#Agricultural Films Report

[mohitbisresearch]

Agricultural Films Market was valued at $11.38 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $16.09 billion in 2027, Agricultural Films Industry following a CAGR of 5.94% during the forecast period 2022-2027.

[mi-researchreports]

The Agriculture Films Market is growing at a CAGR of 6.4% over the next 5 years. Berry Global Inc., BASF SE , Plastika Kritis SA, Armando Alvarez Group, RKW SE are the major companies operating in Agriculture Films Market.

[hballegro]

alan alda storytime

the full story from one of the screenshots of my previous post.

story begins with my archaeology professor showing a slide of alan alda in the early 2000s holding some mammoth bones and asks the class if anyone recognizes him. i had watched some MASH with my mother when i was little and had also seen the movie The Object of My Affection, so i raised my hand and said it was alan alda. he lit up and said yes, it was, and told the rest of the class he used to be on this old show, and that when we got more into the bioanthro side of things, remind him to 'tell his alan alda story'.

about 2 months later, we are in bioanthro, and i remind him. he gets excited and says he included slides to talk about it.

[rest under cut]

he tells us how he had just moved to a new city, and he had taken a university job in order to get insurance for his new family [which he didnt get but thats neither here or there]. he gets news that his job is going to be working with Scientific American Frontiers, hosted by the one and only Alan Alda. my prof was thrilled, he loves MASH, and while he specifically wouldnt be involved in the process [being a presenter, working with alan, etc] he was allowed to be around incase they needed help.

i dont know the specific episode, or if it can be found anywhere, but the topic was early man and tools, and how there were mammoth bones that specifically had cuts that could only be made with tools, not by teeth from an animal. they had finished filming for the day and just needed B-roll of some lions at the local zoo chewing some bones [part of the experiment], and alan got a call. he asked if he could head out now, because he needed to get back to his hotel now, and the call had been important. the producers said sure, go ahead, and alan asked if someone could give him a ride.

my professor, having the chance to actually spend time with someone he idolized, and being a stupid late 20s-something, volunteered immediately. stupid why? well, i said he'd just moved there. he didnt know where the hell anything was, and he didnt have GPS available to him, he was just really excited. so they get in the car and start driving.

as i said in my previous post, alan alda had about 20 minutes with this random guy, and found out pretty quickly that he was an archaeologist, and the amazing topic of conversation that he picked was the [then new] theory that we developed agriculture specifically to make booze, and that the rest of the stuff was more or less a biproduct. which is pretty on-brand honestly.

after a while, alan catches on to the fact that this guy clearly has no idea where the hell hes going, and that they've been driving in circles around the city for a while now. he [reportedly very politely] said that actually, this here was his stop, and thanked him for the ride. he then most likely called a taxi that actually knew where it was going, and got to his hotel.

turns out the call was about The Aviator! the call was important because he learned it was confirmed he in it and they needed him to get over there.

its not a glamourous story, but its the only story i got. my prof reported he was a funny guy, and despite slightly kidnapping the poor man for a while, he was the picture of kindness and personability. and clearly he likes telling the story and it left an impression, because he took time out of our already-short lecture to tell a class of 20-somethings that had no idea who Alan Alda was about it.

sorry this is so verbose i dont know how to be short lmao

[copperbadge]

Cleaning out my Google Drive archive, I happened to stumble across the original spec Hallmark Movie script that Fete For A King was based on -- not that I had lost it, I'd just kind of forgotten about it. And it occurred to me you guys might enjoy seeing a scene or two from it.

I wrote Fete basically from the script -- I made a copy of the script and rewrote it into prose as I went, then did a second pass to make it less Scripty, so most of it would be very familiar. The plot came through basically intact. The one thing I significantly altered was Jerry and Alanna's subplot -- in the script, as often happens with Hallmark films, the supporting characters also have a love storyline. I took that out of the book because it didn't need the padding, and it allowed me to give them a book of their own later, but the script scenes were pretty fun. :D

(In this version Jerry still attends the Agricultural Cabinet meeting for Gregory, but mentions this fact to Michaelis, which gets Gregory in trouble for blowing it off.)

ALANNA, spying on the lunch meeting through the door to the Prince's office, leans back behind a column or wall. DUKE GERALD (JERRY), looking apologetic, winces.

ALANNA: How could you, Jerry?

JERRY: I told you, I didn't mean to! I thought if I told the king I stepped in for Gregory, it would show I'm taking an interest. Turning over a new leaf.

ALANNA: Nobody asked you to take an interest.

JERRY: Least of all me. But I was interested, really, Alanna. We could be doing so much more with olives. I didn't know crop planning was such a precise science.

ALANNA: And that's great, but you could have just said you went WITH Greg to the meeting.

JERRY: Why would I go with Greg to an agricultural meeting? Anyway, I would have but I didn't think of it. Don't be mad at me.

ALANNA: It's not me you have to worry about.

JERRY: But Greg knows I wouldn't sabotage him. Besides, uncle Mike would have heard about it eventually anyway. Everyone in town was talking about the Prince coming to try that cheese shop with the social media chef guy.

ALANNA: He's under a lot of pressure.

JERRY: I know.

ALANNA: And now unless that cheese REALLY impresses the king, he's going to start following Greg around everywhere and trying to offer his opinion.

JERRY: He's been king for forty years. His opinion's probably useful.

ALANNA: Not if the prince wants to make his own way.

JERRY: Well, what do you want me to do? I can't make uncle Mike like cheese.

ALANNA: I want you to keep an eye on them and keep the king distracted. Can't you do something mildly embarrassing?

JERRY: More or less embarrassing than visiting a cheese shop in a "Truly Tasty" hat?

ALANNA: Fix it, Jerry!

JERRY: Fine, I'll do my best. But I want you to make Greg make me his vizier when he's king.

ALANNA: We haven't had a vizier in a hundred years. What does a vizier even do?

JERRY: Nothing, but with drama.

ALANNA: Fine. I have meetings. Stay here, keep spying, report back when they leave.

JERRY gives her a thumbs up and watches her leave, then turns to spying on the meeting.

***

And then Alanna has a realization....

ALANNA is still leading JERRY away from the picnic.

JERRY: I thought you wanted me to keep Uncle Mike off Greg's case.

ALANNA: Not tonight. Eddie's pitching his new high-concept for the coronation feast, so they've got to be there together.

JERRY: Well, I wish someone would make up their mind around here.

ALANNA: You could set a trend.

JERRY: What's that supposed to mean?

ALANNA: You're not interested in olives, Jerry.

JERRY: Of course I am.

ALANNA: You're interested in the fact that my dad heads the cabinet board that supervises the olive harvest.

JERRY: Olives are very interesting to me. (deflating) And I wanted to impress your dad.

ALANNA: He's known you since we were kids running around the palace together.

JERRY: Is that good?

ALANNA: My father has literally watched you fall out of multiple trees you were trying to climb.

JERRY: Failing to climb, mostly.

ALANNA: So why are you trying to impress him now?

JERRY: Well, isn't it obvious?

They stare at each other.

ALANNA: I cannot go on a date with you.

JERRY looks crestfallen. ALANNA pulls out her phone.

ALANNA: There's too much to do, Jerry. Between now and the coronation every hour I'm awake is booked. The best I can give you is three weeks from Tuesday.

JERRY: What?

ALANNA: Three weeks from Tuesday. Does that work for you? Never mind, your calendar's on my phone. I'm booking us in. Dinner okay?

JERRY: Uh. Yes.

ALANNA: Good. I'll send you a calendar invite, you pick the place.

She walks off, still typing in her phone.

JERRY: What just happened?

[f1ghtsoftly]

All The Women’s News You Missed Last Week 

Abortion laws continue to be litigated in State Courts, Malala and Jennifer Lawrence team up on a project showcasing the resistance of Afghan women to Taliban oppression. A woman wins her civil case against Conor Mcgregor. Adele ends her Vegas residency. 

Have a happy and safe holiday everyone. 

Want this in your inbox instead? Subscribe here

Trump Transition: 

Who is Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for attorney general?

