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webscene-remade · 5 years

Text

gigantic homestuck liveblog post

hello. I hope to god that tumblr’s readmore function works across platforms because otherwise this may just be the worst thing I ever inflicted on anyone’s dashboard in the history of this hellsite

warnings for my pure, unadulterated opinions (including relentless character-hate for characters that I personally do not like), spoilers for literally everything, reading the epilogues in the most asinine order possible, and the same content warnings that were given at the beginning of the epilogues themselves

general thoughts: i liked some of it, didnt like some of it. the parts that i didn't like would have been more bearable if they literally weren’t painful to read. i’m of the opinion that, while things dont have to be daisies and roses all the time, i don’t want to have a completely horrible reading experience when things aren’t daises and roses.

other complaints: part of homestuck’s appeal is its amazing cast of girls, and they were severely under-utilized. also, i had to see gamzee again.

but, like i said. i liked some of it. a lot of it, in fact. i did think it kept with the spirit of homestuck in that it made me feel every single human emotion possible.

I had a lot of Feelings while reading, and if I went into all of them here, I might as well write out some meta to flesh out the 2.5 concrete thoughts I had while reading, but I’m not going to do that. instead, i’m going to dump my several-thousand-words of live reactions here so that no one has the patience to parse out what the hell i’m talking about. because I just spent a total of 21 hours reading this and I am so incredibly braindead.

MEAT 1

Okay I’m clicking on ‘meat’ first. I’m so scared LMAO I’m not ready for this.

Gross. This is already very upsetting.

MEAT 2

Lmao WHAT

FUCK. Dave this is NOT ALLOWED.

Homestuck is very very good actually

Alright I’m going to have to stop screenshotting every single thing I find funny or else I am never going to get through this

I Love You Dave Strider

This is so fucking weird to say and I have no idea what the psychology is behind it but reading homestuck always makes me weirdly ambitious…like reading about dave doing shit like making comics and motivating karkat to run for president makes ME want to do shit.

also the biggest mystery in homestuck is that people like jake English

MEAT 3

The fridge pops open and out roll Aranea and Gamzee. Gamzee honks and his codpiece jiggles ominously. Aranea staggers to her feet, looking rather pleased with herself.

Fucking gross.

JOHN PUNCHED ARANEA

Waaaaay back in the day “aranea gets punched in the face” was on my homestuck bingo card, back when we all thought the comic was gonna end after the gigapause or whatever it was called

Also is this going to be in fic form the whole time because if so I’m going to have a hell of a time concentrating long enough to finish this in one go

You wisely decide that this clown will lend nothing valuable to the narrative whatsoever if he is allowed to remain outside of your childhood refrigerator. You put both hands on his chest and shove him into the fridge where he belongs. He goes easily, issuing only a pair of weak honks in protest. You slam the fridge shut and resolve to never think about Gamzee Makara again.

Bye bitch

I know you’re going to be back soon but still

(also I skimmed the first few pages of the candy epilogue and it looks like gamzee might have some relevance in that one too. Homophobic if true.)

MEAT 4

Oh jesus fuck I just remembered caliborn’s stop-motion Claymation thing where all the kids die. And now john’s gathering them all up. This is going to fucking SUCK isn’t it

MEAT 5

Lmao

Jake can’t help but watch the motion, raking his eyes over the muscles shifting beneath the skin of Dirk’s neck and arms.

Calm your fucking boner dude

Also dirk is ripped apparently

With a casual flick of his wrist, Dirk snaps out a bright red tranquilizer handgun and shoots Jake in the neck. Jake’s glasses crack when he hits the mat.

What the fuck

MEAT 6

You wonder. Do you see these teen versions of your friends as “real”? Are you treating them, at Rose’s behest, as simple puppets? Doing your part to insist they fill friend-shaped recesses in an essential plan to stabilize all else that can be considered important, a distinction no longer applying to them? Do you care at all about whatever fate it may be that you are sentencing these children to? Are you becoming as complicit in the fatalistic evils of Paradox Space as Lord English himself? Are you becoming a monster, John Egbert?

MEAT 7

I Love You Rose Lalonde

Also, same old Dirk, huh?

Dirk & rose conversations are some of the best but. Dirk. Dirk. He reminds me so much of myself and I constantly want to shove him into a locker.

MEAT 8

I hate how much I love caliborn. Also I am Very Afraid.

MEAT 9

The blurry, distorted face of your laughing nemesis was the last thing you saw before the chest door slammed shut and plunged you into textual obsolescence.

And here, you are now stuck. You will not emerge from this holding cell, from an outside perspective, for quadrillions of years. It is not long at all until you begin to wish you had brought something to read.

Jesus Christ

Well. At least it’s quadrillions of years “from an outside perspective.” Hopefully it won’t be THAT long for them. Maybe like, an hour?

Also john you broke your glasses. How are you supposed to read.

MEAT 10

No, surely this must have been Dave’s idea. The kind of plot hatched from their little nest of mutually supportive, codependent, interspecies... whatever it was they had going on over there.

Jane is straight-up EVIL, I guess

This what capitalism does to you, folks

Also, karkat (true leftism)

MEAT 11

This is exactly what I expected when I realized john would be overseeing a group of teens

Would you tell them about Terezi...

For some reason her name feels like nails in your heart. Makes sense, you guess, cause there’s a lot of sharp letters in it. She had sharp teeth too, and sharp elbows. Sharp words. Terezi Pyrope was a sharp girl, and maybe what these sharp feelings are trying to tell you is you miss her more than you realized.

Do NOT talk about terezi in the past tense you fucking GOON

Also if I don’t see terezi again I will fucking riot

Me like 2 years ago

MEAT 12

Asfdhkajlfh

Jade you are NOT subtle

This is oppression

Dave and karkat HAVE KISSED MULTIPLE TIMES. I will not be convinced otherwise

Jade “didn’t think Obama was a real person” Harley

Also Dave “doesn’t think Jesus was a real person” Strider

Speaking of. Where is homestuck-is-a-sin nowadays

Jade will you please chill

but also. Marry me. dave and karkat are clearly not comfy with this, but I would be very comfy with it.

MEAT 13

> Be Vriska.

Oh fuck yes

Well, that didn’t last long. Bye, vriska!

Oh fuck

God this is all so intense. I feel like I should’ve read candy first

MEAT 14

Really, the only surprise is how long it took to happen. Jane is a beautiful lady, that’s for sure. She always has been, but she’s only grown more ravishing as she’s come into the full blossom of her womanhood. Smooth, silky skin... thick, dark lashes... full, feminine lips... not to mention curves like the dickens.

This is so hard to read lmao

Jake can’t stop thinking about dirk….ouch

MEAT 15

Roooooooooose

ROSE ):

Fuck jade too

This is going pretty much as well as could be expected

Just two bros…fighting lord English…everyone dying around them…

DAVEPETA

…v…vore

Great minds

Dave ): ): ):

There was no way that wasn’t going to happen but I am. Extremely upset.

The black hole—the gaping, implacable, cosmic embodiment of the dead cherub, his long-departed sister—finally welcomes Lord English home.

Yo I’m

It’s bananas that this webcomic still manages to have a monopoly over my emotions after all these years

MEAT 16

Oh fuck

Loving the aspect talk though

Rose’s eyes have grown distant, almost mirrorlike. Dirk can see himself reflected in her vacant stare.

Oh jesus oh Christ

Oh no

FUCK OFFFF

MEAT 17

All I’m thinking about is the narration about jake watching dirk’s rippling muscles

Dirk: I heard that Dirk has an 8-pack

MEAT 18

It’s been 3 hours and I’m only on meat 18

I need a fucking drink

MEAT 19

Jade’s got this disarming combo of head-in-the-clouds flightiness and the kind of legit, down-to-earth cred that can only be earned by having done something like cutting open your own grandfather and stuffing him full of polyurethane foam.

Why is homestuck so funny

I LOVE YOU ROXY LALONDE

Fucking same

MEAT 20

What is Happening

Will these motherfuckers Please Stop trying to remove the objects that are impaled in their chest

CALLIOPE????

I am actually astounded by the amount of things I retained from homestuck even though I haven’t quite understood what’s going on for like 6 years

MEAT 21

I missed her so much

I hate this stupid fucking webcomic

Please god kick his ass kanaya

MEAT 22

Fucking owned

MEAT 23

Kanaya PLEASE kick this fools ass

MEAT 24

TEREZI

I’M GOING TO GO APE SHIT

SHE LITERALLY HASN’T SAID ANYTHING YET AND I’M LOSING MY GODDAMN MIND

I’M GOING TO VOMIT

MEAT 25

…hmmmm

I’m actually almost tempted to do this?

Like I know it would make way more sense to finish reading meat first…BUT…

I’m gonna do it lmao

CANDY 1

At each fork in the veins, he supposes the leaf as a whole is making a certain kind of “decision,” to go this way or that. It certainly seems like one way of looking at a leaf, now that he bothers to really scrutinize one. It also seems to him, with just as great a sense of clarity, that not one of this leaf’s decisions ever mattered even the tiniest fucking bit to anybody.

Alright! Great start!

Hm! I don’t like this at all!!!!

Fuck gamzee lives

CANDY 2

Sensing that this is probably something he shouldn’t be seeing, he tiptoes towards Gamzee’s would-be sarcophagus as carefully and quietly as he can, and places his hands just above the thick aluminum hull. The moment John’s palms hit the fridge, Dirk turns to look at him. His head only moves an inch.

………what the fuck

OKAY SO…JOHN’S JUST GONNA…DROP GAMZEE ON EARTH C…THIS IS FINE

Oh what the FUCK is going on

I forgot how fucking headache-inducing gamzee’s quirk is

Literally this is almost impossible for me to read for some reason

She pats him on the back, nods very slowly, issues an “mm-hm” now and then. Only while he is distracted by his own sobs does she steal a glance at her phone, tipping the fact that she too wouldn’t mind if this redemptive soliloquy could hurry itself along.

I pretty much sound like a broken record at this point but. What the actual fuck.

Gamzee stans be like

John: *sends a picture of gamzee to terezi*

Me: Gamzee Is Not Allowed to Exist In The Same Narrative Space As Terezi

“HE”….

I just realized that the narrative isn’t in second person any more

I mean…I’m assuming we’re outside of ‘canon’. Like this isn’t the ‘essential’ timeline anymore, so things are…fucking wacky, to say the least

But even in the other timelines, shit isn’t this wack

And john seems to be aware of what’s going on

So like. What’s happening.

CANDY 3

At least dirk’s bitch ass is also sweating over all this

CANDY 4

Rose opens her eyes. She stares at the knob of her wrist and frowns. She’s not sure why this sensation should be concerning. It’s not like her memory is slipping away. She remembers the conversation she had with John this morning quite clearly. As she does the previous years of declining health, and troubled, obsessive thoughts about canon, dissipation, and other such abstractions. What’s slipping away instead is the feeling that any of it mattered at all.

I have. Very mixed feelings.

Like OBVIOUSLY I don’t want rose to continue to suffer existential dread but this feels like post-retcon all over again. Which is to say, everything feels off.

But. Post-retcon was, like, canon. And post-retcon (post-game over, really) is where I kinda stopped caring about homestuck as much as I had before

And perhaps that’s just me not “getting it” but. Oh well.

Fucking OUCH dawg

Rose and kanaya…damn son…….

They were my first f/f ship ever. Can you believe that? Can you believe homestuck?

CANDY 5

She retrieves one of her bras from where it’s hanging over the back of the couch. She starts changing it right there, doing that mystical sleight of hand girls seem to be born with the knowledge of, where the bra goes off and then on again without the shirt being removed.

Very unrelatable

Now THIS is relatable

Jade CHILL

I’ve always liked the idea of jadedavekat but this shit is not fun

Karkat fucking bit her afdhlfasdkfh what the fuck

Picsthatmakeyougohmm

CANDY 6

Yall are gonna think I’m evil for saying this but how on earth are there people out there who like Jake English

Okay I took a break to eat something after 5 straight hours of reading

I bet there’s people out there who have read this shit 3 times over but I take so GODDAMN LONG to read anything

And to think. I’m an English major.

Anyway back to it I fucking guess

That’s depression, babe!

I’m heterophobic now

Do I REALLY have to read another Jake-Jane makeout sesh. Do I really.

It turns out that I don’t. thank god.

But that was all still incredibly uncomfortable

CANDY 7

In the time that I was eating I managed to forget that gamzee existed. And now I am reminded. How unfortunate.

I do not often find myself agreeing with John and only John but. Here we are.

Also I am Not Down For johnroxy. Especially with how wack everything is.

Roxy DO NOT leave john alone with this literal clown

Oh fucking Christ

HELLO?? IS THIS ALLOWED???

CANDY 8

The,, hornographer,,,

There’s a third member of their social group who definitely hasn’t arrived at the conclusion that his power and influence should be meted out responsibly either. Neither of them speak his name, however. For some reason, it feels like a shadow passing over the sun. A brief spike of pain flickers through Rose’s head, a bolt that strikes between her eyes and splinters out. There is color and light behind it. A vision that tears through the material reality in front of her and gives her a brief glimpse into a parallel reality where things are very different.

Hm! Not great!

Yes, it would be very awkward

Also, don’t even fuckin g MENTION vriska unless I get to see her

Don’t think I haven’t noticed that this epilogue has been hellishly vriskaless

Like youre gonna make me see GAMZEE MAKARA?? GAMZEE??? WHERE’S VRISKA??

CANDY 9

Jade. Jade. Jade. Fucking CHILL, jade.

CANDY 10

Get you a girl who lesbian marries one of the two remaining eligible human females

Eyes emoji

He whips his head around to see... Dave? He’s running down the street, looking back and forth like a hunted man.

