I love the name Guido for a boy. It’s very masculine, is a borderline slur but not offensive. I’m Italian-American, but actually smart/educated, from the West Coast so don’t have the accent, but I do have the tan/muscles so when people refer to me as a Guido I take it as a compliment.
Expecting a daughter in a month and whenever I’m asked about names, Guida gets a tepid response:
no really? Ew You can’t do that to her She’ll become an electrician/ professional wrestler Please don’t
WTF? Is it really an ugly name

If you look at the top 10 states with Irish descendants, it's understandably the East Coast and the New England states, except for Montana. Was there any historic reason that led to Montana in the West Coast having an Irish demographic? (It could also be just a random coincidence too)

From what I understand about Pro Palestinians:
I would like to know what is the end goal for both sides of the conflict. I see a lot of pro palestinians saying "from the river to the sea" and I'm not exactly sure what they mean by that. Do they mean they want Hamas to rule the entire area? Or do Palestinians just want a 2 state solution? I don't know.
From what I understand about Pro Israelis:
From what I understand from the Israeli side (correct me if I'm wrong), they want to take over Gaza and the west bank and eventually assimilate their population into israel. Now I personally don't think this is a bad thing if you just look at how current Arabs are treated within Israeli borders (they have the same legal rights as anyone).
Other Context:
Now while I see a lot of arguments on both sides, the vast majority of what I see is just arguing about how the other side is more evil than the other. I don’t think this is the right kind of question for the future of the region. I mention this because I do not want people to comment about why the other side is worse than the other. Instead talk about how they envision the future of the region to be and what they believe are the steps to reach it. As well as what is stopping them from achieving it.
What I believe should happen:

1. Israel completely takes over the Gaza and West Bank region
2. Israel takes responsibility for the rebuilding of the damage they caused
3. Be responsible for the future care of the civilians in education, jobs, and child care.
4. Assimilate the population into the rest of Israel.

I don’t know how realistic this is, perhaps maybe too idealistic. I am unfortunately not an expert in economy and nation development. This is just what I believe is best for both parties. I am very much open to criticism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ88lfMpQ9Q
Does anyone know what happened to this album and band? This was a great record from the 2000s but it's been off of streaming platforms and pretty much everywhere else for what feels like a decade.

Carcosa is a city. Or maybe a city state. Or maybe both a city and a state, like its twin, New York. From what we hear, I imagine that it's seen better days - that faded glory suffuses everything, from the crumbling city walls through to the tattered robes of their ruler himself.
I said that New York was its twin, and that is true. A city that feels like it's sinking back into the marshy island on which the Dutch settlers first started building. Not the New York of the late 20th century, rampant in its pursuit of greed and young flesh. It's clear why the king was attracted to the city, no? Now of course he has remade this capitol of capitalism into an image of his own city state. Decayed and decaying, the desperation of the homeless and destitute only matched by the terror of the elite that their grip is slowly slipping and so they double down into balls and parties and decadence.
Three hundred years ago, it would have instead have been Venice. Masks and assignations, and spies and secret police. A nexus between East and West, it's ships plying their trade along the coasts of the Mediterranean, the red-gold pennants of San Marco resplendent in the pale gold light. I wonder if he saw the same ineffable quality in the reflections from the grand canal as he saw in the waters of Hali? Is that why he brought Napoleon to its gates, prostrating the city, and bringing it to its current state of a mere bauble, stained and marked by the twin floods of the rising lagoon and clueless tourists.
Between those, there was Paris. The city of light, at the fin de siècle when art and pleasure collided. His interest is well documented - after all, that is where the play was born. That is where he first let the yellow sign be given greater prominence in the supposed fiction of a romance writing hack. But why then? A hundred years earlier was the revolution, a hundred years before that the court of the sun king. One would think that these would draw his gaze more than a collection of artists and dancers at the moulin rouge.
Maybe we should look at what came after. A cultural revolution, a bloody war. The seeds for the hegemony of the American imperial dynasty. And after the war, the blooming of the sexual revolution and the twisting of its message. Art seeps through everything in the twentieth century. Art which has been twisted into a mind numbing propaganda utilised to its greatest effect by the studios and publishing houses of the hegemony.
The mistake that we make when we consider the king in yellow's assault on our world is too think of it in the constrained, linear perspective by which we view time. The king is reaching out to change our world simultaneously across the course of civilization; Venice, Paris, New York and countless others. To resist his influence we must understand his purpose as a whole, and hope that our ancestors and our children are doing the same. Let's gather here and share our knowledge. Where else have you seen the hand of the pallid king on the tiller of history?

