ok that's the second post i've added a tag to in the last 10 min where tumblr has just deleted a random word
no it was not in quotations or inverted commas can't wait to see what goes missing from these V
16 notes
·
View notes
wow. today was a Day
6 notes
·
View notes
"Don't read Holocaust literature before bed," my professor warned.
"Welp, this is the only time I have to read before class tomorrow!" I replied, opening the book.
I will now never read Holocaust literature before bed.
2 notes
·
View notes
In case you're wondering how I feel about a particular-last-minute-Season-5-coupling~
Epilogue Part 4
First < Previous > Next
Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5
Ep 41, Ep 42, Ep 43, Ep 44 Ep 45, Ep 46, Ep 47, Ep 48, Intermission, Ep 49, Ep 50, Ep 51, Ep 52, Ep 53
Ko-fi
5K notes
·
View notes
On the Night Jesus was Betrayed
The very earliest Christian communion observance draws upon the profound nature of betrayal. When Paul gives us that early language regarding the Lord’s Supper, he says, “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me’” (1 Cor. 11:23–24, emphasis mine). The very first…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Digital Display
you’re what i’ve been waiting for
synopsis// maybe it wasn’t your smartest idea to fall for the guy your friends introduced you to, who’s also trolling you online—but, in your defense, how were you supposed to know they’d end up being the same person?
status// finished!
updates// everyday unless said otherwise
warning// no curses!au, streamer!au, friends to lovers?, inumaki is just a strange strange silly (cringe) man and lowkey rich???, kys jokes bc comedy, and also rlly cringe and corny jokes bc comedy, n if anyone is ooc take that up with the universe not me!
☆ this smau wasn’t inspired by a song but the title was!! ‘twas inspired by digital display by ready for the world, but yeah besides the title and lyrics on here the song holds no relevance :) ☆
to raise my low score
so excuse me if i start to play
round 1. annoying x2
round 2. twinsies
round 3. desperate
round 4. why nobody gaf
round 5. gold digger
round 6. i keep it 99
round 7. ignorance is bliss
round 8. weakest link
round 9. not going well
round 10. i love science
round 11. biblically accurate angel
round 12. pucker up
round 13. normal and mildly responsible
round 14. just a coincidence
round 15. sleeper agent
round 16. one step ahead
round 17. big and greedy
round 18. strangers to lovers
round 19. poet
round 20. doing a bit
round 21. i rebuke you
round 22. taken care of
round 23. shaking in excitement
round 24. extremely nonchalant
round 25. i got you
round 26. hope not
round 27. get pranked
round 28. last hope
round 29. silent or silenced
round 30. 3 vs 2
round 31. step on it
round 32. romance is everywhere
round 33. sick work
round 34. do it scared
round 35. what are the odds
round 36. beautiful emo prince
round 37. why waste time
round 38. you or nothing
round 39. stay mad
round 40. romantical tension
round 41. normal human things
round 42. middle school relationship core
round 43. no pressure
round 44. government spy
round 45. troll a little
round 46. enjoying the view
round 47. the vibes
round 48. stop light
round 49. it’s so over
round 50. what about us
round 51. we’re good right?
round 52. i no no wanna
round 53. FINISH HIM
round 54. gtg
round 55. GET OFF STREAM
round 56. keep up
last round. falling for me again
1K notes
·
View notes
The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.
As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of
The New York Times Book Review.
NYT Article.
*************
Q: How many of the 100 have you read?
Q: Which ones did you love/hate?
Q: What's missing?
Here's the full list.
100. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson
99. How to Be Both, Ali Smith
98. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
97. Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward
96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman
95. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
94. On Beauty, Zadie Smith
93. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
92. The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante
91. The Human Stain, Philip Roth
90. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
89. The Return, Hisham Matar
88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
87. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters
86. Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight
85. Pastoralia, George Saunders
84. The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
83. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labutat
82. Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor
81. Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan
80. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante
79. A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin
78. Septology, Jon Fosse
77. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
75. Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
74. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
73. The Passage of Power, Robert Caro
72. Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich
71. The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen
70. All Aunt Hagar's Children, Edward P. Jones
69. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
68. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez
67. Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon
66. We the Animals, Justin Torres
65. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
64. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai
63. Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
62. 10:04, Ben Lerner
61. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
60. Heavy, Kiese Laymon
59. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
58. Stay True, Hua Hsu
57. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
56. The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner
55. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright
54. Tenth of December, George Saunders
53. Runaway, Alice Munro
52. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson
51. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
50. Trust, Hernan Diaz
49. The Vegetarian, Han Kang
48. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
47. A Mercy, Toni Morrison
46. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
45. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson
44. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
43. Postwar, Tony Judt
42. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James
41. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan
40. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald
39. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
38. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Balano
37. The Years, Annie Ernaux
36. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
35. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
34. Citizen, Claudia Rankine
33. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward
32. The Lines of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst
31. White Teeth, Zadie Smith
30. Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
29. The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt
28. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
27. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
26. Atonement, Ian McEwan
25. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
24. The Overstory, Richard Powers
23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro
22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo
21. Evicted, Matthew Desmond
20. Erasure, Percival Everett
19. Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe
18. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
17. The Sellout, Paul Beatty
16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
15. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
14. Outline, Rachel Cusk
13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
12. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
10. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
9. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald
7. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
6. 2666, Roberto Bolano
5. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
4. The Known World, Edward P. Jones
3. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
2. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
1. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
813 notes
·
View notes
TOP 10
Past Lives
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Poor Things
Oppenheimer
Barbie
BlackBerry
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Killers of the Flower Moon
MY LETTERBOXD
Grade A
11. The Killer
12. Beau Is Afraid
13. Dream Scenario
14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
15. Godzilla Minus One
16. American Fiction
17. They Cloned Tyrone
18. Evil Dead Rise
19. Eileen
20. The Artifice Girl
21. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
22. Talk to Me
23. Reality
24. Leave the World Behind
25. A Thousand and One
26. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
27. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
28. Theater Camp
29. Carmen
30. Merry Little Batman
31. Priscilla
32. Society of the Snow
33. Infinity Pool
34. Enys Men
35. Sanctuary
36. Rye Lane
37. Skinamarink
38. Monster
39. Anatomy of a Fall
40. Landscape with Invisible Hand
41. Reptile
42. Sisu
43. Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
44. No One Will Save You
45. Tetris
46. May December
47. The Zone of Interest
48. V/H/S/85
49. Dumb Money
50. El Conde
51. Arnold
52. Maestro
53. Napoleon
54. 20 Days in Mariupol
55. Influencer
56. The Creator
57. Origin
58. Thanksgiving
59. Next Goal Wins
60. The Boy and the Heron
61. Bottoms
62. Wonka
[Press Keep Reading For The Full Graded List]
Grade B
63. God Is a Bullet
64. No Hard Feelings
65. Joy Ride
66. Fair Play
67. Cocaine Bear
68. NYAD
69. Asteroid City
70. Nowhere
71. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
72. Divinity
73. The Equalizer 3
74. The Last Voyage of the Demeter
75. Venus
76. Butcher’s Crossing
77. Somewhere in Queens
78. The Persian Version
79. Boston Strangler
80. Polite Society
81. Miguel Wants to Fight
82. The Color Purple
83. The Royal Hotel
84. Saw X
85. All of Us Strangers
86. Fallen Leaves
87. Ferrari
88. Elemental
89. Peter Pan & Wendy
90. Renfield
91. Cat Person
92. Scream VI
93. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
94. BS High
95. Blue Beetle
96. Huesera: The Bone Woman
97. When Evil Lurks
98. Dark Harvest
99. A Good Person
100. Final Cut
101. Knock at the Cabin
102. Quiz Lady
103. Leo
104. Air
105. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
106. Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham
107. John Wick: Chapter 4
108. Beaten to Death
109. The Wrath of Becky
110. Passages
111. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
112. Gran Turismo
113. 65
114. Sick
115. Sister Death
116. The Blackening
117. Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain
118. Flamin’ Hot
119. Nimona
120. Cobweb
121. Totally Killer
122. What’s Love Got to Do with It?
123. Sharper
124. Unseen
125. Dunki
126. Bird Box Barcelona
127. The Marvels
128. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Grade C
129. Wildflower
130. Freelance
131. M3GAN
132. Strays
133. Sympathy for the Devil
134. Creed III
135. Chevalier
136. The Marsh King’s Daughter
137. A Haunting in Venice
138. The Little Mermaid
139. Silent Night
140. Master Gardener
141. The Flash
142. Fast X
143. The Pope’s Exorcist
144. Saltburn
145. Kandahar
146. Stand
147. Plane
148. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
149. Fingernails
150. Quicksand
151. Fool’s Paradise
152. Migration
153. Rustin
154. The Covenant
155. Good Burger 2
156. The Pod Generation
157. Alice, Darling
158. Insidious: The Red Door
159. Missing
160. Shotgun Wedding
161. You Hurt My Feelings
162. The Boogeyman
163. Showing Up
164. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
165. Champions
166. Consecration
167. The Nun II
168. Biosphere
169. House Party
170. The Exorcist: Believer
171. Big George Foreman
172. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
173. Children of the Corn
174. The Beanie Bubble
175. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Grade F
176. Anyone But You
177. Marlowe
178. Paint
179. Extraction 2
180. It Lives Inside
181. Deliver Us
182. Trolls Band Together
183. Finestkind
184. Corner Office
185. Wish
186. Prisoner’s Daughter
187. Pain Hustlers
188. Foe
189. The Mother
190. Old Dads
191. Ghosted
192. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
193. Haunted Mansion
194. Mafia Mamma
195. Five Nights at Freddy’s
196. The Machine
197. Justice League: Warworld
198. We Have a Ghost
199. What Comes Around
200. Legion of Super-Heroes
201. The Boys in the Boat
202. Attachment
203. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
204. About My Father
205. You People
206. Meg 2: The Trench
207. Pathaan
208. Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire
209. Assassin
210. Dalíland
211. Vacation Friends 2
Bottom 10
212. Sound of Freedom
213. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
214. When You Finish Saving The World
215. Heart of Stone
216. Family Switch
217. Expend4bles
218. Sweetwater
219. Hypnotic
220. 80 for Brady
221. Spinning Gold
1K notes
·
View notes
Movies
Hi, Barbie.
