#how to create amazon like website

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[foleys-help-blog]

Fun Selfshipping Activities!

Print out pictures of them to hang up on your wall!

If they wear jewelry, make it!

Make stickers of them! (There's tutorials on youtube of how to make stickers at home, or, you can get sticker paper on amazon for pretty cheap!)

If you do make stickers, put them on your sketchbook, journal, laptop, or whatever you feel like putting them on!

Make a google slides presentation on them! Alternatively, you could also write an essay about them.

If they don't have a canonical style of handwriting, find or try to write in a way they would write!

If they do, try making your own font of their handwriting that you can download and use. Or, try to learn how to write similarly to them, maybe write letters to yourself from their perspective.

If they have a birthday or there's a holiday coming up (irl or canonical), make a card for them!

Make them in the sims, or some other character creation making game. Or you could make a Minecraft skin of them.

Draw them as a character from another source. For example, draw them as a pony from MLP, or draw them in the style of a cartoon you like!

Make a playlist of Youtube videos you'd think they'd enjoy watching, and perhaps watch them again and pretend like you're watching them with your f/o.

Make food they canonically like, or you'd think they'd like!

Make a tier list as if they were making it! Like a fruit tier list, for example.

Compile an Amazon list or Pinterest board of clothes they would wear!

If you're able, buy snacks you think they would enjoy!

Name a stuffed animal after them or name a stuffed animal something you think they would name it.

Make yourself a sticky note as if they made it (like a doodle, a simple 'I love you', or something silly!)

If your f/o has a particular interest, look into it! Study it even, if you'd like!

Take quizzes as if you were them. Could be something serious, or something silly you find on uquiz.

If your f/o is romantic and you would want to have children with them, pick out baby names! Compile a pinterest board of baby clothes or toys you and your f/o would purchase together.

Build you and your f/os dream home in a building game (like Minecraft or The Sims)

Plan out a vacation of somewhere you'd want to go with your f/o. Maybe you could make a Google slides "brochure" to convince them to go.

If your f/o has a canon perfume or cologne they wear, or alternatively, their source created one for them (primaniacs website has a long list of series they've made scents for!) put the scent notes into fragranticas "search by notes" feature to find a dupe, or make one yourself you think they'd wear!

Compile a list of flowers you think (or know) your f/o likes, make them into a bouquet and maybe look up the meanings for each flower.

Compile a list of candles or body lotions your f/o would buy!

[elumish]

My Experience With Digital-First Royalty-Only Publishing (Part 2)

Disclaimer: just my experience, may not reflect other people's

Part 1 (What is this sort of publishing; how did I get published; what does the submission, contract, and editing process look like)

Book Release:

My [redacted] book came out in April 2024. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the publisher's own website, where it is listed for a couple dollars less than on Amazon/B&N. It's available both digitally (in multiple different file formats) and for print (paperback).

I can't speak for whether this is standard across these sorts of publishers, but it probably isn't unusual. This does mean that the book can't be available on Kindle Unlimited, given how Kindle Unlimited's requirements work.

The timing for this sort of publishing is extremely fast compared to traditional or even small-press print publishing. I signed the contract in late August 2023 and sent in the final draft to my editor in late October 2023, and the book was released in late April 2024.

Book cover:

For designing my book cover, they pointed me towards where they pull stock images from and asked me to describe the sort of cover I would want, including possible stock images. They also asked for physical characteristics of my characters, which is when I realized that I had no clue what my characters look like.

The stock image website included AI art, as well as regular non-AI stock images. I specifically requested no AI art, including no AI-generated stock images. As far as I am aware, they respected that request.

Once they created one, they sent me a mock-up and asked about minor changes (typography, etc., from what I remember). I didn't have any changes. Overall, my cover looks like what I described to them, and I'm really happy with it.

Marketing:

My marketing experience with my publisher has been decidedly underwhelming. They seem to have started to revamp their marketing process right around when my book came out, so my book didn't receive/hasn't received a huge amount of marketing support from them.

What they gave me marketing-wise: a few marketing images for pre-release/post-release, including Twitter and FB header images, etc.; general marketing guidance for what I could/should be doing; a couple of mentions on their publisher Instagram post-release and a mention in their weekly newsletter

What they didn't give me marketing-wise: connection to reviewers, including sending an ARC or providing a list of reviewers that might be good to work with; marketing materials for sites like TikTok or Instragram; a meaningful amount of airtime/mention on their accounts; a large following of their own

Overall, the marketing is what is probably most like self-publishing--a huge amount of it is on me (and I am terrible at it). It will be interesting to see what their revamp brings, but they are starting from a minimal following and not a lot of previous activity on their accounts, and so they also need to build their reach to make their marketing on their accounts more effective.

Royalties/payment:

I get paid on a monthly basis through PayPal. I also receive a royalty statement that lists days, amount/type sold, etc. so I can reconcile with what they have paid me. From what I have seen this royalty statement is pretty standard.

So far, they've been prompt and haven't had issues with payments.

However, because of (among other things) their general lack of marketing, my royalty statements have been fairly low. So far (and, granted, the book came out less than 2 months ago) I have made very little money on this.

My Path Forward:

I've thought a lot about whether I will continue to do this sort of publishing. I am currently querying my "main" books, and I don't plan to publish them through this sort of publishing, even if the publisher would likely accept them.

My contract stipulates that my publisher has right of first refusal for the rest of the books in this series. I am currently writing book two, and I plan to also write a third, as I had initially discussed with them. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I don't mind working with them as a company, but I don't know if they have the processes in place for me to make money publishing with them.

One thing I will likely do is explore other romance publishers that accept unagented submissions. They have a much lower barrier of entry and they are often willing to accept books that trad publishers might not want to spend money/reputational risk on.

As such, I would likely submit to these publishers stories that I don't think traditional publishers/agents would likely to be willing to publish, including more niche subgenres and less standard lengths that are easier to publish digitally.

Why do I redact the name of my book?

Honestly because I'm a coward and because people are weird about romance, especially certain subgenres of romance. I also plan to use this account for my main agented publishing, if I ever reach that point, and I don't necessarily want those two pen names associated.

Any other questions about this sort of publishing?

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[phoenix-eclipses]

Casting Love 0.13 -- Kenma's Awesome Roommate

Your trip to the cafe had been short. Makki and Mattsun had asked for you to come talk to them, joking you had been showing clear favoritism for the only member of your group who hadn't gone to Seijoh, but you only rolled your eyes and came to say hi to the two of them.

Even if you hadn't been planning to meet with Kenma, Makki had a class in twenty minutes so you all chatted while ordering your treats and waiting to receive them. It didn't take long before Makki separated from you two and Mattsun took it upon himself to walk with you to Kenma's building.

"Dang, I thought we'd be going to the one dorm building near here, not this place!"

"I thought the same thing when he said he was close to the cafe! Maybe his parents are rich, or something."

"Maybe you should try and date him, get that money." he nudged against you teasingly.

"Why bother when I got Tooru and Haji?" you laughed back.

"Fair point. Oikawa would spoil you to all hell." you both entered the lobby. "Do you want me to come up to you to the room... if I'm even allowed to?"

