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marvel-download-tutorial · 4 years

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How to Download Marvel comics for free!

I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while especially since we’re all stick inside but last week Marvel made the shitty decision to transition various print titles to digital only, meaning they’re directly taking revenue away from local shops rather than delay the titles, so since Marvel thinks digital comics is such a cool idea I’m gonna show you how to download as many as you’d like! (oh also this is for windows only, idk how to do it if you own a mac but also you’re rich anyways so who cares buy the comics richie)

I don’t want to take money away from the people that need it, not the actual companies of Marvel and DC fuck them they’re dying and they deserve it, but for my own rationalizing I want to take a minute to plug the Hero Initiative, basically what it is an organization that provides for comic creators that are having hard times, comics are a rough industry and you don’t get into it to get rich, I won’t go into it too much you can read for yourself but it’s been endorsed by Stan Lee, Justin Ponsor, Mike Grell, Skottie Young, Rags Morales, a lot of big names, so I’d ask if you do follow this guide and download some comics for free please consider donating to the Hero Initiative (they also sell autographed prints and you can commission some really famous artists)

anyways onto the good stuff! I’m going to be doing a fairly brief but easy to follow guide, there will be links at the bottom of the post so look for those, I’ll probably be making a few other posts with some more info so also check back for those if my blog is still here

What do I need?

You’re going to need 4 basic things if you want to do this as easily and safely as you can

1) a good anti-virus

2) anonymous web browser (Tor)

4) a safe and reliable source for the comics

4) a torrent program to download the comics

Also optional: VPN

Anti-Virus

it’s good to remember when torrenting that no one is your friend, everyone is out to trick you and no one cares, honestly you should also have a good anti-virus though, I’m not really gonna tell you which one you should have but Norton 360 is pretty good but say that in a room of CS majors is the quickest way to start a fist fight, honestly just google it, you’re gonna have to do some research, but really you’re good as long as you don’t go with Avast or Kaspersky, I’m going to go over typical tricks and traps later to ensure safety, this is just basic overall security thing

Anonymous Web Browser (Tor)

next we’re gonna download Tor (you can do this before getting a VPN, like I said either one is going to put you on a list but using one to cover you getting the other at least mitigates it lol) Tor is a great open source project that allows for basically complete anonymous web browsing, it’s a project dedicated to privacy and disruption of corporations ability to control every aspect of our lives, also a friend of mine bought K off silk road with it once in highschool, really not too much you need to know about it before using it, just download it, let it configure and you’re good, also use Duck Duck go that it comes with, don’t switch it to chrome or anything, Duck Duck go is anonymous search service which better lends to Tor’s protection

Where to get the torrents

Now this is really important because you can have everything else set up but without a safe reliable source none of this is gonna do any good, but this is the dangerous part, torrent sites are notorious traps (I bricked more than on family PC on limewire) and this is why I said earlier to remember these people are not your friends and are out to hurt you, don’t click banner ads, don’t believe pop ups, make sure your virus protection is on and it’s a very good idea to have an adblocker on, also look out for another post I’ll be making on what download buttons to trust for different popular torrent sites

when talking comics (and remember specifically only Marvel comics) there’s no other name out there than Nemesis43, he is a god and he’s going to be your new best friend, there are groups and sites out there that do comic scans that you have to pay to join or like apply to join, that shit’s dumb as hell and I’ve never used them once and I’ve got more comic than I can read in my lifetime, you don’t need em and you especially don’t need to give them money, donate to the Hero Initiative instead

Nemesis has moved around a bit in the past (if you remember the WWT debacle) right now the main site for him is ettv (there will be a link at the end of the post) sites a bit barren but he’s there, he also has a reddit he gives updates on very rarely, generally if he moves he adds where his new home is in a text doc in his recent uploads, I fully trust him and his uploads, he’s been doing this for years and I’d never have a second thought downloading from him, also because he uploads so much he’s often very highly rated and verified on whatever site he’s on

The second place I’d recommend is getcomic (again there will be a link at the end), now this is very important, never donate to them, they kinda suck, basically they’re plugged into a bunch of different scanner groups and just steal those scans and put them up and then ask for donations, basically they’re just an aggregate (Nem kinda is too but he doesn’t ask for donations and stuff), they usually use browser downloads which are a complete pain so I’d really recommend Nemesis over them but they do have TheComicGuy on torrent galaxy for larger files but that updates a lot less frequently then the main site, again I trust these guys (as long as you’re on the actual site) but don’t trust any banner ads or pop ups, also for downloading they give multiple options, a lot are very sketchy, just use the main server

also there’s other sites like readcomics or newcomics, never used em, don’t like em, use at your own behest

On sites like ettv you’re gonna want to use the magnet, someone years ago told me it was safer and I just believed them and have always used em, not sure if it’s true but it’s worked so whatever, really you shouldn’t be too worried about this stuff and if you follow this guide you’re going to be way over prepared to download comics, really no one cares about comic torrenting, movies, video games, tv shows that’s the stuff people really get caught on, this is just nerd shit

I’m going to be making another post showing how to use these sites, and other sites comic can be found on so look back at my blog for that

Torrent program

This is pretty basic, just get utorrent, it’s what I’ve always used, it works, whatever, definitely look this up with a VPN on or on Tor, it’s simple to use, I’ll be doing a short tutorial on how to make it even safer

Lastly this one is optional but a pretty good idea, for more than just this

VPN aka Virtual Privacy Network

honestly you can get the anonymous web browser (Tor) or the VPN first, their both going to help cover you downloading the other and honestly both are going to put you on a list for googling them (which is why I suggest looking for someone who just already has the .exes ((I always keep them on a thumbdrive for when I have to reset one of my computers)), I might try to make a google drive with em but also I might not bc that sounds like work and I’m already typing all this up), anyways I’m not really gonna explain what a VPN is, there’s a lot of resources that can explain it better than I can but basically it masks what you do on the internet, there’s a lot of choices when picking a VPN but the big thing I looked for when choosing mine was 1) non-US based so it’s harder for US investigation agencies to request stuff for them or get anything from them 2) one that doesn’t keep logs, honestly they all do even if they say they don’t, but you wanna look for one that hasn’t turned over many logs to US agencies and 3) unlimited peer 2 peer connections which is complicated but basically means you can torrent stuff anonymously and with decent speed. Like Anti-Virus there are a ton of different VPN’s out there, you really have to do research because there are actual accounts of FBI agencies crating VPN’s telling people they’re anonymous when really they had direct access to all the info, I haven’t done any research but NordVPN seems kinda like one of these, really the more they advertise the more suspicious I am, Just google “best vpn 2020″ and look at like 5 lists and read the the stuff, personally I use IPvanish which unfortunately is US based and while it gave over logs in 2016 even thought they said they didn’t keep any but now they’re owned by a new company that super double promises they don’t (again who cares they all do) but they’ve allow P2P and use 256-bit AES encryption

I wanna take a second to mention that this isn’t going to be free, this is the only place you’re going to be spending money (besides donating to Heroe Initative of course), a good VPN is about $100 a year which all in all isn’t terrible, technically you can just get by on the anonymous browser but this gives you an extra layer of security to pretty much ensure you won’t get caught and plus in the ever worsening internet hell world a VPN is becoming more and more important, I’m sure you can find articles about it but yea you don’t technically need a VPN but it’s useful for more than just this

How to work it all

Ok so this is gonna be a little stream of consciousness, as this all kinda has been, so sorry but I’m gonna try and explain it as best I can and also feel free to ask any questions on this blog, I’ll check back eventually I’m sure

So first thing first, make sure you’re virus protection is on and you’re connected on your VPN if you’re using it (you can google “what is my IP” to double check it’s working) then load up Tor, let it load and connect up and whatever, then go to https://www.ettvdl.com/user/Nemesis43 (I’m just gonna show this with Nemesis43, maybe I’ll make another one for getcomics but that’s pretty straight forward, also nem is better)

now remember we’re only here for Marvel comics, so scroll past all those thousands of other comics this would work exactly the same for, I’m gonna go for Ant-Man #4 which was released on the 13 as a digital only comic despite the first three issues being physical copies and now sit on my shelf forever unfinished making me look like a complete penis

it may take a while but it’s going to look like this, click on the blue words, it’s gonna take you to a page that looks like this

now from here we’re going to get the magnet link, right click and select copy link address, I like doing this because it limits my interactions with the page, note the advertisement at the top telling me I need a VPN despite thinking I’m in Guadalajara (which for legal reasons I am)

just copy that and then go to utorrent and click the add link

it’ll open a little box, it should add the link automatically, if it doesn’t just hit ctrl+V

hit ok and it’ll load it up, it might need to download some metadata but after that it should be good, oh also it might bring up a window basically asking where you want to save it and what to name it, you can set all that up in preferences, I did so I just turned that window off and can’t be assed to turn it back on, just hit ok if you don’t wanna bother with that stuff, it’ll go into your downloads by default

and that’s it really, it’s that easy, I might make another thing talking about how to make utorrent more anonymous or whatever so look for that, but stock it’s fine, also when it’s finished downloading it’s gonna start seeding (like uploading to someone else) I’ve always been a scumbag and I never seed but Nemesis seeds stuff so much you really don’t need to anyways, just select it and hit the stop button (the black square on the tool bar)

here are all the links I could think of

Hero Initiative

download Tor

here’s a guide for VPNs

download utorrent

song I found recently that I like

getcomics

Nemesis

so yea that’s pretty much the basics, be smart, be safe, any viruses you get are on you but I hope you found this helpful and feel free to ask any questions

oh and also this is all parody and I’ve never actually torrented anything, I don’t even own a computer

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dippedanddripped · 3 years

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In the first few moments of a YouTube video titled “Admitting I Own Fakes In-Front of My Fashion Class…”, Quentin Caruso, better known as Tripping, does just that. “I’m a sophomore in college and I’m taking a class about fashion, and in that class (we) were talking about fakes and replicas,” he explains, adding that he can “throw up some pictures so you guys know I’m not bullshitting”. Asked by his teacher if he knowingly owns any counterfeit pieces, the 19-year-old confirms the sneakers he’s wearing at that very moment – the highly coveted Travis Scott Jordan 1 Lows – are in fact fake. “And how do you feel about that,” she prompts. “I’m fine with it,” he wryly confirms.

Caruso is part of a growing community of fashion-savvy shoppers searching for ways to look runway ready on a high street budget – and, unlike many die-hard hypebeasts, they’re willing to own up to the fact their luxury garms aren’t exactly legitimate. In fact, many take pride in their ability to score a bargain, taking to subreddit FashionReps to discuss new releases, fawn over faux Yeezys, and ask each other for advice on where to pick up the best knock-off Off-White and Supreme styles.

The forum is a democratised, judgement-free zone in which people share a love of high quality replicas or ‘reps’, where members are friendly and even supportive. They help one another to find the best sellers and sites to buy from, while discussing discrepancies between retail items and their counterfeit counterparts – from stitching and logos, to details and finishes. Most users admit they can’t afford head-to-toe designer looks, and at times they even share budgeting tips. "I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces," redditor godsip2 shared in August. "Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself."

