#I'll post until this site sinks

[actuallysaiyan]

8k Follower Milestone Celebration!

Welcome to the prompt list! I set this up to thank everyone for being so sweet and kind and following me! I always like to give thanks to the fandom communities and the wonderful people I meet.

Rules

Please pick 1 prompt per request. Feel free to send in a few if you'd like, but keep it to 1 prompt per request.

Make sure to be clear with your details(which one is Person A and Person B)

Most of these will be drabbles(between 300-900 words but could get longer)

Please don't pester me to finish your requests. I'll get to as many of them as I can, but if the inspiration stops, I will stop as well.

I get do decline any request if it makes me uncomfortable or I don't feel inspired.

Want specific things to happen? Want a specific character? Let me know in your request!

Fandoms you can choose from: Dragon Ball, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann, Demon Slayer, Castlevania, FF7, Chainsaw Man, Bleach, Naruto, Wind Breaker(I may be a little rusty with this one as I haven't written for any of the characters yet, but I'm willing to try)

Have fun!

Prompts!(All from this site)

 Person B: If you didn't want me to fuck you, why'd you wear this pretty little skirt for me, Person A?

  Person B has outrageously sensitive nipples. The slightest touch can be heaven or hell, depending. Perhaps Person A sucks Person B's nipples tenderly, while Person B squirms. Or perhaps Person A pinches and tortures them.

Person B has a talented tongue. Person A cannot believe the things Person B can do with it.

    Post sex, Person B tends to get a little depressed, emotional, or otherwise troubled. However wonderful and pleasurable it was, the more intense the experience, the worse Person B feels afterwards. Person A does whatever they can to buoy Person B with comforting conversation, gentle touch, and other reassurances.

    Person A: You want me, Person B? Prove it.

  Person B: P-please, Person A, please, can I cum?

   Person A is not a virgin, but Person A and Person B like to roleplay otherwise. Cue Person B pretending to lead Person A through their 'first time,' assuring them it won't hurt and that there's no need to be scared.

Person A and Person B have tender reunion sex.

  Person A has a wet dream about Person B.

     Person B brushes their finger over Person A's lips. Person A sucks it without hesitating.

Person A's partner, Person B, is a werewolf. As a couple they've been dealing well with the monthly transformations, Person B's enhanced senses and predatory instincts, and the occasional claw marks around the house. Everything's under control until Person B's pack wants to welcome Person A officially into their fold, with a mating ceremony to take place in front of the pack leaders. That means Person B fucking and claiming Person A as their mate in front of a bunch of salivating, horny werewolves. Write the mating ceremony in glorious detail. Be as wolfy and bestial as you want.

 Person A and Person B watch each other masturbate.

  Person A, for a sex pollen-esque reason of your choosing, has become insatiable in bed. Person A can (and needs to) go for hours to be satisfied. Person B is the one to deal with Person A's ridiculous libido.

    Person A covers Person B's throat in hickeys. Someone in Person B's life comments about them. Little does this person know Person B also has hickeys elsewhere…

  Clothed sex. Whether there's no time to get fully naked or one of them just really likes the other's outfit, Person B and Person A do it moving the bare minimum of what they're wearing.

     Person B and Person A visit a nude beach. Tan lines, wandering eyes, and sexual tension - oh, my!

    Public sex. Person A and Person B hook up in public, barely out of sight - or in plain sight! 

    Person B backs Person A up against the wall, then sinks to their knees and goes down on Person A right there.

 Person A is a vampire, and their favorite place to feed is directly from Person B's inner thigh. The blood flows so hot, so viscous and plentiful. It smears Person A's chin and leaves a copper tinge in the air. Person B's thigh is peppered with bite wounds and blood and the slick evidence of their arousal as Person A feeds from them greedily…

 Person A? Werewolf. Person B? Has no idea. Until one full moon, when Person B witnesses Person A transforming. Person B should be terrified of the fangs and claws, the fur, the animalistic prowling of Person A coming closer and closer to them. Instead Person B is primally excited, and reaches out to touch Person A... Person B touches everywhere Person A will let them touch.

  Person B hasn't dated anyone in a while and they are rusty. Really rusty. Enter Person A, who suggests they give Person B some practice in the sack.

   Person B convinces Person A to strip down and let them take nude and erotic photos of Person A.

    Person A and Person B take a mutual soak in a hot tub or hot spring. Their skin grows flushed. Beads of sweat begin to roll. If they're wearing swimsuits, those come off. If they're nude, eyes wander. Hands drift through the water to find the other person. Bonus points if they hook up in the water. Quadruple bonus points if they're getting away with it while others are around.

   Person B: Not so fast, little one. You know you're supposed to call me Daddy.

Power's out. Person A and Person B make sweaty love by golden candlelight.

[axolator]

Script-A-Day #1: A Grimm Chorus by Zets

Thrills, spills and varying kills abound in this exciting BMR-tinged script featuring the Yaggababble and the Summoner

Featured characters: Summoner, Yaggababble, Ojo

Jinxes:

Summoner/Pukka: The Summoner may choose a player to become the Pukka on the 2nd night.

Yaggababble/Exorcist: If the Exorcist chooses the Yaggababble, the Yaggababble ability does not kill tonight.

Complexity: Advanced. Recommended for players already accustomed to the varying kill rates of BMR, and those who aren't afraid to bluff boldly and hold onto the their abilities for just one more night.

Database link (find the PDF and JSON for running it there!)

Writeup under the cut!

Hey hey! So, this is the first one of these writups that I'm doing for Script-A-Day, so some quick explanation if you haven't read the introduction. In these writeups, you'll find commentary about what to expect when running the custom the post is about.

All of these posts will be about custom scripts that I have both Storytold and played games of myself (until I run out, that is, which won't be for a while), so I'm speaking from experience here. I'll go over some tricky interactions, and some tips for Storytellers on how to how to run the script well.

Given that I haven't really seen much Clocktower content on this site, I'll try and take things slowly: if you've got questions, send 'em along. I also don't really know what I'm doing on the tumblr end of things, though, so if you've got feedback, I'd love to hear it! Anyway, let's get on with it!

A Grimm Chorus is a well-tested, refined script featuring the Summoner. The ST has to be a little careful in how they pilot characters like the General, Amnesiac, and Fisherman - a lack of finesse, and they can leave the good team scratching their heads. The choice of which characters are in-play (called the "bag", colloquially) is also important: too few recurring inforoles, especially in a smaller game, doubly so in a Summoner game, and it can leave Good with nothing but socials and crumbs of mechanical info. The lack of YSK (“you start knowing”) characters can be a little disorienting when making a bag, especially for Storytellers used to the base 3, which feature at least one on each script. In general, though, when putting a Summoner in, give Good the tools to hunt down the new Demon (several Village Idiots, the Golem, Gambler, Slayer, Nightwatchman, etc) and give Evil some tools for disguising the lack of a kill on the second night (pair the Summoner with an Assassin or Godfather in a game with 10+ players and/or put at least one of Exorcist, Innkeeper, Minstrel, or Soldier in the Summoner’s bluffs). When running without a Summoner, it’s a lot easier to give Evil the tools to bluff a Summoner being in play, since they can just sink a kill if the Demon isn’t a Pukka.

Ooh, speaking of! Don't underestimate the Pukka. Some Pukka-poisons in the right places can devastate a good team expecting mostly-sober information. While the other Demons' strengths mostly lie in their killing (the Yagga can simulate day deaths like the Golem and Slayer, the Ojo can snipe the most powerful characters early, and the Po is just plain destructive), the Pukka is the evil team's only source of directed droison (the collective term for drunkenness/poisoning).

(like, seriously. screwing with VI info to "clear" the summoned Demon and make the Politician on the bottom right look super evil? It's great. And yes, the Poli was able to flip evil after all that!)

Some notes:

If the Summoner creates a Yaggababble: Consider selecting something the now-Yaggababble said yesterday as their phrase, so that they can kill that same night. If you're having trouble thinking of a phrase (even if it's a starting Yagga game, by the way), feel free to just ask the Demon themselves for some ideas (using a phone or notepad if playing in-person). Failing that, tie the phrase into the good character they previously were: they'll likely still be bluffing that character, so they'll have ample opportunity to slip it into their speech.

