#gold name necklace UK

[dvbabybracelet]

Make a Statement: The Allure of Personalised Name Necklaces in the UK

For centuries, jewellery has held a special place in our hearts. It adorns our bodies, tells stories, and reflects our unique personalities. But what if your jewellery could go a step further? Enter the captivating world of personalised name necklaces – a trend taking the UK by storm.

More Than Just a Name: A Celebration of Individuality

Forget generic pendants. Personalised name necklaces elevate jewellery to a whole new level. They're not just accessories; they're personalised statements that showcase your name, a loved one's name, or even a meaningful word. Whether it's a classic script, a trendy block font, or a birthstone accent, you can customise your necklace to reflect your unique style.

The Power of Personalisation: Gifts that Last a Lifetime

Imagine the look on someone's face when they receive a necklace with their name delicately inscribed. Personalised name necklaces make the perfect present for any occasion, from birthdays and anniversaries to graduations and holidays. They show you put extra thought and effort into the gift, creating a sentimental treasure they'll cherish forever.

Endless Options to Suit Every Taste

The beauty of personalised name necklaces lies in their versatility. You can choose from a variety of:

Materials: Sterling silver, gold (plated or solid), rose gold, or even hypoallergenic options for sensitive skin.

Styles: From dainty and minimal to bold and statement-making, there's a necklace to suit every taste.

Fonts: Playful, elegant, or anything in between – the choice is yours!

Where to Find Your Perfect Personalised Name Necklace in the UK

With so many jewellers offering personalisation services in the UK, finding the perfect piece is easier than ever. Here are some things to consider:

Reputation: Look for a jeweller with a proven track record of high-quality craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.

Customisation Options: Explore the variety of materials, styles, and fonts offered to ensure you can create a truly personalised piece.

Price: Personalised necklaces can range in price depending on the material, complexity of design, and jeweller. Set a budget and shop around to find the perfect fit.

So, are you ready to embrace the trend? Personalised name necklaces are a timeless and meaningful way to express yourself or gift something truly special. With endless possibilities and a plethora of talented UK jewellers, finding your perfect piece is just a click or shop visit away.

Bonus Tip: For an extra personal touch, consider adding a birthstone or engraving a special message on the back of the pendant.

[gaysindistress]

Things that I feel like would happen when you’re in a relationship with Simon Riley.

Simon Riley masterlist

1. First off he hates the word ‘boyfriend’.

Maybe it’s because he’s in his mid thirties or something but he can’t stand being called your boyfriend. He’s more than that but also not at the same time. You live together, have access to each other’s bank accounts (which is only because he hates it when you try to fight him about him giving you money), and you’re each others emergency contact. He thinks of himself as your husband. The man wears a silicone ring when he’s home and a necklace with the ring that’s totally not a wedding band when he’s working. Price has seen the chain once or twice and smirks, shooting him a knowing look but never says a word.

Simon cannot stand it when people get nosy and want to know what your relationship status is. You’re together and that’s all that matters. No one needs to know that you’re the beneficiary of his will and life insurance policy or that he’s put you on all of his accounts. No one needs to know that he buys you anything you want but has only ever bought you two rings; a thin gold band with a flower engraved on it and its twin a matching emerald ring. No one needs to know that when he gifted them to you, there were tears and promises of safety, love, and happiness whispered against feverish skin. No one needs to know that he has your name woven into his chest tattoo.

No one needs to know any of that because your relationship is between him and you only.

2. You are not some submissive little house wife. You are a strong independent woman and he prefers it that way.

I know this one goes against what most people say but hear me out on this. Simon has been independent since birth practically. He’s only had himself to count on for years. Even in the military, he’s only been able to rely himself. Sure the others watch out for him but if it came down to it, he’s the only one who’s going to get himself out alive.

The thought of someone else relying on him in that way is terrifying. He can’t even fathom what it would be like to look at another person and fully trust them in that way. Half the time he feels like he can’t even be trusted to take care of himself let alone another human. In theory a sweet docile housewife is great with the meals and clean house but not for him. He needs to know that you can hold your own. He needs to know that you can be independent and carry on without him if something happened while he was working. He needs to know that you will be okay if he doesn’t come back.

You have to be okay without him no matter how much it pains him to think about it.

Like I said before, he’s made you the beneficiary of everything so he knows you’ll be set financially but that’s not enough. He’s made Price promise to keep an eye out for you. He’s made you promise to let Price do that and you agreed because it’s Simon who’s asking but you’d tell anyone else to fuck off.

In addition to all of that, he’s installed the best security system the government has to offer in your house. You have a very expensive and large safe in your shared closet that he’s instructed you to only open if you feel unsafe. While you might not like it, you agree to go shooting with him so he can sleep at night knowing that you could protect yourself if he’s not home. He’s gone as far as to make sure you have all of the licenses and certificates that are needed to legally own firearms in the UK.

He’s not leaving any opportunity for you to be vulnerable or have your ‘safety checks’, as he calls them, taken away.

3. Simon Riley is a godless man…until he meets you.

Now this is entirely my own headcannon with no evidence to support it so bear with me.

Simon had a shitty childhood where his mom would pray to a god who never listened and his dad would shout verses at him when he was drunk. God was a mythical figure that he was told stories off with nothing to show for it. He did believe at one point but then his dad never got better, his mom wore bruises of every shade, and his brother found comfort in drugs.

He found himself praying when he was being tortured by the Mexican cartel. Between the flashbacks of his abusive past, he prayed to a god who had failed him so many times before to help him. He prayed again as he dug himself out of that Texas grave with the major’s jaw bone. He wailed his prayers when he found his family executed after Sparks tried to kill him.

After that he deemed himself a Godless man. Years of praying had passed with nothing. This god had decided that Simon was not worthy of a miracle so why would he continue to worship him?

That was until he met you. He finds himself praying before every mission, every time he has to leave you, every time he’s on his way home, and just about any other time he thinks of you. He doesn’t know what exactly he’s praying for other than for you to be there when he gets back.

He whispers his prayers to an absent god against your skin as he worships your body, soul, and heart. He promises to be devoted to you until his last breath and vows to find you again in whatever afterlife awaits you. He pledges to find solace in you and only you when his haunting nightmares return. He makes an oath to your heart that it will never weather another storm alone again for his will take whatever beating that comes your way. He shows you that he will love you in the same manner as a Hozier song; putting you above all else because you have become his religion, his faith, his beliefs, his life.

You have become all that he is and he thanks the god he once believed in for you. He prays again but to you, his heart, his love, and his beacon through the enteral storm of life.

[theloverstomb]

‘Fragile Microbiomes’ by bio-artist Anna Dumitriu

1. SYPHILIS DRESS- This dress is embroidered with images of the corkscrew-shaped bacterium which causes the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. These embroideries are impregnated with the sterilised DNA of the Nichols strain of the bacterium - Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum - which Dumitriu extracted with her collaborators.

2. MICROBE MOUTH- The tooth at the centre of this necklace was grown in the lab using an extremophile bacterium which is part of the species called Serratia (Serratia N14) that can produce hydroxyapatite, the same substance that tooth enamel is made from.

The handmade porcelain teeth that make up this necklace have been coated with glazes derived from various bacterial species that live in our mouths and cause tooth decay and gum disease, including Porphyromonas gingivalis, which can introduce an iron-containing light brown stain to the glaze.

3. TEETH MARKS: THE MOST PROFOUND MYSTERY- In his 1845 essay “On Artificial Teeth”, W.H. Mortimer described false teeth as “the most profound mystery” because they were never discussed. Instead, people would hide the stigma of bad teeth and foul breath using fans.