Greetings, citizens! I'm a writer, mostly freelance, but I've been working on my own setting for a while now. I've already described some of the basics of how my world is organized in the two posts on another subreddit, so I won't repeat them unnecessarily. Long story short: this is an alternate world that has deposits of metastable metallic hydrogen, concentrated at deep waters and in cold regions. Hydrogen, instead of oil, is the basis of the world's economy here, the corporations that have grown from its extraction and use have more power than governments. The political map of the world is different from our own, with different forces at play than we are used to.
The main setting is the city of Neone, located somewhere on the coast of the Balkan Peninsula. I won't specify a particular place or pick a certain country for its location. Instead, I will take some features from some various ones to add local flavor. As one of the largest trading hubs in the world, this city is very wealthy, but it's the kind of wealth that easily slips through your fingers. Everything is buying and selling here, and human life is just as much a bargaining chip. Life in Neone is determined by the actions that the Players, the main political forces in the city, take with one another. Relations between them can swing from friendship to hostility... Or sometimes a combination of both at the same time. So, here's a preliminary list of the ones I've already come up with:
CORPORATIONS:
Astara Industries is the “beauty industry” in all its forms. Silk and gold, perfume and cosmetics. Modeling, music, entertainment, plastic surgery, and escort services. Rumored to be involved in much darker affairs, but that doesn't stop a lot of young guys and especially girls from trying their luck and signing another cabal contract with Astara. The higher the ranks of their employees, the more the corporation seems to be a kind of cult that worships the very idea of beauty itself. Recently, this company has been investing colossal amounts of money into an ambitious project designed to stop aging and mortality.
Change Inc. is a pretty mysterious organization that primarily provides construction and design services as well as financial operations and data protection services. On deeper layers lies espionage and information trading to anyone who can offer a more interesting price for it.
Chapek's Clockworks is the other major robotics company that has dominated the market for quite a while. Now they are more famous for their retro designs and sponsorship of the theatrical scene.
Chimera Chemicals is a biochemical giant that once started out as a fertilizer manufacturer. Now they deal in just about everything chemical related, including weapons, and also sponsor gene modifications.
Dragonfruit Digital is a world famous software and electronics developer that was leading the market before the rapid... well, rise of Risen Robotics.
Friture Science is a food concern dedicated to the mission of feeding the world. In addition to natural products, they develop synthetic ones as well as a number of associated products.
Fortuna Fishing - seafood production in Neone coastal waters and also beyond and deeper. Some of the things they found deep in the waters made them a little bit... Well, superstitious.
Greenfield Gardens - Similar in many ways to the previous one, this company focuses on environmental protection and recycling methods. Owns many farms and gardens in the city and beyond. Genetic modifications, too.
Hecate Guaranty is a law and insurance company. Deals with all possible disputes of their clients, property issues, and more. When required and paid decently, can provide a person or group of people a new life and a new home.
International Inc. is the most boring company in the world. Originally a construction contractor they pioneered the technology of rapid modular building. Because of this, International Inc. quickly built up capital and influence by rebuilding cities after wars. Eventually they expanded into selling associated products and services, then logistics, recruiting personnel... And now International Inc. provides half of the world's products. Each of their products is completely featureless, but they get the job done at an acceptable price.
Keller & Crow is one of Europe's largest arms manufacturers, dating back to World War I, or maybe even earlier. Known for their high quality and appropriate prices.
Keller-Tec is, in more than one sense, a daughter corporation of Keller & Crow. It develops the most cutting-edge custom weapon and gear systems. It works closely with Risen Robotics and actively funds the Fountain of Good.
Kiki Courier Company is a network of independent couriers working through the app. Moving around the roofs of Neone, they are able to deliver a small cargo personally in their hands for those who don't trust big companies.
Matsubayashi Motors is a Japanese vehicle manufacturer. Raised on defense contracts, they now make anything that can carry a human in it, from scooters and cars to aircraft and bolides.
MOLOT manufactures is another major arms manufacturer in Europe. In fact a franchise that sells to factories around the world the rights to produce copies of their world famous models. Their designs are a bit crude, but reliable and durable.
Poseidon's Possibilities - A marine transportation company that plays an important role in city and global shipping. Considering the high risk of piracy, possess pretty good assets to protect themselves, and sometimes execute third-party orders in coastal zones.
Risen Robotics is one of the world's important corporations. Creating innovative neural chip technology, Risen Robotics quickly earned financial and political capital and aiming for more. They were the first to commercialize a truly cheap and mass-produced android called the Peacebringer, and these robots can be seen in the military, security companies, and even as security guards in the market and malls and as bouncers in nightclubs. Building its influence, Risen Robotics aims to actively bring its tech into the lives of everyone in the world... And then their gaze will be directed higher into the skies and to the stars.
Royal Arms - Once a major weapons company, they are now more focused on the civilian market and support tools. Their high-precision tools and cybernetic limbs are widely used in civilian and military markets, as well as the medicine and even space industries.
Strigoi Sovereign is a company with a long history of working with private customers. They originally focused on hunting and harvesting of high-value resources, but gradually expanded. Nowadays, they are known for their customized combat enhancements, whether it be tough training and gear customization as well as biological, chemical, and cybernetic enhancements. Among all forms of payment, they prefer transactions in precious metals.
Van Nueve Innovations is another deep genetic research company. After their role in human trafficking and criminal experiments was revealed, their assets were mostly shut and sold down. Now their stuff keeps popping up on the black market - though, in this city, the difference between the regular and black market is barely noticeable.
Vulcan Weaponry is another firearm company with a long history, with a good reputation for their trusted builds, high quality and classy designs. Among the mercenary world, their weapons and equipment is considered indicators of prestige and good taste.
PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES:
Deepwater is a notorious American PMC with a well-deserved dirty reputation. Their Sigma division deployed in Neone has been caught in the middle of scandals more than once.
FIREBIЯD - Russian PMC, looking after order in and around Neone. Having a small size they are all carefully selected by their leader and follow him into both fire and water.
Ryujin - Japanese PMC, which has a good social image and actively finances all kinds of entertainment.
Schwarzwald is a German PMC with a long-standing reputation and connections. It usually works for the benefit of Western European clients and has a long history of cooperation with the Keller family.
Keller's Claws is a passion project of Alex Keller, CEO of Keller-Tec. A small and elite female PMC, operating in the interests of their mistress or executing carefully selected contracts around the world.
This is not all PMCs in the city, but only those that are not directly linked to specific corporations that were listed above.
GANGS:
The Blazer is a broad and diverse group of radical anarchists. They are mostly drawn to the destruction of corporate property and speculation about “power of the people”, but some of their members are not averse to almost any type of work.
The Crooked Circle is another cult-like gang, or vice versa. They focus on collecting unique technology, but aren't particularly successful at it. But they're still alive and kicking, praying that their mechanical messiah will save them.
The Grey Court Syndicate is the largest criminal organization in the city, and one of the largest in Europe, maybe even in the entire world. Reminiscent of the classic Mafia. On one side they have the exterior gloss, protecting order and running legal businesses, but on the other side they have human and organ trafficking, prostitution and assassinations for hire. The Grey Court is one of the main sources of migrants in Neone.
The Himmelreich is a disorganized gang fighting for the “purity of humanity”. They oppose the very fact of existence of chimeras and cyborgs in this world. In fact are useful fools for the real Players in the city.
The Tulips are something between a gang and a religious sect. Spoken with Christian-like mottos, they attract beggars and cripples to their ranks, especially focusing on PMC veterans and former corporate workers, but in fact they accept all the desperate. They have squatted some ruins on the outskirts of the city, including the abandoned greenhouse that gave them their name. However... They are rapidly expanding their influence and their source of funding remains unknown.
OTHERS:
The City Council is the primary administration of the city. They manage, but they don't reign. They are a handful of exhausted clerks, doing the hard work that no one else accepted to do. Basically maintain the city's communications and keep the Players away from killing each other and too many ordinary citizens.
The Forge is a secret organization that exists for a very long time and runs deeply secured operations all over the world. They believe it's their duty to protect humanity from dangerous ideas, technologies, and obscure subjects such as [UNKNOWN]. Forge is often found to be a puppeteer, directing the actions of other Players or certain individuals.
The Fountain of Good is a globally respected charity organization primarily focused on orphanages. One of the few Players who maintains truly bright ideals. The children who grow up usually become corporate employees afterwards. Other Players fund them mainly to launder money, calm their karma and create a positive public image for themselves.
The Nuevians are a deep-covered organization slowly gaining influence in the city. They are led by an artificially created living entity known only as "The Queen" that seeks to bring prosperity to the planet. They have good intentions, but fear to repeat the fate of the Zero Cycle.
The Union of Nations Peacekeepers - maintaining a shred of peace in the aftermath of the Incident, a massive earthquake that recently struck Neone. Many urban areas have since descended into chaos and lawlessness, while others live as if nothing has happened or are experiencing minimal inconvenience. The competency of these soldiers is questionable and they are barely supplied.
The Volunteer Vanguards are an organization that maintains order in those Neone districts where the City Council or other Players do not. Generally a barely trained and armed militia, but there are some skilled veterans and former corporate workers in their ranks.
The Workers Ring is Neone's major blue collar association. They support city communications so they have a lot of influence. Individual members may or may not be involved in working for other Players and illegal activities. The second meaning of the "Ring" word is also utilized - many members of this community are known for their passion for arena fighting.
The Zero Cycle is a secret organization of intelligent machines once created by a rogue AI. Several Players united to destroy this threat, leading to the Incident. Now, shards of the Cycle's technology, superior to anything created by humanity, is the most valuable hunting treasure in Neone. Owning one of them means risking the lives of yourself and your loved ones, but that rarely stops hunters who desire wealth or driven by some personal reasons.
Well, that's the draft. Any ideas, suggestions, any other feedback?

DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP, DROP.

What’s the Difference Between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO?

On-page SEO focuses on optimizing parts of your website that are within your control, while off-page SEO focuses on increasing the authority of your domain through content creation and earning backlinks from other websites. To further understand the difference between the two, you have to understand, at a basic level, how search engine algorithms work. Let’s break it down.
There are two main buckets that search engines (SEO) look at when evaluating your site compared to other sites on the web.

1. On-page SEO looks at what your site (or your page) is about
2. Off-page SEO looks at how authoritative and popular your site is

On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO: What’s the Difference?

Put simply, what you rank for is largely determined by on-page factors, while how high you rank in the search results is largely determined by off-page factors.

How Does Each Type of SEO Affect Your Rankings?

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO (also known as “on-site” SEO) is the act of optimizing different parts of your website that affect your search engine rankings. Where your website appears in search engine results pages is determined by a number of ranking factors including site accessibility, page speed, optimized content, keywords, title tags, etc. On-page SEO is about optimizing the stuff that you have control over and can change on your own website.

On-page SEO checklist:

How do you make sure your on-page SEO tactics are up to snuff? Here is a helpful checklist for on-site optimizations that can help curate your strategy.

Title Tags

Put your targeted keywords in the title tag of each page on your site. There are many best practices that go into writing an effective title tag.

• Limit your title tags to 55-60 characters (including spaces)
• Push the keyword closer to the beginning of the title (ONLY if it sounds natural)
• Don’t stuff your keywords
• Include brand at the end of the title tag, separated by a pipe bar () Example: “Chicago SEO Digital Third Coast”

Headings (H1)

Headings are usually the largest words on the page, and for that reason, search engines give them a little more weight than your other page copy. It is a good idea to work your target keywords into the headings of each web page but make sure you accurately reflect your page’s great content.
Make sure your H1s limited to one per page, all other headers are H2 or H3

URL structure

Put keywords into your URLs if possible. However, do not go changing all of your current URLs just so they have keywords in them. You shouldn’t change old URLs unless you plan on redirecting your old ones to your new ones. Consult a professional before doing this.

• Label your directories and folders in a way that makes sense for users
• Don’t repeat keywords in your URL more than once. Keywords are helpful, but overdoing it effects user experience. Example: /best-socks-comparison-best-socks-best-socks?
• Keep URLs as short as possible

Alt text for images

Any content management system should allow you to add something called “alt text” to all images on your website. This text isn’t visible to the average visitor – alt text is in fact used by screen reader software to help blind internet users understand the content of your images. Search engines crawl images in a similar way, so inserting some relevant keywords while accurately describing the image will help search engines understand your page’s content.
Writing an alt attribute for each image keeps your website in compliance with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Keep the following things in mind when writing alt text:

• Thoroughly describe the image in 8-10 words
• Include your targeted keyword where it sounds most natural
• Include, if relevant, a geo-locator (e.g., Chicago)

Fast-loading pages, or page load speed

Google wants to help its users find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible to provide the best user experience. Therefore, optimizing your pages to load faster helps your site rank higher in the search results.
Google has a tool called PageSpeed Insights that will analyze your site on both mobile and desktop. and then suggest tips to optimize page speed. There are also several quick fixes to eliminate whatever is bogging your site down and slowing your page load time. Key site speed factors to consider:

• Minimizing HTTP requests
• Making sure server response time is <200ms
• Setting browser caching to at least a week or longer
• Enabling Gzip compression
• Having image sizes under 100kb (.jpg, .png, .gif)
• Placing all CSS in an external style sheet
• Minifying all JS, CSS and HTML
• Prioritizing above the fold content loading

Mobile Friendliness

In recent years, Google has prioritized mobile page loading speed as a key ranking metric.
How do you know if your website is mobile-friendly? Unfortunately, Google recently dropped support for some free public tools that helped. However, you can now use Google Search Console to analyze this type of information. Specifically, the Core Web Vitals report can help you identify if your mobile pages are loading slower than they should be.

