#Gate Openers Industry Report

[spacedustpan]

Hey Tennessee fandom people: the ELVIS Act getting ready to go through. It prevents you from using likenesses of Public Figures and their voices. It's Supposed to target AI of musicians and actors but it's written So Broadly that it can effect things like Political News Reporting, Political Parody, AMVs, Fan Edits, and of course Fan Art. It's not limited to Tennessee households either so a Hollywood company can relocate a headquarters or branch to Tennessee and use Tennessee law to sue people outside the state.

If you care about any of that, then look up your county's/district's representatives in the Tennessee Senate and House and start calling. It's headed to General Assembly.

Specifically the bill says - no one can use a famous person's likeness or voice without that actor's permission for the actors life plus 10 years - .

You can see how likeness and voice can be broadly applied and of course fans would never be able to get permission for fan content.

Surely you can see how this would affect amvs and fan edits on places like Instagram.

It would also affect things like Fan Art for Live Action Series.

This would limit free use for things like parody which would effect comedy too.

It's named after Elvis and claims to be for the entertainment industry but it's written so broadly so that it can be used by public figures in general. So Politicians would be covered under it.

Honestly politicians are trying to get this passed in Tennessee to limit the use of their own likenesses for things like memes because it's a fairly easy state to get ultra conservative bullshit passed.

Here's some more info from Real Clear Policy writer Hannah Cox:

"

Right of publicity laws typically include stringent, clear exceptions and only apply to advertising, merchandise, and fundraising purposes. Those exceptions are for “newsworthy” images in content that provides a “public interest,” which encompasses everything from hard news to documentaries, to satire, to celebrity gossip.

This is a fantastic structure that ensures an individual has a right to their own personhood while also upholding the First Amendment, its protections for free expression and freedom of the press, and ensuring the public has easy, fast access to information.

The ELVIS Act doesn’t include these provisions. As currently written, filmmakers would have to obtain permission from nefarious actors like Jeffrey Epstein’s estate in order to make a documentary about him. The producers of Forrest Gump wouldn’t be able to include all those scenes with historic figures. 

That’s a really good way to protect powerful people from scrutiny. And it would severely stagnate the flow of information online as even obtaining such permissions could take weeks. Additionally, out of fear, many content creators would simply play it safe out of fear of litigation.

The ELVIS Act also does not limit its reach to those living or dead, nor does it restrict its parameters to those with a Tennessee domicile. This seems like an open plea for people to infiltrate the state with ridiculous lawsuits that wouldn’t make it past the first gate elsewhere. It’s almost like the trial lawyers associations wrote this bill instead of Hollywood unions.

But to be clear, this was brought to the Republican legislature by the music industry associations and Hollywood unions - a peculiar entity for conservative lawmakers to be carrying water for to say the least. What these entities really want is an end to Fair Use practices because they’re bleeding money, and instead of making better products or creating new revenue sources, they’re simply being lazy and attempting to restrict the market.

"

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When you call: You're a concerned republican worried about how limiting AI can hurt small business and how the law should be written more specifically and Exceptions Should be included To Protect Fair Use for Non-Commercial, News, and Parody use, because all are integral to Free Speech.

The Law is Simply Too Broad the way that it's written now and it limits Facebook campaign support for Republicans if they have to get permission from Liberals to use their likenesses. It limits free speech which is integral to preaching God's good word against his disbelievers in a political setting and you won't stand by a politician that limits your freedoms like that. This is America Land of the Free and you'll be damned if you let someone step on you like that. That its Big Government infringing on your rights as an American instead of sensible small government.

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If you dont live in Tennesse this will still affect you with the ways it's written. It doesn't take much for companies to set up "official" shop in a new state.

It will also ABSOLUTELY be used as the model for a much worse NATIONAL bill if it gets passed in Tennessee. Because Politicians will see that it already succeeded once and HollyWood and the Music Industry are two lobbies FLUSH with cash for bribes and campaign donations.

Mark my words this will absolutely bleed over into national politics which will be devastating for News Reporting and informing the populace which is ALREADY in awful shape.

[undercityrezident]

My Thoughts on Echoes of Wisdom

So, I thought I had a decent idea of what I was getting into while playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. While the trailers had given me insight into the gameplay and the basic concepts at play, I didn’t envision the sheer synergy of game philosophies being married here: the old Zelda and the new. That and a dash of real-time Pokemon or Pikmin being added to the recipe.

To add to this, Nintendo and Grezzo certainly made this game a lot deeper and more engrossing a game than I thought it would be. And I’m quite glad for that. I hadn’t gone into this game with the intense level of hype I’ve gone into other Zelda games with because I’ve learned to temper my expectations due to my growing level of cynicism with the gaming industry.

However, while this certainly isn’t some 150-hour juggernaut to play through (though it does come at about the same monetary cost as a few of those—thank you, awful Canadian dollar conversion rates), this doesn’t make it feel any less valuable a gaming experience. It packs a lot into its small package through diversity in design ideas, a well-paced story, and thought into how the devs gave a great deal of power to players in tackling challenges.

In short, this means that this game does a lot of the great things I’ve praised Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for doing without falling into some of the same pitfalls those games do. Echoes of Wisdom employs much of the same ideas and aesthetics while keeping a core, classic Zelda experience.

Below the cut, I’ll tell you exactly how and why that is. Beware of complete game spoilers from this point forward:

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Echoes of My Voice

To inform any readers here on the standards that I’ll be measuring this game by, I’ve completed, more or less, everything in the game. I’ve finished the story; collected all the echoes, stamps, and might crystals; upgraded all my equipment; collected all the outfits and accessories, and I’m fairly certain I’ve completed all the quests and side quests. However, I’ve not made every single combination of smoothie, and according to a let’s play of the game I watched, I’ve only missed a few overworld cave chests with some minor items inside.

As often I do with open-world games, I tended to explore the regions to reveal the map and collect goodies before attempting quests in the area. Having done just that, I think my usual method of exploration might’ve minorly taken away from the experience of discovery that comes paired with progressing the story, though that’s less a critique of the game and something I have to resolve with myself as a player.

But compared to the awful consequences of the same exploration tendencies with Tears of the Kingdom where you could spoil huge story points by simply exploring, Echoes of Wisdom, thankfully, keeps such things gated behind proper game progression, allowing players to explore without fear of such things. For open-world games, I think exploration should be either a joy, a curiosity to indulge, or a lead-in to teasing boons that help build anticipation for something to come in the game’s plot. If it ends up becoming a detriment to either story or gameplay, then it’s poor open-world design, plain and simple. But I’m happy to report that this is not a concern with Echoes of Wisdom.

Even with trailers and the like to give some light to the story and gameplay we were getting, I could enjoy this game without feeling too spoiled. That said, if you’re a fan who has yet to play this game, stop reading this commentary and try going into it without watching any trailers or viewing any promotional material. I think this game could’ve been even better for me if I’d gone into it completely blind, as the discoveries of what I could do could’ve hit even harder, though they don’t lack any sort of punch, even with my foreknowledge.

So, for those who need not worry about spoilers and with all the above in mind, let me break down this game bit by bit.

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Echoes of Worlds Gone By

Echoes of Wisdom certainly draws inspiration from other Zelda games in designing its world, first and foremost from A Link to the Past. One could say that that majority of the core central map is derived from the Super Nintendo classic, with a sort of frame of new content around it both literal and figurative. That’s not to say this world’s map is copy and pasted. Far from it, in fact. But fans of the old game will no doubt recognize features both obvious and subtle.

You will find the ruins of the Eastern and Desert Palaces in their respective places as examples of obvious landmarks. However, something less obvious is how, to the southwest of the castle, there is a grove of trees with a tree stump at the centre. However, you’ll find no flute-playing phantom and a gathering of wild animals engrossed by it, but a heart piece instead: a nice nod and reward to those who saw and appreciate the reference.

However, that’s where most similarities to A Link to the Past end. What once could’ve once been referred to geographically as Death Mountain are now Hebra Mountain and the Holy Mount Lanayru instead, now doffing their rocky exterior for an ice-capped one—not terribly unlike Lorule’s equivalent in A Link Between Worlds. Meanwhile, the new stand-in for the fiery Death Mountain we all know and love from later games comes in the form of Eldin Volcano in the northwest. Zora’s river has now been greatly expanded to include not just a larger river system but also a large oceanic bay it flows into. As well, entirely new regions have been added in the form of Suthorn Woods and the Faron Wetlands, the former perhaps being a very subtle nod to Twilight Princess’s Ordon (being the origin for Link in this game) and the latter being a reference to the southeastern Faron jungles in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom.

Regardless of where your era of play experience in the Zelda franchise comes from, you’ll probably find something to look at and point and say with all the sincerity of Captain America, “I understood that reference!”

But while geography is all well and good, it’s only one half of the picture when it comes to creating full and real worlds. The other half is its denizens, and I’m happy to report that Echoes of Wisdom has picked up the slack that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom left unchecked. While this might be an unfair critique or comparison given the massive size differences in maps between the 3D Switch titles and this one, I do sorely believe that the former titles’ worlds could’ve felt so much deeper and richer with greater populations inhabiting them. I completely understand the need for Breath of the Wild to make its Hyrule uninhabited, but I feel Tears of the Kingdom could’ve stood to add some people in various repopulation and reclamation efforts throughout its otherwise empty vistas.

But, focusing on this game, Echoes of Wisdom’s size and population match each other far better. While people aren’t everywhere, I certainly feel like I need to travel a lot shorter distances to find people, whether they be Hylians, Zora, Gorons, Deku Scrubs, or Gerudo. This makes the world feel a bit more lived in, which made me more excited to explore and see who I could meet.

The only thing I can’t say that are improvements over the previous Switch titles is the depth of the cultures. However, neither were they declines in quality. The stories and lore surrounding each area’s culture were fun and characterized each group of people well. But, at the same time, since these areas were scaled down, there was less happening outside of the main quest, giving us fewer opportunities to learn about their associated people and their traditions. And the few side quests there were quite shallow compared to some we completed in the 3D Switch titles. But what we lost in depth, we gained in zany comedy and bits aimed at younger audiences, so I can’t fault it too much.

As for aesthetics in the game and its people, I can see plenty of people being turned off by this game’s art style. Yes, it’s drawn from the same DNA as the Link’s Awakening remake, but I found a lot of charm with that game, and I found the same charm here as well, and then some. I hope that those who focus on the presentation of the game and its world can look past the surface of its apparent childish design and see the depth of emotion it presents, ranging from peaks of comedy to valleys of tragedy. I might not have been hit as hard by this game in critical moments as I was in Tears of the Kingdom, but Echoes of Wisdom still had great moments that leaned into its style very well.

It’s also damn adorable, and that counts for something with me.

Yet, this game didn’t just do cute. It managed to do creepy, as well. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Stilled World. It had a tense, oppressing atmosphere that conveyed the threat that we were dealing with. From the disparate floating patches of slowly dripping world stolen from ours to the petrified, photo-negative-coloured people hung in the air to slowly decay to nothing, even the cute art style did nothing to soften this purple-hued world that reflects the rifts we see marking its entry points Hyrule. Art and colour direction go a long way to convey the foreboding nature of the Stilled World, making it a perfect contrast to the more charming Hyrule we know. Yes, it’s another take on a “Dark World” variant, but it works, as it’s both intrinsically tied to the story and provides a contrasting aesthetic to the bright and sunny Hyrule that stands apart from its contemporaries.

Admittedly, this game isn’t beating the Pokemon comparison allegations with how the Stilled World resembles the Distortion World… not that such a comparison is a bad thing in my eyes.

In any case, this game nails its world design on both sides of the coin. If you’re up for exploring a new Hyrule, I very much endorse exploring this awesome version of it.

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Echoes of Gameplay

Super Smash Bros aside, this is the closest we’re getting to a Pokemon crossover with the Legend of Zelda, plain and simple. If you know me and my blog, this is absolutely my jam.

I knew we were eschewing the traditional Legend of Zelda sword-and-shield gameplay in favour of Zelda’s summoner-esque style of combat. What I didn’t expect was such a complex system of monsters and battling.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not 15+ types of dense, pseudo-rock-paper-scissors advantages/weaknesses equations like actual Pokemon, but it definitely keeps ideas like that in mind. Whenever you pick up a new echo—and dear lord, there are so many, it’s amazing but also overwhelming at times—you can read a quick blurb about it, not unlike a Pokedex entry, and see its features. Some, like the Darknut line (yes, there are improvements on echoes throughout the game, so some of your faves can get stronger), move slowly but hit hard. Others are fast but hit lightly or frequently. Certain monsters have weaknesses to certain types of damage, like how plant monsters are typically vulnerable to fire. Environmental factors come into play, too. Some beasts only function or cannot function at all in water, while some are amphibious!

While there are some instances where picking echoes for a particular combat scenario is encouraged, I found you can proceed with your favourites for most of the game without too much issue, though you’ll probably feel you need to use more powerful ones as the game goes on for practicality. That said, you can field a variety of favourites for flexibility, not unlike an actual Pokemon team. I greatly enjoyed thinking about what to employ in a situation for best effect, though I often ended up defaulting to a few of my favourites anyway.

In case anyone is interested, I’m one of the many who used Peahats to steamroll through the early game, though I often ended up using Wolfos around that time for their mobility. By mid-game, I had found a great combination in the form of the Ball-and-Chain Trooper and ReDeads: the ReDeads stunning foes while the troopers revved up before attacking was a favourite combination of mine. Towards the end of the game, I found the White Wolfos and their summoned pack alongside a Guay for aerial support was pretty effective as well.

