Notice: spl_autoload_register(): Argument #2 ($do_throw) has been ignored, spl_autoload_register() will always throw in /var/www/wp-content/plugins/google-publisher/ClassAutoloader.php on line 27 Uncategorized – Page 23 – Luv Saving Money
This post is sponsored by DiamondLinks. Any opinions expressed are my own.
About 10 years ago my husband and I bought our first house together. The house was right next to a church and used to be a church rectory. It had sat on the market for about a year before we bought it and we got an amazing price on it. We knew there was work that needed done on it but they told us it had a new roof, siding, windows, and door put on it. Those are big things so we were ok with the other work that needed done.
Since it was a church that was selling the house we also trusted their word, especially since the siding, windows, and door appeared to be new and the roof “looked” new.
We had to water-proof the basement, upgrade the electrical system because it still had old knob and tube wiring. The house needed insulated, we had insulation blown in. We did that. We gave the bathroom a facelift. A couple years into the house we started noticing little water spots on the drop ceilings. Eventually it lead to water pouring into our living room. We ended up finding out the church didn’t actually FIX they roof. They were aware it had holes and just had someone put shingles over it! So we started researching roofers.
The first thing we did was a local search to see who we had to choose from. So let’s say you live in Tampa you’d do a search for roofers tampa. After you find a few names you can look and compare on site s like Angie’s list or Home Advisor. Most importantly, in my opinion as around to your local family, friends, and co-workers.
We ended up finding a contractor called George Beckett and Sons out of New Paris, PA. They were about an hour from us. We didn’t know if they’d be able to do it. We also got quotes from 2 other contractors. Beckett and Sons ended up being the lowest quote so we asked around. Had a lot of good feedback about them so we hired them.
From the time they started work in November that year it only took them a week to get the entire roof on including fixing our back porch roof that was bowing. I told my husband, every time I looked outside they were working. There was no standing around. Honestly I’d expect them to take a break once in a while but when they were there they WORKED. We recommend them to anyone local.
**Dystopian coming-of-age with superintelligent A.I.**
Rebecca Cordeaux knows exactly what her future will hold: she will
marry
Andy, her crush of the last five years. Once Andy is ready to settle
down, she’s sure he will discover that she is his soulmate. After
several small parts on stage, Rebecca knows she can become a renowned
actress. Her writing also shows promise as a future author. Robots
perform most human jobs that can be automated, leaving many free to
pursue their personal creative interests.
But Rebecca’s mother Karen fears the new world of robots, and insists
her
brilliant daughter join a university research team, studying the
hazards of a complete robotic economy. Rebecca’s father Quentin was
obsessed with the subject to a degree that even her mother considered
absurd, prior to his untimely death. So long as she can reserve
enough of her time to pursue her true passions on the side, Rebecca
half-heartedly agrees to join the research team, if only to please
her widowed mother. There she joins a post-doc named Liam, whose
conspiracy theories rival even those of her late father. Liam is
convinced that world Republic leader William Halpert’s worldwide
challenge for researchers to develop synthetic creativity will lead
not to the promised utopia, in which every kind of human suffering
has been eradicated, but rather to an apocalypse. Rebecca, whose best
friend is her own companion bot Madeline, writes Liam off as a
bot-hating conspiracy theorist, just like her father was… until she
learns that her father’s death might not have been due to mere
happenstance.
With Liam’s help, Rebecca learns of an underground organization known
as
The Renegades, where Quentin Cordeaux was considered a legend. While
Liam attempts to stop Halpert’s challenge if he can, Rebecca tries
to unravel the mystery of what happened to her father. Did he and
many of his contemporaries die for something they knew? Who is the
mysterious informant who calls himself John Doe, and only seems to
want to drive her out of harm’s way? And if Halpert’s challenge
is answered, will it usher in a brave new chapter in humanity’s
history… or were Quentin Cordeaux’s dire predictions right all along?
Rebecca Cordeaux’s entire world has been turned upside down. In a
single
day, she’s learned that Senate Leader Halpert and his Board of
Advisors are actually illegal humanoid robots created underground
twenty years ago—and they tried to have her killed. Her mother
Karen, whom she always believed to be passionately against the cause
of the Renegades, turns out to be their leader. And Liam, a man she
never thought she cared for, is now fighting for his life—and she
finds that she cares desperately.
Fortunately Karen, known to the Renegades as M, has planned for
exactly
this sort of eventuality. Using Rebecca’s father’s blueprints, Karen
patiently built an underground compound in an abandoned part of the
Americas where they can regroup and plan for the coming war. The
compound becomes an unlikely oasis as their number grows, both on
accident and on purpose. In attempting to recover her best friend and
companion bot Madeline, Rebecca gets what she thought she’d always
wanted: Andy arrives at the compound too, along with her friends Jake
and Julie. But with the sudden addition of an old flame from Liam’s
past, Rebecca discovers just how little acquainted she has been with
her own heart.
