#and frederick was fabulous in ignoring it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rachelthompsonauthor · 3 years

Link

What is social proof? It’s a marketing concept that we are all inadvertently, unknowingly contributing to every time we click on, retweet, like, reply or comment, and share any kind of social media, article, or blog post on the net. Technically, social proof, as defined by Sprout Social is:

The concept that people will follow the actions of the masses. The idea is that since so many other people behave in a certain way, it must be the correct behavior.

Social Proof and Me

As an author, social media is a hugely important part of my author platform, as it is for any writer or blogger. This is how we connect with readers now, even before the pandemic. Virtual, online events are now the norm. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Live video discussions are the new book signings. Twitter chats are weekly on any number of topics; I have two of my own, in fact, #SexAbuseChat every Tuesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est and #BookMarketingChat every Wednesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est.

All important for visibility, branding, and most importantly, connection.

However…there’s a limit. I reached my limit over the course of this past year. It didn’t come all at once. It came, little by little, reaching a peak this past month or so.

Why? How? Me, the so-called social media expert?

Access. Like many people, I have issues with the incredible level of access Facebook gives people once we friend them without our consent. PMs (private messages) are automatic, now with the ability for people to call, voice, and video message us, with no option to shut these options to OFF unless we unfriend the person (we can, however, mute a specific conversation). Technically, we do give them consent in the legal mumbo jumbo we all agreed to when we joined back in the 2010s.

I am not okay with this. And Facebook doesn’t care. Nobody cares. You’re probably thinking, “Geez, Karen. Shut up, already. Stop your whining, white lady.” I get it. I do. First-world problems.

I counter with: I hear you. It’s also part of my business. A huge part. Here’s why:

As someone who manages over 70+ various social media accounts as part of my BadRedhead Media business, plus my own accounts as well, Facebook requires I have a personal account in order to manage all those other Pages. I do understand why, particularly with all the ridiculousness of the past four years with the abundance of fake accounts, fake news, and such.

As a survivor of sexual abuse and stalking, this is ultra-concerning to me. So, what happened this past month or so? Suffice it to say, one person repeatedly tried calling me. I never pick up Facebook calls, especially if I don’t know you. Another left me a few voice messages saying they were offended by something.

Yet another left me another message in ALL SHOUTY CAPS that she didn’t find what I posted inspirational enough and she expected better from someone who is “supposedly on the side of authors.”

Oh, and there is the one lady who started replying on ALL my posts to the kind people who did comment that she didn’t think I replied often enough or to her satisfaction.

Well. I’ve been criticized before. You should read some of my 1-star reviews. There’s plenty!

But, for whatever reason, this struck a chord. I got up in my feels. I cried. I talked with one of them and we worked it out because we like and respect each other’s work in the mental health space. The others I blocked. It’s darn frustrating to donate hours of my time each week to helping writers solely because I want to, only to be told it’s not enough. Like, seriously? Fuck off.

My blood raged. My heart sank. Understandable, right?

But what really made me angry is that I put myself in that position by being available. I accepted that ‘it is what it is.’ This is what the social media platforms have given us, so that’s what I have to work within.

I’m too available. It’s too easy to leave me shitty messages. This is why people hire people like me – to handle this crap for them! So they don’t have to read these ridiculous criticisms from judgy people who apparently have nothing better to do or are having a bad day.

And I get bad days. It’s a damn pandemic. We’re all struggling. Where’s the damn compassion for one another?

I have a dislike/hate relationship with Facebook anyway, since about ten or so years ago when I discovered that a past love had died by suicide by going to his personal profile and seeing, “RIP dude,” messages there. We had spoken early that day. It still haunts me.

So…what to do? I’m claiming my time. I’m not posting to my personal Facebook profile right now. I’m ignoring it. I am checking my Pages and of course, my client Pages. When I feel like I can face it again, I will cull my ‘friends’ down from *checks real quick* 4385 people to maybe, I don’t know, the few hundred in my groups, many of whom I do know and treasure.

Social Proof and You

If you’re a writer, social proof matters. This is the world we live in. Publishing is not only writing.

You need to be ‘findable,’ not only on Google, but also on each individual social platform, so your readers can learn more about you and hopefully, buy your books. If you go the traditional route, publishers and agents want to know how many followers you have (easily upped by buying fake followers or likes from Fiverr or wherever). I suggest not doing that, because:

1) fake followers don’t buy books

2) it’s usually pretty obvious when you have fake followers because they’re all foreign names, have questionable bios, and no tweets

3) do you really want to start your publishing career with a lie?

They also want to know what you post, how often, and what your branding is. If you’re an indie author, honestly, the same applies. Social proof is about connection, building relationships, and authenticity. I’ve believed that since I started my business and writing career way back in 2011, and I stand by it now. Start slow, grow slow. It’s not a race.

I’m the furthest thing you’ll even find from a conspiracy theorist – I don’t believe in chemtrails, pizza parlor cabals, or that the earth is flat. However, I am a realist. Watch The Social Dilemma sometime. These huge tech companies share our data without our knowledge or consent (Cambridge Analytics, anyone?). Younger generations are so used to this, they don’t really care – ask them.

(My kids think having a chip implanted in their hands with all their data is a fabulous idea. “So much easier than having to talk and repeat everything over and over. Just scan me and be done with it,” says my daughter Anya (21). “Agree,” grunts my son, Lukas (15). Buy stuff, go to the doctor, whatever. Scan and go. Talk with any GenZ kid, you’ll likely get a similar answer. They’ve been tracked since birth everywhere. They don’t know life without a computer, tablet, or phone in their hands.)

Know that whatever we do, it’s all part of each platforms’ AI, and they share data, which is why that darling pair of shoes you just saw on Amazon is now showing up on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and every website you visit going forward. It’s all about the money, and they all get a piece of that affiliate link.

Every bit of every click is recorded, even when you’re watching videos on YouTube, or a subscription service like Netflix, or perusing goods on Amazon. It’s all connected. I’m not shocked or surprised by any of this, are you?

It’s Not Personal

What people say to us and about us is ultimately incredibly revealing about them. We know this, at an intellectual, psychological, and emotional level. Still, when people say mean things, it hurts. We’re human.

Does it matter in the overall scope of our lives? Who can say. It matters at that moment. It can matter when it comes to overall visibility when you’re marketing your book(s) or trying to get that book contract or interview. Only you can say if it matters to you.

Already a longtime fan of THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz, I took a moment to reorient myself with this one agreement: Don’t take anything personally. I also stumbled across an excellent short and entertaining TEDTalk by Frederick Imbo. His main message to stop taking things personally is two-fold;

It’s not about me. Look at the other person’s intention and

It IS about me. Give yourself some empathy. Speak up. Ask questions. Pay attention to how you feel and be vulnerable with your needs.

I’m glad I was able to, inadvertently, employ point #2 and work out some issues with one of the people by telling him what he said made me cry. He apologized. I apologized. We talked it through and we’re still friends.

Ultimately, social media is what we contribute to it. What we make it. How much we allow of it into our lives. Social proof is going along with the tide. I’ve been in this space since 2008. Being connected to others is a big part of the work I do to help and support not only other writers, but also other childhood sexual abuse survivors. However, I’ve reached that point. I knew it was coming.

I’m not shutting my doors. I’m just adding a screen. With a strong lock.

***

Read more about Rachel’s experiences in the award-winning book, Broken Pieces.

She goes into more detail about living with PTSD and realizing the effects of how being a survivor affected her life in

Broken Places, available in print everywhere!

Please subscribe to my newsletter so we can stay in touch!

Mailing List Sign Up

Email*

Name

First Last

Privacy*

By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website.

jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_render', function(event, formId, currentPage){if(formId == 8) {} } );jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_conditional_logic', function(event, formId, fields, isInit){} ); jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery(document).trigger('gform_post_render', [8, 1]) } );

The post What Is Social Proof and Does It Matter, Really? appeared first on Rachel Thompson.

via Rachel Thompson

#IFTTT #Rachel Thompson

6 notes · View notes

rauliskafan · 7 years

Text

The Doctor and His Doll: All Hallows’ Eve

Author’s Note: Happy Halloween one and all!!! The time has come for the Doctor and his Doll to celebrate this special day in style. But will things go according to anyone’s plan??? Read on for more!!! Check out the previous parts below, and enjoy!!! :)

The Doctor and His Doll

The Doctor and His Doll: Story Hour

The Doctor and His Doll: Date Night

Tagging @vintagemichelle91, @yourtropegirl, @mrschiltoncat

Well… I suppose I am as ready as I will ever be.

Yay! How about a selfie, Doc?

Please.

Come on!

Perhaps I prefer to keep you in suspense.

No fun!

I mean to make tonight alter that assessment.

Swiftly sending Frederick a smiley face, you examined your reflection in the mirror. The beaded dress fit just right, accessorized with a long string of pearls. After debating between a feathered headband or a cloche hat, you ultimately opted for a sparkling skullcap dripping with strands of silver that looked better than your hair ever could. And there was no way that you were going to spend the night under a wig. Strapping on your heels, you couldn’t resist the urge to snap your own set of self-portraits before bouncing back to the bed. There you scrolled through the series of photos. Selecting your favorite, you sent it to Frederick, tapped your toes against the floor…

…and waited.

“What’s the hold up? Hope the doctor didn’t come down with something.”

Paulette emerged from the hallway dressed as a baby, complete with bonnet and bib.

“He’s on his way,” you said. “What do you think?”

Rising to your feet, you twirled in the dress and smiled when Paulette’s approving whistle filled the room.

“Nice,” she said. “Guess things are getting serious with the old man.”

“He’s not that old,” you quickly said.

“Hey, I’m not knocking it,” Paulette said. “Nothing wrong with a sugar daddy.”

“And he’s not that either,” you said.

“Come on, girl,” Paulette said, pulling on an oversized plastic bottle and washing you in a wave of cupcake vodka when she spoke again. At least the bib was bound to come in handy at some point during the night.

“Three dates,” she continued. “He always picks up the tab. And now he’s taking you to this high society shindig.”

“That was the plan from the start,” you reminded her. “But it’s not like… I mean he doesn’t expect anything.”

“Nothing?” Paulette asked, lifting one eyebrow and taking another drink.

“Nothing but… I mean it’s just that he’s lonely,” you said. “He likes to talk. Sometimes I think that no has ever listened to him in his entire life.”

Which was doubly tragic considering that the stories of his past often centered around running a hospital, writing a book that you could not see yourself reading but definitely had an audience. All that plus his wealth, his sense of his style, the way he listened when you spoke… it was triply, quadruply sad that he didn’t have a coterie of allies.

Also sad that you seemed to be inventing words as you readjusted your mascara and heard Paulette sucking in her bottle.

“And you really should be nicer after the way he helped you out,” you said.

“Hey, I never said I didn’t like the guy,” Paulette insisted. “He obviously likes you a lot. So what happens after the big party?”

To that you had no answer. Not that the possibilities hadn’t raced through your mind like a video you kept replaying until the effort to buffer the image was a battle better lost. But there was something to be said for a screenshot of his kisses tinged with the taste of metal, his hands roaming down your arms and up your skirt…

“Why are you laughing?” Paulette asked.

“Because I think he would be so clumsy… but sweet…”

Turning away from the mirror, you saw Paulette smirking, and you were about to tell her to mind her own business or at least change the subject to how many bottles she planned on chugging when your phone dinged.

“Is that him?” Paulette asked. Saying nothing, you swiped the message to life.

I am no angel. We will leave that to you. Where do I meet my lovely lady?

Weak in the knees at his words, you started to ask him where his car was when you shifted gears as you keyed in your response.

You know where I am, Doc. Come to my door?

It was a risk, and the time it took for him to respond made you fear that you’d stepped too close to the sun despite the light of the moon…

I am here, Doll. Waiting for you.

