#i actually have a chart version of it but!!! the 30 image limit!!!!

[fluffalpenguin]

IT'S HERE AT LAST @arcvmonth AU DAY YEAHHHH never mind that this post is late

I managed to stuff 10 AUs into this bad boy, so this is a image AND text heavy post, be warned! (I genuinely hope you enjoy the ride)

Not arranged in any particular order, and hyperlinks lead to doodles I've posted on Twitter unless stated otherwise!

(CW: imagery of drug use in the first one and mentions of violence in another)

1. Triad AU

It's the 1800s and everybody* does crimes! (*Not everyone)

Raised in the Fusion Society from an early age, Serena has always had mixed feelings about the child trafficking that her foster father's involved in. One day, she comes across a red-haired street performer that brings dazzling smiles of unbridled joy to children and decides to cut ties with her current life. As she eludes the men sent to retrieve her, she runs into who but the leader of a rival organisation, the Lancers!

This holds the distinction of being the only au that I didn't include pawn in some way or another because I can't figure out where to fit Yugo in (probably why my interest in it has somewhat fizzled out already lmao)

I wrote a short ~500 words fic of Serena announcing her departure to Dennis, Sora, and Yuri (conceptually the latter perpetually seethes about her audacity throughout the length of this au because that's funny)

2. Vampire Knight AU

Vampires and humans learning to co-exist in a boarding school is a genius set-up, thank you Hino Matsuri for giving me undying brainrot (pun intended) through creating this (albeit cursed) manga

Turned into a vampire against his will during a brutal massacre, Yugo curses his fate to be a blood-sucking monster every waking hour. And if his life didn't suck hard enough already, he's also forced to partner with (be the research subject of) a human with a set of morals worse than the most depraved vampire he's ever met. At least that lessens his guilt about drinking blood, because if anyone deserves to be a juice box, it's that smug purple-headed bastard! Life at the academy revolves around humans attending Day classes and vampires attending Night classes, but Yugo begs the headmaster to allow him some semblance of normalcy (denial) by letting him attend the Day Class, in which he dozes off often. Luckily, his roommate, Yuto, is there to poke him awake just enough times for him to pass his classes. Like his cousin Yuri, Yuto is also paired with a vampire through the latter's term in the academy. As one of the last surviving pure-bloods in the world, Yuya is uncomfortably used to his fellow vampires looking at him with undiluted reverence while fending off dubious intentions. The two quickly form a close relationship, a stark contrast to the other two boys that they share a house with.

I'm still deciding between having Yuri and Yuya being seatmates or not because both have their pros and cons (Also Yoko is a human, but is also the Night Class teacher; Yuya takes a liking to her pretty quickly)

Yuto, Shun, and Kaito are part of the school's Disciplinary Squad made out of vampire hunters-in training that patrol the grounds after dusk (to make sure their vampiric classmates aren't running around charming guileless humans into being supper) and Yuri, of course, despite being human has asked his beloved Papa for permission to attend Night Class in order to observe his research subjects in their natural habitat! (He unnerves everyone, but they don't disturb him because the last time someone tried they learnt first-hand that he has an taser whip to protect himself)

3. OCG AU

I've recently posted (how recent is recent?) a compilation post of doodles for this AU then I realised I never talked about the plot so

Childhood friends Yuto, Shun, and Ruri are training hard to join the elite ranks of the Dogmatikan Order. When Ruri doesn't return from her Ascension ceremony, the two defy sect rules to search for her. Yuto comes across a mysterious red-headed boy incarcerated within the inner confines of the Order's keep and...

I know it doesn't look like it but pawn is more of a background ship in this story, counterpart and swift take center stage (because Yuto and Rin are the main characters to me)

When I cooked this up in 2021, I was so desperate to escape from my schoolwork that I ended up making an 15+ chapter outline, here's an excerpt

(Just kidding I do have half a prologue and one chapter written out, one day I'll revisit this for sure)

Oh also, Yuri and Yuya are twins separated at birth

4. Exorcist AU

This one is the multi-series AU, because everyone has one, right!

This started as my 2022 Halloween pawn piece and then over a five-hour midnight bus ride at midnight two months later I decided to make a bad decision that led me to dozing off while queuing up in a theme park in the middle of the afternoon

(Yuto's design is so horribly outdated but I haven't digitalised his new one yet sorry, also shark and kaito heads are by @2-ennn)

In a world ravaged by demons, Yugo has spent his entire life on the tiny island he's called home learning the ropes of exorcism. His life is shaken up when he's assigned to show a visitor around, an exorcist from the mainland with a devilish smile that raises his hackles. He finally drops his suspicions and guard when Joeri sustains injuries protecting him from a demonic attack, and the two become closer... (They even have cute fluffy dates) Well, only until Joeri reveals that it was all staged and that he's a demon (and that his name is actually Yuri) before making off with the church's most prized weapon/artifact/thing/sorry I haven't really decided yet

If you saw my tweet from last year complaining about how I have to write 7 chapters first before I can write about my otp kissing I was referring to this au (joke's on my past self because I skipped ahead to write it anyway)

Yubel, Placido, and IV are the respective leaders of the three factions, but the island that Yugo (and Rin) grew up on is managed by Sherry because man am I hungry for Sherry Yugo sibling-like interactions

I love this AU, but writer's block crashes down like a brick (I've attempted to rewrite Chapter 1 more than two times and I'm still pulling my hair out because I need it to be Perfect)

5. DGS AU

What's up Ace Attorney fans, do I have a fangame in the works for you! It's based on The Great Ace Attorney/Daigyakuten Saiban, but there's no spoilers for it if you haven't played it

I can't talk too much about the plot since I do want to make a playable version one day but I will say that the first trial is defending Yugo from a murder charge (lol)

It's also one of the rare AUs where there's barely any explicit romance(?), only murder and mystery here! (you bet I'm going to write so many allusions for my favourite ships though winky face)

I started writing trial scripts for this but then I got really overwhelmed when looking for a good AA game maker so if anyone has recommendations please send them my way (Ideally they'd have the DGS UI...)

6. Casino AU

The Yuboys are dealers in a casino, and maybe it's a fun goofy little vn (it's a vn)

I have a whole thread on twitter for this one for the drawings i've made, but I'll post some on here so I can ramble a little

It started out as a concept for gacha cards, but then became its own monster (that's currently slumbering)

Originally Reiji was the owner of the casino, but I'm trying my best to include Ray and Zarc more into my aus when I can because I just want more excuses to write/draw my trophy wife (zarc)

this drawing is so old but clutches head i love u4 so much rrrrrrr

I wanted to make little acrylic standees back then (honestly still do a little)

Speaking of little acrylic standees...

7. Rune Factory AU

This one is roughly based on Rune Factory 5, but all you need to know is... nothing, actually; I can't even reference the plot because I've barely played the game myself lol but i just really wanted fantasy farming yuboys

(and then none of the characters ended up being vegetable farmers, even outside of the yuboys)

Harvest Moon/Rune Factory is a game where you live on a farm and eventually maybe marry someone, so one day when I've done all of the full body sprites (pauses and looks to the horizon) I want to make a uquiz that tells you who your destined Bachelor/ette is

It'd be one of the AUs without any 'canon' ships but Ray and Zarc's backstories are kinda tied together so... yup anyway here's a list of things that are true in this AU:

yuya zarc siblings and zarc is a mean older brother

i was going to make zarc the cool mysterious guy that you rarely see but gap moe is one hell of a drug

yuzu and her dad own the grocery store, yuya helms the local inn with yoko, who manages the baths within, zarc opens his diner for business when he feels like it (he's actually so good at cooking), yugo and rin are a blacksmith/carpenter duo, kurosakis have a bakery, though ruri spends her time playing detective, yuto runs the local clinic and sawatari is the town mascot

every monday night, a mysterious phantom thief with orange hair stalks the streets!

the squad that reiji captains serves to fix problems like monster infestations, but they usually have a lot of free time on their hands (well, not reiji) so yuri is constantly annoying yugo and yuto for fun and serena spends her time befriending the girls

ray only returns to town and opens up her flower shop when you defeat the 2nd boss and yuri can be found loitering there often, ray is the only person that makes him remotely uncomfortable

i was going to make yuto the 'protagonist' with amnesia (it's a RF thing) but then i was told he'd be funnier as a doctor (and now I can also give him glasses)

8. Gunvolt AU

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a fast-paced 2D action sidescr-- okay you know what, all you have to know is that the yuboys are villains belonging to a mega corporation that aims to control society through the power of virtual idols and music (yes, this is a real plot point from the original work) and Serena storms their hideout to kick their asses in order to truly free Yuzu (who escaped and was found unconscious in an alley by her now gf) from their clutches

Yuuri: Well, well. Maybe today won't be boring, after all. Serena: Is… Is he in a straitjacket?  Yuuri: I'd really appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me like that to my face, thank you. Serena: If I did, would you move out of the way? Yuuri: If I did, would you free me of these restraints? Rin: That doesn’t seem to be the wisest thing to do. Serena: Yeah. Dream on. Yuuri: Then we only have one choice left, don’t we?

(Yeah I put him in a straitjacket)

The grey numbers are for the design notes I wrote alongside when drawing this, here's a pastebin! (It's not required reading, but I would deeply appreciate it if you checked my rambling out)

Reiji is the final boss for some light AkaSere, but I'm still figuring out his character (and everyone elses', tbh)

The main fun of this AU for me was definitely making parodies of the skill cut-ins! (Yuri's one is due for a remake... I also really need to get around to finishing Yuto and start on Yugo's to complete the set)

Yuya's second one is for when you beat his first form and he uses his last resort to merge with the other three or something (His pose and cape is a nod to Astrograph!)

9. Obelisk Force AU

Okay, before you continue, go and get this song playing in the background first (I will give you a cookie if you read the lyrics too)

Okay, let's go! (with the energy of an excited tour guide)

It'd be an absolute understatement to say I love the concept of Obelisk Force Yugo; one time I made a 10-minute TED talk trying to pick apart why I liked it so much, but back then I still didn't have a good grasp of what my ideal ObeFo Yugo/Pawn was... Until I came across that song on Spotify and asked a friend for help on brainstorming (lost if u see this HI) and the rest, as they say, was history

Yugo is picked up (kidnapped) by Academia at an early age (think like, 5-6) after they witness his duelling skills (Leo really needs LOTS of child soldiers)

they erase his memories then for better assimilation into the academy, though he still retains a sense of stubborn individuality

he's constantly bullied by the other students for being an orphan from the Synchro Dimension, and he gets into fights often

eventually, Leo orders Yuri to take care of the matter (children will be children, but Academia MUST have order)

when Yuri approaches Yugo, he's just finished throwing hands against yet another crowd of students

Yuri attempts diplomacy, even challenging him to a duel, but Yugo is exhausted from his earlier fight and turns him down brusquely, stalking back to his room

Yuri attempts to block his way and gets shoved aside, falling to the ground and cracking his duel disk

he snaps, as the duel disk had been a gift from the professor, and how dare you?

he's beating Yugo half to death when a lightbulb goes off in his head

he proposes to Yugo to personally take charge of his education because he is so gracious and charitable and it's the least he could do for someone who shares his face

Yugo, of course, is completely dumbfounded but faints from a combination of blood loss and fatigue before he can reply no

when Yugo has recovered, Yuri pops the question again, and the two decide to settle the matter through a duel

Yugo loses (duh)

time flies as Yuri teaches Yugo how to stop students from coming back for revenge, among other things (it also helps that the other students are already creeped out by him) and significantly raises his quality of life at Academia which Yugo is thankful for

time skip! Yugo successfully joins the Obelisk Force and promptly unbuttons the jacket instantly (it's a tight fit, okay)

Yugo can feel his serpentine gaze drill into him from where Yuri sits cross-legged on a chair a distance away, his chin cradled thoughtfully in one hand. He waits for a comment, but nothing but silence comes. Finally, he mutters, "What, you're not going to scold me for desecrating the uniform?" A wide smile crinkles Yuri's face. "Not just your wardrobe, but even your vocabulary's upgraded, hm?" Before Yugo can form a retort, he goes on, "Actually, I think I like it." His chair barely makes a sound, muffled by the carpet as he stands up and makes his way across the room. The footsteps stop when teal and magenta are inches away. Lightly, he fingers the lapel of Yugo's new jacket as he rakes a half-lidded gaze from head-to-toe. "It makes you stand out from the others in the Force. And that's fitting. After all..." "You're not the Professor's. You're mine."

One day, Yuri and/or Yugo are sent to capture... Rin! Her picture gives Yugo a sense of deja vu, but he doesn't understand why...

Yugo's memories come back in a flood when he makes eye contact with his old childhood friend that he hasn't seen in almost a decade

The capture is successful, and back at Academia Yugo begs the Professor for the authority to be in charge of her incarceration (In trying to mold Yugo into his shadow, Yuri has unknowingly created a competitor for the Professor's acknowledgement)

Before the Professor can respond, a girl of Yugo's age steps into the room to report to the Professor as a fresh recruit

Leo introduces a brainwashed yandere Ruri as Rin's appointed jailer

Yeah that's right I managed to fit apple and swift in here thumbs up emoji

Anyway it's now a romantic comedy with a love triangle (it's not)

10. Hades AU

No deep thoughts nor any plans for this one it was more of a costume design exercise but I'm including it here because I still like them quite a bit

***

If you've actually made it this far, I don't know what to say... thank you!

If you'd like to see more of any of these (including some of the ones that I didn't manage to include but might have posted before like the Alice in Wonderland one, or the Dark Signer one, or the university one, or the Yuri half-turns into a Starve Venom dragon boy one, or the the Monster Hunter one (less of an AU and just a hey they are gaming), or the Z-arc suddenly has four toddlers and they are the yus and he has to juggle parenting and pro-duelling one, and whichever ones I might have forgotten, my ask box is open!! Again, thanks for reading!

[scifigeneration]

Waiting for an undersea robot in Antarctica to call home

by Jennifer Walsh

One of two underwater gliders is deployed from a research ship into Antarctic waters. NOAA

“Call! Just call!” I think loudly in my head. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

I might seem like a worried parent waiting for a teenager to report in from an unsupervised outing. Rather, I’m a research biologist with the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s late February 2019, and I am waiting for an autonomous underwater glider in Antarctica to surface and call me via satellite, so I can give it new diving instructions. The longest it’s supposed to go without surfacing is eight hours, and it’s now been nine.

Did it get stuck under an iceberg? An underwater ledge? I feel so helpless; I’m 9,000 miles away in San Diego and all I can do is chew my fingernails and think, “No. This can’t happen. We can’t lose this glider so close to the end.”

The survey area where gliders measured Antarctic krill populations. NOAA

Our research team is two-and-a-half months into a three-month-long mission just north of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is our first time deploying gliders so far from home, and our hope for a successful field season – not to mention a great deal of research – depends on recovering the two gliders our group deployed in December 2018. The gliders are now full of oceanographic data that will help us provide scientific advice on how best to conserve the Antarctic ecosystem as the area around the peninsula warms faster than almost any other region on Earth, which may adversely affect the animals that live there.

9 hours, 30 minutes: No call

For over 30 years, the NOAA group I’m part of has conducted studies to estimate how many Antarctic krill, small shrimp-like creatures that support the diverse Antarctic food web, live around the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, can grow up to about 2.5 inches long. Uwe Kils/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Krill feeds penguins and seals that breed in this area every summer and whales and fishes that feed here year-round, while also supporting a major fishery. You may have seen bright-red dietary supplements made from krill oil prominently displayed at the pharmacy. Our data help establish catch limits for the krill fishery, ensuring enough krill remain in the ocean to maintain the population after all people and animals take what they need to make a living. Without good data to support fishery-management decisions, krill fishing could undermine the food web for which Antarctica is so well known, as demand for supplements and other krill products surges.

