#now i get 500 hits within a day of posting. if not sooner. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

poiseandprogress · 8 months

Text

Poise & Progress: The Game Plan

So in my last blog post (which was also my first might I add) I mentioned that I adore anything relating to leveling up and becoming a femme fatale. And so today I’m choosing to become a part of what I adore.

Here, I’m laying out my goals and plans on how I will achieve these goals. I’ve decided to categorize them based on the areas of my life that I would like to elevate. I will add that this is neither an original idea or layout. I was inspired by a blog here on tumblr that I’ve been following for a while. (@boujeeceo - they haven’t been active for a while though but you can look through their page of course! I don’t gatekeep.)

Okay, let’s get started with my goals shall we?

One Time Goals:

Save 5k

Finish my modeling website

Buy a vlogging camera

Create 3 Sources of income

Start my social media management/marketing business

Open my clothing boutique

Have my own skin care line here in The Bahamas

To Purchase:

Smile direct club

New bedroom furniture and closet storage (my bedroom needs a SERIOUS makeover)

New Wardrobe essentials (a little difficult considering my personality changes every three months but I think now that I’m laying it all out and building my dream persona it may get easier to manage)

Health & Fitness

Start a workout routine

At home pilates (gyms make me uncomfortable for many reasons)

Daily 30 minute jogs

Healthier diet (wholesome, plant based?)

Intermittent fasting?

Cut out meat again?

Add more fruits and vegetables to my diet

Create a meal plan and meal prep on Sundays?

Solid Sleep schedule

Get at least 7 hours of sleep daily (I’m struggling with the idea of this because I feel as though in order to be successful sooner I have to sacrifice some hours of sleep)

Take vitamins daily

Beauty:

Build a solid skincare routine & be consistent with it!

Practice my makeup skills

Learn how to install and style my own wigs

Finances

Fix my relationship with money!!

SAVE & BUDGET

Increase Income

Work/Career

Start a side hustle that I can scale into a remote/work from home business that brings in more than my current 9-5 does.

Relationships:

Making more friends with the same interests as me and ones that have successfully achieved for themselves the lifestyle that I see for myself so that I can learn from them. This also means evaluating my current friendships and putting some distance between me and those that aren’t working on growth.

Spirituality

Strengthen relationship with God

Read 1 chapter of the Bible Daily

Continue to explore my spirituality

Meditate daily

Socials:

The girlies on every social media platform say that the best way to remain consistent and to be successful when it comes to social media is by niching down. I’ve been working on what my niche could be, based on the type of content that I like to consume and also the type of content that I will be able to post the most given my current location, income, and budget.

I’m leaning towards: LIFESTYLE | FASHION | BEAUTY

Youtube

Start posting again. It’s that simple, I know it is.

Hit 500 subscribers by New Years (Currently 292 - All of my past videos are private right now as I’m rebranding)

Meet monetization requirements (500 subscribers, 3 videos within 90 days and 3000 watch hours)

Instagram

Hit 5k followers by New Year’s Eve (Currently 4,026)

Create a solid social media strategy & content calendar

Skills

Complete my social media marketing course

Learn a new language (currently learning italian seeing that my boyfriend is an old Italian man loll)

Habits:

Drink a gallon of water daily

Read more books

Form daily routines

Hobbies:

Modeling

Build my portfolio

Book more runway stuff

Travel for modeling

Hobbies that I’d like to start:

Tennis/Golf: I would like to have a physical hobby that can also keep me in shape. And also somewhere that affluent individuals in my community enjoy hanging out.

Traveling: This one feels like a dead giveaway. Of course I want to start traveling more.

Horseback riding: I used to do it when I was younger and volunteering at a nearby stable. Learning to ride was a requirement but I didn’t stick around long enough to actually get good at it.

Cooking & Baking (It’s recently become a dream of mine to host a fancy thanksgiving dinner) My family has never really been the baking type and traditional Bahamian meals are great and all but I would like to explore the art of cooking.

I think for now this is a pretty extensive list of goals and aspirations even though in my head it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ll be going into more details on different aspects of these things here of course!

#black girl moodboard #black woman in luxury #feminine energy #hypergamy #luxury aesthetic #luxury lifestyle #soft life #leveling up #femme fatale

25 notes · View notes

letshopeisticktoitbyebluefly · 10 months

Text

Hello friends

I never expected myself to be here, or to say this and yet here I am. Almost 22 years old and with years of, experience under my belt. I don't know, it's a mess.

Just yesterday I was stuck in the 500 or less mentality, flying towards something I have always known will only bring us misery for some unknown ironic reason. But now here I am, no longer flying towards the flame.

I have decided to give happiness a try. To try to get there in a way that actually works, a way that is not a path full of pain, but rather self-love. Hopefully, this will last, and I won't swing back to what I find to be so familiar.

Anyways, I suppose this is my departure? Another name, another blog, but either way I'm sure some of you have read my posts, or at the very least one has. I hope that one day the realization will hit you like it did me. I have always known it, but it is only now that I feel it within my core.

There is a lot to be done, and those thoughts and habits are ingrained in me, but I will try. If I manage it, I know that a part of me will miss this torture. But yet that is the price one must pay to actually be happy. Leaving this.

Sending lots of love your way. Hopefully, a time when you're ready comes sooner or later. Stay safe.

#proana #tw ed #tw ana diary #tw recovery maby #I hope that this will last #I hope that I will be happy #That we will all be happy #It's sad that we have all been in positions where self torture is all one has to fill the void #In truth none of this is about weight #this is and has always been a clutch #A cluch you need for a reason that you may or may not be fully aware of

1 note · View note

orcelito · 3 years

Text

Oh my god I'm almost to 20k hits

#speculation nation #discacc shit #20k separate page loads...... oh my god #like i remember when i was so excited about reaching 500 hits #now i get 500 hits within a day of posting. if not sooner.#numbers keep climbing and im watching it become more and more known #and like this is the goal but also #i am but a humble writer with thoughts about the series #tentatively... setting my thoughts out there... for hundreds of people to see and read #wow....

1 note · View note

quadraphonictypewriter · 4 years

Text

Rushing Whispers Part 8/?

Read from the beginning or Part 7

June 5, 1970 ((approx. 1250 words))

It was mid day and the thick envelope I had received in this morning’s mail was still on the counter, unopened. I had spent much of the past week wondering what it could be that Cameron would send me but now that it was time to find out, I found myself apprehensive.

‘You can’t call him at midnight again.’ I bit my lip and grabbed the envelope and a letter opener in one swift motion as I headed to my bedroom.

I sat cross-legged on the bed and carefully opened the envelope. Two more paper envelopes were inside, along with a handwritten letter. I opened the envelopes first and gasped.

Inside the first one must have been $500 in crisp Canadian bills. I opened the second envelope, and a plane ticket fell out. Too shocked to look at the ticket yet, I opted for the letter he'd included.

Dearest Emily,

Enclosed is a ticket to come join me on the tour we will be starting in mid-July. The ticket is for the 23rd of June. I've included some cash so you can be safe and sound getting to the airport in Canada.

I will meet you at the terminal when you arrive, and we will have approx. two weeks before hitting the road in England. Then to France, Germany, Holland...

I know there will be shows until at least early October in Europe, and then we are to return to Scotland for a few local shows.

I hope you accept.

With love,

Cameron

I stared at the letter, my mouth gaping. "You might just like what I’ve sent," he had said, and he was right.

I was happy Cameron had done this, but shocked as well. I had expected him to say he would come here for my birthday in August, or vice versa, not that he was ready and willing to bring me on tour with him.

