text:
As I described in my last post, I just migrated from Octopress to Ghost. The migration was actually pretty simple and I didn't have any serious issues during the process. I was surprised to find that there weren't really any good guides out there on the topic, though. So, here is a quick brief on how to go about doing this, if you are looking to move to Ghost from Jekyll + Octopress.

Step 1: Sign-up for Ghost (or install it)

I'm using a paid-for Ghost instance. If you are doing the same thing, head to the Ghost website and create an account. Then create your new blog.

If you are hosting your own instance of Git, follow the instructions provided by Ghost for getting the code and installing it.

Step 2: Export Your Posts

Next, you'll want to export all of your posts from Jekyll + Octopress to a JSON file so that you can import them to Ghost. There are a couple of options out there. I used this one from mattvh. The exported file wasn't in the location that the docs said, but you can find it pretty easily. After following the instructions on that Github page to clone and install the script, and then running the build, you can find the output with this:

$ find . | grep ghost_export

Put that file someewhere easy to find.

Step 3: Import Your Posts

Your hosted blog should be at If you head to you will find a Ghost admin interface. Use this to import that JSON file that you just exported.

Step 4: Fix Your Posts

At this point, you will want to go through your posts and fix them. You will need to import images manually. For everything else, like Youtube links and such, you may actually find it easier to export your posts (using that interface above), and write a script to re-write any Octopress-specific links to the Ghost format, and then re-import them.

One thing I will note here is that Octopress really likes newlines, and Ghost hates them. If you have \n characters in your posts, I recommend stripping them.

Step 5: Migrate DNS

Now you will need to change your DNS settings. The Ghost documenation on this is actually pretty good. You can find the Ghost docs here. I use Namecheap (left GoDaddy for them during that whole SOPA / PIPA mess), and Namecheap does indeed support the 'alternative CNAME' functionality that Ghost wants.

Step 6: Migrate your Disqus Discussions

I was pretty worried about this one, because I really wanted to keep the discussions in my old blog. Thankfully, the Disqus folks have made it pretty easy to completely migrate blogs.

Now that you have migrated to your new domain name, your blog should be serving up pages at So, now we need to tell Disqus to move all discussions from your old Octopress URLs to these URLs. Head to your admin page in Disqus. Select the blog you need to migrate, click Discussions, then Tools, and you should see a link for a Migration Wizard. This is what you need. Start the wizard, and it will generate a text file of all of the URLs it has for your blog. Now, turn that text file into a CSV file, matching each old URL to a new one, like so:,

Do that for each URL you want to migrate, and then upload that CSV file back to Disqus. Before too long, you should get an e-mail that the migration has completed.

Step 7: Theme Customization

You will need to modify the Ghost theme that you selected to use your Disqus shortname information. Most themes seem to have this code already built-in, but if yours does not, you can follow these instructions to add it.

My theme had the Disqus conversation support, but not the comment count code. When I added that, I noticed that it would sometimes take a little while for comment counts to show up, so don't worry if you see Comments instead of 0 Comments next to some posts for a little while after setting this up.

That's it! You should now be all set. Have fun =)


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

WARC-Type: response

text:
Jack’s Book

A couple of months ago I wrote about a trip to Half Price Books to pick up “I Capture the Castle” for a book club read. As usual, I didn’t escape the trip without picking up some other, random purchases. More recently, I made a similar trip to pick up “The Sun Also Rises” for yet another book club read. This time, my “collateral damage” included “Jack’s Book,” an “oral history” of the famous author, Jack Kerouac, by Barry Gifford and Lawrence Lee. I read this book over just a couple days last weekend. I recommend it highly, but only if you are already somewhat familiar with Kerouac.

I’ve read several biographical accounts of Kerouac (& friends) in the past, but what made this one unique was the lengthy quoting of his friends (Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Carolyn Cassady, Luanne Henderson, John Clellon Holmes, Al & Helen Hinkle, Lucien Carr – the list goes on an on). It was fascinating to read again about some of these stories that I already knew but to this time hear them through some of the other characters and in their own words.

Kerouac’s interlude at Big Sur received more attention in this book than in some of my other reading. It was truly a sad stage of the author’s life to read about. Lenore Kandel (the then girlfriend of poet Lew Welch) had this to say about that: “He (Kerouac) was in a very bad place, and he went there to clear his head. But it’s a really elemental place, Big Sur, and it really burns. I guess it must be a little like an acid trip, a very heavy concentration of reality.”

Another thing I pondered while reading – and this is kind of a favorite speculation of mine – is whether or not this group of friends and aspiring writers (later to become known collectively as “The Beats”) knew they would become as famous as they did, or rather that their work and the “movement” would take hold. Clearly their ambition or goal was clear, but did they really think it would become reality? I remember a discussion at a book club meeting last year where we were talking about the book, Fahrenheit 451, which certainly has become an undisputed classic, and I posed the question “Do you think Bradbury knew he had something special when he was done writing?” I like to think he did, at least to some degree. The same goes for the “Beat Generation” standard bearers. I guess what I really hope is that it’s not just a kind of crapshoot whether books become popular or not.

Another memorable observation in the book – this one by John Clellon Holmes – was this one: “Most books that come out are contained. That is, ‘I want to read that book.’ But what happened when On the Road came out was , ‘I want to know that man.’ it wasn’t the book so much as it was the man.” He noted also that Kerouac became “more and more confused as it went on.”

This book also contained several more “convergences” with my other recent reading. The authors describe a meeting of Kerouac with Kurt Vonnegut in the late sixties in Cape Cod. Apparently, Vonnegut and others were playing poker, and Kerouac joined in but was not on his best behavior (drunk again) and kind of made an ass of himself in that company. Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot” is also quoted at one point, and Holmes mentions that he had discussions with Jack regarding how “Dostoevsky wrote in the 1880’s that Russia is talking of nothing but the external questions now,” and that “with appropriate changes, something very like this is beginning to happen in America, in an American way.” The book also re-prints the famous, original New York Times book review by Gilbert Millstein, which helped launch On the Road, and within it is a reference to The Sun Also Rises: “Just as, more an any other novel of the twenties, “The Sun Also Rises came to be regarded as the testament of the “Lost Generation,” so it seems certain that “On the Road” will come be known as that of the “Beat Generation.”. I love it when all my reading starts to link together like this.

How do you feel about Kerouac?

Sent from my iPad

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-30
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for July 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-232-173-83.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

text:
In 2017, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada launched a National Youth Mentoring Advisory Council to ensure that young people are shaping the future of mentoring in Canada.

These young leaders have firsthand experience as mentees and mentors with Big Brothers Big Sisters. They bring enthusiasm and a fresh perspective to our work and they hope to inspire more of their peers to get involved locally.

For Mental Health Week, National Youth Council members Nicole Mensah, Keyla Ange Keza and Karine Pomila Gauthier share their observations and advice on this critical topic.

In recent years, the discussion on the topic of mental health has become much more prevalent. This is no surprise considering that one in five Canadians deal with or will eventually encounter mental health illnesses (Canadian Mental Health Association).

This statistic only accounts for reported cases of mental illness – many more go unreported, often due to fear of stigmatization. In society, there remains a pervasive assumption that mental illness is connected to being weak or unstable. This is not the case. Mental illness affects everyone regardless of gender identity, cultural background, sexual orientation, ability or age. Discrimination, inequity and intersectional identities further marginalize someone in how they are affected by mental illness and the supports available to them.

“Trying to balance academics, extracurriculars, and a social life while in high school can be quite stressful. I found that using a calendar to plan and exercising to destress has been most effective for me.”
-Nicole Mensah

Teenagers and young adults are affected by poor mental health. According to the Government of Canada, 70% of mental illnesses develop during childhood. These illnesses can become problematic well into adulthood if not addressed early on. In fact, by the time young people reach post-secondary, some have internalized anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia.

According to a national survey of over 1,000 youth, conducted by Big Brothers Big Sisters and other youth organizations, mental health remains a Top 3 priority that young people want the governments to address.

What can we do about this?

Poor mental health is often trivialized on social media through memes. Despite their hilarity, memes are not a healthy way of dealing with mental health issues. Rather, we can use memes to raise awareness and encourage people to seek help.

It is also important to remember that mental health services are often inaccessible and underfunded. Without access to mental health services, people can be left feeling lonely, isolated and hopeless. These feelings can be reinforced when using social media, which often depicts people living their best life. While people are generally aware of social media’s deceptive nature, the pressure to succeed can be difficult to cope with.

Keyla Ange Keza (Surry, British Columbia)
“Through pain and discomfort, our bodies try to communicate with us when something is wrong. I think it’s the same with our mental health. It’s our mind’s way of telling us to pay closer attention. Mental health to me is a window into what my mind and soul need. In tough times, I find that it’s important to disconnect and find solitude in order to pay better attention.”
-Keyla Ange Keza

This Mental Health Week, we encourage everyone to reach out to a friend, a counsellor, or a mentor. We also call on organizations to dedicate more funds to mental health services, through mentoring or otherwise. We all have a role to play in advocating for the issues that matter to us. In fact, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Council tackled the issue of Youth Mental Health through the annual YOUthinOffice initiative in October 2018. We asked questions and shared our thoughts with MPs, Senators, and government leaders.