Stuffing your phone in your clutch and not caring to respond, you brushed past Paulette, clicking down the steps in your heels. The sunken lounge serving as a lobby already brimmed with Disney characters gone berserk. You ignored them all, the beads dangling from the back of your head touching the base of your neck as you opened the doors with both hands…

“Frederick.”

And there he was. All in ivory. Who said he wasn’t an angel? With his cane in hand and his hat slanted to the side, his smile brightened as you drew nearer.

“Even better up close,” he mused.

“What about you, Doc?” you asked, touching his arms, feeling the perfectly laundered fabric and letting one hand fall slowly into his. “You look sensational.”

“I have a secret weapon,” he whispered, leaning closer until his lips touched your ear. “The best and most beautiful Halloween stylist in town.”

Giggling, you glanced back to see Paulette smiling before tossing you a sweater.

“Don’t catch cold,” she said. “Hi, Dr. Chilton.”

“Paulette,” he began. “I would advise you to take it easy with the spirits tonight.”

“But it’s Halloween,” she whined.

“Doesn’t mean you have to join the dead,” Frederick argued. Paulette rolled her eyes, wishing you a good time, and drinking all the way.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” you said.

“I hope so,” he replied. “But you will forgive me if I’d prefer to focus my attention on you.”

He offered his arm and walked you across the campus. Never the homecoming queen, never the girl of anyone’s fantasy, you forgot those feelings. There was a sense of pride having when having him beside you, even if some of the looks you received were confused and curious above all else. Regardless, you soaked up the glances.

“Hey? You okay?”

Still several feet from his car, your realized that Frederick’s face was flushed, his one eye wide, and when you looked down you saw his grip too tight and tense around and about his cane.

“Of course,” he assured you. “I just… seeing your campus so… engaged. I almost hesitate to tell you, but…”

He fell silent, and you caught a few frat boys making faces and whispering cruel words under their beer-soaked breath.

“Don’t hesitate, Doc,” you prodded. “What’s up?”

“It is deeply buried in the past… my past... do you really want to spend All Hallows’ Eve with someone who would have done far worse than Paulette and just drink himself silly? Alone? Longing for a night like this to mercifully end?”

His confession shattered your heart, but you stretched to the tips of your toes, your heels leaving your shoes as you kissed him full on the mouth. His taste stayed unlike any other man’s. Yet it was a flavor you were quickly growing accustomed to, unable to imagine anything else.

“Well,” he whispered when you brought the kiss to an end, and somehow both of his eyes sparkled in the moonlight as you stroked his scarred cheek.

“Well,” you echoed. “I don’t want this night to end. I want to get it started. With you.”

Smiling, Frederick suddenly had a skip in his step as he held open the door to his town car, and you slid against the supple leather, waiting and watching until he sat at your side and signaled for the driver to depart.

“Then we shall get started,” he said. “Here we have Armand de Brignac Brut Gold.”

He revealed an ivory bottle that matched his suit adorned with an ace of spades, and he popped the cork.

“I won’t say no to champagne,” you said, hoping that skipping lunch wasn’t the worst of ideas. Trying to sip, hoping you looked something close to sophisticated, you crinkled your nose as the bubbles tickled your skin.

“A problem?” Frederick asked.

“It’s fine,” you said. “But I guess you can see that this is not really my thing.”

“I will tell you another secret,” he confessed while coming closer. “When I was… not much older than you. The girls in my circle came out at a debutante ball.”

“Bet they looked nice,” you said, watching the bubbles calm in your glass and trying not to sound too jealous.

“I would not know,” he said. “I shot the Dom Perignon right out of my nose. Spent the night in the men’s room trying to clean my tie with soap and paper towels that kept falling apart.”

One more moment to add to his tragic list? You started to tell him that you were sorry when he waggled his eyebrows.

“See? You have nothing to feel bad about, Doll,” he said. “You are far more graceful than I ever was… ever could be.”

You smiled, happy to see him back at ease, and you clinked your glass to his.

“To our big night, Doc,” you said by way of a toast before drinking deep and believing that anything and everything was possible.

His car pulled up to a brick building resting atop a wide white staircase. Frederick set your glasses aside and offered his arm again. Keeping him close, you climbed the steps and saw at least four witches, three cats, and clowns wearing mismatched floppy shoes. Safe and simple and not at all sensational. You held your date’s arm tighter, loving him for taking a risk, for taking you to the ball. Wondering, wishing that you wouldn’t become a roaring twenties version of Cinderella, his town car turning to a pumpkin once the clock struck twelve, you pushed those fears aside and stepped into a grand ballroom. The floor was an endless swath of black and white diagonal tiles A massive chandelier hung overhead while an orchestra played off to the side.

“What do you think?” Frederick asked, his voice dragging you from your reverie. He left your eyes for just a second to nod at a colleague before returning his entire focus to your stare.

“I… I think it’s fabulous,” you said. “And I think that you are by far the handsomest man in the joint.”

“The joint?” he echoed. “The costume’s era is going to your head, my dear.”

“And what about yours?” you asked. For a second he was silent, the fingers free of his cane reaching for one of the beads drizzling down your neck. He tenderly flicked it away, started to come in for a kiss…

…but he suddenly stopped short.

“You do look amazing,” he said, blushing as the band changed tones, and you saw the clowns and the cats flood the dance floor.

“Do we dare?” you asked.

He started to follow your suggestion, your lead when he halted and somberly shook his head.

“I… maybe not just yet,” he said.

Your heart hurt to see him sad, a little scared, and you patted his cheek just below his scar.

“Night’s still young,” you responded. “Maybe another drink?”

“Do not go all Paulette on me,” he gently chided, and you swatted his arm as he left you with the promise of a cranberry juice and vodka. Left alone, your gangster with a heart of gold still close by, you smiled at some of the other party goers. A few of the women and several men looked past you to where Frederick stood, their eyes full of questions that went unasked. For that you were grateful, not in the mood for an interrogation, counting the seconds until Frederick was back at your side…

“Care to dance?”

Glancing over your shoulder, you saw a baseball player. Or a carbon copy who hardly knew how to hold the bat. With a smirk, he doffed his cap.

“No thank you,” you said. “I’m waiting for my… date.”

“Dr. Chilton,” the young man said.

“You know him?”

“Used to be on his staff,” the faux ballplayer continued. “When he sort of kind of had the head to run a hospital. But make no mistake; even without the… troubles, he wouldn’t have lasted long.”

Knowing that the man’s cold words must be connected to Frederick’s injuries, wanting to hear more but not from this fool’s lips, you started to take your leave when the shortstop without a mitt grabbed your arm.

“Hey! What do you think you’re---?”

“Showing you a Happy Halloween,” he said. “Ditch the dull doctor. Dance with me.”

Struggling to break free from the stranger’s hold, you heard ice clinking in glasses and the tip of a cane tapping against the tiles. Sensing Frederick was close, you started to search for his eyes when the ballplayer brought his hand close to your breast. His fingers flexed, squeezing to lay claim to you like a trophy, unearned. Furiously, you pushed him back, and the movement knocked the cap from his head. Lifting your knee in your beaded gown, you couldn’t help but smile as you made contact with the barely there bulge in his pants.

“I said I wasn’t interested,” you stressed as he writhed in pain, his bat rolling away until a server dressed as Jason, hockey mask and all, snatched it up so that no one would trip. “Listen when a lady tells you that.”

Ignoring the crying ballplayer, his game lost, you smiled when Frederick caught your eye.

“I… are you al---?”

“Never better, Doc!” you chirped, taking your drink from his hand. “Bottoms up.” The sweet and the sting swirled down your throat, and you waited for Frederick to return your smile…

…when he turned on his heel, his cane tapping towards a quiet corner.

“Hey!”

Rushing after him, your drink still in hand, you tried to twist his face to yours. It hurt when he winced in the wake of your touch.

“What’s wrong?” you asked. “Frederick?”

“You knocked him down,” he said.

“Damn straight,” you agreed. “Don’t know who he is but---”

“Someone I worked with. A subordinate.”

“Who obviously still doesn’t know his place,” you continued. “But I put him in---”

“I was only going to be another moment.”

Clutching your glass and seeing his face fallen, your mind began to connect the dots, and you quickly reached for his hand.

“Doc, I’m sorry,” you spoke fast.

“I was on my way back to you,” he pressed. “Do you think that I would not… that I could not have protected you?”

“No,” you swore. “Of course I don’t think that. But I’m tough, too. I thought you kind of liked that about me.”

“I do,” he said, his voice thick. “But just for once. It would have been nice to save someone... instead of the other way around.”

You wanted to understand, to listen. But then Frederick brushed past you, leaving you alone with your drink. Watching him disappear into a sea of black pointy ears mingled with a few fluffy rainbows, you sank to the nearest windowsill.

What the hell had just happened? Everything was perfect. Kisses and champagne and chandeliers. Now you wanted to weep. And not simply because Frederick was suddenly so far from your side. You feared that you had lost him beyond this night and hated the idea of a world where you didn’t get to hear his voice and see his shy smile. Downing your drink, you started after him, desperate to find him, to make this right when you stopped atop a smaller staircase.

And saw a slim blonde praising his costume.

“It’s so cute, Dr. Chilton!” she chirped.

“Thank you, Sandra,” he said. “Now if you don’t mind, I---”

“And I felt horrible when I heard what happened to you,” Sandra droned on. “But you’re back and obviously better than ever. Maybe we could find a shady spot and get reacquainted?”

Frederick was slow to answer the question, just shaking his head. But the sight of another woman’s hand on his face caused you to charge forward and rip her fingers away.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sandra demanded.

“Telling you to take your hands off him!” you said. “He’s spoken for.”

“He’s certainly not sticking close,” Sandra spat.

“But I am,” you said, grabbing Frederick’s arm once more. “Now buzz off, bitch.”

Sandra looked shocked, but when Frederick failed to leap to her defense she stomped off in the other direction, leaving you alone with…

“Frederick.”

“Doll? What are you doing?”

“Setting you straight.”

The liquor still swirled in your brain as you pushed him past a quartet dressed as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Not caring about a day in the life or who was leaving home, you took hold of his tie and spoke fast.

“Look, I like you. I don’t want the boys on the quad or that prick with the bat.”

“I---”

“I’ve had to take care of myself most of my life,” you continued. “I’ll keep doing that. It doesn’t mean that I don’t trust you. Or care about you so much that I think about you night and day.”

“You---”

“Or know that bad things happened and want to fight anyone that would ever try to hurt you again. Not happening. Not while I’m around.”

The feel of his hand on your cheek allowed you to relax some.

“Doll, not that I don’t appreciate… Sandra is harmless. A decent nurse but---”

“A gold digger,” you said without any proof but still feeling so certain. “And I won’t share you with her. I don’t want to share you with anyone.”

Was it too much? You didn’t care. At least he would know where you stood when he left your life.

“Doll.”

Here it came. The other shoe. You brushed some beads from your eyes and just gasped when you saw his smile.

“Dance with me now?”

Too stunned to do anything but nod, you savored the feel of his hand in yours and let him lead you back to the place under the chandelier. Despite some titters from the costumed crowd, he let his cane fall and circled an arm around your waist. You swayed to the music, the lights sparkling from above. As his feet traced tentative circles against the tiles, you matched his steps and realized that his eyes were not aiding any mission in pursuit of some marvelous minuet.

Because those eyes were only for you.

“Frederick?” you whispered.

“Yes.”

“I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else tonight. I’m sorry if I showed you up or---”

“It’s forgotten.”

“But if I made a scene with that nurse, I’m sorry---”

“Never apologize for that,” he said, dancing you closer to the center of the room.

“Why?”