10 hours: No call

Until three years ago, my program chartered a research vessel for a month each year to sail around the Antarctic Peninsula and estimate the biomass of krill. But after 2016, rising vessel costs eliminated our surveys. For our program to continue, we had to find a creative way to collect our data in Antarctica without actually going to Antarctica.

An autonomous glider in the ocean. NOAA

Our solution was to use autonomous underwater gliders, which can be deployed in just a few hours by a small team from a ship in Antarctica, and then recovered months later. Gliders can dive to 3,000 feet, cover thousands of miles and follow commands from anywhere in the world with a laptop and an internet connection. Their batteries last six months, which means that they can collect much more data for much less money than a bunch of scientists on a research vessel.

The gliders resemble torpedoes in appearance, but contain three massive batteries and an array of scientific sensors that collect much of the same data we used to collect from a ship. Although the gliders are able to transmit small amounts of data via satellite throughout the deployment, the most valuable data are stored on the glider. If we lose a glider, which is always a possibility when you let something roam free in the ocean unattended for months, then we also lose the data.

We had effectively replaced ourselves with drones. But would they work?

12 hours: No call

For most of our team, the transition just a year ago from annual research voyages to the aquatic versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 was exciting. Secretly, though, I was terrified. I had spent my career as a scientist collecting krill samples from research vessels for biochemical analyses of their tissues. Suddenly I found myself ousted by oceanographic robots full of cables, wires, circuit boards and all sorts of other technological gadgetry.

These are not what you’d call smart robots. A bit like human toddlers, they have some degree of self-awareness, but would destroy themselves without semi-constant monitoring and instructions on how deep to dive or where to go. Outside supervision is especially important in the Southern Ocean, which is full of seamounts, canyons, strong currents and, most importantly, icebergs.

You can’t glider-proof the ocean the way you can baby-proof a house, so I had to forget everything I knew about biochemistry and learn as much as I could about glider piloting in 10 short months.

13 hours: No call

All that training and practice felt like 10 minutes by the time we finally packed up the gliders and shipped them to the Southern Hemisphere for their first Antarctic deployments. The commands for how deep to dive and where to go seemed simple enough, but the gliders responded as unpredictably as the ocean itself.

A near-disastrous practice deployment in San Diego revealed how slowly they maneuver, particularly in strong currents. Piloting them felt like trying to drive a remote-control semi-truck through a go-kart course, which reinforced our apprehension about driving these things through the ocean all the way across the planet, in one of the most remote and treacherous oceans on Earth.

Never mind the wind and the currents and the icebergs. What made this deployment far scarier was that if things started to go horribly wrong, we had no way to get the gliders back. It was like dropping a toddler off at college on another continent: What if he needs you and you can’t get to him?

14 hours: No call

Almost exactly 10 months from our first day of glider training, we carried the gliders across the Drake Passage on a research vessel bound for the Antarctic Peninsula. The deployments were flawless, and over the next few days, our confidence began to build. We quickly learned that icebergs were enemy number one, and they were formidable opponents. Satellite images of icebergs were available every couple of days, and we overlaid maps of planned glider tracks onto those images so we could steer the gliders around any ice in their way. The trouble was, even the newest images we received were already a day old, and the ice had already moved.

On this chart of the South Shetland Islands, one intended glider path is marked in straight gray lines. Circled in red in the middle is the iceberg the researchers called ‘Yacu.’ NOAA

Smaller icebergs were usually avoidable, but around three weeks into the deployment, “Yacu” appeared on the scene. Inspired by a mythological South American snake that eats everything in its way, that was the nickname we gave a 12.5-mile-wide iceberg from the Weddell Sea that drifted right into the path of one of the gliders. Yacu stuck around for the rest of the deployment, every few days spawning smaller (but still huge) icebergs that posed a constant and unpredictable threat to gliders already at the mercy of currents, tides and wind.

If a glider gets trapped under an obstacle and senses that it’s been underwater for too long, it drops an emergency weight to rocket itself to the surface for an immediate recovery. Once a glider drops its weight, it can’t dive anymore. So if it is trapped under ice, it’s likely to stay trapped under ice. And one way to know if a glider is trapped is that it stops calling in, because it can connect to satellites only when it’s at the surface.

15 hours: No call

And then…

Ding ding! Ding ding! My laptop screams at me after 16 long hours: The glider is at the surface.

It is well past 9 p.m., but every member of our five-person team has been glued to a computer since early afternoon, and we collectively sigh with relief. We now think the glider probably surfaced after the first eight hours, failed to connect to the satellite and resumed diving, which can occasionally happen. The reason for the gap is unimportant compared to our elation. A couple of weeks later, we successfully recovered both gliders on schedule and completed our first autonomous Antarctic field season.

One key finding is that we can, in fact, replace a vessel-based fishery assessment with a glider-based one in less than a year. With gliders, we can get krill biomass estimates comparable to those we would expect from a ship. That means we can use gliders to continue to provide critical data for managing the krill fishery.

This is a profound accomplishment for us and for NOAA, and it also has far-reaching promise for the future of fisheries research globally. The cost of science keeps going up, and autonomous instruments offer an affordable way to collect critical data for effectively managing ocean resources and conserving fragile marine ecosystems worldwide.

Our gliders are like toddlers in one final way: They’re advanced technology, yet they’re still in their infancy. Their ongoing usefulness to understand our changing planet in real time will depend on new sensors and instruments yet to be developed. What we accomplished is only the the tip of Yacu compared to what the future of autonomous oceanographic research holds.

About The Author:

Jennifer Walsh is a Research Biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[makistar2018]

How to succeed in business by being a Taylor Swift fan

Fandom can be an expensive hobby, but there are also ways to get paid for your time and affection.

By Kaitlyn Tiffany Nov 7, 2018

Taylor Swift’s very popular snake jewelry. Big Machine Records

Twenty-two-year-old financial analyst Zainub Amir moved to New York City from Albany last June, around the time that her Taylor Swift news account @SimplySFans celebrated its seventh birthday on Twitter.

The account has 124,000 followers as of this writing, but when Amir started it at the end of eighth grade, there was almost no demand for it. She was alone on Twitter as a Swiftie, she says, with “maybe 30 other fans.” It’s that early adoption of the platform that she credits with her success, and with her permanent place at the top of the Swift fan account hierarchy — it’s too late for anyone else to get this big.

Now Amir has a full-time job and responsibilities to her employer. Also: responsibilities to the 124,000 people who depend on her for news, as well as the management and tour sponsors and brand partners for the biggest pop star in the world, which regularly ask her for help promoting awards shows, limited-edition Keds, and Swift’s every move.

“It’s hard,” Amir tells me, sitting on a corner sofa in her Midtown office building, after most of the lights have gone down but the granola bar wrappers and Lipton tea bags have yet to be scooped from the floor. “The thing is it’s, like, the same thing as texting someone while you’re at work; you just have to be really fast. The whole point of an update account is getting the news first.”

“EVERYTHING COMES DOWN TO SOMETIMES THE SECOND OR MINUTE YOU POST”

To help, Amir has push notifications set up from fan accounts on Tumblr and Twitter, for Swift’s friends and management and publicity team, and, obviously, for Swift herself, who has made a tentative return to social media in recent months after conspicuously vanishingand deleting thousands of posts last August.

“As soon as she posts, I make sure I put it on Twitter. You just have to be quick about it. After a while, it becomes second nature,” Amir says. She does not use Google Alerts, which are too slow. “Everything comes down to sometimes the second or minute you post.”’

That’s because Amir isn’t alone on Twitter talking about Taylor Swift anymore. There are dozens of update accounts, plenty of fans who are willing to take on the job of fandom as a second full-time position. And Swift is far from the only celebrity who draws this kind of cottage media industry around her.

Last summer, I spoke to 19-year-old Yucatán resident Armin Lizama, who runs one of the biggest Lorde fan accounts on Twitter and regularly helps professional music journalism outlets fact-check fan rumors and news items.

Last spring, Harry Styles fans organized to teach each other how to download VPNs and fake US streams of his first solo single “Sign of the Times,” hoping to game the Billboard charts. One account, @StylesPromoTeam, put out a public application to join them, which was longer than a traditional job application and required applicants to state whether they’d be able to dedicate up to 20 hours per week to the cause. This is just how modern fandom operates.

Most of these fans are not doing it to be compensated, but there is compensation to be found nonetheless — like any account with substantial followings, they can charge for sponsored posts and retweets; like any influencer a brand wants to woo, they can expect gifts and trips and special treatment; like any ambitious young person situated in an economy that celebrates optimizing every moment of your life, they can try to use hundreds of hours of self-managed, largely unpaid “fun” labor as a line item on a résumé.

“I don’t really care about how much money I make with it,” Amir says.

Nevertheless, she’ll readily call her account a business.

And as with any business, there are challenges. One is copyright: “Any time a video goes over 30 seconds and it has music or media, anything from Taylor or any of her sponsors, it usually gets picked up by copyright,” Amir explains. “Same thing with photos that photographers are taking, even if it’s Taylor’s own photographers with Getty Images.” They’ll get flagged and removed, and it only takes six or seven violations to get an account suspended, which is a challenge for accounts updating three or four times a day while an artist is on tour, or dozens of times a night when they’re performing and talking and raking in trophies at an awards show.

“Screen record has become my friend. Mainly when it’s YouTube or DirecTV Now, but I have to be careful, which is why I’ve resorted more to retweeting from the source,” she says. She tries not to push it, usually taking clips of around 10 seconds and asking permission whenever she can.

“You want to grow your reach as much as you can, but is it worth getting that copyright notice at the same time?”

All this is why Amir, like many of the other proprietors of major news accounts, has a separate account just for media, which she’ll retweet into her main account’s feed, giving up maximum engagement on her main page in favor of preserving it.

She’s had to learn how to streamline the process, trying to provide a good product without running herself off the road. “There are all these paparazzi pages you can go on and get the image itself, and then you have to delete the watermark,” she explains. “But it’s not worth [the effort] really, because someone’s just going to post it two seconds faster than you.” She’ll ask permission to repost GIFs and videos from fans at tour shows, but only if she’s sure they’re sharing something Swift hasn’t done before. She’ll engage in trending topics only if she has something to add, an image and a great quote, or a video clip short enough to not get pulled. “Otherwise, I’m better off retweeting from the actual source, even though I’m going to lose engagement.”

She had to figure all this out on her own, since other pages are competitors, jockeying for the same audience and the same engagement.

Swift is counting on her, for real. In 2012, before there were very many other major fan accounts, and before Swift’s team really used or understood Twitter, they asked Amir to be the official promotional account of the Red tour.

When Swift joined her favorite social media platform, Tumblr, in 2014, the account was run by her management and only followed five accounts — all update accounts, and one of them Amir’s. “I posted something about the fall, apple picking or something, and I had no idea anybody was reading it,” Amir recalls. “Taylor reblogged it and it was her first reblog of Tumblr, and she ended up adding this whole paragraph about how she loves the fall. So every fall, late August, September, I get so many notifications because people start reblogging that again and again and again. It’s a ritual.”

Being early to two platforms guaranteed that both Swift and her team would be aware of Amir, which means they regularly come back to her — to include her in special fan activities and to do promotion work. (She’s spent time with Swift in person three times in the past six years.)

“FOR ME, IT’S COMMUNITY FIRST; I DON’T REALLY THINK ABOUT THE MONEY.”

Amir says Swift’s management has a list of popular and reliable update accounts that it gives out to her sponsors and brands regularly dole out exclusive content or giveaway items to her and her update account competitors. Dick Clark Productions, for one, will fly fan account operators to awards shows to post updates live, as well as provide them with a stipend to support a vacation day in Los Angeles afterward.

“Either I get compensated through money or through free items,” Amir says. “Or it’s things like free tickets or perks or just being on the inside or being able to go to a release party. Sometimes it’s not directly money-related, but when it is, it’s per post or how many engagements it gets. That’s why stats or using Twitter analytics is so important — so you can say what your worth is. I’ve had it be $300 for retweeting someone before, because it’s a lot of followers and it’s huge engagement. I think the lowest I’ve done is $50.”

“It’s like another job, basically,” she says. But “it isn’t as stable as people think it is with a fan account like this. For me, it’s community first; I don’t really think about the money.”

Madame Tussauds’ Taylor Swift figure, revealed in 2014. Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images

It’s not all profit. “I bought the [last] album five times without really meaning to,” Amir says when I ask about how much fans typically spend to put their affection into practice.

Swift combated the ongoing industry-wide decline of album sales by selling two versions of a limited-edition magazine to go with Reputation last fall, each going for $20 exclusively at Target and each coming with another copy of the album. Buying extra copies of her album also helped fans improve their place in line in Ticketmaster’s controversial Verified Fan program, which sorted fans into a queue to buy presale tickets to her stadium tour.

“EVERY TIME SHE LETS YOU INTO HER LIFE, IT’S A NEW MARKETING SCHEME, BECAUSE IT’S A NEW PART OF HER LIFE THAT YOU DON’T KNOW”

“You want the magazine because you want to see into Taylor’s life; she had to have two different volumes for some reason,” Amir says. “You want the album for the code to put in your Verified Fan thing; that’s your first incentive. And your second is that you want to read these poems that Taylor never released to the world, or pictures that have never before been seen during her two-year [social media] blackout.” The Reputation merch was “trendier” and more expensive than previous Taylor merch, but “as a fan, you tell yourself that you’re just going to compromise and buy it, and you do it without thinking.”

She says she doesn’t want to criticize anyone, but she noticed that Verified Fan tickets were more expensive than regular sale tickets, and says she paid $160 (plus TicketMaster fees) for a decent seat, electing not to spend the nearly $800 it would cost to be in what Swift called “the Snake Pit” at the front of the stage.

“Every time she lets you into her life, it’s a new marketing scheme, because it’s a new part of her life that you don’t know,” Amir says. But again, none of this is criticism. Why shouldn’t a pop star also be a savvy business manager? Why wouldn’t intimacy with her be commodified? These are not contradictions, Amir argues. It’s also not a contradiction that she loves Taylor Swift and benefits financially from loving Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift with Australian fans in 2012. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Because it involves people, business is almost always personal, but when it involves heroes, it’s even more so.

Amir is Muslim, and she says that made it difficult for her to watch Swift’s quiet refusal to engage with a swirling national debate about basic human rights in the wake of the 2016 election. “I really wanted her to say something, because she does say stuff at her concerts, or to you personally, and she’ll like things on Tumblr.” It’s not as if she didn’t know Swift was on her side. Still, “she never said stuff out there, outside the community, where it makes a difference.”

Swift’s longtime silence on political issues — which ended with an October Instagram postendorsing Democratic candidates for several key midterm election races in her home state of Tennessee, seemingly spurring a massive increase in voter registration in the state — was always in tension with her near-constant willingness to speak up on her own behalf. She has been more publicly involved in her business interests than any artist at her level, championing the 2016 battle against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which she argued gave YouTube a free pass on copyright infringement, and sitting at the center of the debate about Spotify (and music streaming payment practices in general) for years.

That’s a chapter she closed (somewhat awkwardly) during the lead-up to the release of Reputation last year, but she is still known for her litigious spirit, which she demonstrates by trademarking the names of her cats, attempting to copyright phrases like “look what you made me do,” and sending cease-and-desist letters to Etsy sellers who put her lyrics on homemade apparel.

In each of these cases, Swift isn’t really doing anything other artists wouldn’t (or don’t) do — but because she’s built a reputation as a ruthless capitalist, further news items that fit that narrative are easy to package. Each time she adds a brand to her portfolio — be it American Express or New York City — it looks cynical.

