#crane project pricing

[wimaccrane]

Project updates:16-ton Double Girder Overhead Cranes

IntroductionA Look At Manufacturing ProcessSpecific UTILISATION in the Presse Machines Production IndustryHow to Determine the Price of Your Crane ProjectConclusion Introduction Welcome to our latest blog post where we take you behind the scenes on one of our biggest achievements of the year, a remarkable project we undertook for a leading company in the presse machines production industry. In…

[jhkfan123]

after last night | coriolanus snow

pairing: academy!snow x fem!academy!reader

in which: after a drunken night at the club, which resulted in you dancing with your distant classmate coriolanus in ways you probably shouldn't have, the two of you are assigned to a project together.

warnings: none

wc: 2.1k

you couldn't remember some of the previous night. it was definitely a poor choice, going out to the capitol clubs on a sunday night. you were fully aware you had school the next morning, but you were socially deprived. you and your girls hit up all the best places to party, but they had all left before you. which left you talking to coriolanus snow. it was one thing you definitely could remember. he was a fellow member of the academy you had never really spoken too.

until last night, at least. you remember what felt like hours of chatter at a high bar table. then you remember a short period of time on the dance floor. but a short period of time was all you needed. when you woke up you immediately felt some sort of regret for the way you danced with him. you barely knew him! the experience was exhilarating, being at the club by yourself. but you weren't by yourself the whole night.

coriolanus had fended off multiple strange men from you. you definitely remembered that. the one flaw of going to a club by yourself. being approached by men twice your age willing to by your a drink for a dance.

while nothing more had gone on besides the dancing, you couldn't help but get a fluttery feeling in your stomach when you thought of him this morning. you decided to push it down. you were too drunk last night to have had anything real with this isolated classmate.

you had noticed him throughout the years. he had stuck with a very select group of people during his time at the academy. and you weren't one of those people. arachne crane, clemensia dovecote, festus creed, people you couldn't care less to associate with. you had stuck with your group, and he had stuck with his. so when he approached you last night, it had taken you a second to pinpoint where you recognized his defined face from.

he had approached you and signaled you with your first name, which you were surprised to find out he actually remembered. he had approached you pretty cautiously, but became slightly more open as the night went on. clearly you had been the only person he recognized. you wondered if he was there alone, or had been there with others like you had. maybe they ditched him too.

you replayed last night, well, the bits you could remember of it anyway, in your head while getting ready for school. being drowned in assignments as you had been, you yearned for a social night. and you definitely got it. but you were now paying the price. a horrible hangover mixed with the requirement of attending the academy looked like the setup for a horrible day. you slipped on the final touches of your outfit and headed out the door.

it wasn't until you were in the driver's car and on the way to school that you realized today was the day you were to be assigned a major project, by your head professor. you audible groaned as the reminder entered your head.

your driver let out with only a few minutes to get to your first class. you rushed through the crowded hallways and just managed to take your seat as the bell rang. you had to remind yourself to take the day one class at a time, and soon enough, it would be over.

you had made it through your first class. one more class before lunch, you reminded yourself. you pushed through the hallway and made sure to get to class early to claim your unassigned assigned seat. recently a girl had been attempting to steal it. you managed to walk in just before her and sit in your favorite spot. you saw a look of defeat in her eyes. you couldn't help but break into a grin. this daily competition had added some sort of excitement into your school life.

the teacher walked in as the final students rushed to their seats. you searched through your book bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of homework that was due today. without saying a word, she began walking around to collect it. you handed it to her and she moved on. she returned back to her desk and cleared her throat.

"class, today is the start of a new project. it will be done with partners and it will be due in three days. you will have the opportunity to work on it in class as well as at home. for this project, you must present on the topic of: why we need the hunger games. as you all know, the tenth annual hunger games is approaching at a rapid rate. " you looked as a few girls looked at eachtogether, eager to be partners. the closest friend you had in that class, lysistrata vickers, glanced at you. you were excited to be partners with her.

"now, i'll read off the partner pairings." you heard a collective groan throughout the class. your teacher had no idea who was friends, and who wasn't. she wasn't much for noticing. so that meant you could be paired with literally anyone. you held your breath, hoping for someone you were familiar with.

your name still had not been called as she continued calling pairs. most of your friends had already been paired up. you were disappointed. the project would be unbearable with someone you didn't know.

"...and finally, y/n and coriolanus. please get into your pairs everybody, and discuss your plan. i'll be walking around to hear your ideas." you had zoned out, but when your name was called, paired with the man you had danced with last night, you definitely focused back in. really? out of all the possible options for partners you had to be paired with snow?

you weren't dissapointed because you hated him. quite the opposite actually. you had found him very charming last night, very nice. but even you recognized the tension between the two of you that had risen quickly last night. you barely knew him, but you felt like you needed to be with him. spend more time with him. so, in actuality, this was quite exciting. but you had no idea how he felt. so you would rather run away from this. not be partnered with him.

you looked around and searched for him. he was sat above you in the room, and diagonal. when you found him, you met his gaze. clearly he had already found where you were sitting. you nodded at him with a smile. you noticed as everyone shifted around the room to their partners. he signaled for you to come to him, so you grabbed what you needed and made your way up the small set of stairs between rows. the boy next to him had already gotten up, so there was a free seat waiting for you. you realized you were holding your breath as you approached him.

"hi, coriolanus," you took a seat besides him.

"coryo, please." he pleaded. you nodded. that name felt much more familiar. he had asked you to call him coryo last night too. you chose coriolanus today just in case.

"right. coryo," you noticed a shift in his body language when you said his name. "how do we even approach this?" you looked to him for an answer, but you only found him looking right back at you. when you gestured with your hand for an answer, he focused back in.

"right, um. let's just start with bullet points." he suggested. you nodded. he looked down to put his pen on his paper, then stopped. he tapped his pen a few times, blank with ideas. he finally put the pen down.

"this project is stupid." you whispered under your breath. you leaned in closer so he could hear you better, which clearly affected him.

"hunger games is coming up. i wouldn't expect anything less." he responded, nonchalantly. you felt the elephant in the room getting more and more prominent as the conversation went on. you had to talk about it or else it would get more and more uncomfortable.

"so, last night was fun." it was all you could think of. a simple statement but one that was clear to the point. he cleared his throat.

"it certainly was." he responded. you could have sworn you saw a smile creep up on one side of his mouth. you thought about all the times the two of you were closer to each other then you should have been while dancing. clearly he had been thinking about it too.

"i didn't know you could dance like that." you spoke. he truly was a great dancer. you picked up the pen he had put down and began to spin it.

"thanks. you danced well too." what he meant was you danced in ways you shouldn't. that you could be sure off.

"thanks. no but seriously. last night was so much fun. i really enjoyed..spending time with you." you couldn't handle this tension much longer. he had sort of hinted at the fact that he had also enjoyed last night, but barely.

you dropped the issue and attempted to work with him for the remainder of the class period. you had to admit it was difficult. you weren't sure wether to be happy or disappointed when you were dismissed by your professor. you began to pack up when he spoke again.