Page Content

The content on your pages needs to be useful to people. If they search for something too specific to find your page, they need to be able to find what they’re looking for. It needs to be easy to read and provide value to the end user. Google has various ways to measure if your content is useful.

• Aim for at least 500 words of copy. Although there is no exact formula for how many words a page should have, Google seems to prefer when a page has a lot of relevant and helpful content surrounding your topic.
• Copy must be unique to each page, not duplicated from other pages on your site, and should directly address your visitors’ search queries
• Push the keyword closer to the beginning of the title, but ONLY if it sounds natural

Internal Linking

Linking internally to other pages on your website is useful to visitors and it is also useful to search engines. Here’s an internal link to another blog post on our site that talks more about internal linking. Very meta.
When adding internal links, make sure to have relevant anchor text. Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink (usually indicated by blue font color and underline). To optimize your anchor text, make sure the selected word or phrase is relevant to the page you’re linking to.
On-page SEO ensures that your site can be read by both potential customers and search engine robots. With good on-page SEO, search engines can easily index your web pages, understand what your site is about, and easily navigate the structure and content of your website, thus ranking your site accordingly. As a best practice, make sure your page content includes 1-3 relevant internal links.

Schema Markup

Adding structured data helps Google better understand the content of a page. Google also uses certain types of structured data to display “rich results” in SERPs such as a recipe with start ratings or step-by-step instructions with an image carousel. These rich results often appear at or near the top of SERPs and generally have higher click-through-rates than normal organic listings.
Google prefers structured data to use schema.org vocabulary, and recommends using JSON-LD format. They also provide a handy Rich Results Test tool to check your code. While there are a variety of ways to add structured data to your website (plugins, Google Tag Manager, etc.), it’s always best to get a professional involved if you’re not comfortable writing code.
Check out Google’s guide to structured data and rich results here.

Social Tags

Having your content shared on social tells Google that people find your content relevant, helpful and reputable. Not every page on your site is share-worthy, but you can optimize the pages that are with these tips:

• Make sure you have Open Graph tags and Twitter Cards installed
• Make it easy with “tweet this quote” links, or social share buttons for each post

Core Web Vitals

User experience is key to a website’s long-term success. In spring 2020, Google unveiled Core Web Vitals, a common set of signals that they deem “critical” to all users’ web experiences.
The purpose of these signals is to quantify the user experience with a website, from page visual stability and load time, to interactive experiences.

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – measures perceived page loading speed and marks the point at which the majority of the page content has downloaded.
• First Input Delay – quantifies user experience of a user’s initial engagement with a page.
• Cumulative Layout Shift – quantifies the amount of layout shift on visible page content and measures visual stability of a page. It’s usually causes by images without dimensions, dynamically injected content, web fonts causing FOIT/FOUT, and other embeds added without dimensions.

To check your LCP score, access your Google PageSpeed Insights and make sure your page hits LCP within 2.5 seconds. To accomplish this, remove unnecessary third-party scripts that may be running, upgrading your web host, activating “lazy loading” so page elements load only as users scroll down the page, and remove any large page elements that may be slowing it down.
One of the simplest ways to optimize cumulative layout shift is to add height and width dimensions to each new site element. Also, avoid adding new content above existing content on a page (unless responding to user interaction).

Page Experience

Google is working on a new ranking signal (likely to come out in 2024) that prioritizes websites with positive user experiences.
The ‘page experience signal’ will consist of Core Web Vitals, plus mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.
According to Google, “optimizing for these factors makes the web more delightful for users across all web browsers and surfaces, and helps sites evolve towards user expectations on mobile. We believe this will contribute to business success on the web as users grow more engaged and can transact with less friction.”

What is Off-Page SEO?

Off-page SEO focuses on increasing the authority of your domain through the act of getting links from other websites.
A good analogy for how authority works is this. If you have a bathtub with rubber duckies in it (the ducks are your pages), and you start filling the tub with water (links), your duckies are all going to rise to the top.
This is how a site like Wikipedia ranks for pretty much everything under the sun. It has so much water in its bathtub that if you throw another rubber duck in it, it’s going to float to the top without any other effort.
There’s a score called “Domain Authority” that calculates how authoritative your website is compared to other sites. You can type your domain name into here to see your score.

How to optimize for off-page SEO

There are several factors that influence your off-page SEO rankings. While each one is tackled with different strategies, they share an overarching goal of building the trust and reputation of your website from the outside.

1. Inbound links
2. Social media marketing
3. Guest blogging and guest posting
4. Unlinked brand mentions
5. Influencer marketing

The biggest off-page SEO factor is the number and quality of backlinks to your website. Some examples of ways you can build links to your website are:

• Creating awesome content that people want to link to because it is valuable. For example, this super helpful blog post about how to improve about us pages. The post provides a ton of actionable recommendations. People tend to link to content that is useful. Creating an online tool for your industry is another powerful content type. Things like online calculators tend to get the most backlinks out of all content types because they help people accomplish a goal.
• Social media shares of your content that ultimately generate links.
• Outreach e-mails to influencers in your industry that ultimately link to you.
• Guest blogging on sites related to yours. These guest posts will have links back to your site.

While link quantity is still important, content creators and SEO professionals are realizing that link quality is now more important than link quantity. As such, creating shareable content is the first step to earning valuable links and improving your off-page SEO.
How many links do you need for good off-page SEO? That is a tough question and it’s going to be based on the domain authority of your competitors, as you want to make sure you’re playing in the same sandbox.
SEOs also used to believe that buying links was a valid way of link building; however, Google will now penalize you for buying links in an attempt to manipulate page rank. You can also be penalized for submitting your links to link directories whose sole purpose is to increase your domain authority. Again, quality wins out over quantity when it comes to link building.

Is On-Page or Off-Page SEO More Important?

