#quoting software free

[onlineecommercestore]

Strengthen Brand Identity and Fuel Creativity with Sales Quoting Software

For value-added resellers in the IT and office supplies sector, creating a strong brand identity is indispensable. A brand identity not only sets a company apart from its competitors but also fosters trust and loyalty among customers.

However, maintaining a consistent brand image while striving for innovation can be a challenging task. This is where sales quoting software steps in to streamline processes, enhance brand identity, and fuel creativity. The business sales quoting software serves as a comprehensive solution for value-added resellers (VARs) to generate accurate quotes quickly and efficiently.

However its benefits extend beyond mere sales operations; it can play a pivotal role in reinforcing brand identity and fostering creativity within an organization. Here's how:

Consistency in Brand Messaging

A cohesive brand identity is built upon consistent messaging across all customer touchpoints. Sales quoting software allows businesses to incorporate branded templates, logos, and messaging into every quote, ensuring that the brand identity remains consistent throughout the sales process. This consistency reinforces brand recognition and strengthens the brand's overall image in the eyes of customers.

Personalization

While consistency is key, personalization is equally important for connecting with customers on a deeper level. A business quote generator enables businesses to tailor quotes to each customer's specific needs and preferences. By incorporating personalized elements such as customer names, relevant product recommendations, and customized pricing options, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to providing personalized experiences, thus enhancing brand loyalty.

Streamlined Workflows

Creativity thrives in environments where processes are streamlined and efficient. The software that has connections with Cisco Direct data feed automates repetitive tasks such as data entry, pricing calculations, and quote generation, allowing sales teams to focus their time and energy on more creative endeavors, such as crafting compelling sales pitches and developing innovative solutions to meet customer needs.

Data-Driven Insights

Creativity flourishes when fueled by insights and feedback. Sales quoting tools connected to catalog management solutions provide valuable data and analytics on quote performance, customer preferences, and sales trends. By leveraging these insights, businesses can identify areas for improvement, uncover new opportunities, and fine-tune their sales strategies to better resonate with their target audience, ultimately fostering a culture of continuous innovation.

Collaboration and Communication

Effective collaboration is essential for unleashing creativity within an organization. This software system integrated with catalog solutions software facilitates seamless collaboration among sales teams, marketing departments, and other stakeholders involved in the quoting process. Features such as real-time updates, commenting, and version control ensure that everyone is on the same page, fostering a collaborative environment where ideas can flow freely and innovation can thrive.

Brand Differentiation

In a crowded marketplace, standing out from the competition is crucial. Sales quoting tools that have built-in connections with the Cisco catalog empower businesses to differentiate themselves by offering unique value propositions, showcasing their expertise, and highlighting the benefits of their products or services in a visually compelling manner. By effectively communicating their brand's unique selling points through quotes, businesses can carve out a distinct identity in the minds of customers.

Sales quoting software is not just a tool for generating quotes; it is a powerful asset for strengthening brand identity and fueling creativity within an organization. By ensuring consistency in brand messaging, enabling personalization, streamlining workflows, providing data-driven insights, fostering collaboration, and facilitating brand differentiation, sales quoting software empowers businesses to elevate their brand image, engage customers more effectively, and drive innovation forward.

As businesses continue to navigate an ever-evolving marketplace, investing in this software application is not just a wise decision; it's a strategic imperative for success in the digital age.

[hyugaruma]

Only one more assignment (the last page of an essay that I have to write tonight) and I’m DONE

I can’t wait to focus on my own writing for the next month instead of all these essays please

(PS I’m working on jealousy imagines rn so expect that next)

[morlock-holmes]

To quote myself, imagine if you bought a pocket calculator at the store in 1980, and then in 1981 Texas Instruments sent you a letter saying, "The terms of use for our calculator have changed, in order to use the calculator you agree to waive any right to a jury trial or class action suit against Texas Instruments or any of its parents or subsidiaries. Continued use of the calculator constituted a binding agreement to these terms. If you do not agree you must immediately stop all use of your pocket calculator. No refund will be provided."

Seriously, writing that out really made it strike me even more how utterly abusive the modern age is to consumers.

The EULA, or End User License Agreement is a binding contract which one party may unilaterally change at any time for any reason and in any way they choose; the counterparty may not negotiate or change the terms of the contract and their only remedy in the case of changes that they don't like is to withdraw entirely from the contract.

Such contracts govern all use of software, which, since software governs the majority of our lives, mean that they now govern the majority of our lives.

Want to order a pizza? Better send the legal contract with the pizza company to the lawyer you keep on retainer and after looking over the documents he'll advise you on the legal ramifications of the pizza transaction.

Oh, you don't keep a lawyer on hand to advise you about ordering pizza or playing video games?

Well, then you can't complain if you don't like something buried in page 20 of the contract you signed with the pizza delivery company.

One of the massively dehumanizing things bureacracy does is demand something that is in practice impossible, like, "Keep a lawyer on retainer to scrutinize the terms of every pizza delivery contract, video rental, major appliance, and video game you interact with." and then condescendingly tell you,

"Well, if you don't do something as simple as that, whatever happens next is *your fault* and blaming someone else shows a weakness in your character."

One of the confounding problems if you want to argue with people who have some kind of luddite leanings is that, well, new technology feels nowadays like an imposition from hostile forces who know that they have you over the barrel because, uh, it is that thing. It is deliberately designed to be that thing.

I like having a cell phone. I hate waiving my right to a jury or to participate in a class action lawsuit. I would pay more, as a consumer, for a phone contract that did not have a binding arbitration clause. I couldn't find one.

So I decided that owning a phone was the lesser of two evils, and that will now be treated as a free choice which I have no right to complain about.

After all, if I wanted the right to join a class action suit I could simply forgo phone service and conduct all communications by the post.

And since I am allowed to choose whether I wish to have legal rights or a telephone, I am not allowed to complain about missing one or the other. After all, *I agreed* to give one of those things up :) :) :) :)

I think this move towards mass abuse of consumers really is one of the more underrated factors in, say, modern American politics.

[treasure-mimic]

So, let me try and put everything together here, because I really do think it needs to be talked about.

Today, Unity announced that it intends to apply a fee to use its software. Then it got worse.

For those not in the know, Unity is the most popular free to use video game development tool, offering a basic version for individuals who want to learn how to create games or create independently alongside paid versions for corporations or people who want more features. It's decent enough at this job, has issues but for the price point I can't complain, and is the idea entry point into creating in this medium, it's a very important piece of software.

But speaking of tools, the CEO is a massive one. When he was the COO of EA, he advocated for using, what out and out sounds like emotional manipulation to coerce players into microtransactions.

"A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in it. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

He also called game developers who don't discuss monetization early in the planning stages of development, quote, "fucking idiots".

So that sets the stage for what might be one of the most bald-faced greediest moves I've seen from a corporation in a minute. Most at least have the sense of self-preservation to hide it.

A few hours ago, Unity posted this announcement on the official blog.

Effective January 1, 2024, we will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee that’s based on game installs. We will also add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no extra cost to Unity subscription plans this November. We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.

Now there are a few red flags to note in this pitch immediately.

Unity is planning on charging a fee on all games which use its engine.

This is a flat fee per number of installs.

They are using an always online runtime function to determine whether a game is downloaded.

There is just so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start, not helped by this FAQ which doubled down on a lot of the major issues people had.

