#50 Cent - English

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

50 Cent - Candy Shop 2005

"Candy Shop" is the second single by rapper 50 Cent from his second studio album, The Massacre (2005), and features American R&B singer Olivia. It was produced by Scott Storch, who took influence from Middle Eastern music. The track samples The Salsoul Orchestra's "Love Break". At the 2006 Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap Song, and at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video was nominated for Best Male Video. The music video on Youtube has received over 955 million views as of June 2024.

"Candy Shop" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming 50 Cent's third number one single and fifth top-ten single. It reached number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Tracks, and Rhythmic Top 40 charts, reached number two on the Pop 100 and number five on the Top 40 Mainstream. The RIAA certified the track quintuple platinum in 2023. Across Europe, the song reached number one in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, and the top five in Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK. It peaked at number three in Australia, and number two in New Zealand.

"Candy Shop" received a total of 63,4% yes votes!

[fading-event-608]

1000 NOTES IN THE LAST DAY GOT FALASTIN AROUND 130$. THAT'S 13 FUCKING CENTS PER REBLOG.

I CAN'T RELAX FOR ONE FUCKING DAY. EVERY TIME I THINK I CAN TAKE A BREAK IT BITES ME IN THE ASS BECAUSE WHAT? IF I DON'T SCREAM AT TUMBLR USERS FOR 8 FUCKING HOURS SHE GETS NO FUCKING DONATIONS. IF I DON'T MAKE NEW POSTS EVERY TWO FUCKING DAYS WE GET THIS BULLSHIT.

OH ARE YOU TIRED OF SEEING THE SAME POST? YOU DON'T WANT TO REBLOG THE SAME BASE?

NEITHER ME OR FALASTIN ARE WRITERS OF YOUR BLAND WATERY SHOWS OR FANFICS, NOR ME OR HER SHOULD BE FUCKING REQUIRED TO SUPPLY YOU WITH A NEW GRUEL EVERY DAY TO GET DONATIONS.

WE ARE NOT NEWS ANCHORS OR FUCKING HISTORIANS, AND YET THE ONLY TIME WHEN SHE'S NOT FOCUSING ON HER FAMILY SHE GETS SOME ATTENTION FROM BIG BLOGS. ARE HER OTHER POSTS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU? PLEASE TELL ME, BECAUSE ALL OF YOU HAVE DMS AND/OR ASKS CLOSED.

SHE GOT ANOTHER MARTYR IN HER FAMILY JUST 4 DAYS AGO, SHE RIPPED HER HEART OUT FOR YOU ALL TO SEE AND SHARED HER GRIEF IN THE OPEN, AND WHAT IT GOT HER? 1,5K$? IS IT HOW MUCH HER COUSIN WAS WORTH IN YOUR EYES?

FALASTIN DIDN'T CATCH A BREAK FOR A FUCKING YEAR NOW, AND YET SHE STILL WRITES HERE, IN ENGLISH (!!!), ON THIS FUCKING PLATFORM WHERE SHE GETS MESSAGES FROM SCAMMERS, ZIONISTS AND CREEPS. SHE DOES THAT BECAUSE THERE ARE 24 FUCKING PEOPLE DEPENDING ON HER IN GAZA AND SHE CAN'T GIVE UP.

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF YOU SAW THIS POST TEN MILLION TIMES, BOOST AND FUCKING DONATE. DO THAT EVERY FUCKING TIME YOU SEE ANOTHER FUNDRAISER POST, THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE IT, THE SECOND, THE THIRD, AND EVERY FUCKING TIME AFTER THAT.

YES SHE WAS VETTED, SEVERAL TIMES:

#282 IN VETTED GAZA EVACUATION FUNDRAISER LIST [HERE], #957 IN BUTTERFLY EFFECT PROJECT [HERE]

YOU CAN LOOK AT HER ACCOUNT [HERE]

MORE THAN 10$ DONATED CAN GET YOU A COMMISSION FROM ME IF YOU DM THE PROOF TO ME. MY ART BLOG WAS TERMINATED ALMOST TWO WEEKS AGO AND IT'S STILL NOT RESOLVED SO PLEASE DM WITH QUESTIONS.

GO FUCKING DONATE AND CHECK THE RATES BEFORE YOU DO:

10$ = 103 SEK

25$ = 259 SEK

50$ = 518 SEK

100$ = 1,036 SEK

[hamilando]

ੈ✩ nxdes? (smau) ੈ✩

pairing : charles leclerc x fem reader

summary : “have you seen my boyfriend ?” “HAVE YOU SEEN HER !?”

tw : fluff, very suggestive

a/n : So this was requested anonymously, so if you are seeing this, Hope you like it 💫

·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･･ﾟ·:｡･ﾟﾟ･ ✩ ･ﾟ ･ﾟ·:｡

liked by user1, user2, user3 and others

f1mommy how I feel when I feed you all thirsty socks 🧦

view comments

user1 idk what is killing me- the caption or the photos 🗿

user2 English or Spanish ?

user3 f1mommy 💀🦅

user4 charles, don’t be shy, drop it on me

user5 I want to ride carlos like he rides his bike-

user6 did she just call us socks !?

charlesleclerc can you stop leaking pictures ? I won’t hesitate to sue you

user7 oops-

user8 LORD PERCEVAL GOT SERIOUS THERE

f1mommy @ charlesleclerc you weren’t complaining when you sent me your nudes 💋

user9 AND I-

user10 is it true or -

user11 mommy, can we get the charles junior baby pics ?

user12 that’s quite a way to frame it 💀

user13 she casually dropped christian in between

f1mommy @ user13 you would need some Jesus after god hears your thoughts

user14 istg this girl has been taking sarcasm classes

f1mommy @ user14 rizzing your mama up classes

liked by user1, user2, user3 and others

f1mommy this is a Charles leclerc fan page ( minus the nudes)

view comments

user1 SHIRTLESS CHARLES !?

user2 IN HD!?

user3 I WILL BE YOUR SUGGA MOMMA F1MOMMY

f1mommy hit me up bbugurl 💋

user4 yes, you all are correct, he was talking to me in second pic

user5 serving your delusion ofc

f1mommy she serving looks atleast user4 @ f1mommy ily 😭

user5 who is she ?

user6 we don’t know, we just enjoy what mommy gives us 😮‍💨

user7 how does she get them ?

user8 she hacked their phones ?

user9 techie alert

f1mommy the only tech thing I know is incognito at night 💪🏻

user10 digital footprint ?

f1mommy you would like mine on you though ?

charlesleclerc can you stop leaking my pictures ?

f1mommy can you stop fucking me ?

liked by user1, user2, user3 and others

f1mommy me watching y’all burn your brains to guess who is me

view comments

user1 if this accounts turns out to be run by a 50 year old lady-

f1mommy you will ask me to fuck you ?

user2 just tell us who you are

user3 she has a things for dilf

f1mommy I am one myself -

user4 I will pay you 69 cents to reveal yourself

f1mommy I would prefer performing 69 💋

user5 dududuu HELL WHA-

user6 I have given up-

user7 the iconic toto

user8 Only king toto can help us

user9 I can feel the user smirking reading all the comments

user10 the person is definitely a sadist

liked by user1, user2, user3 and others

f1mommy Hi, I am yours and his mommy 🫶🏻 @ charlesleclerc

view comments

user1 WHAT ?

user2 YOU ARE CHARLE’S GIRLFRIEND !?

f1mommy yes baby girl ☺️

user3 please tell me that this is a joke

charlesleclerc now can you send me some ?

charlesleclerc after you have exposed that I am your boyfriend ?

f1mommy you have the keys, come watch it in 4D

user4 so now y’all decide to be freaky ?

user5 now Charles interacting on a fan account makes sense

user6 the pictures too

user7 so she really didn’t hack-

user8 welcome to the fam sis

f1mommy I was there way before you love 🧡

[suchananewsblog]

50 Cent net worth: Millions to cents: How the rapper lost his fortune and filed for bankruptcy

Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent is known as an American rapper, producer, actor, and entrepeneur who has met wils success throughout his career. Ever since he was discovered by both Dr. Dre and Eminem, 50 Cent shot up to stardom and a gangster-like origin story that immediately appealed to the masses. He was born on July 6, 1975 in Queens, New York. However, he was raised in…

[lareynaderucorazon]

Sol x Reader, long post, Minors DNI

"I'm home"

You call out as you take off your shoes. Not even a moment later Sol greets you with a kiss.

"Hi babe, how was your day?"

"Mm nothing special. How was work?"

"Ugh don't even get me started. This new hire, Kevin." You rolled your eyes at the thought of that man.

"But I'm home here with you now so all of that doesn't matter." You put your shoes up and follow your wife into the kitchen.

"Endonde esta Sebastian?"

"He's upstairs finishing his homework."

"Hmm my baby's so studious."

Sol stands over the stove in his frilly green apron. You hug him from behind and peek over his shoulder.

"What gourmet dish did you cook up for us today?"

"Well you've been craving shrimp pasta so I made shrimp fettuccini and some garlic toast."

"So that was the heavenly smell I smelled as soon ans I walked through the door."

Sol slightly blushed. He knew he was married to the love of his life for seven years now but he still couldn't get over how she complemented his cooking. He felt a little embarrassed being put on the spot but, nonetheless, pride swelled in his heart at how he's able to take care of his wife.

"Dinner's ready."

"I'll go get Sebastian."

You walked away but not before you slyly groped his ass cheek. Sol's face turned red and he covered his ass with his hands before turning to softly glare at you. You only sent him a kiss before laughing and walking away.

As you walked up the stairs you could hear faint piano music coming from your son's room. You knocked and waited for him to say come in before you opened the door.

Your son looked up at you, tearing his attention away from his homework.

"Oh hey mom, when did you get back from work?"

"Just right now. I came to get you for dinner, dad made pasta."

"I'll be right there, I'm just trying to finish this last question but I can't get past it."

"Oh what class is it for?"

"Spanish."

"Hm let me see it."

Question: Maria compro ocho frutas. Tres naranjas, dos pinas, una sandia, y dos manzanas. Cada naranja cuesta veinte y ocho pesos y cuarenta y uno centavos. Cada pina cuesta cincuenta pesos y setenta y tres centavos. Una sandia cuesta sesenta y nueve pesos y ochenta y cinco centavos. Cada manzana cuesta veinte y tres pesos y sesenta y ocho centavos. Cuanto pago Maria en dollares?

"Ok wow, that's a lot of information."

"I know right."

"Ok so lets break it down in English first. The problem say, follow along with me, Maria bought 8 fruits. Write down the numbers on top of the words so you can visualize it better. Ok, she bought 3 oranges, 2 pineapples, one watermelon, and 2 apples. Each orange costs 28 pesos and 41 cents, Each pineapple costs 50 pesos and 73 cents. One watermelon costs 79 pesos and 85 cents. Each apple costs 23 pesos and 78 cents. Did you get all that?"

"Yeah."

"Is it easier to see all the numbers written down?"

"A lot easier."

"Now remember its asking for the total in dollars and they gave us the amounts is pesos. So add all of the numbers up and then we are gonna convert the total amount into dollars."

"But how are we going to do that if the teacher didn't give us the conversion rate?"

"The internet my son. What's the total amount?"

"314.1 pesos"

"Now, looking it up on yoogle, you get 1 dollar per every 16.91 pesos. So, you divide the total amount by 16.91 and then you get your answer, which is?"