'I suppose it's a good thing I quit my job,' I said to myself with a chuckle.

I slowly counted the money and saw I'd been wrong, there was more than $500 here. In fact, there was enough to cover my rent for nearly the rest of the year, and get myself to the airport on the 23rd. That gave me about two weeks to figure all this out, but first, I had to call Cameron.

I got up from the bed and brought the envelope and all its contents with me to the kitchen. I placed them on the table and sat down while dialing for the operator, who then had to dial Cameron’s number twice before there was an answer.

My heart sank when I heard a woman’s voice, until I realized it was Sylvia.

"Emily! You must have gotten his letter! So, are you coming?"

"Could I talk to Cameron? Is he there?"

"Of course! The boys are just in the studio. I'll go get him," she informed me.

After a short minute, Cameron picked up the receiver.

"Emily?"

"Hi, Cameron," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, we are just here celebrating the finished product."

"The album is done?"

"Yes, and it's a banger!"

"That’s wonderful, Cameron." I paused for a moment, not sure what to say. I finally settled on something simple. "I got your letter."

"I'm glad to see that premium post means premium service," he quipped. "What have you decided?"

"I'll come," I said, and saw him smile in my mind. "I just don't know how I'll do all this."

"I thought you'd say that. Don't worry too much."

"You've got it all figured out for me?" I joked.

"Yes, I do. Keep some money for the trip to the airport, and give the rest to your sister to pay your rent when the time comes. Let your landlord know and make sure your fridge is empty when you leave."

"And you'll be at the airport waiting for me when I arrive," I added.

"I will."

"Alright. I guess I'll see you in two weeks, Cameron. But we will talk again sooner than that."

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I nearly burst into tears. What had I done, agreeing to leave the country for three months?

'You followed your heart,' I said to myself. ‘Now call Liliane.’

My sister was at my door within the hour. I’d told her over the phone that Cameron had invited me on tour with him, but that was all I said.

“Tell me everything,’” she demanded when she walked into my apartment.

“Here.” We were sitting at the kitchen table and I handed her the padded envelope. “Look inside.”

She pulled out the letter along with the rest of its contents and looked at me, shock evident on her face. “Is this a real plane ticket?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit.” Liliane paused and flipped through the money. “How much is here?”

“Around seven-fifty.”

“Holy shit,” she repeated. “Will you go?”

“I’ve already called him.”

“You called him? What did you say?”

I stood and put the kettle on. “Do you need a cup of tea? I need a cup.”

“Emily. What did you tell him?” Her voice was firm and she enunciated every word.

I turned around and looked right at her. “I said I would use the ticket.”

“You what?”

“He loves me, Liliane. Don’t look at me like that! I know it.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me. Before we left Scotland.”

Liliane stood and walked towards me. “He could be saying anything just to get you over there!”

“Why would he do that?” I snapped back. “Why would he give me that necklace, if he’s just using me?”

“What necklace?” Liliane’s face changed completely. I’d forgotten that I hadn’t told her of my last night with Cameron.

“This necklace.” I went into the bedroom and took it out from my jewellery box. “It was his mother’s,” I explained when she gasped at the beauty of it.

“It’s beautiful.”

“And so is he,” I told her. “He has a pure heart; he loves me. And I love him.”

Liliane looked up at me and handed back the necklace. “You do?”

“I do,” I said with a nod. Deciding to keep the letter I’d read on the plane from her still, I spoke about feelings instead. “You know when you just... know something, deep in your heart?”

“Yes.”

I felt a sharp pang of sadness. Liliane must know that feeling- she’d told me that’s what had made her take my beatings from our father.

“I’m sorry, Lil. I have to go.”

“I just want you safe,” was all she said.

“I will be safe. Just trust me.”

“I do trust you,” she said as the kettle began to whistle. Liliane took it off of the stove and I went back to my bedroom to put away the necklace.

By the time I reentered the kitchen, she had poured two cups of tea and put them on the table. We sat, and I took the opportunity to speak.

“If I give you six hundred, will you pay my rent up until October for me?”

“You’re painting again,” she noted, her eyes locked on the wall behind me. There were a half dozen canvases nailed to the wall, drying. “You haven’t painted since Gran got sick.”

I noticed her eyes watering. “Lil? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She turned to me. “And yes, I’ll pay your rent for you. I’ll need a key though, and the landlord’s phone number.”

“I will get you all that. Thanks, sis.”

---

Part 9

#wip rushing whispers #romance #romance wip #original content

11 notes · View notes

foreverlogical · 4 years

Link

To battle the economic crash from the coronavirus pandemic, Congress is sending Americans cash. The deal just hammered out will send $1,200 to every adult making under a certain income threshold, and $500 for every child. But will the money actually get to everyone?

In many cases, it turns out, it could take weeks or months. And many of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans will face further difficulties once the check arrives.

"The Treasury Department is expected to begin directly depositing checks within a few weeks of the bill's passing," The New York Times reported. "But mailed payments will take one or two weeks longer, Republican Senate aides said Wednesday." It sounds like the mailed checks, for individuals who don't have bank information already on file with the IRS, could take up to two months, and earlier reports suggested they could take up to four. And that time frame doesn't even get to the question of people who may be too poor to have filed taxes, who may move a lot, or who may not have reliable housing, and whose address has to be pieced together from Social Security data or the Veterans Administration.

Meanwhile, one out of every four U.S. households either has no bank account or has real trouble accessing one, which adds further hurdles to actually being able to use the money. "You'll have to cash that check, and take that cash and put it into a money order again to pay your bills," Mehsra Baradaran, a professor at the University of California at Irvine who studies banking inclusion and inequality, told The Week. That process will impose further fees, not to mention the costs, time, and effort required to physically go from the check casher to the utility and landlord's offices to pay bills and rent.

Senate Democrats, including Sen. Sherrod Brown's office, tried to do something about this. Baradaran helped Brown draft a provision that would give any American who needed it a free banking account — available at any local bank or post office — in which the $1,200 aid could be directly dropped. Others in the House, like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), have their own proposals to do something similar. Ultimately, none of this made it into the Senate deal, which has now passed the House and is headed to President Trump for signing. But Brown and Tlaib have also introduced their proposals as standalone bills. And we really need to fix this, for both moral and economic reasons.

Around 8.4 million U.S. households (or 6.5 percent) are "unbanked," meaning they have no bank account at all. Another 24.2 million households (18.7 percent) are "underbanked," meaning they technically have a bank account but have real difficulty using it. As Baradaran explained, low-income Americans' finances don't mesh well with banks' business models, which are designed more for the steady income flows of the middle class. Less fortunate Americans are constantly hit with fees for things like overdrafts or not having enough money in their accounts. Nor are they particularly profitable for banks, so many institutions have simply abandoned those communities, leaving people with either no banking option, or a branch that's 50 miles away. Regulations used to require banks to keep a branch in every community, but those rules were dismantled in the 1990s, and "those voids were filled with payday lenders and check cashers" as Baradaran put it. Those outfits charge even more onerous fees and interest rates for their services.

Imagine the U.S. payments system as three concentric networks, with each network serving different groups — and each of very different quality. The innermost circle links the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve with the major private banks, and those banks to each other. This network can settle transactions extremely fast, say three to five days. (There are efforts afoot to get this down to 24 hours or less.)

The next network out is essentially the public-facing side of the private banking system — it's what connects individuals and households and businesses to the banks. This is the network that can get everyone their direct deposits in a few weeks.

