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agentromanoffsir · 2 years ago

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neocities guide - why you should build your own html website

do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again? try neocities!!

what is neocities?

neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words: "we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."

why should I make my own website?

web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!! building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.

what would I even put on a website?

the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !! here are some cool example sites to inspire you: recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content! space bar | local interstellar dive bar creature feature | halloween & monsters big gulp supreme peanutbuttaz | personal site dragodiluna linwood | personal site patho grove | personal site

getting started: neocities/html guide

sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics w3schools | html tutorials templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles

fun stuff to add to your site

web revival manifestos & communities

also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web! melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival? melonking manifesto | status cafe | share your current status nightfall city | online community onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance sadgrl internet manifesto | yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience

in conclusion

i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :) say hi to me on neocities

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automotiveamerican · 8 months ago

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The Scripps-Booth Corporation

The Scripps-Booth Corporation was an American automobile company that operated from 1913 to 1923. It was founded by James Scripps Booth, a member of the prominent Scripps publishing family. The company, based in Detroit, Michigan, produced a range of automobiles known for their distinctive designs and innovative features. One notable model was the Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo, introduced in 1913.…

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#1910s #1920&039;s #defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States #Detroit #James Scripps Booth #Scripps-Booth #The Scripps-Booth Corporation

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enlightenedrobot · 11 months ago

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Other Characters you can legally use for your Mickey Mouse project

Mickey Mouse is in the public domain, as is Minnie Mouse and Peg-leg Pete. There's some caveats to that, and I talk about that more in this other post, but for now, let's talk about other characters who you can also use to fill out the cast.

These characters should all be in the public domain, though some characters still have treademarks. I'll get into how to use them safely as we go. Anyways, let's start.

Other Disney Characters

Disney obvciously doesn't advertise this, but there's actually quite a few Disney originals who've actually been in the public domain for a while.

The Mad Doctor never had it's copyright renewed, and so it's very technically the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to enter the public domain. Keep in mind, the version of Pluto featured in the short isn't in the domain just yet, but the Doctor himself is free to use.

What's funny is that Disney would later use a version of Doctor for Epic Mickey. Obviously don't use that version of the character.

Aside from the Mad Doctor, we also have Oswald and Ortensia

Yeah, as it turns out, Oswald's been in the public domain for quite a while, but he's still trademarked by Disney. Easy recommendation... use the original "fat" design of the character and have him go by Lucky.

But before Oswald, we have the Alice Comedies

Everything about the Alice Comedies is Public Domain for a long time, and the Disney corporation very rarely acknowlege these characters existence. Which is a shame because These shorts were some of the first shorts Walt ever produced, and they have the unique gimmick of featuring a live action girl in an animated world.

Everybody already knows about Oswald, but nobody talks about Oswald and Mickey's older brother from these shorts, Julius the Cat

Like... yeah no, it didn't all start with a mouse. Or a rabbit. It started with a cat.

Foxy and Milton Mouse

Both Foxy (top) and Milton (bottom, pictured with his girlfriend Rita Mouse) were characters created by Warner Brothers and Van Beuren respectively to cash in on Mickey's success, and both characters are also in the public domain.

In fact, all Van Beuren cartoons are apparently in the public domain, and I encourage you to find their cartoons and use them as you please.

Fleischer Characters

Betty Boop is probably in the Public Domain, but there's a few caveats with this. From what I can tell, the name Betty Boop is trademarked, but the character herself isn't. Most of the old Betty Cartoons are free to use, but newer incarnations, including the versions used in 1985's The Romance of Betty Boop and 1989's The Betty Boop Movie Mystery are still very much under copyright.

To avoid any legal trouble, I have two big recommendations. Although everybody remembers Betty as having Black hair, in one of the few early instances of Betty being shown in color, she's actually depicted as Redhead.

This is Betty Boop in 1934's Poor Cinderella, and her hair color is pretty clearly red.

The other option is to just make her black.

Though there's been some debate as to whether Betty Boop was intentionally modeled after Esther Lee Jones or not, there's still no denying the influence of Jazz on the character. Betty Boop is a Jazz singer and is often depicted dancing to Cab Calloway. Hell, the Betty Boop musical features Jasmine Amy Rogers as the titular character.

Betty Boop aside, there's an entire world of defunct Betty Boop characters who are definately public domain, including Bimbo and Koko the Clown.

