#energy provision

[mindbodyhealth-blog]

Unlocking Optimal Health: The Crucial Role of a Balanced Diet in Your Daily Life

[sikfox-arts]

I am so normal about them

[blackcatanna]

Just played The Pale Beyond demo on Steam and it's everything I wanted in a naval exploration game! It's pretty much The Terror as a game EXCEPT WITH DOGGOS. They have the cutest little doggy faces. You can shake their little doggy paws and exchange meaningful looks and pet them as much as you want! They will most likely soon be in mortal peril but the demo doesn't get that far and there are promises of DOGLOOS to come! So, lots to love.

Of course, the doglings are great but there's a lot more going on. You have to manage your limited resources, including morale ("decorum"). You also have to build loyalty with individual expedition members and make difficult snap decisions and live (or die) with the consequences.

The TENSION, the DRAMA, the DELICATE CONVERSATIONS! Such joy! Finally, I can lead my own expedition to a terrible fate! To be fair, I felt pretty optimistic when the demo ended but I'm sure there'll be lots of potential trauma in the full game (released next week) and, honestly I am comparing it to the outcomes of Terror and Erebus so the bar for DISASTER is pretty high.

I love that it's mostly just me making dialogue choices. I can't go off and use my gamer skillz to hunt us some seals to survive. I have to DELEGATE. I enjoy making decisions, even though it feels shitty when I see that little red number showing how a character's respect for me is dropping because I've disagreed with their STUPID IDEA (or just said something stupid myself, more likely).

Anyway, I wanted to talk about this game because I only knew about it because I'm subscribed to Fellow Traveler's newsletter and thought other fans of the classic people-on-a-ship-having-a-horrible-time formula might enjoy fucking up their own expedition (and petting many doggy friends; seriously, the dog art in this game is top tier).

[headspace-hotel]

USAmericans

Read the Project 2025 manifesto RIGHT NOW

It's MUCH worse than y'all have been hearing

There is so much here you'll have to look at it for yourself, but the climate policy alone is nightmare fuel.

The republican coalition wants to essentially end funding for green energy, dramatically promote and expand fossil fuel industries, and eliminate funding and regulations in all sectors promoting climate change mitigation. Task forces and offices related to clean energy and lowering carbon emissions will be eliminated and replaced with offices for promoting fossil fuels.

They want to LOG NATIONAL FORESTS TO "THIN" THE TREES TO STOP WILDFIRES.

THEY WANT TO FORCE OREGON AND CALIFORNIA TO LOG THEIR NATIONAL FORESTS AND TREAT THEM AS FOR TIMBER PRODUCTION

There are specific provisions in Project 2025 to essentially destroy the Endangered Species Act, causing it to defer to the rights of "economic development" and "private property." The plan includes delisting gray wolves, cutting the budget so that a "triage" system is used to determine which species will get protection, removing funding for research, removing experts and specialists from the decision-making process, and preventing "experimental" populations of animals from being established.

This is so much worse than I expected it to be and there's much more past that: They want to deregulate pesticides and remove much of the EPA's ability to regulate pollutants as well.

Also included in the manifesto is that we should

withdraw from nuclear weapons nonproliferation agreements, build more nuclear weapons, and resume nuclear weapons testing

The manifesto comprehensively outlines the scorched-earth elimination of abortion access, down to ensuring doctors aren't even trained to perform abortions. There are plans in here to disrupt abortion access GLOBALLY, not just domestically.

Not only that,the Republicans plan on reframing family planning programs around "fertility awareness" and "holistic family planning."

I can't even describe it all. I'm trying to give screenshots of the most important things but there's so much.

The foreign policy is a nightmare. They plan to push fossil fuels onto the Global South and promote the development of fossil fuel industry in the "developing world."

It is aggressive and antagonistic towards other nations, strongly pro-military, proposing that we INCREASE (!!!!!) defense spending, improve public opinion of the military and military recruitment, and increase the power to fund new weapons technology.

Just read the Department of Defense section. It's about greatly increasing and strengthening the military-industrial complex, collaborating more closely with weapons manufacturers, removing regulatory barriers to arming our allies and to inventing new military weapons, and recruiting more people into the military. They include provisions to develop AI technology for surveillance. And of course, continuing to support Israel is in there.

Elsewhere it proposes interfering in foreign countries with creepy pro-USA propaganda campaigns, even establishing international educational programs where faculty have to pledge to promote USA interests.

There's a line in here about getting rid of PBS because SESAME STREET is LEFTIST for God's sake.

HOW are people claiming democrats have the same policies. I feel like i'm losing my mind.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put forward a new regulation to limit bank overdraft fees. The CFPB pointed out that the average overdraft fee is $35 even though majority of overdrafts are under $26 and paid back with-in 3 days. The new regulation will push overdraft fees down to as little as $3 and not more than $14, saving the American public collectively 3.5 billion dollars a year.

The Environmental Protection Agency put forward a regulation to fine oil and gas companies for emitting methane. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas, after CO2 and is responsible for 30% of the rise of global temperatures. This represents the first time the federal government has taxed a greenhouse gas. The EPA believes this rule will help reduce methane emissions by 80%

The Energy Department has awarded $104 million in grants to support clean energy projects at federal buildings, including solar panels at the Pentagon. The federal government is the biggest consumer of energy in the nation. The project is part Biden's goal of reducing the federal government's greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030. The Energy Department estimates it'll save taxpayers $29 million in the first year alone and will have the same impact on emissions as taking over 23,000 gas powered cars off the road.

The Education Department has cancelled 5 billion more dollars of student loan debt. This will effect 74,000 more borrowers, this brings the total number of people who've had their student loan debt forgiven under Biden through different programs to 3.7 Million

U.S. Agency for International Development has launched a program to combat lead exposure in developing countries like South Africa and India. Lead kills 1.6 million people every year, more than malaria and AIDS put together.

Congressional Democrats have reached a deal with their Republican counter parts to revive the expanded the Child Tax Credit. The bill will benefit 16 million children in its first year and is expected to lift 400,000 children out of poverty in its first year. The proposed deal also has a housing provision that could see 200,000 new affordable rental units

[reasonsforhope]

"Governor Janet Mills announced that Maine has, two years ahead of time, surpassed its goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps by 2025, a milestone that represents significant progress in reducing Maine’s reliance on heating oil, lowering heating costs, and curbing harmful carbon emissions.

To continue Maine’s momentum, Governor Mills also unveiled a new target: installing another 175,000 additional heat pumps in Maine by 2027, thereby bringing the number of heat pumps installed in Maine homes, businesses, and public buildings during her time in office to 275,000.

If this target is achieved, Maine would have more than 320,000 heat pumps in total installed across the state.

