#Crane Inspector

[cranegodservices]

Tips to Ensure Safe Crane Operation

Cranes are essential pieces of equipment for a wide variety of industries, from construction to manufacturing to transportation. However, cranes can also be dangerous if they are not properly inspected and maintained. That’s why it’s important to have a qualified crane inspector conduct regular inspections of your cranes.

A crane inspector is a professional who is trained to identify and assess potential hazards on cranes. They will look for things like cracks, corrosion, and wear and tear that could compromise the safety of the crane. They will also check the crane’s operating systems and controls to make sure they are in good working order.

Crane inspections are typically required by law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that all cranes be inspected at least once a year. However, many states and municipalities have their own crane inspection requirements, which may be more stringent than OSHA’s requirements.

In addition to being required by law, crane inspections are also a good business practice. By having your cranes inspected regularly, you can help to prevent accidents and injuries. You can also avoid costly downtime and repairs.

Continue reading Tips to Ensure Safe Crane Operation

[elite-offshore]

A career as a crane operator can be quite lucrative and rewarding. However, this being a skill, depends on individual interest. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Crane operators are often in demand, especially in offshore, construction, shipping, and manufacturing industries. As infrastructure projects increase and construction continues to expand globally, the need for skilled crane operators remains steady.

2. Crane operators can earn a good income. Salaries vary based on factors such as location, experience, and type of crane operated, but generally, they can earn above-average wages.

3. Operating a crane requires specialized skills and training. As you gain experience and expertise, you may have opportunities to operate more advanced equipment or move into supervisory roles. The training for offshore Offshore Crane Operators are in 3 stages. It takes time to become an Offshore Crane Operator Stage 3 operator. Elite Offshore Pvt Ltd, based in Navi Mumbai, provides training and certification of crane operators for Mobile RT Crane, Offshore Crane, EOT Crane, Hydra & Farana etc. They also provide training and certification for Crane Inspectors. You may get in touch with them for more details..

4. As long as construction and related industries exist, crane operators will be needed. This provides a certain level of job stability, although economic fluctuations can affect demand to some extent.

5. Crane operators often work outdoors and in various weather conditions. They may also work at heights, which can be challenging for some individuals but exciting for others. The offshore crane operators work on offshore rigs. There are floating cranes with capacity in thousands of tonnes.

6. Operating heavy machinery like cranes comes with inherent risks. Safety protocols must be followed diligently to prevent accidents and injuries.

Thus a career as a crane operator can be fulfilling for those who enjoy working with heavy machinery, have a good sense of spatial awareness, and are committed to safety. It offers a combination of job stability, good pay, and opportunities for advancement for those willing to invest in training and gaining experience.

[hozaloza]

Who was the person that said Maverick looked like Inspector Gadget🤠...

WHOEVER YOU WERE, CREDITS TO YOU FOR INSPIRING ME TO MAKE THIS DUMB IMAGE

INSPECTOR MAVERICK

i didn't know who to make Brain,,,,,so I put Logan because I naturally assumed the dog was like surprisingly smart 🤠.....

Is that right??? I wouldn't know I don't think I've actually watched an episode from this show--

if I had, it was probably forgotten--

[russellcranebf]

im getting settled down after moving to mexico so i might not be too active :')

here is some art though!

[the-californicationist]

Ok but imagine price being a dockworker and coming to the bar the reader is a server at after long days. Smelling like the salt on salt, chest hair peeking thru his shirt. She knows his exact order down to how much froth he wants on his beer and he just melts into his chair once he sees her on shift but their asses won’t even kiss yet (they wanna fuck diiiirty in between all the barrels out back tho)

Thank you so much for the ask!! I wish I got more of these <3 I love impromptu writings!! ^_^

MDNI

Somehow, you knew it was him by the sound of your door. The way that it creaked and popped, and the force with which it knocked the tinkling little bell at the top - all of these noises were the same, or at least they should have been, no matter who was coming or going from your bar. The way the metal bolt clicked out of the frame, the way the warped wood of the threshold whined and bent, the way that one pane of glass shuddered in the top left corner... it shouldn't have sounded different when he walked in. But, it did.

He sat in his seat, objectively the worst one in your bar. It was out of the line of sight from the television, and it was down at the fruit-filled service end, far from the keg taps. It was where you ran credit cards and kept your phone to take breaks, and you flattered yourself that the reason he sat there was to spend time with you.

John Price was a piece of work, that was for sure. He would come by right before close and linger. It was nice to have someone walk you to your car, especially on cold nights, since you were so close to the docks. He'd ride his old Triumph over from his work as a shipping and receiving foreman in the harbor, and he'd smell like sweat and the salt from the sea. His clothes would reek of tobacco from those fat cigars he'd always smoke, and you knew his beard would smell like it, too.

You wondered what it felt like, his beard. You wondered if it was as soft as it looked. You wondered what he would say if you asked him to give you a ride back to his place on that old, worn-out bike and lay you on his bed so he could kiss you from behind that beard all night. You wondered, over and over when you lay in your own sheets alone, what it would feel like for him to drag that rough-shaven chin over the swell of your breast. How would it feel on the insides of your thighs? Would it hurt you?

