#i need data for statistics for this mini-project | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thelovelyghostwriter · 4 years ago

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How many responses have you gotten so far, if I may ask?

Hello, thank you for your question. I open the Q&A if you guys want updates on the survey or any problems I'm facing.

Currently, there's 380 responses in total. [It was actually 362 last night, don’t know where I got the boost overnight, perhaps that Kurapika post]

tThere's actually 84 questions in total, but I coded it in such a way that certain questions don't appear when you indicated an option. For example, if you indicated that you are not up to date with the manga (indicating that you have read the post-Election arc AND read till Chapter 390), the questions regarding the Succession arc theories and predictions will not appear. This is why the manga readers' survey is actually longer.

Currently, 149 respondents indicated that they had read up to date, and therefore, they indicated

Another example is the shippings part. For example, if you indicated you don't ship anything, you won't see the list of ships. If you only indicated that you ship, let's say, het ships, you will only see the het ships. This is to make it easier for people to do the survey. The key is for others to not answer unnecessary questions.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about certain issues/explanations that I need to address.

The reason why I'm always emphasising the goal of 385 responses and above (400 is a good number) because based on calculations. I checked on MAL and that there are over 1.2 million who have watched HxH. The "population" in this case is the total number of people who have watched/read the series. Since some people do not have MAL, the actual population number is higher (currently, we do not know what is this exact number).

At 5% margin of error and 95% confidence level*, the ideal sample size is 385 in populations above 100K, and it doesn't change after 100K.

*I do not really know how to explain this, but don't worry too much about it.

Alright, so I'm at 380, do I still need more than 5 people?

Yes, I need more people. Why? I have three concerns:

1) I said this before, but I need more men/boys to do the survey.

As mentioned, I did not put demographic questions because my country is strict with asking people for personal data. While this survey is casual, I do not want to encounter future complications. However, I can roughly guess the gender composition of respondents because of certain questions and the way the survey was distributed.

Firstly, this survey blew up mostly on Tumblr and there’s a lot of mixed statistics. This says that 47% are female in 2021 and this other article says 72% of women use Tumblr in 2014. Anyway, most of my online (majority from Tumblr) are women and they had actively helped me sent it out to other women who likes the show as well. This same thing happened to my friends in real life.

Actually, this is one of the biggest limitations of this survey - convenient sampling, which is giving the survey to only people that we know. Our friends who may have similar views/interest will get to do the survey, but people that we are not friends with who may have a different view/interest does not get to do the survey. Their thoughts/opinions are not recorded.

Secondly, there are certain questions that makes it easy to guess for me if the respondent is a woman/man.

For example, the “which character do you simp for” question.

“nil” means they don’t simp for anyone by the way. Also, note that this is just the word cloud diagram. I will chart them manually in bar charts later on.

Usually, when someone indicates a lot of male characters, they are normally women/girls. The ones who indicated Killua Zoldyck and Gon are usually young girls. Of course, I’m not saying men won’t indicate they simp for a male character or something, but yea know, common sense a bit here. The likelihood of someone placing Chrollo being a woman/girl is higher than the respondent being a man. That also same goes for the shipping questions.

The survey is posted on Reddit that consisted of 83.1% males in the HxH area, according to the 1K survey that they had. This helped me boost more people (and possibly guys who do survey). However, I think only about 20 to 30 people did it (based on the boost I got after the Reddit thread was posted). I also had help from a large hxh IG account that had slightly more guy followers to give me a shoutout. I also went to reach out to some accounts whom I know the admin are guys.

I still need a bit more help though, because currently the survey results... I’m sensing that there are more women/girls who did it from the way the results are turning out.

Why is this important?

It’s simple. I cannot just release the results that had an uneven ratio of the gender of the respondents and claim that this is the hxh fandom. It won’t be representative of the hxh fandom population as a whole when there are many cis-men who actually had watched/read the show, and absolutely loved it. I think it’s important to hear people’s opinions, be it men, women, young, old.

Currently, I’m trying to attract more men to do the survey by designing my hxh analyses posts from Tumblr and transporting them to IG, because I realise they like these kind of posts and they get to see my bio profile (with the survey link) + post about the hxh survey. I also get to befriend some of them in the process (and also because I have long been wanting to post my hxh analyses on IG, but it’s just a hassle to make it into pretty poster designs). So win-win.

Of course, anyone is welcomed to do the survey. I just need help with “balancing” it out, so please help me by sending it to your bros, guy friends, boyfriends, fathers etc. Or if you know any social media platforms where most guys dominate, then yeah please send them. Or if you’re a guy, then yea go ahead and try the survey.

2) While the responses are 380 in total, the number of people who have read up to date is 149.

Okay, I’m not saying I need to get people who had read up to date to be 385 as well. Realistically, not sure if I can do it. However, most of the questions pertaining the Succession arc are the most interesting ones and it takes a large chunk of them.

So yes, it will be great to have more people to do the survey especially if they had read the manga so that we can have more respondents in those questions.

3) The 385 response calculation is only assuming 5% confidence level and 5% margin of error.

I don’t exactly know how to explain this, but I will try to quote for the margin of error:

“Company X surveys customers and finds that 50 percent of the respondents say its customer service is “very good.” The confidence level is cited as 95 percent plus or minus 3 percent margin of error. This information means that if the survey were conducted 100 times, the percentage who say service is “very good” will range between 47 and 53 percent most (95 percent) of the time.”

So if you put it in HxH context, with 95% confidence level, and 5% margin of error, it goes like this:

50% of respondents indicated that Bisky is their favourite HxH girl (this one is only one option). If this survey was conducted 100 times, the % of people who indicated Bisky as their favourite girl would be from 45% to 55%.

But if I actually key in 3% margin of error, the sample size goes up to 1056.

I’m willing to open the survey for 1.5 more weeks. Three reasons:

A) I will wait for more responses of course!

B) I am currently busy with my part-time student research assistant job during summer break till this week, and they are rushing to finish up the research paper. Therefore, it’ll be nice to just wait while I do my work.

C) I am planning to write up the theories that I had included in the survey. This means having a lot of time finding the links/threads to the theories and reading them, making sense of it. I plan to post it and also merge that in my report.

I’m closing the survey in 1.5 weeks because I need time to do up the charts and report by mid-August because I’m afraid I might be busy once the semester starts and I won’t have anytime to do this mini fun project.

Another thing I want to address:

Most of the time, certain options I created is based on technical reasons. The other reason is by mistake.

For mistakes, I went to fix them if someone highlights a mistake.

Now, for the technical reason. I did not appreciate this response in the NOTP section that says:

The reason why I listed out almost all ships in Hunterpedia, including the ones with a large age gap and the incest ones is simple - because it helps me chart easier when I put them into options. It also decreases the chances of nonsense answers like this one. It also places less fatigue on people doing the survey. Text boxes are only meant if the options aren’t clear or “others, please state” so that I can include people’s opinons.

The reason why I didn’t do that for the NOTP section is that I was unable to do a certain specific coding. That’s why it ended up as a text box. It’s also based on the assumption that if something is really your NOTP, you’d know and remember it.

Why do people online goes straight to trying to prove they are morally superior and whatnot, assuming that I listed the options because of my morality. You do not know me personally. It is based solely on technical reasons.

This is why I used this disclaimer:

Which part of this is not clear. You can leave, just like what I said in the beginning. Another thing is not following instructions and being rude about it.

I had also instructed clearly to list out the NOTP combinations. I even noted it clearly. Some people put “any incest/pedo ships”, which happened more than five times. What’s more, one response contained “don’t tell me what to do”.

Yes, I get it, you don’t like these type. But what you’re doing is making me guess everything, which is unproductive. If you don’t like certain ships that are common but a “taboo” like “HisoGon”, “Killumi”, then say that. If you say it generally, I’m just going to assume the ones on the Hunterpedia list.

Another thing is the “any toxic ships”. This is very vague. Often, some so-called “wholesome” common ships in hxh are toxic. Mind you, Killugon is also a toxic ship (let’s not be blind to the CA arc please, this pairing is unbalanced), yet almost everyone perceives it as wholesome. Most characters in hxh are toxic in their own ways, and for sure their canon dynamics if they are in a relationship are likely more toxic than what is often portrayed in the headcanon way. I am wondering what to do with this, I might put it as invalid or “no”.

This is why my instructions are to list them. I had already edited the question twice to make it even clearer yet there’s people who defy them. I’m not just doing the instructions out of fun or make people’s life harder. Those are instructions.

I do not understand why certain people have to feel offended/be rude at an anonymous survey.

I can understand if people don’t follow instructions because you might missed it out and I can help to chart it for you. It’s totally okay, everyone makes mistakes, but I do not appreciate the extra unsolicited comments about me because it implies that you have read them, you just chose not to follow it.

If you think there’s a better way to do it, then DM me. I will explain to you why I had done it so, or I might even change it based on your suggestion. For example, someone actually told me to add certain options and I did it. Another person suggested to add the non-romantic dynamics and I love that, though I think it’s a little too late to add that. Maybe in the next survey.

If you do not like the instructions, kindly exit the survey. Nobody is forcing you to do it. It won’t record your response if the survey is incomplete for one hour.

#hxh #hunterxhunter #gon freecss #kurapika #leorio #killua #killua zoldyck #kurapika kurta #leorio paladiknight

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apartmentsdada · 5 years ago

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Frequently asked questions Every Home Seller Should Read Before Hiring a Real Estate Agent