Nominee for agriculture secretary completes Trump cabinet

Karoline Leavitt to become youngest White House press secretary

Reproductive Rights in the US: 

Georgia axes maternal health panel after leak about abortion deaths

Judge strikes down Wyoming abortion laws, including an explicit ban on pills to end pregnancy

Health advocates in Africa worry Trump will reimpose abortion ‘gag rule’ governing US aid

Judge dismisses a lawsuit over South Dakota abortion-rights measure that voters rejected

Male Violence: 

Woman wins civil rape case against Conor McGregor

Man arrested after eight-year-old girl shot in car

In stifled sobs and fierce accusations, family falls apart at mass rape trial

US police report details sexual assault allegations against Hegseth

Son of Norwegian princess arrested on suspicion of rape

MADEIN’s Agency Addresses Gaeun’s Sexual Assault Allegations Against CEO, Netizens Slam Over A Damning Detail

Women in the News: 

Hamas says female hostage killed in northern Gaza

Death penalty for Thai woman accused of murdering 14 friends with cyanide

Woman gets first double lung transplant done by robot

‘Pregnant’ for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' fertility scam

Miss Nigeria's pride after defying trolls to challenge for Miss Universe

India's 'rebel' Muslim princess who shot tigers and drove a Rolls-Royce

Angela Merkel defends ties with Russia and blocking Ukraine from Nato

White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor through door faces manslaughter sentence in Florida

The Philippine vice president publicly threatens to have the president assassinated

LGBTQ News: 

Swatch wins Malaysian suit over watches the government said had LGBTQ+ elements

Rainbow-clad revelers hit Copacabana beach for Rio de Janeiro’s pride parade

School district defends decision to punish parents for wearing pink ‘XX’ wristbands

Women in Afghanistan: 

'I just felt desperate to do something': Jennifer Lawrence and Malala on their film about the Afghan women fighting back

Malala: I never imagined women's rights would be lost so easily

'Don't forget us': Teenage refugee reminds Gen Z of silenced Afghan girls

Arts and Culture: 

Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies

Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia

Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye

As always, this is global and domestic news from a US perspective covering feminist issues and women in the news more generally. As of right now, I do not cover Women’s Sports. Published each Monday afternoon.

[maadilin]

the tbosas mentors in the 11th games

filling in the gaps between the 10th-11th hunger games

What happened to the mentors between/during the 11th games?

Lysistrata Vickers:

-Remained a close friend towards Coriolanus Snow

-Mentored the D12 male tribute for the 11th games

-Came to the party to celebrate what would have been Sejanus's 19th birthday.

Clemensia Dovecote: (love her!!)

-Recovered from the snakebites (we're going off the book here)

-Mentored the D11 male in the 11th games

Felix Ravinstill

(Going off the book here, as he died in the film)

-Mentored the D11 female in the 11th games

Domitia Whimsiwick

(My personal thinking here)-Studied agriculture/livestock

-Mentored the D10 tributes in the 11th games

Androcles Anderson

-If he recovered (wasn't mentioned if he recovered or not), continued his studies to be a reporter and became an assistant to Lucky Flickerman during the 11th games.

-Mentored the D9 tributes in the 11th games

Juno Phipps

-Mentored the D8 male in the 11th games

Hilarius Heavensbee

-Mentored the D8 female in the 11th games

-Later inherited his family's wealth (presuming he was the heir to the Heavensbee fortune)

Pliny Harrington

-Mentored the D7 female in the 11th games

-Possibly became a naval commander in D4, similar to his father

Vipsania Sickle

-Most likely graduated with high marks, as she seemed to be clever and thought ahead (for example, her thinking ahead to bring bedding for sleeping at Heavensbee Hall)

-Mentored the D7 male in the 11th games

Ipheginia Moss

-Most likely continued to be on the verge of malnutrition, unless her father became less abusive (suspected her father abused her, as suggested by Clemmie)

-Mentored the D5 female in the 11th games

Dennis Fling

-Mentored the D5 male in the 11th games

Persephone Price (like her, she is an interesting character)

-May or may not have dated Festus Creed (clear that he had a crush on her. (Persefestus, anyone?? I ship. :D)

-Mentored the D4 male in the 11th games

Festus Creed (I like him, cool guy with a interesting and sweet personality)

-May or may not have dated Persephone Price (PERSEFESTUS)

-Most likely remained friends with Coriolanus, as Festus is a reliable and nice guy

-Came to the party to celebrate what would have been Sejanus's 19th birthday.

-Mentored the D4 female in the 11th games.

Urban Canville

-Mentored the D3 female in the 11th games

-Most likely became some sort of mathematician, as he received perfect scores on calculus tests.

Io Jasper (love her, super awesome character!!)

-Very likely received high marks, as she was a biology whiz and very smart.

-Mentored the D3 male in the 11th games.

-Probably became a scientist or biologist,

Florus Friend

-Mentored the D2 tributes in the 11th games

Palmyra Monty

-Mentored the D1 female in the 11th games

Livia Cardew

-May or may not have begun a romantic relationship with Coriolanus Snow (it's implied that she later married him)

-Mentored the D1 male in the 11th games

[handeaux]

When Horseshoers Convened In Cincinnati, Few Foresaw Their Looming Doom

With all the talk these days about artificial intelligence and its anticipated devastation of employment as we know it, let’s peer into some balmier times and the technological disruptions inflicted on past trades, specifically horseshoeing.

Up until about World War I, unless you traveled by railroad or electric streetcar, you needed a horse to get around, and horses needed regular horseshoeing. Especially in urban environments with cobblestone or crushed-gravel pavement, horses might need new shoes every 10 days or so.

Horseshoeing was a lucrative trade, and it was unionized. In fact, there were two horseshoeing unions, one for the journeymen and one for their bosses. The Master Horseshoers’ Protective Association met in Cincinnati for a national convention in 1898. They were very concerned about a new mode of transportation that threatened their livelihoods – the bicycle. It is impossible to exaggerate the bicycle’s explosion in popularity during 1896. Two years later, the horseshoers were still feeling the pinch and hoping bicycles were nothing but a passing trend. The Cincinnati Post [18 October 1898] reported the view of one convention delegate:

“H.E. Richards, representing the Ausable Horse-Nail Company, New York, gives it as his opinion that the bicycle is only a fad, that is dying out. He declares that in the midst of the craze the business of his company fell off. Now, he says, it is picking up. The wheel, he says, is passing, and the horse is the thing again.”

Mr. Richards was not alone in his over-optimistic prognostications. As late as 1920, when automobiles had all but monopolized the city’s streets, the Cincinnati Enquirer [6 April 1920] saw hope for the horse.

“The horse is coming back in a last struggle to hold his place against the progress of the automobile, tractor, truck and airplane. The Department of Agriculture estimates that horses on United States farms increased from 19,833,000 in 1910 to 21,109,000 on January 1, 1920. Mules increased, too, according to the estimates.”

That year, the Journeyman Horseshoes held their national conference in Cincinnati and desperation seethed through the delegates. According to one, quoted in the Post [19 July 1920] automobilists and their ilk were antagonizing The Almighty himself:

“Bernard Flatley, president, said horseshoers had made little progress until the war showed them their importance in industry. He urged more publicity for the horse. ‘Man is flying in the face of God,’ he said. ‘The horse is a creation of God and should not be relegated to the side of the road to make place for the inventions of man.’”

A person today, looking at old photographs and rare antique films might be forgiven for thinking the automobile had completely obliterated the horse by the early 1920s. Not so. At the beginning of the Great Depression, the Cincinnati Post [5 April 1932] profiled two Cincinnati businesses still dependent on horseshoes. J.D. Antill ran a livery at 1118 Clay Street in Over-the-Rhine. His stable boarded 12 horses at that time, but many of his stalls were vacant and cobwebbed. Most of his customers were peddlers. Although Antill recalled bygone days when every Sunday was busy with young men renting buggies to take their ladies for country drives, his lone remaining rig sat dusty and unused. Henry Imholt pounded out iron horseshoes at 1108 Broadway in Pendleton. When there weren’t enough horses to shoe, the Imholt smithy got by forging ice tongs – just as electric refrigerators were beginning to spell the end of the iceman’s visits.

That year, Cincinnati membership in the Journeyman Horseshoers dropped to fewer than two dozen from a peak of more than 160 card-carrying members in decades previous. The Master Horseshoers’ Protective Association had long since disbanded. Still, diehards insisted automobiles were on the way out. Charles Selzer was chief horseshoer at the French Bauer dairy. He told the Cincinnati Post [3 April 1929] that the day of reckoning approached when mankind would abandon the frivolous automobile.

