#quick poll to establish important things

[startanewdream]

Who was hotter.. Sirius or Bellatrix?

I think we need a poll

Pre-Azkaban, of course.

[dejwrld]

— number 7 on paradis titans hockey team can get a little mean after he loses a game.

( cw ) ⸻ modern au, sports au, profanity, mean dom!jean in 4k hd ultra, female anatomy, her/she pronouns, afab, established relationship (reader and jean are married with a child), reader implied to black, creampie, impact play, oral ( f.receiving), slight spit kink, spanking, breeding kink, pet name usage (good girl, babygirl) he's just a lil salty he lost a game, i promise i ain't showing favoritism to najma lmfao, this fic was second place for the poll i posted week ago, wc: 2.1k, minors dni ! repost from old account!

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀dedicated jean baby mother aka @honeybleed

When Jean lost a game, you always seemed to walk on eggshells. The nicely decorated home grows silent as a mouse when your family enters the mansion. Your son seemed to fall asleep during the long ride from the ice rink to the house, and you only tucked him in his bed after stripping him out of his clothes. Neatly folding up the hockey jersey with his father's number on it and placing it away, you placed a loving kiss on top of his sandy brown colored curls before exiting the room. You were sure to close the door behind you since you weren't sure how Jean would react due to losing the game.

When Jean's team lost, he grew quiet. A little too quiet. His interviews with ESPN and other sports outlets weren't as cheerful and confident. You could literally see the frustration and sadness in his light brown hues. The rides home are always silent, other than the questions your five-year-old would ask randomly. As a new wag (an obnoxious term for wives & girlfriends of sports players), you always ask the other partners how exactly they handle huge losses.

Eren's wife, Emilia would only shrug, mumbling about how Eren usually forgets about the loss after a day or two before he's back on the ice, perfecting any screw-ups he made during the game. Connie's girlfriend CJ would make a subtle joke about giving him head after the game to make him forget about the disappointing end of the hockey team's season.

You walked towards the master bedroom of your home, your body leaning against the door frame as you watched Jean tug off the Grey Nike sweatshirt he wore. He tossed it in the laundry hamper in the corner of your room, now only in a white wifebeater. His toned arm flexed with each movement he made as he shuffled around the room. Occasionally, his gold necklace with your initials and your son's initials moved with each quick motion he made.

"Do you want to talk about it? I know it was such an important game," Your tone was soft-spoken and came out as if you were whispering.

"Strip." was the only thing Jean uttered as he was undoing the string on his Nike jogger pants.

Your lip gloss-covered lips parted to speak, but in the back of your mind, you were just thinking about making Jean happy. He was going through some wild emotions at the moment, and who were you to object against them. They lost the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup, so you knew the man in front of you was seeing complete red at the moment.

"Keep my jersey on, though. Everything else off." He huffed.

You stepped further inside the room, your back backing into the door to close it so you wouldn't wake up your son. Your fingers begin to unbutton the jeans you were wearing, slowly tugging them off your smooth legs. Soon, your panties joined them as Jean's index finger motioned for you to come here. With each step you took, you could feel the cool breeze in your room hit your bare bottom, sending a chill down your spine.

When you were face to face with Jean, he didn't say much. However, you could feel how hot he was. How frustrated he was. One harsh push on your king-sized bed caused your lips to let out a gasp. Your body hit the bed like a fragile little doll Jean wanted to play with. He's grabbing a hold of your ankle that was decorated with the gold anklet with his name on it with a cursive font. His lips placed soft kisses on your ankle, causing you to squirm under his firm touch. You expected him to treat you like a fragile rag doll that had just been snitched up. But boy, was you wrong. In one motion, he had turned your body around so that you were lying on your stomach, mumbling about how he needed you so badly.

"Be a pretty wife and get on all fours, m'kay," He said lowly.

You did what you were told, getting on all fours. The oversized jersey that formally belonged to Jean raised just a bit to be able to see the cup of your ass. A low yelp tumbled out your mouth when you felt Jean's large hands slap at the flesh of your ass before you could feel his hand massage the stinging flesh. A sharp hiss came out of you when you felt another slap on the opposite cheek; Jean once again repeated the process of massaging your ass cheeks. He's teasingly letting a coo tumble off his lips as you can only stutter out his name like a broken record.

"Just want to taste you real quick," His words were soft yet intimidating. He angled your body provocatively so you felt like such a filthy woman. "Just stay like that for me, please," he says before his callous fingertips are traced alongside your puffy lips. The teasing action caused your skin to be littered with goosebumps.

Once again, you desperately coughed up a yelp when you felt him slap at your throbbing cunt that was aching for his attention. The similar motion he did with your asscheek, Jean's multimillion-dollar massage at your pussy. This time, your wetness coated his fingers ever so negligibly. "You like it when I do that, huh?" He asked.

He didn't wait for you to respond before kneeling to taste you. The flat of his tongue collided with your puffy lips to lick up your juices formed just by his spankings. A weak whimper came out of you as you seemed to relax in his touch as he was eating you out. When Jean wanted to taste, he wanted to taste every fiber of you. Practically burying his face in the messiness between your thighs caused your toes to curl.

"Jean." You moaned out as you felt him glide his tongue up your slit. The lewd sound of him slurping up the mess he was making bounced off the bedroom walls. You could feel the sharpness of his nose poking you from the back; the man practically was devouring you at the moment. You were so close to breaking the perfect arch, but you knew what consequences were to come.

"Fuck." You moaned before you reached out, clawing at his sandy brown hair. Your fingers grabbed his hair as you rocked backward upon his kitten licks. Your orgasm was right there; you were so close to the finish line while your knees were growing hazy.

But Jean soon pulled away, letting your body fall limp like a deflated balloon that's lost all its air. Your poor cunt felt like it was pulsing, your orgasm was snatched away from you, and the lump of pleasurable despair disappeared.

"I can't have you cummin' just yet, baby girl," Jean commented. The little facial hair he had was stained with your juices. His upper lip lingered with your scent, and his tongue tasted like you. Maybe that made the man in a complete trance all over again.

His grey sweatpants grew tight at the crotch area. His dick was screaming to be released from the tight compress of his sweats and boxers. Jean quickly pushed down his sweats and stepped out of them like an over-enthusiastic virgin that was about to get a spliff of pussy for the first time. His blood was fuming, and he was still a bit frustrated by the loss. Especially considering the number of penalties he racked up during the game. His cock bulged in the black-colored Ethika boxers (another sponsorship he received for singing a multimillion-dollar contract) before he tugged them down also. His thick cock tapped at his toned torso when his boxers came down also.

Once again, he's grabbing onto you like a doll, dragging your whithering body toward the end of the bed. His hand firmly pushed your lower back to ensure your arch was perfect. It was a wonderful sight to see his beautiful wife completely exposed like this to him. A lovely ass up face-down position just so he can have his way with him.

You were anticipating for Jean to shove his cock inside you. Despite it being the same dick you've ridden, sucked, choked on, and the list goes on, you still found yourself chewing your lower lip off at adjusting to his girth. He was a grower for sure, with a slight curve that could kiss at that spot that caused your pedicures toes to curl. Your favorite part of his dick was his tip. It was a splendid sight when you would climb under the covers to suck him off when he complained about morning wood. It was a nice mushroom shape with a slit that gushed out so much cum when he wanted to.

"You know if you relax. You'll get used to it quicker." Jean suggested. With his slender digits climbing up the jersey, you had on to undo the bra you were wearing.

With quickness, you're removing your bra tossing it to the side with ease. Your hips bucking to receive any form of friction between Jean and yourself, but you could only feel his tip tap at your sopping entrance. "Don't be so fuckin' rude, and wait," Jean uttered as he grabbed a hold of his cock. He rubbed his tip at your entrance. Teasing you bit by bit before he's pooling all of the spit in his mouth and letting it drop down on his cock. His hand stroked his dick quickly before he once again was poking at your entrance.

"You want to make me feel better after that horrible game, right?" Jean questioned.

You only nodded as you were on all fours, your fingers grasping at the sheets below you before your mouth gasped apart, feeling him stretch you out. He didn't even wait until you adjusted to his huge size before he was pushing himself inside you like a madman. His hands grasping at your asscheeks just to feel upon you a little more. His thrusts weren't the usual slow and passionate filled; they were harsher. He was genuinely fucking you like he hated you. It was your fault that the team was two points short of going to the play for the Stanley Cup. You could only let out poor pathetic moans, moaning out for Jean.

"That's a good fuckin' girl; you're taking my dick so well," Jean uttered as his hips bucked forward into the plush of your ass. His eyes glowed excitedly at the sight of your pretty pussy, swallowing him with each thrust. The mixture of your wetness and the spit he coated on his coat was imprinted on your thighs like a nasty masterpiece.

He had one hand holding your back down while the other was grasping at the hockey jersey with his last name on it. He gripped the jersey severely to have some form of control over his brass thrusts. Ignoring your whimpers for him to slow down, or you would cum.

"Don't cum." Jean uttered out.

His words were more like a command, a dangerous warning you wanted to poke at until he exploded.

"Please Jean..." You whined into the pillow, which at this point was stained with your own drool and tears.

"What did I say, hm?" He questioned. His right hand slapped at your ass cheek causing you to let out a whine.

"Don't...cum," You hiccupped between moans.

Jean would only hum in agreement. His hips irrationally bottomed inside your dripping cunt before he pinned your arms behind your back. His tight grip on you caused you to chew at your lip as if it were some chew toy. "We'll cum together like it's supposed to fuckin' be," He commented.

You felt so lightheaded at the intense amount of stimulation upon your body. Your limbs felt like they were screaming for you to relax, and the burning sensation that was bubbling in the pit of your stomach was ready to burst.

Jean's hold he had on your folded arms only grew tight with each shove forward into your pussy. He could feel his balls grow heavy each time he tapped at that one spot that caused your eyes to cruise in the back of your head. Jean's eyes were shifted closed as he was so pussy drunk, the harsh groan that grumbled off the back of his neck caused his Adam's apple to move. His thick white cum filled you up to the brim as you moaned through the sensation. Jean brought the ends of his wifebeater up to his teeth, nibbling at the ends as he rocked you on his cock slowly. He could feel your pussy pulsing around his cock, milking him of every droplet of his cum. His brown hues practically glistened at the creamy sight of a white ring around his cock with each slow thrust.

When he pulled out slowly, letting the hold he had on you go and watching you collapse breathlessly on your stomach. His fingers combed through his hair, which seemed to stick to his forehead due to the intense workout.

"I feel much better now, baby, thank you."

[gingerjunhan]

please stay - han hyeongjun

☆彡 I posted a poll asking who I should write about, and Jun Han was our winner :) I hope your all having a great day! (this picture of him has me in a chokehold btw)

synopsis: after a bad day, a late night text marks a new milestone with your boyfriend

word count: 1253 | pronouns used: they/them | genre: fluff, comfort, established relationship | cws: eating, Gunil spotting!, lmk if I missed anything

hi baby

I’m sorry this is so last minute but can I possibly see you tn?

rough day:(

Hyeongjun glanced over at his phone screen on his bedside table. Upon seeing your messages, he placed his guitar on the mattress beside him, instantly dubbing you more important than his practice.

of course:)

I’ll head over now

have you eaten?

Hyeongjun didn’t even wait for a response before he was getting up, putting his guitar on its stand, and racing to put on his shoes. Right as he was about to slip out the door, he was stopped by Gunil.

“Hyeongjun? Where are you going this late?” Gunil looked away from his phone and turned his attention towards Hyeongjun, looking at him over the frame of his glasses from his spot in the kitchen. Hyeongjun couldn’t help but feel like his dad just caught him sneaking out.

“It’s (Y/N). They’re having a rough day, and they asked if they could see me.”

You had met Gunil and the others countless times over the span of your relationship with Hyeongjun. A look of concern washed over Gunil’s face.

“Are they okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Hyeongjun answered honestly.

Gunil hummed. “I hope they’re alright. Tell them I say hello and that I hope they feel better. And be careful on the way to their place, okay?”

Hyeongjun nodded and sent Gunil a small smile as he reached for the doorknob. After a quick exchange of goodbyes, Hyeongjun was on his way to you.

☆

Hyeongjun softly knocked on your door, and you quickly went to meet him. Upon seeing each other, you scanned one another up and down. You looked over him, taking in his sweatpants, oversized t-shirt, and white-framed glasses. He had a bag of food in his hand, and his face held a small smile.

He looked over you and saw something of the same nature. Sweatpants and one of his sweatshirts cascading over your shoulders. Your hair was a bit frazzled, and you looked exhausted.

“Hello,” you greeted him with a small voice as he stepped in the door.

“Hi, honey,” he greeted you softly. He quickly took off his shoes and placed his things down before taking you into his embrace. He felt you grip tightly to the back of his shirt and then relax in his hold. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” you spoke into his neck. He just simply nodded and held you tighter. The two of you stayed like that for a few moments; soaking in each other's comfort and warmth. Finally, Hyeongjun broke the silence.

“I brought you some food. Let’s eat before it gets cold, hmm?”

The two of you sat on your couch together, eating the food he had picked up for you both on the way over. As you ate, Hyeongjun told you stories about practice that day, trying to brighten your mood with the antics of his bandmates.

“Jooyeon almost hit Jiseok in the head with his bass at practice today.”

You stopped chewing for a bit and looked at him, wide-eyed. “What? How?”