"18.6 dollars!"

"That's my boy, now let's go down and eat dinner before it gets cold."

You and your son head down to the dinner table where your husband was patiently waiting for you to.

"What took so long?"

"Homework." You and your son said simultaneously. You both laughed before all three of you started to dig in.

🤎timeskip cuz im lazy + smut🤎

Your husband was now washing the dishes as you boxed up the leftovers for your lunch tomorrow. As soon you as you were done with that you were right back onto clinging to your husband. You started trailing kisses up and down his neck, leaving hickies in certain areas. Sol started to groan as you were caressing his hips, occasionally trailing over his hard on before going under his shirt to play with his nipples.

"Mmf."

You leaned into his ear while groping his bulge.

"Shh baby."

"Wha-haa. What abous Sebastian?"

"Taking a shower. Now let me take care of my sexy husband."

You decided you were done with the teasing, so your hands finally found their way under Sol's waistband and at the base of his cock.

"Hm? What's this? Basketball shorts and no draws? You wanted this to happen didn't you? You were fantasizing about this all day weren't you?"

You teased your husband, both with your words and with your hands, slowly traversing up and down his length while occasionally flicking his head.

"Tha-hah. That's not... true."

"It's not? You don't want this? Should I stop?"

"No! No please keep going." Sol could feel you smirk against his shoulder which caused shivers to run down his spine.

"That's my pretty husband. Look at your pretty pink cock in your wife's hands. You love this don't you?"

"Yess!"

"Sh!" You tugged on his dick a little harsher which caused him to bend over and for him to almost drop a plate.

You heard the water turn off upstairs so you knew you had to finish him off quick. You let go of Sol's dick which caused him to whine. You grabbed his hips before harshly turning him around and getting on your knees. Sol's breath hitched in his throat when he felt your warm wet mouth take him all in. He gripped onto the sink as you practically sucked the soul out of him.

"Y/nn. Fuck."

You knew he was about to come so you quickened your pace and started fondling his balls.

Sol's release came quick and powerfully. His eyes rolled to the back of his head while his body involuntarily jerked itself further into his wife's mouth. His hips sputtered for a few seconds before they eventually stopped.

Sol's body fell flaccid against the counter, so you picked up his shorts and gave him a kiss.

"Thanks for desert honey. Why don't you go get ready for bed while I finish up the rest of these dishes."

Sol could only nod and wobble away, the high still heavily weighing on his mind.

Finishing the dishes only took 10 minutes, and once you were done you walked up to your son's room to wish him goodnight. He looked around, trying to spot Sol.

"Where's dad?"

"Oh, he went to bed early. He was really tired today."

"Hm ok. Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight sweetie."

You turned off his lights and left your son's room. You walked down to the opposite end of the hallway to enter your room where you found Sol laying on the bed, staring up into the ceiling. He greeted you with a warm smile and love filled eyes. You smirked while closing and locking the door. You stripped out of your clothes and you could see excitement spark into your husband's eyes.

"Ready for round two?"

Sol belongs to @fantasia-kitt

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

please explain to me the difference between madol and thaumarks? I thought it was a coin vs bill situation but i'm not sure?? does it even matter? ToT

There actually is a difference between JP’s madol and EN’s thaumarks!

Madol’s irl equivalent would be similar to the Japanese yen, whereas thaumark’s irl equivalent would be closer to the American dollar. Please note that I use the American dollar as reference since EN was initially the North American only server before expanding to other regions.

These values roughly align with the conversion rate between the yen and the dollar. For example, when Ace reads about the prize money for the winners of SDC/VDC:

In English, he says the prize amount is 50,000 thaumarks. In Japanese, he says the prize amount is 500万 (500-man), or 50 million madol. Therefore, the yen (madol) and the dollar (thaumark) appear to be different, even if they refer to roughly equal values.

Notably, this does NOT impact gameplay elements. You are still charged the same number when leveling up your characters using madol or thaumarks.

The only times when the madol/thaumark difference comes into play is when the characters discuss the costs of items or services. This localization decision most likely occurs because English-speaking players most likely reside in western countries who may find it odd that a $1 candy bar in their country suddenly costs “100” (in madol) in Twisted Wonderland. The Japanese, meanwhile, would not find this strange; the inverse would be true for them, the Japanese players might be confused by a normally 100 yen candy bar with the price of “1” (in thaumarks).

Here are examples from Azul at the end of book 3. Take note of the different numbers used for madol versus thaumarks:

(Even then, please note that these changes may be inconsistent. Sometimes the same numerical values are used regardless of the server; for example, Crowley says the broken chandelier from the prologue are both a billion madol in JP and a billion marks in EN.)

Another difference is that EN mentions a new element to their currency; the “sorcent”, which would be like cents. The “sorcent” does not exist in JP; for values even as small as “1” (which would be more like 0.01 for you Americans), JP still uses madol (マドル). See Riddle’s dialogue from 2-5 of Port Fest:

[sgiandubh]

... oh, and Moo...

Sorry to come back to this topic: you are not worth my attention and I had a very busy evening. But I was so disgusted by your gratuitous hatred thrown at an almost random person, that I realized I forgot something important.

@bat-cat-reader, an absolutely spectacular friend, whose integrity and honesty I never questioned, does not need a lawyer. However, for the sake of fairness, here is what I forgot to tell you:

No matter what your feelings might now be towards someone who once showed you kindness and trust, there is no excuse for calling that person 'a whore'. I can be a 'bitch and a stupid whore', all the way: cynically speaking, it's almost understandable. You hate me? Fine. I don't - I simply despise you: I would have to know you, in order to hate you. Not the case.

Many people in here remember how you once were one of the most obsessive investigators on this side of the fence. How you explained that your long 'experience' in the Friends Spanish fandom can help. I can only imagine you were sending this same kind of Anon to people whom you currently call your.. oh, well.. your friends (pun totally intended)?

Since your instantaneous turncoat moment, you have repeatedly stated you have now 'seen the light', maybe in an attempt to bury this dirty little secret of yours and further ingratiate yourself to them. To do so, you never hesitated to criticize the fact that your former friends have poor English, something that is immature, tasteless and spineless. So let me tell you, Moo: despite what you might like to think of yourself and your bajillion evening classes proficiency certificates, your English sucks big time. It almost sounds as if Barbara Cartland had a child with 50 Cents, that rapper.

Anyways, look at you, now: it must be very hard to lick the very spot you spat on, as we say in Romanian (I think it's clear enough what I mean). The day you realize that you are probably nothing more than those people's pet troll will probably be the day you set yourself free and start to live your life, Moo.

[izuku-lover15]

˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡

Creds to @mirkoscats and @bkdkd1glazer on TikTok for the images! ᗢ

I think a very big reason why bkdk is so hated in the western world compared to internationally is because of the English translation for it.

It seems that it’s actually a very popular ship in Japan, but if you mention them in places like America etc you should be prepared for a LOT of backlash. 😭

And obviously a reason for this is the mistranslation! A lot of Japanese words aren’t properly explained, so we’re not actually getting the full idea of what they’re saying. Just a summary.

Along with the multiple arts following romantic traditions over there, it’s obvious why it would be more popular overseas! They get the full idea of what their relationship looks like.

And it’s obvious that even if it’s romantic or not, their relationship is so special and deep. THEY ARE SOULMATES PEOPLE 😭😭

I saw someone say that ‘English mangas need like a separate page to describe Japanese words that cant be directly translated. It’s such valuable info to understand the plot fully’ and I think that’s such a good idea. Because yes it’s annoying not being able to understand everything they’re saying how it’s meant to be understood!

I think that’s just my view on it, but honestly after seeing that analysis it opened my eyes 😭

˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡

Following romantic traditions?? No wonder they think these mfs gay too. 😭

I think if either of them were a girl, they’d already be canon. And I know horikoshi isn’t afraid of making lgbtq characters, but is he afraid of making them the MAIN characters? Which I can understand to an extent due to the possible backlash it might get.

We find this a lot, two main male best friends with a questionable relationship, wether or not they’re meant to be romantic or not they’re relationship is still questionable and outside of the norm of what you’d consider to be ‘just close friends’ or some people’s favourite term ‘brotherly.’

Time and time again people notice their close relationship, tension builds up and it goes nowhere. And they get called crazy for even thinking they were anything more than friends.

Perhaps coincidence but I think NOT??

This is a big detail that is left out in the anime, which is another reason why I think people are so against this ship. The anime portrays it poorly and leaves out important details, and they don’t bother reading the manga.

Horikoshi also happens to be a big fan of tarot cards!and people have pointed out this looks similar to the three of swords. I’m very clueless on tarot cards so if anyone wants to add their 50 cents into this part I’d appreciated. There’s an explainarion in the image but I’ll put a small one down here too from google.

‘This card depicts a fundamentally sorrowful experience—tarot readers suggest this may be in the form of a lost relationship, an accidental death, or some other form of not just depression or malaise but deeply emotional sorrow.’

‘In the context of love and partnerships, this card can signify the end of a relationship, often marked by betrayal, heartbreak, or a sudden and unexpected loss.’

So sure, it’s not inherently romantic and can be taken as either that or platonic. But I still think it’s a fun detail that the anime left out.

This is definitely a slop of holy yap but I got distracted and obsessed with wolverine for a while and sort of forgot about this account 😭

Would love to see other views on this if it does gain any sort of traction.

[vavuska]

Elon Musk is threatening a Brazilian Supreme Court justice after the court issued a summons to him which threatens the suspension of Twitter if he does not comply within 24 hours.

To combat disinformation, Brazil gave a Supreme Court justice sweeping powers to order social networks to take down content he believed threatened democracy. Here's how the experiment led to a ban on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/world/americas/brazil-x-ban-free-speech.html?smid=threads-nytimes

Elon Musk claims this is a censorship, because previously he was ordered to ban and close a lot of far-rights account that spread fake news and hate online by that same judge. As protest, Musk closed X offices in Brazil - which means people losing their job or their income.

When free speech is interpreted as anything which matches the law (and viceversa). Under Elon Musk's Leadership, Twitter has approved 83% of censorship requests by authoritarian governments globally. The social network has restricted and withdrawn content critical of the ruling parties in Turkey and India, among other countries, including during electoral campaigns.

Since Musk assumed control in October 2022, the platform has received a total of 971 government requests, a significant increase compared to the 338 received between October 2021 and April 2022.

Prior to Musk's takeover, Twitter had agreed to 50 per cent of such requests, as indicated in their last transparency report. However, no transparency reports have been published since October 2022, making it challenging to assess the current situation. Nevertheless, data from the technology information portal Rest of World suggests that the compliance rate has risen to 83 per cent following Musk's leadership, which again contribute to detect what Elon Musk REALLY think about free-speech: this right is granted only if comply to what oppressive governments and far-right politician approves. Discrimination and criminal behavior are allowed and protected under Musk's Leadership, because targets minorities, immigrants and political oppositors. Musk is a conservative and apply censorship, he isn't the victim of a 'woke' complot lead against him. Musk is receiving the payment for his unlawful action.

Source: El Pais English

As far I can understand, without having many clues here, this order of summon says that Elon Musk refused to appoint a legal rapresentative for X Brasil. For some typology of corporates Brazil require a % of residents in management or a legal rapresentative, with power to vote and deliberate in meetings, to operate online in the country. Yeah. Law apparently seems to be applied to everyone except him.

