and how can you generate potential leads using Mzapp CRM software?

Congratulations on securing your insurance broker license! The journey doesn’t end here; it’s just the beginning of building a successful insurance brokerage. Here’s how you can proceed and leverage Mzapp CRM software to find potential leads:

Steps After Getting Your Insurance Broker License

Understand Your Market: Research your target audience (individuals, businesses, or specific sectors).

Develop a Business Plan: Set goals for client acquisition, revenue, and operational processes.

Build a Network: Partner with insurance providers and attend industry events to establish your presence.

Create an Online Presence: Build a professional website and maintain active profiles on social platforms.

Offer Value-Added Services: Educate customers on policies, claims management, and risk assessments.

Using Mzapp CRM Software to Generate Leads

Lead Capture: Utilize Mzapp’s integrated forms and web tracking tools to capture inquiries from your website or social media.

Automated Follow-Ups: Set up personalized email and SMS follow-ups to nurture leads effectively.

Lead Scoring: Prioritize leads based on their interaction history, ensuring you focus on high-potential prospects.

Data-Driven Campaigns: Use analytics to identify what works and launch targeted campaigns.

Seamless Policy Management: Impress leads by showcasing how smoothly you manage policies and claims through Mzapp.

Why Choose Mzapp CRM?

Mzapp CRM simplifies lead management, streamlines operations, and provides insights into customer behavior, making it easier to convert prospects into loyal clients.

Learn more about how Mzapp can transform your insurance business here.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Childhood Bilingualism

Bilingual language acquisition, or simultaneous bilingualism refers to the acquisition of two languages simultaneously from infancy

About half the people in the world are bilingual or multilingual

In many parts of the world, bilingualism (or multilingualism) is the norm

The Easier Word

As during monolingual language development, young bilingual children will first acquire what is easy in their languages:

Example: A bilingual child might find a word or structure much easier or more obvious in one language than in the other and use the easier word or the easier structure in both languages.

With time, the child will be able to process more and more language cues and eventually this strategy will be dropped and the correct form will be used in each language.

Short Words

Short words are easier for young children than long words.

Example: Young children shorten words and say nana instead of banana.

If mum's word is shorter than dad's, the bilingual child naturally goes for the shorter option.

Sound Combinations

Some sound combinations are harder to say than others.

Example: Young children change chair to tair.

If the word in one language has complex sound combinations and the equivalent in the other language does not, choosing the word in the other language is much the same as what monolingual children do when they choose a simpler word over a more complex word.

Frequency of Word Use

How often a child has heard a word is important.

Like monolingual children, words which are used all the time are learned first.

Example: Car, or its simplified form tar, is learned before the word van, unless there is more talk about vans in the child's environment than about cars.

Grammatical Structures

Frequency of use and simplicity of grammatical structures.

Examples:

The six verb endings in Italian are acquired very early by monolingual children because there is one ending for each person (I, you, he etc.) and they are used all the time - in present tense, in past tense, for the future and for the conditional.

The German system uses its verb endings all the time as well, but there are only four distinctly different endings for the six grammatical persons, which means that some endings overlap. As a result, German children master the verb system 6 to 12 months later than the Italian children.

There is only one personmarker in English, and it is only used in present tense (he runs). This takes the longest to acquire because it makes verb markings so infrequent in English.

Such differences may be reflected in bilingual children's acquisition. They may show themselves in the child learning a functionally comparable structure first in one language and only a few months later in the other.

In the meantime, the bilingual child might choose to draw on what s/he has already acquired to fill the gap.

There might be aspects of the grammatical development in the Language Other Than English (LOTE) which the bilingual child will never conquer 100%. There isn't much one can do about grammatical structures which are so unsystematic that children need massive amounts of input over many years to fully master them completely. An example of such structures are the article systems in German or French.

Consistency

The parent's consistency in language choice is very important.

Initially, the child will not know what a language is, but only understand that, for example, Mummy and Daddy speak in different ways.

Example: If the mother is consistent with their language choice, it is much easier for the child to realise that everything they say belongs to one system and everything the mother's partner or the grandparents or the staff at the child care centre say belongs to another. In time, the child will learn both systems.

Code-switching

Bilingual children engage in code-switching:

The alternate use of two or more languages within the same utterance or during the same conversation

The alternative used by bilinguals of two or more languages in the same conversation

Situational Code-switching

Also called transactional code-switching

Two different languages are assigned to two or more different situations. An individual may have knowledge of all the languages associated with different situations. Conversational etiquette, however, requires the use of only one language at a time.

Example: Speaking one language at home and switching to another at school.

Examples of Spanish-English Code-Switching

Switching between sentences: “I was going to tell you something. Pero no me acuerdo que, es.”

Switching between sentences—first sentence repeated in the second language: “Ella es bonita. She is pretty.”

Switching in the middle of a sentence: “I just can’t no puedo concentrame con tanto ruido.”

Borrowing & Loanword

Bilingual children also engage in borrowing:

The incorporation of lexical elements from one language in the lexicon of another language

The introduction of single words or short, frozen, idiomatic phrases from one variety into another

A loanword can also be called a borrowing:

Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language.

Example: of an English loanword into Spanish dealing with organizations, restaurants, or institutions is, “Vamos al la United Nations en el carro” or “nos vamos al Disney World a ver a Mickie Mouse.”

Here we see a mixing from Spanish to English with the name of an organization and a restaurant used.

Examples. Spanish borrowing from English: “parqueadero,” “sandwich,” and “garaje.”

Examples. English borrowing from Spanish: are “armada,” “armadillo,” and “bravado.”

Take Note:

Contrary to popular belief, bilingual children acquire all the language milestones within the range of what's normal for monolingual children.

Rate of language development is more likely to be due to the child's abilities and the quality of interaction than hearing two languages as such.

Children who code-switch are not confused, because they are able to use their two languages appropriately with different people. In fact, the ability to switch back and forth between languages is a sign of mastery of two linguistic systems, not a sign of language confusion.

Children as young as 2 are able to code-switch in socially appropriate ways.

Bilingual children do not develop more slowly than monolingual children just because they are hearing two languages. Differences between monolingual and bilingual learners do exist but have nothing to do with delays or impairments.

THEORIES OF BILINGUAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Unitary system hypothesis - the idea that the child initially constructs only one lexicon and one grammar

Evidence for: language mixing similar to codeswitching; lexical items existing in only one language

Evidence against: there is a lot of overlap in the lexicon for each language, and children may have gaps because each language is used in different contexts and they can only learn so many words each day

2. Separate systems hypothesis - the idea that the child builds a distinct lexicon and grammar for each language

Evidence for:

where the two languages diverge grammatically, the child will acquire two different sets of rules

bilingual children select which language to use based on the context

children bilingual in sign language and a spoken language may say a word in one language and sign it in the other simultaneously

“Just remember, when someone has an accent, it means that he knows one more language than you do.” ―Sidney Sheldon, Windmills of the Gods

Sources: 1 2 3

Writing Notes: On Children ⚜ Children's Dialogue ⚜ Writing Notes & References

[joshsindigostreak]

'Tis the Damn Season

“I’m staying at my parent’s house, and the road not taken looks real good now…”

A Holiday One Shot 🎄

Josh Kiszka x F!Reader

Authors Note: Happy Holidays y’all!! Here’s a cozy Josh piece that is very self indulgent but so sweet!! Happy reading and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! 🍷🎄

Word Count: 8.5K

Warnings: SMUT, MINORS DNI, 18+, unprotected sex, oral sex both m/f receiving, swearing, internal angst.

Despite the ambient noise of the dive bar you were perched in, for the first time in three days you finally felt at peace. You loved your parents, but visiting them these days could be overwhelming, especially with the revolving door of family members showing up unannounced. There was only so much small talk one could take. You had lost count of how many times you described your job, your passion, as an acquisitions editor at a small publishing house, to various family members. Eventually you had to simplify it with a curt, “I get to be the person to say ‘yay,’ or ‘nay’ on their book submissions.” 

You loved your job. As much as it sucked to be the bad guy sometimes, the benefits of being able to work remotely and at your own pace made up for it. Getting paid to read was the best thing to happen to you in your twenties so far, and even though the pay wasn’t spectacular, you wouldn’t trade it for anything. There were times you were worried that making your passion your job would burn you out of reading in your own time, but so far you still found the time to bury your nose in a new tome of choice. 

When you had packed for your trip back home, a small stack of books made it into your luggage, along with your trusty Kindle that was loaded with various quick reads that let you turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. It took everything within you to not check your work emails on your laptop, but you were on the precious few PTO days your employer had allotted everyone in your department, and you were determined to use them properly. 

The bar you had sought refuge in was a local one a few blocks from your house. It was one your dad would always go to hang out with his buddies when you were younger and he was still working that 9-5 throughout the week. 

As you sat on the wobbly bar stool, your ankles crossed and your toes rested on the metal bar attached to the wood paneling of the bar itself. A solitary glass of dark red wine sat on the bar top, inches from the book you were devouring. It wasn’t anything complicated, and many would call it a dime-a-dozen romantic fantasy, filled with magic and tall dark love interests with horrific social skills. But sometimes, the familiar nature of the plot and characters was comforting. The plot might not have been overly unique, but the curiosity of how the author was going to weave together these tropes was half the fun. How was this author going to handle the “oh…” moment between two enemies? What mundane task will trigger the main character into a flashback of a lost love that got away? 

This personal game of yours was a slippery slope, as you had to practically pavlov yourself into not going into work mode while reading, but you kept yourself in check for the most part. At least that's what you would tell yourself. 

You flipped another page in the book, eager to see how the current scene was unfolding. The imagery was building in your mind so well that you hadn’t even noticed a familiar, sweet and dimpled face, had slipped into the bar with a few friends. 

Josh had shed his fluffy, faux fur lined coat, one that was way too ostentatious for the small town atmosphere, but he wrote it off on how practical it was for keeping the cold winter air from chilling his bones. He had decided against the beanie that he typically wore with it, in favor of letting his hair show itself off as it normally did. Tonight was not the night for hat-hair, though the singer was unsure where this conclusion had come from earlier in the evening. The nagging feeling of, you need to look nice, had been lingering in his brain for the past few hours. 