“Jiseok was sitting on the floor during rehearsal, and Jooyeon was swaying around with his bass as he practiced,” Hyeongjun explained. “Next thing you know, Jooyeon goes swinging his bass right towards Jiseok. If he wouldn’t have moved, Jooyeon would’ve hit him right in the side of the head.”

You laughed as you pictured this unfolding in your head. “Of course that would happen with the two of them.” Hyeongjun admired the way your face lit up at his story, even if it was just for a moment.

The two of you continued to eat and exchange stories, leading to you even opening up about your bad day a bit. As you two talked, it got later into the evening, and soon you caught yourself stifling a yawn.

“Oh wow,” you checked the time on your phone. “It’s getting late.”

“Why don’t you go get ready for bed?” Hyeongjun proposed. “I’ll clean up our dishes and you go get comfortable. I’ll make sure to come back to your room and wish you good night before I leave.”

As Hyeongjun stood from the couch and began to collect your dishes, you tried to muster up the courage to ask him a question that’s been on the back of your mind since you texted him and asked to see him.

“Hyeongjun?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you…” you played with your hands, avoiding his eyes. “Can you stay the night, please? I don’t want to be alone.” Hyeongjun could feel his face burning. “You don’t have to if you aren’t comfortable with that,” you quickly added on. “I’ll be okay.”

Hyeongjun quickly moved your dishes out to the sink and was right back by your side in the blink of an eye.

“If you don’t want to be alone, I’ll stay with you,” he said simply. “Let’s go get ready for bed.” With a relieved smile, you lead him back to your room, lending him some of the clothes that you had stolen from him in the past and were now holding hostage in your drawers.

As you both got ready for bed, Hyeongjun would be lying if he said his mind wasn’t racing. Yes, you two have shared a bed in the past, but that was only for things like movie nights, or cuddle sessions that ended up turning into shared naps- but you’ve never spent a full night together. Your relationship wasn’t “new,” this was just a step the two of you somehow haven’t taken yet due to schedule conflicts. He was always up late, and you had to be up early. As he was lost in his thoughts, you returned to your bedroom, now being done with your nighttime routine.

“I’m getting into bed,” you announced. “The bathroom is open if you need it.”

You crawled into bed and got under the covers as Hyeongjun quickly went to use the bathroom. Once he came back, he turned off your light and made his way towards the mattress.

As he joined you under the covers, you made yourselves comfortable. You nestled yourself beside him, and he lightly wrapped his arms around your frame as you let out a content sigh.

“Is this okay?” Hyeongjun asked. “Are you comfortable?”

“Mhm,” you respond, fighting away sleep. “Thank you for coming over so late.”

“Of course.”

You pulled yourself closer to him, and Hyeongjun did the same. He hoped you couldn’t feel the way his heart was racing as you laid your head on his chest. So many thoughts were going through his head. He was the one you turned to after a bad day. He was the one you trusted to keep you safe and comfort you. He wished he could do this every night, hold you close like this in your dimly lit bedroom- the only source of light being the moon peeking through your blinds. He wanted to fall asleep with you in his arms, keeping you right by his side until morning. Despite his nerves, Hyeongjun wasn’t sure how he’s spent his whole life sleeping alone.

“Good night,” you announced to him quietly as sleep took over. Heyongjun snapped out of his thoughts and moved a hand to your hair, raking his fingers through it. “I love you.”

“I love you too, honey. Good night.” Soon enough, Hyeongjun followed in your footsteps and fell asleep, drifting off as he thought about waking up to you in the morning.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

Why are you running a poll about gay disabled characters and allowing headcannons? Why not focus on canon lgbt characters with disabilities?

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but I wanted to wait until after Round One was posted. (Ignore the fact that it is several days after round 1 finished posting, I got busy). ((Extra update: lol this is such a late response I haven’t been doing like anything)). Also, sorry for such an extensive breakdown on an honest question, we just want to have this to refer to if we get more questions like this.

A quick breakdown: This post will have four parts: a practical explanation, an explanation more related to our blog set up, just a more philosophical explanation, and under the cut a breakdown of more headcannon like characters.

Practical Explanation:

So one of the reasons why we decided to allow more headcanon like characters is simply the logistics on defining what is more fanon or not is a pain. If you look down at the list you can see there’s an ambiguous section, and that’s because especially regarding sexuality/gender often times there is conflicting opinions/information from actors, producers, whatever. (Ex. Many of the Star Trek characters (their various propaganda has decent information.)) Additionally in the cases of especially Spock and to some extent Frodo them being read as queer has a really long history through the fandom, so to discount them from this feels a bit weird. There are also other cases where due to time period of the media specifically there aren’t gonna be specific terms for some disabilities or sexualities or genders. Overall, there is just a lot of gray areas, and to be like some noncanon stuff counts but others don’t is kinda a hard line to draw. (That being said we did reject a few characters for really not fitting, all characters in the showdown have a decent explanation for being here.)

Blog Set Up Explanation:

This is a little bit more rude (sorry). Honestly, from the get go we’ve established that noncanon characters would count, we didn’t get any complaints until we actually started the polls, and there’s not any way that they will be taken out at this point. If you don’t agree with who we let be in the showdown don’t vote for them.

Philosophical Explanation:

On a more philosophical basis, characters can still resonate with people as having similar stories/experiences to them even if they are not canonically LGBTQ or disabled. This is a place that is celebrating LGBTQ and disabled characters, and if a character’s experiences are important to you why shouldn’t they qualify?

Note about qualifications: characters with disabilities that get cured do count as disabled, also word of god counts as confirmation.

Having to sort this out was confusing as hell, apologies for any errors.

Characters that are not canonically disabled:

Sabran IX Berethnet (The Priory of the Orange Tree)

Robin Buckley (Stranger Things)

Rudyard Funn (Wooden Overcoats)

Characters that are really ambiguous/confusing:

Julian Bashir, Data, Elim Garak, Geordi La Forge (Star Trek)

Riku (Kingdom Hearts)

Kuruto Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files- Nirvana Initiative)

Chu Sangwoo (Semantic Error)

Characters that are not canonically LGBTQ+:

Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows)

Saki Tenma (Project Sekai)

Kurogane (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)

Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan (The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi)

Daan (Fear and Hunger)

Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project)

Havelock Vetinari (Discworld)

Wayne Terrisborn (Mistborn)

Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)

Link (Legend of Zelda)

Qifrey (Witch Hat Atelier)

Viktor (Arcane)

Chicory (Chicory: A Colorful Tale)

Johnny Joestar (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run)

Schnn T’gai Spock, T’Poll, Keyla Detmer (Star Trek)

Chirrut Îmwe, Darth Maul (Star Wars)

Gaige (Borderlands)

Hiccup Haddock (How To Train Your Dragon)

Jem Carstairs (The Shadowhunter Chronicles)

Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)

Eichi Tenshouin (Ensemble Stars!!)

Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Bucky Barnes, Professor X, Matt Murdock (Marvel)

Hitori Gotoh (Bocchi the Rock!)

Jace Beleren (Magic: The Gathering)

Joly (Les Misérables)

Nodoka Hanadera (Healin’ Good Precure)

Arthur Lester (Malevolent Podcast)

Hearthstone (Magnus Chase)

Hebe Harrison (Doctor Who)

Hermann Gottlieb (Pacific Rim)

Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)

Merle Highchurch (The Adventure Zone)

Elphaba Thropp (Wicked)

Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)

Ricky Potts (Ride the Cyclone)

Tokito Minoru (Wild Adapter)

Blade (Honkai Star Rail)

[magnorious]

A Sea of Monsters Retrospective, 16 Years Later

You can read my Lightning Thief retrospective here.

To anyone who says these are children’s books and not for all ages – Around ten years ago, I was waiting outside a baseball stadium for the doors to open with a hundred other people dying in the heat and this 50-something dude was propped under a palm tree with this book in his hands, happy as a clam.

If I ran a more popular blog, I’d make a poll asking the favorite book of the original five. And I can say with confidence that Sea of Monsters would not win. It’s a good book! It gambles with interesting new elements and directions it takes its characters, it’s funny, it’s full of shiny new locations. It’s, I think, the least-best of a very impressive series, solely because the other four are that good.

With that said, that has been my opinion for sixteen years. Did it change upon this latest reread? **Spoiler alert**

The Sea of Monsters

If you’re keeping up with the classic myths homages, SoM is probably the most obvious one – the Odyssey/Jason and the Argonauts. TLT did steal the land of the lotus eaters, but they outright say ‘hey, this is what Odyseus and Jason did’.

We cold open on one of Percy’s nightmares and in seven pages (in the ‘06 paperback) plot, exposition, and tone have all been established: Grover is in Florida and is being chased by a huge monster. Camp is in danger, Percy’s not supposed to know about it, and he’s pissed. Tyson, a new character, is going to be important. And, we get all caught up with a quick refresher on the need-to-knows from TLT. Percy’s still young enough to doubt his instincts (lolz) about something spying on him and man, I forgot how innocent he used to be. 

The action continues with the Laistrygonian fight and all these puzzling details surrounding Tyson. As with TLT, PJO isn’t much for long paragraphs of poetic narrative, which means it’s paced incredibly fast and it doesn’t slow down at all during the taxi ride to camp, and then straight into fighting the golden bulls.

Compared to TLT, SoM spends exactly as much time as it needs to in the mortal world and at camp without first-book exposition dragging it down. Before, they didn’t get their quest and leave camp until almost halfway through the story. This time, it’s about 1/3rd and all the better for it.

The tone of this book is refreshingly different as well. This time, there’s trouble in paradise and everyone’s upset. Percy isn’t supposed to be the hero, he’s just a camper told very firmly to stay out of it. He’s not the one given the quest, he’s not at the crux of the prophecy, and he’s not the most important camper – and this bothers the heck out of him.

The stakes aren’t higher, per say, the fate of the world doesn’t hang in the balance this time, but they are more personal, and that makes the risk of failure that much more plausible. It’s not a godly civil war, it’s their home, it’s Chiron, it’s all their friends and the only sanctuary they have, and it’s Thalia’s legacy.

Exposition is handled as well as it was in book one. Percy is still the audience’s eyes and thus the audience’s mouth to ask all the expository questions, but, since it’s usually Annabeth having quite the attitude explaining things, it also builds on their relationship. One scene that comes to mind is discussing Jason and the Argonauts in the dish pit and their back-and-forth was hilarious.

Also, of course, I have to address the rather bold directions his character went – Percy has some scuffy new flaws. He resents Tyson as his brother and Poseidon for claiming him and makes some pretty crummy choices surrounding their relationship for the sake of not being bullied again by the entire camp, and not being known as the ��kid with the cyclops for a brother”. He grows from this throughout the book, once he thinks Tyson is dead he regrets everything, but he’s a little jerk there for a while and I appreciate that he’s not perfect.

He’s also troubled by his physical appearance on Circe’s island, as any teenager mid-puberty is, and it doesn’t end with “you’re beautiful no matter what” or really any moral to take away. He’s just. Self-conscious. That’s it.

**Side note, before the new character art by Viria was accepted as canon making these characters much more conventionally attractive, the original art (especially poor Nico) did not try to make them all flawless and people poked fun, but there’s still a place for it. **

Now, Clarisse. I mentioned in my last retrospective that Ares was the bully house filled with bullies, but she got so much depth and development in this book, worlds beyond just being the jealous, snot-nosed brat. She’s smart, she’s cunning, she cares about her subordinates in battle, she’s got insecurities and a temper and friends who don’t really stick up for her (re: the You moo, girl! sign). She, too, has an absentee parent just like every other camper around her. She, too, is just a kid. And she, unlike Percy, has a huge jerk for a godly parent, and not one she can petrify with Medusa’s head.

Other beloved characters make their first appearances this book – Silena, Beckendorf, the Stolls, Chris Rodruiguez. I’d forgotten that they didn’t just show up in Battle of the Labyrinth, they’d been there the whole time.

The side-villains/monsters of the book are so colorful and unique. Circe’s island, the dead Confederates, the enchanted cruise ship. Even when they’re squatting in the cabin or stranded in the lifeboat, the conversations make it interesting where the setting comes up short – those two scenes are dedicated entirely to character drama, not plot.

Also Blackbeard was a son of Ares and Percy commandeers the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ha! I’d forgotten about that. I didn’t forget the Sirens and wow, kudos for intensity. The scene does so many things at once – plunge the tone down to the bottom of the Sea of Monsters, reveal Annabeth’s fatal flaw – hubris – and gives us some sweet, sweet percabeth all in incredibly dramatic fashion.

**Side note, I can’t remember for sure if Annabeth calls him Seaweed Brain first in TLT, but I think that nickname honor goes to Thalia in one of the dream sequences in this book.**

SoM doesn’t suffer the curse of the sequel. It doesn’t just reskin the previous book with the exact same premise: Prevent a godly civil war, go on this fetch quest across the country (there is a fetch quest but it’s different this time), the mood at camp is completely different, Chiron isn’t there, Tantalus is ass – it’s new.

It also gives plenty of new lore and backstory on Luke and Annabeth’s past that matters to the plot at large.

Speaking of lore, the gimmick of convenient dream exposition really finds its footing in SoM. No crucial information is ever handed to the characters on a silver platter and it never feels like a crutch to move the plot along where the story would otherwise be stuck, but they certainly do happen at convenient times. It is also the first and, I believe, last? time we get the empathy link thing with Grover, and the last mention of satyrs being empathic.

Unlike a certain other fantasy series, the plot holes in this series are less canon-shattering and more “huh, I wonder what happened to that,” and this empathy link is one of them. I don’t know what happened, if Riordan just didn’t like it after this book, but it seems like a useful power given how central a character Grover is for most of the series. We get one good use of Grover’s empathy in TLT when they’re lost in the forest and he tells Percy exactly what he’s feeling, and we get plenty of dream sequences with the link this series and then… never again. 

