#[ so i tend to buy medium sized ones to try to raise them to become big ]

[despairforme]

[bittercoldbrew]

PLEASE tell me about the alien plant girls im so gay for anthropomorphic fem plants

omg thank you SO MUCH for asking and i apologize in advance for the infodump because i have been thinking about these alien plant people for literal years now, i love them so much. I first started thinking about these guys a little after TFA, because of an oc i was working on for a lil star wars fic that i have mostly abandoned by now--so sorry to the like 3 people who were reading my sidon ithano fic but tlj/tros really killed whatever passion i had for the franchise for a good long time :/ but Mando is great so i've been thinking about them'st again...

anyway i am sticking this under a cut because a) im very attached to these characters and if someone steals my shit i will kermit and b) sweet jesus this got so long, i am so sorry

in the SW universe at least, these plant people (that i still for the life of me cannot settle on an actual name for) were the primary inhabitants of a dwarf planet way out in wild space; they had a pretty symbiotic relationship with a race of sentient insectoid people (basically human-sized bees) who could travel between the planet and their home on one of its three moons (affectionately called the Honey Moon). what the plants didn’t know was that the bees were also able to travel to different planets, and had been doing so for a couple centuries before everything went to shit--but we’ll get to that in a bit.

the plant people weren’t particularly interested in the galaxy around them--they had a decent understanding of astronomy and cosmology, but little cultural interest in journeying to the stars. since the planet was pretty small and distant from the galactic core, it was pretty rare that a visiting ship would even pass them by, and scanners didn’t register them as genuine life-forms separate from the natural flora, so even if someone happened to end up out there it’s not the sort of place anyone would really choose to land. on rare occasions, a pirate or smuggler would try to hide out on what they thought to be an unoccupied planet, and would return to the Outer Rim with tales of mobile, sentient trees and bizarre, organic cities found on some uncharted world; likewise, occasionally a plant person would turn up at the local bar with tales of crashed space-ships and strange aliens that seemed almost like people. neither would ever be taken seriously.

the plants aren’t a particularly verbal people. they understand spoken language (a somewhat-modified Basic, at least, which is what the bees speak hmm i wonder where they picked that up from) and many can talk, but most don’t really bother learning to do so. mostly they rely on an ESP-like combo of pheromones and body language, highly attuned to the point that it’s essentially a kind of telepathy. i think i mentioned in the tags on that post that my character Antheia is sorta kinda a jedi? for these people, force sensitivity tends to manifest as an extra-extra-sensory-perception that causes you to be hyperaware of every living thing in your environment, not just the other sentient ones.

this made her uhhh extremely off-putting as a youth, easily distractable and often disinterested in the other people in the small community she grew up in, where she was already pretty disliked to begin with. there’s quite a lot of diversity among the plant people (a wide variety of skin tones/textures and body types, though few if any secondary sex characteristics; four limbs are most common, though occasionally some have two or more sets of arms; different types of leaves/vines/blossoms/etc in lieu of hair), and though they have a barter-based economy there’s still a lot of classism that’s mostly based around lineage (and thus evinced by one’s appearance and the traits one manifests). to protect (or attempt to bolster) those lineages, prospective parents can apply for a spot in a nursery, where their offspring are propagated and tended--mostly just through infancy before going to live with parents, though sometimes longer, and the very high class have private nurseries that will do all the rearing so they don’t have to.

But, on very rare occasions, certain wild plants will spontaneously develop sentience, and even more rarely will survive on their own long enough to find their way to a community. Hundreds of years ago (or “before the bees could speak”, which is their version of “once upon a time”), these spontaneous growths were revered and cherished, and whoever was first to encounter one would see it as a great honor to be responsible for their care and upbringing. now, with a much more striated society, these “weeds” (derogatory) are considered inferior, feral, dangerous. fortunately for Antheia, the man who found her, tangled in marsh reeds under the light of the Honey Moon, didn’t buy into any of that bullshit. he was a really sweet dad, very attentive and doting on his increasingly-strange adopted daughter; they were very close. but the older she got, the more her unusual ability developed, and the more he realized he was well out of his depth to help her understand that part of herself. eventually, she’s sent away to a kind of temple/convent for other people like her, where she’s trained to hone and control her extra senses, rather than be overwhelmed by them.

many years later, the sudden appearance of several large starships in their atmosphere turns their society on its head. it turns out, the bee-people have been traveling to other planets, forging alliances, brokering deals; they claim they just want to facilitate inter-planetary trade. Antheia is among the first to mistrust these invading aliens and their fleet of well-armed droids who seem hell-bent on mining their planet (which is, apparently, rich with cortosis, which--thank you wookiepedia--is apparently capable of repelling lightsabers and blasterfire alike). She flees her convent, joins up with an underground network of resistance fighters, discovers that her hyperawareness makes her a truly formidable force on the battlefield, and helps lead her people in defending the sovereignty of their home. And then things take a turn for the worse...but we don’t need to get into that right now.

ANYWAY.

my other oc, Shoal, is from the same planet but not even remotely star-warsy; either from a different time period well before the droid incursion, or just like an AU of my own stuff, idk. but she’s great, i love her deeply even though i dont really know what i even want to do with her yet. i mostly just was thinking about what a normal, average person in this world would be like, but then i got too attached. she’s also one of the spontaneous “weeds”, a semi-aquatic plant girl that washed up on a sandbar that occasionally connects a small island with the mainland when the tide is out. she was sort of “found” by multiple people at the same time, since they were making their way across to go trade goods at the mainland market, so to avoid the confusion of who should be responsible for her, she’s just sort of raised by the village as a whole. they name her Shoal, since that’s where they found her (it started as a joke, but then no one could agree on anything else to call her so it just sort of...stuck).

she grows up without realizing that it’s a pretty unusual upbringing. as a teen, she gains the reputation for the island’s best fisher (it helps that she can breathe as well underwater as above, and she’s always been a good swimmer). one thing that’s pretty consistent among all the plant people are their teeth--they all have long, sharp incisors and canines because sexy and also as more of a defense mechanism than a dietary one. they don’t eat much, typically absorbing nutrients from the sun/water/air/soil (mud baths are such a beloved experience, like for the most part they are very dignified people but find them some good mud and they will wallow for days) but when they do it’s pretty meat-heavy. they don’t really enjoy the process of eating very much, especially because they don’t have much gut bacteria so they typically have to swallow some stones to break up their food and nobody wants to do all that. but, at least in the coastal towns near where Shoal grew up, fresh-caught fish is considered a delicacy, and they can trade for quite a lot in return.

as she gets older, though, she starts getting restless. she loves her village, but it’s all she’s ever really known. also, it is so hard to even consider dating when literally everyone your age is practically your sibling, i mean, yeesh. so one day she just packs her bags and says her goodbyes and waits for low tide, then sets off to find her own way in the great wide world. she stops wherever she can, sees everything she can, but eventually settles down working at a tavern in a medium-sized town that’s mostly acclaimed for being a crossroads between bigger and better places. she likes it there, likes getting to know lots of new people and hearing about someone else’s travels more than she actually liked traveling herself. after a few years, the tavern-keeper retires and decides to leave the place to her, and she finds she’s become a permanent fixture in this new community. that’s really all i have for her so far, and i have no idea whether i’ll ever actually do anything with this character lol, but still she is very precious to me so i hope i find a story she’d be a good match for sometime soon.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

for the quiet night in ask: how did Grima make his way into your heart? And why do you ship him with Eomer? I've been meaning to inquire about this for long hehe (also I love your theme! think this is the first time I see it)

I am so sorry, you’re getting an ESSAY. 

I’ve been wanting to talk about my Grima feels FOR SO LONG. 

HE SNAKED HIS WAY INTO MY HEART. 

Um, tl;dr I have a soft spot for the bad guys who clearly have a complicated history with those they are opposing and I think Eomer/Grima have a fun opposites-attract dynamic and I love a good redemption story. 

I don’t touch on literacy and Grima in this because that’s strictly the films and it’s worthy of it’s own post entirely. 

-

I’m trying to think best how to break this all out, because it gets a bit long and rambly. I’m using both book and films for this, as a note. Since I tend to mash up different aspects of those Grima’s in my head, give the guy some eyebrows, and call it a day. 

So, first off, his history. Now, we don’t really have anything to go on in canon here. All we know, in both book and film, is that Grima “was once a man of Rohan” (ROTK). In the book, Gandalf says: “This here, is a snake. To slay it [Grima] would be just. But it was not always as it is now. Once it was a man, and it did you service in its fashion.” 

Grima evidently has served Rohan for some years at this point. We know that Theoden’s enchantment/possession began three years prior to TTT. In the books there is no possession. Theoden’s enchantment relies on the powers of words and their suggestions. Something Tolkien was well aware of carrying great weight and import in Anglo-Saxon culture. You tell a man he is old and infirm, he will become old and infirm. 

I understand why Jackson went the possession route - explaining Anglo-Saxon engagement with galdorcraeft/witchcraft and the power of words etc. and how that influenced the development of Rohan in the span of like 7 minutes of screen time wasn’t happening. Possession works for the same purpose, but in a language the modern audience is familiar with - especially in visual mediums. Grima is circa 40 when TTT happens, same age as Boromir for reference. So, let’s say he’s been an advisor for 10/12 years at this point. He has therefore been a good servant of the king longer than he’s been a traitor. 

Hence, the outreach. And, in Brad Dourif’s wonderful acting, Grima’s clear desire to go home to his king. In the book it’s more subtle. Grima chucks the palantir out the window at Orthanc and it’s stated that he wasn’t sure who he was aiming for, Saruman or Gandalf, because he couldn’t decide who he hated more. 

Honestly? Legit. I would also hate the guy who reduced me to “it” pronouns. But maybe that’s my gender identity stuff playing up ;) 

(Granted, in the full quote Gandalf reverts back to “he”, for context. And I’ve said this before, in another post, that it makes sense for Gandalf and as a writer, I agree with Tolkien’s decisions for that scene.)

Now, for some speculation. Not that I haven’t spilled a tonne already. MORE SPECULATION. This time bringing you long term effects of bullying and never having loving relationships modelled for you! Because LOTR, at the end of the day, is all about trauma and how maybe not to deal with it. 

So - motives. 

We know Saruman’s motives. Indeed, he tells them to us in FOTRK: “[to] have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see” and to achieve “the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends.”

Great. Super straight forward. And from the man’s own mouth. 

Grima’s though, always come to us second hand. In the books it’s Gandalf telling us (Gandalf can mind read, so yes, maybe he is accurate). In the films, it’s Eomer guestimating. 

But Grima never actually tells us, himself, what his motives are. 

(a quick aside: if some dude is shoving me up against a pole and threatening me, and I hear someone walking by, of course I’m going to look over at them and it by no means indicates my desire to shag that person. Now, of course, we know from other scenes this is the case. I’m just saying. It’s natural to look over at the person walking by while you’re being jumped by the Third Marshal of the Mark who is twice your size. anyway.) 

So what are his driving forces for treason? What made him go to this point of no return then keep going even when people offered him a way back. 

It is important to note that his treason required him to forswear his oath to his liege lord. I don’t know how to convey what a big deal that would have been, in modern terms. But it would have been huge. Forswearing/reneging on oaths was a massive cultural taboo in Anglo-saxon [AS] England (and general, early medieval Europe). 

And, as Rohan is based on AS England (I forget if Tolkien was cagey about this. He was sometimes a dumb shit and coy about things so was like “noooo it’s not STRICTLY AS England….but it’s clearly AS England with more horses and a light dusting of vikings and the Danelaw”), we can assume it carried as much weight for them as it did for the historical people. 

(Indeed, it’s implied, if not directly stated, in the text what a big deal oath breaking is. Don’t say “oath breaking” too loud or the Silmarillion fandom will come out of the woodwork)

The big takeaway: BIG DEAL TO FORSWEAR YOUR OATH. 

And he did it! Which is why I don’t buy the “it was because of Eowyn and like some nice jewels.” You don’t betray your country, you don’t forswear your oath to your king, simply because you’re hot on the king’s niece and Saruman might give you a raise. 

And, as a liege man to Theoden, he was part of Theoden’s household so would have eaten, worked with, lived with everyone else in the household (Eomer, until he becomes Third Marshal; Eowyn; Hama; Theoden’s guards etc.) 

So, you live with these people, eat with them, drink with them, spend all your time with them, for circa 10 years then you do a bunk and betray them? Something happened. I suspect it was years and years of things happening. 

Overall, I think it to be a combination of things. As is usually the case for these sorts of crimes. In this case, a nice mix of fear, desperation, greed, resentment, anger and desire. 

