#because I believed in their mission to bring free and accessible language learning to everyone and wanted to help fund it

[plumadesatada]

Bwhahaha my Duolingo plus family subscription expired (don't judge me I got it before they decided human translators and the actual entire community could be replaced with badly-trained predictive-text-on-steroids) and I chose not to renew it (for aforementioned issues, which i wrote about in my 1 star playstore review)

mom, an avid Duolingo user, was like "the super is gone 😭 the ads are back 🤮"

I explained about the mass firing and she immediately said "well we're definitely not renewing the subscription then. I shall ignore the ads with relish"

and I was like "I'll do you one better" and through the power of piracy got us both a cracked version of the app with full super duolinguo unlocked, because I don't want those pieces of shit getting even $0.000001 ad revenue and also i dont wanna watch ads

viva la piratería!

[mrsbarnes107]

Secret of the Widow

-part three-

Summary: Post Endgame time period. The team is healing, trying to navigate this new normal they’ve found themselves in when Bucky and Sam bring home a stray with an attitude.

Warnings: language, *eventual* violence and smut, death, fluff, angst

Pairings: Bucky x OC

Disclaimer: this is posted to Wattpad as well and it WILL HAVE PLOT. I’m a Bucky hoe so there will be smut and romancy stuff but this is a series, so plot plot plot.

A low growl emitted from Buckys chest upon my revelation. I turn to him and shake my head. "I know that you're curious as to why I never told anyone about your identity. Well get to that in moment." I said with a clipped nod.

"As I said, I know about you all. Steve Rodgers and his heroic friend Bucky Barnes, lost in the mountains so long ago. It's a story I know well. So imagine my surprise when I remove his beloved mask and see a very war torn Sargent Barnes decades after his apparent death staring up at me. When he came to, Bucky had no memory besides the pain he felt at the hands of HYDRA. So getting him to trust me took time, patience, and a lot of food."

I looked back to Barnes as I grew close to finishing up the story. "I told him who he was. Everything. He didn't believe me of course, at the time he was broken and confused and wouldn't understand that he was once a man that saved the world. A man that was still dying to break free from the prison of his own mind. I showed him photos from those days, told him his story, and after a lot of convincing and sleeping on a moldy floor, he began to trust me."

I sighed and took a sip of my water, setting it down with a thud. "However, I am obviously not Steve nor did I have the magic end of the line phrase handy. So once Bucky returned to HYDRA and was wiped he forgot everything again."

With a quick glance to Barnes and the flash of a smile I continued. "Keep in mind this was a year before Steve found him. In that year I came across the Winter Soldier about a dozen times. After our first meeting I couldn't leave him all alone again. I gathered intel and found him, every mission he went on. After the first few times of getting thrown through walls I learned that, if I allow him to catch me, to see me not fighting him. Bucky would fight his way out and remember me, remember who he was suppose to be. For that year I made sure he wasn't alone and I helped keep him human as much as I could."

With a shrug I finished "Like I said, when he was wiped he forgot me. And evidently the last time he went under it wiped me completely considering I got yeeted once again." I said with a quiet chuckle.

I looked around the room, allowing the silence to set for a moment. Peter broke it.

"You spent a year getting thrown around, just to keep Cranky Pants over here from feeling lonely?"

Bucky grunted and sent a glare to Peter, then leaned forward and looked at me with serious eyes and creased brows. "Why would you put yourself in that much danger, over and over again. Not only do I not deserve that kindness, but it was incredibly reckless of you."

I looked between the two. "I did it because you were in pain and I was the only person that knew you were alive. I did it because you never actually hurt me and you deserved to feel compassion."

Sam broke his silence with a frustrated sigh. "If you believe he deserved compassion, deserved help. Why didn't you tell anyone about his existence?"

"I did it to protect him. And me. If I told Nicky, he would of had him hunted and killed, he wouldn't want the liability and likely would've never told Steve. And I couldn't tell the Avengers, not only were you all preoccupied, but I would of blown my cover long before I was suppose to."

"What do you mean blow your cover? Why were you even taking out HYDRA agents in the first place? Do you work for SHIELD?" Confusion laced Banners tone as his eyebrows creased tighter together. He looks like he's trying to solve a difficult equation but is missing half the variables.

"No, I don't officially work for anyone. I answer to myself and work alone. However, Nicky, the man who helped raise me, provided me the information I have on you all. He'd send me tips on HYDRA sightings and I gathered intel and found my own missions. I was my own operative, helping you lot right under your noses."

"This Nicky, you said he helped raise you. Where are your parents? And who does he work for to have clearance like that?" Sam asked with squinted eyes.

I scrunch my nose in disgust. "Lovely. Time for the personal questions apparently."

Sitting up straight I look to Wanda, who has been incredibly quiet and mindful during the story. She looks at me and gives a small smile. This doesn't go unnoticed by Bucky or Clint, both of whom are looking between us with suspicion and curiosity.

"Only three people in this world know my identity. One of them now being Wanda due to her wonderful, yet intrusive, powers." I say with a kind look to the witch. "And the other, besides Nicky, is dead."

I clear my throat and tilt my chin up. "As we all know, Tony Stark was a very nosy genius. And that stubborn man hacked enough databases to find out about little ole me when I was thirteen years old." I glance at the room before I continue. "My identity is reserved for only the highest clearance. When Tony discovered my files he contacted Nicky and offered me an internship. He said I had too much intellect to waste and wanted to teach me how to become the operative this team will need one day." With a small, sad smile I look to Banner. "I worked with him and lived in the tower for over six years, save for the times we were both preoccupied with HYDRA agents or killer robots."

"Tony practically helped raise me, never saying a word to anyone about my existence or bragging about his favorite student." I winked at Peter at that.

The kid looked to me, confusion evident. "So Wanda, Tony, and Nicky are the only people who know who you are. If only high clearance gets access to your files, then who's Nicky?"

Someone cleared their throat, then a deep voice boomed. "That would be me."

As everyone turned in their seats to look at the new comer, I glanced at his one eye and smiled. "Ah theres the last attendee, you're late Nicky."

"Fury. Nick FURY. Thats your Nicky?!" Spidey boy squeaked out as the rest of the team just stared at the two of you.

"It's Fury to you Parker." He said with a stoney face, making Peter pale the slightest bit. "And I'm not late kiddo, you just got captured a lot faster than I thought you would."

Fury's boots echoed on the floor as he came to stand beside me. He put a hand on top of my head and glared at the rooms occupants. "Everyone, meet your newest team member."

I look up at Fury meeting his gaze with an arched brow, a question in my eyes. He gives me a slight nod and I turn to the group.

I meet each of their eyes, pausing at Bucky for a moment before stopping at Clint.

"This is Alianovna . Alianovna Romanoff."

[wintersxsoul]

The Night We Danced

Summary: Two dorks in love that have to wait to get drunk to confess their feelings.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: Maybe some language, drunk people and I think mentions of sex?? 

A/N: This is my entry for my dearest @writingsoftheloser 1k historical writing challenge! I got the Victorian Era, so I came up with this longass nonsense. I hope you enjoy and as always, feedback and reblogs are free and make me really happy and motivated <3

  Bucky Barnes was a dancer.

He sometimes had flashes of his old life in the late 30’s and 40’s, long summer nights dancing with beautiful dames, little Stevie by his side laughing and stepping in the ladies’ shoes. Everything was much more simpler, happier, but war happened and the dances turned into battles, the warm hands that he was used to hold became rifles and glocks. The jazzy tunes turned into gunfire, dates turned into risky missions and the thought of a long happy life turned into dust when he fell off that train.

Bucky Barnes stopped being a dancer to be a soldier, a spy, a deadly assassin.

They had taken all he was away, all his memories, his hopes and dreams. Everything was wiped but not his motor skills or knowledge. They turned him into the most efficient soldier, cold and calculating, his only motive in life was completing his missions. He had killed mercilessly, not questioning even once who was in front of the gun, he just knew he had to pull the trigger.

Everything changed the moment Steve Rogers, his best friend since childhood, found him 70 years after being used and tortured. Steve saved him from the claws of Hydra and gave him the opportunity to gain back his own self, to finally give his life meaning again.

His life changed drastically when he joined the Avengers, he could use his unrequired skills to help people, to save lives. He had his closest friends, Steve of course, Sam, Nat and then he met you. Once he was able to recover almost all his memories, he had a long heartfelt conversation with Natasha since she had suffered in similar ways. The brainwashing, the body killing training, the horrors of the Cold War and the cruelty of the Red Room.

You and Nat were inseparable, both becoming SHIELD agents the same year. You were a freelance hitwoman, both of your missions were to kill the same target. But before you could kill each other, SHIELD stepped in and rescued both of you, seeing your potential and the ability to do the missions other agents weren’t able to. When Bucky first came to the compound, you were away because your last mission went badly and it almost killed you, so Fury and Steve decided it was better for you to lay low for a while. Months went by and Bucky’s curiosity only grew, he really wanted to meet you, since everyone talked about you like you were an angel. When the time came to finally meet you, everything he ever heard about you was not nearly accurate to him. You were as much of a mystery as Nat, but unlike her, you opened up to him fastly, trusting him blindly. You both held each other on your worst nights and were also there for the other when you needed a good laugh.

You could have never imagined that the infamous Winter Soldier could be such an absolute dork with such a pure heart and soul. At first he was a bit sulky and moody, he was like a ghost around the compound, but months of therapy and help from his friends turned him into the man he was today, the man you loved deeply, even though you lied to yourself trying to make it seem like a platonic feeling. For years you remained as best friends, until the masquerade ball Tony organized for Natasha’s birthday.

“So, what are your plans for the party?” You asked Bucky nonchalantly while you looked for costume designers online. He looked up from his book and shrugged, he really didn’t know what you meant but he knew you would elaborate. You closed your laptop and placed it on your nightstand, all your attention on your friend now. You laid across the bed, resting your head on his lap. You were staring at the ceiling so you totally missed Bucky’s adoring gaze.

“Well, apart from getting hammered with Thor’s Asgardian alcohol, I don’t really know.” You rolled your eyes internally at his comment. You laid on your stomach so you could face him, your chin resting on your hands on top of his chest.

“Obviously you are doing that, but it’s not what I meant.” Bucky chuckled and you rolled your eyes. You weren’t sure about asking him to be your partner, maybe he was planning on going with someone else, maybe he wanted to go on his own. You cleared your throat while reaching out to fiddle with the laces of his hoodie nervously.

“Are you going with someone?” He frowned, realizing that you didn’t assume (like he did) that you were going together. Maybe you were planning to go with a date? He knew it had been more than a year since you had dated someone so maybe you wanted to use the party as an excuse to do so?

“What you mean with someone? I d-”

“You should ask Sarah from Forensics, I’ve heard she has a huge crush on you. She’s sooo soft and pretty. I have her number if you wa-”

“Okay, Y/n stop right there. I am not going with Sarah or with anyone else but you.” His eyes widened at his own boldness but he quickly found a logical explanation.

“I mean, we always go together to this kind of shitty parties we both dread. But if you are going with someone else is fine.”

“Yeah, yeah I just thought that maybe you wanted to go with an actual date and not your best friend.” He tousled your hair and you whined jokingly. He mumbled “dork” and you stuck your tongue out.

“My best friend is pretty cool and when she gets drunk the party starts, so I am not missing that for Sarah from Forensics.”

