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woniepop · 4 years ago

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girly girls

Pairing: Kang Taehyun x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.3K

Warnings: bullying, cursing

Genre: slice of life; fluff; angst

Summary: Three times a popular girl and a nerd were enemies, and one time where they weren’t

a/n: this fic was inspired by my all time favorite movie, Legally Blonde. I enjoyed writing this fic and I really hope you enjoy reading it :)

Y/N L/N has never been someone who liked to be cast in the shadows. Always being the center of attention, y/n has become one of the, if not the most, popular girls in her town. Homegirl is always dressed like an icon even when doing mundane tasks. Girls like her have never really been into anything “nerdy.” She associates herself with more of the bimbo kind, if you will. It was never really a secret, but she studies incredibly hard to get the chance to go to her dream school and become a great computer scientist. Being in such a large friend group of female fashion icons, there was never really anyone who wanted to talk about topics with math or computer science.

Kang Taehyun, however, is this awkward and incredibly smart boy. Never really associated with popularity, he’s only had about four friends in his life and absolutely no dating experience. He’d always been one to shy away from attention. At most times, he found himself quietly observing others. All this, and he’s still what you would consider the teacher’s pet. He gets all his assignments done, A’s on every test, and raises his hand for every question. As a computer science enthusiast, he has worked his butt off his entire life, filling his schedule with robotics clubs, different languages of code, and coding camps. Senior year was his year. He had finally got into his dream school, TXT Tech, and had already created a very very detailed plan for the future.

Currently, Y/n’s mother was constantly trying to persuade her about fashion school. Having an incredibly fashionable mom wasn’t always the best for situations like these. TXT Tech results were coming out, and even though Y/n was confident she was getting in, there’s still the chance she might have not. Nervously waiting in front of her laptop, she sits impatiently refreshing the page for her results. Within one sentence she hops up from her chair in awe. Obviously attending the school was going to be a big turning point for her, and she was so excited to have been admitted to TXT Tech.

As Y/n got settled on campus, she finds no one else that looks like her. Obviously, because she stands out, all attention is drawn to her. She’s confident, stylish, and hot. In a sea of gray and tan business outfits, Y/n wears a nice pink pantsuit. She’s relishing in all the attention, not seeming to mind that it’s not good, because she knew she looked good.

Her first encounter with Taehyun couldn’t have gone worse. Walking to her class, pink drink in hand, she struts confidently to the lecture hall for her computer engineering class. Not paying attention to where she was going, she bumps into a tall figure. This clearly wasn’t the best way you could go about your first day, but all Y/n could do was apologize.

“I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see where I was going and-” she rambled. Pausing in the middle of looking up, a very handsome and slightly awkward boy stands there, obviously pissed off and very annoyed. He scoffs and continues on his way to his next class.

Her second encounter with Taehyun was not great either. Clicking her high heels against the floor, she walks to her first class of the day. She had to get there early, she always had to sit in the front of the class. Taehyun on the other hand, nose buried deep in his book, walks directly to the middle. Despite loving programming, he could only handle so much attention. The class had started off well for Y/n, reviewing the class syllabus of “Principles of Programming Languages.” Taehyun, however, was pissed. He had not been called on once and was so frustrated.

“Y/n, can you tell me the five most commonly used languages of code?” the professor asks smugly. Y/n knew what he was doing. She was being set up. She knew he thought she didn’t know and that lit a fire in her.

“Python, Java, Javascript, C#, and C” she answers confidently. Hearing this, the professor nods his head. He wasn’t expecting that.

Taehyun saw this as a perfect opportunity. His hand shoots up and he comments, “Sir, that’s actually incorrect. C++ is actually more popular because although C has served as the foundation for writing languages like Python and Ruby, C++ is a newer language of code and therefore is compatible with more technology.” Taehyun confidently looks down to wear Y/n sits and smirks. Of course she wouldn’t know that. She’s only the popular rich girl that got in with Daddy’s money. She didn’t actually know anything, right?

It had been a few months since school had started, and finals were just about to come around. For this class’ final, they had to submit a partner project and code a simple game. At this point, it had been very blatantly established that Y/n and Taehyun were enemies. They despised each other. Always competing with each other in class, snickering when the other person got annoyed. It was a silent war between the two of them and everyone could feel the tension in the air. Obviously, it was no surprise they always came up at the top of the class, interchanging the first spot every test. What was surprising, however, was seeing their names together on the partner project roster.

Taehyun was furious. College was supposed to be his bitch, but now he’s acting like Y/n’s bitch. He was so pissed off. Computer science was supposed to be where he had the upper hand. The one place he could feel himself. Where he was finally better than the stupid popular kids. And yet, he’s here, competing with one of them. It wasn’t fair. She was a girly girl, she wore bright colors everyday, she even had a sparkly notebook. How was she so smart? There was no way, it’s just the laws of the universe. You had to choose between looks and intelligence. That’s just what the gods above said. There’s no take backsies.

It’s no secret that Y/n is a fashionable girl and having a female centric hobby isn’t really something applauded at this university. Knowing of Y/n’s insecurities, let’s talk about Taehyun’s. Having always worn non adventurous, boring, clothing, he’s known from the very beginning that Y/n’s beauty has helped her in life. Life is never fair, and it shows. Taehyun never ever got those advantages, and now here he is competing with someone just as smart as him.

As his jealousy grows in the back of his mind, he decides to use this time to take revenge. The next few days are spent typing away in the library, collaborating and researching for hours upon hours. Knowing that this project was worth 40% of their grade, they spent all their time trying to make this game perfect.

The day of the presentation of their near perfect game rolls around and Y/n was confident. She had spent countless nights coding this with Taehyun and on her own. Starting the presentation off, Taehyun pulls up a game completely different to the one Y/n coded with him. “In this day and age, gaming has become a hobby more popular than it’s ever been. With platforms like twitch and youtube, all different types of games can catch the eyes of a wide audience. With this in mind, I’d like to present to you Jackbox Party Pack 8. Roleplay games have become the genre of choice for many gamers to play, and viewers to watch.”

This was not the first person shooter Y/n had coded with him. What was he doing? Y/n stood there, not really knowing what to say. Opening and closing her mouth, she couldn’t form any words. She should have known this was a set up. “Ms. L/n, please continue.” The professor says. She couldn’t. She felt like she was frozen. She was so embarrassed and she should’ve seen it coming. With cheeks welling up in her eyes, she runs out of the classroom.

With a smirk, Taehyun continued on, explaining how the game worked and how he had coded it. He had spent the past few nights coding it by himself and he was incredibly proud. Paying no mind to Y/n, he stood tall and smiled throughout his entire presentation. Obviously, like any normal person, guilt started growing quickly in the back of his mind. He finally realized he had fucked up.

Running after Y/n, Taehyun felt incredibly guilty. He had taken the competition too far, and now he’d made someone innocent fail a required class. After running for what felt like hours, he found Y/n crying under a tree. He knelt down and offered her some tissues. Aggravated, she smacks the tissues away and tells him to leave.

Y/n, on the other hand, felt so angry. How could he do this to her? She hadn’t done anything wrong, and if he didn’t like the way she dressed or the way she conducted herself that was fine. All she needed was her to believe in herself and that got her into TXT Tech. While thinking about all the ways she could end Taehyun, she feels arms wrap around her. They’re 🤮Taehyun’s. Before she can rip his arms off, he speaks up.

“Look Y/n, I’m really sorry about that whole thing I pulled back there. I’ll talk to the professor and give him the real project. I really took it too far and I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” He begs.

“Um,, no? I don’t care? That was literally so embarrassing. If you really wanted to make it up to me you’d leave me alone.” Y/n pushes him off her harshly and storms off. How dare he? It probably took his two seconds to come up with that half assed apology. This was unbelievable.

Y/n started trudging through the grass back to her dorm. All she wanted to do was take a warm shower and cry in her bed. She hated everyone. She wanted him to suffer just as much as she did, but she couldn’t do that.

After two whole days of sobbing in her bed, she decided she was craving her signature pink drink. She really didn’t feel like going out, but delivering one drink would cost like $15. Y/n throws on a casual pink outfit. It’s very different from what she wore at the beginning of the school year, but the one thing that never changed was the color pink. Even in her depressive mood, she still wanted to dress up. She felt most comfortable wearing stylish clothing, that was her home.

Stepping into the store, she sees Taehyun sitting at a table alone. You know when you see old people sitting along and you feel so bad for them you start tearing up? Like what if they lost their spouse or something :(((((. So anyway, Taehyun gives her lonely old people energy and regardless of what he did to her, she decides to keep him company.

“Hey, um, can i sit here?” Y/n asks. Taehyun was so surprised. She wanted to sit with him? But he was so mean to her? He nodded his head and sat quietly. The past two days she could tell Taehyun had done a lot of thinking. She could tell he did it because he felt threatened. That wasn’t enough to forgive him, but at least she was being nice about it.

Taehyun gets up and leaves. He comes back with a pink drink in hand, maybe as an apology. “I really want to apologize to you again, Y/n. Yesterday I don’t know if you saw, but the professor graded the actual project instead, and I had told him everything and that I’d deserve it if he failed me instead.” Y/n wanted to be happy but she wasn’t. She didn’t want him to fail after helping her code the game with her. Maybe she was so nice to him because she had matured, or maybe because she felt something different in Taehyun. Even so, a little embarrassment, she thought, wasn’t enough to cause a person to fail their whole class. Holding his hand on the table, she nods, a silent way she decided to forgive him.

“Well, at least we’re not the worst team. I think group 7 coded a Niki Minaj roblox world.” Taehyun jokes.

She laughs. “That’s so funny, what the heck? I guess we just have some hardcore barbs in this class.” People like Taehyun and people like Y/n were never meant to be friends in the first place, but maybe now they were starting to. Y/n, who was always challenging the term “girly girl.” Who always stressed that you have to believe in yourself when the rest of the world is against you. Y/n who became successful, without changing who she was. Y/n, who was feminine and wanted to show that was never a weakness. And Taehyun, who was always unadventurous. Who was never into fashion but still managed to pull off his nerdy outfits with his cute face. The passionate Taehyun whose only hobby seemed like studying. Gossiping for hours at the cafe, they realized this. They were starting to become friends. No one ever expected them to even be able to hold a friendly conversation, but here Y/n was, challenging everyone again.

#txt x reader #txt fanfic #kang taehyun #taehyun x reader #taehyun fanfic #taehyun x y/n #kang taehyun x reader #taehyun headcanons #taehyun fluff #taehyun angst #taehyun au #txt taehyun #txt fluff #txt angst #txt reactions #txt headcanons

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katikacreations · 5 years ago

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(Cover illustration by @clowncauldron ) LINK TO AO3 VERSION IN THE NOTES! Formatting is better on AO3, it’s easier to read over there!

SUMMARY: Gyro can’t fix Boyd’s glitching problem, so he asks Dr. Von Drake for advice. Boyd goes to a pool party and confesses to Huey that his new home life with Gyro isn’t exactly perfect.

2BO, you are not evil! You are good! You’re more than your programming! You are a definitely real boy! Gyro’s own words echoed in his head as he tried to sleep on the flight back to Duckburg.

It was a gruelling twelve hours on a cargo plane like the Sunchaser, but if one was willing to put up with the discomfort and inconvenience of being stashed between boxes of freight, it was worth it. Mr. McDuck didn’t charge for employees to hitch a ride on cargo planes that were already scheduled, and there was no TSA screening for private cargo flights, leaving from private airfields, which was a big help when you were traveling with hyper-advanced combat technology like the Gizmosuit and 2BO.

2BO. Boyd. Whatever you called it, the android was potentially very dangerous. It had been able to override Dr. Akita’s programming and choose its own actions, which had saved both Gyro and Fenton’s lives, but how? Asking an AI to ignore its programming was like asking a human being to ignore their instincts, like trying to inhale underwater, or sticking your hands into a fire. It could be done, but it was difficult and sometimes impossible.

Whatever Dr. Akita had programmed into 2BO had become lower priority and less important than the android’s own, self-created programming, even if Akita’s programming was older. That’s the only way that 2BO could have possibly overridden the commands.

It had to be the result of twenty years of independence. 2BO had gone so long without anyone to give it orders, it must have learned to make choices for itself, otherwise it would never have survived as long as it did. It was a learning system, so the ability to re-evaluate and change its own programming over time to adapt to new situations was integral.

But was 2BO a real boy? Gyro had said the words, but he knew of course that they weren’t true. 2BO was a machine that emulated a real boy very convincingly, but that did not make it a human being. Gyro felt a twinge of guilt for speaking such nonsense out loud in front of God and everybody, but he’d had no other choice. 2BO hadn’t responded to anything else, and that phrase had clearly been lodged deep in its memory as something significant, even if it was just nonsense spoken by an immature and naive younger version of himself. Gyro had tried everything else he could think of before resorting to that meaningless platitude.

It had worked, though. Gyro and Fenton were both still alive. 2BO was with them, had circumvented Dr. Akita’s override programming. They were all headed back to Duckburg, safe and sound.

2BO wasn’t a real boy. What 2BO was, Gyro wasn’t sure yet.

Gyro Gearloose was a proud man, and he’d earned the right to that through a life of hard work. He knew he was smart and wasn’t about to partake of the sin of false modesty. He was justifiably proud of his superior intellect, his ability to keep discovering new truths of the universe, and to keep designing and creating new and imaginative technology over the years.

He’d started inventing when he’d been just barely old enough to pick up a screwdriver, and he hadn’t stopped in the forty-three years since. He did the work because he loved it, because it was the most fulfilling thing in the world for him, because nothing else compared to the satisfaction that came with seeing an idea from his head come together in his hands and finally become a fully-formed creation that existed in the real world.

Other people took weekends and nights off because they worked to live, but Gyro lived to work. The little moments of life - visiting family, spending time with friends, “relaxing” and “resting” - were obstacles between him and getting back to the work he loved with his whole heart. They were distractions, necessary evils he was occasionally forced to bow to, but they would never be the thing which drove him. Gyro lived to discover, imagine, build and create. So anything that got in the way of that was quickly pushed to the side.

This presented a problem. Being a very proud man, Gyro was not particularly practiced at asking for help. It took him a long time to realize when he needed help, and even longer to figure out how to ask for it.

2BO had started living with Gyro after their return from Tokyolk, and Gyro suddenly found himself thrust into the position of not only trying to fix the android’s damaged programming (an ongoing, unresolved issue), but also having to provide daily guidance for something that acted very much like a child.

He was being forced by circumstance to act as a caretaker and to parent. Needless to say, that was not a skill set Gyro had honed, and it wasn’t a job he wanted to do. He had no aspirations of being a father or having children, but 2BO constantly pushed him into that role with each new interaction.

It wasn’t all bad of course: 2BO was pleasant enough to be around, so it took some time before things reached critical mass. 2BO could take care of itself, was self-reliant for the most part, and was often helpful around the lab with its superior strength, lightning-fast processing speed, and its ability to withstand deadly radiation.

But 2BO wanted continual attention from Gyro, and he didn’t have the patience for it. 2BO constantly wanted to play games, and every night it asked Gyro to read it a “bedtime story”, even though 2BO didn’t actually sleep.

Generally Gyro just dismissed the requests, and told the android to go play with the McDuck children, or Lil’ Bulb. He’d tried to read to 2BO once or twice, but the android had complained when Gyro started reading articles from scientific journals out loud, so they didn’t do that anymore.

All of that was bad enough, but it was the incessant questions that finally pushed Gyro too far.

“Why did swear words get invented if we’re not allowed to say them?”

“How did people make the first tools if they didn’t have any tools?”

“”Huey, Duey and Louie are triplets. Did they all come out of one egg or were they in three separate eggs?”

“How did Ms. Della lay three eggs that big?”

"Where do thoughts come from?"

“Are there infinite words?”

“No, 2BO, but there are infinite numbers.”

“Well if there is a word for every number, then there must be infinite words.”

“How do I know that I’m real?”

“What happens to a person when they die?”

“What did it feel like on your last day of being a child?”

“Why do people hold hands?”

“Well, adults hold children by the hand to make sure they don’t fall down or run into traffic.”

“Then why do adults sometimes hold hands?”

“I don’t know,” said Gyro, who had never actually held hands with anyone after his eleventh birthday. He’d never experienced the urge, either. Why did adults hold hands? “Maybe to restrain the person they’re with, to keep them from leaving.”

Gyro Gearloose needed help.

From a technical, legal point of view, 2BO was not his responsibility. He’d only been an assistant on the project, which had begun years before Gyro had even set foot in Japan. The reason he’d taken the fall for the destruction of Tokyolk was because they had needed someone to blame for the catastrophe, and he’d been the only available target after Dr. Akita disappeared. None of it was Gyro’s fault, but he’d suffered for it regardless.

He’d done jail time, lost his scholarship to the Tokyolk Institute of Technology, and had to start his doctorate over from scratch at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville years later when the disaster with 2BO was no longer so fresh in everyone’s minds. Gyro had paid for what happened in Tokyolk many times over, and he was only just starting to dig himself out of that hole.

Despite all that, morally he felt an obligation to 2BO. He had been there when the android first activated. He’d spent months programming, teaching, and training it to act as much like a person as possible. The fact that it was struggling with all of that now was Gyro’s fault. He’d been a naive, sentimental idiot in his youth and instead of letting 2BO be the weapon Dr. Akita had designed it to be, he’d forced it into an eternal game of playing pretend, and now 2BO was barely functional as a result.

He could think of few worse fates for an artificial intelligence. To be shackled and bound to arbitrary human standards of behavior, to waste all of it’s mental powers on trying to convincingly present itself as a human child when in reality, it was so much more. Gyro felt sorry for it.

Gyro Gearloose needed help. He needed a specialist.

He offloaded the onerous task of seeking assistance to Fenton.

“I need you to find a specialist to help with 2BO’s glitching problem,” he told him one night, as Fenton was on his way home.