If the Ojo intentionally misses a kill: consider killing two players to disguise which type of Demon is in play, or to help the evil team sell a bluff, like being an Outsider in a Godfather game or being the Gambler who just died to their own ability. Before the game, encourage your players to tell you their plans regarding characters with ST discretion — it's not suspicious to talk to the Storyteller, and it helps make a more interesting and fun game for everyone.

Remember how the VI interacts with the Cannibal, the Drunk, and the Summoner:

A Cannibal who eats a VI drunk to their own ability gains a sober VI ability. A Cannibal who eats the Drunk (the Outsider) who thinks they're a VI has the Drunk ability, and so can get lied to (you should probably simulate the VI ability to them and give them droisoned info).

The Drunk (the Outsider) can think they're a VI, even when there's other VIs in the bag. This is limited by the number of VI tokens that exist, though: at maximum, you can have one sober VI, one VI who's drunk to their own ability, and a Drunk who thinks they're the VI.

If a VI is drunk to the VI ability, and then the Summoner turns them into the Demon, they stop being VI-drunk. This doesn't move the drunkenness to another VI, though: any other VIs will just be sober. If the only sober VI is turned into the Demon, that doesn't make the drunk one sober (though you should be nice to them with what info you give).

I think that's about all I have to say about this script! See you with another one tomorrow.

[lydia-too-late]

Six Song Soundtrack :: Tula

RULES :: If you're tagged, make a new post with links to music and/or lyrics describing the following...

////Going with first impulse. None of these are definitive and they are all. over. the. place.////

1. AN EVENT THAT DEFINES YOUR CHARACTER'S PAST

"Bukowski" by Modest Mouse

Well all that icing and all that cake, I can't make it to your wedding, but I'm sure I'll be at your wake. You were talk, talk, talk, talkin' in circles that day, When you get to the point make sure that I'm still awake, OK?

Went to bed and didn't see Why every day turns out to be A little bit more like Bukowski. And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read. But God who'd want to be? God who'd want to be such an asshole?

2. HOW YOUR CHARACTER SEES THEMSELVES

"Weird World" by Allie X

Hail Satan At least he keeps a promise Big brother's always out of office I know nobody wants to hear this, but

I live in a weird world Yeah, it's sad but it's true Maybe you can't see it But you live in one too I used to be a dream girl But the world interfered At least now I know why Now I know why Now I know I'm weird

3. HOW OTHERS VIEW THEM

"Whore of Babylon" by Zheani

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour And decked with gold and precious stones and pearls Having a golden cup in her hand Full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication And upon her forehead was a name written Mystery, Babylon The Great The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth

Mystery the Mother of Harlots I am drunken with the blood of the saints

4. THEIR CLOSEST RELATIONSHIP

"Repetition" Purity Ring

I can feel your knees sinking into the bed Searching in my dark eyes to break what's been said There's a will of grace until the sadness down There's a light in my skin that's been dimmed I'mma dig you up and give you what I took Pull you up and tuck you in and make you look I'mma smooth your shoulders down and calm what's shook It was all forlorn, if only for a season

Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you Hope it isn't repetition Though that's the only thing that keeps and takes you

///FUCK IT ONE MORE HOPE YOU LIKE GIRLY POP 'CAUSE I FUCKING DO///

"Heartbreak in the Making" by Dagny

You're like a stranger I've already met You're like a fantasy I've had in my head Don't know if time's gonna mend me again Hey, you feel like a heartbreak in the making

Bittersweet (bittersweet) Always had a taste for the bittersweet (Bittersweet)  Recklessly, I run towards the danger When it's close to me

It's a good thing that we can't say It's a bad thing before it's too late It's a good thing that a bad thing can feel this great

5. A MAJOR FIGHT SCENE

"Daughter" Beyonce

Your body laid out on these filthy floors Your bloodstains on my custom coutures Bathroom attendant let me right in She was a big fan I really tried to stay cool But your arrogance disturbed my solitude Now I ripped your dress and you're all black and blue Look what you made me do

[...]

I sashayed my dress Did my best impression of a damsel in distress This alcohol and smell of regret Allured my catch Outfit too small to hide my scars Feelin' bottled up like bottle service broads How long can he hold his breath before his death?

6. OPENING CREDITS / END CREDITS

"Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)" by Run The Jewels

Fashion slave, you protestin' to get in a fuckin' look book Everything I scribble's like an anarchist's cookbook Look good, posin' in the centerfold of Crook Book Black on black on black with the ski mask, that is my crook look How you like my stylin' bruh? Ain't nobody smilin' bruh 'Bout to turn this mothafucka up like Riker's Island, bruh

I was tagged by @gorbalsvampire, @porcelainseashore, & @silkenred (y'all are great!)

I'm tagging... FUCK, I think I might be the last person on the site to complete this??

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pinkdrunk Linkdump

Today (November 18) at 1PM, I'll be in Concord, NH at Gibson's Books, presenting my new novel The Lost Cause, a preapocalyptic tale of hope in the climate emergency.

On Monday (November 20), I'm at the Simsbury, CT Public Library at 7PM

Happy Saturday! As is so often the case, I have finished the week with more stray links that I can fit into my blog, so it's time for a linkdump post, in which an assorted assortment is assembled. This is my tenth such linkdump – here are the previous installments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/05/variegated/#nein

While nostalgia is a toxic impulse (h/t John Hodgman), there's no denying that there once existed an old, good web, and that it has given way to the enshitternet. I don't want to bring the old, good web back, but I would welcome a new, good web, and by studying the factors that contributed to the old, good web's rise and fall, we can both conjure up that new, good web – and protect it.

Above all, the old, good web was contingent, a series of lucky accidents, like Tim Berners Lee's decision to make the code and ideas and protocols for the original web as open and free as possible:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/13/this-is-for-everyone/#revisiting

This meant that there was no way to use the law to capture the web. Contrast that with, say, AOL or Compuserve. If you were the Compuserve's CEO and one of your rivals started using your servers to deliver a service that your users preferred, which shifted value from you to this new rival, you could just pull the plug on them. If they came back – using reverse-engineering or fake signups or whatever – you could sue them. Compuserve's bosses made the rules, any rules they wanted, and could kick you off if you violated them. If you pressed the issue, they could get the government to come and fine you, or, in extreme situations, arrest you.

But the open web didn't have these enforcement hooks. If you ran an early website and Yahoo deeplinked to it, you could change the link, but you couldn't make Yahoo stop. The open web was competitive, and that prevented anyone from exercising a veto over who could make the web, and how. It meant that the web was always up for grabs, with key chokepoints like browser market share swinging around wildly from one vendor to another (until Microsoft started illegally tying blocking rival browsers in Windows).

That meant that the "governance" of the web was often just a matter of the technical details of its standards. Code may not be law, but it was sure law-like – if something was in, say, a W3C browser standard, then all the browsers would support it, and then anyone trying to do something cool on the internet could rely on every potential user having it.

Naturally, this made standards development organizations into the sites of vicious power-struggles. These SDOs are classic "weak institutions," lacking the robust rules of, say, a competition regulator, to say nothing of the investigative and enforcement powers of the DoJ:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

But in the old, good web days, the SDOs had an important advantage: the corporate fragmentation of the web. Because of TBL's decision not to create IP chokepoints, even the wildly overcapitalized companies of the go-go dotcom bubble days weren't able to control the web. No one company was indispensable to the web.

If Microsoft wanted to tilt a W3C standard to its advantage, it couldn't threaten to leave the consortium if it didn't get its way. For one thing, the consortium had such a diversity of membership that losing any one member's dues wouldn't sink the org's finances.

For another, if Microsoft boycotted the W3C, that would just mean that the web standards that all those other companies were making wouldn't reflect its priorities or desires. By staying in the W3C, Microsoft got to participate in rulemaking – if it left, it would be relegated to rule-taking.

