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felonytaxevasion · 9 months ago

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Arc 2 Damages

Catching up on my horribly behind Pact Annotations 😔

2.1

“Blake,” Rose said. “It’s fine. It’s done, you’re in charge, I’m the backup. You want me to keep the criticisms to the most vital points? Fine. You want me to do the research and supplement what you’re doing, fine. You win.” “I don’t want to win. I want us to be on the same page.” “The same page? You got the power, I got… this. How do you have a partnership if things are this unequal? Let’s face it. Look at what happened to Molly. Grandmother is willing to use us as expendable assets. I’m nothing more than a piece in a greater puzzle. I’ll serve my role, and the road ends there. I’m the most expendable one of us.”

I severely SEVERELY doubt this Rose. Like I don't want to invalidate your feelings here but I feel like if you were a normal vestige you would also be named Blake and not y'know. Rose 2. Like presumably she got to root around for whatever reality she wanted so she not only picked girl Blake but she picked girl Blake who is named after herself.

Like Ivy is not named Rose. Presumably it was not your parents first choice. Though actually I do wonder about that. Was there a rule in reality proper about not naming your kids after Rose Sr. That feels like a really obvious appeal tactic I'm surprised none of them went for it.

“I don’t deny that they’re fucked up. But grandmother lived. She hit the ripe old age of eighty-five, and I doubt you do that while messing with stuff like this if you’re dumb. Besides, dumb people aren’t the type to spend the kind of power it takes to make a sapient being, only to throw it away like you’re talking about.”

Yes exaaactly

She shook her head. “No. Nothing. The early ones… I sort of skipped past the earliest diaries, because a child’s writing is hard to read in big doses. Some stuff on the relationships between the different groups here. But if you’re looking for tips on where to focus our studies, we may have to look a bit further.”

Very curious if the pages Rose read were the pages we got in the last interlude. I feel like the knowledge of why she didn't induct her children is valuable data to have. So if Rose knows it and isn't sharing that's suspicious. But also she might just not know. There's no way of knowing if the interlude is what she read. Deceptive and wiley Mr Wildbow

Cheap side-mirrors were about four dollars for a pair, round mirrors about six inches across. I checked that I could see Rose inside and grabbed twenty. I think she might have actually smiled, when I glimpsed her.

His mother was forty and looked ten years older, by the condition of her skin and hair, her arms full with a bundle of shirts with superheroes on them.

WHICH SUPERHEROS??? A NOBLE BUG CONTROLLING GIRL WITH BIG WET EYES PERHAPS???

“Fine,” I said. “Let me give the basket to the cashier-” “Don’t be an asshole,” Callan said. “Go put it all back on the shelves and racks.”

This is so fucking funny. According to Blake and Rose Callan is a horrible asshole who conspires to ruin the lives of those around him for his own gain. But he draws the fucking line at being rude to service workers.

Three of the ribbons stood out from the rest. Too straight, too narrow. They were like spears that had penetrated Callan, Aunt Irene and Christoff and plunged into me. Forced connections between us. Too direct to be natural. Someone had aimed them at me.

The other funny possibility is that the DuChamps specific brand of fuckery said "bother Blake as much as possible while helping the average citizens of Jacobs Bell"

The girl smiled, giving me a look. Confident, brash, if I remembered right from the vision. Her brother kept his eyes straight forward, watching the ground for slick patches and lumps of snow he might stumble on. He was burdened down with bags of stuff, while she strutted.

Very interested to see how their relationship ends up paralleling or contrasting Blake and Rose's

Also I'm trying so hard to picture them as normal humans but at some point my brain decided to see them as the green haired Betty spaghetti villains from DreamWorks Trolls. It's making it very hard to take them serious

She would be the Briar Girl. No other name. A recent addition to the local population, as of six years ago. She apparently lived full-time in the woods and marshes behind Hillsglade House. Grandmother’s suspicion? She had contracted with a familiar too powerful for her to handle, creating something that was less a partnership than a practitioner dominated by the spirit. The bear-thing would be the familiar, the stick her implement.

She's very Rachel adjacent in a way

Maggie Holt, the girl with the checkered scarf. She was a teenager, making her slightly younger than the Briar Girl, and her eyebrows made her look perpetually angry, helped by a swift, graceless manner of walking.

Too an extent it really feels like Wildbow is taking maximum advantage that his reader base is coming from worm and hoping/expecting a new group of unruly young adults forming a found family via rebelling against authority like the Undersiders. Like at this point in the story it's so easy to imagine Laird as the sort of Armsmaster equivalent and Blake Rose Johannes Maggie and Briar unionizing to take him down. It's a clever misdirection and a compelling argument for reading the Wildbow Chronicles in order of writing

2.2

Vestige? “Of Rose?” the North End Sorcerer asked, his eyebrows raised. “Yes,” Padraic spoke out loud, at the same Laird said, “I don’t think so.”

I also have lots of questions about how much of Rosie is Blake and how much is Rose Sr

That being said. I don't think Padraic is the best judge of these things.

“Well,” he said. “Let’s get this out of the way. Who’s interested in taking the deal?” Wait. What? “Not seeing any raised hands,” Laird said. “It’ll be good if we get this out of the way, before it gets messy.”

You know maybe it was unfair to Laird to compare him to Victoria Dallon. He seems like he actually uses his brain to strategize sometimes.

“My rose has done what she aimed to,” Padraic said. “You’ve offended two of us, Aimon Behaim. Johannes and me both.” “I’m not Aimon, my name is Laird,” Laird said. Padraic looked a touch annoyed at being corrected. “Aimon, Laird, Lame Airhard, no matter. You’ve wounded me, ignoring me in this critical moment. I have far more to lose than you, don’t I? An immortal lifespan, against, what, thirty more of your years? Twenty of your wife’s? Sixty two of one daughter’s, fifty one of another, one of a son’s life? Add them together for your family as they are now and you have, what?”

If I were in Pact I would 100% die to some Padraic related shenanigan. He's so cool and funny. I like that he's kind of an ally to Blake and Rose by complete accident just on the grounds of being incredibly inconvenient for everyone else around him.

Also he seems to like Rose Sr lots so I'm excited to learn the history there. I hope they kissed. Not in a shipping way just in a I think the concept of an incredibly dangerous Diablerist and an exiled Fairie Prince having a terrible awful fling with no redeeming qualities has lots of comedic potential

Johannes and Maggie. North End Sorcerer and the girl with the checkered scarf. And, I had to note, a small contingent of goblins. The dog walked alongside Johannes, through slush and snow, the long hair not getting wet or dirty. Johannes wore a white coat, and it was pristine.

In a better world they could have been a fun sequel to Aisha and Alec. Which I say not to imply these characters are actually similar to Aisha and Alec. Just that they could have been a fun kind of different spin on that character archetype/friendship dynamic

2.4

“Being more honest means you stock up more goodwill with the universe and any others you meet. Borderline dishonesty is useful, lying by omission is better yet, and unvarnished honesty is better still. I can’t quite interpret it, but perhaps you were joking? Sarcasm?”

Nooo don't take away his sarcasm it's one of his most charming traits

“A vestige is fragile. Defy the natural order, and the vestige suffers.” “And a damaged vestige drains energy,” I said, glancing at Rose.

👁️👁️

2.5

“You’re wrong,” she said. “The things they conjure up are there. They’re fabricated, and it’s this affinity for things that have been crafted that helps the Faerie avoid being touched so easily by fabricated things. With glamour, the Faerie might create an image of a flower. It’s an image. But as they put power into it, it gains substance. As people see it and recognize it, they feed power into it. Plant that flower in a garden, leave it be, and it will grow as any flower might. It becomes a part of the garden, and the garden adapts. It adapts to the viewers, becoming what they want and expect to see. A two way street. Given opportunity, it becomes as much of a part of things as if it was always there.”

In my friend groups discord we have a custom emoji called So In The Chronicles that is deployed when one of us wants to go on a long spiel about something related to World of Darkness or Chronicles of Darkness

"Anyway imagine that right here. I'm not gonna get into it but just know I'm thinking it. Also I really wanna try and bait my Chronicles friend into reading Pact As your partner Rose already said, they’re weak against the unrefined, against crude things. That includes attitudes."

OH BLAKE YOULL BE SO GOOD AT THIS

“Yes,” she said. “Ornias. He once placed stars in the firmament, but he now calls them down to earth. Say his name seven times.” “Perfect. Ornias,” I said. “Jesus penis fuck, Blake, no,” Rose said.

LMAO

I was just grabbing this passage because they keep bringing up Ornias later and I wanted to note what's said about him but now I also want to keep a record of Rose saying Jesus Penis Fuck

Also idk if Wildbow would even want to get into it but how exactly does religion work here. Like if belief gives power and names call forces would a genuine devout Christian be protected by invoking Jesus or God? Many such questions

“Stupid, fucking, impractical sword!” I hit the weapon instead. As she leaped back, she couldn’t move it out of the doorframe. One downward swing, and the pipe struck the blade. It broke in four different places along the length.

I think I understand the glamour stuff really well but I wish I didn't because now I'm thinking about how easy it would be to reverse engineer a magical girl into Pact world. Like you get a young practitioner raised on precure in here, give her a fairy familiar and put a focus on glamour and transformation and you could get a precure duo practitioner and familiar. They could even have a fancy glitter wand as their impliment

“-nament,” I finished. “Ornament.” No fucking way was I ever saying that name a seventh time.

Does he just have to say it once from now on or does the count eventually get set back to zero. Cause idk about Blake but I would definitely at some point make the mistake of saying it when recounting this incident to someone else later and summoning the guy

“I think I see why she might have picked you,” Ms. Lewis said. “Blake was picked, then?” Rose asked. “It’s not just him being the second heir?” “I already said too much. Take your prize, Blake.”

👁️👁️

I really need to stop using the eyes they're not saying anything really but like what can I say to this. What does this MEAN lewis

“Mom! Fine! Stop- stop and listen, don’t call it a favor, then. Call it a repayment of the favor you owe me for taking Jo to her six-in-the-damn-morning dance lessons for the last half a year.”

