#free dj app

[simkoos]

╰┈➤ hot singles in your area 💘💌

⇢ caiphus buchanan, 25 - sweet, mysterious, ideal date consists of smoking a bowl, watching old-school horror movies and ordering snacks from uber eats at 2am

⇢ alexis oliver, 21 - 90's fashion aficionado, was told she looks like aaliyah once and won't let anyone forget about it smh. will probably swipe right on any guy with frosted tips

⇢ benson hedrick, 26 - works a boring 9-5, recently moved into a townhome in san sequoia and adopted a puppy but still feels a bit lonely

⇢ claire roberts, 27 - nepo baby, nursing student, always gets what she wants except a date to the bi-weekly galas...

⇢ daniel nevarez, 23 - made an account because a friend dared him to, has already gotten a few messages (mostly from women in their 40's but he's not complaining!)

⇢ julianna lin, 24 - party girl, probably the toxic one in relationships, prefers men up to 3x her age

⇢ noah palamo, 31 - originally from selvadorada but has recently relocated to brindleton bay. single and hating it. wants his future partner to love the outdoors as much as he does and won't mind living off the grid by the lake

⇢ rebecca noble, 26 - nursing student, dog mom, claire's quirky best friend. they also constantly match with each other on dating apps....

⇢ rosaura mendez, 34 - bartender, knows how to have a good time (iykyk). recently went through a messy break up with her ex-boyfriend, now wants to explore her options

⇢ avyaan parekh, 28 - professional dj from san myshuno, recently came out to his parents (who suggested he'd hop on one those dating apps to find true love. wish him luck!!)

⇢ theo stone, 36 - gym coach, health nut, wants someone to show him there's more to life than repetition, routine and choosing the right pre-workout

⇢ kendra jameson, 22 - 1st grade teacher's aide from oasis springs, kinda shy, has a crush on her mentor but knows it'll never work out so she created an account instead

⇢ kira travis, 26 - small jewelry business owner from willow creek, loves to travel, moves way too fast in relationships. once married a guy while on vacation in windenburg and got a divorce a week later. let's hope that never happens again!!

⇢ fred "manfredi valentino" valentine, 63 - owns 2 casinos in tartosa, 3 maseratis and a luxury penthouse but is pretty lonely since his wife unfortunately passed away. spends his free time going to yacht parties, gambling and spoiling his 8 grandchildren

⇢ kole fuller, 27 - in a band (guitarist and main vocalist), knows a lot of sims but doesn't have many friends outside of his bandmates and neighbors, would probably be the sweetest golden retriever boyfriend

[pastryfication]

Hey hey hey! So, I was wondering if you could work your magic on this request? We all know Oscar LOVES sleeping whenever he can but what if he has a girlfriend with quite frequent insomnia such as moi? Maybe the piece could be about him searching for all kinds of serious and wacky methods to help her sleep - white noise, sound apps, black out blinds, counting actual sheep, a cold bedroom etc and eventually something so simple such as snuggling together after he's washed her hair or something soppy works? Thank you, you're an angel!

thank u for the request!! i hope i did it justice but i have no idea how insomnia works so feel free to correct me if i’ve written something wrong 🫶

5 things that didn’t help you sleep and the 1 thing that actually did | oscar piastri

pairing: oscar piastri x insomniac!reader

warnings: mentions of insomnia and the use of melatonin

oscar piastri treasures every moment of sleep he can get. cuddling up under the covers, catching up on much-needed rest between races, training sessions and team meetings is his sanctuary, a place where he can recharge. it’s entirely different for you. sleep often feels elusive, insomnia visits you regularly, and after trying to take melatonin, you feel like there truly must be something wrong with you when you’re still left you tossing and turning while oscar dozes peacefully beside you.

one particularly restless night, as you lie awake staring at the ceiling, you decide you’ve had enough. oscar, sensing your frustration, turns over and looks at you with sleepy but concerned eyes.

“another bad night?” he asks softly, voice groggy.

you nod, feeling guilty for disturbing his rest. “i just can’t seem to fall asleep.”

determined to help you find the peace he enjoys so effortlessly, oscar spends the next day researching every possible solution for insomnia, and he ends up with a list. 5 things that have helped others who are suffering from the same problem, and over the next few weeks, he convinced you to try it all, hoping to find the one thing that will finally help you sleep.

1. white noise

the first thing he tries is white noise. researching the best possible brand, he buys a white sound machine and sets it to a gentle hum when you go to sleep one night. the constant noise fills the room, creating a soothing background sound and drowning out any distractions.

it’s nice to lay and listen to, and at first, you think it might work. you close your eyes, snuggle into the covers to find the best position and takes oscar’s hand in yours.

you try, you really do try your best, to let the sound lull you to sleep. everything is nice and calm, but after a few nights, it’s clear that the constant noise only makes you more restless. you lie awake, feeling like you’re trapped in a static-filled void, and you just want to cry.

2. sound apps

oscar is quick to notice your disappointment, and he therefore quickly moves on to the next point on the list.

he downloads several sound apps on his phone, experimenting with everything from rainstorms to ocean waves to forest sounds. he tries different combinations, adjusting the volume and mixing the sounds in various ways, bringing out his inner dj to make you as comfortable as possible.

you appreciate the effort, but none of the sounds seem to do the trick. you lie awake, feeling more like you’re in a nature documentary than trying to sleep. the sounds that are supposed to be calming just keep you more alert, your mind unable to quiet down.

3. blackout blinds

oscar then orders blackout blinds, thinking that maybe the slightest hint of light is the culprit.

the blinds plunge the room into complete darkness, blocking out any external light. at first, you think it might work. the darkness is comforting and you hope it will help you relax, but instead of soothing you, the darkness feels oppressive. you lie there, eyes wide open, feeling the walls close in. the complete absence of light only makes you nervous and the two of you quickly have to give up on that as well.

4. counting sheep

you insisted that counting sheep was silly. there was no way it was going to work and you told oscar exactly that. he didn’t agree though, and with the use of his best puppy eyes, he convinced you to try.

he decides to buy a small stuffed sheep and as you lie in bed one night, he starts an impromptu counting session. you giggle at the sight of him hopping the little sheep across the bed.

“i don’t think this is gonna work.” you hold back a laugh as he makes the sheep take a particularly long jump across your duvet.

