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albatris · 5 years ago

Note

Hey hello I sent in an anon about starting tarot a while ago (I do not know when I know it was post quarantine starting but...time is wild) and i was wondering if you answered it? This isn't at all me trying to pressure you please please don't read it that way, i totally get it if you didn't! I just know that tumblr's search function is very broke and I'm scared I missed your answer, which would be sad. (I hope this doesn't sound like a bother it's genuinely all good if not I'm just checking!)

YES oh my gosh holy shit hello hi yes hi anon my dear I did in fact completely fucking forget to actually answer your original ask I am so sorry lmao

thank you for reminding me ajhdfgjhsdfg and again I’m so sorry it took me forever anyway I’m gonna just uhhhh look up your original ask real quick

OKAY so resources and starting decks! there are lots and lots of people who know more than me so I feel a little unqualified to answer this but I can tell you my thoughts?? but I definitely recommend looking into what other folks have to say on starting out, I’m sure there are lots of different opinions and ideas! :D

also sorry, it’s me you’re asking, so you’re not gonna get nice neat dot points and I’m not great at being concise, I’m just going to ramble if that’s ok, very sorry, very sorry

under the cut rambles

so........................

for learning meanings........ it’s a lot of work, there’s a lot of detail and a lot of different things to think about during readings, I’ve been learning tarot for around seven years on and off and I still don’t remember everything!

so IMO it’s best not to come at tarot with the intent to Learn Everything before you start! it’s the perfect thing to learn as you go! my advice would be to just kinda throw yourself in. when you first get a deck, go through the cards and vibe with them some and look at their meanings, but mostly just kinda contemplate them, don’t try to memorise everything at once. start doing readings, look stuff up as you go............. I would recommend keeping a journal where you document your readings............ which will help you with memory and picking up on patterns and connections....... uhhhh

I really like using apps as a companion as well! they can be a super good resource even if you don’t want to use them FOR readings necessarily

I use Galaxy Tarot as a convenient way to look up meanings and summaries of the cards when I just need to kinda jog my memory (though the descriptions aren’t super detailed), and it has a function where you can either do a reading with the app or you can do a reading yourself and then plug the cards you’ve drawn into the app, and it can help you with pointing out recurring themes and symbols and connections between the cards, which can be handy when you’re first starting out and maybe feel a little overwhelmed by the Amount Of Information you’re trying to take in

uhhhh another one I’ve used in the past is Labyrinthos Tarot, which is an app to help you learn and memorise the cards and their meanings., from what I can remember there are sorta, games and exercises to help with it, I forget exactly how it works since it’s been a while since I used it! but maybe that’s a good one to check out too?

I feel like apps is something i should’ve mentioned at the end but anyway moving on to the rest of it

most decks will come with a guidebook of some sort! so you’ve got the traditional rider waite tarot deck (which is probably the default deck most people think of when they think of tarot), and there are plenty of resources online such as Biddy Tarot which can give you a fairly detailed rundown of the card meanings! these meanings can be applied to variations of the rider waite cards, but lots of decks are a little wild and a little funky and are off doing their own thing while still following the basic rider waite structure, and if you receive a guidebook with a deck, that’s definitely an invaluable resource!! ‘cause it’ll give you the artist’s kinda interpretation and their meanings, their own personal touch, even if you then look up the card in more detail online

ALSO tarot is just a whole fuckin tonne about intuition as well though! so as much as it can feel like something where you need to focus on all the details and try and keep them all rigid and by-the-book, you might do a reading and feel yourself drawn in a certain different direction or just get a “feeling”, so you should definitely be open and flexible and listen to what your gut tells you as far as meanings go! plus, you will develop your own relationship to the cards and maybe draw your own personal meanings and associations! that’s definitely not something to fight against and don’t worry about whether that means you’re doing it “wrong” - you should listen to those feelings, those r important!! :D

lastly I will say, it can be helpful to have someone who is more experienced with tarot around who you feel you can ask for advice from or get second opinions from if there’s something you’re confused about! or who can give you tips and tricks from firsthand experience. like, it doesn’t have to be something you learn alone, and having a teacher or companion can be really helpful in terms of bouncing ideas and getting new perspectives! I throw this out there because I always forget to say things like this, ‘cause I forget that other people Are Not Me and other people like being around people lmao rip

and as far as starting decks go........... it really depends so much on what you want and what’s important to you! some people will say start with the traditional rider waite tarot, and if you decide to do that, you will certainly have a lot of resources at your disposal! it’s a valid place to start for sure

but there’s also SO many different decks out there with all sorts of themes and art and personality, and IMO......... I’d kinda urge you in the direction of choosing something you’re personally interested in and engaged with! it can make connecting with a deck easier and can help you stay interested and engaged during learning! but that’s just me

when I got my first deck the lady in the store kinda just took me to the collection of decks and just asked me which ones I vibed with and which one kinda called out to me or one I was drawn to, then she let me take a look at some of them and she showed me how to handle them and use them!! this was my first experience, n I was told just to go with what Feels Good And Right

n there’s so much cool art out there! and many interesting themes! you might not know which one you’ll latch onto until you see it, so take some time to look around and see what speaks to you c:

for instance, certain themes like cats or flowers, certain art styles, maybe certain series you’re into (I have two welcome to night vale decks n the raven’s prophecy by maggie stiefvater), or queer friendly decks! I have the Numinous Tarot which I ADORE, which is a deck with gorgeous artwork and extremely queer, all gender neutral language and lots of diverse designs, etc

so it depends what you’re into! take some time to feel it out, my friend

I would also like to throw out a mention to oracle decks as well! I actually started with oracle decks long before I used any tarot decks c:

I am................... very tired. and blanking on the best way to explain the difference between oracle and tarot decks, but you can look into this if you’re interested! lots of people use both or use them in conjunction with each other and there’s benefits to both n so on and so forth........

but in terms of Starting Out, and getting comfy with doing readings? they can also be really helpful in this regard! I found since oracle decks can have any number of cards and are less “structured” than tarot decks in a way, it can be really helpful as a way to get comfortable with things if you find, just, the Amount Of Detail that is involved in tarot decks overwhelming!!

it was something that helped me get the ~feel~ of doing readings and sensing with the cards and vibin and such, n get some practice drawing connections between cards and deriving meanings from the stories the cards present! but in a way that’s not quite as...... overwhelming?? as traditional tarot decks?? I was SUPER intimidated by just how extensive tarot decks were when I first started and I thought I’d never figure out what I was doing HAHAHA

but again, it’s just practice, I think!

where tarot will follow the same 78 cards and structure and is very traditional and I guess “rigid” is not exactly the right word?? but yeah?? oracle decks are a lot more flexible in what they represent and a lot more loose in the structures they can take

I do love oracle decks because of how varied they are!! each one is its own little system and its own unique universe and it’s really quite lovely, even if you aren’t into Actually Doing Readings with them, y’know?

but then, I find tarot decks the same way, what will all the different art styles and different people’s interpretations and renditions of the same story, like, it’s really fascinating!!

this has just turned into me rambling about how cool they are now

point is, do a little research into what sorts of decks and themes you might like to buy, when you get a chance I thoroughly recommend visiting a store so you can speak to someone who has some experience with tarot decks, they can help guide you when it comes to picking one and giving you some tips!! remember that it’s about intuition and following your gut as much as it is about memory and precision, so you should pick a deck that Feels Right

and uhhhhhhhhhhh

just kinda throw yourself in!! that’s literally my best advice!! you’re never gonna memorise everything beforehand (I’ve been learning on and off for seven years and I still often have to consult guidebooks and webpages) but you WILL absolutely learn as you go

it might feel very clumsy starting out, but as with any craft, you will improve with practice and begin to feel more comfy and confident with it as you go!

I hope this helped out some!! maybe!! possibly!!!!! ok goodnight!!!

#Anonymous #important caveat is that ive kinda just #been vibin on my own for most of my learning so i feel like #maybe there will be things i do that are not necessarily the ''right'' way or the common way or i might be #a little inexperienced and all #but i think it's also very personal and you'll find a way of doing things that works for u #in other words I Have No Idea If I Sound Like A Complete Dumbass when i talk about tarot #HAHAHAHA #anyway ok i hope this maybe gave you........ something...........? to work with #again i am so sorry i dont know how to be concise honestly i could have probably explained this in like #3 paragraphs #i can only hope u were aware of my rambling tendencies before u sent this and knew what u were in for lmaoo

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belabee · 6 years ago

Text

Productivity Master Post

So, I realized recently that I’ve tried a lot of different things to try to manage my executive dysfunction. Not all of them have worked for me and some of them I’ve tried and love but can’t find a way to make it actually fit into my general life schedule, or tried and didn’t really like at all.

I figured I’d share them. The ones that worked, the ones that didn’t, and the ones that I love but don’t know how to yet implement. Since everyone’s different and what works/doesn’t work for me, might work for others.

This will get updated as I remember things/try new things/etc. Each of the things will have links so you can take a look into them yourselves :)

Right now I’m just listing them out - I’ll probably edit this and do some pros and cons as well.

I’m gonna put it under the cut though cuz it’ll probably get loooong

I’ll start off with some Productivity Methods

Getting Things Done

Book by David Allen

Process:

1) Collect tasks

2) Process

3) Organize

4) Plan

5) Do

What started me on trying to figure out a productivity system for myself. In my experience, each person’s system looks different. It’s all just based on what works for you.

The two main concepts that I got out of GTD are

Being specific with my tasks with what needs to be done and when and by whom

Reflecting and Strategic Reviews: Looking at my system and seeing where my bottlenecks are, coming up with solutions, and being specific about it

Pomodoro Technique

Time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo

This one I will swear by forever. Basically it helps me focus on my tasks. The typical Pomodoro technique looks like: 25 mins of Focused Work time (1 pomodoro “pomo”), 5 minute break, and then after 4 pomodoros - one long break.

Can be used to help you focus with anything - writing, cleaning, homework, anything that might end up taking a long time.

I use Complice and the Captains log to help me with this one.

Captain’s Log

A self-reflection method that I learned from the founder of Complice (linked above)

Basically if I’m doing a pomo, and I find myself getting distracted, or I said I’d do a thing and I find that I’m not doing it - I’ll whip out my captain’s log and note down what distracted me or what’s getting in my way of doing the thing.

I tend to use this when I’m doing my weekly/ review to help troubleshoot what I should try in the upcoming week or if there’s other areas that I need to work on first before doing the thing.

Eisenhower Decision Matrix (aka the Urgent-Important matrix)

This one helped me out a lot at school. Basically it’s a 4-quadrant decision making system that helps organize and prioritize tasks. The 4 quadrants are:

Urgent-Important

Less urgent-Important

Urgent - Less important

Less urgent - Less important

Eat That Frog

an Anti-procrastination method

Concept of doing the least pleasant very important thing first, or if there are multiple unpleasant important things - do the biggest one first.

So far, I’ve found it works best if I add some social accountability to it - like, letting someone know that this is a Frog for me, and I will do it today.

Things that work for me/I’m currently using:

Complice.co

https://complice.co/?r=ael4x5dmam (gonna plug my referral link :P )

This one I use to sort out my projects and goals. I currently have 8 goals - 2 of them are work related, and the rest are personal goals. When I was in school, I had a different goal for each course I was taking

Basically you list out what you want to get done on your goals that day - your “Intentions” - and at the end of each day you check off what you got done - your “Outcomes”

Complice has ready made spaces for weekly and monthly and yearly reflections, as well as integrated Pomodoro options and coworking rooms.

They also have a Goal-Crafting Intensive Workshop that they do at the beginning of the year which I found super useful and highly recommend.

Passion Planner / Bullet Journaling

I only recently discovered bullet journaling, but I’m finding that I like the method because it can be as simplistic or as all-encompassing as you want/need. It appeals to the wouldbe-crafter in me, and I love stylizing my monthly/weekly layouts.

Passion Planner I’ve been using since I was in school. I find that that it works well with Complice, and provides me with an easy portable hard copy of my Tasks and Goals and Reflections. I used to be very online about my GTD system and relied heavily on my smartphone to manage my system. Over the years I’ve discovered that I get distracted way too easily using my phone for it to really be my main productivity management item

A con to bullet journaling:

Super easy to get lost on pinterest, instagram, etc., looking for inspiration for your layouts. I’ve wasted many a day doing this :P

Habitica

Gamifying your tasks and habits. Basically - you’re a character in an RPG, you gain points and gold for completing your ToDos, Daily Habits, and

I find that it helps with providing a certain level of social accountability (Guilds, Challenges, and Parties)

Workflowy

https://workflowy.com/invite/ff47f75.lnx (another referral link plug :P)

Started using this one when I started bullet journaling, it helps that it integrates well with Complice.

What I currently do - I use Workflowy to collect my tasks for the individual goals that I’ve laid out in Complice, and then I put what I need to get done Today into my day’s Intentions on Complice.

Beeminder

Accountability that stings.

Basically, I make a commitment, I lay my credit card on it, and if I don’t do the thing that I said I’d do - I get charged for it.

Provides pretty graphs to see your progress on doing the thing, is basically a free service if you do the things you said you’d do.

Super helpful for eating frogs - if I can’t motivate myself to eat the frog on my own - you can bet that I’m more likely to do the thing if it means that it’s gonna take it out of my credit card.

Super good if punishment motivates you more than reward does.

IFTTT - If This, Then That

Love this service. It syncs services to other services that might not have a good integration with your fave apps on their own.

Works well with Google Home devices

Google - Gmail, Calendar, Drive (Docs, etc.), Hangouts, Groups

Our overlord has so many things - tbf, it’s competing with Microsoft Office, so it’s kinda gotta.

Gmail can integrate with so many different apps and services, and can be used for a GTD management system as well.

Calendar - my favourite part is that it’s shareable. When I did shared living, I could easily know my household’s schedule without having to ask them every time. I’m also polyam, so when I had multiple partners and was living with half of them - it made scheduling time together easy.

Hangouts - super useful for staying in touch with peeps. It’s been phased out of my life a little with the introduction of Discord. and I hear that Google might be actually discontinuing it soon (just like they did with Inbox - I’m still mad about that)

Groups - I mostly use this in my inbox. But good as a forum option. I know of shared house dynamics who use this to stay up to date with each other - do house announcements (i.e. when the plumber will be here, etc.) This one has also been phased out with Discord for me

Discord

Great communication service for groups - I haven’t explored it’s integration options fully - but I definitely like it better than Slack

I currently use it for my house (in addition to various fandom groups) - to let my family know if we need to buy x grocery/house item, or let them know I’ll be going away for the weekend, or won’t be home on time for dinner etc., I also use it with my IRL friends - we use it to plan get-togethers, share memes, etc.

I think most peeps know about this already - but shoot me an ask if I need to elaborate more.

Things I’ve tried but haven’t been able to successfully implement

Asana

A teams/group project task manager - used it when I use to do group living (i.e. a bunch of roommates). I’ve found it less useful now that I live with my family - mostly because it’s doesn’t mesh well with my family dynamic - but I can see how other families could make it work.

Trello

good project board - but it’s definitely more of a teams thing - or a group project thing. I haven’t been able to make it work for my own personal projects and goals. But that might be because of how my brain visualizes tasks - so it might work for others.

RememberTheMilk

This integrates super well with David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

I’ve found that it was good when I was using my phone as my main productivity management item - but I’ve found it less useful now that I use my passion planner.

if you purchase the Pro subscription you can use the location tags to get reminded of tasks when you’re at a certain location (i.e. reminded to submit x paperwork when you get to your head office, reminded to buy x item when you’re at or near x store)

Works well with Google assistant as well so if you have a Google Home device, you can sync your reminders.

Slack

Communication service for teams, groups.

different channels etc.

Good integration with different services (see Beeminder in particular)

I don’t find it as intuitive as Discord though. But I know tons of groups find it helpful and useful for planning and organizing.

Microsoft Office365 (Outlook, Teams, Sharepoint)

A lot of businesses, organizations, etc., use these - but I find that unless you’re pretty tech savvy already, learning how to use it is pretty hard. It’s not the most userfriendly and it definitely doesn’t play well with others. If you don’t already have an Office365 account it won’t work well for you, and everyone on your team needs to have an Office365 account too. Not to mention you need to have the appropriate Office365 subscription to get access to all the best apps.

But if you do have the money and everyone on your team has an Office365 account, it’s super useful - Sharepoint is great for sharing info to the team, sharing and editing documents, integrates well with Teams which now has a Shifts app (which replaces the old StaffHub app). Teams is good for having the more informal chats with the team.

I find that if you know how to use all the apps and services, it makes it super easy to work at any location. I have multiple locations at my work - and I find it really easy to continue working even if I’m not at my main desk.

#productivity #executive dysfunction #tips and tricks

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stone-man-warrior · 4 years ago

Text

January 12, 2021: 4:10 pm:

=================

now it says I cannot edit the post I made a few minutes ago, and is refering to an app.

I don't use an app. I access from the Tumblr.com website with a computer, not a phone.

and the place where the hashtags go are saying some reference to YouTube while using Tumblr.

Tumblr is hijacked by Google and Pope Bergoglio. But Pope Bergoglio is dead, died at Grants Pass Walmart about three weeks ago when he was cut in two by the guillote they put in the front entry from time to time, that day, was one of those times.

The means Google is at the Vatican without the Pope Bergoglio. The Tumblr slaves are crying for help in ways that they are able to, with changing the way the controles work, and wishing that someone would notice.

====================

Edit: 4:36 pm:

Assessment:

There is something fishy going on. Everywhere.

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Edit: 4:52 pm:

youtube

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Edit: 4:54 pm:

“... and the operator say’s” ‘40 cents more for the next three minutes...”

That means the Operator was in on the call the whole time.

“Mrs. Avery” = Mrs. AV E R Y = Mrs. Audio/Visual + Power + Aaarrrgghh + “Y” signal splitter

“Mrs. Avery” = SAG Vatican terror pirate rerouting the call

It’s an avery, a place where birds are kept. Aviary (alternate spelling, Canadian accent, is Phoenician) A Coup.

The Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show song was from 1973.

The records available online say that the breakup of Bell Telephone & Telegraph (A/V) happened in 1982, but everyone knows that happened in the 1970′s. So, WT actual F is happening with that?

Y signal splitter’s work with the recorded history of the world the same as they do with pulsating signals. Truth splits to a dark place where no one can find it, a Gnosis Generator changes the truth, adds bullshit, removes some key information from the truth, then spits out the result for consumption by the people as Gnosis.

Sylvia, is gone. We are told she is moving away, never to be seen or heard from again. The operator wants more money, to keep you hanging on, to find out where Sylvia is at, and not hang up... they can‘t make any money if you hang up.

The Pope is a Crocodile (Croak-a-Dial)

youtube

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Edit: 5:24 pm:

Diana Ross = Die on a Cross (she has to learn some Carpentry first, so she can build the cross the Christian Pirates are going to nail her to, See?

(Diana Ross is musical Royalty, in more ways than one, a Supreme Being)

Fast Forward to Princess Diana for Russian Mother Hoax Fractal View through a time warp paparazzi tunnel. (Paparazzi = Papa Arrgghh Nazzi = Pope Pirate Nazi). It’s not about black or white. It’s about acceptance of the Pirate Pope, or not)

===

From the Dr. Hook song I linked somewhere else:

“We got a genuine Indian Guru that’s teaching us a better way...”

It’s “Amp Guru”.

“Genuine” = Generates a Whine from a phone call, American Indian Style.

Remember what happened to all of the American Indians? (native Americans)

Then, add the phone hijack, the operator, “Turn water into wine” all boils down to “The Jim Dunlop” (all Pope, all the time, eternal Pope, Amp Guru at Vatican Choir HQ) on the phone call, listening all of the time. It must be a “Pay Phone” or the Operator would not be exposing herself like that (nun; Russian Whore). The “Turns Water into Wine” is the Modern Day Indian (you & me) all being turned into Whine... crying for help on he phone while trying to find Sylvia on a hijacked phone call where some asshole (nun) is pretending to be Sylvia’s Mother and is jacking US around on the call.

Jim Dunlop, maker of Cry Baby Wah... since 1966.

It’s a gas peddle (throttle) for “Axial Expression” (Axpression).

To Throttle, is to accelerate OR decelerate. (AKA: Buffer (time warp); Governor (leash; limiter)

On a phone call, it controls the speed at which you will decide to accept the Pirate Pope later on, after more effects are applied to the mix, and you slowly learn intuitively about the Christian Pirate Ship, it’s Captains, the size... enormity of the boat, and the French speaking scalawags who crew the thing. They need you and me to move the boat forward, we are the sail on the mast in the wind. We are Jesus. A sale on a pirate ship. nailed.

If you have a Bic Lighter, and learn about the Chi that resides within you, and also carry and use a fingernail clipper for defense, you can defeat the pirates.

A Chihuahua armed with hot sauce and sharp teeth.

