#Can I use my mobile phone in Australia? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nethartic · 1 year

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EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS

[ID: writing reading: Emergency commissions - $45USD. In the background there is an example chibi. To the right is an example icon. In the bottom left corner of the image is my dragon/dog hybrid fursona pointing toward the image and saying "I need to go in the MRI tube and it's expensive :(" /end ID]

Hello funny furries in my phone!!

I am in a bit of a sticky situation where I currently can't work because of acquired spinal injury and chronic illness - however need money for doctors appointments and imaging that I can't afford on government benefits. I am unable to take large amounts of work at the moment so will only be offering limited slots of the following, but may take more on if I am handling the workload okay.

The first 2 options are $45 as they take about the same amount of time to complete. I have just added 2 more options that are more expensive (as of 26/6).Can be either artistic freedom or give me some prompts. They won't come with a wip unless you explicitly request one as I aim to get these out as quick as I can. Please share - Info below the cut!

[ID: A fox/wolf hybrid showing a big toothy happy smile toward the viewer. He is coloured using shades of yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink. /end ID]

GRADIENT MAP ICON

Will use more than 3 colours, but pick 3 you want to see in the icon

You can give me an expression, or I can choose one at random

See complex characters image below for complex character additional fees

Can also make pride colour ones :>

[ID: Heading title: Chibi style. Style examples from left to right: A red, grey and white Maine coon cat. A dark blue unicorn with black and purple hair, and a white and purple fox. /end ID]

CHIBI FULLBODIES

Sketchier lines and more minimal shading than the icon

Transparent png

Any body type

See complex characters image below for complex character additional fees

[ID: Digital painting of Neo (dog/dragon hybrid) with liquid leaking from their eyes and mouth. The painting uses saturated shades of pink, puple, blue and orange. /end ID]

EXPERIMENTAL PORTRAIT

I can also do a loose bust portrait like this for 68 of your United States Dollars. The style is quite experimental but you can give some prompts or just give me your character + their personality and I will do the art thing!

[ID: A digital painting of Neo flying through the air coloured with highly saturated colours /end ID]

FULL PAINTING

Putting this one out there just in case (if anyone buys this I will close for any more slots) but I can do a painting like this for $900USD (20hrs work) or a less refined painting for $450USD (10hrs work). This might take a while though with my pain/fatigue and will include wips.

Wondering if your character is too complex? Check out this little guide I made:

[ID: A chart with increasingly complex designs and their additional costs. Extra limbs/complex markings are + $10, and wings/very complex markings are + $20. /end ID]

Note: Charge will be more on a full painting, the above is based on icon/chibi/bust style. To be discussed before the payment invoice is sent.

WILL/WON'T Draw:

WILL:

furries, mlp, feral

queer characters (pls give)

Mobility aids (free)

Any body type

NSFW/fetish/gore/adult content*

mechs at $20 extra charge

*(if you are wanting more extreme/niche adult content please discuss first. Won't do any illegal content, if it's fully legal but a bit questionable please run it by me first). Probably won't be posted to tumblr but won't charge private fee.

WON'T:

NSFW feral

Police/military

Accept commissions from minors

TOS and Payment

Payment through PayPal, but can do bank transfer if you live in Australia.

If you just want to throw me a couple of support dollars (I would love you forever), I have a Ko-Fi.

Please send me a DM if you are interested in a commission, I would love to work with you :D

Thank you so much for looking! Please share this around.

More about my situation

I have a family history of spinal issues (my dad had major spine surgery when I was 6, with his side of the family having consistent acquired spine injuries going back generations) and unfortunately my turn on the family spine came a good 10 years before 'normal'. I seem to have 2 separate issues co-occurring in the T and S sections of my spine which are causing gradual motor function loss and a LOT of pain. I have also had a mystery fatigue/pain condition which we are now about to confirm as fibromyalgia since about age 15.

After my legs nearly gave out at work last November during a particularly bad pain episode at work, I went and got an intial MRI that showed irregularities in my spine in the areas my pain comes from. I have gotten much worse since then so need new MRI's with added contrast dye which brings the price up quite a bit (it will be $4-500+). I quit my job in February under the impression that I just needed to rest for a bit and could go to a less intense job after 3 weeks. I honestly don't think I would have lasted much longer if I didn't quit anyway because I was taking close to or the 24 hr limit of panedeine forte at work just for the 8 hour shift (needed to drive so couldn't take stronger opioids + opioids make me feel HORRIBLE). I think my body was holding out until I had a period of rest because I began declining quite rapidly between February and now.

I have been using crutches to help walk/stand for about a month and a half now and I can't stand for more than an hour max (30+ mins is starting to push it tho), which is a HUGE contrast to 6 months ago where I was standing 32+ hours a week and moving around constantly. I've also gone from being able to comfortably lift 25-30kg to struggling with less than 10. These limitations knock out a LOT of jobs I'm qualified for (read: non-skilled, physical labour) - so trying to find answers for what's happening to me is very difficult and slow because I can't afford to just throw myself at specialists; and with the unofficial and slow death of bulk billing in Australia even my GP is getting too expensive. My partner is also disabled and receives DSP from the government so is not in a position to help finance my medical care because he is barely affording his own.

You're of course under absolutely no obligation to support me (and this isn't a sympathy post), but sharing this around would mean the world to me because I REALLY need to get some money together for medical care.

#Having a go at writing image descriptions let me know if I've done anything wrong :)#furry fandom #furry art #commissions open #emergency commissions #furry artist #artists on tumblr #physical disability #chronic illness #disabled artist #anthro #signal boost

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likeadaydreamorafever · 10 months

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Mischa Sunday Telegraph Interview

Why Mischa Barton said yes to surprise role on Neighbours

She was the star of the hottest teen drama of the noughties, but The O.C’s Mischa Barton shocked everyone when she signed on to the revival of Aussie soap Neighbours. Now she exclusively reveals to Stellar why she gave up work in the US for a show she’d never seen in suburban Melbourne.

After starring in the hottest teen drama of the noughties and being idolised for her every fashionable move, Mischa Barton surprised everyone when she signed up for some suburban drama on Australia’s most famous cul-de-sac in a revival of Neighbours. But then the British-born, US-based actor – who started her career on the stage and in soap operas – has never relished the role Hollywood chose for her. In an exclusive interview with Stellar, the 37-year-old recalls being cast in The O.C. because she “wasn’t anything like the other young blonde girls going in and trying out” and reveals how she’s taken charge of her own narrative.

Craning her neck forward, Mischa Barton lets out a squeal of excitement as she hears the first bars of Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis’ 1989 single ‘Don’t It Make You Feel Good’ emanate from a mobile phone. “I’m adding that to my playlist!” she exclaims with a throaty laugh, before plotting how she will tease Dennis on the Neighbours set the next day, her first suggestion being that she might just broadcast the tune loudly in her dressing room.

While Barton was a fan of Kylie Minogue before joining the Neighbours cast, she was far less familiar with the era-typifying swerve into pop music made by Dennis (who has been playing the show’s “villain” Paul Robinson since 1985), let alone its reputation for turning out future Australian music superstars. As such, she can confidently say it’s “very, very unlikely” that her 10-week stint on Ramsay Street was motivated by a secret desire to follow in the footsteps of Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Delta Goodrem or even Dennis.

So if not music, then what did prompt the former star of the early 2000s teen drama The O.C. to say yes to a stint in suburban Melbourne working on a show that she has never seen, and that has no cultural footprint in the US, where she lives?

