#and with this i log off for the foreseeable future it's really not worth being on here right now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bridgertonbabe · 6 months ago

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Signing off.

I never really thought I'd ever write a post like this and to be perfectly honest I feel a bit cringe for even making a thing out of this but I felt it necessary to address those of you who follow me and my writings.

In the last month I have been suffering severely from anxiety, waking up to what feels like a ball of dread clutching at my heart and being unable to shift it for the better part of the day. It's all come to a head as of late because I've reached a crossroads in my life where I've realised just how unhappy and unfulfilled I am. Truth to be told I really don't have any aspect in my life that I am happy with and for years I've dismissed myself and my own desires for the sake of others to the point where I have no self worth, no self confidence, and I just feel like a shell of a person. Realising that I can't go on like this, that I can't live the life I aspire to without sorting my mental health out, I've taken the first steps in getting counselling and in going to the doctors to be put on anti-depressants.

While I'm already starting to feel better, I've decided it's in my best interests to take some other steps going ahead; which is I'm logging off this account.

Don't get me wrong, this account has brought me fulfillment in the last two and a half years and I've had so much fun interacting with so many of you but as of late I've become very disengaged with Bridgerton. It's one of several of my hyperfixations which I have become anxious with in the last few weeks, in part because they are what I used to immerse myself in as a means to distract myself from a dissatisfying existence, but now I've decided to make a change in my life for the better, everything that I once used to bury my head in the sand has now essentially given me the ick. Bridgerton is just now one of several things that I feel the need to distance myself from in order to fully focus and concentrate on bettering my mental health as well as getting what I want out of life.

As much as I've taken pride in writing because of Bridgerton, my dream has always to one day publish a book of my own and I need to refocus my energies on writing my own original stories to have the chance of maybe being able to make that dream a reality. I would have so dearly loved to have been able to complete a whole host of WIPs (would have also loved to have been able to just focus on one story at a time but c'est la vie) and I can only apologise to anyone who's been hoping for an update from any of them.

You will still be able to read all of my works on AO3 (plus I've restored a couple I had previously hidden from view), and I won't be deleting this tumblr so all of my drabbles and various posts will still be here for you to browse and read at your leisure.

Though I'm stepping away from this account, I don't necessarily know if this will be forever. I might well end up in a better place mentally at some point and return with a healthier state of mind where I can enjoy Bridgerton again, and I would never rule out contributing writings again - however as it stands, I don't want to promise anything and taking care of my mental health is my main priority for now and the foreseeable future.

I also just wanted to take the opportunity to thank every single person who has ever liked, reblogged, and interacted with me since I joined. I had never previously shared any of my creative writing online and thought it would be nice if even a single person somewhere vaguely liked anything I had to share - but over the last two and a half years I've been given such a boost from the amount of people who have reached out and commented on any one of my silly writings. I don't think you'll ever understand just how much it has meant to me and the love and appreciation will stay with me forever.

That about does it, so thank you all for everything. I wish you all a lifetime of health and happiness.

Signing off,

Shinnie

xxx

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dylawas-reblogs · 1 year ago

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Aight, I'm pissed enough at Y*utube's aggressive ad bullshit (this reddit comment summarizes it pretty well) and it's one of the few G**gle services that we're stuck stuck with, that I'm gonna make my own post on current workarounds as of 10/12/2023, with info on methods that I know of for both desktop and mobile. They may not be the best workarounds, but they are what I'm currently using or trust from what I've heard (and I haven't had any other posts like this come across my dash, so maybe this is needed). We fight to the bitter end, comrades.

This post is specifically for if you must be logged in to use Youtube. Your greatest defense would be to use Youtube while logged out. From what I can tell, they basically can't do anything to you if you are.

Please note that I am absolutely no web or code expert, I don't understand the inner workings of the G**gle all seeing eye and how they catch you on this shit, I don't know if it's account based or IP based, I just barely figured out how to buy and use my own domain like three weeks ago, so there are likely things in this post I will suggest that people will correct me on. If for some reason this post gets big and starts circulating (unlikely), please check reblogs and replies for additional information (and make sure it's ACCURATE if you can). Knowledge is your friend.

With that plea to the void out of the way:

Desktop:

Some folks are using browsers with built in ad blockers such as Brave (with varying results; the comments are worth a read by everyone regardless if you use Brave) to circumvent the ad block policy, but that's Chromium shit! We don't do that in this house! I guess you can if you really want to (PrivacyGuides apparently gives it the seal of approval) but if you like your online privacy, I personally really do suggest sticking with Firefox.

"But Dyl, they're catching us on Firefox even with Ublock Origin."

Yes, but the Ublock team is working their asses off to keep up with every. single. ID. change. Y*utube makes to try to break their workarounds. If it's not currently working for you, click on that link right there and follow that guide. This war of the ads will probably continue for a while, so my advice for the foreseeable future is this:

Always perform the four steps listed in the above link any time you've been away from Y*utube for a while (even just a couple hours),

and double check the Y*utube ID VS Ublock's current ID as stated in the linked comment at the start of this post.

After verifying there's an ID update and Ublock is caught up, reset your filters every single time you get on after a several hour break (after backing up your personal filters and trusted sites, if you have any of those customized). Why so often? Because that's just about how often Y*utube's updating their popup ID to catch you with your ad blocker. The Ublock team is staying on top of it fairly well considering the insane frequency, but they may not always get to it for a few hours (hence checking the ID).

After rebooting your Ublock, check a few videos without being logged in first so as not to put your account at risk. Do so in incognito if it's easiest for you. EDIT: If you aren't logged in, YT won't give a shit if you have an ad blocker-- or so I've heard.

"That sounds like a hassle. Don't the filters in this post work?"

They may have at one point! But that post was made all the way back at the end of June 2023, and most recent replies in the post are stating it's not working for them anymore. Thus, I'd just constantly reset your Ublock for the time being until a better solution is implemented. Besides, once you know what you're doing, resetting Ublock takes a grand total of, oh I dunno, a minute? On that note, with YT's constant updates, I have no idea how Brave is faring/keeping up in comparison. And besides from using either Brave or Firefox+Ublock, I don't know of any other desktop solutions.

Furthermore-- and this applies to both desktop and mobile, but I'm bringing it up now-- if you really value your Y*utube channel and don't want it to lose access to watching videos-- or worse-- it may work to make a Y*utube account that's dispensable as your new default. I just used my spam email, honestly. It's literally no skin off my nose if that account suddenly can't watch Y*utube anymore. Then, save the browsing on your main account for when you can afford to have your adblock off (or just don't watch videos from that account anymore). It seems if you've already got the warning once, you're basically on G**gle's watchlist with that account now-- so if you've gotten it on your main, better safe than sorry.

Mobile:

There are a couple things I know of that you can do here. My first suggestion, and the one I just set up, is Revanced (aka the Revanced Manager, and it works in tangent with a MicroG fork (I absolutely do not have the vocabulary to explain what MicroG is/does, just know you can't log in to YT Revanced without it)). This Reddit post is the one I think will make the most sense to everyone for installation, but I would use it in conjunction with the official guide for dummies, not as a replacement for it.