It’s a shame. They were interesting concepts.

Monster Donuts as well never appear again and Ares’ curse specifically said “every time” Percy raises his sword, not the one time he needs it most. Enforcing said curse in every single one of Percy’s battles would be tedious, but in the climax of the Polyphemus fight, Annabeth’s down, they’re all exhausted and out of options, that would have been a fantastic time to mention it.

It’s a shame. They were interesting concepts.

Something I didn’t touch on much for TLT that I will do now is the villain’ plan.

Step 1: Poison Thalia’s tree

Step 2: Get Chiron to take the blame and leave

Step 3: Wait around hoping the camp figures out they need the Golden Fleece

Step 4: Since we don’t know where it is/can’t be bothered to get it ourselves, we’ll steal it from the heroes once they’ve done the hard work

Step 5: Possibly raise Kronos but more importantly, raise Thalia

Also, somewhere along the way, free Tantalus from the Fields of Asphodel and give him Chiron’s job. Who’s idea was that? Not even Dionysus likes him after the Stymphalian birds attack. Why is he still here?

It’s a good, non-convoluted plan for a kids’ book. Luke definitely spouts some mustache-twirling propaganda that would be cheesy if you didn’t realize he’s being groomed (and most kids reading this wouldn’t) but looking back… damn, that is tragic. He was just an angry kid.

His dialogue reads a bit corny now. Luke’s only excuse for falling victim to the classic “I won’t be efficient and kill these interlopers myself, no I’ll turn my back and leave it to the minions” trope is that he needs them alive to do his dirty work and think they escape of their own volition. Percy’s solution to the camp problem at the end is clever and works solely because Luke is such an arrogant prick.

Now, the prophecy, one we don’t hear for most of the book because it’s not Percy’s:

You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone.

Since it wasn’t Percy’s prophecy he and the audience would spend the quest trying to decipher, it doesn’t need to be all cryptic, and it’s not. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show up until chapter 17/20 so by that point it just kind of… exists, giving Percy and co the idea to get Clarisse on a plane. This detail, the emergency flight, is the only reused plot thread from TLT, I think.

Concerning the ending: I also forgot about the raid by the Party Ponies! I can’t gauge how easy it would have been for younger me to predict Thalia’s Fleece-granted revival, but reading again — her showing up in the dream, the reminders that Percy is the only eligible prophecy kid on technicality because of what happened to her, it wasn’t obvious, but it was well seeded through the book.

**Side side note, the font is a bit difficult to make out, but I’m pretty sure the address to Camp is Pi. Farm Road 3.141. Also, headcannon, but I think the unnamed first year Apollo Cabin chariot driver in the redo race is Will Solace.**

And, though it’s not revealed that Thalia is older than Percy by a couple months in SoM, this mysterious Great Prophecy we’ve been hearing whispers about suddenly gets flipped on its head. Now, Thalia’s back. Now, Percy can’t be the prophecy kid unless she dies again. Now… Now what?

In the words of Poseidon: Brace yourself.

I think the only negatives are again, the established empathy rules with Grover that don’t matter after this book (which isn’t really this book’s fault) and the reminders that they’re all technically related? Luke, aboard the Princess Andromeda, greets Percy and Annabeth as his favorite cousins and it’s… kind of weird knowing that Annabeth has a crush on him. They establish later that, outside of same-cabin-coupling, the gods don’t have DNA so it doesn’t really count, but still. The reminders are a bit squicky, and that’s ignoring the age gap between “college age” Luke and 13 year old Annabeth, per Percy’s description.

—

To answer my own question at the start of this: I think I have to move Sea of Monsters up a slot in my ranking and unseat Titan’s Curse (which I believe was the trend years ago, for reasons I’ll save until that retrospective). It was so fun to reread and such a different adventure to the Lightning Thief without any first-book worldbuilding baggage.

[govindhtech]

Drasi For Change Detection And Response In Complex Systems

A new data processing system called Drasi makes it easier to identify important events in intricate infrastructures and to respond quickly in a way that is in line with corporate goals. Its features can be applied to a variety of event-driven scenarios by developers and software architects, whether they are managing complex systems, improving security protocols, or working on Internet of Things (IoT) integrations.

Event-driven architectures

Even though they are excellent at facilitating quick decisions and effective service decoupling, event-driven systems have a number of practical drawbacks. When systems expand to accommodate business requirements and events become more frequent and intricate, it can become difficult to identify pertinent changes among many components. Silos and different formats in which data is stored add to the complexity. While it is important for these systems to respond in real time, network latency, traffic, or sluggish event processing might cause processing delays.

Currently, current libraries and services seldom provide an end-to-end, unified framework for change detection and reaction, making it difficult for developers to create event-handling systems. They frequently have to piece together many tools, which leads to intricate, brittle architectures that are challenging to grow and maintain. Existing solutions, for instance, can be dependent on ineffective polling techniques or necessitate continuous data source querying, which would result in resource usage and performance bottlenecks. Furthermore, a lot of change detection technologies use batch processing, data collection, or delayed event analysis instead of having actual real-time capabilities. Even these small delays can result in lost chances or risks for organizations that require quick responses.

To put it succinctly, a complete solution that can identify and interpret crucial events with precision and trigger relevant, timely responses is desperately needed.

Announcing Drasi for event-driven systems

Drasi provides real-time actionable insights without the overhead of conventional data processing techniques, making the automation of intelligent reactions in dynamic systems simpler. Instead of moving data to a central data lake or continuously querying data sources, it adopts a lightweight approach to tracking system changes by keeping an eye out for occurrences in logs and change feeds.

Database queries are used by application developers to specify which changes to monitor and to articulate logical criteria for assessing change data. Drasi then checks to see if any modifications cause those queries’ result sets to be updated. If they do, it responds contextually and in accordance with your business requirements. This simplified procedure guarantees prompt response when the data is most pertinent, minimizes complexity, and keeps significant changes from falling between the cracks.

Three Drasi components are used in this process: Sources, Continuous Queries, and Reactions.

Sources: These establish connections with different data sources within your systems and keep an eye out for any significant changes. A source continuously collects pertinent data by monitoring system metrics, database updates, and application logs.

Continuous Queries: Drasi employs Continuous Queries, which continuously assess incoming changes in accordance with preset criteria, in place of manual, point-in-time queries. These Cypher Query Language queries can combine data from several sources without the requirement for earlier collation.

Reactions: Drasi carries out registered automated reactions upon the completion of a continuous question. Depending on your operational requirements, these reactions can update other systems, generate alerts, or carry out corrective measures.

At its two integration points, Sources and Reactions, Drasi’s architecture is built to be flexible and extensible. Apart from the readily used prebuilt Drasi Sources and Reactions such as Microsoft Dataverse, PostgreSQL, and Azure Event Grid, you have the option to design custom integrations according to specific system requirements or business demands. Because of its adaptability, Drasi can be easily customized for many types of situations.

A single instance of Drasi is used in this solution for two different purposes: one is used for Microsoft Dynamics 365 to gather maintenance records, and the other is used for telemetry streams to be connected to by Azure Event Hubs. Two Continuous Queries compare the telemetry events to predetermined maintenance criteria (e.g., the car will go 10,000 miles in the next 30 days) and critical alarms that need to be addressed right away. A single Reaction for Dynamics 365 Field Service provides data based on the Continuous Queries’ result sets in order to either generate an IoT alert for important occurrences or warn a fleet administrator when a vehicle is about to meet a maintenance milestone.

The practical application of Drasi in smart building management is another illustration of its real-world suitability. Dashboards are commonly used by facilities managers to track the comfort levels of their spaces, and they must be notified when these levels deviate. Making an always-accurate dashboard was easy with Drasi. Updates to room conditions are recorded in a Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB database that represents the building spaces.

In order to determine the comfort levels for individual rooms and to offer aggregate values for entire floors and the building itself, a Drasi Source reads the change logs from the Azure Cosmos DB database. It then delivers this change data to Continuous Queries. After receiving the results of the Continuous Queries, a Reaction for SignalR sends updates straight to a dashboard that is accessible through a browser.

Drasi: A brand-new class of information processing devices

Changing systems don’t always require difficult, error-prone change management. Drasi expedites the process by combining several data sources, keeping an eye out for pertinent developments, and initiating astute, automated responses. To identify changes, handle massive data lakes, or struggle to integrate cutting-edge detection software into preexisting ecosystems, complex systems are no longer required. Drasi makes sense of complexity through clarity, allowing your business to remain flexible and your systems to function well.

Drasi has been submitted as a Sandbox project to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). This indicates that, should it be approved, it will profit from the leadership, resources, governance, best practices, and advice of the CNCF community. By developing open, flexible technology for cloud and edge apps, Microsoft hopes to enable developers to create any application, using any language, on any platform. Drasi’s incubation and submission to a foundation improves on this goal. By introducing cloud-neutral, open-source initiatives like Dapr, KEDA, Copacetic, and most recently Radius, the Azure Incubations team consistently advances this goal. These projects are part of the CNCF and may be found on GitHub.

Drasi, Azure’s most recent contribution, has the potential to significantly impact cloud-native technology and progress the field.

Participate in Drasi

Drasi, an open-source project made possible under the Apache 2.0 license, demonstrates Microsoft’s dedication to encouraging creativity and teamwork in the tech industry.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[n0tarealtherapist]

Screaming into the void: How to stand out in a crowd

Capturing Attention in Social Media

Social media platforms rely on user engagement but what are the best strategies to keep and grow that engagement? Capturing attention of their users can simply be defined as the ability to attract and hold interest of users while they scroll through their feeds. It involves creating content that stands out, engages an audience, and encourages them to stop and interact. This is important to companies for a handful of reasons. The most obvious is brand awareness, companies need attention-grabbing content to help build and reinforce the awareness of their brand. Other reasons could be promoting a call to action, driving engagement for profits, or conveying messages effectively to increase brand validity (Kuofie, et al., 2015).

There are many challenges that make growing viewer engagement difficult in the social media landscape. Social media platforms are constantly flooded with new and ever-changing content, which can make it extremely difficult to stand out in the crowd. It also doesn't help that the average attention span is 8 seconds, shorter than a goldfish (Snow, 2023)! With apps like TikTok and Instagram, people are getting hooked on content that comes in hot and gets the point across quick.

Some potential strategies for companies to implement could be crafting compelling headlines and captions. It's been proven that posts with moral or emotional content are more likely to go viral across multiple platforms; suggesting that authentic connection does drive user interaction (Brady, et al., 2020). Another strategy could be staying current on trends and adapting to algorithms. Things change at the drop of a hat, staying informed and incorporating the latest trends can help brands remain relevant. The final strategy is establishing prompt and authentic engagement with an audience. Responding to comments and questions provides a more connected experience and tends to foster a stronger sense of community. At the end of the day, connection is what drives most people. If companies can prioritize keeping those connections consistent and positive, that can help users coming back.

Maintaining Engagement in Social Media

Maintaining engagement in social media is very similar to capturing it in the first place. At the end of the day, it comes down to the process of actively getting your audience to interact with your content (likes, comments, reposts, etc.). It's not just important for gaining attention but also keeping it. The goal is to foster a dynamic and interactive relationship between the content creator and the audience. This is important because it helps strengthen brand loyalty and offers opportunities for feedback and improvement; which if done correctly, can continue to grow an audience (Kuofie, et al., 2015).

There are lots of strategies for maintaining this sort of engagement. Creators should prioritize regularly posting a wide variety of content. Switching between graphics, videos, polls, and images keeps your audience on their toes and engaged. One could implement contests or giveaways that promote the sharing of their content to a wider reach of people. Lastly, engaging in conversations that are relevant and positive. Social media is a world of faux authenticity and people are relatively good at sniffing that out; but when creators are genuine and true to their mission, more users want to support it. That authenticity is what encourages users to stay (Brady, et al., 2020).

References

Brady, W. J., Gantman, A. P., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 746–756. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1037/xge0000673

Kuofie, M., Gholston, K., & Hakim, A. C. (2015). An Overview of Social Media for Marketing. International Journal of Global Business, 8(2), 65-82. http://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Foverview-social-media-marketing%2Fdocview%2F1776310675%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D27965

Snow, S. (2023, January 16). Science shows: Humans have massive capacity for sustained attention, and storytelling unlocks it. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shanesnow/2023/01/16/science-shows-humans-have-massive-capacity-for-sustained-attention-and-storytelling-unlocks-it/?sh=63df3dc21a38

#socialmedia #contentcreators #marketing #brandawareness #standout #psychologyofsocialmedia #userengagement

[whatsappbotapi]

Challenges and Solutions in Implementing WhatsApp Business API

All companies and establishments require innovative and planned solutions to connect with customers and grow their brands. WhatsApp Business API is one such solution. When this tool is integrated with existing workflow and systems it can work well. However, it needs careful planning and coordination between third-party developers and IT teams.

Managing large volumes of customer inquiries is also a challenge. Along with this data security is essential and automated responses can help streamline and improve customer experience.

Let’s understand the challenges of implementing Whatsapp Business API and how you can find the right solutions to combat them.

Understanding the challenges of WhatsApp Business API

When it comes to WhatsApp Business API some of the challenges include ensuring seamless integration with your systems and applications. You also need to stay up to date with privacy regulations and understand restrictions to effectively communicate with customers.

