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[jamisonharris]

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[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #13

April 5-12 2024

President Biden announced the cancellation of a student loan debt for a further 277,000 Americans. This brings the number of a Americans who had their debt canceled by the Biden administration through different means since the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first place in 2023 to 4.3 million and a total of $153 billion of debt canceled so far. Most of these borrowers were a part of the President's SAVE Plan, a debt repayment program with 8 million enrollees, over 4 million of whom don't have to make monthly repayments and are still on the path to debt forgiveness.

President Biden announced a plan that would cancel student loan debt for 4 million borrowers and bring debt relief to 30 million Americans The plan takes steps like making automatic debt forgiveness through the public service forgiveness so qualified borrowers who don't know to apply will have their debts forgiven. The plan will wipe out the interest on the debt of 23 million Americans. President Biden touted how the plan will help black and Latino borrowers the most who carry the heavily debt burdens. The plan is expected to go into effect this fall ahead of the election.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced the closing of the so-called gun show loophole. For years people selling guns outside of traditional stores, such as at gun shows and in the 21st century over the internet have not been required to preform a background check to see if buyers are legally allowed to own a fire arm. Now all sellers of guns, even over the internet, are required to be licensed and preform a background check. This is the largest single expansion of the background check system since its creation.

The EPA published the first ever regulations on PFAS, known as forever chemicals, in drinking water. The new rules would reduce PFAS exposure for 100 million people according to the EPA. The Biden Administration announced along side the EPA regulations it would make available $1 billion dollars for state and local water treatment to help test for and filter out PFAS in line with the new rule. This marks the first time since 1996 that the EPA has passed a drinking water rule for new contaminants.

The Department of Commerce announced a deal with microchip giant TSMC to bring billions in investment and manufacturing to Arizona. The US makes only about 10% of the world's microchips and none of the most advanced chips. Under the CHIPS and Science Act the Biden Administration hopes to expand America's high-tech manufacturing so that 20% of advanced chips are made in America. TSMC makes about 90% of the world's advanced chips. The deal which sees a $6.6 billion dollar grant from the US government in exchange for $65 billion worth of investment by TSMC in 3 high tech manufacturing facilities in Arizona, the first of which will open next year. This represents the single largest foreign investment in Arizona's history and will bring thousands of new jobs to the state and boost America's microchip manufacturing.

The EPA finalized rules strengthening clean air standards around chemical plants. The new rule will lower the risk of cancer in communities near chemical plants by 96% and eliminate 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year. The rules target two dangerous cancer causing chemicals, ethylene oxide and chloroprene, the rule will reduce emissions of these chemicals by 80%.

the Department of the Interior announced it had beaten the Biden Administration goals when it comes to new clean energy projects. The Department has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands, surpass the Administrations goal for 2025 already. These solar, wind, and hydro projects will power 12 million American homes with totally green power. Currently 10 gigawatts of clean energy are currently being generated on public lands, powering more than 5 million homes across the West. 

The Department of Transportation announced $830 million to support local communities in becoming more climate resilient. The money will go to 80 projects across 37 states, DC, and the US Virgin Islands The projects will help local Infrastructure better stand up to extreme weather causes by climate change.

The Senate confirmed Susan Bazis, Robert White, and Ann Marie McIff Allen to lifetime federal judgeships in Nebraska, Michigan, and Utah respectively. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 193

[arrimorr]

…would The Mines have a knight equivalent,too?

maybe something checkers themed to match with the black knight/white knight chess theme while still being its own thing?

Aaaaa the Mine has a bit of its own thing going on followers-wise. About a year ago I watched a documentary about mine workers, and I got really fascinated with the way they talked about their daily routine. The gist of it is that the work in the mines has to continue 24/7, otherwise the oxidation process inside will grow and no one really wants that, BUT they didn't say it like I did just now, they talked about it as if the mine was a living thing. "It starts to suffocate if there is no one down there" they said. And it really gripped my brain and now in Tginf lore this situation is litteral.

The Mine needs to have followers doing work inside of her, otherwise she starts to suffocate, HOWEVER, she is quite toxic, and her followers don't live particularly long if they stay below with her. Thus she is in a constant need of the new ones. And while the King of the road, for example, likes to play in infrastructure and gives all of his followers (besides the Knight) made up townsfolk roles like Radio host and Diner worker, the Mine dedicates all of the people she gets to either staying with her or promoting the service to her to the passing travellers. They are all Promoters, just under the different numbers.

What I'm getting to - she is quite busy...well... surviving to indulge in a petty rivalry the King of the Road and the Oxygen have going on, and without this rivalry there would've never been more than one knight on the road in the first place. The King of the Road made his Knight because he is very physically fragile and was in need of protection. Oxygen on the other hand is the only feudal that never had to rely on anyone in her existence in pre canon, and could actually allow herself to make a living being out of thin air just for the kick of it, thus she made the Dummy even though she didn't had any actual need for him besides entertainment.

BUT I STILL LIKE YOUR IDEA A LOT and honestly this would be incredibly fun to design. The checkers theme is so cool and fitting im gnawing at walls thank you for this ask 😭😭😭 (and sorry for this ramble)

[extraaa-30]

Why soft dom Aziraphale + bratty sub Crowley appeals to me

(be serious though they're both switches)*

Soft Dom Aziraphale

1. heaven

An angel is supposed to be the pure one, undefiled, meek, following orders without question, the girl to be got, the prize to be sought after, the white to be soiled. Subvert it! Aziraphale shouldn't be confined to an eternity of zero agency, naivety, and bland pastels. The idea of Aziraphale getting to really own his "bastard" side, getting to be "selfish," be demanding, be in control--delightful.

And, Aziraphale has guilt complexes on his guilt complexes. Because, unlike most of humanity, he is intimately aware of the righteous, pitiless violence that heaven is capable of. And he's made an art of subtly and ceaselessly defying it by being gentle, by demonstrating enormous restraint. He is a warrior who gave away his holy sword. He swerves severely in the direction of being reserved, harmless, feels clear guilt about any strong desires or direct asks. He has an obvious anxiety about excess (the mental acrobatics he does to justify his book collection, for example, are an entire circus). Free him from the fear of going too far!

2. the effeminate gay man

Thee Southern Pansy, "gay as a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide," with the fancy clothes and prim and proper aesthetic, ever the damsel in distress, flamboyant and limp-wristed, the one who is called slurs by children, the one who is sunshine and sweetness, "the nice one."

Except we know he is secretly a bastard! We know this bitch has preferences! Let him own that! The fact that he is effeminate should not automatically make him more submissive I literally hate that. On the inside Aziraphale is cunty and commanding and he should get to be!

3. with Crowley

Let him say what he craves directly so help me god! No double-speak, no games, no lustfully looking but then looking away immediately. Let him consume. Let him indulge in the gluttony he endlessly flirts with yet denies himself out of guilt and fear. The idea of Aziraphale as a gentle dom just seems so healing, like a puzzle piece that finally gets to click into place without shame.

-------------

Bratty Sub Crowley

1. hell

A demon is supposed to be the impure one, the defiler, the temptress, the seducer, the villain who takes, the black that soils. Subvert it! Crowley shouldn't be confined to the tropes of his demonic nature. He does not just take, just ruin. He is not inherently the one with experience while Aziraphale is the naive, pure little virgin. The idea of him being submissive to an angel (well...to this angel) is a delicious way to challenge that narrative.

And oh my god my girl has trust issues. As a demon his mentality is severely no allies, watch your back, the one who was cast out, rejected for a first offense, shaky ground, always in danger. He's not supposed to trust others, and he has legit biblically valid reasons to be wary and paranoid. Free him from the fear of trusting someone else to take control!

2. Mr. Cool

Mr. Bond, suave, smooth, stoic, sharp angles, stylish and slick, so very dangerous and criminal, the one with the car, the rebel, the snake. Compared with Aziraphale, he's supposed to be Mr. Hardass, "not nice."

Except we know he is secretly a disaster twink, 110% a soft sad little loser under that facade (and not buried that deep either)! He is a romantic who, in spite of hell, wants to give his angel chocolates! Let him own that!

3. with Aziraphale

Let him be unequivocally, unambiguously wanted oh my god! No guessing games! No trying to decipher what the fuck Aziraphale is really saying to him! Free him from the fear of always being "too fast" or "too late." All this bitch wants is for Aziraphale to be pleased by him, by Anthony J-acts-of-service Crowley! The idea of finally allowing him that...another puzzle piece. So satisfying and healing and safe.

-------------

*They're switches your honor

1. "our side"

Not heaven, not hell. Not angels or demons. Not all black or all white. If you think they don't switch, you're wrong.

2. weight & gender

Aziraphale is bigger and keeps his hair short and has a steadiness to him and all those things are perceived as more masculine by some and therefore stronger and more dominant. Fuck that! His size also is too often viewed as something unattractive, which--extremely fuck that. My boy is a treat and a catch. He should get to feel pretty and soft in a totally uncomplicated way as often as he goddamn wants.

Crowley is skinny, often has longer hair, has an absolute treasure hoard of gender, and there's a flightiness to him that's perceived as more feminine by some and therefore weaker and more submissive. Again I say fuck that! His slimness likewise is too often viewed as more desirable, more malleable and able to be cowed; to which I say: die! He is no dainty flower. He actually can often be commanding and capable. Take him seriously.

Furthermore: Aside from the obvious fact that weight, gender, and d/s all have jack shit to do with each other, subverting these tropes remains as important as subverting the other ones. Aziraphale should get to feel delicate and wanted just as much as Crowley. And Crowley should get to feel powerful and in control just as much as Aziraphale. To deny either of them those experiences...bad! Shut up!

3. Crowley & Aziraphale

Their dynamic is already basically gentle dom Aziraphale & bratty sub Crowley. Like literally inches below the surface lmao it's not that hard to spot (see: Az pouts about paint on his jacket, Crowley instantly rushes to fix it but in a cunty way; Crowley pins Az to a wall and Az isn't even slightly intimidated or out of control).

The problem is, they're not talking (see: Az can't ask directly; Crowley has to act tough). Which is why I personally feel that a more honest d/s dynamic, with all that unspoken ritual out in the open, would be an enormous relief for them.

That said, it's not fair to confine them to that familiar dynamic! Crowley isn't a sad wet rat all the time-- let him plan things and have them work out for once. Let him be (on purpose lol) successfully seductive! Likewise Aziraphale deserves to let his fucking hair down. Let my girl not have to do everything in this goddamn house! He deserves to not have to be the one in control all the time. He has trust issues just as deep as Crowley's, and equally deserves to feel safe and wanted.

Also Aziraphale is too much of a hedonist to not want to try everything. If you think he's sticking with one dynamic you are a fool. A clown. As my French-speaking 6,000 year old middle aged babygirl would say: an imbécile.

-------------

I wrote this for me, but if you read this far I hope you enjoyed it lol peace & love on planet earth

[gatheringbones]

[“How do we, today, make the poor in America poor? In at least three ways. First, we exploit them. We constrain their choice and power in the labor market, the housing market, and the financial market, driving down wages while forcing the poor to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. Those of us who are not poor benefit from these arrangements. Corporations benefit from worker exploitation, sure, but so do consumers who buy the cheap goods and services the working poor produce, and so do those of us directly or indirectly invested in the stock market. Landlords are not the only ones who benefit from housing exploitation; many homeowners do, too, their property values propped up by the collective effort to make housing scarce and expensive. The banking and payday lending industries profit from the financial exploitation of the poor, but so do those of us with free checking accounts at Bank of America or Wells Fargo, as those accounts are subsidized by billions of dollars in overdraft fees. If we burn coal, we get electricity, but we get sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and other airborne toxins, too. We can’t have the electricity without producing the pollution. Opulence in America works the same way. Someone bears the cost.

