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kopw · 1 year

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g1 season is upon us! i'm too lazy to gif every match myself! the world needs gifmakers like you! yes you!

this guide includes: basic gifmaking, actions, how to blur on-screen graphics, coloring tips catered specifically to wrestling footage (mainly aew and njpw), how to add subtitles, what tags to use

what you will need:

photoshop (i currently use cc 2017 for windows which you can grab from this post by birdysources)

kmplayer (for extracting frames)

what you might need depending on what you're looking to gif:

4k video downloader (for downloading videos off youtube)

vkopt (browser extension that lets you download videos off vk)

step 1: getting the footage

if you're directly downloading from a site this step is super easy. just make sure to always go for the highest quality of footage available (for njpw this is nowhere near 1080p, and even aew's 1080p footage is pixelated in places—but don't let this deter you!)

if you plan on giffing something off a ppv, chances are you might need to torrent the event. if you can, look for versions off fite with either web or webrip in the title for the best quality. this applies to weekly television too (fite doesn't have picture-in-picture). always seed your torrents. yes, even that one match from 2012. especially that one

you can also get recent shows off watchprowrestling dot co (previously org) which includes njpw tour shows and indie events as well. check out indy★wrestling★group on vk for smaller promotions and japanese promotions outside of njpw (tjpw, stardom, noah...)

step 2: choosing a clip

wrestling footage quality is not consistent. entrances with too many flashing lights or small particles will have huge quality drops, so unless it's something really special, don't put yourself through that. close-ups are generally your best friend but don't shy away from clips with lots of movement (you do sometimes want to gif the wrestling parts of wrestling too)

step 3: extracting frames

open your video in kmplayer. go to the part that you want to gif (though, i suggest leaving a bit of fodder before and after the actual clip. you can always trim the frames down later and it's better to start off with more). then, press ctrl + g

this should bring up this window:

your settings might be different if it's your first time downloading the app so just copy what you see here

kmplayer automatically captures into its own folder, which you can change if you want, but i just left it as is. i recommend pinning the folder you regularly use to the quick access menu in your file explorer

hit start, start the video, let it capture frames for however long, and then hit stop on both the extractor and the video itself. and now you have a bunch of frames in a folder. cool!

step four: converting frames to layers

open photoshop. this will take ages but open it. go to file -> scripts -> load files into stack...

this will bring up this window:

click browse... and select all the frames you just extracted. depending on the number of frames, this might take you a bit. then hit ok and let your layers load into photoshop. this will take a long time (saying this as someone whose laptop tends to heat up to the temperature of an egg pan at this point in the process)

step five: actions

i use actions (user-built series of recorded commands, meaning you don't have to click everything manually) for everything except coloring. i use a mishmash of like three different actions that i never bothered to organize. these are the two most important ones:

actionpack #1 by giulia (i use the setup and save portions from this one)

squishmoon actions by lildohnut (i use the hd sharpening from here, first layer on 0.3 for close-ups and 0.2 otherwise, and the second layer at the suggested 50%)*

*most sharpening settings you'll find are made for current films and tv shows so you do have to make some adjustment to fit your crunchy wrestling footage

step six: sizing

pick a size for your gif! here is a handy chart:

as for height, it can range anywhere from 300px-540px and beyond. most people go for 350px-450px. 400px is the sweet spot

personal preference: adjust canvas size not image size and fit your footage accordingly. some footage (looking at you aew) can have an odd black bar at the bottom, and manual resizing can help getting rid of it. if you just resize the whole image that will stay there and bother you

additional tip: guidelines

9/10 times you will leave your footage centered. however, there are times when this can look a bit awkward, depending on the framing, in which case i like bringing in a few guidelines. go to view -> new guide layout...

rule of thirds is generally good for drawing the eye to certain places. these settings will divide your canvas into nine squares that help you reposition your main gif layer

optional step: blurring pop-up graphics and banners

so, you have your sharpened, resized gif... but the sharpening made the small text and other unwanted elements on your screen shrivel up like raisins. you can leave it as is, people won't mind, it's a wrestling gif, who cares. but, if you want, you can just blur it out

i'm at least a little bit certain that i'm personally the guy who brought this over from k-pop tumblr (not saying i invented the concept, i just love being a trendsetter) and so i can give you a few reasons as to why people do this. such as:

adding subtitles over pre-existing, burnt subtitles (example: njpw post-match comments off njpwworld and not youtube)

getting rid of elements that might distract people from the focal point of the gif (the hotties... and the moves. mostly the hotties)

it makes your otherwise milquetoast sharpening look a little better in contrast

it's gonna be ugly either way so it's a pick your poison type of situation. if you do want to try the blurring method, you will need a basic knowledge of filters and layer masks

step-by-step blurring process:

duplicate your gif layer

blur the layer on top (i typically go for a 4.0 gaussian blur; for this, go to filter -> blur -> gaussian blur...)

apply a layer mask to the blurred layer and make the layer mask black (this will remove the blur effect, don't be scared). to access the layer mask just click on it. you can press alt before clicking to "enter" the layer mask (though you won't see your gif this way)

go in with a soft round brush (or any brush) with white and draw over the bits you want blurred. this is the tedious part

profit?

here's a comparison:

it's really down to personal preference ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

i convert my base gif layer and the blurred layer into a smart object before moving on with my process because sometimes photoshop likes to do this thing where it only applies the blur to the frame you're on. you can avoid this by combining the layers manually

if you're working with njpw footage and your clip plus coloring combination allows you to, you can also just go over the banner with black and blend it into the background. it's by far the best option but there's so rarely an opportunity to utilize it (i did it in the little header i made... go back and look at how beautiful she is)

step six: coloring

the big one. oh boy. prefacing this with: you can just skip coloring if you want. the sharpening settings i recommended earlier give a nice contrast to the gifs as is, so if it looks fine like that, you don't need any fancy colors. that being said...

my thought process going into coloring is to focus on skin tones and adjust everything around them. i don't tend to use psds, i always just manually color correct based on the actual footage i'm working with (venues differ, lighting differs, hues differ... incredibly hard to plan for all of it in advance). if i plan on making multiple gifsets of the same event/match, i do re-use settings, but sometimes minor adjustments are still needed

to begin coloring, you will need to use adjustment layers. you will pretty much need a basic knowledge of all of them (to the extent of knowing what the sliders and values do)

[1] i always begin with an exposure layer. this will remain above all of your layers (unless you plan on adding subtitles). here are my settings:

again, every layer you add after this will go below your exposure layer

[2] i add a selective color layer to further adjust the blacks. this will vary gif to gif but keep your adjustments small

[3] i add a vibrance layer. wrestling footage has major saturation problems that you can manage early on to make your life easier. take back a tiny bit (usually from -3 to -5) of vibrance before you begin your other color adjustments

[4] this is the big skin tone adjustment step using a curves layer. it does most of the heavy-lifting in my process. here is a video tutorial that explains the technique i use. it works the same with gifs as it does with images. the key differences are:

the image you are color picking off of shouldn't be a limited skin tone chart but rather an image of the wrestler(s) in natural (or as close to natural as you can find) lighting. i just go for renders used on the roster page. fan photography is way too edited to use here

try picking from a darker area of skin (shadows, midtones). it fits better with match lighting

this step will most likely correct color tints, but keep in mind that different promotions/shows/venues have different lighting. here are my personal observations:

aew dynamite and rampage have strong magenta tints

aew collision and roh honor club have strong red tints

njpw has a washed out blue tint

impact has a strong green tint

you can either lean into these (play around with making them really vibrant) or cancel them out using opposites on the color wheel (for example: to get rid of the magenta tint on dynamite, either decrease the magenta slider in your neutrals using selective color or add more green using color balance)

you will almost always have to add more cyan as well (either using color balance or channel mixer; channel mixer can also help you fine-tune skin tones with its blue tab—don't get rid of yellow undertones!)