While a lack of funds and a taste for luxury streetwear is a driving factor for many, for others it isn’t about the money at all. “Not to brag, but if I want a Dior coat, I can get it retail,” Dennis, 19, tells us. “For the same (amount of) money I can get four reps.” Dennis admitted his breaking point came after a shocking moment browsing resale markets where he saw his ‘grail shoes’ – a pair of Off-White Air Jordan 1s – show up for €3000. “I thought ‘Fuck this, I’m never gonna pay that for shoes that originally retailed for €150.”

It’s been almost three years since he came across the FashionReps subreddit, which he was initially skeptical of. However, since joining he hasn’t just sworn off resale products and full-price retail items, but also introduced his friends to reps. “A €500 sweater wasn’t in their price range,” says Dennis. “When I showed them my reps (compared to) my retail Yeezys, they were instantly sold.”

Historically, counterfeit designer items conjure thoughts of poorly imitated handbags on AliExpress, labels that read, ‘Fashing BALISG’ instead of Balenciaga, and stalls in alleyways, but FashionReps members know where the quality replicas are sold and claim that many knock-offs actually tend to be better made. “The quality is the same, even better,” Netherlands-based 23-year-old Camiel admits. “I’ve heard of some Yeezys being better and a lot of high-end Louis Vuitton reps being way better than retail.” He believes that “retail Louis Vuitton quality is not so great…”

FashionReps members buy in bulk, spending hundreds of dollars on ‘hauls’ that they break up into smaller packages in hopes of evading customs checks. The risk is part of the thrill, and while some are unlucky and have their packages seized, others rejoice when packages filled with thousands of dollars of ‘drip’ arrive in the mail.

Camiel cites his favourite find to be a Palace red slub-neck, “which you can't tell apart from a real one – which I have one of,” he adds. “The quality is amazing and it's super comfortable to wear, it's my favourite (item) I have gotten so far.” But Camiel hasn’t always gotten away with his thrifty finds.

“In the beginning, I wouldn't wear an item if it had the tiniest flaw. Later on, I noticed that people know (very) little about brands and which items even exist,” he explains. While most people who recognise a rep are likely to ask for the seller or pass on a compliment, Camiel concedes he’s been called out before. “Some high schoolers were at the gym and I was wearing my Nike tech fleece joggers, which have some noticeable flaws, like the black stripe being too short and the cords being too short as well. They called me out on the logo, which I know is perfect. Bunch of clowns.”

For all the people excited about reps, their quality, and believability, there are just as many people out there looking to spot a fake. YeezyBusta, who recently gained prominence for spotting fakes on civilians and celebrities has over 760,000 followers on Instagram. He’s busted the likes of Lil Tjay, Blac Chyna, and Soulja Boy for donning fake Supreme and Yeezys, although his faux-detector has been known to malfunction.

"I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces. Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself" – godsip2, FashionReps member

In an episode of Complex’s Full Size Run, hosts tasked the Instagram detective with discerning the difference between fake pairs of shoes from the real thing. After being handed a pair of bone-white Yeezy 500s, YeezyBusta exclaims, “Oh these are real!” Closely inspecting the shoe, he notices “The suede is right…even down to the stitching, the label inside the shoe looks right to me and the insole is right too.” The host, who finds it hard to hide his amusement, blurts out “They’re fake.” Behind his signature black surgical mask, used to hide his identity, YeezyBusta turns bright red.

“I can’t take him seriously,” Tripping admits. In a reaction video to a VICE documentary on YeezyBusta, the fashion student protests his motivation for hunting down counterfeit items so publicly. “It isn’t funny. Does anyone find that funny? To ridicule people online? That isn’t something you should be gloating about.”

Some counterfeit items are so believable that they’ve also slipped past trusted authenticators. The RealReal, one of the world's leading luxury consignment stores, claims that "every item we sell is 100% authenticated by an expert.” However, just last year, Forbes contributor, Richard Kentenbaum claimed the retail giant had sold him a fake Toile de Jouy Dior Book Tote bag for $3,600. What followed was a swift investigation by CNBC, who, after speaking with a dozen former employees and unsatisfied customers, and obtaining internal company documents, revealed that “many of the items on the site were being authenticated by copywriters with limited training.” and those who are doing this work are finding it increasingly difficult to spot counterfeits. Out of 1,400 reviews online for The RealReal, the top complaints are fake items.

It may come as a surprise to learn that this is something FashionReps also stands firmly against. In December, the group came together after Depopuser James’s Closet was spotted selling counterfeit items. Within a day, the subreddit had made efforts to liaise with Depop directly and reported the fake pieces resulting in all the listings being taken down. And this isn’t the only time the forum has rallied against people selling fake items moonlighting as cheap authentic ‘steals’. “People who willingly sell replicas as authentic items are the worst,” Tripping insists. “Knowing that a replica looks so close to retail and not selling it for a lot of profit is challenging for some people.”

Conversely, enjoying replicas as they are comes with its own baggage. Reports indicate that counterfeit fashion is a trillion-dollar industry. "One of the worst stories I read was where they had raided an illegal factory and the children were actually handcuffed to the sewing machines," Ariele Elia, an assistant curator at the Museum at FIT explained in a Complex documentary about the flourishing bootleg industry.

Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit global movement campaigning for the systemic reform of the fashion industry, notes that there’s an “urgent lack of transparency.” Policy Director at Fashion Revolution, Sarah Ditty, told us that counterfeiting doesn’t usually come hand in hand with good rights and wages for workers. “Factories making counterfeit items are doing so illegally so it’s in their interest to operate completely under the radar and in doing so means we have no idea who the workers are making these products, what they are being paid, what conditions they’re working in, and what sort of poor environmental practices are most likely happening in these factories.”

To them, the moral standpoint is clear: “We would definitely encourage people not to buy fake luxury goods or any other counterfeit items because you’re almost guaranteed to be contributing to human exploitation and environmental degradation.” This is an issue that goes beyond fakes: when you look beyond the manufacturing level at the places where fabrics are made, yarns are spun and fibres are grown, even legitimate brands are guilty of obscuring working conditions.

But Tripping insists it's a media smoke-screen. “adidas and Nike were called out for their treatment of workers in the 90s and early 2000s, so now every factory in Asia is associated with bad conditions and child labour.” Tripping also claims that sellers are in fact increasingly transparent about working conditions, their treatment of employees and factories. “They show what their shop looks like, I’ve even asked sellers to show their shops,” he remarked in one of his videos. “And they’ve posted videos on the (subreddit).” One video posted shows a “top quality Yeezy” factory filled with workers. “Actually looks very clean and cool compared to all of the bad warehouse jobs I used to do here in the US,” Redditor highnnmighty comments.

“That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on” – Dennis, on whether or not he will stop buying fakes

Central to what makes FashionReps a great community isn’t the collective middle-finger to resale culture and hypebeasts or the internet-savvy tips, but the irreverent charm and supportive nature of young people who ultimately just want to look cool, and don’t want money to be the reason that they miss out. It’s rare, if not impossible, to find fashion spaces that aren’t hierarchical, based on wealth, social standing, and nepotism, but FashionReps manages to do all of that, and more. Camiel tells me that recently, the subreddit even banded together to target sellers who began taking higher cuts from sales. “I love how we sometimes work together to get something we want.”

Confronted with the fact that buying reps are taking sales away from workers, brands, and designers, Tripping is unfazed. “Once a limited shoe is released, and sold out in seconds, the company has made its profit. The average cost of manufacturing an Air Jordan 1 is $15-$16. The mark up of that shoe is more than 100 per cent. Nike has no problem with this. If you are wearing a replica of that overpriced shoe (on the resell market), you are basically advertising the brand. The culture side of sneakers is bland and fraudulent, replicas are there to stir things up.”

When asked if he’d ever give up replicas and return to buying retail, Dennis scoffed before saying: “That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on.”

#fake sneakers #knockoffs #counterfeit knockoffs #sneaker addicts #sneaker replicas

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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671

So my school is indefinitely shifting to online classes starting this week and we aren’t having class again until April because of the coronavirus. Wild times. Do you watch really old tv shows or movies from the 1970’s or earlier? Not shows, but movies. Gab introduced me to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and it’s really how we became close friends in the first place. It started with Breakfast at Tiffany’s, then Gone with the Wind, then Mildred Pierce, Waterloo Bridge...then it just kinda snowballed from there. I am a fan of a certain old show, but it ran from the mid-1980s to the early 90s – Perfect Strangers. Who’s your celebrity crush(es)? My top 3 would be Kristen Stewart, Hayley Williams, and Beyonce. I don’t like leaving any one of them out haha. What do you think of fake people? Sometimes you gotta do it, dude. Sometimes it’s not about being fake, it’s being polite and civil. What I do have a problem with is being two-faced with people who genuinely see you as a trusted friend. Whats a song you absolutely hate? I can’t fucking stand Demi Lovato’s new ballad, the one that starts off with “I tried to talk to my piano...” I also can’t stand most Halsey songs because of her voice. Ever been to a rave? Nah. I’ve always preferred parties, but I’m not opposed to trying out a rave at least just once.