“Oh god James, and I am the dork? You absolute dumbass.” You shook your head in amusement and sat on the bed, putting your disheveled hair in a low ponytail. You slapped him lightly on the right shoulder and got down of the bed, gathering your stuff.

“I can’t stand to see that beautiful stupid face right now, I have to look for a fucking dress. You better wear something in dark red cause, you know it-”

“it’s my color” he mocked you using a high pitched tone of voice and laughed at the face of disgust you jokingly pulled off.

“Fuck you.”

“Why don’t you f-” His sentence was cut off by the bang of his door closing but you already knew what he said. You rolled your eyes and made your way to Nat’s room since you needed to organize shopping days and all that stuff.

-

Bucky Barnes was a dancer and fortunately he still had some moves, but waltzing was out of his league. He knew what a masquerade was of course, so the fact that he had to learn how to dance a completely different style was...frightening to say the least. He talked about it with Steve so they both were headed now to a masterclass while their dates were out shopping. Nat had asked Steve as her date because she wanted to go with his best friend. Their friendship was the most platonic you’ve ever seen and watching them flirt and banter was the highlight of your days. Nat was a fantastic dancer of course, she used to be a fucking ballerina, so she offered to teach you some moves. She was the only one who actually knew your feelings towards Bucky because you had confessed them one night you had drank your weight in vodka and when you saw Bucky’s text asking you to please be careful, you laughed and told her. You didn’t remember that conversation and when Natasha tried to ask you, she realized she shouldn’t bring up the topic until you were ready to believe it yourself.

“Ooof Nat, should I really buy this expensive dress?” You asked her while checking yourself out in the mirror. The dress was absolutely stunning, made of a dark red taffeta or a similar material, short sleeved and a beautiful v-neck, not very revealing but enough to make your babies pop. The bodice hugged your curves and the skirt was puffy.

“Listen, Stark is paying for everything, that includes our dresses. So yes, you are going to buy it.” She stood up and lead you back to the changing room so she could purchase both of your dresses.

Steve sighed heavily at Bucky’s complaints. They’d been dancing for four hours straight and they weren’t getting any better, or at least that’s what they thought. Bucky really couldn’t believe he had been dragged into this mess just because he loved getting drunk with you under any circumstances.

“Come on Buck, don’t worry. You two will probably be too drunk to even stand, why bother so much in learning this shit?” Bucky rolled his eyes and nudged his friend on the shoulder.

“Listen pal, I wanna do this right. You know how much I love dancing so this is just an excuse to learn something new.” He could almost believe his own lie, but Steve knew better. He knew Bucky better than himself, so he obviously knew the unspoken thing that was going on between two of his best friends.

“Okay buddy, whatever you say. I just hope Y/n appreciates all this instead of laughing at you like Sam and Nat are probably going to do.” He muttered something to himself and left the room without saying a word.

“Fucking idiots, I hope they fuck soon.” Steve said to himself before turning around and smiling at the dance teacher.

“Let’s do this Janet, I have a very dangerous woman to impress tonight.”

-

“I really, really, really, really regret the day I gave you access to come into my room whenever you want to.” You told Bucky, who was laying on your bed on his stomach, his face buried in the pillows. You slumped next to him and buried your face in the pillows as well. You really thought you looked like idiots but you couldn’t care less.

“Can we stay here? We can watch one of those victorian romantic movies you love and get wasted on our own.”

“You know I would love to, but Nat would kill us. Besides, you hate those movies.”

“I was just trying to persuade you Barnes, you don’t need to be so rude.” You stood up and opened your first drawer, pulling out the two masks you had bought throwing Bucky’s to his head and he responded with a fake “ouch”. He sat on the bed and looked at you amused, the small mask in his hands.

“And you have the nerve to call me rude. I already have my mask and I won’t show it to you until tonight.”

“Wow, sorry for thinking about you and your shitty memory, old man.”

“You know what Y/n? I’ll see you tonight before I throw myself out of that balcony.” You giggled at his fake tantrum. You really loved your friendship with Bucky, because even though you were always joking around each other, you had your backs. He was always there and so were you.

“You want me to walk you to your room?” He frowned at you but his eyes widened when he realized what you were about to say, but you said it before he could cut you off. “In case you don’t remember where your room is at.”

“That was one time Y/n, please let it go.”

“Never.” And with that said, he left. You giggled remembering the first night you two got drunk together. It was the first time Bucky had tried Thor’s alcohol so he was excited to finally get drunk after all those decades. He drank by himself almost three flasks and encouraged you to drink a bottle of vodka on your own, so at 6 am, you were stumbling through your room floor because Bucky had forgotten where his own room was, so he wanted to sleep at yours.

You took a last look at yourself in your mirror and placed the mask in its place. It was a shame that Bucky had decided not to wear the mask you’d bought for him, but his taste was pretty great so you knew it was going to be amazing.

When you reached the party the place was already full of people. Everyone was dancing to the slow melodies or drinking at the bar. You noticed that Tony had removed all the furniture from the room so it looked like a grand dance hall, the usual modern lamps he owned were replaced by huge golden crystal chandeliers, the windows were covered by thick curtains that looked like the ones European palaces had. The cream and golden tones of all the decoration gave a really regal look to the party, the soft glow of the candles in the bar and the sound of champagne glasses relaxed your senses.

You fixed your long silk gloves and sighed, moving through the crowd towards the bar, where Nat stood chatting with who you assumed it was Steve, Sam was behind the counter pouring alcohol to his half empty glass.

“You mind filling this lady’s glass?” Sam smirked and you winked at him. He raised his eyebrow under his cream and red mask and he took out a tall glass.

“What would the lady like to drink?” He rested both of his palms in the counter, looking at you with an amused look in his eyes.

“Vodka on the rocks, s'il vous plait.” You heard Nat choke on her drink and Steve turned to look at you while Sam just poured your drink, a smile playing on his lips.

“Aren’t we starting a bit early, Y/n? Your date is not even here.” You shrugged at Sam’s comment and took the glass when he handed it.

“Since you all seemed so surprised with my drinking choices, I’m going. I need an unjudging friend right now.” You waved your hand gracefully and moved towards the centre, trying to find Bucky. After five minutes and an empty glass, you saw his bulking figure talking to some woman. You needed a moment to gather your thoughts because he looked absolutely sinful with the outfit he was wearing. The black pants marked all his muscles, specially his thighs, those fucking thighs that drove you insane and his ass...you shook your head trying to stop your mind. You needed another drink.

“Wow look who’s back and empty handed!” Steve said to the small group. You nudged him in the ribs and asked Sam for another glass of alcohol.

“Why are you this flustered Y/n?” Nat asked you when she noticed your flushed cheeks. You fixed your mask trying to hide your nervousness and failing miserably.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Your three friends shared a knowing look and you rolled your eyes, finishing your drink in two sips and encouraged by the burning liquid, you went to where Bucky was. You could now see his whole outfit perfectly and your heart swelled. He was wearing a black ruffled shirt with a black and dark red embroidered vest and a black tail coat. His face was covered by a simple half Venetian mask, decorated with the same colors as the outfit’s. He was chatting with some agent you couldn’t recognize and you felt a pang of jealousy at how he was looking at her, smiling and touching her. At that moment you realized the alcohol was kicking in and that’s why you were having those stupid thoughts. You approached your friend and placed your gloved hand to his shoulder, indicating him that you were besides him and waiting for him to pay attention to you. You catched a part of the conversation and they were talking about one of the last missions the undercover agents did, so after a court nod from Bucky and a brief goodbye from her, his eyes were on you.

“Well, look at you!” He smiled at you warmly and you felt something flip inside you. “How did you recognize me?”

“Oh boy, you can mask that face all you want but you can’t mask those thighs.” You smirked and he started laughing at your comment, making you feel proud of your wittiness.

“How drunk are you already?” You brought your hand up between your bodies and pressed your thumb and index together whispering “a little” so only he could hear it.

“Lucky for you, I drank almost a flask, so that makes us dangerous already. Wanna dance?” He extended his hand and you took it accepting his invitation. You suddenly felt really nervous since it was the first time you were going to slow dance with him but unbeknown to you, Bucky Barnes felt sick due to his nerves. He wanted this to work, he wanted to show you and the world that he was still capable of being a soft person, not this cold calculative soldier with a dark past.

The feeling of his hand on your waist and your other hands intertwined was intoxicating you, your bodies pressed together, the only thing between you two were your clothes. You spinned around the room for what felt like eternity, time for you had stopped and everyone had disappeared.

You burst the small bubble you were both in saying you needed a drink, Bucky stopped swaying you and with your hands still intertwined, went to the empty bar.

“I’ve always loved the Victorian Era, you know?” He said while giving you a glass full of vodka, and took a sip of his flask. “The clothes, the courting, the chivalry and all that fuss.” He smiled sadly at you thinking that you wouldn’t notice.

“If you could, would you go back in time and stay?”

He took another sip, now longer, and shook his head. “Of course not, you wouldn’t be there.” He blurted out without thinking and you just giggled at the comment.

“Oh Barnes, don’t be so dramatic. I’m sure you would make good friends there as well.” You gave him a sincere smile and he shook his head again, taking another sip of the flask, this time a long one. You looked down at your glass and twirled the straw, looking at how the ice cubes collided with each other.

“I love you.” You jerked your head up and maybe it was the alcohol clouding your mind or the denial of your own feelings, but you didn’t notice his intense gaze, filled with love and adoration.

“And I love you too, you idiot. As my best friend, you should know that already.” You placed your lips around the straw and finished the whole drink, Bucky still looking at you shocked that you rejected his feelings without you noticing.

“No, Y/n, what I mean is that I’m-”

“You are what, Barnes?” Nat cut Bucky off and you threw yourself into her arms, kissing her face and wishing her a happy birthday. “I missed you, Nat. Where were you?” You started talking to her totally ignoring your friend, who got that as his cue to leave the party. He would never blame you for not feeling the same or not even noticing his feelings, that was totally on him, but he didn’t feel well enough to stay in the party. He knew you wanted him there, to get drunk together and then both of you ending up throwing up in the sink and the toilet, but tonight he needed to breathe, he needed to get out of the crowd.

“Hey, where is going Bucky?” Asked Steve while he approached Nat and you. You frowned and looked at the entrance, catching a glimpse of Bucky’s broad shoulders and hair leaving the party. “I’ll be back in a sec.” You said and stumbled down the bar stool, heading towards the entrance half running.

“We both know they are not coming back, right?” Steve said to Nat, a strong nod and a sigh answered his comment.

You ran as fast as your drunken state let you but before you could notice you slipped with the dress and fell.

“FUCK” You screamed to the empty hall and took off your heels and gloves, standing up trying not to fall again on your ass. Bucky was nowhere to be seen so you headed to his room, your head spinning due to the alcohol.

“What are you doing here?” Bucky startled you, making you lose balance but he caught you before you could fall again.

“I was just checking that you got to your room safely, since you know, you get lost and all that.” You laughed at his fake hurt expression and straightened your clothes. You noticed that he had taken off his mask and that you were still wearing yours. “Why did you leave?”

“I’m feeling a bit sick, I think I drank too mu-”

“James, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is wrong I’ll torture you until you do. The drinking excuse is the worst you could’ve used with me.”