“not even if he gives you a little kiss?” he asks, holding back his own giggle as he moves up to you on the bed, making the sheep “kiss” you all over your stomach.

you laugh at the ticklish sensation, and the two of you have to realise that the sheep counting feels more like a silly game than a serious attempt to help you sleep.

5. a cold bedroom

the last thing on oscar’s quickly disappearing list is sleeping in a cold room.

to make that happen, he insists on making the bedroom as cold as a freezer. he cranks up the air conditioning and piles extra blankets on the bed so you don’t freeze to death.

the room quickly becomes chilly, and you snuggle under the covers, head on oscar’s chest as his arms snake around you, trying to regain some body heat. you’re really hoping the cold will help you relax, but you find yourself shivering more than drifting off. the cold air makes you uncomfortable, and instead of helping, it only adds to your restlessness.

the 1 thing that actually did help

after trying numerous different methods, you’re ready to just give up.

“maybe i should go to the doctors,” you eventually suggest. you wish the problem would go away by itself, but it doesn’t seem like it will.

oscar finds himself running out of ideas too, until something dawns to him one night when he’s on facetime with his mom.

entering your bedroom with a book clutched tightly in his hand, you raise an eyebrow at him. “so mom just left to read to read my sister a bed time story, and i thought: why don’t i read to you as well?” he suggests.

you raise an eyebrow, skeptical at the suggestion but at this point you’re willing to try anything.

oscar shuffles across the bed, helping you adjust so your head is pressed against his thigh as he begins to read. his voice soft and steady, keeping a calm pace to his words and you can’t deny that it’s nice.

he plays with your hair as he reads, gently running his fingers through the strands and massaging your scalp. the combination of his calming voice and the soothing sensation of his touch begins to work its magic.

you feel your body relax, the tension melting away. his words become a comforting background noise and his fingers in your hair provide a gentle, rhythmic motion. for the first time in what feels like ages, you feel yourself drifting off, your eyelids growing heavy.

oscar continues reading until he hears your breathing deepen and become steady. he smiles, closing the book quietly and turning off the light, but he doesn’t move, terrified to wake you after you’ve finally found the peace you desperately needed.

sitting against the headboard starts hurting his back, but he still stays beside you, his hand continuously playing with your hair, ensuring you stay asleep.

as the nights go by, oscar’s bedtime stories and hair-playing become your new routine. you find yourself looking forward to bedtime, knowing that sleep is no longer a battle but a peaceful journey.

in the end, it’s not the gadgets or apps that help you sleep, but instead oscar’s gentle presence and unwavering support. his love is your ultimate lullaby, guiding you into the restful sleep you’ve been longing for.

[thisismeracing]

Just us | LH44

SOCIAL MEDIA AU

Pairing: black!singer!reader (she/her) x lewis hamilton

Warnings: curse words, Twitter environment, it’s not proofread, etc etc. Minors DNI!

summary: Some fans noticed how Leiws is constantly listening to Y/n's songs and decided to back him up and make it happen a bit faster. Will their cupid play work?

a/n: none of the pictures used are mine, they are all from Pinterest and other apps. everything else is made up by me and I do not give permission for it to be published on a different platform. I would appreciate it if those things could be taken into consideration 💛

my masterlist | my taglist

f1updates

liked by lewishamilton, and others

f1updates We have a new guest this weekend 😉

View all 7,634 comments

lewisleclerc WHYS IS LEWIS UNSHAMEFULLY LURKING HERE??? Lmaooo

ynsunshine I am so jealous of lewis rn 😭

auroraf1 she is so pretty I wanna cry

lewis44m They have the same energy istg, both gorgeous, both stylish, both rich. Its their world, we just living in it l, at this point

mercedesamgf1

liked by georgerussell63, charles_leclerc, and others

mercedesamgf1 I wonder why he is this happy 🤔🤔🤔🤭

view all 14,328 comments

justusyn LMFAO I love you, mercedes admin!!!

sirlewis44 I love how he tried to be smooth but we were too anxious and did it in less than a month hahahahaha

mercedesmiracle He will absolutely win today, rain or no rain

f1fantasy he looks so good ugh 😩

lewisfan

liked by yourusername, and others

lewisfan Lewis the whole interview vs. Lewis when someone mentioned Yn

view all 3,425 comnents

1directioncars He’s a simp!

princessyn YN LIKED HAHAHAHAH

popyn they are in love, I can’t prove, but I just know they are

winterraces I am so happy, both if theem seem to be glowing lately 🥹

yourusername

liked by lewishamilton, lizzobeating, and others

yourusername vroom vroom 💜

view all 18,263 comments

swifttyn madam, whose car is this?

⤷ f1fantasy It def Lewis’

hundredmiles1 Lewis is such a lucky mf 😭 I wanna be him so bad

ynfrance New album dropping when?

ferrarisainz YOURE TELLING ME HE LET HER DRIVE HIS CAR???????!

mercedesmystical the caption is sending me 😂😂😂😂

lewishamilton

liked by yourusername, pierregasly, and others

lewishamilton just us ❤️

view all 18,930 comments

popyn they are in love, I can prove

lewiswchampion The last picture is sending me 😂😂😂

⤷ ynsunny boyfriend goals

mercedesamgf1 💜💜💜💜

⤷ tifositilltheend Even mercedes approves!

schumercedes Wanna bet “just us” is Yns new single and he’s casually dropping some hints about it?

yourusername it’s just us against the world ❤️

elitebarzal I am so happy I made part of the making of this couple

⤷ szayn bestie, I will tell that to my future kids 😭

yourusername

liked by summerwalker, lewishamilton and others

yoursername Just Us is out now in every stream platform 💋

view all 21,203 comments

mickmercedes I want what they have

⤷ russelllindo but you dont even know what they have 🧐

⤷ mickmercedes but I want it anyway

lewishamilton so proud of you ❤️

⤷ yourusername of us! ❤️

lewislegit YALL TELLING ME HE WROTE THE SONG TOO?????

mercedesamgf1 We have it on loop on our race day playlist 😌

tintedf1car do you guys need

eliteschumacher mom and dad

***********************************

If you liked it, make sure to like and reblog <3 feel free to talk to me as well, my inbox is always open!