Second, we prioritize the subsidization of affluence over the alleviation of poverty. The United States could effectively end poverty in America tomorrow without increasing the deficit if it cracked down on corporations and families who cheat on their taxes, reallocating the newfound revenue to those most in need of it. Instead, we let the rich slide and give the most to those who have plenty already, creating a welfare state that heavily favors the upper class. And then our elected officials have the audacity—the shamelessness, really—to fabricate stories about poor people’s dependency on government aid and shoot down proposals to reduce poverty because they would cost too much. Glancing at the price tag of some program that would cut child poverty in half or give all Americans access to a doctor, they suck their teeth and ask, “But how can we afford it?” How can we afford it? What a sinful question. What a selfish, dishonest question, one asked as if the answer wasn’t staring us straight in the face. We could afford it if we allowed the IRS to do its job. We could afford it if the well-off among us took less from the government. We could afford it if we designed our welfare state to expand opportunity and not guard fortunes.

Third, we create prosperous and exclusive communities. And in doing so, we not only create neighborhoods with concentrated riches but also neighborhoods with concentrated despair—the externality of stockpiled opportunity. Wealth traps breed poverty traps. The concentration of affluence breeds more affluence, and the concentration of poverty, more poverty. To be poor is miserable, but to be poor and surrounded by poverty on all sides is a much deeper cut.Likewise, to be rich and surrounded by riches on all sides is a level of privilege of another order.

We need not be debt collectors or private prison wardens to play a role in producing poverty in America. We need only to vote yes on policies that lead to private opulence and public squalor and, with that opulence, build a life behind a wall that we tend and maintain. We may plaster our wall with Gadsden flags or rainbow flags, All Lives Matter signs or Black Lives Matter signs. The wall remains the wall, indifferent to our decorations.”]

matthew desmond, from poverty: by america, 2023

[theelderhazelnut]

Ombra's Biography

Warning: mentions of trauma, death, mental health problems

The image on the left is made with X-girl maker and the one on the right is made in artbreeder.

General Information

Full Name: Atoosa Aryan

Name Meaning:

Atoosa - Daughter of the Cyrus the Great, bestowing very richly

Aryan - Relating to or denoting peoples speaking Indo-European (or specifically Indo-Iranian) languages

Nicknames/Alias:

Ombra - widely used by Metalrealmers and her allies

Boss - given by her comrades

My soul - given by Quan Chi

Stone Face - given by her comrades

Ağlamaz Gülmez - meaning “doesn’t cry, doesn’t laugh”, given by Gizem

Age: 36

Date of Birth: November 26th

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

MBTI: INTP-A

Sex: Female

Gender: Demigirl

Pronouns: She/They

Sexuality: Demisexual

Species: Half-human, Half-Metalrealmer

Race/Ethnicity: Iranian

Country of Origin: Iran

Current Place of Residence: Metalrealm

Physical Appearance

Skin: Normal. and smooth. Pale ivory.

Height: 5'10 / 178 cm

Weight: 149 lbs / 68 kg

Eye Color: Abnormal light gray

Hair Color: Dark brown

Hair Texture: Thick, almost curly

Body Type: Muscular, hour-glass figure

Prominent Features:

Square face shape

Iron-jaw

Thick eyebrows

Broad Shoulders

Clothing Style: Ombra’s default outfit includes a black overcoat with a black vest which is secretly bulletproof, black pants and bottom-up shirt underneath the coat, and knee-high punk boots. These items can vary in their gothic and steampunk elements. In general, she prefers her outfits to be gender neutral.

Personality

Positive Traits: Mature, intelligent, understanding, patient, confident, logical, calculating

Negative Traits/Flaws: withdrawn, stoic, bloodthirsty, vengeful, gloomy, impious, stubborn, controlling, easily annoyed, remorseless, radical

Hobbies: playing chess, reading, writing

Likes: playing chess, solving mysteries, studying, studying people,

Dislikes: 98% of the people, singing, children,

Goals: destroying the Cult of The Elder Gods and taking revenge

Fears: losing her political position and power in Metalrealm, falling under the Cult’s control, losing Quan Chi

Health

Physical Health: Ombra has had an eye surgery as she used to be short-sighted. A few years ago, her jaw was severely broken, so she replaced with a metal one, resulting in the scars on her cheeks. Her vocal cords are damaged due to a throat tumor. And later one in the story, her right sclera becomes oxidized.

Mental Health: Ombra has had depression, OCD, and ADHD as long as she remembers, and those symptoms in her worsened once her parents died and she was left alone in a foreign country. She used to be suicidal during the time she worked as a servant in the Sky Temple. And when Falkus dragged her to Metalrealm to train her as an MRD agent, she learned to build a thicker wall around herself. During those years she felt nothing but powerless. She watched as her superiors made decisions for her long lost life, and she could do nothing but obey. Gradually, she learned to use her psychology knowledge for her own benefits. She learned how to manipulate people, especially from Falkus, and discovered that she actually has leading skills. Ombra became more and more of a control-freak, especially when she eventually earned the position of the head of the MIS. Taking control is like a coping mechanism for her through which she makes sure she doesn’t get hurt. Meanwhile, her repressed wrath made her a vengeful sadist, ready to use her power to take down empires.

Phobias: Thalassophobia

Professional Life

Education: Ombra was close to earning her specialty in psychiatry when she left to live in the Sky Temple.

Professions: The chief of MIS (Metalrealm Intelligence Service) which is a branch of MRDO.

Fighting Attributes

Abilities/Powers:

Ferrokinesis - Ombra has the ability to manipulate anything of iron or has iron in it. This includes distorting the shape of those materials, and creating iron out of thin air.

Heat and electricity manipulation (very limited) - iron is a heat and electricity conductor, so if Ombra turns her limbs into iron, she can manipulate them to her advantage.

Sound manipulation (very limited) - sound can travel through iron, so Ombra can sometimes make a use of it.

Blood manipulation (very limited) - due to iron existing in blood she can manipulate it to her advantage.

Skills:

Leading

Deception

Psychoanalysis

Psychological manipulation

Martial arts and self defense

Using melee weapons

Strengths:

Intelligence

Controlling her emotions

Analytical mind

Negotiable

Weaknesses:

Literal control-freak

Vengeful

Sociopathic

Impatient

Stubborn

High electricity pressure

Extreme heat

Strong soundwaves

Weapons:

Melee weapons she creates with her power

A small gunblade for emergencies

Relationships

Family:

Unknown father - deceased

Unknown mother - deceased

Older sister: Gizem - alive

Friends/Allies:

Quan Chi

Gizem

Shinnok

Kano

Erron Black

Kabal

Noob Saibot

Havik

Shao Kahn

Kronika

Shang Tsung

The Red Dragon

Menace @bisexualjohnnycage

Andrius Nils @scentedcandleibex

Dia @darialovesstuff

Enemies:

The Elder Gods

Hanzo Hasashi

Varian Hasashi @middlechildwhoescapedthebasement

Kuai Liang

Jax Briggs

Jacqui Briggs

Nightwolf

Kotal Kahn

Shirai Ryu

Lin Kuei

White Lotus Society

The Special Forces

Love Interest:

Quan Chi - lovers

Alternate Universe:

Lady Xuna @bisexualjohnnycage

Huepazu @huepazu

Leila @takiisieju-moved

Alex Demir @chadillacboseman

Backstory

Centuries ago, Delia had a vision about a woman dressed in all black outfit who was slaying the cultists one by one, threatening the Elder Gods themselves. She couldn’t discover her name, but one thing was certain about her: she was a half-Metalrealmer.

Atoosa Aryan was born in Hamedan, Iran among religious people whose lives were ruled by a religion centered society. Atoosa's family was considerably functional. She was a gifted kid who gradually became a perfectionist, and also a people pleaser thanks to her controlling mother who cared a lot about what others were thinking about them. Atoosa's powers were revealed when she was a toddler. Her powers were extremely weak, yet her mom constantly warned her to conceal it.

Atoosa used to be a cheerful and quite energetic child, but growing up in an extremely male dominant country which was also torturing its people with poverty and increasing number of crimes, turned her into a reserved and stoic adolescent with a pretty low self-confidence.

In order to escape, save herself and create an ideal life Atoosa emigrated to Turkey. She studied psychiatry in university. She was one year away from graduation and earning her PhD when her parents decided to pay her and her older sibling, Gizem, a visit. But the airplane was targeted by two rockets. Atoosa swore to find and punish anyone who was behind that incident.

Meanwhile, without her knowing anything, Metalrealmers were searching the universe for that certain half-metalrealmer to kill her. Metalrealmers believed that their gene must not become impure as they wanted to preserve their magic. Raiden was also aware of this, so he also began to search -as his duty to preserve the cult- only to find out that she lives in Earthrealm, and as its protector it was easier for him to uncover her identity. Raiden saw a great potential in her, yet he was quite afraid of her and what she could turn into, so he decided to offer her a place in the Sky Temple. He wanted to keep a close eye on her and make sure that she never gets the chance to gain power and become that monster in Delia’s prediction.

Eventually, Atoosa reluctantly trusted him only because she needed some help in order to survive. She moved to the Sky Temple, and began her job as a maid. She was miserable. She barely had time to focus on her studies and dreams.

A complicated relationship was formed between Raiden and her. Atoosa needed him, yet she was mad at him for putting her in so much misery. On the other hand, Raiden didn’t want to see her suffer, but he had no other choice.

Atoosa’s depression got worse, and suicidal thoughts began to lurk in the back of her mind.

Then Falkus came to action. He knew about Atoosa, and had discovered her location. He wanted to use her as an intelligent weapon to destroy the cult, and gain his freedom. He made contact with Atoosa, and tried to talk to her, and technically, brainwash her to believe in what he believed. He wanted her to escape Raiden on her own. Falkus told Atoosa about the cult, and that her parents’ death was their fault. He reassured her that if she came with him, he’d protect her from Metalrealmers and give her all she needs to take her revenge.

Atoosa didn’t want to trust anyone ever again, but she had nothing left to lose after all, so she only pretended that she trusts him, and moved to Metalrealm. She had other things in her mind. She must be the one in control this time.

She started her training in the MRDO, and focused more on her psychology studies. Without Falkus’s knowledge, she took every opportunity to earn a higher place in this organization. She helped the chiefs and soldiers in numerous missions by her strategic mind and great knowledge in psychology. Eventually, she achieved her goal, and also gained the nickname that almost replacedher real name: “Ombra the Ironhead”.

Ombra became the chief of the Interrealm Forces. She arranging her own plan for the revenge on the cult. She wasn’t under anyone’s control as she desired. She told Falkus that she was merely his ally, not a servant or a weapon.

Now Ombra wants to unleach her wrath, and destroy those who took away her innocence, childhood and dreams.

[brainbrowserhistory]

That's a lot of Oil...

Monster Hunter Wilds is, well...Wild.

But also a boatload of fun. I'm kind of new to the Monster Hunter series. I first dipped into it watching a friend play Monster Hunter Tri ages ago, but never really had the cash on hand to buy a game myself. Then Monster Hunter World came out, and I was convinced to give it a shot.