Bucky sighed defeated, he knew he had to get it off his chest, after three years carrying this on his own, he needed to let the words out, he needed you to know. He reached for the laces of your mask and took it off, placing a strand of hair behind your ear and cupping your cheek.

“I love you, Y/n.” You rolled your eyes in fake annoyance just to mess up with him.

“Baby, we already established that I lov-”

“Y/n, you are not listening. I am in love with you. I want to be your best friend, your lover, your partner in crime and your drunk buddy.”

You stared at him wide eyed, not knowing what to answer or to do. He caressed your cheek with his thumb and you gasped at the feeling, making Bucky think that you were rejecting the act. You stopped him from moving his hand and he leaned in, his lips brushing yours lightly.

“Either you kiss me or I faint, so make a m-” And just like that, his lips crashed against yours with a passion and hunger you’ve never felt in your entire life. He pressed you against the door, the stupid huge dress stopping you from feeling anything. Your brain finally woke up and you realized what was going on. Bucky Barnes loved you, he was in love with you. And you were in love with him. You pulled away and stopped him, making him step backwards scared that he did something you didn’t want to.

“You love me?” You really asked him, thinking that maybe your brain was betraying you. He nodded and looked away, not wanting to see the rejection in your eyes.

“Hey coward, look at me.” You held his chin and forced him to look at you. “I love you too, always have. I was just too damn scared to admit it to even myself.” He smiled and kissed you again, this time slower, pouring every ounce of love he had for you in the kiss.

“What now?” He asked you once he pulled away to breathe. He had his hand on the back of your neck, caressing your skin with his thumb.

“As much as I’d love you to fuck me against every surface on that room, I am drunk and tired and I need to process everything.” He nodded and waited for you to come up with what you wanted to do next. “So you are going to take this dress off me carefully cause I can’t do it on my own and it’s expensive as fuck, you are going to give me one for your shirts and we are sleeping, together.” He nodded again and smiled, leaning in again to give your lips a small peck.

“Consider it done, asshole.”

[solaceoftheangels-blog]

How would you all feel about a gang AU ??

I may or may not have gone a lil over board with this, and to think it all started with a dream. Also I started a Solangelo one-shot based on this idea so that is why Will and Nico’s backgrounds are a bit different. Let me know what you think!

Annabeth is the boss who plans all their heists and has to deal with everyone in her crew not taking anything serious. She holds them all together and is always surprised when they make it home alive and with bags of money. She is also very deadly with any weapon and there is a rumor she can kill a man by staring them in the eye for too long. Other crews don’t believe a women could run a crew, but she proved them wrong by bringing hers to the top. The most feared crew in the city and the most wanted. She went to school to be an architect but while learning about building structures she realized how easy it was to break into most of them. Using her connections she scored some blueprints and then convinced her friends to help her pull the robberies off. It was all uphill from there. All the places they hit she uses the building as her main weapon. She studies them, finds their weak points and their places of importance. That hole the bank just had put in their basement but was not put on any recent blueprint, yeah that is a secret vault. She sees and knows all.

~The rest of the crew is described under the cut~

Jason is her second in command because sometimes he can come up with a plan and has some common sense. As long as he is not left alone with Percy. The two of them cause the most trouble when left alone. Also because Piper turned down the offer. He is very good with any gun, except long range ones and is pretty good with hand to hand combat. He is very skilled at keeping track of the crews in the area and all their warehouses. He knows who is trying to over throw them and how to tear them apart piece by piece. He can figure out their weaknesses and how to abuse it. Jason wanted to be an accountant but an office job was really never for him. Now he uses his math brain to make each crew member a millionaire and keep them safe. He also watches over all the little people who are not part of the main crew but their off branches. The smugglers, drug dealers and the mercenaries they hire. He keeps things in the dark and running smoothly and make sure there are no weak links.

Piper is their con-artist or grifter (think of the awesome show leverage ;) ) She can talk anyone into doing anything she wants. Her words are deadly. She is sent on every negotiation and gets the crew deals constantly. They get almost all their weapons, vehicles and ammo for free. Her words aren’t the only thing deadly about her, she can shoot people between the eyes but she is more known for stabbing people with poison tipped blades. Piper used to travel the world with her dad and whatever country they went to she learned their language. It helped her learn to speak any language from German to Latin and even some of the dead languages. She can become any one she wants, her acting is flawless. Piper can get anyone to trust her. She once posed as a princess to get access to the mayor’s office. She stole the key to the city, set the town up with fraud and bankruptcy. She has a thousand aliases and the crew is not even sure if Piper is her real name.  

Percy is the crew’s driver. He can drive any vehicle from cars, to helicopters to boats. He is mostly there on time when needed to bail the crew out. When he isn't helping out in the heists or hanging out with the crew he is participating in street races. Sometimes they go to cheer him on other times Annabeth warns him to be careful. A few times they had to break him out of jail. Jason likes to be his copilot on most missions. He is always hoping in the passenger seat to assist or help him fly the planes they steal. On rare occasions Jason even joins in on the races either next to him or against him. Percy is also a good shot and joins them in heists when needed, or cover fires for them. He can also be handy in hand to hand combat but mostly he just likes to run over the competition. His favorite thing to drive though is a speed boat. The rush of being able to go pretty much anywhere at any speed with water splashing him constantly. The cherry on top though is there is no traffic. Unfortunately most heists don’t take place near a body of water, but that won’t stop him from trying to convince Annabeth that they need to drive to the ocean and then ride out into the sunset on a boat with their riches. Sometimes she gives in.

Leo is a world famous hacker. He can break any encryption, firewall or security system. For fun he likes to mix up rich people’s funds and move them around to cause chaos, other times he sends the money to the crew or charities. He has even broken into the pentagon to see what they were up to. Leo makes the crew fake IDs when needed, mostly for Piper when she is on a job. He also messes with their information, like he changed Hazel’s date of birth so it says she is like 80 years old and Percy is a famous figure skater in Germany. There may be magazines with photo shopped pictures of Percy in tights going around the country, he even has his own fan page. When he isn’t using his hands on computers he is using them in the garage where all their vehicles are stashed. He is also the crew’s mechanic and tries to fix all the bullet holes, fender benders and scorched marks. The task isn’t easy but he tries. The only gun he knows how to use is the machine gun strapped to one of their helicopters.

Hazel is their thief. What Leo can’t break into from the home base she is there to break into it. She can crack any safe and avoid any laser detection. At one point in her life she was training to be a gymnast but now her flexibility helps her get into small spaces and bend under the lasers. She started pick-pocking when she was really young and moved up to be the city’s most notorious jewel thief. She joined the crew to help break into bigger and better things but on her days off she still likes to swipe some precious jewels. She may be petite but she is also the best they have in a fist fight. She uses her opponent’s weight against them before slugging them in the face with the shiny brass knuckle she always wears.

Frank is the main sniper and the crew’s biggest mystery. One day they were on a heist when the cops who had them surrounded suddenly fell down dead with bullets in their brains. When they got back to their base and settled down counting their money a knock on their spooked them all. Annabeth opened it to reveal a tall, broad shoulder man with a bear mask covering his face and holding a sniper rifle. He held up a note saying he wanted to join the crew. After some trial heists he was accepted. He was an amazing sniper and they didn’t realize they needed one until he showed up. They stopped questioning why he never spoke and why he was constantly wearing animal masks. No one knew what his face looked like, but to each their own. Piper and Hazel learned sign language to communicate with him, while everyone else stuck to talking through a notebook. They also learned to trust he was listening to them during heists as he was always where he needed to be and did his job well. What the crew didn’t know was that Frank hid himself because he had a normal life outside of the crew where he liked to work at a nearby animal shelter. He liked his secrecy and being able to go out shopping and to movies without being arrested.

Calypso is their spy. The whole crew lives together in a penthouse that overlooks the city. How they don’t kill each other is mystery itself. Besides sleeping there they spend time eating and playing games together almost like a family. A big giant murderous family. They also do all of their heists planning there and store all their vehicles in the basement of the complex. They own the whole building. To keep hidden the rest of the building is someone insurance business that turns a blind eye to what goes on at the top of the building. When they are not at the penthouse they are at a bar they own called Ogygia. The bar is run by Calypso. She is their eyes and ears. She listens to the gossip people of other crews talk about and starts some gossip of her own to throw them off her crew’s tracks. When someone wants to talk the crew or ask them for help they have to go through her. She deems them worthy or not and then sets up meetings with Annabeth. She also takes in strays and gives them jobs; either with the crew or the bar. She sets them up as dealers or directs them to Jason who figures out where to put them. Her and Jason work a lot together to keep things in order. Other times it is her job to infiltrate a crew. She will work her way through their ranks and dismantle them from the inside out without them knowing it was her doing all along. Her favorite is turning a crew against them self and watching as they blow each other brains out and then walking out as the only survivor. When the crew is secretly hanging out at the bar enjoying some drinks and dancing she watches over them to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.

Will is their doctor and when needed their back up sniper. Joining an infamous crew was not where Will saw his life going. Originally he was going to school to save people that where hurt from gang violence. Ironic right? However as much as he studied and worked hard in med school it wound up kicking his butt. He never got to walk down the aisle and wound up having to drop out. The loans he had where so high and no job would take him. Being from Texas his dad taught him how to hunt and for laughs taught him how to with a sniper rifle. He wasn’t the best but he always got the deer in the end. Using that talent he went against his moral code and became a sniper for hire. He became known as the Sunspot. Not the greatest crime name but he was proud of it eventually. He got the name because his golden sniper shined like the sun as did his hair. He also usually wore a bright orange hoodie that added on to his trademark. Snipers shouldn’t want to be shiny but Will embraced it because he made sure to always position himself in front of the sun when he made his shot, blinding anyone who tried to look at him. They only knew what he looked like from the glances they got of him running away. At night he was an underground doctor for crooks and worked out of abandoned buildings, not the most sterile places but the crooks never minded. He hid himself behind a doctor coat, a surgical mask, and different colored beanies so they wouldn’t recognize him. When Annabeth pushed an injured Percy on his work table one night she instantly saw his talent. She gave him an offer to be the crew’s official doctor he instantly jumped on board. When they later found out he was also the Sunspot, it was an added bonus. Some heists he stayed back with Leo and waited to stitch them back up or he went out to assist Frank with sniping. In his down time he still sometimes took sniping missions as the Sunspot, with Annabeth’s permission of course.

Nico is a mercenary. He is known as the Ghost King and is the most wanted man in the whole world. He takes contracts from everywhere and has never failed a single one. It is said he once took out a fully armed crew all by himself. The name, Ghost King, came from the fact that anyone he meets he can turn them into a ghost if he wanted to. He also lurks in the shadows and is such a mystery most people think he himself is a ghost. No one knows when he is there until he strikes. Nico’s hands are quick as he throws his daggers into people’s heads and guts. The most interesting weapon he uses that is not typical is a black sword he always has strapped to his hip. Anyone who is too far away or is running away he whips out his twin black pistols and stops them dead. People who do get a good look at him always nearly piss their pants. He is always dressed in dark jeans and shirt with a black leather jacket on, but what scares people is his face. It is always painted to look like a skull and his glare is so intense it nearly stops people’s hearts. Never look him in the eyes. Under his shirt his skin is lined with scars and tattoos. Across his knuckles it even reads Ghost King, the G and H share his pinky, so that when he punches them they know for sure who it is. The greatest piece is on his back of a grim reaper the scythe stretching his whole back and dripping blood. On either side of the reaper is a pair of beautiful black angel wings, making him look like the angel of death himself.