"You want the usual?" You asked him, trying your best to concentrate on shining the glass in your hand and not about having his body between your legs.

He smiled up at you and nodded,

"Sure, love. The usual."

As you poured his lager, keeping a little extra foam at the top, just how he liked it, you caught yourself staring again.

It was cold out, so he was in a thick coat, but he never had his collar buttoned up. There was always a bit of his chest on view for you through the drab plaid shirts he wore. He had a cut tonight, and you could see it soaking through the white of his undershirt.

"You okay, John?" You set his beer down and motioned to his gash.

"Oh," he chuckled warmly, "Yeah. Just got a little too close to the off-loader crane and paid for it. No harm, really."

"Let me clean it up for you. C'mon," you opened the bar's side door and lifted it so he could duck underneath, taking his beer with him and following you upstairs to your office.

Your barback would take care of the two other patrons you had. It was a Tuesday after midnight. You could close without any harm done.

As John wandered into your space, he noticed your makeshift cot in the corner.

"Surely you're not sleepin' at work, love?"

You laughed a little nervously,

"Don't tell the health inspector on me. Have a seat in that chair. Lemme get the first-aid kit."

He sat. Your heart pounded in your throat. As you dug around for the kit, you felt your nerves fraying. Maybe you liked John a little more than you thought.

"Here. Alright, can you show me the cut?"

You knelt in front of him so you could be in line with the wound. You tried to clean it, but his clothes were getting wet.

"Oh, sorry. Uh -"

"Here, love," he shucked his jacket off and peeled his shirt off from his back, leaving it around his arms, pinned in the sleeves, "That better?"

You nodded, feeling your breath catch in your throat.

He was huge. It was almost monstrous, the way his body bulged out around his bones, enormous snapping muscles rolling around his shoulders and neck, making him look like an animal. He was covered in soft, brown fur, and as you went to touch him, you made a grave mistake.

You hesitated.

Ever observant, you knew he caught you stumbling over him, frozen in place like a scared doe. But, mercifully, he said nothing, and allowed you to get to work.

Clean. Dry. Salve. Bandage. Smooth the edges. Make an excuse to do it again, once more to seal it down.

"There, all done. You have been a very brave patient," you smiled up at him and went to box up the supplies back in their little tin.

"You know," he purred, "Brave patients usually get some sort of prize."

You laughed softly,

"Fresh out of lollies and peppermints, I'm afraid."

"Sure there isn't anything else you'd offer me to suck on, love?"

His voice was low, dark, and deep. It crawled to you on its belly from the bottom of the sea, from the pressures and the cold, black hell of the fathoms of the water, lapping at the sides of your boat, threatening to sink you. He looked at you like a tiger shark studies a diver, with a chilling curiosity from the mighty to the fragile, wondering what you taste like and deciding if he'll bite.

John's arms were still bound by his clothes. If you wanted to flee, you would've had plenty of head-start. But, you didn't. You were moving outside of your own volition. It was as if you were dreaming, watching yourself be piloted by an unknown force. You stared him down and stood, stepping right between his knees, forcing him to look up at you and wait for your reply.

You peeled off your white tee shirt, revealing your bare breasts to him. Going bra-less meant usually meant more tips, but tonight you weren't concerned about the money. You wanted him to praise you. You wanted to call his bluff. You wanted him to fuck you on the stack of kegs in the corner of your office and let the sharp metal rims dig into your belly as he stuffed his cock into you from behind.

His shirts were gone from his arms in a second, and he leaned forward just enough to put his face to your breast, letting you feel the heat of his breath on your skin, sighing into you. John held your eyes captive in his the whole time, as if he may look away and break the spell. Then, he watched you watch him take your nipple into his mouth, suckling on it as gently as he possibly could, as gently as anyone had ever done.

You trembled, letting go of a breath you'd been holding, looking down at him as he sucked your flesh between his wet lips. You were right about the smell of the tobacco.

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

September 17

1730 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (d.1794), also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines. He wrote the Revolutionary War Drill Manual, the book that served as the standard United States drill manual until the War of 1812.

In Germay, in 1776, he was alleged to be homosexual and was accused of improper sexual behavior with young boys. Whether or not Steuben was actually intimate with other men is not entirely known, but the rumors compelled him to seek employment elsewhere.

On September 26, 1777, the Baron, his Italian greyhound, Azor (which he took with him everywhere), his young aide de camp Louis de Pontière, his military secretary Pierre Etienne Duponceau, and two other companions, reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire and by December 1, was extravagantly entertained in Boston. Congress was in York, Pennsylvania, after being ousted from Philadelphia by the British advance. By February 5, 1778, Steuben had offered to volunteer without pay (for the time), and by the 23rd, Steuben reported for duty to General George Washington at Valley Forge. He served as George Washington's chief of staff in the final years of the war.

