#Internet of Everything Market Demand

[carollakraa]

Internet of Everything Market Growth via 5G Integration

Driven by 5G expansion, AI-driven analytics, and edge computing adoption, the Internet of Everything (IoE) market is set for robust market growth.

Evolving industry trends around network virtualization are further propelling integration of devices into intelligent ecosystems, according to our proprietary market research.

Get More Insights on - Internet of Everything Market

[argumate]

there are a few reasons for why someone might wish to reduce the level of immigration rather than increase it:

it's illegal to build housing, so there will be nowhere for them to live -- this is a valid concern! a society where it is illegal or very costly to build housing will have difficulties with immigration, and population growth in general, new family formation, seniors downsizing, people living closer to their jobs, in fact there will be many problems; please consider legalising the construction of housing immediately, it makes everything so much easier.

we don't have enough schools/hospitals/trains for more people -- similar to a housing shortage this is a valid concern and has a similar solution: build more infrastructure! if you have a shortage of vital infrastructure and an inability to construct more then that will be a constant drag on growth regardless of immigration.

immigrants reduce wages -- this is a complicated one as it gets tangled up in so many different hypotheses:

immigrants that are not allowed to work may work illegally and accept low wages without complaint as they fear deportation, while immigrants that have rights may demand higher wages.

population increase does not automatically lower wages as people consume as well as work (wages rose faster in the 1960s despite population growth being high).

if immigrants reduce wages, why doesn't that lower prices? if lower wages flow through to higher corporate profits then that suggests issues with market concentration and lack of competition that are independent of immigration.

many industries have gatekeeping bottlenecks that prevent new workers from joining in order to keep wages high, like healthcare (which often leads to a two tier system where e.g. nurses might be paid less than doctors if they aren't protected by the same guild).

immigrants require too much public support -- another complicated one if you believe that immigrants work too much for too little, since this idea suggests that immigrants import excess consumption instead of excess production; of course it's possible that young immigrants work hard and don't consume much in the way of healthcare while older immigrants work less and consume more healthcare, so both assertions could be true simultaneously depending on which immigrants you are talking about (in practice I don't think it's the case that immigrants or their descendants consume noticeably more public support than non-immigrants).

immigrants might be axe murderers -- unclear whether this belief relies on immigrants having committed axe murders in the past or planning to commit them in the future, but with crime rates at historic lows it seems that axe murders fluctuate due to reasons that are not tied to immigration levels (and there are so many candidates to choose from: social policy, incarceration rates, abortion access, lead in the petrol, war and mass mobilisation, availability of mobile phones and the internet, dozens more hypotheses).

immigrants might make people racist -- this sounds funny but it's true that due to the way people get tribal (and unfortunate media incentives) if any immigrant does turn out to be an axe murderer then it will potentially prejudice popular opinion against all immigrants, much like the way if a serial killer turns out to be a middle aged man it justifies treating all middle aged men as serial killers, etc.

I'm ignoring the overtly racist reasons why someone might want to constrain immigration as those are unpleasant; there are obviously a lot of covertly or implicitly racist reasons but I think it's better to take them at face value first.

I believe there are strong moral and economic arguments in favour of what you might call a "let people do what the fuck they want" policy towards immigration, and that most of the challenges to adopting this relate to self-inflicted own goals where a society shoots itself in the dick by making it impossible to build housing where people want to live, or impossible to build power stations, or impossible to build train lines, and then laments the lack of the infrastructure necessary for life; we don't have to do this, and we could all be a lot richer if we just stopped choosing not to be.

[my-great-big-book-of-fan-fiction]

L x Reader pt. 2: The Billionaire and the Prostitute

this one is much shorter than the first, but I feel like it's an important one for storyline's sake, and I also felt like it was important to cut it off where I did. Let me know what you think!

L has been thinking about you.

Don't flatter yourself, he thinks about everything.

He thinks about how dull life is without a case to work on. He thinks about how there is currently a .06% decrease in American stock market value. He thinks about how the changing climate means that Mont Blanc will be coming into season. He thinks about you.

It's best to start with why he even decided to find a prostitute in the first place. Yes, he's heard sexual activity is good for mental acuity, but it's more than that.

At first, he tried to watch porn. The results were rather fruitless, the obvious theatrics and pandering was what one might call "a turn off." He didn't appreciate the plastic, fake feeling of it. So, he turned to more experimental methods.

He tried various aphrodisiacs, no matter how disgusting (He will never taste another oyster in this life), different devices, anything to gather a result. It just wasn't...fun. It brought him little pleasure, and it certainly didn't give him any boost in attention. Still, he was no quitter, and when self-pleasure failed, it was only natural that human contact took it's place.

It would be wrong to say that people scare him, because it frankly isn't true. People don't scare him, nor do they allude him, they simply...tired him. People are so needy, they want to be praised and assured and directed. He was content in doing so, for the sake of work, but recreation was different. More personal. More annoying. On the other hand, this hypothesis intrigued him, so he would allow the discontent, so long as he could minimize it.

Obviously, he couldn't find someone to date, it wouldn't be right. The breakup after his experimenting would be too messy. So, a hooker. He scoured the internet, called a few people that owed him favors, and gathered a small sample. high end women with extensive background checking and respected clientele.

He needed someone who wouldn't ask more questions than necessary, he needed someone he was attracted to, and he needed someone who knew what they were doing. With so much time on his hands, he personally looked into each woman's history, including yours.

He knows what you've done for clients, what you offer to do, what you ask of them before hand, as well as the personal things. Name, age, schooling, address. Nothing to worry about of course, he's not judgmental. You had the best track record out of everyone, as well as the highest rates.

With a logical deduction, he chose you. It only made sense, you were objectively the best. He sent Watari to drop off a letter in your mailbox, a request of your services accompanied by up-to-date tests for every STD under the sun, with hopes of your cooperation. As you know, you responded via the email address he had added on the request, and sent over your expectations and contracts. They were reviewed by him, all manageable and reasonable. All parties must consent, the relations can be terminated at any time, each session must be paid for individually, etc. However, you also demanded more pay for the extra work he required. It would take a lot of time to do all the things he requested for privacy's sake, and that should be paid for along with your time in his presence.

Ever gracious, he corresponded that he'd pay ¥10,000,000 for each session. It was no bother, and far easier than negotiating. He received an eager agreement, as he suspected, and sent the down payment.

a week after contracts were signed and processed, you came over for your first meeting. He found himself attracted to you, at least in a physical sense, which was promising. In an effort to be hospitable, he offered you cake and engaged in light small talk, and through that he found you to be interesting. Polite yet proud, witty and...a little bossy. He wasn't used to being bossed. It was good, it meant he didn't have to worry about initiating anything. He could follow a professional's direction.

The sex was much better than his personal attempts. He was delighted, one might say. During the act, his train of thought felt surprisingly linear, there were no clouds of depression, nor scatterings of calculations, not a single other idea besides how you felt around him. To find that the stress he often experienced was practically nonexistent in the afterglow was almost better than the act itself.

In the time after, he felt spurred on, instilled with a vigor that couldn't be traded for anything. He took on a new case in America, nothing he needed to be present for, but something that he would enjoy enough to fill his days with. This clarity lasted for a couple weeks, 18 days to be exact, before he felt exactly as he had before. Make no mistake, 18 days was an incredible feat for him, this was not anything he regretted. Now, all he had to do was call you back. ¥10,000,000 twice a month wasn't so bad...though he may just have to quell his excitement at this discovery and only schedule you back once a month. He could spend two or so weeks feeling bogged down, it was no trouble.

Your phone rang around 10 PM, right in the middle of a very delicious ramen dinner. You didn't recognize the number, but you picked it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Miss L/N?"

"L?" You never gave him your number, but you recognized his low tone and slow, enunciated words.

"Yes. I'd like to schedule another appointment."

"How'd you get my number?" Already? you saw him 2 weeks ago. He didn't strike you as someone with a high libido.

"I don't see how that's important. Would you rather me send an email?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Next time then. Another appointment?"

You sigh. It was a curse, being so impeccable in bed. "Yeah, sure, what time?"

"I want to see you on October 13th, at 11:30 PM. does that work for you?"

"Really?" people don't usually schedule so far in advance, this is usually an impulse, call a day ahead type of thing.

"I imagine you're busy. Can you do it?"

"I mean...yeah, sure, why not," you shrug, grabbing your calendar to pencil him in.