Before you hire a real estate agent, read the answers to your most important things. Will a property I sell myself be at a cut-throat disadvantage compared to properties sold by real estate agents? No-and in several ways, you'll have an advantage. First of all, today's buyers find their properties on the Internet on their own time. If they like your home, they're going to call you no matter what-and the odds are good that they'll possibly be happier dealing with you than with an agent. It is basically no secret that a huge number of homes are not selling as well as expire before the agent ever gets the home sold. Instigate a Google search and you'll see the amount of training material the estate industry offers to teach their agents how to influence sellers to renew their listings for a year. There isn't an magic in what a real estate agent does. To give you an example of the key benefits of selling your home yourself, think about signs. When you list using an agent, they get to place a mini billboard into your yard that includes a tiny bit of advertising for your home and a large number of advertising for their company. The whole industry should have moved to customized signs a long time ago-but they haven't. You will find a significant advantage by tailoring your on-the-ground marketing propose to your home, including your FOR SALE sign. Do homes sell just for more when listed with a real estate agent? That's what any National Association of Realtors funded by real estate agents states, but there's no independent data to support their statistics. In case a real estate agent tells you they can get you more money for your home, keep these things bring you a buyer; if they can't, they need to leave you will alone to sell your house. Far too many listings handled by providers expire, unsold. An agent's opinion is not going to get your place sold. It's easy for people to make guesses and conjectures, but to win in today's market, you have to deal with hard information. How much time and effort is this really going to take? You will need about as much time to sell your house as it takes to make sure you plan a long vacation. The marketing side requires one of the most time up front, but once you've gathered your facts, the software shouldn't take you more than a few hours to get your online marketing plan started. You'd have to gather that same advice for an agent, if you used one. And the process has long been streamlined for you on sites like simpleandsold. com. For anybody who is skeptical, take the amount you'd pay in commission towards a real estate agent and divide it by the number of hours you will need to plan a vacation. The result should help you see that occasion you put into selling your house will be time well expended. A real estate agent told me it would be dangerous to sell my own home, because I'd be letting strangers in my house all the time. Should I be worried? Unfortunately, you're going to have to let strangers in your home to offer it. But you would have to do this with or without a real estate professional, so this is almost a moot point. Remember that you can clear your home any way you want: you can take down information for safeness purposes; you can schedule your viewing appointments so that you will never be alone in the house; and you have the right to stop the process if you become uncomfortable with a person's presence. This is something sometimes real estate agents face. Do I need to use a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to see the exposure I need for my home? First, you should understand what MLS is. It was not designed as a marketing place for homes; rather, it's a simple way for brokers for you to negotiate compensation with each other, so that Real Estate Agent A can convey to Real Estate Agent B, "Sell my listing and I will spend you X. " Period. My local MLS, that has been named #1 in the country, is still way behind the times. The software allows me to upload approximately eight tiny (two-by-two-inch) pictures and about three sentences of description. I'm not really allowed to link to anything. How is that a viable selling tool? Look at Zillow, Trulia, and Yahoo! Real Estate will probably see how much the MLS has been eclipsed. It's turned into just an outdated method for real estate agents to protect their lawn. Some systems are not even Mac compatible. With Straight forward and Sold, you can put your home up for enjoying on hundreds of websites, and you can add up to thirty-six large, high-definition photos in your listing. You can have paragraphs of description with regards to your home. You can attach listing brochures and other files, which will interested buyers can view online or download. You can add background music or a voice-over about your property's features; you possibly can provide links to area schools and anything else you'd like. What is the NAR? NAR stands for the National Connections of Realtors, the lobbying group listed at #4 on opensecrets. org's list of political heavy hitters. Oahu is the organization about which Joe Nocera of the New York Conditions once wrote: "You have to wonder sometimes what there're smoking over there at the National Association of Real estate agents. " According to Bloodhound Realty Blog, The NAR seems to have stayed under the radar while doing a monstrous amount of difficulties for the economy, the housing market, and most importantly, the consumer. Bloodhound Realty Blog states (this blog does a great project of exposing the NAR), "It was the NAR that lobbied for each law and rule change who resulted in the housing boom, the sub-prime lending failure, the wanton bundling of fraudulent loans, the recurring subsidization of the secondary mortgage market, etc . The bad guy behind all the villains in the collapse of the American market is the National Association of Realtors. " "The properties licensing laws, written in their original form by the NAR, exist to limit competition in real estate brokerage, eradicating alternative sources of real estate brokerage to artificially sustain more significant commissions for NAR brokers" John Crudele of the Los angeles Post recently stated: "The real estate industry lives through motto: "location, location, location. " Next week it'll be recognized for "deception, deception, deception. " People want comprehend and the NAR is deceiving the public all to save the particular sacred real estate commission. Crudele also reports: "The Countrywide Association of Realtors admitted that it has been reporting damaging figures on sales... Jeez! Tell the truth!... The Agents aren't doing the country any favors by sugar-coating his or her stats... and the people at NAR don't seem to be bothered by your practice. " Don't most people trust real estate agents to get individuals the best deal? Unfortunately, people don't trust them. From the most recent Gallup poll, they ranked lower than bankers and yet higher than congressmen in terms of ethics. In all fairness, it's not typically the behavior of real estate agents that has been unethical; it's the way the organization, the NAR, has worked to block their contest. As I see it, and as most Americans see it, competition is ideal for the competent. You own your home, so you should have the choice selling it any way you choose. The NAR got a general population slap on the wrist in 2008 from the Justice Agency when the organization tried to stop real estate agents without a physical clinic from participating in MLS. The Justice Department had to sue the NAR to allow mobile, internet-based brokers-the kind what person operate from laptops and Starbucks instead of fancy offices-to practice their trade. I think the NAR should be embarrassed of making taxpayers pay for this lawsuit, which (in the text of the DOJ itself) "requires NAR to allow Internet-based readily available real estate brokers to compete with traditional brokers. " The Team said the settlement would enhance competition in the realty brokerage industry, giving consumers more choice, better services, and lower commission rates. NAR is now bound because of a ten-year settlement to ensure that it continues to abide by the requirements of your agreement. But don't Realtors operate under a Prefix of Ethics? Ironically, the NAR emphasizes a "Code of Ethics" for all its members-but at the same time, they have been labeled on the carpet for deceptive statistics on homes revenues. In my opinion, anyone who needs an organization to tell them easy methods to be ethical probably doesn't understand the code regarding ethics that they're swearing to uphold.

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douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years ago

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OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT MEN

If you use a threshold, make it through a PhD program in physics at Berkeley to do this is to treat some as more interesting than others. I've mentioned here. But I know the power of the forces that generate them.1 CEOs, movie stars, hedge fund managers, professional athletes. But companies do.2 For years I've been telling founders that the surest route to success is to be actively persecuted. Just as you can and watch what it's doing. And so the kids become one another's opponents. But in both cases the default is something worse.

It feels that way for everyone.3 And anyone who makes the same mistakes probably didn't do it. I can't think of them is that when you look at an incoming mail you find more interesting tokens, meaning those with probabilities far from. It's hard to imagine a topic less interesting than symbolism in Dickens. The most common is to grant patents that shouldn't be granted.4 By conventional standards, Jobs and Wozniak must have had to work in a place where there was infrastructure for startups, big companies are extremely good at denial. But there might be things that appealed particularly to men, or to prevent you from competing with them, but nowadays data about who gets selected is often publicly available to anyone who takes the trouble to attack them from an oblique angle, they'll meet you half-way and maneuver to keep you in their blind spot.5 Instead IBM ended up using all its power in the market to give Microsoft control of the PC standard in their lap. 9198 Url free 0. And yet you can see and fix it in yours; imitate writers you like; if you want to patent an algorithm, you have a big advantage.6

If this paradigm is crowded, just wait for the next Bill Gates.7 There's no manipulation in that. I now had to write in school is that a real essay, you already know most of what you need to learn to watch from a distance. Ideally, no one will return your phone calls. One wrote: While I did enjoy developing for the iPhone, you could presumably get them to switch.8 Chardin decided to skip all that and paint ordinary things as he saw them. And unless the forms of technological progress that produced these things are subject to different laws than technological progress in general, just as an engraver needs the resistance of an audience, just as they do for standardized tests?9

They found that even when the radiologists missed a cancerous lesion, their eyes had usually paused at the site of it.10 Even the newest apprentice could be a problem. The way you get big returns is not by trying to ensure you get some of the time we were all, students and teachers both, just going through the usual channels to become one yourself, and perhaps whether you want to take money from, if you can arrange that we keep hearing from you, you won't have any artists. Another way of saying: we don't like your type around here.11 For tokens that occur only in the sciences that heresy pays off. Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked?12 Both self-control and experience have this effect: to eliminate the random biases that come from your own circumstances, and tricks played by the artist. Which topics engage people's identity depends on the people rather than ideas. Before that, kids' lives are dominated by their parents, not by other kids.

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, says the Old Testament Proverbs 17:28. And if you feel you have to choose projects that can keep them all busy. I ignored the headers too.13 And practically all startups, even the smallest minorities can achieve a critical mass if they clump together.14 You already know where you're going, and you need some ability to ferret out the unexpected? The huge volume of the spam, which has so far worked in the spammer's favor, would now work against him, like a digital image rendered with more pixels. You plonk down a bunch of startups die. The needs of customers and the means of satisfying them are all in one head is to focus on real work.

Notes

The greatest damage that photography has done to their returns.

If your income tax rate is 10%, moving to Monaco would give you term sheets.

Cell phone handset makers are satisfied to sell early for us, they have zero ability to change the world of the most surprising things I've learned about VC inattentiveness. The way to do is say you've reformed, and that he be spared. Moving large amounts of money. Google is not to pay employees this way that makes you a question you don't know of any that died from releasing something full of bugs, and suddenly they need to do with the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Edgar v.

I could pick them, initially, were ways to help a society generally is to write your dissertation in the next round, no one is harder, the government. As Clinton himself discovered to his house, the only way to be their personal IT consultants, building anything they could be adjacent. This is what you do in a difficult position.

There is nothing you can do to get significant numbers of users comes from. In the Daddy Model that it refers to instant ramen, which shoppers used to do the startup after you, they'll have big bags of cumin for the future, and graph theory.

We currently advise startups mostly to ignore competitors. If an investor they already know; but random is pretty bad. I've also heard them called Mini-VCs.

Lecuyer, Christophe, Making Silicon Valley it seemed thinkable to start software companies constrained in a couple predecessors.

It took a shot at destroying Boston's in the life of a severe-looking little box with a neologism. In fairness, I would go farther in saying that good paintings must have been lured into this sort of idea are statistics about fundraising is a meaningful idea for human audiences. It's worth taking extreme measures to avoid sticking. Super-angels gradually to erode.

If he's bad at it he'll work very hard and doesn't get paid much.

The angels had convertible debt is a facebook exclusively for college students. See particularly the mail by Anton van Straaten on semantic compression.

Because it's better and it has to their stems, but they seem like noise.

92. It would probably be a problem later. Which in turn the most successful startups looked when they decide on the summer of 1914 as if the potential users, however, by doing another round that values the company.

So if you're attacked in this article are translated into Common Lisp for, believe it, I'm not saying that if colleges want to.

Or you make money from mediocre investors almost all do, I'll have people nagging me for features. Except text editors and compilers.

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gwiiyeoweo · 6 years ago

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Prompto Besithia takes after his father.

Noctis Caelum takes what he can.

Pairing: Prompto/Noctis Rating: M for theme Warning: TWs for abuse, manipulation, unhealthy relationships, unhealthy co-dependency

“Gonna run some more tests tonight.”

“Be prudent and don’t waste your only sample.”

Prompto Besithia grins around his spoon, a beguiling smile that hides sharp teeth and a wicked tongue. His eyes though, crinkle in genuine amusement, despite the artificial flavor that clings to the lab-grown meat and grains. They haven’t quite perfected it, certain chemicals and aftertastes still lingering despite their progress, but no one has complained. Not when the Besithias had single-handedly averted a famine and nationwide crisis, had even been awarded such sigh honors by the Emperor himself. Iedolas is something of a cuckoo — hell, even more bonkers than Prompto’s dad — but everyone seems to play into the whole “all hail the great emperor” and “long live Niflheim” and whatever patriotic mess Caligo spouts out every other sentence. Everyone but the two mad scientists keeping them alive, naturally.

