#Biotech Recordings

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Lounge Friendly "Healing Dub"

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Lounge Friendly "Healing Dub" @heygroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron @LutchamaK

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK has had a busy 2024:  The JOVM mainstay began the year with a two-track release through Techno Parade titled Job Done, which featured “Job Done,” a glitchy and swaggering bit of techno meets footwork featuring machine gun-like skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with tweeter and woofer rattling thump. It’s an accessible…

[innonurse]

A study demonstrated that GPT-4 can produce medical record notes 10 times faster than doctors without sacrificing quality

- By InnoNurse Staff -

The AI model can write administrative medical notes up to ten times faster than doctors while maintaining quality. This is according to a study undertaken by researchers from Uppsala University Hospital and Uppsala University in conjunction with Danderyd Hospital and the University Hospital of Basel.

Read more at Uppsala University/Medical Xpress

///

Other recent news and insights

Statistical machine learning could discover the unknown reasons driving sickness (Cornell University)

Q&A: How Phoenix Children's combines virtual care with voice commands (HealthTech Magazine)

Century Health, now with $2 million, taps AI to give pharmaceutical companies access to good patient data (TechCrunch)

[webcrawler3000]

[sunsetcougar]

How does Vaggie feel during all of this? Not just about Charlie and how they are going through this together but also about her fellow exorcists. Does she feel any sort of protective instinct towards them? Does she want to visit them or is the trauma too much for her? Is she in Hell just thinking about them until her papers declaring her a Carmine come in?

How does she take being a Carmine? Does she tell Carmilla? Try and hide it? How does it all go down?

My brain is rotted. No thoughts. Biotech only. Lmao

Long post incoming I ended up rambling a bit. My brain is also rotted for this AU.

Vaggie is dealing with a whole whirlwind of emotions she’s struggling to separate and understand. She’s exhausted, terrified, angry, panicked, and so much more. Shes relieved to be out of Heaven, in Hell the angels can’t just come into their room and take them (Right?). She knows she should really sit down and talk to Charlie now that they’re in an environment where old trauma isn’t constantly hovering over their shoulders, but she just doesn’t have the energy. Shes glad Charlie understands and is willing to give her the time she needs to recover from all of this.

She does think about the other exorcists a lot, but primarily in a form of survivors guilt more than anything. She didn’t really have much of a connection to any of them, it’s hard to care about dozens of blank, eerily similar masks, but she does feel guilty for being the only one to escape. Why was it her? Why did her programming glitch? Why didn’t Adam just kill her in that alley or drag her back to Heaven to burn her body? She doesn’t know and the guilt of being safe and loved weighs heavy on her.

As for how she feels about being a Carmine, it actually takes her a while to even be willing to look at the papers Heaven sends down. The idea of seeing her own records, the ones that speak of her as if she was a machine, makes her feel ill. Charlie doesn’t want to look at them either for similar reasons to Vaggie.

It’s actually Husk who reads the records first. He offers since he figures they could be really important but understands why Charlie and Vaggie don’t want to look at them. That means that he’s the first to find out that Vaggie is Carmilla’s daughter.

Upon finding out her mom is an overlord, Vaggie isn’t really sure how to feel. The idea that she has a family, a mom and sisters, is both exciting and terrifying. How would she even go about telling Carmilla this? Would she believe Vaggie even with the papers? She’d have every right to believe this a trick.

Husk comes in again here. He met Carmilla a couple of times, back when he was an overlord, and wouldn’t even need to be as good at reading people as he is to know just how much she cares for her daughters. He can’t see a world where she wouldn’t be thrilled to be reunited with her third. It’s his reassurance and Charlie’s gentle support that gives Vaggie the confidence to write the Carmines a letter, sending a photo copy of her records with it.

[thoughtlessarse]

Record numbers of business representatives and lobbyists had access to the UN’s latest biodiversity talks, analysis shows. In total 1,261 business and industry delegates registered for Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which ended in disarray and without significant progress on a number of key issues including nature funding, monitoring biodiversity loss and work on reducing environmentally harmful business subsidies. The number is more than double the 613 present at the UN’s previous biodiversity conference in 2022. Overall, the number of attendees increased by 46%, making Cop16 the largest UN nature conference yet, although business and industry increased disproportionately. Industry groups working in pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, agrochemicals, food and beverage processing and tech all had more people registered to attend, according to the analysis by DeSmog. Some question the influence that these companies might have had on the outcomes of the summit negotiations. Sectors with the greatest increases included food and beverage processing (up 460%) and tech (up 333%). The presence of agrochemical, pesticide and seed companies increased by 40% and 24% respectively since Cop15. “We certainly saw a stronger lobbying push for policies that favour agricultural productivity, and that clashed with the conservation goals and the position of civil society,” said Oscar Soria, director of the Common Initiative thinktank. There was also a 25% increase in biotech representatives, who Soria said were “aggressive in pushing back on progress related to digital sequencing information (DSI)”. This was the voluntary agreement to make companies share profits from commercial discoveries derived from nature’s genetics. “Seems all of a sudden the private and business sector woke up and now they’re trying to defend their interests,” he said.

continue reading

[hnm-tech-support]

.....

Data recovered from disks taken from the labs of HNM Biotech's Dr. Yeva.