Barbie
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Goncharov
Nimona
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Red, White, and Royal Blue
Lord of the Rings -3
Black Panther +24
The Addams Family
The Super Mario Bros. Movie -4
Knives Out
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
Oppenheimer
The Hunger Games
Avatar: The Way of Water
Guardians of the Galaxy
Shrek
The Little Mermaid +15
Scream -1
Top Gun: Maverick -1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Everything Everywhere All At Once +7
Saw +14
Twilight -13
Wendell & Wild
Howl's Moving Castle -6
The Hobbit -3
Five Nights at Freddy's
Enola Holmes
My Policeman
Deadpool -8
How to Train Your Dragon +12
Beauty and the Beast +16
Avatar
Scream VI
Bottoms
Mean Girls +6
Megamind -4
Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar
Spirited Away -10
The Batman -38
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Venom -34
Les Misérables
Encanto -44
Iron Lung
Coraline
The Thing
John Wick
Strange Way of Life
Blue Beetle
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Legally Blonde
Frozen -14
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Ghosted
American Psycho -7
Princess Mononoke
Dune -49
The Princess Bride
Teen Wolf: The Movie
Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith -21
Pacific Rim
Renfield
Shrek 2
Saw X
The Old Guard -29
Nope -47
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Night at the Museum
Soul -26
The Mummy
The Nightmare Before Christmas
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Hellraiser
The Lost Boys
The Marvels
Emesis Blue
The Shape of Water
The Menu
My Neighbor Totoro
Shazam -40
Sonic the Hedgehog -66
Pirates of the Caribbean -48
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Elemental
Lilo & Stitch
Fight Club
The Dark Knight
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Princess Diaries
The Incredibles
Halloween Ends
The Lorax
10 Things I Hate About You
Heathers
Kung Fu Panda
The Devil Wears Prada
Rise of the Guardians
Birds of Prey
The number in italics indicates how many spots a title moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded titles weren’t on the list last year.
2K notes
·
View notes
Dragon Age NPC Ages in DA: The Veilguard
This assumes that the 9 10 years between Dragon Age Inquisition and Dragon Age: The Veilguard refer to the Trespasser DLC (as in the last time Varric would have seen Solas; confirmed in Dev Q&A on 6/14/24). This places DAV in 9:54. Characters who showed up in a previous game will not be repeated in the lists for later games they also appeared in (i.e., Leliana is under DAO, not DAI).
Read more for length & spoiler reasons. The ages listed are assuming they have not had their birthday in 9:54 yet.
ETA1: I used the ages & evidence summarized by @dalishious in this post, superseding those ages with newer evidence where available or my own interpretation of textual evidence (when given a range I personally favor smack in the middle more often than not).
ETA2: Changed year/ages to reflect the Q&A information that Veilguard is 10 years post-Trespasser, not 9 as originally stated.
Dragon Age: Origins - 9:30 - 24 years prior
Alistair Theirin - 43
Morrigan - 49
Leliana - 50
Zevran Arainai - 48
Oghren Kondrat - 66
Wynne - RIP (would've been 71)
Shale - Eternal
Sten (now Arishok) - 67
Loghain Mac Tir - 75
Anora Mac Tir - 50
Dragon Age: Awakening - 9:31 - 23 years prior
Nathaniel Howe - 53
Anders - 54
Sigrun - 48
Velanna - 48
Dragon Age 2 - 9:30-9:37 - 24-17 years prior
Hawke - 48
Carver/Bethany Hawke - 43
Fenris - ~54
Isabela - 54
Merrill - ~47
Sebastian Vael - 46
Aveline Vallen - ~59
Varric Tethras - 53
Dragon Age Inquisition - 9:41-9:44 - 13-10 years prior
Josephine Montilyet - 41
Cullen Rutherford - 42
Cassandra Pentaghast - 50
Solas - ~2000 (appears mid-40s)
Sera - 33
Vivienne de Fer - 57
Blackwall/Thom Rainier - 58
the Iron Bull - 50
Dorian Pavus - 42
Cole - Ageless (appears 20, or he may have aged into his 30s if he were made more human in DAI)
