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writing-the-end · 3 years

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LoL 47- Puppet Strings

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU, designs, ideas belongs to @theguardiansofredland)

Three hermits leave Eremita on a mission. Only two return home.

Content warning: battle scene, knife fight, general wounds

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Scar didn’t really understand most of what was going on around him, the machines and automations that fired and hissed all down the streets of Darlon. But Doc asked for his help, and of course he was going to say yes to an adventure. And besides, he may have no clue what’s going on around him, but seeing Doc and Mumbo bouncing around the engineering town like children was worth whatever they were here for.

Doc explained it to Scar at least five times on their journey here, but Scar still didn’t understand. He doesn’t really need to, he’s just here to help his friends get the goods and stay out of trouble.

The latter, however, is getting harder to do. With the bounty on their heads, their notoriety has risen as well. Everyone knows about the hermits, either from stories fabricated by the Council and guard, or passed along from those they’ve helped. Dolios tried to silence them by making them wanted fugitives, but he’s only made them louder.

Beside that, the Arcane Guard has become a thorn in their side. They patrol what seems to be anywhere and everywhere the hermits are. Most of the time, they can avoid them simply by keeping an eye out, and going a different route. Other times, they have to hide. Behind bushes, barrels, buildings, duck and cover before the halberd clad soldiers can see them. Sometimes they have no choice but to run, chased off from their plans and forced to reconvene, recuperate, and redesign their plot. And every once in awhile, they end up fighting them. It’s not their preferred choice, but sometimes they have no other option.

But maybe they should’ve brought along a more observant hermit, because between the three of them, they’re narrowly seen multiple times. It’s Doc that grabs Mumbo, too much of a spoon to notice patrol ahead, and Scar, who’s focused on just about everything except the road before them. Yanking them into a tavern, Doc waits until the clanking and clattering of the armed patrol passes, and another beat longer until they return to the streets.

“Hey couldn’t have met us at the outskirts of Darlon? It’s not like he has to carry an entire machine across the town.” Doc mumbles, gaze lowered and jaw set. He always walks with intent, purpose. Like he’s on his way to murder someone- sometimes he is. He knew from his time a criminal that no one will ask you questions or get in your way when he’s walking with purpose.

“He said that he wasn’t safe to leave the town, not with all this guard.” Mumbo reminds Doc, his own stature much less sure as Doc’s. He’s not sure if it’s just Mumbo’s constant nervous, fearful presence, or the fact that he always looks scared, even when he’s not, that makes the newest hermit seem so much more vulnerable. Everything about Mumbo, from how he holds his head to the spooked flick of his eyes across the crowd, including the fact that he has the least amount of scars- compared to Doc’s mechanical half of his body- makes him seem weaker. Act weaker.

Completely different from Doc. But part of that is why Doc loves being a hermit. Even when he was a criminal, everyone was the same gruff, hardlined person. With the hermits, the kindest hearts like Stress can work beside felons who’ve been to jail, and work together as a group. A family.

Doc spits out all the feelings and wandering thoughts in his head. He doesn’t have time for any of that. They need to get the information and leave. Back to Eremita, back to taking out the husk storms and corrupted crystals. But one last thought seeps through, and he can’t help but remind the other two, if just to queel his worries in his mind. “No matter what, the team is more important than the mission. If your own safety is coming under fire, retreat.”

Scar and Mumbo glance at one another, eyes squinting. That may be the closest they’ve ever gotten to Doc saying he cares about them, that it’s more important to him to have his family than whatever mission, whatever endeavour he’s on. Scar gives a soft, sweet hum, opening his mouth to coo over Doc’s words, but the stoic puppeteer keeps Scar from saying anything. And Scar listens, if just to keep up his friend’s bad boy air.

Doc glances up from his hellbent pace, and mismatched eyes widen, his heartbeat picking up. Guards, their metal armor and sharp weapons gleaming in the sunlight, perfectly matched with the metallic city around them, were on a steady march in their direction. Mumbo and Scar are too distracted to see the incoming patrol. Only Doc is vigilant enough to see the danger- and to get them out of it.

He grabs both wizards by the collars, yanking them free from the sidewalk before Scar can run headfirst into the guard. His grip stays tight, holding them close to his body. He doesn’t breathe, doesn’t move until he’s absolutely sure the arcane guard has passed. Only then do they return to their own journey, albeit much more hurried.

The trio slips down a dark alleyway, the trash filled with scrap metal and discarded projects. Mumbo is drawn to the half made machines, his mind kicking into high gear. “Well, the problem here is they just wired the control plate and optical sensors wrong. If I just…”

Mumbo runs a finger from the camera lens to the cpu, redstone appearing and connecting the two. The robot lights up, eyes whirling and flickering around. A soft beeping permeates the silence of the back alley, where not even the busy, mechanical streets can be heard.

“You have quite the knack for mechanics, kid.” A voice joins the beeping, although louder and higher pitched. At the end of the alley, seemingly appearing from nowhere, an insectia stands, the spider person’s arms crossed in front of their torso and many eyes. A haphazard top knot sits at the crown of the insectia, clothes and hands stained with oil. “A redstone mage, I can only assume you’re here for my shop?”

“What kind of wares are you selling?” Doc watches the many eyes as they observe the entire alleyway. The three hermits, the trash heaps, the city beyond. Not a single inch left unseen.

“Secondhand machines.... And secondhand information on our beloved magistrate.” The last two words drip from the shop owner’s mandibles like a sickly sweet poison. The second set of arms reach behind, one pressing a button and another pulling a lever simultaneously. The brick wall separates, revealing the shop.

Doc doesn’t waste a second. He doesn’t linger where they can be seen, marching into the menagerie of mechanics. Scar skitters in after him, with Mumbo behind. The tall arachnid looms at the rear, all eyes on those caught in their web. Machine parts hang from spider silk on the ceiling, creating a maze to walk in and around. Scar yelps when a web of wires brushes against his head, stumbling backwards and causing a ruckus as he knocks over a pile of parts.

“Be careful with those, that’s good scrap.” The shopkeep hums, passing by without offering their many arms for Scar. But Doc does, leaning down and clasping hands with his friend. Easily hauling him to his feet. Mumbo looks over his shoulder, wondering when the door will close. Surely it’s timer activated, right? He feels exposed, while treason goes on within. “Would any of you like some tea? I’m sure you’re quite thirsty from your journey to Darlon.”

“That sounds lo-” Mumbo starts, but Doc cuts him off.

“We don’t have time for formalities.” Doc stands across the desk, leaning in slightly towards the insectia. “We were informed you knew of a place that was being drained of energy?”

The shopkeep gives a slow nod, leaning back in their chair. The pregnant pause goes on and on, as if the informant is struggling to remember the details. “Yes, you were fed that news quite well. It brought you right into my web of lies.”

A clang of gears dangling at the doorway is all the warning the hermits get. Until the shop is swarmed, metal and magic aimed at the prey caught within. Doc turns, knife already in hand, but the insectia is gone. “You bastard!”

Doc doesn’t have time to dwell on the trap. He grabs the nearest opponent, and pitches him directly into a pile of rusted metal scrap. The heap collapses, just like Scar’s did, sending the shadowed figures scattering. “We have to get out of here.”

“They’ve blocked the doorway!” Mumbo squeaks, ducking just seconds before a moro kris would have beheaded him. He scrambles over gears in the tight shop. Scar slaps his hands against the cobblestone ground, a shuddering wave toppling metal and enemies alike.

A battle ensues. Bodies flood the dark, dank store. Doc easily counts at least twenty opponents berating the separated hermits. Too tight, too many for him to use his magic. But he doesn’t need magic to kill a man. He kicks a mechanical leg into the gut of an attacker, and like dominoes three more fall. With his knife, he cuts through skin, fur, metal and web. He’ll carve his way to freedom.

But first he needs to retrieve the others. He’ll be damned before he leaves without them. Damn that stupid spider, he never should have been so trustworthy! It’s stupid mistakes like this that got him in prison. It’s stupid mistakes like this that could hurt his friends.

“Scar! Mumbo!” His heavy, gravelly voice raises above the crowd. He feels like he’s in a bar fight, but instead of glass it’s metal. He uses his metal limbs to his advantage, shoving one soldier before stabbing another. He raises his knife over his head, and slashes across the chest of a burly man.

And realizes these aren’t the arcane guard. His knife intersects with a part of the uniform already torn. A sleeve pre-ripped, as if the wearer was in a fight already. In fact, all of those within the confines of this space share a torn sleeve.

These aren’t guards. This is the Guild of Gedeon.

Which makes this fight much worse. He roars, eyes narrowing. His mechanical eyes scour the dark room, until he spots Mumbo’s coat and Scar’s poncho. Scar is trapped in the sticky webbing that drapes the shop, and Mumbo’s magic has failed him. They’re quickly being overwhelmed by the Gedeons.

Doc plunges his knife into the person before him, ripping through savagely. Clawing his way to his friends. To be their defender.

Until claws grab him. Sharp nails dig into the flesh of his cheek, throwing him to the ground. Amber eyes gleam in the darkness, hungry for the blood that beats in Doc’s ears. “I’ll rip your guts out if you make a single move, criminal.”

Sidero looms above Doc, the guildmaster’s brown fur in haggard tufts. Matted with old, dried blood. Doc tries to roll away, but Sidero has him trapped. “Get off of me you stupid oversized teddy bear!”

A low growl, followed by pain. Doc is wrenched from the ground by his hair, thrown across the small shop. Metal falls like an avalanche around him. He doesn’t give up, standing and brandishing the wicked blade in a way Sidero can’t escape. Pressed right against the guildmaster’s throat. “I could kill you. I want to kill you. You and every last one of your stupid gang of weaklings. But the magistrate wants to make an example of you all.”

Despite the approaching beast, Doc glances beyond Sidero. Searching for his friends. Sidero notices he doesn’t have Doc’s full attention, and growls at his team. “Would you wretched mongrels all do your job? Hold the weakest down, make sure they cannot cast.” Sidero turns, and a bloodied grin mocks Doc. “You know… you can save your friends from my wrath.”

Sidero steps aside- Doc’s knife follows, but his eyes do not. Because, across the shop, his friends are the ones trapped. Tears prick at the corner of Mumbo’s eyes and blood swells from a nasty cut on his forehead, his hair disheveled as he’s pinned to the floor. Scar has become ensnared in the spider’s web, unable to touch or control the ground at his feet. Hanging upside down. “Let them go.”

“I can do that.” Sidero muses. He waves furry paws, and the Gedeons disappear as quickly as they arrived. Only the ones holding Scar and Mumbo down remain. “If you stay. Here’s your choice, criminal. Turn yourself in, and they get to live. Or fight, and all three of you will be little more than blood and guts across these walls. And you get to watch.”

Silence once more fills the shop. The scrap metal is the only sound that breaks the emptiness. Except for a whimper from Mumbo, followed by a gasp from Scar. One of the Gedeon’s has punctured Scar’s skin, following the aged wounds that mar his face. That gave him his name. The blade threatens to slit Scar’s throat.

To kill them all. Doc closes his eyes, remembering what he told them. The team is more important than the mission. His shoulders fall. His head hangs. A knife joins the scrap metal at his feet.

And two mismatched arms reach skyward in surrender. “Doc, don’t-”

Scar’s words are silenced by a swift smack, the sound causing Doc to wince. In front of him, the amber stare sharpens with the viscous bite of teeth. “Too easy. You’ve gotten weak, Doc Monster.”

Sidero grabs Doc’s arms, twisting them roughly against his back and forcing him to move. Doc stays put. “Let go of my friends first.”

“They’ll be freed once you’re in chains.” All three hermits are led outside, into the bright sun. Blinded, Doc stumbles forward. He trips, but quickly rights himself. Behind him, a tear of fabric, followed by a rasping cry.

“Doc! Doc they’re gonna kill you!” Scar’s voice cracks, and the terraforming mage attempts to get between Sidero and Doc. The guildmaster tosses Scar away like he’s a ragdoll, Mumbo catching him from smacking his head against the brick walls.

“It’d be in all your best interests not to interfere with the work of the Council.” Sidero warns. Mumbo wraps his arms around Scar. Holding him back.

A patrol of guards appear in the alleyway, cuffs already in hand. Unlike Scar, Doc doesn’t resist as they arrest him. He doesn’t fight when they yank his arms behind his back, cuffing him. He doesn’t flinch when the chains are tied to a halberd at each side, the sharp curve of the blade inches from killing him if he attempts escape. Even when Sidero pushes him forward, a low ‘move’ growling from his lips, Doc doesn’t fight back.

But he does look back.

Turning to gaze over his shoulder, he sees Scar and Mumbo. Tears streak down Scar’s face, his poncho discarded when he tried to reach Doc before. Mumbo barely holds him back as he screams, one arm pinned back while the other reaches out, reaches forward. Reaches for Doc.

Doc’s face remains calm, tempered. But in his eyes, a hint of sadness. He did this for them. He’ll do it again in a heartbeat. They’re his family. He locks eyes with Scar and Mumbo one last time, and nods silently.

Then he’s gone. And when he’s sure they can’t see him, he lets his facade break. And a single tear falls.

#hermitcraft #light of lairyon #hermitcraft fanfic #hermitcraft au #lol #wizard hermits #wizard au #wizard scar #wizard doc #wizard mumbo #gtwscar #knife cw #battle cw #fight cw #docm77 #mumbo jumbo

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ohkiyo · 4 years

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pairing: Kozume Kenma x Reader

warnings: slight manga spoiler, just mentions of the character’s future occupation.

word count: 1.4k

a/n: I played this game back in 2019 and I was so obsessed with it that I always open the game during breaks and sometimes during class too when we’re not doing anything. XD

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nekoma navigation || main navigation

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You pull your left leg up the sofa, resting your chin on your knee as you continue scrolling through your phone, a cup of warm coffee resting just beside it as the pitter-patter of the rain just outside the window reaches your ears.

Kenma was currently upstairs in his gaming room recording another video for his channel, while you stayed in the living room, patiently waiting for him to finish so the two of you could have some rainy afternoon cuddles.

Taking a sip of your coffee, you look up from your phone’s screen when you heard footsteps walking towards the living room, watching as your boyfriend dragged his feet to where you are and flop himself beside you. Resting his head on your shoulder as he let out a sigh.

“Tired?” you ask, running a hand through his hair as you felt him nod his head. Picking up your mug, you brought it to his lips as he took a sip of your coffee, a satisfied hum leaving his lips as the warm drink went down his throat, warming him just a little.

You let him stayed there, your right hand playing with his hair while the other continue tapping on the screen, your attention now focused on the game you had been playing for about 4 hours now.

It was quite addicting, to say the least, it’s not as intense as the games Kenma usually plays but the threat of having your city getting burned down or a potential alliance war happening does keep you on edge.

Finding a group of barbarians just outside your city, you click on it as you send your troops marching, forgetting that you had the volume on causing Kenma to jerk slightly next to you when the familiar battle cry of your troop commanders and the sounds of clashing erupted from your device’s speaker.

“Sorry” you sheepishly said, guiding his head back down on your shoulder as you turned down the volume.

“What game is that?” you heard him ask, as you tap the battle log to check the loots you have gathered.

“It’s called Rise of Kingdoms, have you heard of it?” you answered, as he let out a hum as he recalled any memory of encountering the said game.

“Some of my fans have mentioned it before and I was meaning to check it out but I forgot” he sat up straight; leaning forward when you zoomed in on your city to show him the inside “Did you design that? It looks nice”

You chuckled “It took me almost 3 hours redesigning it last night, and I’m happy it turned out great”

He raises an eyebrow at you, an amuse look making its way on to his face “So that’s why you were up so late”

“You’re one to talk, you were up late too”

“I was working”

“Well I was working too” he let out a chuckle, pulling you closer to him as he wraps an arm around your waist, his other hand scrolling through your city in curiosity “Can you tell me about the game? It looks interesting”

You excitedly nodded your head, happy at the potential possibility on Kenma playing your own favorite game “First things first, when you start the game you have to choose what civilization you will be playing as” you started, clicking on the governor profile and showing him the options for civilizations

“...and each civilization has its own specialty. For me, I chose Rome, because of the 5% increase in defense and troop march speed, and a 10% increase in food gathering speed”

You pause, clicking each flag to show him what you meant while he read the stats each civilization has to offer “Japan and Germany too seems interesting, I’m assuming these three are the most used?”