[Decryption failed, most files corrupt. Accessible data shown below]

HOLY NIGHTMARE CO. BIOTECH 04175401 DARK MATTER RESEARCH - SUMMARY - CATEGORIES - EXTERMINATION PROTOCOLS - IMMUNITY PROJECT

HOLY NIGHTMARE CO. BIOTECH 06305206 14-5566-0009 PROJECT LOGS - COLD FLAME - FALLEN STAR - WHITE OBLIVION - TROJAN MARE - RISING TIDE

DARK MATTER RESEARCH SUMMARY Dark Matter is the colloquial name given to a virus-like lifeform that needs to infect other living creatures to reproduce, feeding off these hosts like parasites. The basest form is a mere particle with no intelligence or will of its own. Lesser than even a single ant and more like a bacterium, it needs to mass into larger quantities, becoming a sort of "colony" that communicates through a hivemind. It reproduces through binary fission while infecting another living creature, releasing excess Dark Matter to split off into more copies. Other methods of reproduction are suspected but have not been recorded. Naturally more animal-like and instinctual in nature, only by infecting hosts of sapient species is it able to develop intellect of its own. However, as infected hosts no longer feel emotions such as fear, Holy Nightmare is devoted to preventing the spread at all costs to protect Nightmare’s continued control of the known universe. Hosts are infected when particles of Dark Matter enter the body through wounds or orifices. The infectious dose is quite high- most can fight off casual exposure. It doesn't spread well through the air and prefers physical contact. Host becomes part of the hivemind and will try to spread to other victims. This form is the primary way they spread but also the most obvious, as feral Dark Matter doesn't have the intelligence needed to hide itself effectively. They often start with animals and other less intelligent beings. WARNING: When threatened all forms can cause rapid mutations in the host to increase defensive ability, such as growing sharp claws or new mouths. They can heal the host if injured as well, but in extreme situations will evacuate the host to escape. This is often fatal.

CATEGORIES

They have a social structure superficially similar to eusocial insects, with each lower form being subservient to those higher. They advance in stages over their lifetimes, with the speed they grow seemingly based on how many and the quality of hosts they’ve consumed. Feral/Massed - As Dark Matter multiplies, smaller parts will gather into undifferentiated masses. The most numerous form, presenting as little more than inky black ‘blobs’ with varied numbers of eyes. They have little individuality at this phase and tend to join and split at random to create larger masses, but can't hold complex forms. Without a more advanced individual to control them, these will default to a simple 'spread and infect' mode of attack. Drones - Massed Dark Matter eventually begins splitting off into smaller and more stable colonies with a single eye. Notable are the orange orbs they form around the center mass, although the purpose is unknown. They become capable of hovering flight in this stage. Higher level Dark Matter can also spawn small versions of these from their own bodies by sacrificing a small amount of their own mass. Soldiers - Dark Matter drones that have infected many hosts of more intelligent species can begin to gain something akin to sapience, perhaps through a form of horizontal gene-transfer. They can keep more complex forms, often wielding weapons on their own. They're also better at hiding their presence in a host. Regents - The oldest and most powerful, their bodies turn pure white. Highly intelligent and extremely rare, they are believed to control all other Dark Matter.

EXTERMINATION PROTOCOLS- Dark Matter is resistant to cutting and bludgeoning weapons, and requires high energy to be damaged. Fire is effective, as is electricity. Focused light-based weaponry is the most effective counter when they're outside of a host. Inside a host they're more difficult to deal with- complete obliteration of both is recommended. Advances in destabilizing technology block the ability of individual particles from cooperating and cause a temporary loss of form. This hasn’t been tested on more advanced types. Current protocol when dealing with heavily infected planets is complet- [...the rest is too corrupted to access…]

IMMUNITY PROJE%55C77T000--- $F2r33r Ce&b2w~r9p/g 6G(eb*w#n<a $Z6+ne3r+

----------------------------

PROJECT LOGS - COLD FLAME - FALLEN STAR - WHITE OBLIVION - TROJAN MARE - RISING TIDE

-------------

PROJECT COLD FLAME [COMPLETE] PCF-01 [DECEASED] PCF-02 [DECEASED] PCF-03-A [MIA] PCF-03-B [KIA]

Selecting PCF-03-A and B show images of two tiny, almost cute blue lizard-like creatures, alongside what are presumably their larger adult forms, covered in icy spikes, alongside information describing developing and enhancing their ice powers and removing previous weaknesses. 03-B is described as being killed in battle with Galactic Soldiers, while 03-A's body was simply never found.

------------- PROJECT FALLEN STAR [CANCELED] PFS-01-A [DECEASED] PFS-02-B [DECEASED] PFS-03 [DECEASED] PFS-04 [REPURPOSED] PFS-05 [REPURPOSED]

DATA INACCESSIBLE

-------------

PROJECT WHITE OBLIVION [COMPLETE] PWO-01 [STASIS] PWO-2 [MIA]

PWO-01 describes the lab working with a creature said to modify memories, and how this can be weaponized. The creature is interchangeably called 'Erasem' or 'Oblivio'- apparently different HNM scientists disagreed on a name. PWO-02 just seems to be an improved version of the last, actually getting used a few times on the enemy to sew chaos among the GSA by rendering important individuals forgotten by their comrades. However after one much later mission it is said to go missing entirely, and the project is put to an end due to difficulty in managing the creature.

-------------

PROJECT TROJAN MARE [DEFUNCT] FORMERLY [REDACTED] PTM-01 [DECEASED] PTM-02 [DECEASED] PTM-03 [DECEASED] PTM-04 [DECEASED] PTM-05 [DECEASED] PTM-06 [DECEASED] PTM-07 [DECEASED] PTM-08 [DECEASED] PTM-09 [DECEASED] PTM-10 [DECEASED] PTM-11 [DECEASED] PTM-12 [DECEASED] PTM-13 [DECEASED] PTM-14 [DECEASED] PTM-15 [DECEASED] PTM-16 [DECEASED] PTM-17-A [DECEASED] PTM-17-B [DECEASED] PTM-18 [DECEASED] PTM-19 [DECEASED] PTM-20 [TERMINATED] PTM-21 [DECEASED] PTM-22 [DECEASED] PTM-23-A [DECEASED] PTM-23-B [TERMINATED] PTM-24-A [REPURPOSED] PTM-24-B [REPURPOSED]

DATA INACCESSIBLE

------------

PROJECT RISING TIDE [DEFUNCT] PRT-01-X [DECEASED] PRT-02-Y [DECEASED] PRT-02-X [TERMINATED] PRT-03-Y [TERMINATED] PRT-03-X [TERMINATED]

Describes a project to turn a planet's native sea life into demon beasts.

