#I’m posting this on my sisters phone on safari | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kimtaetae16ii · 5 years

Text

Part 2 (a/n : sorry late haha! Idk how to make the link in one post so tht it'll make u easier to read)

[Monday : 7:45 a.m.]

Hollyyy cowww! You were still sleepy at that time because for actually you only got 2½ hours of sleep.

In that morning, all of your family had warmth breakfast to fill the stomach for long journey. It took 3 hours to go back to your home.

The fried chicken in the middle of dining table looked so good but you were still sleepy. The crunchy outside really killed you. Without being hesitated, you took the friend hot crunchy drumsticks then bite it.

"Hmph.. So delicious! " eyes closed as you were trying to feel the moment.

After having one drumstick, you took wings part after that. After that, you took the breast part.

"Miss Park, you want more? " the maid asked you.

"Sure! I would love to eat more. You such great chef." The maid just smiled while you put half strawberry AND chocolate jam on the bread and served into your mouth.

"Jeannie, can you please behave yourself?" Mama suddenly appeared.

"Just let her eat. You serve less food to your children!

Eat some more, honey~"

Nana push the bowl of mushroom soup to you.

"Hehe I eat too much don't I? Hahahahahaha" you laughed so hard while being watched by your parents.

Your behavior changed lately.

"Here your fried chicken, miss Park." The maids served you several parts of chicken for you.

"Wahh! Thank youuu. Get me cheese sauce, please."

I think having second round will make me full until tomorrow.

Hopefully.

"15 minutes more." Mama said while looked into her watch.

"Chill, Ma. Nana is feeding me right now. Hehe" you teared the chicken wings looked at your nana who was smiling then you continue to eat until all of the foods in the table clear and clean.

[Monday 17:15 p.m.]

You went to jog with your little sister and your mother at the nearest parks in your resident area.

The air is so fresh as the goverment would like to make sure the resident will always get clean environment.

After long walks, we sat at the branch under the shady trees. The day also being windy. The breeze that touched your skin was so ease.

"Jeannie, I have something to say." Your mother speak up.

"What?"

"About your Nana, please assured her saying that you would stay at home instead of her house.

Second, I would feel honoured if you would continue her business it just that, you're still young. You're 18. So, I don't allow you to do that.

Third, I arranged you to enter the Harvard."

You were shocked plus surprise at her last words. Your heart broke into million pieces.

"Ma! I do no want to go that far. Why don't you ask me and tell me about that!?"

"I'm doing this for your future."

Your mother professionally answer you while you were burning inside.

"My future?? Ma, this isn't correct. You don't think about my emotion! I can't go that far because I cannot deal with my emotion! I'm scared of getting bullied." Your tears came out in your eyes.

"You will not getting bullied because your uncle and aunt are teaching there." She still assured you to say yes on her 'arrangement' for your future.

"Suck with what they did there, Ma! It's not 100% guaranteed I would be save there!

No means no.

I'm going home!"

You stand and just straight away going home. No turning to see what happened at the backside. You just cannot deal with tour emotion also in the same time to understand what is your mother's purpose on doing that. That ain't fair for you.

Jane walked to your mother then her small hands in your mother's hands.

"Ma, are you crying?" She saw your mother was facing down. Then, she like wipe something from her eyes.

"No, I'm not crying. The wind brought small dust into my eyes." She smile to Jane.

"Okayy."

"Let's have another walk then we're going home."

"But I want udon at the family mart! " she pouted cutely.

Your mother laughed and buy her attention.

"Okay, we will go to family mart after this." Then they went to walk for another round.

It just that

You had no idea from what your mother told you.

You scared.

Your unknown relationship would broke just like that just because you've been sent to America to further your study.

You scared Haechan would be sad.

Of course your mother would be sad more when you go against her.

You were still young to understand what is the best for you to deal with the cruel world now. It cannot be deal anymore. Cruel forever would be cruel.

_________________________________________

[Friday, 11:00 p.m.]

"Jeannie, we will go to Japan for 3 days only. We bring Jane with us. You just take care with yourself." Your mother said while kissed on the top of your head.

You didn't know how to react.

"Okay. But, buy me bunch of chocolates." You smile a little then they got into the car.

You wave your hands in the air as the car already exit from your house area.

I don't fucking mind for being left alone unless they will buy me something as the return.

That's the concept. It just, you want to eat or get any things from the other country as the collection and for gaining your experience.

You went into your house. Then got into the TV room to watch some horror movies.

But before that, you went into the kitchen to grab some foods as you were being hungry so bad.

You texted Haechan to come over to your house as your parents were not at home for three days.

Babe, would you come over here? Sleep with me?

I was left alone.

Sent at 11:25 p.m.

Not for long second you received message.

Oww, sweetheart. I can't as my parents still awake. How about you come over here?

I've been miss you so bad.

Sent at 11:26 p.m.

You pouted.

Lemme think.

Okay then.

Sent at 1:27 p.m.

You put it back into the cabinet but only Oreo chocolate bars of Hershey you bring along.

[11:15 p.m.]

You texted him that you already be at the main door of that house. His house is very huge.

Then, the door being opened and made your heart fluttered as you saw his cute face.

Both of you hugged each other then, you pecked his lips.

"You made it." He said with the giggles came after it.

"Yeah~" I said then he put his hands around my waist and heading to his bedroom.

After we just get in there, he threw me onto his bed then, he crawled the bed to be on top of me. "Kyaa~ Lee Donghyuck, what are you doing ?" You tried to push him away. At that moment, everything seems slow down. He came near your little by little then, you guys lips collided znd the passion BOOM !

you never felt that kind of feelings, that kind of experience before that make you felt satisfied with it. His hips was between your legs at that moment and made you guys felt want to feel each other but Haechan is smart enough to protect his princess and the queen will be.

He knew the limit so he was the one who broke the kiss and kiss the top of your head.

"Done, sweetheart. Let's watch a movie then we'll cuddle then we'll go to sleep okay."

"okay, "

Then, he took out his 13inch-MacBook Air. He tapped on Netflix in his laptop then there it served.

He searched for romantic miviebthen you saw the 3rd season of fifty shades. You suggested him to click on it.

"Are you sure about this, sweetheart?"

You smiled in shyness and nodded my head. "I just want to watch it with you."

He giggle at the way you were being cute.

"Okay then."

The movie begin.

At beginning.

There's nothing such things happened yet so like you guys admired them as being such lovely couple.

Climax

Then there's happened. The way Mr.Grey lifted, spanked Anna's butt and so on make you felt turned on.

The way Mr.Gray put the balls in her pussy and told her to stay calm during the party make you already felt wet because you liked feel how the balls got into your hole.

And they got married was the great things for you cus you liked it so much and what happened after that.

You could not stay calm at all. Haechan felt your hands squeezed his arm that you hugged. He knew you wanted that so bad.

Ending

Anna got into planned accident by her husband's enemy and that what make your heart throbbed.

After she awoke, and everything went well. They got a son also Anna is pregnant for their second child was the satisfied things that all the fans of shades darker wanted.

"Finally it met its end." You did long sighed as you just felt tired. Yeah like be with gadget for long time can make your body being weak. That's why people said do not use the gadget for more than four hours.

You guys were making the bed to get comfortable condition and about to sleep while cuddling with each other.

"Babe" he snapped out of something after you called him.

"Yeah, sweetheart" he faced you and wrapped his arm around your waist.

"What is in cuddle?" You looked into his eyes.

He lifted his one eyebrow meant that he didn't get what you want to convey it.

"I mean, what people do when they are cuddling. When ppl say cuddling, I will automatically thinking that they are tickling each other. So like, yeah? It is?"

He hummed for a seconds.

"Yeah, that's correct. Why?" while brushing yoir hair to the back.

"Nothing. Also like, when i watch The Babadook with Angela and Teressa and Dahlia, the mother been using some vibrate thing. What is that?"

You kept asking him because you were still wondering what it is.

He gulped before to speak.

"That's vibrator. You can search it on Google." he said playing with your smooth back.

You turned on your phone then went to safari and searched for it. You surprised and oo-ed so big.

"Oh my it's disgustin!"

"It is?" He asked you back. While without you knowing the close the distant between you two. You can felt his hips touching your hips too.

"It is. I would never not to have that. Such disgusting things."

"Sweetheart, look at me." The moment you put your phone down, his nose met yours.

"Watching such movies also disgusting. So what about we try it out and feel it's gonna felt." He said in such low-romantic voice. The husky voice.

"Try what?" You cupped his cheeks.

"Let me show you."

And that night, you guys had shared everything related to your body. Your body connected to him. And also that's the new experience that you got.

His hot skin touch yours. His body's scent would never make you disappoint. You gave your everything to him.

3 notes · View notes

tripstations · 5 years

Text

Cool and Wet Safari Adventures in Jim Corbett National Park

over a beer on one of the hotel’s patios. It was lovely and cool, just like an early Canadian summer evening – not too warm and not too cold. A soothing breeze cooled whatever heat remained from the stone terrace as we sipped our Kingfisher beers. We couldn’t believe that we were in India! Suddenly, how cool, how livable, how not unbearably hot! We glanced up at the star-filled sky and thought of Ruth, John’s sister, who could tell us where we were in the celestial sky. We revelled in the noiseless, honk-less, people-less-ness of it all. No noise, no pollution, no crowds….no nothing! We don’t dally with this euphoria because we have a wake-up call for 4:30 for our first day of Safari in Jim Corbett National Park. The Tigers await!

Cancelled!

John shakes me out of sleep at 4:50 am. “Greg, we’ve missed the wake-up call…what the hell’s going on?” I, of course, being completely engaged in what I do so well – sleep – have missed the tumultuous thunder and lightning storm that has engulfed the park overnight. Just our luck – not a lick of rain or even a cloud in the sky for the entire two weeks that we have been in India. Not even a chance of rain in the forecast. It is at least 6 weeks till the monsoon starts. There has been a constant comment on the heat and dryness of the country, and we arrive for our first day of Safari and it rains. The phone rings at 5:00 and a stilted voice tells us that our Safari is cancelled due to rain and to hang on for further information. Ok. I roll over and pull the pillow over my head and proceed as soon as possible back to ZZZZZ land. My favourite place to visit. I hope to live there one day.

The phone rings at 8:15. It’s our stilted friend again telling us that we can do a full day safari today but we must be prepared to be out for the entire day, which is 9:30 – 7:00 and do we have raincoats with us, etc, etc. etc. I agree and roll over again for another half hour. We get up, have breakfast and head out into what is now a completely different weather pattern and onto the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

followAUTUMN.com

We officially decide to change our trip to followautumn.com. I have to put on two layers and my rain jacket. I wear short pants on safari and justify it by wearing the two layers and rain gear on top for the trip. I’m a hardy Canadian. My bare legs can take it. It’s India for God’s sake. Everything feels smells and looks like our annual Labour Day retreat to Bluesea Lake in the Gatineau region of Quebec with our friends Bob and Brian. All of a sudden we are in a beautiful, wet, late autumn with hints of a glorious Indian summer. It is the foothills of the Himalayas after all. Talk about a brain fart. By the end of the day, we are both shivering and completely cold with the rain and wind. Our safari vehicle is a big open truck with seats in the back with no windows and no protection. Of course, this viewing situation would be perfect when it is hot and sunny. Just enough protection from the sun but still able to let a nice cooling breeze flow through.

Scenes from a Safari

We have seen langur monkeys, rhesus monkeys, deer, both spotted and not, sambar, eagles, herds of wild elephants, mongoose, 2 species of crocodiles, beautiful long-tailed flycatchers, hornbills, peafowl, pheasants, forest fowl, and wild boars, but no tigers! At the mid-point lunch break, a group of Indian tourists out for a Sunday drive in the park say they experienced a “first-class sighting” of a tiger. The base camp suddenly springs into action; each guide wanting his client to catch a glimpse of the elusive Bengal Tiger. This, despite the pouring rain. 4X4’s roar into gear and head out in search of the Tigers. To no avail, it seems. John and I wonder that if all this sudden action actually scares the Tigers away.