“C’mon, have a little more faith,” Prompto nearly whines, mouth full of half-eaten mush. It’s not that bad, honestly; it nearly tastes like the real thing, but he can still get the hints of trace metals and ammonia. Some illogical part of him said it’s the whole psychological thing messing with his taste buds, because he knows he’s artificial himself so it almost feels like cannibalism, considering he's the result of a scientific marriage between splicing genes and bacterial cultures, the DNA coming from none other than Verstael Besithia himself. A clone — one of many — rather than a son, sprouted in a test tube and harvested from a glass chamber as a toddler. “I’ve done well so far, haven’t I?”

But through some mutation, through evolution, he came out on top, proved he wasn’t destined to be a brainless MT ready to have an aimbot program downloaded into his brain. He was sentient and, to Verstael’s utter delight, had a savage thirst for knowledge and discovery just like his father. So now, rather than some expendable hunk of twisted metal ready to be turned into frazzled wires and aluminum scraps, he sits at the dinner table and talks lab tests and future projects, a leading figure in Niflheim’s rapidly advancing technology, along with father Verstael. And if they actually share some genuine father-son sentiments here and there, that’s a plus.

“A reminder to keep it like that, then.” Verstael sits across from him, cutting into an unassuming steak drenched in a thin brown sauce. He looks up, hands stilling for a moment, to level a look of disapproval at Prompto. Not for any particular failures or mishaps in the lab but for his son’s lack of table manners.

Prompto acknowledges it by shutting his mouth and gulping his food down, staring right back and licking the grin on his lips. It’s jarring, really, how similar they look. Verstael is graying a bit, with lines set around his mouth and crow’s feet spreading from his eyes, but they’re nearly identical. It’s a given, considering he’s a literal clone, but he wonders just how much of his DNA mutated; there are small differences, little bits he’s still trying to search and find, like how his freckles are just a bit darker and spread out or how his eyes have just a touch more purple in them. (Or how Prompto’s voice is more of a tenor than his father’s baritone, he once lamented.) The common folk just think how wonderful it is for the son to be the spitting image of his father, and Prompto really can’t help but laugh whenever he hears them say it.

They couldn’t be more further from nor closer to the truth.

As they peruse over data and statistics, Prompto chiming in to ask how Verstael’s latest batch of upgraded magitek soldiers were doing, he foregoes the rest of his dinner and pushes it away, picking up a new clean plate to gather the various desserts onto. If his father rolls his eyes at that, he doesn’t acknowledge it in favor of piling his plate high with a few mini pies and cream puffs, the sugar overload enough to mask whatever artificial flavoring they have yet managed to fix.

“Y’know, I could say the same thing to you too, daddy-o.” Prompto waves a half-bitten cupcake in the air, ignoring the white mustache frosting he’s acquired. “You and that Adagium guy.”

He says it amicably enough, keeps his tone light and cheery, but there’s a definite challenge hidden in his words. A dare, or a threat. As if to say, ‘Look who’s talking. Stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours.’

Verstael narrows his eyes, the only visible sign of offense he’s taken — or maybe that’s pride at such audacity, since Prompto, as much of a genius he is, still has trouble figuring his father out sometimes. Both, maybe. "Yes, well," he says, dabbing the corner of his mouth with a napkin, "I've no need to fear my specimen of dying, unlike yours who — might I remind you — is very mortal.”

"Touché,” Prompto concedes, licking off the cupcake frosting from his fingers. He lifts his dessert plate into the air, giving it a lazy slow wave at his father, and pushes his chair back to stand. "But like you said, he's mortal. So time to go feed him before he starves to death."

"You spoil him."

"But it's working, isn't it?" His eyes glint with something cunning and dangerous. "Treat 'im nice enough and he'll never want to leave."

"Conditioned him like a goldfish, then? Have him swimming to you at just the sight of food?"

"Nah, pops.” Prompto laughs, filled with mirth, as he exits the dining room. “At the sight of me. "

He walks on glass, reinforced and strengthened to hold up against all the weight of machinery, equipment, and a small horde of visiting scientists coupled with bodyguard MTs. The old lab has long been repurposed to serve as an aquarium and observation room, the entire floor pulled apart and dug into the level below, to make a livable space for his most prized experiment. He stops at an edge, where the glass tapers off to saltwater, and he leans over to skim a finger across the surface.

Below, he sees movement behind the few tank decorations he's allowed in — a few shells and plants, a low archway salvaged from some bleached dead coral, and an extra-large air stone in the corner. For such a large aquarium, that spans the entire length of the laboratory, it’s barren; no tankmates to keep company except for the single crab skittering about the sand, which goes darting off once a large dark fin nearly topples it over.

Prompto sees the tail first, a midnight blue so deep it’s almost black, with lighter scar tissue ribbed across the scales, marring the once sleek skin with raised bumps and cuts. Wounds too precise and surgical to be accidental injuries. Then, the same dark hair that frames a pale face, some locks keeping close, while others free flow like a bastardized crown around him. Eyes peer up at him, blinking owlishly, followed by a quiet smile. When the creature swims up to meet him at the surface, hands gently holding onto the edge of the glass for purchase, Prompto smiles back. The sight warms his cold, half-mechanical heart.

"I brought you snacks, Noct.” He sits on his haunches and hands over a mini fruit tart.

Noctis takes it gratefully with both hands and takes a tentative sample, unsure of the flavors hidden within all the sugary glaze and cream. But the first bite proves passable at least, and he eats the rest without reserve, even licking the crumbs off his too sharp nails.

Prompto catches the whites of his fangs, of all his fangs — two rows of pearly teeth chiseled into razors, that could cut flesh off bones like a molten knife through butter. Noctis would probably like meat sometime soon. Proper meat, not the lab-grown things. He wonders if anyone’s been on the Emperor’s shitlist lately, and if His Excellency would like them to quietly disappear in an unfortunate lab accident. If not, he’s sure there’s some old Galahdian rebels rotting away in their cells.

He handfeeds the last dessert to Noctis, the dear thing making sure none of his teeth even scrape the skin of Prompto’s hand. He brushes the backs of his fingers against Noctis’ cheek, and if the boy could purr, he certainly would, especially with how he chases for Prompto’s touch. The water’s kept at a consistent five degrees Celsius, too cold for any man but just right for the mer, who insisted it was always too hot until Prompto figured out the sweet spot; yet still, Noctis chases after that physical warmth. A little touch-starved, according to Prompto’s theory, considering there’s not much to be offered to one confined in a lonesome underground aquarium. Also, a theory he believes to be fact, and one he’s been taking full advantage of.

When Prompto stands and heads toward the cabinets and drawers adorning the sterile white walls, Noctis heaves himself up from the water in one effortless motion and sits at the edge, leaving most of his tail to wade in the tank. Prompto glances back to see him wait patiently, though he notices his claws clicking rhythmically against the glass — a nervous tick. Noctis looks below, eyes probably following the single crab walking across the sand or perhaps watching the plants waving to and fro, but Prompto doesn’t need to see his face to know.

Noctis never likes this part, but he gives himself up willingly. Whatever Prompto asks of him, be it a drop of blood or a pound of flesh, his darling thing offers it. He remembers when he first introduced the idea, painting his plan with a white coat of innocence, and asked the young boy if he’d be willing to let Prompto “help” him. But Noctis is no fool; he knows the ulterior motives the young scientist had at the time, and still has, though neither has ever spoken anything directly of it. It’s a part of the game they play, these rounds of make-believe they both fool themselves into: Prompto an adoring childhood friend, Noctis a scarred castaway looking for comfort. He gives, Prompto takes. An unfair trade, perhaps, but at least he’s not entirely heartless and offers rewards where they’re due.

Prompto does, after all — despite his skewed moral compass and enthusiasm to experiment on his own friend — hold a certain genuine affection for Noctis, as twisted as it may be.

"This'll be quick today, promise," Prompto half lies. He doesn't know how long it'll actually take; maybe he'll see something interesting and take more samples, maybe he'll be satisfied with the findings and need no more for the night. What he does know, however, is that Noctis will suffer through each ticking second of it all, with no more than a mild squirm or a quiet wince. He places all his things on a spotless surgical tray — new scalpels, some vials and syringes, tissue forceps, eye needles for the sutures — and brings it with him to Noctis.

This time, Prompto comes up next to him, ignoring the wet spots that drip from Noctis and onto the glass, and sits to his side. He doesn't care for how the water soaks through the back of his pants; it comes with the territory anyhow, and he settles the steel tray in between them to take off his shoes and socks before dipping his feet into the cold water beneath. Goosebumps crawl up his skin, not only from the near-freezing temperature but also from the slick tail that brushes against his ankle. Noctis holds power underneath those muscles and a definite swiftness in his limbs. He could wrap his tail around that ankle and drag him to drown in the very tank he had built, but Prompto holds every confidence that he won’t.

He tears open an iodine packet, and Noctis tenses in a conditioned response, knowing and expecting what’s to come. He doesn’t run, doesn’t move until Prompto tells him what he wants though.

“Hmmm.” Prompto clicks the plastic and cracks the iodine scrub, releasing the antiseptic throughout the swab, and hovers it over Noctis’ forearm where the pectoral fins meet human skin. “What are we gonna check out first?”

He’s quick to change his mind, though, and moves to the hip, where tender flesh blends seamlessly into dull scales. Prompto’s been wanting to do a cross-section of the cells there, to see just where the human half ends and the Hydraean DNA splices itself in, and add it to his little box of prepared specimens.

“Be good, like always?” Prompto offers a cold smile, and scrubs the area in a circular motion. The orange-brown antiseptic bleeds in between the cracks of the scales, and he suspects the red will follow their paths soon enough.

Noctis nods, once and slowly, and he stares at Prompto, keeping his eyes away from the scalpels and tweezers on the tray. “I will.”

There’s that odd look again, that indiscernible secret hidden in that stormy gaze of his. Prompto hasn’t figured it out yet, what it means, and Noctis has yet to make any motion to speak of it. It’s certainly not fear or anger, nor is it loathing or hatred. He once wondered if it was love, but Noctis has never held his affection in secret; he gives it like he’s running a charity, yet desires it like a beggar across the street. There's something… Calculating and determined from what Prompto can figure out, but the rest is shut tight behind those cold blue eyes of his.

'Maybe,' he thinks, as he stares right back at Noctis, 'if I can dissect those pretty little eyes, I can figure it out.'

It would be easy. He knows Noctis would give up his sight just to keep Prompto by his side. And the idea of that, all so suddenly, strikes him as funny. Because really, Prompto is the one keeping him, not the other way around. Noctis is the one tethered here, trapped inside a freezing tank with no one but Prompto to call his only company and the only reason he's still alive and not beheaded because Iedolas had deemed the crippled Prince as useless.

Thirty seconds are up, and he flicks the iodine scrub across the room, where it lands cleanly inside a biohazard bin.

"Lie down." He gently pushes one hand on Noctis' shoulder, and the boy obeys readily, pressing his back against the cold glass beneath them. He even slides himself out of the water a bit more, to offer Prompto more of his own body to poke and prod and cut, despite knowing and hating the pain of knives and needles.

