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agentnico · 4 years ago

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Top 10 Best Movies of 2020

2020 - what a year, eh? What a jolly, cheerful and happy year it has been, with hardly any problems and a general peaceful and prosperous time for the ever progressive people of Earth! I’m kidding, let’s get real, what the hell was 2020 all about?! What a way to begin the decade! At least we got some movies, emphasis on ‘some’ as most of them got delayed due to cinema closures. In any case, there were still some little gems that gave us some form of limited escapism in these hardship times, and here they are, my favourite films of 2020...

Honourable mentions: An American Pickle, Emma, Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe

10) COLOR OUT OF SPACE - “Milk the Alpacas!” With call-backs to 80′s John Carpenter horror films, with an added flair of Nicolas Cage and alpacas (you heard me), we are slowly plunged into a hellish landscapes of madness, deformity and desolation. So, ya know, a typical Saturday night watch with the kids!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/611042880586481664/colour-out-of-space-2020-review

9) UNHINGED - “I don’t think you really know what a bad day is. But you’re going to find out.” In any other year, this thing wouldn’t make the list. In 2020, a B-movie action film with a road-raging Russell Crowe is exactly the kind of entertainment I’m after! This by no means a great film, but with all the cheesy one liners and obvious foreshadowing, with Russell chewing up the scenery like it’s nobody’s business, you’re guaranteed to not be bored.

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/625701541861523456/unhinged-2020-review

8) MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM - “I’ve got my time coming to me.” When it comes to the year’s best performance, hands down its Chadwick Boseman as the trumpet player in this film, providing us with with a role with such heart and soul (appropriately for the jazz subject), who at first comes off as this self-obsessed selfish arrogant snob who only cares about achieving his own stardom, but then as his layers are unpacked, we discover that underneath this façade is a man filled with such sadness and rage, having endured much profound trauma in his past, and it’s all brought to life so powerfully by Boseman’s dedicated performance. This role alone proves what a truly talented actor we’ve lost this year. Wakanda forever!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/637939894686285824/ma-raineys-black-bottom-2020-review

7) THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME - "I ain’t gonna take the blame for no bastard child!” Robert Pattinson plays a high pitched voiced priest that is a pervert. Somehow I’m sold!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/629773151704858624/the-devil-all-the-time-2020-review

6) BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC - “Be excellent to one another, and party on dudes!!” Any other year, this film would have passed the public’s eye without much of an impression and would have vanished into oblivion. In 2020 though, where so much negativity has been imposed upon us all, the simplistic absurdist debauchery of Bill and Ted is exactly what was needed to lighten everyone’s mood. Excellent!!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/627980138875912192/bill-ted-face-the-music-2020-review

5) DA 5 BLOODS - “We won't let nobody use our rage against us. We control our rage.” Director Spike Lee is in the house, this time lighting up another joint and taking us on an adventure to find some treasure, whilst also providing commentary on the hardships of the Vietnam war and the PTSD that it caused to its survivors. Great cast, powerful message and a Black Panther to seal the deal!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/620819114989076480/da-5-bloods-2020-review

4) THE GENTLEMEN - “There’s only one rule in this jungle! When the lion is hungry, he eats.” This is such a cool film! Like, that’s the best way to put it: so cool!! Simply a bunch of cool geezers acting all cool and mighty spilling Guy Ritchie’s cool dialogue whilst appearing super cool. Did I mention this film is cool?! So cool!!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/190289146259/the-gentlemen-2020-review

3) SOUL - “Your life is so sad and pathetic and you’re working hard to get back to it. I mean, why? This I gotta see!” Dang it, Pixar, you’ve done it again!! In this case, it’s the movie’s earnest and profound message of learning to enjoy the little things that makes it so touching to the, ahem, soul. It may not seem like it right now, but we shall all be okay. Everything will be okay. Stay safe everyone.

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/638668902755336192/soul-2020-review

2) THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 - “We're not going to jail because of what we did. We're going to jail because of who we are!” This courtroom drama is an eye-opener of the reality of American dream and politics, and is a must-watch, even though it’s a bit late now to fix such a broken system. I’m sure many Americans may see this film as unpatriotic, but reality is actually not far from what this film is saying. It speaks the truth. The Aaron Sorkin truth! Then again, as heard many times before: “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!”

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/632238115847913473/the-trial-of-the-chicago-7-2020-review

1) EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA - “Play Ja Ja Ding Dong!!” Look, I’m not even ashamed to say it, I absolutely loved this movie! It may not be the pinnacle of modern day filmmaking, but it brought so much zany fun and cheesiness that was a breath of fresh air this year. With a scene stealing performance from Dan Stevens as a campy Russian pop singer, and filled with cheesy original pop songs such as “Lion of Love”, “Double Trouble” and “Husavik”, this is THE feel-good movie of the year. I also have a special sentimental place in my heart for this flick since I told my girlfriend for the first time that I loved her after watching this movie. What can I say, I’m a hopeless romantic! I follow up a Will Ferrell with an “I love you”. This one’s for you, my lovely!

Full review: https://agentnico.tumblr.com/post/622342894264664064/eurovision-song-contest-the-story-of-fire-saga

With that we close the book of 2020, and open up the cover of 2021. Oh boy, here we go again!...

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lindoig4 · 6 years ago

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The Last Post for this time.

I have just posted lots of photos and a few videos through to the end of our adventure so this will probably be my last post to this blog.

On Friday the 13th (Black Friday), we took a streetcar to the ferry terminal and a ferry to Larkspur, a town across the Bay in Marin County. I love larkspurs (but we didn’t see any there) and I am not sure what other attractions are around the town of Larkspur, but that is where San Quentin prison is - a big forbidding fortress of a place. Pretty horrible really, not at all larkspur-ish, but so was Alcatraz in its day. A good place to avoid, I think!!

It was not much more than filling in a day, but we had a slow lunch in a pub out there and returned to San Fran 2 or 3 ferries later. When we got back to SF, we decided to take the Castro streetcar to the end of the line just for a look and then stay on it until it brought us back to our hotel. We had (good) vague memories of Castro in 1995 and thought a visit might be nice. Alas, our streetcar driver had completed her shift and was returning streetcar vehicle to the depot, so tipped everyone off a few stops early. We decided to just catch the next streetcar back to downtown which she assures us would be along shortly. ‘Shortly’ turned out to be just over 55 minutes with us and a few others standing around the bus-stop in the blazing sun - not at all the sort of thing we expected.

Saturday, we had booked to go on a 9am whale-watching tour and we were up early and out at the Pier 39 meeting place almost an hour early. We wandered around the precinct and watched the sea-lions and birds for a while until it was time for the tour. We saw a few harbour seals and glimpsed some small porpoises, but the anticipated dolphins eluded us. And as soon as we reached the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog rolled in and we were enveloped in it for the rest of the tour. Visibility ranged from about 50 to 150 metres and although those on the bridge reckoned they sighted one (or maybe 3) whales, they quickly got lost in the fog so none of the tourists saw anything. Having said that, I enjoyed it greatly, not for the whale-watching, but as a pelagic birding excursion and added nine more birds to our trip list. I suspect I was the happiest person on board by a mile!

Back at Pier 39, we had fish and chips and a cold drink for lunch, then sat and watched the world go by for an hour or so before catching the trolley back. We broke the journey halfway to visit the Friday market that sets up not far from the ferry terminal but it was generally disappointing - a lot of junk jewellery, some artwork and not a lot else. There was some sort of parade or military drive-through that delayed traffic and the streetcars for quite a while. Not quite sure what it was, but there were lots of military vehicles, historical and more modern, with lots of personnel waving to the crowd and a dozen police bikes having a great time hooning up and back in some sort of escort but whatever the occasion, it remained a mystery to us.

Needless to say, the parade delayed the streetcars so we had another wait of well over half an hour, thankfully in the shade, until we got our ride the rest of the way home.

We went out a bit later to get some food to-go and ate in the room again with a bottle of local fermented grape juice of the cab sav variety.

Then Sunday was our last day in San Francisco! We fly out tonight and it will be a long uncomfortable trip so we decided to go easy on ourselves.

We caught a trolley bus (by far the best form of urban mass transport) out to the beach, just for the ride. It took us out along McAllister, a long road with all those wonderfully quaint colourful Haight-Ashbury houses - just love them - and along the full length of the Golden Gate Park (North America’s largest urban park) to Ocean Beach.

We watched the crows and gulls for a while, then decided to walk up to Cliff House, a bit over a kilometre along the beach. We visited it back in 1995 and didn’t remember a lot about it other than that they had a big Camera Obscura set up just below Cliff House itself - and I do have vague memories of doing that tour then.

Cliff House has featured in a number of movies, usually as a desolate hideaway miles from anywhere, usually with a gale blowing, thunder and lightning, a storm raging and the baddies on the brink of some dastardly deed that will pour treasure at their feet - until the hero turns up, rescues the maiden and captures the evildoers just before their wicked plan succeeds. The truth is somewhat different with at least two upmarket bars and three restaurants. We had a wonderful lunch in the bistro. They even had a version of a Caesar so we both had one of them - each a meal in themselves and pretty healthy at that. We shared half a dozen deep-fried dumplings (gyozas by another name) and the most delicious baked meatballs I have ever enjoyed. The gyozas were also tastier and more substantial than those we have had before. We sat over the meal for an hour or so then strolled back to the trolley bus and thence back to our hotel. It was a really delightful day, warm and sunny, great for a visit to the beach, to enjoy a superb lunch and we loved every minute of it. As they say, somebody has to do it.......

We sat in the foyer of the hotel for an hour, writing and identifying a couple more birds and suddenly, the shuttle was there and we were on our way to the airport. We got through reasonably easily, although Heather lost a few utensils out of our picnic bag because we forgot to move it into our checked baggage before sending it on its way along the great conveyor belt that will hopefully deliver it to Melbourne tomorrow - whatever day that is (Monday here, Tuesday in Melbourne).

We stocked up on the makings for quite a number of homemade Caesars as we went through the Duty Free clip joint and sat in the lounge for an hour and a half until they called our flight. I intended doing a lot of stuff on my PC - but once again, the beast wouldn’t boot when I turned it on. Fortunately, I backed up most stuff a couple of days ago, but it would still be nice to wake it up and strip the hard drive before tying a brick to it and throwing it into the ocean.

One cute thing that happened as we sat there waiting for the very last episode of our Arctic Odyssey to conclude was that we both got emails starting the formal part of our next adventure to the Antarctic in February - what could be more appropriate?

The long flight home was predictably as dreadful as we imagined. I just don’t know how people endure such flights on a regular basis – I am in awe of them! But obviously, we made it through the very long night – we left SF (30 minutes late) in darkness and we arrived in Melbourne (an hour early) shortly before dawn. Our wonderful driver (Nick) who our more wonderful travel agent (Bev) provided as a freebie for us gathered up our bags and delivered us home in style, quick and comfortable after our overnight ordeal. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, starting the elongated unpacking process, wading through the mountain of mail Nath had collected for us, making a few urgent appointments and planning the schedule for attending to the 30-odd tasks that had accumulated on our to-do list while we were away. After no sleep the night before, we were in bed before 10pm and asleep about 15 seconds later.

Some statistics…… Our trip took us to 6 countries (depending on how we count them) with 9 border crossings, including 13 US States (a quarter of all of them) and all Canadian Provinces except Prince Edward Island. In total, I calculate we travelled close about 80000km.

And perhaps more important (for me) was our bird count. I identified 148 discrete species, but some were seen in more than one country – so my country stats were as follows:

USA 55 Canada 64 Norway 30 Iceland 30 Greenland 20 Denmark 10 (Total 209)

We had previously seen some of these before, either in Australia or our other trips, but of the 148 species we saw this trip, were 78 species we had never seen anywhere before.

So what were the highlights of the trip? Very hard to say, but perhaps some narrative would help me to get a clearer picture in my own head.

It is hard to rank my experiences on this trip, but some of the highlights so far are as follows:

* In the US, the Zephyr train, specifically the romance of the buttes, mesas and arroyos of the Cowboy Country, mainly in Colorado, took me right back into so many hundred Westerns and cowboy books I read when I was just a young buck trying to emulate John Wayne. Then it was the Canyons - truly majestic scenery in the Cascades and particularly the Rockies.

* In Svalbard, the close wildlife encounters with Arctic Foxes, Reindeer and Walruses - and to a lesser extent, the Polar Bears. My favourite birds have been the beautiful white Ivory Gulls and dainty Arctic Terns. I was also delighted with the miniature flora in the tundra.

* Being in the Arctic Circle, right up to 83 degrees, only about 1000-odd clicks from the North Pole, was an experience I only ever dreamed about. Seeing so many dozen glaciers, watching them calve icebergs, and navigating through the resultant ice fields was wonderful. Even more so, being in the pack ice, leaning over the bow and watching our mini-icebreaker crunching through a metre of ice was mind-boggling. But actually standing on and walking on a glacier topped even that - simply thrilling! (Not sure why that was such a big deal, but it was unforgettable for both of us!)

* The Polar Plunge – insane but absolutely an experience of a lifetime.

* Then the extreme challenge of climbing the moraine and finding a fossil for myself was an achievement of which I am quite proud. The fossil is less than spectacular but getting there and back alive was no mean feat.

* In magical Greenland, the splendour of the mountains, cruising up close and personal with the magnificence of the mighty icebergs, the dramatic scenery in stark contrast with Svalbard, the dearth of birds that barely outnumbered the musk ox, were all issues that made us think about so many things in a new way.

* Iceland was simply gorgeous with the waterfall, the geyser and spectacular coastline. I want to go back and explore a lot more widely. Standing with one foot on each of two of the world’s great techtonic plates was another ex\perience of a lifetime.

* Newfoundland was beautiful and Cape Spear a tick to mark the start of our cross-Canada journey.

* Niagara – not something I would do again, but like Uluru, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon, an iconic tourist destination that one has to endure if one is passing.

* The birds and other uncommon (for us) wildlife and flora – especially the tiny Arctic trees and other plants.

I could probably replace several of these with other wonderful sights and experiences, but that is at least a sample of the things that will stay in my mind for the rest of my life.

I think that is it for this time but we are already well into the planning for our next trip – already booked and paid – so roll on February and the Antarctic!!!

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revwinchester · 7 years ago

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Loki and Sigyn

Summary: Sam and Gabriel get into an argument about cats vs. dogs and things spiral out of control.

Pairing: Sam x Gabriel

Warnings: couple of curse words, panic attack (ish), John Winchester’s A+ parenting, unhealthy coping mechanisms, angst with a happy ending

Word Count: 1954

A/N: This was supposed to be a drabble request from a list I was taking ideas from about a week ago (requests are now closed) and it turned into something more. When I set out, I was aiming for 400-500 words of fluff but then Sam had his own ideas. This got way longer and much more angsty than I anticipated but it all comes back around with a happy ending. Special thanks to my beta for helping me avoid an even angstier fic and keeping me from going down rabbit holes I was not prepared to deal with.

@idabbleincrazy here’s your not a drabble!

I also used the dialogue prompt for this month’s @gabriel-monthly-challenge and let one of the aesthetic prompts vaguely inform some of Gabriel’s backstory.

Loki & Sigyn -

“Mr. Winchester, Mr. Shurley, congratulations. You are now homeowners.”