@kirbyoctournament

(This is from a roleplay session over at the Discord! I figure I'd share it for more people to see if you're curious about figuring stuff out about Techie)

[wineaunt420]

Nyxi stop making OC’s with trauma!

No, Shut up

Anyway meet my old Tfa oc Eziekiel, he used to be human but in an effort to save his brother he made a deal with another tfa oc I made called Scorn (a biotech scientist) who transferred both Ziek and his brothers minds into lab grown protoform mech bodies. One problem with that is Scorn didn’t know what the fuck he made the mech bodies out of, turns out woopsies he made them out of dead Sparkeater parts, Making Ziek a somewhat sentient Sparkeater.

You can imagine how much of a problem that would be when you end up with the munchies and good ol’ energon just don’t hit the spot.

Anyway, he was on a career path to becoming a movie director while he was human, but now works as a private hire assassin with no Cybertronian files or birth records of him or his brother, basically making them completely “invisible” to the elite Guard (which is always good when you assassinate folks for a living)

There is so much oc lore for this guy it’s too hard to dive all into through one post

Also a small Henry Masterson and Oilslick sketch

[monarch-afterdark]

Titan History: Scylla

Welcome once again to Monarch: After Dark, the digital gateway between you and the organisation dedicated to understanding and navigating this troubled new world we live in.

While our inquiry into Janos Biotech continues, we return to the regularly scheduled "Titan History" series, where we break down all you need to know about the creatures we now share our world with. For today's communication, we look to the most recent Titan crisis and examine one of the casualties; the Lovecraftian scavenger, Scylla.

(Pictured above: Scylla rampaging through Rome, prior to being confronted and executed by Godzilla, circa. 2027)

Monarch Database File: Scylla

Monarch Designation: Titanus Scylla

Height: 341 feet

Weight: 20,000 tons

Nature: Bio-Corrosive

Behavioural Classification: Destroyer

-----

A colossal cephalopod Titan that appears to have crawled out from the depths of the Cthulhu Mythos, Scylla is among one of Monarch's more recent discoveries, noted as 'Titan 024' in our database. Her discovery was recent enough that, during the construction of Monarch Outpost 55, a proper containment field for Scylla was unable to be constructed. Some of the outpost's operatives erroneously believed she was dead when they found her dormant in Arizona.

Scylla is known to us as a Titan scavenger, able to break down the carcasses of deceased Titans and convert the nutrients into a lethal waterborne bacteria. This ability led to the implementation of new protocols for Monarch's pathology teams when cleaning and disposing of Titan remains. She can also emit an incredibly dense fog-like pollutant, which she uses to feed on radiation sources or cover her while she evades an attacker, and can emit liquid nitrogen from her body. The latter ability in particular has been cited for cooling down the Antarctic ice and stabilizing global sea levels.

Scylla is also surprisingly intelligent, able to take the wreckages of ships and craft them into temporary shells for her body, and is remarkably agile in her movements, enabling her to take on opponents such as Godzilla with ease.

(Pictured above: The Moai statues of Easter Island. It is believed by Monarch these were built by the Rapa Nui people to ward off Titans like Scylla)

Like with most Titans, not much is known about Scylla's activities prior to 2019 outside of what mythological records allow. It is known that, at some point, Scylla made landfall on Easter Island. Feared by the Rapa Nui people, they erected the Moai status as megalithic scarecrows to deter her, and presumably other Titans as well.

When Scylla was awakened by Monster Zero in 2019, she erupted from beneath Monarch Outpost 55 and made her way to Arizona's capital Phoenix, where she rampaged through the city. She was pacified by the ORCA device's activation in Boston, and was among the few Titans present to witness Godzilla become the new Alpha, bowing down to him as he roared into the sky.

Between this and her next known sighting, Scylla enjoyed a deal of popularity among humanity once Monarch's record of her went public, even becoming a trending topic on social media platform Twitter once her Greek origins were confirmed.

(Pictured above: Artistic rendition of Scylla engaging the United States Coast Guard and Godzilla over possession of a nuclear warhead, circa. 2020)

Around the end of 2020, Scylla appeared off the coast of Savannah, Georgia in search of food. Her hunger led her to a discarded nuclear warhead, which she fought with the US Coast Guard for possession of. Godzilla arrived shortly after and successfully drove Scylla away after a short brawl. She then made her way to a frozen lake at the tip of South America, claiming it as her new territory. Like with all other Titans, Scylla then returned to dormancy, seemingly under Godzilla's instruction.

She did not stay dormant, however. In 2027, Scylla was lured to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India by a reactor beacon created by Skull Island trophy hunter Raymond Martin, who (as Monarch later discovered) wanted to use her to occupy Godzilla's attention so he could proceed with his plans for Hollow Earth. After feeding on the radiation there, she would travel to other locations around the world and feed there, Godzilla always one step behind her.

Scylla attacked the United Kingdom Nuclear Labs in Preston and the Aviano Air Base in Italy, feasting off whatever she could find. Her ravenous feeding had caused her to cease cooling the planet's oceans, and Monarch instead found that she was heating the areas she attacked, causing damage to the ozone layer. After an attempted trap by Monarch failed, she was finally cornered by Godzilla in Rome and killed by a point-blank blast of his atomic breath following a short skirmish.

(Pictured above: An X-Ray scan of Scylla, part of a compiled bioacoustic database Monarch has on all Titans, circa. 2019)

-----

And there you go! While Scylla's passing means we may not be able to learn more about her, unless new data is found or another of her species emerge in the future, we do take some pride in knowing some people out there came to embrace Scylla, rather than fear her as most would.