In his typical fashion, he hadn’t shut his mouth the entire time he had been inside the establishment. Rattling off story after story from being on the road with his brothers and their band, cracking up at his own jokes, letting the excitement of being home and seeing the same faces he grew up with. 

The pool table in the far corner had been where his group had settled, drinks settled on the edge with pool sticks in their hands. Josh was bent over the table settling in to make his shot when a figure hunched slightly on a bar stool, turning a page in the book sitting on the bar top.

 Your profile was slightly obscured from where he was an how you were sitting on the stool, and it wasn’t until the bartender came over to refill your wine glass and your name tumbled from their mouth in conversation that it clicked for the rock star who had probably made the worst pool shot in his life at the sound of it. 

You. It was you. 

His cheeks heated in the embarrassment of his shitty shot and the memories that materialized in his mind’s eye. Sitting next to you in algebra, making eye contact and shrugging when neither of you knew whatever the fuck your teacher was talking about. Or walking past you in the hallway as you slammed your locker shut trying to book it to your next class. He’d ignored the sinking feeling he had every time it happened that had him wishing his locker was in the same hall as yours, not annoying around the corner. But other times of bumping elbows with you in the lunch line, sharing grimaces at the dry square pizza in front of you. A few of the dumb sarcastic quips he’d made in class in a hushed whisper  (well, as much of a whisper as Josh Kiszka could produce), just to make you bite your lip and try not to giggle too loud, echoed in his mind. 

He hadn’t seen you since the last week of senior year, specifically at a graduation party one of your mutual friends had thrown together last minute. His final memory of your face was how it crumpled slightly as a very tipsy Morgan Pearson had led him up the stairs. It was an image that had haunted him for a long time, because by the time he had made it back downstairs you had already left the party, and he knew you were off on your summer road trip with your parents in the morning. From there he had observed on Facebook you settling into your freshman dorm in a school that was states away, seemingly doing well. Eventually his own band took over all of his time and his internet scrolling was behind him as he saw the world with his brothers. 

Fuck. 

He needed to talk to you. 

Your eyes flitted over to the next page as you took in the new chapter heading, not wanting to be distracted from the cliffhanger the previous chapter had ended on. 

The heroine had just discovered some deep family secrets that rattled her entire being, changing the entire trajectory of her journey so-

“Whatcha readin’?” 

The fantasy world in your mind dissolved at the sound of that voice. A voice, as the cliche says, you hadn’t heard in years. If it had been anyone else, you would have bitten their head off for rudely interrupting your reading, But slowly your eyes fluttered upwards at the source, using every mitochondria in your body to not visibly react at how…different he looked. Not different in an unrecognizable way, but in a way that showed you that he had grown into his own body. That the boyish awkwardness had evolved into a strong jaw and broad shoulders. He…he had facial hair now, and briefly a memory flashed in your mind of him in junior year lamenting about how patchy his upper lip was no matter what he did. 

The sides of his head were shorn down to the skin, and the dim lighting of the bar had you almost convinced he had a mohawk until you looked closer and saw it was closer to a mullet instead. It was a look you would have never considered for him, but it fit perfectly, and he looked beautiful with it. 

And there it was, the knot that would form in your throat whenever you were in his presence. You hadn’t felt that particular sensation since the night of that god awful graduation party. The very party where you had last seen the man before you. 

Your mouth parted dumbly as he parked himself on the stool next to yours. 

“...Josh?” was all you could say. 

He breathed out your name, in a low tone that made your stomach flip. As he took a sip of whatever mixed drink he had in one hand, his other reached over for your book to get a good look of the cover. Emotional and muscle memory kicked in and you allowed him in your personal space, practically letting him take the book out of your hands. In the past, the two of you were always spatially close. Eating off each other's plates, unconsciously scooting your chairs closer together, or grabbing the same seats on the bus for field trips. You weren’t attached to the hip, but somehow whenever you would be in the same room you’d always end up next to each other. 

Josh mouthed the words of the title silently to himself, eyebrows raising slightly at your book of choice. 

“Must be pretty good, you didn’t even notice me walking over,” he said before taking another sip of his drink. 

A nervous laugh rattled through you, “y-yeah it’s pretty immersive.” 

Your eyes were trained on his face, mapping out all of the same but new features, and you wondered if he was doing the same to you as his warm gaze hadn’t left you. 

Josh was most definitely taking you in, as well. You looked so proper sitting on that stool in an oversized black sweater that fell past your hips and hid most of the skirt you had been wearing under it. He tried his best not to make it obvious he was staring at your legs and the tights that were wrapped around them that led down to your boots. But the singer flicked his eyes back to your face, and noted all the subtle changes since the last time he had seen you. You looked so…grown up now, that he felt like he had missed so much in the last few years. It was a feeling he had whenever he came back home, but with you…with you it bothered him, and that feeling caught him off guard. 

Because he was Josh, and he could never let silence linger too long, “so what made you bring a book to a bar of all places?” 

And in a matter of seconds, you began relaying to him how the trip back home had been the last few days, and how much you needed a break from it all. 

“...you remember that uncle that's technically my dads cousin but I call him uncle cause he’s a lot older than my dad?”

Josh nodded along. 

“He’s so fucking loud, dude. And he never shuts up and because of this my grandmother turns up the TV and no one tells him to quiet down so between the TV blasting and him rambling about the dumbest things…ugh and my mother wouldn’t stop hovering over me! I needed to get out of there.” 

He smiled as you hashed out your family drama, flashing his teeth as he did so. There were follow up questions on his end, asking about your parents and grandparents and how they had been. Josh had been one of your few friends who went out of his way to be charming to your parents. He had earned the, “oh Josh is welcome any time he wants…” invitation by fifth grade alone. 

You took a sip of your wine, “oh my god I’ve been talking so much about me, what about you? How’s the band going?” 

It was his turn to blush slightly as he began telling you about the most recent tour they had been on, and how this was a mini break between tour legs and that at the beginning of the year they were off to a new continent. 

He pointed over his shoulder at his friends who were still milling around the pool table, “...in fact Danny is right over there.” 

You turned and gave the drummer a once-over. The last time you had seen Danny Wagner he was this gangly awkward teenager who nervously laughed at everything. But there he was, in a red sweater with perfect spiral curls spilling over his shoulders. The sweater itself was very form fitting on him and it was easy to see how muscled out his shoulders and arms had become over the years. 

“Holy shit, that’s Danny Wagner?” You gave him a slight wave when he made eye contact with you, and he politely waved back with a shy smile. 

Josh, rather indignantly, noticed the way you were looking at Danny and a sharp stabbing feeling of jealousy shot through him. Heat reached the surface of his cheeks and he momentarily contemplated reaching over to gently turn your chin back to him. 

But before Josh could even shove that thought away, you turned to fully face him, and gave a nod to the bartender to get you another glass of wine. Something deep down felt more settled when your attention was fully back on him.

However, you could feel those big brown eyes staring at you as you glanced at Danny. It was such a fixed stare that you were all too familiar with. In the rare moments that Josh was quiet, he would be staring into space, deep in thought. More often than not you chalked it up to him zoning out, but having those unblinking eyes on you had your heart hammering in your chest. 

It wasn’t the first time he had looked at you like that. There were several small,  fleeting moments throughout your adolescence where you’d catch his eyes on you. On the bus coming home from a field trip, walking towards you at your locker, in US History, and even at various house parties you found yourselves at. Your reaction was always the same: the skin of your neck would heat up and prickle up to your cheeks as they flushed. He never called you on it, and for a long time you had convinced yourself that he just hadn’t noticed. Because he never said anything, the idea of it actually meaning something was too great to get your hopes up for. 

There it was, Josh thought. 

That flush of color that darkened your skin whenever he looked at you for too long. It had taken him an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that he was the cause of it, but when he did he would sometimes make you blush on purpose. Maybe it was an ego thing, but he also couldn’t believe you reacted that way to him. He hated the term of someone being out of someone’s league; but even after being in the spotlight for his career and knowing what it felt like when a room full of people swooned at him he still didn’t feel he was in the same universe as yours. 

You were always so poised and collected, even during your awkward stage. Whereas he was always pinging off the walls with his endless supply of energy and charm. 

Why would you even consider a little shit like him?  

The blissful silence was interrupted however, when you saw the door to the bar swing open and a new group of people rushed in to escape the cold. Josh’s back was to the door, but he watched your eyes travel to the side to look behind him, and he didn’t hesitate to whip his head around to see who you were looking at. 

Only one of them rang a bell, a dirty blonde in a bright blue winter coat. Was she in his home room? No…but her locker had been on the same hallway as his. 

“Is that…?”

“Miranda Sheridan,” you murmured  a little too quickly as you turned back to your wine and fiddled with the corner of your book. In all honesty, you didn’t have an issue with Miranda. The two of you had gotten along just fine in school. Well enough that you secured invites to her house from time to time. Well, Josh, had secured invites for you. 

“Oh yeah her parents had that huge property!” He excitedly remembered while throwing a gentle wave in her direction.

You hated the way your stomach twisted when she waved back.  

Her parents owned a couple of acres out in the county, which wasn’t very elaborate, but it was perfect for a lot of the parties teenagers would get themselves into. Josh particularly remembered her dad had an old toolshed in the back that their friends tried to hot box more than once. 

Naturally, her place had been the place to host the main graduation party. You tried to think of anything else, but your mind flooded with the memories of walking around her house with a cliched solo cup, trying to find Josh, your anchor in social situations, and coming up empty and settling on the couch. When you finally laid eyes on him, he was being led by the hand towards the stairs by another girl. No it hadn’t been Miranda, but someone else in your grade that had a very obvious crush on Josh and never tried hiding it. 