Next year, Popeye's also gonna enter the Domain. So keep an eye out for him too.

Anyways, these are my picks, but obviously this list isn't meant to be comprehensive. There's a ton of old cartoon characters out there who can be freely reinterpreted into newer works. Feel free to add your own favorite public domain cartoon to the list.

#Mickey Mouse #Public Domain #Betty Boop #Koko the Clown #Foxy #Milton Mouse #The Mad Doctor #Oswald the Lucky Rabbit #Alice Comedies #Disney #Walt Disney #Max Fleischer #Warner Brothers.#Cartoons #Animation #Editorial

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reality-detective · 2 months ago

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🚨 Military Occupation 🪖

Do you all now see clearly what is going on? The US Military is on top of everything. USMCA Section 27.5 is at work here. This is why the strike came to a halt. You have to understand the magnitude of the operations.

Foreign to Domestic control of our ports. Remember this is all apart of Donald Trump's agenda. All of this was signed back in July 2020.

Army

Navy

Marine Core

Common Law & Common Trust. This was mentioned in the video that has been floating around.

Which mentioned the original Declaration of Independence. Which was inactive in July of 2020 at Mount Rushmore. We have been under military control for years.

NATO jurisdiction over our borders & ports were officially removed. What did the Supreme Court overturn? The Chevron Doctrine right? Which basically removed us from corporate control back to Common Law. Which make all the 3 letter agencies defunct.

This may be apart of The October surprise that may be result if everything wrapping up on paper to now moving military in place to officially step in publicly. Not sure yet. But we will keep an eye on this. 🤔

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sgiandubh · 7 months ago

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The door faces North

This has been, by far, one of the most complex investigations I have ever done in this fandom, and I am truly sorry for the long wait I had to inflict on many of you & for the uncharacteristic radio silence in DMs and comments. During this peculiar journey, I checked, double-checked and cross-checked as many details as I could and I carefully considered at least two different theories, of which I still think they do not exclude each other. I am now confident enough to make not only an educated guess, but also a daring bet on SRH's next whisky move.

Also, sorry for the length of this post. Truly sorry - think of the completely pulverized night sleep I had to give up, in order to bring this to you.

But first, a word on Marple's obvious PR tip on the Hopetoun Estate refurbishment and distillery old/new project. I am fair game enough to tell you the obvious: her overall recounting of the principals is roughly correct, spare perhaps one or two minor details. Correct, but dry - she limits herself to the technical documentation submitted by Golden Decanters and The Hopetoun Estates Trust to the West Lothian Council for approval. She correctly points out that S is not a visible part of the deal, at this point in time and she does a decent summing up of a very, very, VERY plethoric amount of bureaucratic information. She concludes, and I think she is partially right, that he might be interested in becoming an investor (I am taking things a bit further, though). But in doing so, she focuses on the development phase of the project only: the possible connections with SRH and his own spirits business are less, if at all, obvious.

I am going to give you my view of all this charade and, if I am going to mention (and probably repeat) some things already found by her, I am going to focus on the people: this is where the whole story starts to become remarkably interesting, at least to me. After all, I remember promising you some more clarity. Here's an honest, fair play take.

Little did I know, when I started to write about that (now defunct) company, Midhope Castle Distillery, Ltd (https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/748597198794670080/the-info-provided-above-is-correct-but-outdated?source=share), that my investigation would turn to this:

... for it was to be just an almost random layer of a juggernaut matryoshka of defunct or still active companies, featuring roughly the same people and no less than 6 different name combinations centered around Midhope, Hopetoun, etc.

The following pics will give you an idea - feel free to open them in a separate tab, for clarity . I preferred this synthetic approach, because otherwise you will curse the shite out of me. But it had to be done, with or without Depon, Advil's Greek cousin (and before you ask a graphologist, this is my handwriting, and nobody else's 🙃):

The only explanation for the whole almost frantic Midhope/Hopetoun crisscross/hopscotch (LOL) combos I can think of is two people trying to secure one (several?) credit lines or to attract significant investors for their project and ultimately failing to do so. But I might be wrong (although I doubt that, thank you). Out of this entire maze ( I swear I now have a migraine), there are only two active companies remaining: Golden Decanters Ltd (renamed GD Spirits Ltd, in April 2022) and Midhope Ltd (renamed Skosk Ltd, in July 2023). It is on them I am going to focus my gaze.