This situation is already rather remarkable, since we have a public system — the first innermost network — that no one but big private banks are allowed to participate in. Meanwhile, private for-profit banks get the privilege of being the middle-man between that public system and the actual public. "There's no reason banks should be that middle man unless they're mandated to give everyone an account, and they're not," Baradaran noted.

Things are even worse out at the fringes of the circles of inclusion. That's the third network that serves the unbanked and the underbanked and people less directly tied into the second network. This is where people have to wait two months for a check in the mail, cash it with a bank if they're lucky, and otherwise go through the whole obstacle course of check cashers and payday lenders and money orders.

At a minimum, we should plug the people in the third fringe network directly into the first, which is what Brown's bill would do. Under that proposal, when your check got mailed to you, you could pick it up at the post office and open a simple banking account — free, no fees, no minimums — that would plug you directly into the Fed and Treasury Department's payment system. You could cash your check right there and use the money via a debit card that would come with the account, without dealing with any profit-seeking third parties.

Providing a public option for basic banking services via the U.S. Postal Service is an idea that's actually been floating around for a while — in fact America did do that, from 1911 to 1966. (There are also proposals to just give every American an account with the Federal Reserve directly.) Baradaran said her "dream version would be every post office would have this option" — i.e. use this scheme to take every American in both the second and third networks, and plug them directly into the first, innermost network. But Brown's more limited bill would've at least plugged the third network's unbanked and underbanked into that first inner network.

Admittedly, this wouldn't completely solve the initial problem of how fast the checks go out. But it would help, and it would end the obstacles and exploitation that marginalized Americans face when using the money. And if Congress needs to authorize more of these payments — which will almost certainly be needed — the bank accounts will now be in place.

Tlaib's bill is even more ambitious: It would give every American a pre-paid debit card that would plug directly into that inner network, and that Congress and the Treasury Department could automatically refill with money whenever they wanted. In fact, Tlaib's proposal called for four payments of $2,000 each to every person of all ages. "It's trying to provide a novel infrastructure through the pre-paid cards, to get past the limitations of direct deposit or mailing checks," Rohan Grey, president of the Modern Money Network, who helped Tlaib's office draft the proposal, told The Week. (News reports tended to ignore this aspect of Tlaib's bill, focusing instead on its unusual financing mechanism: have the Treasury Department mint trillion-dollar coins and deposit them with the Fed to avoid having to issue new debt.)

The U.S. government already uses similar debit card systems for programs like food stamps, so the basic infrastructure is in place. Between mailing the cards and making them available for distribution at banks and post offices and schools and the like, Tlaib's proposal might actually have been able to get the first payment out even faster. And again, further payments would be automatic, and the debit card system could be integrated with a postal banking public option or Fed-accounts-for-all down the line.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, none of these ideas made it into the final package. It's not clear why, but we can speculate: lobbyists for industries like payday lenders have clout on Capitol Hill, and these proposals would be an existential threat to their industry. For the moment, the ease and reliability of that inner network remains a privilege reserved for the powers of the banking and financial industries, while we mere citizens have to deal with the private banking system on its terms — and the least fortunate among us are left out in the cold entirely.

Many of the millions who have already lost jobs probably need money now. Even people who still have jobs, but who don't earn much, face a coming cascade of hardships, from the need for food, rent, utility bills, and more. (The government also didn't do itself any favors by making the money means-tested, which will add further time for government agencies to calculate what everyone is owed.) Millions of human beings will suffer because of the delay. Meanwhile, the longer it takes for that money to hit people's pocketbooks, the more time there is for the negative feedback loop of job loss leading to less spending leading to business closures leading to more job loss to build on itself, deepening the hole the economy will eventually have to dig out of.

But Congress can always pass more bills, and by all accounts the coronavirus crisis will last long enough that political pressure for more cash aid to average Americans will likely become overwhelming. The sooner we can stand up a fast and simple public banking option for all, the faster we can get aid out to everyone — both in this crisis and the next.

Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.

VISIT WEBSITE

5 notes · View notes

pharaohsparklefists · 5 years

Text

Are you ready for Episode 116 part 1 of 3???

Kaiba is not ready. He’s done! He’s totally done! He’s done with...

... the ... pity farces...? Uh, yeah, buddy, aren’t we all?

Kaiba has an opportunity to end the duel (PLEASE) but he does not take it because Noah uses Mokuba as a “shield”. I’m putting shield in sarcasm-quotes because IT’S A CARD GAME INSIDE A VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATOR, Mokuba is not in any actual danger whatsoever.

The peanut gallery thinks this was the wrong move, and so do I, but we rather differ on the details

That’s blatantly untrue! He’s shown arrogance, smugness, a lack of humanity, callousness, cruelty, spite, genocidal tendencies-- oh you meant a strategic flaw, not a personality flaw? Well he came within one human-shield-deployment of losing outright and he’s already used BOTH his Deck Master abilities even though it should only have one, so I don’t see what the big deal--

A FUCKING THIRD FUCKING DECK MASTER ABILITY go die in a hole you smear of shit

Seriously! How is Kaiba not like “wait a minute this seems kinda like bullshit, are you just making these up?” THIS ability lets him add 500 LP for every Monster in the Ark by removing them from play entirely.

Yugi points out if he’d just done that one turn sooner...

Because he’s the wooooorst!

At this point, Kaiba goes into a flashback, triggered by guilt and fear seeing Mokuba on Noah’s side. He justifies his harshness towards Mokuba the day of the takeover:

BUT NEVER CLARIFIED THAT OUT LOUD TO MOKUBA APPARENTLY.

He remembers how proud he was of Mokuba and how completely he trusted and trusts in their mutual love and loyalty to one another...

BUT NEVER OUT LOUD TO MOKUBA APPARENTLY

Yugi sees that this is all going rather pear-shaped and decides to impart some hard-won knowledge to Kaiba by screaming it at the back of his unreceptive head

“Who is that tiny shrieking gnome? Is that...? No I can’t tell, he’s too far away.”

Yugi reminds Kaiba of the recent traumatic near-death experience Yugi and Jou went through and Kaiba witnessed, when Malik forced Yugi and brainwashed!Jounouchi to duel TO THE DEATH

“that pinch” = they both really almost drowned to death for real

Jounouchi: Yuug I think I might be suffering from PTSD

Yugi: haha yeah, we have been in a few jolly bothersome scrapes!

Anyway Yugi manages to get it into Kaiba’s skull - thick though it is with contrariness and rugged individualism - that he should attempt to evoke the bond Kaiba and Mokuba share. Kaiba’s like, huh...

“Should I tell Mokuba I love him? ... No, better! I’ll play a CARD in this CARD GAME that Mokuba doesn’t even play. Nice. Nailed it. Best big brother ever. All I have to do is DRAW THE CARD!”

“Fuck.”

Bored, Noah [deep pained sigh] moves on to the fifth staging post on his violently inaccurate timeline of Earth’s history.

nnnnoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rapid???? CYCLES?????????

THIS IS LITERALLY A WORSE UNDERSTANDING OF EVOLUTION THAN FUCKING POKÉMON

And then he immediately says, like the NEXT fucking SENTENCE is...

Shhhh. Listen. Yes, you, reading this recap. Close your eyes. Do you hear that? A high, ragged note, right at the very edge of your hearing? That’s the faint echo of the shriek of rage I emitted at this point in episode one hundred and sixteen of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. It will ring in the air for the rest of time, powered by the rage of a hundred thousand baffled geologists.

Ignoring literally everything Noah says (a strategy I could recommend to one Seto Kaiba), check out the city materialising in the background. The half-building just hoving into sight is KaibaCorp tower, and Noah now summons a KaibaCorp fighter plane, which flies out of the tower...