Summons with translation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/technology/brazil-x-ban-elon-musk.html

Edit: A legal rapresentative is more a managerial position than what do you think of. Yes, it could be an attorney or a lawyer too, but still isn't simply the guy who defend the corporate's interests in court. In Brazil you need a % of residents in management position to operate. This was a problem issued also with WhatsApp and Telegram.

Edit 2 - 31th August 2024: I was curious about the consequences of Musk's decision to close X's offices in Brazil for his employees. Have they been fired? Suspended with or without salary? I didn't find anything. However, I found this article that adds some informations, like Musk declaring he did this to "protect his staff". However, his legal rapresentative is impossible to be found.

Edit 3 - 31th August 2024: Another article of NY Times that analyzes the matter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/world/americas/elon-musk-x-brazil.html

Update - 31th August 2024: Brazil has turned off Twitter. Musk’s genius is again on glorious display in losing the 7th most populous country in the world. Oh well. At least the Cybertruck is doing awesome.

Another Update - 31th August 2024: Musk is freaking out right now. He knows if he gets blocked in Brazil it is just a matter of time before other countries follow suit.

However, someone forgot to tell Musk that you get fined for using VPNs to access Twitter in Brazil before he posted this.

Also seems that for a tech genius Musk isn't very smart though, doesn't he know using a VPN will worth the same with apps as it does with a browser?

However, The Brazilian Supreme Court has moderated its first rule. First, even the VPN apps were targeted and should be banned from App store and Google Store to prevent people getting access to Twitter exclusively. Now, the Court realized that banning VPNs is too extreme, so they will only apply a 50k (about $8,900) fine for those caught accessing the platform.

Basically, you don't get fined for using VPNs, that would be too 1984. You might get fined if they FIND OUT that you're accessing X via VPNs, and this is exactly the kind of thing VPNs are designed to prevent.

Just a reminder, you can always access better platform than X, even on your phone. No app is needed.

VPNs are great tools to use worldwide to get around authoritarian and abusive government surveillance and blocking. Zero to do with Musk. And they can only catch you if you aren't savvy.

In a perfect world you shouldn't need to download any VPNs to access innocent contents, because democratic countries will never block a platform that gives informations and entertainment to people. In a perfect world you won't be stuck with platforms that are not free from disinformation and neo-nazi posts.

3rd Update - 31th August 2024:

Musk owns more of SpaceX than Zuck owns of Meta or Bezos owns of Amazon, fwiw. For all intents and purposes, Musk is Twitter, SpaceX, Neuralink and X.

I'm gonna add some technicalities here:

In Brazil there is something called "Corporate Personality" that protects the shareholders patrimony from the company's debts.

But... If you hide behind legal shenanigans in a fraudulent manner, "corporate personality" is bypassed and thus the court moves into your personal patrimony.

Elon is, personally and fraudulently, removing X office from Brazil so they don't obey Brazilian laws.

So the judges target him on his other shares: SpaceX and Starlink.

[alexaloraetheris]

I'm probably gonna be cancelled for being xenophobic on main or something, but it makes me really sad when I come in contact with people who I don't have any language in common with.

In our country, we got a few different waves of immigration so 50% of the time your delivery guy or taxi driver is someone who doesn't speak the local language, and very little English. Everything is handled by its relevant apps, so you can go an entire interaction without a single word spoken.

But I like chatting with the taxi drivers. They work long hours for an exploitative system to make cents, and since I'm benefiting from the system (ie. Getting cheap rides) I do my best to be a model passenger, chat a little and get them to tell me something that interests them. It's a side hustle for a lot of them, and their lives and day jobs are SO INTERESTING. Like, it's a whole different post about the disaster of our economy that scientists, medics, IT programmers and physical therapists need to taxi in their spare time to make it above the poverty line, but it makes for excellent road conversations.

And the immigrant drivers probably have just as interesting stories but HOW WOULD I KNOW??? Today I had an Indian driver, and ofc I was polite and everything, but mostly silent. But he had a playlist of indian songs and I heard one I really liked, so I asked him in English what it was, and guys, he was so happy I was showing interest, he didn't know English that well but he did his level best to translate the song for me, tell me about the DJ, and you'd think he saw Narayana himself when I told him I knew who Shreya Goshal was and I liked her songs.

And y'all, I was so happy but also so sad I didn't try to talk with him from the start of the ride. But a lot of drivers who don't speak even English tend to be embaressed and uncomfortable (one apologetically told me 'my English is little') so I usually stay silent. But now I'm sad because I really would have liked to chat with them, because I just know they would have had so many interesting things to say.

But we don't understand each other. And I'm really sad about it sometimes.

Someone please invent a universal translator already😭

[fortheloveofwonderland]

But it’s Better if You Do | SR x Fem! Reader

Summary - the Blue Siren strip club is the last place Spencer Reid wants to spend his birthday. And the absolute last thing he needs is to fall for you, the magnetic exotic dancer who Morgan and Luke pay to give him a birthday dance.

A/N - as a rule, I am not technically writing Spencer x Reader right now but this is for @imagining-in-the-margins damsel in distress challenge although it’s a very vague fit. Kind of anti damsel in distress? I don’t know, let’s just roll with it. Candy Shop by 50 Cent is the song used in Magic Mike XXL when Adam Rodriguez does his lil sexy dance so the song choice was an homage to that. Loosely based around the Panic at the Disco song “But it’s Better if You Do.”

Pairing - Spencer Reid x Exotic Dancer Fem! Reader

Category - fluff I suppose? Maybe mild angst. Happy ending.

CW - exotic dancer reader, Morgan and Luke are bad wingmen, hints at lesbian Emily, strip clubs, snarky Spencer, drinking, swearing, Spencer and his inappropriate erection, brief mentions of masturbation, making out.

WC - 8.2k

Oh, isn't this exactly where you'd like me?

I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know.

Praying for love and a lap dance,

And paying in naivety.

The last place Spencer Reid ever expected to find himself on his fortieth birthday was at the Blue Siren Club just off of Dupont Circle. For starters, Spencer wasn’t a big drinker so going to a bar didn’t appeal to him on any other given night, let alone his birthday, but there was much more to the Blue Siren than just being your run of the mill club.

The Blue Siren was well known as being one of the most reputable strip clubs in the district. According to the extensive research Spencer had done when he found out he was to be coming here, it was one of the more exclusive clubs, and if Morgan was to be believed it was popular among law enforcement and other government officials due to its clandestine nature.

From the outside, the Blue Siren looked just like a normal club. If you were to pass it by you may not even glance up at the exposed brick facade and black front door. In the lone window in the front sat a small blue neon sign boosting the club's name and that was all. You wouldn’t be alone in walking right past the establishment without batting an eyelid. 

When Luke had suggested the idea to spend his birthday here, Spencer’s immediate reaction had been laughter, because it had to be a joke, right? Strip clubs and Spencer Reid were not a combination anyone who knew him would put together, surely? 

“Why are you laughing?” Luke frowned at him, folding his arms across his chest. 

“Because you’re making a joke?” 

“No, I’m not.” 

“You’re not?” Spencer’s laughter came to a sudden halt and he stared at Luke in disbelief. “You…you seriously think that’s how I want to spend my birthday?” 

“I was talking to Morgan and-“

“No sentence in the history of the English language that starts with “I was talking to Morgan” has ever had a happy ending.” Spencer scoffed. 

“It’s the happy ending part we’re trying to achieve.” Luke smirked at him, a playful hint in his eye that caused Spencer to swallow thickly at the implication. 

“Y-you…I…” 

“When was the last time you got laid, Reid?” 

Spencer felt the moment his cheeks burnt with an intense embarrassment. In all the years he’d known Luke they had never once discussed their sex lives. In fact, Spencer made it a rule to never discuss his sex life with anyone. 

“That’s a deeply personal question.” He shrunk in on himself. 

“Which is Spencer Reid for, it’s been a while.” Luke smiled knowingly. 

“I…I don’t have to answer that.” 

“You kinda just did.” 

“Regardless,” Spencer shook his head, trying to steer the conversation off of his sex life, or lack thereof. “Strip clubs aren’t brothels. The women don’t sleep with their customers.”

“Morgan and I decided it was slightly more appropriate than buying you a hooker.” 

If Spencer thought he was embarrassed before, he was now absolutely mortified. 

“I don’t need help getting “laid”, as you so eloquently put it.” Spencer shook his head, turning back to his desk and sorting through some papers to distract himself.

“Don’t you?” An amused voice came from behind him and Spencer groaned, running his hands through his hair. He turned slowly in his chair to see Emily standing over him, an almost delighted look in her eyes. “What are we talking about?”

“Morgan and I want to take Reid to Blue Siren for his birthday next week.” Luke filled her in.

“Oh that place is great!” She beamed. “Can I come?”

“Where are we going?” Rossi seemingly appeared as if from nowhere with his coffee and newspaper. 

Spencer grumbled, face palming his hand as the group around him gathered.

“We’re taking Spence to Blue Siren for his birthday.” Emily happily told him.

“Blue Siren? Huh,” Rossi nodded his head. “I haven’t been there for years, count me in. I’ll even see if Hotch wants to join.”

“For the love of god.” Spencer muttered against his hand. No one seemed to hear him and if they did, they ignored him.

“Join what? What did I miss?” Garcia came tottering in on her too high heels, laptop balanced precariously in the crook of her arm.

“Apparently the kid wants to go to a strip club for his birthday.” Rossi informed her.

“No, No.” Spencer shook his head, looking up at them. “The kid does not want to go to a strip club for his birthday.”

“Oh isn’t it the big four-oh?” Garcia bounced up and down in excitement. “You have to do something special for it!”

“I highly doubt a strip club can be deemed as special.” Spencer rolled his eyes.

“Strip club?” Matt strolled into the conversation now and Spencer wanted to just vanish into thin air.

“Yeah we’re taking Reid for his birthday. Want in?” Luke asked him.

“As long as no one ever tells Kristy.” Matt chuckled. 

“What aren’t we telling Kristy?” Tara popped her head up from her desk, Spencer didn’t even know she was there. 

“That we’re going to a strip club for Reid’s birthday.” Matt offered her a sly smile.

“Oh sweet! Count me in.” She grinned. 

“How about you guys go, since you’re all so excited about it and just tell me how it was? I’ll stay home with a book or something.” Spencer sighed but no one acknowledged him. 

The door opened again and JJ meandered in, all eyes turning to look at her. 

“Uh, hi?” She laughed awkwardly as she walked across the bullpen.

“Have you ever been to a strip club, Jayje?”

Spencer groaned loudly, crumbling in on himself and smacking his head against the hardwood of his desk. Sometimes it was just easier to go along with these things than try to fight them.

And so, only slightly against his will, Spencer let them talk him into spending his birthday in the last place he ever expected to find himself, least of all on his birthday. The whole team was in attendance, plus Morgan and Hotch, he could only assume to have a front row seat to his complete mortification. They met outside the club, waiting for JJ who was late due to the fact she couldn't get Michael to go to sleep. Luke had gone so far as to pick Spencer up from his apartment, which was in the opposite direction, just so the birthday boy wouldn’t have an excuse for ditching them at the last minute.

“Is that really what you’re wearing to go to a strip club, pretty boy?” Morgan nudged Spencer in the arm.