"hey, meet me in the library?" he asked. you froze for a moment. then you quickly accepted his invite. "see you in ten." he finished packing up and left. you quickly attempted to follow behind him but he was lost in the sea of people by the time you exited the class. you didn't feel like eating, so you headed straight for the library.

when you arrived, you noticed it was empty. typical. nobody spent their lunch time in the library. he had said ten minutes so you assumed he wouldn't be here for a while. you plopped your book bag down on the table you had claimed and began to look around.

a few minutes later you had made your way to the back of the library in the section that you thought would help you the most with your project. you scoured for anything useful in the shelves but there wasn't much. you were about to give up until you heard a familiar voice behind you.

"find anything useful?" you heard. you turned around to face coriolanus. he had ditched his bag and had clearly tracked you down to this section.

"barely. doesn't look like any of these have been touched in several years." you pointed to the visible dust on the shelf. he laughed. it was a rare occasion, you had found.

"i'm sure they haven't. i bet they haven't assigned anything like this before." he pulled different books out but ended up putting each one back. you turned your back to the book in order to face him.

"why won't you talk about last night?" you were fed up at this point. the elephant in the room kept getting more visible and he was still ignoring it.

"do you want to talk about last night?" he responded, nonchalantly.

"it happened.." you said.

"believe me, i know." he once again responded with little feeling. you scoffed at his non-answer. he clearly noticed. "i'm not saying i didn't love every part of last night." he clarified. he pinned your hand to the shelf as he placed his hand atop yours. you had now backed as far up as you could without hitting the shelf.

"you did?" you began to panic slightly. he had trapped you in this position.

"i did. and i can already tell you did too." he affirmed. you looked down and thought. clearly he wanted the same thing you did.

"so then what are we doing?" you asked. but you didn't want words as his response, you wanted actions. and he delivered. a few seconds after you asked the question, his lips were on yours. he had started off soft but you pushed for more. he obliged and became more intense with each kiss. after a few moment you let go. you had become flustered. he took a breath before saying anything.

"i hope you know i'm never letting you dance the way you did with anyone else now." you smiled at him. he was everything you wanted and more.

maybe going out on a sunday night wasn't the worst idea.

"after last night (after last night) i think i'm in love with you"

"woke up and i can't get you out of my head"

tags: @qalijahbydior

[fishyizm]

getting nuis and nesos from japan

from a guy that looks at listings as a hobby and owns a few nuis

--

this post is mostly about project sekai since i see alot about how people don't really know much about merch from japan and looking at this stuff is kinda my hobby lol

getting stuff from japan is pretty good since its wayy cheaper, especially right now since yen to usd is really low rn (unsure about other countries currency sorry) usually prsk stuff is scalped to the point where its better to get it from japan even with the proxy fee lmao (the price for wanting merch for something popular)

getting merch from japan is actually really easy through proxy services, which will order things for you in japan and then ship them to you in the country you reside. i use mercari (a secondhand market) through buyee but there are other proxy services too, you should probably do some digging to find out which ones best for shipping to your country and area. i like buyee but it only takes foreign paypals so that can be a downside

if you want to find merch for a specific character i reccomend looking up how the chracters name is spelled in kanji/however its spelled in game (the spellings are usually on the wiki in the character info panel, you can also get them in game but its easier to copy paste) you can look it up in english but you might get prices aimed at american audiences and machine translation is famously terrible with names. if youre looking for merch from a less popular thing then you can look up the thing's name but thingsll usually be listed under character names

once you have the name you can put ぬい (nui, plush) or ねそべり(nesoberi, those laying down ones.) there are probably other kinds but these are the ones i look into lol

if you want fast results you can go to the recommended tab in the top right but if you have the time i reccomend sorting by lowest price and digging through untill you find what you want, whichll probably give you the best price

for project sekai specifically if you want cheap plushes be a fan of leoni, momojan, or anhane lol popular character merch is anywhere from 1.5x to 3x more expensive than unpopular characters. even so itll be less expensive than english ebay lol. under the cut i have the usual pricing ive seen for prsk plushes but it all depends since mercari is basically japanese ebay, so this is only for old merch and crane game prizes. if you want more recent merch im sure theres people who buy lots and resell, i dont have any reccomendations for project sekai but i know @/enstarsgoods on twitter does this for enstars

(rant i did on this post's tags about nui pricing) [the chibi eye nuis r anywhere from 600¥ ($4) to 2000¥ ($14) depending on if its a guy/niigo or not (lmao) and nesos get up to 7000¥ ($45) (for guys) (i saw some of the girl ones listed around 4000¥ [$26]) and nesos arent listed (as) often. idk anything about the dot eye nuis and nuigarumis since i dont like how they look (lol)

keep in mind that these r resales so theyre a bit more expensive than if u just ordered one when they were in stock like nesos r originally only ¥2750 ($18) but r scalped to hell especially on english ebay]

on top of the price for the goods youll buy you also have to pay japan shipping (usually this is included but sometimes it isnt, it is on every listing if this is the case or not as well as the price) as well as a conversion fee per item which isnt much (i got away with 900¥ ($6) in total for 5 items) and shipping from japan to your country (for me it was ¥2300 [15] but i live in a very easy place to ship to so it may cost more for you) this is about the same as ebay shipping cost wise (for me at least)

--

i dont really know what people do with their project sekai nuis (except blend?? burn?? milk copypasta irl..) but with enstars people usually put cute clips in their hair and blush them which is super cute. people also make nui costumes that you can buy. you can search ぬい服 (nui clothes) and usually put the type of nui you have's origin/size (since they can be different demensions) people don't make them for project sekai nuis but im sure there are outfits available in that size/patterns around somewhere

[richincolor]

Crystal's 2024 Favorites

This year was full of awesome new young adult books and as usual it was difficult to figure out which ones would make my list of favorites. There were about ten that stood out, but these are the final four that really made a lasting impression and I would highly recommend.

The Quince Project by Jessica Parra [Our Group Discussion] Wednesday Books

Castillo Torres, Student Body Association event chair and serial planner, could use a fairy godmother. After a disastrous mishap at her sister’s quinceañera, all of Cas’s plans are crumbling. So when a local lifestyle-guru-slash-party-planner opens up applications for the internship of her dreams, Cas sees it as the perfect opportunity to learn every trick in the book so that things never go wrong again.

The only catch is that she needs more party planning experience before she can apply. When she books a quinceañera for a teen Disneyland vlogger, Cas thinks her plan is taking off…until she discovers that the party is just a publicity stunt and she begins catching feelings for the chambelán. As her agenda begins to go off-script, Cas finds that real life may be more complicated than a fairy tale.

But maybe Happily Ever Afters aren’t just for the movies. Can Cas go from planner to participant in her own life? Or will this would-be princess turn into a pumpkin at the end of the ball?

Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier [Crystal's Review] Clarion Books

In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope had gone, the tale came with a warning.

Every wish demands a price.

Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.

Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign. Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time-hope.

But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape…that of the dragonfruit itself.

A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1) by Hafsah Faizal Farrar, Straus and Giroux

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur [Crystal's Review] Feiwel & Friends

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

[local-apollo-kid]

Ghost Is A Magpie.

Ghost, who, once he was comfortable with the 141, started to bring back little trinkets and leave them in a bowl that has now been deemed by Soap as 'the offering bowl'.

It started off as things like empty bullet shells with the name of the recipient written on it or something small from missions, but then it progressed into things like pinecones, crystals, and even little origami cranes and coins.

