#specifically with fiddling with electronic devices in one way or another

[knightoflodis]

Thank you tumblr. I call hobbies “enrichment” now.

[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 46 of 83 : World of Sea

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 46 of 83

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2020

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users   of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may   reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information   remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in   my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical   compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

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Chapter 16: Grandalor: The Meeting

The Grandalor loitered in the Fauline’s Spring waters but the ship was not idle.  In trial after trial of the new tactics from Sula’s manual, one helmsman stood out repeatedly.

Darkistry proved that she had an innate grasp of war maneuvers and the rare ability to translate a written page into devastating action.

Barad and Tanlin were watching another exercise.  This time, Darkistry had requested that Master Selked watch as well.  The drummer was rattling ‘jib to starboard’ and sailors forward heaved lines to pull the jibs across in a maneuver usually reserved for an emergency turn. The helm went hard down and all the main and top sails slammed and boomed as they filled with wind.  The Grandalor charged straight down the wind at the space between the two target skiffs.  The tocsin beat ‘slack all sail’ followed by ‘brace for shipwreck’ and moments later, the ship blasted through the center of the target space.  

The helm was put over again and the tocsin called for the resetting of the sails.  The Grandalor broke out on a reach across the wind and began to swing upwind, tacking into position for another attack run.

They could overhear Darkistry speaking to Master Selked, “We have plenty of power in the steering tackle to handle a larger rudder, even in a storm.  If we can add more area to the rudder, we should turn quicker.  That could be important in either a storm or a battle.”

Master Selked considered for a moment.  “You are probably right.  I’ll run the calculations to be sure, then I will survey the supplies and see what can be done.  You will have to steer by sail setting alone while the change is being made.”  He wandered in the direction of his boat-shop, muttering, “I wish Kurti hadn’t died.  She was our best repair diver.”

“T’ey’ve used nearly all o’ our supplies o’ glue an’ Strong Skin, m’ ‘Eart,” Tanlin observed to Barad.  “T’ey act as t’ough we’re really are goin’ t’ — — crush another ship on purpose.  T’ey’ve reinforced bot’ bow an’ bowsprit an’ made beams t’ spread t’e shock o’ on impact t’rough t’e ship. T’e divers say t’at t’ere’s not’in’ left t’ scrape clean.  Now t’ey’re waxin’ t’e ‘ull like a racing shell for t’e Gat’ering races.”  She seemed distressed by the whole notion.

The truth of the matter was, the preparations bothered Barad, too.  “I OKed the modifications, Tanlin, my love.  I hope that we never need them.  In the meantime, they keep the crew busy and do no harm.  Did you know that the ship’s Craft Masters came to me yesterday?  They looked at Strategy and Tactics, too.  They’ve put their heads together and come up with a war catapult design.”

“W’at’d ye tell t’em?  Oi’d nae idea we cud mount such a project,” Tanlin commented in a worried tone.

Barad looked into his wife’s troubled gray eyes and said, “I told them to go ahead, if they could find the resources.  What do you think we should do?”

She looked down and shuddered.  Sadly, she replied, “Oi t’ink ye did t’e right t’ing, Luve.  But we must dismantle t’e device as soon as tis nae more o’ need.”

Barad took a relieved breath and replied, “That is just what I told them. By the time that the Fauline gets here, it should be finished.  It will be put between the fore and main masts, just aft of the cargo hatch.”

Glad to change the subject, Tanlin asked, “‘Ow come Darkistry’s so good at Battle Commanding?  Oi grant t’at she’s a fine steersman but t’is’s more like genius.”

Barad looked out at the horizon for a moment, considering how to answer. “Darkistry told me that part of her secret is pretending that her target is the Grinna.”  He shuddered.  “I would not want to be on that ship and downwind of us, with Darkistry at our helm.”  

“W’at did t’ey do t’ ‘er, Luve?” Tanlin asked.  “Oi couldnae believe w’at Oi found oot at t’e Gat’ering.  T’e ’ule Council record reads ‘trial aboard t’e Grinna’.  T’e Council’s ane copies o’ t’e Grinna’s log make a lie o’ t’at.”

Barad replied, bitterly angry, “I know.  I have official true copies  of the fleet records and the Grinna’s logs and documents dealing with the whole sorry mess.  Because of my reputation, I have never been able to get the matter reopened.

“They threw her off.  She would have drowned at Gathering’s end if I had not taken her in.  Violation of the Marriage Laws by seduction was the charge.  She nearly died and not from drowning.  It was weeks before she was off the invalid list.  Doctor Corin says it was rape and assault covered up by false accusation.  I believe him.”

Tanlin laid a calming hand on Barad’s arm.  “Oi did do ane t’ing before we left, Luve.  Donnae tell ‘er yet, but Oi got Sarfin t’ check.  ‘E said ‘e’d look into ‘t.”

Barad calmed at once and smiled admiringly at his wife.  “Tanlin, you’re a wonder.  If Sarfin said he’ll look into it, he will.  You’ve managed more in less than one Gathering than I have been able to do in all the Gatherings since I picked her up.”

Tanlin grinned at a sudden thought.  “Ye did know t’at t’e Fauline’s Ca’tain Skua’s t’e nephew o’ t’e Grinna’s old Ca’tain? ‘T could be an interestin’ meetin’.”

A day later, the boat-shop’s roof hatch was opened and the portable crane pulled a large fabricated rudder section up onto deck.  It dropped a line back into the shop and brought out a large bucket of glue for underwater repairs and strips of both Strong Skin and heavy sail canvas.

At Master Selked’s direction, the Grandalor headed into the wind and came dead in the water.  Four divers went over the side and swam to the stern.  A refuge boat was already in the water to give the divers safety in an emergency, like a Strong Skin showing up.  The crane lowered the new rudder section down and the divers attached floats so that it could not be lost.

In other boats, men were soaking Strong Skin strips in glue.  After much fiddling, the new rudder section was properly lined up with the old rudder and the gluing began.

First, the divers filled the joint between the parts with a stiff putty-like form of glue, then several strong rigid parts were bridged between the old rudder and the new portion to make sure that everything stayed lined up.  Overlapping strips of Strong Skin were glued over the joint and finally glue soaked canvass was used to smooth and fair in the modification.  It took all afternoon to get it done.

Master Selked briefed all of the helmsmen on the new rudder and how to care for it while waiting for the work to be finished.  Through the night, until the glue was set, the Grandalor maintained her courses by the difficult method of sail handling alone.  By morning, the new rudder was ready to test.

All of the helmsmen and helmswomen were on deck to see the effect of the changes to the rudder.  Macoul had the watch, so the first test fell to him.  He hauled carefully on the tackle for a starboard turn to put the ship head into the wind.

Kreul turned to Darkistry, “Did you see that!  I’ve never seen the ship so responsive.”

Darkistry grinned and said, “I have to try this for myself.  There looks to be a sweet spot that could really be something in a tight turn.”

“The ship certainly does turn faster but what do you mean by a sweet spot?”

“I’ll show you when it’s my try.  I’ll bet that we can swap ends in a two lengths or less.”

“No! You’re serious!”

As it turned out, she was.  Dropping floats at the start of her turn showed that Darkistry could reverse the Grandalor’s course in just under two lengths.  Even though the breeze was only moderate, her sail management and rudder tackle work had purling foam almost over the starboard rail as they came about.

A few days later the boat-shop hatch was removed again.  The large pieces that were lifted to the deck looked like nothing ever seen in the Naral fleet before.  The deck crew were commenting in awe and puzzlement as they worked the crane to pull the pieces to the deck.

“I’ve never seen such a windlass as that.  It pulls with that heavy block and tackle rig.  That thing must haul tons.”

“Stop pointing and help with this block line.  At least we know what that thing is.  What I’d like to know is, what’s that big open-centered ‘H’ thing with the holes in the legs of the ‘H’?”

“I don’t know.  Swing it gently, that brute’s heavy!  Spot it careful.  Good.  Ready the next lift!”

“I recognize that part.  It’s like a gimbal mount for a hunting catapult but its way too big and taller than a catapult mount should be.”

The other Masters had journeymen and apprentices bringing up loads of items ranging from heavy cable parts to a massive sling with heavy net reinforcing.

By the end of the afternoon, the first war catapult ever built in Naral fleet waters stood on the fore deck of the Grandalor.  In the light of the setting sun, it cast a sinister shadow the length of the ship.

TO BE CONTINUED

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[not-a-space-alien]

Hello here i am to post the fic that i wrote for the exchange this year :D

Title:  No Pain, No…Loss?

Pairing/Characters: Aziraphale/Crowley 

Rating:  T

Word count: 7k words

Warnings: Eating disorders etc.

Summary:  Aziraphale has a horrifying realization and decides he needs to lose weight.  

On Dreamwidth

On AO3

It happened one day when Aziraphale finally admitted that he needed to replace the shirt he had refused to miracle the paint stain out of all those years ago.  He had gone to the department store, and a friendly associate had been helping him pick out something new when she said:

“You know, you carry yourself with a lot of confidence for someone your size.  It’s refreshing.”

Aziraphale furrowed his brow, unsure of what to say.  The young lady, who had meant it as a compliment but who had failed to consider that it might not be received that way, shifted nervously from foot to foot and waited for the angel to start yelling at her.

“What do you mean?” was what Aziraphale finally said.

“Well, you know,” said the employee.  “Sometimes people who aren’t exactly thin don’t have confidence, and…”

“Why would not being thin mean I don’t have confidence?” said Aziraphale.  “I thought…Isn’t being overweight considered attractive?”

As soon as the words left Aziraphale’s mouth, an electric thrill of realization bolted through him as he suddenly saw all the mannequins in the store—all very sticklike specimens—in a new light.

How…How could he have missed it?  Had he really still been stuck in archaic standards of beauty this whole time? When had being overweight shifted from being desirable to being ugly?  How could he not have noticed?

What else wasn’t he aware of?  What if he was constantly embarrassing himself because of something obvious he had failed to notice was actually hideous?

What if tartan wasn’t stylish?

“Well, it’s—it’s like this,” said the hapless saleswoman, breaking his train of thought.  “Is there someone that you fancy?”

“In what way?”

“You know…in the way that you want to impress them?”

Aziraphale’s thoughts went to Crowley and the angel’s rather nebulous feelings about him, which he refused to define, but which seemed to fit the description well enough.  “Yes.”

“Well, don’t you think she’d want a strong, fit specimen?  Instead of someone who looks like they sit on the couch all day?”*

*Aziraphale did, in fact, sit on the couch almost all day reading.

“Or he!” interjected another sales associate, who was folding shirts nearby and had been eavesdropping.  “Nobody said it has to be a woman.”

“Oh, you can’t make assumption about people like that,” said the first woman.  “It’s rude.”

They both looked at Aziraphale, again afraid he would get angry at them, but he was too deep in thought to notice.  He was so abjectly horrified by the realization that Crowley had probably thought he was incredibly ugly for decades now, and how could he not have noticed?

“Sir?” said the woman, noting the growing unease on his face.

“I have to go,” said Aziraphale, thrusting the entire selection of tops he had picked out back into her arms and hustling out the store.

“Told you it was rude,” she said to her coworker.

Aziraphale called Crowley up immediately and asked him to have dinner that night.  Aziraphale found himself eating through his pantry in the meantime, and only realised afterwards that he had never noticed his habit of stress-eating before.

Crowley was already at the restaurant when Aziraphale got there, which was surprising because Crowley was usually late.  The demon had a small white rectangle in his hand, which he was playing with as Aziraphale sat down.

“Aziraphale!” he said cheerfully.  “Check it out!  The latest electronic trap from my favourite over-priced computer company.  It’s designed to trick people into buying something incredibly expensive that they don’t need or even particularly want.”

“You bought one,” said Aziraphale, preoccupied.

Crowley reddened. “Well, of course I bought one.  That doesn’t count because I didn’t use real money.  It costs a grand.  I spent a thousand even.  More than some humans make in a month!  And I didn’t even get all the extra features that increase the price.  My finest work.”  He brandished the device for Aziraphale to see.  “Here, watch this.  It unlocks by scanning your face.  Pretty cool, huh?”  He fiddled with it, but the touted feature failed to materialise.  “Here—wait—just watch…”

He got it to work eventually, and seemed disappointed when Aziraphale did not act impressed.  He tapped things on the screen and tried to explain what everything did.  To any technically-savvy human, it would have been obvious he had no idea what he was talking about.

“And it has twelve Hertz of RAM,” he said proudly. “It’s the next big gotta-have-it that every rich yuppie will clamber to get their consumeristic hands on this holiday season—”

“Crowley,” interrupted Aziraphale irritably, “it’s exactly the same as the last one you showed me.”

Crowley drew his phone to his chest, as though Aziraphale might have hurt its feelings.  “Why, that’s simply not true!”

“Then how is it different?”

“Well, it’s thinner.”

Aziraphale felt himself starting to sweat.  “It’s…thin?”

“Twenty percent thinner! They were quite specific about that. Thinner than what, I’m not sure. But it’s thin all right.”

Aziraphale pulled at his collar as Crowley tapped enthusiastically on the screen.  The demon was relieved that Aziraphale seemed too distracted to notice he didn’t actually know how to use most of his phone’s new features.

“So…you like things that are thin, then?” said Aziraphale.

“That’s the aesthetic nowadays,” said Crowley, absorbed in the screen.  “Amazing how much they can cram in there.  The next iteration will disappear completely when you turn it sideways. Say, do you have a cell phone, Aziraphale?  I can help you pick one out if not.  But I bet you have one of those old ones you refuse to part with, one of those really chunky…”

Aziraphale looked down at himself.

“Beige…”

Aziraphale tugged at his slacks and brown sweater.

“And horrendously ugly things.”

“Crowley,” Aziraphale burst out, unable to bear it any longer, “do you think I’m fat?”

And here is what made what came next really tragic:  If Aziraphale had asked Do you think I’m ugly? instead, Crowley would have said No, of course not, what made you think that? and all the tragedies that were about to befall poor Aziraphale would have been averted.  But that’s not what he had asked, and Crowley, who did think Aziraphale was fat, but not necessarily ugly, did not realise saying so would to Aziraphale, in this state of mind, be the equivalent of Yes, and therefore I think you are ugly.

Aziraphale was very visibly, very obviously fat, and Crowley had always thought he seemed quite proud of it** actually, so Crowley let a faint smile ghost across his face. “Um…Is this a trick question?”

**He had been.

Aziraphale stood, pushing his chair out and clattering the silverware.  “I have to go right now.”

“Uhh…” said Crowley. “All right?  Shall I come by the shop later?”

“No!” said Aziraphale, grabbing his jacket. “No, you’d better not.  Don’t come over until I’m proper.”

“Proper?” said Crowley, bewildered, but Aziraphale had already run away.

Exactly as I feared, Aziraphale thought.  He does think I’m ugly.  Fat and ugly and a loser.  And why wouldn’t he?  He’s probably just been spending time with me out of pity.

Aziraphale did not want to examine exactly why he felt it was so important that Crowley think he was attractive.  It’s not like he, Aziraphale, was attracted to Crowley.  Was he?

No, of course not. Angels didn’t really think that way. So it had to be something else. Something entirely innocent and perfectly reasonable to explain why he wanted taking his shirt off to prompt Crowley to whistle and go “Nice body, angel,” or somesuch nonsense.

Not that he had been fantasising about it.

He did unfortunately think that this desire might be considered vanity, which was unambiguously a sin.  He was able to brush the issue aside very quickly with some clumsy excuse besides wanting to impress his demonic counterpart.  Being thin was healthier, wasn’t it?  Why else would it be a beauty standard?  That’s it, his being thin would be for health reasons, of course. He had to be a good role model for humans.  Therefore his losing weight would be promoting heavenly values.  Or something.

The excuse was good enough and he shelved that train of thought, turning himself towards the matter at hand: He had to become thin, and he had to do it as fast as possible.

The thought occurred to him to simply use a miracle to change his corporation, of course. Crowley did it all the time.  He suspected that was how Crowley stayed as thin as he did.  Aziraphale had always assumed Crowley wanted to look that way because he was a snake and it felt right, but now he knew it was because Crowley wanted to be hip and fashionable.  Thin.

But that’s not how Aziraphale did things.  He was going to do it the right way.  The human way.

And he had a treasure trove of human knowledge in his bookshop.  This was going to be a snap.  He’d just look through his books for something about how to lose weight, and he’d do it, and then Crowley would love him.

What?  Where had that last thought come from?  He pushed it from his mind as quickly as it appeared, then got to work.

Aziraphale began to scour his collection, piling everything that looked even remotely useful into his arms. Then, he took it all into the back room and thumped it onto the table to do what he did best:  Read.

The first thing he found was a pamphlet that came with a little container of something which rattled around.  He had dug it out of a trunk buried under a stack of newspapers.  He saw that the tag affixed to the bottle promised him he could keep eating as much as he wanted and still lose weight by swallowing the pill within, a single-use miracle cure.  Aziraphale fetched a glass of water and swallowed it.  It wasn’t until much later when he read the fine print did he realise it had been a capsule containing tapeworm eggs.

That was the only thing in the pile that required something other than reading.  Most of his materials jogged his memory about something he had heard once years before.

“Oh, yes.  I remember this,” he said, taking out a pamphlet he had bought for one dollar decades ago.

He put the one that looked easiest at the very top of the pile, then sorted the rest of them by the order in which he wanted to try them.

This was going to be easy.

Contrary to instructions, Crowley came over to the shop the next morning.  He had just downloaded a very amusing app onto his phone, and he wanted to show Aziraphale.

He found the angel behind the counter of his bookshop.  His hand was in a jar which was filled with something that looked suspiciously like cotton balls.  Crowley peered through the front window and watched him pop one of the white spheres into his mouth and swallow without chewing.  Crowley also noted he had on a pair of cheap-looking glasses with blue lenses.