GD Spirits Ltd was incorporated in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England (just across the Scottish border), probably for tax reasons, on March 11, 2015, the nature of its business being listed as 'wholesale of wine, beer, spirits, etc.'. It started with a team of two women: Julia Mackenzie-Gillanders and Ann Medlock, whose names we are going to see over and over again in all the eight corporate avatars. Later down the timeline (LOL for three decades and a half), on January 30, 2018, they were briefly (until July 19, 2018) joined by two very interesting professionals: Mrs. Margaret Boswell, an attorney at the very prestigious international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel (Paris and London offices)...

...and Ken Robertson, former Corporate Affairs Director at Diageo Whisky, a subsidiary of the international Diageo group, one of the major players on the world spirits' market:

The second company, Skosk Ltd, was incorporated in August 2021, in Perth, Scotland, its nature of business being listed as 'distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits', with the clear intention to align with the exacting criteria prescribed by the 2009 Scotch Whisky Regulations:

[ Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky - sorry, I don't have time to wax lyrical on this, and neither do you]

This time, we only meet again the two distillerettes, Gillanders and Medwick. Up until now, at least, nobody else (attorney, former sales executive, whisky expert) has joined the platoon - TBC? I would not speculate and leave all options open.

There is little to 0 transparency on Skosk's financial situation, at the moment and to be honest, it looks very much like S's co-star (hehe)'s Irish business venture...

... but I was a bit more lucky, and the numbers more chatty, as far as GD Spirits was concerned:

Paging all shipper chartered accountants out there, but to me, it doesn't look great, at the moment. Cash is ridiculous, the net worth is hemorrhaging and the current assets are negligible, compared to 2020, when I think they managed to secure one or two credit lines, but not nearly enough for what they needed. Just enough to pay themselves and their external consultants and cover the operating costs, if you ask me.

The revised Planning Statement, of 8 February 2024, posted first by Marple, echoes my initial guess (COVID blew it up, see link to the first post) and the above assessment:

Mark this: 'Discussions are now proceeding with investors and there is a realistic prospect that work will begin in the near future (2024/2025) to implement the permission.' Given that they will start with the road and parking rehabilitation and upgrading, probably overlapping with the distillery building, it would make sense to begin this autumn at the earliest, with the most urgent: access to the site itself.

The initial Planning Statement, dated 9 July 2020 and re-posted on March 21st, 2024, tells a more detailed story. This is part and parcel of the current project as well, since the revision is just pointing out the changes operated, not the entire rest, which remains unchanged. You be the judge:

Also keep in mind this tiny, tiny thing: the Business Plan is 'submitted (...) under Private and Confidential Cover'. See where I am looking?

The initial plan was (and still is) for GD Spirits to produce their own booze, using Midhope's own barley (this is very important for the rest of my theory!). They even offer an overview of the real impact of their project on the local economy:

20 to 38 initial new job creations for a £ 15 to 30 million investment is not 'huge', madam Marple. Cumbernauld is huge. This? This is rather modest, if you ask me. But hey, what do I know about the labor market, right?

That initial Statement tells also the story they want to tell about the genesis of their idea, the scouting for the right location and a couple of other interesting details:

So they are telling us they started to look for the perfect location in 2018 and oh, hello, they found the Hopetoun Estate rather quickly, already starting the pre-planning application consultations as early as July 2019 (don't get me started, please):

If so, then why did they incorporate not one, but two different companies clearly linking them to the Estate (Hopetoun Estate Distillery Ltd and Hopetoun Estate Whiskies Ltd) the same day and as early as May 23rd 2017 (and both dissolved in December 2022), as my above penciled timeline (LOOOOOL) shows? Who is really behind this project and why this entire ballet? It's like me pre-emptively looking for rental properties in (let's randomly guess) Lisbon, when it's just wishful thinking, heavily projecting and with 0 guarantees I will be posted there, right? I mean, I adore and deeply know Lisbon and I would be thrilled to go there. But I am not currently looking for any rental property, just like that, because that would be a #silly, rookie mistake. In their case, I think there's a different situation - again, you be the judge.