You nodded “The increase in resource gathering speed or troop march speed was probably what caught the players’ attention because, in RoK, you’re either busy collecting resources for upgrades or attacking other players”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind then”

You grinned at him, moving on to the next topic “Next is the resources, just like any other games resources are very important” you zoomed in on your city, pointing at the upper right part of the screen.

“We have five resource categories, food, wood, stone, gold, and gems. Food, stone, and wood are the ones commonly used for upgrades and troop healing. Gold is for advanced upgrades while gems are used when you want to instantly finish a certain task”

“You have quite a lot of resources” he pointed out, noting the 79M number that your food and wood resources were having “Are you planning an upgrade?”

You nodded your head “I want to upgrade my city hall to level 25, but I need 82.2M of food and wood and 36M for stone”

“That’s a lot” he commented as he taps on the resources that were ready to be collected.

“Yes, it is” you laugh “That’s why I constantly send out my troops to gather” you showed him an example, clicking on the nearest cropland and sending out your gatherers.

“Aside from the resource pits, you can get resources from daily objectives, VIP chest, events, the tavern or by simply attacking another city and stealing someone else’s”

His lips twitch into a smile “I think attacking someone else would be more fun”

You laugh at that, agreeing with him as you tend to explore the vast area of the game to locate abandoned cities and attacking it.

“Okay, next is the alliance” you opened the alliance tab, showing him the list of members and their ranks “Each alliance has 4 ranks and depending on your performance, you’re either on rank 1, 2, 3, or 4. Normally we put the new ones on rank 1 and 2, while on rank 3 are those who are very participative”

“And you’re on rank 4” he said, a smile on his face when he saw your username at the top “Does that mean you’re one of the high ranking members of your alliance?”

“Yup” you chirped a proud look on your face. It took you months to prove to your leader and officers that you were worthy of a position and when you were finally appointed as a rank 4 member, let's just say you were delighted.

It’s just a game, but still, you were happy.

You continued to explain to him, rambling on about what other fun things to do inside the game as he quietly listens to you, the smile on his lips never leaving as he admires just how passionate you sounded.

Somehow he can see himself in you, that sparkle in your eyes, and the little burst of excitement was similar to his when he talks to you about a game that he is currently obsessed with.

It took you about an hour explaining to him about the game, finding yourself getting lost into your own world and after realizing what you had done, you covered your face in embarrassment as your boyfriend let out a chuckled, reassuring you that what you had said were very helpful while giving you a kiss.

By now, Kenma had pulled you to sit on his lap while he plays your game for you. Exploring the area and clicking random buildings that catch his interest.

“You have a King?” he questioned when a notification popped up at the upper part of the screen. Announcing that the King had activated a kingdom buff.

You nodded your head as you pointed at a shielded building “Each Kingdom has a lost temple, and when the lost temple is open, top alliances would fight to capture it, and whatever alliance captures the temple their leader becomes the King”

You opened the lost temple and showed him the titles available and the corresponding buffs each title offers.

“Can you make a new account?” the questioned surprised you a little, but you found yourself smiling when you saw him search the game on the app store and clicking install “I want to be in the same Kingdom as you”

“Of course!”

Opening the game when the installation was complete, he started setting up his city as he types his username “I’m going to become this kingdom’s king and you’re going to be my queen” he muttered shyly, as you feel your heart skip a beat at what he said.

“That was so cheesy Kenma” you tease nudging him with your shoulder as he just smiled at what you said and the two of you continued tapping away on your phones.

Both of you were so engrossed in the game that you ended up skipping dinner and staying up until 5 am.

Couple goals.

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a/n: I might have geeked out a little while writing this. hahaha I hope you enjoyed it!

#haikyuu fluff #kenma fluff #haikyuu x reader #kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu oneshot #kenma scenarios #kenma imagines

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yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy · 3 years

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Why So Jaded? Chapter 3

Chapter 3! Woo! In case you missed it, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, FFN and AO3 Enjoy!

Part 3

Buddy Pine had always had more than one plan. Getting caught and working for Phillip on his dime had been his contingency plan if the nanochip thing had backfired. But he never expected Phillip to be so accommodating or so generous. But having Violet be the liaison was the icing on the cake and to have her be his heir apparent was a fitting twist considering their shared history and he had had no problems with that part of the contract. He hadn't been this productive since before the incident a decade ago. And for the last few weeks, almost a month, the hours following her visits were always the most exciting as far as progress was concerned. He was finding his spark again and keeping alive and well, he even starting drafting and designing from scratch again. This was working out perfectly.

All he needed was time. Time to prove to Violet at least that he was not the same man he was a decade ago. He had been honest when he told her that Syndrome died. Because a part of himself did die that day and he had no interest in reviving him and his attraction to her was undeniable.

"Good morning Ms. Parr," Buddy greeted when he heard the door open at 9:00am which had been Violet's chosen time to come in the mornings. He had learned to recognize her walking pattern, it was smooth and fluid yet light and precise, almost cat like.

"Good morning Mr. Pine," Violet replied evenly. "Mr. Sebastian sends his congratulations on the nanochip redesign, it has increased workload by your projections exactly and has earned you an additional 1.4 million dollars as of today." Violet informed him. Happy because it had earned her the same amount as well since she and Buddy would both be getting 15% each of all the sales, leaving Phillip and his company to earn the remaining seventy percent.

"Excellent, what else?" Buddy inquired, knowing Violet preferred to lead with good news before delivering the bad.

"Mr. Sebastian now has 5 new projects to add to your ever increasing roster." Violet informed him as she made a swiping motion from her tablet to his as his own tablet and electronics received the new project data before she rubbed at her temple and winced.

"You ok?" Buddy inquired as he watched her thoughtfully.

"Yeah, just a bad headache," Violet answered dismissively. "Now Mr. Salazar wants to know exactly how much titanium alloy you will need for the VIC project? And what tensile strength will you need to have the silicon wafers at?" She continued as she went down the list in her own tablet.

"I'm going to have to look over my calculations again and I'll shoot you an email with the specifics. How long have you had the headache?" Buddy inquired as he watched her closely, getting flashbacks of when Mirage had similar headaches and how much she used to suffer with them.

"Why does my headache matter? It's a headache, it will go away eventually and with enough Advil." Violet defended, her irritation clear in the way she seemed to snap at him because the pain was sapping every ounce of patience she had today.

"Supers don't usually just get headaches that can be cleared up with over the counter pain killers, they usually need something stronger, especially with your skill set as a Super, you're more likely to have inflammation in the central cortex." Buddy blurted out before looking up to see a practically seething Violet, he was at a loss as to why before it dawned on him of how he would know something like that. He could see it in her eyes, they burned a luminescent shade of ultraviolet for a moment. He could see that she wanted to kill him and the static electricity in the lab was so high the electronics started to warble and wane.

Violet was livid, how dare he have the audacity to speak of such things! She wanted to know how many supers he had lured to their deaths, how many had he interrogated or tortured and experimented on for his research before zeroing in on her family. She wanted to beat those answers out of him. She struggled not to do just that, she struggled to keep herself composed as her grip actually crushed her tablet which caused Buddy to jump and step away before she had to pull her rage back and put an emotionally void mask to her facial features as she struggled to remain in control and not kill him.

"If you have anything else you need for your work, you can contact my assistant, Leslie." Violet managed to bite out before turning and leaving quickly, keeping on her toes to keep her heels from making any more noise on the floors, once out of the lab she raced to the elevator and was thankful it was empty when it finally reached her. She leaned against the elevator wall once the doors closed and tried her best not to have a panic attack as she could feel the panic whirl in her chest and make it hard to breathe. These headaches were getting out of hand and were wearing her down and she cursed herself for having such an obvious and light trigger that he seemed to know exactly how to set off. She barely managed to make it to her own office to her safe room before she broke down and cried, an instinctual forcefield encompassing her like a security blanket. How could she keep acting like none of it happened and he was just another one of Phillip’s colleagues?

Back in the lab Buddy was kicking himself for not seeing how that could have backfired. And for the first time there was something added to his guilt, shame as he was cussing himself out for messing up so bad.

Meanwhile Phillip who was watching and listening to the conversation via security cameras was practically running to Violet's office. He had a hunch this would happen eventually and he had to make sure she would be ok. He got to her office and went straight to the safe room he had specifically built for her. He keyed in his code and the book shelf concealing the safe room moved away to reveal Violet sitting down and curled up in a ball, her knees to her chest as she hugged them and rocked herself, he could see she was shaking but he knew better than to try and touch her now, the forcefield around her would keep him from physically touching her. He couldn't hear her because the forcefield kept any noise she was making inside and would thus make talking to her impossible until she took it down. But what he could do is sit as close to her as possible and wait for her to notice him there.

After a moment she did look up to see him there and let down the forcefield before he crawled to her and put his arm around her shoulders and held her close and did everything in his power- super or not- to comfort her as she crawled into his lap and held onto him tightly.

"I'm sorry," He whispered into her hair as he kissed the crown of her head as she continued to sniffle into his shoulder as the other arm was wrapped tightly around her as he took up rocking her himself. He could count on one hand the number of times this had happened before and he was just grateful she let him in this time.

"How did he know?! How does he know shit like that?! He shouldn't know that, especially about me," Violet cried, feeling vulnerable in the worst way and feeling like she was a little kid again. With that henchman as he was hunting her through the forest and was hiding in the water. She felt like she was drowning in anguish and anger and rage and hurt and heartbreak and she just wanted her dad to hug her and hold her in his big strong arms up to his massive chest and make her feel perfectly safe again but for now, Phillip’s arms and chest would have to do and she was grateful for him.

"I don't know, but I'll find out ok? It's going to be ok, I promise, I swear on my life it's going to be ok. Where are those pills we made for you?" Phillip asked, trying to get her to look him in the eye as he reached for her face and held it in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and streaking mascara.

"I only have 2 left, I was saving them for when it got really bad." Violet tried to explain as she buried her head deeper into his chest, hoping the counter pressure would give her some relief. Phillip pulled her hair down from the bun and laced his fingers together behind her head and applied pressure into his chest, trying to help give her more relief.

"Does that help?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you Phil." Violet said in thanks as she reveled in the relief the counter pressure was providing as she did her best to regain her composure. She hated feeling like this, let alone be seen like this. But Phillip was special. He never thought less of her or think of her as weaker. It just helped him appreciate that even though she was a Super, she was still human and thus, imperfect and had weaknesses and limits. Phillip counted himself lucky to be able to witness this side of her and he had worked so hard just to get to this point with her.

"Now where are the pills? I'll make sure you have more before these wear off," Phillip offered.

"In my top left desk drawer." Violet answered before Phil managed to get up and pull her up with him before he carried her over to her desk and simply set her down on it then looked through her drawers for the meds before he found them and gave them to her as she used her coffee still on her desk to down them both.

"Have you been able to get any sleep lately?" He asked as he noted the dark circles under her eyes that she had tried to cover up with makeup.

"Yeah, I got a whole six hours last night," She answered.

"How much Ambian did it take to get that?" He asked worriedly.

"A hundred and twenty milligrams."

"Fuck Vi, that much should have put you in a coma." He realized.

"I know, but I just wanted to sleep so badly that I kept taking 2 tabs every hour until I finally fell asleep." Violet explained as she slowly got up and sat in her desk chair before letting her head rest on the desk's surface.

"Vi, why didn't you tell me it was getting this bad?" Phillip asked as he leaned against her desk next to her.

"Because there are a thousand and one other things that are more important," Violet groaned as she continued to lay her head on the desk and waited for the painkillers to kick in while she focused on not throwing up.

"Violet, I would not have the best doctors cooped up in a lab working 14 hour days trying to come up with the best solution possible if I didn't think that you and your health were important if not equally or even more important than my own. Promise me that you'll tell me when things are getting bad or if things get worse." Phillip urged her.

"Ok, ok, I promise," Violet said as she steadied her breathing, the painkillers beginning to take effect.

"Thank you, now I want you to do me a favor, take a few days off, go to the spa, get a massage or something and relax, read a good book and don't use your powers. Because the more you use them the worse this seems to get. Can you do that for me?" Phillip prodded.

"Yeah, I can do that, but what about Syn..Mr. Pine?" Violet asked, catching herself.

"Don't worry about it, I will deal with him personally if I have to and he will answer to me about this incident." Phillip placated. "And you start now, I'll go down to the lab to get you your meds, just stay here."

"Deal," Violet agreed as she kicked off her heels for her feet to rest.

Phillip went down to the lab and got Violet the special painkillers that have been designed for her and checked in on the sleep aid they had been also working on for her and got as much of that as they had as he informed them of her recent dose as the doctors rewrote the prescription. It was highly unusual for an employer to take such an intense interest in his employee but Philip considered this extremely special circumstances because Violet was so much more than an employee, she was a friend. A true one he felt and while he knew that Violet didn’t need him, he was becoming more and more dependent on her and was still hoping that when it was all said and done, she would stay with him and while they both had agreed not to pursue a romantic relationship, it was awfully hard for him to keep things strictly business between them. Especially after that first incident when they had been locked in his safe room for a week. It got very physical then and he had found himself craving her more and more and he had time to win her over. He also dealt with anything and everything having to do with Violet he did himself. It's not that he didn't trust his other secretaries and assistants but, he felt better knowing that because he handled it, it was done right.

He saw her off before going to Buddy's lab himself.

"Mr. Sebastian, I was wondering when you would come and see me," Buddy remarked, despite the slight nervous edge to his voice. He had been wondering what ramifications there would be for upsetting Phillip's little 'pet', remembering what lengths he used to go to when it came to anyone or anything that messed with Mirage.

"Well Mr. Pine, it seems you've been busy, making exceptional hardware, offending my staff," Phillip listed off casually, but there was quiet rage to his voice that Buddy immediately picked up on.

"I didn't mean to offend her. I just noticed she was in pain, I didn't mean to upset her," Buddy defended as Phillip took a long hard look at him.

"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be honest in your answer. Do you have any design or intention of bringing harm in any way, shape or form to Ms. Parr?" Phillip gravely questioned.

"Of course not," Buddy answered.

"But given your history, especially with the Parr's..." Phillip began.

"I know, I'm the last person who should be put anywhere close to any of them but things change, especially in the time that’s passed." Buddy countered.

"I'm aware that you know a lot about Supers, and I know better than to ask exactly how you know..." Phillip began.

"Natalia," Buddy interrupted. "Natalia, or Mirage rather, had similar powers that Violet has, Tali suffered from extremely painful and debilitating headaches too, they were so bad she used to "joke" about drilling a hole into her head to relieve the pressure. Whenever she used her powers, especially her invisibility extensively. Supers are wired differently, they even have extra brain components, Supers who can turn themselves invisible, tend to have larger central cortex's. It puts pressure on the rest of the brain, that's why the headaches are so intense and hard to cure." Buddy explained. "That's how I know about it. I almost had a cure too at several points. But everything I came up with impaired her powers and she always needed to use her powers. Always. The Agency..." Buddy began as he did his best to fight the tears that came to sting at the corner of his eyes at all the memories came flooding back and what surprised him was to feel all that rage he had against The Agency rear it's ugly head as he fought to remain composed and in control of himself and his emotions.