Spencer glanced down at his attire, what he would call a sensible outfit but was clearly not what he was supposed to be wearing given Morgan’s judgemental gaze. It wasn’t a far cry from what he wore everyday, it wasn’t as though Morgan had never seen him dress like this before. He’d donned a perfectly pressed pair of black slacks, pairing them with his old faithful converse, a crisp blue button down and his black Comme Des Garçons cardigan Rossi had gifted him for his birthday a few years ago. He’d decided against a tie, because that seemed too formal for the occasion even for him. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” He frowned, pouting a little. 

He quickly eyed up the other men who were all wearing jeans and t-shirts, Rossi and Hotch included. He couldn’t even get started on how strange it was to see Hotch in jeans. 

“You look like a TA.” Matt shrugged. 

“I always look like a TA. Do you guys think I suddenly dress differently outside of work?” He folded his arms.

“I kind of hoped you did.” Luke smirked. 

“Isn’t it supposed to be my birthday?” Spencer grumbled. “I’m already at the last place I want to celebrate so please can we just leave my outfit choices alone?” 

“I think you look dapper.” Tara patted his shoulder like he was her annoying kid brother or something. 

“Thanks?” He pulled a face. 

“And speaking of birthdays!” Garcia was rummaging in her oversized purse before pulling something out. “Voila!”

Spencer frowned at the large, slightly garish, blue and yellow badge proclaiming “Forty Today” in obnoxious bubble font. It was bigger than Garcia’s hand, she surely didn’t expect him to wear that.

“Uh, no offence but there is no way in hell you are getting me to wear that.” He took it from her anyway, slotting it in the front of his satchel. 

“Spoil sport.” Emily chided him. “Anyone would think you don’t like your birthday!”

“I don’t very much like this particular birthday.” He muttered under his breath. “Where is Jennifer? I’d really like to just get this over with.” 

As if on cue, he heard heels on the concrete ground and seconds later the blonde appeared, dragging someone behind her. She smiled as she came round the corner, tugging Will into view under the streetlamp. 

Oh good, more people to witness my humiliation. 

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late!” She gave them apologetic glances. 

“Will, I didn’t know you’d be joining us.” Penelope hugged JJ and then Will.

“You think I was going to sit at home while my wife goes to a strip club?” He chuckled. “I may never get the opportunity to have permission to do this again in my life. Thanks Spence.” 

“You’re so very welcome.” Spencer replied sarcastically. “Can we just get on with this now?” 

“That’s the spirit.” Luke chuckled, draping his arm around Spencer’s shoulders and leading him through the non-descript door.

Inside a long, narrow corridor stretched out before them, the distant thrums of bass heavy music, causing the floor to feel like it was vibrating beneath him. A burly doorman awaited them, so broad he almost encompassed the entire corridor. 

“Hey man, I have a reservation under Alvez. It's this guy's big four-oh.” Luke gripped Spencer tightly, shaking him a little. 

The doorman glanced down at a piece of paper in his hand, scanning over it for a second before looking back up at the motley crew, clearly trying to discern if he needed to card anyone but it was immediately clear he didn’t. 

“Follow me,” He motioned for them to come with him.

Luke took the lead, dragging Spencer by his hold on his shoulders. The music got louder the further down the black corridor they got. It was dark and Spencer had to squint to see the man only a few feet in front of him, the corridor only lit by a single red light bulb swinging from the low ceiling that Spencer almost had to duck to walk under. 

At the end of the corridor was another door and the music had reached fever pitch at this point. Spencer felt as though he could taste the beat, he could certainly feel it palpitating in his chest. The doorman shoved open the door and Spencer blinked against the sudden wave of lights that smacked against his retinas. 

Luke finally let go of his shoulders, the doorway too narrow for the two of them to pass through together and motioned Spencer in front of him. Spencer stepped into the room, surprised by the sudden change in flooring, casting his eyes down to see a plush burgundy carpet now under foot. He tried not to contemplate how many germs were living in that carpet, how many drinks had been spilled and soaked into it over the years, how many other fluids it might have absorbed on top of it. He was sure this place would light up like a christmas tree under a black light. 

He grimaced, looking back up and following in the doormans footsteps across the room. He tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, desperate not to look around and take in his surroundings but his morbid curiosity got the better of him. 

Admittedly if he’d imagined what the inside of a strip club would look like this would have been plucked straight from his imagination. The main lighting was low, shielding most of the seating area in an almost ominous glow. The booths were made up of plush, gold velvet sofas, large dark oak tables in the centre of them. There was a long bar on one side, made of the same oak only its surface seemed to glitter when the light hit it. Over the back were two large velveteen curtains, concealing what Spencer could only assume was the private dance areas. There were four raised platforms each with their own golden, floor to ceiling pole in the centre, blue spotlights pointed at each one. Each podium had a scantily clad young girl dancing in upon it and Spencer quickly averted his gaze again, not wanting to be seen to objectify them. 

“You know the whole reason they are there is to be looked at right?” Morgan was suddenly at his side, nudging him in the arm. 

“It feels very…voyeuristic.” Spencer swallowed.

“Have you seriously never been to a strip club, Reid?” Matt was now at his other side. 

“Why is that so hard to believe? Do I really strike you as the kind of guy who goes to strip clubs?” They arrived at the table and Morgan motioned for Spencer to take a seat while the others sat around him. 

“It’s usually the quiet ones.” Morgan smirked at him. 

“I cannot believe Savannah is ok with you being here.”

“She was fine with it when I told her it was for your birthday.” Morgan winked at him.

“Do I need to tell you what I told Luke? This is not a brothel, I am not getting laid here.” Spencer sighed in exasperation. 

“It's not too late to take you to a brothel, kid.” Rossi smirked, before excusing himself to the bar. 

“This is the lesser of the two evils, trust me.” Spencer sat back against the plush seat and tried to keep his eyes to himself. It was a difficult feat when just in front of them was another podium with a blonde woman dancing in the skimpiest pair of underwear Spencer had ever seen. 

“No deflowering of boy wonder tonight, please.” Garcia giggled.

“Deflower…you are aware I am not a virgin, right?” Spencer pulled a face, was that how people saw him? 

“I was joking, Spence, calm down.” Garcia rolled her eyes, still tittering to herself. 

“It's that kind of defensive attitude that makes people think you are.” Luke, who was sitting on his left, nudged him. 

“I’m fairly certain if I said the same to you, you would be just as defensive.” Spencer shook his head. 

Just then, Rossi returned carrying a tray of champagne flutes and setting them on the table in the centre. He was closely followed by another young woman carrying an ice bucket in each hand, each with a bottle of the club's most expensive champagne chilling inside. 

Spencer didn’t want to look, really didn’t want to be seen to objectify, but the scent of lavender perfume seemed to flood his senses, his brain, and he could no longer think straight all of a sudden. His eyes which had been attached to the floor glanced over to the pair of deep purple, satin peep toe heels which were standing right in front of him. Slowly his eyes trailed upwards, over a set of long, smooth legs, until meeting a silk pair of dangerously tiny panties, matching the shoes in colour, which he quickly scanned over. His eyes worked up the torso until they came to the chest and the purple silk bra that really left very little to the imagination. Swallowing thickly, his eyes continued their ascent to the face and that’s when time seemed to slow to a halt.

Spencer quivered, actually trembled as he took in your soft features and dazzling eyes. The smile on your lips as you looked at him seemed genuine, and not at all like it was a pain for you to be here. You set down the ice buckets and went about opening one of the bottles, pouring everyone a glass. When you poured Spencer’s glass, bending a little as you did so, his eyes couldn’t help the way they dipped to your cleavage spilling out over the top of your bra.

He quickly snapped his gaze away and thanked you with a shaky smile. He crossed one leg over the other in an attempt to hide an arising problem in his pants.

“I’m Y/N, I’ll be your host for the evening.” You had to speak loudly to be heard by everyone over the pulsing music in the club. “Which one of you is the birthday boy?”

Your eyes flicked between the men in the group, well all of them except the all guy who had paid for the drinks. You’d been informed it was a fortieth birthday, there was no way it was him. 

“This guy right here,” Morgan grinned, gripping Spencer by the shoulders. 

You looked back at the slightly shy, uptight man in his shirt and cardigan, who was holding onto his champagne flute for dear life. He was not your usual clientele, if you didn’t know any better you would think he didn’t want to be here at all. 

“Well, I guess it’s my lucky night.” You couldn’t help but wink at him and even in the low light you saw the way his cheeks instantly flushed pink. 

Usually in your line of work, exotic dancing, not stripping, thank you very much, the men you were paid to dance for were older, usually kind of creepy. Admittedly none of the younger men at the table were bad on the eyes, but this one was especially handsome, even if he was absolutely pertrided. 

“What’s your name, stud?” You placed one hand on your hip and the other you held out for him to shake. 

You saw him swallow, taking a sip of his drink as if to lubricate his mouth so he could speak. 

“S-Spencer.” He took your hand and shook it. It was warm and so much larger than your own, even if it was a little sweaty. 

“Nice to meet you, S-Spencer.” You teased, hoping to ease some tension but it seemed to have the opposite effect. 

He shrunk in on himself, grimacing a little and looking as though he would quite literally rather be anywhere else in the world. 

“You too.” His voice jumped several octaves. 

Most of the rest of the team watched in amusement at Spencer’s discomfort, all of them aside from Emily who had wandered off to watch a redhead dance, tossing dollar bills at her and Luke who although was still seated, clearly had his eyes on the blonde on the podium in front of them. 

“So, shall we get to the good stuff?” You asked him now and he almost choked on his drink. 

“G-good stuff?” His eyes widened in terror.

“Your friends here paid for you to have a private birthday dance. They didn’t tell you?” 

Spencer clenched his jaw and turned to his friends, anger leaching from his eyes.

“I would like to go on record and say I did not invest any money in this particular endeavour.” Hotch was quick to speak up.

“This is just from me and Alvez. Happy birthday, stud.” Morgan winked at him.

If Spencer was a violent man, he would have wrung Morgan’s neck, maybe bashed his and Luke’s heads together until they lost consciousness. He was fairly certain after all his years on the job he could murder them both and get away with it. 

Maybe if you hadn’t been there, standing over him and looking so goddamn delicious in his favourite colour as well, he might have given the two men an ear full. But it wasn’t the time or place and so he swallowed his anger, keeping it bottled up until later and turning back to you. 

“Let’s just…get this over with.” Spencer stood up, grabbing his glass and the full bottle of champagne, god knows he was going to need it, and following you towards one of the curtained off areas. 

You held the curtain back for him to enter first and he did so without letting himself think about what was going to happen when the two of you were alone. The private room was much the same as the main room, only smaller with no bar. There was another plush golden couch in the centre, a smaller raised platform with a pole on the far wall. The wallpaper was a deep, cherry red, swirled with black and a gold chandelier hung from the ceiling offering, once again, very little light. 

Spencer could only assume he was supposed to sit, so slightly reluctantly he dragged his pathetic ass to the couch and sat in the centre of it. He downed the remains of his champagne before swiftly uncorking the bottle. You couldn’t help the way your body reacted to his large, veiny hand expertly pulling the cork from the bottle, like it was the easiest thing in the world. You shuddered a little at the thought of what else his hands might be capable of. 

He discarded the glass on the floor and opted instead to drink straight from the bottle, not something Spencer would ever usually do, but this whole night was so out of the ordinary for him, he decided to just lean into it. You came and stood in front of him, hands on your hips as you looked down on him.