Charge Blade became my go-to with Sword & Shield or Hammer for back up.

So I then tried MH Rise, didn't get to far as I was neck deep in other games at the time. Then, I got roped into MH Stories 2 when it was ported over from the Switch. Not a bad game, but it takes a lot to get me to play a turn-based combat game if it's not Pokemon so that didn't last very long.

Now we've got MH Wilds, and I've come to enjoy it the most out of my few forays into Capcom's beast-bashing simulator. I still use the charge blade and sword & shield/hammer. The new monsters have been nail-biting fights and I'm really liking the fact that our character finally has dialog.

Thus far, I've made it to the city of Azuz. For the uninitiated, it's a settlement nestled in the heart of a region of oilfields called the Oilwell Basin. Foggy skies, white stone, massive stalactites, and enough oil to make a corporate magnate go to war for a stranglehold on energy supply. What particularly struck me was one scene when you first arrive to the area.

Your convoy of colorful characters are crossing a land bridge over a massive gap in the terrain, where you see oil flowing out of a cliff face. It's falling down into the abyss below your convoy, as freely as a black waterfall. This isn't the only one you see either. There's a few of these oil falls as you progress into the settlement.

This got me thinking.

According to the lore in the game, the natives of the area in Azuz (known as the Oilfolk, Bonefolk, and Stonefolk, respectively) have been gathering for a Firespring festival. During the Firespring season, fires spread through the Basin. This is also when they ceremoniously light a large forge aptly named the Everforge. I imagine that this forge likely fueled by the naturally flowing oil in the region stoked by another fuel source called Wylk.

Now, the folks in the game don't give a specific time frame for how long this has been happening other than "before memory." So that could be spanning a few generations to who knows how many hundreds of years. So if there's so much oil under the city of Azuz that it can just flow as freely as water, just how much oil is under the crust of this world that MH Wilds exists in? Clearly they don't use it in the same way our modern society does. The world of MH is set in a society that, to me, resembles something between the Industrial Revolution and Victorian Era. However, unlike those time periods for us, the industrialization and advances in technology are brought on by the use of natural resources gathered through the hunting of the massive monsters that inhabit the world. Why do you need to make a lighter that burns butane when you can make one that uses the scale of a dragon-like monster to naturally produce a flame? Why make grenades when the scales of certain fish are literally explosive? The modern weapons industry would be a very different landscape with these kinds of resources at hand. The society in the game uses these to make weapons to hunt other monsters, so a fire-breathing Glock wouldn't be out of the question in that regard.

Weapons manufacturing aside, my brain goes to the quantity of oil that resides in that particular region. If oil just flows freely without use, then it degrades from oxidation and evaporation. This explains the sludge that you end up wading through when you take up the first hunt in the oilfields. According to a 2021 article from PRO-GAS Services, LLC., this sludge "shouldn't be used under any circumstances." The folks in Azuz clearly aren't using the oil in a capacity that would prevent it from breaking down into sludge, so it stands to reason that this has been happening for a very long time. Long enough that the monsters in the area have even evolved and adapted to it.

According to The Lowell Corporation, oil flows through a pipeline at at an average of 3 to 8 miles per hour (5 to 13 kilometers per hour) and according to Rystad Energy, there is an estimated 1.6 trillion barrels of oil still sitting in the earth's crust that hasn't been pumped up yet.

So, by very rough estimation, assuming even one of the oil falls in the cliffs outside of Azuz was flowing out of an orifice in the rock that was a foot wide, those oil falls are dumping, at least, 28 million barrels of oil per year, each. For the sake of perspective, one oil barrel is 42 US gallons (159 liters). So imagine one of those oil falls could be dumping 1.2 billion gallons of oil per year! I would imagine the ones you see approaching the town aren't the only ones, either.

Even with all those estimates, though, it would still take a one foot wide orifice 57 thousand years to dump out a 1.6 trillion barrel oil reserve. So to have even 10 of them flowing freely all at once would still take 5,700 years to deplete. And as stated before, there's no telling how long Azuz has stood the test of time to even record how long it's been standing. And although it took 3.3 million years from humans on our Earth to go from the Stone Age to the Victorian Era (as seen in this timeline by The Museum of Cambridge), I would imagine humans in the Monster Hunter world approached their age of industry much faster with the technology they could have made from resources obtained from hunting monsters.

I would safely assume that there has been an unfathomable amount of oil that has flowed through the rockfaces surrounding Azuz considering we don't know how long it has been hosting the surrounding groups of people for their Firespring Festival. And assuming the MH world has a great deal of oil like our earth still does, it would be an incredibly long time before the oil would come close to depleting itself through natural flow.

Bear in mind, I'm not an expert in any regard. I'm just doing armchair math and looking up related information that makes sense to the subject matter from sources that make sense to the information. Because when my brain goes on a tangent, it goes hard and fast. Like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, "I don't need sleep, I need answers!" Well, maybe not that deep but close to it.

So, that's my first real brain bender for this blog. Thanks for reading this long, it's greatly appreciated. Any thoughts, suggestions, concerns, feel free to leave them below. I'm always down to improve where ever I can. See you next time.

Laters!

[quitefair]

Ilmatari gang Ilmatari gang Ilmatari gang I gotta know about Ilmatari gang!

ohohoh....

the document in itself is like fragments and notes, but in all honesty, i should just take the opportunity to finally talk about all these guys.

under a cut because it's entirely self indulgent. and got incredibly fucking long.

So Marduk's clan is a group of dragonborn that left Tymanther some 50 years ago, eventually settling in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. Along the way, some of them stumbled upon the Church of Ilmater, and took up vows in His name. Father Anum was one of them, the cleric that would become the elder of the clan years later.

I use the word clan here, but this particular clan is not your typical dragonborn community in that they aren't blood-related. You'll find almost every scale colour from chromatic to metallic to everything in between.

The clan runs a sick house/soup kitchen in the name of Ilmater in the Lower City, open to all who need it. Not all of them are sworn into the service of the Broken God, but most have some loyalty to Him, in their own way. Once in a while, the paladins and clerics of them are called out in service of the Church, hunting cultists and conjurers of evils that threaten the peace of the city.

It was on one of those raids that Father Anum, then still a lay-brother of the church, infiltrated the hideout of a small cult of Tiamat. After having cut down the cultists, his party uncovered a set of five dragonborn eggs. One for each of Tiamat's chromatic heads.

Anum was compelled to bring the eggs back to the city, despite his bretheren's call to destroy them. They were innocents in this, he argued. How could you blame these eggs for what the cultists were going to do with them, whatever that was?

So he brought them back, housed them in the rookery at the sickhouse, and one by one they hatched into tiny squeaking babies. Black, followed by white. Followed by blue and red at almost the same time.

But the 'green' one refused to hatch. I say 'green' because that's what the cultists assumed, in their attempt to gather chromatic eggs for their draconic goddess. Anum knew better though, knew that the green that covered the egg was just a patina, a coating of oxidation that concealed the true metallic nature of this egg.

It took the bronze egg several more months to hatch, and only after the eldest of the clutch, the black dragonborn with his fiery green eyes, took it upon himself to snuggle up with the egg every night. Watched over his little cousin with the patience of Ilmater himself, until one crisp autumn day, the egg finally hatched.

Anyway. Enough rambling. Here's the Ilmatari gang, in decreasing order of age.

*~*

Enki

Black Dragonborn | Monk | Way of the Open Hand | Broken One

Although he's the oldest, he doesn't fucking act like it. Always quick with a smile and a laugh, dragging the others into wild shenanigans, he's the trickster of the lot, much like his real life namesake.

Has broken more bones than he can count. Kneecaps can tell when it's going to rain.

Despite his chaotic personality, he looks out for the rest of the kids like they're his own. Gives sound advice too. The others adore him, though they won't say it to his face.

Enlil

White Dragonborn | Ranger | Hunter

Stoic, surly, prefers his own company most of the time. Dragonborn faces are hard to read, but you'll be hard pressed to find any emotion other than practiced nonchalance on Enlil's face.

His familiar is a raven, as yet unnamed.

Out hunting most of the year, bringing back game for the soup kitchen's pantry.

Inanna

Blue Dragonborn | Bard | College of Creation

Luthier, owns a shop in the Lower City.

Loves making things, hyperfocused to a fault. Often disappears for weeks on end when working on a new project, and has to be dragged out of the shop by one of her many cousins.

Gula

Red Dragonborn | Cleric of Ilmater | Life Domain

Works at the sick house, specialises in labour and childbirth, but has a hand in all other forms of magical healing.

Exasperated, overworked, absolutely cannot stand Enki's shenanigans. Will flip him ass over teakettle if he's annoying her. (Which is very often.)

Marduk

Bronze Dragonborn | Paladin of Ilmater | Oath of the Ancients

It's my girl. The youngest of the lot, and acts that way.

The others may bicker and fight with each other, but they agree on one thing. Everybody loves Marduk and would die for her.

So yeah. Thats the Ilmatari gang.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 10, Number 1

Finnoguns Wake

Wow, it’s been 10 years since we started Dust, our monthly collection of short reviews. During that time, we’ve covered hundreds of records that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks — from obscure CD-Rs handed off at live shows, to long-lost reissues dug out of attics and basements, to the maniacally focused output of the micro-labels we love to even, occasionally, semi-major releases.  Our conclusion: It may be hard times for music criticism, especially the paid variety, but it’s an excellent era for listening to music.  Here’s what we’ve uncovered to kick off the next decade.  Contributors include Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers, Andrew Forell, Justin Cober-Lake, Bryon Hayes, Patrick Masterson, Alex Johnson and Christian Carey.

Dave Bayles Trio — Live At The Uptowner (Calligram)

Good things are happening around Milwaukee. That’s where Dave Bayles practices his crafts as a jazz drummer and educator (actually, he teaches in Kenosha). This recording documents his foray into band leadership, which was hosted by the Uptowner, a neighborhood tap that’s been serving drinks since the 1880s. The recorded evidence suggests that despite it being the kind of place where you can holler at the Packers on a screen, when the music’s playing, people listen. Bayle, trumpeter Russ Johnson and bassist Clay Schaub justify their attention throughout this collection of mostly original, bop-aligned themes, which they execute with a little early-Ornette flexibility and healthy servings of direct, swinging lyricism. Johnson in particular does yeoman’s work, drawing out nuanced, patient solos that are likely to induce you to forget to open your mouth, just like the audience on this entirely ingratiating live recording.

Bill Meyer

Cy Dune — Against Face (Lightning Studios)

Very late on Seth Olinsky (from Akron/Family)’s dance/noise/punk experiment, but holy wow, what a belching, squelching, head-whipping sharp turn it is. If Akron/Family took gentle folk songs right off the rails, Cy Dune starts in chaos and ends in angsty cyber-age freefall. The trip typically takes one or two minutes, though the unironically named “Don’t Waste My Time” extends for three. Within that time frame, bass note bobble, snares snap, guitars twist and Olinsky shouts in terse syncopation, breaking occasionally for non-Jude-like “na-na-na-nahs.” “Against Face” wallops hard and fast, pounding toms tethering wild squalls of guitar. “No fun, no fun, no fun,” howls Olinsky periodically, but it definitely is. Fun.