Are you afraid to name the person you talk the most shit about? Lmao not at all, but only because this Tumblr is private anyway. Patrice. I’d be a little more hesitant if this had a bit of an audience, though. Are you a jealous person? Not really jealous. I’d say envious is more fitting for me. Who do you text the most out of your friends? My girlfriend, def. I message everyone the equal amount on Messenger though because it’s where everyone is. Song playing right now? I don’t feel like listening to music right now. I do have Gabie on video call though, so some sounds on her end serve as background noise at the moment. Has anyone ever mistaken you for someone else? A few times. The weirdest interaction was when a masseuse for my mom came over one evening – and she’s supposed to be a psychic or recognize the supernatural or whatever – and she asked me if I was currently pregnant. Are you really interested in the lives of celebrities like Miley Cyrus?  I’m not invested but if I come across an article, I’d take a few minutes to read. I wouldn’t voluntarily go to gossip websites or buy celebrity magazines though. What would you do if you saw a complete stranger dealing drugs in public?  Probably wouldn’t do anything as I don’t wanna be entangled in shady businesses like that. If you don’t have to be up by a certain time, do you like to sleep in as late as possible?  Sleeping in sounds wonderful, but my body generally doesn’t allow me to. I’m usually fully awake by 8 or 9. What did you buy the last time you went clothes shopping?  I got two of the same Filipiniana-inspired tops but in different colors, one yellow and one black. How many books do you think you read in a month?  Zero. Not really a secret on this blog anymore but I don’t read much, ha. How often do you play video games? What are some of your favourites?  Uhhhh not a lot. I never did get the hang of video games so you will only ever see me playing easy and kiddie ones lmao, like Mario Kart. I tried playing Resident Evil on my own once, couldn’t get through the literal first and easiest mission because I kept dying. Anyway, my favorite may have to be GTA San Andreas - lots of memories with that baby, even though I did always just watch my cousins and dad do all the video gaming. What are a few things that get on your nerves when it comes to Facebook (or your social networking site of choice)?  Boomers sharing pubmats with awful layout/graphics, boomers sharing daily Bible verses, and boomers being stubborn about fake news. Do you keep a hand-written journal or diary?  I used to. But Tumblr’s served as my diary for the last seven or so years now, too. What are three things you’ve started to like lately? BOJACK HORSEMAN, the Cold Brew Malt drink from Starbucks Reserve, and the electric fan we have in the living room that I’ve always found to be too loud and too cold/strong – now that the weather’s beginning to feel warm again, that fan’s been a damn blessing. What was the last reason for having butterflies in your stomach?  Gab requested we video-call tonight because we haven’t seen each other in a while due to the virus outbreak – I hate hate hate video calls and never do them even with her, but because she asked and because she genuinely wanted to, I said yes. If you live with your parents, do you spend a lot of time with them? If you don’t, how often do you go home to visit them?  I live with them. I don’t really spend time with them as I like having my own space. Having them under the same roof is enough for me. Do you need a lot of space in relationships, or are you happy to spend a lot of time with your SO?  I can be pretty clingy so I tend to be the latter, but I’ll also want my space sometimes. What was the last thing you cooked from scratch? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Have you ever won anything from those games in arcades?  We’ve hit the jackpot in some arcade games that awarded us the maximum number of tickets those games can give, but afaik we’ve never spent our saved points on big prizes. We just like to keep accumulating the points haha. When was the last time you went out to a fair?  First day of February. Came back for my high school’s fair. How far is the nearest zoo or wildlife park from your house? Do you go often?  I’d say the nearest ‘zoo’ is the eco-park in my school. It’s up a mountain but it’s a pretty quick drive, only takes about 15-20 minutes to get there. And nah dude, I haven’t been there since high school. What are you wearing at the moment? Is it for any particular reason? A tank and a pair of shorts. Do you have anything interesting planned over the next few days?  Ugh no. This virus is making us stay home for THE NEXT MONTH. Hoping I don’t go crazy. What do you do when you can’t get to sleep?  I watch something on YouTube or Netflix, or I browse Reddit. Super effective. Are you a morning person? Or does it take you a long time to wake up properly? Am a morning person. I was kinda forced to be ever since I was 4, considering I lived relatively far from my school which meant that the school bus always had to pick me up way earlier than the other kids. In the 14 years I spent in my alma mater I had to wake up at 5 AM every single day, which can easily explain why I’ve never been able to properly sleep in. How old is your oldest living relative?  I’m pretty sure I still have a living paternal great-grandparent. Not sure about their age, though. Are either one of your parents retired? If not, what do they do for a living?  My mom is a confidential secretary at a hotel. My dad is an executive sous chef. Do you buy a lot of DVD’s, or do you tend to just watch everything online for free?  We used to buy DVDs; we had multiple racks back then. But time is obviously a-changing so I watch everything online now, either through Netflix or through sites that illegally stream movies haha. Could you happily spend the day in your pajamas? Or do you prefer to be out and about doing things?  I’d rather be out and do stuff. Spending the day at home doing nothing can be pretty daunting and claustrophobic. When was the last time you were in a hospital, and what was the reason?  2010, when I had to be admitted for a low platelet count. Does everyone in your household own their own computer? My mom and brother don’t have one. Do you find that your feet get unusually hot at night sometimes? No, this has never happened to me before.

#survey #surveys

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timeforadventuresblog · 5 years

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My Media Consumption (CN - 9)

Each day, I would probably spend about three to twelve hours or more with media. When I was young, I only watched a lot of television, mostly cartoons. When Facebook started to pick up, I started to spend more time on the computer, either playing kids' websites to play games or checking Facebook's games like Cafe World and Pet Society. I had a competitive spirit back then. After a while, I got exposed to all different kinds of media, but my favorite kind of media is the internet.

The internet for me is a wonderful place, even though I had some bad experiences with it. I tend to go on YouTube and some let's players have affected me at least once like Jacksepticeye and Markiplier. Nowadays I haven't really been watching them but their energy and messages still gets me inspired to be positive even if it feels hopeless. They still inspire me to this day. Secondly, I cannot leave out the online friends I've made that had made my school year better. It is what I always look forward to at the end of the day. After school, they would come online and we'd talk about what we did in school and I always ask if I can help them with homework or if I could teach them anything, even if I'm terrible at explaining. I would sometimes crack ridiculous jokes in chat, and I'd wonder if they find me insane or funny. The chat eventually evolved into a family roleplay chat. We consider ourselves family in roleplay and in general. They assigned me play as a dad. I'm reluctant to play that role and they even call me dad; however, I wish I could've played along. Nowadays, the chat seldom would come alive, but it doesn't feel the same anymore, because some of the chat members are no longer on that platform and it really saddens me. Though the other members considered me as the odd one out as I would be the calmest among the chat members; moreover, whether I'm online, they'd spam me messages until I answer. They'd even hold funerals for those who don't go online often which gives me an incentive to chat with them but in a positive way. Back then, I never realized how friends who care feel like, but now, I learned how to appreciate a friend's loyalty. These friends made me feel that I was important to them. Thirdly, I learned about maturity and honesty after I created a Twitter account at a young age. My parents didn't know that I made an email account and a Twitter account at the time, and surprisingly, they never took it down even after I told them about those accounts. I was about ten years old when I made the account, and I do believe it is somewhat a mistake and a good thing. On Twitter, I would tweet about what I'm doing at the moment and people would follow me for random reasons. There were a lot of trolls online and it was hard to take criticisms for a 10 year old like me who was very sensitive. Even now, I'm still prone to criticism, but now I know what to consider as proper criticism and consider as destructive criticism. I learned how to face trolls and be a better person, so I'm somewhat glad I got exposed to the other side of media.

Another media I know of is television. I consider this a powerful media because in general and during elections, companies and candidates advertise on television and they seem to be very effective. Anything that happens on air, either something funny or controversial, may be spread and people can heavily judge that segment.

When the media went widespread, it had a positive and negative impact on the world. Let's start with the positives. For this day and age, the media can easily inform and update us about the weather, surroundings, and politics. If there's a typhoon or heavy rain coming, I myself check Facebook or Twitter to see if the mayor has declared no classes. But for general news, I would check Reddit for the news and other things that are happening in other parts of the Philippines. I become much more educated, learn much more about other people, and broaden our view on other people's cultures and differences by their descriptions. On the other side of the spectrum, it is easy to absorb too much information without checking its genuineness and it is easy to spread this said info to anyone since the sources of information are the users on social media themselves, and I cannot be so sure to trust them or their information. Similarly to what I have browsed on Reddit, I see people use editorialized titles and sometimes give news that are either fake or never mentioned in said article. Media can also be destructive. For instance, if a person would say something controversial, it can lead to a ruined reputation either for a company or for the individual. Mentioning Reddit again, sometimes people do not agree to a very controversial opinion and they downvote or reply something harsh. We should be familiar with Philippine media and other media too to prevent such things and be aware of our surroundings.

Let's compare Philippine media to U.S. media by starting with the similarities. People also heavily rely info online rather than hardcopies. Since they're both media, they inform us of our surroundings and both can do harm if they present us misleading information. Let's now move on to differences. In the Philippines, if there are laws that are being implemented and would heavily affect people's lifestyle, Filipinos only react and do nothing because some aren't aware or think they're okay; moreover, they take action after they've felt the difference. The media are somewhat biased but you wouldn't notice that easily. They cannot make fun of the government due to a law in place and it is harder for journalists to state their opinion because many get killed yearly. The news they show seem to heavily dumbed down too as they focus a lot about showbiz and not about important news happening around them. On the contrast, U.S. citizens are always informed and take action immediately. The media is distinctly biased and the people are free to make fun of the government. Important news are always shown first before any sort of entertainment. That's why we should learn how to be aware of media and their information, so we can prevent from spreading fake news, be informed and know when to react to said information.

I expect to learn a lot of great things in this class. One topic I'm particularly excited about is the legal, ethical and societal issues of media and information, especially since I always hear about copyright on YouTube. I don't understand those licenses that the user sometimes adds; furthermore, I believe I will need this information for animation because I might need to use certain sound effects or songs. I also would like to know how to settle arguments maturely just in case I get into one in the future. I always see YouTube comments that get into an argument and I have a hard time following them who's in the right. I hope this certain topic can answer my questions.

References :

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-advantages-disadvantages-media-315966

https://www.importantindia.com/22940/media-advantages-disadvantages/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-16757497

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/2gjndv/what_cant_you_stand_about_philippine_media/

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serverschat16 · 3 years

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Dating App For Introverts Reddit

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Dating App For Introverts Reddit Online

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You’ve found someone you really click with and think they may be the one, except for one thing… they’re an introvert and you’re not. But this doesn’t mean that the relationship is bound to fail. Dating an introvert can actually add more balance to your life.

“It’s important to recognize that introverts are not necessarily socially anxious, shy, or loners. Introverts love talking and connecting with people, especially on a deep level, but they also need to have the proper balance and proportion, otherwise they get drained,” explains Dr. Michael Alcee, a clinical psychologist who specializes in introversion. “What truly differentiates introverts from extroverts is that they recharge from the inside-out, replenishing themselves by going into the world of ideas and the imagination rather than through prolonged social contact.”

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Introverts bring a lot to a relationship and are wonderful people to be with. To help you understand your introverted partner, here are some tips you should keep in mind.

7 Tips for Dating an Introvert:

1. Sometimes introverts just need a push to be social. There are a lot of introverts out there that truly do enjoy being in social settings once they get there. They just need a little push on occasion to make it happen, explains dating expert James Anderson. “Being social can be an energy drain for introverts but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to do it or value it. Being encouraging and appreciative of your introverted partner when they do make the effort to socialize with you can go a long way.”

2. Limit the amount of time and frequency spent in large, social gatherings. An extrovert needs to understand that an introvert can only take so much being out in crowds. “After a while the amount of stimulation will force them to retreat so that they can recharge,” explains Dr. Venessa Marie Perry. “Therefore an extrovert should understand that an introvert can be social, but will need to retreat to get some peace.” Perry emphasizes that this doesn’t mean that he/ she isn’t having a good time, they just enjoy people in small doses.

3. Planning goes a long way. It’s very easy for an introvert to put off socializing, but harder if you make a plan. “If you really want to get your partner out of the house, you need to plan out your social calendar as much as you can. Make the plan, get them to commit to it, and stick to it. If an introvert knows when they’re going to be social and when they get to relax on their own, they’ll be much more agreeable,” says Anderson.

4. Don’t confuse an introvert’s quietness with being uninterested. Introverts generally only like talking to a few people in a social situation—usually someone they know or have something in common with. “They can be social butterflies but for a short amount of time. Introverts need time being quiet. It doesn’t mean that they always want to be alone, but they just want to enjoy quiet time with the person they’re dating, maybe watching a movie or just being present with the person,” says Perry.

5. Pay extra attention to their actions when it comes to what they need. An introvert may be reluctant to speak up when they’re feeling uncomfortable at a social gathering, or don’t want to go to an event that you’re set on going to. They may feel that they’re causing you to miss out. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to any physical cues they give you that may indicate, ‘I want to go home’ or ‘I don’t want to go out tonight.’ You’re not a mind reader but if you’ve dated an introvert long enough, you’ll be able to start picking up on these cues.”

6. Developing a friend group of other extroverts can take a lot of pressure off. Having a well-rounded group of friends that you can lean on for social interaction can take a lot of pressure off of your relationship. “If you need to be social four nights a week and you can count on your friends to be there for you for a few of those nights, the load will be much lighter on your partner. You’ll both be able to have the experiences you need and truly enjoy your times together,” says Anderson.

