#it would also be nice experimenting with tech from yourself but from another dimension

[hitwiththefandomz]

Peepaws do some tech talk

P1 (what could go wrong with some tech talk) other doodles

P2

Based on @butterfilledpockets B.E.N.T. au

[guylty]

Have you got your tickets for UV locked down? Maybe you are like me – tickets bought but not all other details finalised. Priorities, right? The most important consideration is to make sure we get to see RA on stage. Flight? Accommodation? Can be dealt with later. On the latter, I’ve had a few questions bts about hotel recommendations. Now, I do not want to presume better local knowledge than all the English/British fans. However, as a frequent visitor, and particular while I was still working for my London client, I was put up in hotel accommodation on many occasions. In that sense, I may have seen more London hotels than our actual London-based fan sisters *waves at Hariclea and tinyclanger and anyone else whom I am shamefully overlooking here* and can possibly make some recommendations.

A quick note on location and transport

My collection of Oyster Cards. Yes, I’ve had to buy several because I stupidly left mine at home… They give you a little wallet for safe-keeping when you buy yours.

All hotels are fairly centrally located – if you are a walker and do not mind 45 minutes walking, they would even be in walking distance of the city centre of London. Transport, on the whole, is not a problem in London. The tube is never far away. I recommend you buy a so-called Oyster Card upon arrival in London. This is a commuter card that you load credit onto. You can buy it at any (larger) tube station (ticket counter). You can get the £10 deposit back when you return the card before you leave London. You charge your card via the ticket machines located in every tube station. Paying for the tube is via flashing the card at the gates for entry and exit. A display at the gates will always tell you how much money you have left on your card. An Oyster card is a must, even if you only stay for three days. The difference in price between buying single tickets and using your automatic card credit, is significant: A single journey will set you back £4.90 whereas the Oyster card is £2.40!!! Also, the Oyster card has an automatic cap. That means you will pay a maximum of £8.20 (zones 1-3) versus single journeys or a daily travel card at £13.10 (zones 1-4)!!!

However, the best tip when it comes to London public transport, I received from local Hariclea: Bus fares are much cheaper than the tube. A single journey will set you back only £1.50. The daily cap for Oyster Card here is £4.50. So if you can, take the bus. Or walk, that is *my* personal tip. For a long time on my travels to London, I did everything by tube, thinking that London was a huge city and everything was very far apart. It took me 3 years to realise that Piccadilly Circus was only 250 meters away from Leicester Square! Doh. So make use of Google Maps and walk. You will be rewarded with a fantastic view of the city, too, because London treats you to a journey through all architectural ages in almost every street.

Fleet Street. From Tudor half-timbers to 1920s in 500 meters

Guylty’s Hotel Insights

I’ll give you a little review of all the hotels I have stayed at in the last four years. A caveat at the beginning. At least half of them were paid for by my client – and they didn’t skimp. I would not have paid £350 for a hotel room myself. My budget – even while still employed by them – would usually not stretch to that. However, I am including it here, too. Who knows, maybe you have a significant birthday/anniversary, or you want to treat yourself to an extraordinary London experience. Or maybe you just appreciate a lovely boutique hotel, just like I do. Where possible, I will add my own pictures – and occasionally even videos – for a little more insight into the hotel. Links to the hotel website under the name. In no particular order…

Pop!Thoza sneaks up on breakfast

The Rookery – my absolute favourite, but the above mentioned luxury option. Located in Farringdon, opposite Smithfield Market – a boutique hotel completely furnished with antiques and with every room looking different. Close to two tube stations, near the Barbican centre, too. It really looks like the photos on the website – or in my videos. Yep, I have three of them, just because the hotel was so beautiful, I had to document it every time. But I’ll only bore you with one of them. (If you want to you can see the other two if you click on my name on the video below!) This hotel has beautiful common rooms but no breakfast room. So if you want dinner, you need to eat elsewhere. Breakfast is available – but only served in your room. However, it was not any more expensive than in other hotels, and at the same time so good that I always set the alarm for two hours early so I could have long, leisurely breakfast in my fluffy bed before I went to work.   

https://vimeo.com/133549399

Purple light show. Not sure what mood *that* is…

Citizen M in Southwark (Bankside) is completely at the opposite end of the style spectrum. Ultramodern hotel. Every room has a kingsize bed (no single rooms available) and lots of tech gimmicks. Has a fantastic entertainment offer with wide screen TVs in every room. You can operate different lighting scenarios with an iPad in the room, and the blinds are automatically adjusted depending on whether you have set the room settings on “romantic” or “business” 🤣. Located behind the Tate Modern, but still very central. I loved this place and stayed there a couple of times privately, too – my son called it the “cyber hotel” and specifically asked me to book us in there when I gave him a trip to London as a gift. He (age 18 then) even shared the kingsize bed with me – that was the price for being in the cyber hotel�� Buffet style breakfast is available in the hotels bar area. I loved the cool style and design of this hotel.

The Park Plaza County Hall is also situate d on the Southern bank of the Thames. I was upgraded to a suite there – with a separate sitting room and a small kitchenette. Comfortable, modern, light-filled rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows. The kitchenette would be really useful if staying for a few days and trying to budget a little bit because eating out in London is expensive. It doesn’t mean you have to cook – but just having a fridge for a pint of milk for your cornflakes in the morning, would already save you a good bit of money. I did like this one very much and remember making a little video – can’t find it anymore, unfortunately. It is part of the Radisson chain, so good quality.

I slept on top bed – wanted the “young” feel

Z Hotel City Another very modern hotel, centrally located in Fleet Street. The rooms are very modern, but also fairly small. I had a room that was billed as a “family” room with two double beds. But even though the room was tiny, they solved the problem really well: One double bed was like an enclosed alcove (fitted with a big TV) while the second double was built on top of the alcove and you accessed it via small steps. The second double also had a TV screen. The drawback was that the hotel did not offer breakfast, and even though it operated a café next door, it did not provide a discount to residents. However, as you can see from the photo, this kind of room would really lend itself to sharing if you are coming with a friend. Share the costs – still get privacy. And style, too.

        No real vines, that’s the graffiti on the wall!!

The Malmaison on Charterhouse Square. Another boutique hotel in Farringdon (like the Rookery above) (near Barbican), located on beautiful Charterhouse Square where you get London at its historic best: There is the eponymous Charterhouse from the 14th century, then there is Georgian architecture, the Victorian hotel building, and an Art Deco block of flats (which was used as location for Hercule Poirot’s flat in the Poirot TV series with David Suchet). Every room differently decorated – modern eclectic. The rooms were small but beautiful and all decorated differently. The first time I stayed there, I had an “inside” room with a kind of blind window into a lightwell. The room had really funky decoration with a graffiti-sprayed wall. Breakfast was not included but available in the basement restaurant – really nice, though.

        Glimpse of room on the right. Bathroom had massive dimensions. Wheelchair compatible

The Premier Inn County Hall is probably on the affordable end of the scale. Centrally located, directly behind the London Eye and more or less directly on the banks of the Thames. The rooms were not particularly cosy or original, but clean, light and big. Probably more on the practical side. Prices are pretty good for London – and for the location. Breakfast available in the hotel – nothing special, but good price.

          You can see what I had for breakfast

The Marlin Aparthotel was an affordable option when I took my mum to London last year. This hotel is fairly well connected, just behind Waterloo Station. In walking distance of the Old Vic Theatre and Westminster on the other side of the Thames. The rooms were bright and modern – and they came with a kitchenette. We ate breakfast in our own room every day and saved on another tenner for meals that way. This hotel is easily accessible by bus – which will also get transport costs down…

Lastly, The Grange Strathmore Hotel is the last hotel I stayed in when in London in April this year. The building is the former residence of the Earl of Strathmore (the Queen Mother’s father), and as such an imposing Victorian residence in a very pretty part of London. The room was small and looked out onto the mews at the back. Kensington is a very nice area for walking and looking at the grand white townhouses, but it’s not as central as the other hotels listed above. Also, I didn’t find the transport options quite as close as the other hotels.

So, here is an overview of the hotels and their relative location. It’s an interactive map – you can click on the markers and see which hotel it is.

That’s it for my own experience with hotels in central London. As I said – not necessarily the cheapest *thanks to my former employers*. I am sure there are other, if not better options available. If anyone has some recommendations, please add them in the comments! And for further questions – I’m delighted if I can answer, although I am sure that the resident Londoners are probably better equipped than I am.

Leaving you with a little London Lucas for good measure.

  Notes on Staying in London Have you got your tickets for UV locked down? Maybe you are like me - tickets bought but not all other details finalised.

[theparaminds]

Have you ever awoken from a dream only to feel as though reality is weak in comparison to your own mind’s landscape? Maybe you realized that living and feeling like a dream is the goal to it all. That’s what, overall, Instupendo understands and holds close, that dreams are an extension, and an improvement, upon reality. And with his music, he opens the door to our fleeting mental dimensions. 

His production doesn’t depend on making you cry or over think. Instead, it only pushes you to feel less, while becoming a state of higher being. All starting in the ears, the sonics numb the fingers and toes while disintegrating anxiety, replacing it with nirvana. Through Instupendo’s music, every breath feels as fresh as an August morning void of care or concern. 

In the few minutes his songs exist, a new world is built. It is one of the freedom and honesty that cannot exist within reality, but only in our mind’s eye. We are taken deeper into the depths of our creation and individuality. In truth, Instupendo is a guide to a universe beautiful and pure, one untouched by the fear and uncertainty omnipresent daily, in times desperate for artistic relief.

Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how have you been?:

My day’s going pretty smoothly. I’m currently nursing an iced coffee at my kitchen table with some candles lit. Besides that, I can finally step out without a coat for the first time in months so you could say I’m doing alright.

To really kick things off at the beginning, in your eyes, what was the moment where you got your first inkling towards music and art in general, and how did you realize it was something you wanted to pursue?

I was surrounded by all kinds of music growing up, everything from my sisters’ 2002s RnB CDs to Björk to Etta James. I first really started to develop my own taste in music in middle school, when I was getting into bass music. As a 12-year-old it was exciting to hear sounds that were like something out of a video game. I realized pretty quickly that I had access to all the tools my favorite artists had, and I immediately jumped into making terrible electronic music. Music as a career was a thought that didn’t come until I was halfway through high school and it was becoming an actual possibility for me. I’m still trying to figure out what “music as a career” means though.

At that time, and as you were growing up, what did the art and sound mean to you and how did it shape your adolescence and development as an individual?

Creating music gave me a place to experiment and excel in a way that felt fun and productive, it was an escape from the mundane parts of adolescence. It actually helped me to survive high school, both because it was a nice way to kick back at a time when I didn’t entirely fit in, but also because I was able to get school credit for writing and putting out my last two releases.

As well through that period of discovery and development, who was your single greatest hero in life and what about them made you look up to who they are?

From 12-15, it could have been Skream, Phonat, KOAN Sound, any of those guys. The whole bass community was embracing the rapidly advancing world of music tech, and it was so inspiring to me to hear so many artists make music, unlike anything I’d ever heard before. They’re not as influential on my music as some others these days, but they were definitely beacons of light for a younger me.

How would you compare the challenges you were facing artistically back in those earlier days compared to yourself now as an older, more mature, and more established artist? Or are they similar and constant in your artistic life?

Most of the challenges I was facing early on had to do with my lack of technical understanding of electronic music clashing with my desire to make everything from scratch. I still have that problem sometimes, but I’m more versed in how music technology works now. One of the biggest changes I made over the past year was switching from FL Studio to Ableton, which felt necessary since I was moving towards a different style of production and live performance. Artistically though, I’ve never really had many setbacks, pretty much everything I do can be done from a bedroom.

And as another comparison, what would you say the biggest difference is between that original artistic vision to the one you hold today? What is the message you’re attempting to put forth with the new sounds you’re creating as opposed to those of yesterday?

I think the biggest shift my creative vision has gone through over time is the shift towards intention. Now that I’ve been around a bit longer and heard some more music than 13 years old me, I have more context for where my music belongs in the general stratosphere of sound. The instrumental music I was making prior to this release probably came off as pretty aimless, but I’ve always tried to tell stories of a gentle yet complex life with my music… adding the vocal layer helped reveal a different facet to these stories.

It goes without saying that the release of Cinderella today is very different due to the addition of vocals from yourself. How did you come to the point of comfort with this side of yourself and how do you feel it adds to the story you’re hoping to tell?

I never really decided, “okay, time to sing”, it was just something that I kind of walked into. Experimenting with vocal processing over the course of nearly a year eventually landed me on both a point of comfort with my voice and a direction for my music I was happy with. Ultimately, I found that I had something to say that I couldn’t accomplish purely through instrumentals. I want my music to reach people like me.

With the song itself, what drew you towards the concept of a Cinderella and what does it reflect within your life and what you’ve felt while creating and writing it?

‘Cinderella’ is about the feeling of being “a princess” around someone -- that you’re both protected and respected -- like nothing else in the whole world. I’m still pretty new to these feelings, but I wanted to write something that tried described this.

As you continue down the more lyrical path, where do you believe more of your lyrical inspiration will come from? Do you see yourself as one who uses past experience or more so personal feelings and anxieties to create the words you do?

At the moment, inspiration comes from both past and current experiences, and the feelings that result from them. It’s easier to tell a story that I know by heart.

If you could take one film and completely strip it of all its music and then replace it with some that you create either for it or insert what you have already made, what film would you choose and why do you believe your style matches and resonates with it?

