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cosmicsung · 5 years ago

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as i live, without you; hwang hyunjin

as hard as it was, as impossible as it seemed... hyunjin would have wanted you to keep going without him.

masterlist in bio | 3.0k (inspired by as we live by sg wannabe and ghost of you by 5sos)

tw: death, angst

Hwang Hyunjin was the love of your life. Hwang Hyunjin was the reason why you wake up in the mornings and why you went to sleep with the biggest smile on your face no matter how hard the day was. He was your sun and moon. He was your everything. For the two years you both dated. For over a decade that you both were friends. Hwang Hyunjin gave you a reason to breathe up until the day where you woke up and your world split into two.

It felt like it was just a few days ago that you were holding onto Hyunjin’s hand. His fingers laced around yours while his thumb rubbed the back of your hand. A habit of his you grew to love amongst the other lovable things that was apart of him. You still looked back at the fond memories with a heavy heart, but after the multiple therapy sessions you felt like you could at least finally enjoy looking back at them now.

A year has passed since Hyunjin unexpectedly passed. A year since you felt your entire world crumble into pieces in front of you. Yet you could still remember the day like it happened yesterday.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It was your average Wednesday morning. You kissed Hyunjin goodbye before he left for his classes and handed him his travel mug of coffee that you poured for him. How innocent of you to think that today would have been a normal day. You went with your normal day. Feeding Kkami before leaving to your shift at the cafe since you didn’t have classes today. There wasn’t a worry in the world that you had.

You even wore a smile on your face the entire shift even if Jisung was talking your ear off and your feet were wearing you out. You had no reason to be upset, because even after a lengthy shift you would return back to your small, but comfy apartment to wrap your arms around your loving boyfriend and go to sleep knowing that you were perfectly content with your hectic life.

That was until Chan ran into the cafe franticly with tears already pooling in his eyes screaming about something you didn’t understand. He motioned you to follow him, pulling on your arm and yelling to your manager that it was an emergency. Your mind was spinning.

“Chan what’s going on?” You ask, trying to stay in pace with him as he ran through the hoards of people.

“It’s Hyunjin, he’s hurt.” He cries, not even turning around to look at you.

And that’s when you feel your world begin to crack under the pressure.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It wasn’t long after that you had to say your last goodbyes to a Hyunjin that couldn’t say anything back. It felt like an eternity sitting at the funeral hall, greeting people left and right who gave you empty condolences and smiles to help ease the pain that was in your heart. Although nothing could help heal this pain that you had felt and the only thing you thought could heal it wasn’t even possible in this day and age.

You finally greeted the last family alongside Hyunjin’s family. They smiled and told you how they were hoping for the two of you to get married and start your own family together. They laughed and cried about how they wished that the wedding would’ve been when everyone came back together, not something like this.

All you could do was blankly smile before excusing yourself to cry into Chan’s arms for the tenth time that day. How could the world be so cruel?

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Hours have passed since your last conversation with Hyunjin’s family. You could tell that both sides were hurting just as much, nobody would have wanted this. Especially for someone who was as bright and prosperous as Hyunjin.

You sat in the funeral hall, against the wall across from Hyunjin’s casket. His mother asked for it to be closed after the last family came to say their goodbyes, which meant you now sat and were staring at the wooden box. The only lights that were on were the ones in the hall as everyone had left to go home besides the staff.

You didn’t have the energy left in you to leave. You wanted to be with him every moment you could until you weren’t able to anymore. Which is why you sat and stared at the casket, at his bright smiling face in the picture, and the flowers that were sent from almost every friend and family that had heard of the devastating news.

“It’s going to be okay.” A soft voice whispers, before you felt someone sit down beside you.

You turned your head to be greeted with puffy, brown eyes and a soft smile.

“What are you still doing here Chan?” You ask, before leaning your head back.

You could hear him soft chuckle before a series of sniffles leave his system. He placed his hand on your knee and rubbed it to give you comfort.

“I couldn’t just leave you here,” He answers, “We’re all suffering without him and I know you’re taking it the hardest but you can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“I feel like it’s my fault. That it should’ve been my time, not his.” You whisper, feeling the too familiar ache in your chest returning. Your hands begin to shake as you begin to think back to Hyunjin. “Maybe if I kept him at home a little longer. Maybe if I just asked him to take the day off because he was already stressed. Maybe if I-”

“Y/N, you really need to stop. No one could’ve prevented this.” Chan reassures, before taking ahold of your hand, “Hyunjin wouldn’t have wanted you to blame yourself. You need to go on and live your life in happiness for him.”

“But how do I find happiness when the reason I wake up in the mornings is gone?” You cry, looking up at Chan.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The next few days after his funeral services ended were the worst. You sat at home, empty, most of the week while your friends came in and out of your once shared apartment. Seungmin had taken guardianship of Kkami until you were back in a better mindset of caring for another being.

Chan, Woojin and Changbin had been taking turns staying the nights to make sure you were safe, which was also recommended by your, new, therapist (thanks to Chan) and Hyunjin’s family. Jisung, Minho and Felix tried their best to bring comforting things whenever they visited after their classes.

Jisung brought over a card game that you had no energy to play, but you enjoyed watching the others play it. Minho tried to bring one of his cats to help ease the pain, but all it did was remind you of Kkami and then you cried for an hour straight. Felix brought your favorite snacks and as much as you appreciated the effort, you weren’t in the mood to be enjoying life.

Jeongin was the only one you hadn’t snapped at yet throughout the week since Hyunjin passed. You had too much of a favoring towards the boy after his numerous times that he came to the apartment to hang out with you and Hyunjin. Plus he didn’t try anything extra to help you cope. All he did on his designated day was wrap a blanket around you, cuddle up against you and put on some Disney movies. Although it didn’t help ease the pain, you did go from feeling terrible to just feeling numb.

It had almost been a week since Hyunjin passed. You were too afraid to go into the once shared bedroom because you knew his scent was on everything. From the pillows to the clothes that were left in the closet. You hadn’t step foot in the room since you were carried home by Chan after the visitation services.

Hell, it took you a few days before you agreed to shower because you were scared of closing your eyes and seeing Hyunjin’s face or seeing his reflection in the mirror.

Everything hurt and you just wished it would stop. Everything hurt and you just wished Hyunjin was back to wrap you in his arms.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

You lost track of time at this point. You didn’t know what day it was nor how long it had been since you last kissed Hyunjin’s cheek in the morning. Luckily you were good friends with the owner of the cafe you worked at, which meant you were allowed as much time off that you needed. Unfortunately it meant you didn’t leave the house at all unless one of the boys dragged you outside or it was time for your therapy sessions.

You didn’t remember the last time you got a full night’s worth of sleep. You slept on the couch now, usually with your head on someone’s lap or just in the upright position from you sitting. Still too afraid to go into your bedroom alone. Still needing the boys to go in with you whenever you needed to grab clothes from the closet.

At the point, you were too broken to the point of repair. You just wanted your Hyunjin back.

“You need to eat.” Woojin presses, sliding the bowl of ramen over to you. It was instant, but better than nothing.

You let out a sigh before poking at the noodles with the chopsticks. Just like Chan said, progress even if it was baby steps.

“Wait where is Chan?” You ask, before taking another bite into the bundle of noodles.

Woojin points to the bedroom and says he doesn’t know why Chan’s been in there for so long. It left you confused and intrigued so you put the bowl down and went to the bedroom.

The door knob was cold to the touch. It sent shivers down your spine as you faintly could remember when Hyunjin used to complain about how hard you had to turn the knob to be able to open the door.

“Chan?” You call, looking around the dark room before seeing a darkened figure leaning against the closet door. You could hear his light sniffles from the door, but you knew not to question him about it in fear of him snapping.

“Sorry, I was trying to sort out your clothes so you didn’t have to come in here that often if one of us weren’t here with you.” He pulls a smile onto his saddened face and wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt.

You shake your head and mumble a thank you but you still go to sit next to him, noticing that the hoodie he was holding wasn’t even yours but Hyunjin’s.

“He loved that hoodie,” You begin, reflecting on the amount of times you remembered him wearing it, “He said he loved it the most out of every one because you bought it for him on his birthday with your first paycheck... He really looked up to you Chan.”

Chan looks over at you, placing the hoodie into his lap and beginning to tear up. His soft smile spread onto his face but the pain that reflected in his eyes were telling such a different story.

“You can’t keep taking care of us Chan,” You mumbled, softly as you could feel your voice giving out on you, “You can’t keep helping us, or just me. You can’t keep pretending that you’re okay and hiding away like this with all the pain. You need to heal, too Chan.”

That’s when you first saw Chan crying as hard as he did. For the years you had been friends with him and the boys, you never knew Chan could cry like this. He was too focused on how the rest of the boys were at Hyunjin’s funeral to cry. He had been too focused on your wellbeing to even put his into a priority.

“It’s been so hard.” He cried, “I just miss him so much and I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Just like he did for you, you wrapped your arms around Chan pulling him close and giving the comfort that he deserved. You listened to him cry and pour his pain out to you. A pain that he had been holding in because he was too worried for everyone else. A pain that he should’ve had someone there to help him with.

“I was supposed to be his older brother. I was supposed to be there to protect him.” He sobbed, his hands trembling as he kept crying.

“We all can’t be guardian angels Chan. You have to stop blaming yourself, just like you told me to do. You were his older brother and you protected him from everything that you could. You have to remember that.” You whisper, still holding Chan in your arms.

“You have to remember that he wouldn’t want us to blame ourselves.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It’s been roughly three months since Hyunjin’s passing. Three months since you lost a part of your heart and your world, but you were making progress to living a life without the love of your life.

You were able to sleep in your bedroom again. At first it started with needing the boys to still be in the apartment in case of vivid nightmares that ended with you sobbing until you crashed due to sheer exhaustion, but now you were at the point of being alone in the apartment. Kkami was still with Seungmin, but it was better that way you suppose.

You still left Hyunjin’s side of the bed untouched. You still had dreams of where you would wake up and he was laying right beside you, smiling brightly as if nothing happened. But you were recovering. Slowly but surely.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Six months in and you finally had enough courage in you to pack away Hyunjin’s things. Chan offered to help you, but you had assured him that it was a stepping stone for you. You needed this final piece of closure from your hurt.