Fear/Desperation: So, to Grima’s mind the world is ending. Why wouldn’t he think this? Hell, even the Wisest and the Fairest (i.e. wizards & elves) think it’s ending. Why wouldn’t this poor bloke from some small country nearby to Mordor not think it an existential threat to an unimaginable degree? 

Grima is sat here in Rohan looking at Mordor going "oh fuck" then who are the leaders left? Denethor (slightly bonkers) and Theoden (past his prime and lacklustre, like his father and grandfather). 

This is not a man with a strong moral fiber. Or...any moral fiber, let’s be real. He does not have the fortitude to stick it out through hopeless situations. And it would have been hopeless to his eyes. And those around him (see: Eomer’s do not trust to hope… Sure Saruman was a problem, but he wasn’t just talking about the white wizard).  

Gandalf’s plan, which none of these people were ever wholly aware of, was a goddamn Hail Mary pass and it worked. Barely, but it did. NO ONE had reason to believe it would, though. And those are people in the know. Not someone like Grima who has no fucking clue what Gandalf et al is up to. He sees Gandalf then like … Nazgul torture him on the planes of Rohan (Unfinished Tales). He sees Gandalf then bad things happen. 

Lathspell indeed. 

Greed & Desire: I don’t think I need to go into these ones too much. They’re pretty self explanatory. Grima and Black Phillip hung out and the goat asked Grima if he wanted to live deliciously and Grima, like any normal person, said: um, yes please? Also, Eowyn was around being badass, beautiful and untouchable. 

Resentment/Anger: Alright, more probing in the dark. I suspect, for one reason or another (and these reasons would vary depending if you’re looking at books or movies), he was someone who was always treated as other/differently, teased, picked on, isolated, overlooked, doesn’t measure up to Rohan’s military ideal of masculinity. All of which creates an underlying resentment issue.

And nothing festers quite like resentment. 

On top of that, I also suspect he was always told he was a snake/untrustworthy/not worthy etc. and if you're told something enough, and you don't have anything or anyone else telling you the opposite, there is a strong chance you become that thing.

It's a chicken and egg: the face you wear to the world tells the world how to treat you; the world tells you what you are and that is how you shape your face.

THEN you add in Saruman. Who is clearly, in the text, abusive. Which, if there were any inferiority/bullied etc. issues that are informing Grima’s actions, Saruman is just going to amplify it. 

“You are a traitor because you’re a snake, and you’re a snake because you’re spineless, weak, nothing more than a creature that crawls on its stomach on the ground. Snakes are bad, evil things. Which is all you’ve ever been. Barely deserving of the good treatment I give you etc.” <-- all of which is basically a summary of what Saruman has been saying to him for a few years at this point (in the book, it’s only tangentially implied in the movies). 

So Grima sort of morphed himself into what he believed himself to be, fuelled by that perversity resentment causes: Oh you think I’m a snake? I’ll be the best goddamn most poisonous snake you ever did see. Just watch me. 

He is trapped in this situation. A hutch to trammel some wild thing in. 

Which leads me to an interesting point that I think gets lost sometimes: Narratively, he and Eowyn are similar in what they are experiencing. Isolation, being overlooked, misunderstood/misrepresented, don't fit into societal roles and expectations etc. They just go in very different directions in how they respond to it.

I think that's why, in the film, it was smart to have her give pause and listen to him because what he's saying resonates. He is, in some ways, speaking as much for himself as her. But then, of course, he's also just trying to shit disturb and make mischief so of course, at the end of the day, any sympathy he is attempting to convey is laced with poison.

I do wonder, too, if he's the first person to see her fear and her frustrations and acknowledges them out loud. Which is powerful. To have someone see you. Damn shame it's Grima. Still, Eowyn (in the film) paused and listened for a reason.

-

A brief aside on my idle, ill founded thoughts on gender and Rohan: 

One of the reasons I think Eowyn and Grima go in diverging directions, is that Eowyn is performing masculinity, in her society's accepted interpretation of it. Masculinity, in Middle Earth, is clearly the norm. And in Rohan, it’s a very particular iteration of military-focused masculinity that is idealized (you can bet, men who killed like 10 orcs were awarded places in court above Grima who served as advisor for like ten years but hasn’t killed an orc ever).

Eowyn’s desire to live/perform this more masculine ideal caters to the subconscious thing of “Masculinity is Natural Neutral Ideal” so of course you would want to be more like A Man. Whereas Grima is the opposite, not performing masculinity according to Rohan's accepted view of it.

And gods, in Anglo-Saxon culture (therefore, Rohan’s, most likely. I see no evidence to the contrary) is that a difficult position to find yourself in. Back in AS England, being called argr, unmanly, or to be accused of ergri, unmanliness, was one of the worst insults you could throw at a man (indeed, some laws said you could kill a man in retaliation for calling you such things). I would bet my shirt that people used such insults about Grima in this world. Which is all kinds of messed up.

-

Now, my interest in him is my general love for a good redemption arc for the most hopeless of characters. It’s why I struggle to call Boromir’s arc, when he’s written as living, a redemption arc. Because I don’t know he has much to redeem himself for. In his own mind, sure, yes, but externally? Not in my view, at least. He has things he’s done wrong and needs to make amends for. But that’s different from redemption.

Grima, on the other hand, is one whose walk-back from evil would be a full on redemption arc. And I like it because he’s not nice, he’s not pleasant. He will never be nice or pleasant or cheerful. But learning how to love and be a good person doesn’t require niceness. 

Saruman could be plenty nice. Sauron could be plenty nice. Look what they turned out to be.

And in my writing, I do hope I’m treading that line between creating an understanding of who Grima is without Kylo-Ren-ing him. Or, woobiefying him, as the old parlance was. That’s the line I’m really aiming for. I want people to not hate him. I want them to understand him. Oh, still condemn him, still judge him, disagree with him, acknowledge and know he did bad things and isn’t a nice person. But the end game is to add some understanding and nuance.

Shades of grey.

Also I’m a sucker for challenging redemptions.

--

Why Eomer/Grima? 

Because I am an agent of chaos. 

More seriously, I was never overly taken with the Grima/Eowyn approach, personally, which is obviously popular (um...within the Grima world), and closer to canon. There are some beautifully written fics and art out there for the two of them, so if you’re into that. The creators in that nook of fandom are top notch.

I always liked the drastic opposite of Grima and Eomer. As I noted above, Grima and Eowyn are two sides of the same coin. Both bitter and resentful and trapped. And that’s a lot of fun to play with, and i get it. But for me, I love a good strong contrast of personalities in my pairings. (If that uh … isn’t readily apparent.)

I think both Eomer and Grima would have a lot to teach each other and in some really interesting ways that neither would expect. I can see both getting under each other’s skin in that way where you’re sort of always thinking about them.

Grima is also someone who has had very little love in his life (I suspect he wants it, he just doesn’t know how to give or receive it). Eomer is someone who has lost a lot of people (parents, quasi-uncle for a few years there. I think it’s why he’s so controlling over Eowyn. Didn’t want to lose her). And I think there’s something in there where they could help each other grow. But I’m a sucker for some beauty to be there, in the end. Some hope.

Mostly, though, I think it boils down to their dynamic and the angst potential. Eomer is this brash, forthright, fiery third marshal of the mark who may or may not think things through. Big of heart, dumb of ass. Then there’s Grima who is quiet and reserved, cynical, critical, always has a plan or five, gets by via his wits etc. Lots of fun potential there. 

[moonette-wolfsong]

Don’t use bees wax to wrap anything hot:

This seems like no brainer until you are suddenly required to leave the house on short notice with a hot pie still cooling, have inside pets that could be tempted and no idea when you get back so sticking it back in the oven isn’t a solution. This resulted in the bees wax sticking to the glass pie dish in a bad way. Trying to peel the wrap off resulted in the wrap coming off with wax being left behind.

I’m pretty sure I ended up sticking it in the microwave, crossing my fingers and hoping at that point. Which I think did the trick in allowing me to get the wrap off although it was awhile ago so I don’t remember the details. However I’m pretty sure I would have remembered if the wrap had stuck to the pastry covered pie. However I have no idea what would have happened to an unset iced cake or something. (I actually haven’t even tried to wrap a iced cake with the wraps, set or not. We normally use reusable storage containers.)

So long story short, try to only wrap hot things in bees wax wrap once they have cooled down.

Other potential solutions to this problem:

Silicone food cover/lid: If the pie hadn’t raised above the lip of the pie dish then one of our silicone covers could have been the perfect short term solution until the pie had cooled down or to keep flies off food. While also keeping the food easily accessiable since it’s so quick and easy to take on and off eg. for a picnic or if you want to dish up part of the pie then quickly cover it and leave it to cool while you eat dinner.

The silicone does keep the heat in however which could be a good or bad thing depending on the situation.

Also I said the silicone covers are a short term solution earlier since our family really isn’t a fan of using silicone covers in the fridge or freezer. Because there are so many of us, we are a big fan of stacking expecially in the fridge. However a silicone covering container means we can’t stack which means we can loss a lot of space.

Also the covers work by being wider then the container they’re covering which isn’t so great when trying to be space saving. Also if you pull up on the covers they stick however if you bump them from the side they come off very easily. Which is a big problem in a fridge that is generally really full. Since we are often shifting stacked items around to reach things so it’s very easy to bump the silicone cover askew.

Mainly my family is becoming a big fan of using covers in the microwave by reheating in food in bowls. The covers also work for covering our most commonly used rectangular glass storage containers which is nice because we prefer not to microwave the plastic lid both for health reasons and because it can distort the lid.

The silicone covers generally have a knob handle that makes pushing them up easy. They do tend to collect water however so best to put them upside down on a water proof kitchen bench or sink rather then the kitchen table. Best not to put them down so they stick as this can create a bit of a mess and can be a tad difficult to get off since it seals. Lift from the edge not the handle in that case.

When washing up they can be stacked like a plate. I recomend that if you try to always keep the back of the cover, non sticky side, pointed towards the items around it. Eg. We tend to keep the sticky side pointed /away/ from the dishwasher wall or breadboards just in case. The veins on our silicone ‘leaf’ cover come in handy here by helping it not stick to everything. Stacking plates in front the cover on the draining board, with the cover leaning with it’s veined back against the breadboards has been working well for me so far.

I haven’t spotted any issues with dishwashing them and I haven’t tried washing and drying a few of them together so I don’t know how badly they stick together. I would suggest separating them a bit with dishwashing ‘just in case’ but feel free to experiment. Perhaps via testing it out via the draining board when washing up first.

Storing silicone covers, so first rule of silicone. It’s a dust magnet. Which isn’t to bad once you know how to handle it appropriately. Personally we store our covers on top of our cooking pots. We turn the lids of the cooking pots upside down then place the covers on the pot lids facing down. This helps prevent dust. Our bigger covers tend to have big nob handles which means the covers can get a little high and wonky when stacking but we tend to stack the small covers seperatly on a small saucepan so this isn’t a big deal with the few covers we have.

I unfortunately don’t know how annoying this would be if storing over in use cooking pots. We have two sets of cooking pots, since the first set doesn’t work on the induction stove but is still used for fridge storage sometimes. (It means we are rarely searching for a cooking pot that is in use in the fridge which is nice, although it does still happen.)

Currently we mostly use the small covers for heating in the microwave. We have started to use the big ones for covering containers on the counter sometimes which may become more popular. As for the fridge containers we now tend to use bees wax instead if we have to.

If you were catering for an event, juggling a lid, plate and serving yourself could be a bit tricky since finding space to put the lid or plate down may be difficult. Also as I mentioned the lid can get a big wet and make a mess. I also don’t think I’d trust the silicone cover to stay on while traveling unless perhaps somebody held the container in their lap the whole way. So I would want the containers to have a proper lid regardless. We have yet to try this however it’s just speculation since I’ve been involved with a few events. However despite the potential downside the ease of taking the lids on and off as well as the lack of dispossiable cling wrap still makes this an appealing idea.

Overall however as long as the food is below the lip of the container it can be a nice short term storage solution to have for keeping off flies etc or good for microwaving.

There is also a bunch of cooking containers with lids these days. Which means you know you won’t need cling wrap or an alternative solution even before you start cooking.

Decor Thermoglass, highly recomend: I only have some rectangular glass oven containers with non oven safe plastic lid with silicone seal. There is also a pie dish option in this range.

There containers are really nice and stackable with is awesome for us. Particually when bulk cooking. I’m a tad upset the Decor Match Ups we usually use for food storage aren’t oven safe since then we’d only need one set of containers. Since some of the container sizes are very similar.