The Beating Rain Lulls Us to Sleep

We arrive back to our hotel by 7:00. We have driven over torturous muddy, wet and rut-filled roads. The thunder and lighting are tremendous and we grab hot showers and begin the familiar ritual of packing for the next leg of our journey to Greece and Turkey. We have a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant. Our lights are out early (as usual) and we listen to the beating rain on the roof of our bungalow.

World Traveler, Writer, and Blogger, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the tripstations.com travel blog. A former Actor, current shower-singer, and non-hipster foodie. Loves his week-end house in St Marys, Ontario. Dad to Sophia, Ariel, and Hastings three of the best cats in the world.

The post Cool and Wet Safari Adventures in Jim Corbett National Park appeared first on Tripstations.

from Tripstations https://ift.tt/2C6MofI via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Tripstations

1 note · View note

brodabroad · 5 years

Text

I was booked to do an all day group tour of the winelands so was a little taken aback to find out I was the only person on this particular one, thinking “poor guy having to amuse me all day”. However it turned out perfectly, even if I did feel uncomfortable sipping wines on my own. Wine tasting is big business here and done quite differently to Tas. You sit in comfort in beautiful surroundings and can spend about an hour tasting five varieties. Mark was very good company and shared a lot of information with me that he wouldn’t have done in a group.

On arrival at the first winery shortly after 9am, two other groups arrived, one containing two people from my safari, so we all did the cellar tour, then wine and cheese tasting together. This particular winery grows all its own grapes, does the majority of work by hand, thereby providing employment, and makes 1.8million litres a year.

As we drove through the magnificent scenery, we discussed the country’s history, how it started, the Dutch and French connections, the beginning of the wine industry in the 1600s (Napoleon Bonaparte liked one of these wines so much that he had caseloads sent to him via the trading ships), politics and the poverty which go hand in hand.

After the second winery we stopped at a town with very strong French connections and styling. This is usually the lunch stop and Mark would have made a reservation for me but instead I preferred to spend the hour wandering the streets and the true African markets, forgoing lunch if needed. It’s a beautiful little town, Franscchoek and I really enjoyed it. Spent a bit of money at the markets, of course, and just before I was due to meet up with Mark, I came across a stall with a lady selling the best samosas in the world. Samosas are popular all over Africa, and were often served to us for sundowners, but these were delightful: very fresh, hot and tasty, I only bought two, for the grand sum of .20c but if I’d known how good they’d be, I might have exhausted her supply.

Franscchoek has a great innovation that could work well for people doing the Tamar River wine tours. People buy a ticket and it runs them around the wine route, stopping at each place hourly for pick ups and drop offs, selectively, as there are 522 wineries in area.

Instead of going to a place he’d previously planned, Mark decided to take up a colleague’s suggestion and try a new one for our third stop, one that does wine and chocolate pairing. As we parked the car, a little golf buggy arrived to drive us the very short distance to the building, the same as we were leaving. Nice service.

All the wines are divine. Very soft, mild, tasty and easy to drink. And about $8-9 a bottle. Yes people, there were a few that cost more, but on the whole $8 buys you a superb bottle of wine. Well, what’s a girl to do?

Mark told me about the shanty towns that we would be driving past on our return journey. They are no stop zones. They are lawless areas where paramedics and emergency services will not attend due to the high crime rate. Some have been killed and/or raped when attending. Recently a friend of his broke down while travelling past there, and within minutes he’d been robbed of his phone and wallet at gunpoint. Mark said if his vehicle got a flat tyre in the area he’d keep driving. They are either side of the highway, and there are fences. You don’t actually drive through them, but can see them of course. About a million people live there; the buildings are touching each other, it’s so crowded, and on first appearance one would feel sorry for them. However they are given money by the government, free electricity, solar hot water units, and funding for each child. They are given free housing, but sometimes they have to wait a while for it. Work is available but why do it when you can get so much for doing nothing. This culture is passed down from one generation to the next. Sound familiar so far?

Then, on closer inspection, you see up to three satellite dishes per residence, and many fancy flash cars. They have flat screen TVs and many wear beautiful clothes when they go out. Often when people are given their govt housing, they rent the house out and continue to live in the shanty town with other family members, thereby accumulating more money. People are angry with the government for allowing all this to happen but their constitution states that everybody has a right to be housed.

Over a million people come from Zimbabwe each year to try for a better life. The unemployment rate in Zim is about 90%. They want to work and as soon as they arrive in SA they get work. Another political issue: “they’re taking our jobs”. But the South Africans won’t do some of those jobs. Again, thinking of Australia’s regional work such as fruit picking, sound familiar?

Practically anybody in SA who wants to go to University can. Fees are means tested so not many pay, but those who do, pay about $2000 pa. General nursing is a 4yr course but generally they stay another two years and train to be a staff nurse, sister, midwife etc. Their qualifications are recognised in other countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia etc.

We went through a varsity city, Stellenbosch. It’s a lovely looking city, established in the 1700s, is clean, with fresh bright white buildings, car yards with expensive vehicles, and looks trendy to accomodate fee paying students who come from far and wide because of the uni’s good reputation. However even here the crime rate is high. Outside of the city, in the hills, is a very low socio economic area and the residents there know that the students who’ve come from all over the country are “from the other side of the tracks”, that they’ve lived in comfort, drive nice cars and are not street wise, so are easy targets for theft and rape.

So today, Sunday, I start the long trek home, via Dubai, but I have the majority of the day here first. My holiday isn’t quite over yet though. I’m spending a few days in Ballarat and still have some photos to post, so don’t desert me yet.

1 note · View note

doux-ciel · 6 years

Text

Victim Chapter Eight

|WARNINGS|: Graphic Violence, Death, Angst, Emotionally Heavy, Talk of Suicide.

⚠️YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!⚠️

Tagged: @erinisawriter @sugarmommamusings @theouterdark @pazwrites @godxblooded @farore5 @ghost-possum @delphwrites @sauwrites @seraphilth @felwrites @xanderswriteblr @writing-in-the-margins @wallpatterns @riftversus @remorse--less @cvlms @velvet-moss @niva-writes

*Let me know if you want to be added/removed*

Masterlist: 🔪🔪🔪

Message

I Never Lose. Either I win or I Learn. - Anonymous

Leyla

I turn to the left on the intersection of Figueroa street and Soto street; when I reach down to grab my phone that fell on the floor earlier today. I feel something on my finger, when I bring my hand up I'm holding a piece of hair. I scrunch my eyebrows confused, placing both my hands back on the wheel as I am keeping straight. The radio playing softly in the background. I quickly glance at Melanie, “Next time don't try and get all your hair in my car when you brush it Melanie"

Melanie chuckles and places her bare feet on the dashboard. "You don't own me"

I've told this girl a thousand times to not put her feet on my dashboard but does she listen?

No.

I shake my head as I approach a stoplight, gently pressing the brake pedal, I start to smack Melanie's feet off of the dashboard. We did this for about 2 minutes, me attempting to smack her legs and Melanie moving her feet before I hit her. She finally places her feet on the carpet, both of us laughing. I see the light turn green, then I see Melanie's body language shift it was like she was in a trance, her eyes glued to the radio. Nothing but the sound of Labrinth singing Jealous. Bringing her hand up to the radio volume knob, turning up the music.

Cause I wished you the best of, All this world could give

And I told you when you left me

There's nothing to forgive

But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was heartbreak and misery

It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way

You're happy without me.

¤ ¤ ¤

When we finally get to the bar it was 10:00 p.m. We see some people just hanging around outside, when we walk in it's moderately packed. Some people at the bar and some people sitting down just a casual crowd.

They just added in the new Karaoke lounge it was sitting smack dab in the front, I look up and see that there are two seats open right on the edge of the bar. I quickly grab Melanie's hand speed walking over to the two seats.

"Can I get a Vodka Tonic" I say to the bartender.

He turns his attention to Melanie, she takes a seat next to me smoothing out her dress. "I'll have the same"

While waiting we turn around and see that they turned on the karaoke machine, we both decide to listen in. A man goes up looks to be mid 50's caucasian and the way he's dressed you can definitely tell he's a tourist, we can hear his wife screaming his name while clapping.

As he starts to sing Livin' On a Prayer. Melanie and I can't control our laughter. Melanie turns to me, we give each other a look and start laughing again, in between laughing I hear Melanie. "Oh my gosh that guy sounds like my mom when she's singing in the shower"

I'm trying to control myself to not be too loud, that's when I look behind Melanie and see Piper.

Just when we were having a good night.

"Melanie" Piper says as she sits beside my best friend.

Melanie's smile turns into a frown when she turns her chair over to see Piper staring at her. "Piper"

Piper leans her body back, waving over to me. "Hey Leyla"

I nod smiling muttering a quiet hello

I could see Melanie's leg shaking minutes go by, finally our drinks arrive. As I'm about to bring the drink up to my lips, I hear Melanie. "Where's the security footage?"

I almost spit out my drink when I hear her say that, Piper looks just as shocked as me but more so she looks thrown off by the question.

"What are you-"

Melanie waves her off, smacking her lips. "Don't give me that bullshit excuse, Leyla and Grey talked to that security officer....he told them about you Piper and your services"

I see Piper clamping down on her clutch, gripping it so tight that her already pale knuckles are turning white. She takes a breath in and lets it out quickly. "So what do you want to know?"

"Why did erase the security footage...the night that Joslyn died?"

"I had my reasons" Piper answers simple. She grins. "You really think that security officer would tell the cops that it was me? He's not going to risk losing his job. You can't prove anything and It's not illegal"

"It is if it has to do with your best friend's death!" Melanie shouts, causing the whole bar to look over at us. I hear a bunch of whispering.

They need to stop arguing now. I already felt bad about Grey almost killing that security officer yesterday and now this.

I can sense a lot of hostility in the room with Melanie and Piper, I decided to interject myself into the conversation.

"You wanna do karaoke?" I ask.

"What?" they both say in unison.

I stand up from my seat and put my drink on the coaster, before I repeat."Do. You. Want. To. Do. Karaoke"

Piper pauses, looking back and forth at me and Melanie, she glances at Melanie once again. "Is she serious?"

I see Melanie jump down from the bar stool and sigh. "Sadly...she is".

I turn around and walk over to Piper, I grab her hand and pull her up from the stool. I walk back over to Melanie and take a hold of her hand as well, leading us over to the crowd of people waiting for their turn to get up on the tiny stage.

"C'mon lets just forget about the arguing, the fighting, and the secrets and lets just have a good time...take our minds off of everything for just one night."

¤ ¤ ¤

After at least 2 hours of Leyla, Piper and even Melanie singing they shut the bar down, as the bar owner closes up shop all three girls stand outside. Piper is waiting for her driver at the sidewalk. Leyla went to go bring the car around when she was at the turn to make a left towards Melanie and Piper.

Leyla sees Melanie leaning closer to Piper, whispering something in her ear. Pipers nods her head as If agreeing to something Melanie says. Piper lifts her head up towards Leyla as she pulls up and starts smiling. Leyla brings the window down and shouts at Melanie "C’mon girl get your butt in this car before I leave you"

"I'm coming". Melanie starts to walk toward the passenger side door but before she opens the door she looks at Piper.

"Goodnight"

¤ ¤ ¤

After an evening of laughter and singing it's time for Leyla to head to bed. Already gotten her shower and brushed her teeth she climbs into bed, getting under her covers. She grabs her tablet that is sitting on the nightstand charging, unplugging it from the charger cable and presses in her passcode.

Leyla usually listens to ASMR to help her go to sleep, she clicks on YouTube but something stops her...she remembers the song Melanie was listening to in the car. She looks up the song lyrics, finding the song she clicks on it scrolling down and reading the comments she sees someone wrote in the comments below the video: Jaelynn's favorite song #Neverforget

Leyla's fingers click out of youtube and go on safari she goes to the search engine and types in the name Jaelynn Davis. Leyla is Shook, she sees posts, online articles, a bunch of stuff dealing with Jaelynn. clicking the third link down from the page she gasps when reading it.