Dating App For Introverts Reddit Women

7. You can’t change an introvert. It could be the social gathering of the century, but an introvert will rarely feel like they’re missing out, and you can’t change this. “It’s important to accept that an introvert is this way by nature, and it’s in their temperament,” says Alcee. “This is the way they’re built and, as a result of this wonderful sensibility, they bring lovely qualities to the relationship. Make sure to let your introvert partner know how special they are.”

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yodaebusiness · 3 years

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The 25 Best Ways to Increase Your Online Presence in 2021 (+ Free Tools) | Online Sales Guide Tips

Kristen McCormick May 21, 2021

Guys, we spend eight hours a day doing digital activities. That’s more than half the day. More than most of us sleep. And we have different identities online—we’re hobbyists (gaming), alter egos (Reddit), social butterflies (Facebook), professionals (LinkedIn), and consumers (what we’re focusing on in this post).

So whether you’re a service-based, brick-and-mortar, or online business, a strong online presence is everything today. And this does not pertain to just ecommerce. While ecommerce growth has been accelerated by the pandemic, so, too has support for local businesses. And the fact remains that 97% of consumers go online to find and research local businesses.

But as the internet evolves, so, too, does the definition of a strong online presence. In this definitive, data-backed guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know, including:

By the end, you’ll be ready to fill every nook and cranny on the internet.

How do you define online presence?

Online presence is, and isn’t, exactly what you may think. You can very well exist online, but that doesn’t equate to having a presence. Your presence is a deeper layer that paints the full picture of your business, according to:

So while an online existence may get you on the map, an online presence is tied to your visibility, credibility, and reputation.

Without a strong online presence, you really don’t have one at all. It’s all or nothing in the noisy world of cyberspace.

But before we get into the tactics and strategies, let’s back up that bold statement.

Why you need a strong online presence

The more ways you can place your business in front of your target audience with quality experiences, the more opportunities you have to build brand awareness and improve your reputation. But there are other ways a strong online presence benefits your business.

Finally, flock mentality. Each of your online assets and identities gives power to one another. Each channel performs better in concert with the others than it would on its own.

How to increase your online presence with your website

No matter how someone finds out about your business—whether through social media, an ad, a listing, direct mail, a friend, or even seeing it in their travels—their first inclination is to go to your website. Going into the business or calling is far less appealing than browsing your site on their own terms and gathering the information they want, quickly. Which is why 30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website.

30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website.

And that’s a stat from 2017, so the percentage has most likely grown and been further accelerated by the pandemic.

So with that being said, here’s how to use your website for an optimal online presence.

1. Get a modern, attractive site

Consumers have high expectations these days—to the point where if you don’t have a good website, you’re almost better off not having one at all. In fact, 75% of consumers have admitted to judging a company’s credibility based on their website design.

And truth be told, I would highly suggest hiring an expert to set up your site. DIY builders are awesome in theory, but in my own experience, people end up spending hours on them and experiencing endless glitches—oftentimes to the point of eventually spending more to hire someone. Having a lead-generating website that looks and functions exactly the way you want it to without losing hours of your time or hairs on your head is, to me, worth every penny

2. Perform SEO with the latest updates in mind

Did you know that only 49% of small businesses invest in SEO? Or that only 18% of small businesses do not plan to ever pursue targeted SEO efforts like link building, content creation, or keyword research?

SEO is a free way to get on the first page of Google—the hallmark of online presence.

It takes time, but when done right, it is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Here’s how to use SEO to increase your online presence:

3. Target more keywords with a business blog

The core pages of your website (homepage, about, pricing, products/services, contact) are relatively limited in terms of optimizing for keywords other than your service and location. You don’t have much text to work with and the goal is to distill the information down to the essentials visitors are looking for.

With a business blog, each post you publish can dive deep into a relevant keyword and be individually optimized to rank for that keyword, allowing you the opportunity to appear in search results for tons of searches your target customers are performing at various stages in their journey. More first-page appearances doesn’t just mean stronger web presence; it also equates to more traffic to your conversion-optimized site and greater credibility. In fact, businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t.

Plus, this is where you can demonstrate your expertise and let your brand personality shine through—both of which play into the reputation component of your online presence.

When blogging for online presence, make sure to:

How to increase online presence with social media

Using social media to increase your online presence is a no-brainer, as its vast user bases and sharing capabilities make it an amplification tool. Plus, according to Sprout Social, after following a brand on social media, 91% of consumers will visit its website, 89% will buy from the brand, and 85% will recommend the brand to a family or friend.

Here’s how to improve your social media presence.

4. Limit the number of platforms to only what you can handle

Online presence is about quality, not quantity. Choose the platforms that your audience is using, and limit the number you choose based on your bandwidth. Having just one or two accounts with solid engagement is better than having several accounts with weak activity.

Platforms to consider include:

5. Think audience, not followers

Your online presence doesn’t improve with more followers. Rather, your following improves with a stronger presence. So work on cultivating a quality, niche audience of individuals who are interested in and can benefit from what you have to offer. This will translate into more likes and comments with your posts and more user-generated content. And if you didn’t already know, marketing campaigns with user-generated content result in 29% higher conversions than campaigns or without it.

It’s better to have fewer followers with a vibrant page than to have lots of followers and not much value to offer.

6. Post with emotion for shareability

Quality posts that get engagement are important if you want social algorithms to display your posts in users’ feeds. But quality isn’t really enough. You want your followers to feel something when they consume your content—so much so, that they feel compelled to share it with others. Use emotional words and phrases in your captions. Add emojis. Use compelling stats and evocative images.

And speaking of shareability, pay attention to small nuances in your captions to see if you can find any patterns. We recently found that leading off with a key stat in the caption resulted in more shares. Another approach is to create link-free posts that followers can consume quickly. They don’t always want to read a long post or go to a link, and they’re more likely to share something that isn’t a big ask for their followers either.

7. Perform social media SEO

Facebook receives over 2 billion searches per day. And in 2020, Instagram announced that it now supports general keyword searches (as opposed to just accounts, hashtags, and people). So just like with your website, you should include popular keywords in your profiles and posts. You can use many of the same keywords as you do with your site, but perhaps with a bias toward idea-oriented and lighter-hearted queries. Social media platforms are more of the browsing and inspirational types. But it all depends on your business. The first result for the query “how to clean a sink” on Facebook is a video with almost a million views.

You should also still be using hashtags in your posts to improve your social media presence, but treat them as you would keywords. Use broad hashtags sparingly and focus more on location-based and niche terms so that you can increase your visibility to the right audience.

8. Be active (duh)

You’ve heard this a million times, and now, for the million-and-oneth time: If you’re going to make social media a part of your online presence, you need to have an active account. So that means publishing quality posts regularly, responding to likes and comments on those posts, liking and commenting on your followers’ posts, answering direct messages, sharing content from other sources, and more. And it means doing this consistently. This is the difference between a profile and a presence.

If being able to have this type of engagement means only having one profile, then so be it. Better to have one vibrant profile than to have three that are subpar. And precisely why it’s important to only take on the number of profiles you can manage.

Plus, if you want to find and connect with influencers, you need to be active in your niche so you can identify who is realistic to reach out to and gradually build your relationship with them.

How to improve your online presence with listings

With thousands of online directories out there, creating listings for your business can help you show up in more places online. In addition, links to your site from popular directories serve as citations for your business, which Google takes into consideration when ranking your site. Finally, curated “Top 10” lists from popular directories can dominate the SERP, so if you’re ranking in their top 10, you can achieve that much more exposure.

But reaping these benefits takes more than just throwing your NAP out there and then kicking back. Let’s cover the steps for using online listings to properly boost your online presence.

9. Start with the heavy hitters

Many of the smaller directories out there aggregate information from the biggest ones. So take the time to perfect your listings on the following sites:

Google My Business (If you only do one of the suggestions in this post, let it be this one!)

Your Google My Business Profile is arguably the new homepage for your business. It provides all of the essential details of your business, directly in the SERP for Search and Maps.

Change the category on your business page to “Local business or place” so you can then add your location and collect reviews. Also, get listed on Facebook Places by attempting to check in at your location and then adding your business there.

The fact that an HVAC business can show up on a Facebook search speaks to its validity as a directory.

We know that Google is the leading search engine, by far. But that doesn’t mean Bing is to be ignored. Here are some stats that prove it’s worth being present on:

Small businesses, in particular, can benefit from a presence on Bing because there is less competition and the older audience may be ideal.

Foursquare has fizzled out as a social platform, but its Places technology powers location data for Apple, Uber, Twitter, Microsoft, Samsung, and 120,000 other developers. When your business is listed on Foursquare, it’s automatically included in thousands of local apps and services.

For a more complete list of listing sites, check out LOCALiQ’s 10 Best Free Business Listing Sites.

10. Populate every field, meticulously

Like social media feeds and search engine results pages, listing results are determined by an algorithm. This means that the quality of your listing matters. Make sure that for each listing, you populate every section available, such as:

As much as possible, make sure the information you provide is identical across listing sites. We’re talking St vs street, [Business name] vs [Business name], LLC, and other tiny details. This is because Google looks at consistency of information about you across the web when determining your credibility and ranking; and also because auto-populated listings risk inaccuracies, so you can keep deviations to a minimum with identical listings to begin with.

11. Have a proactive review strategy

Reviews have perhaps the most powerful influence over how high you show up in directory results. Not to mention the fact that they are one of the top ranking factors for Google local search. Simply providing review-worthy service will not do it. You need to have a proactive strategy in place to keep a steady stream of reviews coming in. Here are some ways to obtain and ask for reviews:

12. Maintain and monitor your listings

With the thousands of directories across the web that pull information from one another, your listings can develop inconsistencies or inaccuracies over time. And 80% of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see incorrect or inconsistent information. You don’t have control over all of these profiles, but take the time to keep the ones you do have control over updated and consistent. Another option is to use a listing service provider who can stay on top of everything for you.

Monitoring your reviews on these directories is also crucial, for obvious reasons.

How to improve your online presence with advertising

Paid advertising is a fast way to show up prominently on search engines, social media feeds, and websites your ideal customers frequent. With SEO, you can really only target your audience with keywords, but with PPC, you can layer audiences onto your targeting based on a number of criteria. Here are some of many the different ad options you can use to increase your online presence.

13. Search ads

It’s worth investing in paid search ads because not only do they land you at the top of the SERP, but they also reach your target customers when they have the highest intent. And if you can get your site to rank in both organic and paid results for a keyword, the chances of getting a click on one or the other are higher.

And although Google is the most popular search engine, there are still many advantages of advertising on Bing.

14. Social ads

Social media ads can be used to improve your online presence because ads have higher reach and engagement rates than organic posts. And while social media users have less intent than on search engines, social ads come with stronger targeting capabilities and more creative freedom. Plus, you can leverage the power of video ads.

15. Display ads

Display ads put your business in front of custom audiences based on their interests, behaviors, types of websites and apps they frequent, and even places they’ve visited. Though display ads have lower engagement rates than search ads, they will earn you lots of impressions and like social media ads, you have more options for branding, color, and creative.

16. Retargeting ads

Retargeting ads appear in front of users who have previously expressed interest in your business, such as by interacting with a previous ad or visiting your website. This is a great way to maintain a presence with prospects as they engage elsewhere on the web.

17. Google Local Service Ads

Google Local Service Ads also show up at the top of the SERP in card form. If you go through the application process, you can appear with a green “Google Guaranteed” badge under your name, which makes for a stronger presence in this section of results.