Certainly for Network 10, adding Barton to the cast was a shrewd move to create buzz when the series returns later this month, resurrected just over a year after its 37-year run came to an end and also airing for the first time in the US and Canada via Amazon’s streaming service Freevee (as well as streaming in Australia and New Zealand on Amazon Prime). For Barton, who wasn’t yet born when Neighbours debuted in 1985, it was a serendipitous chance to try something new, as well as reconnect with some old friends in Australia.

When Stellar spoke to Barton in June, a week before she returned to the US, she explained the role had “come at a really good time, because while I was loving living in New York, there’s a writers’ strike on. And it’s [Northern Hemisphere] summertime. So there’s really not that much work going around for a lot of my actor friends.”

Of course, the Hollywood actors’ strike – which was called in mid-July – has also compounded the issue for Barton’s fellow actors. However, practicality and picket lines aside, the real lure for Barton was the role of Reece Sinclair, a wealthy American who arrives in Erinsborough under the guise of doing business – but in reality, has a much more personal agenda to fulfil. “And then she falls for a guy,” Barton says with a smile. “It actually just felt like a very good fit for me in terms of a role I could really play. And I don’t always feel that way with television.”

Her sentiment is understandable given the 37-year-old’s most high-profile project since leaving The O.C. in 2006 was her surprising gear-shift into reality TV on The Hills: New Beginnings. A sequel to the popular MTV series that followed the daily lives of TV personalities Brody Jenner, Audrina Patridge, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, it was sold to her as an opportunity to let people see “the real Mischa Barton”. Ultimately, she felt let down by the process.

“Would I do it again? Probably not something like The Hills,” Barton tells Stellar. “I think they’re even continuing to try to do it, but it just wasn’t really all the things that were promised around it, like clearing up any misconceptions or getting people to know you. There are just people putting

on too many fronts and they’re not being themselves. So if people aren’t being themselves, it’s impossible because I’m used to having a script. That middle ground is just too trying for me. It’s partially scripted but it’s not, but they can’t really say that. So it wasn’t my favourite experience.

“But I’ve never been attracted to that kind of fame, either,” she adds. “It’s not something that I chase. I actually veer away from it.”

Fame has long been an uncomfortable by-product of Barton’s chosen career. Asked whether she’s grateful to have become a celebrity in an era when smartphones couldn’t capture her every move, Barton sighs wearily. “You can always play the grass is greener thing, and I just don’t feel that way,” she says. “I mean, in a sense, it would have been much easier for me if there had been social media to combat all the ludicrous stories in the press. Now, kids can really show their own narrative. You can use your own social media to be whoever you want to be.”

She qualifies her reply after a brief pause: “At the same time, I don’t really love social media. So I’m fine with having come up in a time when it wasn’t around and things were, in one sense, a lot simpler.”

That’s why, rather than opting for a luxury hotel suite, Barton relished staying in a relatively humble cottage nestled behind Melbourne’s bustling Chapel Street for the duration of her time filming Neighbours. There, she could cook meals for friends, do her own laundry and, when her schedule allowed, walk to the Prahran Market to pick up fresh fruit and veg. She also found time to indulge in a bit of shopping, and admits that she would be going home with far heavier suitcases than when she arrived. “I really liked a vintage store I found there,” she says of Chapel Street, which is known for its eclectic mix of high-end boutiques and second-hand clothing markets. “I did a lot of damage in there.”

Filming in Australia meant such excursions could be enjoyed without being recognised or photographed, and added a layer of protection for Barton, who has learnt the tricks to staying incognito – the easiest being to steer clear of bars and clubs where people inevitably want selfies.

Avoiding unwanted attention wasn’t always so easy. When The O.C. first aired in 2003, it catapulted Barton and the rest of her young co-stars into a searing spotlight of adulation and attention. For someone who had been acting steadily since she was eight – making her screen debut in the US soap opera All My Children in 1994, and going on to appear in two of the biggest films of 1999, M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller The Sixth Sense and Richard Curtis’ hit romance Notting Hill – the sudden and frenzied interest in both The O.C. and her personal life was a shock to the system.

“I was 17 or 18 and it was a very specific kind of fame,” Barton recalls. “Most actors, they can work their whole lives and have a very normal level of notoriety or fame. But, for some reason, The O.C. was just one of those things. It was a time and a place, and it just took off in a very different direction. It was kind of an uncontrollable beast. But I’ve been in this industry for a long time and managed, for a large portion of it, to get away with just living a very normal life.”

Both Barton and her character, rich girl Marissa Cooper, became fashion icons of the time, with the actor regularly centre stage on red carpets and front row at fashion weeks, while young girls everywhere mimicked her onscreen style of low-slung jeans and spaghetti-strap tops.

Recalling her time in the fashion spotlight and the pressures to look a certain way in Hollywood, she says she’s “learnt how to get away from it. I don’t really live in LA anymore, so I don’t put myself under that constant scrutiny and pressure. I’ll only dip into [the Hollywood scene] when I feel like it’s healthy and something I want to do.”

Even so, Barton recalls how a “bizarre amount” of people found it hard to separate the British-born and New York-raised Barton from the quintessential Californian teenager she portrayed. “People were obsessed with Marissa Cooper,” she says. “I’d get sent a lot of [scripts] that are rehashes of her. And I was always like, ‘Do you not realise that’s actually not something I like to play?’ I didn’t really enjoy having to play that character. I had to find my own version of Marissa and I think the real reason I was cast is because I wasn’t really anything like the other young blonde girls going in and trying out for it.”

Barton left the show in its third season in 2006, when Marissa died in a shocking car crash. The series’ creator Josh Schwartz recently told Vanity Fair that he regretted killing off her character, saying he wished he’d found a way to give Barton “the break she needed and wanted that still would’ve allowed for that character to return”.

Fans say The O.C. never recovered from Barton’s departure, but the death scene – in which Marissa’s body is carried from the flames by her longtime love Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) – is etched into TV history.

“I’ve only just rewatched that scene recently,” Barton admits. “I never watched it after I did it because there was really no reason to, but I just did the podcast [Welcome To The OC, Bitches!, hosted by her former co-stars Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke, who played her best friend Summer Roberts and mother Julie Cooper] and we rewatched it together, and it was weirdly emotional. I was like, ‘Oh, I forgot the car is on fire.’ And I forgot there’s no music playing for once in the show. It was done in a really interesting way.”

Despite the enduring affection the public still has for the series, Barton isn’t sure that a reboot of The O.C. would work for audiences today. “It’s not like it hasn’t come up before, but obviously, I’m dead,” she says with a smile. “Honestly, it’s more likely to work as an offshoot of it or something based around those characters that’s not exactly the same, rather than trying to simply resurrect them. You’d have to think outside the box if you want to resurrect The O.C. culture or characters.”

And while The O.C. featured former Neighbours co-star Alan Dale, who played his screen dad and is one of his good mates, Dennis had never seen the US series. He was only aware that Barton – or, as he knew her, “the vomiting girl from The Sixth Sense” – was coming to Ramsay Street.

“[I thought], ‘Oh, here we go, they’ve cast a Hollywood hero to show us how it’s done,’” Dennis admits to Stellar. “There was a cautious shyness initially as she was alone on the other side of the world, thrown into a building full of people she didn’t know and working day-by-day in a show she didn’t know or understand the way it worked. This cautious shyness was misread by me. I now like to think we have cemented a long-term friendship.”

Another castmate, Annie Jones (who rejoined the show in 2020, reprising her 1980s character Jane Harris), was equally impressed by Barton, enthusing that she brought a “beautiful, serene calmness to the set. It’s great for the show to have someone of Mischa’s calibre on it. She was gorgeous. Everyone loved her.”