I guess let's start with what people noticed first. Because it's using a system baked into the software itself, Unity would not be differentiating between a "purchase" and a "download". If someone uninstalls and reinstalls a game, that's two downloads. If someone gets a new computer or a new console and downloads a game already purchased from their account, that's two download. If someone pirates the game, the studio will be asked to pay for that download.

Q: How are you going to collect installs? A: We leverage our own proprietary data model. We believe it gives an accurate determination of the number of times the runtime is distributed for a given project. Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes. Q: If a user reinstalls/redownloads a game / changes their hardware, will that count as multiple installs? A: Yes. The creator will need to pay for all future installs. The reason is that Unity doesn’t receive end-player information, just aggregate data. Q: What's going to stop us being charged for pirated copies of our games? A: We do already have fraud detection practices in our Ads technology which is solving a similar problem, so we will leverage that know-how as a starting point. We recognize that users will have concerns about this and we will make available a process for them to submit their concerns to our fraud compliance team.

This is potentially related to a new system that will require Unity Personal developers to go online at least once every three days.

Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

It's unclear whether this requirement will be attached to any and all Unity games, though it would explain how they're theoretically able to track "the number of installs", and why the methodology for tracking these installs is so shit, as we'll discuss later.

Unity claims that it will only leverage this fee to games which surpass a certain threshold of downloads and yearly revenue.

Only games that meet the following thresholds qualify for the Unity Runtime Fee: Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs. Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.

They don't say how they're going to collect information on a game's revenue, likely this is just to say that they're only interested in squeezing larger products (games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Fate Grand Order, Among Us, and Fall Guys) and not every 2 dollar puzzle platformer that drops on Steam. But also, these larger products have the easiest time porting off of Unity and the most incentives to, meaning realistically those heaviest impacted are going to be the ones who just barely meet this threshold, most of them indie developers.

Aggro Crab Games, one of the first to properly break this story, points out that systems like the Xbox Game Pass, which is already pretty predatory towards smaller developers, will quickly inflate their "lifetime game installs" meaning even skimming the threshold of that 200k revenue, will be asked to pay a fee per install, not a percentage on said revenue.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Hey Gamers!

Today, Unity (the engine we use to make our games) announced that they'll soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained.

Guess who has a somewhat highly anticipated game coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024? That's right, it's us and a lot of other developers.

That means Another Crab's Treasure will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threatens the sustainability of our business.

And that's before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user!!!

This decision puts us and countless other studios in a position where we might not be able to justify using Unity for our future titles. If these changes aren't rolled back, we'll be heavily considering abandoning our wealth of Unity expertise we've accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine. Which is really something we'd rather not do.

On behalf of the dev community, we're calling on Unity to reverse the latest in a string of shortsighted decisions that seem to prioritize shareholders over their product's actual users.

I fucking hate it here.

-Aggro Crab - END DESCRIPTION]

That fee, by the way, is a flat fee. Not a percentage, not a royalty. This means that any games made in Unity expecting any kind of success are heavily incentivized to cost as much as possible.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table listing the various fees by number of Installs over the Install Threshold vs. version of Unity used, ranging from $0.01 to $0.20 per install. END DESCRIPTION]

Basic elementary school math tells us that if a game comes out for $1.99, they will be paying, at maximum, 10% of their revenue to Unity, whereas jacking the price up to $59.99 lowers that percentage to something closer to 0.3%. Obviously any company, especially any company in financial desperation, which a sudden anchor on all your revenue is going to create, is going to choose the latter.

Furthermore, and following the trend of "fuck anyone who doesn't ask for money", Unity helpfully defines what an install is on their main site.

While I'm looking at this page as it exists now, it currently says

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

However, I saw a screenshot saying something different, and utilizing the Wayback Machine we can see that this phrasing was changed at some point in the few hours since this announcement went up. Instead, it reads:

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming or web browser is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

Screenshot for posterity:

That would mean web browser games made in Unity would count towards this install threshold. You could legitimately drive the count up simply by continuously refreshing the page. The FAQ, again, doubles down.

Q: Does this affect WebGL and streamed games? A: Games on all platforms are eligible for the fee but will only incur costs if both the install and revenue thresholds are crossed. Installs - which involves initialization of the runtime on a client device - are counted on all platforms the same way (WebGL and streaming included).

And, what I personally consider to be the most suspect claim in this entire debacle, they claim that "lifetime installs" includes installs prior to this change going into effect.

Will this fee apply to games using Unity Runtime that are already on the market on January 1, 2024? Yes, the fee applies to eligible games currently in market that continue to distribute the runtime. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

Again, again, doubled down in the FAQ.

Q: Are these fees going to apply to games which have been out for years already? If you met the threshold 2 years ago, you'll start owing for any installs monthly from January, no? (in theory). It says they'll use previous installs to determine threshold eligibility & then you'll start owing them for the new ones. A: Yes, assuming the game is eligible and distributing the Unity Runtime then runtime fees will apply. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

That would involve billing companies for using their software before telling them of the existence of a bill. Holding their actions to a contract that they performed before the contract existed!

Okay. I think that's everything. So far.

There is one thing that I want to mention before ending this post, unfortunately it's a little conspiratorial, but it's so hard to believe that anyone genuinely thought this was a good idea that it's stuck in my brain as a significant possibility.

A few days ago it was reported that Unity's CEO sold 2,000 shares of his own company.

On September 6, 2023, John Riccitiello, President and CEO of Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U), sold 2,000 shares of the company. This move is part of a larger trend for the insider, who over the past year has sold a total of 50,610 shares and purchased none.

I would not be surprised if this decision gets reversed tomorrow, that it was literally only made for the CEO to short his own goddamn company, because I would sooner believe that this whole thing is some idiotic attempt at committing fraud than a real monetization strategy, even knowing how unfathomably greedy these people can be.

So, with all that said, what do we do now?

Well, in all likelihood you won't need to do anything. As I said, some of the biggest names in the industry would be directly affected by this change, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're not just going to take it lying down. After all, the only way to stop a greedy CEO is with a greedier CEO, right?

(I fucking hate it here.)

And that's not mentioning the indie devs who are already talking about abandoning the engine.

[Links display tweets from the lead developer of Among Us saying it'd be less costly to hire people to move the game off of Unity and Cult of the Lamb's official twitter saying the game won't be available after January 1st in response to the news.]

That being said, I'm still shaken by all this. The fact that Unity is openly willing to go back and punish its developers for ever having used the engine in the past makes me question my relationship to it.

The news has given rise to the visibility of free, open source alternative Godot, which, if you're interested, is likely a better option than Unity at this point. Mostly, though, I just hope we can get out of this whole, fucking, environment where creatives are treated as an endless mill of free profits that's going to be continuously ratcheted up and up to drive unsustainable infinite corporate growth that our entire economy is based on for some fuckin reason.

Anyways, that's that, I find having these big posts that break everything down to be helpful.

[mariacallous]

If you’ve rented an apartment in the US in the past several years, you may have had the sense that the game was rigged: Prices creep up not only at your building but at others throughout the city, seemingly in lockstep. A new civil lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice today alleges that in many cases it’s not just in your head—and that a single company’s algorithm is to blame.