This is, by no means, an exhaustive list. There’s podcast advertising, Google Shopping Ads, Reddit ads, and more.

More ways to increase your online presence

Your online presence isn’t just limited to your website, social media profiles, online listings, and ads. Here are eight more ways to increase your visibility online.

18. Have a presence in the inbox with email marketing

The advantage that email marketing has over other channels is that your recipients have opted in to receive your emails. Yes, your social media followers have opted to follow you, but feeds are infinitely more crowded and competitive than email inboxes. Plus, while 79% of Facebook users check Facebook once a day, 99% of email users check their email every day, some as much as 20 times a day. Lots of opportunity to get exposure.

99% of email users check their email every day, some as much as 20 times a day

The email marketing best practices are pretty evergreen, but if there’s three to focus on with regard to your online presence, it would be these:

19. Use guest posting to reach more potential customers

Do you know of any complementary businesses or local media outlets that have a strong online presence? See if they’ll accept a guest post from you. Not only can you get your business in front of their audience, but a link to your site from theirs can help to improve your SEO.

You can also accept guest posts on your own blog. Writers are always eager to share their publications with their audiences.

20. Leverage the power of video for more shares and memorability

There are tons of video marketing stats that highlight the importance of this medium for growing your business, but in terms of online presence, you should know these three:

Here are some ways to use video to improve your online presence:

21. Encourage your employees to share your content with their networks

According to Linkedin, employees have a network that is 10X larger than its company’s follower base. And Social Media Today tells us that content shared by employees receives 8X more engagement than content shared by brand channels.

Take advantage of this! Share your blog posts with your company employees and encourage them to share it on their networks. The added bonus is that your sales and support teams can stay on top of content that can be of use to them.

And don’t forget that your online presence is also made up of what others say about you online. Get listed on Glassdoor, treat your employees well, and let them play a part in building your reputation.

22. Build relationships with lots of different people

Building your online presence is a lot of work. But who says you have to do it alone? Those with whom you have a strong relationship can help you in a number of ways.

Plus, these immediate connections can introduce you to their connections. Maybe you connect with a developer that can help you with your website, or a young videographer offering inexpensive work to gain experience. But as always, networking and building relationships should not be self-seeking. The goal is to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships from which organic opportunities can arise.

23. Make your content accessible to all

Make your website pages and emails accessible to people with disabilities. Not only does one in four adults have a disability in the US, but also, the assistive technology industry is growing. With those with disabilities having more access to online content, you have the opportunity to expand your online presence to the 61 million adults in the US who have one—not to mention demonstrating values that matter to consumers today.

With the antiracisim and inclusivity movement that began in 2020, incorporating diversity into your workplace and marketing material is more important than ever. Plus, people are attracted to material—whether visual or written—that represents them. This is partly due to the familiarity principle (more on marketing psychology here), but also because it conveys to them the message that they are heard and seen. By representing the diverse range of people within your audience in your online assets, you can get noticed by more people while also demonstrating social responsibility.

25. Use mobile-specific marketing strategies

As mentioned earlier, Google is now using mobile-first indexing for all sites on the web, so having a responsive site and enhancing performance with tactics like lazy loading is essential. Plus, with more than half (60%) of internet searches being performed on mobile devices, you really do need to prioritize your mobile online presence. This means making sure your website pages and emails render properly on tablets and phones, but also leveraging mobile-specific strategies, such as:

And for local businesses in particular, local SEO is crucial for mobile marketing. According to Google, 76% of consumers who search for a local business on their smartphone end up visiting the business within a day, and 28% of them make a purchase.

Free tools for online presence management

With so many online channels, building and maintaining your online presence is a big undertaking, but with big returns. Here are some free tools that can help you with your efforts.

1. LOCALiQ’s Digital Marketing Healthcheck

With LOCALiQ’s free presence checker, enter your business name and address and get a report showing you which of your business listings are complete, which ones are missing information, and which ones are missing entirely.

Here’s how missing or incomplete listings show up:

2. Google search

Google yourself. See what shows up on the SERP. Hopefully your website is the first result and your Google My Business profile appears on the right. It’s likely that the rest of the results will be directory sites that have you in their database. Take a gander through them to make sure each listing is complete and accurate, and that reviews are accounted for.

3. Google’s Page Speed Insights

When you plug your website into the Page Speed Insights tool, you’ll get a score for both mobile and desktop as well as recommendations to improve page speed.

4. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

Simply Google “mobile friendly test” and enter your website into the search result.

Hopefully you won’t get the dreaded red text…

5. Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts so you can be notified when new results for a topic show up in Google Search—i.e. your business.

6. WordStream’s Google My Business Grader

BrightLocal’s research has found that businesses with more than 100 images in their Google My Business listing get 520% more calls, 2,717% more direction requests, and 1,065% more website clicks than the average business. This is just one of the many small tweaks you can make to your profile to get big results. WordStream’s free Google My Business Grader identifies what’s missing in your profile and exactly what you need to do to improve it.

7. WordStream’s Google and Facebook Ads Graders

Our free Google Ads Grader and Facebook Ads Grader tools perform a thorough audit of your accounts and provide a detailed report on optimizations you can make to increase the visibility of your ads, prevent wasted spend, and get more conversions.

Use these strategies and tools to increase your online presence (and ultimately, your revenue)

You can only exist in one place in the physical world, but with the internet, you can be in multiple places at once, places your current and potential customers are spending most of their time. Having a strong online presence allows your business to get discovered by new customers, and the more touchpoints you have with your audience, the more you can build your reputation, increase brand awareness, make data-driven optimizations, and ultimately increase revenue.

There were many strategies mentioned in this post for improving your online presence, so let’s recap:

This content was originally published here.

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steamishot · 4 years

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Gloomy

It’s sunday and it’s the start of a gloomy/rainy week in LA. I’m laying in my bed relaxing because I’m not sure what to do with myself. I finally made good milk tea - I’ve tried to in the past but always messed it up because I steeped the tea in water that was too hot. This would cause the tea to become murky/cloudy once it cooled down. Finally, a lightbulb went off in my head and I realized that was the reason why LOL. I’ve been enjoying being to enjoy a glass of fresh milk tea at home without the need to go out. Saving lots of money and can adjust sweetness to my level of liking.

I started seeing people grow green onions and did the same. My green onions grew a significant amount from Friday - Saturday when it was sunny, but I think it’s gonna slow down without the sunshine. I planted a ginger root today, and will be looking for more random herbs/plants/vegetables that I can plant for quarantine entertainment. Now is really the time to find/work on hobbies. I just did my taxes yesterday, and felt the urge to splurge a little because of my refund (and upcoming stimulus). I got an organizer for my make up - finally, because it’s always been a mess. And I got new duvet covers for my room - which I’ve been wanting for a long time but just felt it was too frivolous. Since I’ll be spending a lot of time in my room, I don’t mind investing more into it to make myself enjoy my time here. I want to also introduce new plants into my room, but I’m not sure what the best way of going about this is. I found some plant subscription websites that have cute houseplants, but they’re so overpriced. I regret not buying them pre-lockdown.

My family workout zoom meeting was a success today. Got to connect my cousins & aunt/uncles in Paris, Dallas, and Houston. My grandma was very happy to see them. My cousins (pre-teens) in Houston are camera shy (and also real-life shy) and also don’t like speaking in front of the camera. One of them even refused to show her face at all - her dad said she does the same thing when they do roll call in class. It reminded me of myself and I was like wow, we are definitely family.

I was mad again at matt two days ago and part of yesterday, and sometimes logically forget the terrifying circumstance he is currently in. He made some comments I thought were mean on Friday, and I felt angered by them. I think he has a tendency to act like everything is ok and that he’s fine because he lacks self-awareness sometimes, and that makes me think he is ok. However in actuality, he’s not ok but his life is so exhausting and fast paced that he doesn’t realize it until later. And sometimes the stress is inadvertently taken out on me. I was upset by this on Friday night, and then started browsing reddit. My heart dropped when I saw news that two residents in NYC and 1 in Michigan have died due to COVID/not having proper PPE. I don’t believe these stories will be released by the hospitals at all, administration is very shady. It was all word by mouth but confirmed by multiple people on the thread. It reminds me to look at the big picture and take things into context before I focus in on small details that could bother me. It’s always been a learning process for me, but I have to be even more forgiving these upcoming weeks/months.

He told me that they’ve received quite a few stuff this past week - free food almost everyday, free ice cream. A glasses company has a promo currently where healthcare workers can receive free prescription glasses. I nominated him for that. I hope he gets it. I’ve been seeing a lot of emotional responses from other residents, nurses, doctors on reddit and on youtube. My guy has been pretty nonemotional/light hearted about this until this morning when he texted me that it’s depressing that he’s “stuck in death” and then has to be locked up when returning home. I’m like thinking, wow he’s really mentally/emotionally strong, or... just robotic lol.

I see a lot of healthcare workers being called “heroes” for fighting frontline or for dying fighting frontline. And I learned that it pisses some people off - their idea being that they don’t want to be heroes, they just want to survive. "I’m getting very angry at all the hero talk. Give me PPE. Give me hazard pay. Fuck off with your appreciation emails and ice cream." There’s a big joke about administration sending out thoughtful emails thanking healthcare workers while working from home and sipping wine. It’s all a big act for some programs. Our program at UCLA seems decent - but again Cali is not being hit hard right now.

The masks that I ordered off of Etsy for K ended up being sold out - I got the email a week later. I instead sent her some money to buy masks herself. More and more companies are coming out to be involved in this pandemic. The silver lining to this is seeing some people come together for a common battle.

Praying for the world. And hope matt and K remain in good spirits, and in good health.

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tamboradventure · 4 years

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7 Ways to Scratch the Travel Itch Without Traveling

Updated: 3/17/2020 | March 17th, 2020

Once at a reader reader meetup, a fellow traveler approached me. He had just returned from an overland drive from New York City to Patagonia.

After I peppered him with questions about his trip (I mean really, how cool does that trip sound?), he asked me one:

“How do you deal with coming home, staying in the travel mindset, and keeping the lessons you learned alive?”

It’s a great question and it touches on something a lot of travelers get blindsided by: the post-travel blues.

Post-trip depression is something many long-term travelers struggle with.

Coming home is often harder than leaving (or adjusting to life abroad) because it’s so anti-climactic.

Before your trip, there is this massive buildup of emotions, preparation, and excitement. You’ve been planning a trip for months, imagining yourself in foreign lands, meeting interesting people, and going on an adventure.

You’re moving toward a goal. You’re excited. A bright future of possibility lies before you.

But then you come home after months (or years) abroad and it’s suddenly “now what?”

There’s no more buildup.

Just a complete stop.

You don’t come back with a bang; you come back with a whimper. Your friends are only kind of interested in your trip, but soon their eyes glaze over at your travel tales. Before you know it, you fall back into your old routine and it’s as this trip never happened.

So what can you do to recreate that sense of travel when you get back home?

And, given the times we live in, what do you do when you are quarantined because of Coronavirus, flights are grounded, and the travel industry has come to a halt?

How can you keep that sense of adventure alive while you are home (literally in your home and generally in your community)?