I don’t know how closely the film resonates with my style, but I would have loved to compose the soundtrack for “Your Name”. The sentiment conveyed in that movie dances right on the fine line of not taking itself seriously and seriously melancholy, which is right where I want my music to fall. I love films with tender orchestral soundtracks, but I often wonder what they’d sound like if they were backed with softer electronic scoring? Maybe one day I can make it happen.

Looking forward into this year, what are the most important goals for you to hit and what plans do you have in terms of your creative output? Or are you someone who more so goes with the flow?

I’m generally the kind that just floats with the currents, but I do have goals. Since this project is a big step for me, I’m trying to see how far I can get it out there. Aside from that I’m really just trying to write music with my friends, and make new friends. Music is most enjoyable for me when I’m working with artists who are pushing the envelope.

And beyond the future itself, what do you hope that the Instupendo legacy and core message continues to be? What is it that you hope to be remembered and known for beyond your own time?

Above all, I want my music to be something that people will look back at with soft-hearted thoughts, something that can be shared with the next generation of listeners. What people associate my music with though? That’s up to them. I just hope it’s something gentle and sweet.

Do you have anyone to shout out? The floor is yours...

My work ethic recently has been hugely inspired by chef Jiro Ono, I hope to one day have complete control over my focus the same way he does. So shout out to him I guess.

LISTEN TO ‘CINDERELLA’

Follow on Instagram and Twitter

Listen on Spotify and Soundcloud

Words and Interview by Guy Mizrahi

Photos by Michael Tian

[flippinoptimist]

> Vel : Meet a nerdlord

Today at 2:45 AM

deputyheadmistress Alright, someone talking to you on my behalf about a lack of privacy got to me a bit. But I'm not upset with you for how the internet behaves.

flippinoptimist thats lurky, theyre a little closer to omniscient than is average for most beings, and like kind of giving advice, and they mean well i think they meant it mostly to make me stop chargin around in like, manic mode, though, even if stuff relatin to you was the causal start of the chain sorry you got dragged into it miss granger, and that i wasn't doin the tact thing

deputyheadmistress I didn't mean them, I meant the thread about different faux book titles. But a close to omniscient being is, I suppose, something I'll also have to get used to. I'm at least a bit used to manic teens, though it's not the best way to get shocking information.

flippinoptimist i think my earth age would technically start with a two, but thats sorta recent after you spend enough time around here you get used to the like, multiverse

deputyheadmistress Can we, perhaps, stop talking about the multiverse for a few moments? And talk about something a bit more grounding, like your particular brand of magic. I'm very curious.

flippinoptimist sure its sorta a fusion of everything ive run across, since the inherent stuff that my ~destiny~ tried to put on me isnt the same kind of stuff as the place where im learnin the inherent is more of a "woo, heres a big abstract concept, you are an incarnation / channeler of a shard of it, neato"

deputyheadmistress That sounds like a lot to dig into, but alright.

flippinoptimist the school part is about how you can structure thought and energy flow into symbols and runes and things i'm focusin on artificing ..and the inherent part has given me a knack for illusions i cant figure out how to actually cast spells but im good at making things!

deputyheadmistress Oh! I was very good at ancient runes during my time at Hogwarts, and while I haven't managed to do much with it since graduation, other than an enchanted bag, I'd be really curious to see what similarities there might be. I wonder if you can cast spells. Logic seems like it'd point to yes, but if you're from somewhere else...

flippinoptimist id be curious about them!  i know the words to a few spells but ive never seen  them and do naut have a wand of the kind you are thinking of the wands i know about / make each have a specific spell in them, and are locked to create a specific effect that triggers when a gesture or word or w/e happens

deputyheadmistress That's terribly inefficient.

flippinoptimist sure, its Terrible

deputyheadmistress ... Is that referencing those historical people of note who end up being so infamous people associate them with the word 'Terrible' as well?

flippinoptimist naut much different than having a necklace that makes you invisible though yes! it also enables a billion terrible puns

deputyheadmistress I was curious. It's a bit strange to add it yourself, don't you think?

flippinoptimist (ba dum tsh)

deputyheadmistress Oh.

flippinoptimist it is

deputyheadmistress Well, that explains that, doesn't it?

flippinoptimist but my species has this thing, where on adulthood we each replace our kid name with an adult Title

deputyheadmistress Oh, it's a cultural thing.

flippinoptimist yeah, and i chose a human one

deputyheadmistress Alright. I read a little bit on that.

flippinoptimist because humans are neat and i like them

deputyheadmistress Oh! Well, I'm glad you like humans, then.

flippinoptimist and i respect a lot of the cultural things i see in most of the human places i have found

deputyheadmistress Good, I was about to ask that.

flippinoptimist also everything that comes out of japan is amazing

deputyheadmistress I don't know how I could let you use a wand from here, but I want to try.

flippinoptimist id love to try if you can think of a way! i am pretty good at establishing first contact with new universes, and i could get you alien tech and magic to check out if you wanted for various definitions of alien

deputyheadmistress ... Alien tech won't work so well on Hogwart's grounds. I had to heavily modify this computer so it'd function here.

flippinoptimist i am curious about how

flippinoptimist alllsooo....  ill have to find a copy of the magic version of getting around from place to place

deputyheadmistress Oh! I wrote a whole thesis on how to make magic more compatable with muggle text over the summer, let me...

flippinoptimist but i know where to find it!  couple of steps and itll work out okay

deputyheadmistress I'll send it to you later. It's a bit lengthy, and I have to type it up here. Alright, I'll hold.

flippinoptimist okay i hate to say this because i am definitely interested in exchangin data and showin things, but it feels rude not to remind you before we get much further that a step of getting this to work is probably going to involve me (random internet stranger) havin to figure out what your coordinates are, so i can write them in the format needed for the circley part i can get you the circle rune pattern either way, but if you want a way to actually use it, id need to basically track your IP but, like, fancy and involving you running a thing on a computer let me know if you want to do that part, but heres the circle diagram

flippinoptimist -- flippinoptimist began sending file : transportationcircle.pdf --

deputyheadmistress I have been warned about random internet strangers.... I may have to work on protection wards for a moment, for the sake of safety.

flippinoptimist sure thing i highly advise not using that w/o fillin in coordinates the way it says, and also not without knowin your home coordinates if you step through that thing, the only way back is to know how to write your home address, you know?

deputyheadmistress Alright

flippinoptimist to find home coordinates, install one a these chat programs, and send me a private message, i can use a couple a tools to trace the connection from there and get your code

deputyheadmistress This is certainly the sort of decision I want to be making at five in the morning. Alright, I've got everything set up. What is life without adventure, and the chance to make the headmistress mad at me.

flippinoptimist lol the decision will still be here at not five in the morning, but you wont be able to blame it on the time then shit i should give you the programs shouldnt i -- Discord, Trollian! --

deputyheadmistress Thank you.

flippinoptimist i have a set of coords i can give you that are explicitely for being a neutral place to meet people, but the sky isnt done yet so its janky lookin but!  the building is finished

deputyheadmistress I've chosen a fairly neutral place for the moment, don't worry.

flippinoptimist ok!

deputyheadmistress > Message him on Discord. This will be absolutely fine. Totally.

flippinoptimist > He messages her back!  About two minutes later, he gives her the number version of her coordinates, which she can use to get back home from anywhere.  He also gives her the coordinates to the convenience store, which he mentions is "a pocket dimension under construction"

deputyheadmistress > She'll... Write that down and probably not do anything with it for a while. > If he tries to look at her coordinates directly, it will really really not work, as if his machine were glitching, but he can probably go a few miles out for a nice view of a scottish country side.

flippinoptimist > Neat!  He ..does poke that far, but then sets his machine to go back to looking somewhere else.  The coordinates are saved, but he promises to himself to not use them. if somebody gives you coordinates, you can go places, or people w/ yours can send you stuff or come visit

deputyheadmistress Alright. This is going to take a bit of getting used to, but if you want to come over you can.

flippinoptimist > ..man, he was supposed to be in time out, but lately he'd been doing so well ..until today.. and he'd been leaning into choosing the Chaotic choices more and more often... > What good was putting yourself in time out if you didn't stick to it?

flippinoptimist crazy o clock in the mornin probably aint the best time for first impressions, though its temptin as hell.  i could send across some small magic gunk and weird alien snacks as a proof of concept, and meet you like, tomorrow or another day soon?

deputyheadmistress That sounds good! I'll send you some magic things too, then.

flippinoptimist sweet!  we can compare notes

deputyheadmistress > Time to gather some of George's jokes and some magical candy.

flippinoptimist > He would send an invisibility ring, a few novelty disguises, a small opal that made anyone within line of sight experience a slightly sweet taste (in a well-shielded bag), and a variety of alternian mass-produced snackfoods labled in a clearly alien language. ��Ones he thought might not creep out humans too bad.

deputyheadmistress > Bertie botts every flavor beans are a necessity, though she does make sure to include a carefully penned note about what flavors he may come across that are less pleasant. Chocolate frogs are included as well, of course. Things that turn skin different interesting colors, fireworks that make flame animals bound through the air.

flippinoptimist > He is going to admire the hell out of and carefully store these for later perusal.

deputyheadmistress > He also gets a somewhat large coinpurse that he can shove his whole arm in and still seem to not run out of room.

flippinoptimist okay this is a pretty neat bag stupid question and no i am not going ot try, what happens when you turn it inside out

deputyheadmistress You could turn it out for a really long time. I think it'd be annoying to stuff it back in though

flippinoptimist okay, what if i went for a swim in the ocean with it is there a limit?

deputyheadmistress Of course there's a limit. But it can hold a tent or two, several thin blankets, changes of clothing, general everyday use things, and of course money. Thin things work better, obviously. You could probably fit thick blankets, but it'd be way more annoying both to put them in and pull them out.

flippinoptimist that makes a lotta sense and is pretty interestin i have a tech way of carrying lots of stuff, but you mentioned tech was sad

deputyheadmistress Oh! I have a print version of the paper I was going to type up.

flippinoptimist ive got an amulet thats basically like a mr potato head that disguises you all the runework lines up so you can unclip parts and clip in different parts

deputyheadmistress > Send that along, also. There's moving pictures involved, with her pictured. Oh wow.

flippinoptimist modular!

deputyheadmistress I don't think describing it as 'Mr Potato Head' is reassuring, for a disguise, but a modular disguise is interesting.

flippinoptimist it only works when everything is seated in firmly and shut, but its also sort of like legos > He .. sends a modular disguise amulet over too, with a couple of bits and pieces it only does disguises for my species, but hey, maybe thatll be handy

deputyheadmistress Maybe.

flippinoptimist pro tip if you are ever going to go to a place with my species, ask them which color of person is best for you to be can of worms subject really

deputyheadmistress That sounds racist as hell.

flippinoptimist oh yeah

deputyheadmistress Joy.

flippinoptimist p much sometides people call the usual empress "fish hitler" most of the dudes i know are huge rebels

deputyheadmistress The magical world just recently got done with a war similar to Hitler's.

flippinoptimist but!  there are placeswhere things are fine its just good to check if a place is one of them first

deputyheadmistress So I'm a little sick of that.

flippinoptimist i hang out in like three different places where she got deposed differentamounts of time ago yeah thats aight

deputyheadmistress At least there's that.

flippinoptimist speaking of humans, its great how often its naut like that like, sometimes, but anyway people can be pretty cool when teyre given teh chance

deputyheadmistress I do like to believe in the inherent goodness of people, despite how much bad has happened.

flippinoptimist i think people can choose how theyre gonna be theresa lotta nice reasons to choose not to be a dick

deputyheadmistress I should hope you wouldn't need reasons, but yes there are reasons to be nice.

flippinoptimist sometimes bein mean is tempting, otherwise people wouldnt do it you get all wrapped up in somethin, dont see all of it, then suddenly you get a reality check an gotta go "hey is this where i wanna be" and then people ignore the question because they dont wanna think about it and then its sealed, theyre dicks and theyll stay that way

flippinoptimist till they look around again

deputyheadmistress I suppose.

flippinoptimist i spend a lotta time thinkin about it i was a jerk when i was younger, and i decided to be nice instead so i spend a lot of time talkin to dudes who are or were also jerks and we all get better! cause i can help them find the reasons they need to start

flippinoptimist also jerks are sometimes kinda hilarious, and theyre often pretty good at shit.  otherwise theyd have learned better when they ran into a problem they couldnt solve w/o help.

deputyheadmistress It's getting a bit late. I think I should probably turn in for the night, before all of the teenagers wake up and need scowling at.

flippinoptimist that is probably a thing i hope you have a good night miss granger it was nice meetin you

deputyheadmistress It was really interesting talking to you, Vel.

flippinoptimist i try for interestin

deputyheadmistress Do you really need to try?

flippinoptimist not really

deputyheadmistress Have a good night. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

flippinoptimist bye!

[walknstar1-blog]

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Main Source: USA Business Insurance

[damionpoitier]

End Of Loop

About to post this on my Royalroad.com profile!

https://www.royalroad.com/profile/84786

I came to strapped to a chair. Another chair sat in front of me and their was a hole in the ground equidistant between them. A glance at my arm revealed my Quantum Permuter was active but in a weird stasis mode. I had spent uncountable years in ridiculous situations with this thing and I had never seen the code on the screen. A glance revealed my surrounding outside the structure were strangely familiar. I wasn’t sure (especially considering the amount of traveling I had been doing) but I felt like I should recognize them.

Then He walked into my field of Vision.

Slate.

We had never spoken, but since our first encounter he had been chasing me along the timelines. Interrupting my missions. Not allowing me to fix the past.

I hated him.

I had never felt such powerful enmity for a being I had so little meaningful contact with. With his containment suit I didn’t even know what he was. I was pretty certain he was one of Them.