Dave: *is flirted with*

Dave: *books it to an entirely different time zone*

I Love You Dave Strider

Why on EARTH are you going to john Egbert for relationship advice, though

CANDY 11

Daaaaaaave ):

CANDY 12

This is the fucking worst

I hate this so much

CANDY 13

It’s obviously a robot, but it’s a complete mess. The form is feminine, but the head is still bald, and the face has no cover, revealing its skull-like interior. The body doesn’t have any proper protective plating yet, so it’s all a mess of wires and loose mechanical bits. Clearly a work in progress. But Dave can’t help but wonder what exactly it is that Dirk’s been working on here?

Then Dave notices the note. It’s carefully folded in the limp palm of the robot’s hand. His heart jumps into his throat, and something in his stomach drops.

Oh, no.

what the fuck is this fucking robot

Also did dirk fucking kill himself

CANDY 14

We’re back in the 2nd person now for dirk’s shit

What could you accomplish in a dead-end existence like this? There are no stakes. No meaningful challenges. No structures or themes—only residual chemical reactions in a dying brain, a physical system’s obligate compulsion to exhaust its own lingering momentum.

Literally me every time I realize that life isn’t a story and I’m not a character with a heroic arc

And like I get that homestuck has been thematically interested in...well…life not being a story. And I have a feeling that these epilogues are going to cement that, with all the talk of meta/canon. And I can already tell that I’m going to be disappointed with the lack of narrative resolution

Because like…life’s not a story, okay……………but homestuck is

Anyway this fucker is really about to kill himself isn’t he

Yep…jesus.

CANDY 15

Wow this feels INCREDIBLY shitty considering. That’s exactly what happened.

I am not Feeling Great my dudes

Dave’s got his suit jacket unbuttoned and pulled over Karkat’s head to shield him from the rain. Karkat’s the one talking—his caterpillar eyebrows furrowed, but his gaze soft. Whatever he’s saying makes Dave turn his face away, but Karkat winds a hand in his shirt and tugs him in, forces him to make eye contact. They both go still, seeming to finally realize how close their faces have gotten, how Karkat’s fingers are brushing down the length of Dave’s torso. Dave dips down so that their noses are bumping.

I will NOT be distracted by this cute shit

(I am distracted by this cute shit)

Thinking about how roxy said they don’t want to have kids in meat and I’m! Not feeling great about this!

Also I hate that I have to call it ‘meat’

(also the narrator refers to roxy as ‘she’ in candy and so like. Idk which one I’m supposed to use)

CANDY 16

6 month time jump. Very relieved that I don’t have to see the johnroxy wedding

Fucking. Skullface emoji.

Asdasfasljk John don’t dump on your sister like that

Straight fucking savage though I’ll give you that

John and terezi are talking about vriska I’m going to fucking vomit

This is all I’m going to get, huh? Huh????

I’m so starved

Vrisrezi is literally the most compelling part of homestuck and it’s like. So not going to be relevant at all in the epilogue, is it

CANDY 17

Did rose and kanaya literally name their kid ‘vriska’

Like they did not have to do that

John is the only one who hasn’t lost his goddamn mind

Also the idea of someone just changing their kids name a year after they were born is. Hilarious. It’s extra hilarious when you remember that the kids didn’t get a name until they were 13.

John SNAPPED

“please come make sense at me”...This is……..A Lot

CANDY 18

Jane is still dedicated to eugenics which is like. Pretty fucking awful.

You know it’s bad when GAMZEE MAKARA argues with you about morality

Fucking GROSS

Also jake is sitting right next to them akbfdabkjknsfn

Welp! Homestuck’s over, everyone!!!! The furries won!

CANDY 19

I have been reading this goddamn webcomic for 8 goddamn hours

I’m pretty sure that I’m not even halfway through

HIS RELATIONSHIP IS A FLAMING WRECK OF AN INTERSTELLAR WARSHIP HURTLING TOWARDS THE PLANET AT TERMINAL VELOCITY WITH THE ENTIRE CREW BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED UPON REENTRY, SHOVED STRAIGHT DOWN THE CHAGRIN TUNNEL AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SHAT OUT THE OTHER SIDE, THUS FLOODING THE ENTIRE FUCKING NEIGHBORHOOD WHEN IT CLOGS UP THE LOAD GAPER.

This is what this epilogue has been missing…karkat-isms

Yo WHAT

I probably definitely should’ve read meat all the way through but. Oh well!

I never thought that I would be glad to see a dead teenage jade fall out of the fucking sky but at least its providing a brief reprieve to feeling of absolute dread I’ve had while reading the entire candy section

Also strange that dead teenage space jade is the one thing that DOESN’T fill me with absolute dread

CANDY 20

Karkat SNAPPED

CANDY 21

I somehow managed to forget that calliope exists

Funeral TWO

As fucking rough as dirk’s suicide was, I absolutely cannot imagine him in any of these situations

Like the only narrative choices were to kill him or to lock him away in his lab w/o a single mention of him and I gotta say the former makes more sense given his characterization

I am. Upset.

ARADIA

Aradia please save me from this nightmare

Asdfghjlkjhgf

I changed my mind I love candy

Never mind jane’s talking about eugenics again

I’m laughing???? What the fuck is happening?????

Okay alt calliope is using dead teen space jade’s body as a vessel

Should’ve put two and two together since I got close to that part in meat but I have been reading for like 9 hours and things are starting to blur together

*heavy metal music plays*

CANDY 22

3 year time jump! Alright!

Fucking same, john

Okay so the dead trolls that got consumed by the black hole are showing up on earth c, or something?

WAIT DOES THAT MEAN LORD ENGLISH IS GONNA GET PLOPPED INTO THIS TIMELINE

idk if I’m misunderstanding but……..i am……nervous

Those are my 20-something-year-old children

Cant believe karkat rose and kanaya are in antifa :’)

Actually I can absolutely believe that

I hate this

I was 100% unprepared to see Eridan fucking Ampora in the year of our lord 2019. I’m calling the fucking police

This is the worst

Oh I Do Not Like This

CANDY 23

John was serious about the whole kidnapping thing huh

Christ almighty

SILENCE, CLOWN.

Jokes aside the child abuse is like. Very vey upsetting.

But why has this human child adopted the ‘uh,,’s of Tavros’ quirk

I think I’ve said this before but homestuck is very good, actually

Hm this shit with kid tavros is making me sick to my stomach

Also I’m approaching hour 10 and I may have to take a break for sleep soon.

But. I defo have shit to do this weekend that doesn’t involve reading homestuck

We’ll see how much longer I can stay awake, I guess

Dave said this about dirk (jake also said this about dirk, in meat) and I’m. not psyched about it.

I suppose it’s possible that gamzee retained it from dirks funeral, but still

John has his breath powers back?? Passively, at least?

And where the fuck did alt calliope go

And aradia and sollux

Unfortunately I still think it is kidnapping

Especially because you’re like, 5

It’s probably, like, a bad thing that I was rooting for john’s kidnapping plan to work. But.

CANDY 24

Okay theres alt calliope aradia and sollux

I am. Compromised.

Oh fuck

It’s actually kind of insane that dirk and jane are like. Straight villains. I kinda would’ve guessed w/ jane (relation to the condesce and all that) but dirk being a villain shocked the fuck out of me. it really shouldn’t have, though, considering that dirk was capable of becoming bro.

): ): ): ):

I’m actually tearing up LMAO

I can’t tell if it’s because of how much I love terezi or if it’s because I’ve been reading this for 10 hours straight

Probably both

CANDY 25

Karkat I love you

Also this is buried deep enough in this post so I think it’s safe to say w/o anyone actually reading it: when I was 14 and reading homestuck for the first time I had a crush on karkat and used to daydream about us going on a date at the county fair

I’m sorry to anyone that had to read that with their own eyeballs

Hard labor in the cake mills

Bucket jokes are dead, folks. You heard it here first.

Oh Christ I just remembered that group of cosplayers who took a bucket into a restaurant and passed it around and spit in it. Scandal of the fucking decade.

Asdfghjk KANAYA

This is only going to make things more complicated, I imagine

KARKAT: I’M ALSO FUCKING ORDERING YOU TO STOP MAKING GARBAGE FISH PUNS FOREVER.

LMAO

Okay…on that slightly…lighter note, I think it’s time to turn in for the night. I’m at the 11th hour (literally) and I’m losing my ability to pay attention to what the fuck is going on

Plus my head hurts like a motherfucker

If I remember correctly, each epilogue has 45 parts, so I’m a bit more than halfway done

I’m setting an alarm because I’m dedicated to finishing this tomorrow

CANDY 26

Okay I got my hat on backwards and I’m ready to fucking party

Even Alternia had beauty in it. But John is sure that Earth C probably replicates it the same way it replicates everything else: thin and garish and fake, fake, fakity FAKE. A bad photocopy with the ink settings turned to high contrast. A sunrise that casts no shadows.

This is not a party

Also I’m getting flashbacks to my thesis that I wrote on the left hand of darkness which never shut the fuck up about shadows and the lack thereof

A streak of teal, smudged along the top ridge of the seat cushion, at the center of a red, bloody handprint. With wide eyes, John reaches out and runs his thumb over it. It chips under his nail, the same consistency as human blood. The same color as Terezi’s text.

He rubs the flaky crust between his fingers. He only stopped talking to her a few hours ago. Time passes differently out there, as he’s often reminded. She was so sure she was dying. Was this it? Was this how she —

John reels back, nausea striking him in the pit of his stomach. What kind of twisted coincidence is this? Why is he finding this now? If Terezi was here, why? Who was she bleeding with in the back of his father’s car?

I’m guessing john was bleeding with terezi in the back of his father’s car?

I mean when I left off with meat terezi had just shown up to find john impaled in the chest with one of LE’s teeth

But I’m like. SUPER not psyched to learn what happened to terezi

A choked sob forces its way out of his chest. His fingers flex into claws, gathering up dirt into his shaking fists. He bears down until his knuckles turn white and his fingernails press sharply into the flesh of his palms. The pain makes him feel real.

All he’s ever wanted is to be fucking real.

Maybe it’s because this is the first thing I’m reading this morning but I absolutely cannot take this seriously

CANDY 27

Ten year time skip. Jesus.

So everyones in their late 30s, now

I’m love them?

Also things are super not great on earth c, huh

Like imagine being jane crocker & playing a game where all your friends die a bunch & then showing up to an idyllic planet and being like ‘you know what this world needs more of? Fascism and eugenics.’

Also didn’t jane’s dad make it onto earth c??? where is THAT motherfucker??

I’m glad that sollux and aradia are still like. Chillin.

Karkat sure does know how to sweet-talk people

Also karkat still misses dave ):

And dave still misses karkat ):

This is so fucking rough

CANDY 28

VRISKA???

Yeah this is the vriska that got punted by LE after releasing the juju

She is taking things as well as I would imagine vriska to take things

CANDY 29

These chapters are getting shorter. Maybe I’ll actually finish this today

…lord English?

CANDY 30

Okay, so jane’s dad was on earth c, and now he’s dead

Jesus Christ

I shouldn’t be laughing but adjsgklfgfs

Leave it to karkat to try to assassinate someone with a fucking rocket launcher

Also leave it to dad to jump in front of a FUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER

I cant believe gamzee fucking Makara is still here. I was hoping that had all been a nightmare

Yikes! Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!

Asdfghjkjhgfdsdfghjkjhgfdsdfghjkljhgfrvghkhgf

I-

I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming

BEGONE, CLOWN

CANDY 31

I missed their interactions

John is so fucking funny sometimes

I’m laughimg so fucking hard

Also I’m going to keep calling her vriska and calling rose and kanaya’s child ‘kid vriska.’ Otherwise I will get incredibly confused between this vriska and actual (vriska)

Vriska I love you

Also I like how john straight up hates kid vriska

God she’s so intolerable. I love her.

Also vriska and dirk are so similar but I love vriska and can’t stand dirk

am I a misandrist

(I know it’s probably their differences; vriska is dedicated to being a hero and not a author/villain(?) and still, like, values people, even if it is in her own fucked up way. Also she’s like a billion times more critical of herself than dirk is)

oh god theyre talking about terezi

yeah that didn’t go anywhere I wanted it to

CANDY 32

fukcing. Gamzee.

Please god vriska beat this clowns ass

“brutal Double Axe Handle” “European-style Uppercut” “knife chop” “Discus Back Elbow”

Am I supposed to know what any of this means

I like how john is just watching this happen

Gamzee grabs (Vriska)’s foot by the bridge. Instead of yanking her off-balance, he opens his huge, bloody maw of a mouth and... runs his tongue along the rubber bottom of her shoe? (Vriska) freezes. She watches him lap the mud—and his own blood—out from between the grooves of the sole. His lips drag lewdly over the ridge of her footwear and begin sucking at where her big toe would be, if it were not safely ensconced in several layers of rubber and canvas.

Fucking GROSS

I hate this clown so goddamn much

This is the absolute Worst Outcome

Like I cannot imagine a more upsetting scenario than gamzee and vriska making out in canon

Dirk’s suicide would be a fucking palate cleanser at this point

That was a bad joke to make but that’s what homestuck does to you I fucking guess

CANDY 33

*I* don’t even remember the three pillars of canon

And I read that shit literally yesterday

I, unfortunately, have no idea what this means

Well. At least rose is happy. For the first time in the entirety of homestuck.

CANDY 34

“immoderately lit”

I’m going to say that all the time now. Thanks.

Vriska’s huge, mischievous smile freezes on her face. When her eyes pass the image to her brain, and it finally makes sense of this incomprehensible jumble of gray limbs, blue and purple slop, tangled black hair, and stunned faces, her expression begins to slowly melt. It then drifts quickly, from phase to phase, to one of wonder, then anguish, and finally, abject horror.

This is so fucking unfortunate

CANDY 35

At least all the vriskas are on the same page about this being the nightmare scenario. At least theres that.

Gamzee calling vriska “problematic.” I’m laughing really hard but I’m also like. Enraged.

And then, she lets go. His face is frozen in a repellent mask exhibiting the perfectly undetectable difference between terror and ecstasy. He’s dead.