You were very easy going. He liked that, it was a sign you were open-minded.

"Alright, you're in. Anything else?"

"...Yes, actually. Did you enjoy yourself?"

He was certainly forward. "Uh..." you thought back. You didn't mind how he went about it...he was nice to look at... he picked it up quickly. He actually managed to give you an orgasm. "Yeah. Guess so," you hum. What were you supposed to do, jump for joy? "Why?"

"Curiosity. That was all, thank you."

"Kay, goodnight," you say, annoyance slipping through your tone. It was sort of late, and your food was getting cooler by the second.

"Goodnight, Miss L/N," L says softly. Then, he hangs up.

What an odd guy.

L can confidently say, and this is not something he can say often, that he is excited. The prospects were enticing, he wanted to know just how beneficial this arrangement was in the long run. to see results after only one night was incredible enough, imagine what could happen after sustained visitation. Though, he had another question he neglected to ask on the phone.

Your computer pinged with the notification of an email. You roll your eyes. You were just about to get into bed, now what? After considering waiting until morning, you tiredly walk over to your computer, and opened up your work email to see which bastard was emailing you now. To your surprise, it was the one you just finished talking to.

Do you enjoy sweets? If so, which ones?

-L

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Brian Merchant’s “Blood In the Machine”

Tomorrow (September 27), I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

In Blood In the Machine, Brian Merchant delivers the definitive history of the Luddites, and the clearest analysis of the automator's playbook, where "entrepreneurs'" lawless extraction from workers is called "innovation" and "inevitable":

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

History is written by the winners, and so you probably think of the Luddites as brainless, terrified, thick-fingered vandals who smashed machines and burned factories because they didn't understand them. Today, "Luddite" is a slur that means "technophobe" – but that's neither fair, nor accurate.

Luddism has been steadily creeping into pro-labor technological criticism, as workers and technology critics reclaim the term and its history, which is a rich and powerful tale of greed versus solidarity, slavery versus freedom.

The true tale of the Luddites starts with workers demanding that the laws be upheld. When factory owners began to buy automation systems for textile production, they did so in violation of laws that required collaboration with existing craft guilds – laws designed to ensure that automation was phased in gradually, with accommodations for displaced workers. These laws also protected the public, with the guilds evaluating the quality of cloth produced on the machine, acting as a proxy for buyers who might otherwise be tricked into buying inferior goods.

Factory owners flouted these laws. Though the machines made cloth that was less durable and of inferior weave, they sold it to consumers as though it were as good as the guild-made textiles. Factory owners made quiet deals with orphanages to send them very young children who were enslaved to work in their factories, where they were routinely maimed and killed by the new machines. Children who balked at the long hours or attempted escape were viciously beaten (the memoir of one former child slave became a bestseller and inspired Oliver Twist).

The craft guilds begged Parliament to act. They sent delegations, wrote petitions, even got Members of Parliament to draft legislation ordering enforcement of existing laws. Instead, Parliament passed laws criminalizing labor organizing.

The stakes were high. Economic malaise and war had driven up the price of life's essentials. Workers displaced by illegal machines faced starvation – as did their children. Communities were shattered. Workers who had apprenticed for years found themselves graduating into a market that had no jobs for them.

This is the context in which the Luddite uprisings began. Secret cells of workers, working with discipline and tight organization, warned factory owners to uphold the law. They sent letters and posted handbills in which they styled themselves as the army of "King Ludd" or "General Ludd" – Ned Ludd being a mythical figure who had fought back against an abusive boss.

When factory owners ignored these warnings, the Luddites smashed their machines, breaking into factories or intercepting machines en route from the blacksmith shops where they'd been created. They won key victories, with many factory owners backing off from automation plans, but the owners were deep-pocketed and determined.

The ruling Tories had no sympathy for the workers and no interest in upholding the law or punishing the factory owners for violating it. Instead, they dispatched troops to the factory towns, escalating the use of force until England's industrial centers were occupied by literal armies of soldiers. Soldiers who balked at turning their guns on Luddites were publicly flogged to death.

I got very interested in the Luddites in late 2021, when it became clear that everything I thought I knew about the Luddites was wrong. The Luddites weren't anti-technology – rather, they were doing the same thing a science fiction writer does: asking not just what a new technology does, but also who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

Unsurprisingly, ever since I started publishing on this subject, I've run into people who have no sympathy for the Luddite cause and who slide into my replies to replicate the 19th Century automation debate. One such person accused the Luddites of using "state violence" to suppress progress.

You couldn't ask for a more perfect example of how the history of the Luddites has been forgotten and replaced with a deliberately misleading account. The "state violence" of the Luddite uprising was entirely on one side. Parliament, under the lackadaisical leadership of "Mad King George," imposed the death penalty on the Luddites. It wasn't just machine-breaking that became a capital crime – "oath taking" (swearing loyalty to the Luddites) also carried the death penalties.

As the Luddites fought on against increasingly well-armed factory owners (one owner bought a cannon to use on workers who threatened his machines), they were subjected to spectacular acts of true state violence. Occupying soldiers rounded up Luddites and suspected Luddites and staged public mass executions, hanging them by the dozen, creating scores widows and fatherless children.

The sf writer Steven Brust says that the test to tell whether someone is on the right or the left is simple: ask whether property rights are more important than human rights. If the person says "property rights are human rights," they are on the right.

The state response to the Luddites crisply illustrates this distinction. The Luddites wanted an orderly and lawful transition to automation, one that brought workers along and created shared prosperity and quality goods. The craft guilds took pride in their products, and saw themselves as guardians of their industry. They were accustomed to enjoying a high degree of bargaining power and autonomy, working from small craft workshops in their homes, which allowed them to set their own work pace, eat with their families, and enjoy modest amounts of leisure.

The factory owners' cause wasn't just increased production – it was increased power. They wanted a workforce that would dance to their tune, work longer hours for less pay. They wanted unilateral control over which products they made and what corners they cut in making those products. They wanted to enrich themselves, even if that meant that thousands starved and their factory floors ran red with the blood of dismembered children.

The Luddites destroyed machines. The factory owners killed Luddites, shooting them at the factory gates, or rounding them up for mass executions. Parliament deputized owners to act as extensions of law enforcement, allowing them to drag suspected Luddites to their own private cells for questioning.

The Luddites viewed property rights as just one instrument for achieving human rights – freedom from hunger and cold – and when property rights conflicted with human rights, they didn't hesitate to smash the machines. For them, human rights trumped property rights.

Their bosses – and their bosses' modern defenders – saw the demands to uphold the laws on automation as demands to bring "state violence" to bear on the wholly private matter of how a rich man should organize his business. On the other hand, literal killing – both on the factory floor and at the gallows – was not "state violence" but rather, a defense of the most important of all the human rights: the rights of property owners.

19th century textile factories were the original Big Tech, and the rhetoric of the factory owners echoes down the ages. When tech barons like Peter Thiel say that "freedom is incompatible with democracy," he means that letting people who work for a living vote will eventually lead to limitations on people who own things for a living, like him.

Then, as now, resistance to Big Tech enjoyed widespread support. The Luddites couldn't have organized in their thousands if their neighbors didn't have their backs. Shelley and Byron wrote widely reproduced paeans to worker uprisings (Byron also defended the Luddites in the House of Lords). The Brontes wrote Luddite novels. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a Luddite novel, in which the monster was a sensitive, intelligent creature who merely demanded a say in the technology that created him.

The erasure of the true history of the Luddites was a deliberate act. Despite the popular and elite support the Luddites enjoyed, the owners and their allies in Parliament were able to crush the uprising, using mass murder and imprisonment to force workers to accept immiseration.

The entire supply chain of the textile revolution was soaked in blood. Merchant devotes multiple chapters to the lives of African slaves in America who produced the cotton that the machines in England wove into cloth. Then – as now – automation served to obscure the violence latent in production of finished goods.

But, as Merchant writes, the Luddites didn't lose outright. Historians who study the uprisings record that the places where the Luddites fought most fiercely were the places where automation came most slowly and workers enjoyed the longest shared prosperity.

The motto of Magpie Killjoy's seminal Steampunk Magazine was: "Love the machine, hate the factory." The workers of the Luddite uprising were skilled technologists themselves.

They performed highly technical tasks to produce extremely high-quality goods. They served in craft workshops and controlled their own time.