Another thing to keep in mind is that consistent communication is important to build trust with customers. Update yourself with the latest developments and new features to enhance efficiency, optimize usage, and streamline user transactions.

Overcoming the challenges

Here are some ways to stay ahead of the obstacles and overcome the challenges.

Understand your audience

Identify the needs and preferences of your audience so that you can tailor your content and messages to suit their needs. This allows you to optimize the message templates and keep them short and concise for a quick delivery.

Automate your texts

Balance your automated responses with a personal touch. Customers want to feel like they are talking to a friend and not just someone who is trying to sell them products and services. Avoid robotic interactions with customers, but instead reach out to them warmly for any feedback, issues, or complaints.

Monitor your performance

Keep track of delivery rates, customer satisfaction levels, and response time to find areas where you can improve. This can help you build trust with your customers and show them that you are trying to improve your communication and have a clear identity across interactions. You can even gather feedback through surveys and polls to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Opt for a good provider

Working with a reliable company can help you succeed and grow. However, choosing an unauthorized or rogue company can result in the removal of your access to WhatsApp and even your number being permanently banned from the platform. A good provider will offer you reliable and trusted communication along with keeping track of your algorithms and account so that you can safely send messages to your clients.

The Bottom Line

WhatsApp is a powerful tool for any business and while it supports meaningful conversations with customers it also helps you to lower costs and increase your engagement. Always work with a professional company that can offer you the support you need, walk you through the cases, and help you understand WhatsApp the best way you can.

[newsblog12]

The Art of Engaging Audiences: Tips for Successful Anchoring.

1: The Power of a Strong Start

Capturing Attention from the Get-Go

In this section, the blog should emphasize the importance of a compelling opening. Explain that the initial moments of any event are crucial for capturing and retaining the audience’s attention. Suggest practical techniques such as starting with a surprising fact, a relevant quote, or an engaging anecdote. Highlight the psychological aspects of audience engagement, including the “primacy effect,” where people tend to remember the first things they hear.

Establishing Connection

This part should provide actionable advice on how to build a connection with the audience. Dive deeper into the art of body language, eye contact, and vocal tone. Explain how these non-verbal cues can be used to convey authenticity and approachability. Share examples of anchors who excel in connecting with their audiences and why their techniques work.

Handling Nervousness

Explore the psychology of stage fright and delve into practical tips for overcoming it. Discuss the importance of preparation, relaxation techniques, and positive self-talk. Offer personal anecdotes or real-world examples of anchors who have triumphed over nervousness to inspire readers.

 2: The Art of Scripting and Improvisation

 Effective Scripting

Provide a step-by-step guide to creating an effective anchor script. Explain the importance of clear structure, concise language, and engaging content. Offer templates or frameworks that anchors can use as a starting point. Highlight the significance of tailoring scripts to the target audience and purpose, whether it’s a formal event or an entertainment show.

 The Role of Improvisation

Delve into the role of improvisation for anchors. Share stories of anchors who faced unexpected challenges and how they managed to keep the show running smoothly. Discuss the mindset required for successful improvisation, emphasizing adaptability, quick thinking, and a sense of humor.

3: Audience Engagement Techniques

Interactive Hosting

Provide concrete examples of interactive hosting techniques, such as live polls, Q&A sessions, or audience participation games. Explain how these methods foster a sense of involvement and make the audience feel valued. Include insights into the technology or tools required for effective interactive hosting.

Storytelling

Explore the art of storytelling in anchoring. Break down storytelling elements like character development, conflict, and resolution. Offer guidance on how to weave personal anecdotes or relevant narratives into the anchor’s script to create an emotional connection with the audience.

 Using Visuals and Props

Detail the use of visuals and props as tools for engagement. Discuss different types of visuals, from slideshows to physical props, and how they can enhance the anchor’s message. Offer advice on integrating visuals seamlessly into the presentation and the technology needed for effective use.

 4: Handling Mishaps and Challenges

Dealing with Technical Glitches

Provide a troubleshooting guide for common technical issues. Include tips on maintaining composure when faced with technical challenges, emphasizing the importance of having a backup plan or a tech support team. Share anecdotes of anchors who handled technical glitches with grace.

 Addressing Controversial Topics

Discuss the nuances of addressing sensitive subjects. Offer guidance on research, neutrality, and presenting multiple perspectives when dealing with controversial issues. Stress the importance of maintaining professionalism and audience trust, even when discussing divisive topics.

 Managing Time Effectively

Delve into time management techniques specific to anchoring. Explain the importance of creating a timeline, rehearsing to ensure timing accuracy, and using cues or prompts discreetly. Share examples of anchors who excelled in managing time during live broadcasts or events.

 5: Leaving a Lasting Impression

 Wrapping Up

Provide examples of effective closing techniques. Discuss how anchors can recap key points, offer a memorable quote, or end with a call to action. Explain how a strong conclusion reinforces the message and leaves a lasting impression.

 Post-Event Engagement

Elaborate on post-event strategies, including leveraging social media, responding to audience feedback, and conducting follow-up surveys. Explain how these actions can help anchors maintain a connection with their audience beyond the event.

 6: Continuous Improvement

 Seeking Feedback

Discuss various channels for collecting feedback, such as online surveys, social media, or direct audience interaction. Offer advice on how to analyze feedback constructively and make improvements based on audience input.

 Ongoing Learning

Highlight the importance of staying updated with industry trends and refining anchoring skills. Suggest resources, such as books, courses, or workshops, that can help anchors continue to grow and excel in their roles.

In conclusion, anchoring is an art that combines various skills to engage and captivate audiences effectively. By mastering the techniques discussed in this blog post, you can become a standout anchor, leaving a lasting impression and ensuring your audience remains enthralled throughout your hosting endeavors. Whether you’re a seasoned anchor or just starting, these tips will help you shine in the spotlight.

https://www.alltalent.com/blog/the-art-of-engaging-audiences-tips-for-successful-anchoring

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 1: Welcome to Comic Event Hell

You know what readers love? When the stories they’ve gotten invested in over the course of a couple years get interrupted for some pseudo-crossover bullshit.

And you know what writers love? When the story they’ve been crafting over the course of a couple years get interrupted for some pseudo-crossover bullshit.

Did I say love?

Because I didn’t mean it.

“Dark Cybertron” was penned by John Barber and James Roberts, with collaboration with comic writer and artist Phil Jimenez, and was published from early November, 2013 to late March, 2014. Atilio Rojo, James Raiz, and Livio Ramondelli did the art, each responsible for scenes in specific locations, with Robert Gill filling in as needed. Alex Milne, Andrew Griffith, and Brendan Cahill would also contribute pencils to the first issue and the back half of the series. It was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and the second birthday of Phase Two... which went on for over four months, but never mind that!

Both "Dark Cybertron” and its preliminary materials were made to go alongside the Transformers: Generations toy-line, each issue being included as a toy pack-in with whatever character was being featured… or, at least, that was the plan. Sometimes it didn’t work out. Regardless, this storyline was created to sell toys directly, as opposed to the MTMTE/RID series being made to sell toys more through the power of suggestion. It’s a small distinction, but important, because it will help explain any lack of soul one may perceive while they read “Dark Cybertron”.

“But Hannz!” you cry out, reaching to grab me by the throat and shake me like a rag doll, because to you I’m merely a faceless voice on the internet. “Surely by calling this specific storyline soulless, you’re completely ignoring the very nature of this franchise that you’re almost uncomfortably invested in!”

To which I’ll say this: look, I’m pretty realistic about where my giant space robots came from; Transformers as a franchise would not exist the way it does without Ronald Reagan introducing the Free Market to literal children and fucking up how we interact with media for the rest of time. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and that rings especially true when I’ve got a Spinister on my bookshelf staring me down as I write this, that was likely made out of plastics which either involved blood oil or unethical labor practices, if not both.

However!

The choices of a company to have their comic license holders to cook up an entire plot that derails what they’ve already got planned out for toy tie-in comics is a completely different animal than what IDW had had going on up to this point. Phase Two had been about exploring different ideas that hadn’t been able to be explored during the war, and seeing what happens when you take away a third of the logline for Transformers G1 as a whole. Being a part of a brand of toys was almost inconsequential to how the stories were being told; even the Spotlights, which were also toy tie-in comics, had plenty of charm to them, if only because there weren’t quite as many constraints placed on the writers, and they were stand-alone issues.

Of course, being tie-in comics isn’t the only reason that “Dark Cybertron” is a bit of a slog, considering everything IDW itself was trying to get done within this storyline, but we’ll cover the publishing company’s/Simon Furman’s/Transformers’ tumultuous relationship with the concept of gender identity and expression later on, when it becomes relevant to the story proper. This point also ties into the interesting origin of Windblade, who we’ll meet in a few issues, and what happens when you let your fanbase have a taste of power and forget that people might like to see themselves represented in the media they consume.

“Dark Cybertron” is what ended up making me stop reading MTMTE the first time I tried it in 2015. A big part of it was because it forced the reader to need so much information from RID and even events prior to Phase Two, it wasn’t very fun to try to parse what was going on, on top of the writing beginning to flag because of obvious constraints to what Barber and Roberts could actually do, both within their deadlines and the rules put in place by their higher ups for the event.

 “Dark Cybertron” is the result of the sort of executive meddling that kills reader enjoyment by requiring writers to cram their two worlds together as quickly as possible, without the option to go for nuance because there simply isn’t time. The reason we have four separate artists for the front half of this story is because Milne and Griffith didn’t have time to draw both their current workload and “Dark Cybertron” at the same time... but sales probably went up due to the nature of how the story was published, so I’m sure they didn’t really see a problem with it.

That’s a general “they”, not a Milne and Griffith “they”.

In short, we’ve got license contract obligations, fan-poll obligations, and gender stuff fighting for space within the next 12 issues, which will be published in the span of roughly four months. Things are probably going to be a little bloated and sloppy.

Regardless of any of these points, this is what we’ve got. It’s not like it’s all bad- “Dark Cybertron” has the benefit of being written by two people who had been working closely before it had even been conceptualized. Barber was the senior editor for MTMTE, and IDW as a whole until he left in 2016. It also isn’t a proper crossover- y’know, where two completely separate titles get mashed together for a bit. MTMTE and RID exist in the same universe, just have their own things going on, so a decent amount of things still carry over without you needing to have read every single thing in both. The writing, while not quite up to par with pieces that had more creative freedom and breathing room between scenes, is still recognizable as being Barber and Roberts’. Their voices are still here, they’re just strained under the weight of everything that has to be said inside of 12 issues.

With all THAT out of the way, let’s dive in to Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1.

We get a quick rundown of the most basic information you’ll need for this entire story to make sense, as we reintroduce the fact that Shockwave is an ecoterrorist with more agendas than a daily planner factory on meth, and also that he grows magic crystals. I don’t care what he says, the Ores are fucking space-magic. If you don’t want to read through all of RID for everything else, please see Robots in Disguise (2012), #1-22- A Recap, For Reference Purposes.  We also get a quick rundown of the Lost Lighters’ deal, as Swerve potentially has a meta-episode.

Be careful what you fucking wish for, bucko.

Our story proper starts with a flashback to the shittiest road trip Cyclonus ever went on, as the Ark 1 finds itself at the edge of a mysterious portal. This is likely why he wasn’t super thrilled when the portal to Luna 1 showed up- portals are probably a touchy subject for him.

Jhiaxus doesn’t know what this portal is- surely this means that science has failed us, and it’s time to call in the religious crowd to try and suss out what’s going on here.

It’s moments like this that make me wonder what exactly happened in the Dead Universe that made Cyclonus’ cheek meat just pack up and leave.

Now, we know that Cyclonus is correct here, because we as readers have more knowledge than the characters at this point, but Jhiaxus tries to write off this theory as hogwash, because he is a man of rationality and science. This is a slight removal from his character in the present, whose most notable traits seem to be a lack of ethics and screaming.

Everyone here seems to be slightly different from their current iterations, actually; Galvatron doesn’t say a word as he steps between Jhiaxus and Cyclonus, only using his body to communicate that the scientist might want to back off. Cyclonus himself is certainly the wordiest we’ve ever seen him to be, droning on through his actual thought process before he comes to a conclusion on what exactly they’ve found. Compare this to the Cyclonus of today, who only deigns to grace everyone with his voice if they outright threaten him, have something he wants, or are Tailgate. If he were to ever pull this verbal meandering on board the Lost Light, people would probably assume he’s having a stroke.

Nova Prime- you remember him, don’t you?- gives not a fuck about the Dead Universe, only what it means for him personally. And what it means for him is more locations to subjugate, because he is cartoonishly evil. His character is the least removed from his present-day iteration out of everyone. He tells the crew they’ll be getting a little closer, only for the portal to do the work for them, by way of dark energy tentacles.

Wow, the pilot for the Ark 1 really is just straight-up named Butt, isn’t he? And what the fuck is that face you’re making, Cyclonus? Are you- oh my god, are you emoting? Oh my god, he’s emoting.

As the Ark 1 is pulled to its doom, Jhiaxus makes a quick phone call to Shockwave to tell him he’s his favorite, and to keep up the good work.

In the present, Shockwave reflects on just how friggin’ long this whole ordeal has taken. Fortunately, Waspinator and the Titan are almost here, and he can hardly wait.

Not, uh, that he’s got emotions or anything. It’s been established that he doesn’t have those anymore. Is impatience an emotion? Does that count?

Shockwave seems like he’d be really frustrating to write for.

Anyway, the Titan shows up, the Ore inside him and the Ore in the underground Crystal City combine, and the Titan starts screaming because everything hurts. Shockwave’s about as thrilled as he can be about the situation, given his lack of emotions.