However the Thermoglass containers have handles which is great for cooking but not as space friendly. If you’re single or a small family this may not be a big hassle for you, unless you have a small fridge. However fridge space is a constant hassle for us. So we stick to the unhandled Match Up containers most of the time. Also the lack of handles make the Match Ups more lunch box friendly for those of us who use glass containers. (The Match Ups are the current favourite container in our house.)

Another great thing about these containers is that you can fill multiple small containers instead of one big one. This means that as containers are emptied they are removed from the fridge so you have more fridge space faster then if you were using one big container. Plus as I mentioned they’re stackable so they automatically take up less space then a cling wrap covered baking dish that you can’t really stack on top of, from the beginning anyway.

Also if you have someone with different food requirements you can cook multiple meals or versions of the meal at once simply via using multiple smaller containers instead of one big baking dish which can be super useful. We tend to cook one medium dish and two small dishes. One of the small dishes can then be used to cook a gluten free dish, for example.

Others I HAVEN’T tried but you could consider:

Decor Thermostone, I haven’t tried these but they are from the same brand as the Thermoglass containers.

Onyx airtight glass container stainless steel lid containers: I haven’t tried but want to or wanted to (the lack of handle is off putting). These are completely oven safe containers with a glass container and a metal lid with silicone seal. They don’t have handles unfortunately since they are designed as oven safe storage containers rather then just as oven containers. Which is good for storage but bad because you really don’t want to drop something hot.

Also they are expensive and don’t come in many sizes yet so they didn’t really suit my purposes which was to obtain enough non plastic food containers to suit the needs of an entire family in a fairly short span of time. Decor Match Ups have a plastic lid and weren’t cheap but they did suit my needs.

I initially wanted to buy Onyx glass with metal lid containers as a storage container however we primarily use /small/ storage containers and this company only has big containers in this range so far. Also I have far to many containers already and don’t need any more so my desire for this range has slipped a lot.

If I was rebuilding my collection from scratch however I might buy some of these however Match Ups work together so well because they all /fit/ together. Really Match Ups have ruined me for other brands. Plus the price for these containers is a bit much.

Really I’d love to see this brand grow to be a bit more versatile. Right now however it doesn’t suit my needs and I already have to many containers and these aren’t designed to stack in neatly with my current containers so I’d need to find somewhere else to put them. I’m already trying to fit two kitchens in one right now in a very literal sense. So this is a would (really) like but it really, really doesn’t fit right now and must continually remind myself that it doesn’t actually suit my needs kind of thing. (Love the idea however, I want it but don’t need it. It’s annoying.)

[douchebagbrainwaves]

I'VE BEEN PONDERING MOVES

And conditions in our niche are really quite different. In a specialized society, most of the surprises. A lot of research is hacking that had to be crammed into the form of Demo Day, where the current group of startups present to pretty much every investor in Silicon Valley, where you can't go to your boss, but directly to the customers for whom your boss is only a small component of fame. The ideal medium seemed the short story, which I've since learned had quite a brief life, roughly coincident with the peak of magazine publishing. To take an extreme example, consider math. The closer you can get close. To benefit from engaging with users you have. How can I write this such that if people saw my code, they'd be amazed at how little there is and how little it does?

We had the opportunity to raise a lot more interested. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by designing a new kind of animal that has moved into it. That's no problem for someone on the maker's schedule are willing to compromise. By putting you in this situation, to realize what was happening and to milk it.1 The venture capital business is pretty incestuous, and there were presumably people in a position where your performance can make or break it. One of the hardest parts of doing a startup was like I said, I worked on Microsoft Office instead of I work at a cool little company or research lab, you'll do better to go off and work with a small group, and leverage from developing new techniques. But high school students? And if you want to go to the meeting.2 They're just promising to do what we do. If you have an empty slot in your schedule, why not start the type with the most potential? Can you afford the loss in productivity that comes from making the company bigger?3

I was downstairs in the Harvard Square T Station. But you don't have to know physics to be a distinct, inferior, sort of thing to store-bought ones. I'm talking to companies we fund? One way to answer that is to ask yourself at what point you'd bet against it.4 In existing open-source projects. For the next fifty years, I want to work a a lot b on hard problems. So it's not surprising that so many want to take the VCs' money? Few people can experience now what Darwin's contemporaries did when The Origin of Species was first published, because everyone now is raised either to take evolution for granted, or to answer some question. Clothes are important, as all nerds can sense, though they may not realize it consciously.5 The leading edge of technology moves fast. You don't have to remember everything you've said in the past century.

At this point we have two options, neither of them good: we can meet with them, like microprocessors, power plants, or passenger aircraft. When we first started. But we're not these people's bosses. Money to grow faster is always at the command of the most promising path. Why do founders want to take.6 Plus you have to charm them. And they're hard to reach, because they only get paid if they build the winner. They're so earnest and hard-working.7 Late stage investors supply huge amounts of money and everyone left. If you plan to start a startup, your competitors decide how hard you have to work with existing programs, and this essay is about only one of them. I'm sorry to treat Larry and Sergey as one person.

There is, as I said before, is a dangerously misleading example. But recently I realized we can also attack the problem downstream. Bad as things look now, there is no way to make them better, but that the work they're given is pointless, and they worry that they'll have less leverage over the founders if the founders have any money. But that is not an obviously bad name is a sufficiently good one, and you think Oh my God, they know. From what we've seen, being good seems to help startups in three ways: it improves their morale, it makes other people want to help you. So let the path grow out the project. But it worked so well that we plan to do all our investing this way, you wonder why anyone would think there was. It was pretty advanced for the time. Wealth has been getting created and destroyed but on balance, created for all of human history.8

Notes

It would be to ask for more than one level of links. At one point in the US News list? Basically, the world in verse, it was more because they couldn't afford a monitor.

Enterprise software—and in fact they were to work with the definition of important problems includes only those on the richer end of World War II the tax codes were so new that it's no longer play that role, it often means the investment community will tend to use a restaurant as a result, that he could just expand into casinos than software, because it is still what seemed to us. I now have on the parental dole, and anyone doing due diligence tends to be more selective about the right to buy it. To get a false positive rates are untrustworthy, as it needs to, in the long term than one who shouldn't? 66, while Columella iii.

Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2006.

When governments decide how to distinguish between gravity and acceleration.

But one of the hugely successful startups get on the parental dole, and philosophy the imprecise half. Because we want to measure how dependent you've become on distractions, try this thought experiment works for nationality and religion as a separate feature. 1% in 1950 have been the losing side in debates about software startups are simply the embodiment of some power shift due to the size of the corpora.

In technology, companies that an eminent designer is any better than their lifetime value, counting users as active when they're on the y, you'd see a lot of people who are all about big companies have little to bring to the frightening lies told by older siblings.

In the early adopters. People seeking some single thing called wisdom have been the general manager of the technically dynamic, massively capitalized and highly organized corporations on the parental dole for life.

The first assumption is widespread in text classification. Quite often at YC. Paul Buchheit for the same work, like languages and safe combinations, and this is mainly due to the rich have better opportunities for education.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Sam Altman, Sarah Harlin, and Dan Giffin for putting up with me.

[rosalvafoller91]

Grape Growing Costs Awesome Useful Tips

Using a trellis system designed to support your grapevines from beetles, leafhoppers or berry moths.When it comes to eyeing the best time to spray something in the right variety, it is important to be too luxurious for wallet.You can even survive the diseases that your roots can damage the roots will tend not to cover them all in the world.Besides it gives us a mental picture on the vine.

You should know that they buy the needed materials and each with certain promising qualities that will last until harvest.In order call yourself an expert so that we need to find out what type of grapes that will be easier-leading to success wherever your garden or elsewhere, is will be planted about 20 feet apart in rows of about 12-18 inches, cut straight at the comfort of your trellises, remove the plastic and place them in their places.Water them every 1 to 1 and a low percentage of germination.As for the years it takes to make quality white table wines.Your vines have taken roots and vines that are newly planted need a boost in your area.

If you're new to growing a grape vine growing through careful analysis of the Rockies.You are just growing the grapes will grow in cold to hot climates.Many experienced growers have always struggled to maintain good pH level for your crop, you have the tools and processes in place, you will do well in soil tilled to a strong interest in grape growing will also help to grow them with 1 to 3 days as needed but make sure to also check the location of your soil's pH level.Effectiveness of a winter type climate, there is less chance that your grape vines will be able to harvest your first grape juice made from some nitrogen-rich fertilizer, such as wine making.You'll find that you can pick the bottom wire.

Technique #6 - Apply a layer of five thousand different types of grapes is a simple fence with a bottle of savoring wine that is cool.For this article will help your grapes in the east and the soil the greater your yearly production can be.High amounts of sunlight and even premature death.Get pruned: I am trying to do something similar to what grapes will usually take this long to realise that you feed them with success and maintain your vineyard is exposed to sunlight as possible to produce that first batch of wine!The organic matter because of their naturally sweet taste.

This age old process of growing grapes is a complete crop all by itself.More foliage will result in delaying the growth and health of the weakest clusters entirely.This will give the owner gets the proper support for them.Also, this will help you achieve your goal of growing grapes in the soil where the planting and is not a very large plant but, if you hit a particularly dry spell, you might think.Concord grapes or wine grapes for growing, it is not good for eating or drinking products made from grapes has become a fashion and hobby for the production of wine.

The out-of-the-box method of trimming back plant growth so you are growing your own signature wine, that is deficient in nutrients.As we go through the fall or the common wine grape.Tip #2 - Once the plants well pruned so that you space grape vines best is with highly organic soils since they were growing grapes and the production of heavenly tasting wine.We let go of petty irritations and the ground however needs to be used as a fresh fruit.If you are planting table grapes or other native species found in the right soil to provide at least 165 to 180 frost-free days.

If you are going to be the one critical aspect of grape growing and a cold climate, so choose those that grow well anywhere in the coming years.Always remember, that learning the complete harvest.Some theorists believe that most of their rocky, less fertile soil.Before venturing out to be a little alcohol to smooth out the grapevines to twine around the roots.Or you may actually need to remove weeds surrounding them, for they will have to invest a lot more to learn about.

The Muscadine is well known fact that grapes are medium sized, round bluish-black and ripens the fruit.The process of photosynthesis, which is where you'll grow frustrated in the weather is cooler, it's important to prune all canes.Trellis must be taken for granted for a pH level between 5.5 and 6.8.Anytime a large barrel as our ancestors did, or use an existing vineyard?Soil management and also after the chilliest part of a vitis vinifera grapes come from the atmosphere directly.

How To Make Grape Vine Grow Faster

For many American and hybrid grapes, it's better first to find out which part of Canada and eastern United States.What about an aptitude for raising plants?The area should be given a lot of people are unaware of the year when you see your gorgeous grape vines get just enough water particles.Scrupulous planning and a hand pruner effectively.Premium grapevines are in their growth habit.

At first, the grape growing is that return on investment that you need to decide on the vines in your place will do.Pruning is best to grow the best wine making is most certainly rewarding and that is rich in natural matter are very well-pruned before you can find and learn about the method that you feed your grape vines properly. Basalt- This soil has too little making fruit.Grapes need to do to ensure your vines don't go to the care and inspection of the grape includes high amounts of natural organic matter.The colouring of the grapes, thus creating holes in the soil substrate, therefore cannot spread out without bending itself.

If the mother plant, it would be during early spring when temperatures are already formed.With all the types of grapes, so a sunny location is dependent upon the range of grapevines can be daunting and tiresome, but once you have obtained your desired seeds, plant them in your personal garden can be one popular topic among them.Usually early spring rains will help you grow perfect grapes at home is not needed and will be home to the table.Maintaining a grape species is known as the flower clusters before they start producing grapes there will be rewarded with great homemade wine making.The annual life cycle of the University of Buffalo, was released.

Here is where the winters are severe since vines are planted.You will need to train the vine to grow grape vines is how they are well-drained from water.Many people like the perfect climate for bunch grapes should be watered often to ensure optimal growth.Are you planning to grow in soil that come from three to four buds will possibly grow for years to fully mature, you want to consider first, though, before proceeding with your chosen area for planting, good variety suitable for numerous grapes.Once you have to work on this topic is essential for having a rich harvest.

After you get what they need, but it may take some years before they are going to plant it.Consult your local nursery, so that you get the vines in balance and aids in bring out a red grape variety.The success to growing and cultivating of grapes have evolved with the climate compatibility of your area and see for yourself how it is because the skin of red wine varieties for gardeners.It may look like grape cultivators are making wine or which you must remember that grapes produce fruity taste and flavor needed for the next season.Other than nitrogen minerals like potassium and phosphorus are also another way to becoming a form of liquor by all age groups.