TL;DR, Revanced is an open source APK patcher (or in gamer speak, a mod) that provides patches for numerous applications (T*mblr included, hint hint). Note the term "patches." Yes, you do need to download an APK of your app of choice (on non-rooted devices), but technically what Revanced does is create its own "build" of the app by combining the APK and the patches, and since they're not the ones distributing the APK, I believe that technically keeps them out of G**gle's death laser. PLEASE note that Revanced does NOT distribute its own APKs: if you're trying to save yourself hassle and find something claiming to be an already patched Revanced APK, be it for Y*utube, Reddit, etc, assume it's a virus even if it's not. Always get your APK from apkmirror with your own fingers and manually patch it in with Revanced.

I know the guide looks scary, but believe me: Revanced used to be WAY harder to install, as in, you had to go through a virtual machine on your phone harder. At the current moment, Revanced is Android only. Sorry Apple users :/

If logging in to an account is of no consequence to you and you could not care less, Newpipe is another good third party YT choice from what I've heard; I don't know if it has all of the same features as Revanced YT, but at the very least, yes, it should block ads. It seems to also be compatible with Soundcloud and Bandcamp of all things at a glance, so if those are common applications for you, Newpipe might even be a better option for you over Revanced. Alas, yet again, this app is not compatible with Apple-- and as this is the last third party YT app I have to offer, I don't know if there are any third party YT apps that are Apple compatible. However...

If installing a scary new non-playstore app isn't up your alley, Brave seems to have a mobile app as well; you'd be watching Y*utube in your browser instead of the Y*utube app, but hey, I was watching Y*utube in Firefox mobile with Ublock until I put on my big kid pants with Revanced, so it's absolutely doable. Again, I must reiterate, I don't know how Brave is faring with these changes.

That's all I've got, but just to reiterate: I'm not an expert. I only know bare bones web/code stuff, my understanding on some of these things may be slightly off or wrong, these are just the methods I know of that work to circumvent YT ads. Your mileage may vary on a number of factors, including but not limited to, your understanding of/ability to learn how to download and use non-playstore apps, any breaking updates YT makes to further enforce their tyranny, how G**gle keeps track of ad blockers in browsers, and how long ago this post was made vs when you're seeing it.

It's war out there, soldier; good luck.

#important #psa #ad blocking #should i tag this with more relevant tags? yes #am i not going to because i fear this post actually circulating? also yes #if it 'escapes' containment it's more like it's going to be dragged out #dylawa rambles

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imaginetonyandbucky · 4 years ago

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The Buy In

Chapter 3: Puzzle Wrapped in an Enigma

by @dracusfyre

On the way back home after the brothel closed, Bucky logged into Discord and dropped into a channel labeled only with random numbers and letters. First day of work was :thumbs up: but there were two dudebros who tried to jam up my shit. Wish they would back off, he wrote. The channel was monitored 24/7 in case of emergency or actionable intel.

He waited as the dots danced, then his police handler wrote, that sucks. who are they?

Bucky typed the last four of Rumlow and Rollins’ badge numbers and put his phone back in his pocket. This operation was way more important than those two swinging dicks; between the video from tonight, which was going to be a PR nightmare for the department, and his request, Rumlow and Rollins better be manning a desk for the foreseeable future.

He was pulling out his keys to his apartment building when he heard a car door opening nearby. His head whipped around and his other hand was already on the pistol in the holster at the small of his back when he heard, “Whoa there Blue Eyes,” in a familiar voice. The figure that stepped out of the car held his hands up and stepped into the light. “Hard day at the office?”

“I’ve had worse,” Bucky said warily.

“How’d everything go today?” Stark shoved his hands in his pocket and leaned against his car, the streetlight casting harsh shadows on his face.

“Fine. Didn’t KT give you a debrief?”

“Yeah, I heard his side. I wanna hear your side.”

Bucky thought about it, wondering if he should put a shine on it or be honest. “KT and Hawkeye’s play tonight was clever and would have worked perfectly against a different set of cops. But I think those two won’t give up until they get back at the person who embarrassed them. Might have made more problems than they solved.”

“Yeah?” Stark tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “You sure about that? KT's been on the job for a few years now and thought it was a good call. It's your first day and you saw the cops for all of fifteen minutes.”

Bucky shrugged. “I’ve met guys like them before. Don't strike me as the type to know when they're beat. Best thing would be for them to be encouraged to take a long walk off a short pier.”

Stark made a thoughtful noise. “But KT explained office policy on that?”

“Yeah. Only as a last resort.” Bucky tried to sound neutral, but something of his skepticism must have bled through.

“You don’t agree?”

The note in Stark’s voice put Bucky on high alert. Higher alert, since his heart was still racing from before. “I get the logic, it’s just…different,” Bucky said. “Makes sense though. Bodies attract attention.”

“Is that the only reason you think it's a good policy?” Stark asked neutrally.

Bucky hesitated. He got the feeling there was a right and wrong answer to this and wished this conversation had happened six hours ago when he was less tired. “Killing people changes things,” he said finally - honestly - hoping he wasn’t about to touchy-feely himself out of this operation. Between the military, the police, and then undercover work with organized crime, he had been so steeped in machismo that it had become second nature – to those guys, life was one big dick measuring contest - but Stark didn’t seem to work like that. Or at least, he didn't want people to think he worked like that. “Not just changes people, but like…it sends a message to everyone else. ‘This is what a life is worth.’” Bucky took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing himself to maintain eye contact with Stark. “People respond to that. Makes them…mean. Hard. So if you can avoid that...” He ran a hand over the back of his neck, feeling like an idiot. He probably sounded ridiculous. “So, yeah. Anyway. Guess if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Seems to be working for you.”

“We do alright,” Stark said slowly, and Bucky figured he must have said the right thing because he straightened and held out a hand for Bucky to shake. Bucky looked at it with surprise and took it, feeling acutely aware of the strength of Stark’s grip and the callouses on his palms. “Welcome aboard.”

***

Tony got back in his car as Blue Eyes continued into his building, cranking it and pulling away from the curb on autopilot. If Blue Eyes hadn’t been a cop, Tony would have told himself that he was too good to be true; as it was, Tony wondered if it was possible that the police or feds or whoever had profiled him well enough to give “Brooks” a gold plated script to work from. But it hadn’t felt like the new guy was playing him tonight; his comments had been too rambling and inarticulate to have been prepared in advance. Rhodey was going to think he was an idiot, but he really though Brooks was being honest with him tonight, which had the potential to change things.

At the first stoplight, he pulled out his phone and texted Rhodey.

I like him.

Rhodey sent a rolling eyes emoji almost immediately. Blue Eyes?

Yeah I want to keep him. he’s wasted as a cop.

The three dots must have started and stopped a dozen times; Tony was almost back to his own place when he finally got a response. You’re playing with fire.

Tony smirked. I know, he wrote back. It’s what I do.

Yeah, but this time, if you get burnt, we all do. Tony pulled into his private garage and turned off the car, listening to the engine tick as it cooled. Rhodey was right. As much as he was intrigued by Blue Eyes, he couldn’t put his people at risk by tugging on that thread. “Dammit,” he said out loud, scowling as he got out of the car. “Ten years ago I wouldn't have thought twice.”

