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imabeautifulbutterfly · 2 months ago

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Hihi~

Congrats on your followers! It's super and you deserve every single one of them!!

For my quote, I'd like to offer, "The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain." For Fives or Crosshair with a Sith reader?

But only if you want!

❤️ - @vodika-vibes

@vodika-vibes thank you sooooo much for your request! This was different for me to write, I hardly write any Sith stuff, so I had to ask for some help from the lovely @firstofficerwiggles

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Love oo

What You Deserve

Warnings: Torture, blood, discussions of corpse, death, Sith!reader, implied Imperial!Cross, greed, possession, desire, implied desires, mention of hunting Jedi and sympathizers, I think that's it, if I miss any please let me know.

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Crosshair leaned against the wall as he watched you worked, it wasn’t that he particularly liked watching you torture a Jedi sympathizer to find information; but there was something about the way your eyes glowed orange when you really got into your work.

Maybe there was something wrong with him as Wrecker used to tease; otherwise, how could he have feelings for someone who was by all rights … evil.

He waited till you were completely done, before moving away from the wall, walking over to you. He gently passed you a towel to wipe away the sweat and blood that accidentally gotten on your beautiful face and neck from your torture. He watched as yours were no longer glowing, and returned to their normal colour, it didn’t really matter to him what colour they were, either way they were perfect.

“So did you actually find anything out?”

You huffed as you wiped your hands and your face in annoyance at the brutality you had to resort to, “There’s definitely an underground passageway. A hub of sorts, where they’re using transports to smuggle away Jedis and Jedi sympathizers.”

You let out a sigh, tossing the towel against the face of the now dead rebel. It hung over his head, his once recognizable face now completely beyond recognition along with his tortured body. It was a gruesome business, but that is what you were made to be.

“On the planet we found him?” Cross pointed to the corpse strapped to the table.

“Could be or that was just a way station. There is more to figure out.”

You motioned with your hand to the droids, turning them on as you both left, to get rid of the corpse that now lay mutilated ruining your beautiful table.

Crosshair simply nodded and followed after you out of the room, he was glad to leave the torture chamber there was always a heavy atmosphere making it difficult to breathe. “Can I ask you something?” He walked by your side as you both headed to the hangar bay.

“What is it, Crosshair?”

There weren’t many people you felt comfortable around, partially due to the fact you were a Sith, partly because you just didn’t like people, but mostly because you enjoyed being alone. At least when you were alone, you didn’t have to worry about sensing other people’s emotions or having to wait for the moment they decided to betray you.

However, with Crosshair you never had those fears, there was just a steady calming presence, it was as though he knew who he was without question.

Truthfully, you weren’t blind to see how he felt about you, and it’d been a long time since anyone showed interest in you, but what surprised you the most was the fact you felt the same. You enjoyed your conversations with him, enjoyed having him around, even enjoyed watching him chew on his toothpick.

You smirked, as you waited for Crosshair to ask you his question.

“Do you enjoy being a Sith?”

You froze in your step as you looked at him, “What?”

“Well it seems everyone views Siths as evil beings, just wondering if it bothers you.”

You hummed as you listened to his statement, he wasn’t wrong, everyone did view Siths as persona non grata, “You know history is never kind to the loser.”

Crosshair tilted his head as he looked at you, “What do you mean?”

"The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain. If Siths wrote the history books, Jedis would be the villains and Siths the heroes.”

He smirked as he nodded, he remembered Tech saying something similar back on Kamino, history should never be just from one side, to get a true perspective, you’d need to look at both sides of the coin, and everyone who was affected by the situation.

“Maybe you should write your own book then.”

“Maybe I will.”

Although both of you walked in silence, if anyone looked closely, they’d be able to see a slight smile in the corner of both your lips.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Crosshair reviewed the coordinates for the jump to hyperspace before punching it in, as his hand hovered over the hyperspace button.

You looked over at him, wondering if you were doing the right thing, you may have been born a Sith, but that didn’t necessarily mean this was the life you had wished for. Sometimes in the quiet of the night, when no one else was around, all you could think about was running away with Crosshair, living a peaceful life, somewhere no one would find you … you shook your head. That was a fantasy.

You’d done too much in this life to ever truly be free. You of all people didn’t deserve peace, or happiness.

He shifted, turning his head to look at you, a look on his face that said more to you than anyone else would have been able to detect. You could see the sparkle his eyes shined when he looked at you, the way the corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly, the way his breathing slowed down as though he tried to capture the moments that were just the two of you.

The more you looked at him the more you realized you didn’t care if it was something you deserved, you wanted to feel joy. To feel passion. To feel power. To feel possession.

In all honesty, you wanted him all to yourself, and that more than anything else sent a jolt of desire through you. Whether he would be happy being yours or not, didn’t matter. Because all that mattered was that you wanted him.

An overwhelming surge of want and desire ran through you, it drowned everything else. Your eyes focused on his lips, watching as they slowly moved, the toothpick in his mouth barely hanging on for dear life and yet he was able to keep it safe, with just the tiniest movement of his tongue. Your eyes bore into the pink flesh wondering so many thoughts you would never dare to utter.

Everything you experienced in that moment had felt as though a thousand years had passed, when you heard Crosshair call your name.

“Hmmm, sorry… what did you say?”

His eyes narrowed as he looked at you, “Are you okay? You looked sad and confused for a second. Everything okay?” Before you even realized, he reached across and held your hand, the warmth from his hand only confirming what you had felt only seconds before. You needed him. No. You wanted him. To keep him all to yourself.

“Yeah.” You closed your eyes and shook your head. “Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just sensed a disturbance, and got sidetracked. We should go.”

He nodded and ignited the hyperspace tunnel.

You leaned back in your chair watching him, realizing more than anything else, you were greedy to possess the man sitting beside you.

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tokidokitokyo · 9 months ago

Text

埼玉県

Japanese Prefectures: Kantō - Saitama

都道府県 (とどうふけん) - Prefectures of Japan

Learning the kanji and a little bit about each of Japan’s 47 prefectures!

Kanji・漢字

埼　さき、さい、みさき、キ　cape, spit, promontory

玉　たま、～だま、ギョク　jewel, jade; ball

県　ケン　prefecture

関東　かんとう　Kanto, region consisting of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures

Prefectural Capital (県庁所在地) : Saitama City (さいたま市)

Saitama is Tokyo's neighbor to the north. Much of southeastern Saitama is considered a suburb of Tokyo, but the western parts are mostly rural with mountainous forested areas, and include a castle town and the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park. Saitama has historically been a fertile agricultural region and is currently the major food supplier for the metropolitan area of Greater Tokyo. Some of the first currency in Japan came from copper discovered in the Chichibu area in the 8th century. Saitama's central location has made it a historical hub for transportation to all parts of Eastern Japan, and the modern radial roads and railroad system are designed for ease of transportation to all parts of Japan. Saitama is also the backdrop to the famous Miyazaki Hayao (Studio Ghibli) film "My Neighbor Totoro."

Recommended Tourist Spot・おすすめ観光スポット Kawagoe - 川越

Kawagoe

The Edo-period castle town of Kawagoe is also known as Ko-edo (小江戸 or "Little Edo") because of its many traditional buildings dating from the Edo period. The streets have been maintained as-is since the Edo period (1603-1867). The weekends are the most popular times for visitors to gather here and experience the atmosphere, shops, and popular seasonal events. In the third week of October, the Kawagoe Festival is held with a parade of traditional ornate floats and a musical competition.

The Warehouse District is lined with old earthen storehouses, which are unique two-story buildings that have remained unchanged since the days when the city was a major transportation and commerce hub for Eastern Japan. The Toki no Kane, or "Bell of Time," has marked time for the town for centuries, and continues to ring four times daily. Candy Street is a street lined with stores where traditional Japanese sweets are made in the old-fashioned way.

For more recent history, the Taisho-Roman Street has old, retro western-style buildings from the Taisho and Showa areas. There are also no overhead power lines, which makes this a popular spot to shoot many Japanese period films set in these eras.

There are severable notable temples and shrines in Kawagoe, especially Kitain Temple, which was built over 1,000 years ago. This temple has 538 stone statues of Buddha, each with its own face and unique posture. No two statues look alike, and the popular belief is that there is a statue to resemble any visitor to the temple. Kawagoe Hikawa-jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine dating back to the 6th century that boasts a torii shrine gate that is 15 metres tall. Kawagoe Kumano-jinja Shrine has fortunes, lucky charms, and also boasts the "stepping health road," which is a path to walk barefoot to stimulate the acupuncture points on the soles of your feet for health benefits.

Regional Cuisine - 郷土料理 Miso Potato - 味噌ポテト

Miso Potato (source)

Famous in the Chichibu region of Saitama, miso potatoes are a well-known winter treat in the area. This dish is similar to a baked potato covered in sweet miso sauce and is traditionally from the rural areas in the mountainous part of the prefecture. It is now a popular street stall snack that combines the sweet and savoury miso flavours with the earthy baked potato texture.

Saitama Dialect・Saitama-ben・埼玉弁

1. むじっけー　mujikkee　cute

むじっけー猫だね。 (mujikkee neko da ne)

Standard Japanese: かわいい猫だね。 (kawaii neko da ne)

English: What a cute cat.

2. ああみぃ　aahmii　no good, can't do it (also, ああみ, aahmi)

ごめん、明日ああみぃ。 (gomen, ashita aahmii)

Standard Japanese: ごめん、明日行けない。 (gomen, ashita ikenai) or ごめん、明日はダメ。 (gomen, ashita wa dame)

English: Sorry, I can't go tomorrow. or Sorry, tomorrow is no good.

3. かみぎっちょ　gamigiccho　lizard

庭のすみっこにかまぎっちょがいたで。 (niwa no sumikko ni kamagiccho ga itade)

Standard Japanese: 庭の隅にとかげがいたよ。 (niwa no sumi ni tokage ga ita yo)

English: There was a lizard in the corner of the garden.

4. うちゃる　ucharu　to throw away

そこにうちゃるなよ。 (soko ni ucharu na yo)

Standard Japanese: そこに捨てるなよ。 (soko ni suteru na yo)

English: Don't throw that away there.

5. こわい　～kowai　hard

このおせんべいこわい。 (kono osenbei kowai)

Standard Japanese: このおせんべい硬い。 (kono senbei katai)

English: This senbei is hard.

*Note: senbei is a Japanese rice cracker

6. えらい　erai　a lot

今日はえらい食べるな。 (kyou wa erai taberu na)

Standard Japanese: 今日はたくさん食べるな。 (kyou wa takusan taberu na)

English: Don't eat a lot today.

#japanese prefectures #日本語 #japanese #japanese language #japanese langblr #langblr #studyblr #都道府県 #埼玉県 #saitama

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mariacallous · 26 days ago

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BRUSSELS — While no European leader or bureaucrat has threatened to deport 20 million people or ban Muslims — except, perhaps, former President Donald Trump’s favorite European, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán — the European Union and Trump are closer on the issue of migration than words may suggest.

EU countries have individually pushed to crack down on migration after substantial surges in support for anti-immigrant parties in various European elections this year.