You stayed silent for a moment, remembering the system Kenma had explained to you. However, a part of you felt like it was a bit sketchy and would prefer to keep people knowing about it. As close as you were with Mattsun, he did frequently accidentally let secrets out.

"Nah, I don't think they would. Last time I was here he talked to them so they'd know I was with him. Doubt they'd let you in without him down here, thank you though."

"No problem, just don't drop the bag or your drinks." Mattsun waved to you before walking out of the lobby, probably to return to his own dorm. You let out a sigh before heading to the lady that sat at the desk.

"Excuse me?"

Despite you speaking, she didn't bother to even look up at you, she just let out a small hum to show she had heard you.

"I'm here to visit Kozume Kenma. He's on the 7th floor." as you spoke, you began to wonder if Kenma had even be telling the truth. In a building like this, surely they'd have higher security. But before you could even think to call Kenma to prove you were here for him, she scribbled something down and placed a card on the desk in front of you.

"That'll get you into the elevator." she still didn't even look at you, returning to her work. You took the card, still skeptical this could be some sort of joke, and walked to the elevator, swiping it just as Kenma did. Immediately, the light above the elevator went off, showing that it was coming down to the lobby.

It didn't take long for you to get up to the seventh floor and arrive to Kenma's door. You knocked on the door despite having the card and Kenma opened it for you.

"Hey," he greeted, stepping away from the door and letting you close and lock it behind yourself.

"Hi! Here's your drink and apple pie," you place both onto the counter in the kitchen. He lets out a hum, grabbing out his laptop and placing it beside them. "So, looking at this list, I think we should figure out where we can easily buy the majority of these from, to try and avoid paying for shipping from several places and to get them all near the same time."

"Easiest would probably be Amazon then."

You nod your head, pulling out your own laptop and opening up the notes you guys had made and the Amazon website. Kenma didn't bother opening his, simply sliding his chair closer to yours as you began looking for all of your items.

You two spent nearly an hour picking out the items. In some cases, you both decided it'd be better to create items out of clay instead of buying something else due to the price or for lack of items that appeared as you both wanted them. By the time you guys had everything there, you went to the cart and forced yourself not to show your severe problem with the cost it had totalled to.

"Okay, how do you want me to send you my half?"

You sat for a moment, thinking about the best way. You didn't have any apps that were frequently used for monetary sharing for obvious reasons, though you did know Oikawa's information for most, but that would no doubt raise some questions for Kenma. You instead double checked the kind of phone Kenma had before speaking. "Send it over with Apple Pay?"

He shrugged before opening your guys' conversation and sending over his half. Thankfully due to previous insistence from Oikawa, you had his card saved just in case so you saved it to that card before using it for the items you guys had.

"Hm." you stared at your laptop.

"Hm?" Kenma prompted you to talk.

"Do you mind if we have these go here? We've had some issues with packages being stolen at my dorm."

"Sure." he shrugged, reaching over to enter his mail information before you guys finished checking out.

"Well then! I should probably get going."

Kenma gave you a small nod, standing up to throw away your guys' garbage as you collected your things. Just before you sat up, the front door opened to reveal Kuroo.

"Kenma! I've returned!"

"Okay," was all Kenma said as he came back to you. You let out a small laugh at his simple response.

"Hi Kuroo," you greeted as he walked into the kitchen with you two. The man let out a small, clearly faked, gasp at you being there.

"Hello again! Did I disturb you guys on project stuff?"

"No, you're fine. We actually just finished up!"

"Great timing then. Did you want to stay for dinner, Y/N?" Kuroo offered. It was then you noticed he had some grocery bags.

"Oh," you glanced to Kenma who wasn't even looking at you. He had gone to his phone. "No thanks, but thank you for the offer, I should probably return before my roommate gets worried."

"Are you sure? I promise I can actually cook!"

You let out a laugh, "I'm sure you can cook just fine Kuroo, I'll come back some other time for dinner."

"I'll hold you to that!" there was some silence as you swung your bag over your shoulder. "Say, Y/N, could I have your number?"

"Huh?"

"Don't go trying to date my project partner," it was the first time since Kuroo had walked in Kenma looked up from his phone. The accused man held up his hands with a smile.

"Not, promise. I just thought it'd be nice since you guys'll be working together for this semester. In case something happens and you can't tell them, so I can!"

"Makes sense," you shrugged, pulling out your phone to him. "Enter your number, I'll send you a text when I get home."

Kuroo happily did so, taking a quick selfie on your phone which made you laugh and Kenma roll his eyes, before your phone returned to your pocket.

"Now then, I should get going. Bye! I'll see you in class Kenma, and whenever I see you next Kuroo!"

Kuroo excitedly waved at you, nudging against Kenma to make him look up and wave to you. You laughed before walking out, closing the door behind you.

0.12 -- Masterlist -- 0.14

Notes

My current desperation to write the Oikawa SMAU is infecting everything, so if there's like way too much Oikawa love going on in these, SHUSH, he's like- kind of a platonic lover in here

I love Kenma, but man is dry asf and no one can change my mind. Like he WILL be talking more/being less dry in the future but especially when they're not even considered friends we getting the dry treatment guys

Also Ima be honest I don't really know how the like apple pay through messages works so don't overthink it, I just had to make it work

These were supposed to be out yesterday but I got like a massive migraine that wouldn't go away so I didn't feel like arranging everything so I didn't <3

I'm going to be home alone Wednesday-Friday which either means Ima get so much done or nothing done, so I guess we shall see then

These notes are totally not me procrastinating more on cleaning my room (totally)

Taglist

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[hispieceofcake]

🎸MY THOUGHTS AND HEADCANONS TO ADAM FROM HAZBIN HOTEL - (for now)🍖

Hello hello folks, I've been thinking about writing about this post/blog for a while now and here it is, because Adam is my favorite character (obsession) and I have a lot of things in my head that I need share before I kidnap someone to listen to me talk about it for hours on end.

Hahaha I'm just kidding...or am I?

TW: Mention of profanity and sex.

I'm writing this blog because I have a lot to say about Adam and I think I'm already bothering my friends too much (just kidding, I'm going to keep filling them with Adam until I say enough is enough🤓👆)

Alright, let's start, firstly I was already a big fan of Hazbin hotel's work since the time Vizziepop had released the pilot on YouTube at the time of on October 28, 2019, and man, I was simply OBSESSED with the work, I had no idea who Adam was at that time, I was only 11 years old (And I know, I know, Hazbin Hotel was not and is not intended for minors, but I didn't have internet surveillance on my parents, so that's what happened and now I'm 18 years old).

And boy, oh boy

I was in complete EUPHORIA when it became public on August 7, 2020 that Hazbin Hotel was going to have a sequel on Amazon, I only knew how to talk about it and was excited waiting for the release date.

And when I watched that episode where Charlie has a meeting with Adam...I was like "THAT MAN, I NEED THAT MAN‼️‼️"

And that song..."Hell is Forever"... I can't remember a day that I didn't clean the house listening to that sound and pretending the broom was a guitar while I beat my hair like an 80s rocker high (I know, it's an exaggerated comparison but that's how I feel, so let me have it).

