#e-office implementation

[townpostin]

E-Governance Initiatives Get Boost in East Singhbhum

DC sets deadlines for JharSeva ID, ration dealer registration Review meeting outlines plans to enhance digital services and streamline administrative processes in the district. JAMSHEDPUR – Orders have been issued by the Deputy Commissioner to enhance e-governance services and broaden their application throughout East Singhbhum. New guidelines targeted at improving digital services have been…

[darkmaga-retard]

A school district in Maryland is finding out just how costly virtue signaling can wind up being.

By Tyler Durden

e county’s Office of the Inspector General reported that the buses were consistently delivered late. Dozens of buses scheduled for fiscal year 2022 arrived only after Christmas, instead of at the start of the school year as required.

A school district in Maryland is finding out just how costly virtue signaling can wind up being. 

Maryland’s largest school district in Montgomery County found out via an Inspector General's report that implementing electric busses “led to millions of dollars in wasteful spending”, according to WTOP.

The wasteful spending was caused in part by late deliveries and maintenance issues, according to the IG report. 

The report said that at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October 2022, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) announced that its 326 new electric buses would save 6,500 gallons of fuel daily and cut costs by 50%.

And then reality set in. Since entering into a $168 million contract for the buses, MCPS has faced significant delays, WTOP reports.

The county’s Office of the Inspector General reported that the buses were consistently delivered late. Dozens of buses scheduled for fiscal year 2022 arrived only after Christmas, instead of at the start of the school year as required.

“MCPS’s failure to hold the contractor accountable to the terms of the contract and their decision not to include provisions to offset incurred expenses has led to millions of dollars in wasteful spending,” the IG report said. 

A similar issue occurred in fiscal year 2024. Of the 120 buses slated for delivery, only 37 arrived by the end of September, 69 between October and December, and 14 more between January and April.

[slaytheprofessor]

"Well..." You exhale. "If he doesn't really know what he's doing, maybe I can talk with him. See if he'll see reason."

The Guide: ...

The Guide: You can certainly try.

Voice of the Rebel: Oooh. Just got chills.

Voice of the Researcher: *mutters* Oh my god.

The Guide: You head down the street in the right direction. You know instinctively where to turn, which signs to follow, which landmarks to look out for.

The Guide: Finally, you are standing in front of the library---a small, one-story space sandwiched between two taller buildings. The windows are boarded up, and a closed sign is hanging in the door.

Voice of the Rebel: Okay, so... do we, like, smash the window, reach in, and open it from the inside, then? Or do we just kick the door down?

Voice of the Researcher: Have you considered, oh, I dunno, just opening the door? It might not even be locked.

Voice of the Rebel: Uh, it's closed. That usually means that it's locked.

The Guide: Maybe attempt to open it before engaging in destruction of property?

Voice of the Rebel: Thought you said this place was abandoned, big guy! There's nobody to make a fuss if we do a little B&E action, right?

Voice of the Researcher: I've decided that I don't like you.

Voice of the Rebel: *singsong* Ask me if I care! Teacher's pet.

Voice of the Researcher: Hey, Guide, can I punch---

The Guide: No.

The Guide: And, by the way... the professor is, by nature, a clever man. He will lie, he will cheat, and he will do everything in his power to stop you from killing him.

The Guide: You can reason with him, if you want. But I would keep your guard up. And I wouldn't be quick to trust him.

Voice of the Researcher: We're still hearing him out.

The Guide: Yes, I know. You've made that clear.

You cross the street and open the door to the library, the creaking of the door and the ringing of a little bell sounding as you do. And when you step inside...

The voices in your head are quiet for a minute.

Voice of the Researcher: Okay, uh... what the hell am I looking at right now?

The Guide: *completely and utterly befuddled* The... the library is a patchwork of so many different libraries, blended together in an ill-fitting design that seems on the verge of falling apart. Is it an office space? Is it the interior of a cave? Is it a waiting room? Is it a lab? Is it a workshop?

The Guide: The library is all of them, and they are all the library. The only thing that's clear---the only thing that makes sense---is a pristine blade, perched on a desk that resembles an impossible object drawing more than a real, tangible thing.

The Guide: The blade is your implement. I wouldn't recommend going down there without it.

Voice of the Rebel: No coffee shop? Booooo.

Voice of the Researcher: We're standing in the middle of a fever dream, and you're worried about coffee?!

Voice of the Rebel: I mean, I obviously don't need to worry about edibles, seeing how trippy this place is. *laugh-snorts* Fuck me, I feel high already! Forget the coffee bar, this place rocks!

You allow yourself to ignore the fact that there is, apparently, a part of you that enjoys taking psychedelics. Because as confusing as this place is, the Guide has neglected to mention one thing.

Hovering above the wall next to the door---and it must be hovering, since nothing fits right in this place---is a mirror. Made of black glass.

[rjzimmerman]

Many of you know that I'm a lawyer, retired, but still a member of the bar. I don't practice law (can't), but I still read professional articles and media reports about environmental law and other laws that interest me. From my humble perspective, some of the recent decisions of the US Supreme Court are invalid because the decisions were issued by the Court acting not in its constitutional capacity of a court of appeals, but acting as a court of original jurisdiction. If I'm correct (and I'm sure I can find a slew of right wing lawyers who are laughing at me), then the executive branch of the US government, i.e., the President, is not obligated to enforce those decisions. Plus, the ethical issues of Justice Thomas.......what the fuck is he doing participating in a decision on trump's January 6 sins when Thomas' wife was furiously clicking away on e-mails encouraging the rioting and insurrection? Wishful thinking, but somehow sometime somewhere something dramatic has to happen to smack down the Supreme Court, or at least create some sense of doubt in their tiny little pointed heads.

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

A spate of decisions over the past two years by the Supreme Court has significantly impaired the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to limit pollution in the air and water, regulate the use of toxic chemicals and reduce the greenhouse gasses that are heating the planet.

This term, the court’s conservative supermajority handed down several rulings that chip away at the power of many federal agencies.

But the environmental agency has been under particular fire, the result of a series of cases brought since 2022 by conservative activists who say that E.P.A. regulations have driven up costs for industries ranging from electric utilities to home building. Those arguments have resonated among justices skeptical of government regulation.

On Friday, the court ended the use of what is known as the Chevron doctrine, a cornerstone of administrative law for 40 years that said that courts should defer to government agencies to interpret unclear laws. That decision threatens the authority of many federal agencies to regulate the environment and also health care, workplace safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more.

But more remarkable have been several decisions by the court to intervene to stop environmental regulations before they were decided by lower courts or even before they were implemented by the executive branch.

On Thursday, the court said the E.P.A. could not limit smokestack pollution that blows across state borders under a measure known as the “good neighbor rule.” In that case, the court took the surprising step of weighing in while litigation was still pending at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The court also acted in an unusually preliminary fashion last year when it struck down a proposed E.P.A. rule known as Waters of the United States that was designed to protect millions of acres of wetlands from pollution, acting before the regulation had even been made final.

Similarly, in a 2022 challenge to an E.P.A. climate proposal known as the Clean Power Plan, the court sharply limited the agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, even though that rule had not yet taken effect.

That kind of intervention has little in the way of precedent. Usually, the Supreme Court is the last venue to hear a case, after arguments have been made and opinions have been rendered by lower courts.

“This court has shown an interest in making law in this area and not having the patience to wait for the cases to first come up through the courts,” said Kevin Minoli, a lawyer who worked in the E.P.A.’s office of general counsel from the Clinton through the Trump administrations. “They’ve been aggressive on ruling. It’s like, we’re going to tell you the answer before you even ask the question.”