Two of the General's soldiers, William North and Ben Walker, were to von Steuben's liking. He legally adopted both men, and they lived together until the Baron's death, at which time they shared in his estate.

The Lafayette Park Memorial

Many places are named in his honor, including Steubenville, Ohio. His monument by Albert Jaegers in Washington, DC, across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park, is perhaps one of the most homoerotic sculptures in America. Make sure and pay a visit the next time you're in town. You will not regret it.

1904 – Sir Frederick Ashton (d.1988) began his career as a dancer but is largely remembered as a choreographer.

Ashton was born at Guayaquil in Ecuador, in the artistic neighbourhood called Las Peñas, the original founding site of the city. When he was 13 he witnessed a life-changing event when he attended a performance by the legendary Anna Pavlova in the Municipal Theatre in Lima, Peru. He was so impressed that from that day on he knew he would become a dancer.

In 1919 he went to England to attend Dover College and then to study under the famous Leonide Massine and established a working relationship with the ballet troupe belonging to Marie Rambert and Ninette de Valois. Rambert discovered Frederick's aptitude for choreography and allowed him to choreograph his first ballet, The Tragedy of Fashion in 1926, starting a tremendously successful career as a choreographer.

He began his career with the Ballet Rambert which was originally called The Ballet Club, but he rose to fame with The Royal Ballet, becoming its resident choreographer in the 1930s. His version of La Fille mal gardée was particularly successful. He worked with Margot Fonteyn among others. His broad travesti performances as one of the comic Ugly Stepsisters in Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella were annual events for many years.

The choreographer's emotional life focused on the unattainable and the unsuitable, and it often wreaked havoc in his ballet company, as when, in the case of the heterosexual Michael Somes (Fonteyn's principal partner), the beloved enjoyed and exploited favoritism to the point that other dancers signed a petition of protest.

Ashton, like so many other famous gay men of his epoch, including Cecil Beaton and Noël Coward, was necessarily discreet, but he was not closeted. The British high society in which he moved enjoyed the scintillating company.

Ashton was a member of the circle of gay men who surrounded Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, whom he taught to tango. When she heard that Ashton, a formidable mimic, did imitations of her, she allegedly retaliated by imitating his own queenly manners.

In 1962, he was knighted for his services to ballet. He died in 1988 at his home, Chandos Lodge, in Eye, Suffolk, England.

1926 – Curtis Harrington (d.2007) was an American film and television director whose work included experimental films, horror films, and episodic television. He is considered one of the forerunners of New Queer Cinema.

His memoir, Nice Guys Don’t Work in Hollywood, was recently published by Drag City. The original manuscript was disinterred from a special collection in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and carefully edited by Lisa Janssen, a Chicago-based poet, archivist, and film buff.

For Harrington, the romance with movies began early. He was stirred as a child by the sight of Mr. Death wilting a bouquet of flowers with his breath in Death Takes a Holiday (1934).

Growing up in Beaumont, California, with parents who gave him leeway to pursue his creative interests, Harrington discovered a soul mate in Edgar Allan Poe, and began his film career at 14 with an abbreviated version of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The director plays both the death-haunted Roderick and his twin sister, Madeline.

Greatly influenced by Maya Deren, co-creator (with Alexander Hammid) of the trance classic Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), he completed a cycle of 16 mm shorts, several of which – Fragment of Seeking (1946), Picnic (1948), On the Edge (1949) – are now regarded as prime examples of West Coast experimental filmmaking. His friendship with Kenneth Anger, director of Scorpio Rising (1963) and author of the notorious bestseller Hollywood Babylon, fueled an appreciation for the mystical and provided occasion to participate, if only peripherally, in the Southern California occult explosion.

Although he enjoyed unfettered creative license during this period, the pressure to conform weighed heavily on the young filmmaker. The conservative postwar climate was an unlikely breeding ground for the deeply personal, highly stylized "film poems" created by Harrington and his contemporaries. His status as an outsider was no doubt intensified by his orientation as a gay man – a subject on which Harrington remains subdued throughout the memoir. "This seemed perfectly natural to me," Harrington writes of his teenage attractions. "It did not occur to me to attach any sense of guilt or shame to my activities." A screening of Fragment of Seeking and Anger’s Fireworks (1947) stunned an audience of Los Angeles intellectuals with its potently surreal evocations of homoerotic desire. "Everyone in the room was too shocked to say a word," Harrington recalls.

The true turning point in his career was the extraordinary Night Tide (1961), a gently haunting fable about a sailor (an uncharacteristically shy Dennis Hopper) who falls in love with a mermaid impersonator (Linda Lawson). Night Tide was distributed by Roger Corman, who in due course offered Harrington two directing assignments: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) and Queen of Blood (1966). Harrington was given the task of repurposing a couple of Russian science fiction films to which Corman had acquired the rights.

In the following years he went on to direct a series of B-movies in the horror genre TV series and Made-for-TV movies including The Killer Bees (1974).