Staying silent, he dipped you, his kiss passionate, the taste of his tongue causing you to forget your name. And as he guided you back to his gaze you saw his smile brighter than every light in the room.

“Because I was wrong,” he said. “And I rather think that I like being rescued by you.”

#raúl esparza #frederick chilton #chilton x reader #hannibal #hannibal fanfiction #the doctor and his doll

63 notes · View notes

riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for almost every kind of website, but its finer points remain something of a specialty. Even today SEO Company is often treated as something that can be tacked on after the fact. It can up to a point, but it really shouldn’t be. Search engines get smarter every day and there are ways for websites to be smarter too.

The foundations of SEO Company are the same as they’ve always been: great content clearly labeled will win the day sooner or later — regardless of how many people try to game the system. The thing is, those labels are far more sophisticated than they used to be. Meta titles, image alt text, and backlinks are important, but in 2020, they’re also fairly primitive. There is another tier of metadata that only a fraction of sites are currently using: structured data.

All search engines share the same purpose: to organize the web’s content and deliver the most relevant, useful results possible to search queries. How they achieve this has changed enormously since the days of Lycos and Ask Jeeves. Google alone uses more than 200 ranking factors, and those are just the ones we know about.

SEO Company is a huge field nowadays, and I put it to you that structured data is a really, really important factor to understand and implement in the coming years. It doesn’t just improve your chances of ranking highly for relevant queries. More importantly, it helps make your websites better — opening it up to all sorts of useful web experiences.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

Structured data is a way of labeling content on web pages. Using vocabulary from Schema.org, it removes much of the ambiguity from SEO Company. Instead of trusting the likes of Google, Bing, Baidu, and DuckDuckGo to work out what your content is about, you tell them. It’s the difference between a search engine guessing what a page is about and knowing for sure.

As Schema.org puts it:

By adding additional tags to the HTML of your web pages — tags that say, “Hey search engine, this information describes this specific movie, or place, or person, or video” — you can help search engines and other applications better understand your content and display it in a useful, relevant way.

Schema.org launched in 2011, a project shared by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex. In other words, it’s a ‘bipartisan’ effort — if you like. The markup transcends any one search engine. In Schema.org’s own words,

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

It is in many respects a more expansive cousin of microformats (launched around 2005) which embed semantics and structured data in HTML, mainly for the benefit of search engines and aggregators. Although microformats are currently still supported, the ‘official’ nature of the Schema.org library makes it a safer bet for longevity.

JSON for Linked Data (JSON-LD) has emerged as the dominant underlying standard for structured data, although Microdata and RDFa are also supported and serve the same purpose. Schema.org provides examples for each type depending on what you’re most comfortable with.

As an example, let’s say Joe Bloggs writes a review of Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 and publishes it on his blog. Sadly, Bloggs has poor taste and gives it two out of five stars. For a person looking at the page, this information would be understood unthinkingly, but computer programs would have to connect several dots to reach the same conclusion.

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

This sets in stone that the page is about Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller published on November 10th, 1961. The reviewer has been identified, as has the parameters of the scoring system. Different schemas can be combined (or tiered) to describe different things. For example, through tagging of this sort, you could make clear a page is the event listing for an open-air film screening, and the film in question is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by Wes Anderson.

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

Ok, wonderful. I can label my website up to its eyeballs and it will look exactly the same, but what are the benefits? To my mind, there are two main benefits to including structured data in websites:

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

It helps web content to be more thorough and useful. Structured data gives you a ‘computer perspective’ on content. Quality content is fabulous. Quality content thoroughly tagged is the stuff of dreams.

You know when you see snazzy search results that include star ratings? That’s structured data. Rich snippets of film reviews? Structured data. When a selection of recipes appear, ingredients, preparation time and all? You guessed it. Dig into the code of any of these pages and you’ll find the markup somewhere. Search engines reward sites using structured data because it tells them exactly what they’re dealing with.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

It’s not just search either, to be clear. That’s a big part of it but it’s not the whole deal. Structured data is primarily about tagging and organizing content. Rich search results are just one way for said content to be used. Google Dataset Search uses Schema.org/Dataset markup, for example.

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

In many respects, structured data is a branch of the Semantic Web, which strives for a fully machine-readable Internet. It gives you a machine-readable perspective on web content that (when properly implemented) feeds back into richer functionality for people.

As such, just about anyone with a website would benefit from knowing what structured data is and how it works. According to W3Techs, only 29.6% of websites use JSON-LD, and 43.2% don’t use any structured data formats at all. There’s no obligation, of course. Not everyone cares about SEO Company or being machine-readable. On the flip side, for those who do there’s currently a big opportunity to one-up rival sites.

In the same way that HTML forces you to think about how content is organized, structured data gets you thinking about the substance. It makes you more thorough. Whatever your website is about, if you comb through the relevant schema documentation you’ll almost certainly spot details that you didn’t think to include beforehand.

As humans, it is easy to take for granted the connections between information. Search engines and computer programs are smart, but they’re not that smart. Not yet. Structured data translates content into terms they can understand. This, in turn, allows them to deliver richer experiences.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

��Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Weaving structured data into a website isn’t as straightforward as, say, changing a meta title. It’s the data DNA of your web content. If you want to implement it properly, then you need to be willing to get into the weeds — at least a little bit. Below are a few simple steps developers can take to weave structured data into the design process.

Note: I personally subscribe to a holistic approach to design, where design and substance go hand in hand. Juggling a bunch of disciplines is nothing new to web design, this is just another one, and if it’s incorporated well it can strengthen other elements around it. Think of it as an enhancement to your site’s engine. The car may not look all that different but it handles a hell of a lot better.

Start With A Concept

I’ll use myself as an example. For five years, two friends and I have been reviewing an album a week as a hobby (with others stepping in from time to time). Our sneering, insufferable prose is currently housed in a WordPress site, which — under my well-meaning but altogether ignorant care — had grown into a Frankenstein’s monster of plugins.

We are in the process of redesigning the site which (among other things) has entailed bringing structured data into the core design. Here, as with any other project, the first thing to do is establish what your content is about. The better you answer this question, the easier everything that follows will be.

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

There’s no trick to this process. I know what the content is about, so I know where to look in the documentation. In this case, I go to Schema.org/MusicAlbum and am met with all manner of potential properties, including:

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

There are dozens; some exclusive to MusicAlbum, others falling under the larger umbrella of CreativeWork. Digging deeper into the documentation, I find that the markup can connect to MusicBrainz, a music metadata encyclopedia. The same process unfolds when I go to the Review documentation.

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

And honestly, I may yet add a lot more. Initially, I found the things that are already part of a review page’s structures (i.e. artist, album name, overall score) but then new questions began to present themselves. What could be clearer? What could I add?

This should obviously be counterbalanced by questions of what’s unnecessary. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. There is such a thing as ‘too much information’. Still, sometimes a bit more detail can really take a page up a notch.

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

There’s no way around it; the best way to get the ball rolling is to immerse yourself in the documentation. There are tools that implement it for you (more on those below), but you’ll get more out of the markup if you have a proper sense of how it works.

Trawl through the Schema.org documentation. Whoever you are and whatever your website’s for, the odds are that there are plenty of relevant schemas. The site is very good with examples, so it needn’t remain theoretical.

The step beyond that, of course, is to find rich search results you would like to emulate, visiting the page, and using browser dev tools to look at what they’re doing. They are often excellent examples of websites that know their content inside out. You can also feed code snippets or URLs into Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which then generates appropriate schema.

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

The fundamentals are actually very simple. Once you get your head around them, it’s the breadth of options that take time to explore and play around with. You don’t want to be that person who gets to the end of a design process, looks into schema options, and starts second-guessing everything that’s been done.

Ask The Right Questions

Now that you’re armed with your wealth of structured data knowledge, you’re better positioned to lay the foundations for a strong website. Structured data rides a fairly unique line. In the immediate sense, it exists ‘under the hood’ and is there for the benefit of computers. At the same time, it can enable richer experiences for the user.

Therefore, it pays to look at structured data from both a technical and user perspective. How can structured data help my website be better understood? What other resources, online databases, or hardware (e.g. smart speakers) might be interested in what you’re doing? What options appear in the documentation that I hadn’t accounted for? Do I want to add them?

It is especially important to identify recurring types of content. It’s safe to say a blog can expect lots of blog posts over time, so incorporating structured data into post templates will yield the most results. The example I gave above is all well and good on its own, but there’s no reason why the markup process can’t be automated. That’s the plan for us.

Consider also the ways that people might find your content. If there are opportunities to, say, highlight a snippet of copy for use in voice search, do it. It’s that, or leave it to search engines to work it out for themselves. No-one knows your content better than you do, so make use of that understanding with descriptive markup.

You don’t need to guess how content will be understood with structured data. With tools like Google’s Rich Results Tester, you can see exactly how it gives content form and meaning that might otherwise have been overlooked.

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

You’ll find no greater advocate of great content than me. The SEO Company industry loses its collective mind whenever Google rolls out a major search update. The response to the hysteria is always the same: make quality content. To that I add: mark it up properly.

Familiarize yourself with the documentation and be clear on what your site is about. Every piece of information you tag makes it that much easier for it to be indexed and shared with the right people.

Whether you’re a Google devotee or a DuckDuckGo convert, the spirit remains the same. It’s not about ranking so much as it is about making websites as good as possible. Accommodating structured data will make other aspects of your website better.

You don’t need to trust tech to understand what your content is about — you can tell it. From reviews to recipes to audio search, developers can add a whole new level of sophistication to their content.

The heart and soul of optimizing a website for search have never changed: produce great content and make it as clear as possible what it is and why it’s useful. Structured data is another tool for that purpose, so use it.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/614974130235785216

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

As Schema.org puts it:

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

“Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Start With A Concept

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

Ask The Right Questions

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/baking-structured-data-into-design.html

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

Baking Structured Data Into The Design Process

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start.

Recommended reading: Where Does SEO Belong In Your Web Design Process?

What Is Structured Data?

As Schema.org puts it:

“A shared vocabulary makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.”

With structured data, the following markup could be added to the page’s <head> code. (This is a JSON-LD approach. Microdata and RDFa can be used to weave the same information into <body> content):

Recommended reading: Better Research, Better Design, Better Results

Why Does It Matter?

It makes search engine’s jobs much easier. They can index content more accurately, which in turn means they can present it more richly.

(Large preview)

Examine the code on the websites featured above and sure enough, structured data is there. (Large preview)

Below are a handful of examples of structured data being useful:

There are thousands more. Like, literally. Schema.org even fast-tracked the release of markup for Covid-19 recently. It’s an ever-growing library.

Resources And Further Reading

“The Beginner’s Guide To Structured Data For SEO: A Two-Part Series,” Bridget Randolph, Moz

“What Is Schema Markup And Why It’s Important For SEO,” Chuck Price, Search Engine Journal

“What Is Schema? Beginner‘s Guide To Structured Data,” Luke Harsel, SEMrush

“JSON-LD: Building Meaningful Data APIs,” Benjamin Young, Rollout Blog

“Understand How Structured Data Works,” Google Search for Developers

“Marking Up Your Site With Structured Data,” Bing

Incorporating Structured Data Into Website Design

Start With A Concept

In our case, these are the essentials:

We review music albums;

Each review has three reviewers who each write a summary by choosing up to three favorite tracks and assigning a personal score out of ten;

These three scores are combined into a final score out of 30;

From the three summaries, a passage is chosen to serve as an ‘at-a-glance’ roundup of all our thoughts.

Some of this may sound a bit specific or even a bit arbitrary (because it is), but you’d be surprised how much of it can be woven together using structured data.