Sam and Gabriel had just finished signing the paperwork to buy their first home. They were really doing it, really starting their lives together. The pair had started dating in college and, after supporting each other through law school, culinary school, and living in a series of shitty apartments to do it, they were both finally working in their chosen fields and ready to upgrade their living arrangements.

Their new three bedroom home was perfect. Sam could turn one of the bedrooms into his home office and they’d still have a spare room for when one of their siblings visited. Gabriel’s happy place was going to be the large, updated kitchen.

A few hours later, Sam and Gabriel were standing outside as their movers brought the last of their major furniture pieces into the house. They didn’t have a lot, considering they had come from a one bedroom apartment, but it would do for now. To save a little money, their boxes were all loaded up into a U-Haul. Each carrying a box, they stepped into their new home, both inhaling deeply as they took in what was theirs.

“Gotta love that new house smell,” Gabriel smirked at the same time Sam breathed “I want a dog.”

“What?” Gabriel asked, sure he had heard the man wrong.

“I want a dog,” Sam repeated, louder this time.

“I want a cat…” Gabriel said in response. How had they never talked about this before, he wondered. Sure, none of their landlords had allowed pets in their apartments but something as simple as cats vs. dogs should have come up.

Sam laughed at Gabriel’s reply, clearly not taking him seriously. “No way, you’re obviously a dog person,” he laughed and Gabriel bristled at the notion.

“Dogs are needy; cats are self sufficient. Give them food, clean their litter, and they’re generally happy to be ignored,” Gabriel said, dismissing Sam’s surprise. “I don’t need some goofy slobber monster running around the house and sticking his nose in my work trying to steal a bite. I’ve already got you for that.”

Gabriel looked up at Sam, expecting to see him at least looking a little scandalized at his words but his boyfriend’s face was completely blank. Gabriel could see that his jaw was clenched and the far away look in his eyes had him a little worried. “Look, Sam, I didn’t mean…”

Sam shook himself out of whatever was happening in his head. “You don’t have to explain yourself,” he replied with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m gonna go unpack our bedroom. You should probably get to work setting up the kitchen how you want it.” Sam leaned down, gave Gabriel a quick, chaste kiss, and disappeared up the stairs.

“Well, that got heavy,” Gabriel muttered under his breath. He moved a couple of boxes into the kitchen and then pulled out his phone.

“Hey, Dean,” Gabriel said in reply when the man on the other end picked up. “I just had a really weird conversation with Sam and things didn’t end well. Care to shed some light on this?” Gabriel paused while Dean, as expected, threatened to hurt him if he had hurt his brother. “No, dumbass. He’s fine, we’ll be fine. He just… kind of shut down when I told him I didn’t want a dog.”

After a few minutes of listening to Dean, Gabriel had the gist of what had caused Sam to close himself off. “Ah, shit. I didn’t know any of that… I knew your dad was kind of a nut job but that’s… yeah, that’s something else. Thanks Dean-o, I owe you one.” Gabriel hung up the phone and let out a long, slow breath. Now that he knew what was at the root of all this, he just had to figure out the best way to fix it.

---

Sam set his box down and sat on it with his head in his hands. In the back of his mind, he knew he was overreacting, but he couldn’t help it. Gabriel’s dismissal had dragged up a host of memories that he had tried so hard to repress.

“You want that dog, now, don’t you son?” His father’s voice rang out in Sam’s mind.

“You want that dog, now, don’t you son?”

Sam had been asking for a dog for as long as he could remember, always hoping that his dad would say “yes” and, while dad had never said “no,” this was the closest to a positive answer that Sam had ever received and his eyes lit up.

“Yes, sir!”

“Well, then, buck up and get the hell out there.”

Sam scampered off into the woods with nothing but the map, compass, and the hunting knife he had gotten for his birthday last year. His ninth birthday was only a week away, maybe when he found his way back home, he would have finally done enough to earn a dog.

---

Sam pushed that memory and the others like it out of his mind as best as he could. “Survivalist Training” his father had called it. Sam huffed out a humorless laugh at that as he robotically stood and unpacked the box, making the bed with near military precision using the sheets he found at the bottom of the box, before he gave up and went off in search of Gabriel.

The kitchen was empty and everything was still in boxes so Sam paused for a minute, listening for where in the house Gabriel might have gotten to. Everything in the house was still and quiet, though, two words Sam would never use to describe his boyfriend. Thinking he may have gone to their U-Haul for another box, Sam went outside and his heart dropped into his stomach.

Sam’s car was gone. Gabriel’s SUV was still hooked up to the U-Haul they had rented but Sam’s car was no longer in the street in front of their house. Gabriel had left.

Sam rushed back into the house and grabbed his phone. He didn’t have any messages or missed calls so he called Gabriel. The phone rang three times before going to voicemail. Gabriel had ignored his call. Sam frantically sent Gabe a text message, hoping he would read it.

I’m sorry. Please come home so we can talk about this.

Sam waited 5 minutes, then 10 and got no reply. He put his phone back into his pocket and went into the kitchen to unpack until he found a bottle opener. After three boxes and no luck, Sam decided that he wanted more than beer, anyway, and filled the first cup that he found - one of Gabriel’s mugs from a restaurant they’d tried on one of their random road trips - with whiskey.

He had never been good enough for a dog. How had he managed to convince himself he could be good enough for Gabriel?

He pulled his phone back out and started to research. Maybe he could convince Gabriel to stay; delay the inevitable for a while. So, half way through his third mug of whiskey, he made a phone call with his credit card in hand. It wasn’t a cheap call but Sam could make up the difference in a week or two at work, he figured, and it would be worth it if it made Gabriel happy. At the very least, it would be something he could remember him by.

Sam was pouring his fourth mug when he heard the front door open.

“Sam?” Gabriel’s voice rang out and Sam instantly perked up.

“Gabriel?” he shouted back as he unsuccessfully scrambled to get up off of the kitchen floor. Before Sam could try again, Gabriel was in the kitchen. “You’re back!” Sam tried to get up again and Gabriel helped him, trying his best to not slosh the contents of the mug all over the floor.

“And you’re drunk,” Gabriel replied once Sam was mostly steady on his feet. He looked at the kitchen floor around Sam, which was littered with pots, pans, and cooking utensils that would need to be washed. “What happened in here? I thought you were unpacking upstairs.”

“I came down to talk and you were gone… Then you didn’t answer your phone and I thought… I thought that maybe…” Sam mumbled and Gabriel knew immediately what Sam had thought.

“I’m right here, Sam, forever and always,” Gabriel assured his boyfriend, grabbing both of Sam’s hands and starting to lead him towards the stairs. “Let’s get you up into bed for a nap, sound good?”

“Mmmm,” Sam agreed. “You too. Nap together.”

Gabriel smiled down at Sam from two steps up. “For sure, Samsquatch. I’ll stay until you’re asleep but then I’ll need to come and put things away down here.” He helped Sam up to their room, grateful that Sam had at least gotten sheets on the bed and that he was drunk enough to not have noticed Gabriel’s surprise waiting in their front hallway.

----

Sam woke up feeling plenty warm. He kicked off the blanket Gabriel must have placed over him but rolled over toward the heat that was in the bed with him. He nuzzled into the hair he found but paused when it didn’t feel or smell like Gabriel’s. Sam’s eyes flew open when something rough and wet ran across his forehead.

“Gabriel?” Sam called out, his voice thick with sleep as he took in his furry bedmate.

“Sam-a-lam, you’re awake!” Gabriel replied from the doorway.

“So, exactly how long have you been standing there? Were you just watching me sleep?” Sam yawned, momentarily forgetting the extra body in their bed.

“What can I say, you’re cute when you sleep. I hope she didn’t wake you?” Gabriel asked as he entered the room and gestured at the corgi that was cuddled up to Sam.

“She?” Sam asked before adding a more important question. “Who does she belong to and why is she here?”

Gabriel smiled sheepishly. “She’s ours. I took a trip out to the shelter.” He climbed into bed beside Sam, sandwiching the corgi between them. “Look, about earlier. I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how you might hear what I was saying. I love you, Sam Winchester.”

Sam ran a hand through Gabriel’s hair. “I’m sorry, too. I just… I’m sorry.” There was a pause between the two of them but it was a comfortable silence. “Does she have a name?”

“She was new enough to the shelter that they hadn’t given her one, yet,” Gabriel told him, “so we can call her whatever you want.”

Sam looked up at Gabriel from under his lashes and bit his lip. “So, uh, next month we’re going to pick up Loki. I did some research while you were out and I was…”

“Getting drunk off your ass?” Gabriel supplied.

Sam rolled his eyes but continued. “Anyhow, I put a deposit down on a cat from a nearby breeder… a savannah cat. I know you love Norse mythology so, I told the breeder we were going to call him Loki. So, maybe she,” Sam gestured to the adorable ball of fur between them, “could be Sigyn.”

The dog snuggled into Sam’s chest and her tail beat against the bed, smacking Gabriel in the face with each wag.

“I think the little hellhound likes that name,” Gabriel said in reply as he tried to bat the dog’s tail away with a laugh. Once her tail settled down, he quietly asked “You really put a deposit down on a cat?”

Sam blushed. “Yeah, I guess I did,” he laughed as he shifted Sigyn between them so that he could lean in and kiss Gabriel.

So, this is what I imagine Sigyn looks like. She will quickly win Gabriel over.

image credit

And this is Loki. Savannah cats are a tall, highly intelligent, hybrid breed that can be leash trained.

image credit

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transienturl · 3 years ago

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god this is just so cursed

xkit rewritten is a highly modular browser extension written in vanilla js without a bundler

it calls a dynamic import statement for each script you have enabled (I have 19)

this means that there, oh, I dunno, maybe 150? import statements that get resolved in a waterfall when it initially loads, which load a total of about 40 unique js files

often, and repeatedly once it starts happening, in chromium (edge/chrome), on my laptop, one to two of the top level dynamic import statements just never resolve. it is not always the same imports, but once it happens it is the same imports for a time period of multiple days.

this is solved by any one of the following:

calling each dynamic import statement in a separate event loop invocation (settimeout 0)

commenting out two of the eight import statements in one of the failing files. as per testing I am doing right now, it can be, with maybe ~90% reliability, any two. there is no specific one that works or does not work. one usually doesn't fix it.

as of my testing right now, disabling one of the working imports so that there are 18 in total.

going to another computer (I have not reproduced this on another computer yet)

things that seem to make it happen when it is not currently happening

opening a new tab and extremely rapidly navigating to tumblr, activating the extension while the chrome/edge new tab page is still doing network requests(?)

non exhaustive list of things that has no effect:

removing all other web extensions, restarting pc

different chromium-based web browser

not testing with an unpacked/dev mode extension

adding a 20th and 21st dynamic import (the exact same two fail)

god look I don't remember anymore.

obviously what I actually need to do besides get it to happen on another pc, is create a brand new web extension, put about 75 dummy files into it that import one another, and see if I can reproduce it without any xkit functionality and without tumblr being the page in question. it seems to me like it must have something to do with the size of the import waterfall at any given time, possibly interacting with something else

but, well, first I kind of have to know whether this is a real issue or something being messed up on my pc, like something with the file system (these imports are importing js files on disk after all).

my concern is that if this is a real issue it could be causing a bunch of the vague "xyz script does nothing" bug reports. but figuring out if this happens in the wild would basically involve adding a check to the extension that logs something or indicates in the ui if any of the import statements are not resolved in some unreasonable length of time like 10 seconds, and I can easily write that (already did when testing myself, actually) but like, until I get a repro outside of this macbook, is it worth it?

and on the other hand I could just PR the "import in separate event loops" fix. I've been running it for months; it definitely fixes the problem. but it's important to me that this extension loads as quickly as possible, as the user experience of it popping in after a lengthy delay is really bad, and that is the kind of thing I care about. so if it's possible to avoid that I would like to.

anyway yeah I don't know. also if I ever make my own nontrivial web extension I'm gonna try and do a minimal esbuild setup, it sounds fun to set up as well as efficient and hopefully-not-prone-to-blowing-up-chromium.

#I already wrote this up but I'm doing it again #because it's “cathartic” or something #i.e. “why can I not fix this god damn import waterfall piece of *crashing and banging noises*”#(well obviously I can fix it. I did. but you know what I mean. “why can I not understand it”

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niall-is-my-dream · 8 years ago

Text

The Bucket List - Chapter Fifteen

The past two weeks with Niall had been amazing. He'd gone to work doing promo stuff, interviews etc and you'd carried on your day to day stuff to, but he'd not travelled abroad or stayed away over night for work. He'd spent every night with you at yours since he got back from Australia. It had been so good to wake up every morning with him.

You were both fiercely independent and although you'd spent nearly all your free time together, you seemed to have got the right mix of when the other one needed space. He'd gone to the pub with his friends, you'd gone to classes with Katie and worked shifts at the pub, but you always ended up in each other arms to fall asleep each night. You'd also not showered by yourself, preferring to jump in with each other, sometimes you just chatted other times you cried out his name as he made you reach your high.

The night he'd gone to the pub you'd given him your spare key so he could let himself in if he was late back. He hadn't given it back but had added it to his key chain with a smile.

He left for Ibiza with the lads on the Friday morning. You and Katie weren't leaving till the Monday morning. A weekend to yourself was going to be strange. You had washing to catch up on ready for your trip to Portugal. You'd booked a golf and spa resort for you both. Bit of relaxing, spa treatments and golf for you.

"Hey bitch! Chinese and wine tonight?!" You'd messaged Katie.

"Sure thing wench! Be over at 6:30, I'll bring the food." She'd replied.

She arrived at 6:30 with a bag of Chinese. You'd already got out plates and wine glasses ready, so poured her a glass as she unpacked the food.

"Willie text to say he'd arrived ok." She said.

"Yeah Niall did the same." You replied.

"So are you two living together now? Willie said he's not slept at home for like two weeks."

"No not living together.........just ....... I'm not sure to be honest! It's nice to be together all the time while we can. Before we know it he will be away for 2 months touring America." You said sadly.

"Are you planning on going with him?"

"Yeah, for some of it." You replied as you sat down at the table.

"Right, here's to a great week!" Said katie as you clinked your glasses together. "Can't wait!"

"Me neither! Desperate to chill out in the sun."

"Have you got any idea where Niall's taking you the week after?" She asked as she put some of the rice on her plate.

"Literally no clue, could be anywhere! I know I need summer clothes, I suspect it's somewhere off my bucket list as he's trying to help me complete it."

"Get your list out and let me see." She asked.

You got out your notebook and opened it. "See you've ticked some things off you dirty bitch!" She said laughing.

You'd ticked the one about dirty hard sex against a wall and the hot soapy sex in the shower. You and Niall had done those now on more than one occasion.

"Ha! Yep I have." You laughed back.

"Ok, so process of elimination leaves with me with Bali, The Maldives, Santorini in Greece or Italian Rivera. I'm thinking Greece or Italy. The others are too far away for just a week I think."

"I'm happy with either, will be nice to go away together for the first time."

"You worried about the press?" She asked.

"A little, they haven't really hassled me as no one knows who I am. He's not said my name interviews and we've not had any contact via social media for anyone to pick up on. A few photos have appeared in the news but my face isn't clear."

"I'm sure it will be fine hun." Katie said reassuringly." So its getting pretty serious with him then?"