This altered antique fan is made from animal bone and has been mended with gold wire, both materials historically used to construct false teeth (which would also sometimes incorporate human teeth). The silk of the fan and ribbon has been grown and patterned with two species of oral pathogens: Prevotella intermedia and Porphyromonas gingivalis. These bacteria cause gum disease and bad breath, and the latter has also recently been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

4. PLAGUE DRESS- This 1665-style 'Plague Dress' is made from raw silk, hand-dyed with walnut husks in reference to the famous herbalist of the era Nicholas Culpeper, who recommended walnuts as a treatment for plague. It has been appliquéd with original 17th-century embroideries, impregnated with the DNA of Yersinia pestis bacteria (plague). The artist extracted this from killed bacteria in the laboratory of the National Collection of Type Cultures at the UK Health Security Agency.

The dress is stuffed and surrounded by lavender, which people carried during the Great Plague of London to cover the stench of infection and to prevent the disease, which was believed to be caused by 'bad air' or 'miasmas'. The silk of the dress references the Silk Road, a key vector for the spread of plague.

5. BACTERIAL BAPTISM- based on a vintage christening gown which has been altered by the artist to tell the story of research into how the microbiomes of babies develop, with a focus on the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, originally discovered by Hall and O’Toole in 1935 and presented in their paper “Intestinal flora in new-born infants”. It was named Bacillus difficilis because it was difficult to grow, and in the 1970s it was recognised as causing conditions from mild antibiotic-associated diarrhoea to life-threatening intestinal inflammation. The embroidery silk is dyed using stains used in the study of the gut microbiome and the gown is decorated with hand-crocheted linen lace grown in lab with (sterilised) C. difficile biofilms. The piece also considers how new-borns become colonised by bacteria during birth in what has been described as ‘bacterial baptism’.

6. ZENEXTON- Around 1570, Swiss physician and alchemist Theophrastus Paracelsus coined the term ‘Zenexton’, meaning an amulet worn around the neck to protect from the plague. Until then, amulets had a more general purpose of warding off (unspecified) disease, rather like the difference today between ‘broad spectrum’ antibiotics and antibiotics informed by genomics approaches which target a specific organism.

Over the next century, several ideas were put forward as to what this amulet might contain: a paste made of powdered toads, sapphires that would turn black when they leeched the pestilence from the body, or menstrual blood. Bizarre improvements were later made: “of course, the toad should be finely powdered”; “the menstrual blood from a virgin”; “collected on a full moon”.

This very modern Zenexton has been 3D printed and offers the wearer something that genuinely protects: the recently developed vaccine against Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.

[loudblonde]

Could I request anyone in the 141 with a non military/detective s/o who just finished a dangerous case. and like how they react to it idk 💀

thanks 👍💪

In honour of Sherlock Holmes becoming public domain, you dear Anon will get more than just one of the boys with a detective s/o. Male!Reader is vaguely if not outrightly stated to be a Holmes much like Sherlock Holmes, he is not BBC Sherlock.

Warnings: mentions of child porn, human trafficking, and torture. Canon typical violence.

Hurt/comfort and some fluff

All stories are under 500 words long, so they might just be drabbles.

Male reader,

~ Captain John Price ~

John Price was sitting in his office with the small radio turned on low, just filling out paperwork from work from his most recent mission with the team. It had been a success but he still had a ton of paperwork. John never quite paid much attention to the radio until a familiar name came up, (Y/N) Price. 

John abandoned all thoughts of paperwork as he turned the radio on. 

“-great news to announce that Detective (Y/N) Price has once again done the impossible after disappearing off the radar for two weeks, (Y/N) located and personally gathered information on a human trafficking ring, allegedly going undercover despite being a very well known man.” One of the hosts said. 

Price sucked in a deep breath and listened carefully, his mind filled with static as gore filled images of his husband getting brutally tortured and killed because he was discovered crossed his mind, Price knew the reality would be that, he knew that (Y/N) wouldn’t have made it out alive had it not been for his husbands sheer dumb fucking luck. 

“I know right, Kelley,” The other host said. “From what we know, Detective Price is a married man, he wears a gold wedding band, I sure wouldn’t wish to be married to someone who just disappears all of the sudden for weeks on end!” The hosts laughed together and John looked down in his hands.

They both had a tendency to disappear for work, rarely ever saw each other but when they did, between missions and cases, especially with (Y/N)’s freelance work, much like his older brother. 

Price reached over and grabbed his phone, dialing his husband's number. He placed the phone to his ear and listened as it dialed 3 times before it was picked up. “Hmmm, John it’s 3 in the night here.” His husband's groggy voice came through. 

Price smiled a bit as he turned the radio off. “I heard the news about your latest case.” 

(Y/N) chuckled, voice sounding rasped. “I wasn’t alone, despite what they say, my brother was with me and not Sher.” 

“Ah, so the oldest Holmes made it out of his fancy office to help, that is at least somewhat comforting.” He said. 

(Y/N) hummed for a moment. “It was scary, I won’t lie to you, I knew this kind of work was gonna take a lot but wow… I can’t imagine your mission being easy either.” 

“Hmm, no my mission wasn’t easy but we all made it through, minimal injuries and we recovered the intel.” Price said. “I have some saved up vacation time, why don’t we take a break, the both of us and go somewhere just the two of us?” 

(Y/N) smiled. “I would like that, just the two of us, it would be nice… I love you John, you know that, right?” 

John touched his necklace where the ring was. “I love you too, with all my heart.” 

< Simon “Ghost” Riley > 

Simon was sitting with the team watching some telly when the news came on, the picture of his husband looking stoic as ever came on as the reporter smiled. “Today the Brother Holmes were successful in taking down a child porno ring that extended as far into minor positions of our government. The brothers went undercover while posing as people who could give access to child porn, they worked closely with Scotland Yard in catching over 150 pedofiles in the UK alone. It has been reported that both their lives were at risk during it and that (Y/N) Holmes was almost killed several times during this investigation, though I am happy to tell you that any hospitalisation lasted less than 24 hours and that the young detective is not in any danger.” The reporter finished and ads started playing. 

Simon sat, staring blank at the screen, (Y/N) had mentioned a case that had been dangerous but he was never told his life had been in danger. Logically he knew that (Y/N) was a capable man who could not only keep up with his brothers and their crazy shit, but also knew his way around several fighting styles and weapons, Simon logically knew all that and still hearing his husband, one of few people who knew Simon’s face, who Simon trusted with all his life, had been in danger and almost killed… it made his blood boil. 

Simon stood up, spooking Soap who cursed after him, But Simon didn’t care, he couldn’t care, he was just making a beeline for his room and as soon as he got there he took out his phone and called one of few numbers even saved in it. Their house phone, a secure line.

“Holmes Residency, (Y/N) speaking.” A pained voice came out. 

“Are you okay?” Simon asked before anything else. 

“Ahhh, Simon, yes, just a few bruised ribs.” (Y/N) said and Simon could hear his smile. 

“He was also poisoned.” Came Mycroft ever so helpful. 

“And stabbed, twice, I have him on bedrest.” A much clearer Doctor Watson said. “Well, as much as you can keep a Holmes on bedrest.” 

Simon took a deep breath. “(Y/N)... you are single handedly going to make me go grey before Price.” He knew his comment would make (Y/N) chuckle. 

“I am fine Si and I love you too.” (Y/N) said as he chuckled. “I love you more than I could ever express to you…. I love you more then (favourite food/movie).” 

Simon smiled a bit. “I love you too… but be careful, I don’t want you getting killed… I can’t lose anymore people.” 

(Y/N)’s smile softened a bit. “Don’t worry Si, I won’t take a case until I am healed. Apparently there is a high reward for people who help out with catching criminals, who would have thought?” 

) John “Soap” McTavish (

John was sitting in the police room as (Y/N) finished up whatever he was doing. The mission had been too close to his own line of work for comfort. Laswell had gotten the 141 to bring out (Y/N) Holmes from a person who had kidnapped him. His own husband had been kidnapped and he didn’t even know. 

Sometimes John hated their line of work, it was cruel and left little contact with loved ones. 

“Relax Johnny.” Ghost said from beside him. Both still in full gear. “Nothing is gonna happen while we sit here.” 

John looked at Ghost and cracked a small smile. “Yeah I know, it’s just two weeks in a long time.” 