[5] here is where i start fiddling around with manual adjustments that i seriously can't help you with... just add layers and change colors until you think it feels right. don't be afraid to start over if needed

[6] finishing touches! if you're like me you will have overcolored in the previous step. don't be afraid to add a saturation layer and decrease specifically the saturation of the reds (this will affect the skin tone; if you feel like you're on the right track but it's just too orange-looking, it's a saturation issue)

i also tend to add a black & white layer below the exposure layer up top set to soft light and lowered to 10% opacity. this gives you a bit of additional contrast that pulls the final gif together in my opinion

optional step: adding subtitles and watermarks

always add text layers above your coloring!

[1] subtitles

the font i use for subtitles is arial rounded mt bold, which you can download for free here. the point of subtitles is for them to be readable, so feel free to use any other font as long as it can be read with ease (nothing too thin or too blocky). if you plan on using the font i use, make sure to set it on faux bold and faux italics

font size differs based on the size of your gif, but it should normally be between 17pt and 23pt. i like to keep my tracking (letter-spacing) the same as my font size (so for 21pt subtitles i would have the tracking also at 21). i keep leading (the space between multiple lines of text) 3pt or 4pt

if there are two people speaking, i like setting the second speaker's text color to #ffd300. this is a generic yellow caption color that is still easy to read

after you have your basic text done, right click on your layer to add blending options. adding a stroke and a drop shadow can further help bring your text to the foreground. I keep my stroke (hah) at a simple 1px black. here are my drop shadow settings:

here is a more detailed guide about subtitles by clubgif

as for placement i add a horizontal guide at 95% and put my text on top of the line (while also keeping it centered vertically)

[2] watermarks

i personally don't use watermarks because i just don't care to, but if you want to add one, the same general ideas apply. just lower the opacity of your text layer at the end (if you want... again, a watermark is personalized)

step seven: timing

this is where you'll have to convert your video timeline back to a frame animation!

delete the frames that you don't need and then set a consistent timing (click on your first frame and shift + click on your last one to select all of your frames before adjusting). i like my gifs at 0.04, but depending on the footage you can go for 0.03 (newer bte episodes) or 0.05 (this also works if you don't have enough frames and want your gif a bit slower)

step eight: exporting

go to file -> export -> save for web (legacy)...

here are my export settings:

make sure to keep your gif under 10mb! if your file exceeds 10mb, you can't upload it to tumblr. you either have to cut some more frames or add compression to your gif (something i would never do, i always just cut frames)

additional tip: tagging

you have your gif! but how do you get people to actually look at it?

i always tag wrestlers* (full name, for both searchability and tag filtering purposes), promotions (initialisms like #aew over #all elite wrestling; if it's a more generic promotion name i.e. impact, go for #impact wrestling), tracked edit tags (#aewedit, #njpwedit; this not only helps source blogs find your posts and give them a bigger reach but it lets you browse other people's works). if you want to go the extra mile you can also include which event/video the gifset is from somewhere in your tags (if it's not already in the caption)

*even if you feel like it personally hurts you to tag that one wrestler you can't stand who happens to be in a match with your fave: do try tagging all wrestlers involved for ease of filtering, especially if you don't add image descriptions to your gifsets (tumblr's post content filtering system picks up on those)

general tumblr etiquette but don't cross-tag (i.e. tag a wwe gifset as #aew). no one likes cross-taggers. crossover events are exempt from this rule of course (forbidden door, multiverse united...)

additional tip: accessibility

don't use gradient text in your captions. screen readers can't read them!

if you can, include an image description. no matter how basic. this not only helps people with screen readers but the alt text of your gif is what's going to be displayed in case the gif isn't loading properly. here's a guide on how to caption gifsets by shangs

and you're done! all that's left to do is get silly with it. once you have the basics down you can virtually do anything. you can make those pretty graphics with blending. you can gif every single match of your fave in chronological order. sky's the limit

don't be discouraged if your gifs are not "perfect" from the get-go. this is a hobby just like any other hobby, and with time you'll get better at it. don't compare yourself to others and don't put your efforts down. only you can make the exact gifs you want to see

#aewedit #njpwedit #i spent all day on this... i hope it's at least a little bit helpful 🙏

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originemesis · 7 months

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@voxistem from xxx

TV TROPES DOT ORG, GIVE ME THE RUN DOWN. UH OH, LOOKS LIKE A CLASSIC CASE OF IMMORTAL IMMATURITY. but never you mind, dear audience! your host lives with velvette and valentino, he can handle a tantrum or two. this one comes with the added bonus of a holy, angelic soul. well, not so holy anymore but angelic nonetheless. you don't just throw away this kind of opportunity. angel souls are a hefty sum of power, like a briefcase stuffed with wads of cash, requiring transfers in intervals. a little wining and dining, some added expenses — boom, contract signed. and hey, the feathered menace is steadily growing on him. if nothing else, vox has always been fond of rock. ( not necessarily when it's blasting through the tower at three in the morning, but he's adjusting. ) vox makes a show of looking him up and down appreciatively, LED grin flashing across his display as he taps a claw against adam's mask, a static-laced chuckle sounding from his speakers. the fuckboy look suits him. ❝ the prettiest. ❞ the overlord drawls, snaking a clawed grip around the fallen angel's waist, mostly just to hold him in place and steer him down the corridor, in the direction of the elevator, with no more fuss. they have reservations after all. ❝ purple's a good colour on you, birdy. might have to get you more of this. what'dya think, huh? i'm sure vel would love to have you model for her. ❞ out front, there's a limo awaiting them.

Well, it wasn't like he could say this was his preferential placement and all, but it did beat lying in a puddle of blood and used condoms that weren't even his outside of that fucking Lucifer's place...even with cunt^3'd over there vamping on his soul. If it looked like a leech, latched like a leech, and smiled like a leech- it was probably just a TV. In this case, one with legs and enough influence in hell to keep him from getting bulldozed by all the sinners he'd tortured over the years- or worse yet: bored. That was one thing he didn't do very well at all with that attention span of his.