You opened the closet full of Hyunjin’s old clothes. A soft smile spread on your face as you could remember a memory that you shared with Hyunjin with each piece of clothing.

You managed to go through most of his clothes, pulling them down and folding them to put away in the designated donation box, without crying before you had came across one of his blazers.

It was simple and black so it looked like the others, but the small heart pin stood out to you.

You remembered pinning it on his blazer on one of your date nights in the earlier stages of your relationship. His soft, but teasing smile as he joked about you pinning his heart. As much as you wanted to cry, you knew not to.

It was a happy memory, there was no reason for you to sob over it. At least, that was until you heard a crinkle of paper when you went to straight the sleeve pocket.

‘Y/N,

It’s only been weeks since we’ve started dating, but over the years of crushing on you... I think I can truly say I’ve fallen deeply in love with you. I’m too scared to say it to your face right now, so here I am sat outside your house after I dropped you off.. writing this love letter on an old receipt I found in my pocket. I can’t hide my love for you anymore. I wish I could just scream it out to the world at this point. You are my only love, the only light that I would ever need in this dark world.

I close my eyes and I see your smiling face. Please always stay by my side. My love, Y/N.. I love you.

-Jinnie’

“You’re so stupid,” You cried, holding the letter close to your heart, “I’d never leave your side Jinnie.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The wind blew through your hair as you sat by the river. A bouquet of roses in your hand with tears already pooling in your eyes.

There wasn’t much running through your mind as you sat staring at the water ripples or the stars that were dimly light due to the clouds. All there was unsurprisingly was just Hyunjin. Although it was expected as it was officially a year since his passing.

You held the bouquet close to your heart as you silently cried at the thought of living in a world without him. Even if it wasn’t a thought anymore, it was a reality that you had dreaded.

You missed him, but you couldn’t fall into your darkness again. You worked so hard to move on just like Hyunjin would’ve wanted.

You were finally living life again without a cloud of dread above your head. And even if you still got sad and cried, you bet Hyunjin was proud of you for still going on with life just as if he had never left.

This is how you lived without Hyunjin with a heavy heart because there would be no one else like him, but you still kept going as hard as it was.

And as Hyunjin sat on his designated star, dressed in all white, he smiled brightly as he watched down on you. His heart still yearning for you who he could not have, but he was still happy.

“I knew you could do it, my love.”

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onestowatch · 5 years ago

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What Is Your 2019 Summer Anthem? | Staff Picks

“Summer anthem.” The term is thrown around in music journalism and idle conversation with such a reckless abandon that even we here at Ones To Watch are undoubtedly guilty of calling a fair share of songs a “definitive summer anthem.” Yet in spite of the arguable overuse of the term, it endures, because what is summer without a said anthem? As we find ourselves in the midst of the summer of 2019, we asked ourselves that very question.

The soundtrack to trips to the beach, twilight escapades, locking eyes at the club, wasting the days away in bed, and so much more–summer is not summer without a soundtrack. So, what single song defines the summer of 2019 for those of us at Ones To Watch?

Joji - “Sanctuary”

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A great song always feels tailored to the moment, even one as visually hyperbolic as the ocean etched road shimmying alongside the Okinawan Coast. I always love summer songs years after the fact, when they become an ether, inhaled in nostalgia over drinks or gasping laughter, a form of mental “Sanctuary.” I can’t wait for Joji’s earnest vocals to be my one call away, igniting my sonic synapses and taking me back to a hot, languid summer bus ride back from Churaumi Aquarium.

-David O’Connor

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keshi - “summer”

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Summer days are waning, real life is creeping in, and keshi’s music is here to guide you through the inescapable nature of it all. “summer” is taken from the enigmatic lo-fi R&B artist’s recently released EP skeletons and plays out with all the fleeting beauty of watching a firework burn out in the night sky. It is the score to summer flings that are drowned by the fear of what happens when real feelings develop. This is your soundtrack to sad boy and girl summer.

-Maxamillion Polo

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BURNS, A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Claudio - “Energy”

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This. This is the song that plays in the background when I lock eyes with my future ex-girlfriend at the day club. 102 degrees. Scorching hot. The woman that’ll break my heart in the worst way possible. But hey, it’s Summer 2019 and I don’t know that yet. I’m just trying to have a good time. But before we start dancing to “Energy,” let’s get A$AP Rocky out of Sweden.

-Green Lee

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SG Lewis, Clairo - “Throwaway”

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Featured on the aptly-titled Dawn, SG Lewis’ sunrise-illuminated conclusion to a wild night out, “Throwaway” is akin to capturing the very initial spark of summer love. Yet, with that spark comes the fear of abandonment. It is an otherworldly collaboration that perfectly pairs Clairo’s ethereal vocals with SG Lewis’ immaculate and understated production. Grab your summer fling, look up at the night sky, and make a wish on a shooting star while you hum the melody to “Throwaway.”

-Jenna Singer

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BAYNK, Hablot Brown - “Simmer”

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Two of my favorites decided to collaborate for this sexy number on BAYNK’s Someone’s EP II, and it contains all the sonic elements that make my heart flutter: sensual and smooth falsetto curtsey of Hablot Brown, subtle electronic enhancement courtesy of BAYNK, and a steady bass foundation that keeps you bobbing throughout. It’s the perfect addition to your next pool party DJ set, jor just the thing to alleviate the sunburn at your post-party wind-down. Simmer down, let’s go!

-Yasmin Damoui

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Dominic Fike, Kenny Beats - “Phone Numbers”

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Summer is not without its fair share of overcast moments, and Dominic Fike and Kenny Beats’ impressive outing is here to give you the perfect sonic accompaniment to those less than perfect days. “Phone Numbers” is for anyone who has ever felt that at-times endless nature of summer can indeed be the birthplace of your loneliest of times, as Fike and Kenny Beats pair buoyant production with wistful lyrical feats. This is a summer anthem that hits different.

-Jeffrey Young

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Mark Ronson, Angel Olsen - “True Blue”

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This unlikely duo has created a standout track that captures love, heartbreak, confusion, and lack of control all in one. "True Blue" is June gloom; it’s crying in the club. The song is filled with anticipation and power. It sets you in a haze that mimics those late summer nights where you contemplate all of your life decisions. This modern yet classic track is drinking banana daiquiris as you catch up with old friends who you have nothing in common with anymore. It’s clenching your jaw as you enter new uncomfortable situations in unfamiliar places. It’s dancing alone at the party, heartbroken or not, you’re alone and you accept it. I won't be able to listen to this track, or Markson Ronson’s stunning Late Night Feelings project without thinking of the summer of 2019.

-Jess Myers

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Zack Fox, Kenny Beats - “Jesus Is The One (I Got Depression)”

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Honestly, this song was created as a joke, but that seems to be the theme of hits this year. Zack Fox has been lighting up Twitter feeds with laughter for the past five years. Collaborating with rising hip-hop producer Kenny Beats organically has turned this parody into a viral TikTok hit. Name a better song about depression that came out in the past five years… I’ll wait.

-Malcolm Gray

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Rosalía - “Millionària”

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“Rosalía’s “Millionària” is the ultimate beach party song. Featuring the singer's iconic fluttering vocals, flamenco-inspired rhythms, and sun-drenched synths, this track will bring you right back to Barcelona’s sandy shores, drinking sangria with all the beautiful Spaniards during your semester abroad. Even if you can’t exactly live the lavish lifestyle Rosalía depicts in the song (because of, as she says, “fucking money man”), the track is sure to get everybody swinging their hips at your local barbecue, pool party, or summer soirée. Be sure to reapply your sunblock, because this song of the summer is extra hot.

-Brady Moses

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Emarosa - “Givin’ Up”

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Let me ask you: You are poolside drinking and “Givin’ Up” comes on. What do you do? If it doesn't get you dancing you're most likely drowning in sadness, or just drowning in general. Can we get a lifeguard, please? Either way, saxophone summer is here and Emarosa's leading the charge.

-Jimmy Smith, Editor of our sister site The Noise

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Mahalia, Burna Boy - “Simmer”

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With Hot Girl Summer in full-swing, Mahalia is bringing the perfect summer breeze to cool you down. “Simmer” sees the rising UK artist linking up with Nigerian star Burna Boy to deliver a track that balances a fervent passion with an effortless cool. Sampling Jeremy Harding’s infamous dancehall anthem “Playground Riddim,” which was, in turn, most famously sampled on Bennie Man’s “Sim Simma,” “Simmer” is the theme song to your Hot Girl Summer.

-Kendall Heyford

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Prince - “100MPH”

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Admittedly, “100mph” is a track that was originally conceived by Prince sometime in the mid-‘80s. However, with this summer’s posthumous release Originals, we catch a glimpse of the tracks that didn’t quite reach the Purple One’s perfectionist standards at the time. After an intro that can only be described as “triumphant cheese” Prince snaps into one of his most infectious melodies to date. Accentuated by a staccato vocal harmony, ripping snares and a bassline that you can chew on, this track brings the funk to the summer of 2019 like no other release I’ve heard yet this year. If this is not a summer vibe, I don’t know what is.

-Alec Wing

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Johnny Utah - "Honeypie"

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Within just a few seconds into "Honeypie," I could already predict that I'd be obsessed with this indie-funk masterpiece for months to come. Fast forward to two months later, and I still have this infectious tune on repeat well into the summer season. Not only does Johnny Utah gift us with his feel-good falsetto, but he crafts otherworldly funky pop melodies that'll have you dancing (or chasing your honeypie) in no time.

-Alissa Arunarsirakul

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Dreamville, Cozz, REASON, Childish Major - “LamboTruck”

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Dreamville or TDE? Dreamville or TDE? Why not Dreamville and TDE? While we constantly try to compare the two, “LamboTruck” shows that these two can play nice–except for REASON threatening to rob J.Cole. You won’t be hearing this in the club, but it’s my song of the summer because it packs a punch and shows you how who’s up next in the rap game. After you bump this song, might as well go listen to all of Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III.