Similarly, I watched a let’s play of someone who used Peahats about 75% of the time throughout the game and absolutely had a ball with it. I think the mark of this game’s success comes in the fact people can approach its combat in so many ways and enjoy it in all those myriad fashions.

Some might complain that this indirect method of combat boils down to summoning your echoes and waiting—or even literally sleeping if you summon a bed and decide to recover your hearts while your minions fight for you—is very uninvolved, uninspiring, or even boring. I can understand how a person might say this, especially toward the beginning of the game while you’re sitting at a vulnerable three or four hearts and only have Zols or Moblins for summons. However, I find the combat becomes so much more dynamic as the game goes on.

In fact, you quickly gain swordfighter form near the beginning of the game, which allows you to get into the fray directly if you want to or if your echoes can’t do the job themselves. I’m glad the swordfighter form is limited though, as I think treating what is usually an infinite resource as finite is a great twist on the Zelda formula. It puts one’s mind through their paces to think things through differently, making the game that much more engaging and differentiating it from other Zelda games. Considering we’re working with a completely different protagonist with entirely unique strengths and weaknesses, it makes complete sense, and it’s a beautiful way of uniting gameplay with characterization.

Unfortunately, I do have to say there were times when I felt the monster AI could’ve used some polish. I can’t be sure if the instances of this were designed around the idea that not all monsters are smart or if it was a flaw in the system, but even when I targeted specific creatures or objects for my echoes to attack or interact with, they sometimes took ages to comply, making timing or precision-based puzzles or encounters a greater pain than they ought to have been. This was a minor source of annoyance from time to time.

As well, some echoes worked in cycles, and if your monster echoes got into an animation or attack cycle that made them completely ineffectual against monsters around them, it could be quite tedious. If you ever picked a Wizzrobe to fight another Wizzrobe, you probably know what I’m talking about with its spell wind-up time.

But, overall, I found the combat experience to be quite satisfying and engrossing. Granted, it taxed the hell out of my brain at times, especially near the end of the game with the final two boss fights: having to evade attacks, summon echoes, and then also toggle on and off swordfighter mode to intervene or attack the boss while my echoes dealt with their minions was a lot to mentally juggle. It was enjoyable, but it sometimes left me a little frenetic.

And this might’ve just been me, but I barely made use of Dampe’s inventions in combat. It felt great to make them as part of his questlines, but deploying and winding them up felt so much slower than simply deploying an echo and having them do the same job faster. This mode of combat felt almost tacked on to the game, an outlier from the bevy of abilities that Tri granted you to the point of feeling out-of-theme.

But while combat was an intrinsic part of the game, I’d say that, in keeping with the wisdom theme of the game, the puzzles were an even bigger and more crucial part. While monsters made up a great deal of your echoes, more mundane—but no less important—object-based echoes made up a significant portion of your echo arsenal. And damn, were they used to great effect.

Both in the isometric top-down and the side-scroller-like 2D sections, the game employed puzzles that forced you to think about everything you had available to you. Yes, I felt quite stupid when I forgot that I had the bind ability a dozen times at the start of the game, but as I discovered the game’s MO with how it expected you to solve puzzles, they became incredibly satisfying to solve with a combination of echoes, bind, and reverse bind—though I will say the latter of those three tended to go unused for long portions of the game for me.

But, having watched another person play this game after I finished it, I was so pleased to discover just how flexible the solutions were. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom often fostered numerous approaches to problems, though many still expected one kind of solution. However, this game feels like it perfected the art of freeform puzzle solving.

People often refer to Oracle of Ages as having some of the best puzzles in the series, as it was designed to be the puzzle-solving complement to Oracle of Seasons’ combat-focused gameplay. However, I felt that many of Oracle of Ages’ puzzles had solutions that were too obscure or unintuitive. Echoes of Wisdom, in contrast, is a game focused on puzzles (both in and out of combat) where, with very few exceptions (I’m looking at you Eastern Temple…), the puzzles feel very satisfying to solve. While there might be a few that absolutely stumped me for a while, if I looked at it long enough and tried enough solutions, I eventually got it.

That said, on seeing other people solve the same puzzles, I often had that 20/20 hindsight reaction where I wondered “How did I not think of that? That was so simple!” Such is the brilliance of this game in its variety, though I will concede that some echoes (the Flying Tile and the Platboom in particular) do rob a lot of creativity of certain puzzles where traversal is key.

Navigating around the world was also a challenge, and I mean that in a good way. In many games nowadays, climbing a mountain has been made to not feel nearly as daunting as it once did. If it is a challenge, then it’s only so in a cinematic way and not a gameplay one, with curated paths in the form of marked scalable walls or other easy-to-execute controller maneuvers.

In Echoes of Wisdom, scaling mountains, cliffs, walls, and gaps does require some forethought, especially when the game provides some wrinkle in the form of enemies or architecture. This truly makes this game a thinking-person’s game, as everything you do requires some measure of planning and execution, making even world traversal feel validating in some way. This also has the added benefit of giving the world’s fast-travel points even more value than usual, something I think we in the gaming community take for granted now.

Where the features of puzzle-solving and traversal blended beautifully was in the game’s dungeons. Yes, true-to-form traditional Zelda dungeons returned in this game, and I couldn’t have been happier! While most of the dungeons were fairly linear—the exceptions being Jabul Ruins and Faron Temple—I didn’t mind their structures at all. Most dungeons featured a series of great individual sequential puzzle challenges that tested me and my knowledge of the game and what I had available to me very well. How these features and ideas tied into both navigating the dungeon and fighting the bosses of each dungeon were also fantastic and usually very intuitive. While I very much appreciate the idea of dungeons whose entire layout or form is some sort of puzzle itself, Echoes of Wisdom’s dungeons are a variety I love as well.

The fact these dungeons blended the threat of the Stilled World with the traditional perils of delving into classic Zelda dungeons made them even better. A few of them have even been given the “Skull Woods” treatment from A Link to the Past, allowing several points of entry and exit. This, like Skull Woods, gives these dungeons a welcome sense of being tied to the world around it.

I have to say that my favourites are—the first being unsurprising given my love for desert-themed temples—the Gerudo Sanctum and the Lanayru Temple. Both are long, complex, and feature fantastic puzzles that iterate throughout the dungeon. Both also nailed their respective aesthetics, though the same could be said of any of the game’s dungeons.

Returning to the topic of traversal, one criticism I have is how the isometric view leads to some issues of perspective, whether in aiming projectiles, echoes, or in executing jumps. It was only through a video online that I discovered you could press the right stick into the controller to have the view centred above you directly. Whether this instruction was present in the initial tutorials or not, I cannot recall. If it was, it was easily missed on my end.

Another thing that contributed to some frustrations for me was the game’s controls. As with Tears of the Kingdom, I felt like it took too long for me to adjust to the game’s complicated control system. There are so many things you can do and features your character has that it can feel easy to press the wrong button and execute the wrong command all too often. This most often happened to me in combat when I wanted to summon something, and hit bind instead, or when I wanted to switch to a new echo and accidentally hit swordfighter form. This could be less an issue of the game and more of something to do with me, but considering I’ve heard the same from others, I feel like there could be something done to better align the controls to something more convenient or to streamline features somehow.

A lesser, though still often equally frustrating thing I felt when playing was how it was hard to deploy echoes, monsters or objects alike, in the exact spaces you wanted. While the game didn’t force you to move on a grid as it did in Link’s Awakening or other older 2D Zelda games, you generally deployed echoes on an invisible in-game grid that often forced things to spawn in spaces I didn’t intend. When this happened numerous times in a row, despite me repositioning myself many times—or having to muck around in the heat of combat to do so—I definitely found myself grinding my teeth a little bit.

Further, with regards to selecting echoes, this game does slightly improve on Tears of the Kingdom’s menuing issue. While you still generally must scroll through a seemingly endless selection of echoes by the game’s end through the side-scrolling “quick menu,” at least you now have a proper pause menu to equip echoes when you want to. Still, I think a great way to solve this would’ve been a better allocation of controller buttons so that we could’ve had two or three buttons dedicated to multiple echoes rather than only one. Having to swap between echoes constantly due to our limited buttons dedicated to them was a definite pain and one of the biggest flaws in the game.

But, even with these criticisms, I felt like the overall gameplay experience with Echoes of Wisdom was fantastic! Yes, there were moments I absolutely wanted to chuck my controller out the window for repeated issues occurring in crucial moments. But for the great majority of my time spent playing this game, I was very happy. From solving mind-bending puzzles to seeing my army of echoes wreck enemy faces, I thoroughly enjoyed how this game played.

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Echoes of Music

This game brings its own musical compositions and twists, reflecting its originality but also its ties previous games in the Zelda series. You’ll be hearing new tunes in familiar places, but if you listen closely enough, you’ll hear references and traces to classic tunes associated with those locales. From Hyrule Castle to the Ranch to Kakariko Village, you’ll find notes of familiarity amongst engaging new tracks that, for the most part, fit this game’s tone and mood very well.

One track I want to bring particular attention to is the overworld track. It’s based on the game’s main theme, which is already a banger. Then, in the second half of the game, once Zelda is free to wander about without concealing her identity, the track is redone with an intro containing an upbeat version of Zelda’s Lullaby before transitioning back into the reprise of the main theme once more. I feel this is a fantastic way of not only varying one of the tracks you’ll be hearing most often but also showcasing the progression of the game’s plot.

Moreover, I’m just happy to have an overworld/field theme that has that bombastic Zelda feel that I’ve been missing since before Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It truly conveys that grandiose sense of adventure that I adore about Zelda games.

At the same time, I can’t say the atmospheric pieces aren’t also memorable, as the Stilled World theme is tense, creepy, and subdued, suiting that world and its void-like presence perfectly. It’s certainly a highlight for me as well.

I have to say, though, my favourites are the new dungeon themes. I’ve always been partial to the music of dungeons, but that’s also meant that I’ve come to expect more of them. Thankfully, this game delivers with them in particular, with my notable favourites being the Gerudo Sanctum and Eldin Temple themes, both of which feature some fantastic violin-work.

It’s safe to say that I’ll be listening to this soundtrack for a while and integrating this game’s tunes into my Zelda D&D campaign.

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An Echoed Story

For a new, original 2D title, I will admit I was not expecting such revelations relating to overall Zelda lore. Like a lot of one-off Zelda projects, which I had written this game off as being, I expected this game to have a relatively simple plot with a greater focus on gameplay and a reuse of old plot ideas and villains. Such has been Nintendo’s philosophy toward Zelda games for a while, and I expected Echoes of Wisdom to conform to this ideology as well.

Colour me surprised when this game debuted a great story with a whole new villain whose scale I don’t think we’ve ever seen in a Zelda game previously.

Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I do love how we begin the story as many a Zelda game might end: as Link finding Zelda and defeating Ganon to rescue her. This was a great way to not only tutorialize the start of the game but also to introduce us to two of the principal characters while also tying us back to previous Zelda games.

Following a quick escape as Zelda once she’s freed and Link is lost to one of the rifts, we find ourselves finally loose on the world as criminal-branded Zelda, along with her new companion Tri, finding that the rifts can not only take people, but spawn dark imposters of them, a theme we’ll see recurring throughout the game. From there, narratively speaking, we follow a fairly typical Zelda formula: we visit regions and complete dungeons there to help the residents of each area dealing with a particular calamity. Only this time, the calamity is a universal one they’re all dealing with, but with each with a unique wrinkle, courtesy of the rifts’ ability to spawn imposters.

From a surface level, the above formula seems pretty on-brand for Zelda. The main difference is how we go about it. Besides the obvious gameplay differences I listed in a previous section, we also get a brief, simple, though ultimately interesting story involving Zelda and each resident culture from these regions. The first ones we deal with in earnest are the Gerudo and the Zora, with our choice of which of the two to tackle first after we’ve finished our “tutorial” in Suthorn Woods.

I do like the Gerudo’s take on the classic “traitorous vizier” centred storyline, with Facette, who is eventually revealed to be an imposter, giving poor directions to the Gerudo Chieftan, Seera. Meanwhile, Dohna, the chief’s daughter and head of Gerudo soldiers, is attempting to solve problems along with Zelda. Getting a clone reveal of Facette and the subsequent merciless actions by Seera to dispatch the imposter was a great and far more decisive action than I expected from a Zelda NPC. Let’s just say, I’m a fan of both her and Dohna.

Meanwhile, over in Jabul Waters, we have two Zora tribes: the River and Sea Zora. I was stoked to see both types of Zora getting representation in one game. I love the idea of the two contrasting tribes having their own traditions and perspectives through the two chiefs, Dradd and Kushara. Navigating the waters of both Zora Cove and the rivers, not to mention the waters of the chiefs’ tumultuous relationship, was engaging, especially when it came to dealing with the raging Jabu-Jabu, who turned out to be an imposter as well. Having Jabu’s antics be disguised as displeasure at having their den consumed by a rift was a decent red herring for the true cause, though it wasn’t that hard to see what the real deal was.

In the end, having the Zora chiefs reconcile and play their song together to access the den was a heartwarming moment, with that cutscene in particular really driving that point home.

With those two problems resolved, two major rifts sealed, and two of three victims from Hyrule Castle rescued, we brought about the game’s second venture into Hyrule Castle and the mid-game twist. As it turns out, Ganon was never the threat here, as he was just an echo created by something far older and far more malevolent. It’s not Demise, but a being that could be put on par in both age—and potentially power—with the three Golden Goddesses: a void being named Null.