Neck craned down fairly far as if to acknowledge his company, but eyes swiveled elsewhere in a non-committal toss and subsequent roll, he would have his attention brought back to the center of his mask jarringly with the tapping of a claw and the surge of static that came with it and scrambled his face display a brief moment. Oh...? Equalizer bars slanted diagonally shot up and down a quavering moment across the bridge of his visor in the regular golden shade of his features mimicking the stain that was likely dusted across his face underneath at the relenting of a confirmation he didn't expect, but nonetheless packed onto the pile of his steadily stacking Jenga tower of an ego. He'd opened his mouth to pitch whatever saucy thought scuttled out from the knocked over leaf hiding his inner lizard of a mindset, but a side of squawk only emerges once he's yanked over by the hip and ushered towards the doors with a firm, but final say. They were late, and the walking microwave wasn't going to stand for it...or leave him to his Fortnite quests.

"Ehh- mid on most normies. I can elevate it though. Not sure Pinkie-Pie would appreciate the extra work with that hate boner she's got for me." He mused while fussing with a golden stud at the end of his horn, tugging like one might an earring when their hands had little else to do. The 'birdy' doesn't fly under his radar, but he merely huffs a challenge of sorts at the branding.

Challenge accepted.

"Y'know, TV-Din-Dins ~ " The angel mused once he'd been bolstered over to the opening of the ride, talons digging in to the top of the vehicle and scratching his mark in with a firm screech. A sly grin slipped over his shoulder at the one looking to boot him in. "You keep playing the right channel, and I just might let you Netflix and chill a little more soul out of me later." Not that he would. Sometimes it was just cathartic to be simped over for no damned reason other than personal profit. Maybe women did have a cheat code.

#//the tv is good at the love bombing #voxistem #verse ; // dead on arrival #suggestive cw #long post

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junipuzzle · 8 months

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Wednesday, January 24, 2024

"humblebrag" by John-Clark Levin

Time: 7:23

Difficulty: ★★★ Theme: ★★★★★ (laugh rule) Fill: ★★★★

Lookups:

14A: "Kate & _____" (1980s sitcom) (5)

65A: "The Clan of the Cave Bear" heroine (4) someone this obscure better be the constructor's blorbo

Favorite Clues:

1A: Some water bearers (5)

33D: . (3)

37D: Sports org. in which five members have bird names (3) this is one of my favorite niche sports facts. i dont think anyone has beaten all five in the same year before.

44A: Court failure (7) clue of the month contender

hi sorry this is late my life sucks and work makes me want to explode. with this puzzle i've decided to add a "laugh rule" to my theme scoring: if it makes me cackle when i figure it out, it's a good theme and deserves five stars.

the first two johns in the puzzle were individuals i knew down pat, and noted they were both nine letters and didn't fit in the ten spaces. theme shenanagins, i decided, and continued to the revealer, which got a big laugh, and i went back and filled them in, as well as the other two on the first pass. very, very easy theme.

the rest of the puzzle was well made, if a bit easy. the four sets of vertical stacks were all lovely, and there were several good clues among them. i think the NE was a little weak, and there were definitely some obscure pulls for the trivia clues, but i don't think there were any real duds. I especially liked the cluster of six Ns in the N that felt natural - the theme didn't feel forced up there like it did in the S with fucking AYLA.

i need to sleep!

Answers to noted clues:

14A: ALLIE

65A: AYLA

1A: MAINS (this was the last spot i fixed, had MAIDS from my first pass. very good diversion with the cluing)

33D: DOT

37D: NFL

44A: AIR BALL

#jan 2024 #nyt crossword #nyt crossword spoilers #year of junipuzzle #wednesday 2024 #clue contender

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geographimancy · 1 year

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reading list (open tabs) 5 apr 2023

isometric dot cc (archive dot org (while it's still up?)) - https://web.archive.org/web/20141102155400/http://isometri.cc/strips

the beast weeps with one eye - http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-beast-weeps-with-one-eye/

perseus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus

yu the great - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_the_Great

chinese mythology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

clubhouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/6016-NE-Willow-St-97213/home/26605227

wallhouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/605-NW-Macleay-Blvd-97210/home/26574183

koinhouse - https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1414-SW-3rd-Ave-Apt-3001_Portland_OR_97201_M29797-00894

frasierhouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/1414-SW-3rd-Ave-97201/unit-2503/home/26304932

home habitat range niche territory - https://www.tor.com/2021/04/19/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/

orion - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(mythology)

officehouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/3221-NE-33rd-Ave-97212/home/25778105

raven tales - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Tales

frederick i - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Barbarossa

huginn and muninn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn

lludd and llefelys - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lludd_and_Llefelys

manhattan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan

1122 nw summit ave (archived photos from when it was beautiful) - https://www.maceyandmj.com/news/1122-nw-summit-avenue-1750000

nonsensehouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/407-NW-Marlborough-Ave-97210/home/26388510

brickhouse - https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/1703-SW-Montgomery-Dr-97201/home/26550508

hundred years war - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War

crisis of the late middle ages - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Late_Middle_Ages

a holiday of ashes - https://theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/a-holiday-of-ashes

robocop - https://readallcomics.com/category/robocop-marvel-comics/

the hernandez bros - https://www.gq.com/story/love-and-rockets-hernandez-brothers

worship of talos is strictly forbidden - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talos

the ringworld of robert fett - https://www.polygon.com/22903093/book-of-boba-fett-halo-ringworld-space-station

banks orbitals - https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4845ef5c4ca7c

titan (torus world) - https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/writing-in-the-garden

nobody cares about your blog - https://mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2022/12/nobody-cares-about-your-blog.html

kate beaton's ducks - https://doctorow.medium.com/kate-beatons-ducks-fcabaadfc72

mugshawtys:

tofu oyaku keychain stacking cubes

robots

montreal i think

rings of power spoilers

this house was beautiful until some clown bought it and wanted to resell it and painted it all cream white

sp//dr 1998

genuine ostrich

haute pope

#spring cleaning on my open tabs #tekwar #tabs #reading list

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tiktaalic · 3 years

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“I gotta find Jessica’s killer it’s all I can think about” / “it got him dead! You may be able to forget about that but I can’t!”

#fun fact for everybody. Wikipedia’s summary of 13.03 says #‘realizing for the first time how much dean needs castiel jack channels dean’s grief and whispers castiel’s name waking castiel up’#which. not sure if I agree but HELL of a sentence to end up on Wikipedia dot org #etxt #spnwatch #stacked #anyway I love it when the spouse dies and the winchester gets john about it

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motleymoose · 4 years

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Homecoming Pt 4: Nevarro Ch 3

Chapter 3

Getting to Know One Another

Fandom: The Mandalorian, Star Wars Characters: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Gender Neutral Reader, Various Unnamed Mandos, Paz Viszla, Drys Reyn (OC) - mention Words: 2.1k+ Warnings: Mostly friendly joshing, some angst (dang them emotions!)