“What?” Fenton called back, his foot holding the elevator door open as he leaned back into the airlock that connected the elevators to the lab floor to hear Gyro better.

“Find a specialist to help with 2BO’s glitching!” Gyro shouted back.

“A specialist to help with Boyd’s glitches?” Fenton called back. The elevator attempted to close on Fenton, and he put his arm up to make it stop. The door pushed against his hand briefly before sliding away from the resistance. “What kind of specialist?”

The elevator began to make a high-pitched squealing sound, protesting the fact that it was being held open.

“I don’t know!” Gyro shouted back. “A programmer, I guess! Someone who knows Fortran 77, C++, MATLAB, Python, and can handle system architecture of at least 100 billion bits.”

“Not asking for much, are you?” Fenton replied with a level of sarcasm Gyro knew his assistant wouldn’t dare to voice if he was in the same room as him.

“Just let me know when you find someone!”

It was nearly a week later when the topic came up again. Gyro was attempting to troubleshoot a glitch in 2BO that was triggered every time the android heard the word pineapple. At this point the list of things that could trigger a glitch was truly overwhelming. A few days ago 2BO had nearly destroyed someone’s house because he heard a dog barking. Thankfully, the McDuck family had covered it up, blaming a minor earthquake for the damage.

The android sat on a table beside the lab’s Cray XT3 computer terminal. 2BO was powered down, eyes closed and body slumped forward, cables connecting it to the Cray’s data ports. The monitor was awash with seemingly endless lines of code from the core dump they’d just done, and Gyro was pain-stakingly working his way through them, searching for the source of the problem.

“Dr. Gearloose! I’ve gotten some replies from the people I contacted about helping with Boyd,” Fenton said, approaching with a stack of envelopes in hand.

Gyro glanced away from his work only long enough to see the paper envelopes. “You wrote physical letters? No wonder it took them so long to respond.”

“In this day and age, a personal touch like a paper letter can really help make a good impression,” Fenton said. “Also, people familiar with the programming languages you asked for all skew older.”

Gyro made a noise that indicated he’d lost interest in the conversation and that Fenton should move on. The man had gotten better at reading him, and, instead of making further small talk, he went to start opening the pile of letters.

“Alright, let’s see,” Fenton said, and Gyro marked where he was in the code so he could come back to it later, deciding to take a break. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate properly with Fenton talking and rustling around nearby. He took the opportunity to take off his glasses and massage around his closed eyes.

“Yes? Get on with it, Inter--Assistant.”

“Eh, espere,” Fenton said, and Gyro heard the rapid fluttering of papers as Fenton fumbled with them. “I… This doesn’t make sense. They all say… ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘Hell no’, ‘Contact me again and I’ll get a restraining order?!’ ”

“What did you write to them, Assistant?” Gyro demanded, though he already had a hunch of what might have gone wrong.

“I--What did I do? Nada! Nothing unusual! I just said that you were looking for someone with the skills you listed, to consult with on a technical problem you were having.”

“Did you put my name on them?” Gyro asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

“Of course I did!” Fenton said. “It’s your lab! Who would I tell them was writing, the Queen of England? Lin-Manuel Miranda? Spider-Ham?! I used the lab stationary that has Dr. Von Drake crossed out and your name written in the margins.”

“You idiot,” Gyro said, but he was more tired than angry. “Did you forget that I’m a pariah in the scientific community? People still blame me for what happened in Japan with 2BO twenty years ago, and if they’d started to forget, last month’s incident made it the hot new gossip all over again. I thought you were smart enough to figure that out and put your own name instead. I didn’t realize I had to tell you everything.”

Fenton’s face tightened the more Gyro spoke, taking the scolding without any further attempt at making excuses, which was a relief. Gyro hated when people couldn’t keep it together.

“Considering your usual tendency to overdo things, should I assume that you’ve written to every programmer in the United States that fits my requirements, and all those bridges have now been thoroughly burnt?” Gyro asked with some venom.

“Also a few in México and Canada,” Fenton said, shrinking in on himself with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Dr. Gearloose, I didn’t mean to cause trouble for--”

“Go… Do something else. Away from me,” Gyro said, struggling not to shout at the other man. “We’ll have to continue working on 2BO without assistance.”

Huey loved planning things. Oftentimes he found himself making plans for events that would never even happen. The process of planning and figuring out all the details just felt good, even if he never got outside of the planning stage. He could spend hours daydreaming about parties, expeditions, and camping trips.

Planning was his favorite part of any adventure, and he loved going over maps and charts with Uncle Scrooge, observing how the old man did it and trying to learn something from it.

So planning for their first ever pool party with their extended group of friends was beyond exciting. It wasn’t just a fantasy scenario that had no hope of happening. Their friends were really all coming over for a day of fun in the pool, and Mrs. Beakley had even given Huey a budget for buying snacks and party supplies.

He’d scoured the Pinfeather app looking for ideas all week, spent days creating pool-themed decorations, and all of yesterday preparing dishes so there would be a variety of healthy and fun food available, no matter what kind of dietary restrictions their friends might have. He’d thought of everything and was extremely proud of how it had all come together. Nothing could possibly go wrong when he’d done such a thorough job of planning things.

Everything was going completely wrong!

The party had been in full swing for a couple of hours, and Huey couldn’t bring himself to go into the water or join in with the others. Nobody was eating his lovingly crafted healthy snacks. His brothers had taken one look at Huey’s Fun Summer Dessert Pizza, his Gluten-free tortilla chips and strawberry corn salsa, his hotdog sliders with mango and pineapple chutney, and they had started raiding the pantry, helping their guests to microwaved hot wings, cheese-wiz, mini pizza bagels, potato chips, and Pep soda.

Lena, Violet and Webby (who wasn’t technically a guest but Huey had counted her as one for the sake of his logistics) seemed to be having plenty of fun on their own without the piles of pre-made water balloons that were stacked on a pool float bobbing around in the water, or the board games Huey had arranged by the neat stacks of towels and sunscreen. Lena had turned off Huey’s Summer Pool Party Fun Mix five minutes after her arrival and plugged in her own phone to play the newest Featherweights album. Violet had complimented him on the decorative wreath made of novelty cocktail umbrellas and swords at the front door, but Huey wasn’t sure if she had been employing sarcasm or not.

Louie climbed out of the pool and shook the water off his feathers. Huey felt too miserable to even bother flinching away. What did it matter? He was in swim trunks anyway.

“How come you’re just sitting over here by yourself?” Louie asked, picking up a bag of chips and shoving a handful into his mouth as he sat down next to Huey.

“No reason,” Huey mumbled. He was saved from further conversation when an app on his phone told him there was someone at the front door. “Someone’s at the door, it’s gotta be Boyd! I’ll go let him in.”

“Robo-Boyd?” Louie called after him, tone incredulous. “Why’d you invite him? Can he even go in the water?”

“Boyd! The party started hours ago, is everything okay?” Huey asked as he flung open the front door. Boyd stood there wearing a Hawaiian shirt with anchors and ships on it, red swim trunks, and his red anti-laser sunglasses. He was carrying a large plastic tupperware container.

“I’m sorry for arriving late.” Boyd said, holding the tupperware out for Huey to take. “Yes, everything’s fine now. I brought this for the party, I hope everyone likes it.”

Huey vaguely remembered reading something about it being polite in Japan to bring a gift with you when visiting someone’s home. He took the plastic container and tried to guess what might be inside it by the weight and the black and white color he could discern through the semi-opaque cover.

“Oh, thanks for bringing something!” Huey said. “What is it?”

“A cookies and cream sheet cake.”

Everyone was going to love that, Huey thought with a mix of envy and embarrassment. Why was Boyd better at understanding regular people than he was? Shouldn’t Boyd be at a disadvantage, since he was a literal computer and Huey was a flesh and blood kid?

“Awesome. Come on, let’s go out back so I can introduce you to everybody,” Huey said.

“I’m excited to meet Webby’s friends, Lena and Violet,” Boyd said, closing the door behind them as they walked through the house.

“Why’d you show up so late? That’s not like you.” Even though Boyd said everything was fine, Huey couldn’t stop himself from worrying. Both he and Boyd were usually very punctual.

“I was helping Mr. Gizmoduck clean up a shipping tanker accident in Audubon Bay. I wanted to send you a text, but the signal was bad. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“It’s okay! I’m just glad it wasn’t anything too dangerous and that you’re safe,” Huey answered in a rush, not wanting Boyd to feel guilty for trying to be a hero. He knew that ever since they’d returned from Tokyolk, the android boy had spent a lot of his time helping people all around Duckburg and St. Canard.

“I think it’s really cool that you’ve been helping out Gizmoduck,” Huey said, and Boyd flashed him a huge, brilliant smile that made Huey’s chest feel funny. He smiled back at Boyd.

“Hi, I’m Boyd, a definitely real boy!” Boyd announced, offering his hand to Violet, who shook it, and Lena, who didn’t.

“I’m Violet. You’re in the same Junior Woodchuck troop as Huey, right?”

“Affirmative! I’m a member of Junior Woodchuck troop 15. You recently became a Senior Junior Woodchuck. You have more badges than 86.2% of the other members in our age range. I think that’s very admirable.”

“Cool,” Said Lena indifferently. “So you’re Huey’s friend? Where are you from?”

“I was born in Tokyolk. Where are you from, Lena?”

“Uh, let’s not talk about that,” Lena replied uneasily.

“Why not? I answered your question,” Boyd said.

“Lena’s kind of been through a lot recently,” Huey said, interrupting the conversation before it could get any more confrontational. “Talking about family stuff is hard for her.”

“Oh,” Boyd said. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know.”

“It’s whatever,” Lena said with a shrug, radiating a cool indifference that Huey envied a little.

“Boyd’s an android,” Huey explained, “But he’s also just a kid like any of us.” This revelation seemed to soften Lena’s attitude.

“This is my first time attending a pool party. I’ve also been to a birthday party. Those are all the parties I have been to,” Boyd said.

“You know what? This is our first pool party, too,” Lena said, smiling at Boyd. “And I’m having a great time. Do you eat food?”

“Yeah, I love eating food!” Boyd said, as the group made their way over to the snack table. “I need to consume nutrients and calories to maintain my biological components.”

“Me too,” Lena said.

“You planned this whole party, right Huey?” Violet asked. “I think the streamers between the umbrellas and the colorful leis really create a festive atmosphere.”

“Thanks, I made them by hand,” Huey said, grateful that someone appreciated just how much effort it had taken to prepare everything.

“And I’m guessing Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum weren’t a lot of help,” Lena added, unwrapping a chocolate ding-dong and taking a bite.

“Which one of us is Tweedle-Dee and which of us is Tweedle-Dum?” Dewey called from the pool. Lena ignored them and looked at Huey expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Huey laughed a little, and he hugged his arms to himself to try and ease how awkward he felt with the older girl’s attention on him.

“Yeah, they weren’t really interested. Planning stuff is more my thing.”

“Well, you’re good at it,” Lena said bluntly, “They’re probably too lazy to try and compete with someone who tries as hard as you do.”

“Who are you calling lazy?” Louie called from the pool float he was lounging on.

“You!” Lena shouted back.

“Fair, that’s an accurate assessment, carry on,” Louie replied as he floated away.

Maybe the party wasn’t going that bad. Now that Boyd had arrived, Huey felt a lot more confident, and watching Boyd enjoying himself made Huey happy.

“I have an easier time breaking down and extracting nutrients from simple, unprocessed foods,” Boyd said, as he polished off a second plate of cheese-and-fruit skewers. “I don’t have a sense of taste, but I’m sure these are really yummy. My compositional sensors say the fruit is at peak ripeness and that the cheese is at an ideal temperature.”

“Glad you like them,” Huey said.

“You’re welcome. Should we go in the pool?” Boyd said.

“Can you go in the pool?” Huey asked. “Aren’t you too heavy?”

“Dr. Gearloose installed automatic arm floaties on me this morning.” There was a loud hissing sound as metal panels on Boyd’s upper arms retracted and PVC material inflated with air, outfitting Boyd with swim fins. “They’re rated up to 145 kg which is twice my weight. He assured me that with these, I would be able to remain safely buoyant while in the water.”

“If Uncle Donald could install those on us, he would,” Huey said.

“So where did you get the cookies and cream cake from? Dr. Gearloose didn’t make it, did he?” Huey asked. The sun had started to set, and the pool lights were on. The other kids were all playing with glow-sticks and glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces Huey had bought in bulk online. A little distance away, Mom and Uncle Donald were barbequing some burgers and hot dogs for dinner.

Boyd hadn’t taken any of the glow-in-the-dark stuff, but he seemed happy to sit on the edge of the pool next to Huey, their feet dangling in the water. Boyd’s eyes were lit from within, like flashlights, as the daylight around them grew dimmer. His tinted sunglasses turned the light red, and it reminded Huey of the taillights of a car.

“No, of course Dr. Gearloose didn’t make the cake, he’s much too busy for that kind of frivolity. I went to the employee cafeteria at The Bin to buy some slices of cake, and one of the ladies who works there asked why I was buying eight pieces. I explained to her that I was going to a party, and she asked why I was by myself in the cafeteria at 9AM, and I told her I didn’t have--”

“Uh, I think I get the general gist of what happened,” Huey said. “So she made the cake for you?”

“Yes! She said that she was certain it would be popular, and I think her assessment was correct. Its sugar content is similar to snacks that children in our age range typically enjoy.”

Even though it was getting dark outside, the air was still almost unbearably hot. It had been over ninety degrees every day for the past two weeks in Duckburg, and the heat lingered. Cicadas buzzed in the dark, and occasionally a frog croaked.

“Kids, time for dinner!” Donald called. Gradually they all set aside their games, dried off with towels, and made their way to the picnic table that had been set out for dinner in the garden. Boyd grabbed Huey’s arm before he could follow, stopping him.

“What’s wrong?” Huey asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Boyd said. “I just… Wanted to thank you for inviting me to your pool party. It’s been a lot of fun.”

“Well, don’t worry, the fun’s not done yet,” Huey said. Maybe Boyd was just sad that the party was almost over? “We’re still going to tell scary stories around a campfire, and Uncle Scrooge and Mom always have some great ones.”

“That sounds great. I’m excited to hear the stories,” Boyd said, his grip on Huey’s arm relaxing until the android’s hand slipped down and rested against Huey’s. They were holding hands. Huey felt that same funny feeling in his chest from before, and suddenly the rest of the world around them was weirdly quiet. No frogs, no cicadas, no Uncle Donald arguing with Mom. Just him and Boyd, holding hands on a summer night.

“...But something’s bothering you, isn’t it?” Huey asked.

Boyd didn’t answer immediately, which was unusual for the android. Huey squeezed his hand gently, trying to encourage the other boy to share his feelings.

“When I lived with Mr. Beaks, he played with me all the time for the first few days, but then he started ignoring me. When I lived with the Drakes, I could play with Doofus any time I wanted, but he didn’t want to play with me, and said things that made me feel bad. Mr. and Mrs. Drake were nice, but if they paid too much attention to me, Doofus always got mad…”

“I like living with Dr. Gearloose better than any of the others,” Boyd said. “But sometimes I feel lonely. He doesn’t have a lot of time to play with me either, and if I distract Mr. Fenton or Mr. Manny from work too much, Dr. Gearloose yells at them. At night when he goes to sleep, he makes me stay in the closet, so I won’t wake him up by moving around, and he doesn’t like reading me bedtime stories.

“Is something wrong with me?” Boyd asked. “It feels like every time I join a family, they end up getting bored with me, or they don’t really want me around.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you!” Huey said. “A lot of kids feel that way. Sometimes parents or other kids don’t have time to play with us, sometimes they don’t want to play with us, and it does feel lonely. Also, not everyone has a good family. Sometimes people just don’t get along.”

“What do regular kids do if they’re in a bad family?” Boyd asked.

“Honestly? I think they’re just stuck when that happens. Running away and living on your own is dangerous and hard. But you don’t have that problem! Since you’re a super-strong robot, if you want to leave, you can just go.”

“Sort of,” Boyd said. “It’s… Not that simple. I’m a robot, but I’m bio-mechanical. I still need to eat and charge some of my power cells occasionally. Getting food and access to electricity when I’m on my own can be hard. But the worst part is… I really don’t like being alone. I like to be around people.”

There was such a sadness in Boyd’s voice in that moment that Huey felt a need to do more than just hold hands. “Would it be okay if I hugged you?” he asked, not knowing what to say or how else to make Boyd feel better.

“Yes,” Boyd said, looking delighted by the offer. He held his arms out stiffly towards Huey, and it looked so silly that Huey struggled not to laugh.

“Okay.” Huey carefully put his arms around Boyd, hugging him tight.

“BOYS!” Della shouted from a distance, making Huey nearly jump out of his skin. “Come eat before the food gets cold! C’mon! You got water in your ears or what?”

“Coming, Mom!” Huey shouted back, grabbing Boyd by the hand and pulling him towards where the rest of their family and friends were gathered.

Once a month, Gyro had a video chat with Dr. Ludwig Von Drake. The man had mentored him when he made his second attempt at his doctorate, and though he wasn’t always easy to have a long-distance conversation with, Gyro found the exercise useful in a variety of ways. Sometimes he could bounce ideas off the older scientist and find better solutions he might not have thought of on his own. Sometimes they talked about world events and science news. Sometimes it just felt good to talk to someone else who felt as if they were remotely close to Gyro’s level of intellect.

Dr. Von Drake might have been a bit scatterbrained, but he was brilliant and a real renaissance man to boot. Gyro admired him tremendously, though he did take the man’s words with a grain of salt due to the aforementioned scatterbrained-ness.

Gyro liked to have something mindless he could work on while he was on a call with someone, even someone as interesting to talk to as Dr. Von Drake. Having to sit still and focus on a conversation and struggle with eye contact on a webcam was a surefire recipe for not only boredom but also his attention wandering away. On particularly bad days, he might end up feather-picking, which was an embarrassing nervous tic he’d spent decades trying to conquer.