While they mostly eschew the racist, xenophobic rhetoric Trump uses to describe immigrants, in the cold, hard light of policy their positions are not all so different. At a meeting in Brussels, EU leaders spent hours discussing migrant processing centers, speedier deportations and “hybrid warfare” by hostile powers using migrants to destabilize EU countries.

“A new wind is blowing in Europe,” said the Dutch anti-Islam, anti-immigration populist Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders in Brussels on Thursday after a meeting of far-right leaders.

Migration has been at the forefront for Europe’s politicians since 2015, when more than a million migrants, many of them Syrians fleeing war, made their way to the bloc.

In the ensuing decade, the EU collective has shifted from the “we can do it” stance of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to trying to shoo new arrivals away from the EU border altogether. In 2023 fewer than 300,000 people made it to the continent; this year the EU’s border agency, Frontex, estimates about 160,000 migrants have reached Europe.

In recent months, nearly a dozen European countries have instituted some form of border restrictions in an attempt to deter migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Poland this month announced a temporary halt to processing asylum requests from migrants arriving from neighboring Belarus, invoking a security threat. Germany’s Olaf Scholz instituted border controls this summer to stop undocumented migrants from crossing into Germany after a Syrian man stabbed eleven people, killing three. Six other countries, including Italy, France and Austria, have introduced border checks.

Some analysts say if Trump were to return to the White House, it would put more wind in the sails of those who have matched and mirrored his administration’s ambitions on migration.

“Certainly, many member states that have pushed for a restrictive approach to migration will be watching the American elections very closely. This will give [EU countries pushing for more restrictions] further bargaining chips to push for their preferences both in the U.S. as well as in the EU,” said Alberto-Horst Neidhardt, head of European migration and diversity at the European Policy Centre.

Returns and deportations

The vague terminology around “return hubs” and “processing centers” mirrors Trump’s “Migrant Protection Program.” The initiative, colloquially known as “Remain in Mexico,” took effect in 2019 and forced tens of thousands of non-Mexican migrants back across the U.S. border to Mexico to await migration decisions there.

In a letter to leaders this week, Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s executive branch, endorsed the idea of what she called “return hubs,” buildings to detain migrants in non-EU countries. (Spain’s prime minister, a relatively lonely voice on the matter, on Thursday rejected the idea after the EU leaders met.)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has inaugurated “processing centers” in Albania where people headed to Italy will be transported — echoing Australia’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea to have their claims processed.

Meanwhile, France is pushing to change EU law to facilitate deportations to third countries. And the EU already has thousands of kilometers of physical fencing at its external borders — a setup that far exceeds Trump’s ballyhooed but abortive border wall with Mexico.

Some experts argue that the mainstreaming of hardline rhetoric is leading to policy changes that favor Europe’s right.

“If you listen to Orbán and Meloni at times and others like [France’s far-right leader Marine] Le Pen over the years, the rhetoric has been as harsh and as virulent as what we hear from politicians like Trump in the United States,” said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“There is an intent to make it sound like it’s legal, like it is in line with international law.”

The policy changes have similar aims to those of Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance: Reducing the number of new arrivals and sending people back to their countries of origin, even if those places are potentially unstable or unsafe.

“We have to recognize the current solutions don’t work,” said one EU diplomat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the conversation.

That is something Trump and many EU leaders would agree on.

What’s in a word?

The major difference, though, is in style and tone. Europeans tend to tiptoe around contentious issues.

Take the d-word: “Deportations.”

For Trump, who has vowed to deport between 15 and 20 million people from the U.S. if re-elected in November, using the word “deportation” is a badge of honor.

“Under the Trump administration, if you came in illegally, you were apprehended immediately and you were deported,” the Republican presidential hopeful crowed at a rally in July. “That’s why, to keep our family safe, the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”

For European leaders and officials, though, the d-word (which is linked, for many in Europe, to Nazi deportations to death camps during World War II) is almost taboo. The bloc’s officials speak gingerly of “returns” or “return hubs” to describe the enclosed camps or detention centers they’ve set up outside the EU.

And when it comes to describing how migrants reach its borders, EU leaders tend to tread carefully again.

While Trump has no qualms about qualifying some migrants as “illegal” and decrying “illegal immigration,” in the EU migration that doesn’t come via airports or other official routes is officially described as “irregular.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the one EU leader to buck the trend, doing away with European niceties and fully embracing Trump-style rhetoric, and straight-up villainizing migrants with his right-wing nationalist stance. The strongman leader vowed earlier this month to bus migrants to Brussels, copying a similar vow by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who sent migrants in his state to Martha’s Vineyard, a posh vacation spot in Massachusetts.

“I have been chest-deep in the bloodbath of the migration debate for quite some time,” Orbán recently told a press conference in Brussels, channeling Trump.

Forging ahead

But it’s not all smooth sailing for Europe’s migration hardliners — some leaders are facing setbacks in real time.

This week, Meloni proclaimed Italy’s migration policy “a model for Europe.” But on Thursday, while she gathered with other European leaders in Brussels, her offshore detention centers in Albania hit their first hurdle.

Four of the 16 migrants sent to Albania have already been put on a boat back to Italy because they were children or were considered vulnerable (only male adults who are not considered vulnerable can be taken to Albania after a screening at sea under Italy’s own rules).

Opposition groups and NGOs immediately called the project a failure.

“It will have very real consequences on people around the world, potentially, because those other countries look at what the EU is doing to them and say, well, you know, why should we guarantee people’s rights?” said Sunderland from Human Rights Watch.

The bigger concern, for some critics, is that harsh rhetoric and measures on migration will open the door to other policies.

“Migration has really become a Trojan horse for conservative forces to then push an agenda that goes beyond migration,” said the European Policy Centre’s Neidhardt.

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yourpicasso25 · 5 months ago

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Place Desmoules: Enjoy French city living!

Hi guys!

So, today, only one lot... But it's a beast of a lot!

Wecome to Place Desmoules, one of the main urban (and let's face it, exceedingly French) hub of Vogoelian activities that don't involve fish.

Well, mostly. I've had sea food adventures before, so I wouldn't bet too much on the doctor and the pharmacy about that. But otherwise? all clear.

So, as you can see, we have the Petit Corse restaurant RH on one side. It goes well with the town, and let's face it, I'm not a fan of herding cats, so the TS3 restaurants efforts never filled me with joy.

But there is plenty more action!

So, pharmacy, with shop AND lab at the back.

Next door:

It's a big shop, empty at the moment because I intend to do a kind of mini departement store in there, but there is already enough CC in there.

So I left it empty, and then we can all run amok with our stuff as we like (Hello, Pat!)

Then we get to the back, Place Desmoules, with a nice café and a beauty salon, before going to your medical appointement (and of which I forgot to take a photo, crappydoo)

Well, it's up there on the first floor.

Anyway, once you've done all that hard work, you might notice a little place:

What is this mysterious (and slightly scary) place?

Welcome to La Trompette Bouchée, the local jazz club, with local artists and also local and maybe fishy snacks.

Very atmospheric.

With quite a big scene, so if there is a passing acrobat or magician...

And while we're doing the bird view of things:

As you may have noticed, there are more Frenchy lots awaiting, some residential with PNG lodgins and attachet business... but also WIP at the moment.

Now, most of the chucktown of CC in there is @aroundthesims... I've haven't down loaded everything, but close.

Oh, and while I'm at it. Place Desmoules?

Well, first, I have a thing for silly French puns, so you have to suffer. Sorry not sorry.

Second, story time:

I told you, Vogoel les Mouettes had a small Pirate problem, some time ago...around 260 of those, which lands us in 1764.

King Louis XV "le bien aimé" who at the time was getting on years, and a nation who had an incredible sense of style (my fafourite!), but a lot of money problems.

Just to say that Pirates in the Caraibianswe can deal (by ignoring it, mostly), but right next door? soething had to be done.

Enter one pink satin frocked Pierre Desmoules, Chevalier du porte Jarretelle, to command an army... well, a flotilla... 3 ships? AND to solve the problem.

When the Pirates stopped laughing he got trounced.

Now, never underestimate the guile of a French aristocrat when his wallet is at risk. Pierre Desmoules brevet de Capitainerie may have been spanking new (and expensive), but he was not an idiot.

So he made a deal with the Pirates.

The Pirates kept pirating, and Pierre not looked the other way, but transported the goods to be sold on the mainland (for a small cut of profit, of course)... since the goods suddenly became legal, they fetched a far better price than stolen merchandise, and everybody was happy.

The king had "beaten" the Pirates, said Pirates made tons of cash, and papa Desmoules, a sea trader, had a lot of fine stock to sell.

End of story, but we are likely to meet the Desmoules family again in the future.

In the meantime, have a nice week you guys!

#sims 3 #sims 3 build #ts3 #vogoel les mouettes

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tealin · 1 year ago

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Antarctic Food

Below you will find my account of eating at McMurdo, but PBS did a whole special on it which has more privileged access and, like, moving pictures and stuff. I highly recommend watching that if you're at all interested in the food question.

As other pleasures in life are restricted or eliminated, food gains significance beyond mere nutrition. When removed from the comforts and diversions of civilisation for months or years at a time, polar explorers had to pay particular attention to the culinary side of their enterprise. Scott learned this the hard way on the Discovery, when their cook was so bad he was sent home after the first year and others took over his job in shifts. Shackleton, on his second visit to Antarctica, brought all sorts of tinned delicacies, and left a lot of them behind in his hut at Cape Royds, which the Terra Nova men would raid on day trips from Cape Evans. Scott was much more careful with his choice of cook on his second expedition, and in his journal he continually praises Clissold's cooking – though Atkinson, writing for a publication he knew no one would read, says that Archer (the ship's cook, who filled in after Clissold was invalided home) was a far superior chef, and made the miserable second winter that much more bearable.

The expeditions of the early 20th Century brought down crates and crates of imperishables – tinned vegetables, powdered milk and eggs, and dry goods like flour, sugar, and tea. These were necessary, of course, but were ultimately supplemental to the core of their diet, which was the produce of Antarctica itself. In fact, in a letter laying out contingency plans if the Terra Nova Expedition were stranded in Antarctica, Scott says not to worry for their safety because the continent provides enough food to keep a party happily fed; they would only be wanting the comforts of a civilised menu. Mostly what the continent provided was seals, whose meat (especially livers) contained enough Vitamin C to stave off scurvy, but penguins and their eggs also regularly passed through the kitchen, and the contents of the marine biologist's net – once properly enumerated and dissected, of course – would often end up in the frying pan. The Notothenia fish was commonly eaten at breakfast, appreciated for its 'sweet' and 'nutty' flavour. Notothenia’s claim to fame is the sugar in its blood that acts as an antifreeze, so this is hardly a surprise.

Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty forbidding the killing of animals for consumption, modern Antarctic larders are not stocked with local wildlife, and as far as I know, no one down there now has tasted the sweetness of Notothenia. They do, however, have the advantage of modern transport and food storage, not to mention a century's worth of advances in the study of nutrition, so the diet of the present-day Antarctican is fresher, healthier, and much more diverse.