-Chase Nathan

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PVRIS - “Death of Me”

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Who hasn’t fallen down the rabbit hole by falling for someone… and no better time than summer to dive into something new, or realize that you’re already under the spell of a “sweet poison” and may need to get out immediately. PVRIS struts into this track woke to the precariousness of having such awesome yet powerful feelings. All wrapped up in a power anthem about becoming powerless, PVRIS gives us an outlet for the war between head and heart that we’ve all felt. It is a war that only gets worse at night, that we all fight, and that fvcks with our sense of wrong and right.

-Alexa Schoenfeld

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Bastille - “Nocturnal Creatures”

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My pick is off of Doom Days, Bastille's latest concept album which chronicles the various stages of the night. “Nocturnal Creatures” captures the thrill of being free of the stresses and responsibilities of the day to experience what nighttime has to offer. The song is perfect for a late, summer night drive as frontman Dan Smith melodically entices listeners to take control of the night and make the most of the few hours of freedom.

-Allissa Williams

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Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby - “Cash Shit”

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How could we even talk summer anthems without mentioning Megan Thee Stallion? Hot Girl Summer has taken over the world and Megan Thee Stallion is leading the charge. More than just the meme of the summer, “Cash Shit” illustrates exactly why the Houston rapper is the next big thing in rap. Unapologetic, sexually charged, and utterly infectious, Megan Thee Stallion and “Cash Shit” will be playing on repeat for many summers to come.

-Miranda Hyman

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LAUNDRY DAY - “CHA”

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Well, my boss keeps blasting this from his office so that must mean it is a summer banger! The infectious project of five high schoolers out of New York, LAUNDRY DAY surely knows a thing or two about capturing the timeless energy of summers spent running around with friends, dreading the day when school rolls back into session. “CHA” is summer youth encapsulated.

-Hunter Halpert

#megan thee stallion #dreamville #johnny utah #mahalia #prince #rosalia #kenny beats #dominic fike #keshi #joji #clairo #mark ronson #angel olsen #ASAP Rocky #sabrina claudio

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supinelsun · 6 years ago

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written on: 01/20/19 11:41am sgt

title: “story, memory, scenery”

topic: bts loveyourself tour in singapore 01/19/19 7pm sg @ the singapore national stadium

gUYS CAN YOU BELIEVE I GOT TO SEE THEM LIVE LAKSJDLJS last night was truly a special night. having been a fan since debut, getting to see bts perform has always been in my bucket list. the last time they came to sg was back in 2014, but back then i was just a casual fan, i wasn’t really an ARMY yet. i really got into them the next year, 2015, and ever since then i’ve always dreamed of seeing them in concert, just like many other fans around the world.

back in mid-october 2018, they announced a few of their asian destinations for their LYS tour. singapore, was one of them and i definitely was not expecting that. my best friend ( @ughjmn ) and i completely freaked out. but the first thing that came to mind was the price of the tickets. kpop concerts have always been expensive here in sg, and i thought i wouldnt bet able to go because i had already gone to an exo concert back in march 2018. luckily enough, my parents allowed me to go and bought the tickets as a very early xmas present for me. i’m so grateful for that and i’ll make sure to re-pay them somehow. on the day of the ticket sales i was so nervous that i was shaking, i was also preparing myself just in case i didn’t get tickets. buT PLOT TWIST i got ‘em lol @ughjmn and i were screaming because we never thought we’d get to watch them. once we bought the tickets, we began counting down the days till the concert.

time flew by really quickly and next thing we knew, we were seated inside the national stadium, with at least 45-50k other ARMYs waiting for the concert to start. we still couldn’t believe it, everything felt like it was a dream. the songs i was THE most excited to see live was ofc all the solos, outro: tear and answer: love myself. especially, love myself, as it’s a song i hold close to my heart. i thought i would cry but i didn’t lol i think i was just having so much fun.

their stage presence was no joke. every member made sure that the crowd was hyped up and that they were enjoying the show !! during the ment, every member spoke in english and i was so so so proud !!

they’ve come such a long way and they’re starting to get really fluent they’re so cute uwu tae said that we are all part of his “story, memory and scenery” and that’s so beautiful i love him,,, hobi also said that they were really enjoying singapore and wished that they could do another show the following day ! yoongi said that he was having a good night, and the translator said it exactly like that, but yoongi corrected him and said “not good, great night !!” seeing yoongi having a wonderful time honestly makes mY HEART HURT SO MUCH I LOVE HIM jimin sang a little bit of promise, i think he knew that we wanted to hear him sing it, so thank you jimin !! hes such an angel his voice is also angelic uwu blessedt ,,, jin wore these ridiculous sunglasses but tbh ?? only kim seokjin can pull it off he also screamed SINGAPORE really loudly and im not gonna lie, i was kinda hoping he would and im so glad he did wahahAHAHA and he ended his ment with “thank you, finish” hes so cute such a dork uGH ALSO namjoon was glowing,,, his melanin be poppin’ or something and you could really see how much fun he’s having !! jungkook also said “it’s us, your boys !!” or was it “show me your voice” lol idk which one and the crowd went nutS i was one of them hehehe honestly im so happy they enjoyed their time here and i wish they have some time off to go sightseeing or something

the bts sg army fanclub also organised a nice little event and made banners for everyone to hold up when the screen said “ARMY TIME”. the banner’s in korean and it translates to “from the day the universe was born, ARMYs love was destined” im crying its so cute and the fact they took the time to do this and sg armys were kind enough to donate in order to have the banners made ?? :’)) theyre the best. also, while we were in line to purchase an army bomb, a lot of people came up to us and gave us photo cards they made and someone even gave us bt21 shaped cookies ??? like ??? armys are the best and theyre so kind ! everyone at the concert was really nice and people were quite considerate of their neighbours and im glad no one got hurt,,, except for jimin maybe he fell during DNA because the floor was kinda wet i hope hes ok and didnt hurt himself too much

we were also robbed of go go but at least we got to see baepsae and boyz with fun :’))))) gosh im so happy i got to see outro: tear live,,, it’s my favourite song and the rapline stage presence ?? how am i still alive ? every single one of the solo stages too were so good ??? i almost cried at epiphany but i didnt let those tears fall or else i would be able to watch our king kim seokjin perform it and the truth untold wAS SO BEAUTIFUL uGH their vocals were so stable and im so proud of the vocal line !! thankfully no one got seriously hurt during the concert and nothing bad happened, not even any technical problems ! thank you to the staff who made sure everything was perfect and working !!

getting to see the people i admire so much perform means the world to me. i’m also really happy my best friend was there with me to share the experience. we both love and look up to bts so much so this concert holds such a special place in our hearts. my birthday is also in a couple days, so this was a really great way to celebrate it early hehehehe last night was just so special i don’t think i’ll ever forget it. i lost my voice from all the screaming i did lol but tbh i think everyone did i also got sunburnt from waiting in line to buy an army bomb for so long alsdkjfjlkfj

To the 7 people who are teaching me how to love myself and are showing me that it’s more than okay to be myself, thank you. I love you so much and you mean the world to me and to many others around the world. Your music, lyrics and stories gives us happiness, courage and confidence to face the real world. Thank you for sharing it with us.

#personal #kuma rambles #bts #bangtan #love yourself #love yourself tour #love yourself in singapore #bts suga

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luciahunter6 · 6 years ago

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Favourite moments of 2018

Just before the year closes out, I thought I’ll run through my best moments of 2018. Here they are in chronological order:

End January: Extensive 4-day Numazu pilgrimage. This wasn’t my first trip down here, but it was my first one after they introduced the stamp rally. Also, it was the longest I ever stayed down there. Freezing my ass off on the cold Senbonhama beach, visiting Mission Bay for their fluffy pancakes, a whole lot of cycling until my butt hurt. It was a genuinely relaxing experience after a stressful event I helped organize, the town’s vibe is really just soothing when you’re into LL.

Early Feb: Taiwan for Aqours Fan Meeting. I never thought I would fly to one of the East Asian countries just for a Fan Meeting level of event, but I absolutely did not regret this one at all. Excellent production value, superb selection of fan-letters, questions and mini-games, as well as a really great team of translators that TLed and retained nuances of their sentences and jokes without delay. My seats were plenty decent so it was a good view, and I also distinctly remember all the fan projects they set up. I was awed by the love of the local fan community, they’re good people. Also I’ve never been to Taiwan before so it was a good experience seeing new things. There was also a post-apocalyptic vibe in the night cityscape after the rain which I have fond memories of.

Mid May: Running into Wendy online over Discord again after 4-5 years apart? This seems like a weird thing to include here but basically back in the day when we were into Love Live!, we were both authors who would talk about our fics. And then subsequently she invited me into a LisaYuki server where I’ve met some really great people- people I’m not close to by any means, but they still show me more support than I deserve. All in all, I’m really grateful for this chance encounter for all the wonderful people I’m thankful to have met. Mid May: BanG Dream! 5th Live. This isn’t a good moment, but a painful one. I’ve talked a lot about how my planning for 5L DV started since last year, but this was one of the first moments that actually cemented my personal, emotional commitment to it. I cried a lot during this period after watching the videos, even if I hadn’t been following them beforehand. I’m still not sure why. I guess this was when I truly became fully devoted. This might also be the first time I acknowledged and put into words just what I had been doing up to that point: my personal mission to show other people the dreams that I was once shown.

Early-Mid June: Aqours 3rd Live trip. This was a hurricane trip starting with 3L Saitama, /r/LL offkai, a Numazu pilgrimage and then 3L Osaka. I really loved staying at Awashima Hotel- with a suite split between four people, it’s honestly not that bad price-wise. Having cars for us to do our pilgrimage was also pretty cool, I got to hit up spots I never would’ve been able to do otherwise, such as that mountain-top parking lot. 3L Osaka was also decently good, definitely better than Saitama. I mean overall 3L was pretty bad setlist-wise, but at least the experience was improved. But my favourite memory of 3L Osaka was our two Airbnbs: I was staying at ONIBE Airbnb on one end, and Whales Airbnb was a 5-minute walk away. On the last night, most of us just crammed around the Whales’ dining table and talked for a couple of hours. I was distinctly struck by the feeling of this Sado concept, 一期一会 (lit. One chance, one meeting). Every single meetup is precious, every moment is once in a lifetime. I love these people, and times like this is when I realise how insanely cool it is that such a connection can happen between people from such diverse walks of life around the world. That’s the power of our hobby.