Heat pumps can be thought of as temperature recycling machines. They are filled with refrigerant fluid and contain a compressor, and they work by extracting excess heat and moving it around, either in or out of a house depending on whether it’s hot or cold.

It’s believed they work best in hot weather, but in February, Maine’s temperatures in some places plummeted during a cold snap to -60°F. Efficiency Maine, which aided in the state’s adoption of heat pumps by organizing rebates for customers under the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, did a survey of owners they had helped the previous year.

Many of [the heat pump owners] reported they were comfortable and warm, and offered to bring up the fact that by February they had already saved hundreds of dollars on home heating systems, over boilers, gas furnaces, and heating oil.

“We are setting an example for the nation,” said Mills at the announcement event. ​“Our transition to heat pumps is… curbing our reliance on fossil fuels, and cutting costs for Maine families, all while making them more comfortable in their homes—a hat trick for our state.”

The transition began in 2019 with bipartisan support of the Legislature, when Governor Mills enacted laws setting ambitious targets for transitioning to renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

-via Good News Network, July 31, 2023

[probablyasocialecologist]

Ending mass human deprivation and providing good lives for the whole world's population can be accomplished while at the same time achieving ecological objectives. This is demonstrated by a new study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the London School of Economics and Political Science, recently published in World Development Perspectives. About 80% of humanity cannot access necessary goods and services and lives below the threshold for "decent living." Some narratives claim that addressing this problem will require massive economic growth on a global scale, multiplying existing output many times over, which would exacerbate climate change and ecological breakdown. The authors of the new study dispute this claim and argue that human development does not require such a dangerous approach. Reviewing recent empirical research, they find that ending mass deprivation and provisioning decent living standards for 8.5 billion people would require only 30% of current global resource and energy use, leaving a substantial surplus for additional consumption, public luxury, scientific advancement, and other social investments. This would ensure that everyone in the world has access to nutritious food, modern housing, high-quality health care, education, electricity, induction stoves, sanitation systems, clothing, washing machines, refrigerators, heating/cooling systems, computers, mobile phones, internet, and transport, and could also include universal access to recreational facilities, theaters, and other public goods. The authors argue that, to achieve such a future, strategies for development should not pursue capitalist growth and increased aggregate production as such but should rather increase the specific forms of production that are necessary to improve capabilities and meet human needs at a high standard, while ensuring universal access to key goods and services through public provisioning and decommodification. In the Global South, this requires using industrial policy to increase economic sovereignty, develop industrial capacity, and organize production around human well-being. At the same time, in high-income countries, less-necessary production (of things like mansions, SUVs, private jets and fast fashion) must be scaled down to enable faster decarbonization and to help bring resource use back within planetary boundaries, as degrowth scholarship holds.

July 25 2024

[tropes-and-tales]

Opportunities

(Frankie "Catfish" Morales x F!Reader)

CW:  Light angst; idiots in love; mutual pining.

Word Count:  3216

AN:  This is a sequel to this, and it was requested by both @nuvoleincielo and @yyiikes

In the end, it’s exactly as Benny says.  They are, after all, highly trained soldiers.  They’ve been trained at all the skills necessary for subterfuge, and Pope kind of likes it — using those skills for good.  For once.

The plan is this:

Benny and Will’s parents are snowbirds.  They have a home in Maine and a home in Florida. 

Lately, though, because of the mild winters, they’ve been spending more time in Maine.

But for the holidays, they plan to go to their Florida home.  From the second week of December until after the New Year, their little cape tucked into the Maine interior, remote and overlooking a placid blue lake, will sit empty.

Technically, it can stay empty with no intervention.  Their thermostat can be controlled from an app (Benny manages it for them), so there’s not much concern about the heat going out, pipes bursting, or the like.

But both you and Frankie don’t need to know that.

“My parents said you could have the place,” Will tells you all over beers one night.  “Might be cool, having a holiday with actual snow.”

Which is how they sell it:  a nearly free opportunity for a white Christmas for you and Pope and Frankie.  You are currently low-contact with your family.  Pope’s divorced parents are on either end of the country, and he finds that instead of pissing off one, it’s easier just to piss both off at the same time.

And Frankie?  Well, Frankie is on his family’s proverbial shit list, so it’s best for him to just lay low.

Pope’s the one who sells it best, though.  Separately, he approaches both you and Frankie.  With you, he lays it on thick:  how lonely the holidays are for him, how much he needs his best friend and his brother-in-arms.  He sells it so well your eyes fill with tears, and your voice gets a watery edge as you throw your arm around his neck and tell him yes, of course you’ll spend the holidays with him and Frankie, anything he needs.

With Frankie, Pope takes a more staid approach.  Plays morose.  Just want to get away, he tells Frankie, and the man nods thoughtfully, says he’s there for him, says he’s never been to Maine and it might be nice.

The three of you drive up in Pope’s truck.  It takes two long days on the road, and each time Pope glances over at where you’re settled between him and Frankie, he knows he’s doing the right thing.

Because your knee is always pressed against Frankie’s, and sometimes he catches the two of you touching—sweet little movements.  Your head on his shoulder as you rest.  His hand resting lightly on your knee.  Fingers touching as you pass each other snacks from the rest stop, sour candies and chocolate bars and energy drinks.

Because Pope, if he had to guess, would say that neither of you are even aware of how touchy you are with each other.  Stubborn, blind, stupid, or all three:  neither of you seem aware of the goddamn sexual tension the two of you create, like two storm fronts pressing against each other and creating your own weather.

-----

Frankie is the one who first notices how wrong everything is.  His gut has been pinging on a low frequency for the past two days, but he ignored it…and now?

Now you and Frankie are stranded in a little cape tucked into the Maine interior, remote and overlooking a placid blue lake.  Pope unloaded his truck—his luggage, yours and Frankie’s luggage—then made a paltry excuse to drive into the nearest town for provisions.  No backwards glance, and that was an hour ago.

Pope’s phone goes straight to voicemail each time Frankie tries him.  His texts are delivered, then read, then ignored.  Same for Benny, then Will.

You notice Frankie’s discomfort first, but then you start to put it together.  You note the time, make a joke about Pope getting lost.  Then you open up the refrigerator and see that it is fully stocked:  orange juice and milk, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables.  A pack of chicken breasts, two cod loins wrapped in butcher paper.  Butter, cheese, creamer for coffee.  You frown at the largess, shut the door gently, then open up the freezer.

More food.  Two more packs of chicken, frozen ground beef, frozen pasta, frozen waffles.  Two cakes, the kind that you set out on the counter to thaw, then eat.

You frown deeper, check the pantry, and it’s stuffed with staples too.  Fresh bread.  Muffins.  A pound…no, five pounds of whole bean coffee, ready for the grinder.