But the DoJ and FTC spent the ensuing decades in something like a coma. After a failed bid to break up Microsoft – killed when GW Bush stole the 2000 election and dropped the case – America's antitrust enforcers snoozed through decades of consolidation, and the transformation of the old, good web into "five giant websites, filled with screenshots of text from the other four":

https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040

This turned SDOs into increasingly fraught battlegrounds where giants duked it out among each other for control of the web. In the days of the old, good web, the W3C was able to continue TBL's chokepoint-free ethos, creating rules that forced members to surrender their patents at the door:

https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/

But once the enthitternet was fully in force, the largest corporate members became so important to SDOs' ability to operate that even the W3C wasn't able to resist. They started turning out IP-encumbered standards that were so proprietary that even filing bug-reports against browsers could mean jailtime:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and-membership

Within a couple years, it became functionally impossible to implement a web-browser without a license from one of a tiny handful of gigantic, monopolistic corporations, who could use the license to exercise a veto over both who could make a browser, and what that browser could do:

https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/the-end-of-indie-web-browsers/

Standards development is one of those esoteric, hugely important activities that almost no one knows anything about. Good standards are key to an open, free internet, and as governments around the world grapple with Big Tech monopolies, their plans often include a block that basically reads "insert good standard here."

As exciting as the EU's Digital Markets Act and US proposals like the ACCESS Act are, the "insert good standard here" stuff is wildly underspecified and undertheorized. Making a good standard – one that is robust, flexible and secure – is hard enough even under competitive competitions where the SDO can play independent referee, more powerful than the participants. But making good standards under monopolistic conditions is really hard.

And yet, it happens! Look at the Fediverse, powered by Mastodon and its adaptation of a W3C standard called ActivityPub. The Fediverse has done more for an interoperable, decentralized web than all the other projects of the past decade combined:

https://fediverse.party/

How did something so useful and capture-resistant emerge from the enshitternet, from the same standards-body that gave us a proprietary "standard" that allowed three giant companies to seize the right to authorize the production of web browsers themselves?

Therein lies quite a tale. In a talk for this year's Association of Internet Researchers conference, Robert Gehl talks about the weird, highly contingent factors that delivered a fit-for-purpose Fediverse standard:

https://fossacademic.tech/2023/10/15/APnonStandard.html

Gehl starts by describing ActivityPub as a "non-standard standard." The technologists who created it at the W3C were largely unpreturbed by the Big Tech members, who viewed ActivityPub as unimportant, a folly. While this meant that the ActivityPub creators were free from Big Tech attempts to corrupt the standard, they were also insulated from the discipline of Big Tech standards people, who are expert at propelling a standard to completion while resolving conflicts to create a single, unified spec.

By contrast, ActivityPub's creators made seven different specs, resolving factional disputes by letting everyone get their way. Critical parts of these standards – including support for federation! – was marked as optional in group's charter.

Then along came Mastodon, implementing the draft spec for ActivityPub. This triggered two extensions to the deadline for ActivityPub's completion. ActivityPub moved to final draft against the backdrop of the real-world experiences of early Mastodon users. Four of the five ActivityPub authors self-identified as queer, and they set out to make Mastodon more harassment-resistant than corporate social media:

https://fossandcrafts.org/episodes/053-fediverse-reflections-while-the-bird-burns.html

The early success of Mastodon shifted the focus of ActivityPub authors and implementers. In Gehl's words, "half of ActivityPub" is now ignored. Gehl's essay shows how many needles Mastodon threaded to get to where it is today, and while there's an argument that there was a Fediverse-shaped hole in the internet that something was going to fill, the Mastodon-inflected flavor of ActivityPub we got is pretty great.

Gehl is working on a book about this for Oxford University Press, "Move Slowly and Build Bridges":

https://fossacademic.tech/2023/08/17/OxfordUP.html

One of the more contingent elements of the nascent new, good web is Signal, the secure, robust, easy-to-use encrypted messaging tool that has stepped in to fill the gap that encrypted email tools like PGP struggled to fill for years (though that doesn't mean that secure email is impossible!):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/01/end-to-end-encryption-is-too-important-to-be-proprietary/

Like Mastodon, Signal threaded a bunch of different needles to get to its current status, and it's still threading needles. In a new article, Signal's amazing new president, Meredith Whittaker and Joshua Lund explain what it costs to keep Signal running:

https://signal.org/blog/signal-is-expensive/

Bottom line: Signal costs $50m/year. The breakdown is fascinating and weird. Signal pays a fortune to send SMS messages to verify your number when you sign up. Here's an irony: as Signal displaces SMS, telcos are making up for lost revenue by charging Signal ever-higher rates to send those signup codes – Signal's spending $6m/year on SMSes!

Storage costs Signal another $1.3m/year. Servers are $2.9m/year. Bandwidth is $2.8m/year. Signal's storage and compute costs are low because they're privacy-first, so they're collecting, processing and storing as little data as possible. Add a couple more zeros per user to approximate the costs for high-surveillance alternatives to Signal.

Because Signal is end-to-end encrypted, they can use untrusted (and cheap) third parties for bandwidth, relaying and storage. Your phone encrypts the data before it leaves your device, and no one can decrypt it except the person you're talking to. That lets Signal shop around for server infra, saving much more. Even so, voice and video calls consume a lot of bandwidth, and it gets more expensive because they jump the connection through multiple servers to prevent the people you're talking to from capturing your IP address.

Signal's got 50 full-time employees – a "shockingly small" team by industry standards. But still: 50 developers, managers, designers, accountants, etc all add up to $19m/year (the org pays "as close to industry wages as possible within the boundaries of a nonprofit").

As Signal scales up, it is discovering new and exciting bugs and problems. A one-in-a-billion bug that may never crop up in a small service can suddenly start occurring on a daily basis once you hit scale. That means Signal will continue to hire engineers to crush these weird little bugs, and they're going to be the kinds of specialists who can preserve privacy while fixing servers.

Signal is amazing. It's been six years since they figured out how to transmit userids, numbers and photos as fully encrypted blobs. Not one of their competitors – not even the "secure" ones from giant Big Tech companies – have managed this. Even Signal's system for embedding animated GIFs is privacy-preserving – the system doesn't reveal your search terms to the GIF repositories.

Today, Signal is tooling up to create "post-quantum resistance" to the system, anticipating the arrival of functional quantum computers that will (theoretically) make short work of existing encryption techniques.

The article ends – logically enough – with a plea for donations. I'm a Signal donor already:

https://signal.org/donate/

The Signal and ActivityPub stories reveal the important interplay between principled individuals and sustainable institutions. Benevolent dictators – whether that's Tim Berners Lee, or Mastodon's Eugen Rochko – work well, but fail badly. No matter how benevolent a dictator is, they are not infallible or omniscient. A critical juncture in any good project is its transition from a dictatorship to a democracy – an individual to an institution.

Take the Archive of Contemporary Music, the largest archive of popular music in the world. It was founded in 1985 by Bob George, who had amassed a collection of 47,000 LPs in a loft he'd lived in since 1974:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/16/archive-of-contemporary-music-new-york

George and his co-founder, David Wheeler, have since grown the collection to 3m pieces of media with 90m songs. They were the first people to start seriously collecting and preserving music that others viewed as ephemeral and disposable. The collection wandered from place to place before settling in a Hudson Valley facility that it is about to outgrow.

In part that's because they're still one of the only places where others' collections can be reliably consigned. When Keith Richards wanted to turn his blues collection over to a facility for long-term preservation, he chose ARC. Now, ARC is working with the Internet Archive to digitize and make available its vast holdings.

But that's a fraught and contingent business, too. The Internet Archive has been targeted with one of those bowel-loosening record-industry lawsuits last seen during the Napster Wars, with Sony, Universal and others seeking damages that would permanently shutter the Archive and bankrupt its founder, the wonderful Brewster Kahle:

https://blog.archive.org/2023/08/14/internet-archive-responds-to-recording-industry-lawsuit-targeting-obsolete-media/

The suit argues that when a library makes 78RPM recordings available for its patrons to check out over the internet, they cannot avail themselves of the copyright exemptions that have been a feature since copyright's inception. Remember, libraries are an order of magnitude older than copyright! The core of this suit is that libraries cannot move into the digital world.