A first answer, as to who is really behind that project, was given by the UK media, back in 2020:

How odd, when we know that both Mrs. Boswell, the well-traveled attorney and Mr. Robertson resigned from GD Spirits in July 2018. Do they still say hi to the two distillerettes? Do they quietly keep an eye on the project? Are they silent partners? Business angels? Shareholders? Time to remind you that under UK law, there is 0 visibility on the shareholder's structure of a company. You just see the officers (Director, Secretary, etc), on the Company House website. On an umpteenth, last- second cross-check, it became apparent that Mr. Robertson remained involved in another company of the distillerettes, Hopetoun Estate Whiskies Ltd (yes, the one mentioned above), until its voluntary strike-off, in December 2022.

Their best laid plans do mention OL, and how could it be otherwise? But all this £ 15 to 30 million hullaballoo for 20.000 people only (who counted them and how?), on a seasonal basis?

High-end restaurant, luxury B&B, event spaces, you name it. Interesting, to say the least.

And, for the people in the back, who still think SRH has a 100 years lease at Midhope (Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, the stupidity!):

This is why he commented as a 'member of the public'. At face value, there is no public involvement into that project. Yet. But it is my belief there is a vested interest in all this, justifying the comment, the visit, those papers rolled in his fist, etc. At first, I thought that was a visit to Lallybroch by the Exec Producer of OL's Season 8, to discuss technicalities - and shared that privately with a wonderful friend only. I mean, why not and still perfectly possible. But then, as I could not sleep tonight and felt guilty to have you all waiting, I started to connect some tiny dots.

Like this one, for a start:

Yes, I know, Marple told you that FIRST, I would not dare say otherwise, because if I did there would be a transcontinental screech. That trademark application was filed at the US Patent and Trade Office in September 2023 and I thought (and still partially do) it was a potential rebranding solution to The Sassenach's EUIPO nightmare (much exaggerated by the fandom's toothbrush experts):

But you also know I am an idiot and I always check people's CVs, when I follow a thread. This morning, the one Distillerette I am particularly interested in is Mrs. Julia Hall-Mackenzie-Gillanders (née Scales) and not like *urv would be.

Her LinkedIn profile is exceptionally talkative, too:

... and a BA (with Honors) in Fashion Design, class of 2005, at the Northumbria University.

The Financial Times article 'From packing boxes to wine deals worth millions', you can read on her LinkedIn page, tells a very interesting story. It is the story of a shy underdog (lots of temple bells clinging, at the moment), who made it by sheer persistence. It starts like this:

'When a painfully shy young woman contacted a fine wine merchant and said ' I have no qualifications- can I help?', she got the job and today is signing deals worth millions of pounds.'

It obviously did ring a bell and if SRH knows she exists (she is married, *urv!), and I dare to speculate he does, it must have struck a deep chord. Would I do business with her? I wouldn't speculate, although I am not very sure. Would he? He'd probably listen very carefully to what she has to pitch, for a start.

And what she has to pitch is also very interesting, in his world. A brief look at the Golden Decanters' website shows a first high-end single malt sourced collection of 4 exceptional expressions already sold out:

And when they mean high-end, they mean gold leaf labelling and all the tralala:

And, some last minute news, too:

Remind me, because I am an old woman, after this white night: wasn't The Sassenach (no comment, we agree to disagree and I am very skeptical), a blend?

We have these dots, then:

Bold Underdog ->spirits business->high-end collection of single malts sold out->business partnership with owners of Midhope Castle, fictional Lallybroch in OL, including a distillery and whisky production with Midhope/Lallybroch barley -> visit by the male lead and spirits entrepreneur (also the fictional Lallybroch laird) to Midhope/Lallybroch and vested interest in the estate's most recent business project....

What if The Sassenach would be included, for a start, in that new Blended Collection? And could it really be fanfic to imagine a future high-end, limited edition, Lallybroch whisky produced at Midhope, with Midhope/Lallybroch barley? It wouldn't be the first time, would it: after all, they did it with that limited tequila batch.

As I said, because I am (remember Someone? LOL) a 'silly cow', I was hoping he wouldn't do it. But my guess is he might very well do exactly that, with those people and under that label.

It's half past eight AM, local time and I need a strong, black coffee.

I rest my case (and I am bracing myself for the screeching). I will answer Anons later, after I come back from the hairdresser's. Appointments must be kept at all costs. Thank you all for your patience.