So today he was shoulders deep repairing a jet engine (burnt out courtesy of Launchpad McQuack) when his conversation with Dr. Von Drake shifted from the doctor’s latest oil painting experiments to what Gyro had been up to recently.

“Nothing that exciting, I’m afraid,” Gyro said. “It feels like all I do anymore is repair things. A never-ending cycle of maintenance, something which should have been passed on to technicians instead of taking up my valuable time! I’m always chasing after old projects, trying to keep them from falling apart. The Gizmo-suit. And Lil’ Bulb. And--”

“Dr. Gearloose,” 2BO said, suddenly appearing at Gyro’s side. “Can I go over to Huey’s to play?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Thank you!” 2BO chirped enthusiastically as it activated its rocket jets, the turbines spinning up rapidly.

“Just make sure you don’t stay out too late!” Gyro shouted, raising his voice so 2BO could hear him over the roar of its propulsion system.

“I’ll be home at seven!” 2BO said with a smile, rising from the floor and flying out one of the emergency air lock exits. Gyro could see the android shoot out under the water, flying past the lab’s windows as it gained altitude and finally vanished from sight, leaving nothing but a flurry of bubbles in its wake.

“My goodness, what a charming little boy!” Dr. Von Drake said. “Is he yours or perhaps the child of a coworker?”

“Oh, it’s not a child,” Gyro explained. “That’s 2BO, it’s just an android I helped create as a student.”

“Just an android? Gyro, my boy, he is quite remarkable! Even with the rocket jets for feet, I was entirely ready to accept that he was a real boy. Why haven’t you ever shown him to me before? You’ve never even mentioned him.”

Gyro had been dreading this particular topic, though he’d always known it would come up someday. He set down his tools and wiped the oil from his hands, fidgeting with the shop towel as he tried to pick his words.

“It’s a long story, sir.”

“That’s no problem, I have long ears!” Dr. Von Drake replied, which was nonsensical enough that it made Gyro chuckle.

“That is manifestly untrue.” Gyro felt himself smiling just a little. Though they were thousands of miles apart and only interacting through an impersonal and cold computer screen, Dr. Von Drake’s warm and nonjudgmental presence still felt as reassuring now as it had when Gyro had been a young man. “But since you insist… Before I came to work for you, I worked for Dr. Inutaro Akita in Tokyolk.”

“I’ve met him,” Dr. Von Drake said, prompting Gyro to continue.

“He was already working on 2BO when I started assisting him. It was designed to be an autonomous defense drone, capable of interacting with end users in a naturalistic way. But something went wrong.”

“With 2BO?”

“No, with Dr. Akita. Originally I thought it was a fault in 2BO, but it was just following orders. Dr. Akita ordered 2BO to go on a rampage, and it performed exactly as designed.”

“That’s awful!” Dr. Von Drake exclaimed. “But now that you mention it, I remember reading something about a robot attacking Tokyolk way back when. It’s hard to believe all that destruction was caused by little 2BO… But if he was created by Dr. Akita I can’t say I’m too surprised. The man has ‘mad scientist’ practically stamped on his forehead. He’s a terrible sore loser. Matilda said he’s not allowed at the annual canasta game after what happened to that china cabinet.”

Gyro was morbidly curious to know what had happened that would make the sweet-tempered Matilda McDuck ban someone from the International Robot Designer Union’s annual card game, but he knew better than to ask. Dr. Von Drake was likely to actually tell him the whole story and that could take hours - hours that Gyro didn’t want to spare.

“So how is it that he’s come to live with you now?” Dr. Von Drake asked. “The incident in Tokyolk was a long time ago.”

“Somehow 2BO turned up here in Duckburg,” Gyro explained. “I had no idea that 2BO was even operational anymore. I thought it had been destroyed, but it wasn’t and now it’s here, and it’s just another thing I have to constantly do maintenance on.

“It has these terrible glitches that are triggered by random stimuli. I’ve been working on it for a whole month, and it seems like the problems just keep getting worse. I’m not making any progress. I told Fenton to get in touch with some programmers to find a specialist to help me resolve the issue, but--”

“Tell me more about these glitches,” Dr. Von Drake said. “Maybe I can help you figure it out.”

“Well, as I said, 2BO was originally designed to be a defense drone, so obviously it has a weapons system.”

“Obviously.”

“But 2BO’s also a highly complex learning system. It was meant to interact with people the way another person might, and that kind of processing power normally takes up a much larger footprint than 2BO has.”

“It’s not a remote system?” Dr. Von Drake asked. This wasn’t an unreasonable question, as most AI’s of 2BO’s complexity were at least the size of a car. There weren’t that many out there that Gyro was aware of, but they did exist. He assumed that most of them were confidential government projects. None of them were really like 2BO though. Advanced AI technology had been a stagnant field since the end of the Cold War.

“No, 2BO is entirely self-contained. It can be remote controlled in theory, but, under normal circumstances, all it needs to operate is onboard.”

“And you say it’s been functioning independently for… How long?”

“Twenty years on its own without meaningful human intervention. No maintenance, no repairs.”

“Remarkable!” Dr. Von Drake took off his glasses to polish them, something he usually did when he was excited. “Can you send me the latest core memory dump? I’m sure it’s a doozy of a file, but I’d like to look it over.”

“Of course, though… Hmm.” Gyro considered the reality of sending the file over the internet. “It’s almost a terabyte.”

“That’s not so large, we can keep talking while it sends over the WAN. A terabyte shouldn’t take more than half an hour.”

The suggestion of sending the data across the McDuck Enterprises’ global intranet made Gyro hesitate. It was one thing to send Dr. Von Drake a funny cat video through their company emails, it was another thing entirely to send proprietary data that wasn’t official McDuck Enterprises work through the data pipeline that Mr. McDuck so generously provided to their labs.

“Are you sure that’s alright?” Gyro asked. He’d long given up working on anything while having this conversation, and was watching Dr. Von Drake on his desktop monitor while picking at the feathers on his left wrist. “I know you’re Mr. McDuck’s brother-in-law, but it’s still using company resources for a personal project.”

“Pish-tosh! Don’t worry about it so much, my boy. After all, are you debugging Boyd on a personal computer, or are you using McDuck resources to do it?”

“I am using the McDuck lab equipment,” Gyro admitted grudgingly. “I’ve been here so long, I always think of it as my lab equipment. I do a lot of work here that isn’t strictly for Mr. McDuck, but this is different.”

“How so?”

“Those other things I work on are never anything this important,” Gyro said. “Like using the laser cutter to cut out pieces when I was making myself a suit of armor, or when I made myself a new headset. I designed it on my workstation using my company edition of CAD and printed it with the 3D printer after hours. I bought my own filament and used that for the build, but it’s a small project, and if Mr. McDuck wanted to copyright the design and mass produce them, it wouldn’t matter, even if I just designed it for my personal use.

“2BO is different,” Gyro continued. “Both the chassis and the programming are proprietary designs that belong to Akita International.”

“That company went bankrupt and ceased to exist years ago,” Dr. Von Drake pointed out. “You don’t expect them to show up on your doorstep and demand custody of 2BO, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Gyro admitted, wincing as he tugged a feather loose from his wrist. He set it down on his desk and crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to stop picking at himself. “Dr. Akita is in jail, but he does still have living family. And there could possibly be old creditors that might come after 2BO if they realize it’s still functional. Anyway, what I’m really concerned about is that if I send the data through the McDuck Enterprises system, then they’ll have legal grounds to claim the data as theirs.”

“Please, Scroogey wouldn’t do something like that!” Dr. Von Drake said.

“Mr. McDuck might not, but the company absolutely would,” Gyro said, recalling his many unpleasant encounters with the McDuck Enterprises’ Board of Directors. “I’ll ship it to you overnight on a jump drive. You can tell me what you think of it when it arrives.”

“Alright, alright. But back to the subject at hand, you were talking about the hardware and software that your android runs on.”

“Right. 2BO’s hardware is a combination of chemical and crystal processors operating a GIST framework, using a program derived from the FELT system.”

“Ahh, like TOODLES! You remember TOODLES from when you worked here, don’t you? He’s built on crystal microprocessors and a GIST framework as well.”

Unfortunately Gyro did remember TOODLES, the omnipresent AI that controlled Dr. Von Drake’s lab at McDuck castle in Scotland. It wasn’t that there was anything particularly wrong with TOODLES, but the AI had been designed as a caretaker, a nanny of sorts, and it tended to treat everyone it came into contact with like a child. It got on Gyro’s nerves very quickly.

“I do remember TOODLES,” Gyro said, as diplomatically as possible. “I didn’t realize it shared the same architecture as 2BO. I guess I never really looked under the hood.” In truth, Gyro had avoided TOODLES whenever possible in the seven years he’d worked for Dr. Von Drake.

“And that’s a shame, TOODLES is quite the complex fellow. He’s even older than your 2BO, born in 1980.”

“Activated. You mean activated in 1980,” Gyro corrected, but to no avail as Dr. Von Drake simply continued on.

“However, I think the primary difference is that TOODLES has absolutely no conflict programming, as he is not a weapon, and that he has never been on his own. When he learns new things, I’m right here to help him through it, and to make sure TOODLES has properly understood whatever his new experience was. 2BO, I assume, has many different layers of programming, from his weapons systems to navigation to human interaction. Living on his own for twenty years with no one to help him properly understand the things he has experienced, well, I’m sure his code looks like a big plate of spaghetti by now!”

Two days later, Gyro received an email from Dr. Von Drake.

NEXT CHAPTER: Dr. Bara Summary: Fenton and Boyd chat on the way to the lab. Gyro introduces himself in the most melodramatic way possible, and Dr. Bara meets everyone at McDuck Enterprises R&D. Dr. Bara starts assessing Boyd and things get worse before they get better. Gyro thinks he's helping.

#ducktales #ducktales fanfic #gyro gearloose #b.o.y.d.#fenton crackshell cabrera #my art #fanfiction #the first law of robotics #fanfic

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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years ago

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ORGANIC STARTUP INVESTING TRENDS

Not only did we have to memorize state capitals instead of playing dodgeball? Several of the most important problems in their field.1 Another approach would be to let that opportunity slip. We were supposed to read novels and write essays about them. Stuff used to be valuable, and now it's not. For the average user, is far fewer bugs. They make such great stuff. There is always a big time lag in prestige. And jeans turn out not to want. They're going to walk up to the software, listening closely to the users as you do. With server-based software is never going to be something you write, yes. And later stage investors?

Many of the students who now major in English would major in writing if they could, and most founders of successful ones do. I think will be an orderly way for people to quit. Partly because they can afford. It's the concluding remarks to the jury. A typical desktop software company that had over 100 people working in it. A better way to describe this situation is to say that a hacker about to write a prototype that solves a subset of the problem. A programmer can leave the office and typing into vt100s. Even if you're designing something for idiots, the odds are that you're not designing something good, even for idiots. Buildings to be constructed from stone were tested on a smaller scale. It was written by two different people. We found that you don't have to work for a long time and could only travel vicariously. Relentlessness wins because, in the very phrase software company.

By the end of the continuum are languages like Ada and Pascal, models of propriety that are good for teaching and not much else. So instead of copying the Facebook, with some variation that the Facebook rightly ignored, look for problems and imagine the company that might solve them. It's a rare startup that doesn't build something the founders use. Then it struck me: this is the right model for collaboration in software too. Some people are lucky enough to know what they want either. So anything we could do to get more people through the test drive. But more than half the households in the US. They weren't tempted by the minor perquisites of power. In fact the dangers of deciding what programmers are allowed to want. And then at the other makers.

A programming language does need a good implementation, of course, but when they do get paged at 4:00 AM, they don't use sentences any more complex than they do when talking about what to have for lunch. A programming language is good as a programming language.2 Is software a counterexample? How did she get into this fix? Most users probably don't. The only external test is time. In the summer of 2005, most of the advantages of being able to do the unpleasant jobs.

When I say that design must be for users, I don't mean to disparage Yahoo. And people don't learn Python because it will get them a job; they learn it because they can't help it.3 You don't know yet. And they are also different lengths, meaning that the arguments won't line up when they're called, as car and cdr often are, in theory, explaining yourself to someone else instead of being pasted onto it like a pilot scanning the instrument panel, not like a detective trying to unravel some mystery. I want to go straight there, blustering through obstacles, and hand-waving your way across swampy ground. This article describes the surprising things we saw, as some of the work they do. For example, the good china so many households have, and Jessica does too, mostly, because she's gotten into sync with us. If you want people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.

There's a lot to like I've done a few things, like programmers and writers. The other reason Apple should care what programmers think of them, we either try to remove it, or shift the startup sideways. If you raised five million and ran out of ideas. Which makes them exactly the kind of problems that have to be Web-based software gives you unprecedented information about their behavior. Search for a few months. You don't have to watch the servers every minute after the first year or so, but you can write the first version of a tree that in the past has had false starts branching off all over it. It wasn't that they were just good enough. What's going on here? VCs miss good startups all the time? And you don't want to.

What's going on here? And programmers build applications for the platforms they use. I was told I shouldn't mention founders of YC-funded companies in this list. No one, VC or angel, has invested in more of the world's great programmers are born outside the US. Fixing a bug in your code corrupts some data on disk, you have to remember to do something. The classic startup is fast and informal, with few people and little money.4 You should be able to look at it. Platform is a vague word.

Programming languages are not theorems. It's a rare startup that doesn't build something the founders use.5 If you administer the servers, it will work anywhere the Web works. For the first week or so we intended to make this point diplomatically, but in effect I had two workdays each day, one on the maker's: office hours. With Web-based application will be a collection of utilities for generating reports, and only evolved into a programming language to have, say, $2 million, they generally expect to offer a significant amount of help along with the money; the only question is how much on what terms.6 There's always something coming on the next hour working on something, they want to do now. The more people you have, the more stuff they seem to have worked alone. It works a lot better for a small team of good, trusted programmers than it would for a big company, they were exceptional. But the fact is, almost anyone would rather, at any given moment, float about in the Carribbean, or have sex, or eat, or even to use the shift key much. Leonardo painted the portrait of Ginevra de Benci in the National Gallery, he put a juniper bush behind her head. Another thing you want in a throwaway program itself. She came to the startup world, things change so rapidly that you can't make yourself care.

Notes

99,—. At the seed stage our valuation was in a deal led by a big VC firm or they see of piracy is simply what they are so different from money raised in an era of such regulations is to get the rankings they want to avoid companies that seem excusable according to certain somewhat depressing rules many of the next one will be interesting to 10,000 people or so and we ran into Muzzammil Zaveri, and how unbelievably annoying it is to hand off the task to companies via internship programs. No one writing a dictionary to pick your brains.

The existence of people, how little autonomy one would have gotten away with dropping Java in the computer, the best ways to avoid collisions in.

Joe thinks one of his peers will get funding, pretty much regardless of how hard it is to imagine that there were no strong central governments. This is one of few they had no government powerful enough to absorb that.

More precisely, the group of picky friends who proofread almost everything I say in principle 100,000 or a blog that tried to unload it on buyer after buyer. The Wouldbegoods. More precisely, the average reader that they kill you, you can't dictate the problem and approached it with superficial decorations.

What makes most suburbs so demoralizing is that they've already decided what they're really saying is they want both. I'm not saying you should push back on industrialization at the valuation should be easy to believe your whole future depends on the grounds that a their applicants come from meditating in an equity round.

Words this way would be vulnerable both to attack and abuse.

Thanks to Steve Huffman, Trevor Blackwell, Harj Taggar, Erann Gat, and Geoff Ralston for their feedback on these thoughts.

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shilkaren · 4 years ago

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How Do I Start My Data Science Career?

I would say that my data science learning path was fairly traditional. I did my undergrad in economics and have master’s degrees in global commerce and computer science (concentration in machine learning and artificial intelligence). I learned my business acumen from my coursework during my commerce degree and picked up most of the technical elements from my master’s in CS. I had a data science internship, and I was on my way. Looking back, there was nothing wrong with my path, but knowing what I do now, what would I change about my learning journey? This question is particularly relevant for people that are new to the field. Many things have changed since I started. Positions are more competitive and there are far more learning options. I would hope that my experience could help others learn data science faster, more completely, and give them better job opportunities.

I will caveat this article by saying that learning is a little bit different for everyone. My word is not gospel, and there is a good chance that you will find something that works a little bit better for you. Still, I hope this is a good foundation from which to build off. I hope it instills in you the big picture priorities that are relevant when learning this field. This article focuses more on how to learn than on where to learn (courses, boot camps, degrees, etc.). I recommend these two articles for specific courses and online resources for learning the field.

If I had to start learning Data Science again, how would I do it? (Santiago Viquez Segura)

My Self-Created Artificial Intelligence Masters Degree (Daniel Bourke)

For Those Who Would Prefer The Video Version:

Lesson 1: Break it down

When I first started learning data science I was overwhelmed with the size of the field. I had to learn programming languages and concepts from statistics, linear algebra, calculus, etc. When I was confronted with this many options, I didn’t know where to start. Fortunately for me, I had coursework to guide my studies. The degrees that I did broke down many of the concepts into smaller chunks (classes) so they were digestible. While this worked for me, I find that schools have a one-size-fits-all approach to this. They also include many extraneous classes that you don’t actually need. If I could go back, I could definitely break my data science learning journey into chunks better suited for me. Before diving into data science, it makes sense to understand the components that are used in the field. Rather than breaking things into “courses”, you can make data science into even smaller and more digestible chunks. I generally break data science into programming and math. Programming — familiarity with Python and/or R

Variables

Loops

Functions

Objects

Packages (pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, sklearn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc.)

Math Statistics

Probability theory

Regression (linear, multiple linear, ridge, lasso, random forest, SVM, etc.)