Early August: BanG Dream! 5L DV in SG, Japan Park. The moment of catharsis here was real, watching everything come to fruition after a lengthy struggle. This was definitely my most impressionable moment and my achievement of the year. Finally being able to set that burden down was such an impossible relief. And the gifts and fan messages I received- irreplaceable. There were many things that could’ve gone wrong along the way, but were fine thanks to support and guidance from the people around me. Given the chance, I would like to challenge myself in similar ways in the future to see where I can further improve.

Mid September: Roselia Fan Meeting. I had committed to this one shortly after hearing about Akesan’s graduation. After being unable to attend 5L, I knew I didn’t want to sit by idly and be unable to witness this happening all over again. And thankfully, I made it into the night session with my own code from my own CD (my 3 donated ones failed heh). Night also kindly provided me with a ticket for the day session, so I was able to attend both. This was actually my first time witnessing a Roselia performance live. I still remember the excellent pacing of the sessions, and the fun questions and fanmail. And the live segments- watching Yukki’s performance was the first time I was truly able to accept her as Lisa in my eyes. Seeing them perform was amazing. Of course, those hand-written messages during the end of the night session, which caused literally everyone to break down aside from Akesan. And their final appearance back on stage as a band of four, asking for permission to turn their next event into a live performance. It was one of Roselia’s most powerful moments that I was grateful to have witnessed first-hand.

Early November: Writing my first fanfic in years. This is a minor one but something else I’m proud of. Writing a new piece was one of my goals for 2017 that I hadn’t been able to complete. I was glad I could do this again in 2018 with the help of Bandori.

Early November: Roselia Live Vier. Specifically, the reveal of Shizaki Kanon for the encore. Even though I knew what was coming beforehand, I was caught up in the hype: there was a seriously epic moment when the audience realised what they were in for as her back appeared in the pre-encore video. The noise went off the charts, and it only went even crazier as the staff came out onto stage to wheel the drums to one side. Absolutely lovely production.

Mid November: CharaExpo USA. Another insane rush with the costume project. This was honestly one of the most stressful things I had to do, almost as difficult as Japan Park & 5L DVs. But we pulled through together in the end, as a team, as a community. Of course, finally being able to meet a whole bunch of people I’ve been waiting to meet was amazing as well. And the fan messages I got, which I was really thankful for- they give me the courage to keep pushing on, to do what’s best for everyone. And oh, that moment when Nonchan made her surprise appearance on stage as well. I made sure I was there to witness the crowd’s reaction from the back and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Was even crazier than Vier’s audience, honestly.

Early December: BanG Dream! 6L Day 1: Brave New World by RAISE A SUILEN. Sneaking in just at the end of the year, RAS's live was a surprising contender for memorable moments of the year. I’ve always liked Electronic and House music, but damn, that was a show alright. A DECLARATION OF XXX was impossibly hyped on site. I can’t wait for them to release it.

Overall, a lot of things might have changed in my life, but I feel like the most visible changes were in the last few months.

It might have been the release from a lot of stress, having been working towards JPSG and BD 5L DVs. Or maybe it was having those exact things under my belt, having actual experience that gave me a little bit more confidence. Having been through all these things gives me not only precious memories in the past, but also more certainty in knowing what I am doing.

Honestly, 2018 has been a really good year to me, a pleasant change from the shitfest that was the year before. I’m thankful for all the opportunities that were given to me, all the awesome people I met along the way, and all the challenges that I was able to conquer.

I hope 2019 will be a good year for us all, too.

#reflections #personal #goodbye 2018

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nothingeverlost · 8 years ago

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All You Have to Do (Is Call My Name) (SG-1 AU fic)

I don’t know why my brain thought the world needed an SG-1 AU fic done in the style of Gilmore Girls, but my brain came up with the idea somehow and now I’m obsessing over gruff diner owner Jack, hypercaffeinated mom Sam, her brilliant son Daniel, her complicated relationship with absentee father Jacob, and her best friend Murray.

This is me, getting a feel for this sandbox. I have so many ideas about where Sha’re and Vala and Cam and so many others fit in, and how their stories develop.

This is eventually Sam/Jack but not in this fic.

Opinions and constructive concrit always welcome.

“Two coffees, please. And a muffin.” Daniel couldn’t eat anything, not with the knots in his stomach, but his mom would be hungry when she reached the diner. Chances were pretty good she’d skipped lunch.

“You’re going to stunt your growth.” Jack groused, even as he reached for two mugs.

“That’s a myth, and since I’m taller than both of my parents and almost sixteen I’m probably pretty close to being done growing, even if it were true.” The diner was almost empty, and at a little after three in the afternoon there wasn’t anyone else with a coffee cup on their table. The gurgle coming from the pot told Daniel that it was fresh coffee; no matter how much Jack rolled his eyes he was used to their ways and always had the caffeine ready.

“Eat your muffin.” Jack nudged the plate with the freshly warmed muffin towards him, then set two steaming mugs on the table. Daniel reached for the coffee, taking a tentative sip, wondering if even that was too much for his stomach. It was coffee, though, and it was good. “The muffin’s for my mom.”

“Glad to hear that.” Sam Carter took off her jacket and hung it on the back of the chair before sitting down. Like her son she reached for the coffee first. “It’s freezing out there.”

“You’re teaching the kid horrible eating habits. What’s wrong with hot chocolate?”

“Nothing, especially with a little shot of Bailey’s.” Sam grinned. Jack’s grumbling just meant he cared. He was a good friend. With a smirk she looked up at him. “Maybe I should have thought twice before putting coffee in his baby bottle, but it seemed to make him stop crying. Still works like a charm.”

“You’re impossible.” Jack left with one last eyerolls, heading for the counter and customers that probably didn’t tease so much. Mother and son shared a conspiratorial grin, but Daniel’s faded quickly,

“You okay, kid? You’re pretty quiet for a Monday. Don’t you have a fresh new round of homework to be excited about?” Sam turned her muffin upside down, eating from the bottom. The top was the best part. She only picked at it, despite her missed lunch, waiting for her son to let him know what was bothering him. Usually it was the kids in class who interrupted discussions, or the dreaded physical ed requirement.

“I picked up the mail after school.” The envelope in his pocket felt like it weighed pounds, not ounces. He set it on the table, facing his mom. The embossed seal was easy to read. Alteran Academy.

“You haven’t opened it yet.” Sam had knots of her own in her stomach.

“I couldn’t.” He drew his hands back, wrapping them around his coffee cup. “What if…”

“We could plan for all the what ifs, or we can plan for what this actually says.” Sam picked up the envelope, turning it over so it was less intimidating. “Do you want me to do it, or should we just stare and hope some latent telepathy skills kick in?”

“You do it. But first...” It was too late; the envelope was open and Sam held a single piece of cream colored stationary in her hand. It only took a few lines on a single piece of paper to reject someone. Did it take more than one to be an acceptance?

“Dear Ms. Carter, we are happy to inform you that we have a vacancy at Alteran Academy starting immediately. Due to your son’s excellent credentials and your enthusiastic pursuit of his enrollment we would be happy to accept him as soon as the first semester's tuition has been received." Sma hid an almost involuntary wince when she saw just how many zeros were in the payment. It wasn’t anything Daniel needed to worry about. “You did it, kid. You’re in.”

“I’m in?” It took a minute for it to sink in, Daniel blinking owlishly from behind his classes. He was in. He was going to Alteran. Forgetting anyone who might be watching he raced out of his chair, throwing himself at his mom. She’d had the same thought; they ended up hugging in the middle of two tables, the center of attention for the few patrons in the diner. Jack couldn’t help watching either, not noticing when someone asked him for pie, and snapping at them when asked a second time.

Daniel was reading the letter over for the fifth time at least when Jack brought over a slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. He hadn’t thought about the fact that he was actually hungry now that he wasn’t nervous. “What’s this for?”

“When something good happens there’s supposed to be cake to celebrate,” Jack said with a shrug. He topped off their coffee cups and moved on to the next table before Daniel could manage a thank you.

“How hard do you think it is to rob a bank?” Sam wanted to throw the phone against the wall, so she set it down with deliberate caution. If she broke it she’d just have to buy another one and she was already so far in the red. She settled for wadding up the bill in her hand instead. Damn it. No partial payments; she either paid in full on Monday or Daniel would lose his spot at Alteran to the next person on the list.

“I do not believe the benefits would outweigh the risks if you were to attempt such a thing.” Murray pulled off his grease stained shirt. Late afternoon meant a shift from working in the garage to teaching Lok'nel in his studio, and his first class would be arriving in ten minutes. Sam would work for another hour before locking up the garage.

“I need to find something I can sell. Some secret treasure I’ve forgotten about until now.” She eyed her bike, parked in the corner of the garage. It wasn’t the first time she’d considered it, but the chances of finding a buyer with cash ready in less than three days was slim, and keeping it a secret from her son would be impossible. He knew how she felt about her bike. She’d built it from scrap, completely on her own.

“Perhaps if we took out a mortgage on the garage...”

“Don’t even think about it.” Murray had always gone above and beyond to help her out, giving her a job, being her friend, and when she’d first arrived in town seven months pregnant and alone giving her a place to stay. She and Daniel had lived above the garage until he was four and she’d been able to put a down payment on a house. She wasn’t going to let her friend put up collateral for her son’s school.

“I believe there is one other alternative we have not discussed. Should you not call…”

“No,” Sam snapped. Anything but that. “I’ll rather recreate the trash compactor scene from Star Wars, complete with the multi-tentacled monster and the smell.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way.” As Murray turned to leave, however, he did not sound at all convinced.

Damn it.

The house looked the same. There were less flowers; the last time she’d been there it had been Easter and spring had been in bloom. Even flowers, though, didn’t stop the place from looking gray. Muted. Lacking color and looming far too high above her as if aiming to block the sun completely. Sam reluctantly left her helmet on her bike and knocked on the front door.