You know I have to say there's a certain point at which feminity** in fiction just becomes so boring. Like speaking as Femme Lesbian. Like Padraic and the other fairies are a really fun feminine in the sense that they're pretty Fairie Royalty who like to dress in pretty clothes and flirt. But they're also horrible drunks who could kill and probably wouldn't do it in a clean way. There would be blood and stuff

The DuChamps seemed fun at first, being an all girl line of practitioners, but then you give them the least messy practice, they all take fairies as familiars, and now they also do Ballet and get grossed out at Blake's Spit and Blood. Also I don't think being white and blond is a feminine thing but it's another contributing factor in making them turbo boring to me

**also obligatory I am a non binary femme lesbian using short hand gendered phrases to express abstract personal concepts of gender please don't take this as a "Tumblr user felonytaxevasion thinks feminity is composed of dressing nice and hating spit and also that men can't be fairies or do ballet" or anything like that please I will kill myself

2.6

Gonna start speed running some commentary I don't think I have much to say about the rest of this arc

I'm very sad about Lewis saying Blake is going to die soon but I'm also not convinced he won't beat the odds so I don't have much to say on that

I turned to look. A girl in a checkered scarf, sitting on the stairs by the front door. “Maggie,” Rose said.

MAGGIE I LOVE YOU MAGGIE

The little dagger had a funny blade, wavy. It looked more decorative than useful. “What is it?” I asked. “Kriss-style athame. It’s used a lot in Wicca, but that’s more because this one guy was a blade aficionado. I like it more for its roots as a sacrificial blade.” “You do much sacrificing?” Rose asked. “Nah. But I like the old stuff, the mysteries, the biblical stories about God as a deity of sacrifice and blood. It resonated with me.”

On the topic of gender this is a really fun Maggie gender moment. The next chapter talks about implements and how swords and weaponry are representative of Masculinity to others. And Maggie uses a knife, small sword, but the blade is curved simultaneously disrupting the """"phallic""""" imagery and also interrupting a knifes traditional purpose of slashing and stabbing.

But then also also she chose the knife specifically for its historical roots in violence but specifically organized violence used as a means to an end (sacrifice). Incredible but if character building I think especially in combination with how she's tied to Molly

Not much to say on Gathered Pages as of This Moment

2.7

“This is exhausting,” Rose said. “Watching every word you say, watching every word others say…”

Hey world building question if a practitioner declared "I'm about to lie now" would they be able to then lie without being forswarn for doing so. What if you lie and then follow it with "what I just said was untrue" does lying and admitting it count for anything

If you can't lie even while declaring you're about to lie then "I'm about to lie" is an automatic out because if you don't lie after then you've lied right then

If I forget something and lie on accident but to the best of my knowledge do they still get me?

I think I would either be a great practitioner or explode myself on day 1 no in between

“That’s her stuff, there?” Maggie asked. I had to raise myself up off the couch a bit to see where she was pointing. The duffel bag and pile of clothes was still on the floor just beneath the arm of the couch. I collapsed back onto the cushions. “Yep.” “Didn’t really know her that well. Saw her a few times. She didn’t show at the council meetings until the last month, and I don’t think she was game. Took her longer than it took you guys to realize you can go out and maybe not die.”

Not to be that annoying guy that makes everything about shipping but what if they had a doomed Yuri moment. I know Maggie killed her. That's a pro not a con

Speaking of

“Maggie Holt is the one who orchestrated the attack on your cousin, Molly Walker. She had command of several goblins and ordered them to strike her and leave her alive. She did it at our behest, in exchange for small favors, gifts of power and offers of knowledge.”

Highlighting to myself the "leave her alive portion" that could mean the goblins didn't listen. That Molly simply bled out after the goblins left, or that someone else did the killing blow. Interesting phrasing and I wish literally anyone asked for more details

“Doesn’t count, or we’d be lying every passing second. Blake, she wasn’t even a person to me. They talked her up, big bad diabolist who didn’t know what she was doing. I only really talked to her after I ordered the attack, saw how she wasn’t doing anything except defending herself, and I realized what I’d done. I tried to call it off, but it doesn’t work that way.”

How long was the attack??? Multiple days?? Just one night???? Many a question left unanswered about Molly Walker

Okayyy cutting off liveblogging here I have a lot of feelings about Maggie backstory but not a ton of thoughts phrased into sentences about it

Also I have like five more chapters to finish annotations for oops. I might run through three pretty quick I have a lot more to say about 4 and 5

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mapsofnonexistentplaces · 1 year ago

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hi cubeguy i sent u an anons a while ago that i dont use tumblr but i periodically check ur blog bcus it specifically rocks & im back. i listened to an album u recommended on here but im curtailed by the character lim to give a review so i typed out a real time extremely long reaction to the songs LOL definitely the logical nextstep. its @ pastebin.com/Ejd8E9VX idk if im allowed to link shit on tumblr?? anyway i hope to get around 2 other musiks u like bcus i lovedd this btw its get to heaven that i listened to THANK U 🎀🙇‍♂️💋💗💗💗

HEY YOU HAVE AN AWESOME WAY OF TALKING ABOUT MUSIC. GRINS SO MUCH. i’m glad you enjoyed gth it’s so so special to me genuinely the album of all time …. my favorite songs off it are s/s/w/d the wheel and blast doors Lways a joy to see someone go crazy about them

^ really fond of this descriptor here also i think it succinctly puts a lot of what i love about ee’s songwriting down into words…. the weird entanglement of love and hate and confusion and clarity it’s a very very special moodset

also YEAH the way you described the vocals…. the early everything everything albums play a lot with like. roughness and scratchiness and the kind of ‘animalistic’ register of the human voice. (honestly everything before raw data feel. this is literally because the singer just decided to learn how to sing in high registers without falsetto for the first time which is like cool but also AUGH i miss that old sound

OK SO the thing about this bit

absolutely YES the thing about get to heaven is that it’s literally just like. a complete album of bangers. going down through their other stuff is gonna be a little more rocky, you might enjoy the like once-per-album weird slow ballads you might not, even though i’m lazy about listening to some of their weaker stuff when i do go through the entire albums i still find a lot of quirks in the instrumentation or lyrics that manage to impress me. i’d recommend delving into either man alive or arc next those are basically on par with gth although a bit more weird and morose? if you’re feeling it id then recommend raw data feel which oscillates more around pop/new wave but still has some really interesting musical constructions, gets extremely electronic and synthy…. a fever dream is like a 50/50 split between really long slow songs which are just Fine and really fast heavy bangers. just go listen to notln, can’t do, desire, good shot, run the numbers and ivory tower LOL. uhhhh reanimator is arguably their weakest album probably the most unremarkable but it’s also like my second favorite right after get to heaven. it’s weird and glowy and flimsier than their other tunes. that enchants me i guess…. they’ve also got an upcoming album that once again seems to be more pop oriented, cold reactor is the best of the singles they’ve released for it yet. what else. there’s like a youtube playlist out there of demo/outtakes/non album stuff that you can find real easy, there’s some really good stuff in there. personal favorites are the come alive diana demo, even the dogs and dna dump

ok so the fucking thing about the “lore” of this album. there technically isn’t any and most of ee’s albums are a per-song thing usually revolving around like. modern social commentary. the genius pages for most of their songs have like. direct songwriting annotations by the band and explain the thought process behind them. however for gth there’s also like a small layer of overarching lore about this one guy called thomas silhouette as a character. he’s not so much the crux of any narrative or presence as much as he’s just like. funny anagram arising from a lyric in fortune 500 that gets alluded to in later albums because he’s loosely representative of a lot of themes that get tackled in ee songs like capitalism and dread and shit like that

#ask #ee #<- can go in there !

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dog-walks-plants · 2 years ago

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Check out this platform I've been using to fill in the gaps between my dog walks. It called Data Annotation. You literally read and write stuff that interests you and beyond while sitting at home or anywhere you want.

#data annotation #workfromhome #workwithyourdog

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bayesic-bitch · 2 years ago

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Mentioned this in another post before, but I want to go into more detail.

I think that Large Language Models might be the killer app for programming languages built to have strong static guarantees. They each address the other's weaknesses in a way that could create a new approach to software.

Basically, these languages put a pretty large burden on the programmer when writing code. You have to seriously restrict yourself, often to solutions that don't feel very natural, in order to allow the compiler to enforce these guarantees. Additionally if you're using dependent types, there's no type inference, so you have to manually prove the correctness of your code to the compiler. This can dramatically increase the work demanded of the programmer, to the point where it's usually easier to write code with fewer guarantees and then debug it later.

Language models are very good at quickly generating well-formatted, well-commented, clean-looking code. the one problem is that it's very hard to ensure that this code actually does what you want it to, and enforcing that can be much, much harder than actually writing the code yourself.

So there's a synergy here -- Language models can generate stuff easily, but need constraints for that output to be reliable, and dependently typed languages need programmers to generate lots of annotations that aren't directly relevant to the problem in order to guarantee correctness. The solution here is that you can write program specifications in a dependently typed language, and then use an LLM to generate code that satisfies those specifications. This is much easier than writing the dependently typed code yourself, but it comes with all the same guarantees -- if it compiles, then the LLM's code is provably correct. Additionally, the fact that you can automate checking correctness means that you can much more easily gather data for training -- just generate a ton of random types, and train the LLM to maximize the probability of code that is well-typed, and minimize the probability of code that is not well-typed.

HyperTree Proof Search did this for the Lean theorem prover, but I'd really like to see somebody take a larger scale approach, just churning out a ton of randomly generated types and training it on that. It seems like a sufficiently scaled-up approach could go a long way

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spencers-renaissance · 4 years ago

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100

Summary: Spencer's an academic researcher who spends every morning at his local library. Derek just happens to drop by one Tuesday and ask the pretty boy in the classics section if he can help him find a book. Sparks fly.

Tags: library au, shy spencer, tooth-rotting fluff, flirting, coming out, spencer does not work at the bau

Pairing: Morgan x Reid

Word Count: 2.1k

Read on AO3

Spencer’s working in his favourite corner of the library by 7.35am, stuck straight into his latest research paper while Katherine bustles quietly around the bookshelves, tidying and re-ordering as much as possible before the rush of people pour through the door. She’s probably his favourite opener. She’s calm and efficient and smiles warmly at him but doesn’t engage him in pointless conversation that distracts him from his work, although that’s not to say they haven’t had a few chats here and there. It’s a quiet moment of companionable solitude; the perfect environment for a productive early morning.

He’s vaguely aware of a gradual increase in patrons, the ambient noise level rising ever so slightly as he pours over copies of an obscure ancient philosophical text he’d obtained from the local museum, annotating furiously as he scrunches his brow in concentration. It’s sucked him in enough that he nearly jumps out of his skin when he’s tapped on the shoulder, whirling around to face probably the most attractive man he’s ever met. Immediately, he flushes red, half from the embarrassment of over-reacting, half from the intensity of the urge to jump this man’s bones.