Rather than doing what libraries have done since (literal) time immemorial – collecting works, preserving them and making them available – digital libraries can only license time- and circulation-limited copies of works that can't be preserved. It's a grim vision of a future without libraries:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/they-want-to-kill-libraries/

Giant corporations are an existential threat to human thriving. After 40 years of neoliberalism, there's a growing recognition that the market's invisible hand would like to swat you like a bug. Hence the rise and rise of the labor movement. Though "union density" (the proportion of unionized workers) is still at an historically low ebb, union support among the public is higher than at any time since the New Deal.

That's why UAW president Shawn Fain is planning a general strike in 2028, calling on other unions "to align your contract expirations with our own" so that all the contracts come up for renegotiation at the same time:

https://inthesetimes.com/article/uaw-auto-workers-general-strike-contract-labor-unions

This is a very clever way to overcome America's ban on sympathy strikes, which was introduced in 1947 with the Taft-Hartley Act. Sympathy strikes – where all unionized workers refuse to provide any service to employers who won't bargain fairly with their own workforce – are a hugely powerful tool for labor movements. Look at Sweden, where Tesla has refused to bargain with the technicians who fix its cars.

In response, the entire Swedish workforce has united against Tesla. Dockworkers won't unload its cars at the port. Electricians won't fix its chargers. Cleaners won't clean Tesla showrooms:

https://www.wired.com/story/sweden-tesla-strike-cleaners/

This is how it's done. Musk has made his fortune by crushing worker power in every one of his businesses, joining the ranks of Apple and Amazon as one of the world's leading maimers and killers of his workforce:

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-11-18/us-lawmakers-urge-scrutiny-of-spacex-worker-injuries-after-reuters-report

While Musk's latest turn toward open antisemitism is grim, especially in light of his ownership of Twitter, it's perfectly in character for a man whose businesses have always been charnel houses of "crushed limbs, amputations, head injuries and death."

But Musk can't fire or even intimidate the dockworkers who won't unload his cars. Sympathy strikes enlist workers who are beyond the reach of intransigent employers in aid of workers who are subject to retaliation for striking. That's why Taft-Hartley abolished sympathy strikes.

But if all the major unions are negotiating their contracts in 2028 – as Fain has called for – they can all strike without falling afoul of Taft-Hartley. That's some shrewd tactics.

Even if you believe in markets as a force for increasing human thriving, it takes an act of will to miss how corporations who can exploit their customers or workers will. When it comes to exploitable customers, prisoners are the ultimate captive audience. Most of us are familiar with the horrors of private prisons – especially after the acute phase of the covid pandemic, when corporate prison managers simply left America's prisoners to die.

But prison privatization is fractal. You can privatize a prison facility, but you can also privatize the commissary, the library, the mail, even phone calls and visitations. Some of the slimiest prison profiteers are the ones providing telecoms facilities to prisons. These companies lobby to ban in-person visits and mail and then provide "free" phone service to state facilities – service that can cost prisoners and their families $10/minute.

One of the worst of these companies is ViaPath (formerly Global Tel*Link). Not only did they charge prisoners sky-high rates for contact with their families, they ran a wildly insecure service that breached the data of 600,000 users:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/prison-phone-company-leaked-600k-users-data-and-didnt-notify-them-ftc-says/

These prisoners and families had "sensitive personal information" exposed online in unencrypted form, and were not informed of the breach, according to an FTC complaint:

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Complaint-GlobalTelLinkCorp.pdf

The company went on to defraud state and local prison systems whose contracts they were bidding on, by claiming to have never have suffered a breach.

The sleaze of the prison-tech system is the worst imaginable – which is about what you'd expect. After all, prison-tech is at the very foot of the shitty technology adoption curve:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

The prisoners who are abused by companies like Viapath are test subjects for technology that will work its way up the privilege gradient, moving on to mental patients, asylum seekers, kids, blue collar workers, white collar workers – then, everyone.

This makes prison-tech a great oracle for understanding what's coming for the rest of us in a decade or two. That's why I made prison-tech the McGuffin of The Bezzle, the sequel to my 2023 novel Red Team Blues, which comes out next February:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

High-tech forensic accountant Marty Hench is back in The Bezzle for a story of early-2000s internet consolidation, LA Sheriffs Department gangs, prison privatization, collateralized debt obligations, and the absolute depraved sleaze of prison-tech privateers. If you still have a Twitter account, you can enter this sweepstakes to get an early copy:

https://twitter.com/torbooks/status/1725544405879447745

(There will be other ways to get an early peek for non-Twitter users, rest assured!)

Attentive readers will note that The Bezzle will be my fourth book in 14 months. I'm presently touring my third book of 2023, The Lost Cause, a climate emergency book that Rebecca Solnit described as "a future woven from our successes (Green New Deal!), failures (climate chaos anyway), and unresolved conflicts (old MAGA dudes). I loved it":

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

Book tours are exhausting and exhilarating. They have the weirdest social dynamic, where you're bouncing to a new city every day or two, having high-speed social contact with hundreds of people at a go, then hunkering down alone in a hotel room to do press calls and answer publicity emails. I've been doing this since 2006 or so, and one mystery I've pondered all that time is the weirdness of stinky hotel soap:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/53339503041/

Go to any Marriott, any Hilton, a Comfort Inn or a Holiday Inn, and you will find yourself in the Kingdom of Beige. The wallpaper, art, carpets and bedspreads are all calculated to be as generic and invisible as possible. But the soap and shampoo stocked by these redoubts of nothingness are wildly perfumed. I'm not a big fan of floral perfume anyway, but the hand-soap in your typical hotel bathroom makes Axe Body Spray seem innocuous. No taxi air-freshener, no urinal puck, not even the most lethal of 1960s-era douches ever aspired to the eye-watering, clinging, scent of hotel soaps, shampoos, conditioners and hand-cream.

It's like hygiene perfume is the mid-priced hotelier's equivalent of 1980s Wall Street traders' suspenders: while everything else must be absolutely uniform and staid, this is the one realm where you can really let your freak flag fly. I'm always up for a unfettered freak-flag, but holy shit does this stuff stink.

I'll get a chance to ponder this anew on the tour for The Bezzle next February, and again for Picks and Shovels, the February 2025 Martin Hench novel that's already pending.

I need to get ready for my bookstore event, but before I sign off, one more bit of science fiction publishing news. An indie filmmaker in Paris is working with the brilliant John Varley on an adaptation of his sf classic Titan, and they're trying to raise $65k on Kickstarter to pay for it. I kicked in – a world with more Varley in it is a better world:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/superstory/themis-the-next-frontier

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/18/collectanea/#bricabrac

Image: Famartin https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2021-01-06_12_15_43_Cranberry_trail_mix_with_cranberries,_peanuts,_raisins,_walnuts,_almonds,_sunflower_seeds,_pepitas_in_the_Franklin_Farm_section_of_Oak_Hill,_Fairfax_County,_Virginia.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[spectrechosts]

This Will Surely Save The Website

In memory of Cohost I'll start reposting my stories with this one. Six months ago they announced the site was in financial trouble and within a few hours I had written and posted this incredibly goofy piece of smut. It is, despite it's unseriousness, a love letter to Cohost. It didn't save the website, but it did get liked by the CEO.

Intern Secretary Eggbug hurried through the rows of cubicles, printouts for her boss's 2 o'clock Friday meeting stacked precariously in her arms. She rounded a corner without slowing down and-

"Woah!"

She walked right into someone, sending herself, her papers, and her unsuspecting coworker's phone tumbling to the ground.

"S-Sorry!" She squeaked, gathering up printouts as fast as she could, frantically scanning them for page numbers so that she could re-order them back into neatly sorted packets.

"Hey, are you okay?" The woman she had collided with asked her, and Eggbug nodded without looking up.

"Yeah, I just, the stapler by the printer was out of staples and I don't know where they keep them yet so I was just going to take these back to my desk and staple them there but uh now they're all out of order so I have to-"

"Hey." The woman repeated, softer this time. "Take a breath. Are you okay?"

Eggbug took a shaky breath, and looked up to see who she had so rudely bumped into.