JAELYNN DAVIS FOUND DEAD IN HER OWN HOME.

Published: February 2nd 2014

Jaelynn Davis a 15 year old teenage girl was found dead in her home by her mother. It was after a school dance and her mother kissed her cheek goodnight, not knowing it would be the last time she would see her daughter. The family is heartbroken at the loss of their youngest member, her sister Melanie said a few words at the memorial they had out for Jaelynn at the school. "She was clever and bright, she loved reading and doing her work. These bullies....teased her relentlessly, just because she was a bit different. These disgusting people killed me sister."

Describing her as an intelligent young girl. The schools counselor Diana Russ explains. "The whole school is deeply saddened by Jaelynn's death. Her death is a terrible waste of a life. At 15 years old, she should have been living a carefree life, she should've enjoyed the school's dance, but instead she was ashamed and felt that she had to end her life. The people that are responsible for her death and or anyone who stood by and watched it happen passively should be punished."

Leyla couldn't keep reading the article, she felt the tears fall down her face, now she knew why Melaine never told her about her sister, it was probably too hard for her to talk about.

Now she knows about Jaelynn, the secret sister.

Leyla knows about the suicide.

7 notes · View notes

sonderei · 6 years

Text

I got bored and answered one of those 100-questions things so if you ever wanted to know a stupid amount of useless information about me read on, otherwise enjoy whatever content is in the next post!

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify

is your room messy or clean? my room is a mess, the rest of the apartment is pretty clean

what color are your eyes? brown

do you like your name? why? its grown on me. I used to get teased a lot in school “hey Ariel, where’s your best friend Flounder??” but now I work on Disney property and it’s on my name tag so I get to make a lot of kids (and adults) happy

what is your relationship status? been dating a small mess of a person for 4 years, whom I love dearly

describe your personality in 3 words or less basically a cat

what color hair do you have? brown, or like a really dirty blonde if I spend enough time in the sun

what kind of car do you drive? color? a black 2013 hyundai accent hatchback (named Jazz)

where do you shop? where I shop: target, forever21, H&M, BoxLunch, Garage where I’d LIKE to shop: ModCloth, ASOS

how would you describe your style? I once bought an oversized Polariod windbreaker and I wear it everywhere I can??? I also love passive aggressive crop tops (”no thanks”) I wore it to a mandatory meeting at work at 9am and any time my managers asked me a question I just pointed to my shirt. So idk that should tell you something

favorite social media account I think I enjoy Instagram and Tumblr equally?

what size bed do you have? queen

any siblings? one full brother (5 years younger), one half brother on my dad’s side (13 years younger), and one half sister on my mom’s side (18 years younger).

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? idk because I haven’t traveled anywhere I’d actually like to live. I love the idea of living northwest US (Seattle, Portland) or in NZ or like Scotland or somewhere with beautiful scenery but like...never been so can’t say for sure?

favorite snapchat filter? flower crown

favorite makeup brand(s) NYX is pretty much all I use but I also do like bare minimum with my makeup

how many times a week do you shower? typically every other day unless I’m super gross

favorite tv show? too hard. Steven Universe, Game of Thrones, A:TLA, and Adventure Time?

shoe size? 7-8 depending on who makes them

how tall are you? smol. Like 5′3″ or so?

sandals or sneakers? sneakers, unless going somewhere involving water and/or sand

do you go to the gym? nah. I’m up and down stairs at least 20 times a day, usually while carrying stuff. that’s my exercise.

describe your dream date sitting in front of the Ocean Voyager exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium all day. like literally that’s it. and my date lets me without asking to move on, and ideally enjoys it as much as I do.

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? uhhh like $25 because that’s how much you have to have to open a new bank account which I’ve been meaning to do for like two weeks now

what color socks are you wearing? not wearing any, but I was wearing shark socks all day

how many pillows do you sleep with? just one, super soft and squishy

do you have a job? what do you do? I'm a server at a restaurant in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Its challenging and often frustrating and stressful but I get to meet some really cool people so it evens out. (Pat Sajak from Wheel of Fortune was in last week, I didn’t ask him if I could buy a vowel because I have some dignity)

how many friends do you have? like true friends, would drop everything for me if I asked them / needed them to? I’d say 3. But my social group is like...maybe 10 people? That I actively try to hang out with semi regularly.

whats the worst thing you have ever done? I honestly don’t even know. I forgot a woman’s ketchup last week at work and apparently I ruined her entire Disney vacation so

whats your favorite candle scent? usually anything with jasmine, so long as it isn’t overpowering

3 favorite boy names Nathaniel, Sebastian, Milo

3 favorite girl names Riley, Maisie, Phoebe

favorite actor? robert downey jr probs

favorite actress? tessa thompson?

who is your celebrity crush? ugh. tom holland, tessa thompson, rdj?

favorite movie? Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I used to, before I worked at a bookstore. For some reason that killed my love for reading. But favorite books were the Bartimaeus Trilogy and Abarat.

money or brains? brains

do you have a nickname? what is it? Skip (long story short, its a Cabin Pressure reference because I’ve always wanted to be a pilot)

how many times have you been to the hospital? for myself? 5? maybe 6?

top 10 favorite songs in no particular order Evolve by Phoria Put ‘Em Up by Priority Cleopatra by The Lumineers Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man Miracle by CHVRCHES Dissolve by Absofacto Taro by alt-J Lavender by Two Door Cinema Club Dinosaurs by The Maccabees Ambling Alp by Yeasayer

do you take any medications daily? nope

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) ehh a bit on the oily side

what is your biggest fear? losing the ones I love

how many kids do you want? NONE ZERO NADA ZIP ZILCH FUCK NO

whats your go to hair style? pull it back, messy bun if possible

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) a p small apartment (but not tiny, I think it’s like 800-900 sq ft)

who is your role model? Steve Irwin

what was the last compliment you received? a guest at one of my tables told me I looked like one of the recent Bond girls

what was the last text you sent? bailing on a few friends who were going to Blizzard Beach because I was exhausted from having my dad in town for the last two days so I wanted to sleep

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? like 2 or 3. not very old

what is your dream car? realistic? a nice Subaru or Audi. Maybe a Tesla unrealistic? bugatti veyron

opinion on smoking? cigarettes? ew gross not around me also poor life choices weed? don’t care, just not around me please and thanks my other half is allergic

do you go to college? I did, graduated two years ago, still haven’t done anything with my life / degree

what is your dream job? anything working directly with animals, especially marine mammals, big cats, or non-venomous reptiles

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? big city. right in the middle of it.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? not usually, I have specific stuff I use for my hair that’s a lot nicer than the stuff at hotels

do you have freckles? not like a ton but yeah

do you smile for pictures? if I feel like it? also depends on who’s taking the picture

how many pictures do you have on your phone? I’d say somewhere in the realm of like 650-800?

have you ever peed in the woods? yep, used to go camping a lot as a kid

do you still watch cartoons? hell yeah, I usually prefer them to anything else. Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Voltron, A:TLA, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends...that shit is my jam

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? mmmm Wendys but I usually don’t get c nugs from anywhere

Favorite dipping sauce? chick fil a sauce or ranch

what do you wear to bed? just underwear

have you ever won a spelling bee? no but I came close in middle school

what are your hobbies? not many tbh. I have a few reptiles that I take care of. I collect / trade Disney pins. I love swimming but don’t do it all that often. Uhhh...seeing how many times I can ride Kilamonjaro Safari in a row before the cast members begin to judge me?

can you draw? not really, no

do you play an instrument? nope, I can’t even read music and I can barely hum

what was the last concert you saw? uhhhh...I think Death Cab for Cutie and CHVRCHES?

tea or coffee? tea

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks for drinks, Dunkin for food (donutssssss)

do you want to get married? yeah, eventually. I told the SO that ideally before I’m 30 and that we’re not having a wedding but we’re gonna elope instead because fuck weddings I don’t have the money for that or the patience to plan it

what is your crush’s first and last initial? not really a crush but more of a “current-and-potentially-forever life partner” but DU

are you going to change your last name when you get married? no idea. D wants to change their last name but idk if they’d take mine or they’d just change it to their middle name and then I’d take that? honestly it doesn’t really matter to me each way so long as I don’t get their current last name (because of bad associations)

what color looks best on you? no idea honestly. I prefer dark, muted blues?

do you miss anyone right now? my parents and siblings, and two of my best friends

do you sleep with your door open or closed? open, otherwise the cats would never let us sleep

do you believe in ghosts? nah, not really. I grew up in a town that had a bunch of history and by extension ghost stories, so it was more a part of “tourist culture” than something that seemed legitimate to me

what is your biggest pet peeve? I never know until someone starts doing it around me. but uhhhh I hate loud chewers, people that refuse to even try to see your side of an argument, and when you’re sitting somewhere in public like on a bench or something and there’s plenty of other empty seating options nearby and yet someone comes up and sits RIGHT NEXT TO YOU nope you know what that’s it I fucking hate that and it happens to me all the time at Disney

last person you called` I think my mom?

favorite ice cream flavor? cookies and cream, unless I’m at one of those places where you can basically make your own flavor in which case I will ALWAYS do a rose-infused ice cream with pistachios

regular oreos or golden oreos? please don’t make me choose

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? rainbow!

what shirt are you wearing? not wearing one ;)

what is your phone background? just a basic stock photo of some ferns. kinda boring but I like simple backgrounds

are you outgoing or shy? its pretty even but if I had to say one over the other I’m probably slightly more outgoing than I am shy.

do you like it when people play with your hair? only people I know and allow. don’t just come up and start playing with my hair unless you KNOW that I’d be okay with it

do you like your neighbors? haven’t met them! we moved in like a month ago but we still haven’t seen anyone that lives on our floor

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? if I remember, but honestly I’m really bad about doing it unless I’m in the shower in which case it’s every time I take a shower

have you ever been high? nope

have you ever been drunk? sadly no. I have a ridiculously high natural alcohol tolerance, so I get sick to my stomach before I can even manage tipsy.

last thing you ate? pizzaaaaaaa

favorite lyrics right now idek and that’s a lot of effort so sorry here’s me “free pass” I’m using it on this question next

summer or winter? ugh winter always I can’t stand the heat there’s only so many layers you can take off

day or night? night

dark, milk, or white chocolate? milk or white. milk for straight eating, white for flavoring other things

favorite month? october

what is your zodiac sign leo!

who was the last person you cried in front of? my significant other

#I was bored #fite me #in case anyone ever wanted to know what I do for a living #or what my favorite songs are #or what color my eyes are #now you know

3 notes · View notes

idreamt-adream · 5 years

Text

5-6.07.19

okay so hands down for my most BIZARE dream ever?????? it was like this:

my mom calls me to 'her room' which is the whole 3rd floor of our house. for some reason i know she wants to discuss my new phone, which is a vintage electric pink flower shaped phone, but its just really small and difficult to use. when i get there, my mom is lily rose depp, but somehow older, and she starts to tell me how i should change my phone because its not elegant and shit and i dramatically start saying ''its the phone that i love and i think its so cute i didnt know it was electric shock because it was so dark-" anyway. the thing is: my mom is so elegant and calculist and somewhat evil. the whole time i speak with her she is putting on perfume, and does not look at me at all. so when i stop, she says "I'm gonna show you something" and crosses her room to a cabinet. The whole room is very vintage and dollhouse like. She opens it a little and insite there is some very small figures of what seems to be elephants, but sitting, like Ganesh. but i can barely look at it because she closes it quickly. So I kind of ask "what is that?" and she says "that's XXX" (I don't remember the name since its a word that doesn't exist). So my two sisters jump shocked inside the room from where they were eavesdropping: "You showed her XXX?! I wanna see too!" so mom just smiles and opens the cabinet again before closing quickly. My two sisters are two fat baby-like girls. They are very small and wear puffy vintage dresses - pretty much like any vintage illustration of a baby.