“The General is in his study.” The maid that answered the door was new, or at least newer than Easter. Then again staff didn’t usually last too long in her father’s house. “I will see if he is receiving company.

“What, you don’t recognize me from the portrait?” Sam nodded at the portrait hanging in the hall, an almost life sized affair painted when she was eight. Her father was in uniform, though he’d only been a colonel then. Her mother was the only one in the portrait smiling. Sam had been too anxious to get out of the dress and get back to the fort she’d been building. “Don’t worry, I know where the office is.”

Sam ignored the maid’s protest and followed the hall to the last door on her right. For most of her childhood it had been shut, and she was rarely allowed inside. Unless she was in trouble, of course.. Even now she knocked rather than just letting herself in.

“Enter.” Her father had retired, not even a general could work forever, but he still consulted for the Air Force. There was a neat pile of folders on one side of his desk, and a report open in front of him. Other than a bronze statue of a F-100 Super Sabre, the first plane he’d ever flown, his desk was bare. There wasn’t a single photo.

“Hey dad.” She tried to keep it casual, as if just showing up to see him was normal and not something to be avoided unless dictated by a major holiday.

“Samantha. Is it a bank holiday I was unaware of or should I assume the world is ending?” He looked up at her, and Sam was certain he was taking in the jeans, the black leather jacket, the short hair, and finding her lacking.

“I was in the area and I just wanted to say hi.” There was a chair in front of the desk, but sitting there would feel a little too much like she was telling him about her report card. Or the two blue lines on her pregnancy test. “Um, hi.”

“How much do you need?” Jacob Carter leaned back in his seat.

“You think the only possible reason I could be here is because I need money?” How she wished she could prove him wrong, but Daniel’s future mattered more than anything. A good school not only meant he could finally be challenged by his courses, but it gave him a better chance at reaching his goal of going to Harvard. “When have I ever come to you for money?”

“When have you ever come to me for anything since you were sixteen?” He looked certain and a little smug. He didn’t look sad or remorseful. She was tempted to leave, would have if it was just about her, but kept reminding herself that this was for her son and there was literally no other choice.

“Daniel was accepted to Alteran Academy. He can start on Monday.”

“It’s a good school, and only five minutes away. He’ll do well there. After all he’s a Carter.” Her father smiled, nodding proudly as if Daniel was his son, and not hers.

“They need an enrollment fee and the first semester's tuition before he can start. They won’t work with me on an installment plan.” It was as close as she’d ever gotten to holding her hand out to her father.

��Tell me how much they need and I’ll write you a check.” Sam tried to hide her shock when he capitulated so easily.

“You will?” No begging, no convincing, no getting on her knees and promising anything he wanted?

“He’s my grandson, he deserves the best. However…” Sam winced. It was too much to think she’d actually walk out with a check and no new chains around her ankles. “I want something in exchange.”

“I’ll pay you back the money. With interest.” She’d figure out how to make it work. Maybe instead of the classes she was looking at she’d take out a second job.

“I don’t need you to do that. I consider it an investment in the future. And I’m a man that likes to keep track of my investments. What I want is dinner, once a week.”

“Excuse me?” He couldn’t have really said that, could he. They barely made it through three meals a year without something that looked like frost bite from the chilled atmosphere at the dinner table.

“If I’m going to contribute to Daniel’s life then I want to be a part of it. You get your money and I get dinner on Friday nights. I don’t think two hours a week is too much to ask for. Besides, some day this will be his, he should know what the world holds for him.” Her father looked around the office. Sam looked up at the ceiling, to the silent rooms above. She’d run from this house at soon as she’d been able, and had made certain her own home, and Daniel’s, was nothing like it.

“I don’t want him to know where the money is coming from.” He didn’t need to feel awkward, or upset.

“I’ll see the both of you tomorrow night then, Samantha. And I’ll have the check ready for you.” It felt like blackmail.

“Thanks, dad.” She almost managed to keep from sounding sarcastic.

“I will pay you six thousand eight hundred and twelve dollars for a cup of coffee.” When Daniel arrived she’d join him at a table, but for the moment Sam slid onto a stool at the counter. The Alteran Academy bill was still in her pocket, feeling like a millstone.

“One of these days the coffee pot’s going to break and I’m not going to replace it.” Jack poured a cup of coffee in his biggest mug, sliding it across the counter.

“Don’t even joke.” Sam didn’t even think about temperature before taking a swig. Jack’s coffee never disappointed. Thank god for small favors.

“Tough day?” Jack had a towel in one hand, but didn’t seem to be concerned with cleaning the counter. He leaned in, his voice lowering. “You okay, Carter?”

“Just tired.” It wasn’t a lie, but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth. Jack raised a single eyebrow, damn the man for being perceptive. “Sometimes this town can seem a bit much. If I sneeze Jonah will have cold medicine at the counter before I get to the store. You can’t change the color of your front door without a town debate about appropriate shades. There’s no such thing as a secret from anyone once Hank learns about something. But never once have I felt like I was alone here. Never have I felt like an outsider. I like this place and I like this life I’ve built and I’m not ashamed of it. I didn’t make a mistake, I made a life.”

“I’m still painting my door whatever color I want, no matter what Hank and the town council come up with.” Jack grinned wryly. “If you tell me who made you feel like you have to justify your life I can add a few choice ingredients to their next meal.”

Sam tried for a moment to imagine Major General Jacob Carter sitting in Jack’s diner. The image didn’t gel. “I’d rather have more coffee.”

“Spoilsport.” Jack topped off her coffee as the bell above the door rang.

“Starting without me?” It wasn’t surprising that Daniel’s bag landed on the ground with a dull ‘thud’ when he took it off. This morning he’d carried three textbooks, a biography, a novel, and a collection of short stories. If he’d been to the library today there were quite possibly a few more books.

“Just the appetizer round.” Sam held up her coffee cup. She bent to pick up the bag at her own feet, holding it out to him. “I picked up a couple of school uniforms for you. You’re going to have to figure out how to tie an actual tie, they don’t make the clip on kind.”

“I’ll manage.” Daniel peaked in the bag, grinning at the embroidered patch on the blue jacket. “The entire school dresses the same, and no one cares about what you’re wearing. It’s going to be awesome.”

“Let’s get a table, kid. You can try on the uniform at home, and youtube the tie tying thing.” The smile on her kid’s face took the edge off the tension she still carried from her dad’s house. “Jack, I think it’s a burger kind of night. Extra fries.”

“Fries don’t count as a vegetable, you know.” He brought them their burgers and fries, though. And when they were done he brought them a piece of cake.

#sg-1 #sg-1 fic #jack/sam #stargate fic #stargate sg-1 #sam carter #jack o'neill #daniel jackson #teal'c

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financingideas-blog · 6 years ago

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Aspire Capital offers fast finance for SMEs in Southeast Asia

New Post has been published on https://financeqia.com/must-see/aspire-capital-offers-fast-finance-for-smes-in-southeast-asia/

Aspire Capital offers fast finance for SMEs in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is tipped to grow more than six-fold to reach more than $200 billion per year, according to a report co-authored by Google, with e-commerce accounting for the dominant share. The emergence of e-commerce platforms like Alibaba’s Lazada and U.S.-listed Shopee have enabled online entrepreneurship across the region, but still financial support for online sellers, who are basically SMEs, is lagging.

That’s where Singapore-based Aspire Capital, a six-month-old organization focused on speedy SME lending, is hoping to make a difference.

The company certainly has opportunity. With a cumulative population of over 600 million consumers and a rising middle class, Southeast Asia is increasingly an attractive market for businesses of all kind, and online companies in particular. Chinese giants Alibaba and Tencent have long devoted significant resources to the region where, like India, they see significant growth potential. E-commerce is the clear winner, in terms of size, with the e-Conomy SEA report — a joint research project between Google and Singapore sovereign fund Temasek — forecasting e-commerce revenue will hit $88 billion by 2025 from $10.9 billion in 2017.

Data from the e-Conomy SEA report

The crux of its problem is that online sellers who use Lazada, Shopee or other platforms that are forgoing profit in order to grow, are ironically less able to scale their business since there are few ‘e-commerce friendly’ financing options.

That problem became apparent to Aspire founder and CEO Andrea Baronchelli during a four-year stint with Lazada Singapore where, as CMO, he identified a financing disconnect for Lazada merchants.

“I saw the problem while trying to rally small businesses trying to grow in the digital economy,” Baronchelli told TechCrunch in an interview.

“The problem is really about providing working capital to small business owners. We started with online sellers, but we have expanded a bit as we see demand. There are 65 million small businesses in Southeast Asia, that’s ten times more than the U.S. so we see so much potential,” he added.

Aspire founder and CEO Andrea Baronchelli pictured while at Lazada

Today, Aspire Capital covers Singapore where it has expanded beyond e-commerce merchants to cover other things of SMEs who seek loans, primarily for working capital as Baronchelli explains. So far, he added, it has served loans to over 100 businesses. Typically, its spread goes from as low as SG$5,000 to up to SG$100,000, that’s around $3,600-$73,500 in U.S. terms.

The company was founded in early 2018 and already it has done plenty. It was part of the Y Combinator Winter 2018 cohort and it has closed a $9 million seed round to kick its business off with the working capital that it needs itself.

That round included a range of investors such as Europe-based Hummingbird, New York’s Mark II Capital, ex-Sequoia partner Yinglan Tan’s Insignia Ventures Partners and Y Combinator.

The principle behind the business is to make business financing quick and simple, Baronchelli said.

So rather than stacks of paperwork, SME owners fill out online forms and get a response the same day. Large parts of the application and review process are automated using a proprietary risk assessment engine, but Baronchelli said that ultimately a human makes the final call on whether to accept the application or not.

“We want to really be fast,” Baronchelli explained. “SMEs need quick decisions, they cannot wait three months for a bank. They need super quick, fast and no paperwork.”

The application process for companies seeking loans from Aspire Capital

He paints an example of online merchants who typically buy inventory from China which is sold customers within three to six months. If the business has a track record, it can take a loan to increase its stock and grow its revenues and profit, he explained.