Well, here are 7 ways to bring the world to you when you can’t go to it:

1. Read Travel Books

The easiest thing you can to bring the world to you is to visit it through a book. Read about people’s adventures and stay inspired as you dream about all the places you’ll go in the future. Get new ideas, learn about other cultures, satiate your wanderlust, and grow your “to visit” list.

Let your mind travel when your body can’t.

Here’s a list of some travel books to get you started:

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

The Beach, by Alex Garland

In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson

Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams

Ten Years a Nomad, by me! (Which you should deflintely get because it’s the best and supporting the team and I during these times would mean a lot!)

For more suggestions, here’s a larger list of my favorite travel books.

And here’s a list of 13 non-travel books that changed my life (because if this quarantine lasts for awhile, you might want to read some other genres too!).

Additionally, if you want regular book suggestions, we have a travel book club where, once a month, I send a list of some of my recent reads.

2. Watch Travel Movies

From far-fetched classics like Indiana Jones to biopics like Wild to documentaries like A Map for Staurday, travel movies are another great way to satiate your wanderlust. Here are a few of my favorites:

Lost in Translation

Up in the Air

The Beach

Midnight in Paris

The Way

For more, here’s a full list of the best travel movies out there.

And, if you want some TV or Netflix suggestions, here are a few shows worth binging:

Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain

An Idiot Abroad

Departures

The Long Way Round

The Amazing Race

Dark Tourist

Someone Feed Phil

Ugly Delicious

3. Start Planning Your Next Trip

Eventually, the current situation with the Coronavirus will pass and we’ll be able to travel again. So, while you are at home with lots of time on your hands, start planning your summer or fall trip. After all, we’re all gonna really need to get outside once this crisis is over! Trip planning will keep you busy and help make the days and weeks fly by.

First, buy a guidebook. I love getting lost in guidebooks and plotting itineraries and dreaming of the sights I’ll see. They’ll help you get the lay of the land, outline your budget, and give you an introduction to the destination. We have 7 in-depth budget travel guidebooks to some of my favorite destinations around the world, including:

Paris

Iceland

Amsterdam

Bangkok

Europe

New York City

Thailand

They’re the product over over ten years of backpacking the world and are chock full of insider tips, budget suggestions, itineraries and much, much more!

For other destinations, I suggest using Lonely Planet guidebooks. They’re my go-to company whenever I’m planning a new trip. They have the widest selection of destinations out there. You can check out their selection here and pick one up for your next trip! (Amazon is delivering so you don’t need to leave your house to get one!)

Next, check out this comprehensive step-by-step guide to planning a trip. It will walk you through all my best tips on planning a trip so you can be ready to go the second we’re allowed to travel again.

Being at home can lead to a lot of boredom but I’ve always found trip planning – even for places I never end up going – a great mental escape that helps me pass the time and occupy my mind.

4. Start Travel Hacking

While you’re waiting for your next trip, sign up for a new travel credit card so you can earn points and miles for free flights and hotel stays. This is how I travel so often without spending a ton of money. Accommodation and flights are two of the biggest expenses you’ll have so being able to reduce that to near zero ensure you’ll be able to travel a lot more!

Here are some posts to help you learn more and get started today (because the sooner you start the sooner you can earn a free trip!)

How I Earn 1 Million Frequent Flier Miles Each Year

Is Travel Hacking Really a Scam?

The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking

The 6 Best Travel Credit Cards for 2020

5. Join Online Communities

A wonderful way to connect with other travelers and keep the spirit of travel alive is to join an online community. There are a lot out there these days (including the one we started a few months back). Being at home can be isolating and, as you dream and plan future trips, connect with other travelers. Share trips, advice, stories, and keep your spirits high!

Here are a few of the best online communities you can join today:

The Nomadic Network (This is our travel community)

Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree

Girls Love Travel (women only)

Reddit’s Travel and Shoestring subreddits (for general travel and budget travel respectively)

Couchsurfing (they have groups and destination-specific forums)

6. Read Travel Blogs

Whether you’re planning a trip or just looking for something to read, travel blogs have a wealth of on-the-ground information, insider tips, and stories that can give you a lot of helpful advice and suggestions for your next trip.

Not only that but, as the travel industry grinds to a halt during this pandemic, reading blogs helps you support those of us who rely on advertising as part of our income. So, not only will you be getting lots of information but you’ll help keep bloggers from going under. Win-win!

Here are some suggested blogs to read:

Uncornered Market (sustainable travel)

View from the Wing (travel hacking, airline news)

Wandering Earl (adventurous budget travel)

The Blonde Abroad (travel and lifetsyle)

Neverending Footsteps (travel and anxiety)

Be My Travel Muse (solo female travel)

For even more awesome websites worth reading, here’s a list of my favorite travel blogs.

And since we’re also struggling traffic-wise, here are some of our most popular posts in case you feel like browsing (thanks in advance!):

Why Travel Makes You Awesome

Everyone Says I’m Running Away

How to Realize You Dreams & Travel Anywhere You Want

The Ultimate Guide to Traveling When You Have No Money

Why It’s Never the Perfect Time to Travel

7. Meet Travelers Near You

(Note: At the moment, this tip does not apply due to the quarantine but, once it is lifted, this can be a way to meet people in your local area.)

Having a support network is vital. You need people who won’t think you’re weird when you tell them you want to hike across the Amazon. You need people to say “Can I join?”

That why we started The Nomadic Network. It’s an online and in-person meet-up group for travelers all around the world. We host regular events every month in cities across the globe (at least when this crisis is over. Sign-up, use our forum to chat with people virtually, and, when this all over, come meet up in person!

Some other great websites for meeting people in real-life are:

Meetup.com – There’s a group out there for everything. I use this site frequently.

Couchsurfing – Couchsurfing is more than a website that offers accommodation. It has lot of local groups that hold events all the time. It is a wonderful way to meet other travelers and locals – at home or on the road.

***

Coming home can be hard. We all need a community that supports and understands us. And, while we can’t meet that community in real life right now, there are many ways you can bring the world to you while you are at home.

Use these tips. Keep your travel spirits alive. Plan a future trip. The world will be waiting – and ready – for you when this is all over.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines, because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com, as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it, as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all those I use — and they’ll save you time and money too!

Photo Credit: 7 – OuiShare

The post 7 Ways to Scratch the Travel Itch Without Traveling appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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#IFTTT #Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

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econ23econlive · 5 years

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Purchasing a New Phone

Duc Tran (ID: 58914218) Discussion Section: Wed.11-12 pm

Over the past couple of decades, cell phones have transitioned from a luxury good to a necessity. Advancements in technology have allowed people to become more connected than ever through the power of the Internet. Walking around Ring Road at UC Irvine, you’ll see many students browsing their phone, messaging others on Facebook, taking pictures for Instagram and Snapchat, and looking at memes on Reddit.

Although cell phones in general are now considered a necessity, high-end smartphones can be viewed as a luxury good. Purchasing an expensive, new, high-end smartphone is a tough financial decision for many people, especially for college students.

With the ever-increasing cost of high-end smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel, it can be hard to justify spending so much money on such a product.

When I initially placed my pre-order for the new Samsung Galaxy S10 a few weeks ago, I didn’t think much of the microeconomic concepts behind the decision. However, it became clear that my decision to purchase the phone can be explained through the ideas that have been discussed in the class.

Weighing the Costs

Implicit Cost (Opportunity Cost: Time)

Before switching to the Galaxy S10, I had been using the Galaxy S8. Over the last month or so of using the Galaxy S8, I had a major software issue with the phone in which it kept on restarting randomly. I knew that I would have to get this issue fixed eventually, whether it be by going to a repair shop or by sending the phone in to Samsung support. After calling customer support, I also realized that this process could potentially take quite some time. The opportunity cost of not buying the Galaxy S10 was the time and effort it would’ve taken for me to get my S8 fixed.

Explicit Cost (Monetary)

There are three versions of Galaxy S10: Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+, starting at $749.99, $899.99, and $999.99, respectively. As you can see from the comparison chart below, each version has slightly different specifications and features.

After discussing the costs of the phone with my two friends who were also interested in buying the Galaxy S10, it was clear that none of us would pay the explicit cost of $900 for the phone. Why would people want to pay that much money when they already have a perfectly usable phone?

Incentives

Companies like Apple and Samsung are fully aware that most people currently using older generations of their products do not want to pay the full price of a new product. This is where incentives become a factor. According to the textbook, one of the main principles of economics is that people respond to incentives.

Trade-in offers are a common incentive in the smartphone market. A trade-in offer is exactly as it sounds like: you trade in an eligible smartphone and receive a discount based on the market price of the phone that you traded in.

At the time of pre-ordering the new Samsung Galaxy S10, I had been using the Galaxy S8, which I had purchased back in August 2018 for a sale price of $350. With the trade-in offer promotion that I received, I would be able to trade my Galaxy S8 in for an effective discount of $390 towards a new Galaxy S10.

Another incentive that Samsung offered customers who pre-ordered the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10+ is a free set of the new Galaxy Buds, which are wireless earbuds. Samsung is promoting their new Galaxy Buds as a substitute to the Apple Airpods. The Galaxy Buds retail for $129.99, which makes it cheaper than the Apple Airpods, which cost $159.00.

Since I was already planning on purchasing a set of Apple Airpods in the future, the new Galaxy Buds caught my immediate attention. The offer of a free set of Galaxy Buds was a positive incentive for me to pre-order the new Galaxy S10.

The Decision

After weighing both the implicit and explicit costs and also considering the extra incentives that Samsung offered for pre-orders, I ultimately decided to buy a Galaxy S10. Along with the implicit cost of not buying the S10, the incentives that Samsung offered for pre-ordering their new phone plus the actual phone itself made me choose to pre-order the phone instead of keeping my S8 and having to fix it. In other words, the perceived benefits of pre-ordering the phone outweighed the the amount I paid for it.

Sources

https://www.samsung.com/uk/galaxys-preorder/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-huawei-double-down-apple-233949867.html https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-s10-plus-879600/

#econ23

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iamthedukeofurl · 7 years

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Brainhack: How to deal when you have Wasted All Your Time

Duke Here. I’ve been adulting with ADHD for a few years now, so I figured I’d share some tips for when you just Wasted A Ton Of Time You Shouldn’t Have Wasted/Generally Screwed things up. Not to be too Neurotypical here, but I find that mindset can actually help a good deal. No, not “Positive Thinking”. If you’ve got two days to do something that should have taken two weeks, no amount of smiling and looking on the bright side is going to help you. The key isn’t optimism, it’s stubbornness. Step 1: Accept that the Task is important. Seems simple, but it’s not. Often, when you’ve Wasted All Your Time, it’s easy to say “Ah well, I guess this thing isn’t happening”, and you have to fight against the urge to say “This isn’t worth doing at this point”. So, step 1 is to make sure The Thing is worth doing (This could be a very short step), get that shit over with right away. Also, it’s very possible that, at this point, The Thing just ISN’T worth doing. The rest of this process is not a pleasant one, and you shouldn’t put yourself through it for something that’s not important. So, weigh the pros and cons, and decide, once and for all, Does This Thing Need to Happen? If you have a big pile of things to do, this is where you start cutting. Order them by priority, and anything that doesn’t make the cut gets left behind. Step 2: Start from the Present. Sometimes you need to get things done without enough time to do them properly. Sometimes this is your fault, sometimes it is not. But, at this point, WHY you ended up in this situation is NOT IMPORTANT. You may have spent the last four hours watching Youtube videos about Ducks, but from this point forward, you’re trying to achieve your goal. Take all that guilt and shame and put it away for now. You’re not dismissing it, you’re just dealing with it later. Imagine that you are blameless. Approach the problem as if there was literally NOTHING you could have done to avoid your exact current situation. Because it doesn’t matter. If you passed step 1, then it means that doing the thing is more important than kicking yourself. If at any point you find yourself spiraling out of productivity, restart from this step.