It’s not about choosing between on and off-page SEO, that would be like having to choose between a foundation or a roof for your house. On-page and off-page SEO work together to improve your search engine rankings in a complementary fashion.
However, SEOs generally advise getting your on-page SEO ducks in a row before focusing too much on off-page SEO.
Just like building a house, you want to set the foundation first before building the rest of the house. Like a foundation, you may need to come back and do some maintenance to your on-page SEO from time to time. Balancing the two will help make your website “bilingual” so that your users can understand it as well as the search engine robots- and that’s how your rankings start to improve.

SEO #onpageseo #Offpageseo #Corewebvitals

Harlem Santa is a fun, loving Santa guy with lots of big plans for the kids of this world to enjoy Christmas again! From East to West Coast we will be raising money for kids overseas, South America, Asia, Africa, America, and North America, Europe, and Australia everywhere that they believe in Christmas and Santa we want to impact and change lives helping the kids that need most whether expanding in whether expanding in an orphanage or setting up foreign exchange program, drilling water wells, tel education set up for dance competitions, and learning abroad. We just want to see all these kids have an opportunity to to stay alive to stay alive grow up and thrive, grow up, and thrive. Too much hurt and pain. Too many people are suffering. We all can do so much more if we band together. We don’t need to give too much time or money we just need to give a little bit and we can change the lives of so many. I urge people to soften your heart and not forget about humanity. After all, that’s where we find most of our happiness in the joy of giving! If you’re feeling depressed the best thing for you is some sunshine and some fresh air and give to those in need! It’ll boost you it’ll help you it’ll change you! You’ll become a better person a bigger person. Whenever you feel down help somebody and be grateful for what you have. I promise you, no matter how much money you have you are not happy if you’re screwing people over because you know what at the end of the day you’re all alone, aren’t you? You don’t feel loved you don’t feel like you give loved. It’s never too late to start fresh for the first time make this the last time. #GODSPEED ya’ll! #HarlemSanta #CrappyJerks

Rage City #2QCRR90QP We are a lvl 1 clan with very strong members (20/20) looking to fill the ranks with more! We War and are currently working on maxxing Clan games, once we hit lvl 2, Clan capital will also be a big thing! Donation ratio 1:2, If your heroes are down SHIELD RED, Obviously FULL Participation in clan games for max rewards! And most of all have fun! We are competitive yet love this game and would love to have those that share the same interest! We plan on being a great clan to be reckoned with, and I also have experience in not only a #2 clan for two years as a CO leader called Warrior #9RC0QCYU which were #2 on the west coast of the united states. My name in game is Alaska, (I am the leader) I enjoy this game very much and if you are reading this and interested please join, and in the submit request add REDDIT Just in case we are in war soo we know you arent a scout! I have IRL friends here and hope if you join you bring your homies as well! We are an adult clan! Clash on and hope to see you have a home in Rage City with us! 🇺🇸🥷🏼👍🏻

Back in 2018 I met someone online through a mutual friend, and we casually started speaking. We never thought it would go anywhere, but fast forward we fell for each other hard and dated long distance. We were in a good situation where we were able to see each other about once a month even being across the country from each other.
When the pandemic hit, we moved forward with closing the distance and I moved from the west coast to the east coast. I didn’t want to move in together right away as I was fiercely independent and wanted to ease into us being close together. I also had lived alone for a long time, and wasn’t ready to fully share my space with someone yet.
For a year we were together in the same city, and I thought things between us were going great. We spent (at least) half the week together and I was easily integrating into my new city and life.
Then it all came crashing down when he told me he had met someone else, and he wanted to be exclusive with her and didn’t want to cheat on me so he wanted to end things between us so they could be together.
I mean.. he was cheating the whole time, but whatever, if it makes him sleep better thinking he did nothing wrong then… ok I guess. You never hooked up so you aren’t a cheater (yes he is).
But to the point, it’s been three years. I have no desire to get back together with him, and even if he did reach out to reconcile… I wouldn’t do it.
But I also don’t have any desire to date anyone, at all. I tried dating a little bit, but I just felt like I was doing it because I had to.
I live a very fulfilling life, I have great friends and a beautiful life in every way except romance. I just feel like he was it for me. He was the love of my life, and it ended, that was my chance and now it’s done.
I know what he did was wrong, I’ve talked about it in therapy a lot. I know I can’t blame myself because he decided to be a piece of garbage… but even so I just feel like my shot at a romantic future is done, and my fairytale has ended forever.
I don’t know what I’m looking for by sharing this, I just guess to finally admit it. I tell my friends I just don’t feel like dating, when in reality it all feels pointless.
I don’t look at his social media, I have no clue what he’s up to. But I know he looks at mine sometimes, I see he’s looked at my stuff every now and again.

Looking around, I see that there is one thing that is common to prosperous and advanced societies worldwide: they avidly pursue a high degree of excellence in science, technology, and commerce that have their origins in the West. The scientific and rational worldview is a core part of their cultures. There are some exceptions to this, such as some middle-eastern nations that coast on oil wealth. But the trend largely holds.
As a rank amateur, I have often thought about what it is about the West that made them the epicenter of the modern scientific and industrial revolution. I don't have any definitive answers yet, but my current thesis is that it's the heritage of philosophical inquiry of ancient Greece that sets them apart. The Islamic world itself flourished intellectually for a while when it freely pursued the kind of philosophical inquiry that was typical of the ancient Greeks.
When you look at the "munitraya" of Greece - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - you find some interesting features.

• They all took reason very seriously; in fact, Aristotle laid the foundations of Western logic. There was a recognition that it was not enough to know the truth, but also, that it's important to justify why things are true. To do this, they didn't take recourse to religious doctrines, but argued from naturalistic first principles.
• They are marked by a profound sense of straightforwardness and intellectual humility. They dared to inquire while fully admitting their ignorance. Socrates was said to be the wisest man in the Hellenic world because he knew that he knew nothing; he didn't experience any "loss of face" in doing so. There was no compulsion to be "profound"; in fact, he scoffed at faux profundity, and was pretty much killed for being a nuisance. When you read their works, you never get a sense of being talked down to by a "wise", "all-knowing" seer; instead, it's more like having a conversation with an advanced peer.
• They took a deep interest in nature and the real problems that people faced. Socrates asked questions about how to live a good life in practical terms. Aristotle was probably the first great empirical scientist, avidly examining specimens for his studies in Biology. Nature and mundane human affairs were not something to be overcome, but to be studied and explored. I feel that it could almost be said that the pursuit of truth for the Greeks meant the study of nature. You see this sentiment in Newton - a prototypical natural philosopher - who spoke of himself as a child gazing at a vast ocean of truth.
• They had a keen interest in Mathematics and an appreciation for its beauty. We see this trend begin as early as Pythagoras who had a mystical faith in the ability of Mathematics to reveal Truth. Plato considered training in Mathematics as an integral component of the education of rulers. Mathematics was useful, true, but they pursued it also for the sake of its beauty. Here too, they were not merely interested in collecting Mathematics facts, but in proving them from first principles accepted by everyone. We see an insistence on justification come up again and again throughout Western culture.