A Kyrati.

The Kyrati were humanoid, and required the same basic conditions humans did for life. It’s ironic, towards the late 20th and early 21st century many stories compared Humanity to viruses. Our wanton destruction of our habitat, overworking of our natural systems, and rapid reproduction rates, irregardless of the reflexive effects, made this comparison troublingly on the nose. If that was a true comparison then the Kyrati were a Virulent Cancer, multiplying and destroying far more than our worse civilizations could ever have conceive of.

They arrived in 2035 after Dylam Enterprises had secured inter-dimensional trading rights with the phase they called 1xb12. Using the Banneker theorems they had successfully created a method of contacting, viewing, and traveling to alternate realities. 1xb12 seemed to have the best compatibility with what we needed, and could supply. So after years of negotiations the terms were set and the Quantum Permuter was utilized to open a doorway.

The greatest fears of the naysayers were almost immediately realized when it was revealed that the entirety of the presented data was falsified. 1xb12 was a seed world for the Kyrati Empire. It had been colonized Years ago and stripped of 90% of its life sustaining properties. What we had been looking at was a preserve and projections of the world before it had been stripped. The planet was currently much closer to Mars than earth.

As soon as the portal was open the Kyrati installed Phase Locks and their legions poured through. Our population was reduced by 70% inside of six months. That was 5.6 billion lives in half a year. Dylam Enterprises to those that still remembered it was an instant Pariah.

So the back up plan was enacted. Thing about the Quantum Permuter, it didn’t just allow for shifting between dimensions, but further investigation and modification could allow for movement along the time stream.

I was chosen to travel back in time and eliminate the conditions that allowed Dylam enterprises to obtain the technology and bring about the Catastrophe.

I had been traveling for untold years. I had committed acts of corporate espionage. I had committed acts of sabotage. I had committed acts of terrorism. I have killed. The things I had done were beyond rationalizing. I had become a monster to stop the monsters from coming. But above all the things I’d done… The thing I had become. I had failed. And this creature was the cause of it.

It walked in front of me and paused. It’s head cocked as it studied me. I sat their shaking with rage looking at the architect of my failures. It reached up to its neck and grabbed it’s helmet. A hissing sound was followed by a rush of steam and when it cleared what I saw was impossible. I looked into the eyes of Dr. Benjamin Banneker, creator of the Quantum Permuter. My mission parameters included potentially tracking and eliminating him but I was unable to find even a trace in my travels. I couldn’t rationalize what I saw. Why. How, could he be Slate.

“Why?” I whispered

He looked at me shook his head and let out a rueful chuckle.

“You really have no idea do you?”

He stared at me for a while. Then his expression hardened.

“I always knew the Permuter could potentially time slip, but I also knew the danger. Time is a stream, interrupting or altering the flow is always temporary. If you go back and change something to avoid an outcome you lock that outcome into place. The event becomes a constant because it Has to happen in order for the consequent event that is time travel to take place.”

“But there are alternate realities…”

“Yes, ones you will never fully experience because you have violated the time stream and Locked yourself Out of time into a loop. Had you Purmuted into a reality where the events that caused you to time shift never happened you could have theoretically stayed. The only way to even conceivably experience a permanent time alteration would be for you to double back on your first loop fix the problem, and convince the first you that he had to continue. You have shifted up and down the timeline so much that said outcome is now impossible.”

“Why, how… You could have told me this we could have..”

“By the time I locked onto your tachyon signature the greater damage was already irreparable. Haven’t you noticed that every time you shift the world you return to is Worse?”

“In some ways but I…”

“Have No clue what your actions have caused!”

He stared at me and in his eyes I saw a deeper pit of pain and rage than I though conceivable. Why couldn’t he understand? What could have happened that he looked with such vehemence towards me?

“It was pretty early on for you mission wise. You were not fully aware enough of the ramifications of your actions to realize, nor so far along in your path that you ceased to care. It was before you began searching for me. I assume your mission included potentially locating and sanctioning me?”

“But I didn’t, I never found a trace of you I couldn’t…”

“That’s because I blocked it. I thwarted your efforts before you even began them, you had already taken Everything from me before it even occurred to you to look for me. I wish you had found me before… I wish…”

He began pacing, galvanized by his emotions, containing himself from an outburst I could see would lead to my end.

“It was a normal day, as normal as days got after the occupation. I was moving my family to a new safe house. They were aware that my work was the foundation of their invasion and wanted me in custody to see what expansions they could coax out of me. I had my modified Permuter, it detected the vibrational differences of Them and their technology which also allowed me a heads up on potential encounters. You were in the area on one of your fools errands. Your tachyon signature and Permuter emissions interfered with my equipment. We never saw them coming.”

He stopped, locked in a memory I had no desire to share. With effort, he gathered himself and continued.

“They played nice at first, they provided for our basic needs in a shelter I knew to be far more comfortable than what was offered to most. At first they thought they had sold me on their propaganda. I smiled and played along with their claims of Manifest Destiny and Conquerers Preeminence. Till the day they realized I was stalling the process. Imagine if you will, what a race that was capable of wiping out 70% of a population without pause is capable of doing… To the child of a man that knowingly slowed their expansion.”

He stopped at this point, tears streaming down his face, still wracked by whatever horrors he had witnessed.

We sat in silence for some time. My imagination, that of a man who could not even remember the horrors I myself had perpetrated, travelled down uncanny valleys and left me paralyzed. I could not conceive of what this man had been through because of me and even more frightening what he had planned for me. Finally he turned.

“They didn’t give me much time before demanding I get back to work. Though I had been stalling on their goals. I had been aggressively pursuing my own. I was able to figure out your specific Permuters modifications, I could see the points of interference in my time stream and I could lock onto your tachyon stream. If I could stop you I could potentially reverse the causality that led to our capture. But first I had to escape my captors.

They were aware of your manipulations but their scientists had yet to replicate the equations that allowed travel along the stream. My Permuter had sophisticated quantum encryption layers. They had never even realized I had time stream alteration equations on my drive. For them I worked on expanding the Quantum Scryers vibrational wave margins. Based off my work they were marshaling for aggressive magnification of their empire. I built a null-time workshop and put it in a quasi permeable vibrational bubble, a pocket dimension if you will. I explained to them that the glitches in my workspace recordings were a result of my vibrational research. They took another of my children to insure I was being truthful. What they did…”

He paused again but briefly this time. Whatever their offenses, they had the exact opposite intended effect. His eyes met mine.

“I built this suit to reduce my agitation of the time stream. As it locked my physical form in temporal stasis , this is the first time I have removed it since I sealed it.”

He reached into a deceptively small opening on his backpack and pulled out a oblong cylinder with a point on one end and some type of tech box at the other end. He walked over to the seat opposite me and slid the cylinder into the hole. He sat down across from me. And though I saw no indication of how my restraints receded. He simply sat across from me looking at me. Waiting. The enormity of what I had just learned began to settle and I was at a loss.

“Do you recognize where we are? When we are?”

I looked around and with dawning horror realized why this place was so familiar. Across the street was the final operating lab of Dylam Ent. If my calculations were correct it was about to be destroyed in the explosion set off by my initial time jump. But why? Why here why now if he could not alter what I had done, what could his purpose be?

“This is an entropy spike. It took me many years and no small effort to create. Once I set it off the vibrational interference will cause your initial time jump to fail, the fallout waves will undo all the alterations we have created in the time stream… Well that is if my calculations are correct. My previous efforts at temporal repair all failed. Only the power generate by the initial causal rupture has a chance to effect a wave wide repair. And only with the presence of the original temporally displaced body. So, here we are. At the start of it all. And we can stop it. None of what we’ve done, what we felt we had to do to get here, will be.”

He paused and looked at me for a long beat.

“You can’t stop it this way. I doubt you even know how long you have been traveling or remember all that you have done. We activate this and the experiment fails. All the damage to the time line will be healed. We will never meet. My family, well I don’t know what will come, but I’m willing to face that over this.”

I looked at him, I looked across the street. I thought about the many times we had faced each other, his actions, our enmity.

“Why even tell me? I’m here you set the spike off and things go back to your normal, why bother to explain it.”

He stared at me with a combination of deep hatred and pity. Offering me no clue but his checked wrath.

“You need me to do something, you need me willing don’t you?”

He remained stoically silent.

“After all we have done, all of our encounters you expect me to believe you? To help you?”

I moved to stand but his hand quickly moved towards his wrist and I controlled my self.

“How do I even know this is real, that you, you are real? That you are who you say you are?”

He still gave me nothing, I studied him. I thought about everything. I shook my head.

“No, you are the reason I keep failing. You are the reason things are getting worse. I stop you here and I can still fix this, I can save everyone your family included. How can you not see this?”

He twitched, his face darkened as he realized my insolubility.

“I bear my soul to you, the cause of all my pain and you spit in my face?” He growled.

“You thing you are the only one who suffered loss?” I spit back. “You know what I have done, what I have become. I would sacrifice a million possible lives to save 5.6 billion actual ones. I am all that humanity has left!”

He stared at me. I saw the stillness come over him. The surrender.

“Then come stop me.”

He reached for the Spike, I lunged forward faster than humanly possible. All the shifting I had done had changed my relationship with time. I had my hand over the control panel of the spike before he could reach it. My other hand was around the handle of the knife I had rammed into his chest. His hand finally settled on mine and his body rocked back from the force of the attack.

I stared into his eyes. “All this time chasing me and you thought you could tell your little sob story and get me to give up on humanity?” I leaned in and grunted between gritted teeth. “Never.”

He coughed up blood, looked back at me and smiled. “I know.”

A automated feminine voice chimed out.

“Activation parameters accepted.”

And beneath our hands the Spike began to hum and glow.

As reality began to unravel he spoke his last words.

“I didn’t need you willing, I didn’t need you passive, I tried it myself and just created a feedback loop that reset back to the damaged timeline. I needed to balance my intentions towards the experiment on a quantum level, I needed you, and I needed you to fight.”

As I took in his words and his smile I could feel eternity pulling apart my existence and everything faded to nothing.

[jonathanraychapman]

ChronoTrigger Review (A+)

Posted this on another website years ago, but I thought I’d share it here.

What do you get when you include Akira Toriyama (the creator of Dragon Ball manga) with Square (famous for the Final Fantasy series)? Well quite possibly the best RPG on SNES and a contender for one of the best of all time. I will rarely give any game an A+ rating... it has to be a very special game and not just a personal favorite. To achieve the rating, the game has to be nothing short of a masterpiece. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a game that would make it stumble down to an A and it only takes one or two. To get an A+, a game must cover all fronts including graphics, sound, and gameplay (and it's harder for RPGs as they have to include a great story). Besides the story aspect, the bar is generally set higher for RPGs than for platformers due to the time investment involved by the player. Given this, you should understand how important a game is when it's an A+. It's nothing short of being a must-play game. Chrono Trigger is just that sort of game. It doesn't matter that this game doesn't have the same graphics capability later systems had. Toriyama's excellent design work still shines - even today. When the art of a game thrives on looking like anime or cartoons, it takes on a sort of timeless charm. The only other games I can compare this quirky style with are Earthbound and Lunar. That's excellent company to be in for any game. As far as graphics goes, this is at the top of the SNES library as far as attention to detail and colorful vibrant sprites. The art direction in this game is amazing. Sometimes you pause the game just to check out all the details on the screen. When you're in a forest it's comparable to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past... it's that good. Every boss has nice details and a sort of character all their own. Even the regular enemies have a sort of quirky sense of humor. When you're in a dark cave you feel like you're in a dark cave. Likewise, a castle is regal and well-lit whereas a run-down castle is spooky and lonely. From abandoned high-tech laboratories and post-apocalyptic frozen landscapes to bright happy country fairs... the game makes you feel like you're where you're supposed to be. It takes very little imagination to lose yourself in the story and background. Even the psychedelic mode-7 backgrounds on the bosses make the fights seem epic. Now about the sound... it's even better than the graphics. I don't know how that is even possible. Every track is a masterpiece. This really shows off the SNES' sound capabilities. At no time will you be wishing the music would change. The whole game lends itself to remixes and remastering that many gamers have taken on. You will find no shortage of excellent Chrono Trigger music remixes, but the original is pretty good on its own. There are even parts of the story with their own music score (like with US Final Fantasy 3) - in particular the court trial (which you'll know when you play the game). But wait... there's more. This isn't one of those games where the story and atmosphere are awesome, but the game play sucks. This is a finely polished role-playing game on mechanics as well. When you start the game you will get to pick your battle system: Active (where a clock on each character winds down between moves) or Passive (your classic turn-based system). The first time I played I picked Passive (because I'm a bit of a micro manager on my RPGs), but the second time I used Active and was amazed how much more interesting it makes the game. You have to really pay attention and plan your attacks so you can pick the menus and attacks and execute them before it's time for your enemy to attack. If that sounds too hard or complicated, then by all means pick Passive. It won't affect the enjoyability very much in the end. It's just nice that the creators offer you the choice. You can also use items to restore health, restore magic, or help with a status effect. To summarize, you can make gameplay more complicated if you wish, but in the end it's a very simple system. You will be able to pick up the system on your very first encounter with no problem. Characters have HP (health points) and MP (magic points), like with most RPGs. Unlike early Final Fantasy games (or I should say like Dragon Warrior games), you will not randomly start a battle every few steps. Instead you will see enemies and be able to maneuver around them instead of battling. You probably don't want to do this all the time - as you want to level up. But it's always nice to have options. Speaking of options, there are three sort of modes on attacks: a regular attack, a magic spell or ability, and a combo move. Spells cost magic points. Combos can be between two or three characters and each combination results in an interesting move. Like with other RPGs, each character represents a flavor of attack or magic. For example, Chrono is lightning while Lucca (his inventor friend) is fire. Their combo is Chrono spinning his sword while Lucca adds fire to it for the attack. The first thing you'll notice when playing this game is that it starts out slow. This was my major complaint on the first play-though. Why do I have to talk to Chrono's mom? Why do I have to go find Lucca? Why do I have to go to this stupid fair? That's probably what you're going to think when you start the game. Well the reason is that you need to invest your feelings into the characters... and you can't do that unless you get to know them. This only lasts a little while, and the pay-off for this little bit of annoyance is huge. You seriously want to try and go for the story with this game. You will not be disappointed. Also, after you finish the game, you'll really cherish the replay (which I'll get to later). It adds a whole other dimension to these scenes. Enemies are fun for the most part. The bosses aren't overly complex and there's usually some trick to beating them. Keep in mind the elements of the game. You'll want to hit an ice guy with fire and a fire guy with ice. Sometimes you need to attack in a certain pattern. The bosses aren't really too hard, but some aren't a walk in the park either. Sometimes the combos can be a little over-powering, but I see this as a way the game leaves the experience up to you. If you want to repeat the same cheesy moves over and over to get to the story that's fine, and if you want to make things harder on yourself during combat that's also fine. But in the end, you aren't pushed in either direction necessarily. As you may have guessed from the title, the game involves time travel. There's a main, somewhat linear plot, but along the way there are little sub-plots and there's a fair degree of back-tracking. The beauty of the time travel is that each period covers the same area but with different characters and buildings. And doing something in one time period can have consequences in other time periods. While this isn't explored quite as much as I'd have liked, it is a welcomed element to the game and well-designed. The overall story is rich if not deep (but not deep enough to be boring) and there are a ton of endings to the game. The ending, in fact, depends on what you do during the game. After you beat the game, you can play again with a New Plus mode that lets you keep your items. That might seem a little cheesy, but by this point you're going to want to go check out the parts of the game you didn't finish or didn't finish the way you would have liked before. This system actually gives the game a lot of replay. So to summarize, if you haven't played this game and are even remotely a fan of RPGs, you need to play this game. I know it's not a cheap game on the SNES, but it's available on Playstation and on the Nintendo DS. The later games even have video cut-scenes from the creator.

