#INTERPOL New Zealand

[oipolinternacional]

Cooperación para enfrentar  el crimen organizado

Europol y Nueva Zelanda fortalecen vínculos para combatir delitos graves y terrorismo Oipol & Oijust Operación Global | Agencia Europea para la Cooperación Policial (Europol), Agosto 28 de 2024 | Cooperación, traducción y edición Oipol & Oijust, Agosto 28 de 2024 – El acuerdo de la Unión Europea (UE) y Nueva Zelanda sobre el intercambio de datos personales entre Europol y las autoridades…

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

2Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman - California Love 1995

"California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring rapper-producer Dr. Dre and singer Roger Troutman of the funk group Zapp. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first single as the newest artist of Death Row Records. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks (as a double A-side single with "How Do U Want It") and also topped the charts of Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden. The song was posthumously nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997.

The first version of the song has three verses featuring Dr. Dre's rapping. 2Pac first heard Dr. Dre's session while at Dre's in-house studio and asked Dre to put him on the song. Producer Laylaw also did an additional remix of the song which is often erroneously credited to Dr. Dre and has been suggested to be one of the reasons for the fallout between Dre and 2Pac a few months later. The remix was included on 2Pac's All Eyez on Me (1996), while this version was put on the UK version of All Eyez on Me.

The original version contains a sample taken from Joe Cocker's 1972 song "Woman to Woman". The remix version contains a sample taken from Kleeer's 1984 song "Intimate Connection". The chorus, "California knows how to party", was sung by Roger Troutman using his characteristic talk box and was taken from the 1982 song "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson & The Street People which was written by Ronnie Hudson and Mikel Hooks. In the song where Troutman sings "shake it, shake it baby", he interpolates the chant he used on his 1982 Zapp single, "Dance Floor".

The more famous if its two different music videos was directed by Hype Williams, and the casting includes George Clinton, Chris Tucker, and Roger Troutman carrying a talk box. It was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video in 1996.

"California Love" received a total of 65,2% yes votes!

[advanced-imbecile-ocs]

Since I'm slowly making some Special Forces OCs, I realized making one is probably kind of daunting for most people due to all the Military stuff so here's a very loose collection of thoughts on the structure of the Special Forces.

Cause after all, what's a Black Dragon without an Special Forces Agent to hunt them down?

So to start, if you know anything about the military, the Special Forces is weird. A US Military task force started to fight international crime gangs? That's more the wheelhouse of other agencies like the CIA and INTERPOL I feel, but I digress because I'm here to make some sense of the Earthrealm Special Forces (ESF) since I think that's the era most people would be interesting in making an OC for the organization and I hope what I write here will give some of you enough insight to feel confident developing one or two.

First we'll cover some boring shit that won't really affect the day to day of your average ESF troop. Normally, federal troops are incredibly restricted on what the can and can't do to enforce domestic policies on US soil per The Posse Comitatus Act. However, given it's focus is responding to otherworldly threats to the US and the world at large, there is likely legislation that has been passed and carve outs made for Special Forces to operate in this capacity and still be part of the Department of Defense. There is likely a congressional panel that provides civilian oversight to ESF, hence all of Sonya Blade's references to a particular congressman during MKX. He's likely in charge of that oversight committee which can do things like hold hearings about what ESF has been up to to ensure they are operating within the bounds of their assigned responsibilities and not wasting taxpayer money.

Now onto the stuff you'll really want to know for your potential troop. Starting with some general military structure knowledge. The most important thing you need to know is there are two main groups in the military. Your Officers and your Enlisted. Officers are your captains, Lts, Colonels. They're the managers of the forces. Every group and subgroup within the military will generally have an Officer in charge of it to manage it. Sometimes they're assigned to do actual tasks, but generally they're in charge of the far more numerous Enlisted doing the tasks. Enlisted are the real work force of the military. These are the guys getting called Private, Arimen, Seamen, Sergeant, Petty Officer, ect. They're going to be the guys making up those mobs we seen getting thrown at Outworld's threats. The ones guarding the portal at the refugee site in MKX. For a more in depth break down of that, just search the US Military Rank Structure and you'll get plenty of images breaking down the E and O ranks across the forces.

ESF is most certainly a Special Joint Operation with the US Army making up a good amount of the group given how many grunts we see get mowed down in MK11's opening. This likely means, outside of special cases I'll ponder later, that you do not directly join the ESF. Instead you would join one of the basic military branches (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and now our new Space Force) or even other agencies like the FBI and CIA and later be selected or be given the opportunity to volunteer for this special mission. Because of this, there are likely very very few junior ranking enlisted in the ESF. Most everyone is likely a Sergeant or Petty Officer for the Enlisted side, and at least a Captain on the Officer side.

The ESF is also certainly an international effort. It's not unusual for certain units and missions to have troops from our allied forces assigned to them. So there's probably a good handful of members from other countries, likely mainly from the Five Eyes partnership of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. That said, this is a fantasy land with alternate history so your agent could be from anywhere! Germany, India, whatever you like.

Finally, onto some funky exceptions I imagine exist for the ESF. At this point, I bet you're asking where someone like Johnny Cage falls in all this. On one hand, he could be a Civilian General Schedule. Which is just the term used for Civilians employed by a federal agency like the Department of Defense. Usually referred to as GS on a grade scale similar to how Enlisted and Officers are. He could also be specially contracted to work on behalf of the ESF, but not be directly employed by the Department of Defense. There's a lot of nitty gritty differences here, but what I imagine is most important to you theoretical OC maker, is that a Civilian employee will answer to someone on the Military side. A Contractor would view the ESF more as a customer they are providing a service for.

Finally, I know I said earlier you likely aren't able to directly join the ESF? Well given that they're a suped up kind of X-Files agency, I would bet good money there is a department dedicated to identifying special individuals like meta humans and recruiting them into the ESF. Possibly into small highly specialized units. There's bound to be all sorts of people scattered on Earthrealm with other worldly powers like Johnny Cage and Kenshi have, or perhaps just have a particular skill set or knowledge the ESF may need. Keeping a keen eye on anyone who might already be recruited into the military, but also identifying anyone who could be either useful to the ESF or a threat to Earthrealm if left unchecked. Think like how the X-Men are recruited into Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

That's all I've got for now. Sorry if anything in here doesn't make much sense, but like I said. Late night and loosely organized. I'm more than happy to talk about any of this in more detail if someone has questions.

[world-of-wales]

THE PRINCE DIARIES ♚

6 NOVEMBER 2023 || SINGAPORE VISIT : DAY 2 (3/3) - UNITED FOR WILDLIFE GLOBAL SUMMIT

The Prince of Wales attended the United for Wildlife Global Summit at the Flower Dome of the Gardens by the Bay as his final engagement on his first full day in Singapore as part of the 2023 Earthshot Week in the country.

United for Wildlife was founded by William and The Royal Foundation in 2014, and it aims to make it impossible for traffickers to transport, finance, or profit from illegal wildlife products.

This year, the summit was focused on bringing together the organization's Taskforces, partners & law enforcement to show the power of collaboration to end the illegal wildlife trade.

William gave a keynote speech at the event, speaking about the incredible job being done by the Singaporean authorities have taken to tackle illegal wildlife trade, noting that the Republic had seized about 34kg worth of rhinoceros horns worth $1.2 million at Changi Airport in 2022. He also announced United for Wildlife's new partnership with Mandai Nature to build on the ongoing work for United for Wildlife’s Southeast Asian chapter. And about the creation of the world's first international statement of principles, agreed by governments with signatories including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, the US, South Africa and Singapore. They will commit to regular cooperation to combat money laundering from transnational criminal syndicates engaged in the illegal wildlife trade.

A partnership was also formalised between United for Wildlife and Interpol through a letter of intent pledging to combine their operational expertise and global networks to tackle illegal wildlife trade.

[booksandabeer]

Thank you so much for the tag @tessabennet 😘

Last song: "Slow Hands" by Azealia Banks (Interpol cover)

Song stuck in my head: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler

Currently watching: Finished Loki and am all over the place with my feelings about That Ending. Slow Horses season 2.

Favourite colours: cobalt blue

Currently craving: any kind of hot beverage

Last movie: Renfield. It was terrible. I had a fantastic time watching it.

Sweet, spicy, or savoury: yes please.