As we learn shortly after this, Null is a being who existed in the nothingness before creation but was dismayed when the goddesses made the world and imprisoned Null inside it. Continuously spawning rifts consuming places and people (something that was established to be happening long before this game began and the canonical reason for this incarnation of Link’s muteness), prompted the Goddesses to create Tri’s people to mend and contain the rifts. Unfortunately, now, Null has now-taken Link and imprisoned the Goddesses in the three lands of their namesakes: Faron, Lanayru, and Eldin. Naturally, it falls to the newly exonerated Zelda, the newly dubbed priestess, to put things right and rescue Link… for a change. Oh, and we also need to free the goddesses to find this “Prime Energy” that might help us.

From there, we choose to attend to any of the three areas first. I chose Faron first, though I feel, in retrospect, Eldin was probably the most natural first choice. Regardless, we got to visit the wetlands and all the Deku Scrubs who, much like the Gorons of Tears of the Kingdom, find themselves amid a cultural addiction. This time, it’s the spider webs spawned by the rifts in their region, which they’re eating as cotton candy on sticks. I’m not sure if this recent trend of addictive foods in Zelda games is indicative of Nintendo taking an active interest in making allegories to help kids say no to drugs, but two such cases in a row can’t be a coincidence. Funnily, this one is also framed as a cautionary tale against following trends blindly, as the Deku Scrubs seem to be epitomizing popular kids trying to stay popular by any means.

Either way, through doing small tasks throughout the region, we managed to access the temple, now swathed in the biggest rift in the region, and tackle the dungeon to take out the latest incarnation of Gohma. While interesting, I feel this regional story is one of the weaker ones in the game due to us not connecting to a particular individual or individuals through it, but all the same, the game’s charm is on full display throughout, with a lot of comedic bits coming through here strongly.

On Eldin Volcano, we have to deal with the fallout of the rifts while helping a newly minted Goron chief in Darston. The poor lad is coming to terms with his new role, relying on the 56 teachings of his recently-passed father in tablet form, leaving him paralyzed with indecision during this unprecedented crisis. Through rescuing two elders and traversing a secret path all chiefs must undertake to reach the volcano’s crater, he gains some level of confidence and recognizes that he must rely on his own perspectives and ideas to become a fully realized chief. While we don’t really get enough time with him to feel like this newfound confidence is fully developed or earned narratively, it’s nice to see the effort made. In any case, I do like him better than Yunobo, effectively his equivalent in terms of role in the 3D Switch games.

Regardless, we take on the Eldin Temple, and after its myriad tense and heated challenges we get to face… holy shit, Volvagia! You’re back! I was not expecting to see a new Volvagia, but it was a fun fight and a good conclusion to the dungeon and the region as a whole.

Lastly, I visited the Holy Mt. Lanayru, by and far the most desolate (even compared to the desert) and least populated area in the game. The only resident there is a Yeti named Conde, easily a contender for the character who wears his heart on his sleeve the most in the entire franchise. With a series of fun and sometimes bittersweet encounters with him as we travel up the mountain, we discover he once had a father who has since passed on and a brother who is travelling the world on an adventure. However, he believes he’s returned as we see something akin to him going up the mountain ahead of Conde. In one of the more, if not the most, heartbreaking moments in the game, we hear—thankfully not see—said supposed brother strike Conde and continue up the mountain.

We follow this unknown yeti into the Stilled World, finding out through a mural that Conde’s brother doesn’t hate him, and he is in fact excited to take him on an adventure someday, leading us with some new motivation (aside from saving the region) to delve into Lanayru Temple and confront the beast. Naturally, we discover that the beast is not Conde’s brother—though I’m as of yet unsure if it's an echo of him or not or just something that resembles him—and defeat them in a great boss battle. Following that, in another touching moment, we get to deliver the good news to Conde, that his brother is still out there adventuring and thinks the world of him.

Finally, with the power of all three goddesses on our side, we make ready to go to the Eternal Forest, but not before Null creates an echo of us, the perfect agent to infiltrate the resting place of the Prime Energy.

After some comical buffoonery of one of the Castle NPCs we rescued earlier in the game and the briefest of conversations with the Deku Tree, we catch up to the echo of Zelda and find that the Prime Energy is nothing less than the Triforce. At this point, I’m unsure if it was named that to throw us off the true nature of the power or if there’s some significance to the “Prime Energy” name. I’ve heard some people speculate that it’s called that so the Triforce can get its name from our companion Tri as a result of her role in this game. If this game sits where I think it does in the timeline, that explanation doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m not too concerned with the logistics of that as far as this game’s plot goes.

In any case, as often happens with the Triforce when someone impure and out-of-balance touches it, it splits—though kudos to the worrisome cutscene where it seems to radiate dark power before stopping and splitting, I appreciate a very tense moment like that—with the Triforce of Power coming to rest with Null’s Zelda echo, Wisdom with Zelda herself, and Courage going to Link imprisoned in the Stilled World. After a brief pursuit through said dimension, we finally get our battle with our echo, and a fun one at that! Once defeated, the Zelda echo retreats into the Null’s main body, a horrifying dark mass, and we finally free Link—I did so in the same way he did us at the start of the game: with a single arrow. Man, I love things coming full circle!

With an awesome cooperative segment with Link through Null’s ghastly body, we finally make our way to the final boss, Null itself, who has a startingly familiar appearance, seeming to have taken on aspects of Tri’s people, who have been largely their jailer for aeons. This seems perfect to me, considering the echo power they possess. Considering, throughout the fight, we see imprisoned members of Tri’s race both in its grasp and throughout its body, this seems like a great way to reveal their true, domineering or even parasitic nature.

The final boss fight was a spectacle and a ton of fun. I loved yanking on Null’s arms, only to have Link leap into a flying spin attack to sever said arm. The whole encounter left me absolutely thrilled as it ended with Link and Zelda both making that final pull to yank the Triforce of Power from Null’s form.

Null’s dying breath rattling with a need for more power to overcome the Goddesses’ perceived wrongdoings against them was fantastic, giving me light chills at the pure hunger and desperation of this primordial being. This is probably one of the best-done villains the franchise has conjured in a long time, and I’m wholly surprised it was devised for a 2D game that probably took a fraction of the time that the 3D games did. While I’ve seen far more complex villains in other media, this is a big step up from the simple, nearly one-dimensional incarnations of Ganon or Ganondorf we’ve seen recently (the exception being Ganondorf’s Wind Waker incarnation—I still think he's fantastic and I hope he gets that level of depth again someday).

We get a bittersweet ending with Tri departing from us as they reminisce on what they’ve learned of the nature of the people in Hyrule, especially in their gratitude toward Zelda. The reprise of the “thank you” notion from earlier in the game hit particularly hard, and I have to say, I had my hand over my heart “aww”-ing in that moment.

With Link and Zelda returning to Castletown, the citizens coming out to celebrate us, including the King and his formerly missing advisors, was wonderful, and getting to see Link speak for the first time since… who knows how long, provoking everyone’s shocked expressions, was a great moment to cap off the story before Zelda’s wistful look into the sky to where Tri vanished. This was only made better by the credits roll showing everyone in the wake of the events—including Conde’s brother coming back in his balloon! Heck yeah—and the final post-credits scene showing the framed Tri Rod enshrined on Zelda’s wall. What a brilliant, heartfelt ending!

As a story, Echoes of Wisdom wasn’t an epic for the ages, but it was a story told wonderfully and a return to form after some worrisome practices had crept into Zelda’s storytelling in the last two games. This game saw the—heh—wisdom in correcting previous games’ errors and opted to design their world and gameplay to cooperate with their story. While it’s not as narratively innovative as other games I’ve seen and played, it’s good to see the Zelda series bouncing back in this department.

In terms of characterization, Princess Zelda, of course, suffers from Zelda protagonist syndrome in that they don’t get much characterization besides a few great expressions drawn on her face during key moments. That said, such is a price to pay for seeing our girl finally get to be the active agent in the legend of her namesake. This doesn’t lessen the poignant emotions I felt at the end of the game with Zelda’s sadness on Tri’s departure. Like the departure of companions of Navi, Midna, and Fi from Link before, sometimes, we don’t need to speech to know there’s deep-rooted feelings there.

And on Tri’s side of things, I appreciate Tri having been characterized as a being unfamiliar with Hyrulean traditions, expressions, emotions, and ideas. It gave her a few funny and interesting moments to dissect the nature of human emotions involved in this game, not to mention the aforementioned “thank you” moment at the end.

Besides this, supporting characters got to have a few moments here and there, but they were few and fleeting and rarely recurred outside their regions besides when we revisited them for additional side quests. Still, the fact they’re there and had an impact made the story and world feel just that bit more whole than it otherwise could’ve been.

Overall, this game’s story was a wonderful surprise, and I’ll be continuing to mull it over time goes on. And I’ll likely learn and gain new perspectives on it as I consume more media about the game in the near future.

---

A Reflected Echo

So, in the wake of the Echoes of Wisdom and all these reflections on it, what’s my final verdict on it?

While I’ve had plenty to say about what the game needs to do to improve, I feel all my complaints are rather diminutive in the face of its accomplishments. It looks great, sounds great, plays great, tells a wonderful story, and does fun things both new and old that blend the best of old and new philosophies in the Zelda franchise. This marriage of ideas is something I hope Nintendo and its partners iterate on to create better and ever-evolving Zelda games.

Nintendo seems to be learning from some of its mistakes in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, and I’m truly grateful for that. In some ways, it’s still not quite up to the standards other games set in the industry, but in other ways, it exceeds them. So much attention to detail and quality has clearly been paid to this game, and I hope to see that attention continue to help refine the series further.

In the end, I’m glad Zelda’s first outing as a proper protagonist went so well. There was an underlying fear I had going into this game that the game wouldn’t receive the attention and love it deserved from the developers because it didn’t feature Link or because it wasn’t a proper 3D Zelda game. In the wake of Princess Peach: Showtime being received less-than-favourably, I couldn’t put the worrisome idea that Echoes of Wisdom could suffer a similar fate. Thankfully, I was proven wrong, and Zelda got to be the hero she deserved to be after carrying the franchise’s title decades.

Well done, Princess Zelda! You saved Hyrule, the world, and have set a new precedent for your character moving forward.

Now, after that final segment of the game leading up to the final boss battle, not to mention the battle itself, Nintendo has demonstrated that they can make a co-op Legend of Zelda game featuring both Link and the titular princess. I’m expecting you to come up with something great for us, devs! My Zelink-shipping-heart is depending on it!

[bracketsoffear]

Moby Dick (Moby Dick) "Okay, look--let's get this out of the way. I know that the whale is big. That is not an insignificant thing about whales in general and this whale in particular. It's not even an insignificant factor in nominating him today. Except, it's not the size that matters--it's what Herman Melville does with it*.

*(Sorry, the dick joke was obligatory. It should be the only one unless my love of bad puns runs away from me.)

There's a post floating out there on tumblr calling Moby Dick the OG eldritch terror. Unfortunately, we all know how the hellsite's search "function" is (exasperated but affectionate), so I'm not going to be able to link it. What I can do is pull out a few rusty tools of literary analysis to show that at his Vast heart, Moby Dick represents the terrifying insignificance of humanity in the face of the grandness and terror of the sea.

First, it's crucial to point out that the book opens with quotes about whales, including several Bible verses, some Pliny, something purported to be copied down by a ninth-century king, Shakespeare, and so on. Right out of the gate, the book connects the Whale with the idea of the mythological Leviathan. By quoting Genesis in particular, Melville creates the idea of the Whale as a beast that has existed alongside humanity since its inception. Just as the fears are ancient and have tormented humanity since prehistory, the Whale/Leviathan has represented a "dragon of the sea" that mankind cannot conquer.

Sailors who make their living killing the whales are aware that " all the other things, whether beast or vessel, that enter into the dreadful gulf of this monster’s (whale’s) mouth, are immediately lost and swallowed up" and that "[t]he great Leviathan […] maketh the seas to seethe like boiling pan." They can't escape, though, because as the extracts also make clear, the booming economy of the nineteenth century depends on whale oil for everything from healing bruises to heating rooms in the dead of winter. The sailors are therefore helpless in the face of the dangers that the Whale's sheer size escapes, but also the vast and impersonal economic machinery that reduces them to commodities to be sacrificed to the Whale's wrath, Ahab's vengeance, and the Industrial Revolution's greed. Simon Fairchild probably had a field day with this one.

I realize I'm nearly 400 words in, so in the interest of sparing people's eyes, I'll wrap up by pointing out: --There is a whole chapter devoted to the crew standing knee-deep in whale fat while they dissect a smaller whale. --There is another chapter where Ishmael rhapsodizes about the size of a whale's skeleton. --Then he goes on for another chapter about whale fossils. --And then chapter 3 in this trilogy (which began in chapter 103, btw), asks outright in the title. "Does the whale's magnitude diminish?" --Ishmael sees the sea, and by extension, the Whale, as an irresistible, almost compelling force that terrifies and awes him. This is similar to noted Vast victim Robert Kelly, who also feels a draw to the Vast. --The book closes with Ishmael as the only survivor of the Pequod, having barely escaped the whale's vortex that pulled the ship and all her crew into the depths of the ocean, floating alone on his subtextual lover's coffin for a day and night before finally being picked up by another ship."