Here, listen to this work of art sung by our (MY) beloved Alex Brightman

In addition to the song "Stick it to the man" from the musical "School of rock" that Adam references in one of the items on the list of things to get into paradise, coincidentally his voice actor Alex Brightman also He is the main voice of the song and a character in the musical.

I spent all day listening to her today, but that's the least of it

There are also some songs by other singers that make me think of Adam because of their lyrics, for example Lana del Rey, there is a song of hers that all I think of when I hear it is Adam, unfortunately I can't share it here because it is a discarded song by the singer that I managed to download on a pirated website that has been taken down a while ago.

The songs that make me think of him are "Push me down" and what made me think of Adam is the following part "I'm your little baby doll and you are my mister rock 'n roll", the song "Brooklyn Baby" because of the music part "Well, my boyfriend's in a band, He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed", the others songs are "Say yes to Heaven" and "Angels Forever".

Adam, besides being my favorite character and hyperfocus, was the reason I met the character Beetlejuice (my other hyperfocus) and the voice actor and actor Alex Brightman. Because he was the one who aroused my curiosity to know who his voice actor was since I recognized that his voice was the same as Fizzarolli's, and then when researching and discovering the actor, I also ended up discovering about Beetlejuice, I even have a blog about it, if you want to read it, this is it here.

Just like with Beetlejuice, I'm producing a page with drawings and collages about Adam in my sketchbook that I might post later in a future post about my sketchbook, but that's another topic.

In addition, I'm trying to put together some songs to create a playlist based on him, in it I'm putting rock songs from the 80s that I feel suit him or that he would listen to, some songs by the norwegian singer Aurora which are very reminiscent of and are based on the garden of Eden and Adam from the bible (although the Adam from Hazbin hotel and the one from the bible are completely different).

Some time ago I was writing a fanfic about Adam with an authorial character completely made by me, it was just a fanfic that I had written on character IA but then I decided to write it myself, but I never got around to posting it and kept it stored in my notepad.

The story took place in the timeline of the first season of the series, where heaven discovered that demons and beings from hell now possessed angelic fist weapons and could hurt or kill the exterminating angels after the death of one of the exterminating angels, they would need a new strategy or a new "weapon", and then with the decision of God and all the seraphim, she was created, an angel made to protect heaven and bring back balance by killing sinners in hell, her name was Angelita, and she would be handed over to Adam who would have to train her until the day of the next day of extermination (which would be the day in which Adam dies), throughout the story Adam would begin to feel something for her, unlike Lilith and Eve, he would fall in love out of true love and not obligation, this love between the two would be something forbidden (as a metaphor for the forbidden fruit of Eden) since by God's order she would have to be pure and virgin and that Adam would not fall into temptation for her, I won't tell the rest of the story, if you want I'll make a post just about that (I'll leave you curious hehe), all I can say is that Adam will not die and the ending is tragic, for all sides.

🤘🏻MY HEADCANONS ABOUT ADAM🎸

These headcanons are some things I thought Adam might like, do, or make me think of him, and I'm also writing this because most of the headcanons I find about him are about sex or couples things (Not that they're bad, some are actually quite cute and I read them when I need comfort), so I'm here to contribute some content just about him.

• About how he feels about have been betrayed

I know, Adam is not the best person in the world but man, he is not a monster, he is a human, the first human, unfortunately, human nature is curious and destructive, not that this is an excuse for everything Adam committed. But then I think, "How much did it hurt to be cheated on twice?", "Did he feel worthless, insufficient?", I know how much it hurts to be cheated on, then I think how bad he felt and feels, but he hides it all behind a false personality of "Dick Master" and "The First Man", titles, high ego and falsehood to hide your real self. The only part of Adam that we were shown about him was him being extremely selfish, rude, arrogant and sexist, but all in scenes where he was exposed to people, people who weren't close to him, and then I wonder if he's just all that, but I feel like Adam he's just a hurt man who hides what he feels behind a false personality, just like Angel Dust does. Proof that he cares about people (at least those he considers close) was his smile at Lute as he slowly lost his life in the arms of the exterminating angel who cried seeing him dying. (I cried so much at this scene 😭)

Adam is a sexist character, I can't deny that, but man, he's the first man, no one ever told him what was right and wrong, they always let him do what he wanted from the beginning of his creation, and even in heaven, but now he had Sera to put him in his place at least when she was around.

I might just be taking a shot in the dark or looking for something good in what isn't there, but that's how I think about Adam, so please let me have this, let me see there's still some good there.

• Adam has a chubby body (like a dad body)

Okay, this one took me a while to think about, because a lot of people draw him thin and we never see him without his tunic, which left me quite confused, but after analyzing some scenes and discovering he was made based on his voice actor (Alex Brightman) I had no more doubts.

In these scenes every time he is squeezed his belly ends up being marked and you can clearly see that he is a little chubby. I know there was that scene with Lilith at the beginning that shows him skinny, but let's face it guys, you can see from his scenes in heaven that he eats a lot, do you really think he wouldn't gain a little weight?

And even Lucifer during the fight in hell against him told Adam that he had really let himself go, kind of like he was different before when he was in the garden of Eden.

Honestly, I don't know why people try to say he's skinny, the fanarts are really beautiful and stuff, but come on, don't you think a chubby Adam would make more sense? I'm not saying this because I love chubby men (I think they're incredibly cute and it makes me want to hug them 😫💗) but I don't know, I just think that with all of his diet, which isn't the best, it made him gain a little weight in the meantime.

• He felt bad about being the only human in heaven

This is because of an art I saw on Pinterest and it made me reflect on it. Like, when he got to heaven he was the only one with human appearance, all other angels and winners (human souls who reach heaven) had different appearances, such as animal appearances, for example Molly, Angel Dust's sister, who is a spider.

So I think he may have made that mask with horns to feel more integrated into that society and less different.

•Adam plays guitar when he's feeling bad (sad, distressed, stuff like that)

I imagine that whenever Adam is feeling sad, distressed or even stressed, he goes somewhere alone and plays his guitar in calm chords expressing what he feels through the melody played, it would be calm notes but full of feelings, his black gloved fingers hitting the strings while all there is in the place are just him, his guitar and his mind, and no one else to see him like that.

I think that whenever he remembers Lilith and Eva's betrayals, he feels at least a little bad, and then playing his guitar stops and takes away all that bad feeling in his chest, even if it just goes away temporarily.

I imagine the following scenario, late afternoon almost dusk as the cotton white clouds take on a yellowish tone as the sun slowly sets bringing the night with it, while the sun brought the night with it, in Adam's chest that bitter feeling grew as memories knocked on the door again, leaving him more moody than usual, making him fly away from the city with his guitar to sit on the golden gates of heaven and as he plays the guitar calmly emptying that feeling from his chest so that the next day he pretends that nothing happened, but he knows, he knows that that will forever be stuck in his mind.

• He's not as popular as he says he is

Going back to that topic I said about him hiding behind a false narcissistic personality and high ego, I think that him being popular is a lie, both sexually and in society, I know, he is the first man and that would make him popular and the fact that he is a guitarist in a band, but think with me, would you like to be in the presence of someone or have relationships with someone who only knows how to curse all the time and talk about himself and how many girls he had sex with over the weekend?