Collectively, those decisions now endanger not only many existing environmental rules, but may prevent future administrations from writing new ones, experts say.

“These are among the worst environmental law rulings that the Supreme Court will ever issue,” said Ian Fein, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “They all cut sharply against the federal government’s ability to enforce laws that protect us from polluters.”

The march of environmental cases is not over: The court has agreed to hear a case next term that could limit the reach of National Environmental Policy Act, the 1970 law that requires federal agencies to analyze whether their proposed projects have environmental consequences. Businesses and industries have long complained that the reviews can take years, inflate costs and be used by community groups to block projects.

[idabbleincrazy]

The Experiment

Fandom: Smallville

Rating: E

Pairing: Clex

Word Count: 2891

Warnings: smut, pwp, s4 au, rift - what rift?, nipple play, nipple torture (but in a good way), frottage, dirty talk, first time, established relationship

Summary: Lex has a secret, Clark has a plan.

A/N: prompted by @leatafandom my perpetual cheerleader. If you can come up with a better title, lmk. The prompt: One of Us is lying + Lex has outrageously sensitive nipples. The slightest touch can be heaven or hell, depending. Perhaps Clark sucks Lex's nipples tenderly, while Lex squirms. Or perhaps Clark pinches and tortures them.

Squares Filled: One of Us is Lying ( @julybreakbingo )

Clark had a theory, one he planned to thoroughly test. 

He and Lex hadn’t been lovers for long, their long-withheld need for each other only being admitted to barely over a week ago. Even after four years of looks and innuendo, enough foreplay to drive even the most stalwart monk beyond the line of temptation, they'd barely done more than making out…on Lex's couch in his mansion office, in Clark's loft, in the backroom of the Talon. There'd been one or two instances of their groping and kissing leading to an embarrassing need for a change of pants, but that was it. They still hadn't made it up to Lex's bedroom, hadn't even seen each other naked yet - unless you counted the brief moments that Clark used his x-ray vision to check Lex over for internal injuries after one of the multitude of meteor mutant attacks - which Clark didn't. 

But, in the course of their slow, agonizingly slow, courtship, Clark had noticed something about Lex. Well, Clark noticed everything about Lex, actually, but that was beside the point. Something that he hadn't had the chance to notice about Lex before, since Clark had never been allowed to see this more intimate side of him. 

Somehow, even though Clark was the one person Lex allowed to take such liberties with his person, the only one Lex didn't grimace at and flinch away from any of the stray casual touches, those touches had never landed near this particular part of Lex's anatomy. Until one late-night make-out session when Clark's hand had brushed up over Lex's chest, and Lex had gone rigid beneath his palm, a soft groan in his ear and a bloom of wet heat where their groins were pressed together.

Apparently, Lex had very sensitive nipples. 

Clark knew Lex well enough to know that he would never get an honest answer out of him if he just asked outright. Not without irrefutable proof right in front of both their eyes. So, he came up with a solution that would both get him his answer, and finally bring their relationship to the next level. 

Clark's parents had gone out to Granville for the weekend to offload some of their excess crops and livestock at the Lowell County Fair, so he had no curfew for the next two days, so long as all the chores got done in a timely manner. He was finally going to get to stay the night over at the castle, and it was the perfect chance to implement his plan. 

"Lex, no! I'm not staying in a guestroom." Clark tugged Lex away from the room he was trying to lead him into, urging the older man down the hall towards Lex's bedroom. "You can't tell me you don't want this just as bad as I do. I'm eighteen, Lex, and I'll be in college in a few months. There are no legal ramifications to be considered in keeping my virtue intact, and my parents can't say a thing against it even if they do find out."

He knew Lex wouldn't need much persuasion, they'd been teasing each other since the moment Clark stepped into his office. Clark had slowly been proving his theory on Lex's sensitivity, grazing, brushing, and bumping against Lex's chest throughout the day, each slight touch resulting in a bitten back gasp of breath, a widening of pupils, an ever-growing bulge beneath charcoal slacks. 

As expected, Lex let himself be led to his own room. Let himself be pushed up against the solid wood door as it closed behind them, resigned defeat slowly taking over his features as he let Clark capture his mouth in a heated kiss.

Clark grinned against Lex's mouth, his tongue delving past parted lips as he put the next part of his experiment into action. He let his hands wander slowly up Lex's sides, too-smooth fingertips sliding over expensive cloth as he caressed, his path meandering, not making it at all clear where their destination lay. He kept Lex pressed against the oaken door as his thumbs crept closer to Lex's nipples, wanting to feel every minute reaction that the older man would try to hide. 

When he knew that Lex was thoroughly distracted, he brushed his thumbs over the tiny buds, the dual assault taking Lex by surprise. The hands threaded through Clark's hair clenched for a fraction of a second, a barely discernible shudder skated through his lithe body, his chest simultaneously arching towards and pulling away from the light touch, the barest whisper of a moan breathed into his own mouth. Clark pulled away from the kiss, eyes sparkling in triumph.

"I knew it!"

Lex gaped at him, bereft at the loss of Clark's warm bulk pressing against him. His nipples were visible beneath the thin fabric of his shirt, pants tented obscenely. He looked halfway towards thoroughly debauched already, and all Clark had done was give him one sound kiss and the hint of pressure against his skin. If this was how he looked now, Clark couldn't wait to see how hot Lex looked after he was fucked and completely sated. 

"Kn-knew what?" Lex's voice, once he'd found it, was both husky and tremulous. "Clark, what do you know?" 

Clark smirked knowingly, taking Lex's hands in his and leading them to the overly large bed that took up most of one wall of the spacious room. 

"Lex, your nipples are a major hot zone for you. Why didn't you tell me?"

Lex spluttered in indignant refusal, shaking his hands free from Clark's and taking a step back. The slightest hint of color tinted his pale cheeks; whether from anger or embarrassment, Clark couldn't be sure. Probably a mixture of both. His heartbeat sped even quicker than it had during their kissing, Clark's enhanced hearing making the perfect lie-detector. 

"They are not, Clark, don't be ridiculous!"

Clark's smirk widened as he reclosed the gap between them, easing Lex down to the plush mattress. 

"Yes, they are, Lex. You don't have to lie to me about it."

"I'm not! Why would I lie about something so banal as this?"

"Really? So, my observance of your reactions is the lie?"

"Yes. I do not have sensitive nipples, Clark. True, like with most people, it feels good when they're played with, but they're no more erogenous than any other male's."

By this point, Clark had Lex exactly where he wanted him, laid out along the length of the bed beneath him. Any trepidation Clark might once have felt about finally making it to this stage of things fled out the window in the face of the challenge Lex was so obviously issuing. 

"Hmm. Why don't we put that to the test then, Lex?" 

Lex didn't bother answering as Clark settled over him, straddling his waist. He rolled his eyes in an only slightly feigned exasperation, and stretched his arms up before tucking them beneath his head, his devil-may-care attitude back in place. 

"Fine, Clark. If you want to spend our first night together disproving your delusions, be my guest."

Clark wasn't kowed in the least; after four years of dealing with the strategic billionaire, he knew when he had him on the defensive. Instead, he simply smiled and leaned in for another kiss, his fingers coming up to trace around the collar of Lex's periwinkle button-up. Letting his fingers trail down and over to circle around one still-tightened nub, he felt Lex resist the urge to shiver, the slim body beneath him tensing, instead. 