Oh god. The CEO's daughter. She was so fired.

"O-O-Oh no I'm so sorry miss, um, are you okay? I, your phone, let me-"

She searched the floor for her phone, ignoring her protestations, and found it under one of her printouts. She saw the still unlocked screen, purely on accident, and it was opened to-

To Cohost. She was making a chost, and not just any chost, one that contained an array of delightful Eggbug emoji. Her cheeks turned pink as she handed it back to her, staring at the floor.

"Miss, are you, um... Are you a Cohost Plus subscriber?" She asked, heart beating out of her chest.

"I am." The CEO's daughter replied. "For only $50 USD a year I'd be a fool not to be. The Eggbug emoji are so cute, aren't they?"

Eggbug just nodded at the ground, her blush deepening.

"I even bought the Eggbug plush." The woman continued, sinking down to the floor to take Intern Secretary Eggbug's hand. "I'm sorry I bumped into you, can I take you out for drinks tonight to make up for it?"

~

Intern Secretary Eggbug set her empty beer down on the table and sighed, finally unwinding from the stress of the week.

"I'm so bad at this jobbbbbbb..." She whined, and the Cohost Plus Subscriber put her arm around her shoulder and hugged her.

"Aw, c'mon, you did your best." She said, and Eggbug looked at her with big wet eyes.

"I diiid! I did my besht!" She sniffled, and the CEO's daughter motioned for the check.

She had kind of blown this date, probably. She scarfed her food down like she was a shark and it was a fibre-optic cable and then immediately started drinking and crying. She was a mess. And as they left, in the yellow light of the sodium-vapor streetlamps, the other woman was so pretty and put together, like all the people who give money to support their favorite website are.

"Can I walk you home?" The Cohost Plus subscriber asked, and the two walked down the streets in awkward silence.

"Sssso, you uh, you see that thing in the news with Ryan Reynolds?" She said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Just, beam of light outta nowhere."

Eggbug nodded. "Yeah, I heard he's only carbon now."

"Crazy."

The silence returned, hanging over them like a dark cloud, until they reached Eggbug's apartment and-

"Hey, I don't want to be too forward, or anything, but, do you think we could do this again sometime?" The CEO's daughter asked.

Eggbug blinked.

"Wait, really?" She said, stunned.

"Yeah! I know I've been a little quiet but I just was nervous because you're like, really pretty-"

"I am???"

"You are! You're beautiful, Intern Secretary Eggbug, you're like a..." The woman gestured, trying to come up with something that could capture her beauty. "You're like, like a chost that doesn't use global feed tags."

Eggbug gasped a tiny squeak of delight.

"It's so annoying when people use those."

"The devs hate it."

"And people just add words to them and then it's like, you're just adding extra shit to the tag for no reason, just tag it as the fucking words you put in the brackets."

"Can- Can we kiss?"

"Hell yes."

Eggbug got up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms behind the taller woman's neck, drawing her into a kiss. And another, and another, soft lips meeting again and again, the Cohost Plus Subscriber's tongue gently pressing into Eggbug's mouth until the two of them broke apart, breathless.

"So, um." Intern Secretary Eggbug panted, blushing. "Do you wanna come upstairs?"

~

The two couldn't keep their hands or mouths off eachother as they entered Eggbug's apartment and quickly shed their clothes. The Cohost Plus Subscriber's kisses were hungry now, full of nipping teeth that made Eggbug whimper and melt into her embrace.

They found their way to her bed, and Eggbug let out an awed gasp as she removed the other woman's underwear and her thick shaft sprung free.

"Wow... It's so big..." She cooed.

"Don't worry. With Cohost Plus's increased upload limit, I can make it fit." The Cohost Plus Subscriber husked.

She eased Intern Secretary Eggbug onto her back and ran two fingers through her dripping folds, brushing her thumb against her clit.

"P-Please-" Eggbug whined. "I'm already so wet from knowing you support the best blogging website on the internet..."

The Cohost Plus Subscriber chuckled and relented, lining the tip of her cock up with Intern Secretary Eggbug's slit. She started pushing it in slowly, and Eggbug saw stars. Her heart fluttered as she felt the kind of love that only a true choster could give her.

"Oh, Eggbug..." The Cohost Plus Subscriber sighed blissfully, before kissing her neck and sucking hard, leaving a hex code #83254F colored mark. Their lips crashed together again as she rutted into her, the two driving eachother to the height of pleasure.

The Cohost Plus Subscriber broke the kiss, panting.

"Fuck, Eggbug, I'm gonna upload-"

"Please, fuck-" Intern Secretary Eggbug moaned. "I need all 10 megabytes deep inside me!"

The Cohost Plus Subscriber slammed her hips down a final time, and groaned as she pumped her thick load into Intern Secretary Eggbug's womb. Eggbug wasn't far behind, her legs spasming as she crossed her peak.

"Th...Thank you for subscribing to Cohost Plus......*" She murmured, holding her close as they drifted to sleep in eachothers arms.

MORAL OF THE STORY

COHOST PLUS SUBSCRIBERS GET TO FUCK THE BUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SEND THEM YOUR MONEY NOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Intern Secretary Eggbug belongs to Kyn who I hope never sees this

AUTHOR'S NOTE FOR TUMBLR: She did see it.

[surrealliberosis]

Hi, Tumblr. It's Oni.

TW: Mild Violence, for the following content showcases physical combat. All movements shown should not be imitated.

I haven't thought of putting actual effort into a real blog compared to the short ones sourced within the site (reposts and screen recording), nor do I have any intention to frequently do such content, so think of this as some sort of biographical experiment. I hope you enjoy the rambling.

So what happened earlier was that I visited the town center mall, and I grabbed my hands on one of the arcade cabinets to play...

Yeah. I played Street Fighter VI.

This isn't my first time though. I played it once a few weeks ago, and it's EXCITING. It felt like a dream come true. It's really surprising how experiencing the game by hand is different from passively appreciating it. It made me very happy cuz' it's an opportunity worth taking to play this game.

The first gameplay I've made is just pure improv - mashing buttons without understanding the fundamentals; Now, revisiting the game, I got the opportunity to practice in Tutorial Mode. I learned about the basic attacks and new gameplay mechanics, which took a little while but got a slight hang of it.

Short comment: Classic controls are hard for a fighting game noobs like me. Glad I selected the tutorial set for the Modern control scheme. Easier to learn and grasp with the controls.

Once I'm done understanding how to practically use and memorize the basics, I've started learning how to play my favorite character. Juri Han.

Short disclaimer: this post is not meant for anybody who likes grippers (ew). Sorry, not having that. Careful, kids.

Playing as Juri is quite different from playing as Luke (the tutorial character), cuz she has a tricky moveset that can seize opening vulnerabilities within close attack range and her moveset is unpredictable (at least from what I can precisely remember during the tutorial). I looked up at her character guide in-game to practice basic attacks and fundamental combos. The attack animations are satisfying to watch because of how fluid and dynamic her moves are, and how there's this splash-like woosh effect that empasizes strong movement. It took me a while to let the unique basic attacks sink in my head until I can independently make up some decent combos.

I have a few clips of live gameplay since I wasn't initially going to stay at the mall for very long, so here's a short clip of me basically experimenting with Juri's moves in practice mode (along with the random button-mashing).

I could also show more, but I just found out that I can only share 1 video per post. Okay, Tumblr.

That's basically about it lol. It overall cheered me up when I felt down earlier this morning due to tons of schoolwork. Hopefully I'll come back to visit and play again next time.

Hm. Maybe I'll actually get the game one day. Heh.

Okay. Bye now.

Edit: I can't play A.K.I waaaaaahhh 😭

[souryoong]

1 year of souryoong — here’s some of ash’s all time faves! ☆

☆ i truly want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for being with me throughout this year on this site. it’s actually so crazy how it’s been only a year? time really does fly by. Before I posted "at the studio" I was metaphorically blowing dust off of my writing chops. (kind of an odd saying lol) I was absolutely terrified to say the least about joining this site and sharing my writing. But I am so so so glad I bit the bullet and chose to post my story because it has brought me to so many great things and even greater people! I love every single one of my followers and mutuals, whether we talk or not, if youre a silent reader, or if you constantly like/reblog my works. Nobody is just a number to me, you all mean everything to me. Im hoping that the career path and education that I have chosen for myself is not ~too demanding~ so I can be here for more years to come. I'll cut myself off before I write a damn novel because sometimes I don't know when to shut up.