Above Crystal City, we finally get back to that nonsense about the early sunrise, as someone- maybe Starscream, given the color of the narration box- waxes poetic on the planet of Cybertron, wartorn and wild in its rebirth, ruled by paranoia that has nothing to bounce off of, and so creates its own walls.

Then we get a detailed shot of Rattrap’s mug, and the moment is broken.

Rattrap’s character is a lot of fun in everything he gets tossed into, but you’re a goddamn liar if you think he’s pretty to look at. You are lying to yourself, and I won’t apologize for saying it.

Starscream walks out of his room in his hot new body, feeling fine and ready to take on the world. We’ll check in on him later in the day to see how that positive mentality is working out for him.

So, the sun hasn’t moved, and it’s way too early for the sun to even be up right now. That’s weird. Because I guess he didn’t know how the sun works, Starscream’s only just realized that this is perhaps a problem. He does some computer work and realizes that this is indeed a very bad thing, and asks that Rattrap call the Autobots. Not the ones who fucked off into the wilderness, the other ones. The gay, space ones.

Up in space, Orion Pax and his pals have found themselves in dire straits, the collapsing Gorlam Prime sucking their ship back down as the Death Ore consumes everything.

That’s not how engines work! And I think it really says something about the “Prelude” issues that I completely forgot why Wheelie was down an arm for a solid five seconds.

It turns out that Orion was the narrator the entire time, which I should have known- since when is the once and future Optimus Prime not the primary voice in any media he appears in?

It’s looking rough for the fellas, but luckily we’ve got to get the plot rolling, so the Lost Light VZZZZTs into existence and picks up the Skyroller to place it gently into its belly.

Orion isn’t exactly jazzed about the fact that Rodimus didn’t listen to what he told him, not even bothering to thank the guy for saving his life. I say y’all keep going on your Thunderclash Quest and leave this ungrateful loser behind. No space yachting for you, Orion.

The rest of the Pax Posse enter the Lost Light proper, and Hardhead reveals that he nearly joined the Quest, before he saw who all would be coming with, while Garnak has a tearful reunion with Rodimus. The fact that he’s calling him Sir- which I don’t recall him doing in Transformers (2009), at least not in a way that seems reminiscent of an unfortunate Antebellum Period Romance- feels rather weird, but I’m glad someone’s fucking happy to see Rodimus at least. Ultra Magnus asks Orion if he’ll be assuming command of the vessel, as Rodimus tries not to look horrified by the thought alone, but fortunately Orion’s not going to pull his “I’m Optimus Prime and I Can Do What I Want” Card just yet.

Smash cut to the bridge, as Rodimus tries to make himself sound competent, when Starscream calls. Orion doesn’t like that Starscream has their number, Perceptor almost reveals the fact that this ship technically doesn’t belong to a faction, likely due to being purchased after the war, and Cyclonus gets brought in for his professional opinion.

As it turns out, that early sunrise isn’t a sunrise at all, but a portal to the Dead Universe. This is a problem, because the Dead Universe really sucks, and you don’t want to go there, especially if you enjoy being alive. Orion seems more concerned about the fact that Starscream is ruling the planet, and Bumblebee is nowhere to be found.

Speaking of Bumblebee, he and all his camp buddies are psyching themselves up for a confrontation.

Swoop, please, this is hardly the time for crudeness.

The Dinobots, sick of Bumblebee’s dithering about, decide they’re going to fight the fucking sun and gear up. Prowl, though generally disliking their brand of problem-solving, does share his begrudging respect of their can-do attitude.

Their can-do attitude over fighting the fucking sun.

Then an earthquake happens and the ground rips open to reveal that Titan that Waspinator showed up with.

Shockwave takes over the narration at this point, and we get artsy, as we see events that haven’t transpired yet over musings on the nature of... time? Maybe? It would be in line with Roberts’ go-to topics, but honestly the whole thing’s kind of vague so I couldn’t give you a solid answer. Shockwave gets awfully introspective for a guy who shouldn’t care, I know that much. The point is, he is inevitable and is super good at logic and science.

Also, Nova Prime and Galvatron are back, which is cool, I guess. Not sure where Galvatron had gotten to exactly after the events of “Chaos”, but he’s back now, so it doesn’t matter too terribly much. Shockwave serves them, which we’ll probably get an explanation for at some point.

God, you can practically taste the desperation to pin all these plot points together before the entire thing implodes on itself.

[things2mustdo]

As you probably have heard in the news, earlier in August a Pennsylvania grand jury handed down a 1,356-page account of sexual abuse which involved around 1,000 kids and 300 priests during a period of approximately 70 years. It is another pedophilia scandal within the Catholic Church that adds up to their collection of countless other ones reported in recent years.

The commie pope—while on his two-day visit to Ireland—begged for forgiveness again, just the way he did in Chile back in January of this year.

You can notice how quick and scathing the mainstream media is to denounce these recurring events, after all we know who owns the MSM and the (real) Church has a long, well-known history of “anti-semitism” and resistance against the tentacles of globalism. I wish the media had the same commitment to inform the existence of other pedophile rings full of high-ranking people as well.

Is the problem of the church’s innumerous sexual abuse allegations really pedophilia? To me there is a deeper explanation for it, and that explanation is: homosexualism. 81% of the alleged victims are male and three-fourths of them are post-pubescent. As you guys are certainly aware of, the Church has a very big issue with homosexualism among its clergymen.

I have a theory for the high presence of gay men inside priesthood: until not long ago being gay was definitely not ok, homosexuals were not accepted as they are now, so they became priests.

The developed Western world of today encourages people to become gay, it applauds individuals for their gayness, but it wasn’t always like that. Now, try to imagine a closeted homosexual man living in the 50s, for example. What a better place to go than the Catholic seminary? People wouldn’t look you down, you wouldn’t have to get married, the place was filled with other young men (potential sexual partners) and that’s how the Church got corrupted by perverts.

Pedophilia x Homosexualism

One normie could argue “how homosexualism relates to pedophilia?” Any red-pilled person who has ever wondered what causes someone to become gay will notice that there is an undeniable link between pedophilia and homosexualism.

Let’s remember the occasion of Milo Yiannopolous’ resignation from Breitbart over comments which seemed to endorse sex between “younger men” and older men. Something that is—as he pointed out—extremely common among gay men. A 2009 report revealed that 74 percent of bisexuals had been sexually abused as children, I am pretty sure homosexuals follow the same numbers.

I won’t say homosexual behavior is exclusively caused by pedophilia because human (or animal) sexuality is a very complex topic which can certainly involve many variables. I just don’t buy that “born this way” hype, until this day not a single reliable proof of the existence of a gay gene or anything like it was discovered.

The Vatican once bought a £21 million apartment block above ‘Europe’s largest gay sauna’.

Pope Francis, a champion of the left-leaning agenda inside the Church, has been accused of covering up former Cardinal McCarrick’s abuse allegations (one of the many cases in Pennsylvania). The accusations were made by Carlo Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador to the US, and if it proves to be true–I am positive it is—that should result in pope Francis’ resignation. As a traditionalist Catholic myself I would be delighted with such an event.

Francis has already been complacent with other pedos before. One good example is the 2015 ‘Synod on the Family’ when the pope invited Godfried Danneels, a Belgium Cardinal convicted of covering up pedophiles in the 90s, to attend the meeting. Danneels is a hard-left priest that tries to push the Church ” liberal reformation” and admitted that he was part of a plot against (right-leaning) Pope Benedict and in favor of the election of leftie Francis.

To affirm that the Church’s gay/pedos are exclusively part of the left-wing priesthood would be too Manichean. I am sure there are tons of sick people who lean right also. But it can’t be denied that the liberals make up the vast majority of these issues involving sexual misconduct.

“Religious progressives”

For those who don’t know, the Catholic Church, just as any other political institution, is divided in factions that tend to be more liberal or orthodox. The liberation theology, for instance, is a movement created inside the Catholic Church (and some Protestant denominations) which aims to mix Christianity and Marxism.

Even if you are an agnostic don’t underestimate the influence they played in various regions such as Europe, Latin America and even New England. Brazilian Workers’ Party attributed their success to this movement and Unions.

Be wary of any religious leader that tries to push a liberalization of dogmas and traditions. Because all religions are intrinsically conservative according to their respective contexts, they establish doctrines that dictate sets of rules that must be followed properly in order to attain their objectives (whether is Salvation in Christianity or Nirvana in Buddhism). There are no (real) religions without their traditions.

Whenever you see liberal religious men doubt their characters. There is a good chance they don’t even bother with religion or spirituality, perhaps they are closeted atheist. What they do care about is the religious platform, which can offer various benefits such as large audiences, political influence, money and even sex.

Estimates of the number of gays in the priesthood are all over the lot, from 20 percent to 60 percent, although a Los Angeles Times poll in 2002 found only 15 percent of priests saying they were homosexual or “somewhere in between but more on the homosexual side.”

Every time pedo priests’ cases pop up in the MSM, secular people are very quick to point fingers and show their moral superiority, but they “forget” the existence of secular institutions that are way more sexually perverted than the “gayish” modern Church, such as Hollywood, the political and corporate world.

Real Church x Sissy Church

It is also important to notice that the Church was emasculated, an emasculation that took place during the process of secularization and establishment of liberal democracies across the Western world (e.g. French Revolution).

The Church had to be softened, becoming an institution that barely resembles the once powerful and great Church of the Crusades or the Inquisitions. This same phenom of emasculation can also happen in other secular institutions too, the Military, mainstream Music, Politics, Sports and even Boys Scouts. And it will only get worse as liberal-democratic globalism advances, so secular people: watch out!

St. Basil the Great, a 4th century bishop and Doctor of the Church, defended that gay/pedo priests should be publicly flogged. That was the (real) Church, not this sissy catholicism created after the Second Vatican Council (a modernist reform imposed in the Church from 1962 to 1965). A lot of things got bad in the 60s.

The (real) Church has a very important and vigorous story in the construction of the West. Always being a target to the globalists and that breed who rules the world, a clear obstacle to their goals.

Examples are many: Gabriel García Moreno, Catholic Equatorian president, who made a terrific job in a Confessional Equator and was killed by the Freemasons; Saint José Sanchez del Rio, who was killed by Mexican secular, freemason and leftist government with the support of the US, for refusing to abbandon his faith.

Inconvenient truths are ignored

The media only goes after what is convenient to their narrative, don’t expect them to expose Hollywood pedos nor the obvious link between pedo priests and homosexualism. The left has already pushed the normalization of pedophilia many times and I didn’t see the indignation of the MSM.

Late Vatican’s Chief Exorcist Gabriele Amorth once said, “The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences”.

“The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops”. – St. Athanasius

Read More: The Vatican Has Disgraced True Catholic Values

I have noticed that many people have been falsely conflating what comes out of the Vatican as Catholic. Thus it is my duty to present to the esteemed readers of this fine site the true teachings of the Church which stand, ever more so today, in stark opposition to the rot of cultural Marxism and the effeminacy of the Papal pretenders in Rome.

Vicar of Christ?

Church authorities are not legitimate

It is a dogma of the Catholic faith that the Church cannot substantially change. This means that the church cannot contradict nor change her teaching from what has always been universally taught or has been solemnly defined. Any one who claims to be Catholic and knowingly professes a faith which contradicts a teaching of the Church is considered to be a heretic and is considered to have a removed himself from the Church.

As St. Thomas states: “[one] who disbelieves [even] one article of faith does not have faith, either formed or unformed.” This is known as the unity of faith which means that all Catholics profess the same faith. Likewise it means that heretics cannot hold a clerical office in the Church. Thus if a heretic were to be elected even to the Papacy they could not be considered a legitimate Pontiff because a heretic has separated himself from the Church (source).

Would a real Pope bow to a religion declared false by the Church?

Simply put, you have to be Catholic to be Pope, and the absurdity of a heretic claiming the See of Peter is where we find ourselves today. For just as the institutions in the West have been infiltrated and seized by the enemy, likewise have the institutions of the Church been usurped by apostate forces. The hierarchy currently residing in the Vatican are not legitimate authorities and do not represent the perennial teaching of the Church. Therefore I have listed for your benefit the actual Church’s positions on some current areas of contention.

The only time Francis has ever smiled at a Crucifix

On Communism

The Catholic Church is vehemently opposed to communism. Without Pius XII valiant efforts, communism would have prevailed over postwar France and Italy. The Pope went so far as to issue the Decree against Communism in 1949 which excommunicated any Christian who professed communist doctrine.

Catholicism is the enemy of Marxism as it teaches that there can be no separation of Church and state, and an atheist government is immoral. Catholicism believes private property is a natural right going so far to say that depriving workers of their wages is a sin which cries to heaven for vengeance (compare that to our socialist tax code!).

On Migration and Culture

The current Muslim invasion of Europe would be met with the utmost resistance. It has always been the Church which has sought to safeguard Catholic Culture and in ages past has gone so far as to issue a call to arms against non-Catholics who have sought to destroy it.

Pope Urban II issued the Crusades and Pope Leo the great even went so far as to personally travel into the heart of the Hun army—to Attila himself—to deliver Rome from the sack that was to come. In 1571, St. Pope Pius V formed the Holy League that would go on to defeat the great Muslim Turkish Armada that was plaguing the Mediterranean.

“Then I pointed like so and told them where to take their cultural enrichment”

The tradition of the Church has been to unite the West against external non-christian threats in order to preserve Western Christian culture.