“‘It will come a time,’ he explains, ‘when big business will not have so much money. They will have to save. Auto trucks cost money. So big business will go back to drays which don’t cost so much. Then it will happen, also, that the workingman will get smaller pay, and he will be glad to own a horse and rig instead of an auto. He will like it, too – you will see. There is no sport in driving a car.’”

In 1929, all the milkmen employed by French Bauer delivered their dairy products by horse-drawn cart. Charles Selzer managed the in-house smithy for the firm at Seventh and Smith streets out in the West End.

Alas, Mr. Selzer never lived to see the automobile get its comeuppance. In fact (forgive the spoiler), quite the opposite occurred. In 1956, the Cincinnati Post returned to French Bauer to talk with the last remaining horseshoer on the payroll. His name was Henry Luehrmann. He was 64 years old and he no longer shoed horses. French Bauer had abandoned horse-drawn carts in 1946 and Mr. Luehrmann was transferred to the refrigeration department. Even though he hadn’t shoed a horse in a decade, Mr. Luehrmann remained secretary of Local 12 of the Horseshoers’ Union, a group that had not met in a decade and existed only as a listing in Cincinnati’s AFL Union Directory.

When the horseshoers’ union disbanded in 1946, there were only 10 members. In 1956, Mr. Luehrmann could think of only two remaining card-carriers, John McGinnis in Maderia and N.C. Jackson in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Both still shoed actual horses. Mr. Luehrmann had long since transferred to the Milk and Ice Cream Drivers and Dairy Employees Union, which generously allowed him to keep his seniority.

“Cabinets are easier to work with than horses,” he told the Post. “They don’t kick. But horses are more interesting. As a trade, horseshoeing was one of the best. Most of us worked steady and the pay was good.”

Back in 1898, the Master Horseshoers took the trolley out to Chester Park and posed for pictures on the steps of St. Peter Cathedral. They also argued about whether their standard fees for shoeing city horses were just good business practice or a monopolistic restraint of trade. Times were good, even though the handwriting was on the wall.

[mariacallous]

Morning: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

From early, picket lines are set up near the walls of Kyiv’s city state administration. My friends and acquaintances are protesting, demanding that the capital’s budget be directed not to the repaving of roads, but towards the purchase of drones and FPVs for the battlefield. People close to me are saying: “I don’t want new roads; I want my friends to come back alive.”

A deputy from Kyiv city council has the audacity to suggest that the cities have enough on their plate: let the state take care of the war budget, he argues. Cities need their budgets for maintenance. And this perfectly sums up the widening gap between civilians and the military. Every day the same discussions take place – who should be mobilised? Who is ready to enlist? Can we live our lives for anything other than the war?

We are not even talking about replacing the hundreds of thousands of military personnel who have served in the army for almost two years now. Not to mention those who were already defending the country before the invasion. The latest mobilisation is a question of somehow restoring the military after daily losses.

The night before last, Kyiv was woken up by our air-defence sirens. But they began to sound after the first explosions, which meant that no one had time to run to the shelters. Russia had fired 10 missiles and 10 attack UAVs (drones). Our air defence forces shot down all of them, but the debris fell in four Kyiv districts. Fifty-three people were injured, mostly with lacerations. Nine of the victims are children.

The Russians are targeting infrastructure to deprive civilians of heat and electricity. The harsher the winter, the more missiles we can expect. And this expectation, the psychological threat, has been going on for three months.

Noon: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

A Russian cyber-attack targets one of the major phone networks. About 20 million Ukrainians are left without mobile connection and mobile internet for three days. On social networks Ukrainians post messages of support and gratitude to the network operator for its efforts.

For three days I have been catching a signal in wifi hotspots. I think about those areas where mobile is the only way to access the internet. Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, the phone connection reappears. I call my mother. I ask whether everything is OK, whether she has been worried. She says everything is fine, it is just wartime.

Every day there are reports of the deaths of artists at the front. Friends of friends. Within one week, several members of the film community perish. A cameraman, an actor. Not for the first time, I think: Russia is knocking us out one by one, dozen by dozen. Civilians, military. Cinema, literature, visual arts, agriculture, architecture, education, economics, sports – pick any field, there are irreparable losses everywhere.

The full-scale invasion turns social media feeds into endless obituaries of black-and-white photos. And at any moment in time, when it seems that the heart can no longer contain the losses, there’s another newsflash and another death appears.

Afternoon: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

A broadcast with Vladimir Putin is on at the Kremlin – a media spectacle during which the dictator allegedly speaks to the Russian people live. And while the tsar is talking to his lackeys, he is also sending a message to Ukraine – a MiG-31K is taking off from a Russian airfield, and Kinzhal missiles are flying in our direction. Those missiles will reach Kyiv in three minutes, and Kharkiv in two.

Despair and rage.

A video appears of Russian military using captured Ukrainian soldiers as human shields. The Russians attack Ukrainian positions, hiding behind the Ukrainians.

Despair and rage.

We discuss Oleksii Anulia’s story about his time in Russian captivity. The catalogue of torture inflicted on him is unfathomable. In civilian life, he used to be a kickboxing champion and an elite sportsman. He used to weigh 102kg; he lost 40kg in captivity. Oleksii also lost 6cm in height. Barely a single organ in his body remains intact – the Russians made sure of that.

Among other inhumane punishments, prisoners had to stand still for 18 hours a day. Holding their hands behind their backs with their heads lowered, they had to splay their fingers and were not allowed to move. They cut the tendons on his thumb with a rusty knife, saying: “You were shooting at our military with this finger, killing our soldiers.”

Once Oleksii brought in an earthworm from outside. He put it in the toilet cistern and after a week he had a whole brood of them. This is how he got his first portion of protein in a long time. Another time, he was hunting a little mouse and had to shove the not-yet-killed pest into his mouth and eat it alive so that the guards would not take his nutritious prey from him.

Despair and hatred.

Evening: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

At one of the many new bookstores that, despite everything, have opened in Kyiv this year, a “book of the year” ceremony, awarded annually by editorial staff of BBC News Ukraine, is taking place.

The fifth air-raid alarm of the day sounds. The organisers suggest that in keeping with their security protocols, we should go to the air-raid shelter. To which one of the members of the jury, a respected professor, replies: “Let the BBC be scared, we are not.”

The ceremony carries on uninterrupted, but most of us have phones in our hands. Mobile internet has been restored, and we monitor Telegram channels tracking Russian missile and drone launches.

Just another day of full-scale invasion, packed with pain.

I look around the event; these are my friends and colleagues, representing several literary generations. And as has become a habit in recent months, I simply cannot help but imagine all of us dead. All. At once.

In the rest of the world, hearts are hardening. Attention is divided between conflicts. Activists’ focus is absorbed by the rise to power of populists and rightwing conservatives. But two important things remain constant in the beating of these hardened hearts of ours.

The first: Russia always strives for chaos and for rightwing politicians to be in power.

The second: what Ukrainians have had to accept – is that there will be no other life. This is the way it is. And when you hear the promise of a politician who, instead of fighting for democracy and the future, promises you a return to stability, be sure to check who is financing him. Perhaps this is another Russian puppet.

Late evening: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

News breaks about discussions on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. What started nine years ago on the Maidan is now being decided on the battlefield. The future of Europe, in which the question will be determined: where will Russia stop?

Soldiers’ canteen. Eating with a colleague. It’s the 22nd month of my service in the military. Every time I scoop up the soup, I feel like I’m sipping my own sadness. I tell her about my anxiety before missile attacks, about my anger at those who dodge serving in the armed forces, and those who desperately pretend that the war is not about them.

She listens to me, puts her plate aside, looks me in the eye and says: can you imagine Ukraine without Kharkiv? Without Kyiv? Sasha, we might lose the country. And I will be in the armed forces until this threat goes away.

These are simple, clear words. But someone has to say them out loud. And when I think about the coming year, what 2024 will bring, I realise once again that the issue is not about my personal lack of hope, burnout or my non-existence.

The question is whether my country will still be there.

And when will the F-16s finally soar in our skies.

Morning: day 660 of the full-scale invasion

9am. As it does every morning, the country stands still, for a minute of silence in memory of the dead.

The thought occurs to me that by the end of my life, these minutes of silence will add up to 24 hours of silence for those who are no longer with us.

For those thanks to whom we still exist.