Meanwhile, the Silver Six are running a worldwide campaign of
indoctrination
to ensure that the people are on their side. In the name of peace, they
want nothing more than to wipe out every shred of resistance, while
pursuing their ultimate goal of robotic superintelligence. With the
assistance of a neuroscientist who helped to build the Silver Six
decades ago, Rebecca attempts to understand how synthetic minds work,
hoping this information can be used against them. She’s sure that
the mysterious, brilliant, and beautiful Alessandra Russo is the key
somehow, but Alex’s hatred for the Silver Six is only matched by
her hatred for the Renegades. Can the Renegades find and exploit the
weakness of the Silver Six before synthetic intelligence passes the
point of no return?
The Silver Six have blown the Renegades’ underground compound to bits,
killing several of Rebecca’s best friends in the process—and to
her horror, the boy Rebecca had convinced herself she loved for all
these years was the one to betray them all. At the same time, General
Specs, the company Liam was once slated to inherit, has developed a
superintelligent robot called Jaguar which is quickly becoming
godlike in her omniscience. As the remaining Renegades flee to their
last bastion of safety in the Caribbean, Liam makes his way back to
London, in a last ditch effort to convince his father to destroy
Jaguar before it’s too late.
Rebecca, meanwhile, finally understands her own heart: she never loved
Andy.
He was merely a ‘safe’ choice who would never require anything of
her. Liam, on the other hand, exasperating as he was, had seen past
her defenses. All of his teasing and provoking had been his attempt
to get her to be real with him—but the more he made her feel, the
further she had retreated. She had even substituted her companion bot
Madeline for real, deep human friendships, and for the same reason:
she’d been avoiding love to protect herself from another loss like
the one she had experienced when her father was killed for the
Renegades’ cause. Ironically, she only realizes this once Liam is
on his way to a similar fate. But she’ll be damned if she lets him
go without a fight.
This high stakes conclusion to the Uncanny Valley Trilogy envisions a
world not too far off from our own, in which superintelligence is a
reality, humanoid bots have supplanted human power and influence, and
there are eyes watching and reporting our every move. If humanity is
to survive, the Renegades will have to galvanize support across the
globe, under the radar—and it will require every last bit of
ingenuity they possess. But is attempting to outwit a
superintelligent being really the answer? Or will it require
something much more fundamentally human?
C.A. Gray is the author of three YA Amazon bestselling trilogies:
PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends),
THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology),
and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and
super intelligent A.I). She starts with some scientific concept that
she’s interested in learning more about herself, and then creates
lots of epic chaos and high-stakes action to go along with it. Her
stories are free of gratuitous violence, language, and sexual
content, and she abhors depressing endings… but they’re not all
kittens and rainbows either! She also listens to and reviews
audiobooks on her website, here on Goodreads, on Instagram, and on
her podcast, Clean Audiobook Reviews, where she also
occasionally interviews other authors.
By day, C.A. Gray practices naturopathic medicine, podcasts, and writes
medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Dr. Lauren Deville). She
lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they
maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog (under her real
name: Lauren Baden. Three names. Yes.) She’s kind of the queen of
multitasking—so in her spare time, she creates whatever meals or
crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee
(Aeropress btw) and occasional wine (reds—and she saves the corks
for craft projects), works out (while listening to audiobooks), and
studies the Bible—about half of the podcasts on Christian Natural
Health are scripture meditations.
Prologue
Everyone was there—all five-hundred and fifty-four residents of Casa Linda, the rural suburb of
Phoenix, Arizona. Babies cried while mothers shushed; children who didn’t know any better
chased each other on the artificial grass turf of the park. All of the adults stood in stony silence,
resentful of the man whose image was shortly to appear.
“I dunno why we’re all so upset,” muttered Roy Benson to no one in particular. “Not like he can
take anything else away from us at this point, can he?” Benson wore a white wife beater that
gaped open over his protruding belly, like he always did ever since he’d lost his job as a
labyrinth connection consultant.
“I think we’re all just holding our breath, for fear he might come up with something else to take
away—‘for our own good,’ of course,” replied Lyle Hopper, seated on a folding chair below him.