Healthy minds are just as important as healthy bodies. The more we raise awareness, the easier it will get to talk about our struggles.

Karine Pomilia Gauthier
“In my experience, superficial remedies won’t heal the body or the mind, but having a meaningful mentoring relationship has been instrumental to maintaining good mental health.”
-Karine Pomilia Gauthier

Tips to care for your mental health and wellbeing:
  • Physical: eat healthy meals, drink plenty of water, include physical activity into your daily routine (e.g. walking, stretching, climbing stairs)
  • Cognitive: take a break from technology and engage in mentally stimulating activities (e.g. puzzles, drawing)
  • Emotional: try including “mindfulness minutes” into your day, by meditating and/or calming the mind to become more aware of how you respond to the world around you
  • Social: spend time with people you care about doing things you enjoy, talk to someone you trust, get involved in mentoring to develop trustworthy relationships that will provide support

Get Involved!

Did you know that mentoring improves mental health? When you have a positive role model to talk to and share the experiences of growing up, the result is a life-changing experience.

thumbs-up icon blue
of youth with mentors grow up to believe they make good life choices
happy icon green
say they’re happy
icon social purple
have strong social networks

You can make a positive difference in the lives of youth by volunteering or donating today.


text:
bokepxxxblack, sarah free eastern model, indian sex sheemals

To the raiders, we will not surrender! Come meet us if you wish to nude nepali bokepxxxblack

Stephanie laughed it off and fixed her bikini; Becky's words suddenly making her feel naked. hiroen xxx all willpapr sildenafil citrate 100mg lowest price

sarah free eastern model i wait indian sex sheemals

We let the boys get in front of us and I can finally see the room, candles are all lit up and there are some curtains with two silhouettes behind them, shapely girl and a guy standing upright against the wall. karina kapoor xnxx

bangali actress popi xxx pic At first Cynthia was going to protest but she just gave him another Yes Master and was off to get his scotch. brazilian nudist ru w w w xxxxxxxxxx

sarah free eastern model

                                   __________________________________________________________________________  brazilian nudist ru

But this isn't an affair. w w w xxxxxxxxxx what was viagra originally made for

karina kapoor xnxx Nope, he whispered to himself.

quit crying...

hiroen xxx all willpapr And she walked upstairs, making sure to strip on her way up. nude nepali

indian sex sheemals

 Kate grabbed one of Hannah's legs and slammed into her harder.  foto naughty ticher porn

Of course I won't stop, honey, Mom said. pfzier

secs videos zofiler Our kids grew up with Kelly and she was always totally protective of them and of Barbara.

buceta melada All I know is that I need this again, I told her.

alexander krivon torrent Everyone looks on. free chikan me porn videos

bangali actress popi xxx pic

 Baby, we have to be care...!  kerala nurse banana pussy

I slid my hands up her back and untied her bikini. will 10 year old viagra work

www xxx 20118 she told me. bangali actress popi xxx pic

fattest black nude mama s Yes, sir, I guess I didn't answer your last question. pornici dlakave

That's where I'm going. vk lola girl update 2013

w w w xxxxxxxxxx

 Candy's throat had squeaked when she saw Deana take Evan's bloated cock in her hand.  sexstorytamilfont

For the rest of the afternoon I just hang about the house. you're not affiliated with me

bdsm xxxyaug That did it for her as her second, and considerably more powerful orgasm tore through her.

www bangla video 3xxxx She smiled briefly and walked around her desk before gently lowering my boxers and examining my package intently. addfgh xxx hd sex call girls bangalore rajajinagar

the exploring is the fun part. sex call girls bangalore rajajinagar addfgh xxx hd

Just Tits and Ass

Featured Porn Videos

Show More

    User Uploaded Videos

    Show More


text:
Our Mission

Our Mission is to help people use language to enhance their career and improve their quality of life.

Our Services

Bilingual Connections is a professional foreign language firm who provides comprehensive language  services in over 70 languages for a variety of industries. We deliver solutions that facilitate multilingual and multicultural communication in order to meet the challenges of today’s global arena. Our extensive, well-seasoned pool of professional language experts consistently exceed our customers’ needs and expectations.

Our Team

Maria Eugenia Guzman, President & CEO

Christian Yen, Director of  Interpretation Operations

Paulina Bohorquez, Marketing and Business Development Director

Our Big Why

We understand the importance of learning another language at a personal level. Our minority, woman owned, firm was started by a family that knows firsthand what it is like to move to a new country, have to learn a new language, and adjust to a new culture while maintaining their own language and culture. Helping people make that transition and join a community where they can be productive members, who can also understand how to access services and care when they need it is our passion.


text:
American Truck N' Auto Accessories

Where Quality Is Our Motto

928-282-1916 or order directly online!

Welcome to American Truck n' Auto Accessories where Quality is our motto. Quality parts along with quality service is the way we do business.
We specialize in Custom Billet Grilles, Chrome Trim, Interior and Exterior appearance accessories for your car, truck or SUV.

Billet Grille Insert (2pc) (Black)

Always Free Shipping
Add to Cart:

C85042H: 91-92 Chevy S10 Billet Grille Insert (2pc) (Black). This two piece custom billet grille insert installs directly into the OE factory grille on your S10. Made from billet aluminum, it comes finished in all black powder coat. Comes complete with hardware and installation instructions. Installation time is about 1/2hr. Backed by manufacturers one year warranty. Imported.

There are currently no product reviews.

APS Inc.

APS is a professional grille manufacturer located in Ontario CA. For over 10 years, we have been supporting our distributors with high quality products, efficient after sale service at competitive prices, we have earned high recognition in the automotive aftermarket. Since 2008, we are ranked as No.1 in the aftermarket grille industry as we have the most complete application (over 1,400 applications ).

Our applications include:

  • Aluminum Billet Grille (Polished/ Black Powder Coated )
  • Stainless Steel Billet Grille
  • 1.8mm/2.5mm Stainless Steel Mesh Grille ( Triple Chrome/ Black Powder Coated )
  • Pure Mesh Grille ( 1.8mm in Chrome and Black Powder Coated Finishing )
  • CNC Machine Perimeter Grille
  • Symbolic Grille
  • Tubular Grille

These grilles are manufactured in ISO-9001 certified overseas factory. Every month we have over 15-20 new grilles released to the market.

From 2007, we expanded our product line to Chrome accessories, Fender Trim, Door Mirrors, HID kit, Bull bar, Side bar in order to fill our distributors' demands fully. Currently We stock over 40,000 sets of grilles and 2700 applications of auto parts in our 60,000 sqft warehouse. If you are looking for top quality products at very economical prices - choose APS!

Tell your friends about the Billet Grille Insert (2pc) (Black). Share this product on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or send an email to a friend!

Copyright © American Truck N' Auto Accessories.


text:
How to Start Stripping

How to Start Stripping

How to start stripping is a question searched on Google 100 million times every month. Because there is no expert opinions on how to start in the Gentleman’s Club industry, as a result it would be helpful to receive advice from a female Gentlemens Club owner. No reliable source exists to help young entertainers who seek information in this highly lucrative misunderstood industry. In this blog post I will review some basics.

Who should I take advice from?

For instance, seeking advice from dancers who are biased, tainted, uninformed and a slew of other adjectives can limit your potential when you are considering a career change. Ideally receiving advice from an experienced operator may be the best possible scenario for someone starting out. Unfortunately, few operators are involved in day-to -day operations.  I myself these days work more behind the scenes however have over 29 years of experience in the education of entertainers. I have learned a lot and have much knowledge to share. In my own facility I can closely watch my employees due to technological advances of today’s video surveillance.

Questions to ask if you seek employment in a Gentleman’s Club, Stripper Bar, Topless Club or Adult Entertainment Venue

The above names are just a few of hundreds of ways society has re-directed the description of what performers do. Therefore for search optimization I have included a few different variables for those looking to work in the industry. Depending on what part of the country you reside this is a beginning outline. The basic premise does not change much regarding general assumptions related to the stripping business. Management regulations vary from state to state so be mindful to learn proper procedures according to your state.

How does someone get started in the world of pole dancing?

Emails and calls weekly asking “How do I Start Dancing?”  “Is there a handbook, video tutorial or something along the lines of an informational class?” Unfortunately we are not aware of one therefore you must rely on what information you find online. Being hired as an entertainer at Billy Deans Showtime Café is an amazing start should you be fortunate enough to live or relocate to the Long Island area. We provide training in all aspects because management has determined the CORRECT WAY to handle this position. Therefore it is instilled in every new employee. Hence it leads us to the success of training entertainers for a combined total of 42 consecutive years.

Must I have the ability to do pole tricks to start working?

Absolutely NOT! It is necessary to have confidence to walk on a stage. Pole Dancing is something which comes naturally in time. The time you put in performing will be the art form from which you will evolve as you learn your craft. Over the years I explain it as such; it is similar to riding a bicycle, you fall down, pick yourself up till you get it right. In time you will learn small moves while earning money in between.  Some of our employees are great conversationalists; others seek an excellent workout and a way to earn extra cash. Girls who started with us with NO EXPERIENCE ended up competing in national POLE CHAMPIONSHIPS. Like most jobs , the more time you put in, the more you advance.  Practice makes perfect and each time you hit the stage you learn.