Nico was giving a mission to take out the Sunspot.

[katwriting]

Fic: Rescue Mission

2x11 reaction fic. As the Inquisitor won’t let Magnus go, Alec has to take matters in his own hands.

 “Alec, where are we going?”, Magnus whispered, now really getting nervous, although he technically knew that Alec would never hurt him. “To switch you back, what were you thinking?”, Alec responded, nervously staring at the closing elevator doors and only relaxing a bit when the car began to move upwards.

word count: 2,981 | Read it on AO3

It was late at night – or at least Magnus figured it was, it wasn’t like he was allowed his phone or even a simple watch in here – and the Institute was quiet. Quiet enough that Magnus could zone out and get a bit lost in his thoughts.

He had guessed that even though he was immortal, his life would end at some point. But not in his wildest dreams had he pictured that it would be as a prisoner of the Clave. He had not expected it to happen this sudden either, not when he just had started being happy again. And certainly not while he was trapped in the body of the man he hated most in the entire world while said man was going to be free, living a life that was supposed to be his.

Magnus tipped his – technically, not his -  head back against the wall and closed his eyes. It really was ironic how he had lived through centuries of misery and been perfectly fine – and now, that he had finally found happiness again, had finally found love again, his life was about to end.

The warlock sighed deeply. Life had an odd sense of irony sometimes.

From the minute he had woken up in the Institute courtyard and seen Alec help his body up, he had known that he was in trouble, big time. He’d always been used to a bit of hostility coming from the shadowhunters of the Institute – most of them still deemed themselves above downworlders, despite everything. But being a prisoner in the Institute was an entirely different story, especially if that prisoner was accused of murder in hundreds of cases and stealing two of the Nephilim’s most valuable artifacts.

Magnus had stopped counting how often he had been questioned, beaten up, hurt with the runes on Valentine’s skin, and been questioned some more in the past few hours. As he’d told the Inquisitor multiple times, it had all been for nothing, he had absolutely no idea where Valentine had hidden the cup. But his efforts had all been useless, none of the Shadowhunters he’d seen in the past few hours had believed him that he was not actually Valentine.

Not even Alec had.

Despite all the physical pain from the Inquisitor’s torture, this was what hurt Magnus the most. He’d done his best to convince Alec, begged him to believe him – but nothing he’d tried, no story, no memory he’d recalled, had managed to convince his boyfriend that they had the wrong guy.

And if the man who’d told Magnus he loved him didn’t believe him – who else in the world would?

An odd sense of irony, really.

It was because of the silence in the Institute’s basement that Magnus heard the steps coming down the stairs long before he should be able to. Intrigued, he listened to the steps coming closer and sat up when they stopped in front of his cell door. He almost startled when he heard a key turning in the lock and a second later, the door was pushed open, revealing the tall, lean silhouette of his favorite person in the world. Only that as opposed to usual, Alexander didn’t look happy at all to see him. His features were stern, eyes revealing nothing of the softness they usually carried when Alec looked at him.

That was why it felt strange when Alec was downright careful as he grabbed his arm and pulled him up and towards the door. “Come on, get up, we have to go.”

“Alexander…”

“Quiet”, Alec hissed and pulled him out of the door and down the hallway. Magnus didn’t try to fight him. It would have been pointless anyway. He was going to die soon; he might as well try to enjoy whatever little time he got together with Alec. Even if it was in terrible circumstances.  

The basement of the Institute was even more a maze than the halls upstairs were, all narrow corridors and barely lit hallways. Not that it had crossed his mind, but Magnus was positive he would not stand a chance if he tried to escape. There was no way one could get out of here without someone who knew their way around this building.

Someone like the man walking next to him, who now swiped a key card through a black box mounted on the wall in front of them. Suddenly, the plain gray concrete walls slid open like his balcony door back home and revealed an elevator.  

“Alec, where are we going?”, Magnus whispered, now really getting nervous, although he technically knew that Alec would never hurt him.

“To switch you back, what were you thinking?”, Alec responded, nervously staring at the closing elevator doors and only relaxing a bit when the car began to move upwards.  

Magnus could only stare at him in surprise. He had been so sure that Alec did not believe him. “But, I thought…you didn’t believe me earlier today.”

Alec ran a hand through his hair and then looked at him, a strange look of both nervousness and hope in his eyes. “Look, I’m really sorry, but let’s just get this over with and then talk about it later, I…I can’t think straight when you still look like him but talk like you”

Magnus felt like Alec had slapped him across the face. Of course, rationally thinking he knew that he currently looked like the Institute’s worst enemy, but that didn’t change the fact that the rejection coming from Alec still hurt. “Yeah, I guess that’s only fair”, he murmured quietly and then waited in silence as the elevator transported them upwards, towards the main halls of the Institute.

+++

It had taken Alec a small army of people and tons of luck to make their secret rescue mission happen. And an extra warlock. With Magnus trapped inside Valentine’s body and Valentine being unable to make use of the warlock’s powers, they had to let another warlock in on their plan.

Alec had never been more glad that Magnus was so well-respected in the downworld and had tons of friends. His old friend Catarina Loss hadn’t hesitated when he’d asked her for help earlier today.

And help he needed if he actually wanted to get his boyfriend back and Valentine locked up. It had been a risky mission to organize, one of the riskiest Alec had gone on so far. Not only that they had to break out who everyone thought was the Clave’s most wanted criminal out of a high-security cell, get him to Brooklyn and have Catarina perform a complicated spell on him. But they also had to do it in the middle of the night, take down the Institute’s security system and make sure that nobody noticed, especially not the Inquisitor.

Good thing even Imogen Herondale needed a couple hours of sleep every now and then.

They got out of the Institute without anyone noticing. He kept his tight grip on Valentine’s – Magnus’ – arm and led him towards Simon’s van that was parked around the corner. Since Magnus could not access his magic as long as he was in Valentine’s body and Catarina was all the way over in Brooklyn, portaling was not an option. So they had to resume to the mundane way of getting around – and, unfortunately, let Simon in on their plan.

The ride to Magnus’ apartment was weird, to say the least. Alec tried his best not to be to awkward around Magnus, but he could not help himself - it just felt so wrong, being in the same car with a man who looked like his worst enemy, but acted, talked and walked like the man he loved. Alec let his head fall back against the headrest of the passenger seat and closed his eyes. This was all just so confusing.

Things got even more confusing when they arrived at the apartment and Alec was faced with the other part of Azazel’s spell. Clary and Jace had captured Valentine earlier that day – he had been so distracted by the body switch that he’d let his guard down long enough for the two of them to find and capture him – and was now sitting on the couch, with his hands tied together on his back and an evil grin on his face.

“Well if it isn’t the filthy warlock whose body I’m trapped in. Nice work, Alexander, I didn’t think you’d get him out on time”, Valentine spat when they entered the living room.  

If it hadn’t been for Jace gripping Alec’s arm and holding him back the second those words had left Valentine’s mouth, Alec would have lashed out on Valentine right then and there, Magnus’ body be damned. Without Magnus’ soul inside that body, it was nothing but an empty shell anyways.

Therefore, Alec didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt when he pulled Valentine up rather roughly and got him to stand in the middle of the room. “Shut up, Morgenstern. You can be glad if that warlock lets you get out of this alive. Catarina, you ready?”

The other warlock, who had been quietly watching the scene from a few steps away, nodded and stepped forward. She flipped through an old spell book and put it down onto the coffee table in front of her when she found what she had been looking for. Alec kept standing beside Valentine whereas Jace and Clary took their places to either sides of Magnus in Valentine’s body, hands casually resting on their seraph blades, ready to take action if needed. They were supposed to bring Valentine back to the Institute once the spell was undone. And if they had learned one thing about Valentine Morgenstern in the past, then that he was nothing if not unpredictable.

Valentine and Magnus were staring grimly at each other – or their respective bodies – as Catarina started speaking in a soft, foreign language and waves of blue magic filled the room, encircling both Magnus and Valentine. The apartment was lit with blue as the spell went on, the magic now rising up between the two men, and suddenly, with a loud bang, throwing both of them back several feet, making Magnus’s body crash against his living room couch.

The blue light disappeared, leaving the room in its usual, comfy dim lighting. Alec lowered his hand from where he’d been shielding his eyes from the blinding blue light and looked around. Magnus and Valentine were both lying on the floor, not moving.  

+++

When Magnus opened his eyes, all he could see was white stars dancing in front of his eyes. He blinked a few times until his vision cleared and then looked around him. He was in his apartment, and for some reason he was lying on the floor.

Suddenly, he remembered. Azazel, the pentagon, the spell, him being trapped in Valentine’s body. Feeling panic rising in his chest, he tried to stand up, a raging headache immediately forcing him down onto the floor again. Magnus winced in pain, a hand reaching up towards his temple. He tried his best to ignore the pain and stretched out his other hand in front of him, heartbeat racing, fueled by panic. A second later, he let out a deep sigh of relief. He had never been so relieved to see that his black nail polish was slightly chipped at the top of his thumb.

Magnus pulled his knees to his chest and ran his hands through his hair, relief flooding through his body. That’s when he acknowledged soft pressure of a hand the hand resting on his upper arm. He looked up and was met with the soft gaze of familiar brown eyes.

“Magnus?”

Alec sounded tentative, almost hesitant. His eyes were full of worry and somehow also…restraint?

“Alexander…” Magnus tried to sit up again, slower and more careful this time, Alec carefully pulling him up by his arm.

“Quick question: Where did we go on our second date?”, Alec asked, completely out of the blue.

Magnus frowned, taken aback by the question. “We went to Prague…and Tokyo, afterwards. We went to that sushi restaurant; you wouldn’t shut up about for hours because you found that it was unfair to call fish overweight. But why are you asking me that, Alec?”, confused by the look in Alec’s eyes changing from worry to relief.

“Thank the angel, it’s really you”, Alec breathed and finally pulled him up and into a crushing hug, one arm slung around his back, the other resting at the back of his neck, holding him in place. Magnus barely noticed that Jace and Clary pulled Valentine up from the floor and towards the door and the light touch of Catarina’s fingers brushing against the back of his neck. He was way too busy with melting into Alec’s embrace. Wrapping his arms around Alec, he buried his head in the shadowhunter’s shoulder and closed his eyes, blocking out everything except the warm body right next to him.

Magnus was sure they made an odd picture, tangled up on the floor like that, all afraid and worried and so very relieved.  But he honestly could not care less. Alec didn’t seem to mind much either, judging from the way he pulled Magnus even closer into his chest and pressed a kiss to his temple. Magnus cuddled into the embrace and tightened his grip on Alec’s shirt as well, intent on never letting his shadowhunter go again. “I’m so glad I got you back”, Alec muttered close to Magnus’ ear, only for him to hear.  

Magnus was tempted to shoot back a snarky response, but considering the situation and the dramatic developments of the past 48 hours, he knew that this was not the time to be sassy. Instead, he rose his head a bit so he could look at Alec properly. Alec’s gaze was no longer hard and stern, the softness was back and with it the love that Magnus had missed so terribly just about an hour ago.