Until next time,

Monarch: After Dark

[wistrea]

v. MARVEL

THE YOKOHAMA INCIDENT:        the compound property belonging to the organization known as the hand,    referred to as   ███ ██████   in the jike countryside north to yokohama,   tokyo,    japan was destroyed,      recorded on the date    ████████ ██ ████.     this was following the event that many eye witnesses had described as     " dancing lights in the sky "      that evening,    akin to aurora borealis.      all electricity in the yokohama area had been subsequently cut off following a sudden electrical surge,    traced back to the ruins of the buildings.    when personnel were sent to investigate,    they found only demolished structures and,    amidst the falling frost,    was a child no older than twelve standing on blood - stained snow.    the incident was written off as an unexplained mutant event.    said mutant involved was traced to a series of other incidents following this one. ███ ██████ will be deploying a team to extract subject ████████ and bring her to the facility in new york city.

the subject has been known to don many aliases,    after the infant had been found underneath the rubble of an ancient temple built by lilith to honor the elder god chthon.   called many things depending on who comes across them,     but the most common one is :    KHAOS.

you've got a lonesome road to walk, and it ain't along the railroad track. and it ain't along the blacktop tar you've walked a hundred times before. [ ... ] i'll tell you where the real road lies : between your ears, behind your eyes. this is the path to paradise. likewise, the road to ruin.

* draws heavy influence from marvel's midnight suns the game.

name ( last, first ): shirogane kira aliases: "ki", the yuki - onna of yokohama title/s: the lady of corvids, world shatterer, the demonchylde of lilith, lady of the fallen history of code names: corvid ( past ), khaos ( current ), archmage ( ??? )

place of origin: miyagi prefecture, japan current location: ███████ ████████ affiliation: independent, the x - men, the midnight suns, the atlas foundation occupation: vigilante, archivist and mechanical engineer for atlas biotech

species: mutant, witch powers: light energy manipulation, energy construct conjuration, witchcraft ( chaos magic tied to destruction ), targeted power amplification, heightened magical sense, the ability to speak to corvids ( ...don't ask ), spells and phrases

with her father being a mutant and her mother a witch turned demon, at birth kira had only manifested the abilities of light manipulation and conjuration. they had mostly manifested in concentrated orbs with destructive capabilities or conjured into the form of birds made of lavender light simply because she liked birds as a child. her ability for spellcasting and ties to chaos magic had manifested later amidst the hand's experimentations on her during her childhood.

flight is a secondary application of light manipulation, as kira had learned how to essentially lift herself up by riding on light energy. in the absence of light, she has to create the light energy herself.

heightened magical sense: kira is able to detect the presence of magical persons or objects within a certain radius around her.

power amplification: for a definite and set period of time, kira is able to enhance the abilities of a mutant or sorcerer by granting them a blessing from her chaos magic that serves to strengthen them, something that she calls a "boon".

the ability to speak the corvids comes from her having her own familiar, a raven named sanzu created from her own chaos magic and tied to her soul.

weaknesses: due to kira's chaos being tied to her dimension's warp of reality, her powers are weakened when in another plane of reality for as long as her limitations to dampen her magic for the world's safety are in place. her ties to chaos magic are not based on creation, and therefore is not able to warp reality or manipulate time. it was also said that her abilities tend to fluctuate depending on her emotions, as particularly strong emotions could cause her to lose control.

family: lilth ( mother ), shirogane hanshiro ( father ), shirogane matsuko ( older brother ), shirogane ashitaka ( older brother ), shirogane yuuichiro ( adopted younger brother ), the hunter ( half - sibling )

lilith, mother of demons and archmother of witchcraft, on the brink of her return after being vanquished near three hundred years ago had managed to sever a sliver of her being into existence as a prelude to her awakening. in that time, she had been more lilith than demon, the way she had been as a witch in salem nearly 300 years ago before chthon's influence. she had met a mutant named shirogane hanshiro, and within the near decade of their blissful marriage, they had three children : two sons, matsuko and ashitaka, and a daughter. it was when lilith was carrying their youngest child did her memories and the callings of chthon return, as the god beckoned his demon back to him. she had given the child the name she and her husband had decided on despite having taken her away : shirogane kira.

✧ PRESENT ARC.

shirogane kira, better known by many as her alias behind the mask " khaos ", is a mutant witch who works as an archivist and mechanical engineer for atlas biotech. several years prior, she had been part of the x-men under a different alias, " corvid ", which her real name was publicly attached to. many simply assumed that she had retired this part of her life, unknowing that she was operating under a different code name. she is known as one of the most powerful witches known to exist in her time, her own motivations are driven by her ambition, and the cunning that ensures that she will acquire what she set out to get. her adopted little brother, yuu, currently studies at xavier's school, which gives her reason to come back every now and then. some time after she had left the x - men, she was contacted by her estranged aunt about the resurfacing of her mother lilith, recruited into joining a faction called the midnight suns, which she would then come to lead. she deals with the extermination of supernatural threats, most of which are connected to chthon and the lilin forces. she lives somewhere in new york city with her many ravens and black cat named miruku. when not in her apartment, one could find her in the abbey, if you can find out a way to find the pocket dimension.

when kira was a child, following her mother's disappearance and return to her tomb, she was left in the slumber that lilith had bound her to within the depths of the temple of chthon. it was only two years later when agents of the hand found said ruins, and the six year old child within it. shirogane kira was brought to the hand's facility in yokohama, where the experiments had eventually undergone by the same scientists and occultists alike who raised her.

the hand had thought that kira's affinity to chaos could eventually help them in their goal to attain immortality. when they found out during their torturous experiments on the young witch that her powers were more akin to destruction than creation, they diverted their efforts into turning her into their weapon.

it was when the hand had brought both kira and yuu [ the orphan boy she had called her little brother, another experiment of the hand ] to new york to keep at their old facility that she managed to escape along with him. she was still young when she had managed to earn enough money [ doing jobs for thieves that were easy because of her magic ] while hiding from the hand to get both her and her brother to the place they heard rumors of they could go to. the witch girl finds herself on the doorstep of xavier's school holding her little brother's hand.

her decision to leave the x-men was influenced by the reawakening of her mother lilith. the influence of chthon and the threat that lilith represented eventually led kira to joining and leading the midnight suns. her magic had become unstable prior to this, reacting to the shifting of the scales of chaos's power, and believing herself to be a liability to the others, she had decided to leave.