Hopper, once a good looking and vigorous businessman, was now missing a few teeth. He also
breathed heavily, as if the exertion of conversation was too much for him. “Although frankly I’m
not sure killing me would be much worse than stealing my business.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Benson replied. “We’re useless, we have no purpose, and we’re
subsisting on the damn charity of a bunch of bots and the elite few like Halpert. How much
worse—”
William Halpert’s holographic projection interrupted Benson, appearing on the amphitheater
stage of the little park. He was surprisingly short, only about five foot four, though the politician
was a giant in other respects. He grinned in magnanimous greeting, spreading wide his hands
to encompass everyone who had gathered before both this stage and every other in the world.
They all knew that his words would be simultaneously translated into every language across the
globe. Mothers hissed at their scampering children to quiet down so that everyone could hear.
“Friends,” Halpert said, “thank you for gathering here today as one global community. I know
you are all busy with your active lives—”
Benson snorted and Hopper gave a derisive laugh. “Sure, I’m so busy I ran out of crossword
puzzles this morning,” muttered Hopper.
“—so I will get right to the point. I gathered this global community together to make a very
special announcement.
“As you all know, twenty years ago the Council of Synthetic Reason determined that in order to
protect humanity, all bots must be limited by two rules: they must serve only a single core
purpose in the service of humanity, and they must be readily identifiable as bots.
“The advancement of bots since then has changed the face of our world. It’s changed the way
we do business.”
“Or don’t do business,” muttered Benson.
“But we have come upon a significant limitation which those of us in the Capital have been
working on for years. It is this: while the bots are excellent at learning facts and applying
information, and can do so faster and more accurately than the most intelligent human, they
lack the critical ingredient of creativity which would allow them to apply the information they
know—within their core purpose, of course. For that, we still require humans, and an inevitable
disconnect occurs between the bots as they transfer their wealth of knowledge, and the humans
who are expected to utilize it for new breakthroughs.
“Now I come to the reason why I have gathered you together today. The major tech companies
and universities of the globe have all agreed that creativity requires emotion. It is impossible to
have one without the other. The problem is twofold, however: we barely understand the natures
of human emotion and creativity, let alone how to translate them both into circuits and program
our bots with such abilities.
“But I believe, and I know you all do too, that the group mind is vastly superior to that of any one
individual. Therefore, in an act of stunning generosity, these great companies and universities
have all agreed to open source their research thus far. This means everything the human race
has ever amassed in the neuroscience of human emotion and creativity, as well as all advances
toward algorithms to encode the same, will now be freely available via the labyrinth in the hopes
that universal access will yield much quicker results.
“This is a big task. I’m asking us to come together and find the answer to a question that has
perplexed philosophers for millenia: what is it that makes us human? But in a world where
knowledge doubles every six hours, I believe we are up to the task.
“Thank you very much for your time and attention. I will personally update you of any breaking
news in this field. I wish you all a very good morning, good day, or good evening—whatever
time it is where you are!”
Halpert’s image vanished from the stage.
As the people began to disperse, one woman in her fifties stood alone, frowning at the now-
empty amphitheater. She tapped her temple to access the Artificial Experience chip implanted
there.
“Call Rebecca,” she said, fishing her AE goggles out of her purse and putting them on. She saw
a few of the townspeople shoot her dirty looks, but she ignored them. To a person, they
disapproved of any flashy show of the technology which had so changed the face of their world.
A few minutes later, she was in her twenty-one year old daughter’s dormitory room in Dublin.
The room was dark, until Rebecca sat up and flipped on the light.
“Mom! Really?” she looked at the analog clock hanging on her wall, which she had found at an
antique store. Her auburn hair stuck up in every direction, and she rubbed the sleep out of her
eyes. “Do you know what time it is here?”
“Why weren’t you up watching Halpert’s address?”
“Because it’s four am, and I was performing last night, and then I was at the cast party until like
midnight! I’ll find out what he said soon enough—”
“How close are your experiments to finding the source of human emotion?” her mother cut her
off.
Rebecca blinked. “What? Not close at all, why?”
“Get on the labyrinth and watch the replay of Halpert’s address and call me back. You might
want to put your musical theater and novelist careers on hold. Turns out your senior thesis is
now the hottest topic in the world.”
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
This post is sponsored by My Gift Stop. Any opinions expressed are my own.
If you’ve walked into the stores recently you’ll realize that the next gift giving holiday on the calendar is Valentine’s day. No kidding, I’ve been in several stores that already have Valentine and spring stuff out! Seriously.
My husband and I usually just make plans to have dinner together and maybe we’ll have a movie night in. We make Valentine’s day about spending time together. When we do buy each other gifts I don’t want it to be just anything. I want to give him something nice, something he might not normally spend the money on for himself. For me, I love it when he surprises me with piece of jewelry he picked out himself or a handbag he knows I’ve had my eye on. For him, it might be a good watch or a some luxury accessories for his desk. That’s where My Gift Stop comes in.