“Hi, I’m sorry I made you jump,” the man chuckles, taking a step back to give him a bit of space. “I can’t find any librarians around and I noticed the philosophy textbook you have on your desk and thought you might be able to help me…” He trails off looking a bit awkward and uncomfortable, clearly out of his element.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Spencer says, a little intimidated but still very eager to spend any amount of time with the Greek god he’s just so happened to encounter on a random Tuesday morning.

“You will?” the man asks, smiling. “Great. Basically my best friend went to an intro to philosophy class at the local community college, one of her many whimsical new projects, and is now obsessed. I was told in no uncertain terms to pick up as many books on the subject as I could before work this morning.”

“Wow,” Spencer breathes a laugh, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Well, I don’t blame her, philosophy is a great subject. I’m working on my fourth PhD in it now, actually.”

“What, you have four PhDs in philosophy?” he asks incredulously.

“No, no,” Spencer smiles, looking down shyly. “My other three are in chemistry, maths, and engineering. This is my first in philosophy. Sorry that was misleading.”

“Looks like I asked the right person, then,” he grins. “I’m Derek.”

“Spencer,” he replies, blushing at the warm look Derek is sending his way. “We’re actually in the classics section, this is just my favourite corner. The philosophy texts are over here.”

He leads the way through the maze of bookshelves, arriving at the little alcove that houses the philosophy and psychology books. With a vague idea of what Derek is looking for, he dives straight into the shelves, combing through the spines until he finds a few options for his friend. “She should probably start with this one: Big Ideas Simply Explained and then move on to Think, which is one of my favourites. This one, How Philosophy Works, will be best if she’s a visual learner instead, and if you want something a bit more complicated, try Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult.” He piles on a few extra as he looks around for any he missed before turning around and gesturing that he’s done.

“This is… amazing, thank you,” Derek says gratefully. “I don’t even know why she chose philosophy, it’s a bit random for a computer nerd, isn’t it?”

“Actually about 0.58% of all US college students graduate with a philosophy degree, so it’s not as uncommon as people may think. It’s the 89th most popular major according to last year’s data, but I don’t know the statistics for people with computer science degrees or careers learning about philosophy in an official or unofficial capacity, I’m afraid,” Spencer explains, hands moving expressively as he reels off his statistics.

The mildly impressed expression that’s been pretty permanently painted on Derek’s face the whole time he’s been speaking with Spencer intensifies as he listens intently to his statistics. “Damn, pretty boy, you really know your stuff,” he marvels, eyes wide. “You some sort of genius or something?”

Spencer blushes furiously at that, ducking his head slightly. “Well, I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words per minute.”

Derek just stares at him.

“So, yeah, I guess I’m a genius?” he says bashfully.

“No, that 100% qualifies for genius status,” Derek asserts confidently. “Not that I have any sort of qualification to rule on the matter, but in my eyes you are definitely a genius.”

“Thank you,” Spencer murmurs, blush somehow deepening at the unexpected praise from the man who will now occupy his dreams. “You seem pretty smart, too, though. What do you do?”

“I’m an FBI agent.”

Damn it. As if he couldn’t get any sexier. “Wow, that’s… impressive,” Spencer remarks. “Does your friend work there, too?”

“Yeah, she’s our technical analyst,” Derek explains, smiling fondly. “She’s amazing, you’d love her.”

“Well we’ve already got one shared interest,” Spencer points out, gesturing to the books piled high in Derek’s arms. Spencer would’ve collapsed by now, but he’s barely flinching under the weight of seven bulky philosophy texts.

“That’s true,” Derek grins. “Speaking of work, though, pretty boy, I have to run, I’m already late. Thank you so much for your help, though.”

“No problem,” Spencer says softly, definitely not mournfully, as he watches Derek walk away to the check-out desk where Katherine smiles at him as he scans the books through, sending a discreet wink over at Spencer. He glares back jokingly before walking back over to his desk.

He continues working but he can’t help but feel emptiness sinking heavy in his stomach, the kind of a missed opportunity, of almost, of could have been. Immanuel Kant still gets his attention, but he’d be lying if he said that a decent portion of it wasn’t focused on hoping, praying that his path crosses with Derek again, that he’s not replaying every moment over and over in his mind.

⭐️

Derek is very late. He rushes into the briefing room where Penelope is already explaining the case to the team. Rolling his eyes at her pointed look, he dumps the books down on the table in front of her. “Don’t blame me, baby girl, doing your chores is what made me late,” he protests, taking a seat next to Emily.

“Well, maybe you should have been quicker,” Penelope quips, before promptly moving on with the case at Hotch’s pointed glare.

He barely has a moment to think about anything but double homicide until they’re mid-flight and the debriefing is finally over. Moving to the back of the plane, he looks out the window as he plays over the morning’s trip to the library. Spencer might just be the prettiest boy he’s ever met, and making him blush is probably the most fun he’s had all week. Bonus points for intelligence, of course, even after spending just a few minutes with him, he could confidently say he was a walking encyclopedia.

On the drive from the library to Quantico, he’d thought about finding some ruse to go back the next day. Spencer seemed as though he knew the library well, like he spent a lot of time there. Maybe he could go back and actually ask for his number this time; he was gonna take that boy out on a date if it’s the last thing he does. Now, though, that’s going to have to wait.

“Alright,” Emily sighs, flopping into the seat opposite him and dragging him out of his head, “what’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?” Derek asks reflexively, feeling a little defensive.

“Well you were late this morning, not unusual, but you’re not listening to music and instead choosing to stare pensively out the window. Plus, you barely had anything to contribute during debriefing,” she explains, raising an eyebrow.

“Drop it,” he says, sending her a look, but it’s teasing and light-hearted.

“Oh my God, there’s a girl,” she gasps. “And not just any girl, you like her!”

“There absolutely is not,” he says truthfully, raising an eyebrow. He’s not exactly out to the team, not out of fear of how they’ll react but more because he finds coming out awkward and he’s never found the right time, really.

“Suit yourself,” Emily teases, pulling out her phone to play online scrabble.

Derek just scoffs and looks out the window again, definitely not letting his thoughts wander back to Spencer. Definitely not.

⭐️

Spencer walks into the library the following Monday with low expectations. He’d thought that Derek might come back in last week, if not to see him then maybe to return his friend’s books or find more for her, but his wish had been unsuccessful. Accepting that it was a chance encounter that would ultimately go nowhere, and reminding himself that Spencer Reid’s life was decidedly not like the movies, he unpacks his papers from his messenger bag in his favourite corner again and gets back to work. He’s over the moon with the headway he’s making on his paper, and he settles in for another productive morning of work.

Just like last time, Derek creeps up on him while he’s completely in the zone, slipping into the seat opposite him, but at least Spencer doesn’t jump this time. No, he just feels his face immediately brighten, looking far too excited to see a near-stranger again.

“Good morning, pretty boy,” he grins, laughing fondly at Spencer’s reaction.

“Derek, you came back,” he says happily, putting down his pen.

“Yeah, I had a case immediately after I came to the library last Tuesday and it was a tough one. We only wrapped it up yesterday so I have today off, a rare luxury,” he explains, and Spencer tries not to read into it too much, tries not to think that Derek is saying he would’ve come back sooner if he could, tries to take him at face value.

“The exciting life of an FBI agent.”

“Not as glamorous as the movies,” Derek agrees.

“I’m, uh- glad you came back,” Spencer admits shyly, afraid of coming on too strong.

“Well, would you like to get dinner sometime?” Derek asks.

“Really?” Spencer asks, looking up at Derek with shock written across his face.

“Of course,” Derek chuckles. “I mean, I love Penelope, but if she wants more philosophy books she can get them herself. I came back to see you.”

“You did?” Spencer’s still a little floored by Derek’s words, but slowly a warmth starts to bloom inside him as he realises what’s happening.

“I did,” Derek smiles gently. “Now, about that date. How does tonight sound?”

⭐️

Derek decides on his favourite Italian place to treat Spencer at and his cheeks hurt by the end of the night; he’s pretty sure not one moment went by when he wasn’t smiling fondly at his statistics or stories or blushing. He slips his hand into Spencer’s as they walk out of the restaurant, swinging their arms a bit, directing them down the street towards the 24/7 ice cream parlour.

“I love ice cream,” Spencer grins as they head inside, his cheeks red from the cold winter air and the copious red wine they’d had with dinner.

“Who doesn’t?” Derek asks, leading him up to the counter.

Spencer insists on sampling far too many flavours before deciding on cookies and cream with mint chocolate chip in a cone. He licks at it happily while Derek sits opposite with two scoops of raspberry ripple in a cup and forces himself to think very pure thoughts.

“Thank you for this, Derek,” he beams over his cone.

“Oh, pretty boy,” Derek says fondly. “Thank you.”

Emily spots it the minute he walks into the bullpen the next day. “I’m guessing things are going well with her,” she smirks as she skids over on her chair, grinning wildly.

He sighs as he sits down, looking up at her as he sets his stuff down. “With him, yes,” he confirms, smiling a little.

She raises her eyebrows and pauses for a moment. “Wow, okay, okay,” she says. “Well, I hope I can meet him soon.”

“Might be a bit early for that yet, Em,” he laughs, “but if things go as well as I think they will, that’s definitely on the cards.”

(Five months later, when Spencer finally does meet Emily, she’s as annoying as Derek expects her to be but seeing his boyfriend’s face light up as he gets welcomed in the found family of the BAU is worth every drop of teasing, and he wouldn’t change it for the world.)

#criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds writing #moreid #moreid fic #moreid writing #derek morgan #spencer reid #derek morgan x spencer reid #derek morgan/spencer reid #my writing #moreid fluff #criminal minds fluff #moreid au #criminal minds au #library au

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2manyfandoms2count · 4 years ago

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You can count on me (I will be there for you)

Penultimate chapter, here we go! Discoveries are made, and they’re not for the best. Hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to the lovely @theanxiouscupcake for helping me figure out the ending :)

---

Chapter 8

Ladybug helplessly watches Chat sink out of sight, and she knows he won’t find anything good, wherever he’s headed. It’s less of a gut feeling (what honest person has secret mechanisms lying around their house in fiction, not to mention real life?) than an informed guess based on what she’s holding.

She’d hit the jackpot in Nathalie’s room. The envelopes she found weren’t empty, but they didn’t contain blackmail destined to Ladybug; it was clearly targeted at Hawkmoth and Mayura. Given that they’d all been opened with a paper knife, she doubted that Nathalie had been on the sending end.

The Peacock brooch she’d found in her nightstand, along with Duusuu, had done nothing to help Marinette in her quest for an explanation that could disculpate her.