And while Barton may be back in the US as Neighbours returns to air, she tells Stellar she remains excited that – unlike her very final departure from The O.C. – the door has been left open for a return. And the plot wheels are already turning in her head, as Barton teases, “Reece might pop up on FaceTime from New York.”

#mischa barton #the oc #marissa cooper

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arty-ffxiv · 1 day

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about me — people i’d like to know better.

LAST SONG. Online - TWRP Feat. Tom Cardy & Montaigne. I’ve been a fan of TWRP for a number of years now, as well as loving Tom Cardy’s chaotic energy from when I used to watch his Tiktoks (I’ve since deleted the app as it was a huge time-waster for me), so when I heard that they had collabed for a song I knew it’d be a banger. I’ve had it on repeat since it was released.

FAVORITE COLOR. I really love dark greens, burgundy and warm, autumnal yellows. My bestie also gifted me an Oracle deck for my birthday and I adore the similar colours/ wintry forest palette that it has. I think it’s been a big inspiration, even if the cards keep calling me out!

CURRENTLY READING. I’ve been slowly plodding my way through The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson; I’m enjoying it but just have not had the spoons/ attention span to dedicate to reading. I tend to gravitate towards audiobooks nowadays, which I listen to when I’m driving.

The most recent books I’ve finished have been audiobooks during my commutes- I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy, and Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell.

CURRENTLY WATCHING. I’m watching more YouTube at the moment than serialized shows. One of my favourite YouTube channels, Lore Dump, has started a series on the Yakuza games and I’m really enjoying the chaotic energy that Chase brings to the host seat.

The idea behind the channel is that one of the three hosts does a full plot recap of a game franchise that the other two have not played or aren’t familiar with. They’re long form videos that you can treat like podcasts or put on in the background (I use them for my commute to/ from work), and they’ve covered series like Bioshock, Metal Gear, Red Dead Redemption and Batman. They also did a 12 video series on Kingdom Hearts that is just under 30 hours long, which I highly recommend if you’re into long haul deep dives!

I love it because the hosts clearly love the series they’re talking about dearly, and hearing the others gradually getting swept up in the excitement of the narratives is really entertaining.

SWEET, SAVORY, OR SPICY? I’m a sucker for savoury foods, but I do get the occasional craving for sweet foods. Sadly I can’t tolerate spicy foods like I used to :<

RELATIONSHIP STATUS. Happily married for the past eight (nearly nine) years! My partner and I married young, and it’s hard to believe it’s been so long already. I adore him so much and it’s been a joy to grow alongside him.

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED. “Do they make scuba suits for dogs”. This was for our modern day TTRPG game, using the ‘Everyday Heroes’ module for D&D 5e.

The game is set in Australia in the 2070s after a catastrophic rise in sea levels, and because we’re playing in our home state, we’ve been able to use google maps and a lot of real-world resources in the game which has been super fun. We’ve even made an interactive map to keep track of important locations.

In our last session, we found information that points to us needing to go to locations under the new sealine and joked about taking our rangers’ sniffer dog along on the dive.

The answer we got is yes, there absolutely are diving suits for dogs.

CURRENT OBSESSION. I’ve been getting back into playing mobile games in my downtime! A few long-time favourites of mine are below- bear in mind that I’m on Android so these may not be available on iOS if you want to check them out.

The main one I’ve been playing is called Luna Story; it’s the first in a series of 3 apps that are nonogram-based games. Using a grid and a sequence of numbers, you fill in the grid to create pictures. I’ve had Luna Story installed on my phone for years and have been sporadically playing it, but I’ve recently dived into it again and am playing it before bed, on my lunch break and even when I wake up some mornings. The grid sizes range from beginner (5x5) to advanced (20 x 20) and uses super cute pixel art.

The other is called My Oasis, which is an idle clicker game where you progressively grow an island with animals. It’s got lots of positive little messages in it, like the abilities to buff your clicking being called virtues- like ‘compassion’, ‘selflessness’, etc. The animals I’ve chosen for my island are all favourites of the people I love- a fox for my little sister, a red panda for my husband, giraffe for my mum- even a racoon for myself. The animals can speak via bubbles with encouraging messages, and sing to you- you can sing back to them with a little keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Super cute, if a little clunky at times.

Tagged By: Thank you @why-raven for the tag! ♥

Tagging: @zenmai--jikake--no--komoriuta, @gatheredfates, @riftdancing, @ishgard, @this-is-ris, @thefreelanceangel and anyone else who wants to do this! ♥

#arty meme #non ffxiv #ooc post #arty speaks #Spotify

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mygainyear2024 · 3 months

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I will call this day 0 otherwise I’ll confuse myself, so 1 April in Europe can be Day 1, except I fell asleep while trying to edit this last night, so I will confuse myself posting it on 1 April!

I feel very well equipped for this solo trip and future ones. I bought Keely’s old iPhone. This is the first phone I’ve owned! I’ve just had the work one, fearing I’d lose a second one! I have a portable mobile phone charger that appears to work well, AirTags attached to 3 items (as I did leave my new Apple Mac on a seat at the gate at Brisbane Airport last year)! I researched neck supports, and it was quite effective, and given the weather looked a bit rubbish in the Algarve on the advice of friends I raced out to MacPac and got a vest and I also invested in a Travelon cross body anti theft bag.

Today is a travel day. Brisbane to Dubai to Lisbon. Interestingly both Emirates Lounges were so quiet, as was Dubai airport mid morning. Is this cozzie lives? I asked a staff member in Dubai if it was due to Ramadan and he said no.

I met the lovely Tracey from seat 31D during the first flight. We were both up the back drinking cups of tea and stretching. She lives in Australia, originally from the UK, travelling back to Bristol to see her dying 62 year old sister 😢 She had an interesting story about terrible bosses, sea changes to Port Macquarie from Sydney and now due to her partner’s redundancy, three weeks after he achieved residency sponsorship from his employer, they are having several sea changes around Brisbane house and pet sitting while their place in Port Macquarie is listed on airbnb.

It gave me an idea about options for when I return as the beautiful 21 year old Anna, from the UK, has just signed the lease to rent my room for 3 months from 14th May 🤩 She’s studying forensic science and has a project at UQ. I have a feeling her and Rose are going to enjoy each others’ company.

I’d like to consider exploring house sitting locally and build up my references ahead of some potential overseas options💡 Any offers? Preferably modern, well appointed, comfortable, no pets and no gardening 😂

Now onboard the 7.51 hour flight to Lisbon. The lovely Calisa (flight attendant) came to my seat and welcomed just me back on board 😂 She said “let me know if there’s anything I can do to make your flight more comfortable”. I was too slow to say “upgrade me?” or “can you remove the crying babies and toddlers” This flight is very full.

Back to Netflix while I have access to my daughter’s account to download stuff. Just finished season 3 of Dead to Me, about to watch the last episodes of One Day. And started season 3 of Emily in Paris.

Usually I’d navigate public transport straight up but decided to order an Uber to the hotel and it worked really well. Felipe, the driver, was very surprised at how bright I was after all the travel.

I’m staying at Masa Hotel & Spa (it has a free gym which was great to use to shake off hours of sitting), near the airport (luckily flight didn’t start until around 6am) for 2 nights before heading to “home” in the Algarve for the rest of the month.

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lindsaywesker · 1 year

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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday!

Sweet potato ranks No. 1 in nutrition of all vegetables.

Paris has a ‘hospital’ for neglected houseplants.

Daydreaming is good for your brain.

A litre of beer or a litre of coffee is as hydrating as a litre of water.

Cremation causes silicone breast implants to explode.

40% of working Britons have less than £100 in savings.

The IATA airport code for Sioux City, Iowa is SUX.

Your motivation to "get up and go" starts to fail at around 54 years old.