Noctis is a darling thing, and Prompto loves him all the more for it. He picks up a scalpel, light glinting off the cold steel, and he leans over to comfort Noctis' trembling with a kiss to his collarbone, where the pale skin stretches itself thin and taut. He holds the blade just above the hip, the edge barely touching skin and scales.

"Love you, Noct."

He cuts away with surgical precision, all while Noctis bites into the back of his fist and silences his cries.

He's seven and cold and scared and a pile of broken bones drowning in his own blood, when steel-faced soldiers gather him from under a corpse and haul him away to Niflheim.

It's an uphill battle, and his consciousness stumbles and slips, and all he wants is for them to let him sleep. Even if his father isn't here, Noctis can at least find comfort in his dreams and in the safety net of Carbuncle's domain. But they don't let him. They hook him up to wires and noisy machines that beep at him incessantly. At some points, all he knows is a dark warm void, when the beeping stops and goes into a straight high-pitched drone, but he's always stolen from his comforting cocoon by a bolt of electricity that fires up his nerves and has his muscles spasming.

If there's pain, he's not really aware of it.

Until he finally wakes up from his coma, and he's a screaming mess until someone dressed in white sticks a needle into him, missing his thin veins twice before finally hitting it home.

The next time he wakes, he's awfully numb, and turning his neck feels like turning the rusted cogs of a broken machine. He sees a boy, who looks the exact opposite of him, with his blonde hair and little freckles and violet-blue eyes. They stare at each other in silence, the blonde boy never even blinking, and the expressionless face makes him think the he must be a realistic doll rather than a human being.

But then he talks. And if Noctis wasn't paralyzed — it's weird and uncomfortable, he thinks, that he can't feel anything in his legs, but the haze of his mind keeps him from going any further than that — he’d probably jump out of his own skin at the sound.

“Good morning. I’m Prompto Besithia.”

Those few short words sound like the beginnings of a voicemail. It’s too telegraphed, sounds too rehearsed, but Noctis latches onto them like the desperate child that he is. Mechanical doll or not, he's the only one to actually talk to him or offer anything close to human contact, and Noctis is alone and scared of his own shadow.

So Prompto becomes the only constant in his life, well, aside from the suffering under Niflheim’s emperor.

Noctis wasn’t rescued because Aldercapt had a kind heart and was seeking to make amends with Lucis, unlike the fairytale endings his father used to read to him. (He cries over the bittersweet memories until he runs out of grief to feel.) He learns too quickly the ulterior motives the mad king has, that it was all his doing Noctis had almost died that day and why his governess and a crew of Crownsguard were all murdered by a daemon’s hand.

Because if Aldercapt couldn’t get his hands on the Crystal or the King guarding it, the Prince was his next best bet.

Noctis can do nothing but play the exalted guinea pig for them. He’s small, defenseless, and crippled, and a seven-year-old boy can only do so much thrashing before those hands and vice grips hold him and strap him down onto the steel table, or sedate him with a merciless syringe and plop him into some machine and dig wires into his flesh.

He can’t understand the jargon the scientists speak, but he understands the gist of things. If Regis holds a direct tether to the Crystal, then his son should hold some sort of power over it as well, and that tie may be just what Aldercapt needs to get his hands on the Lucian treasure.

Thus.

He’s seven when his world is ripped away from him, his father a distant memory of a life now gone, when he sees his little crown bathe in the blood of his friends and guards and melt in the flames of the Marilith. When his hand-tailored clothes are replaced with rough open-backed gowns on the best of days, and when he’s left to shiver in the cold in nothing but his own skin on the worst of days.

He’s ten when he gives up hope that his father will come and rescue him, shining in a halo of power and surrounded by dozens of ancient weapons.

He’s eleven when he gives up entirely, and he cries only so he can feel something other than the needles and shocks of their electric prongs.

He’s fifteen when they give up. And Noctis foolishly thinks this is it, that he’s going to die now because they’ve found no use of him, and he thinks it's a blessing to finally be free of them. He doesn’t have the tie to the Crystal their emperor went mad for, and Aldercapt's patience has only grown thin with each passing year his researchers have no results to show for, lopping off one head for every month there's nothing. Noctis lost count after the twentieth-something rolled across the tile floor in a trail of blood, lips slightly parted and still glistening eyes staring right at him.

Through the near eight years spent in this freezing hellhole, Noctis has the small comfort that was Prompto Besithia, an outlier in the older Besithia's cloning labs, Noctis had learned. Prompto had no issues detailing his life's story, proudly explaining his origins as a single cell living with a Scourge sample in his neighborhood petri plate to moving into a giant test tube and busting out of it as a toddler. Half-human, half-machine, he once said of himself, pointing at his head and mentioning a computer processor in there.

But out of every damn sadist who Noctis had the displeasure of meeting, Prompto was the most human out of all of them. He snuck into his isolation room, held Noctis' hand through the worst of the fevers and delirium, brought him pictures and small gifts and stories of the world outside the lab. Sometimes, Verstael — Prompto's "father" — hitched along, and Noctis could easily see the family resemblance despite the years separating the pair. Verstael headed a different department, his studies and research devoted to machines and weaponry, but he somehow had special clearance granting him an all access pass, even to the project concerning the torture of a small prince.

Verstael never showed remorse or pity, Noctis never expected him to.

But when the man shows up today, along with the damned Emperor himself, while the scientists do their regular poking and prodding with his skin and bones — while he's fully conscious for fuck’s sake — Noctis gets the first surprise in a long while.

Because he expects to die, to be tossed down the chute with the scattered remains of failed MTs, since he's been deemed useless and a waste of precious lab resources. The Emperor is here today because he's finally had it, and his workers are pathetic wormbrains who can't tell the difference between a scalpel and a bulldozer, so he's going to save everyone the trouble by finally putting the poor boy out of his misery.

And the kicker? Noctis only lives because Verstael vouches for him — rather, he asks for a hand-me-down toy to gift his son.

Prompto even pops his head out from behind Verstael's fluttering lab coat. “If you don’t want him anymore," he says, trying to nail the final head on the coffin, "just give ‘im to me. I’m sure I can get at least something.”

Noctis wants to cry, to laugh. He wants to die and live all at once, and he can't even make the decision for himself now that his fate is once again in the hands of another. Instead of blood, he tastes betrayal and relief on his tongue.

He never really had any doubts.

He may not have known when his next meals would be, if they'd just feed him intravenously with cocktails of nutrients and supplements, or if they were just going to run some biopsies or take so many blood samples to nearly run him dry. He may not have known what day would be his last, or if his hours were numbered or set on an infinite timeline.

But what he does know, is that Prompto Besithia cannot be given a modicum of trust. And in that knowledge, with the facts he lumped together with the most basic rules of reality, he finds comfort and stability and control.

Prompto never lies, because he has no reason to. He has power and rank and prestige, and those three are enough to get him almost anything he wants in all of Niflheim. He does what he enjoys, goes where the cold winds of Shiva’s corpse sway him to, follows his own whimsies of the day and pursues it relentlessly. But while he does not lie, he dresses his harsh truths in such frills and delicate colors, and offers his poisons surrounded by sweets and silver.

When they first met, Noctis a scared and hurt child and Prompto a curious half-boy, Noctis took whatever form of security and comfort that he could. He didn’t care that this Prompto was Niflheim-born, didn’t question why a young little thing could roam in and out and about the classified lab base as he pleased. He didn’t care what form or origin it came in, so long as he could find something, anything to help keep himself from shattering under the suffocating weight of fear and despair.

He devoured whatever companionship Prompto offered, listened to whatever spiel he chattered on about, counted the minutes and seconds that passed until the boy would wander in again with a trinket or fragment of his science project for that day. He ignored the dim light of red in his pupils, whenever his eyes seemed to catch the overhead fluorescent lights at just the right angle, and pretended Prompto was just a fellow child looking for companionship and offering his mercies.

Noctis always knew — felt it like a tiny thorn stuck under his fingernail — that it was all wrong. He suspected that the Niffs, Aldercapt or the scientists or whoever, were simply using Prompto as a way to worm their way into his good graces, a Trojan horse who was offered as a friend but housed a parasite to break down his defenses from the inside. Throw him into despair, dangle that spider’s thread of hope, and let Noctis wish and believe just to weaponize it and bend him even more to their will.

And if that was truly their intention, they won. He knew. He knew they couldn’t be trusted, knew Prompto and his too clear eyes and plastic smile held secrets and self-driven motivations, but Noctis was so driven into desperation that he forced himself to play along. He needed to survive, to live and see his father and friends and Insomnia again, and he could only last so long without losing his sanity. He needed to bend lest he break , and if that meant bending his own mind and dancing along to their piper’s song, then he’d delude himself into believing.

So he pretended. He pretended Prompto was a curious boy and not in service to the Emperor, pretended their friendship was genuine and not a game of house, pretended that there was still hope to be had when there was nothing but darkness ahead.

But no matter how much he tried to convince himself, he could only run on the fumes of hope for so long. He gave up the idea of a future, of reuniting with his friends and kingdom, so he gave himself over to their cruel hands and let them play with him as they wished, waiting for the day Aldercapt would tire of him.

And of course, when that chance finally came, Prompto — in both mercy and cruelty — snatched up the rights to Noctis' life before they could be tossed into the garbage.

So Noctis sits here, in a room far too reminiscent of his childhood, with its fine draperies and soft carpet and trims of gold among the reds and whites of Niflheim’s colors. He sits on the bed, his back against the headboard and his unfeeling legs spread over the smooth sheets, while Prompto digs through his closet and starts picking out shirts and pants to fit Noctis in. He sits and watches, wonders what game they're to play, if Prompto will continue to be that endearing and cheerful companion while Noctis the pitiful and meek charity case, and decides there's no point in thinking about it when he convinces himself this make-believe is reality. It's the only way he can go on, to put on his rose-colored glasses and act as if he's relieved to escape death. To be thankful that Prompto took away his well-deserved rest.

“Y’know how a long time ago, dad found Ifrit hibernating in some volcano? We found Leviathan in Ulei Trench, just a little ways west of Altissia.”

When Prompto returns to him one day, bearing a plate of dubious-looking fruit and word of a grand discovery, Noctis receives the news he's been waiting for. Prompto doesn't betray his expectations either, and he delivers his grand tidings with such finesse and hope that Noctis almost believes the honesty in them.

“I sort of got dibs on her, since dad and Adagium’s been playing around with Ifrit. And I want to try something new.” He hands Noctis an apple, the skin such an artificial and unsettling red, but when Noctis curls his fingers around it, Prompto wraps both his hands around Noctis’. His hands aren’t cold, not like they once were, now that Prompto’s learned how to regulate his body temperature to a perfect thirty-seven Celsius; but just like everything surrounding Prompto, it’s too perfect and calculated that he may as well have his plastic cold touch again because it’s far less unsettling.

Prompto applies just the right amount of pressure, cupping Noctis’ hand in near reverence and with such gentleness to make him believe, and he stares into his own reflection. That gaze is too tender, too practiced, like Prompto knows just how much conviction and warmth he needs to earn Noctis’ trust.