Joy Wang/Jobu Tupaki (Everything Everywhere All At Once) "Jobu is able to comprehend the entire scale of humanity in every corner of the multiverse, and it's all… Meaningless. You see when you put literally everything on a bagel when you're bored one day - every report card, every breed of dog, every ad on Craigslist, every grain of salt or seed - it collapses in on itself and you realize… We are all so small and insignificant that nothing we do matters. And when nothing matters, all of the pain and guilt you feel at your life going nowhere just goes away. It's sucked into a bagel.

A cult is formed around this bagel - all the other people that Jobu has shown the truth to - but what she really wants is her mother to understand how empty she really feels."

[meepetteoneonly]

Snakes and Ladders: I.

Also on AO3 - here.

Chicago has Al Capone, New York has Lucky Luciano and Baldur's Gate has Mephistopheles Cania. However, the don is dying of cancer and the struggles for power between families of Baldur's Gate as well as within Cania's family are inevitable. His son, Raphael, is ready sit on his father's throne, but he needs allies to carry out his ambitious plans. As it wasn't enough, he has to deal with a new magistrate, Astarion Ancunín, who seemed not to respect the established order of things. Maybe Astarion's assistant, court clerk Octavia, could help him to dig some dirt on Astarion.

OR

Raphael, Tav, Astarion, (she) Harleep, Gortash, Nine-Fingers Keene and Mol (as an adult) in bloody mess of a story set in mafia AU.

TW:

Hunger, childhood in poverty, sexual harassment, toxic workplace

NOTE:

First of all, I would love to point out the great piece of fanfiction - the Fatal Interview by cravengaffer which inspired me to write this. Go and read it. It's brilliant!

Now to the rest. I allowed myself some freestyle with this whole concept of magistrates as we lack this institute in continental law. And to be honest, I don't know that much from common law. So bear with me, please.

As to some possible TW's in this chapter. Sexual harassment at the workplace. And I mean it! Mind the warnings and tags, I beg you.

The golden sign announced third floor and Astarion hopped out of the paternoster lift. He wondered whether it is possible to escape this monstrous machine with at least little bit of elegance, but luckily, the hallway was empty and so the clumsy stumble he performed while getting of the lift remained secret of his and walls of Department of Administrative Offenses of Baldur’s Gate District Court, the Lower City bureau. 

Astarion Ancunín was assigned as a magistrate to the court three months ago and so far, the judges were satisfied with his performance. He delivered the decisions on time, cases did not pile up on his desk, he work effectively with prosecutors and not many of his decisions were subsequently challenged. His supervising judge even described him as a remarkable newcomer in the report for the District Court Council and Astarion felt rightfully proud. 

He quickly checked his watches. He was a little early today. As he was walking through the labyrinth of long dark corridors to his office, Astarion missed the distinctive sound of justice machinery. He enjoyed listening to the rhythmical clicking of typewriters, ringing of the phones and the hum of everlasting discussions over various legal issues. But the court building has not woken up yet. 

Astarion’s office was located in the right wing. He would appreciated an office with functioning heating, but in the end, he was glad for what he got as the windows of the left wing offices were just above the old cemetery while his own had a view on the waterfront. The building of the court faced busy crossroad that served as a main traffic artery connecting the docks and industrial part of the city with polished streets leading to the city centre. He hoped to be assigned to the Upper City bureau as it was required that magistrates lived in their court’s jurisdiction, but so did other newly appointed magistrates. Unfortunately, the public secret was that places at Upper City bureau were reserved for those with relatives or friends at right places. Astarion had none of those. Not yet, he kept reminding himself. 

The familiar cold welcomed him as he opened the door No. 341. He had tried to request the repair of the heater several times, but the court administration only informed him that due to the new budgetary rules, expenses on repairs and maintenance should be cut to the minimum necessary. In other words, he survived three months, he can do it until spring. Astarion knew well how it is with public finances. No public body will invest into anything that still somehow works and courts was no exception. No matter how rusty or slow the gears of the justice were, as long as they were spinning, there was no need for extra funding. 

He put off his coat and took a moment to enjoy the view on the river. Hazy morning light was slowly diluting the dark, sweeping it out of the gaps between the cobblestones covering the riverbank. Patches of fog still remained on the water surface that mirrored bright orange lights of sodium lamps. The usual buzz of the city was just about to start. Such tranquil moments were something Astarion was not used to. But he enjoyed them. Or rather he felt like he should be enjoying them. But when he was alone, when there was no view to admire or another offense to be punished, he felt that time he was mercifully granted to enjoy what he has achieved so far, was running between his fingers. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't help but hear the ominous ticking of clockwork oiled by his parents’ words: There’s no such a thing as better life. Not for people like us. Don’t be naive.

He took his parents for fools who confused naivety with ambitions. Astarion was never naive. He accepted world as it was, played with cards he was given and he considered himself to be good at it. At least, compared to his parents. Those poor wretches were barely scraping along their entire life, toiled themselves for few cents a day and for what? To live a humble but honest life? To truly believe that money does not matter as long as they have each other? To raise him to be a good man? That was a naivety. Money ran the world and only the poor kept telling themselves otherwise. Parents' love won't feed a hungry child and that was a fact.

His parents died two years ago and Astarion haven’t visited their grave since that pathetic gathering he hesitated to call a funeral. He was convinced they didn’t deserve his visit. However, he often caught himself thinking about them lately. What would they think of his new job? What would they think about their son being a magistrate? They would be proud, Astarion was sure of it, but also, they would add that manual work is nothing to be ashamed off. And they called him naive.

Few cars passed under the court’s windows. Clumps of fog disappeared, uncovering the freezing mass of deep green water. Lights reflection faded. First steps of court employees resonated outside the door. In thudding march of oxfords and derbys, he recognized the high-pitched clacking of heels. That must be Octavia, he thought immediately. No other magistrate on this floor had woman assistant. Blond curls that appeared in the doors few moments later proved him right.

„Morning.“ She greeted him as she was shedding layers of coat, scarf and knitted shawl one by one, followed by thick mittens. She exhaled into her palms and rubbed them to bring her numbed fingers back to life. 

„So they were right with the predictions, for once. I’ve read it will be snowing this week.“ He said while going through the calendar at his desk. He seemed not to give Octavia much attention, his eyes focused on red circled dates, but secretly, he traced the curves of her hips as she was digging through new case files she brought from filing office. Those round lines stretching the fabric of her skirt, they almost begged to be squeezed.

She responded with silent nod. Octavia wasn’t talkative one and it annoyed Astarion beyond belief. For most of his life, the only fortune he had was his face, his charisma and the ability to sweet talk any woman even into things she wouldn’t herself want. To Astarion’s disbelief, Octavia was somehow resistant to his charm. She appeared so unapproachable he actually lowered himself to talk about weather with her.

„One appeal against parking ticket. Another one…. and another one…“ She counted. „All of them from that parking lot at Sundries.

He sighed. „Don’t tell me they printed passes with wrong dates again. Is it that hard to set the printing machine right?“

„It seems like it. I’ll take care of it.“ Octavia said and took decision forms from the shelf. 

As much for conversation, Astarion thought. Octavia was always doing a great job. She was assistant any magistrate or judge would want. Focused, practical, hard-working. He inherited her from the retired magistrate he replaced and she was the reason why he found his way around the new position so quickly. But she paid a little too much attention to the cases, almost none to him. 

He often caught himself thinking about her. He imagined himself rolling that skirt of hers up, slipping his hand under it, brushing the helm of her stockings with his fingertips, sliding a finger or two between her legs. She never mentioned any boyfriend and there was no ring, so a little office hookup wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it? But Octavia ignored any flirt attempt of his and it made Astarion wonder whether it’s purposeful or if she just doesn’t get it. 

The morning went just as any other. Post came at nine. Octavia made them coffee at ten. Astarion enjoyed his while reading Baldur’s Mouth Gazette. Octavia took a sip anytime she needed to return the carriage of her typewriter. It was half-empty and cold by twelve when Astarion usually went for a lunch. So far, she refused all invitations to join him. 

Once he was out of the sight, Octavia gave herself a pause too. She finished the coffee and lit herself a cigarette. She was a slow smoker, enjoying each drag she took, letting tobacco to sooth her nerves. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, working with Astarion was draining.  Although he wasn’t that nitpicking type who would reproach her for erroneous double space or simply different style of expression, and she knew those, his demeanor forced her to be on constant alert. One would say it is easy to ignore someone. Pretending she misheard his hitting and teasing, acting like she didn’t know about his stares he was so convinced that are inconspicuous. It was not. It was an act and she had to stay at the stage for too long periods of time.

Octavia threw the butt into an ashtray and lit herself another. Sometimes, she wanted to run away.  From everything. There was a tiny voice inside of her screaming, punching her innards, kicking and fighting. But she learned to ignore it. The last thing she wanted was going back home and this job secured that she didn’t have to. 

Astarion usually got back from lunch around one in the afternoon, but this time, it was a Mrs. Hanford from filing office who appeared at the door. 

„Octavia! I’m glad to see you, sweetie! Is magistrate Ancunín here?“ She asked, interrupting Octavia’s flow of thoughts. Two older women were working in the filing office. One insufferable shrew that Octavia couldn’t stand and this lovely lady with silver hair and voice always so cheerful. How they managed to sit together in the same office was a mystery.

„No, but he’ll be back anytime soon.“ Octavia said.

„This just came from the Tax Administration.“ Mrs. Hanford put a file accompanied by an official letter on Astarion’s desk. „They need a warrant to search some warehouse. The sooner, the better I suppose.“ She shrugged her shoulders.

„All right. Just leave it here, I’ll tell Mr. Ancunín it’s urgent.“

„Thank you, sweetie.“ She smiled. „But tell me, how are you doing?“

„Could be better, but I manage.“ To her own surprise, Octavia appreciated the care. Not so long ago, Mrs. Hanford found Octavia crying in bathroom and since then, she was casually checking on her, asking how she is from time to time. It scared Octavia at first. But when she couldn’t sense anything wrong in Mrs. Hanford’s intentions, she just let her do her mother hen job.

„If he’s pissing you off, just kick him right into the balls, girl!“

Octavia had no idea whether she was talking about Astarion or some Octavia’s alleged boyfriend. Clearly, Mrs. Hanford was from the generation that thought there was a man behind all the women's woes. „Don’t worry, I’ll do.“ 

Octavia’s answer earned Mrs. Hanford’s approving nod. „Mind giving me one, sweetie?“ She asked when Octavia tapped the burned tobacco from her cigarette away.

„Please, serve yourself.“ She offered her Camels.

Mrs. Hanford met Astarion at the door on her way out. Maybe it was just Octavia's imagination, but it was almost as if she subtly pursed her lips in a disgust when she passed him. 

Octavia crushed the only half smoked cigarette out. „Tax Administration needs some search warrant.“ She explained as Astarion could barely hide a surprise when he spot the file. „I am not authorised to issue one.“

„Well, you are still authorised enough to draft one.“ He said. „Anyway I’ll take look at that. But you know, you didn’t have to stubbed it out, hm? I think it could be nice to have a cigarette together before digging back into it.“

Octavia stayed silent.

„I mean, it wounds me, really.“ He dramatically touched his chest, feigning hurt. „It's impossible to get you to lunch, let alone a drink after work. I though we were colleagues, maybe even friends and yet, here you are, having a smoking pause with Mrs. Hanford instead of me.“

She let out an exhausted sigh and get up to wash her mug. „Maybe I prefer less dramatical company.“ She mumbled. 

Octavia knew she should have stayed silent, ignoring him just as usual. Astarion could bend any word, twist the sense of whatever she said in no time and easily caught her in a loop of banter he confused with flirting. She preferred no to give him anything he could grab onto. 

„Well, than we can set the drama aside, can’t we? As well as our clothes while we are at it.“ He chuckled and stepped into her way. There was an uncomfortable glint of desire in his eyes. She stiffened for a moment but recoiled quickly as he reached out, his fingers brushing against her arm.

„Don’t you do this.“ Her features hardened. Yes, silence is golden… 

It was the first time he managed to squeeze a reaction out of her. Completely unfazed by her rebuke, Astarion grinned. „Oh come on, Octavia, don’t be like that. I haven’t even done much of thing.“

„And that’s for good.“ She spat out and left to find the furthest sink possible. Just kick him right into the balls, girl! Octavia never wished to do so more than now. But she also wanted to keep her job.

With Octavia out of sight, Astarion’s attention turned back to the warrant request. 

The information provided in the file suggested a large number of imported alcohol stored in one of the warehouses in the docks for which the customs weren't paid. The customs that amounted into a considerable sum. No wonder it made the tax watchdogs salivating, Astarion smirked. The case was pretty self-explanatory, really. But it didn’t seem to be enough to allow the tax officers to raid the warehouse and seize the stuff. Right to privacy applies even to commercial premises as well, after all. Was there enough evidence to start the administrative proceedings? Certainly. But to issue the warrant to let them in? Astarion didn’t think so. Not that he cared for constitutional rights of the whoever those bottles belonged to that much (there was only a legal entity mentioned), but he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea allowing the search of the warehouse only for it to be later found illegal. Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine helped those otherwise guilty even in more serious cases.