After this had been happening for months, Price set up another small bowl for gifts for Ghost. It's been affectionately named 'the altar' by Gaz. They've been leaving small sticky notes with spotify songs on them, dice, beads, anything they things Ghost might like.

Price usually leaves things like small toy soldiers and bits of scrap (NOT SHARP) metal he discarded while working on his new project.

Gaz likes to leave dice and beads and little bottle tabs wound together with string. It's always 4 bottle tabs wound together to represent the four of them.

Soap leaves pressed flowers, songs and jewellery. Like, he'll walk into a salvos and come out with a bucket full of every kind of jewellery. Earrings, necklaces, rings. He doesn't even know if Ghost has piercings at all but still leaves tons as offerings.

Ghost will never admit it, even though everybody knows. They see they way his eyes light up each time he sees someone put a new trinket into the altar, but he adores all the little gifts. He has shelves dedicated to the gifts a specific person has given him. He fawns over them and is so protective over them.

And, thankfully, for Soap, he does have piercings. Although he is yet to reveal them to anyone but Price ;]

[tumblingghosts]

hello you’re the only person i know on here who likes harry potter so i’m sending you my headcanons for the mentors in their hogwarts houses

persephone- hufflepuff, i think she’s very loyal, kind, & patient

festus- gryffindor, he’s a lil impulsive but brave (sort of projected a james potter type personality accidentally)

livia- slytherin, i see her as ambitious and resourceful or ravenclaw, bc i also think she’s witty and creative

vipsania- slytherin, very ambitious and cunning

felix- ravenclaw, idk he’s just giving those vibes

hp x tbosas?? :D

(more under the cut)

i fully agree with the ones you mentioned-

persephone price - hufflepuff

what you said! i think she likely sticks close to her house for her earlier years but opens up to other houses once festus became her friend (after some group project that pairs them together)

festus creed - gryffindor

honestly didn’t even have to think about this one. festus just feels like gryffindor. 

livia cardew - slytherin

she has ambition, connections, self-preservation, pretty motivated by competition and doing better than people she doesn’t like and cunning when she wants to be

vipsania sickle - slytherin

she’s really competitive and driven. also i can’t explain it, but she kinda has quidditch keeper vibes.

felix ravinstill - ravenclaw

he tried for slytherin- he really did! (that’s a lie, he didn’t try that hard.) i’d say it was a bit of a toss-up between the two, and felix was fairly ambivalent since both were respectable enough- and that sealed it for ravenclaw.

more mentors!

coriolanus snow - slytherin

ambition. ambition for ages. the sorting hat didn’t even have to think about it.

clemensia dovecote - slytherin

ambition as well, but to a much less harmful degree than coriolanus. ravenclaw was probably floated as a potential house, but not long enough to cause a hat stall. unrelated to the sorting, but if we’re going with hp events as well, was likely the one to figure out the basilisk then got petrified before she could tell anyone.

sejanus plinth - gryffindor

he’s a hufflepuff in my heart, but he’d most likely be sorted into gryffindor. 

urban canville - hufflepuff

i would have said ravenclaw, except urban kinda gives zacharias smith (re: would urban push first years out of the way to escape the battle of hogwarts? probably.) so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

arachne crane - slytherin

she was nearly a hat stall because the hat tried putting her in gryffindor. she adamantly refused until the hat gave in. it sorts, but students do get choice.

io jasper - ravenclaw

incredibly smart, but she’s most skilled at science-related classes. everyday, she thanks the founders that urban wasn’t placed in the same house as her. it’s bad enough that hufflepuffs and ravenclaws often have classes together.

lysistrata vickers - gryffindor

i could see an argument for hufflepuff, but she feels outspoken enough to tip the scales into gryffindor when considering the two.

i have no explanations for the rest, these are just vibes-

pliny harrington - slytherin

juno phipps - ravenclaw

hilarius heavensbee - slytherin

gaius breen - slytherin

androcles anderson - hufflepuff

domitia whimsiwick - slytherin

dennis fling - hufflepuff

palmyra monty - ravenclaw

iphigenia moss - hufflepuff

apollo ring - gryffindor

diana ring - ravenclaw

florus friend - ravenclaw

bonus! here’s where i think some of the tributes would go-

lucy gray - slytherin

jessup - hufflepuff

marcus - gryffindor

reaper - hufflepuff

treech - slytherin

lamina - hufflepuff

(the slytherin/hufflepuff vibes for treemina go hard- lamina swears that treech should have been a hufflepuff, but treech swears that lamina should have been slytherin. in a way, they’re both right.)

also, where would you sort the d4 tributes/victors (mizzen, coral, finnick, mags, annie, etc.)?

thanks for the ask!

[indigosunsetao3]

Whumptober 2024

No. 27: VOICELESS

Laboratory | Muzzled | “I have no mouth and I must scream.”

First time ever doing Whumptober. Hopefully I tagged everything right.

Another day, another mission.

It wasn't the same without Soap. The team felt hollow, like a piece was missing, even though Price had finally filled the vacancy with another person. There was nothing wrong with the guy, Crane, as they called him. He could shoot just as well as the rest of them, fell in line easily, wrapped up the job without issue, and could be depended on to make sure they all made it home alive.

But it still wasn't Johnny.

"Ghost and Crane," Price ordered, pointing toward double doors as they all stood in the now-cleared hallway. "Gaz, you're with me."

Blood coated the walls, the windows, and even the ceiling in places. The bodies of the enemy were scattered all over the place, and Ghost knew that if he touched one, they'd still be warm.

The underground lab had begun to feel like a myth. No matter how much intelligence they gathered, they were not able to find it. Each location they were sure it was at ended up being a dead end. Or an empty shell of what it used to be, the enemy one step ahead and clearing out. Ghost had begun to wonder if the whole thing was just a wild chase to keep them occupied while Markarov executed a greater plan. Keep the cats chasing their tails while the mice plotted.

"On me," Ghost said with a nod to his sergeant, his replacement sergeant.

Crane nodded back and raised his gun as he followed the Lieutenant toward the doors. Per the blueprints, there should be a larger room on the other side with offshoots of other hallways and rooms, a spoke-and-wheel layout. Price and Gaz were headed the other way to find the main security room to gather any intelligence they could. Ghost and Crane were charged with clean up and finding anything else useful.

Shouldering open the swing doors, Ghost swept left and right, looking for enemies before he walked pressed against the wall, continuing his sweep. Crane went the opposite way, and they both peered under tables, behind cases, and tested doors to see if they were open or not. All of them were locked.

"See what you can find," Ghost said as he let his gun down to his side.

He zeroed in on a computer, shoved a USB into the slot, then waited as the decryption code did its thing. Crane was opening cabinets, pulling out paper files, and tossing them onto tables.

The main heart of the laboratory was sterile white, with metal tables and machines all along the walls. Some of the machines themselves were still whirring, as if the 141 showing up had actually been a surprise for once. Markarov was always one step ahead. Always. It almost felt like a trap with how easy it was to get inside, relatively speaking.

When the code finished, Ghost began digging through files. Everything had a code name, most of it in Russian, but he was able to figure out the gist of what was being said. As he dragged the files onto the USB he glanced up at Crane who had paused in his digging to flip through a file.