One-third of entrepreneurs think their chance of failing is zero.

In Russia, it is illegal to tell kids that gay people exist.

Microscopic mites are currently living and having sex on your face.

The baby name ‘Karen’ is on the edge of extinction.

Only 2% of the world's population has green eyes.

80% of the world's population have never been on an airplane.

Your nipples are as unique as your fingerprints.

In 1976, more than 100 marijuana plants sprouted in the Anaheim Stadium playing field in Los Angeles after The Who performed there.

In 2014, German police issued a fine to a one-armed cyclist for cycling with one arm.

Humans spend 13% of their lives not focusing on anything in particular.

Men appear in the newspapers three times as often as women and have done since 1800.

In 2017, the US secret service advertised for a 'social media sarcasm spotter'.

Sometimes, creating a little distance will help people recognize how much you actually mean to them.

A study by Wijnand A.P. Van Tilburg and Eric R. Igou has shown that adding a middle initial to your name makes you seem smarter. This status is brought to you by Lindsay J. Wesker.

A moose can dive underwater down to nearly twenty feet in search of food. This makes killer whales their biggest predator.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has towns called Intercourse and Paradise. It takes six minutes to get from one to the other.

Male ladybirds can spend up to four hours mating with a dead female before realising something is wrong.

Greenland lost so much ice in the 20th century that it changed the angle of the Earth’s rotation.

A sex manual in Qing dynasty China outlined 48 different ways to fondle a mutilated foot.

In December 2020, a man from Kazakhstan legally married his sex doll after 2 years of dating.

Crocodiles are fast on their feet but cannot turn very well. If one is chasing you, run in zig zag lines.

In 2013, Bill Gates said that the Ctrl+Alt+Delete command was a mistake and could have been just a single button.

4.8 billion people own mobile phones whereas only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.

“The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

A python from Australia became addicted to meth after living in a drug lab and was sent to rehab for seven months.

You have a better chance in getting into Harvard than becoming a Delta Airlines flight attendant.

It's ok and "I'm fine" are the two most common lies spoken in the world.

Men spend almost a year of their lives staring at women, a survey found.

According to Psychology people are constantly wishing for something, whilst overlooking that they already have.

Admit it when you're wrong and shut up when you're right. This is a simple way to drastically improve the quality of your relationships.

According to one survey, 95% of people claim they get nervous when they hear the words, “We need to talk.”

When you become really close to someone, you can hear their voice in your head when you read their texts.

No one really knows who invented the fire hydrant, its patent was burned in a fire.

Parents of newborn babies lose about six months of sleep during the first two years of their child's life

After drummer Pete Best was fired from the Beatles, he released an album called ‘Best Of The Beatles’. Buyers were disappointed to find out it was not a Beatles compilation album.

Humans are deuterostomes which means that, when they develop in the womb, the anus forms before any other opening. This means that, at one point, you were nothing but a bum hole!

When Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, he ordered all Monopoly sets to be destroyed. Some believe the decision was because it symbolises capitalism but close friends believed it was because he always lost.

On September 11th, 2001, Roselle, a guide dog, saved the life of her blind owner by leading him all the way down from the 78th floor of the burning Twin Towers. The descent took approximately an hour in total and both safely made it out.

According to a study, male owners of luxury cars behave aggressively on the road not because of a corrupting effect of wealth, but because men who are self-centred and unempathetic are much more likely both to be drawn to high-status cars and to break traffic laws.

In the 1640s, the Dutch inhabitants of New Amsterdam built a 12-foot wall to protect the city. In 1664, the British bypassed the wall and took the city by the sea. The area is now called New York. They took down the wall and built a street now known as Wall Street

And, finally, it’s never too late to follow your dreams. Romanian ruler, Vlad The Impaler, didn’t start impaling people until his thirties!

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #weekend #democracy #brexit #cronyism #election #tuesdaymotivation #radio

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alive-drumming · 6 years

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Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media. It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks. See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

Ethan Algan

IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY. What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

Sandra - Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

Sandra Sutton

TRUE INNOVATION. What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings. Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves. Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada

Eloa Andes

LOVE THIS APP!! Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go. So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

Hilly Edding

HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS. I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

Ron - LA, USA. Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

Ron Upton

PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE. This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where it works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one keypress. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

Wendy - Florence, Italy. Plays guitar, and clarinet. Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

Wendy Nonereally

WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but it is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

Ele' - Melbourne, Australia. Plays piano. Like jazz, blues and latin.

Ele' P

A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium-fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, it is that sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style. Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it.

The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more.

Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user interface encourages continued use. You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different.

Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution.

Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page

Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product,

“How to practice, then how to jam”

“When to work on your rhythm?”

“Why songform with rhythm tracks?”

Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store

Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

#arranger #backing music #innovator #Song Rhythm Tracks #usability #Alive Drumming #iOS App - Song Rhythm Tracks #Musicianship #Practice #Rhythmic Styles #SRT iOS App'

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survey--s · 1 year

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489.

What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Making the bed and airing out the bedroom lol. Not very exciting I know but it’s stuff that needs doing.

What was the last thing you said aloud? Right cats, dinner time!

Have you bought anything new this week? Yeah, a new vacuum cleaner and a new waterproof jacket. Riveting stuff, I know lol.

Name one person who made you smile today. Susie.

What’s the last thing you had to drink? Coffee.

Ever go camping? Nah, it’s never been something that appeals to me. Maybe if we lived somewhere with guaranteed decent weather I would give it a go, but around here it just rains all the time haha.

What’s your favorite candy? Depends on my mood really.

Do you send messages on Facebook a lot? Yeah, most days but they’re not very interesting, it’s just often the easiest way to communicate as mobile signal can be really patchy around here.

Have you ever gone to a strip club? No.

Last sporting event you watched? Uhh, I have no idea - maybe tennis? I’m not really into sports.

What were you doing at 8am this morning? Messing around on my phone in bed.

Anything you wish you could change? No, not really.

Do you go in at a fast food place or drive thru? We normally go in as it’s quicker, but it depends.

What do you think when you hear Australia? My family.

Who’s the last person you talked to on the phone? My mum, I think? I don’t really talk on the phone all that much.

Do you like Chinese food over pizza? It depends on my mood. I love a decent Chinese takeaway but the supermarket versions can be awful.

Do you have a tan? Ha, no.

Biggest annoyance in life right now? Period pains. I swear I ALWAYS get my period when I’m off work or due to do something fun lol.

Do any of your friends have children? Well, I wouldn’t really consider them my friends, but yeah.

Are you jealous of anyone? Anyone who has the time and money to own a horse on their own property.

Where is your dad? I assume he’s at home. I don’t live with my parents.

Any plans today? As little as possible as it’s my first proper day off work in weeks. So far I’ve just been messing about online, watching TV and catching up on some housework lol.

Do you drink your soda with a straw? Yeah, in restaurants and stuff, but we don’t really use straws at home.

Last song listened to? Behind the Wall by Tracy Chapman.

Do you take vitamins daily? No - we do have some in the cupboard but I never remember to take them lol.

Is anyone jealous of you? Not as far as I’m aware.

What are you doing tomorrow? I have a beach ride in the morning and then I’ll probably take a bath and just hang out at home as I suspect my legs will be like jelly haha.

What’s your favorite number? Thirteen.

Do you have a maid come in and clean your house? No, and tbh I wouldn’t want one - I don’t like the idea of someone touching my stuff and being in my home when I’m not there. I don’t mind cleaning though.

Can you say the alphabet backwards? I can’t say that I’ve ever tried.

Cedar Point or Six Flags? We don’t have either of those places here.