***

A few weeks into the operation Bucky and KT were making the rounds, checking in with the businesses and people on their beat, and Bucky was suddenly struck by two things: one, just how much this gig felt like being a street cop, walking the sidewalks just observing the neighborhood; and two, how no one was ever this happy to see him when he was a street cop. People saw KT and more often than not, they were smiling, chatty about business and local gossip. Most of them greeted Bucky (“Oh, this must be Blue Eyes,” which had yet to stop making Bucky’s ears burn) and were happy to introduce themselves. The ones that weren’t smiling were the ones that had something to complain about: permit not going through, shipment delayed, broken equipment that insurance wasn’t paying out for. KT took notes, nodded and commiserated, and when they left almost everyone looked at least mollified, if not cheered.

“You know, for us playing the bag men today, we sure aren’t picking up any money,” Bucky commented. A couple of times KT had taken a store owner to the side and Bucky, straining his ears, heard something about loans; these people always had the look of someone explaining why they couldn’t pay but it wasn’t their fault, honest. Like everything else, KT made notes and listened politely.

“That’s not what we’re doing,” KT said. “This is check in. We do it every two weeks or so. Money stuff is all handled online.”

“Yeah?” Bucky knew for a fact that the FBI had been working with the Treasury to trace Stark’s money, and, failing to find any signs of dirty money or money laundering, had concluded he must be operating with cash only.

“Yeah. Boss didn’t want to tempt anyone or make them a target.” That was smart, Bucky reflected. Ripping off other gangs was an art form in organized crime. Still, he had to wonder how Stark kept the money transfers so well hidden from the best financial analysts in the US government.

“No targets except his accountant,” Bucky joked, fishing for info. “Like with Al Capone.”

KT just shrugged at that, like he didn’t know and didn’t care, so Bucky left it alone. “So what do we do with that stuff?” Bucky said, gesturing at the notebook KT had been writing in all morning.

“We take care of it.” He took the notebook out and flipped through it. “Not too much stuff this time.”

Bucky turned that over in his head. “So under the Mechanic, fixers actually…fix things,” he said. “You’re really going to call a shipping company and an insurance office and everything?”

“Yep. Well, we are.”

Made sense; if businesses were paying Stark for protection, he could also throw in other services to sweeten the pot and keep people from rolling on him. Bucky shoved his hands in his pockets and was lost in thought while he mostly followed KT around the neighborhood. Granted he’d only been here for less than a week, but so far nothing was adding up to what he’d read in the case files on Stark and his organization. It was making him uneasy. He’d come here with a picture in his head, and a goal of filling in the holes so they could make a case against an organized crime boss; but now he was increasingly realizing that something was wrong with the picture. So when KT told him one night that they had the next two days off, Bucky sent another message on the Discord channel and when he got a confirmation, he went to the New York Library, the big one with the stone lions and millions of tourists. He went to the adult services desk and asked for a laptop. The librarian studied his ID, went to a safe, and handed him a laptop from inside. Bucky found a study carrell in a quiet spot and logged on with an 8 character name and 16 character password, established and memorized before he’d started this operation, and opened up the case files on Stark.

Scrolling through, Bucky felt some of his disquiet ease as he re-read the laundry list of crimes Stark was reportedly involved in: racketeering, tax fraud, illegal gambling, high-end car theft. Armed obberies; he opened up the file on robberies and realized with morbid amusement that even while Stark protected his own people from being targeted, he had no problem targeting bagmen from other gangs, making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. Tax fraud, obviously; if Tony was hiding all of his income from the FBI, he was definitely hiding it from the IRS. Though as he opened up Stark’s tax statements, gotten from a subpoena to the IRS, and noticed that the document for just one year was hundreds of pages long, Bucky reflected that a good accountant could hide a lot of money in his legitimate businesses and all the assets that Stark had inherited from his parents.

At the back of the file was sex trafficking, which was based on a handful of reports that said that prostitutes were disappearing from other parts of the city and showing up working for Stark. Bucky put a note next to that one recommending the line of investigation be dropped. After spending hours and hours at the brothel chatting to the Widow and the ladies there, waiting to see if Rumlow returned, he knew none of the men or women there were being forced to stay, not even for lack of other work. Widow recruited from all around the city, helping people get out of the business if they wanted to and offering others a chance to work for her. Turns out, most of that building was devoted to the people who worked in the brothel: everyone got their own apartment, which was separate from the suites they entertained clients, and there was an in-house doctor and even childcare in the basement. All the money went straight back to the sex workers, except for this mysterious buy-in that no one had explained yet, and they were using it for a bewildering array of side projects that the women were more than happy to talk about during their down time.

After a few hours, which included writing up his reports from the past few weeks of working for Stark, Bucky sat back and closed the laptop. It was his first month, he reminded himself. No one was going to let him close to the real work of the organization after just a few weeks. He sent another message to his handler on Discord, and when he got a confirmation back, he stood up and walked away from the carrell; when he was about twenty feet away, he saw his police contact, dressed like a soccer mom, come by and spirit the laptop away.

His next stop was the gym; by the time he was done, shirt soaked wet with sweat and muscles aching, his head felt clearer. He didn’t know why Stark was trying so hard to seem like a good guy, but if Bucky was patient enough he’d scrape past all the pseudo-philanthropy and get to the real man underneath. Stark wasn’t the first guy to be handsome and charming and charismatic while hiding a dark side.

#tony stark #bucky barnes #tony x bucky #winteriron #no powers au

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thiswasinevitableid · 4 years ago

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Third Time’s The Charm (Indruck)

Prompt for the 10th was: stiches

“I ain’t sure what you thought was gonna happen. That canopy is fuckin dense.”

“In my, ouch, defense I, ow, only crash landed in one percent of futures, OW!” Indrid cuts off into chitters of pain as Duck continues stitching up his shoulder near his wing.”

You know, Duck had been hoping someone from home would visit him out here in Brazil. He just wasn't expecting the mothman to be the first one to show up.

And he really wasn’t expecting him to crash to the ground near Ducks small cabin that he stays in when not in the field. In spite of his wing clearly bleeding, he’d told Duck to hurry into town to head off yet another fire. When Duck came back two hours later to find Indrid trying to stitch up his wing using the bathroom mirror and a very odd contortion, he ordered him to sit down on the closed toilet seat so he could do the damn thing right.

He’s halfway through now, Indrid’s feathers making things tricky. The Sylph staying in this form until it was over, since his pain tolerance is higher when he’s not human.

“Thank you for not insisting on taking me to a hospital.”

“The closest one is an hour away and I don’t know enough Portuguese to explain the mothman to a doctor.” Duck adjusts his stance slightly so he’s not blocking the light he needs to work, “gotta say, for all your chirpin, you’re doin pretty damn well.”

“As you pointed out, one cannot go as ‘mothman’ to a hospital. And after documentation became more common, it became harder to produce identifying documents that wouldn’t raise too many questions. One gets used to home surgery and unpleasant infections.”

Duck raises an eyebrow, concerned by the last part of that sentence.

“Do not worry, Duck Newton, I know enough healing spells that it has never become an issue.”

“I mean, that’s good to know but Indrid, that ain’t no way to live.”