"Anything in there about Project Trojan?" Crane asked. He walked over, tossing the file next to Ghost. The file was covered in redacted lines, but Project Trojan was in big, bold letters on the top, with dates in the past and future listed. It was all a bunch of nonsense with so many blacked out words. But one stuck out to Ghost as Crane pointed at it.

MacTavish.

He grabbed the file and tugged it toward him before typing on the keyboard to search for the project. It came up instantly, but it was locked. Even the decryption code built into the USB couldn't break it, but he kept trying. Kept trying to force the password, force the code to try and jailbreak it.

Johnny had been killed in the tunnels thanks to Markarov's Trojan Horse virus. It was probably just a recap of what had happened, but seeing Johnny's name on the paper, as if he were just another throwaway piece of data in Markarov's game, set him on edge. He wanted to know exactly what Markarov had written and what he was planning. Most importantly, he wanted to know why his Sergeant's name was still in the fuckers mouth.

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

He stood behind one of the heavy metal doors, watching. Waiting.

He had been let out of his restraints with his orders to stay behind. To wait for the enemy to come to him and then clean house. Live up to his name.

He ran his tongue over the hard rubber bit in his mouth. The mask that was over his face dug into his skin as the straps wrapped behind his head, holding it tight in place. They kept him muzzled. He said he talked too much and asked too many questions. It was easier if he was quiet, forced to listen instead of interupting.

Issue was they never took the muzzle off.

It was kept tight on his face day and night, pumping his oxygen in for him through the hose that ran into a pack on his back. Or to the wall when he was shut into his bed. Food was through a tube. No need to ever take the mask off.

The first long while of the mask had been a panicked blur. He felt claustrophobic with it and fought to pry it off his face. So they restrained him until he settled. Then, they started to let him out to experiment on him. Little by little, as time slipped by, he began to lose himself in this life. He stopped fighting because there was nowhere to go and no one to fight for. He couldn't remember anything before this, couldn't see a life in his haze of a mind outside of the four walls of his room and the lab.

The lab where two men were standing digging through files. Not for long. He was told to clean house, and that was what he would do, least he displease his commander.

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

"What the fuck is this," Ghost demanded as he finally cracked the code.

Johnny's birthday and death date.

He began opening files and scrolling through the data he found. There was so much data on Johnny going back to his damn birth certificate and fucking newborn footprints. Why did they need all of this?

"Call Price, tell him what we found," Ghost ordered Crane. He was too enthralled with what he was doing to tear his eyes away.

He opened another file, and it was full of medical charts. Information Ghost already knew, but then a plethora of things he didn't. Probably because they were labs done on Soap well past his death date. Past the date of his funeral in the Scottish Highlands. The newest had been...three days ago.

This had to be wrong. It felt wrong. It felt like bait to keep him distracted, and it worked. Ghost stood up from his hunched position, grabbed his gun instantly, and prepared to fight some unseen enemy.

No one else was in the lab as from Crane as he scanned his surroundings. The man had moved back toward the main doors to try and get Price over the comms; the underground lab was messing with their ability to call one another.

But the situation changed in an instant.

Time seemed to slow as one of the locked doors opened, and a soldier stepped out, gun raised. Ghost twisted to aim his own at the man, but the eyes that met him over the mask made him hesitate.

Johnny.

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

He had waited for them to split up.

When the smaller man had his back to him, Soap stepped out from his hiding place. It was almost too easy to down the one by the door. He didn't even have a chance to turn around before Soap pulled the trigger in two quick successions. A shot to the back and head.

The man fell in a heap to the ground, blood already pooling out from both wounds. The sight kept Soap's attention for only a moment, something jarring in his memory, like a glitch. But he blinked, and it was gone, and he turned his attention to the other man by the computer.

He had only seen his side profile and back from his hiding place, but out in the open, he had a full view of him. He was massive and donned a mask like him. No, not like him. His was cloth, easy to remove. He only wore it to cover his face, the scars that littered his pale skin. He could still talk while he had that mask on, could still use his lips to suck on a cigarette that he offered. To nip at his neck in the dark.

Soap hesitated. How did he know that? What were these memories?

As if in response, his mask hissed as it released more oxygen and the green gas they used on him. He tasted the bitter mixture in the back of his throat before all thoughts aside from the job ebbed from his mind.

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

Not again. Not another Sergeant.

Ghost stared at where Crane had fallen, where half of his head was missing. He hadn't neutralized the threat when he could have, and he lost another man because of his inadequacies.

The Deja Vu and pain nearly stunned him into immobilization. A year ago, he had arrived a step too late, a shot too slow, to find Johnny bleeding out on the floor. He had frantically pulled at his vest and shook him to wake him, but Johnny's hadn't stirred. He felt no pulse as he pressed at his neck and the blood that oozed from his wounds seeped into Ghost's pants as he refused to leave his side.

They had scattered his ashes had said their goodbyes. He had his fucking id tags around his neck still, pressed tightly against his own, under his bulletproof vest. Hell, he had a small urn at his nearly abandoned flat, and he had a bit of Johnny there. A small scrap of him in the place they shared in secret.

The feeling of being frozen only lasted for a moment, his natural instincts to survive taking over as Johnny shot at him. The computer he had been behind exploded and he dropped to his knees to watch as the man prowled toward him.

He couldn't shoot him. Even if Johnny was actively shooting at him he couldn't take the shot.

The logical part of Ghost's brain told him that this lab, this thing, was an experiment. That the Russian's had perhaps perfected cloning and had made a mockery of the 141 by creating a soldier they killed into a weapon to use to taunt them. But the way he walked, the slight lean to the side for his shit knee was a tell. And how he cocked his head to listen because his right ear had begun to go deaf.

It was Johnny. His Johnny. Even though he had seen him die, had told his distraught mother he had been killed, said his goodbyes, and packed away his things after six months of staring at them. He was very much alive and trying to kill him.

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

He wasn't fighting back. He was hiding.

Soap smirked behind his mask, the feeling painful as his cheeks dug into the unforgiving plastic of his mask. This would be easy work if the man had just tried to hide and not fight back. There was nowhere to hide in this place. Soap knew the laboratory inside and out, there was only one way in or out, and he was between this man in the mask and his exit.

He took another shot at the table, sparks flying as the bullet hit metal. He was going to spook him out, force him to move, and come out to play. He so rarely got to play these days.

Kicking a chair out of his way he crouched to peer under a table before having to twist quickly to the side. A knife whizzed for his arm and it sliced down the sleeve of his suit before embedding into the desk behind him.

This man had shit aim.

No, he didn't. A voice in his mind screamed at him that this man...this Ghost did not miss. His use of knives was well known. His aim superior and his ability to kill lethal. He hadn't aimed to kill him. He had aimed to...distract him. To..

Fuck. He had to roll to avoid the boot that seemed to come out of nowhere in his distracted thoughts. He ducked it and rammed the butt of his gun up hard to connect with his enemy's gut. It hit home but the man countered, using his considerable bulk to continue the momentum of the swing to throw Soap off balance.

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

It was easy to fight your enemy when you were the one who taught them many of their moves. How many times had Johnny and Simon sparred? How often did their matches end in draws because they could counter one another all day, and Price grew tired of watching? Too many. And as the gun came up to catch him in the stomach, Ghost actually grinned behind his mask. He was familiar with the move and was able to instantly go with it to use the force against Johnny.