[beebslolz]

Bruce Wayne’s financial history (minus the Batman expenses)

DISCLAIMER: THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE OTHER BIG AND OR UNNECESSARY USELESS PURCHASES!!!!

For example, in The New Batman Adventures episode 10, Bruce Wayne goes to an auction with Tim Drake. He ends up buying a rare magical artifact for his friend for one million dollars. Or another time like in Gotham the TV series season 4 episode 3, Bruce buys a knife for Two Million dollars. This also does not include any of his Batman expenses. Only Bruce Wayne’s purchases. Because I know the Bat-cave, the Bat-mobile, the Bat-computer, the Bat-suit, the bat-gadgets, etc, blah, blah, blah, all had to have costed a pretty penny. It would take forever to track down all of his expenses.

”How many companies does Bruce Wayne own?”

He owns six companies, not including any co-companies. He owns:

Wayne Enterprises (along with other Wayne companies)

Bruce Wayne has many companies under the Wayne name. Such as:

Wayne Biotech

Wayne Industries

Wayne Aerospace

Wayne Shipping

Wayne Foundation

Wayne Medical

Wayne Steel

Wayne Botanical

Wayne foods

Wayne Corp

Wayne Automotive

Wayne Pharmaceuticals

The Daily Planet

Yes, Batman actually gives Superman his salary. Bruce bought the ownership over the Daily Planet. Why? I dunno. He just did.

A Disco Club

In the Gotham TV show season 4 episode 7, Bruce Wayne has bought a disco club when they refused him entry.

A Hotel

Bruce bought a hotel in the movie Batman Begins because the two women Bruce was with wanted to swim in the pool but the manager asked them to leave so Bruce bought the hotel to change its rules.

A Bank

In The Justice League 2017 movie, Bruce bought a bank to pay off Clark’s debt.

Clark Kent : "Thank you, Bruce" is not enough for what you did.

Bruce Wayne : I just undid a mistake, that's all.

Clark Kent : How did you get the house back from the bank?

Bruce Wayne : I bought the bank.

A Record company

In the 1970’s Batman comic issue (Batman #222) Bruce Wayne invests in a record label known as Eden Records.

Questions:

“How rich is Bruce Wayne?”

This is a tricky question. The thing is, there isn’t really a set-in-stone answer. It depends on the comic, the writer, etc. but from what I have found, Bruce Wayne’s net worth is $80 billion dollars in Batman #93 (2018). Wayne Enterprises is estimated to be worth at around $31.3 billion dollars, and I’ll have to assume the rest is from his other smaller companies and or his investments that have been proven to be profitable and successful.

“How did Bruce Wayne get so rich?”

He was rich even before he was even born. His wealth comes from his long line of family. When Bruce’s great, great, great grandfather bought property back when Gotham was more of a small town and less of a busy city. This real estate fortune grew rapidly overtime and was passed onto Bruce’s great grandfather, Alan Wayne. Alan was the one who developed the railroads as well as the shipping ports and chemical plants in Gotham city. And this all happened during the Industrial Revolution. Bruce’s grandfather, Patrick Wayne, then inherited the companies that Alan had built. Patrick then created the Wayne Corporation, AKA Waynecorp after the Great Depression and the company expanded into technology. They then supplied the American army with aircraft’s and ships during the pacific war. Then this company was passed onto Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne, who built Gotham’s monorail, and then Bruce eventually inherited it himself.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Melodic "B Queen V2"

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Melodic "B Queen V2" @heygroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK has had a busy 2024:  The JOVM mainstay began the year with a two-track release through Techno Parade titled Job Done, which featured “Job Done,” a glitchy and swaggering bit of techno meets footwork featuring machine gun-like skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with tweeter and woofer rattling thump. It’s an accessible…

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Total $hit$how: Bombs Away

in which Joy overcomes her boredom

cw: adult language

previous ///// masterlist ///// next

×~×~×

Things went from exciting to uneventful in record time. Even though they were on a supposed ‘tight schedule’, all they did was train and practice and practice and train.

Joy was no stranger to training overkill; she'd experienced it plenty in the army, but that at least made some sense. The army was full of dumbass kids who came in not knowing which way was up. Here wasn't. 

...With maybe the exception of Harbor. The guy looked thirty, but sure as hell acted like a dumbass kid. It was hard for her to pinpoint how old he actually was.

Not that it really mattered. No matter their age, skill, or background, they were all monkeys in the same shitshow.

They'd been here for close to a week now, and they still hadn't been given more info for the all important file. Not to mention the fact that the mission made no sense to her.

Sure, they were all skilled. Jericho had proven he could bust down cyber walls better than a digital wrecking crew, and she'd seen Benji crack every lock Sahota tossed his way in seconds. Even Kaius, for all his insufferability, was adept at finding little details the rest of them missed. And though Harbor followed directions about as well as a deaf rat would follow the pied piper, he still had the biotech to give him an edge on whatever Sahota tasked them with.

Skills aplenty. But why couldn't whoever���d sought them out just helo some mercenaries to whatever floor the secret tech shit was on and bust it up? Why did it require so much finesse? If it was so important, if leaving the program alone would potentially doom the city, what was with all the secrecy? And maybe most importantly, why couldn't the almighty Sahota and Vic do it themselves?

It probably wasn't her business. She probably just didn't care enough about the polite subtleties tech conglomerates required to give a shit.

But the powers that be demanded secrets and fine tuning, so fuck it, she'd play their game.

Training was fun enough, but Joy could stand to complain about their downtime options. As far as she could tell, they could either read, work out in the gym that was set up on the far side of the training room, or mindlessly wander the hallways.