I hope to GOD this is true but I’ve been tricked before

I don’t know if I will ever be truly free of gamzee fucking Makara

CANDY 36

Jake and his kid showed up to johns house and jake is wearing nothing but underwear

At this point this is one of the least strange things to happen

All the same, John finds it hard to feel much sympathy. Who is Jake? The one standing in front of him now, anyway. Has he always been this contemptibly pathetic, or is this too a function of the absurdity of this contorted reality? It’s hard to be sure. Are Jake’s “struggles” worth any more of John’s guilt and emotional energy than a Sim stuck in a pool without a ladder?

Jesus Christ. John did not come to play today. Fuck.

Also I feel incredibly bad for jake. I’ve never liked him but I’m not, like, a monster.

Or maybe he is doing exactly what Jake has always done. In a certain light, isn’t ascribing all this mess to some unconscious influence he might have had over the metaphysical shape of reality just a way to brush off his simpler failures as a man and a father?

God why is homestuck kicking my ass so bad

John constantly misses his dad and all I can think about is how often his dad told him that he was proud of him. And now john thinks he’s failed as a father.

John and jake are. Dancing.

I absolutely have not forgotten that jake is still in his underwear

CANDY 37

I’m living for this conversation between vriska and kid-vriska

Man I bet dirk hates john’s guts LOL

Like I imagine john’s retcon powers infuriate him

Though I bet dirk wouldn’t want the retcon powers for himself. It might take away the “challenge” of it. Idk.

Jesus Christ

How the turntables….

I Am Going To Vomit

Vrisrezi is so fucking legendary. No one can ever change my mind.

I also I just ate a ham and cheese sandwich and it was really fucking gross. Legit cant tell if I’m nauseous about that or vrisrezi

[CHANTING] VRISKA AND TEREZI ARE IN LOVE! VRISKA AND TEREZI ARE IN LOVE! VRISKA AND TEREZI ARE IN LOVE!

I’M SHAKING I FEEL SO VINDICATED RN

I forgive all the other dumb shit in this epilogue

Seriously. Transcends quadrants. I have been saying this for half a fucking decade. Vriska and terezi are in gay love. Eat shit, haters.

Asdfghjkl

I hate this stupid webcomic

I have nothing intelligent left to say anymore (as if I ever had anything intelligent to say) but. Homestuck good.

I am going to Lose My Shit

CANDY 38

Thank Fucking God

Also ever since dead teen space jade fell out of the sky, all of the characters have felt a lot more real

I’m not sure if that’s in the narrative or that’s just me getting over my disgruntlement at the incredibly batshit things happening in candy

Hatchi fucking matchi

Also getting some real dirk-fading-into-the-ether vibes from john here

Roxy is fucking laying into john damn

But it’s not like they arent making completely valid points

………..hmm……..

God I’m so depressed

I’ve spent 80% of my life worried that I’m doing the Important and Right thing

And in the last 4-5 years I’ve been confronted with my cosmic insignificance and I have not been able to get over it

Like I get it’s kind of asshole-ish. Narcissistic. Selfish. To think of your life and the people in it as something….sidelined. and to be all mopey over that.

I WANT to be all “who cares” about it because thinking that your life has any Grand Significance In The Scope Of The Infinite Universe is 100% impractical and frankly batshit

This is all to say that I have problems and homestuck if calling me tf out

CANDY 39

dave is in the FUCKING WHITE HOUSE

I swear to god if Obama shows up I will shit my fucking pants

He steps closer to investigate, wiping away at the layers of moss and dirt to reveal a surface he most certainly does recognize. It’s a transportalizer.

I am shaking in anticipation

It’s a mounted god tier costume, about the size an adult male would wear. He recognizes the symbol. It’s the same one Jake used to wear when they were teens. It is the symbol for Hope.

Obama played fucking sburb didn’t he

Why is homestuck so fucking funny

OBAMA LMAOOOOOOOOO

This is the most homestuck thing to ever happen in homestuck

Hologram throwing all this inspiring bullshit at dave and dave just repeatedly asking how Obama died

He tells himself there’s nothing wrong with crying. Of course there isn’t. Just... not in front of Obama. He’s GOT to keep it together.

I’m just gonna. Put this here.

Obama ships davekat

Daaaaaave ): ): ):

Yes I’m 21 years old yes I’m tearing up at a conversation between a fictionalized barrack obama and a fictional man who wears sunglasses from a ben stiller movie all the time

Hate this fucking comic LOL

“wake up”. What. What is happening.

The sliding panel reveals a recess, and in the recess stands a robot. It’s a gleaming, polished silver replica of Dave, but without shades. It stands totally still, unpowered. Dave struggles to make sense of what he’s looking at.

Is THIS the robot that dirk was building??

Wait Obama said he built it

What the actual fuck

Fucking. WHAT. DAVBOT?

This is so fucking weird

CANDY 40

Asdfghjkl

I love you aradia

Wow that conversation was…………..something

So calliope is fighting dirk for control of the narrative?

and dirk is like, an irresponsible author

especially interesting convo in light of dirk’s status as andrew’s self-insert

also I knew LE was gonna show up

CANDY POSTSCRIPT

rose…..bot……………..

I’ve got a bad feeling about this scoob

Also not feeling great about fucking davebot

That’s it for candy……………………..

Hopefully meat is more conclusive that

I’ve been reading for 15 total hours now

Might as well keep going

MEAT 25

Didn’t think I’d actually do it, huh?? Snide bastard

Also rose is going to straight die real soon isn’t she

And then become rosebot

Oh fuck right off

MEAT 26

Get wrecked you punk-ass bitch

MEAT 27

Okay so alt calliope is taking over jades body in this reality. Cool cool.

Also. Interesting that calliope said the way events are telegraphed, not what events are telegraphed. Goes back to importance of the speaker convo from candy

Dirk’s text is getting smaller asfgshfjk

Also good to know that calliope is completely Freaked The Fuck Out in this reality too, re: alt calliope occupying jade’s body

……….man

Also I’ve said this before but. Dirk and vriska. Are so alike.

MEAT 28

Terezi dear god I fucking missed you

It probably hasn’t been that long but it feels like forever

Yeah I suppose terezi’s been talking w/ the john that’s aged into his 30s

Also I was thinking about this lastnight & I forgot that time works different here in ye olde paradox space and I was kinda super weirded out thinking about a 30 y/o john flirting with terezi. I actually had a nightmare about it lmao. But this morning I remembered that terezis probably been at this forever.

I think the fact that john is even worried about this at all means he’s in pretty good shape

John: *thinks a girl is cute*

John: oh shit am I being a creep

Okay, terezi says she feels like she’s been out there for a hundred sweeps. That defo makes me feel better about her and john flirting

Okay, so I was right. John was the one bleeding in the car

Terezi’s not bleeding though so I am. Nervous to find out how that happens.

OF COURSE terezi is still looking for vriska, you fucking goon. Theyre in love.

Though I gotta say I wasn’t that down with johnrezi before the epilogue but. I have to say. It’s actually very cute.

Terezi just. Ate shaving cream.

MEAT 29

Oh, hi, jane

I kinda forgot how far along she is in her development as a full-blown fascist in this timeline

Dirk: *speaks*

Me: bitch

Jesus Christ

Waiting for dirk to call jane problematic

Calliope SNAPPED

MEAT 30

Why is karkat hiking around in a fucking suit

I love karkat

I love dave

Dave starting to explain super pacs to jake

And using sbahj for campaign ads asgdhadkjl

Why is he like this (I say, fondly)

Dirk is really out here being Like That

I’m

I have no words

Also I promise that this is unrelated but jake has inexplicably grown on me a little (not a lot)

MEAT 31

Now terezi is eating tobacco

She’s disgusting. I love her.

Terezi ):

John: *talks about how great terezi is*

Me: *nods solemnly*

I Am In Pain

GOD I love Terezi

Terezi: hold on. Lemme just do an impromptu surgery real quick.

Terezi: *is, very unsurprisingly, turned on by doing an impromptu surgery*

Oh ok this is happening

Good thing I found the time to get down w/ johnrezi I fucking guess

Not completely sure how I feel about this

MEAT 32

Is dirk about to fucking assassinate jake

He wouldn’t do that right

Dirk said transphobe rights??

God I hate this motherfucker

Dave: come…’out.’ What is this you speak of.

Roxy, dave, and alt calliope: Let’s talk about gender

Okay, so. Assassinating jake is something that dirk WOULD do

Calliope struggling to keep dirk back w/ the power of their narration is very fun to read though

Dirk: *slices the bell in half*

Me: that would’ve…made good content for a flash

Not to sound ungrateful but not one panel? Not one flash animation? Instead I have to read all these WORDS?

Of course if this were in a flash animation I probably wouldn’t understand fuckall of what is going on

On the other hand, it wouldn’t be taking me a billion years to get through this

God can roxy please get a pair of sunglasses to match dave. Please.

Hour? 17.5? Maybe?

Anyway I am being forced to take a break so I can participate in easter festivities (by which I mean eating dinner with 2 whole people)

Okay I’m back

I defo should be able to finish this tonight

Okay I guess killing Jake is NOT something that Dirk would do

At least. Not right now. And probably not permanently

dude…

you got to FLIP it

TURN-WAYS

Time to be back on dirk’s bullshit I guess

Meat 33

In the two hours that I was gone I managed to forget that john and terezi boned

Dirk saying things like “incel” and “cuck” make me want to Kill

Meat 34

Wow it so incredibly awful to read Dirk’s narration

I hate this stupid motherfucker so fucking much

Meat 35

*sees more orange text* oh jesus Christ

God why is he being so fucking cruel

Also if john dies then like. WHAT is the point.

Aw man I’m fucking crying

Man what the fuck

This shit fucking sucks

I gotta take a break

Meat 36

Now that I’ve taken like a 5 minute break to stop fucking crying it’s time to get back on the pain train I guess

Since I actually let Tears Fall there’s an increased chance that I’ll cry again

So I cannot be held accountable if I do that

Why the fuck does this clown keep misgendering roxy

Terezi: *pulls johns corpse out of a wallet to smell it* nothing weird about this

Also how tf is terezi gonna show back up shortly after john goes missing and no ones gonna suspect anything

Is it vriska. It’s vriska isn’t it.

Why do I feel like I’m either never going to get to see this conversation or I AM going to get to see it and its going to cause me immense personal distress

TEREZI SAID TRANS RIGHTS

Also terezi can hear dirk???????????

And are roxy’s pronouns him or them

Like did terezi just assume based on roxy’s appearance or did she talk to kanaya about it

Also I hate dirk’s stupid fucking guts

It does NOT help that I didn’t like him before the epilogue

God he sucks shit

Say it with me, now: we love terezi pyrope

Terezi DO NOT trust this clown ass motherfucker

Meat 37

Dirk is actually the worst dad. Don’t sweat it, john.

ROSE: Are you sure Kanaya is going to be ok with this?

No, rose. She absolutely will not be ok with this. What the fuck.

This shit sucks so goddamn much

I am going to be so depressed after finishing this arent I

Goddammit I’m crying again. I fucking knew I would.

Meat 38

Unfortunately I agree with dirk

FUCK

Davekat is so GOOD what the hell

Also

Karkat ):

Dirk will you fucking fuck off

I’m seriously okay with dave and karkat hopelessly pining forever if it means dirk doesn’t literally FORCE them to kiss. Like, what the fuck.

I take a deep breath and get myself under control. My light psychological intrusions may have only made things worse. Invested as I am in the outcome of this encounter, I know forcing their hand would be a mistake.

That’s the smartest thing you ever said you stupid fuck

Thank Fucking God

Meat 39

I’m nearing the end of this whole things and dirk still has narrative control. Not psyched about that.

He’s gently stroking the side of my arm now, making no effort to disguise his interest in the contours of my muscles. I use that arm to put a hand on his shoulder in an affable way, so that he’s forced to stop.

Dirk: I heard that Dirk has an 8-pack

Wait I already think I made that joke

He takes in every drop of light reflecting from my beautiful face. The sculpted cheekbones, the warrior’s eyebrows, the deadly serious yet exquisitely kissable mouth. This is the face he lives for now. A visage that, in mere minutes, will vanish from his life forever. The tears drop. His voice cracks.

Fuck OFF dude. I hate you so goddamn much.

I miss gamzee. GAMZEE. Can you believe that shit?????????

Also it’s so incredibly shitty that jane won the election against karkat

like there’s no way there’s gonna be any kind of resistance now for like, plenty of reasons, one being that it wouldn’t even start in the first place. Now jane’s gonna slide to Literal Genocide but with no opposition this time

god this is wack

Meat 40

I am so tired of seeing this fools orange text

Please god

Also I hate that homestuck has me counting exclamation marks to make sure theres not a significant number of them (8. 8 is the significant number)

Thinking about dave’s speech at dirk’s funeral and Not Feeling Great

Does dirk actually think dave is going to be the one to kill him or is that just his weird decapitation fetish talking

Meat 41

Kanaya I love you and this is not your fault but jesus Christ

Kanaya: I Have Been Bamboozled

Oh shes fucking mad

KANAYA: ***I SWEAR THAT I SHALL MAKE HIM PAY DEARLY FOR STEALING MY BELOVED WIFE!***

I know that I’ll never see it happen but I hope kanaya beats dirks ass into the goddamn ground

Remember when chainsawed eridan in half and put on bloodied lipstick afterward? That’s the shit I’m talking about

Welp. Bye, jade.

Fucking. My sentiments exactly.

Alright alt calliope is using ‘he’ pronouns w/ Roxy so I’m assuming that’s right, considering alt calliope has access to Roxy’s thoughts and shit

fuck you you punk-ass bitch

Meat 43

I have never in my life been more relieved to see red text instead of orange

Things are still pretty fucking awful, though. I haven’t forgotten that.

sdfghjkl

see things are 100% Very Bad rn but this isn’t like completely impossible to read? Like I enjoyed parts of the epilogue, didn’t enjoy other parts. But the a lot of the parts I didn’t enjoy just were so painful to read. It was damn near impossible sometimes. And like, I get what you’re trying to do, but imo tough subjects don’t necessarily need to be written in a way that makes me so viscerally upset lol

anyway what I’m saying is that I’m not viscerally upset right now. Considering I’m nearing the end, this is a good thing.

karkat is talking about how dumb the concept of incest is and is being a jerk about how roxy’s dressed. I am upset again.