“Why did Santi go into town again?” you ask Frankie softly, and he can tell from the look on your face that you know something is up, but you haven’t put it together yet because you always think the best of people. 

Frankie hates to be the one to break it to you, but he sighs, swipes his baseball hat from his head.  He runs his fingers through his hair, tugging against the knots in his curls, then spits out, “they set us up, sweetheart.”

You blink at him, and your face twists into an expression of confusion.

“Huh?” is all you can say, and Frankie hates that this becomes your first fight as the guys’ treachery has foisted everything to the forefront.

-----

The fight is this:

Frankie prowls the house for more instances of treachery.  You follow in his footsteps, anxious, chirping about how you don’t understand, asking him to explain, and how can he?  How can he admit that Santiago Garcia, supreme asshole for the ages, is trying to force him to admit his feelings for you?  That Benny and Will are in on it?  That he walked right into this goddamned trap despite the weird queasiness in his gut, and you’re too goddamned sweet to even realize that you’re a victim to this plot too?

Further instance of treachery.  The house has only two bedrooms, and one has been recently dismantled.  Frankie can see the indents on the carpeting where the bed frame used to be.  The room stands half-empty:  no bed, but a dresser and two nightstands. 

Super fucking obvious, he thinks bitterly.  Will or Benny or both must have come up days before and taken the bed apart, stashed it somewhere.

Leaving only one bed.

There’s a couch in the living room, but the living room has high ceilings, big picture windows…and it is cold.  Frankie has tried the thermostat a few times, but it’s locked.  It’s set at a cool 60 degrees.  Not enough to kill anyone, but enough to make people uncomfortable.  Make ‘em more willing to snuggle up, to share that one bed at night, to seek out each other’s body heat—

“Fucking asshole,” he mutters, but a beat later, he catches a surprised, wounded look on your face and amends, “no, not you.  Pope.”

And that’s the start of the fight.  The first fight he’s ever had with you, and it makes the queasiness in his gut intensify.  You want an explanation, an answer to why, and Frankie can’t—won’t—give it.

“But it doesn’t make sense that he’d abandon us,” you point out reasonably.  “Why would he do that?”

Frankie grits his teeth.  “I don’t know.”

“Let me try to call him.  He’s probably just lost.”

Frankie watches as you tap your phone.  Listens to it ringing, then going to Pope’s voicemail.  He listens as you leave a message (hey, not sure where you are, hope you’re not lost, ha ha).  Watches as you end the call, then look at him, those big trusting eyes on him.

“Maybe you should try to call,” you tell him.

Grits his teeth more.  “I already did.”

“Try again, maybe?”

“He’s not lost.  He’s not in a ditch somewhere.  He left us here on purpose.”

You lift your hands helplessly, let them drop.  “But that doesn’t make any sense!”

Frankie crosses his arms, shakes his head.  “That’s what it is.”

“But why?”

He doesn’t answer.  He tries to school his expression and give nothing away, and he must not, because you watch him for a second, then pull your phone out of your pocket again.

“I’m going to try him again.”

It goes like this for a torturous hour.  You sounds almost like a child with the constant “why’s” and you refuse to believe that you could be the victim in a set-up like this, and something in Frankie snaps. 

He’s tired from two days on the road, tired of being so close to you for two days and not having the courage to say something, to make a move.  He’s tired of being so weak, but he knows he’s not good enough for you.  He had nothing to offer you.  And now he's furious that it’s all been dragged into the light regardless of his wishes, and you’re too damned sweet to catch what’s really going on.

“Pope had no intention of staying,” Frankie finally barks at you, and he marches over to where Pope’s duffel bag sits.  He kneels down and unzips it violently, tears the damned thing open and dumps out its contents.  A set of dirty clothes that Pope wore the first day of the drive up.  A travel sized toothpaste.  A cheap toothbrush.  A tiny stick of deodorant.  Nothing more.  No extra clothes, no phone charger, no book for when he got bored at night and couldn’t sleep.  Frankie guesses that he had a second bag stashed somewhere in the bed of his truck, and he’s probably either flying back to Florida by now or posted up in some hotel while you and Frankie…do what, exactly?  Admit your undying love for each other?  Bare your hearts to each other?  Set a wedding date and start thinking about seating arrangements for the reception?

“It doesn’t—” you start, but he snaps again, cuts you off.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he mimics in your voice, and you look stung.  You recoil a fraction, and Frankie keeps going, leans into the bubbling bad feelings coursing through him.

“Of course it makes sense,” he continues.  “The guys?  They think we should be together.  This is their fucking stupid way of pushing us together.  Fucking matchmakers!  They probably planned it for weeks, oh let’s get the two of them together in the middle of fucking nowhere, make sure there’s only one goddamned bed!”

“That doesn’t,” you start, but you catch yourself, and he sees the way you swallow hard, shake your head.  Frankie swears he can feel the “why” creeping up your throat, but you press your lips together in a thin line and say nothing.

The silence between you builds too long, and the feelings are too unbalanced.  Frankie’s anger, your confusion.  He watches you, wary, and you stare down at a spot on the floor, and eventually you shake your head again, turn away from him, and disappear into the bedroom that has no bed.

He should follow, he knows, but he doesn’t.  Instead, he goes to the bedroom with a bed, and he perches on the edge with his head in his hands. 

How did he fuck this up too?  He’s fucked up everything good in his life:  his career, his first marriage, his relationships with his family. 

He could have taken a breath, calmed himself.  He could have gone to the bathroom and worked through his mindfulness exercises he learned in group.  He could have pulled himself together, then talked to you.  Laughed about it.  Could have put you at ease.

Because what he did?  He snapped, he lashed out, and worst of all:  he acted upset at the prospect of the two of you as a couple, and he knows that you’re sitting in the other room right now, embarrassed.  Probably even hurt that the idea of the guys setting you up made Frankie so angry.

-----

He pulls himself together long moments later, and when he leaves the room, the door to the guest room is open and the room is empty.

Frankie finds you in the kitchen.  You’re pouring yourself a bowl of cereal.  You don’t turn to greet him, but you must know he’s there because your shoulders hunch a bit, like you’re expecting a blow.

Frankie can’t remember the last time he’s felt like such a piece of shit.

He opens his mouth to apologize, but you get your words out first.  Back still to him, the clink of your spoon in the bowl as you stir in the milk, you tell him that you have a plan.  That you’ll be out of his hair first thing in the morning.

“I have a friend in Portland,” you say.  Your voice is curiously flat.  “She can come and pick me up tomorrow.  Once I’m situated elsewhere, I’ll shoot a text to Pope.”  A beat.  “I know he’s reading them, so maybe once he knows I’m gone, he’ll come get you too.”

“Sweetheart—”

“No.”  You shake your head hard.  You turn around and look at him, and your gaze is flat too.  Emotionless.  You’ve slipped a mask on to cover the hurt, and Frankie’s never seen you so unlike yourself. 