At 75, he managed to summon the remainder of his creative vigor to make Usher (2002), a self-financed short film that brought his career full circle. "I went all the way back to the story that had haunted me so early in my life,"

1928 – Roddy McDowall (d.1998) was born in London on to a Scottish father and an Irish mother. His mother, who had herself aspired to be an actress, enrolled him in elocution lessons at the age of five; and at the age of ten he had his first major film role as the youngest son in Murder in the Family (1938). Over the next two years he appeared in a dozen British films, in parts large and small. McDowall's movie career was interrupted, however, by the German bombardment of London in World War II. Accompanied by his sister and his mother, he was one of many London children evacuated to places abroad.

As a result, he arrived in Hollywood in 1940, and the charming young English lad soon landed a major role as the youngest son in How Green Was My Valley (1941). The film made him a star at thirteen, and he appeared as an endearing boy in numerous Hollywood movies throughout the war years, most notably Lassie, Come Home (1943), with fellow English child star and lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor, and My Friend Flicka (1943).

By his late teens, McDowall had outgrown the parts in which he had been most successful. Accordingly, he went to New York to study acting and to hone his skills in a wide variety of roles on the Broadway stage.

McDowall was praised for his performance as a gay character in Meyer Levin's Compulsion (1957), a fictionalised account of the Leopold-Loeb murder case; and he won a Tony award for best supporting actor as Tarquin in Jean Anouilh's The Fighting Cock (1960).

After a decade's absence, McDowall returned to Hollywood, and over the last four decades of his life he appeared in more than one hundred films, encompassing a wide range of genres from sophisticated adult comedy to children's fare, from horror to science fiction, usually as a character actor. He also made regular character appearances on TV in such series as the original Twilight Zone, The Carol Burnett Show, Fantasy Island and Quantum Leap.

His best known appearances include those in The Subterraneans (1960), Midnight Lace (1960), Cleopatra (1963), The Loved One (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), Planet of the Apes (1968) and its various sequels, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), The Poseidon Adventure (1973), Funny Lady (1975), and Only the Lonely (1991). His last film role was the voice of Mr Soil, an ant, in A Bug's Life (1997).

Although McDowall never officially came out, the fact that he was gay was one of Hollywood's best known secrets. It is a tribute to his characteristic discretion and the respect with which "Hollywood's Best Friend" was regarded by his peers that his homosexuality was never really an issue or used against him in his six decades in the entertainment business.

Roddy is offered a hot sausage by Tab Hunter

McDowall died of cancer at his home in Studio City, California, on October 3, 1998. At the time of his death, he held several elected posts in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was a generous benefactor of many film-related charities.

1965 – Bryan Singer is an American film director. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially popular among fans of the sci-fi and comic book genres, for his work on the first two X-Men films and Superman Returns.

Singer was born in New York City. He was adopted by Norbert and Grace Singer and grew up in a Jewish household in New Jersey. He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, then studied film making at New York's School of Visual Arts and later the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. Actors Lori and Marc Singer are his cousins.

Singer is openly bisexual, and has said that his life experiences of growing up as a minority influenced his movies. In October 2014, it was confirmed he was expecting a child with actress Michelle Clunie. The couple's first son was born on January 5, 2015.

Singer is also executive producer and directed the pilot and first episode of highly regarded TV medical drama House.

Singer is said (or rumoured) to be involved in a number of possible or 'in development' projects at present including: a Superman Returns sequel; a remake of Logan's Run; a Warner Bros. film called U Want Me 2 Kill Him? about a 14-year old British boy who was charged with inciting his own murder, a reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, and a film of Augusten Burroughs' Sellevsion.

In April 2014, Singer was accused in a civil lawsuit of sexual assault of a minor. According to the suit filed by attorney Jeff Herman, Singer is alleged to have drugged and raped actor and model Michael Egan in Hawaii and Los Angeles in the late 1990s. On May 22, 2014, Singer's attorney presented evidence to Federal District Judge Susan Oki Mollway stating that neither Singer nor Egan were in Hawaii at the time. In early August 2014, Egan sought to withdraw his lawsuit.

In May 2014, another lawsuit was filed by attorney Jeff Herman on behalf of an anonymous British man. Both Singer and producer Gary Goddard were accused of sexually assaulting "John Doe No. 117." According to the lawsuit, Goddard and Singer met the man for sex when he was a minor and engaged in acts of "gender violence" against him while in London for the premiere of Superman Returns. The charge against Singer in this case was dismissed, at the accuser's request, in July 2014.

1975 – Jade Esteban Estrada, born at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, is a successful Latin pop singer, comedian, choreographer, actor, political commentator, and human rights activist. Out Magazine called him "the first gay Latin star."

As a young boy, he participated in extracurricular school activities and sang in the school choir, where he first noticed that his talent captivated audiences. Through the encouragement of his choir instructor he began to take voice lessons and eventually moved to New York where he worked as an assistant to Tony award-winning actress Zoe Caldwell.