Amir doesn’t see it that way. Swift “reinvents herself just like companies innovate products, and that’s what keeps things exciting,” she says, swirling Swift’s musical evolution and personal brand metamorphosis and business strategy into one blanket compliment. She would understand, as an aspiring businesswoman who worked at a bank all through college, graduated early, moved to New York after interning at PR firms, was briefly the social media manager for a folk-pop duo, and is now looking for a way to blend financial analysis with the marketing skills she’s been honing since middle school.

“Taylor’s been a huge part of my life and the [fandom] community’s been a huge part of my life,” Amir says. “But you mature after a while; you get older. You can’t take days off work to be at an awards show.”

Vox

[canna-base]

Honest Review of the Pax 3 Handheld Portable Vaporizer by a Chronic Pain Patient

As a fairly recent convert to MMJ, it took me almost a year to lose my love affair with rolling a blunt and suffering the noxious smoke to medicate. Trying to subtly partake of much needed sweet leaf relief was a chore, dodging into the alley next to my home and trying to avoid the gaze of curious kids was proving stressful. It was more the image of their dad smoking than the substance itself, of giving them a bad mental image that allowed them to “smoke” was not good parenting. Plus I don’t want to feel like taking herbal medication is something to be ashamed of.

But a whole 12 months past before I got together the resources (saved!) to afford a decent pocket vape. My requirements were;

Discreet

Easy to use

Didn’t look too “druggy”

Did the job efficiently

Had accurate temperature control

I used to be a cigarette smoker, many moons ago but having never ‘vaped’ I was not sure what to expect.  I knew the device had to heat the dry herb to hit the off button on my considerable knee pain and I knew that three light-ish puffs on a ‘joint’ got the job done, albeit with that smokey aftertaste, aroma and fear that a neighbour may smell the err, medication.

So I did some research and decided that a Pax 3 was the ticket, I almost purchased an entry level eBay special but figured that £80+  could be totally wasted (ha!) and I should go with a reputable brand. After reviewing our various recommendations I went and bought a Pax 3 from a local supplier.

Shopping For a Dry Herb Vaporizer

Evapo is a vape shop in Guildford mostly given over to liquid non-MMJ vape-ware, vaporisers, liquids and accessories but there was one cabinet market “CBD” which, given this is the UK, was a subtle clue as to what the cabinet held. The choice was limited to a Pax 2 or a Pax 3. Given that I am an inveterate tech-head I opted for the app controlled Pax 3.

The salesman was a cheerful upbeat sort who talked discreetly but knowledgeably of the features/benefits and what a dry herb vaporizer did. Plus, Evapo had a 15% off deal that weekend which reduced the ticket price from £219.99 to £186.99. Seemed a bit steep for a first time vape purchase, I mean, what if I didn’t like it? What if I didn’t get the relief I am seeking? Hey ho, figured in the name of research it was worth the spend. Five minutes later I exited the proud owner of one spanking brand new Pax 3, and instructions on how to pair it up with the app, more on that in a moment.

Unboxing the Pax 3 Herb Vape

When I got home I opened the box, which is as stylish as the Pax 3 itself, very Apple design led. You slide the box out a sleeve, and it opens with a satisfying resistance provided by hidden magnets. I can see why they get the price they charge.

It contains charger & USB charge cable, cleaning materials (pipe cleaners and pipe brush), a keyring that doubles up as a scraper, an oven like compartment with a holder for concentrates and waxes, a second half-charge oven lid, raised silicon mouthpiece and a stitched material sleeve and of course the device itself. The enclosed documentation is quite slim on any actual operating instructions, but does give you the limited instructions in many different languages. Plus a safety booklet, again, bereft of any instructions but telling you of the many dangers a device like this can inflict.

Once released from its plastic coffin the device is pleasingly heavy in the hand. The heft gives it a solidity, again the comparison to Apple cannot be overstated. It’s solidly built up to a standard not down to a price.

I choose a matt black finish and thus with one click on the top of the mouthpiece, the LEDs stood out like runway landing lights. I set up the device to charge, it already had 3 of the 4 lights lit, and within 20 minutes the remaining light blinked on and we were good to go.

Pairing the Pax 3 With The App

By the time the charge had finished I was ready to pair the Android version of the app with the device and had gotten to the point where you shake it to pair it. Try as I might my Google Pixel 2 XL running Android Pie (9.0) was just not having any of it, tried different settings on the phone and despite the phone stating it was paired, the app itself refused to play ball. I am guessing this is a Android Pie bug, maybe? I had only installed Pie on the phone a few days earlier so I am guessing app bugs are a distinct possibility. Many of the reviews however also noted pairing difficulties, so perhaps not? Later I downloaded the iPhone iOS app onto my iPad and that not only paired without trouble it also controlled the device well.

First Use and Impressions

Anyway, to the first trial, my ‘herb’ was ground and packed into the oven chamber, it took a relatively little amount, I would say half a single skin joint. I thought this seemed like a very minor amount given that the device allowed for several hits on one fill, but I went along with it. Within a couple of minutes I was ready to go, with a fully charged Pax 3 that was now also fully charged with bud I hesitantly hit the ‘on’ button. The device heats quickly 20 – 30 seconds and the flashing purple LEDs turned green notifying me that the Pax 3 was ready to dose me.

I’d opted for the highest heat setting, I just felt that if I was going to try it then I should really give the Pax 3 a run for its money. I took a tentative first pull. The taste was not what I expected, a floral, greenery taste with a slightly timber smoke edge to it, not burning but that kind of smell you get in a wood on a hot day. I guess that’s the oils and the waxes boiling off their terpenes which give the bud its flavour profile. As the flavour died back and I exhaled it suddenly gave me a taste of coffee grinds, not full on coffee in your mouth but that half smell of roasting you get as you walk past a coffee house.

Very pleasant, very smooth and much nicer than a pull on a ‘Fatty-Boom-Batty’. The specific stock I was smoking is not overpoweringly strong, but does do the job for my pain. As an example I can take a single pull on a one-skinner and have it hit the off button on my knee pain for a couple of hours but leave me focused enough to answer calls, write code and function without the distraction of grinding bone on bone action. I took a second tentative pull, and then thought, screw it, and took two much longer, deeper pulls.

The Pax 3 vs Knee Pain

It was Saturday night and I was feeling like kicking back a bit so wasn’t concerned if I overshot the runway when it came to switching off the red flashing pain klaxon. As per usual the hits took time to kick in, with my usual method of ingestion it takes around 10 minutes for the meds to make their way into my brain and do what it does. Oh-so much better than the mechanised approach that codeine seems to take. Wrapping everything in cling film and preventing you from feeling pretty much anything but the ‘ready break’ glow (US readers Google it, you’ll see how accurate that actually is) that Codeine gives you.

I usually then go make a cuppa, and settle into the sofa with my better half and wait for the pain to roll back and relief to roll in. Well, the Pax 3 definitely delivers, I was starting to feel the effects inside the ten minutes, and all was good. Everything suddenly felt very good with the world, in a way that pain seems to rob you of. Pain adds jagged pixelations to your every move, thought and sensation. It’s like you’re dealing with low resolution images and trying to pass them as 4K cinemascope.

Codeine always took away the ‘jaggies’ but delivered a vaseline smeared lens perspective of the world. All soft focused and fuzzy edged, you felt like the world was a bouncy castle made of marshmallow. However the Pax 3, not only delivered the usual relief but somehow it felt less punchy, like the difference between a $20 bottle of bourbon vs $120 bottle of premium single malt scotch. You can see why the Pax 3 gets the reviews it does.

Controlling Dose with My Second Use

Lets just say 30 minutes later as I am lying on the sofa, totally baked, I tried to have a chat with my other half and ended up giggling away as she laughed at me, not with me. I remained quite lucid, but was just very relaxed by the whole body sedation which is not how my current supply usually hits. The effect lasted at least 4 hours, in fact I went to bed and slept soundly, I usually wake early, 6:30 or 7am, woken by the knee pain, but I overshot that by at least 2 hours. Woke feeling fresh although a little fuzzy but coffee and breakfast sorted that for me.

Therefore I wanted to avoid this with my second use, which was much more controlled, after a little bit of reading online. Just 2 short pulls and the device turned down to a less intense heat at 3 LED lights. I think this might be the sweet spot as the effects again took 5-10 mins to become very noticeable but there was much less of a body sedation, in fact I felt a clarity in my thinking and it just neutralised my pain.

Gone.

Not a trace.

Before medicating I would put the pain at a 3 on our pain chart, far from unbearable but definitely ’nagging’ and niggling at me. So the two hits were a good amount to kill the pain but not dull my entire brain. In fact I would now consider a single pull at 3 lights during a working day. Maybe.

Final Impressions and Overall View

I would give the Pax 3, 5 stars, but I have no other benchmark other than self-rolled all-weed blunts, joints and the occasional bong rip. I feel like I did when I upgraded to my first smart phone. Suddenly I had a computer in my hand and felt like I was ahead of the curve. The Pax 3 is very similar, having previously burnt a tube of rolled up dry herb I now have control and can set the temperature to the exact setting I want and get much more measured doses from my choice of pain meds. The only remaining variable of course is the plant material itself.

I suddenly see that devices like the Pax 3 are invaluable in allowing pain patients to get closer to a proper dosing regimen and if they feel like having a little more fun on a Saturday night, then at least it is a choice. That, for me, is what Cannabis should be about, the choice, the choice of your medication, the choice to choose your own safe pain meds. That it is your body and therefore making a choice of herbal remedy vs the output of an industrialised process, is your right.

I wish I had tried a vaporiser earlier, the Pax 3 is a very good product that does the job without fanfare, but does it stylishly and without announcing to the world you partake. The only small downside was that after I had fiddled about with it, trying to get it to sync with my Android phone, and then using it to heat my herb it got a little warm. Not uncomfortably, or dangerously, but it did warm noticeably, which given its function is not unreasonable, but it got a touch warmer than I thought it would. Put that down to user expectations perhaps, but one to consider. I am exploring a silicon sleeve for it, just to make it the perfect portable medical device.

The Pax 3 is a total winner and I am very pleased with the value for money and recommend it to you if you are considering using a vape. If you have pain, don’t leave home without it.

Click Here to Order The Pax 3 

The post Honest Review of the Pax 3 Handheld Portable Vaporizer by a Chronic Pain Patient appeared first on Cannabis for Chronic Pain.

source https://canna-base.com/pax-3-handheld-portable-vaporizer-review/

[articlewritingbd]

Writing an article

Why create an article?

An article is potentially the most efficient way to share your research study and establish a magazine document; numerous areas of academic life, such as locating work and winning research, depend upon an excellent publication document. Online journals have actually increased the geographical spread for the scholastic job, strengthening the importance of write-ups in producing and furthering your online study reputation.

This tutorial has been designed to aid you in the procedure of article writing the article. The structure of the tutorial:

What to create

Creating your contribution

Synthesis by title

Creating an abstract

Writing the article

Free-writing as well as generative writing

Sharing the splendor

Refining the message

Submission

What to compose

The web content, as well as the structure of your essay, is established by the topic you select as well as the potential reading audience. You are extending your contribution to the scholastic field, bearing in mind what others are already reviewing. Your article will certainly include in the academic discussion in a certain area. Consequently, choose a journal that ideally shows your potential audience.

In considering just how appropriate your article is for the magazine, the editors will think about various factors, including however not restricted to:

The creativity of the ideas

A journal article requires to be unique, based on your own concepts and study, and include current academic expertise.

Value of the concepts

If there is no purpose or value in connection to existing scholarly writing, novelty is not adequate. Does your job fill up a gap in the present discussion? Does it supply brand-new methods or means of reconceptualizing concept? Does it challenge existing assumptions? Your article needs to satisfy its very own unique function within a technique's scholarly discussion.

Top-quality of the writing.

Your article requires to be written in a scholastic style, according to what is typical for your discipline. If it is likewise interesting and appealing, it aids. Scholarly writing is not necessarily boring.

It is additionally vital to take into consideration the journal's design overview. You do not want to upset the editors by neglecting their demands; besides, they identify whether your job is worth publishing. Examine the journal's internet site for information about font styles, spacing, margins, and referencing designs.

Producing your contribution

What you compose in an article may reflect a distillation of suggestions or searchings for from your thesis. Yet, it needs to be composed to reflect an alternating scholastic context and also the audience. Different techniques can be utilized to refine your suggestions.

Synthesis by title

One means of distilling and also synthesizing your suggestions for a journal article is to consider its title; this procedure of considering alternative titles urges "importance, unity as well as creativity" (Crosby, 1976, p. 387). These are all essential facets of writing a great journal article. James Hartley (2007) provides twelve different types of titles; every one emphasizing various methods of involvement with viewers. Believing via which style of title finest represents your contribution to the academic area aids tighten your ideas down to your opinion's crucial nub.

Activity

What's in a title?

Can you think about titles that comply with these styles? According to the summary, have a go at writing your own title, then click "Turn" to see an instance (all found in the organization and economics journals).

You can also download and install as well as complete a task sheet (DOCX, 0.02 MB).

Producing an abstract

One more technique for refining your ideas is to write an abstract. An abstract is a 200-300 word document that offers a short recap or description of the article. Usually, the abstract describes the background, conclusions, techniques, and outcomes, yet this will depend on your self-control. An abstract is also called for as a component of a published paper; as such, its function is to bring in the rate of interest as well as influence prospective visitors.

Different types of abstracts can serve different objectives.

Detailed

This design of abstract appropriates for some self-controls (like design). It is a summary of the paper, supplying a summary of the contents, without providing the final thoughts.

Helpful

The "informative" design is best for assisting you in fine-tuning your thoughts on an article. Not just does it give a reason for the paper within a scholastic context, it gives the viewers with your disagreement.

Combined

A blended abstract is a combination of the descriptive and also helpful versions. It offers a recap of the content, along with the primary argument. It often tends to be longer than the various other versions and is suitable for a larger task, as a thesis.

A basic way to produce an abstract is to respond to a collection of inquiries. There are several collections of questions offered in the literary works on writing for publication, including Brown's 'Eight Questions.'

Create for 30 mins on the topic of your journal article

1. Who are the desired viewers? Note 3 to 5 of them by name

2. What did you do? (50 words).

3. Why did you do it? (50 words).

4. What took place [when you did that] (50 words).

5. What do the outcomes suggest theoretically? (50 words).

6. What do the outcomes indicate in practice? (50 words).

7. What is the crucial advantage for viewers? (25 words).

8. What remains unsolved? (No word restriction).

( Brown, 1994/95, p. 6, as mentioned in Murray, 2013, p. 131).

Among the advantages of making use of Brown's 8 inquiries is the ease through which the resulting answers can be utilized to write a thorough abstract as well as to create a summary for your paper.

- Take the keywords in each sentence of your abstract.

- Write them into section headings.

- Use them in the subject sentence and throughout the section.

- Define and also describe the terms, as needed.

( Murray, 2013, p. 136).

Task.

Many individuals prefer to compose the abstract once the article is complete. The advantage of writing an abstract very first is that it aids in creating a framework for your argument. An abstract created later, nevertheless, will certainly be a more accurate representation of your article as well as ought to be consisted of in your last journal article.

Back to top.

I was writing the article.

Ensure you enable a lot of time to write your article. You must anticipate composing numerous drafts as you refine your ideas. Bear in mind. You will be writing for an unknown readership that will have some knowledge, but not always a specific understanding of your topic.

Begin by thinking of the content. This consists of whether you are most likely to consist of photos, figures, or graphs. Limit the number so that your article remains tightly concentrated. All aesthetic information needs to show the objective( s) of the article plainly. They need to all be phoned numbers sequentially.