She knows she's found what she needed, but it really feels like a Pyrrhic victory.

“Chat Noir? Is everything alright?” Max’s voice over the comms snaps her out of her thoughts.

There’s a tense silence as they wait for an answer, which she decides to break after a couple of minutes, for her own sanity.

“So, what did you find?” She asks, eyeing Markov. The robot is holding a USB key, which is unusual, since Max generally uses him directly as a memory source when needed. She doesn’t doubt that he also carries a copy of the data they’ve found, meaning that the information must be very important.

“An annotated digital copy of a Miraculous book, very expensive and regular butterfly orders, Hawkmoth redesign costumes, and elaborate plans to defeat you and Chat Noir.” Her friend enumerates. It all checks out. “Oh, and some music videos starring Hawkmoth.”

“What?” She frowns.

“It’s very disturbing.” Max grimaces.

Her next question is barely formulated in her head when Chat Noir’s voice reaches them. “Guys?”

“Chaton!” She refocuses on him immediately. “Are you alright?”

“I’ve found something.” His voice is strained.

“Don’t move, we’re coming.” She runs towards where the platform had been mere minutes ago, looking around frantically for the trigger mechanism.

Max puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Could you just tell us how to join you?” He asks.

Chat explains the steps in a monotonous voice that worries Max and Ladybug enough that they decide to ride the elevator together. It’s a little cramped, but the quicker they get to him, the better.

The tube quickly opens and they step out into what looks like an attic in a flutter of white butterfly wings.

Chat Noir has his back to them, his suit looking darker than usual in the backlight. He turns around from the truly impressive window he was looking out from when he hears them, a sad smile pulling at his lips.

“This doesn’t really look like a good guy’s den, does it?” He tries to joke.

“It does look a little suspicious,” she concedes.

“Did Adrien ever tell you his Dad was a lepidopterologist?” Max asks, a butterfly landing on his outstretched hand, as if he’s still trying to find a rational explanation for the situation that doesn't involve Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth.

“A what?” Chat looks at him, perplexed.

“A lepidopterologist,” his friend repeats. “Someone who studies butterflies.”

“Nope, I don’t think he has a clue.” He shakes his head and clears his throat. “But anyway, what did you guys find? Anything interesting?”

Ladybug hands him the envelopes and the brooch. His eyes fly over the letters’ contents, his expression indescifrable, while Max repeats his own findings.

“Max, what is the probability that Gabriel and Nathalie are just storing stuff for Hawkmoth and Mayura?” Chat asks gently, folding the letters again and giving them back to her. She sticks them in her yoyo for safe-keeping.

“I’d say about 0,0152%.” Max announces after a couple of seconds.

“That’s not very much.” He grimaces.

“Good thing Adrien didn’t come with us.” Ladybug whispers. “It’s… a lot to take in.”

“Sure is.” He sighs.

“Everyone, there seems to be another shaft here.” Markov interrupts them, flashing a red light to indicate his position in one of the dark corners of the room.

They walk towards him and study their surroundings, Max spotting the associated buttons first. Chat figures that it can’t bring them back to the study; it’s too far away from the first one.

“Multiple levels? What kind of evil lair is this?” Ladybug mutters.

“A professional one, that’s for sure.” Max replies. “Should we check it out?”

Ladybug looks at the time on her bug phone. They’re still doing okay, having been particularly efficient with their search. Or just very lucky that Hawkmoth and Mayura are bad at hiding compromising evidence.

She activates her microphone. “Nino, Kagami?”

“Yes, Marinette?” Kagami’s voice is prompt to reply.

“How are things going?”

“Not too bad, I think. Nino’s keeping Gabriel occupied, and I’m keeping an eye on Nathalie. They don’t seem to be in any rush to leave.”

“That’s good to hear.” She sighs in relief.

“How about you guys? Is Chat okay?”

“Right as rain.” Chat Noir chimes in. “We just have one more thing to investigate and we’ll be back.”

“Okay, cool. Keep us posted!” Kagami replies.

“You too.”

There’s a little static as Chat releases his microphone button.

“Right, so that’s sorted. I’ll go first.” Ladybug states more than she volunteers, calling the lift. She suspects Chat Noir would have liked to lead the way, but he’s a little pale for her liking, and Kwami knows what they’ll find on the other end.

“Are you sure?” He looks at her, contrasting emotions flickering in his eyes. On the one hand, he seems to be relieved that she’s taking charge of the exploration, but on the other hand, she knows he must be worried about her going first.

"You guys will be right down, it’s fine.” She smiles and squeezes his arm lightly, before entering the elevator capsule.

She’s surrounded by darkness for the first part of the journey, but the dim lighting of the lift is oddly comforting; she finds herself thinking that it might relieve Chat Noir’s claustrophobia.

The tube then transitions to transparency, and she’s suddenly looking out onto one of the largest and oddest rooms she’s ever seen, if ‘room’ is even the right word for it. The space looks like some kind of underground church, with its metal nave extending above a body of water and leading to a little garden, centred around a large tubular object. The latter is overseen by a large window that reminds her of the one up in the attic, except the panes are blocked off. It isn’t dark, though; a ray of light shines from above, and dim lights are regularly spaced along the sides of the room.

The elevator doors open and Ladybug steps out unsurely, not daring to venture too far. She feels very small as she waits for Chat Noir and Max, and a little uncomfortable, like she just broke into a sacred place. She untenses a little when they join her.

“What is this place?” Chat Noir lets out a low whistle as he takes in the grandeur of the space.

“It looks like some kind of underground crypt.” Max pushes his glasses back up on his nose. “We’re really not far from the Marais, maybe this was a church that sunk at some stage and was built over?”

Ladybug nods. It seems like a decent explanation.

Chat’s gut twists as he takes a couple of steps forward. He has an awful feeling about what lays at the end of the bridge, yet he’s inexplicably drawn to it. Ladybug and Max follow him carefully as he makes his way towards it.

The tube at the end of the way looks a lot like a coffin, they realise, and as they approach it, they must have triggered some motion detector, for its cover recedes, revealing a seemingly sleeping woman.

And not just any woman.

Emilie Agreste.

She’s dressed in a white suit, a slight smile on her lips, and holds a large bouquet of white and red flowers. She looks so peaceful, so beautiful. So like her portraits. Ladybug half expects her to wake up, green eyes twinkling as she welcomes them.

Next to her, Chat Noir’s breath hitches and his hand extends to touch the glass, a tear rolling down his cheek. It shatters as it lands on the coffin.

“You’re here.” He whispers.

Ladybug shares a look with Max, who encourages her to step forward with a nod. She does, lacing her fingers through Chat’s free hand and giving it a squeeze.

“I didn’t realise you were this close.” Her voice is barely above a murmur as another tear hits the coffin. Anything louder would feel disrespectful. Chat just nods in reply.

From this angle, she realises, Emilie looks just like Adrien; same fine features, same kind smile, same blond hair. She can’t help but understand why it must have been hard for Gabriel Agreste to look his son in the eye, at first.

“Um, guys?” Nino’s voice breaks the silence, making them jump. “I think we’ve maxed out the small talk. Kagami’s trying to hold off Nathalie but Gabe is just openly avoiding me now. Can we give them a bit of a breather?”

“Absolutely not.” Chat’s reply is icy as he angrily wipes his tears with the heel of his hand. “We’ll be right back, just need to call the police. Do not let them out of your sight, especially Gabriel. He might have his Miraculous on him.”

“Oh dude, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He takes a shaky breath. Marinette gives his hand another squeeze and takes her yoyo out. She spots Max taking out his phone out of the corner of her eye and turns towards him slightly, blinking gratefully at him. Chat doesn’t seem to be in the right frame of mind to call the police himself. She calls Rena Rouge.

“LB?” Her friend answers immediately.

“Alya? Are you in my room?”

“Yes, need anything?”

“Could you get the Bee Miraculous in my sewing box, please? I’ll send you the code.”

“Sure. Do you want me to go downstairs and give it to Chloé? Or should I stay put?”

“We’re going to need you downstairs, but make sure no one sees you yet. We need all hands on deck for this.” She takes a deep breath. “And make sure Adrien’s safe for me?”

“Will do.”

She hangs up just as Max calls his transformation.

“There’s a unit on its way here, and another heading for the Château. They’re warning the police officers who are already on site, they’re going to start closing off the exits. They said they’d take the evidence from us over there.” Her friend reports.

“Good.” She says, and she sees Chat Noir nod next to her, eyes still aimed at the coffin. “Let’s go, then.”

Pegasus invokes his powers and jumps through the portal. Chat Noir tears his gaze from Emilie and goes to follow him.

Ladybug holds him back before he can step through. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay, Chaton?”

“I just need to end this once and for all.” He smiles sadly and kisses her forehead tenderly, before taking her hand and helping her through.

He turns around and blows Emilie a last kiss before joining his wife.

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whatisavideoessay976 · 5 years ago