“Not big into sharing?” You smirked at him.

“You…I assumed because you were working…”

You chuckled, reaching out and taking the bottle from his hands and taking a hefty sip. You felt the bubbles tickle the back of your throat and branch out towards your brain.

“I can indulge a little, as long as I don’t get off my face. Besides, the alcohol helps when the customer is particularly…” you searched for the right word. “Old. Ugly. Generally gross.” 

Spencer frowned at you, processing your words. 

“I guess Alvez and Morgan didn’t spring for the package where you pretend to be nice to me.” He tried to not sound as pathetic as he felt but failed miserably.

To his surprise you giggled in response, handing him back the champagne.

“Trust me, stud, you’re one customer I don’t need to drink to have fun with.” You winked at him and heard a little whimper leave his lips. He tried to cover it up by drinking more.

“Fuck,” he mumbled against the bottle top. “Let’s just…I don’t suppose we can just sit here and pretend you gave me a lap dance?” 

“Not a chance.” You smiled, sauntering on your heels over to the stereo setup in the corner. You hit play and music pulsed into the room through the speakers situated in each corner. Spencer woefully recognised the song as 50 Cent’s Candy Shop, he’d heard Morgan listen to it on more than a few occasions over the years.

You strutted back over to him, wiggling your hips to the music as you went. Spencer tried to keep his eyes trained on the bottle as he drank, refusing to let himself look at you. You made it back over to him and once again took the bottle from his hands. You sipped from it delicately, bending over to place it on the floor, ensuring to give Spencer a show of your ass as you did so. 

A low hiss left his lips, probably at the realisation you were wearing a thong. God you were going to enjoy this. 

You stood back up and started swaying to the music, stepping between his open legs. He looked up at you through frightened doe eyes, the most beautiful shade of brown you’d ever seen. His long, messy curls fell in his face and his pouty bottom lip was too kissable for words. You shook that thought off as fast as you could.

You turned you away from him, thinking it easier if you didn’t look at his gorgeous face. You knew his eyes went straight to your bare ass, you could practically feel his gaze on you. 

“You can touch me, Spencer, just nowhere inappropriate please.” Really you wanted those hands to touch you everywhere inappropriate but that kind of behaviour was frowned upon within the walls of the club. 

“I’m…I’m good.” He croaked.

You smiled to yourself as you slowly lowered yourself into his lap, perching at first on his knees before wiggling backwards. 

Spencer gasped loudly as your ass settled into his crotch and without even looking at him you knew he would be one hundred shades of red. 

It certainly wasn’t the first time a man had gotten hard when you’d given them a lap dance and you knew it wouldn’t be the last. It may well be the first time you’d enjoyed it though. 

“Jesus Christ.” He whimpered, your back now flush with his chest, his breath tickling the back of your neck. “I am so, so sorry. This is humiliating.” 

“Don’t be embarrassed.” You grinded against him in time to the music. “I know I am attractive and I am also half naked. Honestly, I’d be a little offended if you weren’t excited by that.” 

“Right. Right.” Spencer nodded, wishing he could reach the champagne bottle. “So uh…how does one get into this line of work? Stripping.” 

He needed to try and take his mind off of how unfathomably good you felt rolling your ass against his dick. 

“I’m not a stripper.” You chided him, pinching his knee with your long acrylic nails as punishment. “I’m an exotic dancer. I don’t take my clothes off. Well, no more so than this.” 

He grumbled at the pain you inflicted on his leg but the pleasure more than outweighed it. 

“Apologies, I hope I wasn’t out of line.” 

“It’s ok, it’s a common misconception. And I started working here to help pay my student loans. I stayed because I love what I do.” You grinded particularly hard against him and he whimpered against your neck. 

“You went to college?” He sounded surprised. 

“Yes, I’m not some bimbo, stud.” You rolled your eyes, another common misconception.

“Sorry.” He clenched his jaw, his cock twitching dangerously in his pants. “What uh, what did you study?” 

“Psychology.”

“No kidding?” He sounded genuinely impressed. “You have a degree in psychology and you work here?” 

You suddenly turned around, kneeling over Spencer, one leg hooked over each of his thighs. His eyes were wide as he stared at you, swallowing thickly. 

“Look, you’re cute but don’t talk to me like I’m some kind of moron and try to make me feel like working here makes me less of a person.” You reached and gripped his jaw, digging your fake nails into his stubbly cheeks.

“I…I didn’t mean it like that, I-“

“I choose to work here.” You cut him off, lowering yourself so you were seated in his lap, straddling him. “I enjoy working here. It gives me a sense of power, I’m choosing to show off my body, to turn men like you into pathetic messes.” 

Spencer moaned, didn’t even try to disguise it. You let go of his face and went to stand up but Spencer surprised you when his hands flew to your hips, gripping you firmly and keeping you in place. 

“I didn’t mean it like that.” He spoke, for the first time sounding close to confident. “You’re stunning and clearly good at your job.” He nodded down to his crotch and how he was straining against his slacks. “I didn’t mean to sound patronising or anything like that. I was merely trying to make conversation and I’m sorry if I upset you. But quite frankly, Y/N, if I don’t keeping talking I’m going to do something really fucking stupid.” 

You narrowed your eyes on him, stilling your movements as the music came to end. He kept his grip on your hips and you found yourself a little dizzy by the firmness in which he held you. 

“Stupid like what?” Your chest heaved with heavy breaths and Spencer’s eyes briefly flicked down and he hissed again at the sight. 

“Something that could probably get you fired, and neither of us wants that.” He grinded up against you this time and a soft moan left your lips. 

“Jesus,” you whined, the tables well and truly turned. “Can you just…I don’t know…give me a clue?” 

Spencer chuckled a little, moving one hand from your hip to the back of your neck and tugging you closer to him. His lips were close to your ear, ghosting over the skin. It was like a switch had been flipped, the shy and awkward guy who hadn’t even wanted a lap dance was gone, replaced by this confident and self-assured man now beneath you. 

His breath fanned across the side of your face and when he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. 

“Let’s just say it would involve both of us wearing a lot less clothes and you screaming my name.” 

You whimpered like a dog that had just been kicked and attempted to clamp your legs together but his were in the way. Suddenly he dropped both of his hands to his sides and looked at you darkly. 

“Get up.” He commanded you and you were dumb to do anything by comply. 

“I need to go.” He stood up, snatching up the bottle of champagne. “Thanks for that.” 

You watched him scurry away, seemingly reverting back to the shy creature he’d been initially. He fled back through the curtain, leaving you with an intense heat between your legs. 

Goddamnit, you swallowed, trying to compose yourself. I might have just found my kryptonite. 

***

Two weeks passed and Spencer couldn’t stop thinking about you. Every time he closed his eyes he saw you sitting in his lap, that goddamn purple lingerie glowing against your skin. It never failed to make him painfully hard in a matter of seconds and he’d spent more time than he could count masturbating over thoughts of you the last two weeks.

Eventually he couldn’t keep himself away if he tried. Emily had given them the weekend off and sitting alone in his apartment on Saturday night, his limbs had moved without the forethought to do so. And of course he’d ended up outside Blue Siren. 

He paid the cover charge and saw himself inside, ambling over to the bar and ordering himself a scotch. He watched the room, in a way he was trained to do, watching and waiting for a glimpse of you. 

He’d gotten down three drinks before finally he saw you across the room. His cock twitched almost instantly. Today you wore a crimson red lace teddy with shoes to match. He preferred the purple, liked it when you had more skin on display, but you still looked like a fallen fucking angel. An incredibly sexy fallen angel. 

He finished the remains of his drink and set the glass down on the bar before heading your way. 

As soon as you saw him, you couldn’t help the way your whole face lit up. He looked much the same as he had last time in his smart shirt and slacks but today he’d bypassed the cardigan and had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. 

“Stud, you came back.” You smirked at him, placing one hand on your hip. 

“Can we talk?” 

“I’m on the clock.” You shrugged. “My time has to be paid for.”

Spencer rolled his eyes and fished his wallet out of his pocket, flashing a large wad of bills. He pulled one out and stuffed it in your hand.

“How much will a hundred get me?” 

You looked down at the bill wide eyed, seeing it was actually a hundred dollars. You looked back at him with a smile.

“At least a few dances.” You turned on your heels and motioned for him to follow you towards the private room you’d occupied a few weeks ago. 

Once inside you watched him get comfortable on the couch.

“You sure you just want to talk? I can dance and talk at the same time, I’m just that good.” You winked at him.

“N-no.” He shook his head. “No dancing, please?”

“Fine.” You chuckled, coming over and sitting next to him on the couch. “What’s up? Must be important if you’re willing to drop a C-Note on me.” 

“I uh, I wanted to apologise for my conduct the other week. It was very unlike me and I wanted you to know I’m sorry.” His cheeks flushed.

“Hmm.” You mused. “See, I don’t think it was unlike you. I think you allowed yourself to be completely authentic in that moment, letting out a side of yourself you don’t normally let people see.” 

“That psych degree is paying off, I see.” His lip twitched into a small smirk.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” 

“People see me a certain way.” He sighed a little as he spoke. “I’m the smart one, the bookish, awkward one. I’ve been seen that way for as long as I can remember. I guess I grew out of it but no one around me sees that. So maybe I play up the persona a little because it's what’s expected of me.” He confessed, not sure why he was doing so but you oddly put him at ease.

“Yeah, I get that. Sometimes it's easier to play into the expected, to fall into the roles people assign us rather than forge our own identity. You know, I only got my degree to prove I could. I wanted to prove, even if only to myself, that there was more to me than people expected of me. One day I might do something with it but for now, I really do love my job. But now I know I could do something else if I chose to.” You were equally surprised by your honesty. 

“My friends brought me here because they think I’m some kind of pathetic sad sack that can’t get laid.” He chuckled wistfully. 

“Oh but I bet you have no problem in that department, from what I could tell.” Maybe you leant closer to him, you certainly didn’t mean to, but you were sure he was closer now.

“I do alright.” The glint in his eyes told you he did better than alright and why did that cause a rumble of jealousy in your chest? 

This time it was him that leaned closer to you, his large hand finding your thigh. You felt your chest tighten at the way it felt.

“I’m not going to sleep with you.” You spoke but you didn’t particularly believe your own voice. 

“Not here, certainly not.” He inched his hand higher and you didn’t stop him.

“Not here, not anywhere.” 

“Tell yourself that all you want, princess.” He growled the last word, eliciting a whimper from your lips. 

“I don’t sleep with customers. Full stop.” 

“You sleep with me, I promise I will never come back here.” He dared edge his hand higher, now right at the top of your thigh.

“You should leave.” You said, but you didn’t move or push him away. 

“I just paid you a hundred dollars, I’m not going anywhere.” He squeezed your thigh, his fingers digging into your flesh. 

“Maybe I did prefer it when you were shy.”

“No you didn’t.” He smiled in a knowing way. And he was right. “Let me take you out, show you what I’m really like.” 

You swallowed, god how you would love that. But no. You couldn’t succumb. 

“Not gonna happen.” You took hold of his hand and forcibly removed it from your thigh. You removed the bill he’d given you from where you’d tucked it in the side of your panties and tossed it at him. “Keep your money. Leave before I call security.” 

Spencer chuckled to himself, shaking his head and placing the note on the couch, leaving it there as he stood up. 