Have you ever slept in until 1 PM? Only a few times when I’ve been jetlagged. I like a lie-in but if I sleep too late I feel like I’ve wasted my day for some reason, even if I have no real plans.

Do you believe in love at first sight? No.

Do you like the show Viva La Bam? Haven’t heard of it.

How many kids do you want to have? Zero.

Have you ever gone behind your parents backs? Sure, I can’t imagine there are many adults alive who never lied to their parents lol.

Have you ever lost someone? Yeah.

Where did you get your worst scar from? Falling off the monkey bars when I was about eleven.

What time did you wake up today? 6am when Mike’s alarm went off but I didn’t get out of bed until about half eight.

Have you ever tried to erase someone from your memory? No, not really? I’ve tried to spend less time thinking about certain people though.

Last meal? Vegemite on toast.

Do you like coco pebbles the cereal? Are they like coco pops? If so, yeah, but my parents never bought cereal like that so I only ever got to have it on holiday or at sleepovers lol.

Last time you saw your father? Just before Christmas.

Last time you cried? When the vet said she thought Archie might have cancer. Thankfully it turned out to be a hystiocytoma and the medication cleared it up but I was SO worried as he’s only five.

When you get married what do you think you’ll put most of your focus and money into? I am married and are you talking about the wedding? Because ours was tiny and we spent more money on the honeymoon.

Would you freak out if you were to get pregnant by the last person you hooked up with? I’d be freaked out if I was pregnant in general.

When’s the last time something turned out better than expected? So, one of my customers has taken on their daughters’ spaniel puppy and they asked me to walk him with their two adult dogs - I was DREADING it as the collies can be a bit of a nightmare but actually the spaniel fits right in and they collies actually behave even better now.

Who in your life causes you the most stress or negative feelings? Nobody.

Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? No, my parents weren’t educated in England.

What’s something you complain about frequently? Period pain, dog owners who can’t control their dogs, Mike not tidying up his mess after he’s been in the kitchen.

Do you have anything planned for the summer? Nah, it’s only April. I’ll probably be working most of the summer.

Do you walk fast or slow? It depends.

What form of public transport do you use most often? I don’t use public transport.

Is there any alcohol in the fridge? Yeah, Mike has some cider in there.

Is any part of you sad at all? No.

Who was the last person to disappoint you? I don’t remember.

Have you ever let someone go? Sure.

Are you a patient person? Not particularly.

Do you think you’ve changed over the past year? Sure, I don’t really think it’s possible to go a year without changing at all.

Is there something that happened in your past you hate talking about? No.

Your ex is sitting next to you, what do you do? I would probably just awkwardly ignore him lol.

Are you someone who worries too often? Not so much anymore.

Have you ever been completely alone with a boy in his room? I’m 34 and married - what do you think?

Do you ever think “what if” about anything? Sure, who doesn’t?

Is the last person you kissed older than you? He is indeed.

Does everyone deserve a second chance? No.

Are you emotionally strong? I mean, it depends. In some respects I am, in others...not so much.

Is there anyone you don’t wanna lose? Sure.

Are you the type of person who seeks out revenge? No.

Do you think two people can last forever? Until one of them dies, sure.

Do you like falling asleep listening to the rain? I like the idea of it, but the reality is that it just makes me want to pee, lol.

Is your current hair color your natural hair color? Yeah. Do you believe that the last person that you kissed cares for you? I know he does.

Are you happy with the choices you’ve made? Yes, for the most part. There’s nothing I would change, anyway.

Do you honestly have feelings for someone at the moment? I honestly do.

Have you ever slept in the same bed as the opposite sex? Of course.

Are there things in your life that you’ll never be able to get over? I mean, there are things in my life that will impact me forever.

Have you dated someone older than you? Yeah.

#survey #surveys

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smukher2 · 29 days

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By #www.smukher2.eu #www.smukher2.com #www.smukher2.co.uk #www.smukher2.org #www.smukher2.net #smukher2 to #Everyone: I'm currently in India and unemployment, making an international call is expensive. Therefore, I've researched cost-effective and secure methods for calling the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, such as #BetterTech, and I am sharing my findings below. Indeed, doing such research, a type of knowledge work or wissenschaft fairly i.e. #fairwissenschaft, is great, because wissenschaft or fairwissenschaft is not only about learning and applying, but also communicating it for present and future generations, as Alexander Von Humboldt practiced and preached. Humboldt, is also called "The German Columbus" for his explorations in the New World i.e. America (On the trail of Alexander von Humboldt DW https://www.dw.com/en/on-the-trail-of-alexander-von-humboldt/a-16886687). I am now writing about it here because part of doing scientific work is also to do scientific communication. as Mark Twain 'Curing A Cold' to quote 'It is a good thing, perhaps, to write for the amusement of the public, but it is a far higher and nobler thing to write for their instruction, their profit, their actual and tangible benefit….If it prove the means of lighting up once more the fire of hope and joy…I shall be amply rewarded for my labor; my soul will be permeated with the sacred delight a Christian feels when (they have' done a good, unselfish deed' (https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/curing-a-cold/).

Free calling and free second phone number comparing Hushed, Freetone, Text Me, Viber, Google Voice, Skype, Facebook, Talkatone, TextFree, TextMe, TextPlus+, Burner, Phoner, Vyke, Grasshopper, Virtual sim, Dingtone, NuanceSim. Calling is referring to not referring to calling people with the same app like Snapchat or Discord, but calling people on their landline or mobile phone number. Presently, I will discuss Free texting and calling to the US and Canada, Virtual phone numbers Ability to make calls, send texts, and receive voicemails, Limitations on usage and features.

Recommended #BetterTech (Above Par): 1) Hushed Hushed is a phone number application that enables you to call, send pictures, and text. It can automatically respond to any text messages sent to the number. It offers free calls and texts to the US and Canada, with some limitations. Provides a lifetime phone number so it does not expire even upon infrequent use like other plans. This comes with included minutes for talk and text. The privacy you give away is credit card, use a burner credit card one can protect privacy. 2) Freetone by Text Me Freetone allows you to make free calls and texts to the US and Canada over WiFi. However, some limitations apply, such as excluding Hawaii and Alaska from the free US + Canada bundle. Limited free credits can buy credits for calls long term not just monthly so good if you make few calls. For phone number it has to be paid monthly. The privacy you give away is credit card, use a burner credit card one can protect privacy. 3) Viber Viber is a free texting app that allows you to send and receive texts to any mobile number in the US and Canada. It also offers free calls to the US and Canada. Free unlimited call. The privacy you give away is your current phone number, use a burner phone number to safeguard privacy.

Not Recommended #BigTech (Below Par): BigTech free options, not used to pick more secure and private option who are less likely to sell user data i.e. respect privacy and security: 1) Google Voice Google Voice is a free service that allows you to make calls, send texts, and receive voicemails. It offers free calls to the US and Canada, as well as international calls at a low rate. 2) Skype Skype is a video conferencing app that also offers voice and text messaging. It offers free calls to other Skype users, but charges for calls to landlines and mobile numbers. 3) Facebook Messenger Facebook offers free messaging and voice calls to other Facebook users, but charges for calls to landlines and mobile numbers. Not Recommended #BadTech (Below Par): Talkatone, TextFree, TextMe, TextPlus+, Burner, Phoner, Grasshopper, Dingtone, NuanceSim, and Vyke are similar. All of these apps allow users to make calls and send texts to US and Canadian numbers for free, with some limitations on usage and features. They were rejected for one or more of the following reasons: 4) Security features like reCaptcha uses Google captcha does not work so sign-up or working app stops working midway. 5) For signup asks for real phone number. If the point is privacy then by giving away phone number its breaches that. 6) Does not work without giving access to phone contacts and phone logs. Just dialing and saving number should be sufficient. If the point is privacy then by giving away phone number its breaches that. 7) Only accepts Gmail, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook emails for login. That is without #BigTech accounts you cannot use them. By signing up with BigTech account its giving up the privacy to them so why would someone use these other options if they cannot provide a BigTech free private and secure option. There are lots of great email services, especially from Germanic Europe such as ProtonMail, Mail.com, or GMX and Mailfence.com, which are secure and private don't sell user data, and most services accept their email ids. Even Yahoo mail and Yahoo messenger, is reasonably good with privacy security and respecting user data, and should be accepted.