Not lingering, Clark slid his wandering hand back to the center of Lex's chest, fingers undoing buttons as his mouth left Lex's, lips sliding along his jawline and down to his throat. Quickly enough, Lex's shirt was spread open, pale, smooth skin cool beneath his hands as he pushed the fabric over Lex's shoulders. Sitting up, Clark sped out of his own shirts, glad he no longer had to hide his abilities from the man he loved. Lex's eyes darkened just as they did every time Clark allowed himself to be truly honest about who he was, when he showed Lex how much he trusted him with this knowledge. Clark thought the show of power turned Lex on just as much as the trust, if not more.  

Clark tossed his shirts aside carelessly, staring down at the man he straddled. Long swathes of bare skin that he'd only managed quick flashes of over the years. Lithe, pale, and improbably hairless - no wonder Lex was always on the colder side - and Clark couldn't let himself feel the usual guilt that washed over him when confronted with the results of the meteor shower. Lex was too perfectly beautiful this way for him to think it a mistake. 

"Clark," there was a warning in Lex's voice as he spoke, his hips bucking up slightly to emphasize the growing need he was experiencing. 

"We have all night, Lex. Show a little patience."

Lex let out a little growl that Clark completely ignored, opting instead for bending back down to take a closer look at the pink bud of one nipple, his tongue flicking out to wet his lips. This was gonna be fun. 

Clark started his assault with the barest nudge of his nose against it, the tiny flutter along Lex's skin noticeable given how closely they were pressed together. Lex gave a melodramatic sigh of boredom. Clark chuckled.

Knowing Lex wouldn't be so easy, Clark switched tactics, flicking his tongue out over the tautening nipple, hearing the almost silent gasp of breath. Not giving Lex a chance to recover, Clark blew a cool breath over the wet skin, watching the way the skin of the areola prickled into gooseflesh. Good to know that reaction wasn't entirely dependent on the presence of hair follicles. He felt Lex gulp hard, knew he was swallowing back a groan. 

Lex's cock was insistent against his hip, the heat of it noticeable even through the layers of fabric between them. An idea struck Clark, and before Lex could even take in the shifting of the mattress, they were both completely naked. Clark wasn't sure a cock could be perfect, but if anyone's was, it was Lex's. Only slightly less pale than the rest of him, with a ruddy, plump head; long enough to require both of Clark's hands to cover the shaft, and thick enough to make Clark count his blessings that he could hold his breath for insanely long stretches of time. Circled at the base by a surprising, sparse, thatch of auburn curls. 

Wrenching his gaze from the tantalizing appendage, Clark refocused his attention back to where it was needed. He leaned down and laved his tongue over the left nipple that had, as yet, been neglected. Clark felt Lex’s cock twitch against his thigh, his skin becoming sticky as it left behind a drop of pre-come. He shifted his weight to support himself on one forearm as he slid his other hand up Lex’s side to pluck at the taut bud he’d abandoned. A low, almost silent, groan rumbled in the chest pressed up against his own. 

“Clark, this childish.” Lex’s voice was raspy, thick with held-back need, and failed to carry the chiding tone he no doubt was aiming for. “Call off your pointless experiment, and let’s do this already.”

“Not pointless if I get to prove a point, is it, Lex?” Clark breathed his words against Lex’s nipple, and was rewarded a harsh breath that heaved Lex’s chest. “Just admit it, and we can move on to other things.”

“Nothing to…admit.” 

“Really? ‘Cause, y’know, I’ve played with my own nipples before, Lex. And it’s never felt nearly as good as you’re making it seem like it feels.”  

“Do you really even count as a comparison point?”

“I’m as sensitive to my own touch as other people are to each other’s, so, yeah.”

Clark put an end to Lex’s attempt to argue his way out of the situation with a teasing, light, nip to the nipple within his reach. The move earned him the most vocalized gasp yet. Soothing his tongue over the abused nub got him an arch of back, Lex’s chest pushing against his chin as the older man silently sought out more. 

Lex’s hand snaked up into his hair, fingers clutching tightly at the strands, knowing there would be no damage. His resolve was cracking, and Clark knew it. Closing his lips over the pearl of flesh, he suckled, feeling it warm as blood was pulled to the surface. He let Lex hold him in place, knowing the older man would succumb far more readily to the truth of his self-perceived weakness if Clark could not see his face.

"Christ," Lex groaned, finally allowing his desire to be heard without enhanced hearing. "Thought I was supposed to be the evil one, here."

Clark growled at the self-deprecation; Lex knew how much Clark hated the way everyone still insisted on seeing Lex as a carbon copy of his father, despite years of the younger Luthor proving otherwise. The vibration of the sound against the sensitive flesh garnered a shocked whimper. 

"Clark! Oh, fuck it. I give! Alright? I give." Lex's fingers tightened again in Clark's hair, pressing him into his chest as he worked his mouth over and around the nipple. "I'm more sensitive there than most, okay? You win."

Clark grinned around the scrap of flesh resting on his tongue. Pleased with himself for making the older man break quicker than he had expected, Clark suckled harder, just to hear the moan the action produced. His hand pinched the right nipple again, and he felt Lex's cock press against his own as the lithe, slim body squirmed beneath him. 

"Jesus, Lex", Clark murmured around the nipple in his mouth, "you are so hot like this. The great Lex Luthor, losing control. Because of me. Wanna make you come like this, Lex."

"Fuck!"

Clark felt Lex's legs wrap around his waist, keeping their erections sliding together as he writhed. The lower half of his body bucked and twisted as he arched his back up, pushing his chest into the dual ministrations of Clark's hand and mouth. Clark could feel his own throbbing cock hardening even further, but ignored the roiling need for release. He needed to see Lex fall apart even more than he needed to come. Both of those slender hands were on him now, one tangled securely in hair, guiding him, the other clawing restlessly at his back, trying to mark the invulnerable skin. 

"Oh, God, Clark! Feels so good. Don't stop! Christ, don't fucking stop!"

Clark didn't plan to. Pinching the left nipple gently between his teeth, he tugged, a shiver of pleasure running down his spine at the keening sound he pulled from Lex's throat at the action. His cock was sticky now, with the slick-slide of Lex's pre-come as he rocked against him. 

One harder bite to the nipple in his mouth, one more pinch to the right, and Lex shouted and went rigid under him, his limbs clamping around Clark, clutching him tighter, as warm fluid splashed between their stomachs. Laving his tongue softly over the left nipple as he eased Lex through his climax, his thumb stroked soothingly over the right, gentling the older man down from the heights of his pleasure. 

As Lex unclenched from where he was wrapped around Clark's broad frame, Clark released the tortured buds from the prolonged contact, nuzzling his nose around the sensitized skin. Lex's hands relaxed their grip, scratching and tugging turned to petting, and Clark let himself focus on his own immense need. 

"That's it, Clark, come on." Lex's fingers stroked through his hair and across his shoulders, encouraging him as he began to thrust down against him, Clark's aching cock sliding smoothly against Lex's softening member. "Let me feel you come for me, baby. You just gave me one of the hottest, amazing, insane orgasms of my life, Clark. And later, you're going to fuck me, oh, yeah, that thick, hot cock of yours is gonna be so deep inside me, I'll feel it in my throat. But I need you to come for me, first. Come on me; mark me with that hot Kryptonian come, like I marked you. 'Cause I'm yours, Clark, just as you are mine. So, come for me, Clark."

"Lex!"