Josh looked over his shoulder, his tongue between his teeth as he laughed at something someone said as he walked by. His smile faded as soon as he saw you, sitting all by yourself on the couch. His feet were moving for him, but not towards you. He was already ascending the stairs, eyes locked on yours before the girl attached to his arm tugged at his wrist to get his attention and he followed her upstairs and out of sight. 

That had been the last time you had seen Josh before tonight. 

And by emotional muscle memory, your stomach plummeted just as it had years ago. 

Before you could stop it, you bit out, “we went to her graduation party, remember?” 

The singer’s head snapped back to face you.

That party. 

His voice was quiet, “you…you left early, didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t feeling well.” 

He could tell it was a lie. An excuse. 

“I just meant…I tried finding you after-”

“After what?” Once again your mouth betrayed you. 

The trunk of the elephant in the room was practically wrapping around Josh’s neck, and his chest felt tight. 

Even softer, he said “after I came downstairs…”

In response, all you did was hum into your glass as you took another sip, an eyebrow arching like a freshly-awoken cat. 

“I had to get home anyway. I had to be on a plane early the next morning.” 

That, he remembered. Your parents had surprised you with a trip across the country as your graduation present. 

But Josh struggled to find the words of what he wanted to say. He hadn’t even been upstairs for twenty minutes before he finally flew down the stairs to find you, only to see the couch filled with different people and one of your other friends informing him that you had caught a ride back home. 

It hadn’t been a complete cut off, the two of you still texted as normal for a few weeks and liked each other's facebook statuses. But the texts became less frequent, and eventually dwindled down to leaving each other on delivered for days at a time. With the band finally starting to take off, and you drowning in your college classes, communication became near impossible. 

“Right…”

“Plus I didn’t want to interrupt your night. You were having too much fun up there.”

This time it was Josh’s turn to twist the side of his mouth and quirk an eyebrow, “what exactly do you think I did that night?”

You scoffed slightly and tilted your head, “Josh.” 

“No, I want you to say it.” 

You stared at him. It felt dumb to get to this point but you weren’t embarrassed. But the same jealousy and adrenaline from that night flooded your system, and after rolling your lip between your teeth you replied, 

“You and…whats her name…hooked u-”

“We didn’t hook up,” he said firmly, not blinking. 

“Made out-”

“We didn’t make out, either.” 

“Well what were you doing up there?” You huffed. 

“Don’t get me wrong, she clearly wanted to do both of those things. But before she could even try to kiss me she was doubled over puking all over the bathroom sink. I spent the next few minutes holding her hair while she let it all out. Apparently all of the vodka shots caught up with her.” 

You sat there, face unmoving as you took in what he said. For years you had it built up in your head that while you were fleeing that house your best friend was hooking up with someone else. 

Now the embarrassment started to creep in. 

The quiet tone returned, “I didn’t even like her like that anyway.” 

You wanted the ground to open up and swallow you now. 

You had to get out of here. This was too much. 

“I need to get going,” you began as you started to dig through your purse to pay for your drinks.

Josh was quicker than you and he turned to the bartender and slapped his card down on the bar top and asked to pay for his tab and yours. 

“Josh you don’t have to-” 

“But I am,” he said firmly, looking at you out of the corner of his eye as he scribbled on the receipts. 

That tone…that tone was new coming from him. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t annoyed, but he was being authoritative in a way you hadn’t heard before. 

Your insides were squirming for multiple reasons now. 

After the bills were settled he faced you again. He wasn’t letting you slip away again. He couldn’t.  

“Let me walk you home.”

You slid off the bar stool, “it's only a couple blocks, Josh, you don’t have to.” 

“I want to.” 

There was again, that tone. 

Not wanting to fight anymore, you nodded and the both of you made your way to the exit for your coats. You caught Josh tapping out a quick text to who you assumed was Danny to let him know where he was going. 

Silently the two of you slipped outside and into the winter air. The icy breeze stung your face after being used to the heat of the bar. You shivered slightly, but tried not to show it as you turned toward the direction of your house. 

Josh shoved his hands in his pockets for warmth, noticing the tiny flakes that had begun to fall from the sky. Had it even been forecasted to snow tonight? In any case, he purposely walked a little closer to you, letting your arms brush together. 

“I didn’t know it was supposed to snow tonight?” You wondered out loud. 

“Mother Nature is spiteful, that way, I guess.”

He hated how awkward it felt now. How the familiarity and ease of talking to you had evaporated as soon as Miranda Sheridan had chosen that specific bar to walk into. 

Soon enough, your house was in view, and your steps picked up the pace to get there faster. Josh followed you into the driveway and to the side of the garage where there were stairs that led up to your room above it. You moved into that space your senior year after your dad had renovated it, and he had only been in it a handful of times before graduation. 

Before you could even reach for the rail, Josh’s hand flew out of his pocket and took a hold of yours, gently lacing your fingers with his. 

The sudden contact had your heart in your throat. 

“You really thought I hooked up with her?” He felt your hand stiffen at his words, but he continued, “as soon as I saw you on that couch, I knew I was making a mistake.”

The flakes started coming down harder now, growing in size as they fell. 

“But you still went up there.”

His shoulders sank slightly, “I know…I shouldn’t have though. She wasn’t the girl I liked anyway.”

Denial is a strong thing, and you were letting it win, “she wasn’t?”

“No…I liked someone else but I second guessed myself all the time around her, thinking she’d never be into me anyway.” 

“How could you be sure of that?”

Josh’s fingers squeezed your hand, “I don’t know she just…she could do so much better than me and there were plenty of better options out there. Never thought I stood a chance.”

Your jaw started trembling and you weren’t sure if it was from the cold or from what he was implying.

 

“You really think there are better options than you?” You mirrored his earlier comment back to him. 

His eyes slowly met yours, deliberately giving you the look he knew would darken your cheeks. 

“So much better…”

“I don’t think so…,” your voice was almost as soft as the snow that was accumulating on the ground around you. 

Consequences be damned, you started to lean towards his face. 

His long eyelashes fluttered slightly as he realized what you were doing, and he leaned in and gently brushed his full lips against yours.

At the contact, your heart went from hammering in your chest to exploding. Years of daydreaming of this scenario had finally come to an end, culminating in a kiss that had your knees shaky.

He pulled away slightly to look at you again, only to surge forward and slide his free hand up your jaw to cradle your face. His lips pressed against yours even harder, a sudden wave of emotion taking the wheel in Josh’s mind. 

The both of you had years of pent up feelings and the dams were breaking. 

His other hand reluctantly dropped your hand in favor of wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you closer. 

The move took you by surprise, but you relaxed in his arms and tilted your head slightly and parted your lips. Immediately his tongue ran along your bottom lip before delving into your mouth. A low groan rose from his throat and his fans flexed slightly against your cheek.

A gust of wind whipped around you, causing you to shiver against his lips. 

“N-need to get you inside,” Josh chuckled, leaning his forehead on yours. 

You took a step backwards, resting your foot on the first step. 

“Come up with me?”

He answered with a quick kiss on your lips and mumbled, “lead the way…”

With a grin you turned and hurried up the steps, trying your best not to slip in the slush. Your hands shook as you unlocked your door, nearly stumbling inside to escape the cold. 

As soon as you had shut the door, Josh pushed you against it and started unzipping your coat and planting his lips on your neck. You made quick work of his too and both outer layers were haphazardly thrown onto a chair in the corner. His icy hands started fiddling with the bottom of your sweater, and you both paused at the silent question of going forward. 

He lifted his head out of the crook of your neck to look at you, “we don’t have to if you don’t…I mean we can just hang out if thats all-” 

You shushed him by taking his strong jaw in your hands and gave him a searing kiss. He kissed you back as another wave of emotion washed over him.

 

After letting his lips warm up against yours you pulled back and stared into his eyes, “Josh…this is all I want right now.” 

His eyelashes fluttered again, and this time his cheeks were darkening at the look you were giving him. 

“You sure?” 

“Please…”

Not needing to be told twice, his hands disappeared under your sweater and swept across the skin of your sides. You jolted slightly at how cold they were, but didn’t let it deter you from kissing him again, melting into his touch. His hands slowly rose to cup your breasts through your bra, and the light squeeze had you fighting to keep the low whine in your throat. 

Josh noticed you holding back and leaned in to whisper in your ear, “it’s just me…let me hear you…” 

The low tone of his voice had your body shivering under his hands and when his teeth grazed the skin of your neck you didn’t even try to hold back the breathy whine you made. Impatiently you helped him get your sweater off of your body, flinging it blindly to the side. You stared at the hungry look in his eyes as you reached behind your back to unhook your bra. Wanting to torture him even further, you purposely took your time letting it slide off your arms and onto the floor. His eyes never left your chest as he reached to take one of your breasts into his hand, pinching and rolling your nipple between his fingers. Before you could fully register the feeling he was bending his head down to replace his fingers with his mouth, moaning into your soft skin. He gave the other side the same attention, before reaching behind you for the zipper to your skirt. 

As he knelt down to shimmy it down your hips, you practically clawed at his long sleeve shirt off of him. The lighting  in your room was dim, but you were able to see all of the muscles on his body that were definitely not there the last time you saw him. His arms were much more toned than you thought, and his shoulders and chest were defined in a way that had your lip rolling into your mouth between your teeth. 

Josh made quick work in getting your boots off, helping you step out of them and your skirt. His eyes flicked up at you and they were so much darker than before. He rose to his feet quickly and slammed his mouth onto yours, squeezing your hips and the back of your thighs as he directed you to jump and wrap your legs around him. With a level of coordination you didn’t know he had, you were spun around while he walked the both of you to your bed. It was still in the same place it always had been, in the corner by the window. 

He gently sat you on the edge of the bed, kissing down your body until he was once again knelt before you on the floor. The sight of his blown out pupils and swollen lips sent a flash of heat to your core, and you couldn’t even squeeze your thighs together as he was rolling your tights down your legs and swiftly off your feet. 

You never could have anticipated how the night was going to turn out, so your choice in underwear wasn’t the sexiest pair you owned, but that didn’t stop your best friend from planting kisses along the waist band, tentatively dipping his finger tips under the cotton material to start pulling them down. Your breath caught as you raised your hips to help him out, and within seconds your final layer of clothing was added to the pile on the floor. 