Crowley used a miracle to keep the bell on the door silent so he could sneak up without Aziraphale seeing. He slithered through the books and crawled in front of the counter, then peeked up.  Aziraphale did not notice him, consuming another one of the white spheres, which Crowley was at this point convinced was some kind of novelty candy very cleverly made up to look like cotton balls, so you could eat one and then say to your horrified friends Ha! It’s just candy floss, don’t worry.

Crowley reached one hand up and snuck a globule from the jar, then put it in his mouth.  It was genuinely just a cotton ball.

“Angel, what the Heaven?” said Crowley, shooting up and scaring Aziraphale.  “Are you eating cotton balls?”

Aziraphale looked at him with two bloodshot eyes, one of which was lazily drifting off center, visible even through the blue lenses.  “Yes, of course,” he mumbled.

“Are…are you drunk?” said Crowley.  “It’s not even noon yet!”

“”ve got to lose weight,” said Aziraphale.

Lose weight?  A shadow of a doubt crossed Crowley’s mind briefly, wondering if maybe it had been because of the exchange they had had at dinner.  But he put it out of his mind; he knew Aziraphale didn’t hold Crowley’s good opinion in such high regard, even if Crowley did think Aziraphale needed to lose weight, which he didn’t. Besides, it had only been a quick exchange; he was probably reading into it too much.

“Just use a miracle to change your shape if you want to be thin so bad,” said Crowley, who couldn’t comprehend why Aziraphale would suddenly want to take such a hard turn in his body image.

Aziraphale shook his head sadly.  “I’ll always know.  Deep down.”

“…What, like as in you’ve got buildup in your arteries?”

“I just want to be more svelte,” Aziraphale snapped.

“But why?” said Crowley.

Aziraphale drunkenly leaned forwards, pointing at the demon menacingly.  His blue-lensed glasses slid down his nose.  “That.  Is not any of your businessssssssss, you reptile!”

“All right, all right,” said Crowley, putting his hands up.  “But what made you think getting drunk is the way to lose weight?”

Aziraphale pushed his glasses back up, then reached behind the counter and slapped a pamphlet in front of Crowley.  “This doctor man says so,” said Aziraphale.

Crowley leaned forwards to see the pamphlet said:

THE DRINKING MAN’S DIET ROBERT CAMERON THE ORIGINAL LOW-CARB DIET HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT WITH A MINIMUM OF WILLPOWER

Also Recommended for Teetotalers

Crowley looked up at Aziraphale and quirked an eyebrow.

“I paid an entire dollar for this book, and I intend to use it,” Aziraphale slurred.  “For your information, gin, vodka, rum, brandy, whisky, and distilled spirits contain at most trace amounts of car—carbohindr…car… car-bo-hy-drates.”

“So?” said Crowley.

Aziraphale paused with another cotton ball halfway to his mouth.  “So?” he shrieked.  “That makes you lose weight!”

“And the glasses?” said Crowley, tapping the rims resting on Aziraphale’s nose.  “They what?  Make everything look a bit sadder?”

“For your information,” said Aziraphale, tossing another book onto the counter, “the color blue suppresses appetite.  It’s called the vision diet.”

“And the cotton balls?!”

“They fill your stomach!”

Crowley eyed the cottons balls on the counter, which were resting next to a jar of pills, which thankfully looked a bit more modern than the rest of Aziraphale’s materials.  “…Just don’t throw up.  You might take your nail polish off.  What are these?”  The pill bottle rattled as he picked it up.

“Oh!” said Aziraphale. “A very reliable salesman at the store assured me the weight would just fall off if I took one of those pills a day.”

Crowley paled a little as he recognised the bottle.  It was one of those supposed miracle weight loss cures that amounted to little more than sugar pills peddled extremely convincingly to gullible and desperate people, and Crowley had been partly responsible for this specific brand’s propagation.  It had seemed like a good low-grade evil at the time.

He struggled to think of a way to tell Aziraphale the pills wouldn’t work without telling him how he knew that, since that would surely merit him a stern—and drunken—talking-to from Aziraphale, who was clearly very irritated.  

He set the bottle down. “Look, angel, I’m saying this as a friend.  If you want to lose weight, all this junk and supposed cheat codes aren’t the way to do it. This isn’t healthy.  You have to exercise, and you have to eat fewer calories, fewer fats and more vegetables.  That’s the way to do it.”

Aziraphale looked at him blearily.  “Mmmm…how would you know about all that?  I’m positive you’ve never worked to lose weight in your entire life.”

“There’s an entire industry built around peddling this nonsense,” said Crowley, carefully avoiding who had contributed to it.  Famine tended to do most of the big legwork in this area, but Crowley may have encouraged the charlatans and snake oil salesmen…s…something oil…that came out of the woodworks to profit off of it, just a little bit.  “They profit off the fact that people are desperate to take a shortcut.  None of it’s really real.  They make money off making you feel bad about yourself. Their power would disappear the instant any of these humans looked in the mirror and decided they liked what they saw.”

“Fine,” Aziraphale snipped. “If it’s so easy, you do it.”

“I never said it was easy,” said Crowley.  “I’m telling you, just type it into Google if you don’t believe me.”

“Get out of my shop!” said Aziraphale.  “I think I know what I’m doing!  I don’t need you pestering me with un-asked for advice.”

Crowley sighed.  “All right.”

Aziraphale angrily watched his back as he exited the shop.  Aziraphale reached into the jar and took another cotton ball.  Then, he sighed, put it down, and went upstairs and booted up his personal computer.

“All right,” said Timothy, which happened to be the name of the dietician and fitness trainer Aziraphale had gone to consult.  “What’s your goal weight?”

Aziraphale scooted forwards in his chair to try and see what Tim was typing on his screen, but Tim tilted it away from him.  “Ah, my goal?” said Aziraphale.  “I’d like to be thin and beautiful.”

Tim chuckled.  “We have to set more specific goals if you want success, Mr Fell. Trust me, this always works better if you have a number in mind.”

“All right,” said Aziraphale.  “I’d like to weigh a hundred and fifty pounds.”

Tim’s eyes swept up and down Aziraphale, and his lip curled.  “Mmmm….I’ll…I’ll mark your first stepping stone at two hundred.  Now let’s set a time frame.  What do you think is a reasonable amount of time to lose forty pounds?”

“Oh, well I’d like it to be as soon as possible,” said Aziraphale.  “Do you think we could do it in a week?  How many cotton balls would I have to eat to make that happen?”

Aziraphale walked out of the dietician’s office with a meal plan, an exercise routine, and a sinking feeling that he would have to start lopping limbs off to make the numbers on the scale go down.

Tim had asked how many calories Aziraphale usually ate in a day, and Aziraphale had asked what the devil a calorie was, and assured Tim he was sure he had never eaten such a thing in his whole life.  That had given Tim a better idea of what kind of work he had cut out for him, and had been able to adjust his calculations accordingly.

The plan on the paper, Tim assured him, would get him to 200 pounds by March, if he followed it to the letter.

Aziraphale worked on the exercise part first, because that seemed easiest.  Tim had agreed that jogging would be an acceptable start, so Aziraphale dug out a pair of track shorts that had been long buried at the bottom of his wardrobe, snapping the elastic against his skin and then moving on to try and find a sweatband.  He put on his running shoes, then stepped outside.

Perfect.  The weather was good and there weren’t many people in the street.  All he’d have to do was jog down the sidewalk, and then he’d lose weight, and then Crowley would love him.

Aziraphale started; the feeling of his weight bouncing was not entirely comfortable, and he soon made the discovery that he couldn’t do this activity while wearing his glasses because the heavy lenses wouldn’t stay situated on his face.  He made a U-turn and put his glasses back in the shop.  He didn’t really need them anyway; they were mostly for aesthetics.

He started a second time, only to realise he should probably get some music to listen to.  He veered back into the shop and found his Zune, sitting disused in his desk drawer, and put his headphones in.

He set out a third time and got halfway down the block before thinking he should probably bring a water bottle in case he got dehydrated.  While he was there, he got some reflective stickers so that motorists could see him in case in got dark.

“All right,” said Aziraphale, while his Zune played “Eye of the Tiger” at the appropriate moment. “Let’s do this.”

He jogged.  After a while, his legs started to hurt, but he reminded himself no pain meant no gain.  His knees also felt the brunt of the impact of his feet on the sidewalk, but it’s not like he had to worry about arthritis.

He stopped when his legs felt like they were Jell-O and couldn’t support his weight anymore. Gasping, wiping his brow with his sweatband, and feeling like his workout should be quite close to over by now, he looked up to see how far he had gone.  He could still see the bookshop at the end of the block.

Aziraphale very quickly convinced himself he didn’t have time to exercise, what with how busy he was with angelic work and all that, and Crowley had seemed to be hitting the mischief quite a bit harder than usual lately, and maybe after things had calmed down a little he could really put his mind to this exercise thing, but not now, because he was too distracted.

But the diet portion of Tim’s plan he could do, surely.  Not exercising would slow it down a little, but he would still get there.  After showering, Aziraphale took the meal plan out and looked at it.

He frowned.  “That doesn’t seem right.”

He mounted the stairs and fired up his computer again so he could access the internet and type in “how many calories should I eat in a day to lose weight?”

Crowley had thought that maybe he had done something to upset Aziraphale, so he was surprised when Aziraphale accepted his offer to go out to eat again.  Hopefully he would eat something more substantial than cotton balls.

Aziraphale was standing outside the restaurant smoking when Crowley got there.  This took him doubly by surprise, because Crowley sometimes smoked, but Aziraphale usually didn’t.

“Nicotine is an appetite suppressant,” was what Aziraphale said to answer the demon’s questioning gaze.

“…All right,” said Crowley, sensing that Aziraphale was very crabby and wanting to avoid a row.  “I’ll get us a table.  You can come inside when you’re done.”

Aziraphale came in as soon as Crowley sat down, and when he seated himself across from the demon, he immediately produced a bottle of apple cider vinegar and started to drink it.

Crowley stared at him.

Aziraphale put the bottle down and made eye contact with Crowley challengingly.

“Are you drinking apple cider vinegar?” Crowley asked, despite the fact that Aziraphale had just very clearly and unambiguously drunk apple cider vinegar.

“Yes.”

“…Why?”

“Because it tastes less horrible than plain vinegar.”

“But why are you drinking vinegar at all?”

“It’s called the vinegar diet.”

“And the vinegar diet consists of…?”

“Drinking vinegar.”

“Ah.”

Aziraphale just sat stewing without looking at the menu.  When the waiter came over, Crowley had a wonderful idea to try and cheer him up.

“I’ll have a slice of devil’s food cake, please.”  He glanced at Aziraphale, who didn’t seem to have noticed.  “And an order of deviled eggs, please,” Crowley tacked on quickly, to no response.

Crowley frowned. Usually when he ordered anything like that, Aziraphale found it uproariously funny but tried to hide his giggles behind polite coughs.  But he hadn’t responded at all.

Normally neither of these things was on the menu, but the server inexplicably found himself inclined to go check for them in the kitchen, where they would miraculously be waiting for him, at a thought from Crowley.  The server moved off to get his order for him, leaving the two of them alone.

The silence was awkward and unbearable.  The server brought Crowley’s order out, then asked Aziraphale if he wanted anything. Aziraphale asked if he could have the nutritional information for the items on the menu.  The server produced a special menu with dietary information on it, which Aziraphale scanned for a moment before distastefully ordering a salad and handing it back.

“So,” said Crowley, playing with his fork, “how’s the losing weight thing going, anyway?”

Aziraphale tensed up. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth.

Crowley desperately wanted to ask why Aziraphale wanted to lose weight, but knew that with Aziraphale in such a foul mood, it would only earn him an irritated and snapped reply of no real substance.  The way he evaded the topic earlier indicated very clearly that it was for some reason Aziraphale didn’t want to say, which made Crowley think that maybe Heaven had had something to do with it.  He didn’t know what else could motivate the angel so thoroughly— and so bitterly.

Crowley dared not say anything until the server came out with Aziraphale’s salad—which he set about eating in a strangely methodic way.

“Um,” said Crowley. “Angel, are you….counting?”

“I have to chew salad exactly forty-two times,” said Aziraphale, without looking up from his salad as though it were a very difficult math problem.

“…Why?”

“‘Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate.’  Mr Fletcher.”

Crowley was too scared to ask what the hell that meant.  This version of Aziraphale was a nightmare.  He took another bite of cake.

“Look at you,” Aziraphale snarled.  “You and your cake.”

Crowley’s fork froze halfway to his mouth.  “Er…yes?”

Aziraphale looked like he wanted to flip the table.  “You’re a hypocrite, you know that?  You’re shallow and petty, and I don’t know why I expected anything more from someone like you.”

His voice rose steadily in volume until he was practically shouting, and those at the tables around them had gone silent and twisted to look at him.

Slowly, Crowley slipped his sunglasses out of his breast pocket and put them on, hoping they would keep Aziraphale from reading the expression on his face.  “I don’t know what you’re on about, Aziraphale.  But go fuck yourself.”

Aziraphale collected his coat and vacated the table without a further word, red with anger.

Aziraphale knew that he had just snapped at Crowley because he hadn’t had anything real to eat for days at that point.  And watching him eat as though he hadn’t a care in the world, and have that perfect figure, was just too much for him, when he was feeling weighted down so much recently—both literally and metaphorically.

He thought he hated Crowley for making him do this, which should have in theory made Aziraphale want to give up since impressing him wouldn’t be important any more.  But it wasn’t really that he hated Crowley.  It was the terrible, disgusting feeling of not being good enough in your own skin, of looking in the mirror and seeing someone that no one could ever love, not even yourself. And that made him decide to step it up and get this over with.  Anything to just feel okay with himself.

That’s how he ended up lying on the floor of the shop’s back room, stoned out of his mind.  He had bought a concoction of every drug he thought might be helpful and taken them all at once.

Currently, he was not enjoying it.  His hands had gone numb, and a faint roar of fuzzy static vibrated in the back of skull. His stomach felt like it was in knots. And he was having auditory hallucinations.

“Aziraphale,” said a faint voice, muffled, as though being transmitted through water.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me.  I’m down here.”

“Who?”

“I’m in your stomach. You swallowed me earlier.”

Aziraphale looked down at his feet, which seemed to be miles away.  “Oh, worm?”

“That’s right,” gurgled the voice.  “And you might as well give up on this whole endeavor.  Just start stuffing yourself again and feed me.  You’ll always be an ugly blob.  There’s no use fighting it.”

“Listen here, you!” said Aziraphale indignantly.  “You’re one to talk!  You’re a tapeworm living in someone else’s stomach!”

“Aziraphale?” said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Crowley’s.  He felt something ghost against his arm, and waved his hands wildly to try and dispatch it.

“Get off me!  Go away!  I’m going to do this!”

“Aziraphale?” repeated the voice, and this time Aziraphale felt his perception of reality snap back into place so fast he almost got whiplash.  He was sprawled out on the floor, and Crowley was kneeling beside him, hovering over him.

“Oh, thank somebody,” said Crowley.  “I thought you might be dying.”

Aziraphale sat up. “What happened?  What?  When did you get here?”

“I just came over and you were lying down and yelling about how I was living in someone else’s stomach. Then I noticed you had overdosed on enough drugs to tranquilize a horse and performed a miracle so you wouldn’t get discorporated, you bloody idiot.”

Aziraphale looked over at the pill bottles that still lay spilled everywhere.  “’s how Elvis lost weight,” he offered sheepishly.

“You know how Elvis died, right?”

“…’s not dead, you know.”

“All right,” said Crowley. “This has gone from kind of funny to genuinely worrying, Aziraphale.  What’s really going on?”

Aziraphale didn’t make eye contact, looking downcast.  “’ve just got to lose weight, that’s all.”

Crowley stared at him for a second, gears in his head turning.  “All right.  I think I see what’s going on here.”

“You do?” said Aziraphale, suddenly worried that Crowley would figure it out and then they’d have to have a conversation about their feelings.

Crowley stood. “Yes.  I know exactly what’s happening here. And I’m going to fix it.  You wait here.”

And he ran out the front door on a mission, leaving Aziraphale leaning blearily on the couch.

The Newtrition Corp.’s executive headquarters were stationed in New York, in a very tall building that made sure whoever was at the top could look down on the entire city.  This is what Raven Sable was currently doing, looking out the impressive wall made of glass panes that afforded the breathtaking view.  Behind him, his marketing strategiser was pecking away on a tablet with a very small keyboard.

“Penny, write this down,” said Sable.

Penny swiped her screen and opened a new document.

Sable tented his fingers. “America has been the biggest challenge yet.  There’s just so much food everywhere.  Wait, don’t write this down.  It’s just my philosophical preamble. Penny?  Penny, I can hear you writing it down.”

“Sorry.”

Sable turned around and spread his arms wide.  “There’s food everywhere.  Countries with scarce resources are hardly a challenge anymore. That’s why I was drawn to America. Have you seen how much corn there is in the Midwest?  How could anyone possibly starve in this country?  I’ve managed to convince them to throw a lot of it away, but it doesn’t even make a dent.”

Penny pecked away on her undersized keyboard, nodding.  She never understood a single thing her boss said, but she had learned he was the kind of eclectic genius that you just needed to wait around until he was done spouting nonsense and got to a good idea, and then the money would start pouring in.

“That’s where we came in several years ago,” said Sable.  “And CHOW has been a massive success.  There’s a kind of modern beauty in someone being simultaneously overweight and undernourished.  But we need to go deeper.”

“Deeper, sir?”

“We need to start them earlier.  Too many parents are still making their kids eat their vegetables.”  He tented his hands. “What if—and hear me out—what if we made a product exclusively for children?”

Penny popped her gum. “We’d have to compete with Lunchables and Kid Cuisine.”

“We can undercut them by making our product slightly less expensive,” said Sable.  “Something that will fit in a lunchbox, and has just the right amount of sugar.  Or, wait, even better.” He pointed at Penny.  “Tell me, Penny. What’s the best part of a Happy Meal?”

Penny looked at him boredly, knowing he was just going to tell her anyway regardless of her answer.