Step 3: Fulfill your needs. This can be done concurrently with Steps 1, 2, and 4. Those steps are primarily Mental, while this is mostly a rote physical step. Take a shower, go for a quick walk outside, eat a sandwich, straighten up your room. Anything urges or distractions that will be nagging at you moving forwards should be cleared up. It’s tempting to dive right in, but spending ten-fifteen minutes taking care of yourself now will save you time later. Eating now means you’re not constantly debating about whether or not you can afford to eat later. Taking a shower now means not feeling miserable and disgusting later. Step 4: Identify the Ideal Outcome. If you’ve really Screwed Up that thoroughly, chances are you can’t achieve your initial goals. That’s fine, the important thing is that you get the best result possible from this point forwards. Let’s say you were planning to bake two cakes. Well, One cake is better than no cakes, a bad Essay is better than no essay. If a Bad Essay is the best you can do, then that’s what you’re doing. At this point, you need to set aside any thoughts of pride or ego. You might be turning in a flaming pile of garbage, but it’s the Best Dumpster Inferno you could manage at this point. Step 5: Count your Spoons. If you’re in this situation, there’s a good chance that you have a limited amount of energy to work with. Caffeine and Spite will only get you so far. You may be tempted to think that you can go past your limits, that you are an unstoppable productivity machine capable of overpowering the limits of this weak flesh by sheer willpower alone, but that’s Ego talking, and as we established in step 3, there is no room for Ego here. Certainly you’ll be pushing yourself, but it doesn’t help anybody if you crash and burn halfway through the project. Don’t count on all-nighters if you know you can’t pull them. Think of it as assessing what resources you have available. If you’re writing a paper, and you know you can work for four hours straight, that’s a resource. If you have a friend willing to help you with editing, that’s a resource. If you know that by treating yourself to a milkshake, you can keep yourself motivated and focused, That’s a Resource. Know yourself, so you know what you can do.

Step 6: Make your Plan: Now that you have your goals and your resources, make your plan. Don’t make it too elaborate, with the pressure on, there can be a temptation to try to precisely plan things out, but that can just lead to you wasting time. You may be tempted to try to make A Perfect Plan, but that’s just Ego talking, it’s another way to procrastinate. Get the plan whipped up quickly and get to work. Step 7: Execute the Plan. Get to work, do the shit that needs doing. If you find yourself in the zone, ride that as long as possible. Otherwise, when you feel a natural break point, take a minute to recharge. Get some water, change your music, gaze wistfully out the window.

Don’t underestimate the power of the Placebo Effect here. I’ve been constantly saying “Don’t let your Ego get in the way”, well, let your Ego run free. If you think you work better with classical music, a mug of tea, or your lucky scarf, do that. If you ever get knocked off track, reset to Step 2. You should be able to rush through the other steps pretty quickly, so this won’t waste too much time. Step 8: Accept your work. Perfect is the enemy of good. Especially in a situation where you have multiple tasks you’re trying to complete, it’s important that you recognize when you are finished, not only so that you stop polishing and actually do whatever you need to do to finalize the project, but for your mental state. Accepting that a project is flawed but done is important. If you don’t do that, then the project will be forever incomplete in your mind, which goes nowhere good.

Step 9: Present your work. Whatever you have done, that’s what you’ve done. Turn in the project, whatever form that takes, and own it. Don’t try to weasel into “Well it would be better if X hadn’t happened”. You did what you could, be proud of that. Step 10: Learn your Lessons. Now that you are done, you can take all that useless guilt and shame you boxed away in step 2 and deal with it. Why did you end up in that situation? What could you have done better? If you have a disability/mental illness that contributed, make sure you factor that in, not as a personal failing, but as an obstacle to overcome.

I’ll stick to my personal experiences with ADHD. If I wasted time because I decided to play video games for six hours, THAT’S a personal failing, and the lesson learned is “Don’t do that, Dipshit”.

If I wasted time because I ended up browsing Reddit for six hours, that’s probably a symptom. I know that, if given a chance, I’ll waste six hours on Reddit. So, the lesson is to avoid giving myself that chance. Unplug from the internet, get a friend to check in on you every so often and make sure you’re working. If it helps to work in a public place like a library, do that. Sometimes you don’t get any important lessons from this step, but that’s a key part of this too. If you learned lessons, then you know that you can do better next time. If you don’t learn any lessons, then you did nothing wrong, and shouldn’t be kicking yourself over this mess.

#life tips #brainhacks #random musings

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savetopnow · 6 years

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2018-04-05 22 FUNNY now

FUNNY

Awkward Family Photos

Big Stick

Leg Swap

The Pitts

Little Dipper

Crab Grab

Babylon Bee

KJV-Only Church Requires Clear Bible Covers To Verify No One Concealing NIV

John Bolton Stays Up Late Nuking All The Peaceful Countries In ‘Civilization VI’

Millions Of Marshmallow Peeps Begin Annual Migration Back To Isle Of Disgusting Candies

Google Pays Respect To Jesus’s Empty Tomb With Empty Homepage

Man Recants Belief In Innate Goodness Of Humanity After 4 Seconds Browsing YouTube Comments

McSweenys

This Eulogy is Branded Content

Fifty-Six Questions for Young MC Upon Hearing “Bust a Move” for the First Time in Twenty-Two Years

Baby Steps: The Early Work of Famous Artists

Melania Trump Explains the Stormy Daniels Controversy to Barron Using Pagan Slovenian Mythology

Life is a Comedy

Passive Aggressive Notes

Coming soon, from Pixar…

Donna, bring a sweater

You can’t spare three squares?

Happy Birthday, and see you soon! xoxo, Cancer

Namaste, asshole.

Reddit Funny

Oh Kermit, what have you done?

Anything you want to, do it...

My kids bored in line at Disneyland.

Along Came a Hairclip

Smooth

Reddit Humor

I Had A Bar-Mitzvah At 28, And It Got Very Weird

Depressed Businessman Takes 16 Power Naps A Day

We’re Rich: Anxiety Declared New U.S. Currency

Sad and Useless

Did You Know That You Can Rent Llamas For Your Wedding?

New Toy Lets You Pop Pimples For Fun

Latest Beauty Trend: Halo Eyebrows

Looking At People Trying To Sell Mirrors Is My New Favorite Thing

Millennials vs. Baby Boomers

The Blogess

Confession: I don’t understand the tiny blood bucket

#LaserVag

She’s naturally part rabbit.

Crowdsourcing how to be a good parent.

Why I love twitter.

The Hard Times

LOL! These Two Losers Couldn’t Keep Their Marriage Together And Are Getting a Divorce!

Your Weekly Hardcore Horoscopes

Inconsiderate Neighbor Only Blasts St. Anger-Era Metallica Through Walls

Amazing: Meet The Singular Punk Who Refuses to Conform to Religion

Report: Sony Searches Player’s Purchase History to Pick Monthly Free Games

The Onion

Reddit Announces Redesign

MLK’s Family Urges Nation To Spend Anniversary Of His Death Twisting His Words To Fit Own Political Agendas

Authorities Fear YouTube Shooter Might Inspire Wave Of Copycat Content Creators

‘Roseanne’ Taping Repeatedly Interrupted By Reporters Trying To Interview Members Of White Working Class

Bum Steer

Whiskey Leaks

Science Explains Why Tide Pods Taste Like Cilantro To Some, Soap To Others

Cummy Bears? Say “I Love You” This Valentines Day With Candy Made From Your Essence

Redskins’ Owner Unveils Newly Acquired Team Logo

Self-Driving Uber Suspended After Touching Self In Front of Female Passenger

OP-ED: A Man Can’t Even Hug A Female Now Without Her Noticing That He’s Raping Her

#funny

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horocoat · 3 years

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An Irrational Fear of Death (but not really)

(I think) I’ve been depressed before, but have never felt suicidal. I feel like I have a fear of death that is stronger than other (depressed) people’s. Recently, I’ve been trying to “convince” myself that this fear is irrational, and that I should want to die. ((Un)fortunately, I haven’t really succeeded. I think there are some good reasons to live.)

The last time I was very depressed, I gave up on trying in school, and stayed up late browsing Reddit and played a lot of video games. I had some interests in things, but I just wanted to give up. I remember planning out, in my head, my future: get a okay-paying job, spend my free-time playing video games and watching porn and whatever, and then kill myself once I feel bored.

I recently binge-watched a bunch of Lex Fridman’s videos (a podcast about AI and other things), and he talks a lot about being diligent and “doing work”. I agree when I was watching as well as now, but the depressed back of my mind says, it’s kind of sad that anything happy only comes from being stressed and suffering; it’s sad that many people can’t just do things and be happy.

To me, it feels like there are two sides to my life: being stressed from schoolwork and other responsibilities; or being disappointed with myself for not being productive when I’m not forced to. During the school year, I am tired and stressed all the time (in addition to being socially anxious); but whenever a school break is approaching, I have these high hopes of what I could achieve with all the extra free-time, only to feel really disappointed when I end up playing a lot of video games and getting nothing done.

I wish I could just be motivated: I like math and science and music and art and literature etc., so why doesn’t that turn into real action? I imagine the stereotypical autistic person, being obsessed with minute things and deriving passion from that; or people who are romantically attracted to objects (e.g. archer Erika Eiffel, whose attraction to her compound bow helped her succeed). I wish I could just inject [motivation] into myself, and start arbitrarily caring about things more.

So:

My life seems like a net negative. Why would I want to continue living? I have this fear of death, a fear of not existing. But wouldn’t it make more sense for nonexistence to be zero, 0?, meaning death is a better alternative to life. When I look at assisted suicide - on the extremes of negatives - that is somewhere I obviously agree.

In addition, there’s an idea in moral philosophy called “the Repugnant Conclusion”, where an Earth of a lot of barely happy people, of people barely worth living, is better than an Earth of comparatively few very happy and comfortable people. (Also see SlateStarCodex’s “Answer To Job”, where God maximizes happiness kind-of in this way.) I guess the proceeding is kind of Kantian (the universalizing of moral principles), but: if I don’t accept the repugnant conclusion, then I shouldn’t live.

One big counterargument is the possibility of change. But it seems like college and a “9 - 5 job” would all be a kind of continuation of this. At the same time, I can’t predict how my life will turn out (i.e. the end-of-history illusion). And, assuming I life to around 80, I would only need to be happy for a little over half of it; if my life increases in happiness over time, I would only need to be net happy at 40, which seems like a long enough time to figure out how to be happy.

That’s still a sad perspective, even if it means not dying, because it doesn’t mean anything right now. Like, I could suffer until age 40, and then it’d be okay as long as I don’t suffer for the last 40 years. Maybe that part is just wrong: negative experiences weigh more strongly. Even disregarding that, saying life is okay doesn’t say anything about how to be happier in the present.