Kieran - 22
831 notes
·
View notes
Ultimate Girlblogger Movie List
1. Ballerina
2. To Catch a Thief
3. The Swan
4. Barbie In The Pink Shoes
5. Rhapsody
6. The Seven Year Itch
7. Thirteen
8. Mean Girls
9. Clueless
10. Girl, Interrupted
11. Marie Antoinette
12. Love In The Afternoon
13. Breakfast At Tiffany's
14. Roman Holiday
15. Barbie and hers sisters in a Pony Tale
16. Barbie of Swan Lake
17. Barbie In The Nutcracker
18. Barbie and the Diamond Castle
19. Barbie and the magic of Pegasus
20. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper
21. Barbie: a Fashion Fairytale
22. Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses
23. Pride and Prejudice
24. Barbie as Rapunzel
25. Pearl
26. 13 going on 30
27. Funny Face
28. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
29. Charade
30. Black Swan
31. Niagara
32. The Virgin Suicides
33. Priscilla
34. Sabrina
35. Emma
36. How To Steal a Million
37. Enchanted
38. Some Like It Hot
39. Lolita (1962)
40. Lolita (1997)
41. The Crush
42. American Psycho
43. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
44. Monte Carlo
45. Legally Blonde
46. Confessions of a Shopaholic
47. The Devil Wears Prada
48. Valley Of The Dolls
49. Jackie
50. Jennifer's Body
51. Barbie: Princess Charm School
52. The Tourist
53. Abzurdah
54. Riding In Cars With Boys
55. I, Tonya
56. Buffalo 66
57. Girl
58. Heathers
59. Scarface (1983)
60. Gone Girl
61. Corpse Bride
62. Sense & Sensibility
63. Persuasion
64. Little Miss Perfect
65. Changeling
66. Gia
67. Uptown Girls
68. Suicide Squad
69. Last Night In Soho
70. Mirror Mirror
71. Birds Of Prey
72. The Beguiled
73. Palo Alto
74. Speak
75. Leon: The Professional
76. Prozac Nation
77. Red Eye
Let me know if I missed one, leave your suggestions by commenting or reblogging
455 notes
·
View notes
NSFW asks cuz the other lists are too big or too boring, limit of 3
1. What's your biggest turn-off?
2. What's the largest age gap between you and a sexual partner?
3. Does size really matter?
4. Who was your worst sexual partner?
5. Have you ever faked an orgasm?
6. Where's the riskiest place you've done it?
7. Do you have any unusual fetishes?
8. Have you ever been caught in the act?
9. What do you like least and like most about your body?
10. What do you like least and like most about your personality?
11. What's the craziest thing you've done to attract someone's attention?
12. When's the last time you were flat-out rejected and how did you handle it?
13. What's your biggest sexual fear?
14. What's the most flirtatious thing you've ever done?
15. If one wish could come true right now, what would it be?
16. What's the strangest thing that ever turned you on?
17. How do you really feel about anal?
18. How far would you go to land the partner of your dreams?
19. Do you like when someone else makes the first move?
20. Best dating advice you've ever been given?
21. What's the best kiss you've ever had?
22. Do you prefer to give or to receive?
23. Most outrageous sex dream you've ever had?
24. On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is your sex drive?
25. What's a red flag for you in a relationship?
26. Who would you have fucked if you thought you two would never be caught?
27. Do you think a relationship can come back from cheating?
28. What's your favorite kind of kiss?
Have you ever...
29. Sent nudes to someone?
30. Had public sex?
31. Had phone sex?
32. Had a threesome?
33. Accidentally sent nudes to the wrong person?
34. Had a threesome?
35. Sexted while at work?
36. Fucked someone at work?
37. Watched porn with someone else?
38. What is something you wish people knew about sex?
39. What's your favorite way to show casual intimacy?
40. Do you prefer morning or evening sex?
41. What's the most challenging part about sex?
42. Ideally, how long does foreplay last?
43. Does the idea of recording porn with someone turn you on?
44. What's the last thing you came to?
45. Do you feel tired or energized after sex?
46. What's the hottest thing someone has ever said to you?
47. Do you like the scent of sweat?
48. What's the most memorable orgasm you've ever had?
49. Is fucking your CLONE incest or masturbation?
50. Ask me anything!
584 notes
·
View notes
omg congrats for 5k doll! i wanted to slide in and see if i could have a protective!bf Gaz written since my baby is so underappreciated??? i saw this tweet about the scene in mw where gaz's disabling a bomb and is unable to and price throws the guy off the balcony, but this time the bomb in strapped to his love and he's and he's struggling and sees price out of the corner of his eye and remembers what happens last time and panicks and goes all 'you won't do that to her'. just a thought, love all your work!
—Don't Look At Her
⇢ ˗ˏˋ 5k Drabble Masterlist ࿐ྂ
╰┈➤ ❝ [The bomb starts ticking down, rapidly firing to zero. Gaz won't let Price near you. Not after he'd remembered the Captain's actions when they'd first met.] ❞
"Gaz," your voice wavers, watching the rapidly working man and seeing his darting eyes—lit with panicked fervor. He doesn't answer, so you speak again. "Gaz!"
"No!" He barks, brown eyes instantly meeting yours. Lips pull in a right frown; there's a glint in his gaze that you'd never seen before—not in the many years you'd known him. Kyle's firm hands don't leave the wiring attached to your chest. The vest.
The bomb.
"No, Love," he grates out, immediately getting back to work as you try to keep your tears at bay, body jerking back and forth as your boyfriend pulls at the straps and bits. "Don't even say anything. You're going to fucking fine, you hear? It's going to be okay."
It was the product of bad intel, really. You'd been sent in without the proper know-how, leading to a scuffle where the butt of a gun had been slammed into your temple. When your eyes opened again, it was already too late.
Kneeling in the middle of a large office building, the glass of the windows shattered behind you, and the wind whips the back of your skull aggressively, you stare down at Gaz. Trying to form words on a tongue that won't cooperate.
"You need to run," you whisper out, resigning yourself as the rapid beeping increases. Your heart moves so fast you can't feel the skin of your chest anymore. "Kyle," pleading, you watch his jaw clench something fierce. "Listen to me—!"
"I'm not leaving you!" A sharp snap of a metal piece hits your ears, the piece of the vest clattering to the ground in a violent display of desperation. Gaz glances back up at you stubbornly; as if uncaring about the impending incineration only minutes away. "So you stop bloody talking like that, yeah? I'm not just giving up!"