Relationship status: Yeah, no. Not talking about that on here.

Current obsession: Other than the usual, nothing much. I'm about to start watching Fellow Travelers though, so I guess ask me again in a week. ;)

Last thing I googled: art print sizes american standard (I've finally arrived at the stage where I'm hanging pictures (finishing touches, baby!) in the new apartment. I got these beautiful art prints at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston a while back and now I had to find out that of course US and European print standards are different. So now I have to order custom frames and passepartouts. Yay.

Three favourite foods: Thai food. All of it. Any kind of uncooked seafood (ceviche, sushi, oysters). Also, and I know this is going to make a lot of people go ewwwww, but I love beef tongue. Sorry.

Dream trip: I miss Thailand. I used to travel there almost every year before the pandemic and even lived there for a few months in 2019. I miss it a lot. :( But a place that I've never been? The Southern US. And New Zealand would be nice.

Anything you want right now: Time. More hours in the day please. I'm so behind on everything. I have 4 unfinished rec lists in my drafts and I really want to post one this month. Will that actually happen? I don't know! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm declaring this an OPEN TAG. (I promise to subject myself to the excruciating experience of of tagging people again in the next round)

[sheyshocked]

Baby It’s All Just Chemistry (2/?)

Chapter title: Medic Has the Bloodiest Hands

Summary: Chemist meets the Medic and things go south very quickly.

Fandom: Team Fortress 2

Ship: Scout/Original Female Character (main), Heavy/Medic (minor), RED!Demo/BLU Soldier (minor) - all in later chapters

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, open-heart surgery

A/N:  Me: “I need to look up something about the Cold War, Interpol, and a Berlin Wall for my fic.” My bro: “Eh… and don’t you mind that it takes place in canon where New Zealand sank to the bottom of the ocean, Australians are superheroes with bushy mustaches, and where Tom Jones was killed off twice?” Me: “…I just think it’s neat.”

Previous chapters: 1 |

You can also read it on ao3!

Fate, if there was indeed such a thing, had a strange sense of humor. How else could Chemist explain that not even a week ago, she was waiting on death row, and now? She had a well-paid job, a roof over her head far from the greedy hands of the communist party, and as a bonus from her generous employer, a bunch of guinea pigs to take care of. Sure, most of her new coworkers seemed rather… unusual, but other than that?

It was an odd turn of events, but not an unwelcome one.

Trying to keep up with Spy and his oh-so-long legs was a losing fight. Not nearly as bad as when she walked with Scout, but at least the buck-teethed youth slowed down every now and then to let her catch up with him. Sure, she could have just asked Spy to do the same… but she didn’t want any of those guys to think she was weak right off the bat. They were all trained killers, and from what she had gathered from her talk with Miss Pauling, weren’t half-bad at their job.

Better not to let them think she would make an easy target.

They chatted a lot on their way, both in Czech and in English. It seemed like Spy had a real talent for languages. Any tongue he switched to sounded nearly immaculate if it weren’t for his prominent French accent. It was pretty impressive, to be honest.

She thought her language skills were also nothing to sneeze at – with her Czech, Slovak, English, some German, and Russian (though hell would sooner freeze over before she spoke any of that language). But she was nothing compared to Spy. And it made sense. With his line of work, he must have been to many different countries. Their family trips to Yugoslavia couldn’t compare. But she had left the Iron Curtain behind. She was free to go wherever she wanted once she gets a vacation.

It was a bitter irony now that she could see the world, all she wanted was to go home. She didn’t think she would miss her country all things considered, but she did.

To get rid of all the painful thoughts, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “So… that guy who’s just offered me a drink. Is it even allowed here? I mean, it sounds kinda dangerous, to be drunk on the job.”

Spy gave her a smirk. “Mademoiselle, we’re guns for ‘ire. No one cares what we are doing in our spare time, as long as there isn’t some catastrophic property damage. And you’ll soon find out that Demoman is a very ‘igh functioning drunkard. A sad one, certainly, but gets the job done.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” she mumbled, feeling kinda silly now. It wasn’t her place to judge anyone here. God knows she had her own problems.

Just to keep the conversation flowing, she asked: “And that lanky fellow, Scout, does he flirt with everything that moves?”

This time, Spy groaned and rolled his eyes, exasperated. “Unfortunately, yes. But don’t worry. The boy is all bark and no bite. Just ignore ‘im and ‘e’ll go away.”

Called it. She knew a lot of guys like that back in her college days. Loud and obnoxious, but overall harmless. As long as it wouldn’t take poisoning his food to make him back off, they would get along just fine.

They went down a long corridor with many doors. Each had a symbol drawn upon them. They were all similar to the one she had on her Mann Co.-issued uniform. Hers depicted a flask with a skull and crossed bones. She rather liked it. It was simple, straight to the point.

Spy led her to the last entrance on the left. It was the only one without a mark. She glanced at the door next to it to get an idea of who was gonna be her neighbor – the symbol there depicted a shoe with wings. That was most likely a reference to Hermes, the messenger of gods. Whoever stayed in that room had to be quick on his feet. Her best tip was the Scout.

Just her luck. She had to bunk right next to the guy who tried to hit on her. Perfect.

Spy was kind enough to open the door for her and she waltzed right in, setting the crate on the ground next to the bed. Finally! She wouldn’t be able to carry it for much longer. She wiped the sweat off her brow and opened the lid with holes to check on the guinea pigs.

As soon as the lid went off, they all started wheeking and running around, thinking they were about to get a treat. Poor guys. The journey here was a long one and the heat nearly unbearable, but thank god, all six of them made it in a good health.

“Ugh, what’s that?” Spy scoffed, a disgusted sneer on his face. What, did he not like animals?

“My guinea pigs! To run experiments on and such.” Technically not a lie. She did get them for work. So what that she wouldn’t use them for their original purpose?

Spy didn’t seem to approve either way. “Just make sure they won’t escape their containment. I would ‘ate to ‘ave vermin running through my closet.”

“There are far worse things you could have there, you know?” she rolled her eyes. It was a little disheartening. She was hoping some of her teammates would share her enthusiasm for small rodents. But then again, looking at Spy’s neat suit, it was no wonder he didn’t. Fancy people rarely appreciated pets.

His loss.

“But don’t worry,” she reassured him. “They will get a proper cage soon. No escape attempts.”

She started rummaging through her large backpack. There should be a few carrots prepared for her little charges. Hm, but where were they now?

She brushed away her gas mask and a case with her reading glasses until her fingers closed around a pack of vegetables. Excellent.

She glanced back at Spy, who was watching her with a keen eye. “Please, is there a sink somewhere? I need to clean these and refill their water bottle.”

“Stay away from the sinks if you can. The tap water in the whole town is full of lead – that’s why we left some bottled water by your bedside.”

That made her perk up. “Lead? But that’s amazing! I haven’t studied severe lead poisoning in… well, ever! Tell me, has anyone tried it yet?”

Spy looked weirded out at first, but that was fine. Most people did. She was used to it by now. Her methods may be unorthodox, but no one could deny they were damn effective.

Just not always the way she intended.

“You might want to ask Soldier. I ‘ave a feeling ‘e didn’t get the memo.”

She grinned. “I will ask him! Thanks.” Her gaze shifted back to her guinea pigs. They were getting impatient now, climbing one another to try and get out of the box. “Oh, but I have to remember to give piggies only the bottled water. Lead might be too much for their little organisms, poor things.”

Well, she should get down to business.

As she was taking care of her pets, humming a soft tune while doing so, Spy was watching her with his piercing gaze. It made her nervous as all hell.

No way I’m gonna unpack my things in front of him, she thought solemnly.

“There, all done,” she turned to face him once again, trying to appear more stoic than she felt. Only then she realized she was fidgeting with her hands like some damn schoolgirl. Drat! So much so for trying to seem tough. “Eh, you said you need to take me to the Medic’s office for a check-up, right? How about we go now?”

Thank god he didn’t comment on her unease, even though he had to see it clear as day. Instead, he accommodated her, saying: “Of course. Follow me.”

He gave her a quick tour through the entire base, showing her all the important places – shooting range, laundry room, Engie’s workshop, rec room as well as the showers. That last one gave her a pause.

It reminded her of her prison experience. No booths, no privacy, nothing. Just a bunch of ugly shower heads sticking from the walls. At least the tiles looked somewhat clean, but that set the bar pretty low.