#boozewars #business #fandom #shitshow

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aqlstar · 5 months ago

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JVP and Cair Background - Holy Land Foundation

Okay Jumblr- are we familiar with the Holy Land Foundation and the case of USA v. HLF?

The Holy Land Foundation was the undisputed single largest Islamic charity organization in the USA, until it was shut down in 2001 after Bush added it to the list of designated terrorist organizations. It was a big deal.

Fast forward to 2007, and the US government is prosecuting a criminal case against them.

The US Court of Appeals 5th Circuit issued an opinion that summarizes the jist of the case more clearly than I can-

In this consolidated case, we address the appeals of five individuals and one corporate defendant convicted of conspiracy and substantive offenses for providing material aid and support to a designated terrorist organization. The terrorist organization at issue is Hamas, which in 1995 was named a Specially Designated Terrorist by Presidential Executive Order pursuant to authority granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. Hamas was further designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, as contemplated by 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.

Although this case is related to terrorism, it does not involve charges of specific terrorist acts. Instead, it focuses on the defendants’ financial support for terrorism and a terrorist ideology. The defendants were charged with aiding Hamas by raising funds through the corporate entity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based, pro-Palestinian charity that the Government charged was created for the sole purpose of acting as a financing arm for Hamas. Although the charged conspiracy began in 1995 when Hamas was first designated as a terrorist organization, the defendants’ connection to Hamas arose much earlier. Established in the late 1980s, the Holy Land Foundation held itself out as the largest Muslim charitable organization in the United States. It raised millions of dollars over the course of its existence that were then funneled to Hamas through various charitable entities in the West Bank and Gaza. Although these entities performed some legitimate charitable functions, they were actually Hamas social institutions. By supporting such entities, the defendants facilitated Hamas’s activity by furthering its popularity among Palestinians and by providing a funding resource. This, in turn, allowed Hamas to concentrate its efforts on violent activity.

The results of the case were as follows:

Shukri Abu Baker, 50, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison. He was convicted of 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization; 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, funds, goods and services to a Specially Designated Terrorist; 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the commission of, money laundering; one count of conspiracy to impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and one count of filing a false tax return.

Mohammad El-Mezain, 55, of San Diego, California, was sentenced to the statutory maximum of 15 years in prison. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Ghassan Elashi, 55, of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison. He was convicted on the same counts as Abu Baker, and one additional count of filing a false tax return.

Mufid Abdulqader, 49, of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, one count of conspiracy to provide goods, funds, and services to a specially designated terrorist, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Abdulrahman Odeh, 49, of Patterson, New Jersey, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was convicted on the same counts as Abdulqader.

HLF, now defunct, was convicted on 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization; 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, funds, goods and services to a Specially Designated Terrorist; and 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the commission of, money laundering.

The Court reaffirmed the jury’s $12.4 million money judgment against all the defendants, with the exception of El Mezain, who was not convicted of money laundering.

Here's the full press release from the US DoJ-

I promise I'll get to the part where this has anything to do with CAIR or JVP in the next post.

#jumblr #cair #jvp #holy land foundation #israel #israelblr #ישראלבר #Hamas #usa #terrorism

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vaporetail · 1 year ago

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Bordersstores.com - February 7th 2002.

This is the relatively hidden Borders Website from the early 2000s, a lot of it is very broken, so this is what i could salvage.

This is from around the same time they made a deal to pretty much sell the main Borders.com Domain to Amazon in order to "help" borders have an Online presence, similar to what other retailers like Toys R Us & HMV did, of course as we all know: this was a poor idea, and this one decision would essentially shoot borders in the back of the head.

by the time they established a proper website (Getting Borders.com back) in the mid-late 2000s, it was a case of too little too late, Borders hesitance based on a previous failure online essentially destroyed the company.

Borders lives on in Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which opened after the company Folded in 2011 thanks to a licensing agreement with independent booksellers & it's current trademark owner, Barnes & Noble. There were several locations in Malaysia as well, but they all shut down sometime in July of 2023.

#early 2000s #defunct corporations #defunct retail #early internet #2000s nostalgia #2000s internet #borders books #waldenbooks #borders

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simply-ivanka · 3 months ago

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Corporate tax hike advocate Tim Walz had his China travel company shut down by the Nebraska government for failing to pay a minor business operating tax in 1998, according to corporate records.