The sides of your eyes dribble out rabid tears, lungs a mess of air and inhales that can't even be considered breathing anymore by how wheezy they sound.
How would it feel? Exploding into a patchwork of blood and fire—instantaneous, sure, but feeling Kyle's heat and his puffs of air; his fear, you can't imagine him dying like that. Not him.
"Look at me," Gaz pants, fingers pulling at cords in search of the one he needed to cut—unable to pinpoint it through the hack-job that had been done to your vest.
There was every color under the sun except fucking yellow. His teeth clench so tight they hurt his jaw, but he sends you quick glances as you shakily do as he says.
Brown eyes soften, and while the both of your hands shake, for a second there's a relief at the eye-contact. "Repeat it, Love."
You lick your lips and stammer, "y-you're not leaving."
Lips press firmly into yours, and you clench your eyes tight at the sensation, tiny sob breaking the contact.
"That's right." Gaz growls. "Not on my life."
Rapid footsteps race into the room, but before the Sergeant can reach for his weapon, the familiar call from the Captain echoes out.
"Friendly!" It's as if Gaz doesn't even register, still digging and fearfully looking at the timer.
50 seconds. 49. 48. 47...
"Sergeant," Price jogs over. You can barely find the inner strength to look up at him. "Sitrep."
Blue eyes dart from the vest to you and the Captain's serious face goes grim. His expression flashes with the inner workings of his mind, eyes narrowing and a grunt stuck under his lips.
"I have it," Gaz speaks quickly, and the words strike you as odd, though you don't comment. Price slid him a sharp look.
"Gaz—"
"Don't even look at her." Snarling like an animal, brown orbs are volatile enough to rend stone in two as they meet the older man's. You and John are rendered speechless, sharing a swift glance in shock like teenagers hearing their parents swear for the first time.
Kyle's eyes are wild, sweat slicking his brow. "Come fucking on!" He yells and your body is snapped forward as Gaz pries on the straps, having to steady yourself on the man's shoulders for support. Every muscle in his body is taunt; shaking with force.
Perhaps it was the memory that invaded his brain like a parasite that had made him snap at his superior like that—a stab to his fine tissue that digs all the way down his rail-straight spine.
Piccadilly Circus. Tanto building. Hostage with an explosive vest.
Kyle's fingers bleed as they peel back rough velcro, having ripped off his gloves to be nearer to you.
It all flashes past his mind in horrible increments, the past, but instead of a man—the hostage is you. And Price was burning his neck with a harsh stare once more.
He's going to throw her out the window, Kyle panics and you watch with the deadly realization of the situation. No. No, I won't let him. Not her.
"Garrick," Price says, voice deep. But he doesn't move. "You need to get your head back on."
"I've got it screwed on just right, Captain." Gaz grunts. "Trust me."
12 seconds. 11. 10. 9...
You stare at Gaz and memorize the make of his handsome face—the dates and the late nights speaking about the future sticking to your skin like leeches; sucking away every instance of love and happiness. His laugh. His brown eyes.
His smile.
Oh, you want to see your Love smile.
"Sergeant!" Price yells, moving forward to grapple onto Kyle's shoulder. "It's going off!"
Your boyfriend rips out of his hold, fists clenched and screaming.
"Get the fuck off of me! I can save her!" Your back hits the ground with a slap and a ragged gasp from your lips, the Brit straddling your hips in a desperate play to deactivate the bomb.
"Kyle," you look up at him, pleading. "You have to take cover, it's...it's okay. I love you, I need you to know that—"
"Bloody shut," eyes spark, locking on the bright color under the front of the vest. Gaz snaps a hand under the material and rips at it in a ruthless wrench of his arm. 2 seconds. There's a deafening snap of wire. "Up!"
The beeping stops and the world stills.
Your wide eyes can't stop crying as you stare up into brown eyes with astonishment; struggling to breathe. You can't tell if the building is vibrating or only you, but nothing seems to be able to focus as a wave crashes down on you; adrenaline still striking you.
Everything rings inside of your ears, pounding in your head.
Hands grasp the base of your jaw and lips descend to yours, tears slapping your skin from above in a wave of feral agony. Gaz stifles his sob on your mouth as you shake wildly, panting over your flesh.
Price gives off a large sigh from behind, standing straighter and turning his head.
Gaz's forehead connects with yours, but there are no words to be said—just the silent gazing and lingering fear of death. He won't let go of your cheeks, and, quivering, you go to grasp tightly at the sides of his arms.
With a shuddering breath, he closes his eyes and sags into you.
TAGS:
@luuvbuzz, @emerald-valkyrie, @anna-banana27, @blueoorchid, @cryingnotcrying, @writeforfandoms, @homicidal-slvt, @jade-jax, @frazie99, @elmoees, @littlemisstrouble, @alpineswinter, @phoenixhalliwell, @idocarealot, @lavalleon, @facelessmemories, @h-leigh, @20forty9, @glitter-anon-asks, @emily-who-killed-a-man, @neelehksttr, @aeneanc, @escapefromrealitysm, @i-d-1-0-t, @pparcxysm, @hawkscanendme, @caramlizedtomatos, @konigsleftkidney, @sanfransolomitatm, @maelstrom007, @jemandderkeinenusernamenfindet, @pheobees, @glitterypirateduck, @uselsshuman, @fan-of-encouragement, @halfmoth-halfman, @ghostlythunderbird, @I-inkage, @pukbadger, @kopatych11, @0nceinabluem00n, @cocrorapop, @knightofsexyness, @abnormalgeil, @smallseastone, @jacegons, @330bpm-whiplash, @simon-rileys-housewife, @4-atsu, @tiredmetalenthusiast
2K notes
·
View notes
Boeing’s deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage
I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!
Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured far from the company's Seattle facility, in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.
Hundreds of parts from that Material Review Segregation Area (MRSA) were secretly pulled from that cage and installed on aircraft that are currently plying the world's skies. Among them, sections 47/48 of a 787 – the last four rows of the plane, along with its galley and rear toilets. As Moe Tkacik writes in her excellent piece on Boeing's lethally corrupt culture of financialization and whistleblower intimidation, this is a big ass chunk of an airplane, and there's no way it could go missing from the MRSA cage without a lot of people knowing about it:
https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-30-whistleblower-laws-protect-lawbreakers/
More: MRSA parts are prominently emblazoned with red marks denoting them as defective and unsafe. For a plane to escape Boeing's production line and find its way to a civilian airport near you with these defective parts installed, many people will have to see and ignore this literal red flag.
The MRSA cage was a special concern of John "Swampy" Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who is alleged to have killed himself in March. Tkacik's earlier profile of Swampy paints a picture of a fearless, stubborn engineer who refused to go along to get along, refused to allow himself to become inured to Boeing's growing culture of profits over safety:
https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/
Boeing is America's last aviation company and its single largest exporter. After the company was allowed to merge with its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, the combined company came under MDD's notoriously financially oriented management culture. MDD CEO Harry Stonecipher became Boeing's CEO in the early 2000s. Stonecipher was a protege of Jack Welch, the man who destroyed General Electric with cuts to quality and workforce and aggressive union-busting, a classic Mafia-style "bust-out" that devoured the company's seed corn and left it a barren wasteland:
https://qz.com/1776080/how-the-mcdonnell-douglas-boeing-merger-led-to-the-737-max-crisis
Post-merger, Boeing became increasingly infected with MDD's culture. The company chased cheap, less-skilled labor to other countries and to America's great onshore-offshore sacrifice zone, the "right-to-work" American south, where bosses can fire uppity workers who balked at criminal orders, without the hassle of a union grievance.
Stonecipher was succeeded by Jim "Prince Jim" McNerney, ex-3M CEO, another Jack Welch protege (Welch spawned a botnet of sociopath looters who seized control of the country's largest, most successful firms, and drove them into the ground). McNerney had a cute name for the company's senior engineers: "phenomenally talented assholes." He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.
McNerney's big idea was to get rid of "phenomenally talented assholes" and outsource the Dreamliner's design to Boeing's suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn't care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a "cleanup crew" from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those "phenomenally talented assholes" could save McNerney's ass.
Swampy was part of the cleanup crew. He was terrified by what he saw there. Boeing had convinced the FAA to let them company perform its own inspections, replacing independent government inspectors with Boeing employees. The company would mark its own homework, and it swore that it wouldn't cheat.
Boeing cheated. Swampy dutifully reported the legion of safety violations he witnessed and was banished to babysit the MRSA, an assignment his managers viewed as a punishment that would isolate Swampy from the criminality he refused to stop reporting. Instead, Swampy audited the MRSA, and discovered that at least 420 defective aviation components had gone missing from the cage, presumably to be installed in planes that were behind schedule. Swampy then audited the keys to the MRSA and learned that hundreds of keys were "floating around" the Charleston facility. Virtually anyone could liberate a defective part and install it into an airplane without any paper trail.
Swampy's bosses had a plan for dealing with this. They ordered Swampy to "pencil whip" the investigations of 420 missing defective components and close the cases without actually figuring out what happened to them. Swampy refused.
Instead, Swampy took his concerns to a departmental meeting where 12 managers were present and announced that "if we can’t find them, any that we can’t find, we need to report it to the FAA." The only response came from a supervisor, who said, "We’re not going to report anything to the FAA."
The thing is, Swampy wasn't just protecting the lives of the passengers in those defective aircraft – he was also protecting Boeing employees. Under Sec 38 of the US Criminal Code, it's a 15-year felony to make any "materially false writing, entry, certification, document, record, data plate, label, or electronic communication concerning any aircraft or space vehicle part."
(When Swampy told a meeting that he took this seriously because "the paperwork is just as important as the aircraft" the room erupted in laughter.)
Swampy sent his own inspectors to the factory floor, and they discovered "dozens of red-painted defective parts installed on planes."
Swampy blew the whistle. How did the 787 – and the rest of Boeing's defective flying turkeys – escape the hangar and find their way into commercial airlines' fleets? Tkacik blames a 2000 whistleblower law called AIR21 that:
creates such byzantine procedures, locates adjudication power in such an outgunned federal agency, and gives whistleblowers such a narrow chance of success that it effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers, of which there is one in the United States, from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.
By his own estimation, Swampy was ordered to commit two felonies per week for six years. Tkacik explains that this kind of operation relies on a culture of ignorance – managers must not document their orders, and workers must not be made aware of the law. Whistleblowers like Swampy, who spoke the unspeakable, were sidelined (an assessment by one of Swampy's managers called him "one of the best" and finished that "leadership would give hugs and high fives all around at his departure").