“Perhaps not. But it was often the price of helping prevent disaster. Or trying to.”

“You helped us a hell of a lot in Kepler.”

The Sylph hums in acknowledgement, hisses as Duck pulls the last stitch through. He stays quiet as Duck bandages him. Awkward silence is broken only by insects and the occasional bird, and a question taps at the back of Duck’s skull.

“I, uh, I thought you were goin back to Sylvain. Handin the job off to Leo and all that.”

“I considered that, and Leo is welcome to use his foresight as he pleases. But as I told you on our first meeting, I fell in love with earth. I have been away from Sylvain for a long time. I searched for a solution to her decline for a century. You and the others solved it in one-hundredth of that time. So it is not as if the kingdom will welcome me back as a hero. And I do not want my old position back. No, Duck Newton, if I am going to be a failure, have my warnings ignored, I may as well do so on the planet I like better.”

“Now, hold on-” Duck wants to argue, but Indrid swivels his head, red eyes as disconcerting as they were when they met. He looks very sure of his conclusion. More than that, he looks tired.

“Your question had a dual purpose, so I will answer what was implicit; you want to know why I’m here and not somewhere else.”

“I, uh, I mean yeah, but I ain’t-”

“-trying to be rude, nono, I do not doubt that. I came to you because the fire I foresaw would be as bad, if not worse, as the one you are helping undo the damage from. And it is easier to stop disaster when I don’t have to waste time making someone believe I can really see the future.” He stands, taking up half the bathroom, “thank you for your help. I will put on my glasses and be on my way. Can I trouble you for a ride into town?”

“No, I mean yeah, but jesus christ Indrid, you crashed. I just finished stitching you up! You oughta rest up some.’

Indrid cocks his head, “Yes, hence the trip into town. I can rest there until my wing is healed.”

“You got no one to tend those stitches, and I got a couch that ain’t bein used.”

“But you do not want me here.” He barely sounds hurt, just resigned, and somehow that makes Duck feel worse than if the Sylph was crying.

And a little annoyed.

“Did I say that?”

“No. But we were hardly close friends, and what is more you have spent a great deal of your life with aliens popping into your space unannounced. Where is she, by the by? I thought she was coming with you.”

Duck sticks his hands into his pockets, staring down as he shrugs, “forestry ain’t exactly her area of interest. And, uh, once the trauma-bondin’ wore off, think we both needed some time to sort some things out.”

Indrid stares blankly at him a moment, and then he chirrs, “You’re lonely.”

“Hey I, I’m uh, I- how the fuck did you know that?”

“You said so in some futures.”

“Are there futures where you accept my offer and get your fuzzy ass on the couch before you pass out?” Duck doesn’t mean to sound grumpy, but Indrid just bumped into two sore spots in Duck’s psyche.

Oddly, Indrid snickers, “I forgot how stubborn you can be. Very well, I accept your offer of the couch.”

By the time Duck gets back with a spare pillow, the Sylph is asleep, chirping peacefully.

------------------------------------------------

“What are you doing?”

“GAHfuck”

“Apologies.” Indrid only looks partially sorry, his human grin wide when Duck glares at him.

“That some sort of Sylph silence spell?”

“No, just years of practice trying not to be heard in the halls when I was seer.”

Last Duck saw him, he was still asleep on the couch, mumbling and chirring in pain when Duck changed the bandage. Duck would like to say that’s all he remembers, except there was a moment after he finished and Indrid’s eyes fluttered open as he sighed out a “thank you.” And that sight, the way Indrid looked in the morning light, safe and trusting, had tugged at his heart.

“May I keep you company? I am not in much of a state to do much else, even watch futures. Hitting my head tends to do that.”

“Uh, sure. I’m on my own for the mornin, not sure how excitin it will be.”

“I wish to know everything.”

Duck’s about to make a crack about being careful what you wish for when he gets a good look at Indrid’s face. The Sylph is grinning eagerly and is even flapping his hands a bit as he speaks.

“I want to see what you see in this jungle.”

So Duck shows him, everything from the saplings they’ve chosen to the creatures darting in and out of view. Indrid asks questions and makes excited noises, but mostly he listens, lets Duck talk or not as it pleases him. They’ve been in a stretch of silence when Duck turns and guffaws.

Indrid, sitting on a log, is covered in butterflies, some as big as Duck’s hand and in all colors of the rainbow.

“Guess they know a relative when they see one.”

The Sylph beams, “I was wondering how long it would be before you noticed.”

“Wait, did you summon them?”

“No, they just sort of...do this. It may be for moth reasons, or perhaps I have eaten so much sugar they smell it in my pores. I was, however, hoping they would join me, because I foresaw it making you happy.”

That same affection sparks in Duck’s chest.

“Alright, you heard enough from me today. Now I wanna know all about what you been doin since the world didn’t end.”

Indrid tells him about his attempts to stay in Kepler, his promise to Stern to not get photographed too much, his relentless teasing of Barclay for falling in love with the agent. His travels to other states to stop disasters, newly energized in his successes in Kepler.

“If you can call them that,”

“I’d say you can.”

Indrid holds out his hand, studying the speckled butterfly perched on it, “You renewed so much of my belief that things could change. At the cottonwood, when you promised me you’d find a way to stop what was coming, stop the sinkhole I...it meant a great deal. Even if your method of freeing me was rather, ah, abrupt.”

He rubs the back of his neck, “Yep, not my best plan, but it worked.”

“The bruise only lasted nine days, it was worth it in the end.”

Duck shoots him a playfully hurt smile, “Hey, don’t make me feel bad, I apologized.”

Indrid raises an eyebrow.

“Oh fuck” Duck tugs his hat down over his eyes, “I didn’t, I never fuckin apologized for punchin you.”

“In your defense, there were more pressing matters.” There it is again, that resignation. Duck wants to yank it out of Indrid’s tone and stomp it to bits. Instead, he steps forward, rests a hand on each of Indrid’s biceps.

“Indrid, I’m so fuckin sorry. Even if it helped save you, I’m sorry you got hurt again and it was me that did it.”

“I…” Indrid closes his mouth, opens it again, repeats that motion before managing, “I did not see that reply coming.” He smiles a new smile, small and secretive, as if he’s been given something precious, “thank you for saying that, Duck.”

-----------------------------------------------------

“I see why they call it a rainforest.” Indrid stares out the window as drops batter it.

“Yep.” Duck zips up his raincoat, smirking at the bundled up silver haired man, “guessin you ain’t joinin me?”

“I do not enjoy wet weather. Though if you want company I can oh, no, never mind.”

Duck’s radio crackles, and a quick conversation informs him that the conditions at the current reforestation site are too swamped to get anything done.

“Guess I got the day off. Uh, what do you wanna do?”

“I planned to draw and track futures, but I foresee you offering to teach me a card game, and I prefer that future.”

They end up on the floor by the couch, since Indrid seldom sits in chairs in a normal way anyway, mug of coffee in front of Duck and tea with half the sugar jar in front of Indrid. Duck teaches him several games, and as they play Indrid gets going on a tangent about his stint as a cardshark in Las Vegas, and the years he relied on hitchhiking to get around. Duck tells him about growing up in Kepler, about all the years between turning eighteen and now, the ones that plenty of people in his life treated as irrelevant to his life story.