Ghost looked at him and slowly blinked. “Yes it is, but he is a Holmes, I thought that was a given or they were trained for that.” 

John shook his head. “No, no they aren’t, they are just civilians who everyone thinks are-” John stopped talking as (Y/N) stepped out of the room, looking worse for wear, but with a big smile on his face. 

John instantly stood and walked over, hugging (Y/N) close and a tad too tight. 

“John, my ribs.” (Y/N) groaned as he hugged back. 

“Oh right sorry.” John pulled away and took (Y/N)’s face in his hands. “Don’t ever do something like that again!” He said loudly. “I was worried sick when I heard you had been missing for 2 weeks!”

(Y/N)’s eyes softened. “I didn’t mean to get caught, but Sherlock managed to get away and get to safety, he ensured that I was kept alive.” 

John rested his forehead against (Y/N)’s. “Remind me to thank him when we see him.” John chuckled a bit, just happy to have his husband back in his arms. 

“Hmm, you can thank him at the wedding in 7 months. Him and Watson are finally tying the knot, I won the bet between everyone by the way.” (Y/N) said, smirking a bit. 

“I love you so much,” John said. 

[ Kyle “Gaz” Garrick ]

Kyle was just standing and talking with Soap as he saw his long time boyfriend (Y/N) walk up with a newspaper in hand. Kyle tilted his head slightly and stopped talking, causing Soap to turn and look at (Y/N). “Hey, why is a Holmes walking directly towards us? Is he even allowed on base?” Soap asked. 

Kyle shrugged. “He should be. Hey (Y/N)!” He called out as (Y/N) got closer. 

“Kyle!” (Y/N) said happily as he practically bounced over. “May I?” 

Kyle nodded and they hugged close. Kyle missed (Y/N) whenever he went away but he couldn’t exactly stop (Y/N) from taking on case after case, they paid far too well. 

(Y/N) showed Kyle the newspaper from that morning. “I just finished a case for the king of Sweden, didn't even know it was the Swedish king, he is very… eccentric but normal. He is just a person, it was nice.” 

“Soooo.” A certain Scottish man broke through their conversation. “How do you two know each other?” 

“(Y/N) meet Soap, Soap, this is my boyfriend, (Y/N) Holmes.” Kyle said. 

(Y/N) smiled brightly and shook Soap's hand. “I have heard a lot about you lot and the 141.” 

“Only good things I hope.” Soap said. 

“The best of things. Oh and Kyle, no reason to worry, a doctor that wasn’t my brother's close friend cleared me. I am not injured even though you will undoubtedly hear about a very large fall I had in tonight's news. I just wanted to tell you that before you hear it from someone that isn’t me.” He said. 

Kyle’s eyes widened. “(Y/N) you promised to be careful.” 

“I was… ish… okay maybe not as much as I should, but I was safe during the whole thing, no large injury or bed rest needed.” 

“No case for at least 3 days, please.” Kyle said. 

“... Okay, no case for a week. I love you, alright? I am always going to return home to you.” 

Kyle smiled at that. “Good. I love you too.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A link-clump demands a linkdump

Cometh the weekend, cometh the linkdump. My daily-ish newsletter includes a section called "Hey look at this," with three short links per day, but sometimes those links get backed up and I need to clean house. Here's the eight previous installments:

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

The country code top level domain (ccTLD) for the Caribbean island nation of Anguilla is .ai, and that's turned into millions of dollars worth of royalties as "entrepreneurs" scramble to sprinkle some buzzword-compliant AI stuff on their businesses in the most superficial way possible:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/08/ai-fever-turns-anguillas-ai-domain-into-a-digital-gold-mine/

All told, .ai domain royalties will account for about ten percent of the country's GDP.

It's actually kind of nice to see Anguilla finding some internet money at long last. Back in the 1990s, when I was a freelance web developer, I got hired to work on the investor website for a publicly traded internet casino based in Anguilla that was a scammy disaster in every conceivable way. The company had been conceived of by people who inherited a modestly successful chain of print-shops and decided to diversify by buying a dormant penny mining stock and relaunching it as an online casino.

But of course, online casinos were illegal nearly everywhere. Not in Anguilla – or at least, that's what the founders told us – which is why they located their servers there, despite the lack of broadband or, indeed, reliable electricity at their data-center. At a certain point, the whole thing started to whiff of a stock swindle, a pump-and-dump where they'd sell off shares in that ex-mining stock to people who knew even less about the internet than they did and skedaddle. I got out, and lost track of them, and a search for their names and business today turns up nothing so I assume that it flamed out before it could ruin any retail investors' lives.

Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory, one of those former British colonies that was drained and then given "independence" by paternalistic imperial administrators half a world away. The country's main industries are tourism and "finance" – which is to say, it's a pearl in the globe-spanning necklace of tax- and corporate-crime-havens the UK established around the world so its most vicious criminals – the hereditary aristocracy – can continue to use Britain's roads and exploit its educated workforce without paying any taxes.

This is the "finance curse," and there are tiny, struggling nations all around the world that live under it. Nick Shaxson dubbed them "Treasure Islands" in his outstanding book of the same name:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780230341722/treasureislands

I can't imagine that the AI bubble will last forever – anything that can't go on forever eventually stops – and when it does, those .ai domain royalties will dry up. But until then, I salute Anguilla, which has at last found the internet riches that I played a small part in bringing to it in the previous century.

The AI bubble is indeed overdue for a popping, but while the market remains gripped by irrational exuberance, there's lots of weird stuff happening around the edges. Take Inject My PDF, which embeds repeating blocks of invisible text into your resume:

https://kai-greshake.de/posts/inject-my-pdf/

The text is tuned to make resume-sorting Large Language Models identify you as the ideal candidate for the job. It'll even trick the summarizer function into spitting out text that does not appear in any human-readable form on your CV.

Embedding weird stuff into resumes is a hacker tradition. I first encountered it at the Chaos Communications Congress in 2012, when Ang Cui used it as an example in his stellar "Print Me If You Dare" talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njVv7J2azY8

Cui figured out that one way to update the software of a printer was to embed an invisible Postscript instruction in a document that basically said, "everything after this is a firmware update." Then he came up with 100 lines of perl that he hid in documents with names like cv.pdf that would flash the printer when they ran, causing it to probe your LAN for vulnerable PCs and take them over, opening a reverse-shell to his command-and-control server in the cloud. Compromised printers would then refuse to apply future updates from their owners, but would pretend to install them and even update their version numbers to give verisimilitude to the ruse. The only way to exorcise these haunted printers was to send 'em to the landfill. Good times!

Printers are still a dumpster fire, and it's not solely about the intrinsic difficulty of computer security. After all, printer manufacturers have devoted enormous resources to hardening their products against their owners, making it progressively harder to use third-party ink. They're super perverse about it, too – they send "security updates" to your printer that update the printer's security against you – run these updates and your printer downgrades itself by refusing to use the ink you chose for it:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

It's a reminder that what a monopolist thinks of as "security" isn't what you think of as security. Oftentimes, their security is antithetical to your security. That was the case with Web Environment Integrity, a plan by Google to make your phone rat you out to advertisers' servers, revealing any adblocking modifications you might have installed so that ad-serving companies could refuse to talk to you:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai

WEI is now dead, thanks to a lot of hueing and crying by people like us:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/02/google_abandons_web_environment_integrity/

But the dream of securing Google against its own users lives on. Youtube has embarked on an aggressive campaign of refusing to show videos to people running ad-blockers, triggering an arms-race of ad-blocker-blockers and ad-blocker-blocker-blockers:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-will-the-ad-versus-ad-blocker-arms-race-end/

The folks behind Ublock Origin are racing to keep up with Google's engineers' countermeasures, and there's a single-serving website called "Is uBlock Origin updated to the last Anti-Adblocker YouTube script?" that will give you a realtime, one-word status update:

https://drhyperion451.github.io/does-uBO-bypass-yt/

One in four web users has an ad-blocker, a stat that Doc Searls pithily summarizes as "the biggest boycott in world history":

https://doc.searls.com/2015/09/28/beyond-ad-blocking-the-biggest-boycott-in-human-history/

Zero app users have ad-blockers. That's not because ad-blocking an app is harder than ad-blocking the web – it's because reverse-engineering an app triggers liability under IP laws like Section 1201 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which can put you away for 5 years for a first offense. That's what I mean when I say that "IP is anything that lets a company control its customers, critics or competitors:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

I predicted that apps would open up all kinds of opportunities for abusive, monopolistic conduct back in 2010, and I'm experiencing a mix of sadness and smugness (I assume there's a German word for this emotion) at being so thoroughly vindicated by history:

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/01/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either/

The more control a company can exert over its customers, the worse it will be tempted to treat them. These systems of control shift the balance of power within companies, making it harder for internal factions that defend product quality and customer interests to win against the enshittifiers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

The result has been a Great Enshittening, with platforms of all description shifting value from their customers and users to their shareholders, making everything palpably worse. The only bright side is that this has created the political will to do something about it, sparking a wave of bold, muscular antitrust action all over the world.