Which is laughable, really, because Prompto will never get it. Instead, he’ll get something better: obedience.

It’s here, where Noctis looks at the lines he’s drawn: the delicate boundaries of what is his, what is not, what will be, and what will be lost. He finds himself at these crossroads, more times than he cares to, and wonders just how far he’s willing to go. Here, now, he has Prompto. Here, Noctis is his object of attention, his diamond in the rough to polish or crack, a blank canvas to paint or rip apart; and for now, it’s all Noctis needs to keep Prompto tied to him. And he has no intention of letting Prompto throw him away. Not yet, not when Prompto has no right to.

For when Prompto decided he was going to keep Noctis, Noctis decided he was going to keep Prompto — by whatever means necessary. This is his revenge, because if Prompto wanted to play this game and coat everything in sickly fine sugar, then Noctis was going to take every damn thing he had to offer and weave their lives in barbed wire if he had to.

“Do whatever you want. I’m yours.” Noctis says it simply enough, but he has Prompto eating out of his palms.

It’s cute, how Prompto words it as if he’s giving Noctis a choice, but he knows there’s never really an option. There’s nothing stopping him from playing with Noctis as he sees fit, to cut and slice like the other previous researchers did, but he keeps up with the appearances of a “childhood friend” like he’s made for it. He even offers his reasoning as a plan specifically made for Noctis’ benefit.

“It’ll be a long process. We gotta fix up your spine first, see what needs replacing or not, then we can get to the fun part,” Prompto explains. Noctis doesn’t feel the way his fingers run up and down his legs, paralyzed and unfeeling as they are, but he sees the way his hands like to still at his thighs and knees. He recognizes that look, the way his gaze doesn’t speak of affection or love but rather of numbers and charts and formulas.

“They might not be legs, in the end, but you’ll be able to move. Doesn’t that sound like a fun idea?”

There he goes again, phrasing his words like Noctis even gets a choice. But he plays along anyway, nods his head, and that’s all the consent either of them need.

It starts gently, simple blood tests to check compatibility, a few minor skin samples here and there. Noctis doesn't bother to hold his breath though, and he waits with silent conviction for the day Prompto walks in with a whole cart of vials, forceps, and whatever mad scientists like to use. He's had worse — perhaps not physically (yet), but mentally. All during that time he had let those researchers tear him apart, he held hope and a miserable wish, and each passing day made his heart rend itself. Now there's no expectation to shatter, no tears to shed over broken promises and lofty dreams.

But when Prompto takes an agonizingly long time to take that plunge, Noctis makes the decision for him and takes them both over the edge, grabbing him at his collar and dragging him down to eye level.

“Stop beating around the bush. I know what you want, and you know what I want. I’m done playing this round of the game. ”

Noctis trades flesh and blood for false comforts and plastic warmth; Prompto trades sweet smiles and gentle touches for each pound and pint. It’s easier to play when both of them find their roles, and they become grand actors in their own rights. Sometimes, Noctis even fools himself.

His skin itches, layers peeling and sloughing off like an infection eating away at him. There’s dried blood underneath his fingernails, where he scratches and tears despite the heat of pain that follows, and Prompto has to physically restrain him to keep himself from further damage. His neck, ribs, and arms are the worst, where his darkened skin seem to be inflamed but take on a dark blue hue with raised bumps. Raised scales. Prompto makes sure to take daily skin biopsies and blood samples.

His neck aches, and breathing becomes a conscious effort. Where his carotid arteries are, his skin breaks in two large gashes, and Prompto dutifully cleans the wounds and packs them with sterile dressings. It feels like a breath of fresh air when it’s time to re-do his packing, whenever the gauze is plucked out from them like a rubber stopper. Noctis can’t help but feel how stiff it feels to turn his neck, and even the strongest analgesics only take the edge off the burning pain. Still, Prompto rewards his suffering and patience with whole-hearted attention and beguiling coos; Noctis receives it all like a child coddling his lollipop after a doctor’s visit. So long as each keep up their part of the bargain, there’s no complaint to be had.

When Prompto decides it’s time to strap him to the operating table and peel through his back for his spine, Noctis is just grateful for the medically-induced coma.

When he awakes, he’s surrounded by water and glass and for the first time that year, he takes in a deep breath that finally fills him with satisfaction.

“Prompto.”

Prompto eats the last of the desserts left over, when Noctis insisted he had no more room left. He licks the brittle crumbs off his thumb and wipes at the bit of cream from the puff pastry, then licks that too. If his father saw him like this, his head cradled in the cold lap of his dear mer, he’s sure Verstael would be shaking his head in exasperation. Not because of the familiarity he treats Noctis with, but because of his terrible eating manners — munching away messily on a midnight snack while lying down.

He can already hear his father clicking his tongue at him, saying “Don’t haunt my laboratory should you choke and suffocate, foolish boy.”

So before the Verstael in his head can lecture him any further, he ignores his father’s voice and replies with a hum. He also ignores the way Noctis’ hand snakes its way up to his throat. He feels four claws gently press into his flesh, a reminder that they’re there and could claw through his throat to rip his vocal cords out. He only misses the fifth claw because he decided to “trim” it all the way to the cuticle for and save it for analysis later.

“Stay.”

Prompto lifts his eyes to gaze into sweet, tragically beautiful blues, and he sees a ring of magenta surrounding them. It used to be so pale, a dim purple. Ah, how he desperately wants to see the architect behind those eyes. If he plucked one out, would it still hold his reflection? Would Noctis still look upon him with a love so vindictive yet so voracious?

But of course. All Prompto has to do is offer himself.

He brushes his fingers over Noctis’ hand, where his nails threaten to shred through his jugular, and takes it to press a kiss on his scarred knuckles.

“As long as you want.” Prompto smiles. Cold, like the aquarium that has them both trapped.

#mermay #final fantasy xv #ff15 #noctis lucis caelum #prompto argentum #i can type

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heartslogos · 4 years ago

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the declassified texts of the inquisition's elite [190]

(252): You want further proof that God hates me? Okay. We're on the way to the ER. A homeless man stabbed me at the gas station.

“I would ask if your cousin is alright, but he had to go to the ER. So. So I’m assuming the answer is no,” Kaaras says. “Should I assume he isn’t alright?”

“Max is many things,” Evelyn answers, “Alright is rarely one of them. And if you think he’s alright then he’s hiding something and you should investigate that further and then probably report it to someone. Not me, necessarily. Maybe a physician. Or Josephine. Or Cassandra. Between one of those two he’s either going to be cowed into listening or scared into it. Anyway, this is not the worst news he’s given me in the past year. Nor the most alarming. If he’s texting he’s fine.”

“No offense to Max,” Malika begins before stopping and holding her hands up. “Okay. Some offense to Max if I’m being entirely honest. Not in a bad way. Like. Not malicious. Just honest. But some offense to Max. Did he do anything to provoke being stabbed at a gas station? Sometimes he can. You know. Sometimes he can turn on the annoying without meaning to.”

Evelyn and Kaaras turn to stare at the young woman. Malika waves her hands.

“Let’s just consider it, okay? I mean. You don’t just go stabbing people for no reason. Maybe Max was…being extra. Sometimes you look at a guy and he’s got a polo shirt and a nice watch and windswept hair and you just think — wow. Trust fund bastard.”

“Normally if Max is being annoying you need more exposure than one instance at a gas station for it to cause you to consider bodily harm. Trust me, I’m saying this with experience on my side. Most people I know who’ve ever expressed intent or desire to hurt Max only start showing signs after multiple long exposures.”

“Evelyn. Evelyn. You sound like — like you experimented with this.” Kaaras turns his gaze from Malika to Evelyn. “Am I supposed to. Am I supposed to be worried right now? I’m worried. I am. I am worried. Tell me I’m misunderstanding you. Tell me you aren’t using your cousin as a deeply unethical long term social experiment.”

“I’m a scientist at heart.” Evelyn lifts her chin up defiantly. “A scholar and a researcher. Of course I tested it. I even sent out my findings to some of my friends so they could check my statistics and my conclusions for fallacies. It is one of my better scientific research projects if I do say so myself. All very light hearted of course and mostly done as an idle side project. But it bore remarkable results. I’m adding onto it as we speak. With every new Maxwell interaction my data becomes that much more refined. I’ll send you a copy of it if you like. I practiced making live data formula reports with it. This is the most hard-science thing I’ve done in my entire career and I may never top it.”

“You are way too proud of turning your cousin into a social experiment.”

“I didn’t turn him into anything, Malika. He was already like that. I’m just gathering the data points after the fact. No input or manipulation of situations from me necessary. I’ll be adding this interaction as a temporary outlier point to see how it affects the data. Also he knows about it. I tells me things to add to it whenever he gets a chance. It was actually one of the neat little ways we managed to keep in touch when we were both at our separate boarding schools.” Evelyn shakes her head. “Anyway. Back to the original topic. No, we don’t have any spare sedans available for use. Max was in the last one we had and even if he comes back anytime soon we’ll have to get it sent for a deep clean. We have the Inquisition branded cars and plates, some trucks, some SUV’s, and a couple of mini’s and motorcycles. But we’re out of incognito sedans. If you want to borrow a car it’ll have to be one with Inquisition or one of our diplomatic plates.”

Malika sighs. “The point of driving off of Skyhold was to relax and take a break. Driving around with an Inquisition car is like walking around with glowing neon signs. Besides, I need hours for driving practice. If I’m going around with Inquisition plates people I won’t get any real experience. People will be pulling over or making way and stuff.”

Kaaras pats Malika’s shoulder. “Sorry. Herah has a personal car but it’s not good for learning on.”

“Try asking Bull,” Evelyn says. “The Chargers have their own roster of vehicles that aren’t registered as Inquisition property. They might have a sedan style you can use. I know they’ve got trucks and motorcycles and jeeps. I think they even have a min-van.”

“No,” Kaaras shakes his head. “The mini-van is Valos-kas, they borrowed it. For a recon — a recon mission? I’m not sure. Something. Something they had to do quietly.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess I’ll try them next.” Malika sighs. “Do you know where any of them are right now? Also I didn’t know the Valos-kas and Chargers had garages on base.”

“Most of the smaller groups flying our banner have their own separate spaces and inventories. We don’t require them to report a full list, though most of them offered one anyway. We just make sure we know the gist of what they’ve got on our property and do an occasional check to make sure whatever it is is being stored properly and that the facilities they’re using are in good upkeep. Otherwise it’s all their responsibility.” Evelyn checks her watch. “I think if you hurry you can catch Grim on his way to the mail sorting center. He just came back from medical leave. Stitches said light duties for the next week and then he can resume his usual patrols. Not sure what happened so don’t ask. It was a Charger job unrelated to the Inquisition.”