Bloody hell. Off to a great start.

“I guess you don’t have a women’s bathroom here, right?”

It wouldn’t make much sense, since she had yet to see another woman on the base, but hey. Hope dies last.

“Non.”

…Hope died in the vanguard.

“But that’s quite easy to fix. We can always create a schedule, so you won’t ‘ave to share with the others.”

Well, it was far from ideal, but it was something. Either way, she was glad Spy was so considerate. He could also tell her to suck it up, that she is now a mercenary first and woman second, but something told her he also wasn’t fond of communal showers. Had to be that balaclava of his. The air of secrecy around him.

Did he ever take it off in front of the others?

“Thanks, that sounds great.” She paused for a few seconds, squinting at the door. There was no lock on it. “And they won’t peek or anything while I’m in here?”

Spy honest to god chuckled. “I doubt it. We may be the scum of society, Mademoiselle, but we would never ‘arass a teammate like that. But if someone does? You ‘ave every right to shoot them right between the eyes.”

Finally, they turned around the corner and went to the Medic’s domain. Spy stopped right in front of the door with a big red cross on it and lit himself a cigarette. Then, he turned towards Chemist. “I’ll ‘ave to leave you now, I still ‘ave other business to attend to. It was a pleasure meeting you, Chemist. Au revoir.”

With that, he pressed a button on his watch and disappeared into a thick cloud of smoke. Some of it got stuck in her nose and made her sneeze. Woah, what the hell was that? Her eyes darted around in a desperate attempt to find him, but no luck. Wonderful. A man who could become invisible on a whim had to be a pain in the neck on the battlefield.

But the clock was ticking. She better get this over with and see the Medic.

It would be rude to enter without knocking, she thought, so she first rapped her knuckles on the door. No response. She heard faint music through the wood (it sounded like Beethoven, but she couldn’t be quite sure), so he was definitively in there. Just didn’t hear her. She tried once more, but with the same results. That’s when she threw her politeness aside and simply invited herself in.

Unfortunately, she ran into a tall dark-haired man who looked like he was about to exit the clinic. He nearly dropped the folder of papers he was carrying. “Ah, entschuldigung, Mädchen! I haven’t heard you come in!”

Oh. So their doctor was German. And a handsome one, too. Not that it mattered or anything! It just caught her off guard. She wasn’t expecting so many fellow Europeans on the team. It made her feel a little more at home.

“No, no, I apologize, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have barged in like this when you didn’t hear me knocking the first time. Anyway,” she pushed a hand in between them for him to shake, but she did it so clumsily that she nearly punched him in the stomach. “I’m Chemist, your new coworker. Nice to meet you, sir…”

Amazing, she had to roll her eyes at her own antics and chuckled nervously in an attempt to save her face. As if anything could save after this horrible display. Are you gonna twirl your hair in front of him like some dumb teenager too? Pull your act together!

Thank god the good doctor didn’t make a meal out of it. He even giggled – did she hear that right, did he really giggle? – before shaking her hand. Much like Engie, he had a nice, steady grip.

“Medic, at your service.” He bowed to her, which made her chuckle a little. It was so silly and charming at the same time. No one has ever done this to her before. “Tell me, have you seen Heavy around? I was waiting for him to stop by, but he still hasn’t shown up.”

Her face fell. “The big guy? Sure. He was in the cafeteria.”

“That does sound like him,” the doctor chuckled while fondly rolling his eyes. “He gets so distracted by his sandwiches he forgets all about time. But nevermind. Let me look at you.”

Once she nodded, he started studying her features with rapt attention. He even circled her a few times, raising her arm as if he were testing her joints. Odd, but she let him do whatever he had to do. In the end, he gave her a toothy wolf-like grin.

“You seem to have a perfect bone structure. That’s wunderbar! At least you’ll be able to take quite a few punches before collapsing.”

“Um, thanks…?”

“A mere observation, Fräulein. Don’t worry about it.” A sinister smile found its way onto his face. No matter how handsome he was, it was still creepy as hell. It wasn’t enough to make her reconsider all of her life choices that led her here, but it was still pretty damn close. “You are also just the right size for me to use that Loch Ness monster’s heart I’ve been saving for special occasions. What a lucky day!”

…Okay, this was weird. What was he even talking about? A Loch Ness monster’s heart? Unfortunately, before she could ask what did he mean, he ushered her deeper into the room, showing her an empty chair to sit on. “But first let’s start with your examination, ja? Take a seat, please. I will be right back.”

Too late to run, she obeyed, looking around so she could figure out an escape route, in case something went amiss. Not that she believed it would, it was just better to be prepared. Being hunted down by the police taught her that.

The room was large, probably fit to serve as a surgical theatre in need, and cramped with all sorts of medical equipment. The first thing that caught her attention was the huge examination table standing right innocuously in the middle. There was some sort of an… instrument? hanging above it. It looked like a homemade gun, but not quite. Hm, what purpose could it possibly serve?

She also noticed an old record player, the one she heard playing before she entered the clinic, lots of buckets for some reason, a fridge (for snacks?), and… wait. What was that noise?

First, she heard a soft fluttering of multiple wings, then, cooing. She looked up and noticed a flock of snow-white birds, just hanging around. One with suspiciously dirty feathers flew down and sat on Medic’s shoulder, who immediately started petting him and crooning at him. Such an adorable view. It took her almost embarrassingly long to realize there were living birds inside the infirmary, which should have high hygienic standards.

“You have doves here?”

Medic snapped his head around as if he only now remembered she was waiting there. “Oh, ja. Miss Pauling ordered me to keep them in a cage after the last incident, but they always seem to find a way to break out and free themselves. Isn’t that right, Archimedes?”

He gently ruffled the feathers of the dirty dove sitting on his shoulder, who gave him an agreeable coo in return. Wait. The bird’s name was Archimedes? Aww. Now that she thought about it, she still had to name her guinea pigs.

“They are cute. Can I pet one?”

This seemed to take Medic by surprise, but after giving it some thought, he shrugged, nearly shaking poor Archimedes off. “Hm, I don’t see why not. Just be careful. They have very sharp beaks.”

He picked some basic medical instruments like a stethoscope and that thing for measuring blood pressure (with that horrible long name in English she could never memorize) and walked back towards her with Archimedes ready on his arm. The little bird was watching her with his tiny bead-like eyes. But once she reached for him, he let out a screech and flew away.

“Archimedes, that’s rude! Sorry, Fräulein, he’s a little bit shy around new people. Give him time. In the meantime, we can proceed with your check-up, hm?”

She nodded with a slight pout. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed Archimedes didn’t take a liking to her immediately. But then again, Medic was right – pets took a lot of time to warm up to a person. Besides, she had more pressing matters to worry about right now.

The examination was pretty standard – some measuring of weight and height as well as blood pressure. The good doctor listened to her heart, took a sample of her blood (probably more than was needed, but hey, she wasn’t complaining), and asked some simple if a bit uncomfortable questions. The usual stuff.

In the end, he seemed quite pleased with the results, which made her feel oddly proud. Like she just got a good mark from her favorite college professor. Completely normal.

But then it took a sharp turn.

“All right, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, except for the slight arrhythmia. That means it’s time for the surgery!” he flashed her that grin from ear to ear again. “Strip down to the waist and lie down on the examination table, bitte.”

WHAT?!

It happened so fast, her brain had trouble catching up. Confusion and concern in equal measure flooded her mind. And everything became much worse when she saw the scary-looking bone saw he pulled out from somewhere.

“Wait, hold on!” she choked up, her throat feeling way too constricted to talk normally. “You said everything was fine, so what kind of surgery are you talking about?!”

He arched one eyebrow at her, puzzled. As if she was the one who was acting unreasonably, and not him. “You haven’t read the contract?”

Can’t say she did. Not the entire thing. It’s hard to pay attention when you are on the run from jail. The only condition she read thoroughly was that any relationships between the two teams were strictly forbidden, but that didn’t make much sense to her back then. So she frantically shook her head, which made Medic frown.

The only thing scarier than his smiles was his dissatisfied face.

“One of the requirements for this job is open-heart surgery. In short, I’m gonna replace your heart, so it won’t explode inside your ribcage when I use my übercharge on you. Any questions before we get on with it?”

Oh Lord. She was gonna die here, wasn’t she?