Looking down at him, you scooted back towards the headboard with your legs shut, and he crawled up the bed after you. With your head settled on your pillow he hovered above you for a moment, bringing his hand to trace along your jaw and down your neck, looking at you in a way you had only dreamed about thus far. 

You weren’t going to get emotional, but you couldn’t help it. It was just fully hitting you, as you felt the heat radiate off his body, and the weight of him as he settled on top of you. Thankfully your eyes only welled up a tiny bit, but Josh still noticed and his brow furrowed. His eyes softened and he seemed to sense why you were suddenly still and quiet. He could always guess what you were feeling, even when you were kids. 

His thumb brushed your lips so softly you barely felt it, “I know…” 

He kissed the corner of your mouth before leaving a trail of kisses down your throat, chest, and stomach. He brushed his lips across the skin right above your core where your curls started to grow. He was so close to where you needed him. Carefully he planted a few kisses on your thighs before drawing your legs up and bending your knees, taking his time in case you changed your mind at any point. 

Slowly, he spread your legs apart to finally get a proper look at you, and his breath caught in his throat as your gorgeous core laid bare before him. He was glued to his spot on the bed, eyes sweeping your body, having his own moment of realizing that this was real, and you were actually beneath him like this. His eyes traveled back up to yours, unusually silent for someone who always has something to say, no matter the situation. 

Instead, he traveled down the soft flesh of your thigh, leaving searing kisses in his wake. Just when you thought he was going to reach your core, he turned his head to do the same to your other leg. A low whine rumbled in your throat, and you felt his lips spread into a smile against your skin. You felt the faintest huff of breath as he tried to contain a laugh. 

His mouth hovered over your core, just out of reach. He wanted to memorize you, every detail, every feature that was so uniquely you. He used his thumbs to slowly spread your lips apart, dumbfounded at just how wet you were for him and how your arousal was beginning to pool and drip off of you. 

Your hips twitched in his hands, desperate for any contact beyond his feather-light touches. The way he was looking at your body, with blown out pupils and a parted mouth was only driving you crazier. 

At last, he couldn’t hold himself back anymore before dipping his head down to plunge his tongue into your center, moaning as he finally tasted you. A years-long curiosity was answered, and it was better than anything he had tried to imagine. 

The vibrations had you involuntarily arching into his face. He wasted no time to begin lapping at your folds, swirling his tongue wherever he could. But when he finally wrapped his lips around your clit, stars exploded behind your eyelids as you squeezed your eyes shut. 

“Fuck…” was shouted towards the ceiling, and it encouraged him even more as he sucked even harder on your clit as one of his fingers circled your entrance. One of your hands shot down to his hair, tangling your fingers in his curls to hold him in place. His tongue was swirling around your clit now and the finger that had been teasing you slowly entered. Immediately your walls clenched around him, relishing the friction and slight stretch it brought you. 

Josh continued to pump and curl his finger inside you as he spoiled your clit with his tongue. He was so hard that his pants were nearly suffocating him, but he ignored it in favor of giving you all of his attention. A second finger joined the first inside you, and he curled them upwards to hit that spot inside you that had your fingers nearly pulling out his hair and grinding against his face. He could feel the muscles in your thighs tense and strain against his ears. You kept trying to close your legs completely around him, but he used his other hand to anchor you down and keep you spread so he could reach you properly. 

The spring inside you was coiling tighter and tighter, each drag of his fingertips and swipe of his tongue sent you hurtling closer and closer to the edge. 

You were past the point of moaning and could only muster pitiful whines and whimpers. You were so fucking close,  and clinging to his fingers so tightly that he could barely move them. He flattened his tongue against your clit, letting your hips grind and chase your high against him for a few seconds before closing his lips around it once more and sucked on it harshly as you shouted his name. His fingers and mouth worked you through it, letting you ride it out and prolong it as best he could. When your clit became too sensitive he peppered kisses along your thighs again, continuing to pump his fingers slower and slower until he was sure he had felt the last twitch and aftershock of your orgasm. 

He carefully pulled his fingers from you and immediately brought them to his mouth, savoring your taste while cleaning himself off. You used this moment to pull your hand from his hair and down to his cheek, tilting his gaze to you as you propped yourself up on your other elbow. The moonlight caught the shine of your arousal mixed with the matted facial hair. 

Josh quickly sat up on his knees to work at his belt, impatiently sliding off the bed for a moment to fully pull his pants down his legs and off his feet. He was left in his tight boxers, leaving nothing to the imagination as his length pulsed under the fabric. 

Now, it was your turn to crawl over to him, your mouth watering as your eyes traveled down his torso and followed his happy trail to the band of his boxers. You reached up and curled your fingers around the elastic, peeling the final layer of clothing down his thighs and let them pool around his ankles. 

Your eyes were on his cock now, marveling at just how thick it was. Tentatively you reached your hand up to wrap your fingers around it. The feeling of it twitch slightly against your palm sent a shot of arousal through your body. 

He stood stock still at the edge of the bed, his entire body tensing as you touched and felt him. His lower lip was trapped between his teeth and he nearly drew blood when you bent forward and placed a soft kiss on the head. But it was when your lips wrapped around him and your hand slid to the base that his head rolled back on his shoulders and your name escaped his lips. 

A drop of pre-cum landed on your tongue and you wanted nothing more to keep going until he was a whiny mess, shuddering under your touch. 

All too soon his hips backed away from you, pulling his cock from your mouth as you looked up at his almost apologetic eyes. 

“If you keep doing that…”

“But I wanted to keep doing that,” you nearly whined up at him. 

He closed his eyes for a second and breathed through his nose, trying to calm himself down. 

He looked down at you, dark eyes swimming in desire, “but there’s so much more I want to do with you first…” 

He kicked the boxers fully off his feet before kneeling over you on the bed again, flattening you back against your pillows as your legs spread to allow his hips to settle against yours. Briefly his cock was trapped between you, and the feeling of it radiating heat against your skin made you anticipate the next move even more. He captured your lips with his as one of his hands reached down to grip himself, running the head of his cock through your folds and allowing your arousal to coat him before he positioned himself at your entrance. 

You took his bottom lip between your teeth and angled your hips towards him, desperate to finally feel him. 

Slowly he pushed forward, trying to pace himself so this night wouldn’t end embarrassingly fast. 

The way he stretched you as he pushed all the way in had you seeing stars. You felt so full in the best way, like he was made for you. 

“S-so tight…” he hissed as he fully sheathed himself inside you, his pelvic bone resting on your clit. 

Your legs instinctively wrapped around his hips to keep him in place, wanting him as close to you as possible. 

The two of you remained still, getting used to the feeling of one another before Josh’s own needs started to creep up on him. He pulled back out slightly, before pushing back in. He buried his face into the crook of your neck as he began to move, kissing your neck and throat as you mewled at the stretch and drag of his cock. One arm of his framed your head while the other slid underneath you to grip your ass. He tilted your hips this way so that his pelvis was grinding perfectly against your clit as he built up speed. 

Your nails dug until the skin of his shoulder blades as you tried to hold onto him. You were still so sensitive from your previous orgasm that your second one was quickly building up inside you. You locked your ankles at the small of his back while your hands reached for his face to crash your lips against his. 

At this point he was slamming into you, chasing not only his own high but yours. He needed to feel it. The euphoric squeeze around his fingers earlier wasn’t enough. He needed more. He needed to feel your entire body shudder and quake underneath him;  around him. The sound of your bodies colliding with each other was driving him insane. 

The hand that had been gripping your ass slid around your hip and snaked between you and his fingers pinched and rolled your clit expertly, making your second orgasm his only priority. 

Your back arched at the contact the combined friction of his thick cock and his fingers had you flying off the edge, clamping down around him as you shouted his name again into the air. 

“God..fuck…sh-,” expletives tumbled from his mouth as he felt you shake from your orgasm. He tried to hold back but his cock twitched inside you and he bottomed out one last time as his release coated your walls. He tried his best to keep working you through yours, using every synapse in his brain to ignore his own heightened sensitivity. 

Eventually, you both came down from your highs and your bodies relaxed against each other and the bed. Your eyes fluttered open to find him staring at you, his face soft like it had been when he had first looked at your body fully. His lips were parted in awe, and you brushed your thumb across them. 

“That…should’ve happened a long time ago…” he confessed trying to catch his breath. 

“Agreed.”

His mouth formed a smile and his eyes twinkled, “but hey…this time I really did go upstairs with a girl and hooked up with her…”

“Josh!” Your eyes widened and you playfully pushed his shoulder. He laughed into a kiss before turning to look at the door on the far wall of your room. 

“Bathroom, right?”

You nodded with a smile and he slowly pulled out of you, hissing at the sensitivity and the cold air hitting his cock. He beelined for the door and you heard water running briefly before he returned with a thankfully warm washcloth to clean the both of you up. He discarded it into the hamper before crawling back into bed with you, gathering your body in his arms under the covers. 

The way his breath washed over your neck was so comforting and warm that sleep quickly overtook you and you drifted off while you felt his lips brush your skin. 

The next morning, sunlight streamed into your room. Josh was the first to pry his eyes open, and in the silence he took in just how much of a time capsule your room was. The same posters were on your walls, a couple film posters he had given you himself. An obsolete iHome sat on the top of your dresser, surrounded by a collection of jewelry and trinkets that looked familiar to him. 

You stirred in his arms, and he rasped in your ear, “Mmm…morning, lover.” 

The endearment sent a jolt of adrenaline through you and your eyes shot open. It was real. He was really in your bed, his strong arms holding you as those beautiful eyes looked at you in reverence. Your heart was stuttering in your chest. 

“Morning…” you replied, forefinger and thumb capturing his chin and pulling him down for a slow kiss. 