(I like the helipad and there’s a crane on the opposite jutting-out-bit, like they build things up there, which is cool!)

... and then just vanishes to come “out” of the holographic card anyway so why even fucking bother?

Noah equips the plane with two Magic Cards which allow it to deal damage even if it’s a Monster in Defense Mode it hits, which Kaiba’s dimension-hopping dragon is. The dragon arrives back from an alternate dimension every time it’s destroyed, so the plane can hit it again, which in Noah’s opinion is super great...

He’s the worst. The anxiously watching Nerd Herd agree...

Um. Well. Much as I hate to defend this geology-abusing shithead. In fairness. “keep attacking until your opponent loses” is not, shall we say, actually bad, wrong, evil, or freakish? Like that’s .... the game?

Another turn, another chance for Kaiba to USE HIS MOUTH-WORDS to maybe TELL MOKUBA THAT HE LOVES HIM

... or he could continue trying to draw a card. that’s fine too. it’ll probably work.

Noah starts laying out his like, endgame plan here, which involves stealing Kaiba’s body specifically, dying its hair turquoise I assume, and taking over KaibaCorp

You will absolutely not, you fig-headed lick of dish scum, because your ~knowledge~ is vastly inferior to My First Earth Science Book for fucking playschool kids.

Frustrated, scared, and angry, something in Kaiba finally snaps and he actually comes out with a genuinely devastating trash-talk takedown

OUCH

DEMOLISH HIM KAIBA

YES YOU MAGNIFICENT JERK!

#he's actually calling him a jerk because Kaiba snarked back at the Nerd Herd's encouragement #but anything for a cheap joke #Yu-Gi-Oh!#episode 116 #sparklefists watches ygo #seto kaiba #Mokuba #Noah #yugi #Jounouchi Katsuya #nerd herd #Hiroto Honda #robot honda

112 notes · View notes

shirlleycoyle · 4 years

Text

How Mail Is Delivered During Natural Disasters

This article was sent on Tuesday to subscribers of The Mail, Motherboard’s pop-up newsletter about the USPS, election security, and democracy. Subscribe to get the next edition before it is published here, as well as exclusive articles and the paid zine.

Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of The Mail. Before we get started, two quick announcements.

First, we're getting the zine ready for the printer, which means this is your last chance to sign up if you want to get it, and I really think you will. Here’s a preview:

Zine preview

I can’t wait to get my copy. Make sure you get yours by clicking the button below.

Second, our colleagues at Waypoint are doing their annual fundraiser called Savepoint to raise funds for National Bailout. You can read more about it here, but basically it's a gameathon to raise money. The whole shebang will be broadcast on Waypoint's Twitch channel. I will be joining Motherboard's Editor-in-Chief Jason Koebler on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern to talk about post office things. Hope you can join us!

Ed Curzon had two minutes to get out. It was the morning of October 8, 2017 in Santa Rosa, California, and he awoke to the smell of smoke and the sight of glowing orange embers blowing in the wind. The houses across the street were on fire.

"So think of everything in two minutes that you'd want to take from your home, and that's pretty much what we took," Curzon said in an interview for a National Letter Carriers Association documentary about the fires. "We got the dogs, each other, a pillow and a blanket, our cell phones, our IDs, and that's about as much time as we had to get out."

Curzon's home of 29 years burned down that day, along with virtually all the homes in Coffey Park, a neighborhood in Santa Rosa. It was the hardest hit neighborhood in the hardest hit city of the most destructive wildfire in California history up to that point.

Curzon was one of 13 letter carriers in Santa Rosa who lost their homes. The fires continued to burn in the city for more than a week, filling the air with smoke and ash. But just a few days after losing his house, Curzon went back to work.

Jerry Andersen, president of the NALC Branch 183 in Santa Rosa, told Motherboard recently that Curzon wasn't the only one who went back to work despite losing so much. "We asked them why they were coming in and they said 'I don't have anything to do.' And they felt they had their duty to deliver the mail."

It may seem odd that letter carriers felt the need to deliver mail while fires were still burning. After all, it was 2017. Many Americans—especially ones in Santa Rosa, not far from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley—probably believe everything important happens online or, at worst, over the phone. In a disaster, do people really need their mail?

According to FEMA, the answer is yes. Delivering mail is considered a "Primary Mission Essential Function," meaning it must be resumed within 12 hours of any emergency event.

The reason for this is simple. People impacted by hurricanes, wildfires, blizzards, flooding, and pandemics need things, whether it be food, medicine, clothes, blankets, or any number of other physical objects to stay alive and begin the process of rebuilding their lives. The post office brings these things to people. And, through tools like mail forwarding, it keeps track of where people are in a way no other federal agency can.

Not only do Americans in distress need their mail, but they need their mail carriers, who have unparalleled local knowledge about their neighborhoods and the people who live there.

That's one of the reasons Curzon went back to work while the remains of his home were still smoldering. In the documentary, he explained "I don't know why I went to work, but I have a lot of elderly people on my route and some special needs people and there was such a lack of communication. There was smoke everywhere, there was a lot of confusion on the streets. Half of me wanted to run away from this problem and the other half wanted to make sure some of those people are going to be OK."

Some carriers in Santa Rosa returned to their routes only to find virtually all of the homes along it were no longer there. One carrier had 293 homes along her route before the fire. Afterwards, there were only 18 still standing. As Curzon demonstrated, they know which families are especially vulnerable and need to be sought out for emergency care.

Not only do postal workers go back to work sooner than anyone else in the face of disaster, but they keep working through conditions most others wouldn't tolerate. There has perhaps never been a more illustrative year than the one we are currently living through. Through the pandemic, hurricanes, and now historic wildfires burning across the west, the USPS has, for the most part, continued to deliver the mail.

Of course, you won't see any LLV delivery trucks plowing through flames (unless, of course, the flames are coming from the truck itself). The USPS does, in fact, stop delivering mail when conditions become unsafe. For example, when local authorities issue evacuation orders for wildfires or hurricanes, postal workers leave, too.

In fact, where the USPS has stopped delivering mail is about as good of a snapshot as you'll get of where in America is currently in a desperate crisis. The USPS National Map is a kind of Down Detector for the post office. It shows which of the USPS's 32,000-plus facilities are experiencing limited or no service due to issues ranging from power outages, maintenance issues, and natural disasters along with NOAA map overlays. As of Monday early afternoon, the map looked like this:

USPS service status map. Screenshot: USPS National Map

As you can see, there are a lot of closed post offices where Tropical Storm Sally is making landfall in the Gulf Coast and along the wildfires in the west. In most of those areas, delivery is suspended as well. You can find a full list of residential service disruptions at the USPS's website here.

It is impossible to write about the post office delivering (or not) in harsh conditions without mentioning its unofficial motto "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." This sentence—written by Herodotus about the couriers ferrying news during the Persian Wars of 500 B.C—is inscribed on the majestic James A. Farley post office complex in Manhattan (which was also, somewhat ironically given the inscription, the epicenter of the 1970 postal workers strike). But the USPS's official mission statement reads as if Herodotus got a lobotomy:

The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities.

For the countless times I've had postal workers recite Herodotus's words back to me or seen the sentence cited in some scholarly or literary work about the post office, I have never heard anyone mention its "mission statement." Hardly surprising, really, I just typed the sentence and can barely even remember it.

But I don't think it's just because Herodotus's words are easier to remember and more poetic. In one sentence, it provides what every corporate mission statement fails to achieve. It inspires people, or at the very least reminds them of a profound sense of purpose.