Educational Travel Adventures, Inc., which Walz founded with his wife in 1995 to run group trips to China, was dissolved by Nebraska’s secretary of state for "non-payment of occupational taxes"—just $26 annually—in April 1998. The company was left defunct for years, even as Walz continued to organize group tours to China.

In 2008, after Walz was elected to Congress, he repaid 10 years of back taxes and interest, amounting to $235, to get the company reinstated, records show.

#tim walz #minnesota #kamala harris #harris walz 2024 #trump #trump 2024 #president trump #ivanka #repost #americans first #america #america first #democrats #donald trump

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corporate-clash · 5 months ago

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Toontown PRIDE! Pride Parade 2024

The Toontown PRIDE! Team is once again hosting a Pride Parade in Corporate Clash! Join them in Hypno Heights (backup: Tesla Tundra) on June 23rd at 6PM EDT to march for your pride!

Don't forget to use the code PRIDE to get all of the pride accessories!

For the latest news on the Pride Parade, join our official Discord server:

#toontag #toontown online #toontowncorporateclash #corporateclash #toontown #toontown corporate clash #corporate clash #makeship #pride month #pride parade

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thelampisaflashlight · 3 months ago

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Strange Bedfellows Pt. 1: Moving In

[Drywall won the fic poll, so here's a short introduction to this new series, in which Mountain and Dew navigate being roommates.] Below the cut.

Ever since the ghouls' den was built, there had always been open rooms; The ministry wanted to ensure that there was enough space for everyone, and part of that meant making sure each member of the pack had their own accommodations, even if they elected to share them with others.

For a number of years, this was not a problem -there weren't nearly as many ghouls wandering the halls of the abbey, and several of the "old guard" had abandoned their corporeal forms when their tenure was complete, meaning they didn't require much of anything, let alone a place to sleep- however, in the time since Copia's ascension to the leader of the band and then to Papa and further still to Frater Imperator, the number of ghouls remaining in their physical bodies had increased significantly.

And, now, watching Aeon bed down on the couch in the common room for the night, it was obvious space had simply... run out.

Aurora had lucked out and gotten Sunshine's room after the ghoulette left the church, but her reluctance to share it had been apparent from the moment it was suggested, and no one could fault her for wanting her privacy.

But from a practical standpoint... Aeon needed a room with an actual bed, both because having the common room acting as his bedroom meant no one could really use it after a certain time, and because Aeon deserved just as much privacy as the rest of them, especially as the new summons adjusted to their new vessels and life on the surface.

To further complicate matters, Aeon was also put off by the idea of sharing a room with someone else, not because he disliked the thought of bunking with another person outright, but rather because the poor quint could be... restless... at night.

It hadn't taken more than a night on the surface in his new vessel for the pack to discover that the younger ghoul was a sleepwalker.

The discovery had been mortifying for Aeon, and, ever since, he'd been vocal about wanting a room with a room with a lock on the door, afraid that he might get himself lost even as he steadily got used to the layout of the dorms; All it would take is one open door and he could wind up outside, and that scared him most of all.

But therein lies the rub; There was simply no way to build a new room downstairs.

When they remodeled the ghouls' den some years ago, they had maximized the space as much as they could, but that had also meant rearranging beams and adding immovable walls and pillars to support the weight of the building on top of them.

It had taken six months to complete and cost the ministry a pretty penny to have it done, so there was no way even Copia -who loved his ghouls immensely- would spring for another huge construction project, especially when the next project on the docket was renovating and repairing the defunct west wing of the abbey.

During a majority of the back and forth on what to do about the lack of space -from finding a room for Aeon upstairs with the siblings to trying to convince the groundskeeper to let the ghoul stay with her in the cottage for a time (a firm "No.")- Mountain had remained quiet, watching the others throw ideas around as if the solution wasn't obvious.

"I could share with someone." He'd said finally, raising his hand when he saw Aeon curling into himself, not wanting to inconvenience anyone, "My room is a double, so it would only be fair."

Like Aurora, Mountain had inherited his room from another ghoul, Zephyr to be specific, but the circumstances had been slightly different; The older ghoul's vessel was unstable, slowly deteriorating the longer they remained trapped within it, so they had been given the biggest available room with a wonderful view of the ghouls' private courtyard so they could spend their final days comfortably.