"The Agency knew damn well it was hurting her, hell it was killing her and they didn’t give a single fuck. The needs of the many always outweigh the needs of a few right? And it’s not like she didn’t want to do the missions, she always did and it made her happy to feel useful and helpful and as long as I could come up with the right painkiller for the headaches and keep her in the field, she was happy. All Supers, the good, the bad and everything in between, they always have an itch that only Super work can scratch. They just sent her on mission after mission all while she was working for me, because she had the skill set to be useful in the more "clandestine" work and out of the public eye. To the point the villains never knew she was ever involved in their downfall. No matter what I did, whatever I provided them or tried to find other Supers to take her place on all these missions, they liked to remind me and her who she really belonged to and it took turning on me and exposing me to the fullest and deepest degree for her to break free of them and finally get the out she needed. I lost track and count of how many times and all the different ways I proposed to her, but she never accepted because she knew that The Agency could turn on her if she didn’t walk the line and it would have made both of us targets. Especially when Supers were under ban, she was used even though she was relatively young when all that happened because she was older than me by a decade and she was barely a teenager then. Of course she’s fine now, or so I assume. She’s perfectly fine being a trophy wife for just another rich, powerful billionaire playboy because there's so many of us these days and I used to lay awake at night and wonder what he had that I didn’t that got her to say yes to him but not me." Buddy revealed. Remembering how he used to cradle her in his arms and rock her and squeeze her head to give her counterpressure and swear he would find a cure if it was the last thing he did and the beautiful but fatally flawed relationship they had. But it was still...never enough.

“I see how you are with her. You depend on her a lot. And as much as you like seeing the way I react to her and act in her presence. She’s practically your everything and I know that you know that you’re pretty screwed without her. It would probably take what? A hundred? Two hundred people to do all the things she does on her own by herself. She’s irreplaceable. Funny isn’t it? We get all this money and power and make ourselves as desirable and needed as possible while individually independent as we can be, then a girl comes along and she makes it all feel useless and worthless and they make you realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that you aren’t the most important person in the room, let alone the world or the universe- that they are. And no matter what we do, what we give, what we invent, how we try to help- at the end of the day and when all is said and done, they don’t need us, and it stings like a motherfucker. But if you’re lucky- they’ll want you and if they want you and genuinely care about you, then that’s all that matters.” Buddy confessed, not sure why he was telling Phillip all this. But he felt... absolved to a degree to get it off his chest and he wished with all his might that someone had told him all this fifteen years ago.

“If you had a time machine, would you do anything differently?” Phillip asked.

“Absolutely. I’d do everything differently. I would have dropped my grudge against Mr. Incredible at a very early age and recognized that I had a very unhealthy obsession with him and gotten my ass into therapy much sooner than I did. I still would have built the empire. But I would have tried not buying Tali. Because that was my fatal mistake, I tried to buy her with a salary that almost equaled mine. I got her stock options, I got her investments and I got her so set up that she technically didn’t need me or anyone else but I did it because I didn’t know how else to try to woo her because I will admit I'm not the most handsome, charming guy and I overcompensate and I would have never used her the way I did and I would have just let her be, no strings, no contracts, nothing. Just let her do whatever she wanted. I realized after the fact that she never really let herself really be her true self around me. The line between Natalia and Mirage was pretty blurred to the point, I never knew the difference between the two and I was foolish enough to think they were one and the same. The altruistic Supers are always the same person in and out of the supersuit. But the best ones, the most effective ones are the ones that you would never suspect are their Super persona.” Buddy revealed.

“So what do you advise?” Phillip asked thoughtfully, intrigued yet pleased he was getting all this from Buddy.

“Never make your relationship with her about the money or the power or any of that bullshit. And don’t make the possibility of staying with you about what she could earn or inherit or anything like that. That's ultimately an insult to their character. Because our greed doesn’t rub off on people like them, they're surprisingly content with little, it comes from their upbringing which more often than not is really humble. In fact make it effortlessly easy for her to walk away from you at any point in time without any retaliation, without backlash and every good thing you've ever promised, make good on it and make it so that the only reason she would stay is what she genuinely feels for you. Make it about honesty and communication and honest to goodness chemistry and the like. And if you’re keeping anything from her, remember that every secret you keep from her is a reason for her not to fully trust you. And if you have any superpowers, either good or bad, never use them on her if you don’t absolutely have to, like if it would mean something like saving her life or if you have, stop and be honest and upfront about all of it , the good, the bad and the ugly and even all the parts that make you wonder if she would even look or speak to you if she knew about. She’s a Super who’s used to spy work, her life’s work is about secrets. She won’t want any in her real relationships. I knew one Super, he was a Villain, and he was known as the Love Machine. He had the power to seduce anyone he wanted within a radius of like, half a mile, it was ridiculous. Then he met a Super who was immune to him. And the more he tried to use them on her, the more repellent to him she felt and when he was finally genuine with her, she never believed him because of his powers and believed that any feeling she had towards him, were because of his powers, when in fact, the feelings were genuine, but she still refused to believe it and when she left him- he ended up drinking himself to death. And I was stupid enough to not learn that with Tali until it was far too late.” Buddy admonished as Phillip simply stood there and considered him thoughtfully.

"Come with me," Phillip invited as he turned and escorted Buddy two floors up to where he had the doctors working on Violet's condition.

Buddy looked over the schematics and her last MRI scans and fought not to cry or gasp. "Oh no. She's way worse that Mirage ever got, is she dying?" Buddy asked Phillip.

Phillip took a deep breath and nodded yes.

"Does she know she's dying?"

"No, because we are on the verge of curing her, no use in upsetting her now," Phillip answered.

"Well what are you using to cure her?" Buddy pressed before Phillip wearily showed him what they were currently using and what else they had already tried and what they were about to try as Buddy's spark was like a bolt of lightning in his brain as it kicked into gear.

"I can fix this, I can fix her," Buddy claimed. "Give me a few weeks working with these guys and maybe a few months of trials but give me access to my old data banks that The Agency took and I can have a cure," Buddy promised.

Phillip paused to look Buddy over before nodding again. "Ok, but you better deliver Pine." Phillip went over to a control panel and gave Buddy access to the databases containing all the research that had been confiscated from Buddy's Island the decade prior along with all the research that had been done since then, along with access to the Medical Lab he was currently in and a security tag so he could go from his own lab to the medical lab on his own. "By the way, Violet is now on medical leave, Mrs. Tyner will be your liaison for everything until she gets back. But anything you need for this project you will tell Tyner and you will keep Ms. Parr out of it. Understood?" Phillip posed.

"Understood," Buddy agreed before turning and bringing up all his old data and instinctively taking control of the medical lab.

Phillip left work and went to a florist and got some nice flowers before he went over to Violet’s apartment to check in on her.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Violet asked as she came to the door.

“I came to check on you. Are you feeling better?” He asked hopefully.

“I am, come on in. I take it these are for me.” Violet smiled at her flowers before he gladly handed them over to her as she took them and got a vase from the top of her fridge to put them in.

“I got a spa day planned for tomorrow.” She informed him happily.

“Good, I hope you enjoy it. You’ve earned it.” Phillip grinned.

“Aww, thank you.” She cooed.

“So, can I talk to you as Phil instead of Mr. Sebastian?” Phillip carefully asked.

“Of course, Phil is always allowed to talk about whatever he wants to.” Violet grinned happily as she got a bottle of wine out.

About four months into this assignment, “Phil” and “Vi” were code for when they just wanted to be themselves and friends and not as employer and employee or Super and Protectee or handler and asset.

“So I talked to Mr. Pine about the incident this morning.” Phillip began.

“That’s a Mr. Sebastian tone though.” Violet noted with a frown as she went ahead and opened the bottle of wine because “Phil” and “Vi” often Netflix, Pinot Noir and Chill kind of “friends”.

“Ok so I asked Buddy about it and he confessed that how he knew about it, was Mirage, or as he referred to her- Natalia or Tali for short.” He furthered as he gratefully took the glass of wine as he took the seat at her breakfast bar and took off his suit jacket and tie as she hopped up in the other and turned to face him.

“Oh, so they were very intimate. I’m her protégé and I don’t even get to call her by her real name.” Violet professed as she made a face before she took a big sip of her wine.

“Yeah, so turns out that’s how he knows about the enlarged central cortex because she suffered headaches just like you and in between his own supervillain agenda, he was working on a cure for her. He knows that all Supers who use invisibility have that. So, it wasn’t nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be. And he reassured me that he harbors you no ill will and has no designs on you.” Phill assured her.

“Do you believe him?” Violet raised a curious brow at that.

“I’m not sure.” Phillip answered.

“Good because I don’t.” Violet insisted.

“What would it take for you to believe him?” Phil asked.

“His dead body.” Violet answered honestly which got Phil to crack a crooked grin.

“Ok. Well maybe one of these days you’ll get that and I hope it brings you closure and peace.” Phillip offered before he clinked his wine glass with hers.

“Thank you Phil. That’s very sweet.” Violet grinned. “So can I jump your bones while you’re here?” Violet asked with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Hell yeah.” He adamantly as they came together quickly and kissed passionately as they moved each other to the bedroom where they spent the remainder of the afternoon in each other’s embrace as Phillip was proud of himself for not using his powers to get her in the mood. While he knew that Buddy had spoken the truth, he would be taking Buddy’s advice, but he still had his own ideas about how and when he was going to implement them and once they were both sated they laid in bed and looked up at the painting that Violet had installed on her ceiling in the apartment as Phillip sweetly combed her soft hair with his fingertips as Violet simply basked in the afterglow of a great orgasm. Orgasms with Phillip were always out of this world because of his powers and she didn’t mind one bit he used them for that purpose.

“Want to go out to dinner?” Phillip asked.

“Sure.” Violet readily agreed as she got up and went to put on her supersuit.

“Come on Vi, don’t put that stupid thing on! You won’t need it!” Phillip complained.

“Phil, we’ve been through this a thousand times. Every time I don’t wear it, I end up needing it, every single time, without fail. At this point I put it on to make sure that nothing happens and that I don’t need it.” Violet argued as she continued to pull it up over he naked body.

“Just one more time, let’s just try one more time. Please? Pretty pretty please?” Phil begged from the bed as he sat up and steepled his hands like he was praying.

“Where did you want to go out to dinner?” Violet asked as she paused in putting it on as the top half simply hung around her waist.

“Wherever you want to go that you’ll feel you won’t need to wear that.” Phil answered as he gestured to the suit.

“Fine, Sumo’s.” Violet answered as she pushed the suit off her legs.

“Yes!” Phil cheered happily.

“Thank you thank you thank you.” He thanked her as he came over and kissed her soundly before he got redressed in his suit as she slipped into a sexy little dress to go out with him to dinner and once they got to Sumo’s, they happily got all kinds of Sushi and Ramen and other Dim Sum dishes.

And while they were eating Violet noticed she felt especially warm and fuzzy and frankly almost love drunk towards Phillip but knew he was using his powers to make her feel that way as she mentally fought those feelings because she knew they weren’t real, and not genuinely hers. Mirage had always warned her that mixing business with pleasure had it’s perks but also it’s dangers and warned her to never, ever go to bed with someone she wouldn’t feel absolutely free walking away from in the morning, let alone free to put a bullet in their head if she needed to. And that if at any moment she felt that she was in too deep and too attached that that’s when the highest danger would inevitably come and always remind herself that it was still, just a job, just a mission, just an asset and that if at any moment, he could turn from asset- to target. And she needed to be removed enough emotionally to pull the trigger herself if need be.

But one look at the way Phillip was looking at her told her that he was already too attached to her. But she needed him to be for this mission to be a success. He had asked her to be his girlfriend several times over by now and she had always turned him down and instead told him to ask her once her contract was up. And that seemed to satisfy him. And they agreed that their relationship would remain ‘friends with benefits’ until then and that they were open and free to pursue other romantic relationships until then. Thus- why Phillip used the ballerina/model types like tissues. But Violet felt that if he honestly, truly loved her- he would wait for her, wait however long it would take. And every time he used a girl, it was another layer added between her heart and his and honestly helped her keep her heart and her emotions to herself.

She still spent the night at his place though and Phillip gladly sent her in his Rolls-Royce to the spa and even ordered extra treatments for her and paid for her visit and Violet left that spa looking and feeling like a goddess before she insisted that she could come in on Monday which Phillip caved and agreed to.

On Sunday though, she was sent new medication which Phillip himself dropped off and once he left she was sent a video by Leslie of the conversation that Phillip had had with Buddy and Violet just watched it over and over again. She was blown away by Buddy's observations and his insights had been spot on and completely accurate and most importantly, completely honest and genuine and for the first time, she believed him. She knew that Phillip used his powers on Buddy to get that confession and thus why Phillip left it at that. And it was because of that video that she began to let go of her own grudge against him and slowly, but surely, she started to look at him and not see Syndrome anymore. Just...Buddy Pine, a colleague.

#Why So Jaded?#Why So Jaded Chapter 3 #Synlet #Buddy Pine #Bartholomew Pine #Violet Parr #Phillip Sebastian #love triangle here we come #Corporate espionage AU #Modern AU

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subukunojess · 4 years

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Banjo Blues

A Secret Satan Gift for @lt-lemonade

I am sorry this is so late, but a lot of personal issues were going on at the time along with my studies and I wanted to write a good drabble for you! They requested either a drawing or a fanfiction with several prompts and I picked:

“Wally X Sammy- Sammy singing him a song on his banjo”

I decided to get into practice with my BATIM fanfiction by using my Wally and Sammy from my Ink Gluttony AU. Might redesign or add more detail on them on a later date. It’s a nice ship and I tried to convey it as much as possible while also keeping into their character. Also wanted to try out a few concepts as well. I hope you like it and if you’d like more or if you want me to change anything feel free to ask!

By the way, the song that Sammy sings to Wally, I borrowed the melody from a cut Little Shop of Horrors song because it was the only song I could think of that’ll fit Wally’s bounce. It’s on YouTube and if you’d like a link, I’ll provide it!

Without further ado, here is the drabble under the cut! I hope you enjoy.

For Samuel Lawrence, Joey Drew Studios was chaotic and mundane at the same time. Work was much more simple in the early years. Back then, it was a small studio with only a few employees in charge of their own section. Henry drew the cartoons, Joan would help Henry with drawing and writing up ideas, Norman was in charge of projectors, Sammy himself was in charge of music, Wally would clean up the studio, random people would show up to help out here in there including some repair man named Tom, and then Joey Drew would oversee them all while sticking his nose on everything he could.

But now? Now things were much bigger. More complex. It wasn't until recently that Sammy found out he was more content with the old set-up even though he would have said otherwise in the past. He'd stay in his designated room, writing and playing his music for the studio until a bigger musical opportunity showed up for him. Needless to say, it didn't. When he got his own spacious department along with an entire orchestra at his command, Sammy was thrilled that Drew saw his full potential. What he didn't count on was the increased work load. Or the incompetent workers. Or the excessive amount of questionable ink. Or a little ink demon running around. Or a number of other things that made the man pull his brown hair out.

It was just another night at the studio in New York City. Some of the employees stayed overtime to make ends meet. By some, it meant a few animators, writers, and Sammy especially. Sammy walked out of his office, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief to clean some of the ink away. He sighed. The amount of ink Joey provided seemed to increase every year and it was getting everywhere from toilets to instruments to his very office. He'd complain out loud another time. For now, Lawrence wanted to check on his instruments to inspect the day's damages. Sluggish, he trudged down the hallway before turning to what he dubbed the orchestra room, only to stop and stare as he found someone sitting by a piano.

It was a familiar red-haired man with overalls and a light brown cap on, his chestnut, blank eyes staring at the keys below. His shoulders were leaning against his lap as he slowly pressed against one of the keys with a finger, letting out a soft sigh.

Out of all the fools Sammy had ever met in the studio, none of them took the cake like Wally Franks did. Figuratively and literally. Whether it'd be losing his keys, slipping on ink down the hallways, or attempting to eat Sammy's chocolate cake, the young man was quite the cheerful handful. At least for Sammy. To see the sole janitor in such a somber state unnerved him, however.

"Wally, what are you doing? Are you feeling well?" Sammy asked, his voice croaked with at least some concern. Instead of jumping in reaction like Wally would normally do whenever someone was talking to him, the man turned his head to glance at the music director standing behind him. Sammy could see slight bags under his eyes as if he had aged along with the studio.

"Nothin' much, Sammy. I'm just missin' ol' Bubba, that's all." He shrugged, going back to plunking the piano keys. "Jay and Tom says he's gonna be sick for a while. I know he needs ta get betta, but things are gettin' tough around here. Ya know what I'm saying?"