"I suppose, it's weird we are both trying hard to not be too serious with each other but are failing miserably."

"What do you mean?"

"We've been honest about how we feel about each other but also that we are both independent and both scared about being in a relationship and yet here we are."

"Has he told you he loves you?" She asked talking a sip from her wine.

"Yeah, he first said it when we were face timing when he was in Australia. We say it all the time when we are alone."

"That's quite serious after only 6 weeks then?"

"I suppose, I should be freaking out but I'm not."

"You two are so sweet and perfect for each other, enjoy it!"

"Oh I'm enjoying it!" You said smirking as you sipped your wine.

"Ha! You dirty bitch!" She replied laughing. "Must run in the family as Willie is fucking amazing in bed!"

"Oh my god!" You said snorting. "I nearly made that wine come out my nose!"

The conversation carried on pretty much the same all night. You two were as bad as each other!

Before you knew it, Monday morning had arrived and you were on a plane to Portugal. The resort was gorgeous and you had both quickly changed into your bikinis heading out to your terrace where you had a private plunge pool.

You and Niall had spoken during the weekend at least twice a day, he was having a great time. You'd seen some pictures online that some of the lads had taken. It was on your bucket list to go clubbing in Ibiza. You definitely needed to go with him next year.

You and Katie spent your week lying by the pool and getting spa treatments. You had even hit the driving range with Katie sitting nearby trying to figure out why you liked it so much. "You liked golf before you met Niall right?!"

"Yeah, I use to play with my dad a bit, he used to mainly let me ride the golf cart! I play maybe once a week with my Pops now."

"Don't tell Niall or Willie this but its not actually as boring as I thought. There are even two cute guys checking us out over there."

"Ha! They can keep looking all they like!" You said laughing. "But they can stay where they are!"

"Come on lets go get a cocktail." Katie said after you'd hit your last ball.

"Great plan!"

You'd only booked 5 days here as you were going away Saturday evening with Niall and those 5 days went quick. You and Katie had been friends for a while now but had never been away together. You had such a laugh with her, the time away had been fun. Her and Willie, Niall's cousin had been together for almost 2 years now. They were great together and she had spoken that she was hoping he might move in with her soon. She was the same age as you and Willie was 32 so she was thinking about settling down. You'd chatted about it over dinner on the last evening there.

"I suppose its naturally the next step in your relationship." You'd said.

"I know I'm freaking out a bit though. I'm not sure we are on the exact same page. Think he's happy as we are whereas I'm thinking about the next step."

"Maybe when you get back you should sit down and talk about stuff?"

"Yeah maybe, just worried he will freak out when he realises I'm wanting things to move towards marriage and stuff." She said.

"Can you see yourself married to him with kids?"

"Yeah I can, what about you and Niall?"

"Well we've only been together 7 weeks so I think that's a long way off!" You replied laughing. "He's 6 years younger than me so I do think it may get to the point in the future where I'm ready to settle down and he's not. Will have to deal with that if it happens."

"Well it's on your bucket list isn't it to get married and he did say he wanted to do everything on it with you didn't he?"

"Yeah he did, but I'm not reading into that too much."

Your flight home was on time and you got into your apartment just before 8pm. Niall had been due to land about now but he was delayed an hour. You were exhausted from travelling so you left your suitcase still packed on the bedroom floor, took a quick shower and got into bed to wait for him turning on the tv as you slunk down under the covers.

The next thing you remember is waking up, your arms snuggled into Niall's chest and him gently kissing you on top of your head.

"Morning baby" he whispered.

Chapter Sixteen

https://niall-is-my-dream.tumblr.com/post/168508297333/the-bucket-list-chapter-sixteen

#niall horan #niall smut #the bucket list #one direction #chapter fifteen #niall imagine #niall fan fic

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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How to Keep Your Kitchen Safe for Cooking During the Pandemic

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aka: Do I really have to wash my groceries?

COVID-19 has made every trip to the grocery store or takeout order a test of infectious-disease expertise. Even after people get food into their home, where social distancing is no longer a concern, more challenges await. Everyday actions in the kitchen — stocking the pantry, washing produce, preparing meals — all involve opportunities to transmit the novel coronavirus.

The virus’s primary mode of transmission is person to person. The CDC, FDA, and USDA have all said they have seen no evidence of foodborne transmission. But to avoid bringing the novel coronavirus home from the store or sickening a family member or roommate, home cooks can break the chain of transmission by following simple kitchen-safety practices.

Health authorities have stuck by the “4 Steps of Food Safety” for decades: Clean (wash your hands, utensils, and surfaces often); separate (separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from other groceries); cook (to safe temperatures); and chill (refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours). Those rules still hold up during the COVID-19 pandemic, just with a few added steps and specifications.

Note: All interviews for this article were conducted on April 2 and 3. Check the FDA and CDC for the latest safety recommendations.

Washing Your Hands Often

Preparing a clean kitchen begins the moment you arrive home from a trip to the store or receive a delivery of groceries. Bring the bags in, then immediately wash your hands. If you don’t regularly use hand sanitizer in your car after visiting the store, you may even want to go inside to wash your hands before returning to your car to unload grocery bags.

“Unless you’ve inhaled coronavirus and you’re bringing it into your house that way, probably the next most likely way that you’re bringing coronavirus into your house is on your hands from something you’ve touched,” says Don Schaffner, a professor of food microbiology at Rutgers University.

This is one of many moments when Schaffner recommends washing your hands (so he also suggests picking up a nice hand lotion). “A good rule of thumb is [wash your hands] every time you change tasks or you transition between areas,” he says. “So coming into your house, that’s a transition. Putting away groceries, that’s a transition.”

Follow CDC instructions on handwashing, and be sure to wash when you enter the house; after handling any potentially contaminated items; before, during, and after preparing food; before eating; and when you clean the kitchen.

Unpacking and Storing

Dismantling groceries can feel like a high-pressure situation, but the basic steps are fairly straightforward. If you can, place grocery bags on the floor rather than the counter. Put away groceries as you normally would, starting with refrigerated items. End by washing your hands and sanitizing the entire area, especially countertops that you used in the process.

Dana Hunnes, adjunct assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, suggests a more stringent regiment. She works with transplant patients, following the USDA’s strictest measures on food safety meant to safeguard people with compromised immune systems.

Hunnes suggests washing reusable cloth bags in the laundry in hot water after unpacking. Disposable bags, she says, should be thrown away or wiped down with alcohol wipes. “These bags are not safe to ignore as the virus can likely survive on them for several days,” she adds. While not all experts thought it was entirely necessary to concentrate on shopping bags, none specifically objected to the practice, so go ahead and clean them if you are concerned.

Hunnes also cites evidence that the novel coronavirus can survive on cardboard for 24 hours and on plastic for 72 hours, so it’s conceivable that a sick shopper or worker at the grocery store could leave the virus on a food package that you could then bring home. She says everyone should sanitize the outside of all food packaging before storing it.

But professor Benjamin Chapman, food safety specialist at North Carolina State University, takes issue with that recommendation. “I think it’s silly for a variety of reasons,” he says. “We don’t have any indication that food packaging is a risk factor for getting COVID-19. It’s not to say someone couldn’t deposit the virus onto my food packaging. That’s certainly possible. It’s just very, very unlikely.”

Rather than sanitize packaging, Chapman instead suggests simply washing your hands after handling packages and before eating. “The virus itself is not going to move. It can’t jump between packages. The way it moves is my hands,” he explains. Chapman worries about the supply of sanitizer and argues people should reserve it for situations where it is entirely vital, like if a symptomatic family member needs to be isolated in the house.

Hunnes also points to a process popularized by family physician Jeffrey VanWingen, whose sterilization tutorial has racked up 25 million views on YouTube. Hunnes and VanWingen suggest creating two zones in the kitchen — a dirty area for collecting groceries, and a sanitized area where you can place items as you clean them individually — then sanitize the dirty area at the end.

Martin Wiedmann, a professor in food safety at Cornell University, worries that people may break common rules of food safety while trying to follow the two-step sanitization process. “Not only is it overkill, it’s likely to have negative effects,” he says. Wiedmann is concerned people will forget to wash their hands between each task, potentially cross-contaminating between items like raw meat and produce. The process may also delay them from refrigerating items, breaking the cold chain, or people may accidentally get sanitizer in their food.

VanWingen also helped popularize the idea of leaving nonperishable foods outside or in a garage for three days in order to kill off the virus before bringing items into the kitchen. Chapman believes this is an unnecessary risk too. “If I’m leaving that food there, I could expose it to pests,” he says. “My garage or doorstep is not built for food storage. All of these other things could happen now because of something that is not identified as a risk factor.”

Cleaning Up

You should routinely scrub down kitchen surfaces like counters, the refrigerator, and the sink after putting away groceries, before and after cooking, and at the end of the day. Be sure to use fresh cutting boards, clean dishes in a dishwasher if you can, and give your dining table a once-over before sitting down to a meal.

The CDC suggests a two-step process: cleaning to remove germs and dirt, then disinfecting to kill remaining germs. Hunnes says when you scrub with soap, “The surfactants in soaps break through the lipid layer of the virus,” and she recommends following that with alcohol wipes that are at least 60 percent alcohol. The EPA also provides a list of disinfectants that meet the agency’s standards for use against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Be sure to follow instructions on cleaning products and don’t experiment with multiple products. “The whole idea of two sanitizers are better than one? Not true,” Wiedmann says. “If you mix two chemicals that are not meant to be together, bad things happen. You can produce gases. You can get burns on your skin. There are dangers with these things.”

Washing Produce

Loose produce might be handled by countless people in the grocery store before you get it home, so it’s important to wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly — just as it always has been. Barbara Kowalcyk, assistant professor of food safety and public health at the Ohio State University, explains that water creates friction to remove bacteria from the surface. After washing items in running water, she suggests drying them with a paper towel to increase that friction even more. But she’s cautious about dishcloths, sponges, and vegetable scrubbers on produce, which can cross-contaminate between items if you’re not careful. Kowalcyk recommends swapping out dishcloths and sponges every two hours (if you can’t remember how long it’s been, err on the side of caution by replacing it), and switching vegetable scrubbers between tasks.

Most experts agree you shouldn’t wash produce in soapy water. While soap is excellent at breaking down the virus’s defenses, it is not designed for use on food. Schaffner explains, “The USDA and FDA don’t recommend soap. If you ingest soap it could cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.” (VanWingen, who originally helped spread the use of soap through his PSA, has since corrected that recommendation, advising people not to use soap on produce.) Cleaning products could cause even more damage if ingested.

Also, avoid washing items ahead of time and putting them back in the fridge. “Any time you add water to the situation that can contribute to pathogen growth,” Kowalcyk says. “It’s recommended that you not wash fruits and vegetables until you’re ready to consume them.”

Preparing a Meal

When preparing food, be sure to follow standard FDA guidelines to the letter. Schaffner argues regular food safety — like proper cooking temperatures or sanitation while handling raw meat — is even more important during a pandemic, since a trip to the hospital because of E. coli or salmonella could expose you to COVID-19 too.

It may be tempting to suit up with disposable gloves or a mask before cooking, but that may do more damage than good. “I would not suggest wearing disposable gloves if food has been properly sanitized,” Hunnes says. “Health care workers need all the gloves and PPE they can get, and using disposable gloves for this purpose is unnecessary.” She has personally noticed people make more mistakes when wearing gloves than if they had used their bare hands and washed frequently.

As long as you follow handwashing and sanitizing routines, food itself is not a threat. “There are some properties of the organism that make it very, very unlikely to impossible that it’s transmitted by food,” Wiedmann says. The novel coronavirus is an “enveloped” virus, meaning it’s surrounded by a lipid-fat layer, which is easily broken down by stomach acid and bile salts during digestion. “All of the viruses we know that are foodborne illnesses are non-enveloped,” Wiedmann adds. “They have a protein layer that is a lot hardier so they’re much more protected through those [digestive] environments.”

Getting Your Household on the Same Page

No matter how you choose to keep your kitchen clean, make sure your family is on the same page. For example, Chapman explains that handwashing in place of sterilizing food packages only works if everyone in the house knows to wash their hands after handling items.

Hunnes argues that elderly or immunocompromised family members, for example, should be especially cautious around the kitchen. She suggests keeping these people away while unpacking groceries or cooking, and delivering food to them in sanitized containers. If vulnerable adults want to use the kitchen themselves, she adds, “They should only cook in a sanitized environment with items that have already been pre-cleaned.”

Chapman says that people living with compromised immune systems likely already have advice from their doctors about food safety, which should help protect them from the novel coronavirus too.

If you’re cooking for a symptomatic family member or roommate self-isolating in the house, exert extreme caution. “If the person is mobile, it is recommended to leave the food outside their door and walk away,” Hunnes says. “Then you should sanitize everything in the dishwasher after they are done eating and wash your hands.” If the person isn’t mobile, Hunnes says they should wear a mask as you enter the room to deliver food.

Given that the novel coronavirus isn’t foodborne and risk can be managed by constant handwashing and disinfecting, the best way to ensure you cook safely for yourself and your family may be to stop stressing so much about every little thing. “If you try to pay attention to too many things, we don’t pay attention to the essential things,” Wiedmann says. “The basics — social distancing, wash your hands, minimize how often you touch your face — that’s the important stuff.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2RDjjRx https://ift.tt/2Vu8v9n

Shutterstock

aka: Do I really have to wash my groceries?

Note: All interviews for this article were conducted on April 2 and 3. Check the FDA and CDC for the latest safety recommendations.

Washing Your Hands Often

Unpacking and Storing

Cleaning Up

Washing Produce

Preparing a Meal

As long as you follow handwashing and sanitizing routines, food itself is not a threat. “There are some properties of the organism that make it very, very unlikely to impossible that it’s transmitted by food,” Wiedmann says. The novel coronavirus is an “enveloped” virus, meaning it’s surrounded by a lipid-fat layer, which is easily broken down by stomach acid and bile salts during digestion. “All of the viruses we know that are foodborne illnesses are non-enveloped,” Wiedmann adds. ��They have a protein layer that is a lot hardier so they’re much more protected through those [digestive] environments.”

Getting Your Household on the Same Page

Chapman says that people living with compromised immune systems likely already have advice from their doctors about food safety, which should help protect them from the novel coronavirus too.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2RDjjRx via Blogger https://ift.tt/2VaFPDr

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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nivalvixen · 8 years ago

Text

Framed, pt 4

Also on AO3

"Mr. Stilinski, a word before you start your day," Rafe said, practically standing in front of Stiles so he couldn't go inside the room. "Won't be a minute, Sean," he added to Stiles' instructor over his shoulder.

Sean nodded, though Stiles wondered if he looked a little too pleased that he was going to be delayed. He held the strap of his messenger bag a little tighter as he followed Agent McBastard down the corridor to the empty lunch room.

"I passed on your message; Scott says hi. Can I go?"

"Look, we both know that Derek didn't murder all of those people."

Rafe's words stopped Stiles short and he looked at him, suspicious, but not stupid enough to answer and incriminate himself.

"I looked for Miguel Juarez Cinqua Tiago when I got back to San Francisco, Stiles. As you probably know, I didn't find a thing about him. What I did find were pictures of Derek Hale. Don't look surprised; the FBI have access to more databases than you will ever know about. I found pictures of Hale soon after the fire that killed his family, and guess who he bore a striking resemblance to?"