McMurdo Station's annual food supply arrives in one lump delivery, every January, on a big cargo ship from California. From the harbour where the Discovery berthed, it goes into climate-controlled storage, either to the dry goods store or to the freezer, which is a whole building off the cafeteria in the main station hub. A freezer, in Antarctica? Why, yes, because food safety regulations require frozen food to be kept at a constant temperature, and the only way to ensure that is to build an enormous manmade freezer in the land of ice and snow. In the summer, temperatures at McMurdo will wander around freezing, so this is entirely practical, but for much of the year, it's actually warmer inside the freezer than outside.

The modern Antarctic commissariat is not entirely divorced from its Edwardian predecessor, though – frozen vegetables taste fresher than tinned, and are more nutritious and palatable, but they are not fresh; powdered milk and powdered eggs are still the status quo. During the summer, perishable groceries – called 'freshies' – come down on the flights from New Zealand, if there is room after the passengers and equipment are loaded. After a month of flight cancellations, fresh apples and oranges are greeted with as much delight as they were on the arrival of relief ships in the Heroic Age, and the appearance of a salad bar in the Galley prompts general rejoicing.

The US Antarctic Program has its roots in the Navy, and McMurdo is still provisioned by one of the big firms that supplies the US military. Having had experience with industrial-scale American catering in California, I had moderate expectations of the quality of food at McMurdo, but it was surprisingly good. One might argue that the excitement of being there and the daily energy expenditure would be a good sauce for anything, and this may be true, but against this I would argue that dry air impedes one's ability to taste – that fact it was so flavourful at all is significant. People kept apologising for the food in the Galley and I kept telling them, earnestly, that it was better than the food in the Disney commissary. They didn't believe me, but I firmly attest this; I ate at Disney on my return journey and have confirmed it by direct comparison. I know they were working with roughly the same quality of ingredients, but the chefs at McMurdo reliably made things delightful to eat, which is more than I can say for the other place. Why this should be is anyone's guess ... Working as a Galley Rat is one of the few ways enthusiasts can get down to the Ice, so it's full of keen, intelligent, and curious cooks, and maybe that rubs off on the food. There are people who come back to tackle the unique challenges of Antarctic cuisine year after year, so maybe they're more experienced and invested in the job. My personal theory is that because they have to eat the food, too, of course they're invested in making it tasty – I suspect the folks behind the counter in LA have much better meals waiting for them when they get home.

Mealtimes follow a strict schedule:

5:30-7:30 Breakfast (many a time I missed the cutoff, woe)

11:00-13:00 Lunch

17:00 to 19:30 Dinner. There was always a portion of the cafeteria serving breakfast food at this time; this was reserved for the night shift workers, who got a reprise of the day shift's dinner for their lunch. If you really liked whatever was served for dinner, nothing could stop you coming around again for another go at midnight.

The one exception to this was Sunday, when a brunch would be served from 10 to 12. The service in the chapel started at 10 as well, and was very weak competition. Brunch was always excellent, and being the single day off, was often where one would meet up with people who were too busy during the week.

If you failed to make a mealtime for any reason, there was always something on offer. A fridge would be stocked with packaged leftovers, sandwiches, and other food-to-go – when I had a day out, I would eat breakfast and then grab my lunch from this fridge. On one occasion, dinner included fried okra (one of my faves, rarely had outside the States) and after stuffing myself with it, I nabbed two or three extra portions and cached them in my dorm room mini-fridge to enjoy later.

In a challenging environment, with a lot of people doing energy-intensive jobs, calories are important. There was only one rule regulating portions: Take what you want, but eat what you take. With a finite amount of food on hand, and delivery only once a year, food waste is anathema – if you need it, then eat it, but do not throw any away.

The menu seemed to originate with whatever presented itself in the enormous freezer, though perhaps in November and December it was dictated more by what remained in it, prior to the new shipment. We didn't suffer for want of variety, though: if anything, we benefited from a surfeit of prawns, including great bowls of them at Sunday brunch. I found myself wondering if the US military had a contract for most of the catch from the Gulf, and how much of their famously inflated budget went into that; I suspect, in reality, the kitchen just hit a seam of prawn in the recesses of the freezer and had to use it up. As a devotee of all shapes of sea bug, I was in seventh heaven, and did my level best to help McMurdo clear the surplus.

Once new food was defrosted and cooked up, it would cascade through various dishes down the week, as leftovers were repurposed to minimise waste. Usually this was successful, but sometimes they had to try a little harder ...

A variety of cuisines were offered, some of which were more successful than others. They seemed to reflect the makeup of the US military, for whom the rations would have been designed. The best dishes were the meat-and-potatoes variety (my minder said that if she were on Death Row, she'd ask for McMurdo Pot Roast for her last meal), Italian, Southern (see above re: okra), and what I assume was Tex Mex – the only misstep on the last count was an almost inedibly hot 'taco soup' which may have been more of a delivery vehicle for leftovers than an intentional dish. The only disappointments were anything attempting to be Asian, and the fish, which, due to the circumstances, was always overcooked. Provision was always made for vegetarians and even vegans, but I can't say I noticed many people adhering strictly to those diets. I suppose if the animals are already dead and in the freezer, there's little difference whether you eat them or not.

There was also, always, pizza. It was left in one of those tiered heated racks like you get at a buck-a-slice takeaway pizzeria, but this was no buck-a-slice pizza, this was McMurdo pizza, and McMurdo pizza is AMAZING. My brother-in-law's cousin went to super legit pizza school in Naples, and gets queues down the street wherever he opens a pizzeria. He makes the best pizza I have ever had anywhere; McMurdo’s wasn't quite as good as his, but it was pretty darn close. It's a testament to how good the rest of the food was that I didn't just have pizza for every meal. The pizza kitchen runs 24 hours a day, and takes orders for pickup from all across the base. If you're flying out to a field camp, it's good manners to take their pizza order and deliver it to them hot and fresh. For all the advances in food technology since the Heroic Age, surely the greatest has to be the McMurdo Pizza.

We were reminded constantly how important hydration was, and the Galley offered a range of liquids at all hours. To my surprise, what looked like a soda fountain offered not pop but fruit juice – grapefruit, orange, cranberry, and apple, though one or more often ran out before the end of breakfast. There were enormous urns of extremely weak coffee – a provision, I supposed, for its diuretic effects – though with 10-hour workdays and very early starts, a little more oomph would have gone a long way. Experienced hands, and those of discerning tastes, brought their own coffee or sourced it somehow from the stores. The kitchenette in the Crary library was full of people's personal coffee-making supplies as they sought a more effective brew.

I had been warned that if I liked tea, I should bring my own; this was a sound warning, as the black tea on offer looked and smelled as though it had been on a shelf for about a decade. What I had not been warned about was that the only 'milk' on hand for one's coffee or tea was, in most places, 'coffee whitener', a ubiquitous Americanism which I'd completely forgotten about (or supressed?) since moving away. For those who've not had the privilege of its acquaintance, this is a blend of margarine, sugar, synthetic vanilla, and titanium dioxide, rendered into a powder by some unknown chemical process and packaged up to pass for milk. (I think it might be illegal in Europe. I've certainly not seen it around.) The Galley had the base's only dispenser of actual mammalian lactation – reconstituted from powdered, of course. If I were to go again, I would bring a small bottle to fill there with 'real' milk, which I could take away for tea purposes elsewhere. There were boxes of UHT milk available for purchase in the shop, and had I been staying longer I might have invested in some, but for just a splash per cuppa, it hardly seemed worthwhile.

The undisputed star of the Galley was the soft serve ice cream dispenser, named Frosty Boy (or Boi), an ancient beast that was such an institution that it was rumoured the USAP had bought another one from a junkyard just for parts. The Thing to Do was, instead of putting milk or coffee whitener in your coffee, to use a dollop of Frosty Boy instead – I'm not sure which end of the dairy/non-dairy spectrum his product was nearest, but it did go well in the coffee, such as it was. More often than not while I was there, Frosty Boy exuded only a watery splutter rather than creamy delight – even when he was working, the product was rather gritty – but I was assured he was just going through a phase, and would be right again soon. I got the impression that if anyone tried replacing the machine with something more reliable, or which produced something more resembling ice cream, there'd be a protest. We shall see if Frosty Boy survives the station revamp, as the NSF seems keen to scrub out any vestiges of character ...

I have brought two things back from the McMurdo Galley, and they're things that go right back to the beginning: powdered milk and powdered egg. Even when I'm near a shop with both in fresh form, it's convenient to have the powdered on hand for recipes. I really only use milk to splash in my tea and coffee, so don't keep a large amount in my fridge, but recipes often call for far more than I have – so instead of making a trip for the extra, I can just mix it up on demand. I've also taken on the Perpetual Yoghurt: McMurdo makes its own yoghurt from its vast reserves of powdered milk, using a bit of the last batch to inoculate the next, and it turns out this is perfectly doable at home, too. Eggs eaten as eggs are better fresh, of course, but when providing structure in a recipe, no one's going to notice if they've been reconstituted, and then I can save my 'real' eggs for when they'll be appreciated. It's a good system, and economical, too. Alas, the pizza isn't as easy to replicate at home ...

For more information on McMurdo food – The Antarctic Sun newsletter put out this podcast: https://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/4329/ I didn't mention how good the desserts were; I was lucky enough to share my time at McMurdo with Rose McAdoo, who was featured in this story on NPR: https://text.npr.org/779463164

#antarctica #food #mcmurdo station #cuisine #resourcefulness #powdered milk #frosty boi #pizza

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probablygoodrpgideas · 3 months ago

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Ecaz: The first resettled planet, where a group of settlers landed after their 2000 year journey from earth to discover it and other planets had already been settled by other humans but all of those humans had disappeared, alongside earth. The political capital of Union and by far the most populated planet (almost half of the population of Union). The headquarter of GMS is located here

Ungungi: A planet very rich in metals and minerals leading to a massive mining industry and great wealth. Organized into city states.

Manitou: A fertile planet full of life, some of which clearly imported from earth while some might be native or bioengineered. The land is collectively owned and divided into several democratic nations

Wakan Tankan: A planet that was full of abandoned research facilities. All of them have been bought by SSC

Luna: After Earth disappeared, the moon started orbiting the sun instead. It also has 5 blinkgates while all other planets have 1 at most, making it a hub for transport and commerce (and the headquarters of IPS)

Athena: A fully militarized planet owned by Harrison Armory. Pre-union, they had subjugated other planets for supplies, now they rely on trade. They have a weapon that can destroy planets but using it would be expensive enough that it's almost guaranteed to never happen again.

Ahura Mazda: The planet where the first mechs were constructed. It is run by Northstar and its organization resembles a feudal system, with mercenary lords being assigned specific sectors of the planet and the rest of Union where they are allowed to take mercenary contracts.

Tiamat: An ocean planet with artifical islands, some underwater cities, and supermassive ships. They mostly export seafood and salt. Live there is isolating, so the Internet is huge, which, alongside a huge surpolus of energy from geothermal activity, lead to it being the cultural capital of Union and the planet with the highest percentage of HORUS members. The government is run by NHPs but has some human oversight.