Sammy sat down on the bench next to Wally with a nod. "Ah, yes. That's what you call Bendy. I haven't seen him as of late. And things are always tough here, both in and out of the studio."

"Yeah, but not like this! No one's smiling anymore. All everyone does is rush off and complain. I know some of it's hard work, but we're makin' cartoons for people for cryin' out loud! We're supposed ta be smilin' and laughin'!" Wally threw his arms up in the air, before dropping them to his side. "I dunno... wheneva' I'm with Bubba, we always cheer each otha up. Maybe I'm startin' ta lose hope..."

As Sammy listened in, he felt something tug at his chest. Guilt? Sympathy? Whatever it was, he knew that he didn't like seeing Wally in this state. Plus, Sammy wasn't much of a people or feeling person. He communicated well with music. And it was then that an idea popped up in his head. Telling the other to wait a moment, Sammy got up and went across the room to retrieve his banjo, his favorite, personal instrument. He dragged a stool as well to sit in front of Wally, placing his banjo in position and tuning it. Once it was tuned, Sammy's fingers pressed against the strings when he froze.

What kind of song should he play?

One of Sammy's talents was analyzing a person for a period of time and figuring out what kind of song would they be. What type of instrument and tempo. At the moment, however, he didn't know what type of song to play. He knew this piece called for something to say, but he didn't know what.

He wasn't much for lyrics like Jack Fain, but it was worth a shot to improvise. Sammy wasn't much for prayers either, but there was a first time for everything.

Please, if there is a Lord up there, help me with the right words to say, Sammy prayed in his mind as he closed his eyes. His fingers rested on top of the strings as he slowed his breathing. Suddenly, he felt a presence in the back of his mind that had seeped in from nowhere. It was warm and familiar. He started strumming on his banjo and opened his eyes, his emerald eye changed into a blazing orange while the blue one remained intact.

"When it's time to sweep up the inkwells, who is Bendy's pal?" Sammy sang as he strummed the strings, taking a pause as he looked to Wally, seeing if he would respond. He was met with a couple of blinks in the eyes.

Sammy continued playing, "When it's time to pick up the damn keys, who is there to raise our morale?"

As the music director's song became much more vibrant, Wally's eyes widened as he listened to the words and music. It was bouncy. It was unpredictable. It was... about him? The janitor must have died because Sammy would never make up a song for anyone, especially him. Eager to listen more, Wally sat up in attention.

"In this place of demons and big smiles, here's who you give thanks." Sammy was getting the hang of it now, a smile growing on his face as he leaned forward to Wally with eyes that seemed to glow with life. "Not Alice Angel and Boris, too. Not Tom or Norman or Joey Drew. You tip your hat to the bumbling wonder of Wally Franks!"

He paused for a good minute, then added, "And then Bendy, Alice, and Boris pop up and sing 'Wally, Wally, Wally Franks'!" Sammy tried to imitate Bendy's voice as best he could, tilting his head from side to side as he ended the song sticking his tongue out.

At that, Wally burst into rolling laughter and fell off of the bench, holding his own sides as his freckled cheeks turned cherry red. Sammy blushed as well, averting his gaze to the side as his orange eye faded back to green. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Oh gee, that was great! Ya sound almost like Bubba! Nice voice for 'im!" Wally continued to laugh until his sides hurt, then he gradually breathed and sat up. "How did ya come up with them words anyways?"

"I don't know." Sammy shrugged with honesty as he lifted his banjo a bit in thought. "It just came to me like that." The janitor slowly stood up and wiped a tear away from his eye before placing a hand on Sammy's shoulder.

"Well, whateva' it is, I like it! You should smile more, Sammy. It suits ya!" He patted his shoulder, then tipped his own hat. "Thanks for the song. Ya made me feel betta. I gotta go make sure there ain't too much spills around. I'm outta here!" Wally then left with a wave in his hand and a smile on his face.

Sammy Lawrence watched him leave the room with a dumbfounded stare, his cheeks still blushing in awe. Wally really was a wonder. He placed his banjo down, then wiped his face to inspect the ink. To his shock, the stains in the palm of his hand were glowing a dull orange. He felt the familiar presence sitting in his mind as if looking in. The music director blinked and glanced up at the ceiling.

"... Bendy?"

#Bendy And The Ink Machine #fanfiction #drabble #SNJwrites #gift #ltlemonade #lt lemonade #Secret Satan #secret santa #BATIM #Wally Franks #Sammy Lawrence #SNJstories #Bendy #ahhhhhhh I can't believe I finished this #I hope this is okay #First time writing for Wally and the ship

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apreseventsjh-blog · 5 years

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Another part of SEM is social media advertising (SMM). SMM is a sort of marketing that entails making use of social media to affect customers that business's products and/or services are important. [23] Some of the most recent theoretical advancements consist of internet search engine advertising management (SEMM). SEMM associates with activities including Search Engine Optimization but concentrates on roi (ROI) management as opposed to pertinent website traffic structure (as is the case of mainstream SEO). SEMM likewise integrates organic SEO, trying to attain top ranking without using paid ways to accomplish it, and ppc SEO. For example, some of the interest is put on the websites layout design and also how content and details is presented to the internet site site visitor. Search Engine Optimization & SEM are two columns of one marketing work and they both run side by side to create much better outcomes than concentrating on just one pillar.

Internet Search Engine Optimisation Google Ads

If you have actually enhanced the crawling and also indexing of your site using Google Browse Console or various other services, you're most likely interested about the web traffic involving your site. Internet analytics programs like Google Analytics are a beneficial source of understanding for this. You can use these to:

|What Does Search Engine Optimization Price

Webmasters as well as content carriers began maximizing websites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the very first online search engine were cataloging the very early Web. At first, all webmasters only required to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would certainly send out a "spider" to "creep" that web page, extract links to other pages from it, as well as return info located on the page to be indexed. [5] The procedure entails a search engine crawler downloading and install a page and also keeping it on the search engine's very own web server. A 2nd program, known as an indexer, essences information regarding the web page, such as the words it includes, where they are located, as well as any weight for specific words, along with all links the page contains. Every one of this details is after that positioned into a scheduler for creeping at a later date.

Internet Search Engine Optimization Google Ads

If you're thinking of working with a Search Engine Optimization, the earlier the far better. A blast to employ is when you're considering a website redesign, or preparing to release a new website. That way, you and also your SEO can ensure that your website is made to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, an excellent Search Engine Optimization can also aid boost an existing site.

In 2007, Google revealed a war paid links that transfer PageRank. [30] On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had taken measures to minimize the effects of PageRank sculpting by utilize of the nofollow characteristic on links. Matt Cutts, a widely known software program engineer at Google, introduced that Google Robot would no more deal with any type of nofollow web links, in the same way, to stop Search Engine Optimization provider from making use of nofollow for PageRank sculpting. [31] As a result of this change the use of nofollow caused dissipation of PageRank. In order to avoid the above, SEO designers established alternate strategies that replace nofollowed tags with obfuscated JavaScript and also therefore allow PageRank sculpting. Additionally several services have been recommended that consist of the use of iframes, Flash as well as JavaScript. [32]

If you want to improve your rankings in search engine result for keywords related to your business, taking notice of and enhancing these SEO variables is a great area to begin. Nonetheless, keep in mind that SEO isn't a set-it-and-forget-it method. Simply put, it spends some time to see results, but they're well worth the wait!

Early versions of search algorithms counted on webmaster-provided details such as the keyword meta tag or index data in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags supply a guide per web page's web content. Making use of metadata to index web pages was found to be much less than reliable, nevertheless, because the web designer's option of key phrases in the meta tag can potentially be an imprecise depiction of the website's actual web content. Imprecise, insufficient, and inconsistent information in meta tags can and also did create pages to place for irrelevant searches. [10] [dubious] Web content carriers also manipulated some qualities within the HTML source of a web page in an effort to place well in search engines. [11] By 1997, online search engine designers recognized that webmasters were making efforts to rank well in their internet search engine, which some web designers were even manipulating their positions in search results by packing web pages with excessive or irrelevant keyword phrases. Early search engines, such as Altavista and also Infoseek, changed their algorithms to prevent web designers from adjusting positions. [12]|Search Engine Optimization Meaning Easy

The surge of Gopher (created in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the University of Minnesota) brought about 2 new search programs, Veronica and Jughead. Like Archie, they browsed the file names and also titles kept in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Extremely Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) provided a keyword search of many Gopher food selection titles in the whole Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Also Display) was a device for obtaining menu info from certain Gopher web servers. While the name of the online search engine "Archie Search Engine" was not a recommendation to the Archie comic book series, "Veronica" and "Jughead" are personalities in the collection, therefore referencing their precursor.

Between brows through by the crawler, the cached variation of page (some or all the web content needed to make it) saved in the online search engine working memory is promptly sent out to an inquirer. If a go to is overdue, the online search engine can simply serve as an internet proxy instead. In this case the web page may vary from the search terms indexed. [25] The cached web page holds the look of the version whose words were formerly indexed, so a cached version of a page can be beneficial to the web site when the actual page has actually been lost, however this trouble is additionally thought about a moderate type of linkrot.

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adrenalineguide · 3 years

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Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrew 4x4 Hybrid: Is this the best pickup ever?

Words and Photos By Michael Hozjan

No matter which pickup camp you favor, be it Chevy, Ram, GMC or one of the Japanese versions you have to admit that Ford’s F-150 has been setting the benchmark for pickups since biblical times. Sure it has had its share of hick ups, which vehicle hasn’t, but it’s been the segment leader more often than not and Ford is not about to relinquish the spot. This year’s F-150 has received some notable improvements that are sure to make it a favorite with farmers, tradesmen and enthusiasts alike.

It may be cliché, but the F-150 does come in every configuration that you could want to suit every taste, budget and need. You can choose from V6 power to V8 as well as turbocharging and hybrid assist. From two doors to four doors, rear wheel drive or 4x4 as well as three different bed lengths.

Above: Nearly seven decades separate these two blue beauties

Decisions, decisions

Prices start at $36,174 for the base XL in two-door/6 ½ foot box configuration powered by a 3.3L V6 that develops 290 horses and 265 lb.-ft. of torque feeding the rear wheels through an electronic 10-speed automatic. Sorry folks, Ford has nixed manual trannies. Add another three hundred dollars and you get the more useable 8-foot bed. There are seven more trim levels, XLT, Lariat, Tremor, King Ranch, Platinum, Raptor right up to the $94, 120 Limited. You get a choice of five engine choices including a 3.0L V6 diesel.

Above: You wouldn’t guess by looking at it that there are 430 horses waiting to be unleashed.

Add to the various trim lines, engine options, cabin sizes and bed lengths and you can see what I mean by a truck for every taste, need and budget. With more variants than I care to count I decided to look at the least thirsty one, the full hybrid version Lariat powered by a 3.5L V6 EcoBoost engine and an electric motor. As a $4,850 option, it sounds pricey, but it also delivers a whopping 570 lb.-ft. of torque and 430 horses. My tester’s towing capacity amounted to 12,400 lbs. In contrast, the base Lariat starts at $61,845 with a 2.7L EcoBoost mill that doles out 325 ponies and 400 lb.-ft. of torque and is rated to tow 8,500 pounds.

Other options included Group 502A at $4,245.00 (rain sensing wipers, LED projector bending head lights, LED taillights, onboard 400W outlet, heated steering wheel, 10-way power driver’s seat, power passenger seat, heated second row seats, leather seating, adaptive cruise and a slew of driving aides). My tester also came with 275/60Rx20 all terrain tire package at $1000, the $1,300 Sport Appearance package added power running boards and did away with the chrome grille replaced by a more subtle black grille, a twin panel moonroof at $1,750, Bang and Olufson sound system and power tailgate ($800.00 each), FX4 off-road package gets you skid plates to protect your investment’s underpinnings at $950.00, a sprayed bedliner ($600.00), co-pilot assist with active park assist ($1,350.00). With the ever-increasing sizes and heights of pickups, the $850.00, 360-degree camera is a must, especially if your travels include parallel parking around low-slung cars.

Above: Plugging in your power tools was unheard of just a few years ago now you can use your F-150 as a mobile generator – the Hybrid package can transmit up to 7.2 kW of power.

There were no extra fees for the leather seating, the 20” six spoke aluminum wheels, the towing package and the 3.73:1 electronic locking rear axle.

As you can see the numbers add up rather quickly, nothing new in the pickup world, so how does it stack up?

Hybrid Power

Ford has been a leader in alternative power for its pickups for years having experimented with [hydrogen] fuel cells in its Ranger line decades ago, and hybrid pickups are nothing new. They’ve been around for a while, some better than others, oddly, the F-150 is the sole full hybrid pickup in the 2021 model line up. It’s also the best. Not only is power transition from full electric to gasoline completely transparent, it’ll even drive on full electric in four-wheel-drive. Ford calls it PowerBoost and it’s available on all F-150 crew cab models regardless of trim, even the base XL line.

Not to be confused with Ram’s e-Torque mild hybrid system, which can’t be driven solely on electricity. Ford’s system consists of a 1.5 kWh lithium ion battery pack that's liquid cooled and engineered to minimize weight. The electric motor makes 41 horsepower (35 kW) integrated directly to the 10-speed automatic transmission.

Best of all the truck self-charges through regenerative braking and engine power, so you don’t plug it in. A workhorse should not be required to have daily downtime. Right?

New look

For 2021 the F-150 got a mild and dare I say welcomed refresh with new skin giving it a modern look.

New interior

Whether you’re pickup’s needs are for farming, towing or simply commuting, Ford’s stylists have completely redesigned the cabin. Fit and finish is top notch, as are the materials. Borrowing from the Ram, the center console features a large flat workspace ideal for taking notes or working your laptop. My Lariat came with a 12” infotainment screen that thankfully could also be navigated with buttons and dials (screens have a hard time recognizing my finger/hand gestures).

Above: For extra storage, my truck had a pop-up bin (closed in pic) under the rear seats - a $200 option.

On the road

In all honesty I haven’t enjoyed an F-150 as much as I enjoyed this one since the “Bullnose” F-150s of the early to mid ‘80s. Its road manners are above and beyond what I’ve been used to with Ford’s previous renditions and better than most of the competition. With a smooth ride and comfortable seats, road imperfections go virtually unnoticed unless you find a real large pothole.

Above: How much is too much light? I wish manufacturers would consider oncoming traffic when designing their headlamps.

With gobs of torque (the most ever in an F-150) and a whole corral of ponies under the hood, you would think that the F-150 is a speed demon. Well you’re right, zero to a hundred kms is achieved in just over 5.5 seconds and it’ll do the quarter mile in 13.8 seconds at 164 kph. The 10-speed automatic works perfectly in conjunction with the hybrid package. Whether accelerating from a full stop to highway speeds or in stop and go traffic, shifts go unnoticed. I can’t recall a single incident where the truck felt underpowered or misstepped a gear. Steering is light yet precise, but I do wish the turning circle was smaller.

On board scale

Ever wonder just how much you’re carrying? Well Ford has taken the guess workout by offering an onboard scale that measures your payload and sends it to the Sync4 screen and you can even read the weight via an LED display in the taillamps!

The verdict

I’m not a big fan of electric vehicles, (not enough space to explain why here) but I love hybrids, especially those that regenerate themselves. If I can save my gas bill while getting more power what is not to like. While this F-150 fit the bill, I’m an old school pickup guy so for me 8-foot beds are the way to go, and they’ve been making a big comeback in my neck of the woods. Having said that, I’d love to see the hybrid package offered in a regular cab version with the long bed. I’m sure the battery could safely be stored under the bed. Ford doesn’t offer the crew cab with an 8-foot box, once the darling of municipal yards and racetracks alike. Are you listening Ford?

My combined thirst for the week averaged 10.95L/100kms, unheard of in a full size pickup, much less with these horsepower figures.

Price as tested $83,715.00 *

*Includes Dealer prep and delivery fees, federal excise tax and off-road discount.