But not without a fight.

There was a scalpel lying on the table right next to her arm. It wouldn’t be her weapon of choice under any circumstances, but right now it was her best shot. Her hand shook so badly when she grabbed it. Without thinking twice, she struck blindly in the general direction of the madman.

A sharp hiss told her she haven’t missed.

She opened her eyes only to see a nasty, bleeding scar on one of Medic’s sharp cheeks. There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes. She wasn’t gonna stand around and wait for him to strike back.

Before he could grab her and probably slam her on the table like a disobedient cat, she slipped right underneath his arm (advantage of being this short, she mused) and ran for the door. Thank god it wasn’t that far.

She reached for the handle, pressed it… and got nothing. The door was stuck. Damn it! This was like a prom night all over again. A living nightmare. Did he lock the door when she wasn’t looking?! Cold sweat ran down her forehead as she started pulling it about with all her weight, praying it would open. But it didn’t.

Well, she was positively screwed.

By now, he had enough time to get to her. He didn’t, though. Why? Afraid of what she was about to see, she glanced over her shoulder, the scalpel still in her hand, prepared to go for the throat if necessary, and was taken by surprise when she spotted Medic at the same place where she had left him, one finger stuck in the air as if he wanted to say something and was rudely interrupted.

The sheer bizarreness of the situation made her stop right in her tracks and stare at him owlishly, waiting for what he was about to do. She regretted not having her chemicals here. Even a stupid chlorine would do.

“Fräulein? Don’t try to force the door open, you’ll only make it worse. It gets jammed quite frequently. Now, calm down, it’s only a minor procedure, we all went through with it, even Herr Scout, so stop being such a baby and hop on the table. I won’t ask again.”

“Open-heart surgery, a minor procedure?!” she sputtered. “In what universe?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “In this one. You’ll see. So, what will it be? Do I have to restrain you or will you behave?”

This was so messed up, but something told her that undergoing it tied down to the table would be much worse, so she decided to obey, at least until she gets another opportunity to run. She climbed on the operating table and took off her lab coat, shirt, and after some hesitation, her bra. Heh, and to think Medic seeing her breasts became the least of her problems right now…

The doctor turned his back towards her, maybe to give her some semblance of privacy or, and that was the most likely option, to ready his instruments. There was her chance. She could knock him out and make a run for it.

Unfortunately, before she could grab something heavy, Medic turned towards her with a sadistic smirk on his face. Shit. Too late now.

“Are you at least going to give me anesthesia?”

Medic looked at her as if she grew a second head. Surely he couldn’t mean… “Nein, nein, that would be a waste. You won’t feel a thing anyway.”

Jesus Christ. She felt her heart beating so fast it could break her ribs and march out of her chest on its own. No need for surgery. Any second now, she was going to faint. Maybe that’s what Medic meant when he argued she won’t need any anesthesia. But then he turned the odd gun-like thing hanging above her on. She was immediately flooded with a strange tingling sensation.

“What’s that?”

“This? Oh, that’s just Quick-fix. It instantly heals you, so you won’t bleed out. Feels good, ja?”

“I don’t know. It’s… odd.”

The mad doctor leaned his head down in front of the scarlet fumes and turned his still-bleeding cheek towards it. A few seconds after that, the wound healed itself, not even leaving a scar behind. Chemist choked up on her saliva. What sorcery was this?! Well, not sorcery, everything had to have a scientific explanation, she just couldn’t find one right now.

“Woah! Doctor, what’s in those fumes? It’s not nitrous oxide, is it? I was trying to make something like this all my life and…”

Medic smirked. “Curious little thing, aren’t you? You know what, I might as well tell you if you stop squirming and let me do my job. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal!” With interest piqued, she ceased wiggling around and observed what was happening.

Having her chest split open with a scalpel was far from a pleasant sight, but she had to admit it didn’t hurt. Not even a little bit. Despite chattering and tittering the entire time, Medic worked fast and his hand was steady.

“Where are you from, Chemist? I’m from Stuttgart myself, but I’ve been quite the globetrotter, so I’m wondering if we’ve ever crossed paths before.”

She sincerely doubted it. She has never been to Germany, and even if, Stuttgart was “on the other side of the Berlin Wall”. Off-limits for people like her. “Perhaps. I’ve lived and studied in Prague.”

Medic’s face suddenly lit up. “Ah, Prague. Wonderful city. I spent some time there when I was younger. But then Interpol caught a whiff of my trail and I had to move again.”

“Wait. You’ve been searched for by Interpol?!”

“Ah heh, ja. It’s a little bit embarrassing. Happened shortly after I lost my medical license. Now now, stop hyperventilating, bitte. You’re spoiling my cuts.”

Easy for him to say. He didn’t have a man operating on him without a license. But then again, perhaps she should have been more surprised he had one in the first place. Everything about this was screaming malpractice. Even though she couldn’t deny he showed a lot of skill and precision while baring her organs underneath the skin and bones.

It took a while, but finally, her chest was wide open. At first, she tried to avoid looking at her innards, simply because it was too weird – and that was coming from a person who willingly joined a bunch of deranged mercenaries – but then Medic let out a fascinated whistle. She had to see what was going on. So she glanced down… and yelped.

When did her organs become so dark and shriveled? Her heart looked like an ugly little prune, liver resembled stone. Some other parts she couldn’t even recognize. Gross! How did this happen? And what did it even mean? Was she gonna die at the ripe age of twenty-three?

“Uh… this is not supposed to look like this, is it?” she asked, her voice getting an octave higher with hysteria. The piece of charcoal she called a heart immediately started pumping more blood into her body, preparing her for fight or flight. But what was she hoping to escape? Her own mangled guts?

Medic once again pushed his glasses up his nose, careful not to smudge them with her blood, which was still red and healthy-looking, thank god. Only then it came to her that he wasn’t wearing his gloves. How hygienic. Maybe sepsis would get her sooner than this madness.

“Ooh, fascinating! I’ve never seen so much damage in one body before.” Was that supposed to calm her down?! “I would have to run some tests to be sure what caused it, but given your line of profession… have you ever been poisoned, Chemist?”

That’s when it finally clicked. Oh. She gave him a tight little nod.

“Thought so. That had to be one hell of a toxin. I’m impressed you’re even alive.”

Despite everything, she forced a smug smile. “Thanks. It was my own recipe.”

“I see. Have you always had suicidal tendencies?”

“What? No, it wasn’t… it was an experiment gone wrong. I was testing a new solution and the next thing I remember, I woke up in a hospital. It’s simple as that.”

She never liked to talk about it. Not only because it was embarrassing, but also because no one ever understood. Not even her sister. Or dad. They all thought she was sick in the head. Poor little girl, playing with bad things hoping they would do any good. Bah! But Medic, he got it. She saw it in his eyes. That mad spark. His smile full of teeth.

“Splendid. A woman of science who’s also not afraid of experimentation. Though I would recommend using willing test subjects next time, rather than delving into it yourself. The results are more reliable, then. Much more satisfying, too.”

“Perhaps. But I kinda like it my way.” She was hoping he would leave it at that, and he did. With agreeable harumph, he went back to work.

“I’ll have to replace most of this, but don’t worry – you’ll soon be as good as new. Maybe even better.” His eyes shifted toward the mysterious fridge. So no snacks then. Shame. “Hm, now that I think about it, I don’t have any fresh livers at the moment. I used the last one on Herr Demoman. Ah, doesn’t matter. I’ll send Miss Pauling a request, it’ll just take a while. Come back later this week and we’ll get you all set up before your first real battle, ja?”

“All right. Thanks, doctor.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s my job. And also a hobby.”

He started digging around in her chest, cutting free the sad excuse of organs one by one and replacing them for more healthy-looking counterparts (she couldn’t help but notice he stuck some strange metal device in her new heart. Hopefully it was no self-destructive gizmo or something equally bad). She quickly lost track of time. It was taking soooo long. Even though Medic tried to humor her by talking to her, she still grew bored fairly quickly. She wasn’t used to just lay on her back, doing nothing. Solving equations in her head only helped so much.

She was just about to ask how much longer will it take, when Medic wiped the sweat off his brow and said: “All right, all done for now.”