The Google antitrust case is certainly the most important corporate lawsuit of the century (so far), but Judge Amit Mehta's deference to Google's demands for secrecy has kept the case out of the headlines. I mean, Sam Bankman-Fried is a psychopathic thief, but even so, his trial does not deserve its vastly greater prominence, though, if you haven't heard yet, he's been convicted and will face decades in prison after he exhausts his appeals:

https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/sam-bankman-fried-guilty-on-all-charges

The secrecy around Google's trial has relaxed somewhat, and the trickle of revelations emerging from the cracks in the courthouse are fascinating. For the first time, we're able to get a concrete sense of which queries are the most lucrative for Google:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/1/23941766/google-antitrust-trial-search-queries-ad-money

The list comes from 2018, but it's still wild. As David Pierce writes in The Verge, the top twenty includes three iPhone-related terms, five insurance queries, and the rest are overshadowed by searches for customer service info for monopolistic services like Xfinity, Uber and Hulu.

All-in-all, we're living through a hell of a moment for piercing the corporate veil. Maybe it's the problem of maintaining secrecy within large companies, or maybe the the rampant mistreatment of even senior executives has led to more leaks and whistleblowing. Either way, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the anonymous leaker who revealed the unbelievable pettiness of former HBO president of programming Casey Bloys, who ordered his underlings to create an army of sock-puppet Twitter accounts to harass TV and movie critics who panned HBO's shows:

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/hbo-casey-bloys-secret-twitter-trolls-tv-critics-leaked-texts-lawsuit-the-idol-1234867722/

These trolling attempts were pathetic, even by the standards of thick-fingered corporate execs. Like, accusing critics who panned the shitty-ass Perry Mason reboot of disrespecting veterans because the fictional Mason's back-story had him storming the beach on D-Day.

The pushback against corporate bullying is everywhere, and of course, the vanguard is the labor movement. Did you hear that the UAW won their strike against the auto-makers, scoring raises for all workers based on the increases in the companies' CEO pay? The UAW isn't done, either! Their incredible new leader, Shawn Fain, has called for a general strike in 2028:

https://www.404media.co/uaw-calls-on-workers-to-line-up-massive-general-strike-for-2028-to-defeat-billionaire-class/

The massive victory for unionized auto-workers has thrown a spotlight on the terrible working conditions and pay for workers at Tesla, a criminal company that has no compunctions about violating labor law to prevent its workers from exercising their legal rights. Over in Sweden, union workers are teaching Tesla a lesson. After the company tried its illegal union-busting playbook on Tesla service centers, the unionized dock-workers issued an ultimatum: respect your workers or face a blockade at Sweden's ports that would block any Tesla from being unloaded into the EU's fifth largest Tesla market:

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-sweden-strike/

Of course, the real solution to Teslas – and every other kind of car – is to redesign our cities for public transit, walking and cycling, making cars the exception for deliveries, accessibility and other necessities. Transitioning to EVs will make a big dent in the climate emergency, but it won't make our streets any safer – and they keep getting deadlier.

Last summer, my dear old pal Ted Kulczycky got in touch with me to tell me that Talking Heads were going to be all present in public for the first time since the band's breakup, as part of the debut of the newly remastered print of Stop Making Sense, the greatest concert movie of all time. Even better, the show would be in Toronto, my hometown, where Ted and I went to high-school together, at TIFF.

Ted is the only person I know who is more obsessed with Talking Heads than I am, and he started working on tickets for the show while I starting pricing plane tickets. And then, the unthinkable happened: Ted's wife, Serah, got in touch to say that Ted had been run over by a car while getting off of a streetcar, that he was severely injured, and would require multiple surgeries.

But this was Ted, so of course he was still planning to see the show. And he did, getting a day-pass from the hospital and showing up looking like someone from a Kids In The Hall sketch who'd been made up to look like someone who'd been run over by a car:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/53182440282/

In his Globe and Mail article about Ted's experience, Brad Wheeler describes how the whole hospital rallied around Ted to make it possible for him to get to the movie:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article-how-a-talking-heads-superfan-found-healing-with-the-concert-film-stop/

He also mentions that Ted is working on a book and podcast about Stop Making Sense. I visited Ted in the hospital the day after the gig and we talked about the book and it sounds amazing. Also? The movie was incredible. See it in Imax.

That heartwarming tale of healing through big suits is a pretty good place to wrap up this linkdump, but I want to call your attention to just one more thing before I go: Robin Sloan's Snarkmarket piece about blogging and "stock and flow":

https://snarkmarket.com/2010/4890/

Sloan makes the excellent case that for writers, having a "flow" of short, quick posts builds the audience for a "stock" of longer, more synthetic pieces like books. This has certainly been my experience, but I think it's only part of the story – there are good, non-mercenary reasons for writers to do a lot of "flow." As I wrote in my 2021 essay, "The Memex Method," turning your commonplace book into a database – AKA "blogging" – makes you write better notes to yourself because you know others will see them:

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

This, in turn, creates a supersaturated, subconscious solution of fragments that are just waiting to nucleate and crystallize into full-blown novels and nonfiction books and other "stock." That's how I came out of lockdown with nine new books. The next one is The Lost Cause, a hopepunk science fiction novel about the climate whose early fans include Naomi Klein, Rebecca Solnit, Bill McKibben and Kim Stanley Robinson. It's out on November 14:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

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/2023/11/05/variegated/#nein

[binenbaumaj]

