#it looks really good if u know how to draw it but the problem js idk how to

[distant-velleity]

nap time

[thebestandrealestever]

more headcannons .

a/n : ion feel like doing warns or sums so js read and find out it ain nun dat bad femblack reader coded as always . i’m so burnt out idk why but anyways, hey mooties iloveu 🤫😉.

miles is a lame nigga who has absolutely zero game or experience so when y’all started talking he is WHIPPPEEEEEDDDDDD. wanting to do everything right. so surprisingly enough he went to his dad for on how to ask u to be his gfn, he admires the love his parents have.

u are a supermodel in his eyes, u do a ec like dancing or play an instrument? he thinks ur the best at it, he thinks ur the prettiest and coolest girl in the entire world, he thinks ur the smartest and really the only girl for him, this boy really loves his gfn.

miles is always looking out for u, makes sure the doors are locked, closes ur tabs and puts your phone on the charger, turns your tv off, ect. he just wants to make sure your straight

when he liked you he was always trying to impress you, it was short lived when you told him that you loved his personality.

he stole a watch for you so you could connect with his friends

you were miles realization that he needs to and is capable of making connects in his own dimension as miles, not spiderman . he usually gets sensitive thinking about how much you opened his eyes and made him feel heard in his own world.

it’s truly all about the little things with him, rubbing your hand with his thumb, waited on third date to kiss you for first time, asked some of your friends about things you liked, draws you everywhere always, sending you voice messages instead of text. and the fact he doesn’t understand why that’s such a big deal for u drives u insane.

didn’t know how to deal with your period at first so he asked his mom, he went out and bought your favorite everything.

thinks he’s the funniest nigga ever when he puts on your lashes and wigs

looks at your highlight’s at least twice a day because ur beautiful

can’t go to sleep mad at you or have you mad at him, if you guys argued he would be there with food and a million kisses to make up for lost contact then have a conversation about whatever the situation was. one time the argument was so bad you didn’t talk for 3 days “hey ma, i got chick-fil-a” he said while taking his coat off and putting the food down while trying to eye you out in the complete darkness, you just looked at him still upset. “i’m sorry (name), i shouldn’t have said that or raised my voice.” he sighed turning on your lamp to look at you. “i’m sorry too, i shouldn’t have talked to you like that. i missed you miles, we don’t go days without talking to each other” you said pulling him into a big hug, he rubbed your back and kissed your head. “i know, i’m sorry baby. let’s talk about instead of yelling at each other from now on okay? i don’t think i could do this again.”

loveeeessss it when u give him messages or shower with him (NOT LIKE THAT.) after a long ass day of being spiderman.

thought he was gonna die when you went on vacation.

when you’re stressed or he’s stressed you guys go on the highest roof he can find and just talk to eachother.

wants to be held like a baby in your arms burying his face in the crook of your neck laying his weight on you.

squeezed your hand so hard you couldn’t feel it after when he got his ears pierced and lemme tell u it looked so good.

rubs your feet and legs while you tell him about whatever problems you had.

willingly risk his phone blowing up to be on the phone with u while u sleep

okkkkk byeeee

[t-shrt]

100 q tag

no one wud read it but ima do it anyways cos fun tag by @dubblebubble

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? more cereal than milk cos i love tht crunchy crunch

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day? LOVE

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? receipts, pen lol

4: how do you take your coffee/tea? coffee=basic latte/hot tea, no sugar

5: are you self-conscious of your smile? sometimes, not too often tho

6: do you keep plants? no but i want to but ill be terrible at it so no

7: do you name your plants?

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? digital art

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? yes very it keeps me sane

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? side/back, back esp nowadays

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? lots lol

12: what’s your favorite planet? earth? hahahah it used to be jupiter cos i loved sailor jupiter as a child

13: what’s something that made you smile today? friend + nct + fics

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? two separate bedrooms, a balcony, good amount of plants, separate fridge for alcohol, sizeable kitchen

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! it rains diamonds in jupiter and saturn $$$$

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish? bolognese hahahaha im boring

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? i just dyed my hair a darker ash brown n i quite like it ive been light for awhile

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up. one came 2 mind cos we both recently talked ab it, a longtime close friend of mine n i used to have the biggest fight where he threw me a pair of scissors n i threw him a basketball in retaliation lmfaooo it still became a running joke more than a decade later...

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? not really...prolly shud

20: what’s your favorite eye color? i actually like brown hahah, maybe a slightly lighter shade of brown

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. it was a gift from my parents, a simple small messenger bag with a lot of slots, brought it with me literally everywhere, during my hookups, my night outs, been stained with questionable things (its been cleaned lol!).... almost lost it in a club only to be found by a friend... it has foundation stains tho lol

22: are you a morning person? n o

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? sleep, listen to music, watch stuff, not reply to messages

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? no

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? nothing rly comes to mind but im p sure ive been somewhere like tht lol

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? LOL my adidas superstars

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? ermm the red colored ones?

28: sunrise or sunset? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm very good question

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? hmm what comes to mind is the way both of us sometimes exchange goodnight msgs w nct farm emojis heheeh

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared? lol ofc....

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks. unfortunately im rly basic on socks, u wud most likely find me wearing black ankle socks or black ballet(?) socks nothing more nothing less.......