Thank god dave is here to save the fucking day

I just sneezed and heard crackling in my ears. I’ve been hearing shit like that for a solid two months now. Is there fluid in my ears? Do I have an ear infection? How long do ear infections last?

I’m love them

They still don’t know john is dead ): ): ):

Thank fucking god

At least there’s the possibility that they’ll see john again and that calliope is going to provide some fucking guidance

Also arent epilogues supposed to RESOLVE SHIT and not like. Leave me hanging like this. I can tell it’s to leave me hanging and listen. Listen. I just want to be free.

I’m going to be 40 goddamn years old and homestuck: the sequel is going to come out and the characters are going to be 42 and dealing with the exact issues that I’m dealing with as a 40 year old and it’ll launch me into an at-least-a-month-long spiral of fruitless self-reflection while I cry about it

Oh god fucking dammit

What was his sacrifice, even? Having sex with terezi?

Sorry. I’m just bitter.

In any case, in addition to like, weakening LE enough for alt calliope to presumably kill him, I do think it has something to do with terezi. I don’t think her role in things is quite over yet.

Meat Postscript

Okay so we’re back to candy?

Or, at least, where candy left off

Did. Alt calliope eat LE. Is that what happens when cherubs defeat one another. Did I manage to forget this cannibalistic detail.

Did dirk influence Obama to make davebot so davebot could join forces with alt-calliope to go against dirk, or was that Obama intentionally going up against dirk

Did I really type that sentence with my own fingers

The hole leaves behind an absence in the sky so calm that continuing to call it a sky wouldn’t seem to do it justice. It’s a perfectly neutral expanse into which anything one can imagine might be summoned. And for a while, anything was. But not anymore. Where the hole gaped just moments ago, there now exists an imaginary line.

Above this line resides all that matters. Below exists all else. Never again the twain shall meet.

These are a dope couple of paragraphs

Also I know that this probably goes against everything I just read but I hope this means I never have to read about an offshoot timeline again

Like I get that that was all Homestuck Brand Fuckery but I need like 300 months to recover

21 hours of reading later and I don’t really know what to

#derseday #homestuck #upd8 #also this looks fucking wack on mobile #so dont even look i guess

33 notes · View notes

insatiabletc · 4 years

Photo

This is Alillia “Lala” Minthorn, a 25 year old member of the Yakama Nation in Washington. Here is how her friends and family remember her:

“Alillia “Lala” Minthorn was a daughter, a friend and a sister: big-hearted, a caretaker to everyone and altogether curious.” – as described to Emily Goodell with the Associated Press*

“She was there in the rough times and in the dark times when nobody else wanted to be…And she never left until you were OK.” – Her sister, Tanya Miller*

Overall, outside of her sister, Alillia’s family has been quiet about the case.

One disturbing fact is that Tanya and Alillia knew quite a few women that have gone missing over recent years. They had a relationship with Linda Dave, Destiny Lloyd, and Rosenda Strong. They also knew Felina Metsker and Roselita Longee. Longee went missing in 2019 and has not been found. Felina Metsker was murdered in 2016. These women are not disappearing in a vacuum – a whole community of women are being harmed and taken. Whole networks of families are impacted. Children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers, and friends. What is happening is an insidious toxin that is working its way through generation after generation of a people that have already experienced tremendous trauma and harm. We must start asking questions and demanding answers from our law enforcement agencies and lawmakers. By looking away we are robbing communities of the justice they so deeply deserve. Even if a perpetrator is not a white man, the racist and genocidal systems our country has implemented since the birth of our nation hold culpability. We must start caring.

Facts of the Case

On May 3rd, 2019 Alillia left a homeless camp and got into a car driven by Jordan Stevens and two unnamed “witnesses.” On May 9th a missing persons report was filed. On May 29th, with the assistance of one of two “witnesses,” police were led to Alillia’s body, where it had been left in a remote part of the Yakama Reservation. On July 10th, Stevens was remanded into custody. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head.

Currently, a trial is scheduled for February 2020. Because both Alillia and Stevens are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation, the case is being handled by the FBI and the trial will be held in federal court.

Jordan Stevens

Jordan Stevens has a long history of violence.

In 2011 Stevens was incarcerated for a serious assault against a romantic partner. He was sentenced to 41 months in jail and was released December 12th, 2016. In 2017 a warrant was issued for his arrest as he had not followed through with any of his probation conditions. The latest court document we could view for this case said his whereabouts were unknown.

He is also believed to be responsible for an assault in April, 2019, in a homeless camp in Toppenish.

April 30th Assault

Several news sources have indicated that Stevens was involved in an assault on April 30th, 2019 at the same homeless camp that Alillia was picked up from. The court documents actually say “on or around” April 30th and “near” the homeless camp. We found three assaults that could be the one referred to.

This is the “Compound” as seen on Google Maps:

There was an assault on April 21st:

An assault April 26th:

And an assault on April 30th:

There was also an assault that occurred on May 3rd at 11pm, but since that’s the day Alillia went missing, it seems unlikely that this was the April 30th assault.

We are unable to dig up any other information about these three cases or how they relate to Stevens. We do know from the Criminal Complaint filed on June 28th 2019, that Alillia was “questioned at the scene.” She also told family “If I don’t come back, look for me” when she got into Stevens’ car.* To us, this sounds like Alillia knew that Stevens thought she had “ratted” him out to federal authorities. Later, the “witness” referred to as “Witness 1” confirmed that this was Stevens’ motive in the homicide.

What’s interesting about the court document referring to this case is that it is not expressly said that the two events are related. The April 30th date is presented, and it is implied that this is what Alillia was murdered over. We wonder though if this is truly the reason why Stevens felt he had been sold out. Maybe it was related to his probation issues. Maybe Alillia told the federal agents investigating the assault where he could be found? We won’t know really, until February 2020, so stay tuned for updates when the trial begins.

Next of Kin

One thing that stood out as incredibly strange to us about this case is how authorities treated Alillia’s sister, Tanya. When Alillia was reported missing, Tanya was determined to spread the word and find her sister. She had an active Facebook group dedicated to doing so, and made posts hoping to find her sister from May through August 2019. While authorities had identified Alillia’s body and had a suspect by May 29th, no one told Tanya until August. It is not publicly known who Alillia’s dedicated Next of Kin (NOK) was, but we know they chose to stay quiet and not alert the rest of the family. Tanya and her aunt, Tina, felt a rightful sense of betrayal, not just from the NOK, but also from authorities who they had contacted daily to get updates to Alillia’s case. We imagine it would be embarrassing and angering to be so vocal in the search for a loved one, and now know that others knew what happened and kept quiet.

Some have called for policy changes to ensure this doesn’t occur again, and we have some speculations on what might have happened in this case in particular. Before we start, it is important to remember that we do not actually know what happened so take our theories with a grain of salt.

First, authorities knew by May 29th that Stevens had murdered Alillia. They knew this because “Witness 1” came forward and led them to the body, as the “witness” felt Stevens may murder them for having information related to the homicide.

Stevens was arrested July 10th, 2019.

Newspaper articles began coming out in mid-August stating that Alillia had been found and identified, and Stevens was in custody. Tanya made a post on the page acknowledging that the search was over for her sister.

We wonder if authorities instructed Alillia’s NOK to keep quiet about the body discovery for two reasons:

1. “Witness 1” was afraid they would be murdered for cooperating with federal agents, and since this person had been a party to a murder with Stevens that had been carried out for that very reason, this was a reasonable fear.

2. Authorities may not have known where Stevens was (as indicated by it taking them almost two months to arrest him).

Had Tanya put on her page that Alillia had been found, Stevens may have seen that and known that one of the two “witnesses” had aided federal authorities (especially since the body was in such a remote location that authorities could only have found it with assistance. They searched for it before without the aid of the “witness” and were unable to find her). He could have left town or hurt the “witnesses.” The same would have been true for news media reporting the same information.

Perhaps this is why authorities did not reveal information to Tanya and her aunt when they sent in their daily requests for information.

There is a kink in this interpretation of events, however. On the Facebook post Tanya made about her sister being found and dead, there was this comment:

Whoever made that comment knew Alillia had been discovered and that the NOK was keeping quiet. And this person doesn’t indicate any reason why Tanya would be left in the dark.

One thing is for certain, though: if there was no good reason for keeping Tanya and her aunt in the dark, this was an exceptionally cruel undertaking by the authorities they were in contact with.

The Compound

Tanya has stated to the press that Alillia was homeless. We cannot find anything else that states this explicitly, but it sounds like she may have been living at the “Compound.” In 2017 350 – 500 families were evicted from Tribal owned housing, forcing some to become homeless. This led to the creation of the semi-permanent “Compound” and another lot with tiny homes.

The top three reasons families were evicted were:

1. Drug test failure

2. Late rent payments

3. Overcrowding in units

Before leaping on the drug test failures, it is widely known that drug use is prevalent in rural communities across the United States and is not unique to these Toppenish families. The other two reasons speak to poverty and a housing crisis currently affecting reservations.

Tribal owned housing is desperately needed on the Yakama Reservation, and in Native American communities in general. On the Yakama Reservation alone, the poverty rate is 37.3%, compared to the US average of 26.8%.

Factors that contribute to poverty on reservations:

· Remote locations – many reservations were placed by the federal government in isolated plots of land away from urbanized environments (aka, further away from jobs).

Looking at this map, it appears that the Yakama Reservation is close to both Portland and Seattle, but in actuality it is 4.5 and 2.5 hours away by car, respectively.

· Lack of public transportation to get to jobs

· Tribal lands are owned by the federal government. Yakama specifically is 80% owned by the federal government, and 20% privately. This impedes the ability of tribal members to own businesses and enrich their communities. Additionally, the federal government makes it bureaucratically difficult to make economic developments on tribal land.

· Lack of access to education – reservation schools are funded by the federal government, so they do not benefit from state taxes designated for education. The Trump administration has been consistent in their desire to cut federal funding for education.

· Federal programs fund housing for sovereign tribes, programs the Trump administration has cut funding for.

The federal government’s historic and current meddling and abuse of tribal land has culminated in an environment where it is hard to reduce poverty in these communities. We as a society love to say it’s the responsibility of tribes to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and invest in their own communities, while at the same time electing leaders that make that almost impossible.

We know that homeless persons are uniquely vulnerable to violence and disenfranchisement. We know that homeless women are especially vulnerable. It is terrifying to be homeless.

We wonder if Stevens also lived at the “Compound.” Did he terrorize people there? It certainly sounds like it. When we ignore Native American communities and reservations, we create an environment where men and women can hurt others almost without consequence. We don’t know that Alillia’s housing status played into her murder, but it likely made her more vulnerable.

What Can We Do?

Learn more about the tribal communities in your state. Get to know the policies and programs that hurt or assist those communities and stop seeing your relationship with tribal communities as “us versus them.” Donate to programs that need it! Reach out to organizations that serve tribal communities in your state to see what assistance they need. Read, learn, and educate yourself. Put pressure on your law enforcement agencies to follow up on these homicides and ask your local media to report on them. Be a voice for change! Learn some facts and dismantle ignorant arguments and statements made by your friends, family, and community. We cannot keep watching this violence unfold and turn a blind eye. After decades of genocidal policies, we need to do much, much better.

To learn more about the Yakama Nation: http://www.yakamanation-nsn.gov/

To Learn More About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women:

· National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

· Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

· CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

· Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

· The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

· Melanie Bartel, an indigenous artist in Canada. Check out her work! https://www.melaniebartelart.com/justine-cochrane.html

· Missing and Murdered (Canadian Podcast) https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/program/missing-and-murdered

Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear (American activist based out of Montana, United States) https://twitter.com/native4data

*Article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/if-i-dont-make-it-back-come-look-for-me-yakama-woman-told-her-sister-before-she-was-killed/

#mmiw #mmiwg #toppenish #washington #truecrime #true crime #illustration #sketch #sketchbook #art #portrait

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gelasssoek · 3 years

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Beef Short Rib Stew.

Hey everyone, it is me, Dave, welcome to my recipe site. Today, I will show you a way to make a distinctive dish, beef short rib stew. It is one of my favorites food recipes. For mine, I'm gonna make it a bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

Beef Short Rib Stew is one of the most favored of recent trending foods on earth. It's appreciated by millions every day. It is easy, it's fast, it tastes delicious. Beef Short Rib Stew is something that I've loved my whole life. They are fine and they look wonderful.

To begin with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few ingredients. You can cook beef short rib stew using 11 ingredients and 10 steps. Here is how you can achieve it.

The ingredients needed to make Beef Short Rib Stew:

{Prepare 2.5 lbs of - Beef Short Ribs.

{Take 1.6 lbs of - Baby Yellow Potatoes.

{Get 10 slices of - Ginger.

{Get 1/2 cup of - Regular Olive Oil.

{Get 8 cloves of - Garlic.

{Make ready 4 pcs of - Dried Red Pepper.

{Prepare 1 tsp of - Sichuan Pepper Corn.

{Make ready 1 tbsp of - Cooking Wine(Rice Wine or Shao Hsing Wine).

{Take 1 1/2 tbsp of - Pixian Broad Bean Chili Oil Sauce.

{Take 1 tbsp of - Light Soy Sauce.

{Make ready 1 tbsp of - Dark Soy Sauce.

Steps to make Beef Short Rib Stew:

Cover all the beef with a pot of water. Add 5 slices of ginger. Boiling at high heat. Turn to medium heat when the blood comes out..

When the beef turns brown, take it out of the water. Cut the beef to small pieces..

Chop the rest of the ginger and the garlic to fine pieces..

