#24 hour storage units
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goldvaultstorage · 2 years ago
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Gold Vault Storage
Looking for the best Radcliff storage unit near me? Gold Vault Storage is here to meet all your needs for storage units in Radcliff KY and surrounding areas. We provide our customers with clean, safe, and secure 24 hour self-storage units. Whether you need short-term storage or a more long-term home for your belongings, we can help with our storage facility.
Gold Vault Storage offers a multitude of regular, fenced, non-fenced, and climate-controlled units including 5x5 storage units, 5x10 storage units, 10x10 storage units, 5x5 storage units and 10x20 storage units for all storage needs you have.
Gold Vault Storage lets you reserve your storage unit online for your convenience. If you need storage units in Radcliff, KY, You can count on Gold Vault Storage to meet your needs!
Call 270-351-2127 to book your self-storage unit or learn more today!
Contact us:
1355 N Wilson Rd, Radcliff, KY 40160, United States
270-351-2127
https://goldvaultstorageky.com/
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speedlimit15 · 1 year ago
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condensing a multiple room apartment into a single storage unit with one other person and one pickup truck has to be one of the top ten worst things i’ve ever done
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eaststorage · 28 days ago
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24-Hour Storage Unit In Midland
For ultimate convenience, I-20 East Storage provides 24-hour storage units in Midland to fit your busy schedule. Store your items safely with round-the-clock access to your belongings. Our secure facility features advanced security measures to ensure the protection of your valuables. Rent online or call today and discover how easy it is to store with us. Your satisfaction is our priority!
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genekies · 4 months ago
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screaming, tearing my hair out, sobbing face down on my bed
#so my ex-boyfriend left the temp housing place without cleaning up at all. The thing is we were still together when he left.#We broke up after he was gone and before I came back to the house. The sink is overflowing with dishes and he left stuff here even though he#moved over an hour away. The other person that was staying here also left all the dishes dirty. Its the temp housings community dishes so I#cant cook or eat now and I CANT DO DISHES RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I STILL ALMOST PASS OUT WHEN IM STANDING FOR TOO LONG?#which he knew about before he left the place. and so did the other person staying here because she was my cousin.#I'm disgusted by people. And I'm so hurt? We were going to stay together and he did that to me. And I know he wasnt planning on leaving me.#Because he left two items very important to him sitting on our bed.#One being his ushanka that he got while living in russia with his grandpas soviet pin still on it.#And two the blanket his children were wrapped in as babies.#He left so much stuff here when I asked him to take everything. But he made sure to take the food that was his/what he thought should be his#Im pretty sure that he took my only HDMI cord too and I dont know what else.#I still have all of his other stuff in a storage unit. I plan to give it back but unless he gives me atleast a day of notice I cant.#Im going to have to call my mom to ask her to help me clean this all up. I physically cant do it And I'm calling the housing department tmrw#I gotta tell them that they gotta make sure that people actually follow the contract because i cant fucking eat until my mom comes to help#Theres cameras in all the common areas including the kitchen that run 24/7 so why havent they done anything. The other person that lived#here already moved out and it was all recorded. I gotta put in a complaint or something. This is why I'm losing a dangerous amount of weight#because I cant eat especially since i had an abortion 2 weeks ago thats given me so many health issues#I couldnt walk or move for days without my vision going black and i had such severe pain I was in and out of the doctors office and the ER#Not to mention I couldnt breathe when I was standing/walking too. And then he just left everything for me to deal with.#and yes again WE WERE STILL TOGETHER WHEN HE LEFT#im so tired and hungry man this is fucking terrible.#tag vent#vent in tags#vent
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reasonsforhope · 7 months ago
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"A 1-megawatt sand battery that can store up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy will be 10 times larger than a prototype already in use.
The new sand battery will eliminate the need for oil-based energy consumption for the entire town of town of Pornainen, Finland.
Sand gets charged with clean electricity and stored for use within a local grid.
Finland is doing sand batteries big. Polar Night Energy already showed off an early commercialized version of a sand battery in Kankaanpää in 2022, but a new sand battery 10 times that size is about to fully rid the town of Pornainen, Finland of its need for oil-based energy.
In cooperation with the local Finnish district heating company Loviisan Lämpö, Polar Night Energy will develop a 1-megawatt sand battery capable of storing up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy.
“With the sand battery,” Mikko Paajanen, CEO of Loviisan Lämpö, said in a statement, “we can significantly reduce energy produced by combustion and completely eliminate the use of oil.”
Polar Night Energy introduced the first commercial sand battery in 2022, with local energy utility Vatajankoski. “Its main purpose is to work as a high-power and high-capacity reservoir for excess wind and solar energy,” Markku Ylönen, Polar Nigh Energy’s co-founder and CTO, said in a statement at the time. “The energy is stored as heat, which can be used to heat homes, or to provide hot steam and high temperature process heat to industries that are often fossil-fuel dependent.” ...
Sand—a high-density, low-cost material that the construction industry discards [Note: 6/13/24: Turns out that's not true! See note at the bottom for more info.] —is a solid material that can heat to well above the boiling point of water and can store several times the amount of energy of a water tank. While sand doesn’t store electricity, it stores energy in the form of heat. To mine the heat, cool air blows through pipes, heating up as it passes through the unit. It can then be used to convert water into steam or heat water in an air-to-water heat exchanger. The heat can also be converted back to electricity, albeit with electricity losses, through the use of a turbine.
In Pornainen, Paajanen believes that—just by switching to a sand battery—the town can achieve a nearly 70 percent reduction in emissions from the district heating network and keep about 160 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually. In addition to eliminating the usage of oil, they expect to decrease woodchip combustion by about 60 percent.
The sand battery will arrive ready for use, about 42 feet tall and 49 feet wide. The new project’s thermal storage medium is largely comprised of soapstone, a byproduct of Tulikivi’s production of heat-retaining fireplaces. It should take about 13 months to get the new project online, but once it’s up and running, the Pornainen battery will provide thermal energy storage capacity capable of meeting almost one month of summer heat demand and one week of winter heat demand without recharging.
“We want to enable the growth of renewable energy,” Paajanen said. “The sand battery is designed to participate in all Fingrid’s reserve and balancing power markets. It helps to keep the electricity grid balanced as the share of wind and solar energy in the grid increases.”"
-via Popular Mechanics, March 13, 2024
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Note: I've been keeping an eye on sand batteries for a while, and this is really exciting to see. We need alternatives to lithium batteries ASAP, due to the grave human rights abuses and environmental damage caused by lithium mining, and sand batteries look like a really good solution for grid-scale energy storage.
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Note 6/13/24: Unfortunately, turns out there are substantial issues with sand batteries as well, due to sand scarcity. More details from a lovely asker here, sources on sand scarcity being a thing at the links: x, x, x, x, x
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greggslife · 3 months ago
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Here Are My Top 10 Favourite Ants
(Updated due to public outcry and political pressure.)