P.S. Speaking of #BetterTech, namely Hushed and ProtonMail, they have a discount offer on lifetime phone numbers and have a survey requesitng feedback for services, respectively. Please check it out and help #BetterTech, become better! Proton | ProtonMail Survey 2024 https://form.typeform.com/to/N4QxROiu Hushed | Get A Hushed Lifetime Second Phone Number https://promo.hushed.com/lp/lifetime-3

P.S. Instead of Rank and Sack, I will use labels Above Par and Below Par for my reviews. For all their BigTech imperfections, you've got to respect Alphabet (Google)'s Youtube, Amazon's Audible/Kindle and Apple's Podcast because even when contents in these platforms directly call them out for user and data, privacy and security (cybersecurity) issues, they never deplatform/delete such content unlike other BigTech like Alibaba, TikTok, Meta and Microsoft. As a BigTech, Alphabet, Youtube and Amazon clearly have the power that they could abuse to deplatform all critical feedback given to them, but they don't abuse theie power to do that. So I think these 3 are surely BigTech, but they cannot quite be grouped in with the rest of the BigTech. After much thought, I came up with a name that will distinguish Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Apple's 'silver lining' their ability to take constructive criticism which is first step towards improvement, it makes them redeemable unlike other BigTech (F, failure grade), so there is hope they can get A+ grade and become BetterTech too, which will take them even higher up, so I will now on refer to Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Apple, all of their name starts with A too, so I will call them #ABigTech. Now, case in point so I could not put Alphabet's Google Voice in Sack group, yet they're not in Rank group either, so I relabeled the categories Above Par and Below Par.

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vortoxaustralia · 5 months

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Mobile Phones

One thing I do recall being prominent in the USA is that most mobile phones are LOCKED to a specific service provider. And then you get charged minutes no matter if you are the one making the call or taking the call.

It is a fair bit different here. Phones are NOT LOCKED to a provider & only the person who makes the call, pays for the call!

So if you have a phone that is NOT LOCKED to any specific provider, then you would be able to bring that phone to Australia & put in a new Australian sim card & get it working. (If your phone is LOCKED, then you would need a UNLOCKED phone)

My recommendation is very simple, get a SIM card for a PREPAID phone plan with Telstra.

This is actually what I use & have done since moving back home to Australia nearly 9 years ago!!

You can buy a sim card for $2 & then add a prepaid plan

Our prepaid plans offer

unlimited calls & text messages inside Australia

loads of data

SMS messages internationally

international phone calls!!

There are smaller recharges that last for 28 days, but then there is an option for a longer 6 month recharge.

For a $160 recharge that has a 6 month expiry. This gives you

70 GB data

unlimited calls & text messages inside Australia

100 SMS to all countries

3000 mins of talk time to the USA

Add your questions by hitting the speech bubble that says "reply"

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thasallweare · 5 months

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Who Made That Cellphone?

By Pagan Kennedy

March 15, 2013

“We wanted to do a dazzling demonstration,” Martin Cooper says of the day in 1973 when he stood outside the Manhattan Hilton and fiddled with an object that was nearly the size of a child’s boot. “I had this thing with push-buttons on it, and I was talking into it,” he remembers. A crowd gathered around him on Sixth Avenue, gawking as he demonstrated how to make a call from the sidewalk — with no phone booth and no wires.

After the stunt, Cooper — who was head of the communications-systems division at Motorola — met with journalists inside the Hilton. The first cellphone, weighing more than two pounds, had all the sex appeal of a doorstop. Still, it was a triumph of engineering. To prove that the phone wasn’t an elaborate fake, he handed it around. One reporter called Australia and was astonished when her mother’s voice came out of the plastic-covered device.

“I have a mantra that people are naturally, fundamentally and inherently mobile,” Cooper says. While working on car phones, he imagined a world in which people would carry the devices on their bodies — and he liked to joke that “when you were born, you would be assigned a phone number.” That idea seemed wildly futuristic in the 1960s, when car phones needed 30-pound batteries. But by the early 1970s, “the electronics had improved,” he says. “We could get by with a small battery and very small parts, and you could actually carry the phone with you.”

It would be another decade before you could actually buy one. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, left, went on sale in 1983 for about $4,000 — and became a symbol of yuppie excess. In the 1987 movie “Wall Street,” Gordon Gekko strolls on the beach at sunrise and snarls into his brick-size phone, “This is your wake-up call, pal.” Soon enough, everyone else would get the wake-up call, too.

The phone tracks our movements, as well as our calls and texts, so it can reveal a lot about our daily lives. What did you learn about yourself by studying your own cellphone data? That I’m very predictable. We tend to pay attention only to the new things in our lives. Meanwhile, our habits are invisible to us. You may say you don’t always eat Tex-Mex food, but if you’re always at the Tex-Mex restaurant, I’d have to disagree.

If you were to look at my cellphone data, could you predict where I’ll be next Tuesday? Probably.

In a recent study, you looked at people’s cellphone data and found that their behavior changed just before they reported feeling sick. Yes. It turns out that all of us have very consistent responses when we’re getting the flu. We move around more before we come down with the illness — it’s that last gasp of activity before you get really sick.

You asked the people in your study to tell you how many hours they slept. Did you discover anything when you put together the sleep logs with calls, texts and other cellphone data? It turns out that there’s a strong correlation between social stimulation and good sleep. If you don’t sleep well, you are more likely to be a hermit. Some of the people in our study discovered that the correlation was very strong for them — they needed good sleep in order to be social.

To read comments please visit the original post. See link attached.

#who made the cell phone #Pagan Kennedy #cell phone #cell #phone #1973 #1983 #Motorola DynaTAC 8000X #first cell phone

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hannahssimblr · 8 months

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Chapter Five (Part 2)

That evening Liam and I walk to the barbeque on our own. The two girls got Shane to drive over and collect them from the mobile home because they insisted they couldn’t walk up the beach in their high heels, but I told everybody that I would prefer to take the long way with Liam. He has been texting me since we left each other last night, and then all through the morning and afternoon today. It’s nice to have a person – a boy – to talk to. It makes me feel like a normal, functioning teenager. We text about everything, about our favourite films and tv shows, the kind of music we listen to, our messages getting longer and longer until they’re huge essay-length blocks of text on the screen. He makes me laugh a lot. I have to keep explaining to my friends why I’m grinning at my phone all the time.

“There you are!” He says to me when we meet outside the surf shack. He is helping his dad to clean up the last of the rubbish left around the packed bins after another long day serving the holiday-goers. His cheeks and nose are pink and sunkissed and his blonde curls tousled after spending the day on the waves, and I feel a mini surge of affection for him. I’d never admit it to Kelly, but she was right about him. He’s very cute.

“It’s a long walk down to this house.” He says, nodding his head towards the south strand. “It’ll take over half an hour.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” I say.

“Are you sure? I can drive us down on the buggy.”

I imagine what it would look like if we rolled up to the barbeque on a dune buggy and I physically cringe. “No, It’s fine, really. I want to do the long walk with you.”