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends. a lot has happened usually during that time lol. duno which story to pick honestly hahahah. i think a memorable one might be when we were drinking n played games and we talked and talked and joked n nek min one by one we fell asleep in the same room hahah... im sure there are other stories tht might be more eventful but fr the life of me my memorys fuzzy rn lol

33: what’s your fave pastry? i love strawberry shortcakes! or mille crepes

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? i kept a LOT hahah. prolly named a few, but nothing was too special. i think it rly reflected how i managed my relationships then, n evn yrs aftwds, like i ws always lonely n my instincts were to gain quantity cos deep down i cudnt trust ppl n cudnt get too committed lololol

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? i wish i was cos sometimes ppl wud make pretty colorful notes, but i usually just buy ones tht i wud use cos practicality.

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? mmmmm is it cheating if i say nct cos they cover a range of genres lmao. but their ballads i guess yeah.

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? i mean i prefer to keep it clean, but its always really messy HAHAHA ;_;

38: tell us about your pet peeves! 1. someone rude 2. someone who doesnt know how to respect others’ boundaries 3. someone self-entitled n takes themselves 2 seriously

39: what color do you wear the most? black on black on black on black baby

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you? an evangelion ring, its the black (lilith) moon with lcl gem in it, to me i guess symbolizes my struggle with human relations, n how eva as an anime illustrated tht n the fantasy of having everyone’s consciousness merged into one--n the fact that lilith in itself (in astrology) signifies the darker side of a human being? i guess n the fact that evn if u acknowledge ur darker side u cud still use it to further urself

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving? hmmmm i guess last was a self help book, unfuck your boundaries, helped me support my need to strengthen my boundaries

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it! little rogue :) its in a small alleyway, a little quaint shop, easy to miss... small potted plants, with an amaaazing matcha latte

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? siiigh a guy i was involved with lmfao i cut him off tho

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? hmmmmm good question i guess lately ive been very thankful tht i could feel comfortable taking my own time and space, n accepting the positive energy others wn give 2 me. being single really, really does help evn tho id feel lonely sometimes, bc the only weight i carry is the weight of my own soul n i wn learn how to nourish that

45: do you trust your instincts a lot? very i think

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of. i have a lot HAHAHA if u were a friend of mine ud prolly get tired of them. a genuinely bad one wud be haha youre so punny lmfao

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? nothing rly lmao if theyre healthy n someone derives happiness frm it i wudnt want it to be banned

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today? probably not lol, i mean i think i retained similar fears since i ws a kid but now obviously my biggest fear(s) would be more...specific to me

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought? its the digital age baby spotify ftw (in all srsness i wish i collected vinyls tho hh)

50: what’s an odd thing you collect? i used to collect ramune bottles lmaoooo

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? hmmmm nah lets not do this right now lol

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far? LOL too many but i love shitpost quality memes tbh

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? pulp fiction. i actually loved it, i think i still do, its entertainment value is kickass, havent taken the time to dissect it in any other way

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? oh man i think it ws the dude i ws seeing lmao fk him

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? a lot, n most of them im not proud of, cos some involves self harm

56: what are some things you find endearing in people? kindness n genuineness, someone’s courage in being vulnerable

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? dont feel like it rn but everytime i do 10/10 will dramatically reenact the lyrics right to the guitar riffs

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why? im definitely the wine (aunt) lmfaooo im already one tbh 

59: what’s your favorite myth? Eros + Psyche, Icarus and the sun

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves? i love poetry hahah...cant think of any rn

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? id love any gift given 2 me as long as they wont harm me or anything lmao n i dont think ive evr given anything too stupid. well.. idk if this is stupid tho like i sent flowers thanking my ex for ‘helping me live’ well aft we’ve blocked each other off cos the end to the relo was js daaamn toxic lmao

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind? nope

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be? music i do spotify n im pretty particular ab organizing my playlists i guess. my books im alright with as long as theyre just stacked properly no problem

64: what color is the sky where you are right now? prolly rly dark blue cos its 12 am

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? a lot tbh cos ive rly been focusing on stuff internally

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like? daisies, sunflowers, n baby breath here n there

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? somber i guess maybe a tad bit nostalgic?

68: what’s winter like where you live? heeella cold not cos of the temperature itself but the winds thooo, if it drizzles evn in the slightest it feels like needles piercing through ur bones literally

69: what are your favorite board games? i like the game of life, ummm cards against humanity?

70: have you ever used a ouija board? no n never will lol

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? the fruity kinds

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? yea def lol

73: what are some of your worst habits? disappearing from people when i feel strong emotions

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns. they’re small but they’re so full of love, full of life, full of strength, and full of care for others, they’re the type of person who will seek their goals till the end despite obstacles and still be able to not lose their warm heart on the way. they put so much thought and care to every aspect of their life even when in the past they have been handed some bad things, and i adore them for that.

75: tell us about your pets! none :( wish i have a cat though

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? hahahhaah

77: pink or yellow lemonade? pink!

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? neither sometimes i think theyre weird sometimes cute sometimes weirdly cute lmao

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? write up 24 things they love about me to stop me from hating myself

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why? white. no but if i had to id say white anyways lol cos its a blank canvas

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. i dunno uhhhh her rounded eyes which seemed to at first glance, harbor plenty of wonder seemed to be weighted by many untold secrets, the traces of which could be found when she erupts into laughter where the wonder would manifest itself in the form of small stars in the dark of her eyes.