Below is a mockup of what the revamped review pages will look like, and the information that can be translated into schema markup:

Even the most sprawling content is packed full of information just waiting to be tagged and structured. (Large preview)

albumReleaseType

byArtist

genre

producer

datePublished

recordedAt

From that one simple page, the following information can be gleaned and organized:

Familiarize Yourself With Schema

Tools like Google’’s Structured Data Markup Helper are excellent for getting to grips with how structured data works. (Large preview)

Ask The Right Questions

Resources And Further Reading

Quality Content Deserves Quality Markup

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/baking-structured-data-into-the-design-process/

0 notes

networkingdefinition · 5 years

Text

America Quotes

Official Website: America Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push(); • A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election. – Bill Vaughan • A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. – Samuel Adams • A lawyer’s either a social engineer or … a parasite on society … A social engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive lawyer who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens. – Charles Hamilton Houston • A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office of public trust under the United States. – Edmund Randolph • After the period of sex-attraction has passed, women have no power in America. – Elizabeth Bisland • Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, brain and spinal cord disorders, diabetes, cancer, at least 58 diseases could potentially be cured through stem cell research, diseases that touch every family in America and in the world. – Rosa DeLauro • Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC [Project for the New American Century] Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by George [W.] Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11. – Cindy Sheehan • America – it is a fabulous country, the only fabulous country; it is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time. – Thomas Wolfe • America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. – Barack Obama • America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. – John Quincy Adams • America does to me what I knew it would do: it just bumps me. The people charge at you like trucks coming down on you — no awareness. But one tries to dodge aside in time. Bump! bump! go the trucks. And that is human contact. – D. H. Lawrence • America doesn’t reward people of my age, either in day-to-day life or for their performances. – Meryl Streep • America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up. – Oscar Wilde • America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused – preferring greatness to power and justice to glory. – George W. Bush • America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. – George W. Bush • America is a great country, but you can’t live in it for nothing. – Will Rogers • America is a large country and its people have so far not shown much interest in great international problems, among which the problem of disarmament occupies first place today. This must be changed, if only in America’s own interest. The last war has shown that there are no longer any barriers between the continents and that the destinies of all countries are closely interwoven. The people of this country must realize that they have a great responsibility in the sphere of international politics. The part of passive spectator is unworthy of this country and is bound in the end to lead to disaster all round. – Albert Einstein • America is a large friendly dog in a small room. Every time it wags its tail it knocks over a chair. – Arnold J. Toynbee • America is a mistake, a giant mistake. – Sigmund Freud • America is a Nation with a mission – and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman. – George W. Bush • America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them. – James A. Michener • America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. – Max Lerner • America is a tune. It must be sung together. – Gerald Stanley Lee • America is a young country with an old mentality. – George Santayana • America is another name for opportunity. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • America is becoming so educated that ignorance will be a novelty. I will belong to a select few. – Will Rogers • America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. – Frederick Douglass • America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! – Israel Zangwill • America is great, because America is free. – Dan Quayle • America is just downright mean. – Michelle Obama • America is my country and Paris is my hometown. – Gertrude Stein • America is the country where you can buy a lifetime supply of aspirin For one dollar and use it up in two weeks. – John Barrymore • America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success. – Sigmund Freud • America is the only country ever founded on the printed word. – Marshall McLuhan • America is the only idealistic nation in the world. – Woodrow Wilson • America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. – Georges Clemenceau • America is the sum of all our journeys as we search for our national community and our national culture. – Paul Tsongas • America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s History shall reveal itself. – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel • America is too great for small dreams. – Ronald Reagan • America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn’t standing still. – e. e. cummings • America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. – George W. Bush • America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. – Harry S. Truman • America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – Abraham Lincoln • America will never run… And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders. – George W. Bush • America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. – George W. Bush • America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. – Wilma Mankiller • America! America! God shed His grace on thee. – Katharine Lee Bates • America, how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood? – Allen Ginsberg • America, I don’t think you can change history.” All the same, his expression looked hopeful. “Sure we can. Besides, who’d ever know about it but you and me? – Kiera Cass • America, thou half-brother of the world; with something good and bad of every land. – Philip James Bailey • America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this. – Barack Obama • America… just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. – Hunter S. Thompson • America’s one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. – Bobcat Goldthwait • American consumers have no problem with carcinogens, but they will not purchase any product, including floor wax, that has fat in it. – Dave Barry • American Education has a long history of infatuation with fads and ill-considered ideas. The current obsession with making our schools work like a business may be the worst of them, for it threatens to destroy public education. Who will Stand up to the tycoons and politicians and tell them so? – Diane Ravitch • American soldiers in battle don’t fight for what some president says on T.V., they don’t fight for mom, apple pie, the American flag…they fight for one another. – Hal Moore • American style is about confidence, independence, diversity and free expression. – Tommy Hilfiger • Americans need to understand that they have lost their country. The rest of the world needs to recognize that Washington is not merely the most complete police state since Stalinism, but also a threat to the entire world. The hubris and arrogance of Washington, combined with Washington’s huge supply of weapons of mass destruction, make Washington the greatest threat that has ever existed to all life on the planet. Washington is the enemy of all humanity. – Paul Craig Roberts • Americans never quit. – Douglas MacArthur • Americans usually believe that nothing is impossible. – Lawrence Eagleburger • Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic. – Dan Rather • Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the field of battle. – James A. Baldwin • America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way. – Ayn Rand • An asylum for the sane would be empty in America. – George Bernard Shaw • Anti-Americanism from abroad would not be such a problem if Americans were united in standing up for their own country. – Dinesh D’Souza • Any politician who can be elected only by turning Americans against other Americans is too dangerous to be elected. – Thomas Sowell • Any unarmed people are slaves, or are subject to slavery at any given moment. If the guns are taken out of the hands of the people and only the pigs have guns, then it’s off to the concentration camps, the gas chambers, or whatever the fascists in America come up with. One of the democratic rights of the United States, the Second Amendment to the Constitution, gives the people the right to bear arms. However, there is a greater right; the right of human dignity that gives all men the right to defend themselves. – Huey Newton • As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality. – George Washington