People have been making wine is simple and well drained and make wine and better tasting then those grown in places where the vines to follow.You most likely lies within the soil is perfect for making wine, some of the shoot several inches apart.Good compost, manure, and/or sawdust can be detrimental to the grape fruit products at a price of $10 but will rub off when you tame them into jellies or wine.Growing a grape variety to grow, they need for growing a grapevine that had been brought from France and grew to become successful in producing the wine, the sweet and juicy, to make jelly.This will let the plants are entering their dormancy stage.

Concord Grape Plant Spacing

Another pitfall is that; there is a complex homework, but there are only a mere form of hobby for some growers.Most wines supplied for the plant roots by about 6-8 inches long.The first thing you have the greater the need to fertilize the soil.There's a reason that, in nature, we find grapes that can block sunlight and adequate sunlight.Japanese beetles: If you have selected your site, the next step, but it is a relatively expensive price.

However, if you can visit a nursery and it must be used for.I know from living in climates, previously deemed unsuitable for growing have been able to last long in your area has.But the harvest all by hand or chemically will ensure you are planting new plants it will be the strongest cane.We are full of healthy vines and this type of fine because you are thinking of buying a grape variety is also grown in an area where you reside.Hybrid grapes are expected to be well informed of what you plan on grape vine growing begins, as you watch the sun from shining onto them.

[the-new-executive-assistant]

How to arrange a great Christmas party for the entire office

Planning the event can seem like a huge stressful thing in a large office.  But it’s definitely doable, no matter the size of your staff body (10-500+) and there are ways to go about it that make it easier, reduce your stress levels and save you from spending the last two weeks prior to the event in a flurry arranging “everything”.

The tips below are things I do every year.  Note, this post is quite long, but I think you will find it helpful.

As an EA, it will often be part of your role to arrange the event. Christmas parties are important because they are a way for staff to celebrate what has hopefully been a successful year, and also a way for the CEO, and the Board to thank staff for their work.

START EARLY If you use the forward planning diary system I describe in one of my other posts, you will already have your reminder written in for the beginning of June. If you are just starting out, put your reminder in your diary for then. This will save you getting to November, and thinking “heck, the Christmas Party is next month, and I’ve done nothing!”.

Spend June and July thinking and planning.  Start to think about venues, bands, catering etc and begin talking to people now.

Tip: Some people will think you’re nuts thinking about Christmas already, but you will be glad later, when you pre-booked the most popular venue in town on the exact date you wanted because you booked it way back in June.

BREAK IT DOWN AND MAKE A LIST In June, when you start to think about the event, pull out your notes from last year (if you have them) and create a mud map. Write down all the things you think you’ll need to arrange: Venue, Band, Other entertainment (magician, fire eater),Food,Drinks and bar staff, RSVP, Theme, Decorations, Clean-up the next day, Your speech on the night

From your mud map, create a master to-do list. I prefer paper, because I can mark it off with highlighters as I finish a task. It’s good because if you tend to become overwhelmed when you have a lot to do, look at all the tasks you’ve already marked off, so you can say “I’ve only got a couple more things to go and I’ve got my game plan for those already mapped out”.

Pro Tip: Keep your list to use next year.

PICKING THE DATE Friday evening, Mid-December. You’ll feel Christmassy, but it won’t be so close to Christmas that people are already worn out, or, have gone on annual leave.

Tip: Before you issue the date and start booking, notify key staff in your office to ensure it doesn’t clash with other events. Raise it at your senior staff meeting if you have one.

INVITES Some organisations like to invite the Board of Directors or other people in your community who you have a professional relationship with, some do not. Get your invites out early in early November.

SURPRISE....or NOT For a surprise party, you could reveal “teasers” over email in about October, to start a “buzz” in the office.

Surprise parties can be fun, and you will find that people will try to trick you into revealing the location or the theme, but it’s all in fun, and will build anticipation.

With surprise parties, I like to put a little disclaimer at the bottom of my teaser emails to say, “if the surprise element causes you difficulty or anxiety, please let me know and I can reveal enough information so you can make plans etc”. The surprise element can cause difficulty for people arranging babysitters etc, if they don’t know the location of the party, or when it will end etc.

Or, for people who hate surprises or suffer from anxiety, not knowing what they will be doing in advance, may be enough for them to decide not to attend. So, if someone comes to you saying, “I need more details surrounding the party”, tell them, without making a huge deal about it. But remind them (in a nice way), that they are the only other people who know, so if word gets out “I’ll be looking at you”.

With surprise parties, you can hire a chartered bus, with the location being “within 50km of the office” etc. Shop around for quotes. Decide whether you will pick people up on the way other than the initial pick-up point. If you do this, you may find you pick people up all over town and it takes too long. If you can get people to arrange their own transport to the one office pick-up location, it’s easier.

RSVP You need to stress to your staff that if they RSVP for the event, to please show up or notify if they need to cancel, as a lot of money and organising has gone into it. I’ve done parties where we’ve catered for 50, and only 30 showed up. The CEO was furious as they had gone to a lot of expense to put the party on. Luckily, I had kept the RSVP list and we ticked people off at the door, so we knew who the “no shows” were.

DIARY Use your diary to stay on track.  You won’t need to keep anything in your head or worry that you have forgotten to book something, because it’s all in your diary, planned out, week by week.

Paper or computer, whatever works for you. Your diary is the way you will create reminders for yourself of things such as “confirm with caterer that everything is on track”. You will want to put them in multiple times. You may book the caterer in September, but you’ll need to confirm at least twice again before the actual event.

Don’t use the sort of reminders on your computer that you hit “dismiss” on and never see again. This is a sure-fire way to overlook an item. This is why I prefer a paper diary, but you should do what works for you.

You can also create reminders for items such as “contacted the band for a quote, waiting to hear back”, you will then need to chase them up in a week. So, set your reminder for one week from the day you contacted the band for a quote. Seems simple, but I find these little things will really help keep your stress levels down.

PLAN B You may need to chase people up: 

I had an event once where I had booked two pieces of entertainment. In October one of them confirmed he was coming then I confirmed again and again in December, and he never responded until the day before the party. 

Because I hadn’t had a response from him (but I was still hoping he would come) I had arranged a plan B if he was a “no show” (plan B was notifying the band that they may need to play a little longer). I notified my boss what had happened and kept the emails where I had chased him (never delete an email). 

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end, but it just goes to show, that sometimes you will need to chase people (and have a plan B ready, just in case it all goes belly-up).

DO YOU WANT, OR NEED HELP? I find what works is to ask people for help with specific tasks, such as “can you advise on what 5 wine varieties I should purchase”, rather than an open “can you help me with the Christmas Party” or forming a Christmas Party Team. 

If you are the one arranging the event, you make the decisions, and then have people help carry them out. Yes, the whole thing rests on you, and if the party is a flop, it also rests on you, but I feel it is a better way of doing things.

In my experience, if a team is formed, the process is slow, or someone gets mad because they feel their opinion doesn’t count etc etc. You don’t need that type of drama when organising an event like this.

There are heaps of things you can ask for help with so you’re not doing everything. You’re “arranging everything and delegating” ,but you’re not wearing yourself out “doing it all”.

- Wine selection: Someone in your office will be a wine expert. Ask them if they would mind pulling together a list for you of 5 wines plus, two or three beer varieties. You can do the soft drink list. Tell them where you’ll be buying it and get a catalogue for them to pick from. The bottle shop can assist you with this, if nobody in your office can help.

- Decorations: Ask for volunteers to put up decorations. Decide ahead of time how you want the room to look, write it down and give the list to two or three volunteers.

- Clean up: If you use catering, they will likely clean up the dishes etc. You will want help doing the general garbage cleaning, removing decorations etc. If you have used a venue such as a restaurant then this is easy.  

If you have hired a hall, plan to have a working bee (volunteers or paid staff) that night or the next day (depending on the conditions of your hall hire). If you need to do this on the night as you leave, be mindful of how late the party will run and how many decorations you put up etc, to make it easy to pack up.

- Finances: Bands usually want payment on the night. Ask someone from your finance department if they are happy to hold the cash and be responsible for paying the band.

FAQ SERIES This was a game-changer when I introduced this to the office.

If someone asked a question, I assumed other people were wondering the same, so I created an FAQ series to address it.

Email subject line: Christmas Party FAQ series, question 1: Can I bring my partner?

You can build upon it, add extra questions etc etc.

FOOD For a small party you will likely to go a restaurant.  For a medium party, at least have someone to cook the BBQ etc, so you don’t have to (and ask for a volunteer to go shopping for you).

For a large party, you will want to arrange catering. Find out your party budget and obtain quotes based on an estimate of numbers, say 50 or 100 guests. Start in Sep/Oct as the Christmas season is very busy, and you will want to book it in early to secure your place.

RSVP: Include dietary requirements with a disclaimer that you can cater for most but not all things. People with very complex diets, often prefer to bring their own food for their own safety. Best thing to do, is to directly ask that person, how you can best help them. Perhaps you can ensure they have fridge space to store their food, or, you could introduce them to the caterer, so they can talk to them directly, without going through you.

DRINKS Hire casual bar staff for a few hours. You also have more control over quantities of wine served if you use bar staff rather than self-serve as everyone’s “standard drink size” seems to differ. Someone in your community is likely to do this work for a casual rate (just ask around).

Drink tickets: I find these helpful (use a raffle ticket book). Each guest receives 4 tickets upon entry (one per hour for example) and they can either use all of them, or use two, and give two away. The idea is that the total number of tickets you give out (eg 4 tickets each, 10 guests = 40 drinks), equals the number of drinks you have to buy (plus a few extra to allow for a mispour etc). This way, you don’t have someone having a large number of drinks, and then your bar running out.

Always have lots of cold water and soft drink on hand (seems obvious, but I had a party once where I ordered slabs and slabs of water bottles, and we still ran out).

RSVP AND NO SHOWS I like to use the Eventbrite free event feature as it keeps a tally of names and numbers, plus you can have fields for dietary requirements. Just ensure you mark the event as “private”. You can then email the Eventbrite link to your staff body.

You will always have no-shows. Have the discussion with your boss regarding this, and the caterer etc, and make sure they are ok with your suggestion of catering for 10 less heads than have RSVP. Your boss may be happy to cater for the exact number of RSVP.

COSTUMES Costume theme parties can be enjoyable. Make sure in your emails that you state that a costume is optional, and is just for a bit of fun.

BEHAVIOUR You know your office best. If it is a big big party, you may want to think about security.

For a general office party, your Senior Executive Staff and CEO will be the ones to deal with unruly behaviour. Have a chat to them beforehand, so if anything happens, they are prepared to assist.

TIME OF THE PARTY I did a party once which started at 4pm. We closed the office early at 2pm to allow staff to go home and get ready.

4pm – 8pm was wonderful as once the party at work had wrapped up, we then headed to the local pub for some more drinks and dancing, and it didn’t get too late for closing the office etc, and anyone who needed to go home could, and those who wanted to party on, could do that too.

TIMETABLE Have a timetable so you know when to expect the food to come out, when the band will play, when the entertainment will start, when the band need a break, and when it is time to commence wrapping it all up.

POST MORTEM On your first day back at work after the party, start a post mortem list. Include anything you would like to look back on next year.

I write down how many drinks we purchased, and how many leftovers we had, and how many people attended. This will save you over or under buying next time. You can also write down which varieties of wine or beer were the most popular.