The elbow that came up caught Ghost in the jaw made him see stars for a moment. Johnny wasn't pulling his punches like they did when they practiced. He grunted and grappled to get Johnny in a headlock but he was faster and the man slipped away.

When the gun muzzle was raised and aimed right at his chest, Ghost kicked out to knock Johnny back,, and the man collided with the table behind him. Taking the moment in his daze Ghost grabbed the gun and yanked. Hard. The strap that was still over Johnny's shoulder snapped at the force, and he threw it hard across the room. They would fight this out the old way.

"Come on, Johnny, guns are cheatin'," Ghost taunted as he looked at him, glaring up at him. His blue eyes, so blue they used to steal the breath from Ghost when he'd look into them as they laid in bed, were tinged green. Something was off, wrong. Johnny wasn't just fighting him because of some sort of amnesia. There was something else driving him. And as Johnny inhaled sharply, the mask on his face hissing quietly Ghost took a guess what it was.

Whatever was in that mask was poisoning him.

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

Johnny. He knew that name. He had been called that in the beginning as a taunt. As a way to break him down, to hurt him. That was his name, and only one person got away with using it. Just one. He blinked up at the hulk of a man standing in front of him and stared for a moment. The guy, the supposed enemy, wasn't attacking him. He was waiting, watching. As if giving him a chance to figure things out.

Soap swallowed trying to get his thoughts straight but the quiet hiss of his mask went off and he inhaled.

He had a job. And that job was to kill the man standing there staring at him.

Reaching for his vest, he loosed two knives and fisted them, ready to fight hand to hand. If he couldn't use his gun, these would have to do. By the time he was done with this man, he was going to wish he had taken a bullet like his friend had.

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

He had to get the mask off.

Ghost snarled with pain as one of the fists he knocked away was followed too closely by another, and the knife drove into his forearm. It went in deep, and he flinched as Johnny tugged at it, slicing a long gash into his flesh and muscle.

The blood flowed freely from his cut but Ghost didn't let up as he fought back, letting the pain drive him. He needed to get the mask off Johnny and restrain him. Get him to see reason, to see what was happening.

But Johnny was too fast. Faster than he had ever known him to be and, honestly, that he thought possible. Another knife to the thigh made Ghost buckle, dropping down to one knee in the pain.

Johnny took advantage of the position change, but Ghost met him. He grabbed his booted foot and twisted hard. He heard the sickening snap and felt the vibration of the crunch as he dislocated Johnny's knee, his bad knee.

The groan of pain felt like a lance down Ghost's spine as Johnny went down. He collided hard with the tiled floor and grabbed at his knee for a moment, eyes snapping up to Ghost with malice in them. Yet, through all of this, Johnny never cried out. Never said a word. A virtually silent killing machine, which was not like him at all.

Johnny had always been a chatter box, making Ghost roll his eyes with affection and sometimes annoyance when he just wanted quiet. But now there was nothing, not even a taunt.

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

He couldn't use the leg. The second he felt the snap, he knew his knee was obliterated. He had been foolish in putting that much weight behind the hit; the man knew how to use his own bulk against him.

Scooting back, he flipped the remaining knife he had, the other still stuck in the man's thigh, and waited. He could easily flick it at him, bury the blade between his eyes but as he glanced at the hazel irises watching him he hesitated.

He knew those eyes. Knew them...intimately. He could read this man's moods, seemingly his thoughts, with one look at his eyes in the before. And now as he looked at him he could see the pain, the physical as well as emotional. And the calculation.

He didn't have time to scramble away as the man launched at him. He tried to yell behind the mask as hands tore at his vest, his mask. He couldn't take the mask off. If he took the mask off he was punished. Brutally. No he couldn't take it off, he couldn't. He fought back against the hands as they ripped at the straps behind his head to loosen them.

Blood smeared on the side of his head from the man's bleeding arm as he fought, and he felt the panic bubble up. He had been like this before. He had been bleeding out of his head in the very spot when they came and took him. He couldn't go back. He wouldn't go back. They couldn't make him.

Twisting and snarling in his chest, Soap fought back. As his knife found home, once, twice, three times, in the man's back, he finally felt him let up. But not before he shakily pried the mask off his face and threw it to the ground.

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

Johnny's face and skin were deeply indented from the mask and the straps that held it in place. As Ghost looked at it on the ground, he could see the blood and drool that caked the mouthpiece, the dents of Johnny's teeth in them as he bit down on it who knew how many times.

Ghost flicked his eyes to the face he knew well, staring up at him in a panic. Johnny took deep, steadying breaths as he wiped away the drool down his chin. His hand was coated in blood, Ghost's blood, and it smeared around his mouth as he continued to feel at his face.

Feeling unsteady, Ghost fell back on his haunches, his eyes drifting to where the knife in his thigh dug so deep it was sure it hit bone. He couldn't feel it. The adrenaline did not let him feel any pain at all, only vaguely aware of the throbbing wounds in his back.

"Johnny?" Ghost asked more than stated as he looked at the man on the floor before him. His vision swam, and he knew he swayed, but he threw a hand out to grab a table to keep his balance.

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

Soap reached for the mask, feeling as if he were hyperventilating without it on. He couldn't get enough air; he felt light-headed and confused. And terrified. The last time he got out of his mask it had been a horrendous time. He had been punished for days, weeks? He couldn't remember. He had been broken and put back together so many times he wasn't sure any part of him was still the original him anymore.

But as he breathed in fresh air, the fog of his mind began to clear with each gulp. His memories were confused mussed, but one thing stood out clearly to him.

Ghost.

He had been fighting against Ghost. Trying to kill Ghost, who had only defended himself instead of fighting back properly. And as he looked down at his hands, he realized they were both free of his knives but covered in slick, hot blood. Ghost's blood.

Simon's blood.

As Simon pitched to the side, eyes rolling back, Johnny shot up and grabbed him. What had he done? What had he fucking done?

He screamed then. The first time he used his voice in...a year? Two? It didn't matter. The scream ripped at his throat, tore his lungs, and rang in his ears. The pain of the sound reverberating out of him stung as he leaned Simon back against a table and he tried to find where the blood was coming from.

There was so much of it. His leg oozed slowly, his arm bled freely, and the stab wounds in his back were running blood in time with his heartbeat. Blood dripped out from under his shirt in an uneven staccato, running down his back to splash to the floor, mixing with the growing puddle and smears from their fight.

Johnny grabbed Simon's face with his hands, and he peeled the mask away to look at him properly. Look at the face he knew so well, the face of who he had just tried to kill.

"Simon," Johnny said hoarsely, barely a whisper, as he cocked his head back to get him to open his eyes to look at him.

"Johnny," Simon answered with a soft slur, his lips attempting a smile as he looked into Johnny's eyes. They were blue, just as he remembered them, not a hint of green in sight.

This was the better final memory to have of Johnny. His eyes open, looking at him, alive and breathing. Not dead on the floor at his knees.

As Simon slipped under, he heard Johnny scream out again. But it was okay, Simon thought as he faded. Johnny was alive, and that was all that mattered.