Heat the oil at high heat. Add ginger, garlic, dry red pepper and Sichuan pepper corn. Before the garlic turns brown, add beef..

Stir the beef for 3 minutes. Turn to medium heat. Add cooking wine..

Add broad bean chili oil sauce. (Try to get the red oil part of the sauce. Because the slow cooking process will make the beef absorb all the flavor from sauce. Just a little bit of sauce will make it spicy and savory enough. So avoid too much sauce.).

Add light soy sauce to give it a sweet hint. Add dark soy sauce to give it a caramelized color..

Add water to cover all the beef. Simmer at medium heat with lid on for 40 minutes to 1 hour..

Cut the baby potatoes to half size while beef is boiling. After 40 minutes to 1 hour, the water in the pot should be shallow. Add water to cover the beef again..

Boil for another 40 minutes, the water in the pot should be shallow again. Add potatoes and cook for 20 minutes or untill the potatos are tender. It's ready to serve..

So that is going to wrap this up for this exceptional food beef short rib stew recipe. Thank you very much for reading. I'm sure you can make this at home. There's gonna be interesting food at home recipes coming up. Don't forget to bookmark this page in your browser, and share it to your loved ones, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

#recipesfood

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yunitwer · 3 years

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Vickys Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake, GF EF EF SF NF.

Hey everyone, it is me, Dave, welcome to my recipe site. Today, we're going to make a distinctive dish, vickys traditional christmas fruit cake, gf ef ef sf nf. It is one of my favorites food recipes. For mine, I am going to make it a little bit unique. This will be really delicious.

Vickys Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake, GF EF EF SF NF is one of the most favored of recent trending foods in the world. It's simple, it is fast, it tastes delicious. It's enjoyed by millions every day. They are fine and they look fantastic. Vickys Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake, GF EF EF SF NF is something that I have loved my whole life.

To begin with this recipe, we have to first prepare a few ingredients. You can cook vickys traditional christmas fruit cake, gf ef ef sf nf using 16 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.

The ingredients needed to make Vickys Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake, GF EF EF SF NF:

{Prepare 340 g (12 oz) of gluten-free / plain flour.

{Prepare 1/4 tsp of slightly rounded xanthan gum if using GF flour.

{Prepare 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda / baking soda.

{Take 1/2 tsp of mixed spice (see my separate recipe for this).

{Make ready 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon.

{Prepare 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.

{Get 70 g (2.5 oz) of sunflower spread / butter.

{Take 170 g (6 oz) of soft brown sugar.

{Take 170 g (6 oz) of currants.

{Prepare 170 g (6 oz) of sultanas.

{Take 140 g (5 oz) of raisins.

{Take 55 g (2 oz) of chopped glacé cherries.

{Prepare 25 g (1 oz) of chopped mixed peel.

{Prepare of Zest of 1 lemon.

{Prepare 280 ml (1 cup) of plus 2.5 tbsp) light coconut milk or milk of choice.

{Get 6 tbsp of Brandy / Cointreau - I use half & half!.

Steps to make Vickys Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake, GF EF EF SF NF:

Grease and line a 7 or 8 inch, deep round cake tin and preheat the oven to gas 4 / 180C / 350F.

Mix the flour, xanthan gum if using, bicarb of soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl.

Cut in the sunflower spread like you would if making pastry.

Stir in the sugar, currants, sulranas, raisins, cherries, mixed peel and lemon zest.

Add the milk and stir in just until the batter is smooth. Gluten-free batter may need up to 2 extra tablespoons of milk.

Pour into the cake tin. Try and push the batter down a bit in the middle of the tin to encourage a more even rise while it bakes.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour, then turn the heat down slightly to gas 3 / 160 / 325F for another 45 minutes or until the cake has pulled in from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and dry.

Turn out and let cool on a wire rack.

When completely cooled, prick all over the cake top with a cocktail stick and spoon 2 tablespoons of the Brandy / Cointreau evenly over. I find it easiest to do this back in the tin lined with clean parchment paper.

Wrap and store in an airtight container for a week then repeat the pricking and 2 tbsp Brandy feeding. Do this until the Brandy is gone. At the end of the final week the cake is ready to eat! This cake will keep for up to 4 weeks from the day it's baked, 3 weeks for the gluten-free version so the GF is best made I feel on the 4th of December to make it perfect for Christmas Day.

If you want to you can spread some apricot jam over the top of the cake and cover in a thin layer of marzipan then spread more jam over that before a final covering of white ready roll fondant icing and maybe some holly leaves or Christmas cake toppers.

So that's going to wrap this up with this special food vickys traditional christmas fruit cake, gf ef ef sf nf recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I am sure that you will make this at home. There is gonna be interesting food in home recipes coming up. Don't forget to bookmark this page in your browser, and share it to your family, colleague and friends. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

#Recipes

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kunwiginjanu · 3 years

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Best beef pot roast ever-crockpot.

Hey everyone, it is me, Dave, welcome to our recipe site. Today, I will show you a way to prepare a special dish, best beef pot roast ever-crockpot. One of my favorites food recipes. This time, I am going to make it a bit tasty. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

Best beef pot roast ever-crockpot is one of the most popular of current trending foods on earth. It's appreciated by millions every day. It's easy, it is fast, it tastes delicious. They're nice and they look fantastic. Best beef pot roast ever-crockpot is something that I've loved my whole life.

To get started with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few components. You can cook best beef pot roast ever-crockpot using 9 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you can achieve it.

The ingredients needed to make Best beef pot roast ever-crockpot:

{Take 2.5-3 lb of boneless chuck roast.

{Take 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar.

{Make ready 1-1.5 cup of lower sodium beef broth.

{Get 2 of bay leaves.

{Make ready 1 tbsp of dry rosemary.

{Prepare 1 tbsp of garlic powder.

{Take 1 tbsp of onion powder.

{Prepare 1 tbsp of corn oil (for searing meat).

{Take of Salt & Pepper meat before searing.

Steps to make Best beef pot roast ever-crockpot:

Heat the oil in a pan. Sear / brown seasoned meat on both sides..

Remove meat. Add balsamic vinegar and beef broth and deglaze the pan..

Stir in the rosemary, garlic and onion powder. Bring to boil..

Place 2 bay leaves on bottom of crockpot. Place seared meat on top. Pour in the liquid from the pan. Liquid needs to come up to just below the top of the meat.... 3/4 the way up the meat..

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Remove meat to platter. Thicken the gravy and serve with mashed potatoes..

So that is going to wrap it up with this exceptional food best beef pot roast ever-crockpot recipe. Thank you very much for your time. I am confident you will make this at home. There is gonna be more interesting food at home recipes coming up. Don't forget to save this page in your browser, and share it to your loved ones, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

#recipesfood

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ssportlive4 · 3 years

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Make-at-Home Ramen Jiro Regular Version.

Hey everyone, it is me, Dave, welcome to our recipe site. Today, I'm gonna show you how to make a distinctive dish, make-at-home ramen jiro regular version. One of my favorites. This time, I will make it a little bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

Make-at-Home Ramen Jiro Regular Version is one of the most popular of current trending foods in the world. It's appreciated by millions every day. It's easy, it's quick, it tastes delicious. They're nice and they look fantastic. Make-at-Home Ramen Jiro Regular Version is something that I've loved my entire life.

To begin with this recipe, we must first prepare a few ingredients. You can have make-at-home ramen jiro regular version using 26 ingredients and 24 steps. Here is how you cook that.

The ingredients needed to make Make-at-Home Ramen Jiro Regular Version:

{Make ready of Fresh Ramen Noodles (enough for 750 g of dough).

{Take of x 3 ○Strong bread flour.

{Prepare of x 3 ○Cake flour.

{Get of x 3 ○Water.

{Take of x 3 ○Salt.

{Make ready of x 3 ○Bicarbonate of soda.

{Make ready of Soup.

{Take of ◇Pork belly on the bone.

{Get of +2 liters ◇Water.

{Get of ◆Garlic.

{Make ready of ◆Cabbage cores.

{Prepare of cm ◆Green portion of Japanese leeks.

{Prepare of ◆Ginger.

{Make ready of +80 grams □Pork fatback.

{Make ready of Meat sauce baste.

{Prepare of ▽Soy sauce.

{Take of ▽Mirin.

{Prepare of ▽Sake.

{Take of ▽Salt.

{Make ready of Toppings.

{Take of +300 grams ◆Pork.

{Prepare of +2 leaves ●Cabbage.

{Prepare of +4 packages ●Bean sprouts.

{Prepare of ◎Minced garlic.

{Make ready of A must for authentic Jiro Ramen.

{Prepare of per bowl ☆ Umami seasoning.

Steps to make Make-at-Home Ramen Jiro Regular Version:

Make the noodles with the ○ ingredients. You can make about 2 servings at a time using a normal bowl. Make it in several batches or use a large container..

Once the dough is complete, make the noodles, and let ferment for about a week. About 2~2.5 mm thick noodles look authentic, but cut them to your liking..

Remove the blood from the pork belly bones, and boil in hot water for 20-40 minutes. If you don't do this prep work, then the color and taste will be bad..

Wash the pork belly bones clean, break apart and add to the pot, with 2 liters of water. Bring to a boil. I think there won't be a lot of scum, but discard any that comes out..

Once scum has stopped seeping out, transfer to a pressure cooker, and set the switch. If cooking on the stovetop, keep a steady heat..

After cooking for about 2 hours in a pressure cooker, check the pot contents. A lot of oil will have rendered out of the pork belly bones..

Removing this pork marrow broth will lighten the soup base and discard the smell, but also will remove the umami from the vegetables. You could discard it if you prefer, but if you're using it, just lessen the amount of backfat..

Repeat Steps 6 and 7 once more, and ideally cook down for about 4 hours. When there is not enough water, add in more so you are not heating the pot without water..

Prepare the pork. If you don't mind the shape, then you don't need to tie it up with butcher's twine. Use shoulder roast, belly meat, or a block..

The sizes of the pots at my work and the ones I have at home are different sizes. The amount of ingredients listed above for the vegetables is sufficient. You won't get the aroma of the pork belly bones if you add too many veggies..

The aroma of the ginger is strong, so this uses an extremely small amount. If using tubed ginger, use about 5 mm. When using fresh ginger, use the photo as a reference (about a quarter size)..

Add in the ◆ ingredients (included the pork meat), and cook again. Cooking for 25 minutes when using shoulder roast or 30 minutes when using pork belly meat is ideal in a pressure cooker (Reserve this for the broth in Step 15)..

Prepare the basting sauce and add in the cooked pork. Heat the meat and cool it down more than once, sealing in the meat flavoring..

If you marinate for too long, the flavor will become too strong, so take it out once you think it's done (taste and see. Store the meat and the basting sauce (now soup base) for later..

If you have the time, boil down the broth for longer. (The one shown in the photo has been cooked for about 8 hours)..

Next, add in the back fat. When using as a topping, It will shrink more than you think, so add in lots (I used 120 g in the photo)..

Cook for 45 minutes even when using a pressure cooker. It is convenient to make it together and store the cooked bits in a container..

The amount of soup needed changes depending on the toppings used, but it may be best to prepare 1.1 - 2 liters for 3 bowls..

In truth, you need 3 gas burners to make the best Jiro Ramen. (I ideally want four)..

Prepare the noodles and vegetables by boiling in separate pots, and boil the soup as well or boil the vegetables in the soup..

Add the sauce, back fat and umami seasoning into a bowl. From here on, work quickly..

Warm up the veggies. In winter, just put them on top, the hot soup will cook them. Aadd them in right after noodles finish boiling..

After you have boiled the noodles to your desired firmness, completely drain the water. Add broth and the noodles. Top with pork and vegetables, and it is done..

Adjust the spiciness, amount of grease, and amount of veggies to your liking! The toppings are big so it hard to see, but it has 1.5 bags of bean sprouts..

So that is going to wrap this up with this special food make-at-home ramen jiro regular version recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I am confident that you can make this at home. There's gonna be more interesting food at home recipes coming up. Don't forget to save this page in your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

#recipesfood

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podcastcoach · 3 years

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If Your Podcast Future Proof?

Is Your Podcast Future Proof?

I was asked by one of my editing clients to go back and edit some of their episodes and remove discussions that were about specific events at a specific time. In listening to their episodes there are a couple of strategies you can do to make your show future-proof.

Always Use the Year

The deadline for the question of the month is December 14th, 2020. By adding the year into the discussion, a listener knows that the episode has passed. But what about outdated information? If the episode consists of nothing but information that is outdated you can always delete that episode form your host and within 24 hours it will be removed from most apps. When I watch a movie and one of the characters says, "Why didn't you page me?" I can figure out that the movie is from the 1980's. I don't hold the movie studio responsible for outdated references. (Just my opinion). As always if you are delivering value to your audience, then keep it up and available.

Use Timeless Landing Pages

For example, I could say, "I'll have a link to the question of the month in today's episode at schoolofpodcasting.com/XXX, or just go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/question.

Every month when I do a question of the month I always have the same landing page. This way if someone goes to answer an older question that is outdated, while they are too late to answer the question from two months ago, they are in the right place to answer the current question.

Another example of this is from Jordan Harbinger. Jordan gets mountains of downloads and makes a living with ads on his podcast. Jordan often has pages on the manufacturer's site such as hostgator.com/jordan but he also mentions that you can find more by going to jordanharbinger.com and clicking on the deals page. Here again, if there was a time-sensitive deal in place for the sponsor it may be too late, but you are now in the right place to find a deal from another sponsor that will help Jordan.

If you're doing webinars you can say something like, "My webinar on the perfect gear is at schoolofpodcasting.com/perfectgear or just see the schedule for all of your webinars at schoolofpodcasting.com/webinars (where you would use your website - not mine.... :) I realize you might say, "But I only have the one webinar. While this is true TODAY, in the future you might be doing one a week." When Glenn Hebert of the Horse Radio Network started it was a network with one show, but Glenn knew there would be more so he founded the Horse Radio Network.