Singapore may be a key market in Southeast Asia, but with a population of just over five million expansion is top of mind for Aspire. Baronchelli said he is doing due diligence on the first market expansion which he expects will happen before the end of this year. He expects that the business will raise further capital, perhaps towards the tail end of this year, which would be used to expand more aggressively across Southeast Asia in 2019.

He is also occupied building out the team. Right now, Aspire has ten people but he is keen to bring in ten to fifteen more staff, particularly on the tech side of the business.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com

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jeannesgarrison · 6 years ago

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Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

When the world’s leaders for sustainable aviation fuels have a general meeting the week before the COP24 global climate sessions (this year in Poland), you can bet that the focus will be breaking the “You Can Have Two out of Three Conundrum” of aviation fuels. Which is to say: affordable, available at scale, and sustainable, pick any two of the three.

Fossil fuels are (usually) affordable and always available at scale. Sustainable jet fuels that are available at scale have generally not been affordable to date, and affordable sustainable fuels have been mostly explored at bench scale, so far.

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Turns out that Shell Aviation and SkyNRG have commenced the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to international airlines KLM, SAS and Finnair at San Francisco Airport (SFO). The fuel is produced by World Energy, currently the only at0scale SAF refinery worldwide, at the Paramount refinery in Los Angeles, and is made from used cooking oil, resulting in a fuel that has significantly lower lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel. In general, sustainable aviation fuel has a reduction potential of 60-80%, compared to conventional jet fuel.

And, isn’t this the same refinery that provided diesel and jet fuel blends for which the Navy paid $2.07 a gallon in late 2015? (And, though that was a 10 percent biofuels blend, the same refinery won a competitive bid in 2017 for a 30 percent biofuels blend).

So what’s not to like? In the context of aviation demand, running at billions of gallons worldwide and every drop of that airlines would like to switch-over to sustainable aviation fuels — there’s the problem of Peak FOG.

No that’s not something you see in San Francisco around November; it refers to a global shortage of waste Fats, Oils and Greases. Turns out the world runs out of affordable, sustainable liquid alternatives to fossil fuels faster than it runs out of fossils.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

Which is why the talk of CAAFI was, in a nutshell, all about wood — not virgin timber, mind you, or even the choice parts of the timber supply chain that become 2x4s or round logs. No, there’s no Frame-House vs Fuel in here. It’s the needles, tops, branches that are the waste products of our usual applications for wood. Plus, thinnings as we take dead trees out of forests to limit fire risk.

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The 2,000 page FY2018 Omnibus Spending Bill signed by President Trump on March 23, 2018, in Title IV General Provisions, on page 866, states; “That the Federal policy relating to forest bioenergy- must be consistent across all Federal departments and agencies, shall recognize the full benefits of the use of forest biomass for responsible forest management and recognizes biomass as a renewable energy source. The only limitations is that, the use of forest biomass for energy production does not cause conversion of forests to non forest use”.

CJ Evans (Managing Director, American Diversified Energy Consulting Services) added, “Some background on this language. I first tried to advance legislation in 2007 (through Rep. Adam Putnam’s office) to make the definitions of biomass consistent across all federal laws. There were almost a dozen different definitions. I hit a buzz saw of opposition from interest groups and abandoned the effort. Mark Riedy also got involved at one point and several groups wrote white papers in 2014 and 2015, without making any progress.

“I was working on other issues during the last 5 months of 2017 (restoration of funding for Title 17 and EERE at DOE and removal of a provision in ag appropriations that would have eliminated USDA staff working on renewable energy programs) but had contact with the offices that could fix the problem with not being able to use diseased trees from national forests and have the wood quality as renewable biomass. So I wrote a short bullet list with some suggested language and gave it to a couple of these offices … and it was included in the Omnibus Spending Bill. Certainly one of easiest legislative victories I’ve ever undertaken.”

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

Consider these. Neste (NEF.F, NESTE.HE, NTOIF, NTOIY), 910 million gallons of existing capacity and a capacity-adding project underway. World Energy, 60 million gallons of existing capacity, with a project underway to expand to 300 million gallons. Diamond Green Diesel (a joint venture between Valero (VLO) and Darling Ingredients (DAR)) with 170 million gallons in place and expanding capacity towards a goal of 300 million gallons. REG (REGI), 70 million gallons in place in Louisiana, and a project underway in partnership with Phillips 66 to build new capacity in Washington state.

And that’s not taking into account companies such as Red Rock Biofuels (first commercial under construction), Fulcrum Bioenergy (first commercial under construction), SG Preston (first commercial under development), Ryze Renewables (first commercial under development), and EnerSysNet (pilot under development), among many more. Not to mention the companies pursuing alcohol-to-jet, including LanzaTech, Gevo and Vertimass.

The feedstocks

Think residues. That’s where the sustainability has, so far, met the economics. There have been three basic thrusts, to date. First, the afore-mentioned foray into waste FOG. There is municipal solid waste, which Fulcrum is using. There is waste wood, which Red Rock has been using. And, there has been waste land — targeting lands that have fallen out of traditional agricultural production because of crop disease or changing economics with traditional crops — Agrisoma and the SPARC consortium in Florida are targeting land that in years gone by would have been home to citrus or cattle in South Florida.

CORSIA fuels, baby

Perhaps the most welcome news of the floor is at last a single word that we can use to replace all the monikers and acronyms for sustainable aviation furls. SPK, SAF, CARB fuel, RJ just to name three of many.

Now we know we can simply call them CORSIA fuels. For the CORSIA Global Carbon Offsetting Scheme that the airlines have established. Which is not a carbon tax or emissions trading, and it applies only to international flights (which represent about 67 percent of commercial airlines fuel use).

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

On concerns that airlines will simply buy offsets and ignore fuels. Young predicts: “Watch what happens to the market over 15-20 years as countries move to meet Paris and CORSIA obligations, it will be a tight offset market.”

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“When I was the nominee for Secretary of the Navy and waiting for my confirmation, what kept jumping out at me in the briefings I received was fuel, how it could be used as a weapon against us. We set a policy goal that no later than 2020 half of fuel would come from non-fossil. When i did that frankly the technology and the economics weren’t there, but we believed that we could save the navy and taxpayers money by doing i, and i saw energy as a national security argument and alternative fuels as a key part of that energy security.

“I got a little push back on that particularly from Congress where one legislator said “you’re the secretary of the navy not energy. I said that the navy has always led in energy transformation, sail to coal, coal to oil, oil to nuclear, and every time we did that there were all these naysayers. They would say, things like ‘why are you giving up all these coaling stations for this unproven oil technology,’ and every time single they were wrong and they are completely wrong about alternative energy.

“We moved aggressively. We tested and certified every type of ship and aircraft. We flew on 100% biofuels. And Fulcrum and Red Rock are here today and doing well, and we made an investment in them. But we got the benefit. 77 mgs in 2015 90/10 blend and in 2017 a 60 million gallons purchase on a 70/30 blend. In each case, 25 cents cheaper to the navy.

“Now, in 2017 I wasn’t there any more pushing for this. Now, it’s the new normal. Now, the navy and so many others — including airlines like United, KLM, Lufthansa and Alaska are moving aggressively, and ports and airports like San Francisco, Singapore, Oslo, Brisbane and Seattle. Alternative energy in all its forms did one major thing for the Navy, it made the navy better at what they do, better warfighters. This is not a group of ardent environmentalist, they run in big ships and have a lot of vehicles. They have become leaders because of the proof that it makes them better at doing the job that the United States needs them to do. Ultimately it was national security, not the 60-90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that was important.

“But, the US government put out a national climate assessment the day after Thanksgiving. Every time the assessment comes out , the warnings become more severe, the consequences more dire. The lower states have warmed 1.5 degrees this century, 1.2 degrees in last few decades and will get 3-12 degrees warmer by end of the century. The effects of this are catastrophic. Already we see the effects on places and people, we have the the first internally displaced people from climate change in some of our coastal islands.

“Big companies are now seeing the benefits of direct action. But we have got to get beyond buying carbon offsets. We have to stop buying our way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution. Two immediate ideas. Corporate jet fuels costs usually 3-4X larger than big commercial airlines, Switching to alternatives would send a strong signal that corporations are paying attention. And, favor airlines as business travel partners by screening for alternative fuels. Using that power with business travel to make sure we are moving in the right direction.

“We all have to change how we operate, just as we did at the Navy. In the military if you keep doing the same things you become predictable, and predictable is defeatable. If you don’t change and make the moves you have to make, and think differently about how you procure fuel, your corporation will go away.”

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

In his opening remarks, Steve Csonka, executive director of CAAFI said “Aviation is at a crossroads – a vision for expansion but a carbon intensity that the public is turning sharply against. if done right, biofuels can be part of the solution, but not done right it is the opposite. LanzaTech is clearing industrial emissions, Agrisoma is planting cover crops.. Fulcrum is reducing landfill waste. The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

SG Preston CEO Randy LeTang veered away from feedstocks as the primary challenge. “The problem is not feedstock, but support from the end consumer, when you have high cost fuel vs low cost credits. How can we drive down the cost to provide fuels without he support of airlines offtakers? We see lack of interest and waning interest from offtakers given the optionality of low cost offsets vs high cost fuels.”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

For US policy, CAAFI brought in Advanced Biofuels Association president Mike McAdams, who noted that the 2019 RVO was as expected, and of more interest was the Brady tax bill which offers a 7 years tax credit starting at $1.19 and sunsets after 7 years. He noted that the i#1 opportunity was to “clean up this biointermediates rule”, that it is essential in scaling advanced biofuels that bio-intermediates be allowable and with a mass balance rather than carbon-14 analysis system. He noted that “consumers are increasingly aware of aviation carbon impact and want to participate in real change; now is the time to drive policies to enable alternative jet fuel commercialization. But he warned that efforts could be undercut by carryover RINs. He commented that 2.8B carryover RINS issued in 2018; up from 2017’s 2.25 billion, and in the D6 RIN pool that had taken the RIN value from 80 cents to 6 cents.