She'd checked out the little library, and hadn't found many books she was interested in reading. There was barely a shelf's worth of nonfiction; old equipment manuals and biographies of people she’d never heard of. There was a significantly higher amount of classic literature. The kind of shit you had to read in school, and probably her least favorite genre. She'd sifted through the paperbacks anyway, if only out of boredom. The most worn book was a copy of the dreaded 1984, and when she flipped through its pages, she found tally marks. A shit ton of them, like someone had been bored and just wanted to see how many they could make.

There were maybe a hundred to a page, carefully drawn in the margins. Weird as they were, Joy couldn't find anything that gave them context, even after devoting an evening to checking the rest of the books for markings.

Maybe someone had a weird sense of humor and just wanted to put down 1,984 tallies. Either way, it didn't seem worth it to lose her mind over, so at the end of the night, she'd just shelved it and gone to bed. That had only been day two. Who knew how much time she'd have to kill while waiting for the mission to kick off?

The compound was woefully lacking in the engineering department. It didn't even have a proper toolbox, at least not one she'd been able to find, and Joy resorted to swiping little bits of cutlery and disposables to build shit. Nothing useful, just little things to entertain herself.

Day three, she made a working crossbow out of toothpicks and dental floss. Day four, a tiny model plane crafted from broken plastic cutlery. By day seven, she was on the verge of dismembering the AC unit in her room, just to see if she'd be able to fix it without a manual.

Joy pondered if it would be worth it as the crew stood half-awake on the sparring side of the training room, waiting for the morning’s session to begin. Of course, she didn't exactly have tools, but maybe she could improvise something.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed everyone else suddenly look towards the door, and made an effort to point her gaze in the same direction and pretend to pay attention, even though her mind was elsewhere.

It was Vic who walked in. A little weird, since it was usually Sahota strutting through the doors, but Joy brushed it off.

“Good morning, everyone,” Vic said.

“Good morning,” she parroted with the rest.

Maybe she could find a butter knife in the kitchen? With enough dedication, she could probably shape it into a half-decent flathead.

“I heard you've all been doing well in your training,” Vic continued.

What if she ran into an allen bolt though? Well, if it wasn't recessed she could probably finger-loosen it with enough dedication, but if it was—

“Today I'm going to test your skills.”

Joy's gaze suddenly sharpened. A test? That was new. Did that mean they were finally close to getting this show on the road? She raised her hand, and waited for Vic to look her way.

“How are you gonna do that?”

“I've laid out a mock mission. I'll give you all an objective, and see how quickly you can meet it. And perhaps more importantly, how you meet it.” He folded his arms, offering a friendly smile. “I'm afraid I haven't had the time to watch every one of Sahota's sessions. I’d like to see how it's coming along with my own eyes.”

“Where is Sahota?” Kaius asked from beside her.

“He's on a mission. A real one.” Vic chuckled. “Can't come to the phone right now and all that.”

“What sort of mission?”

“Well now, I can't go handing you all the details, Mr. Manak. I'm sure you understand.”

Joy had already assumed Sahota was going somewhere. This morning, she'd caught him and Vic in the kitchen and she swore they'd been about to kiss. She'd awkwardly excused herself then ran to tell Jericho.

Poor Jer needed something to distract himself with. The two of them had learned that there was no wifi in the computer lab way back on day one. And since they couldn't leave the compound and didn't have communication devices of their own, that meant they were effectively cut off from the rest of the world.

Which did make sense, considering all the top secrets they'd supposedly be exposed to. Not to mention the fact that the base’s location was probably a secret in itself.

Joy could deal. Her family was used to her going months without contact. Jer, on the other hand, was used to working from home. He had a kid now, a six year old daughter, and fuck had it really been that long since she'd last seen him?

They’d only had a semester's worth of compsci partnership before she'd deployed for the third time, but they'd really hit it off. Kept in touch, more or less, though she'd never mentioned her shady weapons dealings and he'd never mentioned his secret hacker missions. Which made them even. And now their respective skills had brought them back together, so Joy couldn't complain.

She was a little hurt that he'd never mentioned his kid, but given his skillset, she got it. You could never be too safe when you had both a family and a dangerous hobby.

“Her name's Arabella,” he'd told her, passing over a wallet-sized photo of a grinning girl with an assortment of wildflowers poking out of her softly-coiled afro. “Her mom took that on her birthday this year. She wanted a fairy princess party. That's the reason for all the flowers.”

“She's adorable.”

“She's a handful,” Jer said, smiling a proud-dad smile as he put away the picture. “She's the only reason I agreed to do this.”

Joy didn't have to ask what he meant. She didn't know what was at stake for the rest of the team, but for the two of them, it was just as much about protecting their loved ones as it was staying out of jail. It wasn't the government she had to worry about, or pride, or how society might judge her family. It was old enemies. People who would see her picture on the news and suddenly know where to look for her weaknesses. She imagined Jericho was in the exact same boat.

Vic clapped his hands together; a relatively soft sound, but enough to jerk her focus back into the moment.

“If everyone is ready, I'll brief you on your tasking.” He strolled over to one of the built-in metal cabinets that lined the sparring area, punching in a code on a keypad that prompted the doors to slide open. Inside, on the shelves, were what Joy could only describe as high-tech basketballs.

Or at least they were roughly the size and shape of a basketball. Most similarities ended there. They were smooth metal, with fine seams that suggested interior electronics, and a lense that was almost like… no shit.

“Are those robots?” Joy blurted out, forgetting to raise her hand this time.

Vic smiled. “Sharp, Miss Cavan. They are. Or drones, rather.” He took one in his hands, thumbing a button on the side, and the thing whirred to life, lifting itself from Vic’s grasp and hovering there.

Joy watched it with wide eyes. How was it floating? There was no propelling system or engine she could see, was it—?

“Electromagnetism,” Vic said, as if answering her thoughts. “We have a weak field that covers the training grounds.”

“Fancy stuff,” Jericho murmured.