To promote writing, develop an overview. This can be in the type of dot factors, where even more detailed sentences are included later on to offer the article flesh. Those writing in self-controls that currently have a clear report structure can utilize the official framework to aid with the sorting of info. Click the headings below to see what needs to be included in a scientific/business record article.

Intro.

- Introduce the topic in context.

- State the goal as well as the range of the research.

- Provide pertinent theoretical and also technological history details.

- Briefly detail the content/purpose of the article.

Technique.

- Description of the type of data used (for example, participants, treatments).

- Explanation of what was done to collect the information e.g., instance research studies, surveys, observations, examinations. To put it simply, just how the research was done.

-( You could require to warrant why this technique is being utilized to recognize and resolve the problem. Why this particular means? Why is the picked approach preferable to other methods?).

Outcomes.

- The results of a research study may be detailed aesthetically through making use of tables and also numbers. Providing info aesthetically can assist describe intricate details or information.

- Tables are mathematical worths or text presented in columns and also rows. Figures are various other images such as graphs, charts, maps, illustrations, photos.

- Figures ought to be included only if pertinent.

- Figure number and also title ought to be left lined up and put directly under the number.

- Table number and title must be left straightened and put directly over the table.

- Each table or number should be gone over in the body message, referred to by its number.

Conversation.

- Analyse and examine your findings.

- Compare your outcomes to previous researches, published worths, or expected findings.

- Clarify the significance of lead to relation to project aim/s.

- Acknowledge limitations and recommend solutions (where applicable).

- Suggest reasons for unanticipated outcomes.

Final thought.

( If not a part of the Discussion section).

- Recap your essential results, highlighting their value in regard to your goals.

- Briefly recognize constraints in your work.

- Make quick suggestions.

When you have actually produced dot points with all the pertinent products under each heading, develop links in between all the ideas. Remember to maintain a logical circulation to your argument.

Several techniques make use of a less formal framework for their publications. Also, a journal article in essay type, nevertheless, needs a clear framework, with the signposting plainly embedded in the text. Headings for this design of the article are optional yet can be beneficial in the earlier drafts to ensure you preserve the logic of your disagreement. Bear in mind; you can make use of search phrases from your abstract to develop a sensible circulation to your debate.

Use the Word Outline function to give a framework within which you can compose. Word Outline can be found by clicking the "View" tab. It will show up in the left-hand box of the toolbar. It can help you layout the various degrees of your argument and also supporting factors. It could likewise be used to plan the structure of each paragraph.

Bear In Mind the T( topic sentence); E( explanation); E( evidence); E( example); L( ink) paragraph structure to assist you in arranging what goes where.

Whichever design of the article you create, you will certainly need an excellent title, abstract, intro, and also discussion/conclusion. For further advice on structuring your article's body, reviewed a series of journal short articles to identify accepted frameworks within your discipline. Web content and summary: There are numerous strategies available to maintain your writing as soon as you have actually arranged your title.

[truthseekerastrology]

What A Difference A Year Makes! A Meditation on the 2020 Fall Equinox:  September 20, 2020

Hey Truthseekers, I hope that you’re safe and well out there in the world.  It’s time yet again to meditate on the upcoming Fall Equinox, a time where we celebrate the harvest and prepare to release that which no longer works for us. 

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, this event will take place this Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 9:23 am EDT, marking the moment the Sun crosses the Aries Point and enters the sign of Libra. Here’s the chart of this year’s Fall Equinox below (I set the chart for Philadelphia, PA, where I live and work).

I’ve linked to astrologer Blain Bovee’s interpretation of the Sabian Symbol for the chart’s ascendant degree (30 Libra), which is “Three Mounds of Knowledge on a Philosopher’s Head.” 

What struck me about Bovee’s interpretation was what he wrote below:

Harmonic voices may be common here. Also a quiet disposition that all things work together in a greater accordance than may appear to be the case in ordinary human perception and understanding.  

It conjured up for the the image of the 3 of Cups tarot card, an image of coming together, celebration and an abundance of love and joy.  If you’ll notice, each individual in the Rider-Waite version is wearing a different color cloak - white, yellow and red - suggesting that overt differences should not bar us from coming together.

Last year, I wrote the following about the 2019 Fall Equinox:

This year’s chart of the moment is dominated by the tense relationship aspect between the Libra Sun (the will to relate to others) and Chiron in Aries (the struggle to self-actualize).

 Ouch!!!

The area where this aspect pattern falls in your natal chart (check the houses with Libra and Aries on the cusps) will be activated, bringing a painful awareness of the ways in we fail to balance the energies that are pushing us to be more of ourselves, with the demands of our relationships.  

Over the next three months, we will be called to be as graceful, diplomatic, forgiving and tactful with ourselves, as we are with others, and vice versa.  The payoff will be great if we commit to doing the work.

Here’s the thing.   Last year, I couldn’t have predicted the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 and the myriad of ways that it has turned our lives completely inside out.  But the chart did guide me to conclude that there would be present and future difficulties that would demand that we concoct - with OTHERS (expand your personal definition of “other”) - an alchemical mix of balance, harmony, wisdom, imagination, heightened spiritual awareness and foresight to get us through.

This year’s Fall Equinox encourages us to continue centering those (unconventional) relationships that place a premium on resilience, balance, harmony, wisdom, imagination, heightened spiritual awareness and foresight.  I’m not just talking about our intimate or professional relationships only.  I’m talking about our relationships with our pets, our children, our spirit guides, and those who have gone on before us.  

They all have something to teach us, and it’s a great time to open ourselves up to what we can learn from them.

If you think life up until this point has been a supreme challenge, the road forward will not be easy and will be even more unpredictable and uncertain as 2020 winds down and we head into 2021.  I’m sure you’ve heard that we must adapt to “the new normal.”  I’m here to tell you that truer words were never spoken.

Things may seem bleak, and on some levels, hopeless.  Resist the urge to completely isolate though; just because we have to practice physical distancing to stay safe and well, does not mean that we should abandon or at the very least, minimize the social connections that feed and nourish our humanity. 

Be extra grateful for the technology that is available to us at this time; with all of its flaws, it is nonetheless serving a vital purpose now that we couldn’t have foreseen a year ago.  

If you have children, hug them tight.  Make an effort to regularly check in with them and make an extra effort to honor their need for movement and space.  Resist the urge to overschedule their time with the things that they would be doing if they were going to a bricks and mortar school; there’s a reason why they are learning at home now!

Finally, we must employ our own healing and restorative practices that ground and focus our minds, spirits and souls, as it will be useful preparation for what is to come in our shared journey.  What that looks like is up to you, but the chart suggests that adapting a gentle movement practice into your daily routine might be beneficial and get your creative juices flowing.  

Before I wrap up, I am moved to share a brief aside about the Sabian Symbols and one reason why I’ve incorporated them into my astrology practice…Famed astrologer Marc Edmund Jones and clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler, created the Sabian Symbols as we know them.  Astrologer and author Lynda Hill wrote the following words about this auspicious and providential collaboration:

“Marc Edmund Jones believed that Elsie Wheeler had tapped into what he called the ‘ancient mind matrix’ of the Sabian alchemists of ancient Mesopotamia. 

“Jones wrote that: “…psychism seems to deal with (a) sort of group identity, or with an intelligence which is immortal in the fact that it can be revivified and consulted at will.” 

“Marc said that there was a presence and cooperation “on the invisible side of life” of one of the Brothers of the ancient Sabian occult sect.” 

Wheeler and Jones were the most unlikely of partners.  For most of her life, she was confined to a wheelchair because of crippling rheumatoid arthritis, but because of her brilliant talents as a psychic and clairvoyant, she was well-regarded, well-respected and in high demand.  Marc Edmond Jones - an astrologer, a Presbyterian minister, American theosophist, occult philosopher and prolific scriptwriter for the film industry - looked beyond her physical limitations and chose instead to work with her powerful gifts.  Together, they birthed one of the most powerful, deeply insightful, and highly accurate body of symbols the world has ever seen!

Going forward, we can stand to learn a lot from the partnership of Marc Edmund Jones and Elsie Wheeler.  May this fall season yield an abundance of blessings to you.

[greengargouille]

Little Sugaya things

Hello AC fans, do you know whose birthday it is today? “No, but I have a strong feeling it might be the character whose name is in the title.” What a cheeky reader you are. But, indeed, in this October 25th Sugaya Sousuke turns... Well, he doesn’t really age, fiction and all that. This is an ideal time to talk about him!

I have a strong liking to this character, so I figured I would make a small post about him (especially if that can count toward ankyou week), my observations, mostly things I want to remember while I write fics.

...This isn’t a small post at all.

Note: I tend to link towards other posts whenever I make mention of extra-material, but there are 3 things that I will tend to use a lot, and for this reason I’m linking at the beginning, namely his Roll Book profile, his Graduation Book profile, and the Individual Ability chart. 

This first point is easy, but Sugaya is a really good artist, and really fast at that. And by that I mean really, really fast. Notable achievements includes, in non-chronological order:

Doing really neat drawings on the back of his tests. Like, already, it’s quite the art he’s showing us -and given he’s in the middle of a test that probably only last one class, he had less than an hour to do that. Uh. Impressive for someone in junior high, but still plausible.

A few moments after the class discovered they have to do a theater piece, he do a ‘realistic’ portrait of his comrade (I mean, it’s in the same style as the manga itself, so... that counts as realistic, right?) on the demand of Karma. Again, quick yet with some level being it. [Note that the anime version had Karma hold the image in colors. But no Sugaya in the background. Either we’re supposed to believe Karma have impressive photoshop skills he uses to have countless disturbing images of Nagisa in different clothes, either Sugaya hide himself because wow, it’s embarassing to be associated with art of Nagisa crossdressing. Don’t worry, Sugaya, at least this one wasn’t sexualised.]

Hey, do you remember how class E infiltrated into a building they knew nothing about, then had to disguise themselves to hide against the wall? Am I the only one wondering how did they happen to have just the right hue of spray paint on them, and for 27 students too? This isn’t so much about skill and speed that it is about Sugaya probably having who-know how many spray cans in advance on him during the whole arc. Like, okay, he’s the artist kid, but that’s probably way too many. Unless he have been able to convince his classmates to carry them for him. Or he could actually summon them out of nowhere.

He did seems to pull brushes out of nowhere during chapter 155 just for emphasis. I mean, he could be just happening to have random art supplies in his pocket, even if those can be costly and he is shown to have a little plastic case for his brushes during chapter 111. Buuut I’m still betting on summoning his supplies by demonish magic.

Okay, now it gets really really weird. Remember the island arc? The fight with Gastro the gun specialist? In a few minutes, in silence, under pressure of someone who have shown killing intent, he somehow manage to produce a scarecrow. Like, how. When did he even obtain some of those items. Is he some RPG protag that will put every random item in his inventory. Matsui please explain.

...Yet, somehow, this isn’t the most impressive thing he have done. For that we will have to come back to his own moment of spotlight, chapter 37.

So. He painted the arms of the whole class. (He argues some pages later that there’s no ‘blank canvas’ left for Korosensei, so it truly means the whole class had, at this point, their arms tattooed.) 

Yet some pages later the arms of the students are bare, and given Sugino’s comment, they cleaned themselves before it set off. Henna will dry after roughly 15-30 minutes.

The twist in all this? Try to look at how long it takes to make such a tattoo. Maybe you will be more lucky than me. All I could find is that a full hand or foot tattoo takes around half an hour. Yet it seems in less than that Sugaya have drawn around 50 full arm tattoos. Korosensei who? I’m sorry, but the only Mach 20 monster that I see here is a student. 

But really, think about this. He have impressive skills in drawing. Notably with chalk if we see chapter 37. Painting (he even made a Korosensei’s potrait in what I think is expressionism style? in the manga only though). Sculpting. Doing masks and disguises. Henna tattoos. Calligraphy too according to background details.

This boy is 14, 15 by the end of October. How the heck did he get so talented in so many forms of art? He had to dedicate his whole life to art- heck, his hobby is touring museums and art exhibits, and his treasured item is a watercolor paint set! Okay, I admit Hollands are expensive as heck, so it’s understandable he values them. But... He isn’t just your average artistic student. He’s a monster. 

So far, Sugaya seems less of a background students and more of a final boss in a art shonen, but how well does he fare as a student?

...Pretty badly, actually. Here what his Roll Book profile says about this: “At first he had wanted to excel in both academics and art, so he opted to enrol in an escalator school, but at Kunugigaoka he understood the limits of his academic prowess. His studies floundered, while his artistic sense flourished in contrast.  After coming to Class E, he overcame his limits in academics and gained a surge in confidence.”

And indeed, it is a big fall when it comes to academics. His manga-only chapter show his former headteacher to be the one dealing with class B, so he originally have some skills. Yet, during 3-E... his individual ability chart places his academic prowess at 1 on 5, something only Terasaka shares with him. He consistently is at the bottom of the exam rankings when comparing the scores of class-E only, and get scores even worse than Terasaka when it comes to Science and Maths, his biggest weaknesses if we’re to believe the Graduation Book profile. Though, if we observe his results...

...Japanese’s not his speciality either (not helped that it seems to be the favorite subject of more students). He do considerably better in English, yet in chapter 3 of Korotan D, taking place just after graduating high school, he mentions he’s not very good at English, so he either got worse with time or never was that good either. Most likely the second, though : plenty of characters are good at English, and the season 2 opening give us a shot at his first semester grades.

Since it’s a bit blurry and I suppose not a lot of you readers are proficient in Japanese, here are the results in a more accessible form (keeping in mind the grades are on 5).

First row

Japanese: 3, Social Studies: 3, Maths: 2, Sciences: 2, Music: 4

Second row

Art: 5, Home Economics: 5, P.E.: 3, English: 4.

Yes, definitely better at English. The good music skills is a nice surprise, and the good score in Home Ec. not so surprising with his dexterity, plus him being in Hara’s group when it comes to group activities. He’s really the kid that’s excellent at all secondary subjects...

And then there is Physical Education. He seems to be neither good or bad at it, but how does he compare with the rest of the class?

...That’s a good question, because the opening doesn’t give us good shot to half the class’ grades. What we do, however, is (yet again) the Individual Ability chart, which give us “Physical Ability” and “Mobility” (that I also include as I feel this cover both speed and agility).

The first one is... not brillant, to say the least ; with a score of 2.5 on 5, there are only seven students worse than him (and that include Ritsu, so really it’s more like six), and two of the same level. When only students like Okuda or Nagisa are the ones you can beat in arm wrestling, you’re not exactly at the peak of strength. 

As for Mobility, still 2.5 on 5. Seven students worse (still including Ritsu). Yet again, it’s low but barely enough for it to not classify him among the bottom.  And he have an avantage here: as Karasuma says in the Roll Book profile, ‘he has a tall back and has reach’, not something you can exactly argue with his 179cm, merely one cm less than Terasaka and Karasuma. Longer legs means longer steps, after all. 

...Still a weakass, though.

We talked art, we talked skills, now let’s continue with personality.

Let’s come back to the previous sentence from Karasuma, this time the full version: ‘Although he has a tall back and has reach, he is poor at close combat due to his personal nature.’ Sugaya is one who avoid fights, or is too nice to hurt someone. And he does seems of the nice kind ; after all, isn’t his hidden side in the Graduation Book that he’s helpful?

It’s not so much of an hidden side, to be honest. Besides teaching Kurahashi how to apply camouflage, we also have him help the others prank an ex of Maehara (in a manga exclusive story) by making disguises, and he helps paint Itona’s tank when he, according to the graduation book, is immune to girls (and wouldn’t have much of a thrill peeking under their skirts like some others)... Drawing Nagisa as Abe Sada on Karma’s request... Uh.