“I’m not a threat, you don’t need to call security.” He held his hands up in defeat. “I think you know as well as I do that there's something between us, I just don’t know why you won’t admit to it. But whatever, I’ll go.” 

He went to move past you but as he did, his fingers circled your wrist. He turned your hand over and forcibly put his business card in your open hand. 

“In case you change your mind, princess.” With that he was gone, leaving your legs shaking in his wake. 

You looked down at the card in your hand and frowned to yourself as you read the words adorned on it. 

Doctor Spencer Reid. FBI. 

Huh. That was an interesting turn of events. 

***

Spencer didn’t return to the club again, respecting your boundaries and just holding onto a small glimmer of hope that you would call. But weeks passed and you never did. 

In all honesty, he wasn’t that surprised. He expected you’d tossed the card the minute he’d walked through that curtain and never given him a second thought. 

He didn’t often allow himself to get close to people for this very reason. When Spencer fell for someone it happened fast and hard and now you were the only thing he could think of and it was tearing him in two. 

It was Morgan and Luke’s fault. Them and their dumb idea to take him to a strip club for his birthday. He decided his next birthday was cancelled, the one after that too. Screw it, all his birthdays were cancelled indefinitely. 

Thankfully due to the BAU’s heavy caseload and him teaching classes at Marlborough University, he didn’t have a whole lot of time to dwell on you, which was for the best. 

He’d just have to resign himself to being alone again. Just like always. 

***

For weeks that card felt like it was burning a hole in your pocket. You didn’t intend on calling Spencer, but you just couldn’t get rid of it. There was something different about him, something that begged you to get to know him. But you had to resist temptation, it would only end badly like it always did. 

Still, you couldn’t help but picture his face when you gave an old, sad man a lap dance, wishing it were him instead. It never failed to send chills down your spine when you thought of the way his persona had flipped from shy and slightly nerdy, to suddenly so self assured. 

But you had to stop thinking about him. Thinking about him was fruitless. But of course you couldn’t, because like it or not, you were going to see him again. 

You’d almost considered pulling out of the class, as soon as you’d seen his name on the business card you knew it would be a bad idea to go through with it. But you’d been excited about this for months and you really didn’t want to wait another semester to take it. You just had to hope you could get through it without incident, however unlikely that seemed. 

“Ok, let's take a moment now to discuss the difference between a trigger and a stressor. A trigger is a sensory event experienced by an offender that precipitates subsequent behaviour whereas a stressor is a longer term pattern of behaviour or circumstances which push a person into behaving differently than they normally would. You might want to write this down. I probably shouldn’t be telling you guys this but I’m definitely putting this on the final.”

You watched the brunette a few rows in front of you coyly tell Professor Reid she was simply auditing the class. You couldn’t help but smirk when an array of other beautiful girls raised their hands when he asked who else was auditing. He was the youngest, best looking professor on campus, it was no surprise his class had drawn in a crowd of young girls to fawn over him. 

“Uh…ok.” He shook his head, checking his watch. “Unfortunately that is all the time we have for today. Thank you guys.”

You stayed seated while the rest of the class filtered out, watching him collect a stack of papers and put them in his worn satchel before turning to erase the writing on the whiteboard. You stuffed your laptop away and crept down the stairs towards the front of the class, fingers toying with the small white piece of card.

“What was your stressor, Professor? Or should I say, Doctor?” 

You saw his back go rigid and for a moment or two he didn't move a muscle. He set the whiteboard eraser down and slowly turned around as you waved his business card at him. He couldn’t help the way his eyes raked up and down your body, clad in jeans and a t-shirt, more than he was used to seeing on you. He still thought you looked like a goddamn angel.

“Uh, I’m sorry, what?” He frowned, clearly at a loss for words. 

“You said a stressor is a longer term pattern of behaviour or circumstances which push a person into behaving differently than they normally would. When I first met you, you behaved differently than you normally would, am I right? Pretending to be this shy, awkward little thing.” You quipped your eyebrow at him.

“For the record I wasn’t pretending. It wasn’t some kind of ruse or something. I am generally shy and awkward. But I have learnt to assert myself when I need to, for instance, when I see something I want. I got carried away that night at the club and I’m sorry for that, that was out of character for me.” He leant back against the edge of the desk and perched on it. “Why are you in my class, Y/N?”

“I signed up for this class before I met you. I didn’t even know you were the professor until you gave me your card.” You shrugged a little nervously. 

You were more uncomfortable in normal social settings. At the Blue Siren, where you commanded the room, the confidence oozed for you. But in the real world you were much uncomfortable in your own skin. 

“You want to be a profiler?” He scrutinised you with his gaze.

“Maybe someday. I told you, I don’t necessarily want to work at the club forever, I want options.”

“But you love your job.” He repeated what you’d told him.

“I do.” You nodded. “If this is going to be weird I can drop out. I can go to Georgetown next semester, although their professor is not a legit FBI agent with the BAU.” You chuckled a little.

“Why would it be weird?” 

“Because,” you shrugged. “Since the second you turned around and saw me standing here, you’ve been undressing me with your eyes.” 

Spencer smiled, a hint of a blush gracing his cheeks.

“I have, it's true.” He agreed. “I can’t help it if I’ve already seen so much of it.” 

“I don’t think you should want to sleep with your students.” 

“There’s no rule against it.” He chuckled, pushing himself back to his feet. “My students are all over the legal age, if I was to sleep with one of them, it would be completely consensual and no rules would be broken.”

“You’re talking from experience.” You stated and his eyes playfully glistened.

“Maybe.” He shrugged but his face said it all. “I told you, I do alright.” 

“Well, I can tell you for a fact I won’t be one of them.” 

“And that’s your loss.” He turned his back on you now and started gathering up his things, slinging his satchel over his head. “Excuse me, I have papers to grade.” 

You watched him saunter away, leaving you standing there in confusion and a little turned on if you were honest. He shoved open the door and exited the classroom and before you could think it through you were following hot on his heels. You caught up to him in the corridor as he was unlocking his office door. He spotted you in his peripheral vision.

“My office hours are on Wednesday.” He pushed open the door. “If you need something you can come…”

He trailed off when you pushed past him, entering his office ahead of him. He frowned and followed you inside, closing and locking the door behind him. 

“What?” He sighed, taking off his bag and dropping it in the chair next to the door. “You asked me to leave the club that night and I did. I gave you my number, I left the ball in your court and you didn’t call and that’s fine. I walked away! So why are you pursuing me?” 

“I won’t give it up.” You blurted out, causing a heavy frown to form on Spencer’s face.

“Give up what?” Had he missed a part of the conversation?

“The club, I love my job.”

“I know you do.” His frown deepened. “Why would you have to give it up?”

“Do you know how many men I meet that think I’m some kind of damsel in distress that needs saving? They swoop in, on their fucking white horse and think they can rescue the poor, broken stripper.”

“Exotic dancer.” Spencer corrected you with a smirk. You huffed somewhat childishly. 

“Whatever. They think they can change me. Men always think I’m some kind of fucking damsel in distress that needs saving from the big bad world of strip…exotic dancing. That’s why I don’t date customers, not because it's not allowed. I’ve made the mistake before and it always ends the same. So stop looking at me like you want to fuck me, because its never going to happen!” 

Spencer simply looked at you curiously while you ranted, voice getting louder with each syllable. Confusingly he was smiling when you finished.

“Can I speak now?” He had a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“If you have to.” You rolled your eyes. 

Spencer took a few steps away from the door and you felt yourself growing weaker the closer he got to you. He was magnetic, you couldn’t help but gravitate towards him.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m certain I never once said that I have any kind of issue with your profession and I certainly never asked you to quit. Am I right?” 

“Y-yes.” You swallowed, catching the scent of his cologne. 

“If you’ve found something you love I would never dream of keeping you from that. Honestly, I admire you. It takes a lot of bravery and a lot of confidence to do what you do and god…you do it so well. Why would I ever want to take that from you?” He was so close now and you were begging him to touch you even though it was a bad idea.

“I…I don’t know.” 

“Yes, princess, you do.” He smirked. “You made an assumption about me, the same way I admittedly did when I first met you. But I was wrong and I acknowledged that. It’s only fair for you to do the same.” 

He raised his hand and your legs shook before he even touched you, at the sheer anticipation of it. It came up to cup your jaw, firmly enough that you could feel his fingers squeezing your jawbone. 

“Y-you don’t want to change me?” You whimpered.

“Why mess with perfection?” He bowed his head, his lips so close to yours you could feel the heat radiating off of them. “I’m no knight in shining armour, Y/N, I’m not rushing in to try and save you. And you are most certainly not a damsel in distress. You are a strong, independent woman and I would be lucky to merely exist in your orbit.” 

You mewled, trying to move closer to him, to crash your lips against his but he held you firmly in place, chuckling at your eagerness. For the first time in a long time you felt all your bravado melt away, all the confidence you had on stage at the Blue Siren was washed away, leaving you a trembling mess in front of this man. And normally that kind of vulnerability would cause you to run for the hills. But being vulnerable with Spencer didn’t seem all that bad.

“Can you,” you swallowed, eyes glued on those pouty lips of his. “Please…just kiss me already, stud.” 

Spencer laughed and for a moment you thought he might not comply. But then he closed the small space between you and you finally got to feel those pillowy lips pressing against yours. He gripped the back of your neck firmly, keeping you in place, as if you would go anywhere. 

Maybe one day Spencer would thank Morgan and Luke for the birthday present, this was one he’d surely cherish, as long as you would let him. 

Oh, isn't this exactly where you'd like me?

I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know.

Praying for love and a lap dance,

Taglist -

All

@muffin-cup @andiebeaword @measure-in-pain @takeyourleap-of-faith @dirtytissuebox @ssa-uglywhore27 @smurphyse @reidselle @reidsbookclub

SR x reader

@dreatine @dr-spencerr-reidd @spenxerslut @drayshadow @rainsong01 @this-is-doctor-and-its-calm @matthew-gray-gubler-lover @spencer-reid-wonderland @im-totally-not-dezi @hotchandspencearedilfs

[i-am-church-the-cat]

Logan Sargeant is a silly little guy

@vii-tto idk why but it wouldn't let me tag you. Hopefully you see this. also @spell-of-the-rain i added things if you want to check out 75-87

But here's the list of things i know/want to know about logan sargeant

Favorite Actor is Brad Pitt

Favorite Movie is Wolf of Wall Street

Favorite food is a hamburger

Has a boat and often goes deep sea fishing

Lived in London since he was 15

Lose Yourself by Eminem is his favorite hype up song

Is a Dolphins and Heat fan

Enjoyed “No Man, No Cry” by Jimmy Sax

Drinks iced lattes with oat milk

Pumpkin spice lattes?? Edit 12/16/23: No

Has been to Wimbledon

Knows what cricket is

Has a rescue dog named Coco

Also enjoys hockey Edit 11/1/23: Supports the Florida Panthers NHL team and has gone to at least 1 of their games with his friend Kyle Kirkwood

Does he follow college football?

What does he think of the new Miami head coach? 

If not for motorsport, does he think he would have gone pro in a different sport, and if so which one?

Enjoys listening to 50 Cent (is also a big rap fan in general)

Can he speak any other languages with any degree of familiarity?

Cannot draw

Can make a sandwich (other foods?)

Rates all food from one bite and with weird decimals

Gritty-ed in his f1 car

Makes the Williams photographers look like they take good photos

Does he have an English or a Florida driver’s license? And does he still have US citizenship even though he lives in the UK? What kind of visa is he on?