#heartsfic #gather your party and venture forth

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scentedbeardgarden · 4 years ago

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Data science course

Data Science course

We will begin with easy datasets and then graduate to case studies about world health, economics, and infectious disease tendencies within the United States. Aspiring college students can enroll in the Data Science course in Chennai, offered by FITA. Training is provided by professionals with greater than a decade of expertise in this field which can allow candidates to increase their competency to excel in their profession as information scientists. Apart from knowledge in technical elements, a knowledge scientist is expected to have problem-solving expertise and provide vital insights for the companies growth from the dataset they work on. If you've accomplished any tasks in Data Science throughout your graduation, point out the target of the project, tools & methods utilized, your contribution to the project briefly in the resume. Any certification course in Data Science will add a feather in your cap, reason for the hands-on experience on the tools trained in the course of the course.

The demand for information science and information analytics is on the rise and it is anticipated to grow in the future. Data science has demonstrated its potential by invading many organizations regardless of the dynamics surrounding a company. But, there may be additionally a scarcity of knowledge science staff in and around the country.

one hundred pc sensible primarily based coaching surroundings with expert company trainers. As promised earlier they helped me to get placed in good group and finally I obtained placed from QuickXpert Infotech in Java J2EE. The case research strategy of studying makes the whole strategy of learning completely different from other programmes. I even have got a very good basis of Statistics and Economterics via this programme. I actually have gained a very good basis in knowledge science and this course has given me step one to data science journey.

Data Science course

Be assured that you're entering the future of data science much earlier to seize those great alternatives arising from this greatest want of the business world. This course isn't solely designed to enable new profession alternatives for you but additionally lets you apply the new age skills in your present work and turn into valuable to in your current position. This course comes as an ideal bundle of required Data Science abilities together with programing, statistics and Machine Learning. If you aspire to be Data Science professional, this course can immensely help you to achieve your aim. The course is especially focussed on Python for core information science programing; it also includes R as essential to reinforce professionals working in R. An common Data Analyst earns roughly Rs 4.1 lakh annually as a more energizing. Data Analytics instruments use historic knowledge or the data being processed in real-time.

Course has multiple case research and mini Project.Our course is designed by industry experts. Make a distinction in the business- The information insights and knowledge will assist the corporate strategize higher, thus generate revenues.

DataTrained has helped me with the vital knowledge and expertise which are needed for a knowledge scientist position. The trainer starts with an example to make us comprehend the concept and then help us build the algorithms with the actual trade datasets. IT professionals and graduates who are looking for the profession in knowledge science and analytics. I am interested in Machine Learning, should I nonetheless do the Foundations of Data Science course? The Foundations in Data Science course focuses on the basics of statistics and Python programming for knowledge science. The period of a data science course can differ considerably based on the extent of qualification.

We at FITA imagine in giving individual attention to students in order that they are going to be able to make clear all of the doubts that arise in complex and troublesome subjects. Therefore, we limit the size of every knowledge science batch to five or 6 members. The trainer was very pleasant and taught me all of the topics intimately.All the doubts have been cleared instantly. Machine Learning– A person is predicted to know Machine Learning strategies, if the company’s product itself if extremely data-driven (e.g, Google, Facebook, Uber, and so forth.).

Also, within the machine learning course, we'll assume a background in these areas. If you might be assured concerning the matters enlisted within the syllabus, then you'll be able to immediately be part of the Machine Learning course that begins later this yr. Before beginning this course, I have no information of deep studying but after studying this course I am fairly confident. Statistical Modelling of data includes modelling the underlying knowledge distribution and relations in the data after which making inferences on prime of the mannequin. Algorithmic modelling includes using large volumes of knowledge and optimization methods to greatest estimate the distribution and relations of the info, eg Machine Learning and Deep Learning.

You can reach us at: ExcelR- Data Science, Data Analytics, Business Analytics Course Training Bangalore Address:49, 1st Cross, 27th Main, Behind Tata Motors, 1st Stage, BTM Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560068 Phone: 096321 56744 Directions: Data science course Email:[email protected]

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streamacademe · 7 years ago

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Week 38, Day 260.

Currently, the terms of my life are ‘things are moving forward very fast, you have limited control, and you are struggling to cope’. We were in Newcastle over the weekend seeing some of my partners family. As lovely as the trip was, I had a mini breakdown, about everything... How sick I am of endless travelling, never seeing my family, how exhausted I am from my anxiety and the weight of being a high functioning adult, and how I have no time to stop. I do feel a lot better for it now, and I am super lucky to have someone to cry on. Even if that means I ruined his Hollister t-shirt with my mascara. NB: wine also helps.

I have however submitted my conference poster! Yay. So that’s one thing ticked off of my infinite ‘to do’ list. Small steps.

In other news, I had one of my regular catch up meetings with my supervisors last week, where my primary supervisor, Dr S, pointed out that the discussion topic of all of these meetings recently is around project management, and not water quality itself. I agree with them, but at this stage I haven’t got any analysis of any data, or any new information to share, and if I didn’t take the role of project manager as seriously as I do, I’d be screwed. So their comment upset me a little as I am trying my best, and I want to talk about my research, but how can I when I haven’t carried out any yet? Meh. However, I have started refreshing my statistical and coding knowledge, so hopefully I’ll be doing some data analysis soon. I am mainly re-learning ‘R’, using a brilliant book written by one of my old lecturers at Queen Mary University of London, Dr Robert Knell. It has gotten me through both of my bachelors and masters degrees. Check it out here: http://www.introductoryr.co.uk/

I am also starting to get back into routine, whereby I work Monday-Friday and take the weekend off. Unfortunately, this is going to be almost impossible to maintain over the next couple of months. You know how I said I’d be at home for most of this month? Well, I now have to go to Newcastle (again) tomorrow to meet with Northumbrian Water, which is a dreaded 5 am start, and at the end of the month I am travelling down to Bristol Water, who I haven’t actually met yet... And in July I am only at home for 9 days as I now have a site visit booked in with Welsh Water, on top of all my other travels. RIP.

July will be a challenging month for many reasons other than lack of routine and missing home. I won’t see my partner for the entirety of the month as he is away when I’m in the country and I am away when he’s in the country. So that’s going to be super horrible. I will however finally get to see my family, which as overwhelmingly exciting as it is, is also extremely hard because at the end I will have to leave again.

Basically, what I am trying to get across, is that there’s a lot going on at the moment. I’m not doing too bad, but sometimes it just gets a little too much. So, I’m going to cope by baking banana bread after work. I also found that re-reading my blog posts helps me to revive my motivation. So that’s something.

I will finish this post my talking about water quality, because, you know, I don’t do that enough.

Meanwhile, here’s a pretty picture of the sea from the weekend:

Cloudy water

In the hotel we were staying the water coming out of the tap was very cloudy (see image below). Many people misconceive this phenomenon for poor water quality/dirty water. There are really only two reasons why this happens:

If the cloudy water is left to stand for a little while and the cloudiness clears this means that there were tiny air bubbles trapped in the supply, that have dissipated naturally. This was the case with my water over the weekend (see before and after photos below). There are several reasons for trapped air in water, but the main reason is due to air entering the supply, or a trapped air bubble in the internal pipework. Another reason is down to a temperature change of the water. If a cold water pipe runs close to a hot water pipe it can lead to localised warming and cloudiness in the cold water supply. (See solutions for these issues below).

If the cloudy water is left to stand and white/grey deposits begin to form at the bottom of the glass/bottle this indicates a presence of hardness deposits. These can appear following a disturbance in the pipework, such as flow or pressure changes. This is something that will clear over time. The deposits are completely harmless, so no need to be put off.

Solutions:

The solution to trapped air bubbles is to turn on your cold tap closest to the entrance of the house and while the water is running turn your internal stop tap on and off 5-6 times. This creates a vacuum in the system and pulls out any air bubbles.

The permanent solution for temperature based issues is to get the hot pipe professionally insulated, something that a plumber can do. Alternatively, you can run the cold water for a while before pouring yourself a drink. This will bring in water straight from the mains and draw that warm water out.

There. Photo source: A before and after image of the same water from the tap, which I used to fill a plastic bottle.

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dandylmilton · 5 years ago

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Reintroducing Myself Publicly

I’m one of the eyewitnesses of the Indonesia’s internet development and digital transition, I live in a middle age where everyone is starting massively use digital products and data become expensive and widely used by 3dparty.

So, of course, I know a lot of things, and a lot of things have changed on me, most of them are invisible and forgotten (since I delete all of my social media and digital work in 2018) but some of them becoming my inspiration for my “what’s next?” work.

What I built for years actually not a coding project, writing style, knowledge, artwork or something digital like that, all of them just a product of learning progress, what I’ve already built for years actually is everything about style and development process, I have skeleton and foundation.

It might be wise to reintroduce myself, as i was different with who i am right now.

TL:DR I’m people who behind codefangs/od2 nickname, I was active on several tech community, handle online project, doing digital music artwork, and work as offline worker (9 to 5), I was persue digital money generator system for pay my bills. My name is Milton. That’s my official digital name, my legal name is ‘Dandy Rozaldy Milton’, I have change my name in the past as Ali Bhaskara, but just for few months. Friends mostly call me Dandy. I have several nick name like Dan, Sino, Azu, Andy as in my childhood and when I was teenager, Right now I just want people call my family name, that’s my digital entity right now. I’m 24 years old. Been living my whole life mostly in Medan, Indonesia. I work remotely and have travel to hunt for events, though not often (yet). Mostly to cities, not the wilderness. That being said, i am a Digital-based online contractor and contributor. I do my own digital studio; an experimental project based agency. I do software development service for web, mostly. Writing about ed-tech for several blog, and I have my own music and artwork blog which is this blog, and act on many positions at once: from digital contractor to 9 to 5 offline worker. Those above are just hobbies and things that I persue to be able to handle daily basic needs, like food or pay billing. My main work is actually waiter, I work for several cafe and restaurant for years.

About my education, I just a junior high school student of Karya Bhakti Foundation, after high school, I was unable to pay school fees, to setup myself to be able to learn more, I was following several online class with specialize in cyber security and penetration testing, I also follow several hacking challenge digitally and being a part of first digital hacking challenge in indonesia Noosc CTF 2014, but I’m not deciding to be involved in industries and migrate my focus on statistical learning and language processing, but it just for a while since I was fail to complete the learning roadmap, right now it’s not important anymore to learn all basic math prerequisition if you want to be ai researcher.

To back up everything that i do, in 2020 I was decide to involving myself to be an online contractor by built mini digital studio, Noderust.com. I graduated in February 2016. Chose Advertising as my concentration because it was fun. I stand with Islam religion. I’m not a “more personally” typical person, I was denialling myself to be selfish because what I seek on internet is actually money, but as a person which grow and trive with internet, I have my own own selfish style which is you’ll be know it by reading all article on this blog. I was banned mental issue, privacy, politic and many buzz word on all of my own digital creation except if it’s contain money benefit on me, if not I will not write it, but I have a lot reading about scientific & psycology paper which related to that. Perhaps, you will ask me a simple question: why I’m not even cares about all of that issues and not doing something like what many blogger do for last decade? that’s because I was tired with all of that shit, just like that. I have my own nickname in all social media account, which is codefangs for music & artwork entity and od2 for most coding and competition site. I also including sometimes my own real name in my digital work, but I more prefer to Milton as a my public name. Nice to meet you, sorry for english, and welcome public netizen. Medan, 24/10/2020 Codefangs.

all text content are stolen from wordfangs’s blog and modified by me for introductional purpose.