They end up playing and talking until nightfall. Duck knows he should head to bed, that he has work tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to stop hearing Indrid’s laugh or seeing him scribble down futures.

He misses him when he goes to sleep.

Around eleven, his body makes an executive decision and he nods off leaning against the couch. He wakes up a few hours later to fluff on his cheek and comforting weight across his chest. Opening his eyes, he finds his head is in Indrid’s lap and a large black wing blankets him.

Even in his sleep, Indrid is terrifying in this form. At least, that's the argument his brain makes; Indrid is huge and alien, dangerous when he wants to be.

His heart disagrees. There’s nothing to be scared of. Indrid is his friend, wants nothing from him other than to get to know him. He’s soft, that helps, and clearly thinks of Duck as someone worth protecting. The sleep chirping is pretty fucking cute, too.

Red eyes open, two nightlights in the dark cabin. Indrid’s antenna are twitching and he’s clicking the claws of his upper hands together.

“Apologies, you sort of nodded off while we were talking and I caught you when you tipped over. I felt odd carrying you to bed, and this form seemed better to lay on, and then you started shivering so I put my wing-oh.”

Duck rolls over so he’s on his side, facing Indrid’s fuzzy abdomen, “Not complainin’, ‘Drid. Just adjustin’.”

He shuts his eyes, and for a moment clawtips trace his hair.

“Goodnight, Duck.”

----------------------------------------------

He’s been living with Duck for three months now. Far too long to count as “recovery” and thoroughly pushing the definition of “vacation.” Indrid doesn’t want to go. And Duck doesn’t want him to either, if his actions are any indication. He’s fixed up the one spare room to be a guest room, includes Indrid in planning out the week, including planning a few day trips on the days he isn’t working. It's as if he wants Indrid around.

(It’s as if he wants a future with him).

Indrid can no longer attribute it solely to loneliness. Yes, Duck misses his friends and family, but he clearly gets along with his fellow rangers and the other staff on the project, and in that very Duck way of his has become a regular at places in the nearby town, having enough Portuguese to ask the woman who runs the cafe about her grandkids or the mail carrier how his garden is doing.

Which means he’s keeping Indrid around out of pity, charity, or genuine affection. That the last option even exists makes Indrid want to take to the sky in celebratory flight.

He’s been alive a long time. He knows what a crush feels like, and he knows that's what he feels for Duck. He also feels it deepening into something else, and if he could be sure the ranger felt the same he’d tell him in an instant.

His crush is not helped by the fact that Duck asked if he wanted to go for a weekend in Porto Velho and how they’re here, on their second night, at a spot that's a little fancier than Indrid is used to, with Duck looking extra-handsome across from him.

Come to think of it, Duck’s looked rather more put-together all weekend, even when they were in parks rather than museums (at the former he’d laughed when Indrid was alarmed by the far too big fish, and at the latter he seemed like he was actually listening when Indrid talked about art).

Duck keeps fidgeting during dinner, and Indrid suddenly understands; this is a farewell weekend. He’s going to ask Indrid to leave, is trying to soften the blow.

When Indrid declines dessert, the ranger actually frowns with worry, covers it by jokingly asking if Indrid is sick. By the time they get back to the hotel, Indrid is so nervous he can't get the timelines to cooperate in his mind, and so he decides to be proactive.

Duck doesn’t turn the lights on, inclining his head towards the balcony. Indrid follows him out into the night air, the city bathing them in light from below and the moonlight cascading down to meet it. Indrid leans on the railing looking out. Duck leans next to him, so close Indrid can count the laugh lines on his face.

“This has been a wonderful trip, thank you for bringing me.”

“Yeah?” Duck’s face brightens, borders on excitement as he turns his body slightly towards Indrid, “I’m glad to hear that. I, uh, worked real hard on plannin it for us.”

Indrid nods, glances back out towards the cit, “I will be out of your hair as soon as we get back ho-, to, ah, to the cabin.”

Duck’s entire frame crumples inwards, “Oh, uh...okay. Yeah. If that's what you need to do, uh, you, uh, you do it.”

Indrid cups his cheek, forcing his fingers to stay still, “Thank you for letting me stay. And for planning me such a lovely send off.”

“Indrid, how could I plan for somethin I didn’t think was happenin?”

“Ah, um, I simply assumed-”

“‘Drid” Duck steps closer, “do you think I want you gone?”

No point in lying now, not when Duck is always so truthful.

“Yes.”

“Did I do somethin? Is this too much? Fuck, it is, ain’t it, I knew the whole romantic dinner for two thing was gonna be too far.”

Indrid has been alive a long time. The fact he can still be this oblivious is remarkable to him.

“‘Drid, I’m so fuckin sorry, I uh, I thought-” He gasps when Indrid guides his face up for a kiss, and he’s so warm and comforting and there and he’s kissing Indrid bck, kissing him like it’s all he remembers how to do

When they break the kiss Indrid grins, “You thought right, Duck.”

“Oh thank fuckin god.”

With that Duck pounces, hooking his hands under Indrid’s thighs and lifting him up, kissing him over and over on their somewhat precarious trip to the bed.

Indridi has had plenty of sleepless nights. This turns out to be the first time he enjoys one.

And several months later, when Duck returns to Kepler for the screening of a very special episode of Saturday Night Dead, Indrid steps off the plane with him, grinning in the West Virginia Sun.

#indrid cold/duck newton #indruck #TAZ Amnesty #promptober

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gobigorgohome2016 · 7 years ago

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The Allure of High Mileage Running

The 100 Mile Week. For as long as I can remember, high mileage has intrigued me. Of course, this probably partly stems from spending high school glued to message boards like letsrun, dyestat, and indianarunner, where a person’s worth was strongly tied to his (rarely her) running ability. I’m sure that growing up reading stories about Deena Kastor’s monster mileage didn’t help with my fascinaton, either.

In high school I was a fairly high mileage runner, topping out around 45 or 50 miles per week. I think a lot of high schoolers do that now, but at the time we only trained for a 4k race. I have always enjoyed mileage, and my body seems to respond better the more that I run.

In college, I was a low mileage runner because I was always injured. I remember the first time I ran a 60 mile week. I was pretty proud of that moment. Also in college my fascination with 100 mile weeks grew after hearing legends of former (male) teammates that pursued 100 mile / 100 beer challenges. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t even do a 100 mile / 10 beer challenge in a week (the beer being the limiting factor), but nevertheless my interest was piqued. Would I be able to run 100 miles someday? At that point, I figured likely not since I could barely make it past 40 miles without injuries.

When I got to grad school I realized it didn’t really matter how much I ran, since I wasn’t planning to take running seriously anymore. What if I just pushed my limits instead? I distinctly remember my first 70 mile week in January 2012. Dave and I went to The Rail (now defunct) to celebrate. Well, Dave didn’t need a reason to celebrate, but 70 miles in 7 days without getting hurt seemed as good a reason as any to have overpriced hipster drinks. That night we also realized that I never picked up my car from a trail head I had parked at during the week, since I ultimately just ran home one day to add on miles. (it’s easy to forget about your car when you live in a college town!)