That company is RealPage, a Texas-based firm that provides commercial revenue management software for landlords. In other words, it helps set the prices of apartments. But it does so, the DOJ alleges in its lawsuit, by effectively helping its clients cheat; landlords feed rental rate and lease terms into the system, and the RealPage algorithm in turn spits out a suggested price that enables coordination and hinders competition.

“By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing prices,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

RealPage’s reach is broad. It controls 80 percent of the market for software of its kind, which in turn is used to set prices of around 3 million units across the country, according to the DOJ. It already faces multiple lawsuits, including one from the state of Arizona and another in Washington, DC, where RealPage software is allegedly used to price more than 90 percent of units in large apartment buildings. RealPage’s algorithmic pricing first gained broader attention when a 2022 ProPublica investigation detailed how the company’s YieldStar software works.

The DOJ civil lawsuit, which was joined by the attorneys general of eight states, is a significant escalation in legal action against the company. It’s also a first for the DOJ, according to officials speaking on background during a call to discuss the complaint. While the government had previously filed criminal charges against an Amazon seller for algorithm-enabled price-fixing, this is the first civil action in which the algorithm itself, the Justice Department official says, was effectively the means of the violation.

The complaint itself quotes RealPage executives allegedly acknowledging anticompetitive aspects of its product. “There is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire industry down,” one RealPage executive allegedly wrote.

RealPage has repeatedly denied any allegations of antitrust violations, going so far as to publish a six-page digital pamphlet that claims to tell “the Real Story” about its products, along with an extensive FAQ page on a dedicated public policy website. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Attacks on the industry’s revenue management are based on demonstrably false information,” one section of that site reads. “RealPage revenue management software benefits both housing providers and residents.”

“We are disappointed that, after multiple years of education and cooperation on the antitrust matters concerning RealPage, the DOJ has chosen this moment to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to scapegoat pro-competitive technology that has been used responsibly for years,” said Jennifer Bowcock, senior vice president of communications and creative at RealPage, in an emailed statement. “RealPage’s revenue management software is purposely built to be legally compliant, and we have a long history of working constructively with the DOJ to show that."

The DOJ disagrees. “Algorithms don’t exist in a law-free zone,” said Monaco in a press conference to discuss the case. “Training a machine to break the law is still breaking the law.”

In this case, the complaint alleges that those algorithms consistently drove rental prices upward. “RealPage’s software tends to maximize price increases, minimize price decreases, and maximize landlords’ pricing power,” said the DOJ in a press release. RealPage also doesn’t just recommend prices; in many cases, it actively sets them.

“RealPage actively polices landlords’ compliance with those recommendations,” said US attorney general Merrick Garland in today’s press conference. “A large number of landlords effectively agree to outsource their pricing decisions to RealPage by using an ‘auto-accept’ setting that effectively permits RealPage to determine the price a renter will pay.”

The DOJ also claims RealPage has created a “self-reinforcing feedback loop” with its data intake and pricing recommendations structure that also gives it an alleged monopoly in the apartment revenue management software industry. Any competitor who plays by the rules, the DOJ claims, is at a distinct disadvantage.

The Justice Department has spent the past several years staffing up with technologists and data scientists, better enabling them to “interrogate the code,” as multiple officials described the investigative process. While this is the first major algorithmic collusion case, DOJ officials suggested it would be far from the last.

[kkskdeaddove]

2025 KakaSaku Dead Dove Week!

Officially announcing the 2025 KakaSaku Dead Dove Event, also known as "You Need Jesus January"! This event will take place from Monday, January 20th to Sunday, January 26th and exists to explore / embrace the darker side of the Kakashi/Sakura ship.

Quotes

“Does it make you nervous when I stare?”

"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"That's it, just like that"

"Stay down"

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I told you I'd do it"

“You shouldn’t fight so much”

Prompts

Aphrodisiacs / sex pollen

Somnophilia

Gloryhole (czech kind)

Financial difficulties

Uncooperative clones

Mission requirements

Kunoichi training / secret training

Objects

Chakra restraints

Tool with a handle

Fingerless gloves

Collar

Secret diary

Camera

(Accidentally or deliberately) broken condom

Rules

The KakaSaku Dead Dove 2025 Event will run from Monday, January 20th to Sunday, January 26th. Creators have the choice of choosing any quote, prompt, and / or object from the list above for each day and mix & matching to their heart's desire <3

Submissions must not involve AI or other machine learning software, and must be creative content created originally by you, including but not limited to fanart, fanfiction, graphics, mood boards, edited/stylized manga caps, etc. 

Submissions must feature Kakashi and Sakura as the main pairing, although other characters / ships are welcome.

All content across the dead dove spectrum is encouraged. Please tag / warn appropriately. 

Use the tag kkskdd2025 for your submissions on Tumblr, AO3, and other content sharing sites. This blog will reblog any tagged submissions so long as they do not violate any rules. We will have a collection on AO3 for written submissions as well.

If you have any questions or concerns, please DM or submit an Ask.

FAQs

Do I have to do something every day?  Nope! You can create however much / little you’d like. 

Does a submission have to include a prompt and a quote? Nope! Feel free to mix and match as you’d like, or you are welcome to stick to one thing.

Is there a limit to the deadness of the dove? The limit does not exist. Please just tag accordingly as per typical AO3 rules. 

Is there a minimum deadness of the dove?  Not really. This week is about celebrating the darker potentials of the pairing, but it’s a sliding scale, so feel free to create whatever floats your boat :) 

[glendasguidance-inactive]

🪽spiritual guidance for you! - pick an emoji🪽

You got a burtiful spurit ♡☻☁︎☾

Cuz at the end of the day, the day gotta end. - Glorilla <3

₊˚ʚᗢ₊˚✧ﾟhow to pick // disclaimers ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚

Pick an emoji to receive a message from a collection of my favorite spiritual lessons, quotes, and phrases I'm sharing from my Pinterest board 📌

🐢🧰🧑🏾‍🎨✂️🫨🔄🪁🌸❤️‍🔥✊

Inhale & exhale 3x, now pick

★ free readings ★ support me ★ other pac's ★

Pile 1 🐢

twitter user @robynsquill - You need to be slowmaxing. You need to be reading long, fat books. You need to be making 48-hour chocolate chip cookies. You need to spend hours watching wildlife, you need to spend 15+ min making your coffee. You need to breathe in and breathe out. You need to be slowwwww.

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 2 🧰

The point of spirituality isn't to just act like everything is pretty & positive all the time, and like everything will always just work out. The point is to give you the tools to turn complex situations into opportunities and empower you to work through the heavy emotions you face in your daily life in a healthy, productive way.

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 3 🧑🏾‍🎨

"The function, the very serious function of racism, is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language, so you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly, so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing." -Toni Morrison

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 4 ✂️

CORD CUTTING MANTRA by MoonMagick - I release you with a full heart, with love for the place you once held in my life. May you be happy in the life you have chosen. I now take back all the energy that has been taken from me or that I have given away and I return the energy that I still hold from you. May I be free from the ties that bind us. May all cords be cut, transmuted and dissolved. May all energy return to its original sender with power, peace and forgiveness. I ask that this is complete and sealed now. So it is.

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 5 🫨

Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 6 🔄

It's not for us to have shame, it's for them. - Gisele Pelicot

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 7 🪁

Life got sweeter when I realized the magic behind childhood wasn't because I was a child, it was because I was present.