================================

Edit: 6:05 pm:

Once again, the puzzle parts add up to reveal a glimpse into the Vatican, through the television screen, as it looked in 1965 - 1966 and thereabout, to see the Puppets of the Thunderbird’s TV show, “the Tracy’s at Volcano Island”, are “Amp Guru”, and “Amp Guru” is a culmination of all of the Pope’s throughout recorded history AD, materialized, as “The Jim Dunlop”, Captain of One Vatican Pirate Ship.

Read this account to see how that was decoded with a secret agent decoder ring from an old box of Cracker Jack’s over the past six years, and a lot of life experience.

youtube

===========================

Edit: 6:17 pm:

At the 1:25 minute mark, Jim Dunlop Amp Guru thugs are sent to hassle Jimmi, right there on stage. They Rush him, get all in his face while he’s performing and he does not even miss a lick.

He did not sign-up to be a Christian Pirate. He played left handed, with a right-handed guitar, upside down, to try to show you and me that there is something important to know about the guitar. He had plenty of Chi, was able to be among the very best of the best of guitar players, with a upside down and backwards guitar played on the opposite side.

Fucking Genius.

They sent Jimmi to the 27 Club, where he met Sylvia, they remain there with Janice Joplin, and others at the 27 Club Great Gig in the Sky.

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Edit: 6:31 pm:

youtube

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Edit: 6:41 pm:

Personal note:

This past week has included that my vision was very poor while trying to write, trying to see to cook some food, to see to walk around or do anything at all. But today something has changed, the local terror cells are not releasing the kind of poison gas that affects vision, I can see clearly today. That has not been the case this past week at all, and has been ongoing for many years as the local terror cells release a variety of poison gasses into the surrounding area, the “return air” vent on the forced air heating system draws the poison gasses into the house through the chimney, dryer vent, window “weep holes”, and other household venting and cracks and holes that exist in all houses. The windows are all closed, but the heater return air vent creates a negative pressure condition inside the house, and draws air in from outdoors where the air has been saturated with poisons released by the neighboring terror cells.

If it’s happening to me, it could be happening to you too.

My vision is perfect today, all day. Something changed outside.

That above is strange, it’s the 12th, but that grey area says it’s the 13th. The post there behind the grey area is titled “January 12, 2021: 3:57 pm:”

This one:

I am not able to make edits to that one, it’s locked up by Tumblr. If I try to make additional comment, that other blue message that says something about a Tumblr App shows up, prevents me from further additional comment.

If I could make additional comments to that other post featuring Donald Trump on the cover of the Rolling Stone, then, I would say more about what happened on January 6, 2021 at the Fred Meyer Gas Station when that Salem Oregon Government Bus showed up with the explosive guitar bombs inside, and Mark Keisel was there to make the hit to kill me, but exploded with others who were on that Salem Oregon Government Bus after I defended against Keisel. If I could make additional comments to that post above, on the actual post that’s is locked up and is not accessible for making further comment, then, I might be tempted to say that Donald Trump was also on the Salem Oregon Government Bus that was sent to kill me at the Fred Meyer Gas Station on the 6th of January, at precisely 3:36 pm (I have the receipt in my pocket still).

I might comment that the Bus exploded with Donald Trump on it somewhere nearby the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office on F St., about one-quarter mile from the Fred Meyer Gas Station in Grants Pass, but I can‘t do that, they have me locked out of that one particular post, the one with the mystery 13 on it in the screenshot above.

I could say a whole bunch of additional stuff about that.

The important part to what I might say is that all of that bullshit reported on Twitter about a White House invasion, is all bullshit. What that really is, is a way for Nancy Pelosi to say that Donald Trump exploded on a Salem Oregon Government Murder Hit Bus, and the shit went side-ways.

That is what that is all about in the Twitter news, and everything being said and done by the SAG Congress, Pelosi & Company, is all to make distraction so that no one will be interested in knowing where Donald Trump might be. Even Joe Biden is in on covering for the whereabouts of Donald Trump in the Twitter news.

It’s all bullshit! The whole WH invasion of January 6, 2021, is bullshit cover story done by SAG US Congressional Shills!

He was on the Salem Government Bus when the thing exploded into bits from at least one guitar bomb that was also on the bus, built by Mark Kiesel of Keisel Guitars. The explosives are suspected to have been provided by Micheal Moore of “Super Size Me” fame. If not, Mr. Moore knows where the explosives came from.

Send help to Oregon, learn more.

Please send medical services.

Bring your own hospital.

=========================

Edit: 7:37 pm:

This is a good place to make a REMinder about 737 MAX Airplanes and that I was there, at Boeing Seattle in 1998 when the place was taken by machine gun wielding terror soldiers who did not speak any English at all.

“What did those guys look like?”

Thank you for asking, good question.

You know that Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis at the Christmas Party?

Those blonde guys with long hair. They looked just exactly like those guys, at two of them did.

They killed all of the office workers. Young women who worked in the office at Boeing Seattle. They were called out to the airplane assembly area near the big door to the enormous hanger that Boeing is. It’s a big hanger where airplanes are built.

The women were lined up against a wall, told to say who they were, and what their job titles were, then, the people were separated, “these people over here, those people go over there”, and one of the groups of all women were shot against the wall. There was someone there in the Boeing tour group that I was part of who did some interpreting for the people with the machine guns. I was asked to speak to the women before they were shot also, to ask them what their job title were.

The bottom line here is that all of the math works out that SAG/Britain/Vatican/German terror is planning to use those “Grounded” (modified for terror) 737 MAX to do aerial spraying of poison gas over large populous regions some where. I suspect it’s a global operation in USA and Asia, maybe South America too. There are a whole bunch of those airplanes, plenty of time to make modifications has passed, and they had time to move them around to different parts of the world also.

I suspect Mustard Gas.

Also, reminder that I was there in 1970 when all of those rock star musicians I tell of from time to time were saying that the goal was to eliminate the population of the world, to reduce the population of the WORLD to about 500,000 people. That’s Half-Million people remaining after the “50 Year Plan“ is done. (Five-Hundred-Thousand inhabitants of the globe)

They were serious about that. We can see that they were serious about that. There are numerous clues, indicators, guidance, all that leads to a global depopulation of Biblical Re-Genisis magnitude.

Start Over... is the plan.

Those with SAG Cards in good standing, dues paid in full, might survive, if they are among the ones who draw the long straws, not the short ones at the “Heaven’s Gate” somewhere. (SWSX Terror Convention; It’s compass, points down, and to the left, depending on what hemisphere you are on at the time you take a look at the compass. I think. Maybe it’s a Thompson, goes up, and to the right when fitted with a full drum magazine, so, Hemispherical considerations are warranted, with respect to the right & left hemisphere’s of the human brain, for making the correct choices at the SXSW terror convention on Judgement Day for SAG Card Holders w/Dues Paid in Full, card in good standing)

This is not a joke, I am not making this up.

I was there. At the table at the time.

I was about ten years old. I remember.

So, that is the most important thing to know about why Donald Trump could have been inside of a Salem Oregon Government Bus at the Fred Meyer Gas Station on the 6th of January, 2021, and exploded when the shit went side-ways.

What’s more important is the date, the timing seems to be on or near the 20th of January, 2021, for the planned Boeing MAX aerial Mustard Attack of the world. (Grey Poupon, for decoding purposes. French’s will also work for decoding Twitter news, and promotional email from Music Industry Advertisers and Retailers)

Oregon is the place where a vast majority of the terror is HQ’d. California is where the most leadership is, Washington DC are all puppets, only the messengers, as far as I can tell. Congress is a voice of hidden leadership at corporate offices of all kinds, perhaps. But the highest of terror high command appears to be the “Amp Guru” the “Jim Dunlop” the “Vatican Choir”. Those seem to be higher command level than “British House of Lords”, or, could actually be the very same, could be British House of Lords = Amp Guru.

I still recommend the best defense for immediate results is to take Twitter offline. Make it go away. Even a temporary hiatus for a couple of months would help. The most commands come through the Twitter news stories, coded into them.

Would the world be so horrible without Twitter that the safety measure cannot be done at least temporarily?

Google is the same as the Pope’s Office Filing Secretary.

Google corporate and the mechanisms the make it work have to be taken into custody of Global Security persons who are opposed to being exterminated like a bug in a jar filled with Raid. Are there such persons left alive somewhere?

======================

Edit: 8:45 pm:

There are some people who know that the explanation about the Boeing 737 MAX attack already has come to this very point once before in the past. Only few people are aware of that, and all of the recorded documentation was deleted, made unavailable for me, but is available to others somewhere, I don’t know exactly where, but the Oval Office is a likely place to find those records, or access to them, from Beta Twitter in around 2008 and also on old Tumblr account, and also on old Google+ accounts.

The people who stopped the attack the first time are probably all dead now.

So, here you go, there is no Russia.

Don’t drop this this time:

It’s Mongolia.

They are no terrorists in Mongolia. They don‘t have any nuclear warheads in Mongolia, I don‘t think Mongolian’s even have an internet.

=========================

Edit: 9:08 pm:

Think about this please:

Size and scope demonstration of Vatican pirating in USA:

Let’s say you are a terror army leader who’s army uses nitrous oxide as a primary weapon, your goal for the time being is the kill and replace as many US Citizen voters as possible without being caught. You need a way to get nitrous gas into as many households as is possible. So, you convince the Residential Window Manufactures that they need some representation in DC, to lobby for concerns about climate change that affect the manufacture rules for window makers. The window manufacturers consortium is created because you are really good salesman. So, once that is done, you convince congress that it’s a good idea to mandate that there will be some small holes put onto the bottom of all the windows sold in USA, “Weep Holes” are invented for the purpose that if some condensation happens to gather on the windows, it will drip down safely out of the house through the “Weep Holes” in all of the windows, from now on.

That way, since you need to get the nitrous into as many homes as is possible, it’s much easier to do if the window has some holes there for the terror army to use a means of putting the gas into the houses so the people can be killed and replaced with other people who will vote the way you tell them to vote, making everything more predictable at election time later on.

There, you just managed to create a easy way so your terror soldiers can do their job faster, better, and by government mandate with blessings from the Window Manufacturers Consortium who are people who care about climate change.

You have been doing this a long time, and are so skilled as a salesman, that you can sell moccasins to an Eskimo, and snow shoes to a native American in Arizona, no problem.

You learned long ago, that making things easy for the pirates, speeds the boat along and that a little grease in the grooves makes the guillotine blade come down much smoother. Holes in the window, are grease on a guillotine groove.

===========================

Edit: 9:34 pm:

I go to the store, and there is always some asshole who wants to bum a cigarette as I come out of the store, or wants a couple of dollars for gas.

That’s a lobbyist in training.

A lobbyist, literally, are people who go to places where congressional members are likely to be, such as in the lobby at Capitol Hill. The congressional members need to come out of their offices at least once per day, so, go bum a smoke, hang out in the lobby and wait until they walk by, to ask for some gas money.

===============================

Edit: 10:03 pm:

(Pacific Power Corp turned off my power for just one second as I went to share this next part here, as I pasted the URL for this Buick Commercial, the power went off long enough to knock out my modem, and stop my computer from running. This is big terror news here, it’s revealing, is a major peice of evidence of the Window Manufacturer’s Consortium being used to put holes in everyone’s windows, by government mandate)

As I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted by Pac-Pow:

You are are a Christian Pirate Leader, are on TV, and with this commercial have instructed millions of terror pirate scalawags that you were successful at putting holes in all of the windows in USA, and their job will be much easier after all of the new houses are built after this ad was aired.

Grease, on the grooves of the guillotine ad:

youtube

Edit: 10:23 pm:

I need some assistance to keep the connection from being hijacked all the time.

Pac-Pow zapped my power, but that is not all, the Centurylink/Google/Tumblr terror consortium is still fucking with me also. Pac-Pow is the right hand, Centurylink is the left hand, Google is the brains of the three, and tumblr is like a pen that won‘t work all of the time, or a pencil that keeps breaking, have to keep sharpening the damn thing.

That Norton product is fake, I pay a lot of money annually for Norton 360, but they give me that fake one, I can’t do anything about it. It’s been fake since day one. I have been able to get a real copy in the past, but they change it in the background to that fake one. It’s been about fifteen years since I was able to download the real Symantec product. I pay for Norton 360, but I get Symantec Life Lock instead. Centurylink can and does do a lot of invisible hokus pokus with that fake product they came up with. You could have the same problem on your computer. There is nothing you can do to get the product you pay for, that is what you get. It never finds any problems, ever.

My computer must be perfect.

That thing that happened with the power going off was like this, I suspect:

I went to YouTube. I knew exactly what I was looking for. I typed a YouTube search for “Buick commercial with All Buick’s will have holes in the side”, which is another commercial about the same thing, except the ad says “all Buick’s will have holes in the side” on the commercial I was specifically looking for on YouTube. Then, what happened, is a flag went up at Google HQ, they know that the Buick commercials are a problem, so the called Pacific Power right away to scare me away from posting the commercial to show you about the Weep Hole terror at the US Government Mandate level.

Google initiated the power cut at my house, lasted only a second or two.

Please help make the connection secure at least, if you won‘t send medical help.

=============================

Edit: 11:17 pm:

Local Update:

A walk to the mailbox was uneventful.

There is no mail, just air inside the mailbox.

It’s warm, is 51 degrees outside and drizzling.

The warmth could be the reason my vision is do good today, as the forced air heating has not been on much today, I have the thermostat set for 59 degrees lately, down from 61 degrees after getting a giant size electric bill last month. The warm temperature and absence of use of the return air making the negative pressure condition could be why not much airborne gas came into the house today, my vision was very good for all but about one hour today.

The Myers have all of their interior lights turned off, and have a altarnate porch light turned on at the addition entrance that was put onto the house about three years ago. The holiday lighting around the door remains on.

Chapman’s is showing signs of strangers at 3701 Russell road with unusual lighting habits.

All remains dark at 520.

I did not pay attention to trash can conditions, was interested in Myers.

Freebergs is nearly dark, one internal house light can be seen from the road, just one small string of holiday lights out by the roadside is on.

Monroe Offensive Trailer has lighting on at the entry and a small blue glow in the rearmost part of the trailer is present. Monroe’s trailer was dark last night. The Copper colored Toyota or GMC Canyon truck that was at the Monroe trailer is no longer there at the trailer, could be in the driveway as usual. I did not go over that way.

Bells is all dark from where I can see.

I don’t have a view of Phillips 507 to ever say anything about, but there has been absence of activity there for some time, but I don‘t go outside often enough to know about much activity, only static conditions. It’s too dangerous to go outdoors in day time for any length of time.

Chartrand’s is per yesterday as far as I can see.

Dietrick’s turned off the extra porch yellow bug light that was on last night, it’s back to one yellow porch light showing now.

Clyde Baum’s seems a bit darker, less lighting than is usual. I don‘t have good access to a view to know what is normal and was is not.

If I looked at Strong’s, I did not see anything remarkable, I was in hurry, and did not want to fuck around, so, I don’t know, have to look later.

That’s all.

There were no indications of traffic noises near or far.

The Norton security “background tasks” pop-up window was on the computer screen when I returned from a five minute walk. Only five minutes of idle time had taken place, as is usual for the Norton pop-up, despite that it’s supposed to wait about a half-hour before doing background idle work.

The Norton pop-ups are being used to fool someone, somewhere, and have been for many years.

The heater was just on, my vision is poor now.

======================================

Edit: 1-13-2021: 12:06 am:

The thing about the “Weep Holes” in the windows, I have known for decades, I did not know the magnitude of it though until more recently.

I was held captive by Eastwood Guitars and other music industry terror operatives in around 1998 - 2002, forced to design many things for many different terror cells. This guitar is one of my designs. I have never been given credit for any of the things I designed, but that is not important, what is important is that I included a lot of hidden ideas into the things I was forced to design, and this Bucklund model is one of them. It’s designed after, and in association to my knowledge of the Weep Holes, and their connection to the Buick advertising. The guitar is a Buick. It was done to show later, if I could get free of the captivity, that the window Weep Holes are a product of terrorism, done by the same groups of people who were holding me and my family captive.

I am free of that captivity, but into another kind of the same captivity now.

It’s a Buick.

It was designed to explain the Weep Holes that were put there so that the nitrous would be easier to put into the victims homes.

===========================

Edit: 1-13-2021: 12:39 am:

One more time:

The nitrous oxide gas won’t hurt you, and, it won’t hurt the sword wielding terror Christian Pirate who is putting it up your nose. You don‘t smell it. You don‘t see any gas. You can‘t taste that the gas is there. You have no idea that you are being gassed. The terror soldier is fully aware of where the gas is, what direction it will go. They can take precautions that you are not going to do.

The gas does not hurt you. It does make you dumber than a box of rocks at a quarry. Stupid dumb. You will laugh your ass off, as the terror soldiers entertains you momentarily, just long enough to make you put your hands into the hand cuffs they bring with them. The sword is a last resort, just in case you fight back. They want to capture you, not kill you right away. They need to know where the rest of your family is at, and where your assets are at, and how to access them. They take you to a dungeon, basement somewhere, or a empty warehouse to torture you so you will talk. Once they are done, you will be begging them to kill you, it’s that bad.

The gas does not kill you, won‘t hurt you.

The terror soldiers kill you.

The nitrous works as a truth serum, it removes all of your instincts to protect yourself, is invisible in every way, it will make you tell the truth, you cannot tell a lie when exposed to nitrous gas, it won‘t work if you try. You will lead them directly to your family. It’s a pain reliever, you won‘t scream, they can torture you at a mall parking lot at Christmas time, you won‘t scream, no one will know as they pass by with Black Friday Sale Items.

You are not immune to nitrous gas.

If you think you are stronger than the gas, you are fool, and are exactly the kind of victim that makes a good target.

Terror soldiers, Christian Pirates, do the killing, not the gas.

That, and it’s cheap to make. For $50 you can buy everything needed to make an ample supply at any well stocked farm supply store, a visit to a department store for a coffee maker, and gag shop for some balloons to store it in. For another $50 you can get the professional pressure tank at any well equipped plumbers supply outlet.

Plumbers test ball is the preferred pressure tank among the Christian terror pirates, rectally holstered:

=======================

Edit: 1-13-2021: 3:01 am:

I am being throttled by the internet terror consortium, Google/Centurylink/Tumblr in so many ways it’s not easy to know which of the group is doing what particular digital hokus pokus.

For the past few hours, these conditions are notable:

The day started with the Tumblr app notice on my previous post featuring Donald Trump on the cover of the Rolling Stone, then, I was not allowed to make additional edits to that, had to start a new post, this one.

After that, the page I was working on, would jump all around, I go to type some words, and the page goes flying up to some other place.... have to find my curser, I know it must be around here somewhere... so, that happened all day.

Then later, after the bit about the plumbers test ball, the internet just stopped working... the computer was working. The modem was working. All of the internet connections where in place, and were working, but there was no connection... all of the pages I tried to go to were blank.

“Sorry, we can‘t find that web site, please try again later and check your connection settings...”

Assholes.

One page did work. I was able to connect to Google Gmail to see the contents of my Google Gmail. Yahpoo mail was gone, so was Wikipedia Ten Codes link... all blank, but all the modem lights were on, and the internet connection indicator said all was good.

It was like I was totally stranded, even worse than I already am stranded.

I broke the internet.

The whole thing for about two hours.

This happened:

See, says it’s all good at the bottom right where the internet connection icon is at.

They gave me that scary message, says my privacy is important there at the top... they are going to go ahead and route my privacy somewhere else, it says.

Terrorist bastards.

That was the case after posting the photo of the plumbers test ball, immediately after that.

I am glad it works now. Even if there is no one there who will talk to me.

I got a phone call on Sunday, it’s Wednesday now, but I did not answer the phone call, or check the message, it’s too dangerous to check a phone message when the US President is chasing after you, to kill you. Trust me, that is scary.

=============================

This Just In:

1-13-2021: 2:50 pm:

See that? The way the movie camera icon is not working?

The Google/Centurylink/Tumblr internet terror consortium strikes again. They won‘t let me post the link to the Ozzy Ozbourne version of the Stepenwolf song Born to be Wild, where it’s all different kinds of fucked up at Ozzy’s House too.

Did you know that Ozzy Ozbourne has gone through somewhere around 22 spinal surgeries in his lifetime? All result of Amp Guru and the Vatican Choir terror pirates beating the living daylight out of him for writing and singing the revealing lyrical content he exposes in his music. They didn‘t send him the Great Gig in the Sky just yet, instead, the tossed Sharron at him, and then later, the gave him a reality TV show, Jimmi Hendrix Stage Rush style at his house every minute of every day.

Look at the date of the weird Ozzy song at the linked page above.

Ozzy, doing Stepenwolf’s Born to be Wild, featuring Ms. Piggy and The Count on backing vocals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NGzog11vc

(Factoid: It is musically forbidden to do a cover of Born to be Wild, and/or Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water, the Vatican Choir Amp Guru murder police will track you down, burn your guitar, and bury you in your amplifier if your band plays those at a night club)

Save Ozzy, save the world. He can tell all, people will listen.