My first 80 mile week was when I was training for Chicago, the time I didn’t finish the race, in 2012. I felt badass, especially because I completed the mileage during one of the hottest weeks in July, and in 5.5 days (I had taken a day off and had a 4 mile day that week as well). I felt strong and badass. I knew the mileage was working for me.

I didn’t hit 90 for the first time until I was training for Chicago the second time, in 2014, when I did finish the race. 6 weeks out I did an over distance training run of 32 miles, and easily got 90 in 5 days of running that week. If I wasn’t so dead from 32 miles on horse trails, I would have surely gone out and gotten in the extra mileage to hit 100, but I fortunately realized that would have been dumb.

My first 100 mile week came when I was training for the trials. I have never been as simultaneously exhausted and satisfied.

For me, my satisfaction with running has always been intrinsically tied to two things: doing new things I’ve never done before, like highest mileage ever or longest streak of 100+ mile weeks, and my success as a runner. I guess for me I have seen the most success when my mileage is high, so I’m hooked. Of course that begs the question: am I successful at running simply because I am satisfied with my training, or is the training making me a better runner? I have always strongly believed that the foundation of success is simply believing that the way you are training is the best, and never doubting.

But, why is 100 miles a seemingly magic number for me?

No matter where you look, it appears that 100 mile weeks is what separates the elite runner from the super serious runner – at least if you read online message boards, running magazines, or talk to old school coaches.

Yet, the pursuit of the 100 mile week is ultimately the undoing of many runners. Where did this arbitrary number come from, and are we so wedded to the idea of 100-or-bust?

From my research, Jack Daniels suggests that aerobic benefit ceases around 70 – 75 miles per week. Beyond that number, runners simply improve their running economy as they add more mileage. What I have yet to find, however, is any research on how a runner feels after hitting certain barriers in training, and how that mentality ultimately affects training.

For instance, I take a shit-ton (that’s a scientific unit, right) of pride in being able to sustain 100 mile weeks sans injury. Assuming I finish out this week as planned, I will have three 100 mile weeks under my belt in a row. (kind of. One was a 98 mile week and the other a 97 – close enough).

As an aside, that’s another funny thing about 100 mile weeks – 98 miles is pretty damn near 100 miles, so why didn’t I round up? For whatever reason, that 2% difference feels more significant than the difference between, say, 45 miles and 50 miles. 2% versus 10%. This fact doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense.

Also, this is where runners tend to run into problems. You may be asking, if you were 3 miles from a 100 mile week, why didn’t you just go out and run an extra 3 miles? Well, because that would be stupid. It seems like high mileage would be filled with a lot of junk runs, but it really isn’t (at least not for me). At a certain point, you realize there are weeks where you really shouldn’t run extra mileage for the sake of extra mileage, no matter what your log looks like at the end of the week. I think that reaching this level of maturity is important, but it took me being a complete idiot to grasp that concept (i.e. the time I ran 115 miles the week I got food poisoning. Not my best life decision).

So, again, why is 100 mile weeks considered this magic training number? As far as I can tell, this started with Arthur Lydiard, who advocated high mileage running, but I can’t find anything that specifically says 100 miles is the magic number. I’m curious if anyone has an idea why runners seem to feel that 100 mile weeks separate the women from the girls?

Frankly, I think that high mileage – at least when run consistently – is probably beneficial because it forces you to take care of all the little things that runners neglect if you want to continue to sustain this type of training. For instance, there are certain rules one must abide by when hitting mega mileage, and those include:

Sleep: my first few weeks of hundreds will require 10 – 12 hours of sleep (including naps). I hear stories occasionally of runners attempting 100 mile weeks off of 6 – 7 hours of sleep. I think adrenaline can get you through maybe 2 weeks of that before your body crashes.

running lots of miles makes you tired. coffee is important.

Self Care: Even though my body feels best during big mileage, I acknowledge that it requires more care. You can injure yourself in the dumbest ways when you’re running a lot (ask my massage therapist, she could probably write a book on the stupid ways I have tweaked muscles). At the same time, a little bit of self care goes a long way at this mileage because your immune system is on high alert. The other day I tweaked my calf muscle, and 6 hours of icing, recovery yoga, legs up the wall, foam rolling, stretching, compression sleeves, and having Dave dig his fingers into my calf resulted in a pain free run the next morning.

Nutrition: This is the trickiest part. When you’re averaging 14.3 miles per day, you’re bound to run through a meal. If you’re like me, you’re also not at all hungry after a hot and humid longer run. Kefir, cheese, crackers, whole-fat foods, yogurt, protein shakes, and high-carb / high – calorie / high-protein foods are your best friend. Also, all the popsicles.

There is a conundrum at this mileage when it comes to nutrition. You want to eat as healthy as possible, but healthy foods aren’t always calorie dense. Sometimes your stomach fills up before you reach your caloric or macronutrient needs. It is so important at this mileage to remember that quantity (of calories) is sometimes more important than quality. If all that is available to me in the foreseeable future is a big mac and fries, you better believe that is what I’m going to eat.

sugar = glycogen = necessary

Singles vs. Doubles: At 70 – 80 miles per week, doubles seem easier. But, when I am 90+ mpw, I would much rather run singles. I’m not sure why this is, but going for a 14 mile run sure as hell beats a lot of 8 and 6 mile days.

Weight lifting: I used to attempt high mileage weeks without lifting. It was fine, for like 3 weeks. Then I started noticing my imbalances and lack of lifting is probably what contributed to a lot of the problems I had in my right leg last year. My biggest takeaway from that experience: if you can’t sustain your mileage + lifting, drop your mileage to the highest level you can sustain while getting in the extra work.

Flexibility: My massage therapist does range of motion and flexibility work. Without seeing her every two weeks, there is no way I could ever sustain this mileage. I also go to yoga once per week, and try to incorporate as much recovery into my weekly routine as possible.

Speed: I was talking to someone recently who asked me what my three pieces of advice would be for a marathoner. He was surprised when I said speed work, like strides, were one of the most important components. There is a misconception that running a lot of mileage results in slowness. That’s only true if you only run all of your mileage slowly. I do speedwork and strides every week, and I know that when I am in peak marathon shape I could also PR in nearly every other distance.

Pace: I think another misconception is that “slow” miles are junk miles at high mileage - but I also think this idea is perpetuated by people who believe that all mileage must be fast. There are times when I am in the best shape of my life that I do 10 mile runs in 90 minutes, or 20 mile runs in 2:40:00. Some days you just have to meet your body where it’s at, and respect that when you’re running mega mileage there will be more opportunities for bad days. When that happens I just throw on some extra strides at the end and call it even. Slow days (for you) don’t mean you aren’t in shape or that you’re losing fitness, it’s just important to remember that effort is more important than speed sometimes.

What Does a 100 Mile Week Look Like?

Here is what my most recent 100 mile week looked like:

Monday: 10 miles (double, 6 and 4) + yoga – I always do super easy 10 on Mondays, whether that means 10 in 90 minutes, or a little bit quicker but in doubles. Recovery yoga is also an every Monday occurrence.