And many postal workers latch onto that inspiration. Working through wildfires in particular, where health officials tell people to stay indoors as much as they possibly can, is a physically taxing experience. For example, Portland, Oregon is experiencing some of the worst air quality the country has ever seen at the moment, but postal workers are still making their deliveries.

I spoke to one letter carrier there who described the city as "apocalyptic" right now. When he's gotten off of work the last few days, he has a layer of grit all over his skin, needs to stick a q-tip up his nostrils to get the black smut out, and has a blistering headache. The N95 masks only do so much. He said the smoky air is much worse than other extreme weather like heat waves or ice storms, because you can take a break from those. But not the wildfires. "I don't think I'd ever get used to this," he said. "Every single second I'm out in this stuff, all I can think is I can't wait for this to be over."

When disaster strikes, we look for robustness. We look for the big structures that won't blow away in the storm, the concrete fire-resistant gymnasiums, the places we expect to survive, and we count on them to see us through the worst of it. We look for the people who respond well in crisis, who know what to do when times are tough, who react quickly, decisively, and knowledgeably. So, too, do we look for robust institutions to help us get back on our feet. Not the ones that deliver to us only if it is profitable or easy, but the ones that are here for us every day, that endure. And, despite everything that has happened to the post office over the years and decades, there is still no American institution more robust than the post office.

In the documentary about Santa Rosa, Andersen used a phrase I have been thinking about a lot when reading the news coverage about the current wildfires. He said that once the first responders like the EMTs, firefighters, and police move on to the next tragedy, the post office workers are "the second responders. We're there and showing people hey, we're back, and we're going to make this right."

This has been a year for second responders, the ones who quietly make life possible. The post office is far from a perfect institution, but in times of trouble, we seek normalcy. And there is nothing more normal, nothing more routine, than getting the mail.

When I spoke to Andersen about all this, he said after the Santa Rosa fires, he noticed something strange. He doesn't know how to explain it, but even in neighborhoods entirely wiped out by the fires, where every single house burned down, one thing seemed to still be standing in front of every lot. For some reason, the mailboxes were still there.

The Week In Mail

Mail-in voting news:

My colleagues at VICE put together a guide on how to vote by mail in all 50 states.

Many states have harsh penalties for anyone who double votes, as Trump has encouraged his supporters to do. In Georgia, the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is alleging hundreds if not thousands of Georgians did exactly that in the June primary, although he hasn't presented any evidence of it yet. Either way, it's worth noting here how easily someone could accidentally vote twice if election officials screw up. Let's say you send in your vote-by-mail ballot, but then go to the polls just to make sure your vote was counted, only to find it wasn't, so you vote in person, because election officials mistakenly didn't relay to the poll workers your vote had been tallied. Is that a crime? Raffensperger says yes: "“At the end of the day, the voter was responsible and the voters know what they were doing. A double voter knows exactly what they were doing, diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law.”

Colorado sued the USPS over a vote-by-mail information postcard being sent to every residential address in the country. On Saturday, a judge issued a restraining order against the USPS from sending the postcards out in that state. The state's argument is that the postcard contains misinformation because it tells voters to request a ballot at least 15 days before the election, but a handful of states like Colorado automatically mail a ballot to every voter. The judge ruled the postcard is likely to confuse voters and therefore should not be sent. I must admit, of all the things that could potentially cause "irreparable harm" to the voting process in Colorado or any state, this postcard seems low on the risk list to me. The bullet point above the one Colorado took issue with says "Rules and dates vary by state, so contact your election board to confirm.” It then directs people to the url usps.com/votinginfo, which is little more than a portal to your state election website. Even if someone completely misinterprets the postcard into thinking they have to request a ballot when they don’t, all they will do is go online and see that they don’t have to request a ballot. Considering all the insane rhetoric about vote-by-mail coming from the White House all the way down, does anyone really believe this is what will confuse people? If nothing else, this goes to show just how poorly the USPS works with states on vote-by-mail issues. The lawsuit is here and the postcard is on the third page.

USPS news:

A Senate report found mail-order pharmacies reported an increase in average delivery times between 18-32 percent in the summer. Good thing no one relies on prompt delivery of…medicine?

“This man is doing a tremendous job,” USPS Republican board member John Barger said of DeJoy last week. Similarly, the USPS says service is continuing to improve without acknowledging why it tanked to begin with.

The USPS is refusing to release DeJoy's calendars for completely bullshit reasons because the calendars of public officials are public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The courts will eventually force them to do this, but probably not until well after the election.

My Motherboard colleague Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reported on a potentially catastrophic security vulnerability that the USPS Inspector General found had been hiding in their computer systems for years. USPS says they fixed it. I asked Lorenzo what he thought about this story and he said "Government systems tend to be shittily maintained but this could have been really bad."

Little known fact: “Mr. Trump entered the White House when not a single [USPS] board member was in place — Republicans had blocked all of President Barack Obama’s nominees — and as its long-term fiscal viability was increasingly in doubt.”

Postcards

We have received more than 50 postcards! Thank you so much to everyone who has sent them in. In addition to featuring some here, we’re including many more in the zine. So keep ‘em coming!

And, as a reminder, we'll be doing a snail mailbag at some point in the future, so if you have questions feel free to start mailing them in.

Our address is:

VICE Media c/o Aaron Gordon 49 S 2nd St. Brooklyn, NY 11211

Postcard

I couldn't capture the holographic element of the T.rex stamp, but I can assure you it was indeed sick. Also, I hate to disappoint J. but I do not have any cool stamps. I bought a bunch of the frog forever stamps for my personal correspondence, but I'm looking to get some better ones.

See you next week,

Aaron

How Mail Is Delivered During Natural Disasters syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

0 notes

humans-are-seriously-weird · 7 years

Text

on the post about earth prison, what if humans were once a major threat to the universe?

The humans are a horrid race where each individual could match 3 alien soldier equivelents and their society was ruled in a strict militaristic Empire. They had taken over a quarter of the universe before they could be thwarted. It took everyone else left to band together and take them out, culling their race in a costly war that spaned millenium. Eventually they got us down to an endangered species, only the richest diplomats who payed their way to be given the ‘mercy’ of being placed into a inhospitable prison with memory wipes. Earth. No technology on planet, heck the whole sol system is in a intergalactic black out zone to insure that no outsiders can find them in the chance certain individuals were payed off to save them before hand. Covered in more deseases than any place else in the universe, many of the strongest predators gathered and placed there to keep their numbers in check, with a good spinkling of poisoness plants and animals for good measure. A hair balanced ecosystem was also created so that in the off chance they happen to start progressing technologically again, in the minimum 6000 years (500 faster than the fastest progressing race recorded in universal history) it will take them to progress through the industrial age, their entire planet would have have become devoid of any form of sustenance to support themselves and they will either have to give up or die.

this is all punctuated with their already small planet being mostly covered in undrinkable water and filled with even more deadly creatures so as to deter them from populating its surface, hence keeping their numbers down. While this resulted in some of the landmasses being a little too hospitable, we evened things out by altering their structure until there was a constant threat of natural disasters to deter them from settling in those areas. We even went as far as placing fake evolutionary fossils around to help turn them away from thoughts of where they came from leading to ideas about space travel. I think we can safely assume they will serve their punishment for their races crimes well here, or die trying to escape it.