Jennifer Kelly

Dual Monitor — HARD19 (Hardline Sounds)

Say what you might about Rinse FM, the station’s leadership (read: they of the coffers) continues to do a service to the UK’s ecosystem of independent radio by way of keeping afloat other institutions. One such example was its buyout and relaunch of the old pirate station Kool FM; another was its unshuttering of beloved Bristol station SWU.FM last April. Part of the latter’s reinvigorated lineup is the duo of Fliss Mayo and Zebb Dempster, aka Dual Monitor, and their latest release caught my ear for its attention both to percussion amid propulsion and to its high-grade bass weight. “Level Up” might be the winner for me, but the pitch-black plunge of “Left/Right” and “Quattros Oxide” are grooves to behold, too. The airy D&B twist of “Switch It” is also unmissable, a lovely bit of work to close out the four-tracker. Good for a run of 200 from a label worth watching, it looks like you’re still not too late if you do a little running of your own to go grab it.

Patrick Masterson

Eluvium — (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality (Temporary Residence Limited)

Matthew Cooper has made and released plenty of music since 2016’s False Readings On (much of it under the Eluvium name) but in some ways the compact, masterful (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality feels like the first capital A Eluvium Album since that one. As with 2007’s Copia, it leans into the orchestral side of Cooper’s work (this time remotely collaborating with various musicians over the last couple of years), resulting in everything from the phantasmagorical choral/vocal work on “Void Manifest” and the dense arpeggios of “Vibration Consensus Reality (for Spectral Multiband Resonator)” to the solo piano miniature of “Clockwork Fables” and the whirling swells of the closing “Endless Flower.” At this point Cooper’s work is often too varied and colorful to be described as drone, and too active and involving to really be ambient; it’s just Eluvium music, and it’s wonderful to have more of it.

Ian Mathers

Finnoguns Wake —Stay Young EP (What’s Your Rupture)

Stay Young is a debut four-track EP from Australian songwriters Shogun and his mate Finn Berzin who rejoice in the name Finnoguns Wake. You’ll find no knotty linguistic experiments but for lovers of energetically melodic indie guitar bands, there are joys to be had. The pair, who share vocals, guitar and lyrics, meet somewhere between the concise attack of Shogun’s former band Royal Headache and the anthemic end of Britpop. The first three songs zip by with guitars abuzz, the rhythm section driving hard and the voices high in the mix. “Blue Sky” manages to feel satisfyingly loose atop its rigid drumbeat. “So Nice” reconfigures the riff of Husker Dü’s “Terms of Psychic Warfare” to good effect, with Berzin sounding tonally like young Dylan. “Lovers All” moves along like a rougher version of The Buzzcocks. The one misstep “Strawberry Avalanche” aims for Britpop grandeur with the misguided self-belief of late Oasis. Shogun takes his “melting ice cream” metaphors as seriously as Liam treats even his most absurd attempts to top big brother. Thing is you can picture the song working for an audience, so hats off. Stay Young is a promising introduction from a band that feels it like has more and better coming.

Andrew Forell

Lamin Fofana — Lamin Fofana and the Doudou Ndiaye Rose Family (Honest Jon’s)

New York-based producer, DJ and visual artist Lamin Fofana had a big 2023, with two releases on the famed Honest Jon’s imprint and a third for the illustrious Trilogy Tapes in addition to a Resident Advisor mix. That second Honest Jon’s album came in the form of this collaboration in early December with the Doudou Ndiaye Rose Family, an mbalax group of some notoriety in Senegal and descendents of the Dakar drummer, composer and band leader best known as master of the sabar drum family. It fits, though the exact nature of the collaboration is unclear — this is very much a percussion workout of the highest order with only a deft tinge of Fofana’s electronics providing light, cosmic buoyancy to the music, a quartet of meditations ranging between four and 12 minutes long. The most frenetic of them, at least for a spell, is “Bench Mi Mode III: Spectrum,” but even that one has its share of field recordings to lend a more immersive, consuming quality to the listen than pure rhythmic impulse. If you’re unfamiliar with any of the parties involved, you’ll thank yourself in short order for giving this a go.

Patrick Masterson

Fortunati Durutti Marinetti — Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean (Quindi (ITA) / Soft Abuse (USA))

Dan Colussi’s latest release under the Fortunato Durutti Marinetti moniker, Eight Waves In Search Of An Ocean, is eminently listenable, engaging and, if paid proper attention, engrossing—although not always comfortably. His vocals never stray far from sprechgesang and the instrumentation tends towards warped mid-tempo. There are bright washes of keys; flute and string inflections; careful, elastic bass lines with steady, shoulder-danceable drum patterns. It’s easy to be lulled by the rosy, if somewhat baroque settings, until an ascendant burst of synthesizer or dramatic pause intrudes to break the spell. You may find yourself unsure, rewinding to find out what you might’ve just missed. In this way, the experience of the album can feel akin to a single, continuous performance with brief variations, rather than a straightforward collection of songs.

One such variation, adding perhaps the most friction to Eight Waves… is “Smash Your Head Against the Wall,” which, while not concussive, does make your ears perk up at its clawing guitar chords and the stark imagery that Colussi nearly spits out: “it’s a nest of vipers pissing on each other…and anyone else who’s around/would love to fuck you over if they can/and this community’s request/for the presumed benefit of all/is smash your head against the wall…a delta of corrosion/disorder/and decomposition.” I quote at some length, but there’s plenty more. Though a sonic departure from its surroundings — think Bill Callahan’s “Diamond Dancer” dropped into Destroyer’s Kaputt — “Smash Your Head…” is emblematic of a record that rewards the delayering effect of multiple listens.

Alex Johnson

Ghost Marrow — earth + death (The Garrote)

There is a patience to the songs on Aurielle Zeitler’s third record as Ghost Marrow, but it’s the patience of a predator stalking its prey. All seven songs here started as improvisations on the Juno-60 synthesizer, but by the time they’ve been arranged into these shapes (almost entirely by Zeitler, who adds effects and guitar as well as her voice) they feel focused and intent on the listener. The Bladerunner-esque sweep of “mother of the end” and the increasingly un-gentle blasts of static breaking into the title track both land somewhere between unsettling menace and a kind of holy severity. By the time the closing, ten-minute “microcosm” erupts into clouds of guitar and distant screaming, suddenly sounding a lot more like Sunn O)))’s Black One than the rest of the LP might make you expect, it’s clear that Ghost Marrow is intent on honoring both sides of her title.

Ian Mathers

Brian Harnetty — The Workbench (Winesap)

Composer Brian Harnetty has created memorable work by digging into cultural archives. Shawnee, Ohio (2019) uncovered layers of memory from Appalachia, while last year's Words and Silences drew on recordings of Thomas Merton for sustained contemplation. For his brief EP The Workbench, he takes a different approach, mining deeply personal moments for a individual revelation. He begins with items that his father had repaired — a watch, a radio — and adds in voicemail messages, all in conversation with an evocative quartet. Eventually he ends the piece with his father's breathing as he sleeps in hospice, a quiet outro that finds mournful but understated peace.

The 11-minute track moves so smoothly that singling out key moments almost misses the point; it's a single movement to honor a relationship while reflecting on the brevity of time and the artifacts that persist amid mortality. When a repaired music box overtakes the musicians for the final lift, it feels natural, because of course the reparations done in life will outshine our ability to articulate their meaning. Harnetty's compositions before that never falter. His use of bass clarinet (here played by Ford Fourqurean) provides the essential gravity. Violin and cello weave through the piece with his own piano lightening the composition as needed. A reworked instrumental track allows for a wordless exploration of the same topics. An accompanying video covers the workbench itself, the artifacts presented in themselves, a tangible and visual part of the legacy. It's a short statement from Harnetty but one that lasts.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Nailah Hunter — Lovegaze (Fat Possum)

Nailah Hunter plays lots of instruments on this lush and twilit debut full-length, but two define its sound. Her voice, to start, is cool and effortless and strong, prone to flowery embellishments and capable of soaring crescendos without strain. She might remind you of Sade, in the poised, unruffled quiet bits, but she can belt, too, filling cavernous sonic spaces with bright untethered flourishes. The other instrument is the harp, more common certainly in classical music but not as unusual as it once was in rock and soul. But unlike Joanna Newsom who laces her tunes with folk-echoing arpeggios or Mary Lattimore who finds a celestial drone, Hunter employs the harp to scatter pizzicato shards of crystal in velvety nocturnal textures. The harp litters her moody atmospheres with star light, cold, glimmering pinpoints of sound. It contrasts in a striking way with the warmth of her voice and the pulsing, irregular syncopations of dance-like drums. These are oddly shaped elements that ought not to fit as snugly or as wondrously as they do, but they do.

Jennifer Kelly

Ernesto Diaz Infante — Bats In The Lavender Sky (Ramble)

Bay Area guitarist Ernesto Diaz Infante has always been a restless sort. Nonetheless, this album feels like a bit of a curve ball, albeit a welcome one. The improviser ensconced himself in a San Francisco recording facility named Next Door To The Jefferson Airplane Studios, but did not take the trip you might expect given a choice like that. Instead of a west coast psychedelic vibe, he has gone natural, nocturnal and New Zealand-ish. Put another way, this album mines territory similar to Roy Montgomery’s mid- to late-1990s work, with a little bit of user-friendly Mego thrown in. Repetition leads to contemplation; this music won’t move you at bat velocity, but if you happen to be floating on a slow-moving air mattress while they fly overhead, it’d make just the right soundtrack.

Bill Meyer

Joy Orbison — “Flight FM” (XL)

flight fm by TOSS PORTAL

Getting married and having a kid really seems to have opened Peter O’Grady up over the past few years. After starting his own label in 2017, he came out with an album (2021’s Still Slipping, Vol. 1), has dropped a handful of singles exploring various strains of UK dance music, and even mined the archive of his glory days for a comp of loosies long thought lost or forgotten (last year’s Archive 09-10). Far from the reserved, elusive producer he broke so big with “Hyph Mngo” as, Joy O has instead blossomed into an approachable, seemingly well-adjusted guy who just wants you to enjoy music the way he does — and what better way to do that than with this heavyweight cruiser that rolls as deep as his best material from the SunkLo days. Concocted in a car on the way to a festival, it took some badgering from Four Tet (who has some unreleased work of his own to wrap up, while we’re on the subject) for him to finish it… but thank goodness he did. The best part about this is that we skipped the Aliasizm radio rip and the endless speculation on what it was called and got straight to the release. A simple, speaker-wrecking ode to the pirate station from which it takes its name, you couldn’t start 2024 (or 2012) any better. Variation on an oft-repeated refrain lately: It’s a shame Fact isn’t around to report on it.

Patrick Masterson

Matt Krefting — Finer Points (Open Mouth)

Finer Points by Matt Krefting

Students of the northeastern U.S. freak scene know Matt Krefting for his endeavors both written and aural. His critical ear has spilled ink across the pages of The Wire magazine and Byron Coley’s Bull Tongue Review, and his sonic exploits harken back to the turn of the millennium with the studied quietude of Son of Earth. These days, Krefting makes surprisingly musical constructions using cassette decks and other tape-adjacent curios, coaxing murky melodies from spools of ferric material. Finer Points comprises layers of dusky fuzz, sandblasted environments and warmly lit instrumental passages. A lonely organ features prominently across many tracks, its doleful moan warbling slightly as Krefting’s malfunctioning tape deck motors strain to maintain a constant speed. Standing out from the nocturnal scenery is “A Double Request,” in which multiple plucked string instruments coalesce into a swampy dirge. There’s a sense of evolution at play as the parts cycle through, forming melodies that shift and tumble before falling apart entirely. This is a common theme throughout Finer Points: Krefting subtly and gradually alters the scenery. The slow unfolding creates an intoxicating glow that permeates the entire experience.