Note that at that point, Karma got along well with the class (so much that they send him messages during winter vacation), but there’s an interesting bit about Sugaya on his profile: ‘Even now, there are some in Class E who are still afraid of Karma. That’s why students-who-want-to-tease-and-Tsukkomi-him-a-little-but-decided-to-back-away such as Sugaya are common.’ It might hint at a teasing nature for Sugaya, but mostly that he can be intimidated. 

Another project on which he works because someone asked is Okajima’s, but he’s said to be ‘tricked’ into taking part in it. We don’t see much of him enough as an individual to know is he’s easy to fool (he does fall for Korosensei’s trick about a punchline in chapter 156, but then so does most of the class), but he doesn’t seems to inclined towards thinking much about things (he does have a 2 on 6 in Strategy/Planning aptitude, after all). 

Nice enough to participate in group projects if asked to, but still more of a lone worker: he’s classified among the individualistic students doing assassinations on ‘their own schedule’, and is shown to work more by himself (except maybe with Mimura what, did you thought I would not shamelessly use my previous posts). According to his Assassination Aptitude chart, he would make a pretty poor leader, too, with the lowest score possible of 1 on 6. Which might also tie in with him potentially being easily intimidated, too...

Not only he would rather work alone, he doesn’t seem to care so much about what others might think of him, either: tattoos are a big deal in Japan, yet he acts pretty nonchalantly when he comes in class with one on his arm. While the live-action movie doesn’t have such a moment, we also have an interesting bit of character design:

While Japanese schools are very strict about students not dying their hair, Sugaya have two purple lines of dye in his. Even Nakamura (who did have dyed hair in the manga/anime) doesn’t have her hair dyed. In fact, I think only Karma use hair dye (it’s dubious whether Itona’s hair is naturally white). Ignoring the rules for the sake of aesthetics is a pretty important trait of him, it seems. Maybe is it why he can so easily wear weird patterns?

So far, seems like Sugaya’s a nice, helpful guy who rather prefer calm and alone time, maybe a bit too carefree but nothing truly bad!

...Okay, maybe I spoke a bit too fast on the ‘nice’. That’s... a pretty blunt comment. And then going on how he couldn’t concentrate during the exam because of her and that’s why he got the lowest score of the class... Sure, totally her fault here.

...But outside of that, he’s much more mindful of oth-

Sugaya no. Don’t follow Korosensei’s example. It’s bad to take advantage of someone passing out to draw on them when they violently refused a few minutes before.

...Okay, maybe he would gain to take a bit more care of what other might think. Especially if this cause him trouble at work, like seen in the epilogue with him ignoring the allowed budget for the sake of artistic pride (though, according to his personal history page, he does learn to compromise on that point).

Artistic pride, now that’s an interesting point. Sugaya is mostly a calm student, even if he get as angry as the others on things like Bitch-sensei’s early treatment of class E, or Korosensei’s taboo game. There is, however, a comment from his part in his dedicated chapter:

‘Pissed me off’, talk about a strong reaction! Art really is an important thing for him. (Of course we end up talking about Art yet again. Of course). As a writer, I personally find this fact important to keep in mind, as it is easy to give in to flanderization. 

...I mean, you can make his character totally about art and you wouldn’t be too far from the original, so maybe flanderization isn’t that bad of a tactic...

Anyways, happy birthday, Sugaya! I hope with this post, others will take interest in this character!

[gohvar]

It’s all very well taking the boat out for afternoon excursions to a quiet cove for a swim, but we have plans to go further afield, and we’d like to be safe! To that end, we’ve been studying for our RYA Day Skipper certification, taking the theory part of the course online. Now, distance learning is all very well, but at some point you need to get some practical instruction and experience in different weather situations. So, last week we kitted out the Seawagon for a 6 day trip, and set off for Šibenik. Our destination was NCP Charter, a local RYA training centre, and we were signed up for the motor version of the course.

Setting out from Vrboska

The route from Vrboska to Šibenik is pretty straightforward, following the south coast of Brač and Šolta, before curving north and into the Sv Ante channel. But given the size of the southerly waves that morning, we opted to turn through the Splitska Vrata (Gates of Split) and go along Šolta’s northern shore. Quite a few sailing boats seemed to have the same idea, and we found ourselves with company going every which way, but mostly heading up and down between the coast and the islands.

Hvar channel

Brač

Passing ship

Mind the rock!

Coast

Pt Jadrija lighthouse

Sv Nikola Fort

Passing traffic

Arriving Šibenik

Our first stay in an actual marina was an experience. Marina Mandalina presents itself as a luxury yacht marina, and oh boy are there some large and very shiny boats lined up outside the reception! The tender came out to greet us and show us to our berth much further along, as we really don’t need much in the way of depth. We were, I noticed, the smallest boat on the dock, as the charters are all sized to sleep more folks. NCP Charter were lovely and helpful as always, made us comfortable and handed us our first homework – the course book to read before tomorrow! And so it begins…

Evening at Marina Mandalina

Day 1 and we meet with our instructor, Eddy, a delightful Belgian with a wealth of experience and a gentle teaching manner. It feels more like he’s simply guiding us as we work things out. He learns the capabilities of our boat, while we learn about mooring in different ways. And we decide that after lunch, we’ll navigate up the Krka river to Skradin and spend the night there. It’s a beautiful trip between high rocky walls, with bridges overhead that we’ve never seen from this angle before! Arriving in Skradin, we discover there’s a regatta and the marina is fully booked. Luckily, they can squeeze us in next to the restaurant – ah, the benefits of being small with no keel! Homework tonight is to plot our return back down the Krka. Thankfully, it’s quite peaceful in the marina, despite all the boats!

Departing Šibenik

Mussel farm

Rocky walls

Folded rocks

Speed limit 6

Under the motorway

Arriving in Skradin

Skradin town dock

Restaurant Arka

Lifebelt

Navigation homework

Skradin swans

Day 2 and it’s another gorgeous sunny day as we head back down the river and out to the open sea through the Sv Ante channel. Lunch is in the beautiful little town of Zlarin, on the island of the same name. It’s shady and peaceful, somewhere I’d like to come back to, and spend more time. We’re heading out to anchor around Znajan for a sunset picnic, having first plotted our night course home. Absolutely glorious colours as the sun goes down, then a very concentrated couple of hours following our notes as we look carefully for guiding lights. Glass of wine needed before bed!

Skradin local

Down the Krka

Zlarin harbour

Old harbour

Fishing boats

Seagull on a roof

Shady street

Street ornament

Rusty bollard

Znajan bay

Glorious colours

Pink sky at night, sailor’s delight?

Day 3 starts with review of our night sail, and what we learned. Well, for a start, how difficult it is to see anything after dark, and how important to read your chart carefully! Great experience, and clearly more practice needed! In the afternoon, we’re off towards the nearby island of Prvić while occasionally circling back to pick up our man/fender overboard and learning more ways to moor.

Day 4 and we’re back in our classroom at the pizzeria (it has bigger tables than the boat). Tides and currents are hardly a big issue in the Adriatic, but we have to know about them anyway. For lunch, we choose to take the boat over to the town harbour at Šibenik for more docking practice. It’s a tricky one, as the waves are higher, and we’re parking right next to another boat. For the rest of the day, it’s even more mooring – with the wind, against the wind, alongside, and finally… reversing into place. Now that’s not easy in our boat as she will always go left in reverse because of propwalk. Eddy disallows use of our bow-thruster as “cheating”, and shows us other ways to compensate. This is advanced stuff, and we feel quite accomplished by the end of it!

Peaceful marina

Larger neighbours

Šibenik

Cathedral heads

And so we are now the proud holders of RYA Day Skipper certificates. It was a pretty concentrated week, and many, many thanks to our wonderful instructor, Eddy Coenen who guided us through it. Thanks also to Vedran Mandura of NCP Charter in Šibenik for arranging everything, and looking after us so well. We highly recommend the effectiveness and professionalism of this RYA Training Centre. And, of course, it’s a beautiful place to sail (or motor).

New skippers with Eddy & Vedran

Find out more…

NCP Charter: RYA Sailing School

Improving our boating skills: all tied up around Šibenik It's all very well taking the boat out for afternoon excursions to a quiet cove for a swim, but we have plans to go further afield, and we'd like to be safe!

[non-pursuitofhappiness]

Currently Reading: Bachelor Girl

“... As ‘The Independent’ observed in 1873, ‘A dozen years ago hardly one female could be found ... who would openly acknowledge that she was strong-minded. ... Now they not only acknowledge that they are such, but they glory in it.’ [Emphasis mine] Investigative reporter Ida Tarbell added, ‘Four hundred years ago, a woman sought celibacy as an escape from sin. Today she adopts it to escape inferiority and servitude; superiority and freedom are her aim.’

But even the strong-minded would find their own lives, their own gloried versions of an Old Maid’s Hall, hard to sustain. Spread out among schools, settlements, and all receptive points between, single women struggled to keep up contact. Letters were very slow in arriving, and it was costly to travel. Holidays and birthdays passed without one’s primary friends and relatives around to celebrate. Important news -- of a move, an illness, sometimes of a death -- arrived weeks, sometimes months, after the fact.

Losing a job could be traumatic. Aging single women found the hunt for work an exhausting, demoralizing process, and it was tiring to imagine reorganizing an unconventional life at age forty-plus. Some maintained the stamina for political work, living meagerly on small honoraria augmented by donations and article writing, but much about their lives seemed increasingly difficult. Serious politico-feminists traveled year-round, claiming no residence, their days spent on bad roads (in horse-drawn carriages or on wooden-seated trains) to reach provincial places that were often dangerous. Protesters sometimes broke up their speeches by hurling raw eggs...

‘I do not feel like myself these times,’ wrote a teacher who was ‘staying on against my wishes’ in Virginia, to a sister staying on against her own wishes in Ohio, 1875. ‘I dare not look at a map and the spaces between us and the impossibility of it so weakens me. I admit I have dropped into tears ... Will I ever see you? Or anyone?’ “

-Betsy Israel, “Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules -- a Social History of Living Single”

****

Just finished the section on the 19th century spinster woman, and it gave me a really visceral close-up of what it was actually like to be a woman (and a strong-minded woman) in those days. The amount of struggle, constant plotting, fear, and depression that it took to avoid getting trapped into a marriage you didn’t want, a restrictive role that some women of that time explicitly called out in their private diaries as a trap of servitude (in which you are always told “no” according to Florence Nightengale), and to avoid death in childbirth (which happened to 1 in 30 women at that time), is intense and sounds incredibly lonely. These women never really came to life for me before. It was just impossible to picture them being just as knowing and smart as women today since we get such limited exposure to them anyway. I’m used to just seeing them as tittering women in drawing rooms of BBC productions, not raging at their moms in their diaries and desperately running away to nunneries either to survive or to find something, anything, which they can do on their own.

I even got a good story of Jane Austen being just as anxious-ridden and filled with dread as I have been at being even remotely close to a relationship with a man before she quickly broke it off. It’s odd, and amazing, to see myself in someone like Jane Austen.

Hell, I even got a good image of Florence Nightengale being the only female nurse in a war zone who assisted with amputations. Florence Nightengale was always presented to me by the media as the ultimate feminine role model. She’s our metaphor for the caretaker-of-men role, who read to, wrote letters, acted as mom to, and wiped the brows of a bunch of soldiers who needed a pure lady to show them love. That’s who she was, right? WRONG. She was also ambitious, smart, and hard as fuck. She stayed up at nights reading books on hospital administration, which she was not supposed to be doing. When her parents tried to distract her with a trip to Europe she insisted on seeing hospitals instead of museums. She was lauded in the field for her speed and stoicism. I can now imagine her hard and focused face as she watches a leg get sawed off in the operating room. She used statistics to determine how many men could be kept alive if the rooms were sanitized to her specifications; she invented the goddamn pie chart to demonstrate those estimations and she convinced government agencies to fund her work to organize civil hospitals the same way. She MATHED, guys. And I never hear about that!

For the first time ever, I may actually want to read the letters and diaries of historical figures rather than just their biographies. Some of these people might actually become way more interesting to me that way.

Anyway, sorry, just suddenly having fantasies about hard as fuck women in dresses chopping up wood with their axes on the moors. Mmmmm....

[classallday]

meuble jardin pour les nuls

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[mobileappdevelopmentservice]

What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?

If you are into an online business you must have already heard about the importance of optimization (yes, for online businesses that’s called search engine optimization or simply SEO). However, our current topic isn’t about search engine optimization (SEO) but App Store Optimization (ASO). In essence, there are many similarities between SEO and ASO, the biggest difference being that ASO is meant to achieve top chart ranking in the App Store, which SEO is all about ranking in Google Search engine. That’s also the reason why ASO is also called App Store SEO or Mobile App SEO.

The reason behind this guide:

The reason why I decided to come up with this guide is because of my personal experience (read frustration and revelation) with the app store.

See, three years back I launched my first app in the app stores (Google Play Store and iOS app store). This was a big moment as me and my team have been working over the app for quite some time and we were sort of ready to taste the success with a lot of downloads.

Well, things didn’t go as planned…

We waited, waited and waited…

A month down the road we were frustrated enough to designate it as a failure (we were getting only a few downloads per day)

Our only hopes remained were from paid advertisement campaigns now.

However, like most of you must know that paid campaigns aren’t cheap and you would probably be spending USD 1 to USD 5 for each download.

Add this to the fact that you need at least 40k app download/install per day to be able to rank in the top 25 charts and the budget just gets out of proportion.

Fortunately, enough one of our teammates decided to take upon himself to research about ASO techniques to get our app off-ground.

The rest was history, as our the next two months we were able to increase our app installation rate by over 1000%.

Now, you must be wondering how you can do it, right?

Well, fret not my friends because that’s precisely what I have mentioned below in this detailed Guide to ASO for Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

So, are you ready to give your app the boost it needs to rank at top charts on Google Play Store and iOS App Store?

Continue reading this detailed guide about the app store optimization process and get ready to embrace the success…

Step 1: Identify the right keywords

Just like for search engine optimization, your choice of keywords makes all the difference in enhancing the app store ranking. Thereby, it should be the first step towards your optimization efforts.

a) Getting Keyword Ideas for app store

Ok, before you finalize keywords for your app, you need to have at least a collection of 50 trending and high-search volume keywords relevant to your app. There are some great free ASO tools that can help you hunt down the best and most optimized keywords for your app. Keyword Suggestions, OneLook Reverse Dictionary are some of the free keyword research tools you can to identify the best keywords for your app.

One important thing to consider when looking for keyword ideas is relevance. Going with the trendy keywords might seem tempting but they are of no use for your app. Remember, you only need to finalize keywords that users will use to find your app.

b) Optimizing your keywords

Once you have a list of keywords for your app, the next step is to filter the best keywords out of the lot. Again, there are various tools that you can use to help you optimize your keywords. The tools help you filter keywords based on search volume, as well as relevancy. All in all, you should have a list of 25 highly-optimized keywords ready to use for your app release.

Step 2: Using Keywords in the right places

Now that you are done with your keywords identification and optimization, it’s time to move on to the second step that’s about putting the keywords where they matter most.

Remember, there are a couple of important metadata places to fill with the chosen keywords.

a) App Name

Just like you would consider everything possible to name your business, keep the same passion when naming your app. It must be trendy, relevant, as well as, searchable. Remember, naming the app is the first piece of the puzzle, and it’s of utmost importance to put it right.

According to a study by Tune (previously known as MobileDevHQ) placing the name of the app in the title can help boost ranking as much as 10%.