I will start a taglist on my posts, to be part of it you just gotta comment/send an ask saying so, and most important: have your age in your profile (I don't interact with minors!). See you guys next story! <3

[smoooothoperator]

Beautiful Stranger

07: Trouble In Mind

Driver! Lando Norris x OC (Lily Barton)

Summer love, strangers to friends to lovers, Greece and Greek mythology references

Words: 1.5k

warnings: the start of the angst, social media au, third person pov

Masterlist

Official playlist

previous part | next part

a/n: we are at the start of the angst. It's about damn time his lie exploded him in his face! But don't hate Lando, love makes us do stupid things

Every way of feedback is very welcomed

Never in his life he felt the way he was feeling in that moment. 

He's a driver, a racing driver. He can drive a car that goes 300 km/h and leave his thoughts in the garage. He has no fear once he sits in the car. 

But right now, driving a camper and knowing that the girl was laying on the bed reading a book, he feels bad. Actually bad.

He feels like someone that committed a crime. He feels his heart heavy, bleeding, being scratched. He can hear his own heartbeat, with a white loud noise in his ears.

Ever since that night when she confessed her feelings, he couldn't sleep, making his mind work and punishing him, reminding every decision he had made the previous weeks. 

"You should have told her" his brain says. 

He can't tell her. Not now. Never. Maybe once he leaves he can text her explaining everything. Maybe she will understand, and forgive him.

Or maybe not.

For once, he wishes he was someone else. He wishes he's Logan, the guy that came to a town in Greece, that is a beginner DJ and has the most beautiful neighbor he has ever seen, who he fell in love with. 

He loves her. How can he not love her? She's the girl of his dreams. She can cook whatever he likes. She plays video games. She is so passionate about what she likes. She's interesting, mysterious. And the most important thing is that she loves him too.

No. She doesn't love Lando. She loves Logan.

"Logan? Are you okay?" she asked him, leaving the bed and walking towards him.

"My head hurts a little" he sighed shaking his head. "It's okay, I'll stop a little"

"I can drive, love" she sighed, placing her hands on his shoulders and kissing his cheek. "Just stop the camper whenever you can and we can switch"

"No, it's okay" he sighed. "You said there's a town with a beach nearby. Maybe we can spend the rest of the day there"

"Okay" she smiled, kissing his cheek again.

Every kiss she gives him burns like fire on his skin. Every hug, every tender touch, every moan feels like daggers on his heart. 

And he knows damn well that he deserves every dose of pain he receives because of that.

He stopped caring about their surroundings. He held her all the time they were in public, kissing her whenever they stood in front of something amazing. He wants to enjoy every second next to her.

He stopped using his phone. He deleted every social media app had: Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok. Everything. Sometimes he texts his family to let them know that he's still alive, but nothing more.

She felt so happy. So happy around him to the point of wanting to leave this place and go wherever he goes.

She feels like a girl that finds true love for the first time. Like a teen that opens a letter of the boy she likes telling her that he feels the same way as her.

She feels joy and love, something she never felt in her life. Her family didn't love her, they made everything possible to make her life a living hell. She was forced to get married to a man she barely knew, forced to go through the experience a bride should go through when she loves a man. 

She felt free, able to do whatever she wanted, live wherever she wanted, study what she loved, and love how she wanted to love.

She chose who she can trust. Who can know her past, who will have her contacts.

Lily Barton was dead. She was Lily, who was sent by the Gods to help the people of that town. And she believed that, she wanted to be someone else so bad, she wanted to erase from earth her origins.

Logan came to her life when she didn't know she needed someone.

He was a man so easy to love and so simple, yet so complicated at the same time. She learned how to love him, how to cherish him and make him feel how he deserves.

They let their carnal desires do the work and then they let their hearts talk, getting into something that seemed like summer love.

"Oh, Logan! Look at that!" she gasped, holding his hand and walking around the town they discovered.

They were traveling around the country like a couple, taking pictures of each other and doing things people in love would do. The exterior world didn't exist.

Both of them tried to ignore the feeling of a farewell. Both of them know that once they arrive at Parga, they will have to say goodbye.

And she hates feeling that way. She hates thinking that she won't sleep next to him anymore, wake up next to him or kiss him. 

Does she regret falling for him? No. Not at all. 

Love is beautiful, and loving him is even more beautiful.

And blind.

It was supposed to be a calm summer. He wanted to have a calm summer without problems.

He regrets lying to her. He regrets not telling him who he is. He regrets everything.

But not loving her. He doesn't regret the kisses and the laughs. He loves Lily no matter what will happen.

"Logan, really, are you okay?" she sighed, hugging him and placing her head on his chest.

It was the perfect moment to tell her. But… why can't he do that? Why is he feeling a hand choking his throat?

"I am… don't worry" he whispered, hugging her. "I don't want to arrive to Parga… I don't want to say goodbye"

"I don't want to say goodbye neither" she whispered.

She can't see his tears. She can't see his panic, how it increases every kilometer he drives closer to Parga. 

What started as a perfect trip with the girl he started to love, is finishing as a nightmare, hunting him even in his sleep.

"I wish I could go with you" she sighed, drawing shapes on his chest. "To the parties you make, and listen to your music"

He didn't say anything. What parties? What music? What he does is drive a car in circles. Sure, he likes to go to parties and tries to be a DJ, but for fun. 

"You would get bored" he whispered. "And you belong here, Lily… the people of Parga need you"

"Before I came here I had a different life, Logan" she frowned. "I can live wherever I want"

"Lily, no" he sighed. "You fought to come here…"

She felt how something changed in him. He was distant, trying to avoid talking about him. And it hurt her. 

She trusted him, she told him everything about her. He did too, but when she asked about his family or about his job, he always changed subjects.

Love is blind. And she was so in love with Logan.

The day they arrived to Parga, they didn't notice the people looking at them when they drove down the streets towards their apartments. They didn't notice the people talking, gossiping. 

The rumors spread quickly: the driver and their girl, both of them together. 

None of them saw that coming. No one imagined that the mysterious girl would fall in love with the foreigner.

"Is it me or everyone is looking at us?" Lily asked him, taking their things out of the camper.

"Let it be, Lily" he sighed. "I'm sure they were asking where have you been"

"Yeah… maybe" 

She walked inside the camper to grab their backpacks and their phones. Lily noticed his phone was burning, it had a lot of notifications on it, but she decided to ignore it.