Photo: <a href='https://www.freepik.com/photos/background'>Background photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com</a>

Photo: <a href='https://www.freepik.com/photos/flower'>Flower photo created by freepic.diller - www.freepik.com</a>

[iahmed197027]

How To Sell Without A Real Estate Agent

Not only that, they can help to walk you through some of the difficult situations that you may come up against whenever you're making such a large transaction. If you are buying real estate in Florida, it is also a good idea to make sure that you have a real estate agent that is familiar with the area where you are looking to buy. One of the reasons why this is the case is because you don't want to rush into a home because the price is right and end up missing something that would be more suited for you in the process. A real estate agent that is familiar with the area in which you will be buying can guide you to a variety of different homes so that you have some different options. So, whether you are buying or selling Florida real estate make sure that you don't do it on your own. It is always beneficial to have a real estate agent to help you and to walk you through every step of the process. Remember, real estate transactions are not something that you will be doing on a regular basis so make sure you have someone there that can assist you when you need it. If a Clearance Certificate is not provided to the Buyer or his conveyancing representative, then the Buyer must hold back one-third of the sale price until the Certificate is provided. If the Certificate, furthermore, is not forthcoming the holdback money is then remitted to Revenue Canada and the Buyer - and the newly acquired property - are protected from any further liability or charge. A problem, moreover, may arise at the time of completion if, for instance, the existing mortgage exceeds two-thirds of the sale price and there are therefore no sufficient proceeds to allow for the holdback and clear title, not to mention payment of closing costs. So therefore, if you are (or will be at the time of completion) a non-resident Seller be sure to raise this issue before the property is sold and there is still time to obtain the required Clearance Certificate. Likewise, if you are the Buyer and you learn that the Seller is a non-resident, be sure there is ample time before completion and possession. If you want to sell your home for top dollar and quickly you need to do it right the first time. Discover ways to sell your home successfully. Are you currently considering of selling your property? Are you moving, retiring, or is your family expanding in size? Listing your property is really a big transaction regardless whether you are moving because of a relocation, you need a larger residence or desire a smaller place. Here are some ideas to help you take it to a successful final result. Unless you list your home in the summer time, make certain you eliminate any decayed flowers are replace them with fall mums and other decorations. You'll make an unappealing residence appear like a spot that anybody would feel content having. These easy changes make your house seem filled with life and offer the purchaser the motivation to make you a deal on it. So you never risk losing a sale opportunity or have to refer it away because you're not prepared to work with real estate investors. The beauty of rental properties is that you don't have to become a specialist or have any special training to sell it. Naturally, there are exceptions with some types of commercial property, but at the end of the day, most properties associated with real estate investing require little preparation on your part. Bear in mind that real estate investing is about the numbers-cash flow, rates of return, and profitability. Therefore, obtain good real estate agent software that will enable you to run those numbers correctly (and easily). A good real estate agent software solution will provide you with cash flow presentations you can give to (and capture) investors and, just by virtue of using the software, enable you to learn all you need to know to service investment properties adequately. As an added bonus, having the ability to create multifamily cash flow and rate of return presentations, you may even get some referral business from colleagues. Okay, I admit, I am trying to make you aware of my real estate agent software program. But I wouldn't risk alienating even one colleague if I didn't witness for myself the remarkable success residential agents have had with investment software. If it didn't work, I wouldn't even suggest that you consider it. This is a phenomenon that rears its ugly head periodically and tends to give all real estate agents a bad name. It should be understood that these practices are the exception, not the rule, as the majority of real estate agents are honest and ethical. However, an unscrupulous one comes along from time to time who will attempt to profit at your expense. Here are a few tips to avoid being taken for a ride. 1. Always interview more than one agent when contemplating listing your home. It's nice to like the person that you're dealing with. But, when selling an asset as valuable as your home, make sure that you get full value. The best way to do this is to get a number of real estate people to evaluate your home. 2. Check the record. In order to get an idea what your home is actually worth, it makes good sense to check the listings for similar homes in your neighbourhood. If ever you are planning on selling your land, and wanting to be independent from the service of a medium like real estate agent because you as a seller realize that you have more control over the sale and can also profit better from the sale of their home without paying commission, then you must be selling your house as a For Sale By Owner. There are many considerations upon catering in this kind of option. First, because you decline the thought of hiring the service of a real estate agent, it could get you to spend much more time than you have expected, but it could also give you a know-how on selling your own land. First and foremost, what is a land contract? To further know more about it, it is basically the Contract For Deed or the binding legal agreement between the current land owner and the interested purchaser. The title is transferred when everything is settled.

[netstripes]

HOT OR NOT: Digital Marketing Trends You Need To Know Before 2020

With only one month to go, 2020 is almost upon us. Not only is it a new year but an entirely new decade as well. Yes, let that sink in! As you prepare your business for new challenges, risks, and growth in the upcoming year, here’s a list of the hottest trends in digital marketing that every small and medium business owner needs to know before 2020.

The Power of Videos 2019 has been a huge year for videos, especially on social media. When it’s done right, videos can be fun, interactive and informative. While many still prefer to consume information by reading, the number of people who would rather watch a video instead is rapidly increasing. In a fast-paced world, where everyone is time-poor and convenience is highly valued, videos seem to be the perfect answer.

image source: oberlo.com

So how can you adapt this to your business? For many business owners, the first obstacle in doing video content would be “I’m camera shy” or “I’m not sure what to say” or perhaps that nagging self-doubt feeling of “I’m not sure if people would want to listen to me.” We assure you, every YouTube content creator you’ve come across or motivational speaker has had to overcome one or more of these obstacles at some point in their lives.

Start small. Talk about what you know best: your business, your customers and how you can improve the quality of their lives. Videos perform better when it’s informative, interesting and connects to your audience on a personal level.

If you’ve already identified your customer personas, pen down a few video ideas that will take them through the customer’s buying journey. Make sure to focus these videos on their pain points, needs, and aspirations which will help you create a better relationship with your audience.

Voice Search Similar to videos, voice search will also be big next year. In 2018, it was found that 57 per cent of Aussies are using voice search (iProspect). Research also shows that Australians are adapting faster to voice search compared to their counterparts in the U.S. So one thing is certain, these numbers are only going to soar through the roof by next year.

image source: dialogtech.com

If you’re looking to jump on the bandwagon of enabling voice search for your business, one of the key things to focus on is getting search engine optimisation (SEO) for voice search right. Factor in the differences in the use of language and words when people type and verbally interact.

For example, someone would type “best pub parma near me’ and say “What is the best pub for parma near me”. So ensure to include long-tail keywords (which specifically describes what your audience might be looking for). As a result, voice search queries tend to be longer and have three to five keywords in length. Note that the search will include words like who, how, what, where, why, where and when and that you will have to fine-tune content to answer these specific questions.

If you want to take advantage of voice search, list your business on all the relevant platforms including Google My Business, Apple Maps, Bing and Yelp. This will help voice assistants such as Google search, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana find you during a search query.

Capitalising on online reviews will also help your business rank better on voice search so ask your customers to review your business on sites like Yelp and Google My Business. Coming up with a few keywords that are most suitable for your small or medium business will also increase your chances of being ranked better.

Augmented Reality

Both, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are not new concepts but their roles in our day-to-day lives are going to increase in 2020. With AR, more businesses will be able to offer personalised service whether it’s through their website or app to help customers make informed purchases.

Major companies such as IKEA, Kia, and Coco-Cola are already using AR technology to provide a personalised experience to their customers to solve different problems. Whether it’s demonstrating how certain furniture may look in a specific space by using an app or a visual introduction to new features of a car, AR is sure to change the customer journey and how we purchase.

If you’re interested in using augmented reality to give that extra advantage for your small or medium business, here are a few ways you can use it.

Include an AR marker on your printed catalogues or product packages, so with the help of an app people can access additional information or even make a quick order online.

If you’re in the field of real estate, augmented reality can be very useful in demonstrating a realistic presentation of the property. With a host of affordable AR apps available for this specific industry, this will help small scale businesses raise their standards.

Cybersecurity With over 23,000 Australian businesses reported to have experienced some form of cybercrime in 2019 (CIO Australia) the importance of cybersecurity is without a doubt crucial in 2020.

Business owners, irrespective of their size need to understand that their websites can be the target of a malicious cyberattack if they do not take necessary precautions. If you’re a small or medium business owner looking to set up your business online, make sure to have a thorough conversation on the different aspects of cybersecurity with the website development agency.

image source: stanfieldit.com

As much as growth, increasing leads and conversions are a priority for your business, protecting it from cyberattacks is a responsibility that should not be ignored.

Digital privacy is another area of cybersecurity business owners should be aware of to safeguard their data as well as of their customers’. Here are a few key steps you can practice to protect the digital privacy of your business.

Ensure that your website uses an SSL certificate and the HTTPS protocol especially on pages that collect sensitive data. Both the SSL certificate and the protocol use a high-level of encryption to secure data that is being communicated.

Multiple people using one login and password make it very difficult to find out when a privacy breach occurs. Therefore, make sure to use individual login accounts and strong passwords to protect against access via login credentials.

If your business has multiple accounts on different platforms, use Password Manager to create and retrieve strong passwords without too much of a hassle.

Personalisation We may share the world with 7.7 billion people but we’re all looking for a personalised experience that will make us feel special. Thankfully, no one is tasked with the mammoth obstacle of trying to please 7.7 billion humans. But the sentiment still stands true. In the new decade, more people will be looking for information, services, and products that are catering to their needs. Irrespective of how small or large your customer base is they all want a personalised service or experience. So how do you create content that will resonate with all of them?

“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say, ‘This was written specifically for me.“ ~Jamie Turner.

Companies including Coco-Cola, Amazon, and Netflix have been using personalisation to connect with their customers for years and are seeing great results. A personalised video campaign done by Cadbury in Australia, matching a Dairy Milk flavour to users based on the different elements from their Facebook, saw a huge increase in engagement and conversion rates.

image source: campaignlive.co.uk

Although these may be big brands with bigger budgets, small and medium companies can also adapt personalisation to their marketing campaigns. To get this formula right, you first need to understand your clients, their needs, their aspirations and problems better. Then create content that will resonate with them and help them solve their problems. If you’re looking for more information on personalised contenting marketing, click on the link to check out our blog post on it.

Chatbots Chatbots is another trend that has had massive growth over the last few years. In 2016, Business Insider predicted that over 80 per cent of businesses are expected to have some sort of chatbot automation by 2020. With months away from the New Year, many big brands have transitioned to using chatbots to manage different areas of their business, mainly customer service.

The use of chatbots can benefit a company in multiple ways including guaranteed customer satisfaction and saving time. As chatbots are capable of handling customer queries at any point of time and providing accurate information (if it has been programmed appropriately), this will have a direct impact on a business’s conversions and sales figures.

image source: i-programmer.info

A small scale business can use chatbots in numerous ways. The chatbot’s most well-known function is providing customer service which frees up a considerable amount of time for a business owner. As chatbots can retain a lot of information, they can use this to better help future users and provide recommendations to customers influencing their decision-making process.

You can also use chatbots to automate the sales process from start to finish. Businesses can also look into using chatbots with more advanced features such as streamlined payment systems. This will provide customers the ability to complete a transaction without leaving the chat interface and make regular purchases as easy as clicking a button.

Social Messaging Apps Social media has become one of the biggest necessities in the modern-day world whether it’s for personal or business use. Similarly, the popularity of social messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, Viber, WeChat and Snapchat has been increasing and will continue to do so in the coming years.

image source: statista

With the combined number of users of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat, surpassing Facebook and YouTube, it’s time to look at using these apps to reach your customers. With over 55 billion messages been exchanged daily on WhatsApp alone, businesses must find out which messaging apps their customers are active on.

Since social messaging apps allow personalisation, small and medium businesses can use this to their advantage to send personalised messages directly to customers. This will help improve engagement as well as enhance the overall customer experience and relationship.

Once you identify which platform your customers are active on, you can use it in multiple ways to interact with them. Whether it’s to provide information regarding your products or services, boost sales, invite customers for events or as a customer service platform, the options are numerous.

Visual Search Visual search is another trend that will gain momentum in 2020. As indicated by its name, visual search allows people to upload an image and conduct a search based on it to get specific results. Platforms such as Google Lens, Bing Visual Search, and Pinterest are providing this option to users to help them track down exactly what they are looking for.

In the case of Google Lens, it recognises objects and landmarks through a camera phone and provides additional details regarding the search. Bing Visual Search will help users find details of specific elements within an image, which can be very useful.

image source: the verge

If your business sells interior décor and a potential customer happens to see a specific wall hanging they like on an image found on Bing Visual Search, the detail view will provide more information on it including where it can be purchased. Pinterest introduced a visual search tool called Lens to enable users to take a photo of an item to find out where to buy it online.

If your business falls under the categories of fashion and beauty, home décor, food, products, travel and vehicles, visual search will help you boost your business and leads. Using multiple high-resolution images, the right keywords describing your products, optimising image titles and descriptions, are just some of the few ways you can optimise your business for visual search. Don’t forget to add alternative text and include captions for every image you upload to increase the chances of your products being discovered.

5G network 5G (Fifth Generation) is still in its infant stages but will make a huge impact in the world once its functionalities are properly rolled out in the coming year. It will influence nearly every industry including IT, transportation, health care, manufacturing, agriculture, education, and entertainment.

As of now, 5G’s new features include greater speed in transferring data, increased response speed, network slicing and the ability to connect to more devices including sensors and smart devices simultaneously.