“The natural law enjoins us to love devotedly and to defend the country in which we were born, and in which we were brought up, so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land…. We are bound, then, to love dearly the country whence we have received the means of engagement this mortal life affords.” – Sapientia Christiana Encyclical Pope Leo XIII

On Abortion and Contraception

So what is the real teaching of the Church in regards to abortion and contraception? The teaching is any member who has an abortion or supports abortion is automatically excommunicated from the Church. That’s right: every single Democrat who claims to be Catholic is actually excommunicated, including Nancy Pelosi who likes to sanctimoniously drone how she is a good Catholic grandmother.

Contraception is also considered a mortal sin because it is an unnatural stoppage of life.

“Hence, after the sin of homicide whereby a human life already in existence is destroyed, this type of sin appears to take next place, for by it the generation of human nature is impeded.” -St. Thomas Aquinas.

I know this is unpopular with the readers, but the teaching is that those who engage in contraception have already committed murder in their heart. Contraception is what allows people to engage in recreational sex, because the natural end of sex has been set aside so too then has the institution of marriage, whose end is children.

Likewise, because we have committed murder in our hearts, we have become a petulant, immature, vain, and a sterile people similar to any other people who have taken the risk from reward or the consequences from pleasure. This is the most difficult pill to swallow.

On Feminism

The Church condemns feminism in the strongest terms. There cannot exist feminism without birth control.

“…any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.” -Pius XI Casti Cannubi

The Church asserts that Man is the head of the household and that a woman finds her vocation from being a good mother and housewife:

“This … does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; … For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love.” -Ibid

The Pope has even gone so far as to condemn women’s suffrage:

“Woman can never be man’s equal and cannot therefore enjoy equal rights. Few women would ever desire to legislate, and those who did would only be classed as eccentrics.” -St. Pius X

On Pacifism

The Catholic Church is not simply just a religion of love and mercy. Christianity is not a weak religion, for our God is a God of Battles. Catholic Tradition encourages us to live our lives in the manner of our Lord Jesus who spoke of the struggle that his Church would have to endure.

“Do not think that I am come to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.”-Mathew 10:34

Christians are not meant to sit idly as bystanders to the great struggle of good and evil in this world.

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood: but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness: against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” -Ephesians 6:12

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Feb. 27, 2020

A Royal Instagram Mystery

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Credit...Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Getty Images (royals), Shutterstock (stool)

Two royal couples, two Instagram accounts, one conspiracy theory.

By Caity Weaver

Of all the tricks humankind employs to concoct the illusion of security, the most vital to the British royal family is hierarchy.

Hierarchy is what makes an elder brother more important than a younger one, a newborn more powerful than his 33-year-old uncle. A minor tweak to the laws of succession requires the consent not only of British Parliament, but of 15 other nations.

While sovereignty operates under hierarchy, it survives by public support. What happens, then, when monarchical order is pitted against social popularity?

On Instagram: a mystery.

This is a tale of two social media accounts, both alike in dignity, yet cast as star-cross’d competitors on Instagram, where we lay our scene.

@KensingtonRoyal was established in January 2015. Crucial to our saga, it was a shared account for Prince William, his wife, Catherine (formerly known as Kate Middleton), and his younger brother, Harry. (William and Harry are the only children of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles is first in line for the British throne, making Prince William second in line.)

When the younger Prince Harry became engaged to the American actress Meghan Markle in 2017, @KensingtonRoyal began functioning as a shared account for the two couples. It remained as such through Harry and Meghan’s wedding in spring 2018 (when they were formally given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex), and for several months beyond.

Until April 2, 2019.

That date marked the appearance of a newer, more sprightly Instagram account called @SussexRoyal. This was a new official handle for Prince Harry and Meghan alone.

It has served ever since as their base of social media operations, and as a channel for direct communication with the world. It was where, at the start of this year, Harry and Meghan posted their surprise announcement they intended to “step back” from the British royal family. It was where, in the wake of the hectic negotiations that followed, they posted a screenshotted statement from Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, to show that she expressed support for their decision.

In the latest development, the couple will be required to relinquish use of the word “royal” in their branding, commercial and charitable activities, and presumably, Instagram handle; that change in status is scheduled to take effect on April 1.

But let us back up a year, to when one royal brand was cleaved into two. That’s when things got weird.

From the outset, @SussexRoyal was runaway popular. It set a Guinness world record for reaching 1 million faster than any account in Instagram history — in 5 hours and 45 minutes. (Only Jennifer Aniston has improved on that time, when she created an Instagram account later in 2019.)

Tabloid writers and royal reporters began to forecast the moment that @SussexRoyal’s follower count would overtake @KensingtonRoyal’s, thus crowning Harry and Meghan the definitive winners of an unofficial couples’ popularity contest.

It seemed inevitable; already, when it came to Google search interest, Harry and Meghan towered over William and Kate. (From November 2017 until the end of January 2020, Harry-and-Meghan-related searches accounted for 83 percent of the world’s curiosity in the two couples.)

The Instagram eclipse would happen in April or perhaps May, with the birth of the couple’s first child, royal watchers speculated.

It happened in neither, it turned out. Nor in June. Nor July.

Every day, without exception, from April 2, 2019, until Jan. 21, 2020 — through Guinness world record growth, the birth of Harry and Meghan’s baby Archie, and the seismic rupture that was their public departure from royal life — the size of Harry and Meghan’s Instagram audience failed to exceed that of William and Kate’s.

Was it coincidence that Instagram popularity appeared to align so unwaveringly with monarchical hierarchy? Or was there invisible mischief afoot?

A conspiracy was at play, conspiracy-minded corners of the Internet murmured.

A cross section of social media analysts, researchers and product developers disagreed about the degree to which the British royal family’s two most prominent Instagram accounts invite suspicion.

Some felt the growth and engagement patterns between the accounts could be explained by the unknowable workings of Instagram, which regulates the spread of content with the invisible force of a deep ocean current. Others saw in the data a possible shadow campaign, perhaps intended to inflate the appearance of one couple’s popularity over the other.

Representatives for both royal houses denied strenuously any suggestion that their social media teams had manipulated follower numbers.

Here is what we know:

April 2019, the month @SussexRoyal announced itself on Instagram, marked eight years since the first royal wedding of this generation: that of the first brother Prince William, to Kate Middleton. In those eight years, a trio of births had knocked the second son, Prince Harry, down the ladder of succession to his current spot, sixth in line to the throne. But the public’s longstanding affection for Harry (as indicated in public polls) remained. It — combined with the sparkling addition of his new romantic partner — meant that, since their engagement, Harry and Meghan, whom the younger prince met in 2016, had been channeling public energy and enthusiasm like palms on a plasma ball.

To wit, the day before Meghan first appeared on @KensingtonRoyal in November 2017, the account gained 981 followers, bringing its audience to just under 2.27 million. The day Meghan’s engagement was announced (her debut appearance on the account), it gained 104,092.

It kept gaining, steadily and in occasional frenzied bursts. Over the three-day period that consisted of Meghan and Harry’s wedding weekend in May 2018, plus the Monday morning release of their nuptial portraits, @KensingtonRoyal acquired more than 1.5 million new followers. In the period after Meghan was effectively incorporated into @KensingtonRoyal, that account’s following more than tripled in size.

For the remainder of 2018, the two couples surfaced on their single account smiling radiantly — or, on the prescribed days, staring off in solemn remembrance — in an easy rhythm. The impression was of companions casually interspersed throughout one another’s lives, locked in a perpetual couple’s staycation behind the walls of their shared palace, with participants slipping out now and then to pursue their philanthropic passions.

In 2019, however, Harry and Meghan began a process of gradual separation.

They extricated themselves from their joint “royal household” arrangement with William and Kate, moving their administrative offices out of Kensington Palace, and hiring new staff. They formed a charitable foundation separate from the one William and Harry had founded in 2009, which had been the locus of both couples’ philanthropic efforts. And, most visibly, on April 2, they introduced a stand-alone Instagram account.

Though Meghan was by no means a global star before her marriage, she had maintained an active and successful personal Instagram account, its profile buoyed by her regular role on a moderately popular American cable legal drama. That account boasted around 2 million followers before its deletion following her engagement (not far from the approximately 2.27 million followers @KensingtonRoyal had when the engagement was announced).

From its very first post, Harry and Meghan’s new Sussex account was distinct from @KensingtonRoyal — and seemed unmistakably the work of an Instagram veteran. It established a signature color palette (royal blue) and typography (a hybrid of caps-locked roman and lowercase italics). These kinds of personalized elements were absent from @KensingtonRoyal.

Over the next several months, the two accounts would diverge even further in style and tone.

According to data provided by CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool that, like Instagram, is owned by Facebook, nine of the 10 most-liked posts ever shared by either @KensingtonRoyal or @SussexRoyal showcase some combination of Harry and Meghan (and/or their son). The single outlier is an image of William and Kate’s two eldest children taken on Princess Charlotte’s first day of school in 2019. (It came in eighth.)

Data generated by the media monitoring software Cision, which tracks online media mentions, found that, from the date of the announcement of Harry and Meghan’s engagement in November 2017 to January 2020, Harry and Meghan received vastly more global online attention than did William and Kate. (Recall, too: They crushed them in Google searches.)

(William and/or Kate did receive more online attention than Harry and/or Meghan on a handful of dates, such as: the day Kate wore a green gown to the BAFTA awards ceremony, out of step with the event’s unofficial all-black dress code to express solidarity with victims of sexual misconduct; the period immediately before and after the birth of William and Kate’s third child; and their daughter’s first day of school.)

Thus it is perhaps not surprising that, from the date of the @SussexRoyal debut until Harry and Meghan’s bombshell announcement this past January, @SussexRoyal’s Meghan-and-Harry-centric posts received more total likes than @KensingtonRoyal posts centered on Kate and William. According to CrowdTangle data, the Sussexes came out around 13.5 million likes ahead.

Of course, on Instagram, likes are only one measure of engagement. Another is comments.

Harry and Meghan won that by an even bigger margin: In the same time frame, their account received more than double the number of comments that @KensingtonRoyal did, despite @KensingtonRoyal laying claim, perpetually, to hundreds of thousands more followers.

Likes and comments are a quick way to eyeball an account’s success. Divide that combined figure by an account’s number of followers, and you can calculate an interaction rate. A high interaction rate suggests a highly engaged following, which suggests high popularity — or at least a lot of interest.

@SussexRoyal’s interaction rate was nearly twice that of @KensingtonRoyal’s. Its audience was rapt, active and, within a month and a half of the account’s creation, numbered more than 8 million users — a figure it had taken @KensingtonRoyal more than four years to amass.

With good reason, perhaps. Unlike @KensingtonRoyal, @SussexRoyal established early that it operated largely independently of the British press. While @KensingtonRoyal released coveted family images in concert with members of the media, @SussexRoyal surprised its followers with images royal reporters could not get. From time to time, it even broke news.

Yet it seemed, from the outside, that no matter how many followers @SussexRoyal gained, it could never quite catch up; rather, it appeared eternally on the cusp of doing so.

On the date @SussexRoyal was created, @KensingtonRoyal had an audience of about 7.3 million. But the older account’s prolonged dominance cannot be attributed to its head start. Accounts created later often overtake popular “partners.”

For instance, Michelle Obama surpassed her husband’s Instagram account within months of him leaving office. Kaia Gerber, 18, overtook her supermodel mother, Cindy Crawford, within months of her own runway debut.

Furthermore, follower growth for one account does not necessarily portend a comparable increase for a similar one.

Few accounts are as closely related as those of Jonathan and Drew Scott, the identical twin brothers who jointly star in their own home real estate television franchise, “The Property Brothers.”

CrowdTangle data indicates that, after years of virtually complete growth overlap, one Property Brother’s account began blazing an upward trail at the end of last year. Its associated Property Brother (Jonathan) had recently revealed he was dating the actress Zooey Deschanel.

It is a quirk of digital popularity that social media accounts with large followings can reasonably expect to lose a very small percentage of followers immediately after sharing new content. The appearance of said new content, regardless of format or platform, will inevitably lead some portion of followers to conclude they don’t care about it. It will inspire decisive action — to unfollow.

It is therefore not unusual that, when @SussexRoyal posts a photo of Prince Harry, a typically well-performing subject — on horseback at about 2:40 p.m., London time, on a Friday — it will lead to a brief exodus of followers. In this case, of something like 420 accounts in the first hour, according to timestamped data.

A successful post will quickly make up this difference as new users discover it and elect to follow the account. In this case, the horse post resulted in a net gain of about 1,200 new followers in the first five hours, plus over 420,000 likes.

It is less explicable that when, for instance, @KensingtonRoyal shares a low-resolution image of a painted portrait of the late Queen Victoria — who is neither a common nor immediately recognizable subject for the account — at 6:47 a.m. the same day, it should immediately gain over 730 followers in the first hour.

It is even less explicable that it should experience a net gain of roughly 3,500 new followers in the first five hours, especially considering it garnered only around 283,000 likes total.

That means that although the somewhat obscure portrait of Queen Victoria was apparently enchanting enough to draw droves of new followers to @KensingtonRoyal, it received far fewer likes than a photo of Harry on @SussexRoyal — a photo that, paradoxically, despite receiving hundreds of thousands more likes than Queen Victoria, enticed far fewer people to follow the account.

Curious!

Before Harry and Meghan’s account existed, @KensingtonRoyal might gain something like 1,000 followers on an average good (but not astronomically good) day. But between Jan. 1 and March 31 of last year, its following shrank by nearly 10,000 accounts.

The creation of @SussexRoyal seemed to reinvigorate it — and then some.