Diamond Sapphire 18k Platinum Art Deco Ring 16251-8775 This exquisite Art Deco ring, crafted in 18k white gold and platinum, features a 0.10ct old European-cut diamond (H, SI1). It’s adorned with 0.80ct single-cut diamonds and two 4×3.6mm sapphires, making it a dazzling piece of history. 💎 Details: ±0.10ct (H SI1) Old-european-cut diamond, ±0.80ct Single-cut diamonds, 4x3.6mm Sapphires, 18k, Platinum Ring *. Size: 16.92 NL / 53.1 FR / 6½ US / M½ UK, sizeable (Within reason. Contact seller for information). Dimensions: The front of the ring is 16 x 13 mm. Weight in grams: 4.3. Condition: Very good condition - slightly used with small signs of wear. Shipping and Pickup: This magnificent piece ships from our store located in the center of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We offer both registered shipping and local pickup at our store. In the case of local pickup, any applicable shipping costs will be refunded. About Us: Add some sparkle to your style with Binenbaum.com. We offer a stunning selection of antique and vintage jewelry that you won't find anywhere else. From timeless rings and dazzling necklaces to unique brooches, we have something for every taste and occasion. Visit our website today and treat yourself to a piece of history. Design Era : Art Deco. Design & Historical Context : Art Deco jewelry, also known as Jazz Age jewelry, became popular in the 1920s and remained in style through the 1930s. It was named after the Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a exhibition held in Paris in 1925 that was largely dedicated to the jewelry arts. This style was inspired by a variety of cultural and artistic movements, such as Oriental, African, and South American art, as well as Cubism and Fauvism. Art Deco jewelry is known for its sharp, straight lines and emphasis on modernity and the machine age. During the Art Deco era, there were significant improvements in diamond cutting techniques, which made diamonds more radiant and sparkling than ever before. This, along with increased prosperity, allowed more people to afford diamond jewelry and engagement rings. Additionally, new casting techniques made it possible to produce more intricate and detailed settings. Art Deco jewelry was not only fashionable but also reflected the social and cultural changes of the time. The bold, modern design of Art Deco jewelry reflected the liberation and empowerment of women during the 1920s and 1930s. Today, Art Deco jewelry is highly sought after by collectors and is often featured in museum exhibitions and high-end auctions.. Key Materials : Diamond, Sapphire. Materials & Craftsmanship : Old-european-cut diamond The old European cut is a type of diamond cut that was popular in the 1800s and was used mostly during the Victorian, Edwardian, and Art Nouveau eras. It is the predecessor of today's modern round brilliant cut and is characterized by a circular girdle, a high crown, a small table, and a large, flat culet. Old European cut diamonds have 58 facets, which are small, flat surfaces that are cut into the diamond to create a specific shape and enhance its sparkle and brilliance. Old European cut diamonds are known for their antique charm and character, and they are often used in vintage-style jewelry. They have a softer, more romantic look than modern diamond cuts, which tend to have more precise geometry and a higher level of brilliance. Old European cut diamonds are typically less expensive than diamonds with more modern cuts because they require less labor and material to produce. They are often used as accent stones in jewelry designs or as the main gemstone in vintage-style pieces. Despite their lower price, old European cut diamonds can still be beautiful and valuable, and they are a popular choice for those who appreciate the unique charm and character of antique jewelry. Single-cut diamond A single cut diamond is a type of diamond cut that was popular in the 1300s and is still used today in some antique jewelry. It is characterized by a large table, an octagonal girdle, and a culet (the bottom edge of the diamond) that may be pointed or flat. Single cut diamonds usually have 18 facets, which are small, flat surfaces that are cut into the diamond to create a specific shape and enhance its sparkle and brilliance. Single cut diamonds are usually smaller in size and less brilliant than modern diamond cuts, such as round brilliant or princess cuts. They are often used in antique jewelry or as accent stones in modern jewelry designs. Single cut diamonds are typically less expensive than diamonds with more modern cuts because they require less labor and material to produce. Despite their lower price, single cut diamonds can still be beautiful and valuable. They are a popular choice for collectors of antique jewelry and for those who appreciate the timeless beauty of vintage cuts. Sapphire Sapphire is a mineral made from aluminum oxide that is known for its beautiful colors, including blue, pink, yellow, green, purple, and orange. The most popular variety of sapphire is blue sapphire, which has a medium to deep blue color and strong saturation. Blue sapphire is typically the most popular and most affordable of the three major precious gemstones (emerald, ruby, and sapphire) and is often used in a variety of different types of jewelry, including rings, earrings, pendants, and bracelets. Fancy sapphires, which are available in a variety of different colors, are often more rare and expensive than blue sapphires and are prized for their unique and beautiful colors. Sapphire is a very hard and durable gemstone, with a Mohs hardness of 9 out of 10, which makes it resistant to scratches and other types of damage. It is also believed to have various healing properties and is sometimes used in traditional medicine and meditation practices. 18k 18k gold is a type of gold alloy that is commonly used in jewelry making. It is made up of 75% gold and 25% other metals, such as copper, silver, or palladium. The addition of other metals helps to increase the durability and strength of the gold, making it more suitable for use in jewelry. 18k gold is softer and more prone to scratching than higher karat golds, such as 22k or 24k, but it is still a popular choice for jewelry because of its warm, yellow color and good resistance to tarnishing. It is also less expensive than higher karat golds due to the smaller amount of gold used in the alloy. 18k gold is a popular choice for engagement rings, wedding bands, and other fine jewelry items. Platinum Platinum is a white metallic element that is known for its strength, durability, and resistance to tarnish and corrosion. It belongs to a group of elements called the platinum group metals, which also includes osmium, iridium, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. Platinum is often found in nature as an alloy, which is a mixture of two or more elements. It can be mixed with other platinum group metals or with other elements such as copper, nickel, or cobalt. It wasn't until 1804 that all of the elements in the platinum group were isolated and named, with the exception of osmium, which was not isolated until 1841. Platinum is a highly prized metal that is often used in the manufacture of fine jewelry. It is malleable, meaning that it can be easily molded and shaped, and it is ductile, meaning that it can be drawn into thin wires or sheets. It is also very strong, which makes it suitable for use in a wide range of applications. Platinum is named after the Spanish word "platina," which means "little silver." It is thought to have been named this because of its white metallic luster, which is similar to that of silver. Platinum was first discovered by the Spanish conquistadors in South America, near the Pinto River in present-day Columbia.. Size : 16.92 NL / 53.1 FR / 6½ US / M½ UK. Dimensions : The front of the ring is 16 x 13 mm. Gender : female. Weight (in grams) : 4.3. Condition : Very good condition - slightly used with small signs of wear. Offers : no.

[greenwayinc]

HEADCANONS, PART TWO:

🇮🇪

(God help me when I have to write part 3...)

No worries about misgendering this guy... because they don't know. They would've forgotten it long ago anyways at this point, so they just don't give a crap what gender they are.

Their name is Kelsey Windsor. It used to be Dermot Windsor but they had it legally changed.

As a human, they're a very pale-skinned person of average height(5' 9"), with curly, blondish-red hair(yes it's a weird colour, but they manage to pull off the look). And they're absolutely saturated with freckles. Everywhere you look, it's just freckles, freckles and more freckles.

Usually wears Aran knit sweaters, jeans, bomber jackets and flannel shirts. They're still living in the early to mid-2000s fashion-wise.

This motherf***er is BUILT. Seriously, they might be neutral but God almighty are they stacked. They'll be up for anything, from US-led invasions to UN peacekeeping missions. For any large military operations they usually serve with America or UK, but they're always happy to just do peacekeeping work. More about this later.

Tiny scars are dotted across their neck and shoulder. Those are the remnants of a shrapnel bomb that exploded behind them during one of his many tours in the Troubles. There's more scars from where they've been grazed by bullets, beaten by batons and worse. They wear them like bravery medals though- each scar is a sign of their continuous luck.

Speaking of luck, they HATE it if you say "luck of the Irish" in a positive light. He is extremely self-conscious of the term's origins.

Much of their history has been them trying to rebel against England, and latterly, UK. As a result their relations could be described from a historical context as "strained"(top 10 greatest understatements in history coming up). However, since the 1960s, they've gotten along with each other and have left their previous animosity behind them... for now. Brexit has not gone over well with Ireland, it must be said(!).

The Famine screwed up their body greatly- mainly, they can't eat specific foods because of the irreversible damage to their digestive system caused by hunger. Mainly, they have to stay away from most fast food and fizzy drinks(although they've never liked the former much).

But, thanks be to the Lord, alcohol is on the safe list. They've said many a time that they wouldn't know what to do were it not for Guinness. As is to be expected, they drink like there's no tomorrow. One time they got so drunk that a SWAT team had to be called to contain them. But usually it ends up in him passing out in the street or having a one night stand with some other country.

They like to travel. A lot. And I mean A LOT.

Absolutely has PTSD from the amount of wars they've been in, plus the abuse from England, etc.

Tea addict. UK's influence definitely rubbed off on them in this aspect.

Jewellery. Oh my lord the jewellery. This fucker absolutely LOVES jewellery and anything gold or silver. They have ear piercings, they've got gold necklaces, silver rings, etc. Bling is this person's passion.

Also a good singer. Has recorded a few albums, which have found rather unlikely success internationally. As a result of this they work with South Korea and Japan on music projects a lot.