Warranty: 3yr/60,000 km Basic, 5 Yr/100,000 km Powertrain – 24hr Roadside Assistance

#ford #f-150 #pickup #hybrid #ecoboost #lariat #supercrew #powerboost #ram #e-torque

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dipulb3 · 4 years

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Amazon Echo Show 8 review: The best Alexa smart display, period

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/amazon-echo-show-8-review-the-best-alexa-smart-display-period/

Amazon Echo Show 8 review: The best Alexa smart display, period

It’s 2020 and the Echo Show 8 is a year old. But Amazon’s fourth Alexa-enabled smart display still stands apart from the competition as one of the best smart devices around. Squeezed between its high-end 10-inch and budget 5-inch siblings, the Show 8 offers the right mix of features and design perks to justify its middle-child existence — and it’s the best direct competitor to Google’s Nest Hub. Even a year out from its release, the Echo Show 8 still deserves its Editors’ Choice Award.

The Echo Show 8 has solid sound quality and a good screen resolution.

The $130 price tag makes the Show 8 one of the best midrange smart displays on the market.

The physical camera shutter is a small, smart addition to soothe privacy concerns.

Don’t Like

The interface isn’t as smooth or easy to use as the one on Google’s Nest Hubs.

You can’t call up YouTube videos by voice.

If you’re thinking of buying a smart display for your countertop, the Show 8 might just be the best product for the price. Its full $130 price tag is a solid deal, but the frequent discounts (the current US price is only $65; in the UK its £120 price is currently discounted to £90) make it even more attractive.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Fitting in with the crowd

Last year, Amazon filled out its smart speaker and display product lines with nearly a half-dozen new devices, including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot with Clock, Echo Studio, Echo Show 5 and Show 8. There is a clear pattern: Each product line has a papa bear, mama bear and baby bear option. Amazon is hoping one of these devices will be just right for you. In 2020, that pattern has remained largely intact, though the Echo and Dot both received sphere-shaped redesigns — and a redux for the 10-inch Echo Show is on the horizon.

Echo’s line of smart displays doesn’t just add dumb screens to smart speakers. These devices equip the voice assistant Alexa with video chatting and streaming, they work with Ring doorbells and Wyze Cams to let you see what’s happening at your front door, they can provide cooking assistance in the kitchen (read more about Amazon’s partnership with Food Network to bring lessons from professional chefs to your kitchen) and they even offer touch controls for the smart home. For $130 (£120) or less, the Echo Show 8 really does pack in a lot of useful smarts.

Third thought, best thought

Critics might argue that the Echo Show 8 doesn’t bring any new features to the countertop. That’s true, but as with Amazon’s best recent products, the Show 8 is less about grand innovation than smart iteration.

The Show 8 brings more heft than the Show 5 (which is cheaper by $40): a screen that’s bigger than a propped-up phone, fairly sharp 1,280×800-pixel resolution and a pair of solid 2-inch speakers. What’s more, the Show 8 steals the Show 5’s best ideas, like the physical camera shutter and sunrise alarms (although for some reason, Amazon didn’t include the 5’s tap-to-snooze feature).

I particularly like the shutter. The second-gen Echo Show ($150 at Amazon) doesn’t have any design feature to disconnect the camera. While Google opted for a kill switch for the camera and microphone on the Nest Hub Max ($229 at Sam’s Club), Amazon has included a physical shutter on its last two displays. From a privacy standpoint, I’m a fan of Amazon not just saying, “Trust me, it’s fine.” I can look at the Show 8, see that the shutter is closed and be 100% certain that I’m not being watched.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Another smart touch is that the screen, while sporting the same resolution as the 10-inch Show from 2018, uses a new feature to improve the image quality over that larger display. While images won’t appear any sharper (other than by merit of the pixel count on the smaller display), progressive scanning means fewer visual artifacts will appear on the screen. It’s an addition few casual users will notice day to day, but it’s a useful quality-of-life upgrade that you’ll feel over time.

Talking to myself

While the Show 8 is a clear upgrade from its predecessors, it seems to fall short in one big area: The camera is only 1 megapixel, as opposed to the 5-megapixel camera on the second-gen Show. Lower-megapixel cameras generally produce blurry results, and honestly, I was taken aback when I heard that spec.

Chris Monroe/CNET

But when I video-hatted with myself using the second-gen Show and the Show 8, the feed from the 5-megapixel camera actually looked more pixelated than the one captured by the lower-quality cam. Whatever the reason, the lower-quality camera, in this case, produced consistently higher-quality results for me.

The bottom line is this: The extra $100 for the Echo Show isn’t necessarily going to translate to higher video-chat image quality, so that 1-megapixel camera shouldn’t dissuade you from opting for the cheaper Show 8 instead.

Keeping an ear to the counter

When it comes to sound quality on the Echo Show 8, you might be pleasantly surprised. The two 2-inch speakers are a little smaller than the 2.2-inch speakers in the 10-inch Show, and you can hear the slight difference in sound quality, especially at higher volumes. When you push it, the Show 8 starts sounding a little buzzy, and it doesn’t have the range and distinction of the Echo stand-alone speaker or the 10-inch Echo Show’s.

But the Echo Show 8’s sound quality is much better than that of the more diminutive Show 5, which has only a single 1.7-inch speaker. In fact, set side by side with the latest Amazon Echo smart speaker, the Show 8 produces somewhat similar results — as long as you keep the volume in the middle of its range.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Alexa and the screen

Despite not having the Zigbee receiver from the second-gen Show or the tap-to-snooze feature of the Show 5, the Show 8 might be the best Alexa-enabled smart display. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best display altogether. While I like the combination of clever features — and, as importantly, the price tag attached to them — Google’s smart displays do boast a better user experience.

It’s tough to compare the Show 8 directly with the Nest Hub — Google’s $90 7-inch display — because that doesn’t even have a camera. And the Nest Hub Max, which does include a high-quality camera, costs $230. But one thing both Nest Hubs share is a smoother interface than the Echo Show 8’s. The screen is more responsive, the camera can follow your face if you walk around while video chatting and you can access videos on YouTube with a simple voice command.

Amazon’s operating system is improving, but compared with Google’s, it still lags — a jarring experience if you’re accustomed to the responsiveness of modern smartphones and tablets.

In addition, with another Echo Show on the way — this time a 10-inch display that will physically turn to follow you around the room — some users may want to hold off on getting the Show 8. But the Show 10 will likely clock in at a whole different price level, so if you’re looking for more budget-friendly displays, you can’t go wrong with the Show 8. If you are looking for a more premium machine, you may want to wait for the Show 10.

These minor qualifiers aside, I’m happy to recommend the Show 8. For $130 (or as little as $65), it’s the smartest Amazon display for the price. It combines the best of the rest and has a cam and better sound quality than the Nest Hub.

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void36-blog · 5 years

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SEO Company

Search Engine Optimization Advertising And Marketing

In the enterprise area, one significant trend we're seeing recently is data import across the big gamers. Much of Search Engine Optimization involves working with the information Google gives you and after that completing every one of the spaces. Google Look Console (formerly, Webmaster Equipment) only offers you a 90-day window of data, so business suppliers, such as Conductor as well as Shouting Frog, are continuously including and also importing data resources from other crawling databases (like DeepCrawl's). They're integrating that with Google Browse Console information for even more precise, continuous Internet search engine Results Page (SERP) tracking and also placement monitoring on specific key words. SEMrush and also Searchmetrics (in its venture Collection packages) provide this level of venture SERP surveillance too, which can provide your company a higher-level view of how you're doing versus rivals.

In 2013, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Lens.com, Inc. v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc. that on-line contact lens vendor Lens.com did not dedicate trademark violation when it bought search ads using competitor 1-800 Get in touches with' government signed up 1800 CALLS hallmark as a key phrase. In August 2016, the Federal Trade Payment filed a management problem versus 1-800 Calls alleging, among other points, that its trademark enforcement techniques in the online search engine advertising and marketing room have unreasonably restrained competitors in infraction of the FTC Act. 1-800 Calls has denied all misdeed and also is scheduled to show up before an FTC administrative legislation judge in April 2017. [30]

Seo

Structured data21 is code that you can add to your sites' web pages to describe your content to online search engine, so they can much better understand what gets on your pages. Internet search engine can use this understanding to present your content in valuable (and also captivating!) methods search results page. That, consequently, can aid you draw in just the appropriate sort of consumers for your company.

Pros: The most granular as well as extensive internet site creeping device we checked. On-page Search Engine Optimization referrals. Responsive contemporary interface. Google Analytics and also Google Browse Console assimilation. Back links monitoring. AMP metrics. Desktop/mobile/tablet breakdowns.

Seo Marketing Devices

Another component of SEM is social networks marketing (SMM). SMM is a kind of advertising that entails making use of social networks to influence consumers that one business's products and/or solutions are important. [23] Some of the most recent theoretical advancements include online search engine marketing monitoring (SEMM). SEMM associates with tasks including Search Engine Optimization however concentrates on return on investment (ROI) administration rather than pertinent web traffic structure (as is the case of mainstream Search Engine Optimization). SEMM also incorporates natural Search Engine Optimization, attempting to accomplish leading position without using paid means to attain it, as well as pay per click SEO. As an example, a few of the focus is placed on the web page layout style as well as exactly how content and details is displayed to the web site site visitor. SEO & SEM are two columns of one advertising job as well as they both run side by side to generate far better outcomes than concentrating on only one column.

Search Engine Optimization Google Advertisements

If you've improved the crawling as well as indexing of your site using Google Browse Console or other solutions, you're probably curious concerning the traffic pertaining to your website. Internet analytics programs like Google Analytics are a beneficial resource of understanding for this. You can utilize these to:

|What Does Search Engine Optimization Cost

Web designers and also content service providers started maximizing websites for internet search engine in the mid-1990s, as the initial internet search engine were cataloging the very early Internet. Initially, all webmasters only required to submit the address of a web page, or LINK, to the numerous engines which would certainly send out a "spider" to "crawl" that web page, essence links to other web pages from it, and return info discovered on the web page to be indexed. [5] The procedure entails an online search engine crawler downloading and install a page as well as saving it on the search engine's own server. A second program, referred to as an indexer, removes details about the web page, such as words it contains, where they lie, and any type of weight for particular words, in addition to all web links the web page includes. Every one of this information is after that positioned right into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.

Internet Search Engine Optimisation Google Ads

If you're thinking about hiring a Search Engine Optimization, the earlier the much better. A great time to hire is when you're taking into consideration a website redesign, or intending to launch a brand-new website. That way, you as well as your Search Engine Optimization can make sure that your website is created to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. Nevertheless, an excellent Search Engine Optimization can likewise aid enhance an existing site.

In 2007, Google announced a war paid links that move PageRank. [30] On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had taken procedures to minimize the impacts of PageRank sculpting by utilize of the nofollow feature on links. Matt Cutts, a popular software program engineer at Google, revealed that Google Robot would no more deal with any nofollow web links, in the same way, to prevent Search Engine Optimization service providers from using nofollow for PageRank sculpting. [31] As a result of this adjustment the use of nofollow brought about evaporation of PageRank. To avoid the above, Search Engine Optimization designers created alternative techniques that change nofollowed tags with obfuscated JavaScript and also thus permit PageRank sculpting. Additionally numerous solutions have actually been suggested that consist of the usage of iframes, Flash and JavaScript. [32]

If you want to improve your positions in search results page for key words associated with your service, taking note of and also enhancing these SEO variables is a terrific location to begin. However, bear in mind that SEO isn't a set-it-and-forget-it technique. To put it simply, it spends some time to see outcomes, but they're well worth the wait!

Early versions of search algorithms counted on webmaster-provided details such as the keyword meta tag or index documents in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide an overview per web page's web content. Using metadata to index pages was discovered to be much less than dependable, however, due to the fact that the webmaster's option of keyword phrases in the meta tag can possibly be an imprecise depiction of the site's real material. Imprecise, insufficient, and also inconsistent data in meta tags might and did trigger pages to rank for irrelevant searches. [10] [dubious] Internet content service providers also controlled some features within the HTML source of a web page in an effort to rank well in search engines. [11] By 1997, search engine designers identified that web designers were exerting to rank well in their online search engine, which some web designers were even manipulating their rankings in search engine result by packing pages with extreme or unnecessary key words. Very early internet search engine, such as Altavista and Infoseek, changed their algorithms to avoid webmasters from adjusting positions. [12]|Seo Meaning Easy

The surge of Gopher (created in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the College of Minnesota) led to two new search programs, Veronica and also Jughead. Like Archie, they searched the documents names as well as titles stored in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) gave a keyword search of most Gopher menu titles in the entire Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Pecking order Excavation As Well As Show) was a device for obtaining menu information from details Gopher servers. While the name of the online search engine "Archie Search Engine" was not a recommendation to the Archie comic book series, "Veronica" and also "Jughead" are characters in the series, therefore referencing their predecessor.

Between sees by the spider, the cached variation of page (some or all the web content required to provide it) kept in the internet search engine functioning memory is promptly sent to an inquirer. If a go to is overdue, the search engine can just function as a web proxy instead. In this case the web page may differ from the search terms indexed. [25] The cached web page holds the appearance of the version whose words were previously indexed, so a cached version of a web page can be useful to the internet site when the actual page has been shed, but this trouble is also thought about a light form of linkrot.

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vergas-colombianas · 5 years

Text

SEO Experts

Seo Marketing

In the enterprise space, one significant fad we're seeing lately is information import throughout the large gamers. Much of SEO entails collaborating with the information Google gives you and then completing all of the gaps. Google Browse Console (formerly, Web designer Equipment) only gives you a 90-day window of data, so business vendors, such as Conductor and also Yelling Frog, are constantly adding and also importing data resources from various other crawling data sources (like DeepCrawl's). They're incorporating that with Google Look Console information for even more precise, continuous Internet search engine Outcomes Web Page (SERP) surveillance and also position tracking on details keyword phrases. SEMrush as well as Searchmetrics (in its venture Collection bundles) provide this degree of business SERP monitoring as well, which can offer your organisation a higher-level view of exactly how you're doing versus competitors.

In 2013, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Lens.com, Inc. v. 1-800 Get in touches with, Inc. that online contact lens seller Lens.com did not devote hallmark violation when it bought search advertisements making use of rival 1-800 Contacts' government signed up 1800 GET IN TOUCHES WITH trademark as a keyword phrase. In August 2016, the Federal Trade Payment filed a management complaint against 1-800 Contacts affirming, among other things, that its hallmark enforcement techniques in the internet search engine advertising and marketing area have unreasonably restrained competitors in offense of the FTC Act. 1-800 Calls has refuted all misdeed and is arranged to appear before an FTC administrative legislation judge in April 2017. [30]

Search Engine Optimization

Structured data21 is code that you can add to your sites' pages to describe your content to search engines, so they can better understand what's on your pages. Online search engine can utilize this understanding to display your material in helpful (and also appealing!) ways in search results page. That, in turn, can assist you draw in simply the ideal sort of consumers for your business.

Pros: The most granular and comprehensive site crawling tool we evaluated. On-page Search Engine Optimization suggestions. Receptive modern user interface. Google Analytics and Google Browse Console combination. Back links monitoring. AMP metrics. Desktop/mobile/tablet failures.

Search Engine Optimization Advertising Tools

One more part of SEM is social networks advertising and marketing (SMM). SMM is a kind of marketing that includes making use of social media sites to influence consumers that one business's items and/or solutions are beneficial. [23] Some of the most recent theoretical advances include search engine marketing monitoring (SEMM). SEMM associates with tasks including SEO but focuses on roi (ROI) monitoring instead of relevant web traffic structure (as is the case of mainstream Search Engine Optimization). SEMM additionally integrates organic SEO, trying to attain top ranking without making use of paid means to accomplish it, and pay per click Search Engine Optimization. For example, a few of the interest is positioned on the web page layout design as well as how material and information is presented to the web site site visitor. SEO & SEM are 2 columns of one advertising job and they both run alongside to produce much better outcomes than concentrating on just one pillar.