“Okay!” He waves a cheery goodbye to his dad and takes my hand in his. He leans down and kisses me. “Hi, by the way.”

“Hi!”

We have a lot to say to each other during the walk. It’s a seamless continuation of our text messages from earlier, and we talk about every topic we can think of. He asks me about the best holidays I’ve ever been on and the places I would like to go if I had unlimited money and time. I feel like his answers are more thought out than mine, as I can’t think of anything incredibly interesting or intelligent to say. My family didn’t have a lot of disposable income when I was growing up, so I feel stunted in the travel and experiences department. We usually just went camping around the country, but Liam in comparison seems to have been travelling all his life.

“My favourite place so far was South Africa.” He tells me. “I’ve never seen anything like the waves down there, like, you could do proper mad surfing like what you’d see on TV. I’d go back there any time. Flights were expensive though.”

“I’d love to go there.” I say, even though I know nothing about it. “Someday, maybe. Or like, Australia.”

“Oh yeah, same with me. There’s also world class surfing spots out there…” He really likes talking about surfing, I think to myself.

The smell of the barbeque hits me before I see the house, and I realise as we get closer that I feel nervous to see it again. The last time I was here feels unreal, and there’s a piece of me expecting to turn the corner around the cliffs and find something entirely different in place of the corrugated iron house, but all of a sudden it’s there and I’m seeing it again and I know I didn’t make it up. This time Shane and his friends are lounging around outside drinking beer and playing music from somebody’s portable speaker. They have brought some furniture from the living room out onto the beach in front and created their own little shore side hangout spot. Kasper, who is topless again, mans the barbeque.

“Hey! Evie, Liam!” Kelly has spotted us and is waving over, and I’m relieved to see that she’s in a better mood. “C’mere, sit down with us.” We make our way over to the gang and I’m immediately aware that Jude and Jen are absent, but I’m careful not to ask anybody where they are. The last thing I want is to seem too interested.

Kelly clutches my arm when I come over to her and I ignore the fact that she smells like cigarette smoke. “Try this”

I take the cup that she shoves into my hand and take a sip. It’s like rocket fuel, and burns my throat all the way down. I have to try really hard not to splutter and cough in front of everybody, but my eyes start to water badly and I have to turn away for a minute.

“Oh it’s delicious” I say sarcastically once I’ve regained an ounce of composure, and then I swat her on the arm. “What is that?”

“Tequila” she says impishly. “I’m having some tequila.” I thought tequila was supposed to be this tasty, fun summer drink, but I don’t think I’ve ever tasted something so disgusting in my life. I’m repelled by it, and desperately want to eject the flavour from my mouth.

“Here, Evie.” Liam hands me a bottle of beer with a wedge of lime in the neck and

I gulp some down quickly to mask the tequila taste, and thankfully it works, a bit.

“Where did you get that?” I ask Kelly as Liam and I settle into an empty two seater beside her. She rolls her eyes. “It was just here. I think Joe bought it or something.” I feel a bit bad giving out to her, I’m not her mother and it’s none of my business but I know she hasn’t been here for that long and she seems well drunk already to me. It’s a bit alarming. I glance over at Claire to see if she’s noticed, but I don’t think she has, as she is absorbed in a conversation with Shane. I consider his body language for a moment and wonder if she can even tell how obvious it is that he fancies her.

“Cheers, by the way.” Liam says.

“Cheers” I say and we clink our beer bottles together. For some reason I feel a bit weird doing it, it just doesn’t feel like something that I would naturally do.

“Lads, does either one of you want a cigarette?” Joe leans over to us and holds out an open packet.

“Oh, that’s really nice of you, but no thanks.” I say, but then Liam and Kelly take one each and I second guess myself and wonder if I should have too. I don’t want to be the only one at the barbeque who’s not smoking, but I also hate the way that that horrible taste sticks in my throat when I do. I look at Liam as he lights up his cigarette and wonder what it will be like to kiss him later when his mouth tastes like ash.

“Wheeeeey!” Kasper suddenly raises his spatula and cheers, and we all look around to see Jude and Jen skid around the house on a pair of bicycles. Jude is holding up a box of firelighters like a victory prize and Jen has another pack under her arm.

“We got the last two.” Jude says, dumping his bike in the sand. “Looks like everybody else in the village must be having a bonfire tonight too.”

Jen dismounts and leans her bike against the side of the deck. “Which one of you lucky ducks wants to help Jude bring some sticks around and make a pile for the fire?”

“Not you, no?” He asks her.

“Sorry, bubs.” She says and affectionately pinches his cheek. “You’re on your own, I am wrecked after that cycle.” She drops her box of firelighters and slumps heavily into a chair next to Liam and I. “It was uphill all the way there and uphill all the way back.”

“Lazy.” He comes up behind her to ruffle her hair and lightly shove her head forward. I find myself amused by their relationship. It’s hard to tell if they’re a couple or just really good friends. “I don’t mind getting the sticks on my own anyway, you can all stay where you are.”

“I’ll come” Liam volunteers.

“Nah, it’s okay.”

“No really, I want to help.”

“You sure, man?”

“Yeah, it’s no bother!” He jumps to his feet eagerly and follows Jude around to the back of the house. I think about how nice he is to help out like that.

“That’s a very odd accent.” Claire says bluntly when the two boys are gone. “I can’t place it at all.”

“Yeah, Jude’s Dad is a yank.” Shane tells her. “Ma is Irish.”

“He’s lived here a long time now though.” Jen adds, pouring herself a cup of vodka and coke. “That’s why it sounds kind of mad-confusing to the ear, but I’m so used to it now. He sounds more and more Irish all the time. ”

“Talking about me again?” Jude says as he and Liam come back around the house carrying armfulls of sticks.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” She says.

“I was just asking about your accent.” Claire explains, and Jude rolls his eyes theatrically. “Irish-American.” He says, and dumps the sticks, starting a small pile nearby. “Don’t worry, everybody wants to know. Americans think I sound Irish, Irish people think I sound freakish. I’m not doing a good enough job of integrating, apparently.” I hear it more clearly now that I know where the sounds are coming from. Most of his vowels and the melody of his speech are Irish, but the odd word has still got that classic american twang. It’s the way he says “Job” – it sounds like “Jahhb”.

He and Liam finish bringing the sticks around and forming a pile, and then Joe goes over to help them light it. It looks to me like everybody is just standing around looking at it, occasionally making an attempt to light something on fire, only for it to fizzle out straight away.

“City boys.” Kelly says as we watch them. “Sure they’re useless.”

“Go help them.” Claire says to Shane, and of course, he gets up and he does. Ambling over and immediately getting one of the firelighters to burn. The whole bonfire goes up in flames in what seems like moments and he grins triumphantly at us when he walks back over.

“Go on Shane!” Kelly cheers. “Show them how it’s done up the country.”

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#sims #sims 4 #ts4 #simlit #sims 4 story #sims story #writing #fiction #romance #sims 4 storytelling #sims4 storytelling #sims storytelling #lucky girl part 1

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stocky2016 · 9 months

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"Waves of Sandy Debris"

(Inspired by views experienced today on location in Apollo Bay Australia)

I stand here, gazing at the grandeur of twelve apostles,

attracted by their wonder, my dreaming never settles.

This spectacular beauty anchors me in the profound,

The splendor of nature's gifts, treasure's rich compound.

A furious wave crashes with its strength and power,

reverberating through the sands, ever crescendoing and dire.

Possessing all the majesty of ancient dominance by the sea,

the inescapable force of nature there for all tourists to see.

All life is changing, nothing stands still in time

yet Nature still decides each day to morph and age

Memories made today, while still standing in array

can tomorrow crumble in beach-eroding rage.