“Is that our task?” Benji asked, gesturing at the drone. It swiveled in the air, facing its camera towards him, and he took a cautious step back. “Those… thingies?”

“On the contrary,” Vic said, moving to activate the other two. “The drones will act as a stand-in for armed security guards. They'll attempt to prevent you from reaching your goal.”

Benji gave an exaggerated wince. “But the drones aren't armed, are they?”

“They are.”

Joy's eyes flew to the trio of bots, scanning for weapons capabilities. Based on their size, they didn't have the carrying capacity for ammo or a full auto system. Not that she assumed Vic was willing to shoot them, but…

“Each drone is equipped with the equivalent of a cattle prod. Nothing that'll do permanent damage, but enough to give you a sting.”

Benji took a bigger step backwards. At this point, Joy was probably the only one in range of said ‘equivalent of a cattle prod’, but she didn't care. If anything, she wanted them to come at her so she could watch how they deployed their attack. Fuck, she’d give her left arm to take one of these apart. Maybe Vic would let her mess around with their armaments? She could probably devise a ranged electrical attack, if she could just get a look at the internals. She'd done similar shit in the gun shop, and she'd worked with some low-grade drones when she was still running arms overseas. Shouldn't be too tough to combine the two.

“What is our task?” Kaius took a step forward, so that he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her, his eyes on the drones. “What goal will they be trying to prevent us from reaching?”

At that, Vic drew out another metallic device, this one boxy and covered in so many screens and buttons Joy figured most were just for decoration.

Vic set it down, typing a quick sequence into a keypad next to the cabinet. A giant sound, like stone dominoes, echoed out from behind them, and Joy whirled around.

The concrete pad that stretched between the sparring mats and the gym equipment was moving, shifting around like tectonic fucking plates and rearranging into something that looked like an abstract painting; huge cement cubes stacking into a maze of stairs that nearly reached the ceiling.

“Holy shit,” Joy whispered. “How does that work?”

Vic chuckled. “I can’t give away every secret, Miss Cavan.”

“Can I come work for you guys?”

“We'll see.” He hefted up the metallic box, fidgeting with some of the buttons and dials on one of its faces.

“Alright, team, listen up,” Vic said, raising his voice to draw their attentions back from the newly formed obstacle course. “This,” he held up the box, “is a bomb.”

Joy raised her eyebrows, again scanning its surface. If it was a bomb, its fuzing was total overkill. But given her current surroundings, she guessed she shouldn't be too shocked.

“It's… like a real bomb?” Benji asked, but Vic’s only reply was a smile. He pressed a button, and the side facing them lit up in a garish, movie-style countdown. Digital red, seconds already ticking away.

“Shit,” Benji muttered.

“I trust you understand your goal then.” Vic pressed another button and the box spun out of his hands, hovering alongside the drones for a moment before disappearing into the maze of concrete that now stood in the center of the room.

“Evade the drones. Disarm the bomb. You have one hour.”

He grinned at the collection of shocked faces surrounding him.

“Try not to die.”

×~×~×

tag list:

@theonewithallthefixations

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

If Donald Trump returns to the White House, the fate of the U.S. press may rest on whether corporate executives who control mammoth multimedia conglomerates are willing to prioritize the journalistic credibility of the news outlets they oversee over their own business interests. 

Trump will put wealthy media magnates to the test, forcing them to decide whether they are willing to suffer painful consequences for keeping their outlets free of influence, or whether they will either compel their journalists to knuckle under or sell their outlets to someone who will. Trump spent his presidency demanding that his administration target his perceived political enemies with federal pressure — from regulatory action to criminal investigations — and says he would be even less restrained in enacting “retribution” in a second term. 

In recent months, prominent commentators have warned that the press could become such a target of Trump, whose own former top aides describe him as a fascist. New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger, in an extraordinary warning in the pages of The Washington Post, wrote last month that Trump takes as his model Hungary’s autocrat Viktor Orbán, who has “effectively dismantled the news media in his country” as “a central pillar of Orbán’s broader project to remake his country as an ‘illiberal democracy.’”  These fears that Trump would use a second term to crack down on the press are rational. The former president demands sycophantic coverage and describes those who do not provide it as the “enemy of the people.” Trump’s rhetoric and record show that he is keenly aware of the vulnerabilities some news outlets have and is eager to exploit them if he returns to the White House.

[...]

Corporate media owners are vulnerable to Trump’s pressure — and some are already bending

Trump’s presidency revealed the dark playbook he and his allies use against perceived enemies such as individual journalists. Its potential tactics include publicly denouncing reporters, stripping them of access, inciting supporters to target them with violence, threatening them with investigation, and sending federal agencies like the Justice Department after them. These heinous maneuvers could and likely would be used against journalists in a second Trump term.

But perhaps the greater threat to the free press as an institution comes from Trump’s ability to target for retaliation the corporate barons who control the newspapers, broadcast and cable networks, and other outlets that employ those journalists. While some publications like the Times are functionally standalone journalism businesses, many others are either small divisions within massive multimedia companies whose executives are ultimately responsible to stockholders or privately held entities that represent a tiny fraction of their owner’s assets. 

CNN is part of Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company that also owns film and TV studios, streaming services, and a host of other businesses.  Comcast provides cable and internet services to consumers and owns and operates broadcast and cable TV channels and a movie studio, in addition to overseeing NBC News and MSNBC.  CBS News is owned by Paramount Global. ABC News is part of the Walt Disney Co. 

Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post (where my wife works as letters and community editor) but his billions come from founding Amazon, which is the nation’s second-largest private employer with subsidiaries in industries from online retail to web services, artificial intelligence to groceries. Patrick Soon-Shiong used a fraction of the wealth he earned in biotech to purchase the Los Angeles Times. Trump understands that those broader corporate structures create a host of potential vulnerabilities an authoritarian president with no interest in preserving the rule of law could utilize against the owners of news outlets that displease him. Individuals and corporations that own major news outlets have other business interests that may rely on government contracts or federal patents or regulators who oversee their mergers and acquisitions and other practices.