#these are only the 8 most important planets i might post more if people are interested

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fatehbaz · 1 year ago

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[T]he advent of imperialism in Myanmar. [...] [An] episode in the history of the ecological impact of imperialism [...]. During the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, Myanmar [British "Burma"] became one of the world's biggest exporters of hardwoods. [...] The rapid development of the timber industry was a vital motor in the expansion of capitalist and colonial relations in this often neglected corner of the Raj. Teak traders financed from Britain were vocal in lobbying Westminster and the [British] Government of India to colonise the [...] territory [...]. Following the eventual annexation of upper Myanmar in 1885, they continued to inveigle the local government into interceding on their behalf in the borderlands [...]. The booming rice industry developed alongside the growth of the teak industry [...]. Like teak extraction, rice cultivation in Myanmar was of transnational importance.

The rich alluvial soil provided fertile ground for the Ayeyarwady delta to undergo a dramatic transformation to become the largest rice-producing region in the world, having a ripple effect across the global cereal market. The white rice exported from Myanmar fed colonised labouring peoples (and some non-human animals) engaged in commodity production across the Empire, most notably in neighbouring Bengal. The delta was crucial to an interdependent network of food security established through and underpinning British imperialism.

The changes on the delta itself were profound, both socially and ecologically. [...] [F]rom the 1850s what was still predominantly a mangrove-forested backwater at the margins of political power became a febrile hive of activity.

Sparsely populated, isolated hamlets, hemmed in by the thick jungles and thickets of dense grass in the tidal delta, became enmeshed in an extensive tapestry of paddy fields, their populations growing fivefold to become thriving commercial hubs, connected by a busy riverine transport network to the bustling imperial port cities of Akyab (now Sittwe), Mawlamyine and Yangon. [...] Thick forest needed to be felled, the undergrowth burnt, and the remaining dense network of roots dug out [...]. Even then, they were in a precarious position. [...] This work was underpinned by heavy borrowing, mostly from local Burmese and overseas Indian sources, and misfortune could lead to them defaulting on their loan and losing their land to their creditor. [...] [P]rimary producers did not retain the wealth generated through rice production, and many agriculturalists were in a vulnerable position when the market went into crisis in the early 1930s. [...]

---

All text above by: Jonathan Saha. “Accumulations and Cascades: Burmese Elephants and the Ecological Impact of British Imperialism.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 32, pp. 177-197. 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

#ecology #abolition #landscape #elephants #tiger #indigenous #multispecies #colonial #imperial #tidalectics #archipelagic thinking #carceral geography #geographic imaginaries #victorian and edwardian popular culture #haunted

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druidx · 16 days ago

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Silverhooks and Strongmount Districts

Silverhooks and Strongmount are two twin districts in the outer ring of Toreguard which butt up against the West Canal Trunk.

This makes both districts strongly predisposed to the movement of goods. However, wealth in Toreguard tends to travel from the inside out. So while Strongmount deals with prime goods, Silverhooks deals with more basic ones. Both districts also have shipwrights available - however, traveler beware, one is more likely to be swindled West of Shiverstaff Bridge...

In particular, Silverhooks has developed into a hub for fishers, gutters, net and line makers, and other sundry associated industries. The fish are either river-caught, or are transported from Navale, on the coast, using magical freezing techniques. While there are many fish markets scattered around the district, the majority of the fish prepared here is taken by barge into the center rings of the city.

Due to these industries, one can also find several small chapels and temples in this district dedicated variously to:

Solinthar - Patron of Mariners,

Hydana - God of All Waters,

Aqualis - God of Rivers,

Deep Sashelas - God of the Oceans,

Sukh - God of Storms,

Ichthys - God of Fish and Lord of Sea Creatures

Silverhooks, partly due to its high population density being squished against the outer city wall, also has a rather unsavory reputation. Buildings are shabbier, certainly, but the people being rougher is no more true than any other district of the city where wages are low and the cost of living high.

Strongmount, by comparison, is far better off. The homes are larger, all buildings have better upkeep and are less packed. This is mostly to do with the presence of several large merchant complexes, owned by influential families, which can be found on both banks of the Strongmount Canal. These merchants deal with higher priced goods far in excess of what a labourer of either district could normally afford. They bring the goods in, sort, then redistribute either via the main trunk, or overland through the Western Inner Gate (out of frame for this map).

The secondary reason for the lower density in Strongmount is the influence of an Elven commune. It is no secret that Elves revere nature and have brought several 'isles of green' into Toreguarde. One such is this commune, a long strip of green all along eastern edge of the district, against the inner wall. While it may seem just as cramped as it's twin in Silverhooks, this is majoritively down to the presence of trees and bushes which scatter the area.

While the commune itself stretches the length of the inner wall, it starts by the waters edge, where devotees of Yondalla - sometimes revered as the separate goddesses Iatro, of healing, & Usrel, of peace, - grew Her church. The clerics here are well known throughout Toreguarde as the best healers and midwives. While this reputation allows them to charge much higher than the going rate for their services, rumour has it they will never turn away a sick child. In addition to the healers in the church, there are many apothecaries and herbalists in the Eleven commune who also ply their trade, often for a much smaller sum.

#meta writing #FF headcanon #fighting fantasy #titan fighting fantasy #meta wandering words #Can I just say - Titan has a fuck-off huge pantheon. and then we combined it with D&D3e. There are so many deities y'all #I ponied up the cash to buy the pro version of inkarnate for a year. I'm glad I did because the maps now look way better #even if tumblr has compressed it so it looks iffy :(

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sepdet · 1 year ago

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(I don't usually break copyright for journalists, who deserve to make a living through their writing the same as other authors, but this paywalled article mentions a few native Hawaiian relief efforts that need funding)

Native Hawaiians organize aid for Maui fire victims as government lags

Reis Thebault, Washington Post [12Aug 2023]

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas.

Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals. And each one was greeted by two dozen people, the first among them wading waist-deep into the ocean to retrieve provisions from the boat and pass them down the chain, which wound its way to shore.

[Hawaii utility faces scrutiny for not cutting power to reduce fire risks]

The entire operation buzzed with urgent efficiency. But this was not the National Guard, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nor state or local government. This was scores of residents, led mostly by native Hawaiians, who had battled immense grief and unreliable communications to coordinate a large-scale disaster relief effort serving everyone in need after Tuesday’s ruinous Maui fire.

And this, a parade of boats that brought desperate locals thousands of pounds of supplies, was one of many.

“There’s no government agency helping us — this is it,” said Jareth Lumlung, a native Hawaiian who helped arrange the de facto donation hub. “This is our home, our community.”

[Live updates on Hawaiian wildfires]

In the days since a ferocious wildfire decimated whole swaths of Maui, including the historic west island town of Lahaina, those who live here have said they’ve received little help from the county and state, small entities which are struggling to respond to an unprecedented calamity.

For people whose cultural traditions have been threatened by American colonization and the state’s embrace of tourism and development, government help was never expected. Instead, the community has relied on itself.

Many, native Hawaiians in particular, see the absence of visible official support as a continuation of long-standing frustrations and pain, which began with the destructive arrival of Europeans and lives on in struggles over water rights.

The displacement of native Hawaiians is a particularly acute concern now, as much of the island has been targeted for gentrification, driving up the costs of living and forcing many native Hawaiians to move to mainland cities like Las Vegas.

[After five hours in ocean, Maui fire survivor is ‘blessed to be alive’]

Government officials have said they were focused on putting out the flames, housing and feeding survivors in evacuation centers outside the burn zone, protecting damaged areas, clearing roads in and around the town and helping to restore essential utilities. Some of the aid is out of reach of survivors, however, because they lack transportation or working phones to alert them about services. In Lahaina, the private efforts have been more visible, survivors said.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) estimated that nearly all of Lahaina had been destroyed. But in Kahana, the town’s spirit remained completely alive.

“If you take away all Hawaiians, there’ll be no more Hawaii,” Lumlung said. “It’ll be just a place. This is what it’s all about right here. We’re all raised the same way; this is something that’s just naturally instilled. You don’t have to be asked to do these things.”

Residents gather at Napili Plaza in Lahaina, Hawaii, to connect to Starlink satellites to contact their loved ones on Friday. (Mengshin Lin for The Washington Post)

The supply boats began arriving on Wednesday, as first responders were still battling the blaze and recovering bodies amid burned-out homes and businesses. Two days later, they hadn’t slowed. On Friday, they began arriving early, and volunteers had tents set up to sort the goods: a pile of men’s pants here, a pyramid of diapers there and vast mounds of bottled water.

“We lost everything. We lost our town,” said Jerica Naki, whose home in Lahaina was destroyed. “That’s why we’re here.”

On this day, the volunteer boats largely came from neighboring islands, Oahu and Molokai, northwest of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago, traveling far on choppy seas. Naki was helping sort donations and she described an emotional whirlwind, from escaping with nothing to seeing a staggering amount of volunteer support for those who have been displaced like her.

[These maps show where wildfires are burning in Hawaii]

“A lot of us are born and raised here,” Naki said, looking around as the chain of volunteers hauled in boxes of tinned sausage. “There’s a l xd ot of pride in Lahaina, so it hurts, a lot. But this is all we have here now, each other, and we’re making do.”

As the response has worn on, the greatest needs have shifted. There is now plenty of nonperishable food and bottled water. Generators, fuel and Starlink satellite internet systems would be most useful, volunteers say.

Sheryl Nakanelua knew instinctively where she needed to go when she fled her Lahaina home as flames spread. She made her way to Kahana and set up a tent across from Lumlung’s house, where she’ll stay until her family is let back into her subdivision, one of the few that was spared.

“This is our family place, it’s home,” she said of the Kahana neighborhood. “This is the best part to be at. It’s what’s keeping us positive.”

Other such spots have popped up. Napili Plaza, once a destination for groceries, ribs and tattoos, is now a donation drop-off center. And some 100 cars lined up for free gas near the town’s former railroad station. Coordinating the boats and other donation sites is a massive task that involves maddening games of phone tag in a place largely without cell service and requires a relentless dedication and extensive Rolodex.

Residents like Zane Schweitzer have both. Schweitzer, whose family has lived around Lahaina for generations, has spent nearly every hour of the last 48 working his walkie-talkie and phone, frantically arranging aid from around Maui, Hawaii and the mainland. Working with the Oahu-based youth nonprofit Na Kama Kai, he helped coordinate one of Friday’s largest deliveries.

Officials said most of Lahaina, the historic town in West Maui, was destroyed when hurricane winds pushed fires to the coast.

On the south side of Lahaina, in Olowalu, Eddy and Sam Garcia are transforming their groundbreaking sustainable farm into a shelter for those who have lost their homes. The married couple, who themselves have lost farmland and fruit crops worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are setting up temporary housing, a massive solar power system and a satellite internet connection that they’ll open to anyone who needs it.

“In the immediate moment, people need shelter, they need food, they need water, they need a place to get on the internet so they can look for their loved ones,” said Eddy Garcia, who grew up in Lahaina. “We’re shifting all of our attention to trying to feed and house our neighbors.”

The Olowalu farm is uniquely well-prepared to handle this sort of disaster. Run by the Garcias’ nonprofit, Regenerative Education Centers, it was already operating off the grid, with its own power, plumbing and food. The nonprofit has launched a fundraiser to help pay for the fire effort, which will continue as long as there’s a need.