Tuesday: 2 mile warm up, strides, 8 mile tempo in 48:27, 2.5 mile cool down + weight lifting. My plan was to hit 5:55 – 6:00 pace for this run, but with 14 mph winds and most of the route affected by the wind, I was very happy with this run. Overall average was 6:03 pace, which is faster than my marathon PR and the effort felt great.

Wednesday: 8 miles easy AM, 3 miles easy PM, + massage. Normally I would do 10 and 4 on Wednesday, but my sister was in town so things got changed to accommodate for all the walking we were going to do (4 miles of walking).

Thursday: 14 miles w/ last 400 m of each mile hard + weight lifting I love this workout. Makes the miles go quickly and has great aerobic and anaerobic benefits. I forgot my watch and nutrition, so I had to make an adjustment and run it as an out-and-back on a path that is marked every 400 m. Not my favorite way to do this workout, but it’s always good to practice things going wrong for when crazy things happen on race day.

Friday: 4 miles AM, 12 miles PM + strides having friends to run with is nice!

Saturday: 21 miles, I have been running 20+ milers since early July, so now I am focusing more on quality than just time on my feet

Sunday: 15 miles, I like to join friends during their 20+ milers on Sunday so that I can get in a relaxed semi-long run. Back to back long runs have been good for me!

So there it is. I don’t know why I’m obsessed with high mileage – especially when I don’t really love running for the sake of running – but it does make me feel badass and powerful. Do I think everyone should run 100 mile weeks? No – especially if you are unable to recover from them or are unable to take care of the little things. I do think there is something to be said for running the highest mileage that you can sustain individually if you are going after a goal, but much of that comes from the extra vigilance people use when chasing a new benchmark as well as the satisfaction they feel when new achievements have been reached!

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ironhusband · 3 years ago

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Mini Rant

Ok, so I know I’ve taken a month long (sort of) break from Tumblr and I’ve even gone for a week without logging in at all (I know it doesn’t seem like an accomplishment, but it is an accomplishment to me). My queue was active so it wasn’t that big of a deal for you, but it was one to me.

But now I’m back and it has been a lot of fun most of the times. Well, at least here. But it’s also been.... really terrifying. I’ve come to associate Tumblr with a lot of anxiety and disconnecting from my environment and I feel like coming back has brought it back.... only so much worse. Without going into specifics; this week has been really bad for me. Like, never-seen-before bad. I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation... and it isn’t like this past month has been great either.... but it's been bad.

I’m not writing this to say that I’m not coming back again, because logging off was really hard for me. Which is concerning, yes, but it is what it is. I’m just writing this to... share what it’s been like for me.

So, you’re probably not going to see a lot of my writing now that I’m back. Writing is really really hard for me nowadays. I start a story and then abandon it. I convince myself to write for my WIP and get distracted. And it sucks more now because I feel like I’m letting you down. Which is dumb, I know, because the whole reason I left is because I felt like being a content creator here was not worth it. But... it’s what I feel like. If any of my Tumblr followers who do not follow my ao3 miss my writing, I did write one new story. But I don’t see myself posting for the foreseeable future. I appreciate any support you want to give; but also know that this is deeper than the difficulties of being a content creator. So... it might not get fixed so soon.

Anyways, thank you if you actually read all that. And... that’s it.

#ramble rumble

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isearchgoood · 5 years ago

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The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet and Interactive Q&A

Posted by BritneyMuller

Earlier this week, I hosted a webinar all about featured snippets covering essential background info, brand-new research we've done, the results of all the tests I've performed, and key takeaways. Things didn't quite go as planned, though. We had technical difficulties that interfered with our ability to broadcast live, and lots of folks were left with questions after the recording that we weren't able to answer in a follow-up Q&A.

The next best thing to a live webinar Q&A? A digital one that you can bookmark and come back to over and over again! We asked our incredibly patient, phenomenally smart attendees to submit their questions via email and promised to answer them in an upcoming blog post. We've pulled out the top recurring questions and themes from those submissions and addressed them below. If you had a question and missed the submission window, don't worry! Ask it down in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for the original webinar, you can register for it on-demand here:

Watch the webinar

And if you're here to grab the free featured snippets cheat sheet we put together, look no further — download the PDF directly here. Print it off, tape it to your office wall, and keep featured snippets top-of-mind as you create and optimize your site content.

Now, let's get to those juicy questions!

1. Can I win a featured snippet with a brand-new website?

If you rank on page one for a keyword that triggers a featured snippet (in positions 1–10), you're a contender for stealing that featured snippet. It might be tougher with a new website, but you're in a position to be competitive if you're on page one — regardless of how established your site is.

We've got some great Whiteboard Fridays that cover how to set a new site up for success:

Launching a New Website: Your SEO Checklist

10 Basic SEO Tips to Index + Rank New Content Faster

How to Rank: The SEO Checklist

2. Does Google provide a tag that identifies traffic sources from featured snippets? Is there a GTM tag for this?

Unfortunately, Google does not provide a tag to help identify traffic from featured snippets. I'm not aware of a GTM tag that helps with this, either, but would love to hear any community suggestions or ideas in the comments!

It's worth noting that it's currently impossible to determine what percentage of your traffic comes from the featured snippet versus the duplicate organic URL below the featured snippet.

3. Do you think it's worth targeting longer-tail question-based queries that have very low monthly searches to gain a featured snippet?

Great question! My advice is this: don’t sleep on low-search-volume keywords. They often convert really well and in aggregate they can do wonders for a website. I suggest prioritizing long tail keywords that you foresee providing a high potential ROI. For example, there are millions of searches a month for the keyword “shoes.” Very competitive, but that query is pretty vague. In contrast, the keyword “size 6 red womens nike running shoes” is very specific. This searcher knows what they want and they're dialing in their search to find it. This is a great example of a long tail keyword phrase that could provide direct conversions.

4. What's the best keyword strategy for determining which queries are worth creating featured snippet-optimized content for?

Dr. Pete wrote a great blog post outlining how to perform keyword research for featured snippets back in 2016. Once you've narrowed down your list of likely queries, you need to look at keywords that you rank on page one for, that trigger a snippet, and that you don't yet own. Next, narrow your list down further by what you envision will have the highest ROI for your goals. Are you trying to drive conversions? Attract top-of-funnel site visitors? Make sure the queries you target align with your business goals, and go from there. Both Moz Pro and STAT can be a big help with this process.

A tactical pro tip: Use the featured snippet carousel queries as a starting point. For instance, if there's a snippet for the query "car insurance" with a carousel of "in Florida," "in Michigan," and so on, you might consider writing about state-specific topics to win those carousel snippets. For this technique, the bonus is that you don't really need to be on page one for the root term (or ranking at all) — often, carousel snippets are taken from off-SERP links.

5. Do featured snippets fluctuate according to language, i.e. if I have several versions of my site in different languages, will the snippet display for each version?

This is a great question! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do international/multi-language featured snippet research just yet, but hope to in the future. I would suspect the featured snippet could change depending on language and search variation. The best way to explore this is to do a search in an incognito (and un-logged-in) browser window of Google Chrome. If you've performed research along these lines, let us know what you found out down in the comments!