[soulbore]

@chanceofpunching​​​ ━━ SAVED THREAD - below the read more is all the past writing from google docs━━━━ ⌈  Kara & Kara ⌋

“Thanks.” Kara pops up the small little device in her palm, eyes searching the familiar interface for similarities. And a few glaring differences. “Well, I don’t know how this works, but I know how mine looks, and yours has things that mine doesn’t that are…definitely broken.” Her smile turns apologetic as she offers it back up to the other Kara, “Which makes me wonder if that’s the…time part. The Legends?” A curious question, chin tipping backwards, “I’m twenty seven. Well…turning twenty-seven. Why? How old are you?” They look…the same but Kara’s starting to realize that doesn’t hold a lot of weight with Kryptonians. Not on Earth. “You know, you’re…the closest me–I mean…Kara. That I’ve met to me. Out of all of the universes I’ve seen, I’ve never seen another one where Alex and I aren’t sisters which is…hard to imagine.”

And easier to divide herself between them. It’s easier to look at herself in such a different world and imagine that it’s not her, because it isn’t with such a huge part of her life gone.

Seriousness settling: “Everyone’s okay, right? You’re not in an emergency to get back to…wherever you were going? Apocalypse, giant man-eating squids, Nazis?”

━━━━

Kara watched her one way home taken from her, but she could trust her. Or...herself. KAra? Wow, yep, she was still trying to get used to this. Kara chuckled, pushing her lips together and nodding. “That it is, I don’t know what happened between the travel but something caused it.” Kara’s own smile brighten as she nodded. “Yes, the legends! Sara found someone to fix it up so if they needed me I could just pop into whatever time they needed instead of them always coming over here. They also have the ability to travel to different dimensions too.” 

Twenty Seven….

Oh boy.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

“I’m...thirty nine,” Kara said, realizing how far into the past she went. That was a good twelve years. “Yeah, there’s a lot of versions...and a lot of… yeaaaah,” Kara reached up to rub the back of her neck, chuckling a little at the history on her mind. “I have an Alex, still kicking and handling me getting into trouble 9/10ths of the time,” She said and then heard the question. 

For once, nothing was an emergency. “Not that I know of, Barry just wanted to talk so I was heading that way and well… wound up here instead. Though, I’ve been through too many apocalypses, Nazis, and… haven’t dealt with a man-eating squid. That’s a first,”

━━━━

 “You’re—” Kara pauses, fingers curling a little around the device before it’s handed back fully, blinking a little before she laughs. Smiles. “Oh. Well...I’ve never met an older me, before.” A beat, adding, “Actually...I don’t think I’ve ever met...a nice me, before. I’m pretty sure I prefer this to someone trying to, you know, um...cut out my heart.” She rushes through the last part before she shakes her head, “But I’m glad you have Alex. And, trust me, man-eating squid? Not as fun as it sounds. Still kind of cute, but will make you smell like Red Lobster for weeks. Without the biscuits. I don’t recommend it.” Her smile is a little easier, though, now that she knows there’s no emergency. No other world on fire--no other danger--no one else potentially hurt. It’s a rarity for both of them, probably, and Kara works through it, “So...right now we don’t actually sound that different. The only difference is age, I’ve unfortunately wrangled a giant squid, and you’re...married.” She shrugs. Totally not a big deal, despite that persistent ache in her chest. Definitely an alternate universe. “Practically the same,” A sheepish laugh, reaching up to curl fingers around her...own shoulder before nodding, “Well, if it’s not an emergency, we can go get lunch, catch up because I really want to know if you have flying cars, and then contact our Barry. Cisco might be able to vibe you back to where you need to go. Does...your Cisco do the vibe thing? They’re really great.”

 ━━━━

   Kara grinned as she nodded her head, taking the device back and putting it into a pocket. “I’ve met a few different...mes?” Kara stumbled on the word, a smile on her lips as she chuckled because it sounded amusing. “Not all of them are bad, some are just...misguided,” Oh… the cut your heart out deal. “Yeah, that was a bit nerve wracking…. Overgirl?” Kara questioned, seeing if they had a similar timeline. In a way, she was sure they must have had the same life, the same design, but little things were different with each one. “I think I’ll stick with my dragons. They sound nicer than a man-eating squid,” 

Kara shifted her boots as she moved up beside her, still amused that for one the whole, Kara having a hidden identity came in handle here. Kara chuckled. “I am, for a year now,” She added and placed her hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Maybe one day for you too. Trust me, there’s someone out there, if we are the same well, I know the feeling before,” The feeling that she couldn't be with anyone, the fear of hurting someone, the idea that she was meant to be alone. Though, Kara wasn’t sure if this other Kara felt the same way or not.

“We don’t… have flying cars?” Kara said, a slightly confused look. “Well, unless you count alien cars. Nothing too special just yet, though I’m sure Lena is trying to come up with the up and coming cure for cancer,” Kara added and then nodded. “Cisco does! Though, it's just dimension jumping and some offensive attacks and lal. No time travel. Cisco and Ray on my world worked together to make my device,”

━━━━

      "Well, there goes my bet with Alex." A laugh, kind--friendly--and, okay maybe a little disappointed because flying cars would be pretty cool. Inefficient and likely horrible for the environment, but at least then Alex could commute into work next to her, most mornings. The thought of passing her sister over her morning bagel and coffee through the clouds is enough for eyes to soften underneath her laughter. "Ohhh," It's a wistful sigh of a near groan--anticipatory. Playful jealousy at its best, "I want dragons, let's switch and...wait." 

Kara pauses, hands raising up, "Was that actually what she called herself? Overgirl? We...weren't really on a name basis. Well, we were, but--you know what I mean. Anyways, yeah, I'm sure Cisco will be happy to get you back home, then. Or...wherever you're going. We'll figure it out." 

No rush. It's still a little weird. And kind of nice.

The soft of far softer shoes than boots brush along asphalt as Kara Danvers walks beside her older superhero mirror and her voice is quiet when she finally pipes up, "I'm glad you found someone. I think I--well, I don't know. Maybe it's just...not in my cards. Everyone else--" A beat. A pause. Trying, voice a little more serious, unknowingly a little firmer. Steel underneath the soft sound of her shoes along the ground. "It's probably not a good idea for me. What's it like, though? Are you happy?" She turns towards her, steel bending. Softer. Smiling, "How long have you been together?" 

━━━━

   A chuckle came from her lips as she knew all too well these bets. "Hopefully your best wasn't with food, that's a hard blow to the stomach. You could always stick a pony in her room, she'll forget about the bet pretty easily," Alex still hasn't let her down about it. Kara couldn't hold back the laugh as she looked over to her. "They might be around, somewhere. He's an absolute sweetheart!" She said and then paused.

"Well, she didn't actually call herself that. Cisco has a thing of naming people and he called her that. It was better than saying Supergirl Doppelganger or copycat or something odd." Kara nodded her head, hoping it would take long. She rather not disappear again. She's done that one too many times. "hopefully not too difficult," Then again, this tech was twelve years into this future.

Oh, da jevu. How many times did she say that? That she wasn't meant for this. "I've said that far too many times to count. You got plenty of time, don't cut yourself short yet. Who knows, maybe she's hiding in the ocean," Kara teased a little, but it troubled her a little bit. Because Kara didn't give herself enough credit and.... Rao. Now she could see what Cat was meaning. 

The question made her smile just at the thought. "I am, we both are. I've known her for about fifteen years. Though only married for one year, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Except for the whole...kidnapping, experiments, locked in the black mercy, and yeah, those messes in a half,” Kara really couldn’t even count how many times they had problems in a half. 

━━━━

A laugh--bright and loud, "Do I want to know what happened to the pony? Oh, Rao." And there Kara's mind goes, faster than like, zipping through possibilities. Fifteen years. Just because they have enough similarities doesn't mean there aren't probably some glaring differences. Like...knowing someone for fifteen years that she'd wind up married to. The math is quick, easy and Kara laughs a little hard, unable to keep it hidden, when she imagines it being someone like Lucy. That would make Thanksgiving pretty awkward. She doubts anyone else could be more awkward to bring around Lois than that. 

Kara's cheeks darken. Moving on from that thought. Maybe it's someone she doesn't know. Never will. Alternate universes are...funny that way. So why does Kara suddenly feel a little sad behind the softening smile? "Her? Well, at least this time it wasn't Oliver. Felicity might have let it slide once. Um...twice? Right past funny into...very awkward territory. It...sounds like--" The smile dims into something understanding, "You've been through a lot with them. Don't...you ever get tired of it? You know. The…" A suck of air through teeth that might be too sharp if glasses didn't temper it. "Putting them in danger. Not that...you have, I just mean I--you--we--" A beat, wincing. "Sorry."

Because that thought lingers, knowing what it's like to have a black mercy who she cares too much to let go. Was that...this Kara's? Was it another Krypton? Was it losing someone else she loved? The thought made her a little nauseous. 

━━━━

   Kara paused for a moment as she thought about it. It bothered her, all the time. Cat risking her life for her, and she no doubt would risk her own life for Cat. And, perhaps at the beginning it terrified her but now, well.... maybe it's because they have both been through so much, and they have both promised to protect each other. Cat has done it on multiple occasions. "Don't be sorry, its logical. I've thought about it plenty of times before as well. But Cat, she's... stubborn."

The thought just made her chuckle, but at the same time she took a breath and looked over at Kara. "Its hard, that's no lie, and I'm sure you understand that. But, when you find your shesur zrhytherevium, it's just like... the risk are known, but your heart cares far more than the risk. I think the best way to explain it is like protecting earth, in a way. Even knowing the risk, you do it anyway," She'd risk everything for Alex, and everything for Cat. Just as she would do anything to protect the earth.

"Are you alright?" Kara questioned, stopping as she shifted to look at the younger girl.

━━━━

For a moment, Kara wonders if her super hearing is off. If maybe, for a moment, words mean different things where this Kara is from, or if she just hit a traffic light while flying through the city very, very hard with her head. Because there's no way she just heard--

"Ms. Grant?!" Okay. Because there's no other Cats that--who she--

Kara slowly, slowly blinks, "How did--why w--when--nevermind." Both palms shoot up because that blush definitely burning deeper. And...deeper. And-- Stammering, more than a little...surprised is a good way to put it. "My...boss for years, journalist, feminist icon...Cat?" 

━━━━

   Kara started to giggle a little, realizing this is how she must sound so many times over. “Mrs. Grant,” Kara responded, as she tilted her head slowly. “Its a long story, a very long story. Like I said, fifteen years of time,” She allowed more of the words to stammer out of her mouth. “Careful, Kara, you look like your about to lose your ability to talk,” She couldn’t help to tease herself (is this what it was like when Alex and Cat teased her???) and nodded her head.

“Sounds like we have the same Cat, yes, that boss. Assistant for about 5 years, friendship for 3. Before anything even came around romantically, she helped in more ways than one. And if she’s the same Cat here, I think you know what I mean,” Kara couldn’t imagine a world where Cat Grant didn’t help Supergirl in some way.

“Which reminds me, what do you do here? Just curiosity sake,”

━━━━

Another blink, eyes still wide. Voice still catching as she-- what does she do? "Well it's not Cat!" It's a practical octave above her regular pitch and replaying her own sentence back only flares cheeks brighter than the cape curved around older shoulders. "That's not what I--I mean I didn't--that's so not what I--" A series of embarrassed, particular words tumble out of her mouth beneath her breath, because this is a thousand times more...everything. Than Oliver had been. 