On May 12, the day @SussexRoyal posted a photo of Meghan’s hands holding newborn Archie’s cute tiny baby feet, the account of Archie’s aunt and uncle, @KensingtonRoyal, gained more than 42,000 followers. This despite the fact @KensingtonRoyal had posted no content, as well as the fact that the Sussex post was in honor of a holiday few in Britain were observing: U.S. Mother’s Day.

For comparison, the day @KensingtonRoyal shared its hugely popular — for it — first day of school post, which featured Charlotte and George hugging adorably in impeccably clean uniforms, it gained slightly over 40,000 followers. (@SussexRoyal, which shared no post that day, gained about 10,400.)

May 21 marked the first time @KensingtonRoyal’s growth rate began regularly outpacing @SussexRoyal’s. The differences were slight — often hundredths of one percent — but they appeared to manifest irrespective of the content posted.

On back-to-back dates when neither account posted anything, Kate and William’s account growth rate might inexplicably increase from 0.06 to 0.11 percent. Or, on a date when @SussexRoyal content received roughly 10 times the number of likes and comments as @KensingtonRoyal content, Kensington’s growth rate might still outpace it by 0.01 percent. From May 21 on, CrowdTangle data showed the accounts’ followings growing in lock step — with @KensingtonRoyal permanently ahead.

Matt Navarra, a British social media consultant, was unconvinced that either account exhibited suspicious follower activity. “I don’t think there’s anything in it,” he said — but added, “I wouldn’t put my life on it.”

Samuel Woolley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin whose research focuses on social media political propaganda, said that while manipulation was impossible to confirm without more account information than is publicly available, the CrowdTangle data is “pretty damning if we are looking for inauthentic activity.”

Others consulted were in agreement that several scenarios could explain the follower gap:

Scenario 1

Despite @KensingtonRoyal’s prior lackluster performance and oddly low engagement rate relative to @SussexRoyal, it maintained its follower advantage with no manipulation. More real people simply elected to follow William and Kate over Harry and Meghan.

Scenario 2

@KensingtonRoyal was given better placement on Instagram’s “Who To Follow” list, a curated selection of accounts presented to new users — a variable known to drive tremendous numbers to specific accounts with virtually no effort from account owners.

Scenario 3

@KensingtonRoyal was the beneficiary of a concentrated fan-driven campaign to keep its numbers high. (No evidence of such an effort could be found.)

Scenario 4

@SussexRoyal’s initial follower takeoff was supplemented by bot followers, and its growth slowed when no new bots were bought to replace them. (This would not seem to explain Kensington’s sudden and sustained increase in popularity relative to Sussex — unless, perhaps, Kensington began acquiring followers at the same time as Sussex, and for several months after.)

Scenario 5

@KensingtonRoyal was receiving follower boosts in the form of bots.

Several researchers observed that some inauthentic activity is bound to plague any prominent social media account: Following popular users is one tactic bots use to mimic humans.

While no one consulted knew of a reliable way to keep numbers artificially low by suppressing genuine follower activity, all agreed that it’s easy to make them appear artificially high with bots. As part of a recent NATO study, researchers acquired more than 3,500 comments, 25,000 likes and 5,000 followers, all for roughly $330.

It is also possible to use bots to inflate social media accounts even if you are not the owner. Anyone can buy bots on behalf of anyone else, or send them to an account with which they have no affiliation.

But inauthentic activity is somewhat unverifiable. One of the biggest challenges of unearthing fake followers, for the layman, is that many of the tools for doing so have disappeared.

Alex Taub, a founder and the former C.E.O. of the social media analytics company SocialRank, described the current social media landscape as “like a black box.”

It stems from the spring of 2018, when TechCrunch reported that Instagram had abruptly limited the amount of user data developers outside the company could access. (Mark Zuckerberg was about to testify before Congress regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm collected and sold the personal data of nonconsenting Facebook users.)

The move impaired the ability of third parties to perform widespread data analysis. In so doing, it granted all Facebook and Instagram users more privacy — including those accounts operating as bots.

“Overnight, almost all audience tools were killed,” Mr. Taub said of the Cambridge Analytica fallout. “It’s very hard to see who follows who, on the granular level, unless you manually go into the account and click on followers.”

Mr. Taub sold his analytics company in December — a development he said allows him to “talk more freely” without worry of “Facebook or Instagram taking away” access to the interface that, in its original form, enabled independent developers to collect user profile data for audience analysis en masse. (A spokesperson for Facebook said: “We revoke access for third parties when they abuse our terms of service.”)

Mr. Taub said: “If it was 2016 and you said, ‘Hey, Alex, I want to analyze the Duchess in Essex and all this whatever,’ it would take probably a day or two, and I could come back to you and show ‘These are the followers they share in common. This is the percentage of fake followers this one has. This is the breakdown of locations. This is the amount of fake followers in a location.’”

Now, the only people with access to such information work inside Instagram.

Mr. Woolley, the professor at the University of Texas at Austin, echoed Mr. Taub’s sentiments. “It’s so frustrating to not have better access to the data” of public figures, he said. “Especially in an era when social media, particularly Twitter, is the favorite mode of communication for some politicians. It’s not just Trump. It’s people like Modi in India and Bolsonaro in Brazil.”

“What it comes down to is manipulation of public opinion,” Mr. Woolley said.

Yes, but back to Kate Middleton.

Jay Owens, a social media researcher in London who evaluated the CrowdTangle data, said she was “certain to a 95 percent confidence interval” that there was no mass follower purchase on behalf of @KensingtonRoyal since April 2019 — in part because a graph of its follower counts did not feature hallmarks of bot acquisition. (Those hallmarks include large, inexplicable surges of thousands of followers, and plateaus of growth that suddenly drop off.)

Mr. Woolley was less deterred by the lack of obvious indicators of bot activity.

“Most people leveraging fake followers these days — especially at the behest of well-resourced groups or individuals — are being very careful to avoid suspicion, detection and deletion,” he said.

The new goal is not sudden popularity, but mathematical untraceability: In a sophisticated campaign, fake followers are more likely to be added more frequently, in smaller quantities.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen accounts gain 50,000 followers overnight,” said Mr. Woolley. “That doesn’t really happen anymore unless it’s organic.”

To him, @SussexRoyal’s initial explosive growth seemed genuine. But the fact that @KensingtonRoyal’s follower count grew by large numbers on days of popular @SussexRoyal posts — the day @SussexRoyal shared the shot of their baby son’s feet, for instance — made him suspicious of the older account.

Then there was the matter of the fans. Anna Gebremedhin, a data analyst specializing in Instagram commerce, found that, when William, Kate, Meghan and Harry shared one Instagram handle, their respective Instagram fan accounts grew in ways that largely mirrored @KensingtonRoyal. But after @SussexRoyal was created, that pattern collapsed.

“Major fan Instagram accounts for William and Kate, which previously corresponded to the popularity of their official page, did not see growth aligned with their official account,” Ms. Gebremedhin said. Followings of Meghan and Harry fan accounts rose in proportion to @SussexRoyal’s following, but @KensingtonRoyal’s numbers grew faster than William and Kate’s fan pages.

Ms. Gebremedhin called this “a deviation from historical growth.”

On Jan. 21, 2020, there was a breakthrough:@SussexRoyal, at last, surpassed @KensingtonRoyal’s follower lead — two weeks after the Sussexes’ semi-departure from the royal family.

Direct comparison of the accounts is hindered by a final peculiar fact.

@SussexRoyal is classified as an Instagram “creator account” — a free designation that grants owners (and, to a more limited extent, other users) the ability to view some account metrics.

@KensingtonRoyal, on the other hand, is designated a “personal account” — a setting a celebrity digital media strategist who was granted anonymity by The Times to protect client accounts called “bizarre.” These accounts do not have access to advanced publishing capabilities and other account management tools.

“Why would the most prominent figures in the world, basically — or among the most popular and prominent — not have that? With dedicated social media teams, it doesn’t make sense,” the strategist said.

The mystery remains; the parties of suspicion, neither condemned nor excus’d.

Of course, any bots present could have come from anywhere. They could have been purchased by someone in another country, with no connection to the royal family.

We cannot even assume that bots added to one account were intended to make that account look good, or enforce a hierarchy of any kind. Perhaps, an account was receiving bot infusions, only so that its growth would fall off a cliff if (when?) they stopped being added.

“If you really want to be in a position of power and just mess with people’s social media presence, you spend a while intentionally inflating another’s presence, and being a kind of puppet master,” said David Berkowitz, a marketing consultant for technology companies. “Then, you just start taking this stuff away.”

Over the last two months, with media glare bright upon the Sussexes, @KensingtonRoyal continued its usual drip of tasteful, anodyne photos of William and Kate.

Yet on Feb. 17, it regained its follower lead, propelling itself past @SussexRoyal. As our tale draws to a close, the accounts are neck and neck.

Correction: Feb. 28, 2020

An earlier version of this article, using information from Instagram, referred imprecisely to the data that is available to “personal” Instagram accounts. Verified “personal” accounts created before January 2020 have access to data profiles; it is not the case that all personal accounts lack access to their data.

[krypti]

Now is the time to stop Bernie Sanders before he becomes the Democratic nominee and destroys the party’s chances of taking back the White House. Just as important he would hurt our chances of taking back the Senate. He is not a Democrat, has never been one, and if he becomes the nominee many Democrats on the ballot below him from school board to U.S. Senate will be running for the hills. Sanders’ initials represent what he is about, BS.

In states where it appears Democrats have a shot at flipping a Senate seat: Arizona, Georgia and Georgia Special Election (two seats in play), Maine, North Carolina, and Kansas he would be a stone around the candidates’ necks. The same is true for the majority of candidates who helped Democrats take back the House in 2018. Democratic primary voters around the nation must wake up and reject the BS Sanders is trying to feed them. In reality he is simply an old white man, lifelong politician with the huge ego that comes with that, self-described socialist, who sounds like a ‘carnival barker’ shouting and waving his hands in the air. He has a thirty year congressional record amounting to close to ZERO. His speeches bring to mind the words of Shakespeare, “Full of sound and fury signifying nothing”. From the time he ran as an independent against a progressive former Vermont governor, Democrat Madeleine Kunin in 1986, to his rants against the Democratic establishment he hasn’t changed. He apparently still believes women, the LGBT community, dreamers and African Americans are part of the establishment only out to derail him. He recently embraced the endorsement of Joe Rogan, a sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist. His campaign’s national press secretary said about the endorsement, “Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values. The truth is that by standing together in solidarity, we share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world.” So he stands in solidarity with Rogan and thinks Rogan has values of love and respect; again Sanders BS. He sounds just like Trump talking about welcoming white supremacists and neo-Nazi endorsements to his campaign. Disgusting

Sanders’s only job in life has been as a politician. He cut a deal with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to win his first congressional election and in return voted against the Brady bill and background checks five times and against allowing people to sue gun manufacturers. He voted for the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that resulted in the judicial system putting thousands of young black men in jail and he voted for the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) resolution. “The authorization granted the President the authority to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against those whom he determined “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups.” That resolution is still in effect and being used to send our troops over there today.

Today he shouts at rallies about a ‘revolution’ he wants to lead. Waiting for the revolution to come in the United States is a little like Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot”. When Barack Obama was elected he quickly found out simply saying ‘Hope and Change’ wasn’t enough to get things done. But the difference between Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders is people within his own Party with the power to actually do something liked, respected and supported Obama. They were willing to work with him to move us forward in many areas including; healthcare, LGBTQ rights, women’s pay equity and a host of others. As Hillary Clinton recently correctly said “nobody likes Sanders”.

Despite the BS Sanders is selling he has never been a leader in any movement whether it is women’s rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, disability rights or immigrant rights. People must understand shouting and waving your arms about and selling what was once called ‘snake oil’ isn’t being a leader. It may play to the crowd, and seems to be playing to young people, but in our system of government it doesn’t work to move a progressive agenda forward and for over thirty years in Congress Sanders record of accomplishing practically nothing is proof of that.

So I beseech Democrats who want to beat Trump, those wanting to move a progressive agenda forward, and Independents; please choose a candidate other than Sanders. If you are sick snake oil can be alluring and seem like a quick remedy; but real medicine which may be harder to swallow and take a little longer to work is always the better choice.

The changes we want will only happen if we reject the carnival barker and vote for a person willing to do the hard work to get things done. It means electing a person who understands that the government our founders set up, the constitution they wrote, requires an understanding of the word compromise. Something Sanders has shone he doesn’t. Compromise, without giving up our principles, is what has allowed us to move the progressive agenda many of us want forward even if it is a step at a time. Say a resounding NO to Bernie Sanders in the caucus and at the polls.

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

[angergame99-blog]

What To Find out about The Home Evaluation Refine.

In general, understanding how a home assessment works can aid you establish whether or not to secure one for your property. Recognizing the advantages and disadvantages of a property evaluation can easily assist you make a decision regardless if to obtain one for your residence. A Summary of How a Property Evaluation Functions

In order to understand the worth of a home, it is important to understand just how a house evaluation operates. A home appraisal is used through property specialists, realty representatives, as well as property owners to find out the worth of their homes. https://blogfreely.net/hubbardtownsend94/free-home-valuation will enable you to know what to request for and the amount of you should agree to spend.

The Pros and Cons of A Property Evaluation. Understanding how a property evaluation works are going to enable you to know exactly how to optimize your opportunities of acquiring a high-grade appraisal.

Pros. One of the best evident advantages of obtaining an appraisal for your home is that this will certainly enable you to understand what you are obtaining from your real estate expenditure.