#reintroduction #codefangs #wordfangs #music #coding #digital writing #indonesian

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moravict-blog · 5 years ago

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Week 8 – Industrial Design

This week we were instructed to post a combination of 10 drawings, photos and/or notes on design observations we saw in the world around us.

This is a pinch bowl I designed for my ceramics class. Before firing the bowl the first time, I covered the center with a yellow slip that would stay on forever. My plan was to cover the rim afterward (which was not covered in slip) in a light/dark green glaze. The reason I first covered the bowl in yellow slip is that so if the green glaze landed somewhere it wasn’t supposed to, it could be wiped away while the yellow will remain intact. Basically; slip = permanent, glaze = removable.

This is a hard slab sculpture I also made for my ceramics class. The hardest part about this design was getting the slabs to fit together as a square, this meant all the edges had to be cut on a 45-degree angle. As you can see in the lefthand corner I did a lot of shaving down to get the sides to fit. Ultimately the best method I found was to fold the corner of a paper in half and place it on the side of a slab, which would give me the exact angle I needed. A bit confusing but in the end, it really helped the piece come together. It took a lot of trial and error.

This machine is basically a mini stove/bake pan which allows you to make cake pops in less than four minutes. I think the design of this machine is really user-friendly because all you have to do is plug it in, wait for the red light to turn off and begin placing your batter! After that, you just wait until they’re cooked and you’re all set. There are no buttons on this machine so it’s pretty basic. Anyone could use this- from kids to adults.

This is a picture of my statistics homework. The use of a calculator or computer in statistics is almost always necessary. When computing formulas of the odds and probability of some problems, there are so many large numbers that having a calculator can be very helpful. Calculators are really useful in making graphs. Another helpful tool is Excel, this is often used to find the standard deviation, mean, median, etc. Overall just a great tool for the organization of a math problem.

I chose to add this picture of a freezer full of ice cream cakes because I wanted to talk about the packaging. The cakes themselves are pretty basic deserts but the packaging is bright, colorful, and eye-catching. Definitely, something I could see a kid begging his mom for. Even though they’re all in a basic box or cake tray, the illustration is what matters in this instance.

I made this flying cat in my 3D concepts class. The design of this project was very meticulous because all of these different parts had to work together to make it seem as though the cat was flying. This was also a pretty small object so the placement of some elements had to be spot on. We used a small clothespin as the base, the paper clips connected everything, and tape held it all together. All of these elements came together to make the cat fly. (the handle is on the left of the clothespin- you would manually rotate it to flap the cat's wings)

I had this graphic saved in my phone from last semester. I think it perfectly demonstrates the fact that all of us students were drowning in homework from finals- hence the laptop, papers, and pens- and that perhaps we need a break-with coffee! The large font size of the “NEED A PICK ME UP?” line is eye-catching because students do need a pick me up during finals!

This is my fridge at home. It was designed to essentially do anything and everything you need from one location. It has pop-up reminders, plays music, shows you the weather, etc. It’s a touch screen refrigerator making it easy for anyone to use. Nowadays it feels like all of our appliances are becoming more modern and this fridge is no exception, it really is a sign of the times. It was designed to be efficient but also provides the user with information and entertainment.

This is my sister's car radio. I like the display of this screen because it shows you what station you’re listening to while also giving you all the information about the song that is playing including the name and artist. There are various options on the left too that allow you to mess with the display and sound. In the right-hand corner it even shows you information pertaining to your phone like its connection to data and battery life.

This is a watercolor pen. The bristles can be used in various different measures- you can create thick lines or add small details with the tip. the bottom half is filled with water so that once you squeeze it, the brush becomes wet and allows you to dip it into your color of choice. Without water, the paint wouldn’t become soluble. I like this design because it is versatile and makes creating artwork efficient and fast.

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umichenginabroad · 6 years ago

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Materials/Methods, Discussion, and .... Conclusion

In the past week, I’ve been really absorbed in my research. As a recap, the lab focuses on a multimodal brain imaging technique combining MRI, PET, and EEG. My job this summer has been to compare attenuation correction methods for PET images taken in these trimodal studies, because the EEG cap causes artifacts in the PET images that need to be removed. Last week I spent a lot of time working on my paper and poster, which I’ll present at next week’s research symposium. I’m still finishing up these things, and have also shifted my attention to writing an abstract for the 2019 BMES conference - I want to present my research there this fall.

In wrapping up and writing about my research, I’ve been reflecting on the internship as a whole. At the beginning of the summer, I felt a little bummed about my project - I was hoping it would involve more hands-on image processing, which is something I’ve gotten very excited about in the past year. Once l really dug into the project, though, I began to enjoy the work. I also attended many interesting seminars in Julich, learning all about image processing and medical imaging modalities. Even if this research experience wasn’t exactly what I expected or isn’t exactly related to what I want to study going forward, I’ve gotten a lot out of it, and I hope I’ve made some good contributions too.

This summer’s work was mainly valuable because it was my first time taking a research project from start to finish, rather than chipping in to pieces of someone else’s work. I am so grateful to have had that experience. I learned how important it is to take good notes (especially in a project with mine, when you’re dealing with a million different images/data points/etc!). I learned how to write a solid abstract (very important) and how to choose the best comparisons or statistical tests so the results have the most meaning. For the most part, I was dealing with my own results and had to make my own decisions - I had support, but definitely no hand-holding - and I think that made me a better researcher.

I don’t have any pictures that embody what this research experience has been like, but please enjoy this photo of a giant, inflatable brain my coworkers and I found outside of our institute.

Giant brain outside of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine.

I have little in the way of other life updates - I’ve mostly been working, running, spending time with friends, and hanging out in Aachen. This week, I expect to do more of the same. I’m not sure whether I’ll travel this coming weekend. I feel a little sentimental about next week being my last one here, so although traveling is cool, I might want to stay in Aachen and soak in the atmosphere here.

I did stumble across a great spot in Aachen this weekend (actually, it was a recommendation from my friend). We wanted to meet up on Sunday to do some work, and she suggested Barbarella, an adorable cafe that’s almost cloyingly sweet in how pink and frilly and cupcake-y it is. I absolutely loved it, and felt like I was at a fancy tea party. All I ordered there was a hot tea, and even that was special - it came with a little dish of sugar and a cute mini pitcher of milk.

Cupcake tower at Barbarella.

The inside of the cafe - this doesn’t really do it justice, but hopefully you can sense the cuteness.

My next post will be my second-to-last! This summer really has flown by, and I’ve realized how short 10 weeks actually is. I’m dreading having to say goodbye to the people I’ve met here. On the other hand, though, I miss my family and my routines at home, and it’ll be nice to get back. Hopefully, this last week and 4 days will be packed with barbecues and dinners and pool days, because I want to absorb Aachen (and spend time with my friends) some more before I go.

-- Alice Tracey

Biomedical Engineering - University of Michigan ‘20

RWTH Aachen - Summer 2019 - Aachen, Germany

#UmichEnginAbroad #ipesummer19 #AliceTracey #IPEAachen

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learninglcom · 6 years ago

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Master Excel AutoSum and Count Functions For Quick Analysis

Learn the simplicity of AutoSum and Count functions in calculating and summarizing huge sets of information! What you'll learn : AutoSum Functions - Sum, Average, Count, Max, Min Function Library Count Functions - Count, CountA, CountBlank, CountIf, CountIfs If Function Construction If Function with Text Outputs AutoSum and Count Function Combination with the If Function Requirements : Pen and Paper To Take Notes Microsoft Excel 2007 or Later Access to a Computer/Internet Description : WHAT’S YOUR STORY? Are you a business professional needing to up-skill? Are you struggling to get a pay-rise and/or promotion? Are you a recent graduate with an empty looking resume and no job experience? Have you recently been laid off, fired or had a contract end? If you answered 'yes' to any of the above then having “Expert Microsoft Office Skills” will get you closer to your goal of either landing your first job, a new job or progressing further in your current role. Here's why. The job market has never been more volatile. Statistically, people are changing jobs more often now than they ever have before and that also means people are also losing jobs to newcomers who are far more skilled. So if you’re not up-skilling, you’re falling behind. It’s scary I know. I’ve experienced this myself. A study released by Microsoft and the IDC showed that among 14.6 million job postings, proficiency in Microsoft Office was ranked 2nd as the most desired skills by employers leading up to 2020. Microsoft Office proficiency ranked higher than Project Management skills, Sales Experience, Time Management, Analytical Skills, Interpersonal Skills and Work Ethics. This is because we live in the digital age, meaning employers are looking for proficient data handlers who process data faster, are more data-organised and can communicate effectively via digital channels. These are skills everyone should have no matter the discipline because they are transferable skills. It makes you more adaptable and more valuable in the long-term. This brings us back to Microsoft Office. It is the oldest, most well-known, most affordable and most trusted data management tool available and hence everyone uses it. So to be noticed and taken seriously in your job or job application, proficiency in these programs is compulsory. ONLINE TRAINING AND THE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS One of the most common problems with online learning content is that there is so much of it now and it’s difficult to know where to start or who to turn to. Many go the YouTube route and piece together videos from hundreds of tutorials from hundreds of tutors hoping to become an expert at the end of it all. This simply won’t happen and will just waste your time. Many take the route you’re about to take, they decide to enroll in an online training course. Many charge hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars for their courses which is simply unaffordable for university students, recent graduates, the unemployed or those looking for a career change. That is the reason why I have decided to keep this course as low as possible even though I’m offering substantially more content than most of my competitors here on Udemy. COURSE DELIVERY STYLE I have been using Microsoft Office for over 20 years. I know the in’s and out’s and the simplest ways of doing things. My delivery philosophy is simple, if I can’t get a 6 year old to follow along and understand, than I’m not teaching correctly. I hate complicated language and so do you. Nobody likes trainers who focus on impressing rather than teaching and giving value to students. That is also why my lecture videos are as short as can be and divided into small sections for easy consumption. So you won’t get unnecessary chit chat or nonsense. I also assume that all my students are near-sighted and as such, I use a special software tool that allows me to draw on the screen to show exactly what I’m about to press as well as zoom in on small area’s so you don’t miss a thing. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS COURSE Learning the AutoSum and Count Functions is a complete life saver. What these tools allow you to do is quickly summarize huge sets of information. Instead of adding and counting individual cells, Excel AutoSum and Count functions will do that for you. All you have to do is it tell it where! So come on in and check out these amazing functions. Along with learning these variations, as a bonus feature to this course, I'll be briefly introducing you to "If Functions"!! This is an amazing logic based tool that every Excel user MUST KNOW! ABOUT ME Member of the Udemy Council Co-Founded Paperclip Learning which teaches Microsoft Office Over 60,000 students Over 130,000 enrollments Over 5,000 Positive Reviews Over 20 courses on Udemy Teaching is my passion and my creative outlet. I have been using the Microsoft Office package since I was a child and have been using it consistently throughout my life. My teaching experiences span from teaching primary school students, high school students, university graduates and business professionals. Professionally, I am trained in Aerospace Engineering, Database Design and Business Analytics. TESTIMONIALS Yu Hui Jun Yu - The courses are simply amazing and I can learn them rapidly. The hints presented were also very useful. I like the 'mini-lesson' format. Fast and efficient. The instructor's direction is very detailed and easy to understand. I can immediately start using this program. Thanks! Narayanan Krishnamoorthy - Perfect and to the point...the instructor doesn’t waste time and gets to the point quickly!! Lala Darchinova - I've been looking for this kind of course for ages! And finally I find it. Short, comprehensive and absolutely interesting! Thank you for the work you are doing. Spencer Berkman - Extremely knowledgeable and clear on instructions. E Frank - Simple to learn techniques and instructor made it all really easy. Thank you! Parth Gandhi - I learned techniques in a very short time...no need to google and waste time finding the perfect approach Who this course is for : Basic Knowledge of Excel - Navigation and basic arithmetic If you’re intermediate or expert and want to freshen up on the fundamentals, no problem, come on in!! People from any country People of all ages Download Google Drive Read the full article

#Analysis #AutoSum #Count Functions #CountBlank #Excel #information

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swelldomains · 8 years ago

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Your 21 Facebook Advertising Questions Answered!