That’s because the search algorithm working behind the scenes of both Google Play Store and iOS App Store does scan the app name for keywords, whenever there’s a search query from users. This means that apps with names in the title have a higher chance to rank in the search results.

The key here is being balanced. Stuffing all keywords into the title won’t do any good (in fact it will make your app appear spam). Thereby, you need to find the perfect moderation in using keywords and your branding needs.

As for iOS, there’s a limit of 30 characters for the iOS 11 version, whereas, Google Play Store has 50 characters limit (so, you need to be intelligent in your approach).

b) App subtitle

This is only valid for iOS, which introduced the feature in iOS 11.

The app subtitle field is limited to 30 characters and appears directly under the app name.

The very reason to introduce this feature is to enable developers and marketers to include more relevant keywords (as a means to communicate with users).

c) App description (Google Play Store)

This feature is found on Google Play Store, and enable developers to add as many as 80 characters for short description and up to 4000 characters for a long description of your app.

What’s more important is the fact that Google Search Algorithm does scan and index words in these descriptions. This means that by intelligently using your keywords in these descriptions, you are telling the algorithm that your app is highly relevant to the search query for those keywords.

d) App description (iOS App Store)

While the iOS search algorithms don’t search the descriptions for keywords, that shouldn’t stop developers to ignore this field.

It’s important to mention the uniqueness of your app in the description so that users can get an idea about your app. The best way to consume the app description field in the iOS App Store is to list any and all honorary mentions, social proofs or awards the app has managed to bag.

e) In-App Purchases

The name of in-app purchases is indexed by both Apple App Store, as well as, Google Play Store. Each In-app purchase in iOS 11 comes with its name, description, and promotional image.

To exploit the full potential of your IAP items, try to come up with creative ideas to incorporate app store keywords as the names of your in-app purchase items.

Step 3: Conversion Optimization

Now, let’s move to one of the most important aspects of our ASO guide, which is to convert visitors to potential users.

Remember, the whole process of App Store Optimization is meant to boost app installs. Until now we have discussed ways to increase visitors to your app and rank in top charts. But the more important aspect is to actually persuade those visitors into actual users (persuading them to download and install the app).

Here are a few important things you need to perform for conversion optimization:

a) App Icon

If you already don’t know, then a creative app icon can boost your downloads by over 500%.

You can get inspiration for the app icons from top-rated apps (relevant category). Just make sure that your icon keeps its creativity intact when scaled down to small sizes as per the requirements of the Google Play Store or iOS App Store.

b) Screenshots

According to one study, nearly 60% of visitors don’t swipe through the second screenshots. This means that using the best screenshots can help you increase your app conversion rate by 25%.

The best way to use screenshots is to ensure that each image carries a single unique message about your app.

c) Preview Video

While making preview videos for the app may be time-consuming, it’s definitely worth it when looking at its impacts on conversion (nearly 23% increase).

Again, most users won’t watch past first 12 seconds of the video, needless to say, you need to be concise in your approach and avoid any general (welcoming) message.

d) Ratings & Reviews

The key here is to not appear begging for ratings or reviews. And the best way to achieve that is to delay asking for rating & reviews until you have a constructive moment; like clearing a level in a game or making a successful reservation.

This is even more important for iOS developers as they are only allowed to ask for review and ratings 3 times per year; make sure each time it counts.

e) Update Frequency

There is a direct correlation between update frequency and high ratings. According to studies, users seem to be more satisfied and loyal to apps that frequently updates for better security and aesthetics.

  The post Guide To ASO for Google Play Store and iOS App Store (Best 2020 strategies to implement) appeared first on AppStoryOrg.

via AppStoryOrg

[moddersinc]

[section_title title=Introduction] When putting together a new system, we all want the best possible computer we can afford. However, there are always corners that can be cut to save a few bucks, especially when you’re on a tight budget. Usually, the corners cut are non-core components. With the increased quality in on-board audio on motherboards, most people don’t take much consideration into buying a sound card. I was very much one of these people, until last year, when we reviewed both the Sound Blaster AE-5 and the G5 external sound card. After testing both of those sound cards, I had a much different opinion of both add-in and external sound cards. So, when Sound Blaster asked us to check out their new G6 external sound card, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

The Sound Blaster G6 is the predecessor to the very popular G5 we reviewed last year. The G5 ended up being my favorite thing I reviewed in 2018, even more so than the AE-5 add-in sound card. The Sound BlasterX G6 is an attempt to improve on an already great product. The G6 even won an Innovation Award at CES 2019. The Sound BlasterX G6 is a 32bit 384kHz capable DAC that delivers a DNR of up to 130dB. But will it make that much of a difference over the 24-bit/192kHz, 120dB USB DAC of the G5? We put the G5 and G6 through the same real world testing. So, was there actually a difference?

Specifications

Weight

144 g

Interface/Power

USB 2.0, USB Bus Powered

DAC

Dynamic Range: 130dB (A-weighted), THD+N: ~0.0002%, Sampling Rate (DSP Playback): PCM 16/24/32-bit / 44.1, 48.0, 88.2, 96.0kHz, Sampling Rate (Direct Mode Playback): PCM 16/24/32-bit / 44.1, 48.0, 88.2, 96.0, 176.4, 192.0, 352.8, 384.0 kHz, DoP 24-bit / 176.4 , 352.4 kHz

ADC

Dynamic Range: 114dB (A-weighted), THD+N: 0.0006%, Sampling Rate (Mic-in): 16/24/32-bit / 44.1, 48.0, 88.2, 96.0, 176.4, 192.0 kHz, Sampling Rate (Line-in, Optical-In): 16/24/32-bit / 44.1, 48.0, 88.2, 96.0, 176.4, 192.0 kHz, Output Impedance: 1 Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 16 – 600 Ω, High Gain: 150 – 600 Ω (+14dB), Low Gain: 16 – 149 Ω (+0dB)

Audio Technology

SB-Axx1™

Connectivity Options (Main)

1 x ⅛″ Line In/mini TOSLINK In Combo Jack, 1 x ⅛″ Line Out/mini TOSLINK Out Combo Jack, 1 x ⅛″ Headphone/Headset Jack, 1 x ⅛″ Ext. Mic In Jack, 1 x microUSB port for PC/Mac

Audio Technologies

Scout Mode

Supported Operating Systems

Windows® 7, Windows® 8, Windows Vista®, Windows® 8.1, Windows® 10, Mac OS X v10.8 and above

Included Accessories

microUSB cable, Mini TOSLINK Cable

Dimensions

111 x 70 x 24 mm

ASIO

Playback & Recording

Recommended Usage

Gaming

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Windows® OS

Intel® Core™i3 or AMD® equivalent processor

Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard

Microsoft® Windows 10 32/64 bit, Windows 8.1/8.0 32/64 bit, Windows 7 32/64 bit

1GB RAM

>600 MB of free hard disk space

USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 port

Mac® OS

Mac OS X® 10.9 or higher

1GB RAM

USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 port

PS4

Firmware Version 5.0 or later

Available USB port

Available Optical Out port (for Dolby Digital decoding)

Xbox One

Xbox OS Version 10.0 or later

Available Optical Out port (for Dolby Digital decoding)

External USB Power (not included)

Voice communications not supported

Nintendo Switch

Switch OS 5.0 or later

Available 3.5mm headphone port

Available USB port (in docking mode)

External USB Power (not included)

Voice communications not supported

PACKAGE CONTENTS

Sound BlasterX G6

1 x Optical Cable

1 x MicroUSB Cable

Quick Start Leaflet

Warranty Leaflets

View Windows® 10 Software Availability Chart

WARRANTY

1-year Limited Hardware Warranty

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

Click here for California Proposition 65 Warning

DOWNLOADS

Download Software

Owner’s Manual

  [section_title title=Packaging]

Packaging

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The front of the Sound BlasterX G6 box has a large image of the G6 placed in the center and taking up most of the front of the box. The Sound BlasterX logo is displayed on the top left-hand corner. To the right are several awards given tot he G6. On the rear, there is a diagram of the front and rear IO for the G6. There are also pictures of every device the G6 is compatible with. The back of the box also lists several of the main features of the Sound Blaster G6, as well as minimum system requirements.

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The Sound Blaster G6 comes set in a felt covered, plastic tray, much like the G5 was packed. The Sound Blaster G6. The Sound Blaster G6 comes packed with a user manual, warranty information and a declaration of conformity on radio equipment. There is also a thank you note from Creative Labs which is a nice touch. The last two things in the box are a micro usb cable for power and date, as well as a hybrid optical and 3.5 mm cable. One end plugs into the SPDIF port on you motherboard or TV, for example., The other side plugs into the back of the sound card.

[section_title title=A Closer Look at the Sound BlasterX G6]

A Closer Look at the Sound BlasterX G6

The Sound BlasterX G6 is an external sound card and the predecessor to the very popular and successful G5. The Sound Blaster G6 is very compact. In fact, it’s almost the same exact size as its older brother, the G5. The G6 measures 111 x70 x 24 mm and weights only 144 grams. The G6 uses the same SB-Axx1 as the G5. However, there are a few major differences. The signal to noise ratio has increased 10dB on the G6 up to 130 dB. The audio fidelity has also increased from 24-bit/192 Hz on the G5 to 32-bit/384 Hz on the G6.

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The Sound BlasterX G6 brings together a virtual 7.1 32-bit/384 Hz, 130 dB HD Gaming DAC with an External USB Sound Card featuring Sound Blasters amazing Xamp Headphone technology. Sound Blasters Xamp technology is one of its best features. With Xamp, the Sound Blaster G6 amplifies each audio channel on your headphones individually. So both your left and right ear cup get the benefit of a 600Ω amplifier. Like the G5, the G6 features virtual 7.1 surround sound, game-voice volume balancing and Scout Mode. Also, the Sound Blaster G6 features Dolby Digital decoding which the G5 did not. The Sound BlasterX G6 also supports hi-res PCM and DoP audio formats.

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Aesthetically, the Sound BlasterX G6 is nearly identical to the G5 we did a review on last year. However, there are a few key differences between the two sound cards. The first and most glaring difference is the color. Where the Sound BlasterX G5 is black, the G6 is more of a gray color. Behind the volume control knob, the light is blueish white on the G6 where on the G5, it was red. Sound Blaster has added RGB lighting to the G6 in the form of the Sound BlasterX logo located in the center of the top of the G6. The RGB lighting can be customized through the Sound Blaster Connect software. The only other main difference aesthetically between the G5 and the G6 is the lack of the USB pass through on the rear of the Sound Blaster G6.

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Sound BlasterX G5

Sound BlasterX G6

In just about every review we do, if we can take something apart, we do. So like the G5, we did a complete tear down of the G6. This will let us see what components the use inside the external sound cards. To do this, you must peel back the four corners of the rubber pad on the bottom. Peeling off the entire rubber padding isn’t recommended, as it may not go back on. Side note, the bit needed is a triangle bit found in the I Fix It tool kit.

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The Sound BlasterX G6 uses the SB-Axx1 audio processor from Creative. The SB-Axx1 is a highly advanced audio processor that greatly improves the audio experience of your computer, tablet, smartphone or whatever it’s hooked up to. Its the same audio processor used is the G5, as well as Creatives line up of Axx Bluetooth wireless speakers, such as the SBX 20 and SBX 10.

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On the right side of the Sound Blaster G6 are two buttons and a switch. To the left, we have the Scout Mode button first. Scout mode lets you hear your enemies’ footsteps in game. It can also be paired with the Scout Radar app on both Android and IOS. The next button is the SBX button. This allows you to scroll between three preset profiles on the G6. To the far right, there is a gain control switch that goes between low and high gain. The low setting goes between 32Ω-150Ω and the high setting goes between 150Ω-600Ω. There is a very noticeable difference between high and low gain. Further down the right side are three lights, a mic and headphone icon and the Dolby Audio logo. These three lights represent the SBX profiles. These profiles can be changed in the Sound Blaster Connect software. The logo on the top of the Sound Blaster X G6 is RGB back lit and as mentioned earlier, can be customized in the Sound Blaster Connect software. Its a nice added touch from the red static light on the G5 and the RGB lighting is far from over done on the G6.

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On the front, there is are two 3.5 mm ports. One for headphones and the other for a mic. There is a volume knob that also doubles as a mute button. The Lighting behind the knob is static and can not be changed in the software. The rear of the G6 has a micro USB port for power and data. There are also two 3.5 mm ports. One is the Line/Optical In, the other is the Line/Optical Out. You do no need to use these ports. The Sound Blaster G6 only required the Micro USB port to be used.

[section_title title=Sound Blaster Connect Software]

Sound Blaster Connect Software

When I buy hardware or peripherals, I tend to look for plug and play products. It seems most things these days come with not just drivers, but also software. The Sound BlasterX G6 can be used as plug and play. However, it is also supported by one of the better pieces of software I’ve used recently. The Sound Blaster Connect software allows you completely customize your audio experience, in more ways than one.

When you first open the Sound Blaster Connect software, you’ll start on your Dashboard. Here, you can turn on and off the different feature of the Sound Blaster G6. These features include the BlasterX Acoustic Engine, Scout Mode, Dolby Digital Surround Sound, Filters, Voice Morph and the lighting. There also 18 preset profiles for listening experiences such as gaming, movies and music. There are also several presets for different games such as Call of Duty, Fortnite and many more. A full list of preset profiles is listed below;

Adventure and Action

Call of Duty Series

Counter-Strike Global Offensive

Default

Dota 2

Driving Simulation

Effects Off

First Person Shooter

League of Legends

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain

Movie

Music

Project Cars

Real Time Strategy

Rocket League

Stadium

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The next section under the Dashboard is the Sound section. You can also customize your listening experience using the Sound Blaster Acoustic Engine. There are 5 customization options in the Acoustic Engine. The first is the surround option. This allows you to set how wide you surround sound is. The range is from normal to ultra wide. Next is the Crystalizer which has a range from zero to 100. Next option is the Bass, also with a range of zero to 100. Both the Crystalizer and Bass have toggle switches as well. Nest is the Smart Volume option and last is the Dialog + option. Smart volume intelligently minimizes abrupt volume changes by adjusting the loudness of your audio play back automatically. The Dialog Plus option enhances voice is both music and movies for a clearer vocal range.

Next is the Equalizer where you can customize your listening experience on each of the profiles on the dashboard. There are sliders on the bottom of the equalizer for both bass and treble. The equalizer allows you to adjust a range of different frequencies. Simply use the mouse to either click on different spots through the range of frequencies, or draw a line for the sound to hit different frequencies. As you listen, you can simply click on any given spot and slide up or down to adjust that frequency.

Scout mode is the next section in the Sound Blaster Connect software. It is also one of my favorite features of any Sound Blaster sound card I’ve used over the last couple years. Say you’re playing any first-person shooter. With Scout Mode enabled, you’re able to hear the foot steps of your enemies, from the direction they are coming from. The closer they get the louder they get. There is also a companion app for IOS and Android call the Scout Radar. This will show your enemies as a blip on the radar right on your phone or tablet. Now if they could make that for in-laws.

The next menu under the sound option is the Dolby section. The Sound BlasterX G6, unlike the G5, has Dolby Digital Surround Sound. In this section, you can set the surround sound to Full, Normal, or Night modes. Its also a slider, so you can make small adjustments in between each setting.

There are several filters that can be applied to the Sound BlasterX G6, four to be exact. The first is Fast Roll Off – Minimum Phase. The second is Slow Roll Off – Minimum Phase. The last two are Fast Roll Off – Linear Phase and Slow Roll Off – Linear Phase.