82: are/were you good in school? meh. i try

83: what’s some of your favorite album art? weirdly i like cigarette after sex’s one cos its so simple yet telling

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones? planning on getting an evangelion one, another heart one, a sunflower one, and prolly a ghibli related one

85: do you read comics? what are your faves? manga? naruto 4evr LOL

86: do you like concept albums? which ones? hmmm thinkin of dpr live’s IAOT

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? lord of the rings, harry potter, one of ghibli movies lol

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? i think impressionism is very cool evn tho i dont do it myself

89: are you close to your parents? eeeeee

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities. Melbourne is a wonderful city where many things could coexist in one--happiness and sadness, camaraderie and loneliness, hot and cold, quiet and full of life, productive and relaxed, bursting with unfocused energy yet incredibly organized, and for many reasons it’s become one of my favorite cities, and definitely my favorite to live in.

91: where do you plan on traveling this year? no plans tbh lol maybe home?.......japan? heheheh nahhh

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? it depends lol mostly i guess drowns my pasta in cheese

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? i always wear it down, either straight or wavy

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday? a friend of mine

95: what are your plans for this weekend? stay in most likely, do stuff

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot? 100% procrastinate lmaoooo

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? ISTG, jkjk INFP, leo sun aquarius moon cancer rising, ravenclaw

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it? im alws meh ab hiking tbh lmao 

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. Long Slow Distance - NCT 127, Four - Sleeping At Last, idontwannabeyouanymore - Billie Eilish, Stop This Train - John Mayer, Digital Lover - Crush

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why? 5 years into the past so she’d stop focusing her life around anybody else but herself

[365footballorg-blog]

Wigan’s Max Power: ‘One game from the quarter-finals, you start to dream’

Wigan Athletic [1]

Wigan’s Max Power: ‘One game from the quarter-finals, you start to dream’

Wigan take on Manchester City, the side they famously beat in the 2013 FA Cup final, but the midfielder says he wanted an easier draw

Paul Wilson[2]

@paulwilsongnm [3]

Mon 19 Feb 2018 03.26 EST Last modified on Mon 19 Feb 2018 13.30 EST

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Max Power has helped Wigan to the last 16 of the FA Cup and second in League One. Photograph: Ryan Browne/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

When Wigan Athletic take on Manchester City on Monday night the League One team will be unable to select a single player from the famous 2013 Cup final upset[12] involving the same two clubs. City still have Sergio Agüero and a handful of others but they have not had the churn brought about by three subsequent relegations. There are no connecting links between the Wigan side hoping for promotion back to the Championship and the one that Roberto Martínez led to Wembley success and a Premier League exit in the same season, though at least the midfielder Max Power remembers the Cup run well.

“I was still at Tranmere but I was following Wigan that year,” the 24-year-old says. “I’m a mate of Callum McManaman and he was outstanding throughout. He’s a big Everton fan, so when he scored in the quarter-final win at Goodison[13] I knew how much it meant. By the time they played City I was on a family holiday in Tenerife, but when one of your mates is playing in an FA Cup final you pay attention. I don’t think I have seen Callum play any better. He was top drawer that day, he ran Gaël Clichy ragged, and no one could say Wigan didn’t deserve to win.”

Wigan Athletic v Manchester City: match preview

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Nonetheless, a rematch was not necessarily what Power and his team-mates were looking for after knocking out Bournemouth and West Ham[14]. “I wanted Liverpool, and so did the manager, but they didn’t even make it into the draw,” Power says. “After that, we players fancied one of the lower-placed teams who were left. No disrespect to Coventry or anyone but we wouldn’t have minded a team we felt we had a chance of beating.

“It’s a funny thing but when I was at Tranmere and it was a battle just to reach the third round, whenever we managed it we wanted the biggest name possible, to either go out in a blaze of glory or get to play at a top ground. When you have reached the fifth round you look at it a bit differently. One game from a quarter-final you start to dream, to wonder how far you might go. Then you end up paired with one of the best teams in Europe. Being realistic it’s probably dream over, but you never know. There’s a bit of Cup history at this club now.”

A combative midfielder who along with the suspended Sam Morsy forms the solid platform for Wigan’s attacking success, Power enjoys being recognised for his footballing ability these days instead of just his name. Not since Austin Healey was playing rugby union up the road at Orrell have local headline writers had so much fun with a sporting moniker, but though Power can confirm the truth of the Wikipedia factoid he was named after the family labrador, he is evidently happy enough with the attention. He passed on his own name to his son, not the dog’s. “It runs in the family now, I’ve started a dynasty,” Power says. “Max is bang into his footy at the moment too. I’d never force anything on him but as far as you can tell with a five-year-old I think he might stick with it.”

Quick guide

Wigan Athletic’s greatest day

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Wigan were battling the Premier League drop but were fearless in the 2013 FA Cup final against Manchester City[15], holding out against the likes of Carlos Tevez and Sergio Agüero with the favourites distracted by rumours over Roberto Mancini’s future. With the game goalless in injury time, Wigan took their chance, with Ben Watson powering home a near-post header to win the team’s first ever major trophy. Three days later, the team were relegated from the top flight, with manager Roberto Martínez joining Everton that summer.

Jacob Steinberg’s matchday MBM

This is unbelievable! Ben Watson has surely won the FA Cup for Wigan Athletic[16]. Maloney whipped the corner to the near post and Watson darted in front of Rodwell and glanced a brilliant header past Hart and into the far corner!