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 8 🌸

There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours. - Jean-Paul Sarte

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 9 ❤️‍🔥

"It isn't courageous of modern women to run away from emotion and love. It is cowardice." - Sinead O Connor

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦ ✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Pile 10 ✊

"Once we stop searching for approval we often gain respect" - Gloria Steinem

♥︎ much love - Glenda ♥︎

♣︎★ mutual aid LA -★- mutual aid disaster relief -★- how to create a mutual aid network -★- worldwide mask bloc -★- eSIMs for Gaza -★- mutual aid Gaza ★♠︎

dividers: click here and here and here // I do not consent to my writing, blog’s likeness, or anything associated with my work, to be used to train any machine learning software and artificial intelligence for any purpose.

[samueldays]

To quote @morlock-holmes who blocked me so I can't reblog his post, imagine if you bought a pocket calculator at the store in 1980, and then in 1981 Texas Instruments sent you a letter saying, "The terms of use for our calculator have changed, in order to use the calculator you agree to waive any right to a jury trial or class action suit against Texas Instruments or any of its parents or subsidiaries. Continued use of the calculator constituted a binding agreement to these terms. If you do not agree you must immediately stop all use of your pocket calculator. No refund will be provided."

Seriously, writing that out really made it strike me even more how utterly abusive the modern age is to consumers.

The EULA, or End User License Agreement is a binding contract which one party may unilaterally change at any time for any reason and in any way they choose; the counterparty may not negotiate or change the terms of the contract and their only remedy in the case of changes that they don't like is to withdraw entirely from the contract.

Such contracts govern all use of software, which, since software governs the majority of our lives, mean that they now govern the majority of our lives.

Want to order a pizza? Better send the legal contract with the pizza company to the lawyer you keep on retainer and after looking over the documents he'll advise you on the legal ramifications of the pizza transaction.

Oh, you don't keep a lawyer on hand to advise you about ordering pizza or playing video games?

Well, then you can't complain if you don't like something buried in page 20 of the contract you signed with the pizza delivery company.

One of the massively dehumanizing things bureacracy does is demand something that is in practice impossible, like, "Keep a lawyer on retainer to scrutinize the terms of every pizza delivery contract, video rental, major appliance, and video game you interact with." and then condescendingly tell you,

"Well, if you don't do something as simple as that, whatever happens next is *your fault* and blaming someone else shows a weakness in your character."

One of the confounding problems if you want to argue with people who have some kind of luddite leanings is that, well, new technology feels nowadays like an imposition from hostile forces who know that they have you over the barrel because, uh, it is that thing. It is deliberately designed to be that thing.

I like having a cell phone. I hate waiving my right to a jury or to participate in a class action lawsuit. I would pay more, as a consumer, for a phone contract that did not have a binding arbitration clause. I couldn't find one.

So I decided that owning a phone was the lesser of two evils, and that will now be treated as a free choice which I have no right to complain about.

After all, if I wanted the right to join a class action suit I could simply forgo phone service and conduct all communications by the post.

And since I am allowed to choose whether I wish to have legal rights or a telephone, I am not allowed to complain about missing one or the other. After all, *I agreed* to give one of those things up :) :) :) :)

I think this move towards mass abuse of consumers really is one of the more underrated factors in, say, modern American politics.

[vintage-tech]

useful information: How to get a USB Blu-Ray player to work on your computer

Not a post about vintage technology, just an explanation of what you think might be simple to do but isn't: There are Blu-Ray players that plug into your computer by USB, and you discover that just plugging it in doesn't make it work* in the same manner that CD-RWs or DVD-RWs are automatically recognised and function. You will see "BR Drive" in My Computer and the name of whatever movie you have inserted, but that's as far as you're able to go.

*There is software you can buy to make a Blu-Ray (internal or external) function, sure, and if an internal came with your computer it's likely already installed -- but if you're like me you don't have that software, you're cheap and won't pay for software, and you want to use what you have installed already or find free solutions.

Looking in the Blu-Ray drive's package, there's not a lot of info about what you're supposed to do. The above no-name Blu-Ray player cost $40 from a popular website; name-brand ones can set you back $120 or so. Looking around online for those instructions, I never saw the whole set of directions in one place, I had to cobble them together from 2 or 3 sites. And so here I share that list. To keep out of trouble, I'm not linking any files -- Google will help you.

Get VLC, the free video player available for pretty much any operating system. Thing is, it doesn't come with the internals to make it work with Blu-Ray even if when you go to the Play Media menu there is a radio button for selecting Blu-Ray.

Get MakeMKV, a decoder for reading Blu-Ray disks. This had been totally free during the beta testing period but it's come out and has a month or two trial period you can work in.

Get Java if you don't already have it. Reason for this is, the menu systems on Blu-Ray disks uses this... technically it's not required, however it does mean you don't have options such as special features, language and sound changes, or scene selection if you don't have Java installed; insert a disk, it can only play the movie.

Get the file libaacs.dll online so you have AACS decoding. I am told it hasn't been updated in awhile so there may be disks produced after 2013 that won't work right, but you won't know until you try.

There's a set of keys you will also want to have so that the player knows how to work with specific disks, and so do a search online for the "FindVUK Online Database". There will be a regularly-updated keydb.cfg archive file on that page to pick up.

Got those three programs installed and the other two files obtained? Okay, here are your instructions for assembly...

In VLC: go to Tools, Prefs, click "show all"… under the Input/Codecs heading is Access Modules then Blu-Ray: Select your region, A through C. You can change this if you need to for foreign disks. Next related action: go to My Computer and C:, click into Program Files and VLC, and this is where you copy the libaacs.dll file to.

In MakeMKV: click View, then Preferences, and under Integration - add VLC.

Confirm that Java is set up to work with VLC by going to the computer's Control Panel, going to System Properties, and into Environment Variables. Click System Variables, and click New to create this key if it doesn't already exist: … Name: Java … Value: [the location of the Java 'jre#.##' folder... use Browse to find it in C:\Program Files\Java]

Let's go back into My Computer and C:, this time go to Program Data, and then do a right-click in the window and select New and Folder. Rename this folder "aacs" (without the quotes), and then you click into it and copy the keydb.cfg file here.

REBOOT.

And now you should be able to recognise Blu-Ray disks in your player and play them. Three troubleshooting notes to offer in VLC:

"Disk corrupt" -- this means MakeMKV has not decoded and parsed the disk yet, or that you don't have the libaacs.dll in place so that it can decode the disk. ...After checking the VLC folder for the DLL to make sure, launch MakeMKV, then go to File, Play Disk, and select the Blu-Ray drive. Now it will grind a bit and figure out the disk's contents.

A note appears when a movie starts saying there will be no menus, but the movie plays fine -- Java isn't running. ...Invoke Java by going to the Java Settings in Start: Programs. You don't have to change anything here, so Exit, then eject the disk and put it back in to see if the movie's menu now appears.

Buffering between chapters, making the movie pause for a few seconds? There is a setting for this but I need to find that info page again for where that is. (If you find it, tell me where it is!)

I don't claim to know a lot but if you have any questions I might have some answers or suggestions. So far I've watched "Office Space" and Disney's "Coco" without any issues beside occasional buffering.

[onlineecommercestore]

Use Product Descriptions that Sell with Etilize Integration

Effective product descriptions are the linchpin for successful eCommerce sales. The digital marketplace is flooded with options, and consumers are more discerning than ever. To stand out from the competition and entice potential buyers, integrating rich content from the Etilize catalog into your product descriptions can be a game-changer.