"Please ignore I said that. I--that's--" Lips part. Close. Open again before the idea (and that memory of a ring) settle, "Wow. Okay. Ms--Mrs...Grant. Right. That is...so much more unexpected than anything else you could have said. Here. Sorry. You just...wow." 

Alex will never let her hear the end of this. 

Kara clears her throat and rolls her shoulders back--smiles despite the faint blush still on cheeks. "Okay, so...you're...married to Cat. Congratulations." Congratulations??? A faint wince. "I mean, you sound happy." A sheepish laugh, "Right, I'm...a journalist. If that's what you meant. What do you do?"

━━━━

Kara's eyebrows rose, staring at Kara at the sudden outburst and even she wasn't sure how to deal with that. "O...k. I never meant that?" Maybe she said the wrong thing, she tried to think back to the sentences she just used. "I meant in the, boss of CatCo, kind of...Cat. I'm sorry," Kara offered, not sure how to rectify her poor speech. She's still trying to get a handle over the idea that this world practically reflects her own.

"If it helps, I didn't see it coming until it hit me in the face?" Kara stated, still remembering how the feelings just came about slowly, and it wasn't anything Kara ever expected. A chuckle left Supergirl's lips as she heard the congratulations. "Thanks, I think. And I am." No matter what seem to hit the two, she was. 

"Same, still. but I'm also the Editor-in-Chief. I don't know if you have someone named Snapper on your earth, but on mine, he retired a few years back and well, I got a promotion," Snapper may have been a jerk now and again, but he was good at what he did and he was a good person deep down. Just very very rough around the edges. But he helped her many times over and she wouldn't be where she was without Cat and Snapper's persistence in pushing her in the right directions.

━━━━

“I know you didn’t--I mean I didn’t mean to--” Kara stumbles enough over her words quickly enough that she might break the sound barrier with sharp breath before she laughs a little, nervous and sheepish, shaking her head. Because it’s...her standing in front of herself, not actually Ms. Grant, who won’t suddenly materialize to give Kara that look while she’s nervously stuttering and somehow, knowing that both makes it better and worse when she raises her hand. Apologetic, “You shouldn’t apologize, I should. I’m sorry. There’s...an infinite number of universes, apparently, I can...well, I’m surprised but…not for the reasons Alex is definitely going to tease me about in around an hour.” Her laugh is a little easier, overcoming the shock in favor of something else, entirely. A smile. At least some version of her out there is…happy. And making it work. It’s a little uplifting to the romantic, maybe—makes it a little easier to breathe in a way she hasn’t felt in…years. Like maybe it isn’t all hopeless if there’s a world where she winds up…not fighting giant squid and somehow keeping a relationship together for—

 Long enough to get married. It hurts, a little, but…it’s nice, too. Maybe hope is always like that, a faint little ache that she’d always rather have, than not.

 “It’s actually more surprising Snapper retired.” The laugh is a little brighter—friendlier—because…well, it’s easy to feel comfortable around someone she’s theoretically known for decades. “So…” She leans a little closer, eyebrows raising, “That has to mean he finally at least gave you one story, right? Maybe there’s hope, after all.”  It’s easier to bury her hint of a sigh after that—bury it behind the smile as she slowly starts to continue walking back down the street, towards food. Hopefully. “Do you like it? Editing.” 

━━━━

   "Kara," Supergirl said softly as she pulled to a stop and touched her shoulder. "Relax, its okay. Your just talking to....yourself? I get it," She said with a smile, trying to calm down her younger self. "I do the same thing from time to time," A grin crossed her lips as she looked down and then back up toward her. "It could be worse, way worse." Kara glanced around, everything looking completely familiar to her (and the stares and smiles from those in National City were always familiar). "Where is this food place you wanted to go to?"

CHuckling, KAra nodded her head. "He, quote unquote, said he needed a very long vacation away from the magical alien mumbo jumbo. But somehow manage to compliment me at the same time. I don't know how that man manages both to being insulting and complimenting at the same time." She nodded her hand and looked over to her. "Several. I've gotten 2 pulitzers which caused him to crack a grin. It was scary, in its own way. But, he is proud of those who work under him. You'll see. Arrogant, grumpy, cranky, but he's a good guy. Just don't buy him bear claws," 

Putting her hands behind her back, walking as she thought about it. "I wouldn't say its the editing I like, but more, the other journalist I get to help. I think that's what I like the most, helping the others the way I was helped. Though, a bit nicer,"

━━━━

[personalcoachingcenter]

10 Secret Things You Need To Know About INTERIOR DESIGN

New Post has been published on http://mydecoradvice.com/home_design/10-secret-things-you-need-to-know-about-interior-design/

10 Secret Things You Need To Know About INTERIOR DESIGN

Has your home's style become tired or boring? Maybe it is time for some changes that will reflect some personality of your own. This post has some ideas about interior design that can help you creat your dream home.

Use your own photos as artwork. As a cheaper and more personal way to adorn your walls, use photos that you've taken. Either have prints made and frame them or use one of the many photo-to-canvas providers to have your photo made into a gallery canvas. If you are more tech-savvy, you can alter your photos in software to make them look even more like artwork.

    A great interior-design tip is to start checking out design magazines. There are many magazines out there that will teach you all about how to design your home and garden, and they'll even provide you lots of tips. They'll also keep you up to date on all the latest style trends.

  When you are decorating your children's room, try to look at things from their perspective. Decor in their room should be practical and age-appropriate. If you have young children, get down and look at things at their eye level. This will help you decide how to make the most of the space in their room.

  Budget Decorating: Forgotten Secrets #2

inmyownstyle.com

"This post is from the blog, InMyOwnStyle.com Skirted tables are one decor item that not only adds color and pattern to a room, but they can be changed easily seasonally while providing hidden storage. In this post I am sharing a few that I think will inspire you to think about how one would fit into your decor and storage needs. This… Read More" https://inmyownstyle.com/trendy-and-modern-skirted-table-decorating-ideasas.html

Have a theme in mind. Is there a specific color scheme you rather enjoy? Do you have a fondness for retro furniture? Deciding on a theme before you even begin your planning phase can save you a lot of time and effort. Make sure you know what you're going for before you start planning for it.

When designing for contemporary and modern spaces, integrate textures into the materials in the room. If the furniture and fixtures are heavy on smooth materials, such as glass, smooth plastics, metal and polished wood, add some textured materials to bring out details that will catch the eyes and create a more interesting space.

  To maximize the effect from hanging wall art, you should always make sure it is hung at eye level. If you hang it anywhere else it can destroy the delicate balance in your room, and even make your space look smaller.

  When redecorating a bedroom, adding a little color can help. Paint one accent wall or add some extra bold pillows to the bed. Place an accent chair in the corner or use lampshades with a bold pop of color. This adds visual interest to the room, and it is an inexpensive way to change the space.

Fifteen gorgeous DIY built in projects!

www.thriftydecorchick.com

"Hello there! I'm hoping to get a TON done on the office built ins this weekend! So far our summer has been crazy busy already, so I'm looking forward to at least one day this weekend with nothing planned. Because bookcases and shelves and everything "built in" are on my mind, I've gathered a round up of 15 AWESOME do-it-yourself built in projects I think you'll enjoy. I was blown away by the great ideas and execution of my fellow bloggers, as always! You'll find links below each photo to the full tutorials. Enjoy!" https://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2019/05/fifteen-gorgeous-diy-built-in-projects.html

Sketch out a layout of the room that you plan to redecorate, and carefully measure your space. This is important information to take with you when you shop for furniture and other items. If you do not have accurate measurements, you may end up buying furniture that will not fit into your space.

  When you are decorating your living room, you will want to create a focal point in the room and arrange furniture from there. Your focal point can be a large window or perhaps a fireplace. If you work to have your furniture compliment this focal point, you will have a room you will be proud of.

  Before you consider a new interior design project, consider how long you intend to live in your home. If you might move in a few years, use more neutral decorations. Something you love might prevent a sale of your home later.

  If you are looking to upgrade an area of your home, start with the kitchen. This is the area where you will spend a lot of your time with your family as you can replace old pots, pans and table settings with contemporary ones. This can improve the look of a frequently used space.

  Rectangular JY House created by Studio Arthur Casas as an indoor-outdoor family vacation home

www.homedsgn.com

"In a quiet, sunny neighbourhood in São Paulo, Brazil, creative design teams from Studio Arthur Casas have recently completed a beautifully contemporary and nearly open air vacation home for a family of four with adult kids. The beautifully rectangular JY House stands high above a golf course with impressive gravity. View in gallery The home’s nearly blockish contemporary shape isn’t actually the only very interesting thing about the way the house.. More…The post Rectangular JY House created by Studio Arthur Casas as an indoor-outdoor family vacation home appeared first on HomeDSGN."

https://www.homedsgn.com/rectangular-jy-house-created-by-studio-arthur-casas/

Remodeling your kitchen can be one of the most extensive (and expensive!) interior-design jobs in your house. Despite the hassle and expense involved, resist the temptation to save money by buying cheap cabinets. There's an enormous difference in quality between premium and cut-rate cabinets. You'll only end up replacing discount cabinetry a few years down the line.

  When crafting an interior-design plan for a room in your home, do not fail to keep the room's dimensions and furniture proportionality at the forefront of your mind. By balancing the size and type of furniture chosen for a particular room, you can avoid overwhelming the space with items that are too large and that make the space feel smaller than it actually is.

  If possible, you may want to cinder integrating your house with your hard. If you don't have a great deal of natural light in your home, consider setting up an outdoor living room right outside your back door to give the effect of another room in the house. This is particularly useful when entertaining guests.

  When you are placing your television in your living room and looking for a nice spot for it you should think where you are seated. The bottom of the television should be about at chest level from where you are seating in the room. This will create a more enjoyable television experience.

  A great method to get more natural light into whatever room you are designing is to remove and shrubs or branches that obstruct sunlight from entering your home. While it isn't necessary to completely get rid of your landscaping, making sure your windows have a clear view of the sunlight will really improve the look of your room.

  A neutral cream is a great color for a hallway. This color is neutral and will complement colors in adjoining rooms. It is also a light color, and light colors bring brightness to the space and make it look larger. The hallway color will continue to work even if you change the colors of other rooms at a later time.

  You will now be armed with some more ideas and tricks so that you can make your home show your creative side. Muster up your creative self and embark on the project of making your home into an abode that is reflective of your inner desires.

[seanmeverett]

Why These 100 Mission-Driven Companies Will Win [Part 2 of 2]

Discover something new that might improve your own life

I. Setting the Stage

In Part 1, we covered a small selection of mission-driven companies across beverages, food, shelter, apparel, and services, including business, banking, money, insurance and the real-world.

Their teams and their products take a different approach to the world which results in not just differentiation for their brands in consumer’s minds, but also in what we believe is bigger financial upside.

Big things have small beginnings, indeed.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

~Winston Churchill

VII. Hardware

Samsung: What started as a focus in TVs and appliances has moved onto the cutting edge of consumer tech with novel VR experiences. They’ve been on a tear lately. I live near their flagship experential store in the Meatpacking area of Manhattan, which had a line around the block over the weekend with a matte black truck out front. Say what you will about the industrial design battle with Apple, but one thing they definitely do better is experiential. Apple doesn’t do a lick of it and it’s where the consumer branding world is headed.

Awair: You know that invisible thing you can’t live without? The thing you don’t ever notice until it’s gone? Yah, we’re talking about the air we breath. It’s kind of important and stuff. This team built a cool wooden box that analyzes the quality of the air across 5 dimensions, gives you a score and recommendations for fixing it. Bonus points for working in tandem with Nest, Awair.

Remarkable: It’s a tablet that’s meant to feel like paper. Whether you’re reading, sketching or taking notes, the point is paper. And yes, it does come with a hardware pencil. That’s why they, and we, call it reMarkable.

Google Hardware: They spend the most marketing effort with their hardware products, as you might expect, since the search engine markets itself at this point. If you’re looking for VR, Nest, and inexpensive Chromebooks, this is where Google really shines, as well as with their scalable services.

Mevo: A beautifully done hardware product, Mevo by Livestream gives you a full production studio in your pocket. It works in tandem with your mobile phone so you can pan, zoom, and record live events straight to your website and, get this, Facebook Live. Nice work, y’all.

Insta 360: If you want to record 360-degree video so people can put themselves in your Virtual Reality shoes, then you’re going to need a camera. Insta360 is a leader in the space, with a Nano version that descretely slips into your pocket and clips onto the top of your iPhone or an Air version for your Android phone. Whatever you phone you choose, this might be the right choice when it’s Go Time.

Mayfield Robotics: Humanizing Tech is something we can get behind, especially when it means adding positive human behaviors to a little friendly home robot called Kuri. Mayfield Robotics made this little guy to be your home videographer, capturing your favorite moments you would have lost otherwise, and even has a touch sensor on its head to respond to human touch as well as your voice.

VIII. Software

Mailchimp: Likely one of the best known email marketing platforms in the world, used by everyone from startups to large companies alike. MailChimp, is where we always start when we’re thinking of creating a new email list and sending out easy, mobile responsive campaigns. They’ve been around a long time and continue to grow like crazy.

Wordpress: Did you know that 25% of all websites on the internet are built on top of the WordPress CMS? Twenty…five…percent. That’s insane. There are billions of websites in the world. That means at least a billion are built on this thing. That’s an install base the size of all iPhones ever sold. If that isn’t enough of a recommendation, I don’t know what is. Strike that. I just went to their site. It’s right on the homepage. Twenty…eight…percent.