Guests who visit my club like different attributes in an individual. To give you an idea some like tall girls, others small girls. Blondes, brunettes, Hispanics or maybe tattoos. Each individual working at Billy Deans Showtime Café can find a happy medium if they are willing to work hard and put in the time; or as we say it in the industry “pay your dues”. When starting out do not anticipate making a lot of money. Like anything else it is learning process which here at Billy Deans Showtime Café we are willing to work with you the whole way. Like most jobs, the more time you put in, the more you advance.  Practice makes perfect and every time you hit the stage you learn. Be respectful to other employees because we thrive on teamwork.

Call our office today to set up an interview and meet our staff. We are available from 2pm until 7pm at 516-783-0003. You can also watch my video on the employment page

About Rori Gordon 6 Articles
Owner, Billy Deans Showtime Cafe

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


text:
Comic stripsnow with correct link
Exhibitionshave been lacking
About page
icon4 icon19 icon7 icon10 icon16 icon19 icon25

Questionable artwork and pedantic miscellany
July 28, 2012
“What are you talking about, young pudge ball?” Dedede looked surprised.

Somebody called Kiki-Uma drew this. Ordinarily I do not post drawings by others here. Not out of principle, merely that I rarely do it. However I must protest on this occasion. Not the non-policy; in fact if it were a real thing I would be prevented from showing this image and then would have less to protest.

I protest dopes. This is notable for featuring an imp that once proclaimed its feet splendid while amidst danger. Here it has no feet or conceals them out of shame and it is rightly served. Of course on the previous occasion it was also decapitated, but perhaps it will only learn if the punishment is directly tied to the wrongdoing. It is rare that an artist so effectively captures the utter stranglobility of these useless wretches. I cannot stand it. But I must, because my chair was so disgusted at the sight of them that it went for a walk.
I want to punch them! They are so proud of themselves! They love having large ears and being absurd. The dope’s ears were pretty gosh darn big before but this is beyond inexcusable, refusable and disposable. These fiends have interfered with road traffic through their aimless game. Luckily the dope is too dumb to realize that it isn’t green and surely any motorists who aren’t dopes will also notice and suspect that something is amitz. Amiss, pardon me (but not them). As for nemitz, how can we possibly punish something that likes beets and likes dopes? This lot is incompetent. They are unfit to stand trial. Rather they should be jailed and executed immediately. I initially wrote that last remark about the bow tie creature but it probably applies to these as well.
Everything dope related is a sabotage of decency. I should not be surprised that they have upgraded to actual mechanical sabotage.

attention populace, nemitz has issued a thumbs up rating on the topic of nemitz. I cannot stand idly by while nemitz is tolerated. I pledge to fidget uncontrollably until justice is done.

I was recently in such a place that a tremendous fuss was made over me placing a hat on a table. I consider that classy compared to a big fuzzen nemitz foot. The trouble with nemitz is that everything it does is troublesome
nemitz has a master’s degree in crumbummery from bob dopes university. and it thinks it’s better than me because it has a degree and I don’t. But its wrong; I have many degrees of rage-induced heat which while not adequate to boil nemitz alive will surely aid its discomfort. I will toss nemitz into a landfill. sooner or hopefully even sooner it will stay there.

In response I drew this picture with that artist’s characters: the frogoid Chiro in the center and the two “mist twins” Yaku (red) and Yakuma (blue) who appear together sometimes. However, something stupid happened and several more dumb imps appeared. They really have few scruples. When I engage in picture-swapping it is my personal policy to give too much or too little so that the other party is as uncomfortable as possible. It is the only way they will learn.

July 21, 2012
Yeah he is Lupin the Third. Nice man. Yeah he smiles, and he gets angry, sometimes, but he’s a groovy guy

page 50.5 of this… it continues along despite my current peculiar mental state. I have left empty space for the event in which I recover and figure out what is supposed to be there.

When I was painting I would say with some regularity that I couldn’t quite understand my own images before they had color in them. Perhaps that is a factor in my inability to produce coherent ink lines that do not require a week or more of post-scan revision, assuming nobody else needs me for anything. I can understand OTHER people’s completed monochromatic images but mine in progress are baffling. I don’t doubt that people exist who could make sense of my pencil marks and choose colors that I would enjoy, and save me weeks of meddling. I merely suspect that my likelihood of knowing any who would have their own time to do it in is minimal. It would not be morally fair, anyhow, to have somebody else have to look at nemitz so often, monetarily compensated or not.

July 18, 2012
The soundtrack is now available either as a digital download from music retailers such as iTunes and Amazon MP3 or as a CD-R through Again, “Everything is Food” has not been included on the soundtrack.

this looks like the Avengers and The Hulk are actually challenging the red baron, and I’m glad they’re doing so (except for Iron Man, who appears to be reaching for mozzarella sticks. The 11-13 count is uncertain because Iron Man may have taken some before they got to the box). I suspect regardless of the outcome the pizza’s quality won’t be noticeably affected for the worse.

I don’t enjoy seeing scores of government and military employees get emotionlessly killed and forgotten in movies and video games. Avengers was a nice contrast to the last Marvel-branded film I saw, X-Men: First Beet, in actually making an effort to appreciate special agents and whatnot, even if they’re mostly probably jerks. In the Xmen movie, some incredibly cheap devil guy teleports around killing, in seconds, multitudes of devoted operatives who likely trained for years to get their positions. He does it by teleporting next to people, grabbing them, teleporting again to some place high up, dropping the person, and then teleporting again before he has time to fall. He does this to about fifty people in a few seconds, with no apparent physical drain from constantly carrying fully grown men through invisible voids nor disorientation from appearing in 30 different places in under a minute. I just know if I got to play as that guy in a video game I’d be allowed to teleport maybe three times before resting or it would cause mortal personal injury for some reason and it would be more of a nuisance than a benefit because the entire planet would be designed by someone fully aware that I have this skill and who resents me for having it because that’s the kind of scumbag you have to be to work at a software company that has enough money to license movie characters. I would still have to kill thousands of citizens but I’d have to do it entirely by punching to not get penalized, apart from the boredom penalty of punching all the time. Gosh now I’m mad and none of that even happened.

But this isn’t an imaginary video game, it’s real movie, and all those people are dead now, and the dumb kids who are supposed to become x-men don’t seem bothered and are minimally sidetracked from their regularly scheduled poor me I’m white, well off, have magic powers and absolutely no social anxiety routine. There is a black guy but he gets killed also, almost immediately after 20 million dollars is spent showing how great his mutation is. Again, the white kids quickly get over it. And there’s a blue person but it’s clearly played by a white woman and in any event nobody bothers trying to kill her because her secret power is that she is naked. I would gladly have offered forth a dope for the role if the alleged writer agreed to change the script so the dope got killed instead but negotiations broke down on the highway and nobody is stopping to help, you creeps.

I mention this movie now because it was watched in my presence two months ago at the place where I spent a week getting sunburnt, on a television machine in the near distance, while I tried to draw pictures with a mouse with a sunburn. In this way I missed the beginning of the film and didn’t give it my full attention until half way through, so I acknowledge that my assessment may be only partially absolutely right.

All these mutant outcasts in this xmen movie -immediately- get along with each other, drinking beer, listening to crummy music, embracing the latest fashion and language trends. THEY complain that society doesn’t accept them. The vampire show that also got watched in my presence is the same. Drink drink sex gender relationships. All these pouty aliens get along better with the “humans” that supposedly oppress them despite not having magic powers than I do, and thus a real person inherits their fictional poutiness. However is that fair? Look I’d go out and prove it if I wasn’t busy putting things on the internet.

Unlike the xmen, the vampires seem to have powers from the start. The one character who was the focus of the episode could read minds, evidently without wishing to. How is she not under attack from stray thoughts at all times? As a child she would have to be making moral decisions constantly. How much knowledge, that she came across inadvertently or unfairly, just from wanting to know it, but not necessarily wanting to steal it, was fair to use to her advantage? Would she have to deliberately handicap herself to offset it? Would she take full advantage of it? Either situation seems absolutely unfeasible to end somebody up at a low status food-service job, yet there she is, miserable at a diner, with coworkers who resent the mind-reading. You would either get yourself a rich and comfortable, thoroughly dishonest life or seek some situation where you could be free of having to make those decisions. And is it really dishonest to use the ability that you were born with? how does this person have remotely normal interests? How does she not feel totally alone and isolated from every person? I understand she is interested in the scummy vampire because his mind cannot be read, but clearly the guy is a creep and not a satisfying end. Does the show explain all these things? (a simple “yes” or silence will suffice if it does; if I had no problem with it I would have forgotten it immediately because all that stuck in my mind was the problem.)

I am absolutely not overthinking it because scrutiny is a consequence of trying to make fantasy gritty and plausible. I am thought grit. I wish people would not watch these things in my presence because I neither have time to watch them nor to ponder them later. I don’t have time because I spend so much of it writing these things. Also, looking for pictures to insert in them and then doing that.

I don’t have any good vampire pictures.

