#✣ | wreak absolute havok ( alex )

[xmusiisms-a]

                             “you know, when I do this, bad things tend to happen.”

                          alexander ‘alex’ summers | ‘havok’ | brother | asshole | mutant.

                 - abrasive, aggressive, sarcastic.   + dedicated, confident, conscientious

* survived a plane crash and lost his brother, gained a mutation and a phobia of flying.

* is actually the younger brother ( don’t ask unless you want to be punched in the face ).

* struggled with his powers initially, but now he can control them pretty well.

* his powers are blue, not red, and they’re not hula hoops.

* doesn’t really trust people, so good luck trying to recruit him for things.

* still holds the belief that he should be imprisoned for the things he did before he could control his mutations. 

burn it to the ground > linkin park | the last stand > two steps from hell | young volcanoes > fall out boy | animal i have become > three days grace | leave out all the rest > linkin park

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for going to a costume party with Alex Summers

Alex Summers x reader

warnings: alcohol

a/n: i miss alex with my whole heart omg

prompt: anonymous: “can you do headcanons for going to a costume party with alex summers? 💖”

alex wasnt always in the mood for social activities

he’d much rather stay home and just be alone with you

but he did this for you, just to see that bright smile on your face

“alex, you have to keep the eyepatch down!”

“y/n, we’re not even at the party yet”

“but i want my pirate boyfriend to commit to his costume” :(((

“fine.” *flips eyepatch down

“can you do the thing? please?”

*sigh* “arghh matey, there be the secret treasure. aye, that’s no ordinary treasure, that’s me s/o! yes, the other pirate!”

“awww, you went above and beyond for me?”

“only because i love you so much”

the party was overwhelming from the start

and alex had reverted back to his old man mentality

“the music is too loud!”

“wow, i thought this was a costume party. why are there so many people without shirts?”

“i’m tired”

“what’s for dinner?”

“i wonder what’s on the news”

^all alex obviously

but you did convince him to dance with you for a little while

and he even punched a guy that was getting a little too close for comfort

“alex, hey, cool down. code red”

code red meant “risk of wreaking havok”

“got it, sorry”

“that’s okay, let’s go get a snack or something”

you held onto his fake hook hand and dragged him to the kitchen for water and pretzels

and then he found the twizzlers and he finally started having fun

“y/n, y/n, look. i’m a lizard” *single twizzler sticking out of his mouth*

“god, i love you”

“now let’s ‘lady and the tramp’ it like no one’s watching”

he finally loosened up, but still refused to interact with anyone besides people he knew through you

only if he absolutely had to

“y/n, no, i don’t want to talk to anyone. no, i just want to hang out for a little longer and go home. just let me get some beers or—hi there, janet, rick, how are you two?”

he did run off to get beers immediately after that

but he couldn’t have too much since he had to drive home

“can we please go home now, matey?”

“hm, i suppose we could if you give me another kiss?”

“win-win”

he made it extra passionate to show other partygoers how its done

“show off”

“you love it”

“i mean, i’m not complaining”

as soon as you got home you pulled leftovers from the fridge and watched scary movies until you passed out in your costumes, it would be an interesting morning after

taglist: @locke-writes // @randomawesomeperson102 // @captainshazamerica // @ravenmoore14 // @thisetaernallove //

[markvillacampa]

Week 31, 2020

Documents from the Hearing on “Online Platforms and Market Power: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google

House Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee - July 29, 2020

Tech news were eclipsed this week by the antitrust hearings. The CEO depositions were what we expected: a lot of empty words and half truths. But more revealing was the trove of internal documents, mostly emails, from the past 10+ years released by the committee.

The verge has a series of articles dissecting the documents but I want to highlight this conversation from 2012 between Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and one of his investors at Benchmark talking about a possible acquisition by Facebook. Talk about value-add investors!

Three people have been charged for Twitter’s huge hack, and a Florida teen is in jail

The Verge - July 31, 2020 - 7 min

A 17-year-old in Tampa, Florida, a 22-year-old in Orlando and a 19-year-old in the UK were responsible for wreaking havok on Twitter last week hacking the accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Joe Biden and more to spread a Bitcoin scam.

TikTok's new CEO says company will reveal how its algorithms work

Axios - July 29, 2020 - 3 min

TikTok will launch a Transparency and Accountability Center in Los Angeles for moderation and data practices that will house all of its data flows and code moving forward. The center will host online tours of its data during the pandemic.

I have absolutely no idea what any of that means, but looking forward to taking that online tour, I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️.

ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50 billion in takeover bid

Reuters - July 29, 2020 - 4 min

The investors’ bid values TikTok at 50 times its projected 2020 revenue of about $1 billion

If the online tours don't satisfy US regulators, a $50B exit would not be a bad outcome either.

Microsoft Said to Be in Talks to Buy TikTok, as Trump Weighs Curtailing App

The New York Times - July 31, 2020 - 4 min

And if investors can't come up with the 💸, Microsoft might be ready to integrate TikTok into their 365 subscription 🤡.

Trump says he's banning TikTok in the U.S.

NBC News - July 31, 2020 - 3 min

I really don't know what to think anymore 🤷🏻‍♂️.

From Education App to Global Video Phenomenon

Medium - November 15, 2019 - 19 min

If you’re not in the Gen Z age group and have never used TikTok, this is the best rundown of TikTok’s history I’ve read so far and your best chance at understanding what all the fuzz is about.

The Concorde, the Space Shuttle and Space Shuttle Bus at the Paris Air Show in 1983

Airbus' self-flying plane just completed successful taxi, take-off, and landing tests, opening the door for fully autonomous flight

Business Insider - July 26, 2020 - 5 min

Fully automous commercial planes sound very plausible in 5 years. Cars on the other hand... not so much.

SAP to spin out Qualtrics via an IPO

Axios - July 26, 2020 - 1 min

SAP plans to have a majority stake after the IPO, while Qualtrics co-founder and CEO Ryan Smith will be the largest individual shareholder.

Imagine selling your company for $8B, then taking it public and still be the largest individual shareholder 😳.

Everyone’s a Day Trader Now

The Wall Street Journal - July 25, 2020 - 11 min

But when she couldn’t work, her unemployment checks weren’t enough to pay her bills. Her boss suggested she try day trading. She read “Trading for Dummies,” watched YouTube videos, opened an E-Trade account and dove in.

Day trading is starting to look like the new sports betting epidemic.

Intel Makes Changes to Technology Organization

Intel - July 27, 2020 - 2 min

Intel is not having a good time, after AMD surpassing them as leaders in x86 CPUs and Apple transitioning to their own ARM-based chips. As a result of deep internal reorganization, Murthy Renduchintala, Intel's Chief Engineering Officer, is leaving the company.

How an Irish Beer Became the Authority on World Records

How Stuff Works - October 24, 2016 - 4 min

Did you know the Guiness World Records and Guiness Beer are one and the same Guiness? Me neither, but the story behind it is quite... Irish.

Tech CEOs Deserve an Apology

The Wall Street Journal - July 28, 2020 - 4 min

Sure, there are screw-ups: Amazon favors its own products, Apple its own apps, Google its own YouTube videos; Facebook collects too much personal data. Yet none of these habits necessarily harm consumers and all could be easily fixed without decadeslong antitrust inquisitions.

I just sent my apology letters, what are you waiting for? 🤣

The Pandemic-Era Appeal of Getting Lost in a Labyrinth

Bloomberg - July 29, 2020 - 5 min

Lars Howlett is one of the country’s foremost labyrinth makers.

TIL: Labyrinth maker is an actual job title!

Google to Keep Employees Home Until Summer 2021 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The Wall Street Journal - July 27, 2020

Do they know something that we don't? 😬

You really don't need to work so much

New Yorker - August 21, 2015 - 6 min

The irony is that the people at the top are often as unhappy and overworked as those at the bottom: it is a system that serves almost no one

Translation of The instructions of Shuruppak

The instructions of Shuruppak is a 4600-year-old Sumerian text, one of the oldest in the world, and possibly the first self-help book.

It’s Not Debt, It’s Better

Alex Danco - July 28, 2020 - 19 min

Pipe creates a new asset class to sell: the software subscription. Founders can now sell the recurring revenue from a cohort of software customers, as an easily tradable asset, and fund their growth without taking dilution.

Remember when coding bootcamps started securitizing future revenue from cohorts of students? Turns our any SaaS can do it now. But should they? 🤔

Our Series E Funding

Stack Overflow - July 28, 2020 - 10 min

Stack Overflow, the Q&A site used by every programmer to be able to do their jobs, is raising an $85 to push their enterprise SaaS product.

Introducing the Slack Certified program

Slack - July 16, 2020 - 7 min

Are you really an enterprise IT company if you don't have certification courses for your product? If you ask Slack (or Cisco) the answer will be a resounding No.