Somewhere here my mom changes for one of my friend’s mom, called Gianne. But now my character is not her daughter; she is still my friends mother. But we are in the same place and she decides to show me another thing, this time a tarot card set, but VERY complicated. There's a million things to calculate and it's all BIG and stuff, hard to explain. But of course it caches my interest and i say things like "this is so cool!" and she seems to like to please me.

She crosses the room again to where my mom was before and ask me a very specific harry potter question. I get puzzled and say I will need to search on the internet. But remember that my phone is VERY difficult to use and in this part in the dream i spend a lot of time focused on trying to open safari, but the world around me keeps moving and I notice Gianne hugs me at some point but I don't really pay attention. I keep focused and she puts a strap over my shoulder but I don't pay attention. I still can't open safari and now the room is full of people - five at most - and at least two of them are my friends. One is Duda, the other I don't know. Gianne is keeping a conversation with me and the people in the roon talk among themselves. I'm still sitting in her lap on the bed, "hugging her". I notice now that I am fully dressed like a vintage baby, but my baby blue dress is thin and not fluffy at all. But that only worries me when Gianne takes a picture of us and post it on facebook with the caption "Wonderfull Day". But i don't stop hugging her because I'm scared - in real life I have always been scared of that woman - and she starts to sing me a repetitive lullaby, again and again, until i wake up, singing it in my head,

until i remebered everything

0 notes

oldmarsies · 7 years

Note

#10 from the first section?

omlllll this took me awhile but i found an old story i wrote when i was like 12 on a fanfic / online books website.the "book" was called Cyber Friends and it even had its own cover lmao. ( im on my phone atm but i will post the cover when i get on my computer )WARNING: hardest try not to cringe challenge ahead. you have been warned.1. The MeetIt was the last day of home-schooling. Summer vacation was only ten minutes away, then; good bye Homework. Good bye long and useless essays. Good bye listening to an online teacher for hours. Good bye everything school related.Tic... Tok... Tic... Tok... was all that Emilia heard. Sometimes, minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days, days felt like weeks.... and so on.Tic... Tok... Tic... Tok... five minutes left. Tic... Tok... Tic... Tok... four minutes left... Come on Algebra! Finish quicker!Tic... Tok... Tic... Tok... three minutes left, Two.... One.... Hooray!She shut down the computer as quickly as possible and ran out-side to the fresh, breezy summer air. She inhaled deeply to get used to the outdoors, she doesn't go out much since she's always busy with her school work, she wouldn't be without her extra careful mother.She loved her mother. She's the only family she's got; no brother, no sister, no dad... she misses her dad, but sadly he went to military business a few years ago and he.... he never came back.'But if you kept thinking about the past, you'll never get to live the future' her mom always told her that ever since the.... accident happened, now she never thinks about anything bad that happened before, she just keeps calm and carries on!She laid down on the dewy grass, looking right up at the sunny sky, which was a big mistake. The sun shone so brightly that it blinded her temporarily. She immediately sat up and rubbed her hazel eyes till she saw clearly.... kind of.She looked around to test if she could see better, she could only see dots. The forest behind her house was just a bunch of different sized dots, the fence gate was more like long, thin lines instead of dots. She saw a giant dot come walking to her, she blinked a few times till she found out that the dot was her mom."Hello, mother" she said trying to put on a fake British accent, which she failed at. "Emilia Catherine Hart, what are you doing out here?" she asked, "just getting some fresh air, mom. It is summer vacation" Emilia said in a matter-of-factly tone. "I mean, aren't you supposed to finish your Algebra class with Mr. O'lary?" she demanded, "well, we finished classes" she told her as she laid back down on the grass and looked back up at the sky... and then the whole seeing dots episode repeated.She sat up again and blinked till she almost saw her mother, wow, even partly blinded you could still see her angry. "mom!" she whined, "don't look at me like that!" she got her vision back and saw her mom red-faced from both anger, and heat."Listen dear, just go inside. it's too hot." she said to her daughter, who was shocked at her mother's words. "I never heard of a mom telling her thirteen-year-old daughter to go inside and use the computer!" she exclaimed, she was really was shocked, usually the mother would tell her teenage child to go out side and leave the computer, but this is the total opposite!"Come on sweetheart, just go inside where I know you'll be safe" she begged, Emilia could hear a tint of sadness in her voice, she got up and walked over to her mom, who was on the verge of tears, and hugged her. Ever since her dad left, her mom was always worried about her safety, even if she was in the backyard - she gets worried because of the forest behind it. Whenever she left the house, she took Emilia with her - afraid of the people close by, although they live no where near people or the city for miles."Its ok mom, I miss him too" Emilia said, also on the verge of tears as well, but held them back and comforted her mom instead. After ten minutes of comforting and cheering up they both went inside, she decided to go look for sketches online, she's not a great artist.... she's not an artist at all, but just because her mother got her a sketch pad and some fancy colored pencils for her birthday last year, so she decided why not? trying new things is always a new safe adventure, she told herself and went to her bedroom and got her MacBook from her desk that was under the window, to her queen sized bed, it had a white head board - nothing too fancy - and had light purple sheets, like a lavender-lilac color and lots of throw pillows that she made, it was supposed to be a school project, but she kind of carried away. oh well...She typed in the password and saw her screen saver, it was her and her mom, they were hugging a person in the middle, but his face was cut off... it was her dad. She remembered when her dad was gone, she cut off his face so she wouldn't miss him as much. At times, it worked. Other times, not a bit.She went into Safari and looked up some websites for art inspiration, she found a blog called; Ray's Days (sorry couldn't think of a name) she opened the page and was immediately greeted with loads and loads of amazing art work, some of people, some of animals, some of mythical creatures, and some things she couldn't tell what it was. I could never draw like this!, she thought, she kept looking at the pictures on the website... it was amazing, she look at the side of the blog and saw info of that person;Hi I'm Ray, I'm 13 and live in Malibu, California. All drawings you see here are drawn by me. Any requests just send them to me on a private chat, and have a good day :)Emilia read it over and over, that person is only thirteen and can draw like that? She read it one more time before deciding to ask that person some questions, she went into privet chat and clicked on 'New Message'. but it wouldn't let her unless she has an account, she immediately clicked on 'Sign In' and put the important things in like password, first and last name, Email.. all that stuff. All that was left her Username, she started thinking about a name, she didn't want to put her Nickname and a random number, she wanted to be creative.She kept thinking until she finally thought of a good user name, Andystar23.She chose Andy because thats her dads name, and star because her dad always told her 'you're always going to be that shining star that lights up the whole night sky', and she put 23 because that was her birthday, 23/12/2000, yes her birthday was two days before Christmas but that never changed anything, that day was the only day that she and her family got together. She missed those days.After she made her account, she went into private chat and clicked on 'New Message' and decided to start;Andystar23: Hey excuse me but I have a few questions.She started and got immediate responseRay's_Days: Hey 2 u 2Andystar23: well i was just wondering how did u learn 2 draw like that?Ray's_Days: when i was 9 i started drawing random stuff then i taught myselfAndystar23: how?Ray's_Days: i just kept trying and slowly it workedAndystar23: really? that seems impossibleRay's_Days: well it was hard but then it got easyAndystar23: ok well thank youRay's_Days: your welcome anything else?Andystar23: no thank youAndystar23: well it was nice meeting uRay's_Days: meeting me? u don't even know anything about meAndystar23: yes i doRay's_Days: o really?Andystar23: yes u r 13 and live in Malibu and.... thats allRay's_Days: and all i know is that u r andystar23Andystar23: well lets get 2 know about each otherRay's_Days: ok how old r u?Just as she was about to respond her mom walked in to check on her, she saw that Emilia had her MacBook and wondered what she was doing, she usually uses the Desktop down stairs unless she has something private or just wanted to stay in her room, "hey sweetheart, what are you doing?" she asked sweetly, "nothing mom, just... ok ok you got me I was just talking to someone" she blurted out. "Ray's Days? who's she?" her mother asked "she?" Emilia asked "yeah, Ray is a girls name, didn't you know?" she asked, Emilia just shook her head "well Andystar23" her mom said "I'm not going to delay you anymore, have fun" she walked out of the room to give her daughter some privacy, for the rest of the day Emilia kept texting Ray, I think I made a new friend, she thought.

9 notes · View notes

mytravellingexperience-blog · 8 years

Photo

Hello my friends!

I was looking forward to writing today’s post. I’m very excited because the city we’re going to talk about is one of the world’s most named cities in the last years. It’s a symbol of affluence and opulence. Today I’ll tell you about our short visit to Dubai. Our experience started when we took a plane of Fly Emirates, one of the most luxurious airlines in the world. Despite the fact we bought tickets on economy, the experience on board was absolutely awesome. The plane had cameras to see when the plane takes off and lands, every passenger had access to the cameras so everyone could see it. The food and entertainment for babies was fantastic, so my little daughter had a really good experience.

We spent four days there so we couldn’t do as many activities as we’d like to but we tried to visit the most important places in this short time. As I told you in the last post, we used Google maps to choose a hotel near the Burj Khalifa, which is one of the most representative buildings there. We stayed in the Four Seasons hotel, which is located around 2 kilometres from Burj Khalifa. The hotel was really good. We stayed in a two room apartment with a dining room, living room, laundry, and kitchen. The kitchen was very useful because my daughter is 2 years old and she doesn’t like spicy food that is in Dubai, so we cooked for her in the hotel.

We arrived to Dubai in the evening of December 30th. The next day we went to the Burj Khalifa because we wanted to go to the top of the building, but the tickets were sold out. Then I spoke with the man at the desk and he helped us to find tickets for the same day at 7 pm and he gave us a discount. On the first floor of the building there’s a huge mall, which has its own aquarium inside the mall. So while we waited to go to the top we visited the aquarium. In this mall you can find famous designers’ shops where they sell luxury clothes for kids. Everything at the mall is too expensive, that´s why we didn’t go shopping there. In the mall we also took pictures wearing a typical Arabian costume. At 7 pm we got a lift to go to the top and it only took a few minutes to get there. The first three pictures were taken in the Burj Khalifa and the third one was taken from the top. Once we went downstairs we decided to spend New Years’ Eve in the Burj Khalifa. There were a lot of people waiting to see the fireworks at 00. The fireworks show was fine, but personally I prefer the fireworks show of Magic Kingdom. When the show finished we had to walk back to the hotel because it was impossible to take a taxi. So I looked on my phone and it supposed to take 45 minutes but it took us three hours to get to the hotel because the hotel was in the other side of the high way and there were too many people in a queue trying to cross through the metro stations. It was the worst part because people pushed everyone.

The next day we took the Arabian Nights tour Desert Safari. And it was my daughter’s favourite part of the trip to Dubai. She loved the texture of the sand. They picked us up in the hotel at 3 pm and they took us to the desert crossing the dunes in a comfortable car and we saw the sunset in the desert. After that they took us to an Arabian Camp where we ate typical food while we enjoyed a belly dance show. All the food and drinks were included in the tour. At the end we took a Camel ride as you see in the pictures.The last day we visit the Palm Island, there we visited the aquarium and the aquatic park. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared for the aquatic park. I mean, we didn’t have swimwear so we had to buy swimwear inside the park. And I have to say that those swimsuits are the most expensive ones I’ve ever bought in my life, but the park was incredible! It has a few long slides. I’m not a fan of the extreme attractions and my sister isn’t neither. However, we enjoyed the park and we rode in all the slides. There is one slide that crosses a pool full of sharks. To finish our trip we visited Global Village which is a place where you can do shopping. But it is divided into countries, it is a beautiful place because every country is well represented. The last picture was taken in Global Village it represents the Taj Mahal of India.

This was my short experience in Dubai friends. Next week I’ll tell you about my experience in Egypt. I took really good pictures there.

See you next week folks!