Above all, there is a tendency to self-analyze. The modern West is the most self-critical of cultures in today's world. They are constantly critically examining their methods, their assumptions, their values, and their social systems. There is no seeming compulsion to slavishly uphold their tradition, even though they study their traditions avidly. Instead, there is a frantic search for new and better traditions whose value again has to be argued for rigorously. They think nothing of incorporating ideas from outside into their own if they see them worthwhile. There is a culture of free and open dialog in which all of this happens.
I am sure that I am over-simplifying matters. For instance, neo-Platonists and neo-Pythagoreans were religious and mystical cults. Aristotle was wrong about many fundamental notions that he took for granted. Newton was as much a "sorcerer" indulging in alchemy as he was a rigorous natural philosopher. The West had its dark ages where certain aspects were not allowed to be questioned.
But that notwithstanding, it's clear to me that if our people are to have a shot at true greatness and glory, we must out-West the West at their own game. I further believe that this must be a citizen-led, peer-to-peer affair. We must all be thinking about how deeply and authentically we can naturalize the Western intellectual and scientific traditions in our society.
The sooner we can do this, the better we will be able to face the challenges that we are up against today.

An AL Vecna Prequel!

FR-DC-TRIDEN-MYKE-05 Shadow on the Sands

4-hour Adventure for Levels 5-10 (Tier 2, APL 8)
Adventurers League legal - Forgotten Realms Dungeoncraft
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/481587/FRDCTRIDENMYKE05-Shadow-on-the-Sands?affiliate_id=2235164

50% Launch Discount

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/481587/FRDCTRIDENMYKE05-Shadow-on-the-Sands?affiliate_id=2235164&discount=99e8f73488
A shadow lies over the sands - you need to know more, before it's too late...
Shadow on the Sands is an exciting standalone adventure that can be played as a prequel to the WOTC hardcover adventure** Vecna: Eve of Ruin**. It has an engaging and accessible story, 4 beautiful battlemaps and art, and even a wagon token in case of player shenanigans! This adventure features a wide range of gameplay, with meaningful choices and the potential for challenging combat, and enough intrigue to keep things interesting for every party. The action takes place in the Anauroch Desert, between the well-known adventuring basins of the Sword Coast and the Moonsea.

Included you will find:

• The core adventure clearly laid out in 13 pages - it is easy to run and has room for a DM to put their own spin on things!
• Guidance on how to run exciting combats, and how to give your players opportunities to let their characters go wild.
• 3 beautiful and clear battlemap licensed from The Reclusive Cartographer, and another from the author. Print and VTT copies.
• Reference art for significant NPCs, scenes, and objects.
• All the monster stats blocks.
• A printer-friendly version of the pdf.

What your players will experience [spoilers!]

A Strange Dream - The characters find their dreams troubled by the image of an obelisk looming over the sands of a desert. It's clear that destiny has an eye on the characters, and so it's hardly a surprise that Elminster recruits them to investigate the cause of this.
An Ambush - The characters hunt for the location of the obelisk and are ambushed in the desert by kobolds and more.
A Scouting Mission - A tense scouting mission awaits the characters, where their choices matter. They'll need to be skillful and have a good plan, but even if they do they'll be in for a wild ride!

Get ready for the new hardcover the right way!