“This is my fault,” you tell him.  “Pope knows I had a thing for you, and he must have thought he was doing me a favor.  He clearly misread it, so please don’t be mad at him.  Just…let it go, okay?”

Frankie’s heart does a dangerous stutter step in his chest, a fluttery sensation like a trapped bird.  You have a thing for him?  Since when?  No, you’re reading it all wrong.  You must be.

“Sweetheart—”

You cut him off again, and the mask slips just a little.  Enough for Frankie to see the hurt there when you hiss, “don’t.  Don’t call me that.”

“But I—”

“The thought of being alone with me is suddenly so awful—”

His heart is racing now; he feels sick to his stomach, dizzy, like his blood pressure is shooting up or dropping, he can’t tell, but he feels sick that he’s got it so damned wrong, that you both have, and he takes a step towards you.  You try to back away but hit the counter behind you, and he grasps your upper arms gently.  He holds you still and stares at you as you struggle to keep the mask on, to stop from crying in front of him.

“Stop.  Sweetheart, stop.  Pope did this for me.  Not you.  He…I…shit.”  He drops his head, drops his hold on you.  “I got drunk one night when my ex and I had just gotten divorced.  Pope took me out, got me wasted to drown my sorrows, and I…it just came out.  I never meant to tell him.  I know I could never deserve someone like you, but I was single and you were single, and you were….you are always so nice to me.  You never make me feel like a failure, and I was drunk and rambling about how I wanted to be a better person, a better man, maybe become someone who could deserve you, and Pope…I made him swear to never say a word, but he…I mean, you know him.  You know what he’s like.”

It makes a smile, tremulous, creep across your face.  “He’s like a dog with a bone.”

“He never fucking lets anything go.”  Frankie sighs, scrubs his face with his hands.  “And now this.  I didn’t mean to snap.  I’m sorry.  Fuck.  I’ve messed it all up…”

He trails off, shuts his eyes.  He can’t bear to look at you.  You must be so disappointed in him.  You’ll leave in the  morning with your friend, and he’ll eventually see you back in Florida probably, but it will never be the same.  It’s ruined, all of it—your friendship, any future opportunities he might have had to make it more—

“Do you want a bowl of cereal?”  The mundane question cuts through his maudlin spiral, and when he opens his eyes, you’re gazing back at him.  The mask is gone, and you’re smiling at him. 

“Seriously?”

“Lots to choose from.  Lucky Charms.  Cap’n Crunch.  Cocoa Pebbles.  Corn Flakes.”

Frankie snorts softly.  “They really stocked the place up for us.”

“We’d never eat this much in a month, let alone a couple of weeks.”  Your smile slips a little, and you add, “their hearts were in the right place.”

He hates to admit it, but he nods.  Agrees. 

“Will you stay?” he asks you.  “Call your friend and tell her not to come?  It doesn’t have to be a thing.  We can pretend this never happened, this fight.  But I’d like you to stay.”

“I don’t think I can pretend it never happened, Frankie.”  You pause, study him.  “What you told Pope when you were drunk.  Do you still feel that way?”

Frankie nods again.  He can’t say it, because once he starts, he won’t be able to stop himself.  He’ll go on and on, creep you out by admitting that he thinks about you all the time, that he dreams about you.  That sitting beside you from Florida to Maine for the past two days was the most exquisite torture, that the motel in Pennsylvania held him for an entire sleepless night as he tossed and turned and imagined you in the next room.  That he loves you, and the fact of his love for you scares him because he’s never felt like he had so much to lose, and you’re not even his.

But maybe you could be his after all, because you smile at him.  You tilt your head and reach out to take his hand in yours—his hand clasped between both of yours, and your fingers are cold, so he lifts his other hand and cups both of yours instead to warm you up.

“Pope always told me I had you all wrong,” you admit.  “He kept pushing me to make a move and I always said I wasn’t your type.”

Frankie grins at that.  “What’s my type, exactly?”

A shrug, a rueful smile.  “I think it was just a way of protecting myself.  It’s scary to put yourself out there.  Felt safer, I guess, just pining in silence.”

“While I pined in silence too.”

“We might be stupid, Frankie.”

He chuckles.  “Possibly.”  He studies your face; he sees the blatant hope in your expression and his stomach does a terrific flip-flop because he knows, all at once, that this is it.  So he presses his earlier question, asks if you’ll call your friend to cancel your ride and stay with him instead.

You grin at him, nod.  Say you’ll text her in a minute.  Frankie—possibly stupid—starts to think why not text her now, but he doesn’t get to ask you because you’re already moving towards him—rocking onto your toes, tilting your head towards his, and when your lips find his, when you slot your mouth over his and finally kiss him, Frankie knows he’ll never be mad at Pope or the Miller brothers, because they worked out this golden opportunity for the two of you to finally be together.

[kcrossvine-art]

hi friends! :D y'all voted and fought neck and neck for this SO- heres the first entry into our little cooking journey of J. R. R. Tolkeins fictional food for his fictional little guys he puts in fictional turmoils for our enjoyment and awe!

 Before we get started i wanna say i owe my heart to all the LotR fans who upkeep the wiki, debate the cannon, and create their own versions of the foods mentioned. Both because of my love for people who LOVE (passionate people)(passion about anything) and because my own knowledge of this series is a little dusty. I've never seen the movies but I did read the books growing up. I'll be learning and remembering things from a fairly newbie standpoint, so no worries if you yourself arent familiar with the series! (and if you are familiar, hopefully youll forgive me!)

We will be making Lembas ('waybread') today! If you've made your own version of this please feel free to share it, similarly if you have any ideas for what we make next!

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to Lembas?” YOU MIGHT ASKWell so the funny thing is we kinda dont know. At least not entirely? The elves are dicks like that. But heres what we'll be using in ours-

Butter

Self-rising flour

Granulated Sugar

Raisins

A small dried fruit of your choosing

Almonds OR Pecans

EGG

Whole Milk

Heavy Cream

And if you would like for dipping-

Blackberry jam

To the extent i understand this is kinda like hardtack from the bri'ish military, but a fantastical version of it that actually tastes really good. Hardtack was a military provision with the texture of a brick that took a long time to spoil and could be easily carried with soldiers. So the texture we're going for is super dense, packed full with nuts and fruits (haha just lik-), but perhaps not that dense. We want something closer to a dog biscuit than actual tack.

I remembered something about corn being mentioned, thankfully the wiki clarified that no actually the british just referred to any grain as corn back in the day. Thank Fuck! Although I would like to try a version of this using masa in the future.

