Ben Parr

""Secure the room!" the colonel cried in her earth-shaking voice. Within moments, a wave of forty soldiers ran through the portal, clad in night gear and helmets delivering a steady flow of oxygen. While the air pressure n "The Beyond" was almost the same as that on Earth, the air was completely toxic to all Earth life. "They Beyond" was not what anybody expected. It was dark, damp, and lined with cobblestone. She thought the place where all souls eventually end up would be bright and filled with clouds. She thought wrong. It was more like an abandoned dungeon with no lights and no people. Her soldiers started spreading out with their automatic rifles and flashlights attached to their helmets and guns. She could hear the echo of their footsteps in the hallways nearby. "Colonel, we have secured the room," one soldier informed her before quickly adding, "but we found something in the room next door that you need to see." "What is it?" "It's a throne." The colonel motioned to the solder..." - Ben Parr

"Brilliant job." - Ben Parr

"What would be fair?" - Ben Parr

"I'm a month late, but the answer is it depends on the category. Income from the books themselves is minimal in the scheme of things. I honestly got a FANTASTIC deal, but that's not where the majority of money comes from. It comes from the speaking and consulting. Say you write a book about the next generation of advertising. Thanks to your years of research and some branding, you are now an expert(!) at advertising. And guess what? There are LOTS of companies and people willing to pay for that expertise. In addition, conferences want you to speak and are willing to offer you $10k, $20k, $50k+ (depending on your topic, notability, etc.) to speak at their conference or to their executives. There's also the sale of book rights for TV shows, films, etc. My friend Nick Bilton sold his TV rights for his book on the history of Twitter and stands to make a nice chunk of change if the show does well. Don't just go from book to book. Establish an expertise and get people to pay you to talk..." - Ben Parr

"Still nothing. Will go ask them again. But for the most part, I'm just gonna keep my account paused even if they let me back in and maybe later on start giving my stuff to the government." - Ben Parr

"It depends on the celebrity, but the answer is multiple safeguards. Truth is that most people won't give a celebrity's number away because it will permanently damage their relationship. You get permanently kicked out of an entourage for that kind of shit. Most celebs are pretty accessible, though. You'd be surprised. Higher-level celebs have a few other safeguards, though. Yes, they use multiple numbers, and most of the time they give out not their number, but the number of either their agent or their manager, especially if it's business-related. The highest-level celebs, like Jay Z and Beyonce, have a system where they change out their numbers every few weeks or months and have the new numbers distributed to their entourage. For the most part though, celebs are pretty accessible if you know them. And if their number is somewhat compromised, they just change it or switch to another phone. Source: I've worked with them." - Ben Parr

"I WILL DEFEND OUR TERRITORY. WITH TRAPS." - Ben Parr

"That person aint' getting it, but one of us sure as hell already did." - Ben Parr

"Also deal." - Ben Parr

"Same as Reddit" - Ben Parr

"Hi Super Wizard" - Ben Parr

"Angel dust? Tell me more." - Ben Parr

"Commonwealth citizen here. Can someone go through the series of events here? Hobbyist, why did you raid Stonefield? What did you take? Did you replant? Rekvia has total right to pearl you if you were raiding Stonefield. The chat log is pretty damning for you." - Ben Parr

"Prepare for a shitstorm." - Ben Parr

"Saw the Skins in person at SXSW a few years ago. They're super young but crazy talented. A next generation of rock and soul. I hope they make it big." - Ben Parr