Translated by Maryna Gibson

Oleksandr Mykhed is a writer and member of PEN Ukraine. His book Language of War won the George Shevelev prize on 17 December 2023 and will be published by Allen Lane in June 2024

[myhauntedsalem]

Goatman

Legend tells of a half man/half goat creature, weilding an axe, stalking the woods and secluded roads around Beltsville, Maryland.

Several similar creatures have also been reported in Louisville, Kentucky, and Fort Worth, Texas.

Is it all just tall tales or could there be more to it?

In a small town called Beltsville in the U.S.state of Maryland, stories have been passed down by teenagers for the last forty to fifty years of a creature that is said to haunt the local woods and in particular a long stretch of road notorious for being a lovers lane. A young couple parked their car after a date in 1957 along this track, named Fletchertown Road, and were canoodling when something hit the hood of the car, making a huge noise. They would later report to media that they found themselves being leered at by a “tall, horned man” that resembled a goat. If that wasn’t frightening enough, the man seemed to be waving what looked like a double-edged axe at them. The creature was then said to have turned and ran into the woods.

This was to be the first reported sighting of Goatman and over the years many have seen and described encounters with this creature. It is said to be between 7-8 feet tall and weighing 300 pounds, with the upper body of a normal human man, but a horned head and the legs and feet of a goat. In most accounts it is covered in fur, in other versions it is only partially covered.

What originally seemed to be an urban legend regarding young lovers being watched turned slowly into tales of the creature supposedly decapitating a man who pursued it into the woods one night. Over the years residents have claimed not only is the creature responsible for pets going missing or being killed, but it also has a deviant sexual aspect as many believe it has entered peoples homes and raped men and women.

Many believe the stories began due to the presence of an old hermit who, in the 1960s, resided in the nearby woods, and was seen regularly walking in and out of town at night along Fletchertown Road. A story began circulating that the creature was once a scientist who worked at a nearby agricultural laboratory who, while conducting experiments on goats, went mad and begun walking the back roads weilding an axe. Another version has an old farmer seeking revenge on local teenagers who killed a flock of his goats.

Stories of a similar creature are also told in Fort Worth, Texas where the creature is said to reside and haunt the local lake, hence it has come to be called the Lake Worth Monster. This creature was also said to watch young couples parked on the lake in the sixties, with many of the witnesses describing a very similar creature, but with scales!

Local police considered it to be a joke up until late 1969 when a young man claimed he and his lady friend were attacked while in the car, and showed an 18 inch scar on the side of his car where he claimed the creature slid an axe along his door. The following night the creature was seen by at least a dozen people when it hurled a tyre at drivers from a bluff, it is said that a photograph of the creature, the only one known to exist, was taken that night. Soon media started reporting that several local high school students had admitted to police to pulling several pranks by wearing a gorilla suit and walking along the lakefront. However, many of the then-teenage eyewitnesses still attest to this day that they saw a genuine monster.

A third creature similar in description and behaviour is said to be living underneath a train trestle in Louisville, Kentucky. The Pope Lick Monster, named after the creek below the train trestle, is said to be more malovolent in its nature, luring trespassers that dare tred onto the trestle in front of oncoming trains by supposedly using hypnosis or voice mimicry. In some accounts it also has an axe and has been known to jump down onto cars passing under the trestle.

In 1988 a local filmmaker created a 16 minute film called The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster, which caused controversy due to many railroad officials becoming concerned that teenagers would start climbing the trestle. An 8 foot tall fence was erected and signs warning trespassers were placed nearby, however it has not stopped a number of people from getting inside the area and making claims of seeing the creature.

Many in these areas, especially religious folk, consider the creatures demonic and the spawn of Satan. However many believe the stories are nothing but exaggerated legends told by youth around campfires.

[trendingreportz]

Acetic Acid Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

Acetic Acid Market Overview

Acetic Acid Market Size is forecast to reach $14978.6 Million by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.50% during forecast period 2024-2030. Acetic acid, also known as ethanoic acid, is a colorless organic liquid with a pungent odor. The functional group of acetic acid is methyl and it is the second simplest carboxylic acid. It is utilized as a chemical reagent in the production of many chemical compounds. The major use of acetic acid is in the manufacturing of vinyl acetate monomer, acetic anhydride, easter and vinegar. It is a significant industrial chemical and chemical reagent used in the production of photographic film, fabrics and synthetic fibers. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, from January to September 2021, the combined operating revenue of 12,557 major Chinese garment companies was US$163.9 billion, showing a 9% increase. Thus, the growth of the textile industry is propelling the market growth for Acetic Acid.

Report Coverage

The “Acetic Acid Market Report – Forecast (2024-2030)” by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments in the Acetic Acid industry.

By Form: Liquid and Solid.

By Grade: Food grade, Industrial grade, pharmaceutical grade and Others.

By Application: Vinyl Acetate Monomer, Purified Terephthalic Acid, Ethyl Acetate, Acetic Anhydride, Cellulose Acetate, Acetic Esters, Dyes, Vinegar, Photochemical and Others 

By End-use Industry: Textile, Medical and Pharmaceutical, Oil and Gas, Food and Beverages, Agriculture, Household Cleaning Products, Plastics, Paints & Coating and Others.

By Geography: North America (the USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium and the Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and the Rest of South America) and the Rest of the World (the Middle East and Africa).

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Key Takeaways

The notable use of Acetic Acid in the food and beverages segment is expected to provide a significant growth opportunity to increase the Acetic Acid Market size in the coming years. As per the US Food and Agriculture Organization, world meat production reached 337 million tonnes in 2019, up by 44% from 2000.

The notable demand for vinyl acetate monomer in a range of industries such as textile finishes, plastics, paints and adhesives is driving the growth of the Acetic Acid Market. 

Increase in demand for vinegar in the food industry is expected to provide substantial growth opportunities for the industry players in the near future in the Acetic Acid industry.

Acetic Acid Market Segment Analysis – by Application

The vinyl acetate monomer segment held a massive 44% share of the Acetic Acid Market share in 2021. Acetic acid is an important carboxylic acid and is utilized in the preparation of metal acetates and printing processes, industrially. For industrial purposes, acetic acid is manufactured by air oxidation of acetaldehyde with the oxidation of ethanol, butane and butene. Acetic acid is extensively used to produce vinyl acetate which is further used in formulating polyvinyl acetate. Polyvinyl acetate is employed in the manufacturing of plastics, paints, textile finishes and adhesives. Thus, several benefits associated with the use of vinyl acetate monomer is boosting the growth and is expected to account for a significant share of the Acetic Acid Market.

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Acetic Acid Market Segment Analysis – by End-use Industry

The food and beverages segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period in the Acetic Acid Market. Acetic Acid is also known as ethanoic acid and is most extensively used in the production of vinyl acetate monomer. Vinyl acetate is largely used in the production of cellulose acetate which is further used in several industrial usage such as textiles, photographic films, solvents for resins, paints and organic esters. PET bottles are manufactured using acetic acid and are further utilized as food containers and beverage bottles. In food processing plants, acetic acid is largely used as cleaning and disinfecting products. Acetic acid is extensively used in producing vinegar which is widely used as a food additive in condiments and the pickling of vegetables. According to National Restaurant Association, the foodservice industry is forecasted to reach US$898 billion by 2022. Thus, the advances in the food and beverages industry are boosting the growth of the Acetic Acid Market. 

Acetic Acid Market Segment Analysis – by Geography

Asia-Pacific held a massive 41% share of the Acetic Acid Market in 2021. This growth is mainly attributed to the presence of numerous end-use industries such as textile, food and beverages, agriculture, household cleaning products, plastics and paints & coatings. Growth in urbanization and an increase in disposable income in this region have further boosted the industrial growth in this region. Acetic acid is extensively used in the production of metal acetates, vinyl acetate and vinegar which are further utilized in several end-use industries. Also, Asia-Pacific is one of the major regions in the domain of plastic production which provides substantial growth opportunities for the companies in the region. According to Plastic Europe, China accounted for 32% of the world's plastic production. Thus, the significant growth in several end-use industries in this region is also boosting the growth of the Acetic Acid Market.