What is Etilize?

Etilize, a leading product content provider, offers a comprehensive database of detailed product information. By seamlessly incorporating Etilize's rich content into your product descriptions, you can enhance your offerings and captivate customers from the moment they land on your product page.

Etilize data partner integration provides in-depth product information. Product descriptions go beyond the basics, offering detailed specifications, features, and benefits. This wealth of information empowers customers to make informed decisions, fostering confidence in their purchase.

Imagine a customer searching for a new laptop. A generic product description may cover the basics, such as processor speed and storage capacity. However, with Etilize-rich content integration, your product description can delve into specifics like screen resolution, graphics capabilities, and even battery life. This level of detail not only satisfies customer curiosity but also positions your product as a superior choice, addressing potential concerns before they arise.

View Up-to-date Information

Moreover, Etilize content integration allows for dynamic updates. In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and consumer electronics, staying current is crucial. With Etilize, your product descriptions automatically reflect the latest information, ensuring that your customers are always presented with accurate and up-to-date details. This not only saves time on manual updates but also showcases your commitment to providing the most relevant information.

Get a Better Understanding of Products

Visual appeal is another facet where Etilize rich content integration shines. The platform offers high-quality images, 360-degree views, and even product videos for your aggregated catalog.

Incorporating these visuals into your product descriptions elevates the overall shopping experience. Customers can virtually interact with the product, gaining a better understanding of its design, functionality, and build quality. This immersive experience can be a decisive factor in swaying potential buyers towards a purchase.

Additionally, Etilize product content provides compatibility information, helping customers understand how a product fits into their existing setup. For example, if you're selling computer accessories, Etilize's compatibility data can highlight which devices your product is compatible with, easing customer concerns and streamlining the decision-making process.

Using product descriptions that sell with Etilize data integration is a strategic move in today's competitive e-commerce landscape. The depth of information, dynamic updates, and visually engaging content offered by Etilize enhance the overall customer experience and instill confidence in potential buyers.

By using this powerful tool, businesses can not only stand out from the crowd but also build lasting relationships with customers who appreciate the transparency and depth of information provided. Etilize integration is not just a feature; it's a pathway to creating product descriptions that sell and securing a competitive edge in the dynamic world of online commerce. By seamlessly weaving Etilize's rich content into product descriptions, businesses can elevate their offerings and captivate customers for increased sales success.

[jolaunay]

A Farewell to Unicorns...

If you have been following me long enough, you probably know that about a year ago I have started a crazy cross-stitch project, see post here . I have posted updates here n there throughout 2023 with the tag #ladyandtheunicornproject . As every crafter & artist would know, when you embark on such a journey, it keeps lingering in the back of your mind every damn day that you don't work on it. I didn't touch it in months, then I finally found the energy to get back to it. This is the progress I made in a year, a little shy of 1.5 pages out of a 60-page pattern:

It just felt hopeless, the amount of confetti in this pattern is insane. And most of the time, it didn't even look like it made much difference. Then it kinda dawned on me; is this pattern the product of a pattern mill?

What it is a "pattern mill" you might ask... Some cross-stitch pattern shops on etsy simply use photos of artwork and convert them to cross-stitch patterns using free websites. They don't credit the artist, they don't pay a dime for the software, yet they profit from their work. The end result usually does not translate well to cross-stitch; lots of confetti, the project is unmanageable, kills the joy of crafting and when you're finished, it looks like a pixelated photo taken with an early 2000s phone camera.

After further research, I was convinced that my pattern is also from a pattern mill - considering the amount of money I spent on this project, it felt like a punch in the gut. My family will never have generational wealth & afford a vacation home on Rhode Island coast because of this fucking project! But hey, c'est la vie! You live and you learn... See related posts here & here

Sometimes, you just gotta know when to say "enough of this bullshit", cut your losses and walk away from a situation. For that reason, there's no point in working on this project anymore and making it my "Sagrada de Familia". So, I came up with an idea to finish it in an alternative way:

"Unfinished paintings are more admired than the finished because the artist's actual thoughts are left visible." This is a quote from Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, some important guy who lived during the Ancient Roman times. I think it is a fitting quote because it represents my vision of saying "fuck this" and not having the fallacy of the sunk costs. Finished it, framed it and now displaying it in my library room in front of another tapestry from the Unicorn series.

It gives me closure rather than disappointment for a project that I started with such high hopes & excitement. If I just put it in a bag and threw it to the bottom of a closet, it'd make me feel guilty. But this still makes me feel accomplished, because it honors the hours of effort I put into it. It turned into a nice little conversation piece with a story. I still love cross-stitching and will work on better patterns in the future. There's already enough to dread about in life. Unfortunate experiences shouldn't take the joy out of pleasant activities!

[hyruleinterviews]

Reggie Fils-Aimé on convincing Iwata and Miyamoto to bundle Wii Sports with the Wii

Source: Disrupting the Game (Fils-Aimé, 2019)

https://hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Fils-Aim-on-convincing-Iwata-to-pack-Wii-Sports-with-the-Wii-1cc41fe961fd806cb500db1965313244?pvs=4

https://hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Fils-Aim-on-convincing-Miyamoto-to-pack-Wii-Sports-with-the-Wii-1cc41fe961fd80e284a7d542639bf9e8?pvs=4

Quote 1:

PEOPLE:

Reggie Fils-Aimé. President of Nintendo of America (2006-2019).

Satoru Iwata. President of Nintendo (2002-2015).

QUOTE: "Fils-Aimé: We knew we had something magical in Wii Sports.

I advocated packing Wii Sports with Wii so that every consumer would get access to this great content. After I made this suggestion, Mr. Iwata paused long enough for me to notice the faint buzz of the incandescent lighting in his office and get uncomfortable.

‘Reggie,’ Mr. Iwata said, ‘Nintendo does not give away precious content for free. We work hard to create special experiences. It is unique software that motivates consumers to buy our hardware. And we expect to sell these games over extended periods of time. No, we should not pack in Wii Sports.’"

Quote #2:

PEOPLE:

Reggie Fils-Aimé. President of Nintendo of America (2006-2019).

Satoru Iwata. President of Nintendo (2002-2015).

Shigeru Miyamoto. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD.

QUOTE: "Fils-Aimé: Even after convincing Mr. Iwata that this was the right approach, I would also need to get Shigeru Miyamoto to agree [to bundling Wii Sports with the Wii in North America].

… The world’s best game designer was not happy. The ever-present smile and impish squint of Mr. Miyamoto’s eyes were gone. ‘[You don’t] understand the challenges of creating software that people love to play. This is something we constantly push ourselves to do. We do not give away our software,’ Mr. Miyamoto stated.

Mr. Iwata, however, was already sparking to our ideas. ‘Miyamoto-san, I am sure that … Reggie-san appreciates the effort of the developers. [He is] trying to solve for a different situation than ours in Japan.’"