As he went though the file, he doubted the sanity of people who chose the tax law to be their main area of practice. Financial law could be interesting. Sometimes. Shares, capital transactions, banking, monetary politics, that he thought might be entertaining. But taxes? Duties? Customs? It bored the soul out of his body. He yawned as he turned another page. There was an envelope covering the extract from the log book. That served him better than afternoon coffee, sending the curious shivers down his spine. 

Usually, envelopes in which post serving as an evidence came in were kept in the files, but this one was plain, with no description and most importantly, sealed. Astarion reached for the envelope, checking the doors. Octavia was still sulking somewhere, maybe chattering in the filing office. The letter knife sunk into the paper, gutting the envelope of its secrets. There was a letter together with pack of banknotes. God, Astarion gasped. His stomach felt suddenly heavier, his palms got sticky. But he shook the quiver of anxiety off, checking the doors once again. No signs of Octavia. He opened the letter:

Dear Judge Ancunín,

I deeply regret the retirement of your predecessor. However, I believe that your appointment maybe the beginning of significant change in the order established in Baldur’s Gate. 

Please accept my gift as a token of goodwill. Let this be also an opportunity for you to make me a little favour out of your friendship. I would appreciate it if a warrant requested could be issued. As soon as possible.

With the kindest regards,

your Friend.

There was no clear signature, of course it wasn’t. Instead, there was a scribble that looked like a crescent how would Picasso draw it or an aggressive try to write out a new pen. 

Astarion read the whole letter again, turning it up and down, even holding it against the window.  He felt ridiculous doing it. But there was nothing more to it. No mysterious message. Simply, it was just a polite side dish a to a main meal - the money. Astarion didn’t risk to count the exact sum, but just from the looks of it, it was a lot. Probably more than he ever earned a month. Even as a magistrate. 

As a steps echoed from the corridor, he quickly stuffed everything back and closed the envelope in a drawer. This time, he appreciated Octavia’s heels for completely different reasons. 

For the rest of the afternoon, Astarion was suspiciously quiet. Octavia didn’t have high hopes he actually realized his actions earlier were far behind the line of what was considered appropriate at the workplace (at least in her opinion), but whatever was the reason of his mouth being shut, she appreciated the silence. Fact that Astarion left earlier today was just a cherry on top. The only thing missing to perfection was a functioning heater.

Astarion managed to took the envelope out of his drawer without Octavia noticing anything. If it wasn’t stuffed with money and incriminating letter, he would never paid that much attention to the  stealthiness of his movements and his back wouldn’t get covered in fresh sweat anytime he overheard Octavia’s clacking and clicking stop. It was a second. Open the drawer, take out the envelope, put in the bag. But it felt like ages. 

Once this peculiar task was done, he put the coat on and rushed from the office, waving Octavia goodbye with a simple „Need to get out earlier today.“ She hummed something in return.

Astarion would swear all the eyes he passed by on his way to an exit saw straight trough him. Normally, he loved those little small talks with court staff, especially the judges, but this time, he avoided an eye contact with anyone he met. Just don’t talk to me, just don’t… At least, he had perfect knowledge of what shoes are currently the most worn at Lower City bureau.

The neoclassicist interior of the court building merged into blur of granite and tiles. He took the stairs by two, not stopping at the first floor to soak up the atmosphere of humongous hall covered by the glass ceiling, connecting three galleries lined with thick pillars. They called the hall a „pool“. This time, he preferred not to swim there. 

As he pushed the heavy door at the exit open, he expected anything. A police cordon, detectives hidden behind the pillars of the court’s portico, a car with masked men ready to make him a strainer. But only a freezing cold awaited him outside. It calmed him down. He could feel his heart rate dropping. A false picture of reality induced by piking cortisol and adrenalin vanished. Just a moment before, he believed someone - somehow - will take him straight to the jail. Contrary to the fact that he knew very well it doesn’t work like that. Now he was just an ordinary man heading home from work a little earlier. Just an ordinary man who will soon disappear in crowds in the Lower City’s streets. No one to care about. No one to pay special attention to. Just an ordinary man with a bribe in his bag. He smiled.

Astarion didn’t live far from the court. Few stops by the streetcar, but he could simply take a walk. He decided for the later. Being just one of the particles of the usual city rush soothed him. The anonymity provided him with the sense of safety. On his way, he was taking a quick looks into the storefront he usually ignored. Slowly, he started to think how could he spent the money. If he issues the warrant and takes it. He could use a new suit - tailor made, of course. Facemaker’s, preferably. As well as a fine pair of shoes. He could also spend an adventurous night in the most prominent bars and clubs in the city. He never has been in the House of Hope, the one where unimaginable sins became reality and social elite striped its golden platting, revealing itself just as dirty as anyone else. Or so the rumors were.

If he issues the warrant and takes the money. Yes, the pesky question of moral still needed to be resolved.

His thought were swinging back and forth, so he completely ignored one of his neighbours greeting him when he passed the post boxes on the ground floor of the building his apartment was located in. It gained him a nasty comment on the arrogant attitude of young people, but he ignored that too. Firstly, he wasn’t that young. Secondly, as if he cared. The arrogance might be overall considered a bad trait, but it shielded him from those who just wanted all the others to be as miserable as them. It takes a little arrogance to achieve something. And even more to achieve something big. He was proudly arrogant and had no plan to change it. 

His apartment was nothing like he wished it to be. He dreamed of a penthouse in one of the Upper City’s skyscrapers, furnished with modern, functional pieces made of dark, polished wood and decorated with lavish wallpapers rich in colours and patterns. His heart ached for one of those glass-top coffee tables from Miller’s catalogue. He often basked in imagination of himself standing high above the city, untouched by the ordinary life and dirt and misery of common folks. With a glass of vintage red. With a curves such as Octavia’s rising under the silken sheet in his bed, waiting for him. He deserved such a life, did he not? 

Instead, his apartment was quite simple. Plain. Tasteless. Old furniture that remembered the last tenant, not-well-maintained parquet floor, kitchen with terrible corn cob wallpaper. A kitsch.  But it was the court’s apartment, one of those rented out to judges and magistrates and therefore, he only had to pay the half of the rent. Something at least.

He threw the keys to the bowl next to the door and than fall into the armchair in the living room. Immediately, he reached for the envelope and began to count the money. He didn’t even put his coat off. Every other green paper that passed through his fingers only raised his curiosity. He counted it over and over to be sure, but finally he find out the sum to be three times his monthly salary plus something extra. God… He has never seen such a sum before. And yet, it was there. Right in front of him. Material. Real. Tempting. 

It was far more than he originally expected. More than he would need for new pieces of clothing and night spent in the city’s nightlife vortex. He could easily invite Octavia for a dinner at Yenna’s  Table or Chez Dekarios and secure her attention with some glamorous gift. Roses. Nice jewell. A little shopping spree. Anything a creature like her could dream of. No woman would refuse the invitation to Chez Dekarios, wouldn’t she? And Octavia, despite her bright mind and aloof facade, was just a woman. If she is resistant to his charm, if he can’t gain her interest naturally, he will buy it. Money open both, doors and legs. What if she’s just a little gold digger, so cleverly hidden behind her typewriter, awaiting the right opportunity to bag some of the court’s bigger fishes? Was she making all the fuss about his innocent proposals because she has him for a beggar?  She didn’t seem to be that type, but it would explain why she doesn’t care about him at all. He smirked and put the money back to the envelope, taking the letter once again.

In any way it wasn’t suggesting who was the sender. Astarion could only wonder who disguised himself with such a polite words. He had just a common knowledge of the Baldur’s Gate underworld, not much deeper than anyone else in the city. Mainly, it was based on rumours and exaggerated newspaper headlines. There were several (allegedly) criminal families pulling the strings and various groups of their puppets. Local gangs, dealers, traffickers, thieves, pimps - all of those were just an end of the thread going up to those who held real power. Could this be the case? Will he appear on the payroll of someone of the great and good of Baldur’s Gate? Maybe he just let his fantasy of leash. Anyone could be behind the letter in the end. In the moral equation he faced he could not, therefore, calculate on the question of whom he would piss off if he won’t decide as requested. The only variable was his morals, then. He felt trapped.

If he takes the money, it won’t be the first time he will do something morally disputable. He wasn’t new to the grey zone between socially acceptable and deplorable, not at all. But this time, he lacked the excuse that would hush his conscience.

When he was a child, he had to steal from time to time. Picking pockets, shoplift for food. His parents didn’t earned much and when the Great Depression stroke, what else could he do? It was a hunger that drove his eleven years old hands. How could anyone blame him? 

Later, during his studies, he struggled financially. Of course he did. No one supported him, so he had to support himself. Was he a terrible person just because he ingratiated himself with (female) classmates from wealthier families? Was it really a crime when he borrowed some money from them? Without their knowledge? Never repaying it back? Especially if they didn’t notice? No. He simply didn't born into the right family and so he deserved those little contributions from the luckier ones.

And now - did he have all he wanted? Not at all. Fact that he was assigned to the Lower City bureau was a enough of a proof. The whole justice was more or less corrupted, was it not? He won’t be any worse than any other judge or magistrate. They all did little favours to their friends and families. They all had their connections, helping hands that lifted them to their positions. Contrary to him. He had to compete with wealthier, luckier, those more blessed and he made it. He would be an idiot to refuse a giving hand when it reached to him. He deserved it.

After all, one did not become successful and wealthy by playing fair. Living a good life while remaining humble and honest was impossible, at least in this society. When he listened to his conscience, he heard his parents’ voices talking to him. But what did they get with their humbleness? Their honesty and modesty and whatever false values they believed in? Back pain. Rheumatism. Tendonitis. And how did society reward them for being such good people? The doctor kicked them out of his office because they couldn't pay.

People praised others for being good simply to reduce competition. Those who fell for the fairytale of being good were out of the game, no longer a threat to those who understood the system. Blinded by the constructed ideals, lambs like his parents were herded by the wolves. They led you to poverty and praised you for the suffering. And when you asked for help, they bit your hands off. The circle had closed.

As the anger was boiling inside of him, he realized he was sitting there fully clothed. Only the scarf was loosen, hanging sloppily around his sweaty neck. It was decided. He’ll take the money, he’ll issue the warrant. He had some discretion and he could come up with some arguments why it was justified. 

Astarion left his coat in the armchair and went to the bathroom to sprinkle his face with little bit of cold water. After that, he poured himself a glass of wine.

[rjzimmerman]

Biden set to block Alaska road key to accessing planned mine. (Washington Post)

The Biden administration is set to block a controversial road crucial to operating a planned copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska, saying it would threaten Indigenous communities and fragment wildlife habitat, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The expected decision on Ambler Road reflects the administration’s selective approach toward boosting domestic mining of minerals used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean-energy technologies. It underscores the challenges facing President Biden as he balances an ambitious climate agenda with the need to protect vulnerable communities and pristine wilderness.

The timing of the move, which was first reported by Politico, is still in flux, although it could come as soon as this week, according to the two people familiar with the matter. An Interior spokesman declined to comment.

Interior is expected to find that there should be “no action” on the federal land where the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) wants to build the 211-mile Ambler Road. That would prevent AIDEA from receiving a permit to build the road, and it would effectively block the mining venture Ambler Metals from accessing the planned open-pit mine. The company has yet to seek or obtain permits for the mine.

AIDEA had planned for Ambler Road to extend 211 miles, crossing 11 major rivers and breaking apart unspoiled tundra. Twenty-six of those miles would have carved through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, sending giant trucks rumbling through wild lands where tens of thousands of caribou migrate.

The Trump administration approved a right-of-way permit for Ambler Road in 2020, saying it could provide access to significant copper and cobalt deposits. But after Biden took office, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ordered a fresh review of the road, saying the prior administration had not adequately studied its environmental impact.

In an analysis released last year, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management found that the road would threaten Alaska Natives and their lifestyles more than previously thought. The agency identified 66 communities whose hunting, fishing and other subsistence activities could be affected, up from 27 communities in a highly contested 2020 analysis completed during the Trump administration.

Interior also warned that the road would alter the movement and migration of caribou and other animals, partly because of vehicle noise. With climate change and development already putting pressure on caribou herds, the road could reduce calving and survival rates, the analysis said.

[girlactionfigure]

ISRAEL REALTIME - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

Morning Nov 13

◾️MORTAR FIRE from LEBANON… Gornot HaGalil.

◾️ROCKET FIRE from GAZA… short range, Sderot and surrounds.

◾️HEZBOLLAH TV WAS REPORTING FROM ISRAEL?  Hezbollah's al-Mayadeen channel was blocked in Israel after Communications Minister Shlomo Karai signed the directive.  ?????

◾️MEDIA REACTION… to the horror video, worth watching. “WORSE THAN THE NAZI’S”  https://youtu.be/SmivUM0tlwc?si=QX5N-DHJRC0r-tiZ

◾️LEBANON BATTLES… Following the alert that was activated in the Galilee area, two mortar launches from Lebanese territory were detected that crossed into Israeli territory and fell in an open area. There are no casualties.  The IDF attacks the sources of the fire with artillery.  During the night, IDF forces attacked an armed terrorist cell identified in Lebanese territory in the Birnit area, a hit was detected.

◾️SYRIA & IRAQ BEING ATTACKED… Eastern Syria: Intensive flights of jets.  A large-scale attack in the city of Albo Kamal in Deir ez-Zor district.  Iraqi targets belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are attacked. Reports of an attack in the city of Al Mayadin.  Attack was carried out in the Syrian-Iraqi border area. 

Who?  American media - The United States carried out two new airstrikes against targets in eastern Syria.