Slack: Ah, the good ole email killer. If you’re not careful you might end up being a part of a hundred different Slack channels just like most of us. The pings might drive you crazy if you’re on a dev team, but by now you’ve turned those off. Just clearing the unreads can become a full-time job. But they solved a big problem of what to use for chatting at work when most of us were still scraping by with Campfire. It feels much more personal than email and have to say I love and use the product regularly. Go get you some.

Evernote: It’s been a heck of a product for years. It’s been my notebook of choice across many life moments and businesses, both successful and failed. I counted recently and have thousands of notes. I write down everything, nearly word for word in conference calls so I understand the subtleties from meetings years ago. Evernote’s been the single most valuable tool for my brain, aside from my MacBook, over the course of my career. 18 thumbs. Way up.

Livestream: As mentioned in the Mevo blurb above, Livestream is a killer product with a killer team located in Brooklyn NY. I’ve been to their offices. Video is hard. Real hard. I know, I fixed and rebuilt a VOD and Live streaming platform over 4 years. But these guys and girls make it look easy. From production equipment to live landing pages, to syndication to the social networks. It’s free to start, and easy to scale. Awe inspiring.

FreshBooks: This roundup wouldn’t be complete without some accounting software. And boy if FreshBooks isn’t one of the longtime leaders. Invoices, expenses, time tracking, payments, projects, and the list goes on. Why hire an accountant when you’ve got something this great? Just don’t call them an auditor ;)

Virtual Assistants

X.ai: There’s a few different ways to start an AI startup. But they all have one thing in common: they need lots of examples in order to be as accurate as possible. In this case, the folks at x.ai are using the pervasive meeting-scheduling-over-email problem as a way to teach it human language. Secretary is one of the first jobs AI will replace. I’ve used the product multiple times, it’s pretty great and works like a charm. Give it the ole college try, if you fancy.

Clara: It’s another virtual assistant, only this one was founded by a Forbes 30 Under 30 female. The tech world doesn’t have to be completely filled with dudes. My favorite part of Clara’s website? That they use the movie Contact’s Ellie Arroway to explain how their email scheduling assistant works.

Data

PitchBook: If you’re in the business of startups, M&A, VC or Private Equity long enough, you’ll come across PitchBook’s data. They send out a newsletter about the happenings of recent deals as well as quarterly trends updates on how much deal flow is happening. Their social teams are excellent as well, as I find I’m often conversing with their accounts across Twitter and Medium.

CBInsights: Focused mostly on the startup and tech worlds, CB Insights has one of the greatest newsletters of all time. It comes standard with snark, epic fails, and relevant news to keep our industry humming along. And with a daily sign off of “I love you”, it should keep you happy whilst reading through their great fundamental industry analyses.

Mattermark: They’re all about building target customer lists. Founded by one of the great ones who gets a lot of respect in the industry, Mattermark wants you to focus on the companies and employees who matter most. If coffee’s for closers, then you need the good Glengarry leads to use your BD and sales time wisely. This team can help you out.

VR/AR

8i.com: Probably my most favorite opening homepage lines of all time, 8i “mixes realities with holograms”. I mean, c’mon guys if that doesn’t get you excited, then you’re already asleep. Check out their homepage to see a demo video or download their mobile app to add holograms to your everyday life. Totally tubular, dood.

Magic Leap: No AR list would be complete without this 800-pound gorilla. They’ve raised a boat load of money from the who’s who of Valley VCs and are working to get the first consumer headset that throws holograms into your real-world environment. If they can execute against the vision, this puppy will be big.

IX. Transportation

Rideshare

Uber: If you’re reading this, it’s highly likely that you know of Uber. Though, there are still some people who haven’t. So for the king (or queen, if you’re feeling nasty) of ridesharing, Uber started the on demand trend and has been growing like a weed, making it one of the most valuable and fastest-growing startups in history. If you can find them a consistent source of drivers, you will be in their good graces forever. They have a supply problem, not a demand one. They’ll get it.

Lyft: If you’d like a little more personality whilst you ride than the black and white, why not try a little hot magenta on for size? Lyft, which used to be characterized by the pink mustache on the front of their cars, has since toned it down a bit and is having a bit of a resurgence after a few recent leadership stumbles at Uber. Kudos for the big branding.

Waze: Wouldn’t it be nice if your maps app told you where cops were catching people for speeding so you could slow down, or how to reroute yourself to get around traffic jams, all while it’s happening in real time? Waze is the first and pretty much only social mapping app out there. My former colleagues in an entire office in Atlanta used this app to deal with the horrendous traffic there. Hard to argue with that kind of pervasive benefit.

Ride

Toyota: They invented the Toyota Production System (TPS), which increased the quality of car manufacturing to an unprecendented level decades ago. It was so good, in fact, that they now teach it in business schools everywhere about using a constant improvement culture. You see the same thing happening in software businesses today. But don’t forget, Toyota invented it, not tech.

Tesla: The vision of an all-electric car, a giant touch screen to control everything (no other buttons), that drives itself to your exact location and picks you up. Only Elon Musk has the type of entrepreneurial grit to take on the auto manufacturing industry and actually pull it off. Besides, naming your series of cars, S 3 X means that Tesla Motors comes with a little marketing magic as well.

Fun

Boosted Boards: An electric skateboard that I see all over the place on the streets of NYC. Going 12 miles on a single charge means you can do your daily commute in Manhattan without running out of battery. It can take you up a 25% grade hill, goes up to 22mph (dear lord!), and has a little hand-held remote control. This thing is just plain rad.

OneWheel: Maybe two wheels are too archaic for you. If so, why not reduce your “footprint” to a single wheel. Wait…what? A single wheel? Yes, a single wheel with a board on either side for you to ride in futuristic style. Just don’t call it a hoverboard. The wheel looks like a small car tire, which means you can go far off the concrete streets. Because where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

X. Travel

Locations

AirBnb: Want to live like a local, or hotels all full, or maybe you just need a place for a few weeks or a month? Airbnb is the new friend you’ve been waiting for. You might be a little scared if you’ve never rented or subletted to someone else before, but I can tell you from experience that most people are incredibly genuine and trustworthy. We have yet to have any sort of trust issue or problem.

Hyatt: Here’s what we love about Hyatt. At the top of their homepage right now is a message calling for donations to the Red Cross to help Hurricane Harvey victims. It’s not just about a hotel with them. It’s about a home. Their brand feels safe and comforting. A hard thing to pull off, but kudos to the team.

Starwood: They own almost every major hotel brand you’ve heard of, which is pretty crazy to wrap your mind around. Here’s a few: Ritz-Carlton, Marriot, Townplace, Fairfield, Residence Inn, Courtyard, Aloft, The W Hotel, St Regis, SPG, and Sheraton. If you’ve ever stayed in a hotel, it’s highly likely you’ve stayed with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Movement & Booking

Upside Travel: A cool approach to getting from here to there, Upside Travel lets you book your work travel in a package deal to save some coin. Flight + Hotel + Uber.

Hawaiian Airlines: A vacation of dreams, of windy roads, beaches to mountaintops and ten different climates in between, Hawaii is one of those trips on many of our bucket lists. And if you want to really live the life, make sure you travel the official airline of the island. Right now, a roundtrip from North America starts at only $357. We’ll give that a “wow”.

Ride Share Air

Surf Air: Pay a monthly fee and get unlimited flights around the west coast of America from San Diego, Palm Springs, Monterrey, Carlsbad, Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley, LA, SF, etc. From what we can tell, the price starts at around $1000 per month. If you’re paying more than that, you might end up saving both time and money. Just open the app and book.

Jet Smarter: This is one of the bigger on demand flight services. Their instagram marketing is pretty killer. It is a bit more expensive than others but it also goes more places. If you’re spending $25K per year doing business travel, you might actually save your company money if you choose to fly this kind of private airline. Jay-Z is an investor, so if you want to live like HOV, throw your diamonds in the sky.

Net Jets: This group extends the private jet model to fractional ownership, 15/30/60 hour jet cards, and a global destination base across the US and Europe.

Miscellaneous

Away: It’s a luggage brand with a personality. They come with stickers, even a Despicable Me Minions version. Described as thoughtful luggage for modern travel, it even comes with simple naming like “Carry-on” and “The Bigger Carry-on” — you know exactly what you’re going to get.

Yeti: What some people may consider a boring business, the founders at Yeti decided they needed a more durable cooler for their fishing and camping trips. It then extended into branded team coolers for tailgates and now into other products like duffel bags. Sturdy enough to sit on, it really does the job.

XI. Entertainment

Video

HBO: The content king for decades, HBO is synonymous with the highest quality entertainment on TV. With their recent introduction of streaming services like HBO Go and HBO Now, you can get your favorite Game of Thrones-style shows on the go or on your mobile apps for a small monthly fee. For that, we say, already subscribed. Just keep those Vice News a-coming!

Netflix: All the movies and TV shows you can watch for less than $10 per month? The original DVD movie service and leader in the online video wars, what can you say about Netflix that hasn’t already been said. We’re faithful subscribers and will continue to be. 100 million other people can’t be wrong.

Amazon Prime: For a small monthly fee you get unlimited free shipping, all the movies, TV shows, music, and books you can consume. Add in photo saving and podcasts, and you’ve got one of the best designed and most valuable subscription products in the technology universe. Their originals are coming too, which means they’ve got a few more tricks up their sleeve than the recent purchase of Whole Foods. Amazon is taking over the whole technological world, it seems.

Books

Holtzbrinck Publishing Group/Macmillan: It’s a publishing institution whose core values center on sharing knowledge and wisdom. With brands like Scientific American and Nature, their dedication to science is hard to understate. We love this organization.

Hachette Book Group: One of the biggest global book publishers, Hachette Book Group pushes out 900 adult books (including 50 to 100 digital only titles), 250 for young readers, and 400 audio books in one single year.

HarperCollins: They’ve been around for over 200 years with operations in 18 countries. In books, a strong foundational history counts for something. In fact, it’s almost everything. Their fiction authors are legendary: Mark Twain, Martin Luther King, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells, Agatha Christie, amongst many others.

Penguin Books: What started in 1939 as the vision of a book that cost as little as a pack of cigarettes has now grown into a vast collection of both fiction and non-fiction books across a variety of topics.

Random House: 70,000 digital and 15,000 print books published every year makes Penguin Random House one of the most prolific publishers in all of writing.

Simon & Schuster: From Stephen Colbert and Enemy of the State to Stephen King’s It and Anna Kendrick’s personal actress biography, the range of books published by Simon & Schuster is vast and varied.

XII. Work & Home Tech

AltWork: A standing, sitting, lounging desk contraption that maintains correct posture in four different positions, this company’s product is aimed at helping keep your body healthy while you work at a computer screen all day.

Eero: A tiny home Wi-Fi system that just works. You plug it in and forget about it. Put a few around your home to boost the signal to different rooms. It’s a simple router, so you don’t need a degree from DeVry to understand how it works.

Felix Gray: Staring at our computer and phone screens all day can hurt our eyes. There’s an old 20/20/20 rule where every 20 minutes you’re supposed to look at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. To help with eye strain and fatigue, the folks at Felix Gray have special lenses worn by employees at some of the biggest, baddest tech companies in the world.

Pilot Pens: Finding the right writing instrument can be tricky. You want one with good ink flow that doesn’t stain the page or break and get on your hands or clothes. You want one that doesn’t cost a lot so it doesn’t matter that Bob from accounting stole it. That’s where Pilot comes in. Inexpensive, good, consistent.

Sonic Internet: Want blazing fast speeds with a better internet/phone bundle and a more human customer service? This team has what you need for gigabit fiber internet and unlimited calling.

Casper: A mattress startup that’s growing like absolutely crazy. People love their product, posting unboxing videos to YouTube because of the creative packaging. They’ve got deals to sell their mattresses in big box retailers now but got their start going Direct to Consumer over the internet. It’s a trend that will continue and this large founding team executed beautifully.

— Sean Everett

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Why These 100 Mission-Driven Companies Will Win [Part 2 of 2] was originally published in The Mission on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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[mrblazey]

NIME 2017 - Personal Highlights

I’ve just returned from my first NIME Conference (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) and wanted to make a record of some of my favourite parts, mainly for my own future reference, but also in the hope that it might be useful to other musicians/makers/researchers.

NIMECraft Workshop – Exploring the Subtleties of Digital Lutherie

Associated poster presentation - http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0074/index.html

Getting thrown into group-based instrument making at 8.15 on the Monday was a great way to get started and meet a good chunk of people. The workshop started with a discussion on how the finer points of ‘digital lutherie’ (Jorda, 2005 - http://mtg.upf.edu/node/449 ) can be disseminated effectively – NIME papers tend to focus on technical details and developments at the expense of all the finer details and artistic choices that go into the look and feel of a finished instrument. My group got a bit sidetracked talking about the differences between making instruments for yourself vs. for other people; for example, when making for yourself you are likely to be happier to put up with material or programming flaws because you know the causes and how to get around the problem. You are also likely to test and problem solve individual aspects of the disassembled instrument, as well as incorporate programming and building developments into a tight feedback loop with your own playing/testing. This approach can afford to be quite haphazard and based on junky/recycled aesthetic and materials, whereas making for other people involves more craft and more engineering – you need to be confident that the instrument can withstand heavy handedness and that a stranger can operate it easily without your help/presence.