Acetic Acid Market Drivers 

Growth in the textile industry:

Acetic Acid, also known as ethanoic acid, is widely used in the production of metal acetate and vinyl acetate which are further used in the production of chemical reagents in textiles, photographic films, paints and volatile organic esters. In the textile industry, acetic acid is widely used in textile printing and dyes. According to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2020, textile and garment exports from China increased by 9.6% to US$291.22 billion. Also, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, from January to September 2021, apparel exports increased by 28.94% to US$4.385 billion, while textile mill products rose by 17.31% to US$12.365 billion. Vinyl acetate monomer is utilized in the textile industry to produce synthetic fibers. Thus, the global growth in demand for textiles is propelling the growth and is expected to account for a significant share of the Acetic Acid Market size.

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Surge in use of vinegar in the food industry:

The rapid surge in population along with the adoption of a healthy and sustainable diet has resulted in an increase in demand for food items, thereby increasing the global production level of food items. As per US Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2019, global fruit production went up to 883 million tonnes, showing an increase of 54% from 2000, while global vegetable production was 1128 million tonnes, showing an increase of 65%. Furthermore, world meat production reached 337 million tonnes in 2019, showing an increase of 44% from 2000. Acetic acid is majorly used in the preparation of vinegar which is further widely utilized as a food ingredient and in personal care products. Vinegar is used in pickling liquids, marinades and salad dressings. It also helps to reduce salmonella contamination in meat and poultry products. Furthermore, acetic acid and its sodium salts are used as a food preservative. Thus, the surge in the use of vinegar in the food industry is boosting the growth of the Acetic Acid Market.

Acetic Acid Market Challenge

Adverse impact of acetic acid on human health:

Acetic Acid is considered a strong irritant to the eye, skin and mucous membrane. Prolong exposure to and inhalation of acetic acid may cause irritation to the nose, eyes and throat and can also damage the lungs. The workers who are exposed to acetic acid for more than two or three years have witnessed upper respiratory tract irritation, conjunctival irritation and hyperkeratotic dermatitis. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reveals that the standard exposure to airborne acetic acid is eight hours. Furthermore, a common product of acetic acid i.e., vinegar can cause gastrointestinal tract inflammatory conditions such as indigestion on excess consumption. Thus, the adverse impact of Acetic Acid may hamper the market growth. 

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Acetic Acid Industry Outlook

The top 10 companies in the Acetic Acid Market are:

Celanese Corporation

Eastman Chemical Company

LyondellBasell

British Petroleum

Helm AG

Pentoky Organy

Dow Chemicals

Indian Oil Corporation

Daicel Corporation

Jiangsu Sopo (Group) Co. Ltd.

Recent Developments

In March 2021, Celanese Corporation announced the investment to expand the production facility of vinyl portfolio for the company’s acetyl chain and derivatives in Europe and Asia.

In April 2020, Celanese Corporation delayed the construction of its new acetic acid plant and expansion of its methanol production by 18 months at the Clear Lake site in Texas.

In October 2019, BP and Chian’s Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Corporation signed MOU in order to create a joint venture to build a 1 million tonne per annum Acetic Acid plant in eastern China.

Key Market Players:

The Top 5 companies in the Acetic Acid Market are:

Celanese Corporation

Ineos Group Limited

Eastman Chemical Company

LyondellBasell Industries N.V.

Helm AG

For more Chemicals and Materials Market reports, please click here

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.18

Holidays

Aging Awareness Day

Astronomy Day (Armenia)

Big Brothers Big Sisters Day (Canada)

Celebrate Your Name Day

Celebration of Talent (French Republic)

Chiropractic Founders Day

Clemente Day

Day of National Music (Azerbaijan)

Deceased Motorcyclists Remembrance Day (Ukraine)

Dieciocho (Chile)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 8: Human Rights

European Heritage Days (EU)

Feast Day of the Walloon Region (Belgium)

Festival of Inner Worlds

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Fiesta Patrias (Chile)

First Love Day

Global Company Culture Day

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

International Equal Pay Day (UN)

International Pitt Hopkins Awareness Day

International Read an eBook Day

Island Language Day (Okinawa, Japan)

Jeannie in a Bottle Day

Jitiya Parwa (Only Women Employees; Nepal)

Jonny Quest Day

Long Playing Record Day

Mickey Mantle Day (New York)

Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday (Taiwan)

Mountain Meadows Massacre Anniversary Day (by Mormon Church Members; Utah)

Mukden Incident Anniversary Day

National Cannabis Day (Germany)

National Ceiling Fan Day

National Colton Day

National Day of Civic Hacking

National Fitness Day (UK)

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day

National Museum Day [also 5.18]

National Music Day (Azerbaijan)

National Play-Dough Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Report Kickback Fraud Day

National Respect! Day

National Science Reading Day

National Tree Day (Canada)

Navy Day (Croatia)

New York Times Day

918 Day (Oklahoma)

Persian Literature and Pony Day (Iran)

PCOS Awareness Day

Scouring of the White Horse (Wantage, Berkshire, UK)

Shima-kutuba Day (Japan; Okinawa)

Top Ten List Day

U.S. Air Force Day

Victory of Uprona (Burgundy)

Vulver Awareness Day

World Bamboo Day

World Knot Tying Day

World Medical Ethics Day

World Water Monitoring Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Brett Day

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

Rice Krispies Treats Day

Independence & Related Days

Buddie Union (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Chile (a.k.a. Dieciocho, 1st Gov't Junta, 1818)

Free Republic of Silbervia (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Human Resource Manager Day [3rd Wednesday]

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 18 (3rd Full Week of September)

Wear Cotton Week (thru 9.25)

Festivals Beginning September 18, 2024

Eurofurence (Hamburg, Germany) [thru 9.21]

Festival du Film Merveilleux et Imaginaire (Paris, France) [thru 9.20]

Lost Lands (Thornville, Ohio) [thru 9.22]

National Cattle Congress (Waterloo, Iowa) [thru 9.22]

Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, Kansas) [thru 9.22]

Feast Days

Amoeba Assimilation Day (Pastafarian)

Anton Mauve (Artology)

Arcadius, Bishop of Novgorod (Christian; Saint)

Ariadne of Phrygia (Christian; Martyr)

Bidzin, Elizbar, and Shalva, Princes of Georgia (Christian; Martyrs)

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (Artology)

Castor of Alexandria (Christian; Martyr)

Constantius (Theban Legion)

Ear Wig Fitting Day (Shamanism)

Edward Bouverie Pusey (Episcopal Church)

Eleusinian Mysteries begin (Ancient Rome; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Eugene’s, Bishop of Gortyna (Christian; Saint)

Eustorgius I (Christian; Saint)

Ferreol (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Ceres (Roman Goddess of Agriculture & Grain Crops)

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Foundation Day (Unification Church)

Hilarion of Optima (Christian; Saint)

Joe Kubert (Artology)

John Harvey Kellogg Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

José de Rivera (Artology)

Joseph of Cupertino (Christian; Martyr)

Juan Macias (Christian; Saint)

Konstantin Kakanias (Artology)

Leonardo da Crunchy (Muppetism)

Lord Berners (Artology)

Lynn Abbey (Writerism)

Mark di Suvero (Artology)

Methodius of Olympus (Christian; Saint)

Plataia (Ancient Greece)

Richardis (Christian; Saint)

Rosmerta (Celtic Book of Days)

Samuel Johnson (Writerism)

Scouring the White Horse begins (Everyday Wicca)

Sophia and Irene of Egypt (Christian; Martyrs)

Third Nostril of Christ Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Thomas of Villanova (Christian; Saint)

Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedalia; Judaism)

Vanaheim Day (Pagan)

Vondel (Positivist; Saint)

Zay Day (Sus God Zay) [Wear red or purple hoodies]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chong Chao (Macau)

Chusok (South Korea)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [38 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [31 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [24 of 30]

Unlucky 18th (Philippines) [3 of 3]

Premieres

Abacab, by Genesis (Album; 1981)

Abou Ben Boogie (Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1944)

The Addams Family (TV Series; 1964)

Birthday, recorded by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

A Bully Frog (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Film; 1958)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Animated Film; 2009)

Continental Divide (Film; 1981)

Crazytown (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film; 1951)

Dog Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Enough Said (Film; 2013)

The Farm of Tomorrow (MGM Cartoon; 1954)

Fatal Attraction (Film; 1987)

Five and Dime (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Film; 1981)

Funny Girl (Film; 1968)

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss (Albums; 1978)

Get Smart (TV Series; 1965)

Goldfinger premiered in UK (1964) [James Bond #3]