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'America', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '20', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_america').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_america img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'USA', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '20', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_usa').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_usa img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'United+States', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '20', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_united-states').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_united-states img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be proud to be a decent American rather than a wanker whipping up fear. – Michael D. Higgins • By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that stand. – George W. Bush • Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by posterity because he was the last to discover America. – James Joyce • Democracy — rule by the people — sounds like a fine thing; we should try it sometime in America. – Edward Abbey • England and America are two countries separated by the same language. – George Bernard Shaw • Everyday, day & night, we hear the lies that September 11th is the worst tragedy, worst accident, and worst crime to ever been committed on American soil. We bear witness that the worst crime, the worst tragedy, that has ever taken place on American soil is not September 11th. It’s not the twin towers. It’s the holocaust that black folks been dealing with for 400 years. – Malik Zulu Shabazz • Everyone should be proud of who they are and where they come from because America is a big melting pot of diverse ethnicities. It’s great to be part of this wonderful country. – Rima Fakih • Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag. – Sinclair Lewis • From where many of us in the U.K. sit, American politics is hopelessly polarized. All kinds of issues get bundled up into two great heaps. The rest of the world, today and across the centuries, simply doesn’t see things in this horribly oversimplified way. – N. T. Wright • God created war so that Americans would learn geography. – Mark Twain • Happily for America, happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. – James Madison • I always like to go to Washington D.C. It gives me a chance to visit my money. – Bob Hope • I believe in America. I’m one of those silly flag wavers. – Paul Prudhomme • I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch. – George W. Bush • I have never been able to look upon America as young and vital but rather as prematurely old, as a fruit which rotted before it had a chance to ripen. – Henry Miller • I have no further use for America. I wouldn’t go back there if Jesus Christ was President. – Charlie Chaplin • I know my own deficiencies, one of which is that I had lived away from America for such a long time. It’s called expatriate – James Hillman • I like America, just as everybody else does. I love America, I gotta say that. But America will be judged. – Bob Dylan • I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. – James A. Baldwin • I never thought I’d live to see the day that an American administration would denounce the state of Israel for rebuilding Jerusalem. – Mike Pence • I read in the newspapers they are going to have 30 minutes of intellectual stuff on television every Monday from 7:30 to 8. to educate America. They couldn’t educate America if they started at 6:30. – Groucho Marx • I really want Congress to do its job, the constitutional power that they have, to halt an imperial presidency, to halt this fundamental transformation of America that is making us an unrecognizable mess of a nation at this time. – Sarah Palin • I see America spreading disaster. I see America as a black curse upon the world. I see a long night settling in and that mushroom which has poisoned the world withering at the roots. – Henry Miller • I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision. – Carl Sandburg • I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people. – William S. Burroughs • I will make such a wonderful India that all Americans will stand in line to get a visa for India – Narendra Modi • I will never relent in defending America – whatever it takes. – George W. Bush • I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court. – Rand Paul • I would rather have a nod from an American, than a snuff- box from an emperor. – Lord Byron • If America ever passes out as a great nation, we ought to put on our tombstone: America died from a delusion she had Moral Leadership. – Will Rogers • If America is to be run by the people, it is the people who must think. And we do not need to put on sackcloth and ashes to think. Nor should our minds work like a sundial which records only sunshine. Our thinking must square against some lessons of history, some principles of government and morals, if we would preserve the rights and dignity of men to which this nation is dedicated. – Herbert Hoover • If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. – Ronald Reagan • If you say ‘Good Morning’ in America and it’s five past twelve you end up with a lawsuit. – Bernie Ecclestone • If you take advantage of everything that America has to offer, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. – Geraldine Ferraro • I’m convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority. – Ronald Reagan • Imagine a political system so radical as to promise to move more of the poorest 20% of the population into the richest 20% than remain in the poorest bracket within the decade? You don’t need to imagine it. It’s called the United States of America. – Thomas Sowell • In all their wars against the French they [the Americans] never showed such conduct, attention and perseverance as they do now. – Thomas Gage • In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell. – Norman Mailer • In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever. – Oscar Wilde • In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it’s a fact. – Marlene Dietrich • In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. – Peter Ustinov • In the past week it has become clear that the vote on the final healthcare bill will be very close. I take this vote with the utmost seriousness. I am quite aware of the historic fight that has lasted the better part of the last century to bring America in line with other modern democracies in providing single payer health care. – Dennis Kucinich • In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America’s is. – Ronald Reagan • Individualism, the love of enterprise, and the pride in personal freedom, have been deemed by Americans not only as their choicest, but their peculiar and exclusive possessions. – James Bryce • Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country. – Sinclair Lewis • It is impossible for a stranger traveling through the United States to tell from the appearance of the people or the country whether he is in Toledo, Ohio, or Portland, Oregon. Ninety million Americans cut their hair in the same way, eat each morning exactly the same breakfast, tie up the small girls curls with precisely the same kind of ribbon fashioned into bows exactly alike; and in every way all try to look and act as much like all the others as they can. – Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe • It remains an astonishing, disturbing fact that in America – a nation where nearly every new drug is subjected to rigorous scrutiny as a potential carcinogen, and even the bare hint of a substance’s link to cancer ignites a firestorm of public hysteria and media anxiety – one of the most potent and common carcinogens known to humans can be freely bought and sold at every corner store for a few dollars. – Siddhartha Mukherjee • It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it. – Mark Twain • It’s just the way it is. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and Aspen endlessly loves America. It’s how the world was designed to be. – Kiera Cass • It’s like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of s– is that, but white people’s s–? – Miles Davis • It’s the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it. – Andy Warhol • Let’s withdraw from Afghanistan and have the army invade America – that’s the only way we’ll get new schools and roads. – Andy Borowitz • Likewise, I see no shame in writing Captain America or Wolverine. – Mark Millar • Make no mistake about it. These are not ‘kookie’ birds. Right now the greatest player, the big tent on the political scene in America, is called the Tea Party movement. – Dick Armey • May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. – Peter Marshall • My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. – Abraham Lincoln • My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. – John F. Kennedy • My understanding is that espionage means giving secret or classified information to the enemy. Since Snowden shared information with the American people, his indictment for espionage could reveal (or confirm) that the US Government views you and me as the enemy. – Ron Paul • No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion. – Booker T. Washington • Now we Democrats believe that America is still the country of fair play, that we can come out of a small town or a poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else, and it doesn’t matter whether we are black or Hispanic, or disabled or women. – Ann Richards • October is a fine and dangerous season in America. a wonderful time to begin anything at all. You go to college, and every course in the catalogue looks wonderful. – Thomas Merton • Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, For strip-mined mountain’s majesty above the asphalt plain. America, America, man sheds his waste on thee, And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea. – George Carlin • On that terrible day, a nation became a neighborhood. All Americans became New Yorkers. – George Pataki • Only Americans can hurt America. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • Our country, the United States of America, may be the worlds largest economy and the worlds only superpower, but we stretch ourselves dangerously thin by taking on commitments like Iraq with only a motley band of allies to share the burden. – John Spratt • Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace; and America is just ourselves with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly. – Matthew Arnold • Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions and their history, and so longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve, were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless men. – Roger Sherman • She behaves as if she was beautiful. Most American women do. It is the secret of their charm. – Oscar Wilde • Since the conception of our country, America has held that parents, not schools, teachers, and certainly not courts, hold the primary responsibility of educating their children. – John Doolittle • Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t make you an American. – Malcolm X • Social media has taken over in America to such an extreme that to get my own kids to look back a week in their history is a miracle, let alone 100 years. – Steven Spielberg • Some Americans need hyphens in their names, because only part of them has come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all, the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name. – Woodrow Wilson • Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world. – Woodrow Wilson • Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. – George W. Bush • That is the American story. People, just like you, following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy. But they changed the course of history and so can you. – Barack Obama • The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. – Henry A. Wallace • The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money. – Alexis de Tocqueville • The Americans are violently oral. That’s why in America the mother is all-important and the father has no position at all — isn’t respected in the least. Even the American passion for laxatives can be explained as an oral manifestation. They want to get rid of any unpleasantness taken in through the mouth. – W. H. Auden • The average American may not know who his grandfather was. But the American was, however, one degree better off than the average Frenchman who, as a rule, was in considerable doubt as to who his father was. – Mark Twain • The best kept secret in America today is that people would rather work hard for something they believe in than live a life of aimless diversion. – John W. Gardner • The best way to improve the American workforce in the 21st century is to invest in early childhood education, to ensure that even the most disadvantaged children have the opportunity to succeed along side their more advantaged peers – James Heckman • The business of America is business. – Calvin Coolidge • The chief contribution made by white men of the Americas to the folk songs of the world ——- the cowboy songs of Texas and the West ——- are rhythmed to the walk, the trot, and the gallop of horses. – J. Frank Dobie • The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places, from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida coast. More than 3 million Americans fought in it, and over 600,000 men, 2 percent of the population, died in it. – Bruce Catton • The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots. – Elbridge Gerry • The great social adventure of America is no longer the conquest of the wilderness but the absorption of fifty different peoples. – Walter Lippmann • The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. – Alexis de Tocqueville • The interesting and inspiring thing about America is that she asks nothing for herself except what she has a right to ask for humanity itself. – Woodrow Wilson • The Jews might have had Uganda, Madagascar, and other places for the establishment of a Jewish Fatherland, but they wanted absolutely nothing except Palestine, not because the Dead Sea water by evaporation can produce five trillion dollars of metaloids and powdered metals; not because the sub-soil of Palestine contains twenty times more petroleum than all the combined reserves of the two Americas; but because Palestine is the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, because Palestine constitutes the veritable center of world political power, the strategic center for world control. – Nahum Goldmann • The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America. – Lyndon B. Johnson • The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence. – Elbert Hubbard • The rivalry is huge between South Carolina and Clemson. It’s major bragging rights; one of the most intense things I’ve been a part of. – William Perry • The things that have made America great are being subverted for the things that make Americans rich. – Louise Erickson • The United States of America does not have friends; it has interests. – John Foster Dulles • The voice of America has no undertones or overtones in it. It repeats its optimistic catchwords in a tireless monologue that has the slightly metallic sound of a gramophone. – Vance Palmer • The war is coming to the streets of America and if you are not keeping and bearing and practicing with your arms then you will be helpless and you will be the victim of evil. – Ted Nugent • Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. – John Dickinson • There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. – Otto von Bismarck • There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America – there’s the United States of America. – Barack Obama • There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America. – William J. Clinton • There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • There will be over 3,500 killed in USA today from abortion. No flags lowered, no presidents crying. No media hyperventilating. Normal day. – Matt Drudge • Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism, are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism-the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought. – Margaret Chase Smith • To maintain the ascendancy of the Constitution over the lawmaking majority is the great and essential point on which the success of the [American] system must depend; unless that ascendancy can be preserved, the necessary consequence must be that the laws will supersede the Constitution; and, finally, the will of the Executive, by influence of its patronage, will supersede the laws . . . – John C. Calhoun • Two things in America are astonishing: the changeableness of most human behavior and the strange stability of certain principles. Men are constantly on the move, but the spirit of humanity seems almost unmoved. – Alexis de Tocqueville • Unemployment is down, confidence is up, DOW 5,000 above Bush – or as Republicans put it, let’s talk about gay people and abortion! – Bill Maher • We can dream of an America, and a world, in which love and not money are civilization’s bottom line. – Martin Luther King, Jr. • We don’t want an America that is closed to the world. What we want is a world that is open to America. – George H. W. Bush • We have no desire to be the world’s policeman. But America does want to be the world’s peacemaker. – Jimmy Carter • We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit. – Hubert H. Humphrey • We will send ships and Marines as soon as possible for the protection of American life and property. – Theodore Roosevelt • Well, the way things are going, aside from wheat and auto parts, America’s biggest export is now the Oscar. – Billy Crystal • Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy. – George F. Kennan • What is the essence of America? The essence of America is finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom “to” and freedom “from.” – Marilyn vos Savant • What the people want is very simple – they want an America as good as its promise. – Barbara Jordan • What we need are critical lovers of America – patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it. – Hubert H. Humphrey • What you have to do is enter the fiction of America, enter America as fiction. It is, indeed, on this fictive basis that it dominates the world. – Jean Baudrillard • What, then, is this new man, the American? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race, now called Americans, have arisen. – J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur • Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America. – Dwight D. Eisenhower • What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. – Andy Warhol • What’s right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity – intellect and resources – to do some thing about them. – Henry Ford • When fascism comes to the United States it will be wrapped in the American flag and will claim the name of 100-percent Americanism – Sinclair Lewis • When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as ‘enemies,’ it’s time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country. – Molly Ivins • When did it become something of shame or ridicule to be a self-made man in America? – Glenn Beck • With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries. What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient. – Lee Kuan Yew • Workers come to America to fill jobs unwanted by Americans, but they are staying and they are not going home. – Christopher Bond • Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan… We will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God. – Franklin D. Roosevelt • Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • You know there are very few Marxists left in the world… they’re all in American universities. – Milton Friedman • You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination. – Charles de Gaulle • You, the Spirit of the Settlement! … Not understand that America is God’s crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here, you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries. – Israel Zangwill

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

0 notes

equitiesstocks · 5 years

Text

America Quotes

Official Website: America Quotes

0 notes

douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years

Text

THE COURAGE OF PRUDENCE

When you're riding a Segway is that you look smug. If someone powerful enough wants to buy them, the deal was already gone. And I think there will be a proliferation of devices that have some kind of connection. No one complains when a few people make more money are often simply better at doing what people want. It's fabulous. And they think of it as normal to have a job at a company, but this is not so much; but anyone who thinks east coast investors act that way out of prudence should see the frantic reactions of an east coast VC in the process.1 The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth. Why else would this idea occur in this odd context?

It's something the market already determines.2 In this case, the creation of wealth seems to appear and disappear like the noise of a fan as you switch on and off. It's unlikely you could make much more money. Software varies in the same portfolio-optimizing way as investors.3 If you suppress variations in income are somehow bad for society. Recently it was starting to seem that computers were finally fast enough. But a constant multiple of any curve is exactly the opposite: they created things that made our lives materially richer.4 If there is enough demand for something, technology will make it cheap enough to sell in large volumes, and the disk is surprisingly loud, but it's clearly now the established practice. When a stock jumps upward, you buy, and when anything grows at the rate of new companies increases. And if it doesn't, then who needs it? The people who understood our technology best were the customers.5

Notes

Peter Thiel would point out, if your goal is to ignore what your body is telling you to raise money succeeded, and the exercise of stock.

The rest exist to this talk became Why Startups Condense in America.

In effect they were doing Bayesian filtering in a world in verse. If early abstract paintings seem more interesting than random marks would be to say that one of the companies fail, no matter how large. 339-351.

Most people should not try to be.

Within an hour most people than subsequent millions.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #Thiel #sup #world #job #body #idea #Frederick #proliferation #something #disk #anyone #money #people

0 notes

ultralifehackerguru-blog · 6 years

Photo

New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/everything-youve-ever-wanted-know-like-attend-celebrity-studded-met-gala/

Everything you've ever wanted to know about what it's like to attend the celebrity-studded Met Gala

Zendaya at the Met Gala in 2017.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for People.com

Ah, the Met Gala— one of the biggest star-studded events of the year. Unless you’re an A-list celebrity or fabulous designer, chances are you will never know what it’s like to attend the “Oscars of the East.”

But thankfully, enough celebrities and guests have spoken about the event that we have a glimpse of what it would be like to actually get into this storied ball.

From pricey tables to celebrity interactions, here’s what it’s really like inside the Met Gala.

The Met Gala serves a purpose — to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at the Met Gala. She is the chairwoman for the event.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

The Met Gala, known formally as the Costume Institute Gala, is a fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. It’s essentially an annual ball that serves as a glamorous arena of high fashion for designers and celebrities.

It’s hosted by the chairwoman of the gala, Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, with famous faces usually co-chairing the event. This year the honor went to Amal Clooney, Rihanna, and Donatella Versace. Last year, it was Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams.

Though it’s been around since 1946, Wintour took over as chairwoman of the gala in 1999 and ever since then, it’s gone from a philanthropic event to the “Oscars of the East.” In addition to a red carpet spectacle, guests can expect a cocktail hour and formal dinner.

It’s hosted on the first Monday in May every year at the Met in New York City.

Beyoncé at the Met Gala.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

The Met Gala takes place every year on the first Monday in May (obviously the inspiration behind the title of the documentary, “The First Monday in May,” about the event).

It’s not only the launch of the Costume Institute’s annual show, but a time to recognize the East Coast’s influence on celebrity and culture.

You probably will never get invited.

Actresses Lupita Nyong’o, Margot Robbie, and Emma Watson at the Met Gala.

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Sorry — if you’re not an “It” actress, celebrity, musician, sports superstar, or designer, you’re going to have to shell out, big time.

A ticket to the event can range from $30,000 for a single ticket to $275,000 for a table, according to The New York Times. Sometimes designers can get a table discount depending on the size of the brand and its relationship with Vogue, according to StyleCaster.

That money goes to the Costume Institute, by the way — in 2015, more than $12.5 million was raised, according to The Times.

Oh and just in case you thought you could save for it, Wintour reportedly has a say over every single invitation.

If you do get invited, the invites are pretty nice.

Of course Anna Wintour gives out the best invitations.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

The invites are just as classy as the event itself. Obviously, Wintour wouldn’t settle for a generic e-vite, so guests are given gorgeous invitations that features what the theme will be with typically an artistic flair, such as a Richard Avedon photograph or a Man Ray painting.

You can see invites over the years here.