Rutting against Lex's lax and sated body as the billionaire spilled hot, dirty whispers into his ear, Clark let the rush of arousal course through him and came. Great, thick ropes of come that spurted between them, mingling with Lex's, his eyelids clamped shut to block out the growing heat burning behind his eyes. 

Lex tugged Clark up the bed to settle beside him once the shudders of his orgasm had subsided, hands stroking over his body, rubbing their commingled spend into his skin. Clark mirrored the motion, his cock giving a valiant twitch as he ran his fingers through the sticky mess splattered across Lex's abs. Clutching each other closer, their lips met in a slow, sated kiss. They had all night, after all.

"Hey, Lex," Clark broke the kiss and looked down at the drowsy face. Lex hmm-ed at him and raised sleepy blue eyes to meet mischievous green. "Ever thought about getting them pierced?"

~~~~~~~~~

@leatafandom

[unironicallytes]

hey everyone and welcome to the current one and only episode of What's On Lucien Lachance's Desk

Alright so here's a random old image I never finished where I wanted a reference to visualize what was going on here.

A. Travel case for writing tools to sort out contracts with clients.

B. Candle and candle holder with reflective backing, to provide more light in that dank-ass dungeon of an office space.

C. Logbook and angled book rest. The logbook holds sensitive Dark Brotherhood information about contracts, overall Sanctuary history, Family members, recruitment, retirement, "retirement", etc. Each is as old as the respective Sanctuary it belongs to. Speakers pass them on to their successors and they are carefully rebound over the years. It is updated regularly. Many of these were lost during the Brotherhood's 4th Era decline.

D. Signet ring, to authenticate documents and communication. Not shown here because I was too lazy, but Lucien's signet ring bears the snake-tongued Speaker symbol and his initials.

E. Sealing wax, comes in the three contract colors - black, red, and violet.

F. Quill and ink, the former of which is a Deep Crow's feather. Two ink bottles with red and violet ink.

G. Completed and sealed contract, to be sent to the Sanctuary via courier crow.

H. In-progress contract. The parameters of the kill have already been written while in company of the client, but assassin assignment only occurs upon return.

I. Charcoal writing implements. For when The Nice Inks are not warranted, a practice that ended up an established custom for low-level contracts which are very nearly charity.

[theviridianbunny]

Amrin Ellis [aka M0CK1NGJAY] is an autistic woman. She doesn’t formally disclose it to Kurt Hansen when they are just medic/patient (because there is such a boundary and air of professionalism there)... She will never formally disclose it to anyone other than a partner or a close friend she trusts (so in time she will tell Kurt and then in time her other partner - @another-corpo-rat 's dear Victoria Crane)

She is always masking - 100 and 10 percent of the time she masks - she wants to apper "normal" and "like a functional member of society" - and idk just the idea of - it’s early days for Kurt and Amrin- they are still learning to trust each other. Kurt is getting his arms retuned or maybe the back of his neck -

I just imagine a scenario - Amrin had *awful* day already with very rude new clients at her ripper doc office and she’s strung out. I imagine - its after hours and Kurt has come for his monthly arm re tune - and something (even if it’s something as small as her dropping a tray of implements or knocking her coffee off of her work bench) it just pushes over the edge and the mask slips and breaks like a china vase. Luckily she's all done working on Kurt because she just loses her composure

she is just angry crying - fighting so very to regain the broken composure... the panic made all the worse by Kurt being in the room - She thinks Kurt can’t see her like this - but the tears don’t stop and her breathing is un steady and her nose is starting to run and she doesn’t know where to put her hands and they just bawl into these tight fists at her sides as she is facing away from Kurt.

She thinks it is un professional- it’s not right - he doesn’t know, and he must not know that she's different- - she is afraid he will treat her like a child and belittle her. It’s what others did with her in the past - But the colonel of dog town doesn't judge her. He's more trying to pice together what's wrong- in the months they have known each other - nothing this small usually gets her so upset. Kurt is patient and quietly asks his ripperdoc if she would like to be alone.

In which- Amrin just nods - excusing herself very abruptly to try and calm herself down. It takes longer than she would like too - but once shes calmer - once her eyes are dry and she's able to breathe - she joins Kurt outside her shop. The night has grown old. The little nook her shop is in lit up by faded neon lights.

She thanks Kurt very quietly for not being weird about what he'd just seen [ thanking him in between taking a drag of her e-ciggarete - the tank of the cigarette decopaged with old bollywood magazine clippings]. Kurt just nods as he takes a drag of his own cigarette [hand rolled] - the two share a quiet moment in this little corner of dog town - before they part ways.

[lieutenantfloyd]

NSFW alphabet -  Beau “Cyclone” Simpson

Requested?: Yes

Warnings: 18+ content. Minors DNI.

Words: 1.8k

note: apparently my version of self care is writing porn about a 50 year old man.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Cyclone is the king of Aftercare. To him it's an essential part of the experience. It's also his time to make sure it was a wholly pleasurable experience for you. Sex with him can become both physically and mentally demanding for you. Whether you're taking a shower together or staying in bed, he'll make sure to clean you up and sing you praises.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His: His hands. Specifically their ability to make you come apart in ultimate pleasure and put you together again with comfort.

Yours: your neck. Biting, choking, or just making you arch your back so you expose your throat to him. He loves the intimacy, vulnerability, and trust of it.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He will almost always cum in you. Visuals are very important to him, and most he wants to see his cum drip out of you. He will, however, cum in your mouth as punishment.

i.e. "If you act like a slut, I'm going to treat you like one. Fix your attitude and do what Daddy asks you to and he'll fill your pretty pussy just like you want him to."

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He's acutely aware of what turns you on and purposefully implements them all through the day just do you'll break his rules/he'll have a reason to punish you. Worst of all he's just inconspicuous about it that you haven't caught onto him yet.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

I personally don't think that Cyclone has had many partners, but that's not to say he isn't experienced. He honestly finds the subject of sex and sexual expression fascinating. Even what he hasn't physically done he's well versed in. He knows what he likes and is more than willing to explore with you if you so desire.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Doggy, with a hand between your shoulder blades as your pinned to the mattress. Not only does it feel amazing, but it allows him to be most dominant/in control.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

It's 100% serious on his end, but if you want to joke around when he's in a more adoring mood he's happy to indulge you.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He keeps things trimmed, mostly out of personal preference. As for his partners, he's perfectly happy with whatever they're comfortable with.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Nine times out of ten, Beau is as intimate as intimate gets. Although he's not the music and candles type, he lives to praise, touch, and love you, aka making you feel like the only thing in the world that matters. That's because to him, you are.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

It's not his favorite, but he can't help himself every so often. On your most recent birthday you flipped the script and had him jack off while you watched. It almost changed his whole opinion on the matter.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks

Daddy kink, dom/sub dynamic, cock warming, hair pulling, biting, size kink. Receiving: scratching, cum play, somnophilia. Giving : Degradation, orgasm denial, bondage mutual masturbation, spanking, brat taming, collars, breeding.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He's willing to get down just about anywhere, but he does have a particular love of doing it in his office. Whether it's his one at home or on base, something about the atmosphere and mixing his work and private life's (which he works very hard to keep separate) really gets him going.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Honestly? Everything. But above all what's gets him going is disobedience, especially if it's for his benefit. He's set very clear rules and expectations for you and wholly expects you to be good for him. But you like to push his boundaries just a bit. For instance, he's specified that you aren't allowed to play with him while he's working. Yet you noticed that he'd been working late recently and wanted to help relieve some of his stress. In his office he gave you a exactly 3 warnings to cut it out before he had you pinned to his desk, work all but forgotten.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