AND, “what does Lembas taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Took a few tries but eventually got it perfectly chewy and dense

The raisins cook-in like little beads of flavortown sweetness

Cant speak for other fruits but for dried apple it softened up nicely, kinda matching the raisins in the end

Im a big pecan slut, pecans fuck on anything especially here. Crumble them on top after you coat the dough with the egg-mixture for some visual appeal

Somewhat flakey outside

The jam was my idea, it was nice but might be too sweet for some tastes

Would pair very well with a kiwi flavored drink

Or mead

I can see why this would a travelling provision. Its both sugary (a good thing when expending energy) and filling (also a good thing when youre travelling) while not being overwhelming with flavor (if youre prone to motion sickness. Horse sickness? Do get motion sickness on horses?)

Its like how if you're going hiking you want a good mix of sugars and salts, to balance your intake of water.

. If you wanna make it like the illustrations or the movie, use a cookie cutter for either triangles or squares . If you don't have a cookie cutter, an apple cutter also works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . try to keep the board you'll roll the dough out onto chilled before you use it, it seems better for the texture of the food though i dont entirely know why

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

So from beginning to end, it took about an hour and half for the first attempt. Down to about 40 minutes for the second attempt. These are a real simple recipe because its not like a croissant where the margin for error is nonexistent. Middle-earth be damned my boy can work a grill.

I'd recommend storing in a tubberware container, but if you're deadset on using leaves please rinse and dry them first, and wrap the bread in either wax paper or saran wrap underneath. We dont have mallorn leaves in real life (as far as we know) but most salad greens should work, or as Marie Porter says (linked in the reblogs!) a banana leaf.

I really enjoyed the process of making this recipe, itd be really easy to batch-bake these en masse, and the process of eating said recipe. Like all jokes aside, i think this would be a great substitute for trailmix. Its not going to get smushed and even if it breaks a bit it wont affect the taste. It wont keep you fed for a whole day but pair it with some pickles or a salty snack and yeah itll keep your motor running.

I give this recipe a solid 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) Let me know if you think I got something wrong, or if you ran into issues with the recipe. We're off to a strong start, lads!

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

6 TBSP butter, chilled

2 cups self-rising flour

1 TBSP granulated sugar

½ cup raisins

½ other dried fruit (strawberry slices, oranges, etc.), chopped

Handful of almonds or pecans, chopped

1 egg, well beaten

½ cup whole milk

4 TBSP heavy cream

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 f.

Cut the butter into slivers/small pieces. With your hands, combine the butter into the flour in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Chop your dried nuts and dried fruit until it feels right.

Mix in the sugar, raisins, nut, and dried fruit of your choosing

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg until combined, and then mix in the milk until combined. Keep a bit of this mixture to brush the tops of the bread.

Stir while adding the egg/milk mixture and the heavy cream into the flour. Mix just until combined into a soft dough.

Knead the dough until firm on a floured surface.

Roll into a half inch thickness and cut with a square or leaf shaped cookie cutter. (...or in my case, an apple corer).

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, with about an inch of space between each piece. Brush the tops of the lembas with some of the mixture you saved earlier.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until it turns a soft gold and the inside is chewy.

[narumi-gens]

yandere!morax/zhongli x adeptus gn!reader

morax finds you where he always does on the few occasions he allows you time to yourself, kneeling in the garden with your hands folded in your lap and your head respectfully tilted down. it's been only a few decades since he took you for his own, a self-reward of sorts for a still freshly won war.

and what are a few decades to the immortal?

he supposes you spend so much time here because the gardens are so wide and open that they make the high, stone walls that keep you caged within his grasp seem slightly smaller by perspective.

there's a soft, spring breeze in the air, which picks up for just a moment as he chooses to sit on the grass directly in front of you with his legs crossed before him and his wrists casually resting on his knees.

your head remains down and your eyes stay closed, choosing not to acknowledge his presence.

"have you not grown bored after spending so much time alone with nothing but your thoughts?" his deep voice and teasing tone shatter the garden's tranquility, yet still you refuse to look at him. "I'm happy to provide you with whatever book you would like. all you need to do is ask."

"my prayers keep me occupied."

it's a dangerous admission on your part. as liyue's archon, he hears every prayer his people make yet he's never once heard yours. which means that your prayers aren't to him.

but he'll indulge you and play your game – for now at least.

"what do you pray for?"

"for liberation." your answer isn't a surprise. what else could you pray for?

"oh? and to whom do you pray?"

finally, you open your eyes and lift your chin to meet his gaze. there's a hardness in them that reminds him of the jewels the people of liyue put so much time and effort into mining. even the warm, gentle wind and the smell of blooming flowers it brings are incapable of softening your demeanor.

"the archons."

any trace of amusement immediately vanishes as his eyes flash dangerously. his pupils morph into the slits of his true, draconic form.

"I am your archon."

he doesn't mention the contract you signed during the archon war in concert with the other adepti, agreeing to protect liyue. he doesn't need to.

although with your powers now sealed away through his own means, there's little protection that you would be able to provide should you ever actually be called upon to do so. the only part of the contract that still pertains to you as you are now, as he's made you now, is the provision accepting morax as liyue's archon.

it's a provision that he worded carefully in the specific contract he offered you, where you not only accepted him as the prime of adepti, but also swore eternal subservience to him as part of it.

"you are one archon," you remind him coldly, raising an eyebrow in challenge, daring him to contradict what is fact. "one of seven."

he offers you a patronizing smile in return.

"tell me, then. which of the remaining six do you think would be foolish enough to answer you?"

he only decides to humor you because he knows the answer is none of them. no archon would risk upsetting the peaceful but precarious balance they had just spent centuries, more than a millennium, fighting for.

and to break this unspoken contract amongst the seven in order to steal his greatest treasure right out from under him wouldn't just be foolish. it would be reckless.

but then his sight turns a pure, blood red that he hasn't experienced since the final days of the archon war. his fingers begin to elongate as they transform into claws. his horns make a grotesque cracking sound as they emerge from his skull. his teeth sharpen as he bares his fangs openly.

because a sudden divine energy has appeared between you and you open your clasped hands to reveal a glowing, teal-colored gem bearing a pair of spread wings.

"the god of freedom, it would seem."

[auspicioustidings]

Any version of Soap in any position of power would be soooo disgusting, calling IT Security reader at all times of the day and telling her that the speaker on his computer doesn’t work, while he’s clearly streaming some porno in the background 😭😭😭

You get it Lumi, he's a sick freak :) You also sent this while I happen to be working through 1k requests so bonus short for you <3

Back Chat

Words: 1k

CWs: non-con groping, just all around gross awful Soap

Sergeant John MacTavish was the reason you had poured over your contract for any get out clause that didn't cost you a fortune. You came up with nothing. The military had paid for a high end training course for you on the provision that if you left the role within 2 years then you had to pay every penny back.