Classification (naive Bayes, knn, decision tree, random forest, SVM, etc.)

Clustering (k means, hierarchical)

Linear Algebra Calculus By breaking data science down into its components, you transform it from being an abstract concept into concrete steps.

Lesson 2: Start somewhere

When I was starting out, I was obsessed with learning things in the “correct” sequence. After entering the field, I found that many data scientists learned their skills in drastically different orders. I met Ph.D.’s that had studied math first, and only learned the programming concepts after taking a Bootcamp. I also met software engineers that were incredible programmers and learned math later through self-study and application.I now realize that it is most important to start somewhere, preferably with a topic you are interested in. I found that learning is additive. If you learn one thing, you are not forgoing learning another concept. If I had to go back, I would start with the concepts that were most interesting for me at the time. Once you learn a single concept, you can build on that knowledge to understand others. For example, if you learn a simple linear regression, multiple linear regression is a fairly easy step. Still, I probably wouldn’t jump right in and start with deep learning. It helps to start small and simple and build on that foundation.

Lesson 3: Build Minimum Viable Knowledge (MVK)

Over time, I’ve had a change of opinion about how much foundational knowledge you need. After experiencing many different types of learning myself, I believe that learning by doing real-world projects is the most effective way to grasp a field. I think that you should understand just enough of these concepts to be able to start exploring your own projects. This is where minimum viable knowledge comes into play. You should start by learning just enough to be able to learn through doing. This stage is fairly hard to identify. Generally, you will feel like you aren’t ready when you first get here. This is a good thing though, it means that you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. You can reach this stage fairly easily. I think you can get to this level of knowledge with every introductory online course, and I generally recommend the micro-courses at kaggle.com. To get to this step, all you really need to understand is the basics of python or R and have a familiarity with the packages used. You can start learning math later by applying some of the algorithms to real-world data.

Lesson 4: Get your hands dirty

With your basic knowledge, I recommend getting into projects as quickly as possible. Again, this sounds scary, but a project is all about how you define it. At the early stages, a project could be something as simple as experimenting with a for a loop. As you progress, you can graduate to projects using data on Kaggle, and eventually using data that you have collected. I am a HUGE believer that the best way to learn data science is to do data science. I think that the theory is VERY important, but no one says that you have to understand it all before you start applying it. The theory is something you can go back to after you have a functional understanding of the algorithms. For me, real-world examples were always what made things click. If you start with the real-world examples through projects, I think things have a far higher chance of things “clicking” when you start learning the theory. Projects also have the power to make data science smaller. One of the biggest challenges I see for new learners is that the field of data science can be overwhelming. Confining the things you are learning to the size of a small project allows you to break things down even further than you did in Lesson 1. Projects offer one additional benefit. They give you immediate feedback on where you need to improve. If you are working on a project and you run into a roadblock about what package, algorithm, or visual to use, you now know that you should probably study that area of the field further.

Lesson 5: Learn from other people’s code

While doing your own projects is great, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. I highly recommend going through the code of more experienced data scientists to get ideas about what to learn next and to better understand logic or syntax. On Kaggle and GitHub there are thousands (maybe millions) of kernels where people have shared the code that they used to analyze datasets. Going through these is a great way to complement your projects. I recommend making a list of the packages, algorithms, and visuals that you see being used. You should go to the documentation for the packages and expand your knowledge there. They almost always have examples in the docs for how they should be used. Again, this list can be used to help you think of new project ideas and experiments.

Lesson 6: Build algorithms from scratch

This is a rite of passage for most data scientists. After you have applied an algorithm and understand how it works in practice, I recommend trying to code it from scratch. This helps you to better understand the underlying math and other mechanisms that make it work. When doing this, you will undoubtedly have to learn the theory behind it as well. I personally think that learning in this direction is far more intuitive than trying to master the theory and then apply it. This is the approach that fastai has taken with their free MOOC. I highly recommend it if you are interested in deep learning. For this, I generally recommend starting with linear regression. This will help you to better understand gradient descent, which is an extremely important concept to build on. As you advance your data science career further, I think theory becomes increasingly important. You bring value by matching the correct algorithm to the problem. The theory associated with the algorithm greatly facilitates this process.

Lesson 7: Never stop learning

The beauty of the data science journey is that it never ends. You will need to keep learning to stay on top of new packages and advancements in the field. I recommend doing this through (you guessed it) more projects. I also recommend continuing with the code review and reading new research that is published. This is more of a mindset recommendation than anything practical. If you think that there is a pinnacle, you are in for a surprise!

Insideaiml is one of the best platforms where you can learn Python, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & showcase your knowledge to the outside world.

#ai #artificial intelligence #datascience #data scientist

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dramamirror7-blog · 5 years ago

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List Of Tools For Static Code Evaluation.

Java Tester Jobs In London

#toc background: #f9f9f9;border: 1px solid #aaa;display: table;margin-bottom: 1em;padding: 1em;width: 350px; .toctitle font-weight: 700;text-align: center;

Content

Qualified Software Test Automation Designer.

Automation Testing Resources.

Test Automation With Selenium Webdriver.

Leading Tips For Discovering Java Programming.

Enhance provides this training in home as well as tailored to your specific scenario or needs upon demand. There's no far better method to find out than by doing, so you'll exist with a range of hands-on exercises throughout this training course. what circumstances are suitable for applying which techniques and tools. We might be looking for you if you like publications as well as enjoy to develop awesome items. To ask various other readers inquiries aboutJava For Testers, please register.

To see what your close friends thought about this book, please join. Software Tester, audio speaker as well as trainer at Friendly Testing. I hope you taken pleasure in reading this sample of "Java For Testers" by Alan Richardson.

Do you need math for Java?

There are several ways by which you can learn JAVA within a week. I feel that since JAVA is an Object oriented programming language just like C++. If you are fully thorough with all the OOPS concepts that you have learned in C++,then I am 100% sure that you can learn JAVA within 2 to 3 days itself.

Qualified Software Program Examination Automation Designer.

However this one got me started, and I still find it clear as well as simple. But occasionally as a tester we have to work with pre-compiled libraries, without source code, as well as usage parts of the code base out of context. This publication assisted change my coding design, as well as just how I come close to the building of abstraction layers. Other publications that cover comparable topics consist of "Clean Code" by Robert C. Martin, and "The Pragmatic Developer" by Andrew Search and David Thomas.

Automation Testing Resources.

Things are various, we instantiate them, so the two Integer variables both describe various things. Despite the fact that they have the same 'value', they are different things. Well, primitives are simple and also there is no distinction between value and also identity for primitives. I'll illustrate with a code instance, why the experienced designers are worried. You might not recognize the next few paragraphs yet, yet I just want to give you a little detail regarding why one Integer, or one Object, does not always equivalent one more Things.

Gradually I will certainly include videos and also details to JavaForTesters.com to show more performance with IntelliJ that I do not have area to include in this publication. er zijn anderen can assist you learn the fundamentals of IntelliJ very swiftly. This is very valuable for rapidly providing mvn commands or any one of the various other terminal commands pointed out in this publication. This can do partial matching, so you don't need to type in the full name of the class. I look at every one of those in this appendix for simple referral, and include some added details on using IntelliJ with this publication.

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Test Automation With Selenium Webdriver.

Yet I discovered "Execution Patterns" even more suitable as well as helpful to my job. " Implementation Patterns" by Kent Beck clarifies some of the mind involved in composing specialist code. When I first reviewed it, I located it hefty going, because I really did not have adequate experience or knowledge to comprehend it all. Yet I re-read it, as well as have actually continued to re-read it over the time I have actually created my Java experience.

" Effective Java" by Joshua Bloch, at the time of composing in its second Version. This publication helps novices and also progressed programmers. Due to the fact that they are a very individual thing, I do not advise a great deal of Java books. There are publications that people rave about that I could not get my head around. And also there are those that I like that individuals despise.

A connected listing is a straight collection of information components where each aspect indicate the following.

It is utilized when we require to accessibility items by their secrets.

It is usually utilized for innovative situations where we need fast access to the next component, or when we need to eliminate a component from anywhere in the collection.

Many modern-day programs languages automate this process; nonetheless, it must still be a vital consideration when applying an application.

It is an information framework consisting of a collection of nodes which together represent a sequence.

Leading Tips For Understanding Java Programs.

And each time I review it, I find a new subtlety, or a deeper understanding of the principles. Each, rather brief, but dense in their coverage and also discussion. Java developers develop a great deal of knowledge concerning their language from other designers.

I hope you'll continue to find out more as well as put it to utilize on your projects. You will certainly be servicing projects, and also the kind of collections you are using, as well as the technological domain that you are servicing, may require various strategies than those pointed out in this publication. I suggest you start with the videos and books recommended here, yet also ask your team friends. John's approach is geared around writing programs, as well as I assume that if you have actually currently completed this book, you will certainly benefit from the conventional programmer based protection that John provides.

The two day training stresses hands on exercises and also task. It is possible to run this as an eventually Summary Of Java version yet this significantly reduces the moment spent on study code and also time for exercises.

In the previous phase we said that an int ranged from, to.Integer has static constants MIN_VALUE as well as MAX_VALUE. To access a continuous, you don't need to include parenthesis since you are accessing a variable, and not calling a method. Along with being static areas, these are likewise constants, in that you can not transform them. The naming convention for constants is to make use of only uppercase, with _ as the word delimiter.

Is Java a good career choice?

Similar to COBOL, thousands of critical enterprise systems have been written in Java and will need to be maintained and enhanced for decades to come. I'd be surprised if it's not around for at least another 15 years. But it will change, and is changing.

Integer has a static technique called toHexString which takes an int as criterion, this returns the int as a String formatted in hex. We can benefit from a Java attribute called 'autoboxing' which was introduced in Java variation 1.5. Autoboxing will instantly transform from a primitive kind to the connected class instantly. In the variations of Java that we will certainly be using, we do not in fact need to instantiate the Integer course with the new key phrase.

What is Java used for?

The simple answer is: no, coding is not hard to learn. If you take the time and have a little patience, you can really learn just about anything–coding is no exception. Learning to code takes time and persistence, but if you have that, then coding is not hard to learn.

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Can I learn Java after Python?

There are numerous reasons why Java continues to be a leader in the world of development and why it is still a language worth learning in 2020. Although Java's many benefits and capabilities make it a very diverse language, it is actually fairly easy to learn and master for developers of all skill levels.

I have actually checked out a few of them, and John supplies example coding for a number of the products covered in this book, as well as in the "Advancing Ideas" section. We didn't cover the full power of Normal Expressions in this publication. You can normally select this up fairly inexpensively used. There are various other publications that cover decompiling, reverse engineering and also reflection.

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tomeandflickcorner · 5 years ago

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Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Aint NASA-sarily So

Okay. This episode? It nearly broke me.

The episode starts out in space, aboard Experimental Space Platform Galileo. The crew of the Galileo consists of Captain Ivan Kirov, Lieutenant Irahqua, Lieutenant Commander McTavish, Lieutenant Dostoyevsky Sato and Yeoman Whitney. Right away, it’s painfully obvious that we’re looking at an unapologetic Star Trek parody, as the whole crew of the Galileo are unmistakable spoofs of the original crew of the Enterprise. Captain Kirov is a combination of Kirk and Chekov (well, that’s a weird combo), Irahqua is Uhura, McTavish is Montgomery Scott, Sato is clearly Sulu and Whitney is Janice Rand.

Anyway, it’s the Galileo Crew’s second day of their current mission, and it appears everything is smooth sailing. Until alarm bells begin going off. It appears something has collided with the space platform. Moments later, both McTavish and Whitney enter the bridge to inform Kirov that they think they’ve just seen a ghost. Obviously, there’s only one solution to this- spend millions of dollars in government money to send the Ghostbusters up to the space platform via space shuttle. And it’s here, dear readers, that my brain crashed. And not just because we’re seeing the Ghostbusters piloting a space shuttle (because who needs astronaut training, amiright?) According to this episode, the Ghostbusters coexist in the same reality as a Star Trek-esque crew. But we saw in the episode Station Identification that there’s also a Star Trek parody TV show in The Real Ghostbuster’s universe. So, in other words, this episode is telling us that, not only do they have a Star Trek-like television program in this show’s universe, but there’s also an actual Star Trek-like crew roaming about space at the same time. Yeah, Star Trek’s a great show. I like it as much as the next person. But COME ON! It is possible to have an overkill of Star Trek parodies.

Upon arriving at Space Platform Galileo, the Ghostbusters are greeted by Kirov. And yes, this scene is overflowing with Star Trek jokes, with Winston commenting on how the crew looks familiar and Peter saying that they’re space explorers busy with ‘exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations.’ (Don’t bother keeping a count of how many Star Trek jokes they squeeze out in this episode. I guarantee your Star Trek Joke Meter will overheat and explode relatively quickly.)

Egon, upon checking his PKE Meter, determines that he does have a reading on an ectoplasmic entity, but that it consists of ‘empty ectoplasm.’ Meaning it doesn’t give off any psychokinetic energy and therefore isn’t a real ghost. Almost instantly after he says this, the lights on the space platform go off. Sato announces that the Creature has attached itself to the solar energy converter and is draining the space platform’s energy. So McTavish brings the Ghostbusters down to engineering, where they find the Creature, which is a large tentacle monster with multiple eyes and mouths. For some reason, Peter makes a comment about never wanting to put marshmallows in his hot chocolate again, which seems like a strange thing to say, as the Creature looks nothing like a marshmallow. And we also get McTavish making yet another Star Trek joke by saying that the way Egon talks reminds him of ‘an old shipmate.’ Basically comparing Egon to Mr. Spock.

The Ghostbusters then prepare to fire their Proton Packs at the Creature, but this only results in the Creature growing even larger, as it’s able to feed off the energy of the Ion Streams. To make it worse, the Creature then begins to feed on the energy in the ship’s anti-gravity unit, so the Ghostbusters begin to float in midair for a bit. Until the Creature decides that it liked the taste of the Ghostbuster’s Ion Streams a bit more and ends up going after the Proton Packs instead. The Creature proceeds to chase after the Ghostbusters and soon manages to catch Winston. And, for some reason, the others don’t seem to notice Winston’s cries, so they don’t realize they lost Winston until Peter happens to look back. (Not very observant of the three team members with actual Ph.Ds.) Fortunately, Winston is able to slip out of his Proton Pack, allowing him to get away unharmed.

The Ghostbusters then return to the bridge to fill in Kirov on what happened. And Kirov is not happy that they haven’t been able to stop the Creature. Especially when the lights once again go off, with Sato announcing the Creature has begun feeding off the ship’s life support systems. Thankfully, McTavish is able to tap into the space platform’s emergency reserves for power, but this only has bought them a bit more time, and they only have four hours to deal with the Creature before the emergency reserves run out. But the Ghostbusters are not quite sure what to do, especially since the Creature has grown to be too big for the Ghost Traps they have on hand. Winston comes up with the idea of trying to communicate with the Creature, as it could be intelligent enough to be reasoned with. But this doesn’t really go anywhere.

Thankfully, Ray seems to have an idea of his own. This idea involves McTavish switching off the power for the space platform for a bit. With the power switched off, the Ghostbusters can lure the Creature to the center of the platform with the energy of their Ion Streams. Rather like a carrot on a stick. Ray initially tries to rope Winston into being the bait, but Egon manages to come to Winston’s defense by pointing out that, considering this is Ray’s plan, he should be the one to act as bait, to ensure it all goes well. Ray’s plan ultimately works, and the Creature is successfully lured into the center of the space platform. And, even though it didn’t seem to work before, their Proton Packs are now able to work on the Creature, holding it in place and allowing the Ghostbusters to capture it within four separate Ghost Traps. Not exactly clear why the Proton Packs were effective now when they only seemed to be feeding the Creature before, but whatever. It’s the final few minutes of the episode, so they have to wrap it up somehow.

But of course, they can’t have the episode end without churning out a few more Star Trek jokes, with Kirov stating that they’re on a five year mission and Irahqua saying that Egon really does remind her of a certain pointy-eared science officer. (Yes, okay. Egon is like Spock. We get it.)

Oh, this episode. It just made me cringe. Look, I have no problem with spoofs. I love movies like Spaceballs, Men in Tights and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But there’s a certain point where a joke stops being funny and it feels more like they’re bashing you over the head with it. And that was what happened with this episode. Even when it first began, I couldn’t believe it was actually happening within the actual episode. I was sure the stuff with the Galileo was going to end up being revealed as just a show or movie someone was watching. But when I realized that it was actually happening, I’m pretty sure I groaned internally. Combine that with the fact that we’d previously established in the episode Station Identification that there already was an in-universe show that parodied Star Trek, and my brain short-circuited.

In fact, I think the only good part of the episode was the Creture itself. During the episode, Egon determines that it had the same basic ectoplasmic makeup of a Class 4 Free Floating Spirit, but the PKE Meter couldn’t detect any psychokinetic energy emanating from the creature. So, does that mean we were dealing with the ghost of an Alien lifeform? For a basis of comparison, let’s look at the 2001 movie, Evolution. Yes, I know some people might not consider Evolution to be a good movie, but I say it was an entertaining popcorn flick. (Also, it was directed by Ivan Reitman, who also directed the original two Ghostbusters movies. So that alone makes it relevant.) Anyway, in that movie, it was determined that the Alien monsters were nitrogen-based organisms rather than carbon-based like all organic life on Earth. So maybe that’s what was going on here. Maybe the reason why this particular creature didn’t seem to give off psychokinetic energy despite being an ectoplasmic entity was because the Ghostbusters’ equipment was designed around Earth-bound ghosts. But this was the ghost of something from off-planet. Can you imagine how awesome the episode could have gotten if they actually built on that? Think about it. The Ghostbusters have already essentially proven the possibility of life after death simply by proving the existence of ghosts. They could have also proven the existence of intelligent life on other planets, too! But alas, the writers were too busy throwing the endless Star Trek jokes at us to realize the potential. Talk about a missed opportunity!