The factory increased production, but at the cost of autonomy. Factories and their progeny, like assembly lines, made it possible to make more goods (even goods that eventually rose the quality of the craft goods they replaced), but at the cost of human autonomy. Taylorism and other efficiency cults ended up scripting the motions of workers down to the fingertips, and workers were and are subject to increasing surveillance and discipline from their bosses if they deviate. Take too many pee breaks at the Amazon warehouse and you will be marked down for "time off-task."

Steampunk is a dream of craft production at factory scale: in steampunk fantasies, the worker is a solitary genius who can produce high-tech finished goods in their own laboratory. Steampunk has no "dark, satanic mills," no blood in the factory. It's no coincidence that steampunk gained popularity at the same time as the maker movement, in which individual workers use form digital communities. Makers networked together to provide advice and support in craft projects that turn out the kind of technologically sophisticated goods that we associate with vast, heavily-capitalized assembly lines.

But workers are losing autonomy, not gaining it. The steampunk dream is of a world where we get the benefits of factory production with the life of a craft producer. The gig economy has delivered its opposite: craft workers – Uber drivers, casualized doctors and dog-walkers – who are as surveilled and controlled as factory workers.

Gig workers are dispatched by apps, their faces closely studied by cameras for unauthorized eye-movements, their pay changed from moment to moment by an algorithm that docks them for any infraction. They are "reverse centaurs": workers fused to machines where the machine provides the intelligence and the human does its bidding:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur

Craft workers in home workshops are told that they're their own bosses, but in reality they are constantly monitored by bossware that watches out of their computers' cameras and listens through its mic. They have to pay for the privilege of working for their bosses, and pay to quit. If their children make so much as a peep, they can lose their jobs. They don't work from home – they live at work:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless

Merchant is a master storyteller and a dedicated researcher. The story he weaves in Blood In the Machine is as gripping as any Propublica deep-dive into the miserable working conditions of today's gig economy. Drawing on primary sources and scholarship, Blood is a kind of Nomadland for Luddites.

Today, Merchant is the technology critic for the LA Times. The final chapters of Blood brings the Luddites into the present day, finding parallels in the labor organizing of the Amazon warehouse workers led by Chris Smalls. The liberal reformers who offered patronizing support to the Luddites – but didn't imagine that they could be masters of their own destiny – are echoed in the rhetoric of Andrew Yang.

And of course, the factory owners' rhetoric is easily transposed to the modern tech baron. Then, as now, we're told that all automation is "progress," that regulatory evasion (Uber's unlicensed taxis, Airbnb's unlicensed hotel rooms, Ring's unregulated surveillance, Tesla's unregulated autopilot) is "innovation." Most of all, we're told that every one of these innovations must exist, that there is no way to stop it, because technology is an autonomous force that is independent of human agency. "There is no alternative" – the rallying cry of Margaret Thatcher – has become our inevitablist catechism.

Squeezing the workers' wages conditions and weakening workers' bargaining power isn't "innovation." It's an old, old story, as old as the factory owners who replaced skilled workers with terrified orphans, sending out for more when a child fell into a machine. Then, as now, this was called "job creation."

Then, as now, there was no way to progress as a worker: no matter how skilled and diligent an Uber driver is, they can't buy their medallion and truly become their own boss, getting a say in their working conditions. They certainly can't hope to rise from a blue-collar job on the streets to a white-collar job in the Uber offices.

Then, as now, a worker was hired by the day, not by the year, and might find themselves with no work the next day, depending on the whim of a factory owner or an algorithm.

As Merchant writes: robots aren't coming for your job; bosses are. The dream of a "dark factory," a "fully automated" Tesla production line, is the dream of a boss who doesn't have to answer to workers, who can press a button and manifest their will, without negotiating with mere workers. The point isn't just to reduce the wage-bill for a finished good – it's to reduce the "friction" of having to care about others and take their needs into account.

Luddites are not – and have never been – anti-technology. Rather, they are pro-human, and see production as a means to an end: broadly shared prosperity. The automation project says it's about replacing humans with machines, but over and over again – in machine learning, in "contactless" delivery, in on-demand workforces – the goal is to turn humans into machines.

There is blood in the machine, Merchant tells us, whether its humans being torn apart by a machine, or humans being transformed into machines.

Brian and I are having a joint book-launch tomorrow night (Sept 27) at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow-blood-in-the-machine-by-brian-merchant-tickets-696349940417

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/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen

[blueberry-ink-93]

i might just go insane

i *need* to know everything ever about their marriage was it toxic did they love each other was it only a marriage of chance/ convenience or did they find solace in one another or even grief was it one sided unrequited love met with disinterest from the start or did he lose interest with time was it all of the above or none i- *explodes*

--

fr tho im reading plutarch's alcibiades (internet archive classics my beloved) and the would be meet cute is hysterical to me idk why. was it love at first sight (and who could resist such ethereal beauty?) or was there any sort of doubt or disdain for his ways? and if so did she fall for him despite herself or was she willing to let all notions leave her in favour of devotion to her husband? did she care at all? did any of it matter when she was the wife of the most beautiful man ever?

"Hipparete was a virtuous and dutiful wife, but, at last, growing impatient of the outrages done to her by her husband's continual entertaining of courtesans, as well strangers as Athenians, she departed from him and retired to her brother's house. Alcibiades seemed not at all concerned at this, and lived on still in the same luxury; but the law requiring that she should deliver to the archon in person, and not by proxy, the instrument by which she claimed a divorce, when, in obedience to the law, she presented herself before him to perform this, Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home through the market-place, no one daring to oppose him nor to take her from him. She continued with him till her death, which happened not long after, when Alcibiades had gone to Ephesus. Nor is this violence to be thought so very enormous or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to be divorced appear in public, seems to design to give her husband an opportunity of treating with her, and endeavouring to retain her."

so many feelings here. she loved him but how much of it was love for what was and not what she saw or chose to see? (i mean to say was it love or infatuation on her part). im well aware women had little if any choice and say in the matter and that they had pretty strict societally ordained frameworks to fit in, but like. them. what were they like.

did he see her as his wife (beyond property) and care for her to any degree or was it his image only that mattered? would a divorce lead to his name being potentially tarnished even in the slightest (ngl kind of doubt it would hes too pretty lol. but also misogyny. would anyone bat an eye?) did he fall out of love? was their any love to begin with?

did he at all abstain from seeking courtesans or did the marriage not get in the way of his previous life style? did he care that she was fed up and wanted to leave him (had anyone ever left him before?) and no longer worship the grounds he walked on (has that ever happened before?)

did he feel hurt? offended? did he care at all that a posession of his demanded freedom? was he upset? amused? did they talk about it? if he were to reconcile would she accept of her own will or be coerced? by him or herself regardless. did he humor her? did he laugh?

was there no further word on the matter when they reached their home? their bed? she was his until he saw fit, bound to him by marriage and maybe love still. was his choice to keep her born of ill will or affection? or even duty since she was the mother of their child. if the word held significance to him at all. was he a good and present father? i have no idea lol. assuming they had a kid i also dont know lol

*explodes again*

[vldunchartedregions]

Ah, dang....that last post would explain why Shiro is holding the LGBT+ sign with Lance in Lauren's cursed artwork.

It's like everything we complained about for 10 years is vindicated!!!!

We are learning more and more everyday that this was the original plan. It was a bold move from Lauren to post this too, so just know the showrunners, the crew, the VAs were in it for the long haul.

Remember, Bex, Josh and AJ were FIGHTING for Shiro & Adam's storyline to come to life WITH the Showrunners together, to several executive groups. They were doing their best to advocate together for powerful, intricate, LGBTQIA+ storylines that were so ahead of the game back then.

Lauren & Joaquim really DID fight the good fight behind the scenes. We can guarantee you that. They fought until the very bitter end.

We have intel from our sneaky source that suggests the Showrunners fought tooth and nail to keep the infamous Sunset & Table conversation scenes in Season 8, after these bigger decisions were made outside of their control (allegedly, of course).

Empathetically, they also had to bare the large, overwhelming brunt of the pushback from the fandom. Not Dreamworks, not Netflix, not even the IP holders, considering a large chunk of cut content wasn't even the crew's fault to begin with.

Don't get us wrong, those platforms and networks did cop some of the fallout (if you were there, you KNOW how bad it was when S8 dropped) but we dare say the Showrunners copped the most whilst they were advocating so hard behind the scenes.

We think there's a reason why JDS & LM were SO open about what was going on behind the scenes when you watch interviews post Season 7. They were fed up, done, and ready to take a hike into the next project.