"Can you undo my backpack? I urgently need to take a shower" she sighed when they walked inside her apartment.

"Of course, don't worry" he smiled, kissing her cheek and taking the bags to her bedroom.

She was relaxed, humming softly a song that was stuck in her mind. She was happy to be back, but at the same time she was sad. Logan has to leave in a few days.

Meanwhile, after he placed her things in her room, he sat on the bed looking at his phone.

He's in trouble. People saw them together. He let the guard down and stopped looking around to check if someone recognized him. And now because of that there are a lot of pictures of him kissing and hugging her.

"What can I do?" he sighed, talking with Carlos, leaving the call on speaker while he folded her clothes. "I'm so screwed, dude. I don't know how to fix this"

"I told you from the very first minute that you had to tell her the truth" he sighed. "This was a balloon and it's going to explode soon"

"It won't" he frowned. "I can't let her know!"

"Then what? Are you going to run away and not show up again? Are you that cruel? I never imagined you could do something like this" the Spanish man sighed. "I'm so disappointed with you, man…"

"I… I just…" Lando mumbled, sitting on the bed and feeling how he was drowning.

"I know, you love her" he sighed. "But you deserve whatever happens. In that way you'll learn the lesson"

"And how? How should I tell Lily? How should I tell her that I'm not who she thinks I am?" Lando asked, hopeless.

"Tell me what?"

taglist

@lestappenloverr @racinggirl @roni-midnights @livster8 @kakorrhaphiphobia @starkeyellow @celestialpierre @ophcelia @msliz @lorarri @ironmaiden1313 @imsorare @mycenterfold @im-an-overthinker @soosheee @karmabyfernando @landoyesrizz @sticksdoesart @beatricemiruna

[skruzdelynas]

What is your nickname?

When is your birthday?

What was your longest relationship?

What is your favorite book?

What is something you're insecure about?

5 Male celebrity crushes

5 Female celebrity crushes

What is your dream job?

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

What is a fact about you that nobody would believe?

What were your highs and lows for this last month?

Where is somewhere you'd like to visit?

How do you de-stress?

What are your favorite apps besides tumblr?

Describe yourself in one sentence.

What do you think makes you attractive?

What is something you're really good at?

What is something you're really bad at?

A time that you told a lie.

What's a totally random and useless fact that you know?

Who knows you the best?

What is your most prized possession?

What is your longest friendship?

When did you first feel like an adult?

Do you/ Have you played any sports?

How are you feeling right now?

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Favorite song lyrics right now?

What does self care look like for you?

Describe yourself with 3 singers.

What makes you nervous?

What’s a pet peeve you have?

What will always make you cry?

What kind of first impression do you think you make on people?

Free Pass! (Ask any question you want that's not on the list)

What is your nickname? - no real nickname, every name feels somehow wrong

What was your longest relationship? - maybe 2 years (on and off), but the longest without interruption 1,6 years

What is your favorite book? - maybe dostojevski - Преступление и наказание (crime and punishment), nostalgic

What is something you're insecure about? - too masc

5 Male/female celebrity crushes - never had any

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment? - I learnt lithuanian

What is a fact about you that nobody would believe? - I really don't know

What were your highs and lows for this last month? - low probably in the beginning of december, high the last few days

What are your favorite apps besides tumblr? - Signal, FireFox

Where is somewhere you'd like to visit? - if I were forced to, then Lithuania

How do you de-stress? - excersise, being in a dark room, selfharm, breathing, eating

What do you think makes you attractive? - I'm trans /j (I don't know)

What is something you're really good at? - everything is mediocre, but probably drawing? Maaybe languages

What is something you're really bad at? - Hmm repairing cars, never did it, I don't even have one

A time that you told a lie. - That I'm talking to someone right now because I didn't want my parents to go into my room

What's a totally random and useless fact that you know? - Lithuanian internet slang sometimes uses russian words that are written with an x altough they are pronounced as h (has something to do with cyrillic letters)

Who knows you the best? - girlfriend

What is your most prized possession? - maybe my laptop

What is your longest friendship? - on and off, but maybe 5 years

Do you/ Have you played any sports? - No

Favorite song lyrics right now? - dj nevykele - zdrw dar kartą

What does self care look like for you? - Drinking enough, vitamins, showers

What makes you nervous? - triggers, piercings

What will always make you cry? - I don't think there is such a thing

What kind of first impression do you think you make on people? - maybe mean or insecure

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago WIPO notes from day three: democracy == ignoring dissent https://web.archive.org/web/20041124024604/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002130.php#002130

#15yrsago Britain’s new Internet law — as bad as everyone’s been saying, and worse. Much, much worse. https://memex.craphound.com/2009/11/19/britains-new-internet-law-as-bad-as-everyones-been-saying-and-worse-much-much-worse/

#5yrsago DJ Earworm: 100 songs from the past decade in one mashup https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UhIte8t6BEg

#5yrsago Leaks reveal how the “Pitbull of PR” helped Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers ignite the opioid crisis https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-purdue-pharma-media-playbook-how-it-planted-the-opioid-anti-story#171238

#5yrsago Beyond the gig economy: “platform co-ops” that run their own apps https://www.vice.com/en/article/worker-owned-apps-are-trying-to-fix-the-gig-economys-exploitation/

#5yrsago Elizabeth Warren’s plan to denazify America https://medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-back-against-white-nationalist-violence-87b0c550f51f

#5yrsago Youtube told them to use this “royalty-free” music; now rightsholders are forcing ads on their videos and claiming most of the revenue https://torrentfreak.com/royalty-free-music-supplied-by-youtube-results-in-mass-video-demonetization-191118/

#5yrsago The State of South Dakota wants you to know that it’s on meth https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/11/18/meth-were-it-says-south-dakota-new-ad-campaign/

#5yrsago Sand thieves believed to be behind epidemic of Chinese GPS jamming https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/11/15/131940/ghost-ships-crop-circles-and-soft-gold-a-gps-mystery-in-shanghai/

#5yrsago Quiet Rooms: Illinois schools lead the nation in imprisoning very young, disabled children in isolation chambers https://features.propublica.org/illinois-seclusion-rooms/school-students-put-in-isolated-timeouts/#170648

#5yrsago Terabytes of data leaked from an oligarch-friendly offshore bank https://web.archive.org/web/20191117042726/https://data.ddosecrets.com/file/Sherwood/

#5yrsago Naomi Kritzer’s “Catfishing on the CatNet”: an AI caper about the true nature of online friendship https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/19/naomi-kritzers-catfishing-on-the-catnet-an-ai-caper-about-the-true-nature-of-online-friendship/

#5yrsago Girl on Film: a graphic novel memoir of a life in the arts and the biological basis for memory-formation https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/19/girl-on-film-a-graphic-novel-memoir-of-a-life-in-the-arts-and-the-biological-basis-for-memory-formation/

[clockwrkcabaret]

Episode 779: Originally Aired on Mad Wasp Radio, 01.26.25

WARNING! This show is for adults. We drink cocktails, have potty mouths and, at least, one of us was raised by wolves.