The music fame has also landed them roles in a good few movies.

Was a Formula One driver for a few years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and again in the 1990s. Surprisingly good at it, too.

Has multiple Irish wolfhounds.

If you confuse them with Ivory Coast, Italy or Mexico... well God help ya.

(related to a previous statement) They've been in the wars. Surprisingly often, as it turns out, because they were in both world wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Falklands, Vietnam- name a war in the past 100 years and they've probably been fighting in it at some stage.

They and Northern Ireland are estranged. They don't talk to each other WHATSOEVER.

Generally regarded as the "partier" of the EU, and has gained notoriety within the organisation for their drunken exploits.

Good friends with America, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Finland and Sweden. And all the ex-commie Central European countries.

Knows English, Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Czech, Finnish and Latvian. Currently learning Spanish so they can stop embarrassing themselves while on holiday in the Canary Islands.

In a relationship with Finland’s twin sister(will explain later). They met at a party in Helsinki back in the 1970s and have been together since.

Always has the best Halloween parties. Yes, it sounds childish, but they've been hosting those parties since the beginning of time. And everyone attends for the party, the dressing up... and the copious amounts of alcohol consumed at these events.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

This is a tiara rooted in tragedy. Princess Mary of Teck was engaged to be married to the future king, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale, in 1891.

But just a few weeks after the engagement was announced, he died of influenza.

His younger brother, Prince George, Duke of York, became the heir to the throne. He was also unmarried. Prince George had proposed to one of his cousins, who he was in love with, but she turned him down.

He turned his attention to Princess Mary, and she accepted. The couple were wed on 6 July 1893.

The tiara was a wedding gift to Mary. The name came from the committee of women, led by Lady Eva Greville, who raised the money for its creation.

They purchased the piece from Garrard in 1893. At Mary’s request, the remaining money from the fundraising event was sent to a fund to support widows and children of sailors who died in the HMS Victoria disaster, which killed 350.

Mary didn’t wear the piece on her wedding day - instead choosing one given to her by Queen Victoria - but it became one of her favourites. She chose it for one of her first official portraits when George ascended to the throne in 1910.

When her granddaughter Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947, Mary decided to gift her the tiara. It is reported that the Queen still calls the diadem “Granny’s Tiara” because of this.

Like Mary before her, Elizabeth loved this item and wore it often - including one for her first public appearance after her father’s funeral.

She had chosen it for portraits and at many official events over the years, marking it as her signature tiara.

Made by Garrard, this diadem features festoon and fleur-de-lys designs. Made of diamonds set in silver and gold, the original version was topped by 14 pearls.

It also came with a second frame, allowing it to be worn as a coronet. It could also be taken off a frame entirely and worn as a necklace.

Mary tweaked the tiara in 1914, removing the top row of pearls and replacing them with 13 diamond brilliants.

The pearls found their way to the Lover’s Knot tiara instead. The base of the tiara was also removed, and Mary wore it a separate bandeau.

Elizabeth put the two pieces back together in the 1960s, which is how it remains now.

Commenting on the tiara for Express UK, James Constantinou, owner of Prestige Pawnbrokers of Channel 4’s Posh Pawn, said:

"This tiara was a wedding present from the 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' to the Duchess of York, later Queen Mary in 1893.

It was purchased with money raised by a committee chaired by Lady Eva Grenville who became one of Queen Mary’s ladies in waiting."

"In November 1947, Queen Mary gave the tiara as a wedding present to her granddaughter Princess Elizabeth.

The Queen has worn the tiara regularly throughout her reign. She is depicted wearing it on certain issues of British and Commonwealth banknotes and coinage.

Due to the historic attachment to Queen Mary, this spectacular piece would most likely not come onto the open market, but hypothetically, if it did, it could certainly sparkle interest of up to £20 million."

How many tiaras are there in the royal collection?

There are dozens of priceless tiaras owned by the Queen and other members of the Royal Family. Many of the British aristocracy also own tiaras, wearing them at state banquets and on wedding days.

As well as tiaras currently in existence, there are a couple which have been dismantled to make other diadems. This includes The Surrey Fringe and The Nizam of Hyderabad.

Some tiaras have formed part of iconic moments in the history of the Royal Family.

The Cartier Halo, for instance, was worn by Catherine Middleton on her wedding day to Prince William in 2011.

And it is the Lover's Knot tiara that is most often seen today, as it is a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge.

It was closely associated with Diana, Princess of Wales, during her marriage to Prince Charles, so it holds a special significance for Catherine.

Edited

[manekratnajewels]

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[dolcevalentinaofficial]

Personalised baby bangels UK

As a new parent, you are always on the lookout for things that can make your baby feel special and loved. One of the ways you can achieve this is by gifting your child with personalised baby bangles. These items are not only cute and adorable, but they also make a statement about the love you have for your child. In this article, we will explore the benefits of personalised baby bangles, the different types available, and why they make perfect christening gifts.

What are Personalised Baby Bangles?

Personalised baby bangles are special pieces of jewellery that are designed for infants and young children. They come in a variety of designs and can be personalised with the child’s name or initials. These bangles are made using high-quality materials such as sterling silver, gold, and platinum, and are designed to be comfortable and safe for young children to wear.

New Born Bangles

New born bangles are perfect for parents who want to celebrate the birth of their new baby. These bangles are usually small and delicate, and are designed to fit the tiny wrists of newborns. They can be personalised with the baby’s name or initials, and can be made using different materials depending on your preference.

Children’s Personalised Jewellery

Children’s personalised jewellery is becoming increasingly popular as parents look for unique ways to show their children how much they love them. Personalised jewellery can come in different forms such as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. They can be designed with the child’s name or initials, birthstone, or even a special message.

Christening Gifts

Christening gifts are special presents that are given to a child during their baptism. These gifts are usually personalised and are meant to commemorate the child’s baptism day. Personalised baby bangles make perfect christening gifts as they are not only sentimental but also practical.

Dolce Valentina

Dolce Valentina is a UK-based company that specialises in personalised baby bangles and children’s jewellery. They offer a range of personalised baby bangles that can be designed with the child’s name or initials, and are made using high-quality materials such as sterling silver and gold. They also offer a range of children’s personalised jewellery such as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that are perfect for birthdays, christenings, and other special occasions.

Baby Bangles UK

If you are looking for baby bangles in the UK, there are many options available. You can find them in online stores such as Amazon and Etsy, as well as in physical stores such as jewellery shops and baby boutiques. When buying baby bangles in the UK, it is important to ensure that you are buying from a reputable seller and that the bangles are made using safe and high-quality materials.

Personalised Baby Bangles UK

Personalised baby bangles are a popular choice among parents in the UK. They offer a unique way to celebrate the birth of a new baby, and can be personalised with the baby’s name or initials. When buying personalised baby bangles in the UK, it is important to ensure that you are buying from a reputable seller and that the bangles are made using safe and high-quality materials.

Benefits of Personalised Baby Bangles

There are many benefits to buying personalised baby bangles for your child. Here are some of the main advantages:

They are a unique and special way to celebrate the birth of your child.

They can be personalised with the child’s name or initials, making them a special keepsake that can be treasured for years to come.

They can be made using high-quality materials such as sterling silver, gold, and platinum, ensuring that they will last a lifetime.

They are safe and comfortable for young children to wear.

They make perfect christening

Types of Personalised Baby Bangles

There are different types of personalised baby bangles available in the market. Here are some of the most popular types:

Name bangles – These bangles are personalised with the child’s name.

Initial bangles – These bangles are personalised with the child’s initials.

Birthstone bangles – These bangles are personalised with the child’s birthstone.

Engraved bangles – These bangles are engraved with a special message or quote.

Charm bangles – These bangles come with different charms that can be added or removed as the child grows.