Search Engine Optimization Google Ads

If you've improved the crawling and also indexing of your site utilizing Google Look Console or other solutions, you're possibly curious about the traffic coming to your website. Web analytics programs like Google Analytics are an important source of insight for this. You can make use of these to:

|What Does Seo Cost

Web designers as well as material suppliers started optimizing websites for online search engine in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the very early Web. Originally, all web designers just required to submit the address of a web page, or LINK, to the different engines which would certainly send out a "crawler" to "creep" that web page, extract links to other pages from it, and also return info located on the page to be indexed. [5] The procedure entails an internet search engine spider downloading and install a page and saving it on the search engine's very own web server. A second program, known as an indexer, extracts info concerning the web page, such as words it has, where they lie, as well as any type of weight for certain words, in addition to all links the web page has. All of this information is after that put into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.

Search Engine Optimisation Google Advertisements

If you're considering working with a Search Engine Optimization, the earlier the far better. A good time to hire is when you're considering a website redesign, or preparing to launch a new site. In this way, you and your Search Engine Optimization can guarantee that your website is created to be search engine-friendly from all-time low up. Nevertheless, a great Search Engine Optimization can likewise help enhance an existing website.

In 2007, Google revealed a war paid web links that move PageRank. [30] On June 15, 2009, Google revealed that they had taken steps to reduce the effects of PageRank sculpting by utilize of the nofollow quality on links. Matt Cutts, a well-known software engineer at Google, introduced that Google Robot would no more treat any type of nofollow links, in the same way, to avoid Search Engine Optimization provider from using nofollow for PageRank sculpting. [31] As a result of this modification the use of nofollow brought about evaporation of PageRank. To avoid the above, Search Engine Optimization designers developed different strategies that change nofollowed tags with obfuscated JavaScript and also hence permit PageRank sculpting. Additionally several services have actually been recommended that consist of the usage of iframes, Flash as well as JavaScript. [32]

If you want to enhance your positions in search results page for keywords connected to your organisation, taking note of and enhancing these SEO variables is a terrific location to start. However, remember that SEO isn't a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. Simply put, it spends some time to see outcomes, however they're well worth the wait!

Early variations of search formulas counted on webmaster-provided info such as the key phrase meta tag or index documents in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide an overview to every page's content. Utilizing metadata to index web pages was found to be much less than trusted, nevertheless, due to the fact that the web designer's selection of key words in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site's actual content. Imprecise, incomplete, and irregular information in meta tags can and did trigger web pages to rank for unimportant searches. [10] [dubious] Web material companies also controlled some attributes within the HTML source of a page in an effort to rate well in search engines. [11] By 1997, search engine developers recognized that webmasters were making efforts to rank well in their internet search engine, and that some web designers were also controling their positions in search engine result by stuffing web pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords. Very early search engines, such as Altavista as well as Infoseek, adjusted their formulas to avoid web designers from adjusting positions. [12]|Seo Meaning Easy

The increase of Gopher (developed in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the College of Minnesota) caused 2 new search programs, Veronica and also Jughead. Like Archie, they looked the file names and also titles saved in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Really Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) supplied a keyword search of many Gopher food selection titles in the whole Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Also Display) was a tool for acquiring menu details from certain Gopher servers. While the name of the online search engine "Archie Search Engine" was not a referral to the Archie comic book collection, "Veronica" as well as "Jughead" are personalities in the collection, therefore referencing their predecessor.

Between sees by the crawler, the cached version of web page (some or all the web content needed to make it) stored in the online search engine working memory is rapidly sent out to an inquirer. If a visit is overdue, the search engine can simply work as an internet proxy instead. In this instance the page may vary from the search terms indexed. [25] The cached page holds the appearance of the version whose words were formerly indexed, so a cached variation of a page can be useful to the website when the actual web page has actually been shed, yet this trouble is likewise considered a moderate type of linkrot.

0 notes

usedinloveanddeath · 5 years

Text

SEO Agency

Search Engine Optimization Advertising And Marketing

In the enterprise area, one major trend we're seeing lately is data import throughout the big players. Much of SEO involves working with the data Google gives you and then filling out every one of the spaces. Google Search Console (previously, Webmaster Equipment) only provides you a 90-day window of information, so enterprise vendors, such as Conductor and also Screaming Frog, are constantly adding as well as importing information sources from various other creeping data sources (like DeepCrawl's). They're incorporating that with Google Search Console data for even more precise, ongoing Internet search engine Outcomes Web Page (SERP) tracking and placement tracking on particular key words. SEMrush as well as Searchmetrics (in its venture Suite bundles) supply this degree of business SERP monitoring as well, which can provide your service a higher-level view of just how you're doing against competitors.

In 2013, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals kept in Lens.com, Inc. v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc. that on the internet call lens vendor Lens.com did not devote trademark violation when it bought search promotions utilizing rival 1-800 Get in touches with' government registered 1800 CALLS trademark as a key phrase. In August 2016, the Federal Trade Payment submitted a management grievance versus 1-800 Contacts affirming, among other things, that its hallmark enforcement methods in the online search engine advertising room have unreasonably controlled competition in infraction of the FTC Act. 1-800 Get in touches with has rejected all wrongdoing and is set up to show up prior to an FTC management regulation judge in April 2017. [30]

Search Engine Optimization

Structured data21 is code that you can include in your websites' web pages to explain your material to search engines, so they can better recognize what gets on your web pages. Search engines can utilize this understanding to display your material in valuable (and attractive!) ways in search results page. That, subsequently, can aid you attract just the appropriate kind of consumers for your service.

Pros: One of the most granular and also comprehensive internet site creeping device we examined. On-page SEO recommendations. Responsive contemporary user interface. Google Analytics and also Google Search Console integration. Back links tracking. AMP metrics. Desktop/mobile/tablet malfunctions.

Seo Advertising Devices

An additional part of SEM is social media sites advertising (SMM). SMM is a type of marketing that includes making use of social media sites to influence consumers that company's products and/or solutions are beneficial. [23] Some of the most up to date academic advances include internet search engine marketing administration (SEMM). SEMM connects to tasks including SEO but concentrates on return on investment (ROI) management rather than appropriate website traffic structure (as is the case of mainstream SEO). SEMM likewise integrates natural Search Engine Optimization, trying to attain top ranking without utilizing paid means to attain it, as well as ppc SEO. For example, several of the focus is placed on the websites format style and also how material and also details is shown to the web site site visitor. Search Engine Optimization & SEM are 2 pillars of one marketing task and they both run alongside to produce far better outcomes than concentrating on just one column.

Search Engine Optimisation Google Advertisements

If you've improved the crawling and also indexing of your site utilizing Google Browse Console or various other services, you're possibly interested about the website traffic concerning your website. Internet analytics programs like Google Analytics are an important resource of insight for this. You can utilize these to:

|What Does Search Engine Optimization Expense

Webmasters as well as material carriers began maximizing web sites for online search engine in the mid-1990s, as the initial online search engine were cataloging the very early Internet. Initially, all webmasters only required to submit the address of a web page, or URL, to the various engines which would certainly send a "crawler" to "crawl" that page, remove links to other pages from it, and return details discovered on the page to be indexed. [5] The procedure includes an online search engine spider downloading a web page and keeping it on the internet search engine's own web server. A 2nd program, called an indexer, essences information regarding the web page, such as the words it contains, where they are located, and also any type of weight for specific words, along with all web links the page contains. Every one of this information is after that placed right into a scheduler for crawling at a later day.

Search Engine Optimisation Google Advertisements

If you're considering hiring a Search Engine Optimization, the earlier the far better. A fun time to employ is when you're thinking about a site redesign, or intending to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can make certain that your site is made to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. Nonetheless, an excellent SEO can also aid enhance an existing site.

In 2007, Google announced a campaign against paid links that transfer PageRank. [30] On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had actually taken steps to minimize the results of PageRank sculpting by use of the nofollow quality on web links. Matt Cutts, a well-known software designer at Google, announced that Google Robot would certainly no longer deal with any type of nofollow web links, in the same way, to prevent Search Engine Optimization provider from utilizing nofollow for PageRank sculpting. [31] As an outcome of this change the use of nofollow brought about evaporation of PageRank. In order to avoid the above, SEO designers established alternative strategies that change nofollowed tags with obfuscated JavaScript and thus permit PageRank sculpting. Furthermore a number of services have been recommended that consist of the usage of iframes, Flash and JavaScript. [32]

If you wish to boost your rankings in search engine result for search phrases connected to your business, taking note of as well as optimizing these SEO elements is a fantastic location to begin. Nonetheless, keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization isn't a set-it-and-forget-it approach. To put it simply, it spends some time to see outcomes, yet they're well worth the wait!

Early versions of search algorithms counted on webmaster-provided information such as the key words meta tag or index documents in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags offer an overview to every page's material. Utilizing metadata to index pages was located to be much less than trusted, however, due to the fact that the webmaster's option of keyword phrases in the meta tag can potentially be an unreliable representation of the site's actual content. Imprecise, incomplete, as well as inconsistent information in meta tags could as well as did create web pages to rate for pointless searches. [10] [suspicious] Web material providers likewise manipulated some features within the HTML source of a page in an effort to place well in online search engine. [11] By 1997, online search engine designers identified that web designers were applying to rate well in their search engine, and that some web designers were also adjusting their rankings in search results by packing pages with excessive or unnecessary keywords. Very early online search engine, such as Altavista and Infoseek, adjusted their algorithms to avoid webmasters from controling positions. [12]|Seo Definition Easy

The rise of Gopher (created in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the College of Minnesota) led to two brand-new search programs, Veronica as well as Jughead. Like Archie, they looked the documents names and titles saved in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Extremely Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) gave a keyword search of the majority of Gopher food selection titles in the whole Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Also Show) was a tool for acquiring food selection details from details Gopher servers. While the name of the search engine "Archie Search Engine" was not a referral to the Archie comic book collection, "Veronica" and also "Jughead" are characters in the series, therefore referencing their precursor.

Between visits by the spider, the cached version of web page (some or all the content needed to make it) stored in the internet search engine functioning memory is promptly sent to an inquirer. If a see is overdue, the internet search engine can just serve as a web proxy instead. In this situation the web page might differ from the search terms indexed. [25] The cached web page holds the look of the version whose words were previously indexed, so a cached variation of a web page can be beneficial to the web site when the real web page has been shed, but this issue is also considered a moderate form of linkrot.

1 note · View note

ryzhiyxastreb · 5 years

Text

SEO Firm

Search Engine Optimization Advertising

In the business room, one major trend we're seeing recently is data import across the big gamers. Much of SEO entails collaborating with the data Google offers you and then filling in every one of the gaps. Google Look Console (previously, Webmaster Tools) only gives you a 90-day window of data, so business vendors, such as Conductor as well as Screaming Frog, are constantly including and also importing information sources from various other crawling data sources (like DeepCrawl's). They're incorporating that with Google Look Console information for even more exact, recurring Online search engine Outcomes Web Page (SERP) monitoring and also placement tracking on specific search phrases. SEMrush and Searchmetrics (in its enterprise Suite bundles) supply this level of venture SERP monitoring too, which can provide your business a higher-level view of exactly how you're doing versus rivals.

In 2013, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Lens.com, Inc. v. 1-800 Calls, Inc. that on the internet call lens vendor Lens.com did not dedicate hallmark infringement when it purchased search ads utilizing competitor 1-800 Contacts' government registered 1800 CONTACTS hallmark as a key phrase. In August 2016, the Federal Trade Commission submitted a management issue versus 1-800 Get in touches with declaring, to name a few points, that its trademark enforcement techniques in the online search engine marketing area have unreasonably restrained competitors in violation of the FTC Act. 1-800 Get in touches with has actually rejected all misdeed and also is set up to show up before an FTC management law judge in April 2017. [30]

Search Engine Optimization

Structured data21 is code that you can include in your sites' pages to explain your content to online search engine, so they can better recognize what gets on your pages. Online search engine can utilize this understanding to present your content in valuable (as well as eye-catching!) methods search results page. That, consequently, can assist you bring in just the best sort of consumers for your company.

Pros: The most granular and also extensive web site creeping device we tested. On-page SEO recommendations. Responsive contemporary user interface. Google Analytics and Google Browse Console combination. Back links tracking. AMP metrics. Desktop/mobile/tablet malfunctions.

Seo Advertising Devices

One more part of SEM is social media advertising and marketing (SMM). SMM is a sort of advertising that involves making use of social media to affect customers that one firm's products and/or services are beneficial. [23] A few of the latest academic developments consist of internet search engine advertising and marketing monitoring (SEMM). SEMM relates to tasks including Search Engine Optimization but concentrates on return on investment (ROI) monitoring as opposed to pertinent website traffic structure (as is the case of mainstream SEO). SEMM likewise integrates natural SEO, attempting to accomplish leading position without utilizing paid means to attain it, as well as ppc SEO. For example, a few of the interest is placed on the web page format style as well as exactly how content and info is displayed to the website visitor. SEO & SEM are two columns of one advertising task and also they both run side by side to produce better outcomes than concentrating on just one column.

Search Engine Optimization Google Ads

If you've improved the crawling as well as indexing of your site utilizing Google Look Console or other solutions, you're most likely interested about the website traffic involving your site. Web analytics programs like Google Analytics are a valuable source of understanding for this. You can utilize these to:

|What Does Seo Price

Web designers and content companies started optimizing websites for internet search engine in the mid-1990s, as the initial search engines were cataloging the early Web. At first, all webmasters only needed to send the address of a page, or LINK, to the different engines which would send out a "spider" to "creep" that web page, essence links to various other pages from it, and also return info located on the page to be indexed. [5] The procedure involves a search engine spider downloading a web page and also storing it on the internet search engine's very own web server. A second program, referred to as an indexer, extracts information concerning the web page, such as words it contains, where they lie, and any kind of weight for certain words, along with all web links the page has. Every one of this info is after that placed into a scheduler for creeping at a later date.

Online Search Engine Optimization Google Advertisements

If you're considering hiring a Search Engine Optimization, the earlier the much better. A blast to hire is when you're taking into consideration a website redesign, or planning to introduce a brand-new website. In this way, you and also your SEO can make sure that your site is made to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. Nevertheless, an excellent SEO can additionally help improve an existing site.

In 2007, Google introduced a campaign against paid links that move PageRank. [30] On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had actually taken actions to mitigate the effects of PageRank sculpting by utilize of the nofollow attribute on links. Matt Cutts, a popular software application designer at Google, introduced that Google Bot would certainly no longer treat any nofollow web links, in the same way, to stop SEO service providers from making use of nofollow for PageRank sculpting. [31] As a result of this modification the usage of nofollow resulted in evaporation of PageRank. To avoid the above, SEO engineers created alternative techniques that change nofollowed tags with obfuscated JavaScript and hence allow PageRank sculpting. Furthermore numerous services have been recommended that consist of the use of iframes, Flash and JavaScript. [32]

If you want to boost your positions in search results page for key phrases connected to your service, focusing on and also optimizing these Search Engine Optimization elements is a terrific location to begin. Nonetheless, bear in mind that Search Engine Optimization isn't a set-it-and-forget-it approach. In other words, it takes some time to see outcomes, but they're well worth the wait!

Early variations of search formulas counted on webmaster-provided information such as the key words meta tag or index files in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags offer a guide to each page's web content. Making use of metadata to index web pages was discovered to be much less than trustworthy, nonetheless, since the webmaster's choice of keywords in the meta tag can possibly be an incorrect depiction of the website's real web content. Unreliable, insufficient, and inconsistent data in meta tags might as well as did create web pages to rate for irrelevant searches. [10] [dubious] Internet web content providers likewise controlled some qualities within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to place well in online search engine. [11] By 1997, search engine designers acknowledged that web designers were exerting to rank well in their search engine, which some web designers were even adjusting their positions in search results page by stuffing pages with excessive or unimportant keywords. Early online search engine, such as Altavista and also Infoseek, adjusted their formulas to avoid web designers from manipulating positions. [12]|Search Engine Optimization Meaning Easy

The rise of Gopher (produced in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the College of Minnesota) resulted in two new search programs, Veronica as well as Jughead. Like Archie, they searched the file names and titles stored in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Extremely Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) gave a keyword search of the majority of Gopher food selection titles in the entire Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Show) was a tool for acquiring food selection information from certain Gopher web servers. While the name of the online search engine "Archie Online search engine" was not a referral to the Archie comic book collection, "Veronica" and "Jughead" are characters in the series, hence referencing their precursor.