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

For California policy, CAAFI brought in Graham Noyes, who noted that the overall California Low Carbon Fuel Standard drives down the carbon intensity of California fuels by 1.25 percent per year through 2030, with obligated parties having the option to buy credits or blend low carbon fuels. Jet fuels are coming into the standard, though on an opt-in basis at first.

The value of California credits. Noyes noted that a technology with a carbon intensity of 40 could earn $1.19 per gallon and those with a carbon intensity of 10 could earn $1.83 in the trading values today. He said that the LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transportation, because it materially overvalues alternatives compared to cap and trade of emissions and offsets.

He noted that Low Carbon Standards were very much in an expansion mode. Washington state in 2019 could be next, there was a coalition of interests in the Midwest looking at a regional LCFS, and a RGGI group for the Northwestern states. Noyes said that the essentials for

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

World Energy COO Bryan Sherbacow commented, “I was pleasantly surprised after 2008 with the Obama Administration coming in to find that the military were the new hippies in embracing sustainability. It seemed clear and obvious this was going to be the successful path forward and that Secretary Mabus was setting out the demand signal. Our timing worked well and we were awarded the first commercial fuel and now on our 3rd Navy contract and its one of our more important pieces of business for us. But the US government eliminated the USDA component and hopefully we can restore that, because we probably won’t be competitive in the fourth solicitation.

Meanwhile, people being displaced and fires are breaking out and it is important what we do. We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.

“At World Energy we are partnering with incumbents in the oil & gas space and we become part of their distribution where they are compelled by policy, We don’t have to replicate the infrastructure – just work through them. Our California asset was back in 2013 a small asphalt refinery and we formed a JV to convert to renewables with initial deliveries in 2016 and first deliveries to UAL and delivering into LAX since then. We started at 3,000 barrels per day and are expanding to 20000 barrels a day. With our process we produce 50 percent jet, but about 10 percent very competitively on a cost basis. So, we’re making 3-4 million gallons, and in the future we would ideally make around 30-40 million gallons.

The problems are that the incentives significantly favor diesel over jet, and that we have to get past fats oils and greases and get to novel feedstocks. The incentives can be fixed, right now if a customer shows up in the California market we can win those contracts every time, unless we have just done a poor job of educating the customer. Now, in January, jet fuel will be included in that LCFS program and that will make a big change.

On technology, the tricky part of that most processes that involve gasification of woody biomass, which is available and affordable, give you a lot of naphtha and not enough diesel, so the economics don’t work nearly as well as they could, because naphtha generally fits into the lower-value gasoline pool.

Get beyond private wood

Red Rock Biofuels CEO Terry Kulesa noted, “the gasoline pool is growing and there’s a need for 30 percent more diesel going forward. We use the same process, different suppliers compared to Fulcrum BioEnergy, we gasify biomass, use FT to get to a biocrude, then hydroprocessing to produce a finished fuel. We’re making 15.1 million gallons per year of heavy transport fuels. The tricky part? In terms of technology, it’s really the gasification. The tricky part of the economics is that we have to buy private wood, we can’t qualify for federal renewable fuel credits when we use wood sourced from federal lands.” Even though we all could use getting some of that waste wood off of federal land.

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

Neste’s US head, Neville Fernandes spoke about the growth at the world leader by production volume. “At Neste, we’re at 260000 barrels per day [in petroleum capacity] or 910 million gallons per year in Poorvoo, Rotterdam and Singapore, we have $1.4 billion in operating profit. In a few weeks we’ll make the decision on adding 340 mgy in Singapore which will take out total footprint up to 1.3 billion gallons.

Our pathway involved moving to renewable diesel in 2007, renewable jet in 2015, Ultra low Sulphur marine in 2018 and renewable propane and chemicals are the new initiatives. In the future, we see ourselves building a GreenHub to convert waste plastics to fuels. Last year, 80 percent of our feedstock came from waste and residues. In the short term it is about waste FOG; in the longer term we see microbial oil, algae and plastic liquefaction as important feedstocks. And we need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused.

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

Chuck Red at ARA took the stage to focus on 100% biofuels flights and supplies. “We’re now ready for the ASTM ballot. And we expect to have out first commercial unit at 3600 barrel per day in the Western US, with ARA participating as an equity partner and using a USDA 9003 loan guarantee.

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

“FedEx’s goal is 30 percent alternative fuel use for aviation by 2030. In petroleum we contract for 1-2 years but we contract for 5-10 years with alternatives, with exit mechanisms, and we have a 5% maximum per location until the security of supply established.”

The challenges? More than just fuel price and composition, Murdoch advises. “There are logistics as well as cost. Truck, rail, pipelines — how will it be transported? There’s the airport fuel consortiums to consider, will the blends be on or off the airport. There’s the use of existing tankage, the addition of new tanks. And more.”

Replacing aromatics

Representing the US Department of Energy was BETO director Jonathan Male, who noted that the 26 billion gallon jet fuel is expected to double in size and would require nearly a billion tons of biomass. He noted that most blends are restricted to date to 50 percent because of the performance of aromatics. “But, are there renewable molecules and help us with particulate matter and give us what aromatics do?” He suggested that R&D should and would examine replacing the aromatics with iso-alkanes and cycloalkanes.

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

Overall, Male’s message was “Bring Down Cost’ and he noted that when it comes to feedstocks, and processing, yield was the goal and “every gram counts”. To reach the economics needed, he said, you have to have unit operations s that work together in an optimal way — you don’t have a process until you join units together,” and by inference, you don’t have a sustainable, affordable, defensible process until the units work together in an optimal way.

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

0 notes

aaronlawson2183 · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

#Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

0 notes

captainalexandra21jones · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

0 notes

natalieweber221 · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

0 notes

itsemilyadamsat36 · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

0 notes

charlesmatthews0501 · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

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davidbailey2613 · 6 years ago

Text

Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree

by Jim Lane

San Francisco’s buying more renewable fuel

Case in point, the exciting and welcome news that Shell, World Energy, SkyNRG, KLM, SAS and Finnair have joined forces to reduce carbon emissions at San Francisco Airport.

Airlines’ Year of the Tree [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://ift.tt/2E6q6du], from Wikimedia Commons Year of the Tree

A breakthrough in woody biomass from federal lands?

Among the more juicy items heard on the floor at CAAFI, one that regards the unfortunately-named 40 CFR 80.1401, Renewable Fuels Standard and Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives.

The capacity build out

The numbers are getting impressive amongst those who can produce heavy fuels — diesel and jet fuels, specifically.

The feedstocks

CORSIA fuels, baby

Now even the CORSIA group has come up with a three-letter acronym of their own, CEF, CORSIA-eligible fuel. We’ll ignore that. CORSIA is fine.

The leading expert we know is Nancy Young of Airlines 4 America and here are your 10 takeaways:

single global market-based standard

time frame 2021-35

CORSIA is in lieu of other measures imposed

2021-26 voluntary phase in for countries, 2027 mandatory other then exempt countries or routes eg LDCs

76 countries representing 76% of international in the opt-in phases, in 2027 goes up about 90 percent

demonstration of compliance every 3 years begins Jan 1 2019

monitoring is country by country reporting to ICAO

alt fuel not included in 2019-20, rather in 2021 when offsetting begins

emissions savings from purchase of CORSIA eligible fuels reduces individual operators obligations

when we fly country to country, this is the single mechanism

Mabus: stop buying a way out of a problem and starting buying into a solution

Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took the stage and said:

“The RFS debate has been not productive and about locking in first-generation biofuels and failing the industry.”

“The problem is the low cost of offsets”

#1 opportunity: “clean up this biointermediates rule”

“LCFS is the right tool to address the toughest GHG sector, heavy transport”

2019 were continued vocal leadership from A4A and CAAFI, and sustained support from the agencies.

“We all see a significant shift, that customers are demanding low carbon solutions and by and large the majors don’t make them.”

Get beyond private wood

“Completion? We’ll be completed in December and we expect 6-12 months of ramp up. Plants never run exactly as designed, that’s why we have great operators.”

“We need alternatives to landfilling fossil plastics that cannot be recycled or reused”

“100% biofuels now ready for ASTM balloting”

“It’s jet, and ground operations, too”

FedEx’s (FDX) Joel Murdoch noted that the demand is not only for jet fuel but for diesel for ground operations, for many.

Replacing aromatics

Pursuing economics through process optimization and co-products

NIFA’s National Program Leader in the Division of Sustainable Bioenergy Bill Goldner chimed in decisively on this point, The co-products are really important to the economics.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

The post Aviation Biofuels: The Year of the Tree appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