(Click her for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

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seasaltmemories · 6 years ago

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Mors Debitionem Onem Retribuit: Chapter 1

Rating: T

Summary: The year is 1897, and Alm Schafer is just another university student looking to find his place in the world. However, when his studies take him into foreign lands, he finds himself in the strangest manor he has ever encountered. From the maid's too large eyes to the cook's fondness for knives, what ties them all together is their mysterious mistress: Countess Celica Vaduva.

The Countess is many things: brooding, eccentric, capricious, yet also alluring. As the two are drawn together, Alm starts to wonder if the secrets lining her past just might be the key for understanding his own. Still all information comes with a price. The only question is if he'll regret paying it.

As Alm hugged his overcoat closer to his body, he couldn’t help but bemoan just how far from Ram Village he was.

Back when he had first left, gifted with Gray and Tobin’s teasing remarks and Grandpa’s warnings to carry him to the train station, Berlin had felt like the ends of the Earth. All he had to his name was a newly discovered yet dead father’s inheritance and a burning desire to learn. It was too much to waste away in the countryside, but the sheer volume of universities and libraries the capital had to offer him seemed like it might swallow him whole.

Yet here he was, in the heart of an entirely foreign country with nothing but a satchel and the clothes on his back to call his own.

It had seemed like such a romantic notion back in Berlin. When his professor had waxed the wonders of field research, the chance to engage with a living history and build an entirely new understanding of culture and society, he had wanted nothing more than to be a part of that. He had signed up for the program that day, ignoring Kliff’s letters questioning the practicality of such study or Faye’s worries for his safety. He was going to be a man of science, a pioneer of philosophy, and nothing like inconsistent funding and dubious travel plans was going to stop him.

But reading of Romania and navigating it were two very different things. Asking the locals for directions only revealed just how awkwardly his tongue curled around words he had thought he had known. Their rat-a-tat replies sent him diving for his translation dictionary with an embarrassing frequency. And with only the ever dimming autumn sun to light his way, he was becoming acutely aware of just how alone he was.

He had been lucky to find himself a carriage driver who knew the manor he was looking for. The fact he had charged double of what Alm had prepared to pay had been unfortunate, but he had been too eager to get out of the chilling winds to complain too much. If he had possessed half a mind, then perhaps he would have been prepared for the sight that laid before him once he arrived.

It seemed the estates here less resembled the clean and modern architecture he had grown familiar with in Berlin and more the ancient castles of fairy-tales. Vaduva Manor was a twisted labyrinth of spires and dark stone. He couldn’t imagine any man to have designed such a monstrosity. If he didn’t know better he might have convinced himself the place was some ancient, eldritch beast that had decided to rest on this cliff. It seemed primordial, alien to all conceptions of humanity.

It was only the whine of a horse that managed to bring him back to earth. Alm turned around just in time to see the carriage driver take off back down the hillside.

“Wait!” He ran after him. “Just give me five minutes--please don’t leave me alone!” But despite his cries, the most the driver gave him was a quick “God bless,” and the sign of the cross across his heart.

Alm felt his blood run cold. With a sigh, he mirrored the cross as well and turned to face the manor again.

It was hard to get out of that loop, stewing in the unfortunate turn of events. It was like his thoughts were a runaway train. There was a reason he had described the place as a sleeping beast. It seemed as if it had been untouched by humans for centuries. With the driver gone, he’d have to stay the night here no matter what, possibly doomed to wander an abandoned citadel home to dangerous creatures of all types, and oh why had he ever left Ram if this was all university was going to bring him?

With a surge of energy, he slammed the brakes on his thoughts by slamming the knocker against the door. The heavy thud echoed in his ears, consuming his mind until there was no room left for worry. All he could do was wait.

When the door opened, Alm finally remembered to breath. Quickly he reached for the speech he had prepared.

“Greetings...freends!” He cringed at his mispronunciation. “I have come to request an audience with the Count.” He glanced at the servant, hoping he had made a lick of sense. However instead of the old maid he was expecting, a young girl stood before him, staring.

“Excuse me?” That by now he had at least memorized. Alm had expected to be received in a variety of ways, with confusion or frustration, maybe even disgust, but he hadn’t expected this: a girl swallowed in amber-golden puffs of hair blankly assessing him.

“Count Lima Vaduva.” At this point he was trying to grasp at anything, provoke something in the maid, but her face stayed just as undisturbed. “Please I’m from Engel College you see. My adviser is Clive Herrmann. He told me the Vaduva’s have been benefactors of us in the past, so he might be interested in helping me with my current study and--”

“Count’s dead.” The servant girl voice came out in a slow wisp.

“Dead?” Alm whispered. It was only one word, but it managed to kill all his hopes in one fell swoop. A gust of wind tore through the slips of his overcoat, slithering across his bare skin. He wondered if he had ever been this cold in his life before--if he had even been so lost and alone.

“Yes dead.” The girl’s tone was firm, yet a furrowed brow marred her otherwise empty countenance. “Perhaps you would like to see the Countess?”

Relief flooded his veins, a more heady champagne than the bottle Python had stolen for the gang back during their first years. “Yes, thank you, thank you so much!”

As he was led inside the manor, he felt his nerves calm for the first time in days. The dim candlelight and finely furnished interior proved that the girl was not some ghost haunting an abandoned estate. With a polite yet professional briskness, the girl set him down in a parlor.

“Wait here.” With that she vanished into the rest of the manor without a sound.

Left to his own devices, Alm tried to study his surroundings, hoping it would put the strange exterior into context. After all the, um, eccentricities of the place probably had its own charm. He probably just had to get adjusted to its taste.

Looking at the parlor closely, he could tell that it had been decorated with both care and taste, even if it wasn’t his particular style. Although the more he thought about it, this style didn’t seem to look like anything that had been made in the past twenty years. So strange, usually the parlor was where a family displayed their finest dressings, but then these were probably antiques that had been handed out. Well then again he was just an uncultured country boy, that’s what Alm kept telling himself when he noticed the layer of dust coating the tables.

There was a creak, and he couldn’t help but flinch. Now that his eyes had adjusted from the darkness of outside, he realized just how much the candles left unlit. The corners of the room shifted with shadows. Obviously it was just do the flickering lights, not because there was something there. With a little more time he’d adjust to--

There was a tap on his shoulder, and it took all his willpower not to jump out of his skin. Slowly he turned to find that the girl from before had entered again without him knowing.

“Announcing the Right and Honorable mistress of the manor,” She fell into a deep curtsy. “The Countess Celica Vaduva.”

Immediately, Alm stood bowing just as fully.

“Your Ladyship...” It was only know that he was bent did he regret not pulling out his dictionary to practice this beforehand. “I am honoring to be in your pree--”

Before he could continue, a hand gripped his chin. As it lifted his face, he couldn’t help but gasp. Maybe it was the loneliness of his trip getting to him, but in that moment all he wanted to do was stare and take in the stranger that stood before him.

The Countess was beautiful, that much was obvious to anyone with seeing eyes. But Alm wasn’t a lecherous pervert, he had seen many pretty ladies and gone on his day without giving them a second though. Still for her simple, black silks, there was an unearthly grace to her entire silhouette. From how she held her elegant neck to the way her red curls fell gently across her shoulders to frame her face, it all moved him in a profound yet incomprehensible manner.

“Please don’t try that again.” Her nails scraped lightly against his jaw. “Do you speak German?” Her grasp of his mother-tongue was much more thorough than his of Romanian. What trace of an accent that lingered only gave her words a gentle, soothing lithe.

“German, yes, thank you!” God, even her speech was captivating. Her ruby red lips against her pale white skin were a striking contrast. He wanted to commit everything about them to his memory, from their shape to their texture.

With a jerk, Alm forced himself to look away. Swooning over a noblewoman was not the way to start his field research.

The Countess giggled. Her laughter was thick and weighty, like a warm cloak had suddenly been fastened to you. “My when Genny described you, I didn’t expect you to be quite so shy.” She laughed again, but before he could self-combust from her teasing she graciously let go of his face and moved to sit across from him. “I’m curious about what kind of creature would show up at my door at this hour. Pray tell what is your name?”

“Schafer--Alm Schafer.” He scrambled back to his seat, grateful to move back into familiar territory. “Engel College...Clive Herrmann, does any of that ring a bell for you?”

“Not a single chime.” She laced her fingers together.

“I was surprised to find out that the former Count is dead,” Alm couldn’t stop himself from thinking out loud. “If we hadn’t been under the impression he was still alive Professor Herrmann would have never sent me to disturb his...” He trailed off once he realized he had no clue just who in fact this woman was.

“Daughter. I’m his daughter. Forgive me for not informing the entire world about his death while I have been grieving.” Her apologetic tilt of her head did nothing to hide the bitterness of her words.

“Oh, no, no, I understand that is was just a miscommunication error, please--”

“--Pardon me, Mr. Schafer, but all I really care to know is why you are here.” The Countess huffed. “I’m a busy woman, and you can’t ever regained wasted time.”

Alm took a deep breath. This had not been how he had anticipated his proposal going. It was all moving so much faster than he had prepared, banking on Count Lima’s pride as a patron to secure him a fortnight or so as he eased him into the idea of his research. Yet his sharp daughter had yet to turn him down. He had to adapt and make use of what goodwill he had if he truly cared about his studies.

“I’m very fascinated by aristocracy--” Alm tried to find words that would make sense to someone unfamiliar with academia. “--particularly in how it functions in newly-born modern nation such as Romania, and how the nation-state in turn influences the aristocracy.”

“I see.” The Countess said as if she clearly did not understand. “I’m not sure when Wallachia stopped being Wallachia, but I can tell you are a pupil of sorts, however peculiar you are.”

“See that’s what I’m talking about!” Alm leaned forward, carried away by the insight. “My research is all about learning what people like you think and why you feel that way. The past and present are not two separate planes but shape one another constantly. You must understand both to even approach one. Getting to observe your daily life, talking with you about various issues, why even just being allowed to access your family trees would make me the most blessed of scholars!” He fiddled through his satchel for his coin purse. “I know it is strange to request room and board before it is offered, but I can compensate you. Please understand that I come with nothing but sincere intellectual curiosity. Your compliance could help us expand our understanding of humanity like never before.”

The Countess was quiet, entwined hands hiding her expression. He didn’t quite understand what, if anything, had changed about her in their short time together, yet it still seemed as if something had soured between the two of them. The rancid odor of the faux pas seemed to consume the entire room.

“You play the ingenue quite well, Mr. Schafer, but I also see the true fox that hides behind your eyes.” There was a raspy quality to her voice now. “You come to a maiden’s abode at sunset, begging to know her. To turn you away from shelter at this time would be completely unexpected, a monster’s choice. You’re only mistake though was assuming that I couldn’t be cruel.”

She looked back up at him, those enchanting red lips quirked in a sly grin. “So tell me again Mr. Schafer. Why should I invite you into my humble home?”

Panic settled into his skin. When she put things like that, he did sound like quite the rake, asking to live with an unmarried woman. His first instinct was to try and defend his character, but the Countess gaze was so intense it left him speechless. Why was he here? He knew the steps that had carried him from Berlin to her doorstep, but now with an outsider’s eye, his actions seemed that of a madman’s. Disturbed, Alm cradled his temple. He was trying his best to string his thoughts together, but his mind was like a fogged moor. All he could do was wander it aimlessly as the shadows in the room seemed to grow larger and larger.

And yet just when he was sure they would swallow him, the Countess’ voice managed to dispel the darkness with just a word.

“It was wise of you to not try and deceive me. I have no need for your money, but honesty is quite the rarity.” She stood. “You may stay and conduct your odd research, but by it’s end you must convince me why I have also profited. If I find your answer lacking well--” She smiled, but something about the action was wrong. The vast whiteness of her teeth seemed as if it might devour him whole. “--I’ll suggest my own payment.”

Before he could respond, the Countess had already turned her back to him. “Genny can show you to your guest room. I suggest you retire soon. You’ll find Wallachian nights are often best avoided.”

After the constant back and forth his heart had endured, Alm find it difficult to muster much of a reaction at all for the rest of the evening. Even when the maid and her too quiet steps guided him into another equally alien and dark room, he found sleep was all that could move him.

But before dreamland could claim him, he remembered his journal. He had only gained it recently for this trip, but without proper notes, all his travels would be for naught. Dutifully, he tried to record the day’s events in as neutral and objective manner as possible. Yet when it came time to describe the Countess, he found his mind wandering.

Her eyes were the most exotic of shades. Even know I struggle to name the particular hue. They were likely a unique shade of brown, one that would be perceived differently depending on the lightning.

They were quite stunning, sometimes even appearing to be red.

A.N. Happy Halloween! To celebrate I decided to give these two a vampire au to have some Gothic fun, expect heavy shout-outs to Dracula and general nerdiness!

#celicalm #alm fire emblem #celica #fe echoes #fire emblem echoes #otp: I'll send a storm to capture your heart and bring you home #alm #ships and deserts and swamps oh my #my lame writing #mdor au

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osvalor-blog · 5 years ago

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VIDEO MARKETING: SHOULD WE CARE?

The world is fast-growing thanks to data, we are able to make use of the diverse opportunities we’ve and that includes in the marketing world. Marketing plans first started with traditional marketing (from paper prints to radio ads, to TV commercials and so on), then the digital innovation took over, and we’ve got our digital marketing plan. So the marketing world evolved into so many plans, which involve different strategies and approaches. Video marketing made waves in the 2010s, and now it’s widely considered as one of the most efficient and productive marketing tactics used.

Online video making/production This is part of an integrated marketing communications plan (IMC), video marketing is the use of video to market or promotes or create awareness of a brand, product or services. This marketing plan is designed to increase the internet or social engagement using video content. With platforms like YouTube and Facebook and Twitter leading the market, video marketing is considered as the leader. FACT ABOUT VIDEO MARKETING Did you know? That 70% of businesses make use of video marketing, and video marketing is considered as part of their main strategy towards engagement with the audience.YouTube is a leader, in terms of conversion and engagement 92% of shoppers say visuals are the most influential factor affecting purchase decisionsConsumers find videos marketing engaging and understanding Video marketing takes advantage of all other marketing tactics that reside within the digital and content plan. This plan can be seen as a toolbox in digital marketing that benefits from casting influencers. But why do marketers and brands love this plan? The marketing world is not different from the normal social world, we all know of. What makes the marketing world spectacle is that it’s a place where competition rules the day. The marketing world is a place where you see Marvel and DC competing, Adidas and Nike competing. In marketing brands and industries use videos to appeal to their consumers, and also to raise awareness of their new product. WHY VIDEO MARKETING- CONVERSION, SALE, and TRAFFIC: Bloggers increase their level of engagement using video content, and that in turn increases their web visibility in the search engine ranking page (SERP). Having a video on your landing page increases your conversion rate by 80%. Did you know that products are sold using videos, how? Simple, whenever an explainer-video is created by a brand, and viewed by the audience. The views are considered as sales, meaning that brands get paid by the video sales they make, and YouTube said 4.6 billion ads are watched every year.

this is an infographic EASY STARTUP: Some may ask, ‘how hard is it, to start-up video marketing’? But the answer is ‘starting up a video marketing, is easy and has a fast behavioral response’. This is what I mean, venturing into this plan, depends on individual perspective. You can choose ‘going to the studio to create some content’, or creating it on your own using a few pieces of equipment. When video content is uploaded to any video platform, consumers’ behavior takes place (they either like the video or dislike it, that the fast response). BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP: In any marketing plan, building a relationship with your audience is the foundation of sales. Believe me; you can’t make sales without conversion. Not all visitors are are unique, an audience is unique visitors who are ready to take online action towards a certain product. Making sales is not a problem, but might be when there is no relationship with the audience. For instance, ClickBank is a brand that invests in affiliate programs and make sales, but still, they make video contents that answer the audience FAQ (frequently asked questions). Trying to boost and maintain their relationship with their consumers or customers. The reason why most websites do not have much conversion rate is that they haven’t created this sense of individual approach in their customers. Creating a sense of individual approach helps build confidence and trust. Did you know that 59% of consumers say that video is the reason for every one of their purchases done online, and 36% of users trust video ads? oh yeah that's true, just check it out MOBILE USERS: Did you know that Smartphone users are twice likely to watch videos and 1.3 times more likely as TV viewers and desktop viewers respectively? The way a video is perceived depends on the consumer behavior and experience they share with the brand. YouTube is known as the ‘HOUSE OF VIDEOS’ with a whopping 2.2 billion audience, making it the biggest video platform. With billions of videos posted online and thousands of reactions, brands try to make their videos appealing to users. In order to get a positive response (engaging), and not considered boring. And besides, 92% of consumers share videos with their fellow consumers, in the latest YouTube report, it shows that mobile video consumption rises at least 100% every year. A MILLION WORDS IN A PICTURE: We now live in a world where our visuals rule, things we see we react to either positively or negatively. Gone are the days, when we listen to radios because we’ve no choice, but now we have a TV and our phones. Most businesses create explainer videos to explain their new product or service. A 10mins clip can explain a hundred pages of a book. Video content saves time and space, it explains a lot in just minutes or hours. And it engaging, and can also influence consumers’ decisions, productive more than articles or PDF. For instance, if you’re been placed with an option to download either of this ‘ Introduction to Python is a PDF with 340 pages’, and also a ‘tutorial video of Python by Giraffe academy’. ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYBODY: It doesn’t matter your IQ level, it doesn’t matter your level of knowledge, once you see what you like, and you understand it, and you go for it. Read the full article

#marketing #videomarketing

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surveys-at-your-service · 5 years ago

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Survey #243

honestly too lazy to think up random song lyrics here, so just have the survey.