No. 10 - Yellow Crazy Ants
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These guys are on a list of "one hundred of the world's worst invasive species" formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), having invaded ecosystems from Hawaii to the Seychelles.
But don't hate just because they are awesome at establishing themselves in a new habitat due to their aggression toward other ant species, lack of aggression toward members of their own species, efficient recruitment, and large colony size. Respect the hustle!
No. 9 - Paraponera Clavata
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Also known as the "bullet ant," "the one wounding deeply," or "24-hour ant", referring to the full day of pain that follows being stung.
This ant's sting currently ranks the highest of all insect stings on Justin O. Schmidt's informal sting pain index, at 4.0+. Some victims compared the pain to that of being shot, (hence the nickname,) with "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours."
Lymphadenopathy, edema, tachycardia, and fresh blood appearing in human victim feces are common symptoms from even a single sting.
Un-fuck-with-able.
No. 8 - Honeypot Ants
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The name honeypot ant comes from the peculiar development of replete workers, whose abdomens become so swollen with food that they are used by the rest of the colony as living food storage. They are "drained" during famine, usually the wintertime, to sustain the colony, leaving them as "flaccid depletes."
Disgusting. 10/10
When a replete worker fills with food, a portion of her digestive tract swells and displaces other abdominal organs. It can expand about four to five times its normal linear dimension when they are fully engorged with food.
I can relate. I have eaten pasta in such quantities to displace my own organs many times.
No. 7 - Red Imported Fire Ants
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Though South American in origin, the red imported fire ant has been accidentally introduced to many other parts of the world.
More than 14 million people are stung by them in the United States annually. Most victims experience intense burning and swelling, followed by the formation of sterile pustules, which may remain for several days. Up to 6% of people may suffer from anaphylaxis. More than 80 deaths have been recorded from red imported fire ant attacks.
These ants thrive in urban areas. Nests can be built under pavements and foundations. This means not only can they damage or destroy individual structures, but red imported fire ants can have an affect on broader infrastructure, damaging land, business and property values. In agriculture, they can damage crops and machinery, and threaten pastures. They also pose a threat to animals and livestock, capable of inflicting serious injury or death, especially on young, weak, or sick animals.
With annual damages estimated in the billions of dollars, these ants are considered the second worst thing to arrive on North American soil since 1492.
No. 6 - Black Garden Ants
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When building their colony, these ants will structure it so as to inhibit the transmission of different contagions. Different communities within the colony are segregated by a limited number of connective nodes, allowing for greater protection of vulnerable hive members, such as larvae and pupae.
A trait I could only wish other species performed so well.
No. 5 - Pharaoh Ants
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These ants utilize three types of pheromones. One is a long-lasting attractive chemical that is used to build a trail network. It remains detectable even if the ants do not use the trail for several days.
The second pheromone is also attractive, but will decay to imperceptible amounts in a matter of minutes without reapplication. This pheromone is useful in marking food sources as these are unpredictable and liable to change quickly, so not worth the longer-lasting pheremone.
The third pheromone is a repellant. If an individual finds an unprofitable area with little food or significant danger, it will release this repellant pheromone, which will warn others and cause them to look elsewhere. While positive pheromones indicating lucrative foraging sites are very common in social insects, the pharaoh ant's negative pheromone is highly unusual and pharaoh ants were the first species found to employ such a thing.
No. 4 - Argentine Ant
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This species is like the Mr. Worldwide of ants. It has established itself in every continent except Antarctica (including many oceanic islands.)
It even has "supercolonies" that extend across hundreds or thousands of kilometers, first reported in California in 2000, then in Europe in 2002, Japan in 2009, and Australia in 2010.
Several subsequent studies used genetic, behavioral, and chemical analyses to show that supercolonies on separate continents actually represent a single global supercolony.
The researchers stated that the "enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society."
How can you not admire (and fear) the ambition and the achievement?
No. 3 - Leafcutter Ants
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"Leafcutter ants" is a bit of an umbrella term, as it consists of over 45 ant species, but this gang is just so remarkable. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. They are known for their advanced agricultural practices. These ants are not merely foragers but skilled farmers, cultivating their own food by collecting specific kinds of leaf matter in order to produce specialized fungi in their nests.
No. 2 - Formica Fusca
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These ants, (sometimes called silky ants or dusky ants,) are fast to learn, and only a single presentation of stimulus is enough for them to form a genuine long-term memory. This formed memory is also resistant to extinction.
Ants of this species can also detect volatile organic compounds emitted by cancer cells. After a 3-trial conditioning, they can differentiate cancer cell lines from healthy ones. They can also differentiate between at least two different cancerous cell lines.
A similar ability to detect human tumours has been shown in more recent studies.
No. 1 - Weaver Ants
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An arboreal species, (i.e. they live in trees,) weaver ants are known for their unique nest building behaviour where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large consisting of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees.
How they sew the leaves together is a remarkable feat of cooperation. Typically, dozens of ants will need to form a chain to first bridge a gap between two leaves, then pull them together so another team can hold them in position whilst yet more ants sew the gap together with silk. But adult ants can't make silk, so they have to use larvae to do it, picking the larvae up and using them like little pots of glue to spin a mat of silk between the two leaves. Altogether, a hundred ants might be involved in the same task. This is a pretty remarkable piece of evolution and a testament to the power of cooperation!
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skeletoninthemelonland · 8 months ago
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Hi Starbs, sorry to hear about your situation, I am a bit younger than you and a couple of years ago I was put into a similar spot, even right now as I'm finishing up high-school my housing isn't very stable. I'll give you some tips if it's something that could help you. (I am from the USA so things are probably different over there) also apologies I am not good with English!!
SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. Budgeting and being frugal when it comes to money is extremely important!!
Do keep a bit of spending money as treats and keeping morality in check will do you good in the long run.
My storage unit costs me 66$ USD a month it's the size of a walk in closet. Whatever isn't essential or you can't carry in a backpack it's best you have a safe place to store it. Some will ask you to buy your own lock so keep that in mind.
Reach out to youth shelters! The one I'm staying at lets us stay 60 days but makes us leave at least 7 until we can come back. We can keep coming back as many times needed for us to find housing (as long as we don't have a record with causing problems at the shelter)
Learn your bus routes if you can, it saves more money than using a car.
Let trustworthy people know about your situation, friends, teachers, whoever, let them know as community and building a support system is essential.
Communicate with your college, perhaps they have dorms or programs that may be of assistance.
Eat!! Drink water!!! Take care of your hygiene!!!
Some gyms have showers so you can get a membership just to go shower if you need!
Cars can be very useful as you can sleep in them, there are camping spots rangers won't look through sometimes you could sleep at, 24 hour opened store parking lots, or in my case outside the gym you have a membership for that's open 24 hours!
Keep distance from your parents. I don't know your situation but from my experience, KEEP A DISTANCE AND HAVE FIRM BOUNDARIES!!! You don't owe them anything, not your location, who you're with, you're schedule, they don’t need to know that.
Apartments usually want you to make 2-3 times the rent. Example: rent is 600 a month? Then you need to make around 1200-1800 a month.