WIGAN ATHLETIC HAVE WON THE FA CUP! There’s your romance. What a story. Watson will never have to buy a pie in Wigan again. Footballl? Bloody hell.

Photograph: Laurence Griffiths – The FA/The FA Collection

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If so, young Max might only have two or three years before professional clubs come calling. His father was scouted at the age of eight, eventually opting for Tranmere in spite of interest from Liverpool because it was his local club and felt he would be offered opportunities earlier. That was certainly true – he had captained the side by the age of 21 – though by that time the upwardly mobile club he had followed avidly on Prenton Park Friday nights was on the slide. “Being part of the team that went of out of the league still haunts me,” he says. “It was tough but it had been coming for a while. We had only just stayed in League One for three years running, we were a team that had become used to losing. As soon as we ended up in League Two dropping through the trapdoor was just a matter of time. The club was in freefall; it couldn’t be stopped.”

Perhaps that experience explains why, after a season in the Championship with Wigan, another relegation led him to try to force a move. Briefly at the start of this season he was in something of a Riyad Mahrez situation, except no one was offering £65m for his services. As it turned out, no one was offering anything at all.

After making it clear he wanted to leave, he was dropped from the first‑team group and sent to train with the academy. Then, when the transfer window closed with no takers, he had to swallow his pride, make his peace with manager and fans and successfully reclaim a first-team place. It says a lot for his personal drive he is back playing as if nothing had happened, though he also speaks highly of Paul Cook’s patience and understanding.

“It wasn’t a good summer, I would be the first to admit,” Power says. “I fell into the trap of listening to agents, putting my trust in what they told me. It spiralled out of control, but I take full responsibility. I was led to believe a move was close to happening and I did what I thought was necessary to continue playing at the same level.

“I gave Paul Cook a problem and I accept he had to plan for the future without me. But when it all unravelled he welcomed me back. I had to start again, press the reset button on my career, but I was willing to do it and the manager didn’t hold it against me. I’m really grateful for that and I think I’m wiser for the experience. The grass isn’t always greener.”

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References

^ Wigan Athletic (www.theguardian.com)

^ Paul Wilson (www.theguardian.com)

^ @paulwilsongnm (twitter.com)

^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)

^ Twitter (twitter.com)

^ Email (www.theguardian.com)

^ LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)

^ Pinterest (www.pinterest.com)

^ Google plus (plus.google.com)

^ WhatsApp (send)

^ Messenger (share)

^ 2013 Cup final upset (www.theguardian.com)

^ so when he scored in the quarter-final win at Goodison (www.theguardian.com)

^ and West Ham (www.theguardian.com)

^ Manchester City (www.theguardian.com)

^ Wigan Athletic (www.theguardian.com)

^ Wigan Athletic (www.theguardian.com)

^ Manchester City (www.theguardian.com)

^ FA Cup (www.theguardian.com)

^ interviews (www.theguardian.com)

^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)

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^ Email (www.theguardian.com)

^ LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)

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^ Reuse this content (syndication.theguardian.com)

FA Cup | The Guardian

Wigan’s Max Power: ‘One game from the quarter-finals, you start to dream’ was originally published on 365 Football

[pricelessmomentblog]

Book Club: Godel, Escher, Bach (December 2017)

This month we read Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. 

This is a fantastically weird and wonderful book. At one level, the book is about a parallel between three people: Johann Sebastian Bach, Kurt Godel and M.C. Escher, in particular how their work in music, math and art manages to loop back on itself and express a kind of self-referentiality. On another level, however, this book is really a hypothesis about the human mind itself, that selves and souls can come out from inanimate matter the same way that M.C. Escher’s hands draw themselves or Godel’s creates math that proves that it cannot be proven.

Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

If you would like to stream audio on your browser, click here listen on Soundcloud. If you’d like to read the transcript, you may do so here.

Here are some of the highlights from this month’s review. First off, we establish what Douglas Hofstadter is referring to when he talks about a “strange loop”; it’s perhaps easiest to refer to the visual artist M.C. Escher to explain this very sophisticated concept:

An example would be [his images] of the drawing hands where he has drawn two pictures of hands which are holding pencils and drawing themselves. Other ones Escher has includes birds which turn into other animals and shift between the foreground and background. He even has one where there is a person looking at a picture in a museum and the scene is warping so that he is part of the museum itself.

So, this is something that I think is easy to see to visually, this kind of paradox, and it’s easy to dismiss it as well as being a bit of trickery. You might not even be a fan of M.C. Escher’s art, you might consider it too obvious. 

However, I think it’s a really good entry point to grasping this idea of a strange loop. Now what I think Douglas Hofstadter calls a strange loop or this tangled hierarchy is where you have layers of something where something is built on top of something else.

Next, I discuss mathematician Kurt Godel and how he showed that there were limits to logic itself: 

Hilbert’s problem was that, at the time, there were no different axiomatic systems for mathematics. His idea was that if someone could come up with a proof that shows that standardized axioms exists, and was consistent and also complete, that would be a major triumph. We could feel very secure resting in our knowledge that this mechanical system would work all the time. And what Godel did in the 1930’s, was that he showed that this was actually impossible.

Godel showed that any system that you have, any set of rules that you have, is powerful enough to represent the basics of natural numbers (the basics of arithmetic) will ultimately undermine itself by creating situations that we know are true but cannot be represented.