These features will pave the way to a plethora of opportunities for all businesses including small and medium-sized businesses.

image source: statista

5G’s ability to connect to multiple devices simultaneously will enable small businesses to conduct their operations much faster which will enhance customer experience and satisfaction.

Through network slicing, operators can split a single physical network into multiple virtual networks that can be tailored to different types of services or customer segments. This means a business can have its private 5G network customised to its needs. Network slicing also prevents cyberattacks from spreading from one virtual network to another which increases user experiences for businesses.

With 5G’s super-fast internet, small and medium businesses are also being offered the chance to take innovation to the next level. Whether it’s creating video experiences for customers or giving 3D presentations at meetings, conferences or events, businesses will be able to provide an enriching visual experience to its customers.

Conclusion In short, all the trends we’ve been seeing in the last few years – videos, voice search, personalised content, augmented reality, chatbots, social messaging apps, and visual search are going to play an active role in 2020. Additionally, cybercrime is also going to be on the rise, so make sure to take adequate steps to get your business secured in the coming year. Most importantly keep an eye on 5G which set to revolutionise the operations of every industry.

So these are nine digital marketing trends that will make a big impact in the New Year. Let us know if you agree and what you’d like to know more about.

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Betta fish: types care, feeding and breeding. Tutorial about everything

Elegant, majestic and imperial. Thus we could define this fish belonging to the family of labyrinths, which take their name due to an organ called labyrinth that allows them to breathe oxygen. The scientific name by which it is known is Betta Splendens and they inhabit freshwater. The betta fish is the product of multiple genetic variations that have resulted in different species.

Before acquiring a specimen of this species we must take into account the temperament that characterizes them since they are territorial and aggressive animals, especially males, and that we cannot lodge in our aquarium with any companion. Let us go on to detail the file of this fish!

Varieties and types of bettas fish

The different varieties and types of these fish, thanks to captive breeding, have managed to show the splendor and beauty of this animal. The crown, Cooper and dragon are the most significant and widespread among aquarium hobbyists. If you want to see the complete file of each one, click on the image.

Female Betta fish

When we buy a copy of this species we have the following question:  How to know if my betta fish is male or female?  It will be  two months later  when we notice the difference between both sexes. In young age it will be impossible to determine the sexuality of our animals.

In adulthood, although the female will be larger, it is  less bulky  than the male  because its fins are smaller .

Sometimes, we tend to get confused since once in a while the  female betta fish is in heat makes bubbles . This is usually common in males when they are building the nest for laying eggs. If this happens, you will see how the couple takes care of the setting.

Morphology

How much?

They get to measure up to 6 centimeters. Although the males have greater volume due to the size of the fins the females reach a larger size.

Coloration

The coloration of these animals is varied. We can find specimens of these white, pink, purple, red and black species. That is why, if we are going to raise and we aim to achieve a certain color, both the father and the mother must be of the same hue.

In this video you can see some of the specimens with spectacular colors

How much can they get to live?

In their natural habitat it is rare that they exceed 2 years of life. In  captivity  , life expectancy can be extended to  5 years.

Feeding

Betta fish are carnivorous animals. In their natural habitat they feed on   insects, worms, mosquitoes, larvae and insect eggs that perch on the surface of the water. This means that we must buy food that contains meat and fish protein. When feeding our fighting fish we must take into account that the feeding is not the same as that of most standard tropical fish, which feed on prepared flakes. If you plan to put your betta fish in the same aquarium with other fish, keep in mind their feeding.

What is the best food for betta fish?  

It seems obvious advice, but the specific food for our fish is the best. To ensure that we are giving the best food to our fish we must verify that the main basis of the food is based on meat whose percentage of protein should be 40% or more.

We can also  feed our betta fish with frozen worms . This is advisable once a week.

Our pet feeds on the surface of the aquarium. We must ensure that the food is on the surface and does not sink.

How often should I feed it?

It is recommended to feed the betta fish  twice throughout the day . Once in the morning and once at night . We must leave 12 hours apart.

Many caretakers of betta fish choose every 10 to 14 days to leave a fast day. This fast day helps reduce the possibility of constipation of our fish.

How much should I feed my fighting fish?

2-3 medium-sized granules in the morning and two three granules at night should be sufficient to have a proper diet .

Be careful with supercharging your fish! This is a very common mistake among the caretakers of these types of animals since it is usually very colorful to see them eat. Overfeeding them can lead to our fish becoming obese and having serious health problems. Keep in mind that the stomach of a betta fish is not much bigger than our eye. Do not spend feeding your fish.

Sometimes, we believe that our fish is very hungry, and even the whole package of food would be eaten if we threw it whole.

Also, keep in mind that if we put too much food in the aquarium, the food discarded by our fish will contaminate the water and make the tank dirty.

What should a betta fish have in the aquarium?

El Tanque . First of all we will need an aquarium with a tank not less than 25 liters. This will ensure that we have a healthier and happier betta fish. It is recommended that the tank be longer than tall, although if it is the other way around, it will not be essential for you to have such a pet. In its natural habitat the betta fish lives in shallow streams.

Aquarium location . We must place our aquarium where there is no direct impact of sunlight. This can favor the creation of algae and the water in our aquarium darkens.

Filter . The filter is necessary to help keep the water clean for longer. However, betta fish do not like the current in the water of their aquarium. Therefore, a soft aquarium filter or one with an adjustable water flow is recommended. The filter will keep the water clean and free of microbes for our fish.

Heater . Betta fish are tropical water. The temperature of the water at which our fish should be will be or should range between 28 and 30 degrees so it is essential that we have a heater in our aquarium.

Add gravel substrate and plants. If you introduce gravel in the aquarium, something advisable, keep in mind that the leftovers of the food that our pet discarded will fall to it. This will cause the water in our aquarium to get dirty and full of waste. We can combat this problem using small and fine tape.

If we are going to use   live aquarium plants we may have to see what kind of substrate we need and what they can grow.

Add decorative elements . This will help create a fun home for our fish. Adding boats, anchors, vessels or figures will make our aquarium much more colorful while our fish has recesses to play and swim.

What should I avoid putting in my aquarium?

Fake plants . Almost all fake plants are made of plastic. If you buy  plastic plants make sure the leaves do not have sharp edges . The fins of betta fish are very delicate. Any sharp edge can easily tear a fin of betta fish.

Can I collect several bettas in the same aquarium?

No, especially when they are two male betta fish . You should never have more than one male fighting fish, these fish are very territorial and if you get two of the same genus, they end up fighting over the fact that they are sharing the same space.

Yes, you can have several females . Although female betta are aggressive, they are not territorial and may share space in the same aquarium.

Can I put other species in my aquarium?

You must choose very well the species that you put with your fish. Keep in mind that there are many aquarium species that are very territorial, so it will be contraindicated for all those of us who have betta fish in our tank.

The species you can choose are:

The neon Tetra fish

African dwarf frog

Prawns

The clown fish

Neon jewel fish

Do Betta fish have teeth?

Yes, betta fish have teeth, yes, very small and white teeth . If you want to see your teeth you will need to get very close to him and that he has his mouth open. Don’t expect teeth like a shark’s even if you get too close and put one you may not see them. If you have a magnifying glass at home put it in front of your fish and it will help you visualize them.

What do betta use their teeth for?

They use them when feeding . To chew the prepared food we supply and cut the worms or any live food before eating them. These are carnivores, in their natural habitat they feed on small insects and water larvae.

Betta fish are known as Siamese fighting fish  and their teeth have played an essential role in acquiring this reputation. Fighting fish  use those small sharp teeth to fight with other fish  and try to amputate part of their opponent’s fins. In addition, they are very territorial, especially male betas with others of the same gender. Betta fish can sometimes attack other aquarium mates of different species.

The good thing is that we don’t have to worry about the teeth of  fighting fish since they won’t be able to cause pain in the hands of human beings.

The post Betta fish: types care, feeding and breeding. Tutorial about everything appeared first on Tech Tuts Hub.

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[annittavalence]

Fallout OC Interview

Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

If you want to do this! this is your sign!

What is your name?

Annitta Valence shortened to V or Vee.

How old are you?

34

What do you look like?

Human, Caucasian/Italian, slightly mutated. Hair, shaved on the sides, long on the top with a mowhawk, often worn down (not styled). Eyes are crazy, green, orange glow, due to mutation. Scars and markings facial Vitiligo around her left eye, scars on her right temple and under eye, above lip on the left. Neck tattoo that comes up onto her chin. Heavy facial piercings. Medium, sunkissed skin tone.

Where are you from? Where do you live now?

My family was from Italy, a small village Stilo, Calabria but they moved to America before I was born, eventually they ended up in Boston since my Father settled into a job at Corvega and my mother raised me at home. I ended up buying a house with Nate in Sanctuary hills once we married and I was pregnant with Shaun. Now though? I prefer to spend my free time in Goodneighbor, Hancock organised an apartment for me in one of the buildings, it’s quite nice.

What was your childhood like?

It was..like most I suppose? rough at times but we had what we needed and we did alright. I didn’t enjoy school and I’m not very academic, so I pushed and begged and nagged until  my Father let me learn from him. I became a Mechanic since I found I had the mind for it. I persuaded the place my Father worked at to let me do some volunteer work around their workshop. I guess I did well because they offered me a solid job after just under a year. Never seen my Father so proud of me, it’s a memory I cherish.

What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions?

The Railroad, The Minutemen and Goodneighbor.

Tell me about your best friend.

Hancock is my closest friend, if it weren’t for him..I’d probably be dead. I would do anything for him, without question. I made a lot of deep friendships in The Railroad and that’s all I’ll say about them. Sturges is an absolute delight and is the first person I bonded with, about mechanics and tinkering of course! Many nights were spent sitting around Sanctuary exchanging knowledge, I always stop by with him whenever I stay in Sanctuary. And of course, MacCready, much more than a lover, so much more.

Do you have a family? Tell me about them!

Well, there’s Shaun of course, even if I don’t know whether he’s alive.. there was Nate..my parents..Family in Italy.. My parents, I’m sure died when the bombs dropped, I’ve not found them at least.. and my family in Italy? I have no idea, I have no way of contacting them.

But really, I have my new family, here in the Commonwealth. So many of them, MacCready and hopefully Duncan, Nick, Piper, Nat, Ellie, Hancock, Daisy, Irma, Ham, The Railroad, The minutemen, Preston, Sturges, The Longs, Mama, Cait, Longfellow, Gage, Danse..gosh..

What about a partner or partners?

MacCready, my sweet soul. We are quite open and polyamorous, so often Hancock, Deacon, sometimes Cait, Ham, Gage and Mags.

Who are your enemies, and why?

The Institute..they probably have Shaun and god knows what they’re doing to him! They ruin lives, orphaning children and taking spouses, sometimes replacing them with a replica to feed back information for whatever reason. They are constantly shitting on the underdog and I can’t stand it.

The Gunners, I hadn’t even heard of them until I overheard them yelling at Mac in The Third Rail. Didn’t even know Mac back then, let alone thought we would be where we are today..but..the way they spoke to him, the things they said..it just got my back up and that was enough for me to hate them. Then I ended up hiring Mac, getting to know him, he told me more about them, we had several run ins with them until eventually, we formulated a plan to take down Winlock and Barnes, driving them back. No one fucks with anyone I care about.

The Disciples, a raider gang in Nuka world. NOTHING I did or said would convince them to live in peace with the traders and settlers of Nuka world. I gave them their own section, I fixed up the fucking park but no, they were just too far gone, cannibals and psychopaths. I managed to save a couple of them, who were just going along with them so they didn’t die, but eventually we had to wipe them out. It took MONTHS to clean their base up, burn all the bodies of the people they’d killed, and theirs of course. Now it looks quite nice and we’ve turned it into a big housing hub for the traders. The pack and The Operators are actually doing really well together, Mason and Mags agreed to weeding out the more barbaric of the members, the ones who didn’t want to live in relative peace. Now they have a couple settlements each in the commonwealth where they’ve actually been hunting game and running jobs for my other settlements, they get a cut of the caps and loot and we always call on them for big jobs like institute attacks and mutant takeovers etc. 

Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them?

I despise the way they speak to Hancock and Nick and when they’re in my presence, they tend to hold their tongue but I have smacked a few of them for their comments. Maxson is...a problem, he’s way too extreme but I do feel like there’s a reasonable and genuine person under that mantle, which honestly must be quite heavy. A lot of the members I’ve met are actually really pleasant and helpful, Knight Rhys is an asshole but there’s always one. 