Summary:

It would just be easier if I could punch all the things instead of dealing with emotions.

Notes:

The chapters for this part are short (I am just.... too tired to put out much more), but there are TWO MORE than the previous parts, so yay!

I mashed some Mando'a again, but THIS TIME I lurked on the mandoa dot org forums and gleaned a few noncanon words and learned a tiny bit about sentence structure (still not perfect, but it'll work for now, I hope???)

Thanks as always for reading, and stay tuned for more unwarranted anger and awkward fights!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Homecoming Masterlist

We left the Armorer’s sanctum and turned left out the door down a long, dimly lit hallway. A scattering of warriors, encased in beskar armor, lounged on the floor and leaned against the walls. The chattering between them stopped when we approached.

A mountain of a Mandalorian stepped in front of the rest, his blue-gray armor worn but well-maintained. The bounty hunter stopped two paces from the other. The crown of his head barely reached the lip of the blue warrior’s helmet.

“All debts are paid,” the bounty hunter growled, all the while staring straight into the larger Mandalorian’s chest plate.

The blue warrior gave a full-belly laugh, leaning away from the hunter as he slapped his solid thigh and shook his mighty helmet. “Oh, verd’ika. You never cease to amaze me.” His impossibly deep voice seemed bright and cheerful, something I had yet to experience with the bounty hunter.

The shorter Mandalorian stood rooted to the spot, fists clenched at his sides. “Then what do you want.”

Straightening up to his imposing height, the blue-gray Mandalorian nodded towards me. “Tion’tuur haar jatekara’la solus?”

Blushing in embarrassment but increasingly becoming bolder, I stepped closer until I was shoulder-to-shoulder with the bounty hunter. “You’re funny, guy” I cooed sarcastically. “But I’d much rather spend my nights in a cold bunk, thank you very much.”

All of the Mandalorians turned their attention to me. I scowled back at them.

“I like this one!” the giant chuckled, laying a heavy gauntlet on the bounty hunter’s pauldron and pulling him in for a side hug. “Keeps you on your toes.” The other warriors laughed in unison. They returned to their tasks as the blue-gray Mandalorian half-drug, half-marched the hunter down the hallway. Wearily, I followed close behind, the child’s protective crib humming along beside me.

With the low lighting and almost no landmarks, I soon lost all sense of direction in the underground covert as I lagged wearily behind. Every few yards, a doorway would appear cut into the tunnel wall, looking exactly like the last. From the briefest of glances, I noted several storage rooms (weapons, food, medical) and family areas. The long hall tapered, funneling us into a boxy lobby. The nearest door led into something akin to a school.

Children of all ages and species darted in and out of the last one, squealing and giggling as they chased one another up and down the chamber. Adults working within the family rooms and in the widened tunnel itself could be heard admonishing, teasing and teaching the young rabble. How were they able to learn anything in all the ruckus? I could barely understand my own thoughts let alone what anyone else was saying. It would’ve been impossible to hold any sort of conversation with all of the shrill whistles and high shrieks bouncing off the walls.

As soon as we were past the school, a short Mandalorian in pale green beskar stepped out of the room and yelled. “Gev, verdike!” Her clear, commanding voice cut through the hubbub, and the children obediently stopped their revelry, returning reluctantly to the classroom.

The larger Mandalorian had let go of the bounty hunter by then, picking his way thoughtfully through the stream of little ones, handing out fist bumps and hair ruffles to many of them. Smiles brightened their round little faces, and I spotted several gap-toothed grins. A thought, both terrible and validating, gripped my brain, and I hastened to catch up to him, puffing with the effort of dodging around distracted children.

“Are-are all of these kids foundlings?” I asked breathlessly when I reached the gray-blue giant.

Turning his helmet a fraction, the big warrior studied me for a moment. “No, not all of them.” We stopped momentarily, letting a frazzled-looking man with an armload of burlap sacks unload his cargo onto an awaiting wooden trolley. Once he had secured his sacks and steered the cart out of the way, we continued on. “Some are born into the Clan. But most come to us because the galaxy can be a cruel, unforgiving place.”

“Ah.” I was relieved to hear that my circumstances weren’t out of the norm, but really I had nothing more to say on the subject.

Once we left the echoing lobby, the larger Mando led us to a small room down a seemingly deserted corridor. Opening the simple door, he gestured for me and the bounty hunter to enter. The child, still snoring in his cradle, tagged immediately behind.

The room was sparsely decorated, with a low table, much like the one in the Armorer’s sanctuary, a boxy wardrobe against the far wall, and a pull-out bunk, already extended and ready for use, near the door. The only other things in the room were two days worth of rations stacked neatly on the table and a bedroll with several thick blankets set beside the bunk.

I turned to the blue-gray Mandalorian. “What’s going on?”

The giant looked from me to the hunter. I could almost picture his kind, bright eyes in behind his darkened visor. “Do you still not know how to communicate?” he laughed, slapping the bounty hunter roughly on the back. “You need to work on that, vod, lest it comes back to bite you in the ass!”

Smothering a grin, I turned away from the pair and surveyed my surroundings once more. Nothing unusual, nothing dangerous, just a snug and tidy room all to myself. “Thank you for your hospitality, but I think I’m going to turn in for the day…” I stepped closer, hoping to crowd the warriors out of the room.

“Oh, erm-” the bounty hunter started.

The blue-gray Mando snorted. “Oh, brother, you really haven’t changed at all, have you?” He silently backed into the hallway, a huge feat for someone so large and covered in heavy metal plates. “You should definitely be the one to explain that!” he said pointedly to the bounty hunter before shoving the door closed with a sharp click.

Bewildered, I bit my lip and furrowed my brow as I tried to piece together what he had been getting at.

The bounty hunter, meanwhile, shifted nervously from foot to foot, his cloak gently brushing against the beskar. It would have been comforting if I hadn’t found him so frustratingly aggravating.

“Will you stop that?” I finally snapped, tossing my bag at the foot of the bunk and collapsing on the stiff mattress. “No one is telling me anything, and I like it about as much as I like you.” I tugged off my boots and kicked them under the bed. “So spill. Why the heck are we here, and what was that all about?”

The bounty hunter hummed tunelessly, tapping his cuisses with a nervous finger. After a moment of internal debate, he strode across the room and slouched onto the table. The neat stacks of ration packets skittered lightly over the smooth surface, sliding over the edge and landing on a cushion with a muffled plisskff. Ignoring the food, the Mandalorian unfastened and stripped off his gloves, one finger at a time. Once removed, he laid them one at a time across each knee, smoothing the soft leather over and over again with his long, blunt fingers.

“W-what do you know about Reyn?” he asked, staring at the ground, his elbows resting heavily upon his thighs.

“I already told you everything I know,” I mumbled. Falling back onto the body-sized cushion at the head of the bunk, I wriggled deeper into the rough mattress, sighing as my muscles slowly relaxed. “I only know what he taught me, and as you can tell, it wasn’t much.”