If you have a job communicate with your boss about your situation, they can be very flexible and understanding.
Don't burn bridges in the professional field!
Social networking is a life saver, if you make the right impressions with the right people it can come in clutch later on.
I'm repeating this again but building community and a support system is essential. Maybe a friend you get along well with also wants to move in, you could be roommates. Or an older woman who is fond of you learns about your situation and is willing the rent you a room in her home.
Pay attention to red flags!
Red flags in apartments can be how well maintain it is (mold underneath the sink) and how you’re landlord approaches it.
Red flags in people, like they could know you're desperate and will try to use that against you.
Do your laundry at friend's homes or in public laundromats.
Red flags in environments, maybe you end up in a bad part of town, get out ASAP!!
Share and update someone trustworthy often, you never know what could happen.
I wish I could offer you more but I'm currently still figuring out my situation as well. Stay safe!! Remember someone out there really loves you and wants you to be okay!! And you deserve to be okay!!
.
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yesterdays-xkcd · 4 months ago
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Fuck it, I'm just going to Waffle House.
House of Pancakes [Explained]
Transcript
[All instances of the word "House" are in blue.]
[Every day a new city, a new IHOP. And yet every night the dreams get worse. I ply the highways, a nervous eye on the rear-view mirror, the back seat piled with stolen menus. Their doors are opened 24 hours, but forever closed to my soul. This is what my life has become. This is my hell.]
[Sidenote left: International] House of Pancakes
[Scribbled-out sidenote right: BLOGSPOT] Strawberry Banana Pancakes Four pancakes filled with sliced fresh banana and crowned with cool strawberry topping, more [17] bananas and [23] whipped topping. [17] Driven by a nameless fear, a whisper in the dark behind me, I flee ahead of I know not what. Whenver I turn, there's nobody behind me. And yet someone is clearly stealing the ketchup. WHY? (The footnote is covered in fingerprints.) [23] My life is feeding, fleeing, fighting, and forgetting. (The above note is sandwiched in sideways in between the Stuffed French Toast and Ham and Egg Melt.)
[Rooty Jr. A kids only [19] version of our house signature Rooty Tooty. One scrambled egg, one strip of bacon, one pork sausage link and one fruit-topped buttermilk pancake.] [19] The decision not to hyphenate "kids only" is likely connected to the omission of the serial comma. I wonder if the author is British. I wonder if he sleeps at night. (The following passages are have a red substance underneath them, probably ketchup.)
[Rise 'N Shine Two eggs, toast and hash browns served with your choice [21] of two strips of bacon or two pork sausage links.] [21] (illegible) rent a storage unit. Sleep there. Fill it with pancakes. Leave.
[Stuffed French Toast Cinnamon raisin French [18] toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with cool strawberry or your choice of fruit compote and whipped topping.] [18] Nightmares again. I wake up covered in sweat, and what appears to be a thin sheen of maple syrup
(Handwritten, underlined) WHO IS MOHAWK GIRL?
[Slanted 90 degrees left] Ham & Egg Melt Grilled sourdough bread stuffed with ham, scrambled eggs, Swiss and American cheeses. [20] (At normal orientation) [20] Ordered this in at an IHOP in Rochester, New York. There was blood on the floor. Some of it was mine.
(Comic strip) Enough with your pancakes. Enough with your GOD DAMN pancakes.
[The Big Steak Omlette Tender strips of steak, hash browns, [censored] tomatoes and Cheddar cheese. Served [22] with house salsa.] [22] Woke up in Las Vegas. They're closing the Star Trek Experience today. The IHOP up the strip had pancake platters named after various states. None of them sounded like home.
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girlactionfigure · 4 months ago
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💥 CONFIRMED AIRSTRIKES TARGET VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN HODEIDAH, YEMEN
🔴  Israeli Broadcasting Authority reports that airstrikes targeted Hodeidah’s port, power station, and oil storage facilities.
💥 According to Saudi Al-Arabiya, the Israeli airstrikes also struck a power plant at the Hodeidah port.
💥 Lebanese Al Mayadeen highlights additional attacks on oil reserves in Ras Issa alongside the port of Hodeidah.
💥 Yemeni media reports indicate more than ten strikes on the Hodeidah port.
💥 Al Mayadeen, citing Yemeni sources, confirms additional attacks on the Hodeidah airfield.
❗️(horror warning - skip this line if sensitive) After analyzing digital forensic evidence, Israeli police’s special investigation unit has determined - - 27 children between the ages of 0-17 were shot and BURNED ALIVE on October 7 by Hamas invaders.
❓ENEMY HELICOPTER CRASH?  (LIKELY FAKE NEWS) Reports are coming in of a helicopter crash in western Iran, carrying Iranian leaders and Houthis, with a supposed source of Al Jazeera.  BUT we can’t find any confirmation on Al Jazeera sites.  LIKELY FAKE NEWS.
⭕SIGNIFICANT HEZBOLLAH ROCKET BARRAGE.. at the Afula - Nazareth - Migdal HaEmek area and wide surrounds at 14:30. 
.. While Hezbollah has been hurt, they clearly continue to have the ability to fire LARGE barrages affecting a wide area. 
⭕MULTIPLE HEZBOLLAH ROCKET BARRAGES.. Safed area.
🔹PENTAGON WARNS.. Pentagon chief warns Iran against targeting US troops in the Middle East (after they were targeted multiple times in the past 24 hours) and orders an increased readiness of additional US forces to deploy, “elevating preparedness to respond to various contingencies.”
♦️WAVE OF IDF ATTACKS on Hezbollah areas in Beirut.
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strawberrysunsets · 2 years ago
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The Empty World (Ch. 9)
Donald Pierce x fReader
Status: Ongoing
Summary: Pierce and the Reavers are sent to capture a mutant with mysterious abilities. This chapter: The mutant discovers what happened to Laura at Transigen's labs, and has a run-in with the Reaver Commander.
Warnings: Swearing, injuries, mention of cannon death, mention of cannon torture, mention of cannon suicide, manipulation.
Angst, slow burn, enemies to lovers
Author's Note: six months later, another chapter! Hurrah!
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Chapter 9: Revelation
Strips of motion-activated fluorescent lighting flickered on one after another as the man before you strode through the cold, stark basement, glancing back for you to follow. 
It had been a few days since your admittedly ill-advised first aid soiree with Pierce, and your pager had notified you this morning that you were due to be fitted for gear for your upcoming assignment. While you’d been hiding in your rooms since, hoping to avoid what was sure to be an awkward encounter the next time you saw Pierce, mission outfitting had sounded non-optional. So here you were, hoping against hope that you wouldn't run into the Reaver Commander in Transigen's basement gear storage unit. 
The Recon Manager arrived at a side door, and swiped his pass to open it. Inside, racks of Kevlar and carbon fibre swished on either side of you, and you brushed a hand along the garments as you passed. 