Hey Xmen! OKAY! it’s the last 15 minutes, everybody put on the costumes that the ads imply we’re wearing the whole movie and then have one mission together where we actually do the stuff people paid to see us do. Okay now let’s REBOOT so we don’t risk having to make a sequel where there’s time for stuff to happen. Did nobody learn anything from Star Wars 6: Episode 3? every ad for pepsi, doritos, cheezits and craftmatic adjustable beds had the real Darth Vader in full darth garb whoring it out to sea and then he’s only in the actual movie long enough to inspire a lame meme and then one power-point scene transition later he’s done.
X-Men: First Blood 2: Rambo: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock also seemed to waste a lot of time showing off effects for characters that don’t matter. As I said, the guy who could transform based on his surroundings was killed almost immediately. I suppose I didn’t expect him to get killed but apart from swerving me that was pointless. The Beast is a regular human for most of the movie and gets transformed into a megabeast toward the end, and then pilots an airplane so his beastness is irrelevant. What’s really dumb is that prior to then, when he’s mostly human, he’s trying to scientifically transform himself into a total normal human, which would deprive him of his magical beast powers which are only visually evident from his funny looking feet. What a fickle scumbag. He devotes all this energy to fitting in with other fickle scumbags. I know I wouldn’t drink a potion that made me not have a problem with this. It’s annoying but it’s my only interesting attribute. Maybe that’s the moral of the story and I’m supposed to dislike it, but I more want to dislike the writer for making Beast do something dumb that makes me dislike him. If you want to do that, maybe you can cast Kelsey Grammer in the role next time. What’s that? Oh I didn’t hear anything because I am static words on a computer screen.
Surely, surely, having funny looking feet makes it difficult to be naked in pursuit of life’s sexes, but even that isn’t a factor because Dr. Beast’s mutual affectionery is the Naked blue dope Lady, who also looks weird. And then Dr. Beast tries to get them BOTH to drink the normal potion, and then there’s a really uncomfortable scene about that, which makes ME uncomfortable and additionally wastes time. I hate that guy.

There are too many of these “superhero movies” that are more about the secret identities than the heroes. They’re REGULAR FOLKS JUST LIKE YOU who just HAPPEN to have SUPER POWERS sometimes.
Xmen: Playin’ for Keeps kept the “establish decade by constantly blasting contemporary top 10 hits that none of the characters are allowed to be indifferent toward the first 15 seconds of every scene” to a minimum. Nonetheless the mutants and normal humans are indistinguishable in appearance and behavior. Although apart from the stock President Kennedy footage and James Bond submarine sets there is no distinctive sensory hint that this is the 1950s.

I don’t want to go to the pictures to see a man, I want to see a Spider Man. I do have a special fondness for heroes doing heroic acts out of costume (as opposed to someone like Superman who will let the world go to hell to keep Clark Kent employed even though he doesn’t require money to sustain himself), but these are just heroes being normal boring oafs who have problems so that they seem realistic. No! We spent the whole last decade being plausible, making snarky references to stuff from fake comic books or cartoons that real movie people don’t do, and we haven’t stopped.

The Avengers! I liked their movie despite a solid 20 minute discomfort block in the middle where the main characters stand around in a room and bicker, though they showed little regard for civilians by not bothering to evacuate New York City when they knew alien turtles were coming. Those civilians then showed little self-preservation by continuing to labor in their office buildings and create TWO WAY TRAFFIC on the bridges around Manhattan. What idiots are going INTO the city when they see stuff blowing up? (my brother the Alex Jones fan will insist it’s the crews assigned to remove the evidence of controlled demolition from the rubble of the World Trade Center)

Loki doesn’t cut it as a villain, especially when there are four to six people who can beat him up at any one time. That useless tornado guy from the Xmen movie should have been here. Somebody who watches more movies than I do insists that Loki is deliberately pathetic so that the film’s focus is on the heroes working together. Great, but now the next movie is Iron Man 3, not Avengers 2. I didn’t even get much of an impression that Iron Man needed help here.

What if I don’t get a sequel? I was let down that this movie didn’t take the chance to show off Captain America’s pantomime skills. This is very helpful to people like me, who’ve never read the comic books, as it gives us important background information. We learn not only that Captain America knows where his watch is, but also that the Avengers apparently do not own a clock. Additionally, we learn that this is worthy of devoting precious level transition space to. The movie was too busy showing me what could very well have been the exact same footage of Green Goblin apprentices getting blown up over and over the final twenty minutes.

I was also disappointed that Iron Man never called Hulk a brainless gargoyle.

Oh gasp! I ought to have known! Spiderman, Xmen, Avengers, all united beneath the bow tie banner! I never had a chance!

UNLESS Roseanne has secretly gone undercover as Storm in an effort to sabotage the patriarchal dress scheme from within! But whose side is she really on? Find out if I mention it again!

I will clarify that I found the X-Man film entertaining on the whole, but the small things that stuck in my mind refused to leave until I deposited them here.

July 16, 2012
See the kids, as they get ready for the big fight with Scrag’s men!

Somebody evidently called Cody whose primary online presence that I am aware of is tumbly seemed to want, for a reason I could not discern, a picture of the imp Topaglior, the dope ripoff I ripped off for the illustrations for the text to a baffling “play” I “wrote” in 2004. So I drew six instead. Even more baffling is that I posted them here. They are not doing anything of consequence. Neither am I. I hope that they feel welcome.

July 8, 2012
The technical expertise gained from the Pruteen process assisted ICI in collaborating with Rank Hovis McDougall on a process for the production of fungal biomass to be used as human food.

One of these days

page 14 of that
This doesn’t tell you anything that the old one didn’t except that apparently I can bloody well make one of these in under a week if someone else has already done all the thinking (specifically, me eight years ago) and I’m no use anyplace else.
Also it is more colorful than the older new old pages that showed the same scenery, which is great! I’m looking forward to working over these pages a fourth time to get everything consistent.

I do have an unremarkable excuse to not excise those pictures of the lizard driving along some road which is clearly in a totally different place in search of the exact same place, or at least I thought I typed one out a year or two years ago.

July 3, 2012
The product was developed by Rank Hovis McDougall and Imperial Chemical Industries

7-3-2012 10:48pmish people are singing/clapping along with “WHOOMP DEHIDIHHH!” in the outside seating section of the bar across the road from my apartment. Certainly, I listen to music from dumb old Sorcerian at 2 am so I should be the last to judge, but I feel as if there are an inadequate quantity of judges before me.

July 2, 2012
Paladin’s Quest is the story of Chezni’s wondrous misadventures

page 13 of that. Howdy. i may be thinking about these remakes too hard. Here is another half a page which did not have a counterpart in the old version, whose primary function is to cover up an error I made before that nobody noticed and/or cared about. I had implied before, through not implying anything, that there was a forking path or some way of getting lost while going up the hill, but all distance views show that the path is straight and impossible to get lost on. So I needed to show that the creature was confused before it got on a path. Initially the DUNK sound effect was FADUNK and the sound of a wall moving, but there was no way to prove that withouth showing it or having a character be aware of it and it seemed excessive. I’m not sure that being able to cover my old mistakes is an even exchange for having lost all sense of line weight or background gag application.
Worst of all, now that lizard thinks it’s the main character!
Why is that fool walking like it means business? I know that it doesn’t!

Nobody I know has a website anymore

Mr. Sr. Mxy
Gilhodes (bah you need a facebook account to see)
video game music database
pacific novelty
Green Lantern Head Trauma

them`s fightin` woids: July 18, 2019
Purplespace sez:
Not sure why they would prefer BB8, the robot that fixes electrical shorts by trying to plug...
July 13, 2019
Frimpinheap sez:
I think they would do well to apply less of everything!
July 11, 2019
Purplespace sez:
Some of those they at least tried to stay on the character model! Clearly they needed more of...
July 9, 2019
Charmlatan sez:
I’m bothered.
July 3, 2019
Charmlatan sez:
Best nemitz! Have a good time. Thanks for the warning!
June 29, 2019
Charmlatan sez:
Very relatable comic entry. I too gain more weight when I’m anxiety ridden and stressed out.
Less recent posts
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • December 2004