The Sound BlasterX G6 added RGB Lighting, something the G5 didn’t have. Just the X on the top of the sound card has RGB lighting, Its subtle, but looks good. The Lighting menu allows you to set different profiles to the lighting, There are Solo, which is simply a static color. The other three are Pulsate, Music Reactive and Cycle. This does not change the lighting behind the knob.

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The last section on the main menu is the Setup section. Here you can configure the output mode to either direct or to have some kind of effect, You can set your head phones to stereo mode, 5.1 or 7.1 virtual surround sound. In the Setup, you can also adjust the levels of the different input and outputs of the Sound BlasterX G6. The Sound Blaster Connect software also allows you to set up different kinds of speakers that you may connect through the Sound Blaster G6. You can set the different levels for the mic volume and mic monitoring volume. There is also a voice morph feature that is fun to mess around with. Overall, there are a ton of customization options in the Sound Blaster Connect Software.

[section_title title=Benchmarking and Subjective Testing]

Benchmarking and Subjective Testing

To test the Sound BlasterX G6, we ran the Right Mark Audio Analyzer. This is the program we use to test the on-board audio in our motherboard review. We compared The G6 to not only the G5 but also to the onboard audio on the Z390 Aorus Pro. RightMark will give you an idea of how the audio compares on paper. To test with Rightmark, you must first plug into both the rear headphone jack and the rear mic jack using a double-ended 3.5 mm jack cable. This creates an audio loop to test the internal audio performance of the onboard audio.

The Sound BlasterX G6 is compatible with your PC, PS4. XBOX ONE and Nintendo Switch. However, there are other, more unique ways the G6 can be used. Personally, my favorite way to use the Sound BlasterX G6 is an amplifier for my cell phone. It just requires a USB pot and two 3.5 mm auxiliary cables. Or one aux cable and a pair of head phones. You can power the G6 using the USB port in my Jeep. Then, run one aux cable to the aux port in the car and the other to the cell phone. This gave me countless hours of use with the G6. A couple hours a day for weeks. I listened to podcasts, books and music of all kinds. You can also run the G6 off of a power bank. There aren’t too many situations I could see this being necessary, but it is possible. Maybe being on the beach all day?

For the most part,audio reviews are very subjective. We can run all the audio benchmarks we want, but what sounds good to me, may not sound good to you. For all of my audio reviews, I have a set sampling of music and movies I used while testing headphones, earbuds, sound cards and the like. The games I play do vary since as new games come out, there are better games for testing audio. Generally, its first or third person shooters I use to test audio though.  I always listen to the Eagles Hotel California. Reason for picking this song is it’s the song I listened to on Sennheiser’s $55,000 Orpheus headphones at CES a few years ago. However, I do listen to a wide array of music, and my testing reflects that. I always test any audio hardware with rap songs with excessive amounts of bass, This is to see if there will be any distortion on either the headphones or sepakers I’m using at the time of the review. Most recently, I’ve also added a 7.1 surround sound test as well. The test includes several different clips and does a great job testing surround sound system. You can test it out here: https://youtu.be/Jb4GolexHac

For the last several years now, I’ve used the Fnatic Duel gaming headset on my PC. It’s an amazing headset and completely modular. Its private label for Fnatic and made by AIAIAI and part of their TMA-2s ecosystem. It is hands down, the best gaming headset I’ve ever used. However, with it modular, I have it set u p as a pair of headphones, with no in-line or boom mic attached. I’d dare to say they may be one of the best pairs of headphones I’ve ever owned. I even chose the Duel over my Sennheiser headphones for several reasons. The fact the Duel can be customized is a great feature, they are very comfortable and if you can believe it, sound better than the Sennheisers I was using, the HD 598 special edition.

When testing the Rightmark Audio analyzer to test the quality of the sound put out by the Sound Blaster G6. There are 8-bit, 16-bit and 24-bit tests with in Rightmark. Generally, we run the 16 and 24-bit tests in a motherboard review For the G5, we did the same. However, for the G6, we included a 32-bit test as well.

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G6 16-Bit

G6 24-Bit

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G5 16-Bit

G5 24-Bit

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Z390 Pro 16-Bit

Z390 Pro 24-Bit

  For both the G6 and G5, we did both 16 and 24-bit testing on all frequencies. These frequencies are 44.1 Hz, 48 Hz, 88 Hz, 96 Hz, 176 Hz, 192 Hz, 352 Hz and 384 Hz. We also added results from the Z390 Pro review, just to compare the external sound cards to on-board audio. It was no surprise the both the G5 and G6 did better than the on-board audio. What was a surprise to me was how much better the G6 was than the G5 in our Rightmark testing, especially on the 24-bit testing. On the first 16-bit test, the G5 was slightly above the G6. So, I had expected this to continue throughout testing. However, after that, the G6 began to inch its way further and further ahead of the G5. On the 24-bit testing, the G6 steadily beat out the G5 on all frequencies.

Where I was really surprised by the Sound BlasterX G6 was in the subjective testing. I honestly didn’t expect the slight increase in specifications from the G5 would make that much of a difference. I did all my basic testing I do on all audio products, with a couple of additions. I watched the same movies with both the G5 and G6, I listened to the same songs, even played some of the same games. But since the review of the G5 was published, the G5 had lived in my car and was used as an in-line amp for my cell phone, the Lg Q7+. It’s not the best phone, but it has decent sound quality and a built-in amplifier. Since this is where most of my experience with the G5 was, I used the Sound BlasterX G6 in the same way, in my car. The G6 has essentially been with me at all times since receiving it a couple of months ago.

I always watch the same movie when testing audio. That movie is Black Hawk Down. It’s great for testing both 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. It also won the Oscar for best sound mixing in 2002. As for games, or games, I play a mix of several different games. This time around was Assassins Creed Odyssey, Far Cry 5, GTA V and Battlefield V. The Sound Blaster G6 works great for gaming. Especially with Scout Mode enabled in a competitive shooter like Battlefield V or a stealth game like Assassins Creed Odyssey. The benefit of hearing footsteps from the direction they’re coming in is a great advantage to have. The last place I tested the Sound BlasterX G6 is in my car, as an in-line amp for my cell phone, connected through the auxiliary port.I listened to everything from movies and TV shows to music and podcasts. I used the Sound Blaster G6 in my car to and from work everyday, 4 or 5 days a week. My car had Infinity speakers, so they already sound good. The G5 made them sound even better. However, the G6 makes my car sound like it has sub woofers in the trunk. Sub woofers with zero distortion. I do know the G6 is compatible with the Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. However, I own none of these, so I couldn’t test it personally.

[section_title title=Final Thoughts and Conclusion]

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I couldn’t be happier with the overall performance of the Sound BlasterX G6. The sound it produces is clean, clear and crisp, with no distortion. I honestly did not expect it to be as good as it was. I just didn’t see too much room for improvement with in this price range. However, Creative Labs proved me wrong. They showed me again that there are plenty of benefits to a sound card over on-board audio. Especially when talking about an external card such as the G6.

First off, the portability is great. The Sound Blaster G6 is compact and fits in your pocket. The G6 is extremely versatile and can be used for much more than just your PC. Since it has the plug and play feature, the G6 can be used anywhere. You can plug it into the wall using a USB adapter and just use it for your phone or tablet. If you watch a lot of movies or TV on your phone as I do, the addition of Dolby Surround Sound is a great feature to utilize on the Sound Blaster G6. The simulated 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound works great and can give you a cinema-like listening experience on your cell phone.

Music sounds amazing through the Sound BlasterX G6. The highs a crystal clear, crisp and clean. The lows are deep with no distortion. No matter what kind of music you prefer, the G6 is perfect to make you music sound even better. The G6 has replaced the G5 and found a semi-permanent home in my car as an in-line amp for my phone. Its hard for me to explain in words how much the Sound Blaster G6 has improved the sound quality in my car. Its really night and day and something you have to hear to understand.

But even with all that, the Sound Blaster G6 is really made with gaming in mind. The Scout Mode feature is proof enough of that fact. Scout mode is great, especially for online, competitive shooters such as Battlefield V or the newest fad, Apex Legends. With Scout Mode enables, you can hear your enemies footsteps from the direction they car coming from. This gives you a competitive advantage in many games. The companion app even allows you to see your enemies as a blip on a radar, right on your cell phone. This is a really cool feature and it works rather well. Even better than I had expected. Just download the app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

Overall, I was very impressed with the improvements the Sound BlasterX G6 made of the G5. The fact I can throw it in my pocket and bring it anywhere is a huge plus. I love the AE-5, but I love the fact the G6 can be swapped from my PC to my laptop to my car or even to my phone. So, the portability of the G6 is a huge plus for me. So even if you own the Sound Blaster AE-5 or another PCIe sound card, the Sound Blaster G6 is still a great product to pick up. Now, what if you already own the G5? Should you run out and buy the G6? Maybe not. The addition of the Dolby Surround sound and the slightly increased specs are not enough of a reason to dump the G5. The Sound Blaster G5 is still a great sound card. Unless you have to have that RGB lighting. However, if you’re in the market for a new sound card, external or internal, I highly recommend the Sound BlasterX G6 from Creative Labs. In fact, I couldn’t recommend it more. At the time of this review, you can get the Sound Blaster G6 on Amazon for $146.24, slightly cheaper than the $149.99 MSRP and a bit higher that the $99.99 the G5 will run you. I do the added features such as Dolby Surround Sound is well worth the extra money. That’s if you don’t already own the G5. I would have liked to see the USB pass-through included on the G6, but that’s just nit picking. The Sound BlasterX G6 is just an amazing sound card. There’s not much more I can say than that.

[sc name=”editors_choice_award”]

[sc name=”Amazon Pic_Price” product_link=”https://www.amazon.com/BlasterX-External-Headphone-Surround-Sidetone/dp/B07FY45F2S/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=sound+blasterx+g6&qid=1554129468&s=gateway&sr=8-3″ ]

  Sound BlasterX G6 External Sound Card Review When putting together a new system, we all want the best possible computer we can afford. However, there are always corners that can be cut to save a few bucks, especially when you’re on a tight budget.

[click2watch]

Metrics May Point to Ether Being Undervalued

Christopher Brookins is the founder of Pugilist Ventures, a quantitative crypto fund founded out of Carnegie Mellon.

————

In 2018, the ethereum network has been hobbled by delayed protocol upgrades, ICO boom hangover and the overall crypto winter.

However, several fundamental indicators, which, in theory, should be indicative of positive price momentum, are pointing to undervaluation. For example, ethereum’s network value is down ~93 percent from its peak, whereas gas consumption is down 7 percent, transaction count is down 52 percent and active addresses are down ~73 percent.

Interestingly, network transaction volume is down ~99.50 percent from its peak, which offers a bit of foreshadowing.

Correlation Analysis of Fundamental Metrics

After analyzing a few fundamental metrics and creating some of my own, a simple correlation matrix between the aforementioned indicators to (change) in price of ETH is quite revealing.

*coinmetrics.io and etherscan.io

As can be seen, there is a dichotomy between theory and practice of what fundamental demand indicators should be driving price.

Currently, per the correlation matrix, it appears, quality (average and median transaction value) rather than quantity (active addresses, transaction count, gas, and more) is driving ether price movements, which flies in the face of Metcalfe’s’ Law. Specifically, the metrics measuring the ratio or balance between quality to quantity, e.g. average transaction value, median transaction value, and transaction volume to active addresses (TAAR); all have positive correlations with price of ETH.

Thus, it appears that an increase in network transaction volume in relation to quantity metrics, preferably for fundamental utilization of dapps solving real-world problems like decentralized finance, will be the key to finding a stable price bottom; if these correlations hold.

Network transaction volume to active addresses ratio (TAAR)

TAAR is a metric first introduced here, which highlights its usage as an equilibrium gauge for bitcoin by measuring the change between quality versus quantity fundamentals.

However, unlike TAAR for BTC, it appears ethereum’s network dynamics do not match that of bitcoin, which should not be surprising given they are two completely different digital assets, solving two completely different problems. See TAAR and price logarithmic chart below.

*coinmetrics.io

But, instead of TAAR acting as an equilibrium gauge for ETH, it might better serve us as a directional price gauge instead.

Meaning, that if the 1000 level of TAAR holds, then ETH is likely to have bottomed out around $100. However, if not, and TAAR retests lower levels of 500 (red line), 300 (black line), or even 100, further price depreciation for ETH is certain.

Active addresses to average daily transaction value (AAAT)

AAAT visualizes the “tug of war” between quantity and quality indicators within the ethereum network.

Again, quantity is associated with negative correlation to price. As seen above, the correlation between price of ETH and AAAT is -0.09, meaning that when active addresses (quantity) grow faster than average transaction value (quality), prices react negatively.

Furthermore, visualizing the metric versus price, on a logarithmic chart, we can see that price has historically stayed beneath AAAT and has acted as resistance. But, when price does cross (similar to a golden cross) above AAAT, that means good things for price growth (see first black box).

Unfortunately, price recently fell beneath AAAT back in December 2018 (second black box), which may signal further price weakness ahead for ETH, if nothing changes in the quality metrics.

*coinmetrics.io

However, one positive note might be the dynamic between AAAT and TAAR.

As seen via the logarithmic charts below, TAAR and AAAT have the ability to act as a counterbalance within the fundamental price movements. For example, in late-December 2015, a declining TAAR and increasing AAAT met (on daily and 30 day averages), and bounced off one another (first black box), which saw AAAT move lower (red arrow) and TAAR move higher.

That “collision” sparked a dramatic increase in price of ETH in Q1 2016 (green arrow) and ultimately laid the foundation for the remarkable two year bull market (2016-17) ether experienced. At time of writing, TAAR is decreasing and AAAT increasing, with the divergence between the two becoming increasingly smaller (second black box).

If history repeats itself, which is tepid given the sample size limitations, another “collision” could be forming, which could mean a price bottom, and probable reignition of a bull cycle for ETH. If history repeats itself even more closely, this dynamic will unfold in late Q4 of 2019, which should set the stage for a similar surge in ETH prices in Q1 2020, as seen prior in Q1 2016.

*coinmetrics.io

Summary

It seems that the fundamental indicators which one may assume positively drive price movements, in theory, are actually negatively correlated to in ETH price. There are three possible explanations:

The principal assumptions of what drives price and network growth for digital asset ecosystems are incorrect.

The limited amount of data we have to measure these dynamics are not sufficient to draw accurate hypotheses or conclusions.

Something beyond the fundamentals is driving the price of ETH, which might be sentiment or liquidity (distressed sales of ICO proceeds).

Personally, I hypothesize that it is a mix of all three. However, once a bottom is found, and assuming nothing extremely negative has occurred to damage the overall viability narrative, price is likely to recover more rapidly than other digital assets in the Top 5. Principally, due to the potency of sentiment swinging back positive from overly depressed price levels without systemic technological issues, coupled with pent up buying demand, i.e. rubberband effect.

Disclaimer: this article is for educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or trading advice.

Ether image via Shutterstock

This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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[theconservativebrief]

Democrats across the country are running on three simple words, recognizable to every American: Medicare for all.

“There’s no more popular brand in American politics than Medicare,” says Adam Green, executive director of the lefty Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC). “Our hope is that Democrats wrap themselves in the flag of Medicare in 2018.”

In Democratic primaries around the country, Medicare-for-all candidates are winning — from Kara Eastman in Nebraska to Katie Porter in Orange County, California, to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Bronx, the message is resonating.

“The system we have, the status quo is not acceptable,” Porter told me when I covered her primary race in May. “We’re questioning whether we can rely on major players, like health insurance companies, to continue to be reliable partners in delivering health care.”

Even before these candidates started winning, polling was showing that Medicare-for-all is really popular: 62 percent of Americans liked the sound of it in last November. Almost every single rumored 2020 candidate in the Senate has backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’a Medicare-for-all bill. It’s clear the idea is in ascendancy among Democrats.