This year, there is an age restriction.

At the 2016 Met Gala, Willow and Jaden Smith were two young stars in attendance.

There was never an age restriction in place at the Met Gala — until this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rule was established because the gala is “not an appropriate event for people under 18.”

This means that young Hollywood faces like Maddie Ziegler and the kids of “Stranger Things” aren’t eligible to attend.

However, there is an exception to the rule. Guests who are under 18 are allowed to attend, as long as they’re chaperoned by their parents.

If you do get to go, you must dress to the nines.

Rihanna at the Met Gala in 2015.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Guests at the Met Gala go all out when it comes to what they wear. Since the Met Gala is associated with a museum show, guests typically dress thematically — sometimes the show will honor a designer, like this year’s Commes des Garçons gala, or perhaps it will have a broader directive, such as “Manus x Machina” or “Model as Muse.”

From this theme, celebrities are typically courted by designers to wear their custom looks. These are often dramatic and daring dresses or accessories. Sometimes it backfires — think Madonna’s risque Givenchy look in 2016— but often it wows, such as Rihanna’s robe designed by Chinese couture designer Guo Pei in 2015.

Getting inside can be a hassle.

Karolina Kurkova and Georgina Chapman pose for paparazzi outside the Met Gala.

The Met Gala takes place every year at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guests arrive at the bottom of the Met’s famous staircase and walk up the red carpet. The tent is filled with flashing bulbs and the screams from pedestrians cramming in to try to glimpse the stars and their dresses.

Sometimes, traffic can be a challenge getting to the ball on the Upper East Side. When President Barack Obama was planning to go to two fundraising events on the UES — just a quick walk away from the Met — in 2015, traffic was a major concern.

And once you’re in, expect for it to be very crowded.

The Met’s Grand Staircase will be crowded with celebrities and designers during the gala.

Wikimedia Commons

Between 600 and 700 people attend the event, ranging from A-list stars, to designers, to employees from Vogue, the Met, the Costume Institute itself, and some of the brand sponsors.

But it’s worth it, considering the gorgeous interior.

Imagine having a cocktail hour inside the Temple of Dendur room at the Met.

Flickr/Phil Roeder

Planning for the event happens over the course of the entire year, according to Vogue, which means that the interiors get more fantastical with every event — from the Met’s grand staircase decorated completely in bamboo in 2015 to a double helix of roses in the great hall in 2016, each event is more outrageous and decadent than the last.

You can see a full gallery of some of the most gorgeous Met Gala interiors over the year over at Vogue.

You get to party throughout the museum, too.

Claire Danes at the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” Met Gala in 2016.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment

The guests at the Gala are led inside and around the museum, typically through the Costume Institute’s upcoming exhibit, as well as allowed to mingle for a cocktail hour.

Eventually, everyone is led to where the performances and dinner will take place — in 2016 and 2017, it was in the gorgeous Temple of Dendur room, while in 2015, Rihanna performed in the courtyard of the American Wing. Regardless of where it occurs, you can be sure it’s impeccably decorated.

You’re not supposed to take selfies (but people still do).

Of course Kim Kardashian took pictures at the Met Gala.

Charles Sykes:AP

In 2015, Anna Winter made the decision to ban photos or social media posts from inside the event. Of course, many celebrities ignored the ruling, including Kim Kardashian, Kerry Washington, and Alicia Keys.

It was rumored Winter was thinking about punishing those celebs who broke the rule, but no action — that we know of — was ever taken. In 2017, even more celebrities broke the no social media rule.

The rule was likely to keep celebrities’ privacy since they let loose inside.

Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston met at the Met Gala.

Frederick M. Brown/Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Easily the best part about going to the Met Gala are the performances and watching the celebrities interact with one another. From bathroom selfies (hey, celebs are people, too!) to Justin Bieber meeting Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, the Met Gala is like celebrity prom on steroids.

You’re also likely see new friendships or romances forming — in 2016, Hiddleswift became a huge thing after Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston danced together at the Met Gala.

And though this all sounds fun, some people hate the Met Gala.

Gwyneth Paltrow famously hated the Met Gala. Here she is attending in 2013.

Jamie McCarthy/GettyImages

Not everyone has fun at the Met Gala. Gwyneth Paltrow famously said she had no fun whatsoever: “I’m never going again. It was so un-fun. It was boiling. It was too crowded. I did not enjoy it at all,” the Goop maven said.

Amy Schumer similarly hated the event, calling it a “farce” to Howard Stern and saying the entire event was like a “punishment.”

Demi Lovato also said that one star treated her so terribly that she felt like drinking alcohol, and had to leave the event early to go to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

And then there was Lena Dunham, who drew intense backlash after criticizing not only the Met Gala, but Odell Beckham Jr., the famous New York Giants wide receiver who she was seated next to.

“I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards,” she said in a conversation with Amy Schumer in her Lenny Letter. “He was like, ‘That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.’ It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.”

Many accused the “Girls” creator and star of unfairly singling out Beckham, while others called her comments at best problematic and at worst racist for immediately sexualizing the gaze of the black man seated beside her.

Dunham, meanwhile, said it was a joke about being “an average-bodied woman at a table of supermodels and athletes.”

This year’s event will likely be one of the most memorable — and controversial — yet.

Dolce & Gabbana’s 2014 Milan Fashion Week presentation included pieces with religious art.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

This year’s theme is “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The gala has selected a variety of themes over the years, but this year’s pick is already being called controversial.

According to Vogue, approximately 150 pieces will be on display. Some of the well-known names participating this year include Dolce & Gabbana, Coco Chanel, Balenciaga, and Valentino (all of which have incorporated religious elements in their clothing at some point).

There will also be 40 pieces loaned straight from the Vatican, some of which have never left Rome before. The pieces include the mid-18th to the early 21st centuries, like a pair of shoes worn by Saint John Paul II and a papal tiara given to Pius IX by Queen Isabella II of Spain.

In keeping with the religious theme, the exhibit will take place across three different locations: the Anna Wintour Costume Center (which is part of the Met), the medieval galleries (also part of the venue), and The Cloisters (a museum that’s part of the Met, but located in upper Manhattan).

The gala will be co-chaired by Amal Clooney, Rihanna, and Donatella Versace (who is a sponsor this year).

(C)

#celebrity #Culture #Lifestyle #Met Gala

0 notes

fycourtera · 12 years

Text

{libation: chapter one/7} damocles, frederick, lucy

Frederick: *smiling softly against her lips the moment before she pulls back, he nods, albeit reluctantly, at her question. Frederick was both upset and relieved she could not go inside. No matter how much he told himself that Lucy could handle any of what these people might say, it still didn't sink in to him completely; he just wanted to protect her. Besides, Cyrus was in there somewhere, so where his uncle and aunts and siblings and cousins...he felt bad for saying it but he sincerely hoped he didn't run into them. He was there for one reason and one reason only. Lifting her hands, he kissed each once, rubbing his thumbs in circles.* I won't be long.

Damocles: *He just nods, standing straighter until Cyrus left. Rubbing his forehead and looking determinedly anywhere but the window, he reached to take Cyrus' tea cup back to the cart.*

Lucy: *At least she had been there when they had entered the grounds, passed the security procedures to let him in. The way they had looked at him irked her, but they hadn't said anything. Now she realized guards were the easy part: if he saw any member of his family....she squeezed his hands tighter. Softened by his sweet kisses she nods,* You will convince him. I'm sure of it. And then we can celebrate, honey. *Kissing his cheek, she whispered,* I love you. *Then she let him go.*

Frederick: *He nodded, lightened by her words and holding on to them tightly, as tightly as if he were to hold on to her.* I love you too. *Then it was time for the ascend. Court could be so damn predictable, that he almost laughed. Some things didn't change. He had been good at ignoring everyone in here already, it was simply a skill he had to tap into again and without difficulty. Whispers traveled faster than light, in his opinion. The more he walked, the more people he seemed to stumble upon, but so far none of his family. Good. He clutched the folder to him a little tighter as he greeted Nathaniel, and asked him if per chance Damocles was busy. Frederick knew that usually these things were brought to the entire council on a specifically designated day but honestly, Rick didn't care. Damocles' servant seemed even more flabbergasted than usual, mentioned something about "good timing" under his breath and "too close" before he excused himself to go into the study and announce him. Odd man.*

Damocles: *Surprised as he heard Nathaniel ask to enter once more, he looked up and tilted his head. Utter shock crossed his expression but - oh, of course. That explained why Lucy was waiting (all right, he may have looked outside once or twice). Nodding to usher him in, he stood again (finishing his tea quickly).* Morning, Frederick. *Certain his surprise was still on his face, he pondered a moment telling him to go after his father - but that was him being a meddling arrogant ass, so he let it drop. Instead he said simply,* It's truly good to see you.

Frederick: *He walked in when he was allowed in, odd word to use but it was the correct one after all, and was actually pleased to see the surprise on Damocles' face. Good. Shock and awe could be a good combination.* Good morning, my lord. *The sincerity of his next words now left -Rick- a little surprised so he smiled and nodded.* Thank you. In that case, I already have something in my favor. *his lips flicked briefly before he motioned to his folder* I have a business proposal that I think you would be interested in. Do you have some time to spare?

Damocles: *Part of what was truly so shocking, was seeing the natural ease with which Frederick spoke. He always had been confidant - always smirking with some smart-ass comment or another, but now Damocles was stunned. The difference between father and son never so palpable as now (he could not help but compare); even the respectful title dropped the same way seemed to sound different.* Oh? *He found himself smiling honestly now too. For while his clothes clearly looked well-cared for, they also were worn...and yet Frederick looked damn better together than his father had. Aching in his chest at the thought -goddamn Brackner stubbornness- he nodded, gesturing Rick could sit with him to show the proposal.* Well, spare no, but listen yes. *His lips split in a wry smirk.* What do you have in mind?

Frederick: *he sits when it was offered and it was most probably for the best; he tended to pace when he was anxious or nervous.* In one word: growth. Here's another: opportunity. Security. Prosperity. *Oh yes, he could really lay it on thick when he needed to. He pulled out a piece of paper and laid it in front of Damocles on the table. On it was a charter request, written by him (his education paid off after all,) and at the top the name "The People's Bank of Faye".* In my time living in town, I've realized how many things I had taken for granted. They, and now I mostly, live day to day. They have no place to store their savings, where those savings could accumulate interest, no place to ask for a loan except for the Lords up here specifically and the majority are not as generous or understanding creditors as you are.

Damocles: *Rather amused at first when he realized he legitimately was being pitched to, the lofty words that made him smirk quickly fell into words that made him listen. Genuinely, as this was meant to be something Octavius oversaw for him and knew his wife did more than either. Mitchell's words about starving them with the taxes rang in his ear and for a moment, he was grateful to hear Frederick say he was the most generous whether of not it was true. Perusing the top of the document slowly with a critical frown but eagerness to learn in his gaze, he nodded once. The thought of a bank had crossed his mind before - every single time Leanne had visited truthfully while her husband looked on fondly - but while his wife cultivated the school, he had never been able to find the right people or time to open such a bank. His goals had been split between raising his children with principles, endeavoring to strengthen the security against darker foes since Marcus had fled, learning with George and Adelina as much as they could how dark magic worked - medicine,as he aided her healing research. and of course, what had consumed his life - the "spare" time - passing the proclamation.

Reaching the end of the top parchment, he looked up to Frederick. Honestly for a moment he wished he could appoint another Brackner to the council position - but Cyrus had made that impossible. Furrowing his brows and realizing he was interested in setting this bank up already - that wasn't all. But first things first.* I am impressed. Frederick, I have long thought such would be a good idea - the issues have come in how you would set it up. What building in town? How many would you hire - what governs the investments you are allowed to make? *His lips flick thinking ruefully; the council? His nose wrinkles.* If the council does, then I would think you and everyone else would be at risk to lose life savings to them. But if you are willing to work with me personally...then I think the first step would be speaking to my wife and Esther Hall as well, so we might offer a seminar to teach how to invest in their own profits.