  • May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007
    December 2006
    November 2006
    October 2006
    September 2006
    August 2006
    July 2006
    June 2006
    May 2006
    April 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    January 2006
    December 2005
    November 2005
    October 2005
    September 2005
    August 2005
    July 2005
    June 2005
    Maypril 2005
    March 2005
    February 2005
    January 2005
    Novcember 2004
    October 2004
    September 2004
    August 2004
    July 2004
    Maune 2004
    April 2004
    Febrarch 2004
    January 2004
    December 2003
    Octvember 2003
    Augtember 2003
    Junly 2003
    Maypril 2003
    Febrarch 2003
    Octnovdecjan 20023
    Junulgustember 2002
    Maypril 2002
    This never happened

    old webpages
    Mall Meh...ness
    I do not approve.
    irrational complaining about my television set
    Dennises are dead to me
    This page is not about shoes.
    I hate shoes.
    something award related
    Those Green Eyes again
    More valid but unfunny Disney criticism
    Biggest Loser
    Mall Blandness
    2004 advertisement complaint world championship
    Mall Egadness
    Las Vegas
    Spiderman 2
    Jope and Dopes
    These Green Eyes
    Game Over
    Mall orneryness
    Movies I'm not going to see
    Back fashion school to
    Movies Make Me Mad. Moreso.
    Official pizza of Nascar
    Michael Jackson
    Free Speech
    Film Critics. I hate them.
    Coconuts. I hate those as well.
    Independence Day
    Some time in July 2001
    other things
    Awards this website hasn't won
    The first First Beet segment
    Embarrassing pictures 1
    Embarrassing pictures 2
    The same
    Umiliphus (my old derivative megamen sprite comic
    11/24/04, (I can only justify this by calling it an experiment, so I shall)
    Poetry Page
    The same


text:
Joey Keogh

Join Date: Apr 06, 2016 • Last Entry Date: Jul 17, 2019 • Articles: 21

Joey has been writing since she could hold a pen, or so she’s told (who can trust memories pre-Facebook?). In addition to acting as Contributing Editor for Wicked Horror, Joey watches and writes about movies more than she sleeps. She has a couple of killer turtles named after Transformers, and is almost too goth to function.


text:
Posts Tagged ‘Col. Allen West’

October 25, 2016

Col. Allen West does not agree that men and women of the California National Guard should be obligated to repay the carrot presented by the Pentagon and handled by the financially inept State of California.  I can only agree.  These men and women offered their lives for a few bucks and maybe a piece of cloth to pin on their chests.  Let it be the responsibility of the bumbling idiots in charge to personally repay the money, not the soldiers and not the taxpayers. Read Col. West’s article:

Cloward and Piven strategized to bankrupt the system. DONE!

The national debt is currently $19,740,000,000,000.

The deficit (that the left claims is cut in half) stands at $590,000,000,000.

The true unemployment rate is 37.1%.  (The difference between the total number of employable persons of working age and those who actually are working), not the claimed 5.0%.

Some young relatives of mine just relocated.  They are among the intelligent and lucky few who escaped California.  They left their jobs but did not collect unemployment insurance so they were not counted among the unemployed.  They have obtained jobs in their new state which are statistically counted for Obama’s legacy purposes.  They are the same people who were working and are now working, but counted as new hires.  Amazing!  Then, we have two individuals filling the vacated positions also counted as new hires to bring down the declared unemployment rate.  The double count is for the benefit of the uninformed idiot voters who believe the propaganda promulgated by the White House and broadcast on the nightly lies and social media.

We have a rampant Marxist government deep in the making and we are on the way to full blown Communism (it takes a village) under a Global Government. This constant agitation of the citizens; the poking and prodding and identifying and dividing population segments are all parts of a strategy.  They are not “unintended consequences” that progressives use to excuse themselves after the lights come on.

If you want to continue the pattern, by all means vote for Hillary.  When everything has been taken from you and your children, perhaps then you’ll awaken.  When you find yourself in a food line dependent on the government to give you a chit for sustenance, perhaps you’ll wish you’d stood for the national anthem when there was one.

By all means, please share this with everybody you know – conservatives and progressives.


text:
Tag Archives: social media writing

Case Study: Bakery Owners Get Burned on Social Media

Businesses large and small are turning to social media to expand their customer bases and to garner attention. However, not all attention is good attention, especially when businesspeople show poor judgment.

Samy and Amy Bouzaglo

Samy and Amy Bouzaglo

Such was the case with Amy’s Baking Company and Bakery Boutique + Bistro in Scottsdale, Arizona. The restaurant, owned by husband and wife Samy and Amy Bouzaglo, had received negative notices on social media. Subsequently, Chef Gordon Ramsay visited the bistro to feature it on Kitchen Nightmares. During filming, he found much to criticize, and neither of the Bouzaglos took Ramsay’s criticism well. An altercation took place between the celebrity chef and the restaurant owners, and Ramsay and his crew left when Amy told Ramsay they “don’t need his help.” The show aired and resulted in an onslaught of negative posts on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

In response, the Bouzaglos reacted with venom, posting the following:

You are all little punks. Nothing. you are all nothing. We are laughing at you. All of you, just fools. We have God on our side, you just have your sites.

You are trash.

I am not stupid, all of you are.

Your task. Review the discussion of social media in your textbook (Essentials of Business Communication 10e Chapter 5; Business Communication: Process and Product 8e, Chapter 8). Working in small groups, discuss what the Bouzaglos did wrong. Then rewrite the posts using positive language and bridge-building strategies.

Suggested responses

We urge you to visit the restaurant yourselves to see just how wrong Chef Ramsay was. Be sure to try Amy’s delicious desserts!! Your taste buds will thank you!

It’s never easy to hear criticism and we definitely blew it with Chef Ramsay. Come judge the restaurant for yourself. We’re offering a free dessert to the first 100 who visit  Amy’s within the next week!

How did your students do with this exercise? Share their responses!


text:
Life on planet Benidorm

I went to Spain last April, and somehow I ended up staying for a few days near Benidorm. It’s a place I’ve heard absolutely nothing nice about. Rumor has it that while you may be able to lure the tourists there out of Benidorm, you can never take the Benidorm out of those tourists.

I don’t judge anyone who willingly travel there. It’s great that this world has a place for every kind of tourist. Where Asia has Pattaya and North America has Las Vegas, Europe has Benidorm. It’s like a human zoo, mostly for elderly specimens. I spent one day in the epicentre of it. What follows is my impression. Again; I truly don’t look down on this kind of tourism as such. However, I can only observe it in total disbelief, while also fully accepting that Benidorm serves a number of necessary functions for humanity.

Let’s have a look.

Benidorm Beach seen from the eastern end of it.

Once upon a time, the beach and the climate was the main reason for why Benidorm came to be what it is. A wall of high-rise hotels and apartment buildings makes for a massive and impressive waterfront. Thanks to the almost perfect east-west alignment of the beach, the beach stays sunny and free of shadow from the buildings all day.

The official population is around 70,000 people, but it is estimated that on any given day, there can be up to 300,000 people within the city limits. This is partially because Benidorm has around 40,000 hotel beds, putting it in third place in Europe. Only London and Paris can beat that. In addition, lots of climate refugees from Northern Europe, mainly retirees, own apartments here and frequently visit.

A slow day on the beach in Benidorm.

The only way the beach in Benidorm can compete with more famous places like Bondi or the Copacabana, is if you measure them by the combined age of the people on it. In that aspect, Benidorm will never be beaten. It’s still a great place for people watching. These guys don’t feel like they have to follow any conventions. They’re way too old for that shit. Embrace it, and know that whatever you will ever feel like wearing to the beach, you can definitely do that here.

Walking the dog on Benidorm Beach, in style.

For reasons of privacy, I won’t post many photos of the interesting people that walk up and down the beach promenade. I’ll just point out that this place easily compares to for example Venice Beach when it comes to displays of human weirdness. Many revel in it, some enjoy being looked at, others prefer to have their pets be admired.

Benidorm is low cost, but at what price?

One selling point of Benidorm is that it comes at a relatively low cost. You can get incredibly deals from cities all over Europe. You fly to nearby Alicante and you stay at a decently indecent hotel near the sunny beach. You spend your days getting nasty drunk in countless bars and pubs, while also amassing plenty of body fat from a plethora of fast food joints.

If that’s your idea of rest and recreation, this is your holiday heaven. Just be prepared to be surrounded by vast crowds of bachelor party weekend tourists. Bring a helmet and be ready to run at any moment.

Drive-in shopping in Benidorm.

Shopping opportunities are also plentiful in Benidorm. Especially if you’re looking for the kind of clothes that elderly people love to wear. Leopard print clothing, any floral pattern, as well as 1960s psychedelia dresses and shirts are readily available.

Thanks to the failing legs of the main clientele here, you can do drive-in shopping while seated in a rental mobility scooter. 40 Euros per week will save you an awful lot of walking, and maybe you’ll even be accepted into the geriatric, yet rugged scooter gangs that roam the sidewalks.

This man will let you know that The Lazy Cow is the best place for you to get drunk today.

When walking the streets of Benidorm, you must accept constantly being recommended a stop at some restaurant or drinking establishment. People who have no chance of getting any other job whatsoever anywhere else, can always go to Benidorm and be sure to find a job as a bar promoter. There’s happy hour somewhere at any hour of the day or night in this city.

British tourists with that special glow in Benidorm.

The White Walkers of Benidorm are way scarier than the ones in Westeros. After stumbling out of the plane from somewhere far to the north, pale as a corpse, they will throw away their shirt and restlessly patrol the beach and nearby pubs from dawn till dusk.

It is quite unnerving to watch, but it gets worse. This activity will by the next day transform them into Red Sitters. If encountering a group like these guys doesn’t scare you into a life in the shadows, you’re a braver person than me.

Classic Benidorm.

They’re not all monsters, of course. Most of the tourists in Benidorm are smiling, happy people. While they may be noisy, they are also friendly and peaceful, and they can’t think of any other place they’d rather be right now, or ever, than at Jumping Jacks, Big Ben Bar, Penny Farthing, Tartan Shamrock, or, of course, the Red Lion.