“Thank you for saving me”, he muttered instead, opting to reveal what was in his heart instead of thinking of something witty to respond. This was Alec, after all, the one person he trusted most in the world. The one person he knew he could tell anything.

Alec smiled sweetly. “Thank you for not giving up on trying to convince me it was you.”

“Well, what can I say? I’ve been told I can be very convincing”, Magnus teased. But he couldn’t keep up his sassy game up much longer. There were more important things to do now. He leaned forward, closing the space between him and the shadowhunter at the same time as Alec was leaning in. They met each other halfway for a kiss that started out slow, but soon turned into something both passionate and soft, the fear from the past two days equally as present as the relief to be together again. When they broke apart, Magnus didn’t think much about it, just wrapped his arms around Alec again and pressed a kiss against his neck rune, lingering for a second.

“I’m so glad I got you back too”, he muttered against Alec’s skin, not sure whether Alec would understand what he’d said. But judging from how Alec’s arms around him tightened and the soft, relieved laugh that escaped him, he did.

+++

Alec didn’t know how long they stayed on the floor like that, wrapped up in each other’s arms, clinging to each other as if they were holding on for dear life. What he did know, though, was that he sure as hell was not going to be the first one to let go. Now that the tension and the adrenaline from earlier started to wear off, he started to realize what could have happened…what would have happened if he had not gotten Magnus out in time. Realizing how close he’d been to losing the man he loved made him only cling more to Magnus, hug him tighter, swear even more to himself that he would never let something like this happen again.

“Don’t you ever do something like this to me again”, he grumbled against Magnus’ shoulder and felt the warlock chuckle in return.

“My dear Alexander”, Magnus started, pulling away so he could look at Alec properly. “If I ever were to pull a stunt like this again, I certainly wouldn’t pick Valentine to switch bodies with. Maybe Audrey Hepburn or Coco Chanel…but rest assured that I’m not planning to do anything like that ever again. And I’m going to make damn sure that Azazel doesn’t get the chance to, either.”

It was only at this moment that it dawned on Alec that Magnus didn’t know he’d already killed Azazel. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve taken care of Azazel.”

Alec saw Magnus frown at that sentence, confusion clear in his face. “You have? Alec, are you insane? Azazel was a Greater Demon, and not only that, he was one of the Princes of Hell! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” He shook his head, but couldn’t hide the fact that his lips pulled into a smirk. “So dangerous, but very brave too”, he added, looking up at his boyfriend with a proud smile.

Alec just shrugged and smiled warmly at him. “Just one of those things I do for the people I love, I suppose.”

Magnus felt his heart flutter at those words and smiled warmly at his boyfriend. “I love you too”, he replied happily.  And when felt tears sting in his eyes when he kissed Alec after that, that was obviously because he was so happy to have him back and not due to what those simple, yet incredibly sweet words did to him.

It was not like someone could prove the opposite, anyway.  

[rockofaces]

A message to other “progressive Christians”

Over the last couple weeks God has really been convicting me of having allowed sin to creep into my life through social justice circles. But I also am getting the sense these problems are widely present in “progressive”/social justice-themed Christian spaces.

I want to share the following things I am starting to learn, because I’m guessing there are others out there who need to hear the same things.

1.  We need to get off our high horses.

We are not better than others simply because we have the language of social justice at our disposal. Nor are we in any way more “enlightened.” We do not know or understand everything about our world. We just happen to have access to a particular framework and mindset that helps us understand certain systemic issues really well.

2.  On that note: we need to realize that “social justice” is not for everyone.

Sure, the dismantling of systemic oppression really does benefit virtually everyone on the planet. But not every person will find liberation and mission in the principles and terminology of “social justice” as we define it, and that’s fine. Not every problem fits neatly into the framework of privilege/oppression (though many do!) and not everyone is called by God to activism (though many of us are!).

I learned this the hard way when I was trying to help a friend going through a hard time. I thought that I could help her out by helping her understand some of what she was experiencing from a social justice lens. But that was not what she needed at the moment— she needed me to listen to her where she was at.

3.  Marginalization is no excuse for sin.

Sure, with privilege comes power, which can and does corrupt us. Privilege can also cause our sins to have greater impact, since we have the entire weight of the world backing them.

But, in Paul’s words, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Privilege does not excuse sin, but neither does marginalization. We have all sinned against one another, and we have all personally crucified Jesus with our sin. There is literally no point in comparing my sin with anyone else’s, and there is no excusing it no matter what circumstances I was in or what oppressive systems I was suffering from.

4.  People are more than the sum of their identities.

In social justice circles, we rightly talk about how people’s social identities so strongly shape their experience in the world and their relationship to systems of power and oppression.

It is absolutely important that we do this. After all, the devil longs for nothing more than to sow division among people, and does so through power structures that divide people by identity. If we want to bring about the kingdom of God, we first have to dismantle the devil’s power structures — and to do that, we have to understand how they work!

But we also have to remember that God sees us as more than just the sum of our identities and experiences: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). God absolutely understands how human-constructed identities impact our lives (after all, Jesus became flesh!) but God also sees beyond them.

There is enormous value in examining how people’s social identities impact our experience here on earth. We have to see race if we wish to dismantle racism — colorblindness doesn’t cut it. But we must make sure we don’t see others as merely the sum of their identities, though, lest we start viewing other people the same way the enemy does.

5.  We can learn something from all Christians.

It is tempting (and I am guilty of this too) to say we are better than particular groups of Christians with whom we disagree — particularly those that preach misogyny, racism, homophobia, etc. Or if we don’t actually say this, we at least believe that we are on better theological footing.

The fact is, none of us have a perfectly correct theology. It is of course our responsibility to call out bad (or downright oppressive) theology when we see it, but we should also be prepared for other Christians (and not just our inner circle) to find holes in ours. We should point out when other Christians are straying from the Lord, but only if we’re open to hearing the same.

We certainly do not have to listen to every Christian — there are some, like my former youth group leader, who preach such damaging theological garbage that the best thing we can do is plug our ears. (And we should be wary of Christian groups that have strayed so far from the Jesus of the gospel that they may as well be worshipping a false God — although we ourselves need to be aware that the same accusation could be lobbed back at us.)

We have every right to stay away from Christians who are actively hurting us or harming our relationship with Jesus. But we should remember that any disagreements we have are superficial compared to our agreement over who is Lord, and we are all walking the same faith journey. And despite our differences, we can all teach each other something about Jesus.

6.  On that note: We need to be prepared to be wrong.

I am sure that when I get to heaven, one of the first things that will happen is God will show me a print-out of all the stuff I’ve written on tumblr that is flat out wrong. None of us has all the answers. We need to acknowledge this and be humble.

I hope this is helpful and meaningful to people! These are all things I struggle with, and I am happy to pray for you if there are any of these you feel you need to work on in your own life.