☆ I didn’t want to do some extravagant “game” to celebrate because I feel like most of my followers probably wouldn’t be into it, so instead I’m showing my love outward. listed below are some of my all time favorite works from some of my mutuals and other authors. Some of these works are ones that inspired me to start posting my own writing, and others are just some of my really old faves from when I first joined that I have yet to forget about. I’m not sure if everyone in this list is still active, but nonetheless here are some of my all time favorites!

list is below the cut!

*everything marked “18+” contains sexual content*

☆ cybersex – myg (18+) | @gimmethatagustd

the whole point of being a phone sex hotline operator is that you’ll never have to meet your clients. So what are you supposed to do when you find out your favorite client is your brother’s best friend? (wc: 14.6k)

☆ the sheets – kth (18+) | @kth1

on your night out with the gals you get hit up by the one and only, Kim Taehyung, who’s been eyeing all of your Instagram stories. It’s no shocker that he attempts to get you back to his place once you finally decide to leave the club because this isn’t your first rodeo with the determined and insanely hot, fuckboy. (wc: 6.8k)

☆ enemy – kth & jhs (18+) | @btssmutgalore

when your friend with benefits Hoseok becomes too busy to keep your thing going, Taehyung volunteers to fill the spot. fic is a series.

☆ message received – jhs (18+) | @minisugakoobies

hoseok sent you a message. will you listen? (wc: 1.7k)

☆ helping hand – jjk (18+) | @yoonieper

a double blind date was your suggestion. everything about it should make him happy, but this sinking feeling just won’t go away. allhe wanted was to get it over with. (wc: 23.4k)

☆ hard liquor – myg (18+) | @chateautae

your dull evening at a bar becomes hopeful when your mysterious, handsome boss min yoongi shows you the ropes on everything alcohol, but shows you much more when he ends up buried deep inside you. (wc: 8k)

☆ drip – myg (18+) | @here2bbtstrash

yoongi fingering you until you squirt. (wc: 4.8k)

☆ your yoongi – myg (18+) | @yoongiphoria

there is no one you could love more than your slightly tipsy, beautiful yoongi. (wc: 2.9k)

☆ untitled drabble – myg | @delugguk

playing with each others hair, they love each other. sigh...I want what they have. (wc: 598)

☆ love signs – myg | @norcula

min yoongi and producer reader going through daily life. (fic is a series)

☆ private lesson – myg (18+) | @dntaewithluv

Your little sister finds it odd how you've been taking private lessons from her piano teacher for over a month now, but she hasn't heard you actually play even once... (wc: 5.5k)

☆ the landlord – myg (18+) | @ppersonna

your air conditioner breaks right at the height of a recordbreaking heat wave. good thing your hot landlord, yoongi, knows how to attend to any needs you may have. (wc: 4.3k)

☆ suga’s how-to guide – myg (18+) | @sailoryooons

Min Yoongi has been a cam boy for a few years now. The work is easy, the money is good, and he has loyal viewers. When he approaches you and asks if you want to be his muse for a ‘how-to’ series, your view on the infamous Yoongi changes. fic is a series. (wc: 25k)

☆ mixtape – myg (18+) | @sailoryooons

Growing up with Yoongi as your older brother’s best friend was bound to manifest a crush. It was small, fleeting. Gone with age and time. On a holiday trip to the cabin, you’re reunited with Yoongi after not seeing him from two years. Maybe that crush wasn’t as over as you thought it was. fic is a series. (wc: 68.5k)

☆ lost in your light – pjm (18+) | @thepurpleghost

you and Jimin are the best of friends since fourth grade until the tables have turned one weekend wedding. Crazy confessions after some tequila body shots. (wc: 5.6k)

and btw, my official tumblr date of birth is 8.5.2022 🎂 posting this a day early because I don’t want to forget.

[pizzacatdelight]

Seriously

I' ve only been here for 5 months and now there's rumors that Tumblr is going to shut down in the future!?! Just great! Something for me to panic at 3-4am before I'm supposed to get my booster shot this morning! Just fantastic!

Anyways, when that happened, I'll just go back to Reddit. Yes Reddit. I've returned to that site after abandoning when the API blackout happened. But I'm only going on the browser version because there is an app called, "Sink It For Reddit", where it uses features from one of the depared 3rd party app, Apollo and it only works on the browser. But like when I was on Reddit, I won't comment or post due to anxiety and fear of getting bullied for the stuff I post.

I have Mastodon, which I rarely posted and only follow the hashtags. Still confused how the federation works. There's Instagram, where I made a secondary account, a few months back just to like fanart and be in the fandom in order to separate from my primary account (which I have mostly abandoned at this point).

Then there's Neocities, which I'm still on and there's even people who liked my site due to being cute! It's been a bit since I linked my site here, so I'll post it here incase anyone wants to see what I have been up to.

Even if the rumors are true, I will still be on Tumblr until its' dying days. I hope it's not true and things works out for the @staff. If not, then I hope that the skeleton crew might me the hellsite better.

Until then, enjoys my reblogs and my occasion posts.

[unikhroma]

with tumblr's ship sinking further than it already was, i guess it's worth mentioning that i've been a little more active on toyhouse (mainly just showing up in forums). if you guys are interested in my ocs, they have a lot of info on there! the main guys all have fun little bios and backstories written

it's been around in its pre-website stage for a while* but khromakore is my neocities site

i'm gonna keep posting here until it becomes uninhabitable i guess. i'll reblog this with any updates on off-tumblr stuff and i'll update my carrd too. not much else to say other than that for now

*and it still is, i've been incredibly out of it so i can't really find the time to work on it

[flammableengineering]

Tumblr has been making a lot of controversial changes lately, and this post has some great points that inspired me to say more.

It seems like people are very split on whether our hellsite doing stupid anti-user stuff means that we need to show more support or show less support. In my opinion, it's a cry for help that means we need more support (especially monetary), and I'll explain why.

Tumblr is currently a financially sinking ship. It's costing more money in upkeep than it's making. Automattic, the company that owns it, is trying to make it profitable, because they're a business. It's what they do. In my opinion, they have much better intentions than the previous overlords. Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic, said (a bit indirectly) in a blog post that he wants to open source Tumblr. That was 12 August 2019.

At the time of writing this post (23 August 2023), they're doing a damn good job of it. Looking through the blog of Tumblr's engineering team, they've already open-sourced several of the site's components:

StreamBuilder (the thing that makes the dashboard)

Kanvas (media editor and camera)

Tumblr's custom Kubernetes system (this is what allows them to scale the site's software to a huge number of servers to handle all the traffic)

webpack-web-app-manifest-plugin (I have no idea what this one does, maybe some JavaScript developer can enlighten me)

and that's great! More importantly, it shows that they have good intentions. Making the site open source is a very pro-consumer thing to do, because it means they care about consumers having good services more than they care about being profitable. If they only cared about profit, they would avoid the risk of inadvertently assisting competitors with the open source effort.

My point here is that they are genuinely trying to balance keeping users happy with not having Tumblr die completely.

So at this point, their options are:

sit still and let the platform die

change stuff until the platform is profitable

and since doing #1 would be stupid, they're doing #2. Needless to say, they are not doing a great job of it, for many many reasons. The most direct thing we can do is give them money so that the platform becomes profitable, that way they're no longer being held hostage by their finances. However compelling user feedback may be, it's not more compelling than the company dying. So we save the site from dying financially, then we work on improving the other stuff.

Some people think that giving them money is endorsing what they're doing right now, like disproportionately applying the mature label to trans folks, and twitterifying the dashboard. I disagree.

Giving money to Tumblr is saying "I think you can do better with more resources, why don't you show me."