Kitch table and clients in a Benidorm bar.

There’s a wide range of kitsch drinking holes in Benidorm. I find most of them amusing, yet also quite frightening. Apart from the occasional Eastern European dancer performing at some flamenco show, you won’t find anything related to the history or culture of Spain in this city. Pretty much anything else is on offer, though.

Either way, no matter how exotic the wardrobes and preferences of the tourists here are, they do inject a considerable amount of money into the local economy. That is an important effect of tourism. This makes them valuable tourists, fulfilling their role quite well. As long as the Spanish are happy with their payment for tolerating and cleaning up after the tourists, I say this is good. All in all.

It's funny because it's true.

Still, I almost got this t-shirt to give to my faith in humanity.

I will never recommend that you go to Benidorm. Unless you really, really want to, and you know what you’re in for. Then you definitely should visit. And I hope you will enjoy yourself there.

I sincerely mean that.

Previous Post
Hiking Quebrada de Humahuaca
Next Post
Escape from Benidorm

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.


text:
All things related to Asia

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Kyoto, Japan.

Quickly Kyoto

Before, all I knew was that Kyoto is highly recommended because whatever. Also, I always thought it weird that Japan moved its capital to Tokyo from somewhere with the exact…
Tokyo traffic

Tokyo Takeaways

I’m not sure how it happened, but I managed to visit almost a hundred other countries before I decided to treat myself to Japan. Last May, I went for two…
Pagoda and night sky.

Narita By Night

We have a mid-morning flight to catch from Tokyo Narita Airport, going home after two weeks in Japan. To avoid the stress of navigating rush hour in the city, we…


text:
black man in the right world

“If I remember correctly there was a time when I was afraid to celebrate my blackness. I was afraid to be…and it was stupid AF.”

If you’ve been witness to some of my unabashed ridiculousness of recent times, this might surprise you. It might not. True story: Myke Thompson was afraid to be black. But in order to fully understand the whole situation, you must first understand where I grew up. I’m from Bakersfield, California. No, it’s not just a big ass, dusty wasteland. There’s actually a small city in between all those dusty fields of cow shit and tumbleweeds. There’s a whole lot of white people, a handful of Latinos, a pocket full of black folks and a sprinkle of Asians. While the Latino and white populations are pretty close in percentage, you already know better than to assume that these two groups happily thrive in the same areas or even create the same physical space in Bakersfield. Bakersfield is all about “get in where you fit in.” The blacks (as a true Bakersfield native probably would say) live with the blacks, the Latinos live with the Latinos and the white people live everywhere and nowhere there are too many blacks or Latinos.

I hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down. This is not an opinion. Look it up. This isn’t a claim that racism is a constant state of being in Bakersfield, but I’m also far from claiming that it’s anywhere near becoming a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants. I feel like Bakersfield breeds a unique type of white person. In Bakersfield, you’re blessed with the descendants of Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana which basically means they are country AF out here and have no shame about it. I’m talking about cooking crawdads-in-a-bucket in your backyard country. I’m talking about kids with no shoes, no shirt, and a mysterious red punch mustache country. This is I got horses, chickens, and a raised truck in my backyard country. I’m talking about still hanging onto the idea that the south will rise again, we ain’t taking down this confederate flag because it’s history country. No shade (actually, maybe a little shade) but multiple studies show Bakersfield is one the least educated metro areas in the United States. What does a predominantly white city plus a record low education equal? If you guessed “racism”, you would be correct. In what would be considered one of the most liberal states in our country, Bakersfield has firmly established itself as the proud, gun-toting, Republican, country music capital of the west coast. Sadly, that was neither a joke nor a gross exaggeration.

Believe it or not, I still have real love for my hometown of Bakersfield. It’s not every single white person walking down the street with Confederate flags and tiki torches, but the collectively conservative mindset is the reality of the city. I look back and realize that every experience I had in Bakersfield prepared me for the real world. My bubble was filled with constant, real-world racism, prejudice and societal hardship that not every kid has the opportunity to experience. My experience was unique and with the astronomically disproportionate demographics, I was “somewhat” prepared for the day I got pulled over by a cop in fear for his life.

I’ve presently discovered justification for the harmful elements of my Bakersfield life, but it was far from ideal when it was actually happening in my youth. Being one of the only black kids in my friendship circles, classrooms and neighborhoods was a nightmare I learned to endure.

grade # of black kids
1st grade 4 ← we’re off to a great start!
2nd grade 1 ←that’s me
3rd grade 1 ←it’s still me
4th grade 2 ← omg! hi friend!
5th grade 1 ← well, shit.
6th grade 1 ← alright, guys…
middle school >15 ← this is new.
high school >20 ←wakanda forever!

That’s a lot for a little kid to process. At an early age, I had to recognize that I was different from the Josh’s and the Billy’s of my small suburban neighborhood. It was a suburban neighborhood straight out of a 90s sitcom. We had the nosey neighbors with drinking problems, the cheating husbands, the block parties where no one was in charge of watching the kids, and the self-appointed neighborhood watchers who mostly watched my family for obvious prejudice reasons, but let’s save that conversation for another day and another blog post.

If by powerful intention or serendipitous black magic, my parents let me watch Roots before I could even write cursive or multiply and that was probably a defining moment in my “token black kid” experience. I recognized I was VERY different, but I also realized there could be a plus-side to this scenario. My curiosity gave way to reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X, listening to all of the Martin Luther King Jr. speeches on cassette tapes and making sure all my assignments involved the history of slavery, abolitionism, and civil rights before I even completed the sixth grade. Think about how uncomfortable I made my elementary school teachers with my race-fueled book reports on Nat Turner’s rebellion. I would present every word with vengeful glares and a quivering volume for dramatic impact. My early on-set hyper-awareness allowed me to mix and mingle with my white counterparts with just enough comfort to avoid being taken out to a backfield somewhere and beaten in the name of “the preservation of southern heritage.” I discovered that I could use my unique appearance to my advantage. For instance, I didn’t have to worry about being picked for anybody’s basketball team at recess. I wasn’t even that good, but I always ended up on the winning teams. I never had to worry about anyone remembering my name. Everybody knew Mychal was the black kid in Mrs. Chavez’ class. The best part of all was sitting in a classroom full of white kids allowed me the opportunity to steal the same education as the suburban white kids despite how hard they tried to incidentally place me in a box. If you don’t believe that our education system is hugely flawed based on demographics and region, stop playing stupid. We have no time for that your gross ignorance. Knock it off.

On the flipside, being the only black guy in school can have a handful of adverse effects on a kid. Everyone knew me, but I wasn’t afforded the choice to fly under the radar. Ever. When it came time to discuss civil rights and slavery, the disparaging eyes always turned to me, whether I was in the mood to be an example or not. No hairstyle-change was left without a follow-up interrogation and a series of petting, scratching and rubbing.

Basic Becky: “OMG. Can I touch your hair? It’s so fuzzy. It’s like a carpet!”

Me: “Basic Becky, get the @$&% up off me before I snatch your good hair all the way out.”

Lastly, any average teenage fight always resulted in one, single word insult as if calling me the “N-Word” was going to make me reevaluate the fight, count to ten, relax and back down.

Pro Tip: Do your research, people. If you want to squash beef with a black person or de-escalate the situation, DO NOT USE THE N-WORD UNDER ANY CasIRCUMSTANCES.

Basic Billy: “But why can you people say N*GGA and we can’t?”

On the other hand, when I wasn’t dealing with bigotry from people who didn’t look like me, I was experiencing difficulty relating to people who did look like me. Select members of my family and other black people who lived in different areas of Bakersfield gave me the role of the “white-washed” black kid. Apparently, the stipulations for gaining this title were based on my grammar, my neighborhood, and my education.

THIS IS PROBLEMATIC, my people. Education, dialect, wardrobe or hobbies don’t qualify blackness. We need cut that shit out.

Let’s consider the fact that because my mom taught me how to read by age three, I developed a love for the English language, literature, and dialogue. This would eventually lead to degrees in English and Screenwriting, a fascination with puns, creating abbreviations and portmanteau. But, I guess younger Myke should’ve realized proper English, and a pair of Vans mean you hate being a black person. Go figure.

At the end of the day, I had the choice of either being ridiculed behind my back by people who didn’t look like me or mocked to my face by people who did. An upbringing in a unique city (Bakersfield) for a black man in America gave me some of the greatest experiences of my life and also gave me some of the darkest. I was left with discovering how can I channel these experiences into learning opportunities on how I am perceived and how I perceive myself in this world. Do I acknowledge my blackness every day at the expense of genuinely relating to the world as a whole or do I find a way to embrace who I am empathetically with everyone’s individual experience regardless of their background? This journey of navigating life as a black man in a predominantly white world gives me the opportunity to embrace at the end of the day, I’m in the right place at the right time.

black man in the right world.

1 thought on “black man in the right world

  1. I want more stories! This read like you were standing here telling me the stories. You’re a wizard with your word, Myke 🧙♂ How do I subscribe?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:
search previous next tag category expand menu location phone mail time cart zoom edit close


text:
You can either log in to view it or learn more about our memberships.