Stiles gulped. "Uh... My cousin?"

Rafe's expression turned stern. "Don't play games with me, Stilinski. I will win."

"What's the prize? Hell, what's the damn game?" Stiles snapped.

Stiles was so angry that he didn't even notice that his messenger bag strap was melting in his his hand. The thought of Derek being used as a pawn in Agent Dickbag's shitty little game was enough to make him feel sick and so very angry.

Derek was more than a pawn, more than a king, more than anything to be used like this, and Agent Wanker had no idea what he was doing by putting Derek's life in harm's way.

"You've put a man's life in jeopardy again because you can't grow a pair and talk to your own son, is that it?! Either talk to Scott or don't, but stop fucking around like this! And stop hurting Derek!" Stiles said, his voice loud.

"Stiles, calm down. I'm not - " Rafe started to say, but Stiles put a hand up to stop him from coming any closer, and the agent was thrown clear across the lunchroom, crashing into a table and several chairs.

Stiles' eyes went wide. "Holy shit." He looked from Rafe to his hand, then to his ruined messenger bag. He regretted the bag more than hurting Rafe, honestly.

Rafe groaned a little and stood up slowly. Stiles couldn't bring himself to move, but stayed at the other side of the room; he was still pretty pissed off, and even if knocking Rafe unconscious would make him feel better, it would probably mean an abrupt end to Stiles' time at the Academy.

Stiles wondered what Rafe was going to do; there was no way he could explain this rationally or lie or bluff his way out of it. He hadn't even touched Rafe, yet he'd gone flying.

Shit, shit, shit. He might as well go home now.

Rafe stood and straightened out his clothes, brushing himself off. He wiped at a spot of blood that had appeared at the side of his mouth, accidentally having bitten his lip when he landed. "Get to class, Stiles."

"W-what?" Stiles asked, surprised.

"Go to class. I want to talk to you at the end of the day, about that, and... Beacon Hills."

Stiles stood taller at his words and glared.

Agent McJerkface had spent one month in Beacon Hills and suddenly, two years later, he's decided that he wants more information?! Stiles was beginning to doubt he'd ever got into the FBI on his own merit, only because Agent McShit was too scared to do a damn thing for himself. It was a thought he didn't want to dwell on for too long, and he had to remind himself that he was in the FBI, he belonged here now.

"Why don't you look for that in those databases you mentioned?" Stiles sneered, leaving to go to his class.

Along the way, he held the two broken straps of his bag and believed that they would mend. It ended up being crooked as his emotions were still a little over the place, but it was better than nothing.

Rafe sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Nice one, Rafe," he muttered to himself. He looked up to the camera in the corner of the lunch room and headed to security. At least he could deal with that in a professional manner.

...

"What are you focusing on, Stilinski? You've barely said a word in an hour; didn't think you could be so quiet."

Stiles looked up at the other recruit, blinking at the sudden adjustment from black text and white paper to bright fluorescent lights and white washed walls. "Uh. Sorry?" he said, realising that it was the woman he'd accidentally spat on on his first day.

She didn't seem offended that he obviously didn't remember her name. "Tomika Jones. If you shorten my name to Tom, I will kick your ass during every sparring session we've got."

Stiles grinned and tried not to laugh too obviously. "Not a problem, Jones. Do I dare ask if you have a cat?"

Tomika rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up. And hurry up, dammit, it's time for lunch. Think Agent McCall will be there again?"

Stiles shrugged. "Probably, he's gotta eat too."

Tomika adjusted her bag and frowned at him slightly. "You don't like him, do you?"

"You can tell?"

"You've got a tell on the side of your mouth. It's small, but obvious if you look hard enough."

"You've been looking at me?"

Tomika rolled her eyes. "You're my competition, of course I am. But don't flatter yourself, you're not my type."

"Who is your type?" Stiles asked, hoping to keep distracting Tomika from the fact that he hadn't answered her initial question.

"Well, do you have a sister?"

"No... Oh, got it. I have friends who have sisters. And some girl friends too, though... I think you with either of them might just be terrifying."

She grinned at him in response. "Now that's my type."

Stiles resolved to never let Tomika meet Cora or Lydia.

Agent McShitstain wasn't at lunch, much to the disappointment of the rest of Stiles' peers. Tomika didn't seem to mind as much as the others, drawing people into conversations instead. As Stiles listened and watched, he noticed that it wasn't just polite small talk; Tomika was gathering information from each person.

The questions were small things like how they liked the weather, what their favourite food was, how long their commute to Quantico took, but it gave surprisingly clear pictures of each of their peers and where they came from. More importantly, Stiles noted that Tomika never seemed to answer the questions herself.

Stiles wondered how much information she'd gathered from him so far, and just what she planned on doing with it.

...

It had been three days and Derek had only had small texts from Stiles with updates on what he was doing at the FBI and how his research was going, but very little about Derek's case with the supposed mass murders he'd comitted. Eventually, after unsuccessfully attempting to distract himself with a hot cup of tea and a book, Derek gave in and rang Stiles' number.

"'Lo?"

Derek looked at the time and winced. He'd forgotten about the time difference and while it was a Saturday, Derek still felt bad for waking Stiles up. "Sorry, Stiles. I'll call back later."

"Der'k? No, wait. 'S'good. Just... shit, one sec," Stiles groaned, sitting up with his body sore and aching and probably bruised from top to toe.

Tomika hadn't been kidding about kicking his ass during sparring (he'd called her Tom once by accident, honest!), and Stiles regretted not taking Coach up on extra training sessions for lacrosse over the summer. He was fast and while Stiles could dodge a fist (or a kanima's tail, or a Nogitsune's long fingers reaching out to him), Tomika was just as fast, and she had no qualms about using her full strength to hit him.

"Are you all right?" Derek asked, worried.

"Got my ass handed to me yesterday during sparring. I'm fine otherwise. Well, my pride and ego are hurt as well," Stiles admitted, standing up slowly and testing his limbs gingerly.

The spell and poultice he'd used to help reduce the pain and bruising had worked better than he expected, but they hadn't removed everything, just sped the process up somewhat. He was glad he wasn't blemish-free because that would be difficult to explain to every single person that had seen him get his ass beaten. (There were a lot; it seemed that watching the new recruits beat each other was something of a hobby for the other FBI agents.)

"You're only human."

"Yeah, well, so are they. I think. Tomika and Patrick might not be," he mused, frowning. "I meant to call you about the case yesterday, sorry, Der."

"That's all right," Derek said, more genuine than he expected. He sat down and sighed before asking, "Have you found anything of use, or should I start heading for the border?"

Stiles snorted. "Great, you wait until I leave to get a sense of humour."

Derek looked down at his feet and smiled.

"I haven't found out who's framing you, but I've excluded a few people. Argent's still pretty high on the list," Stiles said, looking to the string and notes he had tacked to one wall.

"Which one?"

"Both Gerard and Kate; they're tied for first in the world's shittiest competition, but, hey, what're you gonna do?" he said, trying for light-hearted and probably not coming across that way in the slightest. Stiles flexed his limbs, hoping to ease his muscles. "I'd frame an innocent person for your hands right now."

"What?"

"Y'know, your magic hands, with the healing thing you do."

"Oh. Right."

It took Stiles a second to realise exactly what he'd said and he wanted to smack himself on the head. "Uh. So... how's things in BH? That hellhound plan working out?"

"Scott and Lydia are dealing with it and the last I heard, Parrish was willing to use himself as bait or mediator, possibly both."

"Ah, good idea. So what've you been up to?"

Derek looked around the loft to the stack of books he'd read, the spotless kitchen he'd cleaned three times in the last two days, the duffel bag still unpacked by the front door. "Not a lot, honestly. I thought I'd be missed, I guess?" he said, scrunching his eyes shut at the admission.

"You were," Stiles replied, his voice soft but certain.

Derek opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to determine if Stiles had meant for him to hear that. "I missed you too, Stiles."

Stiles smiled. "Glad to hear it, sourwolf."

...

End of the fourth chapter.

Next parts: five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

#sterek #NV fanfic #fbi stiles #leave derek hale alone

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kierongillen · 8 years ago

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Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 28

Spoilers, obv.

I mentioned in the back of the issue that I was thinking that Imperial Phase Part I would just end with no climax. As in, what would be more proggy and self-indulgent than to do that? Just to assume that people would accept a whole year of issues as a single trade, and have that slow build. And if people are expecting a surprise, not having a surprise would be the bigger one?

Except I plotted out the fucker, and realised this issue would end the trade, and that works pretty well as a climax. Not as big as any of the other ones, arguably, but wider and certainly a change of status quo. Plus it's an unexpected answer to the question of “Who's going to die?” undermining the assumption that it has to be one of our core cast.

This is probably a good example of how I talk about knowing everything in WicDiv, but the execution being more flexible. As in, all these beats are there, but working out how to play them came when planning these two arcs.

It's a hard issue for me, to be honest. WicDiv is definitely in a cause of anxiety place for me now, and thematically I can see why. WicDiv is always a juggling act, but I'm aware I'm juggling knives.

Jamie's Cover: The last of the first half of Imperial Phase. The design continues to the second half of Imperial Phase, with variations. I think this one is particularly beautiful, but pointed.

Elsa Charretier's Cover: We met Elsa when we were launching WicDiv in France. Glenat, our French Publisher, had commissioned her to do a WicDiv print. That was beautiful, and we asked her if she'd be up for a cover. And lo, this was born. The commission was glamour and sex – I think I suggested the idea of a sun in a martini glass. Elsa summoned this panorama that I just lose myself in.

It's also one of our rare Alt covers which is actually coloured by Matt Wilson, who took a pretty radical approach to the image. Matt Wilson for Eisner!

Page 1 Last time I talked about having a surplus of material and working out how to present it, and it actually all compressing down worryingly well. I had my list of things I wanted to happen before the party. I realised that some of them – mainly Sakhmet related – I could move into issue 29. Which left this, which I felt as an incredibly low-key mundane scene made a fun thing to hard cut from to the party.

Roehampton chosen due to me doing a seminar at the University there last year. I felt that Blake would be teaching in a place like it.

Jamie had a hefty re-write of this one when drawing it, and we chewed over the execution in chat a little. “The script is the start of a conversation, not the end of it.”

Wall stuff was also done in conversation. I gave Jamie a bunch of suggestions and we unpacked a little more. Shall I go though and say what they all are? I'm not sure if I can recognise them in fragments. That's Girl's Generation, the K-Pop band on the left. They were the primary visual inspiration for the Valkyries. Oh – and Jamie tells me that's Katy Perry on the right.

Page 2 I am very fond of the side-eye of Blake in the second panel. Strong Jamie expression.

Behind Blake is... League of Legends, Ghost in the Machine and Voltron.

And another really strong face in the last panel.

Page 3 Oddly, Cassandra's habit of little encouraging asides to people seems to be a thing now. How will people read them in world? Actually sincerely or patronising? I guess it depends how defensive they were feeling on any given day.

Page 4 A call back to Larkin's This Be The Verse, quoted by Luci in the first issue, recalled by Laura in issue 6.

My first draft title was Pride, drawing a line between Blake's parental pride and Sakmet's pride of lions. And then we remembered it'll also call to mind Pride, which when there's a slaughter at a pansexual orgy, is definitely not a comparison we wanted to make. So we went to this.

I suspect these writer notes are mainly my “here are some of the landmines we nearly stepped on” log.

Page 5 Originally the line was a lift of Lady Vox's in Phonogram, but something more noxious was clearly better. I called for the cocaine-tool, and Jamie out-did himself. The mosquito-like device emerging from the helmet is quite the thing. I suspect this is a left over Iron Man idea.

The visual element of the performance of the colouring-stage added symbols came from Matt. He was playing with various overlapping shapes, which were beautiful, but didn't seem to be anything other than a cute aesthetic. And then we realised that if we made them all Amaterasu symbols it'll integrate into the whole book. And lo, it does.

When plotting this issue, it's very much a “okay, what order CAN they be in.” I suspect I'd have rather taken more time to get to the confrontation, but everything else is more important to be in its place. Space is the interesting one – I suspect given an infinite budget we'd have have played more space to introduce this party/temple, probably with a issue-8 style dance-floor shot. But we don't, so we go completely the other way with this very TIGHT open, and put you in the middle of this slightly disorientating party you build up piecemeal.

Page 6 This involved some consultancy here, as I suspected (and I was right) that the original draft of Cassandra's dialogue let Woden off the hook too easily. We ended up tweaking a bunch to make her angrier to start, and still angry at the end, even after she takes Woden's point. I suspect I'd have gone even further given a chance to do it again.

(I mean, do you believe Woden that he didn't click? Plus that he knows the implicit threat by saying he didn't click – as in, he definitely could click if he wanted to. This is particularly noxious by Woden.)

End of the page is the closest we get to an establishing shot of the club/temple, btw.

Note that Jamie has moved away from a strict eight panel grid here, which suits the material. That panels two and five are these relatively smaller moments means that it would be dead space.

Page 7 And notice the strict eight panel grid here, which Jamie maintains as all these beats are basically of equal narrative weight.

Panel 7 is Jamie redrawing the splash from Brandon Graham's issue. Clearly relevant to what's coming further down the line.

In an issue of fairly bleak jokes, I think Woden's last panel takes the prize.

Page 8 The sequence is the last bit of set-up for the end of the issue. I suspect a re-read of the last couple of issues will see what I considered the necessary Sakhmet beats to get here. Next issue has more, but it's all very morning-after.

Special call out for Clayton for the second panel, which uses a PING! To basically split this panel into two panels in terms of reading. There's Amaterasu's first line... a small delay – and then the next piece of information. This is joined to the left-right movement across the panel from seeing the back of her head (I'm leaving!) to the right side of the panel (Where we then see she's looking at her phone.)

The softest beat of the issue, and probably one that I'd have stressed more if it was only a grace note, would be the reason for Baal's absence. Persephone assumes it's because that she is there, hence the segue in conversation on hurting people.

(In a boring practical way, Baal and Minerva not being here streamlines an issue which all the cast are present at. They don't need to be here, and their absence says more.)

The last three panels on the page are the closest that Sakhmet has come to a speech. Originally, there was about twice as much dialogue, but we worked it over obsessively to get to the core essentials (and try and avoid juxtapositions which we simply didn't want.) C and I shouting various takes and word-switches for about an hour in the living room.

All the WicDiv characters depress me. I think Sakhmet depresses me most of all.

Page 9 Anyway, yes, Sakhmet, that is a very good look.

Sakhmet's entry for the bleak joke competition, evidently.

Page 10 That we cut away from Casssandra means we get to cut back to her after the reasonable stage of an exchange and straight into this.

Hmm. There's something odd about this issue in terms of how pretty it all is, versus the emotions that are flying around. That's Amaterasu all over though.

The third panel was key for us to have Amaterasu's lines juxtaposed by Cassandra's response, so that it couldn't be taken out of context. A character responding to another character's incoherent racism is important context. I considered the archaic spelling “Moslem” but decided that while I'm sure that Amaterasu would use it, it wasn't worth putting in the text. It's offensive enough anyway.

Page 11 Some fascinating character work by Matt and Jamie on Amaterasu's speech to camera. The passive-aggressive nature of her threat is particularly sickly.

Cass' swearing is a delight.