Top three female athletes? (Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Megan Rapinoe are all acceptable answers) 

Collects Aussies and Kiwis for friends

Does he like the snow? Prefers the heat but does he like snow?

Does he like Missy Elliot? (Requirement) 

“Basic Halloween Bitch”

Calls people “mate” but in an American accent which will never stop being funny

Eye Crinkles™️

Does not have a set eye color he’s just too mystical for that

Has never been to a concert (presumably too busy with racing)

He can swim, he can drive, but can he ride a bike? Edit 11/15/23: He can indeed ride a bike

American commercial cars or  European ones?

Has an older brother but is like an older brother to Benny’s kid

Likes marshmallows

Does not like black beans

Did not think apple could be chips

Knows how to sail??

Knows how to golf

Can paddle (required for any F1 driver)

Lost the F3 championship in 2020 bc of a DNF in the last race

Can he sing??

Does he drink energy drinks? Red Bull or Monster? 

He and Duracell are passionately making out

Blush is very pretty 

Wears a lot of baseball hats

Somehow beat jet lag (expat king)

Mostly spends his nights in but he has some nights out (presumably very interesting ones)

Has an iPhone with a blue case

He looks very pretty in blue

His eyes are sometimes blue

Blue=fav color?? Edit 11/6/23: favorite color is Ocean blue (credit to @spell-of-the-rain)

Pretty insecure (armchair diagnosed anxiety)

Close with his brother and parents but maybe not his extended family?

Is Florida State his college team?? (Worst thing a man can be is a Florida St fan) Edit 12/16/23: believing that FSU got screwed over this year is acceptable

Did he graduate high school??

Did he ever consider going into NASCAR or did moving to Europe at a young age kind of set in stone his path towards open-wheel racing?

Hair is blond/dirty blond

Does he vote in American elections?? (If he supports RonD I cannot stan)

Burger Sauce™️

Logan Hunter Sargeant, certified Frat Bro, most American man ever

Has seen peaky blinder and presumably stranger things

Knows how to carve a pumpkin but has not celebrated Halloween at home in a bit

Possibly dating some instagram model

Caused $4 million in damages, gets payed $1 million a year, and supposedly brings in $30 million in sponsors

Key phrases: “Locked in”, “Bam/Boom”, “Done and dusted” Additions 11/1/23: "Oh hell yeah", "I think you're a little lost here, Chief". Additions 11/6/23: “Yeh” (gets quieter throughout the word (how it’s one syllable??)), “on the bounce” (credit to @spell-of-the-rain i believe)

Joined the Williams Driver Academy in 2021 

Got stuck in F3 bc he didn’t have the money to move up

Driver for Carlin in 2022

Former teammates include Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri, Frederick Vesti (Edit 11/6/23: Max Fewtrell possibly?)

DOB: December 31, 2000

5'11

Had a giveaway for gloves he used to win an F4 race on Twitter in 2017 and both Lando Norris and Max Fewtrell replied

Originally his number was 3 but he switched to 2 for F1 (to much fan consternation who thought he had so many better options)

Childhood best friends with Kyle Kirkwood, a current Indycar driver

Logan's older brother Dalton raced in NASCAR until 2018

Did a commercial for Sport23

Does not have cowboy boots as of COTA 2023

Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA

lived in Switzerland from 14-15(?)

knows the conversion rate for a kilometer

is taller than a tuna fish

Podiumed at the Macau Grand Prix in 2019

Won the CIK-FIA championship when he was 14 Additions as of 11/1/23

Loves waffles but they are not his favorite dessert

Very patriotic (oh hell yeah)

is the first American F1 point scorer in 30 years and the first one to score on home soil since 1989

Went to see the Nets in NYC (but would have preferred to see the Knicks)

has a custom Miami Dolphins jersey with his last name on the back

Claims to know all the lyrics to "Ice Ice Baby" (credit to @formulaaone) (Edited 11/6/23)

Additions as of 11/6/23:

Under the same talent agency as Alex Albon

Has the same manager as George Russell

George Russell was his mentor coming up

Went to a catholic private school (credit to @wenevrknew)

Does not like fish? (Credit to @spell-of-the-rain)

He runs weird (in my opinion as he reminds me of my brother when he was 12 (he ran very strangely))

Karted in Las Vegas when he was a kid

Can he drive a stick shift? (Alex believes he cannot)

Enjoys video games

Refers to his car as “she”

Knew how to attach a visor to his helmet prior to February(? Could’ve been March but before the season) 2023

Additions as of 12/16/23

Broke his arm in a 2014 German Karting Championship when Marcus Armstrong took him out at T1 (credit to @spell-of-the-rain )

Has gotten his head eaten by the Golden Knights mascot

If he could have any superpower, he would like to teleport

Has never flown a drone

Favorite racing movie is Talladega Nights (sad Mater noises)

Does not trust other people to drive him

Would rather sleep in then get up early

Considers himself fairly organized

His mother makes a very good sweet potato casserole

Got his habit of worrying from his mom

“Santa’s Little Helper”

Driving for Williams Racing Formula 1 Team in 2024

Got out qualified by his teammate every race of 2023

[empirearchives]

Napoleon and Sugar Production and Trade

A little bit about how the sugar industry was transformed during the Napoleonic Wars. Specifically, how sugar beet substituted and replaced sugar cane.

From Robert M. Harveson, History of sugarbeets, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (source)

“Sugar was only obtained from the tropical sugar cane and was prohibitively expensive for most Europeans. During the early 1800’s most sugar was obtained from the West Indies. After supplies were cut off by the English blockade of continental Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, the demand for sugar grew throughout Europe. Napoleon encouraged new research with sugar beets, and between 1810 and 1815, over 79,000 acres were put into production with more than 300 small factories being built in France.”

From R. N. Dowling, Sugar Beet and Beet Sugar:

“Napoleon I, brought real life into the new industry. As a farsighted statesman, he recognized the great advantages connected with a future beet sugar industry that would produce at home all the sugar needed by his people. For this reason he at once, by a decree of 1812, appropriated 100,000 hectares, or 247,100 acres, exclusively for the cultivation of sugar beets and 1,000,000 francs for experiments in connection with beet raising and sugar extraction.”

The trade war:

“The interest of Napoleon was due to the continental blockade that excluded all products manufactured in England and her colonies from the European markets. As a consequence the price of cane sugar rose to an extraordinary height: it was more than 30 cents per pound in the period from 1807 to 1815. Under such circumstances the erection of beet sugar factories was a very profitable investment of capital and it is, therefore, not to be wondered at that in France, as early as 1812 some 40 factories were in operation, working up 98,813 tons of beets obtained from 16,758 acres, and yielding a total output of 3,300,000 Ibs. of sugar. For the first time in the history beet sugar came to compete with the tropical product. From very modest beginnings in the first quarter of the nineteenth century the beet sugar industry grew to the enormous dimensions of today, crowding out cane sugar from the markets of the European continent and successfully competing with the tropical product in many other countries.”

(From R. N. Dowling)

Long-term impact—Sugar beet today:

“Of the current world production of more than 130 million metric tons of sugar, about 35% comes from sugar beet and 65% from sugar cane. In the USA, about 50-55% of the domestic production of about 8.4 million metric tons derives from sugar beet.”

(From Robert M. Harveson)

[illuminaughti-online]

How much of Gaston Leroux's other work have you read? I haven't much but I heard from reddit it seems a lot was similar to POTO

Oh boy, that’s a question. I haven’t read most of Leroux’s work, but I have read “The Bloody Doll” and its sequel, “The Killing Machine,” which are essentially Leroux’s own steampunk vampire AU for “Phantom of the Opera.” I’m not even kidding. It recycles a lot of the same tropes, including a beautiful Christine who is pined after by an artistic genius of an uglyman with terrible handwriting (the ugliness and bad handwriting are plot points). It doubles down on the “unreliable narrator” device hardcore, as well as on the relationship ambiguity, to the point that a group of characters in “Killing Machine” engage in a spirited shipping debate while the Raoul analogue (Jacques) cries. The uglyman winds up guillotined for potentially-but-almost-definitely having murdered a bunch of girls, but Christine and her eccentric artist father (sound familiar?) respond by transplanting his brain into what I can only describe as a sexbot that they built earlier in “Bloody Doll.” Perhaps needless to say, the first thing the guy does upon his resurrection in an inexplicably beautiful body is to abduct Christine. (And then check himself out in a mirror for like 15 minutes.) At one point, Christine has 4 boyfriends, one of whom seems to be a vampire.

The bad news is that Leroux also doubles down on the racism. It’s blatant and inexcusable. I know people say “product of [their] time” and all that jazz, but you know who makes their time what it is? The people living in it. So I can’t handwave that away.

You can buy “Bloody Doll” in English for about $5 online. “Killing Machine” is not readily available in English, but I am trying to translate it into English. The goal is to put it on Amazon for like 50 cents.

With a giant disclaimer/warning at the beginning about the racism.

I think I also have to go back and re-translate “Bloody Doll” to release it as a double album. It doesn't make a lot of sense to publish just the sequel by itself. Sidebar: I am not actually fluent in French! So this may take a while.

If Leroux had lived longer, he might have continued the series. The last line of “Killing Machine” is something along the lines of “Jacques, look out!” because Christine is in the midst of reviving Bénédict the uglyman from the grave yet again . . . what could possibly go wrong?

[dreamy-love222]

I used to write really long love letters to the boys I have had a crush on and hide them in my room.

My first love letter I wrote was when I was 11. It was In French my first language (at home we mainly talked French and sometimes the Tunisian dialect but even our dialect was different from the main dialect which was mostly Arabic with a bit of French words (because France colonised Tunisia) and English words because Americanisation of the Tunisian dialect…

So I wrote this letter on the weekend when I was in my grandmother’s old home in the Zahra (Tunisia) (my grandparents bought in the 80s) (they sold it in 2020 so they can live closer to my aunts because they grew old)

I spent 4 hours on this letter, it was about 6 pages long, I was confessing my undying love for Amir, see amir was a really interesting boy. He was the first in our class yet he was always causing trouble. I knew him since I was 5 years old and his mother was friends with my mom. He was cute but what really made me admire him is his intelligence. He pretended to not be serious about his studies but he was, his dad told him he has to be the first in order to do Judo after school. So he did everything to be the first. I admired his drive and his motivation to get what he want.

I remember in a math exam there was the mention of a dinar. That was the first time we ever got told to solve a problem with a dinar in it (dinar is like a euro) 1 dinar is 1000 millims (like cents) we were 7 or something so we didn’t know that. Except Amir. I know it doesn’t sound impressive but it was to me at that time. The problem was like Zayneb had 1 dinar that she got from her grandparents to buy candy. She bought 9 pieces for 50 millims (equivalent of cents)

How many millims does she have left

I also liked the attention he used to give me. He used to sit behind me in class and used to pull on my hair lol.

The teachers always complain about how nosy and not serious he is and how he makes his friends not pay attention in class.

He knew I knew how to draw because everyone in class knows and after lunch time we had free time and I would draw. Sometimes he would shyly ask me to draw him Mario/pikachu/sonic.

Since I was a kind little girl I would draw him what he wanted and the way his eyes sparkled when he sees my finished artwork made my day.

I was really good at sports too. So I would play soccers with the boys when I was younger than 10.