Goo Goo Goliath (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Gullible Canary (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Heartache Tonight, by The Eagles (Song; 1979)

I Likes Babies and Infanks (Fleischer Cartoon Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak (Children’s Book; 1970)

The Japoteurs (Fleischer Cartoon; 1942) [#10]

Jennifer’s Body (Film; 2009)

Jonny Quest (Animated TV Series; 1964)

Making Money, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2007) [Discworld #36]

Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin (Song; 1899)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Film; 2015)

The Moffatt Translation of the Bible (Bible; 1922)

More Than a Feeling,, by Boston (Song; 1976)

New York Times (Daily Newspaper; 1851)

Old Rockin’ Chair Tom (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1948)

Pain Strikes Underdog, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 1 & 2 1965)

Pink in the Clink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

The Road to Ruin or Mine Over Matter (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 55; 1960)

Rockin’ with Judy Jetson (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Movie; 1988)

Rush Hour (Film; 1998)

School Daze (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner (Novel; 2010) [Maze Runner #2]

Serve It Forth (Art of Eating), by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1937)

Severed Relations or How to Get a Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 161; 1962)

Sicario (Film; 2015)

Singles (Film; 1992)

Smiley Smile, by The Beach Boys (Album; 1967)

Strange Little Girl, by Tori Amos (Album; 2001)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Film; 1951)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (TV Series; 2006)

Superman: Doomsday (WB Animated Film; 2007)

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles or Me and My Chateau (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 162; 1962)

Tired and Feathered (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Two Flying Ghosts or High Spirits (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 56; 1960)

Wagon Train (TV Series; 1957)

War Pigs, by Black Sabbath (Song; 1970)

Where’s Wally, by Martin Hanford (Puzzle Book; 1987)

WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series; 1978)

Today’s Name Days

Herlinda, Josef, Lambert, Rica (Austria)

Alfonz, Irena, Jonatan, Josip, Sonja (Croatia)

Kryštof, Oskar (Czech Republic)

Titus (Denmark)

Tiido, Tiidrik, Tiidu, Tiit (Estonia)

Tytti, Tyyne, Tyyni (Finland)

Nadège, Véra (France)

Alfons, Herlinde, Lambert, Rica (Germany)

Ariadne, Ariadni, Evmenis, Kastor, Romylos (Greece)

Diána (Hungary)

Eumenio, Giuseppe, Maria, Sofia (Italy)

Alinta, Elita, Gizela, Liesma (Latvia)

Galmantė, Mingailas, Stefa, Stefanija (Lithuania)

Henriette, Henry (Norway)

Dobrowit, Irena, Irma, Józef, Ryszarda, Stefania, Tytus, Zachariasz (Poland)

Eumenie (Romania)

Elizaveta, Raisa (Russia)

Eugénia (Slovakia)

José, Sofía, Sonia (Spain)

Orvar (Sweden)

Irene (Ukraine)

Clint, Clinton, Corbin, Corwin, Corwyn, Korbin, Korvin (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 262 of 2024; 104 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 16 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 15 Elul 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 22 Gold; Oneday [22 of 30]

Julian: 5 September 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 10 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Racine]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 28 of 32)

[charlotteswebbbbb]

What’s the vibe? #57

News:

Matchesfashion has gone into administration and they’ve also cut their workforce by half. So Farfetch sold, Net-A-Porter looking for a buyer, MyTheresa and SSense doing okay I assume?

What are the jobs of the future? Where is truly safe from risk? No where but here are some suggestions for jobs always needed: health/care, food, agriculture, public transportation, engineering, artists, craftspeople. Will expand upon this later on with more research but this is something to chew on.

Miu Miu is in my eyes, now, a brand for women of all ages, a brand that plays with the idea of youth and intellect and I guess customers really like it. From BOF this weekend….

“Prada Group released [its annual report] yesterday, with an eye-popping 82 percent uptick in Q4 sales at Miu Miu, the main driver of growth is ready-to-wear, up 24 percent year over year, and up 64 percent versus 2021, compared to 3 percent and 25 percent growth in leather goods, respectively.”

What was also great was the ideal Miu Miu customer walking the runway….Meet Dr Qin Huilan

The post continues on: "Therefore, I also want to encourage everyone who is confused at a certain point, never give up on your dreams! Before the age of 70, I only cared about my patients as a doctor. Who would have thought that at the age of 70, I would be standing here on the runway today? Come on! Look! This is Paris! Look! This is miumiu’s runway! Look! This is 70-year-old Qin. #miumiu"

Living the "brand values" as they say.

Thread of thought: Kate Middleton conspiracy theories > lack of trust in British society > interpersonal relationships - "do we even believe each other?" > I'll see it to believe it culture > low hope? during an election year. Feels like the slog but I also feel like this is why people are latching onto these theories so quickly. But the photoshop was terrible and honestly, the news agencies killing the photo does not bode well for the family regardless of outcome.

In the theatre:

Bluets @ Royal Theatre (Fri 17 May - Sat 29 Jun 2024)

Slave Play (29 June - 21 September 2024) - sort of controversial but will be hyped and seen.

Person of the Week:

Fromm Studio - 3D artists, Vince Ibay and Jessica Miller, located in London (Barcelona also). They also just had an exhibition at Mother (@downstairsatmother) which finished 3rd March.

Reading List:

Really interesting as the guy who ran it said he wanted to quit because of the "enshittification" of the internet?

from the ft article!!!

"But in case you want to be more precise, let’s examine how enshittification works. It’s a three-stage process: first, platforms are good to their users. Then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers. Finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, there is a fourth stage: they die."

also

[beardedmrbean]

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken part in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony to mark Italy's National Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of fascism and Nazi occupation in 1945.

Liberation Day normally brings Italians together and it is marked with parades.

But for the first time since World War Two, Italy is led by a party whose origins lie in the country's post-fascist past.

And this year's commemorations have been riddled with controversy.

Among those taking part in Tuesday's Rome ceremony was a collector of fascist memorabilia, Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, who holds Italy's second-highest office of state.

A few days ago, he was quoted as saying: "There is no reference to anti-fascism in the Italian constitution".

His comments sparked a barrage of criticism from the centre-left, and calls for him to resign. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein reacted by insisting that "anti-fascism is our constitution".

The furore was not the first time that Mr La Russa's links to Italy's fascist past had caused controversy.

He was filmed in 2018 escorting reporters around his house, showing busts and mini-statues of Benito Mussolini, along with fascist memorabilia.

He recently said he would never get rid of his Mussolini bust, because it was a gift from his father.

The Senate speaker is a founding member of the far-right Brothers of Italy party - and a key ally of Ms Meloni.

She has refused to condemn him, but sought to distance herself from fascism in a letter to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"For many years, right-wing political parties in Parliament have declared their incompatibility with any nostalgia for fascism," she said.

Calling for the day to be a "celebration of freedom", Meloni wrote that "the fundamental result of 25 April was, and undoubtedly remains, the affirmation of democratic values, which fascism had trampled on and which we find engraved in the republican constitution."

She blamed politicians for using fascism as a "tool for delegitimising political opponents: a sort of weapon of mass exclusion."

But Ms Meloni does lead the most right-wing government since World War Two. Brothers of Italy is a direct political descendant of the Italian Social Movement, which was formed by members of Mussolini's Fascist Party after the war.

When she was 19, Ms Meloni told French TV: "I think Mussolini was a good politician. Everything he did, he did for Italy. And we haven't had any politicians like that in the past 50 years."

She has tried hard to brand herself as a credible leader in Europe, since becoming prime minister six months ago. She has surprised Italians and European allies by displaying a moderate stance on a variety of issues - from the Italian budget to support for Nato and Ukraine.

But she is finding it tricky to keep the more outspoken members of her party in line.

Last week, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida - one of her closest allies, and her brother-in-law - was accused of white supremacy for saying Italians were at risk of "ethnic replacement."

Liberation Day also marks the victory of the resistance movement of partisans who opposed the fascist regime.

Italy's national partisans association recently criticised Ms Meloni for saying victims of a 1944 Nazi massacre on the outskirts of Rome were murdered "simply because they were Italian". They said those killed were not just Italians but also anti-fascists, resistance fighters, political opponents and Jews.

As the national anthem played on Tuesday, the prime minister and Senate speaker joined President Sergio Mattarella at the Altare della Patria, a national monument in Rome that honours the tens of thousands of lives lost during the war.