Well, at least I think that everything he says is just stuff to inflate his ego and feel good about himself.

• He likes 80s rock bands

This is just in my head, I feel like Adam would like 80s rock bands like Metallica or Guns N' Roses, maybe even Slipknot, bands in general that have the same type of music that he plays, I also think he enjoys guitar solos like Slash or the solo from the song "Master of puppets".

I also think that his band's style follows the same style as these bands, I don't know, like I said it's just my headcanon.

•Adam has a fear or trauma of apples

This is supposed to be a little funny

This headcanon came to mind when a friend of mine who also knows Hazbin hotel made the joke that Adam is afraid or traumatized by apples because of the whole forbidden fruit of Eden thing and betrayal by Eve.

Imagine, Lute simply eating an apple near him and he freaks out, ripping the apple out of her hands and throwing it away.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

I honestly feel like Adam deserved a chance to change, a chance at redemption, a chance to really be loved and really love, no sex, no divine obligation, just real love.

Well guys that's what I have for now, I'll try to remember more headcanons for a next post, maybe even some +18, but for now that's all I have in my mind.

Thank you so much for reading, kisses in your heart 💗🤘🏻

[winter-seance]

GIF Tutorial

This is going to be a long post, so I'm going to place the majority of it under the cut.

Disclaimer - There are many ways to make gifs, and this is just one way to make them - it's the process that I have figured out works best for me. I am in no way claiming that this is the "definitive" or "best" way to make gifs. There are probably other, better ways to do things, but because people have asked how I do it, I am sharing my process.

Introduction I use a Mac. I am assuming most of this will also be applicable to those of you using Windows as well. This tutorial is divided into three parts. Here is a video of the following process as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBRbWC-iMOM

Actions I use three Actions, that you can download here through my Google drive, if you want. A tutorial for how to install Actions in Photoshop can be found here.

Photoshop Layout I use Photoshop CC, but I used Photoshop CS5 for years, got used to it, so when I upgraded to CC, I arranged it to resemble what I was used to.

I have the following windows open:

And they are arranged like this:

PART ONE - CLIPPING Part 1 consists of using a screen recorder (i.e., Quicktime) to make short clips of scenes or parts of a scene that you want to make gifs of. I have a Mac, so Quicktime is what I use. For Windows users, I’m sure there are equivalent alternatives that are just as good. Years ago, when I was first starting to make gifs, I frequently heard people refer to KMPlayer as what they used, so that might still be a good option for you if you are a Windows user. The most important part is that it takes high-quality recordings, with as little detail and quality loss as possible.

With this screen recording method, you can make screen recordings of video files that are stored locally on your computer (I use VLC to play videos), or streaming on sites like YouTube, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, etc. No downloading of the video is necessary. For some of those websites, if you have trouble with getting it to work, you may have to disable your browser’s hardware acceleration. This process is described here (https://www.theverge.com/23715928/netflix-amazon-prime-screenshot-mac-windows-how-to).

I record the clips with sound, to make it easier to transcribe/write out the dialogue in Photoshop later. When I have recorded all the clips I want, I put the clips into my folder where I store all my clips, and into another folder that is labelled with the episode number so I can remember where each clip came from in order to properly label them later when the time comes to upload them to Tumblr.

Example: A folder containing clips from Good Omens 2x01

PART TWO: EXTRACTING/MAKING GIFS FROM THE CLIPS

Open video file in Photoshop To do this, click on File > Import > Video Frames to Layers

Use the markers to select roughly where you want the gif to begin and end.

With videos that have been clipped with Quicktime (not sure about other programs), the vast majority of the time there are twice as many frames as needed – every other frame is a duplicate. For a smaller gif size and smoother playback, I delete every other frame in the timeline box at the bottom of the screen. I used to do this manually (very time consuming), but now do it with the use of an action that I created that will automatically select every other frame. Downloads and installation instructions for all the actions I use are available above.

To use an action, click on the title of the action, then click the play button at the bottom of the window.

I often get an error message that says “The command ‘Extend Frame Selection’ is not currently available”, but it still works. Just click “stop” and every other frame will be selected.

Click the trash can icon in the timeline window to delete the selected frames.

At this point, you will have half as many frames in your timeline as you did before. You will also likely have extra frames at both the beginning and end of the timeline that you don’t want to be part of the gif – from the previous shot, for example. You can delete those now.

This next step is optional: There will still be some duplicate frames in the timeline that were not deleted earlier. It is not strictly necessary to delete these, and I see many gifmakers who don’t get rid of them. It’s usually not all that noticeable. However, because I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I always go through the timeline frame-by-frame and delete each duplicate. This ultimately will reduce the gif’s file size and make the movement in the gif appear much smoother. I usually find that every fourth or fifth frame is a duplicate. Unfortunately, it’s not always consistent, so using an automated action would not work to make this process go faster.

Cropping Once this part is complete, I select the crop tool. I usually make my gifs 540px wide by 350px high. You can change the height to whatever you want, but Tumblr’s max width is 540px. I find the aspect ratio of 540x350px usually allows gifs to feel large, while at the same time not cutting off too much of the sides. Depending on the type of gif I’m making I may adjust this, but generally, if I’m giffing a scene from a TV show or movie, I stick with my standard 540x350px dimensions.

Adding Text Next, I add text. Select the text icon. In the layers window, make sure the top layer is selected, otherwise the text will not show up when you start typing.

The top layer is selected

These are the font settings I currently use:

If I am just making one gifset, or one or two gifs, I’ll go straight on to the next steps. However, if I’m making a large amount of gifs, I save the gif right now, close out of it, and repeat the steps in this section for the next gifs, so I eventually have an entire folder of “raw” unedited photoshop files that have been cropped and captioned, and just need to be colored, have text effects added, and be sharpened. For me personally, I find I make gifs more efficiently by doing it in this “batch” style process.

All cropped and unedited gifs (psd files)

PART 3: COLORING, EFFECTS, & SHARPENING

Coloring I do plan on making a separate tutorial on this at some point, but will include a brief summary here. When it comes to coloring, I generally tend to go by a “less is more” attitude. I am not by any means great at coloring, but nonetheless I’ll explain the types of adjustment layers I typically use.

Note: Before making any adjustments, make sure you have the layer directly underneath the text layer selected, as shown in the screencap below, otherwise it will also apply those adjustments to the text, which makes it look weird.

I start with a Curves layer to change the overall brightness/contrast, then a Levels layer to adjust the shadows and highlights, and then a Brightness/Contrast layer to do some final minor tweaks. The only time I ever reuse gif coloring is when they are from the same scene with the same colors, lighting, backgrounds, etc. Every other time, I tailor the adjustment layers to the specific gif.

You can add adjustment layers by clicking the half light/dark circle on the bottom of the Layers window.

How the gif looks with both a Curves layer and Levels layer

Before adding the adjustment layers

After adding the adjustment layers

A lot of the time, I'll just stick to adjusting the lighting. However, if the colors look gross, or if they are over/undersaturated, I’ll add a Color Balance layer and play around with the settings on that, or use a Hue/Saturation layer and increase/decrease the saturation of specific color channels. It really depends on what you’re going for, and what you think looks good. There is no one “right” way to color a gif.