[liviacardew]

why i associate them with those lyrics

this post is connected to this post

note: these are all solely based off my headcanons.

i'm sorry these are all going to be sad

livia cardew

i associate livia with "tell your baby that i'm your baby." mainly because livia had two brothers, one older and one younger. her parents always favored her brothers over her. and when the eldest died, her parents' love and protectiveness for the youngest one grew. livia was often forgotten and overlooked by her parents. she watched her parents dote on her little brother and shower him with affection, which they never did to her.

vipsania sickle

i associate vip with "high achiever, don't you see? baby nothing comes for free. they say i'm a control freak driven by the greed to suceed." because her family has very high expectations. as her family's expectations grew, her greed grew. her family's expectations is the reason why she's extremely competitive. she wants to fulfill those expectations and she wants to make her parents proud. but, everything she does is never enough. vip tries her best to be number 1, but coriolanus exists. her parents often tell her to be more like coriolanus, but he's always better than her in everything academic-related, despite her being one of the top students in the academy. which is why vip puts so much pressure on herself.

felix ravinstill

i associate felix with "daddy stuck around, but he was never present." because of this one line he says in the movie: "well, maybe he would've if he wasn't so busy running the country.", it made me think that pres. ravinstill was an absent father. pres. ravinstill never bothered to show up to felix's special events. there was this one day where all parents had to come to school for a parent-teacher conference, and only his mother showed up. felix also barely sees his father at home, his father only shows up for breakfast. he has lunch and dinner mostly in his office.

persephone price

i associate pippa with "if they knew sweet little you, they'd end up loving you too." because of coriolanus knowing that she was a cannibal back in the dark days. coriolanus distances himself from pippa, always. despite being in the same friend group, pippa and coriolanus were never that close. he also doesn't know her as well as his other friends do. her friends see pippa as a sweet and caring girl, but coriolanus only sees her as a cannibal. the girl who ate the crane family's dead maid. if coriolanus put the whole cannibal thing aside, he and pippa would've been good friends due to her kind nature. but he never did.

hilarius heavensbee

i associate hilarius with "i wanted to be the one that you could understand." because he just wants his parents to understand him. hilarius has two older siblings, one moved out and one's in university. his parents often compared him to them, and he just wants his parents to understand that he's different to his siblings. his two older siblings were close to his parents, but hilarius was never really that close with them. hilarius not only wants his parents to understand that he's different than his siblings, but he also wants a connection with his parents. he wants his parents to understand him like they understand his siblings.

clemensia dovecote

i associate clemmie with "i used to think i was smart, but you've made me look so naive." because of her previous relationship. clemmie used to date urban canville. it was a toxic relationship, but clemmie thought she had found the 'one'. despite her friends' (especially felix) complaints about how urban wasn't a good guy, she just brushed it off and continued to date urban for a year. one day, she found io's bracelet in urban's room. when she asked about it, urban just brushed it off, saying how io was only helping him with a science project and she had left her bracelet here. as the days grew, clemmie noticed that urban and io had been getting closer. her friends had been trying to tell her that urban and io were having a secret affair and that urban was cheating on her, but clemmie just brushed it off, telling them that they were overthinking and urban would do no such thing. until one day, she walked in on urban and io making out.

festus creed

i associate festus with "for the rest of your life, i'll be there. i'll be stuck in your head like the roots of your hair." because of a tragic accident that killed his younger brother when festus was twelve. festus and his younger brother, flavius, were exploring a cave. it had been festus's idea and flavius happily agreed to it. whilst they were in the cave, it started to rain. festus knew it was time to get out, and told flavius. but flavius, being a curious six year old, said no and that he wanted to stay inside the cave. the cave slowly started to flood and festus urged for flavius to get out. as they were trying to get out, it had flooded the whole cave, and they had to swim their way out. flavius didn't know how to swim, so festus had to hold him while swiming. the water pressure got worse, and festus lost flavius on the way to the exit. flavius had drowned inside that cave. festus made it out alone and survived. festus' parents didn't blame him for flavius' death, but festus thinks it was his fault and still has thoughts and nightmares about it.

arachne crane

i associate arachne with "i know who you pretend i am." because of her striking resemblance with her deceased mother. her mother died during the war, and arachne's father never remarried. arachne's four older brothers had all moved out and it was only arachne and her father left in the house since she was sixteen. her father always told arachne stories about her mother and how arachne resembled her mother so much in both looks and personality. arachne notices how her father sometimes calls her by the wrong name. "marilla," it was her mother's name. it's as if he pretends that arachne is marilla (not in a romantic way). arachne took care of him like marilla did. arachne realizes this as she matures. she knows her father pretends arachne is her mother.

[wimaccrane]

25 Ton Overhead cranes For Cement Factories

Intro:The Manufacturing Marvel: How We Built the 25 Ton Double Girder Overhead CranesHow to Determine the Price of Your Crane Projectconclusion: Intro: Welcome to our blog! Today, we are tremendously excited to share an account of one of our greatest achievements. We have successfully managed to deliver a mammoth project involving two giant 25 Ton double girder overhead cranes. This incredible…

[bisphenol-a]

San Francisco closed the lid Sunday on the saga of a $1.7 million public restroom. To commemorate the commode’s installation, residents celebrated at a “potty party” they called the Toilet Bowl.

Lookie-loos lined up in the Noe Valley Town Square to give the loo a whirl. A band played songs including “Sloop John B” by the Beach Boys. (“This is a song about a john!” the band leader explained.) Children sipped lemonade and ate chocolate cupcakes while they tossed bean bags into plastic training potties on the ground.

San Francisco may have been a laughingstock over the news that it planned to spend $1.7 million to construct a single public restroom with a sink and toilet, getting skewered by late-night comedians and inspiring the “it” costume at Halloween parties.

But on Sunday, the city got the last laugh.

“We wanted to, you know, really roll with it,” said Zach D’Angelo, dressed as a giant roll of toilet paper with a red plunger as his hat. D’Angelo, the host of Tuesday night trivia at a pub down the street, served as the Toilet Bowl’s emcee — or, as he put it, the Grand Poobah.

“I am flush with excitement!” he exclaimed before he started telling toilet jokes that he said he had gotten from his 7-year-old nephew.

The mood wasn’t quite so lighthearted in October 2022 when city officials announced a news conference in the Noe Valley Town Square to celebrate securing $1.7 million in state funds to build the 150-square-foot restroom — enough money to buy a whole single-family house in the city.

The square was built in 2016 with outdoor seating, a playground and plumbing for a public toilet, but no actual toilet, because money for the project had fallen short.

Just as puzzling as the price tag was the timeline. The city said it would take two to three years to install the restroom, even after it secured the state funds.

Neighbors and a local journalist (well, me) began to question the details of the project. City officials explained the toilet would have to be approved by numerous city commissions. It would also be subject to environmental review. All that, plus the high cost of construction in the city, made the project expensive and time-consuming.

Politicians began distancing themselves from the bathroom brouhaha. Gov. Gavin Newsom took back the state money.

Then, Chad Kaufman, president of the Public Restroom Company, offered to donate a modular toilet instead. He and Vaughan Buckley, the chief executive of Volumetric Building Companies, paid for architecture and engineering work to get the site ready. They also paid for a truck to carry the modular toilet to the square, a crane to lift it into place and union labor to install it.