The prime minister has said she wants to help make the day a moment of "rediscovered national harmony", but she clearly has some way to go.

[xtruss]

What Happened When a Fearless Group of Mississippi Sharecroppers Founded Their Own City

Strike City was born after one small community left the plantation to live on their own terms

— September 11, 2023 | NOVA—BPS

A tin sign demarcated the boundary of Strike City just outside Leland, Mississippi. Photo by Charlie Steiner

In 1965 in the Mississippi Delta, things were not all that different than they had been 100 years earlier. Cotton was still King—and somebody needed to pick it. After the abolition of slavery, much of the labor for the region’s cotton economy was provided by Black sharecroppers, who were not technically enslaved, but operated in much the same way: working the fields of white plantation owners for essentially no profit. To make matters worse, by 1965, mechanized agriculture began to push sharecroppers out of what little employment they had. Many in the Delta had reached their breaking point.

In April of that year, following months of organizing, 45 local farm workers founded the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union. The MFLU’s platform included demands for a minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, medical coverage and an end to plantation work for children under the age of 16, whose educations were severely compromised by the sharecropping system. Within weeks of its founding, strikes under the MFLU banner began to spread across the Delta.

Five miles outside the small town of Leland, Mississippi, a group of Black Tenant Farmers led by John Henry Sylvester voted to go on strike. Sylvester, a tractor driver and mechanic at the A.L. Andrews Plantation, wanted fair treatment and prospects for a better future for his family. “I don’t want my children to grow up dumb like I did,” he told a reporter, with characteristic humility. In fact it was Sylvester’s organizational prowess and vision that gave the strikers direction and resolve. They would need both. The Andrews workers were immediately evicted from their homes. Undeterred, they moved their families to a local building owned by a Baptist Educational Association, but were eventually evicted there as well.

After two months of striking, and now facing homelessness for a second time, the strikers made a bold move. With just 13 donated tents, the strikers bought five acres of land from a local Black Farmer and decided that they would remain there, on strike, for as long as it took. Strike City was born. Frank Smith was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee worker when he went to live with the strikers just outside Leland. “They wanted to stay within eyesight of the plantation,” said Smith, now Executive Director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C. “They were not scared.”

Life in Strike City was difficult. Not only did the strikers have to deal with one of Missississippi’s coldest winters in history, they also had to endure the periodic gunshots fired by white agitators over their tents at night. Yet the strikers were determined. “We ain’t going out of the state of Mississippi. We gonna stay right here, fighting for what is ours,” one of them told a documentary film team, who captured the strikers’ daily experience in a short film called “Strike City.” “We decided we wouldn’t run,” another assented. “If we run now, we always will be running.”

But the strikers knew that if their city was going to survive, they would need more resources. In an effort to secure federal grants from the federal government’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the strikers, led by Sylvester and Smith, journeyed all the way to Washington D.C. “We’re here because Washington seems to run on a different schedule,” Smith told congressmen, stressing the urgency of the situation and the group’s needs for funds. “We have to get started right away. When you live in a tent and people shoot at you at night and your kids can’t take a bath and your wife has no privacy, a month can be a long time, even a day…Kids can’t grow up in Strike City and have any kind of a chance.” In a symbolic demonstration of their plight, the strikers set up a row of tents across the street from the White House.

John Henry Sylvester, left, stands outside one of the tents strikers erected in Washington, D.C. in April 1966. Photo by Rowland Sherman

“It was a good, dramatic, in-your-face presentation,” Smith told American Experience, nearly 60 years after the strikers camped out. “It didn’t do much to shake anything out of the Congress of the United States or the President and his Cabinet. But it gave us a feeling that we’d done something to help ourselves.” The protestors returned home empty-handed. Nevertheless, the residents of Strike City had secured enough funds from a Chicago-based organization to begin the construction of permanent brick homes; and to provide local Black children with a literacy program, which was held in a wood-and-cinder-block community center they erected.

The long-term sustainability of Strike City, however, depended on the creation of a self-sufficient economy. Early on, Strike City residents had earned money by handcrafting nativity scenes, but this proved inadequate. Soon, Strike City residents were planning on constructing a brick factory that would provide employment and building material for the settlement’s expansion. But the $25,000 price tag of the project proved to be too much, and with no employment, many strikers began to drift away. Strike City never recovered.

Still, its direct impact was apparent when, in 1965, Mississippi schools reluctantly complied with the 1964 Civil Rights Act by offering a freedom-of-choice period in which children were purportedly allowed to register at any school of their choice. In reality, however, most Black parents were too afraid to send their children to all-white schools—except for the parents living at Strike City who had already radically declared their independence . Once Leland’s public schools were legally open to them, Strike City kids were the first ones to register. Their parents’ determination to give them a better life had already begun to pay dividends.

Smith recalled driving Strike City’s children to their first day of school in the fall of 1970. “I remember when I dropped them off, they jumped out and ran in, and I said, ‘They don't have a clue what they were getting themselves into.’ But you know kids are innocent and they’re always braver than we think they are. And they went in there like it was their schoolhouse. Like they belonged there like everybody else.”

[battleangel]

And still I see no changes...

Late-stage capitalism depends on women producing the next generation of laborers whether they want to or not...

Corporate greed -- as evidenced by fast fashion like SHEIN, Fashion Nova, Romwe, Forever 21, the film industry with the continued strike aimed to replace all but the biggest stars and virtually all background and supporting actors despite the unions totally reasonable demands for a living wage & AI protections so that their image & likeness cant be scanned & used in perpetuity by studios with their forced consent in exchange for being cast in the production, fast food companies like McDonalds continuing with deforestation practices & the destruction of rainforests & ecosystems, all of the environmental waste produced by Amazon warehouses, chemical & environmental pollution by Fortune 500 companies in the constant pursuit of ever more profit, overextracting natural resources from the planet and raping the earth, the extinction of tens of thousands of unique species with the non-stop intent of further expansion, further development, further cutting down of trees, razing of forests, landfills at total capacity with overflow killing wildlife in the oceans with a majority of waste taking thousands of years to decompose, a finite resource -- Mother Earth -- endlessly pillaged & raped by big pharma, big agriculture, big chemical manufacturing companies, big box retail like Amazon & Walmart, fast fashion like SHEIN & Forever 21, admitted alien existence by former CIA director which also includes not yet admitted to government experimentation with alien technology & weaponry that led to a bomb cloud many reported seeing in NYC that happened the same exact day as the "Canadian wildfire smoke" filling the skies of the east coast, yet all the videos on social media were of the smoke, none were of the fires, and reports that claimed 100 wildfires started simultaneously in Canada made no sense -- the alien bomb testing led to record toxicity levels in the air and non-stop unprecedented extreme humidity that has not relented since the "wildfire smoke" aka the testing of the alien bomb in NYC -- yet the worlds elite in industry (Elons, Bezos, etc) & the actual power brokers in politics behind the scenes of the political figureheads that are all selected ahead of time, every election is fake & the outcome is predetermined, all US presidents share royal lineage dating back to British kings, they are all reptilians picked ahead of time by the kingmakers as charismatic frontmen that are then controlled behind the scenes & told what to do, all politicians get along with each other behind the scenes, the 2 party system is a complete sham, its heel vs face in wrestling -- its all a cheap gimmick to divide the audience and to keep the money flowing in via donations over "hot button" issues that are red meat to their respective partys bases but there are always predictable, planned & scripted mostly incremental changes that shift back and forth with very few actual "watershed" moments by design so that both parties can constantly fundraise over whatever the contrived forced issue is of the day with no true actual change, its why Obama deported more undocumented immigrants than Trump, there is no actual "red vs blue", nor actual material difference between the two main parties, its why theres never any true substantive change regardless of who is in power, and a true changemaker and revolutionary like Cornel West never even gets heard from.

If its a "democracy", why are Cornel West, Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Communist Party of the USA, the Socialist Party -- why arent they allowed to be on the Presidential debate stage unless a totally fake & arbitrary threshold of votes is reached -- because they dont want the American public on a mainstream stage to actually hear cogent and cohesive and compelling and persuasive and intelligent arguments for the abolition of the police, Supreme Court, military, prison system, free college education, universal healthcare, workers uniting & pooling their incomes & distributing them evenly amongst themselves aka true socialism so they can stop being exploited by their corporate overlords slaving away at their salaried jobs many without overtime once they are in a "leadership" position working thousands of hours for free.