The property, even after being raked by the fire’s severe winds, is verdant and shaded by tall mango trees. On Friday, volunteers and staff readied the farm to fill any needs. They butchered and smoked a wild pig, set up new solar panels and scoured the internet for portable toilets. Eddy Garcia whirred with adrenaline, his satellite-connected cellphone ringing every few minutes with someone offering help.

For locals like him, helping his neighbors is not only about their survival, but about preserving the island’s identity and keeping it livable for those whose families have been here for generations.

“It’s not about these giant hotels on the beach and all the big companies, but trying to take care of local people,” he said. “This is not a visitor’s destination spot, this is the kingdom of Hawaii. That hit the heart of it in Lahaina. It hurts to even talk about it.”

His phone rang again and he stood up to leave.

“I’m like a ball of rubber bands right now,” he said, “and the only thing keeping me going is I got to organize these things.”

——

[More photos and links to the latest news in and after article]

#maui fires #lahaina #relief efforts

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indignantlemur · 5 months ago

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Hi !

To you, how does common Andorian habitats look like (decoration, arrangement and number of rooms...) ?

Take care ! 👁️👄👁️ 💅🏼

Hello, zier!

So I spent some time thinking about this, as I generally do when asked a question, and this is what I've come up with.

Andorian homes and habitats vary pretty wildly depending on whether or not you're looking at smaller, modern homes for insulated family units, ancient Clan Lodges, smaller work-sleep apartments, bachelor/bachelorette pads, and so on.

Likewise, decorations and furniture can vary between all of these options. Structural arrangements are more static, at least.

🪐General Overview:

Homes of all types tend to be open plan affairs interrupted with strategic choke points and regrettably necessary load-bearing walls. Andorians don't generally go in for doors in most areas, and their concept of privacy is more theoretical than anything else - from a Human perspective, at least - but they also value security highly and will compromise such preferences for safety's sake.

Sanitary areas are, of course, another exception to the preference for open plans, but it's also very common for Andorians within a Clan to bathe and groom themselves communally or soak in hot springs together. Andorians don't view bodies as things to be hidden or to be ashamed of, and they view other species' tendencies to be body-shy as both bizarre and kind of adorable, if a little immature. Much like the Romans, most Andorians would spent all day in their hot springs and baths if they could get away with it and quite often a Clan Lodge's hot spring is a hub of social activity, particularly for Andorians who have been off-planet for some time. You're not properly home until you've had a good soak and caught up with everyone.

Sleeping quarters are separate from the main areas of the house, but the quarters themselves are large and mostly open. A popular design feature in Clan Lodges is a honey-comb like series of open, low-walled alcoves around the perimeter of a massive room, and another set around a central support beam in the middle of the room, effectively creating 'rooms' within the space. These alcoves can be collapsed or removed as needed, but no one is ever completely shut off from everyone else. Some Clans and families have a more permanent variation of this design that is built into the structure of the home itself and cannot be removed or collapsed; this allows for residents to have their own specific spaces within the home, more along the lines of how Humans think of their bedrooms, but even these are open to some degree.

Alternatively, on ships and smaller, more modern buildings you'll see the sleeping quarters as a large, inset area filled with cushions and blankets on what is effectively a floor-mattress. This is what Dagmar experienced on the transport ship to Andoria, and also in the Andorian embassy on Earth.

Kitchens and living rooms/dining areas tend to flow into one another, with the kitchen being marginally separated from the rest to manage heat output and such. Formal dining areas for observing particular traditions or hosting important guests do exist, and those are generally separate rooms, but most Andorians prefer to eat and sleep communally wherever they can; these formal rooms tend to gather dust for long stretches between events.

🪐Primary Differences:

Apartments: Work-sleep apartments and bachelor/ette pads are very similar in that they are small, compact, and generally barebones. They have all the amenities, but they're cookie-cutter basic with minimal ornamentation, three rooms total (bedroom, bathroom, open living/dining/kitchen/entrance). Dagmar lives in a work-sleep apartment adapted to suit her physiology (with doors - the horror!) which suits her just fine, but most Andorians regard them as a necessary evil to prevent ungodly commutes from their Clan territories and family homes to the major city centers. Generally, work-sleep apartments and pads are rented, limiting the amount of personalization possible, but those who make use of such residences usually go out of their way to compensate with wild furnishings and bold decorations.

Bachelor/ette pads are an even more spartan version of the work-sleep apartments, serving largely as crash pads for students and, quite often, young adults who'd prefer to play out of public view. They consist of the bare necessities and little else; generally speaking, the folks who make use of these pads aren't paying much attention to the decor or the appliances.

Some Clans own multiple work-sleep apartments and pads around their home cities for their clan members to make use of as needed. Technically, they are meant to be used for professional purposes, but as long as everything is in order when their clansman departs, no questions are asked. Many a young couple (or group, as the case may be) has taken advantage of this in the past.

Modern Homes: Modern homes are somewhere between work-sleep apartments and a Lodge, being larger and more expansive in size than an apartment by a significant margin but modest compared to the sprawling ancient strongholds. Modern homes tend to be closer to long-houses with wings added on, where all of the major gathering points (kitchen, living areas, sleeping quarters) are centrally placed while other facilities and are located in attached wings. Multiple stories are common, and usually a basement level is present for cold storage of food, but single level homes are also readily found.

Modern homes don't have access to hot springs, unless there's one available for the community at large, but that doesn't stop Andorians from constructing heated pools and steam-rooms to make up for the lack.

Fully customisable from painting to outright renovating and remodelling, each generation that lives in such a home leaves their mark upon the structure in some fashion or another.

Clan Lodges: Clan Lodges are built like ancient fortresses - because that's exactly what they are. Surrounded on all sides by towering walls, each Lodge is built to endure. Common historical features include: murder holes (also called meurtrières and machicolations), switch-back paths, massive portcullises, multiple internal gates and checkpoints, panic rooms, and barracks. Andorians adore murder holes. Additionally, Clan Lodges all have a central hearth-hall which is so named for the long, narrow hearth that runs down the center line of the room in an inset trench. Modern inventions have rendered these hearths largely symbolic, and many of the more cosmopolitan Clans have converted them to hard-light displays rather than constantly burning inefficient fuel.

Most Clan Lodges will have at least one courtyard, often multiple, and not one is decorative. Every courtyard serves a purpose, even if it's just to cultivate food or other natural resources. It is a poor Clan indeed who cannot boast at least one natural hot spring on their lands. Steam rooms and communal bathing facilities are not only common but expected, though the option to attend to matters of hygiene privately is available for those who are sick or injured.

A very small number of Lodges have the unique trait of having separate sleeping quarters for the different rankings within a Clan, but these are most commonly found in the very remote regions of Andoria and are generally looked upon as relics of a bygone era.

🪐Decorations and Arrangements:

Andorian decor is a riotous mix of wild colours, traditional folk art, modern textiles, and ancient carvings. Nearly every Andorian home has carvings throughout it, usually stonework or metal, often depicting historical events relating to the family or the Clan in some fashion. Wall tapestries are a common feature, as are heavy fur throws and decorative metalwork. There's no single rule for decorations. Just like how there's a great deal of variation in a single Human neighbourhood for furniture and decor, the same is true of Andorians.

That said, there are overarching design principles that can be applied.

Very little wood is used in Andorian design and architecture, as it's a rare and expensive material on their planet, and when it does appear it's usually as an accent rather than a main feature.

The furniture is always meant to accommodate groups of four or more. You won't see two barstools at a kitchen counter, for example, but four. Very rarely will you see configurations that Andorians would feel exclude someone from a larger group, particularly furniture intended for communal areas. Most furniture isn't terribly high off the ground, which can be jarring for some aliens, and beds in particular are either at ground level or inset into the floor.

Kitchens tend towards sleek designs for ease of maintenance and cleanliness, though that has never stopped Andorian families from adding their own personal touches to such rooms anyway.

Formal dining tables are often low-set affairs surrounded by cushions and floor-chairs, made up of lacquered rings that rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise as needed, usually laden with bowls and trays of offerings intended to be cooked in a central pot of hot oil, speared on long, two-pronged forks with hooked inner teeth. By contrast, casual dining arrangements are a much more familiar table-and-chairs set up, often in booths but not always.

Extremely formal arrangements, such as what might be seen at a high-level political dinner or gala, involve a long table studded with hot pots surrounded with stacks of tiered rings of similar trays and bowls, with the host seated at the head on one side and the most important guest seated opposite of them on the other. This is typically not seen outside of high society events.

While Humans might be tempted to apply a cold, modern-Scandinavian palette to their mental visions of Andorian homes, that couldn't be further from the truth. As a people, they value warmth and colour and comfort in their homes, and the sterile, minimalist aesthetic often seen on Earth is actually very off-putting for them.

Hope this answers everything!

#star trek #andorian #andorians #emigre by indignantlemur #headcanon #Andorian homes #Andorian Clan Lodges #Andorian houses #Andorian apartments #Andorian decor

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Top 10 most expensive African cities to live in 2024 | Business Insider Africa

Douala, Cameroon's main city and commercial hub, is a thriving metropolis recognized for its port, industry, and dynamic commerce. As the commercial hub, Douala sees a large influx of individuals looking for better economic prospects. As a result, the city boasts a high cost of living. It ranks 63rd on Mercer's index.

METHODOLOGY

Mercer's 2024 rating methodology included 226 cities from five continents. It compared the expenses of more than 200 products in each area, including accommodation, transportation, food, clothes, home goods, and entertainment. To guarantee consistency in city-ranking comparisons, New York City was used as a baseline, and currency fluctuations were assessed against the US dollar.

The numbers included in Mercer's cost comparisons are from a study done in March 2024 that included over 400 cities. Calculations and baselines were based on exchange rates at the time as well as data from Mercer's worldwide basket of goods and services (used in its Cost of Living Survey).

Black Russians (French: Russes noirs) is an unofficial name given to a group of pro–government militias in the Central African Republic, recruited mostly from former Anti-Balaka and UPC fighters by Wagner Group. The militias have been accused of multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity.[1]

S & M GOALS TEAMPLATE

Stretch Goals: Central African Republic Ranks Top 8 in FIFA World Rankings for Men's and Top 5 for Futsal

Micro Goals: All Time Laureus World Sports Awards Winner for Africans, Laureus Team Award, All Time African Footballer of the Year, AFCON Host Nation Champion*, African Transfer Record*, Insead and WSJ Conferences*, Jeune Afrique Cover*, Verified LinkedIn Member*, and Agriculture Startup Reality TV

CAPÔI HABITANT CURRENCY MODEL

Pigou Effect, Corporate Tax Havens, Capital Gains Tax Havens, Private-Public Sectors, Joint Venture Plantations, Market Extension Mergers, with Business Incubators, and Enterprise Foundation, Holding Company, Subsidiaries, and Horizontal Integration for Monopoly.