~year 3452AD earth years~

After finding a drifting peice of strange metal in space, a trading ship sent it into our department as it seemed to be sending out a strange noise on radio wavelengths. something only descovered due to certain animal cargo they were transporting stressing out when near the device. After our department analysed it and found it to be a message of peace we were exstatic, hoping to meet a new species to introduce to the galaxy. However the excitement died down quickly once its point of origin was tracked down… a black out zone containing the most heinous of criminals. Due to how it was traveling through space, we believe it was sent over 1000 years ago. Which should be impossible as due to all calculations they should barely be out of the stone age by now… these implications are worrying to say the least, and unbelievable to most. Although the majority have come to the conclusion it is simply some distastful prank, we must check to be sure.

And so the first check up on the human prison was started. A fleet of 300 science vessals to quickly scan the planet and leave within a few days. They also were accompanied by 20 military ships to deter any would-be pirates. They all enter ftl with the destination of earths moon to set up a temporary station while the scanning will be on going.

The crew is discussing and argueing about whether the humans will either be dead or they will get to see the galactic boogey men poking at monsterous beasts such as the legendary ferocious 'bull’ with sticks. Only to be shocked into silence upon exit of ftl to see litterally tens of thousands of battle space ships aiming their weaponry at them, their sensors indicating that at least 20 of the biggest ships have weaponry that can wipe through a quarter of their fleet and their sheilds in a single blast. After only 5 minutes of silence their com links seem to have already been hacked through and a screen opens with a terrifying angry human on the other side shouting at them in another language, after a breif few seconds the auto translator kicks in and their voice rocks them to the core.

“I repeat! You are in the United Continents of Earths no space flight zone! Identify yourselves immediately or by law we will be forced to remove you perminantly via lethal means!”

The chief scientist scrambles at the controls before managing to hit the right button “W-we come in peace! j-just some civilian vessals passing through, we will just… turn and go now! haha!” he blurts out nervously as a few crew facepalm and the rest sweat just as nervously.

“civilians is it? a likely story! Do you take me as a fool!?”

“oh no of c-”

“I dont even need to glance at my scanners to see the military vessels hidden among your fleet! Who are you allied to?! Is it those red mars scum!? no… the ship style isnt like them… Ah, you must be part of those damn reclusive jupitarians huh? the saturnites giving you too much trouble so you tried to sneak back the homeworld did you? well too ba-” the angry human is interrupted by a smaller and thinner human arriving beside him, handing over a peice of glass with glowing letters before saluting and running off. The angry man peruses it for a short while, tension in the air before a disturbingly sweet smile crosses his face.

“Well well, honored guests from another galaxy is it? forgive my inhospitality earlier, i was unaware who you were. It seems obvious we couldnt identify you sooner now. Please, do let us guide you down planet side so we can talk further on this…” he glances down at the glass again “ FTL drive. I am sure we can come to a reasonable understanding.”

Alien crew members start screaming things like “oh gods! how do they-” “we cant!” “we would be hated as the villains who brought mankind back to the universe!” “were screwed!” before they are quitened down and the cheif researcher tries to see if they can be reasoned with.

“o-oh, we simply couldnt, perhaps another time! uhh, we really dont want to inconvenience you.”

“oh no, I insist.” the human punctuates his words by waving his hand in a seemingly meaningless gesture… if you were able to ignore the entire fleet of tens of thousands of warships move out almost immediately after to surround them.

“fuck…”

(this idea got a little away from me, plus bad writing cuz im lazy on my mobile)

694 notes · View notes

katerbees · 7 years

Text

--Home-- Elide and Lorcan post TOG books Chapter two

Hope you all like it :) A Throne of Glass favorite is re-appearing in the next chapter and some territorial Fae nonsense

Chapter 2 __________________

Lorcan was a warrior who was used to a regimented lifestyle. A soldier. As such he wanted to create a stringent schedule for himself. He awoke with the sun every morning to engage in his combat exercises. He would then go hunt for game and return to clean and cook it. They didn’t even need the food. He kept his mind busy to keep it from wandering and to keep the path in front of him steady. It had worked for him for 500 years. It had worked for so long before he had met Elide. And even though he was around her again, he decided, for now, old Lorcan was who she would need: a finely tuned killing machine. One that ready to lay down his life for hers and protect her at any cost. In his heart and mind, he considered himself blood-sworn to her for the rest of her life.

Elide had set up her meager belongings in a large apartment that had previously been used for important guests of Perranth. She had no desire yet to go to her parent’s old bedroom, nor to the one of her childhood. It felt like she would be walking on someone’s grave. She had walked through enough graveyards in Morath.

She was a lady. She didn’t feel like one. Or look like one. Or smell like one. She smiled at that last one. At least that one could be fixed by a bath. She collected some wood from the kitchen; while Vernon’s soldiers didn’t bathe often, they certainly stuffed their lazy faces on a regular basis, judging by the larder and the amount of firewood they had stockpiled. She grabbed a bundle of logs and took them to her room. She then set forth to grab buckets of water for her bath. Lorcan was swinging his hatchet around, practicing defensive movements today. His shirt was off, his hair pulled back away from his face to maximize his peripheral vision. He detected movement to his left. The Fae warrior stopped swinging his hatchet and saw Elide limping with a handful of heavy logs, walking through the courtyard from the kitchens to the apartments. He thought to ask her if she needed help, but stopped himself before speaking. She had made it clear to him what his role was around here. However, a few minutes later when he saw her struggling with two jugs of water, he moved to help her. Faster than a human, Lorcan swooped in and removed them from Elide’s small hands.

“Hey! I had those!” Elide shouted at him “Yes, and now I do. These are quite heavy. Where do you want them?” Lorcan remained calm, easily placing the two jugs on his shoulder. Purposefully putting them out of Elide’s reach. Elide’s mouth tightened and she actually made to jump for them, her arms up over her head, aimed at Lorcan’s shoulders. She collided with Lorcan’s rock hard body and at that exact instant realized that he was shirtless. And glistening with sweat. She looked up at him, flustered, a small amount of heat across her cheeks.

“You’re supposed to be guarding the castle, not playing nursemaid,” Elide hissed, backing up a few inches.

“The closest people are a solid 5 kilometers away and, while headed this direction, are not in a hurry, and sound quite relaxed. Therefore, I am prepared to take on a few extra duties, such as water jug delivery for the Lady of the house” Lorcan responded, his black eyes almost smiling. Gods he had missed talking to her so much. Elide sighed and clicked her tongue. “May I remind you, Lorcan” she said his name harshly “that while I was in Morath, I was responsible for hauling buckets of water up and down countless flights of stairs, multiple times a day, while my legs were chained together.” It all came out harsh, and mean, and worse than she expected and she almost felt bad because at first she had meant it to tease back, but once all of those words came out, she realized that none of it was funny. It was all just sad. And maybe it was horrible, but she thought Lorcan could deal with a bit more pain for the shit he had put her through. The ball was back in his court. Lorcan stood there; this was not how he expected this conversation to go, he just wanted to help Elide carry some water and save her the trouble. Indeed he would never forget that Elide had been put through hell at Morath. He had beaten Vernon to death with that chain Elide had been forced to wear. Slowly, and mercilessly.

He had also wondered, “what if?” What if he had set on his mission sooner? Would he have reached Morath when elide was there? Would he have been able to stop her from being sent to the dungeon at least? Would he have even noticed her? He had been so arrogant.