Listen to the wind blowing, the waves crashing nearby

Each maritime plunge pulls us closer to the angry sky

It's moments like these, with no distractions, oh please

where clarity shines, whilst everything else recedes.

Tourists click mobile phones alongside the extended telephoto lense,

Images that capture the essence of such spectacular views

"Selfies", "poses" they're all in romantic evidence

Capturing memories to share in a world, of joyous, timeless essence.

Photographing and capturing the demise of these slow dying wonders

a mixed sense of reality and sorrow in this relentless squander.

These were priceless moments now caught on memory chip files,

the excitement of viewing tomorrow, yesterdays smiles.

Gargantuan Waves that thunder down on pristine sands

An echoing shoreline of extremes with no obvious ends.

Eroding Apostles, salt spray flying on the abrasive breeze,

In this distant corner of the earth, where grand designs never cease.

Tourists all gaze from reinforced ramparts in wonder and awe,

witnessing the destruction that nature has in store.

The sun-baked but fragile cliffs, a sight to remember,

capturing breathtaking views but of the years dying embers.

The foaming water swells and crashes in repeated fury,

the winds of time never catch up with this tragic story

It all remains a sight of inevitable marine tragedy

defying all our wishes and swept away in sandy debris.

G.P.S. 6th October 2023

(Graphics personally owned and courtesy of Google Images)

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nursecareuniforms · 11 months

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Doctors, nurses, and other medical staff members that dress in white coats and scrubs demonstrate their expertise and dedication to their work. It's important to keep things clean and tidy so they always look their best. People who wear white scrubs have an opportunity to learn about personal hygiene and hygiene practises. The difficulty of the situation necessitates the concession.

Author Bio: For the nursing uniforms uk David is a professional writer having the specific ideas for the same.

#nursing uniforms uk #Care worker tunics #Care worker dresses #Nurses tunics

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booksandwords · 1 year

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Perfect Catch by N.R. Walker

Read time: 2 Days Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Quote: I lay there until I fell asleep, wrapped in the arms of a man I loved and would probably never get to have. — Cal

Perfect Catch is the story of twenty-four-year-olds Calvin 'Cal' Lynch and Troy Hoffman, best friends since they were fourteen. It's the realisation of their chemistry, a decade of tension and want and the maintenance of their emotions in the wake of the change in their relationship all wrapped up with N.R.'s typical writing style and a sense of wonderful humour. There is a degree of awareness to the whole book that I appreciated. Like the best friend to lovers trope being called out, Cal and Troy know they are the stereotypical example of a trope. The humour used is fun and right. I like the characters. It feels a little like Arctic Fire in the limited cast and tent and full-blown intimacy. However, that works on entirely different core premises (I do so love it 😘). Perfect Catch is just cute af, it's low anxiety, best friend to lovers done right.

The slow reveals of the characters was an effective choice. Cal goes from being anxious and questioning in the first half to the driving force, confident and self-assured in the second. He's not a flawed narrator per se but he perhaps is unaware of his own convictions at first. Troy is endearing, human. The sort of character that is common in NR's novels. It is a narrative that moves fast but not illogically so. Their actions and the speed of them are backed by their preexisting relationship, connection and character traits. Such as Cal's relatable love of Steve McGarrett, which is tied to his love of Troy. Jesus, I so did that (though with different characters, and actors). The choice to include the conversation of what-ifs felt like it really was necessary given their hardcore feelings for each other.

Have a collection of quotes and notes • Total random note... Interesting choice of beer. • I adore Peta and Cal's relationship. Sparkie and Chippie as nicknames are perfect choices. Also, bless any author who gives us a female tradie. Peta gives as good as she gets and I'm here for it. • This particular book is set in outside a country town called Claremont (there are two, one in Western Australia and one in Tasmania neither align well to this location). • My folks were okay with it; well, my mum and sister were fine with it. I think my dad was just relieved I was still a man’s man. I was still keen to do my building apprenticeship and was one of the hardest hitting guys on our rugby team. I think my old man thought all gay men had a swish to their hips. But when he realised it didn’t change a single thing about me, he said he was fine with it. I had to wonder if he’d still accept me if I was more flamboyant. I’d never really thought parents’ love should have limits, but apparently my dad’s might have. — Well hellllooo toxic masculinity. Goddamn homophobia. Australia well and truly sucks sometimes. Because all Aussies know at least one guy who is considered a blokes bloke like that. I do of course know it's not exclusive to us. (Cal) • I knew that smile. It was his gone-fishin’ smile, his “weekend away with no mobile phone service” smile. Possibly even his “Friday night footy and pizza” smile. It was contagious. — I adore this. Just that knowing someone so well that you know their moods, their smiles. It doesn't have to be romantic, it can be a purely platonic connection, though it is of course heavily romantically coded here. Even if Cal and Troy are both entirely blind to the subtones of it. (Cal) • I longed to touch him, to have him touch me in return. I wanted him, but more than that, I wanted him to want me. I ached for it. — I don't know what it is about this that makes my stomach swoop. Because I remember this feeling, but it is uncommon to be reminded of that. (Cal) • Because, even if it turned out Troy would not, or could not, ever be interested in me, it was too late for me. I was in love with him. I had been for years. Was I supposed to risk it all? Was I supposed to tell him how I felt? Because it was getting to the point where I couldn’t keep pretending I wasn’t in love with my best friend. I didn’t have a choice anymore. I had to either tell him or walk away. And I couldn’t be the one to say goodbye. — There is so much desperation and emotion in this one section. It's a stark realisation. Cal is so painfully sweet. I felt this like a punch. (Cal) • He pulled off. “Look at me when I suck your dick.” His words and his tone almost made me come. I did as he demanded, leaning up on my elbows, and when our gazes locked, he slowly opened his mouth and took me in again. “Oh, fuck,” I whispered. “Troy.” — This exchange struck me, not because it is A moment but because I've read quite a bit of N.R. over the last year. This isn't her usual game. Honestly, it's one step off exhibitionism, not something I've seen her play with, that kind of kink. But for Cal and Troy, it feels more like a deep extension of their intimacy. Troy's need for intimacy. (Troy and Cal) • “I know. And that’s what I’m scared of,” he said. He looked away, out the kitchen window, like looking at me was too hard. “Scared of what?” His gaze shot to mine. “Of losing what we have,” he said. “Of risking it all. You’ve been my best friend forever, and I don’t know what I’d do without you, and that scares me.” — This is a key element of friends to loves, especially best friends to loves. Think of it as Schrodinger's cat relationship. stellarstacey put it really well in her buddie fanfic Buck's New Tattoo "I’m tired of being alive and dead with you. I’m so scared to mess up what we already have that I’m sacrificing what we could have. I wanna open the box on us." • “Now, if we’re going to do the whole best friends-to-lovers thing, we’d better go about it properly, yeah?” That made me smile. “I thought we crossed that line already.” “We frotted the line.” I burst out laughing. “Then we better cross it more thoroughly.” Troy chuckled, then with a deep breath, he took my hand. “If we do this, we can’t go back.” “I know.” “No regrets?” “No regrets.” — This made me laugh. This is a moment of full awareness of the trope. (Troy and Cal)

I keep coming back to N.R. Walker. I need a book I can read easily on a busy day which could include lots of disrupted reading I've found N.R.'s are brilliant for that. Engaging enough that you want to know how the characters get where they need to be for their happiness but written in such a way that you can pick it up and put it down without getting lost. This Perceft Catch is a prime example of her work, set in Australia with a minimal cast happiness galore. I will never complain about it.

#perfect catch #n.r. walker #readaustralian #friends-to-lovers #book review #read 2022 #ktreviews #booklr #lgbtq

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