Reinforce Your Band

By using your website you reinforce your brand, and you keep control of your content. For example, I have a Patreon account that I promote on the Ask the Podcast Coach where you can be an Awesome Supporter. Do I tell people to go to www.patreon.com/davejackson ? No. Why? Because what if something better comes along? Then I have a bunch of podcasts with mentions of a website I don't use. An example of this is web hosting. Over the years I've used Hostgator, Siteground, and Cooler Websites. Did I promote that company by mentioning their website? No, I told people to go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/hosting, and in the early days of my show that link went to Hostgator, and for years it went to Siteground, and then Cooler Websites. I might direct that at Podpage in the future. While this might confuse someone expecting a Hostgator link, but in the end, if the person is looking for hosting and you direct them to a hosting page, I feel (again an opinion) they should trust you, and if they have questions they can always contact you.

Tools To Make Redirects

If you are using WordPress, you can use the PrettyLinks plugin. There is a free version and the premium version starts at $49/year. It's been downloaded over 2.5 million times. Thirsty affiliates is a very similar plugin for about the same price ($49/year).

If you're using Podpage Pro, redirects are one of the many features. (Check out the free "Learn PodPage" course )

While some people use bit.ly, I prefer Rebandly.

Tools To Help Follow Your Money

And.co

In the past I used Freshbooks, but they charged their pricing (costing more if I had morse customer) and many of their features I didn't use (I just need to create invoices and track income and expenses). I found and.co and this does exactly what I want. There is a free version to allow you to kick the tires, and if you go with the pro plan it's $18/month (you get a discount when you purchase a year in advance).

I love their "shoebox" feature. When a bill comes into my email, I can forward it to an email at and.co and it adds it to my account where I can easily add it as an expense and categorize it for tax purposes. It is super easy, and I love it.

Check it out at https://supportthisshow.com/andco (aff link)

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

YNAB is a web-based tool that makes it sooo easy to track every penny you make (and more importantly every penny you spend). You can even integrate it directly with your bank so you don't have to do data entry (I import mine manually). It uses a different philosophy as you give each dollar "a job" so you can see exactly where you money is going. You can set up savings goals, and I attended a webinar to learn the software and was up and running quickly. It's $12/month of $89/year.

Check it out at https://supportthisshow.com/ynab

Mentioned In This Show

Profit From Your Podcast Book

Join the School of Podcasting

How to Fix a Mistake Episode

My Podcast Reviews

Ask the Podcast Coach

Dave's Patreon Account

Jordan Harbinger's Deal Page

Schedule a Podcast Coaching Call

Join the School of Podcasting

Avoid sounding unprofessional, buying the wrong equipment, and creating content that isn't good.

The School of Podcasting has step by step tutorials, Live Group Coaching, and a private Facebook group filled with brilliant podcasting minds.

Join worry-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start

Check out this episode!

#podcasting #podcast #coaching #new media

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astrogeoguy · 6 years

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A Moonless Week for Orion’s Treats, and Stellar Diamonds for V-Day!

(Above: For your Valentine - the gorgeoous Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia as imaged by Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario. Link: astrodoc.ca/ic1805/)

Astronomy Skylights for this week (from February 4th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory, or another in your area, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

My latest column for Space.com elaborates on last week’s information about watching the obvious brightness variation in Algol, the Demon Star. You can find it here.

Public Events

Taking advantage of dark moonless evening skies this week, the members of the RASC Toronto Centre will gather for dark sky stargazing at Glen Major Forest, northeast of Claremont on (only) the first clear evening from Monday to Thursday this week. You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details and watch the banner on their homepage or their Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

On Monday evenings, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday evenings after dark, they offer free public viewing through their telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

On Tuesday, February 13, starting at 7 pm, the U of T AstroTour presents a planetarium show entitled Our Musical Universe. Tickets and details are here.

On Friday, February 16 starting at 7 pm, the U of T AstroTour presents a planetarium show entitled The Life and Death of Stars. Tickets and details are here.

The Women in Planetary Science and Exploration Conference, WPSE2018, will be held on Saturday and Sunday, February 17-18, at the Bahen Centre, U of T. Lots of amazing woman planetary scientists are presenting. Registration and details are here.

Zodiacal light

For about half an hour after dusk during the two week period between now and the new moon on February 15, look west-southwest for a broad wedge of faint light rising from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic. This is the zodiacal light - reflected sunlight from interplanetary particles of matter concentrated in the plane of the solar system. Try to observe from a location without light pollution, and don't confuse the zodiacal light with the brighter Milky Way to the northwest.

(Above: The February evening zodiacal light rises from the western horizon (at left). The Milky Way is off to the right. This image was taken last week by Fred Espenak.)

Orion’s Treats

This is a perfect week to grab the binoculars and check out Orion’s (the Hunter) majestic sword, one of winter’s true astronomical treats. The sword hangs well below Orion’s distinctive three-starred belt. Unaided eyes can generally detect three patches of light in Orion’s sword, but binoculars or a telescope quickly reveal that the middle object is not a star at all, but a bright knot of glowing gas and stars known as The Orion Nebula (or the Great Nebula in Orion or Messier 42, aka M42).

(Above: To the naked eye, Orion’s sword looks like three stars, but there’s much more to it! The Orion Nebula (M42) and Messier 43 form the centre of the sword, along with the Running Man Nebula at the top of the frame, and stars below. All are revealed in this widefield long exposure image by Manuel Guerrero of Toronto, Canada)

The Orion Nebula is one of the brightest nebulae in the entire night sky and, at 1,400 light-years from Earth, it is one of the closest star-forming nurseries to us. It’s enormous. Under a very dark sky, the nebula can be traced over an area equivalent to four full moons!

Buried in the core of the nebula is a tight clump of stars collectively designated Theta Orionis (Orionis is Latin for “of Orion”), but better known as The Trapezium, because the brightest four stars occupy the corners of a trapezoid shape. Even a small telescope should be able to pick out this four-star asterism, but good seeing conditions and a larger aperture scope will show another two faint stars. The trapezium stars are hot young O- and B-type stars that are emitting intense amounts of ultraviolet radiation. The radiation causes the gas they are embedded in to shine brightly, by both reflecting off gas and dust as blue light and also by energizing Hydrogen gas, which is re-emitted as red light. That is why there is so much purple in colour images of the nebula.

Within the nebula, astronomers have also detected many young (about 100,000 years old) concentrations of collapsing gas called proplyds that should one day form future solar systems. These objects give us a glimpse into how our sun and planets formed.

Stargazers have long known about the stars in the nebula’s core, but detection of the nebulosity around them required the invention of telescopes in the early 1600’s. In the 1700’s, Charles Messier and Edmund Halley (both famous comet observers) noted the object in their growing catalogues of “fuzzy” objects. In 1880, Henry Draper imaged it through an 11-inch refractor telescope, making it the first deep sky object to be photographed.

In your own small telescope, you should see the bright clump of Trapezium stars surrounded by a ghostly grey shroud, complete with bright veils and dark gaps. More photons would need to be delivered to your eye before colour would be observed, so try photographing it through your telescope or with a camera/telephoto lens on a tripod. Visually, start with low magnification and enjoy the extent of the cloud before zooming in on the tight asterism. Can you see four stars, or more? Just to the upper left of M42, you’ll find M43, a separate lobe of the nebula. It surrounds the unaided-eye star nu Orionis (ν Ori).

While you’re touring the sword, look just below the nebula for a loose group of stars, 1300 light-years away, called Nair al Saif “the Bright One of the Sword”. This main star is a hot, bright star expected to explode in a supernova one day. It is surrounded by faint nebulosity, too. Astronomers believe that this star was gravitationally kicked out of the Trapezium cluster about 2.5 million years ago.

(Above: The sword below Orion’s famous belt (at top) contains the wonderful Orion Nebula and many other binocular and telescopic treats.)

Sweeping down the sword and to the left (east) brings us to the star named Mizan Batil ath Thaalith (and d Orionis) at the tip of the sword . This magnitude 4.7 star is near the limit for visibility in moonless suburban skies. About two finger widths to its right is another star of similar brightness, named Thabit, "the endurer".

Moving upwards towards Orion’s belt, half a finger width (30 arc-minutes, or the moon’s diameter) above the Orion Nebula, you’ll find another clump of stars dominated by c Orionis and 45 Orionis. A larger telescope, or a long-exposure photograph, reveals a bluish patch of nebulosity around them that contains darker lanes forming the shape of a figure, called the Running Man Nebula. This is another case of gas reflecting light from the two stars mentioned.

(Above: The Running Man Nebula in Orion’s Sword, taken by Dave Eisfeldt of Waco, Texas on Oct 26, 2011. http://eldoradostarparty.org/ngc-1977-running-man-nebula-taken-by-dave-eisfeldt-of-waco-texas/)

Just above the Running Man sits a loose cluster of a few dozen stars best seen in binoculars. Then we jump higher – most of the way towards Alnitak (the eastern-most belt star), to check out a beautiful little grouping of stars collectively called Sigma (σ) Orionis. What makes this a special treat is that, in a small telescope, we find four or five stars crammed together. Check it out with your telescope – trust me, it’s pretty! It’s a bit more than a finger width to the lower right of Alnitak. Let me know what you see!

Valentine’s Day Diamonds

A beautiful diamond sparkles in the southern sky during winter evenings. It’s Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Major (the Big Dog). The constellation is located to the lower left (southeast) of Orion (the Hunter). In fact, his three-starred belt points directly towards Sirius! Another dog, Canis Minor (the Little Dog) sits three fist diameters to the left of Orion. It, too, has a bright star, named Procyon. The two dogs are assisting Orion in his hunt. (There is actually a dim constellation called Monoceros (the Unicorn) sitting between the two dogs, but its faint stars are barely visible from the city.)

(Above: Orion’s two canine companions, Canis Major (lower centre) and Canis Minor (beyond the Unicorn at left), pursue Lepus the rabbit across the winter evening sky. The bright stars Sirius and Procyon are fairly close to Earth, and dominate their respective constellations. Sky is shown for 8 pm local time in mid-February.)

The big dog sits lower in the sky and is oriented so that he looks like he’s standing up on his hind legs, begging Orion for a treat. Sirius marks the location of his throat – perhaps it’s a diamond dogtag! Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens (other than our sun) and its name means “scorching” in Greek. Some people call Sirius the “Dog Star”, and J. K. Rowling used its name for Harry Potter’s uncle, the animagus. Its brilliance is mostly due to its proximity to us. At only 8.7 light-years away, it is among the closest stars to Earth.

Sirius is famous for dramatic flashes of sparkling colour. Visible with unaided eyes, the colours are enhanced in binoculars or a telescope. They come from an excessive amount of twinkling due to the star’s low elevation in the sky combined with its brightness. The light from stars lower in the sky is passing through more of our atmosphere to reach us. Sirius itself is fairly ordinary. It is a few times the mass of our Sun and has a surface temperature of about 9,900° giving it a bluish colour. It is also moving towards us at about 27,000 km per hour. Fast, but don’t stand around waiting for it to arrive!

A very good telescope and a steady atmosphere can reveal Sirius’ tiny white dwarf companion star, officially named Sirius B. Astronomers have nick-named it ��The Pup”, but I prefer “The Flea”. The Flea may be small but it’s mighty! Its temperature is about 25,000°!

(Above: A Hubble Space Telescope image of Sirius. Its tiny companion star Sirius B, aka The Pup, is the tiny dot at lower left.)

Procyon is another neighbour – only 11.5 light-years away from Earth - making it the eighth brightest star in the heavens. Its name comes from the Greek προκύον (prokyon), meaning "before the dog", because it rises before Sirius. It’s comparable in size to Sirius, but is slightly warmer in colour.

Take your Valentine outside on the next clear evening and show them these celestial diamonds!

The Moon and Planets

The moon spends this week largely absent from the evening sky. On Monday and Tuesday, you might glimpse its slim old crescent low in the western sky just before sunrise. Mid-week, the moon disappears beside the sun – reaching its new moon phase on Thursday afternoon. This new moon will also generate a partial solar eclipse that is only visible from the daylit portions of Antarctica (about 2/3 of the continent) and southern South America.

On Friday, the slim young crescent moon will return to the evening sky, visible low over the western horizon for a short time after sunset. On the weekend the moon’s “Cheshire Cat’s smile” will hang prettily in the western early evening sky.

(Above: Venus starts a long climb away form the sun in the western evening sky this week. On Friday, the young crescent moon will sit 2 degrees to Venus’ upper left. The sky is shown at 6:15 pm local time.)

Towards the end of this week, you can start looking for bright Venus very low over the western horizon for half an hour after sunset. The best chance to see it falls between about 6 and 6:30 pm local time. On Friday, the very young crescent moon will sit only two finger widths to the upper left of our sister planet. Venus is just beginning a long stay in the evening sky that will kick into high gear this spring.

The rest of the bright planets are still hanging out in the eastern pre-dawn sky. Extremely bright Jupiter rises first, shortly after 1 am local time, so it reaches an elevation of about three fist diameters above the southern horizon by sunrise. You can’t miss it. Dimmer, reddish Mars is sitting about two fist diameters to the lower left of Jupiter this week, but it’s slowly moving downwards towards Saturn. Those two planets rise about 2:45 am and 4:30 am local time respectively.

(Above: The southeastern pre-dawn sky features very bright Jupiter, then dimmer reddish Mars, and finally medium-bright yellowish Saturn. Mars is above its stellar twin the bright star Antares in Scorpius.The sky is shown for 5:30 am local time, but Jupiter will be visible until sunrise.)

Asteroid/minor planet fans can hunt down Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres this week. Vesta is located only 5.5° (a palm’s width) to the upper left of Mars. Brighter Ceres is in Cancer (the Crab) in the eastern evening sky. Since the stars of Cancer are so dim, look for Ceres roughly midway between the bright stars Algenubi, which is the nose of Leo (the Lion) and Pollux, the lower of the twin stars in Gemini. Ceres remains visible all night long. You’ll need binoculars or small telescopes to see these two objects.