Text Effects If you are using the Actions I included in the download, you can just run the "Text Effects" action with the text layer selected, and it will do the following automatically. If not, you can do it manually by doing the following.

Right click on the text layer in the Layers window and click on Blending Options.

I use a stroke and drop-shadow on my gifs. Here are the settings I use.

Drop Shadow settings

Stroke settings

Next, to center the text, click on the text layer. With the text layer selected on the Layers window, Select All by clicking ctrl+a (Windows) or command+a (Mac). Then click on the "Align horizontal centers" icon in the “Move tool” option menu.

Important – in the Layers menu, make sure the buttons “Unify layer position” and “unify layer effects” are clicked an enabled for the text layer.

Sharpening Select all the frames in the Timeline window. Then in the lower left-hand corner click “convert to video timeline.”

In the Layers window, select all of the frame layers (do not include the text layer or adjustment/coloring layers in the selection) and right click on it. Select “Convert to smart object.”

Select Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. In the same way that coloring can differ depending on the gif, the ideal settings for sharpening can also differ from gif-to-gif. It can really depend on the quality of the source of the gif, like whether it’s HD or not. These are the settings I’m using for the current gif:

If you are using Actions, you can run the "Layers to Frames" Action. If not, do the following:

Click on the button circled in red

It will open up this menu. Click on "Flatten frames into clips"

Click the button circled in red, then click "Make frames from layers"

Delete the first couple of "junk" frames

Select all of the frames. Right click on the "0 sec." to change the frame rate. I usually use 0.05, but it might depend on the gif itself.

Exporting Click on File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)

I cannot add another screencap because I've reached Tumblr's max for this post, but here are the settings I use: Selective Diffusion 256 Colors Dither 100%

You may find that when you try to export your gif, the file size is too big. Tumblr’s gif file size limit is 10mb – try to make it under that – even anywhere in the 9.9mb range. As long as it’s under 10mb, it should work.

To get gifs that are too large to fit under the limit, I usually end up deleting frames from the beginning or end of the gif. If you’re using the 540x350px dimensions, I typically find that the average number of frames I can fit into one gif is between 80-90. Depending on the colors in the gif, it’s sometimes more, sometimes less.

[azsazz]

heyyy i had a teeny tiny lil wuestion and im a lil shy to ask it off anon lmaoo

SO

how did you go about making midnight muse a book?

like after you drafted and edited and all that fun stuff, how did you like. start to get it published? AM I MAKING SENSE?

see this is why im on anon

hiiiiiiii. im here to answer ur teeny tiny lil question my sweet anon 💙

hmmm...so after drafting and editing, you have to figure out how you want to published. you can either self-publish (which is what i'm doing) or try and go with a trad publisher.

i'm not sure the entire process of finding a trad publisher besides finding an agent (i think) and querying which is writing to the different agencies and trying to get them to read your book. If you'd like more information on trad publishing i'm def not the right person to ask, so i'd suggest googling it!

as for self-publishing, i'm choosing to go with Amazon KDP (kindle direct publshing). It's a fairly simple process. You create your account and upload your files, set your prices and dates and basically you're done.

I'm also uploading my book on IngramSpark which is the website where most bookstores and libraries order their books from, so this is also an important step. It's essentially the same process as KDP but takes a little longer for them to review your files and info.

When your book is done being edited, you can copyright it which is what I did. It was $45 but i don't believe this step is necessary but could be a good idea.

Then you have to format it. I used Vellum to do mine but if you know how to use InDesign or I believe Scrivener (cheapest option of the 3 and you can actually write your book here and keep all your thoughts organized) can do formatting as well. You can download all of the versions that you need for the interior files of your book (EPUB, paperback print, hardback print, etc). You can also pay someone to format for you.

You also need a book cover. I paid someone to make mine and they made it for all of the different formats i needed it in (like above). i found them by looking at the books with covers i liked on my shelf and seeing who made them because it says who designed the covers on them.

you'll also need ISBN's, but i believe you can get them through KDP or IngramSpark. I bought a bundle of ISBN's from Bowker. You need one ISBN per place you upload your book, so one for paperback print on KDP, one for the ebook on KDP, one for the paperback on Ingramspark, and one for the ebook on ingram, etc. If you want an audiobook, you'll need one for that too. KDP puts a barcode of their own on your book so you don't have to pay for that.

Then you upload all your files, wait for them to process, and then you can order a physical copy of your book!

hmmmm hopefully this helps, but if you have more specific questions or any other ones i'd be happy to explain more! 💙

i also have a post about costs i paid for during this process here if it might help!

[onlycosmere]

Wander89: Please answer the poll with whether the [r/brandonsanderson] community should take part in the blackout and, if you would like, also explain your stance in the comments.

Brandon Sanderson: For what it is worth, I voted yes.

As a longtime user of reddit, I sympathize with the website's difficult time figuring out how to be profitable while serving a highly advertising-adverse crowd. However, these app developers invested a great deal of time and money into their programs. Only to now have the rules change.

As another posted above, this reminds me of Amazon working hard to convince independent authors to come to their website. Only for the rules to then change grossly in Amazon's favor once they had the market.

Reddit can and should do better.

Fax_of_the_Shadow:   I'm currently doing research on reddit alternatives and creating a pros/cons list of them on the off chance reddit does implode on itself and we decide to move the community. We don't want to have to move, but if it ends up being inevitable, we don't want to be left out in the cold.

So, if people know of alternatives for me to research, reply to me here and I will add it to my list.

**I make no promises about any official stance the mod team is taking. I am researching in my own free time and of my own accord. Any changes made to the community would be done through voting, like this decision was.

Brandon Sanderson: It's too bad that we didn't end up with a good fork of reddit years ago, when they were still making their source code available. It would have been great if someone had been able to basically clone reddit, then start their own development on the new platform to create something better. But the only places that did it were...not great. They quickly devolved into hate speech and the like.

I wonder if this will cause enough of a mess that someone will go back to the last available open source version of Reddit, revamp it, and offer us an alternative. This could indeed be Reddit's Digg moment--where their bad decisions have been building long enough that we all just leave for something new.

For what it is worth, I'm willing to go where the community decides to move. As always, fandom decisions are yours to make; I'm just grateful that there are strong, capable mods willing to put in the time to build these communities.

[whumpsday]

Whumpmas in July #5

Share a TV show, movie, or any media that gives you the whumperflies!