Mischief managed

The Verge - July 27, 2020 - 15 min

A profile of MSCHF, the viral product company that's like if SUPREME and TikTok merged. Their latest creation: the $1200 Jesus Shoes. A $200 pair of Air Max 97 sneakers with water from the River Jordan injected in the soles 🤷🏻‍♂️.

States Issue Warnings About Seed Packets From China

The New York Times - July 26, 2020 - 5 min

Americans have been receiving mysterious unsolicited packages from China containing seeds.

Turns out it's probably sellers buying their own products in e-commerce platforms with real USA addresses, then shipping a cheap product, all to boost their ranking and reviews in the platform.

Inside the World’s Only Sourdough Library

Atlas Obscura - May 16, 2018 - 7 min

Unlike books, the starters need to be fed regularly

Have you boosted your baking game during quarantine? Then you might be interested in this library.

Apple Buys Startup to Turn iPhones Into Payment Terminals

Bloomberg - July 31, 2020 - 2 min

There already are multiple products in the market to accept credit card payments with your phone, Square being the most notorious, at least in the US market.

This deal means Apple could become a merchant account provider, offering business a way to accept payments with any iPhone. B2B is the next step after shipping their first B2C product with the Apple Card last year.

How I Growth Hacked Instagram to Drive $13,000 of Card Game Sales

David Kemmerer - June 16, 2020 - 9 min

I growth-hacked the College Cards Instagram page with fake followers, fake engagement, and fake everything to make it look like the game was all the rage.

Great overview of social media tactics many DTC (Direct To Consumer) companies use... applied to selling a card game to college students!

[xmusiisms-a]

@musapersonaat liked for angst a starter - 

“how is any of this my fault?” no really, he’d love to know how scott’s worked out that alex deserves the blame for their current situation. it physically hurts to have his brother be so mad over something alex couldn’t control.

[xmusiisms-a]

@youcantknowthat - 

“Piece of friendly advice - people with... abilities usually don’t talk to people who start asking questions.”

[xmusiisms-a]

@wcrriorisms That Thing we discussed earlier - 

Things had just started to settle down for Alex when the nice, comfortable boat he’d been riding in (with his foster father, the shark-man, swimming underneath) had been rocked by the news of a new foster sibling. 

It wasn’t like he didn’t like kids, but he was most definitely eager to stay as far away as he could manage. (Erik had said that was something he’d have to work on for the future. Alex had told him to fuck off, and walked straight out the house, slamming the door as hard as he could on his way out.)

So for Erik to put his hands on Alex’s shoulders that morning before he went to work (nobody else’s parents seemed to work on a Saturday, but Alex didn’t mind so much when it gave him a whole free day with his brother), and look him right in the eyes as his lips formed the words “I’m relying on you to keep her out of trouble today” felt like the ultimate betrayal.

She didn’t even speak.

He had no clue what to do with her, but it was a Saturday, and that meant it was his day to spend with Scott over the other side of town. They had a routine, and now this new kid would have to be a part of it.

“Listen.” He told her, crouching so he could look her right in the face, a fiercely protective light causing his own blue eyes to harden a little. “We’re going to the park, alright? You don’t have to stay with me and Scott, but you have to stay where I can see you all the time. You wander off, I’m not gonna come lookin’ for you. Got it?”

[xmusiisms-a]

OPEN - 

“Who even thought this was a good idea?”

[xmusiisms-a]

OPEN - 

“What part of get lost was so hard to understand?”

[xmusiisms-a]

@phcenixgirl - 

"We could get arrested for this."

[xmusiisms-a]

@wecunningfew -

“If I close my eyes and wish really hard, will you disappear?”

[xmusiisms-a]

@wcrriorisms;

Has regrets now.

“Speak, brave munchkin.”

[xmusiisms-a]

@wcrriorisms 

“I hate you.”

“That’s normal. Scottie hates me too.”

[xmusiisms-a]

@wcrriorisms;

She let out a small laugh before sniffling. “You’re the nerd.”

“You can’t pick on a potentially dying man.” He murmured, raising a hand to tug lightly on a piece of her hair. “Don’t cry, nerd.”

[xmusiisms-a]

"Long time, no see..." (alex- they could be former classmates at xaviers?)

@thenamesallison - 

“Yeah, I guess it has been a long time. How’ve you been, Ally?”

[xmusiisms-a]

@wcrriorisms;

“Some food would be nice.”

“I want pizza. You want pizza?”

[xmusiisms-a]

@telepathiciism - 

"I’m not sure if I want to run until my lungs give up or just punch something right now.”