Note to Mr. Osbourne: You may not remember the day I chased those Amp Guru thugs out of your house in So Cal, but if you think about that very narrow doorway at your studio, the one I walked through and sat down, and wrote you a note, to say what little I knew at the time, you may recall the day I chased thugs from your home.

===================

1-13-2021: 3:30 pm:

Terror math:

It’s about the Bass (Base) of Global terror.

Black Sabbath: N.I.B.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB84LL-Z8TU

Just the title is all you need.

There must be a Knight around here somewhere, a stowaway scalawag.

Perspective is necessary from a listener, audience standpoint.

You need prerequisite knowledge about coded language of the entertainment industry, here, specifically, scale is not a factor. Whatever it is, can be as large or small as is needed at a given time, so, ...

N.I.B. contains three periods. Those are “Blood”, “Moons”, “Months”, “Heads”, “Stones” and “O’s”... other as needed.

So, N.I.B. = NOIOBO

It’s a SAG thing to start with (Head Start). Ozzy and SAG are not getting along very well at the time.

Three Stooges show up, beat the living daylight out of Ozzy Osbourne for having recorded the song “War Pigs”.

So, “Spread Out”: N O I O B O

Step the fuck back, have a look.

We have to consider the global magnitude:

Ozzy is from Britain, or UK, somewhere close to the source (Sorcerer)

So, they sort things out over there, God’s job. is to sort things out. (Google)

So, sort it out: “N O Ten Downing B O”

Maybe we can Start there.

I see nitrous there. N O is nitrous.

“Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing B O”

Sounds offensive to me.

“Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing B Offensive”

Hmmmm....

Where is that Ten Downing (I O Downing) again? It’s in Britain, we already decided it was all about the Bass (Base).

“Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing British Offensive”

Conclusion:

“N.I.B. = Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing British Offensive”

Perspective:

N.I.B. by Black Sabbath

(Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing British Offensive by Black Sabbath)

(Nitrous Oxide Ten Downing British Offensive by NO² Sunday, See?)

Oh, yeah

Some people say my love, cannot be true Please believe me, my love, and I'll show you I will give you those things, you thought unreal The sun, the moon, the stars all bear my seal

Oh, yeah

Follow me now and you, will not regret Leavin' the life you led, before we met You are the first to have, this love of mine Forever with me 'til the end of time

Your love for me has just got to be real Before you know the way, I'm goin' to feel I'm goin' to feel, I'm goin' to feel

Oh, yeah

Now I have you with me, under my power Our love grows stronger now, with every hour Look into my eyes, you'll see who I'm My name is Lucifer, please take my hand

Oh, yeah

Follow me now and you, will not regret Leaving the life you led, before we met You are the first to have, this love of mine Forever with me 'til the end of time

Your love for me has just got to be real Before you know the way, I'm goin' to feel I'm goin' to feel, I'm goin' to feel

Oh, yeah

Now I have you with me, under my power Our love grows stronger now, with every hour Look into my eyes, you'll see who I'm My name is Lucifer, please take my hand

Songwriters: Butler Terrence (usa 2), Iommi F Frank

For non-commercial use only.

Data from: Musixmatch

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You can decode the lyrics on your own.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Black Sabbath: War Pigs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_A6y58afFY

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Etcetera, and so on ...

It’s Christian Pirate terror math. They do addition, with subtraction.

HMS Eleaner Rigby, is the name of the British Submarine Christian Pirate Ship.

13 January 9600

March 13 9600

3139600

Play the turn-a-round:

1339600

There is something fishy going on.

Play the turn-a-round again:

1336900

Stooges come on stage, get in your face for playing Born to be Wild:

Spread out:

13 369 00

Pirates are superstition bastards:

They want me to spread that 1 and 3 apart. Fuck that.

369 is International Pirate Code for: Eternal Progression. Eternal Power. Infinite Control, and other ways of saying that the pirating will continue ...

Fuck that too.

They work the math a little different than I do:

The double zero’s, are “Dead Bitches” in Pirate Speak.

AAaarrggghhhh!

There is more than one way to be a Pirate!

Davey Jones in Locher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br_-a21Myls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM8PHrArL_E

0 notes

acdemic · 8 years ago

Photo

hey hello hi!!! it’s been ages (6 months?!) since my last masterpost, and i’ve been seeing so many great educational apps on the google play store. so here’s a list of some educational smartphone apps that you should check out!

disclaimer: i have not used most of these applications (i generally don’t use study or even productivity apps), so i’m recommending them based on reviews!

general education

curiosity [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] curiosity is a super cool app that’s all about learning new quirky facts! every 24 hours new content is released, including mind-blowing science, history and technology facts. it’s like having the best museum and the most fascinating library at your disposal.

coursera [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] with coursera, you can access more than 1,000 courses and specializations developed by 140+ of the best colleges and universities in the world, and master subjects from python programming and data science to photography and music.

edx [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] edx provides free online courses from the world’s best universities and institutions. there are so many topics to discover, including computer science, engineering, history, psychology, nutrition, big data, statistics and hundreds more. with edx, you have the flexibility to learn on your schedule. it is free education, when and where you want it.

khan academy [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] khan academy allows you to learn (almost) anything for free. browse over 10,000 videos and explanations at your fingertips in math, science, economics, history, and much, much more. sharpen your skills with over 40,000 interactive practice questions with instant feedback and step-by-step hints. khan academy is a wealth of resources and it’s all free! note: i really really recommend khan academy! it is super helpful and there’s also the free sat prep (and the upcoming free lsat prep for people interested in law school)!!

udemy [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] udemy is your place to learn real world skills online. with over 32,000 online courses and tutorials, offered in more than 80 languages, you can choose from a wide range of topics to inspire creativity, hone your skills, be your own boss, and more. courses in everything from programming, it & software, business, marketing and entrepreneurship, health, design, languages, music, and much more.

goodwall [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] goodwall is basically a social network for students - you can share your skills and achievements and win scholarships (and even be recognized by colleges and universities!) when you join, you are eligible for a $500 weekly new student award, in addition to the $1000 student of the month scholarship. people seem to think that it’s a great way to connect to other motivated students throughout the world (obviously the studyblr community is The Best ;) but here’s an awesome alternative!)

schoold [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] schoold is a super cool app that allows you to find information on 3000+ colleges and 25k+ scholarships by major and admission chance. It also offers free college counseling (advice on applications, financial aid, majors, and careers) and future planning tools!

science

phywiz [ play store, free ] need help with your physics homework? phywiz provides step by step solutions for questions in over 30 physics topics, including kinematics, forces, gravity, and quantum physics. ask phywiz a question like "if mass is 6 and velocity is 7, what is momentum?" and get your answer immediately. many of the positive reviews call it “one of the best apps i’ve ever used”.

little alchemy [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] [ website ] this is such a cute game where you start with four elements and combine them to create interesting, fun and surprising items. it’s definitely addictive!

chemistry quiz [ play store, free ] 500+ quiz questions covering the elements, the periodic table, bonding and interactions, matter and mixtures, chemical reactions, acids and bases, organic chemistry, nuclear chemistry, history of chemistry, and labs.

skyview [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] a beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot and identify celestial objects in sky, day or night. it’s a great app for people who love space but don’t want to purchase fancy equipment to enjoy its beauty. you can see what each star and planet is and where it’s going. be sure to calibrate it first!

coding

encode [ play store, free ] encode is packed with bite-sized coding lessons that combine succinct explanations and clear real-code examples. it is a wonderful way for beginners to start programming.

sololearn has a ton of apps that are all about learning to code: java, c#, python, javascript, c++, etc.!

programming hub [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] your one-stop solution to learn all of the top programming languages! you can learn c, c++, java, html, javascript, r, css, vb.net, c#, python 2.7, python 3, linux shell scripting, swift, sql, jquery, and assembly 8086. there are over 1800+ pre-compiled programs with output for practice and learning. a new feature seems to be the programming-related interview questions that can help you prepare for a job interview!

codenza [ play store, free ] codenza is a dictionary of 3000+ ready-made computer programs: the ultimate coding encyclopedia for university curriculum. codenza covers everything from computer graphs to artificial intelligence! note: codenza does not teach programming. it only provides programs and offers explanations for the more complex programs.

math

cymath [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] [ website ] stuck on a math problem? cymath allows you to enter your problem, and helps you to solve it step-by-step. topics include pre-algebra, algebra (equation solving, factoring, logarithms, exponents, complex numbers, quadratic equations, trigonometry, partial fraction, polynomial division, etc.), and calculus (product rule, quotient rule, chain rule, u-substitution, integration by parts, integration by partial fraction, trigonometric substitution, rationalizing substitution, etc.)

photomath [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] math is full of symbols that we are inconvenient to type, and photomath solves that problem: simply point your camera toward a math problem and photomath will show the result with detailed step-by-step instructions. there is a new feature of handwriting recognition as well!

mathway [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] [ website ] yet another math problem solver! this one allows you to type your problem or scan a picture of your problem. mathway covers basic math, pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, calculus, statistics, finite math, linear algebra, chemistry, and graphing. one flaw seems to be that you need to be online for it to work, but otherwise, it’s a fantastic tool!

history

history timeline [ play store, free ] okay, woah. this is a detailed timeline of world history with thousands of entries! it includes world history (events, nations, leaders, and wars) AND history of science, art, literature, music, and philosophy.

today in history [ play store, free ] [ similar apple, free ] for the history enthusiast who wants to learn something new every day: today in history tells you what historical events happened on that day! it works offline and you can choose from over 50 languages.

ancient history encyclopedia [ play store, free ] [ website ] thousands of informative and reliable articles on ancient history. articles are written with students in mind and are carefully reviewed to ensure accuracy, and are easy to read.

languages

duolingo [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] one of the leading language learning apps, duolingo gives you the ability to learn english, spanish, french, german, italian, portuguese, dutch, irish, danish, swedish, russian, ukrainian, esperanto, polish, and turkish for free. you can practice your speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills and improve your vocabulary and grammar.

productivity

forest [ play store, free ] [ apple, $1.99 ] forest is a cute productivity app that keeps you off of your phone! you set a certain amount of time, and during that time a tree ‘grows’, but if you use your phone before the times up, the tree dies. :(

habitica [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] have you heard of ‘gamification’? habitica is an app that allows you to gamify your tasks! check off tasks to level up your avatar and unlock features such as armor, pets, skills, and even quests! it’s a great way to have fun while being productive! note: habitica is another one of these apps that i’ve actually attempted to use - it is super cute and it’s definitely a great way to stay on track!

timetune [ play store, free ] timetune is a great app for people who have established a daily routine or would like to. you can set up a routine (or multiple routines) and add your daily tasks. it can be used as a daily task reminder, student calendar, timetable planner, routine schedule organizer, routine optimizer, habit creation tool, daily time manager, or daily planner.

ike [ play store, free ] ike is a to-do list that uses eisenhower’s priority matrix. you can organize your tasks by importance and urgency, and add all sorts of details such as due dates and location reminders.

habithub [ play store, free ] habithub is based on seinfeld’s productivity secret, which involves building long streaks of days that will motivate you to keep moving forward. (snapchat for habits? i think yes!) it includes a full calendar view for every habit, reminders, compatibility with smartwatches, the option to write notes every day, more flexible goals, the ability to categorize your habits, and graphs that show you how you’re doing. the interface looks beautiful and people seem to love the abundance of settings.

pomotodo [ play store, free ] [ apple, free ] there is an abundance of pomodoro timers in the app store, and pomotodo is one of them! pomotodo easily syncs across platforms, has advanced to-do list options, the ability to customize pomo and break times, offers background noise to keep you focused, and sends you weekly email reports to help you track your productivity. i don’t want to list a ton pomodoro apps in this masterpost, but here are the many options on google play store!

alright, that’s all i’ve got for you today !! i hope that this was helpful, and feel free to send me an ask with any questions, suggestions for future masterposts, or your recommendations for other study apps/websites!! :) have a great day!

icon by madebyoliver

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franeridart · 8 years ago

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This might be too much to ask but I broke my laptop and only have access to mobile and I'm dying to know what I'm actually missing but I can't check would you be able to describe it? Sorry I know this is annoying ignore it if it's too much trouble

It’s not annoying so don’t worry about it, but my posts should all be visible, now? At least my app doesn’t give me the option to request a review anymore… if you can’t see them still they’re all (aside from the one I posted earlier) backed up on my wordpress blog! You can see them from there without me needing to describe them~

Anon said:Franeri-san what dimensions do you usually use for your canvas? When I draw I end up making the canvas too small, so when i zoom in to make details it becomes pixelated. But I also don’t need my canvas too big because I won’t be able to proportion it;; it’s a visual thing… Ah I’m rambling sorry <(_ _;)>

I use a 6000pxx5000px with a 4px brush, usually, but I really rarely use it all, mostly it’s just like, corners of the whole thing. I tend to draw a lot of things on the same canvas before switching to a new one - that said, personally I can’t draw properly if I don’t zoom in above 100% (usually I work at 150% or 200%, more for details) so I’m really not the right person to ask this haha

Anon said:I saw that profanity is now being blocked more heavily by safe search so our good, good but foul mouthed Baku may be the reason your stuff is hidden. You’ve probably already heard this but I thought I’d let you know~

Rip so I heard orz though let’s not give our Baku all the fault here, I swear a lot by myself too haha I’m my own ruin, seems like - thank you for taking your time to share the info, anyway!!

Anon said:I’m really happy about your blog not being censored seriously. CAUSE YOU MAKE WONDERFUL DRAWINGS THAT FILL MY HEART AND I WAS STARTING TO PANICK. Keep up the good work~. 🖤

And I’m really happy you can properly see my blog, you sweet sweet cute and adorable anon!!!!!!!!!! *O*

Anon said:Hello! First, I love your art and your headcanons and stories! I am in love with bakushima half because of you, you beautiful tart. Second, about Bakugo’s laugh, holy crikey, of course he’s loud and explosive. The boy is a ball of stress and anger and when he laughs for real, it’s rare and takes effort. But like, can you just imagine when his explodo-kill mask cracks his face turns red because he doesn’t want to laugh. But THEN he barks out a laugh and everybody’s stunned and then he just SNORTS

YES!!!!!!! Oh my god yes that’s an hc I have he definitely, definitely snorts when he tries to hold back his laughter it’s so effin adorable I die every day a lot bless that kid <3<3

Anon said:Who tops of in your opinion in Bakushima?👀

Maybe either, maybe neither, depends on many things but mostly on how I don’t ever ask myself this question for any of my ships so I got no answer for it at all ever - instead we should ask ourselves the important questions, like who opens the water bottles between them (Kirishima when Bakugou’s palms get too sweaty and Bakugou’s forever resentful about it), who kicks when they sleep and who always ends up sleeping on the floor because of it (Bakugou’s the restless sleeper, poor Kirishima), who takes way too damn long in the bathroom goddamnit Kirishima get out of there already I swear to go——-

Anon said:your blog makes me really happy just keep doing you you’re like the best thing

Thank you so much holy smokes!!!!!!!!!! *O*

Anon said:wait wait wait wait! is Bakugou the one teaching Shark Kirishima sign language?? then does that mean Kirishima learned to sign ‘I love you’ from Bakugou!? (Q/)////(\Q)

They’re learning together!! They have an online dictionary and follow online courses, so Kirishima kind of looked it up for himself at first - he was signing it as love instead of really like thoug, which made Bakugou indecently flustered so in the end, yes, he was the one to teach him how to properly sign it :D

Anon said:Will you still be updating this blog?

Sure will! The wordpress one is just a backup thing!

Anon said:wait so question: in the mer au, does kiri know jsl from before? because the way he reacted to bakugou first attempting to sign at him looked like he recognized it but you said they both had to learn? does he react like that because he recognizes it as bakugou actively trying to communicate? (btw this au is So Good i love how kaminari is just “why are you like this” at kiri but his Gay Ass cant be swayed)

I’m glad you like it!!!!! And nope Kiri didn’t know jsl from before, but mers do have something similar to a sign language (there’s deaf and mute merpeople too, after all) so he recognized it as Bakugou going “I want to talk to you and this is the best way to” - also, he’d never seen a tablet before and Bakugou was showing him an explosion on it to make him understand and instead he went “what is this SORCERY” and got excited about a gif. Good, pure kid. I had no clue how to add that in the comic in a fast way tho so let’s leave it at him being happy they found a possible way to communicate haha

Anon said:Hi Fran!!! Hace you reas the theoriws aboyo kiri o kaminari Boeing traitors? Si you know where they came up? I’m lil bit lost even tho I’m up with the man lmao ALSO pls more maki-chan

So pretty much at some point in the middle of a meeting Present Mic mentioned how there probably was a traitor between them that kept on feeding the villains infos about UA, and the fandom of course got interested in that!! Who could it be? They started thinking it through and for some reason the theories that ended up being more popular are about it being either Kaminari, Kirishima or Hagakure - I don’t think any of these are true, but if you google search “kaminari traitor theory” or the same with the other two names you should easily find the posts explaining the theories and where they come from, if you’re interested!

Anon said:omg fran i haven’t watched/read bnha but still solely bc of your art i am IN LOVE with kirishima. he’s such a pure being I feel like crying every time i see him??? like i just watched the first opening of the anime and you bet i watched the 5 seconds kirishima gets over and over. like all the bnha kids seem great. i am somehow extremely motivated to read bnha now thanks to your art. BUT OH MY GOD KIRISHIMA I LOVE HIM SO MUCH WHAT EVEN

You picked the best fave you could ever pick, anon!!! Kirishima is the BESTEST boy, purest and brightest and energetic and actual sunshine and also super strong and resilient and kind of an ass now and again but in a good way he’s GREAT I’m IN LOVE with him good job your intuition is perfect

Anon said:THE MER AU WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER I LOVE SHARK KIRISHIMA AND THE TAGS ALL GAVE ME LIFE

GLAD YOU LIKED IT OMG!!!!!!!

Anon said:I love all your art, but especially all your self indulgent stuff bc first off HELLS YEAH DO THE STUFF THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY and another is it feels like self indulgent stuff for me but I’m not the one making the thing… So like… It’s Good™ BUT YEAH ANYWAYS I LOVE YOUR ART AND YOU AND YOUR ART MAKES ME HAPPY TBH I HOPE YOU’RE HAVING A LOVELY DAY

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH also this is super nice to know because sometimes being self-indulgent is all I can manage to do haha r i p but at least now I’ll know you, for one, will like it!!! That’s nice!!!!!!

Anon said:If you were ever bored and wanted to do more of your mershark au thing I wouldn’t be mad at all ! 😝 your art is so cute and easily recognizable and I really enjoy it! Stay beautiful lovely Fran!

!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I really, really think I will!!!!!!!! :D

Anon said:I bet if denki tried to do the “if i jump at ______ they will most certainly catch me” with bakugou, bakugou would just let him fall

Oh my god no Bakugou’s reflexes and instincts are too fast and automatic the actual reaction at seeing someone run and jump at him would be without thinking trying to explodo-kill them don’t jump at him Kaminariiiii

Anon said: What to you think of a school dance bnha concept thing???

I read a bakushima about it once and I DIED so actually A++++ great perfect amazing concept I love it

Anon said:I gotta know,what do you think of the “Dabi is Todoroki Shouto’s brother” theory? i personally feel like that 1’s the most likely theory to become a legit thing but im curious

I talked about this on my main just the other day!! And added something about it earlier through another ask! But generally I think it’s believable, and I wouldn’t mind it being true :D

Anon said:But, what are your feelings about this chapters? And Kirishima? God, I love him even more and want him to be happy, but Im also dying to know what happened to him in his past!!

I CRIED I love that boy so much I swear it’s getting ridiculous I’m so so proud of him and how far he’s come and I just want him to be happy??? I do want to know his past tho!!! I’ve just been asking for this for, like, eight months!! I hope next one will be the one I’ll finally learn about my child tbh ;–;

Anon said:Fran you should totally do bnha and haikyuu calendars

………………..boi that sounds like a lot of work, anon. Like, it’s an interesting idea, but also my lazy ass is telling me no way no what the heck go to sleep instead r i p

Anon said:Have you ever thought of an eraser mic fusion?

I’ve drawn it already!!

Anon said:fran i?? i love the way you draw smiles?? idk i was just going through your art and i realized that holy SHIT i really love the way you draw smiles. like each smile is different and has its own specialty. esp bakugo’s smile I LOVE HOW YOU DRAW HIS SMILE!! like usually it’s not really noticeable but then there’s that slight quirk of his mouth (see what i did there?) and it’s so perfect. idk dude i just REALLY LOVE THE WAY YOU DRAW SMILES

THIS IS SUCH A CUTE ASK I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ANSWER HELP ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you????? so much??????? I’m glad you like them cause honestly I love drawing people smiling and laughing, it makes my heart smile too~<3

Anon said:Theres a bnhaStuck blog in the works ;)

That’s? Nice! I guess!! I hope whoever’s working on it will have fun with it!!