Threesomes aren't completely off the table, but it would take a hell of a lot of convincing. He's more than a little possessive and quite honestly doesn't trust anyone else to be with you and respect your boundaries.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Easily one of Cyclones top 5 favorite things in this world. Whether he's burying his head between your legs until you can't take anymore or sitting like a king while you choke on his cock, he's completely obsessed.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

This really depends! There are times when his pace is downright brutal, while other times he's pumping into you with such leisurely yet precise thrusts it nearly drives you insane. If he's punishing you, expect to get downright railed. But there are many times he wants to reward you or is feeling more sentimental where he takes things nice and slow.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

It's far from preferred, but he's a busy man and sometimes he just needs you. Luckily, he's mastered the art of getting you both off in record time.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

With his affinity for office sex, he'd be lying if he said the thought of someone catching you both didn't turn him on a little bit. He's also not opposed to getting you off under the table or fucking you in the bathroom at important events/dinners.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

He'll go as long as you let him. That, paired with his willingness to take things slow (and take breaks for heavy petting) is a golden combination.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Oh absolutely. Cyclone owns a variety of toys, for a variety of occasions, all to be used on you.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

As much as he lives to please, he loves to tease a bit more. Aside from the standard, whisper of filthy things in your ear, his degradation and orgasm control/denial kinks really come out when he starts teasing you. He'll alternate spanking and fingering you until you're quite literally dripping with desire. Only to then pull his hand away and start massaging your thighs, hips, and ass. Ignoring your core completely. All while calling you his little slut and expressing the most filthy thoughts someone could come up with.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He's not much of a moaner, but good lord is he a dirty talker. Above all else his ability to keep a completely neutral and steady voice is outstanding. It's truly one of life's greatest mysteries. He's not shy with groans and curses either.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Cyclone will almost always push you back onto the mattress if you try to ride him. Not because he doesn't love it (the complete opposite, actually) but because you sitting in his lap and raking your nails through his chest hair makes him cum faster than he’d like to admit. Therefore, he saves it for when he wants to feel particularly good.

This totally isn't an excuse for me to talk about his chest hair haha

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

If you're here, you most likely know that Jon Hamm's dick is Hollywood's version of the Loch Ness monster. It even blessed us with one of the best articles that has ever graced the internet, aptly titled ~ Jon Hamm's Ham: A Penile Retrospective

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Extremely high. But where most people with his sec drive would ask for a couple rounds a day, he prefers to drag things out throughout the day until neither of you can handle it anymore.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He definitely gets tired afterwards, but not necessarily sleepy. Once you're settled and all taken care of, he's pulling you into him for what is greatest cuddle of all time.

-

taglist:

@marchingicenotes7, @bayisdying, @princessofglitterland, @bella-law, @callsignaries, @katesmadness, @dannyramirezwife, @oliviah-25, @luckyladycreator2, @shakira-sasha, @xoxabs88xox, @Criminalmindsandmarvel, @austin-butlers-gf, @nyx2021​, @fanboyluvr, @alexxavicry, @madamemelancholysstuff, @paola-carter, @barbiewritesstuff, @dozcan123

[swiftsnowmane]

Iran deploys a sinister tactic against the Baha'i religious minority—fabricating legal cases and relentless summonses, creating a web of oppression.

Recent revelations expose the extent of government hostility, leaving Baha'is in constant uncertainty. 

IranWire's interviews with members of the community highlight the fear of arrests and hindrance in burying their dead, showcasing an ongoing assault on their rights. 

Baha'is interviewed by IranWire express that they cannot plan for their lives and careers due to the uncertainty surrounding who will be summoned or arrested tomorrow, whose homes will be searched, or whose businesses will be shut down.

A significant and increasing number of Baha'is are awaiting the implementation of sentences, even as many have been released on bail and are awaiting trial.

Roha Emani and Firozeh Sultan Mohammadi, two Baha'is women living in Kerman, were recently summoned to the Kerman Prosecutor's Office and faced charges and interrogation over allegations of "Baha'i propaganda" and "educational activities against Sharia."

Emani and Mohammadi were previously detained for 17 days in November last year and subsequently released on bail.

Korosh Rezvani, a Baha'is citizen of Bandar Abbas, was summoned to the Intelligence Department of the city and was later released following interrogation.

Rezvani is the son of Ataullah Rezvani, who was kidnapped and fatally shot in Bandar Abbas in August 2013.

Ataullah was a prominent Baha'i figure in Bandar Abbas who had received numerous threats from the intelligence department and the city's Friday prayer leader office before his assassination.

Ten years have passed since Ataullah's death, yet the case remains unsolved, with no identified perpetrator.

Furthermore, several Baha'i citizens in Hamadan were summoned and interrogated over the past few weeks.

The Baha'i International Community (BIC) has also reported the summoning and interrogation of 16 Baha'is from Isfahan.

The systematic persecution of the community reveals a chilling reality wherein the fundamental rights and freedoms of Baha'is are undermined.

"Baha'is are not only deprived of citizenship rights in Iran during their lifetime, but they are also deprived of human rights after death, and the deceased Baha'is and their families are harassed," a Baha'i citizen told IranWire.

The particular incident refers to the misconduct of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery authorities in burying the deceased in the Baha'i cemetery in Tehran.

Over the past year, Behesht-e Zahra has refused to release the bodies of Baha'is and has only allowed Baha'is to bury their dead in their own cemetery of Khavaran for a hefty fee.

As this fee collection lacked legal grounds and was enforced under pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence, many families of the deceased have refused to comply.

The most recent reported incident was the authorities refusing to release the body of Esfandiar Ghazanfari to his family for burial in the Baha'i cemetery in Tehran, with the deceased's body remaining in the morgue for over 20 days.

Finally, Artin Ghazanfari, the son of the deceased, revealed on his Instagram page that his father's body was taken and buried in Khavaran cemetery on March 1.

Authorities have allegedly buried the bodies of Baha'is in mass grave sites of political prisoners executed in the 1980s. This was reportedly done without informing families or performing religious ceremonies over the past year.

[fatehbaz]

Driven by utilitarian concerns with scarcity and fears of cascading environmental degradation, colonial officials implemented tree-planting programs of all sorts -- seed farms, erosion control projects, school forests and so on. [...] Imperial forestry describes a shared set of practices, convictions and institutions that bound Japanese forestry professionals into a network that spanned the Japanese empire itself. [...] Japanese woodsmen (with a venerable forestry tradition all their own) came to terms with Western notions of natural resource management and "scientific forestry." [...] Japanese foresters tailored European ideas about ecology, sustainability, and industrial development to the particular needs of the Japanese empire and the different biomes it encompassed. [...] Japan has played an outsized role in the management and control of Asia's forests. To understand how Japan has maintained such verdant hillsides at home, [...] we need to more fully appreciate its control of sylvan landscapes abroad -- be they in the colonial empire before 1945 or in Southeast Asia thereafter. [...] [W]e ought to place tenant farmers in colonial Korea and shifting cultivators in Kalimantan in the same analytical frame. [...]

---

The most obvious legacies are material: flora introduced during colonial occupation that still grow in Korea today. [...] As part of a campaign to supposedly "beautify" the Korean landscape [...], Japanese settlers planted [...] cherry blossoms along streets, in squares, and within parks across Korea. [...] Another impact can be found in the forestry institutions founded during colonial rule. The flagship Forestry Research Station established by the colonial government, for example, only grew after liberation, becoming a hub of agro-forestry research that underpinned South Korea's economic take-off under Park Chung-hee. Many of the architects of South Korea's so-called "forest miracle" -- the wildly successful project of reforestation in the 1960s and 70s -- were trained in colonial scientific institutions. This is not to suggest that the dense forests that today blanket South Korea are somehow due to colonial rule. Reforestation under Park was born of markedly different circumstances -- its Cold War context, authoritarian rule and energy portfolio. But that doesn't mean that foresters on either side of 1945 weren't united by the same sets of anxieties and aspirations. [...] [A] set of abiding concerns [...] have animated forest conservation measures across the full sweep of the tumultuous twentieth century in Korea. [...]