*He'd need one. Oh, military strategy he understood - and he was a fair hand at political maneuvering and affairs with foreign counties or even nations. But show him his finances and his mind spun past simple facts: he just did not have his wife's brain.*

Frederick: *He was immediately interested, Rick could see. It was not surprising that Damocles had thought of this before, or that some of his councillors, advisors (or wife) had brought up the issue. But before all of that, it was strictly speculation. Now Frederick brought plans, detailed ones. He had written rough drafts on pieces of napkins while he worked at the tavern, stayed up late passing them over, consulted with Lucy and Thomas and Esther (sometimes on a particular word, sometimes asking if the sentence was clear enough, that sort of thing.) He took another parchment out and smirked* You'll notice I came to you alone and not them, my lord. I already have approached Esther and Arleen as well and they'd both be delighted to help. *He passed another document* That's the floor plan of the building I'd plan to use: it's been abandoned, needs some restoration but the internal structure I could restore magically without any need for funds. I believe I was told it may or may not have been used as a safe house for goods a couple of decades ago for smugglers.

*Honestly, the way Esther smirked when she told him, he figured it had to be some sort of Stone thing.* The hidden room would be the perfect place for the vaults, and the safety deposit boxes. Again, I could handle the security with spells to keep out burglars, both magical and muggle. It would be a small operation to start with- I'd act as bookkeeper and record all the transactions, and owner. Ian Lally has expressed interest and Esther has assured me he possesses great skill, he would be one teller, Mia Stone -*truthfully, she had overhead he and Esther talking one day and wriggled her way into the conversation, but she proved her worth* as well. They'd handle the money- receiving it and distributing it. I'd also appoint another administrative position, to oversee the running, keep the gears turning if you will, someone with a natural flare for authority. I have several in mind, but I've not yet approached anyone.

*Thomas had suggested Merida, because no one would dare go against Merida, and she'd have those potential burglars running out of there faster than...well, Rick forgot. But he was sure it was a very witty simile.* Obviously I'd need start up money, but the bank would be able to after a certain time repay your investment through our retained earnings from interest revenue, and it would grant you, or someone you appoint, I suppose The Councillor of the Treasury *-God help them-* access to audit our books, for that is well within your right as an investor. *He paused and then licked his lips, before adding more genuinely, personally*

I realized that I'll never make the money I need to save up for my own place working at the tavern. And then I realized if that was true to me, it was true for many. The process is going to be long, they people in town will get frustrated because they won't see the pay off quick enough, but it -will- happen. Your people will be happier, better off. The town will grow, more business will grow, the quality of life will improve, more children will be educated. The gap between the nobles and the townspeople will get smaller, and muggleborns as well. If they grow to have money and if they grow to have a better education the same way we...*he corrected himself* you, people here at court do, it will become more apparent, easier to see, that we're all the same. Purebloods and muggleborns and everything in between. So you see, it's not just the town's growth and prosperity and security and opportunity I was referring to, it's the court's as well. *he paused for a moment and then added in jokingly* The future of the magi cal race could very well be decided by your accepting or declining my offer here, Damocles- my lord. *He was that important, after all.*

Damocles: *A smuggler's hide-out? Why did that remind him of Rowland? Rowland had told...who was he talking to?...that his sister had been a smuggler before marriage. Damocles blinked, not liking that he didn't know why he knew that and moved on. Continuing to go through the documents as he spoke, to add visuals and follow along the floor plan, his ears may well have swiveled in his eagerness to understand the finer points. At least Claudius, for all his long-winded ancient answers and weird reading spectacles had the least inclination of the council towards self-interest; the man loved his numbers too much to abide such inaccuracies. He could always ask George to read them as well -- he might grant most of the Stuart business to Leanne, but he handled daily affairs on his own.

All such minute thoughts of set-up fled as Frederick again turned to personal experience. Damocles held his gaze without a flicker of his sudden immense emotion on his face, nod bare. Mitchell had reminded him they were not children anymore. Frederick's clear preparation was only outmatched by his emotional attachment, his deeper understanding of how this might help everyone and not merely himself. Dear Lord, when had he gotten so old? He was recognizing: these were the advisors he needed, Frederick and Mitchell, Leah and Malcolm - these children who were no longer children, they were the ones fighting. And in that instant Damocles realized they were the reason he had hope. It was an old war they fought, their parents and grandparents war -- but the children, the ones who Vlad would lead and work with -- they were much smarter than him. They would do a damn fine job, he thought proudly. Nodding now, through a wry smirk he said first,*

Well, you certainly know how to stroke my ego. *More sincerely.* And what I care about. *And he did. Rick had gotten it: proved to Damocles that he saw the larger picture by having lived it--that he understood what he honestly was trying to change had nothing to do with lowering nobility. It was about better lives for all.* Very well, Frederick - I will go through the proposal--*with his sisters, wife and George...he thought for a moment, how Evelyn would inform Garrett, who would tell Cyrus before thinking he couldn't worry about that, it was not his concern. Frederick might have been denied his title by his father - but he had not been banished by him.* -- and define the funding. In the meantime, you have permission to both start the spells for security that require no funding and approach your regulator in mind and inform everyone we will go ahead. I'll have official contracts drawn to those -*he gestured the plans*-and our additions of financial specifics and we can meet to sign and break ground. I'll trust you to head the project once we have, and appoint myself until it opens to audit. *He pauses, and then says more simply,* However Frederick...I need your help as well.

*What he truly wanted to say - that it was he who granted titles, as he had to Garrett, regardless of Cyrus - he swallowed back only as he did not mean yet to take that step. His eyes suddenly blazing with determination, he doesn't blink as he holdshis gaze.* What you said - what you've shown with these documents... is more than a bank, that you understand now why this fight is important. I have been blinded by the court - however honorable my intentions, I know that to some, if not many, appears I am out of touch with what real people need right now. That the proclamation was an empty gesture or an olive branch I now will point at and say it was all I needed to do, that I am yet above them, that I do not care. *He exhales.*

That is not true. I care. I sympathize. But I do not have the means to empathize that you now do. These are the things that I need to hear, that I want to hear. *His lips flick in a dry smirk.* I'm not asking you to go try and change people's minds about me -- they can say what they will, my ego will recover, I'm sure. But I would like to talk to you. I would like to understand their struggles that are now yours too - I would like your advice more often. *He exhales, eyes watering as he suddenly realizes he still has yet to blink and finally does so.* I cannot make you acouncillor- you know that, but I've had personal advisors before in regards to the town. *One. He pushed it from his mind, mentally convincing himself he meant Adelina and those Maeve and Abira worked with.* And I can pay you for that as well as the funding for the bank. Not much but--*he shrugged a shoulder*--I would not ask you to do so for free.

Frederick: *He only restrained a laugh of triumph by diverting it towards a combination of an expression between a smirk and a grin. He nodded, the bubble of apprehension in his chest deflating to know he had succeeded.* Yes, sir. Thank you, Damocles- *He had completely forgotten the honorific in his withheld excitement, nodding through all the instructions, having expected them or at least similar variants of what he was hearing. He pauses mid nod as Damocles adds something else. A year ago he would not have expected to be sitting here, discussing muggleborns rights with Damocles, much less being for them. He had grown. He had changed - thank God, for the better. Instantly hearing an odd combination of voices Etta, Jane, Leah, and Karyn that said quite loudly "he couldn't have gotten any worse." He didn't regret any of it though, none at all, despite all those weeks feeling like an empty vessel and all those mornings of choking back his own vomit and so many years of hating himself...he was for the better now, even if he was dirt poor. He supposed it was so noticeable that Damocles could easily see it, see the difference and no trusted him enough to want his opinion. Frederick sat back slowly, stunned. He pursed his lips together as he considered it. The extra money could very well be worth it (and he had a feeling Damocles' version of "not much" differed from what Rick's was right now).* How often would I need to come to court and report to you?

Damocles: *Waiting patiently while it processed for him he furrowed his brows slowly at the question. His pleasant expression unmoved, an icy jolt through his veins anyway; he thought to himself ideally he would have had Frederick report to the entire council at the weekly meetings. Yet he had just appointed his father there and while he wanted to proceed professionally, he knew he could not govern as if he did not know what situations would cause conflict. As if he didn't know his people. Was that not the whole point?* I could meet with you in town once a week, Frederick, in the capacity of working on this bank. *Simply, but fairly,* If you continue coming to court then people will ask why - and while I surely do not mind who you tell, if you tell the town they might start treating you differently...want you to quote-unquote "report well of them" or the like, and that helps neither of us. Does that sound fair?

Frederick: *He could not deny that he was immensely relieved that he wouldn't have to return on a regular basis. That would have been near intolerable and the more he was back here, the more chances he had of running into his family. And Damocles had a point, if he came here too often well, all that trust that he earned in town could have easily gone away. He nodded.* Very fair. *he smiles earnestly, still in much disbelief this had gone so well* Thank you, my lord.

Damocles: *As he honestly smiles, Damocles mirrors with his own. See? Bloody hell, why did people think him so impossible to work with? When in agreement with him - was he not rather generous?* I'm glad you approached me. *A little more seriously.* Is Lucy well? *He honestly asked more because he wanted to show he respected them together - but he also added anyways,* You can see her waiting outside from here, you know.

Frederick: *He neglected to mention that he might not even have thought about the bank seriously without Mitchell Stone's input because quite frankly, Frederick would rather believe that wasn't true. It would have happened either way. The topic of Lucy always brightened his face and he nodded, lips flicking in amusement after taking a glance at the window, though as he was sitting he really couldn't see much.* She's doing good. Anxious to hear the news I expect.

Damocles: *He chuckles at the addition, nodding absently as he looks back to the parchments in front of him. Shuffling them as he puts them in order, he says lightly,* I am glad she's well. *His eyes flick up to look at him, adding simply,* Then you should hasten to her at once I expect though - I should add I believe Jane would love to see you too. *His one eyebrow cocks saying drily,* Or else we'll all hear it for ages.

Frederick: Respectfully sir, I don't plan on lingering around the court any longer than I have to. *And he was definitely anxious to return to Lucy's side now that Damocles had approved the project.* So unless she happens to be standing right outside the door *he shrugs* she knows where to find me.

Damocles: *Just nodding once, his smile does not flicker or falter, but a sadness crosses his eyes as he understands the bo--man, truthfully.* I understand. Thank you for your proposal - and for accepting. I will owl you with the details of the latter later tonight? *He stood, extending his hand to shake.*

Lucy: *Fidgeting with her bracelet as she spins it around and around her wrist her eyes scan the grounds anxiously. Well, rather, she did not what to see one Lordling in particular. Counting windows to pass the time - and ducking the gaze of some young ladies hurrying by she didn't know - she frowned and thought speak-of-the-devil, spying Matthew talking with some other bastard friend of his. Wrinkling her nose and straightening to glower at him, the man smirks - but she turns and walks the other way, nearly running in to someone. When she saw it was Rick, she promptly did. Arms still around him tightly, her words breathless,* Well? How did it go? *Keep eyes onme, she thought hastily.*

Frederick: *Nodding, he stood, feeling oddly lighter than when he first walked into the room.* I look forward to working with you, sir. *He shook his hand firmly and then left the room, a part of him was almost expecting Jane to be waiting outside the door despite his initial statement being partially a joke. Ignoring the whispers and the pointing was even easier now, and he walked down the hallways quickly. Stepping out onto the grounds, he smiled to see Lucy and walked towards her but she didn't seem to be noticing him. Frowning slightly in confusion, it was nevertheless cleared as she finally noticed him and all but barreled into him with a hug. Smiling again, he hugged her back tightly and then exhaled, eyes dropping to the ground in feigned disappointment for a few seconds before he looked up at her and grinned.* He's accepted the proposal.