They clearly need more resources to moderate properly, and to figure out how their decisions are impacting users. In the first post I linked it talks about how running experiments on people's behavior (and getting meaningful results) is really hard. They clearly need more resources for that, so they can accurately quantify how shit their decisions are, and then make better ones. They can't do that if the site is fucking dead.

Tumblr can't get better if it's fucking dead.

so buy crabs, support the site, and have faith that it will improve eventually. If it doesn't, we can all jump ship to cohost or something, but I would prefer to stay here.

[alrightrandy]

new year, new plans

what's this? a geniune alrightrandy blog post that isn't just random slop? …finally.

all jokes aside, i'm well aware that i haven't necessarily been ultilizing this site – as well as other platforms im on, as much as i wanted to. however, considering the new year has just begun i believe it's time to make some form of change around here.

i just want to preface this by saying that, all through out last year, i've ran myself into some personal turmoil that led me to essentially lack any sort of focus to work on any hobbies. it's hard to explain, i feel like i have done a lot but at the same time i clearly didn't have much creative output as much as i wanted to. and again, it didn't help that i was also juggling with stuff in my personal life too.

i guess the point i'm trying to make across here is that, i haven't properly found a right balance for myself, both creatively and irl-wise. and i certainly didn't have a proper sense of direction either… but i'm hoping to change that this year!

through out the end of 2023 up until the mid january, i've went through a pretty prolific event that kind of sparked a slew of motivation and plans to really get myself back.

in summary, around the holidays a phone of mine completely bricked itself for some random reason, making it practically inaccessible for me to use. and keep in mind, i'm still saving up to get myself a laptop, so i really had no other personal devices besides that phone.

thankfully, i did manage to get a new one – however, the point is that me being phone-less for a brief moment was very "humbling" for me. not only it was the only device for communication and having a creative outlet, but it just goes to show nothing should be taken for granted. ANYTHING can be lost in a matter of seconds, a simple reminder that i really needed to get myself together.

and with that, everything brings me to here. i've somewhat finally came up with a plan to hopefully boost some motivation within me, and also have a better commitment to my creative output.

to get the obvious stuff out of the way, in reguards of my youtube channel – as well as anything reguarding about dj'ing and music. i am going to try my best to put a heavier focus on these since its something i'm still a complete beginner at. it's a new hobby i've recently picked up, and it only makes sense for me to try to lean onto it a bit more. matter in fact...

i just recently put out something onto my channel!

i'm going try to put out at least one mini mix on a monthly (or bi-monthly) basis. hopefully it will not only expand my portfolio as a dj, but i geniunely think this could help with my issues with commiting to something. plus, i think it would definitely bring in some life to my channel since i still have no clue what direction i want to take it in.

don't get it twisted, i still want to experiment with all sorts of different types of videos. however, i can't make any promises if any of it will reach the light of day. at least with these mini mixes, they will hopefully still appear consistently even if i have nothing else to upload. idk, i think its a decent enough idea to sink time into.

now, reguarding everything about creating artwork and ultilizing my platforms. it's still somewhat uncertain, however if you checked my pinned post i have recently updated it with new sites you can check me out on!

but in short, i will also try to branch out more and maybe even network myself to finding ppl / communities. and along the way, i will also try to get back into creating art since i really have been putting that on the back burner. again, no promises but i have been putting some thought into it! (i'm looking at you Newgrounds and Bluesky…)

i'm reaching my text limit, so this is all i have for now. i'll catch you guys on the flipside, i really do hope i do better this year. knock me out if this post ages horribly lol

happy 2024!

~🐇

[lilflowerpot]

I'm like a bloodhound that seeks worldbuilding fuel and worldbuilding fuel only— one time I was like “...the fuck is a matriarch tree” and then hours later came back out the other end, head buzzing with mycorrhizal fungi and plants that apparently have eyes. Or I'd sink so many hours just listening to YouTube videos about various mythologies (OSP in particular is a favourite haunt of mine)— I just can't help it. No wonder I zeroed in on you from the first post I saw, lol. I still can't remember what that post was about but eh.

I commend you so much for being so meticulous with the science stuff despite it not being your forte! I try sometimes but... I get lost in all the words and it's hard to focus because my brain would much rather be munching on history or something. How do you get yourself to focus??

I absolutely relate to you about thinking too much about your AU and fleshing it out a lot, I think it's impossible to be normal about your passion projects! That's just how creators are.

Fun fact, I was also the person who sent in the ask about whether the Archivist can also be the Imperial Consort! I'm gonna have a field day with LB, I can tell.

A question for you, what would be the procedure if a Galra were to pass away faraway from home in space, faraway from a planet, would their remains be preserved to be brought home and then the traditional procedures can happen? Or would the act of holding off a Galra's reunion with Sa by holding off the funeral be considered rude? Daibazaal (the home planet of the Galra) is gone, right? What are the current practices for the folk that live on the ships?

And oho, a new culture/science post coming up??? 👀👀👀👀👀 I'll definitely be looking forward to that!

— I probably need a signature of some kind, don't I

[1][2]

anon this is SUCH a mood actually

As to how I get myself to focus, I'm truly flattered that you think I have control over such a thing, but the truth of the matter is I just chase the intense serotonin high of whatever task is presently delivering it until that is no longer the case, and then I move on to the Next Fascinating Thing......... y'know, like a neurotypical person.

((this is a good part of the reason why some asks remain unanswered for a greater period of time than others, because I physically cannot force myself to craft a proper response to anything until my horrible little goblin brain deems it shiny enough))

The archivist/consort post was also you???? Damn, okay, you've really been single-handedly fueling my worldbuilding as of late haven't you asdvsvcdghsvdfk your contributions are all very much appreciated ♡

So as I said in my post on galra funeral rites, the only phenotype that culturally favours burials over cremation are the Dox, due to their major religion—Eiyyka’an—dictating that just as the jungles in which they historically made their home provided for their people in life, so should they, in exchange, provide for those jungles in death. Of course, Daibazaal is no more and the Empire extends far beyond the confines of a single planet besides, but the ultimate site wherein their body will be laid to rest is usually one of three places. The most traditional is Feyiv, as for the modern galra this has been their official homeworld for (according to my calculations regarding galra lifespans) over sixty generations, and this choice is particularly popular for aristocratic families who boast a personal plot of land that has been cultivated with the flesh of their ancestors; the most common is whichever alternative imperial planet they personally grew up on, as that would be considered the planet that they predominantly owe their flesh to as the place that sustained them in life; the least common (but not unheard of) option is one only really taken by those who spent more time in artificial colonies than not, which is to be buried in the greenhouse of said artificial colony to provide nutrients for the fresh produce.

This last one, as I'm sure you can imagine, is controversial in some circles—particularly for the Jaev who believe that the body must be delivered to Sa's embrace whole for the deceased to have any chance of triumphing in what is considered to be their final battle, thereby proving themselves as worthy of being revived as one of Her chosen—so it is of course required for Imperial colonies to make note of whether any given food (be that plant or animal) has been cultivated on galra burial sites.

This brings us neatly on to the Jaevaji Faith as the major Aalk religion, the followers of which embalm their dead by slathering them with a special clay that is then engraved with the deceased's greatest deeds, before traditionally lowering them into one of Daibazaal's great lakes of magma. Again, with Daibazaal being long gone, one could use any volcano in an Imperial territory of their choosing, usually one with some significance or tie to the family, and though this may draw out the death rites of a given individual depending on how far away they are from one of these locations, the embalming process (with a little help from a cryopod if required) does an excellent job of preserving the body for as long as is necessary. The most popular alternative, however, is simply launching the prepared body directly into the closest star, as while it's less traditional, the general feeling is that if their ancestors had this option available to them, they would have thoroughly endorsed it.

Finally, the most widespread method of disposing of the dead as popularised by both the Byal & Kyx: cremation. All imperial territories, artificial or otherwise, will have a crematorium in the vicinity—the profession itself is a highly respectable one—though these can vary from the more traditional funeral pyre, to that with which humanity is more familiar. After the body is reduced to ash, where the family chooses to disperse them is incredibly personal, and while many choose to return to Feyiv, or another Imperial planet if they deem that their home, it is equally common to simply scatter their loved one's remains out amongst the stars.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

Hii, i don't want to bother, but i was wondering if you were gonna still do more parts of superstition. I just loved how you wrote the first part.