“The fact that it comes with a toy,” Sable answered himself.  “But what if we made a version of a Happy Meal that came with no toy.”

“So…just a meal?”

“Yes, you’ve got it!”

Penny, who couldn’t help but feel her boss’s natural talent had been steadily slipping since a certain visit to Tadfield a few decades ago, looked at Sable doubtfully.  “We already sell a product called Meals.”

Sable paused, seeming to think very hard.  “Ah…Of course we do.  I know that. It wouldn’t just be called Meals.  It could be…Meals for kids!”

“A kid’s meal?”

“Yes!”

“That’s what Burger King already calls theirs.”

Whatever potential embarrassment would have come upon Sable in his reply was spared him, for at that moment there was a commotion in the hall, and a man in a suit and dark glasses shoved his way past the security guards and tumbled into the office.

“Sir, you can’t go in there!”

“Piss off, the lot of you!” the intruder shouted.

“Well, well!” said Sable. “Donnie, let the man in, it’s obvious he’s got something very important to say.”

The security guard retreated slightly, still looking at the newcomer suspiciously.

Sable sat down at his desk. His eyes swept up and down Crowley, seeming to see there was something off about him even through the dark glasses. “Penny, Donnie, give us a minute alone, will you?”

The room was cleared of humans in a few seconds.  Crowley straightened his tie and took a seat across from Sable’s desk.  “Thank you.”

Sable produced a bottle of liquor from somewhere and offered the demon some.  Crowley politely declined, feeling it would be unwise to have anything to eat or drink offered to him by Famine, of all people.

“More for me,” said Sable, shrugging.  He poured himself a glass, then took a luxurious sip before speaking.  “So, care to introduce yourself, Mr ...?”

“You know damn well who I am,” Crowley growled.

“Ah…” said Sable.  “Of course…old sport.”

“You’ve done something to my friend,” said Crowley.  “And I demand you knock it off immediately.”

“Your friend is…?”

“Aziraphale, the Guardian of the Eastern Gate, of course.”

Sable smiled.  “Ah, the Garden was a bit before my time, unfortunately.”

“Wait…I’m older than you?” said Crowley, who had somehow gotten into the habit of assuming anyone who was more powerful than him had to have been birthed in the stormy origins of the universe long before he was even thought of.

“’Fraid so…old sport.”

“Never mind that,” said Crowley viciously.  “You’ve done something to him.  I know it was you.  I demand you fix him.  Back to the way he was before.”

Sable stared at Crowley very, very hard, seeming to look right through his sunglasses and stare into his core.

Sable snapped his fingers. “Crowley.”

“Yes?”

“I remember you from that thing you did with the diet pills.  Excellent craftsmanship.”

“Oh, you noticed that?” said Crowley, brightening.  “All in a day’s work, really.  If—No! No, I’m angry with you.  My friend Aziraphale. Fix him.”

Sable tossed back the rest of his drink and poured himself more.  “Mmm…can’t say I’ve done any work on angels recently.  Not that I recall.  Not really in my job description.”

“Oh don’t bullshite me,” said Crowley.  “All infernal agents are encouraged to attack celestial ones.”

Sable swirled his alcohol. “Crowley…I’m not from Hell.”

“Of course you are. Where else would you be from? Heaven?”

Sable eyed him sardonically. “Crowley…I sprung from humanity. I’m not from Heaven or Hell.  I’m a kind of tulpa.”

“Wh…” said Crowley.

“Meaning I work on humans.  Tell me, this friend of yours, I assume he’s become obsessed with losing weight, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Mm, I can see why you were confused.  But between you and me, just as friends.”  He motioned Crowley to lean in closer.  “There’s a limit to what I can do, but if you want someone to really, truly, self-destructively motive themselves, fear of personal rejection does any number of things on a psyche.”  He leaned back, looking self-satisfied.

“Fear of personal rejection?” said Crowley, tasting the concept on his tongue.

Sable nodded.  “Yes.  Now, Mr Crowley, since we’ve discussed your problem, I think we should discuss mine next.”  He stood and pulled a screen down from the ceiling; on it was displayed a line graph, which squiggled up and down indecipherably.  “That thing you did with the diet pills encouraged salesmen to peddle them at considerably higher prices than usual, which increased their revenue, but as you can see it made our profits dip by 3%...”

Crowley high-tailed it out of America as fast he could, coming back over to England with newfound perspective.

Aziraphale, meanwhile, was still in his shop exactly where Crowley had left him.  He was crying.***  He could not imagine where Crowley had gone or what he could possibly have to say when he came back.

***Aziraphale did not cry very often.  He had cried at the burning of the Library of Alexandria, the crucifixion of Christ, and he had secretly cried while reading The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and trying to decipher how exactly to keep the world from ending.

He curled up on the sofa and waited miserably.

Finally, he heard the front door open and close softly, and footsteps clicked towards him.  Aziraphale looked up to see Crowley put a white box on the table they always had drinks on.

“What’s that?” said Aziraphale.

Crowley unfolded the box to reveal an impeccably iced cake with shavings of white chocolate on top. “Eat this,” said Crowley.

Aziraphale bumbled upright, glowering.  “You have some nerve.”

“Angel,” said Crowley. He sat on the couch and took the angel’s hand, which sent a thrill of some unnamed emotion coursing through Aziraphale.  His hands were surprisingly warm.  “Do you want to lose weight?  Do you really want to?”

Slowly, he shook his head.

“Then why are you doing this to yourself?”

“B-because,” he sobbed, finally out with it.  “Because I don’t want you to think I’m ugly.”

Crowley’s hands squeezed his.  “I don’t think you’re ugly.”

Aziraphale sniffled. “You don’t?”

“Of course not,” said Crowley.

“But you said being thin was the ‘aesthetic.’”

“Angel,” said Crowley, smiling sadly.  “You’re not a fancy electronic device.  You’re my friend.”

“Oh.”

“Did you really think I want you to be thin like a phone or sleek like a car or what-have-you?  Come on, Aziraphale, you’ve been a plump bookshop owner wearing questionable clothes for centuries now.  I wouldn’t want you to change a single thing about yourself. That’s what I lo…”

Aziraphale looked up sharply as the word almost left Crowley’s lips.  Crowley’s eyes widened, and he wished he had been wearing his glasses.  He plunged on before they could linger on it.  “And besides, I know this isn’t what you really look like, remember?”

“What I ‘really’ look like?”

“Y’know.  I’ve seen the version with four heads and the billion eyes and whatnot.”

“Oh.”  Aziraphale had spent so long in a human body he had almost forgotten about that, if he were honest with himself.

“And for the record, that one’s not too hard on the eyes either.”  The embarrassing truth was he found Aziraphale’s inhuman form curiously attractive, and had been wondering if having four faces meant Aziraphale had four of any other parts of his anatomy.  Not that he’d been fantasising.

“Oh,” said Aziraphale, reddening.  “Crowley, I suppose I should…apologise for yelling at you.”

Crowley looked a bit rumpled.  “Hmm…Yes, you should.”

“You’re not shallow or petty or any of those things I said about you.  You’re wonderful.”

Crowley tried not to blush. “W-well,” he stammered.  “You were cranky because you hadn’t eaten.”

“Still.”

Crowley sighed.  “Look, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight.  But you have to do it for yourself, because you want it.  Not for someone else, and not because you think you ‘should.’”

“But you really don’t think it looks bad?” said Aziraphale.  “All the humans seem convinced it’s improper.”

Crowley’s serpentine tongue flicked out briefly, and he edged closer to Aziraphale.  “Well, I mean, personally I think it’s better for hugging if the other person has a little padding.  And there are some groups that think your body type is attractive.  You could think of yourself as a bear.”

Aziraphale eyed him sharply. “Crowley, you don’t have to make fun of me.”

“No, no,” said Crowley. “It’s what they call people who look like you.  It’s a compliment.”

“Oh,” said Aziraphale. “A bear?  Then what would they call you?”

Crowley didn’t answer. They had called him a twunk, but he thought that was too embarrassing to share.  “S’not important.  But you’re not ugly, all right?  And even if you were ugly, who cares?  I can think of worse things to be than ugly.”

“All right,” said Aziraphale.  “You’re right.”

“Now, stop punishing yourself over it.”

“Do you want a hug?”

“What?”

“You said earlier it was ‘better for hugging.’  Do you want to hug?”

Crowley fiddled with the embroidery on the couch.  “...Yes.”

Aziraphale’s arms came around him and squeezed.  Just as predicted, it contained exactly the right amount of squish, and it was even better than Crowley had imagined.

“Great,” said Aziraphale, disengaging.

“Great,” said Crowley. He got up and went back to the table, picking up the serving knife the cake had come with.  “Now come on.  This cake isn’t going to eat itself.”

“Oooh,” said Aziraphale delectably.  “What kind is it?”

“What else?” said Crowley. “Angel food.”

Aziraphale smiled and tried to hide his laughter in his shirt sleeve.

[technologywearables]

7 User Interface Guidelines For Designing Watch Apps

The initially restraint (or possibility) when developing any kind of application is the screen dimension that the gadget on which it is accessed is visiting offer. With different wearables attacking the market as well as including some exquisite alternatives, an entire brand-new opportunity has actually emerged for application designers and developers. At stated value, the restricted display size leaves less space for customer communication. While some of the adhering to guidelines might overlap with UI guidelines for various other devices, wearable devices call for certain strategies for creating excellent individual experiences. A solitary flick of wrist need to be sufficient to get the users go gaga!

1. Design Around the User

An application should work with minimum customer communication. Maintaining this in mind, aim to make the activation point of your app with a solitary motion - be it a swipe, touch or a voice command. The minimal the moment spent by the customer fiddling about with your application, the more it will be enjoyed! Customers should have the ability to smoothly navigate via the app and use it according to their requirements. They should be able to do so utilizing the methods of communication that the watch being made use of offers. For instance, the Apple Watch has 4 different methods of individual interactions: action-based meetings, motions, pressure touch as well as the use of the electronic crown.

This state of mind need to go past the simple checking of the variety of actions (as or else we will wind up with yet-another 3-click regulation). Combine compassion with modern technology to supply an excellent individual experience and also get a vanguard over your competitors - something which is always challenging to attain in a saturated app marketplace.

Key here is the requirement for a visual hierarchy. This needs be developed in a specific manner by considering the details of the watch layout and how well you desire to provide the view to your individuals. When you, as a designer, focus on finer details, the power structure will have some real aesthetic impact in the end.

The major distinction in between a wearable and also a phone is that the last deals many screens for the user to dig deep with effective scrolling. However, the issue with the former is that one could not use the same layout plan. A wonderful workaround is to distill material to the bare minimum by carefully evaluating just what your customers should see in order to accomplish their goals. This greatly promotes the next step, that is, visually standing for that information as though the user can see as well as recognize it at a quick glance.

2. Keep Your App Predictive

A user ought to always really feel comfortable while utilizing your app. Because interaction modes are restricted, your application ought to be an action beyond the customer by, where feasible, anticipating their needs. Assuming beyond the contextual material, one should concentrate a lot more on predictive knowledge. The finest application on any kind of smartwatch is one that equips its customers to accomplish their objectives with quick and straightforward gain access to. This causes joy and they will quickly locate themselves utilizing your application again and again once more. As well as talking goal accomplishment - the interface of your app should be so instinctive that a possible customer will certainly know within a glimpse what your app does as well as whether it resolves their demand. This is just what will establish you apart from your competition when customers are checking out the marketplace.

The best aim is to provide the users with details at the correct time as well as in the correct layout. One means of achieving this is to track as well as keep the customer's previous interactions. Sticking to the goal of anticipating intelligence by designing something that can work as per the regimen of the user will specify contextual style in a superior means. Accumulating the user info based upon the app usage and also mining information around it will certainly aid in keeping an app a lot more precise, while attaining a degree of customization.

3. Presentation is Key

If screen realty is valuable for mobile phones, after that one can only visualize how beneficial it is in the case of a watch. Consider example the Apple watch. The 38mm variation has a resolution of 340 x 272px while the 42mm version has a 390 x 312px resolution. The insight below is evident - make certain you utilize it well. With one basic glimpse, your customer ought to be able to watch and also understand any sort of information that is regarded as being important in the context of your application. Usage refined colours and integrate attractive formats to maintain the individual notified and also awestruck. With acknowledgment comes obligation, so make sure that you present your app in such a way that it stabilizes functionality, functionality and your creativity in the most effective feasible way. A word of advice right here is to make certain that you pick an ideal:

Font type: The typeface used in your app needs to be readable as well as well condensed to make sure that the letters do not look distorted. Remeber that your characters should be clear at a glimpse. The application should notice the gestures of the customer as well as the developer should take treatment of the font dimension as well as spacing accordingly. With every various gesture, the font ought to can be required to change while still enabling the individual to utilize your app with no problem. Make sure to maintain the font type regular so that the readability of your application assists in the total distribution of a great customer experience.

Colour scheme: Appropriate comparison ought to be utilized to ensure that the content as well as its background are completely distinguishable. Try to prevent using intense colours. Depending upon the branding of your application, utilize a crucial colour that consistently stays throughout the various 'displays' of your app.

4. The Watch is a Personal Statement ... therefore is Your App!

The user interface should have an easy, minimal, yet amazing aesthetic allure to it. Keep in mind, this is not a smart phone or a laptop where complicated formats rate. This is why UI layout for applications on watches need a 'back-to-basics' style method, starting with espectial focus on positioning, symmetry as well as straightforward, seamless shifts.

There is a great deal to gain from the standards published by watch operating system producers themselves (e.g. Apple's aesthetic design standards for the Apple Watch as well as Android's Style Principles for Android Wear ). Let the visual appeal of your app promote itself. Let it tell the individual the purpose for which it is designed.

The symbols that you utilize must clearly represent your brand. However specific consideration has to be devoted to consider the location where they will appear so as to guarantee that they are appropriately created. The application itself must have the ability to mask the icon form and also dynamically adjust it as though it adapts to the device on which it is being utilized. While taking treatment of all these elements, ensure to use user-friendly iconography. If the symbol is suitably conceptualized, stylish and also made to please the eye, it will lower the user's cognitive load.

5. Entice Your Individuals to Check out the App.

Design your application as though it entices your users to discover it. Let them touch, utilize, check out and also learn. If they slip up, make it basic for them to recognize and to browse back to where they were (yes, this is easier compared to when creating applications for other gadgets). Do not be especially interested in customers making blunder at this stage. Who does not make mistakes? It's actually all concerning finding out a lot more with every step! However do make certain that your app has the ability to handle this slipshod use both from a capability viewpoint and also from the method it interacts to the user. Interaction through the usage of glimpses isn't obligatory for every application that you design for a wearable, you can utilize it to keep the customer enticed.

6. Do not allow Your Application Gnaw all the Power

If the individual switches over to ambient mode, make certain to maintain the application design fundamental, to make sure that there is much less power intake. Nobody will certainly welcome an application if it drains away the power from their wearable gadget - be it a watch or otherwise.

7. Try Not to be a Constant Trespasser or an Annoying Pal

Since the wearable will be in continuous touch with the individual's body, make certain that it does not bother them by as an example unnecessarily shaking with each alternative that is selected. If you have actually carried out user testing and also the outcomes justify that each procedure ought to be suited with a resonance (for example), then make certain that you make it quite easy for individuals to transform such an attribute off (via, for example, a long press).

Similarly, while you could have taken treatment to consist of brief look as well as long look alerts, you should pay focus to deliver details modally to all the customers of your application. Having a modal layout is incredibly essential to maintain an users in circulation with all his/ her previous interactions. The modal frequency must nevertheless be lessened so about guarantee that it isn't disruptive.

Wrapping Up

It holds true that any sort of new modern technology takes time to discover its place in the market and also users may not effortlessly accept it. Consequently, it is necessary to constantly come up with methods that assist users effortlessly comprehend the specific usage of an application. The present frame of mind of every developer must be "people first, style following". If this mind is all complied with, every developed application will function marvels on every watch (or wearable gadget notwithstanding concerns) and users will certainly never ever feel the demand of removing it. To obtain there, one will need to assume and also design out-of-the-box.

Understanding all the above-mentioned points is of prime significance when you are seeking to present an user-friendly application for any wearable. Every person loves points that are appealing as well as much less knotty! So, see to it all the difficult knots of user interface and interaction are untied to make your application a lot more totally free flowing as well as intuitive at the same time.

Lead picture by: Jackson D. Carson

[keithos]

Building the PiWriter868

In November of 2012, I wrote a book.

I'd participated in a global writing challenge called NANOWRIMO - National Novel Writers Month - and managed to achieve the aim of producing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November.

Since that time, it's been my ambition to not just write, but to publish.  I've set that goal for myself every year when I do my year-end review.  I have handwritten outlines for books and stories in various places.  In attempt to kick start, I've also signed up for NANOWRIMO in subsequent years with limited writing success.

The 2012 novel also sits waiting to be edited and expanded; there's a significant time jump in it to get to the ending which I feel needs another 50 to 100,000 words to close.

It's my feeling though that a writer, just as any other craftsman, needs tools appropriate to their task.

In my more prolific teen years, that tool was Uni-ball’s Onyx fine tip pen.  It was a relatively costly but happy indulgence, and helped me to fill many a copybook with teen angst.  In later days that I carried a Palm PDA, Landware's GoType keyboard and eventually Palm's own portable folding keyboard were easy options for text input.

I wrote the 2012 book on the laptop that I owned at the time.  And future attempts at both writing and completing another November challenge were done on an Asus Chromebook C100.

I'd stumbled at one point across a company called Astrohaus who touted their distraction-free writing machines, THE tool for keyboard-dependent writers on the go.  Boasting e-ink screens like Amazon's Kindle e-reader line, long battery life, and keyboards meant for typing for long stretches, their Freewrite devices were a compelling solution to my writing goals, but for one thing.  There really was no way I could justify their price as an amateur writer who had never sold a piece of work.