You can find all these items and more at My Gift Stop. My Gift Stop is THE place to go to find luxury items like watches on a budget. You can find the brand names your Valentine wants like:
Invicta
Kate Spade
Swarovski
Bulova
Citizen
Michael Kors
Oakley
Prada
and many more!
Never pay full price for your luxury gifts. You can find the gifts you want at great prices. My Gift Stop also donates 5% of every sale to the global medical relief non-profit, Direct Relief. So you can feel good knowing that you got a great gift and are helping to give back!
My Gift Stop is also offering a special coupon code for LuvSavingMoney readers. Visit MyGiftStop.com and use code: LUVSAVINGMONEY2 to save 10% off your order!
Treat yourself to a little something for all your hard work over the holidays. Get a FREE $10 Darden gift card after cash back or a big discount on a gift card big enough to treat the family!
Step 3: Add a Gift Card from Darden to your cart for $10.00 or more and head to checkout. You must spend at least $10.00 to get this deal.
TIP: Make a second transaction instead of adding more to an existing cart to maximize additional cash back.
Do not close the window, open any new tabs, or use non-TopCashback approved coupons while checking out.
Step 4: Pay $10.00 or more.That’s it! The $10.00 will post to your TopCashback account within 14 days, and the amount will become payable. Cash back can be credited straight to your checking or PayPal account.
Note: Transactions must contain at least $10.00 worth of purchases to ensure the $10.00 cash back is credited to TopCashback accounts. Transactions may initially track lower, but within the 14 days after purchase it will be uplifted and turn payable at the amount of $10.00. Transactions may take up to 7 days to appear in your TopCashback account. The deal is open until 11:59pm PST on 12/28/2018 or until supplies run out; whichever happens first; applicable for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback. Only one TopCashback account is permitted per member. Cannot be combined with other TopCashback freebie offers.
Ruby Schmidt has the talent, the drive, even the guts to enroll in art
school, leaving behind her childhood home and the beau she always
expected to marry. Her life at the Academy seems heavenly at first,
but she soon learns that societal norms in the East are as
restrictive as those back home in West Texas. Rebelling against the
insipid imagery woman are expected to produce, Ruby embraces bohemian
life. Her burgeoning sexuality drives her into a life-long love
affair with another woman and into the arms of an Italian baron. With
the Panic of 1893, the nation spirals into a depression, and Ruby’s
career takes a similar downward trajectory. After thinking she could
have it all, Ruby now wonders how she can salvage the remnants of her
life. Pregnant and broke, she returns to Texas rather than join the
queues at the neighborhood soup kitchen.
Set against the Gilded Age of America, a time when suffragettes fight for
reproductive rights and the right to vote, A Different Kind of Fire
depicts one woman’s battle to balance husband, family, career, and
ambition. Torn between her childhood sweetheart, her forbidden
passion for another woman, the nobleman she had to marry, and
becoming a renowned painter, Ruby’s choices mold her in ways she
could never have foreseen.
Suanne Schafer, born in West Texas at the height of the Cold War, finds it
ironic that grade school drills for tornadoes and nuclear war were
the same: hide beneath your desk and kiss your rear-end goodbye. Now
a retired family-practice physician whose only child has fledged the
nest, her pioneer ancestors and world travels fuel her imagination.
She originally planned to write romances, but either as a consequence of
a series of
failed relationships or a genetic distrust of happily-ever-after, her
heroines are strong women who battle tough environments and intersect
with men who might—or might not—love them.
Suanne
completed the Stanford University Creative Writing Certificate program.