---

[R]eferences to the ondol (the radiant heated floors conventional to Korean dwellings) are everywhere in the forester's archive. Japanese woodsmen quickly marked the ondol and its associated lifestyle as ground zero of deforestation. By the 1920s, forestry officials had launched an ambitious campaign to gain control over the energy consumption patterns of the home -- a crusade on caloric inefficiency that furthered the reach of the colonial state into the domestic sphere. In this sense, the ondol provides an illuminating lens through which to examine how forestry touched the lived, even bodily, experience of colonial rule in a sometimes bitterly cold environment. This is especially true of the civilian experience of the Asia-Pacific War in Korea, a period of fuel scarcity that resulted in draconian programs of caloric control. [...]

[W]e have much to gain by looking beyond the boundaries of the islands of Japan to write its environmental history. Understanding the tree-smothered hillsides of the so-called "green archipelago" requires that we pay close attention to its material linkages with the rest of Asia. It demands that we track commodity chains, supply lines, and resource politics across the Pacific.

---

All words above are the words of David Feldman. As interviewed and transcribed by Office of the Dean, School of Humanities at University of California, Irvine. Transcript titled “Seeing the forest for the trees.” Published online in the News section of UCI School of Humanities. 21 May 2020. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Florida has blocked the College Board from testing a pilot Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) curriculum in the state under Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act. According to a letter obtained by National Review, Florida’s Department of Education’s Office of Articulation said the curriculum “is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

The pilot course, which has been tested at 60 schools across the United States, aims to expand the advanced coursework offered by the College Board into the study of the African diaspora in the U.S. The course has run afoul of DeSantis’ widespread ban on teaching “critical race theory” (CRT) in K-12 classrooms. CRT is an analytical framework that seeks to dissect the manner in which racism has shaped American legal theory and institutions. The concept has been co-opted in recent years by right-wing reactionaries to fearmonger about any and all discussions of race and discrimination.

The “Stop Woke” act, signed into law by DeSantis in 2022, essentially prohibits instruction on race relations or diversity that imply a person’s “status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, national origin, or sex.” The bill also bans both schools and workplaces from “subjecting any student or employee to training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individuals to believe specified concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”

In November, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker issued a temporary injunction on a portion of the law that attempted to place similar restrictions on higher education. Despite several challenges to the law on grounds of First Amendment rights, Florida has continued to lead the charge against comprehensive education on the racial history of the U.S. Several other states have passed similar legislation, including Texas, Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.

DeSantis has centered his administration around governance through culture war grievances. The governor passed a similar law last year, known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that granted the state broad powers to implement prohibitions on instruction on issues of gender and sexuality in Florida schools. Under the guise of his anti-CRT crusade, the Governor is reshaping Florida education in the image of the far right, recently announcing a plan to forcibly overhaul the New College of Florida, and transform it into a conservative institution. With increasing pressure on teachers and professors to avoid topics like race and gender lest they face the wrath of the state government, that transformation is effectively taking place though government-enforced censorship.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from E&E News/Politico:

The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday it has finalized a sweeping new public lands rule that places conservation and restoration of public lands on equal footing with energy development and mining.

The final rule implements a suite of conservation policy tools and initiatives BLM offices are directed to employ in an effort to protect natural spaces and restore lands in the face of a warming climate.

The rule states that urgent action is needed to preserve and restore federal rangelands against drought and increased wildfires, or the 245 million acres BLM oversees will no longer be able in the coming decades to support grazing, recreation or energy development.

“The rule does not prioritize conservation above other multiple uses. It also does not preclude other uses where conservation use is occurring,” according to the final rule. “Many uses are compatible with different types of conservation use, such as sustainable recreation, grazing, and habitat management. The rule also does not enable conservation use to occur in places where an existing, authorized, and incompatible use is occurring.”

Critics, including the National Mining Association, blasted the final rule as an effort to block energy production and mining, and a betrayal of BLM’s mandate to accommodate a range of uses beyond conservation.

But it’s a victory for conservation groups and other supporters who see it as a major and long-overdue policy shift for an agency they say has too often favored ranching, oil and gas drilling or mining over the preservation and health of federal rangelands.

The rule will formally take effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, presumably in the coming days.

The final BLM rule is among a handful of major policy changes, rules and initiatives rolled out within the past week as President Joe Biden looks to bolster his appeal to conservationists and young climate activists during an election year.

Summary of the Public Lands Rule from a press release from the Department of the Interior:

The final rule:

Directs BLM to manage for landscape health. Successful public land management that delivers natural resources, wildlife habitat and clean water requires a thorough understanding of the health and condition of the landscape, especially as conditions shift on the ground due to climate change. To help sustain the health of our lands and waters, the rule directs the BLM to manage public land uses in accordance with the fundamentals of land health, which will help watersheds support soils, plants, and water; ecosystems provide healthy populations and communities of plants and animals; and wildlife habitats on public lands protect threatened and endangered species consistent with the multiple use and sustained yield framework.  

Provides a mechanism for restoring and protecting our public lands through restoration and mitigation leases. Restoration leases provide greater clarity for the BLM to work with appropriate partners to restore degraded lands. Mitigation leases will provide a clear and consistent mechanism for developers to offset their impacts by investing in land health elsewhere on public lands, like they currently can on state and private lands. The final rule clarifies who can obtain a restoration or mitigation lease, limiting potential lessees to qualified individuals, businesses, non-governmental organizations, Tribal governments, conservation districts, or state fish and wildlife agencies. Restoration and mitigation leases will not be issued if they would conflict with existing authorized uses. 

Clarifies the designation and management of ACECs. The final rule provides greater detail about how the BLM will continue to follow the direction in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to prioritize the designation and protection of ACECs. Following public comments, the final rule clarifies how BLM consideration of new ACEC nominations and temporary management options does not interfere with the BLM’s discretion to continue advancing pending project applications.

[lunarsilkscreen]

HTML, RichText, and BB_Markup

Back in the day "RichText" or text that can be stylized like you would in Microsoft Word, or an E-Mail, wasn't often available in social media platforms.

And there's still some social media platforms who don't allow it at all.

This has multiple reasons, the processing is done in script at the browser level, and so there used to be performance reasons not to allow it. Or most of your users would experience a slow down just to view the text, why bother with it?

As browsers started getting more comfortable and fast enough to deliver HTML pages, with the markup allowed in HTML, HTML became the default. But as JavaScript grew in popularity, scope and use. HTML itself became a way for people to inject scripts directly into the page.

And instead of just, cleaning script tags and other injection vulnerabilities, websites took HTML away from users all together. This was a problem, in Part, directly influenced by the W3C {World-wide web consortium}, and big-browser (Microsoft, Netscape, and Mozilla, and later Google, Apple, and Opera) who all implemented HTML/CSS/JS differently.