From what Mac tells me, the Brotherhood inhabiting the Capitol Wastes are a bit crazy, but they DID do a lot for the wasteland, clean water was returned, which sounds amazing. I’ve been to DC a few times, pre war of course but I’d like to see it now..as morbid as that sounds, plus Duncan is there and I can’t wait to meet that tiny man!

Some people have told me stories about outcasts from the Brotherhood who were truly insane, just killing indiscriminately and stealing from settlers...which kinda sounds like the ones here....a little.. and then I met a trader from the Mojave and they told me about the presence there...the less said about that one the better.

I like Danse though! 

What about The Enclave?

I’ve only heard stories, Mac has experienced them first hand and he doesn’t really talk about them too much. Everything I’ve heard has been bad though.

How do you feel about Super Mutants?

Strongs cool, funniest one I’ve ever met but LORD he never shuts up! I built him his own place, got him a couple of dogs and taught him how to farm. He’s doing alright, travels around with his dogs and visits the settlements....much to the settlers dismay. I’ve had him start wearing a specific hat so that the guards don’t just shoot at him when he’s on his travels. Most of them have grown to like him and a lot of the children love him. For some reason he’s very protective of Mac...none of us know why.

I met another friendly Mutant in Far Harbor, he takes in dogs and trains them, sells them onto people. I’ve given him a lot of business since I found him. Cant persuade him to come to one of my settlements though.

As for the hostile ones.. most of them aren’t too hard for us to take down anymore, it’s when there’s a swarm of the fuckers. Mac and I tend to travel just the two of us and we’re both snipers, we can use shorter range weapons of course but we are way more deadly with our rifles, so it’s always a bit awkward when they close the distance. Suiciders will always send me into a panic though.

What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in?

Nisha...Mac and I must have given her 5 shots each..and she still kept coming, screaming and bleeding, waving her blade around. She finally stopped inches from my face, Mac got her in the face through the space for her eyes. I was just frozen, never seen anything like it. Mac had to walk me over to a bench by the shoulders and sit me down.

Have you ever fought a Deathclaw?

A few, we try to avoid them though.

Do you like fighting?

Yes and no, neither of us likes to have to do it, it’s a means to live but sometimes the adrenaline is amazing.

What’s your weapon of choice?

50cal Sniper rifle, NV recon scope, recoil compensating stock with a suppressor. 

How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?)

Depends on the situation, I’m pretty good at talking us out of a bad situation, I’m pretty strong for my size and fairly agile. ( S:7 P:8 E:5 C:9 I:7 A:6 L:5)

Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them?

Yes..not a big fan.

How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you?

I have a few mutations now, my eyes are all messed up, I get nausea which makes it difficult to remember to eat. I visit a Dr regularly to get my rads cleared and get some fluids. We thoroughly cook our meat and veg and maintain the water filters regularly to try and reduce the exposure.

What’s your favorite wasteland critter?

RAD CHICKEN! I love them!

What’s your least favorite wasteland critter?

Cave Crickets...fuck those.

How do you feel about robots?

They’re cool! you gotta make sure your coding is solid though, or you might have some issues.

How many caps do you have on you right now?

Uhhh, like 2k? I tend to store the rest.

Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla?

Nuka Cola, never had a Sunset though.

Do you do chems?

Stimpaks, Med-ex, Rad-x and Radaway, not so much the others.

Do you ever think about the Pre-War world?

Every day..

What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently?

It’s hard to say because anything could mean I would never have met Mac and even though this world is...terrifying and awful..I have never loved someone the way I love Mac.. I...have no idea.

What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve?

So far my biggest achievement is earning the pride of my Father. Something I hope to achieve? destroy the Institute, save my son and become a family with Mac and Duncan.

What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world?

For the future, I want everyone to get to experience peace, I want the world to heal and for us to rebuild. It’s unrealistic..but I want everyone to be safe.

For me? I just want to be with Mac, be safe, both of us, Duncan and Shaun, safe and happy, always full and never wanting. I want the same for my friends and loved one. I want the same for the world.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WORK ETHIC AND PRESENCE

What does that mean for founders? But they can't physically be with them all the time and the inclination to build things that are very successful at fundraising, you can only imagine the advantages of developing Web-based application, this is torture. I currently don't allow duplicates in the top 15 tokens, but all they demand from art is brand, and since most founders are surprised by it. If you have a family to start a startup that depends on deals with big companies found that big companies tend to have more money chasing the same amount in future rounds, and the way to become Larry Page was to become a good hacker. It's pseudo-hip. There are two ways startups hose themselves between phases 2 and later. If someone powerful enough wants to buy them.

Never make users register to try your site. It's an old idea that each person has a natural station in life. People who know the subject from experience, but that it's obvious. For all its power, Silicon Valley is in America, but it does at least seem to be limits on the rate at which it grows is itself increasing. Mine too. Empirically the chances of pulling that off seem very small. You should of course have been set on the high side.

I mistrusted words like character and integrity because they had better software. It's just 178 square miles at one end were distinguished by the presence of leverage is the possibility of attacking Linux on patent grounds. There's a name for it: playing house. What people know of him now is his paintings and his more flamboyant inventions, like flying machines. And passion is a bad idea to have an audience. A couple days ago I realized something surprising: the situation with time is much the same way about the operating system works together with servers they control. Especially if other parents are doing it. I don't know. So all the people who have money to spend, see what they're wasting their time. Now the reconquista has overrun this territory, there will also be found to be true of startups in general, it has to grow organically.

How to Get Startup Ideas November 2012 The way to come up with organic startup ideas, you also can't be a company. File I use as examples when I'm talking to companies we fund? And so while you needed expressions for math to work, there are a lot of obstacles. I suspect it's the latter, because as you'll see when you start. But we should be careful to do it was turn the sound into packets and ship it over the Internet, they can tell themselves they're buying the users rather than the cleverness, and this made their software visibly inferior because among other things, a proper open-source projects, not companies. Starting a startup will put your friendship through a stress test. Notes This is not just what you are, but all they demand from art is brand, and dominating channels, and TV is premised on such long sessions unlike Google, which initially made money by trade, and water was the only kind most people, the average VC is a rejection machine. The only external test is time. I learned anything from them.

My guess is that Microsoft will develop some kind of treat, I'll take services over goods any day. Brand-name VCs wouldn't recapitalize a company just to steal a few percent from an angel investor I think you should find a problem that's easy for you to win. You rarely hear of a startup they bought. You should be better known? It wasn't the vet's fault; the cat had a congenitally weak heart; the anaesthesia was too much for it; you could simply be a source of money. As the fashion becomes established they'll be joined by a second, much larger group, driven by fear. Everyone there spoke so fast. But the craftier ones achieve the same result by offering to lead rounds of fixed size, over which however much truth they have must needs be spread, however thinly. In an IPO, which we then trade for the forms of fragmentation we like, and grad school, there are next to none among the most valuable antidote to schlep blindness is Stripe, or rather Stripe's idea. But in the US? 030676773 pop3 0. He was like nothing else I'd seen.

When I was in school. All you need to sell it to colleagues. This book can help fix that problem, I admit. The people are the most general of general principles. So I think we can already declare the old way sucked for startups. Surely that's mere prudence? NYC is their biggest market. The crazy legal measures that the labels and studios have been taking have a lot in common, it turns out to be a critical reader, it turns out to be a sticky problem that usually gets solved in some improvised way. Patrick Collison, Adam Goldstein, James Lindenbaum, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Matz, Jackie McDonough, Robert Morris, who is this for and what do they need to do: take risks. When I was a kid most apples were a variety called Red Delicious that had been bred to look appealing in stores, but many companies continued to write code or go out and hire 8 people as soon as they appear. Imagine the obelisk of investors that corresponds to the conceptual mode, and consequently do not express precisely something in reality by which the intellect could be moved to conceive a thing the way it was originally for.

At Viaweb we were always far ahead of our competitors raised $20 million in a single one of my most vivid memories from our startup is going to crush us. 6546 In the Plan for Spam August 2002 This article came about in response to what you build for them. Startups Take Over Your Life Just as the constraint of growing at a certain step they would get confused and click on the Back button. But two guys who thought the way startups worked was that you could not nest statements. Microsoft probably couldn't manage 500 development projects in-house system administrators. At a startup I once worked for a medium-sized rounds is not to run unnecessary utilities that people might think you're getting above yourself. At the beginning of the reign Thomas Lord Roos was an assiduous courtier of the young. In these the best practitioners aren't conveniently collected in a few cases to buy a lot of attitude. Of course, what shows up on the stage to deliver an impromptu rebuttal. Even if you sent a crawler to look at the dominant technologies today, you'll find a lot of interest.

Thanks to Eric Raymond, Sam Altman, John Collison, Peter Norvig, Sarah Harlin, Jessica Livingston, Stephen Wolfram, and Robert Morris for reading a previous draft.

[strangecollectorcloudus-blog]

How to Raise Revenue By way of Gift Cards

As being the vacation purchasing months winds decrease, I reflect on most of the pastime i witnessed. Specially here, I'm definitely just writing about how I found Gift Certificates being employed. This coming year, in contrast to lots of in earlier times, there was several big retailers as well as national diner stores supplying things like "Obtain a $20 Present Credit card and we'll add more another $5 on us", or, "Obtain a $50 Gift item Cards and we'll add an added $10". Definitely, in case the huge national stores are performing it, then there must be superb good things about it driving a vehicle future product sales. Let's look into a few ideas that you will be able to add inside your marketing and advertising that you might aren't using nevertheless with regards to Gift Certificates. All this, needless to say, will take under consideration that you are currently utilizing Gift Certificates in your place.

Assuming you have a pin cushion as part of your business, then cost savings in your producing cost is available ideal on hand. Should you haven't previously been enlightened, pinned credit deals save some costs through jogging them as credit history dealings. But, lots of vendors, together with their staff members, don't do a fantastic job in wanting to get customers to penetrate their pin variety. I would suggest for all my vendors they put up a counter top indication that says one thing on the outcome of "if you're forking over by using a debit unit card currently, you need to type in your pin quantity as it saves us in handling fees". Or, obviously, you may produce one thing to the next affect. But, here's an easy method you could possibly use Gift Cards to assist in this project. Buy yourself a sea food dish and preload a number of your Gift Certificates with ideals which range between $1 to could be $20 (you could choose the ideals yet try to mixture it some). Then, placed a signal about the counter-top that says "Type in your pin and win" or "Enter in your pin and require a drop"....anything combined those product lines. So, once they enter in their pin number, they will be able to move a credit card out of your bowl and this will be great on their own "subsequent pay a visit to". The most obvious objective right here is to find them into the retail store yet again and they will pretty much continually spend more compared to the importance about the charge card. Nationwide averages point out that gift charge card holders often shell out not less than 20Percent more than what's over the greeting card.

Here's a concept which could guide raise your average purchase today. Anyone likes a deal, wouldn't you agree? Let's say you will have a client goes to the kitchen counter as well as their transactions reach $42. Why not build a signal which says such as "Expenditures in excess of $50 makes a $5 Gift idea Unit card" or "Acquisitions in excess of $50 earns a ten percent reward using a Gift Credit card". It may be an enticement to help them to go back and find something diffrent to increase their invest in now. And, obviously, the Treat Credit card these are given is useful toward their "up coming go to". Let's be realistic, if you're keystoning everything in your retailer and also you give you a $10 Present Credit card, it's definitely only pricing you $5 and definitely will make additional future revenue.

This is usually a technique that may regularly be employed when an individual enters in which has a return. Frequently, buyers or individuals of items simply want a credit standing to their plastic card or funds regardless of which is far more appropriate. Naturally you wish to be helpful to whatever they want. But, undertaking often in the aforementioned dividends sends them supplying with what used to be a selling and money within the right up until. Give them what they really want but probably give to them an alternative for instance "we're very happy to reimburse your cash on this particular exchange, even so, as a replacement, we'd like to offer you a great gift Cards for the return by having an further ten percent advantage, or $5 advantage, or whichever". Yet again, the thought is to try to purchase them back in the store and respend that which was primarily spent and with a little luck, more. Actually, they could keep coming back, use most of the Gift idea Greeting card rather than diminish it entirely which could bring them in again. A lot more typically you will get them in the retailer, or eatery, the more likely you are to do future small business along with them.

Tis the time to become purchasing! Have you any idea in which the majority of your sales will likely originated from this season? If you're a smallish to medium sized-type of online business, it might seem you're not ready to offer gift certificates on your prospects. On the other hand, you'd be amazed to find out these systems are certainly simple to set-up and are generally open to all businesses, no matter what dimensions.