◾️RESPONSE… Iranian proxies reacted strongly and attacked the two oil fields located in eastern Syria, Koniko field, Sde El Amar.  The attacks were carried out west and east of the Euphrates River, the American forces responded with artillery and precision missiles.  4 American soldiers were killed last night in the rocket attack on American bases.  US Secretary of Defense:  We will do whatever is necessary to protect our troops in the Middle East if the attacks do not stop.

◾️BLACKHAWK DOWN… previous mention in the news of U.S. loss of aircraft nearby was a Blackhawk helicopter with a special forces team.  5 U.S. soldiers lost.  They were training in emergency evacuation in preparation for removing citizens from Lebanon.

◾️AID… The Lebanese Almayadeen channel: Egypt returned to the Iranians aid that they had flown to Egypt - Al-Arish for Gaza, due to Israel's refusal to allow this aid into the Gaza Strip.

◾️IDF SHOWS OFF FAMILY HOME… captured family home in Gaza, full of grenades and ammunition under hidden trap doors.

◾️THE FALLEN… heroes of Israel reach 44 killed during the Gaza war.

◾️TEL AVIV - RAMAT HASHARON EXPLOSIONS… (It’s a DRILL) Due to training of the security forces - during the day explosive sounds are expected to be heard in Tel Aviv and Ramat Hasharon.  HOWEVER, do not ignore gunfire if you hear it - call the POLICE 100 just in case!

◾️BEIT SHEMESH GUNFIRE… (It’s TRAINING) Police academy (located in Beit Shemesh West industrial park) has increased training schedule, including night training.  Gunfire and explosions may be heard regularly in parts of Beit Shemesh as the sound carries across the valley.  HOWEVER, do not ignore gunfire if you hear it - call the POLICE 100 just in case!

Mid day Nov 13

🔴 DRONE ATTACK !  NORTH ISRAEL… Yir'on, Jish (Gush Halav), Rehaniya, Alma, Avivim, Ramat Dalton Industrial Zone, Kerem Ben Zimra, Baram, Dalton.  Take immediate shelter!

◾️ MORTARS FROM LEBANON… 18 mortars were fired from Lebanon at the northern village of Arab al-Aramshe earlier. All landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.  Since this morning, about 22 rockets and anti-tank missiles have been fired at Israel from Lebanon.

◾️ ANTI-TANK FIRE INJURES 2… Two injured as a result of an anti-tank missile that was fired at the gate of moshav Netu'a on the Lebanese border.

◾️PAUSE… Unusual: the IDF spokesman announced a 4-hour humanitarian truce in SOUTHERN Gaza - in the southern city of Rafah, west of the Salah al-Din axis.

◾️JERICHO - JUDEA… Israeli counter terror forces at work in Aqaba Jaber, Jericho.  Exchanges of fire, wanted terrorists captured.

◾️BIZARRE ISRAELI POLITICS… due to the war and lack of personnel, many court hearings are being held by Zoom or equivalent.  A judge lambasted the security personnel for placing the defendant in a room which had an Israeli flag behind them on the wall.  The security personnel suggested the judge turn around, as she had a flag on the wall behind her in the courtroom.  The Prison Service Commissioner order that all remote legal hearings continue to be done against the background of state symbols and the Israeli flag next to the name of the unit from which the hearing is conducted.  Security Minister said “I give full support to the Prison Commissioner. The judge does not have the authority to order the lowering of the state flag and state symbols. Any judge upset by sate symbols can resign.”

◾️RELATED COMMENTARY… Israel has had strong peace and Palestinian accommodation movements and political support.  But Israel is now at war for literal survival of the Jewish people and the country.  As a democracy and procedural government, it takes a bit of time to put controls in place - Israel is now placing controls on support for terror organizations, Palestinian causes, enemy supportive media, the enemy, and ‘micro-aggressions’ that previously were ignored.  7 weeks ago flying a Palestinian flag at a protest in Tel Aviv was cool, today it will get you arrested.  In the midst of a war undermining the country is criminal.

◾️NEUTARI KARTA and SATMAR… (( Neuturi Karat are an extremist Charedi group that is against the State of Israel, stating that for religious reasons Jews should NOT govern themselves in the land of Israel - and practically demonstrate and support the Palestinian Authority and Iran in standing against Israel. ))  The Rebbe (grand rabbi) of Satmar (the largest chassidic group in the world, mostly based in the U.S.) delivered harsh words against the Neutari Karat who are protesting against Israel and supporting Hamas!   "They go around the world without any shame and reinforce the acts of murder, they go with with their shtreimels and shout together with the haters of Israel and murderers of souls."  (( the big deal - Satmar also opposes the state of Israel for religious reasons, refusing to engage with state institutions, but does live and operate in Israel and never takes an action that would weaken the state. ))

🔴 DRONE ATTACK !  NORTH east ISRAEL… Yir'on, Jish (Gush Halav), Rehaniya, Alma, Avivim, Ramat Dalton Industrial Zone, Kerem Ben Zimra, Baram, Dalton.  Take immediate shelter! (12:48)

🔴 ROCKET ATTACK !  NORTH east ISRAEL… Safed, Amuka, Biriyeh (12:54)

🔴 ROCKET ATTACK !  NORTH west ISRAEL… Acre, Sha’ar Na’aman, Acco, Ein MaMifratz, Kiryat Biyalik

🔴 ROCKET ATTACK !  NORTH east ISRAEL… Dishon (12:59)

◾️ BARRAGES… heavy rocket barrages from Hezbollah - Lebanon sent along with drone attack.

◾️ MASSACRE FILM… On Wednesday at noon there will be another screening of the horror film at the Knesset. Both former Knesset members will be invited this time as well as Knesset members who did not attend last time.

◾️ HOSTAGES… Sources in Egyptian intelligence:  "Hamas has set a condition that the terrorist Ibrahim Hamed, the former leader of Hamas in Judea-Samaria, be released at the top of the list, otherwise there will be no prisoner/kidnap exchange deal."

◾️ PASSPORT ADDRESS - NOT FAKE… The Population and Immigration Authority: if you ordered a new passport and received a message from the HFD company - this is NOT a fake. Following the evacuation of residents from their homes, it was decided to send customers a message to allow them to change the delivery address.

[plethoraworldatlas]

On August 27, African faith, farming, and environmental leaders came together to launch an unusual statement. Their open letter was addressed to “the Gates Foundation and other funders of industrial agriculture.” It charged these funders with promoting a type of corporate, industrial agriculture that does not respect African ecosystems or agricultural traditions.

The letter was organized by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), and has over 150 signatories. Its release was timed to influence the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, which starts today. Partners of this conference include the Rwandan government, AGRA, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other philanthropies, agribusiness companies, and aid organizations.

The open letter takes particular aim at two linked organizations. The Gates Foundation is primarily known for its public health investments, but has also made major inroads into agriculture. In Africa much of this work extends through the Nairobi-based AGRA (previously known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa). The Gates Foundation is a cofounder and the largest donor to AGRA. Other large donors include the UK and US governments.

Under a basket of policies dubbed the “green revolution,” AGRA, the Gates Foundation, and likeminded institutions have sought to substantially increase the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and commercial seeds in Africa. This has centered on developing new seeds and a network of sellers. The aim has been to dramatically increase agricultural output, in order to reduce hunger and elevate farmer incomes.

But by AGRA’s own admission, it failed in its goal to double crop yields and incomes for 30 million farmers by 2020. In fact, some critics argue, AGRA has made things worse.

According to an external assessment by Timothy A. Wise of Tufts University, severe hunger in AGRA countries increased by 30% between AGRA’s founding and 2018. Crop yield increases have been modest, and where they exist, they haven’t always been enough to cover the higher cost of farming with commercial seeds and agricultural inputs. Dependence on fertilizer has increased the debt and financial precarity of the small farmers who make up the majority of farmers in Africa. In some cases the limited yield increases have also been temporary, as soil fertility has diminished due to monoculture farming and fertilizer use. For instance, Ethiopian farmers “will say that the soil is corrupted, meaning it cannot produce food” without synthetic fertilizer, reports Million Belay of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA).

There have been knock-on effects, Belay says. For instance, Zambian farmers who have become indebted, due to synthetic fertilizer purchases, have had less money for food and their children’s education.

In other words, many farmers’ families are poorer and hungrier than before, while the land itself is less productive.

While AGRA hasn’t managed to double farmer income and yields, it has succeeded in shifting government policies for the worse, according to Belay. These include the dilution of regional biosafety regulations and fertilizer regulations, Belay says. In Kenya, farmers can now face prison time for saving or sharing seeds.

A new AFSA briefing note states that AGRA is seeking to place consultants within government offices and “directly crafting policies at the continental, national, and local levels.” This includes a new 10-year policy for agricultural investment in Zambia.

All, in all, it’s a highly commercialized, elite, and often rich-world vision of African agriculture. Tim Schwab writes in The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, “Rarely, however, do the targets of Gates’s goodwill, the global poor or smallholder farmers, have a seat at the table. In the case of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, or AGRA, the allies include a bevy of corporate partners: Syngenta, Bayer (Monsanto), Corteva Agriscience, John Deere, Nestlé, and even Microsoft.” AGRA has been criticized for aiding its agricultural partners to expand in Africa.

[sea-owl]

I'm on an omegaverse kick right now so when I saw one for @bitetonysassfest I had to do it. I'm still relativley new to writing NSFW so that part probably isn't the best but thankfully it's only a small part.

-

NSFW(ish) 1/23:

Trope: omegaverse

Kink: Dirty talk (I'm still debating if this one actually fits in)

Dialouge: "That's a whole-ass meal."

-

To be fair, Bucky hasn't seen Tony in those tight-fitting slacks he likes to wear during important business negotiations until today. Their omega claims he has better luck when wearing them. (Steve thinks what really happens is those perverted businessmen and women get distracted by Tony's ass and Pepper likes when those distractions lead to better deals for Stark Industries.) Steve also knows the other alpha is only one who understands Steve's appreciation for Tony's delicious booty.

So when Bucky got his first look of said ass in those slacks you really couldn't blame Steve for his reaction. I mean honestly why was Bucky even drinking water when their omega looked like a snack.

"Steve that ass is no snack," Bucky said in the loudest whisper Steve has ever heard in his life. "It's a whole-ass meal!"

Steve smiled that perverted smile only his mates got to see. "I say we go feast then."

"Okay," Tony muttered to himself. His AI glasses on, going over important notes before the meeting. "If we can get the board to agree then that would open the gates for Stark In- what the fuck!"

Tony looked down to see his two mates on either side of him, both of them had one cheek in their mouths. Whatever was not in their mouths their hands held.

"You heathens!" Tony exclaimed. Grabbing the first thing he could reach, Steve's mission reports, he began to wack them both. "I have a meeting!"

"Oh, come on Doll, you can be a few minutes late," Bucky said, breaking out the Brooklyn accent.

Steve nodded, his eyes never going up above Tony's belt. "Yeah, why don't we have breakfast first. You'll need it to keep up your strength."

Tony felt slick start to leak and damn super soliders and their damn Brooklyn accents they know Tony is weak for! Pepper will kill all three of them if he's late again. Wacking them wasn't doing anything as they both still reached for him, so he'll have to distract them. Fine then let's see how they like it. Snatching both of their wrists, Steve's left and Bucky's right, Tony shoved their fingers in as far as they would go and bit.

"Ow!"

"Tony!"

They pulled but Tony bit harder, making sure he's gonna leave a mark even with their stupid healing factor.

Once satisfied Tony raced out the door, jacket in hand.

-

What did you two do to him?! He smells like pheromones!

Pepper sent that text along with a picture of Tony's ass, which now sported two wet spots from where Steve and Bucky bit.

Bucky moaned looking at the picture. "Stevie it's not fair! How come those old lechers get to ogle our omega while we get wacked with your stupidly detailed mission reports!"

Steve ignored him while he stared down at the hand Tony bit. Half a bite mark was displayed. Half of Tony's mark was on him. Steve glanced down at Bucky's right hand, where the other half was. An idea half forming in his head.

"Friday can you enlarge this picture on the ceiling?" Steve asked the AI.

"Yes Captian Rodgers," the AI responded.

Bucky looked confused as Steve laid him back and then himself. "Steve not that I don't appreciate the view but what are we doing?"

"Tony bit both of us."

Bucky only raised an eyebrow. "Yeah cause he's our feral gremlin disguised as an omega."

"His mouth is imprinted on both of us from that bite," Steve continued, laying the the bite marked hand on Bucky's crotch. Taking Bucky's hand Steve laid on his own. "His mouth can take both of us."

Steve squeezed and Bucky moaned at the thought. Double filling Tony has been a fantasy for both alphas knowing Tony would be a drooling mess, but neither could ever get the courage to ask him about it.

"He start by kissing the tips."

Bucky began to picture it. Tony, the tease that he is, would give them both butterfly kisses before licking them like a popsicle.

"Slowly he'll take us in his mouth, but we won't fit all the way. Not with both of us."

Despite being a size queen even Tony wouldn't be able to fit both his mates huge dicks fully in his mouth. That's okay though, his talented hands can take over where his mouth can't.

"Bobbing his head up and down, maybe he'll graze us with his teeth."

Bucky moaned. He always did like friction a light touch of teeth gave.

"Sucking and squeezing. He doesn't notice our knots. Should we knot his sassy little mouth."

"Yes, fuck!" Bucky cursed as he felt his release. His hand was covered with Steve's cum.