Plus this job paid well and the benefits were great. You didn't even mind having gruff military personnel seeing fit to give you a bollocking over the phone because you would be following procedure whether they liked it or not and they could file a damn ticket if they wanted their issue looked at. Generally they were an OK bunch at heart, but rough around the edges and used to recruits eager to please them. When they realised your lack of any rank also excused you from being ordered around by anyone but your actual boss they usually mellowed out.

Of course you had made the mistake of chewing out one such gruff man after he called in a temper demanding that his laptop be fixed as a priority. Not even his work laptop, no he wanted his personal laptop fixed.

“Look MacTavish was it?”

“Sergeant MacTavish tae you.”

“No it isn't. I am not one of your soldiers. I work in IT for the military, your laptop is not military property so I'm not touching it. Use your big boy Sergeant wage and buy a new one.”

“Listen here ye wee bitch-”

You hung up on him and got on with your day right up until he physically showed up at your office on base. You handled IT for multiple bases, you had not considered that the person you had chewed out would actually work on this one. Oops.

He was a big motherfucker as well. Handsome. Crazy scary dog energy. Definitely not your usual soldier with his lack of uniform (unless jeans and a t-shirt that was so tight he was liable to tear out of it was uniform these days) and out of regulation haircut. You scrambled to try and stand but he was already looming over you in your chair, leaving you no space to do so as he settled his hands on the armrests and leaned over you to get into your face.

“I'll need tae settle for you then hen. Better make it good.”

“Excuse me?”

“The lassie on my laptop begs tae get it up the arse. Is a good girl for a thick cock pounding her tight cunt. Even when she's fucked oot her nut and ruined she still gags around a man down her throat and swallows like a proper bitch.”

You were flooded with fear and arousal. Nobody had ever spoken to you like that and you weren't entirely sure he was joking. He wouldn't actually do anything to you right? He was just being a dick because he wanted his laptop fixed. Just trying to intimidate you.

“And I bet she gets paid a lot more than me MacTavish, back off.”

Oh no. There was a feral gleam in his eye and a rabid grin that showed those sharp incisors. He clearly relished your response.

“Then I'll need to buy ye with, what was it? Right. My big boy Sergeant wage.”

He leaned in close and took a deep breath. Christ he was sniffing your currently greasy and messy hair. You hadn't showered in like 2 days, you were fucking IT, it wasn't like people usually came to physically see you in your little den.

“...I'll fix your fucking laptop oh my God just bring it by.”

“Atta girl” he all but panted into your ear before tugging at the lobe with his teeth and then fully tounging at your ear hole.

The sensation was truly the most awful thing you had ever felt. Your skin crawled and your body shivered uncomfortably as you tried to push him away from you. He chuckled and you choked on your own saliva as he firmly smacked your pussy before pulling away.

“I'll bring it right doon.”

You were left completely gobsmacked in your little office, your body hopped up on adrenaline and your cunt throbbing from the spank it had gotten and from the sick part of your mind that found the whole thing depraved and disgusting but sort of titillating.

When he brought the laptop back he hovered behind you while you worked on it, making you sweat. It was an easy enough fix and you sighed in relief and carefully avoided eye contact when you told him it was fixed.

“Ye’ll check it over, cannae be sending me away with a half done job.”

“You can see that it's working.”

He leant over, arms surrounding you so he could scroll over to open a video file. It was of a woman being railed hard from behind, drooling into the pillow and babbling for more. The wet squelch was disgusting, the man spitting down on her and smacking her already red ass.

“Speakers are fucked.”

You squirmed in your seat.

“I can hear it just fine.”

“Aye? What are ye hearing then?”

You remained silent, eyes fixed on the wall instead of on the screen. At least you were silent until he drew a yelp from you by groping one of your tits.

“Told ye, if ye cannae prove that it's fixed I'll need to settle for you. Bit shorter, softer and dirtier than my lassie mind, so got tae give it yer full effort.”

“I-It's working!”

“Prove it, what ye hearing?”

He made you replicate the whole script from each broken moan to the begging to the degrading. He was only satisfied when the whole video had run its course, by which time he had a hand on either tit, rough with how he groped and tugged.

“See now? Wisnae so hard to follow a Sergeant's orders was it?”

“No” you mumbled, crying out when he gripped your nipples through your shirt and twisted. “No Sergeant!”

He let go then, closing the lid of the laptop and standing with it to leave.

“Got an LT having trouble with his phone, he's naw as friendly as me though so best limit the back chat soldier.”

[r0entgen]

"Why won't Venezuelans just address the blockade?"

If you're wondering why, read below.

Let me start by saying that I wrote this after I finished work, with less than three hours of sleep and a single meal in my body, so if you find any grammar mistakes, my apologies.

This is the comment that kickstarted this post. I believe I've mentioned this before, but when you're living in a country that weaponizes propaganda and hijacks every single media outlet, you have to master the fine arts of fact checking and cross-referencing. Which is exactly what we're going to do right now, addressing the claim that 40,000 Venezuelans have been killed by the US sanctions, and why We Won't Engage with You In This Particular Argument.

*Note: click the underlined text for links and sources.

In the paper Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela by Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs (who will be referred to as WS in this post), WS mention that between the years of 2017-2019, the economic sanctions caused a 31% increase in the general mortality rate in Venezuela, a number that they calculate may be of about 40,000 deaths. While they cite ENCOVI and a UN report from 2019 as the sources of this statistic, they clarify the following in the footnotes:

The ENCOVI 2018 survey has not been made public, the mortality statistic cited here is from the UN Report (2019).

As of this date, WS has not made public the data source for this estimate, and the UN report used as a source (Venezuela: Overview of Priority Humanitarian Needs, March 2019) is not publicly available.

So let's take a look at some sources that ARE publicly available.

The World Bank Group World Development Indicators registers at least a 30% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela from the dates of 2013 to 2016. Similar numbers are reported in this paper, seeing a 40% increase in the infant mortality rate in Venezuela between the dates on 2008-2016. Here's an excerpt from the paper Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela:

While different than other overall mortality rates, increases in infant mortality rates are generally interpretable as a preventable consequence of inadequate pre- and post-natal care for otherwise healthy but vulnerable infants. Thus, infant mortality is often recognized as a good proxy measure of the quality on overall public health provision.

What this tells us is that THERE HAS BEEN an increase in general mortality rate - one that started long before the 2017 sanctions.

However, this doesn't mean that in the periods of 2017-2019 there wasn't a high death toll. Let's look at another publicly available source.

The National Hospital Survey (2019) found that between November 2018 and February 2019, 1557 people died owing to the lack of supplies in hospitals [...]. 40 patients died as a result of the power outages in March 2019.

We see the first mention of a number in the 2019 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Something interesting this report mentions is that 40 deaths were caused by the blackout in March 2019. A blackout that lasted 7 days and affected our 23 states.