He flipped the switch on the Quick-fix and… Woah! A gasp was punched straight out of her lungs as her flesh and bones started mending themselves right in front of her eyes. Just like that. It was done faster than it began, and Chemist immediately pawed at her chest, trying to find any proof she was operated on but found none. Not even a slight dent. If it didn’t go against everything she believed in, she would say it was a miracle.

Medic handed her her lab coat, so she quickly covered herself, then sat at the edge of the table and with stars in her eyes breathed out: “Doctor, that was amazing! I really didn’t feel a thing! Now you have to tell me everything about those fumes.”

He laughed before indulging her.

***

She spent another hour or so at the Medic’s office, just chatting about his greatest invention, but then Heavy showed up and she had to go. Maybe it was for the best. No offense, but she didn’t want to spend more time than she necessarily had to with some big scary Russian guy. Not after what happened back home.

Besides, the doctor seemed eager to shoo her away as soon as the other member of the team turned up. Pity. Or not. She still had no idea what to think of him. On one hand, he was extremely intelligent and seemed to know what he was doing. On the other, he was unhinged with no regard for ethics or morals. The duality of a man.

Well, it ended up way better than she expected. Which wasn’t saying much, since she thought she was going to be slaughtered and made into čevabčiči, but that wasn’t the point.

She whistled on her way back to her room. She felt so much lighter now. It better not be because the doctor forgot to put something essential back in, she shuddered at the thought, but she quickly put it behind herself. She was fine. Everything would be just fine.

As soon as the door closed behind her, she leaned against its frame, letting out a big sigh. Finally alone. Now she could look around, take it all in and unpack her things.

The room was small and very plain with only a simple bed, a small table and a wardrobe, a telephone, and the crate currently occupied by guinea pigs. Nothing special, but as a student, she survived worse. She grabbed her backpack and started unpacking.

She had just prepared clothes and her mask for tomorrow’s training when the phone started ringing. Odd. She wasn’t expecting a call. The only people she knew were still trapped in the old continent, so it could be only her boss. She picked it up and was greeted by Miss Pauling’s warm voice: “Chemist, it’s Pauling here. I got you the bag and all the chemicals you requested. I will drop by tomorrow and bring it to you.”

“So soon? Well, thank you, Miss. I was worried I was asking for too much, but it seems like you have it all covered, huh?”

“You bet,” Miss Pauling chuckled. “You’re welcome, by the way. Anyway, how did meeting the team go? I know they can be a bit too much, but you’ll soon get used to it, trust me.”

She chuckled. That was an understatement of the year, but she would take it. “It was fine. They were all very nice, all things considered. It’s just a lot to take in, I guess.”

“I know what you mean. Take your time. You’ll see it gets better.” A pause. Then: “Oh, and one more thing – I’ll have to speak with you in private once I see you. It’s about your sister.”

That made Chemist straighten up, hope filling her voice as she croaked out: “My sister? Have you found her? Is she… is she all right? Please tell me she’s all right.”

She heard a rustle on the other side, followed by a sigh. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you more right now. I promise I’ll explain when we meet again. Until then… goodnight, Chemist. Try to get some sleep. It’s a big day tomorrow.”

Disappointed, Chemist sank on her bed, the telephone still in her hand. Her only luck was that the wire was long enough so she could lie down without having to cut the call. “I see. Well, it was worth a shot. Goodnight, Miss Pauling. And thanks again. For everything.”

The call ended with a sheepish noise coming from the other end. Chemist held the phone receiver to her chest long after the sound of Miss Pauling’s voice was gone. She was the bravest, most badass woman she had ever met. She singlehandedly led her out of jail and smuggled her out of the country. If anyone could save Marie, it was her. She just had to be patient. Do her job, fight tooth and nail and wait. She could do that.

She stole one last long look at the picture now sitting on her bedside table before she went to undress and slip under the covers.

Hopefully, tomorrow would bring good things.

***

Translations and context: Spy: Au revoir – goodbye Medic: Entschuldigung, Mädchen – sorry, girl Medic: That’s wunderbar – That’s wonderful Medic: Fräulein – Miss Medic: Bitte – please

“family trips to Yugoslavia” – Yugoslavia was one of the few countries people from Czechoslovakia could visit (but getting permission to travel there wasn’t easy and usually part of the family had to stay, so those who went wouldn’t be tempted to emigrate). It was much easier to travel to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, or East Germany, but Yugoslavia remained one of the most popular. “nitrous oxide” – commonly known as a “laughing gas”, it has anesthetic and pain-reducing effects “Berlin wall” – also called “Wall of Shame” by the western authorities and “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart” by the eastern ones, was built in 1961 (seven years before this story takes place) to separate West Germany from the East. East Berliners weren’t allowed to cross the border at all and risked being gunned down if they tried to escape “Interpol” – International Criminal Police Organization, founded on 7th September 1923 in Vienna under the name International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), it got its name in 1956 (so only twelve years before the story of TF2 takes place; Medic would probably use the older name, but for the sake of clarity, I used the “newer” one) “čevabčiči” – common food made from minced meat served in many restaurants during the socialist era (but still popular to this day)

[heraldtimes]

Interpol seeks NZer in Spanish probe

Interpol is hunting a former Auckland man and his British wife suspected of masterminding a European property scam alleged to involve almost $2 million.

The reported that 20 people claimed to have paid substantial sums to Nigel Andrews for deposits for apartments in Turkey, which have not yet been built.

Mr Andrews, a 51-year-old New Zealander, and his wife Margaret were reported to have vanished from their offices in Marbella in June, where they had set up a company called Royal Resorts Turkey.

The Spanish police have been called in to investigate allegations that investors have lost 1 million euros ($1.7m) in a failed resort development in Turkey.

Spain's national police force has confirmed that Interpol was involved in the hunt for the couple and that they have made an arrest in Calpe, Alicante - reported to be Mr Andrews' brother, Lionel.

The brothers left Scotland for Spain in 2003 after the Vaults nightclub in Aberdeen's Carnegie Brae, which they had set up with another business partner, closed down just five months after opening, owing about £700,000 ($1.43m) to creditors.

The Bank of Scotland later lodged a petition calling for the brothers to be made bankrupt.

Mr and Mrs Andrews left Marbella on June 5, after it emerged their apartments project would not go ahead because of a building ban.

An English-language news website in Spain, The Olive Press, reported that police in Alicante and Marbella confirmed they had arrested a New Zealand national, Lionel Andrews, in connection to the Royal Resorts Turkey sales.

It reported that Nigel Andrews and his wife had recently been living at an exclusive marina in Almeria and that Mr Andrews had recently renamed Royal Resorts Turkey as Property Investing Overseas.

By: Calvin Charley

[bloodybells1]

25 Ways to do Drugs: Number 9

A man directs a movie, and then another, and then another, until he amasses a reputation as a creator of gritty, urban, depraved, subversive cinema. Then one night he swipes my shoulder with the back of his hand demanding one more twenty to take with him to his cocaine dealer and in this moment his fiction has become his reality.

Am I wrong if I hold him to a higher standard of retaining distance from his creations than the one I abide for my own creations? I see myself as an avatar, my body is my canvas. Rock music is a type of performance art, a bloodsport (it was, at least), and my habits are merely elements in that narrative of performative dissolution. Yet, somehow I see a film director differently.

SETTING:

Luna Lounge was anomalous in the Ludlow Street pantheon of bohemian watering holes that were my semi-adult Disneyland for close to a decade, a convivial and spacious locale with a very uncool foosball table in front and a mediocre stage in a back room. The drinks were cheap and usually free when Dudley, a fellow party-er and erstwhile Interpol touring keyboardist, was bartending. Walking in was to unload from the annoying patter of hipness that were places like the across-the-street Max Fish which lured tourists and wannabes with its reputation as a ground zero for cool dudes. Luna Lounge was not a club in which one made appearances like these. It was a second home in which one put on slippers.

THE EVENT:

The director had been invited by a friend to come hang out and perhaps coordinate a separate visit with his dealer. To this day I haven’t seen all his movies, but the ones I have I adore for their merciless balancing act between the sacred and the profane—though, as far as what goes on on the screen, one would be hard pressed to find particularly memorable instances of the former.