I recently got married to an incredible woman. I can't wait to spend my life with her, every day feels like a gift. She has a really incredible family, in a way that I have never really experienced in my life before now. Her nuclear family especially has basically adopted me, and I have grown to love them immensely. They're coming over for dinner tomorrow, in fact, and I can't wait to make dinner for them.
My wife is also very close with many members of her extended family- she and her cousins all grew up around the same time, traveled together, talked together, played together. There are no major rifts between the cousins or between aunts/uncles (that I'm aware of), they are all very open with their love for each other and it's always a celebration when we get together. Very recently many of them just attended our wedding, and it was an amazing time.
I am new to generally-healthy, long-term family dynamics. I don't know what my role is in the situation I'm about to describe to you, and I'm looking for guidance from unbiased third-parties to help me figure out if/how I should speak up or toe the line for the sake of family (blegh).
(All names changed).
Essentially, around 10 years ago in college, my wife (Nancy) was assaulted by her cousin's cousin, Brian. (I don't know the name of this relationship- it's her aunt's brother-in-law's son). I don't know the details of the assault, but my wife describes a set of five major SA incidences in her life, and she regards this as one of them. This SA happened in a field, next to a family gathering. She has told me just a couple of the things he said to her while it was happening (e.g., "imagine what your dad would think if he saw us") and it is just downright disgusting. It makes my blood boil. My wife has not told the family at large, though some people know a little.
We did not expect to have any contact with Brian, ever. He is a distant-enough relative that I expect we will be able to avoid seeing each other in the future, but unfortunately (I wish it were just fortunately), my wife's cousin (Stephen) is getting married in a couple weeks, and he was pressured by his uncle into inviting Brian, and he accepted. So we will in all likelihood see Brian there.
This is a major event. It will be a fairly large wedding in a very fancy venue with lots of well-to-do people attending. It is kind of a low-key honeymoon for us also (since these weddings are happening back to back), in CA. We have taken a week off work and we're incredibly excited to visit places we've never seen before and check out the west coast (we live on the east coast USA).
When we first found out that Brian's attendance was a possibility a few months ago, I discussed it with my wife's nuclear family. My wife is very strongly in camp-don't-make-waves-on-my-behalf. She does NOT want to take the focus away from her cousin Stephen or his fiance, or even come close to risking their big day. I understand this and have prepared myself to say nothing here, and put on a unified front with her, because ultimately it is up to her and I love her tremendously.
Her nuclear family was trending toward a similar position- make as little impact as possible. They came up with a ruse to suss out if Brian were even going to be in attendance- my wife's sister setup a cousins-group karaoke night for the night after the wedding and requested a list of all people in the wide-cousins-group for the sake of "logistics" of setting up karaoke, but in reality we just wanted to make sure Brian wasn't going to be there. We learned yesterday that was wrong.
Basically, I'm struggling with the fact that this family apparatus that I love so much is allowing a situation to exist where we're effectively protecting Brian by hiding the truth of what happened from Stephen and the family at large. And my wife (and me by extension) has no choice but to either accept this is happening or risk starting a domino effect that could cause resentment for ruining such an important day. It could cause a rift in that whole side of the family.
But to add more disgusting behavior, Brian has ALSO assaulted Stephen's sister, Jane. Jane is an incredibly gifted, successful, and wonderful human, who will also be in attendance at the wedding. Very few people know about Jane's assault or my wife's. Brian DID get in trouble for assaulting a woman in college, however, so it IS known outside of EITHER of those instances that he is capable of horrible things.
Stephen definitely does not know about either assault. I keep thinking if I were in his shoes- I would be beside myself if I found out later that someone who assaulted my sister and cousin was allowed to attend my wedding. I would be VERY upset with people for not telling me so I could address it. Because of this, I have an urge to pull him aside and just say something like "hey man, I understand family dynamics are very hard and nobody knows I'm telling you about this so please keep your source here on the downlow, and I understand whatever choice you make here.." but I don't think I have the relationship capital yet, as I have spent the least amount of time with Stephen. But ..again.. I would feel horrible if I were in his shoes and I found out later. But he could also never know if we just don't say anything, which adds even more to the mind fuckery.
In my mind, it's less about "protecting" my wife or Jane, and more about "fuck that guy, he doesn't get to be in this safe/loving place, celebrating with family". I don't fully understand the trepidation, and I don't know which course of action BEST supports my wife, which is ultimately my biggest concern. FINALLY, there are OTHER vulnerable family members, and I feel like THEY have a right to know that they need to have their guard up.
Thank you for reading this whole thing.

“What defines virtue and how are we to gauge it? An inquiry that reverberates through epochs, its answer as fickle and capricious as the fates of those who deem to ask it. Duty, honor, justice - many over the ages would name these virtues, the conduits through which noble intentions find expression. Yet, as the battlefield of beliefs unfolds, a legion emerges, each as sworn to these principles as to obliterating all who would dare stake alike claim. Thus, battles rage and wars are waged and, in the end, those who are left are no more right than those fell by the blade. Alas, it is the victors whose ideals are etched into monuments for posterity. Except even words chiseled in unyielding stone are fated to fade in time. So is the wicked cycle destined to repeat in all its futility, its ephemeral prize seized again, only to be lost and sought anew. Try and picture, if for but a moment, a world where our rulers paused to reflect on the lessons of yore. They, too, would discern the elixir that enables one to escape the confines of memory—the very burden our fleeting nature forbids us to carry. Progress and evolution. Adaptability and transcendence. Everlasting and yet not stagnant, irrefutable, and yet fluid, these are the only true virtues. Thus, must we ever venture into the uncharted and unfamiliar for only from these unexplored domains may the truly virtuous arise.”
Where: Discord (Video and Voice) + FoundryVTT
When: every Saturday 5 - 9/10 pm GMT+1 (CET), 11 am - 3/4 pm EST
Who: party of 4 players and a DM seeking one extra player
Updates: Recruitment updates will be posted here.
Hello there and well met! If you’ve made it past the flavor text (or skipped it) and through the basic info (hopefully didnt skip past that one) you might very well be at the right address! Without further ado onto the post.

🐲The campaign🐲

Having only just recovered from the Second Sundering and the War of the Silver Marches, the North had been ravaged by a whole new set of tumultuous events - the rise of the Cult of the Dragon and that of the Absolute, the Fall of Eltruel and the short reign of the beholder crime lord Xanathar just some among them. After a brief respite from the twisted and the unnatural the clouds once more begin to gather. Along the Long Road, whole hosts of wild beasts and monsters have been accosting travelers seemingly at random and in the grand metropolis of Waterdeep a sudden rise in crime seems to coincide with strange events passing unnoticed beneath the surface. Amidst all this, in spring of 1493 DR, a party of adventurers delves into a mystery of enchanted gemstones being utilized to nefarious ends by unknown perpetrators all the while navigating the labyrinthine twists of city faction politics.
As implied by the post title, this is an ongoing campaign (we are 12 sessions in at the time of this post). Due to some irl commitments weve recently dropped a player and are looking to replace them.
As the title suggests, this is a roleplay focused mystery/lore driven campaign. Expect an overreaching plot with ample secrets to uncover, conspiracies to unravel and eldritch truths to unearth. The first word of the password is "Doth". On the same level of importance or more important even be that the players preference, there is a variety of subplots to engage with, from small and goofy and random to ones rivaling the main story arc in complexity and variance. Among these, individual character story arcs play a leading role, at times seamlessly intertwined with the current focus of the party, at times separate and independent.
As was already mentioned and is further described below, this is a roleplay focused campaign and a roleplay heavy game. This means that roleplay exists as a unifying concept for all other aspects of the game including exploration, combat, and puzzles. That said DnD is only DnD with all three of its main pillars intact and this campaign is no exception in that regard. I very much enjoy the mechanical side of the game as well besides roleplay and so things like multiphase boss fights and custom magic items are definitely on the table.