[cocoatonedcurls]

become an academic weapon 📚🔫✨

hi all !!

with my GCSEs this year, and only a few weeks before back to school, I decided to really lock in yesterday 🫣

so I thought I'd take all the info I've come across while scrolling through studytok and put it into a little post for everyone looking to improve in their studies (& for my benefit as well 🙈)

motivation

this is probably the biggest factor when it comes to locking into your studies, motivation can quite literally make or break your academic achievements (😦)

so, its very important you motivate yourself, and moreover, stay motivated 😭

i've made it sound daunting but motivating yourself is lowkey easier than you think, here's a few ways to do it:

picturing yourself in 10 years, where all your studying and hard work has paid off - you can't be that person without doing the work that they did 😬

you can also do the opposite of the above - imagine how disappointed you'll be if you didn't work as hard as you could have and failed

"revenge studying" - the most toxic yet probably the most widely effective technique - working hard so you can beat than the people who are better than you

make studying aesthetic - create pinterest boards, look at quotes and tiktoks, make success your greatest desire

make it an addiction - if you're bored? study. had a bad day? nothing like setting yourself up for the best future. having a great day? go make it better by making yourself smarter.

get a motivational study app - i LOVE 'Study Bunny' I've been using it for two days now and it genuinely motivates me to be more productive to keep my bunny happy 🙃

resources

obviously, you need some help where you can get it despite all the controversies surrounding studying and the use of the internet, there are some amazing online resources you can use that will actively help you 📚

Quizlet/Anki - both of these flashcard platforms are incredibly useful - Quizlet is a fun platform and you can search for flashcards made by other people - Anki, in my opinion, is better than Quizlet for memorising, and you can import flashcards from Quizlet.

Mindnote - A mindmap making software online, a user-friendly interface + is quick and easy to make them - Great for visual learners

YouTube - the teachers on YouTube are incredibly helpful and can explain any topics you're confused about very quickly and very thoroughly

Spark Notes - great for English literature, with in-depth analysis of your texts and modern translations

Physics & Maths Tutor - free past papers and topic questions for core subjects and a few others, great for active recall

Study Bunny/Flora - helps keep track of your progress and keeps you motivated, I recommend Study Bunny because I can see how much work I've done of each subject and tick off things on my checklist

these are just a few out of many other resources so go do some of your own research, especially if there are websites that help with a specific subject

techniques

different study techniques work best for different people, no technique is a one-size-fits-all, some people are visual learners, others perform best by memorising & etc.

active recall - the only one-size-fits-all method - is a cognitive function that you carry out to remember things in tests, so practising this is a must -> the best way to do this is by completing topic questions and past papers using minimal amounts of notes. basically just testing yourself before the actual test

Spaced-out revision - one of the best ways to make sure things stick in your mind, revise a topic/subject and revisit it every few days, eg. 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 30; and by the 30-day mark it should be stuck in your mind because your brain believes its something that you need to know in the long run and stores it in your long term memory

Flashcards - great to memorise content for the test, especially subjects that are tested with orals

Scribble method - scribbling on a piece of paper while revising the content in any form, reading, listening, etc. helps your brain store the information you're consuming more effectively

Feynman method - basically just explaining the topic you're revising to someone, this helps you develop your understanding and catches out any areas you're unsure about to revise later

making mindmaps - this is great for visual learners, especially if you use different colours for each section of the map so that you can associate each concept with each colour and recall them easily

again, those are just a few that come to mind. do your own research and find out what works best for you 😇

while studying

knowing how to study effectively is also a crucial aspect of success (obviously) 🤭

here are a few tips:

don't listen to music with lyrics, instead you can listen to lofi tracks, cafe/library asmr, brown noise, jazz music (my favourite)

set yourself a study slot, like 2 hours every day at a specific time & set a focus filter on your phone for the duration of your study time

make an aesthetic/cute study space so you can enjoy your time in that space and it doesn't feel like a chore

get a whiteboard to make learning more interactive & fun

light a specific candle whenever you're studying so your brain knows to associate the scent with working

have regular breaks eg. every half hour for 5-10 mins

reward yourself afterwards, so you associate studying with a good experience

consistency is key, the more you study the easier & more fun it becomes 🙃 the more you study the more you are likely to succeed and fulfil your dreams ✨

remember though, academics is not everyone's thing:

"you cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree"

everyone is good at something, and it doesn't make anyone lesser or greater 🫶

if you try your best, that is all that matters 🫠

- li 🌘

[thatguywhodoesstuff]

Some More J X Thad Incorrect Quotes

(A sequel to these two posts)

———

Uzi: J, takeout the trash.

J: Sure. (Turns towards Thad, batting her eyes) Hey, Thad, will you go out with me tonight?~

———

J: (Kisses Thad on the lips)

Thad: (Is caught off guard, but quickly reciprocates the kiss)

J: …Did you steal my chapstick?

Thad: Did- Did I what?

J: My chapstick, Thad. Did you steal it?

V: J, for the love of God, not this again.

Thad: I- No, I didn’t steal your chapstick. We use the same chapstick.

J: No, there is absolutely no way we use the same chapstick, because it was only sold on one JCJenson shop two years ago and they discontinued it, and I loved it so much that I bought the last of their stock, and I keep it in my freezer so it doesn’t go bad. It’s been discontinued for three years. No one else uses the same chapstick for three years. So unless you’ve been eating a whole fuck ton of something that’s flavored like chocolate and popcorn, you absolutely stole my fucking chapstick.

Thad: Chocolate and popcorn?

V: Why do you think it got discontinued?

———

Lizzy: Hey, J, are you free on Friday? Like around eight?

J: Yeah.

Lizzy: And you, Thad?

Thad: Umm… yes?

Lizzy: Great! Because I’m not. You two go out without me. Enjoy your date! (Saunters off)

J: Did she just-

———

Thad: We should get you to a technician for a check up immediately. What if it happens again, and there isn’t anyone around to help you? What if it’s congenital? Oh my God! Was it me? Did I hurt you?

J: …You realize any other person that made their partner overheat in bed would simply feel really proud of themselves, right?

———

J: Look, I know you think my judgement’s clouded because I like Thad a little bit.

Uzi: (Holds up J’s Ruled Murder Drones Notebook) You doodled your wedding invitation.

J: (Dismissively) That’s our joint tombstone.

Uzi: (Sarcastically) My mistake.

———

Thad: I would never say that my girlfriend is a bitch and I don’t like her. That’s just not true… my girlfriend is a bitch and I love her so much!

———

Thad: J is too tall for me to kiss her on the lips. What should I do?

Lizzy: Punch her in the stomach. Then, when she doubles over in pain, kiss her.

Doll: Проткните ее.

Uzi: Dump her.

V: Kick her in the shin.

J: No to all of those! Just ask me to lean down!!

———

J: I want someone to take me to art museums and make out with me.

Thad: (Flirtatiously) But they say not to touch the masterpieces~

J: (Equally flirtatious) Well somebody's got to pin the artwork to the wall~

Uzi: (Looks away in disgust) Ugh…

———

J: You are the love of my life and I would do anything within reason to make you happy.

Thad: I would be happy if you ate, kept your software up to date, and got a reasonable amount of sleep.

J: I said within reason, Thad. How about I murder that guy? (Points at Chad)

Thad: So murder is in reason, but proper self care isn’t?

J: Well, duh. What kind of question is that?

———

Thad: Can I have 2 straws with my drink?

J: Aww-

Thad: With 2 straws, I can drink it twice as fast!

J: (Looks at him, thoroughly unimpressed)

———

Uzi: (Glaring, her Solver at the ready) What have you done with Thad?

J: Nothing. Why? (Leans forward, smugly) Do you have suggestions?~

(Uzi throws a barrel at her)

———

N: Truth or dare?