To explain Godel’s proof in another way: 

Think about how 2 + 2 = 4. You have a two, you have a plus sign, you have a two, you have an equal sign, and you have a four. What Godel is doing is saying, let’s take that 2 and put it in a number, let’s take that plus sign and put it as a number, let’s take that 2 and put it in a number, let’s take that equal sign and put it into a number and let’s take that 4 and put it into a number.

Now you have one super long number that represents 2 + 2 = 4 as not just a number but as something that involves plus signs and equals signs and has separate numbers but as just one big number. 

Okay so what can you do with this? Well if you go through a little bit of work what you can end up doing with this process is you can make a statement that is the mathematical equivalent of saying “this statement is false” or more specifically what it is saying is “this statement has no proof.”

There are also mind-bending ramifications of Godel’s work on our current concept of human consciousness:

…. he’s identified a system that has reached a level of sophistication that has the ability to loop back on itself. What’s the extension here? One of them is the idea of human consciousness. He’s saying that what perhaps the self is, what we are, as not bodies but sort of an abstract quality, what makes us different from rocks or computer programs that we have today, is that our machinery for representing things is sufficiently complex and we can represent ourselves in that machinery. Moreover, we can represent ourselves representing ourselves. 

We can have thoughts about our own thoughts and about the person thinking the thoughts and about their relation to the world at large.

Feel free to join in on our Facebook Group Discussion I’d love to discuss this book with you there, thanks. January’s book is James C. Scott’s Seeing Like A State. 

Book Club: Godel, Escher, Bach (December 2017) syndicated from http://ift.tt/2kl7pJj

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5 Types of Content That Naturally Attract Links: Insights From 628 Advanced SEOs

Practically everyone understands the importance of “doing content marketing,” but many – even those with documented content marketing strategies – don’t know how to align the types of content they create with their desired content marketing goals.

For example, some of the best content for drawing in and nurturing qualified leads – like webinars – underperforms when it comes to link building. By contrast, publishing new data and research is a great way to build a robust link profile.

Those are a few of the new findings from my team’s new Link Building Survey, in which we polled 628 SEO experts across various types of businesses to understand better how they build links for better SEO in 2017. What follows are the five types of content these experts say are best at growing their own links.

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1. Infographics

Infographics are one of the most popular types of link-building content. Over half (53%) of the SEO experts create cornerstone infographics and 61% of those find them to be an efficient means of earning backlinks.

Jubaer Prodhan, SEO specialist at Vendasta Technologies, found unprecedented success by creating infographics and then allowing other sites to post them along with content that linked to his company’s site. He explains:

In our outreach efforts, we’ve tried with data, video, infographics (with embed code) and many other things. It worked well, but when we tried data and stats in infographics and reaching out to share the infographics with our personalized custom description for each website, the response and success rate just exceeds all of our past results and expectation.

As soon as Jubaer began distributing these infographics as “guesto-graphics,” content ROI increased dramatically – earning hundreds of backlinks from dozens of different domains. One of his infographics has received nearly 1,000 backlinks from over 300 referring domains.

Sharing infographics w/ personalized content for 3rd party sites exceeded past #linkbuilding efforts. @Jubaer96 Click To Tweet

How to use infographics to build links

Creating link-winning infographics is typically a three-step process:

Pick a topic highly relevant to your target audience and make it as specific as possible (e.g., if your niche is social media, focus on a single platform that’s hot).

Gather data points (preferably plucked from original research) about your topic. Wireframe your data points to flow logically down the page.

Make it look great. Use large fonts and visually represent all key stats so they jump off the page.

TIP: When designing an infographic, you can use free tools like Canva but you may want to hire a designer (or use an in-house designer) for a more customized, professional look.

Once you’ve created your infographic, you need to decide how to distribute it. If you want to create guesto-graphics, like Jabaer, do some cold outreach to key influencers. Offer to let them post your infographic and write a short accompanying guest post for them to publish.

NOTE: The supporting content is key to earning high-quality backlinks because Google devalues earned “embed links” if only your infographic is published.

Use supporting #content when publishing infographics to earn high-quality backlinks, says @ab80. #SEO Click To Tweet

Alternatively, if you have a large following, publish the infographic on your website and promote it via social media. If your content is highly relevant to other influencers, you’ll likely earn a number of shares, “likes,” and backlinks.

In either case, the quality of the data and the topic’s relevance play a large role in how effectively your infographic earns backlinks.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Principles to Creating Great Infographics

2. White papers

To build a high-quality link network, you need to start with something worth linking to. That means creating great cornerstone content – content that’s so rich you can repurpose it and use it to engage customers throughout your sales funnel and to encourage a variety of actions.

White papers are among the best types of cornerstone content. These robust resources provide your audience with an in-depth examination of topics that really matter to them. They deliver a potent one-two punch of content that both builds your credibility and solves customer pain points.

Forty-two percent of the responding SEO experts have created white papers and 60% of those find them to be ideal content for earning links. However, as with infographics, content quality is key.

60% of responding #SEO experts find white papers ideal #content for earning links. @ab80 Read more >> Click To Tweet

As Camelia Clarke, SEO specialist at GIE Media Inc., explains:

Our best way to create a high link profile for our websites is simply by creating great, unique content. Our sites are B2B and informational, so our internal editors post a lot of content to help our readers succeed in their business, articles that cover unique information and are worthy of being shared. Great content is the most natural way to earn links.