Anon said:Fran this last BNHA chapter hurt so bad. And then I saw your mer-Kiri and it cheered me up!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad I could cheer you up cause honestly I felt that pain a whole damn lot too ;A; let’s hope Kiri won’t have to suffer much more in this arc #sob

Anon said:im crying fran, my hard bby kiri in the latest chap,,, my baby boi, i know that i wanted to know more abt him but,, keep my baby safe pls oh goodness gracious… (and as usual ur bootiful art keeps me alive)

I mean nearly all the character arcs we got are damn sad so it was obvious Kiri’s was going to be too, but still ;A; don’t make him suffer too bad Hori I beg u ;A;

Anon said:*takes deep breath* I FUCKING LOVE YOU SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR MAKING QUALITY ART OF MY FAVOURITE SHIPS YOU ARE SUCH AN AMAZING PERSON AND YOUR ART IS VERY PRETTY AND I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR EXISTING IN GENERAL BYe

THANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:!!!!!!FRAN!!!!!! YOUR MER!KIRI AU!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D I’m glad you enjoy it!!!!!!

Anon said:I love your work 😍. You are the only one who makes comics About my favourite ships. I check your web everyday If you post something new. My fav ships are I.waoi, bok.uroo and bak.ushima. Love your work 🙂

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you!!!! holy smokes!!!!!

Anon said:Do you have an OC for Boku no Hero Academy?

The closest things to bnha ocs I have are the fusions, right now, but there’s a couple of asks in my inbox about a bkkr kid… soon……..

Anon said:Quick question, I want to read haikyuu, I’ve watched the anime already and I was wondering how close the anime follows the manga, like how bnha is basically identical, is it the same? Or is there a bit of difference *^*

I’m SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME FOREVER TO ANSWER - I bet you already found your answer elsewhere, but anyway the anime is pretty much exactly the same as the manga!!

Anon said:Back on the topic of hq!!! I find it funny how people ask about bok.uroo so much as if you dont like them anymore when they’re literally still your header, like if you didn’t care for them they’d think you’d change it to bakushima or something

I’ve literally thought about changing my header so often but then I look at it and I’m like….. my kids………… I can’t do this………………. not yet…………………. same for my icon tbh haha I love them too much rip

Anon said:Okay but what if Kirishima makes a really stupid pun and Bakugou just turns away with a curse and he’s just covering his mouth and quietly giggling into his hand because even he can’t believe he found that funny, and that is SHAMEFUL. And Sero in the distance is just looking at him, all disappointed. Quietly judging the fact that Kirishima and Bakugou are practically meant for one another.

You wanna know the best thing the absolute best thing? My very first bnha comic was something eerily similar to the first part of this ask! Only Bakugou was the one to accidentally make a pun - I’d link it but honestly my style was ridiculous back then so not happening, just know that I’m 100% sure that post is the reason why I keep on drawing bnha comics about puns, my very first post set the path for all the others to come hah a curse I don’t actually mind

Anon said:are you planning on starting another series? like the bokuroteru tattoo shop au you did (it was real dandy and rad) it was what made me find your blog, so i was wondering if you have any future plans for anything similar. i really like your blog lots, i hope you have a nice day!

Right now I don’t actually have any idea orderly enought to make a proper series out of it, rip - maybe in the future, tho! That one comic was fun to make, after all!! And thank you!!!!!!!!

Anon said:IM HARDCORE IN LOVE WITH TODOSHIMA THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR RUINING MY LIFE❤️❤️

I’M GLAD YOU LIKED HIM OH M Y GODS!!!!

#so many damn asks in this one #GAH i need to answer them more often my pAL S #anyway it's #seriously late im going to sleep now #that one drawing i mentioned will have to wait for tomorrow #anonymous

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our-beginnings · 8 years ago

Text

Lena Groeger: Developer, designer, and journalist at ProPublica

First thing’s first: tell us a bit about who you are, and what you do now.

Sure! I’m Lena, I’m a journalist/designer/developer at ProPublica. My job is a mix of reporting, writing, designing and coding, and I mostly make interactive graphics & data visualizations. I’ve also got a column called Visual Evidence where I write about how data & design affects people’s everyday lives. I was living in Brooklyn until a few months ago when I moved to San Francisco... and now live & work a block away from the beach!

What’s your favourite thing about ProPublica?

As an organization, I love our mission: to do journalism in the public interest, to give people context for what’s happening in their world right now (especially these days), and to have a real impact. But my favorite thing is definitely the people. I work with incredibly talented and accomplished journalists who at the same time manage to be some of the most humble people I’ve ever met. I consider myself ridiculously lucky to get to learn from them every day and to have a chance to try out crazy new ideas together.

Talk about some recent projects. How do you come up with those crazy ideas, and how do they become reality?

Usually it’s a random mix of things. Sometimes it’s another reporter going “Hey look, this health agency publishes emergency room waiting times on their website, what if we did something with that?” which led to an app called ER Wait Watcher. Other times it’s an editor saying, “We have this complex cast of characters for a story about narco-terrorism, what if we made it into a comic?” which also turned into an interactive piece. And sometimes it’s just me surfing the internet and stumbling upon a French researcher’s website that happens to have county-level presidential election results going back to 1828.

Above: “The Making of a Narco-Terrorist,” a ProPublica interactive examination of whether the DEA is stopping threats or staging them.

The latter was probably my favorite recent project, a piece called Lost Cause that we published right before the election. It framed past American elections through the lens of the losers: showing maps of who voted for the candidate that ultimately lost. The best part was interviewing a bunch of historians and geographers about what was going on in the country at the time and what they could “see” in the maps. Those conversations were endlessly fascinating (pro-tip: interview academics as much as possible – they are extremely eager and excited to talk to you about their work!)

Above: The “Lost Cause” project, showing past American elections from the standpoint of the loser.

On the technical side, creating almost 50 maps for the piece was an interesting challenge, because not only did we need to map dozens of election results, but we needed to create historically accurate maps that corresponded to each election year. Turns out shape of the country has changed a lot since the 19th century (who knew!) and each year the county boundaries were slightly, or in some cases drastically, different.

Thinking back, what was your ‘eureka' or origin moment?

I went to graduate school for science journalism, thinking I would write long articles about discoveries in neuroscience and psychology (I was really into that stuff in college, but didn’t want to be the one in the actual lab doing the actual work). I had never heard of data journalism or data visualization, and I certainly didn’t know that people working in news made graphics for the web. But when I found out (right around Hans Rosling’s famous wealth & health of nations video) it was instantly appealing. I had always really loved graphic design (mostly in a print context, posters and such), and suddenly here was this thing in journalism that let you tell incredible visual stories and meant that I could sometimes use Photoshop? I was so in.

One of the requirements of NYU’s science journalism program was to do an internship over the summer. I did mine at WIRED, and the vast majority of it I spent writing articles for the the Danger Room blog about drones and spies and other sci-fi worthy military projects. Somehow my editor Noah Shachtman agreed to let me do a data visualization project for the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 (keep in mind I had not published a single other graphic and all Noah knew was that I was capable of Photoshopping words onto petri dishes and chickens onto tanks).

suddenly here was this thing in journalism that let you tell incredible visual stories and meant that I could sometimes use Photoshop? I was so in.

But we did it, and the final graphic was an attempt to tally up the cost of the war on terror. I realized at that point that this was precisely what I wanted to spend all my time doing.

Above: ‘The Dead, The Dollars, The Drones’, Lena’s ‘eureka’ moment.

What path did your career take from there? How do you find yourself where you are today?

It wasn’t long after that I started an internship at ProPublica. It was a writing internship – I was mostly writing stories about health and the environment. But every so often I would pitch a visual idea to Scott Klein, the editor of the data/graphics team (or “news apps” team, as we call it), and ask if I could design and build it myself. The first one I ever did was a side-by-side comparison of two types of airport body scanners. Then a fellowship on Scott’s team opened up and I moved across the office, and a few months later was hired full-time as a news apps developer.

Turns out that to make news graphics today, you need to know how to code. Whether that’s Javascript, R, Ruby or some other language often depends on the project, but knowing at least one programming language and being open to learning more is pretty important. When I stumbled into data visualization I knew only maybe a tiny bit of HTML and CSS. So my first year at ProPublica was a crash course in all kinds of programming challenges that I now encounter all the time but then were totally new: how to scrape a website, how to put dots on an map, how to make an interactive chart.

each project is less “Holy shit I have no idea how to do that,” and more “I’ve solved this other problem, I can probably do that one too.”

That year was probably the most insane and frustrating and rewarding year of work in my life. I was very lucky that ProPublica in general and Scott in particular care a great deal about giving reporters the time and space they need to learn new things. And it has its benefits – I joke with Jeff Larson and Al Shaw (two developers on our team) that they’ll never have trouble reading my code because they literally taught me all of it.

These days, I’m still learning a ton of new stuff for every project, but I’m familiar enough with the basics that each project is less “Holy shit I have no idea how to do that,” and more “I’ve solved this other problem, I can probably do that one too.” So, for example, when we wanted to make a visualization of human body parts for a project about America’s disastrous workers comp system, I was able to cobble together some pieces of code plus some shapes I made in Illustrator into an interactive that worked. For more on that project (I’m sure some of you may have a question or two) here’s a longer explanation.

In general, I’ve also gotten significantly better at Googling for the answer – that’s not nothing. 😜

Do you think that this convergence of data, design, and journalism is the way forward for the news industry more broadly?

I don’t want to make any sweeping predictions about the news industry, but I do think having data, programming and design skills can make you a better journalist, for a bunch of reasons. Here are a few: first, knowing a bit of programming lets you find and tell stories that no one else can. If I had to copy and paste all the data that went into this project about health and safety problems on cruise ships, it would have taken me years (not even kidding). But knowing how to scrape a few websites let me grab all that data and sort, filter and analyze it into its final form.

knowing a bit of programming lets you find and tell stories that no one else can.

Second, having some data wrangling skills let’s you verify information on your own – you aren’t dependent on PR people or government officials to tell you what’s true. You can see for yourself what the data says! (That said, it’s probably a good idea to talk to a bunch of experts and do enough reporting to back up what you find).

Finally, knowing a little bit about design helps you create projects that are easy to understand and use. Most people know how to read a story that’s made entirely of words. But some of the interactive graphics and data visualizations making their way into the news these days are pretty complex, and being able to design them in a way that’s easy to follow and also tells a compelling story is important. That doesn’t happen by accident – designers spend a lot of time thinking about the user, ideally testing out different approaches on real people. Constantly keeping the user in mind usually makes for better journalism.

You teach design and data visualisation as well; what prompted you to do this, and how have you found the experience of teaching?

Teaching is both much more difficult and much more fulfilling than I ever thought. It’s really amazing to see students applying the things you’ve mentioned in class to their own work, or getting them super excited about a new technique or a chart form they’d never seen. Then again, it’s really humbling to realize that even though you thought your lecture about, say, design principles was awesome and intuitive and the best explanation yet, some students are still totally mystified. It’s always a learning process for me also, since I’m constantly reworking lectures or tutorials to make them easier to follow or adjusting exercises to better capture the ideas I’m trying to explain.

One thing I do try to do is make all of my teaching materials, slides, etc, totally public and free for anyone to use. I’m constantly learning from free online resources, and feel like it’s important to put materials back into that space for others. We do this at ProPublica too, my colleague Sisi Wei and I run a 2-week workshop called the Data Institute, and put our entire curriculum up online for anyone to look at. It’s not the same as being in a classroom for 2 weeks, but it’s a way we try to give more people access to what we teach (at no cost to them).

A final note on teaching: showing students the Web Inspector for the first time is always a joy. That collective gasp probably makes the entire class worth it.

Finally: if you could do everything all over again, do you think your journey would be the same? Would you want it to be?

I’m sure if I did everything over again my journey would look very different. It’s easier to tell a nice linear narrative in retrospect, but along the way my path felt very random. Even going into journalism in the first place feels a lot like an accident (I applied to NYU after a good friend told me about the program, and just happened to get a full scholarship to go). But I do think I would have eventually come across data visualization, especially now that it’s become so much more mainstream. And it was probably inevitable that I was pulled towards some combination of design and writing.

And what about the future?

We’ll have to see! Luckily the intersection of journalism, technology and design is so broad that I don’t think I’ll be bored anytime soon.

Anything you’re particularly excited about?

I really like gifs that explain things.

Endless thanks to Lena for her patience with this interview! Find her on her website, or on Twitter.

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rafi1228 · 5 years ago

Link

A primer on Machine Learning for Data Science. Revealed for everyday people, by the Backyard Data Scientist.

What you’ll learn

Genuinely understand what Computer Science, Algorithms, Programming, Data, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science is.

To understand how these different domains fit together, how they are different, and how to avoid the marketing fluff.

The Impacts Machine Learning and Data Science is having on society.

To really understand computer technology has changed the world, with an appreciation of scale.

To know what problems Machine Learning can solve, and how the Machine Learning Process works.

How to avoid problems with Machine Learning, to successfully implement it without losing your mind!

Requirements

A passion to learn, and basic computer skills!

Students should understand basic high-school level mathematics, but Statistics is not required to understand this course.

Description

Course Most Recently Updated Nov/2018!

Thank you all for the huge response to this emerging course! We are delighted to have over 20,000 students in over 160 different countries. I’m genuinely touched by the overwhelmingly positive and thoughtful reviews. It’s such a privilege to share and introduce this important topic with everyday people in a clear and understandable way.

I’m also excited to announce that I have created real closed captions for all course material, so weather you need them due to a hearing impairment, or find it easier to follow long (great for ESL students!)… I’ve got you covered.

Most importantly:

To make this course “real”, we’ve expanded. In November of 2018, the course went from 41 lectures and 8 sections, to 62 lectures and 15 sections! We hope you enjoy the new content!

Unlock the secrets of understanding Machine Learning for Data Science!

In this introductory course, the “Backyard Data Scientist” will guide you through wilderness of Machine Learning for Data Science. Accessible to everyone, this introductory course not only explains Machine Learning, but where it fits in the “techno sphere around us”, why it’s important now, and how it will dramatically change our world today and for days to come.

Our exotic journey will include the core concepts of:

The train wreck definition of computer science and one that will actually instead make sense.

An explanation of data that will have you seeing data everywhere that you look!

One of the “greatest lies” ever sold about the future computer science.

A genuine explanation of Big Data, and how to avoid falling into the marketing hype.

What is Artificial intelligence? Can a computer actually think? How do computers do things like navigate like a GPS or play games anyway?

What is Machine Learning? And if a computer can think – can it learn?

What is Data Science, and how it relates to magical unicorns!

How Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Data Science interrelate to one another.

We’ll then explore the past and the future while touching on the importance, impacts and examples of Machine Learning for Data Science:

How a perfect storm of data, computer and Machine Learning algorithms have combined together to make this important right now.

We’ll actually make sense of how computer technology has changed over time while covering off a journey from 1956 to 2014. Do you have a super computer in your home? You might be surprised to learn the truth.

We’ll discuss the kinds of problems Machine Learning solves, and visually explain regression, clustering and classification in a way that will intuitively make sense.

Most importantly we’ll show how this is changing our lives. Not just the lives of business leaders, but most importantly…you too!

To make sense of the Machine part of Machine Learning, we’ll explore the Machine Learning process:

How do you solve problems with Machine Learning and what are five things you must do to be successful?

How to ask the right question, to be solved by Machine Learning.

Identifying, obtaining and preparing the right data … and dealing with dirty data!

How every mess is “unique” but that tidy data is like families!

How to identify and apply Machine Learning algorithms, with exotic names like “Decision Trees”, “Neural Networks” “K’s Nearest Neighbors” and “Naive Bayesian Classifiers”

And the biggest pitfalls to avoid and how to tune your Machine Learning models to help ensure a successful result for Data Science.

Our final section of the course will prepare you to begin your future journey into Machine Learning for Data Science after the course is complete. We’ll explore:

How to start applying Machine Learning without losing your mind.

What equipment Data Scientists use, (the answer might surprise you!)

The top five tools Used for data science, including some surprising ones.

And for each of the top five tools – we’ll explain what they are, and how to get started using them.

And we’ll close off with some cautionary tales, so you can be the most successful you can be in applying Machine Learning to Data Science problems.

Bonus Course! To make this “really real”, I’ve included a bonus course!

Most importantly in the bonus course I’ll include information at the end of every section titled “Further Magic to Explore” which will help you to continue your learning experience.

In this bonus course we’ll explore:

Creating a real live Machine Learning Example of Titanic proportions. That’s right – we are going to predict survivability onboard the Titanic!

Use Anaconda Jupyter and python 3.x

A crash course in python – covering all the core concepts of Python you need to make sense of code examples that follow. See the included free cheat sheet!

Hands on running Python! (Interactively, with scripts, and with Jupyter)

Basics of how to use Jupyter Notebooks

Reviewing and reinforcing core concepts of Machine Learning (that we’ll soon apply!)

Foundations of essential Machine Learning and Data Science modules:

NumPy – An Array Implementation

Pandas – The Python Data Analysis Library

Matplotlib – A plotting library which produces quality figures in a variety of formats

SciPy – The fundamental Package for scientific computing in Python

Scikit-Learn – Simple and efficient tools data mining, data analysis, and Machine Learning

In the titanic hands on example we’ll follow all the steps of the Machine Learning workflow throughout:

1. Asking the right question.

2. Identifying, obtaining, and preparing the right data

3. Identifying and applying a Machine Learning algorithm

4. Evaluating the performance of the model and adjusting

5. Using and presenting the model

We’ll also see a real world example of problems in Machine learning, including underfit and overfit.The bonus course finishes with a conclusion and further resources to continue your Machine Learning journey.

So I invite you to join me, the Backyard Data Scientist on an exquisite journey into unlocking the secrets of Machine Learning for Data Science…. for you know – everyday people… like you!

Who is the target audience?

Before you load Python, Before you start R – you need this course. This introductory course will introduce you to the Fundamentals, that you need before you start getting “Hands on”.

Anyone interested in understanding how Machine Learning is used for Data Science.

Including business leaders, managers, app developers, consumers – you!

Adventurous folks, whom are ready to strap themselves into the exotic world of Data Science and Machine Learning.

Created by David Valentine Last updated 11/2018 English English [Auto-generated]

Size: 2.45 GB

Download Now

https://ift.tt/2DwxylK.

The post Introduction to Machine Learning for Data Science appeared first on Free Course Lab.

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droneseco · 5 years ago

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Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More)

Our verdict of the Insta360 One R Twin Edition: If you're only going to take one camera, make it the One R. An innovative modular design, AI editing and the best quality footage yet make this a must-buy for action camera and 360 fans. 910

Having perfected the art of affordable and feature-packed 360 and VR180 cameras, Insta360 is taking on the action cam market. As expected, they’ve blown away expectations with a unique modular design that doesn’t compromise on price or features. Meet the Insta360 One R; an adaptive camera with AI software that makes editing a breeze. We’ve had our hands on the Twin Edition for a few weeks, so here’s what we think of it.

Action Cam? 360? Why Not Both!

As well as the best image quality Insta360 has made yet in an affordable and rugged package, the main selling point of the One R is that you don’t need to choose between taking a 360 camera or 4K action cam: you can have both.

Standard 4K action cam mode, with preview screen on rear.

Swapping out the different mods takes less than 30 seconds, even when it’s all bundled up in the rugged case.

Dual-lens mod equipped for 360 shooting

Not only that, but if you want to use the action cam for vlogging, you can flip the screen module around to see a live preview. The preview screen also works for 360 shooting, so you can check exposure and such before recording.

Reverse the screen module when used with the 4K mod for use when vlogging

What’s In The Box?

In the Insta360 One R Twin Edition you’ll find:

Battery base

Camera module with touchscreen

Dual-lens 360 mod with lens cover

Reversible 4K wide-angle action cam mod

Case with standard 2-to-3 mounting point

Tripod thread adaptor

Available separately, you can also purchase additional lens guards for the 360-mod (pictured below), and an invisible selfie stick. The 4K action cam mod doesn’t require additional protection. There are additional modules to be released at a later date.

Note: we were given prototype hardware to review, and you may notice small differences to the final production device from that in the photos here.

Insta360 One R Specifications

4K Action cam: f2.8 16.4mm equivalent. Up to 3840 x 2860 (4k) @60FPS with motion smoothing. HDR drops this down to 30FPS.

Dual-lens 360 mod: f2.0 7.2mm equivalent. Max 5.7K resolution @ 30FPS; 4K@50FPS; 3K @100FPS.

1190mAh battery; 65 min charging time (USB-C).