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (also called Ranger Reject or Sentai Daishikkaku) is definitely the whumpiest anime aired so far this year. i've gushed about how much i love it a few times so far, but i just can't get over it. so i'm going to talk about it again, at greater length than ever before.

the premise is as follows: in a super sentai world (power rangers etc, for the unfamiliar), alien monsters invaded the earth 13 years ago. the war between humans and monsters lasted 1 year and ended in an overwhelming victory for humans. the more powerful "boss monsters" were wiped out, leaving only the "dusters", who were all taken into captivity by the superheroes.

dusters are the weakest type of monster and were created as living weapons by the boss monsters. they are immortal shapeshifters, but the shapeshifting is only possible because these monsters are literally made of dust: a tight squeeze is enough to send them crumbling. without their god-like masters, they stand no chance against the humans in a fair fight.

the superheroes exploit this to make the general population think the war is still ongoing and the boss monsters are still active: they force the dusters into an arena to get beaten on a weekly basis for humans' entertainment, making one of them shapeshift into a fake boss monster each time. under threat of death from special weapons that have the rare ability to kill them, the dusters are given no choice to accept this perpetual torment, and being immortal, it will presumably go on forever.

after 12 years of being beaten, Footsoldier D, our protagonist, has had enough. a duster whose only advantage is a particular talent for replicating humans, he escapes captivity and attempts to infiltrate the heroes. his plan is to kill the head heroes, destroy their special weapons, free his people, and eventually conquer the earth if he gets that far.

D has never interacted with the real world before and knows little of earth and humans. he has lived his whole life in captivity, first a slave of the boss monsters and then a captive of the heroes. he is traumatized, afraid, will literally crumble to dust if he takes a single hit, and his cover could be blown any second.

this show is INSANELY whumpy. there is onscreen torture. the dynamics are wonderful. every character is insane. it makes a great balance of suspense and humor (i've seen it described as "if invader zim was the main character of amazon's the boys"). i can't recommend it enough. it's on hulu and disney+ and any "unofficial" anime website. it's only 12 episodes. it's based on a manga if that's more your speed. GO WATCH IT. or at least go watch the opening theme, which is pretty whumpy itself!

@whumpmasinjuly

[alpaca-clouds]

Democratizing Media

Alright, one thing first: When politicians speak about "democratizing media" they usually mean something else then what scientist say, when they use those words. Politicians mostly mean something along the lines of "media should say what I want instead being controlled by some coorporation, because like I am elected, right?" Meanwhile scientist mean something else.

You see, before the internet became easily accessible for most people, the only way to access media was through certain outlets. TV stations, the cinema, some publishers and some record lables.

Yes, sure. Technically self-publishing was a thing even back then, but without the ease of the internet... How were you to market your own book or comic? And self-made music usually just circulated on copied and copied again casette tapes.

Usually, if you wanted to create media that actually people would see, you had to go through a big company. And those companies could very much decide who got to make movies and tv, who got to publish music or books or comics. Not only where those decisions controlled by capitalist interest, but also by nepotism and cultural biases, given that a lot of the people making those decisions where (and still are to these days) white, cis, abled men.

But when the internet came around things changed. Because suddenly everyone had a way easier time in getting their stuff out there. Pretty early on there were websites where people could just publish their stories and comics online. Either free and hosted by some other website or paid on their own site. Which was pretty revolutionary, especially as suddenly ideas that had been ignored could reach a new audience.

Voices, that by news media and such had been ignored so far - voices of women and marginalized folks - could suddenly broadcast over all sorts of channels.

And yes, you could also just publish your music and what not online, could also do your own research and offer it to the world and could actually get heard.

Now, we all know that this came with ups and downs. Because while finally marginalized people were heard like this, it also gave a bigger platform to some fringe conspiracy groups and the like. But at least there was a chance to get your stuff out there.

Social media websites and the like played a big role in this. Especially Youtube, of course, but other sites, too........ which of course brings me to the problem. Or rather to the question: "Is media democratized right now?"

Because it isn't, of course.

Right now we have these chokepoints, where you kinda are forced to push whatever you create through a channel. Sure, you can upload your videos on your own server, but probably nobody will see them. They need to be on youtube. Just like your music now needs to be on spotify and itunes. And if you self-publish a book, it kinda needs to be available on amazon or you won't sell shit. And if you have your own little blog and do not promote it on social media (or have it not integrated on a blogging platform such as tumblr) it will not be seen.

And this brings two issues with it (well, actually three). For one, as private companies those sides are able to censor you in any way they want to. They decide you cannot say the word "queer" anymore? Welp, no more talking about queer issues for you. And because they are a private company nobody can do much against it. Like with the tumblr purge. No more "female presenting nipples" for you.

The next issue is closely related: The companies in question want to make money. This they do mostly through advertisement and maybe subscriptions. Hence their goal is to keep you interacting with their website for a long while. And thus they have algorithms that decide what content you see - and hence if the content decides that something you do is not worth it or will get the wrong kind of attention... Well, nobody will get it shown. On a lot of social media we see, for example, that the negative content gets shown to more people. So writing about positive stuff does often not get you seen. (Which is why algorithms are bad. Don't fucking build your social media websites around a fucking algorithm.)

And lastly: A lot of media additionally to all of that also uses a system of partly manual currated. This is true for Netflix, who obviously want to make sure that the front page does show the stuff they either paid a lot of money for or that they produced themselves. Like, there is an infinity of great indie movies on Netflix, but if you do not know it is there, you will not see it. Same goes for a lot of Indie Games on Steam, that just go unnoticed, because they do not appear anywhere near the front page and just happen to go overlooked by folks. And in the end the big studios obviously have the money to get their games on the front page. Same with books on amazon, where just the difference in marketing budget makes sure, that certain books will end up front.

So, why am I telling all of that?

Because we still do have the tool. We can make a free, democratic internet like that. Where we do not have censorship (please note: banning people for saying hateful shit is actually not censorship, so yeah, ban them nazis). Where we do not have fucking algorithms. And where just everything has the same chance of getting seen.

Like, does not mean that there cannot be any currated lists. Like, those currator pages on steam? Those are fucking great. Lists where everyone just can make those and you can subscribe to their lists. That is amazing. But... you know. Not for the baseline experience, but for what everyone wants their experience to be like.

Just... a thing that bothers me. Based on the stuff I spoke about yesterday.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

How to Promote Yourself as an Author | Short Guide

Introduction

As an author, you know that writing a book is only half the battle. The other half is promoting it. Promotion is key to getting your book into the hands of readers and building your fanbase. But how do you promote yourself as an author? In this post, I'll help you explore some strategies for getting your name out there and building a following.

Before we dive in, it's important to note that promoting yourself as an author is not just about selling books. It's about building a community of readers who are passionate about your work and who will support you throughout your career. With that in mind, let's explore some tips for promoting yourself as an author.

(Remember, promoting yourself as an author is a process that takes time and effort. Don't expect overnight success. But if you're willing to put in the work, you can build a loyal following of readers who will support you for years to come.)

Section 1: Build Your Online Presence

In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for any author. Your online presence is your brand, and it's how readers will find you and your work. Here are some tips for building your online presence:

1. Create a website: Your website is your online home base. It's where readers can go to learn more about you and your work. Be sure to include a bio, information about your books, and a way for readers to contact you.

2. Start a blog: Blogging is a great way to connect with readers and share your thoughts and ideas. You can blog about your writing process, your inspiration, or anything else that's relevant to your work.

3. Be active on social media: Social media is a powerful tool for authors. It's a way to connect with readers, promote your work, and build your brand. Choose the platforms that work best for you and be sure to post regularly.