Bryon Hayes

Thomas K. J. Mejer / Uneven Same — Saxophone Quartets 1 2 5 6 7 (Wide Ear)

Uneven Same – Saxophone Quartets by Thomas K.J. Mejer

If you’ve heard of Thomas Mejer, it’s most likely because he is a rare specialist in the contrabass saxophone. In that capacity, he’s contributed tonal heft and textural complexity to the music of Phill Niblock and Keefe Jackson. But for this album, which was mostly performed by the all-female saxophone quartet, Uneven Same, he applies a nuanced comprehension of the potentialities of other saxes founded upon the advances made by improvisers to composed music that operates that is carefully textured and glides more than it grooves. Manuela Villiger, Eva-Marta Karbacher, Vera Wahl and Silke Strahl realize his long, layered lines and carefully buffed sonorities with exquisite poise. Mejer also uses overdubbing to realize four more pieces, all part of a series entitled “Resonating Voids,” on his own. By turns rough, thick, and aquatic, its elemental earthiness balances Uneven Same’s more airborne performances.

Bill Meyer

Melted Men — Jaw Guzzi (Feeding Tube)

Melted Men are an enigma that no amount of online sleuthing can crack. The only information about them online is their Discogs page and a live show review from 1997. In that bizarre performance, Melted Men was a duo from Athens, Georgia. Apparently now, 25 years later, they’ve swollen their ranks, even roping in members from as far afield as continental Europe. With Jaw Guzzi, the anonymous outfit offers up a pair of side-long audio head trips. Warped, heat haze-distorted cassette detritus sidles up to blown out exotica and disjointed Martian funk beats. There’s a hefty dose of collage on display, with mutant vignettes that serve as rickety bridges between more tuneful passages. It’s these doses of song form that will extract bobbing heads and wobbly bottoms from the most adventurous listeners. Melted Men imagine a world where the jump cut jumble of Seymour Glass intersects the ethno-punk chaos of Sun City Girls and the junk shop proto-industrial bleat of early Wolf Eyes. It’s a world that this writer wouldn’t mind visiting frequently.     

(Note: Melted Men are such a mysterious bunch that they’ve asked Feeding Tube not to post any audio on Bandcamp or elsewhere on the internet.)

Bryon Hayes

Nehan — An Evening with Nehan (Drag City)

Nehan is all-star Japanese noise/drone/experimental ensemble led by Masaki Batoh and drawing members from Ghost, Acid Mothers Temple and the Silence. The disc in question presents two side-long improvisations which use as a starting point the 9hz brain wave emitted from a test subject. You can get a sense in the video above of how the experiment worked, as a dancer’s synaptic impulses feed into an elaborate synthesizer set up, turning whatever was in her head into long, pulsing drones. It’s a bit austere in its pure form, but the record elaborates, adding percussion, especially gongs and bells, and a wizened-kazoo-like wind instrument, something that might be a bagpipe and other sounds. It’s not entirely clear how much of what you hear comes from the brain waves and how much comes from the free interplay of the musicians, but maybe it doesn’t matter. The result is slow-moving and mysterious, with dramatic surges of drums and wandering threads of blown sound. The human brain is a notoriously mysterious organ but who’d have thought it could general all this instrumental turmoil? If you’d told me this music was sourced from sun storms or tidal currents or tectonic shifts, I’d have believed that, too.

Jennifer Kelly

Colin Newman and Malka Spiegal—Bastard (Swim ~)

Colin Newman’s Bastard created quite a stir in 1997 when first released. This nine-track, all-instrumental album, leaned heavily on a still mostly underground drum ‘n bass aesthetic and was a far cry from Wire’s terse, melodic outbursts. It also was Newman’s first project after Wire went on hiatus, billed as a solo effort, but actually a close collaboration with his partner Malka Spiegel. This expanded reissue gives Spiegel due credit and fills out the context with 12 additional contemporaneous tracks.

The original album still sounds fairly austere, with clean, clipped drum cadences, locked-tight guitar loops and abstract surges of synthesized sound. The amusingly named “Slowfast (falling down the stairs with a drumkit)” allows the use of distorted guitar, but only in quick, percussive blots. The guitar sound becomes an element of percussion, but not the important one—an antic skitter of drum machine dominates the cut. “Spiked” strips a funk riff down to cubist blocks, a bass sliding woozily between sharp-cut breakbeat drums. None of this is so surprising now, in the wake of techno, house and all its variants, but people weren’t expecting it, least of all from a post-punk progenitor, in 1997. The reissue adds a bunch of other tracks, many of which hew much closer to how you probably think of Wire. “Automation” adds a sinuous, down-in-the-mix vocal to its pop-locked rhythms. “Voice” bristles with guitar dissonance and bobs with dubby bass. “Tsunami” floats euphorically on sawed-down guitar feedback, a good bit like My Bloody Valentine but dancier. And “Cut the Slack” sounds like a Wire song, deadpan chants running into shouted aggressions and layers of guitar shimmering around undeniable hooks. The extra tracks make Bastard sound less like a 100% departure and more like a gradual evolution—and they are very much worth hearing all on their own.

Jennifer Kelly

Ethan Philion Quartet — Gnosis (Sunnyside)

Gnosis by Ethan Philion Quartet

Here’s a welcome surprise. As a rule, bebop-rooted jazz is not the place to look for excitement in 2023, but the rules change when Ethan Philion is on stage. On this record, his second as a leader, the Chicago-based bassist helms a quartet that combines high energy with rhythmic grace and a thorough commitment to the mechanics of the music being played. The latter point might not sound so thrilling, but it is key, since it results in performances that can be appreciated for their cohesion as well as their outward-bound vibe. Philion’s debut was a tribute to Charles Mingus that felt a little too polished; this time, the soloing by all parties (alto saxophonist Greg Ward, trumpeter Russ Johnson, drummer Dana Hall) evince both vigor and rigor.

Bill Meyer

Rick Reed — The Symmetry Of Telemetry (Elevator Bath / Sedimental)

The Symmetry of Telemetry by Rick Reed

The Symmetry Of Telemetry is Rick Reed’s pandemic album. Methodologically, it’s hard to say how much that matters, since the Austin-based electronic musician’s practice already involved patiently collecting and sifting through shortwave broadcasts and then combining them with performed electronics. But the slow-motion uneasiness of “Dysania,” the alternately abraded and bulked-up bumps that introduce “Leave A Light On For Tony,” and the disconsolate, fizzling tones that occupy most of “Space Age Radio Love Song” certainly feel like that time felt. But there’s more to this music than downer vibes. Reed knows how to layer and arrange sounds so that an apparently static passage yields event upon event anytime you decide to listen into his compacted constructions. He also knows how to make waiting pay off, and while it would be spoiling things to tell you what he does, suffice to say that if you listen, you’ll know it when it happens.

Bill Meyer

Jason Roebke Quartet — Four Spheres (Corbett Vs Dempsey)

Four Spheres by Jason Roebke

When bandleaders like Mike Reed, Jorrit Dijkstra and Jason Adasiewicz have needed a bassist who could toggle easily between swing and abstraction, they’ve called Jason Roebke. Such calls, along with everything else a person has to do to maintain a life, mean that years might pass between Roebke’s turns as a leader. But when he does, you can count on them to be deeply considered and not quite like anything else going around. This quartet applies his trademarked fluidity to investigations of the tension between fixed and changing elements. Cassette recordings of electronic noise and metronome beats form nodal points within these pieces around which Edward Wilkerson Jr’s reeds and Marcus Evans’ drums surge and churn in overtly expressive fashion while pianist Mabel Kwan and Roebke shift their weight between fixity and flow. The sound is occasionally reminiscent of the more skeptical, interrogative side of the AACM, and particularly Roscoe Mitchell, but Roebke’s points of inquiry are purely his own.

Bill Meyer

Ned Rothenberg — Crossings Four (Clean Feed)

Crossings Four by Ned Rothenberg

This is some understated, shape-shifting stuff. On clarinets and alto saxophone, Ned Rothenberg matches a tone that’ll make you want to let your ear linger to phrasing sufficiently fluid to motivate them to get up and follow the music. The other three musicians in his Crossings Four are Mary Halvorson on guitar, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. They and Rothenberg are well-matched in attitude, since everyone has chops to flex, but no one flashes them gratuitously. Although this is the quartet’s first recording, there are decades of shared experience and a myriad of interconnections between its members. This enables them to realize a variety of improvisational approaches, from droll and grooving to fractured and abstract, with ease. The moments when a signature lick pops out tend to be lures, inviting the listener to follow them as they disappear into matrices of brisk, nuanced interaction.

Bill Meyer

San Kazakgascar — Too Many People (Lather)

Too Many People by San Kazakgascar

The album title augurs misanthropy, but that’s not borne out by the sounds. This Sacramento seven-piece spares little time for sonic bleakness, and the sounds they choose to make reveal a robust curiosity about the music of other places. Disciplined west coast psych guitars converge with skronk-willing, souk-conscious reeds upon rhythm frameworks that suggest someone’s spent some quality time listening to Gary Glitter, the Meters and wherever it is that Chris Forsyth bottles his choogling spirits. The lack of vocals keeps them from saying anything you really wish they’d take back, and the commitment to a steady groove makes this a record you’ll want to hear on the go, so cash in that download code! But there are also lulls founded upon dust-blown acoustic picking, making this just the record to play when your Firestick won’t load and you’re back to watching that all western, all the time station, but you can’t stand to hear that bullshit cowboy dialogue anymore. Yeah, make up a Western in your own mind where the land defenders win and finish the day celebrating to the tunes of “Crockett Creek.”

Bill Meyer

Secret Pyramid — A Vanishing Touch (BaDaBing!)

A Vanishing Touch by Secret Pyramid

Amir Abbey often writes songs, but on A Vanishing Touch, he composes ambient music inspired by J Dilla’s Donuts. The two seem like strange projects to associate, but it is more the inspiration of Dilla’s jabbing beats that Abbey reconceptualizes to enliven the texture. The best track, “Whim,” is built around soaring textures amid just such rhythmic punctuation. Abbey also moved away from the long gestation period afforded his songs to greater immediacy. There is an improvisatory sensibility here that, rather than moving Secret Pyramid sideways, seems like a useful development.

A Vanishing Touch includes a wide range of synth sounds and doesn’t stint on yearning dissonance. As the ambient revival long exceeds its initial incarnation, it is up to artists like Abbey to reconceive it. Mission accomplished.

Christian Carey

Setting — At The Black Mountain College Museum (www.settingsounds.com)

at Black Mountain College Museum by Setting

Setting is Jaimie Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors), Nathan Bowles (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) and Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone), and At the Black Mountain College Museum is the trio’s ultra-quick follow-up to their debut album. Recorded at the end of the brief string of dates that celebrated its release, it dives deeper into their blend of propulsive grooves and not-too-plush, not too rough textures in almost aquatic fashion. This music moves a bit like an otter might, drifting when the current does the necessary work, and then pointing head down with a vigorous kick into deeper and more turbulent eddies. The three multi-instrumentalists stick together, sonically speaking, so that you’re less likely to tune into their interactions than into the place the sounds take you.