After the discussion we got on with modifying prototype DMIs (based on Bela boards) in groups, using a nice big mix of materials and adhesives. One great thing about this workshop was that we all started with a pre-programmed simple instrument. This meant that less tech-savvy folk like me could focus on fun ways to physically modify and actuate the instrument, but those who wanted to could get into the programming side as well – either way, everyone ended up with a working instrument and no one was left stuck at the programming stage. Another great thing that emerged was the way that various groups chose to work together – my group split into two pairs and made one instrument per pair. Some divided the instrument into four sections and worked on one each. Another approach was to think in terms of the ‘whole animal,’ with one group requiring all members at once to play the instrument effectively.

This Digital Lutherie thread is still being followed by Bela and Queen Mary University of London so keep an eye out on their twitters etc if you would like to take part in something like this.

@qmul_mat

@belaplatform

Papers

Designing a Multi-Touch eTextile for Music Performances – Maurin Donneaud, Cedric Honnet, Paul Strohmeier.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0002/index.html

One thing I really liked about these guys was the open-source mentality – there was no academic hoodwinking or holding cards close to their chest, but rather a big emphasis on this being something that you can do yourself, including links to all the resources and materials you would need to do so ( https://etextile.github.io/resistiveMatrix/ ) ..not that I experienced any of this hoodwinking at NIME – pretty much everyone was very open to chat about their work and swap info, influences and experiences.

Self-Resonating Feedback Cello: Interfacing gestural and generative processes in improvised performance – Alice Eldridge, Chris Kiefer.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0005/index.html

A big intention for Kalimbo has been to streamline all the elements of my performance ecology (acoustic instrument, effects, synths, samples and controls) into one object that does not require the player to remove their hands to manipulate effects etc. The Feedback Cello is a good example of an instrument that does this very well. The inclusion of a speaker and transducers in/on the body adds another dimension of feedback, with the added possibility of manipulating the audio between pickups and speaker with analogue or audio effects, or even another musician’s setup, as they did during one of the concerts with Thor Magnusson. They have also used it as a kind of resonating effects unit for live coding sets, adding some rich physicality to a sound world that can risk being a bit too ‘in the box’.

Fragile Instruments: Constructing Destructable Musical Interfaces - Don Derek Hadad, Xiao Xiao, Tod Machover, Joseph Paradiso.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0006/index.html

Some people say that laptop or electronic sets can be too clinical or stark and therefore err towards chin-stroking appreciation and away from more abandoned enjoyment. Xiao pointed out that this probably stems from the expense and associated preciousness of all the equipment involved. Guitars can be expensive but they are readily available, especially to the high profile musicians who have famously smashed them to bits. This paper demonstrates a great method for bringing some destruction and danger into electronic performances. Some people questioned the authenticity of this danger, as the bits being destroyed were basically a proxy for the actual expensive, precious bits of equipment, but I still found the sentiment inspiring. I’m hoping to start work on a performance approach wherein the building of a performance ecology is integral to the performance, in a way that provides an instant narrative as well as legibility of form for the audience. I had already envisioned the deconstruction/disassembly of the ecology as a good way to end the performance, but after this paper it seems so obvious that smashing it to pieces would be way more engaging and fun, not to mention cathartic!

Gibberwocky: New Live-Coding Instruments for Musical Performance - Charles Roberts, Graham Wakefield.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0024/index.html

While I have enjoyed quite a few live coding performances by this point, I’ve always seen it as something other people do, rather than something that would benefit my own practice. One reason I have felt this way is that I know from years of experience how to get the kind of sounds I want from certain equipment and software. Some purists might not agree with the approach afforded by Gibberwocky, but during the talk I had a definite lightbulb moment of “I could use that!’ Basically it enables you to easily tie in coding instructions with existing programs like Max or Ableton. For example, I might have a synth that I like to use, knowing that automating 2 or 3 parameters will have a pleasing effect. With Gibberwocky, this could be set up in a generative/algorithmic way. I’m yet to try any live coding, so I don’t know how experienced coders would feel about this approach, but it certainly seemed like something I would like to try out.

Current Iteration of a Course on Physical Interaction Design for Music - Sasha Leitman.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0025/index.html

I think this paper is well worth reading for anyone that teaches in the realm of sound art, digital instrument design or any kind of digital creative practice. These areas tend to be approached by people from very different creative backgrounds, with different intentions and most importantly completely different base levels of technical knowledge. The main thing I took from this paper as useful to my own teaching was Sasha’s approach to dealing with this – students are first given a quiz on technical knowledge, complete with answers and directions to online resources which will allow you teach yourself how to get them. This is followed up by another quiz without the answers and finally, depending on individual weak spots, further help and one-on-one tuition to level the playing field.

MM-RT: A Tabletop Musical Instrument for Musical Wonderers  - Akito von Troyer.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0035/index.html

Again, connections with my own past and future work made this instrument stand out for me. Part of Kalimbo’s appeal is the less-than-deliberate control system – you may not be able to create precise rhythms for drums or melody, but you can navigate soundscapes and ’find’ beats through gestural exploration. MM-RT also promotes an exploratory approach, but using sounds from physical materials. My upcoming work with the performative ecology building is going to involve individually controlled, non-quantised motorised percussion and un-synced tape loops. Akito’s demonstrations mainly involved short rhythmic loops, but he cited john cage’s generative works as an influence, and when talking to him at his demo he did say these kind of generative polyrythms are possible with MM-RT. The legibility of form is also a big factor in how engaging this instrument is, as the audience sees you pick up various objects and materials and inevitably gets drawn into how each one is about to sound.

Design for Longevity: Ongoing Use of Instruments from NIME 2010-2014 - Fabio Morreale, Andrew McPherson.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0036/index.html

I have been developing Kalimbo entirely as a tool for my own performance. However, along the way, a couple of people have asked if they could have one. This is an exciting prospect but got me thinking about what would actually be necessary to allow me to hand one off to someone else and expect it to work. This paper looked at just under 100 instruments presented at NIME, before whittling these down to a tiny handful that became commercially available, regularly used in performances and sold to the public. This, along with the discussion from the digital lutherie workshop and lots of useful feedback from my demo session, gave me the inspiration to develop the instrument into something worth selling on, as well as a pretty good set of blueprints of the requirements to make this a possibility. If you make DMIs and would like them to be successfully sold on to the public, definitely read this and learn from what has worked or failed for others.

SALTO: A System for Musical Expression in the Aerial Arts - Christiana Rose.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0058/index.html

Scoring choreography of any kind to music, or writing music for any piece of choreography, is bound to include matching up sound and movement in perfect timing (not always, but often enough…). The approach in this paper allows you to use the performers’ movements, along with things like muscle strain and speed etc., to trigger and generate sounds directly. It’s almost as if the compositional structure is given to you for free, just leaving you with sound design choices. Lots of scope!

Cyther: A Human-Playable, Self-Tuning Robotic Zither - Scott Barton, Ethan Prihar, Paulo Carvalho.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0061/index.html

Not too much to say about this one apart from it sounds great and works great – the robotic capabilities are very versatile and dynamically expressive, and the design elegantly places all of the robotic workings beneath the strings, leaving the playing surface completely open to a human performer. As mentioned above, my own work so far is heavily tailored to me being the performer, whereas this instrument can be played by various people to get drastically different results, as demonstrated in the Expressive Machines Musical Instruments concert on Wednesday; Ben Taylor used live coding to generate patterns that would be impossible for a human to achieve, whereas Scott Barton incorporated a lot more human interaction and extended techniques in collaboration with the robotics.

Demos/Posters

Sounding Architecture: Inter-disciplinary Studio at HKU - Álvaro Barbarosa, Thomas Tsang.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0010/index.html

Beautiful, large-scale sculptural instruments based on architectural designs.

Live Coding YouTube: Organizing Streaming Media for and Audiovisual Performance - Sang Won Lee, Jungho Bang and George Essl.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0049/index.html

Quite a practical, technical paper and not something I’m likely to use myself, but included in my highlights because Sang’s performance on Wednesday with multiple jabbering Donald Trumps was brilliantly terrifying.

Design Considerations for Instruments for Users with Complex Needs in SEN Settings – Asha Blatherwick, Luke Woodbury, Tom Davis.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0040/index.html

Asha was in my workshop group when we discussed how instruments intended for people other than yourself need to be self-explanatory and hard-wearing, particularly in SEN settings where explaining how to use an instrument and how not to break it can be difficult.

Robotically Augmented Electric Guitar for Shared Control - Takumi Ogata, Gil Weinberg.

http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0092/index.html

Really cool looking instrument, and again, judging from my observation of a few demo participants, really versatile from player to player. I also really liked the drum sequencer style of the control program, complete with randomiser for a nice variety of precision or chaos.

Performances

I think most of these were filmed, as was my own performance, but they aren’t yet online. I’ll add links when they are available.

Anthony T. Morasco – Listening – Composition based around a very cool homemade piano-toll/music box and soprano singer.

Hans Peter Stubbe - Spatial Piano - Improvisation where the disklavier acts like a second player, reacting to player input.

Sabina Hyoju Ahn - Breath - Amazing performance where sound, light and visuals were generated and controlled with Sabina’s breath, using DIY circuits and a lighting rig made from e-waste that looked like a mini post-apocalyptic city scape.

D. Andrew Stewart and Sang Won Lee - Disappearing: Live Writing – Stream of consciousness typing, generating sounds and seamlessly evolving into beautiful visuals and minimal beats.

Matthew Steinke – Robotic Musical Performance - All of the robotic performances were impressive but this one had the most charm in my opinion. Musically engaging, visually reminiscent of Victorian tinny automatons and with great collage-y visual and audio snippets.

(EDIT - excerpt here - https://youtu.be/f8KkhRJ2Ltc )

Sang Won Lee, Jungho Bang and George Essl – Live Coding YouTube - What’s more terrifying than Trump? Lots of Trumps. Turning them into elements of a piece of music helped take the edge off...

Jeff Snyder – Ghostline - Four performers have their movements tracked by webcam, interacting with an on-screen ‘ghostline’ to trigger sounds. Visualisations and sonifications merge and shift over time in a composition where the sights and sounds are merged perfectly.

Yemin Oh – Time Discontinuum - The sound and video of a piano performance is recorded over one minute. This material is then fragmented, repitched and replayed along with the live performer as his movements across the keyboard dictate how the original material gets regenerated.

Jonghyun Kim – Vehicle Music – Noisy, cheeky and fun. A radio-controlled car generates synth signals through its movements, parading around the performance space between occasionally smashing into cymbals, drinks and most importantly a loud, distorted guitar laying in the centre of the space. An older performance can be seen here  - https://vimeo.com/36848457    

There were a few timing clashes with my performance, sound check and demo, and I opted to prioritise late night concerts over early morning paper sessions so I did miss a handful of talks and performances. I’ve also focussed on things that related to my own work and/or inspired me the most so this list is by no means comprehensive but still, plenty of inspiration for me to be getting on with. Overall, NIME was an amazing event full of great people and I really hope I can be part of the conversation and return in the future.

[junker-town]

2017 NFL mock draft: Free agency fallout

Did we just learn that teams don’t like the incoming rookie quarterbacks?

The 2017 NFL draft continues to round into shape, and the first week of free agency eliminated key needs for a few teams. The moves made also give some indication of what the league thinks (or doesn’t think) of this year’s quarterback prospects.

We also now have three teams with two first-round picks following the trade between the Saints and Patriots that sent wide receiver Brandin Cooks to New England.

1. Cleveland Browns: Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M

Nothing about what the Browns have done, or will do, in free agency will change this pick. Garrett is the draft’s best player and should start house shopping in Cleveland.

2. San Francisco 49ers: Malik Hooker, S, Ohio State

What the 49ers will do is so hard to gauge. Do they think they can go with Brian Hoyer for at least a year as starting quarterback? If so, that could open them up to taking Hooker. While Jimmie Ward will get a chance to prove himself as a safety this offseason, Hooker can be a transcendent talent at the position. The Ed Reed comparisons are real.

3. Chicago Bears: Jonathan Allen, DE, Alabama

By signing Mike Glennon, the Bears are probably feeling like they don’t need to take a quarterback at No. 3. The same for defensive back since they’ve brought in Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper and Quintin Demps. If that is indeed the case, they could target Allen to be the key piece of their defensive line.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

The Jaguars made two big splashes by signing cornerback A.J. Bouye and defensive lineman Calais Campbell. Now they can look for a difference-maker on offense, like Fournette. He can take the burden off quarterback Blake Bortles, who probably isn’t as bad as last season suggested.

5. Tennessee Titans (via Los Angeles Rams): Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State

Although the Titans signed Logan Ryan to a three-year deal, that shouldn’t stop Tennessee from bringing in Lattimore. Ryan isn’t the type of No. 1 cornerback that Lattimore can be, but the combination of the two could help finally fix the team’s woeful pass defense.

6. New York Jets: Jamal Adams, S, LSU

If their interest in Tony Jefferson is any indication, the Jets want to move on from Calvin Pryor. They could do that with Adams, a good strong safety who could develop into a Landon Collins-type of player. Hooker and Fournette would be considered if they are available.

7. Los Angeles Chargers: Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama

The Chargers have the pieces necessary on the line and at linebacker to fit Gus Bradley’s defense. But what they don’t have is the type of big cornerback he prefers. At just over 6’0, Humphrey is a solid fit who plays physical.

8. Carolina Panthers: Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford

The Panthers were already in need of a defensive end, and that becomes even more evident with the questionable trade of Kony Ealy. Thomas, arguably the hottest prospect in the draft, seems locked into the first 10 picks.

9. Cincinnati Bengals: John Ross, WR, Washington

This is a repeat pick from last week’s mock draft that just makes more sense the more you think about it.