Lorcan sighed. And told Elide the truth. “I just wanted to help you. Just because. Not because I didn’t think you could do it. Please let me.“ If she pushed more, he would push too. But for now, he hoped she would just accept his help. Elide sighed, nodded her head ,and turned on her heel and allowed the warrior to carry the water to her bathing room. Lorcan braced her ankle the entire way. She did not complain. Lorcan gave himself a quick wash. Those voices he had heard earlier were getting closer. Four males, two females. Definitely smelled human. They were speaking in normal jovial tones, not trying to hide their presence. He went back to Elide’s apartment and knocked on the door. “Elide” he called out. “There will be people here within the hour. They do not immediately pose a threat of being Valg, witch, or fae, however we will need to be ready for them.” He was yelling through the door. No response. He rapped his fingers twice against the door again and gently opened it a few inches. Her scent hit him like a physical blow. It had been so long since either of them had the luxury of enjoying a real bath, he had lost her scent. And now, cinnamon and elderberry were cascading all around him. He lost the ability to speak or think to breathe.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. I can’t. He had to get away. Lorcan turned away from the door, slouched against the wall , and slowly sat down against it. His long legs splayed out in front of him. Go to her. I can’t. Make this stop. I can’t. Dueling voices in his mind. He was certain he would never hear that voice again. He was sure Hellas would have disappeared after the final battle. The gods were supposed to be gone. Lorcan’s hands were trembling; he was not used to arguing with a god.

Elide couldn’t remember the last time she had taken a nice warm bath. She had taken a very short one when she and Lorcan worked at the carnival. But she had been so concerned about her where her clothes would be, how to tell Lorcan about her uncle, and people finding out her secrets, that she wasn’t close to being relaxed. No. This bath was different. She had eased into a full tub of water. A true luxury. She then began the task of scrubbing months’ worth of road dirt off of her body and hair. As she did this, she took some time to think.

At first all she could think about was getting Lorcan’s sweat off of her neck and arms from they had collided. She had touched his sweaty chest. She lingered on that thought for a few seconds, remembering their time together in the fortune teller’s tent; his well-muscled body sitting across from her asking her all sorts of prodding questions about her bedroom life. A heat wave filled her body. She then remembered the words she had said to him a few moments ago. He had genuinely wanted to help her and she bit his head off.

Elide hated being mad. She hated the person it made her into. Even those years she hated Vernon , she was still able to hold out hope. Hope for a better world. Considering all that she had been though she wasn’t even that sure why she was so mad at Lorcan. But she was. Ughhh it was all just so confusing. She decided it was because she had actually trusted and cared for Lorcan. Vernon was just evil in her mind. She didn’t ever expect better. She expected things from Lorcan. That night in the marshes seemed to belong to a different time and two different people. He did it for you.

Elide looked around her room. She recognized that voice instantly. She hadn’t heard it in months. Her goddess who watched over her should be gone. Gone home with the other gods. That’s what was supposed to happen when they banished Erawan. It was for you. The voice again. Elide shook her wet hair, combing her fingers through the tangles. She was not one to ignore the goddess usually, but today, she was not up to this discussion. Lorcan had mentioned people were arriving. People who expected to see a Lady. Not some confused little girl. Elide stood up from her tub and wrapped herself up in a warm towel she had left sitting in front of the fireplace. That’s when she noticed her door was open. Elide picked up the poker sitting next to the fireplace and slowly, stealthily, headed for the door. Once she reached it, she quickly popped it open.

And there was Lorcan. Sitting next to her door. His back up against the bricks. Looking down. Looking defeated. “What are you doing out here?” Elide asked, surprising herself with the gentleness in her voice. She placed the poker up against the door. Lorcan looked up at her. And it was then she saw that he had been crying.

Lorcan felt like an idiot. Here he was, a 500 year old Fae warrior crying outside a 20 year old woman’s bedroom like some love sick fool. But he couldn’t stop the tears. And Hellas was not helping. Hellas who had guided him through his entire life, who had been there for every kill Lorcan had ever made, who Lorcan had thought he would never hear from again, had just spoken to him and told him to go to Elide. Why did this all hurt so much?

Lorcan looked up at Elide, her tiny frame covered by a towel, her scent filling the entire hallway. His body was flooded with warmth.

“Lorcan?” Elide asked again. She now crouched to his level so that her face was mere inches from his. “What’s wrong?”

Where would he even start? How could he even start? Even when he and Elide had been on the best of terms, he wasn’t one to sit down and discuss his feelings. But here he was with his damn eyes leaking so there was really no way to get out of it. “It doesn’t matter,” was his only reply. He attempted to gracefully wipe the tears from his eyes.

“Lorcan. Even though I’m mad at you, I still care about you. If you want to talk to me about it, I’m here for you” Elide said in a genuinely kind voice. With that sweet mouth that Lorcan loved so much. He found himself staring at it and he wanted so badly to reach over, gently grab her face, and kiss her. But he knew better. Any contact would have to be initiated by Elide. He would always respect her even though every fiber in his being and even a god was screaming at him to embrace her. To breather her in and never let go.

Elide gave Lorcan’s left forearm a squeeze and returned to standing position. And then that sweet girl put her hand out, as if she would actually be able to help Lorcan get up. That gesture was enough to make Lorcan almost smile. He took Elide by the hand and allowed himself to be helped up by the diminutive woman.

Elide looked up at him, trying to judge how much would be too much to push, “so did you originally come here to cry on my doorstep or did you have some news for me?” Lorcan snorted, “It just so happened that I am a man of many talents, and after my afternoon session of releasing my eye strain, I had planned to alert you that your first visitors, Lady Elide, should be here within the hour. I shall make sure the throne room is ready so you may receive them if you desire.” Lorcan puffed out his chest, proud of his quick recovery.

Elide only half rolled her eyes. She put her hand up to her forehead and saluted Lorcan “Very well my esteemed captain of the guard, you are dismissed.” Lorcan stood there for a few more seconds, staring at Elide. Elide raised her eyebrows at him as though to say what? “Thank you” Lorcan said. It occurred to Elide that it may have been the first time those words had ever come out of his mouth.

#elide #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #lorcan #elorcan #elide x lorcan #throne of glass #queen of shadows #empire of storms #fanfic #fanfiction #tog fanfiction #romance #tog fandom

122 notes · View notes

littlebeansplayhouse-blog · 5 years

Text

Trendds Review – A Comprehensive Review [Should You Buy It?]

Just recently, a new content curation software came on the market. The creators of the platform were Mark Bishop, a

software developer, and his two partners, Venkata and Prady. The tool? It goes by the name “Trendds”. This isn’t the only product from Mark Bishop. He owns several other SEO software such as Content, Ecompare, and more.

What’s this new content curation tool and what useful features does it come with? That’s what this Trendds review covers. We will look at what the platform offers, how to use it in your online ventures, the cost to purchase it, and if it’s worth buying. Let’s start by understanding what the software is all about.

What Is Trendds?

It’s an online software that helps you identify keywords, phrases, and topics that are currently hot and trending. Related content, too, that you can curate and increase traffic within a short time. Trendds also provides you with a way to monetize the content that you intend to republish and make money while at it.

Who Should Use Trendds?

The tool is perfect if you’re:

An online marketer whose business needs a lot of traffic- Trendds helps you to find content that people are searching for and reading in great numbers. After you’ve published that on your sites, traffic is bound to come fast- and powerfully. Trendds also helps you to monetize the content to an optimum, whether with native ads or affiliate links.

A niche marketer who is looking for unique opportunities- the software unveils the niches that you knew little or nothing about- or those that you had not considered in your online ventures. It helps you not only to diversify but to do so in a way that increases the chances to succeed.

A blog owner who just started out- this platform helps you make the most out of your blog. You can find hot topics and content to post, drive traffic, and assist the search engines to rank your content or site. Because you’re targeting high-search but low-competition keywords, using Trendds can bring results sooner than what your expectations were.