#dubai #burjkhalifa #arabian nights #desert #sunset #travel #love travelling #my travelling experience #photography #global village #family #travelling with a baby

1 note · View note

douglassmiith · 4 years

Text

Smashing Podcast Episode 13 With Laura Kalbag: What Is Online Privacy?

About The Author

Drew is a director at edgeofmyseat.com, co-founder of Notist and lead developer for small content management system Perch. Prior to this, he was a Web Developer … More about Drew McLellan …

In this episode of the Smashing Podcast we’re talking about online privacy. What should web developers be doing to make sure the privacy of our users is maintained? Drew McLellan talks to an expert on the subject, Laura Kalbag, to find out.

In this episode of the Smashing Podcast, we’re talking about online privacy. What should web developers be doing to make sure the privacy of our users is maintained? I spoke to Laura Kalbag to find out.

Show Notes

Weekly Update

Transcript

Drew McLellan: She’s a designer from the UK, but now based in Ireland, she’s co-founder of the Small Technology Foundation. You’ll often find her talking about rights-respecting design, accessibility and inclusivity, privacy, and web design and development, both on her personal website and with publications such as Smashing magazine. She’s the author of the book Accessibility for Everyone from A Book Apart. And with the Small Technology Foundation, she’s part of the team behind Better Blocker, a tracking blocker tool for Safari on iOS and Mac. So we know she’s an expert in inclusive design and online privacy, but did you know she took Paris Fashion Week by storm wearing a kilt made out of spaghetti. My Smashing friends, please welcome Laura Kalbag.

Laura Kalbag: Hello.

Drew: Hello Laura, how are you?

Laura: I am smashing.

Drew: I wanted to talk to you today about the topic of online privacy and the challenges around being an active participant online without seeding too much of your privacy and personal data to companies who may or may not be trustworthy. This is an area that you think about a lot, isn’t it?

Laura: Yeah. And I don’t just think about the role of us as consumers in that, but also as people who work on the web, our role in actually doing it and how much we’re actually making that a problem for the rest of society as well.

Drew: As a web developer growing up in the ‘90s as I did, for me maintaining an active presence online involved basically building and updating my own website. Essentially, it was distributed technology but it was under my control. And these days it seems like it’s more about posting on centralized commercially operated platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, the obvious ones. That’s a really big shift in how we publish stuff online. Is it a problem?

Laura: Yeah. And I think we have gone far away from those decentralized distributed ways of posting on our own websites. And the problem is that we are essentially posting everything on somebody else’s website. And not only does that mean that we’re subject to their rules, which in some cases is a good thing, you don’t necessarily want to be on a website that is full of spam, full of trolls, full of Nazi content, we don’t want to be experiencing that. But also we have no control over whether we get kicked off, whether they decide to censor us in any way. But also everything underlying on that platform. So whether that platform is knowing where we are at all times because it’s picking up on our location. Whether it is reading our private messages because if it’s not end-to-end encrypted, if we’re sending direct messages to each other, that could be accessed by the company.

Laura: Whether it’s actively, so whether people working there could actually just read your messages. Or passively, where they are just sucking up the stuff from inside your messages and using that to build profiles about you, which they can then use to target you with ads and stuff like that. Or even combine that information with other datasets and sell that on to other people as well.

Drew: It can be quite terrifying, can’t it? Have what you considered to be a private message with somebody on a platform like Facebook, using Facebook Messenger, and find the things you’ve mentioned in a conversation then used to target ads towards you. It’s not something you think you’ve shared but it is something you’ve shared with the platform.

Laura: And I have a classic example of this that happened to me a few years ago. So, I was on Facebook, and my mom had just died, and I was getting ads for funeral directors. And I thought is was really strange because none of my family had said anything on a social media platform at that point, none of my family had said anything on Facebook because we’d agreed that no one wants to find out that kind of thing about a friend or family member via Facebook so we’d not say about it. And then, so I asked my siblings, “Have any of you said anything on Facebook that might cause this strange?” Because I just usually just get ads for make-up, and dresses, and pregnancy tests, and all those fun things they like to target women of a certain age. And my sister got back to me, she said, “Well, yeah, my friend lives in Australia so I sent her a message on Messenger, Facebook Messenger, and told her that our mom had died.”

Laura: And of course Facebook knew that we’re sisters, it has that relationship connection that you can choose to add on there, it could probably guess we were sisters anyway by the locations we’ve been together, the fact that we share a surname. And decided that’s an appropriate ad to put in her feed.

Drew: It’s sobering, isn’t it? To think that technology is making these decisions for us that actually affects people, potentially in this example, in quite a sensitive or vulnerable time.

Laura: Yeah. We say it’s creepy, but a lot of the time people say it’s almost like the microphone on my phone or my laptop was listening to me because I was just having this conversation about this particular product and suddenly it’s appearing in my feed everywhere. And I think what’s actually scary is the fact that most of them don’t have access to your microphone, but it’s the fact that your other behaviors, your search, the fact that it knows who you’re talking to because of your proximity to each other and your location on your devices. It can connect all of those things that we might not connect ourselves together in order to say, maybe they’ll be interested in this product because they’ll probably think you’re talking about it already.

Drew: And of course, it’s not as simple as just rolling back the clock and going back to a time where if you wanted to be online, you had to create your own website because there’s technical barriers to that, there’s cost barriers. And you only need to look at the explosion of things like sharing video online, there’s not an easy way to share a video online in the same way you can just by putting it on YouTube, or uploading it to Facebook, or onto Twitter, there are technical challenges there.

Laura: It’s not fair to blame anyone for it because using the web today and using these platforms today is part of participating in society. You can’t help it if your school has a Facebook group for all the parents. You can’t help it if you have to use a website that, in order to get some vital information. It’s part of our infrastructure now, particularly nowadays when everyone is suddenly relying video calling and things like that so much more. These are our infrastructure, they are as used and as important as our roads, as our utilities, so we need to have them treated accordingly. And we can’t blame people for using them, especially if there aren’t any alternatives that are better.

Drew: When the suggestion is using these big platforms that it’s easy and it’s free, but is it free?

Laura: No, because you’re paying with your personal information. And I hear a lot of developers saying things like, “Oh well, I’m not interesting, I don’t really care, it’s not really a problem for me.” And we have to think about the fact that we’re often in quite a privileged group. What about people that are more vulnerable? We think about people who have parts of their identity that they don’t necessarily want to share publicly, they don’t want to be outed by platforms to their employers, to their government. People who are in domestic abuse situations, we think about people who are scared of their governments and don’t want to spied on. That’s a huge number of people across the world, we can’t just say, “Oh well, it’s fine for me, so it has to be fine for everybody else,” it’s just not fair.

Drew: It doesn’t have to be a very big issue you’re trying to conceal from the world to be worried about what a platform might share about you.

Laura: Yeah. And the whole thing about privacy is that it isn’t about having something to hide, it’s about choosing what you want to share. So you might not feel like you have anything in particular that you want to hide, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you put a camera in your bedroom and broadcast it 24 hours, there’s things we do and don’t want to share.

Drew: Because there are risks as well in sharing social content, things like pictures of family and friends. That we could be sacrificing other peoples privacy without them really being aware, is that a risk?

Laura: Yeah. And I think that that applies to a lot of different things as well. So it’s not just if you’re uploading things of people you know and then they’re being added to facial recognition databases, which is happening quite a lot of the time. These very dodgy databases, they’ll scrape social media sites to make their facial recognition databases. So Clearview is an example of a company that’s done that, they’ve scraped images off Facebook and used those. But also things like email, you might choose… I’m not going to use Gmail because I don’t want Google to have access to everything in my email, which is everything I’ve signed up for, every event I’m attending, all of my personal communication, so I decide not to use it. But if I’m communicating with someone who uses Gmail, well, they’ve made that decision on my behalf, that everything I email them will be shared with Google.

Drew: You say that, often from a privileged position, we think okay, we’re getting all this technology, all these platforms are being given to us for free, we’re not having to pay for it, all we got to do is… We’re giving up a little bit of privacy, but that’s okay, that’s an acceptable trade-off. But is it an acceptable trade-off?

Laura: No. It’s certainly not an acceptable trade-off. But I think it’s also because you don’t necessarily immediately see the harms that are caused by giving these things up. You might feel like you’re in a safe situation today, but you may not be tomorrow. I think a good example is Facebook, they’ve actually got a pattern for approving or disproving loans based on the financial status of your friends on Facebook. So thinking, oh well, if your friend owes lots of money, and a lot of your friends owes lots of money, you’re more likely to be in that same situation as them. So all these systems, all of these algorithms, they are making decisions and influencing our lives and we have no say on them. So it’s not necessarily about what we’re choosing to share and what we’re choosing not to share in terms of something we put in a status, or a photo, or a video, but it’s also about all of this information that is derived about us from our activity on these platforms.

Laura: Things about our locations or whether we have a tendency to be out late at night, the kinds of people that we tend to spend our time with, all of this information can be collected by these platforms too and then they’ll make decisions about us based on that information. And we not only don’t have access to what’s being derived about us, we have no way of seeing it, we have no way of changing it, we have no way of removing it, bar a few things that we could do if we’re in the EU based on GDPR, if you’re in California based on their regulation there that you can go in and ask companies what data they have on you and ask them to delete it. But then what data counts under that situation? Just the data they’ve collected about you? What about the data they’ve derived and created by combining your information with other people’s information and the categories they’ve put you in, things like that. We have no transparency on that information.

Drew: People might say that this is paranoia, this is tinfoil hat stuff. And really all that these companies are doing is collecting data to show us different ads. And okay, there’s the potential for these other things, but they’re not actually doing that. All they’re doing is just tailoring ads to us. Is that the case or is this data actually actively being used in more malicious ways than just showing ads?

Laura: No. We’ve seen in many, many occasions how this information is being used in ways other than just ads. And even if one company decides to just collect it based on ads, they then later might get sold to or acquired by an organization that decides to do something different with that data and that’s parts of the problem with collecting the data at all in the first place. And it’s also a big risk to things like hacking, if you’re creating a big centralized database with people’s information, their phone numbers, their email addresses, even just the most simple stuff, that’s really juicy data for hackers. And that’s why we see massive scale hacks that result in a lot of people’s personal information ending up being publicly available. It’s because a company decided it was a good idea to collect of that information in one place in the first place.

Drew: Are there ways then that we can use these platforms, interact with friends and family that are also on these platforms, Facebook is the obvious example where you might have friends and family all over the world and Facebook is the place where they communicate. Are there ways that you can participate in that and not be giving up privacy or is it just something that if you want to be on that platform, you just have to accept?

Laura: I think there’s different layers, depending on what we would call your threat model is. So depending how vulnerable you are, but also your friends and family, and what your options are. So yeah, the ultimate thing is to not use these platforms at all. But if you do, try to use them more than they use you. So if you have things that you’re communicating one-on-one, don’t use Messenger for that because there are plenty of alternatives for one-on-one direct communication that can be end-to-end encrypted or is private and you don’t have to worry about Facebook listening in on it. And there’s not really much you can do about things like sharing your location data and stuff like that, which is really valuable information. It’s all of your meta information that’s so valuable, it’s not even necessarily the content of what you’re saying, but who you’re with and where you are when you’re saying it. That’s the kind of stuff that’s useful that companies would use to put you in different categories and be able to sell things to you accordingly or group you accordingly.

Laura: So I think we can try to use them as little as possible. I think it’s important to seek alternatives, particularly if you’re a person who is more technically savvy in your group of friends and family, you can always encourage other people to join other things as well to have. So use Wire for messaging, that’s a nice little platform that’s available in lots of places and is private. Or Signal is another option that’s just like WhatsApp but it’s end-to-end encrypted as well. And if you can be that person, I think there’s two points that we have to really forget about. One, is the idea that everyone needs to be on a platform for it to be valuable. The benefit is that everyone’s on Facebook, that’s actually the downside as well, that everyone’s on Facebook. You don’t need everyone you know to suddenly be on the same platform as you. As long as you have those few people you want to communicate with regularly on a better platform, that’s a really good start.