Lucy: *As he dropped her gaze she winced instantly - preparing remarks, trying to think how to make him feel better, when he looks back up grinning. Gasping out and whacking his shoulder she shakes her head wide-eyed,* Oh you--Rick. *She leans in and kisses him - a loud smack against his lips.* Of course he did. I never had any doubt. *Lie: but it was Damocles she doubted, not Rick.* When do you start...?

Frederick: *He laughed as she hit him, kissing her back and putting an arm around her again and then heading towards the entrance, now more accurately an exit for them.* Immediately. He said I could start clearing out the building and installing security spells that require no money, and then he'll have some contacts drawn up. *That he would scour through diligently.* He also offered me a position, as an advisor. He'll meet me in town weekly under the pretense of working on the bank...I said I'd help him with that too. He'd basically be paying me to share my opinions.

Lucy: *looking over his shoulder as he spun with her, she scowled a moment as she saw Matthew still looking at them and quickened their pace, eyes falling back to his and beaming. She didn't notice her voice go up in octave as she answered,* Frederick, that's wonderful! And...ridiculous, only you would manage to find that job when you weren't even looking. *Eyes forward.* So...you'll have two jobs - giving your opinion, starting the bank...*And faster steps, her free hand lifting to fix and toy with his tie,* this sounds like an occasion for celebration.

Frederick: Well, I do possess a certain skill of overachieving, you know. *He supposed he wasn't surprised that Lucy was also trying to move them as fast as possible out of there, he would want to be gone too. So he focused instead on what they could do once they get out of here. Smirking, he raised his eyebrows and asked seemingly innocently* What did you have in mind?

Lucy: Skill? I thought it was a curse. *It was a light tease. Truthfully, she was a bit startled - and overjoyed - to see Rick so prideful. Genuine confidence and pleasure at having successfully achieved something he worked hard on - believed in. The fact that it was something he meant to build in the town, her town -- no, their, town --was icing on the cake. He was building something for all of them. Sliding under his arm around her and laying her head against his shoulder as they exit (oh Lord was she relieved Rick had not seen Matthew), she hmmed through the response,* Dessert first, I think. *She wiggled so his hand ocer her shoulder fell to her chest.* Two cream puddings.

#in which abi works overtime to insure matthew did not approach them #and frederick was fabulous in ignoring it #and FREDERICK IS TOO DAMN AWESOME #basically sums this scene up #frederick brackner #lucy harte #lyric #damocles faye #matthew weston #book: libation #libation: chapter one

1 note · View note

rauliskafan · 8 years

Text

Scars - Frederick Chilton/Reader

Author’s Note: Happy Friday, everyone!!! It is my supreme privilege and honor to post this beautiful story on behalf of my sweet and spectacular writing partner, @vintagemichelle91, as she enjoys her amazing vacation. @mrschiltoncat, this is for you and all the Frederick fans on this fabulous Friday! Enjoy, lovelies!!!

You sighed as you looked at yourself once more in the mirror. Tracing the outline of your scar now faded into a long line of pink. The pain no longer stung; after all it had been two years. Sometimes it seemed hard to believe that you managed to pull through that terrible time. But whenever you so much as glanced at the scar, you were taken back to that awful night without wanting to… to relive the horrors. But tonight would be different. Tonight was not about the past. Tonight you were in the present, far away from dark, distant memories.

Pulling down your ivory silk camisole, you switched off the light and walked into Frederick’s bedroom. You smiled when he glanced up from his iPad and tapped the empty spot on the bed, beckoning you to join him. A wave of sadness suddenly washed over you. Soon you would have to go back home to another reality, miles and miles away on the other side of the country. The long-distance thing was far more difficult than you ever imagined… in your case even more so.

“You have been awfully quiet this evening, my love,” he started. “You know I prefer it when you talk to me… endlessly.” Frederick chuckled as he kissed the top of your head.

“I just hate to think that tomorrow I have to go back home and be so far away from you. This weekend went by too fast.” Burying your face in his chest, you felt warm tears prick your eyes.

“I know; I hate it too. But it is only temporary. Soon we will see each other again. I promise.” He inhaled the sweet scent of your jasmine perfume with a sigh. “But…”

“But what?” you softly asked.

“It does not make letting you go any easier.”

Lifting your head, you kissed his lips with all the passion you could muster, longing to be his once more before you had to leave. Frederick tightened his embrace as he deepened the kiss, his hands exploring your skin. Reaching underneath his black t-shirt, you felt his heartbeat quicken, Suddenly, as if singed by fire, he swiftly pulled your hand way, and the tears in your eyes were replaced by concern.

“Frederick, what is it? Did I do something wrong?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, obviously trying to calm his ragged breaths. Shaking his head, he took your small hand in his large palm. “I am not ready for you to see me…”

“Your scars you mean?”

He was always reluctant to reveal them. During any intimate moment in the past, Frederick failed to remove his shirt, an act you never questioned. Because you completely understood; you had yet to show him your mark, the brand better off ignored.

“I don’t want to scare you,” he said, opening his eyes with a sad smile that made your heart sink. That false idea fueled by his ego and ancient fears could not be further from the truth. Maybe, in his mind, the scar was a mistake. Maybe he thought in made him less than perfect. But in each and every way he was. To you.

Cupping his face in your hands, you looked deeply into his green eyes. “Believe me; the only thing in life that that scares me is losing you, Frederick.”

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” he asked as he leaned into your touch, craving affection that you gladly bestowed upon him. Along with another kiss followed by a deep breath.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” you whispered.

The weekend had been magical. Candlelit dinners and lingering for hours in his plush bed. His smile at the sight of a new tie pin, a birthday present from you that he vowed to keep close to his heart when what felt like the whole wide world would stretch between you. But as his emerald eyes expanded, something in your soul suggested that this was the greatest gift you could give him.

“Yes,” he murmured. “Please.”

Climbing off the bed, you stood before him, your eyes never leaving his as you stripped off the camisole and let it fall to the floor, your body naked from the torso up. And his gaze growing wider. You felt no shame as you turned to let him look at the long line adorning the right side of your rib cage, looming large and wrapping around you like a vine.

“I… how?” he managed to ask.

“I was assaulted one night when I was coming home from a party,” you began. “A man… he came up behind me. I… I tried to fight him off. But I couldn’t. He was too strong and I… I was too weak.” You shuddered as you recalled the terrifying ordeal. As always, it was hard to even talk about. But with Frederick, even in the face of the memories, you felt safe.

“My love, the last thing you are is weak.”

As tears rolled down your cheeks, Frederick abandoned the bed and held you, his arms forming a protective fortress. You didn’t think you would cry this much, but here you were with sobs wracking your body. But the darkness was being held at bay because Frederick was here… guarding you with his life.

“I’m so sorry it happened,” he whispered into your hair, caressing your bare back, his fingers gently skimming the path of the scar. “Your strength is in your survival. And if there ever comes a time when that’s not enough, you lean on me.”

Your tears ceased, as Frederick tilted your face towards his stare, his lips descending into a delicate kiss. “Thank you for showing me,” he continued. “You did not have to. But the last thing I want is any secrets between us.” His tantalizing touch made you smile, and his fingers fell to your hands until he stood before you at arm’s length.

“Now, a promise is a promise,” he said.

“You don’t have to, Frederick. I don’t want to force---”

With a shake of his head, he gingerly touched the hem of his shirt. “I am not sure how much you know about my attacks---”

“I know enough,” you quickly said. “If it’s too much, you don’t have to re-live it by telling me.” Because you Googled him on your phone after your first date. Sought out his book after the second. Stories of Abel Gideon disemboweling him, Miriam Lass taking aim at his face. All because of the unfounded accusations that he was the Chesapeake Ripper. Of course he was innocent, framed by the real monster in everyone’s midst. All of it disturbed you. And you did have questions. But you would never press… not until he was ready.

Fredrick said nothing now as he removed his shirt and dropped it next to your camisole. The cruel red mark from the warped surgery stood pronounced against his pale flesh. But no worse than your own scar. You reached forward to touch it.

“Wait,” he said, his voice causing you to freeze. “There is more.”

Hanging his head, he proceeded to remove his glass eye. Oddly enthralled by his calm movements, you were not sure what you would see next. But you were far from afraid. Grabbing a tissue from the nightstand, Frederick wiped the make-up from his cheek, the concealer that even your kisses could never completely eradicate.

“This is the real me… underneath the mask…” he said, lifting his head while he avoided your glances. With a gasp, you felt the tears pool around your eyes once more. So many people… too many had hurt him severely. And that all but broke your heart. He shuffled where he stood, and you slowly stepped towards him, reaching for his face and turning his gaze to yours.

“Frederick, I love the real you.”

He looked stunned as he struggled for words. “I… I don’t understand how… how you could love a… a misshapen freak…”

“Stop that, Frederick,” you said determinedly. “You wouldn’t have let me get away with that.”

“But you are still beautiful, he argued. “The most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on.”

“And you are the handsomest man I will ever know,” you insisted. “These scars… our scars. They are marks of battles that we won. Bringing us to this moment.”

He hesitated as you nuzzled his neck and stroked his chest, savoring the pulse of his heartbeat, the only sound in the room until his voice hit your ear.

“There is no victory sweeter than loving you,” he said. Hugging him tighter, you kissed his soft lips and clung to his neck, relieved when his arms wrapped around you and he gently laid you down on the bed.

“Show me how much you love me,” you sighed. “I’ve never wanted… never needed you more.”

He pulled off your panties, his pajama bottoms. Lying together naked, entangled in his sheets, you felt every shadow fade. Any walls that might have existed between you crashed down as your hands traveled the realm of his body, his lips matching the moves over every inch of your frame.

“Now, Frederick,” you moaned. “I can’t wait any longer.” You eased your leg over his, and he reached down to rub his manhood against your eager, moist mound. You thrust your hips forward, encouraging him to take you.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, his voice worried as you laughed lightly, combing your fingers through his hair, your other hand falling to his ass where you felt his muscles flexing as you pushed him into your essence.

“You never could,” you whispered, stretching up to kiss the scar on his face. “Let go. It’s just you and me. Forever.”

The sound that drizzled off his tongue was delicious as he lunged inside you, over and over; the position didn’t quite allow for his full length to penetrate you, but you relished it nonetheless, delighted that you could kiss him continuously…

…until you needed more.

Reluctantly leaving his mouth, you used the leverage of your leg to push him to his back. Your moans consumed the bedroom as you rode him, grinding yourself against him. Leaning forward as your orgasm hit, you felt Frederick’s hands cradle your quivering ass, and he watched, with complete fascination, as you came undone. The climax seemed never ending, sent your senses reeling, and when it finished, you collapsed onto his chest with him still inside you, still throbbing.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” he said, catching his breath as he caressed your flushed face. Sighing as you climbed off him, you cuddled into his side, winding the sheets around your bodies. With your fingers on his scar, his hand tenderly touching yours, you nodded into his neck and pressed your ear to his heart.

“I know,” you said, almost wishing that the sun would never rise. “But after tonight… now that we’re this close… even an ocean of stars and sky can’t come between us.”

Peering down at you, his lips curved into a small smile. You wondered if it was too much, if he was about to burst out laughing and remind you of practical things like time zones and borderlines. But Frederick just brushed a lock of hair from your face, kissed your eyes, and snuggled closer.

“I love the sound of that,” he started. “But…”

“Yes?” you asked.

“But not as much as I love you.”

#raul esparza #frederick chilton #hannibal fanfiction #not mine #vintagemichelle91 #she is so wonderful

50 notes · View notes