The energy crisis which caused this nationwide blackout started in 2010. The Wikipedia article is a good summary, if a bit simple, of the events that led to and took place during and after the energy crisis (which affects us Venezuelans living in the country to this day)

Back to the UN Report. Something else this report indicates is the following:

In 2018, the Government registered 5,287 such killings, while the non-governmental organization Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 7,523 killings under this category. Between 1 January and 19 May 2019, the Government reported 1,569 killings for resistance to authority. The Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia reported at least 2,124 such killings between January and May 2019. Information analysed by OHCHR suggests many of these killings may constitute extrajudicial executions.

[...] Six young men executed by the Special Action Forces (SEBIN) in reprisal for their role in anti-government protests in 2019.

This means that between the dates of 2018-2019, there have been approximately 9,647 deaths in the context of security operations - which includes Venezuelans that took part of the protests in 2019. Very similar to what we have been reporting since after the elections in July 28.

2017 to 2019 was one of the most difficult periods in Venezuelan history, marked by the sanctions imposed by Trump which affected oil export, access to diesel, and food and medicine imports. Some people argue that the economic recession in Venezuela was caused by the sanctions - failing to notice the negative trends in the years prior to these.

Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos (who will be referred to as BBMS in this post) conclude in their paper, Impact of the 2017 Sanctions on Venezuela, that while the sanctions had a negative effect in the oil production, "it is quite impossible to attribute the fall [...] to one single event (i.e., the sanctions), when many other confounding events were happening at the same time."

Oil production: Oil prices dropped during 2015, and oil production decreased as a result of lack of maintenance and investment.

Energy crisis: By 2009, when the energy crisis was first declared, the electrical grid had already been suffering from the lack of maintenance and investment since 1998. The Chávez administration distributed million dollar contracts [...] that enriched high officials of his government and the works were never built. [1] [2] [3]

Economic decline and hyper-inflation: Actions taken by the Chávez administration such as expropriation and price control, as well as the PDVSA purge in 2002 led the country to depend almost entirely on its already declining oil industry, causing shortages and price rises in common goods, food, medical supplies and so on. By 2015, 60% of the Venezuelan population was living in poverty. [1] [2] [3] [4]

From only these three points, we can establish a negative trend starting way before the first US Sanctions. Thus, we can conclude that by the time the devastating 2017-2019 sanctions took place, Venezuela was already deep in a state of generalized crisis.

WS conclude in their paper:

[...] One of the most important impacts of the sanctions is to lock Venezuela into a downward economic spiral. [...] An economic recovery could have already begun in the absence of economic sanctions.

While Bahar, Bustos, Morales and Santos declare:

[...] Our analysis finds insufficient evidence to conclude that they [sanctions] were responsible for the worsening of the socio-economic crisis. [...] The weight of evidence seems to indicate that, rather than being a result of US-imposed sanctions, much of the suffering and devastation in Venezuela has been, in line with most accounts, inflicted by those in power.

In conclusion - both papers seem to agree that the crisis in Venezuela started before 2017, but where WS claim that it worsened due to US sanctions, BBMS place a higher blame on the deterioration caused by the Venezuelan government.

Now, you may keep whichever analysis you prefer, but one thing we know for sure: the 40,000 Venezuelans that WS claimed died due to the sanctions cannot be found in any public report, while the death toll of protests and extrajudicial killings has been extensively reported.

Why is this relevant?

Contrary to what some people on this site would say, Venezuelans generally agree on the negative impacts of US-imposed sanctions (note: this poll accounts only for Venezuelans in Florida, as polls aren't often published inside Venezuela). However, the general consensus is that US-sanctions only added up to a crisis that had been building up since Chávez rose to power, and rather than the cause, it was yet another symptom.

Yes, the US is the Big Bad, but placing the blame solely on the sanctions only takes the responsibility away from the government and diverts the attention from the poor governance, rampaging corruption, violent repression and denialism that we've grown used to in the last 25 years.

So if you ask "why don't you address the blockade?", my response is: why don't you address the 9,647 extrajudicial killings, the 40 deaths caused by the energy crisis, the energy crisis itself, the economic decline, the lack of maintenance in the infrastructure, the violent repression, the forceful abductions and the censoring?

What we want you to understand is that when you center the US as the cause of the crisis, you are actively participating in our state-funded propaganda and knowingly turning a blind eye on the suffering of all Venezuelans. You are no better than imperialists - you ARE participating in imperialism.

Remember:

Last, but not least - be careful with your sources. This Venezuelanalysis article was written by Andreína Chávez, former editor-in-chief of TeleSUR, a government-funded news channel known for spreading Maduro propaganda. One of their most recent claims: dead Venezuelans are shown as having voted in the ballots shown in resultadosconvenezuela.com. Needless to say, this is false. This news portal is what some people would call, BIASED.

For more information, please read the amazing analysis written by @systhemes HERE.

A more direct response by @achillesmonochrome HERE.

For other sources, check HERE.

*Fellow Venezuelans, feel free to include anything I might have missed.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week

🦾 - High-Five for Bionic Hand

1. Houston-area school district announces free breakfast and lunch for students

Pasadena ISD students will be getting free breakfast and lunch for the 2023-24 school year, per an announcement on the district's social media pages.

The 2023-24 free lunch program is thanks to a Community Eligibility Provision grant the district applied for last year. The CEP, which is distributed by the Department of Agriculture, is specially geared toward providing free meals for low-income students.

2. Dolphin and her baby rescued after being trapped in pond for 2 years

A pair of dolphins that spent nearly two years stuck in a Louisiana pond system are back at sea thanks to the help of several agencies and volunteers.

According to the Audubon Nature Institute, wildlife observers believe the mother dolphin and her baby were pushed into the pond system near Grand Isle, Louisiana, during Hurricane Ida in late August 2021.

3. Studies show that putting solar panels over waterways could boost clean energy and conserve water. The first U.S. pilot project is getting underway in California.

Some 8,000 miles of federally owned canals snake across the United States, channeling water to replenish crops, fuel hydropower plants and supply drinking water to rural communities. In the future, these narrow waterways could serve an additional role: as hubs of solar energy generation.

4. Gene therapy eyedrops restored a boy's sight. Similar treatments could help millions

Antonio was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. But his skin improved when he joined a clinical trial to test the world’s first topical gene therapy.

The same therapy was applied to his eyes. Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again.

5. Scientists develop game-changing vaccine against Lyme disease ticks!

A major step in battling Lyme disease and other dangerous tick-borne viruses may have been taken as researchers announced they have developed a vaccine against the ticks themselves.

Rather than combatting the effects of the bacteria or microbe that causes Lyme disease, the vaccine targets the microbiota of the tick, according to a paper published in the journal Microbiota on Monday.