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with David Zamarin of DetraPel, a brand that sells nanotechnology repellent coating.Some stats:Product: Nanotechnology repellent coating.Revenue/mo: $42,600Started: August 2013Location: BostonFounders: 1Employees: 7Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hey, I’m David Zamarin. I’m 21 years-old, a student at Babson College and founder of DetraPel.At DetraPel we know that life can get messy, and we want to help. That is why we manufacture and distribute powerful, planet-friendly, cancer-free protective coatings designed for use on all your favorite fabric and leather belongings.Using innovative nanotechnology, DetraPel liquid repellent sprays create completely harmless, invisible barriers that protect your items from damage caused by water, other liquids and even food!You could say we’re in the business of protection, which is why we stand by our slogan Protect What You Love. This phrase to us means so much more than protecting the stuff you own. Unlike many of our competitors, we deliver climate conscious products, that contain no cancer-causing fluorochemicals (like PFAS) and deliver state-of-the-art packaging that contains zero harmful propellants.This way you can protect the things you love, while protecting the people, pets and planet you love too! The greatest part is that everyone can use DetraPel on just about anything. The benefits and surfaces are endless based on the technology. Whether you want to protect your white carpet from wine stains, your brand new shoes from getting dirty outside, or your car seats from accidental coffee spills, DetraPel has got you covered.Since starting DetraPel over 5 years ago when I was 15 years old, the versatility and eco-friendliness of our products are just two of the many factors which I believe enabled us to make over $512,000 in sales in the last year.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?The DetraPel idea started for me when I was in high school, but I had my entrepreneurial itch even earlier than that.Growing up in Philadelphia with divorced immigrant parents taught me a lot of what I needed to know to get to where I am today. I grew up watching my mother hustling daily to provide me with the best possible life.I learned very early on that success meant hard work and sacrifice. So at an early age I started dabbling in different business ideas which included selling popular headphones and watches.Luckily, for high school I was accepted into one of the best public schools in the country. As a present from my grandparents I received $200, which I used to buy 2 brand new pairs of Jordan shoes.Not having owned anything like that before, I was desperate to keep them clean. I wished then that I could create a spray to protect the shoes that I could peel off whenever they got dirty. But I wasn’t a chemical engineer, I was a freshman in high school so I had to pivot my idea and started a shoe cleaning business. This required me to swallow my pride because I was a kid who didn't want to clean shoes for a living.Nevertheless, I went out and I worked HARD, and the next thing I knew I was cleaning shoes for all the local university sports teams in Philadelphia. This business ran for 4 months and we generated $25,000/month in revenue. I was ecstatic. After just 4 months I was given an offer to sell for $150,000. The decision was easy. I sold my first business and invested all of the money into starting DetraPel.The idea for DetraPel started from the conditioning service we were offering with my shoe cleaning business. I was using a competitor’s product, which I later found out was extremely carcinogenic, caused birth defects, dried white and ruined fabric. On top of that it was extremely expensive.It was a blessing in disguise that the product was back ordered for over 4 months, which is what drove me to sell the shoe cleaning business because I knew the only scalable part was the conditioning service.Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.As you can imagine, developing the first line of DetraPel repellents was a huge challenge for a 15-yr-old with no chemistry background.PrototypingLuckily, I’ve always been driven no matter how daunting a project I’ve set for myself has been. When I was a freshman in high school, I got really interested in nanotechnology. I began researching it profusely and became fascinated by it as a potential basis for a stain repellent formula.Being resourceful, I reached out to the brand new Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania where I met a leading researcher in the space. I was concerned that the University of Pennsylvania would own the intellectual property so I reached out to a friend who has a PhD from Drexel University.Through him I was able to acquire access to the labs and lab equipment I needed and then I spent my entire summer working on a formula. When I finally created one I was happy with I hired a manufacturer.The manufacturer added a 1-2% proprietary part that was crucial to the product we were trying to sell. Unfortunately, 8 months down the line they went bankrupt and refused to disclose the 2% proprietary ingredient. This was a huge setback for my company which was just preparing to sell product.First Prototype Design for DetraPel Fabric & Leather Protector (2oz)I had to go on a long hiatus to try to reengineer the formula. Lots of blood, sweat and tears, and 3.5 years later I announced my new formula which had some slight changes but all the efficiency of the first formula and more. Today, we are proud of our new formulas which are 100% manufactured in-house and 100% sourced and manufactured in the United States.PackagingThe next phase of developing our product was deciding on the packaging. The flagship product launched and is currently still being sold in a 2 oz pump spray plastic bottle.Over the last year we’ve realized that there are many disadvantages to the existing packaging as it is small and can be frustrating in the application process. Determined to make the customer experience better, I was long on the hunt for a new type of packaging.From an application perspective, I realized that an aerosol bottle would permit a consistent and effortless application. However, I have a major problem with aerosols. The harmful propellants in aerosol bottles completely contradict my mission to produce non-toxic and planet-conscious products.Luckily, in 2018 I found a solution to this problem. We partnered with a planet-friendly aerosol that is powered purely by air and contains zero propellants. We are excited to be releasing our new packaging this month for an enhanced customer experience.Two out of the many new products we will be launching this February, 2019.Describe the process of launching the business.Since I started so young, from the beginning I was limited with capital.I invested most of my money to the R&D so I at times had to be resourceful or cut corners when getting label designs, using credit cards, and asking for help from friends and others. I was forced to learn how to code, develop websites, use Photoshop, Illustrator and although the quality of the work was not the best, it helped me learn the languages so I could talk to future employees or partners.I also was always a big fan of accelerator programs. To this day, I participate in 1-2 accelerator programs every year, because I do not believe you can ever stop learning or meeting new people. Accelerator programs give you access to knowledge, expertise, mentorship, and people who are willing to pay it forward with what they have learned from their previous experiences.Overall, I learned that you must do whatever it takes to start and maintain a running business especially if you have capital constraints. If you are a student, take advantage of that. If you are someone just transitioning from working a corporate job, don’t be afraid to take risks and recognize that a startup is like 2-3 full-time jobs, so you must put in the work and treat it like that.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?One of our biggest successes to date has been our appearance on Shark Tank last January. Shark Tank has a national audience of about 10 million people.Our appearance on Shark Tank.This type of exposure was invaluable to our brand and allowed us to acquire thousands of recurring customers overnight. Of course an opportunity like this is hard to come by as there is an average of 45,000 applicants each year.What we learned from our experience on Shark Tank, is that any type of press can be a good catalyst to get the ball rolling and allows for excellent brand exposure. That said, you cannot solely rely on one big break to continue to attract and retain customers.The process of actually attaining and retaining customers is hard work. Digital marketing is insanely competitive and can get very expensive. At this time we spend money on Facebook, Instagram and Google ads, but we’ve chosen to double down on the methods that gave us the best ROI. For example, we know that it typically takes a few months before seeing growth from paid digital. Instead, we have spent our time on SEO which yields the highest return along with remarketing. At the beginning, it is important allocate a budget where you can test several methods and see which yields the best return.One method that consistently brings in sales is our email marketing campaigns. Sending regular monthly emails to our subscribers always guarantees a spike in sales on our website, thus it’s very important for us to do this on a consistent basis (not to mention we like reaching out directly to our customers and spoiling them with goodies and promotions). We normally send campaigns once a month, but are aware that it is recommended to do more. We are working on expanding our team to do this. Each new customer that purchases from us is automatically added to our email list, and conversion from there is typically high since the customers are repeat customers.In 2019, one of our goals is to continue to increase brand exposure and to get our product directly in front of our consumers through retail shelves. We have been investigating and are in talks with several trade shows this year and look forward to interacting with potential consumers and getting instant feedback from our direct target markets.Another useful tactic for us has been increasing our sales channels. Our direct website continues to be the source of most of our orders, but being available to consumers through other channels like Amazon, Zulily, The Grommet and Groupon has proven to be effective as well.For the same reason we will be looking to get into some major retailers in the coming year as well in order to increase brand visibility and help us approach large B2B clients to do partnerships.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?Today as a company, we’re busier and happier than ever. This last year has been one full of growth and new developments.We went from a 3 person team to a 9 person team, from a 4,000 square foot facility to a 12,000 square foot facility, brought all of our manufacturing and development in house, and even landed a deal with Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on Shark Tank. Though it’s been a whirlwind of great news, we also have been working hard on brand new developments that we look forward to announcing next month.Some things to look forward to in the upcoming months include developing our new website and launching our new brand and new formula. We are excited to be making the announcement soon about these developments and more.Similarly to our current distribution models which helped us be profitable in 2018, we will be selling direct to the consumer through online channels like our website and e-retailers.We also plan on launching a comprehensive retail program in 2019 as we intend on expanding the brand in order to maintain shorter sales cycles and better cash collection cycles than if we were to solely pursue industrial and wholesale deals in the B2B sector.By working on our brand visibility and recognition, we plan to approach large corporations that may be interested in partnering with us or treated their products in advance.By maintaining good margins we are able work on bringing new products to consumers that we will be launching next month and throughout the year so people can safely protect all of their belongings and save themselves time and money.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?As a young entrepreneur one of the things that I’ve learned in the past year has been the value of hiring experienced individuals and creating a well rounded team.When I first started out I had a team of hard working peers. Together we hustled and learned a lot through trial and error. However, as the company began to grow rapidly I had to hire more people to join us.I went from hiring primarily college students to building a team of individuals with more work and life experience than the amount of time since I was born. I couldn’t tell you what a difference it has made for the overall benefit of the company to have a diverse team.Individuals from diverse backgrounds offer different talents, skills and experience. This sparks innovation, growth, and allows employees to learn from one another. Young entrepreneurs such as myself who are growing a business might be worried about the costs involved with paying higher salaries for experienced team members, but a salary is a small price to pay for a more productive and cost-effective work environment. Among our management team today I’m proud to have several accomplished individuals who through their expertise add extraordinary merit to our company.What platform/tools do you use for your business?As we primarily function as an e-commerce business at the moment, the most important tool we have is our website.The matter of our website is an interesting one because we’re in the midst of changing our platform at the moment. Currently we’ve been using Wix to host our website which we have noticed has several pros and cons.Though our company really enjoys the design aspects of Wix and the ease with which we can make updates and changes to our website, we have realized how much it is hurting us from an SEO perspective and through lack of integration ability. Next month we’re excited to be releasing our newly designed website which will be hosted on Wordpress.Increasing SEO and improving efficiency in our office by implementing integrations between various programs such as Wordpress and our accounting software or Wordpress and our shipping software will make day-to-day operations smoother and will save us valuable time too.Other tools and platforms we use include:Shipstation for fulfillmentQuickbooks Desktop for financeMailchimp for email campaignsGoogle for calendar, contacts, and internal emailInstagram, Facebook and Twitter for social mediaYouTube to showcase our videosSlack for internal communicationCloze as our all-encompassing CRM toolSEM Rush as our marketing tool for website demographicsA bunch of plugins for social media marketing and our websiteWhat have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg is a fantastic book that helped me when I started my entrepreneurial journey by showcasing so many successful entrepreneurs who built their own education systems around their work.Another great book that really shaped how I run my business is Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos. This book teaches you the importance of knowing what and who matters for your business and how to build a meaningful and exceptional culture around that. For me, that was my team.I regularly like to read and listen to a variety of podcasts and books to continue my education.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?My first rule always is: Get Shit Done. We have a board in our office with 3 mottos written on it:Get Shit DoneSee #1We don’t fail, we learn.Getting shit done is really what separates the entrepreneurs from the “wantrepreneurs”. I have met countless people who have had incredible business ideas and done very little about it. Starting any type of business for the first time is overwhelming and many people fear the unknown. But it isn’t until you can overcome that fear and take risks that you will ultimately stand a chance at being successful.Making mistakes is also a huge part of the journey and you’ll never stop making them, but each one is a learning opportunity. You can imagine that when I became a teenage entrepreneur I didn’t know anything I needed to know about business, and I’m still nowhere close. But not dwelling on my mistakes and learning from them allows me to be more and more efficient and effective each day. It’s really important to keep moving forward. And yours aren’t the only mistakes you can learn from. I value all of the brilliant expertise and experience I can get from my mentors. Do NOT shy away from help. Chances are there are people out there who have gone through or are going through the same challenges as you are. At some point you have to cut the ego, the more gratitude and humility you show, the more likely people will be willing to support you.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?At this point in time we’re looking to hire another chemical engineer who has previous experience with coatings and superhydrophobic films or polymers.We are also looking for a digital marketing expert to join our team full-time. We are always on the lookout for talented sales people who are interested in joining the DetraPel family. Any and all resumes should be sent to info@detrapel.com.Where can we go to learn more?Website: www.detrapel.comEmail: info@detrapel.comIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM

[oreoassassin]

Bad, Fall, and God: A message to other progressive Christians Over the last couple weeks God has really been convicting me of having allowed sin to creep into my life through social justice circles. But I also am getting the sense present in "progressivesocial justice-themed Christian spaces. I want to share the following things I am starting to learn, because I'm guessing there are others out there who need to hear the same things 1. We need to get off our high horses. We are not better than others simply because we have the language of social justice at our disposal. Nor are we in any way more enlightened." We do not know or understand everything about our world. We just happen to have access to a particular framework and mindset that helps us understand certain systemic issues really well. 2. On that note: we need to realize that "social justice" is not for everyone. Sure, the dismantling of systemic oppression really does benefit virtually everyone on the planet. But not every person will find liberation and mission in the principles and terminology of "social justice" as we define it, and thar's fine. Not every problem fits neatly into the framework of privilegeloppression (though many do!) and not everyone is called by God to activism (though many of us are!). I learned this the hard way when I was trying to help a friend going through a hard time. I thought that I could help her out by helping her understand some of what she was experiencing from a socialustice lens. But that was not what she needed at the moment she needed me to listen to her where she was at. 3. Marginalization is no excuse for sin. Sure, with privilege comes power, which can and does corrupt us. Privilege can also cause our sins to have greater impact, since we have the entire weight of the world backing them But, in Paul's words, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Privilege does not excuse sin, but neither does marginalization. We have all sinned against one another, and we have all personally crucified Jesus with our sin. There is literally no point in comparing my sin with anyone else's, and there is no excusing it no matter what circumstances I was in or what oppressive systems I was suffering from. 4. People are more than the sum of their identities. In social justice circles, we rightly talk about how people's social identities so strongly shape their experience in the world and their relationship to systems of power and oppression It is absolutely important that we do this. After all, the devil longs for nothing more than to sow division among people, and does so through power structures that divide people by identity. If we want to bring about the kingdom of God, we first have to dismantle the devil's power structures-and to do that, we have to understand how they work! But we also have to remember that God sees us as more than just the sum of our identities and experiences: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). God absolutely understands how human-constructed identities impact our lives (after all, Jesus became flesh!) but God also sees beyond them. There is enormous value in examining how people's social identities impact our experience here on earth. We have to see race if we wish to dismantle racism-colorblindness doesn't cut it. But we must make sure we don't see others as merely the sum of their identities though, lest we start viewing other people the same way the enemy does. 5. We can learn something from all Christians. It is tempting (and I am guilty of this too) to say we are better than particular groups of Christians with whom we disagree-particularly those that preach misogyny, racism, homophobia, etc. Or if we don't actually say this, we at least believe that we are on better theological footing. The fact is, none of us have a perfectly correct theology. It is of course our responsibility to call out bad (or downright oppressive) theology when we see it, but we should also be prepared for other Christians (and not just our inner circle) to find holes in ours. We should point out when other Christians are straying from the Lord, but only if we're open to hearing the same. We certainly do not have to listen to every Christian there are some, like my former youth group leader, who preach such damaging theological garbage that the best thing we can do is plug our ears. (And we should be wary of Christian groups that have strayed so far from the Jesus of the gospel that they may as well be worshipping a false God-although we ourselves need to be aware that the same accusation could be lobbed back at us.) We have every right to stay away from Christians who are actively hurting us or harming our relationship with Jesus. But we should remember that any disagreements we have are superficial compared to our agreement over who is Lord, and we are all walking the same faith journey. And despite our differences, we can all teach each other something about Jesus. 6. On that note: We need to be prepared to be wrong. I am sure that when I get to heaven, one of the first things that will happen is God will show me a print-out of all the stuff I've written on tumblr that is flat out wrong. None of us has all the answers. We need to acknowledge this and be humble. I hope this is helpful and meaningful to people! These are all things I struggle with, and I am happy to pray for you if there are any of these you feel you need to work on in your own life. #progressive christians #long form #social justice #identity #sorry this is so long and rambly "We need to be prepared to be wrong" - An interesting writing from a Christian SJW. http://ift.tt/2j6Bzk1