Waterproof to 5m (deeper with a dive case available later)

Dimensions: 72 x 48 x 32.4mm (with 4K mod, 360 is slightly thicker at 43mm)

New and Notable Features

If you’re familiar with the Insta360 range, you’ll already know some of the amazing features offered when shooting with the dual-lens mod. These include the ability to add dynamic timeshifting, hyper lapses, and reframing. You also don’t need to perform any stitching, as this is all handled on camera. These features alone are stunning in their own right, but the One R adds even more.

Point to track, with voice commands. When using the 360 mod, simply point the camera (as indicated by the small triangle above the viewing screen) at your subject, and say “mark that”. The software will follow the subject and intelligently pick them back up if they move out of view. Voice commands also extend to starting and stopping recording when used with any lens.

Flashcut is the new AI editing helper, available on both the desktop and mobile app. The beauty of shooting in 360 is that you don’t need to think about framing shots beforehand; just shoot everything and frame later. But what if you want a compilation of the best bits? Simple: just let Flashcut identify shots automatically, then choose the ones you want to use. The AI identifies features like animals, people, buildings, then saves them for use in Stories. Flashcut works with all the lens mods, but you’ll get the best results from the 360 lens since it has more footage to choose from.

Stories is something we first saw on the Insta360 Go; a set of video templates that picks your best shots and edits them into a short video, set to music, with each clip matched on the beat.

Starlapse. My favorite feature so far, Starlapse is a new long-exposure interval shooting mode. Despite terrible internet, rural living has its perks: we’re situated on the edge of the Bodmin Moor dark sky zone, so weather permitting, we have a stunning view of the night sky.

It’s really simple to shoot a Starlapse video: just set up the One R with the dual-lens 360 mod outdoors, plug in an external power bank just in case, and choose the Starlapse preset from the menu. After importing the footage and choosing the Starlapse story mode, you can choose the ideal viewing angle, enable or disable star trails, and a 30 second clip set to music will be output. Stunning. Sadly, I forgot to turn off the power LED, which made its way into this clip. As soon as it stops raining, I’ll have another shot!

GPS and Stats Dashboard. When connected to your mobile device or the optional GPS remote control, you can enable a stats dashboard on your footage.

Insta360 One-R Video Quality

If the video quality was substandard, nothing else would matter. Thankfully, it’s incredible. Featuring an updated FlowState Stabilization algorithm, it’s also the smoothest yet. Check out the review video, which was almost entirely shot on the One R.

The 4K action cam mod is crystal clear and silky smooth at 60FPS. It’s good enough that I’m seriously considering shooting most videos on this rather than my DSLR. Like any small sensor though, it’ll perform best in well-lit scenes.

In low-light, 4K video is predictably bad; no amount of processing can help there.

A still screen from 4K video shot in low light.

Photos are much better, but for video output you’ll need to invest in the one-inch mod instead.

Bracketed exposures mean night time photos are crystal clear (shot in the exact same conditions as the video still from above)

The 360 dual-lens mod shoots in 5.7K, though the best output you’ll get from that is 1080p once you’ve selected the desired angle. Stitching is generally good, but some anomalies are still present, particularly if the sun is bright enough to cause lens flares. For social posts and other HD output, the quality is fine. It’s the features offered by 360 shooting that you’re really after.

The Future of One-R

As a modular design, what you see here isn’t everything Insta360 has planned.

Releasing in February is the 1-inch mod, engineered with Leica. Featuring a larger wide-angle lens and a one-inch image sensor, the module will offer an unparalleled 5.3K resolution action cam with great low-light performance (though the full resolution will only be available at 30FPS).

A larger battery pack is also planned (double the capacity, with built-in tripod mount), as well as a VR180 adaptor for the dual-lens 360 mod to shoot stereoscopic scenes.

The One-R is truly shaping up to be one camera to rule them all, and I’m excited to see what else might come in the future.

Perfect For Vlogging

As well as the preview screen, the One-R adds some key audio features that make it perfect for vlogging. With a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor, you can add a wireless LAV mic, or attach a hot-shoe adaptor for use with a shotgun mic. There’s also the option to wireless pair your AirPods if you’re traveling light, and use those as audio input.

The intuitive app then makes it easy to process your shots into a hyper-lapse or story template, without complex editing software. It’s never been easier to produce compelling video content of your adventures, without a computer.

Who Should Buy the Insta360 One R?

Many attempts to offer one device that performs multiple purposes have failed. They are inevitably a jack of all trades, master of none. Not so with the modular Insta360 One R: it’s a master of everything it does, without being twice the price of competitors.

By purchasing directly from Insta360, you can create your own bundle with the exact accessories and modules you need, and remove those you don’t. The Twin Edition package (as reviewed), with 4K and 360 mod, costs under $500. The Expert edition, which swaps out the stand 4K action cam mod for the 1-inch mod, rises to $750.

The clever features are demanding, however. AI editing requires a powerful mobile device with a separate Neural Processing Unit (NPU). My iPhone X is equipped with a first-generation NPU, and even that at times felt painfully slow to analyze long clips. If you have anything less powerful than an iPhone X, you’ll be left wanting to upgrade. The app is compatible with Apple A11 chips and better; while on the Android side, you’ll need at least a Snapdragon 845, Kirin 980, or Exynos 9810.

If you’re not interested in the modular aspect or 360 shooting, and you’re happy with just 4K, a dedicated device may serve you better and allow for redundancy. If you were take a single camera on your epic adventure, only to have it stolen or lost, you’d be up the proverbial creek without any camera to document your lack of paddle. That said, being able to replace parts of the camera if they fail, or incrementally upgrade them is a tremendously useful feature, even if you aren’t interested in 360 shooting.

For the super lazy among us who don’t want the hassle of dealing with action cam mounts or spend more than 5 minutes putting together a video, the Insta360 GO may be more suitable. It’s a tiny little stabilized camera that can be worn on a pendant (or mounted anywhere, in fact), and used discreetly to capture those important moments with a single tap.

Enter the Competition!

Insta360 One R Twin Edition Giveaway

Read the full article: Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More)

Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More) published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

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grassroutes · 5 years ago

Text

Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More)

Action Cam? 360? Why Not Both!

Standard 4K action cam mode, with preview screen on rear.

Swapping out the different mods takes less than 30 seconds, even when it’s all bundled up in the rugged case.

Dual-lens mod equipped for 360 shooting

Reverse the screen module when used with the 4K mod for use when vlogging

What’s In The Box?

In the Insta360 One R Twin Edition you’ll find:

Battery base

Camera module with touchscreen

Dual-lens 360 mod with lens cover

Reversible 4K wide-angle action cam mod

Case with standard 2-to-3 mounting point

Tripod thread adaptor

Note: we were given prototype hardware to review, and you may notice small differences to the final production device from that in the photos here.

Insta360 One R Specifications

4K Action cam: f2.8 16.4mm equivalent. Up to 3840 x 2860 (4k) @60FPS with motion smoothing. HDR drops this down to 30FPS.

Dual-lens 360 mod: f2.0 7.2mm equivalent. Max 5.7K resolution @ 30FPS; 4K@50FPS; 3K @100FPS.

1190mAh battery; 65 min charging time (USB-C).

Waterproof to 5m (deeper with a dive case available later)

Dimensions: 72 x 48 x 32.4mm (with 4K mod, 360 is slightly thicker at 43mm)

New and Notable Features

Stories is something we first saw on the Insta360 Go; a set of video templates that picks your best shots and edits them into a short video, set to music, with each clip matched on the beat.

GPS and Stats Dashboard. When connected to your mobile device or the optional GPS remote control, you can enable a stats dashboard on your footage.

Insta360 One-R Video Quality

In low-light, 4K video is predictably bad; no amount of processing can help there.

A still screen from 4K video shot in low light.

Photos are much better, but for video output you’ll need to invest in the one-inch mod instead.

Bracketed exposures mean night time photos are crystal clear (shot in the exact same conditions as the video still from above)

The Future of One-R

As a modular design, what you see here isn’t everything Insta360 has planned.

A larger battery pack is also planned (double the capacity, with built-in tripod mount), as well as a VR180 adaptor for the dual-lens 360 mod to shoot stereoscopic scenes.

The One-R is truly shaping up to be one camera to rule them all, and I’m excited to see what else might come in the future.

Perfect For Vlogging

Who Should Buy the Insta360 One R?

Enter the Competition!

Insta360 One R Twin Edition Giveaway

Read the full article: Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More)

Insta360 One R: The Modular Action Cam That Does Everything (and More) posted first on grassroutespage.blogspot.com