I think I originally did something like “Clawing her eyes out” and tweaked as I) gendered ii) with where the issue goes, sets up all sorts of uncomfortable resonances with both Morrigan and Sakhmet. WicDiv is designed to be viewed as a hologram, so removing data strands that aren't intended is key.

(I mean, I talk about being anxious earlier? That's certainly a reason. There's so many moving parts in this fucker, and for all our efforts we can’t be sure that some of them are going to mesh awkwardly. We can always miss something.)

Anyway – there goes Cass, told to go home, the first of the people to leave the party. Everyone else gradually leaves, until it's just the people who remain. Woden doesn't get an exit, but let's be candid – no-one would have ever assumed Woden would be invited to the orgy.

And Dio takes over as the connective tissue. Hmm. Re-reading this after a few weeks is making me realise how tightly wound it really is. I had a friend write to tell me how many panels the last two issues had. 26 with 127 and 27 with 142. I did a quick count, and this one is (about) 119, so a little down, but when an average mainstream comic would have around 80 panels in (No more than a 5 panel beat, with average panel count lower than due to splashes, action pages, etc) it speaks to how compressed this is running on. No wonder I feel like it's going to explode.

Anyway, Dio. What have you seen?

Page 12 The main worry on this page was not making the storytelling too comic. The “someone leaves” And then “Someone unexpected follows pushing first person out of the way” can definitely come across as slapstick. Jamie doesn't do that, so phew. It's setting up for the destination.

The hyper-distorted close-up-to-reader Amaterasu symbols here are fascinating. Well done, Matt.

Page 13 And out in the street. Matt's glow from the door, into the cold blues of the street is strong. Immediate change of mood.

(Also, has me thinking of the break to darkness in issue 8 before going back to the party, as a structural parallel)

I don't actually use much contemporary slang in WicDiv. I suspect this isn't actually something people have noticed. As such, I had a good hard think before using Ghosting, but it's the right word and sentiment. And – well – Ghosting and Goths is an interesting line.

The goth kids absence from the comic have been notable. As they'd been major players earlier, they were always going to step back so other characters can move closer to the spotlight. I realised pretty early in planning Imperial Phase that the necessary retreat from the spotlight would be a way to explicitly introduce the plot. We could delineate their absence.

Page 14 Yeah, I'm uncomfortable too.

I don't think it's worth talking about this in any more detail now. Probably more later as we continue into the story.

Dionysus is the character who has most often surprised me in WicDiv. When he enters a scene, he goes in an unusual direction. He asks slightly different questions from most of the cast. “She chased him out the building and now he looks like this? Clearly...” seems a fair leap to make.

Page 15 “I love you, but...” is one of the more obvious bits of connective tissue in the issue.

Jamie does an interesting choice in terms of panel 4 and Persephone's response.

Another bit of peak Amaterasu here in the “What happened to my party?” response. Upset of her party not going according to her plans is, of course, how the arc starts for Amy as well.

Matt obviously gets the colouring interesting – all amber here – but Jamie is doing a lot to bridge the gap between two sub-scenes. That fifth panel re-sets it all, and hopefully Amaterasu's voice carries people back inside.

Page 16 The first panel landed very well. There's a lot of emotional weight that this has to carry, and suggesting of other things, and it seems to hold together. I suspect you can patch together all the Persephone Lines To Camera in WicDiv and get an interesting portrait of where she thinks she is.

(I mean, this is Jamie. It's never just about the line. I can't even imagine trying to write this stuff for another artist.)

My favourite person in all of WicDiv may be the guy in the hat in the bottom panel who goes “You know – actually, no, I don't think so. I think I'll have an early night” when presented with this offer. Good call, random person.

Interesting choice of panel breaking by Jamie on the last panel, which gets a sense of the rush of the response.

Page 17 Well, yes.

Page 18 When someone asked me about sex scenes a while back, this was already written and perhaps even being drawn, so I was aware of this in terms of a hypothetical WicDiv scene scene. Let's quote the thing here for reference...

We certainly don’t linger on the sex scenes. There’s an orgy in issue 11. There’s one beat where you see Morrigan and Baphomet in issue 16. There’s the repurposed Sex Criminal pages in 14. There’s very little kissing in terms of what you actually see - there’s one in 20 and one in 24, so far. While at the same time, characters having sex with one another is one of the things which drives the plot.

Speaking generally, I’ve got no moral reservation about sex scenes in stories per se. It always speaks to the effect the story is trying to have. To state the obvious, in erotica it’s very much the point of the thing.

There’s a couple of problems specifically in WicDiv…

1) Seeings someone have sex has a tendency to make the scene about you watching. Our characters are often, in their own way, viewpoint characters. Anything which makes a character perform for the viewer is against our intent there. There’s times we’ve approached it, and Jamie has very much backed away when we approached the page, as it was just extraneous. Why do it if it serves no purpose? 2) Probably more importantly, sex is usually dead pages in terms of drama. The fight scenes WicDiv does are almost always not about fighting. They’re about a change of dramatic states, a visually interesting way to push the plot along. Go through a fight scene and note down what you learn about each character in it. You can certainly do that in a sex scene… but dramatically speaking, the “decision to have sex” and “how you feel afterwards” are the key beats. So we linger on them a LOT.

But there’s certainly sex scenes I’ve written in my notes, and they’re much more character driven things, one way or another. I suspect one will come up sooner rather than later, though watching how we do it will be the interesting one.

That “interesting” sits uncomfortably with me, as it sounds like I'm foreshadowing this awful mess, when I'm talking in terms of craft. How do you do that and stay to our aims? The things I'd point to here is primarily Jamie's choices – how he chooses to frame nakedness, how he chooses to frame sex. Generally speaking, this is an illustrative scene. The neutrality is key – Amaterasu's nakedness in panel 6 would be a key one. There is no pose for the readers' eye's delight. This is a character who happens to be naked. Or at least, that's how we hope it's read.

(There's also other things – we thought that if Sakhmet is the first character to be shown naked just as she turns on a killing range, that has a lot of semiotics in there we'd like to avoid.)

Page 19 You know how life can just shatter in a second? I guess that's what we were going for here. Just one character being thoughtless, and...

(Fill in “That escalated quickly” gif, obviously)

For my money, perhaps Jamie's best art of the issue is the last two panels. The suspended glass, and then that close up – which is not one, but both of the best single expressions in the book.

Page 20-21 Amaterasu runs – I've seen some people think that Sakhmet killed her in this scene, which is one of those “you always must remember your audience is diverse in terms of how much they're aware of things like knowing what a character's power looks like, especially when a larger than normal percentage of your readers are new to comics.” I'm not sure there's much we could have done, except maybe a “come back!” from Sakhmet in the first panel. But that feels too crass for the people who DO get it. Balancing what is too opaque and what is too crass is basically 95% of comics for me.

This spread was budgeted as a single page, in terms of the amount Jamie has drawn. I may have done it anyway, but it is a way to ensure that we have a page turn onto the image on page 22.

(Also visual symmetry with Sakhmet in issue 17, where the black out image is also used.)

Page 22 I like how careful Jamie is here as well. I suspect the page with the most colouring tweaks in it, as Jamie wanted it to have the correct level of horror to it.

I originally had a more on-the-nose element to the image – a message scrawled in blood – but as much as I like a good System Shock homage, it was decided it was just too much. It's a Grand Guignol beat, sure, but not like that. It seems that there is a thing such as “too unsubtle” even for WicDiv.

Page 23 When originally planning the book, I thought this flashback was going to be at the end of Rising Action. After writing it, we realised we didn't need it – Persephone terrible and resplendent, with all the awful potential didn't need anything else. This is probably a good example of what I talk about in terms of when we say “we know all the material – it's just a question of execution.” I find myself thinking of how movies are really made by the editor, cutting scenes around.

(There's certainly things I've wanted to get in this arc which I've lost as something else was always more pressing. You may remember me saying one of my worries about year 3 in WicDiv was it was mainly girls being involved with girls, and there wasn't enough male/male intimacy? That would be an example of something which I'd like to find a place for, but have failed to do so far. Still, onwards.)

As a craft note, I'd point towards “6 months earlier” as a choice worth considering for creators. If you just write dates to control flashbacks rather than stating the relative position, you will lose your reader almost completely. They don't remember what period a story is set in just via numbers. They need either word based hand-holding or something much more visual in the story. Be very careful with this shit.

Page 24 In an issue as compressed as this, a page of Ananke way back in issue 21 me a luxury. But for someone like Ananke, it's so rare I hope it's interesting. Some strong expression work in here.

Clearly the advantage of that mask of hers is that it means it's harder for people to see that she's been crying.

Page 25 A “free” page in terms of budget, though Jamie clearly committed to it with the hand.

In the third year's hardback, we may include our somewhat hilarious lettering trial runs where Chrissy and Katie tried their handwriting. The final one is actually the work of Marguerite Bennett, who as a self-described Supervillain seemed a good person to ask to do it. Also, I've seen enough of her pen when signing issues of Angela, so knew she had a fascinating font. She was enormously ill and bed-ridden, so it was touch or go whether she would be able to do it, but thankfully it all came together. Thanks, M.

Page 26 A complete re-use of the opening of issue 21, with the final panel turned into a (tweaked) repeat of the penultimate panel. Once more we return and all that.

We'll be doing a little tweak to this page in the trade in the penultimate panel, to put a little glow on the machinery.

Page 27 We had to debate whether to put the present date or the flashback date here, but settled on this.

And that's it. Coming up shortly is the 455 AD special, which certainly fits thematically in with this arc and Andre (and Matt) have done wonderful work on. Then the trade in June, and back with Imperial Phase Part II in July.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #elsa charretier #the wicked and the divine #writer notes

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coordinatesofher · 8 years ago

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HERS AND HIS PACKING: WHAT TO DO & WHAT NOT TO DO

I have traveled with lots of different types of people, but, no one knows packing organization like my favorite travel companion, Nicholas Scott. He is an experienced traveler and backpacker and something of a packing prodigy. I sat down with him to share and compare our different packing methods and hopefully learn some helpful tips and tricks to improve my packing game. Take a look:

1. Plan Ahead

- Know the weather of both your final destination and your connecting flights. This way, you know what to bring for your trip. Also, you know whether or not your flight has a good chance of being canceled or delayed. In which case, bring more food!

- Know your plans for your trip. Meaning, have a good idea of what you will be doing and therefore what you will be needing to pack.

2. Start Packing Early

- Packing early helps insure that you don't forget things. It give you the time and brain space you need to pack and edit and repack if needed.

3. Use a packing list

- Use a packing list! This is super helpful for those little things that you forget about like sunscreen or q-tips. We have a started packing list that we use. you can download it here. This is a great launching pad to get started and then you can add and personalize things to the list for you!

4. Don’t over pack

- Overpacking actually creates a lot of problems on a trip. It is always a best practice to only pack what you need especially in terms of clothing. Packing light makes you more mobile with less weight to lug around. Also, you have fewer items to keep track of which means less things you are likely to misplace or lose.

5. Choose a Good Packing Method

- There are quite a few debates on what the best packing method is. Arguably, the most widely excepted best practice is rolling.

- Rolling your clothing saves space. It also allows you to rubber band clothing items to keep things more organized.

- After you roll and band, organize things into categories to go into their designated vacuum sealed bags.

6. Use Compartments Wisely

- The compartments in your bag are there for a reason so use them. It helps to fit as much as you need into the bag. The compartments are also great for smaller items or maybe even items that you won't be using often like a spare travel sewing kit or an umbrella.

7. Plastic Bag It

- This is such an important packing tip. Double and triple bag anything and everything that may explode or leak in your luggage. Don't use fabric makeup bags or anything that will allow liquids to pass through the material. You sealable plastic containers and put those into ziplocks. Heck, use two ziplocks just in case if you want. And, bring extra ziplocks with you in case something does leak.

8. Buy Sealed Travel Items

- This is a personal preference in some ways. But, a great packing tip is to just buy travel sized items where you can. The reason for this is because they almost always are already sealed. This is just an added layer of protection against leaking.

- If you do bring your own travel bottles, add a layer of cling wrap to the top of the bottle. Then, screw the bottle cap back on. And, now you have a little bit more protection.

9. Dirty Laundry

- Bring a large plastic bag or sue a built in separate compartment for your dirty laundry. This makes unpacking easier and keeps your fresh clothes separate. if you are bringing a bag for dirty clothes, then make sure it is waterproof if you are traveling to the beach or somewhere where you will have wet items.

10. Unpacking Methods

- Of course, it is always best to unpack right away when you get home. If you have chosen the roll, band, vacuum seal method, then it will take a bit of time. But, again, everything is organized into compartments making this process a bit more efficient. Don't leave dirty laundry in your bag because any smells will transfer to your luggage.

11. Carry On Bags

- Organize your carry as much as possible. Meaning, put everything in its own bag and section of items together. This makes it much easier once on the plan and looking for something in a confined space. It also cuts down on your time spent going through TSA security.

12. Choose a Good Checked Bag

- This might be the most important tool in staying well packed. Choose a bag that is versatile for all different types of travel. And choose luggage that will last, stay with you, and will keep you well organized. You want something with great compartments and extra straps and things like that for when you need it. Also, bags that are convertible can be life savers so if you are looking for something like that, I highly recommend this Osprey backpack.

------

If you would rather watch Netflix and chill versus packing, then, girl, find you someone you who will just pack for you. Pour a glass of wine or a cup of coffee if its too early for wine, sit back, and get into full on pre-vacation mode and just relax.

Happy Travels!

#TRAVEL TIPS #PACKING #HOW TO PACK

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jrcashwrites · 8 years ago

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Souvenirs

Star Wars- Poe Dameron x Armitage Hux

Words: 3,162

Warnings: Like one swear word and about five mild implications that they’re going to have sexy time later on. Nothing graphic beyond a lot of kissing nestled into tooth-rotting amounts of fluff. Rated T.

Summary: Modern AU. Poe Dameron is a commercial airline pilot, Armitage Hux is an architect. Living in New York City, Hux and Poe settle into domesticity after purchasing a loft space together. Right as things seem to be falling into place, Poe is offered a promotion at work, uprooting what little normalcy the couple has managed to establish.

Hux knew the nature of Poe’s job from the beginning of their relationship. He was hardly a needy man, perfectly capable of managing on his own while Poe was gone. As a domestic airline pilot, Poe would jump from city to city across the country in a matter of a few days before returning home. They’d communicate at night. The airline would often put Poe up in hotels or small apartments in whichever city he was in, leaving him time to talk to Hux but never enough time to fully explore where he was at. Despite the short turnover time, he always managed to bring Hux home something from the cities he overnighted in. Silly little items or regional oddities that caught his eye in tchotchke shops.

Poe unlocked the front door of their loft, glad to finally be home after a week of work and a delayed deadhead back to New York. Setting his bag down, he quickly made his way across the living space to the far corner of the apartment in which Hux had set up his home office. He found him at his drafting table, still surrounded by moving boxes he’d yet to unpack.

Spinning around in his chair at the sound of Poe’s footsteps against the hardwood flooring, Hux didn’t have time to stand before Poe leaned down and pressed his lips against his.

“Hey” Poe mumbled between their kiss.

“You’re home” Hux muttered back, the words hardly escaping his lips before Poe began another assault on them with his own.