There's reasons why many of the crew left, and it all came down to the final decisions made by various stakeholders behind the scenes, not due to any fault of their own.

It just wasn't enough to get it over the line in 2018.

It's very sad but it speaks for the industry at the time. It was forward thinking, but the ultimate goal was to sell "Boys Toys," and the like. A lot of shows, even now, are funded with a consumer products tie in, meaning toys and other forms of merch hitting retail shelves and selling merchandise fuels the pockets of the IP holders and in this case, DW. It's a cycle in which can fuel more content, more marketing dollars, and most importantly, profit for the respective companies.

Fan demand ($$$) = more content.

Netflix signed on for exclusive streaming rights to Shera: Princesses of Power and Voltron: Legendary Defender. They are both DW shows.

Netflix wants that forward thinking content. They'll buy in if it means they had a differentiation between their competitors. The industry at the time? It was very hard to have any forward thinking ideas such as LGBTQIA+ content over the line. It was too early, too much 'rocking the boat' for executives who grew up in the 60s, 70s, maybe even the 80s, etc.

And to that point, we cannot stress this enough: both VLD & SPOP are sibling shows. We are very, very serious about that. They were made down the hall from each other and both have similar plot lines and devices.

We're sure the lunch goss at DW would've broken the internet.

It all comes down to this at the end of the day in very simple terms,

Voltron: Legendary Defender fought the good fight... and lost.

Shera: Princesses of Power fought the good fight... and won.

There's a lot to unpack here, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thank you! Have an amazing weekend ✨

[octopusorbs]

I Need You

Wanted to write some Beebs x reader nsfw so here it is! Nsfw under the cut. This is very self indulgent so......enjoy I suppose

The most recent job the Monkey Wrench crew had picked up went on far longer than Beebs would have liked. The contract had said it would take two weeks to get everything done. Unfortunately, due to slip ups and miscommunications, the job had taken the crew 6 weeks to complete and now they were finally collecting payment before heading off planet.

Beebs heads to his room, leaving shrike to pilot the ship back to HQ. He lays down on his bed, letting out a sigh as exhaustion settles into his bones. He pulls out his phone to scroll on the internet for a bit before a much needed nap. As he is scrolling he gets a message from you. His mood brightens almost immediately, Trinity he missed you so much. He opens the message from you and reads it, it was a sweet text telling him how excited you were to see him again and how much you missed him. As he read you send another message

The message says 'I have a gift for you' with a photo attached to it. Beebs takes a sip of his water as he opens the photo and chokes on it as soon as the photo loads. The photo was of you in a set of dark blue lingerie, posed in a sexy way on your shared bed. He can feel his blood rush south as his eyes rom over the photo of you. By the stars you looked good.

He lets out a soft groan unable tear his eyes away from the photo. He just had to wait a few more hours before he could have you. That wouldn't be too bad, right? Oh he was so wrong. As the hours passed he got more and more riled up, his thoughts focused on you and everything he wanted to do to you. He tried to distract himself by doing some work around the bucket. He starts in his room, tidying up his bed, though he wants to destroy it with you. Putting away clean clothes while wanting to take his own of so he can feel your hands on him. He moves to the kitchen, cleaning up the breakfast and lunch mess, thinking of how easy it would be to lift you up onto the counter and have you as his meal. He shakes those thoughts out of his head and takes the elevator down to the cargo bay, checking to make sure they had everything they needed from the market they had stopped at while thinking how good it would be to hear you calling his name while he fucked you against the supplies. He doesn't know how much more of this he can take.

Finally they land at home base, the relief that washes over Beebs is short lived. As he his carrying boxes out of the cargo bay he catches your sent, thick and sweet as it always was when you were ready to go a few rounds. His grip on the box tightens, he had to hold off for just a moment longer. He sets the box down and takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, but your sent just makes everything much worse.

It takes an eternity getting the supplies unloaded from the bucket and by the time that's done Beebs control is hanging by a single thread. He heads inside and starts looking for you, though he doesn't have to look for long. You come running up to him, jumping into his arms. He catches you and spins you around, this had become a habit for you two whenever he came home from jobs.

"Welcome back Honey" you say before kissing him. He kisses back, gently at first before it turns rough and hungry. He holds you tightly against his chest, his tongue pushing against your lips and demanding access. You let out a surprised squeak and he takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his tongue dancing with yours before he pulls away.

"Miss me that much?" you tease through heavy breaths

"Oh Baby you have no idea~" he purrs before kissing you again. The kiss is rough and desperate, a deep growl erupts from his throat as one of his hands slips under the baggy shirt your wearing to feel your skin against his, but he feels a soft lace instead. The kissing pauses and he pulls away before lifting up your shirt to see what he was feeling. Underneath your baggie clothes was that same blue lingerie set from the photo you sent earlier.

He lets out a low groan, the set looked so much better in person. The thread of control was starting to fray as he heads to your room. He lays you down and pulls your shirt and pants off quickly, needing to see the full set. He lets out a soft hum of approval when he sees it, "By the stars you look so good Baby~" he growls as his eyes roam over you.

"I thought you might like this set~" you say with a grin before leaning up to kiss him. He kisses back, the hunger behind the kiss stronger than it was before as he pins you down on the bed. You wrap your legs around him and start grinding against the bulge in his pants. He moans into the kiss and moves his hips in time with yours, the pleasure making his control slip faster. He pulls away from the kiss and looks you over, your eyes are lidded and full of lust, your lips a soft red from the rough kissing and your body is covered in that beautiful blue lace. His control snaps, he needs to be inside you now.

He reaches down and rips open the lace that's covering your folds. You yelp at the sudden cold air on your sex before you feel his thick fingers gathering up your slick "Already so wet for me~" he purrs "We might not even need lube for this round~" he says as he pushes two fingers into your aching hole. You moan and your back arches off the bed as he thrusts his fingers into you at a rough pace and prepping you for what's to come.

"Beebs~" you moan, his fingers are striking that sweet spot deep inside of you again and again. Your starting to get close and just as your about to cum he pulls his fingers out, leaving you breathless and desperate. Before you can ask why he stopped he pulls his cock out and thrusts it deep into you, burring it to the hilt.

He lets out a low moan "Sorry Baby, I just couldn't wait any longer~" he says as he lets you adjust "Fuck your so tight~" he bites his lip and starts to move, pulling out nearly all the way before thrusting back into you slowly "It's been far too long since the last time we fucked"

You moan loudly as he picks up the pace "That's it Baby~" he leans in close "Get nice and loud for me~" he growls as his hips snap against yours. The feeling of your warm, silk walls was exquisite and almost indescribable. His pounding into you now like it's all he was made to do, needing to feel you milk him for all he's got. The way your starting to flutter around him and the sweet sounds coming from you are sure to make this round short, but he is determined to make you cum first. He slips his hand between the two of you and starts rubbing quick circles around your swollen clit, his hips never faltering. You can feel yourself getting closer and closer with the sudden attention on your clit. You cry out, the fiery pleasure starting to become almost too much.

"Beebs~" you moan "I'm....I'm getting close~" you warn him, that coil in your gut about to snap and send you flying over that edge and into sweet release.

"Good~" he purrs against your neck "Cum for me Baby, let me feel you cum all over my cock~" he growls as he drives himself into you with an overwhelming need.

You cry out his name as everything comes crashing down. The pure ecstasy washing over you is so intense that stars dance across your vision as white hot pleasure courses through your entire body while your hips buck like mad.

The feeling of your release, the way your pussy grips him like vice, drives Beebs over his own edge. He lets out deep, guttural growl he stuffs himself completely inside of you before he spills his load, painting your walls white with his seed. He thrusts a few more times before he pulls out.

"You did so well Baby~" he says before kissing your head "I'm going to go get a bath started for us ok?" You nod, unable to speak after all that. He kisses you before heading into the bathroom and starting up the water. You start to fall asleep before you feel yourself being picked up and carried away. The next thing you feel is luke-warm water as your gently settled down into the tub. You feel Beebs start to clean you off before he slips his fingers into you to clean you out. You whine at the feeling, still sensitive from the climax you had earlier.

"I know Baby I know, I just gotta get you all cleaned up before you can go to sleep ok?" Beebs says before kissing the top of your head "We're almost done". He finishes cleaning you up and drying you off before getting you into some comfy clothes. He lays you down and cuddles close to you "Sleep well Baby" He whispers before you drift off to sleep.