Bill Meyer

Strinning & Daisy — Castle And Sun (Veto)

Castle and Sun by Strinning & Daisy

In a sax and drums duo, there’s nowhere to hide. If a musician lacks ideas, stamina or reciprocity, a duo will lay their deficit out for all to hear. Alternately, if they have what it takes, tuned-in listeners will know. The latter scenario is the case here. Swiss tenor saxophonist Sebastian Strinning and Chicagoan drummer Tim Daisy have known each other since 2019, when the former resided for a spell in the latter’s city. But they don’t have a lengthy shared history, so there’s an element of trying things on for size in this session’s dynamic. Each musician draws upon his diverse approaches in a series of mix-and-match explorations as tumbling lines meet steaming forward energy, hushed, textured tones part a curtain of metal sounds, and animal utterances confront circuitous patterns. Captured with three-dimensional palpability and spaciousness by engineer Nick Broste, their exchanges connect with both mind and gut.

Bill Meyer

Tiger Valley—The Celebration (Hausu Mountain)

The Celebration by Tiger Village

Cleveland based producer Tim Thornton’s latest album Tiger Village album, The Celebration, collects ten cheerfully constructed pieces capturing the chaotic joy of domestic life and music making under a feline regime. Random cat energy infuses Thornton’s music; languid relaxation gives way to manic activity, while parcels of affection turning into aloof, spiky demands for attention proffered with claws and cries. Both “Cat’s Up” and “Cat Chew” celebrate the beasts’ mercurial nature. The former is an insinuating strut constantly distracted by random shiny objects, sudden noises and those odd moments of fixation upon unseen emanations. The latter slinks about, looking you in the eye as it knocks your stuff off the desk and tramps across your keyboard. Across the other eight tracks, Thornton juxtaposes eight-bit squiggles, snatches of ambient melody, treated samples of his daughter’s voice, techno beats and machine detritus into a sometimes delirious delight. Quite lovely, though prone to scratching.

Andrew Forell

True Green — My Lost Decade (Spacecase)

My Lost Decade by True Green

Nine clever, loosely strung songs from Minneapolis novelist Dan Hornsby buzz and rattle like lost cuts from Pavement or Silver Jews. “My Peccaddilloes” is especially slanted and more than a little disenchanted, a rambling picaresque of guitars, drums and wheedle-y vocals. The chorus, if that’s what you call it, hits hard, though, “It’s a dog eat dog/said the dog with the taste for dogs/every man for himself/said the man for himself.” The music dissolves in your ears, mess of things that sting and bash and hum, but the lyrics are sharp and packed with reference. “You’re a hopeless diamond, and it’s rough,” yowls Hornsby in his kicked dog tenor, and that about sums it up.

Jennifer Kelly

Michael Zerang & Tashi Dorji — Schiamachy (Feeding Tube)

Sciamachy by Michael Zerang & Tashi Dorji

Sciamachy is named for the practice of fake fighting; if you make it to theater school, you might be able to take a class in it. The cover image augurs metal, but this mock battle between Tashi Dorji and Michael Zerang is improvisational to the hilt. What else can one do when faced with an instrument that’s one of a kind? Zerang is generally known as a percussionist, but on this occasion, he played something called Queequeg’s Coffin, which was devised to be both instrument and prop for a puppet theater performance of Moby Dick. It is a coffin-like box with a crank on one side, somewhat like a hurdy-gurdy without keys. It’s not precise, but it kicks up a great, raw racket of higher and lower pitches that sound like someone sawing open said coffin. Dorji’s response is to lean into texture, complimenting the coffin’s abrasive protests with Sonic Youth-like chimes, chain-in-the-skillet clanks and blinking feedback cadences. This music will have you picking imaginary splinters out of your clothes for the next week; how many records do you own that can make a similar claim?

Bill Meyer

[feedmethecat]

unsafe and insane

500 members options

Alley way toy (short story, dark sexual fantasy)

( Before you read, firstly, I'm a bisexual sub male, and this story will be written from the first person perspective of a male, and will feature sexual themes, a variety of kinks, of male/male interactions. Secondly, while I'd love to make this story a reality, this isn't an ad, it's a sexual fantasy. Third, and lastly, I'm fine with messages about this story, but please don't spam me for attention, I don't mind conversation but I get busy, I respond to people when I can, and sometimes it takes an hour or two.)

The walls practically thumped with the bear of the music. Before me the door, a blue steel door, with the word "EXIT" on it in big gray letters. I could honestly not give a fuck about the music. Some new age hip hop or something? I liked rock, metal, rap, I was a 90s child. The genre wasn't the problem, the only genre I didn't like was country, and even then I still listened to specific things like America "horse with no name" or Poor man's poison, or something. I just didn't care for new shit. I shoved the thought out of my mind, forcefully.

"Okay A- umm Amy!"

I said to myself, almost breaking a rule, I wasn't allowed to use my old name. In fact, like the other property around here I was dubbed nameless. We were only allowed to use girls names. Simple enough. There were a few others. Our "job" was simple, lure customers to the club. It wasn't a job, it was more a task, as we didn't get paid in a traditional manner. Some "gurls" walked out, and lead customers back by promise of a fun time, others promised a lap dance, and some got fucked in the bathroom. I however wasn't trusted to leave the club, and I was the low slut on the totem pole. So, instead, I was to be in the alley. I pushed the exit door open, and stepped outside. The alley way was fenced off, with barbwire at the top. I couldn't leave if I wanted to, well I could, I was actually very resourceful, but I didn't want to, regardless I wasn't allowed to leave. There was one lamp, pointed one direction in the middle of the alley, that barely lit anything, lighting only from the first 10 feet of the alley near to the side of the alley closest to the street. I walked from the lit side of the alley into the darkness.

I was wearing quite the get up, in fact, my outfit made me feel embarrassed, ashamed, it made me feel slutty, and sexy, I loved it. My stomach, and Lowe back were completely exposed, I was pretty skinny now a days, not starved, just on a strict diet. The top, my chest, was covered by a tube top, thin enough that if someone looked closely enough at the black material, they'd be able to make out the piercings on my nipples. My nipples felt perky, in the cold night air, it was could enough to see my breath. It was also cold enough that I felt shrinkage, the back band of my chastity cage felt more tight, while the head of my chastity cage felt a little loose. My small tip, felt numb. The shorts, my daisy dukes, were short enough, that you could clearly see my bulge in them, and the back part of them, a strand about half an inch thick, wouldn't have hid my buttplug if I bent over. They did nothing to ward against the cold. I also wore thigh high netting, matching netting gloves, which felt great. The only other thing I wore was a collar, literally, a dog collar, from Petco. Apparently mine was on clearance? It was a pink dog collar, with a pattern of dog bones on it, a little degrading, even had a dog tag on it, in the shape of a heart in a pink metal. No doubt, an oxidized titanium nitrate over aluminum, I was many things, including nerdy.

I checked my pockets, I had my cellphone, which very much worked and had cell service, in fact, given to me by my owner. Then I had a vape pen, which I absolutely hated, I liked cigars, cigarettes, but I wasn't allowed to have anything that'd leave a scent during operation hours. Lastly, I had a small pager. With a press of the red button, bouncers would be to my rescue. However, I could handle myself firstly, secondly I liked it rough. Satisfied that I had everything on my person, I leaned my back against the wall and waited.

The alley was dirty, and had a dumpster back there that had a bit of a smell. Part of why I chose the dark side of the alley was that it was the opposite side of the dumpster. The other reason, was an attempt at privacy. Plus I could only smell the city on this side of the alley. I was between two different brick buildings, and the other building was a "empty" building that housed us. It wasn't as big as the club, but we each had our bedrooms, and between the two floors of it, it housed 12 of us comfortably with our own rooms.

First person of the night, came out. All club customers were members, and had to get regular screenings, I also had to get regular screenings. I didn't have to worry about an STD. The rules were simple, I get fucked, I suck dick, they could cum in me, on me, piss in or on me, in me, write things on me with a marker, and I couldn't refuse. Not that I would. I was a rape toy, for members, male, female, whatever. They weren't allowed to beat or abuse me physically, however spanking my ass, groping, pinching, nibbling, bite marks, hickies, were very much allowed.

My cock twitched in its cage eagerly, and I felt arousal and anxiety wash over me. I spoke, calling out to the male.

"Hey sweety, I'm Cindy, and I like cock~"

I cat called, it was bad, it was corny, but they loved it. Which was good, because I was bad at flirting. I however wasn't bad at fucking. The man, looking to be an older, fatter white male, spoke.

"Yeah I bet you'd love my dick, you little fag, turn around and face the wall. "

I faced the wall, bending over, pressing my hands, chest, and face against said wall, an arch in my back. He couldn't wait, undoing his pants behind me, and then leaning himself over me, the warmth of his body against mine. He pulled my shorts down and panties away, revealing plugged ass. The slimy sensation of warm lube in my rear, mixed with the sensation of rubbing as he grabbed the plug. He ripped it out my ass like he was trying to start a lawn mower and I let out a loud gasp. Feeling a shooting sore pain, my left eye watering lightly. I felt an emptiness as I could feel my ring wink, my asshole flexing and twitching. The feeling of emptiness was immediately replaced by pleasure as he pushed his cock in, the tip spearing it's way up into my ass. There was no foreplay to it, it was just me getting used, he rammed all the way in as he gripped my hips. I grunted at the pressure as he gasped, my ass clenching eagerly on his cock. In, now he pulled back, and pushed in again, rapidly. He thrusted, into me, there a rhythm, fast, and steady, as he used me. I moaned, loudly, intentionally, I was a submissive little piece of fuck meat, and I wanted him to know it, I wanted him to feel like I was loving the ass raping, because I was, I enjoyed it. I didn't need to moab at all, I just did, I loved making doms feel like they were doing something to me, because they were, so while my moans were exaggerated, my pleasure wasn't.

He didn't last long at all, he stopped had groaned, pressing his member up me, as hard as he can, almost awkwardly pushing me into the wall, his cock tip twitch deep inside me and shot it's load. His member had been quiet large, and I loved it, but even if it hadn't been, I'd still have loved it. It was the fact I was being used, that I got off on. He drew a tally mark on my right ass cheek, and left, after fixing his pats.

I felt the humiliation hit me as my thoughts returned, the humiliation of being used, only increased my arousal. My poor dick, twitched in it's cage. I put the butt plug back up my ass and pulled my panties and shorts up. Thinking about my locked dick pressed up in its chastity. I was very horny. I had eight inches, which I was told was above average, but I didn't care about it. I had a few ex girlfriends who liked it, sure, however the thing I liked about my dick, was when it wasn't hard. When I was flaccid, I was actually small, very small. Small little balls, small little dick. Fully erect I was eight inches, but when I was flaccid like this, I was only a few centimeters, above average when erect, but below average when flaccid. Locked in chastity, it was a little clit. I repeated the phrase "little clit" in my mind several times, deriving arousal from it. I never stayed hard while getting fucked in my ass, but I enjoyed the chastity cage, as it drew attention to my member, and I love the humiliation, I craved it, being told it was tiny, a clitty, that I was less than a man, a micro dick, or a little baby dick. I shuttered in arousal at the thought. There'd be plenty of that this evening, hopefully.

I do have to wait much longer for the next person, a man, younger, black male, bike garb, black leather outfit. I could definitely dig it, when I was younger I wanted an outfit like that, like the terminator in t2, in an ironic way, one of my other outfits was black leather biker gear but it was more feminine and slutty. The man, had to be around his mid twenties. I was thirty, but I looked younger due to being feminized.

"Hey bitch, get down on your knees, and give me some love."