0 notes

sneakyhomunculous · 6 years ago

Text

Last PT Report PT 2

Day 2: After day 1 we went to a nice dinner, 5 of us somehow spent 600$ [it may have had something to do with Rocky ordering 3 Apps a Salad a Soup 2 Entrees 3 Sides multiple glasses of wine and dessert) and we ended up staying pretty late. Continuing my hot run I got to pay for the whole thing! I didn’t get to bed until 12ish and unfortunately woke up around 4:30 to some obscene snoring. By around 5 it calmed down and I was able to sleep until 7:30. I woke up OK, but not fresh like the previous day. I went through the same routine as before and managed to catch the shuttle at the last second with Wily Edel and fellow Embercleavers. Draft 2, Pod 1 Featured Pod I was excited going into this draft because what I percieved as the toughest players Eli Brad and Hauck all drafted non blue decks day 1. In fact in all the drafts I did with Brad over the years he was basically never blue! He’s allergic to non green cards. I sat down to find the seating. Hauck was on my left and Brad and Eli were sort of across the table. Max Mick was feeding me, and I knew very little about him. Hauck and Brad’s drafts were both covered and you can watch them on the VOD. Unfortunately there is no draft viewer. They recorded every pick from every player, but unlike the old days they don’t really post the draft viewers anymore. It’s hard to do these draft caps off memory but I will do my best. The draft starts with a high, as I see many blue backgrounds on the magic cards in my first pack. Charmed Sleep, SecretKeeper, Didn’t Say Plz, Apprentice, and Vantress Gargoyle. I like Gargoyle more than most (I always have at least 4 cards in my hand) so I take it hoping one of the 3 good cards will wheel. There was a RW knightlord and not much else in other colors so a bit worrysome of a signal to send (and in fact Hauck 2nd picked the Charmed Sleep) Pack 2 was one of the worst packs I’ve ever laid eyes on. There was a steelclaw Lance and a B and G Paladin, and luckily a Frogify as the clear best card (Frogify isn’t very good). I take the Frogify Pack 3 is interesting; outmuscle improbable alliance tome raider covetous urge. It’s not that interesting, covetous Urge is completely busted. Alliance is a bit overrated and just fine, I do always have lots of opts and tome raiders so I like them I have it, but I know I will never play less than 11-12 blue sources and Urge is just so good. 4th pick Opt!!! This is the only blue card in the pack that otherwise really stinks. It was the last card I looked at and a huge sigh of relief for me. 5th pick didn’t say please and sage of the falls, a good sign. This is somewhat of a close pick but I value hard counters very highly and sage is just a much worse draw 3 scry 3. Take the counter 6th pick only one blue card tome raider, there is a henge walker as well but otherwise a weak pack. I take the raider as it sends a better signal and I don’t see myself being particularly aggressive after this start. I honestly don’t recall the rest of this pack but I know none of the 3 good cards tabled. I think maybe the overwhelming apprentice did but I don’t find that much of a playable magic card. I got a few playable like wishful merfolk and a forever young etc but nothing exciting. Pack 2 is where we make our living. Now I don’t want to go divulge off into a long theory piece, as this is supposed to be a silly fun report that is already bound to go absurdly long. But I have to say this. (and boy is it going to be fucking long. I just came back up to add this disclaimer. I am about to go on a massive rant about throne of eldraine limited. About how good Blue is. About how good unexplained visions is. About the theory of everything, and how Ben Stark is sometimes even wrong. If you don’t care about it you can skip past it. But you do care. That’s why you clicked this. Read it. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn something too; I think.) Rant on Drafting and Eldraine and Theory- Shoutout to Ben Stark the 🐐, and all the lovers of booster draft out there. Ben is great and much better than me. Shoutout to Marshall and Eduardo. They are both great players and great commentators as well, and they definitely understand limited and booster draft on a deep level. That being said... Ben Stark may tweet PT trophy records and shoutout his piece on “drafting the hard way”. Eduardo and Marshall may mention it multiple times during every draft. [See almost any draft ever, or specifically see Haucks draft on day 2 where he is completely handcuffed on my direct left “staying open” while ending up with a really embarrassing collection of cards after pack 1.] Multiple times throughout his draft Eduardo mentions how he and other good players and great drafters like to “stay open” by taking the “best card” in every pack. Well you see what Eduardo didn’t tell you and what Ben stark didn’t say in his trophy tweets or his piece on drafting the hard way is that... EVERY DRAFT FORMAT IS EXTREMELY UNIQUE [bolded and italicized for effect, but idk how] (Again Ben, Marshall, Eduardo, Riley, and Paul are all great. Commentating is absurdly hard and they do an unreal job. This stuff I’m talking about is way too deep for live on air stuff, and I can tell you that all 5 of them know most all of what I’m about to say already. “Drafting the hard way” is a great lesson for drafters, even experienced good drafters can learn a ton and will do well to remember it.) Throne of eldraine happens to be very dynamic. There are a TON of viable color pairs and options and “decks” but the thing is, some of them fucking suck. Shoutout again to Marshall for letting everyone know that RG was not really a thing when Brad was taking red and Green cards. Now we just need to admit that all the non U color pairs are not things either! The other thing is, a ton of the decks are really reliant on very specific cards. And of course the decks all have varying degrees of malleability. The fact of the matter is, 2 color decks just almost do not work at all. GB food is not a deck. Shoutout to Collin for somehow drafting it every time GW adventures isn’t a deck. RB and RW and BW knights are not decks. GR grumgullies isn’t a thing. UR draw 2 isn’t a deck. They are all complete traps and most people sort of understand this, but they don’t seem to know what to do about it. What you need to do is focus on the good decks, and then develop a draft strategy that gives you the best chance to end up with a “good version” of one of the [playable at all] decks. Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend like it’s easy. A magic the gathering 8 man booster draft with 3 of the same large set packs is one of the purest art forms to ever exist in our universe. Eldraine draft is mostly dead, but I’ll give you the [short; for how much I could write about this format] rundown anyway. It may help you develop a strategy in future formats. I can only hope R&D continues to make formats even close to as good as this one or Khans or Ravnica City of Guilds. Rule number 1: Blue is so much better than every other color. It would honestly make the format super awkward/Interesting if everyone was aware of this, but what I gathered before the PT and certainly during it, was that most people are not aware of this. And that’s despite the arena bots being so bad they force everyone into being blue every draft, and all the spreading of that info and complaining on Twitter still led to no1 really figuring it out. Rule Number 2: The color pairs are traps, fixing is very scarce and also very good, many cards look good but are TRAPS as early picks because the completely pigeonhole you into only 1 or maybe 2 playable decks/archetypes whatever you want to call it. If you watch theHamTV draft you’ll see him say it all the time. He first picks a card, and then by pick 2 or 3 he’s already tilting off because he says “I am never going to play these 2 cards in the same deck” this is not standard for a draft format by any means, but Throne is its own animal. Searing Barrage isn’t good unless you are Mono Red. That isn’t intuitive at first glance. Red white or Red Black are just not playable as color pairs. Same for Red Green or Green Black or Green White. You can obviously always splash, but the mana requirements are too heavy and the incentives to staying mostly one color are so high. This means you cannot afford to first pick Bake 2nd pick Charmed Sleep and then decide to take like Outmuscle over decent artifacts and U or b cards, and then decide to take Lochtwain Paladin over other blue cards and artifacts. The Paladin and to a lesser extent Bake are only good in mono black exactly (Bake is fine in UB). If this is the way the packs break that’s fine, what can you do? But Christian had a few better options I believe, and then soon I think he takes a red card. And then a malevelont Noble, And then another green card and then maybe a white card!? And look, I feel for him. The packs were weak overall and Throne of Eldraine is hard. He was also on my left, with Max on my right. Max and I both drafted Mono U. Christians draft is a perfect example of what many poor players drafts would look like if everyone realizes how good blue is. We probably don’t have time for it all here. But I’ll give you the short rundown. Exhaustive list of playable decks in throne of eldraine limited. Uxxxx Unexplained Visions Bury Their So Tiny Asses Alive I try to force this every single draft, but I do it in a delicate manner making sure to keep myself open to any of the other 10 or so good decks. After all we may not open any Vision, and they may not get passed to me. I sure as hell wont pass one. This deck is a malleable machine. It is so good because you can just take whatever nobody else is taking. If you get late pixies, you go green, if u get late mad ratter or alliance, u play those, if u get late Wicked guardians or a 6th pick lochmere Serpent or u open epic downfall and Bakes, you play those. If you get danse and have artifacts, you go dansing in the wind. If u get secretkeepers and counters you go mill. If you get stuck with Fae vandal and henge walkers and Vantress paladins you can even salvage with some runnaway together and tempo them out with fliers (I don’t recommend this tempo plan, but some drafts 5-6 people are blue and u gotta make it happen anyway. Your deck will still be better than the average deck in other colors) But ultimately all this deck truly needs is 2-4 visions/into the story (visions strongly preferred. Story only great if u have 3+ secretkeepers and or didn’t say please type stuff) You also would like some number of opts and witching wells (not necessary though). I’d play 6 opts at least and usually 2-3 wells. The less visions and into the stories you have the more wells I’d play. But even with 3 visions I’d play 4 Opt and a well or two. Any cheap magic cards that preferably block really well or gain more advantage in themselves like opt witching well clockwork servant wicked guardian etc etc, and then stuff like secretkeeper so tiny Charmed Sleep 1/4s and 3/2s for 2. and finally some good way to end the game (this doesn’t need to be a traditional big flier. It’s nice to have lochmere serpent or something absurd and easy to kill with, but a few secretkeepers and didn’t say pleases and mystic sanctuaries also works just fine, or some weird danse kill, or ratter/alliance army (watchout for revenge of the ravens!)) The real beauty of this deck is getting absurdly mileage out of other players dregs. Lochtwain Gargoyle is just actually a good card in this deck usually. Crashing drawbridge type stuff is not ideal, but totally serviceable. Corridor monitor and wishful merfolk can both be fine to actively good. You can see quickly how easy it is to consistently end up with this deck when you can play 5-8 cards nobody else would ever even take and other people are passing visions and playing non blue decks. Just wait until you hear what BEN STARK thinks about Unexplained Vision Ux Mill This is usually splashing black, sometimes mono. You know the deck. The arena bots give it away. In real life it doesn’t actually happen, a pipe dream. Sometimes my Visions Bury em decks end up winning via mill, bc secret keeper is just a fine to good card if u have drown in the Loch/into the story/ lots of visions and need 1-2 drops/the combo didn’t say pleases and no good finishers. But sure if no1 takes any secretkeepers and u get lucky clover or Folio and lots of didn’t say pleases this can be a great deck that’s hard to beat. Ug This is usually splashing for some very specific cards like maraleaf pixie, trail of crumbs, some rares I’m not thinking of, maybe Edgewall inkeeper/maraleaf rider and some eggs and some weird 3 color thing. I’ve had some wonky decks like this. It doesn’t come together often but I’ve had at least 3 drafts where I get multiple maraleaf pixies for free bc no1 can ever take them, and you can see how having an early trail of crumbs/outmuscle can lead to some weird mono u splash these cards shell Uw This deck has multiple different routes, you never want to shinechaser really, but you certainly always want owl. I think the best versions play a few plains for things like all that glitters and trapped in the tower or Danse of the manse type stuff. It’s silly but realm cloaked giant or that archon are other good reasons to end up this deck. Emry and eggs and witching wells any cheap artifacts you know what I’m saying. Ub This is mostly just an extension of the bury em visions deck. One note almost all of these decks want 11+ blue sources. Mystic sanctuary is busted in all of these decks. Clockwork servant type stuff is busted. Blue is completely busted! Now I know all these decks I just mentioned are sort of the same thing. But they really aren’t. And the big takeaway is that blue has all the best cards, and is also the deepest color by a lot, while also being able to support 3-4 different types of strategies in a single draft. It’s a crazy revelation when you realize it. Blues 8th best common is better than the 2nd best common in all of the other colors. Syr Elenora Urge Loch dragon Owl Snapper Vandal all great, so many more I’m leaving out basically every blue card in the set is a dreamboat. Tier 2 decks Mono Red aggro Searing barrage and embreth Paladin are not good in any other deck, but great here. Same goes for weaselback redcap and oftentimes even fling. The issue is lots of people don’t know that about searing barrage, so u may not get them for free. This deck just wants to curve out but have some serious burst potential with the haste Paladin/fling/barrage and then just fill in with any of the henge walker/joustin dummy type stuff and play redcap raiders/barge in/scorching dragonfires etc. I find it’s hard to get enough early creatures so prioritize them when you can. Mono G aggro This is a spicy deck that lots of people considered the best and so it’s well known and out there how to draft it. Go to Hamtv on twitch to watch Kyle play it all the time. Green has some good cards that no1 else wants like wildwooftracker the halberd gingerbrute maraleaf rider garenbrig Paladin etc. and while people do want outmuscle and Witchstalker, those are really strong. You can splash here, but you would almost always prefer to not have to. Henge walker etc can help you avoid having to. Mono W or Wx aggro. Tactician and cheap plays. White has no shortage of 1-2 drops and good value pump spells like guidemother and the squire. Flutterfox with some things to turn it on happens often, I think Banner and Wheel are just always great but they shine here in the flutterfox versions of this deck. Fliers/evasion is massive to get around my pesky corridor monitors and wishful merfolk and sectretkeepers. You can certainly have a knights theme and even splash black or red for some knights or removal/good cards. But you really want to prioritize actually being able to play your cards and being able to pick up Hybrid WWWWxxxx uncommons and cast henge walkers and ritual and Paladin and stuff with adamant. Same goes for all the mono color aggro decks, you really have to do your best to stay as mono as possible throughout the draft, and ultimately you don’t ever want to end up with a 10-7 or 9-8 manabase. It will obviously happen and with fine to great decks sometimes, but it’s super rare and you should actively be trying to avoid it. Some players have success with Knight strategies. I believe they need lots of uncommons and rares and then to get lucky to end up with a distribution that lets them play 11-6 to have good mana. I’ve 3-0ed with quite a few mostly white knight decks that splash the drain guy, epic downfall, reave soul, maybe some black rare idk. Things like that are fine. But taking the RW Knight uncommon 2/2 or the steelclaw Lance are recipes for disaster. I didn’t see Eli’s Draft, but see our round 10 match for an example of a steelclaw Lance deck. Mono B value/midrange I haven’t drafted this much but it’s mostly self explanatory. Usually it comes about by first picking bake into a pie or getting passed an ayara in a weak pack and just having black be wide open. You play the Lochtwain Paladin and the reave souls and bakes and whatever Hybrid Uncommons u can find and usually some rares and fill in with dummies and henge walkers as needed. Can splash for things like garruk or serpent obviously, and this comes up quite a bit, this is another good reason to try and stay mono going into packs 2 and 3. That is the end of the playable throne of eldraine draft decks list. Every other deck is a pipe dream. They do exist, but rely heavily on exact uncommons/rares like troll king or savy hunter in BG food. And even if u get them you will still lose to an average U deck with 3 unexplained visions. Avoid like the plague. Ok yeah, rule number 3 time I promise this is the last rule. Draft as though you know what the good decks are and you know how the format works. Stop acting like everything is a vacuum and Throne of Eldraine limited is just another Magic the Gathering Set that can be easily mastered by following the guidelines outlined in Ben Starks Timeless Piece “Drafting the Hard Way”. Taking random ass cards in different colors throughout pack 1 bc they are powerful is a recipe for absolute disaster in this format. It is true that Ben is right about draft theory in general terms, and in most formats drafting by taking the “best cards” you see in the first few packs is a sound strategy. Because you wait for a “signal” and then u move into what deck you are “supposed” to be in for your seat. Losing a few early picks is nothing when you end up in the perfect color pair that neither of the 2 players on your right or even the player on are touching at all. Right??? Yes it’s right, but not in throne of eldraine. Throne rewards cutthroat discipline of sticking to the blue cards and artifacts. You want to leave yourself open to being able to draft blue as long as possible, while at the same time not forcing it in case it just isn’t there. It’s very delicate and not easy, but some sample picks could probably illustrate my point better. Maybe review my 2 drafts from the PT and checkout my decks. I’ll try and post the pics again underneath the tweet linking these. Im exaggerating blue (a very small amount, it’s the best by miles), but sticking to cards that are good in multiple decks is huge. Youthful knight and flutterfox and tactician and guidemother and any other fine white card are fine white cards. There is only one deck that wants fine white cards. Mono white aggro. If this deck is not 100% wide open and you are taking these cards you will train wreck. I have drafted mono white 5+ times, but it was always because I started with a blue card, an egg, a banner or spinning wheel, a henge walker or dummy, and then started seeing late trapped in the tower or tacticians and the flutterfoxes or other white commons tabled. So this being said if you are faced with the decision of outmuscle or Tactician or Scorching Dragonfire or Even Reave Soul/Bake VS golden egg or banner/spinning wheel/Fabled Passage/clockwork servant always take the latter card. In their respective mono color decks the top cards are a bit stronger than the bottom cards. The problem is this isn’t a normal format. When you take a tactician in a normal format u can play it in 5-6 different decks. Any white deck. There is only one white deck here but 15 other decks. Don’t take tactician until it’s clear u are the only white drafter. Take opt. Or take run away together. Or if you’re lucky take spinning wheel. If you’re the luckiest person alive take Unexplained Vision The player on my direct right was Mono U in this day 2 draft. I drafted Mono U right behind them and 3-0ed with a great deck. It isn’t because I got lucky. The pack distributions were kind of ugly, and many players were blue or taking blue cards. None of my cards tabled. But it doesn’t matter. I stayed strong and took artifacts and fixing high, and I never let a good blue card go by. It’s a simple strategy really, but certainly hard to execute perfectly Some weeks before the PT, shortly after I had come to the realization that blue in throne of eldraine was approaching mandatory force levels; I saw Ben the 🐐 Stark first pick Emry Lurcher of the Loch and then 2nd pick a BOG NAUGHTY over a DRAW 3 SCRY 3! The best limited player of all time!! I certainly believe Ben is unbelievable and a very strong player and incredible mind. His willingness to search for the truth above all else is what I believe really makes him special. But Bog Naughty is not remotely pickable in any early pack 1 scenario. You have to be mono black and also have some food? It’s just not reasonable. GB food again isn’t a thing, and even if it is it’s likely heavy green. If it’s heavy black sure u can use the naughty to some good fun magic. But even if you do it’s like a slightly better card than what a filler card like henge walker or tempting witch? Don’t take Bog Naughty if you want to win your matches. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything so I asked him about it. I said “Yo Ben, you passed the literal dreamboat card for a Vantress Paladin that cost 5 mana double black after first picking one of the most busted rares in the set that is guaranteed to make your deck after first picking it, being as it is in the best color and it’s now so easy to prioritize artifacts in the draft.” What gives??? His response: “Not a big fan of vision. Especially when you already have Emry milling 4 giving you a source of end ess card advantage. I’ll play 1-2 copies of vision in my deck if I don’t have other card advantage, but it’s near unplayable vs mill and aggro and I don’t draft it highly.” Now I always look to give someone like Ben the benefit of the doubt. And this is twitter where nuance is obviously lost easily as we are limited to a few sentences. But breaking down what he said; he starts with saying he’s not a fan of visions, later saying it’s near unplayable vs mill and aggro and that he doesn’t draft it highly. This is when I realized I made a mistake asking him about it. The PT is still 3 weeks away and I don’t want him to realize he’s wrong and teach all of his friends. It is true that Visions have diminishing returns. Most decks can not afford to play the 5th, or even 4th copy. A lot of decks may end up not really wanting a 3rd either, but I think that is extremely rare. This is such a minor thing though, and it’s the literal most important card in over half the blue decks. You don’t say “oh I’m not going to take the best card ever because I can’t play more than 3 of them”. Like imagine a 5 mana card that said draw 10 cards. Sure you cant fill your deck with 8 of them. But now you want to fucking pass it because of that? No you fucking slam it to guarantee you have it. And if you get more, you slam those too and you play those too. And yes, once u get your 4th or 5th copy you can chill out, or you can bear down and play those too while figuring out a way to find some cheap shit to stay alive until you cast your first draw 10 and win by default . But the fact that you have this card, combined with the mere fact that it exists and you value it highly (properly) means you can now literally draft whatever u want, so long as you draft a sufficient number of cheap/defensive cards. More about his statement. Just because you have 1 Emry doesn’t mean you can’t take more card advantage??? He says Emry is an endless source. Yes it’s a 1/2 that needs an artifact stream and you also have to draw it and have it live. I would prefer to have 10 Emry type cards in every deck. If you’re tired of reading about this I’m truly sorry, but not really sorry because there’s no fucking way anyone is still here this deep in and not absolutely loving it. “It’s near unplayable vs aggro and Mill”. While the card is usually somewhat weak against mill (it actually ends up being the best card against mill a bunch of the time. I say this because I have a ton of experience with visions against busted mill decks in the arena streets. If you have 2-3 visions and you play against mill; There will obviously be games where visions is awful and you cannot even realistically cast it. But in the other games, the games you actually have good chances to win; you usually do so by burying your opponent in cards and killing them by default before they can mill you. No slow blue deck is going to aggro through a secretkeeper deck. You beat it by hoping they draw too many secretkeepers/defensive weak cards and don’t draw the counterspells. Mill vs U Visions control literally comes down to who resolves the visions! (I will concede that drafting like this means you are absurdly soft to Folio of the fancies/didn’t say please/Mystical Dispute and any really fast milling. But this is why I prioritize the counterspells very highly myself, along with cards like covetous Urge and cards that can kill efficiently thru walls of defense and kill alone like Syr Elenora/ratter/alliance and sB options like Vantress Paladin/steelhaze griffins or forever young, and also sbing in 8 more islands and 6 more blue cards if I need to.) But saying it’s “bad vs aggro and mill” is just silly. On its “bad vs aggro”- “Aggro” is a weird concept in limited. You really want to avoid being pidgeonholed into “aggro” at all costs. Being aggro means you are relying on having a strong opening hand with a good curve while also relying on your opponents to not have sufficient defenses against your onslaught. In theory this sounds like a fine strategy when executed properly. You fill your deck with powerful 2 and 3 drops with high power or menace or flying or haste or first strike, maybe even some one drops. Cheap burn and plays that help removal blockers/push through damage. And then u top it off with whatever powerful finishers you can find. In reality this is an inferior draft strategy to taking cheap/defensive cards, card advantage, and busted magic cards like the RARE MYTHIC RARE and UNCOMMON type cards. The reason is twofold, the draft portion + the games portion. In the draft, ending up with a great aggro deck is hard. You have to be in the exact right color for your seat, get the necessary amount of aggressive 2-3 drops, the right pump/cheap removal/burn/reach and the right mana base to be able to function well. In the games you have to avoid mulliganing, avoid stumbling on lands, and avoid drawing your 2 drops on turn 10 when you need your few finishers. Meanwhile you have to also avoid your opponent having any of the Stonewall Jackson type cards you dread facing. Like say Corridor Monitor into Clockwork Servant into Wicked Guardian. But this is the beauty of drafting. In a perfect world, we’d sit down for an 8 man where most of the players agree that being “aggro” is inherently bad, and we all lean towards being defensive and open to whatever the best ways to gain incremental advantage we can come up with in the draft. In this world the player(s) who recognize what’s going on and moves into the aggro lane will be rewarded and end up with a completely busted deck that has the highest win expectancy at the table. In many formats, this is actually exactly what happens. Aggro is [slightly] worse than just drafting a good defensive curve removal busted cards and card advantage. So if no one is drafting aggro you will end up with a broken deck that should crush everyone. That hidden factor is that you still have to avoid mulliganing and or flooding/stumbling/drawing weak cards in the mid game/overcoming stonewall Jackson so despite maybe having a slightly higher winrate than decent defensive decks, you still have to run well in your games and the medium deck can still stonewall you. You’re often prone to flooding as well. Look, I’m not saying aggro is unplayable. But I am saying you should do everything in your power to not draft it. Now back to the point. I would argue that visions is the BEST possible common you could ever have against aggro. (I wouldn’t actually argue that, I’d prefer wrath of god and moat and shit... but it is a very sound and good strategy of playing defense and then burying them with one broken draw spell. And this card is really really good, even vs aggro) Ben has this notion that in limited magic, card draw is often cheapened because of the low value of extra lands. I challenge this proposition in most scenarios, as finding a use for extra lands is easy when you are drawing tons of cards. And “getting past the lands” to find your specific answers/good cards is often very useful. But that is not super relevant here anyway. Visions isn’t just a draw 3... You then scry 3!! It’s a fucking common!!! Personal wheel of fortune!!!! End Rant Recap I have Hauck now feeding me for pack 2 My picks so far are Vantress Gargoyle Frogify Covetous Urge Opt Didn’t say please Tome raider Forever young Wishful merfolk Some dregs I forget Pack 2 I think I opened Fae of Wishes and 1-2 other decent cards. Fae is Busted so I slammed it. I am passed a pack lacking in good cards. It has a pixie, a queen of ice (not a good card, like the 10th best or worse U common) a Corridor Monitor (a good card, but obviously not happy to take early) and luckily a Fabled Passage that I slam! 3rd pick is full of busted stuff. Charmed Sleep So Tiny Danse of the Manse Trail of Crumbs Pixie (have to consider the other pixie tabling now) Ultimately I settle on charmed Sleep. I like So Tiny more in some decks, but you need multiple visions and preferably some mill stuff before I start taking my first So tiny over my first Charmed Sleep. 4th pick Covetous Urge number 2 over Opt and Mystic Sanctuary Urge is completely busted 5th Charmed Sleep over So tiny and Egg 6th pick So Tiny! Over wishful merfolk (Sorry Max) 7th pick Loch Dragon! Over So Tiny (You’re Welcome Max) 8th Pick Castle Vantress over nothing (Truly Sorry Max) 9th Pick Skullknacker Ogre over nothing (I boarded this in vs Brad who was Gr with no pump spells no removal. He had 2 Syr faren a few merchant of the vales and a bunch of Fierced witchstalkers a henge walker etc. I drew it and played it t4 and won bc of it!) 10th Pick the pixie tables but I’m Worried about my cheap creatures and plays and feel it’s unlikely I play G at this Point. I honestly may be confusing a pick in the draft and may have already had a mad ratter or improbable alliance bc I somewhat confidently took queen of ice over this pixie (2 Urge and Loch dragon mana requirements also weighed on my mind) 11th pick the other Pixie tables too. And I am on massive tilt bc I just pulled up the viewer to check this pack thru Christians eyes. There was a so Tiny in this pack he hate drafted here 😂😩😬 12th Pick he hate drafts Opt 🤦🏻‍♂️ But there is a mystic sanctuary anyway! He hates a Runaway Together with 3 cards in the pack and I don’t get anything Pack 3 I open a weak pack but it has a secretkeeper and an Into the Story. I timebanked this pick to the max and wasn’t confident. I really need early plays but also really need some more ways to draw extras. Bc of my two urges giving me some advantage in long games I decide to take the secretkeeper and pray I’ll see an Unexplained Vision Pick 2 Max does me a favor and passes me Syr Elenora. There is like a slaying fire and Yorvo as notables. But Syr Elenora is preeeeemium. Pick 3 I think I take either Mad Ratter or Improbable Alliance over Animating Fae and Nothing. Pick 4 Mystical Dispute over Moonlit scavengers Pick 5 Tome Raider over Queen of Ice Pick 6 Either Improbable Alliance or Mad Ratter (I ended with 1 of each, forgot which was which pick they are the same card in my brain) over Merchant of the Veil no Blue cards Pick 7 Opt over nothing Pick 8 Run away Together over nothing Pick 9 Into the Story Tables!!!! I end up deciding it’s my best Fae of wish Target and I only have 1 secretkeeper one Didn’t say please to mill, my removal is 2 Charmed Sleep So Tiny, so I figure the Into the Story being in my sideboard makes a lot of sense. I end up wishing for it 3-4 times and it was gas. Final deck is 12 islands 1 Mystic Sanctuary 1 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 2 Mountain 2 Opt 1 So Tiny 1 Merfolk SecretKeeper 1 Vantress Gargoyle 1 Fae of Wishes 1 Wishful Merfolk 1 Queen of Ice 1 Improbable Alliance 1 Run Away Together 1 Frogify 2 Tome Raider 2 Charmed Sleep 1 Didn’t Say Please 1 Mystical Dispute 2 Covetous Urge 1 Loch Dragon 1 Mad Ratter 1 Syr Elenora 1 Steelhaze Griffin (23rd card and I was torn on this. Card is whatever not good at all, but it can block and it can attack) R9 Dylan Lerch (The only White Drafter) Because we were the feature pod, we exchange pools. We don’t have decklists, but pools of all 42 cards drafted. Quickly I see that Dylan has a completely busted mono white deck, well likely splashing red. Dylan was two on my left. I figured Hauck was probably white, but since he wasn’t it all got to Dylan. Dylan was certainly the only white drafter. I am trying to imagine my gameplan for beating this deck, and I’m failing to come up with scenarios where I win any games. 4 Fairie Guidemother 2 Giant Killer 1 Worthy Knight 2 Youthful Knight 1 Inspiring Veteran 1 Shepard of the Flock 1 Glass Casket 1 Ardenvale Tactician 1 Clockwork Servant 1 Linden the Steadfast Queen 1 Brimstone Trubuchet 1 Slaying Fire 1 Outlaws Merriment 1 Archon of Absolution 1 Resolute Rider 1 Oakhame Ranger 2 Fireborn Knight 13 Plains 4 Mountain I know I clown aggro, but this deck is no joke. My wishful merfolk is downright embarrassing vs this. My queen of ice too. My charmed sleeps aren’t very good vs 1/1 fliers. As a matter of fact without Fae of Wishes I don’t see how I stop this onslaught. Game 1 starts off about the only way I could ever imagine for a game that I’ll win. I play turn 2 Fae of Wishes after Dylan played a turn 1 Fae Guidemother. Soon after he plays out a giant killer, and then some 2 power thing. He starts tapping my Fae and Building a force, but I find some tome raider chain into some real cards I can’t remember exactly, but I know I stabilize and then bounce my Fae with Run away Together and then Granted for Into the Story. I draw 4 then covetous Urge him a little bit behind now and at around 8. He still doesn’t have a mountain, so his Outlaws Merriment is stranded and I kill him with it over a few turns after I stabilize around 5 life. I feel I got very lucky that game with his draws being poor and being able to steal his merriment. G2 he plays 1 drop 2 drop turn 3 2 drop plus giant killer and turn 4 I am left conceding with no outs. Disgusted while shuffling for G3 I wonder where it all went wrong. How is Dylan’s deck so good? Why am I paired vs him now? I know I can beat the other 6 decks! I have a decent hand but slow, luckily he makes no play turn 1. He plays a few creatures over the next few turns and misses his 4th land drop. I have a singleton medium blocker I forget what it was but it’s getting tapped bc It’s facing down vs his now worthy knight giant killer Fae guidemother and I think Youthful Knight plus 1/1 as i cast my Covetous Urge, assuming I am just dead with no outs. Dylan is stuck on 3 plains and reveals his hand of fireborn Knight Outlaws Merriment another 2 drop anddddddddddddddddddddddd Archon of Absolution hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa I go ahead and take that. He doesn’t draw a land and makes some attacks putting me to 12 and plays another 2 drop. I untap and casually place his protection from white ghostly prison into play hahahhahahahahahah he has 7 creatures and 3 plains and draws land, but it’s plains. So all he can muster is fireborn Knight. He plays it then lines up attacks and there is under 10min in the round and a big crowd is watching. After a bit more of him thinking about who to attack with I just finally say you cannot attack they all cost a mana and he realizes it and shakes his head and passes. I untap and covetous Urge him again and take Merriment! His only out from here is mountain then slaying fire, but he doesn’t find them. I actually cast didn’t say please the next turn after playing Merriment and he mills a mountain and the slaying fire! Turns out Archon of Absolution is good against Mono White aggro 1 drops and tokens!! 8-1 and ecstatic to steal one. Round 10 Vs Eli Kassis on RB ~18 Playables??? Eli and I are featured as the backup match and a few parts of our games ended up on camera. When we exchanged pools we have 1 minute. I scan through and see he’s clearly black. He has rankle malevelont noble and some random assortment of ok black cards. He has Covetous Urge and Memory Theft. He also has like 5 red cards and a Steelclaw Lance. A crashing Drawbridge and maybe one other artifact. But overall if he plays every single black card artifact and red card that I deem playable it wasn’t even 20 cards. I ran out of time confused how he built his deck. It seemed that he was in fact just red black so maybe I miscounted or missed something. The games are somewhat interesting. Game 1 I kind of flood and awkward covetous Urge his hand of covetous Urge and weak cards, and he already has some 4 power attacker and shortly produced another. I had to urge his urge and I eventually get to Urge again to play something OK but I am just a little to much behind and can’t get a foot on the game before I’m forced to chump and then die. I’m still confident as his deck seems weak. Games two and 3 are pretty straightforward. He keeps drawing crashing drawbridge and steelclaw Lance and I’m Able to deal with his actual cards one at a time while producing a board of stupid little fliers. I did get lucky g3 on camera. His t2 crashing drawbridge I t2 Vantress Gargoyle He t3 memory theft and my hand is 6 spells no land. But it’s wishful merfolk Fae of Wishes charmed Sleep Run away Together tome raider and something else cheapish. So I don’t really need lands too badly and I also don’t have anything that broken. I think he takes my Fae or maybe a diff good card, but I immediately peel a land and tome Raider. I draw into another raider. He t4 covetous Urge off quad swamp and takes my Charmed Sleep and uses it on my Gargoyle the next turn. I’ve been milling with Gargoyle and I play tome raider 4th land go. From there I don’t miss lands for a few more turns and end up burying him beneath fliers once i draw Loch dragon and he only has some anemic beats with a solo rimrock Knight. 9-1 2-0 in the draft At this point I know Brad is playing vs Max Mick and I’m really hoping Brad wins. Max was on my right and I know he’s mono U with Folio gadwick. Unfortunately he won. But the good news is Brad Started 8-0 so he’s also 9-1, and we get paired!!! R11 Mike Sigrist on Gr Monsters His deck is a steaming pile of large creatures and bad mana. I kept going over the list looking for a spell and all I could find was a crystal slipper, 3 Fell of the pheasant, a Sundering Stroke and a Thrill of possibility. He’s mostly Green with 2 Syr Faren 2 Fierce Witchstalker 3 Garenbrig Paladin. He has a henge walker and a rosethorn acolyte, and then like multiple merchant of the Veils and Ogre Errants. I don’t even see how he has 23 cards either, he must be playing all these pheasant plummets (he is) We are main feature match. The whole thing was on camera. Brad won the die roll and mulligans to 5. I have 3 lands perfects with like a tome raider charmed Sleep counterspell and some 2 drop. I sort of draw only lands for the first lot of turns but Brad has a mono green deck and starts mountain mountain mountain henge walker. I charmed Sleep it. My plan was to save those for paladins, but with his mull to 5 and triple mountain start I figure I can race easily. He does put up some fight but I just take it slow and have Dispute and didn’t say plz and eventually find like an Urge and or a Loch dragon to close the game in short order. Game 2 is really interesting as I have to let him filter 10 times with merchant over the game but I maneuver my way to a winning position eventually on the back of both my Covetous Urges. 3-0 GG Y0 10-1 I know it’s way too late for subway or anything as the lines will all be unreal. So I pack up and find a message from Collin that he is grabbing convention center pizza. He grabs me a slice and it’s so terrible I can’t take more than a few bites. I’ve been staying really well hydrated and eating a decent breakfast at least, but these no lunches are brutal. Luckily I’m riding the adrenaline today and feel completely fine. R12 Vs Josh Utter Leyton on UG food Josh has 4 Growth Spiral instead of paradise Druid and is playing 2 Kraul harpooner I think. He has 25 lands but is on a pretty normal list otherwise. No Mass Manipulation or anything. Game 1 he’s on the play I think but starts tapped land tapped land goose. He has a turn 3 Oko I think but I have a decent hand with vraska and grasp and I think I end up vraskaing his Oko and Grasping a nissa and winning with my Own eventually. G2 is blurry but I think he mulliganed and or had a bad hand. I do remember having to take a big risk though. I could use my vraska and make a big attack to guarantee his nissa died, and he had no hand, but I would leave myself dead to a topdecked nissa Oko or aether gust. I decided to go for it anyway as I didn’t see any other way to guarantee nissa dying. He drew a kraul harpooner which was not good enough and I got to untap and put the game out of reach with a krasis or something. 11-1 I know that one more win should lock top 8, and I have at least 3 rounds to find it, maybe even 4. No pressure. I honestly didn’t it feel much. I’ve been here before after starting 8-0 in a PT a few years back. That time I went 1-1-1 in the draft and started 2-2 in constructed so I had a win and in the last round, and lost it in rather unfortunate fashion. But I didn’t really feel too nervous that day either. I think it gets to me more when my back is against the wall. When I’m just winning every round, I just keep going! R13 Mack Smith Bant Food He is playing Stock Bant from the European GP. 3 Maindeck Mass Manipulation Growth spirals etc. G1 I get ahead and I think I am fading mass manipulation in the later turns (nothing I can do about it) but he doesn’t have it and I win. G2 I feel ahead but have no answer to manipulation and the turn I thought he would play it he didn’t so I got excited, but he played it the following turn and I died. G3 i play t1 goose he t1 goose. I play Druid t2 and he just untap and says go. I go for t3 Nissa but he has a Negate to counter, down to just goose forest no food though. I think I have to spend a turn doing not much because I may be missing land as well, and he actually discards to hand size and then I wolf his goose. I win that one a couple turns later 12-1 and locked with 1 more match point. I feel like I would have been more excited if it were a few years ago. My first PT Top 8! But honestly it felt all a bit weird. The PT is moving to the Players Tour, and so much history is fading away. This PT top 8 literally means nothing if I don’t win first place. Just 2 years ago a PT top 8 would mean almost all the points you need for gold and over half of the way to platinum. Getting 2nd in a PT would all but assure you could make Platinum if you played some magic. Plus everyone was around and into it, the hall of fame talks etc etc. Now with the MPL and the PT going away everything is a bit cheapened and everyone is sort of automatically Jaded and unsure of the future. I was still feeling good; I just expected to feel more. I also know I still have to find a draw. My instinct says even if I lose r14 I’ll get the draw R15 with another X-2 though. R14 Andrew Cuneo on GW adventures This match was main feature and all on camera. Cuneo is great and we have some banter before the game about die rolling procedures. He also tilts off when I mulligan and say I’m going to keep before putting a card back. That’s not actually how that works he says. What does work is noxious grasp maindeck against GW little kid. I play multiple and Andrew draws plenty of lands and dies. In game 2 I keep a very sketchy hand of Wolf Massacre Girl Krasis 4 lands on the draw. I only have 1 Massacre Girl, He mulliganed, I’m locked for top 8, what the fucking hell could go wrong K3333pp! He puts a card to the bottom and announces keep. OUAT finds inkeeper, forest inkeeper. I draw land 5 and say to myself u are the dumbest fucking shit in the 7 kingdoms for keeping this. Land go; He untaps, aggressively pushes his inkeeper up at me and I right the 1 life, he shuffles his hand briefly and says GO. Wait what? He took inkeeper with OUAT and then didn’t play a 2nd land turn 2. How unlucky can this guy be??? I continue to draw only lands and he does hit a land next turn, but it’s a forest and no play. He eventually does find plains and puts up a fight. Eventually marching for 5 or 6 and convoking loxodon with a card still back. I have tons of Mana at this point, still have Massacre girl and can cast it + wolf to wrath everything. But I drew legions end the turn before and realize there is no reason to kill my own 6/6 krasis, just legions end the tokens and I’m ahead on board anyway. He dies shortly after. 13-1 R15 ID with Louis Deltour! 13-1-1 1 Seed Locked up R16 vs Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa Right before the match I had been talking with Tom Ross and I see the pairing and he says you should dream crush no? He won’t make it if you beat him. I honestly hadn’t even looked at the standings and wasn’t considering playing before talking with Tom. But then I started thinking. This last Pro Tour Ever here... it is so Top Heavy. True winner take all scenario. What do I have to lose by playing and trying to knock out the best player in the room? Well for starters I like Paulo. He’s just really likeable, and has always been friendly with me. I know he will be upset, and it will cause some drama as this type of situation is rare and they have probably already considered him in after seeing pairings. But the more I think about it the more it makes so much sense to play. I don’t owe Paulo anything, and this old mentality on the etiquette of IDs/Scoops makes a lot of sense in the old Pro Points/Level System. Or when PT top 8s really meant something. But what the hell does letting Paulo in the Top 8 actually do? Make it that much more unlikely I win the tournament is about all I can think. Greg Kowalski and his non green deck will be in if I beat Paulo. If I draw with him Paulo and his perfect mass manipulation gadwick list will be in. So anyway, I tell Paulo I want to play. He is obviously a bit surprised. And a huge crowd is forming. Shahar is behind Paulo and giving me the absolute stare of death throughout the whole thing. I tell Paulo the truth. I think he is great, and a random player making t8 would be very beneficial for me. I said this tournament is winner take all for me. If I go on to get 2nd not one person will care. In 6 months no1 will remember my name. They won’t know I got 2nd. I’ll get my 42 Mythic points and they will be worth nothing. I’ll be qualified for the next PT only and that is it. 20k and a fuck you have a nice day. But if I manage to win? 50k an invite to worlds (62,500$ in equity). All the clout, the trophy. There is an Arena PT in a month I’m Not qued for. Odds I get invited if I win? Not as high as Ondrej’s odds since he won (100%) but pretty high. You get the point. Winning first matter a lot. I told Paulo this. I said 3 years ago we would high five he’d say yay PT t8 number whatever triple digit number. I’d be happy I’m locked gold tons of pro points everyone cheers everyone happy. But we ESports baby. T8s don’t mean shit. So I ask to see his list and of course, it’s great. I told him this isn’t looking good for you. U got mass manipulations no shitty colorless land only 2 temples this shit is perfect. Let’s play. But I was not in it. I felt a slight bit of pain for Paulo in the moment, and I also was just tired. LSU was beating up on Alabama and I had planned on watching the 4th quarter before Tom mentioned I should play. But at this point I felt I had to at least go through with a game or two. I may just write ID on the slip even if I win, we will see. He beats me in a game 1 where I play ok, but not great. It’s a short game and I go to put my Sb Into my deck. As I’m shuffling through trying to find cards to cut I realize I forgot his SB. And I also can’t even think and don’t care anymore, so I offer him the draw and of course he happily accepts. I tell him I just couldn’t do it to him, sorry I made him sweat! 13-1-2 1 Seed going into Sunday. Paired vs 8 Seed Sebastian Pozzo on stock UG food, Paulo V Cuneo are the other match on my side. I will write about day 3 and the T8 games in another post. This one is a LOT of words and it’s unreal if anyone read this whole thing straight through with no breaks. I’ve been typing this all day, and I don’t feel like proofreading. Thanks for reading; GG Yo