Estrada appeared in the German production of Starlight Express and also worked as a dancer for Seventeen Magazine. After two popular appearances as a transgender singer/dancer on NBC's The Jerry Springer Show, he won the attention of Latin TV personality Charo and worked as her choreographer and lead dancer. He gained international recognition in 1998 when he released his first Latin pop single, "Reggae Twist" on the Brooklyn-based Total Envision Records label. He later turned his attention to solo theater and stand-up comedy.

His recordings include Fabulous Gay Tunes Vol.2, and��Being Out Rocks.

1991 – Scott Hoying is an American singer, musician and songwriter who came to international attention as the baritone of the a cappella group Pentatonix and one-half of the music duo Superfruit. As of June 2021, Pentatonix has released eleven albums (two of which have been number ones) and two EPs, have had four songs in the Billboard Hot 100, and won three Grammy Awards as "the first a cappella group to achieve mainstream success in the modern market". As of November 2021, Superfruit's YouTube channel has over 2.4 million subscribers, and over 444 million views.

Hoying is openly gay and resides in Hollywood. He began dating model Mark Manio in 2017. They got engaged in the Bahamas on April 13, 2022, and were married in Santa Barbara, California on July 7, 2023. Their wedding was officiated by singer-songwriter Christina Perri.

2001 – Paul Holm, the partner of Flight 93 hero Mark Bingham is presented with the folded American flag.

[zenigatakeibu]

It is a game of precision, of skill and stakes-- and yes, even good ol' fashioned luck. Jaw clenched, one steely-eyed inspector watches the crane make its slow decent. He's sweating, can feel the moisture creeping up his neck and across the small of his back. His poor stomach is in knots. Steady... Steady... No dice. Its clumsy claws fumble before they even begin to rise; the toy falls right back into the pile it was plucked from, staring just as blankly as it has all night.

Oh, he could cry. He really, truly could. Out ¥5,000 and one too many hours of his time, it's as if this arcade is hellbent on crushing what little joy Zenigata has left.

.. But in goes another hopelessly crumpled bill. Lights flash, music plays-- a five second eternity as the machine springs back to life. The calm before the storm. By now he's tuned it all out. Instead he white-knuckles the joystick, easing it forward as the plastic all but threatens to shatter beneath those thick fingers of his.

He isn't leaving without that goddamn LUPIN PLUSHIE.

[queenofcats17]

The Ink Demonth 14

Today's theme is Steam.

===========================================

If there was one thing Wally hated about getting roped into doing mechanical work, it was the conditions it had been to be done in. Janitorial work could be messy, sure, but it didn't usually require him to crawl into tight spaces to fiddle with things.

Which was what he was currently being required to do.

Currently, he, Tom, and Lacie were in the studio boiler room, trying to work out what was going on with a clog in the pipes.

"I don't see why we can't just call a plumber for this kinda stuff," Wally groaned, tugging on the collar of his shirt. "This isn't any of our jobs!"

"Drew's too cheap to hire a plumber," Tom grumbled from his perch on a step ladder.

"Especially not when he's got perfectly good free labor to throw at it," Lacie agreed, rolling her eyes as she fiddled with the boiler.

Wally groaned, throwing his hands up. "I tell ya! If I gotta do any more of these extra jobs-"

"You're outta here," Lacie and Tom said in unison. "We know."

Wally went a bit pink, ducking his head. If he hadn't taken his hat off due to the heat in the room, he probably would have been tugging it down over his face at this point.

"Yeah yeah, alright, I get it," he mumbled. "...You guys makin' any progress in figurin' out what's goin' on?"

"Other than the fact that it's a miracle this thing still runs?" Lacie tapped the side of the ancient boiler. "Nope."

"I'm not seeing where the clog might be," Tom said, craning his head around the pipes. "I- Fuck!" He was cut off as a blast of steam came out of one of the open pipes, blowing onto his hand and causing him to drop the wrench he'd been using.

"You alright?" Wally hurried over to the ladder.

"Shit... I'm fine," Tom said through gritted teeth, clutching his hand to his chest.

"Go run it under cold water for a little." Lacie didn't look up from her tinkering. "Don't want you getting burned."

"I'll be fine," Tom insisted as he went to pick up his wrench.

Lacie finally looked up, fixing Tom with a look that gave no room for argument. "Go run your hand under cold water," she repeated firmly. "The pipes aren't going anywhere."

Tom hesitated for a moment before letting his shoulders slump. "Fine. I'll be right back," he muttered before leaving the room.

Wally watched him leave with wide eyes. "How'd you do that?" He whispered once Tom was gone.

"I've had a lot of practice," Lacie replied. "Now you get up there and see if you can find the clog."

Wally had the good sense not to argue with her because he knew he absolutely was not going to win this argument and got up on the step ladder. "I'm startin' to wonder if there even is a clog," he said as he started to poke around.

"Might not be." Lacie shrugged. "Could just be that this thing," she hit the boiler again for emphasis. "Is finally giving up the ghost."