Laura: And the other thing that we need to embrace, we’re not going to find an alternative to a particular platform that does everything that platform does as well. You’re not going to find an alternative to Facebook that does messaging, that has status updates, that has groups, that has events, that has live, that has all of this stuff. Because the reason Facebook can do that is because Facebook is massive, Facebook has these resources, Facebook has a business model that really makes a lot out of all that data and so it’s really beneficial to provide all those services to you. And so we have to change our expectations and maybe be like, “Well okay, what’s the one function I need? To be able to share a photo. Well, let’s find the thing that I can do that will help me just share that photo.” And not be expecting just another great big company to do the right thing for us.

Drew: Is this something that RSS can help us with? I tend to think RSS is the solution to most problems, but I was thinking here if you have a service for photo sharing, and something else for status updates, and something else for all these different things is RSS the solution that brings it all together to create a virtual… That encompasses all these services?

Laura: I’m with you on that for lots of things. I, myself, I’ve built into my own site, I have a section for photos, a section for status updates, as well as my blog and stuff. So that I can allow people to, if they don’t follow me on social media platforms, if I’m posting the same stuff to my site, they can use RSS to access it and they’re not putting themselves at risk. And that’s one of the ways that I see as just a fairly ordinary designer/developer that I can not force other people to use those platforms in order to join in with me. And RSS is really good for that. RSS can have tracking, I think people can do stuff with it, but it’s rare and it’s not the point of it. That’s what I think RSS is a really good standard for.

Drew: As a web developer, I’m aware when I’m building sites that I’m frequently being required to add JavaScript from Google for things like analytics or ads, and from Facebook for like and share actions, and all that sort of thing, and from various other places, Twitter, and you name it. Are those something that we need to worry about in terms of developers or as users of the web? That there’s this code executing that it’s origin is on Google.com or Facebook.com?

Laura: Yes. Absolutely. I think Google is a good example here of things like web fonts and libraries and stuff like that. So people are encouraged to use them because they’re told well, it’s going to very performant, it’s on Google servers, Google will grab it from the closest part of the world, you’ll have a brilliant site just by using, say a font off Google rather than embedding it, self-hosting it on your own site. There’s a reason why Google offers up all of those fonts for free and it’s not out of the goodness of their Googley little hearts, it is because they get something out of it. And what they get is, they get access to your visitors on your website when you include their script on your website. So I think it’s not just something we should be worried about as developers, I think that it’s our responsibility to know what our site is doing and know what a third party script is doing or could do, because they could change it and you don’t necessarily have control over that as well. Know what their privacy policies are and things like that before we use them.

Laura: And ideally, don’t use them at all. If we can self-host things, self-host things, a lot of the time it’s easier. If we don’t need to provide a login with Google or Facebook, don’t do it. I think we can be the gatekeepers in this situation. We as the people who have the knowledge and the skills in this area, we can be the ones that can go back to our bosses or our managers and say, “Look, we can provide this login with Facebook or we could build our own login, it will be private, it would be safer. Yeah, it might take a little bit more work but actually we’ll be able to instill more trust in what we’re building because we don’t have that association with Facebook.” Because what we’re seeing now, over time, is that even mainstream media is starting to catch up with the downsides of Facebook, and Google, and these other organizations.

Laura: And so we end up being guilty by association even if we’re just trying to make the user experience easier by adding a login where someone doesn’t have to create a new username and password. And so I think we really do need to take that responsibility and a lot of it is about valuing people’s rights and respecting their rights and their privacy over our own convenience. Because of course it’s going to be much quicker just to add that script to the page, just to add another package in without investigating what it actually does. We’re giving up a lot when we do that and I think that we need to take responsibility not to.

Drew: As web developers are there other things that we should be looking out for when it comes to protecting the privacy of our own customers in the things that we build?

Laura: We shouldn’t be collecting data at all. And I think most of the time, you can avoid it. Analytics is one of my biggest bugbears because I think that a lot of people get all these analytics scripts, all these scripts that can see what people are doing on your website and give you insights and things like that, but I don’t think we use them particularly well. I think we use them to confirm our own assumptions and all we’re being taught about is what is already on our site. It’s not telling us anything that research and actually talking to people who use our websites… We could really benefit more from that than just looking at some numbers go up and down, and guessing what the effect of that is or why it’s happening. So I think that we need to be more cautious around anything that we’re putting on our sites and anything that we’re collecting. And I think nowadays we’re also looking at regulatory and legal risks as well when we’re starting to collect people’s data.

Laura: Because when we look at things like the GDPR, we’re very restricted in what we are allowed to collect and the reasons why we’re allowed to collect it. And that’s why we’re getting all of these consent notifications and things like that coming up now. Because companies have to have your explicit consent for collecting any data that is not associated with vital function for the website. So if you’re using something like a login, you don’t need to get permission to store someone’s email and password for a login because that is implied by logging in, you need that. But things like analytics and stuff like that, you actually need to get explicit consent in order to be able to spy on the people visiting the website. So this is why we see all of these consent boxes, this is why we should actually be including them on our websites if we’re using analytics and other tools that are collecting data that aren’t vital to the functioning of the page.

Drew: I think about some of even just the side projects and things that I’ve launched, that just almost as a matter of routine I’ve put Google analytics on there. I think, “Oh, I need to track how many people are visiting.” And then I either never look at it or I only look at it to gain an understanding of the same things that I could’ve just got from server logs like we used to do in the old days, just by crunching over their web access logs.

Laura: Exactly. And yet Google is sitting there going, “Thank you very much.” Because you’ve instilled another input for them on the website. And I think once you start thinking about it, once you adjust your brain to taking this other way of looking at it, it’s much easier to start seeing the vulnerabilities. But we do have to train ourselves to think in that way, to think about how can we harm people with what we’re building, who could lose out from this, and try to build things that are a bit more considerate of people.

Drew: There’s an example, actually, that I can think of where Google analytics itself was used to breach somebody’s privacy. And that was the author of Belle de Jour, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, who was a London call girl who kept a blog for years and it was all completely anonymous. And she diarized her daily life. And it was incredibly successful, and it became a book, and a TV series, and what have you. She was intending to be completely anonymous, but she was eventually found out. Her identity was revealed because she used the same Google analytics tracking user id on her personal blog where she was her professional self and on the call girl blog as well. And that’s how she was identified, just-

Laura: So she did it to herself in that way as well.

Drew: She did it to herself. Yeah. She leaked personal data there that she didn’t mean to leak. She didn’t even know it was personal data, I suspect. There are so many implications that you just don’t think of. And so I think it pays to start thinking of it.

Laura: Yeah. And not doing things because you feel that that’s what we always did, and that’s what we always do, or that’s what this other organization that I admire, they do it, so I should, I think. And a lot of the time it is about being a bit more restrictive and maybe not jumping on the bandwagon of I’m going to use this service like everybody else is. And stopping, reading their privacy policy, which is not something I recommend doing for fun, because it’s really tedious, and I have to do a lot of it when I’m looking into trackers for Better. But you can see a lot of red flags if you read privacy policies. You see the kinds of language that means that they’re trying to make it free and easy for them to do whatever they want with your information. And there’s a reason why I say to designers and developers, if you’re making your own projects, don’t just copy the privacy policy from somebody else. Because you might be opening yourself up to more issues and you might actually be making yourself look suspicious.

Laura: It’s much better to be transparent and clear about what you’re doing, everything doesn’t need to be written in legal ease in order for you to be clear about what you’re doing with people’s information.

Drew: So, in almost anything, people say that the solution to it is to use the JAMstack. Is the JAMstack a solution, is it a good answer, is it going to help us out of accidentally breaching the privacy of our customers?

Laura: There’s a lot of stuff I like about the JAMstack stuff, but I would say I like the “JMstack”, because it’s the APIs bit that worries me. Because if we’re taking control over our own sites, we’re building static sites, and we’re generating it all on our machines, and we’re not using servers, and that’s great that we’ve taken away a lot potential issues there. But then if we’re adding back in all of the third party functionality using APIs, we may as well be adding script tags to our pages all over again. We may as well have it on somebody else’s platform. Because we’re losing that control again. Because every time we’re adding something from a third party, we’re losing control over a little bit of our site. So I think that a lot of static site generators and things like that have a lot of value, but we still need to be cautious.

Laura: And I think one of the reasons why we love the jam stack stuff because again, it’s allowed us to knock up a site really quickly, deploy it really quickly, have a development environment set up really quickly, and we’re valuing again, our developer experience over that of the people that are using the websites.

Drew: So I guess the key there is to just be hyperaware of what every API you’re using is doing. What data you could be sending to them, what their individual privacy policies are.

Laura: Yeah. And I think we have to be cautious about being loyal to companies. We might have people that we are friends with and think are great and things like that, that are working for these companies. We might that they are producing some good work, they’re doing good blogs, they’re introducing some interesting new technologies into the world. But at the end of the day, businesses are businesses. And they all have business models. And we have to know what are their business models. How are they making their money? Who is behind the money? Because a lot of venture capital backed organizations end up having to deal in personal data, and profiling, and things like that, because it’s an easy way to make money. And it is hard to build a sustainable business on technology, particularly if you’re not selling a physical product, it’s really hard to make a business sustainable. And if an organization has taken a huge amount of money and they’re paying a huge amount of employees, they’ve got to make some money back somehow.

Laura: And that’s what we’re seeing now is, so many businesses doing what Shoshana Zuboff refers to as surveillance capitalism, tracking people, profiling them, and monetizing that information because it’s the easiest way to make money on the web. And I think that the rest of us have to try to resist it because it can be very tempting to jump in and do what everyone else is doing and make big money, and make a big name. But I think that we’re realizing too slowly the impact that that has on the rest of our society. The fact that Cambridge Analytica only came about because Facebook was collecting massive amounts of people’s information and Cambridge Analytica was just using that information in order to target people with, essentially, propaganda in order to make referendums and elections of their way. And that’s terrifying, that’s a really scary effect that’s come out of what you might think is an innocuous little banner ad.

Drew: Professionally, many people are transitioning into building client sites or helping their clients to build their own sites on platforms like Squarespace and that sort of thing, online site builders where sites are then completely hosted on that service. Is that an area that they should also be worried about in terms of privacy?

Laura: Yeah. Because you’re very much subject to the privacy policies of those platforms. And while a lot of them are paid platforms, so just because it’s a platform doesn’t necessarily mean that they are tracking you. But the inverse is also true, just because you’re paying for it, doesn’t mean they’re not tracking you. I’d use Spotify as an example of this. People pay Spotify a lot of money for their accounts. And Spotify does that brilliant thing where it shows off how much it’s tracking you by telling people all of this incredible information about them on a yearly basis, and giving them playlists for their moods, and things like that. And then you realize, oh, actually, Spotify knows what my mood is because I’m listening to a playlist that’s made for this mood that I’m in. And Spotify is with me when I’m exercising. And Spotify knows when I’m working. And Spotify knows when I’m trying to sleep. And whatever other playlists you’ve set up for it, whatever other activities you’ve done.

Laura: So I think we just have to look at everything that a business is doing in order to work out whether it’s a threat to us and really treat everything as though it could possibly cause harm to us, and use it carefully.

Drew: You’ve got a fantastic personal website where you collate all the things that you’re working on and things that you share socially. I see that your site is built using Site.js. What’s that?

Laura: Yes. So it’s something that we’ve been building. So what we do at the Small Technology Foundation, or what we did when we were called Ind.ie, which was the UK version of the Small Technology Foundation, is that we’re tying to work on how do we help in this situation. How do we help in a world where technology is not respecting people’s rights? And we’re a couple of designers and developers, so what is our skills? And the way we see it is we have to do a few different things. We have to first of all, prevent some of the worst harms if we can. And one of the ways we do that is having a tracker blocker, so it’s something that blocks trackers on the web, with their browser. And another thing we do is, we try to help inform things like regulation, and we campaign for better regulation and well informed regulation that is not encouraging authoritarian governments and is trying to restrict businesses from collecting people’s personal information.