Owner of a news website- many news sites typically rely on content curation and, to a some extent, content creation. Because Trendds finds the popular content for you automatically, you can easily manage the site without doing a lot of work. Also, without the challenges of finding relevant content to post.

A newbie without the skills to earn money off the internet- Trendds uncovers the keyword (s) that people are currently searching the most. You can then extract content that’s written around the keyword, monetize it, and start earning your online income within no time. Almost everything is automated, from content finding to republishing, and you need not be a veteran to go through the process. And the good part is that Trendds is as newbie-friendly as it can be.

Content curation can benefit different online entrepreneurs and in many ways. It isn’t only limited to the few that I have mentioned here. In fact, anyone into making money on the internet can use content curation to make getting traffic easier.

But Why Curate Content?

It’s a common practice among website owners and internet marketers. When you have many posts to produce and a lot of content to write, it can be challenging to keep up with the demand. Besides writing being a tiring activity, not everyone can create killer content. Outsourcing the task could be a solution. However, the costs involved could be too high for the budget estimates.

Content curation provides a simple way to continue posting on the topics relevant to your audience. That’s because you do not have to write anything yourself. You just take what’s trending, add your voice to it, embed monetization links or ads and republish the content to your sites to channel traffic. Using content curation, you can easily keep website visitors coming for more and build a huge following.

Big companies are already doing it. Think of global websites such as the Huffington post, BuzzFeed, Digg, Mashable, and others. The owners make millions of revenue dollars, yet they don’t wholly create the content. They depend on curated pieces, focusing on the popular topics of the time. That enables a steady stream of users who feel guaranteed fresh and current news or information

The Benefits of Using a Curation Tool

To ensure a reliable supply of content to curate, you would need to invest a lot of time and energy in finding high-search topics. That’s, what people call viral content- the kind that everyone wants to like and share on the social networks. Now, that’s where the task to stay ahead becomes daunting. There’s just too much content, too many topics, and too much of everything to sift through manually.

Using content curation tools makes everything easy. The task to find trending keywords, topics, and content becomes automatic. You only need to look at a few pieces and select the ones that you feel are right for your audience. That’s precisely what Trendds does. Let’s look at how the software accomplishes that for you.

Click To View A Demo Of The Software In Action

How Trendds Works

As we have seen, this platform helps you to find the right content to curate. That’s content that’s powerful, relevant, and popular. The steps to get that ready on Trendds are only a few and simple.

Logging into your account on the platform.

Inserting your search keyword and hitting the search button. This can be anything from a single search term to a phrase. The software then takes a few seconds to find related phrases. You can filter out the results using different criteria such as social media popularity, time frames, and more.

Searching blogs or products. Here is where you get to pick your preferred content according to your topic. You do that by clicking through the blogs that come up and selecting the content that appeals to you. Once you’ve selected the piece to republish, you proceed to the next step.

Editing the monetizing content. Trendds allows you different editing options. These include writing an intro or outro to make the content more contextual and in line with your message. You can also at this stage, add links (text) to your products or pages or native ads that can earn you passive income.

Posting the content. Once you’re through with the editing and monetization part, the content is ready to post. The best part of this step is that you can do so right from the Trendds dashboard. You only need to link your WP blog to the tool.

Treddds Features

Trendds offer many features. These are unique to the platform and indispensable when curating content. They include:

Search for trending keywords. The software finds what’s currently trending so you can take advantage of the high traffic

Filters. These allow you to find the most suitable topics and content based on different preferences

Blog integration. Trends allows you to add a blog or blogs to the platform. And if you don’t have one already, use the included theme to build a site that integrates with the tool

The feature to add links. You can easily include text kinks in your curated content to monetize your posts

Direct republishing. You do not need to leave Trendds to do that. The platform allows you to post to a WordPress website directly

Social media sharing. You can instantly share to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and other sites

Amazon and Walmart integration. Trendds supports the two sites and makes including them in your posts easy. You can also include link texts for other affiliates

Editing function. Before posting your curated content, the software lets you carry out adjustments to tailor everything to suit your brand or business. These include intros, outros, and even summaries

User training guides. The platform offers no challenge to use but there are still video tutorials to help you use the software fully

Trendds Pricing

You pay a one-off fee; no annual or monthly subscriptions to worry about. Trendds comes in different packages, each with own price and features. They are:

Trendds Core ($33.57 )

With this option, you get the following;

Up to 500 monthly keyword searches (which reset every new month)

Up to ten posts every month

Link to one blog and a theme to build a new site

Direct posting from the platform’s dashboard

Amazon and Walmart monetization

Content editor and monetization options such as product links

Blog plugin for both new and older sites

Social platform or media shares

Training materials

Options to manage posts

Trendds Pro ($37)

The additional offers of this package include;

Unlimited monthly keyword search

Unlimited blog integration

Unlimited monthly posts

Extra training on blog monetization

Trendds Master ($37)

You get the following additional features with this version;

Automated and unlimited curation based on the keyword and specific filter

Automated curation for an unlimited number of blogs

Hourly, weekly and any other preferred automation frequency

Unlimited scheduling for Facebook posts

More monetization platforms ( eBay and AliExpress)

Additional training material

Trendds Max ($47)

The features in this package include;

Development and automation of unlimited Trendds based blogs

Development of unlimited curated and monetized content

Multiple services for different clients (different affiliate links)

Option to sell Trendds based blogs and transfer key to the new owner

Videos to help with the process to flip the sites

There’s also the Trendds Agency that goes for $77

Trendds prices are one-time payments. You pay nothing more after that to use the software. There’s also a 30-day trial policy when you buy the software. If unsatisfied with its performance, you can opt for a refund. The owners have been offering regular discounts to acquire Trendds. Taking up such offers whenever they come up could save you a few dollars off the regular price.

What I like about Trendds

There are many reasons why I prefer Trendds to other content curation tools. Also, why I would recommend it to you. The platform is easy to use. With just a few steps involved, you do not need any experience with using a similar tool. You don’t even need content curation skills to use the software.

For the filter options, this tool offers you one of the most useful ways to find the right content for your niche. You also get to select your topics based on social media platform likes and comments, which assures you of content that’s really popular.

Trendds suits a newbie and the experienced marketer alike. It supports all niches, which means you’re not limited when it comes to exploring different markets. Besides that, it means you can find content for any niche even without knowing much about it.

I also find the pricing fair. The amount is affordable, and even beginners can curate and monetize their posts without stretching their budgets. The fact that there are no recurring expenses makes the tool even more suitable if looking to maximize your online profits.

In addition to the reasonable pricing, there’s the 30-day period to try out Trendds before committing to make a purchase. That means you pay for what you feel suits your business requirements. It also gives you a hint of the confidence that the owners of the software have regarding their product.

What I don’t like

There isn’t not much to complain about. Judging by the fact that this software just launched, I find its performance impressive. The only problem I would have with Trendds is that it comes in far too many versions. Understanding what advantage one package offers over the other can be difficult, and a user is more inclined to purchase the least priced option. Still, you can choose to do so and upgrade later.

Final Thoughts

Is Trendds worth investing in? I would say definitely yes. Content curation holds the potential for increasing the traffic to your website, improving ranking, and boosting your earnings. Trrendds comes with features to enable all that. It finds the content to republish, provides you with monetization options, and offers an easy way to post the curated content. There are different versions of the software, and you to choose the one that fits your needs, preferences, and budget. To bring the cost to use the platform down, you can take advantage of the discounts that the owners offer from time to time.

from Internet Marketing Aficionado https://internetmarketingaficionado.com/trendds-review/

#Internet Marketing Aficionado

0 notes

spideynow-blog · 5 years