The Clockwork Cabaret is a production of Agony Aunt Studios. Featuring that darling DJ Duo, Lady Attercop and Emmett Davenport. Our theme music is made especially for us by Kyle O’Door.

This episode aired on Mad Wasp Radio, 01.26.25.

New episodes air on Mad Wasp Radio on Sundays @ 12pm GMT! Listen at www.madwaspradio.com or via TuneIn radio app!

Playlist:

Jill Tracy – Sell My Soul

Nouvelle Vague – Such a Shame

The Magnificent Seven – Hell, The Devil, And How To Sell Your Soul

Jane Krakowski – Bells and Whistles

Matthew Broderick & Gerry Vichi – The Company Way

Roger Bart & Ensemble – Join the Family Business

The Ink Spots – If I Didn’t Care

The Careless Lovers – Black Coffee

The Puppini Sisters – Bei Mir Bist Du Schön

Janet Klein – If I Can’t Sell It I’ll Keep Sitting On It

The Ditty Bops – Unfortunate Few

Whiskey Shivers – Fuck You

Dolly Parton – I Get A Kick Out Of You

Nathaniel Johnstone – Uncle Achmed’s Porchtime Jamboree

k.d. Lang – Don’t Be a Lemming Polka

Squirrel Nut Zippers – Bad Businessman

Cab Calloway – Everybody Eats When They Come to My House

Lionel Hampton – Lavender Coffin

H.K. Gruber – Song Of The Insufficiency Of Human Striving

Duke Special – Ballad of a Broken Man

DeVotchKa – Bad Luck Heels

Dr. Steel – Bogeyman Boogie

Good Co – Don’t Look Now

Marcella Puppini vs R.A.The Rugged Man – The Greatest

Leon Russell – If The Shoe Fits

Man Man – Shameless

Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys – PONY PONY PONY PONY PONY PONY PONY bunny rabbit

The Damned – Nasty

The Stranglers – Goodbye Toulouse

Walker Brigade – Don’t Sell Out (For Free)

Check out this episode!

[dj-of-the-coven]

DJ's Beat headcanons that can't be textually justified but are nonetheless true. to me

Beat's grasp on modern technology is rather poor, given the extremely rapid advancement of the internet during his teen years. While Rhyme and Shiki kept up with it well, Rhyme even contributing to a number of groundbreaking feats of modern programming, Beat's still out here living like it's 2007 with the singular exception of wireless Bluetooth headphones and a phone that can use them. He's able to use messaging apps but sees no point to social media.

It's all physical media with him. He collects cassettes and vinyls, and burns his own CDs when he's got free time. He owns a boom box.

On that note: if he has to use his phone for music, he only listens to downloaded full albums, completely unaware that this technically counts as piracy because he rips it from youtube.

Beat likes to decorate almost everything he has with skateboards and skeleton themed stickers and graffiti tags. Even the cups at his place have tiny skateboard designs on them.

He mostly listens to rock, metal, and hip hop, though can occasionally find a favorite in other genres. He and Neku make rock music together, and it's his absolute favorite, especially when Neku's on vocals.

Beat plays drums, electric guitar, and electric bass, switching what he plays depending on the needs of whoever he plays with. His vocals are grungy and rough, which Neku really likes adding to their music, but Beat declines to sing except with very familiar songs because he finds it hard to multitask with his playing.

If he were to get tattoos, he'd ask Neku to design them.

His ears are pierced in several places. He got them done both because he wanted piercings and because Shiki was too scared to get hers by herself, and he ended up getting multiple at once just to prove to her that it was fine. He still has a mark on his hand from how tightly Shiki gripped it while getting her ears pierced.

Beat puts red streaks in his hair, but doesn't care about making them consistent, so they're in a different spot every time. there's always a light red/pink frost in the old spots for a month or so after he picks new ones.

When one of the twisters is having a bad day at school, he calls pretending to be a parent and signs them out to get coffee. This happens about 3 times each before Nagi finds out and smacks the shit out of him for risking their academic careers. It doesn't stop him from then bringing the coffee to them instead.

Shoka teases Beat for getting words mixed up pretty often, and it becomes a running joke in the twisters group chat for a while until Neku steps in to inform them that he's actually severely dyslexic. Diagnosed and everything. Beat takes the teasing lightly, but Neku, Shiki, and Rhyme crack down on the jokes when they realize how prevalent they are.

Beat is scared by horror movies, but he likes them a lot. His preferred way to watch them is curled up under a fluffy blanket with his sister, one or two of the twisters, and Neku on special occasions. When Neku comes over for movies, they order shoyu ramen and have a habit of falling asleep together on the couch.

[evilthotiana]

Everyone knows this I think but let me remind you all to listen to and explore music beyond what the major apps’ algorithms push toward you. Trust real peoples’ opinions—whether in person or online—and read about music and listen to things that sound or look cool to you even if it isn’t acclaimed or even known. Follow independent labels, go to shows of artists you like and actually pay attention to the openers and the music they play between sets, listen to dj mixes and radio shows, both online and local, check out a random artist who features on a song you like. Read blogs, hell, read major publications! Just DON’T let the algorithm decide what you listen to. And since none of us are free of sin, whenever you do end up going for an algorithmic recommendation, please for the love of god be conscious about it. Don’t get stuck in the loop!!!!

[pad-wubbo]

"VEX" ヴェックス

* Octoling (gloomy octopus).