Laura: And the other thing we can do is, we can try to build alternatives. Because one of the biggest problems with technology and with the web today is that there’s not actually much choice when you want to build something. A lot of things are built in the same way. And we’ve been looking at different ways of doing this for quite a few years now. And the idea behind Site.js is to make it really easy to build and deploy a personal website that is secure, has the all the HTTPS stuff going on and everything, really, really, easily. So it’s something that really benefits the developer experience, but doesn’t threaten the visitor’s experience at the same time. So it’s something that is also going to keep being rights respecting, that you have full ownership and control over as the developer of your own personal website as well. And so that’s what Site.js does.

Laura: So we’re just working on ways for people to build personal websites with the idea that in the future, hopefully those websites will also be able to communicate easily with each other. So you could use them to communicate with each other and it’s all in your own space as well.

Drew: You’ve put a lot of your expertise in this area to use with Better Blocker. You must see some fairly wild things going on there as you’re updating it and…

Laura: Yeah. You can always tell when I’m working on Better because that’s when my tweets get particularly angry and cross, because it makes me so irritated when I see what’s going on. And it also really annoys me because I spend a lot of time looking at websites, and working out what the scripts are doing, and what happens when something is blocked. One of the things that really annoys me is how developers don’t have fallbacks in their code. And so the amount of times that if you block something, for example, I block an analytics script, and if you block an analytics script, all the links stop working on the webpage, then you’re probably not using the web properly if you need JavaScript to use a link. And so I wish that developers bear that in mind, especially when they think about maybe removing these scripts from their sites. But the stuff I see is they…

Laura: I’ve seen, like The Sun tabloid newspaper, everybody hates it, it’s awful. They have about 30 different analytics scripts on every page load. And to some degree I wonder whether performance would be such a hot topic in the industry if we weren’t all sticking so much junk on our webpages all the time. Because, actually, you look at a website that doesn’t have a bunch of third party tracking scripts on, tends to load quite quickly. Because you’ve got to do a huge amount to make a webpage heavy if you haven’t got all of that stuff as well.

Drew: So is it a good idea for people who build for the web to be running things like tracker blockers and ad blockers or might it change our experience of the web and cause problems from a developer point of view?

Laura: I think in the same way that we test things across different browsers and we might have a browser that we use for our own consumer style, I hate the word consumer, use, just our own personal use, like our shopping and our social stuff, and things like that. And we wouldn’t only test webpages in that browser, we test webpages in as many browsers can get our hands on because that’s what makes us good developers. And I think the same should be for if you’re using a tracker blocker or an ad blocker in your day-to-day, then yeah, you should try it without as well. Like I keep Google Chrome on my computer for browser testing, but you can be sure that I will not be using that browser for any of my personal stuff, ever, it’s horrible. So yeah, you’ve got to be aware of what’s going in the world around you as part of your responsibility as a developer.

Drew: It’s almost just like another browser combination, isn’t it? To be aware of the configurations that the audience your site or your product might have and then testing with those configurations to find any problems.

Laura: Yeah. And also developing more robust ways of writing your code, so that your code can work without certain scripts and things like that. So not everything is hinging off one particular script unless it is absolutely necessary. Things completely fall apart when people are using third party CDNs, for example. I think that’s a really interesting thing that so many people decided to use a third party CDN, but you have very little control over it’s uptime and stuff like that. And if you block the third party CDN, what happens? Suddenly you have no images, no content, no videos, or do you have no functionality because all of your functional JavaScript is coming from a third party CND?

Drew: As a web developer or designer, if I’d not really thought about privacy concerns about the sites I’m producing up until this point, if I wanted to make a start, what should be the first thing that I do to look at the potential things I’m exposing my customers to?

Laura: I’d review one of your existing pages or one of your existing sites. And you can take it on a component by component basis even. I think any small step is better than no step. And it’s the same way you’d approach learning anything new. It’s the same way I think about accessibility as well. Is you start by, okay, what is one thing I can take away? What is one thing I can change that will make a difference? And then you start building up that way of thinking, that way of looking at how you’re doing your work. And eventually that will build up into being much more well informed about things.

Drew: So I’ve been learning a lot about online privacy. What have you been learning about lately?

Laura: One of the things I’ve been learning about is Hugo, which is a static site generator that is written using Go. And I use it for my personal site already, but right now for Site.js, I’ve been writing a starter blog theme so that people could just set up a site really easily and don’t necessarily have to know a lot about Hugo. Because Hugo is interesting, it’s very fast, but the templating is quite tricky and the documentation is not the most accessible. And so I’m trying to work my way through that to understand it better, which I think I finally got over the initial hurdle. Where I understand what I’m doing now and I can make it better. But it’s hard learning these stuff, isn’t it?

Drew: It really is.

Laura: It reminds you how inadequate you are sometimes.

Drew: If you, dear listener, would like to hear more from Laura, you can find her on the web at laurakalbag.com and Small Technology Foundation at small-tech.org. Thanks for joining us today, Laura. Do you any parting words?

Laura: I’d say, I think we should always just be examining what we’re doing and our responsibility in the work that we do. And what can we do that can make things better for people? And what we can do to make things slightly less bad for people as well.

(il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

Via http://www.scpie.org/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura-kalbag-what-is-online-privacy/

source https://scpie.weebly.com/blog/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura-kalbag-what-is-online-privacy

0 notes

riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

Smashing Podcast Episode 13 With Laura Kalbag: What Is Online Privacy?

About The Author

Drew is a director at edgeofmyseat.com, co-founder of Notist and lead developer for small content management system Perch. Prior to this, he was a Web Developer … More about Drew McLellan …

Show Notes

Weekly Update

Transcript

Laura Kalbag: Hello.

Drew: Hello Laura, how are you?

Laura: I am smashing.

Drew: It’s sobering, isn’t it? To think that technology is making these decisions for us that actually affects people, potentially in this example, in quite a sensitive or vulnerable time.

Drew: When the suggestion is using these big platforms that it’s easy and it’s free, but is it free?

Drew: It doesn’t have to be a very big issue you’re trying to conceal from the world to be worried about what a platform might share about you.

Drew: As web developers are there other things that we should be looking out for when it comes to protecting the privacy of our own customers in the things that we build?

Laura: So she did it to herself in that way as well.

Drew: So I guess the key there is to just be hyperaware of what every API you’re using is doing. What data you could be sending to them, what their individual privacy policies are.

Drew: You’ve put a lot of your expertise in this area to use with Better Blocker. You must see some fairly wild things going on there as you’re updating it and…

Drew: So I’ve been learning a lot about online privacy. What have you been learning about lately?

Drew: It really is.

Laura: It reminds you how inadequate you are sometimes.

(il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura-kalbag-what-is-online-privacy/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/614729953763901440

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

Smashing Podcast Episode 13 With Laura Kalbag: What Is Online Privacy?

About The Author

Drew is a director at edgeofmyseat.com, co-founder of Notist and lead developer for small content management system Perch. Prior to this, he was a Web Developer … More about Drew McLellan …

Show Notes

Weekly Update

Transcript

Laura Kalbag: Hello.

Drew: Hello Laura, how are you?

Laura: I am smashing.

Drew: It’s sobering, isn’t it? To think that technology is making these decisions for us that actually affects people, potentially in this example, in quite a sensitive or vulnerable time.

Drew: When the suggestion is using these big platforms that it’s easy and it’s free, but is it free?

Drew: It doesn’t have to be a very big issue you’re trying to conceal from the world to be worried about what a platform might share about you.

Drew: As web developers are there other things that we should be looking out for when it comes to protecting the privacy of our own customers in the things that we build?

Laura: So she did it to herself in that way as well.

Drew: So I guess the key there is to just be hyperaware of what every API you’re using is doing. What data you could be sending to them, what their individual privacy policies are.

Drew: You’ve put a lot of your expertise in this area to use with Better Blocker. You must see some fairly wild things going on there as you’re updating it and…

Drew: So I’ve been learning a lot about online privacy. What have you been learning about lately?

Drew: It really is.

Laura: It reminds you how inadequate you are sometimes.

(il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura-kalbag-what-is-online-privacy/

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Smashing Podcast Episode 13 With Laura Kalbag: What Is Online Privacy?

About The Author

Drew is a director at edgeofmyseat.com, co-founder of Notist and lead developer for small content management system Perch. Prior to this, he was a Web Developer … More about Drew McLellan …

Show Notes

Weekly Update

Transcript

Laura Kalbag: Hello.

Drew: Hello Laura, how are you?

Laura: I am smashing.

Drew: It’s sobering, isn’t it? To think that technology is making these decisions for us that actually affects people, potentially in this example, in quite a sensitive or vulnerable time.

Drew: When the suggestion is using these big platforms that it’s easy and it’s free, but is it free?

Drew: It doesn’t have to be a very big issue you’re trying to conceal from the world to be worried about what a platform might share about you.

Drew: As web developers are there other things that we should be looking out for when it comes to protecting the privacy of our own customers in the things that we build?

Laura: So she did it to herself in that way as well.

Drew: So I guess the key there is to just be hyperaware of what every API you’re using is doing. What data you could be sending to them, what their individual privacy policies are.

Drew: You’ve put a lot of your expertise in this area to use with Better Blocker. You must see some fairly wild things going on there as you’re updating it and…

Drew: So I’ve been learning a lot about online privacy. What have you been learning about lately?

Drew: It really is.

Laura: It reminds you how inadequate you are sometimes.

(il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura-kalbag-what-is-online-privacy/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/smashing-podcast-episode-13-with-laura.html

0 notes

loveandwarfanfiction · 7 years

Text

A Birthday Reunion...

One Year Later

Chris

It's been a year since Tamar and I broke up and to be honest, it's pretty much been hell. I hated Jasmine as much as I hated myself because of how the shit went down and for three months, I didn't even speak to her unless it was about Nayah. After that, for my daughter's sake, her mom and I made it official and tried the big happy family bullshit. Out of respect for Tamar, because I wanted her back, we didn't make our relationship public. When shit was going good six months later and I considered it, my life, and Nayah's, was changed completely. That day, August 20th, 2011, Jasmine had a photoshoot that ran late...

Flashback:

It was around 6 when Jasmine called saying she was finally on her way home and our routine was tucking Nayah in for bed together so I did my best to deal with how fussy my almost two- year old was because she's fighting her sleep due to the fact she missed her mom and was waiting on her to come home. Usually it takes about thirty minutes to get to my place from the location she had her photoshoot today so when forty-five minutes pass, I blame that on traffic. When fifteen more minutes pass by, I think either she stopped somewhere for some food or her car broke down.

If that was the case, why wouldn't she let me know? I would've went to pick her up or understood that she couldn't wait to put Nayah to bed then head home to eat. Hell if she asked, I would've ordered a pizza or something so she could eat before she went home. With that said, I was worried. Thankful that Nayah was fast asleep because she couldn't stay up that long after her bedtime, I finally call her mom. Nothing. Now I'm not just worried but scared so I begin to dial 911 when there's a knock at the door. I sigh with relief assuming that's Jasmine and open the door to see the police.

Considering my reputation, I instantly have my guard up but my biggest concern right now was the mother of my child. I haven't been in any trouble lately so they couldn't be here for me. If they were here for her, something bad had to happen. I couldn't shake that feeling but I push those thoughts to the side and invite the officers in praying that I was wrong. Once they're seated, I find the courage to ask what brought them here. "May I ask why you're here officers?" "Sorry to bother you Mr. Brown, I'm aware you have your daughter Nayah at the moment correct?"

"Ok... What's going on? Why are you even bringing her up," I question them; getting pissed now. My heart is literally racing; thinking that they were about to allow Jasmine in, with Social Services behind her, to take my daughter from me. It was either that or something happened to her. "We're here about her mother, Jasmine Sanders... She was in a drunk driving accident and from her recent phone calls, it appears she was on her way here." I was lost for words and trying my hardest to hold myself together at this point; there's only one reason for giving me this news personally.