Making a noncommittal sound, the bounty hunter continued to rub the gloves on his knees. He didn’t say anything for a long while.

I was dozing when he spoke next, and I had to fight myself awake in order to understand what he was telling me.

“-that was all before the Empire collapsed.”

I rolled to my side and squinted at him, suddenly very, very interested. “What’s this about the Empire?”

Huffing in frustration, the Mandalorian twisted both gloves between his fists and looked up at me. “Drys Reyn? He’s aruetii. He sold out his Clan, a Rebel-aligned faction of the Death Watch, to the Empire. When the Imperials arrived, instead of arresting the leaders of the rebellion, making examples of them, the troopers slaughtered all of them. Right down to the smallest foundling. Reyn took the credits the Moff paid him and ran.” The hitch in his voice was barely noticeable, the tremble in his fingers practically nonexistent, but the emotion was there and I saw it. “Rumor was he’d been killed in a firefight by a smuggler. And that’s what the covert believed until…” He swallowed audibly, the grip on his gloves tightening dangerously.

“Until what?” I whispered, unwilling to believe that my caretaker had done anything so heinous as getting his kindred murdered by the Imps. He had been a stern but kindly old man, blunt to the point of offense yet overly forgiving for any and all trouble I caused. There was still a little part of me that even loved my buir, no matter how much he had hurt me when he’d left.

The bounty hunter angled his helmet towards me, shoulders sagging as his hands drooped between his thighs. “You,” he replied. “Without you, the covert would’ve gone on believing he was dead. You are the key to finding him. To make him pay for his crimes against the Clans.”

“But he could still very well be dead!” I exclaimed. Dread and fear bloomed joyfully in my chest, the growing tension in my body sprouting painfully through my tired muscles. Piecing together what he was possibly getting at, I shot straight up in the bunk, clenching the cushion to my chest. “Last time I saw him was years ago, when he left me on my homeplanet to rot.” Exhaling fiercely, I let go of the pillow and struggled to the edge of the bed. I had to get out of the tunnels, away from the covert. It was all becoming too claustrophobic for my liking. “I haven’t heard anything of him since then,” I said, shoving my feet back into my boots. “And trust me, I looked.” With that statement, I jumped to my feet, grabbed my pack and swung it over my shoulders. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta go… somewhere that isn’t here.” Discretion went out the window when I had leapt out of bed, so I opted for the quickest and least stealthy solution and lunged for the door.

As usual, the Mandalorian had seen my actions before I could even think them all the way through.

Hands like iron clamped onto my biceps from behind, spinning me in mid-air. I landed on my feet, somewhat wobbly but altogether upright. With a gentle shove, he directed me back to the bunk. Snarling, I tried to duck under his arm. He dragged me back to the bunk by the straps of my bag.

“Touch me again, chakaar, and I will punch you so hard that -”

“K’uur, vod’ika. Udesii! I don’t want to fight you,” he said when I whirled on him, fists raised. He raised his hands, palms out to show that he meant no harm.

I was wary in believing him.

“Then why can’t I leave? And what do you mean ‘vod’ika?’” I lowered my fists a fraction and glared at him. “You and me ain’t on friendly terms, bub.”

Stepping backwards slowly, the bounty hunter came to a stop when he was parallel to the door. “There’s no easy way to say this.”

“Okay?” I snorted derisively. “When has anything ever been easy between us?”

He flinched slightly, and I almost felt guilty about my words. Almost.

“The thing you have to understand is that when Mandalorians adopt a foundling, that child is a part of the Clan until it is reunited with its people or comes of age and chooses to leave. Some warriors take on many foundlings, and some can only care for one,” he explained patiently, his gaze somewhere at my knees. “D-Drys Reyn was one with many, from everywhere. Most he was able to return to their kind. But others like-” He stopped, swallowing once more. “Others like you and… and me. We would’ve had no family to be returned to.”

Stunned, my hands dropped heavily to my sides. I shuffled tentatively forward, unsure whether I was going to cry or hit something. “Are-are you saying that…?”

Clearing his throat, the Mandalorian looked directly into my eyes. “My name is Din Djarin,” he said softly. “And I am part of your Clan.”

__________________________________________

Notes:

verd’ika - private (rank) Can be used affectionately, often to a child; *little soldier* - context is critical. Tion’tuur haar jatekara’la solus? - (*furiously mashes Mando’a together*) When’s the lucky day? (lit. “Which day is the lucky one?”) Tion’tuur (which day); haar (the - definite article - rare and emphatic); jatekara’la (jate’kara - luck, ‘la - [-ly] adj. [ whole word from Taljair te Mir'ad on mandoa.org forums]) Gev, verdike! Pack it in, little soldiers! aruetii - traitor, foreigner, outsider chakaar - corpse robber, thief, petty criminal - general term of abuse K’uur, vod’ika. Udesii! - Hush, little sibling. Calm down! (Take it easy!)

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internutter · 4 years

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Challenge #02721-G164: Hail Poetry!

The sign said "Old Terran style poetry for sale! Custom sonnets, written for you about what you love, in GalStand! Please fill out form and provide one Hour; finished poem will be sent to you within the next ten days. 50% discount for JOATs." The human seated at the table the sign hung from had a large stack of blank forms, a couple of completed forms, several one Hour notes, a notebook, and what looked like several kinds of dictionary. They were busily scribbling in the notebook and muttering to themself, occasionally crossing things out, and frequently checking the dictionaries.

On closer inspection, one of the "dictionaries" was actually a thesaurus. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I can't write sonnets to save my life so I'm faking out of doing that]

It was a pop-up sales booth, much favoured by the nomadic sorts who sold their artistic skills wherever they could wander. They were selling Terran style poems, but they were not a Terran. They were one of the multitude of Saurian life forms abundant in the Alliance. This was not a form of cultural appropriation, since the Humans were wont to share aspects of their culture wherever they went.

This wasn't even an important part of their culture, it was merely a form of art that the Humans shared like they shared everything else. He didn't need to alert the Terran Embassy, and he especially didn't need to let Shayde know this existed. Better that she never found out.

She may be "Ace", but she had a great love of romance. The absolute last thing he needed was Shayde purchasing poetry for him. Therefore, he thought it prudent to find out how much this cogniscent needed to take their pop-up booth and their business to an entirely different station. Strictly out of a combination of the decency of his spirit and a strong self-preservation instinct, of course.

[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]

#instant story #just add prompt #amalgam universe #rael #ambassador shayde

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cmweller · 4 years

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Challenge #02721-G164: Hail Poetry!

On closer inspection, one of the "dictionaries" was actually a thesaurus. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I can't write sonnets to save my life so I'm faking out of doing that]

#instant story #just add prompt #amalgam universe #artistic skills #poetry

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yadavti · 5 years

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Complete Salesforce Deployment using Ant Migration Tool ..