[glass-not-a-girl05]

lol this is such a reach 😭 not everything has to be some deep feminist manifesto. sabrina’s literally just having fun and being hot?? sorry you can’t handle a woman choosing to be sexy without writing a thesis about it. “lacks radicalism” girl be so serious… it’s a pop album not a riot grrrl zine. maybe try going outside instead of policing how women express themselves. not every girl wants to be your feminist messiah, some of us just like glitter and a good hook. your take is giving "i don't get it so it's bad" energy. let women enjoy things.

ooookay so i was just going to post what i posted and be done for the night but i actually I feel like raging right now.

so let's get down to business, shall we?

the discourse around sabrina carpenter’s album cover is honestly such a perfect snapshot of what's wrong with how we engage with pop culture rn. first of all, the way people are desperate to assign depth to the most hollow, commercially curated art is kinda heartbreaking. not because i think being sexy on an album cover is bad (it’s not!!! love hot girls!!!) but because it’s so clearly engineered and people are still twisting themselves into knots trying to make it mean something it doesn’t. it’s ✨art is subjective✨ used as a shield for “i don’t want to think critically about the systems behind this.”

secondly… and i say this lovingly… most people do not have the range for these conversations. like y’all want to be part of the discourse but you don’t want to read a single thing about the history of representation, sex work, commodified femininity, performance, anything. just vibes and a viral post, and tbh a lot of this mess stems from how much the algorithmic internet has infected how we think. everyone’s terrified of being misunderstood or demonetized or deplatformed so they just self-censor into oblivion (like sewer-slide instead of suicide) and then suddenly even saying the word pornography feels too intense for a conversation about visual aesthetics. it’s rotting our brains.

and then there’s this thing where if you do critique something, even gently, suddenly it’s like “omg you hate women” or “you’re a prude” or “you don’t understand empowerment” as if it’s impossible to hold two truths at once. like yes, women can be sexy, women should enjoy sex if they want to. but can we please not pretend this specific album cover is a radical reclamation of sexuality.

the album is literally called man’s best friend and the cover is her on all fours with her hair being pulled like a leash. let’s not pretend this is edgy or new or transgressive. it’s the same violent, submissive image of femininity we’ve seen since forever, just shot on film now with a pretentious press release about how it’s “ironic.”

i’m tired. i’m tired of watching women degrade themselves in high res and calling it feminism. i’m tired of every pop star rolling around in the mud of male fantasy and slapping a girlboss caption on it. like congrats you’re crawling for the camera but this time it’s *your* idea?? is that supposed to be progress??

madonna grabbing her crotch on live tv was radical because female pleasure wasn’t marketable yet. she wasn’t playing into desire, she was bending it, warping it, weaponizing it. she wasn’t submissive, she was disruptive. she wasn’t asking to be looked at, she demanded to be seen. it’s genuinely wild to see people act like this is some revolutionary act when madonna was out here burning crosses and giving the pope an aneurysm in the 80s.

and now??? submission is the aesthetic. passivity is the brand. we’re supposed to look at a woman being posed like a dog and go “yass queen feminism!” because she “chose” it? the bar is in hell and we’ve been taught to thank them for letting us play along. and don’t hit me with the “it’s her choice” thing. obviously it is. but whose imagination is she in. whose fantasy does it serve? who gets off on this image? and who profits when we pretend it’s radical? ironically being degraded is still being degraded babe. and calling it camp doesn’t make it less patriarchal. it makes it palatable. this isn’t “taking power back.” this is asking men to share their porn folder and hoping they say thank you.

you can’t dismantle the master’s house by licking his boots on the cover of your album. audre lorde said that and you still showed up in a collar. i don't expect sabrina to be a "feminist messiah" but this isn’t rebellion. this is compliance in fishnets.

and what’s wild is we’re also seeing simultaneously the rise of tradwives and bimbo feminism and this like sprinkle sprinkle girlboss survival guide mindset where dating is framed as war and men are all walking red flags. and none of it is radical. it’s all just new packaging on the same hyper-individualistic, gender-essentialist shit. it’s all dehumanizing. it’s all reactionary.

the truth is: a lot of what we call “empowerment” now is just market-friendly rebellion. curated dissent. pre-approved bad girl behavior that you can post on a moodboard. and idk about you but i’m tired of art that feels like it was tested into existence. i want teeth. i want intention. i want risk.

so yeah. sabrina can do whatever she wants. but let’s not act like she’s reinventing the wheel just because she posed naked on the cover of rolling stone. not when we’ve seen this exact imagery turned into a brand a hundred times before. not when the powers that be still get the last laugh.

anyway. art used to punch up. now it curtsies.

[cakepoppresent]

Trust Me Okay?

Whew, whoever told Chantel Williams about Andre really blew up his life before he was ready. Hopefully, it doesn't ruin anything...hopefully

Previous - Next

Transcript under the cut~

Sebastian: Can you please please PLEASE make chicken alfredo pasta tonight? I’m really really REALLY craving it

Andre: No.

Sebastian: Why!?!

Andre: You can make that yourself.

Sebastian: Okay, fine. I can’t make steaks can you make that then? With mashed potatoes and veggies on the side

Andre: You’re always so demanding. I cook at work then I gotta come home and cook for you too?

Sebastian: PLEASE!!! We have the weekend off and when I do cook it never taste the same!

Andre: Being your roommate is tedious

Sebastian: I’m taking that as a yes! Let’s go to the farmers market!

Andre: *tsk* You’re exhausting

Sebastian: Stop acting like you don’t enjoy my energy! If it weren’t for me you’d be cooped up inside all day!

Andre: Yea, yea, yea whatever you say

Sebastian: Oh! We should also stop by the flea market and see if anything cool is there

Andre: *deep negro sigh* Alright.

*Paparazzi's Comments Start*

ANDRE! ANDRE!

ANDRE! ANDRE!

WHAT ABOUT YOUR YOUNGER SIBLINGS

WHY WERE YOU DISOWNED?

DOES YOUR FATHER DO WHERE YOU LIVE

ARE YOU NO LONGER GOING TO RUN THE VILLAREAL EMPIRE?!?

*Paparazzi's Comments End*

Andre: No Comment!

Sebastian: Andre whats going on? What are they talking about?!?

Andre: Bash let's go back home

Sebastian: Im scared Andre...how did they know my name?! How do they know you?!

Andre: Lets go upstairs first. We’ll talk about it later

Sebastian: But...

Andre: Lets go!

Sebastian: Andre please tell me what's going on! Why the hell are there paparazzi outside our building? How do they even know my name?! Where we live! and what the fuck is a Villereal ?!

Andre: Its complicated Bash but I need you to calm down.

Sebastian: How can you say that!? This is terrifying! I'm scared!

Sebastian: I’m ju-

Andre: Sebastian. I need you to calm down and listen to me.

Andre: I told you its going to be okay. Get changed and we’ll talk

Sebastian: Okay...

Andre: You trust me?

Sebastian: Of course.

Andre: I won’t do anything to harm you. Just get changed and we’ll talk. Okay?

Sebastian: Okay.

Sebastian: “Villarreal”...that’s a really wealthy family back in Windenburg right?

Andre: How are you feeling now...

Andre: Yes...

Sebastian: They own almost all the major real estate in Windenburg...google said that they come from old money...

Andre: Not that old... but yea...

Sebastian: Jesus.

Andre: Bash listen I didn’t mean to lie. I swear, It’s complicated but my father isn’t the greatest person and I had siblings to protect...I just...Its complicated

Sebastian: We’ve been roommates for so long...You’ve been lying for so long...You...You...

Sebastian: That doesn’t tell me anything or explain why you lied to me for so long...

Sebastian: If the paparazzi didn’t show up at our door would you have even told me? Would I have come home one day to find all your stuff gone?

Andre: That would never happen Bash. I always planned on telling you...just after I sorted everything out

Sebastian: I don’t even know what to say...my mind is going crazy. People know where I live, my name, and what I look like! They’re calling me all sorts of things online...how can I even go to work like this?

Andre: I will handle it. Stay off the internet for now but believe me when I say it will be dealt with

Sebastian: Im scared Andre...this is scary for me

Andre: I know and I'm sorry.

Andre: It's going to be okay. Just trust me.

Sebastian:...Okay

[phallicide]

I've seen a lot of discourse about fandoms lately. Lots of people out there being terminally online. Now, I'm just some chick with a blog, but I might offer my two cents. This post mostly concerns antishippers and booktok, but it also has broader implications about censorship as a whole.