I was bullied from the age of 7 till I got out of this school. At 7 a traumatic sexual event happened to me, before that I was skinny and healthy. I never binged, I liked candy like all kids but one lolly would be enough for the day. But I started gaining weight. I remember I was 37kg at 8 years old and my classmates made fun of me for being that weight. Also became really closed off and I had a few accidents where I peed myself because someone touched me agressively behind my back and I got flashbacks of my nanny touching me… I became the weird girl that peed herself. No one would let that go. But still Amir continued to treat me the way he always have. He wouldn’t ignore me. Would sometimes tease me, never mentioned my accidents! He treated me normally when all the girls and boys in our class either ignored me or made fun of me.

When I didn’t have flashbacks I completely forgot what had happened to me (trauma related amnesia)

Everyone noticed how I started behaving. I became even more quiet and shy.

I was always melancholic. I used to always think about why my Daddy was so far away, why he had to leave to work in Paris as an orthopaedic surgeon… why he left me… but it got worse once I got abused because I thought if he was at home maybe i wouldn’t have had a mean nanny and her nasty boyfriend that always touched me in places I didn’t want to be touched. Mind you she only stayed for a month and then went to jail for grand theft from us. She basically stole 3 months of hard work that we never got back and her fiancé / bf left her so he won’t get in trouble. I remembered the touching but never the extreme moments of rape.

Anyway. So I was the weird kid because of all of this right? He still treated me the same and when no one else was watching he would ask me if I was okay. He was friends with my bullies but whenever he was around they wouldn’t be mean to me.

One of his friends started sexually abusing me when I was 9. It was the end of the school year and I was wearing a jean skirt and a hot pink tank top with hello kitty drawn on it and sneakers… his name was Youssef. (This dude forced me to greet him the French way when I met him again in 2022 March, kiss him on both cheeks it was awful I was completely neutral but my heart was beating so fast and I was so glad my cousin was with me and she felt that something very weird was going on) (he also tried dming me when he found my insta, saying how hot I am and how he wants us to be a couple, needless to say I blocked his ass) the abuse happened in tutoring sessions with my teachers present. He would touch me under the table and do anything to get to me, even with his nasty foot and would take my hand and make me touch his private parts. Ugh just thinking about it makes me shiver. Also when I hear tights ripping I get mini flashbacks, like my vision goes blurry and I find myself scared to death.

So Youssef at some point touched me when I started growing body hair (after summer 2015?) I was 12 then and the abuse went on for that long. And after he would abuse me he would make fun of me with the other bullies. He made a disgusting face and still touched me anyways, and and he started calling me a gorilla and a man. A cow and a fatty in Arabic. All the boys started calling me that and it made me feel like a monster… when I was just a little girl minding her own business that got touched without her consent when she was attending expensive tutoring sessions my mom payed for so I get better grades.

Anyway Amir defended me saying that they aren’t real men if they treat a girl like that. And I really appreciated that because he never really stuck up for me like that. He when they said I was fat he told them it’s true I was a bit overweight but I was really good at sports. I also did gymnastics at the time and ballet. So I could do some impressive tricks in gym class.

From that point on I started seeing him in a different light. He was the first man that defended me from other people who wanted to harm me. My dad was busy in Paris working and providing for us. But at least Amir was there. I started seeing him as my Savior. He was always there.

During the year of the 7ème (Tunisian school system I was 12) I developed a huge crush on him.

And I made a best friend called Yasmine, she wasn’t overweight but she was heavier than me (67kg, taller, super fit, puberty hit her early) (I was 62kg when I first turned 12 then my weight skyrocketed ) and I found her very pretty, she was a very light blonde with turquoise eyes that I found absolutely gorgeous (eyes exactly like dabi’s just a bit greener) (kinda had my first girl crush on her but I thought it was friendship) we both liked anime and drawing and we were in the painting club in our school) so I called her after I went back home from my grandparents home (it was a 2 hours long drive from there to home) and I read her the letter. She was like ewww you like himmm???? Out of all the guys in our class?? And I was like yes. He started having a deep voice, always wore sauvage(Dior) perfume. Has a very symmetrical face with harmonious features. was taller than me. Had a good sense of humour…. What’s there not to love. Anyway she wasn’t convinced but she was like you’re my BFF I’ll always be here for you… I took my letter to class on Monday. During after the school lunch time we went back to our class and there was a teacher watching over all the students of our class.

I was sitting next to Yasmine. We were talking about my love letter, and Amène was sitting behind us with her friend, that was also a beautiful girl with big brown eyes, porcelain skin and long silky dark brown hair. They were eavesdropping. And they were shocked that I liked Amir.

Yasmine was suspicious but we ended up showing them the letter. They were absolutely shocked because it was such a long romantic letter, I literally thought I was going to marry this boy. Talking about how I would love it if he was my first kiss… how we would have a home together. How much i admired him as a "man" and what qualities i admired about him. how manly strong and intelligent i thought he was… how i wanted him to be my husband and the father of my children. i really wrote that haha. (i didnt know how babies were made LMFAO) (maybe thats why my grandma was so upset when she read my letter) (but my mom told me when i was five that children were made out of love and i thought i would magically become pregnant after i get married and i would just have to wait one year after marriage and then i would get pregnant LOLOLL)

Anyway I keep getting off topic but!!!! She took my letter and told me « after this you will become a couple with Amir »

She walked all the way up to Amir. She told him to come next to our table and she whispered something I didn’t hear in his ear. He went so red and started reading the letter out loud. Everyone that could hear it was shocked. And I could tell he was going through all kinds of emotions while reading it. After what felt like an eternity of him reading the love letter that I wrote in French. He said he couldn’t believe his eyes and it was the best thing that has ever happened to him. That it was so well written and that he will cherish it forever. Then Amène told him ( his friends (my bullies) that were sitting behind him were listening) that she didn’t wrote it, Sarra did while pointing at me. He was disgusted and threw the letter on the ground saying ew and that he took back everything he said about it. He told me he would never be with me. Ever. That he didn’t find me pretty or cute. That he only loves Amène. It was the worst rejection ever. My heart shattered in million pieces. It hurt me so bad. I had tears in my eyes and I asked the teacher to go to the bathroom. She let me go.

So yeah that’s the story of how little Sarra got rejected for the first time. I still liked Amir but not as much as I did before. Because I didn’t want to love someone who will never be with me.

We are still friends on facebook but we never talk lol. Maybe I should mention this to him… because it was so silly looking back but it really did hurt.

Another moment worth mentioning is that while on a break in PE class I went to the girls bathroom to wash my face and it was empty, the boys bathroom was next to it and Amir went at the same time. The girls bathroom makes your voice echos so I started singing. I loved singing (still do) I was singing we were staying in Paris?? Or closer… I am not sure and the echo effect amplified my voice. When I got out he looked shyly at me and told me I had a really amazing singing voice and that I should be a singer… It made me fall in love all over again because I wasn’t used to compliments… my brother would always tell me that my voice was terrible and I should shut up.

Anyway all my classmates that made fun of me switched up after I lost weight and got rid of my acne. And he was the one that sent me the friend request on Facebook haha… keep in mind at this point I was one year younger than all of my classmates only in France I repeated two years and I found myself as the eldest classmate. Which feels freaking awful btw. Don’t get as bad as I did and have to get hospitalised for months and repeat years. Waste years.

Should I talk about Mehdi next? I think I will.

(I hope someone reads this and I haven’t wasted my time talking about insignificant school girl crushes…) is this interesting guys? Am I wasting my time? Ughh I want to feel closer to my moots haha… you should share your rejection or first instance of crushes… I would gladly read.

[kataiki]

Back in August of 2022, I went and got diagnosed with ADD at the age of 36. The diagnosis was a surprise to nobody and was largely just a formality, if I'm being honest.

It's kind of amazing what I got away with growing up with ADD. I felt like people just kind of let me do my thing and it just kind of worked out. It's funny thinking back on the habits I had that most people would be disciplined for.

I was drinking like 6-10 sodas a day like it's no big deal. My parents didn't think it was a problem because I was active (Dance Dance Revolution), was desperate to gain weight (120lbs at 5'10), and did well in school (graduated with honors). Looking back, I was definitely self medicating with caffeine, but like, so what?

I think I would've had a harder time if someone was like "no more soda for you!" without considering how it was helping me along without the need for prescription drugs. I also didn't like coffee at the time (before they became milkshakes), so I probably would've struggled.

I can't believe I got away with the fidget toys, the ones before they were called fidget toys. I think I always had some kind of toy in my hands, and for some reason the teachers let me keep them. Mind you, I went to Catholic school for most of my life. Discipline was paramount, and yet I was just... allowed to have my toys.

My favorite was a plastic... snake ball puzzle? I guess it's a "Rubik's Twist", but I got it out of a vending machine for like 50 cents and I loved it. It was small, quiet, and kept my hands occupied during class. It feels like the kind of thing that would get confiscated, but for some reason I was just allowed to play with it.

The worst toy I got was in high school when I discovered those kneaded gummy erasers. I sketched a lot during class (another thing I was allowed to do for some reason), but the eraser was a toy. I would sculpt things in the middle of class, and do stuff like roll out pieces to make flowers. My hands smelled like rubber, pencil lead, and dead skin all the time. It was awful and I loved playing with it.

Even in college, I had my DS out all the time. I got my minor in mathematics while going through Super Princess Peach and Mario Kart DS (twice, I lose my save at one point).

My friends were jealous of my ability to multitask, but that's the funny thing, right? I was only really able to do well because my brain was engaged in these "distractions", which gave room for all the learning to really be absorbed. It wasn't really that I was able to play and do schoolwork at the same time. It was more like... I'm only able to do schoolwork while I play. Play was necessary for learning, and for some reason I was always allowed to do that.

I remember in grade school, we had a poll in the class about "how much TV were we watching", I think it was in context of advertising or something. A lot of the kids were like 1 hour a day or a few hours a week. I asked if it counted if the TV was on while I was doing other stuff, and it did, so I clocked in at least 6-8 hours a day.

I love my mom and dad for just letting my sister and I to enjoy things. I think I always had a TV in my room, including a small 12" CRT with a VCR built into it. They didn't care what we watched, either. I think their thought was that they wanted us to learn English, but they didn't know how to teach it. They learned by watching TV, so they figured my sister and I could learn by doing the same.

I remember using my TV as an alarm by setting it to turn on automatically in the morning. The guitar riff from the Pokemon Theme Song is a great way to juice up your adrenaline every morning. 10/10, highly recommend.

It was the golden age of Edu-tainment, too. Everything from Seseme Street, Eureka's Castle, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Blue Clues, Captain Planet, Power Rangers, Animaniacs, etc etc was made for learning. It was mandated, and it was great. I kind of miss those days, especially when Cartoon Network turned into nothing but Gumball and Teen Titan's Go by the time I stopped watching them. There's a certain artistry in making learning fun in a way that doesn't feel like an animated classroom.

I just... don't know why all of this was allowed. Half a case of Soda a day. Video games during class. TV all day, every day. I feel like I'd be a suburban mother's nightmare, but I think it was what I needed. It's not like my parents knew anything about ADD, not that it mattered so long as the grades were good. They just let me go on auto-pilot while I jumped from interest to interest and enabled me when they could. Inadvertently, I think they did what I needed from them, even if it was against the grain of what everyone else thought would be "healthy parenting".