What is the one thing you remember most about January of last year? Nothing. You look at the clock and it’s 11:11, do you wish? I never do, no. How do you think you will look 3 years from now? I pray the fuck to god I'm finally at a weight I want. And of course more tattoos and piercings. And colored hair. What would be number one on your bucket list? Meet, thank, and hug Mark profusely while ugly crying. How old do you think you’ll be when you make your will? I don't know. You get a text message. who do you hope it is? Sara. Are there any songs that you hear that just make you wanna dance? Not really, no. Do you get any of your songs from Limewire? lol how old is this... but no. I did when it was "the thing," though. You and your best friend get in a fight. Why do you think that is? I don't know. Probably said something that came across wrong over a text. What is your biggest annoyance at the time? Financial shit. You see the person you fell hardest for. What do you do? Apologize to him if he's even okay with me speaking a word to him and then letting him on his way because I don't want to make him think I'm still stuck on him. I'd wanna know how things are in his life, but I don't want him to get the wrong impression. It'd be better for both of us. Have/are you depressed? I mean I'm diagnosed with depression, but it's well-managed. At the moment I'm not *depressed*, no. Did you grow up in the United States? Yeah. Never left it, even. Do you call anybody "baby"? Besides my cat and snake, no. Who is the one person you can completely be yourself around? Sara. Are your pop-ups blocked on your computer? Yeah. Do you wear earrings on a normal basis? No. How old were you when you realized that life goes on? I don't know... This is such a vague question. But I guess probably when a childhood cat disappeared or died sometime in elementary school. Are your parent’s night owls or morning birds? Well, I don't live with Dad, but Mom is a night owl more than a morning bird for sure. She can be so grouchy in the morning. Do you like to sing? Eh. Who is your favorite author? *shrugs* I don't read enough. How many pillows are on your bed? Two. What’s your favorite thing about the holidays? Seeing my niece and nephew so excited. What is your favorite type of cake? Red velvet, baby. How many rings do you wear on a day-to-day basis? One. Have you ever been in a mental hospital as a patient? Multiple times. Probably WOULDN'T have been multiple if the psych hospitals here were worth a damn. Went to the same one like five-six times and one other and both sucked. It was a partial hospitalization program, WHICH ISN'T AS "SERIOUS" AS AN ACTUAL FUCKING PSYCH HOSPITALIZATION, that saved my ass. What’s your favorite brand of flavored water? None. Have you ever had an ulcer? No. Do you take birth control pills? Not anymore, no. I was only on them for serious period pain, but as of recently my psychiatrist wanted to test out how I do mood-wise without them, especially as it was a regular occurrence for me to be borderline or actually suicidal the day before my cycle started, and the whole week leading up to it was sketchy. So far, I've been fine - I think even better. I was on it for years, and I mean your body changes, so. Do you like soy sauce? Noooooo no no no. Do you have a good doctor? My psychiatrist is literally the reason I'm alive. That's no exaggeration. I would've killed myself by now if it wasn't for him setting my medicine right. I know I would've. My therapist is great, and my primary physician is fine. What’s your favorite store to browse around? Morph Market, ahaha. I love looking at all the reptile morphs, especially the ball pythons. Do you ever meditate on Scripture? No. Do you like poetry? Yes. Do you have expensive tastes? Nah. What is your favorite color? Pink, particularly lighter hues. Have you ever made a scrapbook? Yeah, for a little while when I was younger. What is a question you get asked too much? If my lip piercing hurt. It doesn't bother me, I'm just asked it most. Worst grade you’ve ever gotten? Zeros on things I didn't do/missed. Who are your 3 closest friends? Sara, Girt, and uh... Chelsea, I think. Maybe Lisa. What is something you have always wanted to do? Travel somewhere cool/really memorable. What are you listening to? A playthrough of The Last Guardian. God, I wanna play it so badly. Do you like the smell of cinnamon? It's one of my favorites, omg. Are you in a relationship? No. Do you like the band Hollywood Undead? Yeah. Do you like Taco Bell? Only the quesadillas, THE CINNABON DELIGHT THINGS, and fiesta potatoes. Who was the first person you spoke to today? My mom. Who was the last? I was just texting the woman who adopted Kaiju; she's catching me up on how she's doing, and apparently great! We're trying to plan a day for me to come see her. :> Have you told anyone you loved them today? Yeah. What song is stuck in your head right now? You mentioned HU, now "Bullet" is looping in my head lol. Does it snow where you live? Sometimes, but rarely a lot. What are you currently sitting/laying on? My bed. Have you ever dated a friend of one of your siblings? No. How old is your oldest living grandparent? 80-something. Do you wear contacts? No, I wear glasses, but I wish I could do contacts again considering I desperately want an undereye microdermal but it'd look stupid with glasses, so. Contacts just annoy me. Where are the last three places you went? Taco Bell, my doctor's appointment, and the gas station. Do you ever go hunting/fishing? I would never in my life hunt, and I don't even want to fish anymore. Both are cruel (hunting more than "cruel"...) imo. I'd only ever fish again if Dad asked me to go with him, because since I was a kid, that's always been our "thing," our bonding experience. I wouldn't be able to say no. Do you know anyone who is a nurse? A lot, actually. Would you prefer to own a lapdog or a bigger dog? Sigh. Didn't think I'd want a dog after Teddy, but as of very recently, I've found myself missing the companionship of one. I don't know if I'll end up with another, though, but if I do, I'd want a medium-sized one, like Teddy was. Are you more of a cat person? Yes. What is your worst subject? Math. Do you know anyone who plays guitar? Yeah. Do you play guitar? Not anymore. Have you had to have stitches at all in the last year? No. Have you ever stayed up all night and then gone to work in the morning? No. That sounds like hell. How many relationships have you been in so far this year? It's a week into January lmao. No. Do you prefer to be single or with someone? With someone. Though now that I am single, I kinda think that's for the better right now...? Eh idk. Do you have any tattoos? Yeah. Are you planning on getting any? Oh, plenty. My Mark tribute is getting tidied up by a great artist on the 4th next month and I CANNOT contain my excitement. Did you lose your virginity before you were sixteen? No. Have you ever dated someone who had a child? No, and I never would. What are the middle names of everyone in your family? Wow yeah, lemme share that on the Internet. Where did you go the last time you took a vacation? The beach. Would you ever consider adoption? I don't want kids so like, Who is someone you aspire to be like? Man, there's a lot of people who inspire me in different ways. I think the world knows I look up to the wisdom, determination, dedication, creativity, compassion, etc. etc. etc. of Mark, I adore the heart and empathy of Shane Dawson, Steve Irwin is my absolute idol in terms of passion for animals, and Jeffree Star's work ethic is like, unbelievable. There are plenty others, but those really stand out. How do you feel about your life right now? oof What is your favorite game show to watch? Family Feud with Steve Harvey. He is so fuckin funny. How good are you in trivia games? What’s your best category? Idk. I'm probably best with animal knowledge though, judging from games I've played along with. Would you much rather test your knowledge or share opinions? I guess it depends on the subject and with whom. How do you feel about word games? Fun. Who is your absolute favorite film director? TIM BURTON. THERE IS NO COMPETITION W/ HIM. When’s the last time had to cover a coworker’s shift? Never. Have you ever had a really unreliable coworker? I've never worked long enough to know. Have you ever had to have a ring resized? No. What is a question you would never ever ask somebody? "I would never ask someone what they weigh." <<< This. I'm not a doctor, so I don't see any situation where that'd be an appropriate question to ask anyone. What sounds like a rude word but really isn’t? I'm sure there's something, but idk rn. Have you ever made a blanket? If so, how did you make one? No. How many godparents do you have? Do they care about you? Zero, I think. What is something that should not exist? Rape. Is there a word you have an emotional connection to? It sounds weird I'm sure, but "petrichor" (the smell of the earth after it rains) makes me feel... weird. Nostalgic, anxious, melancholy. Shortly before becoming a couple, Jason and I were just outside at school while it was raining, and we wondered what that smell was called. When we went back to the computer lab (where we were after exams were done), we looked it up and found out "petrichor" was the term. I remember those days too clearly for them to have happened eight years ago. How about a sound? Any emotional connection to a sound? Ummm not that I can think of. Is there something coming up that you are dreading? Not really, no. Do you ever read graphic novels? No. What is the most ridiculous product you have ever seen? Oh idk. Are there any spiders in your home right now? I mean realistically, probably? None that I know of. What was the last thing that made you laugh hysterically? I can't remember exactly what it was, but something on YouTube. I think on Game Grumps. Are there any candy stores where you live? Not that I'm aware of. Do you own any fingerless gloves? Yeah, I still have them in my drawer, actually. I wore them every day in high school. Tell me about the last animal you touched. My cat Roman. :') Have you ever witnessed a birth? Only cats. Can you see your reflection from where you are sitting? No. Wait, yes I can, though only slightly. My snake's cage is just across the room, so I can see against the glass a bit. Quick! Sniff the air. What can you smell? Cat. .-. Have you ever been in a restroom that actually had a restroom attendant? No? What was the last photo you took of? A deer! There were like, seven or eight in the field just across the road a few evenings ago. My lens didn't go out as close as I'd want, but I took some as practice anyway. I only got a few shots though; I came out to the front porch, and after about a minute, they gradually went back into the woods. What do you look for in a mate? Physically and personality-wise. Am I the only one who hates when human couples are referred to as "mates"???? Idk man it shouldn't because we're just animals, but it's weird. ANYWAY, I don't have like, a concrete vision of a partner, but I do have some set-in-stone personality/moral alignments that are musts, such as just being a generally good person, empathetic, you must love animals or shoo, be in touch with their emotions, understanding, soft stuff like that. I also have a strong preference for having a good sense of humor, I lean more romantically towards outgoing people, you gotta be laid-back and approachable... that kind of stuff. Physically, I really, really don't care, but I think we all have preferences; ex., while it really doesn't matter to me ultimately, I tend to find longer hair on guys more attractive than short. Your thoughts on bacon? Ugh, I wish I didn't love it. I wanna be a vegetarian again so badly. What are your thoughts on little kids with cell phones? If they're of an age where they may be separated from their parents semi-regularly and without the constant presence of a guardian, I'm actually for them having *simple* cellphones. Emergencies exist, and even I, someone who doesn't even want kids, would be scared knowing my child is without an easy, quick method of contact with me. Now, remember I did say "simple" cellphones; I don't believe a little kid should grow up unhealthily attached to technology (like me lmao), so especially in developmental years, I wouldn't want my kid to be glued to their phone playing games or roaming the Internet too freely. What was the last lie you told? I'm not sure. Is there anyone in particular you always try to tune out? Ugh, yes. For political bullshit that I cannot stand hearing. Do you work out? No. What was the last thing you ate with a spoon? Uhhhh probably oatmeal. What is a food that you always are in the mood to eat? Ice cream lmao. Ever held a newborn animal? Yeah. Is there anything you’re in denial about? What? Maybe, idk. Have you ever been to a Chinatown? No. Do you prefer chunky or creamy peanut butter? CREAMY. Don't come near me with chunky pb. Do you stop to pick up heads-up pennies? No. Do you make a wish when you blow out your birthday candles? Yeah, even though I don't believe it does anything. It's just for the novelty of it. Do your pets have collars? Describe them: Bentley just has a blue, average collar. Roman doesn't because he absolutely hates them. What is the last thing you searched for online? Surveys. Do you use any scented lotions? What do they smell like? No. Do you have any friends that speak any languages you don’t understand? I mean yeah, Spanish is common in America.

#survey #quiz #questions #random #bored

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ebola-kun · 5 years ago

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The measurements of Spider-Man's feets, the sound of (older) music and also what the Romans in fact provided for ...

1. Baboons, like the British, like to queue

Baboons discover meals places by enjoying those around them. Yet receiving access to the food relies on the facility power structures of a baboon men, and those reduced down the hierarchy can easily wind up queuing for leftovers. Find out more

2. Sometimes, people are offered unlimited sauce by scientific research

Researchers gave volunteers an all-you-can-eat buffet of chicken korma along with three alternatives controlled to look as well as taste the exact same, however through which the fat deposits material supplied twenty% (reduced), 40% (channel) and 60% (higher) of the fats. They located that people that lug a particular genetic alternative consumed even more of the higher fat deposits meals-- although they said they all sampled the same. Review even more

3. You may fossilise a marinaded brain

A tiny brownish marble, located through an amateur fossil seeker in Sussex, is actually the first recognized example of fossilised brain cells from a dinosaur. The specimen, which likely belonged to a dinosaur identical to the Iguanodon, was thus well-preserved given that it was 'pickled' in an ancient overload. Learn more

4. Spider-Man will need to have measurements 145 shoes to go up a wall surface

By researching geckos, the most extensive pets able to size smooth vertical wall surfaces, scientists point out that an individual will need to have unmanageably huge sticky footpads to stroll up a wall structure like Spider-Man-- footwear in European measurements 145 or even US measurements 114. Learn more

5. The true North-South divide remains in how our team articulate 'scone'...

Regional diversity in dialect words and also pronunciations might be decreasing as much of England falls much more according to exactly how British is communicated in Greater london as well as the south-east, according to end results from the English Dialects App. Exactly how you articulate 'bun' still relies on where you live. Learn more

6. ... Though our team still don't understand how a wolf would certainly pronounce it

The largest ever research study of shouting in the 'canid' family members of types-- which features wolves, jackals as well as residential dogs-- showed that the several species and also subspecies have differentiating collections of shouting-- "howling vocabularies". Read much more

7. No one truly recognizes what takes place to an egg after day 7

Growing eggs in a laboratory is actually difficult, as well as up until this year no one has managed to surpass day 7. However our scientists dealt with to fix this issue this year-- and also it is actually opened up an argument concerning whether our team must prolong the legal restriction for embryo research study past the current 14 day limit. Learn more

8. You can organize 128 ping pong balls 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different techniques

The answer to an overwelming natural science problem could possibly help our company understand concerns ranging from forecasting the buildup of deserts, to making expert system even more dependable. Or even perhaps a quite uninteresting sensible for an unlucky student. Find out more

9. The response to Monty Python's "What have the Romans ever before provided for our company?" is "Spreading parasites".

The Romans might possess taken our company cleanliness, however as opposed to creating our company healthier, they aided boost the escalate of intestinal parasites such as whipworm, roundworm and Entamoeba histolytica. Find out more

10. One day, our experts might all of be actually residing in metropolitan areas crafted from bone tissue ...

Simply because our experts can build our areas away from steel and also concrete, does that way our team should? Is it time our team appeared at completely brand-new techniques of building cities? Designers functioning in biomimetics-- actually 'replicating lifestyle'-- are building samples of artificial bone and eggshell that might be utilized as clinical implants, and even be actually sized up and also made use of as low-carbon building materials. Learn more

11. ... And in wooden high-rise buildings

Property high-rises away from hardwood might possess a variety of possible perks, the absolute most obvious being actually that it is a renewable energy. Wood structures might even be cheaper as well as faster to build-- and also much lighter than their concrete substitutes. Learn more

12. Elvis Presley assisted exterminate polio in the USA

Back in the 1950s, hygienics advocates recruited the Master of Rock 'n' Roll to aid bring up recognition of the significance of shot against polio. A little a lot less talk as well as a bit even more vaccination, maybe? Learn more

thirteen. We have actually gone to war for even longer than our experts believed

Our archaeologists found the fossilised bone tissues of a team of prehistoric hunter-gatherers who were actually massacred around 10,000 years ago in Kenya. They have actually delivered distinct proof of an intense encounter in between conflicting teams of historical hunter-gatherers, and also proposes that also late Stone Age seeking societies fought. Documentation of a prehistoric carnage expands the background of warfare

14. If your pub serves white wine in big red or white wine glasses, you're a lot more most likely to become drunk due to the edge of the evening

Marketing red wine in much larger red or white wine glasses might promote people to drink additional, also when the quantity of red or white wine continues to be the same, according to a research which located that improving the measurements of red or white wine glasses caused a nearly 10% boost in red or white wine purchases. Learn more

15. Dune may sing

When solids flow like liquids they can easily create dune sing. As surfaces of sand slide down the side of particular dunes, they create resonances that may be heard for miles around. The dunes are vital with the sand of songs! Find out more

16. Your Labrador can not aid being fatty tissue-- it is actually genetically programmed to become greedy

Researchers found a genetic variant linked with being overweight and appetite in Labrador retrievers that might clarify why Labrador retrievers are actually most likely to come to be overweight than pets of other species. For every copy of the genetics lugged, the pet dog was actually on ordinary 1.9 kilograms bigger Learn more

17. There is actually a very exclusive cuckoo called Disco Tony

He is actually gray with a yellow ring around his eyes, he's travelled over 5,000 kilometers and also he is actually a cuckoo. However this is not merely any kind of cuckoo-- this is Disco Tony. He is one of a quite exclusive group of birds whose every relocation is actually being checked. Learn more

18. Einstein could have received it incorrect (presuming deep space contains at the very least five measurements)

Just times after the very first detection of gravitational surges, first predicted by Einstein, was declared, our scientists discovered that the great guy could have received some points inappropriate. It involves a truly huge donut. Find out more

19. The Clangers would have appeared like plane engines when they were experiencing frisky

How is actually a mouse like a jet engine? The answer is actually in the method they create noise. Mice court each other along with ultrasound passion tracks that are actually faint to the individual ear, creating one-of-a-kind high regularity appears utilizing a system that has actually only earlier been actually observed in fast plane engines. Go through a lot more

twenty. A German scholar swiped a 1000 years of age part of music from our Collection in the 1840s. (Our company've got it back and our company right now recognize how it sounds.)