We also link internally to older articles if they offer added value for our readers or more information on the topic they are interested in, so we always keep in mind the importance of internal linking. This also helps us with user/reader engagement.

How to use white papers to build links

You need to hire a copywriter or have some serious writing chops (and a lot of time) to create a white paper worth linking to. Above all else, you should:

Pick a topic that appeals to your audience and satisfies a pressing need. (Yes, this is Step 1 for every type of content).

Don’t go overboard on branding. A white paper is not a brochure to advertise your business; it is a resource meant to solve a problem.

Endeavor to inform and convince your readers. Present information logically and objectively. Your arguments should flow toward your concluding argument. Claims should be well supported and sourced.

Include visual aids. Remember that graphs and charts are content too.

Revise until it’s perfect. The editing process is more important than ever in long-form content like this. Fix wordiness, spelling mistakes, and any meandering thoughts.

A white paper is not a brochure to advertise your business; it is a resource meant to solve a problem. @ab80 Click To Tweet

Fortunately, white papers and e-books are some of those valuable pieces of content that practically sell themselves. If you truly hit on an important need facing your audience, people are all too happy to share and link to your white paper.

In our survey, the absolute leaders in terms of popular link-building methods were social media techniques, such as including links in social media profiles and sharing original content. If you want to build links via social media techniques, investing in a white paper as a key cornerstone asset is a good place to start.

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3. Data/research

Last month my Twitter feed was abuzz about the new Content Marketing Institute’s Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report – and with good reason. According to our survey, when it comes to building links nothing beats unveiling new industry data and research in your niche.

However, it’s worth noting that even though 70% of our respondents find data and research to be the most efficient type of content for building your link profile, only 54% have done it. The reason is simple: Creating studies and compiling original research takes a lot of time and planning.

As one of the SEO experts, Marie Haynes, president of Marie Haynes Consulting Inc., says:

It’s OK to do promotion to tell people about your content, but if you can only get links by offering money to people or other big incentives, then you’re likely doing it wrong. One of the best ways to get links is to publish original research. That’s not that hard to do. Find out a question that people have in your industry and then do something to answer that question with data.

One of the best ways to get links is to publish original research, says @Marie_Haynes. #SEO Click To Tweet

How to use data and research to build links

To do research well, you need five key ingredients:

Great premise. Again, you need to ask a question that’s burning in your audience members’ minds and create something they want to share, tweet, and reference. Ideally, this idea will impact your industry and will engage and interest many companies.

Credibility. Establish yourself in your niche before making authoritative contributions. You may need to create multiple reports before you start turning heads.

Pre-business market tests. Once you have a killer premise, it’s important to test the potential value of an idea. Test consumer interest online or check in with your customer service department to see what information customers are burning to know.

Large sample size. We polled 628 SEO experts to make the study more properly representative of SEOs across industries. If we had polled 10 SEOs and published a report, we wouldn’t have been able to accurately draw conclusions.

Clear content strategy. Yes, as with all other types of content, you want to go in with a plan. Before you begin compiling stats, figure out the goal of your survey, how you plan to use the data, and what impact you hope your survey will have.

Part of the reason data and research work well as cornerstone content is because they’re versatile. You can repurpose your original research into all the other types of content, including the other four listed in this post. Have a ton of stats and percentages to share? Turn them into an infographic. Did you gain some game-changing new knowledge? Publish a white paper. Have insights that can solve various pain points? Create a video series. The potential is limitless.

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4. Webinars

I didn’t realize until we finished compiling the survey data that webinars are outliers in link building. In fact, webinars wound up being a relatively inefficient type of content for earning backlinks, with only 56% of respondents finding any success with them.

However, when you stop to think about how most marketers use webinars, the low link-building rate makes a little more sense. Most businesses use webinars to develop mid-funnel relationships with consumers. This format often provides additional information, addresses some of their lingering pain points, or engages with them in a more dynamic Q&A format. What marketers usually are not doing with webinars is actively building their link profile.

However, that’s not to say you can’t use webinars to build links, you just need to get creative. For example, feature industry-leading influencers in your webinars. Those voices can earn you more credibility and backlinks, and boost your brand in the long run.

Just be choosy about who you feature and where you publish. As Eric Enge, CEO of Stone Temple Consulting, reminds us: 

The key to doing (link-building outreach) the right way though is not to worry about the quantity of where you publish, but worry about the quality of where you publish. In any given market space, you might have 10, 20, maybe 30 sites that are worth publishing on. So think more about that, than masses and masses of different domains.

The key to good #linkbuilding is to worry about the quality of where you publish, not quantity. @stonetemple Click To Tweet

How to use webinars to build links

Webinars may not be the best type of content for link building, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Here are a few strategies you can try:

Include clickable links in your webinar. Embed the links or use a chat feature so your viewers can actively participate in your content – which is especially great during product demos.

Promote your webinar to the bitter end. Announce the opportunity on social media well before the webinar date and continue to promote it as it goes live. Include information about it on your blog, in your email lists, and in your PPC campaigns (if you have the budget).

Send surveys after your webinar. Gauge how much your webinar benefited your audience by asking questions. Include a CTA that tells your audience what the next steps are.

5. Videos

Videos are another type of popular content when it comes to rounding out your link profile. Fifty-nine percent of SEO experts say they have used video content for link building, and two-thirds of those find them to be efficient.