* Left the domes four years before Marina did.

* Used to cut up and prepare Octarians as a cannibalistic foodstuff for the army.

* Mostly listens to "IDM" (just say electronic music like a normal person!). Massive fan of Free Association, Radiodont, Calyx Twin and Death Crabs.

* Quite proficient in stage magic.

* .52 Gal main.

* Works Salmon Run, not for money, but for the satisfaction of brutal fish violence.

* Extremely sweet-toothed. Fizzy cherries are his favourite.

* Mixes his wine with Dr. Snapper, in fact.

* The scars on his body are from several incidents before Octo Expansion, where he was savagely assaulted just for being an Octoling.

* He still preferred that surface life over butchering his own people for the whims of some DJ whose dance music isn't even intelligent!

* He thinks Callie < Marie, Chaos > Order, Past / Present < Future, and Toilet Paper on the Front of the Roll < Back of the Roll.

* Bisexual.

* Visited Australia once, will never visit Australia again.

* Lives life on the edge, doesn't have a respawn point in his apartment.

* Said apartment is a stinking mess.

* Relies on some stupid phone app with a virtual Smallfry to remind to self-care.

This is the first, like, super-detailed inkfish OC bio I've made. I'll try to actually care about my character a bit, maybe write him into some of my fanfic.

Feel free to use the character anywhere, for any purpose. That would make me very happy.

[breakodawnclub]

1 Billion4Thriller and The Thriller 40 Challenge 2!

1Billion4Thriller

If you have been on Twitter or Instagram during Sept and October, y'all know it's that time of year again! It's time to celebrate Michael Jackson's epic accomplishments with the best-selling album of all time—Thriller! And I don't care what anyone says, Thriller is the official Halloween song!

Okay, so as you all know by now, and if ya don't, you will soon, lol! The MJ Fam is attempting to get Michael Jackson's amazing short film, Thriller, to 1 Billion views! So, Please stream the short film on YouTube as much as you can, but please watch other videos in between so you're not exhibiting bot behavior and for your views to count. However, to make things easier, you can also watch the following playlist on the flyer below! Just scan the QR code, and you are taken to the pre-made playlist!

The Thriller Challenge 2 (Starts this Friday, October 20th, 2023)

With the monumental success of Michael Jackson’s Album, “Thriller,” being the best-selling album of all time, the actual single, Thriller, has never reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart—and it’s by far that has changed! With the “Thriller Challenge 2,” MJ Fans the world over plan to get Michael Jackson’s single, Thriller, to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart! We attempted this last year (albeit Thriller placed decently), but it didn't make it to #1, which is why we need more fans to participate! We can do this! So, please Stream and buy the single Thriller (only the song and not the album) as much as you can. Please only buy and stream the official album version of the song, which is on the original 1982 release of Thriller, Thriller 40, and Thriller 25—this is very important as all other versions do not count towards the Billboard for our goal!

While streaming Thriller, please do not loop the song—play 2 to 3 different songs by the J5, The Jackson’s, 3T, or other artists of your liking so that the streams are counted properly. And make sure the volume on your app is turned up. We understand listening to Thriller (though we love the song) a million times might be challenging; you can, therefore, turn your device volume down or mute it—but not on your app. Please keep the volume on the app itself turned up! This goes for when streaming on YouTube as well. For more tips on how to properly stream, please check out the following video:

P.S. Here is a pre-made #ThrillerChallenge playlist of mine that you can stream to make things easier! This is one of the playlists I created and used when I hosted one of last year's many streaming parties hosted by myself and many other wonderful DJs. (P.S. I still like—and am a Mystery DJ, but I like sharing with y'all here! Lol!) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HNr81pCxDGEcD4mUi7yeO?si=a81f5cd5ab184df5

Lastly, please participate in some of the Thriller Streaming Parties on the StationHead App if you can (there'll be many)! It's a great way to jam out to MJ, Janet, and the Jackson Families' music while chatting with fellow MJ Fam if you would like! However, You do not have to chat! Just come in and listen to the music. The reason why these streaming parties are so important is because for every listener a DJ has for the party, it counts as a stream for Thriller! So, say if a DJ has 100 listeners, then that's 100 streams for Thriller! It's that easy—and the guesswork has been taken out of creating a playlist. All ya gotta do is sit back and listen to the music. In order to hear the music and the DJs on StationHead, you must have a premium Spotify or Apple Music account! If you don't have one, please search the internet. There are always free trials floating around (just make sure they are legit). When the challenge is over, you can always cancel your membership if you no longer want the service.

For a complete listing of all the Thriller Streaming parties, please follow @AndJustice4Some on the X app (formerly known as Twitter.)

On Saturday, October 21st, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:55 p.m., I'll be hosting a Thriller Streaming party on the StationHead App! Please attend if you can! It's such an honor to get the chance to host a streaming party for the Thriller Challenge.

Please note: The #1Billion4Thriller and #TheThrillerChallenge2 events are not created by me. I'm just doing my due diligence as an MJ Fam and as one of the DJs for the Thriller Challenge, helping to get the information out!

In closing, today, the artist Drake has officially tied Michael Jackson as the male solo artist with the most No. 1 songs in Billboard Hot 100 History. Now, I'm not here to diss Drake, but let us be for real: the music that's being made today is not classic like many of MJ's and other legendary artists hit records. When Michael was selling millions of albums, there was no streaming; people had to actually go to the store (and sometimes stand in long lines) to support their fave! And if you ask me, there should be some distinction between physical sales and today's streaming—these are two different eras—it's unfair to compare the two. Today, with streaming being a click away, social media influence, and such—it's easier for artists to break records. I could make this post longer, but I'll chill as I do have a lot to say about this—but I'll save that for another post. At this point, it's all laughable. It's a skewed numbers game, and artistry is no longer at the forefront. At the end of the day, Michael's music will continue to be played millions and millions of years from now because Michael poured his heart and soul into his art while battling so many things. That being said, I hope this provides some extra motivation for to stream Michael Jackson's Thriller. Let's make Michael #1!

Blessings,

Midnight💜🌛

[greekmythcomix]

Hello Aeneas didn’t found Rome, he founded the city (Lavinium) that founded the city (Alba Longa) that founded Rome (by Remus & Romulus).