Between visits by the spider, the cached variation of page (some or all the material required to provide it) stored in the online search engine functioning memory is rapidly sent out to an inquirer. If a see is past due, the search engine can just function as a web proxy rather. In this case the web page may differ from the search terms indexed. [25] The cached web page holds the appearance of the version whose words were previously indexed, so a cached version of a page can be useful to the website when the actual web page has been shed, but this trouble is also considered a mild kind of linkrot.

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samsylviasmoustache · 7 years

Text

Meet the Wilders

A fic for @asthedarkinvadestheday! Ruth struggles to convince her visiting parents that GLOW is a legitimate gig.

Ruth lands badly, elbow striking the mat hard, the breath knocked from her body. “Oof,” she manages, wincing. She raises a hand. “Give me… a minute.”

“Are you okay?” Carmen asks, worried.

“Just a bad landing.”

“No, I know that. It’s just…” Carmen drops her voice so the others, engaged in their own training around the room, can’t hear. “You can normally do these moves in your sleep. You just seem a little off today.”

Ruth closes her eyes, frustrated. “Yeah, I guess I am a little distracted.” She accepts her friend’s hand, pulling her back onto her feet, and decides to be honest. “My parents are coming to town.”

Carmen grimaces. “They don’t approve of wrestling?”

“No, no.” Ruth considers this. “Well, they don’t really know that’s what I’m doing right now.”

Carmen raises a sceptical eyebrow. “They didn’t watch the pilot?”

“Ah, no.” Ruth swallows. “I didn’t actually… didn’t actually tell them about it.”

“So… you’re ashamed of wrestling?”

“No. No! I love what we do here. Love it.”

“Right. You just don’t want people you care about to know you love it?”

Ruth sighs, and stops digging. “I don’t know. I just, I don’t get the feeling they’re going to exactly be thrilled about all this.” She indicates the bare brick and concrete of their surrounds, the wrestling ring stained with unknowable fluids.

Carmen smiles. Despite herself Ruth finds herself smiling back, the grin infectious. “I guess they might have a point. But look, if my Dad can come around to it, I’m sure they will too.”

Ruth nods, trying to convince herself. “You’re right.” She rubs her elbow, the pain fading to a dull ache. “I’m sure you’re right. You ready to throw me again?”

Carmen’s smile grows even broader. “Machu Picchu is.”

“Then let’s do this.”

Bring-bring. The room ‘phone trills as Ruth is dressing from the shower, hair still wrapped in a towel.

“Hello?”

“You have customer,” says Gregory.

“What?”

“Customer. At ze desk.”

“What?” But Gregory has hung up. She swears softly under her breath, throwing off the towel and slipping on her trainers. She enters the office seconds later at a run. “Gregory, I’ve told you before—"

“Ruth!”

“Darling!”

And there are her parents, visitors from another planet crashing into the world she has built here. Matter out of place, somehow smaller, stranger than she is used to seeing them.

“Mom! Dad!”

She lets them envelope her in a hug. Dad is thinner than she remembers, tan. The bicycle he bought as part of his retirement seems to be agreeing with him. Her mom seems a little more crisp and formal than usual; she’s dressed to impress.

“Oh, honey, you’re too thin,” she says, their standard greeting.

“Nonsense! She looks great. You do sweetheart, really good.”

“You too Dad. Um, shall we go and get some coffee?”

“I figured you’d need some,” smiles her Mom. “Actresses, eh? Late to rise..!”

“Well,” says Ruth, trying to keep herself from sounding accusatory, “you are two hours earlier than I was expecting…”

“Coffee would be great, Ruth,” says Dad, ever the peacemaker.

The local greasy spoon is a short walk away in the morning sun. It’s pleasant, quiet, walking alongside them. “So, what’s the deal with the motel?”

“Well, our director thought it would be good for the team if we lived together, Mom. Kind of like…” She gropes for a comparison that isn’t rehab. “Like Olympic Village.”

“That sounds unusual,” says Dad.

“It is, I guess,” she concedes. “But it’s worked really well—”

“Uh-huh? Is it just you guys in the motel then?”

“Uh, mostly, yes…” She has a feeling she knows where this line of questioning is going to go.

“Only the man on the front desk seemed to think that some of the guests were… you know…” Her mother draws breath, somehow managing to make her whisper even louder than her normal voice. “Prostitutes.”

“Yeah. I know. He’s a little… different. Gregory. We’re not… we’re not doing that, Mom. I swear.”

“Sweetie,” demurs her Mom. “I never for a second thought—”

“No, no, it’s ok,” says Ruth. “You know, it happens sometimes. But I’m not… That’s not something I would ever—”

“Ah-hem,” coughs her Dad, crimson coloured. “Is this the place?”

Never has she been more grateful to see the fizzing neon over the diner door. “This is it,” she says brightly. “Shall we go get that coffee?”

“So,” she says, pushing open the gym door, “this is, uh, this is where we train…”

They step forward into the space that is starting to feel more and more like home. The musty smell of sweat and wood polish; light streaming in through the mullioned windows. Her mother looks doubtful, but Ruth’s heart is light for once.

“Every day?”

“Every day,” she affirms. “Come on over to the ring.”

They do as she asks, hesitant and scuttling; reluctant pilgrims in her cathedral. “Gosh, I thought it would be softer,” says her mother, touching the canvas.

“Yeah, it’s mostly wood and steel,” agrees Ruth.

“And you land on that?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Wow. Honey, that’s… that’s impressive.”

“And dangerous. Do you get hurt?”

“No, Mom. It’s all… it’s very safe. We’re professionals. I can show you, if you’d like?”

“Don’t you need a partner?”

Ruth merely grins in response.

She jumps into the ring and for a fraction of a second there is a sense of leaving herself behind. Beyond the ropes Ruth is folded away; Zoya unfurls in her place.

“In the ring,” she says, half to herself as much as her parents, “I am noble Soviet Bear.” She strikes her pose. “Zoya, the Destroyer. Scourge of American Barbie girl - Liberty Belle.” She pours as much venom as she can into that name. “I start with the hammer and sickle, like this!” Bang, crash. “Then, I go into hammerlock!” Smack. She scrabbles across the canvas, into the routine now—

“What the fuck?”

Sam’s voice cuts through even her commitment to the bit. She snaps back into her own skin as he emerges from his office. It’s been a rough night by the looks of things; hair standing on end, glasses askew, and a rumpled shirt he’s clearly slept in. “It’s eight in the morning,” he continues, “even for you this is—”

“Sam, these are my parents,” she says as brightly and loudly as she can.

He blinks, taking in the strangers through bleary eyes. “Oh.” There is a moment of silence, the kind where everyone has to adjust their expression. “Hi.”

“Hey, Ruth,” says Debbie carefully, descending from on high. “Sam wants to see you in his office.”

“Okay,” she replies tightly.

Debbie hesitates, watching her former best friend box a punch-bag. She knows, of course, that something is bothering Ruth. Can read it in the pitch of her voice, the stiff line of her shoulders. The world holds its breath, as Debbie does, making her decision…

Debbie swallows the question on the tip of her tongue, are you okay drifting away into the ether. She nods instead, and moves away to finish some blocking with Rhonda. They’re not there yet. Maybe they never will be.

Ruth hits the bag a harder, as if that can fix this whole fucked up situation.

“Are you mad at me?”

She jumps at his voice, finally stops punching. “I didn’t hear you,” she says, surprised to find she is sweating, out of breath with the sustained effort.

“Not surprised,” he says. “Were you imagining that was my face?”

“No.”

“Can I talk to you now?” He says it sarcastically, but she could still take it as a question, flounce away.

She sighs. That’s never going to be who she is. “Sure.” She follows him upstairs, takes a seat on the sofa. “Why were you sleeping here, anyway?”

He fixes her with what he probably thinks is a stern, intimidating look. “I was working late.”

“On what?”

“On this.” He indicates the mess of paper on his desk. On closer inspection, it turns out of be a set design and new storyboards.

“Yeah,” she says, taking in the redesigned ring and rows of folding bench seats, “um, it looks good.” She scratches her wrist distractedly.

“Good?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

“What, you actually want criticism now? I thought I was just a benign sounding board?”

He rolls his eyes, making her wait for him to finish fumbling a cigarette from the packet before he answers. “Okay, okay. I get that you’re mad at me. I’m just not sure why.”

She sighs, pressing fingers to her forehead. “I’m not… actually mad at you,” she tries to explain. “I just… I wanted my parents to think that this was, you know. Legitimate.”

He puffs up, entirely predictably. “We’re commissioned for a series. What’s not legitimate about GLOW?”

“I know, I know. But, come on Sam! You weren’t exactly sold on this in the beginning either. And the gym is… kind of nasty. Oh, plus I live in a motel where the owner thinks I’m a prostitute.”

A deep drag of his cigarette, as he considers the problem. “Well, who gives a fuck if they don’t like it? You’re a grown woman. I’m paying you. You don’t have to worry about rent. Screw ‘em.”

“Yeah, I,” is all she manages, frustrated; unable to find the right words.

“What, you don’t want that? You actually want a functional relationship with them? Huh.”

“Yeah, I’m weird for wanting that, right? A functional relationship with anybody.” She worries her thumbnail with her teeth, ignoring the weight of his gaze on her. She hates this way he has, sometimes, of being so emotionally shrewd.

“Alright,” he says slowly, “so let’s work it out.”

“No, no, we don’t need to do this. I will—”

“Clearly we do, if I’m going to get you to be productive again any time soon,” he snaps back. “So, what makes something legitimate? Y’know. In their eyes?”

“I don’t know,” she sighs. “I guess… if it’s art.” She counts the list on her fingers. “If it’s skilled. If there’s longevity to it. If it’s respectable.”

They think about it, the sounds of unarmed combat floating up from the gym below.

“Fuck,” says Sam.

“Oh, this is nice,” says Mom, stopping to address a wrought iron table set. “Good price too.”

“So, this is their sponsor?” Dad checks, subtly trying to move his wife away from the potential patio furniture purchase. Unseen by the Wilder parents, Sam smiles to himself.

“That’s what Ruth said.” Mom is remarkably resistant to Dad’s attempt to move them on. “They run demonstrations in return.”

“Huh.”

Sam lights his cigarette, and the movement causes Wilder Senior to finally look up from her patio table analysis. “Oh, hello,” she says.

“Hi. Sam Sylvia.”

“Yes. I remember.” A tad frosty. “You’re the director, right?”

“That’s me.” He attempts a friendly grin, but something in the slight stiffening of Dad’s posture suggests he has missed the mark.

“Roger Wilder,” says Dad, holding out a hand. Sam’s prepared for a bone-crushing handshake when it comes, and just about manages not to wince. “And this is my wife Gaynor.”

“My pleasure. So, do you come out to LA often?”

“No, no,” confesses Roger. “It’s a long way.”

“And Ruth’s very independent,” adds Gaynor.

“Right.” There’s probably more small talk he should make to fill the gap here, but fundamentally, who gives a fuck? He finishes his cigarette in the awkward silence instead.

Up on stage, Debbie has the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she says, as Liberty Belle, “may I take this chance to welcome you all here, to the grand opening of Patiotown Sun Valley!”

There is a whoop and a cheer in response to this, he suspects because a beautiful woman in a leotard is saying it. The majority of the crowd are polite but passive. Gaynor’s eyes have drifted back over to the wrought iron table.

“Patiotown has a range of products to suit every pocket,” Liberty Belle continues, “and if you can’t find what you’re looking for, just ask one of the friendly staff—”

“I have question!” calls out Zoya from across the yard. Forty heads turn to look at her in unison.

“Not today, Zoya,” replies Liberty. “These fine people don’t want any trouble.”

“Trouble?” Zoya sneers, walking up to the stage. “They don’t want trouble?” She laughs. “In Soviet Russia, my dear, trouble finds you!” There is a gasp from the crowd, as on these words Ruth leaps onto the stage.

“Oh my goodness!” squeaks Gaynor, as the wrestlers begin their carefully choreographed routine. “I had no idea it was so realistic!”

The crowd ooh and ahh as Ruth and Debbie spar back and forth, locking and flipping. “She’s really good at this, isn’t she?” says Roger, to himself more than anyone else.

“Yeah,” replies Sam, “she really is.”

Roger starts, having clearly forgotten he is there. “We’re desperately proud of her.”

“Yeah. I can see.”

“She works so hard,” adds Gaynor, wincing as Ruth hits the floor. “But it just… it never seems to go anywhere.”

“We only want her to be happy.”

Sam shakes his head. “She’s a perfectionist. Hard to be happy when you’re chasing that,” he offers.

Roger gives him an appraising look. “I get the feeling you’re someone with some experience of that,”

Sam shrugs. “I do okay. She will too.” There is a crashing thump, as Zoya drops Liberty Belle to the canvas with a cry of “vodka for breakfast!” Several people shriek amongst the spectators. “Yeah,” says Sam. “She’s going to be great.”

“Hey,” says Ruth, knock-knocking on the door lintel at the end of training. “Can I come in?”

“Sure Ruth,” he says, shuffling papers on his desk as if they are important documents rather than his own cartoon scribblings. “Are you feeling better today?”

She ignores his sarcastic tone, taking the question as real. “Yeah. Mom and Dad left this morning and… it was good. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Convincing Debbie to do the demo with me. And whatever you said to them at Sun Valley yesterday. They seemed… uh, calmer. About everything.”

“Well, that’s great.”

She sighs, irritated by his irritability. Counter-mad, one could say. “Are you okay? You seem grumpy.”

“You don’t have to fuss over me. I’m fine.”

She puts her head on one side. “I’d believe that better if you hadn’t disappeared on a three-day bender last time you told me you were fine.”

He huffs. “Look, you don’t need to worry about whether your parents think something is legitimate or not, okay? They love you regardless.”

Her feet seem to have suddenly become very interesting, pink rising into her cheeks. She bites her lip before risking eye contact with him again. “I-I know that…” She blinks. “Is that why you’re mad?”

“No,” he lies, pointlessly. He can tell from the softening of her shrewd expression she sees right through him.

She takes a step forward. “You have people that care about you too, Sam.”

“Oh really? Who?”

She swallows. “Well, we-we all do.”

“Uh-huh? You think if I dropped down dead tomorrow and Bash found some other idiot to run this circus anyone would really give a fuck?”

“Yeah,” she says softly.

It’s his turn to break eye contact. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why—”

“You don’t have to explain,” she says, holding out her hands, placatory. A small smile. “I think… I think I get it.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, smiling back up at her, in spite of himself. Fuck it. “You wanna go get a coffee? Tell me what you really think of the new storyboards?”

“Yeah,” she says. “I’d like that.”

#sam sylvia #ruth wilder #netflix glow #fanfiction #prompt fic

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namejason13-blog · 5 years

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DEEP DIVE: Are E-Scooters Unsafe At Any Speed?

In just over a year, e-scooters have gone from a freakishly rare novelty to almost ubiquitous in American cities.

Billions of venture capital goes a long way, fast. Bird alone claims to be operating in more than 100 cities.

There are as many as 17,000 e-scooters on the streets of Los Angeles, the Wall Street Journal reports, available to adults for as little as $1.15 per ride. And there are 13,000 in San Diego and almost as many in Austin.

We’re just now beginning to understand the impacts.

The CDC is gearing up to do the first authoritative study of e-scooter safety. The study will examine 68 e-scooter injuries that took place over a two-month period in Austin. Over that time, there were 37 EMS calls or about one every other day, the report says. There are almost 12,000 e-scooters approved for operation on Austin’s streets and they took about 235,000 trips in October, according to city data.

Meanwhile, in recent months there has a been rising alarm about injuries. Doctors in cities such as Nashville and St. Louis have discussed worrying levels of injuries, saying scooter crash victims are flooding their emergency rooms.

Apparently, mayors have concerned as well.

“Every mayor who’s got ’em comes up to me and says, ‘Don’t take ’em,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said recently. “And the reason is … every city that has scooters has significant traumatic injuries.”