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youtube

best essay writing

About me

Great Essay Writing In 8 Steps

Great Essay Writing In 8 Steps Finally, be sure that all the points you wished to discover are on paper and defined totally. Make issues wordier in order to hit your word restrict. However long you are taking, you must nonetheless examine that your essay flows properly. Ending an essay with the same scenario may help to show your point and create a greater understanding. visit the net pageof the University of Richmond’s Writing Center to seek out extra transitional words for a concluding sentence of your essay. It’s a final sentence of your essay, offering a way of closure and connecting readers again to the introduction. Here you’ll have 2-3 sentences wrapping up the arguments of your essay. In this case, I already knew the subject material properly and didn’t should again up each reality within the essay with references. The longest I’ve ever spent on a 1,000-word article was 12 hours. The info I wanted to gather was very technical, onerous to find, and much more obscure, and you can’t write one thing until you actually understand the subject matter. I additionally had to contact specialists for his or her opinions, but I couldn’t even ask about their opinions until I might goal them with the best questions. As a outcome, I actually needed to write many of the article earlier than slotting in the expert remark. Just written out my plan for my essay on the political implications of the Italian Renaissance- Really don't need to begin however I actually have a plan now and really feel more motivated. This also means that you should collect all the data and research you've carried out in one place so that you just wouldn't have to commute between varied applications. We additionally counsel including all the relevant tidbits on to 1 doc to avoid that worry of writing on a clean document. It ought to take lengthy sufficient that you simply get all of the points you want throughout in the writing, but not too lengthy as to bore the reader. If you do your research, use annotations for resources and perceive to whom and what you need to switch than the less phrases the higher. Remember that you're demonstrating deep data of the topic by making it accessible to the viewers with out them doing the analysis. They need to learn the same type of essay again and again when they grade. If they battle to know what you’re saying, you may not get pretty much as good a grade as you'll if you caught to using brief sentences and relatively simple language. The quickest I’ve ever written a 1,000-word article is one hour. The variety of sentences in your conclusion will depend upon what number of paragraphs you could have within the essay. A conclusion should give completeness to your paper. Ending it on a positive note could be an excellent apply. Give the audience one thing to consider after they finish studying your essay. Connect back to the essay hook and relate your closing statement to the opening one. But, as we touched on earlier, not everyone can get their ideas written down and do it eloquently multi functional go. If this is you, then take this time to refine what you have produced and ensure it will get full marks for written communication. We've allowed three hours and 45 minutes for modifying your essay, which might sound a bit excessive – and, for some of you, it undoubtedly will be. While your essay plan ought to see you thru, there's nothing to say that extra ideas will not happen to you as you go alongside. Go straight to the supply and check to see whether the lecturer has revealed an inventory of any advised studying in your module's online platform. Our telephones are essentially the most time consuming wasteful things on us, so make certain to depart your cellphone in a different room or switch it off fully, and maybe use it as a reward for yourself. If you have to, flip off the web or delete apps from your cellphone to ensure productivity. Take all of the stuff you may want from snacks and beverages to pencils and stationary, something you may have to get through 5 hours of intense writing. You should take it all to your most popular place of work or your work station. A good environment for working is essential at this level, and to be able to danger straying everything in a single place will hold you focused. Every laptop computer and computer has a voice typing characteristic that is actually meant for disabled individuals, however you need to use it too. Voice typing requires some apply, so should you haven’t had the possibilities to determine it out, don’t waste your time on it. However, it will serve you nicely to have voice typing set up for future wants.

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tiredbiostudent · 6 years ago

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hey! I'm also a bio student in my first year. any tips on surviving uni as a science student? 😊💕

disclaimer I am absolutely the worst person to ask for university advice but I will try my best! might be unconventional but if ur a chronic procrastinator slash don’t have motivation or know how to study slash have mental Chillness™ this could be for u! kinda general, kinda science related. enjoyyy

-Mendeley is a GODSEND. it’s a program you can download for free to your laptop and makes organizing/reading through and annotating scientific papers so much easier. plus it recommends articles relevant to ones you’re using! this could be helpful in a lot of ways but it provided me a ton of cool papers I want to read related to my interests (bc I wrote a paper on what I’m into yk)-kinda related: if you’ve found an awesome article that supports your data/argument, check the references to find more useful papers!

-you don’t always need to buy the textbook. if the professor says they won’t be testing you directly on textbook material, don’t buy it! even if it’s recommended. I mean if you gain a lot from reading then go for it, but usually it’s friggen expensive and you never end up using it (plus they usually have a couple books on hold at the library for students to use)

-do not pull all nighters. one hour of sleep is better than zero, pleaseee trust me. (source: I have pulled too many all nighters, once even two back to back! yikes! and the aftermath is always shitty)

-kinda obvious but... keep everything organized! find what works for you. personally I like to have everything scheduled on google calendar + my bujo, but also keep a sheet posted in my room with only things I have to hand in or tests in chronological order, so I know exactly what I have to do/hand in each week

-for labs- do as much prep + as much of the in lab assignment as you can beforehand! labs can get stressful and time flies quickly

-you’re not gonna remember anything you think you will so write that shit down bruv

-did you procrastinate too much and now you have to watch a 45 minute video before your class that starts in half an hour?? don’t fear, just put your playback speed to 1.5x or up B)

-go to lecture bro. even if you aren’t able to focus or take notes, at the very least you’ll have some sort of idea of what was talked about and things to focus on or not

-when picking courses- try to find the most recent syllabi. sometimes the department website will post them, other times you can try googling the course name and it’ll come up. this is super helpful bc it gives you an actual insight into the content and marking scheme

-chronic procrastination gang: GO SOMEWHERE TO STUDY. I cannot study or get anything done in my room literally at all, so find 3-5 solid spots on campus (or wherever) you’re able to be productive, and cycle thru them during the week.

-if you’re scared to ask ur prof questions (like me!) ask your TA during lab/tutorial- usually they’re way less intimidating and usually are a student who took the course fairly recently, so they can give u legit advice

-if you’re having a shitty day, blast music while walking thru campus and pretend you’re in a movie (recommendations: the less I know the better by tame impala, remember when by wallows, myth by beach house)

-listening in on questions ppl ask in lab and exams is actually so helpful dsfshdfjfksd

-you don’t have to start the assignment right away, but it’s always a good idea to at least look over the guidelines so you know what you have to do.

-research experience can be pretty important but also intimidating and stressful. I always wanted to get involved but never knew how! I wish someone told me straight up what to do when I was in first year so: a. go to the bio (or whichever) department website for your university and search through the professor listings. usually it’ll include a blurb about what their research focuses on, if they have a lab with the university.b. find a lab you’re interested in, read a bit about it, and send a professional-ish, friendly email telling them you’re interested in getting involved in the lab! include things that stood out to you too. and you don’t need experience either, just let them know you’re enthusiastic and eager to learn, or any other relevant stuff.

I hope this was kinda helpful? feel free to message me or send more asks if you want anymore /bad/ advice :)

#good luck in first year!#science degrees r friggen hard BUT yk... the solidarity of everyone Going Thru It together is kinda cool #asks #study advice #study tips #university advice

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itsbenedict · 5 years ago

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Datasouls InFinite: Secret Ending FAQ/Walkthrough

So, I’ve been working on a thing lately, a big ambitious secret project that I want to do, and I can feel myself starting to lose motivation- just because it’s been a secret for a while, and not having feedback or pressure to continue is getting to me. And at this point it’s like a hundred pages long and it’s a big ask to ask specific friends to read through it and tell me what they think.

To re-energize myself, I’m willing to compromise some of the secrecy surrounding the project and open it up to the public, sort of. The phase of the project I’m currently working on, I don’t want to be a serial work with regular updates (I can’t actually do that, since full-time job makes it tough to juggle commitments). So I figure I’ll make a Discord server for discussion of the project, so people who are interested and do have time to read a hundred plus pages of weird thing can track my progress and give feedback and otherwise motivate me to get work done on it.

Under the cut is a description of what the project is and an invite link to the server. Please don’t reblog this post- I’m not ready to show it to general audiences and have it spread before it’s ready, but I figure some of my followers might be interested.

So, uh, what is it?

Well, it’s a walkthrough for a game that doesn’t exist. Datasouls InFinite is the updated rerelease of an old Dreamcast game that died in development before receiving a localization- a JRPG full of furries and turn-of-the-century misunderstandings of how computers work.

(Commissioned art by Shenaniganza)

Recently- as in, currently, at the time I start actually releasing the walkthrough- a speedrunner by the name of Doc7or Coolhaxx has discovered a secret alternate ending/campaign on the disc, accessible only via exploitation of certain glitches and quirks in the game’s design. He’s now writing a walkthrough to help other players get on and experience the secret ending of the game.

However, the first step to unlocking the secret ending of the game is to do a “normal” playthrough with a few particular deviations, in order to get specific stuff into your clear data- so that you can start the secret ending on a New Game+. So what he’s chosen to do, rather than write a whole walkthrough for the normal ending everyone’s already played, is take someone else’s walkthrough and annotate it with tips, clarifications, and special instructions.

So, before I can start writing the actual story I want to tell, I need to have this other walkthrough in place, to provide the backdrop for the secret ending story (which is going to be a serially-released thing with patch notes and fake comment threads and a meta-story surrounding the game’s fandom). The annotated Normal Ending walkthrough is what I’m currently working on, and about halfway through. It’ll be hosted on the secret ending site as a reference work, nonessential but containing lots of context and hints for what’s going on in the main story. It’s currently got a lot of placeholder stuff, which I’m working on filling out.

So, if you’d like to read what I’ve got of that so far, to motivate me to continue making it, here’s an invite link to the server. It expires in one day from when I post this, as insurance against it spreading further than I’d like, but if you catch this post later and want to check it out, feel free to contact me in private and I’ll send you an invite.

#datasouls infinite

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sakshiepathak-blog · 6 years ago

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All you need to know about Gmail delivery!!

This blog will change the way you look at emails. Also, If you are facing inbox delivery challenges, especially in Gmail, say goodbye to them because I’m going to share some tricks saved up my sleeves which can solve your problems in a snap.

Folks, that’s not going to happen overnight.

Even Thanos cannot solve email delivery challenges with a snap! The world of emails is entirely different.

So let’s peep in how the Gmail delivery landscape has changed over the years and how email experts are up for it in 2019.

The growing superpower of Gmail Spam Filters

Every year mailbox providers try to safeguard their users from the wrath of spam emails. Gmail is one of the most protective MSPs and would never compromise on the quality and relevance of emails received by its users.

2015-16

Gmail launched postmaster into focus on collecting data about reputation, abuses and started giving visibility to senders.

Postmaster is a tool that displays different metrics for emails sent to Gmail users. Gmail wanted senders to learn about their domain and IP reputation and learn to be a better sender.

In the words of ReturnPath, “Gmail is the world’s largest webmail provider, but its deliverability requirements are closely guarded. Understanding how to reach Gmail inboxes is critical for marketers, but it’s no easy task. Gmail does not use common resources (like third-party whitelists and public blacklists), and they provide little in the way of support for senders. However, Gmail has begun to relax the secrecy around their deliverability requirements, starting with the launch of their postmaster site in 2015.”

2016-17

Postmaster grew smarter, and Google spam filters started relying on the data of postmaster to rate email health of a sender. Spam filters started getting more accurate and uncompromising hereon. With more access to data came more responsibility, if senders continued to send bad emails, their IP reputation would move from high to medium and eventually low. It was evident that the sender needed to make a change in their sending habits.

2018-2019

Gmail started giving immense importance to engagement & its frequency, more than what it had in previous years. Apart from known positives and negative trends emerging from email activity, they also started reading 100s of signals from other Google services unknown generally to the senders, this impacted lots of senders and experts in the industry as they were unable to predict changes Gmail made to its new algorithm.

Your brand is being judged not only on engagement with its list but also by what is happening with it over the web, especially with all Google services. These signals are too hard to predict, and one can only have conjecture.

A misconception about B2B vs. B2C spam filters

Gmail is one of the most used personal mailboxes, and Google has similar service for work mailboxes known as G-suite. There is consistent growth of office inboxes moving to Google and Microsoft hosting.