A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, which would have, in addition, a customs union and a single market). [Pigou Effect Currency (Short FX), Currency Board Currency (Retirement Fixed Exchange Rate), Market Currency (FX Long Currency)]

Gross national product (GNP) GNP is related to another important economic measure called gross domestic product (GDP), which takes into account all output produced within a country's borders regardless of who owns the means of production. GNP starts with GDP, adds residents' investment income from overseas investments, and subtracts foreign residents' investment income earned within a country. Whilst GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country's borders, GNP focuses on the income generated by its residents, regardless of their location.

Gross National Income (GNI) is the total amount of money earned by a nation's people and businesses. It is used to measure and track a nation's wealth from year to year. The number includes the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) plus the income it receives from overseas sources.

Agriculture Central Hedge Fund, Mining Unions: Peninsula Agronomique Engineering, Commodities Options Exchange (Credit Spread Options, Farm REITs, Crop Production; Fertelizers and Seeds; Equipment; Distribution and Processing Stocks, Ag ETFs and ETNs, Ag Mutual Funds), Tableau Économiques, Investments Farms REITs, Art Financing Mardi Gras

Index Franc: Tobacco-Tobacco Soil Index/Franc Tabac Currency Pair (TBS/TAF)

The overlapping generations (OLG) model; consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM); Endogenous growth theory; Material balance planning; Leontief paradox; Malinvestment; Helicopter money; Modern monetary theory

Mercantilism Spectrum of CDF/CFA

CDF Raw Materials and CFA Products. (Prices); CDF Holding Company and CFA Conglomerate Company. (Equity and Dividend Yield); CDF is Gold Standard and CFA is Helicopter Money. (FX Rate/Hedging); CDF Helicopter Money [Supplier Currency] and CFA as Purchasing Power [Consumer Currency] (Currency Union & Currency Board and Negative Interest Rates); CDF is Congolese Franc and CFA is Central African Franc

RUSSE NOIR (À MA SAUCE) FOOTBALL

À ma sauce Literally: To my sauce, True meaning: Suit my style

VEDETTE: 3-4-1-2 has 4 Pivot Formations so 5 Total: Transition to a 4-4-2 Diamond, Transition to a 4-4-2, Transition to a 4-2-3-1, Transition to a 3-3-1-3

Positional Game is Diamonds Tic-Tac-Toe with Enforcer and Avoider. Striker [Enforcer](Inverted Winger and Centre Forward), Deep Lying Playmaker [Avoider] (Holding Midfielder and Inverted Winger), and Sweeper Wingback Deep Lying Playmaker [Avoider] (Centre Back). Use Playing Styles, Manipulated Positions, and Combinational Games for Positional Play as Johan Cruyff students.

Cameroon 4-4-2 Diamond Variant: 1-3-4-2 (1) À ma sauce (Sweeper Deep-lying Playmaker Wingback) (4) Diamant (À ma sauce: Counterpressing Pivot Pressing Triggers, Sweeper-Winger Pivots, Overlapping Runs, W; I; M; V; Box Keeping Formation with 3 Centre-Backs) [Key Stats: Front Foot, Pressing Triggers, Clearance, Aerial Duel, Interceptions, Blocked Shots, Tackles, Final Ball, Key Dribbles, Overlapping Runs, Set Piece Taker] Spacing, Possession, Pass Completion, and Counter Pressing with Pursuit and Ambush Predation One Team Box Touches and Capture the Flag with Analytics-Geometry Total Football Trixie Bet on CNS Drugs (Xanax and Modafinil); 1-1-2-1 Diamond Rover Futsal Pivot Formation

Define a run in one of two ways: (i) as a set of consecutive goals scored by one team, without the other team scoring a goal; (ii) as a set of consecutive scoring events by one team, each event being either a goal or one or more Set Piece. Play aggressive and with counter pressing and run it up on the score board in the first half and after halftime play defense. You get a break at half and it's easier to win when someone plays defense and looks for opportunities instead of Attacking.

Posterior Chain Super Compensation and Speed-Endurance (Elastic-Connective Tissue) Force-Velocity Curve; Crescent Moon Horizontal Plane Vertical Force Sprinting Mechanics.

Set Piece Stylistic Biomechanics: Shooting Knee at Wall for Curve and Placement Knee for Corner. Follow through with Shot with proper Body Alignment

Knee to Feet or Shoulder to Feet Cradling for Touch/Entertainment

UEFA Front Office Curriculum

Museum d'histoire: Broken down into three major section — “A Lineage of Coaches Players and Places,” “Proving Grounds” and “Cultures of Basketball” — City/Game documents how basketball first found its origins in the neighborhoods of NYC and then went on to produce a roster of local legends who played everywhere from Rucker Park and the Cage on West 4th Street to Christ the King High School and St. John’s University.

Agility Ladder Eyes Pocket: Eyes Between Defenders Feet and Ball, Numbered Footwork V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step), All moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle (Coup de Pied)

*Push-Pull Sprint/Shooting Cycle: Pull Glutes et Hamstring; Push Calf et Quads for Sprints.

Sprint Size Up: A series of feint Karaoké dribble moves with Eye Tricks (Fake Pass) but Sprint Position Finish

Triangle Philosophy: All Dribbling Moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle while using V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step).

Thé Crescent: In Close Dribbling; Crescent Footwork with L Shapes (Paul Pogba)

On the Run Dribbling Moves: Letters and Shapes; Still Play 1 on 1: Numbered Footwork

Piedi Felici Courts: Drills Side/Box Play with 1 Net; Design Vaporwave Action Painting Angels; Knee for Direction and Sole Drags for Dribbling Touch and Crescent Moon Sprint Mechanics

Gambling Games: 5 Roll (Captain, Ship, Crew); Live-Pool Betting Monopoly

Stylistic Biomechanics: Dribbling Foot To Ball Contact (Balls of Feet and Arch of Feet); Knee for Direction; Foot Drags; & Hip Angle, Crescent Moon Running Mechanics, and Laces Kick.

Diamond Football (15 mins)

Set Up

-Lay out two overlapping sets of 4 flat markers in the positions shown above.

-Ask the players to stand on a flat marker for their teams colour (Red on Red, Yellow on Yellow).

Instruction

-Whenever the ball goes out for a kick in or for the defenders ball, the players must stand on their markers before play begins.

-As soon as the ball has been played in, players are free to move.

-Reset everytime the ball goes out.

Coaching Points, Progressions Ect.

-Ask players to shout out what each position on the park is to devlop understanding of their roles.

-If you decide to go to a normal game , leave the markers out for a visual aid for the players.

-If more than 8 players, Add in Goalkeepers who would then play the ball out to the DF,LM,RM.

-Rotate Positions, Ask Players to stand on a marker they haven't been on before

RUSSE NOIR ACCENT

Lingua Franca of Renaissance Latin (Vocabulary) and Atlantic–Congo Fon (Grammar).

Volta–Congo is a major branch of the Atlantic–Congo family. Fon (fɔ̀ngbè, pronounced [fɔ̃̀ɡ͡bē][2]) also known as Dahomean is the language of the Fon people. It belongs to the Gbe group within the larger Atlantic–Congo family.

In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third.

Haitian Creole (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: kreyòl ayisyen, [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃];[6][7] French: créole haïtien, [kʁe.ɔl a.i.sjɛ̃]), or simply Creole (Haitian Creole: kreyòl), is a French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12 million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it is the native language of the vast majority of the population. The language emerged from contact between French settlers and enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although its vocabulary largely derives from 18th-century French, its grammar is that of a West African Volta-Congo language branch, particularly the Fongbe and Igbo languages.

Prose Accent Congo and Modern Accent Congo.

Full Lips Endings with Vertical Narrow Mouth and Soft Rs.

A noun phrase – or NP or nominal (phrase) – is a phrase that usually has a noun or pronoun as its head, and has the same grammatical functions as a noun.

BELMÔNT'S SIN INDEX FUND PORTFOLIO

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries (Cabaret and Burlesque), and weapons manufacturers.

Diageo

Phillip Morris

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Business Clusters with Scrum Management and Accelerators to produce Festivals.

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

BELMÔNT'S DECENTRALIZED GAMBLING ECONOMY

Corporate-Capital Gains Tax Haven

High Stakes Minimum Buy In

Card Gambling (Signal and President): Top 2 highest bids fight for the Coup d'état and the other two are lesser men, the lesser men are subordinates that aid in playing cards for the warlord, the winning team splits the money, the warlords switches based on the 13 cards dealt and bets placed, the first team to shed all of their cards win.

Domestic Gambling: Boxing

Retirement Gambling: Boat Racing

Residency Program for Tax Benefits

BELMÔNT'S TURF ACCOUNTING MODEL

+EV

Python Programming Gaussian Distribution

Exotic Options Trading Live Betting

Parlays Minimum for Round Robins

Daily Fantasy Sports Rakes

RUSSE NOIR PALACE

Definitions of ballroom. noun. large room used mainly for dancing. synonyms: dance hall, dance palace**. types: disco, discotheque.

Go Go Music Influenced, Eurphoric Trance Chord Progression Melody, Progressive House and Drum n' Bass Percussion-808 Call and Response Staccato Polyrhythm or Layered Kick and Punch 808.

In his 1972 study of French lute music, scholar Wallace Rave compiled a list of features he believed to be characteristic of style brisé. Rave's list included the following: the avoidance of textural pattern and regularity in part writing; arpeggiated chord textures with irregular distribution of individual notes of the chord; ambiguous melodic lines; rhythmic displacement of notes within a melodic line; octave changes within melodic line; irregular phrase lengths.

Have the Snare and Kick say, "Hi, How are you?" And the 808 say, "I am good thanks for asking.”

Use progressive House to push the Drums Conversation to either Fast and Punchy for Happy or Slow and Deep for Sad.

In technical terms, "go-go's essential beat is characterized by a five through four syncopated rhythm that is underscored prominently by the bass drum and snare drum, and the hi-hat... [and] is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, rototoms, and hand-held cowbells."[5]

Polyrhythm: In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.[1]

Four-on-the-floor (or four-to-the-floor) is a rhythm used primarily in dance genres such as disco and electronic dance music. It is a steady, uniformly accented beat in 4. 4 time in which the bass drum is hit on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4).[1] This was popularized in the disco music of the 1970s[2] and the term four-on-the-floor was widely used in that era, since the beat was played with the pedal-operated, drum-kit bass drum.[3][4] (Punch 808-Kick)

Polyrhythm 4 on the Floor examples 2:4 or 5:4

Hard trance is often characterized by strong, hard (or even downpitch) kicks, fully resonant basses and an increased amount of reverberation applied to the main beat. Melodies vary from 140 to 180 BPMs and it can feature plain instrumental sound in early compositions, with the latter ones tending to implement side-chaining techniques of progressive on digital synthesizers.

Singles Only Email Raves Blogger then Multi Market Distribution Deal: A distribution deal is a contract to release the music to platforms, but not own the publishing or exclusively lock the artist in. Record Artist Producer Label: Have Polyrhythm Artist earn Streaming Percentage under a Recording Artist Deal. Label has Distribution Above Me and I have Manufacturing over Polyrhythm Artist. Have a end of the Year Album for New Year's Raves!