Thad: Truth!

N: Do you-

J: I dare you to kiss me.

Thad: (Passionately makes out with J)

N: He said “truth”, right?

———

Thad: What do you want to be for Halloween?

J: Yours~

Thad: (Blushes profusely)

Uzi: …Yeah, that would be pretty scary.

———

N: (Trying to make small talk) So… How long have you and Thad been together?

J: (Blushes heavily) No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Thad and I are not together. No. No.

N: (Unimpressed) …Really? Sixteen “nos”? Really?

———

V: Why do you look like that?

J: (Laying facedown on the floor) Like what?

V: Like you’re dead.

J: It’s because I’m dying. Leave me here to perish.

(V looks questioningly towards N, who is standing awkwardly off to the side)

N: …She accidentally called Thad “babe” in front of everyone today.

V: (Tries to suppress her laughter)

J: (Sobs into the floor)

———

J: Thad kissed me!

Lizzy: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

J: It was unbelievable!

Lizzy: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

V: Okay, we want to hear everything. Lizzy, get the crude oil and shut off your phone. J, does this end well or do we need tissues?

J: Oh, it ended very well~

Lizzy: (Walks back into the room, crude oil in hand) Don’t start without me! Do not start without me!

V: Okay, alright let’s hear about the kiss. Was it a soft brush against your lips or was it like a, you know, “I have you now” kind of thing.

J: Well, at first it was really intense, you know? And then, oh God, and then we just sort of sunk into it.

Lizzy: Ohh… So, okay, was he holding you? Or was his hands on your back?

J: (Smiles fondly) First they were on my waist and then they slid up and then they were in my hair.

Lizzy & V: Ohhh.

-Meanwhile-

Thad: And, uh, then I kissed her

Uzi: (Thinks on it) Tongue?

Thad: Yeah.

N: Cool.

———

J: (Wildly shaking N by the shoulders in a panic) WHAT THE FUCK I WAS ARGUING WITH THAD AND I SAID “OOH YOU WANNA KISS ME SO BAD” AND GUESS WHAT? HE DID. HE KISSED ME. WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT DO I DO!?

———

Uzi: Hey, what have you two been up to?

V: We were helping J write her vows, but she kicked us out because Lizzy was making inappropriate suggestions.

Lizzy: How is “Thad, I love your sweet ass” inappropriate?

———

Lizzy: Ah, yes. Here we have a beautiful couple…

N: (Hugging Uzi) I really care about your feelings!

Uzi: (Cupping N’s face in her hands) I really care about YOUR feelings!

Lizzy: (Turning her head) …and then there’s the disaster couple…

J: YOU NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO ME INSTEAD OF BEING AT THE HOSPITAL!

Thad: I WOULDN’T HAVE TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME AT THE HOSPITAL IF YOU STOPPED INSISTING ON FIGHTING EVERYONE WHO COMES WITHIN A FIVE FOOT RADIUS OF YOU!

———

J: (Threateningly) I’m this close to falling in love with Thad.

N: Uh, your fingertips are touching.

J: (Her eyes narrow) Exactly.

———

Thad: (Laughs) Babe, you had a crush on me? That’s embarrassing-

J: (Flatly) We are literally married.

Thad: (Grinning) Still.

———

Thad: I think I just figured something out. I got to go.

J: Aren’t you forgetting something?

Thad: Uh… oh, right. (Kisses her on the mouth before running out)

J: (Blushing profusely) No, pay your bill! Damn, who raised you?

———

Uzi: Hey, what’s up?

Thad: (Jokingly) The sky.

Uzi: (Annoyed) No, I meant like, what are you doing?

Thad: Oh, J.

Lizzy: (High-fives Thad) Nice.

Uzi: (Rolls her eyes) Ugh…

———

Thad: Your pretty, your smart, and your ignoring me, so obviously your my type.

J: (Looks up from her status report) I’m sorry- what were you saying?

Thad: (Grinning widely) Perfect.

———

J: I’ve been dropping him the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now, and still no response.

Thad: Wow. He sure sounds stupid.

J: (Lightly blushing) But… he’s not. He’s actually really smart, just… dense.

Thad: Maybe you just need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!”

J: (Her blush intense and beads of sweat appear on her visor) I- I guess you’re right. Hey Thad, I love you.

Thad: See, just like that!

J: (Frustrated and blushing heavily) Holy fucking shit.

Thad: If that flies over his head, well I’m sorry J, but he’s just too dumb for you.

J: (An “are you serious” look plastered on her face) Thad.

———

J: Just a minute V. I have to take out the trash.

Thad: (Just walked into the room) Oh, we’re going out?

———

[chasingchaos12]

"do you not get bored? does the ugliness of stupidity not scare you?"

Ooft, what a hard hitter.

If you are at all interested in conscious rather than passive consumption (working towards actively engaging with the media you consume, and becoming a part of the conversation even just privately to better internalise and actually learn the things we consume), the value of art in society, it's strength and role in our development as individuals, and a bit about world-wide falling literacy rates and the rising stigma attached to intellectualism, oh and let's not forget some concerns about the unchecked rise of AI, I have a read that you might find interesting:

It's got some banging quotes such as:

"i am a bundle of all the work i have ever come into contact with. i think i can trace parts of my personality to all the anthony bourdain documentaries my grandmother used to watch. my sense of humor is a mix of my mother’s dryness and the work of rick riordan. if we all see the same five clips on tiktok, the same three luca guadagnino films, how will we ever be individual?"

"there are people trying very hard to make us feel shame for wanting to contextualize our existence. men eager and waiting behind their keyboards to yell at well-read women who make them feel small. to them i say:

you will not shame us for seeing value in the practice of empathizing with people through this work.

there is so much to hate in this world. so much to mourn. it is a miracle that my heart still has the capacity to love; you will not strip me of what little joy i have sequestered for myself for the sake of my sanity. you cannot have our art.

pick up a book. it just might free you from all that misery you feel."

Discovered this article from a super interesting and eye opening yt video that you should also check out if you're interested in this subject:

I will definitely be attempting this digital garden thing: I've already downloaded the software she recommended (Obsidian), now's just the doing.

Wish me luck! Hope this interests and/or helps someone.

[minimalsizeconspiracy]

No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 5: Obsidian

Storytime

In terms of how long I’ve been using Obsidian, well. Currently, a little more than a week ^^ And I’ll be honest, I’ll probably only use it for writing fic sporadically, because it’s proprietary software and I prefer Open Source (and I also love LaTeX too much, but that’s a different question).

The reason why I decided to give it a try in terms of writing fic was that I’ve been talking with others about moving to Markdown, Obsidian is Markdown-based and I’d been playing around with it in a different context for a while already. So, out of curiosity, I decided I’d try to write a story in Obsidian and see if it could live up to my demands.

Word/Google docs versus Obsidian

Again, Word and Obsidian do not work in the same way. If anything else I have described here so far can be compared to the way Obsidian works, it’s Zettelkasten. The same principle of “one note for one idea/scene/thought” also applies to Obsidian. Also like Zettelkasten, Obsidian relies heavily on connecting these notes by way of links, using tags to categorise/find specific notes and it also has the same feature of using folders for collecting “sub-notes”, which can be used for structuring in the same way the virtual desk is used in Zettelkasten. Actually, I would say that the main difference between those two is that Obsidian uses Markdown and a folder-with-subfolders structure, whereas Zettelkasten has its own file format and relies on XML behind the scenes.