I’d seen pictures of him before, a strong, square-jawed mien, as gritty as his flicks. But I’d never heard him before and hearing him demand that I give him another twenty dollar bill was to hear the raspy extension of an image that I’d already known though his work and his likeness. After I pulled a bill out of my wallet and he grabbed it, he hunched over to count the wad. He looked hard at work, as he might’ve looked talking to a DP on set, discussing an angle. He disappeared and reappeared with powder. In 3D, the mystique was now finally complete.

Interpol had once played a secret show at Luna Lounge, though I can’t recall when that happened on the timeline. Paul Banks, Interpol’s singer, was here on this particular night and, though he was a frequent patron, his presence was nonetheless notable. His presence was always notable for the intensity towards questions of procurement it tended to provoke. Only when Paul was absent did I feel at leisure to decide whether or not cocaine was to become a point of interest. 

There’s something of a fever that takes hold when the question of cocaine is raised among a group of drunkards with no alarm clocks to obey. It’s like a horserace where the steeds are separate elements of a fun night: one steed is the bar, the other is the booze, another is the music on the jukebox, still another is the vibe of the crowd and so on. The steeds compete with each other and one of them is the winner the drunks all talk about the next day. Cocaine is one of the steeds but more often than not it’s the slow one, the one bringing up the rear that no one pays attention to. Until certain conditions take hold, like when some of the other steeds start lagging. Then all of a sudden Devil’s Dandruff starts overtaking horses and everyone starts taking notice and placing bets and yelling and jumping off their seats until finally at the finish line she arrives and everyone screams. 

This night was one such horserace.

Dudley’s girl, Maggie, was there, a beautiful New Zealander who modeled and who, along with Dudley, did her part from time to time to reenact upsetting scenes from Sid and Nancy, complete with flying vessels. 

Her mother was there, too. Which upset me. As a rule, these habits were for me the markers of prolonged adolescence, ritualistic simulacra of truancy and disobedience. That was the reason I so compulsively debased myself and others trying to drink all night and get laid, so that I could bolster the identity of the kid who did what he wanted, never mind how old he’s actually becoming (was I now 32, already?). But in order to sustain that illusion we couldn’t have any adults around participating which would immediately puncture the bubble with reality. 

Paul, Maggie, Dudley, Maggie’s mother, the director, the director’s friend and me jumped into the handicapped bathroom to pass around the fresh bags of powder and during the extended holdup of the facility the director started making passes at the mother. Half an hour later the mother fell off her stool and the director was helping her up and the sight of an internationally acclaimed cineaste helping a middle-aged woman to a high chair while both of them breathed in a potent cloud of inebriation redolent with yeast and nicotine instead of doing something more wholesome like possibly getting married and starting a family was too much for me to bear. 

What is it like when a newbie private looks up at the top brass and sees the costs of years fighting wars? Maybe it’s like what I felt at that moment. It was one of many chills I often experienced during the relatively brief time I spent being a party monster, frigid spells that I can only say today seem like communiqués from God, warnings about my ability to weather the dangers of proceeding down this path.

Though I don’t know for sure, the director heeded whatever warnings he must’ve been getting after that night. He’s still putting out pictures. I went to see one of them recently and thought it lacked the gusto of his earlier work but I didn’t fault it for that because it was much more imaginative and meditative than any of his previous work, all of which I consider to be a hallmark of maturity. I can only hope that that maturity translates to his being.

I can’t imagine that the beast one channels putting depraved images on a canvas is a particularly docile creature. Some of us come to know this sick boy within us, this shadow of pestilential visions lurking within all humans, and invite him to the table, as that director appeared to have been doing on that night—as I did regularly during all of my afterparties. But this fecund guest whom we refuse to leave in the back shed, as civilization had done for centuries, whom we regularly invite into our homes so that we can get to know it better, so that it may inspire us to continue to depict the infernal with verisimilitude, will one day betray us. It is a wild creature and can never be tamed. And for that we all need to learn tactics. David Lynch uses TM to quell the beast he has regularly summoned to help him produce the tawdry scenes of his camera’s eye. That’s just one example. 

I guess I was surprised that the director was letting the wolf off the leash that night. I hadn’t assumed that it was possible to make movies showing wolves off leashes while one had an actual one off a leash. I assumed as much in my case because I believed that, as a rockstar, I was an avatar of destruction. I believed it was part of my job to walk around with a wolf off its leash. But didn’t directors have greater responsibilities? Don’t they have to meet with producers and higher-ups all the time and wouldn’t that get complicated with a man-eating beast around?

The bubble punctured that night. The reality set in. We were a bunch of drunks. There was little more to say than that afterwards. There was no magic in the air. For a moment, even art was lost. There was only a hungry wolf lurking around, terrifying the guests.

[popmusic101]

Praise Jah In The Moonlight - YG Marley

5th Feb 2024

Huzzah! A new #1, finally! Jack Harlow has thankfully stepped down from the podium after ten weeks on top and we have a brand new artist to take the reins.

This one's kind of cool - YG Marley's 'Praise Jah in the Moonlight'. It's Marley's debut single and New Zealand is the first country where it's reached #1.

YG Marley is, as you can probably tell from the name and the music, the grandson of the inimitable Bob Marley, but less obvious perhaps is that he's the son of Lauryn Hill who he co-wrote 'Praise Jah in the Moonlight' with.

The song samples Bob Marley's 1978 song 'Crisis' which didn't make it onto the charts here (although he did score two #1's, both posthumously, and one of them with Lauryn Hill).

'Praise Jah in the Moonlight' is a really nice interpolation and expansion of the original and YG Marley definitely stakes himself out as an artist to watch.

The song, despite hitting #1 in NZ, hasn't done massively well elsewhere so far. It's next highest chart position is #20 in the UK, and in other countries it's somewhat lower than that. But I don't think it's surprising that it's doing so well in New Zealand. Us Kiwis love some roots, rock, and reggae style music, and 'Praise Jah in the Moonlight' has the perfect vibe for a New Zealand summer soundtrack to backyard bbqs.

We'll see if YG Marley can hang around another week or two in the top spot. He's currently got Noah Kahan and Teddy Swims nipping at his heels, as well Benson Boone's new single and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's early 2000's flashback 'Murder on the Dancefloor' (thanks to it's use in Saltburn) racing up the charts. See you next week!

[swldx]

RNZ Pacific 1315 8 Aug 2023

7440Khz 1259 8 AUG 2023 - RNZ PACIFIC (NEW ZEALAND) in ENGLISH from RANGITAIKI. SINPO = 45333. English, s/on w/bellbird int. until pips and news @1300z anchored by Koroi Hawkins. The ministry of commerce, industry and labour in Samoa says some employment agencies have been charging as much as $1000 tālā for overseas employment. The Samoa Observer reports the minister, Leatinuu Wayne Sooialo, saying the government will clamp down on the practice. The NZ government has partnered with a controversial investment giant Black Rock to launch a $2 billion fund to help transition Aotearoa to a 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says it's a game changer, but there was limited detail about how the fund will work and what terms and conditions they've put on the controversial multinational. Rising ocean temperatures will make severe weather events such as cyclones more catastrophic, according to GNS climate scientist Georgia Grant. "Simply put, warmer seas equals more energy in the system, so more of those extreme weather events that we've been seeing." That includes the rain dump in Auckland and "the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle". American Samoa's governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga pressing Washington to help it gain full membership of the Pacific Islands Forum. Lemanu is promising to advocate for US interests if the territory gains membership to the Forum. American Samoa currently only has observer status within the Forum. A new development cooperation agreement between Fiji and the Cook Islands is being brokered in Suva this week. The new agreement will focus on advancing economic cooperation, air transportation connectivity, trade and tourism, labour mobility and addressing climate change. In Vanuatu, four licences have been granted for the production and export of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp. More applications are expected to be submitted with clearance required from Interpol before they are granted. @1308z "Pacific Waves" anchored by female announcer. Backyard gutter antenna, Etón e1XM. 100kW, beamAz 35°, bearing 240°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 12912KM from transmitter at Rangitaiki. Local time: 0759.

[talenlee]

Story Pile: Harrow The Ninth

Harrow The Ninth is the second book in the four-and-a-half-book-so-far Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir, a New Zealand author, and to get the box blurb copy out of the way early, it’s as intricate as wristbones, multi-layered, wrought out of several kinds of deliberate excellence and also extremely bloody funny. It commands its venaculars and surgical terminology alongside one another to construct a narrative puzzlebox of regrets and rage and guilt and violence and queer shit and I loved it.