I'll start off with a pet peeve.

To me, having a DNI list is pointless and like having a digital sign that says "Kick Me" glued to your ass. It's just a convenient list of triggers and things you don't like provided free of charge to any jackass who wants to ruin your day. Putting everything that pisses you off out as a convenient list and then saying "please don't troll me!" is such a ridiculous concept to me. It doesn't do anything favorable for you at all. Personally, I theorize it's some kind of internet purity signal you put out in hopes that people that hate the same things as you won't assume you're in the out group.

But if you're that concerned about someone you don't like potentially following you, why not either block people you don't like? It might be hard to swallow, but you should accept the fact that putting yourself out there will inevitably result in this and you can't police everything. How terminally online do you have to be to comb through your follower list making sure everyone agrees with you? Who fucking cares?

Need I remind you, the censorship a lot of these people with the big dni lists want is a foot in the door for bad actors to start censoring queer people in media as a whole. We're already seeing it with websites that run on algorithms suppressing leftist and queer opinions and spaces because it's not marketable.

If you're advocating for media to be censored because it has things in it that make you uncomfortable, you're no better than Tipper Gore and the PMRC. You're no better than people who said D&D was the devil and we should all get rid of it because won't someone PLEASE think of the children. You're no better than those religious zealots burning LGBTQ library books in Virginia. I implore everyone reading this post, regardless of your opinions, to examine their perspective on what is acceptable. Is it truly worth the long-term consequences to remove things you deem problematic if the end result is totalitarian?

Sure, I'll probably get cancelled by people for saying this. There's a lotta shit I don't want to read out there. Hell, I don't want to read or experience any of the shit antis are mad about. The difference is just that I don't read it and don't fucking look for it instead of seeking it out and demanding it be erased. Please, I beg you, stop fucking caring so much about the interests of people you're never going to meet. If they make you upset, block them. Censorship isn't worth the consequences, and fiction doesn't affect reality.

[cashewpilk]

Speaking to No One:

The Reality of Ultra Personalization

For nicer formatting check this out on AO3

The voices which seek to stand up for laborers in the ever present class war are being silenced by techno fascist propaganda and ‘tools’ such as AI. Notoriety culture is killing us all, creatively and in some cases, literally. The aspiring writer or artist is a dying concept as the existing ones are put in the position of competition over collaboration, and the quality of both human and machine written media continues to wane as a result. Repeat that for artists.

Consumers are being pitched the concept of custom art and writing for little to no cost via AI, but prior to that and even if it is just a fad, which is increasingly seeming unlikely, it follows another trend that has decimated communities for years, from services like Fiverr to the custom character artist trend of the last two and a half decades that has trended with the popularization of anime and Dungeons and Dragons, the customization market is AI’s predecessor, and in some ways the reason so many people opt to skip the human element all together when seeking these products. Why wait days or weeks for a human to do what AI propertedly does in seconds?

There is a quantity over quality issue in consumption that is only becoming worse over time. With everything from TV shows to news articles, the speed at which we cumulate information and products have skyrocketed exponentially. The predecessor of the ultra customization issue was the internet itself in some ways. As the cost of access to the resources it provides has decreased the larger it gets, the more prevalent technology becomes, the cost of the resources to create things without it has exceeded the value of the instantaneous. People have called into question what we are losing with each of these steps forward, often being met with the critique that it is nostalgia alone that makes them pine for the days when we had to put in more effort for less results.

I'm not here to say we aren't made for this, but in the face of all of these factors, we must consider that we are not headed for a brighter future for most people as a result of this. Loss of income, loss of homes, loss of entire cities worth of people as we ourselves become commodities rather than human beings, this is not something we are consciously choosing by using these tools the way that we do, but it is something we are actively choosing by not demanding better.

In the Run the Jewels 4 song ‘walking in the snow’ El-P wrote:

“Funny fact about a cage, they're never built for just one group

So when that cage is done with them and you still poor, it come for you

The newest lowest on the totem, well golly gee, you have been used

You helped to fuel the death machine that down the line will kill you too”

When he said this he was referring to issues like systemic racism and literal imprisonment of political opponents and migrant families, but as with any well written metaphor, it applies to so much and unfortunately it means the same thing. The link between the death of accessibility in the arts is inextricably linked to the class war that the laborers in our country are losing. By necessitating the possession of a skill and proof of that skill to gain enough leverage to earn a livable wage, we are ensuring that there will be a day when possession of that skill will not be enough to provide the same leverage. People in trades and those whose skills demand physical labor may not be the most quick to see the chopping block, but imprisonment and automatization are the building blocks of enslavement, the draining of resources from the average person, and ultimately the enslavement of ourselves and our children to the wealth controlling class. We have been caught in a cruel joke where our manufactured divisiveness is more than just a tactic of political power seekers, it is the fundamental end of all we know.

The fact that people deserve to be compensated for all labor of all types in a capitalist society is such because without the existence of leverage exploitation is inevitable. By taking away the need to create and by devaluing the labor of creation we spell our demise. It shouldn't be the job of consumers to bear the costs and responsibility of funding creative works alone.

Governments and states of societies more functional than our own have bore the cost of funding the arts and companies have given creative workers comfortable compensatory packages in the past because people are unhappy without these things. The creation of a pale imitation of the things that make us human sold as a good enough alternative to placate the people who do work that holds the fabric of our society together is going to proceed something. What that is is dependent on us. The idea of taking revolutionary collective action and making change without being met with immediate violence is a fantasy, not a thing of the past.

We must go beyond just offering our limited dollars as a means of supporting the arts, the fight against AI and technofascism as a whole is not going to be won with the statement ‘anti-AI’ or the consumption and creation of more algorithm friendly media, it is unionization, the defying of productivity quotas on mass, work stoppages, general strikes and community participation. It is the restructuring of who is and isn't worthy of participation in collective action. It is the process of showing up, both offline and online, the process of allowing ourselves to experience things we find uncomfortable, allowing inexperience to be celebrated and met with guidance rather than annoyance.

There are actions, large and small, that we can take to be better, we just have to decide to take them. For more and more people, the stakes aren't just discomfort, they are lives stolen, rather than lived.

The ultimate goal of this statement is not to add to the endless supply of fear mongering. Hopelessness is not an option. We have to fight to stay patient with the people we see every day, we have to fight to be kind to the people we interact with, we have to contribute to the cultural consensus that people deserve to exist without fear of the violence of impoverishment as a punishment for any number of intangible factors.

If you don't have the emotional capacity to continue to watch innocent people die as outrage entertainment, consider that you can make a difference in the world by using your voice, time, and energy to support the arts. Question people and things that don't use larger audiences to spread the privilege to create to more people, and above all else, if you have the privilege to create without compensation or the greater privilege of being compensated to create, do so without guilt or shame. Show the world who you are everywhere you can for yourself and try to make connections and tell others they can too, even if for a while you're speaking to no one.

[crooked-wasteland]

With RedNote being popular, it’s a nice opportunity to have a great exchange of culture and languages. I wish it gets to stay as a Chinese app. We really need it especially when every media and how we perceive the world is often US-centric.

We often miss out on a lot of stuff from other countries. I also wonder how Viv and her stans would fare on the app if they were to try it. They’d be like those foreigners who hop into a different country and demand everyone speak English.

When people plan on migrating to a different platform, they should think of it like moving to a different country and consider whether they’re suited there. What are the pros and cons? What kind of culture and people live there? Will you be able to adapt to it?

For example, I’d tell them don’t just move over to Tumblr and expect to get popular through likes or followers (instead we get engagement through reblogs). People often expect everything to cater to them without putting in the work and using the right tools to moderate their online experiences.

They need to understand it’s not discriminatory to have certain topics banned in other platforms like LGBTQ+ themes, politics, sexual content, etc. They need to respect the norms and rules of that place. It’s like moving to Dubai and accusing them of homophobia because their religion doesn’t accept gay people (they’re a Muslim country, not America for god’s sake 🤦🏻‍♀️!).

So I am realizing I didn't finish my thought about RedNote. Please allow me to try again.

Thank you for the ask by the way, I felt this was connected to a Reblog that sparked my interest in needing to clarify it by Haru-Kuneko

Firstly, let's talk about Algorithms. Because we have been ruled by them for a little under 20 years. And GenZ is the generation who is most impacted by algorithms so far. Gen Alpha is not looking good. And the reason for that is because algorithms are woefully misunderstood by laymen.