Personalised baby bangles are a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of a new baby and make perfect christening gifts. They are unique, sentimental, and can be treasured for years to come. When buying personalised baby bangles, it is important to ensure that you are buying from a reputable seller and that the bangles are made using safe and high-quality materials. Dolce Valentina is a UK-based company that specialises in personalised baby bangles and children’s jewellery, and offers a range of options that are safe, high-quality, and unique. Invest in a personalised baby bangle for your child and watch as it becomes a cherished keepsake for years to come.

[sjscollection]

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[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n tubbo jack niki and wilbur - racing across the sea

requested: yes/no

part 8 of the great adventures series

warning: cursing, anxiety about the sea

ever since the argument you and tubbo had become inseparable, he practically lived with you and your parents at this point, and your community was loving it. everytime one of you would stream, tens of thousands of people would tune into your stream to see what madness was going on and today was no different. the pair of you decided to stream a laugh and the stream ends challenge. safe to say you ended up changing the rules several times, you even made ranboo join the stream so you could have extra lives. not long after the stream ended you, ranboo, and tubbo practically dominated the twitter trending page. today however was tubbos last day at yours and shortly after you ended stream, the pair of you headed out to the train station so you could make sure your best friend made it onto the train safely. after you said your goodbyes, you decided to facetime jack on your way home to discuss vlog ideas, and just to talk to him, as you had been rather busy this past week going over plans with ranboo, tubbo, and all of your parents about the uk trip that was happening pretty soon.

a few days later, it was finally time to go film the vlog. you couldn’t exactly lie, you weren’t exactly looking forward to this, as you were told it had something to do with the sea and boats which oddly enough didn’t mix very well with your fear of the deep sea. you had no idea what’s down there and you didn’t want to find out, but hey at least you’d be with tubbo.

your parents offered to drive you there so you didnt have any additional stress from having to get a train then a taxi, this allowed you to have a pretty quiet journey to meet up with your friends. you sat in the back of the car on facetime with tommy who was the only one who knew about your fear and was rather confused as the why you would agree to do such a thing

“i’ll never understand what goes through your mind, you’ve got this though! you’re going to be completely okay, plus you never know it might help you get over your fear, you did tell me you had been working on getting over it.”

“I suppose you’re right, it can’t be too bad. I mean I love the sea. I just don’t like what’s deep down, you feel me?”

“i understand mate, but you need to remember jack wouldn’t put you in danger. as much as he acts like he would, and even if you do fall off the boat or some how end up in the water, you won’t automatically end up at the bottom of the sea. just try to enjoy yourself, yeah?”

“...yeah”

“call me when you get home you can tell me all about what happened, afterwards we can record a minecraft mod video.”

“of course, boss man.”

“you hang out with tubbo too much, you should hang out with me a lot more.”

the car pulled into the car park and within a minute of the car stopping tubbo was at the window shouting your name.

“right tommy, i should probably go, ill see you later bud!”

you said goodbye to your parents as tubbo opened your car door for you.

“what a gentleman, thank you, tubbo.”

“anything for you, now let’s go. jack began filming the intro and i really want the hat hes wearing.”

“you’re ridiculous.”

he stood with his arms crossed shaking his head, pretending to be offended before walking off with you not far behind him.

you stood with niki and wilbur as tubbo went off filming some of the intro with jack. the three of you stood talking about how you have all been and discussing more plans for your meetup.

“y/n, go control your friend, he’s stealing a hat!”

you ran up behind tubbo and stole the hat from him, putting it on your own head.

“why have you got the hat now?”

“i am now captain!”

“but i wanted to be captain!”

you and tubbo stood arguing back and forth over who was captain, ignoring jack trying to get the pair of you to stop.

“you have 5 seconds to stop arguing or you’re being separated 5...4...3...2...1 right.”

“jack no!”

jack pulled you aside claiming he has something really important to ask you.

“so did you bring something valuable?”

“yeah i did actually, i brought tubbo and the necklace tommy gave me for my birthday last year.”

tubbo overhearing the conversation walked over telling you both that he also brought a valuable item, in fact it was a family heirloom.

“i brought an urn.”

“why would you do that tubbo? what the fuck-“

“you two do realise if either of you lose it had to go in the sea?”

“poor grandma.”

“aye about that you will have to pry that necklace out of my hands in order to throw it in the sea!”

the three of you went up to wilbur and niki where wilbur stole the hat you stole from tubbo, and you were told that you were all about to race to the isle of wight.

it was unfortunately time to board the boat, you sat next to tubbo, so that you felt like you had some sort of control with what was about to happen. the others sat making jokes about what was going on whilst you were trying to get control of your breathing. as you all set sail, you thought you were doing a good job of hiding the fact you were potentially about to have a panic attack as no one seemed to notice, or so you thought. considering the fact tubbo was your best friend, he instantly noticed something was wrong and wrapped an arm around you, and decided that distracting you would be a lot better than making you focus on what was currently happening.

“hey y/n, i have an amazing idea for when ranboos in the uk. a 4 month sleep over.”

“heh?”

before you had time to fully process what was going on, all you could hear was wilbur now claiming to be captain then going on to tell you why portsmouth is called portsmouth. you couldnt help but laugh at the random things he was coming up with since he put the captains hat on.

“that is a cinema..i’ve been in this industry for a while now, isn’t that right?”

it was silent for a while until niki tried to steal the captains hat, but was unfortunately unsuccessful .

“maybe next time niki.”

“thank you for believing in me, y/n.”

you pointed out a castle which ended up with wilbur talking about how the planned executions there .

“are they dead?”

“...tubbo of course they’re dead. what kind of question was that?”

the other boat began getting closer to the boat you were all currently in, indicating that it was almost time for you all to split up into two groups.

“my boat is going much faster.”

“that is a sign of pollution.”

“wow jack you’re polluting the world, i hope you’re happy!”

the ride was pretty chill until jack asked what he had lost in the past.

“past relationships.”

“the love or host.”

“laugh you lose streams.”

“the waterslide races from when we went to the water park.”

you and tubbo continued listening things that jack had lost.

“okay. so i’ve lost a few things.”

jack looked towards the other boat.

“however, you two are about to lose each other.”

“excuse you?”

“no, y/n is mine!”

eventually wilbur had enough and picked tubbo up and took him to the other boat with him.

“TUBBO!”

“Y/N!”

you and niki sat laughing as jack and wilbur bickered about who was going to win the boat race. whilst jack was distracted, you felt niki tap your arm and told you to look over to the other boat where tubbo was reaching his arm out to you so you could quickly swap boats.

you quickly got into the boat and sat next to your best friend, tubbo knew you were still slightly nervous, so made it so you would be sat in between him and wilbur so you would feel a lot more comfortable. a few minutes later, your boat began to set off and all you could hear was a mixture of tubbos laughter and jacks yelling getting quieter the further you went.

“AY THEY CANT START WITHOUT US!. AND THEY GOT Y/N, WHEN DID THEY GET THEM?!”

you turned to face wilbur who pointed towards a building before announcing that it definitely belonged to the the three of you, and was renaming it reddit gold.

“reddit..reddit gold, are you serious?” you said through your laughter, the three of you sat together taking turns narrating what was happening .

“go on, y/n.”

“if this capsizes, were all drowning.”

“cheerful as awful.”

“do you think sharks are beneath us?”

“i’m not even answering that question.”

you looked over your shoulder to see that niki and jack were catching up to you all.

“i hope they don’t overtake us, otherwise it’s bye bye tubbo.”

“and grandma.”

“excuse you, tubbo?”

“he’s claiming that he brought an urn with him and if we lose our valuable item gets chucked into the sea.”

a little while later jacks boat was next to yours and you and wilbur started to shout how it was like romeo and juliet.

“y/n, you studied this at gcse a while back, yell some quotes.”

“tubbo i didn’t listen to the teachers.”

“do it!”

“no!”

wilbur continued to talk to the others whilst you and tubbo sat bickering about William Shakespeare .

“tubbo my favourite character was benvolio and he fucked off halfway through.”

“what do you mean he fucked off?”