Email sender needs to pay attention to both segments of their list, public domains, and corporate domains. If your list has B2B email addresses, you should know engagement is still an essential metrics to landing in the Inbox.

According to Laura Atkins from Word to the Wise “whilst the same filtering engine is used on Office 365 and G-Suite as their B2C counterparts Outlook.com and Gmail, the weighting used in the algorithms differ. Such as in the measurement of SCL (spam confidence level) and BCL (bulk complaint level) at Microsoft.”

Emailversation – Email comes to life

Conversation is a great way to build relationships. This is true for human and technology alike. We are social beings and love to interact- may it be people or machines. Being an email sender you must be able to harness this need for interaction to get your message across better.

While at one side email engagement is an important metrics for spam filters when judging email health, MSPs are launching features to make email conversations effortless. They are making emailversation possible.

let’s look at some of the coolest things happening around your Gmail mailbox:

AMP for Emails

AMP (also known as Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open source framework of Google through which they help mobile pages load faster. At its essence, it’s basically a stripped-down form of HTML, a diet HTML

From the Google blog “Today, we’re bringing the power of AMP to email through the Gmail Developer Preview of “AMP for Email.” This new spec will be a powerful way for developers to create more engaging, interactive, and actionable email experiences.”

AMP aims at giving the user power to take action on important information received over an email while keeping information fresh every time the user views it. Imagine if you could submit an RSVP to a conference or fill a survey or schedule an appointment right from the email message.

With reducing time and attention span of users, AMP saves time and clicks of users by showing what is relevant. It is a handy feature for marketers and consumer alike. If this sounds interesting to you, but your curiosity about AMP is beginning to rise to check Why AMP is such a big thing.

If you wish to enable AMP for your emails you can register here.

Gmail Annotations For Your Promotional Email

Now give life to your promotional emails. Gmail Annotations allows users to see images, deals, expiration date.

Here is an example of an email. It shows your email’s Subject line, second subject line, offer code, banner image and offer expiry date as well, a great way senders can leverage schema and make emails more conversational for their users.

They might very well also introduce CTA on this, you never know.

Developers and marketers can add a small script to their email header to enable this feature. Learn more about it here.

Gmail doesn’t take guarantee that your promotion Annotation will display on all your user’s inboxes. It mostly depends on how users have been interacting with your emails in the past.

Gmail injecting AI in its framework

There is no doubt that all technologies and channels have started getting a touch of machine learning and Artificial intelligence in them, and email is not untouched.

Gmail has been experimenting with AI & machine learning since you first heard these terms. Some of the recent use cases are a fantastic epitome of what all user can do in the mailbox. Gmail Snooze, Nudge, Sidepanel and more are just as tempting as the ones we are mentioning below:

Proactive Unsubscribe Notifications

You heard it right. Gmail app has started giving notification to its users to unsubscribe from the email they don’t interact with or have not been opening in a long time.

We saw this happening with very few users but seems to be again a closed experiment run by Gmail for better user experience. There is also a possibility that this is a controlled experiment to train its machine learning algorithms on whether it is predicting right about unwanted emails or inactive emails.

Gmail is creating a deep level journey of a user with every brand they interact & based on that the algorithm is getting updated, e.g., 10 users shown notification of unsubscribing and if most of them or all of them unsubscribe, it creates negative sentiment and Google records that in their algorithm.

A Spam free mailbox was nearly impossible a few years back, but with features like these, a user can control the mailbox completely. Gmail is not just looking at engagement metrics singularly but also how recent is the engagement is and how frequently it happens for it to give these pro-active notifications.

Top Picks

If you are one of the many users, who have witnessed promotions tab divided into two, Top Promotions and Other Promotions or something similar you know already what I mean by top picks. It is also seen Gmail experimenting with the title of Top Promotion as Top Picks or Top deals. We saw Google doing some testing around this at the start of the year.

Old emails still in my Top Picks

The theory behind doing this is again to enhance user experience and show the email of the brand user is engaging with frequently in the Top Picks instead of Other Promotions. While brands who are coming in Top Picks themselves don’t know how this is happening hence, this could be one of the many experiments which Gmail runs for improving or coming up with the new inbox design.

Gmail continues to launch great stuff for its users. Are you doing equally great when sending email to Gmail users?

As a great email sender, what should you do?

If you are sending marketing emails, you need to start looking at email engagement in more depth. Engagement does not just mean how users interact with your brand over email but also how your brand interacts with its users over the Web, and there are 100s of unknown signals which are always at work hence keep listening and improving.

Segmentation is underrated. What we mean is you need to monitor how every single user is engaging with your content in addition to the overall list.

Mailbox providers have already started using machine learning to make their filters smarter. They want to provide a personalized mailbox to each user irrespective of overall positive engagement of a brand with the entire list. Hence just a good reputation is not good enough to put you in front of your users.

You need to be able to optimize your send time, email content and what you offer in near real-time. You need to make email experience of your users genuinely personal. 2019 unfolds new possibilities for each one of us to communicate with our users. Make it valuable and let every email count.

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tedlyanderson · 6 years ago

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Annotations for Adventure Time: Beginning of the End issue 3!

Did you enjoy my annotations for issue one and issue two of this miniseries? If so, good news! (If not, shove off!) I have annotations for the third issue, right here waiting for your lovely eyes! Obviously, as with the previous posts, this will have great big massive spoilers for the issue, so take that into consideration. Please enjoy, my pals!

Pages 2&3: Okay, there’s a lot to unpack on these pages, haha. First and foremost is a reference to something other than Adventure Time for once: Jake’s monologue on these pages is a loose reference to one of the very best issues of classic Fantastic Four, number 51, “This Man ... This Monster!” In that issue, among other events, Reed Richards travels through the Negative Zone and muses to himself about the nature of reality:

There are cameos on these pages from a bunch of the “cosmic” things of the AT universe, including the Catalyst Comet, the Lich, a copy of the Enchiridion, Glob Grob Gob Grod, the Finn Sword, and Prismo (in a rare 3-dimensional appearance). There’s also a herd of Time Lards with clocks on their bellies.

Also in this image, note the most minor and in-jokey reference in this entire series: the satellite on the middle-left with the word “FELIS” on it. In the episode “Fionna and Cake and Fionna,” someone asks Ice King where he gets the ideas for his Fionna and Cake stories, and he replies that they’re “beamed into [his] melon every night.” Later that episode, we see him sleeping as a pink laser zaps into his head, carrying images of Fionna and Cake. I chose to interpret this as a reference to one of my favorite authors, Philip K. Dick, who believed that he was receiving knowledge in the form of an information-rich pink laser beam from a satellite called VALIS. So this satellite, FELIS (get it? like cats?), is the source of the Fionna and Cake stories—in my version of the universe, anyway.

Page 4, panel 4: Chronologius Rex declares that he is the lord of Time, not meatloaf. Meatloaf has been established multiple times as Finn’s favorite food.

Page 5: And here we come to the crux of this issue: Finn’s possible futures. Issue 1 of this series was about Finn’s past, issue 2 was about his present, so naturally issue 3 is all about his futures. Obviously none of these should be taken as “canon;” I just came up with three possible paths Finn might take based on what we’ve seen him do throughout the series. I’ll explain my thinking after the third sequence.

All three of the futures are color-coded—the Candy Knight future is pink, obviously.

Page 6: I love Mari’s designs for Queen Bubblegum—the high ‘80s shoulders are great! My suggestion for Old Peppermint Butler was that he be smoother and shinier, as if he’s a candy that’s been sucked on for too long.

In panel 2, the “Dinner Kingdom” is kind of a half-reference to the Breakfast Kingdom in present Ooo.

And in panel 5, note old Finn’s Jake medallion.

Page 7, panel 4: I am not sorry for the “bunch” of banana soldiers joke.

Page 8, panel 1: Beards are indeed a factor in many of Finn’s futures: pretty much every time we’ve seen an older or artificially-aged Finn, he’s got a beard of some sort. I continue the trend in this issue.

Page 8, panel 5: This is a futuristic version of Founders’ Island, the main human settlement outside of Ooo, fixed up and fully repaired. The implication is that Finn not only returned to the human islands, he also helped fix the place up.

The color scheme for the Teacher Finn future is blue, connecting with the water and sky surrounding them.

Page 9, panel 2: I love Teacher Finn’s design so, so much, you guys. I described him as a lovable old professor, someone with his mother’s compassion and his father’s roguish charm, and Mari knocked it out of the park. Note his Jake hat.

Page 9, panel 3: “Homies help homies: always!” is the Adventure Time philosophy in a nutshell.

Page 9, panel 5: Note that Finn is still using his old, trusty sword Scarlett in this future. She’s even more nicked and battle-scarred, but I’m sure she’s still good in a fight.

Page 10, panel 2: Dodging eggs while fighting was part of Finn’s training from Rattleballs in his eponymous episode.

Page 10, panel 2: When it came to Finn’s human wife, I told Mari to make her look a little bit like a human version of Flame Princess. I figured Finn if has a type, it’s her!

Page 11: The third and final possible future is the Space Captain Finn future, which is green-themed for no particular reason. This future is based on the idea that Finn and his Candy Kingdom pals team up with the remaining humans to build a spaceship to take them away from Earth, which is about as likely as anything else in Adventure Time, haha.

Everything in this sequence is of course heavily inspired by Star Trek: the Next Generation, a show that I love and grew up watching. The Minerva A.I. is the ship’s computer, obviously, warning of “excessive sparks detected on bridge.” Jake is Finn’s right-hand-man, just like Riker was to Picard (and Finn even calls him “numero uno,” like Picard’s “number one”). Lady Rainicorn is the equivalent of counselor Troi, Fern is a bit like Data, and Jake’s skateboarding granddaughter Bronwyn is the hotshot kid pilot, like Wesley. Princess Bubblegum is the engineering chief—she always struck me as preferring the role of scientist rather than royalty, frankly—assisted by Frieda and BMO. Flame Princess, upgraded to Plasma Princess, powers the ship as a whole. And Finn himself sports a beard similar to Commander Riker’s—which is appropriate, as a future version of Finn was voiced by Riker’s actor, Jonathan Frakes!

When coming up with these futures, I thought about what the Finn we knew might be most drawn to doing, and boiled it down to three major options: fighting and defending (the Candy Knight future), teaching and training (the Teacher Finn future), or exploring and leading (Space Captain Finn). For what it’s worth, I don’t really have a preference, or any opinions on which future is most likely—one of the strengths of Adventure Time has always been finding ways to surprise its audience with something that makes total sense in retrospect. If Finn does have a “canonical” future, it’s probably something I would never have thought of, but which makes perfect sense.