[bitcoinbillionaireblog-blog]

Bitcoin Billionaire Excerpt 2

Japan has surged ahead among the other leading world economies by adopting point of sale Bitcoin terminals at several hundred thousand retail stores. The People’s Republic of China is still the dominant world player in Bitcoin because of all of mining and equipment manufacturing design that takes place there, and because their government  has had the best Bitcoin strategy. Bobby Lee the CEO of BTCC the first and still the largest Bitcoin exchange in China and potential winner of the first to become a Bitcoin Billionaire sweepstakes,said recently that his company did not encounter much friction from the People’s Bank of China as they were growing their business because the PBOC views  Bitcoin as a digital asset rather than a currency. He also says we should not expect terminals to pay for goods with Bitcoin in China because even Hong Kong dollars are not permitted for use in China only the Renminbi  China’s official currency is legal tender. Bitmain the major manufacturer of Antminer Bitcoin ASIC or application- specific integrated circuits Bitcoin mining hardware is chronically backlogged with orders for mining equipment; but why should they sell the machines instead of just plugging them in and keeping both the machine and the money it earns everyday Bitcoin mining. The Bitcoin revolution comes at a most opportune time for the Chinese. They have excess hydroelectric generating capacity and they need cash for their rapid expansion, and mining  Bitcoin creates immediate cash- flow. The situation is much the same in my home province of Manitoba, Canada, with our large northern rivers flowing into the Hudson’s Bay. I comprise a one- man lobby that is on a mission to promote Bitcoin mining in Manitoba, and often I lobby the government, and Manitoba Hydro the utility which is a Crown Corporation to get involved. That is why I took some extra steps during my visa application to attend Devcon 2 the big worldwide Ethereum Developer’s Conference in Shanghai which I will go into later.

Vitalik Buterin is an extremely intelligent young man who started out writing about Bitcoin and then created Ethereum, which is  Bitcoin’s biggest competing currency.  The focus was no longer to be on the value of the Ethereum token ETH, but rather on the ability of coded ‘smart contracts’ to use the immutable blockchain in the EVM for legal commerce whereby the funds are not released until certain conditions are seen to have been fulfilled by the smart contract. As an aside,  I must say that no one is complaining that Vitalik’s original vision of a cheap token did not work out, and Ethereum has soared to recent prices as high as four hundred dollars and can boast a  total capitalization of thirty billion dollars USD with rapid global multifaceted growth. So, will Vitalik be the world’s first Bitcoin Billionaire? I do not know, but he has been voted the most influential person in crypto by industry participants. Like so many intellectuals before him Buterin seems to eschew riches, instead, he is finding fulfillment in running the Swiss non-profit Ethereum Foundation and learning foreign languages. His sudden ability to speak Chinese surprises audiences as he takes questions and gives lectures in Mandarin. I was surprised to see Vitalik speaking fluent Russian when he met Vladimir Putin recently. In 2016 big money flowed into the development of Ethereum from Microsoft the sponsor of the event along with Wanxiang Blockchain Labs and Fenbushi the largest Asian venture capital firm. We are talking an easy hundred million with every indication that all systems are  go for even bigger things to come in the near future. The Devcon 2 event in Shanghai was successful beyond all measure and caused me to really stand up and take notice of what these alt-coin pioneers had already accomplished, and where they were headed. I also benefited from the trip by making contacts from Beijing that could help me in my lobby to bring Bitcoin Mining back home to Manitoba.

I watched a YouTube video today that was put out by Roger Ver who would definitely be in contention for the first Bitcoin Billionaire title. He is a majority owner of Blockchain.info which is my recommended Bitcoin wallet. The wallet which is based Luxembourg but seems to route most transactions via some small islands off the west coast of  Africa, and has more funds than all of the other Bitcoin wallets combined. I keep my Bitcoin in my Blockchain.info wallets on my Samsung S7 Android, and on my iPhone 6, and I also have a matched version on my main desktop  PC. I really like the way the Blockchain.info wallet user interface works. They have fifteen million wallets in use and have completed one hundred million transactions. Ver was criticizing the Bitcoin Core team and Blockstream a closely related company that employees many Bitcoin Core developers. Adam Back heads up  Blockstream and he is a very respected long time Bitcoin developer. I sat across from him at lunch at Construct 2016 the invite only San Francisco developer’s conference put on by Coinbase and sponsored by IBM. I said loudly so as to catch his ear that I liked the idea of flexible fees. I have interests in Bitcoin mining and I like earning mining fees. So I admit to being biased, and I still want fees to be fair for migrant workers and people in the third world. There are about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per day paid to miners in fees. Roger Ver is saying that people will leave Bitcoin for alternative cryptocurrencies if fees get too high or the network has delayed confirmation times, what he warns may become a poor user experience. This was in fact happening and fees had risen from being nearly free to fifty dollars and more sometimes, which Core points out people were willingly paying albeit with a grumble. But everyone had made such high profits just on the increase in the value of Bitcoin alone that they could bear the fees with ease and they did.

The Bitcoin blockchain forked on August 1, 2017. That means that if you had a tenth of a Bitcoin on July 31 you got a matching tenth of a  BCH token.  You doubled your token count you now hold  BTC and BCH. My website has live prices smartpropertyblockchain.ca   Bitcoin is at $5,352.55 Canadian Dollars and BCH at $899.23 CAD. The Ethereum blockchain had seen a previous fork and stable trading patterns have evolved over the past year my site shows Ethereum priced at $418.03 CAD and ETC at $18.90. These forks are a little bit like stock splits but there is no guarantee that you can access the cloned token unless you have made arrangements.

The decision to do the fork on August 1st must have been made at the Consensus 2017 event in New York sponsored by Barry Silbert. He is  America’s premier cryptocurrency entrepreneur. He would have the highest rating in my handicapping pick for the Bitcoin Billionaire’s Stake Race. He has fifty- seven cryptocurrency related companies in eighteen countries. I really feel like a small thinker when I watch the moves of a big thinker like Barry Silbert, owner of the Digital Currency Group,  Greyscale Investment Trust,  and Coinbase the largest exchange in the USA, and Coinbase magazine. I invested in the new Bitcoin ETF derivative GBTC  units from Greyscale, and I did ok with them. They only deal with accredited investors with net worth of over one million dollars exclusive of residence or income of over two hundred thousand dollars a year for each of the past two years. Luckily for me, the oil business was not yet completely dead so I qualified on income.  The units are based on NAV net asset value rather than being a fraction of a bitcoin as many people mistakenly believed when the fund was launched. I balked and sold out after receiving an offer to invest two hundred and fifty thousand dollars at four PM that would be priced at NAV regardless of where the unit price had ended trading on close at 4 PM.  I could not see much difference between this overly attractive offer and the late- trading issues mutual companies had seen many years ago.

I must admit however that I was wrong earlier when I was very critical when he started buying ETC tokens after the Ethereum fork. As Andreas Antonopoulos the best promoter of Bitcoin on earth whose opinion I value so highly warned in a video I watched about the topic of ETC. “When one is most absolutist in their position, that is often the time when one is completely wrong” and time has shown that such was the case.    I attended the conference with my pitch for Bitcoin mining in Manitoba but had no inkling about what was happening behind the scenes in the five floors of meeting rooms at the New York Marriot Marquis hotel located on Broadway in the ever-bustling  Times Square. A so called “New York Consensus” was agreed to by many big time Bitcoin companies and exchanges in some hidden back room at the trade show. It was later announced that an unstoppable fork would take place on August 1, 2017, as it later did.

The one-megabyte blocksize will remain the same with slight capacity improvements as part of Segregated Witness off chain features are added that save space. This is an improvement that Erik Lombrozo has been promoting for the Core team, and that Andreas Antonopoulos has recommended as a good BIP or Bitcoin improvement. This will mean that fees will remain higher than they would be if the blocksize went to 2 megabytes as many thought it was poised to do, or to an eight megabyte size that many users were also lobbying for the past year.  Transactions may be slower because of the full blocks but the ten-minute block benchmark is adjusted by a mechanism called the ‘difficulty’ which adjusts every two weeks in Bitcoin and every four hundred blocks in the much faster fourteen- second Ethereum blockchain. It is August 23, 2017, three weeks on today, and I have not seen problems with high fees or slow confirmations. People said yes I want that free money and welcomed the new BCH received after the split. Did I mention that BCH  is worth $899.23 CAD?

    o�8T�

[thechurchreport]

Why Solo Travel Is Good For Your Soul

Traveling is fast becoming a fast favorite hobby for many as technology made it easier for everyone to travel to far-away places even on a budget or by themselves. With the help of the World Wide Web, you can have access to relevant travel information you never had in the past with the usual pen and paper communication. The Internet has solved most of your travel issues and all you need to do is book that flight and get on that plane for the adventure of a lifetime.

Nothing can be more exciting and exhilarating than going somewhere far by yourself and having the time of your life with complete strangers who may soon become friends. Whenever possible, travel to somewhere new every chance you get while you’re still young because it’ll be more difficult and financially challenging to bring your entire brood together to far away and exotic places once you have a family of your own.

While a solo trip is something I have wanted to do for a long time, the closest I had gotten, before this spring break, was traveling with friends to a new city and spending one day alone.

From the disapproving questions of Uber drivers to the silent but incredulous looks I received from some friends and family, I have come to the conclusion that I need to defend traveling alone as a mode of vacation. And maybe in the process, I will convince others to embark on their own solo trips.

The most obvious benefit of traveling alone is that you do exactly what you want to do whenever you want. Eating at atypical times, visiting bizarrely specific exhibitions for hours and walking to the point of exhaustion without hearing any complaints are all possible. Of course, you can travel with people who have similar interests, but setting the entire itinerary on what you want and how you feel is a new level of freedom.

(Via: http://nique.net/opinions/2017/03/31/in-defense-of-solo-travel-finding-new-perspectives/)

You are free to do whatever you want when traveling solo and you no longer have to think about the comfort and opinion of a travel buddy. You go with the flow and completely immerse yourself in the new experience. And more and more Americans do just that, totally changing the travel and tourism landscape.

Solo travelers know every journey encompasses a world of emotions, from exhilaration and liberation to fear and loneliness. Being out in the world without companionship allows us to connect more deeply to the type of traveler we want to be, on our own terms and timeline.

More of us than ever are venturing out alone, in the U.S. and internationally. A recent study conducted by accommodation powerhouse Booking.com finds one in five U.S. travelers plan to travel solo for the first time in 2017 and tour operators worldwide are reporting a solo surge. Global leader Intrepid Travel has seen a 40% increase over the past five years, with 50% of clients currently traveling alone.