Her short works have been featured in print and on-line magazines
(Bête Noire; Brain, Child; Empty Sink Publishing; and Three
Line Poetry) and anthologies: (Night Lights; Graveyard; 166 Palms;
and Licked). Her debut women’s fiction novel, A Different
Kind of Fire, explores the life of Ruby Schmidt, a nineteenth century
artist who escapes—and returns—to West Texas. Suanne’s next
book explores the heartbreak and healing of an American physician
caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Truly, Texas, March 1891 Ruby latched the chicken-yard gate behind her and waited for the hens’ cackling to settle. If anyone tried to sneak up on her, the birds would squawk an alarm. Certain she was alone, she pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket and read it again. Molly, her best friend, had sent the note by way of a passing cowhand five days ago. Since then Ruby had read the two words—It’s here—so many times the edges of the paper had feathered and Molly’s red wax seal had fallen off. It was the reply to clandestine correspondence Ruby had sent months before. It could change her life. Ruby had been to town with her father just the week before, so her turn would not roll around again for three long weeks. Trusting one of her siblings, especially that sly Beryl, to pick it up without tattling to their folks, was unthinkable. When Ruby asked to take her sister’s place in the wagon, the little snot had flat refused. Bartering continued for days with the deal consummated only this morning while doing breakfast dishes together. Beryl whined a hard bargain. “I want the brooch Granny gave you for Christmas—” Ruby couldn’t believe that she, a grown woman of eighteen, was reduced to negotiating with a nine-year-old. She rolled her eyes but gave a reluctant nod. “—and a month’s worth of dinner dishes.” “Fine.” Ruby blew out a breath hot with exasperation. From the triumphant expression on Beryl’s face, Ruby had been played for a sucker. Under her breath she muttered her father’s term for his daughters when they didn’t live up to his expectations, “Hellion child.” Now, beside her father in the buckboard, half-listening to his mumblings about what he needed in town, Ruby envisioned the changes it could make in her life. “Sixteen penny nails, two-by-fours, poultry wire. You got your mother’s shopping list, girl?” “Yes, sir.” Ruby’s heavy gloves didn’t prevent her fingers from worrying the bottom button on her winter coat until it dangled by a thread. One more twirl snapped the fiber, spiraling the bit of bone to the floorboard. She grabbed for it, but it tumbled into the rutted road, buried forever beneath red West Texas dust. To keep from losing another, she sat on her hands. The closer they got to town, the more her heart felt like a kernel of popcorn ready to explode. Groceries—Ranch Supplies—Dry Goods—Clothing. From its perch above Statler’s Mercantile, the hand-painted sign knocked a wind-blown greeting against the eaves. Pa pulled the buckboard adjacent to the storefront. Before he could set the brake, Ruby kicked off the buffalo robe protecting her from the cold blue norther that had blown in. Without waiting to be helped down, she jumped from the seat, her skirt flaring so high frigid air lassoed her knees. She ignored his “Are you ever going to behave like a proper young—” and dashed into the store. Inside, her gaze darted into every corner of the store, making sure Molly was alone. “Where is it?” “Don’t I even get a hello?” From her station behind the dark oak counter, the middle Statler girl grinned and waggled her feather duster in greeting. “Hello, Molly,” Ruby sassed, wondering how her friend could be so calm on such a momentous occasion. “Happy now? Where is it?” Molly put aside the duster and carefully wiped her hands before pulling several items from a cubbyhole. Ruby jiggled on her feet at her friend’s deliberate pace. Most items Molly returned to their place, but one—a fat ivory envelope—she waved high in the air, tormenting her friend. With one hand Ruby pushed off the counter, stretching for the letter with the other. As her fingers closed on the paper, Molly jerked it away. “You wretch.” Movement out the front window caught Ruby’s eye. She tugged Molly’s arm down. “Here comes my pa.” The smile snapped off Molly’s face as quickly as a mousetrap closing. She thrust the envelope toward Ruby who stashed it in her coat pocket and extracted her mother’s shopping list.
The store door creaked open to admit her father. “Any mail, Ruby?”
“No, sir.” She tucked her hand back into her pocket, pressing the letter against her thigh.
Mr. Statler, his arms filled with boxes, stepped out of the stock room. “Howdy, Hermann.
Anything I can help you with?”
“Put whatever the girl needs on my account, Jack. I’ll pick her up when I’m done at the lumber
yard.”
Ruby ran a finger down her mother’s checklist but was too excited to focus. The spidery
handwriting became a tangled, illegible web as ten pounds of flourmoseyed into five pounds of
cornmeal and blackstrap molasses poured onto one card of small white buttons.
Unable to calm herself enough to fill the order, while Ruby waited for her pa to leave, she
studied her friend. Despite performing her usual duties of stocking shelves and cleaning the
store, Molly’s white cuffs remained pristine and not a strand of hair escaped the flaxen braids
crowning her head. With a sigh, Ruby removed her bonnet, tried in vain to pat her hair into place
then brushed off her clothing. Windblown and gritty, Ruby looked like she’d rolled into town on a
tumbleweed.
After an interminable conversation about the upcoming town hall meeting and the quarter-inch
of rain the town had gotten the week before—things that weren’t nearly as important as Ruby’s
letter—Ruby’s pa drove off and Mr. Statler returned to the back room.
Molly whirled around the counter to join Ruby. “Open it.”
After a final survey ensured they were truly alone, Ruby pulled the envelope from her pocket,
slid a finger beneath its seal, and removed the letter. Her hands trembled too much for her to
decipher the words, she thrust the page at her friend. “I can’t bear the suspense. Read it to me,
please.”
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