BELMÔNT'S SYSTEM: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT WITH ASSET PROTECTION TRUST

Capo: Describes a ranking made member of a family who leads a crew of soldiers. A capo is similar to a military captain who commands soldiers. Soldier: Also known as a “made man,” soldiers are the lowest members of the crime family but still command respect in the organization.

A capo is a "made member" of an Italian crime family who heads a regime or "crew" of soldiers and has major status and influence in the organization.

Consigliere: Defense and Corporate Lawyers

Head Boss: Ministry of Medicine

Underboss: Pharmaceutical Industry

Capo: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT

Soliders: Artisans

Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit.

Commercial art is art created for advertising or marketing purposes. Commercial artists are hired by clients to create images and logos that sell products. Unlike works of fine art that convey an artist's personal expression, commercial art must address the client's goals.

The word 'Commercial' is defined as follows: Concerned with or engaged in commerce. Commerce is the exchange of goods or services among two or more parties.

Craftsmen are committed to the medium, not to self-expression. Artists are committed to their self-expression, not the medium.

A medium of exchange is an intermediary instrument and system used to facilitate the purchase and sale of goods and services between parties.

Stretch and Micro Goals

Music Medium System: Distribution and Retailers Contract Theory (System) for Music (Instrument)

Football Medium System: Analytics and Geometry for Free Role (System) Trixies (Instrument)

Age 16-19

Bond Funds

Farmland REITS

CFDS

Real Estate Brokerage Trust Account

Age 20-30

Farmland Recession Proof Stocks (Cosmetics, AgTech, Ag ETFS, AgETN)

Incubator and Startup Accelerators

Real Estate Joint Ventures

Age 30-40

Farmland Blue Chip Indexes w/ Credit Spread Options

CURRENCY, OIL, & GOLD COMMODITIES CANDLESTICK CHARTS

Swing Trading: Use mt4/mt5 With Heiken Ashi Charts, Setting at 14 or 21 Momentum Indicator above 0 as Divergence Oscillator and Volume Spread Analysis as Reversal Oscillator and Trade when bullish candlesticks above 200 exponential moving average and/or 20 exponential moving average (EMA) on H1 (Hourly) Time Frame; use H4 (4 Hours) and D1 (1 Day) as reference.

TUNNEL STRATEGY (OFFSHORE BANKING)

Purpose: Permanent Residency Card

$250k Deposit

$125k: 60/40 portfolio, 60% Fixed Income & REITs and 40% Blue Chip Stocks

$50k: Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) and term deposits are secured investments. This means that you get back the amount you invest at the end of your term. The key difference between a GIC and a term deposit is the length of the term. Term deposits generally have shorter terms than GICs.

$75k: Spending Cash

SIN STOCKS PORTFOLIO

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries, and weapons manufacturers.

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

FESTIVALS DEAL

NEUROPLASTICITY DRUG-CRIME NEXUS BASED ON TRAFFICKING

CPP, CNS Depressants, et FENTALOGS: Cul-de-sac

Defensive Penalty Capture The Flag Raiding Warfare

Grey-Decentralized Markets

Bastilles: Cul-de-sac Artist Résidences Penthouse Complexes

Polyrhythm Raves

Acid House Art Gallery

International Film Festival

Hôtel Chefs

Seigneurial System/Tableau Economique Raw Material Économics Production Spot

Surautomatism

Discount Networking Acid House Party

Opium Dens and Fragrance Festivals

Pill Pressers

CNS depressants

Upper-tier County System

Defense Lawyers are Traplords (Trafficking P4P and Malicious Prosecution)

Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)

Brain Receptor Dealing

Neuroplasticity Drug-Crime Nexus

Religious Ecstasy

Entheogens are psychedelic drugs—and sometimes certain other psychoactive substances—used for engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts

Live-Pool Betting Monopoly Board Game

Summary Sentencing

Urban Level: Street Culture Art Gallery (Street culture may refer to: Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities, Street market, Children's street culture, Street carnival, Block party, Street identity, Street food, Café culture, Several youth subculture or counterculture topics pertaining to outdoors of urban centers. These can include: Street art, Street photography, Street racing, Street wear, Hip-hop culture, Urban fiction, Street sports, Streetball, Flatland BMX, Freestyling), Art Pedagogy, Artist Residency, Art Schools, and Art Plugs

Art Pedagogy: Arts-based pedagogy is a teaching methodology in which an art form is integrated with another subject matter to impact student learning. 28-30. Arts-based pedagogy results in arts-based learning (ABL),11 which is when a student learns about a subject through arts processes including creating, responding or performing. Aesthetic Teaching: Seeking a Balance between Teaching Arts and Teaching through the Arts. In aesthetic education, learning must be developed especially with the inclusion of sensations and with the help of feelings. Sensations and feelings should lead to movement, representation, and expression. Aesthetic learning often entails learning to distinguish certain qualities or objects aesthetically in different ways depending on the situation and the purpose. Certain things can be experienced in negative ways in one activity and in positive ways in another.

A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests

Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. Each individual 'patch' of the tattoo can be a different design, symbol or element with a little space in between. Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. In short, the gun-toting angel was a multifaceted metaphor. “It undoubtedly also reflected the Catholic Counter-Reformation militaristic rhetoric,” wrote Donahue-Wallace, “which promoted the church as an army and heavenly beings as its soldiers.”

DECADENCE AESTHETICS THEORIES

Slogan

J'Cartier, Je cours après les vœux de champagne,

Subjective

Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

Gastronomy

Precarious Balance

Precariously: If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. If something is on the verge of danger, then the word precariously fits.

Grey & Decentralized Markets

Tableau Économique

Semblance

Semblance is generally used to suggest a contrast between outward appearance and inner reality.

High Socioeconomic Status & Tattoos

Phantasmagorical

Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance

adjective. having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern.

Socioeconomic Status Development Immigration Multilingual Sensory Play

Law of Polarity in Relationships

In any successful relationship that has an intimate connection and sexual attraction, there is polarity. What does this mean exactly? Polarity in relationships is the spark that occurs between two opposing energies: masculine and feminine. Gender does not affect whether you have masculine or feminine energy.

Second Reflection

Burden Aesthetics with Intentions

The Second Reflection lays hold of the Technical Procedures

Tattoos

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGY

Keystone Theory Habits

Game Theory

Behavioral Finance

Self-actualization is the complete realization of one's potential, and the full development of one's abilities and appreciation for life. This concept is at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, so not every human being reaches it.

Potential Psychology: Psychological potential is a very broad concept. It may include one's capacity to conform, change, re-invent oneself, bounce back from adversity, etc.

SOCIO-FORMAL SCIENCE

+EV Optimal Game Theory Poker

Civil, Agriculure, Solvent Levelling Effect Chemical Reaction, and Biomechanical Engineering

SOCIO-PHILOSOPHY

Ontology

IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,[1] originally published as Imperialism, the Newest Stage of Capitalism,[2][3] is a book written by Vladimir Lenin in 1916 and published in 1917. It describes the formation of oligopoly, by the interlacing of bank and industrial capital, in order to create a financial oligarchy, and explains the function of financial capital in generating profits from the exploitation colonialism inherent to imperialism, as the final stage of capitalism. The essay synthesises Lenin's developments of Karl Marx's theories of political economy in Das Kapital (1867).[4]

Tax Mergers Law; Market-extension merger: Two companies that sell the same products in different markets. 4.2.2 Corporate Taxation At the corporate level, the tax treatment of a merger or acquisition depends on whether the acquiring firm elects to treat the acquired firm as being absorbed into the parent with its tax attributes intact, or first being liquidated and then received in the form of its component assets.

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

Seconds Liberal Arts are often viewed as pre-professional since, while conceived of as fundamental to citizenship, they address the whole person in recognition that our moral and spiritual identities develop best through participation in a society that perpetually renews the rights and responsibilities of membership.

Executive management master's degree programs often result in an Executive Master of Business Administration, or EMBA. They are primarily designed to act as accelerated graduate programs for working professionals who already hold management or executive positions.

Engineering college means a school, college, university, department of a university or other educational institution, reputable and in good standing in accordance with rules prescribed by the Department, and which grants baccalaureate degrees in engineering.

Monopoly Family Boarding Schools: The socio-historical context refers to the societal and historical conditions and circumstances that influence events or individuals. It involves elements like the cultural, economic, and political circumstances during a certain time period.

Agriculturism is an ideology promoting rural life, a traditional way of life. It is characterized by the valorization of traditional values (the family, the French language, the Catholic religion) and an opposition to the industrial world.

CAPÔI CLASS STRUCTURE

Demonym Examples: CAR Congolese, Gabon Congolese, Afrikaans Congolese, and Congolese

Monopoly Family (Apartheid)

Chief Executive of State (Apartheid)

Political Class (RUSSE NOIR)

Upper Class (RUSSE NOIR)

Working Class (RUSSE NOIR)

JEAN-CLAUDE TRAORÉ BUSINESS ADVICE

Blue Ocean Strategy; Solvent Levelling Effect Chemical Reaction Engineering and Economic Science.

TENNIS AGRICULTURE

A clay-court specialist is a tennis player who excels on clay courts, more than on any other surface.

Due in part to advances in racquet technology, current clay-court specialists are known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin; such strokes are less effective on faster surfaces on which the balls do not bounce as high. Clay-court specialists tend to slide more effectively on clay than other players. Many of them are also very adept at hitting the drop shot, which can be effective because rallies on clay courts often leave players pushed far beyond the baseline. Additionally, the slow, long rallies require a great degree of mental focus and physical stamina.

MATERIALISM-ILLUSION TRADWAVE CATHOLICISM THEOLOGY ECUMENISM

Salesian Order and Council of Trent Economic Materialism Culture with Distorted Sensory Overload Vice Artisan Mural Crown (Craftsmanship, Commercialism, Commerce, Medium of Exchange)

The original sense of apotheosis relates to religion and is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively "apotheosis" may be used in almost any context for "the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.", so normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.[1] In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world, and some that are active today. It requires a belief that there is a possibility of newly-created gods, so a polytheistic belief system. The major modern religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism do not allow for this, though many recognise minor sacred categories such as saints (created by a process called canonization). A mural crown (Latin: corona muralis) is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later the mural crown developed into a symbol of European heraldry, mostly for cities and towns, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was used in some republican heraldry.

The body of light, sometimes called the 'astral body'[a] or the 'subtle body,'[b] is a "quasi material"[1] aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, posited by a number of philosophers, and elaborated on according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. Other terms used for this body include body of glory,[2] spirit-body, luciform body, augoeides ('radiant body'), astroeides ('starry or sidereal body'), and celestial body.[3] The concept derives from the philosophy of Plato: the word 'astral' means 'of the stars'; thus the astral plane consists of the Seven Heavens of the classical planets. The idea is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife[4] in which the soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an ecstatic, mystical or out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in their body of light into 'higher' realms."[5]

The canon law of the Catholic Church (from Latin ius canonicum[1]) is "how the Church organizes and governs herself".[2] It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church.