Curating an online experience through algorithms wasn't designed for you or I to have a superior experience, it was designed to keep us on these apps and websites. They don't just give you more content that is similar to what you like, they trap you in that content and create the echo chamber. Part of the algorithm is intentionally designed to induce rage engagement for the sole purpose of reaffirming your existing algorithmic beliefs. It is designed to keep you engaged with the intent of putting you in a box. Your engagement, your attention, is the product they are buying and selling.

This has led to a drastic increase in internet tribalism and, just as capitalism has an end stage, so does algorithmic thought. With younger people who have never experienced an internet of their own interests, being force fed their beliefs and views that are reinforced by their communities they didn't necessarily choose. Algorithms take away from the act of critically thinking, and has pushed us past tribalism to Deindividuation.

(This video covers misinformation and disinformation, but goes into Deindividuation at timestamp 7:40 if you want to skip to that part.)

And algorithms have replaced personalities for younger people, especially those impacted socially by the pandemic in 2020. They are prepackaged beliefs and values that were primarily created for consumerism and marketing that has now sold our young people identities.

So entering RedBook, these people are, for most likely the first time, experiencing an algorithm that wasn't designed for them the way western websites use them. China's collectivist culture is all about conformity and cooperation. Rage content is not allowed, discourse is not allowed. It is a fundamental threat to their society as their values are not about stoking tenuous perceptions of freedom through false choices and beliefs that are actually predisposed to you based on your race, gender, and sexuality.

It's more about fitting in and being approved of, something Americans are desperate for in this era. They are so lonely that China's social emphasis on community is a fresh spring. And that's a bit of the problem.

Last night my spouse was on RedBook and I watched some videos over her shoulder. It's beautiful to see people connecting with others they are realizing they had a subliminal prejudice against. The US government has done a great job of ruining their citizens in this way where they think they are so superior and above everything, which is reinforced by other western nations. It's the first time for most people that they are in a space where America is not idealized like it is in the West, and they are feeling a genuine human connection because of the amount of curiosity the Chinese users have for them.

They are feeling seen at a time where their government doesn't represent them or care about their beliefs.

And at the same time, some people are swinging far out of bounds to the opposite extreme. People who were once firmly of the belief that the US was superior to China are now saying how amazing and perfect China is, when it isn't. There are some serious issues in China, specifically about corruption and the mismanagement of funds. One vide we saw was about “Green Growth” and how China has created extensive solar farms and increased production towards renewable energy, except Green Growth has been shown to be extremely unproductive in reducing carbon emissions.

That isn't to just dunk on China. Obviously, the same issues are true in the United States as well. Neither is worse than the other, to be frank. But because we have lived in a world devoid of critical thinking, the thing I was concerned about is happening: The extreme pendulum swings.

And to be frank, these extremist perspectives are natural and I am not inherently criticizing them for what they are, it's a teenager's mentality as they are being exposed to new social rules and learning how to integrate into a community. This is how a teenager's brain is functioning in high school and why they are so volatile. I'm not here to judge. Just to note that this is a dangerous thing, objectively. It is dangerous, but also natural and even necessary.

But that's what I meant by “lacking Dialectics”. The inability to engage with two opposing things being true is a dangerous place to be in and makes it extremely easy to radicalize individuals. China is far from perfect, but it isn't worse than the United States. My concern is how this lack of Dialectics, paired with the inherent tunnel vision of social media and emotional volatility of our emotionally immature and stunted society can just as easily breed fanaticism for some Chinese social paradise that genuinely does not exist.

(As an aside, I linked Dialectics in my previous post and realized that it probably didn't make any sense or was just very difficult to understand. So this link is a YouTube video of some guy explaining it to make it easier. My apologies.)

I'm overall supportive of this, hoping that it can radically change people's views towards the world and global communities. I hope this moves moderates to be more progressive and people to be more tolerant of other ideas, values, and societies. I hope people will be more interested in listening to my Marxist ramblings now that Communism is more about funny memes and kind humans and not some scary oppressive government. But there is always a shadow when you stand in the light.

(Which, to be frank, China is not at all a reflection of Marxism or Marxist Communism. The working conditions there are not any better here and labor is still exploited and expendable. They really are no different than the US.)

Don't forget about the shadow is all I ask.

[the-most-humble-blog]

🚨 Why Rich Men Date Down & Share Civilian Women – The Ultimate Cheat Code

Wealthy Men Play a Different Game, and They’re Not Settling—They’re Winning

📢 The Myth of “Dating Up” – Why High-Status Men Don’t Want High-Status Women

The internet loves to push the idea that rich men should date “high-value” women—CEOs, actresses, influencers, and girlbosses.

Reality? Rich men don’t want equals. They want ease.

That’s why, time and time again, powerful men date “down.” They pick civilian women over career women, socialites, and female millionaires.

And in case you think they’re “settling”—you’re dead wrong. They’re playing life on easy mode while you’re still trying to beat the tutorial.

🛑 Reason #1: High-Value Men Don’t Want Competitors—They Want Complements

📌 Let’s break it down:

🔹 High-status men already dominate their world. 🔹 They already fight battles in business, finance, and power. 🔹 They don’t want to come home and fight with their wife too.

📌 A choice between two women:

Option A: Career-driven feminist, too busy for him, wants “equality” in everything.

Option B: Low-maintenance, cooperative, grateful, and fun.

Math is simple: 🔬 (Less stress + More peace) > (Power struggles + Drama)

That’s why Donald Trump Jr. barely blinked when his ex-wife started dating Tiger Woods. He just moved on to another feminine, easygoing woman.

He’s not competing—he’s winning.

📉 Reason #2: High-Status Women Age Out—Civilian Women Stay in the Game

📌 Here’s what happens to celebrity women after 30:

They overestimate their value.

They expect men to chase them like they’re still 21.

They compete with younger, hotter, easier women—and lose.

📌 Here’s what happens to a civilian woman in elite dating circles:

If she’s hot, she gets recycled through the network.

If she’s cooperative, she keeps a long-term spot.

👉 Rich men don’t age out. Famous women do. That’s why powerful men trade women like stocks—and why civilian women stay winning.

🔄 Reason #3: The “Elite Chick Recycling Program” (ECRP™) – Why The Same Women Get Passed Around

📌 How it works:

1️⃣ Rich Man #1 Dates the Woman

She gets introduced to luxury, wealth, and a different level of living.

2️⃣ Relationship Ends, but She’s Now “In the Club”

She’s too spoiled to go back to a normal guy.

She leverages her past status to get another high-value man.

3️⃣ Rich Man #2 Picks Her Up

She gets recycled into another elite relationship.

🔬 Final Result: The same women cycle through elite circles while new civilian women keep entering the system.

Real-life examples:

Kim Kardashian → Reggie Bush → Kris Humphries → Kanye → Pete Davidson

Amber Heard → Johnny Depp → Elon Musk → Some Poor Bastard

Vanessa Trump → Donald Trump Jr. → Tiger Woods

👉 If you date one elite man, congrats—you’re now a luxury handbag being passed around.

🎮 Reason #4: Dating a Civilian Woman Is “Easy Mode”

Rich men don’t play the dating game on hard mode.

📌 Rich Man Logic:

Why date a CEO who’s too busy to be feminine?

Why deal with an influencer’s ego when a normal girl will appreciate you more?

Why argue about “who pays” when he can just date a woman who lets him lead?

🔬 Simple Formula: 👉 (Less Stress + More Fun) > (Ego Battles + Headaches)

Wealthy men don’t waste time. They choose the easiest, most rewarding option.

🚨 Final Verdict: Civilian Women Are Winning – Here’s Why

So here’s the truth: 🔹 Rich men don’t “date down” because they’re settling. They do it because it’s easier. 🔹 Famous women burn out in the dating market, while feminine civilian women stay in rotation. 🔹 If a woman plays it right, she won’t just be a fling—she’ll be a permanent fixture.

But if she brings nothing but ego, demands, and stress?

👉 She’ll be replaced before she finishes her cocktail.

Welcome to the elite dating market. Play smarter.