Cost

The personal use version of Obsidian is free, so technically +1 for that. However, Obsidian is not Open Source. It is not free in the same way Writer, LaTeX, Zettelkasten and Markdown (= many MD editors) are free, the code behind it is proprietary. This does not have any impact on the cost, at least not at present, but there is a chance that at some point, the developers might choose to charge for private use of it. I think it’s unlikely, but. Just so you know.

File formats

Unlike Word, however, Obsidian relies on Markdown as its file format and stores every “note” as a separate .md-file in a folder. The “notebook” where all notes are collected is called a “vault” and it’s just one big folder with lots of subfolders. In other words, even if the software is proprietary, the files can be read and used without needing Obsidian itself. Which is really great, because again, it means you have plain text .md-files with your ideas, scenes and stories, and they wil be readable even if Obsidian as an app disappears.

+1 for that!

Features

What you need Obsidian for is the features. And of those, there are many. I’ll save words and say, read about Markdown features like bold, italics etc. here, but I really do want to talk about other features Obsidian offers that plain Markdown with an editor does not.

Firstly, an important feature that I talk about a lot is the export function. AO3 needs either HTML or RTF, fanfiction.net ODT or DOC(X). Obsidian can export to all of these, provided you install the Pandoc plugin. This is not the same as installing Pandoc on your computer; you need to install the plugin in Obsidian itself to use it. But as long as you do, you can export to whatever you like.

+1

Another feature very important for me when I tried Obsidian was whether outcommenting would work (again, I’ve talked about this here). Basically, what that means is that parts of the text are not exported when you export the rest of the note – such as comments to yourself, notes on what you still need to write in a scene or simply – as I use it frequently – stuff you wrote and don’t want to delete, even it doesn’t fit anymore. Much to my delight, it works in Obsidian as well, again because it’s Markdown and it works in Markdown. [text you want outcommented]: # will do the trick.

+1

Lastly, another plugin I would recommend is Smart Typography. It “[c]onverts quotes to curly quotes, dashes to em dashes and periods to ellipses”, as the description says, and that’s really useful if you use a regular keyboard layout to write, where you get the standard ' and ".

+1

Installing both the Pandoc and Smart Typography plugins is easy. Open the Obsidian vault settings (the little wheel you can see in the left lower corner, to the right of “example”, which is the name of the vault), Third-party plugins (which you need to enable) and then browse Community plugins by name and install and enable them. Done.

Now for the most important part: putting together a story.

If you want one big vault containing all of your stories, you need to create “folders” for every story and then store the single notes for that story in that folder. Personally, I prefer to have one vault per story, because I find it a lot easier to focus on working on one story at a time if I don’t have several other stories in the same vault. This, I want to note, is different to how I used Zettelkasten, where I generally had one big Zettelkasten containing all of my stories for a specific fandom. I don’t know why that’s different with Obsidian, it’s just that way.

In any case, the following examples are for when you have one story per vault. In this case, I’ve decided that I’m going to write a story involving the POVs of three different characters. I’m going to keep their respective pieces sorted by character, so I always know who’s talking right now. Every scene where that character is the main narrator gets its own note within the respective character folder.

This, in theory, is no different than what I do with regular Markdown. What is very useful in Obsidian, however, is that Obsidian offers the possibility to “embed” notes in other notes.

And that, in turn, means that just like with Zettelkasten, you can use one note to put together the whole story and move around scenes without ever having to worry that you’ll accidentally delete and lose texts while copypasting.

It works like this: [[name of note]] establishes a link from one note to another (useful if you want to connect different ideas). If you add ! before the brackets, like so: ![[name of note]], it means that the whole text of the linked note will now be embedded in the note with the link. Which will give you this:

And, because you’ve installed the Pandoc plugin, this will now allow you to export the note named “complete story” to HTML, ODT or whatever, and all of the linked notes will be exported into that file. You need to change the order of scenes or move one scene from chapter 1 to chapter 2? Just delete ![[name of note]] in chapter 1 and put it in chapter 2. You can also insert horizontal rules, by the way, which I have done here. These will also be exported.

If you need your story structured in chapters rather than as a whole, the process is analogue: one note per chapter, where you !-link all the scenes that belong to the chapter in question. Then, if you want it as a whole, create a note where you !-link the notes for the single chapters, done. Export at your leisure.

Embeds are hands down in my opinion the best feature Obsidian has. They offer a distinct benefit over other Markdown editors like Ghostwriter, KATE or Notepad++, because Markdown, other than LaTeX, does not come with a feature that would make it easy to include “child files” in a “parent Markdown” file that only includes the header and the child files in the order in which they should appear in the final output document. Thus, none of the three editors I like to use for Markdown can show me the whole story if I decide to create a separate file for each of the scenes, and that is really annoying, because it means that I’m back to cutting and pasting pieces of text from one part of my Markdown document to another. Which in turn increases the probability that I will lose something, and well. See Zettelkasten as to how I feel about that.

So that is definitely an extremely useful feature deserving a big +1 because like with Zettelkasten, it means you can move the order of your chapters and scenes around without running the risk of losing the actual text.

Interface

Something I find quite enjoyable is that there are a lot of “skins” made by the community that can be applied to Obsidian. This is important to me because, as the previous instalments have probably shown, I’m a big fan of simple, clean, customisable interfaces. I’ve tried several of the community-made skins already, and my current favourite is Cyber Glow – but there are also others I’ve found quite nice.

Again, skins can be installed via the wheel/settings button, and just to show it, the below is the vault from above with Cyber Glow enabled.

Syncing

One of the big benefits of Obsidian is that it comes with a syncing service. Yes, you don’t need anything else, you can just create an Obsidian account and your notes will be synced across your devices, even on mobile devices. And file versioning is an option (I’ll get to that in due time). And that is really great, because it’s a one-in-all solution.

If you don’t need or want that, you don’t have to sign up for it. You can also continue syncing your Obsidian vaults with your preferred service (Dropbox, OneDrive, GIT, USB etc.). But you can and it’s at least nice to have the option. Downside: sync is a paid-for service, starting at 4$/month for 1GB of storage. Which isn’t a lot generally, except you’re writing plain-text/Markdown, so your files are Kb-tiny in most cases, and it takes a lot of Kb-sized files to fill up 1GB.

Personally, I will say that I’d much rather pay 4$ a month and know that my stories are not going to be scraped for AI, but it’s really a decision everyone has to make for themselves. Just remember – if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.

Ease of use for Word/Google doc-users

It’s not intuitive in the same way as moving from Word to LibreOffice Writer is. At least having a look at some Markdown guides (linked over there) is important if you are going to use Obsidian. But as I wrote there already, Markdown takes you about half an hour to learn, if you don’t know it already. And yes, you’ll have to wrap your brain around the concept of “one note = one thought/scene/idea” as well, but honestly? In terms of cost-benefit ratio, Obsidian is probably one of the most rewarding transitions you could make if you’re looking to get away from Word/Google docs. My only gripe with it is really that it’s proprietary software, but otherwise? Definitely recommended.

Read No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 1: LibreOffice Writer

Read No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 2: Zettelkasten

Read No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 3: LaTeχ

Read No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 4: Markdown