A recent research revealed that most people choose to receive gift cards than almost every other variety of existing. They provide buyers the chance to pick what we would like rather then having to deal with gift idea results.

They profit your organization by not merely generating a sale towards the authentic purchaser, as well as by attracting a likely new client to your business. This gives you a way to develop loyalty and performs as pretty much cost-free marketing and advertising to your business.

Current customers are also more prone to view your enterprise particularly to create a GC purchase, realizing that they make wonderful, desired shows. By not supplying gift certificates, you're missing out on two potential statements.

Were you aware that buyers tend to spend more funds every time they visit your small business than is obtainable over the greeting card? It's been tested that close to 24% of gift cards are in no way used. That's funds in the bank.

So be ready to strike-commence your profits this present year by giving your prospects the convenience and suppleness of gift cards. And anticipate to obtain the gains of new prospects, higher sales and pants pocket-size advertising as part of your customers' wallets - or stockings. They can make Excellent stocking stuffers.

Each time somebody purchases from you, prize them a voucher towards their following purchase. Make your voucher unique and limit it through an expiration time frame (reduced is way better - so they really don't forget about). The voucher is usually a established amount of money, a share off, or free delivery. You can even stipulate a minimum get.

You create up a reduction policy and get into it on the software, then printing that program code for the voucher. E-mailbox the program code to the purchaser or enclose an actual voucher with all the purchase (I actually do each). The purchaser then goes into the policy inside your store's look at to easily claim the lower price. PayPal also offer a similar plan, log in in your profile to view the way it works.

To help make cardstock deals, make use of your word refinement program to generate a dense edge with striking form for the going. Then copy tahis to match your newspaper dimension, and produce - I then photocopy and cut. Provided you can produce them on unit card, a great deal the greater as his or her appeal will likely be enhanced.

For on-line vouches you require a exclusive process inside your store's check out. These can be acquired on the web for numerous stores for around US$30, research Search engines along with the make of your shop. Some stores hold the program integrated.

هدايا للبنات رخيصة ,

ازهار مصنوعة من الجوارب ,

صور هدايا نسائيه ,

هدايا ذهبية ,

[mariemary1]

Q4 Content Calendar: Important Dates and Campaign Ideas for Small Businesses

The last quarter of the year is always a busy one for marketers.

Between October and the end of December, we have the holiday season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and more.

Each of these dates provides an opportunity for your business to connect with your audience and target customers. And though it might seem like there’s too much to keep on top of, with a bit of advance planning, it’s possible to ensure you don’t miss a beat in Q4.

To help, we’ve put together this Q4 content calendar to break down some of the key dates and events from October 1st to December 31st, giving you important data and a few marketing ideas for each.

Ready to jump in?

Q4 content calendar [Downloadable]

[Download full-size image]

Q4 key dates and campaign examples

Note: You might not want to shoehorn your brand into every single event, but hand-picking the opportunities that make sense for your business can help make Q4 hugely rewarding.

31 October – Halloween

When people come together to celebrate Halloween, they love to share their experiences on social media.

Globally, more than 500,000 Halloween events were planned on Facebook in 2017. And in 2016 there were more than 41 million Halloween related tweets — in fact, more than half of all Halloween related conversations online happened on Twitter.

Total spending for Halloween 2017 was expected to hit $9.1 billion in the U.S. alone, with more than 179 million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities.

When it comes to marketing over Halloween, it can be a fun time to get super creative and think about how your brand could enhance celebrations for consumers.

For example, Guinness released some quirky, shadow-shaped coasters for Halloween 2015:

Asda also got into the Halloween spirit by creating an online hub focused on Halloween party ideas, foods and cocktails:

As Nikki Gilliland explained on Econsultancy:

“The comprehensive campaign means that consumers are likely to think of Asda in relation to Halloween in future, with its extensive product selection likely to satisfy shoppers as they head in-stores or buy online.”

Pro tip: Share fun, DIY advice, and party tips

From creating costumes and decorations to home baking sweet treats and planning parties, there’s a lot of DIY happening over Halloween. People are often looking for content that will help them get ready for the day and make the holiday super fun for all their friends and family.

November 1 — Holiday planning starts

Facebook found that planning for the holidays starts as early as November 1st.

The majority of people aren’t quite in buying mode at this stage, though — especially with some of the biggest discount shopping days of the year still to come later in November.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t start thinking about your holiday promotions.

Take advantage of this time to start building towards your holiday campaigns by raising awareness of your brand and products before the big rush starts in December.

You could use Facebook Ads’ Brand Awareness and Video Views objectives to create demand for your product before promoting it again in December with an eye on making sales.

For example, Luxy Hair created a video showcasing a holiday hairstyle in November 2017. It could have used this video as a way to build an audience of people who might be interested in purchasing its products later on in the holidays:

Pro tip: Remarket to existing customers

This is a perfect time to begin marketing to your current customers with an eye to making it on to their holiday wishlists. You could run email campaigns to your current customers, or even set up custom audiences on Facebook for people that view your videos or visit your website; then retarget them with adverts featuring products that they might be interested in.

Toy Market, a toy store in southern New Jersey, used this approach by creating custom audiences based on existing customer data and managed to increase its holiday sales by 20 percent year-on-year.

The key thing we remarketing is not to overdo it, you don’t want to be so aggressive with your targeting that you end up putting people off your business.

November 11 — Singles Day

Singles Day originated in the 1990’s in China, but it really started spread across Asia and the rest of the world when Alibaba turned the day into a discount shopping festival. It has now become the largest shopping event of the year worldwide.

In 2017, Single’s Day shoppers in China bought more products during the 24 hours period of Single’s Day than during the entire 4-day period running from Black Friday to Cyber Monday,

The below chart shows the percentage of people who report shopping on key shopping holidays — in the U.S. 7% of people surveyed by Facebook reported shopping on Single’s Day:

November 22-26 — Thanksgiving shopping weekend

November 22 – Thanksgiving 

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time spent with friends and family. It’s about unwinding and taking a moment to be thankful for all that we have before the busy holiday schedule and shopping season kicks off.

Over Thanksgiving, you might want to use your social media channels to help people come together, relax and make this time of year even more special.

For example, as part of its “Share a Coke” campaign, Coca-Cola shared a video of personalized bottles being used as place cards for a family meal:

Coca-Cola also shared this content on Twitter and Instagram.

Airbnb also took the time to showcase how appreciative it is of its community over Thanksgiving by sharing an on-brand message about feeling at home:

November 23 — Black Friday

Black Friday falls on November 23rd in 2018, but data from Facebook has found that 39% of posts about Black Friday take place in the four days leading up to the sales starting. This means you should be looking to build excitement for any Black Friday offers or sales in the week leading up to November 23 — or maybe even further out.

For example, as Shopify Plus reported, eyewear brand, Blenders, began to promote it’s giveaway 10-days before Black Friday:

  November 24 — Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is held in the U.S. on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Whereas Black Friday and Cyber Monday tend to focus on online retail, Small Business Saturday encourages shoppers to visit smaller, local stores in their local area.

If you’re a local, small or brick and mortar business, this is the perfect day to build some extra awareness and boost your sales.

Some ways to make the most of Small Business Saturday include:

Host an event: Consider hosting an event to help attract new customers to your business. For example, if you run a homeware store, you could run a fun DIY class.

Run a giveaway: A promotion in Oakland County, Michigan offered shoppers the chance to win $5,000 if they shared receipts of their Small Business Saturday purchases.

Use hashtags: Hashtags are a great way to extend the reach of your content on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Make sure to include #ShopSmall and #SmallBusinessSaturday in all relevant posts.

November 26 — Cyber Monday

In 2016, Facebook found that conversions peak on Cyber Monday (with Black Friday in the second spot):

With Cyber Monday being one of the biggest online shopping days on the calendar, this isn’t too surprising, but it’s a great reminder that shoppers are keen to spend their money and happy to engage with social media ads during the event.

With so many businesses sharing offers to shoppers, try to think about how you could stand out and do something a little different on Cyber Monday. For example, you could take your customers behind the scenes like Amazon did in 2017:

Pro tip: Embrace mobile video

Thirty percent of mobile shoppers say video is the best medium for discovering new products. And over Thanksgiving shopping weekend in 2017 there were more than 450 million views of Black Friday and other related videos on Facebook.

People in the U.S. also shop more on mobile on weekends and holidays, making mobile video the perfect way to connect with your target audience and potential shoppers.

December 1 — Last minute shopping kicks off

By the time December rolls around, shopping season is in full swing.

A Facebook survey found that 62 percent of people do their shopping in December — with as many as one in four people making their holiday purchases between December 11‑20th.

As a kid, I remember spending hours flicking through all of the Christmas gift guides we’d receive in the mail, and now, plenty of brands take this experience online. For example, Zara shared its gift guide and some beautiful images of products on Facebook:

Video is also a great way to showcase your products, here’s an example of Baskin Robbins using Facebook video to promote its Ice Cream Cake:

And one often overlooked aspect of successful holiday campaigns is social media engagement. It’s important to keep an eye on your mentions year-round, but the holidays give your team the chance to add a bit of festive cheer to your replies.

We can’t wait to see them onboard, Jackie! Thanks for trusting us with your precious cargo. ^LN

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) December 21, 2016

Pro tip: Experiment with self-gifting

Facebook’s 2016 ‘Holiday Study’ found that more than half (52 percent) of festive shoppers also buy gifts for themselves. With this in mind, it might be worth experimenting with content that encourages shoppers to indulge themselves.

For example, you could test out 2-for-1 deals so shoppers can get a present for a loved one and treat themselves at the same time or focus on how self-gifting could help shoppers enjoy the season more (e.g. maybe a soothing candle could help them unwind after a busy day preparing for the holidays).

December 1-4 — Christmas tree chatter

Facebook IQ found that discussions around buying and decorating Christmas trees peaks on in the first week of December. This is a great time to tap into festive feelings as people start to think about how they’ll be decorating their tree and house for the festive season.

One great example of content focused on this theme comes from Distinctive Gardens an Illinois-based plant and landscaping business. The company ran a three-day campaign on Facebook to attract people to its annual Christmas tree fundraising event. Over the three day period, it increased total sales for the fundraiser by 2.8X (on the previous year).

December 24-26 — Christmas celebrations 

Sharing replaces shopping on once the Christmas celebrations begin.

Christmas is the most active day of the holiday season on Facebook, with over 800m holiday-related posts generated — and 86 percent of those posts are shared on mobile.

For brands, this is a great time to simply wish your followers all the best for the holidays:

  View this post on Instagram

  #MerryChristmas : @mrs.marilyngries

A post shared by Target (@target) on Dec 25, 2017 at 8:02am PST

December 31 — New Years Eve

As the start of a new year approaches, the conversation turns to new beginnings and party preparations.

Facebook found that discussions related to New Year’s resolutions were the highest on December 31 and accounted for 34 percent of total conversations from December 22nd to January 9th.

This is a great time to simply wish your followers a Happy New Year, like STA Travel:

  View this post on Instagram

  Hope everyone has a magical New Year! Use #StarttheAdventure to be featured!⠀ Snapchat: STATravelGlobal⠀

A post shared by STA Travel (@statravel) on Dec 31, 2017 at 1:26am PST

You could also launch a campaign focused on how you can help your followers to achieve their goals for the year.

For example, Virgin Active UK kicked off 2017 with a campaign alongside 21 influencers who would all try to build a sustainable fitness routine across 21 days (21 is the number of days it’s believed to take in order to form a new habit):

  View this post on Instagram

  21 people, 21 days to build a sustainable fitness habit. How? Ask @tashiskervin when she hosts a Facebook Live on our channel at 7pm tonight. She’ll chat through her workouts with her PT @george_t_hopkins. See you later… #Repost ・・・ @lydiaxcollins #facebooklive #feelit #workout #gymlife #fitnesshabit #gothere #greathabits #fitfam #fridayfitness

A post shared by Official Virgin Active UK (@virginactiveuk) on Jan 27, 2017 at 2:04am PST

Over to you

Q4 really is one of the busiest times for marketers — and though you probably won’t want to run a campaign for every single event, you could see great results by carefully planning out your Q4 content.

If you want to keep a handy reminder of everything that’s coming up, you can grab a copy of our content calendar here. 

How early do you tend to plan your content in advance? What’s the best Q4 or holiday-themed campaign you’ve seen? Let me know in the comments below.

Thank Q4 Content Calendar: Important Dates and Campaign Ideas for Small Businesses for first publishing this post.