🔥 REBLOG if you see why rich men don’t play by normal dating rules. 🔄 💬 COMMENT if you’ve watched high-status men trade the same women. 🚩🚩🚩 🚀 FOLLOW for more brutal, no-bullsh*t breakdowns of modern reality. 🕵️‍♂️💣

⚖️ LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This post is written for the purpose of artistic expression, cultural commentary, and psychological exploration of social and gender dynamics. It does not condone or encourage violence, harassment, or discrimination of any kind. Any references to power, strength, restraint, or critique are metaphorical, symbolic, and rooted in historical and cultural analysis. This is not a call to action — it’s a cultural mirror. If you feel offended, ask yourself if it’s from actual harm — or from seeing something you hoped no one would say out loud.

✨ TL;DR: If you're mad, it’s probably not because it’s wrong — it’s because you know it’s true.

[flameof]

Once again, I feel people on the internet are blowing things out of proportion. In this scenario, I speak about the 'Switch 2 is Overpriced' debate, and why I think it's full of shit.

First argument: The cost of EVERYTHING is going up. The only grounds I accept the argument is for Americans, because their minimum wage is shit and hasn't gone up in two forevers.

Second argument: Games are expensive to make. There's a lot more working part in a video game then there is in a movie or a book. This is only made worse by the fact that games keep pushing for 4k resolution 60+fps, when really, we don't need to be able to see the pours on a character's face. The game file doesn't need to be 50gigs to include ray tracing, or to be able to render every blade of grass on the camera. A good art style makes all the difference, and ages far better than photo-realism, but unfortunately, this is the way the industry is going.

Third argument: Behold these prices (Aus Dollar).

JB Hi fi:

EB Games:

Nintendo's still the cheap option compared to the PS5 Slim or Series X with disc drives. Even with Mario Kart World included, it's cheaper. And I didn't hear quite this much uproar about the launch price of the PS5 being nearly $800 here in AUS, with a price rise coming, apparently.

The conclusion I'm drawing right now is that people are only up in arms because Nintendo is having to keep up with the market price. You want 4k Nintendo gaming? Well tough shit, it's gonna cost ya, and in this market, it's still a better price than the competition.

Am I going to get it day one? No, I've still got to do some saving, and I've got Uni debts to pay off (which, again, being in Australia, is way easier compared to the US), and I want to get an SD card for it first, since it demands MicroSD Express, but I'm guaranteeing that, at some point in late 2025, I'll be buying one. I still don't see the value in getting a PS5, but the Switch 2 actually seems like a step up from the Switch.

TL;DR: Y'all are just being upset about inflation, and want to pin the blame on Nintendo.

[aroaessidhe]

so, the saint martin's press boycott.

I was offline for a few days a week or two ago and during that time SMP made an (okay) statement, R4A deliberated and eventually accepted terms and declared an end to the boycott, people got mad at R4A because the statement wasn't good enough, R4A panicked a bit and basically ended up disbanding/deleting their content. I don't know all the details of everything, but here's some summarised thoughts, since I have been one of the only people posting about the boycott on here:

firstly - I did see SMP's statement and think, eh, it was better than their previous ones, but it was still noticeably very vague on the catalyst of all this (it mentions Islamophobia and Gaza but it's not really centred or as emphatic as it could be) - so I totally understand people being angry that it was seen as good enough. The boycott is because of anti-Palestinian bigotry and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

However, people upset at R4A started claiming that there were no Palestinians/Muslims in R4A, that it was all white people, which are both untrue. There were accusations of sucking up to SMP bc people want arcs/money and typical internet dogpiling and threats, which is... not really productive at all, to say the least, and starts to drown out reasonable criticisms.

Some people (the ones that feel safe enough to come forward, which is not everyone, due to said threats) have come out and discussed exactly why R4A decided to end the boycott. Mari's video here is worth watching - essentially it's that SMP clearly made massive steps to meet the demands, and the ones they didn't they're legally not able to (ie any explicit reference to the employee or what they said would probably get them sued).

A large group of (primarily bipoc) SMP authors have started talking about how they were working behind the scenes to urge SMP to respond - and reiterated that yeah, there's no legal way for them to comment on what the employee said and did.

I think most people understand strikes/boycotts are about negotiation, not necessarily getting every single demand. And it's an immense achievement to get a major publisher to respond and make changes. The way R4A fell apart at the end is pretty disappointing - they genuinely had the platform to make a lot of change going forward, and I hope that the change that was made isn't going to be undone because of that.

It kind of seems like the people who are encouraging continuing to boycott have changed from a marketing boycott in order to bring change to just a 'this company did a bad thing so don't engage with it ever' boycott. Which is valid, but said company has no incentive to meet the demands in that case.

But I also totally understand the opinion that the point of this - racism against Palestinians amidst a genocide - has been pushed to the side. It's extremely reasonable to be angry while watching an ongoing genocide. It's very reasonable to want someone with such despicable views to be fired (even if there's no actionable way to make that happen, and that was never an r4a demand). SMP also hasn't made any kind of statement about the unsolicited sex toys they sent people either, so like....there's that too.

I haven't decided exactly what I'll do - I've only read two SMP books since this started and tbh there's only a handful of other SMP books I'm interested in reading. But I'm considering, if I do decide to post those, donating the cost of a book to a GFM/esim/etc any time I read/review a SMP book. That feels like the most direct thing to bring things back to the point.

[doiefics]

hyunjin saves the day

pairing: hyunjin x afab!reader

prologue:  when life goes hectic, some people bring in a lot of comfort, you can count on hyunjin on a stressful day

genre: fluff + established relationship!au

wordcount: 657

warnings: none

Twenty-seven missed calls, innumerable text messages, and left voicemails. All of these were sent to you in a mere span of two hours. Facing your phone and going through this could cause only one thing, panic.

For the past two hours, you had remained isolated from the rest of the world.

Giving presentations on the growing demand for global and accessible internet marketing to your clients sounded a bit dullbut was the necessity.

You were stressed thinking of the worst possibilities.

Why would your five year old’s school call you at unexpected hours? The mother's brain was only stuck at one question, was he alright?

You immediately took your leave from your corporate building, storming into your car and driving abruptly to your son’s kindergarten.

Your heart rate increased as you reached the reception to inquire about the matter. The only thing you needed right now was to hold your son in your hands.

Even though you had previous thoughts of dropping him when his father fled away after learning about your pregnancy, in the present time, your son was your motivation to live.

“Yes, Ms. Y/N. Ye-Jun injured himself during the swimming session today. We tried to reach out to you but didn’t receive any response back.”  The woman who appeared to be one of the school’s authorities stated with a rather questionable look on her face, judging you.

It was not something new for you. Everyday societal condemnation for being a single mother, being portrayed as some careless and unempathetic individual for still pursuing your career.

You thought to yourself as you drove back home to your little one.

“Ding Dong” the bell alarmed, and the doors of your apartment opened for you only to see your son, Ye-Jun, messily covered in chocolate, gummy bears and food sparkles accessoried with a spider man bandaid on his tiny forehead.

The little pororo apron, in addition made it evident he had been creating some mess in the kitchen.

“Look, Mumma’s back home! Give her a hug!” exclaimed Hyunjin.

You still remember your first date. You did not want to lose a person like him, would he also leave? Aafterall you lacked the “youth tag’ while still in your twenties.

But Hyunjin was different.

Recalling his and Ye-Jun’s first meeting, and you sure had never been that nervous before.

Would your then four year old accept a random guy you bring home as his mother’s partner, and in the bigger picture, his dad figure? That stage of your life was filled with doubts, insecurities and questions to say the least.

Luckily it only took Hyunjin one Woody x Buzz Lightyear impersonation to pass your son’s vibe check and ever since they had been gelling well together.

It was not long back when he earned the 'dad' title during the 'Bring Your Dad to School Day' when Ye-Jun suddenly blurted out the word.

Later that night, after cleaning up and dinner, you tucked your son into his bed, caressing his wound and still blaming yourself the same, for never being there for him when he needed you the most. You did not even realize when the tears started to well in your weary eyes.

Suddenly, you felt a pair of arms wrap around you. Obviously, it was Hyunjin who hummed sweetly as he brushed his nose to your nape.

“Is there something on your mind? You know I’m always all ears for that.” He affirmed.

“Nah, it’s just, Ye-Jun, I’m somehow always absent whenever he needs me”. You explained out.

“Come on, Y/N! Isn’t it too harsh to blame yourself for everything? He suggested.

"Have you ever thought that no one can do what you can do?”  He continued.

"To be honest, if I were you I would believe that every day of my life." And he continued to answer his own questions, earning a mini giggle from you.

Hyunjin sure did know how to save an awful day.

masterlist please refrain from plagiarising, translating or posting outside of this platform