6. Why do featured snippet opportunities fluctuate in number from day to day?

Change really is the only constant in search. In the webinar, I discussed the various tests I did that caused Moz to lose a formerly won featured snippet (and what helped it reappear once again). Changes as simple as an extra period at the end of a sentence were enough to lose us the snippet. With content across the web constantly being created and edited and deprecated and in its own state of change, it's no wonder that it's tough to win and keep a featured snippet — sometimes even from one day to the next.

The SERPs are incredibly volatile things, with Google making updates multiple times every day. But when it comes down to the facts, there are a few things that reliably cause volatility (is that an oxymoron?):

If a snippet is pulling from a lower-ranking URL (not positions 1–3); this could mean Google is testing the best answer for the query

Google regularly changing which scraped content is used in each snippet

Featured snippet carousel topics changing

The best way to change-proof yourself is to become an authority in your particular niche (E-A-T, remember?) and strive to rank higher to increase your chances of capturing and keeping a featured snippet.

7. How can I use Keyword Lists to find missed SERP feature opportunities? What's the best way to use them to identify keyword gaps?

Keyword Lists are a wonderful area to uncover feature snippet (and other SERP feature) opportunity gaps. My favorite way to do this is to filter the Keyword List by your desired SERP feature. We’ll use featured snippets as an example. Next, sort by your website’s current rank (1–10) to determine your primary featured snippet gaps and opportunities.

The filters are another great way to tease out additional gaps:

Which keywords have high search volume and low competition?

Which keywords have high organic CTR that you currently rank just off page one for?

8. What are best practices around reviewing the structure of content that's won a snippet, and how do I know whether it's worth replicating?

Content that has won a featured snippet is definitely worth reviewing (even if it doesn’t hold the featured snippet over time). Consider why Google might have provided this as a featured snippet:

Does it succinctly answer the query?

Might it sound good as a voice answer?

Is it comprehensive for someone looking for additional information?

Does the page provide additional answers or information around the topic?

Are there visual elements?

It’s best to put on your detective hat and try to uncover why a piece of content might be ranking for a particular featured snippet:

What part of the page is Google pulling that featured snippet content from?

Is it marked up in a certain way?

What other elements are on the page?

Is there a common theme?

What additional value can you glean from the ranking featured snippet?

9. Does Google identify and prioritize informational websites for featured snippets, or are they determined by a correlation between pages with useful information and frequency of snippets?

In other words, would being an e-commerce site harm your chances of winning featured snippets, all other factors being the same?

I’m not sure whether Google explicitly categorizes informational websites. They likely establish a trust metric of sorts for domains and then seek out information or content that most succinctly answers queries within their trust parameters, but this is just a hypothesis.

While informational sites tend to do overwhelmingly better than other types of websites, it’s absolutely possible for an e-commerce website to find creative ways of snagging featured snippets.

It’s fascinating how various e-commerce websites have found their way into current featured snippets in extremely savvy ways. Here's a super relevant example: after our webinar experienced issues and wasn't able to launch on time, I did a voice search for “how much do stamps cost” to determine how expensive it would be to send apology notes to all of our hopeful attendees.

This was the voice answer:

“According to stamps.com the cost of a one ounce first class mail stamp is $0.55 at the Post Office, or $.047 if you buy and print stamps online using stamps.com.”

Pretty clever, right? I believe there are plenty of savvy ways like this to get your brand and offers into featured snippets.

10. When did the "People Also Ask" feature first appear? What changes to PAAs do you anticipate in the future?

People Also Ask boxes first appeared in July 2015 as a small-scale test. Their presence in the SERPs grew over 1700% between July 2015 and March 2017, so they certainly exploded in popularity just a few years ago. Funny enough, I was one of the first SEOs to come across Google’s PAA testing — you can read about that stat and more in my original article on the subject: Infinite "People Also Ask" Boxes: Research and SEO Opportunities

We recently published some great PAA research by Samuel Mangialavori on the Moz Blog, as well: 5 Things You Should Know About "People Also Ask" & How to Take Advantage

And there are a couple of great articles cataloging the evolution of PAAs over the years here:

What’s the deal with "People also ask" boxes? (2016)

How the "People also ask" box is evolving (2017)

When it comes to predicting the future of PAAs, well, we don't have a crystal ball yet, but featured snippets continue to look more and more like PAA boxes with their new-ish accordion format. Is it possible Google will merge them into a single feature someday? It's hard to say, but as SEOs, our best bet is to maintain flexibility and prepare to roll with the punches the search engines send our way.

11. Can you explain what you meant by "15% of image URLs are not in organic"?

Sure thing! The majority of images that show up in featured snippet boxes (or to be more accurate, the webpage those images live on) do not rank organically within the first ten pages of organic search results for the featured snippet query.

12. How should content creators consider featured snippets when crafting written content? Are there any tools that can help?

First and foremost, you'll want to consider the searcher.

What is their intent?

What desired information or content are they after?

Are you providing the desired information in the medium in which they desire it most (video, images, copy, etc)?

Look to the current SERPs to determine how you should be providing content to your users. Read all of the results on page one:

What common themes do they have?

What topics do they cover?

How can you cover those better?

Dr. Pete has a fantastic Whiteboard Friday that covers how to write content to win featured snippets. Check it out: How to Write Content for Answers Using the Inverted Pyramid

You might also get some good advice from this classic Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin: How to Appear in Google's Answer Boxes

13. "Write quality content for people, not search engines" seems like great advice. But should I also be using any APIs or tools to audit my content?

The only really helpful tool that comes to mind is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, but even that can be a bit disruptive to the creative process. The very best tool you might have for reviewing your content might be a real person. I would ensure that your content can be easily understood when read out loud to your targeted audience. It may help to consider whether your content, as a featured snippet, would make for an effective, helpful voice search result.

14. What's the best way to stay on top of trends when it comes to Google's featured snippets?

Find publications and tools that resonate, and keep an eye on them. Some of my favorites include:

MozCast to keep a pulse on the Google algorithm

Monitoring tools like STAT (email alerts when you win/lose a snippet? Awesome.)

Cultivating a healthy list of digital marketing heroes to follow on Twitter

Industry news publications like Search Engine Journal and, of course, the Moz Blog ;-)

Subscribing to SEO newsletters like the Moz Top 10

One of the very best things you can do, though, is performing your own investigative featured snippet research within your space. Publishing the trends you observe helps our entire community grow and learn.

Thank you so much to every attendee who submitted their questions. Digging into these follow-up thoughts and ideas is one of the best parts of putting on a presentation. If you've got any lingering questions after the webinar, I would love to hear them — leave me a note in the comments and I'll be on point to answer you. And if you missed the webinar sign-up, you can still access it on-demand whenever you want.

We also promised you some bonus content, yeah? Here it is — I compiled all of my best tips and tricks for winning featured snippets into a downloadable cheat sheet that I hope is a helpful reference for you:

Free download: The Featured Snippets Cheat Sheet

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to win your own snippets when you're armed with data, drive, and a good, solid plan! Hopefully this is a great resource for you to have on hand, either to share around with colleagues or to print out and keep at your desk:

Grab the cheat sheet

Again, thank you so much for submitting your questions, and we'll see you in the comments for more.

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whitelabelseoreseller · 5 years ago