The tab for the city dropped to $200,000, and Mayor London Breed announced legislation that she said would help bring down the cost of other public projects. It would let city departments team up to get group discounts on goods and services for small jobs. The state gave the $1.7 million back to San Francisco again, and the city says it will be used to build more toilets.

In the end, the new red restroom in the Noe Valley Town Square was worthy of celebration. On Sunday, a woman doled out toilet trivia. Local librarians handed out free copies of children’s books entitled “Everyone Poops” and “Time to Use the Potty.” There was a toilet-themed costume contest with whoopee cushions as prizes.

Three San Francisco politicians — Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, State Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Matt Haney — addressed the crowd. Haney posed for a photo in front of the bathroom.

“It’s not gold-plated, but it’s worth its weight in gold,” he said with a laugh.

Debra Niemann, director of the Noe Valley Association, a neighborhood improvement group, said she didn’t think the toilet travails had done much to make city projects, including public restrooms, any cheaper to build.

“But at least we got one,” she said. “It’s beautiful. It’s clean. It’s simple. It’s everything you could want in a public toilet.”

[doubleaynus]

Happy First Day Of Halloween!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom:��The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Sejanus Plinth/Coriolanus Snow Characters: Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus Snow, Arachne Crane, Felix Ravinstill, Festus Creed, Clemensia Dovecote, Persephone Price Additional Tags: Snowjanus Spooktober, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Zombie Typical Gore, Drinking, Blood, Festus Being An Asshole, Rimming, Rimjob Gone Wrong Summary:

Coriolanus’s eyes flicker back and forth between Festus and the TV, not moving a muscle. He clenches his jaw, watching some innocent soldier get gnawed on by one of the undead creatures. The zombies have a grayish green tint to their skin and a hazy look in their eye. Their flesh looked tight to their bones, dark rings under their eyes, daring to expose the rotting flesh underneath.

Coriolanus keeps repeating to himself how ridiculous they look, that it’s only people in costumes, zombies aren’t real.

Snowjanus Spooktober - Day 1 - You Look So Good I Could Eat You

[mariacallous]

When turbine blades for the United States’ first offshore wind project left port in September 2023, headed for the Vineyard Wind 1 project off Massachusetts, they were traveling on a barge instead of a wind turbine installation vessel, or WTIV. These purpose-built vessels are common in other parts of the world and make the job much, much easier. A WTIV is a transportation and construction rig in one. Frequently equipped with a big crane, deployable legs, and a dynamic positioning system, WTIVs can support the installation of several humongous turbines per trip.

There are dozens of WTIVs plying the world’s waters. So, why were the Vineyard Wind 1 blades delivered on a barge? This expensive, inefficient workaround was necessary because of a century-old law known as the Jones Act.

Also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act requires anyone transporting goods from one point in the United States to another to use an American ship. And by a modern interpretation of the old law, an offshore turbine counts as a point in the United States. The trouble is, the United States doesn’t have any WTIVs. And without the appropriate equipment, the country’s offshore wind efforts are being plagued by the need for repeated, smaller-capacity barge trips that have added costs to projects already beset by financial difficulties. Danish energy company Ørsted, for example, cited vessel delays when it canceled two planned projects off the New Jersey coast: Ocean Wind 1 and 2.

The country’s first Jones Act–compliant WTIV, the Charybdis, is currently under construction in Texas. While originally planned for completion in 2023, labor constraints have pushed the Charybdis’s launch back at least a year, possibly into 2025, says Dominion Energy, the vessel’s owner.

The Biden administration’s goal is to deploy offshore wind turbines capable of generating 30 gigawatts of power by 2030. That’s more than 2,000 turbines. To meet this target, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), part of the US Department of Energy, says there’s a need for four to six WTIVs. But as 2030 draws ever closer, the incomplete Charybdis remains the only one.

The Jones Act is tricky to navigate. For a vessel to be compliant, it must not only be built in the United States and running the country’s flag but also be owned and crewed by Americans. Consequently, US shipyards enjoy a monopoly, which allows them to demand massively inflated prices.

When finished, the 144-meter-long Charybdis will boast over 5,000 square meters of main deck area and accommodate up to 119 people, supported by on-board cabins, mess rooms, and shops, as well as a cinema, gym, and hospital. But the WTIV’s cost has climbed from US $500 million to $625 million. Meanwhile, the major shipyards in South Korea could have built a similar vessel in less time, for less money, and with a more powerful crane.

The reason for the Jones Act’s longevity, says Colin Grabow, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, is that while it tends to benefit only a few people and businesses, the act goes unnoticed because there are many payers sharing the increased costs.

The Jones Act is one in a string of protectionist laws—dating back to the Tariff Act of 1789—designed to bolster US marine industries. The Jones Act’s existence was meant to ensure a ready supply of ships and mariners in case of war. Its authors reasoned that protection from foreign competition would foster that.

“Your average American has no idea that the Jones Act even exists,” Grabow says. “It’s not life-changing for very many people,” he adds. But “all Americans are hurt by the Jones Act.” In this case, that’s by slowing down the United States’ ability to hit its own wind power targets.

Grabow says those most vocal about the law—the people who build, operate, or serve on compliant ships—usually want to keep it in place.

Of course, there’s more going on with the country’s slow rollout of offshore wind power than just a century-old shipping law. It took a slew of factors to sink New Jersey’s planned Ocean Wind installations, says Abraham Silverman, an expert on renewable energy at Columbia University in New York.

Ultimately, says Silverman, rising interest rates, inflation, and other macroeconomic factors caught New Jersey’s projects at their most vulnerable stage, inflating the construction costs after Ørsted had already locked in its financing.

Despite the setbacks, the potential for offshore wind power generation in the United States is massive. The NREL estimates that fixed-bottom offshore wind farms in the country could theoretically generate some 1,500 gigawatts of power—more than the United States is capable of generating today.

There’s a lot the United States can do to make its expansion into offshore wind more efficient. And that’s where the focus needs to be right now, says Matthew Shields, an engineer at NREL specializing in the economics and technology of wind energy.

“Whether we build 15 or 20 or 25 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, that probably doesn’t move the needle that much from a climate perspective,” says Shields. But if building those first few turbines sets the country up to then build 100 or 200 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2050, he says, then that makes a difference. “If we have ironed out all these issues and we feel good about our sustainable development moving forward, to me, I think that’s a real win.”

But today, some of the offshore wind industry’s issues stem, inescapably, from the Jones Act. Those inefficiencies mean lost dollars and, perhaps more importantly in the rush toward carbon neutrality, lost time.

[jazzhandsmcleg]

tomorrow is my last day at my current job, which was only ever a three-year contracted position. I don't yet have anything else lined up to replace it, and it's not for lack of trying. in fact, I'm waiting to hear from one place to see if they want to interview me, and waiting to hear from another place who said they'd make a decision this week. but I don't know what's coming next. if not one of those two places -- and in fact even if it is the second place; it doesn't pay a whole lot and I have a shiny new car loan to pay off -- I'm going to have to go out and get a retail job or two while I wait for my professional prospects to improve. story of my generation, right?