Poe’s hand dipped into the pocket of his uniform jacket, blindly searching as he continued to kiss Hux. It never failed whether Poe was gone for a day, a week or a month, the minute he got home, the two were like sloppy teenagers for the first few minutes after reuniting with one another. His fingers grasped the item in his pocket as he pulled it from from his coat and finally broke away from Hux.

“Here. Little something I got you” Poe said as he held out his hand towards Hux.

Taking the tissue paper wrapped item from Poe, Hux looked up at him with a smile.

“What’d you get me?”

“Just open it”.

Unwrapping the gift, Hux couldn’t help to laugh as he examined the shot glass. In neon letters painted across it, it read No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem - Miami, Florida in a garish font. If anyone besides Poe ever gifted him with such an item, Hux would scoff at the lowbrow humor and tackiness of it all. But Poe seemed to have a knack of finding the ridiculous and Hux secretly adored the growing collection of absurd glasses and random items that adorned his office bookshelf.

“It’s perfect” Hux commented as he stood from his chair and added the newest acquisition to the others.

“I don’t think any one will top that one I found you in Tulsa” Poe commented as he stepped behind Hux, wrapping his arms around him. He rested his head against the side Hux’s arm, their height difference making his shoulder too far away to place his chin on. He admired the ever growing collection of items, each etched in some way with the name of some random city he’d spent a night in.

“That one from Tulsa is just obscene. I have to hide it in a desk drawer whenever we have company over” Hux replied with a smile as he turned in Poe’s embrace to face him.

Poe laughed. It had been his best find to date and Hux’s reaction to it was priceless. He ran his hands down Hux’s arms, the knit of his black cashmere sweater soft under his calloused fingers. “You hungry?” Poe asked, knowing full well Hux rarely bothered to eat much while he was gone. It was always the second part of their routine after Poe returned home. Grabbing dinner together, an integral part of the evening that provided the energy both needed for part three of welcoming each other home. That always happened once they actually returned home, sometimes barely making it into the living room before clothing was shed and bodies became entangled with one another.

Poe crossed the living room towards Hux who, in the amount of time it had taken him to shower and unpack a little, was engrossed in sketching something at his work station again.

“Are you finally ready?” Hux asked, looking up from his drawing and taking in Poe. Gone was his polished pilot’s uniform he had returned home in. He now wore a faded pair of denim pants and a flannel button down shirt. A flat newsboy cap had replaced the proper hat he wore for work. His dark curls poked out around his ears in an untamed fashion that made Hux’s fingers itch to smooth down into place. “I didn’t know it took so long for you to look that unkempt”.

“You love it” Poe chuckled as Hux rose from his desk.

Poe and Hux found themselves at a table in their favorite, and frequently visited, Thai restaurant down the block from their loft. Hux fumbled with his chopsticks, managing to pull a long strand of noodles from the bowl of heavily spiced vegetables before him. Despite the number of times they had dined together here, he had yet to fully master the utensils.

“I got an offer today at work” Poe said, looking across the dimly lit table.

Hux finished chewing, setting aside his chopsticks at the edge of the ebony bowl, giving his full attention to Poe. “Oh yeah?”

“They want me to fly international”.

“International?” Hux asked with a cocked eyebrow. It had been something Poe had mentioned before, a desire of his but something never formally offered to him before from his employer.

“It’s better money” Poe presented. “And in six months or so, I’ll have the seniority to control my schedule. That’s much sooner than if I stayed on domestic”.

Hux offered a gentle smile. There was no reason for Poe to plead his case on the issue. They lived comfortably on their current salaries, the prospect of more money was only an added bonus to the offer. He would never hold the pilot back for his own selfish reasons. Hux knew Poe, how his very blood was mixed with jet fuel, always seeking the next adventure.

“When would you start?” Hux inquired, hardly needing to voice his approval of Poe’s new job. He could see the excitement flickering in Poe’s dark eyes against the candlelight.

“Two days”.

“Good. Plenty of time to properly say goodbye to you” Hux said with a wink as he popped a peapod into his mouth with his fingers.

Both were more than ready to go as Hux placed a crisp fifty dollar bill on top of the check that seemed to have taken forever to get to their table. Part three of tonight was going to be not only a welcome home but also a congratulations.

The morning Poe left was bitterly cold. Winter had settled over the city early that year, leaving it in a dreary hazy of leafless trees and frozen concrete. Poe had slipped from Hux’s embrace beneath their oversized down comforter before dawn had even broke. He readied himself with a shower and a quick breakfast, trying to make as little noise as possible as he moved about their apartment. Zipping his small carry on luggage closed, he grabbed his phone from the nightstand and leaned over the edge of the mattress. Hux was still asleep, his breaths short and shallow, his body engulfed in the blankets. Poe smoothed back his ginger hair from his forehead, causing Hux to stir slightly in his sleep. Pressing a light kiss against Hux’s pale cheek, Poe whispered in the dark to his sleeping boyfriend.

Goodbye, love.

The following days passed with little communication from Poe. He was jumping from country to country, zig-zagging across Europe in a dizzying pattern Hux hardly tried to keep track of. The time zones were too vast to try to connect them together for more than a few minutes, a quick phone call here and a text message there. Hux missed him, of course, but dealt with the void left by him in the only way he knew how. Immersing himself into his work, he was more than happy to sign onto an important project. To design a new building from the ground up was to Hux what flying was to Poe. He quickly became engrossed in designing and drafting, his thousands of ideas for the structure flowing from mind to paper with ease.

Sitting back from his drafting table, Hux let out a long sigh. He was running on black coffee and the occasional nibble of cold leftovers from the fridge. The table was covered in rolls and rolls of papers, odd bits of pencil shavings scattered across them. Hux rubbed at his temple, a dull headache radiated across his brow as he looked out the large windows at their neighborhood on a cold winter’s evening. From the fifth floor, his view was of yellowed brick buildings and archaic water tanks perched atop rooftops sprawling out for miles against the dusky sky. It was an adjustment to have Poe gone so far away. He missed his voice, his warmth next to him in bed. How usually at this time he’d get a phone call from him, reminding him to take a break from work and eat a proper meal.

An orange tabby strolled into the office area and hopped up onto Hux’s lap. He stroked the cat’s back as she happily purred, settling himself on Hux’s legs in a compacted ball. He smiled to himself as he thought back to when him and Poe first looked at the apartment space together. Protesting the idea at first, Hux agreed to look at the loft in Brooklyn. It was a stark contrast to the endless stream of condos with crisp modern finishes they had already toured in Manhattan, all of the properties falling short of Hux’s endless list of requests. The realtor had led them into partially finished loft, explaining to the couple that with a few projects, it would be the perfect work/live space for them. Hux admired the view from the windows much as he did now, pulling Poe close and whispering into his ear.

“You just can’t help being a Brooklyn hipster piece of shit, can you?” Hux playfully recited. Words he had once said long before he had fallen so deeply in love with the pilot. Words from a time when Hux would complain about the cost of the Uber ride across the river to Poe’s studio apartment in Greenpoint he shared with one too many roommates. There was no malice in them, now a joke shared between the two of them.

“And you can’t resist it, can you?” Poe murmured back with a devilish grin on his lips. He never cared much for long subway rides with a transfer between it took for him to get to Hux’s apartment on the Upper East Side.

They told the realtor they’d take it and moved in together a week later.

Reaching forward, careful not to disturb the now snoozing Millicent, Hux grabbed his phone from the edge of the table. His intentions were to call for take out, his stomach rumbling with hunger. He noticed multiple notifications on the home screen that he had ignored throughout the day, too engrossed in his work to bother checking. Swiping his finger to activate the device, he allowed the Snapchat story from Poe to begin playing.

He watched the images flash across the screen. An aerial view of Paris. A plate of crepes covered in sliced strawberries drizzled with crème fraîche. Another photo taken from the air, this time an expanse of deep blue ocean along a rocky shoreline. Then a picture of a rainy London street filled with people and taxis. Poe’s tanned fingers wrapped around a cone of newspaper containing battered fish and fries drenched in a curry sauce. Hux smiled at the image as the time ran out on it. Leave it to Poe to find some kind of deep fried street food thousands of miles away. He’d always been more adventurous, and unhealthy, in his eating habits than Hux ever was.

The last bit of the story was a video. Poe in his crisp pilot uniform looking into the camera with a smile, the cockpit of a plane behind him. Judging by the idling engine noise in the background, he had clearly recorded it in a sliver of downtime, waiting for clearance for takeoff on some unknown tarmac.

I miss you and love you. I’ll be home soon.

Hux watched as Poe’s face disappeared, leaving him staring at a blank screen. Clicking out of the app, he scrolled through the various menus saved to his phone, settling on a nearby deli. Placing his order, he scratched Millicent between her ears, eliciting a sleepy meow from the tabby as he set his phone back onto his drafting table.

“I need to work, Millie” Hux chided to the cat as he shifted his weight in his seat, hoping the movement would cause the cat to jump down from his lap. The orange tabby only purred contently as she settled back into her spot, unbudging as Hux conceded to her wishes and pulled his chair closer to the table.

Hux snapped a picture of Millie eying his turkey sandwich hungrily after his order arrived and another of himself with the caption miss you too followed by a line of heart emojis. Normally detesting the little pictures, deeming them stupid and juvenile, Hux didn’t think twice about including them this time, knowing that upon seeing it, it would make Poe smile. Sending the snaps off to Poe, Hux returned to his work, only stopping to take the occasional bite of his dinner.

After hours hunched over his drafting table, his lower back began to throb. He found a decent place to stop his drawings, setting his tools aside. He was usually methodical about cleaning up after himself, but was far too tired to care and with Poe gone, there was no one there to tease him how he would put his pencils away facing the same direction in their metal case. Hux made his way into their bedroom, flipping on the switch to the light that sat on the nightstand. He worked the buttons free on his shirt as he plugged his phone to charge. He opened Snapchat. The arrow next to Poe’s name was still solid, indicating he had yet to look at the pictures Hux had sent hours ago. He frowned a bit as he turned away from his phone and pulled his arms free of his shirt. He dismissed the momentary sadness, reminding himself that Poe was working and not always able check his phone.

After a long, hot shower, Hux changed into a simple black tee shirt and sleep pants and collapsed into bed. Millicent jumped up onto the mattress, claiming the spot on Poe’s pillows she had taken to sleeping on in his absence. Pulling the thick down comforter over himself, he hardly remembered falling asleep.

Poe arrived home late that night. Tiptoeing across the apartment, he noticed Hux’s desk a mess which made him smile that normally perfectionist boyfriend had let himself go a little in his absence. He made his way into their bedroom, leaning his luggage against the nightstand before sitting against the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight as he worked his polished dress shoes off. He didn’t bother to remove his pilot uniform as he slipped beneath the covers next to Hux.

“Hey” Poe quietly whispered.

Turning to his side, Hux opened his eyes as Poe kissed him lightly. He smelled of jet fumes and cologne. Sweet with a hint of danger, a signature scent of Poe that Hux had missed dearly in his absence.

“You’re home” Hux muttered sleepily as he worked an arm free from the blankets. His fingers traced against Poe’s starched navy jacket, checking to make sure he was real and not a figment of a dream.

“Mmm-hmm” Poe hummed. “Sorry to wake you up”.

Hux blinked slowly, letting his eyes adjust. He’d neglected to turn off the lamp on the nightstand, it’s yellowish glow illuminating the bedroom. “Come here”

Poe obliged, working himself under the blankets and closer to Hux. He took in how warm he was, how much he missed the feeling of him next to him all the nights he spent in cramped European hotel beds.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Not really” Poe said with a shake of his head. ��Jetlagged probably”.

“Thought the galaxy’s best pilot didn’t get jetlag” Hux teased as he ran his fingers through Poe’s dark curls.

Poe laughed as he nuzzled against Hux. “I don’t even know what time I’m on anymore”.

“How long are you home for?” Hux inquired as let Poe rest his head against his chest, relaxing his arm around his back.

“Two weeks” Poe replied as he tilted his head up. “You know, we can go anywhere in the world for free now” he said quietly as he began pressing his lips against Hux’s neck, peppering him with soft pecks. “Fiji”. Kiss. “Hawaii”. Kiss. “Thailand”. Kiss.

“Those all sound good” Hux replied as he caught Poe’s mouth, returning his kisses with ones of his own. Tugging at Poe’s bottom lip with his teeth, Hux let him go for a moment. “But I’d rather stay right here with you” he added with a mischievous smile.

“I like the sound that” Poe hummed. “But first, I got you something” Poe added, affixing one final kiss on Hux before turning over to the edge of the bed.

Poe stretched his arm out, fishing into the outer pocket of his luggage, extracting a small plastic bag and handing it over to Hux.

Hux sat up in bed, Poe joining him. Their backs rested against the headboard as Hux pulled the item from the bag, working it free from the tightly wrapped bubble wrap.

“Oh that is bad!” Hux exclaimed with a chuckle as he examined the gift. His two years of French courses in college made the translating the rude joke on the glass simple enough, not that there was much complexity to the statement.

“Worse than the Tulsa one?” Poe asked with a smile.

“At least it’s not in English. We can leave this one out for guests”.

#gingerpilot #poe x hux #poe dameron #general hux #armitage hux #fic #gingerpilotfic #damerux #fluff #ohthefluff #star wars #modern au #star wars fic #dameruxfic #fanfiction #fanfic #millicent #generalpilot

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almondbiscotti · 5 years ago

Text

WFH Day 4: 9 April 2020

6.somethingam? – Housemates gives me a peck before he leaves for distancing ambassador work. I vaguely remember saying something to him and he says something back.

7.00am – Woken up by alarm. This time, I turn the damn thing off instead of snoozing.

8.27am – Jolted awake dear Lord I’m going to be late for work!! Wake up strangely tired. Remembered I was having a ridiculous dream where I was trying to decide on an outfit for a wedding of a sec school acquittance and nothing fit me and Sabrina (hello I know you read this) was trying to help me but seriously how to help a situation like this. Is this my body telling me I need to lose weight cos GOD DAMN IT.

8.28am – Boss checks in in the dept group chat reminding us we have a VC later at 10.

8.29am – I check in and acknowledge her text

8.30am – The bed is so comfy homg. Scroll scroll scroll through social media. Find Instagram post of girlfriend (think it’s fiancé liao) of an ex-boyfriend. Awww they’re sweet together. I’m happy for them. Really, I am. Random thought that people who over share their relationship on social media usually aren’t in great relationships flash across my mind. Realise who the heck cares, it’s all inconsequential to me.

9.03am – Finally get out of bed. Do the usual biz in the toilet. Should I make coffee or tea today? I’m enjoying the slowness at the start of the day before I go crazy at work because my to-do list is growing quite exponentially. I deserve this!

9.19am – I should probably put a bra on. The problem with VCing the same group of people most of the time is that you have to change your clothes. :/ I can’t wear the same cardigan every time or they’d think I’m weird. Would they think I’m weird? This is a damn first world problem I know. I know I know I know you come back and judge me when you have no first world problems.

9.21am – Contemplate showering. I usually shower in the morning before I leave for work but now with WFH, there isn’t really a point so I don’t. Usually shower in the afternoon though, cos it gets so damn hot. Of course, I also shower in the evening before bed. WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT SHOWER HABITS!?

9.22am – I shall make coffee. Oh and water the plants!

9.36am – Open all the windows in the house cos air flow is important.