Apache ANT: Apache Ant is a Java library. The main known usage of Ant is the build of Java applications, also it can be used effectively to build non Java applications. Ant can be used to pilot any type of process which can be described in terms of targets and tasks. Ant is extremely flexible and does not impose coding conventions or directory layouts to the Java projects which adopt it as a build tool. Ant UI as provided in Eclipse comes with a first-class Ant build-file editor, including syntax highlighting, Content Assist, templates, and content formatting. The Ant UI also has a wizard for running Ant scripts and a toolbar button for repeating previous builds.

Apache ANT – A Tool? Configuring A Java build process typically includes:

The compilation of the Java source code into Java byte-code

Creation of the .jar file for the distribution of the code

Creation of the Java doc. documentation

Installation of Java: Recommended Java latest version It is recommended to use last least the latest long-term release version of Java. To run Java programs, you:

Must have the Java run-time environment (JRE) installed

The Java executable must be available in your path environment

You can test if the JRE is correctly installed via a console. To open a console on Windows: Win+R, enter cmd and press Enter.

Now type in the following command: java -version

If the JRE is correctly installed, this commands prints information about your Java installation.

If you don’t have java install…. you need to follow steps to install Java. You must have Platform:

Windows 2008 Server

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows XP

Windows Server 2012

Windows Vista

Windows 10

Java version: Recommended Latest

Before proceed with online installation you may need to disable Internet firewall. Due to auto firewall settings they may be reject online or auto installation.

Steps to follow: Installation process Online

Go to the Manual download page

Click on Windows Online

The Downloading box appears to run or save file into your machine

When downloading finishes, you need to run the installer

Click on Run

Note:

Save file to known location on your computer

To start quick installation you need to Double-click on saved file

When installation process starts…click the Install button to accept the license terms and to continue with the installation

In last steps of installation process, click “CLOSE”. This will complete Java installation process.

Deployment using ANT Migration Tool Lot of tool available to develop in Salesforce, when we comes to deployment we have few opt to adopt. The easiest way to do Salesforce deployment, but certain components cannot be deployed through change-set, then after we need to apply or deploy certain components.

Why we use ANT Tool?

Deploying Metadata from an organization to another using Salesforce migration ANT tool, it retrieves metadata locally

It provides extra tools which can be used and an added advantage is to get metadata in form of XML from servers and can be download directly into our machine

When metadata can de downloaded directly into machine from local server, you can make changes easily in your XML files

The Components which can’t migrated using change-sets in Salesforce(dot)com , we can easily migrate using Salesforce migration ANT Tool

Steps need to follow while doing data migration for one SF org to another org

First we have to ensure that you have Ant relocation device in your system

We require to give subtleties of the qualifications and the sort of metadata you need to move

We need Java and Apache Ant introduced on your framework

Next step is to stack the accreditation’s of both the Salesforce organization in the document called ‘build.properties’

The certifications that gives is that it goes to the record ‘build.xml’. When the information is being moved, the build.xml document is what is utilized? At that point we can give subtleties of the metadata that we need to move to the org. It could be anything i.e classes, custom and standard items, custom fields etc

We can give these subtleties in the document ‘package.xml’

In wake of giving every one of subtleties, we can initially recover the information from Salesforce org & utilize order of ‘insect retrieveUnpackaged’ and pursued by ‘subterranean insect deployUnpackaged’ after the recovering has been effectively done by the process.

Before doing above, we need to ensure everything that path has been set up to the directory of the ‘unpackaged’ folder.

If you found this post is important for you, you can touch-base with us & for more tips, tricks and strategies to uncover information from your queries and concerns or if you need for more hands-on and live involvement with our experts, you can write us. Our online training is a mixture of study materials, real-world scenario , Salesforce use cases and hands-on experience and a real time project, so that you can easily prepare yourself for any interview and examinations, we have recommend our experienced experts and real time professionals for the certification training and their guidance out there, as well as they shares real time experience with candidates.

#ant tool #salesforce integration #integration with php #.net integration #integration tutorial

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a-coda · 5 years

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My Todo List is Garbage

At work I use an A5 notebook for my todo lists, for meeting/conversation notes, and for jotting down ideas. But it is all ephemeral: by the time I've finished a notebook every page has been struck through. The meeting notes will have been transcribed to wiki discussion pages. The ideas will also have been added to the wiki, or will have become tickets in the issue tracker.

The todo lists enjoy a special replicating existence. Usually I start a notebook with a todo list copied from the previous book. Some items will be emphasized as the most important with an asterisk. Other important or easy items will get a dot. Related items will have a connecting arc.

As they get completed the items get struck through. If they need to be 'reopened' they get a border drawn around them, sometimes with an asterisk added outside the border if it isn't clear.

New todo list items can arise from meetings, conversations, or reflection. They get recorded with the event, added to the todo list, or stuck at the leading edge of the notes.

Once every week or two, especially if the current todo list has run out of room, the list is copied to the next clean page. At this point it gets consolidated with other recent still-open items. Any completed items get removed.

The advantage of regularly copying my todo list is it lets me reflect on priorities. If an item survives several replications without getting done then it needs to move out of the list. It either goes into the wiki, the issue tracker, or, if there is no other obvious place, an old Emacs org mode file. This latter location is a real graveyard. I look in it about once a year out of a sense of nostalgia. I still get to remove items that were completed by other means.

There are, of course, other bits of process. Emails can get flagged as todo items. If they are important they also get written in the notebook. Sometimes too many accumulate in email and the notebook has a single entry to address those.

The notebook also gets used from the back for scoping a current personal project: e.g. steps to finish a programming task, ideas for debugging a problem, or draft assignments for the project. I used to doodle in my notebook, but I'm often the main scribe in meetings so that luxury has gone.

I frequently imagine my todo list process is analogous to programming language garbage collection. New items are initially allocated in the stack of meetings, and get copied onto the heap of existing todo list items. From there they are regularly copied and compacted. Longer lived items get promoted to less frequently collected areas (wiki or issue tracker), or eventually end up in the meta-space (or is it the meta-space?) of Emacs org mode.

"There are three kinds of people in this world: 1) People who make lists, 2) People who don't make lists, and 3) People who carve tiny Nativity scenes out of pecan hulls. I'm sorry, there isn't really a third category; it's just that a workable list needs a minimum of three items, I feel." -- Mary Roach

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hoursofreading · 7 years

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I often hear people say that people who do CS in uni need to have a "certain way of thinking", but I also know very few people are just immediately good at something without practice, and much can be improved with practice. Where do you think one should draw the line and realize "hey, maybe I'm not supposed to be doing this", if they should do that at all? (not asking for a personal situation, just curious as to your thoughts on the matter! no need to tiptoe around feelings haha)

there’s a certain narrative in many blogs, written by people who majored in cs and who are now working in companies like google, instacart.

this narrative talks about how they switched majors to cs from something completely different (fashion design, business, economics, biology etc) and struggled long and hard until one day (after meeting with a Wise Mentor or completing a problem set) it just “clicked” and after that “click”, everything was easy as pie

i hate that narrative. it never happened for me.

so from my experience and from what i have observed:

if you give up easily? don’t major in cs.

if you aren’t willing to make a fool out of yourself, in front of other people or in front of yourself? don’t major in cs.

if you are discouraged by people who know 10x more than you, despite not seeming to study or put in hours at all? don’t major in cs.

if you don’t believe in the plasticity of the brain? don’t major in cs

stop waiting for that “click.”