For a while the two of you just cuddled in silence, before a buzz from Josh’s pants pocket on the floor alerted him to a text. Reluctantly, he reached down towards the floor to fish his phone out of the pocket. His notifications were a bunch of texts from his brothers asking for his whereabouts and when he was going to grace them with his presence again. Quickly he typed out a few responses, not fully giving away how his night ended up but letting them know he wasn’t lying in a ditch somewhere. 

He sighed as he placed his phone on your nightstand. 

“I’m being summoned…”

You felt a pang in your heart, the other reality of him eventually leaving hitting you. 

He felt you tense in his arms and his brows furrowed, “what’s wrong?” 

You turned to face him fully, not wanting to sound needy or clingy, but not knowing how else to put it, “I just…I don’t want you to go…” 

“You can come with me if you want! I’m sure my mom would love to see you and Jake-”

You cut him off, “right but…what happens after that?” 

He looked confused, “what do you mean?” 

You wanted the earth to open up and swallow you at this point, but you needed to know, “what does this mean…?” 

Realization formed on his face as he connected the dots, then shyness crept over his features, “what do you want it to mean?”

“We can’t just go back to being friends now…I can’t pretend that this never happened and-.” your chin wobbled a little as you tried to explain yourself, trying to keep your emotions at bay, but remembering how he had literally just called you lover made it impossible. 

“I don’t think we can go back to being just friends either…” he started. You started to panic  before he continued, “and I don’t have it in me to even try to pretend this never happened. I can’t go back to being a stranger, or just some guy you went to school with.”

“You were never just some guy, Josh…”

He rolled over you, hovering his face above yours, “then maybe…we can see how this goes…?”

You bit your lip, “yeah?” 

He smiled, “yeah,” before slotting his lips over yours and giving you the most tender kiss so far. He relaxed on top of you, allowing himself to be wrapped up in your arms as you lazily made out together as the sun slipped behind some clouds and it began snowing again. 

Eventually you made it out of bed to shower and get dressed. As Josh donned his outfit from the night before, he couldn’t help but be a little smug at how it would be a dead giveaway to what he had been up to the previous night. But then he remembered who his brothers were. 

He looked up hastily as he tied his shoes, “I do have to warn you that my brothers are going to be really annoying about this, but just ignore it.” 

You placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “it’ll be fine, Josh.” 

He smiled and rose to his feet, kissing you again. 

Soon you were carefully making it down the snowy steps, trying to get to your car when Josh froze on the bottom step. You nearly collided with his back when you looked in the direction he was looking at and made direct eye contact with…your father. Your dad was standing on the covered porch, drinking a coffee. 

Well fuck. 

Josh and your dad seemed to be in a weird staring contest, silently communicating with each other. 

You stepped around Josh, hitting your key fob to unlock your car. 

“Not exactly what I had in mind when I told you you were always welcome at my house, Josh…” 

Your face flushed with embarrassment, “oh my god, Dad…” 

Quickly you and Josh bolted to your car, but not before Josh gave a toothy grin and wave at your dad, exclaiming, “nice to see you!” before shutting his door. 

You gave him a look as you clicked your seatbelt and started the car. 

He threw his hands up. grinning, “what? It could’ve been worse.” 

But as you pulled out of your driveway, and pulled up to the first stop sign on the street, Josh reached over the console and took your hand, bringing your fingers to his lips and giving them a soft kiss. The embarrassment from earlier melted away as he gave you that look again.

Your cheeks betrayed you and splotched with red. Inwardly you figured you’d always do that when he looked at you like that, and the thought warmed you instead of bothering you this time. 

It wasn’t long before you pulled into Josh’s family driveway. The drive over had been pure muscle memory and comfortable silence between the two of you. 

But as you got out of your car, you were met with the all too familiar voice of his youngest brother, Sam. 

“Oh my fucking god, I knew it!” He yelled from the top of the driveway. 

“Shut up, Sam,” Josh warned as he rounded the car to you and took your hand.

“Shut up, Sam,” the younger brother mocked right back at him, laughing his signature laugh. 

But for once, the holidays didn’t seem as daunting now that you had your best friend, Josh, back at your side. 

Fin

Tag List:  @dannyandthekiszkas , @readyforthegarden , @sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine , @wideminded-dreamer , @runwayblues , @wildbluesorbit , @llightmyllovee , @rhythm-of-space , @sacredthefran , @writingcold , @alwaysonthemend , @wetkleenex-gvf , @josh-iamyour-mama , @lightsofthe-living-gvf , @gvfcinema, @sacredthethreadgvf , @losfacedevil , @jakekiszkasbuttsweat , @shutupdevvie , @hearts-hunger , @gretavanfleetposts , @ascendingtostardust , @mackalah , @andromeda-raine-gvf , @jake-kiszkas-smirk , @gracev0609 , @sacredjake , @earthlysorrows , @gvfpal , @myownparadise96 , @itsafullmoon , @gvfmelbourne, @twistedmelodies , @that-witchy-pan , @gold-mines-melting , @texas-bbq-pringles , @jakekiszkapunchmeintheface , @childinthegardenn , @char289 , @stardustvanfleet , @sunfl0wer-power , @holdingup-fallingsky , @bladenotblaze , @gretavanlace , @lipstickitty , @jjwasneverhere , @josiee-gvf , @peaceloveunitygvf , @musicislove3389 , @gretavanhockey , @gretavanazula

[snakeguy999]

Hello ! You are such an amazing artist I really love your art style

Sorry if this may sound annoying to you, but do you have any tips how to get better/draw anatomy

You have such a beautiful/accurate way of drawing it

❤️❤️❤️Tyy!! I am happy to be considered an artist. I'm still at the beginning of my journey into art, so my 'knowledge' is limited! Ouf

Prepare for quite some text

Nr 1 tip is to draw from reference seriously, like actually trying to follow it precisely, not stylising it too wildly(this is for studies, which require that you let go of your comfort); you have a ref and you try your hardest to put it accurately on your paper

Tip nr 2 would be to think critically of the subject, you shouldn't draw just what you see, but instead be aware of its presence in space as a 3d object with faces which are hidden to you by the front

Here are some of my juvenile attempts at the skull, simplified in the style of bammes(anatomy prof you can find his books and drawings online for free, invaluable resources). Here i try my best to understand the *whole* of the object, not just the planes that face me.

the core 3d objects(spheres, cubes, cylinders, cones, alla those) are used to construct, in drawing, anything which exists in our world

An antlion larva is a collection of flattened or sharp cylinders for example

Everything is comprised of simpler shapes, you just gotta develop your eye to find them and your mind to see them as they really are(cubes are a collection of squares in space, cylinders are elipses connected, a cone is just a dot connecting above a circle with its edges)

Tip nr 3 I hated to hear this constantly as I struggled to grasp anatomy(and still do), but:

You gotta start with the skeleton because otherwise any muscles you add to a nebulous puppet will look like nothing. You gotta learn, memorise, and internalise the proportions of the bones, of the body. You gotta learn the way the skeleton looks and acts, the most important being the skull

And it will take a lifetime if you wanna do it right fr but for starters, you can learn it simplified(search up bammes skull and drawings that as many times as you need) and then...

Nr 4: add simplified muscle groups

Nr 5 keep the shapes big, don't get into details when trying to understand the biological body

And the last tip...most important...

Have fun!

Anatomy isn't the sole focus of your skill acquisition, you're not a 'bad' artist for not knowing anatomy yet, it comes with time and a lot of it and a lot a lot a lot of exercise, so don't beat yourself up over it

If you really want it, and with each drawing, you try harder than the last to get things right then anatomy will come to you. So just play around when studying, look up how Kim Jung Gi treats bodies in perspective, and how he puts them in little boxes.

Never forget to flip your canvas(or point your drawing in the mirror) and to take visual breaks from every once in a while or else you won't see the mistakes

Yea! This subject is immense i haven't even scratched the surface but the more you work on your anatomy, the more there'll be to learn

So enjoy your exploring!

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 10, 2025

Simplified internal models in human control of complex objects. Bazzi, S., Stansfield, S., Hogan, N., & Sternad, D. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(11), e1012599.

Co-contraction embodies uncertainty: An optimal feedforward strategy for robust motor control. Berret, B., Verdel, D., Burdet, E., & Jean, F. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(11), e1012598.

Distributed representations of behaviour-derived object dimensions in the human visual system. Contier, O., Baker, C. I., & Hebart, M. N. (2024). Nature Human Behaviour, 8(11), 2179–2193.

Thalamic spindles and Up states coordinate cortical and hippocampal co-ripples in humans. Dickey, C. W., Verzhbinsky, I. A., Kajfez, S., Rosen, B. Q., Gonzalez, C. E., Chauvel, P. Y., Cash, S. S., Pati, S., & Halgren, E. (2024). PLOS Biology, 22(11), e3002855.

Preconfigured cortico-thalamic neural dynamics constrain movement-associated thalamic activity. González-Pereyra, P., Sánchez-Lobato, O., Martínez-Montalvo, M. G., Ortega-Romero, D. I., Pérez-Díaz, C. I., Merchant, H., Tellez, L. A., & Rueda-Orozco, P. E. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 10185.

A tradeoff between efficiency and robustness in the hippocampal-neocortical memory network during human and rodent sleep. Hahn, M. A., Lendner, J. D., Anwander, M., Slama, K. S. J., Knight, R. T., Lin, J. J., & Helfrich, R. F. (2024). Progress in Neurobiology, 242, 102672.

NREM sleep improves behavioral performance by desynchronizing cortical circuits. Kharas, N., Chelaru, M. I., Eagleman, S., Parajuli, A., & Dragoi, V. (2024). Science, 386(6724), 892–897.

Human hippocampus and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex infer and update latent causes during social interaction. Mahmoodi, A., Luo, S., Harbison, C., Piray, P., & Rushworth, M. F. S. (2024). Neuron, 112(22), 3796-3809.e9.

Can compression take place in working memory without a central contribution of long-term memory? Mathy, F., Friedman, O., & Gauvrit, N. (2024). Memory & Cognition, 52(8), 1726–1736.