Of course, the internet is so inundated with video content these days that it can be tough to get noticed. You need to get inside of your audience members’ heads – and create content with a full understanding of what drives them, frustrates them, and makes them laugh. Then you need to spend the time, effort, and budget to get your videos just right.

The bottom line, of course, is that your content needs to be relevant and it needs to be good. If something deserves links, it will earn them, as Bruce Clay, founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., reminds us:

“Our approach to link building is ‘Let’s put out information.’ We publish the information, generally with social media, to the community we’re targeting. And then, if (our audiences) like it, they’ll link to it.

“In fishing, there’re a couple of things you have to do: 1) use the right bait and 2) fish where the fish are. That is link building. You have to come up with something that your community cares about and then put it in front of them.”

Link building: Come up w/ something your community cares about & put it in front of them. @BruceClayInc Click To Tweet

How to use videos to build links

Earning links starts with good videos. To create videos that earn attention – and engagement — consider these tips:

Use videos to address customer pain points. If your earlier outreach hasn’t elicited sufficient pain points, use other resources like Quora to find commonly asked questions in your industry that you can answer.

Develop your brand through your video content. Keep quality high and stick to a formula (e.g., include a signature bumper) that your viewers can recognize.

Always include a clear call to share. If you’re publishing on YouTube, you can use its cards and end screen features.

Optimize your videos. On YouTube, this means verifying your account, including custom thumbnails, and including summaries of your videos. You can even upload transcripts.

Promote your videos periodically. Use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other platforms your audience frequents to earn views and shares.

After you optimize your content for YouTube and rake in some views, I recommend natively hosting your best video content on your landing pages as well. You can then use link-tracking software to find people who have linked to your YouTube videos and send them a friendly request to switch their links to your landing pages.

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Conclusion

What types of content should you focus on if you want to build your link profile? According to our survey of SEO professionals, the most efficient types of content are original research, infographics, and videos.

The common thread I see in all these content types is their potential to go viral. All these formats have the capacity to offer valuable information that is easily digestible and eminently shareable.

Have you successfully built your link profile using other types of content? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Strengthen Your SEO Strategy for 2017

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used). 

Need some help as you plan to have a successful content marketing strategy and effective implementation in 2018? Access the hundreds of presentations from Content Marketing World 2017. You can watch a presentation any time you have 60 minutes to spare. 

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 5 Types of Content That Naturally Attract Links: Insights From 628 Advanced SEOs appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

5 Types of Content That Naturally Attract Links: Insights From 628 Advanced SEOs syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm

[petraself]

Now Is the Time for Buying Faux Plants

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself over the years of owning the UDH, it’s that I can kill a lot of plants.

And even though I can keep a few alive, like around the sink in the kitchen, buying some faux ones for certain parts of the house is best!

Legalese*: This post contains affiliate links, which helps to support this site. If you’re at all curious why these disclaimers are being seen so much on blogs lately (and near the top of content instead of the bottom), scroll to the bottom of the post for details. If not, continue reading and carry on! <3

I’ve realized that some spaces in my house, I just forget to water. I still like green things, though, so I compulsively buy plants, even when I know their potential fate (my trash can is nice and all, just not a spot I hope for plants to end up)…

…and then they die from neglect, and then I buy replacements, vowing to do better this time…

And then I forget again. On and on the cycle goes… until I realized I should just buy some faux plants for the areas that I forget. As long as I can find some realistic-enough-looking ones, I can still have greenery in tough areas that might not otherwise tolerate my watering forgetfulness (or lack of enough natural light… this house can be a little dark sometimes!). Through a little trial and error, I’ve picked up a few tips:

The best places to find them

The best times to find them (since seasonality can play a role on selection)

Ways to make them look more realistic

Since I just had a “Homegoods haul” and found a bunch of new ones to add to the house, I figured now was as good of a time as any to cover some of these in more detail.

Where to find good deals on realistic faux plants

I first started out by buying a few to replace the plant graveyard on the laundry room’s back shelf. The room doesn’t get much natural light from this small, hexagonal window, so the only things that still managed to stay alive during my makeover project this winter were things like aloe and other succulents (the ones I put directly in front of the window and forgot to water, pretty much).

During the holidays, local stores didn’t have much to offer, and as many of you know, finding faux plants that look even a little bit real can be kind of a crap-shoot if you buy online, so finding realistic photos of the product were key. I found that the best “real” photos I could find were from a few Etsy shops, which I’ve now favorited so I can go back for more when I’m decorating future rooms (for instance, two of my bathrooms are windowless, so I’m just going to go with faux in there).

Good Etsy retailers with faux plants: VividPetal, SimplySierraFloral (be sure to check their clearance), dirtcouture, LemonLeafMarket (for finished arrangements), HeavenlyHomesFlowers

Search keywords: faux ___ (plant name), real touch, realistic faux

You can also check my curated Etsy list here: f a u x p l a n t s

I found through online reviews that West Elm had a good faux trailing succulent, so I picked that up for the side shelf (and maybe for bathroom placement when that makeover is completed). I will say, though, not all of their plants are consistent in quality (so be sure to read reviews whenever possible!).