“he literally disappeared.”

wilbur was genuinely questioning what he was listening to he slowly turned around and tried to catch your attention; however you were currently in the middle of a debate about why benvolio disappeared, which was that last thing you expected to be doing on the boat. eventually your debate died down and you looked up to see wilbur shaking his head at you both, clearly confused as to why you spent 5 minutes arguing about romeo and juliet. an idea came to wilburs mind as he started laughing and pointing at the sea.

“drink some seawater, tubbo.”

you looked away as tubbo reached into the water trying to hold as much water as he could before bringing it to his lips and drinking the seawater.

“tubbo did you really just-“

“more tubbo!”

tubbo did the same as before, however this time brought his hands towards your face.

“drink it, y/n!”

“yeah, y/n, you can help desalinate it.”

“how wonderful, i’ll pass though.”

tubbo looked at you pretending to be upset and lifted his hands towards you again, this time you gave in and drank some of the water.

“thanks, tubbo, I can now only taste salt.”

jack noticed what you and tubbo were doing and looked at wilbur confused.

“im making them drink seawater!”

“what’s it like?”

“potassium!”

“salt.. a lot of salt!”

you checked your phone as you kept receiving multiple messages from tommy trying to get your attention, forgetting that you were currently on a boat with the others. you looked up from your phone to see tubbo drinking more seawater.

“AGAIN?”

you had no idea what was going on for jack and niki, but it sounded a lot like they lost hope as jack yelled asking if there was room for him on the boat while tubbo sat flipping him off in response to his question. jack continued to yell at the three of you however none of you could hear what he was yelling, so you kind of sat just nodding your head in agreement to what he was saying. wilbur pointed out that he could see the finishing line and how it looked like you were all going to make it. you looked over to see jack and niki recreating that one scene from titanic tubbo looked at you smiling, trying not to laugh.

“absolutely not one of us, if not both of us, would end up in the sea.”

the boat began to go significantly faster. at the start you were unsure how to feel, however a few minutes into it you began laughing enjoying how fast you were going.

“woahhh we’re turning!”

the boat did a loop before going straight on as fast as it could go.

“y/n, tubbo, we’re going. we’re going.”

“OH MY GOD!”

you ended up passing another boat you and tubbo instantly waved to everyone on the boat a few people waved back .

“they don’t wanna wave.”

“they know their boat is bigger than ours.”

“they could easily ram us and kill us all.”

“hopefully they decide against doing that.”

the boat began weaving resulting in you, tubbo, and wilbur constantly crashing into each other, not that any of you cared you were all having the time of your lives. you pointed at a boat which was cutting off the boat jack and niki were in .

“we’ve got this in the bag boys, victory is ours!”

your boat slowed down so it could dock.

“i think we’ve won!”

“we won”!

“holy shit we won! tubbo doesn’t have to go in the sea now!”

everyone got out of the boat so you could all wait for jack and niki to reach the dock, as the two of them approached you all tubbo began to sing.

“we are the champions my friend!”

“STOP IT!”

“i have to go into the fucking water!”

you pulled niki into a hug.

“jack you cruel man.”

“did you not have fun niki..we had a great time.”

you let go of niki and stood behind tubbo placing your head on his shoulder whilst jack explained to wilbur what was going to happen if they lost.

“oh, I thought we got to decide who was thrown into the water.”

“no no no no no no!”

“well i think considering we won..”

after a small discussion as a team, you all instantly agreed that jack should be thrown into the water, you all stood on the boat as niki argued that he cant throw her into the water. a couple seconds later wilbur walks towards jack handing him the camera before picking him up.

“are you ready?”

“i don’t think the bits that funny will, i don’t think the bits that funny!”

you all screamed and laughed as jack was thrown into the water. jack complained about the temperature of the sea as he climbed back onto the boat only to be pushed off again by you and tubbo.

“that’s revenge for trying to put us on separate boats!”

you spent the rest of the day together just hanging together as a group before you said your goodbyes.

the ride back home was you excitedly explaining what your boat ride was like to your parents, once you got home you ran upstairs to your room then called tommy on discord

“how was it then?”

“tommy it was so cool, honestly i wish you could have come with us.”

“i mean you’re coming with me george and wilbur to a water course next week, you don’t have a choice.”

“oh okay, it’s a good job i’d love to be there then, tom, also what mod are we playing just so i can check i have it ready.”

“rlcraft.”

the two of you spent a good hour talking before getting ready to film a video with charlie and jschlatt for tommys youtube channel.

taglist:

@l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @c1loudee

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[writingwithcolor]

Indian-Scottish character practicing Hinduism from boarding school

@viola-cola said:

I have a half-Indian, half-Scottish character named Niraj Ajit Sonar (Ajit being his father's name) born in Scotland. His father is Marathi and immigrated to Scotland, while his mother is white. I'm mostly confident this name makes sense, but thought I should check anyway. My primary concern with this character is showing that he is a practicing Hindu when the story takes place in a boarding school. Beyond him going home for certain important holidays, how might he practice on a daily basis?

The Obvious:

If he’s had a thread ceremony, you could show that he wears it under his clothes at all times. Many Hindu boys tend to have a thread ceremony performed before they are 16. 

He might be used to taking his shoes off in his dorm room, as many diaspora South Asians do at home (The American/ British habit of wearing shoes at home still puzzles me to this day, given their preference for carpeting). 

The Less Obvious:

Whether or not he chooses to be vegetarian depends on his personal convictions, his family and also his assimilation within the UK, but as a Brahmin who openly consumes and prepares beef, even I have a certain level of guilt about consuming beef, so that’s another cue that communal dining in boarding schools might offer. I can imagine lots of family tension around meals at home where the father has issues with beef that the mother’s family just doesn’t understand (This is heavily pulled from my own life). I’ve made the mistake of almost eating beef in front my Hindu relatives when they come to visit and oof.

Sonar/ Sunar is a goldsmithing last name, so it might be fun to have relatives back in India sending him jewelry (like gold chains) or metal statues of Ganesha or Saraswati (For luck and studies) that he debates over bringing to school. It’s very typical for South Asian relatives who can afford it to send gold jewelry to favored children as gold is perceived as protective in many South Asian cultures. More practically, gold is a highly liquid asset in India. Explaining to my family that I couldn’t possibly wear the elaborate jewelry they sent me in a Western environment or the risks of displaying a sterling silver statue of Ganesha in my dorm room was a particular struggle growing up, but in this case, it could serve as a subtle nod to his caste background as well. In my case, I abandoned the silver Ganesha statue, but I did keep a prayer altar in my room that I offered incense to on a regular basis. Thankfully, my roommates had no issue, but California is also very strict about the protection of religious expression.

Coding Hinduism in British Environments

I think the best way to code his Hinduism is frankly to explore the tensions that  the climate of traditional Briish boarding schools/ Oxford/ Cambridge type can provoke for people from former colonies. This struggle strikes me as largely consistent with his Scottish/ Gaelic roots, particularly if he grew up speaking any form of Scots. For all the social mobility opportunities they offer, British boarding schools present real challenges to a person engaged with their non-British heritage. He’ll hear a lot of views on colonialism and his father’s culture (arranged marriages, dietary restrictions, stereotypes, pro-British sentiment, etc.) that directly conflict with his parents’ relatives' stances in borderline offensive ways (Particularly for the Indian side). Even geography lessons could be a potential trigger. Starting from when I was a kid, states like Maharashtra started replacing the British names for regions and cities with their pre-British names (Did anyone wonder why Bombay, Madras and Calcutta became Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata overnight?). 

I recommend talking to people of mixed desi heritage living in the UK about their experiences with British racism and xenophobia. Tiktok has a lot of great “POC at Hogwarts” clips that skewer British parochialism with great flair.

- Marika.

He might practice by praying to an idol he brought with him, or wear an elephant necklace. It doesn’t have to be an expensive metal, for the reasons that Marika mentioned. That’s what my dad would do. Mom says he would get up at five AM every day and pray while working as an oncologist.

- Jaya