Offline hippocampal reactivation during dentate spikes supports flexible memory. McHugh, S. B., Lopes-dos-Santos, V., Castelli, M., Gava, G. P., Thompson, S. E., Tam, S. K. E., Hartwich, K., Perry, B., Toth, R., Denison, T., Sharott, A., & Dupret, D. (2024). Neuron, 112(22), 3768-3781.e8.

Reward Bases: A simple mechanism for adaptive acquisition of multiple reward types. Millidge, B., Song, Y., Lak, A., Walton, M. E., & Bogacz, R. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(11), e1012580.

Hidden state inference requires abstract contextual representations in the ventral hippocampus. Mishchanchuk, K., Gregoriou, G., Qü, A., Kastler, A., Huys, Q. J. M., Wilbrecht, L., & MacAskill, A. F. (2024). Science, 386(6724), 926–932.

Dopamine builds and reveals reward-associated latent behavioral attractors. Naudé, J., Sarazin, M. X. B., Mondoloni, S., Hannesse, B., Vicq, E., Amegandjin, F., Mourot, A., Faure, P., & Delord, B. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 9825.

Compensation to visual impairments and behavioral plasticity in navigating ants. Schwarz, S., Clement, L., Haalck, L., Risse, B., & Wystrach, A. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(48), e2410908121.

Replay shapes abstract cognitive maps for efficient social navigation. Son, J.-Y., Vives, M.-L., Bhandari, A., & FeldmanHall, O. (2024). Nature Human Behaviour, 8(11), 2156–2167.

Rapid modulation of striatal cholinergic interneurons and dopamine release by satellite astrocytes. Stedehouder, J., Roberts, B. M., Raina, S., Bossi, S., Liu, A. K. L., Doig, N. M., McGerty, K., Magill, P. J., Parkkinen, L., & Cragg, S. J. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 10017.

A hierarchical active inference model of spatial alternation tasks and the hippocampal-prefrontal circuit. Van de Maele, T., Dhoedt, B., Verbelen, T., & Pezzulo, G. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 9892.

Cognitive reserve against Alzheimer’s pathology is linked to brain activity during memory formation. Vockert, N., Machts, J., Kleineidam, L., Nemali, A., Incesoy, E. I., Bernal, J., Schütze, H., Yakupov, R., Peters, O., Gref, D., Schneider, L. S., Preis, L., Priller, J., Spruth, E. J., Altenstein, S., Schneider, A., Fliessbach, K., Wiltfang, J., Rostamzadeh, A., … Ziegler, G. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 9815.

The human posterior parietal cortices orthogonalize the representation of different streams of information concurrently coded in visual working memory. Xu, Y. (2024). PLOS Biology, 22(11), e3002915.

Challenging the Bayesian confidence hypothesis in perceptual decision-making. Xue, K., Shekhar, M., & Rahnev, D. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(48), e2410487121.

[realharrisonarmorypatriot]

Greetings Legionnaire Patriot,

I am Augur Mendelssohn, also in the Interest, or rather the Dawnline Shore in your parlance. I was hoping you could humour this old man. I'd like to know your purview's relationship to religion.

Are there Armoury variations to old Earth religions like Christianity and Islam? What happens to Indigenous Diasporan belief systems? Are they also brought into Armoury Compliance? What popular superstitions and rituals are you Legionnaires performing?

Forgive my exuberance; yours is one of the few faces of the Armoury I have had the pleasure of contacting. If my questions are beyond you, please disregard them. But I am excited to receive your reply. Whatever that might be.

Yours Faithfully M. Mendelssohn

(OOC I'm at @ask-an-augur)

The Temperate Throne is largely an areligious governing force, though nearly every planet brought in to the Purview have histories of thriving religious and cultural practices. Harrison Armory does not bring them into "Armory Compliance," and many of these planets retain their cultural and religious practices long past their integration into the Purview.

As Acquisition and Management Teams attempt to integrate themselves into the culture of worlds before their integration, local religion is venerated and thrives in the earliest days of Armory acquisition. It is never discouraged, nor outright banned. So long as respect is paid to the Temperate Throne, the gods one worships are not called into question.

Harrison Armory gives a great deal of respect to the local cultures of the the Purview. It is the responsibility of a subsection of Acquisition and Management to catalogue the local culture, practices, and history for later preservation in museums and exhibits. They partner with local cultural leaders, ensuring they pay proper respect to indigenous diasporan traditions and history.

Occasionally, friction will arise between the Temperate Throne and Purview religions in regards to work schedules and cultural values. Every Purview planet works on a standardized calendar of holidays in order to simplify trade and productivity across a large swathe of the galaxy, which is often misconstrued as an erasure of local culture and religion. This is, however, untrue. While this standardized calendar can complicate some cultural practices, indigenous diasporan religious and cultural beliefs are never discouraged in the Purview.

Don't mind that you can only move up by conforming more to Armory culture. Don't mind that you are never given space to preserve your culture or religion. Don't mind that, within a few generations, the culture of a Purview planet is utterly flattened. They don't outright discourage it, though.

[letyouknowinc]

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[weaponwiki]

Rainbow Six Siege players, interested in Arknights?

Arknights is having it's Rainbow Six Siege collab in approximately 3 months. If you're interested in getting to know the game, and later when the collab happens, you'll be able to get a few familiar faces playable.

What is Arknights? Arknights is a free-to-play tactical tower defense game with character collecting features.

"Easy to understand, hard to master", as a tower defense game with high difficulty content, different game modes, and many characters to collect, Arknights offers an unique gameplay experience where you make use of your various operators to make the decisions to win. The game is available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan server) Japanese, Korean, English (Global server). The event that introduces the Siege operators has passed in the CN server, but JP, KR and Eng servers will be having the collaboration event at the same time (approx. 8-9/24), and presumably on the TW server a few months later of that.

Collab? Siege operators featured in Arknights are Ash, Tachanka, Frost, Blitz, Ela, Fuze, Iana and Doc. You can get Tachanka and Fuze by playing the event (Operation Originium Dust for Tachanka and Operation Lucent Arrowhead for Fuze). Other characters are split in headhunting banners, where you have to roll for the opportunity to acquire them, separated as Ash+Frost+Blitz and Ela+Iana+Doc.

Ash and Ela are 6-stars, highest rarity in the game while the others are 5-stars, second highest rarity in the game. The acquisition probability for these characters is 2% for the 6-stars and 8% for the 5-stars. If you fail to get a 6-star after rolling 50 times, the 2% chance will go up by 2% every time you do not get a 6-star (51st roll will have a 4% and your 52nd roll will have 6% chance and so forth.) The chance to acquire the characters is 50%, however if you reach 120 rolls you will automatically acquire Ash/Ela and once per banner, if you get one of the two 5-stars, the next 5-star will automatically be the other 5-star (e.g., you get Frost, then the next 5-star is guaranteed to be Blitz).

Why now? Arknights is estimated to have the collab in a few months (which should have in-game content for Siege as well). Arknights does require some time investment to get to a point where you can play through all of the content that the collab will provide. With six of the playable Siege operators being gacha-exclusive, this will give you ample time to save up. (If you do not save up, you can still acquire the characters, but this will take up a lot of your time compared to starting earlier and saving up.)

How difficult? Arknights has many different types of gameplay, but you don't need to play all of them straight away. The game starts relatively easy, explaining the gameplay principles and later adding various gimmicks to overcome. If you are struggling with a specific stage, Arknights has an active community providing guides and tips.

Platform? Arknights is a mobile game available through Apple Store and Google Play but it's also available for pc through Google Play, or with an emulator like BlueStacks. The gameplay is as easy as on a mobile device or on PC.

Anything else? The event will feature costumes for Ash, Tachanka, Ela, Iana and Doc. These are purely cosmetic items (new illustration and a different character model and different effect animations). But if you want those as well, it's reccomended to start saving for those.

Ending note, while Arknights offers an unique and fun gameplay experience as well as good music and story, if you are prone to lootbox/gacha spending issues in relation to in-game purchases, I would not reccomend the game. While Arknights is seen as a "better than average" gacha, it is still a game that lives on micro-transactions. You can enjoy the story, soundtracks and gameplay content through many content creators found online.

[brookspayrolleor]

PEO Companies in India – The Smart Choice for Global Businesses

As globalization accelerates, PEO companies in India are gaining popularity among businesses aiming to enter or expand in the Indian market. A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) simplifies the process of hiring, payroll, compliance, and HR management, enabling companies to focus on core operations while the PEO handles the administrative burden. For companies looking to explore India without setting up a legal entity, this is an efficient and legally sound solution.

Understanding the PEO Model

A PEO forms a co-employment agreement with the client company, taking on responsibilities such as employment contracts, salary disbursements, taxation, and compliance. This model allows companies to engage Indian employees without needing a registered office or branch, thereby saving both time and cost.

Key Benefits of Partnering with a PEO in India

Speed to Operate With a PEO, businesses can start hiring immediately. This is especially useful for startups or international firms testing the waters in India.

Local Compliance India has intricate labor laws that differ across states. PEO providers ensure that businesses stay compliant with local rules and avoid legal pitfalls.

Lower Overheads Companies save on legal, HR, and administrative costs by outsourcing these functions to experts.

Effortless Hiring and Onboarding With access to local recruitment networks, PEOs can streamline the process of talent acquisition and onboarding.

Scalability As your business grows, a PEO can easily manage employee scaling without administrative complexity.

Core Services Offered

Payroll and Tax Processing

Employee Benefit Management

Statutory Compliance

Recruitment and Exit Support

Labor Law Advisory

Who Should Use a PEO?

Foreign companies planning short or medium-term operations in India.

SMEs without a dedicated HR or legal team.

Tech startups looking to scale quickly with minimal bureaucracy.

Selecting the Right PEO Company

When assessing PEO companies in India, evaluate:

Their experience and client portfolio

Breadth of services and technology platform

Regional expertise and scalability options

Transparency in fees and service-level agreements

Conclusion

India is an attractive destination for global businesses, but navigating its regulatory and HR environment can be challenging. A reliable PEO can act as your in-country HR partner, making expansion smoother, faster, and more compliant. With the right PEO provider, businesses can confidently grow their presence in India without unnecessary risks or delays.