9.40am – Hey Google, play Spotify.

9.41am - Homg Treacherous by Taylor Swift is really my jam. The song brings back a gazillion memories for me. Also, I miss the Housemate. ☹

9.43am – Wonder if I could get away with no wearing a bra since VC doesn’t show my chest anyway.

9.44am – Decide it’s not worth the risk and put on the damn bra. And a cardigan.

9.55am – WHY IS MY STOMACH BEING WEIRD GOD DAMN ITI HAVE A VC AT 10AM

9.59am – Fastest bowel movement of my life.

10.00am – Boss asks to delay VC to 10.10. God damn it.

10.10am – VC.

10.44am – VC ends. GOT MORE WORK HOW IS WFH BUSIER THAN WORK FROM OFFICE DEAR GOD

11.10am – Send out email to staff with stuff I owed them. Feels good flexing some of the muscles from my ACTA training. 😊

11.11am – Feels damn shiok to tick one thing of my ridiculously long to-do list n

11.13am – OKAY WORK WORK WORK WORK.

11.44am- WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING MAHJONG AT THIS TIME. I THOUGHT NO MORE SOCIAL GATHERING I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL CALL THE POLICE

12.41pm – I should make lunch.

12.42pm – Realise that housemate and I are running a little low on toilet paper. We actually legit have to go buy toilet paper.

12.50pm – Make lunch! Lunch shall just be ramen noodles cos I’m really lazy.

1.00pm – OMNOMNOM Noodles are great. I added some veggies, egg and sliced cheese and it was really good.

1.01pm – Watch an English YouTuber as I eat. She lives in the countryside in England and she has a massive field as part of her property and I AM SO JEALOUS.

1.16pm – Done with lunch! I’ll wash the dishes later. NOMNOM PEAR! 😊

1.20pm – Okay fine I’ll wash the dishes now.

1.32pm – WORK WORK WORK. Seriously I think I’m more productive with WFH than in Office.

2.21pm – Video call with the tablemates! Ahhh so good to see these 2 girls 😊

2.22pm – HOUSEMATE IS HOME! I also rush to close all the windows and blinds in the toilets cos Housemate wants to shower.

2.30pm – After an extremely quick catch up with the girls, it is clear we’re all quite busy so we basically just camera on to occasionally look at each other but mostly we’re just doing out own work. It’s still nice. 😊

3.11pm – Call with the girls end because I wanna go collect mask from the gahment.

3.15pm – Walk to the collection point near my place to collect 2 masks, one each for housemate and me.

3.18pm – WHY ARE THERE SO MANY KIDS OUT PLAYING WHATEVER HAPPENED TO STAY AT HOME?!

3.19pm – I walk extra fast and try not to breathe lest any of these brats are contagious. Also, loud children disgust me.

3.23pm – Masks collected! I got the black ones! Really quick and easy.

3.30 pm – Pop by NTUC on the way back to grab shampoo and toilet paper. THEY RESTOCKED OYSTER SAUCE! Grab a bottle of that. And some fish pancake ice cream for my mother. and Magnum for Housemate. (And me. I love almond magnum)

3.31pm - DAFUG WHY IS THERE SO MUCH TOILET PAPER IN NTUC?! Also, I can’t find a single set of plastic tissue paper packets. You know, not the boxed kind, the plastic pack kinds. Actually, there aren’t many tissue boxes available. Are people hoarding those now?

3.32pm - STILL NO BLOODY ONIONS AVAILABLE AT NTUC. WHY ARE PEOPLE HOARDING ONIONS?

3.36pm – JESUS HOW DID I SPEND NEARLY 60 BUCKS AT NTUC!

3.37pm – Realise the shampoo and conditioner I use is very expensive. :/

3.45pm – HOME! Unpack everything. My freezer is really full.

3.52pm – SHOWER! Dear God I’m sticky and gross.

4.07pm – Play a game of Cookie Run on my phone. I love Cookie Run.

4.15pm – I should prep for my 4.30pm VC. Put on a bra, change my top. Fiddle with my hair. Argh my hair is an animal.

4.23pm – Sent the email I needed half a day to prepare for out. Phew.

4.30pm – VC!

5.30pm – VC ends. Happy to have made a good match between a MA and a dept. 😊

5.40pm – A flurry of emails! Go go go!

6.10pm – Okay done with the emails! Phew. My shoulders really ache.

6.11pm – Pluck some vegetables from the garden for my Mom. I’m seeing her to pass her some groceries today.

6.36pm – Reach Mom’s place, pass her the goods. She complains I’m late (I was supposed to be there at 6.30pm) She made fried rice for me! And cut some melon too! YAYYYYYYYY HAPPY TIMES

6.52pm – HOME! Fry eggs and opened a can of sardines to go with the fried rice. I add onions, sliced chili and a bit of mirin to the sardines. Makes it extra good. Normally I’ll add some lime juice too but I have no lime. I’d grow a lime tree but for some reason the limes I’ve bought were all seedless. O.o

7.02pm – SHOWER! Ahhh I have a webinar I signed up for that started at 7!

7.11pm – NOMNOM and watch NUS Webinar on Covid-19. Housemate eavesdrops and decides it’s interesting and watches with me.

7.30pm – It’s really quite interesting! We cast it on the TV so it’s bigger and easier to see the slide details.

8.something pm – Webinar ends! I’m gonna tune in for next week’s session. I’M LEARNING SO MUCH!

9.01pm - See email that my CMB sent. Argh, bad news. :( Email also reminds me I haven’t reported my twice daily mandated temperature readings yet.

9.20pm - JESUS MY COMPANY’S VPN IS SO FRUSTRATINGLY SLOW I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU MY TEMPERATUTRE

9.32pm - FINALLY! I’m in.

9.33pm - ALL DONE! :)

And there ends WFH Day 4! 😊

#NessaWFHlogs

0 notes

preciousmetals0 · 6 years ago

Text

Biotech Buyouts and Peloton Fallouts

Biotech Buyouts and Peloton Fallouts:

Don’t Get Fooled Again

OK, dear readers. Today’s secret word is “tariffs.”

When you hear the secret word, scream really loud!

As if you all weren’t screaming really loud already. The Dow is down more than 400 points, and all the major market indexes have shed roughly 1% or more.

And why are we mired deep in the red today? Because President Trump said the quiet part out loud. You know when thoughts run through your head and you think: “I shouldn’t say that out loud”? That’s what happened with Trump at a London news conference this morning.

When asked about a trade deal between the U.S. and China, Trump said that a deal was “dependent on one thing — do I want to make it.” We all kinda thought he did. He did publish a book titled The Art of the Deal, after all.

But, later in that same news conference, Trump added: “I have no deadline, no. In some ways, I think it’s better to wait until after the election if you want to know the truth. But I’m not going to say that, I just think that.”

Umm … do you want to tell him, or should I? (Psst — that’s the part you weren’t supposed to say out loud!)

Luckily for both of us, the market has already spoken up … rather loudly. And it’s not happy about delaying a China trade deal until after the 2020 elections.

Adding to today’s mess, Trump is readying tariffs (screeeeam!) of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in French imports in retaliation for a new French digital-services tax.

You’d think we’re done, but no!

The U.S. is also considering increased tariffs (screeeeam!) on the EU after the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus was receiving “market-distorting subsidies.”

At a NATO press conference this morning, Trump weighed in on the ruling: “We’re going to tax Airbus … that’s going to be very good for Boeing.”

The Takeaway:

I … I don’t even know where to start. There’s just so much to unpack here. Trump is handing out tariffs (screeeam!) like my grandfather used to pass out Werther’s Originals when the grandkids came over to visit.

What’s more, the “do I want to make it” talk about the U.S.-China trade deal … hasn’t the U.S. economy suffered enough? I’m not talking about investors or Wall Street. We’re all making out like bandits trading the ups and downs of the market this year.

We’re handing out billions in subsidies to farmers to make up for the impact of this trade war. I know they’ve suffered enough.

You know what it looks like to me when Trump says he might wait until 2020 to make a deal with China? It looks like he’s punting.

I know some of you are going to write in and tell me: “I know your politics now! You’ve tipped your hand, and I can’t trust you anymore.”

But, honestly, what do you do when you can’t force through the deal you want to make? You stall.

Either one of two things is going to happen in 2020:

One, Trump will win reelection and have four more years of leverage to push against a stalling Chinese trade delegation. (And, let’s be honest here, we know they’re stalling on several key trade points just for this reason.)

Two, Trump will not win reelection, and the next administration will have to deal with China … and that will become a political talking point for years to come.

I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad move. Politically speaking, punting the Chinese trade deal down the road is brilliant for Trump. And, if it gets the U.S. back on equal footing with the world’s second-largest economy, it’s brilliant for the country as well.

In the long run, something must be done about the Chinese trade situation.

However, punting after all the White House’s talking points said we were so close to a deal has ramifications — both economic and financial.

The question now becomes: Will President Trump once again try to calm Wall Street’s nerves? And will it believe him this time around?

On that note, I’ll leave you with a quote from former President George W. Bush: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me … you can’t get fooled again.”

Note: As Great Stuff was going to press, Trump downplayed Wall Street’s sell-off, calling it “peanuts” compared to making a good trade deal with China.

I guess the gloves are off now?

In that case, now, more than ever, you need a stable source of income. A voice of sanity in the coming storm. If you haven’t explored the possibilities of Ted Bauman’s The Bauman Letter, do so now.

Click here to learn how to subscribe now and gain the secrets to endless income!

The Good: Time for Therapy

While the rest of the market is tanking hard, the biotechnology sector is soaring. The spark for this rally is the $3 billion buyout of gene-therapy specialist Audentes Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BOLD).

Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc. (OTC: ALPMY) said this morning that it’s buying Audentes for $60 per share in cash — more than double BOLD’s closing price of $28.61 yesterday.

With the acquisition, Astellas gains access to several revolutionary gene-therapy treatments, including pipeline treatments for Pompe disease and X-linked myotubular myopathy.

Don’t worry — I don’t know what either of those are either. Feel free to Google them later. The point is, both are rare genetic diseases that have resisted traditional drug treatments so far. Gene therapy has been the only approach that appears to be making headway.

Such is the case around the biotechnology sector. So far this year, Big Pharma companies have snapped up gene-therapy firms like they’re the latest hot fashion. And they are.

The analyst community is taking note. Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Raymond said: “We do think with this deal now just the latest in a string of gene therapy take outs, and still many large pharma players without critical mass or meaningful exposure to gene therapy, it’s fair to ask—who’s next?”

That’s a really (really) long way of saying that Big Pharma companies have a lot of cash and want in on the gene-therapy revolution.

Now, I know you’re probably wondering: “How do I get a piece of the biotech action?” Well, friends, I have a solution for that … or, rather, Banyan Hill expert Jeff Yastine has a solution for that.

Jeff has all the details on a $450 million biotech company that is set to soar. And if you act quickly, you can get in on the ground floor before the Big Pharma firms take notice.

Click here now for all the details.

The Bad: 1 + 1 = Less Than 2

The steel and aluminum sectors are rallying this week following the U.S.’s reinstatement of tariffs on Brazil and Argentina. But not everyone is participating in the rally.

Iron ore miner Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) is digging a hole today after announcing it will buy steel products maker AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) for $1.1 billion.

Typically, the acquiring company’s stock falls following such a deal, but CLF is getting hammered — down more than 11% at last check.

Why? Because, somehow, Cleveland-Cliffs is really bad at math. After running the initial numbers, analysts have figured out that the combined company would be worth less than before the merger. Yes, less.

Part of the problem is that AK Steel is one of Cleveland-Cliffs’ biggest customers. In other words, the deal lowers Cleveland-Cliffs’ iron ore profits. The other part of the problem is corporate debt. Both companies have a combined debt load of about $8 billion, while the combined market capitalization of both firms is less than $4 billion.

Someone needs a lesson in responsible borrowing.

The Ugly: Bad Viral, No Doughnut

Most ad executives will tell you that “going viral” is the best thing that can happen to a company. Those ad executives might want to check with Peloton Interactive Inc. (Nasdaq: PTON) before continuing that line of thought.

The company’s latest holiday ad for its $2,000 stationary bike and $39 subscription membership can only be described as “Black Mirror creepy.” It’s the tale of a husband who gets his wife a Peloton for Christmas and her life-changing journey with said bike.

Now, I’ve been married for more than 20 years to my lovely wife … and I know that there are certain things you just don’t surprise your spouse with. Workout equipment is one of those things.

The internet is having a field day ripping this ad apart. Aside from the horror movie references — one Twitter user “thought this was the start to a remake of cloverfield or something” — the new ad does nothing but reinforce the overly affluent, unnecessary lifestyle choice of the brand.

Apparently, you need an immaculate home and a large picture window to even own a Peloton — at least according to every single one of its ads.

If you think I’m overreacting, just look at PTON today. The stock is down more than 7% following the internet’s reaction to the ad.

Today’s marketing lesson is this: Going viral giveth, and going viral taketh away.

Speaking of workouts and getting healthy, we’re closing in on the end of the year … and that means New Year’s resolutions. That also means a flood of new members at your local gym. (Unless you own a big house with a picture window … you’re getting a Peloton!)

Regular gym members know that this phenomenon only lasts through the first month or two of the year. It’s a pain, but, like the migrating crabs of Christmas Island, it eventually goes away.

So, today’s Chart of the Week details the primary reasons why Americans stop going to the gym. (I know it isn’t a boutique gym or health club, but Peloton investors really should watch out for reason No. 1 on this list.)

Great Stuff: Feed the Beast

Oh, yes. It’s that time again.

It’s time to go tell it on the Great Stuff mountain!

You have two days to write in to [email protected] if you want to make this week’s edition of Reader Feedback.

Send me your comments, questions or snide remarks.

We take all kinds here. But no cursing, please. We can’t publish that s#&%.

Here, let’s get your yodeling started:

Are you getting a Peloton for Christmas? (If so, do you also have a large picture window to put it in front of?)

How is following the Great Stuff Trade War Cycle chart working out for you?

Tariffs … right?

What do you believe is the biggest threat to the U.S. economy right now?

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like? (It’s an old meme, sir, but it checks out.)

The answers to these questions and more can be yours for the low, low cost of dropping a line to [email protected].

Act now! Quantities of Great Stuff aren’t limited … but still, act now.

Finally, don’t forget to like and follow Great Stuff on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

0 notes

goldira01 · 6 years ago

Link

Don’t Get Fooled Again

OK, dear readers. Today’s secret word is “tariffs.”

When you hear the secret word, scream really loud!

As if you all weren’t screaming really loud already. The Dow is down more than 400 points, and all the major market indexes have shed roughly 1% or more.

Umm … do you want to tell him, or should I? (Psst — that’s the part you weren’t supposed to say out loud!)

Luckily for both of us, the market has already spoken up … rather loudly. And it’s not happy about delaying a China trade deal until after the 2020 elections.

Adding to today’s mess, Trump is readying tariffs (screeeeam!) of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in French imports in retaliation for a new French digital-services tax.

You’d think we’re done, but no!

The U.S. is also considering increased tariffs (screeeeam!) on the EU after the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus was receiving “market-distorting subsidies.”

At a NATO press conference this morning, Trump weighed in on the ruling: “We’re going to tax Airbus … that’s going to be very good for Boeing.”