The former president knows that even if journalists want to stand up to him, he can force their outlets to change course by threatening corporate executives and owners who have different priorities.  Trump does not just lash out at the Post — he targets the “Amazon Washington Post.” When he goes after NBC and MSNBC, he calls out Comcast’s CEO by name. He shares attacks on Disney’s Bob Iger as part of his war on ABC News.  He is telegraphing the future trouble he may bring down on the corporate owners if they do not bring their news outlets to heel — and forcing those owners to determine how much pain they are willing to endure over a division that likely provides a small fraction of the overall corporation's revenues.

Corporate executives also know that there are rewards for knuckling under and following the paths of avowed pro-Trump figures like Rupert Murdoch, whose multimedia empire includes right-wing fixtures Fox News and the New York Post, and David Smith, whose Sinclair Broadcasting Group is a telecommunications giant that owns and programs scores of TV stations. Both received favorable regulatory treatment during Trump’s presidency.

Matt Gertz wrote in MMFA today that Donald Trump and his cronies seek to silence adversarial “truth to power” journalism just like what Orbán, Chávez, and Erdoğan did to the press opposed to them.

[strangledwires]

I made this video! Tumblr won't let me upload it, so I uploaded it to YouTube instead. I thought it'll get a bigger audience there, anyway.

This is a comparison of the PlayStation 2 version of Tekken 4's beta release and final release. There are not many differences between the two, however, the prologues are different. The narrator's dialogue is different in the beta. It's slightly longer. He also does a different voice. (In Beta, he's raspier & whisper-y, in Final, he's deeper and clearer) Interestingly enough, other than some minor repositioning, the text on the images is the same as the Final's. (So that means the spoken narrator does not match the text) Although I've only played through Kazuya's & Jin's, I'm gonna assume all prologues are different.

This beta is from June 13th, 2002, 4 months before the Final Release.

It's understandable why the prologue dialogue was rewritten and voiced. In the Beta, he makes many redundancies, they're unnecessarily long, or statements that are better reworded.

Another difference I noticed, albeit an even smaller one, is that in Tekken Force, the enemies' names are slightly different. In the Beta, they all have an underscore somewhere in their names. In the Final version, the underscore has been removed.

If I notice anything else different, I'll post it. If people are interested, I'll also record all the beta prologues.

In case it's hard to hear what the narrator says due to his quieter voice, or because it's confusing due to the text saying different, I will put a transcript below the cut. Anything in italics indicates it's different from the Final version.

KAZUYA'S PROLOGUE

Defeated by Heihachi and thrown into the mouth of a volcano twenty years ago.

Kazuya was brought back to life by G Corporation, a biotech firm making revolutionary advances in the field of biogenetic research.

With G Corporation's aid, Kazuya investigated the biomechanics of the Devil Gene within his body by subjecting himself to genetic experiments. Kazuya believed that once he unlocked and controlled the power of the Devil Gene, he would be powerful enough to defeat Heihachi and destroy the Mishima Zaibatsu.

Twenty years later, the Tekken Forces attacked G Corporation's research facility without warning and succeeded in stealing research data from the Mishima Zaibatsu. Kazuya learned that he was also a target in the attack.

Infuriated by Heihachi's interference with his plans once again, Kazuya was determined more than ever to seek revenge against Heihachi. Kazuya instantly recognized the announcement of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 as a trap set by Heihachi to lure him out.

Despite this knowledge, Kazuya enters the tournament - it was his chance to defeat Heihachi.

JIN'S PROLOGUE

Brisbane, Australia.

A city crowded is buildings, new and old.

Nestled amongst the towering buildings of this city was a small dojo where Jin trained quietly, his face covered by the hood of his jacket.

Day after day, Jin trained in the traditional art of karate.

Ever since Heihachi's betrayal, Jin loathed everything about himself, his Mishima bloodline, his fighting style, the Devil Gene in his blood, everything.

He unlearned the Mishima-Ryu fighting style, thanks to the dojo master's training, and mastered traditional karate.

Jin's thoughts burned with desire to destroy the evil Mishima bloodline: the bloodline of his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, and his father, Kazuya.

One day, Jin heard rumors that the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 was announced. Without hesitation, Jin hardened his resolve to enter the tournament.

[sunsetcougar]

You wanna know what time it is? Biotech AU time! And we’ve finally gotten to the point in it where I get to start talking about one of my favorite bonds in this AU! The hurt is shifting a bit more towards hurt/comfort now.

While Lute is comatose Sera takes the role of her primary caretaker after being given a crash course in it, allowing the nurses to focus on the other exorcists. She spends most of her days in that hospital room, watching over Lute. She makes sure to keep her wings preened so there’s no risk of infection from damaged and dirty feathers (Lute already has enough infections to worry about), she makes sure everything stays clean, she dedicates herself to combing through the records to try and piece together Lute’s history, and often times Sera spends hours just talking to Lute. She tells her about what she’s working on, reads her books and poems, and hopes that Lute is getting some sort of comfort from not being alone.

Lute in many ways shows how badly Sera failed. An abducted sinner turned mad man’s puppet who has a soul so weak it’s at constant risk of fading if she loses her will to keep fighting. Sera is determined to try and heal even just a few of the wounds she caused. This is her fault, the least she can do is care for a single exorcist.

[syntaxpod]

At long last, through and into many dangers, comes the finale of Season 4 of Syntax. Episode 45: Leaving a Record is LIVE now!

PLEASE NOTE Episode 45 is releasing in two parts! They are going up together but it required splitting due to its size! For this reason, part 2 has had ads disabled for a more even viewing experience! (Lesson learned, we'll try to have that ironed out for our next and last season of Syntax!)

If you're seeing this before 5 PM EST on release day (August 9th), we're hosting a live listen on our YouTube! Link to the channel below, premiere forthcoming!

Thank you all so much for listening thus far! We hope you enjoyed the run of our fourth season! Until next time!