(obviously, all cs departments are different, all life experiences are different but please don’t be fooled by all those “computer science is easy” commercials put out code dot org. it’s not, it’s hard)

(also, i would suggest you find someone helpful and someone who’s really good at explaining things and breaking things down and asking them if they have 30 minutes or so talking about their thought process. what do they do when they see a question? how do they break it down? how do they use stack overflow? what do they do if they have no idea what to do?)

#computer science #but this is what i feel every day #and i think impostor syndrome is too tiny a word to describe what i'm feeling #i hope this helps in some small way #cs

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pixelproductions · 4 years

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How to Pick a Catchy Domain Name for Your Business

How to Pick a Catchy Domain Name for Your Business & Why It Matters for Your Online Brand, find out how a domain name defines your presence.

If you have a business concept in mind, chances are that you already have a specific idea as to how you want to name it. Take one glance at some of the world’s most beloved brands, and you’ll notice that many, like Coca-Cola, Adidas, or Google have names that would have no meaning without the brand reputation attached to it.

Then again, you have brands such as McDonald’s, Johnnie Walker, and Armani, using personal names to build global phenomena. As much as they now have immense recognition and authority, they all had the same humble beginnings that you now have to endure to earn the same standing in your industry, if you’re ever so lucky and hard-working.

In the meantime, you need to pay attention to these details such as choosing your brand name, and by extension, your domain name as well. This step alone can define your digital presence and help you stand out in a growing crowd. Here are a few tips to help you choose a catchy domain name that will resonate with your business.

Think long-term and choose short

Just like when you’re about to select a logo for your website, you want to choose something that is intuitive, sleek, and memorable. You don’t want to overburden your website visitors with too many details that they cannot describe or replicate your logo easily, or that they end up forgetting it altogether. The same principles go for your brand and domain name, you should pick something short and sweet, to make it easier for your audience to remember it.

This will, in turn, prevent long-term issues and help you build up authority over time, instead of constantly changing your domain name and thus the name that people will associate with your business. Above all, think of a name that will have substance and meaning for your business, so that people can genuinely connect the dots when they first hear your name. Shorter names are also more appealing from a usability perspective, which we will also cover.

Extensions complement your name

As creatures of habit, we like to reach for what we know and trust. This is reflected in our online behavior, too, so you’ll find that people trust extensions that are most frequently used by other trusted businesses. For example, classic extensions such as .com or .org are very common, and most larger brands use them, so we gravitate towards domains with these extensions as we know that they are trustworthy. Over 50% of all websites use .com, so it goes without saying that the internet community does indeed favor what’s known and familiar.

In fact, when a person isn’t certain about your website address, they will most likely type in .com after your brand name expecting your site to end in that extension. Of course, if you’re about to build a local presence in a different country, then aim for a geographically relevant extension to help distinguish your brand’s addresses.

Personal brand deserves a personal domain

However, if you are building a personal online brand to provide a service, represent yourself as an entrepreneur, or anything of that nature, you should do your best to create a personalized experience, starting with your domain. In addition to selecting a personal domain name to represent your personal brand online, go for a personalized .me extension that will add another layer of memorability and relevance to your name.

This extension is a great, reputable option for one-person operations, where you plan to build up your reputation on your name, nickname, or a shorter version of your first and last name. You can get creative, of course, but the personalized extension will go a long way in making your business all the more relatable.

Keywords for context

New business owners will often reach for their selection of keywords to impress their target audience. Of course, they also want to benefit in terms of SEO and give search engines more content to recognize what their business is all about.

Alas, you need to strike a fine balance if you want your brand to stand out and at the same time protect your reputation. You cannot choose a bunch of generic keywords known to your industry and expect search engines to reward you – on the contrary, spammy content of that nature will get you penalized. A single keyword to help people learn what you’re offering is fine, but generic terms stacked up into a domain name won’t do.

Make it user-friendly

Finally, take into account all of your potential users, and make your domain name user-friendly, easy to type, and easy to recognize for voice search. No hyphens, symbols, and numbers will also be a good rule of thumb, since you’ll make it easier for people of all abilities to find you without hassle.

As you can see, the selection of your domain name is so much more intricate than merely going for the first industry-related term you like and then slapping on a .com extension to make it memorable. To earn your customers’ trust online and build your brand, you need a domain name to match your values and your industry alike. Follow these tips, and you’ll be able to leverage your domain as a marketing asset and as a brand-building tool that it can be.

How to Pick a Catchy Domain Name and Why It Matters for Your Online Brand

Think long-term and choose short

Extensions complement your name

Personal brand deserves a personal domain

Keywords for context

Make it user-friendly

#how to pick a catchy domain name for your business

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adadevacademy · 5 years

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Instructional Team Update

by Dan Roberts, Lead Instructor, Interim Director of Education

Hello Ada community!

I've spent some time reading through your responses to the strategic planning survey we sent out a few weeks back. Something that stood out to me from the written comments is that we haven't done a particularly good job of communicating what the instructional team looks like these days. So with the "T" in SECRETS in mind, I figured I would write a little update on who's here and what we're working on.

Staff Movement

As you might have heard, Charles and Shruti both left the instructional team this spring. Shruti relocated to Boston and Charles has been traveling internationally. Both of them remain Ada fans and supporters, and you may even see Charles volunteering at Ada this summer to support capstones.

In the past Ada has scrambled to cover when an instructor leaves, but this time I would say we did alright. We brought Kaida Masaki on as a new instructional assistant in February, and she's done a fantastic job spinning up on our curriculum and tooling, and working on admissions for C12.

Heroic as always, in addition to his normal classroom responsibilities Chris covered the tail end of CS Fundamentals for C11. He will be transitioning to teaching CS Fundamentals full-time starting in C12 - be sure to congratulate him if you see him. We're quite excited about the ideas he has about where to take the curriculum, particularly around making sure everyone is prepared for interviews.

Devin too has been working hard - since she joined the team almost a year ago we've seen her grow wonderfully into the role of instructor. Now that she's overcome the challenge of the first year teaching she's started to make substantial contributions to curriculum and process, which is exciting to see.

One of the things we've been working on during this time is building out a hiring process for instructors that is efficient and repeatable. It's not as robust as I'd like it to be - we've struggled to find candidates of color, and the lead time for a hire is still too long. Even so, I would say Ada is much better equipped to hire an instructor now than it was in, say, December of 2017.

As evidence of that improvement, we had not one but two new instructors start on July 8th. Becca Elenzil is a high school computer science teacher with a Ph.D. in Bioengineering, and Jared Maddox is a full-stack software engineer with experience working with Ada students and alums. We're excited about each of them individually, but especially about the way their skill sets complement each other. Both will be classroom instructors for C12, Jared teaching the Branches classroom with Dee, and Becca teaching Leaves with Devin. You'll see proper introductions from each of them in the next week or so.