Going into Pierce’s rooms had been fun, in a perverse sort of way. Like watching a crime documentary. It was a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a sociopath. And, yes, he was a sociopath with soft hair and a smooth southern accent – but he was only attractive in the way that any lethal weapon was. Like a blade honed to an edge, or a corrosive substance just whispering at you to touch it, his presence beckoned towards the heady rush of danger. 
A masochist’s dream, you sighed internally. But at least you knew your own weaknesses. And something you’d gleaned from Pierce the other night, whether or not mashing your face to his had been a mistake (which was pretty inarguable), was that there were different facets to him. There was an off-duty version of him, for example, who seemed a hell of a lot more open to chatting about things that verged on the personal than the business-hours Reaver Commander did. 
And that was something that might be useful, seeing as you were still in the dark about almost everything that went on at Transigen. Like why were they so invested in - and 'responsible for' - the mutant kids. Or what the hell kind of information they were so desperate to get back from Zenith Labs. Or how the fuck they’d made evil-buzzcut-logan, X-24.
So yes, you were toying with the idea of fucking Donald Pierce. If it got you any information, it didn’t sound like the worst possible way to pass your time at Transigen. If that failed, you could always go play in the radiation lab.
“Don’t touch anything,” the Recon Manager snapped, glancing back at you as he pulled open a storage locker. You raised your hands from the garment rack in surrender, but continued to stare around the room, casually itemizing what you could see for future reference. It might be handy to know what kinds of gear were down here, in case you ever had to make a short-notice departure from Transigen. Not that you wanted to do that, seeing as the fate of Laura and the others depended on your contract with Ansley. But still, it felt nice to know a few of their secrets. 
When the Manager had collected an assortment of garments and pieces of equipment, he handed them to you with a cold expression, crossing his arms as he waited for you to pull on a Kevlar vest to check its size.  He wasn’t a Reaver, judging by his lack of military apparel and macho attitude, but he was clearly anti-mutant. A Purifier? A follower of the Church of Human Potential? Who knew. It barely mattered, since there were too many varieties of hatred out there to count. And Logan had always said that they were all the same, in the end.
“These aren’t yours,” the Recon Manager said gruffly, when you nodded in assent at the size of the vest. “They’re equipment on loan from the facility. What comes back damaged comes out of your pay. If you get paid, that is.”
With that, he strode towards the door, and stood waiting for you to exit the room before he shut it behind you. 
Just another day at the office, you sighed internally. And I’m sure this isn’t even the most toxic workplace out there.
Then again, you were considering starting a workplace situationship with your sadistic mercenary supervisor, so there was still plenty of room for things to go downhill from here.
~~~
As you lay in bed that night, you stared at the screen of the phone in your hands, reading the message you’d received that morning over and over again. 
We are safe. Across the border. 
The unknown number from which it had come was undoubtedly Laura, using the burner phone you’d given her. And they were safe. You didn’t know what that meant – if they’d found a true hiding place, or even other mutants, or had just escaped the tails Transigen had on them – but your heart ached with relief. For now, they were safe. And they would continue to be, as long as your deal with Transigen remained. 
You flipped away from the messages app, and scrolled through the phone’s home screen, trying to get used to its controls. It was the phone Laura had given you, previously belonging to someone named Gabriela. Who that was, and what her story was, you had no idea - but she assumedly had no use for it, anymore. Maybe she'd been Laura’s family, or maybe just some unlucky bystander who’d helped the mutant kids and gotten themselves in the Reaver’s crosshairs, but she was clearly gone, just like every other person who'd ever stood between Transigen and their goals. 
Your finger brushed the camera app in the phone's corner and it opened involuntarily, causing the ‘recent videos’ icon to catch your eye. Because there was a video there. You sat up in interest and tapped on it, and shaky footage immediately grew to fill the phone's screen. 
“My name is Gabriela Lopes,” a woman said, sitting back in a chair in a warmly lit room. “I am a nurse, and for ten years I have worked at Transigen research in Mexico City.” The footage flashed, changing to a video of the exterior of Transigen’s gates.
Your eyes widened, and you sat up further, gripping the phone tightly.  
The next clip was of Gabriela in a storage closet somewhere inside the lab, breathing hard and obviously filming in secret.
“Transigen is owned by an American company,” she continued. “What I am about to show you is illegal in the US, and Canada.”
The camera panned around to the hallway, and you watched in growing horror as a line of children – a few of whom you recognized from North Dakota – filed past. 
“They told us we were part of a pharmaceutical study,” Gabriela continued breathlessly. “But that was a lie. These children were born in Transigen. They were born here, and never left. They have never seen the sun, or the ocean. Rain, or snow, or any of god’s creatures. They have no birth certificates, no names besides the ones we have given them.” 
Then Laura appeared on the screen in your hands, asleep in a narrow bed, and you made an inarticulate sound of horror as you covered your mouth. 
You’d heard Laura imply that she and her friends had been at Transigen's lab together, but you’d thought that it was because they’d been kidnapped and brought there. That Transigen had wanted to study them, because they were the first mutants born in 25 years. Not that they were from the lab. 
“They were raised in the bellies of Mexican girls,” Gabriela's voice continued, careless of your mounting horror as the video panned over a few bloody hospital beds. “Girls no one can find anymore. Their fathers are semillas geneticas; special seeds in bottles.”  
Then Pierce appeared on screen, and you inhaled sharply, watching as he dismantled the domestic scene of one of the kids’ birthdays. The video continued, flashing past scenes of the children being injected with large syringes full of fluid, and then a boy using his powers wildly, attacking the personnel around him. And then Laura was back – only this time on a bloody surgery bed, with half a dozen tubes sticking from her arms. A team of doctors worked on her, and familiar metallic claws protruded from her knuckles. 
You choked out sob, and tried to steady the phone in your shaking hand. 
Laura, slashing her own forearm with the Adamantium blades.
Men running up a flight of stairs, in time to see a young boy throw himself from the roof.
A computer screen open to a file titled ‘X-24’, followed by a series of disembodied limbs, floating in blue tanks. 
Then, men - Reavers - were grabbing the children, and pulling them out of their rooms. Pierce appeared, zapping a child with a metal rod before dragging their unconscious body into a lab room. 
“We are going to save as many children as we can," Gabriela continued, voice choked with emotion. "I read about a place up North. A place for mutants. They call it Eden.” 
Then the video changed, and the kids were running down the halls, accompanied by Gabriela and a few of the other nurses. Escaping. 
“If you’re watching this,” Gabriela said, now addressing the camera from what looked to be a motel room, “it means that I am dead.” Her dark, soulful eyes filled with tears, matching the tears now streaming down your own cheeks. “I am not sure if any other children survived. We were separated.” 
You were breathing hard, and you lowered the phone shakily to your bed as the recording neared its end. 
“Please,” Gabriela’s voice finished. The voice of a dead woman. “Take her to safety.”
Then the video shut off, returning you to the phone's black camera screen, and leaving your room in darkness. 
Your chest rose and fell erratically as if you’d just sprinted a mile, and it felt like there was a vice gripping your stomach, making it hard to breathe. You rose from the bed and walked desperately to the window, then back to your bed, pacing.