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a health care rally on September 22, 2017, in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

But someday, a reckoning will come. When Democrats hold power again — especially control of Congress and the White House — they will be expected to actually deliver on these Medicare-for-all promises. And when that day arrives, the party will have to decide whether they want to blow up America’s current health care system to build something new or figure out a less disruptive path, but risk falling short of truly universal coverage.

So even now, there is some jockeying among Democrats to define those three little words.

As popular as Medicare-for-all is, the slightly more vexing question is what it actually means.

Historically, Medicare-for-all has meant single-payer health insurance, a national government-run program that covered every American and replaced private coverage entirely, similar to the government-run health care programs in Canada and some European countries.

Then-Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) first introduced the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act in 2003. Conyers has since been disgraced by sexual harassment allegations but the idea lives on. It’s now sponsored by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and it is still a single-payer proposal. So is Sanders’s Medicare-for-all bill, a cornerstone of his unexpectedly resonant 2016 presidential campaign.

But these days, other plans are falling under the Medicare-for-all umbrella. Some progressives, like Green, are even comfortable with the term being applied to the various proposals to allow all Americans buy into Medicare. Some of those plans used to be branded as a “public option”; they would not end private insurance that more than half of Americans get, usually through work, as a true single-payer would. But these plans would also not provide the same guarantee of universal coverage that a single-payer system does.

“For anybody who supports Medicare-for-all single payer, what better way to debunk the right wing lies than to allow millions and millions of Americans to voluntarily opt into Medicare and love it?” Green told me in our interview. “As a political strategy, having Medicare-for-all be a broad umbrella where any candidate can embrace some version of it… that moves the center of gravity in the Democratic party.”

In 2018, with control of Congress at stake, nobody is taking up arms to insist that their version should be orthodoxy. What we know for certain is that Medicare-for-all is popular, and so Democrats of all stripes want to campaign on it. Governing comes later.

Ultimately, the direction the Democratic party goes in may have a lot to do with how far the public is willing to go.

One chart from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the gold standard for health policy polling, sums up why there is any debate at all about the meaning of Medicare-for-all.

Medicare-for-all gets nearly two-thirds support, but a “single-payer health insurance system” is a little more divisive: 48 percent have a positive reaction, and 32 percent have a negative reaction; the gap between favor and disfavor closes considerably. Medicare buy-ins poll the highest, with the support of three-fourths of Americans, including 6 out of 10 Republicans.

You could absolutely argue these numbers still seem pretty strong for single-payer described as such, given the conventional wisdom that such a plan is unworkable. But it is undoubtedly true that Medicare-for-all, as a slogan, is more popular — as are some of these more incremental policies, like giving people the option of buying into Medicare.

Back in 2012, a group of progressive activists and Democratic lawmakers got together to talk about what they would do if the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. That looked like a real possibility, and they agreed on a new campaign to keep pushing for universal health care.

Democrats planned to run on a platform of Medicare-for-all if the Court struck the law down. At that point, the Conyers single-payer bill had been around for nearly a decade, but the PCCC’s Green says that on that day and in that room, some people heard Medicare-for-all and thought of a single-payer system. Yet others heard the same thing and thought of something that looks more like a public option. From his perspective, those different ideas aren’t a problem.

“There is a pleasant ambiguity and more of a north star goal nature around Medicare-for-all,” Green said. “This really does not need to be a huge intra-party battle. Why get in the weeds during the campaign?”

Voters themselves seem to like the sound of Medicare-for-all, even if they themselves don’t always agree on what it means. BuzzFeed’s Molly Hensley-Clancy reported on this phenomenon while covering Eastman’s campaign in Nebraska ahead of the May primary:

[C]onversations with more than two dozen Omaha voters reveal a dynamic that polling, too, has begun to capture: When some moderate and left-leaning voters say “Medicare for All” sounds like a pretty good idea, they aren’t actually thinking about single-payer health care. Instead, they’re thinking about simply expanding the program to include more seniors or children, or offering a public option that people can buy into.

On one warm May day a week from the primary, Phil, a devout liberal, told Eastman the story of his wife’s brain cancer — rejected by Medicaid, and still too young for Medicare, they’ve barely been able to afford pricey experimental treatments.

He likes the sound of Medicare for All, he said, but wouldn’t want everyone to be part of a single-payer, government-run system. “I wouldn’t want one system,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I wouldn’t want that.”

We heard similar ambiguity when Vox conducted some focus groups with Hillary Clinton voters in suburban Washington last fall. Those voters, particularly the ones who currently had their own insurance through work, liked the idea of having a choice, having an option. They also liked the sound of Medicare-for-all, but a top-to-bottom overhaul of the American health care system made them nervous.

Supporters of the single-payer system rally in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on September 30, 2009. Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP

“To me, [single-payer] sounds like it’s somehow complete overhaul of everything, whereas Medicare-for-all sounds like warming people up to the idea using the structure that’s already in place to deliver that care,” Dennis, a 34-year-old Hillary Clinton voter in Bethesda, told us.

One of the things that made Democrats the most nervous about single payer is how political health care has become. They see how Trump has attacked Obamacare, and they see future Republican administrations meddling with single-payer health care as a real possibility. That could be a sticking point for some Democratic voters, especially those who are better off and already get good insurance through work.

That explains why there’s this fledgling competition over what Medicare-for-all is really describing.

The best example might be the health care plan from the Center of American Progress, which is, tellingly, called “Medicare Extra For All.” It’s a seriously ambitious plan, one that would achieve universal coverage through a combination of government plans and private insurance, while preserving employer-based insurance for those who want it. But it is not single payer. And it is notably produced by an organization closely aligned with the Democratic establishment.

“To the extent there will be moments where we have to bring clarity to what Medicare-for-all means for us on the progressive side of the house, compared to other people who want to dance around the issue, we will do that,” Nina Turner, who leads the Sanders-affiliated Our Revolution, told me. “For us, at Our Revolution, it is Medicare for all, the whole thing, for everybody in this country.”

The scars from the Obamacare reveal themselves in this debate. For all the health care law has achieved, it also showed the limits of incrementalism. Even Medicaid expansion, the closest thing the law had to a single-payer pilot, was undermined by the Supreme Court by allowing Republican-led states to refuse it. The Obamacare insurance markets have been susceptible to sabotage from Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration.

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

Yes, the uninsured rate has reached historic lows under Obamacare, but 10 percent of Americans still lack coverage. Democrats will be faced again, at some point, with a choice between a more incremental approach, like the Medicare public options introduced by some Democrats in Congress, or a sweeping overhaul like single-payer. They can put it off for a while and campaign, as Green suggests, on whatever Medicare-for-all means to voters. But eventually that debate will need to be had.

Its outcome is far from certain. Eastman, one of Medicare-for-all’s most notable champions so far in 2018, described the dilemma perfectly.

She unambiguously supports single-payer Medicare-for-all. But “with the current Congress, with the current president, is that feasible?” she said. “I think you have to be practical about what’s happening in our country.”

Yet even if she recognizes the political realities of the moment, she wants Democrats to be bolder in their agenda.

“We have to stop backing off from this issue,” Eastman said. “That’s one of the problems with the ACA. It didn’t go far enough.”

Original Source -> The “pleasant ambiguity” of Medicare-for-all in 2018, explained

via The Conservative Brief

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

Juggernaut Index, No. 26: Colts fans, fantasy owners still waiting on Andrew Luck

Hey, look who’s finally doing things with footballs. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The Indianapolis Colts will go as far this season as quarterback Andrew Luck can carry them, and it’s not yet clear that he’s capable of carrying them anywhere at all. Two weeks ago, Luck made a couple dozen short throws with footballs that weren’t quite official NFL-size and, understandably, the Colts community was pretty pumped…

IT’S HAPPENING OMG OMG pic.twitter.com/VyCR6llLRW

— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) June 12, 2018

Woo. Plan the parade route, Indy.

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free!]

As everyone knows, Luck missed the entire 2017 season following January labrum surgery. Colts news coverage over the past year-and-a-half has been a carnival ride of bogus pronouncements, wishcasting, skepticism, setbacks and wild speculation. It is, without question, a very good sign that Luck is throwing again. A great sign. Excellent news. The expectation is for Luck to develop something close to a regular season throwing routine that he can carry into camp:

“Big picture, my goal was to be able to throw as much as I need to, like on a game week,” Luck said. “A Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at practice and then Sunday, let it loose, no count, nothing. You’ve got to go and let it go. So that’s what I’m preparing for, that’s why right now I throw Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Fridays to mimic a three-day sort of practice week and then a Friday as a Sunday as a game week.”

Sounds like a solid plan. It also sounds as if Luck is beginning to feel legitimately closer to the pre-surgery version of himself. When asked if he expects to play the opener this season, he told reporters, “I’ll be playing. I believe it in my bones.”

Fantasy owners obviously can’t treat him as a sure thing, especially at a time when the quarterback position is as deep as it’s ever been. Luck’s FF Calculator average draft position seems aggressive (104.1, QB12) considering the quality and reliability of the players selected in his range. Drafting him at any price means that you will almost certainly need to roster a second playable QB. That’s not the greatest use of limited bench spots. But let’s also remember that Luck, at his absolute best, was a 4700-yard, 40-TD passer. He threw for 4240 yards and 31 scores in a year in which he played with the labrum tear. There’s little question that a healthy Luck would rank as a top-six fantasy quarterback.

If you’re still trying to talk yourself into Luck, please note that new head coach Frank Reich is fresh off a Super Bowl win as OC for the Eagles. Reich was essential in Carson Wentz’s development, plus he’s the guy who prepped Nick Foles to star in the postseason. These are good bullet points for a coaching resume.

Head coach Frank Reich was the most important offseason addition in Indy. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

We don’t have to make any final decisions on Luck’s draft value today, so let’s please keep an open mind. The recent news has been encouraging. At the very least, we shouldn’t run away from him quite the way we did last summer. His line should improve following the draft day addition of mauling guard Quenton Nelson.

The Colts’ offense was a start-to-finish mess without Luck last season, ranking dead-last in yards per play and 30th in passing. If he can’t get back to full health, none of this team’s skill players are particularly interesting for fantasy purposes.

Indy’s receiving corps is T.Y. Hilton and, um … some other dudes

T.Y. Hilton led the NFL in receiving yardage two seasons ago with Luck at the controls of the offense, catching 91 balls for 1448 yards. Last year, with Jacoby Brissett running the show (and rarely looking downfield), Hilton slipped to just 966 yards on 57 receptions. He was painfully boom-or-bust, delivering three games with 150 or more yards and a whopping eight games with 30 or fewer. Hilton is a dynamic player in his prime, 28 years old, and his chemistry with Luck is well established. He’s also a member of the best-shape-of-his-life club, which can’t hurt. If Luck gets right, Hilton will as well. His recent ADP reflects the fantasy community’s optimistic outlook on his quarterback (33.4, WR14). Hilton has never seen more than 16 red-zone targets in any season, so don’t expect a double-digit TD total.

Not surprisingly, T.Y. Hilton’s numbers took a huge nosedive without Luck. (Jeff Haynes/AP Images for Panini)

The battle for second and third-receiver duties is wide open behind Hilton — which is to say, there are no particularly intriguing candidates. Indianapolis signed the competent-if-not-spectacular Ryan Grant to a one-year deal back in March. Grant established new career highs in receptions (45), yards (573) and TDs (4) for Washington last season, but never topped 85 yards in any game. Front office fave Chester Rogers is entering his third pro season with a relatively unobstructed path to snaps and targets. Health has been an issue for him, but he’s flashed field-flipping ability a time or two — notably in a 104-yard performance against Pittsburgh last year. Rogers could be a decent what-if flier in the final rounds of deep drafts, depending on Luck’s status.

Fifth-round rookie Daurice Fountain (Northern Iowa) and sixth-rounder Deon Cain (Clemson) are in the mix as well. Both receivers have size enough to function as red-zone threats. Fountain had a superhuman pro day, posting a 42.5-inch vertical and 11-foot-2 broad jump. Cain has generated low-level buzz during the offseason, though he never actually delivered a huge season at the collegiate level. He has good speed for his size (4.43, 210), but ordinary leaping ability (33.5-inch vert). If you’d like to take a shot with one of these guys in dynasty, I’d lean Fountain. But, again, Cain is the guy who seemed to impress onlookers during OTAs.

Absurdly, tight end Jack Doyle led the Colts in receptions last year (and finished second overall at his position), hauling in 80 passes for 690 yards and four touchdowns. He was a short-range catch-and-fall receiver, ranking behind nearly all tight ends in average target distance (5.3) and yards per reception (8.6) according to Player Profiler. We can expect Indy’s offense to be far less predictable/numbing under Reich and new OC Nick Sirianni, so Doyle’s numbers should take a hit.

This team added Eric Ebron via free agency, and wow are the coaches excited about him…

“[Ebron] is really smart,” Reich said. “I knew that because we did our homework before he got here. We knew he was a smart player. But he’s like really a highly intelligent football player. And that’s really good because you want to use a guy with the versatility that he has and move him around and call all kinds of things with him. That helps. And he’s an explosive athlete.”

Detroit fans probably would have been willing to help Ebron pack his bags this spring, having seen enough drops and disappearances during his four seasons with the Lions. But it’s not unusual to see a tight end make a production leap on his second contract, so we need to keep Ebron’s name on the cheat sheet. He’s reportedly lining up everywhere in Indy’s offense. I’d prefer him to Doyle, which isn’t saying much.

Frank Gore is gone, replaced by a committee

Reich’s committee backfield in Philly was a massive success, so it should come as no surprise that he’s preparing to go RBBC with the Colts. It’s happening. No back on this team’s depth chart is obviously deserving of a featured role, so there should be little controversy regarding this potential three or four-man rotation. Marlon Mack gets a share, Robert Turbin gets a share and Ole Miss rookie Jordan Wilkins gets a share. Mack will be drafted ahead of the others (ADP 70.6, RB32), but strictly as a flex. Wilkins looks the part of an NFL back and he produced a solid year in the SEC, but he wasn’t much of a yards-after-contact runner. Pass protection is a concern as well.

Rookie running back Nyheim Hines could get interesting for PPR purposes. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The most interesting chess piece in this backfield might just be rookie Nyheim Hines, a fourth-round pick from NC State. He’s already lined up everywhere for the Colts, and it’s only June. Hines is a gifted returner, too. He’s a fun-size back (5-foot-8) who won’t make a living between the tackles, but he offers excellent speed (4.38) and receiving ability. Hines caught 89 passes over three collegiate seasons, and he ran for 1113 yards and 12 scores on 193 carries last year (5.6 YPC). He’s a name to know in PPR formats.

Of course none of these guys will be terribly exciting unless Luck is the NFL’s comeback player of the year. He’s the franchise cornerstone, the key to everything else. Let’s hope Luck can return to form, because his ceiling in a healthy season is the No. 1 player at our game’s highest scoring position.

2017 Offensive Stats & Ranks

Points per game – 16.4 (30th in NFL) Pass YPG – 180.8 (30) Rush YPG – 103.8 (22) Yards per play – 4.6 (32) Plays per game – 62.1 (23)

Previous Juggernaut Index entries: 32) Buffalo, 31) Miami, 30) NY Jets, 29) Baltimore, 28) Oakland, 27) Cleveland, 26) Indianapolis

Follow the Yahoo fantasy football crew on Twitter: Andy Behrens, Dalton Del Don, Brad Evans, Liz Loza, Scott Pianowski and Tank Williams

[zanystarlightcreator-blog]

How Kolkata Caters To Music Enthusiasts

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