At around US$600, a single-purpose device like that would have to be paying for itself, and I'm not anywhere  near where I could be in order to be making money from my work.  But Astrohaus planted a seed and a need, and I was sure that I could do what was necessary to build a tool that would serve me that one main purpose - writing.

A good friend did ask while I talking to them about the build mission, why not just use the Chromebook?  At the time, I had not long before performed minor surgery to replace a battery that had started to swell, and the replacement battery itself had stopped taking charge just weeks out of its stated warranty.  I didn't feel up to sourcing another aftermarket battery to possibly have that go that route again.  Yes, I could have coughed up the cash and bought something new.  The C101, the newer version of the C100, would run me around US$330.  But I liked the idea and the challenge of putting something together myself.

Research suggested that I could build something around the Raspberry Pi Zero W as its core.

The Pi Zero is a $10 single board computer that is so small it can fit into an Altoids tin with room to spare.   Powered by Raspbian, a Debian Linux based operating system tuned for the Raspberry Pi platform, it's a full computer capable of running a wealth of Linux applications, including productivity software like LibreOffice, a Microsoft Office clone.

There is a purity though to a command-line interface that had me leaning away from the windowed environment.  The key experience in the final solution would be the writing of words after all.  Point and click functionality would be secondary.

The best writing solution, to me and also to the people at Astrohaus apparently, was one that got out of your way and allowed you to just write.

Enter WordGrinder, a cross platform terminal-based application that runs on both UNIX and Windows, and gives me just what I need in order to write without thinking about anything but the content.  The app does permit some basic formatting that isn't displayed obtrusively on the screen - except for bold and centering - none of which you need to see when drumming out content.  It reminds me, honestly, of WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, a word processor which I recall fondly.

Two other apps complete the software build.

Ranger, a file manager, makes browsing the file system and moving documents around a little easier than using the bare command line.

Alpine, a text-based email client gives the solution its connection to the world outside of it.  It's own dedicated Gmail address means I can both store documents in my inbox and flip docs to and from my main machine for more comprehensive editing after creative activity is done.

One of the biggest complaints about thin, light and cheap laptops is usually the keyboard.  But the RaspBerry Pi Zero W has both USB connectivity and Bluetooth, so the world of input devices is available to me.  And after shopping around a bit, I landed on the Logitech K380.

This is one of these best portable Bluetooth keyboards around.  Subjectively, the typing experience on the K380 can only be beat at its size by something more expensive with mechanical keys.  It’s quiet, has good key travel, is a literal joy to type on, and runs forever on a pair of AAA batteries.

The easiest way to attach a display to the Raspberry Pi is via its HDMI port.  Other technical options are available, but HDMI is the easiest.  In early fiddling, I was able to connect it to a 21-inch monitor and use it just like any other desktop.  Sticking to a command line interface though means that a big screen isn't a necessity.

Taking lead from the Freewrite, I tried an inexpensive five-inch LCD for size.  It's workable, but you don't see very much of what you're working on.  Five inches could be considered a truly focused writing solution, creating a narrow window around just the current thought.  But that felt way too small for me personally.

Seven inches at 1024x600 resolution proved to me to be a more optimal screen size for writing.  The screen I chose by electronics manufacturer GeeekPi is pretty well constructed, and was plug and play.

The Raspberry Pi can be powered via one of its micro USB ports, which means that a standard phone charger can power it up.  That also means that it can be run off of any commodity power bank.

Most power bank have a few lights on them to give you an idea of how much power they have left.  Here though it was also important for the power bank to give a more accurate read out of its remaining charge.  So I paid a little more for a battery with a percentage read out.    The selected 10,000 mAh battery powering the Pi Zero and seven-inch screen thus promised calculated run time of just under six hours before the battery dropped to zero percent.

The final basic technical solution comprised the following:

Raspberry Pi Zero WH - US$14.95 from PiShop.us

Pi Zero Case Kit - US$9.99 from Amazon

GeeekPi 7-inch screen - US$28.99 from Amazon.com.  The list price is actually US$59.99, but I had a $25 gift card to use when I bought it.

10,000 mAh battery bank with percentage level display - US$26.99

Miscellaneous ribbon cables for HDMI and USB connectivity - US$30.00

Logitech K380 Bluetooth Keyboard - US$21.95 from Amazon, as a certified refurb item

MicroSD card, to hold operating system, applications and data - Free, because I have a few of these knocking about

Software - Raspbian, WordGrinder, Ranger, Alpine - all open source - Free

Total outlay, before shipping and taxes - US$132.87

That's represented significant savings on the Freewrite's US$599 list price and even on it's fellow Freewrite Traveller's US$349 discounted price.  The Traveller lists at US$599 as well.

A brass standoff kit for mounting the components cost an additional US$7.99, and a power switch board, the RemotePi from MSL Digital - admittedly gratuitous but with much utility - cost around US$25.

The housing - Gary Aboud might be happy to hear - is made up of two covers of a vinyl-covered MDF storage chest available at Mode Alive at TT$89.00 a pop.

Honestly, the first box was acquired for its latch and the design of its hinges.  They support the cover and hold it upright when the box is open.  The cover was also the perfect height, width and depth to hold the seven-inch screen.

A second box was purchased when I realised that the cover was also just the right depth to accommodate all of the other components.  So two boxes were taken apart to make a slimmer box out of the two covers.  The bases weren’t wasted though.  They themselves were put together to make a larger storage box. 

(For ease of reference going forward, I'll refer to the final solution as the PiWriter868.)

Why go through all this?

The cost saving is the biggest and most obvious reason.  Granted some money was spent on components that didn’t make it into the final solution.  But ultimately, the final solution does cost less than something purchased out of box to meet the stated need.

Yes, a cheap laptop can be had for less than US$200, especially if you consider refurbs and open-box options.  But there are few differences between the PiWriter868 and a cheap laptop. 

Every component of the PiWriter868 is replaceable, and I can choose components that fully satisfy me personally or any specific requirement.

Further, the combination of a seven-inch screen, a full-size comfortable keyboard, and six hours of battery life would be virtually impossible to find in a laptop under US$200.

If any one component of a cheap laptop were to fail, the entire thing would be headed for a landfill because cheap portables aren’t constructed for repair-ability and upgrades.

Case in point here is what I described earlier about replacing the battery in my Chromebook.

By comparison, changing the battery in the PiWriter868 is as simple as unplugging the micro USB cable and plugging it into a new battery bank.  In fact, the next planned update is to replace the 10,000 mAh battery bank with a 25,600 mAh battery.  That would take current estimated run time from just under six hours to somewhere in the vicinity of 14 or 15 hours.  An upgrade like that wouldn’t be possible with most laptops on the market today.

Should the screen begin to go, the micro SD card begin to give problems, the switch start to behave flaky, even if the Raspberry Pi itself prove faulty over time, all components can be swapped out at cost.  Again,a cheap laptop would have to be replaced in its entirely or far more expensively repaired.

Software can also be readily updated or replaced as necessary.  If I found a software solution better than WordGrinder, it could be installed, configured and used.  With the Freewrite, I'd be stuck with whatever they'd be providing on their platform, and in this case, also stuck with their cloud solution if I'd decided to use that as well.

At the end of the day, the PiWriter868 gives me exactly the functionality I want  in a package that I can continue to tailor as I go along.

The PiWriter868 is also an argument for the use of more cost-effective technology in our schools and the country as a whole.  While I use it myself as a terminal-based writing machine, it is capable of running a full GUI and GUI-based apps.

If a fully functional computer can be built around a US$15 board that can use just about any modern TV as a monitor with any inexpensive keyboard and mouse combo on the market, why are we giving children in schools thousands of dollars worth of PC equipment?

What’s keeping us from doling out inexpensive single-board computers to our school kids and allowing them to construct solutions around them while learning about deskside and other sensing technology?

What’s stopping the country from licensing a single-board computer design, manufacturing and servicing a board with a Trinbagonian stamp, and rolling them out as part of a more cost effective solution to the deskside technology needs of the public and private sector?  In most cases, one needs only a word processor, spreadsheet application, presentation software, and a web browser, all of which are available.

But that discussion is for another post.

POSTSCRIPT: This text of this post was written on the PiWriter868.

[taiblogcomics]

THEN WHO WAS PHONE? (Repost)

Originally posted to Xanga on December 6, 2012

Hey there, sacred artifacts. Well, it's been a while. I'm sure we're all better off for it, but eventually that time had to come again. And so, here we are. It's time once more to read a ridiculous children's horror novel by R.L. Stine. Since we already covered books three and four in the Hall of Horrors line earlier, let's move right along to Goosebumps Hall of Horrors #5: Don't Scream!. Just don't do it, man!

This book sure has a cover:

That disembodied mouth really needs to see an orthodontist, let me tell you. In fact, I'm not even sure that lower jaw has any human teeth at all. Surprisingly, this image does happen in the book. It's not indicative of the story in any way, but it's there.

Our protagonist for this go-round is Jack Harmon. His one-dimensional character trait is being picked on by bullies. His most frequent tormenters are "Big Mick" Owens and Darryl "The Hammer" Oliva. Darryl is never referred to as "The Hammer" anywhere but the first page, but this is such a cool name that we're going to keep using it, quotes and all. Today they're twisting Jack's arm, stealing his Red Sox cap, spitting in it, and then getting off the school bus. This is how we're introduced to our main character, guys. Certainly a sign of good things to come!

Jack slumps in some random seat, disappointed he can't be as lucky as you blog readers and be spared all the description of the spit in his hair. As an extra bonus, the story kicks off right away with Jack finding a cellphone in the seat. And if you're wondering, yes, it's specifically a smartphone with "all kinds of apps". Jack doesn't think to check the address book or anything, he just turns it on and puts it to his ear. To his surprise, he's immediately greeted by a girl's voice. Possible references to make jokes on:

A) The Ring 2) Calling D) When A Stranger Calls ?) [reader's choice of phone-based horror story]

The girl on the other end introduces herself as Jack's new best friend. I'm going to save myself some trouble and reveal now that her name is Emmy, since she doesn't actually get a name until late in the book. Jack at first thinks it's his younger sister's babysitter playing a prank. What the heck kind of babysitter is this that this is your first thought? In fact, her name is Mindy, not Vicky or Rosalyn. Jack continues trying to insist it is Mindy, at which point Emmy snaps and says she's not Mindy, and Jack better not make her angry. He wouldn't like her when she's angry.

So if she's not Mindy, the girl must be Jack's pal Eli. Eli wears the hat of "improbable electronics geek" in this story, including a voice changer that clearly Jack thinks can make him sound like a girl. See, Emmy, if you had introduced yourself at the beginning instead of three-quarters of the way into the story, you could avoid this whole thing. This was just a clumsy way to introduce us to characters without introducing the characters, wasn't it? As it is, Jack gets tired of the whole thing and tries to hang up. Unfortunately, turning the power off doesn't make the creepy voice go away, and Emmy continues to talk to him. Hanging up on people is rude, Jack, maybe this haunting will help you improve as a person~

Jack is at first terrified and confused, but then he gets a great idea: get off the bus and leave the phone behind. Ah, Goosebumps: where a main character's intricate plan equates to a real-world person's common sense. Jack puts this daring plan into action, only to be thwarted by an incidental character throwing the phone out the window to him. Wow, what if this had been different circumstances, where the owner cared and she missed? In fact, why did Jack bother to catch it? You knucklehead. Everything that happens now is directly the fault of your hand-eye coordination. Jack then starts screaming at the phone, saying how it can't call him because he switched it off. Passersby give him "this kid is a lunatic" stares.

Jack gets home and starts fiddling with the phone some more, despite it containing the threatening voice of a disembodied girl. He checks the section labelled "My Photos", and finds it's all full of pictures of him and his family. And, like, not candid shots either. Though that would've been a good, creepy, "holy shit, real-world stalkers" bit. No, it's just more supernatural nonsense that is never explained or mentioned again. Jack decides this is the best thing to freak out over and trots downstairs to show the phone to Mindy. Mindy's in the kitchen making mac-and-cheese for little sister Rachel. Jack doesn't want any, which baffles Mindy. "Everybody likes mac and cheese after school." And if you don't, you're an America-hating commie Martian!

Jack decides to tell everything to Mindy, and Mindy is appropriately skeptical. She picks up the phone herself and begins asking into it for the girl. There's no response, and Jack looks like an idiot. Ah, a Goosebumps protagonist in their natural habitat. Rachel chimes in that Jack is always a liar, and I've used flimsier excuses to post the Applejack meme.

"'Course some girl talks to me through the phone! Ah get loads of calls from girls every day!"

Jack shamefully goes back to his room, and Emmy chides him for trying to show her to the babysitter. Jack counters with the notion that he could just give the phone to his parents and ask them to find the owner. Emmy is quiet for a moment, then electrocutes Jack. Why, of course a phone's battery has enough charge to reduce a person to twitching spasms! Also, completely reasonable reaction, and a sure route to friendship. Emmy threatens to do it again if Jack doesn't listen to her, and even threatens his sister. More friendship!

Eli shows up now, having been summoned by Jack earlier. Eli is described as a little chubby and wearing cargo pants with pockets full of junk and T-shirts with jokes that aren't funny on them. Finally, an accurate description of what a kid would wear. If you were wondering, today's shirt says "I'm with brilliant" and points up at Eli's face. Wow, they weren't kidding about the "not funny" bit, eh? Now that we've had some accuracy, are you ready for irrelevant nonsense that I'm going to rant about anyway?

Eli also shows up playing a handheld video game system. It's a touch-controlled game with glasses-less 3D graphics. Why, it's the... Digi-GameFreak 4. What. C'mon, guys, these books have referred to the Wii by name before. And this book came out in January 2012, only a couple months before the 3DS hit the market. Did you really have to make up some generic bullshit system that doesn't exist? Also, stop saying "game-player". Nobody calls them that. They're handhelds or portables. I normally wouldn't mind so much, this is pretty standard for Goosebumps to make up fake things (see: any time comics are mentioned), but they have specifically mentioned the Wii by name before, as I said. It just feels horribly inconsistant

Jack explains the whole story to Eli, and he's a little more believing than Mindy. In fact, Emmy even obliges him a "go away, Jack has a new best friend", and Eli has to think about that for a while. Eventually, he comes to the conclusion that the phone has two SIM cards in it. And a second set of receivers and speakers, too. I'm not sure you can get all that junk inside a thin little smartphone and have it still function, and even if you can, that's a really elaborate and expensive prank to play on a middle schooler.

Jack considers this, then decides that even if this is a thing, Eli can't open it up because of how shocking Emmy reacts. Eli comes up with another plan. He'll put the phone in a box, and then he'll put that box inside of another box, and then he'll mail that box to himself. And when it arrives, he'll smash it with a hammer! Or, to save on postage, he'll just skip to the last step and gets a sledgehammer out of Jack's basement. The phone is quickly reduced to its component parts and splinters of plastic. Emmy doesn't even have the decency to scream.

Well, book's over, right? Not quite.

Satisfied that his technical knowhow (i.e. breaking stuff) has triumphed, Eli decides to play his bullshit video game some more. Oh, but this turns out to be a dumb idea. Emmy has moved from the broken phone to the handheld. So, she's basically the Cyborg Superman now. And boy is she miffed. And thus, she electrocutes Eli so badly that the game melts. Um, wow. The fact that he even moves after that is kind of unbelievable. The only damage he incurs are various burns on his hands. Jack's dad (Peter, I hope) walks by and notices the smoldering wreckage. He comments that games shouldn't overheat like that, it could be dangerous.

Eli stays for dinner, Emmy stays forever, and Jack's dad decides they should all go to the big electronics store after dinner. Dad has an itching for a new HD TV (you know what HD is, Stine/ghostwriter, but not the 3DS?), and he invites Jack along. Jack decides to yet again tell everyone about the phone and the girl inside it. His parents are horrified that he would wantonly smash a piece of electronic equipment that didn't belong to him, and they're kind of skeptical about electronic ghost girls, too. His mom shows her general ignorance of modern technology by suggesting the idea that he just didn't turn off the phone good enough, so Emmy just kept talking. They then demand to see the ruins of the bullshit handheld game.

Dad looks over the device for a minute, asking the girl to speak up. Then he hits it against his palm as if it lost its picture or something. This causes the handheld to let out a deafening screech that keeps on screeching. Eventually it subsides, and everyone is in quite a bit of pain. Dad decides "That player is defective. It's dangerous." Please refer to my previous Pinkie Pie clip. Conveniently, Eli bought the thing at the same place Dad intends to buy his new TV, so he's going to show it to the manager while there and get it replaced for Eli. He then herds the two boys into the car with him, and Jack wonders what the worst Emmy could do if she found out where they're going. Eli replies, "She could blow up the car." Yes, you're being very helpful.

Unfortunately for us, Emmy does not blow up the car, and the story continues. In fact, pretty much nothing happens at all. They get to the store without incident, and the defective video game is turned in to the manager. Eli and Jack dare to hope they are finally free. This is an incredibly dumb thing to do, because almost immediately all the lights and televisions flicker, and a giant pair of lips appears on each screen. Hey, there's that cover image. The lips start announcing that Jack can't outwit her and she'll always be here. People are confused, and it goes away as suddenly as it happened. Wow, this was such a climactic scene that it needed to be on the cover, yes?

Anyway, Eli gets his new handheld, Dad mistook the sale date of televisions, and they leave almost without incident. Then Dad suddenly remembers what else they should be doing: he buys Jack a cellphone. You know, the very device you were just deeply upset with him for destroying 20 minutes ago at dinner. Dad says it's high time he had one, so I guess destroying equipment is a rite of passage in the Harmon family? Hey, try wrecking the car next, Jack. After lengthy paperwork (one of the true horrors in the book), Jack has his own phone and is at home. Suddenly, Emmy starts talking to him through the phone, telling Jack not to worry, she's still here~

Jack thinks it's high time for some damn answers. He wants to know exactly who Emmy is (who still hasn't been named at this point, remember), and she's reluctant to say anything. Eventually she fesses up to being an AI glitch. Just an experiment in artificial intelligence that somehow got an electrical glitch and became a sentient digital lifeform.