That reason, which I didn't want to have to accept, is that my daughter's mother is gone. "She didn't make it did she," I ask clearly with a lump in my throat on the verge of tears. It took them a moment to gather up the courage to speak, it being hard to have to tell me, before they did. "I'm very sorry Mr. Brown but no she didn't... The only belonging of hers we're allowed to give you from the scene is her phone so you can call everyone and tell them the news. Again, we're sorry for your loss," they explain handing me her phone and placing their hand on my shoulder on the way out.

I closed my front door behind them and just broke down. How do I tell Nayah that her mother's gone? More importantly, how the hell am I going to raise her on my own?! The only person I want to call right now is Tamar but she's most likely not answering. My mom won't be much comfort either; she'll start crying when I tell her which will make me cry even harder. The only comfort right I'd get right now is Nayah. Even though she's sleeping, I went up to her room and scooped her up into my arms, sat down in the rocking chair next to her crib, and held her close as I continued to cry.

It took me a good thirty minutes to pull myself together after that before I took Jasmine's phone and started making the phone calls I'd been dreading. I started with her publicist just so they could handle getting the news out to the media and then I called her parents. Hitting dial and staying on that phone the entire time was the hardest shit I ever had to do. I'll never forget the screams and wails of her mother in the background as I talked to her father. He was clearly crying himself but staying as strong as he could and let me know how much it meant for me to give them the news.

It was obvious that they wouldn't be able to handle telling everyone so I volunteered to call the rest of her contacts and give them the news as well. They were beyond grateful and the rest of the phone calls were ten times easier because I made the hardest one prior to them. After almost three hours of that, I was pretty much numb; I couldn't bring myself to cry anymore. I sent Jasmine's publicist a text asking if she could tell Kae the news because there was no way in hell I was going to then sat there in silence. I NEED to talk to Tamar; to hear her voice and hopefully get closure for the two of us.

My mom's already called over ten times but I ignored her since I was busy. I also knew she'd be crying when I finally picked up, which I said I wanted to avoid, since she's heard the news by now. The other thing I didn't want to hear is her saying how she's sorry for my loss; it won't bring Jasmine back. Tay will say it too but she'll also try to take my mind off of this bullshit; no matter how pissed she is at me and right now, I needed that. After I dial her number, I was having second thoughts so I took a deep breath, hit the green phone button on the screen, and let it ring; hoping she'd answer.

"What Chris?! Didn't I tell you to leave me the hell alone the last time you blew up my phone?! I almost changed my number but I thought you finally got the message when you didn't call me again," she yells at me when she picks up on the final ring before her voicemail. At least she answered! "I know. I did get the message but I need you right now... They haven't confirmed it on the news yet but it was Jasmine in that drunk driving accident earlier tonight..." "Oh my God... I didn't know! Is she..." I could tell she didn't want to finish her statement hoping Jasmine was ok. If only she was...

"No... Tay she isn't... Nayah doesn't have a mom anymore..." Just that alone almost made me want to cry again but Tamar was my rock even if we weren't together. She gave me the strength to keep it together. "Chris... I; I don't know what to say... I'm not gonna say what I should because that won't bring the person back but I will say that this sucks..." "You can say that again," I thought to myself before I responded. "I agree... And thanks for that... I needed it." "No problem," she starts off being interrupted by someone telling her to hurry up before they're late. "Hold on Toni, I'll be right there!"

Now I know who was rushing her; one of her sisters. I'm just glad it wasn't another nigga she was going out with! "My bad Chris, I'm dragging her out to a 10:00 movie so I should go... Stay strong ok? I would say you could call me anytime if you need me but right now, with the break-up wounds being so fresh, it wouldn't be fair to me or you. I still love you so it's hard to even be on the phone with you right now and knowing that, I can't be there the way you'd deserve." "I get it. Thanks for being honest Tay and just so you know, I still love you too; more than you know." "Bye Chris..."

Flashback Over

That was the last time I got in contact with Tamar, she really did change her number after that night and less than a week later was Jasmine's funeral. Ever since then, I've been struggling as a single dad. Kae had Drake's baby right after the accident too but that was the least of my worries. My main focus after the FAME tour was my daughter and I just started my new album Fortune; not even winning a Grammy made me want to get back to the music. The only reason I was in the spotlight during this time was if Jasmine was mentioned or if I was sighted with our daughter.

On social media, I had so many people coming at me; blaming me for the tragedy. Some even went as far saying bullshit like "Just kill yourself! Your daughter would be better off without you and you should've done us that favor after putting your hands on Rihanna!" That's what I meant by Kae and Drake's baby was the least of my worries and why I said goodbye to my Instagram and Twitter for a while. When I returned to them last week, I changed my username from @fuckyopictures. I still post shit but before I scroll through the comments, my management looks first.

They delete the negative shit and block the users leaving it. Being a father, I don't have time to roast niggas if they say the wrong thing. My ass will do it too; no filter and no fucks given. Anyway, with me working on a new album, I was going to be busy in the studio and everything that goes with promoting it when it's done so I wanted to take Nayah on a mini vacation. I felt it was best to get out of Cali so we flew into Tampa last night so we can go to Busch Gardens today. For once, my baby girl didn't ask for her mom the moment she got me up to start the day so I felt good.

The sad thing about that was how I think that she finally realized Jasmine's not coming back. That breaks my heart since she's turning three on the 27th. Today however was MY birthday. Considering the tough time I had with my baby mama's death, I didn't see any better way to celebrate than be with my baby girl. No friends or family other than her. After I got the us ready and we got inside the amusement park, we were having a good time. She enjoyed Elmo and everybody on the Sesame Street safari and it was hot as hell so we were heading towards the water ride that I hoped was kid friendly.

That's when the unexpected happened. I saw a camera crew and I heard a lot of laughing because somebody got drenched on the ride. Ok, I have an almost three-year-old so it's NOT kid friendly. Can't blame a nigga for trying. We'll just get something to drink on the way to the next kid attraction. Apparently it's called 'Treetop Trails.' Anyway, after I look at my map of the park and start heading in that direction, more than happy I CAN get something to drink on the way, the laughing behind me halts and there was total silence. Then I hear: "O, shit! It's Chris!"

"Traci would you shut up before he turns around and sees us?! He's with his daughter for crying out loud!" I knew that voice from anywhere and I was hoping that was her but the chances of us being here at the same time, and while she and her family are filming their show, were pretty slim. Unless it IS her... I thanked God as I turned around; seeing Tamar again for the first time in a year. My nerves got the best of me for that reason but I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind anyway: "Hey Tay... Braxtons..." Things just got awkward as fuck but if I get to see her again it's worth it!

Tamar

I didn't know what to do or say right now... The fact Chris was here out of all places at the same time I was here was way beyond crazy. So many emotions were going through my head at once and I couldn't handle it. Seeing Chris did that to me and I just couldn't handle it. Before I knew it, I was taking off and heading to the RV my dad rented for the day but without hearing my sisters saying: "Tamar!" "Tay; wait!" Right now, I just had to get away. Seeing him with Nayah was too hard and it didn't help that we happened to run into each other again on his birthday of all days.

My dad noticed I was upset so he stepped off the RV while Chris made his way inside. He most likely left his daughter with my sisters and like I hoped my mom wouldn't, she ended up getting off the RV too so my ex and I could have a moment alone. For a moment, it was silent and it didn't look like either of us was saying anything anytime soon so I broke the ice. It wasn't easy either; I was actually dreading it. That's why all that I managed to get out was: "Happy birthday..." Not "Hey; How've you been and happy birthday by the way," but just fucking "Happy birthday!" Nice going Tamar!

"You remembered... Thanks." Ok; he's just as nervous! That makes me feel a little better! "It's hard to forget when Team Breezy made the hashtag #CincoDeBreezy because it's on Cinco de Mayo," I reply. "Right... So, how've you been?" "Good... still struggling with finishing my album, but good. I should really be asking you that question though..." This shit was way too awkward. I mean when isn't having a conversation with your ex though? And considering the last time we spoke, I'm surprised I'm the first person to even bring Jasmine up. Hell; I'm surprised that I'm even talking to Chris right now!

"I just started working on my new album and I'm just now adjusting to being a single father, a year later. I'm ok though... I got a Grammy for FAME," he says taking me out of my thoughts. Him mentioning his Grammy had me smile inside; I was proud of him. He made it back on top after what happened with Rihanna and I couldn't be happier for him. "I was watching, and cheering, when Taraji called your name. I contemplated calling you too, to congratulate you, but after our last conversation-" "Tay... I get it. Now can we cut the bullshit here? Why did you run off like that? Do you hate me that much?"

For the first time since running into Chris, I started laughing. One, I saw that coming and two, I was pretty much playing with his emotions to get back at him before I made the move that would make us officially back together again. That move was walking up to him and placed my lips on his. "Don't you get it?! Like I said last time we talked a year ago, I still love you. I could NEVER hate you and you tried it for even thinking that I do," I tell him when I pull away only to be pulled back in. "I missed you too. And I will NEVER hurt you again. I promise. I love you WAY too much to."

I nod as he pulls me into his arms and I cry into his shoulder. After a moment, I'm done balling my eyes out so I finally speak again. "You better not Chris. I won't be cheated on again and play nice a second time around." I meant that shit too. I stayed when Vince cheated time and time again; which is why I was so quick to leave Chris when I found out he cheated too. I deserve better so I made him hurt from losing me so he'd learn his lesson. I hadn't thought like that until Jasmine's death though; before then, I was done. "I know Tay. So... Can we head back out now? We're at Busch Gardens!"

As much as I wanted to, there was something I had to do first. I just had to find out how I'd do it. "I-I can't... It's a family day and we've been filming all day so I have to stay with them. I can't just have you tag along with us like this no matter how much I want you to." Chris didn't even have a chance to respond because we heard: "Just go with him Tamar," Trina and Toni said in unison from outside the front door to the RV. "And take Nayah too," Traci adds; confirming how everyone was spying on me. Since they brought up Chris' daughter, I had to do what I mentioned earlier before my mom did.

"Wait just a minute now, Tamar-" "Momma, I got this. Chris, there's someone I want you to meet. They're in the back sleeping." Now I'm nervous as hell; who knows how he'll react. By the time I start heading to the bedroom to join him anxious to see what he'd do and say, I see him walking out crying and holding and almost four month old in his arms. The sight before me made me weak in the knees too... I was way too emotional. "Tay..." I stopped him there and didn't let him say another word. Not without me explaining myself first so he knew all of the details which he deserved.

"Before you say anything let me explain. I suspected so the day we last talked, I made an appointment for the day of the funeral. I wasn't saying anything when I didn't know for sure; especially with what happened to Jasmine. When I got it confirmed, I wanted to tell you but I already changed my number and to be honest I was still pissed so I waited. When I was ready to tell you, I just found out the sex in an ultrasound but I knew you were still grieving and had Nayah to think about. With that said, it was more of trying to find the right way to tell you at that point until I went into labor."

I paused for a short moment and then continued. "That same night, you had that scare with Nayah and her crazy fever. I could've told you then since you were in the hospital once you knew she was ok but that wouldn't have been good timing. The whole time the doctors were working to get her fever down, I know Jasmine's death hit you all over again; that being one of the times you wished she was still here. That and how harsh people can be is why you disappeared with Nayah until the Grammys three months ago. I couldn't tell you then because that would be selfish."

When I finished, there was complete silence. Now I was waiting for him to either lash out at me for keeping it from him, even though he was going through hell, or be understanding. The smile on his face gave me my answer right away. "I saw your mom that night and she explained everything then let me meet him. She also sent me pictures every chance that she got. The only thing I don't know is his name; she saved that for you." Both of us were crying now, and smiling, as I introduced the two of them. "Then I would like to let you meet your son Trenton... Trenton Maurice Brown."

0 notes