(Above: The dwarf planet (formerly asteroid) Ceres is conveniently located in the evening sky in Cancer this month, between the head of Leo (at bottom) and the twins of Gemini. Sky shown is for 8 pm local time.)

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

#Zodiacal Light #Sirius #Canis Major #Procyon #Orion's sword #Orion Nebula #Running Man #Ceres #Vesta #Jupiter #planets #space #astronomy

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hollywoodjuliorivas · 7 years

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Cover Photo Credit Brooke Smart The Opinion Pages | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Sheryl Sandberg: How to Build Resilient Kids, Even After a Loss After my husband’s death, I set out to learn everything I could about how kids persevere through adversity. By SHERYL SANDBERGAPRIL 24, 2017 Continue reading the main storyShare This Page Share Tweet Email More Save Two years ago, in an instant, everything changed for my family and me. While my husband, Dave, and I were on vacation, he died suddenly from a cardiac arrhythmia. Flying home to tell my 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son that their father had died was the worst experience of my life. During that unimaginable trip, I turned for advice to a friend who counsels grieving children. She said that the most important thing was to tell my kids over and over how much I loved them and that they were not alone. In the fog of those early and brutal weeks and months, I tried to use the guidance she had given me. My biggest fear was that my children’s happiness would be destroyed by our devastating loss. I needed to know what, if anything, I could do to get them through this. I also started talking with my friend Adam Grant, a psychologist and professor who studies how people find motivation and meaning. Together, we set out to learn everything we could about how kids persevere through adversity. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story As parents, teachers and caregivers, we all want to raise resilient kids — to develop their strength so they can overcome obstacles big and small. Resilience leads to better health, greater happiness and more success. The good news is that resilience isn’t a fixed personality trait; we’re not born with a set amount of it. Resilience is a muscle we can help kids build. And every kid faces challenges. Some stumbles are part of growing up. Forgetting lines in a school play. Failing a test. Losing a big game. Seeing a friendship unravel. Other hardships are far more severe. Two out of 10 children in the United States live in poverty. More than 2.5 million kids have a parent in jail, and many endure serious illness, neglect, abuse or homelessness. We know that the trauma from experiences like these can last a lifetime; extreme harm and deprivation can impede a child’s intellectual, social, emotional and academic progress. As a society, we owe all our children safety, support, opportunity and help finding a way forward. We can start by showing children that they matter. Sociologists define “mattering” as the belief that other people notice you, care about you and rely on you. It’s the answer to a vital question that all children ask about their place in the world starting as toddlers, and continuing into and beyond adolescence: Do I make a difference to others? When the answer is no, kids feel rejected and alone. They become more prone to self-destructive (“Hurting myself isn’t a big deal, since I don’t count anyway”) and antisocial behaviors (“I might be doing something bad, but at least I’ve got your attention”). Others withdraw. Not long ago, a friend picked up her son from a summer day camp and found him beaming with pride that he’d finished the robot he’d spent two days building. The next morning, he returned to find his robot had been destroyed: Bullies had taken only his apart — and then told him that he was worthless. After that day, his mother watched him sink into a spiral of anxiety and depression. Even when he went back to school in the fall, she recalled, “he’d put on his hoodie and sit in the back, in his own world.” Adolescents who feel that they matter are less likely to suffer from depression, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. They’re less likely to lash out at their families and engage in rebellious, illegal and harmful behaviors. Once they reach college, they have better mental health. Opinion Today Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. SEE SAMPLE MANAGE EMAIL PREFERENCES PRIVACY POLICY As parents, we sometimes feel helpless because it’s impossible to solve our children’s problems. In those situations, we can still provide support by “companioning” — walking alongside them and listening. Adam told me about evidence-based programs at Arizona State University that help families cope with parental loss and divorce. These programs teach parents to create and maintain warm and strong relationships, communicate openly with children, use effective discipline, avoid depression and help their children develop coping skills and strategies. When families participate in these programs for 10 to 12 sessions, over the next six years children have fewer mental-health and substance-abuse problems, higher grades and better biological stress responses. One afternoon, I sat down with my kids to write out “family rules” to remind us of the coping mechanisms we would need. We wrote together that it’s O.K. to be sad and to take a break from any activity to cry. It’s O.K. to be happy and laugh. It’s O.K. to be angry and jealous of friends and cousins who still have fathers. It’s O.K. to say to anyone that we do not want to talk about it now. And it’s always O.K. to ask for help. The poster we made that day — with the rules written by my kids in colored markers — still hangs in our hall so we can look at it every day. It reminds us that our feelings matter and that we are not alone. Dave and I had a tradition at the dinner table with our kids in which each of us would share the best and worst moments of our day. Giving children undivided attention — something we all know is important but often fail to do — is another of the key steps toward building their resilience. My children and I have continued this tradition, and now we also share something that makes us feel grateful to remind ourselves that even after loss, there is still so much to appreciate in life. For my friend’s son whose robot was destroyed, a turning point came when one of his former teachers got in touch to see how he was doing and started spending time with him every week. She encouraged him to reach out to other kids and make friends, then followed up, reinforcing each step he took. She cared. He mattered. When a new kid started at the school, the teacher encouraged them to get together, and the friendship took. “It made such a difference for a teacher to take an interest in him and a friend to bond with him,” his mom said. “It was like the sun came out in our house.” ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Since my children were so young when they lost their father, I am afraid that their memories of him will fade, and this breaks my heart all over again. Adam and I also learned that talking about the past can build resilience. When children grow up with a strong understanding of their family’s history — where their grandparents grew up, what their parents’ childhoods were like — they have better coping skills and a stronger sense of mattering and belonging. Jamie Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Texas, has found that expressing painful memories can be uncomfortable in the moment, but improves mental and even physical health over time. To keep Dave’s memory alive, I asked dozens of his closest family members, friends and colleagues to capture their stories about him on video. I also taped my children sharing their own memories, so that as they grow up, they will know which are truly theirs. This past Thanksgiving my daughter was distraught, and when I got her to open up, she told me, “I’m forgetting Daddy because I haven’t seen him for so long.” We watched the video of her talking about him, and it gave her some comfort. Talking openly about memories — not just positive ones, but difficult ones, too — can help kids make sense of their past and rise to future challenges. It’s especially powerful to share stories about how the family sticks together through good times and bad, which allows kids to feel that they are connected to something larger than themselves. Studies show that giving all members of the family a chance to tell their version builds self-esteem, particularly for girls. And making sure to integrate different perspectives into a coherent story builds a sense of control, particularly for boys. 117 COMMENTS A friend of mine who lost his mother when he was young told me that over time, she no longer seemed real. People were either afraid to mention her or spoke of her in idealized terms. My hope is to hold on to Dave as he really was: loving, generous, brilliant, funny and also pretty clumsy. He would spill things constantly yet was always somehow shocked when he did. Now, when emotions are running high in our house, but my son stays calm, I tell him, “You are just like your daddy.” When my daughter stands up for a classmate who is getting picked on, I say, “Just like your daddy.” And when either of them knocks a glass over, I say it, too. Sheryl Sandberg is the author, with Adam Grant, of “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” from which this essay is adapted. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. A version of this op-ed appears in print on April 24, 2017, on Page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: How to Build Resilient Kids, Even After a Loss. Today's Paper|Subscribe Continue reading the main story

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douglassmiith · 4 years

Text

Click! Here: Meet Our New Smashing Book

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing or speaking at a conference, he’s most probably running … More about Vitaly Friedman …

The printed books have arrived, and they are shipping now! Meet “Click!”, our new practical guide on how to build trust, increase conversion and boost business KPIs effectively — without alienating people along the way. Written by Paul Boag. Jump to table of contents and get the book right away.

You’ve been there before, haven’t you? Perhaps your manager insists on using a dark pattern to trick customers into buying. Or an A/B test has just shown that an annoying pop-up does increase sign-ups. Or maybe you always end up firefighting negative reviews and angry customer inquiries and your calls to action don’t perform well.

Whether we are designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, or product owners, we are all in the same boat. We want to give users a good experience, but we also need them to take action. More often than not, these things are considered to be mutually exclusive, but they don’t have to be.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with Paul Boag to work on Click! How To Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks, a detailed guide on how to increase conversion and boost business KPIs without alienating customers along the way. A book that shows how to increase clicks, build trust, loyalty and drive leads while keeping users respected and happy at the same time. Jump to table of contents and download a free PDF excerpt (17.3 MB).

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About The Book

There is no shortage of books on marketing agency and user experience. But when it comes to bridging the gap between the two, many of us struggle to find the right balance. As businesses, we need to meet out targets — be it with install app prompts, newsletter overlays, or infamous chat widgets. But as designers, we don’t want to end up with a frustrating user experience. We really need both, and we need a strategy to get there.

That’s why we’ve written Click! — a guide with practical strategies for improving conversion and retention while building user’s loyalty and trust. The book explores how to effectively address user concerns, overcome skepticism, and encourage users to act — helping you meet your business targets and KPIs along the way. Whether you are a designer, marketer, entrepreneur or product owner, this book will surely help you avoid hidden costs and drive sales.

Here’s a short video message from Paul Boag, the author of Click!, explaining why he’s written the book and what it’s all about:

[embedded content]

By reading this book, you will learn to:

Measure and boost business KPIs effectively,

Build a user-centric sales funnel,

Reduce risks and address objections,

Build trust and overcome skepticism,

Persuade people without alienating them,

Establish a strategy for higher conversion.

Psst! A little surprise shipped with the first 500 books.

Download a free PDF sample (17.3 MB) and get the book right away.

The book features interface design examples that take ethical design principles into account. Large preview.

The cover and chapter illustrations carefully designed by Veerle Pieters.

Table Of Contents

The book is split into 11 chapters. We’ll start by exploring the psychology of decision making and how to measure conversion. Then we’ll build a user-centric sales funnel and address user concerns effectively. Finally, we’ll explore how to encourage users to act without alienating them.

1. Avoid the Dangers of Persuasion

Paul begins your journey with a rock-solid business case you can take to management or clients to avoid the more manipulative techniques you see online.

You will learn:

How online choice has empowered the consumer.

The hidden marketing agency costs of manipulation.

The dangers of buyers remorse.

2. Measure Conversion Effectively

You cannot improve what you are not measuring. That is why, in Paul’s second chapter, he explores how to measure your conversion rate effectively. Only then can you start to improve it.

You will learn:

The dangers of having no metrics or bad ones.

How to establish your key performance indicators.

What to track and how to track it.

3. Get to Know Your Users

If you want to persuade people to act, you need to understand how they think and what they want. To do that you need to carry out at least some user research. In this chapter, Paul introduces you to easy to use techniques that will get the job done with the minimum of investment.

You will learn:

What exactly you need to understand about your audience.

How to consolidate all you know about your users.

How to carry out lightweight user research.

4. Build a User-Centric Sales Funnel

The decision to act doesn’t take place in isolation and is part of the broader user journey. In this chapter, Paul explains how to understand that journey and build a sales funnel that supports the user’s experience, rather than seeking to interrupt it.

You will learn:

What a sales funnel is and how it helps.

How to map your customer’s journey.

How to build a sales funnel around the user’s journey.

5. Address Objections and Reduce Risks

This chapter explores one of the most important aspects of encouraging users to act — addressing their concerns. We’ll see how to identify user’s objections and then overcome them, so reducing the risk of taking action in the minds of users.

You will learn:

How to identify the concerns your audience has about taking action.

How to address common concerns.

A process for handling any objection users might have.

6. Establish Trust and Overcome Scepticism

People will not hand over money or personal information if they do not trust you. To make matters worse users have learned to be sceptical online. In this chapter, you will learn how to build a connection with your audience and help them learn to trust you.

You will learn:

Why trust is essential for improving conversion.

How to build trust through openness and empathy.

The role of social proof and connecting consumers in building trust.

7. Defeat Cognitive Overload

In this chapter, you will discover how to reach an audience that is distracted and time-poor. You will learn the importance of not making users think and learn valuable techniques for making acting with you an effortless experience.

You will learn:

What cognitive load is and why it is so dangerous for your conversion rate.

Methods for reducing the cognitive load of your websites.

Techniques for keeping any interface simple.

8. Overcoming the Problem With Perception

Are your users taking away the right message from your website? Do they understand what you offer or that it is relevant to them? It is easy to leave a website without acting because you had the wrong impression. This chapter shows you how to address this genuine danger.

You will learn:

How to position our products and services in a positive light.

The role that mental models play in conversion.

Techniques for ensuring your content reflects the user’s mindset.

9. Never Stop Testing and Iterating

While Click! is packed with great tips and techniques, the real key to success is a programme of ongoing testing and iteration. In this chapter, Paul shows you how to put in place a methodology that will keep your conversion rate growing for years to come.

You will learn:

Techniques for ensuring you are working on the right projects to improve conversion.

Ways to test how compelling a design concept is.

How to integrate testing into every aspect of your development cycle.

10. Address the Whole Experience

While marketers and UX designers have an enormous impact on conversion, they are only a part of the story. That is why in this chapter, we explore how to address the whole user experience and start encouraging colleagues to help improve the conversion rate too.

You will learn:

The role of your developer in improving your conversion rate.

How to use other digital channels to improve your website conversion rate.

How broader organisational changes can help boost revenue and online leads.

11. Where to Go From Here

With a book packed with advice, it can be overwhelming. The book concludes with some practical next steps that you can take, wherever you are on your journey to improve conversion.

You will learn:

Quick wins that can get you started today.

Budget testing techniques you can implement immediately.

A more ambitious and ongoing approach to optimisation.

“This is a great book on how to practically, and ethically, optimise website conversion rates. Before, I was roughly aware of what CRO was, but now I feel confident to start implementing these techniques in projects. As you would expect, Paul explains all of the concepts in an easy-to-follow and friendly manner.”