What to look for

In nature, plants tend to have imperfections. So, in order to find a good fake, you need to look for the same perfectly-imperfect elements:

not too perfect — variation in color, size, length (especially when buying faux stems that you’ll later create your own arrangement with)

lack of glossy shine — a great deal of plants do not have waxy leaves, or leaves that are sort of waxy and sort of not, and this one is probably my #1 complaint about stylized photos; a glossy look on plants that you know aren’t naturally that shiny is a dead giveaway that the plant is made of plastic, and this sheen can easily be Photoshopped out of catalogue-type product listings. So, I look for imperfections and have found that “dusty” plants or ones known to have super-waxy leaves (basically, one end of the spectrum or the other) look best. In nature, even the waxy-leaf varieties don’t typically look like they were covered in poly!

plant types — I’ve found that the following plant varieties often look pretty good when faux: fiddle leaf, rubber, boxwood, snake plants, eucalyptus, succulents & cactus (of all kinds – sedum, aloe, etc.), ferns, spider, Dusty Miller, Lamb’s Ear

“real touch”, “nearly natural“, or “UV protected” product descriptions — granted, it’s not always the case, but these descriptions yield more realistic-looking results when I shop online; they tend to be better quality, have better ratings, and are less plastic-smelling, too.

greenery vs. flowers — I find that flowers are harder to look real than bunches of greenery. To each their own, but I’d rather buy an inexpensive flower bouquet and switch those out while having greenery as a staple.

DIY-friendly — sometimes it’s not about the plant that makes it look fake; it’s what it’s sitting in, or how smushed together the leaves are, or other details that can be changed with just a little tweaking (more on that below). Make sure you can bend/twist the stems around or break the item down with a few gentle tugs (don’t dismantle it in the store… I’m just saying look at the base, see what’s attaching it, etc. to know if you can later break it down!)

More Faux Plants I Like

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Best times to buy faux plants (or find the most selection)

Spring (aka, right now), or just as winter is drawing to a close, seems to be the best time for the most selection in retail stores. A lot of what you see in some of these photos came from a recent trip to Homegoods and TJMaxx, though I’ve also found that Target and West Elm are good when things start to go on clearance or have a big sale.

Other projects: DIY Dog Bowl Stand – Counter Bar in Breakfast Nook

What about dried plants/stems?

It’s a personal preference, but I don’t like dried plants or stems as much. I find that they always look a little dead and I prefer realistic faux with more color. I also hate dusting dried plants because they sometimes break apart (and I am not a gentle enough duster, it seems).

DIY for a better faux

I find return trips to be an avoidable hassle. If you find that you’ve ordered something that is too shiny or looks too unrealistic, you can often DIY a fix!

If the item is too shiny — spray a matte sealer on the leaves to tone down the sheen; if you don’t get every single nook and cranny, that’s ok! The lack of consistency in the leaves will actually help to make it look more real.

Rearrange — I tend to look for good deals on an entire sleeve of faux stems (like the box of faux Lamb’s Ear in the pictures above/below). Usually, stems are only stuck in place with the end of the stem in a floral block (or a little hot glue), so they can be yanked out and rearranged with ease! You can also break the original arrangement down completely to individual stems and come up with entirely separate groupings, then toss/donate/repurpose the decorative box they came in. The only reason why I might do this instead of buying a bunch of stems in bulk is because the arranged ones at discount stores (like Homegoods) can sometimes be cheaper than buying 20 stems from a retailer.

Repot — the problem might not be the plant at all, but what it’s sitting in. Young House Love recently found a great faux fiddle leaf fig at Target that looks pretty fake at first, but by repotting and rearranging the individual leaves, it looks believable enough to keep. More often than not, the problem is that the pot is not in proportion to the plant’s size, which makes the whole thing look dinky and emphasizes its flaws.

Put them next to real plants — intermixing faux and real (like I do in my laundry room) makes the fake ones look more like they belong… just be sure not to put the real version and fake version of the same plant next to each other.

Surround them with other natural elements or warm metals — wood, straw, and brass/copper can add the earthiness vibe that real plants put off, so repotting to a planter that has one of these elements will help a fake look more realistic. You can also add dried moss or rock to the potted area to hide any visible floral styrofoam.

Do you have a favorite go-to faux plant that you like? Or any of your own tips to share?

  *P.S. You guys have probably been seeing me post more disclosures of “affiliate links” lately, and the gist is that the FTC has been asking bloggers to make more and more explicit mentions in posts these days. The blog world has changed a LOT in recent years, and the FTC just wants any “material relationship” to be clear, regardless if the post is expressly paid for/in conjunction with a brand or not — anything where I might earn ad money, commission, etc. needs to be disclosed in the post and BEFORE I start linking to stuff I’m recommending (which in the past, bloggers just pretty much just linked to stuff they recommended and usually with a disclosure at the bottom, but the rules have been changing over time). So, I don’t mean for it to be annoying or to repeat myself AT ALL, but I also want to be as much on the up-and-up with doing things “the right way” for everyone involved — especially if there are new guidelines for doing so, and if it’s more specific on where I have to place such language and whatnot! But, as always, I would never recommend something I wasn’t personally interested in recommending, or stuff I’ve purchased myself, or a brand that I really like, etc. I’m not much of a rule-breaker by nature, so whenever you see me saying “hey, there are affiliate links” in a post, this is why! I know not all of you guys know the behind-the-scenes rules with blogs in general or how that world changes day to day, so if you’ve been seeing this on the blogs you love to read, I just thought I’d let you know why you’re seeing it more!

The post Now Is the Time for Buying Faux Plants appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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Now Is the Time for Buying Faux Plants published first on http://ift.tt/1kI9W8s