Nobody knows why they did this, they just did. (Actually, there's a bunch of different reasons, but as you look deeper into the rabbit hole, the more absurd it gets.)

After that, forum and social media designers came up with *BB_Markup* I think BB means blackboard, but who knows for sure anymore.

BB was basically a shorthand HTML markup that used square-brackets instead of triangle-brackets, and at a server level, that markup got turned into *safe* HTML markup--to avoid user-level injection attacks.

We also get a bunch of other short hand that may or may not be used in certain platforms (like reddit) to this day. Wrapping text in asterisks to italicize a word, or tildes or the little wavey dash (~) which denote bolding under lining or strike through depending on what you're used to.

All sorts of things that some people who were netizens of the 90s and early-00s might still be in the habit of using.

Today, there's little reason for browsers to even allow <script> or script-referencing mark-up at that particular level anymore. Which would solve A LOT of early security issues. But they don't change it back because a lot of websites still use tricks like that, because that's what developers do.

Even though advertising still allows injection and browser-hijacking at a "user-level" just like in the olden days. Yep, if you host ads, there's a good chance you're allowing those ads to deliver malware to your users.

Looking at you YouTube and websites that say "Please stop using ad-block". They don't use them to prevent you from getting paid, they use them to stop you from injecting their device with malware.

You big dummys.

That's part of the reason why I'm an advocate of "ad-reform". Advertising companies are leveraging their ad-platforms for more than simply delivering ads.

There's a drive to put internet tools only in the hands of companies, taking net freedoms a lot of early-adopters take for granted, not like ad-block, more like not having to worry about malware being delivered to you while you're powerless to stop it.

I'm not even talking about internet surveillance, I'm talking about advertising companies delivering malware to office equipment. You know those hacks that seemingly target large databases everyday?

Paid Advertising.

Since a lot of, too many even, Internet users these days even know the basics of HTML/CSS/JS, they don't even get to see what it feels like to have the inspection tools be taken away from you so you can see how it is these websites are f* you.

I can't even [view source] on my phone anymore. *That's considered* a bigger security risk than ad-delivery hijacking *your* phone.

How much does ad delivery cost these days, and you can see, that's the price of delivering malware to the user. Not just advertising products.

[dailyanarchistposts]

I.8.3 How were Spanish industrial collectives organised?

Martha A. Ackelsberg gives us an excellent short summary of how the industrial collectives where organised:

“Pre-existing structures of worker organisation made possible a workers’ take-over of much of the industrial economy, especially in Catalonia … Factory committees formed to direct production and co-ordinate with other units within the same industry. Union organisations co-ordinated both the production and distribution of manufactured goods across industries and regions … In most collectivised industries, general assemblies of workers decided policy, while elected committees managed affairs on a day-to-day basis.” [Free Women of Spain, p. 100]

The collectives were based on workers’ democratic self-management of their workplaces, using productive assets that were under the custodianship of the entire working community and administered through federations of workers’ associations:

“The collectives organised during the Spanish Civil War were workers’ economic associations without private property. The fact that collective plants were managed by those who worked in them did not mean that these establishments became their private property. The collective had no right to sell or rent all or any part of the collectivised factory or workshop. The rightful custodian was the CNT, the National Confederation of Workers Associations. But not even the CNT had the right to do as it pleased. Everything had to be decided and ratified by the workers themselves through conferences and congresses.” [Augustin Souchy, The Anarchist Collectives, p. 67]

In Catalonia “every factory elected its administrative committee composed of its most capable workers. Depending on the size of the factory, the function of these committees included inner plant organisation, statistics, finance, correspondence, and relations with other factories and with the community … Several months after collectivisation the textile industry of Barcelona was in far better shape than under capitalist management. Here was yet another example to show that grass roots socialism from below does not destroy initiative. Greed is not the only motivation in human relations.” [Souchy, Op. Cit., p 95]

Thus the individual collective was based on a mass assembly of those who worked there. This assembly nominated administrative staff who were mandated to implement the decisions of the assembly and who had to report back, and were accountable, to that assembly. For example, in Castellon de la Plana ”[e]very month the technical and administrative council presented the general assembly of the Syndicate with a report which was examined and discussed if necessary, and finally introduced when this majority thought it of use. Thus all the activities were known and controlled by all the workers. We find here a practical example of libertarian democracy.” [Gaston Leval, Collectives in the Spanish Revolution, p. 303] Power rested at the base of the collective, with “all important decisions [being] taken by the general assemblies of the workers” which “were widely attended and regularly held … if an administrator did something which the general assembly had not authorised, he was likely to be deposed at the next meeting.” An example of this process can be seen from the Casa Rivieria company. After the defeat of the army coup “a control committee (Comite de Control) was named by the Barcelona Metal Workers’ Union to take over temporary control of the enterprises … A few weeks after July 19th, there was the first general assembly of the firm’s workers … It elected an enterprise committee (Comite de Empresa) to take control of the firm on a more permanent basis… . Each of the four sections of the firm — the three factories and the office staff — held their own general assemblies at least once a week. There they discussed matters ranging from the most important affairs to the most trivial.” [Robert Alexander, The Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War, vol. 1, p. 469 and p. 532]

In summary, the collectives in Spain were marked by workplace self-management. They successfully implemented the long-standing libertarian goal of turning industry from an autocracy to a democracy, of replacing wage-labour with free-labour based on the association of equals (see section I.3.1). However, it would be a mistake to assume (as many do, particularly Marxists) that the CNT and FAI considered the creation of self-managed collectives as the end of the revolution. Far from it. While they embodied such key libertarian principles as workers’ self-management, they were fundamentally a product of both anarchist ideas and the specific situation in which they were created. Rather than seek a market system of producer co-operatives, the CNT was committed to the full socialisation of the economy and the creation of libertarian communism. The collectives were, as a result, seen as development towards that goal rather than as an end in themselves. Moreover, as historian Ronald Fraser notes, it “was doubtful that the CNT had seriously envisaged collectivisation of industry … before this time.” [The Blood of Spain, p. 212] CNT policy was opposed to the collectivisation decree of the Catalonian government, for example, which formalised (and controlled) the spontaneous gains of the revolution as expressed by the collectives.

Therefore, the collectives were (initially) a form of “self-management straddling capitalism and socialism, which we maintain would not have occurred had the Revolution been able to extend itself fully under the direction of our syndicates.” In other words, the revolution saw the abolition of wage-labour but not of the wages system. Thus capitalism was replaced by mutualism, not the socialism desired by most anarchists (namely libertarian communism). As economic and political development are closely related, the fact that the CNT did not carry out the political aspect of the revolution meant that the revolution in the economy was doomed to failure. As Leval stressed, in “the industrial collectives, especially in the large towns, matters proceeded differently as a consequence of contradictory factors and of opposition created by the co-existence of social currents emanating from different social classes.” [Gaston Leval, Collectives in the Spanish Revolution, pp. 227–8 and p. 227]