With all this talk of utilitarianism, I should mention the role of the Effective Altruism (EA) movement in giving my life meaning in an inherently meaningless world. I believe EA is good/correct, and I believe I should follow it, but “in my heart” it just doesn’t feel right to imagine devoting my life to studying/doing some one thing (e.g. AI safety or priority research). That said, on inspection nothing else seems better: everything is “studying something”... there are so many things to do and too little life (and sometimes motivation) to do them. But if I don’t follow EA, then it doesn’t particularly matter what else I do with my life (”as long as I donate 10% of my income” (the link is about doing good enough to avoid excess stress)).

Society has these moral systems, and especially of note, a kind of virtue ethics: “get a job”, “start a family”, “be a good citizen”, “get a PhD”, [“be successful”]. But while these “accidentally” have positive utility, their arbitrary origins make them kind of a “spook” (I’ve never read Max Sterner, so my usage might be wrong). (For example, watching Lex Fridman’s podcasts, I don’t like how him and many of the guests are kind of boring about the meaning of life, saying, “find love, be genuine, [etc.]” - “don’t they realize it’s all utils?”.)

It doesn’t matter what I do, and I don’t really want to do anything. To be more precise: I don’t know what I want to do, and I don’t think I will be able to know. There are so many interesting things, and to pick one and somehow feel “artificially” passionate about one seems impossible.

I’ve had this urge to self-harm, but not actually kill myself, in an (edgy-aesthetic) act of defiance; to express, I don’t want to decide. I have this emotion-thought of my brain just being everything at once, in more of a “smoothie”-way than a “library-of-Babel”-way. (This is a kind of feeling I get/try to get from listening to noisy music, such as Sewerslvt or Machine Girl, or even literal noise music like Merzbow.)

I want to take a break for a million years, until I feel obsessed with something, and then come back.

But:

I suspect that suicide is like changing my terminal values, which is why I am afraid of it. My terminal values include learning and making cool things, and so my sadness stems from not being able to do that. If I just stop existing, I am not sad anymore, but because I don’t have those terminal values anymore. If there was a pill that made you really happy whenever you failed at something, I wouldn’t take the pill because success is a terminal value; the same applies to death.

Talking about Lex’s opinions on work, I don’t think work is ultimately that bad. The stress of having work is worse than the actual work itself (link mostly for citation). It will take effort, but that’s not a bad thing. I do have a hierarchy of interests and things I want to do, which factors in: my personal passion for it, the financial stability of it, and it’s moral value to society (EA). And sometimes you have to develop that personal passion, because without at least the work of learning what the thing is, you can’t appreciate it.

A really concrete example of this is learning to draw: you will suck at drawing at first, but once you get competent enough at that, you will be able to use that skill to really express yourself. And the learning process itself is fun - the emotion of curiosity (you just can’t know what about it is fun before you know what it is). This example applies just as well to learning a language, to learning an instrument, to learning math, and even to learning how to play a video game... everything has a “learning curve”. Even a passive story has to first characterize each character before they can be seen doing things.

Regarding “giving up”: I don’t have to just go from high school to college to a job. For that matter, I don’t even have to do well in high school (although I think I will try to, because I’m still uncertain). Instead I can spend time figuring out/pursuing my interests. I am irrationally fatalistic about giving up, when I could just pick and choose the parts I don’t like.

So yeah. Don’t commit suicide. I hope my “cynical” thought process about this helps someone else.

(Something that might help would be keeping a gratitude journal. Include even things that seem insignificant, or routine.)

#tw suicide #utilitarianism #lex fridman #slatestarcodex #effective altruism

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datingadviceonreddit · 4 years

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About 3 years ago, I was a 29 year old Asian guy with only a couple months to go before I turned 30, working at a Big 3 Accounting Firm (Lol KPMG), and I was realizing that I was unhappy and miserable, working long hours at all times of the day and night and spending all my free time playing Overwatch, and Dota 2…And despite earning good money, I had a house and some savings, I just knew my life was nowhere near where I wanted it to be or thought it should be, despite all the years of hard work because I never had a girlfriend. I was still a virgin at age 29. Never even had a date… I just wanted to take the time to finally get this off my chest since I have nothing better to do during the quarantine.I soon decided, with the help of an epiphany while reading some dating articles on Reddit that this was not the life for me and that I would need to start approaching girls and learning how to date to have any hope of losing my virginity before 30… To have any chance at a normal life...I didn't want to become a 100+ lay playboy:I just wanted to experience what other guys experienced in college that I missed out on.I just wanted to have someone I could share my hopes and struggles with, someone I could come home to and hug if I had a bad day.I just wanted to have some fun before I get married and start a family…Was that really too much to ask?So I quickly began to learn about dating and seduction and browsed Reddit and other forums almost daily to get hyped up and learn how to go on dates. I soon discovered, however, that I had bitten off far more than I could chew…I met up with a white guy I met online who seemed equally as motivated as me to go out and approach and we went out to several bars and clubs together. Every time we went out, he would always go home with a new girl… I’m not proud of it, but I was extremely jealous since none of these girls gave me any kind of signals of attraction when I approached, and stopped going out with him. Now, I realize it's because he went to the gym a lot and always had a nice haircut, but back then, It was kind of ridiculous how I’d approach girl after girl and get one word answers and a GO AWAY vibe the entire conversation and he would come in a few minutes later and THE SAME GIRL would be smiling and asking him questions about himself, it felt like he didn’t even need to do any work to get laid…At this point, I was watching YouTube videos from or reading articles on how to get girls on an almost daily basis, trying to study and learn all the latest conversation techniques. It felt like I hit a brick wall. This was SOOO much harder than I thought it would be. The dating articles I'd been reading specifically said that “women would rather date an ugly guy with confidence than a handsome guy with no confidence” but that didn’t seem to be the case. I was a 5’5” Asian guy competing with 6’0”+ white guys at every club I went to and it felt like no matter what I said, no girls were even willing to have an actual conversation with me. This is after 100+ approaches so I knew that it wasn’t just bad luck or lack of effort.So reluctantly, after learning some valuable lessons about the harsh nature of reality, I invested $2997 in a well known dating bootcamp since I figured I was already watching so many of their videos, and it’s only fair that I pay them and hopefully learn how to break through my sticking points since my strategy of trying to learn everything by myself was clearly failing.For those of you thinking about going to a Dating Bootcamp, be very careful you don't waste all your money like I did. This particular company did not give a single FUCK about me other than my money. My instructor just kept telling me to approach more girls, which I already knew how to do, and every time I asked for feedback on why none of the girls seemed receptive, he would give some bullshit feedback on how my vibe was off. I asked him how to correct it and he never had any real answers, always giving some woo woo answer about how I needed to have outcome independence and have more fun. It was really weird that everyone who seemed to succeed seemed to be the type to go to the gym a lot and pay a lot of attention to their physical appearance, even though they teach that looks don't matter.I finally lost my virginity through sheer luck after over 500 approaches. It was a random girl I met at the club after approaching empty handed the entire night, but we actually started making out right away after like 2 minutes, I'd never moved that fast before. It really was a life changing experience to finally get that monkey off my back. I felt more confident than ever and I even went on 2 dates with her to try to be her boyfriend but she didn't seem to reciprocate...Over the next couple of years, I became obsessed with getting good with girls, which certainly kept me going, but it also caused some problems…I went out with so many friends, hoping to find that gold nugget, that shining piece of knowledge or wisdom that would finally catapult me past this unbreakable wall, but they would either be just as bad with girls as me or be over 5'10", no exceptions. I read an article on Reddit about how you had to talk louder and slower and that actually helped a lot. Girls would actually give me a chance to have a conversation with them instead of rejecting me immediately but they would still shake their head when I asked them to go home with me or even just grab a drink together. That's when it hit me that I didn't know as much as I thought I did and that there was a lot more to learn.The bad news is, all this rejection was not good for my mental health. I started to wonder if maybe a short Asian guy like myself is just not meant to date… I was seriously considering moving to Thailand or The Philippines to try to at least find a gold digger wife…But finally, I found one particular dating coach that really resonated with me and I immersed myself in his training… He was 5’7” and Asian, so a short Asian like me. John Elite from Vancouver.The first thing he told me was that my hairstyle, fashion, and body language were all shit and unless I fix them first, nothing else would work. Now this is completely contradictory to some of the other advice I read, which convinced me that looks don’t matter but I decided to give it a shot. I got a blazer and chinos from Zara and got an undercut haircut with faded sides along with a gold watch. I didn’t expect anything to happen right away but the difference in girls’ reactions really was noticeable IMMEDIATELY. Suddenly, they would hang in and listen to every word I had to say instead of just politely waiting for me to leave. One girl even started asking me questions about myself and followed me when I asked her to grab a drink with me! I was SOOO HAPPY, it felt like everything changed.Next, he told me to fix my posture and stand up perfectly straight with no neck or back tilt. This was really hard for me because I spent my entire adult life playing video games and working in front of a computer, always hunched over. I even had to go to a chiropractor to undo the years of bad habits and damage to my posture but it finally got fixed after I started wearing a back brace like they give to scoliosis patients. Again, I noticed immediate results. I actually pulled a girl home this time and got a blowjob! No lay thought because of last minute resistance…The one thing that really transformed my results though was to speak to girls with vocal variety. I had a very monotone voice that didn’t change in volume or pitch at all. He had me watch episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and we noticed that every character spoke with such vocal variety and inflections that it sounded like they were speaking in color compared to my black and white. This did not come easy but I worked had on it until it was at least somewhat passable. This turned out to be the tipping point and I finally started getting laid regularly when I go out instead of once every 500 approaches like before. Overall, I'm very happy to have slept with 15 girls.That’s kind of the level I’m at right now. I know I haven't found the one yet and I still have tons of work left to do, but it’s a huge improvement over where I started. Some of the guys on this thread are probably laughing because I'm having my first dates at 30, but it really took an incredible amount of work to get there and I'm proud of the results. Before the quarantine, I already had a girl I was regularly seeing before shit hit the fan, so I figured I could just continue seeing that chick while stuck indoors.Well, turns out I still have a lot more work to do on myself because after about a month of seeing her during the quarantine, she officially stopped responding to my texts 2 days ago, ghosting me. I realize now that I paid a heavy price for those 15 girls. I dealt with rejection after rejection, becoming a stronger person emotionally, but at the same time, alienating old friends by refusing to hang out with them for not having similarly "successful" mindsets. I even lost my family who have very old fashioned Christian mindsets and see me as a monster for going out and banging so many girls without even one stable relationship...I'm at the very beginning again, only this time in my early 30's, still working in my accounting job that I don't really have any passion for, but now without any of my old work friends or my family's support. It's hard for me to deal with the quarantine these days because my life was so centered around approaching lots of women and trying to hook up with them that I realize I don't really have any other hobbies.But I've also changed for the better. After going on this insane hell of grinding out 15 lays, I have a lot more confidence in myself and even though it sucks to not have anyone there for emotional support, I realize that I'm more than capable of making new friends, of starting my own business. Because the only thing holding me back is myself.Now that I've gotten what I wanted initially (losing my virginity, having random sex, meeting new women), it's time to move on to a new goal: starting my own business. Hopefully this next journey won't be anywhere near as difficult as the last one!Hope everyone reading this is safe and got some value from my post. Just needed to get this off my chest before work starts up again. via /r/dating_advice

#dating #dating advice #reddit

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