[airsllides]

airsLLide No. 3896: N937AS, McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (DC-9-83), Alaska Airlines, Seattle/Tacoma, September 10, 1989.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines flies the claim «Proudly All Boeing» on its current fleet of Boeing 737NG and MAX, and it also did in the past use this slogan to emphasize its close and exclusive relationship to the Seattle planemaker. Some folks thus mocked Alaska Airlines when the carrier suddenly inherited the Airbus A319/A320 and A321neo into its fleet, following the acquisition of Virgin America.

The mocker's statement that Alaska had - so to say - broken its vows with Boeing however clearly disregarded the airline's past which saw service of various non-Boeing aircraft models with the airline. After all, it was a (single) Convair 880 that opened the door into the jet age for the carrier. And, even more drastic, Alaska became a power-user of the MD-80 family, employing 47 units of the jet built by Boeing's then arch-rival McDonnell Douglas, and this aircraft model played a key role for the airline with the «friendly Eskimo».

In spring 1985, Alaska took delivery of the first of 22 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (under which designation the aircraft is officially certified, and under which name it was also marketed before the MD-82 term was adopted as simplified brand name) it had ordered from the manufacturer. The jets were used to replace the existing fleet of Boeing 727-200 Adv. jets on flights between Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. At the same time, Alaska became the launch customer for the extended range, higher thrust and thus also higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW) variant DC-9-83 (later redubbed the MD-83 in marketing documents and other inofficial circumstances). It took delivery of the first unit in December 1985, and used the type to grow South. The extended range of the DC-9-83, or MD-83 if you prefer the more common marketing term, was an essential prerequisite for Alaska's entry into the leisure market with flight to Mexico, and also allowed the carrier to seasonally stretch its route network from Anchorage to destinations in the midwest of the lower 48.

The MD-82/83 served Alaska until 2008, only overshadowed once by the tragic loss of MD-82 N936AS off the Pacific Coast in January 2000, following a structural failure of the tail fin assembly and subsequent loss of control. The MD-80s were replaced with the Boeing 737NG that started coming in, turning Alaska into the claimed «Proudly All Boeing» operator.

However, actually even today, the claim does not hold water by 100%: The two feeder partners Horizon Air - a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines - and SkyWest both fly substantial fleets of Brasilian built Embraer 170 jets in full Alaska Airlines markings and on behalf of Alaska Airlines, thereby at least scratching the «All» in the «Proudly All Boeing» claim.

Oh, of course, I already hear my fellow wannabe legal consultants: «But of course the statement is 100% correct - McDonnell Douglas and Boeing have long since merged, and wasn't Boeing also about to finalise the deal to take-over Embraer right before the MAX was grounded, the pandemic hit and all business models went down the chute?» Yeah, yeah, good point, Dr. Watson, but it still is a fleet of McDonnell Douglas built MD-80s, and of Embraer built E170s that add(ed) substantial capacity and variety to the claimed all Boeing 737 single fleet.

[heartyearning]

@the3gracesshownattheirbath (don't think it's letting me tag you properly, soz!) basically what i use now is just a simple moleskine notebook in which i write down the title, author and date i finished the book, then a short summary in my own words (sometimes i forego this esp if it's a re-read) and jot down my thoughts on it, any quotes i liked from the book, whatever the lead-up to my reading it may have been etc. i also use it sometimes when i'm reading a play or smth for school, not always but on occasion just to make notes as i'm going through the text. i also compile little poems i like in there but i haven't done much of that this year!

it's taken on different forms since i've been doing this though, in my first official reading journal i also noted down DNF's or book acquisitions and sometimes made notes on audiobooks i was listening to, but i've found none of that really interests me so i ended up just simplifying it down to this which works lovely for me :)

[hebrewbyinbal]

If you're looking for a way to learn Israeli Hebrew that's not just effective but also eliminates the challenges and frustrations typically faced by English speakers,

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In contrast, my PSP Phonetic System, for example, simplifies your Israeli pronunciation and accelerates your Hebrew acquisition, making it much easier for you to progress from sounds to full conversations swiftly.

My conversational course, Practically Speaking Hebrew, allows you to do just that from day one. It immerses you in practical scenarios you're likely to encounter in everyday Israeli life, from casual chats to more formal interactions. You’ll understand how the language works and all the "whys" so you stand on your own in Hebrew better than you ever imagined.

My best-selling Hebrew 1-2-3 series for reading and writing is another program, meticulously structured to build your understanding progressively using your knowledge of English to teach you Hebrew literacy! By the end of these two workbooks and a textbook, you'll have completed all your reading and writing skills in Hebrew!

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#hebrew #aliyah #languagelearning #jewish #hebrewlanguage #hebrewbyinbal

[acuvate-updates]

Revolutionizing Enterprises: CXO’s GenAI Transformation

1. Unlocking AI’s Potential: A Strategic Overview

AI adoption, embraced by 70% of executives, promises enhanced customer experiences despite challenges. Understanding and integrating AI into business operations is essential. Explore our guide for actionable insights, ensuring businesses not only survive but thrive in the AI-driven era.

Learn more about Artificial Intelligence impact in 2025

AI Reshaping Decision-Making in 2025

Generative AI, like GPT, simplifies business processes. It transforms decision-making with its user-friendly interfaces, self-learning capabilities, and efficient sorting.

Furthermore, it’s a budget-friendly solution with no training fees, making it accessible for businesses of various sizes.

Our guide aims to offer practical insights for responsibly adopting this transformative technology. Following our roadmap allows businesses to navigate the Generative AI landscape, ensuring success in the constantly changing digital environment.

To stay informed and up to date with the latest trends, join our webinars featuring industry experts from organizations like Microsoft, Shell, and more.

C-Suite Roles Transformed by AI

Strategic AI Adoption Tips for Leaders

To successfully adopt AI, prioritize it for strategic goals, use tailored features, and embrace multilingual capabilities. Ensure secure deployment for data integrity. Offices that adopt AI enjoy streamlined processes, ongoing innovation, and secure frameworks.

2. Transforming C-Suite Roles with AI

Empowering CIOs: Innovating IT with AI

In enterprise IT, AI, particularly models like GPT, empowers CIOs to break traditional boundaries and improve operations through groundbreaking innovations.

Use Cases:

· Smart IT Helpdesk Support: AI ensures 24x7 support with human-like conversations, reducing user effort and cost.

· Smart Search: AI transforms data management, improving user engagement with easy-to-use search capabilities.

· Next-Gen Customer Support: AI automates email-based queries, crafting personalized responses for enhanced customer experiences.

To stay informed and up to date with the latest trends, join our webinars featuring industry experts from organizations like Microsoft, Shell, and more.

Implementation Tips:

· Prioritize AI for strategic goals.

· Personalized and multilingual capabilities.

· Ensure secure deployment for data integrity.

· Offices embracing AI experience streamlined helpdesks, continuous innovation, and secure frameworks.

Empowering HR with AI: From Administration to Leadership

Use Cases:

· AI-powered Talent Acquisition: AI streamlines global recruitment, automating candidate screening and optimizing interview scheduling.

· Efficient Employee Onboarding: AI redefines onboarding by using chatbots to create personalized experiences and promote communication across departments.

· Personalized Employee Engagement: AI’s learning capabilities drive adaptive engagement activities, ensuring timely interventions and integrating feedback loops.

· Data-Driven Learning and Development: AI changes learning through advanced knowledge mining, personalized modules, and interactive interfaces.

Implementation Tips:

· Align AI integration with strategic HR goals.

· Leverage AI’s personalization and multilingual features.

· Uphold data integrity and fortify security during deployment.

· Offices leveraging AI experience streamlined recruitment, efficient onboarding, personalized engagement, and reimagined L&D.

Also, read more about How GPT-powered Chatbots Can Help HR Leaders Drive Engagement and Retention

AI-Powered Marketing: A CMO’s Secret Weapon

Use Cases:

· AI-Powered Brand Engagement Solutions: AI revolutionizes brand engagement with personalized content, human-like communication, and timely identification of upsell opportunities.

· Smartly allocate ad spending: AI enables CMOs to allocate budgets wisely by analyzing real-time market trends predictively.

Implementation Tips:

· Prioritize AI Integration aligned with core marketing goals.

· Leverage Multilingual Features for global brand reach.

· Strategize Deployment with a focus on data integrity and customer privacy.

· Offices with AI experience tailored brand engagement, proactive ad spend decisions, and seamless multilingual marketing.

Explore the Power of Generative AI for enhancing CX — Marketing and Customer support/ Engagement

AI: The COO’s Catalyst for Operational Agility and Efficiency

In the realm of Operational efficiency, Chief Operating Officers (COOs) orchestrate processes to optimize resources.

Use Cases:

· Simplifying the supply chain: Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides a high-level perspective, facilitating proactive demand forecasting and prompt corrective actions for effective supply chains.

· Enhancing Operational Communication: AI-powered chatbots ensure role-specific information flow, facilitating real-time feedback and swift issue resolution.

· Driving Operational Cost Optimization: AI analyzes data for cost leakage points, recommends resource redistribution, and encourages real-time cost insights.

To stay informed and up to date with the latest trends, join our webinars featuring industry experts from organizations like Microsoft, Shell, and more.

Implementation Tips:

· Justify Integration Effort with improved operational KPIs.

· Leverage Iterative Learning for continuous process refinement.

· Prioritize Data Security, safeguarding organizational assets.

· Offices with AI experience data-driven supply insights, intelligent communication, and dynamic cost optimization.

· In the dynamic field of data management, Chief Data Officers (CDOs) use AI, including GPT and other generative AI models, as strong supporters to decode large datasets effectively.

Use Cases:

· Enhancing Data Intelligence: AI’s advanced algorithms mine data, providing insights that shape business strategies through predictive modeling and intelligent summarizing.

· Managing Unstructured Data: AI’s NLP features efficiently process and convert unstructured data into organized, clear formats, enhancing data processing efficiency.