If like wannabe world overlords you like to learn your mythological founding stories without having to read the actual epic poem, or you just want a fun refresher, here’s one to the tune of The Fresh Prince (because everyone knows The Fresh Prince):

Karaoke time! https://youtu.be/z0VQIRZ9xSk

(I made this nine years ago for my Year 9s [13-14yo] and yes I did perform it in class. Posted now because I hate the world sometimes:)

[mushroom-soup-is-my-religion]

ART DUMP TIME

Stumbles put of my shitty free art app covered in blood. BLORBOS!

Individual images and mile long taglist under the cut

@420technoblazeit @angelhunnybunny @mousewich @sintheticskull @madkiska @swordcats @lightning-skys @knife-moth-mc @kriber @i-maybe-exist @deepestsleep-streams @gawaininred @dreamingkelz @dajza-dj @navnlark

[pforestsims]

If you've answered 'yes', please specify which UC do you have.

Update: FYI, around half of the ppl answered "no". It's now clear that both Origin UC and other, like Mr Dj's repack, sometimes have issues with CC movies. If you had problems with the game not playing cc movies and managed to fix it somehow, please share.

Update 2:

As I discovered recently, AVI files coded with MS MPEG4 v2 (mp42), or MS MPEG4 v3 (mp43) will probably work in every game! MS stands for Microsoft, these old video codecs are not popular anymore. Wondershare converter has mp43, but it's not free. If you know some free apps that can convert to those, let me know!

[fatally-alive]

Data about how the official chart works.

Spotify, iTunes, Shazam , Youtube views, Pandora, SoundCloud ,radio request/ etc. are important to get to the official charts. DOABLE !

" The Official UK Chart is calculated by sales as well as music and video streams, with a variable streaming ratio depending on whether the user has a free or paid subscription. This means 100 paid streams will equal one sale, as will 600 free streams." " The Big Top 40, is based on Apple data only, (Apple Music streams and iTunes downloads) plus commercial radio airplay across the Global radio network."

Shazam counts toward official charts. The Shazam app has a global chart that shows the top 200 songs that are Shazam'd the most in the world, as well as country-based and city-based charts. The more times a song is Shazam'd, the higher it climbs on the charts. Radio DJs and other people use Shazam charts to decide which songs to play, and Shazam charts can increase a song's reach and national chart ranking. 

Radio airplay plays a crucial role in determining the rankings on music charts. When a song receives significant airplay on popular radio stations, it reaches a larger audience and increases its chances of climbing up the charts.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Down in the (link)dumps

On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

Back when I was writing on Boing Boing, I'd slam out 10-15 blog posts every day, short hits that served as signpost and public notebook, but I rarely got into longer analysis of the sort I do daily now on Pluralistic. Both modes are very useful for organizing one's thoughts, and indeed, they complement each other:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/

The problem is that when you write long, synthetic essays, they crowd out the quick hits. Back in May 2022, I started including three short links with each edition of Pluralistic, in a section called "Hey look at this" (thanks to Mitch Wagner for suggesting it!):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/01/reit-modernization-act/#linkdump

But even with that daily linkdump, I still manage to accumulate link-debt, as interesting things pile up, not rising to the level of a long blog-post, but not so disposable as to be easy to flush. When the pile gets big enough, I put out a Saturday Linkdump:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

All of which is to say, it's Saturday, and I've got a linkdump!

First up, a musical interlude. I've been listening to DJ Earworm's amazing mashups since 2005 and while I've got dozens of tracks that shuffle in and out of my daily playlist, the one that makes me wanna get up and dance every time is "No One Takes Your Freedom," a wildly improbable banger composed of equal parts Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, George Michael and Scissor Sisters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaboIeW1A_4

I defy you to play that one without bopping a little. I think it's the French horn from "For No One" that really kills it, the world's least expected intro to a heavy dance beat.

Moving swiftly on: let's talk about fonts. I remember when Wired magazine first showed up at the bookstores I was working at in Toronto, and my bosses – younger men than I am now! – complained that the tiny, decorative fonts, rendered in silver foil on a purple background, was illegible. I laughed at them, batting my young eyes and devouring the promise of a better future with ease, even in dim light.

Now it's thirty years later and I'm half-blind. Both my my decaying, aging eyes are filmed with cataracts that I'm too busy to get removed (though my doc promises permanent 20:20, perfect night-vision, and implanted bifocals when I can spare a month from touring with new books to get 'em fixed).

Which is to say: I spend a lot more time thinking about legibility now than I did in the early 1990s, and I've got a lot more sympathy for those booksellers' complaints about Wired's aggressively low-contrast design today. I'm forever on the hunt for fonts designed for high legibility.

This week, Kottke linked to B612, a free/open font family "designed for aircraft cockpit screens," commissioned by Airbus. It's got all the bells and whistles (e.g. hinting) and comes in variable and monospace faces:

https://b612-font.com/

B612 arrived at a fortuitous moment, coinciding with a major UI overhaul in Thunderbird, the app I spend the second-most time in (I spend more time in Gedit, the bare-bones text-editor that comes with Ubuntu, the flavor of GNU/Linux I use). A previous Thunderbird UI experiment had made all the UI text effectively unreadable for me, causing me to dive deep into the infinitely configurable settings to sub in my own fonts:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/UserChrome.css

The new UI is much better, but it broke all my old tweaks, so I went back into those settings and switched everything to B612, and it's amazeballs. I tried doing the same in Gedit, but B612 mono was too light for my shitty eyes, so I went back to Jetbrains Mono, another free/open font that has 8 weights to choose from:

https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/mono/

Love me a new, legible font! Meanwhile, a note for all you designers: the received wisdom that black on white type is "hard on the eyes" is a harmful myth. Stop with the grey-on-white type, for the love of all that is holy. This isn't 1992, you aren't laying out type for Wired Issue 1.0. Contrast is good, actually.

Continuing on the subject of software updates: Mastodon, the free, open, federated social media platform that anyone can host and that lets you hop between one server and another with just a couple clicks, has released a major update, focusing on usability, especially for people unfamiliar with its conventions:

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/09/mastodon-4.2/

Included in this fix: a major overhaul to how you interact with posts on servers other than your home server. This was both confusing and clunky, and the fix makes it much better. They've also changed how sign-up flow works, making things simpler for newbies, and they've cleaned up the UI, tweaking threads, web previews and other parts of the daily experience.