"It's kinda a miracle anythin' works around here," Wally said. Now it was his turn to nearly drop the wrench due to a blast of steam, but he managed to avoid getting hit.

"Ain't that the truth." Lacie cast a disgusted look around the room. "How'd y'all get all this past inspectors?"

"Pretty sure Mr. Drew pays 'em off," Wally said, tentatively sticking his hand into a pipe. "Or some of 'em, at least."

"Of course he does." Wally started a bit at the sound of Tom's voice as he reentered the room. "Found anything yet?"

"I think there's.... somethin' in here," Wally said, shifting to stick his arm further into the pipe. "I can feel something back here... Aha!" He pulled his arm out, triumphantly holding up a clump of... something. It wasn't clear just what the thing was, just that it looked... pretty disgusting.

"Nice job, Franks." Tom allowed himself a small smile.

"I'm almost done too," Lacie said. "Or as done as I can be."

"Whaddaya mean?" Wally climbed off the ladder.

"There's a lot of problems with this thing that I just can't fix," Lacie explained. "It'd honestly be easier just to replace it."

"But we know Drew won't do that," Tom concluded, running a hand over his face with a sigh.

"Exactly." Lacie nodded.

"Well, we did what we could." Wally shrugged slightly.

"We did what we could." Tom echoed in agreement. "And if Drew wants more, he can damn well hire someone else to fix it."

"Yeah!" Wally held up his hand for a high five. The hand that was still holding the unidentifiable lump. Tom's eyes flicked from the clump to Wally and he shook his head. Wally frowned for a moment before seeming to realize what Tom meant.

"Aw, shoot. Lemme take care of this," he said before hurrying out of the room to take care of the clump.

Tom let out a small snort of laughter. He didn't know how Wally could remain in such good spirits all the time but... It was kind of life-affirming. He wished he could have that kind of positivity.

[mazm-imagines]

Dr. Jekyll can I ask a question?

I've recently learned that the average height for men (at least in Victorian times) is 5'4" – 5'5". That means you're a lot taller than the average man! How does it feel, being basically a giant wherever you go?

"I do not think I'm that tall... Am I?" Jekyll pondered to himself.

Well maybe there were times he would have to crane his neck downwards... especially to his lab assistant.

But that delivery boy- Alan. He had no trouble at all facing his eyes. Nor the Inspector Newcoman.

Was it really that strange?

"I suppose I am a giant then! How wonderful the human body can be. So many different people of different shapes and sizes... God has blessed each and every one of us."

[railwaysparrow]

Culdee grumbled as he tried to make his way to the summit. An inspector from the Mainland, who didn't understand mountain railways, had insisted they have a crane trialled.

It was an awkward thing & due to the steep grade each puff sent the hook straight into Culdee's face!

[ask-nightmare-and-others]

Hilda Crane pins Inspector down with her ass.

@liam-and-co-fatty-zone

Inspector: -he was pinned down by Hilda's ass-

[denimbex1986]

'He's known around the world for his roles in Peaky Blinders, Dunkirk and now Christopher Nolan's highly praised Oppenheimer.

Yet Cillian Murphy, 47, is famously private - offering only a sliver of detail about himself throughout his years in the spotlight.

So just what do we know about the Irish star? Here, FEMAIL delves into the father-of-two's home life, early career and family as we take a look at the insights Cillian has shared with his fans.

The Tommy Shelby actor was born in Cork in 1976 to a mother who taught French, while his father, Brendan, worked as a schools inspector before moving to the Department of Education. His grandfather, aunts and uncles were also teachers.

But not wanting to follow the family tradition of working in education, Cillian pursued a career in the arts after getting a 'huge high' from his drama module at Catholic secondary school Presentation Brothers College.

However, his first performing love turned out not to be acting - instead he turned his talents toward music.

Cillian and his The Sons of Mr. Green Genes bandmates, which included his brother, were even offered a five-album record deal.

However, they were forced to turn down the opportunity by his parents, with the actor explaining: 'My brother was still in school. I was 18 and he was 16, the idea of losing two of us was just too outrageous and horrifying for them so it didn't happen and then everything just kind of fell apart.

'In retrospect, the music industry is just terrible. Unless you're super successful it's really hard to make a living. We’d have crashed and burned pretty quickly in that industry,' Cillian told the Armchair Expert podcast, via The Irish Examiner.

The Corkman went on to study law at University College Cork before he dropped out in an effort to break out into the world of acting

But recalling the moment he told his parents of his decision, he said: 'It wasn't a happy moment in our family history', reported The Independent.ie.

Cillian also discussed his 'pretty average upbringing' in a video with Vice, saying: 'I grew up in Cork, my parents are teachers.

'Pretty average, middle-class upbringing, you know? They were, I think, probably anxious that I did well at school and went to college, did all that stuff.

'I foolishly decided to pursue a law degree. But I was playing music. I was playing in a band, and I just started acting then.

'Those two things were happening and they became much more important than going to college. I didn't really go in at all, and I failed gloriously in the first year.'