Pros. Given that a property assessment is a three-step method, it is necessary to understand exactly how a residence evaluation operates.

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Disadvantages. It is crucial to recognize just how a house evaluation operates before making a decision whether or not you should get one for your house.

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House Appraisal Solution - Tips For Receiving a Specialist Residence Valuation Service

If you are actually possessing problems examining the worth of your expenditure property, your first step must be a specialist House Assessment Service. Assessments can be expensive, thus below are some recommendations for obtaining a qualified appraisal created for you.

A residence evaluation is a comprehensive record on the value of your property. It is actually done by a qualified and also it needs to consist of a breakdown of all issues in your property. The value ought to also include any improvements that you may intend to contribute to your residence, and just how much the fixing or substitute would boost the worth of your financial investment.

An expert residence assessment service could be employed for many reasons. You may must market your property swiftly to generate cash quick, or even you might be refinancing your home loan. If you are in foreclosure, there are a lot of main reason whies you might need to have to carry out a Residence Assessment of your property.

The most convenient means to receive an appraisal is to tap the services of an individual house assessment. Through performing this, you will certainly not simply acquire an in-depth document of your home's value, but you will definitely also learn if there are actually any sort of charges or unpaid judgments versus your residence. These could be important if you are offering your residence, as it will allow you to acquire a much higher price.

The method is actually simple, as many firms deliver appraisals complimentary. Some providers are going to also carry out an on-the-spot estimation during the time of your 1st consultation. In some cases, they will definitely do a quote at your upcoming check out.

You must expect to pay an appraisal fee for the companies that they supply. The appraiser will check the situation of your home as well as your assets as well as will definitely additionally know your credit history score. She or he are going to also speak to other real estate agents in your place and also carry out a poll for you to provide you a much better suggestion of your residential property's worth.

What type of an assessment should you count on? If you recognize you are actually visiting sell your residence swiftly, you need to inquire a business that focuses on fast-selling evaluation solutions. These firms are going to deliver a prompt record on your expenditure, and then venture out asap to find an additional client. Quick marketing firms will not simply give you an incredibly thorough appraisal, yet they will definitely also examine the residential property with you to provide you a better suggestion of what your house are going to deserve.

For the extra conventional entrepreneur, a full appraisal could be needed to have. The procedure of assessment is similar to that of an appraisal. Just like with an evaluation, you will need to supply a detailed list of repairs and also problems. Thorough house evaluation will definitely also bear in mind everything that is actually concealed from sights like building damage, roofing system water leaks, or even water damages.

An evaluation of your financial investment house must be actually accomplished through an independent firm. Due to the lot of individuals who deal financial investment properties, there are actually firms that specialize in making as well as selling such evaluations. They may likewise suggest you on points like things that must be actually included in the document and traits that ought to be omitted. Most of these business are actually reputable and are going to use free estimations.

Obviously, just before deciding on a property evaluation service, you should consider your needs. There are lots of home appraisal companies that deliver this solution, therefore make certain to consider your demands prior to opting for a firm. You must find a provider that possesses knowledge in the region you want to determine, and also which delivers a stable of solutions that appropriate for your investment residence.

You should also think about the form of appraisal you require. As an example, a mortgage note evaluation are going to merely detail the market value of the keep in mind, while an equity evaluation will certainly list both the market value of the note as well as the equity of your residence. In many cases, such as a house evaluation, the worth will be utilized for economic explanations, while the value of the equity is actually utilized for tax functions. Merely make certain to ask when you create your session.

Consistently ensure to accomplish your research just before opting for a residence evaluation service. Make sure to speak to as numerous business as feasible, to make sure that you may contrast their services. companies, fees, expenses, and client service rankings.

[famedroleplayarchive]

Hello! I’m coming to everyone with a few different updates today! This is a bit of a long post under the cut and there will be some more updates and announcements soon, but I wanted to split them up to avoid one super long post. Keep an eye out for another admin post in the near future, but this post still covers a variety of topics that are important for members to read!

Firstly, I want to ask anyone with an opinion on the matter to contribute it to this poll. I’ve been considering adding some of Brown Eyed Girls’ music (namely their three 2011-2015 albums and the rumored upcoming comeback if it happens) to Silhouette’s future model discography. Since Miss A and Fiestar are disbanded and EXID has only one guaranteed Korean comeback left with Hani and Jeonghwa confirmed to be leaving Banana Culture, it feels like a good time to start picking an additional group to give room for more songs to be released by them. Brown Eyed Girls is the standout above any other choices that fit Silhouette’s intended direction to me, but if members have a problem with this addition, I’ll reconsider. I’ll take the opinions of those with muses in Silhouette into special consideration, so if that applies to you, you’re free to message me directly if you have opposition to the addition! Should this addition happen, it is planned to play into a “renewal of Silhouette” plot line eventually (more towards the end of this year), with Gold Star’s creative directors trying to pull them out of what Gold Star perceives as a rut and keep them competitive by pushing the boundaries with more provocative, badass bu still sexy concepts like they were once known for. It will also contrast with the stricter creative and conceptual boundaries Gold Star’s younger girl groups like Fuse and Femme Fatale are kept within.

Secondly, the two previously unavailable BC Soloist spots have been removed. For BC Soloist 1, with Hyuna signing under P Nation, it’s unclear how often she’ll comeback once she starts releasing music again and the spot has been unavailable for so long now it only feels right to reopen it instead of continuing to wait. In character, this will be handled as a situation where an NPC soloist’s contract (someone who had a similar concept/sound to Hyuna, but not specifically Hyuna’s music anymore) simply ended and the soloist chose not to re-sign with BC Entertainment. This would publicly cause BC Entertainment to take a small hit in stocks, but there’s no major drama to it like there was with Goeun’s departure from Lipstick. BC Soloist 2 is being removed since, in the two years since the roleplay opened, I’ve learned it’s hard to tie soloists who fall further outside of the traditional idol bubble into the world of the roleplay, and BC Soloist 2 is the furthest outside still remaining. In character, for him, his existence as a soloist will be erased entirely from BC’s past instead of having left in-character. Hyuna’s and Dean’s discographies are now available as points claims. This means BC currently has no soloist spots for the time being. If your muse had a claim to a past feature or MV claim to one of those two soloists and you’d like to discuss replacing it, please message me! I may be willing to bend certain aspects of past claims rules to find a replacement if we need to since I’m inconveniencing you!

I’d also like to give a quick reminder to anyone who hasn’t done so lately (and maybe even if you have!) to please remind yourself of the in-character contract guidelines and make sure you (and your muses) are keeping those in mind! They’re important and do apply to everyone unless otherwise stated. Please take some time to refresh your memory of the rules elsewhere within the roleplay if you haven’t lately as well! 

On the subject of the rules, I have a few reminders about the general roleplay rules.

Please remember that while the rules are flexible about OOC posts on the dash to avoid the problems that can arise with a group chat, there are still rules to follow with OOC posts. Make sure to trigger tag OOC posts just as you would a piece of in-character writing (including tags for NSFW content) and don’t make posts about serious out of character conflict or disagreements on the dash, whether they’re direct or indirect.

Tag all NSFW posts as NSFW and put them under a readmore. It’s one little tag and if you aren’t sure whether something is NSFW, do it anyway to be safe. Muses and faceclaims who are minors in South Korea (under 19 international age) shouldn’t be involved in sexual content on the dash in any manner. Likewise, do not use gif icons or photo resources of a faceclaim when they were underage to accompany sexual content and discussions either. Smut is banned for faceclaims and muses who are not yet adults in Korea, and with that comes other discussions and threads of a NSFW context. This includes any flashback threads where a muse would have been under the age of majority at the time. Again, same thing applies for muns under 18. Don’t lie about your age to be able to write explicit sexual content with your muse, as that will result in a permanent ban from the group. In general, just be mindful and use common sense about what’s appropriate and what’s not when it comes to NSFW content.

Do not god mod or meta game. Don’t assume the actions, thoughts, or relationship to your muse of another muse or an established NPC/executive without getting approval first. Don’t assume your muse knows something about another muse that isn’t explicitly public knowledge just because you as a mun have read something about the muse. Just like NSFW tagging, if you aren’t sure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and ask the mun instead of ending up godmodding or metagaming.

Almost lastly, I’d also like to clear up some questions, address some details, and maybe even tackle some natural changes regarding the Exclusive blog. As the roleplay gets bigger, it gets harder to fit in every possible article someone may want for their muse in a timely manner, so please try to keep article requests and submission to major things like claims (if you’re writing your own claim article) or scandals and major plot progression articles (if they’ve been approved). A lot of occurrences that fall outside of that (though not all!) are going to need a viral moment claim to garner an article and be considered newsworthy. I don’t want to bring in super tight, strict limits to what can be used for an article, but please try to consider what might benefit from an official article and what might work better as a headcanon or detail in a self-para. Submitting an article earns a point because those articles are supposed to develop character/career or showcase a development of character/career, so keep that in mind. This reminder wasn’t brought around by any particular occurrence and it’s not been a problem yet, but I did want to put this out there. Since the Exclusive blog has been putting out more posts lately than it had before, now seems like a good time to mention this in passing! Exclusive is intended to be a news source in a similar vein to Dispatch, meaning they may have a reputation for being invasive and having under-the-table deals with companies, but are still a news source as opposed to a fansite or an idol-only outlet. If you’re ever on the fence about whether something might make a good article in that context, feel free to ask and I’ll be happy to answer!

Lastly, though it’s over a month late, I’d like to give every muse who’s currently in the roleplay (and all muns who have read this whole post) a free 5 points on their trackers in honor of our second anniversary that passed at the beginning of April. You can link to this post on your points tracker as the source of the points.

As always, I’m here for any questions, comments or concerns you may have, and thank you to everyone for your continued activity!

[w3bpushnotifications-blog]

Trendy Marketers Using Web Generate?

webpushnotifications.com

What is web force warning announcement?

Web push notices usually are quick, bite-sized emails that happen to be pushed to people, as soon as they have agreed in order to receive announcements from their very own favourite websites. Right now, nearly all of the businesses tend to be using this completely new, sophisticated-yet-simple technology. Its most important employ is to deliver the particular content as fast as you can. Push warns on the web are usually strictly a permission-based transmission system, as with portable software package notifications.

webpushnotifications.com

Initially, generate signals were dedicated to be able to the world of mobile phone apps, only. Now, internet websites are enjoying the identical electric power as mobile blog with all the push notifications. Discover no ought to download whatever to receive notices, with fact, all that need to be performed is only to click "Allow" in addition to you are subscribed. For its ease of subscription, through 17 billion chrome announcements are generally sent every morning.

A professional enjoys a great deal better opt-in fees with typically the push notifications seeing that they have just a one-tap practice. Building a marketing collection is one month times speedier with internet push in comparison with with email ongoing.

Seeing that per Econsultancy and Monetate survey, 94% businesses trust personalization is the essential factor they are driving performance as well as push avertissement help using this, very well. They have quite expedient to customise title, description, image and also CTA of a web-push. The simplicity personalization also would make the net push considerably more appealing, visually.

Website press has a great supply mechanism as it could be easily transported to any device which further allows marketers to communicate speedily.

Why are marketers applying drive notifications?

1. Retargeting turns into easy with website force: Using web generate helps to ensure profound results to loop often the users in to the web page for B2B corporations along with it also generates revenue your kids by alerting the actual user with regards to the trial conclusion. It also boosts in addition to boosts the chances involving income through the lower price offers. Introducing a price cut offer actually raises the likelihood of user making some sort of financial transaction then and at this time there, in place of pondering about the idea when the tryout runs out. With push warns, corporations can avoid music shopping for or wait for the particular person to browse all their website all over again. It's less complicated for them to converse swiftly and drive effects while enjoying an normal CTR of 25-30%.

only two. Information Marketing: 88% connected with BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS companies are employing Content Advertising and marketing to keep hold of more buyers by scattering awareness and travelling decision-making process. Businesses are currently focused to increasingly work with push notifications to talk to the users by transmitting out every little thing including scenario studies, how to guidelines, polls and reviews. If information is king, in that case it has the distribution is a major factor to secure a run.

Solution updates as well as announcements really should be delivered to end users to let them learn how they are often beneficial. End users need to know anything about the product many people use, thus it is definitely necessary to update these individuals in relation to every single adjust or betterment. It's including pushing a new newsletter solution update for a notification.

three or more. Enhancing Preservation: Businesses usually are now increasingly noticed that you concentration on user retention and also engagement instead of race to get user acquisition. Quite simply, achievements of any small business is dependent upon the long-term buyer involvement. Push notifications include modified the game once and for all by moving those shoppers who have started checking out your website less generally.

Online push offers a variety of gains including direct proposal online, straightforward call for you to action, cross-browser help support along with higher conversions. In addition, the item helps the marketer for getting their customer's attention without delay which further encourages a person to establish a considerably better relation while using brand.

A different great benefit is that you simply can certainly also send out neighborhood time-based notifications to typically the users dealing with a several time zone, which will grow your potential prospects in addition to clients. When sending available these push signals, you actually can further categorise in accordance with the on-site behaviour and often the wearer's location.

Final Thoughts:

At this time, usage of online push announcement counts on about 3, 50, 000 websites, beyond overall 250 million dynamic websites. Even though web-push is often a powerful program to achieve purchaser diamond and increase gross sales, even so, one should know the way to make use of it wisely. The item won't hurt an individual to help disable notifications world wide web, just simply like they do having the cell phone push if they are not content together with the notification.