🧙‍♂️The DM🧙‍♂️

Hello there, Jay here, 25 yo law student from Central Europe currently working on finishing his master’s degree, trying to stay afloat in the current lease market. I study and work in a law firm by day and DM or play DnD by night (more like evening but night sounded cooler). I have been a big fan of TTRPGs since my early teens and of online DnD for the past five years. I’ve DMed multiple campaigns, finished CoS not least among them and I currently play in a long-term campaign. Before you ask, yes, my schedule is strained but not to the point I am unable to engage with my hobbies.
I would describe my DMing style as driven, realistic, and involved but also very conscious about player agency and collaborative storytelling as core values that make TTRPGs so popular and unique. I spend a lot of time ensuring the worlds I create and the stories I want to tell feel alive. From hand-picked music, to fully voiced NPCs and scenic descriptions designed to breathe life into the campaign setting I daresay my games rival in quality those of the professional DMs that charge for each session.
There is a drawback to this all however. Second word of the password is "thy". I expect a lot from my players as well. Writing a story in DnD is not a one person job. It takes a collective effort of the entire group to create something truly unique, something that one can be proud while looking forward to each session. Unwinding and letting off steam means something else for everyone. For me it means losing myself in the creative process of roleplaying an NPC or describing a scene, watching my players masterfully portray their own characters or having the party derail my plans in an awesome unforeseen and unexpectedly enriching way. If you find yourself in any of what I just described than this may be a game for you. If you don’t, that’s fine. This is definitely not a game for everyone.

🏰The setting🏰

Forgotten Realms is a default setting of Dungeons and Dragons but it is anything but boring and mundane. With now decades worth of lore behind it, it offers an unparalleled opportunity for anyone wanting to build on solid foundations to bring their ideas to life. While it has garnered a lot of attention lately with the release of a certain videogame (more people now know Astarion than a good amount of Hollywood celebrities I’d say) it has had its loyal following even before then, being constantly expanded and living its own life in a host of both online and home games. It’s been a natural choice of mine for a while now and not once have I had any regrets. The third word of the password is "mirror". I feel with how great of a variety of content the Forgotten Realms offer everybody is able to pick something that suits their creative vision. In summary the Forgotten Realms almost feel like a real place with how much worldbuilding has been done with them and offer a diversity of content few other TTRPG settings can boast.
When it comes to setting of the campaign in the world of Faerun I have once again made a somewhat traditional pick and decided to place the onset of the game onto the Sword Coast, more precisely into the city of Waterdeep. If one of the key upsides of Forgotten Realms is diversity of content, Waterdeep is one of the best representations of this. Being the largest settlement on the known Faerun, Waterdeep offers nigh limitless options in terms of main story arc genre, character creation and character backstory implementation. It has everything every large TTRPG settlement ought to have (fickle upper class, enigmatic factions, quaint taverns and extravagant nightclubs, always in bad mood city watch, a castle and a harbor) as well as few pretty original ideas such as colossal definitely not alive statues, a city council where even its members don’t know each other’s identity and a massive dungeon right underneath the city where you can literally fall right from a tavern taproom.
In case you are wondering, while this campagn takes place primarily in the city of Waterdeep itself, there is nothing stopping the players from exploring past the city if they so choose. The final word of the password is "crack?". Different parts of the main plot and various subplots can and will encourage the party to explore Waterdeep environs and sometimes even further.

📃The requirements📃

No exceptions here. Unless otherwise stated, the requirements must be met at the time of application.

• to apply you need to be 20+ yo
• you need a functioning webcam (at the time of application) and a stable internet connection - we will be using both video and voice on discord and as a general rule Wifi doesn’t handle long video calls well (believe me when I say I speak from experience) so cable or other similar form of stable connection is strongly encouraged
• you need a Discord account and you will need a Forge account - Forge is a hosting service for Foundry, don’t worry, you won’t need to input any personal info (besides maybe an email) to register and I will be footing the bill
• you need a PC that can and will run Foundry Virtual Tabletop - check the minimum requirements on the Foundry website, a fair warning, Foundry won’t run on tablets and phones (not that you should consider those in the first place)
• you need at least an elementary knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition - when it comes to the awareness of the rules, I won’t be too harsh, but definitely don’t apply if the first time you’ve seen the PHB was a week ago
• you need TTRPG/roleplay experience and/or a very strong roleplay inclination - this is a heavy roleplay game where most if not all ingame talk will be done in character and where you will be expected to voice your character in a way that is distinct from your standard voice
• you will need to be very punctual when it comes to session attendance - I expect my players to attend most if not all sessions, online or not, this campaign is a designed as a longterm commitment and by applying you are acknowledging this, having other hobbies and time-consuming real-life obligations is understandable (I got those too) but those 4-5 hours you will be expected to set aside for the session

🙋‍♂️How to sign up🙋‍♀️

Youve made it all the way to the end of this long post. Congratulations. Or maybe you’ve skipped all the way to the end. In that case I strongly recommended you go back. If not to learn what you are applying for than to make sure you haven’t missed something very important. Now if you are confident that you have what it takes and that this is a game that you could have a lot of fun with, please fill the below attached google questionnaire (if for any strange reason the link doesn’t end up working, please let me know in the comments under this post) and if fortune favors you, I shall get back to you promptly. Best of luck to you and I hope to speak to you soon!
https://forms.gle/5kc4RbwavJPfT8PD9
______________________________________
PS: As a part of the questionnaire, you will be asked to submit a short piece of your narrative writing in a form of a google doc link (not a custom piece of writing, any relevant past one you have will do). Maybe best have that ready beforehand? On that note, dont apply for the game with a detailed backstory of a character you want to play that you arent willing to adapt to the conditions of the setting/campaign.
PSS: Not to discourage you but if you do make it through the questionnaire and into the second group of applicants you will be asked to do a discord interview with your webcam turned on. I am asking you to go through a lot for a game you might not even end up liking I know, but if you do end up liking it, all this effort will be well worth it as I am sure my other players would agree.

HOME TEAM		AWAY TEAM
West Coast	vs	Melbourne

INFORMATION

Date Sunday, 19th May, 2024
Time 4:20pm AWST
Ground Optus Stadium
Statistics AFL Match Centre
Reddit Stream Stream
TV AFL Broadcast Guide Avaliable Here
Final teams available from the AFL Match Centre.
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