He got his pants undone and had his cock out when I dropped to my knees, on the dirty ally way ground. He pushed his dick and balls against my face, his limp member growing hard as I got a face full of his natural manly musk, his unshaven hairs, tickles my nostrils. I opened my mouth as he grabbed the back of my head. My mouth finding one of his balls, I sucked on it, moving my tongue around it, eagerly. I preferred when they shaved, because I didn't like swallowing hair, or getting on my tongue, however we don't always get what we want. Besides, hairy dick, was better than no dick. He stroked his member with one hand, while I played with his balls with my mouth. He pulled back, his twelve inch dick, now stiff. He slapped me in the face with it and spoke.

"Like that bitch?"

I replied.

"Yes sir."

He slapped me in the face with his dick, again, it was degrading, and I loved that too. He then tapped it against my cheek, despite my mouth being open. I tired opening wider, to see if maybe that'd get him to rape my little whore mouth. He smiled at that, but instead slapped me in the face with his member again. He then finally put his cock in my mouth, just the tip. He didn't move, the message was clear, I was supposed to do all the work, and I did. I started by licking and playing with the tip, eagerly, before moving down, using my spit to coat his dick as I bobbed up and down. Training and gotten rid of my gag reflex entirely. However I liked to intentionally choke on dick, do I did, forcing myself deeper, and clenching my throat, making myself choke and gag on his dick, I then pulled up, my drool coating his dick, and leaking around my lips, I was a cock hungry slut, and I enjoyed this as much as anal. He enjoyed it moaning, so I kept it up. My jaw was quickly getting sore, but I ignored my discomfort, deriving pleasure from being of use. For the better part of several minutes, this continued, until he stopped me, holding my hard down, I felt the familiar sensation, of a cock twitching in my throat, the warm sensation of him shooting semen down my throat, I swallow it, gulping it down, he the pulled out of my mouth, and I kept my mouth open, to show him I had swallowed it all.

"Keep your mouth open slut"

He said. His dick growing mostly flaccid. I knew what that meant. he aimed his member, with one hand, for my mouth, and let a hot stream of piss into my mouth he filled my mouth with piss, and I closed my mouth to swallow it, as I did, he aimed lower, pissing across my chest staining my clothes with the wretched sent of of usine, from someone who'd been drink alcohol. I shuttered and balked at the taste of piss in my throat, but leaned into the stream, as I opened my mouth, and closed my eyes, he had no problem, painting my face with it, and then he place this tip in my mouth, I closed my lips around it, and swallowed what he gave me, drinking mouthfuls of it. He finished, and pulled up his pants. Leaving me there. Despite being drenched in it, and the cold, I wasn't done, I wasn't allowed to be done.

I had all night to be used, and I could see more customers coming out to use me.

( There will be a part two, don't worry. I enjoy comments about it though. )

[your-darling-gaze]

Humming a tune, walking into the empty Stark Laboratory, whistling a tune as I settle down...

'J.A.R.V.I.S, come in, it's playtime...'

Monitor system buzzing, activating processing units...

Evening Ma'am. Feeling Creative, I see. How would you like your ambience, Miss Grace?

'What can I say, J, I'm in the mood for work tonight, Aren't you too? Smiles...Just play whatever Mister Stark has on his playlist...'

Noted. Now Playing- Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones

Going into Creative, Miss Grace...

'Restore all of the last few browsings and display into list, please.'

LAST BROWSINGS:

What are the fundamental principles for designing high-entropy alloys with superior strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance for specific applications?

How can we optimize the microstructure of metallic materials to achieve a balance between strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance for specific applications, such as aerospace and automotive?

How can we ensure the long-term durability and safety of nuclear power plant components, considering the harsh radiation and temperature environments?

What are the environmental impacts of metal extraction, processing, and recycling, and how can we develop sustainable strategies to minimize these impacts?

How can we effectively integrate advanced characterization techniques to understand the degradation mechanisms of metallic components in service, and use this knowledge to improve component life and reliability?

Smiles...

'Thank you, I'll be needing that next...Now give me....sustainable microfibre alloy proportions...'

Very Well. You will now need narrowing down from your records.

Iron-based alloys: Often used in machinery due to abundance and cost-effectiveness.

Nickel-based alloys: Known for high-temperature strength and corrosion resistance, suitable for nuclear components.

Titanium alloys: Lightweight and corrosion-resistant, but expensive. High-entropy alloys: Emerging class of alloys with potential for unique properties.

'Now give the proportions we've considered the last time we looked into our simulators, Only for....the Nickel Based Alloys, make a list...'

Looks over thoughtfully as the list is being formulated...scrolls down the list, switching screens on the holograms...

Monel: A nickel-copper alloy known for corrosion resistance. 63% nickel, between 29% and 34% copper, between 2% and 2.5% iron, and between 1.5% and 2% manganese.

Inconel: A family of nickel-chromium-based alloys, often used in high-temperature applications. 61% nickel, 22% chromium, and 9% molybdenum

Hastelloy: A group of nickel-based alloys with exceptional corrosion resistance in various media. Hastelloy C276, also known as UNS N10276, has the following chemical composition: Nickel (Ni): 57%, Molybdenum (Mo): 15–17%, Chromium (Cr): 14.5–16.5%, Iron (Fe): 4���7%, Tungsten (W): 3–4.5%, Manganese (Mn): 1% maximum, Cobalt (Co): 2.5% maximum, Vanadium (V): 0.35% maximum and Silicon (Si): 0.08 maximum

Incoloy: Nickel-iron-chromium alloys designed for high-temperature applications and resistance to oxidation. Nickel: 38–46%, Chromium: 18–22%, Iron: Balance, Aluminum: 0.3–0.7%, Titanium: 0.15–0.6%, Manganese: 1.5% max, Silicon: 1% max, Carbon: 0.05% max, Sulfur: 0.015% max and Phosphorus: 0.02% max

Smirks, clapping my hands twice, the data reducing to 17 little fragments of hologram, flicking away the unnecessary bits that remain of the non highlighted data...

Data Compiled, Miss.

'Yeah, good... you've been writting down what I've been saying while I was in the simulation unit the other day and today, haven't you...?'

Yes Ma'am.

'Turn all of that, into that research booklet we were asked for, so we can give him what....roughly, an estimated idea of the whole entire suit, merits and demerits, budgeting and assemblance...give him the blueprints too, at the end of it...I have a feeling this one will not... disappoint...'

Working on it, Ma'am.

Runs hands on my face tiredly, waiting for it to compile, drumming fingers onto the table, cracks neck, shifts head...

Report Compiled, Ma'am.

'Good boy, J. You've been a darling, tonight, great help, I can never thank you enough... sometime when you're human, or if...Imma owe you big time.'

No worries, Ma'am. You've been quite amazing to work with as well.

Smiles...

'Let's call it a night, J.A.R.V.I.S...Thank you...Good Night...'

Hologram goes off...

Goodnight Ma'am.

______________________________________

( @tony-starkinator @the-loss-of-my-life )

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #28

July 19-26 2024

The EPA announced the award of $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. The grants support community-driven solutions to fight climate change, and accelerate America’s clean energy transition. The grants will go to 25 projects across 30 states, and one tribal community. When combined the projects will reduce greenhouse gas pollution by as much as 971 million metric tons of CO2, roughly the output of 5 million American homes over 25 years. Major projects include $396 million for Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection as it tries to curb greenhouse gas emissions from industrial production, and $500 million for transportation and freight decarbonization at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a plan to phase out the federal government's use of single use plastics. The plan calls for the federal government to stop using single use plastics in food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035. The US government is the single largest employer in the country and the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services. Its move away from plastics will redefine the global market.

The White House hosted a summit on super pollutants with the goals of better measuring them and dramatically reducing them. Roughly half of today's climate change is caused by so called super pollutants, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Public-private partnerships between NOAA and United Airlines, The State Department and NASA, and the non-profit Carbon Mapper Coalition will all help collect important data on these pollutants. While private firms announced with the White House plans that by early next year will reduce overall U.S. industrial emissions of nitrous oxide by over 50% from 2020 numbers. The summit also highlighted the EPA's new rule to reduce methane from oil and gas by 80%.

The EPA announced $325 million in grants for climate justice. The Community Change Grants Program, powered by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act will ultimately bring $2 billion dollars to disadvantaged communities and help them combat climate change. Some of the projects funded in this first round of grant were: $20 million for Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, which will help weatherize and energy efficiency upgrade homes for 35 tribes in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, $14 million to install onsite wastewater treatment systems throughout 17 Black Belt counties in Alabama, and $14 million to urban forestry, expanding tree canopy in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The Department of Interior approved 3 new solar projects on public land. The 3 projects, two in Nevada and one in Arizona, once finished could generate enough to power 2 million homes. This comes on top of DoI already having beaten its goal of 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects by the end of 2025, in April 2024. This is all part of President Biden’s goal of creating a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged $667 million to global Pandemic Fund. The fund set up in 2022 seeks to support Pandemic prevention, and readiness in low income nations who can't do it on their own. At the G20 meeting Yellen pushed other nations of the 20 largest economies to double their pledges to the $2 billion dollar fund. Yellen highlighted the importance of the fund by saying "President Biden and I believe that a fully-resourced Pandemic Fund will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics – protecting Americans and people around the world from the devastating human and economic costs of infectious disease threats,"

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce today announced a $240 million investment in tribal fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. This is in line with an Executive Order President Biden signed in 2023 during the White House Tribal Nations Summit to mpower Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. An initial $54 million for hatchery maintenance and modernization will be made available for 27 tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The rest will be invested in longer term fishery projects in the coming years.

The IRS announced that thanks to funding from President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, it'll be able to digitize much of its operations. This means tax payers will be able to retrieve all their tax related information from one source, including Wage & Income, Account, Record of Account, and Return transcripts, using on-line Individual Online Account.

The IRS also announced that New Jersey will be joining the direct file program in 2025. The direct file program ran as a pilot in 12 states in 2024, allowing tax-payers in those states to file simple tax returns using a free online filing tool directly with the IRS. In 2024 140,000 Americans were able to file this way, they collectively saved $5.6 million in tax preparation fees, claiming $90 million in returns. The average American spends $270 and 13 hours filing their taxes. More than a million people in New Jersey alone will qualify for direct file next year. Oregon opted to join last month. Republicans in Congress lead by Congressmen Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Chuck Edwards of North Carolina have put forward legislation to do away with direct file.

Bonus: American law enforcement arrested co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. El Mayo co-founded the cartel in the 1980s along side Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Since El Chapo's incarceration in the United States in 2019, El Mayo has been sole head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities also arrested El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez. The Sinaloa Cartel has been a major player in the cross border drug trade, and has often used extreme violence to further their aims.

[katblu42]

Day 11 - Rocky Mountaineer part 1

I'm behind again! Mostly because I've been busy experiencing stuff, and not connected to tech!!

Anyway, Day 10 started pretty early - coach pick up at the hotel was 7:50am, but our luggage had to be outside our rooms for collection an hour before that.

Our coach was the first to arrive at the station, so we had about half an hour to hang around before the welcome (which involved bagpipes), and then boarding.

(This is a Gold Leaf carriage - I was travelling on Silver Leaf)

We set off at 8am, and while we were still slowly trundling out of Vancouver the first refreshments were served - coffee and tea, then a 2 course breakfast!

We had an unexpected and sudden stop when the emergency brake was pulled due to "an issue with the crossing ahead." Not sure what the issue was, but when the emergency brake is pulled the whole length of train has to be walked to check the brake has been released. I think we were stopped for about 10 minutes.