10. Buffalo Bills: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson

By retaining Tyrod Taylor, that should mean the Bills don’t take a quarterback with this pick. Instead, they can take a player like Williams who will be a nice vertical threat for Taylor.

11. New Orleans Saints: Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee

This is a question the Saints front office might face on draft night: Do you take the third pass rusher or the third cornerback? Because the depth at cornerback is better, my pick is pass rusher. Barnett may not blow you away athletically, but he just gets the job done.

12. Cleveland Browns (via Philadelphia Eagles): Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

With all the moves in free agency thus far, the biggest losers are the quarterbacks in this year’s draft. They could be in for a slide, and that could benefit a team like the Browns. Watson gets the nod over Mitchell Trubisky because he has more experience and athleticism.

13. Arizona Cardinals: Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina

If the quarterbacks do fall, a team like the Cardinals could start grooming their future franchise signal caller. Trubisky has good skills and would be a good understudy for Carson Palmer.

14. Philadelphia Eagles (via Minnesota Vikings): Quincy Wilson, CB, Florida

The Eagles brought in veteran wide receivers Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery, so that should eliminate that position as the team’s top need. Wilson’s size and ability to play the ball make him a hot commodity.

15. Indianapolis Colts: Takkarist McKinley, OLB, UCLA

Even with the signing of Jabaal Sheard, John Simon, and Barkevious Mingo, the Colts still need edge talent. That’s what the speedy McKinley can provide.

16. Baltimore Ravens: Haason Reddick, OLB, Temple

The rise of Reddick continues. The versatile linebacker can give the Ravens a player who has experience with his hand down or playing in space.

17. Washington: Reuben Foster, MLB, Alabama

Washington smartly added Terrell McClain and Stacy McGee to the defensive line, so the need for a middle linebacker elevates. Foster can be the leader of Washington’s defense with his range and ability playing from the middle.

18. Tennessee Titans: Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan

The Titans should be elated if Davis happens to slip this far – and also fear a team leapfrogging them to get him.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State

The Buccaneers went into this offseason wanting to get a playmaking wide receiver, and they certainly got that by bringing in DeSean Jackson. They can add another playmaker on offense by drafting Cook, a do-everything runner who can command snaps early in his career.

20. Denver Broncos: Ryan Ramczyk, OT, Wisconsin

The Broncos wisely signed offensive linemen Ron Leary and Menelik Watson in the first week of free agency, and they can finish off their offensive line with Ramczyk, the draft’s best left tackle.

21. Detroit Lions: Malik McDowell, DT/DE, Michigan State

Detroit is another team that loaded up on offensive linemen in free agency, and that could open them up to adding a splash player on defense. McDowell is the type of athlete that the defense needs. He can play inside and outside.

22. Miami Dolphins: O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama

Miami has had a sneaky good offseason, trading for Julius Thomas and William Hayes and signing Nate Allen, Anthony Fasano, Ted Larsen, and Lawrence Timmons. Even with Thomas, they could use a player like Howard, a classic lead tight end who can catch and block.

23. New York Giants: David Njoku, TE, Miami

The Giants may have given Rhett Ellison a four-year contract, but he’s not the pass catcher Njoku can be. Saying Njoku can be the next Jeremy Shockey is a little hyperbolic, but he can give the Giants’ offense a dimension it currently does not have.

24. Oakland Raiders: Zach Cunningham, MLB, Vanderbilt

The Raiders would probably prefer if Foster fell into their laps, but Cunningham isn’t a bad consolation prize.

25. Houston Texans: DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame

If Kizer happens to slide on draft night, this might be where his fall stops. Kizer has tools that can be molded, but he has to go to a team that can coach him up.

26. Seattle Seahawks: Garrett Bolles, OT, Utah

The Seahawks would do back flips if only one offensive tackle is taken before they pick in the first round. Signing a player like Luke Joeckel shouldn’t stop Seattle from going after Bolles or Ramczyk in the first round.

27. Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech

This pick is starting to become rote, and for good reason. The only thing more obvious than Mahomes’ skills are his flaws. But in Kansas City, he’d get time to work on his footwork and learn how to stick in the pocket. He has franchise quarterback talent.

28. Dallas Cowboys: Jabrill Peppers, S, Michigan

I know the Cowboys need a pass rusher, but doesn’t Peppers sound like a splashy Jerry Jones pick? In the Dallas defense, he would be Barry Church’s replacement, and frankly, an upgrade.

29. Green Bay Packers: Forrest Lamp, OL, Western Kentucky

There’s a terrible joke somewhere in here about Forrest Lamp and Forrest Gregg, but you can make it yourself. Lamp would be a smart pickup for the Packers. Instead of shuffling pieces on the roster, Lamp could slot into the right guard spot vacated by T.J. Lang.

30. Pittsburgh Steelers: Carl Lawson, DE/OLB, Auburn

The Steelers would prefer if Reddick stayed in this range, but there would be nothing wrong with going for Lawson. He’s athletic enough to stand up more in the NFL than he did at Auburn, and he is the type of pass rusher the team needs.

31. Atlanta Falcons: Cam Robinson, OT, Alabama

Robinson’s talent, especially as a run blocker, is too great to let slide out of the first round. In Atlanta, he can push for a starting guard spot and potentially put some pressure on the team’s offensive tackles.

32. New Orleans Saints (via New England Patriots): Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State

With reports out there saying the Saints were trying to acquire Malcolm Butler from the Patriots, that should show how much the team wants a cornerback. Conley had a stellar combine earlier this month and put himself into the first round mix.

How the NFL Draft became such a big deal

[junker-town]

2017 NFL mock draft: Free agency fallout

Did we just learn that teams don’t like the incoming rookie quarterbacks?

The 2017 NFL Draft continues to round into shape, and the first week of free agency eliminated key needs for a few teams. The moves made also gives some indication of what the league thinks (or doesn’t think) of this year’s quarterback prospects.

We also now have three teams with two first-round picks following the trade between the Saints and Patriots that sent wide receiver Brandin Cooks to New England.

1. Cleveland Browns: Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M

Nothing about what the Browns have done, or will do, in free agency will change this pick. Garrett is the draft’s best player and should start house shopping in Cleveland.

2. San Francisco 49ers: Malik Hooker, S, Ohio State

What the 49ers will do is so hard to gauge. Do they think they can go with Brian Hoyer for at least a year as starting quarterback? If so, that could open them up to taking Hooker. While Jimmie Ward will get a chance to prove himself as a safety this offseason, Hooker can be a transcendent talent at the position. The Ed Reed comparisons are real.

3. Chicago Bears: Jonathan Allen, DE, Alabama

By signing Mike Glennon, the Bears are probably feeling like they don’t need to take a quarterback at No. 3. The same for defensive back since they’ve brought in Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper and Quintin Demps. If that is indeed the case, they could target Allen to be the key piece of their defensive line.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

The Jaguars made two big splashes by signing cornerback A.J. Bouye and defensive lineman Calais Campbell. Now they can look for a difference maker on offense like Fournette. He can take the burden off quarterback Blake Bortles, who probably isn’t as bad as last season suggested.

5. Tennessee Titans (via Los Angeles Rams): Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State

Although the Titans signed Logan Ryan to a three-year deal, that shouldn’t stop Tennessee from bringing in Lattimore. Ryan isn’t the type of No. 1 cornerback that Lattimore can be, but the combination of the two could help finally fix the team’s woeful pass defense.

6. New York Jets: Jamal Adams, S, LSU

If their interest in Tony Jefferson is any indication, the Jets want to move on from Calvin Pryor. They could do that with Adams, a very good strong safety who could develop into a Landon Collins-type of player. Hooker and Fournette would be considered if they were available.

7. Los Angeles Chargers: Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama

The Chargers have the pieces necessary on the line and at linebacker to fit Gus Bradley’s defense. But what they don’t have is the type of big cornerback he prefers. At just over 6’0, Humphrey is a solid fit who plays physical.

8. Carolina Panthers: Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford

The Panthers were already in need of a defensive end, and that becomes even more evident with the questionable trade of Kony Ealy. Thomas, arguably the hottest prospect in the draft, seems locked into the first 10 picks.

9. Cincinnati Bengals: John Ross, WR, Washington

This is a repeat pick from last week’s mock draft that just makes more sense the more you think about it.

10. Buffalo Bills: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson

By retaining Tyrod Taylor, that should mean the Bills don’t take a quarterback with this pick. Instead, they can take a player like Williams who will be a nice vertical threat for Taylor.

11. New Orleans Saints: Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee

This is a question the Saints’ front office might face on draft night: Do you take the third pass rusher or the third cornerback? Because the depth at cornerback is better, my pick is pass rusher. Barnett may not blow you away athletically, but he just gets the job done.

12. Cleveland Browns (via Philadelphia Eagles): Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

With all the moves in free agency thus far, the biggest losers are the quarterbacks in this year’s draft. They could be in for a slide, and that could benefit a team like the Browns. Watson gets the nod over Mitchell Trubisky because he has more experience and athleticism.

13. Arizona Cardinals: Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina

If the quarterbacks do fall, a team like the Cardinals could start grooming their future franchise signal caller. Trubisky has good skills and would be a good understudy for Carson Palmer.

14. Philadelphia Eagles (via Minnesota Vikings): X

The Eagles brought in veteran wide receivers Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery, so that should eliminate that position as the team’s top need. Wilson’s size and ability to play the ball make him a hot commodity.

15. Indianapolis Colts: Takkarist McKinley, OLB, UCLA

Even with the signing of Jabaal Sheard, John Simon and Barkevious Mingo, the Colts still need edge talent. That’s what the speedy McKinley can provide.

16. Baltimore Ravens: Haason Reddick, OLB, Temple

The rise of Reddick continues. The versatile linebacker can give the Ravens a player who has experience with his hand down or playing in space.

17. Washington: Reuben Foster, MLB, Alabama

Washington smartly added Terrell McClain and Stacy McGee to the defensive line, so the need for a middle linebacker elevates. Foster can be the leader of Washington’s defense with his range and ability playing from the middle.

18. Tennessee Titans: Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan

Tennessee should be elated if Davis happens to slip this far – and also fear a team leapfrogging them to get him.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State

The Buccaneers went into this offseason wanting to get a playmaking wide receiver, and they certainly got that by bringing in DeSean Jackson. They can add another playmaker on offense by drafting a Cook, a do-everything runner who can command snaps early in his career.

20. Denver Broncos: Ryan Ramczyk, OT, Wisconsin

The Broncos wisely signed offensive linemen Ron Leary and Menelik Watson in the first week of free agency, and they can finish off their offensive line with Ramczyk, the draft’s best left tackle.

21. Detroit Lions: Malik McDowell, DT/DE, Michigan State

Detroit is another team that loaded up on offensive linemen in free agency, and that could open them up to adding a splash player on defense. McDowell is the type of athlete that the defense needs. He can play inside and outside.

22. Miami Dolphins: O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama

Miami has had a sneaky good offseason, trading for Julius Thomas and William Hayes and signing Nate Allen, Anthony Fasano, Ted Larsen, and Lawrence Timmons. Even with Thomas, they could use a player like Howard, who would is a classic lead tight end who can catch and block.

23. New York Giants: David Njoku, TE, Miami

The Giants may have given Rhett Ellison a four-year contract, but he’s not the pass catcher Njoku can be. Saying Njoku can be the next Jeremy Shockey is a little hyperbolic, but he can give the Giants’ offense a dimension it currently does not have.

24. Oakland Raiders: Zach Cunningham, MLB, Vanderbilt

The Raiders would probably prefer if Foster fell into their laps, but Cunningham isn’t a bad consolation prize.

25. Houston Texans: DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame

If Kizer happens to slide on draft night, this might be where his fall stops. Kizer has tools that can be molded, but he has to go to a team that can coach him up.

26. Seattle Seahawks: Garrett Bolles, OT, Utah

The Seahawks would do back flips if only one offensive tackle is taken before they pick in the first round. Signing a player like Luke Joeckel shouldn’t stop Seattle from going after Bolles or Ramczyk in the first round.

27. Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech

This pick is starting to become rote, and for good reason. The only thing more obvious than Mahomes’ skills are his flaws. But in Kansas City, he’d get time to work on his footwork and learn how to stick in the pocket. He has franchise quarterback talent.

28. Dallas Cowboys: Jabrill Peppers, S, Michigan

I know the Cowboys need a pass rusher, but doesn’t Peppers sound like a splashy Jerry Jones pick? In the Dallas defense he would be Barry Church’s replacement, and frankly an upgrade.

29. Green Bay Packers: Forrest Lamp, OL, Western Kentucky

There’s a terrible joke somewhere in here about Forrest Lamp and Forrest Gregg, but you can make it yourself. Lamp would be a smart pickup for the Packers. Instead of shuffling pieces on the roster, Lamp could slot into the right guard spot vacated by T.J. Lang.

30. Pittsburgh Steelers: Carl Lawson, DE/OLB, Auburn

The Steelers would prefer if Reddick stayed in this range, but there would be nothing wrong with going for Lawson. He’s athletic enough to stand up more in the NFL than he did at Auburn, and is the type of pass rusher the team needs.

31. Atlanta Falcons: Cam Robinson, OT, Alabama

Robinson’s talent, especially as a run blocker, is too great to let slide out of the first round. In Atlanta he can push for a starting guard spot, and potentially put some pressure on the team’s offensive tackles.

32. New Orleans Saints (via New England Patriots): Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State

With reports out there saying the Saints were trying to acquire Malcolm Butler from the Patriots, that should show how much the team wants a cornerback. Conley had a stellar combine earlier this month and put himself into the first round mix.