There's also a lot of changes to search, but search still remains less than ideal, with multi-server search limited to hashtags. This is bad, actually. Thankfully, we don't have to wait for Mastodon devs to decide to fix it, because Mastodon is free and open, which means anyone with the skills to code a change, or the money to pay techies to do it, or the moral force to convince them to do it, can effect that change themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/23/semipermeable-membranes/

Case in point: Mastoreader, a great new thread reader for Mastodon:

https://mastoreader.io/

Every time that guy who owns Twitter breaks it even worse, a new cohort of users sign up. Not all of them stay, but the growth is steady and the trendline is solid:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/of-course-mastodon-lost-users/

It's the right call: while there are other services that promise that they will be federated someday, promises are easy, and there's world of difference between "federateable" and "federated." As GW Bush told us, "Fool me twice, we don't get fooled again":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/06/fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again/

One big difference between the kind of blogging I used to do in my Boing Boing days and the long-form work I do today is the graphics. When you're posting 10-15 times/day, you can't make each graphic a standout (or at least, I can't). But I can (and do) devote substantial time to making a single collage out of public domain and Creative Commons graphics every day:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/25/a-year-in-illustration/

I am not a visual person – literally, I can barely see! – but my daily art practice has slowly made me a less-terrible illustrator. I got in some good licks this week, like this graphic for the UAW's new "Eight-and-Skate" work-to-rule program:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/21/eight-and-skate/#strike-to-rule

That graphic was fun because all the elements were from the public domain, or fair use. I love it when that happens. I've spent years amassing a bulging folder of public domain clip art ganked from the web and this week, it got a major infusion, thanks to the Bergen Public Library's Flickr album of high-rez scans of antique book endpapers. 86 public domain textures? Yes please! (Also, the fact that Flickr has one-click download of all the hi-rez versions of every image in a photoset is another way that it stands out as a remnant of the old, good web, not so much a superannuated relic as an elegant weapon of a more civilized age):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_public_library/albums/72157633827993925

Speaking of strikes: there are strikes! Everygoddamnedwhere! After 40 years in a Reagan-induced coma, labor is back, baby. The Cornells School of Industrial and Labor Relations' Labor Action Tracker is your go-to, real-time observation post as hot labor summer turns into the permanent revolution. As of this writing, it's listing 968 labor actions in 1491 locations:

https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu

There's no war but class war and it was ever thus. Brian Merchant's forthcoming book Blood In the Machine is a history of the Luddites, revisiting that much-maligned labor uprising, which has been rewritten as a fight between technophobes and the inevitable forces of progress:

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

The book unearths the true history of the Ludds: they were skilled technologists who were outraged by capital's commitment to immiseration, child slavery, and foisting inferior goods on a helpless public. You can get a long preview of the book in Fast Company:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90949827/what-the-luddites-can-teach-us-about-standing-up-to-big-tech

Merchant also talked with Roman Mars about the book on the 99 Percent Invisible podcast:

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/blood-in-the-machine/transcript/

If that's piqued your interest and if you can make it to Los Angeles, come by Chevalier's Books this Wednesday, where Brian and I are having a joint book-launch (I've just published The Internet Con, my Luddite-adjacent "Big Tech Disassembly Manual"):

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/chevaliers-books-8495362156

Where is all this labor unrest coming from? Well as Stein's Law has it, "anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop." 40 years of corporate-friendly political economy has lit the world on fire and immiserated billions, and we've hit bottom and started the long, slow climb to a world that prioritizes human thriving over billionaire power.

One of the most tangible expressions of that vibe shift is the rise and rise of antitrust. The big news right now is the (first) trial of the century, Google's antitrust trial. What's that? You say you haven't heard anything about it? Well, perhaps that has to do with the judge banning recording and livestreaming and not making transcripts available. Don't worry, he's also locking observers out of his courtroom for hours at a time during closed testimony. Oh, and also? The DoJ just agreed that it won't post its exhibits from the trial online anymore. You can follow what dribbles of information as are emerging from our famously open court system at US v Google:

https://usvgoogle.org/trial-update-9-22

If the impoverished trickle of Google antitrust news has you down, don't despair, there's more coming, because the FTC is apparently set to drop its long-awaited suit against Amazon:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftc-poised-sue-amazon-antitrust-163432081.html

Amazon spent years blowing hundreds of millions of dollars of its investors' cash, selling goods below cost and buying up rivals until it became the most important channel for every kind of manufacturer to reach their customers. Now, Amazon is turning the screws. A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance details the 45% Amazon Tax that every merchant pays to reach you:

https://ilsr.org/AmazonMonopolyTollbooth-2023/

That 45% tax is passed on to you – whether or not you shop at Amazon. Amazon's secretive most favored nation terms mean that if a seller raises their price on Amazon, they have to raise it everywhere else, which means you're paying more at WalMart and Target because of Amazon's policies.

Those taxes are bad for us, but they're good for Amazon's investors. This year, the company stands to make $185 billion from junk-fees charged to platform sellers. As David Dayen points out, Amazon charges so much to ship third-party sellers' goods that it fully subsidizes Amazon's own shipping:

https://prospect.org/power/2023-09-21-amazons-185-billion-pay-to-play-system/

That's right: as Stacy Mitchell writes in the report, "Amazon doesn’t have to build warehousing and shipping costs into the price of its own products, because it’s found a way to get smaller online sellers to pay those costs."

Now, one of the amazing things about antitrust coming back from the grave is that just the threat of antitrust enforcement can moderate even the most vicious bully's conduct. Faced with the looming FTC case, Amazon just canceled its plan to charge even more junk fees:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/amazon-drops-planned-merchant-fee-ftc-lawsuit-looms-bloomberg-news-2023-09-20/

But despite this win, Amazon is still speedrunning the enshittification cycle. The latest? Unskippable ads in Prime Video:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-22/amazon-prime-video-content-to-include-ads-staring-early-2024

Remember when Amazon promised you ad-free video if you'd lock yourself into shopping with them by pre-paying for a year's shipping with Prime? The company has fully embraced the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further."

That FTC case can't come a moment too soon.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/23/salmagundi/#dewey-102