“Fuck.” The images from the video flashed through your mind. “Fuck. Fuck!” 
You crossed to your door and threw it open, not knowing where your feet were taking you – only that you needed air. This building felt different, now that you’d seen what had gone on here. The pain. The fucking torture, and all the other things you could barely comprehend. Your bare feet slapped the cold floor - you'd not bothered with shoes in your rush - and you took the stairs at the end of the hall two at a time, ignoring the strain on your still-healing shoulder and legs. 
You burst out onto the lab's roof as your vision blurred with tears, and gasped for breath. The night was warm outside, and the sounds of the city - dogs barking, distant music playing, and far-off sirens - rushed in around you, replacing the eerie silence of the compound.The sharp gravel of the rooftop bit into your bare feet, but you barely felt it. You put a hand to your stomach, fighting off a wave of nausea as you leaned against the cement wall to your left.  
You’d known Transigen were evil. But – that? That was fucking insane. 
You leaned your head back against the wall and took a few steadying breaths, trying to process it all.
Far below you, a car door slammed, and loud laughter echoed through the lab's concrete yard. You walked slowly to the edge of the roof and looked down, wiping the tears from your cheeks as you spotted a group of men exiting a dark truck stationed in front of Transigen’s main entrance. A blond head swung from the truck’s cab, and your stomach tightened as you recognized Pierce's tall form. He handed off a black case to another man who carried it inside, and turned to grab something else from the truck. 
The image of him dragging an unconscious child across the floor of one of the labs flashed before your eyes, and before you knew what you were doing, you’d stepped off the edge of the roof, curving your wings in sharply for a quick descent. The rush of air pulled at your sore shoulder, but you ignored it, landing soundlessly on the pavement before the vehicle. Your chest heaved as you stared at the men encircling the truck. Then men who’d tortured Laura. Who’d tried to put the mutant kids to death as soon as they no longer served a purpose to the lab. 
Pierce was turned away from you, but his head cocked slightly to the side when your bare feet landed on the pavement, as if he’d heard some minute noise behind him. That was the only warning you had before he’d pulled his gun from its holster and swung it around to aim it at your head, almost quicker than you could blink. 
Then his eyes found your face, and wings, and a grin spread across his face. 
“Well hey there, sweetheart!” He said, returning his gun to its holster and leaning back against the SUV. He wore a sleeveless black shirt above his fatigues, suited to the warm night, and it showed off his muscle-corded arms and the skull tattoo on his neck. The men nearby turned to see what was going on, and quickly caught sight of you standing in the darkness down the walkway. Some stared at you coldly, while others jostled each other, chuckling at unheard jokes.
“Finally come to join your pals?” Pierce asked, a glint in his eye. “Get a little team bonding in?” 
But you weren’t in the mood for banter, tonight.
“Transigen made the mutant kids?” You spat, staring at him as your skin prickled with hatred. “This fucking place made them, locked them up, and tortured them, until you decided to kill them?” 
The men behind Pierce quieted, and some lab worker who’d been on his way in through the automatic doors paused to glance your way, eyes wide. 
Pierce showed no signs of surprise at your outburst, but his eyes grew cold as he tilted his head slowly to one side, examining you. He took in your messy hair, bare feet, and the dark shorts and t-shirt you slept in, before his gaze rose back to your face. “Who you been talking to?” He asked, deceptively casual.
You choked out a harsh laugh. “As if I’d fucking tell you.” 
He raised a brow, and snorted incredulously. “For the sake of your little friends, baby, I’d suggest you do,” he drawled. “Otherwise–” he opened a hand helplessly, “who can say what’ll happen to ‘em.” His grin faded, and his eyes glinted with predatory delight beneath a veil of mock regret. “As you know, we really got no issue killing what needs to die.” 
Your skin prickled as you held his gaze. Because just like that, you were reminded of the violence simmering beneath the surface of this place. And how easily they could take everything away from you, while you remained a prisoner here in all but name. You ground your jaw, wishing that you’d restrained yourself from hopping down here and confronting Pierce with what you’d learned so quickly, because now, of course, he was suspicious about how you you’d figured it out. 
“Laura mentioned being at a lab, but I didn’t put the pieces together till now,” you replied, crossing your arms before you and glancing away as you fabricated an excuse. You couldn't let Pierce find out about Gabriela’s phone, or they’d find the messages between you and Laura. And then you’d lose the only mode of contact you had with her and the others.   “I thought she’d just been kidnapped and brought to the lab,” you continued, staring rigidly away at the fence surrounding Transigen. “But if she had Logan’s DNA, then it must’ve meant that someone engineered her. And tested the Adamantium on her. And if you did that to her…” you finished, motioning with a hand to express that you’d extrapolated the rest. 
Pierce scrutinized you for a moment, then his mouth curved in a slight smile. “Hm,” he grunted. You couldn’t tell if he believed you or not, but he leaned back against the SUV, and waved at the Reavers who’d gathered to watch the little scene play out, motioning for them to continue on their way. Some chuckled as they turned away, shooting you cold smiles before walking off towards the parking lot or turning to grab things from the truck’s trunk. 
“Well, great powers of deduction, darlin'," Pierce said, raising something to his lips – a vape – and taking a pull. “But you always knew what you were signing up for. Ain’t no use getting cold feet now.” 
Your breathing had gradually slowed, but rage and disgust were still warring with disbelief inside you. But below that, yes; there was also a grim lack of surprise. Of course you knew what Alkali-Transigen was capable of. They’d been hunting mutants to either kill or experiment on for the past 25 years – and if they’d found a way to make mutants of their own, of course they’d be lab rats. But you just couldn’t reconcile that idea with Laura and her friends. 
Laura, lying on the surgery table, amidst all that blood. 
“Sure, Pierce,” you replied sardonically, your nausea slowly giving way to fatigue. “Of fucking course I shouldn’t be surprised that you like killing kids. I’ve truly never hoped hell exists quite this much,” you added, pitching your voice to reach the receding Reavers. “Cause you fucking monsters will have reserved seating.” 
One of them turned to shoot you a smile, waggling his fingers mockingly as he disappeared around the corner, and Pierce sighed, pushing up from where he leaned against the SUV. 
“C’mon now, honey,” he said, walking towards you. “Ain’t no such thing as monsters. Just people willing to get things done, and people who ain’t.” 
You stared at him in disgust as he approached, while the Reavers’ truck pulled away behind him, leaving the sidewalk outside the lab’s main entrance empty.
“That’s a great line of bullshit you got going there,” you replied tiredly. “Write a fucking book.”
He came to a halt beside where you stood, and gazed skyward, taking another pull from his vape. “I know you don’t get it, sweetheart,” he replied. “You’re soft. Thing is, if we hadn’t done those experiments, someone else would have. And then they’d be getting the big bucks when all of this pays off.” He glanced down at you, unfazed. “See? It’s all just choices.” And as always, his smooth drawl was like warm water on your skin, working to soothe you into believing that he was right. That this was what the world was, and there was no way around it. “You either choose to win,” he finished, “or you’re alright with losin’.”