Welp.

Anyway, Emmy (finally named now) is a living virtual pet, basically, and she can manipulate electricity (or "digital signals", as she says) to attack or move around. They're what keep her alive. But being alive isn't enough for her. She wants companionship. She's sure other digital people like her exist, and Jack's going to help her find them. In fact, he'll do whatever she wants or she'll hurt him. How fun~ All this aside, shouldn't this be a sci-fi book, and not horror?

Next day at school, Jack tries to text this to Eli, but Eli reports he didn't get them. Eli is intrigued by this whole artificial intelligence slant, and believe me, he's the only one. They head for class, and class is uneventful. That is, until Emmy starts detecting a signal. Another digital person is nearby, and she wants Jack to go retrieve it. Yes, in the middle of class. Jack refuses, of course, and Emmy threatens to burn all the flesh off his leg if he doesn't. I'm no leg expert, but that may hinder the retrieval of electric friends, you know. Either way, Emmy orders Jack to steal the laptop. Jack protests that he's in the middle of class, but she doesn't care. In fact, she finds him highly disobedient, and demands a show of obedience or she'll flashfry his pants. "Stand on your head, Jack," she commands.

Jack, not wanting the book to be any stupider, refuses. He gets a big shock for his trouble, and yelps and falls out of his chair. The teacher asks what the commotion is, and Jack claims to have been stung by a bee. The teacher dryly replies that it must've been a very big bee for him to make such a fuss. Hey. Hey, teach. Fuck you. You ever been stung by a bee? It fucking hurts. I'd like to see you not yelp and jump when stung. Hell, maybe he's allergic and is now dying. But no, you gotta be a snarky bitch about it.

Despite all this, Emmy still demands headstands. The chapter ends, and it cuts to after class, where he has clearly done a headstand. Mick and "The Hammer" are riding him about it, and Jack says that the bee sting just made him loopy. Everyone in this school is nuts, and I'm even including Emmy in that. Seriously, Emmy, you haunt technology, and this is the best you can do? There's more generic harassment, Mick expresses interest in Jack's digital watch, and Jack threatens to tell the bus driver, and she'll throw them off the bus. They laugh and say she can't do that, she'll lose her job. Um, hi, dumbshits, that's exactly what she can do. She won't lose her job, that is her job. This is completely ridiculous. It's like the author lives slightly left of reality. Handheld video game with touch controls and 3D graphics? Some other brand. Bus driver enforces rules? Lose her job. Bruce Wayne's parents shot in alley? Becomes the Joker.

The next day, Jack hides in the school so he can steal a laptop with a digital person inside. I totally just typed that sentence. He doesn't even wait until nightfall when all the teachers have left. No, just 'til, like, five. All the kids are gone, but there's still plenty of adults around. Yeah, I feel good about this plan. I'm excited by this. Well, long story short, due to this plan being super dumb, Jack is caught with laptop in his hands. The teacher questions him about it, and he makes up a story about how he was putting the laptop back. The teacher buys this, and Emmy is annoyed. But what can they do~? Emmy says Jack better do better next time. Jack is sure next time he'll be caught. And he narrates to us that, in fact, he was. But that's a long frightening story. So it has no chance of being in this book~?

The next next day, Emmy now detects a signal from none other than Mick's camera. Naturally, Jack is not keen on stealing from Mick. But after Emmy makes his backpack burst into flames, Jack starts to warm up to the idea. Jack makes a show of bumping into Mick at lunch, and deftly steals the camera in the mashup. Mick and "The Hammer" respond by eating Jack's lunch. Emmy doesn't have time to check out the camera yet, and thusly on the bus, Mick decides to go through Jack's backpack when he notices the burns. He finds the camera, but doesn't realise it's his. Instead he decides to give it to "The Hammer" as a present. So they lose the camera without accomplishing anything. Way to waste our time~

Not having had his fill of doing dumb stuff, Jack sneaks out of the house that night to wander the streets until Emmy picks up a signal. Finally she notices one outside a darkened house, one of Jack's neighbours. She commands Jack to break in and steal whatever it is that she's registering. Since this is obviously the best possible plan, Jack does, in fact, break into the house, reasoning that his neighbour is out late. There's a brief scene where Jack is startled by a cat that adds nothing, and then he locates the source of the signal: a clock radio. He takes it and leaves. Here's the super-dumb part: Emmy has him stop and let her scan the radio before they get too far. Couldn't she have done that in the bedroom? It'd be easier, because now Jack has to sneak back into the house and put the clock radio back. Predictably, he gets caught in the middle of this.

We cut away, and return to Jack being returned home and explaining this whole thing to his parents. Jack has the brilliant idea of saying it was a dare and pinning it on Mick and "The Hammer". What he doesn't realise until seconds later is that his mother would call up their parents. There's a brief phone conversation, and Jack's mom comes back mad. Turns out Mick figured out the camera switcheroo. Jack apologised a crazy amount and basically goes to bed mad.

The next morning, Jack wakes up to find his sister in his room. She's messing with the cellphone, and Jack realises what's going to happen just before it does: the cellphone messes back, and little Rachel is electrocuted. Jack finally snaps like a twig and smashes the cellphone with the sledgehammer that just happened to still be lying around. Emmy chides him for being dumb and says he can't get rid of her that easily. Jack smashes his iPod too, followed by his computer. Then the TV. Then the clock above the bed. Jack later discovers himself being hugged by Mindy, completely unaware of exactly what went on. Jack may be the first Goosebumps character to officially go super nuts~

No, really. He even sees a child psychologist. There's talking, there's therapy, there's a timeskip. And Jack doesn't hear from Emmy at all. Until one day a couple weeks later, he does. He's not happy about this. Turns out she's been hiding in his digital watch the whole time. And she's ready for him to find more friends for her again~

Jack suddenly has an out, though. Mick walks up, mocking Jack for talking to his watch. He's going to beat Jack up for stealing his camera, and then he's moving away to Detroit. Jack suddenly gets an idea. He gives Mick his digital watch as a gift. Mick's been admiring it throughout the book, and he decides this is good enough. He exits, and takes the watch with Emmy in it with him. And this time, Jack is really free~

Oh, except we need a crappy twist ending. Mick moves and days pass. Emmy is not heard from whatsoever. Eventually, the phone rings, and Jack nervously picks it up. Fortunately, it's not Emmy. It's a boy's voice. Mick's, to be exact. He begs Jack to help him. He's trapped in the phone, thanks to Emmy. And he can hurt Jack if he won't help... Haha, that makes no sense~

Sheesh. Well, despite what you might think, this book is not the worst thing I've ever read. In fact, this might be one of the better books I've read in this series. It's kind of a clever idea, and as usual it's ruined by shoddy execution. It also makes no sense as a Goosebumps book. It's like a sci-fi novel that got misappropriated into crappy children's horror. The ending also comes right the fuck out of nowhere, and has no explanation with the rest of the text. Were there even any other digital entities? Who can tell~? And yet, despite the dumbness present throughout, it wasn't the worst thing ever. It was at least readable, and had a interesting premise. But really, leave the technology-based horror to those who have actually used technology invented in the last 20 years~

One more thing: what the hell does the title have to do with anything? Were there no phone puns available?

[fancyfairie-blog]

Madden Nfl Mobile 17 Hack - How To Hack Madden Nfl Mobile - Hack Madden Nfl Mobile

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[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : World of Sea : Part 46

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2018

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

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Chapter 16: Grandalor: The Meeting

The Grandalor loitered in the Fauline’s Spring waters but the ship was not idle.  In trial after trial of the new tactics from Sula’s manual, one helmsman stood out repeatedly.

Darkistry proved that she had an innate grasp of war maneuvers and the rare ability to translate a written page into devastating action.

Barad and Tanlin were watching another exercise.  This time, Darkistry had requested that Master Selked watch as well.  The drummer was rattling ‘jib to starboard’ and sailors forward heaved lines to pull the jibs across in a maneuver usually reserved for an emergency turn. The helm went hard down and all the main and top sails slammed and boomed as they filled with wind.  The Grandalor charged straight down the wind at the space between the two target skiffs.  The tocsin beat ‘slack all sail’ followed by ‘brace for shipwreck’ and moments later, the ship blasted through the center of the target space.  

The helm was put over again and the tocsin called for the resetting of the sails.  The Grandalor broke out on a reach across the wind and began to swing upwind, tacking into position for another attack run.

They could overhear Darkistry speaking to Master Selked, “We have plenty of power in the steering tackle to handle a larger rudder, even in a storm.  If we can add more area to the rudder, we should turn quicker.  That could be important in either a storm or a battle.”

Master Selked considered for a moment.  “You are probably right.  I’ll run the calculations to be sure, then I will survey the supplies and see what can be done.  You will have to steer by sail setting alone while the change is being made.”  He wandered in the direction of his boat-shop, muttering, “I wish Kurti hadn’t died.  She was our best repair diver.”

“T’ey’ve used nearly all o’ our supplies o’ glue an’ Strong Skin, m’ ‘Eart,” Tanlin observed to Barad.  “T’ey act as t’ough we’re really are goin’ t’ — — crush another ship on purpose.  T’ey’ve reinforced bot’ bow an’ bowsprit an’ made beams t’ spread t’e shock o’ on impact t’rough t’e ship. T’e divers say t’at t’ere’s not’in’ left t’ scrape clean.  Now t’ey’re waxin’ t’e ‘ull like a racing shell for t’e Gat’ering races.”  She seemed distressed by the whole notion.

The truth of the matter was, the preparations bothered Barad, too.  “I OKed the modifications, Tanlin, my love.  I hope that we never need them.  In the meantime, they keep the crew busy and do no harm.  Did you know that the ship’s Craft Masters came to me yesterday?  They looked at Strategy and Tactics, too.  They’ve put their heads together and come up with a war catapult design.”

“W’at’d ye tell t’em?  Oi’d nae idea we cud mount such a project,” Tanlin commented in a worried tone.

Barad looked into his wife’s troubled gray eyes and said, “I told them to go ahead, if they could find the resources.  What do you think we should do?”

She looked down and shuddered.  Sadly, she replied, “Oi t’ink ye did t’e right t’ing, Luve.  But we must dismantle t’e device as soon as tis nae more o’ need.”

Barad took a relieved breath and replied, “That is just what I told them. By the time that the Fauline gets here, it should be finished.  It will be put between the fore and main masts, just aft of the cargo hatch.”

Glad to change the subject, Tanlin asked, “‘Ow come Darkistry’s so good at Battle Commanding?  Oi grant t’at she’s a fine steersman but t’is’s more like genius.”

Barad looked out at the horizon for a moment, considering how to answer. “Darkistry told me that part of her secret is pretending that her target is the Grinna.”  He shuddered.  “I would not want to be on that ship and downwind of us, with Darkistry at our helm.”  

“W’at did t’ey do t’ ‘er, Luve?” Tanlin asked.  “Oi couldnae believe w’at Oi found oot at t’e Gat’ering.  T’e ’ule Council record reads ‘trial aboard t’e Grinna’.  T’e Council’s ane copies o’ t’e Grinna’s log make a lie o’ t’at.”

Barad replied, bitterly angry, “I know.  I have official true copies  of the fleet records and the Grinna’s logs and documents dealing with the whole sorry mess.  Because of my reputation, I have never been able to get the matter reopened.

“They threw her off.  She would have drowned at Gathering’s end if I had not taken her in.  Violation of the Marriage Laws by seduction was the charge.  She nearly died and not from drowning.  It was weeks before she was off the invalid list.  Doctor Corin says it was rape and assault covered up by false accusation.  I believe him.”

Tanlin laid a calming hand on Barad’s arm.  “Oi did do ane t’ing before we left, Luve.  Donnae tell ‘er yet, but Oi got Sarfin t’ check.  ‘E said ‘e’d look into ‘t.”

Barad calmed at once and smiled admiringly at his wife.  “Tanlin, you’re a wonder.  If Sarfin said he’ll look into it, he will.  You’ve managed more in less than one Gathering than I have been able to do in all the Gatherings since I picked her up.”

Tanlin grinned at a sudden thought.  “Ye did know t’at t’e Fauline’s Ca’tain Skua’s t’e nephew o’ t’e Grinna’s old Ca’tain? ‘T could be an interestin’ meetin’.”

A day later, the boat-shop’s roof hatch was opened and the portable crane pulled a large fabricated rudder section up onto deck.  It dropped a line back into the shop and brought out a large bucket of glue for underwater repairs and strips of both Strong Skin and heavy sail canvas.

At Master Selked’s direction, the Grandalor headed into the wind and came dead in the water.  Four divers went over the side and swam to the stern.  A refuge boat was already in the water to give the divers safety in an emergency, like a Strong Skin showing up.  The crane lowered the new rudder section down and the divers attached floats so that it could not be lost.

In other boats, men were soaking Strong Skin strips in glue.  After much fiddling, the new rudder section was properly lined up with the old rudder and the gluing began.

First, the divers filled the joint between the parts with a stiff putty-like form of glue, then several strong rigid parts were bridged between the old rudder and the new portion to make sure that everything stayed lined up.  Overlapping strips of Strong Skin were glued over the joint and finally glue soaked canvass was used to smooth and fair in the modification.  It took all afternoon to get it done.

Master Selked briefed all of the helmsmen on the new rudder and how to care for it while waiting for the work to be finished.  Through the night, until the glue was set, the Grandalor maintained her courses by the difficult method of sail handling alone.  By morning, the new rudder was ready to test.

All of the helmsmen and helmswomen were on deck to see the effect of the changes to the rudder.  Macoul had the watch, so the first test fell to him.  He hauled carefully on the tackle for a starboard turn to put the ship head into the wind.

Kreul turned to Darkistry, “Did you see that!  I’ve never seen the ship so responsive.”

Darkistry grinned and said, “I have to try this for myself.  There looks to be a sweet spot that could really be something in a tight turn.”

“The ship certainly does turn faster but what do you mean by a sweet spot?”

“I’ll show you when it’s my try.  I’ll bet that we can swap ends in a two lengths or less.”

“No! You’re serious!”

As it turned out, she was.  Dropping floats at the start of her turn showed that Darkistry could reverse the Grandalor’s course in just under two lengths.  Even though the breeze was only moderate, her sail management and rudder tackle work had purling foam almost over the starboard rail as they came about.

A few days later the boat-shop hatch was removed again.  The large pieces that were lifted to the deck looked like nothing ever seen in the Naral fleet before.  The deck crew were commenting in awe and puzzlement as they worked the crane to pull the pieces to the deck.

“I’ve never seen such a windlass as that.  It pulls with that heavy block and tackle rig.  That thing must haul tons.”

“Stop pointing and help with this block line.  At least we know what that thing is.  What I’d like to know is, what’s that big open-centered ‘H’ thing with the holes in the legs of the ‘H’?”

“I don’t know.  Swing it gently, that brute’s heavy!  Spot it careful.  Good.  Ready the next lift!”

“I recognize that part.  It’s like a gimbal mount for a hunting catapult but its way too big and taller than a catapult mount should be.”

The other Masters had journeymen and apprentices bringing up loads of items ranging from heavy cable parts to a massive sling with heavy net reinforcing.

By the end of the afternoon, the first war catapult ever built in Naral fleet waters stood on the fore deck of the Grandalor.  In the light of the setting sun, it cast a sinister shadow the length of the ship.

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS   NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

[droneseco]

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 Review: The Best True Wireless Earbuds Under $100

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0

9.50 / 10

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Lypertek is quietly building a cult following for its outstanding audio products. The PurePlay Z3 2.0 is a serious upgrade, bringing numerous new features to an award-winning package.

Specifications

Brand: Lypertek

Battery Life: Up to 80-hours

Bluetooth : 5.2

Pros

Outstanding sound

Great price for sound quality

Excellent battery life

Comfortable for prolonged listening

Customizable EQ and LDX Mode

Cons

Not overly stylish

Buy This Product

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 amazon

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// Bottom

The Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 is, simply put, one of the best budget true wireless earbuds on the market.

Lypertek's PurePlay Z3 2.0 is the updated version of 2019's Lypertek Tevi, and it brings a serious glut of upgrades in critical areas, such as Bluetooth 5.2, wireless charging support, customizable EQs, and a new companion app.

Throw in the 80-hour battery life and IPX7 waterproof rating, and there are very few alternatives that can compete with Lypertek's affordable yet powerful true wireless earbuds, especially not at this bargain price point.

Surprised? Intrigued? Find out more in our Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 review.

The Best Budget True Wireless Earbuds

Let's start from that lofty statement—the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 earbuds are the best budget true wireless earbuds you'll find on the market today. Although Lypertek still flies under the radar for many audio enthusiasts, the company has won several awards for its earbuds, including the first iteration of these earbuds (then known as the Lypertek Tavi).

There are several reasons why the PurePlay Z3 2.0 stake a claim as the best true wireless earbuds on a budget, but it centers on three of the most important things: sound, comfort, and battery.

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 Wireless Earbuds Sound Fantastic

Sound quality is the most important feature for any set of earbuds or headphones, and the PurePlay Z3 2.0 sound brilliant.

What I like most about the PurePlay Z3 2.0 sound profile is that it doesn't have one. As a result, it is nearly flat, allowing you experience your music how it was meant to be, without the earbuds pushing a sound profile on you. So much of the time, when you buy earbuds or headphones, the manufacturer has an idea about how they want music to sound through their hardware.

Lypertek eschewed that approach entirely, and the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 might be one of the easiest and cheapest ways for regular music lovers to grab something approaching an audiophile style of earbuds without spending a fortune.

The flat EQ means that no matter what music you throw at the second generation PurePlay, it sounds good.

One of my all-time favorite tracks, Toots & The Maytals 54-46 Was My Number, is delivered with outstanding precision, the rolling bass riddim coming through clearly with Toot's vocals. Similarly awesome is Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up, each shrill trumpet blast and horn riff landing perfectly against the rapid conga section.