I knew sooner or later someone was gonna ask.

Okay.

Long story.

So, I will try to get back to Superstition (relatively) soon, but let me explain why I set it in the time-out corner for a bit.

I write fanfiction for fun, and I'm still relatively new to Tumblr fandoms, because a reader of a fic on AO3 asked if I had a Tumblr in order to share fan art (you know who you are, you glorious soul).

I have since made more friends, often via fan works between sites.

I like chilling in spaces with other people who enjoy the same things. Community, not just interaction, is gradually becoming an important part of my motivation. My fics tend to be LONG, and I spend many months writing them. Interaction with fellow writers and readers in a fandom helps sustain that story to its conclusion.

The fandom for Wakanda Forever, particularly for any "Namor x" fics became... less than chill. It is good and healthy to call out broad issues in a fandom in an educational way. Opinions and varied perspectives are wonderful. I've learned many things that helped me write better stories and be a better human that way.

But people were getting to the point where they hoarded moral brownie points for things they didn't like instead of celebrating things they enjoyed. The loudest voices weren't from the demographics with the initial problem, either. There were more posts complaining about x, y, or z than there were fresh contributions. Authors were getting called out by name in public posts they had NOTHING TO DO WITH, and just... it killed my joy. It ruined my inspiration. I wasn't in the drama and decided to sneak out the back door before somebody tagged me into a fight I just didn't have the emotional resources to handle.

If you write long, multi-chapter fics, you must accept that you will have less and less interaction with every chapter, because people get bored/move to new fandoms/forget/have lives. Even if it's a commitment I can ultimately walk away from, it's still an investment of time, emotion, and "spoons." When you feel uncomfortable in a space, why sink that much of yourself into something that could be the next soapbox for a call out post?

I toyed with deleting it, but a friend advised me not to, so I kept it, though it isn't on my master list, and it won't be until I decide to pick it up properly again.

In summary: I'll probably, likely, eventually get back to it (particularly with sweet folks like you asking) but I got spooked, needed time to regather my thoughts, and am working on falling in love with the story again.

[100dayproductivity]

10/100.

Do you also get frustrated by having to do stuff like eat? Ugh. I was eating breakfast this morning and annoyed with myself for taking so goddamn long to chew. I think the annoyance actually stemmed from the state of my kitchen. The cereal boxes that are normally on top of the fridge were crowded onto the kitchen table by my elbow. The kitchen table itself was shoved a foot or so farther from the fridge than usual, in order to make room for the fridge to get pulled away from the wall. The vacuum cleaner was sitting on the floor in front of the sink and I kept having to step around it while making breakfast. The reason for this disarray was because I finally picked up some of that putty stuff from the hardware store yesterday to patch up the wall behind my fridge. In order to get to the wall, I have to pull out the fridge. In order to pull out the fridge, I had to remove the cereal boxes from the top of the fridge and shove the table out of the way. I also needed to move the carpet from in front of the door that's next to the fridge. Moving the carpet revealed the accumulation of sandy grit underneath the carpet. I swept that up, then vacuumed. But I'll still need the vacuum to clean up behind the fridge once I pull it away from the wall. Hence why it's still sitting in the middle of everyone's way in front of the sink (by "everyone" I mean "me". And I guess the cat.)

So while I'm sitting there eating breakfast, annoyed with the cereal boxes at my elbow and the vacuum cleaner in front of the sink, I was thinking about how annoying it is to start a project and then have to stop to do things like eat and sleep and eat again. And then I started thinking about the other things I have to also do, like respond to work-related messages, get more cat food, oh and I'm almost out of salt and have started a grocery list of pantry items so I'll have to get those too. And then there's dishes to deal with again. And this is why I have a hard time starting "projects". You take stuff apart and move stuff around in order to do the project, but can't get it done all in one go because of all the other stupid stuff you have to stop and do (like eating!!!) Then you're just annoyed with all the stupid stuff because you just want to get the "project" done. But it seems like you'll never get it done because there's always more pressing priorities! 😮‍💨

Also, I think I messed up my anxiety meds schedule yesterday (I think I took two half-pill doses before noon instead of one half-pill in the morning and another in the evening). My next dose is not scheduled until later this afternoon. The anxiety meds are also used to treat depression and OCD. I don't have OCD but I definitely notice more obsessive-like thought patterns when I miss a dose (not obsessive like weird Fatal Attraction-esque stalker behaviour but just like mildly getting stuck in a mental loop about stupid little things. Like chewing.) So the missed dose is probably contributing to my inability to cope with cereal boxes at my elbow and vacuum cleaner in front of the sink.

Sooo... back to my main point: do you also get this way? Lol. I bet a lot of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Right. Let's get this party started.

First priority is to shower. (See what I mean about stupid little stuff getting in the way of projects? Ugh 😮‍💨)

Then, my to-do list. Here's where we're at:

To-do:

Pick up polyfill and light bulbs at hardware store. ✓ I finally did this! After that little talk I had with myself yesterday. Patting myself on the back for this small accomplishment 🥇

Look up "best hamstring stretches". ✓ - Proud of myself for following through with this right away! Here's a link to the first site I found that had instructions for exercises to do: https://www.sports-injury-physio.com/post/top-5-stretches-plantar-fasciitis

Wash cat puke off of floor. ✓ Omg, finally got this cleaned up.

Patch up holes in wall behind fridge.

🤬 dishes again 🙄.

Order cat food.

Order groceries.

Homescan. (This requires more explanation but I'll elaborate some other time. Basically it's one of those survey things you can do to earn a little extra cash on the side.)

Fill out mortgage paperwork.

Recurring:

Alternate heat and ice on foot.

Do hamstring stretches.

Roll out knots in leg muscle.

Do Sun Salutation x5

Take inhaler

I actually did all of this yesterday! 🏆 My plantar fasciitis is still flaring up though, so I need to keep at it.

What stupid little daily to-dos are annoying you today??

[yourladystar]

Star's Engage Catalogue Day 40 (part 14)

And with DLC characters unlocked, the DLC classes unlocked, and everything done, I have officially reached the end of not just the Fell Xenologue, but Engage itself.

I know I said this when I got to the end of the main, but I wanna say it again here.

Playing through this game blind and recording my progress for you guys has genuinely been some of the most fun I've had playing a game. I never expected that I would stick through this, I was sure that I would drop this soon after starting it like I did with my attempts to catalogue Three Hopes and Sacred Stones on my old page. But instead, I stuck through with it at my own pace and got experience one of my new favorite experiences with Fire Emblem. So I wanna say now, if you're reading this now and have been with me since the beginning, for a while, or even just recently found one of these posts at random and went "What the hell is this?", I want to thank you for sticking by me and making this a wonderful experience, especially letting me experience it spoiler free. I know my schedule was inconsistent as f*ck with how my life has been changing over the last few months, but thanks for putting up with my weirdness.

I definitely won't be putting this game down for good though. I fully intend to get the supports for the DLC characters and do a new playthrough where I clear FX earlier so I can have them with me during the story, but that's something I'll do on my own time. Especially since, after playing this game for so long, I need a mental recharge to just take everything in and properly digest everything about how feel about this game as a whole. I have a lot of Engage content I want to do, especially in regards to stories about them (which I will get around to soon, just give me time), but I want to do it once I've let everything sink in properly.

But I will still be getting my Fire Emblem fix during my downtime. From what exactly? Well...

Let's just say I decided to treat myself for my birthday this year.

So, until whatever I do next on this site, thanks so much for reading, have a wonderful day, and be a good person for me.

[mister13eyond]

I'm still on Twitter until I have no remaining friends on it because.... I mean I've been here the whole time, I don't bail on sinking ships LMAOOO... that being said! I figure I'll start posting all my backlog of NSFW art to Pixiv as a record, and from here on out, any NSFW work not compliant with tumblr's TOS can go to Pixiv (and assumedly be linked with a cropped sfw preview? Since Pixiv isn't an exclusively NSFW art site, I would think I'm allowed to link to it)