Multiple whistleblowers were singled out for retaliation and forced departure. William Hobek, a quality manager who refused to "pencil whip" the missing, massive 47-48 assembly that had wandered away from the MRSA cage, was given a "weak" performance review and fired despite an HR manager admitting that it was bogus.
Another quality manager, Cynthia Kitchens, filed an ethics complaint against manager Elton Wright who responded to her persistent reporting of defects on the line by shoving her against a wall and shouting that Boeing was "a good ol’ boys’ club and you need to get on board." Kitchens was fired in 2016. She had cancer at the time.
John Woods, yet another quality engineer, was fired after he refused to sign off on a corner-cutting process to repair a fuselage – the FAA later backed up his judgment.
Then there's Sam Salehpour, the 787 quality engineer whose tearful Congressional testimony described more corner-cutting on fuselage repairs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP0xhIe1LFE
Salehpour's boss followed the Boeing playbook to the letter: Salehpour was constantly harangued and bullied, and he was isolated from colleagues who might concur with his assessment. When Salehpour announced that he would give Congressional testimony, his car was sabotaged under mysterious circumstances.
It's a playbook. Salehpour's experience isn't unusual at Boeing. Two other engineers, working on the 787 Organization Designation Authorization, held up production by insisting that the company fix the planes' onboard navigation computers. Their boss gave them a terrible performance review, admitting that top management was furious at the delays and had ordered him to punish the engineers. The engineers' union grievance failed, with Boeing concluding that this conduct – which they admitted to – didn't rise to the level of retaliation.
As Tkacik points out, these engineers and managers that Boeing targeted for intimidation and retaliation are the very same staff who are supposed to be performing inspections of behalf of the FAA. In other words, Boeing has spent years attacking its own regulator, with total impunity.
But it's not just the FAA who've failed to take action – it's also the DOJ, who have consistently declined to bring prosecutions in most cases, and who settled the rare case they did bring with "deferred prosecution agreements." This pattern was true under Trump's DOJ and continued under Biden's tenure. Biden's prosecutors have been so lackluster that a federal judge "publicly rebuked the DOJ for failing to take seriously the reputational damage its conduct throughout the Boeing case was inflicting on the agency."
Meanwhile, there's the AIR21 rule, a "whistleblower" rule that actually protects Boeing from whistleblowers. Under AIR21, an aviation whistleblower who is retaliated against by their employer must first try to resolve their problem internally. If that fails, the whistleblower has only one course of action: file an OSHA complaint within 90 days (if HR takes more than 90 days to resolve your internal complaint, you can no have no further recourse). If you manage to raise a complaint with OSHA, it is heard by a secret tribunal that has no subpoena power and routinely takes five years to rule on cases, and rules against whistleblowers 97% of the time.
Boeing whistleblowers who missed the 90-day cutoff have filled the South Carolina courts with last-ditch attempts to hold the company to account. When they lose these cases – as is routine, given Boeing's enormous legal muscle and AIR21's legal handcuffs – they are often ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs.
Tkacik cites Swampy's lawyer, Rob Turkewitz, who says Swampy was the only one of Boeing's whistleblowers who was "savvy, meticulous, and fast-moving enough to bring an AIR 21 case capable of jumping through all the hoops" to file an AIR21 case, which then took seven years. Turkewitz calls Boeing South Carolina "a criminal enterprise."
That's a conclusion that's hard to argue with. Take Boeing's excuse for not producing the documentation of its slapdash reinstallation of the Alaska Air door plug that fell off its plane in flight: the company says it's not criminally liable for failing to provide the paperwork, because it never documented the repair. Not documenting the repair is also a crime.
You might have heard that there's some accountability coming to the Boeing boardroom, with the ouster of CEO David Calhoun. Calhoun's likely successor is Patrick Shanahan, whom Tkacik describes as "the architect of the ethos that governed the 787 program" and whom her source called "a classic schoolyard bully."
If Shanahan's name rings a bell, it might be because he was almost Trump's Secretary of Defense, but that was derailed by the news that he had "emphatically defended" his 17 year old son after the boy nearly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Shanahan is presently CEO of Spirit Aerospace, who made the door-plug that fell out of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.
Boeing is a company where senior managers only fail up and where whistleblowers are terrorized in and out of the workplace. One of Tkacik's sources noticed his car shimmying. The source, an ex-787 worker who'd been fired after raising safety complaints, had tried to bring an AIR21 complaint, but withdrew it out of fear of being bankrupted if he was ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs. When the whistleblower pulled over, he discovered that two of the lug-nuts had been removed from one of his wheels.
The whistleblower texted Tkcacik to say (not for the first time): "If anything happens, I'm not suicidal."
Boeing is a primary aerospace contractor to the US government. It's clear that its management – and investors – consider it too big to jail. It's also clear that they know it's too big to fail – after all, the company did a $43b stock buyback, then got billions in a publicly funded buyback.
Boeing is, effectively, a government agency that is run for the benefit of its investors. It performs its own safety inspections. It investigates its own criminal violations of safety rules. It loots its own coffers and then refills them at public expense.