Dance and electronic music is a similarly delightful experience, whether you're stomping to techno classics like Laurent Garnier's Crispy Bacon—hard, punchy, and powerful—bouncing to something more euphoric, or throwing shapes to some proper jungle.

Another way to reveal the PurePlay Z3 2.0 strengths is with a so-called concept album. Pop something like the Mothers of Invention's Freak Out or Pink Floyds The Wall on your device and play it through these wireless earbuds. You'll be experiencing these incredible albums true to their recording, delivering the essence and mood of the music without encroachment.

Overall, the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 is one the best budget wireless earbuds for sound, and you really will struggle to find another earbud at a price delivering such quality.

What Is LDX Audio Mode?

Lypertek has rolled out a new feature with the PurePlay Z3 2.0 wireless earbuds: LDX Audio mode. According to Lypertek, LDX (Lypertek Definition Expander) Mode brings "an improved soundstage with added depth, increased definition, and a greater sense of space."

What that translates to is an integrated custom EQ of sorts, accessible through the Lypertek PureControl app. When switched on, LDX Mode instantly changes the earbud soundstage, delivering an amplified bass setting and generally providing what feels like an expanded EQ range.

How you feel about LDX Mode will probably depend on your preference for listening to music. Because you cannot adjust LDX Mode, it impacts different music genres in different ways, giving most tracks a noticeable push in the direction of bass but making some adjustments to the mid-range and top-end, too.

Overall, LDX Mode works well. Lypertek crafted the new mode specifically for these wireless earbuds, and it definitely delivers a boost across all levels.

Change EQ Settings and Find Lost Earbuds Using the Lypertek PureControl App

The PurePlay app also includes some extra features, such as a custom EQ, audio passthrough, and a lost wireless earbud tracker.

As the PurePlay Z3 2.0 has a fairly flat EQ to begin with, you can get some decent use out of the customizable levels, although you should note that there are just seven channels to fiddle with. For most users, that's more than enough, and there are also eight pre-configured EQ settings covering things like Dance, Hip Hop, Bass+, and so on.

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Now, the PurePlay Z3 2.0 wireless earbuds don't have active noise cancellation (ANC). It's not a big miss, to be honest, and for this price point, ANC can be incredibly hit or miss. Lypertek's energy has gone into crafting a brilliant audio product without worrying about extras, which is a good decision.

You can enable audio passthrough using the PureControl app if that's something you require while out cycling, running, or just in public in general.

Another nice touch in the new PureControl app is to find your lost earbuds using the in-app connection map. If you use the app to manage your connection to the earbuds, it will remember the last location you had a connection to them before they went offline.

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0: Massive Battery Life, Comfortable for Hours

Supporting the PurePlay Z3 2.0's outstanding audio is another equally important feature: battery life. There is nothing worse than grabbing your true wireless earbuds for the morning commute or a big day of hiking, only to find they're dead.

Lypertek addresses this in two ways. First, the PurePlay Z3 2.0 has a phenomenal battery life of 80-hours, making them one of the best wireless earbuds for battery life anywhere. The wireless earbuds themselves hold up to 10-hours of playback, with the charging carry case delivering another 70-hours of playback. Earbuds with massive battery life are a game-changer, and you won't be disappointed with them.

Second, one of the PurePlay Z3 2.0's upgrades comes in the form of wireless charging support. So you can pop the PurePlay Z3 2.0 on a wireless charging pad when you come in from work or otherwise, safe in the knowledge they'll be ready to go again when you need them.

The Lypertek Wireless Charging Pad retails for $25 and has Qi wireless charging support for 7.5W, 10W, and 15W, meaning it works with your smartphone and other hardware with wireless charging support.

But what good is long battery life if the wireless earbuds are not comfortable to wear? Well, Lypertek has that covered, too. I'm always cautious about recommending wireless earbuds on the basis that they're comfortable for prolonged periods.

Everyone's ears are different, of course, and can tolerate in-ear hardware for different times. The second-generation PurePlay wireless earbuds come with four sets of ear-tips: small, medium, and large, with an additional set of FlexFit foam ear-tips in medium size.

The Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 wireless earbuds were comfortable for hours of continual usage through my extensive testing, with the small tips. The earbud units aren't overly heavy, which can lead to the feeling of earbud fatigue, and once you twist or wiggle them into place, they won't budge.

A Stylish Charging Carry Case Design

One final thing to note is the stylish charging carry case wrapped in a textured fabric matching the earbud's color. Both the white and gray charging carry case look good and add a little bit of style to the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0, which, let's face it, are a little plain visually.

The lack of a defined style for the wireless earbuds isn't a knock on Lypertek. There really is only so much you can do with a form factor this size. Sound quality, battery life, and comfort are the most important wireless earbud features, and that's where the PurePlay Z3 2.0 bring the goods.

Is the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 Good?

Let's boil it down to the big question: should you reach into your pocket and swap some hard-earned cash money for the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 wireless earbuds?

Yes—yes, you should.

Dollar for dollar, pound for pound, the PurePlay Z3 2.0 true wireless earbuds are sensational, easily one of the best options available at this price point, and a guaranteed excellent choice.

In terms of sound, the Z3 2.0 punches well above its weight and delivers an exceptional, clean sound. 80 hours of playback won't let you down, either. While some may find the lack of ANC off-putting, the comfortable, snug fit does reduce a huge amount of external noise. Furthermore, the introduction of Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm's aptX codec is yet another bow to the string of these outstanding true wireless earbuds.

The Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 true wireless earbuds retail for $100, and they really are worth every single cent.

Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 Review: The Best True Wireless Earbuds Under $100 published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[navienmate]

Your Guide to Better Sleep During a Global Pandemic

COVID 19 is now in its second wave in the United States, and cases are increasing. The worry and stress of this global pandemic can interfere with many aspects of your life, including your sleep habits. 

Getting enough sleep is of paramount importance during a global crisis, as it can help boost your immune system, strengthen your mental resilience, and give you more energy to face a day of uncertainty. 

Filled with tips ranging from meditative journaling to purchasing a water-heated mattress pad, this guide can help you get a night of better sleep during a pandemic.

Sleeping Through a Crisis

Though it doesn’t immediately seem related, quality sleep can help you survive this global health crisis. Restorative, deep sleep is necessary to keep your white blood cell count up to help you fend off infection.

Sleep is also necessary for your sanity. Poor sleep is associated with a decreased quality of life and depression.

Below are some ways you can improve your sleeping habits.

Avoid Caffeine

Most people drink some type of caffeine to get them through the day—be it coffee, tea, or even soda. However, as helpful as caffeine is in the morning, it can be troublesome when it keeps you awake at night and prevents you from falling into a deep sleep. 

If you want to be able to fall asleep more easily and stay asleep, avoid drinking caffeinated beverages at night. One person’s caffeine intake can differ from another, so you can also try to drink less of it throughout the day.

Have A Routine

It helps to have a pre-bedtime routine so your body can gradually relax and until it’s time to fall asleep. This is certainly easier than hitting the hay and expecting to fall asleep immediately!

Come up with a relaxing routine that slowly signals your body that it’s time to power down for the night. Here are some tips:

Stop work or play at a consistent hour.

Turn off the lights, appliances, and devices around the house that won’t be used during sleep (this signals your body to “turn off” too!).

Take a warm bath to dilate your blood vessels and relax your muscles.

Play some calm music and light some scented candles (tip: playing the same music or smelling the same scents at bedtime every day can condition your body to prepare for sleep every time you hear or smell them!).

Replace scrolling through your phone with reading a book before bed.

Write in a journal.

Do meditative breathing exercises.

Do this every night and eventually it will be easier to fall asleep as the routine will help your body transition to rest.

Change Your Diet

Starchy or sugary foods are full of carbohydrates, powering you up before bed instead of getting you to slow down and relax. Spicy and acidic foods can irritate the stomach, making you uncomfortable when you lie down. It’s best to avoid these foods for dinner or a midnight snack.

On the other hand, you can try filling up on foods that promote sleep. A glass of warm milk or chamomile tea may help relax you before bed.

You can talk to your doctor or a nutritionist to see if there are certain foods in your diet that could be affecting your sleep habits.

Turn Off Everything

If there are things in your bedroom that keep you up, it’s time to turn them off. This includes your lights, your phone, and even the television. If light shines in through your windows, you may want to consider room darkening blinds or a night mask. 

Electronic devices, specifically, may give the illusion of helping you fall asleep. However, light from these devices trick sensors in your eyes into thinking it’s still daytime sending signals to your brain to stay awake. This makes it harder for you to drift off to sleep.

Turning your lights and electronic devices off at least thirty minutes before sleep will help signal your brain to power down, so you can fall asleep more easily and sleep better all night.

Reflect With a Journal

If you are struggling to sleep because of the stress and anxiety that the global pandemic is causing, you are not alone. There are many people who have a hard time falling asleep because of myriad worries about the virus.

It seems as good a time as any to take up the habit of journaling. You can get to the bottom of confusing thought processes or work out revelations that you can act upon in the morning. You can also list down things you are grateful for despite everything.

All in all, writing down how you feel can provide an outlet for turbulent emotions during this uncertain time. Releasing this negative energy before bed may help you feel unburdened and more ready for sleep. 

Use a Heated Mattress Pad

Bedtime essentials designed to increase comfort, such as a heated mattress pad, could help you faster and more deeply asleep. 

Mark Greene from Men's Axis writes, "I no longer need to waste electricity with an inferior mattress topper. It helps me get a great night’s sleep and I personally recommend it." The gentle heat of the bed warmer can relax your muscles, create a comfortable environment, and allow you to doze off more easily.

Since the bed warmer pad maintains a constant temperature, you won’t wake up feeling too hot or too cold in the dead of night. This is significantly better than fiddling with an electric blanket! You can simply set your desired temperature, and the mattress pad will automatically calibrate and recalibrate itself to stay at that temperature the entire time you’re asleep.

Finally, if you share the bed with someone, you can set your bed warmer pad to two different temperatures. Each side of the bed is warmed to the optimal temperature of the user, so there’s no need to squabble over whether the bed is too warm or too cold.

Whatever Helps You Sleep at Night

If you are looking for a way to get a good night’s sleep despite a global crisis raging on outside, you’ll need to adapt your bedtime behaviors. The above tips can help you do that. And if you need a little extra help getting warm and cozy once you crawl into bed, a mattress warmer may be just the thing you need.

If you are looking for a bed warmer, be sure to check out the Navien Mate website today!

source https://www.navienmate.com/blogs/navien-mate-heated-mattress-pad-news/your-guide-to-better-sleep-during-a-global-pandemic

[ecotone99]

[SF][HM] Rex and Relaxation

Original Prompt: Farmers Market in Space

The suns were shining high in the sky over the town of Brill and the slightly-cool-but-not too-cool air was crisp and refreshing. Birds were chirping and the town was bustling with the sounds of commerce as people bartered back and forth for goods in the Farmers Market. Brill’s Farmers Market was famous throughout the region and all throughout the month of Moonuary people flocked from far and wide to see what kind of neat shit they could obtain.

Far away from the town of Brill, a man sat in a captain’s chair on the bridge of a spaceship. His name was Rex Flexington. He could flex the space-pants off any space-woman in the room whenever he wanted to. At least that’s what his traveling companion and on again-off again best friend, Leo, told him. The pair had been traveling through the quadrant for some time, seeking out a substance known as space rubies. Space rubies were mythical gems that were rumored to exist and were named quickly and not very cleverly. After searching without luck for sometime, the pair decided they could use some R&R.

“I could use some R&R!” shouted Rex, as he stood up from the captain's chair, stretched a little, and started walking over to the ship’s molecular synthesizer.

“Boy, could you!,” said Leo, who was sitting next to him in another chair, “no one works as hard as you do, boss!”

“That’s goddamn right,” replied Rex as he reached the synthesizer’s main panel.

“Beer me!” he said, as he pushed a button on the device.

“Like, what kind of beer do you want, babe?” asked a gruff voice that definitely belonged to some kind of yoked AF biker.

“Gimme uh- wait, what the shit?” said Rex, taken aback.

“Leo, did you switch the computer voice to Harold again?”

Rex looked over at Leo, but Leo had pulled on some headphones and had the volume cranked way past 11. “Well whatever. Surprise me,” said Rex as he pushed the button again.

“Ooh mama like,” said Harold, then within the cavity of the molecular synthesizer an Omicronian black hole stout materialized. Rex twisted the bottle cap off and took a long swig. He belched, walked over to the command chair and said “What’s nearby?”

Leo fiddled with a tablet and said, “Looks like the only thing within 100 light years is settlement called Brill. Hmm... I found an old spwebsite for Brill’s Famous Farmers Market. Ooh it looks rather quaint, I think we could find some really neat shit there!”

Rex squinted and looked at Leo. He burped again. Then he scratched his scruff. Did I mention he had some scruff? Like just a little bit of stubble? The kind that a hot actor or maybe a professional athlete would have? Anyway...

“Whatever, yeah sure, let’s do it,” Rex said. Soon they were en route to Brill and before long, their ship had entered Brill’s atmosphere. Brill was a terraformed asteroid and the only thing on that asteroid was the town of Brill. According to the spwebsite that Leo had found, the asteroid had been terraformed for the sole purpose of setting up a farmer’s market and “definitely not for any nefarious reasons”.

Before long, Leo landed the ship in a parking lot and the pair were ready to

explore the market.

“Rex, hold up a second, I’m getting some weird readings on the ship’s scanner, I think it must be malfunctioning. I’m going to stay on board for a few minutes,” Leo said. “Go ahead, I’ll catch up. Oh and don’t go getting all the honeys without me.”

Rex cocked an eyebrow at his friend and then disembarked from the ship and made his way to the center of town. He stood at the edge of the market, surveying the different stands where various knicks and knacks were being sold. Among the knicks and knacks, he saw fruits, vegetables, high quality dining room furniture, low quality spaceship furniture, droids, coffee mugs, pocketwatches, laser rifles, jetpacks, toothbrushes, and decorative shadow boxes. He also saw a variety of very interesting looking folks on Brill, such as Gweelok, who was a Pthumerian, Thibb, who hailed from Draconis, Porthos from the moons of Livona, Q’nai the insectoid from the Groban Marshes and Louis from Earth Prime. They had all come from their home planets to peddle their wares and wow they must have come a long way because they all just looked so exotic. You really should have seen it.

Rex wandered around the market listening to various merchants shouting at him to buy their goods.

“Beets for sale!” cried an old man, at what looked like a vegetable stand.

“Beats by Dre for sale,” he continued, “Ancient Earth audio technology-Beats by Dre for sale!” he shouted as he held up a dusty old pair of headphones.

A woman who was standing by a different booth shouted to anyone who would listen, “Candles here!” Arcane technology that was probably responsible for burning down a lot of houses, candles, here!”

“Sex bots! All the stankiest rankiest sex havin droids you ever could want!” called out one obese robot who was wearing a purple robe and an extravagant gold necklace. Behind him were indeed some very sexy robots wearing various forms of robo-lingerie. This caught Rex’s attention more than the other stands and he almost walked over but decided not to. He was still struggling with coming to terms with his robosexuality.

After meandering about for a while, Rex came across a single stand that was unoccupied and completely empty of wares. Every other stand was manned by traders and merchants and peddlers and craftsmen. There were even some craftswomen too. But not at this one. Rex found that to be a bit odd… and probably sexist.

Rex walked behind the stand and found nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until he looked back out towards the market that he thought something strange was going on. He wasn’t able to see any of the vendors. From behind the empty stand everything else was shrouded in what appeared to be some sort of a thick mist. His intuition compelled him to reach out, so he traced his hand over the surface of the stand. When he did, the surface emitted a series of glowing lights from where his fingers had been. He pressed a button that had emerged and a trapdoor opened up behind him.

Rex descended the ladder within the trapdoor and found himself in a huge underground cavern. Inside he saw creatures of all different races being whipped and beaten but he wasn’t sure to what end. Long conveyors and carts were being moved throughout the cavern but he couldn’t make out any of the contents. Guards with blasters and non copyright protected laser swords stood by, ready to lay a whoopin on any slave that got uppity. Rex barely had time to collect himself and look at all the crazy shit before a pair of guards ran towards him, yelling in an unknown language.

“Uhh.. this isn’t the men’s room!” said Rex, as he began climbing back up the trapdoor’s ladder. He dodged laser blasts and took his his own blaster out of his holster and got a few quick pop shots off. During his climb two guards fell dead but more and more came to see what the commotion was. Rex felt a good solid blast to his butt as he was just exiting through the trapdoor. Thankfully he kept his honey-buns real tight and though the laser burn was deep, his glutes were used to a deep tish burn cause you know Rex didn’t skip leg day.

Rex slammed the trapdoor shut behind him and walked out through the shroud that was wrapped around the stand. He wanted to play it cool as he walked through the farmer’s market and back to the ship as to not call any attention to himself. He called Leo on his communicator, “Leo, are you still at the ship?”

“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out what’s up with the computer, it’s saying that it’s detecting-,” Rex cut him off.

“I don’t care what it says, get the ship ready to go right when I get there!”

“Aye aye cap’n!” said Leo.

Rex closed the communication and came to the center of the farmer’s market. A laser blast whizzed by his head and the crowd began to part. Remember those named characters from before? Didn’t you think it was weird that they were named but then didn’t take any part in the story? Well guess what, they’re back baby!

On Rex’s left and right stood Gweelok and Thibb. In front of him was Porthos and Q’nai. Behind him stood Louis and yeah, shit was about to go down.

The suns shone high in the sky as the 6 stood in the center of the market. Gweelok, Louis and Thibb had blasters pulled and were ready to fire. Porthos and Q’nai stood in front with laser swords drawn.

After a tense standoff but before anyone had a chance to react, the candle stand suddenly burst into fuckin flames. Everyone looked over to see what the hell had just happened. Everyone except Rex. He jumped in the air and did a wicked awesome backflip 360 McTwist and as he did he fired three shots, taking out the three baddies with the blasters, leaving only the two blade boys.