The Takeaway:

We’re handing out billions in subsidies to farmers to make up for the impact of this trade war. I know they’ve suffered enough.

You know what it looks like to me when Trump says he might wait until 2020 to make a deal with China? It looks like he’s punting.

I know some of you are going to write in and tell me: “I know your politics now! You’ve tipped your hand, and I can’t trust you anymore.”

But, honestly, what do you do when you can’t force through the deal you want to make? You stall.

Either one of two things is going to happen in 2020:

Two, Trump will not win reelection, and the next administration will have to deal with China … and that will become a political talking point for years to come.

In the long run, something must be done about the Chinese trade situation.

However, punting after all the White House’s talking points said we were so close to a deal has ramifications — both economic and financial.

The question now becomes: Will President Trump once again try to calm Wall Street’s nerves? And will it believe him this time around?

On that note, I’ll leave you with a quote from former President George W. Bush: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me … you can’t get fooled again.”

Note: As Great Stuff was going to press, Trump downplayed Wall Street’s sell-off, calling it “peanuts” compared to making a good trade deal with China.

I guess the gloves are off now?

Click here to learn how to subscribe now and gain the secrets to endless income!

The Good: Time for Therapy

Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc. (OTC: ALPMY) said this morning that it’s buying Audentes for $60 per share in cash — more than double BOLD’s closing price of $28.61 yesterday.

With the acquisition, Astellas gains access to several revolutionary gene-therapy treatments, including pipeline treatments for Pompe disease and X-linked myotubular myopathy.

Such is the case around the biotechnology sector. So far this year, Big Pharma companies have snapped up gene-therapy firms like they’re the latest hot fashion. And they are.

That’s a really (really) long way of saying that Big Pharma companies have a lot of cash and want in on the gene-therapy revolution.

Jeff has all the details on a $450 million biotech company that is set to soar. And if you act quickly, you can get in on the ground floor before the Big Pharma firms take notice.

Click here now for all the details.

The Bad: 1 + 1 = Less Than 2

The steel and aluminum sectors are rallying this week following the U.S.’s reinstatement of tariffs on Brazil and Argentina. But not everyone is participating in the rally.

Iron ore miner Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) is digging a hole today after announcing it will buy steel products maker AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) for $1.1 billion.

Typically, the acquiring company’s stock falls following such a deal, but CLF is getting hammered — down more than 11% at last check.

Someone needs a lesson in responsible borrowing.

The Ugly: Bad Viral, No Doughnut

Now, I’ve been married for more than 20 years to my lovely wife … and I know that there are certain things you just don’t surprise your spouse with. Workout equipment is one of those things.

Apparently, you need an immaculate home and a large picture window to even own a Peloton — at least according to every single one of its ads.

If you think I’m overreacting, just look at PTON today. The stock is down more than 7% following the internet’s reaction to the ad.

Today’s marketing lesson is this: Going viral giveth, and going viral taketh away.

Regular gym members know that this phenomenon only lasts through the first month or two of the year. It’s a pain, but, like the migrating crabs of Christmas Island, it eventually goes away.

Great Stuff: Feed the Beast

Oh, yes. It’s that time again.

It’s time to go tell it on the Great Stuff mountain!

You have two days to write in to [email protected] if you want to make this week’s edition of Reader Feedback.

Send me your comments, questions or snide remarks.

We take all kinds here. But no cursing, please. We can’t publish that s#&%.

Here, let’s get your yodeling started:

Are you getting a Peloton for Christmas? (If so, do you also have a large picture window to put it in front of?)

How is following the Great Stuff Trade War Cycle chart working out for you?

Tariffs … right?

What do you believe is the biggest threat to the U.S. economy right now?

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like? (It’s an old meme, sir, but it checks out.)

The answers to these questions and more can be yours for the low, low cost of dropping a line to [email protected].

Act now! Quantities of Great Stuff aren’t limited … but still, act now.

Finally, don’t forget to like and follow Great Stuff on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

#Timor Invest

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badabing-gabagool · 6 years ago

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I am 246 Tagliatelle

I made it to Italy! And what a wild few days it’s been. And by wild, I mean smelly. 24 hours of travel leaves a distinct funk that takes a few washes to get out. But here I am, clean and funk free, in my Airbnb in Bologna.

This journey started Sunday, when I hopped on an 11 hour flight from SF to Lisbon. Our plane got delayed, and I missed my connection to Rome, which meant I would miss my connection to Bologna. Customer service was no help, so after a bit of a panic, I convinced them to send me to Florence instead, and I could catch a train to Bologna from there. I called up my buddy Val who lives in Florence, to get more info on how to get from the airport to the train station, and she generous offered to drive me! This was a treat because we were not supposed to see each other for another week. After a tearful reunion at the airport, and a quick catchup, we said see you later, and I hopped my train to Bologna. I got in around 11pm, walked to my Airbnb, and sadly did not pass tf out, but rather stayed up til 2am (thanks jet lag!).

Today I got an early start, and began the day with a cappuccino and pastry, as you do. Then it was off to my walking tour! Things I learned-

In 189 AD, Bologna was named the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. They have Roman aqueducts that are still used today! The first university in the western world was founded here. Bologna has many nicknames- La Dotta (the wise, because of that university), La Rossa (the red, because of all the terra-cotta), and La Grassa (the fat, because of all the good food here). All the towers in Italy are leaning except for one. One tower in Bologna, Garisenda, leans 2mm a year. They have to keep shaving the top of it off. It once stood at 60m and is now down to 48m! It’s the leaniest tower in Italy, even leanier than Pisa! There are over 24 miles of porticos here (covered walkways with apartments on top), and became required by the city to allow for more housing. Tagliatelle is jokingly used as a unit of measurement here- 7mm. 3 popes have come from Bologna, and Pope Gregory the 13th is one who set up our modern day calendar. Petronius of Bologna is the city’s patron saint and often depicted holding the city in his hand. There’s a story that a chef went into a hotel room to take an order, and walked in on the goddess Venus laying naked in her bed. He couldn’t get the image out of his mind, so he shaped her into pasta. Rather, the likeliness is her belly button into pasta. Okay, I’m tired of listing facts.

After the tour I headed to the market for food, and settled on tortellini de carne, and an aperol spritz. Oh my god, it was so good. I also got some street meat, 100g of prosciutto for 5€ to tie me over as I wandered around. I checked out some big, ornate churches, and took a tour inside the Anatomy Theater of the first university. Basically a giant wooden room with statues of famous physicians around it, and a lectern being held up by 2 skinless bodies, and in the center of the room is a table they would dissect bodies on, and students would sit around and learn. Only male students, because females can’t learn. Also, they were thought to not have souls that went to heaven, so often female cadavers were used.

I then began the trek to Sanctuary of the Madonna de San Luca. A 2.5 mile walk, uphill, to a big ass church. It was a great walk! Beautiful, and good exercise climbing all those stairs. I got great views of Bologna and the surrounding towns. Then I began the long trek back. It started pouring, but luckily I was walking under one of the longest stretches of porticos in the world- over 2 miles straight of coverage. I made it back into city center, found myself a pizza joint, and went to town. Omg. It was so good. So good! And giant! And only 7€. Have I mentioned the food is really cheap here? It’s really fucking cheap. Like 1.50€ a cappuccino, and 2€ a gelato. Consume all the deliciousness!

Observations- There are many small dogs here, and a good number of people ride their bikes (without helmets!). People make the most intense eye contact I have ever experienced, and as a person who actively avoids eye contact with strangers (especially men), it’s been uncomfortable, but interesting to unpack. Way more smoking here than I’m used to back home, and most people I’ve interacted with know some English. The city is colorful, clean, and easy to get around. Tonight I was able to get back to my Airbnb without using my gps (if you know me, you know this is a big deal).

There is nothing like wandering around a new city (especially in Europe). It feels like you’ve stumbled upon magic. Magic that’s been around for hundreds of years, that millions of people have found, but now it’s all your own. I’m excited to have a few more hours in Bologna tomorrow, then grab my rental, and head to Modena to stay with Barbara. More food to be eaten, more sites to be seen! I love you already Italy!

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hydrus · 6 years ago

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I had a great week. The PTR has moved successfully, and I got multiple local tag services working.

PTR has moved

The Public Tag Repository has changed management. I am no longer running it or involved in working as a janitor. There is more information here:

https://hydrus.tumblr.com/post/187561442294/the-ptr-will-undergo-a-change-of-management-in-two

As a result, the PTR no longer has bandwidth limits! The user now running it is also putting together a janitorial team to catch up on petitions as well. About ten million delete mapping petitions and six thousand add sibling petitions had piled up! If you would like to talk to the new management, they are available on the discord. The current plan is to keep running the PTR with the same loose rules as I did--the main concern was overcoming my bandwidth limits.

If you currently sync with the PTR, you will be given a yes/no dialog when you update asking if you would like to keep using the PTR at the new location. If you select yes, the client will automatically update your service (the only credentials difference is that instead of it being at hydrus.no-ip.org, it is now at ptr.hydrus.network), and you will keep syncing and be able to continue uploading without skipping a beat. If you select no, your PTR will pause. If you still sync with my read-only test file repository, this will be paused automatically.

While I am very thankful for the 650 million submissions I have had to the PTR over the past seven years, it is a load off my mind to no longer be responsible for it. I much prefer being a developer than an administrator and hope to use the extra time and upcoming feedback to work on improving the admin side of hydrus repositories, which, due to me being the primary user, have always had debug-tier UI and half-broken features.

The various areas in the help have been updated to reflect that the PTR is no longer mine, and the quick setup under the help menu is now just help->add the public tag repository.

running your own continuance of the PTR

If you are an advanced user and would like to run your own version of the PTR from where I left off, be that a public or private thing, I have uploaded the same sanitized and 'frozen' version of the server db we used in the transfer here:

https://mega.nz/#F!w7REiS7a!bTKhQvZP48Fpo-zj5MAlhQ

If you do run your own and would like it to be public, let me know and I'll happily add its info to my help files and the auto-setup links.

Hydrus repositories are anonymous. No IPs or other identifying info is logged. There was not much to sanitize, but out of an abundance of caution I deleted the various petition 'reasons' people have submitted over the years, as some had some personal jokes to me, and I collapsed the content submission timestamp record across the db to be no more detailed than what a syncing client already knows. Since this timestamp collapse reduces server-specific knowledge about uploads and does not affect server operation, it is now standard practise for repositories going forward. If you run a repository, updating this week will take a few minutes (or, ha ha, if you have 650 million mappings, about five hours) to update its existing data.

I also uploaded Hydrus Tag Archives of the PTR's tag/sibling/parent content, which I simply made with the new tag migration system and am making available for convenience. If you know python or SQLite and would like to play with this data, check them out.

Be warned that these archives unpack to large files that work best on an SSD. The server db is a 5.5GB .7z that will ultimately grow (after following an internal readme guide) to 42GB or so. As I write this document, the namespaced/unnamespaced mappings Hydrus Tag Archives are not yet uploaded (even zipped, they are 5GB each), so please check back later if you do not yet see them.

multiple local tag services

I planned to only start work on multiple local tag services (being able to have more than one 'local tags', just like you can have more than one tag repository) this week, but I accidentally finished it! it turned out not to be as huge a job as I thought, so I just piled some time into it and got it done.

So you can now add new 'local tag' services under services->manage services. You can add (and delete) as many as you want, but you have to have at least one. It is now possible, for instance, to create a new separate local tag service just for your subjective 'favourite'-style tags, or one that only pulls tags from a certain booru, or from filename imports. You can also use the new tag migration system to move tags between your local tag services. I know some users have wanted a separate local tag service as a prep area for what they will submit to the PTR--I think all the tools are now in place for this.

As a side note, just to emphasise that it is not the only local service you can have, if your local tags service still has the default name 'local tags', it will be renamed to the new default 'my tags' on update. Feel free to rename it to whatever you like, again under manage services.

Once I have some better tag show/hide tech working, I'll likely add additional default tag services that do not show their content in the main UI but do pull all tags from downloaders and filenames from hard drive imports, so you will be able to retroactively 'mine' this information store for your real tag services if you miss it the first time around.

I am really pleased with this feature. If you have been interested in it yourself, let me know how you get on. Adding multiple local file services is another long-planned feature, unfortunately significantly more complicated (I think 8-12 times at least), but I would like to hear how tags go for now.

full list

multiple local tag services:

you can now add additional local tag services under services->manage services!

new local tag services will appear in manage tags and tag import options and so on, just like when you add a tag repository

you can also delete local tag services, but you must have at least one

the default local tag service created for a new client is now renamed from 'local tags' to 'my tags'. any existing user with their local tag service called 'local tags' will be renamed on update to 'my tags'

ptr migration:

the ptr has been successfully migrated to user management! hydrus dev is no longer involved in running or administering it. the old bandwidth limits are removed! it has the same port and access key, but instead of hydrus.no-ip.org, it is now at ptr.hydrus.network

on update, if you sync with the ptr, you will get a yes/no asking if you want to continue using it at the new location. on yes, it'll update your server's address automatically. on no, it'll leave it as-is and pause it. if you still have a connection to my old read-only file repo, that will be paused

changed the auto repo setup command to be _help->add the public tag repository_. it points to the new location

as repo processing and related maintenance is now nicer, and secondarily since bandwidth limits are less a problem for the ptr specifically, the default clientside hydrus bandwidth limit of 64MB/day is lifted to 512MB/day. any users who are still on the old default will be updated

updated the help regarding the public tag repository, both in general description and the specific setup details

a copy of the same sanitized and frozen PTR db used to start the new PTR, and convenient tag archives of its content, are now available at https://mega.nz/#F!w7REiS7a!bTKhQvZP48Fpo-zj5MAlhQ

the rest:

fixed a small bug related to the new 'caught up' repository mechanic for clients that only just added (or desynced) a repository

rewrote the tag migration startup job to handle specific 'x files' jobs better--they should now start relatively instantly, no matter the size of the tag service

on 'all known files' tag migrations, a startup optimisation will now be applied if the tag service is huge

fixed the tag filter's advanced panel's 'add' buttons, which were not hooked up correctly

the internal backup job now leaves a non-auto-removing 'backup complete!' message when finished

on update, server hydrus repositories will collapse all their existing content timestamps to a single value per update. also, all future content uploads will collapse similarly, meaning all update content has the same timestamp. this adds a further layer of anonymity and is a mid-step towards future serverside db compaction (I think I can ultimately reduce server.mappings.db filesize by ~33%). if you have a tag repo with 10M+ mappings, this will take some time

hydrus servers now generate new cert/key files on boot if they are missing. whenever they generate a new cert/key, they now print a notification to the log

misc help fixes and updates, and removed some ancient help that referred to old systems

corrected journalling->journaling typo for the new experimental launch parameter

next week

The PTR work took much longer than I expected, and I was unable to get to modified date or file maintenance improvements, so I will have a re-do for those next week. For the ongoing tag work, I will start work on updating the tag 'censorship' system, which is still running on very old code, to more of a 'don't show these tags in places x, y, z', and see about a related database cache to speed up various sibling/display tag choices.

This week was a little bonkers and I fell behind on messages. I am sorry for the delay and will put some time aside to catch up when I can. I think my immediate busy period is done for a bit (although we'll be back to it for the wx->Qt conversion in mid-October), so I'll be grateful to take it a bit easier for a while.

#release

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