There are these healing moments of emotionally satisfying contact between people who you can maybe let your guard down and like because they don’t have to suck just because this situation sucks and maybe that’s the important thing, maybe it’s the friends we made along the way. Or maybe it’s really, really not. You’d have to get to the end of the book to start to find out what you think. I know what I think.

Now, it is a slight problem that Harrow The Ninth is a book that builds directly on the previous book, which is a book with a very distinct conclusion that leaves you wondering ‘okay, now how does this proceed,’ and Harrow The Ninth doesn’t actually give you easy answers. As a matter of simple necessity, then, and in order to discuss ideas in this book and why I love it, I am going to talk – even a bit obliquely – about the stuff in the book. Therefore, if you’re the kind of person who wants them, I put here, a SPOILER WARNING.

And you may think ‘oh come on, it’s a book with a twist, you can talk about stuff around that,’ and like kinda no not really, it’s way more complex than that, and even just telling you that is enough to make the wrong kind of mind leap at shadows thinking every single thing you deal with in the book is The Twist. Good news, though, because in this situation, oh natively paranoid, must-not-be-surprised, solve-it-first readers, you’re right!

Everything in this book is The Twist.

Image Source

When I talk about the author of this work, understand I’m talking about this in the context of your Barthes-style critical engagement with the hypothetical author of a work, an individual expressed by the work that exists, not like I can sift through the word choice in this book to winnow away publication guidelines and editorial oversight and test reader input and anecdotes and tumblr jokes and Biblical references to try and pull out some narrow thread that reaches into Tamysn Muir’s head and interpolate something about her as a writer or a person. That’s not how this works, because if it did I could somehow supposedly divine the character of King David of Israel just because this quotes one of the Proverbs. No no no. Bear that in mind when you read the next bit, okay.

Holy shit this is an Australasian author.

And I don’t mean things like how Harrow’s story can be seen as the narrative we get, white as we are, about how being included in the system of Empire, get to benefit from this system of privilege as long as we are immediately useful but we all – all of us, both in group and out – we know that you’re not really part of it, and we are going to throw you aside the second you stop being immediately useful or highlight how you’re different to us.

I don’t even mean the way that Harrow’s entire perspective is broken into three pieces as she tries to construct a narrative of who she is, in the heart of a communal space that is also dying and cracking up because something terrible is happening.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think this story is about how vast systems that affect huge numbers of people are in the name of benefitting a tiny number of dysfunctional shitheads, and how understanding them does require understanding that they don’t understand you, but that’s not what I’m getting at.

What I’m getting at is this is a book where, without any explanation or belief that an explanation is necessary, a narrator refers to the emperor losing his nana. And you may think ‘I know what that means’ but if you’re not from the area, no you don’t, it’s not his nanna, that’s a different thing, and the lovely audiobook reader made that mistake too.

Image Source

This is a book that cares about words, though, and it cares in a way that’s awesomely clever. And as seems appropriate for this book, I want to pull over and talk about words for a moment.

First, clever. Often when I use the word ‘clever’ its a neutral term, an idea of how something can be done in an intricate way, a way that required a particular kind of good idea but that’s not the same thing as being the best way to do things. I know as a writer, I care a lot about being clever with wording and terminology because that’s something I can do, as someone who spends a year with the book that a reader who spends a few afternoons with it can’t necessarily. Clever can be a mousetrap but clever can be a clockwork.

Second, awesomely. It’s not a word I’m using here to indicate a generic positivity. It’s a word about being rendered, in a moment, bolted in spot in awe. A realisation that something that I have been party to a magic trick, been fooled by someone who never lied to me, all because they were relying on me to imagine and anticipate a different lie.

The wordplay and subtle references and cleverness around terminology in the start of The Locked Tomb danced across the whole narrative like constellations on a blue sheet of a sky. You could connect them all (hey, notice how all the characters are named after numbers?) and that definitely added depth to the work, but the story wasn’t about being clever, or inviting you to try and be clever. You were in a mind and body that approached everything with a headbutt. The close-in perspective of a mind that thinks about tits every third breath but nonetheless knows the word liquescent uses that deep vocabulary to tell you about the narrator. It also betrays a love of the words themselves, and a love of using them to control attention.

Harrow The Ninth feels like it took that same concept and instead asked, hey, what’s the most I can do with the least. How much weight can I use, how much power can I wield, with the least word possible? Harrow The Ninth is a book that completely transforms the very fundamental assumptions of what the story is doing at all based on the word ‘me.’ Not joking, not kidding. There’s a single point where the word ‘me’ appears on the page and at that point you have to stop and go back and reconsider everything before now and every single bit of comforting structure you assumed the book was doing that was also already pretty difficult to put together was wrong.

It’s like imagining you’re working on a completely white puzzle and you’ve got your four corners out of the box and you’re about halfway through these multiple different chunks that don’t connect to each other yet and then as you’re sifting through you find, taped to the inside of the box lid a fifth fucking corner piece.

Image source

I used to like talking about character voice in fiction with people, because it was a great way to show people the way work they loved did something they didn’t notice but once they noticed it, it was something of a revelation, and then over time, mass media eroded the practice and it actually became more common to see large groups of people who had a character voice, based on the work of the whole fiction. In Harrow The Ninth, this discipline, of being aware what one character would say and how they would say it and how they would think it, and how they would think of other people thinking it, is slowly unfolded like a dead rose, and if it wasn’t also engaging it would just feel like the most titanic flex.

There’s more, of course, because it’s not just doing something clever, every part of the machinery that locks the cleverness together is also individually engaging. What the hell is going on with Ortus? What do these flashbacks mean? Where is Ortus?

Why is Ortus’ sword so important and why isn’t Harrow even trying to work with it? Why is all this stuff in Canaan House not like it was in Ortus The Ninth? What does dying mean? What doesn’t dying mean? Is everyone here a shithead? Oh wait, no, is nobody here a shithead? How much of a huge smile did the author had when they made a None Grief, Oof Ow My Bones, I’m Dad, or There Goes Gravity joke? How universal an experience is it to hold onto love letters from someone you haven’t spoken to in a year that this book made me personally feel very small? Where the hell is Ortus?! And why aren’t the other characters asking ‘where’s Ortus?’

I’m obviously signed on to read the rest of the series and probably whatever else Muir makes at this point because it turns out that in addition to making stories that are very good and very impressive, they’re also about things I like to read about and have a willingness to be violent and funny and horny and smart in ways that I normally feel alienate me from other books. I know I’m meaner than stories want me to be, I know I can find a lot of fantasy novels about how religion is only bad when it’s bad, and empires can be okay, sometimes, actually, and maybe I’m just a bit much for the whole landscape of storytelling.

But not here.

Y’know what, I think at this point I have to accept that I’m absolutely just going to be one of those people who are Very About this franchise and consign myself to that fate. Don’t worry, I don’t expect to cosplay anything in it.

Image Source

And now, here are some glib alternate titles I proposed to friends as I was reading it:

Isn’t Dumbledore An Arsehole

Gideon Navi

How Harrowhark Was Always Right, Actually

Old People Are Evil

Wives Out

Symbolism 301 As A Vomiting Goth

Big Evil Clown Energy

Girlboss Gaslight Girlboss

Wight By The River

Ripper of a book. Absolutely choice.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[the-firebird69]

Yeah we see you're an idiot and we're getting rid of your armies then you won't have any power to do your stupid tricks but you're stupid so you probably won't notice and boy are you dumb very retarded man

I lost all these things quite often it is still there and they're going after the individuals responsible which would be these here mostly and we are decimating their clean now at this time if others wish to volunteer for the service you better hurry up because theyll be gone shortly. It started taking over all their company stuff in Midwest and other areas now we're doing it everywhere cuz we can't stand this jerks. Including Australia and New Zealand and they have people in Australia.

You've had it up to here with them and they're done I had a talk with you Olympus and I said you either get rid of them or do the job yourself these since you're saying you're doing they got mad and said we're doing all sorts of work and what do you say so during my face I don't have any time to do anything and you're not even paying attention to what I'm saying you want me to do the job I can't I'm tired but it's too idiots and he is too so are you doing the whole job and you can just go ahead and do it and tie us up and they said no and I said we need to be on time cuz they're bothering you too damn it and say that too I said if another group doesn't get rid of them and that's good what we're doing here is stupid so you pay attention and they looked at it now it's moving and they're getting rid of them and they see why. I don't want this to ever happen again I don't know what the hell the deal is or why this didn't click and make sense is there concert centers they're bothering the crap out of him orders are orders and it's just sit there harassing him they said they found the max forcing it okay that's one motivation for us I do understand something we're going to use it now everybody is in the future and I know how it works since you. and who's doing what and we have to start applying the screws to them.