Steve chuckled from his side of the bed. His own hand perfectly clean.

That's when Bucky noticed how sticky he was.

"What the fuck Steve!" Bucky cursed.

At some point Steve had taken off his pants but denied Bucky to do the same. Now it was like Bucky was a teenager again.

Steve laughed at Bucky's threats, checking his phone for the notification that just came through.

Actually, whatever you did today do it again on the 15th. We have a meeting with those stubborn fools from the Departments of Energy and Human Services that day.

For today's payment I got Tony to change into his red lace thong under his pants. He will be there soon.

"Bucky we're getting dinner and dessert when Tony gets home."

[ammg-old2]

In 1971, the Angling Times sent reporter Dave Nash to document a disaster in Ockendon, Essex. The resulting article described the extinction of a local beauty spot, hundreds of hectares of open space where former gravel pits had become popular fishing lakes. “In less than a decade, what was one of the best fisheries in Essex has been savagely raped and despoiled. Seven hundred tons of household garbage is deposited into the pits every day, along with a similar undisclosed amount of industrial refuse.” The article was accompanied by a striking picture, taken by Nash, showing two men attempting to catch a pike between the scrap cars that lined the bank of Arisdale lake. “If it’s not the water level dropping,” said Jerry Hulbert, the vice-president of the Moor Hall and Belhus Angling Society, “then it’s the rubbish encroaching a few feet every day.”

I came across this story via my father-in-law, Cliff Hatton, who had sent me the newspaper cutting in the post. He would often tell me how the gravel pits, clay pits and sand pits of South Ockendon – initially dug out by the Ham River Grit company to feed the post-second world war hunger for concrete in south-east England – became, in his own excited words, “a nirvana” once they had naturally filled with water. “You dig a hole in Thurrock, leave it a few years and there are fish in it.”

The faintly absurd happenstance of the pits felt to me like a classic Essex story. My birth county had long made the best out of whatever the modern world threw at it, from industrial growth along the Thames to postwar new towns, becoming a shorthand for a loutish brand of greed-is-good Conservatism in the 1980s, and spray-tanned reality stars in the 2010s.

Like many former Londoners looking for green space, Cliff’s family had moved to South Ockendon from a housing estate near Romford in 1964, when Cliff was 11. He and his older brother Barry were keen fishers, and had enrolled in the local angling society. They rejoiced at the abundance of water they could dip their lines into. Cliff was a big fan of local heroes the Small Faces and the music of the burgeoning 1960s mod scene, which was filling Mecca ballrooms with R&B and soul from Forest Gate on the edge of London to Clacton on the coast. But it wasn’t music that kept him up all night. While his peers might have been trying their luck with a potential squeeze in the dark corner of a parquet-floored hall, he was sitting under the moonlight with a rod, eager to catch a handsome carp, perch or bream.

Cliff said one of the pits, known as Hamble Lane, had, like an increasing number of places in south Essex, become an established rubbish tip by the time they started fishing there. But, while fishing at night, he noticed something odd. “There was more activity at the site during the hours of darkness than there was during the hours of light, even though everybody should by law have been gone,” Cliff said. Lorries would come through the gates “nose-to-tail” with sometimes up to 14 in a convoy, all through the night until sunrise. It was only later he realised the extent of the industrial chemicals that were being dumped there under cover of darkness.

One day in 1967, an elderly neighbour had asked Cliff to bring back some sticks from the Hamble Lane dump that he could use in his rose garden. Cliff remembered his errand when he was on the way back from fishing, after the sun had gone down. He climbed on top of a pile of wood to search for sticks, and then jumped off. “I just leapt into the darkness thinking I was going to land on solid ground,” said Cliff. Instead, he found himself up to his waist in slime. After a few moments, his skin began to burn. He had jumped into a caustic slurry, dumped there by a pharmaceutical company based in Dagenham. “That led to me spending a week or so in hospital and many, many weeks after that invalided indoors with great burns to my legs and on my face,” said Cliff.

Cliff’s parents, knowing their place, never sought compensation. Once recovered enough to return to the pits, Cliff found two half-empty drums of granulated cyanide floating in one of them. Another time, he and his brother came across a mountain of glass vials, and suspected that barbiturates had been dumped a few yards from a school fence. “We took some samples to the local police station, and showed them these dangerous drugs and mentioned they were within yards of the school playing field, and the only question we were asked was: ‘What were you doing over there?’ They were more worried about the fact that we were trespassing.”

Thurrock council took no action over the scandalous pollution that burned him and destroyed the habitat he so cherished, leaving Cliff with “a lifelong grudge against authority”. Decades later, he still winced at the thought of the fish floundering about in a couple of feet of muddy, poisoned water as the pits were drained and the whole reserve became a landfill site; those that hadn’t already perished were buried alive under tonnes of industrial waste.

“And of course with them went all the voles and the birdlife, including kingfishers and bitterns.” Each time Cliff told me of his favourite fishing spot, the Ripples, it was as if he could see it before him anew. “It was dubbed the Ripples because when the wind blew on it and the sun shone on it, it was such a beautiful looking place. It sparkled. It was a paradise and it just went under a sea of filth.”

[evilroachindustrial]

Idk even if they're stepping back, I personally lost all trust for wotc for what they *tried* to pull

Especially considering unlike most cases with corporations pulling shit like this, there's so many alternatives to choose from

First off, immediately out the goddamn gate: Stop listening to that DnD_Shorts bozo and other ttrpg Youtubers. They’ve been proven explicitly wrong several time already about several things already by multiple actual Wizards of the Coast employees. They are not journalists. They do not work in the actual ttrpg industry. They do not know what the fuck they’re talking about.

Their source of “Just Trust Me Bro” does not make them credible. They know this is a hot button issue in the community and anything they post about it will drive their algorithm and get them views. The more shit they stir, the better it is for them.

Secondly, gonna reiterate this for the billionth time since it so hard for some folks to understand: I, and many others, actually like and enjoy 5e. Both as a system to play and create content for. 

But anyway, to my original point: 

Outside of the original Gizmodo journalist who reported on this, I don't believe the original leaked OGL 1.1 draft is actually available anywhere online to read for the general public. So from the jump, we're only able to rely on a secondhand account of what this leaked 1.1 draft actually included which, so far is the real salacious stuff (royalties, rights, etc)

And while this publicly released draft of OGL 1.2 is much more formally written, it's actually seems pretty standard from the looks of it. Take the licensing page Evil Hat Productions put out for their Forged in the Dark system for example.

Wizard’s is more formalized, but the verbiage and what it’s covering are incredibly similar to Evil Hat’s license.

Then at this point, Wizards is giving everyone what they wanted with this new draft:

The OGL 1.0a, while no longer the applicable license going further, will still be used for content published under it's license and will not have to update to the new OGL 1.x license (x because I have no idea what the official version number will be)

No one has to pay royalties to WotC on money in excess of $750k.

You retain your rights to your materials and no longer have to send WotC a copy of it.

This one is explicitly stated to be perpetual AND irrevocable, which what never the case with the OGL 1.0a, which was just perpetual.

Like, it's incredibly important to keep in mind that the OGL 1.1 was a draft. It was not official. It was not binding. It was a nearly month old work-in-progress document.

I can’t speak to the Holiday work schedule at Wizards but I would be very skeptical if that was even the current internal version being worked on at Wizards of the Coast, especially since Gizmodo got access from a non-WotC developer, which has me thinking WotC were likely sharing this draft with folks in the industry for comments and criticism on the updated OGL.

Honestly, between the cancelled subscriptions, Paizo & co. creating their own open licenses, all the bad PR, I’ll give them some benefit of the doubt that they know how thoroughly they fucked up with draft 1.1

So at the end of it, all I can really say is dear god, don’t listen to the clout-chasing Youtubers.

[makers-muse]

Robotics and Automation: Redefining Industries and Job Opportunities

Robotics and automation are revolutionizing Industries and job landscapes, transforming factories, warehouses, and operating rooms. These technologies enable precise machinery assembly, autonomous drone retrieval, and unparalleled precision in surgery. They are not science fiction but the pulse of innovation.

Industries are shedding their old skins, embracing the boundless capabilities of Automation. Manufacturing plants are adopting robotic arms that assemble complex products with surgical precision, slashing error rates and boosting production beyond human limitations. Agriculture, too, is undergoing a Digital Metamorphosis, with autonomous tractors navigating fields autonomously, ensuring optimal planting and harvesting. The evidence is resounding automation doesn’t replace industries; it elevates them.

But let’s talk numbers hard, impressive facts that showcase the prowess of Robotics and Automation. Did you know that industrial robots can boost j by a staggering 85%? That’s not just a number; it’s a testament to the extraordinary potential of these machines to elevate industries to heights previously unattainable. And when we look at job opportunities, the narrative isn’t one of loss but transformation. For every routine task that a robot takes over, a universe of opportunities blooms for individuals skilled in designing, Programming, and maintaining these robotic wonders.

The story of Robotics and automation is one of collaboration of humans and machines joining forces to achieve feats that neither could accomplish alone. Picture a warehouse where cobots glide alongside their human counterparts, tackling heavy lifting while the humans orchestrate the symphony of operations. It’s a dance of ingenuity, where Technology enhances human potential instead of overshadowing it.

Did you know that 65% of companies adopting automation have reported increased Employee Satisfaction? As machines handle mundane tasks, human workers are freed to explore creativity, innovation, and problem-solving, breathing new life into their roles.

While the road to this transformative Future is undeniably paved with challenges, think about the need for reskilling and adapting to the rapid pace of change the possibilities that unfold are breathtaking. And the beauty of it all? It’s not a distant fantasy; it’s happening right now, right here.

From Tesla’s advanced robotic manufacturing to Amazon’s intricate delivery network, the robots are not just coming they’re already here, shaping the world we live in and forging a path towards an exciting and dynamic tomorrow.

In the grand tapestry of progress, the threads of robotics and automation are weaving a story of boundless potential. Industries are letting go of previous limitations, and career opportunities are expanding into uncharted areas. It’s a story about how technology and people can work together to open up new possibilities. In light of this, keep in mind that robotics and automation are already here and hold great promise when you consider the environment around you.

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.” — Bill Gates

[affectiondeficitdisorder]

If Dating is a Numbers Game, the House Always Wins

Used to be, “courting distance” was how far a man could comfortably ride a horse, spend a little time visiting, and return home all in one day. It was about 12 miles, and boy howdy did that limit the dating pool — not to mention the gene pool. It made life pretty easy for matchmakers, though. Today, courting distance is throw-a-dart-at-the-globe… but are we better off with this paradox of choice? Who bothers to invest in a budding relationship when there’s always another one where that came from, and our electronic matchmakers remind us of that every day. “There’s plenty of fish in the sea,” say Tinder and Bumble and Hinge and, duh, Plenty of Fish.

But there’s a catch. It is not in the best interest of these electronic marvels of matchmaking to actually match you with anyone. As much as they claim to love love and want nothing more than to find you the love you seek, there is ample evidence that they are actually using their advanced algorithms to keep you single. After all, as soon as you find your true love, you will stop using their services. The apps cannot actually give you the very thing they are selling.

I believe economists call it a “perverse incentive.” I call it bullshit.

“People forget it’s an industry,” says tech reporter Lakshmi Rengarajan. “They know who’s behind Netflix or Amazon or Facebook, but they have no idea who’s behind Match.” Which, by the way, also owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, The League, Plenty of Fish, and whatever it is you’re surreptitiously swiping as you skim this essay. (Spoiler alert: It’s Barry Diller. The Match Group is the brainchild of the octogenarian media mogul who also invented the made-for-TV movie and launched the Fox network.)

Rengarajan and Sangeeta Singh Kurtz are co-hosts of Dating Games, the latest season from the techie podcast Land of the Giants. It’s a deep dive into the genesis, the business and the general dystopia of dating apps. 

And “Games” in an appropriate handle, as dating apps were designed from the gate to resemble casino games, and with the same goal: They want to keep you there as long as possible to extract as much money from you as possible. Only instead of bribing you with free cocktail service and seafood buffets, they tempt you with the promise of everlasting love.

Of course, these slot machines can’t actually give you everlasting love, because that would cause you to immediately exit the casino. So they do everything in their algorithmic power to serve you Mr. or Ms. Not-Quite-Right, to persuade you that Mr. or Ms. Right is behind the next curtain. Just keep swiping!

Here’s the thing: Mr. or Ms. Right could well be behind the curtain somewhere. Probably is. In 2023, just about every unpartnered (and plenty of partnered) people are on the apps. But the app has zero incentive to open the curtain. Its goal is to keep zapping you with the dopamine hit of expectation, over and over and over again. Because mammals will chase dopamine hits until they die. Ask any lab rat.

The apps are programmed to give us almost what we want, but not quite. They are designed to tantalize you. It is frustration on a mythic scale. Literally. Where do you think the word “tantalize” comes from? The current psych jargon for this phenomenon is the “ludic loop,” although the idea of “intermittent reward” has been around since before BF Skinner did his experiments with the actual lever-pressing lab rats.

As media analyst Jon Favreau put it, “You may go into the dating app thinking ‘I want to find someone,’ but the act of being on the app and swiping itself becomes an entertainment experience.” The average Bumble user spends 90 minutes a day on the app. Astonishing. I would shoot myself after spending 90 minutes on Bumble, period - although I do find it entertaining. Look at all the pictures of men holding up a fish!