You rolled his words over in your head, and snorted derisively. But one phrase stuck in your mind, catching your attention through your fatigue. When all of this pays off. So there was a master plan behind the experimentation. Some kind of goal Transigen had, that they knew would pay off big time. 
“You’re a fucking sadist,” you replied, too tired to come up with a better insult. It was simply the truth. The revelations of the night had left you drained, and your rage and horror were quickly fizzling into numb disgust. 
“Mm,” Pierce hummed in agreement, nonplussed. “Tellin’ me that ain’t what you're into?” He narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion. “Cause the other night, it seemed to me like –” 
“Shut–” you said, turning sharply as you cut him off, “–the fuck up. I was dizzy and fucking injured.” And you were currently in no mood to discuss the other night. You may have decided this afternoon that fucking Pierce for info was a good idea, but that was before seeing taser a fucking child. Though on the one hand, you now wanted to know Transigen’s dirt even more badly. Cause there was clearly a lot of it. 
Pierce chuckled at your evasion. “Guess that means I’ll have to kick things off this time,” he shrugged, sighing. Before you'd registered his intent, he was moving towards you, forcing you back against the compound’s cement wall. You glanced up at him in shock, but he only smirked as he snaked an arm around your waist. Then his lips were pressing hotly against yours. 
What the fuck, you thought, hands rising to press against his chest, uncertain of whether to push him off. But all thought fled from your mind as he kissed you hard, hungrily, and when you gasped in surprise, you felt him smile against you. And you were breathing in his scent – fucking vape smoke, and sweat, and cologne – and it was disgusting, and intoxicating. 
You couldn’t decide if you wanted this, but he pressed you back into the wall, forcing your hands out from between the two of you. You steadied yourself against the wall with one hand, and when you wrapped the other around his waist, he pulled you against him, wrapping his cold cybernetic hand around the back of your neck.  Stick to the plan? You thought frantically. Seduce him and see what he lets slip? Or go back to my room and process what the fuck I found out today like a sane person?
Pierce’s hot weight against you made it hard to concentrate on any thoughts, though, and he grew bolder, his human hand sliding under your shirt and up your back, sending shivers racing through you. Finally, you leaned your head back against the wall as his hand slid down to grasp your hip, and gave in to the sensations. 
Ah, fuck it. 
Pierce felt the tension leave you, and bent his head to trail his tongue up your exposed neck, exhaling in satisfaction. You shivered at the tingling sensation of his breath on your neck, and pulled him closer, winding your fingers through his hair. Then he took your chin in his cold metal hand, and forced your mouth back to his. His tongue parted your lips, and quested deeper.   
Dizziness washed over you, and you inhaled deeply, trying to catch your breath. His breath hot against your cheek, and smelled of beer and minty vape smoke. “Mm,” he hummed, pulling away slightly to gaze down at you. “Now this is better, ain’t it?” 
You met his gaze, breathing hard. “Better than trying to hold a conversation with you,” you shot back with mock sweetness. Pierce grinned, and returned his metal hand to the back of your neck, grip tightening. Then his mouth was back on yours, stealing the breath from you. 
Admittedly, it had been a while since you’d been with anyone, but this felt fucking intense in a way you weren’t used to. Probably the constant threat of imprisonment and death, you reasoned. One hell of a kink. 
Your skin buzzed in the warm night air, and all focus was lost to the inebriating press of his body against yours. His hips pressed into yours, and he slid a knee upward, parting your legs. You inhaled sharply, and he moved his hands down to the backs of your thighs, preparing to hoist your legs up around him. 
But then the doors to the lab whooshed open a few yards to your left, and someone made a startled noise. Whoever they were immediately hurried away towards the parking lot, accompanied by the blip of a pager. But their reaction pulled you back to reality. 
And it turned out that while you wanted to be a no-fucks-to-give secret agent who slept with the enemy and stole their secrets in the process, fucking a murderer less than an hour after watching him torture children, and learning that the company he – and now you – worked for had created and experimented on them, felt a bit too icky. 
Alright, you sighed internally, so it's gonna to be a 'go back to my room and process what the fuck I found out today like a sane person' kind of night. Bummer. But the murderer in question would undoubtedly still be here tomorrow, and more than willing to continue carrying out your plan. 
“Alright cowboy,” you said, pushing up from the wall and forcing your way to the side, extricating yourself from his grasp. “That’s enough for tonight.” 
Pierce scoffed, turning his shoulder to lean against the wall as he watched you go. “Really? You ain’t sticking around?” He called, then snorted in laughter. “I don’t know what the fuck kind of game you’re playin’, baby."
You flipped him off as you walked away, disappearing past the sliding doors and back into the cold air of the lab.  But yeah, you thought, your exhaustion returning in a wave as the hot adrenaline began fading from your limbs. That makes two of us. 
Taglist:
@humongousgalaxycoffee @drowningnikki @mischiefmanaged71 @lostcause514 @capvengrs @forever-nerd @pancakesandlolliepops @kingredking @gremlinfuck @marvel-at-my-obsession @padawansubscription @rebeccaofrivia @toobsock
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usafphantom2 · 1 year ago
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FLASHBACK: Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
April 21, 2022
SR-71A 959 Big Tail
SR-71A
SR-71A 959 Big Tail (Lockheed Courtesy Photo # C76-1097-4)
Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
Big Tail - One of a Kind Variant
Shortly after the first SR-71’s began flying operational missions over North Vietnam, the Air Force was looking into ways of expanding the capabilities of the aircraft. With the interchangeable noses, mission planners had to make a choice of flying either optical cameras or side-looking radar, depending upon the mission requirements and the weather over the target area. Unfortunately several missions were rendered useless when weather over the target area prevented the use of the optical camera systems installed. There was also the possibility that future ground defenses had the ability to reach the SR-71 from behind since it carried no aft facing countermeasures.
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In 1974, the Air Force identified a requirement for aft facing ECM requirement on the SR-71. Several proposals examined by the Air Force included conformal packages, belly pods as well as an extended tail fairing. After researching all the possibilities, the extended tail appeared to be the most viable option based on lowest cost, added volume and least aerodynamic drag. The new “Big Tail” assembly is 13-feet, 9-inches long and weighs 1,273 lbs. with 49 cubic feet of space to carry 864 lbs. of payload. The primary payload consisted of aft facing ECM as well as the 24-inch Optical Bar Camera. The new assembly needed to articulate 8.5 degrees up and down to clear the runway during take-off and landing.
The tenth SR-71 built (61-7959) was selected to receive the new modification. This aircraft was already being used for flight test duties at Palmdale at the time so there would be no effect on the operational fleet. Between April and November 1975, ‘959 received the modification with the new tail fairing; necessary modifications included a 51-inch adapter unit for the new tail, air conditioning for cameras and other equipment as well as routing the fuel vent along the upper surface of the tail. In addition to the tail modification, chine bays were modified to accommodate the 24-inch Optical Bar Camera.