There are several things happening in town

-huge numbers of people are protested the way Trump and company are handling themselves and this issue in town. We do groups to talk about them. Have a list of reasons why they shouldn't and they're going over that kind of thing. It's really a full-blown revolt in the making and they want money back and they want their stuff in time and the guys taking it from robots in the robots could take it he's a waste of space and it said too so the trucks are out there and their son is going out there now finally thier going somewhere else finally and we're going to get rid of these people he said they're going to make damn sure he's not on the ticket and we're going to do that. We have to make sure that he is not on the ticket I'm sending the orders out with some notations one of them is we don't want covid-19 back either I want people to read this

Thor Freya

You do too I'm putting it out there because we want our people to read these that's what the intent is you're not the evil people were talking about but we want you to understand things that can be interpolated from here and more

Zues

I sent it to hours and they put messages out sometimes I want them to do it and let me put it this way you're required to cuz you might put more out than me and they say that they do so I'll just put a basic blob for some reason at a time I'm running out of time and here it goes get above says don't have the idiot as president and ever it's your own detriment and I'll put it that way.

Hera

Olympus

[insperonjournal]

Top Innovations in Metaverse By Tech Giants.

An analysis of metaverse news worldwide predicts that by 2026, 25 percent of people shall spend an hour a day in the Metaverse. Because there will be no one entity that will monopolize the platform. So, this now opens up tremendous possibilities for enterprises from all industries and sectors.

In order to better understand how it may shape the future, we can explore the major developments, and projects in the Metaverse space in the present year.

Latest Developments In The Metaverse World

1. Virtual Air-to-air combat

The metaverse news has brought to us the news of the AI technology of Deepmind which was part of the DARPA or US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was ACE or the Air Combat Evolution program. ‘Blue Shark’ and ‘AI Dogfighting’, are some of the greatest metaverse projects of the US army.

2. Interpol enters into the Metaverse

The Interpol or International Criminal Police Organization announced that it is putting on its Virtual Reality headsets to crack down on potential crimes in the metaverse. According to the announcement, Interpol has already launched the Metaverse designed for global law enforcement. It was introduced at the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi, India and the technology was already operational.

3. Indian IT in the Metaverse

According to the latest news on metaverse, Tech Mahindra has announced ‘TechMVerse’ It is a metaverse-related business in order to offer customers immersive experiences. The company also wants to use its blockchain, AI, and AR/VR capabilities for building up B2B use cases across segments.

Infosys has launched ‘Metaverse Foundry’ in order to help enterprises adapt to the methods of the metaverse. The virtual and augmented technologies will be for their workplace, customers, operations, and products.

4. First Indian QSR chain in Metaverse

The metaverse tech has reached India’s leading quick service restaurant or QSR chain also. ‘Wow! Momo Foods’ launched 3 of its outlets in the metaverse space. The three brands are named Wow! China, Wow! Momo, and Wow! Chicken is on ‘festemverse’ which is a new Metaverse platform made to celebrate festivals of India throughout the year.

5. Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

Microsoft announced this year about acquiring the gaming company, Activision Blizzard. It was considered the biggest deal in the gaming of the Metaverse space.

According to the latest news on metaverse, other corporate companies are equally starting to emerge in the market and are taking the help of the metaverse. This year, for example, Accenture employed its new employees from New Zealand and Australia through its Metaverse platform. Deloitte, on the other hand, designed a virtual tour of the London office in order to support its hiring process and efforts and also give its prospective employees a glimpse of what it could be like to work there.

6. Other Tech Giants Are Keeping Major Faith in the Metaverse

Facebook rebranded to Meta in the year 2021. Since then, Facebook has become commonly associated with the term ‘metaverse’ and has been considered a key player in the metaverse space. Apple, Google, and NVIDIA are also following suit, they are focusing their efforts on building the Metaverse by developing their own platforms and products.

Meta has its specific vision of the next revolution of the internet that will look beyond only virtual reality, and the year 2023 will bring new versions of its popular Quest VR headsets.

7. The Changing Workspace and also Corporate Solutions in the Metaverse

The metaverse news shows that the Metaverse offers additional opportunities too. For example, Microsoft Teams could allow people working virtually, from different physical locations, to collaborate and experience shared experiences in the virtual space.

So, as metaverse news worldwide suggests, in the next few years, expect the metaverse to gradually mature and progress more, and maybe technologies will converge. Metaverse as a technology has the potential to spread to every sector and every industry, as well as bring innovations in the digital content space also. Other Metaverse-inspired technologies will also move forward equally. Maybe closer to 2030, we can expect to have a fully formed definition of the Metaverse as a platform. It is also true that by that time some characteristics of the Metaverse world may undergo massive change also.

[snowmains]

Dirt rally 2

#Dirt rally 2 drivers#

Content is something DiRT Rally 2.0 Game of the Year Edition is not short of. If Rallycross is more your thing, there’s another thirteen circuits including official courses from the FIA World Rallycross Championship. That’s a whopping thirteen rally locations and more stages than a manned mission to Mars. This includes locations such as Finland, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, Wales, Greece and Monte Carlo to join the original six rally locations of the USA, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Spain. It’s still not a walk in the park and learning to play on a controller will take time and practice but it is possible and very, very rewarding.Īs is typical of Game of the Year editions, this release includes all the cars and tracks that were locked behind DiRT Rally 2.0’s Year 1 pass. One positive out of this change however, is that it’s easier to play on a controller which makes it far more accessible than DiRT Rally ever was. That being said, moving to a model that causes such a drastic change regardless is an odd choice given how good things already were. Given wheel support varies between hardware it may just be that our Thrustmaster TX wheel isn’t as well supported as others. Every surface feels pretty much the same and it's much harder to judge where the grip is. However it seems to have made its way into DiRT Rally 2.0 and it’s pretty disappointing. It felt a little lacklustre when compared to its simulation stablemate but then, given DiRT 4’s more arcade leanings, this could be forgiven. McRae’s Subaru and a rally game, simply iconicĭiRT 4 followed two years later, more a sequel to Dirt: Showdown than DiRT Rally and with it a new handling model. Each surface could be differentiated through the force feedback helping you navigate the stage alongside your co-driver’s pace notes. Updated visuals aside, it was the deftness in the handling and the feel, especially if you had a wheel setup, that really set it apart. Steeped in simulation, it was precisely what sim rally fans had been after. It was with shock and sheer delight then that in 2015 Codemasters released, originally in Steam’s early access, DiRT Rally. This isn’t to say they were bad games but it left those who enjoyed playing sims with a game that would slowly but surely show its age when it came to not only graphics but compatibility. Whilst it strove for realism, the McRae titles slowly but surely tilted towards arcade mayhem. It goes without saying that in reality, the best rallying experience up until recently for full-on realism belonged to Richard Burns’ Rally.

#Dirt rally 2 drivers#

Don’t get me wrong, I have every respect for drivers in the current WRC Championship and for sheer success no-one gets close to the likes of Sébastien Loeb - yet Colin McRae and his rally game brought forth my first real taste of what rallying was like and I doubt I am alone in that respect. Even now, listing the names of the rally drivers I watched as a kid gives me chills: Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz Sr, Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen and of course Colin McRae. As a kid born in the eighties I’ve been fortunate enough to say I’ve seen some of the titans of motorsport duel it out. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.When it comes to motorsport icons I count myself lucky. The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene. Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected. May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.įluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fpsįluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fpsįluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

[heraldtimes]

NZer arrested in property scam probe

A New Zealand man has been arrested and his brother is being hunted by Interpol over an alleged property scam in Europe.

The repoprted says former Aucklander Lionel Andrews has been arrested in Alicante, during a nationwide swoop.

The search is continuing for his brother 51-year-old Nigel Andrews and British wife Margaret who vanished from their office in Spain in June.

The paper said they took with them almost $2m in deposits from investors for non-existent properties on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Calvin Charley