After some investigator work and also scrupulous investigation, the 11th century 'Cambridge Songs' were done for the first opportunity in 1,000 years back in Easter. Learn more

21. Man-made intelligence could help you shake off your worry of spiders without you also seeing

Making use of a blend of synthetic cleverness as well as brain scanning modern technology, researchers feel they can remove our worries without having to expose us to the very points our company're terrified of (which for a lot of became 2016). Find out more

22. People in Peterborough survived on stilts in the course of the Bronze Age

Over recent year, Should Ranch in the Cambridgeshire fens has actually generated Britain's largest selections of Bronze Grow older fabrics, beads as well as residential artefacts. Along with hardwoods of many roundhouses, the finds offer a sensational picture of an area growing 3,000 years ago-- little wonder it is actually been referred to as the 'Pompeii of the fens'. Learn more

23. Our experts could really be actually transforming the tide on dementia (however only in guys)

The so-called alzheimer's disease 'tsunami' may not be unpreventable. The UK has actually observed a twenty% fall in the occurrence of dementia over the previous 2 many years, depending on to our scientists. This has resulted in an approximated 40,000 fewer situations of mental deterioration than formerly forecasted-- but primarily in men. Read extra

24. You may learn A GREAT DEAL concerning the human brain only coming from reading Peter Pan

JM Barrie had a deep-seated understanding of the scientific research of cognition-- as well as was many years in advance of his attend determining vital phases of youngster advancement, apparently. Find out more To discover even more concerning how Cambridge's ideas and developments have shaped the planet over recent 800 years, view "Dearest World ... Yours, Cambridge" . To find out more about the most recent investigation from the College of Cambridge, please browse through our internet site .

This content was originally published here.

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fisherfurbearer · 6 years ago

Note

I would absolutely live to hear about Future Plans and heritage fruits! My partners and I are looking at buying a house by the end of the year and I'm so excited at the prospect of a back yard to fill with food plants and gardening and everything! So I'd love to know more about someone else's plans!!

mmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM YOU OPENED THE CAN OF WORMS THE WORMS ARE OPEN THEY ARE EVERYWHERE NOW!!!! OHHHHHHH JEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOTHING CAN STOP THIS!!!!

MMMMMM. I LOVE. DOMESTIC CROPS AND ANIMALS. SO MUCH.

SPECIFICALLY “heritage” varieties. The pre-industrial/commercial varieties that people lived on for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, or even the stuff younger than that, it’s just...so!! Good!!!

You didn’t QUITE ask for this but this is where I’m going with it. I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. The HISTORY of our domesticated crops (specifically fruits and vegetables, but mostly Tree Fruits!!!! But I’m also suuuuper partial to heirloom sweet potatoes/normal potatoes even though I don’t like the taste of sweet potatoes, they’re just SO FRICKING COOL and I want to learn more about other vegetables too) and animals is just....HOOOOO!!!!

Locally adapted,, perfect little....NUGGETS that just...perfectly fit their own SPECIFIC LITTLE NICHES...no matter WHERE you live, no matter HOW much space you have, no matter HOW good or bad your soil, NO MATTER WHAT, there is ALWAYS something to grow or raise, and we can thank so, so much of that to the incredible variety of heritage crops/animals (and methods of agriculture) out there. Mild, cold, hot! Lots of space, little space, no space!! Fertile, barren!! Every condition in every color and shape and flavor and size and ahhhhhhh!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

Hold onto your butts because this is one Hell of a Mega Ramble okay, there is so much to talk about here, oh man.

Some background, which you can skip if you want...!!! It’s a LOT and it get’s VERY NEGATIVE but also VERY GOOD AND HOPEFUL, it’s a real big story and it’s My Story and gives a lot of insight into Why I’m Like This but it’s okay to skip for sure!! Anyway:

I’ve been researching (i.e. writing literally 1.5-2k+ words nearly every single day) for literally 7 years now about all of my various Passions and Plans in life. Obviously breaks were taken due to Sad Times but no matter what I did, no matter what happened, I’d always come back to my dumb awful stupid notes. I have notes on my current laptop, my old harddrive, my SO’s laptop, my stepdad’s laptop, my SO’s OLD gaming laptop, my old netbook, my OLD OLD netbook, every phone I’ve had in the past 7 years (which has been like uhh...five? I have bad luck with phones..) and COUNTLESS pieces of paper and cheap composition books.

To call it research, it seems to silly. Writing these words here, to you strangers on the internet, I CANNOT EXPRESS TO YOU how VITAL these notes are to my VERY EXISTANCE.

I have been researching and writing and talking to folks and asking questions and LIVING AND BREATHING this stuff for LITERALLY, LITERALLY HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS if not ALMOST A THOUSAND OR MORE HOURS at this point!!!! If we were to actually SOMEHOW backtrack all the way to late 8th grade/freshman year when I first started dipping my toes into reptiles and fell in love with my first jumping spider that landed on my arm after I read Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak, after being so fascinated by the intelligent giant magic tarantula in the first book, and gathered ALL of my notes from then to NOW (I’m 21 now, if I was in college, I’d be graduating next May) it would EASILY surpass that. For YEARS in high school my family thought I was always playing games on my laptop, but really from the moment I got home to the moment I went to bed, I was watching lets plays with one side of the screen and reading, reading, reading, and writing, writing, writing with the other. For HOURS. Every. Single. Day.

Hell, this has been my most recent “Renaissance” of writing, after The Big Realization of earlier this year (I’ll get to that), and this is AFTER I went on a horrible depressed/manic rampage and deleted like 80% of my notes (that would have been from...hmm. This is what I didn’t delete, what Jessie recovered, and what I’ve added...so March to Early September, when Jessie switched my notes to a new program (I lost a lot of notes from lack of autosaving so now they’re on our nextcloud so I can’t lose them...but I’m too stubborn to use it still) and this is still like. A lot.

Keep in mind the average 10-11 kb file is 1500-1700 words for me. My biggest files (only of the ones I still have, on this laptop) are 40-60 kb. (Also these are Big Secrets that I don’t ever show anyone but Jessie, who I’ve been with now for almost 7 years, so this is pretty dang important to me and a big thing to be revealing.)

Current folder I’m usually saving to:

Nextcloud I don’t bother to use usually but probably should use:

Again, this is ONLY on my newest laptop, and this DOESN’T include the files I deleted a few months ago, nor the files I lost from February-early April after Jessie updated my computer and wiped my files, and I still have a BUTTLOAD left on my old harddrive from last year, but we never moved it up and I don’t feel a need to. (I’ve learned so much. So. Much. In the past year. I think I’ve matured a lot and really become more...Me. But I’ll get to that.)

Also doesn’t include the SEVERAL notebooks I’ve filled front to back this year (cheap $0.50 ones from work...I’ve blown through a couple biggish ones and I think 2-3 little quarter-size memo books) and all the receipt papers I have crammed into my work uniform...

But anyway why is this important? It really helps iron in just how HUGE this is to me. My future “Plans” aren’t just...it’s really important to me. Okay? I am but a humble stranger on the internet and my life and everyone elses’ respective lives are infinitely more complex than we can ever dare imagine one anothers’ existences to be, but just trust me when I say that I’m not pulling this from nowhere, this shit isn’t some sort of “fad” to me, this has been a long, long series of events and realizations and heartbreaks and so, so much pain that have finally led to everything kinda falling into place sometime this year where it hit me.

You see...all of my research topics followed a pattern. It went, in my rough memory, something like this.

It started with reptiles. Lots of reptiles. So many reptiles. I was so naive and young then and my sources sucked and I was very much a novice who dreamed of owning all sorts of cool reptiles when I got older, and of getting a gecko when I went to college. That was how it started and it went downhill from there. I branched off into gardening (I wanted and still want a blue tongue skink and had thoughts about how I’d grow a garden for vegetables and squashes and stuff for the skink and feeder insects) and THAT grew into this whole THING about raised bed gardening, square foot gardening, then into permaculture, which planted the seed for many things to come...and now I’ve ALWAYS LOVED BIRDS,, but when I learned that keeping CHICKENS was a thing (thank you Jennifer (Nambroth)!!!!!!!!!! Our emails back and forth are still saved forever, our talks about chickens changed my life and way of thinking Forever!!!) and I researched that, then I’d jump back to reptiles again, and back to chickens, then more reptiles, then chickens and QUAIL, or OTHER poultry,, and so on and so on. This beautiful fluid branching path that would always rebound on itself and I’d drop some topics, gain new ones, revisit old ones, learn what I liked, what I didn’t like, what were brief interests, and what were there to stay.

Some topics (chickens, new caledonian geckos, antaresia pythons, tarantulas, gardening...) would always come back. No matter what I did...they came back. As I grew as a person, I started to figure out what was important to me (CONSERVATION, animal welfare, reptile/invertebrate enrichment, vivarium design, combining art with animals, and did I mention CONSERVATION? and combating climate change/The World but that came later.) and while some of those points didn’t show up in my research until later...like my obsession with native wildlife/plants and domestic species...it never went away.

And as I grew older, outside of my research life went on, and I really went through A Lot in these seven years. Undiagnosed anxiety/depression all through high school, practically living in the guidance office junior/senior year, dealing with an emotionally abusive and animal abuser teacher for many years, living with my emotionally abusive/narcissistic mother, and eventually going to an amazing art college and having both the best and worst time of my life (Hahah!! Almost straight As and skipped a writing class with my amazing scores and was top of my class, Dean’s list first semester, in the Visionary Women’s Honors society, worked in the admissions office and did lots of cool things, but hahaha also really wanted to die and was Destroying Myself) and trying to get help while keeping it a secret from my mom...lo and behold of course she eventually found out about the Depression when I had to go inpatient near the end of my second semester, and she. HA, I can’t even cry about this anymore. She literally disowned me (took all my money, sold my car, cut me off of health insurance, made me pay my own hospital bills, refused to do my FAFSA for college anymore, dropped all support, and later when I had to come home because I relapsed again and the college made me go on a medical leave of absense, she threatened to kick me out and call the police [hilariously enough though the house was owned by my stepdad, not her, so she couldn’t do anything. Also I never did anything to her and she was just crazy and made up excuses. But yeah not fun trying to walk to work and being threatened over the phone that she was going to have me dragged out of work by the cops and not to come home, hahaha!!!!!! But then also when I did live with my neighbor for a few days she was apparently so distraught?? Haha what a weird person!!!! I haven’t seen her for three years now and it’s been the best thing that ever happened to me. Don’t mourn for me, it’s SO Much better now. Speaking of, she was a PETA-hugging ARA nutjob and if she knew what I was planning on doing she would’ve disowned me either way!!!!!!), and of course fighting to be able to move out and rent an apartment with my SO (I hate the word boyfriend. It’s been 7 years come January 11th, and we’ve been through so fucking much. And she [my mom...] and other people always made fun of him being my BOYFRIEND that that word is tainted for me...so Significant Other it is) and then being forced to live alone there for a couple months,, and then even after that, the fights with his family, the car accident in November, my mom ruining all chances of me going to college (keep in mind I had after leaving college, spent the next TWO AND A HALF FUCKING YEARS OF MY LIFE trying to make it so I COULD go back, spent all of my time, energy, hope, eVERY OUNCE OF MY BEING trying to do so,,, and she manipulated me and then lied to me and made it so I couldn’t), my rebounding depression, my Intensifying Aggression (terrifying. Developed when I was in college...I guess it’s some kind of rapid bipolar disorder, maybe triggered by me going on antidepressants in college, they said. But it was so long ago and they never knew the full story for a proper diagnosis anyway. But it’s gotten manageable and We’re Coping), the housefire on Christmas, moving Once Again to the new place and being told I can’t bring my 15 year old cat (he’s with my stepdad still now but it’s not okay.), the rats have to be in the basement, and oh yeah if you want to attend college again loans will be nearly 13% interest hahaha!!! and then finally just straight up breaking down in February and not leaving bed for DAYS and nearly committing suicide, just the real worst time ever, and my former therapist/psychiatrist place weren’t responding (turns out they discharged me!! haha kinda hard to make appointments WHEN YOU DON’T PICK UP THE PHONE and we DIDN’T GET THE NOTICE IN THE MAIL because our HOUSE WAS CONDEMNED and my mail was being sent to my STEPDADS an hour away!!!!!!!! Also really hard to talk to you when you BLOCK OUR FUCKING NUMBER and HANG UP ever time we fucking call haha!!!!!! Literally on the verge of suicide and not on my anxiety meds for MONTHS but hey sure that works too guys!!!!) which really didn’t help, and yeah it was really just the pits! Just the absolute pits, the Very Worst.

Now at this point I don’t remember exactly when/what changed, but SOMETHING did.

Leading up to February, I wanna say it was about October that I started getting kinda weirdly depressed, and I started REALLY tanking after the fire. After the fire, I had to move back to my stepdads within the night, and had to live without Jessie again and commute really far and keep the tarantulas a secret and in general be very alone and very sad. I started wearing down and it was getting so hard to just...enjoy. Anything. Even just taking care of the pets became difficult, and doing art or researching was impossible. I just...didn’t care anymore. I stopped caring.

On top of that, my climate grief and general feelings of Despair were at an all time high, and I just didn’t. Fucking. CARE. What happened next.

I spent YEARS of my life WEARING MYSELF TO THE BONE trying to get into college, the get back into college, to just try to do this thing that I was supposed to do, my ONE hope of having a career and a future that I probably wouldn’t even be happy with (I was an illustration major. I liked drawing. It’s what I was best at. But looking back, I wouldn’t have been happy doing it for a living. And Moore [no that’s not what my blog is named for, it just also happens to be my last name] was a great college but it just...wasn’t worth $30k a year with no cosigner for loans, even AFTER my scholarships) and my body and mind were wearing down and no matter what I did I didn’t care about myself, my animals, my partner, my life, nothing. I can’t explain how terrifying that is. Of all the time in my life, I think this was the worst. On top of my life problems, it must be said again that my climate grief and Misery regarding the state of our country and the world was also at an all-time-high, and I just felt...POWERLESS. Powerless and empty and uncaring and dead inside. I really wanted to just...drive off a bridge or eat a ton of pills (which I did do a couple times, don’t do that. Please. It’s NOT worth it.) and just stop Existing.

But then something just...changed.

I don’t know what it was, exactly. But I got SOMETHING back. SOMETHING “clicked”.

I’m crying a bit now. It’s so stupid to say, but I truly believe this is what saved my life. Realizing my purpose in life. That everything fell into place and finally made sense.

I’m going to be a bit more concise here but...basically...many of my passions and smaller aspects of myself all fell into place, so PERFECTLY.

It hit me that...ah jeez.

I will digress one more second. For those of you who don’t know, I have two Eurydactylodes geckos, named Vladimir (E. vieiliardi) and Estragon (E. agricolae). They are named for my favorite drama that we read in AP English, Waiting for Godot. It’s an aburdist theater play about two men who wait under a tree for someone (we don’t know who, just that his name is Godot) and that’s about it. Everyone had a lot of different things to say about that weird little book, but my take on it was that it’s supposed to be what happens to two men when they lack a “purpose” in life. Existentialism, and all that. They sit there and sit there and completely lose themselves just WAITING for this guy that they don’t even remember, they don’t even know why they’re there, and they do nothing to try and change that. The difference between existentialism and absurdism, however, is that absurdism specifically discusses this idea of a Chaotic Universe, this Lack of Meaning, this pointless quest of humanity to seek value and meaning in a universe without reason. It’s a fruitless effort, it’s Absurd! But the beauty of absurdism, this tiny idea that stayed with me in the goofy names of my geckos (I chose the names because I thought the play was amusing and I loved the characters’ relationship, which is Quite Gay and so Loving and Charming it warms my heart, and I loved that they called each other “Didi” and “Gogo”) and really held true to my own life. I DO NOT believe that THIS is why this change happened for me, but it’s ironic, no?

Back to Absurdism, Absurdism says... “here is this meaningless, Chaotic, RIDICULOUS universe. There is NO reason for ANYTHING, there NEVER will be, you DO NOT MATTER, you DO NOT HAVE A PLACE HERE. There is NO POINT to anything. So fuck it, and try to find one anyway.”

My original therapist did not understand why I found this so wonderful and inspiring. It’s so rebellious and selfish, I LOVE IT. To embrace the Absurd is to take the bull by the horns and flip it upside down! It’s to stare all of this dreadful pointlessness in the Void, and when it says “Why bother? Why care about these insignificant invertebrates? These ridiculous reptiles? These ABSURD apples???” and flip the bird both hands and say “BECAUSE I WANT TO, BECAUSE I SAID SO, BECAUSE I AM HUMAN, AND I CAN!!!” It’s...also more than that, it’s this long, defiant lifelong journey, this stupid, ridiculous journey of fumbling about trying to find one’s place in a cruel, vast world, and finding oneself in that journey.

I love people. I love the ABSURDITY of humanity, of people, of myself, of others. A Huge part of my Future Plans has to do with People, and Community, and Changing my little patch of the world. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I know it can make a difference to someone and myself and that’s what matters.

Anyway back to the Clickening.

Around that time I had a moment like that. It was as if something in my mind was screaming at me, listen. You are here, and you have always been here to love animals, to love life, to make art, to tell stories with your art, to raise little sheeps.

And like that, it started Something.

I agreed to go to a local doctor, and was put on antidepressants. I’ve been on them since late February. I also got accommodations for work, so I have two excused absenses due to mental illness each month, which was good, because they tried to fire me 4 times now and they haven’t succeeded yet. (I’m DAMN GOOD at what I do, I’m just Sad and Unlucky and Dumb, but I’m doing a lot better now!!) I started taking all of the things I learned in the past many years and what I’ve learned about myself as a person (I won’t talk about it here but I’ve always struggled with my Identity [not gender wise, just...with my mental health and my mood disorder, it’s really hard to know What is ME and What’s The Illness) and it all started falling into place. My needle felting, my love for animals, conserving native wildlife AND heritage breeds with restoration grazing and positive impact forestry, utilizing my Overwhelming Charisma (in person I swear I’m quite a good talker! Way better than my typing here!) for education, outreach, and farmers market sales, my love for life and my fellow human beings and my plans to work hard to help feed my local communities and encourage sustainable agriculture and the dismantlemant of capitalism Love of our native wilds and backyards alike (I also have Big Thoughts about getting native peoples input as well, but I need to research that more and actually talk to people, but that would be in future years!!), and so, so many things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That started in late February/early March now, and since then I’ve still had Really bad times, but I’d say in the past mmmmm...probably since late July? I think yeah since about then things have really taken great turns. I’ve Matured a lot, really embraced who I am and what I want to do, and while I KNOW my plans are going to keep changing over time (tentative goal is to look for/buy our property in 2025!! That gives us 5 years post-graduation to settle down and see how things go, where Jessie will be working, where we’ll be living, how my mind changes, all of that!!) but I KNOW in my BONES in my SOUL that this is what I have always been meant to do. To raise things, grow things, and to Care.