When the air ghoul was close to the end, Mountain had made it a point to bring them outside and lay them down in the grass, to bring them flowers when they couldn't leave their bed, and to simply make his presence known to the other in the moments where it was clear they just needed a hand to hold...

He and Zephyr... they'd never been close; They'd been acquaintances at best, but because of the wishes of someone else, Mountain had made sure Zephyr never felt alone.

That person, the one who begged him to stay by Zephyr's side had been-

"Finally, a chance to get out of that fucking shoebox."

-Dew.

"Aeon can have my old room." the hybrid announced, "It's small, but it's better than nothing."

And just like that, Mountain and Dew were officially made roommates.

Moving all of Dew's belongings into his room hadn't taken any time at all, the most tedious part of it all had been gathering up the ghoul's extensive t-shirt collection... and not entirely because of the volume.

"You have the same band t-shirt in three different sizes..." Mountain scoffs, holding up the offending piece of fabric for a third time, "Do you like the design that much, or did you just steal them from other people's laundry, because this one is definitely a double XL-"

Dew swats him with a sock, "Oi, that's the one I wear the most!"

Mountain holds the shirt up, doing a one to one comparison, then holds it out to Dew, "Your dress, sir-"

"Sleep shirt! I use it as a sleep shirt, Einstein!" Dew hisses, snatching it away, "Excuse me for liking to be comfortable."

The earth ghoul hums and pulls another piece of clothing from the pile on Dew's bed.

"So you're really okay with sharing with me?" he asks, turning to look at Dew as the other works on rolling up a pair of socks, "You don't have to give up your room..."

The shorter ghoul snorts, "Dude, getting out of this room is all I've wanted to do since I moved into it. Aeon'll probably curse me for giving him my room instead of somebody else offering up theirs, it's cramped, it doesn't have room for anything, and the one window it has might as well be painted on because it doesn't open."

"I'm glad to be rid of it, and if the consequences of having more space is moving in with you, I think I'll be just fine." he continues, tossing his socks into the bin, "Plus, it's not like I haven't roomed with someone before. Aeth and me were roommates up until our first tour together, remember?"

Mountain nods, "I remember you complaining about his snoring, and he'd argue that you were worse, because you wouldn't leave the room to fart-"

"At least the smell went away after a while, his honk shooing ass would go on and on for hours..." Dew interrupts.

"-and then would laugh about it, because you think farts are the funniest thing in the world." Mountain finishes.

"Farts are top tier comedy, and I'm tired of pretending they're not."

"Well, thank the lord below I have so many plants, they'll save us both from you off-gassing constantly."

"Hmph."

As the pair fall back into silence, sorting through Dew's laundry, they both feel a sense of calm.

A bit of casual bickering aside, the two have always gotten along fine; They've been friends for years, having joined the church around the same time, albeit under different circumstances, along with Aether, they'd developed an inseparable bond.

They were comfortable around each other, so it was unsurprising that, of all the ghouls to board together, they would be the ones to do it.

That being said, the rest of the pack seemed to be waiting with bated breath for... something.

Even if Mountain and Dew weren't readily aware of it themselves, there was a certain... tension... between them; The sort that made itself obvious in the way Mountain could pull a pair of Dew's underwear from the pile of laundry on his bed and not even think twice about it, having folded half a dozen pairs already, and how Dew didn't even bat an eyelash seeing him do it.

Perhaps tension isn't the right word; Tension would make more sense if Mountain felt even remotely flustered handling Dew's undergarments that came in varying degrees of scandalous, or if Dew felt some kind of way about seeing the earth ghoul's big, calloused hands holding the silk briefs he'd gotten as a gag gift a year ago and actually wore more often than not, because they felt nice.

No.

There wasn't anything like that going on, certainly not with how calmly they're both carrying on with the task at hand.

Not that Mountain's ears are turning pink with every brush of the soft fabric against his fingertips...

As far as the two are concerned, this is just a normal, casual thing to do that holds no extra baggage at all...

...Fuck.

#lamp writes #nameless ghouls #dewdrop ghoul #mountain ghoul #ghost band #the band ghost #ghost bc #mountain/dew #sheetrock is a brand of drywall #Strange Bedfellows Series

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sytokun · 9 months ago

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To anyone thinking or saying Dillon Goo is unworthy of acquiring RWBY, not because of anything realistic like finances or the size of his studio, but because he's "just an animator", or just a rando from the internet who cannot write or run RWBY:

Thanks for perpetuating the piece of shit mindset that every soul-sucking corporation and braindead consumer has: that animators have no value or are just there to push buttons and make pixels move for the real creatives.