(The stop also caused a service cart at the back of our carriage to topple. These carts basically never to that, so this was definitely unusual according to our 3 cabin hosts!)

Not long after that we had a glimpse of Mt Barker (which is over the border in the US - Washington).

At this point I feel the need to point out 2 important things: 1. I took over 200 photos today 2. All photos were taken through the windows of the train, and are therefore subject to reflections off the glass - watch out for the little UFOs, they are reflections of the lights in the carriage ceiling!

I also should point out seeing mountains like these is kinda exciting for me - Australia's mountains aren't like this! And the train follows the Fraser River pretty closely. The grey-green colour of the water is apparently due to the sediments it carries - they never get a chance to settle.

Speaking of colours . . . this mixture of blues and greens is because it's part of where the Fraser meets the Thomson River, which the train then follows to our eventual overnight stop in Kamloops.

This train trip is like being in a moving restaurant - we were supplied with drinks and a snack, then a 3 course lunch by the time we hit this point!

Rainbow Canyon - the colours of the rocks caused by oxidation of iron, copper and sulfur (I think that's what they said!)

I was really on the wrong side of the train to get shots of the rapids on the Thompson, where some of the rocks have names! Can you spot the rock called the frog? (right pic above)

Murray Creek Falls . . .

On one of our many stops while waiting on a siding for a freight train to pass in the opposite direction, we had a Bald Eagle circling beside us. Not easy to snap pics!

Somewhere near Black Canyon we had one of the best chances to shoot pics of the front of the train - my carriage was the second last of 22 "pieces of equipment" (engine, carriages inc non-passenger cars), and the last passenger car. (I still had trouble getting a decent shot without reflections or telephone wires in the way!)

We spent much of the day spotting Osprey nests! (And one or two eagle nests)

Does anyone recognise Rainbow Bluffs? Apparently they appeared in the X-Files. (right pic above)

After many, many delays pulling into sidings for freight trains (the two I counted cars for were 150 and 194 cars long - so not short trains!), and our afternoon snack and drink, we finally came up along Kamloops Lake. Lots of winding track as the train closely follows the shoreline.

And that's my 30 image limit!

We were late getting into Kamloops - so many stops along the way we even got a second afternoon snack!! So, when we finally reached our hotels it was around 9pm. That's basically a 13hr train trip! Certainly not boring though.

[food-tips-4]

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India is one of the largest producers and exporters of sesame seeds. The increasing demand for sesame-based products, such as oils, tahini, and confectionery, has contributed to the growth of the Sesame Seeds Manufacturers in India. The country's favorable climatic conditions make it an ideal location for cultivating high-quality sesame seeds.

Export Quality Standards

VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd ensures that its sesame seeds comply with international export standards, making them a reliable choice among Sesame Seeds Suppliers in India. The company exports to various regions, including the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North America.

Sesame Seeds and Their Nutritional Benefits

Sesame seeds are a powerhouse of nutrients, offering multiple health benefits. Some key advantages include:

Rich in Healthy Fats: Sesame seeds contain high levels of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, promoting heart health.

High in Protein: They are an excellent plant-based protein source, ideal for vegetarians and vegans.

Packed with Antioxidants: The presence of lignans and phytosterols helps in reducing oxidative stress and improving overall health.

Supports Bone Health: Rich in calcium and magnesium, sesame seeds contribute to strong bones and teeth.

Regulates Blood Pressure: The high potassium content aids in maintaining healthy blood pressure levels.

VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd: A Trusted Sesame Seeds Brand in India

When looking for the best Sesame Seeds Brands in India, VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd stands out due to its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. The company’s dedication to sustainable and ethical sourcing practices ensures that every product meets the highest standards.

Why Trust VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd?

Sustainably Sourced: The company collaborates with local farmers to ensure sustainable cultivation practices.

Strict Quality Control: Each batch undergoes rigorous testing for purity, moisture content, and microbial safety.

Global Recognition: The company exports to several international markets, proving its credibility and trustworthiness.

Customer-Centric Approach: VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd focuses on customer satisfaction by providing premium sesame seeds at competitive prices.

The Role of Sesame Seeds in Various Industries

Sesame seeds are widely used across multiple industries, including:

Food Industry: Used in baking, confectionery, and cooking oils.

Cosmetic Industry: Used in skincare products due to their natural moisturizing properties.

Pharmaceutical Industry: Used in traditional and modern medicine for their health benefits.

Animal Feed Industry: An essential component in livestock feed due to its high protein content.

Final Thoughts

As a leader among Sesame Seeds Manufacturers, VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd continues to set the benchmark for quality and reliability. Their dedication to producing top-quality sesame seeds while maintaining sustainability and ethical practices makes them a trusted name in the industry. Whether you are a wholesaler, retailer, or consumer, VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd ensures that you receive the best sesame seeds available.

For premium sesame seeds from one of the most reputable Sesame Seeds Suppliers in India, look no further than VALENCY AGRO Pvt Ltd. Choose quality, choose trust, and choose the best sesame seeds brand in India.

For More Information Visit Here:-  https://www.valencyagro.com/

[overlooklab]

What is the Chemical Composition of SSD Solution?

SSD solution, often referred to as Super Solution D, is a specialized chemical mixture primarily designed for cleaning blackened or defaced currency notes. Originally developed for specific industrial and cleaning applications, SSD solution is now mainly associated with removing stains from damaged or dyed currency—though its use in this context raises notable ethical and legal considerations.

Chemical Composition of SSD Solution

The precise formulation of SSD solution remains proprietary for most manufacturers, but general components include powerful acids, bases, and complex solvents. Typically, SSD solutions include:

1.Mercury Dioxide – A component that aids in dissolving stubborn stains or inks by reacting chemically to break down color pigments. 2.Zinc Oxide – Often utilized for its bleaching properties, zinc oxide can assist in lifting discoloration from surfaces. 3.Humine and Vectrol Paste – Both chemicals are commonly found in SSD kits, acting as catalysts and enhancing the reactivity of the solution. In addition, SSD solutions may contain stabilizers and other specialized reagents to ensure a controlled reaction. Some mixtures incorporate trace amounts of other acids and solvents for better penetration into stains and contaminants on currency.

Applications and Uses of SSD Solution

The most recognized use of SSD solution is to restore banknotes, often used for blackened or “black money” cleaning. However, SSD solution has also seen use in metal extraction, specifically in the mining industry for extracting precious metals from ores, where the solution selectively dissolves metallic components while leaving other substances intact. This process is both economical and environmentally friendly for industrial applications.

SSD chemicals can also play a role in laboratory research, particularly in analytical chemistry and spectroscopy, due to their strong reactivity and ability to isolate specific compounds.

Legality and Ethical Issues

The use of SSD solution, especially in the context of cleaning “black money,” is highly controversial. Many countries classify the commercial use of SSD solutions as a restricted practice due to its association with illicit activities, such as money laundering and counterfeiting. Unauthorized use may violate local laws, and handling the solution improperly can expose individuals to serious health hazards due to its corrosive and toxic nature​.

Safety and Handling

Handling SSD solutions requires extreme caution, as exposure to the chemicals can lead to severe skin burns, respiratory issues, and even permanent eye damage. Professionals working with SSD chemicals are advised to wear protective gear, including gloves, eye protection, and masks, to prevent direct exposure.

Where to Buy SSD Solution

For legitimate industrial applications, SSD solutions and kits are available through specialized chemical supply companies. These companies generally verify customer credentials and often work under strict regulations to prevent misuse. Unauthorized purchase from unverified sources is not recommended, as it may lead to legal issues or involve counterfeit products.

For those seeking verified SSD solution providers, a reputable manufacturer and supplier of SSD chemicals is Overlook Laboratory. They offer a range of SSD solution products, backed by quality customer service and worldwide distribution. To inquire about their products or place an order, you can reach them at overlooklaboratory@gmail.com or Telegram https://bit.ly/4fQenBt

Conclusion

While SSD solution is a remarkable example of chemical technology with specific industrial applications, its association with currency cleaning has led to significant ethical and legal challenges. Proper use within legal parameters and careful handling are essential for those who work with SSD solutions in legitimate contexts.

[purox-23]

The Detailed Study of Tyre Cleaner in Kerala

Introduction

Tyre cleaners play a essential function in vehicle maintenance, making sure that tyres stay smooth, loose from dirt, and nicely-preserved. In Kerala, where numerous terrains and varying weather situations effect vehicle tyres, the demand for terrific tyre cleaners is step by step growing. This blog explores the significance, types, advantages, and fine tyre cleaners available in Kerala.

The Importance of Tyre Cleaners 

Tyres acquire dirt, dust, and dirt over the years, affecting both aesthetics and performance. Using an amazing tyre purifier no longer handiest enhances the car's appearance but also prolongs tyre lifespan with the aid of stopping harm caused by dirt buildup, oxidation, and dangerous street chemicals. 

Types of Tyre Cleaners Available in Kerala 

Foam-Based Tyre Cleaners - These are famous for his or her deep-cleansing movement. The foam lifts dirt and stains correctly and is simple to rinse off. 

Spray Tyre Cleaners - These come in aerosol cans and are convenient for quick cleansing with out water.

 Gel-Based Tyre Cleaners - Known for their long-lasting consequences, gel cleaners offer a wealthy shine and shielding coating.

 All-in-One Tyre and Wheel Cleaners - These are flexible options that smooth both tyres and rims, eliminating brake dust and dust. 

Key Benefits of Using Tyre Cleaners 

Enhanced Aesthetics: Provides a easy, sleek finish to tyres, giving the automobile a properly-maintained appearance. 

Protection from Wear & Tear: Reduces the impact of harsh environmental factors on tyre rubber. 

Improved Safety: Clean tyres ensure better road grip, reducing the hazard of skidding.

Prevention of Cracking & Fading: Keeps the rubber moisturized and guarded from UV rays.

Top tire cleaner available in Kerala Many brands provide premium tire cleaning solutions in Kerala. Some of the best options include: 

3m tire dresser - is known for its high brightness and durability. The Hot Shine Tire Foam 

 Meguer - Gives deep cleaning and long -lasting wet looks.

 Formula 1 Black Gold Tire Shine - provides excellent brightness and UV protection.

 Michelin Tire Shine - A reliable option for the results of professional -gradation. 

Sonax Xtreme tire provides a rich, deep-black glitter with gloss gel-refined security. 

How to choose the right tire cleaner in Kerala 

Consider climate: Given the humid conditions of Kerala, selecting a cleaner with anti-oxidation properties can help prevent rubber decline. 

Ease of application: Spray-based cleaners are convenient for quick cleaning, while gel-based cleaners provide a long-lasting glow. 

Chemical composition: Select environmentally friendly, non -toxic formulas to ensure safety and environmental stability. 

Purability: Some cleaners provide short -term brightness, while others provide long -term protection. Choose based on your needs. 

To buy tire cleaner in Kerala

 Tire cleaner automobile accessory shops, online marketplace and Kerala are available at leading car service centers. Popular platforms such as Amazon India, Flipkart, and Auto Care Stores such as Kochi, Trivandrum and Calicat provide a wide variety of tire cleaning products. 

Conclusion 

Investing in a quality tire cleaner is necessary to maintain the aesthetics and functionality of the vehicle tire. With several options available in Kerala, choosing the right product based on climate, convenience and durability ensures optimal results. Regular tire cleaning not only improves vehicle appearance, but also increases security and expands the lifetime of the tire.