But he soon found success as an actor, appearing in late 90s Irish film Disco Pigs and Danny Boyle's violent horror 28 Days Later in 2002.

He's also known for his appearance in director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy as the villainous Dr Jonathan Crane and his alter-ego Scarecrow.

Most famously, he played Birmingham gang boss Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders for six seasons from 2013 to 2022 - but said he couldn't have stuck to the work schedule without his 'amazing wife'.

He married Irish artist Yvonne McGuinness in 2004, after the pair first met at one of his rock band's shows in 1996. They went on to have two children together, Malachy, 17, and Aran, 16.

Cillian told GQ of his work schedule: 'I couldn't do this without [my wife] and her understanding. But it is a struggle.

'I think it is for any dad whose work takes him away, which it generally does, and which consumes him, which my work does.'

He added: 'I make sure that I try not to go from job to job to job, because that means you live in a bubble of set, hotel, set, hotel, plane, film festivals - which, to me, is not reality. So I just check out from that for six months a year.'

Cillian and his family now live in Dublin after he reportedly splashed out close to £1.7million on a Victorian townhouse.

The four-storey home, originally built in 1863, is located in Monkstown, south Co. Dublin, and has six double bedrooms as well as four receptions rooms.

However while the family are now based in Dublin, his sons were born in London and stayed there until 2015 before they all moved to Ireland, with the actor joking they moved because his sons were developing 'very posh English accents'.

'We were in London for 14 years, both our kids were born there. We only came back to Dublin in 2015,' he told the Armchair Expert podcast.

'It's kind of an Irish story, you know, to move away, do your thing and then come home. That seems to be a common narrative for Irish people.

'We wanted the kids to be Irish, and they were sort of at that age where they were preteens and they had very posh English accents and I wasn’t appreciating that too much. Our parents are a certain age and it was just a nice time to come home.'

The 5ft7 star also noted that his sons were almost taller than him.

It also seems he won't be following in the footsteps of the acting elite, claiming he 'couldn’t envisage' upping sticks to Los Angeles.

Cillian said: 'I love visiting and I love the food and I do love the weather. I don’t know, I just feel European, I just feel Irish. I’d feel like a bit of an interloper if I lived in California, I couldn’t envisage living there permanently.''

[aro-simp]

Pinned Post:

Hi! Y'all can call my Sean (he/it + cyber/glitch/[redacted])! This is a sideblog, I follow and like from @couple-of-assbutts

I'm plural, which may be talked about here occasionally, as fictive parts also partake in selfshipping. Plurality is a complex topic, don't berate us on how we talk about our own system!

We don't do shipcourse, and have no DNI!

I tag nsfw as nsft! Other than that I don't really have a tag system, tho I may tag some specific f/o's or sources.

I don't have a consistent stand on sharing, so if in doubt about a specific F/O just shoot me an ask!

F/O list is beneath the Read More!

In brackets are shipnames I'll hopefully use for tagging purposes

Fictoromantic F/Os:

Inspector Lestrade - Sherlock Holmes [Clueless Love]

Bassa Selim - Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2022 Bielefeld production) [Felix Amor]

Tim Bradford - The Rookie [Tough Luck]

Queerplatonic F/Os (this list is not, and probably will never be, complete):

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell - Top Gun [PsyMav] (soulbonded)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw - Top Gun: Maverick [RoosPsy]

Nick "Goose" Bradshaw - Top Gun [GoosePsy]

Jack Traven - Speed

Gregory House - House MD

Robert Chase - House MD

Lawrence Kutner - House MD

Ninth Doctor - Doctor Who

The Author - Doctor Who OC [Quill-N-Drill]

Simm!Master - Doctor Who [Your Lord And Master]

Captain Jack Harkness - Doctor Who

Rebecca Crane - Assassin's Creed

Desmond Miles - Assassin's Creed

Wyll - Baldur's Gate 3

Karlach - Baldur's Gate 3

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow - Batman Begins

Bane - The Dark Knight Rises

Almond Cookie + Tea Knight Cookie - Cookie Run

Eddie Brock - Venom

Hobie Brown - Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse

Gollum - Lord of The Rings

Shane - Stardew Valley

Javier Esposito + Kevin Ryan - Castle

Jerry Tyson - Castle

Ilya Sokurov - The Rookie

Jared Stone - Castle

Ivan - Die Fledermaus (2022 Bielefeld production)

Figaro - Barber of Sevilla (2023 Bielefeld production)

Agent Stone - Sonic

Adam - Hazbin Hotel

Sir Pentious - Hazbin Hotel

Reginald Thorpe - Moriarty

Rodney Lambert - Moriarty

Farengar Secret-Fire - Skyrim

Rune - Skyrim

Dr John Watson - Sherlock Holmes

Dorian Gray - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Henry Clerval - Frankenstein