Organizing Building Configuration into Sized Spaces

2m 58s

Jim Viviano of 5G Studio takes us through all phases of Gateway Center II.  He’ll talk about the structural system and materials used, as well as MEP and budgeting considerations. Additionally he will show an example of a RFI, and discuss submittals and revisions.

Transcript summarylog in to access this content in full.

We did a-all of the mechanical on the rooftop of this building, because it was just a two story office building, so instead of having mechanical units on each floor, where you would occupy more usable space, we chose to put that up on the roof and then just do large shafts, to then bring the air down to those other floors. And so that's what you see here. The advantage to that is, from a design standpoint, is that it allowed for more usable space, which is rentable for the developer.

Log in to access files

From the course:

Duration: 49m


text:
Large wings pack white

Angel Wings Hanging Ornament

Unconventional hanging decorations for the less traditional!
Forget your standard christmas themed decorations and why not opt for something a little different to adorn your tree this year?

Be inspired by our alternative decorations, available in two different designs: Octopus and Tattoo Wings.

Etched in brass complete with string to hang.
Designed by Another Studio in London.


text:
What Is So Fascinating About Blockchain?

The Dirty Truth About Blockchain

Data storage differs, the entire blockchain is stored, including information generated outside the bounds of someone Enterprise. Use Cases A overall purpose smart contract platform might be used essentially for whatever that programmers can find with. Thus it’s crucial to remain on top of new application be confident it is the ideal match for your company needs. While Blockchain options may provide a solution, it must be regarded as a short-term option on an experimental basis. It’s essential to select a somewhat common program that includes the type program you would like. A program named Augur has been developed utilizing the Ethereum blockchain. Kodak’s project isn’t only employing blockchain to real-world usage, but it’s also bringing forth the idea of First Coin Offering (ICO) in a regulated way.

You may instantaneously transfer currencies between both exchanges free of charge, which is really great. You simply have to trade against one currency instead of multiple currencies. The best way to fix the dollar will be a digital currency. For instance, sending money overseas could come to be nearly instantaneous. An essential reason money exists is with the objective of trade. Now it is not selfishly attempting to generate as much money as possible, Beckmann states.

The Blockchain Stories

The first kind of software is the type that is going to teach you precisely how to trade forex. Based on which program you decide on, it is likely to ascertain if you find forex software which works. If you’re looking for forex software that works, there are lots of applications that will teach you quite useful strategies to boost your profits radically. Forex software is a significant option to aid with your forex trading.

If you discover market has been dismissing some moving average then it isn’t advisable to use them. Trading is a great deal of blockchain pilot projects’ focus. Trade constitutes a huge proportion of activity, production and taxes for numerous regions.

Not all agents are made equal. A broker might need their Forex trading applications to be downloaded by you, but others permit you to use your selection of software. Loads of different agents exist and are prepared to supply their services to traders. Investors will discover a way around it. Last, a stage that numerous investors appear to disregard, is to think about the authentic nominal price. Every investor that is fantastic and effective has a program.

Companies should consider all scenarios and plan ahead of time. Both companies are banned or regulated in cities all over the world. They need to develop applications that it can make a real effects. What is clear is that a great deal of companies trying to use the blockchain aren’t really needing a blockchain whatsoever, but instead IT updates to their specific industry. Many businesses utilize the term blockchain to mean some type of magic device by which all their information will not ever be wrong. They are currently doing things now.

Businesses will have the ability to transact using tokens which won’t drop in value by 20% a day later or go up by 40% in a couple of days. Firms should establish if Blockchain is a excellent solution for them and the way that it will be relevant to their data management requirements. Small businesses are usually starved for funding due to the time commitment it can take to have a bank loan, which eats into time that could be allocated to other pursuits. Enterprises should make sure the legal team gives policy and operational risk oversight through the approach.

The cost is. One usually needs a good deal of discipline to be in a position to handle their very own independent portfolios. An individual must question the possibility of creating botnets too. Going forward expect to find the SEC have a more potent stance towards public businesses that either quickly shift their name of the business or their whole small business strategy to profit from crypto and blockchain hype. The full point of money is the fact that it enables parties to transact without needing to barter.

In a couple of minutes, you might set up your account on one of the various countless exchange platforms and platforms, confirm your identity in a couple of hours and begin purchasing tokens. When you make an account on Coinbase (or a different exchange), you need to confirm your identity by uploading an image of your drivers license or passport. The moment your account is funded, you can proceed and make your very first purchase. If you’ve got to put everything by way of a bank account, the government knows precisely what you’re buying, what you are selling, how much you’re earning.

Related Posts


text:
How To Transfer A Phone Call

September 21, 2018

Transferring a phone call is much more than just knowing what buttons to push on the phone. A caller may need to be transferred for many reasons, such as if they need to speak to a different department or person who can better handle their needs or problems.

Our virtual receptionist service revolves around keeping clients and customers happy and we know what it takes to transfer a call confidently, correctly and politely. In fact, a professionally transferred call can put forward a great first impression, and that will help you to build goodwill for your business in the long term.

1) Gather the information

First, introduce yourself to the caller and have them introduce themselves and their reason for calling in. Speak to the caller and ask them for their basic information (name, email, phone number, the reason for calling). The information you collect will vary from business to business depending on what types of calls your business takes. Collecting the information helps the caller avoid having to explain the situation all over again when you transfer the call to. It also allows the receptionist to have the information in case the call drops or disconnects.

2) Communicate the Caller's Needs

Most businesses have a designated employee in each department to answer phone calls. Speak to the designated employee and brief them on the caller's situation. This helps to eliminate the caller having to explain the reason for their call from the beginning. Research shows that repeated explanations are stressful, and this is perceived by individuals as a sign of not being understood. This will also prepare the designated employee to provide the immediate help for which you have escalated the call.

3) Announce the caller

Once you have finished briefing the designated employee about the caller’s situation, connect with the caller again. This time, introduce the caller to the person with whom they must speak, and ensure that the transition is smooth and polite. A lot depends on the tone of your voice, and how you introduce the caller to the other person. Make sure that the introduction comes with a reassurance that this new person on the other end of the phone line will solve the caller's issue as quickly as possible. Again, this reassurance has a psychological benefit, and primes the caller to be polite and calm while speaking to the other employee.

4) disengage from the call professionally

How you end the call matters a lot during a call transfer. This sets the stage for how the conversation between the other employee and the caller develops. Make sure to end it with a reassuring and empathetic note, as this helps the caller to feel acknowledged and validated. A lot of what you do has a direct psychological effect on the caller. Keep this in mind, and treat the caller with the utmost kindness, empathy, and respect.

Seek Help if you can't do it yourself

Call transfers aren't a simple matter. Before transferring, make sure that you gather pertinent information so that you have all of the information for the person designated to receive transfer calls. Once you have the information, speak to the designated person and brief them with the caller’s situation so that they don't have to explain their situation all over again. Finally, introduce the caller to the designated employee, and disengage from the call professionally and politely.

All these steps may seem simple but if you are unable to give your callers the attention they deserve, seek the help of a phone answering service such as Abby Connect. Our virtual receptionists not only transfer calls professionally and politely but also help grow your business and improve your brand image with exceptional customer service. See how our receptionists transfer calls when you try out our free, no obligation 14-day trial.

Sign up for a free trial with Abby

Subscribe to the Abby Connect Newsletter


text:
NEW GUIDE: Circuit Playground D6 Dice #AdafruitLearningSystem

D6dice thumb

NEW GUIDE: Circuit Playground D6 Dice

Dice are another one of those game related items that have been around for a long time. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but the most common is the basic 6 sided dice, otherwise known as the D6.

In this guide, we’ll show how we can simulate a D6 dice on the Circuit Playground using the NeoPixels to represent the various patterns of the dice face. We’ll also use the accelerometer to simulate “rolling the dice” by detecting shaking. And because we can, we’ll add a tap detect feature for quick and easy rolling.

Required Parts

This project uses the sensors already included on the Circuit Playground. The only additional items needed are batteries for power and a holder for the batteries.

See the full guide here!

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Join 12,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython 2019!

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Follow Adafruit on Instagram for top secret new products, behinds the scenes and more https://www.instagram.com/adafruit/

Maker Business — SiFive is a startup to pay attention to. RISC-5 is here to stay.

Wearables — Swatch it up

Electronics — Code like everyone’s watching

Biohacking — Stroboscopic Visual Training

Python for Microcontrollers — CircuitPython takes flight! All aboard with datum, Bluefruit CPX, and more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython #PythonHardware @circuitpython @micropython @ThePSF @Adafruit

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !

No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


text:
HMS Beagle Pre-Orders Now Being Accepted with Discount

They’re on their way!

OcCre just informed us that the HMS Beagle kits have officially been released. We have a large shipment now on its way and they should be here within the next two weeks. To minimize your wait time for this exciting new kit release, we’re now accepting pre-orders.

Pre-Order Now, and we’ll send your order as soon as the kits arrive. What’s more, we’re discounting the kit by 10% off its retail price of $209, making it an even greater value than it already is, at $188.10.

HMS Beagle became famous for her survey voyages when a passenger on her second expedition, a young naturalist named Charles Darwin, wrote his famous work On the Origin of Species.