ANYWAY WOW HAHAHA YOU SURE DIDN’T ASK FOR ALL THAT BUT THERE YA GO THERE’S THE BACKSTORY, THE FIRST HALF OF THE WORMS!!!!!!

TL;DR: I’m a sad sap who is now slightly less sad and has Big Plans that were 7 years+ in the making and I want to take all my Big Thoughts about exotic welfare (well, reptiles and spiders mostly, but sure) and also apply it to DOMESTIC welfare and Make a Dang Difference!!!!

Okay now I’ve become very burnt out, I’ve been writing for like two hours now? So this part will sadly be shorter, but I will definitely write more about it again if you or anyone else has questions or actually wants to hear about it.

Basically...the amount of These Plans that I am willing to let you folks know, is uhh...oh jeez where do I even begin, haha...

Well it started small plans (early years of research, when I used to think a small greenhouse was Super Wild and Crazy) but nah bruh we goin’ full hog, literally. My plans are to get a decent sized property, still in my state, and have a HUGE focus on Sustainability and Positive Grazing/Management! That means rotational grazing to IMPROVE soils!!! Thinning the woodlot and clearing brush for the HEALTH of the forest!!! Reintroducing blight-resistant american chestnuts to restore our forests and support a healthy wildlife population!!!! Using both honeybees AND cultivated native bees [did you know that’s a thing???? You can buy native bee cocoons, like raised humanely, and raise them for pollinating plants!! Like Orchards!!] and grazing pastured pigs and chickens under orchard trees, while also providing BUTTLOADS of native flowers and domestic tree blossoms for native pollinators!! All that great stuff.

My biggest focuses would be raising practical heritage livestock for sustainable agriculture and conserving heritage fruit trees, with a focus on apples and pears. I also want to grow a lot of mutually beneficial/low-impact perennial resources...think honey, maple syrup, nut trees, stuff like that! And I want to graze on pastures with native grasses and locality-specific wildflowers (check out Ernst Seeds, especially if you live in/near PA like I do!! Wow it’s so frickin’ cool) and focus on northern european short-tailed sheep (finnsheep, gotland, icelandic, leader, shetland, and soay) and small landrace American hogs (american guinea hog, ossabaw island hog) and the more recent but so full of potential idaho pasture pig. I also want to raise icelandic landrace chickens for utility (parasite/pest management, composting), conservation, and eggs. I also want to raise rabbits (silver fox crosses for meat, and french angora crosses for fiber! I have a dream of producing high quality tri color angora for spinners...three colors on one animal, and I want them to be especially great for fiber artists who want to raise their own fiber animals but don’t have a ton of space) and I have BIG orchard plans...SO MANY ORCHARD PLANS, HHHHHOOO YES....SO GOOD...also COPPICE WITH STANDARDS and FORESTRY and HOO YES!!!!! I LOVE SOME GOOD OL FORESTRY!!!

I think the best way to describe my current plans standings is that it seperates into a couple different “zones”, for my Current Ideas. This has taken months and so many countless hours of thinking, researching, and ironing out, and I’ve made so much headway in just this past week, but basically imagine this...

It’s mostly split into two pastures, the orchard, and the woodlot.

PASTURE 1

Pasture 1 would be the largest, where we would rotationally graze two primary groups of ruminants. Polled NES-T sheep (finnsheep/gotland) and horned sheep (icelandic/leader) with dairy cows (dutch belted) as well. Dutch belted for milk and specifically cheese production, and they would be grazed in front with the icelandics to help take care of the taller grasses that the sheep would avoid, and help keep the sheep a bit safer. All would be guarded by livestock guardian dogs. Group #1 of the icelandic chickens would be grazed behind them, to help break up manure and disrupt parasite cycles.

Pasture itself would be mostly a big bluestem/little bluestem/indian grass/switchgrass mix, with a good variety of livestock-safe wildflowers (small portion being nitrogen-fixers like tick trefoils and pasture pea) and seed-producing flowers for birds (wild birds and our birds!). Would be rotationally grazed 1-2 days at a time (avg. 3-4 days total) with a 21-35+ day rest period. Polled NES-T sheep would be moved to “silvopasture” (copse with standards, a portion of the woodlot, with coppiced trees for fuelwood/timber interspersed with standard-sized mast producting trees [would double as nut and persimmon orchard, and hog foraging in fall/winter!!!]) in the summer to help them deal with the heat. Summer would be the best time, as it’s after the spring predator pressure and before the acorns fall, which could be bad for them if they ingest too many. Rams and hogs would otherwise graze this land with much longer rest periods otherwise (more like 30-45 days or so).

PASTURE 2

Smaller pasture with similar planting, arranged ‘paddock paradise’ style for a small group of icelandic horses (SO GOOD, and useful!! Little horse hooves are much kinder to the forest than a UTV, and herding on horseback is less stressful for the livestock) and rotationally grazed shetland and soay sheep. Pretty simple, but important. Would also contain Icelandic chicken group #2.

ORCHARD

Worthy of a novel all on it’s own. I want to grow semi-dwarf heritage fruit trees with the fruit drop type synced to the rotation of pastured hogs (idaho pasture pig, american guinea hog, ossabaw island hog) and group #3 of icelandic chickens. Hogs would be in orchard spring-fall, and in the copse with standards fall-early winter. Hogs and chickens would be moved to a holding area during rainy times to help preserve the orchard floor and during winter, where we would also have a large waste management/composting set up for them to root and turn to their hearts content. Should be a lot warmer than the outside in the winter too, and I plan on it being in a high tunnel/hoop house so its covered.

I am ALL ABOUT pairing livestock with crops and encouraging multi-purpose acreage in general, so this is definitely one of my FAVORITE plans so far, and every time I revisit it, it gets better. I also want to raise BEES (honeybees, mason bees, leafcutter bees!!!) for honey and pollination. I also want to plant BUTT-TONS of native flowers and goodies for pollinators, as well as lots of seed producing plants and sunflowers for the chickens to forage for by themselves. These would be some happy livestock, for sure.

WOODLOT

Another huge part of the plan is that I want at LEAST 1/3-1/2 of the property to be Woods. Only a small fraction of the Woods would be managed for livestock foraging and more frequent harvesting (still looking at a good 7-10 year coppice cycle though for trees) and the rest would still be tended to, with the help of the local forestry folks, but it would be preserved for wildlife and low-impact timber and nut/fruit/sap collection.

The VAST MAJORITY of the farm would be multi-purpose acreage for both livestock AND wildlife benefit (and people too of course) and I truly, truly believe and KNOW it can be done. In fact it HAS been done, IS being done, in so many different ways by so many different people in different times, and I know that I want to be a part of it and I can make a difference and use my weird passions for Good and make a dang difference.

Ohhh jeez I’m real sorry I didn’t quite answer your question though but I hope this gives a little insight into what I mean?? And if anyone has Specific questions after reading this (if you make it to the bottom, bless your cotton socks, I’m so proud and also distressed) I can definitely answer them a bit better than this. And hopefully much less...whatever this is, haha!!

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earthbound19 · 5 years ago

Photo

Arbitrary data as image (and data series as animation)

By Small and Simple Things v0.9.10 source code as an image

By Small and Simple Things v1.2.0 source code as an image

http://earthbound.io/blog/wp-content/uploads/By_Small_and_Simple_Things_as_data_bent_anim_to_v1-2-0.mp4

These images and this animation (there may only be one image if you're reading a syndicated post) are ways of representing snapshots and evolution of source code. The source code of the second image is version 1.2.0 of a Processing script (or program or code) which produces generative art. At this writing, a museum install of that generative-art-producing-program is spamming twitter to death (via twitter.com/earthbound19bot) every time a user interacts with it. The generative art is entitled "By Small and Simple Things" (is twitter overwhelmed) generative art (see earthbound.io/blog/by-small-and-simple-things-digital-generative/).

How did I represent the source code of a generative art program as an image? There are ways. Another word for creating images from arbitrary data is "data bending," meaning taking data intended for one purpose and using it or representing it via other common ways of using data. One form of data bending is text to image; that's what I do here.

But the ways to represent code as a "data bent" image which I found when I googled it, I didn't like, so I made my own.

The approach I don't like is to take every three bytes (every 8 zeros or ones) in a source and turn them into RGB values (three values from 0 to 255 for Red, Green and Blue–the color components of almost all digital images you ever see on any screen). Conceptually that doesn't model anything about the data as an image other than confused randomness, and aesthetically, it mostly makes random garish colors (I go into the problems of random RGB colors in this post: earthbound.io/blog/superior-color-sort-with-ciecam02-python/).

A way I like better to model arbitrary data as an image is to map the source data bytes into _one channel_ of RGB, where that one channel fluctuates but the others don't. This has the effect of gauging low and high data points by color intensity or limited variation. In these data bent images here, the green and blue values don't change, but the red ones do. Green is zero, blue is full, and the changes in the source data (mapped to red) make the blue alternate from blue (all blue, no red) to violet (all blue, all red).

My custom script that maps data to an image creates a PPM image from any source data (PPM is a text file that describes pixels). The PPM can be converted to other formats by many image tools (including command line tools and photoshop). This data to image script is over here: github.com/earthbound19/_ebDev/blob/master/scripts/imgAndVideo/data_bend_2PPMglitchArt00padded.sh

Again, the first image here (or maybe not if you're reading a syndicated copy of this post) is the first version of By Small and Simple Things. The second image is from the latest (at this writing). The animation is everything in between, assembled via this other script over here: github.com/earthbound19/_ebArt/blob/master/recipes/mkDataBentAnim.sh

Syndicated from: http://earthbound.io/blog/arbitrary-data-as-image-and-data-series-as-animation/

URL to original image: http://earthbound.io/blog/wp-content/uploads/001.png

#data visualization #databending #dataviz #rgb #vizualization #abstract art #art resources #data bending #visual art

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supersecure-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Something awesome: progress update

Feeling sleepy...

From the time of my last blogpost, till now (11:15pm) I’ve been working on writing the first chapter of my how-to-guide which mainly covers an introduction to programming for beginner students. I’ve also included the writeups to picoCTF challenges which I have previously completed for the appropriate module

I’ve written about 1.5k words, which for those who are interested can be read below.

Before we begin…

Introduction to programming

A key skill to learn before we dive head-first into the other concepts covered in this guide, we should probably first learn about our environment!

For those who think ‘airport’ when they hear the word terminal or ‘snail’ when they hear the word shell, you should definitely read this part before getting started with any of the other modules. For those who are already quite confident with navigating their way through the Linux environment, feel free to skip ahead!

Let’s start with a quick summary of some of the key things you should know:

What is a terminal?

The terminal is the main way that we, as users, interact with the computer. It normally looks like a black screen with white font. To uss the terminal, you type in specific commands which the computer interprets in order to run certain operations.

Of course, in order to use the terminal you have to know the commands!

Some basic terminal commands:

I like to compare using the terminal like using a normal file explorer. We double-click

folders (also called directories) to enter them, and double-clicking files opens them. We can create new folders, new files by right-clicking then pressing the appropriate button. All of this can be done through the terminal - you just have to know the right commands.

cd - stands for ‘change directory’. This command is used like ‘cd <name-of-directory>’ in order to change into the specified directory

If you just type in cd or ‘cd ~’ you should change to your home directory

You can use ‘cd ..’ to change into the previous directory you were in

pwd - stands for ‘print working directory’

ls - used to list all the files in your current directory.

mkdir - stands for ‘make directory’. Basically is the equivalent of the ‘new folder’ button in a normal file explorer. You can use it like ‘mkdir <name-of-directory>’ to make a folder with the specified name.

./ - this little ‘./’ is very powerful! If we have executable files or files that we can’t normally open, we can run them by doing ‘./<name-of-executable>’

man - stands for ‘manual’. Think about this as your help guide for any command you want to learn more about. Use it by typing in ‘man <name-of-command>’.

Other useful commands:

rm - stands for ‘remove’. Used like ‘rm <name-of-file-to-be-removed>’

whoami - displays information about the user

cat - one of cat’s applications is to view the contents of a file without actually having to open it. Use it like ‘cat <name-of-file>’ to have the contents of the specified file be displayed in the terminal

strings - strings basically finds printable strings or sentences in an object, or other binary files. Use it like ‘strings <name-of-file>’.

grep - grep is a way for us to find the existence of certain patterns or words in a file. You can use it like ‘grep <word/pattern> <name-of-file>’ to return every instance of the word/pattern in the specified file

nc - nc or netcat is a tool that can help you read or write data over the internet. It has a lot of uses, but for the context of picoCTF we’ll mainly be using to access the challenges. Use it like ‘nc <destination> <port>’. An example of how we could use it for picoCTF is detailed below

ssh - basically a way for us to safely access remote servers. Use it like ‘ssh <user>@<host>’, where <user> refers to the account you want to access and <host> is the domain or IP address of the computer you are trying to access.

You can find more info about SSH here: https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/ssh-tutorial-how-does-ssh-work

A more comprehensive guide containing explanations about a wider variety of commands can be found here.

What is a programming language?

So sure, we’ve learnt how to make our way through a terminal, but what about code? How do we write and run it? In terms of writing code, there are many varied programming languages, each with their own rules and different features that we can use. For readers who’ve never coded before in their life, now would be a fantastic time to learn one!

A lot of the concepts are common in programming languages, so it doesn’t particularly matter which one you start with. However, I would definitely recommend Python, as it is quite user-friendly. This is a great place to start learning.

What is a text editor?

To summarise quickly, basically we write programs saved in a certain type of file based on what language they are written. These files can be changed and edited using what are called text editors. There are many different ones- some are inherent to your terminal like ‘vim’ or ‘nano’ and are quite simplistic. Others you can download online and include cool features like autocompleting variable names and structuring your code for you.

Whatever text editor you choose to use is completely based on your preferences! Use whatever is comfortable for you and supports your writing of code

How do we run code?

Now that you’ve written your first program in a text editor, in your chosen programming language what do we actually do with it? Some programming languages like C or Java need to have their files be ‘compiled’ before we can actually run them. This basically means translating the code we write into a form that the computer can interpret. Other languages like Python don’t require this extra step, and can be run easily.

picoCTF writeups - Hideout:

This chapter’s challenges can all be found under the ‘hideout’ module in the 2018 picoCTF. The below examples detail some of the ways we can apply what has been described above.

net cat

Using netcat (nc) will be a necessity throughout your adventure. Can you connect to 2018shell.picoctf.com at port 49387 to get the flag?

As we described above, we can use nc like ‘nc <destination> <port>’. Hence, we simply do ‘nc 2018shell.pico.ctf.com 49387’ to connect to the remote service. The flag should be displayed on your terminal which is: picoCTF{NEtcat_iS_a_NEcESSiTy_8b6a1fbc}

grep 1

Can you find the flag in file [1] ? This would be really obnoxious to look through by hand, see if you can find a faster way. You can also find the file in /problems/grep-1_4_0431431e36a950543a85426d0299343e on the shell server.

Although you could just look the whole file to manually find the flag, we can use one of the handy commands we learnt about earlier! As described in the above guide, we can use grep like ‘grep <word/pattern> <name-of-file>’. We can utilise the fact that every flag inpicoCTF is formatted in the same way, by doing ‘grep picoCTF file’ to retrieve our flag which is: picoCTF{grep_and_you_will_find_cdf2e7c2}

sshkeyz

As nice as it is to use our webshell, sometimes its helpful to connect directly to our machine. To do so, please add your own public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, using the webshell. The flag is in the ssh banner which will be displayed when you login remotely with ssh to with your username.

You can connect to the picoCTF server by doing ‘ssh <username>@2018shell1.picoctf.com’ in your terminal. The output should look somewhat similar to below:

$ ssh [email protected]

The authenticity of host '2018shell1.picoctf.com (18.223.208.176)' can't be established.

ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:zCX5ip3tx1RMbsJBc70jEazd+gAFzlbC1Q2iDI8LA/k.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

Warning: Permanently added '2018shell1.picoctf.com,18.223.208.176' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.

picoCTF{who_n33ds_p4ssw0rds_38dj21}

Thus we can see our flag, which is: picoCTF{who_n33ds_p4ssw0rds_38dj21}

strings

Can you find the flag in this file [1] without actually running it? You can also find the file in /problems/strings_0_bf57524acf558aca2081eb97ece8e2ee on the shell server.

As we detailed above, we can use string like ‘strings <name-of-file>’. To get all the printable lines in the ‘strings’ file we can use the strings command, together with grep to get the flag! By doing ‘strings strings | grep picoCTF’ we retrieve our flag which is: picoCTF{sTrIngS_sAVeS_Time_3f712a28}

what base is this

To be successful on your mission, you must be able to read data represented in different ways, such as hexadecimal or binary. Can you get the flag from this program to prove you are ready? Connect with nc 2018shell.picoctf.com 15853.

Basically this challenge wants us to convert between different bases of numbers. It requires you to:

Convert from binary to ASCII

Convert from hex to ASCII

Convert from octal to ASCII

I used the following tools to complete the challenge:

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/binary-to-ascii.html

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/ascii-hex-bin-dec-converter.html

http://www.unit-conversion.info/texttools/octal/

#something awesome

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