6. HIV Transmission Virtually Eliminated in Inner Sydney, Australia

Sydney may be the first city in the world to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Inner Sydney has reduced new HIV acquisitions by 88%, meaning it may be the first locality in the world to reach the UN target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

7. New bionic hand allows amputees to control each finger with unprecedented accuracy

In a world first, surgeons and engineers have developed a new bionic hand that allows users with arm amputations to effortlessly control each finger as though it was their own body.

Successful testing of the bionic hand has already been conducted on a patient who lost his arm above the elbow.

----

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Support this newsletter ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

[crazylittlejester]

I keep imagining the Chain's reaction to Legend's new quest, and now you must hear about it.

Like first off- their sadness that Legend has to leave them for ANOTHER quest, making him have 8 quests including the one they're on now. They send him off with provisions, plenty of potions, hugs, wishes of good luck, and tidbits of advice.

Then, he gets back to the Chain. And they're all worried about the new trauma that comes with adventures, but instead, he seems- fine? More than willing to fight? Very energetic- as though he has a lot of pent-up energy that he hasn't gotten the chance to let out through fighting or running around in a very long time.

Of course they all want to know what happened. They want to ask Legend all about his quest. They want to figure out what exactly made him change in these little, (possibly positive?) ways. But they don't know how to ask without seeming insensitive or accidentally triggering whatever horrible memories Legend is hiding from them.

Legend isn't saying anything because nobody asked.

Then one evening, during a chill night around the fire, the topic of everyone's princesses is brought up.. mainly the fact that many if not all (I don't know all the games' lore in that regard) of the heroes had saved their Zelda at one point or another.

Wind asks Legend if he had to save Fable again in the last quest.

And Legend

Goes

Quiet.

He's covering his face with one hand, hunched over himself, and shaking. The others immediately try to backtrack and tell him that he doesn't have to share anything until he's ready, but Legend just holds up a hand, silencing them.

And he starts to laugh.

Everyone is confused, and it takes a good 5 minutes before Ledge stops laughing.

"I didn't save Fable on my quest. It wasn't even my quest!"

"What?? Whose was it?!"

"Fable's! She had to save me!"

i’m obsessed with this actually

[beaulesbian]

i'm probably pointing out obvious & what was said times and times again with luffy's connection to healing by food, but with the new chapter seeing how luffy literally took the food - especially meat - to get new strength - and how quickly it made for him possible to go back into gear 5,

i couldn't help but thought back to thriller bark - where luffy brought a whole barrel of drink to zoro, maybe thinking it could heal him immediately, like food heals him.

in the next day after the fight with moria, luffy is shown eating cheese but getting not enough strength from it:

(there's also interesting point to make here, that despite zoro taking luffy's pain/fatigue away, he couldn't take his hunger away, (ofc they're all hungry since it probably was some time since eating before that, but it's always a bit different with luffy's levels of hunger. as usopp points out - luffy is full of energy, but he's still so hungry like after every fight. despite all other signs of fight aren't really there..))

then, luffy learns that zoro still isn't up and from chopper in how bad of a condition zoro's actually in:

once the feast is in full swing, luffy isn't shown to be eating, but rather he brings the booze in the barrel to zoro to get better - because he's thinking it could magically and instantly heal him, like food heals luffy

side note - after rereading this now, the last few chapters luffy isn't shown even being near food or holding any drink, he hangs around brook and the piano, and learns about his connection to laboon, but even with sanji cooking just behind him, the ones who are mostly shown celebrating with food are franky, usopp, chopper, nami and the rest of the survivors

and it isn't until the very end, when they're all together back on sunny, and with zoro up, that they celebrate brook joining the crew properly with a toast:

---

of course, luffy healing from food isn't anything new. it just made me think about this from the recent chapter because it's the first arc i'm reading weekly, but also the intention of luffy knowing how fast the food will help him is nice to read.

previously the food was important for him usually after battles, or someone gave it to him, or it almost cost his life when he couldn't eat on time -

like whole cake island, it worked instantly

and now on egghead twice already too:

with the giant's helpful provisions lol

so in some way i feel it might have worked with zoro on thriller bark too, to a certain point - with the way they both woke up on wano & respectively yelled for booze and meat - that might have been the thought that luffy knew they were kind of similar - stubborn and simple in what they needed to heal.

[reasonsforhope]

Yesterday [April 30, 2024], a bipartisan collection of US Senators introduced the Fans First Act, which would help address flaws in the current live event ticketing system by increasing transparency in ticket sales, and protecting consumers from fake or dramatically overpriced tickets.

Today, the artists and Congressmen allege, buying a ticket to a concert or sporting event requires negotiating a minefield of predatory practices, such as speculative ticket buying and the use of automated programs to buy large numbers of tickets for resale at inflated prices.

The legislation would ban such practices, and include provisions for guaranteed refunds in the event of a cancellation.

The political campaign organizers, calling themselves “Fix the Tix” write that included among the supporters of the legislation is a coalition of live event industry organizations and professionals, who have formed to advocate on behalf of concertgoers.

This includes a steering committee led by Eventbrite [Note: lol, I'm assuming Eventbrite just signed on to undermine Ticketmaster and for PR purposes] and the National Independent Value Association that’s supported by dozens of artistic unions, independent ticket sellers, and of course, over 250 artists and bands, including Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews, Cyndi Lauper, Lorde, Sia, Train, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, and hundreds more which you can read here.

“Buying a ticket to see your favorite artist or team is out of reach for too many Americans,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

“Bots, hidden fees, and predatory practices are hurting consumers whether they want to catch a home game, an up-and-coming artist, or a major headliner like Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny. From ensuring fans get refunds for canceled shows to banning speculative ticket sales, this bipartisan legislation will improve the ticketing experience.”

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) also signed on to the Fan First Act.

In the House, parallel legislation was just passed through committee 45-0.

[Note: That's a really good sign. That kind of bipartisan support is basically unheard of these days, and rare even before that. This is strong enough that it's half the reason I'm posting this article - normally I wait until bills are passed, but this plus parallel legislation with such bipartisan cosponsors in the senate makes me think there's a very real chance this will pass and become law by the end of 2024.]

“We would like to thank our colleagues, both on and off committee, for their collaboration. This bipartisan achievement is the result of months and years of hard work by Members on both sides of the aisle,” said the chairs and subchairs of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“Our committee will continue to lead the way on this effort as we further our work to bring this solution to the House floor.”

“The relationship between artist and fan, which forms the backbone of the entire music industry, is severed,” the artists write. “When predatory resellers scoop up face value tickets in order to resell them at inflated prices on secondary markets, artists lose the ability to connect with their fans who can’t afford to attend.”

-via Good News Network, May 1, 2024