The ship was built as one of the Cherokee-class of 10-gun brig sloops, and was launched in the Thames River on May 11, 1820, at the Wollwich shipyards. In July of that same year, as part of the celebrations for the coronation of King George IV, it was the first man-of-war to sail under the new London Bridge.

In 1825, her armament was reduced and a mizzen mast was added, changing her to a barque rig, at which time she was fitted out for service as a survey ship.

OcCre’s is a 1/60-scale kit is based on the ship’s 1825 specifications, and features laser-cut parts for the framework, and double plank-on-bulkhead hull construction for ease of build.

High quality wood strips are provided for hull and deck planking, wooden dowels for masts and yards, and a full set of fittings in wood, brass, and cast metal, as well as a sheet of photo-etched brass detail parts. The kit also includes colorful flags, rigging cord, display cradle, and a full set of pre-sewn sails. A pictoral instruction book and plans sheets make for an easy to understand build.

What’s more, if you want a little extra guidance on building this kit, OcCre has prepared a series of 30 short Youtube videos, each between 30 seconds to 2-1/2 minutes long, illustrating the steps of the build.

To see the whole series of videos, go to:

We’re really excited about this kit and expect it to sell very well. We have a good supply of them coming in, but if you want to make sure and want to get it at the discounted price of $188.10, order now:

Coming Soon!

I’m sure you can figure out what ship this is.

We don’t have an exact date of delivery, nor do we have pricing. But, this kit from OcCre of Spain is a 1:60-scale wooden ship model kit that will measure a bit over 28″ long and just under 19″ tall. We’re hoping to have them in March sometime.

Figured it out yet? Think ships of exploration…

SLEEPING CAR of the 1929 ORIENT EXPRESS – Super Detailed Kit

Amati Model has outdone themselves with the release of this new kit. It is a 1/32-scale model kit of the Sleeping Car of the famed Orient Express, known for luxurious accomodations and international travel across Europe, connecting locations as far as Calais, Istanbul, and Athens.

The new Amati kit measures over 28″ in length and features multimedia construction, using high quality wood, parts of photo-etched brass and nickel-silver, highly detail metal casting, and more.

The model features a super detailed interior and a removable roof top, so you can access it all.

The kit, which will be in stock very soon, is a very high-end kit and lists for $1199, but we will have a special introductory sale price of $999.

While your waiting to purchase yours, check out this teaser video posted by Amati

As soon as our shipment of the new kit comes in, which should be in the next week or so, you’ll be able to order one here:—amati—new!!!.html

New Colin Archer Kit from Billing Boats Available Now

Several years ago, Billing Boats’ popular 1:15-scale kit of the salvage ship Colin Archer was discontinued. The kit was very big, at about 50″ long, and featured an ABS plastic hull and was suitable for RC operation.

New, BB728 Colin Archer wooden hulled, expert level ship model kit.

Billing Boats has just released a new version of the Colin Archer kit at the same 1:15 scale. But, now, the kit features a wooden plank-on-bulkhead construction hull. The size, construction, and detail have earned this kit an EXPERT level rating. So, make sure you’re ready to take on a kit of this difficulty level before starting your build.

Ages of Sail and our sister site Billing Boats USA now have this kit available. It is one of Billing Boats largest, and lists for $789.95. But, if you’ve been following this blog or our Facebook posts, you’ll know that we currently have a Black Friday Sale that will continue up through midnight tonight. So, you can get this kit now from Ages of Sail, and save $79 by phoning in your order. Your order will also qualify for free shipping as part of our Black Friday special.

Now’s the time to get your big Colin Archer kit!

Call 510-889-6000

If you are only able to reach our operators, just leave your name and number and tell them you want to place an order. We’ll call you back and will honor the special sale pricing.

Two More New Easy Build Kits from Amati

Amati just released two more kits of their 1st Step series of easy to build ship model kits, bringing the series to a total of 6 kits.

Up to this point, we’ve had the Pirate Ship, the Elizabethan Galleon, the HMS Bounty and the Santa Maria. Amati has just added the Niña and the Mayflower, two famous ships that brought Europeans to the “New World”.

Amati’s 1st Step Mayflower

Amati’s 1st Step Niña

The new products are both about 1:135 scale like most of the 1st Step kits, and include pre-shaped hulls with a unique, self-aligning design that sandwiches a laser-cut board that includes the keel, stem and stern post, between two halves of the hull, making for a perfectly shaped hull.

The kit includes laser-cut parts, a variety of dowels and strip woods, wood and metal fittings, sail cloth, rigging line, a wooden stand and pedestals to display your completed model, and a printed sheet of flags, and in some cases, colorful hull decorations. Includes an easy to follow, fold-out sheet of step-by-step directions written in English and Italian.

Here are some photos of what you’ll get in a typical 1st Step kit, showing the 1st Step Elizabethan Galleon kit.

These are ideal starter kits and require only basic tools, glue, and paints. They also make great projects for more experienced modelers who just want something fun and quick to build.

Check out these and the other newest kits from Amati Model at Ages of Sail:


text:
mojoPortal Tips: Using Inline Content Editing

One of the coolest features to be added to mojoPortal recently (as of is the inline editing feature. It’s clean, simple and easy, but it can be slightly confusing at first. Let’s review how the new inline editing feature works, and what to watch for.

One of the few “gotchas” of using the inline editing feature is how to save real-time updates, without triggering the content approval process (even if it’s not turned on for that page or site).  Log into your mojoPortal site as an administrator, and navigate to a page where you’d like to test the inline editing function of your HTML feature. Look at the bottom of the page; do you see “Work in progress”, or “Live Content” on your administration bar? If you see “Work in progress”, it’ll automatically trigger a content approval process, even though you’re an administrator on the page.

Simply change the drop-down to “Live content”, then click the lock icon on your HTML instance. Edit your content as you wish, then click on your page outside the edit box. Voila – your changes are saved, and you can see it in real-time, without having to click through to the edit page. That is still available, if you’re more comfortable using it. When you’re finished editing, click the lock icon to close your edit session.

Looking for quality mojoPortal Hosting? Look no further than Arvixe Web Hosting!

Tags: , , , , , , | Posted under MojoPortal | RSS 2.0

Author Spotlight

Carole Bennett

Carole Bennett is the founder and principal of IndigoTea. As a professional IT consultant, Carole has provided solutions for companies as diverse as Verizon, Frito-Lay, Capital One Auto Finance, and Zales Jewelers, parlaying a unique talent for acting as a translator between the worlds of business challenges and technology solutions. She considers multi-tasking skills gained from simultaneously 1) managing a fire performance troupe, 2) raising a family, and 3) working as a full-time IT consultant excellent preparation for her current career incarnation as the driving force behind IndigoTea. "Fire-breathing redhead on a mission" is not just a metaphorical description!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
Back to Blog

🚀 SaaS Roundup #123

This week: How to calculate SaaS gross margin, commonly misunderstood SaaS metrics and how to build a SaaS marketing system.

In SaaS Roundup, we comb through the noise to find you only the best SaaS-flavored reads of the week — just our top three.

You can also receive SaaS Roundup in your email inbox every Friday — just drop your email here and you’ll receive the next issue.

This week’s top reads

How to Correctly Calculate your SaaS Gross Margin

Ben Murray, The SaaS CFO

“To be comparable with other companies, you might want to calculate your recurring gross margin with and without R&D amortization. Some companies capitalize their software development and some do not and it can have a large impact on your margin.”

Ben’s writing on SaaS finance and revenue metrics is incredibly useful for founders or finance professionals finding their way in the SaaS universe. Gross margin is used in some common SaaS metrics like customer lifetime value (LTV), so it’s important to make sure you’re calculating it correctly. Read the full post

Dave Kellogg, CEO @ Host Analytics On The Most Commonly Misunderstood SaaS Metrics

Harry Stebbings talking to Dave Kellogg, the SaaStr podcast

“Everybody agrees we should be ARR first. The question is are you? If your default unit isn’t ARR and if you don’t show your financials with an immediate focus on the ARR bucket and what’s happening to it, I’m going to argue you’re not ARR first. Lord knows, please don’t show up with a gap P&L. These things will hurt you when you try to raise money because a VC wants to know that you get ARR and you are an ARR first person.”

It’s great to hear Dave Kellogg run through his biggest pet peeves in SaaS metrics. Warning: there may be some discussion points here that make you rethink the way you run your own metrics reporting! There’s really no stone left unturned in this discussion. Read the full post

How to Build a SaaS Marketing System

April Dunford presenting on Forget The Funnel

“The problem is that there are a set of questions that are fundamental to building your marketing plan that Google cannot answer for you. So Google can’t tell you ‘what’s the best way to reach my target audience’ or ‘if I’m taking these tactics, how do I tailor them for my business?'”

When I spoke to Gia and Claire on the ChartMogul podcast some months ago, the pair referenced April Dunford as one of their all-time biggest sources of inspiration when it came to marketing strategy. In Gia’s words, “April is one of the OGs in this space.” This isn’t a written article but I’d urge you to watch the full presentation! And if you haven’t already, sign up for the entire series of Forget The Funnel workshops, they’ll 100% change your view on Marketing. Read the full post