Animators are artists and creators. They have to work with numerous departments to make things work: They have to know what the writer/director wants, and tell them if it's even possible to put to screen; they have to work with artists and character designers to tell if they can commit that art into moving parts. And for an animated show, they're kind of... I dunno, the entire backbone of its production.

Anyone stupid enough to claim that, by their logic, should claim that Miles and Kerry were "just writers" and don't have the right nor the intelligence to have any opinions on RWBY's animation, character designs or music. That's how I know you have zero fucking idea how any actual media is produced, because in your head, these positions all just exist as separate little boxes in your brain so it's simple enough for you to grasp.

It was "just an animator" who made RWBY in the first place, dumbass. A "rando" making animations on the internet that Rooster Teeth took a chance on, and now he's responsible for their best-selling IP. By comparison, Dillon is starting at a way better starting position than Monty was, with a successful YouTube channel, public support from multiple current and ex-CRWBY like J Grelle (Tyrian's VA), Kim Newman (former animator who animated Sun's gunchucks in V5) and Jessica Nigri (Cinder's VA), and multiple collaborations with big companies like Hoyoverse.

If anything, I'd expect an animator like Dillon to know and care enough about his staff to not give them near-irreparable spinal damage. Gee, I wonder why Newman would think he'd be a better employer to work with? Dillon would know how an animation project is run and budgeted. Him being an animator is a benefit, for god's sake.

Monty had character design sketches but needed help from professional artists to fully design them. He knew bits of the plot but needed help fleshing it out. Do you have enough brain cells to rub together to know that's precisely what Dillon can do, too? Fuckin', I dunno, hire people? For his studio??

I'd rather have an animator run RWBY because RWBY is an animated series and he would know precisely 1) what complements the medium best and 2) the precise limits of what can or cannot work within his budget. By your ass-backwards logic, I would rather get EC Myers to run RWBY's production over Dillon just because he's a writer and has been employed with RT longer.

That's another moronic argument: "He's only been employed by RT for 1 Volume". Man, I don't care if he's been there for zero Volumes, his work clearly shows a greater understanding of RWBY's aesthetic, mainstream appeal and style than its own showrunners have for the past 7 years. Or is seniority in a defunct company responsible for a steadily unprofitable IP suddenly a positive in this business deal?

I need you to be aware that RWBY as an IP is a joke outside of the bubble of its fandom, and I am telling you bluntly as a fan. Nobody takes it seriously and the ones that do only praise it for either its action choreography or its character designs, one of which is guaranteed with Dillon's studio. Diehard fans may love RWBY, warts and all, but all that love and support clearly wasn't enough to keep it alive, because its reputation was already cemented from its own mismanagement.

What you do is you get the right person for the job. And Dillon ticks a lot of boxes for it. If you think he's unable to acquire RWBY because he's not a big corpo or cannot meet Warner's asking price, that's 100% fair. If you think he's unable to create something on the scale of Volume 9, that's also 100% fair, but only if you're attached to the idea that you'd rather have Volume 10 or more of the same RWBY that was operating at a loss than any RWBY at all. Or if you'd rather see a season of 14 episodes 15 minutes long where 60-70% of it is made up of exposition, talking head scenes and increasingly overambitious world expanding, over shorter episodes with amazing RWBY action sequences with a story that never bites off more than it can chew.

But if you think Dillon is unqualified or worse, unworthy or undeserving (what a weirdo thing to say about a person, like owning RWBY is like inheriting the fucking throne of Gondor), all because he's "just an animator" or because he was smart enough to see RT for the meat-grinder hellhole it was and left to find success on his own, you're full of shit.

And if you disapprove of him because of his association with Shane, go find a restroom because your unsightly hateboner is showing. It's been almost ten years since the letter and you all have been holding this unfettered rage clenched between your buttcheeks longer than Shane's ever been with Rooster Teeth.

And for what? Pointing out Rooster Teeth is a fucked place to work at? Whoops, that was true and now it's six feet under for every scandal and worker abuse case they brought on themselves. For stealing and cannibalising their creators' IPs? Whoops, that's fucking true as well.

#rwby #rwde #dillon goo

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