Leadership

"Wait a second Dan" you might say, "your name isn't on that list of teachers!" Good observation. I will be taking some time away from Ada during C12 to relax and travel, with the goal of returning to Ada in the spring of 2020. Let's talk about what that means for the team's leadership.

First, the Director of Education role. The DoE is the manager of the instructional team, and handles staffing, career growth, and coordination with the other parts of the org. I've been bungling through this in addition to my regular Lead Instructor job in an informal capacity since June of last year, and formally since the end of October.

This hiring process for DoE stalled out over the winter amidst the other changes that were going on, but since Christine Martin came on as our Interim Executive Director this spring we've made solid progress. TSNE HR will have my head if I give too many details, but I am confident that we will have the right person hired as Ada's Director of Education before the end of the summer.

Second, the Lead Instructor position. You can think of the lead instructor as equivalent to a technical lead on an engineering team - they're still teaching in the classroom, but they also establish best practices, coordinate instructor work, and serve as the final owner of the classroom experience. I am delighted to inform you that Dee will be taking on this role in August for the start of C12. Dee has been teaching with Ada for almost 2 years now, and they have done an excellent job of picking up the slack I've left while focusing on DoE work. They were a natural choice for the job.

Special Projects

I said I would be traveling "with the goal of returning to Ada in the spring of 2020." What exactly does that mean, and what might I be working on? A lot of that depends on the outcome of the strategic planning process, which we'll be wrapping toward the end of the summer, as well as the ideas the yet-to-be-hired Director of Education will have about where to take the instructional team. But there are a few opportunities that stand out as likely bets, which we're working to lay the groundwork for now.

One project I'm particularly excited about is rolling out a continuing education program for Ada alums. The idea of a post-Ada curriculum is something we've had our eye on for a while now, and it was one of the ideas that got the most enthusiastic response in the strategic planning survey (right up there with a pre-Ada program, which we're also currently investigating). We see this as a relatively low-cost, low-risk way to better support our community and further our mission, helping our alums to move up the career ladder and into senior and leadership roles. We also hope we can make it a space where alums can retreat from the male-dominated world of engineering, reconnect with each other and provide the mutual support and caring that Ada is known for.

There were definitely some concerns along with the enthusiasm in the survey and we want to make sure we get this one right, with an eye toward equity and supporting the members of our community who need it most. We have already asked for some community input on this project, and we'll be sending out a survey to alums in the next week or so to get a broader perspective. If you have thoughts on what we should offer, how much it should cost or how the courses should be structured that will be your opportunity to share them. If you have more nuanced ideas that don't necessarily fit in a survey response, send me an email (dan at adadev dot org) and let's go get coffee.

Final Thoughts

We had a pretty rocky time in 2018, both on the instructional team and at Ada in general, but in 2019 it feels like things have stabilized. There's an energy, a forward motion, an optimism that is refreshing and sorely needed. We have some exciting new hires and a plan to grow the program in a way that is responsible and sustainable. It may sound a little corny (or like I've drank a little too much Kool Aid), but I feel better about Ada's prospects right now than I have at any time since I started. It's almost enough to make me regret taking this time off.

Almost.

#instructional-team

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alldrinkingaside · 6 years

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Broken Promises & Lies: The Insane Logic Inside the Language of Addiction

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"Whoa" means nothing to a Swedish horse. (Stacy at onesentence dot org)

*****

There is a certain Internal Logic to the Language of Addiction.

"Would you like one for the road?" certainly means that you should have so many more that you won't be able to find the road that heads you home and you won't know for sure where you are when and if you come to.

"Yes, just one, please. Better make it a double." Then the usual more than one and more than more. And the next day, or the day after that, when you do finally find your way home, you swear to yourself that you'll never let that happen to you again. Your promise not to means that you will do it again, probably the very next night.

These are not lies when spoken aloud or thought to yourself. They are full of promise and intent, but they become lies and broken promises when the craving for a drink returns full-force. You regret that your promises end up meaning nothing or next to nothing, yet you resent that the world thinks of you as as a liar. The world thinks you're having your way, but really, addiction is having its way with you. Addiction is your ruler. Despite that inevitable fact, you tell others to not tell you what to do, how to act, when and where to drink and a thousand other things until they wonder why they asked, what they asked and why they even cared in the first place.

You know exactly what I mean, of course, because you know "'Whoa' means nothing to a Swedish horse" or to a lush like me, if you are much like me. Promises broken by the language of addiction. Nothing means quite what you want it to mean. Every dream is a broken dream.

Disgust, contempt, hatred all around. Internal, external and everywhere in between. Alcohol is your combustible. What will it ignite next?

*****

I lost count how many times and ways I hated myself, how many promises broken. No clue that it was alcohol I hated. Hated what it did to me. Hated that I could not do without it. Guilt. Remorse. More broken promises and lies. There was only enough of me left to despise.

The lies stack up. The lies were the debris I found myself in each and every morning. Drunk talk. The alcohol talking and the addiction talking. "Blame it on the alcohol," yet through a wall of denial, an alcoholic like me finds a way to drink again. Immediately, if not sooner.

*****

When I finally got sober, stopping the flow of alcohol took but a few days to end all traces of it in my brain, but the momentum of a 30 year life-style would be harder to change. Change would be slow and over a long period of time. My Booze Cruise could only change direction but slowly. No 180 degree, stop on a dime, about-face would happen here. The momentum kept me going long after the booze stopped flowing. Drunk without the drink for a long time coming.

Recovery, to me, meant learning to live sober by means of incremental changes in the habitual behavior that had been ingrained in me. Everything used to mean another drink to me. The tiniest of incremental changes began to accumulate until eventually I found myself transformed, my brain changed. My life began to flow forward and not be the life of an alcoholic stuck in their drink. Sorrow with no real tomorrow ended slowly.

The lies that had been part of addiction and denial, the ice in every drink, the touch, the smell, the all of everything would change as I changed in my sobriety. Slowly.

*****

The language and life-style of recovery is learned and earned. No denial there. It is so difficult, at first, to make life easy without the drink. Things become better slowly.

For me, forming good, sober habits has helped keep my life in balance. Moderation in all things, plus abstinence from substances and certain people, places and things.

Funny, and a little bit not funny at all, in Recovery I got to rewrite my life, free of the addiction that had become written all over my face. It seemed like fate would have me dying in a drink. But Recovery evolves into a life more solvable, doable, livable without a drink.

Recovery suits me well. It became a language I learned through time to understand. There is sanity within the sanity, clean, serene. My Booze Cruise has been turned around. Smooth sailing ahead (minus active addiction, the roughest seas are smooth by comparison). Yes, Recovery suits me well.

Broken promises and lies clean out of sight.

*****

"Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more."

*****

This post by the author of ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal

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