Page 11, panel 4: Princess Bubblegum yet again mentions “zanoits,” which are maybe some kind of mysterious particle? It’s a funny word and deserves to be used more often.

Page 12, panel 1: I mentioned in my annotations for the previous issue that I felt bad making Susan revert to her simpler speech patterns, since by this point in the series she’s perfectly capable of using big words. I tried to make it up to her by making her the ship’s communications officer, who would use big words all the time.

Additionally, the “Tuffbone sector” is a reference to Meredith Gran’s Adventure Time miniseries, Marceline: Gone Adrift. In that series, Marceline explores space and meets other races, including the Tuffbones, dog-like alien critters.

Page 12, panel 2: Note that Shelby (the worm who lives in Jake’s viola) is wearing a bandolier similar to Worf’s. I was particularly proud of that idea, haha.

Page 12, panel 4: Jake’s exclamation of “Outrageous!” is a reference to another role by his voice actor, John DiMaggio: it’s the catchphrase of Aquaman, from the Batman: the Brave and the Bold series.

Page 16, panel 3: A “dead world” is another bit of unexplored Adventure Time lore: they’re apparently where people go when they die, but they’re not quite the afterlife as we think of it? Or it is, but there’s a lot of them, like at least fifty? Unclear.

Page 16, panel 4: I had to work in the title of the show somehow.

Page 17, panel 3: I wanted to make sure I referenced my favorite song from the show, “Everything Stays” by Rebecca Sugar, and this seemed like the perfect time to bring it up, as Jake discusses the inevitability of change.

Page 17, panel 4: When I described this panel in the script, I specifically mentioned the series Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the weirder depictions of the end of the world you can find. I love the image of the enormous stone blocks sinking into an endless sea.

Page 18, panel 5: Chronologius’s epithet for Jake, “starchild,” references Jake’s actual origin as a half-alien creature. I checked the dates, and apparently I finished the script for this issue just a couple weeks after the episode “Jake the Starchild” aired, in which Jake’s parentage was fully revealed.

Pages 20-21: Finn’s final “confrontation” with Chronologius might feel a bit underwhelming—essentially, all he does is convince Chronologius to give them an opportunity to escape. There’s no big battle, no war of wits; it’s already been established that Chronologius is basically invulnerable, so it’s not like Finn could beat him in a fight. It’s not terribly exciting, but that’s kind of the point: over the course of this issue, Chronologius becomes more sympathetic to Finn and his plight, particularly after seeing all the good he did (and might have done) in the world. So it’s less about beating up some big bad dude, and more about convincing someone to act like a pal. In a way, Finn beats Chronologius by making him into a friend.

Would it have been better if the ending was more exciting, action-packed, crazy-style? Maybe! Looking back on it, I feel like I could have given Mari more chances to do cool art stuff—the first half of this issue has some pretty far-out sequences and nifty new things to draw, but the second half is basically three characters talking against a mostly boring background. Thematically I feel like it’s better to have Finn succeed by befriending the villain, rather than just punching his lights out, but it definitely doesn’t have the same visual impact. Overall, I’m still proud of it, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be improved.

That’s it for issue three! Join me next time for—issue four?!? Yes! This three-part miniseries is in fact a four-part miniseries, ending with Finn and Jake’s adventures through time! Look forward to it, my chums!

#adventure time beginning of the end #adventure time comics #comics annotations #adventure time annotations

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nanonaturalist · 7 years ago

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Using iNaturalist Tutorial 1: Making Observations (Mobile App)

Welcome to the first part in a series of tutorials on using the world-wide citizen science website/app/paradise that is iNaturalist [link]. They have their own tutorials on using the website [link], but *coughs* they haven’t been updated in a while and the interface changed a little.

I’m trying to encourage tumblr peeps to try out iNaturalist, so I created an “iNatters of tumblr” group [link] for us all to see what everybody else encounters, help each other ID things, and otherwise just have a fun time while contributing to science! Want to join us? Just create an account on iNaturalist, and either send me your username (on tumblr or on iNat!) and/or follow the group (click the button in the top right corner of the group page). I will add you to the list of identifiers, and all of your observations, past and present, will be added to the group! Check out my tagged posts about this project! [link]

Figuring out any new website or app can be confusing and frustrating, and I hope these tutorials will make it easier to start using iNaturalist. If anything I say is unclear, confusing, or doesn’t match what you see, just let me know and I will update this tutorial with a better explanation.

These tutorials are image-heavy and kinda long, so they will be under a cut. Note: I have the iPhone version of the app, so you may see a slightly different interface on another device.

Observation Tutorial Part 1: Making Observations with the Mobile App

First Thing’s First! Let’s check out your settings!

Most of these settings are self-explanatory. Automatic Upload The app defaults to automatic upload, which means it will start uploading your observations as soon as you save them. If you are doing a bioblitz, or are in an area with limited cell reception, this option can slow down the app and drain your battery. If you turn off this option, you will need to push the “upload” button to post your observations so others can see them.

Suggest Species This option is MAGICAL. It was first rolled out about a year ago, and HOLY CARP it’s pretty good! But, it does have limitations. First, it requires a good signal and can slow you down and eat up your battery. Also, it works based off a machine-learning system from observations previously uploaded and verified on iNaturalist. What this means: The identify tool can only successfully identify things that have been observed and identified by other real humans. Also, it only uses your main photo (the first one), and it can get thrown off if it was taken at a weird angle, or if there is lots of other stuff in the background (like plants, rocks, other bugs). And, very important to note: it does not take your location into consideration. There is a very heavy user-base in New Zealand, so it is fairly common for species that only occur in New Zealand to be suggested. So, use your best judgement. If you think something is a Booger Beetle, but the app suggests Snot Weevil, ignore the app. OR, you can stick to a higher classification (Beetles) and come back to it later. You can always change your mind!

iNaturalist Network You don’t really need to worry about this too much. There are a bunch of “flavors” of iNaturalist, and which network you select is the one your data will stick to in the event that the iNaturalist Network breaks up. They are more or less regional. More information about the networks here [link]

Okay, let’s take some photos!

Wow, nice! You have two options for making observations with the mobile app. Option 1: Take the photo now, worry about iNat later Option 2: Take the photo using the iNat app

I recommend choosing Option 1 if you are taking photos of things that may move, because the app has a bit of a delay, and the quality tends to not be as good. I use Option 1 almost exclusively, because it’s easier to take my photos and do bulk uploads when I’m inside and not being chased by mosquitos. Option 2 is better if your subject isn’t moving too fast, and if you are just observing a couple things (and also if you don’t want to build up a several-month-long backlog of photos on your phone...).

You can take and select multiple photos! Try to get different angles, and photograph different parts of your subject to help with IDs later.

Advanced iNatter Option If you take photos with your phone to upload later, you have the option of annotating your photos! This is helpful if you have more than one specimen in the photo, or if your specimen is well camouflaged. You can also point out important features, like I did below. Any edits you do to your photos before you upload them can really help out people who do IDs!

Regardless of which option you choose, you will end up at your observation page!

Adding identifications to your observations

From your observation page (on the left above), you can add more photos, add an ID, write notes, and edit time and location information. More on those options later! First, let’s click “What did you see?” to get to the ID page.

If you have “Suggest species” turned on, the app guesses what you saw. Clicking the information symbol to the right will show you more information on each species to help you decide if that ID is a good fit. Feel free to pick whatever you think is closest, and other people will agree with you OR suggest other identifications later.

If you know what you saw, or if you have a guess, go ahead and type it into the search bar. If you have autocomplete on, it will (guess what!) autocomplete what you are typing. If you have a slow connection, LOOK OUT because you might accidentally select the wrong ID due to lag.

Editing Location and Privacy

Depending on your phone’s privacy settings, your photos will automatically have a GPS stamp on them, so if you are adding photos to iNat later, you usually don’t need to worry about remembering where you took them. If you have this feature turned off for your phone, that’s fine! Or, if you have that option turned on, and your photos are GPS tagged, you can still protect your privacy while keeping the location data useful for scientists and researchers.

If you are wondering, “Why is location even important? Why should I bother?” There are a couple answers! First, there are very few species present worldwide. For the most part, in order to identify something, it is essentially to know where it was. Sometimes, you can be vague, and just stating the country is good enough detail to identify something (common for larger animals, like birds and mammals, and larger plants like trees). But other times, you need to be extremely specific. Some insects look nearly identical to each other, but there will be different species living on one side of a mountain range vs the other side, even if they are only 20 miles apart. And also, researchers who are tracking the movement of species in response to climate change can benefit from having access to accurate data--showing that a species of plant is appearing even several miles north each year is crucial to understanding how to manage environmental stewardship.

If you are out and about, and have GPS phototagging on, you don’t really need to edit your location (unless you want to!). If you have GPS tagging off, or the location data was a little off, OR you want to protect your privacy (observations at your house, for example), here’s what ya do:

Click the area on your observation page with location (I blanked those details out of my screencap). You will be taken to a map. Clicking the green arrow takes you to your current location. You can zoom in or out of the map (unfortunately, you can’t just type in an address on the mobile app, but you CAN on the website, and you CAN edit posts you made from the mobile app on the website later!). When the location you want is centered on the map, zoom in or out to set your accuracy (if you can’t remember where you were, but you KNOW you were somewhere in Austin, you would basically do what I have above in my map).

If you don’t want to edit the location, but you don’t want the entire world to know where your photos were taken, you can change the GeoPrivacy setting (kinda cut off in the screencap, but it’s directly underneath location). You can select three options: Open: Everybody can see where your observations were made Obscured: iNaturalist will create large square that contains your true location at some random point within the square. All observations with obscured coordinates will be randomly assigned to one point in that square. Only you can see those coordinates (one exception is if you join a very specific type of project, and you have opted-in to let project curators see obscured coordinates). Private: No location information is shared. You may select this option if you want, BUT keep in mind it will be very difficult for people to help identify your observations! For more information on GeoPrivacy, iNaturalist provides more information here [link]

Adding Observations to Projects

iNaturalist has many different kinds of projects [link]. The “iNatters of tumblr” project is a “collection” project type, which automatically adds observations meeting specific criteria (in our case, all observations made by users I have added to the project). Another type of of project, the “traditional” project type, was originally the only type of project available. It’s great for collecting some very specific observations that you can’t really search for. Two of my favorites are “Mating Behaviour” and “Animated Observations” [both are links]. The downside of these kinds of projects is somebody has to manually add each observation to the project. If you have joined one of these kinds of projects, you can link them to your observation before you save it. You can also add observations to projects any time later.