Meanwhile, the company has filled our skies with at least 420 airplanes with defective, red-painted parts that were locked up in the MRSA cage, then snuck out and fitted to an airplane that you or someone you love could fly on the next time you take your family on vacation or fly somewhere for work.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/01/boeing-boeing/#mrsa
Image:
Tom Axford 1 (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_sky_with_wisps_of_cloud_on_a_clear_summer_morning.jpg
CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
--
Clemens Vasters (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N7379E_-_Boeing_737_MAX_9.jpg
CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
745 notes
·
View notes
Oh wow it's been *checks watch* since July of 2022 since the last page of Instinct. I think it's been long enough. We finally have finished what I consider the rescue arc. The next is the last arc and Instinct will official be done. Thank you guys for sticking with it, despite the many hiatuses it went through. :')
pg.1/pg.2/pg.3/pg.4/pg.5/pg.6/pg.7/pg.8/pg.9/pg.10/pg.11/pg.12/pg.13/pg.14/pg.15/pg.16/pg.17/pg.18/pg.19/pg.20/pg.21/pg.22,pg.23/pg.24/pg.25,pg.26/pg.27,pg.28/pg.29/pg.30/pg.31,pg.32/pg.33,pg.34.pg.35/pg.36,pg.37,pg.38/pg.39/pg.40/pg.41/pg.42/pg.43/pg.44/pg.45/pg.46/pg.47/pg.48/pg.49/pg.50/pg.51/pg.52,pg.53/pg.54/pg.55,pg.56/pg.57/pg.58/pg.59/pg.60/pg.61
1K notes
·
View notes
Spellbound
you might be void of feelings i fear i haven’t felt for anyone
synopsis// by no means did you hate soulmates, you just hated that he was your soulmate. not like megumi was ecstatic that he was your soulmate either. but that’s fine, both of you found someone else to keep you company.
status// finished!
updates// everyday unless said otherwise
warning// dating app!au, soulmate!au, college!au, no curses!au, enemies(?) to lovers, profanity, megumi and y/n are edgy pieces of shit <3, kys jokes, crack humor? i’m going back to my cringe 2020 smau roots with reaction images id say i’m sorry but i’m not, if any characters or dynamics r ooc take that up with the universe not me !!
☆ this smau wasn’t inspired by a song but the title was!! ‘twas inspired by spell strike by provoker, so besides the title and lyrics on here the song holds little to no relevance :) ☆
you might be the only one
might be the only one for me
feeling 1. young and stupid
feeling 2. child of divorce
feeling 3. no schedule just vibes
feeling 4. six feet under
feeling 5. this is my fight song
feeling 6. success rate
feeling 7. lone wolf
feeling 8. dumpster fire
feeling 9. retail therapy
feeling 10. be normal
feeling 11. the enemy has been defeated
feeling 12. enemies to lovers irl
feeling 13. exorcism
feeling 14. shut ur up
feeling 15. winner
feeling 16. hip hip hooray
feeling 17. swiped right!
feeling 18. silly little mystery
feeling 19. for no reason
feeling 20. i guess so
feeling 21. sigh of relief
feeling 22. relationship territory
feeling 23. don’t hmu
feeling 24. major in loser
feeling 25. fight club
feeling 26. jigsaw
feeling 27. ghosting
feeling 28. cold shoulder
feeling 29. before marriage
feeling 30. meant to be
feeling 31. a hunch
feeling 32. survival of the fittest
feeling 33. he knows
feeling 34. so close yet so far
feeling 35. (disrespectfully)
feeling 36. regressing
feeling 37. take pity
feeling 38. telepathy
feeling 39. betrayed
feeling 40. two birds with one stone
feeling 41. dead end
feeling 42. mass hysteria
feeling 43. an apology
feeling 44. baby’s first reciprocated love
feeling 45. psychological warfare
feeling 46. jealous
feeling 47. a facade
feeling 48. learning to coexist
feeling 49. with you
feeling 50. useless E information
feeling 51. good idea
feeling 52. break the peace
feeling 53. enjoy the peace
feeling 54. revenge
feeling 55. tolerable
feeling 56. catastrophic
feeling 57. fumbled
feeling 58. easier than you think
feeling 59. no downtime
feeling 60. caught red handed
feeling 61. for good
feeling 62. replace megumi with megumi
feeling 63. delicate
feeling 64. best bet
feeling 65. valid question
feeling 66. devils incarnate
feeling 67. patience is a virtue
feeling 68. grow and change as a person
feeling 69. megumi truthers
feeling 70. knock on wood
feeling 71. come find me
feeling 72. cryptic
feeling 73. more than aware
feeling 74. see the future
feeling 75. trying to be nice
feeling 76. why do you hate me
feeling 77. knight in shining armor
feeling 78. perfect paradox
feeling 79. idgaf war
feeling 80. stay like this forever
feeling 81. baby bird
feeling 82. found your way back
feeling 83. heart racing
feeling 84. loverboy activities
feeling 85. megumi this megumi that
feeling 86. protect you
feeling 87. flirt back
feeling 88. wingmen
feeling 89. in love with megumi allegations
feeling 90. more broken
feeling 91. gets shirtless again
feeling 92. 1 new message!
feeling 93. protecting your peace
feeling 94. tired of waiting
last feeling. a kiss and a fight
epilogue/bonus feeling. spy
3K notes
·
View notes