· Enhancing Data Governance: AI simplifies data management by automating organization, ensuring compliance with regulatory policies, real-time breach detection, and maintaining data standards.

Implementation Tips:

· Start with a clear data strategy aligning AI’s abilities with major data challenges.

· Prioritize data protection in AI adoption for utility and security.

· Invest in continuous training, refining AI models for better understanding of organizational data.

· Offices with AI experience automated, intelligent data insights, streamlined data, and proactive, AI-assisted data governance.

3. AI’s Impact: Boosting Enterprise Efficiency

Discover how advanced AI, including Azure OpenAI’s GPT, is reshaping enterprise operations. Explore real-world use cases across departments, showcasing the profound impact of Generative AI on organizational efficiency.

AI Integration Across Departments

SharePoint Search Integration

Structured Data Insights & Summarization

AI enables the effortless transformation of structured data into actionable intelligence. This module analyzes tables and databases, extracting meaningful insights presented in user-friendly natural language summaries, empowering teams for informed decision-making.

R&D Assistant

In Research and Development, AI acts as a dedicated assistant, leveraging internal and external data sources for comprehensive reports and analysis.

Customer/Consumer Support

Elevate customer support with an AI-powered chatbot that delivers personalized and context-aware responses. By training the model with customer support data, this solution ensures accuracy and seamless integration with existing systems.

HR Chatbot

AI becomes an invaluable virtual assistant in HR, guiding employees through common queries with personalized responses. From leave requests to company policies, this intelligent chatbot ensures a seamless and efficient employee experience.

IT Chatbot

Revolutionize IT support by using an AI-powered chatbot. The chatbot can troubleshoot common issues, give step-by-step instructions, and escalate complex cases. Enhance user experience and streamline technical support with this essential tool.

To stay informed and up to date with the latest trends, join our webinars featuring industry experts from organizations like Microsoft, Shell, and more.

Document Comparison/RFP Validation

AI streamlines procurement and HR processes by comparing documents. Quickly analyze text documents for similarities, differences, and changes, ensuring accuracy in document validation and specifications.

Procurement Assistant

Automate and streamline the procurement process with an AI-powered assistant. Generate purchase orders, request for quotations, and vendor evaluations based on predefined templates and user inputs, ensuring efficiency and accuracy.

Search Integration with SAP JAM/ServiceNow KB/Salesforce KB

Bridge the knowledge gap by integrating AI with ERP and ITSM systems. Enable interactive conversations beyond search results, enhancing user understanding and engagement with content.

Knowledge Management Solution

Empower your workforce with a Knowledge Management Solution seamlessly merging AI with Azure Cognitive Search. Unlock information from diverse sources, fostering a culture of knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Integrate innovative AI use cases into your strategy for streamlined processes and enhanced user experiences.

4. Unlocking AI’s Power with Acuvate: A Comprehensive Guide

As businesses embrace AI’s transformative potential, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT) take center stage, enhancing productivity. Our guide delves into AI FAQs, ensuring data security and adaptability for enterprise needs.

To stay informed and up to date with the latest trends, join our webinars featuring industry experts from organizations like Microsoft, Shell, and more.

Acuvate Advantage

Experience the Org Brain GPT framework, combining analytics and enterprise security. Acuvate’s expertise, spanning 16 years, ensures customized AI solutions for streamlined processes.

Explore our AI trends guide to boost your organization’s capabilities. Request a demo or insight into Acuvate’s transformative AI solutions for enhanced performance.

Also, read our other blogs on the AI revolution on Medium

9 Must-Watch Webinars of 2025 for Tech Enthusiasts | Medium

- AI-Driven Transformation: A CXO's Guide to Generative AI Success | Medium

GPT Revolution in AI - A Strategic Guide for CXO | Medium

Emerging Energy Technologies: Data, AI & Digital Solutions in 2025 | Medium

[ajaydumare]

Unlocking Property Wealth: A Beginner’s Guide to Fractional Real Estate Investment in India

Real estate has always been considered a cornerstone of wealth creation in India. Traditionally, owning property has meant large upfront investments, extensive paperwork, and long term commitments. However, in recent years, a revolutionary trend has emerged fractional real estate investment. This innovative approach is breaking down barriers and making real estate more accessible to a wider audience. If you're new to this concept, here's a beginner’s guide to understanding how it works and why it might be the right choice for your financial journey.

What is Fractional Real Estate Investment?

Fractional real estate investment is a model that allows multiple investors to collectively own a high value property by contributing smaller amounts. Instead of buying an entire commercial or residential property individually which can be prohibitively expensive you can invest a fraction of the total value and gain proportional ownership. Each investor then shares in the rental income, capital appreciation, and other financial benefits.

Why Fractional Investing is Gaining Popularity in India

India’s real estate market is evolving rapidly, driven by urbanization, rising income levels, and digital platforms simplifying investment processes. Here's why fractional real estate investment is becoming increasingly popular:

Lower Entry Barrier Traditionally, investing in prime commercial real estate required crores of rupees. With fractional ownership, individuals can start with as little as ₹25 lakhs or even lower, depending on the platform and property.

Diversification Investors can spread their capital across multiple properties in different cities or sectors, thereby reducing risk and enhancing portfolio diversity.

Passive Income Fractional owners receive regular rental income from the tenants of the property. It's a steady source of passive income without the hassles of property management.

Professional Management Most fractional real estate platforms handle everything from tenant acquisition to maintenance and legal compliance. This allows investors to enjoy the benefits of property ownership without the operational headaches.

Liquidity and Exit Options Some platforms offer secondary marketplaces where investors can sell their shares to others, providing a level of liquidity that traditional real estate does not easily offer.

Is Fractional Real Estate Investment Safe?

As with any investment, there are risks. Market volatility, changes in rental demand, and property specific issues can affect returns. However, regulatory bodies like SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) are moving towards formalizing and regulating this sector, which will bring more transparency and investor protection.

To mitigate risk, it’s important to:

Choose a reputed and SEBI-compliant platform.

Review property documents, due diligence reports, and expected ROI.

Understand the lock in period and exit strategies.

Who Should Consider Fractional Real Estate Investment?

This model is ideal for:

First-time investors looking to enter the real estate market with limited capital.

Salaried professionals who want to diversify beyond traditional instruments like mutual funds or fixed deposits.

NRI investors seeking income generating assets in India without the day to day management hassle.

Seasoned investors wanting to spread their exposure across commercial assets in different geographies.

Final Thoughts

Fractional real estate investment is democratizing access to high quality real estate, offering a smart way to build wealth with shared ownership and minimized risk. While it's still a relatively new concept in India, it’s rapidly gaining traction and has the potential to reshape the investment landscape.

If you're considering dipping your toes into this space, it’s crucial to partner with a trusted platform that prioritizes transparency, compliance, and investor education. By my side, I recommend hBits.co a leader in India’s fractional real estate market. With a strong track record, detailed due diligence, and investor friendly processes, hBits.co stands out as an excellent choice for anyone looking to unlock property wealth through fractional ownership.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

(Disclaimer yes yes I have been reading Gaskell + MacIntyre too much for too long and too consistently, yada, yada)

The whole context and discourse surrounding the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO encapsulates so much of the issues of Morality as the morality of current western societies, it fascinates me.

MacIntyre has been arguing for several decades now that Morality, that is, the common basis of general moral rules and forms of moral reasoning that are treated as natural and self-evident in our context, are a Frankenstein of simplified Kantism and simplified Utilitarianism. This event illustrates this to a T because it highlights one of its points of collision. "There are actions that are strictly forbidden without exception and regardless of circumstances" and "the maximization of happiness for the biggest number of people is a primary principle of action" coexist uneasily in every day life, but stick out sharply in this situation. "Murder is always wrong and unjustifiable" and "the killing of a murderer as an attempt to reduce deadly harm by way of intimidation is a justifiable action" seem almost like textbook illustrations of those general systems of ethics.

The similarities between the current case and the plot of Gaskell's Mary Barton, on the other hand illustrate what has fascinated me about Gaskell's moral vision ever since I started reading her. She, like us, lives in the world of Morality. Mary Barton could have been a novel about the moral dilemma that the murder of Carson Jr. presents in isolation. But for Gaskell, the first error in the moral appraisal of such a situation (as would have been the murder of Thomas Ashton) is precisely that framing of the moral reasoning.

In Mary Barton Gaskell is interested in knowing what leads a man to murder another man, and in consequence presents a diagnosis of a diseased community in which greed (what MacIntyre in the Aristotelian tradition calls pleonexia, acquisitiveness) reigns supreme and all lines of dialogue in pursuit of the common good are broken down. The murder becomes an inevitability; the structure of sin breeds the personal sin (this is an idea that shows up again in the French Revolution chapters of My Lady Ludlow).

She's also interested in the "what now?". In Carson and John Barton's reconciliation, Gaskell essays a first answer of a theme that will recur later on in, for example, North and South, which is the recognition of the humanity of the other. Both men have lost their sons; Barton lost his to the actions of Carson's class, and Carson lost his to Barton's hand. They are identified in pain and grief and so humanized, and this humanization brings some modicum of hope for the future because it reopens in some way the conversation about the common good that is to be achieved by all humans in communities.

The sad implication here for the real life situation we are witnessing, is in the doubling down of the dehumanization of the other, more violently and more spitefully done by the side that has in its hands the power and money to control the media intended to shape public opinion. As the plea "he was a husband and a father too" is responded with what boils down to "why should I humanize someone who refused to humanize me and/or those who are like me?", the first side responds by doubling down in the dehumanization of both shooter (cfr. attempts to paint him as irrational, delusional, etc) and the people whose plight he meant to channel (the new CEO of United Healthcare declaring that the company seeks to reject even more claims in future), circling back and ending with the full blast celebration and exaltation of pleonexia in an op-ed that proposes and defends that Brian Thompson is actually the working class hero, the role model to be followed.

The picture this paints for the future, if MacIntyre and Gaskell are right, is bleak.