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topicprinter · 6 years ago

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Why Gusto is WAY better than Paychex: My Personal Experience as a Medical ProfessionalHello everyone, I have been wanting to do this post for a long time now, but life is busy and I never got around to it. I’ve always believed that people more often will describe a bad experience over a good one, which can sometimes bias online reviews. This post covers the good and bad I have had using payroll companies. The story is complex and not easy to follow, but I will try my best.TLDR: Gusto is a simple, intuitive payroll solution for small companies and professionals looking to pay themselves. Paychex is an awful, bloated company that makes tons of human errors, has an opaque billing system, and is more expensive and impossible to quit. Use Gusto for your payroll needs and you can get $100 Amazon gift card and your first month free to see if you like it using the signup link below:Sign up with Gusto Get 100$ Amazon gift card and 1 month trial periodA little background:I am a medical professional and it so happens that my employer classifies me as an independent contractor so they can avoid giving me benefits or pay payroll tax to the government. This means that in order to do my job and set myself up to receive benefits like any ordinary employee, I need to have my own company and have that company pay me. I started an S-corporation and I am the only employee of that corporation, functioning as CEO, President, janitor, etc, etc.I didn’t know much about what to do, so my accountant recommended Paychex. He claimed to have a working relationship with them and vouched for them. Looking back, he probably received a commission for every client he referred. But right off the bat, the experience with Paychex was a nightmare and this is what happened:The BeginningFirst off Paychex wanted to charge a $200 “set-up” fee. After I complained that other operators like Gusto don’t do this excessive setup fee, they graciously “waived it” as if they did me a favor. When it came time to set up my account, someone called my cellphone and asked for my information to fill out the starting paperwork. I thought this was annoying and prone to error because I had to repeat myself several times on the phone to get the numbers correct and it took forever with bad cell reception.They sent me a copy of the paperwork to review, and it was a super unprofessional looking PDF that was crooked and hard to read because it was a bad scan of a copy of a copy. Definitely not something you’d expect from a large national corporation charging 60+ bucks a months.Not surprisingly, something DID go wrong and my PHONE NUMBER was put as my BANK ACCOUNT number. I caught the error and had to contact them to fix it. They also spelled my business address wrong. Then, when setting up my California Employer Profile, they spelled my address wrong again despite my correction, propagating it onto official time sensitive mailings from the state. See email proof below.Email acknowledging errorThe Paychex representative apologizes and sends me a screenshot of the CA website saying “REVIEW and SUBMIT” with the address STILL WRONG, shockingly. When I email her to tell her about this, she LIES, fixes it secretly and shows me a screenshot and saying they had it correct from the beginning. She obviously thinks I’m a moron because her first screenshot says REVIEW AND SUBMIT. See proof below:Still wrong after submittingPaychex employee covering up and lying to meAfter all this nonsense, I complain to the manager they finally agree to give me my first month free as a courtesy. A month passes.The nightmare that followed has to do with a systematic nickel and diming tactic they use to extract money from you. Firstly, the online app is a complete mess and convoluted, forcing you to be reliant on their human representatives. I’m sorry I don’t have a screenshot of this, but you’ll have to take my word for it because I don’t have access anymore because I quit. They have a hodgepodge of confusing apps mixed together with no unifying login. To do payroll, a human representative ends up calling you every month to go over your payroll. Once I had a really busy day and they called and I couldn’t pick up the phone. We somehow didn’t connect over the following week and they had the AUDACITY to charge me a late fee of $49. This brings us to the subject of fees:In addition to the base rate, Paychex has a ton of fees for things that Gusto provides for free (see photo)Paychex Crazy extra feesThey charge $81.71 just to make you a W2 for end of year taxes! Imagine that in the 21st century, where computers automate every calculation. Insane. I have TWO employees. ME and my bro. They charge $3.50 just to add a new employee. Can you say nickel and diming? And what’s up with all the decimal points and crazy pricing?What the hell is a MANUAL PROCESSING FEE of $4.95? They don’t even send me invoices in the mail. It’s PAPERLESS, so what’s manual about it? Is this the fee that they charge me when someone idiot representative calls me every month? Actually it’s not, that stupid/error prone service is free surprisingly. The “manual processing fee” is a fee they charge if you want to approve every payroll and don’t give them permission to automatically deduct everything from your bank account. Can you imagine the nightmare if I allowed them to take whatever they want? See the fees above and understand why you can never trust them to bill you fairly. They will charge you $20 just to EMAIL you your quarterly reports as DELIVERY/HANDLING. This is a completely automated software process and they want to make it look like they’re actually preparing documents for you BY HAND so they can charge you.Paychex is a company that thrives on complexity and your fear of it. They want to take everything out themselves and keep everything obscure so you’re afraid to take control of your own payroll. They want you to think it’s the cost of doing business. They want you to think it’s hard. They want you to think that your time is better spent running your business. That may be true, but you can be in control and not waste time too. It’s possible, just not with Paychex as you will see.I just cant retype all the billing errors and back and forth, it’s too painful and this post is getting long. But I will leave a few example emails detailing their systemic billing issues and pain they put me through. They refunded most of the fees ultimately, but at great cost to my time and mental sanity. I was able to quit, but months later they send me a HANDWRITTEN envelope with a bill in it. I complained about it and they apologized. See here:Still sending me bills after I quitPaychex apologizing for their crazy disorganized billingEventually after much complaining I was able to quit around 3/2018. But, they kept sending me bills in my email because their system refuses to remove me from their client list, despite me telling them to remove me over 5 times. I was still receiving bills up to 11/2018. See proof below as well as their apology. Would you trust a company that cant even accomplish a simple thing like that?Trying to quit Attempt #1, still sending me billsTrying to quit Attempt #2, still sending me billsTrying to quit Attempt #3, still sending me billsThe good (Moving to Gusto):When I started Gusto it was a godsend. I didn’t deal with anyone. You put in a few parameters like your state’s SUI and ETT rates etc, and you don’t talk to anyone. You can easily google the correct information and the CA state also sends this info to you. Payroll isn’t that hard. They have email responders that respond within 24 hours. I haven’t tried calling, everything was straightforward so I didn’t need to. Many basic functions like paid time off etc are built in and free. Here’s an example of Gusto’s billing plan screen. Compare it to paychex’s crazy invoice above:Gusto's simple billingAnd here is gusto’s clean interface.Gusto - Nice organized payrollGusto - Nice interfaceNeed I say more? Go with Gusto, you wont regret it.

#/r/smallbusiness #reddit

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smoothshift · 6 years ago

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Thoughts after driving the 2019 Honda Accord 2.0T, Honda Accord 1.5T/cvt, and the 2018 Mazda 6 Signature back-to-back...from a current 2013 Honda Accord owner via /r/cars

Thoughts after driving the 2019 Honda Accord 2.0T, Honda Accord 1.5T/cvt, and the 2018 Mazda 6 Signature back-to-back...from a current 2013 Honda Accord owner

First of all, my overall impressions actually surprised me. I didn't think I would like the Mazda 6 nearly as much as I did, and I thought I would have liked the Accord way more than I actually did.

So I drove the Accord first. 2.0 turbo with the 10-speed automatic. First impressions, I have to say that the Accord's interior was definitely nicer than the Mazda 6's interior. The Accord's infotainment looks surprisingly classy and expensive. The resolution is crystal clear in person, the overall background and layout looks like a laptop screen, and the touch response is reaches iPhone level. The infotainment in the Accord is surprisingly easy to use as well. I figured mostly everything out in like 2 minutes. The Waze and Google Maps integration with the Apple CarPlay is nice, although a little surprising that you can't swipe, pinch, and zoom with either of these apps. You have to toggle the map with arrows and zoom buttons. Other than that, I loved the leather stitching on the seats and the dash, I loved how the ring around the climate control dials changes color as you turn them, and all the buttons feel elegant and sturdy. The digital gauge cluster looks extremely clean, and overall the Accord's interior makes you feel like you're driving something expensive. Definitely a huge step up from the 9th generation Accord's interior. The seats are comfortable, but a little lacking in terms of thigh support.

The controversial styling of the Accord looks a little better in person, but still not that nice. To be honest, I prefer the looks of my 2013. Sure, the LED turn signals are cool, and the jewel eye headlights are nice, but I'm still not a fan of how the new Accord looks.

Getting the Accord out on the road, I just wasn't that impressed. I've heard raving reviews of how good the Accord's 2.0T and 10-speed automatic powertrain is, but to be honest I was a little disappointed. The 2.0T engine is pretty loud and doesn't sound all that great. The power is decent when you really step on it, but nothing that particularly "wowed" me. The 10-speed automatic felt a little jerky, and it seemed to have sporadic and unexpected shift patterns. The shift from 1st to 2nd just feels a little mismatched with the engine power, and you just feel each individual shift a little more than I would have liked. It just kind of shifts too much, and it isn't even that quick to drop a gear when you put your foot down. The paddle shifters have good responsiveness, so I will give it that.

Steering in the Accord just felt too artificially weighted. It responds pretty quickly off-center, but there was zero road feedback, and the overall steering feel was just really isolated and didn't leave any particular solid impression on me. The steering in my 2013 is definitely too over-boosted, so I think the new Accord is better in terms of weight and solidity, but I found after driving my 2013 Accord (to the Mazda dealership) that I could just feel the road a little better and I had a better sense of where the front tires were.

The handling of the new Accord is decent, basically right in line with my expectations. The Accord takes a corner decently well, and the chassis feels pretty rigid, but I didn't think the handling was particularly "fun" or class leading. You definitely feel the weight and the body shift around under more aggressive cornering, and the seats don't really hug you in place very well. Overall, it's nothing that will particularly egg you on to drive in a more spirited fashion. Ride quality was firm but smooth, however you do feel bumps now and then, just like in most cars around this price point. The Accord has good visibility, with clear and unobstructed sight lines for the most part. Easy to see the road directly behind you, easy to see out the sides, somewhat of a bulging front hood but nothing really obstructive or intrusive.

Accelerator response in the Accord was just kind of dead in my opinion. It has decent linear responsiveness, but it's missing that crisp "right at the beginning" feel that the Mazda had. Brakes were a little vague but firm, the pedal doesn't really chatter and the stopping power feels smooth.

The Accord 1.5T and CVT was about the same in handling and steering feel. The CVT definitely feels best in the business, a little better than the earlier Honda CVTs from the 9th generation Accord and the current Civic. The off-the-line response feels normal, and the acceleration feels nice and smooth compared to the more jerky-shifting 10-speed automatic. However, it is still a CVT. It hits its top gear ratio too early, and the engine power seems to drop off significantly once you hit around 30 mph. Going to requesting a passing gear, I was disappointed that the CVT still feels jerky, mushy, and hesitant to give you some extra oomf from the engine. The CVT definitely requires more leg-work from the accelerator. Power in the 1.5T definitely feels a little slower than the 2.0T, but neither engine feels drastically different from one another in terms of pep and power delivery in the lower rev ranges.

Another thing...both these engines are just too loud and raspy. The "earth dreams" 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine from the 9th generation Accord is much quieter, it sounds more refined, and to be honest, it feels smoother and more predictable compared to the newer turbocharged 4 cylinders.