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo last week threatened to ban them unless the companies could use a technology like geofencing to keep e-scooters off the sidewalks.

“If there is not significant improvement in safety of e-scooters, ultimately bans are coming,” he told the San Jose Mercury News. “There are serious injuries happening out there.”

The scooter companies — especially Bird — have deflected such concerns by pointing to the far more catastrophic danger of cars. Their defenses mirror, to an uncanny degree, urbanist messages. In response to a class-action suit by injured scooter users, Bird said:

“Class action attorneys with a real interest in improving transportation safety should be focused on reducing the 40,000 deaths caused by cars every year in the U.S.”

So how are e-scooters performing on safety? It’s not an easy question to answer, in part because the scooter companies have been pretty secretive with their data, although that’s beginning to change. And it’s also difficult to say because scooters are such a new technology and, as they become integrated into urban landscapes, may experience lower and lower injury rates as cities redesign streets — similar to how cities such as New York reduced cycling deaths even as the numbers of bike riders increased.

Fatalities

So far there have been two — or three — e-scooter deaths it depends on how you count them.

In D.C. in September, a 20-year-old man was killed when he was struck by an SUV driver while riding a Lime scooter. In Dallas the same month, a 24-year-old man died in what appears to have been a solo fall from a Lime scooter.

Finally, in August, a 21-year-old woman was killed in downtown Cleveland when she was struck by a driver who, cops say, high on heroin. She was riding a scooter-hybrid with a seat she had rented from a storefront rental business — not one of the mass marketed dockless varieties that have taken over cities.

It’s hard to assess two or three deaths out of 40- to 60-million rides on a completely new vehicle with which very few people have become comfortable. By comparison, cars kill about one person per 80 million vehicle miles, a number that has been declining over the long term. But given how many miles Americans drive, cars kill tens of thousands of people every year. Scooter trips are typically a mile.

To put those numbers in perspective, a 2015 study by Ralph Buehler and John Pucher estimated that 2.25 cyclists die on their own bikes, and 5 bike-share riders die, for every 100 million miles in London and Paris.

The London and Paris numbers “might be more comparable to the scooter data, since they are for cities rather than whole countries, and urban areas tend to be somewhat safer than rural areas,” said Kay Tscheke, a public health researcher at the University of British Columbia.

Based on Bird’s estimate of 40-60 million trips at roughly one mile, Tscheke said the range for e-scooters in the U.S. seemed to be between 2.25 and 5 deaths per 100 million miles.

“If these data are correct, the death rate seems to be within the range of death rates for similar modes of travel,” she wrote.

But so far, anyway, the record for e-scooters does seem to be a bit worse than bike share in the U.S. Last year, the National Association of City Transportation Officials wrote that there have been 123 million bike share trips through the end of 2017, going back almost a decade. The estimated length of those trips is between 1.5 and 3 miles.

There have only been two bike share deaths in the U.S. in the whole history of modern bike share. That means, using an average trip length of 1.5 miles, a conservative estimate, that’s a death rate of one per 92 million miles for U.S. bike share, even excluding all the miles ridden this year.

Injuries

Evaluating injuries is more difficult. Anecdotal data are concerning, however, if you take them at face value.

Peter Holley at the Washington Post wrote in September that scooter riders were “pouring into emergency rooms” and that their injuries “looked like car wrecks,” including “broken noses, wrists and shoulders, facial lacerations and fractures, as well as the kind of blunt head trauma that can leave brains permanently damaged.” The story cited dangers in many cities.

In Santa Monica — the “e-scooter and e-bike capital of the world,” according to Curbed — 18 serious injuries were reported by the Fire Department over just a two-week period in July.

At St. Louis’s Washington University, professors recently sounded the alarm over the high number of injured scooter riders arriving in the affiliated hospital’s emergency room. They reported six to seven ER visits per week over a two-month period. It wasn’t just bumps and bruises. Of those injuries, six required surgery and 12 were admitted to that one hospital through the emergency room.

“The costs for our city to allowing these e-scooters has probably been underestimated,” the professors concluded.

Doctors in Nashville offered perhaps the most concerning anecdotal evidence yet about the safety of e-scooters. Vanderbilt Medical Center Trauma ICU director Oscar Guillamondegui told Nashville Public Radio that they were getting one injury per month that was “life changing,” meaning the person suffered what was likely permanent brain damage. For perspective, the city’s current policies allow up to 3,000 e-scooters in circulation.

The vehicles themselves

Image: Bird via PR Newswire

Some people question whether the design of the e-scooters used by Lime and Bird has inherent safety drawbacks.

“Scooters have small wheels,” Arizona State University Professor David King told Streetsblog. “That means they need really really flat smooth pavement. We don’t maintain that for anybody.”

The Riverfront Times, an alt-weekly in St. Louis, tested the devices in July, shortly after they arrived in the city. A mostly lighthearted article by Daniel Hill called them “moderately terrifying”:

Over the course of two days, I had to bail twice, went flying over the handlebars once (didn’t see that hole in the ground) and straight laid it down and slid across the pavement once (avoid multi-tasking with your hands while riding, even if you’re thirsty). Be prepared for road rash.

James McPherson, an attorney with experience litigating accident claims and who writes at SafeSelfDrive.org, raised additional concerns about the design of e-scooters, including high center of gravity, a narrow side profile.

A seat might improve safety, making scooters more like low riding bikes without pedals than upright crash machines. A seated rider lowers the center of gravity and widens the profile so he or she is more visible from the side.

We asked a Bird spokesperson how the vehicles handle on potholes. On background, that person told Streetsblog it was riders’ responsibility to avoid potholes. That means riders have to be scanning the environment both for cars and the street for potholes at the same time.

We asked Bird other questions: Did the company make any attempt to design the vehicles for maximum safety? Did the company consider the bike infrastructure in a city before setting up shop? On the record, the company offered only boilerplate about how riders are encouraged to wear helmets and how Bird encourages cities to add bike infrastructure.

Cost, not safety, seems to be an important part of the business model.

According to the Wall Street Journal, e-scooters cost about $500 each. The profitability of the companies is directly related to the price per vehicle versus how many times it is rented before it needs to be replaced. Vandalism and wear and tear are forcing the companies to replace them every two months on average. And investment prospects have been softening in part because of the limited shelf-life of the vehicles, the Journal reported.

Both Lime and Bird are valued at more than $2 billion.

How big are the environmental benefits?

Both Lime and Bird are hoping cities focus on the potential environmental benefits of e-scooters over cars.

“We don’t have a year to wait,” David Estrada, Bird’s chief legal officer and head of public policy, recently told Curbed. “Are cities going to choose to help solve the climate crisis and get people out of cars?”

It’s impressive that e-scooters have amassed between 40 to 60 million trips for a form of transportation that barely existed a year ago. But how many of those are displaced driving trips?

We don’t really know. An often-cited, though unscientific, survey in Portland found the car trip replacement level was pretty high — more than a third for locals and even higher (51 percent!) for tourists.

The survey’s limited response rate makes it digestible only with more than a few grains of salt, but it wouldn’t be surprising if e-scooters were replacing car trips at close to that range. Of course, even with healthy car-replacement levels, a large number of trips will replace walking, biking or transit as well. In those cases, they may actually increase the environmental impacts of some short trips, especially since e-scooters have such a short shelf life.

Safer streets

Scooter companies say safety will improve as scooter use becomes more widespread, creating pressure on city officials to redesign streets and add bike lanes.

Anecdotally, it seems to be true. Kansas City recently tested out a combined bike and scooter lane. And Bird has begun providing money for cities to add bike infrastructure.

Perhaps, as Bird asserts, e-scooters will eventually displace enough car trips to have a measurable impact on traffic safety.

Researchers Peter and Joel Jacobsen — whose research helped establish the “safety in numbers” effect for biking — say they expect scooter injuries to decline as they become more common, as both drivers will become more aware of them and they help produce changes in the environment. The Jacobsens said, while there wasn’t very much data, they would expect the safety outcomes of e-scooters to be similar to biking and walking.

Our very rough fatalities analysis supports that idea. But if the injuries show something different, it will be interesting to see how that impacts the industry and the regulatory environment. It’s also possible it will help alleviate worries and lead to wider adoption.

Our December donation drive continues!

Source: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/12/19/deep-dive-are-e-scooters-unsafe-at-any-speed/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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askthedespairkids · 7 years

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Future Shorts 2: Despair Boogaloo

//And the second set of short stories is here! FUn!

//Again, kinda shitty, not gonna lie, but it’s what ya’ll wanted the most. Though a lot of you wanted the Valentine thing so I’ll work on that as well in the meantime.

//I also have character playlists to post soon as well, so that’s fun.

-Designer Mind-

“And now I present to you all…” Anya pulled away the sheet to reveal a rather complicated looking diagram. “The newest layouts of our building!” The rest of the 3rd branch simply stared at the woman who seemed overly excited by it. “Well, what do you think? Kizakura-sensei gave me the job of helping Gozu-san with the new design for the future foundation now that the membership is rising and we need to increase the space.”

“I mean…” Nakashima seemed to be struggling for words. “I’m just confused about…well, all of it, really. Why does it look a jenga tower after a few moves?”

“E-eh?! What the heck is that supposed to mean?!” Anya cried out. “The design is fine.”

“There are so many indentations though, it looks like if it was built like that then floors would collapse instantly.” Naomi commented. “Really, did you put thought into this, Anya-san? You haven’t shown this to Gozu-san already, have you?”

“N…not yet.” She admitted.

“Thank god, the building is safe for now.” Nakashima sighed.

“But do you really think it’s that bad?” Anya questioned as she looked back at her diagram. “It was inspired by abstract art, you know? I thought it look cool.”

“Coolness doesn’t exactly equal safety.” Naomi reminded her.

“Though, this could still very easily be fixed.” Daisuke smiled, walking over to the diagram. “If we expand this area to match the rest of the width of the building, move this section down to the second floor, and take away this extra structure…I believe the design would be fine.”

“Think so…?” Anya cocked her head to the side as she tried to visualise the end result of Daisuke’s idea. “…you might be right. Thanks for the help, Takai-kun! I’ll work on the redesign right away!” The girl grabbed the diagram and ran off. “I’ll call you all when it’s done!”

“…you really think that she’ll be able to make a proper design by herself?” Nakashima asked.

“Nope.” Naomi shrugged.

-Through the eyes of a Fujoshi-

My name is Maemi Watanabe. I’m the former Ultimate Haram Mangaka and a member of the 79-C class in Hope’s Peak. And one of my worst kept secrets…is my love for BL. Whether it be Shounen-ai, or Yaoi, it matters not. My love for the genre is unbreakable…and whilst people most likely know about this, I’ve never truly admitted to it being true, for if I did…the horrible stigmas of a fujoshi would be attached to me forever.

Though the problem with keeping it lowkey is…

“Ah, Okanaya-kun, you’ve got sauce on your face again.” Ryuu frowned grabbing a napkin. “Seriously you’re such a messy eater, come here.” Kobo blinked and leaned down to Ryuu as the lucky student wiped his face gently.

My class seems to be incredibly plentiful in BL moments…

Maemi pushed her glasses up and looked away for a moment, trying to not let her mind run at the sight of Kobo’s and Ryuu’s interaction. “This class truly is a curse for someone like me…”

“Why do you say that?” Karma asked as they sat next to Maemi. “Something wack happen…?” They looked over at Ryuu and Kobo before letting a small grin appear on their face. “Don’t you think Ryuu and Kobo have been getting pretty close recently…? Like…super close…?”

“A…are you trying to imply something…?” Maemi asked, trying to act innocent, knowing full well what Karma was trying to say. “Nagata-kun and Okanaya-kun are just friends, you know? Also, don’t you usually sit with Yokozawa-kun and Kamisaka-kun?”

“Orochi had a nightmare about Junpei dying last night, he hasn’t let anyone go near him today. Not even me, so I decided to sit next to you. Besides, I thought you sat with Sadao and Yuuki.”

“I was but…” Maemi’s voice trailed off as she recalled the scene. Sadao requesting for Yuuki to try some of his food and then proceeding to spoon feed the explorer…it was a little much for the mangaka to handle. “…some complications came up.”

“Guess you’re fujoshi mind was at it again, huh?” Karma grinned. Maemi let out a ‘hmph’ and continued to eat her food. “Meh, I don’t blame you, homeslice. I’m the same.”

“I beg you not to call me…wait, repeat that.” Maemi looked at the secret agent with surprise. “You’re…”

“Fujoshi? Totally! Nothing better than seeing some of the guys in our class getting a little closer than expected…though it’s like Rock and Sly are trying to avoid those situations on purpose. I never see them get close with the others.”

“With how their personalities are, it’s more like they try not to get too close to anyone. Though Sly-kun is trying, I suppose…” Maemi paused. “…I guess it’s good to have someone I can talk to about it.”

“Eh…?”

“If you come to my room later, I can show you my collection of BL anime and manga. I’ve even been working on a BL haram manga, though I need to professional opinion on the genre. Willing to give some help?”

“You got it! Leave it to Karma!” The secret agent grinned again.

-Great Minds Think Alike-

“And…boom!” Sadao exclaimed. “Now they’re totally under my control!” He turned to Tamiko and smiled. “That’s the basics of hypnotism anyways…I’m not sure how Kimura-chan is planning on turning into a cure for despair though…must be something important though.”

“I think it’s a super cool talent to have!” Tamiko smiled widely, her eyes twinkling a little. “I mean, I love getting to do experiments, even if I almost burned my hair off a few times, and destroyed a few kitchens! It’s the best kind of experiments when that happens!”

“I know exactly what you mean! Takai-chan, you just get it!” The boy grinned. “Alright, then we need to mark this occasion as soon as possible!”

“Huh…? How so?” Tamiko asked.

“Let’s see…oh! We could pull a prank on Kimura-chan! Though if we did that to our branch head, we might really get into some serious trouble, you know…? We got to think about this logically…who would people not care about getting potentially hurt from hypnotism and chemical-induced explosions…?”

Tamiko paused. “Okanaya-kun?”

“You read my mind!”

-A Surprise Request-

“Huh…?” Mage tilted her head. “You want to learn how to cook…?”

“Right.” Toson nodded. “To be honest, I’m not sure how it’ll go, though I think I can do it. See, we use a lot of kinds of foods as props in my movies, and some need to cook to a proper point…hiring someone that can cook the perfect food prop is expensive. I figured that it would be better if I just decided to ask for your help in teaching me.”

“Is that so…?” Mage folded her arms and thought for a few seconds. “Well…I’m all for helping a friend, I suppose. But understand this!” She pointed a ladle at the horror movie director. “When you’re in my kitchen, you abide by my rules, alright?! I won’t stand for any lazing around, and I won’t take any backtalk!”

“Alright, alright, got it. You can count on me to try at the very least.” The boy smirked. “I never knew how quickly you could get fired up just because of food. I guess that’s just part of being the Ultimate Baker.”

“Ah…I guess, yeah.” Mage scratched the back of her neck. “Despite being only a baker you came to me for help…you would probably get better advice from Hanamura-kun. He’s the Ultimate Coo…Ultimate Chef…he has a more versatile list of foods that he can create.”

“Maybe, but you’re a member of the 79-C class, like me. Hell, we sat right next to each other, remember? It’ll be a cold day in hell before I turn to someone else for cooking advice.”

“Th-that’s…actually kind of sweet.” Mage seemed surprised once again. “Sorry, it’s just…you don’t really make statements like that a lot. I was a little surprised.”

“I don’t huh…?” Toson ran a hand through his red and black hair. “Well, I’m a blunt guy, right? I’m not one for sugar-coating things, so at least you know that I meant what I said.”

“I guess…thanks, Shinko-kun.” Mage smiled brightly, to which Toson looked away, a small tint appearing on his cheeks.

“Well…we should probably head to the kitchen right about now, right? It’s bad to waste time.” Toson avoiding eye contact and started to head the kitchen ahead of Mage. The baker looked as the boy was walking away.

“…nah. He’s just one of those people…right?”

#Mod J #Mod post #DR #Foundation Short Stories

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