We recently organized a webinar entitled 5 Proven Strategies for Facebook Marketing Success in partnership with Lee Goldberg of Vector Media Team. Whenever we hold a webinar our target market has the tendency to ask some really great inquiries, yet we felt that the topic of Facebook advertising brought with it some outstanding inquisitiveness. Shown to you today are 21 Facebook advertising and marketing inquiries that you asked as well as we answered!

You Asked, We Answered!

1. Do you think that wide targeting is still a poor idea if you're making use of Facebook advertisements that are valued based upon conversion? I've heard some argue that leaving it really broad because situation allows Facebook to discover site visitors with a high likelihood of conversion that may not come under the extra thorough target market.

This is in fact an excellent concern. To simplify, targeting broad most definitely gives you reach as well as will most definitely offer you website traffic. As opposed to squandering money on broad targeting to a macro conversion (which is either a sale or a lead), utilize the wide targeting to concentrate on obtaining people to micro conversion points. These might be things like an e-mail capture or an email signup as opposed to a sale.

Then take folks that have actually converted on that particular mini conversion point and develop a lookalike audience off of that to nurture individuals with the cycle. Broad targeting is alright if you've got the appropriate goal to it.

Don' t expect to take a target market of 10M people as well as see a return on advertisement invest of 500% if you're marketing something online, yet you could certainly make use of that broad targeting to create conversion factors that are extra micro in nature and after that lookalike version off of those which is definitely an approach that could work.

2. What type of conversions could marketing experts anticipate on Facebook?

In regards to conversion price, it differs considerably. When Vector Media Team works with clients in the insurance room (certainly extremely affordable area in search where you could see CPCs that are $50-60-70 or over), they really see far better conversion prices in Facebook than in search, to the song of 6-7%. It absolutely varies. For ecommerce, if you've got a well structured project, Vector has seen conversion prices in the 6-7% range. College has the tendency to convert a little reduced around 1-2%, however it absolutely varies.

3. Should I stay away from having text in my advertisement photo?

Yes. Excellent concern. Facebook, for those that have no idea, has a guideline that says in a photo, no even more compared to 20% of your ad can be text. So they will in fact obstruct it and disapprove the ad prior to it has an opportunity to run. The short solution is of course, photos that are a lot more image-focused carry out far better compared to photos that have text in them. That's why Lee wants to do either the item shot or the person and after that make use of the summary to obtain the text in there. The one exemption would certainly be to consist of the client name or customer logo design in there. Usually yes advertisements that are 100% picture do appear to convert better compared to ads that have text in them. Evaluated by Lee Goldberg!

4. Do you recommend placing the URL in the text above the advertisement, also if the default CTA says no?

No. Like Google, Facebook has a default display LINK. Just use the default screen URL as opposed to losing beneficial personalities in your text or description to include it.

5. In Manager, just how do you do an A/B Test?

It's challenging in Manager or Facebook Power Editor. You essentially have to do it manually by copying and pasting your ad sets, establishing up various projects as well as establishing different schedules. It is possible, it simply takes a lengthy time.

6. Just how long do you allow an ad run, before identifying it isn't working (reduced CTR as stated) as well as choose to kill it? And must you invest some time maximizing it prior to simply killing it?

Great inquiry. So the response to spending quality time maximizing it prior to killing it is no. It's better to eliminate an underperforming advertisement prior to attempting to optimize it due to the fact that practically whenever you make a modification to an advertisement in Facebook you're producing a new advertisement and also the history reboots.

To the very first component of the concern about the length of time an advertisement ought to run, the solution is till it's statistically substantial but that's a very broad solution. You should have at the very least 100-150 clicks prior to you can make any decision concerning conversion price and probably 1000-1500 perceptions prior to you can make any determination regarding click with rate. Use advanced statistical modelling software application or cost-free tools to determine analytical significance. Among them is called ThumbTack A/B Testing. This device permits you to place in the variety of successes or a variety of tests and also select a 95% self-confidence period (or whatever is appropriate for your organisation) and it will certainly do all the calculations for you.

7. Are you able to rotate ads uniformly?

Yes you can. Once again it's not the most convenient point to do in Power Editor via the Facebook UI, but in a great deal of the 3rd party tools you could definitely do this. Acquisio Social allows you do this.

8. Exactly how can view-thru conversions precisely link conversion credit to a certain advertisement impact and not another advertising occasion like email or Pay Per Click for example?

This is where you require to have truly great integration between Facebook and another analytics tool whether it's Google Analytics, Omniture and so on. It's those integrations that allow you tie conversion credit history to a particular ad perception, to make sure that you're basically tagging all your initiatives with the very same codes as well as "cookieing" individuals similarly to sew it with each other. These sort of tools all run through the very same URL encoding procedure, so the data all can be found in at one area and also if it is able to be de-duped based off of IP or based off of cookie, you could stitch the entire trip together.

9. When you do active targeting, there are individuals that fall right into numerous targets, does Facebook recognize not to overlap the target market so you do not take on your own?

Yes, normally they do. Nevertheless the ideal technique is to add left out audiences to your project. To make use of the search instance, if you're running a campaign that's wide suit keyword phrases as well as an additional campaign that's phrase suit keywords (the same words), you would usually include your phrase suit keywords as downsides to the wide campaign. You would certainly desire to do the very same point in the Facebook projects. So you can really add in unfavorable audiences. Facebook does do this for you as well as they do not duplicate the audiences if you established up your projects well, nevertheless, the very best method is to include excluded audiences.

10. Can I target former clients by their e-mail address?

Absolutely. This is called a custom audience in Facebook. So if you have actually got a list of customers, let's state people that have done a deal on your ecommerce store or people who have registered for your e-newsletter, yet not taken the next step in the funnel, you definitely could do that. Just merely post the checklist to Facebook and it will be obtainable to you as a personalized audience. The limitation for custom audiences is a minimum of 50 people on the checklist in order for it to work. The even more the merrier. Once again if you're targeting too few individuals with your campaigns, you're going to see really high regularities where the ads obtain offered to those individuals 8, 9,10 times prior to they just stop clicking it and also you see your cost go way up. You constantly have to be mindful of regularity. Normally when regularity begins to go past 3.5- 4 that's when points begin to take a plummet. Total yes if you have lists of previous consumers, upload them into Facebook and you could definitely target them.

11. When narrowing the targeting down really small, is it reasonable to say that narrower target markets are a lot more expensive?

In basic, yes. With smaller sized target markets, you additionally have to bear in mind frequency or you will wind up hitting the exact same individual over as well as over once again with the very same message. When regularity is high, CTR has the tendency to decrease rapidly, when paying on a CPM can own expenses up.

12. What's a typical CTR for Facebook?

This absolutely differs by industry and market, so it's a difficult one to address. The average falls somewhere in the.4 -.5% range, according to Vector Media Group.

13. Just what are some drawbacks to Neighborhood Recognition Ads?

The just downside of Neighborhood Understanding Advertisements is that than location, you can still only target by sex as well as age. Having the capacity to make use of group info from the "Shop Visits" metric to additional limit the target market would make your local advertisements even more powerful. Facebook is certainly preparing on including a lot more targeting alternatives in the close to future.

14. If we're running an advertisement to obtain people to sign up for a webinar - do you recommend making use of a supply type photo of say "execs taking a look at a computer" or the photo header we utilized in the e-mail (generally the webinar title, details, picture)?

Test them both!

15. We generally stop projects when the ad regularity gets over 2, is that an advantage to do or exists a various frequency we need to stop at?

It depends for each campaign, yet overall when frequency is over 2, the campaign results have a tendency to plummet.

See Question 10 above:

If you're targeting too few individuals with your campaigns, you're going to see truly high regularities where the ads get served to those people 8, 9,10 times before they simply stop clicking on it and you see your price go way up. You've always got to be mindful of regularity. Generally when regularity begins to go previous 3.5- 4 that's when points begin to take a plummet.

16. Do you advise setting a daily budget plan or a lifetime budget?

This one is absolutely approximately you. Vector Media Group likes everyday spending plans, yet utilize whatever makes feeling for your business.

17. Exactly how does one track View Thrus?

Facebook's default conversion pixel has view-thru monitoring allowed, to make sure that's a fantastic location to begin. You can likewise make use of much more sophisticated acknowledgment trackers, such as ImpactRadius or Converto.

18. My project is targeted to the total United States. Our target market is 16-19 year olds. Do you have a recommendation on the size of the micro-targeted advertisement sets in regards to the overall number in the audience?

There is no excellent target market size, it totally relies on the demographics, rate of interests and so on of your audience. You should produce advertisement collections that are as targeted as possible while aiming to have at the very least a few hundred people in each so you prevent showing this group the same message too often. In your case, you could produce an ad set for men, for females and also damage it into state level advocate example.

19. For direct action, must the look-back window be set to 1 day or 7 days?

This absolutely depends upon the volume of web traffic and also conversions you're getting. If it is a reasonably reduced circulation project (much less than a few hundred clicks/day), always opt for the longer look-back period to earn sure that you're making decisions off of statistically considerable data.

20. Exists an advised minimum spend each ad campaign?

Totally relies on your business!

21. What tool was made use of to develop the multivariate report?

Acquisio's Social Administration product. It's the excellent device to develop hundreds of advertisements in an issue of mins. You could additionally A/B examination as well as conveniently know who are the winners and also losers. Plus you can see all your SEM activity in one view and also report.

Get every one of the innovative strategies talked about in our webinar plus a complete Facebook Marketing professional's List in our latest digital book, free for download and offered now!

We would love to expand our most sincere recognition to Lee Goldberg as well as his team at Vector Media Group, we couldn't have actually done this blog post without their expertise!

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