— Dave Smyth, Agency Owner

“I picked up a super simple testing idea, and saw a 42% lift in conversion rate. It was surprising to me, so I ran it again to significance with the same result. That equates to about 2.5 million USD/year in revenue at no additional cost. So I’d say I got my money’s worth!”

— Brandon Austin Kinney, Director of Lead Generation

304 pages. The eBook is available (PDF, ePUB, Amazon Kindle) and printed copies are shipping now. For designers, marketers, entrepreneurs and product owners. Written by Paul Boag. Designed by Veerle Pieters.

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About the Author

Paul Boag is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors Without Borders and PUMA. He is the author of six books and a well respected presenter.

Technical Details

ISBN: 978-3-945749-83-8 (print)

Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.

Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany. (Check your delivery times). Due to Covid-19 and import restrictions, there could be some delays. But you can start reading the eBook right away.

eBook is available as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.

Get the book right away.

A quality hardcover with a bookmark. Designed with love by Veerle Pieters. Photo by Marc Thiele.

Community Matters

With Click!, we’ve tried to create a very focused handbook with pragmatic solutions to help everyone create a better digital product that doesn’t get abandoned due to the sheer number of pop-ups, install prompt and newsletter box overlays.

There is quite a bit of work to do on the web, but our hope is that with this book, you will be equipped with enough techniques to increase conversion and the number of happy customers.

Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for their ongoing support in our adventures. As a result, the eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy.

Stay smashing, and thank you for your ongoing support, everyone!

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

More Smashing Books

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Trine, Alla and Adam are some of these people. Have you checked out their books already?

Ethical Design Handbook

A practical guide on ethical design for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Design Systems

A practical guide to creating design languages for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Form Design Patterns

A practical guide to designing and coding simple and inclusive forms.

Add to cart $39

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

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laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Click! Here: Meet Our New Smashing Book

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing or speaking at a conference, he’s most probably running … More about Vitaly Friedman …

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About The Book

Here’s a short video message from Paul Boag, the author of Click!, explaining why he’s written the book and what it’s all about:

[embedded content]

By reading this book, you will learn to:

Measure and boost business KPIs effectively,

Build a user-centric sales funnel,

Reduce risks and address objections,

Build trust and overcome skepticism,

Persuade people without alienating them,

Establish a strategy for higher conversion.

Psst! A little surprise shipped with the first 500 books.

Download a free PDF sample (17.3 MB) and get the book right away.

The book features interface design examples that take ethical design principles into account. Large preview.

The cover and chapter illustrations carefully designed by Veerle Pieters.

Table Of Contents

1. Avoid the Dangers of Persuasion

Paul begins your journey with a rock-solid business case you can take to management or clients to avoid the more manipulative techniques you see online.

You will learn:

How online choice has empowered the consumer.

The hidden marketing agency costs of manipulation.

The dangers of buyers remorse.

2. Measure Conversion Effectively

You cannot improve what you are not measuring. That is why, in Paul’s second chapter, he explores how to measure your conversion rate effectively. Only then can you start to improve it.

You will learn:

The dangers of having no metrics or bad ones.

How to establish your key performance indicators.

What to track and how to track it.

3. Get to Know Your Users

You will learn:

What exactly you need to understand about your audience.

How to consolidate all you know about your users.

How to carry out lightweight user research.

4. Build a User-Centric Sales Funnel

You will learn:

What a sales funnel is and how it helps.

How to map your customer’s journey.

How to build a sales funnel around the user’s journey.

5. Address Objections and Reduce Risks

You will learn:

How to identify the concerns your audience has about taking action.

How to address common concerns.

A process for handling any objection users might have.

6. Establish Trust and Overcome Scepticism

You will learn:

Why trust is essential for improving conversion.

How to build trust through openness and empathy.

The role of social proof and connecting consumers in building trust.

7. Defeat Cognitive Overload

You will learn:

What cognitive load is and why it is so dangerous for your conversion rate.

Methods for reducing the cognitive load of your websites.

Techniques for keeping any interface simple.

8. Overcoming the Problem With Perception

You will learn:

How to position our products and services in a positive light.

The role that mental models play in conversion.

Techniques for ensuring your content reflects the user’s mindset.

9. Never Stop Testing and Iterating

You will learn:

Techniques for ensuring you are working on the right projects to improve conversion.

Ways to test how compelling a design concept is.

How to integrate testing into every aspect of your development cycle.

10. Address the Whole Experience

You will learn:

The role of your developer in improving your conversion rate.

How to use other digital channels to improve your website conversion rate.

How broader organisational changes can help boost revenue and online leads.

11. Where to Go From Here

With a book packed with advice, it can be overwhelming. The book concludes with some practical next steps that you can take, wherever you are on your journey to improve conversion.

You will learn:

Quick wins that can get you started today.

Budget testing techniques you can implement immediately.

A more ambitious and ongoing approach to optimisation.

— Dave Smyth, Agency Owner

— Brandon Austin Kinney, Director of Lead Generation

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About the Author

Technical Details

ISBN: 978-3-945749-83-8 (print)

Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.

Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany. (Check your delivery times). Due to Covid-19 and import restrictions, there could be some delays. But you can start reading the eBook right away.

eBook is available as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.

Get the book right away.

A quality hardcover with a bookmark. Designed with love by Veerle Pieters. Photo by Marc Thiele.

Community Matters

There is quite a bit of work to do on the web, but our hope is that with this book, you will be equipped with enough techniques to increase conversion and the number of happy customers.

Stay smashing, and thank you for your ongoing support, everyone!

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

More Smashing Books

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

Ethical Design Handbook

A practical guide on ethical design for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Design Systems

A practical guide to creating design languages for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Form Design Patterns

A practical guide to designing and coding simple and inclusive forms.

Add to cart $39

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/click-here-meet-our-new-smashing-book/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/06/click-here-meet-our-new-smashing-book.html

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riichardwilson · 4 years

Text

Click! Here: Meet Our New Smashing Book

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing or speaking at a conference, he’s most probably running … More about Vitaly Friedman …

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About The Book

Here’s a short video message from Paul Boag, the author of Click!, explaining why he’s written the book and what it’s all about:

[embedded content]

By reading this book, you will learn to:

Measure and boost business KPIs effectively,

Build a user-centric sales funnel,

Reduce risks and address objections,

Build trust and overcome skepticism,

Persuade people without alienating them,

Establish a strategy for higher conversion.

Psst! A little surprise shipped with the first 500 books.

Download a free PDF sample (17.3 MB) and get the book right away.

The book features interface design examples that take ethical design principles into account. Large preview.

The cover and chapter illustrations carefully designed by Veerle Pieters.

Table Of Contents

1. Avoid the Dangers of Persuasion

Paul begins your journey with a rock-solid business case you can take to management or clients to avoid the more manipulative techniques you see online.

You will learn:

How online choice has empowered the consumer.

The hidden marketing agency costs of manipulation.

The dangers of buyers remorse.

2. Measure Conversion Effectively

You cannot improve what you are not measuring. That is why, in Paul’s second chapter, he explores how to measure your conversion rate effectively. Only then can you start to improve it.

You will learn:

The dangers of having no metrics or bad ones.

How to establish your key performance indicators.

What to track and how to track it.

3. Get to Know Your Users

You will learn:

What exactly you need to understand about your audience.

How to consolidate all you know about your users.

How to carry out lightweight user research.

4. Build a User-Centric Sales Funnel

You will learn:

What a sales funnel is and how it helps.

How to map your customer’s journey.

How to build a sales funnel around the user’s journey.

5. Address Objections and Reduce Risks

You will learn:

How to identify the concerns your audience has about taking action.

How to address common concerns.

A process for handling any objection users might have.

6. Establish Trust and Overcome Scepticism

You will learn:

Why trust is essential for improving conversion.

How to build trust through openness and empathy.

The role of social proof and connecting consumers in building trust.

7. Defeat Cognitive Overload

You will learn:

What cognitive load is and why it is so dangerous for your conversion rate.

Methods for reducing the cognitive load of your websites.

Techniques for keeping any interface simple.

8. Overcoming the Problem With Perception

You will learn:

How to position our products and services in a positive light.

The role that mental models play in conversion.

Techniques for ensuring your content reflects the user’s mindset.

9. Never Stop Testing and Iterating

You will learn:

Techniques for ensuring you are working on the right projects to improve conversion.

Ways to test how compelling a design concept is.

How to integrate testing into every aspect of your development cycle.

10. Address the Whole Experience

You will learn:

The role of your developer in improving your conversion rate.

How to use other digital channels to improve your website conversion rate.

How broader organisational changes can help boost revenue and online leads.

11. Where to Go From Here

With a book packed with advice, it can be overwhelming. The book concludes with some practical next steps that you can take, wherever you are on your journey to improve conversion.

You will learn:

Quick wins that can get you started today.

Budget testing techniques you can implement immediately.

A more ambitious and ongoing approach to optimisation.

— Dave Smyth, Agency Owner

— Brandon Austin Kinney, Director of Lead Generation

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About the Author

Technical Details

ISBN: 978-3-945749-83-8 (print)

Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.

Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany. (Check your delivery times). Due to Covid-19 and import restrictions, there could be some delays. But you can start reading the eBook right away.

eBook is available as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.

Get the book right away.

A quality hardcover with a bookmark. Designed with love by Veerle Pieters. Photo by Marc Thiele.

Community Matters

There is quite a bit of work to do on the web, but our hope is that with this book, you will be equipped with enough techniques to increase conversion and the number of happy customers.

Stay smashing, and thank you for your ongoing support, everyone!

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

More Smashing Books

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

Ethical Design Handbook

A practical guide on ethical design for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Design Systems

A practical guide to creating design languages for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Form Design Patterns

A practical guide to designing and coding simple and inclusive forms.

Add to cart $39

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/click-here-meet-our-new-smashing-book/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/619870155650023424

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

Click! Here: Meet Our New Smashing Book

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing or speaking at a conference, he’s most probably running … More about Vitaly Friedman …

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About The Book

Here’s a short video message from Paul Boag, the author of Click!, explaining why he’s written the book and what it’s all about:

[embedded content]

By reading this book, you will learn to:

Measure and boost business KPIs effectively,

Build a user-centric sales funnel,

Reduce risks and address objections,

Build trust and overcome skepticism,

Persuade people without alienating them,

Establish a strategy for higher conversion.

Psst! A little surprise shipped with the first 500 books.

Download a free PDF sample (17.3 MB) and get the book right away.

The book features interface design examples that take ethical design principles into account. Large preview.

The cover and chapter illustrations carefully designed by Veerle Pieters.

Table Of Contents

1. Avoid the Dangers of Persuasion

Paul begins your journey with a rock-solid business case you can take to management or clients to avoid the more manipulative techniques you see online.

You will learn:

How online choice has empowered the consumer.

The hidden marketing agency costs of manipulation.

The dangers of buyers remorse.

2. Measure Conversion Effectively

You cannot improve what you are not measuring. That is why, in Paul’s second chapter, he explores how to measure your conversion rate effectively. Only then can you start to improve it.

You will learn:

The dangers of having no metrics or bad ones.

How to establish your key performance indicators.

What to track and how to track it.

3. Get to Know Your Users

You will learn:

What exactly you need to understand about your audience.

How to consolidate all you know about your users.

How to carry out lightweight user research.

4. Build a User-Centric Sales Funnel

You will learn:

What a sales funnel is and how it helps.

How to map your customer’s journey.

How to build a sales funnel around the user’s journey.

5. Address Objections and Reduce Risks

You will learn:

How to identify the concerns your audience has about taking action.

How to address common concerns.

A process for handling any objection users might have.

6. Establish Trust and Overcome Scepticism

You will learn:

Why trust is essential for improving conversion.

How to build trust through openness and empathy.

The role of social proof and connecting consumers in building trust.

7. Defeat Cognitive Overload

You will learn:

What cognitive load is and why it is so dangerous for your conversion rate.

Methods for reducing the cognitive load of your websites.

Techniques for keeping any interface simple.

8. Overcoming the Problem With Perception

You will learn:

How to position our products and services in a positive light.

The role that mental models play in conversion.

Techniques for ensuring your content reflects the user’s mindset.

9. Never Stop Testing and Iterating

You will learn:

Techniques for ensuring you are working on the right projects to improve conversion.

Ways to test how compelling a design concept is.

How to integrate testing into every aspect of your development cycle.

10. Address the Whole Experience

You will learn:

The role of your developer in improving your conversion rate.

How to use other digital channels to improve your website conversion rate.

How broader organisational changes can help boost revenue and online leads.

11. Where to Go From Here

With a book packed with advice, it can be overwhelming. The book concludes with some practical next steps that you can take, wherever you are on your journey to improve conversion.

You will learn:

Quick wins that can get you started today.

Budget testing techniques you can implement immediately.

A more ambitious and ongoing approach to optimisation.

— Dave Smyth, Agency Owner

— Brandon Austin Kinney, Director of Lead Generation

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

About the Author

Technical Details

ISBN: 978-3-945749-83-8 (print)

Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.

Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany. (Check your delivery times). Due to Covid-19 and import restrictions, there could be some delays. But you can start reading the eBook right away.

eBook is available as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.

Get the book right away.

A quality hardcover with a bookmark. Designed with love by Veerle Pieters. Photo by Marc Thiele.

Community Matters

There is quite a bit of work to do on the web, but our hope is that with this book, you will be equipped with enough techniques to increase conversion and the number of happy customers.

Stay smashing, and thank you for your ongoing support, everyone!

Print + eBook

$ 39.00 Get Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping. 100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

$ 19.00

Free! Get the eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF. Included with Smashing Membership.

More Smashing Books

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

Ethical Design Handbook

A practical guide on ethical design for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Design Systems

A practical guide to creating design languages for digital products.

Add to cart $39

Form Design Patterns

A practical guide to designing and coding simple and inclusive forms.

Add to cart $39

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/click-here-meet-our-new-smashing-book/

0 notes