I've done that before. I don't really want to do it again, but I'll do it if I have to and it'll be fine.

work the last few days have been odd. I've been trying to wrap up one last project, and the deadline of "Friday" has really put me in the zone. I blink and ninety minutes have gone by. blink again and it's lunch time. lunch today was odd, too. my boss ordered in pizza and a salad and all of us commandeered the lunchroom and shot the shit for almost an hour, aka almost twice as long as our government-mandated lunch breaks. I often get weird about eating with people and COVID is always more or less a concern, so I've never actually eaten with any of my coworkers before. they gave me a card, cleverly done up to look like a governmental record. even the people I've seldom interacted with, even the lady who I suspect doesn't really like me very much, added a nice thing or two to it.

tomorrow I'm taking a cake and some popcorn for everyone to eat, as a little reciprocal goodbye gift. if it weren't for that and for the project I have to finish tomorrow (and, well, for the eight hours of vacation pay transferred to cash I'd be giving up), I'd be tempted to just call out tomorrow and go out without any awkward goodbyes. but it'd be kind of rude to do that to my coworkers, who are a pretty good bunch of people. but I'm not ready to leave. but I've been ready to leave for at least a year and a half at this point. but I've known when I was going to be leaving, at the absolute latest, since the day I was hired.

you know a place after three years, you know? it matters in the way all things do after three years. it's weird to think, I will likely never see these people again. it's a bit of a relief. it's a bit sad. after three years, it's mostly just weird.

I'm so tired. I'm a little glad I evidently don't have anything lined up, because it means I get to take next week to "do nothing"...by which I mean I will clean and apply for retail jobs that I hope will hire me even though I haven't done customer service since 2019 and tackle some home projects I've been putting off and cook and. life goes on.

I'm so tired. I drove home today in an exhausted fugue, my mind stretched out and my back sore from craning over papers all day. I sat down to do my budget before I make the cake, and found myself dissatisfied with all my music. I made a new station on Pandora -- well, technically pianobar -- that spun off from The War on Drugs, and got Under the Pressure, eight and a half minutes of serious, dreamy guitar and solo tenor vocals, with a little brass on the side.

under the pressure indeed.

I opened up realtor.com instead of my budget spreadsheet and started looking at pictures of pretty houses in my area. they're all still out of my price range for the foreseeable future, and it's odd because today I can't even imagine myself living in any of those houses. all of my problems would just be there with me instead of here. is that realization maturity?

life sure does go on.

[thealmightyemprex]

Halloweenathon :Once Upon a Midnight Scary

SO I stumbled upon this Vincent Price lead Halloween special and I gotta discuss it

In this 1979 special a vampire (Vincent Price )tells excerpts of The Ghost Who Belonged to Me,The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The House with a Clock in its Walls

So this is an odd special ,but charming .The best way to describe this special is it is Vincent Prices book club .He will tell a bit of the story but then will be like "Well you gotta read the book to get EVERYTHING".Vincent Price makes for a magnificent horror host,whish he did more stuff like this .Theres some good performance by Severin Darden as the enigmatic wizard Johnathan in House With a Clock In its Walls and a perferctly berillaint performance by Rene Auberjunois as Ichabod Crane in Legend of Sleepy Hollow ,though the rest of the acting is just OK .GHost that Belonged To Me was the weakest segment but both Sleepy Hollow and House with a Clock In Its Walls are a ton of fun.I do wish the special was longer but it does its job:It makes me want to read Ghost That Belongs To Me and HOuse With a Clock in Its Walls or at least see other adaptations (I have already read Sleepy Hollow )

This is fun and a good spooky starter pack for kids,though I like the idea of it more then the finished project

@amalthea9 @angelixgutz @ariel-seagull-wings @makingboneboy @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa @marquisedemasque @filmcityworld1

[save-the-data]

🅳🆁🅰🅼🅰 🆀4 2023

Here is a list of work in progress project with the aim to complete by year end. Below are also the complete projects list for each quarter.

Favourite Secondary Gay Couples Upcoming 2023 Asian BL’s Q4

🆀1 ░ 🆀2 ░ 🆀3

China

Guardian

S.C.I

Killer and Healer - Complete

Outcast

Detective Samoyeds

My Roommate is a Detective

Ultimate Note

Hikaru No Go

Heroes

Novoland: Eagle Flag

Murder Notes - Complete

Tiger and Crane

Lookism

White Cat Legend - Jan-12-24

The Mutations

Japan

Code: The Price of Wishes - Complete

My Personal Weatherman - Complete

I Can't Reach You

Dansui!

Knockin' on Locked Door - Complete

If It's With You

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Sahara-sensei & Toki-kun - Nov 30

South Korea

Sweet Home - Complete

Light on Me

Love Class S2

The Perfect Deal

The Uncanny Counter

Sing My Crush - Complete

School 2017

Bump Up Business - Complete

Taiwan

You Are Mine

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Thailand

Love in Translation - Complete

Only Friends

Absolute Zero

Crazy Handsome Rich - Complete

Dangerous Romance

Hidden Agenda

YYY

Y: Journey: Stay Like a Local

Don't Touch My Gang

Upcoming Series

Pit Babe - Nov 17

Beyond the Star - Nov 17

Playboyy the Series - Nov 16

The Sign - Nov 25

Twins - Nov 03

Shadow - Oct 31

My Gangsta Oppa - Oct 26

Last Twilight - Nov

Wednesday Club - Nov 06

Cherry Magic - Nov/Dec

Cooking Crush - Nov 26

For Him - Nov 30

Bake Me Please - Nov 19

Middleman's Love - Nov 16

7 Days Before Valentine - Nov 22

[raointean]

No Red - Renfield's Art Project

"Hey, boss?" It was Shante's first day on the job at Lowes and her trainer, Jeff, had told her to keep an eye out for suspicious characters.

Jeff looked her way from where he was stacking paint cans. Shante jerked her head in the direction of the "suspicious character" she had noticed skulking the paint aisle. In a hushed voice, she asked, "Is that what you meant by suspicious?"

Craning his neck to see around the corner, Jeff laughed. "No, that's just Robert. He comes in once or twice a week for paint swatches."

"Just paint swatches?" Shante may not have worked a job before, but she was pretty sure people weren't supposed to take advantage of free samples like that.

Nonetheless, Jeff nodded and his face took on a more serious expression. "We're all pretty sure he's homeless, or a squatter, and, I mean, everyone deserves a little color in their lives. Just leave him be and don't try to sell him anything."

Shante glanced at the man again, this time taking in his ancient, threadbare suit and his shoes that looked as if one false step would be the end of them. She was more than happy to turn a blind eye.

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

Back at Charity Hospital, Renfield worked his way towards the main lobby from a side entrance, "Ugly Living Room (Seriously, Don't)", "Daytona Peach", and "Un-teal We Meet Again" in hand.

He stopped for a moment to admire the main lobby wall; a pink, yellow, and orange sunset that faded into a starry sky and, above that, dancing Aurora Borealis. Turning down a hall, he walked through a forest, the plains, a snowstorm, and towards the developing desert at the end of the mural.

Most days, he went to a nearby Lowes, Home Depot, or other home improvement franchise to collect his "supplies". He tried not to go to the same store too often to avoid suspension, but he was sure that some employees must recognize him by now. Oh well, a small price to stave off madness.

As he plugged his hot-glue gun into a mobile battery, he breathed in deeply and imagined the moldy, deteriorated, blood soaked hospital fading away. Instead, he was outside breathing fresh, free air. There was no Master, no death, no murder.

And no red.