An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church canonically erected by competent church authorities to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counsels by religious vows or other sacred bonds "through the charity to which these counsels lead to be joined to the Church and its mystery in a special way".[1] They are defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law under canons 573–730. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has ecclesial oversight of institutes of consecrated life.[2]

In Christianity, the three evangelical counsels, or counsels of perfection, are chastity (FUCK THIS), poverty (or perfect charity)*, and obedience (Reckless Abandonment)*.[1] As stated by Jesus in the canonical gospels,[2] they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect" (τελειος, teleios).[3][4] The Catholic Church interprets this to mean that they are not binding upon all, and hence not necessary conditions to attain eternal life (heaven), but that they are "acts of supererogation", "over and above" the minimum stipulated in the biblical commandments.[5][6]

Catholics who have made a public profession to order their lives by the evangelical counsels, and confirmed this by public vows before their competent church authority (the act of religious commitment known as a profession), are recognised as members of the consecrated life.

Tradwave is a Catholic artistic style using synthwave and vaporwave art to promote traditional catholicism. Tradwave usually uses traditional catholic paintings, sculptures, or photographs of saints, given with vaporwave effects, often with a bible verse or quote about catholicism. The art usually tries to convey a resurrection of catholic spirituality in the modern atheist world. Figures often depicted in Tradwave art include Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Ven. Fulton Sheen, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Mother Angelica.

Tradwave music often takes the form of two main styles. One of them is catholic hymns with vaporwave effects and traditional Vaporwave/Lo-Fi music. It can also have quotes from modern prolific Catholic figures, such as Ven. The other theme is Fulton Sheen and Cardinal Robert Sarah.

The term political religion is based on the observation that sometimes political ideologies or political systems display features more commonly associated with religion.

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Dioceses ruled by an archbishop are commonly referred to as archdioceses; most are metropolitan sees, being placed at the head of an ecclesiastical province. In the Catholic Church, some are suffragans of a metropolitan see or are directly subject to the Holy See.

Heavenly Virtue: Another phrase to describe this obedience to the voice is “reckless abandon.” It simply means that we let God do what God wants to do through us. It means if He tells us to do something or say something—we do it.

The Dionysian Mysteries were a ritual of ancient Greece and Rome which sometimes used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a natural state.

Catholic School Girls Moon Evangelical Prophets: Consecrated life is "placed in a privileged position in the line of evangelical prophecy," whereby its “charismatic nature” and communal discernment of the Spirit "makes it capable of inventiveness and originality.”

Men Mars Angelology Conversion System: Church Enterprises (Planetary Intelligence Church District Real Estate; Liberal Arts Catholic Immersion Schools; Gold; Athletics; Cooking);

Church Gatherings (School Nights Virgil, Weekend Noon Mass then Weekend Sports League) Francis de Sales and Don St. Bosco Influence

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RUSSE NOIR

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beardedmrbean · 23 days ago

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Alcohol smuggler Guled Diriye is exhausted.

He has just returned from his trip transporting contraband from the Ethiopian border.

The 29-year-old slumps in his chair inside a colonial-style villa battered by years of fighting in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu - a city once known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

His sandals are covered in a potent orange dust – the residue from the desert.

Mr Diriye’s dark eyes droop. The bags underneath speak of sleepless nights, the hours of tension traversing the dangerous roads and negotiating checkpoints with armed men.

There is also the haunting memory of a fellow smuggler who was shot dead.

“In this country, everyone is struggling and looking for a way out. And I found my way by making regular trips by road from the Ethiopian border to Mogadishu,” he says, explaining that smuggling was a means to support his family in a tough economic climate.

The use and distribution of alcohol is illegal. Somalia’s laws must comply with Sharia (Islamic law), which forbids alcohol, but it has not stopped a growing demand, particularly among young people in many parts of the country.

Mr Diriye’s neighbour Abshir, knowing he had fallen on hard times as a minibus-taxi driver, introduced him to the precarious world of alcohol smuggling.

Rickshaws began to take over the city, pushing minibus drivers out of business.

Both were childhood friends who had sheltered together in the same camp in 2009 during the height of the insurgency in Mogadishu - he was someone he could trust.

“I began picking up boxes of alcohol at designated drop points in Mogadishu on [his] behalf and manoeuvring through the city and offloading them at designated locations. I didn’t realise it at first but this was my introduction into smuggling.”

His involvement snowballed and Mr Diriye soon found himself navigating from the porous frontier with Ethiopia through Somalia’s rural hinterlands.

He understands that he is breaking the law, but says the poverty that he finds himself in overrides that.

The smuggling journey begins in Somali border towns such as Abudwak, Balanbale, Feerfeer and Galdogob.

“Alcohol mostly originates in [Ethiopia’s capital] Addis Ababa and makes it to the city of Jigjiga, in the Ogaden region,” Mr Diriye says.

The Ogaden or, as it is officially known in Ethiopia, the Somali region, shares a 1,600km (990-mile) border with Somalia. People on both sides share ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious ties.

Once the alcohol is loaded, it is moved across the plains of the Somali region, and then smuggled across the border into Somalia.

The border town of Galdogob is a major hub for trade and travel and has been hit hard by the flow of alcohol being smuggled from Ethiopia.

Tribal elders have raised concerns over alcohol-related violence.

“Alcohol causes so many evils [such as shootings],” says Sheikh Abdalla Mohamed Ali, the chairman of the local tribal council in the town.

“[It] has been seized and destroyed on multiple occasions but it's like living next to a factory. It keeps putting out more and more, no matter what we do.”

“Our town will always be in the midst of danger.”

But for the smugglers the goal is to get the alcohol to the capital.

“I drive a truck that transports vegetables, potatoes and other food products. When the truck is loaded up it’s filled with whatever I'm transporting, but I make the most money from the alcohol on board,” Mr Diriye says.

Sometimes smugglers cross into Ethiopia to pick it up and at other times they receive it at the border. But whichever approach is taken, concealment is a crucial part of the profession as the risks from being caught are immense.

“The loader’s job is the most important. Even more important than driving. He’s tasked with concealing the alcohol in our truck, with whatever we have on board. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to move around so easily — at least not without getting caught.

“The average box of alcohol I move has 12 bottles. I usually transport anywhere from 50 to 70 boxes per trip. Usually half the load on my truck is filled with alcohol.”

Large swathes of south-central Somalia are run by armed groups, where the government has little to no control: militias, bandits and the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab roam with impunity.

“You can never travel on your own. It's too risky. Death is always on our minds,” Mr Diriye says. But that concern does not get in the way of business and there is a brutal pragmatism to thinking about the make-up of the team.

“If I get wounded in an attack on the road, there has to be a back-up who can continue the journey. Everyone knows how to drive and knows the roads well.”

Smugglers drive on dirt tracks and roads that have not been renovated in decades. Landmines and unexploded ordnances left behind from previous conflicts are also an issue.

“I travel through at least eight to 10 towns to reach Mogadishu. But we don’t count the towns, we count the checkpoints and who mans them,” Mr Diriye says.

They encounter various clan militias with different allegiances, either lingering in the distance or at roadblocks.

“In case we get jammed up by a clan militia, if one of us is from the same clan as that militia or even a similar sub-clan, it increases our chances of survival. This is why all three of us are from different clans.”

He painfully recalls: “I’ve encountered numerous attacks.

“One of the guys that works with me is relatively new. He replaced my last helper who was killed two years ago.”

Mr Diriye had been driving in suffocating heat for six hours, so decided to nap, passing the wheel to his helper.

“While I was sleeping in the back, I heard a large burst of gunfire that suddenly woke me up. We where surrounded by militiamen. My loader was screaming as he ducked in the passenger seat.” The substitute driver was killed.

Once the commotion ceased, the loader and Mr Diriye picked up their dead colleague from the front seat and put him in the back of the truck.

“I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. I had to wipe [it] away from the steering wheel and keep on driving. In all my years, nothing prepared me for what I saw that day.”

As the pair drove off and got a good distance away from the militiamen, they pulled over to the side of the road and laid his body there.

“We didn’t even have a sheet to cover his body, so I took off my long-sleeved buttoned-up shirt and made do with it.

“It was a difficult decision but I knew I couldn't keep driving around smuggling alcohol with a dead body in the truck. We had a few government checkpoints up ahead and I couldn’t jeopardise my load or my freedom.”

Two years later he says the guilt of leaving the body by the road still haunts him.

He left behind a family, and Mr Diriye is unsure they even know the truth surrounding the circumstances of his disappearance and death.

The danger that Mr Diriye faces is a recurring reality that many smugglers endure while illicitly ferrying alcohol from Ethiopia to Mogadishu, in order to quench the growing demand.

Dahir Barre, 41 has a slim build with noticeable scars on his face that appear to tell a story on their own. He has a dark sense of humour and seems hardened by the near-decade of smuggling that enables him to bypass the possible consequences of what he does.

“We face a lot of problems and dangers but still continue to drive despite the risk due to the poor living conditions in Somalia,” he says.

Mr Barre has been smuggling alcohol from Ethiopia since 2015 and says lack of opportunity made worse by years of poverty pushed him into the dangerous trade.

“I used to do security for a hotel in the city centre. I was armed with an AK-47 and was tasked with patting people down at the entrance.”

Long nights in a dangerous job with meagre pay did not feel worth it.

“One hundred dollars a month to stand in the way of potential car bombs that might plough through the front entrance sounds crazy now that I think of it.”

One of the day-shift guards then put him in touch with friends from the border region and “I’ve been travelling these roads ever since”.

“Back in 2015 I was only getting $150 per trip, compared to $350 per trip now and those days it was far riskier because al-Shabab had control over more territory, so you risked more encounters with them.

“Even the bandits and militias were more dangerous back then.

“If you had red or brown stained teeth, the militias would assume you chewed khat and smoked cigarettes, meaning you had money so they would abduct you and hold you for ransom.

“As drivers we’ve been through a lot and the danger still exists,” Mr Barre says.

If they are caught by al-Shabab fighters then it can be most dangerous since the armed group has a zero-tolerance policy on contraband, especially alcohol. The Islamist insurgents set the vehicle on fire and then detain the smugglers before fining them.

Other armed men can be more easily bribed with money or liquor.

It takes an average of seven to nine days to reach Mogadishu from the Ethiopian border. The smugglers then make their way to a pre-arranged drop-off point.

“When we arrive, a group of men will show up and unload the regular food products into a separate truck, then leave. Afterwards, once that’s done, another individual will arrive, sometimes accompanied by more than one vehicle and they’ll take the boxes of alcohol,” Mr Diriye says.

“But it doesn’t end there. Once it leaves my possession, it’ll pass through more hands, eventually ending up with local dealers in the city, who can be reached with a simple phone call.”

Mr Diriye often thinks about his entry into smuggling, and where his future may lie.

“My neighbour Abshir who initially got me into smuggling alcohol, stopped doing it himself three years ago.”

Abshir offered his nephew, an unemployed graduate at the time, a job in smuggling. But he was killed on his third trip in an ambush by bandits.

“Afterwards Abshir quit smuggling. He became religious and turned to God. I rarely see him any more.”

Despite the dangers, Mr Diriye says it will not deter him.

"Death is something that is predestined. I can't let fear come in the way of making a living. Sure, sometimes I want to throw the keys on the table and start afresh but it's not that easy. Temptation is everywhere and so is poverty."

All names have been changed in this story.

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