With the stress and vibration testing completed, ‘Big Tail’ was taken out for the first high-speed taxi test on November 20, 1975 by Lockheed test crew Darrell Greenamyer (pilot) and Steven Belgeau (Reconnaissance Systems Officer-RSO). Two weeks later, on December 3, the same crew took Big Tail up on its first flight. Lasting just over one hour, the crew performed basic flight checks as well as tail deflections and fuel dump tests. With each test flight with the same Lockheed crew, Big Tail flew to higher speeds and altitudes achieving Mach 3 at 75,000 ft during the 6th flight on January 28,1976. Prior to turning the aircraft over to Air Force test crews, Greenamyer performed 4 solo flights to prove the system could be run by just a single crewmember. The RSO’s seat occupied by a ballast dummy affectionately known as “Sierra Sam”.
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Once Lockheed crews proved the system worked, the Air Force took over all flight testing. Tom Pugh and Bob Riedenauer became the pilots and RSO duties went to William Frazier and John Carnochan with the first Air Force flight taking place on May 5, 1976. Over the next 6 months these Air Force crews made 23 flights in ‘Big Tail’, testing various camera systems in the tail and chine bays, as well as new ECM systems such as the DEF I, DEF J and DEF A-2.
Although ‘Big Tail’ proved to be a viable system, the Air Force chose not to pursue the concept any further. After only 36 flights with the extended tail, ‘959 made its last flight on October 29, 1976, then simply placed in outdoor storage at Palmdale. Though it only had a total of 866 hours of flight time and a total of 304 flights to its credit, ‘959 became a source of spare parts for other flight test SR-71s until it was finally transferred to the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, Florida in the fall of 1991.
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lucigraves · 4 months ago
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Can't scroll through any social media without reporting/blocking an ad every other post. Personal creations get no traction. Endless amounts of art tossed into the void only to get drowned out beneath ads or bad faith opinions from someone with 100k followers (majority of whom are either bought or bots) who's completely lost touch with reality. Most social media runs exclusively off of a negative feedback loop, you spend so much time being angry at someone who hit post on something just for clicks. They don't think about you, they don't think about consequences because they're making $ off of you being upset.
Can't drive down a highway without being blinded by full LED screens bigger than my house advertising businesses I've known about for 10+ years. The cost of keeping every light on all 25 billboards in a 10 mile stretch would cover the cost of universal housing for the local area for 5+ years. 5 more storage units pop up in whatever land is left for sale.
Can't listen to a streaming service without an ad after every song. Can't listen to podcasts without 10-20 minutes of paid advertisements; all of them are either gacha games (gambling), weight-loss fads, pyramid schemes, therapy with unlicensed physicians who data mine your personal info or some brand you'd have to be living under a rock to not know. Every YouTube content creator makes videos exclusively about covering some topic or fad you should avoid on TikTok, seemingly bringing the topics even more attention than it had before; 30 minutes long with a 10 minute paid advertisement in the middle.
Can't make important phone calls without being met with automated help systems that never have an option for the issue you're having. If you're lucky enough to get sent to a real person you end up waiting 15+ minutes on hold and most of the time get disconnected before you get through, successfully wasting 30 minutes to an hour of you're limited free time.
Every streaming service has new shows and movies every day. One season, three if you're really lucky. And no more 12-24 episode series, now its 8 episodes, because that's whats bingeable. Nothing good approved for more than 2 seasons and maybe a double feature movie to tie up all of the loose ends they thought they had time to finish up before they dared to put a queer character in their cast. Is buying the media physically worth an ad every 20 minutes? Does it even exist physically; or is it another series that'll be lost to time because corporate noticed they can't make an extra $0.05 on every stream.
Every other ad is temu or shein, every product photo is blatantly ripped off of some individual creator on etsy who handmade the item and hasn't gotten a sale in 6 months. Every corporation relies on stealing from solo artists and creators and mass-producing their one-of-a-kind pieces. If they're lucky enough they'll be allowed to do a collab with a big company, all so they can make 2% of the profit.
All of this on top of having to work however many hours you need to to survive, to get by on (probably) the bare minimum, to scrape by. To pay rent to someone who owns 15 properties and charges you double what they pay monthly. Hoping (for your wallet's sake) that you don't have any emergencies lest you empty out what little savings you've been able to put aside. You get maybe 3 hours of free time in your day between keeping up with household needs. All of that, only to have to fight your way through all of the advertisements to try to enjoy the few minutes of free time you get for yourself.
I wish I could put this into words in a more palatable way, but I'm just so tired of being frustrated that so much of my limited time on earth is being wasted so someone else can make $0.0005 on 30 seconds of my life. I'm tired of being advertised to. There's so few places left worth my time on the internet anymore, because they prioritize a few cents to the ceo over me.
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primrosedinocat · 1 month ago
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Please read‼️
Writing this on 12/7. I'm at work right now so I'm trying to make this post quickly. Long story short, I am in need of funds so please look at my carrd if you are interested in furry/pokemon art.
For context of the situation I'm in, I was living with my dad, his girlfriend, and my 17 year old sister. Shortly after we moved in together, my dad and his girlfriend quit their jobs. He has been getting unemployment and his girlfriend has been taking out student loans and we've been barely managing to scrape by.
Apparently though, my dad didn't pay last month's rent, and we got an eviction notice which got lost in the mail so two days ago (12/5) we got a knock on the door which turned out to be someone delivering the eviction notice personally. It said that my dad had to come to a court hearing the next day (12/6). He didn't make it in time and when he got home there was a notice of immediate possession, meaning we had 24 hours to get out.
Me and my sister managed to get all of our stuff packed and loaded into a uhaul and we spent the night at our mom's last night, but we can't live there because there's not enough space. The only other person we know who has room for us is our grandpa, but he said no when we asked him, and he's very conservative so it would not have been a safe place for either of us, who are both queer.
Our current plan is to rent a storage unit and find a hotel for me, my sister, and our mom to stay at until we save up enough money to rent a place together, but I'm worried that that is going to drain a lot of our money, so I'm hoping to take some commissions to help cover costs.
I also have two cats and two dogs, but I can board them for free at my job, so that's not an added expense but it does make finding a place to rent more difficult.
Thank you if you read all of that. I'm trying to type this all out quickly before my lunch break is over while also trying to stay calm, so sorry for any poor grammar. Idon't have quick access to all of my art but here are a few examples. You can find more on my carrd (linked above)
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darkseraphscorner · 2 months ago
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Xeno hangs from the roof of the storage bay, Seraph hugged to her chest as people moved below flash lights illuminating the dark as people ran about.
The found the damaged Synths and where now trying to find the saboteur, unaware she was hidden up amoung the pipes and wires with her human, Seraph looking down and trying not to think about Xeno's chest pressing into him... It was odd, they where not hard exoskeleton, but they where not soft like flesh.
He swallows as he sees Science Officer Ryan enter, walking up to the storage container Company Xeno wrecked, a look of mild annoyance on his face. "How many did we lose?" He asked in clipped tones.