The pair with the definitely not lightsabers charged Rex, deflecting his shots as he fired at them. He sidestepped their thrusts and backed away from them, making his way over to the extravagantly dressed robot from earlier.

“You tryin to love up on some bot-donk-adonk?” asked the obese robot as Rex came up to him.

“Bill me!” gasped Rex as he dodged slashes and thrusts from the two assailants.

With that, Rex grabbed the hand of one of the fine-ass fembots and started to dance with her. He twirled this way and that, using her robo-body and more specifically her robo-booty, strategically blocking blow after blow from the attackers. They attacked in a flurry but couldn’t land any meaningful strikes. Rex’s dancing was just too good.

“This is some real dogshit,” growled Porthos, who as I said, was from the moons of Livona, and was therefore a wolfman, as I’m sure you already know.

“BZZZZZZZZ”, buzzed Q’nai.

Rex continued to spin and the prosti-bot continued to take the impact until sparks filled the air. But it wasn’t love… No! It was her electronic flesh being cleaved! You should really feel sorry for her. This is a very REAL thing that is happening! Anyway, the dancing continued. The sparks flew. Oil spewed out. Oil spewed out until suddenly the flames from the candle stand caught the slick that had pooled on the ground! Rex flexed a powerful flex and shoved the bot into the assaulters and towards the flames. The pair were engulfed and Rex flipped away while a great fireball exploded behind him.

With that, he made his way back to the parking lot as the Farmers Market burned behind him. When he finally made it back to the ship, Leo immediately blasted up and away. Rex lay on the command deck panting, thankfully he had only suffered some laser sword lacerations, some blaster wounds, and some emotional scarring from having to face his robosexuality head-on in such a powerful way.

“Rex, you’ll never believe it!” said Leo.

Rex was too exhausted to reply.

“I checked the scanner over and over. There’s no way it was wrong. You know what it said? It said that the core of Brill is made up of..”

“Of what?” Rex sighed.

“Space rubies!”

submitted by /u/YouKeepDaMoney [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2NIAkHT

[fitpedometer]

Fitness Gadgets To Make Exercising More Fun

A calorie consuming counter is an instrument or PC program that empowers you to see how your arrangement program is working for you. Realizing what number of calories you are expending is a key issue in organizing a readiness program that will empower you to get the thin, fit body that you're running for.

There are two sorts of counters shown for you to use, and remembering that both are important, you may find that one Kind or the other will be progressively useful to your destinations. They both enable you to pursue how much development you're getting and what number of calories you're expending.

There are two noteworthy combinations of counters acquainted with you; one that screens your calories obviously, and those that you use to choose the calories expended. Both of these usage checks subject to your mass, age and sex. What fluctuates is the methods by which you use the calorie expending counter.

The explicit type is a little device that is generally fixing to your upper arm. You code this contraption with your major bits of knowledge, and it uses an extent of sensors to screen what number of calories you're expending. This fuses watching your gleam, your heartbeat, and your perspiration to get a picture of how extraordinary you are working.

This sort by and large works fine, and you can see it being utilized on the TV program The Biggest Loser, yet it's not for every individual and each condition. For a specific something, these bits of apparatus will all in all be cost, and you may not be Prepared or prepared to get one.

Another issue with this kind of calorie burning counter is that wearing a gadget like this may easily be uneasy. Just a single out of each odd one gets a kick out of the opportunity to have a little instrument lashed to their arm, and various people loathe the kind of looks and questions they will get while wearing them.

The other kind of calorie expending counter is in truth two sorts, yet given that they work practically equal, there's no motivation to part them out. The key idea of this sort is that you can physically investigate what number of calories you've expended for each activity.

The two sorts of this sort are either electronic or a direct delicate cover. Whichever one will have records and graphs that will empower you to find out definitely what number of calories you are devouring when you are doing whatever you're doing.

The disadvantage of using this kind of calorie consuming counter is that it requires more work on your part. You have to genuinely rotate toward the sky or insert the exercises that you do, and this makes it incredibly simple to just not endeavour. On the other hand, you can do it at your own one of a kind solace, which is at least an.

The perfect weight the board program is both a prudent philosophy and nonstop improvement. One can not expect ponders or remarkable results medium-term, any indication of even little weight decrease of weight should be taken vehemently and recognized whether you are not wiped out something unique. Have confidence in the security and be strong.

Various parts contribute in the weight gain. They are a direct result of the kind of sustenance that you use, the physical activity you do, the kind of lifestyle you have, mental weight, etc. Innate characteristics and your age similarly expect a fundamental occupation, as cleared up by pros, that the human body will, in general, attract fats at 30 years of age or more. The calorie devouring limit gets thwarted after the age of 30 as the absorption backs off every decade. The crucial fragment, the mass gets replaced by fat mass and subsequently the decreasing of calorie burning occurs. There is a partiality to back off the rehearsing affinity moreover in the midst of the time.

Your get-sound arrangement thusly should have the ability to address all of these issues. When in doubt there is no basic and fast response for it. You need to manage the distinctive issues, fathom your body better and set reasonable concentrations for weight decrease which remains forever.

At any rate, this isn't inspiration to be irritated or to be slowed down; masters have also prescribed the leave plan from this issue. Despite the way that it is hard to lose all of that extra substance, yet you can be viable with time just if you endeavour to appreciate yourself well.

You need to start the weight decrease practices well ordered. Endeavouring speedier ways to deal with getting fit as a fiddle may ricochet back on you. Also, practice when you are needy upon it there is no favourable position in attempting to a degree that your body may start feeling the repercussions.

Regardless, before we proceed for the calories copying movement let me uncover to you that there are other basic things which we need to take into acumen and that is about the strong sustenance and the physical activities. We need to review that what we eat has a lot of effect on our body.

Thus, it is better that you direct the dietitian who is working professionally making an eating routine chart for and it would genuinely make your sustenance strong yet you require not to put in those careful exercise plan which would be going to vacillate you from doing the movement for calorie burning.

Not just the eating routine legitimization for the calorie expending but then you have to guarantee each day activity to some degree dynamic. This would upgrade the calorie devouring and meanwhile, you are making your life chirpy in like manner which is a basic component for the calorie expending.

Checking calories, really counting them figure by figure, is a relic of days passed by. Acknowledged by the boundless movements in advancement, there are by and by such things as online Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) analyst s and calorie counters. These make it a lot less difficult for you to do your math! The past chooses your calorie needs subject to your stature, weight, age, and sexual introduction while the keep going referenced, on what number of calories you truly are getting from the sustenance you eat every day. This would give you a 10,000 foot see on paying little respect to whether you are eating more or eating not as much as what your body needs.

In case getting fit as a fiddle is your conclusive goal, there is just a single even more part to the condition. You understand that you have been eating more than what you should have so the request right now is: how might you figure the number of calories you are burning with the element of activity, or inactivity, your present lifestyle has? Plus, what number of more calories would it be a smart thought for you to devour shed those couple of extra pounds?

For this development, we get the help of J. Arthur Harris and Francis G. Benedict, who made, clearly, the Harris-Benedict condition. For this formula, you would need to your BMR expanded by a development factor:

1.2 for inert, which suggests having no movement;

1.55 for moderate activity, moderate exercise for 3-5 days in seven days; and

1.725 for careful activity, which incorporates hard exercise for 6-7 days seven days.

We should at present spotlight more on the calorie devouring action. Try different things with these exercises for the calorie devouring, any way you comparably need to consider a couple of insights of which would be especially useful for you to expend your calories. Expending calories requires consistent smooth advancements so make sense of how to develop a cadenced style when working out.

Other than the above tips you have to remember that breath to some degree progressively significant and use to some degree more lung limit with respect to practical calorie devouring action. Do whatever it takes not to hold extensiveness while you are doing the action. Along these lines, attempt to review these tips beforehand you will do the action for the calorie devouring. Here are the exercises:

1 Jumping Rope - This is one of the slightest complexes, yet best exercises one can do. In just 15 to 20 minutes, jumping rope will give you an unparalleled total body work out. Jumping rope is ideal for cardiovascular steadiness and enhances execution is in every practical sense any diversion - tennis, ball, football, skiing, volleyball and that is just a glimpse of a larger problem. This essential concentrate is furthermore amazing for eye-hand coordination, sidelong improvement, foot and hand speed and preparation.

2. Dashing - Sprinting not simply expends HUGE proportions of calories while run, it moreover keeps your assimilation flying for an extensive timeframe after. Run joined with running/running can bring dazzling results.

3. Turning - These high - control activities to music reproduce a testing bike ride, complete with slants, valleys and fluctuating rates, all coordinated by the social affair instructor. So explore different avenues regarding these exercises for expending your calories and I am relatively sure that it would to a great degree going to empower you.

[cstesttaken]

HTC U11 Life (with HTC Sense) review

After being in flagship land for the last few weeks, I wanted to come back to a midrange offering that should be on everyone’s radar. Despite being midrange, the price of HTC’s latest offering does not reflect the experience that it ended up providing. This is the HTC U11, HTC Sense edition.

Kris Carlon has already done a review on the Android One version of the phone and gave it very favorable thoughts, highlighting the screen and the camera experience. However, that version is the Android One edition that is available outside of the United States and rocks stock  and minimalistic version of Android. This one is the version sporting HTC’s own software, HTC Sense.

We’ll start with that experience first, as one very important detail has to be mentioned right away – it has already been updated to Android Oreo along with the original U11 and the U11 Plus. This was a very welcome update for a phone that hasn’t been out for very long, as the U11 Life is actually more up to date than some recently released flagships.

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The update affords the U11 Life access to the polish that we’ve enjoyed in the latest edition of Android, including some features that further enhance the HTC Sense experience. Namely, the picture-in-picture mode is now part of the software suite, providing an easy way of using YouTube while performing other tasks.This feature is something we’ve already enjoyed on the Pixel 2, with usage here remaining similar – in my case, YouTube and Maps are the main case scenarios. Even with the lower specifications of the U11 Life, PiP has been useful and reliable despite some noticeable stutter and lag that occurs when in use.

Speaking of similar experiences to the Pixel 2, Edge Sense puts the U11 family in line with the squeeze feature that activates Google Assistant on Google’s official devices. The difference here is that Edge Sense can be customized for more than Assistant – it can open up any application, trigger some specific functions, and can do two tasks depending on a squeeze or a squeeze and hold. Just as it was on the Pixel 2, the feature becomes second nature when programmed to one’s most used functions, and in this case I still set it to Google Assistant but set Google Keep for the squeeze and hold. There are also squeeze functions for when you are within applications, like a quick squeeze to zoom in when using Maps. This shows how an otherwise quirky feature is being leveraged for more use case scenarios, and puts Edge Sense that little bit above the Google Assistant-centric version found on the Pixels.

I mention Google Assistant as my squeeze choice because the U11 Life also comes with another assistant, Alexa. Amazon’s Alexa application does come on the U11 Life and provides many of the same functions that users might enjoy with their existing Echos. I tried to give Alexa a fair try, but I ultimately found many of the functions I wanted to perform were either not supported or already taken up by my existing Google systems. For users who are more deeply entrenched in the Amazon and Alexa suite, having it more portable in HTC’s smartphone is likely a big deal but for everyone else, it will probably sit.

Aside from all that, HTC Sense remains very familiar. It provides the Blinkfeed to the left of the homescreens, a feed that aggregates not only news but also social media activity into one easy to scroll area. Blinkfeed is a really good alternative to Google Now that requires a little extra setup – when signing into any social media network, signing into the version made for Blinkfeed is required.

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After years of struggling, the Taiwanese electronics company is taking a drastically different approach with its mobile devices. Gone are the days of metal-clad smartphones, it’s all about that glass now. What started with the …

Sense is also one of the cleaner versions of Android, and it provides some room for customization through a themes engine that has a large amount of contributors. Users can change the icon set, the colors, and even move into a fully customizable version of the homescreen interface that does not adhere to a grid. When you need a refresh of HTC Sense, the theme store is easy to access and is actually pretty powerful.

That is all powered by the Snapdragon 630, which should already tell you what kind of performance to expect from here. Though it might play a little bit of catch up to flagship device, it really isn’t all that far behind. 3GB of RAM backs that up with a microSD card slot for expanding the 32GB of storage in my review unit. And as far as battery life goes, a pretty average 4.5 hours of SoT was achieved on most days using the 2600mAh unit.

Sense looks pretty great on this 5.2 inch Full HD LCD display that actually pumps out some good colors and is still plenty sharp for daily reading experiences. The visual appeal somewhat falters under the larger bezels that give way to mainly a fingerprint reader because there are no front facing speakers on this device.

The rest of the body is made of plastic but does have the colorful HTC backing that they have used on other U11 devices – the phone doesn’t scream premium by any means, but HTC has found a way of mitigating that as there is a IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. So, even if it doesn’t feel like the strongest phone out there, it can handle more than it lets on.

Heading down to the bottom of the device, the awkward placement of the USB-C port is almost a throwback to old HTC phones, but it reveals even more of an issue for the audio experience. The single bottom firing speaker gets pretty loud and doesn’t sound all that great, but there is a pair of high quality USB-C headphones included in the box. These USonic compatible earphones work with the audio settings to cater the listening experience to the user’s ear profile, which is something we have seen in previous HTC flagships. Thankfully, the headphones turn out to be very enjoyable, with good bass and volume. These are certainly better than pretty much any other headphones that might be included in smartphone boxes.

But the USB-C connector makes them proprietary, and the biggest bummer of the U11 Life audio experience is thus not just the lack of a headphone jack, but the lack of an included adapter. Users have to buy an adapter straight from HTC, which I feel is an unneeded extra cost on top of an already accessible price point. And if you have other USB-C adapters, they might not work with the proprietary data connection that HTC uses. If you get this phone because of its price, make sure you get the adapter as soon as possible, but if you are comfortable with using the included headphones almost exclusively, at least they sound quite great.

And finally, we can talk about the camera, which I wanted to spend a little more time with because HTC did not skimp out on them. 16MP shooters are found on either side of this device at f/2.0 aperture, which is impressive for an affordable phone. No, there is no dual camera, but that doesn’t mean the camera quality suffers. In fact, the camera is an impressive performer. In good lighting conditions, the HTC U11 Life has proven itself as a reliable companion because of its good color reproduction and sharpness in all but low light situations. Things do fall apart pretty easily in even indoor situations where there is less light, but with a steady hand users can get some good photos – we mean steady because there is no OIS installed on here.

I compared pictures between the this and the original U11 and found there to be issues mainly in the low light shots – in good conditions, it’s impressed to see how HTC managed to provide comparable quality shots. All that really holds the Life back is the higher aperture and the lack of OIS, which change proportionately affect the comparison. The front facing camera yielded very similar results, though, as the specs are exactly the same.

The only real qualm we have with the camera experience is app, which is expectedly bogged down by the lower specifications. It does have some shutter lag and is slower than its flagship brethren – so, it will require a little bit of patience and fiddling to get the best possible photo, but at least the end product has been given quite a lot of attention.

2017 was a really busy year for high-end and niche devices that pack so much in an expensive package, so it is refreshing to approach the end of the year on a high note struck by a phone that costs only $349. That could be $12 a month if you are using payment plans on the T-Mobile network or $300 outright, which is pretty incredible. There are other phones that are around this price point but I don’t believe that they quite provide the complete package that HTC has managed with their U11 Life.

And so, there you have it – the HTC U11 Life. It should be obvious that this package is not going to please the power users or the spec hungry, but I can personally tell you that using this as my daily hasn’t brought any major problems. My scores are just a bit below Kris Carlon’s review of the Android One edition, which is mainly due to my more critical view of the camera and the fact that HTC Sense, while spartan, is not as smooth or snappy as the ultra-minimalistic Android One software. But no matter which one you can pick (if you even have the choice), the main story here is the phone’s value for the money. HTC has simply made a midrange version of their flagship device that shouldn’t actually make anyone feel like they’re missing out.

HTC U11 LifeDisplay5.2-inch Super LCD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution 424 ppi Corning Gorilla Glass 3ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform Octa-coreRAMNA: 3 GB Global: 3 / 4 GBStorageNA: 32 GB Global: 32 / 64 GBMicroSDYes, up to 2 TBCamerasMain camera: 16 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, slow-motion video, 4K video recording

Front camera: 16 MP fixed focus sensor with f/2.0 aperture, 1080p video recording

Battery2,600 mAh Non-removable Power saving mode NA: Extreme power saving modeSensorsEdge Sensor Ambient light sensor Proximity sensor Motion G-sensor Compass sensor Gyro sensor Magnetic sensor Fingerprint sensor Sensor Hub for activity trackingConnectivityUSB Type-C (2.0) Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz) NFC HTC Connect Streaming media from the phone to compatible AirPlay, Chromecast, DLNA, and Miracast devicesNetwork2G/2.5G GSM/GPRS/EDGE - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

3G UMTS - 850/900/AWS/1900/2100 MHz - HSDPA 42, HSUPA 5.76

4G LTE - FDD: Bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,12,13,17,20,28, 66 with 2CA, 3CA - Support Cat 9 LTE: downloads up to 450Mbps, uploads up to 50Mbps - VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling (where supported)

SIMNanoSoundHTC USonic with Active Noise Cancellation High resolution audio recording Hi-Res audio certifiedIP ratingIP67SoftwareNA: Android 7.1 Nougat with HTC Sense (Oreo expected in November) HTC Edge Sense HTC Sense Companion Google Assistant Amazon Alexa

Global: Android 8.0 Oreo HTC Edge Sense Google Assistant

Dimensions and weight149.09 x 72.9 x 8.1 mm 142 g

How do you feel about the HTC U11 Life? Let us know in the comments below!

Source

https://www.androidauthority.com/htc-u11-life-review-811862/

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Suorin Air V1 vs. V2 | Making sense of the unmarked update

Suorin Air confusion

Everybody knows the Suorin Air. It’s one of the most successful-selling vape devices of the year. But there are two versions of this device and a bit of confusion as to which is which. In a strange move, Suorin released a version 2 of the Air that was never branded as such. Some out there aren’t clear on which one they have. And there are lingering questions about the changes to the device.