True reproductive justice & freedom with a realization that women are dehumanized & tyrannized by the "motherhood is martyrdom" societal mandate that demands that women sacrifice & sublimate their entire identities on the altar of being a "selfless mother" and giving women control over their bodily autonomy, reproductive choices, careers, sexual health, incomes, mental & physical health, physical appearance and control over their lives as anti-abortion legislation takes all of this agency away and demands that a pregnant woman become a mindless husk & soulless incubator ready to reproduce via forced birth endless bodies for the corporate capitalist machine & system, thats all "pro-life" is, its reducing women to their occupied uteruses and forcing them to birth more bodies in service of late stage capitalism.

Why dont we have funerals as a society for miscarried and aborted fetuses? because we intrinsically know as a society that an unborn fetus doesnt have a fully developed consciousness, personality, soul expression, thoughts, emotions, experiences, philosophies -- it is fetal tissue, it is not a sentient, thinking, emoting human being but the woman gestating it is -- so why is the woman reduced to nothing but a gestational carrier and why is the fetus elevated to mattering more than the woman carrying it, when thousands of toddlers are waiting to be adopted in the foster system, when children born to women who didnt want them who then express the trauma of enduring forced birth as neglect, abuse & physical abandonment -- how is any of that "pro-life"?

When states that have anti-abortion laws have significantly higher poverty & crime rates, how is that "pro-life"? Whats "pro-life" about punishing women who dont want to be mothers and forcing them to give birth?

Condoms break, people forget to take birth control, guys refuse to wear condoms because they want to "feel everything" or they "dont like them", women are socialized to be docile & polite and are socially conditioned to struggle to say "no" to men especially in intimate encounters, women are groomed & socially engineered to be pleasing and agreeable towards men even in sexual situations when they shouldnt be -- smile, look pretty, be attractive, be quiet, be sexy and hope he likes you and wants to be with you, that is the social messaging in pop culture movies, media, music, books -- the man leads, the woman coquettishly follows -- where is the confident, emphatic, full-chested "no" in that when women are trained above all else to be liked? This leads to a lot of unwanted sex, regrettable sex, unenjoyable sex, forced sex, "I would rather go home but I dont want to be rude" sex, "He said he didnt want a blow job, I guess I have to fuck him" sex, spousal rape, date rape, acquaintance rape, "He said its too late to change my mind now" rape, drunken rape, high rape, "I just wanted him to like me" rape "I wanted to do stuff but not sex" rape -- why should women be forced to give birth in any of these situations?

Why should women be forced to give birth at all?

If men gave birth, not women -- do you really think there would be anti-abortion legislation?

Prescription medication making birth control ineffective happens, not taking Plan B in time for it to work happens, people drink & use psychedlics, hormone rushes happen, abuse happens, coercion happens, pressure happens, rape happens, assault happens, molestation happens, incest happens, depression happens, suicidal ideation happens, mentors, coaches, teachers, professors & youth leaders abusing & exploiting their authority via sexual force & assaults happens, autoimmune disease diagnoses happen, layoffs happen, reduction in force happens, firing happens, unemployment happens, houseleness happens, evictions happens, car & furniture reposessions happen, infidelities happen, breakups happen, STIs happen, heartbreak happens, malignant narcissists and dark empaths as toxic & abusive partners happen.

The feminization of poverty already ensures that women are overrepresented in low wage jobs & service industries while being underpaid vs men in white collar corporate jobs while also taking years off from their careers to raise their children and care for aging parents while men do not typically take more than a week or two off when children are born so women work less years in their careers than men for less pay and are overrepresented in low wage jobs yet this society wants to layer forced births on top of all of this already existing gender inequality.

Giving a newborn baby up for adoption after carrying it for 9+ months and birthing it is often traumatic -- it is up to the woman if she wants to endure that experience, it should never be forced on her, paid maternity leave and universal childcare are unavailable so a woman who gives birth is forced to take 60% pay on either a short or long term disability leave (losing almost half of her income), use up her PTO vacation and sick days for the year or, since women are so overrepresented in low wage jobs, if they are in the retail & food service industries or if they are temporary employees in corporate positions they have no benefits and no paid time off so she is forced to take an unpaid leave which she cannot afford with how minimal her salary already is and then once the forced birth happens, daycare is $1k+ a month, more than rent in many places, not all states have daycares that are operated out of individuals homes for cheaper rates and everyone does not have parents that can watch their newborns but now if she goes back to work, daycare may be more than her rent and not leave her with any money to survive -- who thinks about these women?

There are untold circumstances and reasons why a woman can experience an unplanned & unwanted pregnancy and want to terminate, some women may be antinatalist like me and believe that it is an immoral and philosophical wrong to reproduce and to continue the immeasurable & irrevocable damage and harm humanity has done to Earth, its ecosystems, natural resources, rainforests, oceans, wildlife, ozone layer, climate and believe it is wrong to contribute to our current & continuing overpopulation -- no sentient, thinking, feeling human being should be forced to birth a non-sentient fetus for any reason -- we already have global overpopulation, why would we as a society add to our overpopulation human beings that are not wanted by their expectant mothers by force?

How can any good come out of coercion, control, forced birth and trauma?

What kind of social, emotional, mental and psychological harm do we do as a society to these women who, for a plethora of reasons, want to terminate their pregnancies and then certain states say no, youre not allowed to, you have to birth this unborn fetus.

The planet is not a resource that is infinitely renewable. We as humans, due to endless corporate greed, pursuit of profits and endless expansion, a blind unthinking need for more more more, are already trying to colonize Mars via Elon Musk -- isnt the destruction of one planet enough?

We are literally the Borg.

Go look up how many tens of thousands of species are already permanently extinct, how many elephants have been killed for the ivory trade, how many Amazon rainforests have been razed so McDonalds can raise and slaughter more cows for their Big Macs, how many landfills are filled with Amazon waste -- why do we need delivery in an hour?

How much food do we waste, do we throw away unused from our refrigerators, do we throw away uneaten in restaurants while children are food insecure and hungry and millions starve to death?

How much waste, how much misplaced hate, how much injustice, how many wars, how much corporate greed, how much control, how many genocides, how many natural disasters, how many more degrees can global temperatures rise, how much air pollution, how many synthetic chemicals and drugs and artificial preservatives, how many medications to make us sick and kill us, how many fake political movements, how many Proud Boys, how many Dont Tread on Mes, how many Make America Great Agains -- America was never great, how many victors rewriting history, how much propaganda, how much fake news, how much exploitation, how many overcrowded prisons with inhumane conditions without heat in the winter, AC in the summer & insect infestations yet you want to sit there and tweet about Trumps mugshot...

How many unarmed black men have to die at the hands of white cops, how many Amadou Diallous, how many Rodney Kings, how many Trayveon Martins, how many black while eating a bag of skittles, how many George Floyds, how many Ahmad Arberys, how many Philando Castilles, how many January 6th insurrections, how many overnight deaths in prisons, how many Sandra Blands because they stopped at a red light, how many Breonna Taylors for the crime of being asleep in their own beds, how many hands up dont shoot, how many I dont want to die, how many I dont have a gun Im just removing my license Officer, how many I thought it was a gun not a wallet, how many put your hands on the steering wheel before I blow your fucking head off, how many unreported crimes, how many unsolved murders, how many botched cases, how many its just another dead black man who gives a fuck, how many unredacted body wearing camera footage -- I thought the body wearing camera was supposed to bring transparency, why are you blurring the footage out, how many racist pigs, how many hooded klansmen hiding behind a badge a shield and a gun, to protect defend serve and kill as many innocent black people as possible, no need for an autopsy no need for an investigation its just another dead black man.

The only good nigger is a dead nigger so dont make me pull my cop trigger

Rat-tat tat tat tat, thats the way it is

And still I see no changes, all I see is racist faces, misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this one better place, lets erase the wasted

It aint a secret, dont conceal the fact, the penitentiarys packed and its filled with blacks

And still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace?

There's war in the streets and war in the Middle East

Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up

Crack you up and pimps smack you up

You gotta learn to hold ya own

They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone

But tell the cops, they can't touch this

I don't trust this, when they try to rush, I bust this

🧿how many, how much until we say, enough is enough? 🧿