One of the search crew stood to attention. "Ten units disabled, thirty still on stand by."
Ryan nodded. "More than enough, prep them for deployment, I want them ready for planet fall in 24 hours."
The crew starts moving, opening the other containers and getting the gear ready as Seraph looks at Xeno. "The planet? But everyone says it is inhospitable down there, toxic atmosphere.... What could they want down there?"
Xeno's only reply was to let out a low, rumbling hiss.
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xtruss · 11 months ago
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Displaced Palestinian children wait to receive food in Rafah, Gaza, on February 9, 2024. Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
I’m An American Doctor Who Went To Gaza. What I Saw Wasn’t War — It Was Annihilation
— February 16, 2024 | By Irfan Galaria | Los Angeles Times
late January, I left my home in Virginia, where I work as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and joined a group of Physicians and Nurses traveling to Egypt with the humanitarian aid group MedGlobal to Volunteer in Gaza.
I have worked in other war zones. But what I witnessed during the next 10 days in Gaza was not war — it was annihilation. At least 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. From Cairo, Egypt’s capital, we drove 12 hours east to the Rafah border. We passed miles of parked humanitarian aid trucks because they weren’t allowed into Gaza. Aside from my team and other envoy members from the United Nations and World Health Organization, there were very few others there.
Entering southern Gaza on Jan. 29, where many have fled from the north, felt like the first pages of a dystopian novel. Our ears were numb with the constant humming of what I was told were the surveillance drones that circled constantly. Our noses were consumed with the stench of 1 million displaced humans living in close proximity without adequate sanitation. Our eyes got lost in the sea of tents. We stayed at a guest house in Rafah. Our first night was cold, and many of us couldn’t sleep. We stood on the balcony listening to the bombs, and seeing the smoke rise from Khan Yunis.
As we approached the European Gaza Hospital the next day, there were rows of tents that lined and blocked the streets. Many Palestinians gravitated toward this and other hospitals hoping it would represent a sanctuary from the violence — they were wrong.
People also spilled into the hospital: living in hallways, stairwell corridors and even storage closets. The once-wide walkways designed by the European Union to accommodate the busy traffic of medical staff, stretchers and equipment were now reduced to a single-file passageway. On either side, blankets hung from the ceiling to cordon off small areas for entire families, offering a sliver of privacy. A hospital designed to accommodate about 300 patients was now struggling to care for more than 1,000 patients and hundreds more seeking refuge.
There were a limited number of local surgeons available. We were told that many had been killed or arrested, their whereabouts or even their existence unknown. Others were trapped in occupied areas in the north or nearby places where it was too risky to travel to the hospital. There was only one local plastic surgeon left and he covered the hospital 24/7. His home had been destroyed, so he lived in the hospital, and was able to stuff all of his personal possessions into two small hand bags. This narrative became all too common among the remaining staff at the hospital. This surgeon was lucky, because his wife and daughter were still alive, although almost everyone else working in the hospital was mourning the loss of their loved ones.
I began work immediately, performing 10 to 12 surgeries a day, working 14 to 16 hours at a time. The operating room would often shake from the incessant bombings, sometimes as frequent as every 30 seconds. We operated in unsterile settings that would’ve been unthinkable in the United States. We had limited access to critical medical equipment: We performed amputations of arms and legs daily, using a Gigli saw, a Civil War-era tool, essentially a segment of barbed wire. Many amputations could’ve been avoided if we’d had access to standard medical equipment. It was a struggle trying to care for all the injured within the constructs of a healthcare system that has utterly collapsed.
I listened to my patients as they whispered their stories to me, as I wheeled them into the operating room for surgery. The majority had been sleeping in their homes, when they were bombed. I couldn’t help thinking that the lucky ones died instantaneously, either by the force of the explosion or being buried in the rubble. The survivors faced hours of surgery and multiple trips to the operating room, all while mourning the loss of their children and spouses. Their bodies were filled with shrapnel that had to be surgically pulled out of their flesh, one piece at a time.
I stopped keeping track of how many new orphans I had operated on. After surgery they would be filed somewhere in the hospital, I’m unsure of who will take care of them or how they will survive. On one occasion, a handful of children, all about ages 5 to 8, were carried to the emergency room by their parents. All had single sniper shots to the head. These families were returning to their homes in Khan Yunis, about 2.5 miles away from the hospital, after Israeli tanks had withdrawn. But the snipers apparently stayed behind. None of these children survived.
On my last day, as I returned to the guest house where locals knew foreigners were staying, a young boy ran up and handed me a small gift. It was a rock from the beach, with an Arabic inscription written with a marker: “From Gaza, With Love, Despite the Pain.” As I stood on the balcony looking out at Rafah for the last time, we could hear the drones, bombings and bursts of machine-gun fire, but something was different this time: The sounds were louder, the explosions were closer.
This week, Israeli forces raided another large hospital in Gaza, and they’re planning a ground offensive in Rafah. I feel incredibly guilty that I was able to leave while millions are forced to endure the nightmare in Gaza. As an American, I think of our tax dollars paying for the weapons that likely injured my patients there. Already driven from their homes, these people have nowhere else to turn.
— Irfan Galaria is a Physician with a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Practice in Chantilly, Va.
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creations-by-chaosfay · 3 months ago
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It doesn't look like I'll be getting any sewing done. My left hand is starting to hurt, and I've bruised the calloused section (the part I use to push needles through layers of fabric) of my right middle finger. Seeing as it's easier to prevent my hands and wrists with a couple days off, rather than spending weeks waiting for them to recover from severe pain, I'll be spending the next 24-48 hours doing some housecleaning and taking care of my sewing room instead.
In other news, my mom surprised me with a couple air purifiers. I have two tower style air purifiers, but they're noisy even on the lowest setting. One in the bedroom and works well as a white noise machine. The other was in the living room, and ran only at night because the sound was so distracting during the day. The new air purifiers are by Blueair, and are virtually silent. I also noticed a difference within just hours of setting them up. She got me two, and one of them is small enough to fit in my sewing room. The lint and dust from fabric is now disappearing, and it feels much easier to breathe in there now. If you find your sewing space feels dry or dusty, it's the fabric and why sewing and fabric stores feel so dry. I suggest an air purifier for your workspace. Until now, I didn't have one small enough to fit in my very cramped sewing room of 8x10 feet, with a large cutting table, two cube style shelving units with nine blocks each, sewing desk, four sets of plastic drawers, four small storage bins, an ironing board, and a relief mat. I'll take pics of my room if y'all are that interested. At some point, I'll install shelves on the walls for some vertical storage. Currently, the only thing set up on a wall is my cork board where i have notes pinned up.
After I finish at least one more crow quilt, I'll turn my focus to the giveaway prizes I need to complete. When those are done, a stack of panel quilts. Maybe some mini blocks to set up in embroidery rings like holiday tree ornaments? The stack of panel quilts is a must though, for me to practice machine quilting with new frame and machine.
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