While going solo may not suit everyone, experts agree every avid traveler should try once. “Undertaking a new travel experience for the first-time, whether that’s visiting a new place or traveling solo, can be a fruitful, life enhancing and even life changing experience,” says Booking.com’s chief marketing officer Pepijn Rijvers, citing findings illustrating while traveling solo can be perceived as daunting, two-thirds of those surveyed (66%) feel it is worth it and three in five (61%) believe initial anxiety was unnecessary.

(Via: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/traveling-alone.html)

You not only get to visit a new country, immerse in the culture and meet new people but learn more about yourself as well. You discover what you are truly capable of when you have nobody else to rely on to make decisions for you and you also realize what you can overcome by going out of your comfort zone. Traveling solo has its ups and downs but it is still something you need to experience at least once in your lifetime and find out for yourself just how cool and refreshing it is to see other places without anyone you know by your side.

There are quite a few perks to traveling alone that may surprise you. While many may shun the idea, there are actually a number of benefits. Solus sabbaticals are an excellent way to replenish, while providing the ability to do so at one’s own pace.

These solitary furloughs serve as a fantastic means to engage in meaningful connections with individuals in other cultures, as well as make for some amazing adventures. Additionally, they remove the hassle of having to select activities and/or divide time between requested group outings.

Here are four more advantages to traveling solo:

Time to Replenish

For introverts in particular, the idea of solo time to refuel is most appealing. Even for extroverts, individual journeys can offer a wide range of refreshing advantages.  Traveling alone is ideal for calming, reflective activities. It is perfect for prayer, meditation, or other tranquil, reflective intervals that help quiet the spirit and soothe the soul.

Time Is in Your Hand

One of the best parts about one-person missions is that you get to enjoy your entire vacation on your own terms. There’s no deciding what to do or any long, drawn out discussions regarding being somewhere at a set time needed. 

Connect With the Local Culture

Delight in the opportunity to immerse yourself freely into the local culture. Hire a personal driver and visit local hangouts and hot spots. Connect with the natives by engaging in purposeful conversation over a meal. Food is one of the fundamental ways to consociate with area residents.

Try Something New

Snorkel, dive, or take a hot air balloon ride. Schedule language, cooking, or dance lessons. Hike, surf, skydive, or even run with the bulls. Think of things you always desired to accomplish, but had no one to do them with. This is your chance to do exactly what you want to do. 

(Via: http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/the-surprising-simple-benefits-of-traveling-alone/)

It takes a lot of guts to travel solo. Not everyone is brave enough to take the risks associated with solo traveling. Fortunately, technology and the web made it easier for us to navigate new places with ease and assuage both our worries and that of our loved ones. You can easily book a place to stay from your smartphone or find a map of an attraction you want to see. You can keep in touch with family and friends back home through social media or messaging apps anytime you want. While the world is still a big and scary place for some, we have definitely become more familiar with it.

So, what are you waiting for? Save up on that dream vacation and go all by yourself. See a different part of the world at a fraction of the price and get to enjoy all its perks nonetheless. Just browse the web and you’d find many solo travelers (even females) who revel in the experience of solo travel and still go home in one piece and had the time of their lives.

The post Why Solo Travel Is Good For Your Soul was first published on The Church Report Blog

from https://www.thechurchreport.com/why-solo-travel-is-good-for-your-soul/

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"Howzit Bru?" - Living with Type 1 Diabetes in South Africa

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/howzit-bru-living-with-type-1-diabetes-in-south-africa/

"Howzit Bru?" - Living with Type 1 Diabetes in South Africa

We've been traveling the world for the past year, bringing you different perspectives on life with diabetes via our Global Diabetes Series. Today, we bring you a story from South Africa!

We were delighted to bump into fellow person with diabetes (PWD) Mark Koekemoer, a 31-year-old diagnosed with type 1 as a teenager 16 years ago. A year ago, Mark created an online community called Rock Your Diabetes, and more recently, he's started a South African Twitter chat using the hashtag #DchatSA. He's on Twitter personally at @RockYourD.

WHAT DOES HE DO?

Take it away, Mark!

A Guest Post by Mark Koekemoer

Firstly, let me just clear a few things up:

1. In South Africa, we do not live in huts.

2. There are no elephants or lions that roam freely in the streets or nearby said huts.

3. There ain't no barbecue like a braai. (South African "barbecue")

I mentioned the first two because I have heard far too many stories of people who actually believe this! South Africa is an incredible country, rich in natural resources and diverse cultures and a very popular destination for tourists. We have 11 official languages of which English is only the fifth most spoken home language. (We like to say "Howzit Bru?" for "How's it going?") South Africa has two capital cities: Cape Town and Pretoria.

I live in Cape Town, which is known as the "Mother City" and is a very trendy cosmopolitan city of about 3.7 million people. Not only is this a popular tourist destination because it's home to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Table Mountain, but it's also the World Design Capital of 2014. This YouTube video gives a taste of the city, where you can even send your Facebook profile on holiday! We're about 1,500 kilometers (about 900 miles) from the executive capital of Pretoria, which is next to Johannesburg that is one of the world's largest gold mining centers and the commercial hub of South Africa. (It's also where the Diabetes South Africa non-profit org is based!)

My D-story

At the age of 15, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on the 31st of August 1996. At the time, I was at boarding school and after a few weeks of feeling really crappy and losing lots of weight, I took myself to the doctor for a checkup. Right there in the waiting room I read one of these medical pamphlets: "Have you lost weight? Struggling to concentrate? Feeling dehydrated?... Then you may have type 1 diabetes - inform your doctor of your symptoms..." Yes, yes, yes! I nodded to each of the questions, except the last one, which I couldn't relate to.

So I didn't tell my doctor about the pamphlet. I did, however, tell him all the symptoms I had. But for some reason, it just didn't click with him. In the end, I got booked off school for a week for "exhaustion and blurry vision." In the car on the way home, I smashed four litres (1 gallon) of soda water to quench my dehydration. But my mum knew better, and the next day I went for another check up. That's when I was diagnosed correctly. And the rest, as they say... is history.

My first years as a diabetic were spent on the back foot, always reacting to highs and lows and never understanding why my sugars were doing what they were and never taking time to understand diabetes. I never received proper education other than from my doctor, who was only ever interested in better control, even though he only prescribed me a sliding scale of insulin! In 2002, my life changed when I went into DKA. When that happened I realized how dangerous diabetes really was and made a decision there and then that I was going to take better care of myself. That day I shifted the control I had of my diabetes from outside of me (doctor dietician, parents) to inside, where I knew I COULD CHOOSE how I lived my life and made decisions to manage this disease. That's when I stopped living AGAINST my diabetes, and started living WITH it.

At first I struggled to find support in the local community, and even attended two type 2 diabetes support groups - what can I say - I was desperate! The South African Diabetes Association produced a magazine every so often, but this wasn't enough. I was on a mission to learn everything I could about diabetes and how to take better care of myself.

And that's when I turned to the Internet. I joined communities online and asked questions, engaged in conversations and bought books that were not available in SA from Amazon. I also attended webinars to learn all that I could.

In 2002, I started on a pump and for many years ate according to the Low GI diet; I enjoyed vegetables and whole grain foods, rarely ate poorly and learnt to carb count like a champ. I also became very interested in health and nutrition, and read everything I could on the topic. Then in November 2011, I started doing Crossfit and got introduced to the Paleo diet. And it all changed again. Eating "Paleo" means to essentially cut out refined carbs, sugar and gluten and choose real food in the form of vegetables, meats, healthy fats, nuts and seeds. Since I switched to a Paleo way of eating, my control and health has moved to a whole new level.

Eating low-carb has reduced my carb intake and therefore my insulin requirements. Having less insulin in my body means I'm more controlled (the law of small numbers by Dr. Bernstein) and can now climb a flight of stairs without going hypo. For the first time in 16 years, I feel like I actually have control of my diabetes. This change has truly empowered me, and although I am sure it will not work for everyone — I would really encourage you to just try it. Since changing my diet I have also switched back to pens, and now have better control than I even had in all my years of pumping. This was an added benefit of eating real food - the feeling of freedom when I finally took off my pump.

OK, enough about me.

Health Care in South Africa

In South Africa, you will find public and private health care. Public health care is offered free by the state and provides people with diabetes (PWDs) access to medication, treatment and education. However, resources come in pockets around the country, so in some areas there is good access to public health care and in some areas there is not. The public health sector is under severe pressure, and although nearly 40% of government expenditure is spent on health, it's expected to deliver services to nearly 80% of the county's population (about 40 million people!).

The private health care sector, on the other hand, is funded by its members and provides state-of-the-art medical aid coverage, depending on the plan. I have been fortunate to have had access to private health care since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and have never had a problem with getting medicine or consumables. Unfortunately, private health care is not affordable for the majority of South Africans and our government is now looking to introduce a National Health Insurance scheme that will provide better health care to all.

Sounds like we have that in common with the United States...

Stats on diabetes in South Africa aren't as well-documented as they are in the U.S., but some local community stats from the website Sweetlife show this:

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the estimated number of people with diabetes in South Africa is around 840 000, but other studies say there may be as many as 1.5 million diabetics.

The World Diabetes Foundation says that in developing countries (like South Africa), less than half of people with diabetes are diagnosed. Without diagnosis and treatment, complications from diabetes rise at an alarming rate. This same foundation says that 85% of those with diabetes in South Africa are undiagnosed!

Most at risk of developing diabetes in South Africa are the black community because of rapid lifestyle and cultural changes, and people of Indian descent because of their hereditary genes and diet.

90% of people with diabetes in South Africa have type 2 diabetes; 10% have type 1 diabetes.

In South Africa 1 in 5 people older than 35 have type 2 diabetes; more than 50% are unaware of this.

Diabetes Education in South Africa

In my opinion, diabetes education in South Africa still has a long way to go to be effective and truly transformative. We already have a number of institutions trying to make a difference, like the Youth With Diabetes organization that aims to educate and empower youth living with diabetes. We have a wide network of CDE's that work closely with medical aid companies to provide a support "team" for their clients with diabetes. Then of course we have the South African Diabetes Association that aims to raise funds and awareness for diabetes in South Africa. But this is still not enough. There are far too many efforts in different directions and I am hoping that in the near future we can bring these powers together to create a new platform for diabetes awareness, education and treatment.

We know the online community is where the magic is happening in the world of diabetes. In SA our DOC is still small, but this means there is lots of room for growth! I recently initiated the first diabetes Twitter chat hosted in South Africa (#dchatsa) and have started a blog at www.rockyourdiabetes.com, where I want to communicate tips and advice on how to live a life unbound WITH diabetes. I'm excited to be participating. We also participated in the Global WDD chat on the 14th November, and I hope to play a part in creating the next platform for diabetes education in our country.

It's All About Attitude

As I've blogged: Diabetes is hard. There's just so much to learn about how to manage it properly and then you never get to take a break either! But I believe with a curiosity to learn, an open mind and the right attitude - one can really live a life unbound with this disease. Having type 1 diabetes has taught me some valuable lessons and shaped me to be the person I am today - confident, healthy and fit, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks for the great work you're doing in the D-Community, Mark. We look forward to staying in touch as the newest D-Twitter chat evolves!

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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