So the 2018 Mazda 6 Signature. Definitely a nice, elegant interior. But the infotainment looks too aftermarket IMO, and the resolution isn't as clear as the Accord's infotainment system. The interior is also missing some niceties..the Mazda's auto-dim rearview mirror is that old-school big and chunky kind, and the Accord has that small frameless style mirror that makes the whole interior feel a little more expensive. I also kind of liked the feel of the buttons and switchgear in the Accord better.

The driving position in the Mazda feels much sportier than the Accord's driving position, though. The Mazda's gauge cluster is nice and close, everything feels smaller, sportier, and more cozy. You don't feel like you're driving a midsize sedan in the Mazda 6. The seats have great bolstering and support as well.

Getting the Mazda 6 out on the road, this car really does put a smile on your face. The skyactiv 2.5 turbocharged engine MOVES. I mean this thing really hustles. It's the kind of power that will indeed wow you for a midsize sedan, and give you that ticklish feeling in your stomach when you get on it. Right away, the power just feels more sprightly and fun compared to the Accord's 2.0t. It gives you an amazing feeling of confidence that the Accord just couldn't match. The engine is shockingly smooth and refined, gives you the perfect level of sound in the cabin, and I appreciated the throaty and burly engine note from the Mazda's 4 cylinder.

The steering in the 6 felt nice and weighty, and silky smooth in its turning motions. You can tell that they weren't trying too hard to give this car an overly weighted steering feel like in the Accord, and the 6 just feels so much more fun and engaging when you're rounding corners. It's got this really nice blend of refinement and agility. Even when you're moving at low speeds, the Mazda 6 feels exciting. You just feel the road a little more, and get a better understanding of where the front tires are pointing, and the steering feels expensive and classy without feeling isolated or artificial.

The Mazda feels light as a feather when you toss it into a corner, the body stays rigid with a very modest amount of lean, but it's a "good" kind of body lean that allows you to feel out each corner just a little more. The seats really hug you in place, and they have amazing bolstering for a midsize sedan. The 6 also rolls really quickly and maintains a constant speed really well. It's very maneuverable and precise in its driving dynamics, with secure and predictable handling.

Even the ride quality of the 6 was surprisingly good. Definitely better than the Accord's ride quality. The 6 feels super smooth, with great dampening and shock absorption. It rides as well as any Lexus or Acura that I've driven.

The pedal responsiveness in the 6 is executed so well; the accelerator responds right at the beginning of the travel, and the brakes kick in nice and sharp. Stopping power in the Mazda 6 feels silky smooth and refined. You really don't have to finesse the brake pedal too much to achieve a nice and composed stopping feel.

The Mazda's 6 speed automatic feels laser responsive, and you barely even feel upshifts or downshifts because of how smooth they are. This transmission is really quick to drop a gear and shove you in the back of your seat. Each gear allows you to really feel out the engine power, and the transmission never stutters or hesitates. Overall, a very fun, predictable, and engaging 6-speed automatic in the Mazda.

And that about covers it. If you want a flashier interior with a more intuitive infotainment system, Accord wins it. But if you care more about the drive...the seat comfort, engine power, transmission responsiveness, handling, ride quality, tactility with the steering, accelerator, and braking...basically everything that makes for a great driving experience..Mazda 6 Signature all the way. The Mazda made me want to actually buy it right then and there. The Accord was more of a "it's nice, but I have to think about it more" kind of thing. Don't be fooled by people who say that the Accord is as good as the Mazda 6...it's definitely not on that level yet. I really wanted to like the new Accord, but frankly I just didn't. It was nice..but not really as nice as I was lead to believe from other auto reviews that I've read.

As for dealership experience, I might make a separate post on that. Both the Honda and the Mazda dealerships were a drastically different kind of experience, so let me know if you want to hear more about that.

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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bonniepospisil · 6 years ago

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Best Hoverboards For Kids

The Best Hoverboards For Kids are vehicles that are safe, have a good speed to range ratio, decent charge times and a quality build. While there are many brand names out there, only a handful produce the best hoverboards every year. We put in a massive 60 hours on this project and tested 15 models(With help from some kids), researched every other model on the market that we could find and weighed our findings against online reviews for each. I’m a little worn out from the process, and from the kids making fun of me. We looked at several factors to determine which hoverboards made the cut. They had to be safe, durable, have good speed and range, low charge times, and be easy to use. The hoverboard as we know it today was invented in 2013 and the idea really took off around 2016 when many of them flooded onto the market. A massive recall happened soon after, due to batteries overheating and making them catch fire. Hoverboards are completely safe today, however, because these vehicles came back onto the market with UL 2272 Certification. This means that UL 2272 certified devices have been thoroughly tested and inspected for safety. Now they are safe and more popular than ever, with companies like Razor, Gotrax, Swagtron, Halo, Jetson, Tomoloo, hoverheart hoverboard and a handful of others dominating the market. These rides are taking people to work, school and everywhere in between. Many prefer them to self balancing scooters. Sales of hoverboards are forecasted to rise through the year 2021.(R) With so many choices, it can be hard to navigate the market. So read on to see which ones we chose as the coolest toys for kids. So without further ado, our #1 pick is the TOMOLOO K1. TOMOLOO is a brand known for producing quality hoverboards. They were among the earliest manufacturers of electric hoverboards in China, so they have been around as long as the hoverboard craze itself. Many riders consider them to be the best hoverboard maker on the market. The K1 has a lot of great features, including 3-speed modes, Bluetooth so that it can connect to your smartphone and a large maximum capacity so big kids and adults can also ride. The 10 MPH maximum speed makes it great for just about anyone and the 12 miles it gives you per charge is enough for most adventurers. It also gives you a smooth ride with decent power over small inclines. #1 TOMOLOO K1 Hoverboard - Best Hoverboard for Kids and Adults Pros:

You can control everything with your smartphone

Max capacity of 265 lbs.

2 hour charge time

Cons:

Small wheels so no off-roading

Not the fastest

The TOMOLOO K1 Hoverboard is our top hoverboard thanks to a high-quality build and some cool extra features. The fact that you can control everything with your phone with a Bluetooth app is a big bonus with this model. I’ve had many hoverboards that have apps, but none of them that offered so much control. More on the mobile app in a bit. The K1 can handle a maximum load of 265 lbs so just about anyone can ride, child or adult. It has decent power thanks to dual 350W brushless motors giving you a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour. Granted, that’s not super fast, but it’s a decent speed that isn’t too slow or too powerful for most kids, but just right. And adults won’t mind at all, especially considering the cool features of this hoverboard. First, it's UL2272 Certified for safety, as are all of our picks, but check out what else it has to offer. This self-balancing hover board lets you connect it with your smartphone via Bluetooth to control the lighting and play music. You can also change the color of your board’s LED lighting choosing from 16 million color combinations. The app includes 3 speed modes and displays your driving stats, settings to control sensitivity can also be configured from the app, plus you can use it to turn your hoverboard on or off. See what I mean about that smartphone integration? Oh yeah! This was a lot of fun. The K1 gives you a range up to 12 miles and it can climb slopes as steep as 20 degrees with no problems. The 2 hour charge time means you won’t be waiting long between rides. The kids we introduced it to really loved how simple and intuitive this ride is. I loved the smartphone controls more than they did. The top speed of 10 MPH is great for everyone. Tomoloo balanced the features just right on this model so that it can be fun for all. That is why it is our #1 pick and is highly recommended. Shenzhen Tomoloo Technology Industrial has made a vehicle that is just right. It’s like a two-wheel dirt bike.

#2 GOTRAX Hoverfly ION LED Hoverboard- Best Budget Hoverboard

Pros:

Affordable

Lightweight

Has self-balancing technology

Cons:

Low range

No smartphone or Bluetooth

Low maximum speed

We reviewed the Gotrax Hoverfly ION LED Hoverboard a while back and we really liked it a lot. The company makes both self balancing electric scooters and hoverbords. It’s similar to the Gotrax Hoverfly Eco. The ION LED is our pick for the best budget hoverboard. Not only is it priced perfectly an entry-level hoverboard, but instead of having training modes, it has a smart self-balancing feature that makes it easier to ride. This self balancing makes it great for new riders or seasoned riders alike. It takes more practice than a self blancing scooter obviously, but it makes it easy nonetheless. It is easy to learn to ride. It has 400 watt dual motors and a top speed of 7 MPH. Many kids don’t need high speeds, especially when they are just starting out on these vehicles. There are color LED lights in the wheels that pulse blue and two LED headlights so you can see where you are going. It has a maximum weight capacity of 200 lbs and a range of about 3.5 miles per charge. This is the hoverboard that you want if you are just starting out. Naturally, it meets the UL 2272 safety standard. All of our picks are certified hoverboards. It is one of the easiest to use hoverboards for newbs since it has a cool self-balancing feature that helps you get on and off. Combine that with a lightweight frame and a great price and you have a vehicle that kids want to ride while learning. Your best “new rider” experience and the one of the best budget hoverboards on the market, which earned it the #2 spot.

#3 SEGWAY miniPRO Hoverboard - Best Hoverboard For Older Kids

Pros:

Adjustable knee-pads

Powerful motors

Smartphone app

Cons:

Weighs about 28 lbs.

4 hour charging time

Low top speed

The SEGWAY miniPRO is a quality hoverboard that some consider to be a balancing electric scooter due to its design. It’s the best of a selfbalancing scooter and the best of a hoverboard in one. It’s great for older kids. This model has some power with 800-watt dual motors and 10-inch pneumatic tires that perform excellently. We were able to ride over different terrains without any problems at all. When it comes to high-quality materials, the durable aircraft-grade magnesium alloy frame is made to last. This model also has automatic headlights and customizable LED taillights. The accompanying smartphone app has a tutorial, safety precautions, Anti-theft alarm, speedometer, lock, and much more. It’s a decent app. The best app feature is the ability to use your phone to control your hoverboard while riding it. The price is steeper on this model and that’s because of that superior build quality and the fact that it is so feature-heavy. It has a 10 mph top speed and 12.5-mile range. The 4 hour charge time combined with a low top speed may turn some buyers off, but if your teen doesn’t need to be a speed demon, this hoverboard is near perfect. It weighs about 28 lbs and has a carrying capacity of 220 lbs. This hoverboard / electroic scooter just had to make the list with some great features and power. This is the one that all of the older kids are choosing and it consistently gets great reviews online. We never did find a terrain that was a problem for it and that’s a big win for this model. And Segway is one of the huge innovators in the space.(R) Their personal transport was around long before modern hoverboards.

#4 GOTRAX Hoverfly XL - Best Off-Road Hoverboard

Pros:

Powerful torque with dual 350W motors

Charges in about an hour

Range up to 12 miles

Cons:

Doesn’t do well in wet conditions

Feels heavy at 32.9 lbs.

If you are looking for some off-road adventure the GOTRAX Hoverfly XL is an ideal choice. I’ve used many off-road models and this is one of the best out there. The kids loved this one too because you can feel the power thanks to dual 30 watt motors. It has a lot of great features like a quick 1 hour charge time, 12 mile range, solid construction for off-road durability, large 8.5″ tires with good treads, 30-degree incline climbing capability and 7.4 mph top speed which can be extended to 11.2 mph w/ “pro mode”. The LED headlights are nice and bright for night rides. This hoverboard has a maximum weight of 220lbs and it weighs 32.9 lbs itself. This model also has a nice rugged style. Those tires are quality rubber, with aluminum rims, so it looks sharp. New riders and old alike can enjoy this one since it has a training mode for new riders, which restricts speeds while you learn. If you are familiar with hoverboards already it also has a standard mode for experienced users. We found that it didn’t do very well in wet conditions however, but aside from that, it’s an off-road champ. The Hoverfly XL is the best off-roader out of all that we tested. It has power, a fast charge and is very capable on tough roads and off-road terrains, just not wet terrain.

#5 Razor Hovertrax 2.0 - World’s Smartest Hoverboard

Pros:

Self-balancing

Extra room for your feet

Great design

Cons:

No Bluetooth

Not water resistant

The Razor Hovertrax 2.0 is a beautiful looking hoverboard with a great visual design. The company has plenty of experience, after all, since they consistently make popular hoverboards that kids love. The Razor Hovertrax 2.0 shows off that experience in a form factor that is fun and exciting for kids. They claim that this one is the world smartest self-balancing hoverboard and the customer reviews online tend to agree. Balance technology has come a long way. It has two 350 Watt dual motors that deliver a cruising speed of over 8 miles an hour and has a runtime of 60 minutes of continuous use. That run time can be extended with the quick-change 36V lithium ion battery pack. We wish that every hoverboard had this option since it is an easy way to extend your range. It will hold riders up to 220 lbs. We were surprised at how well it handles small inclines as well. The all blue LED light bar, LED power indicator and other lighting effects were a big hit with the kids. This hoverboard’s design combined with the self-balancing feature make it a worthy ride for the kids, but the swappable battery and the max weight capacity put it over the top, ensuring it’s spot at #5. It’s versatile and powerful enough for kids to get the most out of it. Parents can rest a little bit easier knowing that it is certified to UL 2272 standards.

#6 Megawheels Hoverboard - Best Hoverboard For The Money

Pros:

Stable and smooth ride

7.5-mile range

Low price for the features

Cons

3 hour charge time

The Megawheels hoverboard is a solid choice for those who want to spend under $200. The company is known for quality and reliability and this model is no exception. There are a lot of kids riding this one. You get a solidly built, attractively designed hoverboard with enough features to make your child happy, while you will be happy about the price. The dual 250 Watt motors make the ride smooth and stable for both kids and adults. You also get a Bluetooth speaker, LED Lights, and tires that are 6.5 inches. Those tires are anti-skid tires. The hoverboard will reach speeds of up to 7.5 miles per hour and has a charging time of 2-3 hours. The Quick Learning System allows new riders to master this hoverboard in just 5 minutes. It will also handle 15 degree inclines easily. For the price, this electric hoverboard gives you many decent features. This hoverboard review was a big hit with the kids. It actually kept them hover boarding instead of playing video games for a bit. They fell in love with the style and all agreed that the 3 hour charge time was really the only negative. Those on a budget are getting a lot out of this one. It’s the best cheap hover board for kids.

#7 EPIKGO Off-Road Hoverboard

Pros:

Can handle 18 degree inclines

Large 8.5 inch tires

12.1 MPH max speed

Cons:

May be a bit heavy for some kids

Expensive

You likely know Epikgo because of popular models like the Epikgo Sport. This Epikgo Off-Road Hoverboard is another durable and dependable off-road model that will get your kids out in nature more for sure. All of the hoverboards that made our list have UL2272 certification, but this model takes safety features to the extreme for safety, having endured over 159 testing procedures to make sure it is the safest hoverboard that you can buy. This off-road personal transport has some serious power as well, with 400W dual motors. It can climb slopes as steep as 18 degrees and it delivers over 1 hour/10miles range on a single charge. That’s impressive for any off-road model. Those tires are solid rubber and perform excellently on any terrain. It is rated IP56 and is water resistant. It handles a variety of road conditions well. Whether it’s on grass, mud, or sand. This hoverboard is built for speed. The built-in 2-hour fast charging technology(R) means that you’ll spend more time riding it then charging it. This is a solid electrical recreation product for kids aged 13+.��

#8 TOMOLOO V2 - Best Off-Road Hoverboard With A Speaker

Pros:

Great Performance

Durable

IPx4 waterproof

Cons:

None. We love it.

TOMOLOO is a very popular hoverboard brand that gets good user reviews and offers good pricing. The brand rose to the top of the hoverboard market fairly quickly because if this. A TOMOLOO hoverboard is a quality vehicle. If your child likes some off-road fun, the TOMOLOO V2 is the one to buy. It will handle any terrain with two 8.5 inch rubber tires and it has a robust build that is made to last. It handles inclines up to 20 degrees easily so off-road areas with steep ups and downs are not an issue. It also boasts a 350 WATT motor and a maximum speed of up to 12 mph. You’ll also get a respectable distance of up to 12 miles per charge. Bluetooth 4.2 stereo speakers let you play music while you are exploring. This model comes with an easy to use app that allows you to customize the colors, mode, and brightness of the lights as well as the mode, speed, and sensitivity of the hoverboard itself. Other features are auto shutdown and you can turn your ride on or off from your phone. We liked the feel of each foot pad on this model. This is an amazing off-road powerhouse. It’s on par with the other off-roaders on our list, but this one gets extra points by having a Bluetooth speaker onboard. Hey, that’s important when you are out on the trail. Never go off-road without your music.

#9 TOMOLOO H3 Hoverboard - Best TOMOLOO Hoverboard

Pros:

Bluetooth Speaker

17.5 MPH

Great Range

Cons:

Expensive

Big surprise, another TOMOLOO hoverboard makes the cut. We told you they are a serious hoverboard brand. So much so that we are giving the TOMOLOO H3 the “best TOMOLOO hoverboard” pick. The design of the TOMOLOO H3 was inspired by the giant dragon “Night Fray” in Norse Mythology and that certainly comes across in the sleek lines of this hoverboard. It boasts a max speed of 17.5 miles per hour, a max climbing angle of 20-30 degrees and a weight limit of 265 lbs. It does well on just about any terrain without getting stuck, Doesn’t matter if it’s mud, grass, puddles, gravel or sand. The build quality is exceptional. Both kids and adults will love this one. In our tests, kids favored other hoverboards over this model, but they insisted that it still make the list and I agree wholeheartedly. Two 350 watt motors power this beast and the wheels are waterproof rated IPX56.(R) This model comes with a remote control that has 3 riding modes as well. A handle on the back makes carrying it a breeze when not hover boarding.

#10 SwagTron T5 - Best Entry Level Hoverboard For Kids

Pros:

Lightweight

Battery indicators

Learning mode for new riders

Cons:

May be too slow for some

Not many features

Swagtron is one of the big brand hoverboard names. They sell a ton of different models and most are kid-friendly hoverboards. They offer the Swagtron t1, Swagtron t580, the Swagtron t6, and the Swagtron t3 to name a few. So next on our list of UL 2272 certified hoverboards is the SwagTron T5 is no exception. This model ticks all of the right boxes to make it the perfect entry level hoverboard. It has a max speed of about 7 mph, a learning mode that restricts speed for safe learning and a standard mode that lets you get up to full speed. It also has battery indicators so you can see how battery charging is going, a weight limit of 187.4 lbs and it weighs just 18.9 lbs. There’s nothing but the basics here, but with good build quality and at a decent price. It is similar to the Swagtron T1 hoverboard. This one scored well with the kids we introduced it to and they found it easy to use. If this is the first hoverboard for your kids, they are in good hands as they learn to ride. That’s why it’s worthy of a spot in our rankings.

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angelaakers · 6 years ago

Text

Best Hoverboards For Kids

You can control everything with your smartphone

Max capacity of 265 lbs.

2 hour charge time

Cons:

Small wheels so no off-roading

Not the fastest

#2 GOTRAX Hoverfly ION LED Hoverboard- Best Budget Hoverboard

Pros:

Affordable

Lightweight

Has self-balancing technology

Cons:

Low range

No smartphone or Bluetooth

Low maximum speed

#3 SEGWAY miniPRO Hoverboard - Best Hoverboard For Older Kids

Pros:

Adjustable knee-pads

Powerful motors

Smartphone app

Cons:

Weighs about 28 lbs.

4 hour charging time

Low top speed

#4 GOTRAX Hoverfly XL - Best Off-Road Hoverboard

Pros:

Powerful torque with dual 350W motors

Charges in about an hour

Range up to 12 miles

Cons:

Doesn’t do well in wet conditions

Feels heavy at 32.9 lbs.

#5 Razor Hovertrax 2.0 - World’s Smartest Hoverboard

Pros:

Self-balancing

Extra room for your feet

Great design

Cons:

No Bluetooth

Not water resistant

#6 Megawheels Hoverboard - Best Hoverboard For The Money

Pros:

Stable and smooth ride

7.5-mile range

Low price for the features

Cons

3 hour charge time

#7 EPIKGO Off-Road Hoverboard

Pros:

Can handle 18 degree inclines

Large 8.5 inch tires

12.1 MPH max speed

Cons:

May be a bit heavy for some kids

Expensive

#8 TOMOLOO V2 - Best Off-Road Hoverboard With A Speaker

Pros:

Great Performance

Durable

IPx4 waterproof

Cons:

None. We love it.

#9 TOMOLOO H3 Hoverboard - Best TOMOLOO Hoverboard

Pros:

Bluetooth Speaker

17.5 MPH

Great Range

Cons:

Expensive

#10 SwagTron T5 - Best Entry Level Hoverboard For Kids

Pros:

Lightweight

Battery indicators

Learning mode for new riders

Cons:

May be too slow for some

Not many features

Best Hoverboards For Kids See more on: News from Gadget Review

Best Hoverboards For Kids published first on http://www.gadgetreview.com/ Best Hoverboards For Kids posted first on http://www.gadgetreview.com/ Best Hoverboards For Kids published first on http://www.gadgetreview.com/

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