To link your observation with a project, you must have joined a project first. Afterwards, just click the button and you’re done!

Saving and Uploading

You’re almost done! Just ONE final step. Save!!! Click the big green SAVE button at the bottom, and you see your beautiful observation:

If you have Auto Uploads turned off, you need to click the upload button to start uploading. That’s it! Congratulations!

If you take your photos with a camera, or if you want to upload a BUNCH of observations at one time, you will want to make your observations on the website, rather than the mobile app. Making observations on the iNaturalist website will be the subject of Tutorial 2!

September 18, 2018

#this post took me three hours you're welcome #tumblr inat project #inaturalist #inat #citizen science #inat tutorial #how to #informational #time to go home #insects #beetles

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jobhuntingsworld · 3 years ago

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Android Developer resume in Danbury, CT

#HR #jobopenings #jobs #career #hiring #Jobposting #LinkedIn #Jobvacancy #Jobalert #Openings #Jobsearch Send Your Resume: [email protected]

Professional Summary

* ***** ** ******* *** software/IT.

* **** ** **** *****.

* **** ******* ** ********/IT within a corporate setting.

Kotlin programming development experience.

Java programming skill.

Develop rich application UIs with strong UXs that follow Android design guidelines.

Hands-on with middleware and integration with different web services and message exchanges (e.g., SOAP, REST, XML, JSON) Experience with all the usual stuff (multi-threading, integration with REST APIs, view animations, custom transitions, multi-threading).

Ability to ask the right questions, provide feedback to stakeholders, break down tasks, and create a plan to achieve the intended result.

Architectures include MVVM, MVP, MVC.

Strong understanding of the Android framework, best practices, and design patterns.

Knowledge and experience using payment gateways/systems.

Apply OOP design patterns such as Façade, Abstract Factory, Builder, Singleton, Observer, Protocols, Delegation, etc.

Keep abreast of industry trends and technologies, being prepared to apply them quickly.

Experience with Android apps with networked data from content management systems.

Experience with Android Media Player API and ExoPlayer in streaming audio and video.

Strong knowledge in Android multithreading frameworks: AsyncTaks, IntentServices, Handlers, Threads, Runnables, Loopers.

Experience using GIT/GitHub for Source Control.

Work with various integrated development environments (IDE)/frameworks, including Dagger2, Bluetooth, Android Studio, Eclipse, Android Annotations, Robotium test framework, Espresso test framework, Mockito, SpongyCastle cipher suites, Jenkins, JUnit unit testing, and Visual Studio App Center.

Experience working with tablets, phones, smart TVs and more recently Android Smart Watches.

Experience with messaging in Android apps.

Practical implementation of Android Life Cycle, Fragments, Intents, Threads on Android, binding services, Implicit and Explicit Intents, background processes, sync adapters, Activity, Activities for Result, WebView, ImageView, TextView, RecyclerView, ListView, etc.

Technical Skills

Android Tools – Push Notifications, Mixpanel, Services, Loaders, Ion, Urban Airship,ORMLite, ButterKnife, MediaPlayer, RxCache, Spork, Runtime, JUnit, ZXing, EventBus, RecyclerView Animator, Mockito, Espresso, CoordinatorLayout, Content Providers, Support Libraries, Robolectric, Retrofit, XmlPullParser, RoboGuice, Glide, Picasso, RxJava, Volley, Gradle, Logger, animations, VidEffects, Retrolambda, MonkeyRunner, Dagger, JobScheduler, GreenDAO, Otto, AndroidAnnotations, Protobuf, Answers, MPAndroidChart

Languages – Java, Kotlin

Authoring IDE – Android Studio, Eclipse

Content Integration – REST, SOAP, JSON, XML, GSON, Jackson, Moshi, Content Providers, Android Media Player API, ExoPlayer for Streaming Audio/Video

Architectures – MVC, MVP, MVVM

Dependency Injection – Hilt, Dagger

Databases – SQLite, SQL, Oracle, Firebase

Team Tools – JIRA, Jenkins, Git, SVN,

Old Android – Intents, Loopers, Loaders, NineOldAndroids, ListView, AsyncTask, Volley

Tuning – Leak Canary

Google – Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google API, Google Cloud Messaging

Professional Android Work Experience

08/2021

– Present

Android Software Application Developer

Union Savings Bank, Danbury, CT

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mfoundry.mb.android.mb_957&hl=en_CA&gl=US

Available to all Union Savings Bank consumer online banking customers. Union Savings Bank Mobile allows you to check balances, make transfers, pay bills, make deposits, and find locations.

Used Hilt for dependency Injection.

Used Postman to interact with client custom APIs.

Implemented recycler views with cardviews to display data in the most efficient way.

Interacted with the whole Jetpack library.

Programmed code in Kotlin language to perform Restful API calls for bank transfers, budgeting, and digital receipts user stories using Coroutines, Retrofit, and Data Binding in MVVM clean code architecture.

Implemented Jetpack Compose to create small reusable composables to describe UI by calling a series of functions that transformed data into a UI hierarchy and defined Data flow principles in Compose.

Refactored Android Support libraries to be compliant with Android 11 and JetPack, such as android.preference to androidx.preference.

Integrated multiple third-party libraries like: Glide, Retrofit, RxJava and Dagger 2.

Used Slack and Microsoft Teams for communication

Implemented Safety Net Attestation API and SafetyNet reCAPTCHA API to determine if it is rooted/tampered, and implemented strong DRM checks and protect app from spam.

Improved login feature of the app using OAuth library for token-based authentication and Biometric API.

Wrote instrumentation tests and UI tests using Espresso.

05/2020

– 08/2021

Android Application Developer

Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Madison, NJ

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myzap.cb&hl=en_CA&gl=US

With the Coldwell Banker® app, you’re not just choosing a home. You’re choosing a lifestyle. We know that’s a big decision. So we bring you the most up-to-date and accurate information on homes in your area, instant updates when new homes hit the market, and details about local neighborhoods – and we connect you with a real estate professional who’s prepared to help you find just what you’re looking for.

Used Jetpack navigation graph, pagination and Jetpack compose to develop view model, view and data domain layers for the tickets to complete full feature development.

Utilized a MVVM architecture using Android Jetpack Components.

Incorporated Facebook SDK and Twitter API for logging, posting and share experiences of the Android app and the service for marketing.

Implemented analytics using Firebase analytics framework to track user behavior in app.

Implemented Google Maps for location search with the Google Location APIs.

Integrated multimedia material and live streaming video, decoding, and playback

Profiled the app using instruments to see performance leaks, memory optimizations and battery use.

Wrote instrumentation tests and UI tests using Espresso.

Ensured code quality writing Unit Tests using JUnit, Mockito and PowerMock frameworks.

Created custom UI components for consistent UX across companies’ internal Android applications and for reusability making the development process faster and smoother.

Created custom libraries for internal network calls for security purposes.

Used recycler views & populated lists to display the lists from database using recycler view adapters as the most efficient method.

Used Bitbucket as the version control tool to commit and update the project from the server.

06/2018

– 05/2020

Android Developer

Prudential Financial – Newark, NJ

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prudential.android.RetirementParticipant&hl=en_CA&gl=US

Take control of your financial future – anywhere, any time with the Prudential app. Enroll in your 401(k) or 403(b) to easily manage your money, track your savings progress, access insights and tips designed to help you achieve financial wellness, and much more.

Generated build on MVVM architectural base.

Worked in Android Studio with Kotlin coding in the development of Android mobile app features and functions.

Added encrypted environment configuration with sessions and user login using SharedPreferences.

Utilized AndroidPlot API in different places to chart multiple data from server.

Implemented Kotlin coroutines to perform asynchronous operations as part of the Network Api layer.

Used Intents and Intent Filters to initiate activities and pass information between Activities and Fragments.

Debugged code to support multiple screen sizes and created multiple layout qualifiers.

Created custom views to reduce project overhead can increase reusability of code in multiple places.

Created push notifications message from Firebase console and debugged message received from Firebase console.

Implemented Kotlin scope functions to perform serialization process and increase readability in the code.

Used Git for version control for managing and integrating source code with other team members.

Modularized the existing customer payment authentication flow and integrated/implemented an additional external SDK which helped authenticate customer’s payment details.

04/2017

– 06/2018

Android Developer

Victoria’s Secret, Columbus, OH

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.victoriassecret.vsaa

Welcome to the Victoria’s Secret app, your on-the-go destination for the world’s most famous bras, panties, lingerie, sportswear, swimsuits, beauty, accessories and more.

Implemented new features in Kotlin and converted some existing Java classes to Kotlin.

Implemented observable data patterns using JetPack LiveData to make server data observable.

Participated in code review and reviewed code carefully before approving.

Practiced pair programming as part of collaborative project development/delivery strategy.

Utilized Android SDK and supporting development devices.

Utilized Charles Proxy to understand and detect issues in payload or provide feedback to engineers and QA.

Applied a MVVM architectural base.

Added a new credit card with camera card scanner for quickest checkout, push notifications to alert as soon as sales start and remind when they’re ending.

Included Stripe Billing APIs to create and manage invoices and recurring payments and create fixed-price subscriptions with Elements.

Performed code migration from Java to Kotlin and implemented null safety checks, higher order functions, extension functions, coroutines support and KMM.

Worked with testing libraries and frameworks Junit, Espresso, and Mockito.

Created Repository pattern to abstract connections between local databases and On-Site endpoints.

Created abstract classes to define common behavior across the application and utilizing extension function from Ktx plugin to consolidate common operations like getCurrentTime and parseDate.

Used Coroutines and Schedulers for long running and background tasks.

Integrated with Google Maps.

Encrypted and decrypted the shared preference data with the AndroidX Security Library.

Utilized Room database for shared preferences for storage and caching.

04/2016

– 04/2017

Software Developer

Emerson Electric, St. Louis, MO

Analyzed and interpreted business requirements to define and develop technical requirements.

Programmed in Java and C++.

Wrote scripts using JavaScript.

Modified multiple scripts written in JavaScript.

Wrote new functions and modified existing functions.

Interfaced directly with customer technical personnel to support and service installed systems.

Contributed towards product/process improvements, both from a technical perspective and user experience/functional perspective.

Supported post-implementation issue resolution and deployment within the production environment.

Established communications interfacing between software programs and database backends.

Education

Kettering University (Bachelor’s in Computer Science)

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