Section 2: Connect with Readers

Connecting with readers is an important part of promoting yourself as an author. When readers feel connected to you, they're more likely to support your work and recommend it to others. Here are some tips for connecting with readers:

1. Attend book events: Book events are a great way to meet readers in person and promote your work. Look for book festivals, author readings, and other events in your area.

2. Connect with book bloggers: Book bloggers are a powerful force in the book world. They can help you get the word out about your work and connect you with new readers. Reach out to book bloggers in your genre and offer to send them a copy of your book for review.

3. Offer reader incentives: Offering reader incentives is a great way to build a loyal following. Consider offering a free short story or novella to readers who sign up for your newsletter.

Section 3: Use Advertising and Promotions

Advertising and promotions can be a great way to get your book in front of new readers. Here are some tips for using advertising and promotions:

1. Use targeted advertising: Targeted advertising is a way to reach readers who are most likely to be interested in your work. Consider using Facebook or Amazon ads to target readers in your genre.

2. Offer book discounts: Offering discounts on your book can be a great way to attract new readers. Consider offering a limited-time discount or offering your book for free for a short period of time.

3. Participate in book giveaways: Book giveaways are a great way to get your book in front of new readers. Consider participating in Goodreads giveaways or hosting your own giveaway on social media.

Conclusion

Promoting yourself as an author is a process that takes time and effort. But by building your online presence, connecting with readers, and using advertising and promotions, you can build a loyal following of readers who will support you throughout your career. Remember, promoting yourself as an author is not just about selling books. It's about building a community of readers who are passionate about your work and who will support you for years to come.

TheWriteAdviceForWriters 2023

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Teamster.org is IBT's official website]

Today, Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS. The five-year contract protects and rewards more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide, raising wages for full- and part-time workers, creating more full-time jobs, and securing important workplace protections, including air conditioning. The agreement passed by the highest vote for a contract in the history of the Teamsters at UPS. All supplemental agreements were ratified as well, except for the Local 769 LAI supplement which covers 174 members in Florida. The national master agreement will go into effect as soon as this supplement is renegotiated and ratified. [...] “Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS. This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry. This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention.” “This is the richest national contract I’ve seen in my more than 40 years of representing Teamsters at UPS,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “There are more gains in this contract than in any other UPS agreement and with no givebacks to the company. But the hard work doesn’t end here. We will continue to fight like hell to enforce this contract and make sure UPS lives up to every word of it over the next five years.” Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include: Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023. Over the length of the contract, wage increases will total $7.50 per hour.

Existing part-timers will be raised to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment will still receive all new general wage increases.

General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.

Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

Current UPS Teamsters working part-time will receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.

New part-time hires at UPS will start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s will be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. Two fans, heat exhaust shields, and air induction vents in the cargo compartments will be retrofitted into all cars.

All UPS Teamsters will receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers will keep one of two workweek schedules and cannot be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and zero concessions from the rank-and-file.

Last month, the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee, as well as representatives of UPS Teamster locals in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, unanimously endorsed the agreement. UPS Teamsters voted electronically between August 3-22

22 Aug 23

[delyth-thomas-art]

Tired Webcomic Creator Noises

Gags … ah yes lets make art into mindless content spat out by Ai cos we've been literally killing creators with inhumane workloads to spit out as many episodes as possible for mindless consumption.

I make my comics with passion and love of the craft! I have a degree in Comics, I spent years...years learning, practising, experimenting, adapting. I recall the days where you may get a page a week, or a few at the start of the month back in the 2000s era of self hosted webcomics and smackjeeves. (Rant below)

I've had to learn how the whole scrolling format worked to adapt to where all the readers had gone to, having been taught the traditional print page formats. And now cos its suddenly a massive money maker for these few hosts and they've pushed creators to the brink with the sheer volume they want pumped out that of course they want to use AI.

But it will speed up colouring! I have multiple tools available by the software I use and made by the wonderful people who love creating that colouring isn't that much of a chore, Its my fav part honestly. And its also a job sector within comics, colourists are skilled artists and this is another way to trim the fat, to pocket more money and keep churning out the 5th millionth villainess story.

Yes I am in most views a tiny creator, I haven't even broken their 1000 sub goal to even try applying for ad rev in the near 5 ish years on webtoon. But what I make I love, I spend hours researching folklore, scripting, drafting the whole kabudle like many other creators. And other than the kind supporters on my Patreon and Ko-fi I don't make much from the hours, days, weeks I pour into what I make. But at least I know its made with my own hands. That its made with love as corny as that sounds.

Ai is creeping its tentacles into everything, now ethically trained ai tools to help smaller creators would be fine. Most creators already rely on 3d tools to speed up things like backgrounds for webcomics. But when we don't know what its trained on, and is marketed wholesale as something anyone can use to make "content" is where it gets insidious. I am all for anyone with the desire to create and tell a story to go out there and do so, whether a beginner or a master. Part of the joy of a long running webcomic is seeing the artist grow both artistically and literary. But with ai it will be all one homogenous style, a copy of what ever is the hot thing. We already have amazon stuffed to the teeth with ai generated books, videos, merch and more all to be sold in some get rich quick manner. (need I point at the Willy's Wonderland incident). Youtube videos being spat out by faceless accounts stealing and regurgitating content at the speed no human video making team can easily match without cutting out quality or fact checking.

It is tiring. Creatives as a whole are treated poorly for decades, and now with the rapid late stage capitalism, website /social media enshitification and the blind headlong rush into the next big money making thing (watches the nft crash). I can't deny Covid sped this up, as everyone was locked inside and turned to what we creators made for comfort. But that content eating boom, lead to more demand, faster output and tighter budgets. We are seeing journalists being cut, game designers in their thousands and recently Dreamworks cutting a bunch and pushing to make their Robot film come out sooner due to public demands.

Skilled creatives are being treated like disposable fast food restaurant employees. Used til they burn out, get injured and even die! And then are simply replaced.

I've never been a creator with huge ambitions to work at places like DC, Marvel or Top Cow. I simply wished to create and share stories with the world, to bring smiles, to create art that evokes emotions, inspires others to look around themselves and create too.

Art is for everyone. You just need to take that scary jump, there is a whole array of welcoming communities willing to teach and share. I wouldn't have improved so much without the kindness of the webcomic groups I've discovered and learnt from. Everyone is always learning, and there no shame in not knowing how to do a thing. Even I started with the cheesy how to draw books as a kid and made my own pokemon and digimon.

Don't let the world treat your art as content. It is "ART" as much as what's kept in the louvre is seen as art, so is that little stick man doodle on a postit.

So Try something new, try a new material, a new style.

And support the artists you enjoy, tip their Ko-Fi, pledge to their Patreon, buy a sticker or print. Share their posts and tell them what you love about what they make.

Don't let machines steal away the art in HEART.

[paper-gold-theories]

Villainous Observation/Theory: InstaFeed and Instagrim

(Note: This theory is an add on and inspired by the theory created by gabygirl1234)

There are two versions of Instagram in Villainous - InstaFeed and Instagrim

The general public and heroes use InstaFeed, while the Villains use Instagrim.