I don’t get it. Do they think I will pick the man with the biggest fish? Is this a dick metaphor, or do I look hungry?

[parisbytaylorswift]

Sometimes I find fame really wild when I think about how small the world really is and how everyone is connected. I come from no line of nepotism or great wealth, but upon thinking even I can recall several connections I have to great fame.

Growing up I was neighbors with an elderly man who had done lots of set design in Hollywood, particularly Spielberg movies. He’d just decided that after retiring he wanted to move out to the middle of nowhere and avoid Hollywood for the remainder of his days. He did a Michael Jackson music video at one point, and his personal phone number is still casually written on a sticky note in my neighbors workshop drawer.

A family member that works in the cattle industry lives on the next plot over from the ranch where Yellowstone is filmed. The big opening ranch sign and everything is there all the time, located just behind the actual ranch’s opening gate.

I was friends in high school with the two guys that got Jake Paul kicked out of Yosemite after reporting him.

Just, I don’t know, everything is connected somehow

[signatureglobalindia]

Is Investing in Property in Gurgaon a Good Idea

Gurugram has transitioned from a small town to a prominent urban metropolis in India. Due to its infrastructure, booming economy, and prime locations, this city has established itself as an ideal investment destination for property. The Delhi NCR market saw an uptick in the first half of 2024, with Gurugram leading at 55% of new launches, followed by Noida at 35%, according to the latest JLL report.

It is connected to several major routes, including the Noida-Delhi flyways, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, NH-2 (Delhi-Agra), the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and the highway link to Jewar Airport. Furthermore, the controlled six-lane elevated Gurugram-Sohna corridor (NH-248A) offers easy access to Gurugram's prominent commercial, retail, and entertainment destinations, just a 15-minute drive away.

Gurugram offers everything from luxury apartments and gated communities to commercial spaces and office complexes. Whether one is looking for high-end residences or prime business locations, the city caters to diverse investment preferences. Both residential and commercial properties are experiencing ever-growing demand, making them promising investment opportunities. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or a first-time buyer, the city offers a wealth of opportunities that are hard to overlook.

Signature Global Titanium SPR is an eminent project in Sector 71, Gurugram. With spacious and luxurious living environments in its initial phase, the new project redefines opulent living by featuring 608 uber-luxurious condominiums, including 3.5 and 4.5 BHK apartments, each designed with a Singaporean flair. Each tower rises 40 floors high and offers over 55 top-notch amenities, including seven lagoon pools, a top-tier club, multiple sports courts, pet gardens, outdoor gyms, senior citizen lounges, jogging tracks, and more. The project dedicates 91% of its area to green and open spaces, designed with a biophilic approach to promote well-being and a strong connection to nature. Titanium SPR also ensures unparalleled security with a 5-tier system, subterranean parking, grand triple-height entrance lobbies, private elevators, and expansive decks—every detail meticulously designed for the residents’ utmost comfort. Signature Global Titanium SPR is set to redefine luxury living in Gurgaon’s Sector 71.

Signature Global DE-Luxe DXP, in Sector 37D, located between the Dwarka Expressway and Pataudi Road, is a residential project offering an unmatched lifestyle to its residents, along with excellent connectivity to Delhi-NCR and Gurugram. As an IGBC Gold Pre-Certified project, it is more than just a stunning architectural masterpiece; it is a residential sanctuary with top-notch premium facilities, catering to the area's growing demand for residential projects due to outstanding connectivity and infrastructure developments. With eight towers ranging from 25 to 40 floors, the project offers breathtaking views from expansive deck balconies of 3.5 BHK and 4.5 BHK apartments in Gurugram for a refreshing living experience. In addition, the project features 16 exclusive penthouses with double-height living areas and private terraces with Jacuzzis. Embracing their commitment to green living, the premium project introduces a Miyawaki Forest, meticulously planned to help control carbon levels. Its excellent connectivity and proximity to essential services make it a highly sought-after address.

Infrastructure development in Gurugram has acted as a catalyst for the real estate boom in the city, placing it among the top tier of India's most sought-after urban centers. The continuously upgraded connectivity, modern amenities, and commercial/industrial zones have substantially contributed to attracting both residential populations and businesses to the city.

[jobskolkata]

Area Sales Manager || Area Sales Executive || Regional Sales Manager || Raipur || Jharkhand || India

Step into the awe-inspiring world of STEEL MANUFACTURING with our latest video!

Discover the rigorous processes behind creating strong, durable steel that powers industries worldwide. We delve into cutting-edge techniques from #ASM (Advanced Steel Manufacturing) to #RSM (Revolutionary Smelting Methods) and the innovative practices pushed forward by #ASE (Applied Steel Engineering).

Whether you're a curious beginner or an industry veteran, this journey into steel's transformation will grip your attention and fuel your passion!

Don’t miss out on this sparkling look into one of the backbone industries of modern civilization! Subscribe for more fascinating insights!

Now the company is looking some staffs for the open positions in their organization listed below:

Positions are:

Area Sales Manager (Raipur)

Area Sales Executive (Raipur)

Area Sales Manager (Jharkhand)

Regional Sales Manager (Raipur)

Preferred Experience:

PEB

Heavy B2B sales

Industrial Sales

Minimum product order value of 1 Crore

Experience with insulation companies

Job Description of ASE:

Designation: Area Sales Executive

Job Location: Raipur

Department: Sales

Grade/ Level: Manager/Senior Manager

Direct Reporting To: Regional Sales Manager

New Position/ Back Fill: New

No. of openings: 1

Job Role: -

Area Sales Executive is responsible for overseeing and managing sales operations within a specific geographical area and analyze market trends, develop sales strategies, and identify opportunities for business growth.

Developing and implementing sales strategies to achieve business targets in entire state.

Identifying new business opportunities and potential customers

Building and maintaining strong relationships with existing customers

Monitoring sales performance and providing regular reports to management

Conducting market research to stay up-to-date with industry trends

Responsibilities:

Managing a sales team and providing coaching and support as needed

Negotiating contracts and closing deals with customers

Ensuring customer satisfaction and resolving any issues or complaints

Collaborating with other departments, such as marketing and operations, to ensure smooth business operations.

Requisite Skills:

Good communications Skill

Ability to Work under pressure

Performance Driven & Focused on results

Strong Interpersonal Communication

Desired Skills:

Strong communication and interpersonal skills

Excellent negotiation and persuasion abilities

Proven sales experience and knowledge of sales techniques

Ability to analyze sales data and market trends

Leadership and team management skills

Goal-oriented mindset and ability to work under pressure

Customer-focused approach and dedication to customer satisfaction Adaptability and willingness to learn and improve

Time management and organizational skills.

Education: Graduate

Relevant Minimum 2 years in B to B business

Experience: Total Experience: 2 to 7 Years

CTC per annum: 3.00. – 5.40 lakhs

Will travel? Yes

Owns Vehicle: mandatory

Preferred B to B

Domain: B to B

Reference :

Companies:

Gender: Male

Marital Status: Married/Unmarried

Other Preferences: Resident of Raipur preferred

• Note:- You can find many more job details in various posts in various companies.

You may call us between 9 am to 8 pm

8 7 7 7 2 1 1 zero 1 6

9 3 3 1 2 zero 5 1 3 3

Or you can visit our office.

Ideal Career Zone

128/12A, BidhanSraniShyam Bazaar metro Gate No.1 Gandhi Market Behind Sajjaa Dhaam Bed sheet Bed cover Show room Kolkata 7 lakh 4

Thank you for watching our channel Please subscribed and like our videos for more jobs opening. Thank You again.

#AreaSalesManager, #AreaSalesExecutive, #RegionalSalesManager, #Raipur, #Jharkhand, #कोलकाता, #पश्चिमबंगाल, #Howrah, #Silliguri, #Bihar,#Jharkhand, #India, #vacancy2024, #baranagor, #Behala, #PrivateCompanyRecruitment2024, #LatestKolkataJobvacancy2024, #idealcareerzone, #kolkatajobs, #Kolkata, #WestBengal, @idealcareerzone, #কলকাতা, #পশ্চিমবঙ্গ,

[proexcellencybanglore]

Why SAP BODI Online Training with ProExcellency is a Game Changer for Your Data Management Career

ETL tools have been increasingly leveraged in big data to extract, transform, and load vast volumes of information to enable more informed decision-making. SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, or BODI, is an exceptionally powerful ETL tool that can save enterprises from hectic data integration processes by providing a proficient solution. It offers detailed study on SAP BODI online training and certification for any IT professional wishing to advance their career in data management or analytics.

What is SAP BODI?

SAP BODI is the ETL tool that extracts, transforms, and loads data from multiple sources into a target data warehouse or database. It integrates data from various sources, which includes relational databases, flat files, ERP systems, and web services and, therefore, cannot be done without in big data operations and complex data workflows. Some of the main features of SAP BODI are:

Data Extraction: The process of extracting data from multiple, different sources.

Data Transformation: Cleaning and standardizing the data, transformation so that the business requirements are met.

Data Loading: The fetching of transformed data into a destination system like Data Warehouse or analytics platform.

SAP BODI ensures that the organizations have accurate data, in terms of quality, relevance, and up-to-date information- critical for effective reporting and decision-making.

Why SAP BODI Certification is Critical for Your Career

Having the knowledge of a strong ETL tool, SAP BODI, opens many avenues in the vast field of data management in current market scenarios. So, here are some of the most compelling reasons why getting an SAP BODI certification from ProExcellency is essential for your career growth:.

High Demand for Data Professionals: All sectors are churning out enormous amounts of data, and the demand for professionals who can put this data into a workable shape for easy assimilation is growing rapidly. Certified SAP BODI professionals are very much sought after in data warehousing, business intelligence, and ETL development.

Greater Pay Package: The SAP BODI professional commands a higher pay scale than his peer in the IT arena. Having a certification will turn you into a professional well-equipped with knowledge and experience, making you a suitable candidate for better-paid jobs.

Portability of your career: SAP BODI skills are transferable across various sectors- finance, health care, retail, and manufacturing. This portability will enable you to develop your career in any sector you choose and strengthen your job security and alternative choices.

Global Acceptability: SAP certification has broad acceptance worldwide. So, this carries a passport at your hand to work on international markets. Whichever is your choice to work in your home country or abroad, it would open gates for you in international job opportunities.

Why choose ProExcellency for SAP BODI Training?

Not hard to find many training providers offering SAP BODI; however, ProExcellency stands out in so many ways. The platform is toward offering a holistic learning experience that not only prepares you for certification but gives practical skills applicable in the real world.

Expert Coaches: Coaches of ProExcellency are extremely successful veterans with many years of experience within the same industry. The experts understand the plight of data integration professionals and have valuable insights on what it takes to succeed amidst and even against the most complex environments.

Hands-on Experience: ProExcellency is miles apart from many training firms that don't value practical experience but theory only. We have had labs and real-life examples, practical hands-on knowledge and make you engage directly with real case studies where you will gain confidence to implement what you have learned in your real-time job.

Flexible Learning: The course can be taken from a distance via the internet format, which allows you to learn at your own pace. As an individual who is busy working full time or attending to other matters, ProExcellency ensures you have a flexible schedule so that you can make time for training.

Thorough curriculum: The curricula of all SAP BODI training include all the basic as well as advanced concepts with regard to ETL. In addition, this course covers all the advanced functionalities that SAP BODI supports.

Prepare yourself through practice tests and modules of revision provided by pro-excellency to ace the SAP BODI certification exams and ensure chances of clearing the exam in first attempt, saving valuable time and money.

Modules Covered in the Curriculum on SAP BODI Training Provided by ProExcellency

ProExcellency's SAP BODI Online Training offers all modules that form the ETL process where you can learn to operate on complex data tasks through the tool. Some of the major modules in the course are as follows:

 Introduction to SAP BODI: A basic architecture and key features of SAP BODI.

Data Extraction Techniques: Techniques involved while extracting data from different sources like databases, flat files, and web services.

Data Transformation: Learn about data cleaning, enrichment, and transformation based upon business logic and validation rules.

Data Loading: Learn to load the transformed data into your target systems like data warehouses

Performance Tuning: Find out techniques for optimum performance of ETL and how to troubleshoot common problems.

Real-World Projects: Apply knowledge to real-world situations in order to realize the SAP BODI implementation

Benefits of SAP BODI Certification from ProExcellency

Having completed the training with ProExcellency and being SAP BODI certified, you would enjoy numerous competitive advantages that will help you become a successful candidate for most jobs:

Job Readiness: You will gain both theoretical and practical knowledge so you can hit the ground running in any job position related to data integration.

Credibility: Above all your skills in SAP BODI will have been proven by having attained certification, hence really raising your credibility as an employee in the eyes of other employers and even clients.

Professional Development: Once a certified SAP BODI professional, you will be well-equipped for promotions and salary increases or new opportunities in your career.

Training and Professional Development: With ProExcellency, you will get support and learning materials to update you promptly and continuously on various tendencies and developments related to integration.

Conclusion: Step-by-Step Road towards Becoming an SAP BODI Expert

Mastering SAP BODI is a vital step for professionals looking to build a career in the field, as data integration is an integral activity of any data-driven organization. Instead of investing in any random skill, you are investing in this future-proof skill that is highly pursued across industries by choosing ProExcellency's SAP BODI Online Training and Certification. Getting you prepared for work as a certified SAP BODI professional, the ProExcellency program comes with expert trainers, the comprehensive curriculum, and hands-on experience to get you started in exciting career opportunities within managing data.