We finally got the version two and looked into what’s new. Here’s what you need to know to understand the differences in the Suorin Air V1 versus the V2.

Suorin Air Gallery

Specs and Features

Aside from a weight difference of 1.2 grams, the basic specifications are almost the same for V1 and V2 with one big difference: the version 2 is said to be temperature controlled. That would mean the coil is likely a different material and the electronics are different. More on this later.

Specifications

Size: 88 mm x 45 mm x 8 mm 

Weight: 36 g 

Battery capacity: 400 mAh 

Pod capacity: 2 mL 

Resistance: 1.2 Ohms 

Magnetic / press fit connection 

Draw activated 

LED battery life indicator 

USB charging 

Kit content

1x Sourin Air 

1x Pod 

1x Warning card 

1x User manual 

1x USB charging cable 

The changes

Better late than never… right? 

We received the Suorin Air in early 2017. I was so disappointed after a few puffs that I put it away for several months until I got the V2.

After reading many posts in FB groups like CSVC (Closed System Vape Collective) and Vape Nation about vapers loving the new Air, so I had to give it another shot. I was hoping to finally “get” the hype.

Packaging from V1 and V2

You wonder why I only show you one picture for both boxes? Because it’s the same. All the technical stuff aside – this is by far the biggest problem I can see with the Suorin Air. You don’t have the clear choice between V1 and V2 since you can’t truly tell the differences from the box. This is a major problem if you buy online, and you can only hope that your local vape store lets you open the box before you buy it. There shouldn’t be too many of the original versions still on the market, but they’re still out there.

There are some retailers that have placed an aftermarket sticker on the V2 that labels it accordingly. But this is not a given. Some V2 boxes won’t have it.

Physical differences

Visible differences on the cartridges:

The rubber plug on V1 is black, but red on V2.

You can’t see through V1’s coil housing but you can on the V2.

V2 has a horizontal plastic tab to help the pods lock in the battery.

Visible differences on the batteries:

The back of V1 says “Manufactured By Foxconn”, “Designed By Goldreams Technology. The back of V2 says “Designed By BlueMark Technology”, “Assembled in China” next to the Suorin logo.

Besides that, there are no other visible physical differences between the Suorin Air V1 and V2. Filling both cartridges is the same. Remove the rubber plug and squeeze e-liquid into it. Inserting the pods into the battery is also the same though the V2 pods don’t sit in the battery as flush as in the V1. Though Suorin boasts about their “exacting tolerances,” in reality their quality control is all over the place.

Performance comparison

Draw: The original Suorin Air is much airier than the V2. It’s neither MTL or DL. It’s a weird mixture in between, very airy but not airy enough for good DL. The draw on the V2 is more suitable for an MTL draw but my first pod was far too tight — like drinking a milkshake through a coffee straw!

Not believing that this was correct I prepared the second pod that I ordered separately. Way better. The second V2 pod gave me a nice draw that I was able to enjoy; not too loose and not too tight. I’d compare it to the draw of SMPO, just a tiny bit looser. Unfortunately, I can’t say which draw — too tight or loose — is what you’ll get since I got two pods with different draws.

If your pod is too tight, there’s a little hack for getting an easier and less restricted draw. All you need to do is take something like a little screwdriver and lift the plastic under the chimney. After you’ve done this you should have an airflow almost as airy as the V1, but it’s still capable of MTL draw.

Flavor and vapor: Depending on your luck with pods, the vapor and flavor aren’t all that different. The vapor is, however, above average for the size and type of the device. They’re both good at that. But the flavor on the V1 is much more inconsistent due to a lot of dry hits.

Leaks: I’ve gotten a little leakage with both versions. Not a lot mind you. But if it continues, I worry that it could possibly kill the batteries. I’ve used it with nic salts ranging from 50/50 all the way to 70 VG with the same results.

Dry hits: The original Suorin Air gives dry and burnt hits often. There are a lot of theories and hacks for trying to alleviate it, but it comes down to a poorly designed atomizer. The V2 is much better in giving consistent, non-dry hits, but it’s not as good as it should be considering it’s supposed to be temperature controlled.

Temperature control or not?

The V2 is advertised on the Suorin site as having “intelligent temperature control.” For those that don’t know, that means the coil should not give a dry or burnt hit. If it had temperature control, that would mean the coil material would likely be different and the electronics would have to be different. The two devices and pods should not be compatible. But they are.

This leads me to believe that there is no temperature control. The V2 pods do work more consistently than the V1 (in either battery), but I’ve gotten near-dry hits irrespective of e juice viscosity. My colleague, Zora, has gotten multiple dry hits with the V2.

The updated Suorin Air is better than the original but still falling short of the “intelligent temperature control” promise.

Verdict

The Suorin Air needed an update. Unfortunately, the update probably needs an update too! The version 2 has a more consistent vape, but the quality control is not where it should be. There is no way to determine ahead of time if you will get a super-tight draw or an easy draw. Luckily you can hack it to have an easier draw if you wish, but ideally the pods will work how they should with no fiddling.

Whether the original or the version 2, the Suorin Air is far from being my favorite pod mod. There are too many inconsistencies for me to be able to recommend it. I would recommend the Juul or the SMPO over the Suorin Air for prefilled, and the Suorin Drop or the Rubi by Kandypens for refillables.

What about you? If you have the Suorin Air, how has your experience been and what version do you have?

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The sun will probably knock out the grid someday

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/the-sun-will-probably-knock-out-the-grid-someday/

The sun will probably knock out the grid someday

Shortly after sunset on June 18, 2013, a woman drove her minivan onto Brighton Street in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her GPS told her to turn right. But the metallic voice, guided by satellite data, steered her wrong: onto a railroad track. She tried to drive off, but the van got stuck. No sooner had she ­unbuckled herself and her two kids and ushered them out than a train crumpled her car into a ball of foil. Not long after, someone sent a news story about the incident to space physicist Tamitha Skov. She didn’t just see a GPS acting up. She saw the sun acting up. While our star looks calm and contained, its ­surface roils: Spots form and darken it like scabs; loops of plasma link its regions; its atmosphere streams farther outward than the star is wide. Solar flares, which are bursts of radiation, and coronal mass ejections, which are bombs of stellar material, disturb both Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere. There, they disrupt devices—like GPS ­receivers—that rely on electricity or radio communication. This interplay between the sun and Earth is called space weather, and it is Skov’s specialty.

At the time, Skov had just begun a Web ­video series that gave space-weather ­forecasts, much like the predictions Al Roker makes on TV for clouds and sunshine. In it, she explained how our nearest star affects Earth. She had a modest but engaged following. Motorists were already starting to tip her off whenever their SiriusXM service cut out, airline and small-craft pilots would tell her when navigation went awry, and taxi drivers would describe routing errors.

A number of these accounts involved drivers rolling, at the behest of their GPS, onto train tracks, or other not-roads, especially near dawn and dusk. At first, Skov blew off these anecdotes.

When the reports kept coming, she ­consulted an atmospheric expert at the ­Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded R&D center where Skov works as a research scientist. “What’s up with this?” Skov asked her colleague. “Is it something?” Yes, the woman replied, the atmosphere is always unstable at sunset and sunrise. Add solar flares to that? “It could definitely make a difference,” the expert said. Skov checked the website of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory to see if there had, in fact, been a solar flare around the time of the ­woman’s fateful drive. And there it was: a C-class ­outburst, medium strength.

No single small solar event—like this C-class flare—can yet be definitively linked to a specific problem, like a GPS device in a minivan leading its driver onto railroad tracks. Skov nonetheless calls incidents like this one smoking guns, even if scientists can’t conclusively prove the cause. She strives to make people aware that this kind of thing can happen. “I was trying to impress upon people that GPS is extremely susceptible,” she says of the van accident, “and just blindly trusting it is nuts.”

Space weather’s effects can be small or significant. The C-class solar flare was hardly noticeable, even if it did total the woman’s car. But there is also plenty of evidence that humans need to watch out for the sun—­big-time. So Skov dedicated herself to explaining the increasing terrestrial problems that will come from the star that lets us live on Earth in the first place. She became the Space Weather Woman, connecting her viewers to the cosmos and bringing all levels of space weather to all kinds of people.

The last time the sun really made people go uh-oh was on March 10, 1989. Astronomers watched as the star set loose a billion tons of gas at a million miles an hour—a coronal mass ejection—and blasted a solar flare along with it. The radiation, traveling at light-speed, struck Earth eight and a half minutes later. As it collided with the upper atmosphere, it charged up molecules, blocking radio ­communications at Earth’s upper latitudes, including from Europe into Russia, which at the time, listeners took as Cold War interference. The radio-frequency problems mostly affected ground-to-air and ship-to-shore communications, as well as shortwave-radio and amateur radio users.

The real problems came two days later, when a slower-moving swarm of magnetically charged material arrived. It pummeled Earth’s magnetic shield, which protects the globe from everyday radiation. Charged particles whizzed down magnetic-field lines and smashed into atoms in the air, ­producing Northern Lights. Usually those stay, you know, up north. But this time, the show played as far south as Texas. Satellites lost their bearings and tottered as particles bombarded their electronics. The storm stripped the GOES-7 weather satellite of half its solar cells, ­shortening its lifetime by 50 percent.

Earth’s shivering magnetic field also ­created ground currents. Coursing along, they encountered a flaw in Quebec’s power grid. It was easier for the current to flow through the power lines than across the rocky ground, and the extra load caused circuit breakers to trip. Around 3 a.m. on March 13, the whole province went dark.

It’s Quebec: It was cold—5 degrees ­Fahrenheit in some places. There was no heat. Schools and companies closed; public transit and the airport went still. The outage affected 6 million people for up to nine hours.

Today, modern society relies on exactly the devices that such a storm disrupts. A 2017 study in the American Geophysical Union’s Space Weather journal estimated the effect if a solar storm as great as the largest on record—an 1859 shakeup called the Carrington Event—were to strike again. It would cost the United States $42 billion per day. The repercussions could last years, perhaps decades. The power grid could fail. You wouldn’t be able to get money out of a bank. Businesses couldn’t operate. Water pumps wouldn’t work; phones either. Food would go bad. Governments would have a hard time governing. “We have created an incredible vulnerability, unlike any other,” says Bill Murtagh, program coordinator for the Space Weather Prediction Center, the celestial arm of the National ­Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

Solar disturbances were largely the ­concern of academics until 1994, when the federal government created the National Space Weather Program to support research into the storms. In 1996, scientists held the first space-weather workshop in Boulder. Since 2007, they have been meeting annually to discuss the latest research. Their reports, as well as ones from private industry, eventually alarmed the Obama White House, which in 2014 established a task force to devise a defensive strategy, coordinate government agencies and the private sector, and increase the quality of space-weather predictions.

There is a greater than 10 percent chance that a Carrington-scale event will ­happen within the next decade, according to a ­paper by Pete Riley of Predictive Science, a space-weather research company. That might sound like a small number, but it’s higher than the chance of a major ­earthquake hitting California.

Scientists like Murtagh and Skov follow the sun’s activity daily, so they see how it fiddles with tech in ways most of us fail to register. It is precisely because of that familiarity that they understand how serious even ­another Quebec-size event would be. Skov wants regular citizens to gain the same perspective. That’s why, under the alter ego of the Space Weather Woman, she details for them the ups and downs of the sun’s violent outbursts.

Skov has outfitted a DIY recording studio in her home in the San Fernando ­Valley, just far enough north of Los ­Angeles that you begin to think that maybe you’re somewhere else. At the end of a road steep enough to require using a parking brake, she’s a little closer to the sky than her neighbors. This fall morning, she’s been working on a new video about why people should care about how the sun’s behavior affects humans.

Skov stands in front of a big monitor paused on a frame showing Twitter statistics. We live, she says, in a brave new(ish) world. A solo space physicist can start her own branch of meteorology from a room right off her driveway. And she can also gather information—about aurorae, radio-communication problems, and GPS errors—from a global community.

She moves away from the monitor and ­toward her camera. A green screen hangs from the wall to her right. The room shines with synthetic illumination: A ring light—like a luminous Life Savers candy—encircles the camera; across the room, a warmer bulb beams against a drugstore umbrella spray-painted silver.

“GPS is extremely suscepible, and just blindly trusting it is nuts.”

Tamitha Skov

The studio dates to her grad-school days, when Skov studied space physics at UCLA, was part of a pop alternative rock band, and ran a production company recording other musicians. After she graduated, she kept the studio going as she started work at the Aerospace Corporation, which gives guidance to the military, space agencies, and the private sector on research and development and technology transfer. There, Skov studied space weather’s interactions with satellites. “I was beginning to get this big picture,” she says. “This isn’t ‘space weather’ as a cool term. This is space weather.” Outside her professional life, she pivoted from audio to video production.

All of it spun together in 2012, as she grew concerned about the sun’s threats. She took to Twitter, where people had questions—lots of them. And Skov had answers, sans jargon. “You put three words that are from the space-science field on Twitter, and you already walked all over your character limit,” she says. Soon, she began producing short videos and putting them on YouTube. Then came the nickname and her likeness superimposed on the sun: the Space Weather Woman. The style reads as intense: close-cropped shots of the sun’s flares that make the viewer feel less like it’s a mysterious object 93 million miles away and more like it’s right there with her—and so with them.

Initially, Skov kept her two identities ­separate. She used her married name in her forecasts and her maiden name on scientific papers. She thought the slimmed-down ­science might slam into the research community at the wrong angle. But peers found her anyway after a space physicist discovered her videos and sent them to a researcher listserv. Some scientists pointed out small inaccuracies. Others simply didn’t like her “loosey-goosey” language, which didn’t use their jargon, with its specific but impenetrable meanings. She took the legit criticism—it kept her honest, she says—and left the rest. “I think I’d rather be pelted with olives from scientists than pelted with olives from the public,” she says. Now, researchers too watch her forecasts, along with 27,000 Twitter followers and 11,000 YouTube subscribers. “There is really nothing like it around,” says Christian Moestl, a space-­weather scientist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. “Her YouTube videos and Twitter feed are watched by both researchers and ­interested public to see what’s going on.”

Skov’s biggest fans are in the amateur-­radio community: people with handsets and ham licenses. Radio operators see space weather scrape across Earth in real time when their broadcasts get blocked or enhanced. Amateur radio operator Tom Crow first found her forecasts on a program called Ham Nation.

“Dr. Skov has a knack for explaining terms in detail without the feeling that it’s been dumbed down.”

Then there are the aurora tourists. Skov’s forecasts tell them where to go when. But that charge flows in both directions: Field reporters also tell Skov where the aurora is showing up. “People started informing each other, and the community began to build,” she says.

Skov believes that understanding how life on Earth is looped inextricably with our star can help people grok the import of the really, really big one. She draws a comparison to more-familiar weather forecasting. Humans grow up hearing about meteorological phenomena great and small. But that doesn’t happen with space weather. “It’s like trying to tell someone who’s never seen rain how dangerous a hurricane is,” she says.

Once people understand, they can ­prepare for extreme space weather as they do for any natural disaster: Have ­water supplies, extra gasoline, and nonperishable food, and make a plan for meeting up even if you can’t communicate. And have some board games, because this might take a while.

As the Space Weather Woman, Skov is at the vanguard of interpreting data from NASA satellites and observatories for regular folks. But when big entities like satellite operators, energy companies, and airlines need to know how the sun’s shine will affect them, they turn to the Space Weather Prediction Center, whose scientists scrutinize the data, looking for activity strong enough to cause friction with earthly objects.

Any time that happens, they send out alerts—categorized from one to five, with five being the highest—to utilities, satellite companies, and others. Toward the end of 2017 they did that around 100 times a month. With a warning, technicians can reroute electricity, reschedule communication, and delay satellite operations.

When the sun carries on in a big way, a subset of the scientists relocates to the High-Activity Room, a sealed-off spot where they talk with major players. There, the ­Federal Emergency Management ­Agency has its own internet-enabled video-­conferencing monitor, labeled like ­leftovers in an office refrigerator. FEMA needs to know what’s coming so it can prepare for the disruption a major power outage would cause, and to coordinate with operatives before a communications blackout occurs.“Communication is life or death,” Murtagh says.

In September, rescue workers got a taste of what it is like when the sun and Earth both create hurricanes. Just as Irma battered land, the sun sent out a series of flares and coronal mass ejections. High-frequency radio ­comms ceased in the storm-battered Caribbean. Hurricane Watch Net, made up of amateur radio operators, reported disruptions.

While this confluence didn’t add to the destruction, it could next time, especially as earthly storms come with more frequency and force, and are thus more likely to line up with a starburst. Just like with a Category 5 hurricane, there’d be no getting around a major solar event. All we could do is see it coming, get a sense of how bad and big it would be, and prepare to hunker down for a while.

Soon the Space Weather Prediction Center will gather the data to make more-precise predictions, with the launch this year of observatories like NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which will fly closer to the sun than anything so far, and two additions to the sun-and-Earth-watching GOES satellite series in 2018 and 2020. Its scientists have also created a model that will make local space-weather reports possible. “The AccuWeathers of the world can take the information and make a tailored product,” Murtagh says.

Those space AccuWeathers are only in their infancy, but Skov can’t wait for them—and for the broadcasters and predictors and translators who will bring our star down to Earth for people. She’s working with the American Meteorological Society to create a space-weather-broadcast certification. She might be her discipline’s version of Al Roker, but even Al Roker needs local forecasters, standing in front of their own green screens, giving that quotidian space-weather report to a curious audience. “You say, ‘Imagine 10 to 100 times worse than this,’” she says. “And they go, ‘My god.’ It hits them. And they go: ‘I get it. I really get it.’”

Contributing editor Sarah Scoles is the author of Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

This article was originally published in the January/February 2018 Power issue of Popular Science.

Written By Sarah Scoles