That the initial forms of the revolution were not as expected should, perhaps, be unsurprising. After all, no social transformation ever exactly matches the hopes of those who had advocated it and the people had more pressing matters to attend to such as re-starting production and fighting Franco. So it is utterly understandable that the collectives only embodied some and not all aspects of aims of the CNT and FAI! Moreover, social change does not produce instant perfect transformations and the workers “had to build new circuits of consumption and distribution, new types of social relations between the proletariat and the peasantry, and new modes of production.” [Abel Paz, Durruti in the Spanish Revolution, p. 451] That process was started, even if it were initially incomplete. That a wider goal was envisioned by these organisations can be seen from the fact that union activists sought to extend the degree of socialisation. So, and again in line with libertarian theory, the collectives also expressed a desire to co-operate within and across industries (see section I.3.5). These attempts at federation and co-ordination will be discussed in next section, along with some of the conclusions that can be drawn from these experiments. For, as would be expected, this attempt to introduce libertarian socialism had its drawbacks as well as successes.

[vickutz1]

TITLE: PrismNET Asia-Pacific Leaders Symposium: Launch of the 319 Global Service Center Initiative

On May 7th, the PrismNET Asia-Pacific Leaders’ Symposium was successfully held at the Cordis Hotel in Hong Kong, bringing together service center heads and community leaders from various countries and regions within Asia-Pacific to discuss the expansive plans for PrismNET. At the event, Marlik Luno, the Chairman of PrismNET Global Development Committee and Chief Operating Officer, welcomed the representatives of the Asia-Pacific community and outlined the development plans for the upcoming months. Luno highlighted the current global societal transformation characterized by significant shifts in productivity. PrismNET is at the forefront of this transformation, leading the development in the AIGC artificial intelligence industry. The company has addressed the industry’s core challenge of GPU power supply for energy in artificial intelligence, having upgraded 13 GPU power clusters globally with a total capacity reaching 1100P. Furthermore, the platform is developing the PrismNET Chain (PNC), a global distributed power cluster blockchain network aimed at consolidating idle and redundant GPU power for scheduling and distribution, thus maximizing the application value of individual GPU capacities.

Subsequently, Tomy Tang, from the Platform Education and Development Committee, analyzed the current state and future value of the AI+DePin industry track for the leaders. He discussed how PrismNET positions itself as the first platform globally to implement an AI+Web3.0 ecosystem. The platform’s GPU power leasing service has already provided cost-effective energy solutions for more AI enterprises. Using AI for content publication, data streaming, and automated sales through e-commerce server rooms built around the world, along with matrixed account operations, the platform has achieved over $7000 in sales profit per account on TikTok, demonstrating the deep application of AI in e-commerce.

Following this, William delved into an in-depth analysis of PrismNET’s business model and its long-term value prospects. Many community leaders expressed that PrismNET’s business model fully meets everyone’s market expectations and that this mechanism is adaptable to various market conditions, ensuring the best possible outcomes for business expansion. The business model, being a core element of project development, features low barriers to entry, high returns, vast potential for imagination, scalability, user-friendliness, and strong promotional drive, which are significant characteristics of the PrismNET model.

During the banquet, the platform made a major announcement with the launch of PriamAI, an AI short video tool tailored for C-end users, integrating functions like IP creation, graphic generation, video conversion, and digital human cloning. PrismAI provides numerous entrepreneurs with powerful tools for easy use. Additionally, users can utilize PNC for exchanges to enhance their experience significantly, also greatly boosting PNC’s circulation and application value within the ecosystem.

At the banquet, the 319 Global Service Center Plan was announced, which, through the strong support of salons and sharing sessions, aids in the business development of service centers in various regions and rapidly propagates PrismNET’s vast ecosystem in the market. The banquet also recognized outstanding service centers for April, with Chief Operating Officer Luno personally distributing awards to the winners. Additionally, the development and evaluation plans for the community in May and a preview of the PrismNET Global Elite International Symposium scheduled for June were announced.

During this meeting, leaders from the Wutong Community and Xinxin International Community shared their experiences, insights, and market development strategies deeply with the attendees, setting goals and resolutions for May. All leaders present reached a high consensus to strive with full effort to discuss, build, share, and win together, and to collaborate in developing a grand industry ecosystem alongside the platform.

About PrismNET

PrismNET aims to provide cheap computing power and sustainable development super power for global AIGC entrepreneurs and developers in the AI field. It promotes the development of the artificial intelligence industry through the construction of distributed computing power cluster networks and computing power leasing services under trusted networks. Provide global investors with a convenient way to participate in the artificial intelligence track and an AI income path.

Follow PrismNET on:

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[jellycreamjammedart]

Hey there demons. It is I, ya boi

Yes you know it, it's Killer In Purple 2 BTS time, babey!

Today we will talk about the remaining human characters, as they're more minor than the ones we've already talked about!

Part 4: OTHER HUMANS

Let's start with possibly the more significant bunch of this list, then go down the rest!

KID NPCS PAIR 2

We've already talked about the first pair of NPC kids, based off the only kid model (then made by the developer GFC) in the earlier versions of the game (boy,) and female Cassidy (girl.) But once I thought about designing more characters, I came up with a second pair, also a boy and girl, to go along with the first ones. With those we have 2 different boys and 2 different girls (not counting the random palettes, which was GFC's work.)

The second boy was based off (albeit a little loosely to avoid confusion,) the protagonist of FNAF Security Breach, Gregory-- with a reference to his stealth upgrade which comes in the form of a grey hoodie.

As for the girl, she was heavily based off my favorite character from my favorite video game of all time, Madotsuki from Yume Nikki / Dream Diary, with few design liberties (like giving her front pockets.)

And as with the previous pair, they also come with different expressions that can be seen during gameplay besides their default smile, such as being scared or perishing when caught.

Like with the other NPC kids, I also gave them several dead expressions and left for GFC to choose, as I worked on all different expressions at around the same time.

WAITER

A game mechanic added a little later in the game development. Waiters help take pizza to sitting parents for extra income so that you can focus on, uh, other managerial tasks. *cough*

The waiter was given a simple, androgynous appearance; while they may resemble the second parent model, it wasn't done with the intention.

The biggest issue was the outfit, which I was drawing a blank on, where I had to talk with GFC as well as look up references. The initial idea was the stereorypical fully suited waiter with a butler aesthetic, but I second-guessed it as it seemed too formal and out of place for a Chuck E. Cheese kids' place that serves greasy pizza, so I pressed further on references. Eventually I set on better ideas, often of those pizza servers that wear a very basic or plain clothing with an apron at the front as the highlight and often where the place brand is displayed, which was the idea I then set up with for our waiter model, giving the apron a tiny bear emblem.

Additionally, along with the waiter model, was also made a round food tray which they do carry, as well as a white plate (which as far as I'm aware, went unused.)

POLICE OFFICERS + BOUNCER

Police officers, like the first kid and parent, are one of the earliest implementations of the game, with older blocky models made in Blender with a very stereorypical police blue uniform. They will chase and arrest you if you're seen doing funny business out in the open.

Originally there was only one Blender model for the police officers, with a green uniform variant. But while working on the updated models, GFC requested I also make a female variant (which I cannot verify whether it went used or not.)

The male officer was heavily based off the older model, with no special features. The female officer was given ginger hair in a very small ponytail to set it apart from its male variant.

This was well before the FNAF Movie, otherwise I probably would have made the female officer resemble movie Vanessa.

Their accessory is a small pistol/handgun, which originally was a fully modeled 3D prop, but I was requested to make a voxel one. I had to look up reference pictures, eventually "taking the L and flipping it" (shape,) using different colors/textures for most of the the details, using the picture of a glock for reference.

And last but not least, the bouncer is an one-of-a-kind variant of the male officer with a green uniform. He originally appears in the Midnight Motorist's secret minigame in FNAF 6 / FFPS in the form of a green sprite, who discourages the player from accessing an establishment known as JR's. In Killer in Purple 2 he does the exact same thing, except you can still sneak into JR's by entering from the back.

And with that we're pretty much done with the humans of Killer in Purple 2, save for William, Michael and Henry!