Robert Walton - Frankenstein

Matthew Asquith - Sherlock Holmes: Der Erpresser von Edinburgh

Cicero - Skyrim

Crowley - Good Omens

Aragorn - Lord of The Rings

Gavin Reed - Detroit: Become Human

Jacob Frye - Assassin's Creed [Jaccup]

John Standish - Assassin's Creed [IT Noob]

Sexual F/Os (almost all my selfship have a sexual component, these however are exclusively sexual F/Os):

Cahir - The Witcher (Netflix)

Ancano - Skyrim

Julius Caesar - Asterix

Platonic and Familial F/Os (very very shortened version):

Viggo Grimborn - Dragons: Race To The Edge

Toothless - How To Train Your Dragon (Movies)

Oscar - Moriarty

Polly Danbridge-Burton - Moriarty

Ernest Fillmore - Moriarty

Natasha "Phoenix" Trace - Top Gun: Maverick

Robert "Bob" Floyd - Top Gun: Maverick

Dark Choco Cookie - Cookie Run

Red Velvet Cookie - Cookie Run

Simon "Ghost" Riley - Call of Duty

Some random links:

TES OCs, Top Gun S/I

[hello-uh-hello-hello]

How it's the bad great experience of working at Freddy Fazbender's?

-🦝🗑️

Oh, it's wonderful! Couldn't ask for a better job! I've been here for... for... gosh, it's been so long I can't even remember! But, uh, yeah, comes with a lotta perks. There's the free pizza, of course. Free housing, which is a plus. I mean, in this economy? Lucky for me, I barely have to leave the place! I barely get to leave the place! I'm so lonely!

I think one of my favorite parts of working here is being the boss. I get to be the one making important decisions like when to repair the crane machine or which ice cream shop the health inspector and I go to for, uh, for... for normal outing reasons. We don't bribe people here at Freddy Fazbender's. That would be illegal, unethical, and immoral. Freddy Fazbender's prides itself on being a very legal, ethical, and moral corporation.

Very. Legal.

The employees, well... they're... they're there. I keep Matt around to make me real pizza with fresh ingredients, not the cheap sh- I mean, uh, exactly like the quality pizza we serve here at Freddy Fazbender's. He's kinda useless, that Matt, and I hate him, but he's the only one I know won't spit in my food, so it's a necessary sacrifice, I guess.

Anyways, best job I've ever had! Only job I've ever had, for that matter. I sure love not being held here against my will. I don't want to leave! Why would I ever want to leave? I love it here!

I love it here.

[rhiannonhgarrard]

Find the word tag!

Thank you @kitty-is-writing for the tag! It's all open if anyone wants to join! My words are: stop, go, front and back. All of these quotes are from Inspector Gilboux and The Cursed Inn, the short ghost story I'm looking to publish in October!

Stop

Every so often, I look over my shoulder to watch for movement in the room. Then what I was worried about comes by: a man, hung by the neck with a hook through his throat. As the conveyor belt carries him through the room, the machine chugs and slows to a stop. He is hung as if on the gallows, eyes closed, just a little blood from the corner of his mouth.

Go

When I turn my gaze back to my captor, she grins. Her incredibly white teeth rest around the source of the black vines. She tips her head back and I feel myself judder as the branches are drawn back into her mouth just a little.

No doubt I too will be sucked into that gullet if I don’t do something.

Death by swallowing or death by falling?

I draw my Rambo knife from my inner pocket and begin slicing through the branches suspending me.

I’d rather fall.

Yet I don’t think it’ll come to that somehow…

As I cut through the branches below me, a hole slowly breaks through. The demon girl gives a groan of pain each time one of the black, thorny things is sliced through.

Before long, a sharp series of cracks begin to ring out. I feel my platform judder underneath me. Once, twice, three times. Here we go…

Front

I pull out my lighter.

I hold it out for a moment. I wait.

Nothing.

I skid my thumb over the silver gear and the spark lights up. I wait with the little flame dancing in the darkness in front of my face.

Still nothing.

I put the fire to the end of the cigarette, and it catches. I place the lighter back into the box and tuck it back into my jacket pocket. I trap the death stick between my fingers and breathe in the toxicity.

Sweet, sweet poison. “Well?” I call to the air. “I’m waiting.” As I speak, smoke escapes me.

I keep a sharp eye on the hallway, and as the end to my left becomes darkened, I see something glow in deep red to my right.

“That way, hm?”

Back

As I crane my head back, truly soaking in all of its grotesquery, the feeling of needing to see the trainwreck grows in me. By appearances, it looks like it’s been abandoned for decades, but I’m willing to bet some strange shit is about to happen.

The Mask stares at me from the doorway under the stairs. I’m not going near there, so I hike up the stone steps instead. There are a lot of empty doorways on this level, but both stairways lead to one in particular.

Alright. I’ll bite.

I always like these tags - it's always fun to see what kind of quotes random words end up making! So, let me annoy some people: @mr-orion @lannegarrett and @thestorywitch because you poor souls are the first on my @ list. Keeping the same theme, let's say your words are: Jump, Fall, Left and Right. Open to anyone else too, of course!