____

In Episode 6 Miss Heed is shown to have an InstaFeed account instead of an Instagram account.

And her @ name is also @MISS_HEED_ OFFICIAL instead of @MISS_HEED, as shown in her real life actual Instagram link (https://www.instagram.com/miss_heed/)

However, MISS_HEED_OFFICAL is her Instagram Display Name

So the Instagram account we see in real life is a little bit different than what we see in the Villainous show.

————

In Villainous, Penumbra, other Villains, and The Men Without Hats, etc. are shown to be using Instagrim.

However unlike InstaFeed, Instagrim is a Black Web, the Villainous version of Dark Web/Deep Web, website which is not available to the general public and can only be accessed by Villains and in special cases like the Men Without Hats who can hack and have installed programs and software to avoid tracking and being doxxed. (see below)

This is supported by the post in CreepyCharly when a user said you can see that SunBlast is alive on Penumbra’s Instagrim account, but CreepyCharly replies that she could not access it and jokingly added that she doesn’t believe that Villains have social media.

(Also, in the comment section in the image above, a verified account with the name @MISS_HEED_OFFICIAL is seen commenting a bot like comment: “FOLLOW ME”, Miss Heed being a former Villain and student in Black Hat Institution, she probably was able to have knowledge on how to access the Black Web, and perhaps link it to her current InstaFeed account)

As regular citizens like CreepyCharly can’t access it I agree with gabygirl123 ‘s post that Instagrim is also a part of the Black Web as it follows the. Same principal as the BHO website, as mentioned below, “it is hidden in what villains call the "Black Web", a hidden network for villains, bounty hunters, and other unsavory beings.”

(source)

-01.06.19 - from: Magician

To all remaining agents: We did it. Our patience has produced fruits. Cooper and I have managed to establish a link to the Black Hat Organization's mainframe. The link will be open for the longest period possible, however, we must be careful and keep this link secret; We can't let what happened last time happen. Black Hat cannot know that we have this connection to their system. This link can normally only be accessed by villains and members of their organization, as it is hidden in what villains call the "Black Web", a hidden network for villains, bounty hunters, and other unsavory beings. For this reason, access is very dangerous and it is recommended that it not be for prolonged periods or there would be a risk that a villain, or worse, someone from the Black Hat Organization, could find and track our whereabouts more easily. Here is the link to the computer:

Once inside you can share it, but to access you will need the 14-digit password that we hide in the guide videos. Maybe Black Hat found the latest version of the page, but that gave us what we needed to find yours. We'll leave this channel open, good luck. And remember that we can still dance.

Eventually however, Charly was able to access the black web to buy a mystery box, however as mentioned below, the Black Web is a dangerous place with dangerous people, so she had to install the necessary programmes to avoid being tracked and doxxed.

(Did she buy it from Evil Zone, the Villainous version of Amazon though? 😂)

[bit-b]

The Pi's gone bad...

TL;DR: Raspberry Pi showcased police surveillance and police activity in a positive light. And that makes the Bit upsetti spaghetti. ------------------------------------ I don't know how many people on Tumblr are into geeky computer tech, but I felt like making a blog post to vent my frustrations about a recent goings-on. There's a company called Raspberry Pi that's been around since 2011 (with early development of Raspberry Pi starting around 2006). They're known for making small micro-computers the size of a credit card. It was originally an education initiative to get kids interested in coding. These computers run Linux, have a variety of ports for various uses and flexibility, and have a very low introductory cost. They've been utilized in all sorts of places. -Hobbyists used them in custom builds for robotics and automation. -Coders have used them to create all sorts of programs that help with entertainment, productivity, internet security, etc. -Educators have used them to help teach the fundamentals of Linux to students. It's a group and product that I've supported for a long time.

WELL, on December 8th, Raspberry Pi made a news post on their site announcing that they've hired a new person. Which is totally fine. It's good to see company growth. Only, this person was an ex-policeman in the UK surveillance division.

In the interview for the article, this ex-policeman said: “I used to be a police officer tackling serious organised crime and terror threats across the east of the UK. I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear. You really don’t want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I’d disguise it as something else. The variety of tools and equipment I used then really shaped what I do today.” "I started playing with Raspberry Pi hardware at home around the same time I started using Linux at work. I have used Raspberry Pi a lot in various police tactics over the years. They were dependable, low-cost, portable, and supported by such an awesome community. I tried almost every ‘fruit-based’ single-board computer out there, but I always came back to Raspberry Pi." Now, I don't blame Raspberry Pi for their computers being used as surveillance devices. It's a very open-source type of device. People are gonna get ideas. And sadly, using a micro-computer for this kind of job makes sense. HOWEVER, Raspberry Pi have full control over who they choose to hire. AND they have full control over what they choose to post to their website. If this hire and this information are things that they are happy to showcase to the world, I can't interpret this any other way than them endorsing their product for secret surveillance. Others saw it the exact same way. People went to the replies on Twitter and Mastodon to voice their concerns. But the social media manager chose to start blocking and hiding posts from people that were talking negatively about the ex-policeman and/or the article. To be fair, there were a LOT of hateful and trollish posts. And I DO NOT in any way support the harassment of anyone. Still it's not a good look to silence criticism on something so potentially contentious. It's ESPECIALLY not wise to word your replies to these comments in a dismissive and antagonistic way.

I don't know if they're still blocking people and hiding comments at this point. There seem to be plenty of angry comments left under their Twitter post. So I'm gonna guess they decided it wasn't worth trying to fight. On top of this issue, people continue to point out that it's legendarily difficult to purchase a new Raspberry Pi computer nowadays. The retailers that sell individual units can't seem to keep steady stock. This means that you either have to be VERY lucky when a supply drop happens, or you have to buy one of the scalped units being sold on either eBay or Amazon. The deluxe model is routinely sold for twice it's normal price.

That being said, if you're a business and want to buy a bulk shipment of Pi computers, that option is still readily available. Seems like the Pi company is more than happy to move inventory around if it means getting bulk batches out the door for businesses that want to stick Pi computers in random things (whether it be service devices or consumer products). And that's who I think Raspberry Pi's current REAL customers are: big businesses with big pockets. I don't completely believe that they hired this ex-policeman for the sole purpose of pushing the idea of using Pi computers in covert surveillance to law enforcement. That hinges on conspiracy talk. But I DO have a suspicion that someone in the marketing department saw the opportunity. The interview at times has an ere of advertisement. It puts Raspberry Pi computers in a position of looking like the perfect solution for police equipment. This is all my own interpretation. I can't really know 100% what their intentions were with this. I could be completely off on my assumptions, and they could turn around and say that it was a complete misfire on the PR side of things. What I do know is that I am now much more wary about Raspberry Pi. I once had interest in seeing how their newer units performed. But now I can't in good conscious hand my money over. I'm a major advocate of only allowing the police what they need within reason. And surveillance like this steps over that boundary. I was one of the first people who ordered the OG Raspberry Pi. I have great memories of learning Linux and tinkering around with it. It's one of the big reasons why I'm so interested in Linux today. I hope the Raspberry Pi company takes a minute to remember where they started. To remember their original goal. Making learning and computing accessible to all.