https://ift.tt/2CcfVps

0 notes

innercitypress · 6 years ago

Video

youtube

In UN Bribery Case US v Ho Jury Charge Agreed To After FCPA Venue Spat a... In UN Bribery Case US v Ho Jury Charge Agreed To After FCPA Venue Spat and Questions of ExhibitsBy Matthew Russell Lee, Video I II III RS HK FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, December 3 – In the UN bribery prosecution by the US against Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee, both prosecution and defense rested on on the morning of December 3. In the afternoon the jury charge was agreed to, after the defense temporarily argued that "New York, New York" might not be in Manhattan and thus in the Southern District's jurisdiction. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal said he was ready to re-open his case to prove the 60 Wall Street, where Deutsche Bank is, is in fact in Manhattan. Defense attorney Benjamin Rosenberg said, after a time, "We won't make that objection. Judge Preska said, "That's a wise move." She also asked if the exhibits had been made available. Inner City Press replied Not yet, which remains the case as least as to it as of 6:35 pm the night before summations. (Before 9 am Inner City Press had written requesting particular exhibits, on which we will have more.) Despite Wednesday's national holiday in honor of George H.W. Bush (of whom Judge Preska spoke a number of times during Tuesday's down-times), Ho will on that day be produced (legalese requiring translation from the largely Hong Kong media left) the jury will deliberate. We'll be there. There was hardly any defense, other than the explosive cross examination of Senegal's former foreign minister Cheikh Gadio (who admitted taking cash from an undisclosed businessman for his previous presidential campaign). The government finally put into evidence CEFC's purchase of Apartment 78B in Trump World Tower, which PGA Vuk Jeremic, Gadio and others visited. There were weapons for oil offers prepared inside the UN. The jury will be charged on December 4. on the morning of November 30 the prosecution detailed how CEFC bought UN PGA Sam Kutesa - and played an audio wiretap of Ho discussing bribing UN PGA John Ash with Sheri Yan, who did jail time in the first UN bribery case of Ng Lap Seng. As to Uganda, CEFC instead of $500,00 case did a wire transfer - it was cheaper, through pliant HSBC bank which also money launders for Mexican drug cartels - and there was Ho, in purple like today, as Museveni's inauguration. He brought gift with him - a vase, painting, what locked to be a clock - to a dinner at Kutesa's residence. Then the prosecution flashed a list of the times Ho entered the UN - the UN has that information, you see, though they refused to provide it when Inner City Press asked, as to Francis Lorenzo, Ho and Carlos Garcia, preferring to ban Inner City Press. The prosecution left for Monday showing the agreement under which CEFC and its missing Chairman Ye bought unit 78B in Trump World Tower. After a wan cross examination by Ho's lawyer Benjamin Rosenberg (Judge Preska essentially shut him down), the jury was told they may get the case as early as Wednesday, when Antonio Guterres like his predecessor will be put up for sale at Cipriani on 42nd Street. This week, along with the depths of UN corruption, revealed how in China the formal government has a murky relationship with quasi state firms like CEFC, which on the one hand paved Xi's way into the Czech Republic and on the other, tried to get Chad's Deby to "make" Chinese state oil company CNPC to get it a piece of the action, perhaps for the Defense Committee of the Chinese Communisty Party, presumably the sources of the weapons and drones CEFC was offering to Deby and others in Libya and South Sudan. This is the NGO that Antonio Guterres has refused to audit and keeps in the UN while roughing up and banning Inner City Press. Kutesa's sale of the UN began through previous PGA Vuk Jeremic, who told Kutesa it would be "win - win" with CEFC. Then Ho emailed Kutesa's chief of staff Arthur Kafeero, whom Inner City Press wrote about before being banned from even entering the UN by UNSG Antonio Guterres. Later Ho did his emailing with Sam's wife Edith Gasana Kutesa, who asked for money to supposedly make good on an electoral campaign to pledge help Kutesa's young constituents (although she also bragging that Kutesa had no opposing candidate). She wrote, Youth are impatient - so send me the money! Ho arranged for $500,000 while pitching Edith on all the things (and people) CEFC had bought in Czech Republic. As Inner City Press reported and asked about before being roughed up and banned by UNSG Antonio Guterres, the Czech Ambassador headed ECOSOC, which refused to even look into CEFC's accreditation after Ho's arrest. CEFC used the UN to pitch weapons to dictators. And Guterres is covering up for them. Ho met Kutesa and his son Isaac for three hours in the PGA office - the type of entry Guterres is trying to prevent coverage of - and as his "PGA residence." Ho would email Kafeera and be scheduled as speaker at the UN, which under Guterres took CEFC's $1 million even AFTER Ho was arrested. The UN of Guterres is corrupt. Periscope video here. Also on November 30, finishing up on the Chad scheme with FBI Agent Galicia, a CEFC web page with Bill Clinton was shown. We'll have more on this. On November 29, Senegal's former Foreign Minister Cheikh Gadio admitted he took $20,000 from an unnamed courier from a businessman he did not want to identify. Then Gadio pushed a journalist in the street and told Inner City Press he would answer its questions later. Video here (YouTube), shorter (Twitter). But if that seemed to give home to Ho, the upcoming Uganda scheme should not. Whether not a disputed prosecution chart comes into evidence, the undelying timeline is damning. Ho for CEFC told then UN President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, who was already working for CEFC, that they wanted to meet his successor Sam Kutesa of Uganda. This culminated, while Kutesa was still UN PGA, in CEFC's chairman Ye Jianming being named a special adviser to the United Nations PGA. This is disgusting, given that CEFC was pushing weapons to Idriss Deby in Chad. More disgusting, Ho used Ye's inroaded into the Czech Republic, whose ambassador to the UN, chairing UN ECOSOC, refused to act on ECOSOC accredited CEFC even after Ho was arrested. Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric played their cover up roles in this. We'll have more on all this. Gadio is not the defendant in this bribery case - he is, at least so far, the prosecution's lead witness, with a Non Prosecution Agreement. But does that NPA cover Gadio, after his testimony, pushing a journalist on the street outside the court? Video here (YouTube), shorter (Twitter). Inner City Press along with other journalists, mostly from Hong Kong media, waiting outside the Southern District of New York courthouse at day's end. Gadio emerged and Inner City Press asked him how he thought the day had gone. He did not answer but rushed past. Inner City Press asked, louder, "Are you still running for president of Senegal?" Gadio turned back and pushed a journalist who was following him. This happened again a few blocks away. Finally on the stoop of a pharmacy on Canal Street Gadio's companion said he would not be answering questions today but to give your business card. Inner City Press gave its and asked if the former President of Senegal Gadio who took money from China for dropping Taiwan was Abdoulaye Wade. Gadio looked back in recognition - then was gone. Inner City Press previously questioned him in the UN when he was the Organization for Islamic Cooperation's envoy on the Central African Republic. Much has changed since then. As Inner City Press reported yesterday, Gadio was already on shaky ground when his email to Ho complaining he hadn't gotten Chinese money after, as Senegal's foreign minister in 2005, he worked to drop Taiwan and recognize the PR of China. But the bag of (campaign) cash allegation, dropped without warning in cross examination by Edward Kim, caused a break in the proceeding. Inner City Press rushed down to retrieve its phone and tweet and quickly live stream the news, here. Back upstairs, the name of the businessman was not disclosed, allegedly to protect him - from current president Macky Sall? We'll have more on this. Gadio testified for a second day about how he tried to broker weapons to Chad's President Idriss Deby from CEFC's Patrick Ho, who delivered gift boxes with $2 million in cash inside. Gadio's testimony got more specific, that in March 2015 Deby wanted to keep the meeting with CEFC small and confidential, "because of the war situation." Gadio cited Boko Haram, and Ho in a text message said CEFC's offer, for CNPC's 10%, was $200 million "and some arms." This is the head of a still UN accredited NGO, offering weapons for oil - with no audit by SG Antonio Guterres. Gadio tried to get paid for offering opportunities with the Chad - Cameroon pipelines. Gadio's firm Sarata had its bank account in Dubai closed for not being able to document where the money came from; his joint UN tax return with his wife, the head of the UN in Equatorial Guinea, was found to be false and is part of Gadio's non prosecution agreement. And the UN? And Gadio's reiterated dream to run for President of Senegal, after saying in writing he wanted money from China, while foreign minister, for flipping the country from Taiwan to the PR of China? The defense began its cross examination shortly before the lunch break, getting Gadio to admit he misspoke when he claimed Deby was calling him everyday. Mid-day Periscope video here. These will be more in the afternoon, which we'll report, while Guterres' UN tries to cover up the corruption in its walls - by banning the Press. Watch this site. - and what happened afterwards. But there are clouds on the horizon, unless Judge Preska swats them down, for the cross examination of Gadio. The lawyers for Ho, who it seems clear was using the corrupt UN's "special consultative status" to promote oil business and military equipment, point out these US statements, which the prosecutions does not want the jury to hear about: "That Dr. Gadio had intentionally omitted a key asset from his disclosures to Pretrial Services (Ex. A at 20 (“[T]he only reasonable interpretation of that is Mr. Gadio doesn’t want to admit his association with that firm although it is not reasonably subject to dispute.”)); • That Dr. Gadio’s statement in an email to Dr. Ho in 2014 was “referring to a $2 million bribe that Mr. Gadio later wrote about how he should get a fee for and he negotiated it and he got $400,000 to the firm that he omitted from the Pretrial Services report” (id. at 21); • That Dr. Gadio had “admitted facts that the law recognizes as criminal” (id. at 25); • That Dr. Gadio had omitted foreign income from the Pretrial Services report “both to avoid taxes and because he didn’t want anyone to know what it was for because it’s a lot of money, $400,000 wire or two $200,000 wires . . .” (id.); and • That the omissions are “an additional indication [Dr. Gadio] is running away from what I’m referring to as the Gadio Firm which he omitted in the description of his employment because that is a serious problem” (id. at 26). " These statements, like Gadio's threat to trash CEFC to Deby unless CEFC paid him money, are serious problems - unless blocked. The only certainty here is that the UN is corrupt, and a venue for corruption. Gadio texted Deby that his "Chinese friends" were coming to N'djamena with "excellent offers." But when the meeting happened, after speeches by Deby and Ho and CEFC's Zang, suddenly CEFC brought in gift boxes, "as big as that TV," Gadio told the court. Deby accepted them. But then Gadio, back in his hotel, got a call to return to meet Deby alone. According to Gadio, the coup leader Deby was offended. He had no problem with the cash staying in the country, but required a letter re-characterizing it as a donation. This was provided but Gadio criticized how it was written. By this time, the email made clear, Gadio was mostly focused on getting paid. He'd asked CEFC for $100,00 for a Dakar event co-sponsored by France's then-President Francois Hollande. (He also took money from Total, Hertz and a Zimbabwe cell phone company). Gadio texted his son Boubker in Dubai that if the Chinese didn't pay him by January "we will go to Chad in January and destroy their reputation and strategies in Chad! The President will listen to us!" This was ALL IN CAPS. When asked about the threat by Douglas Zolkind of the prosecution, getting ready for the defense's cross examination, Gadio said he as "translating my frustration" which Zolkind repeated as channeling. This might not work well on cross, which we will be covering, watch this site. Day 3 video here. Initially, UN President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic set it up, putting CEFC who he went on to work for in contact with Gadio. Both met Ho - Jeremic with UN Security who said nothing - in Trump World Tower. Gadio used the UN to reach Deby, in a "high level" meeting on Central African Republic. (In another Gadio UN connection, when confronted about the $2 million in cash Gadio called his wife, the head of the UN in Equatorial Guinea.) UN PGA Jeremic's deal making culminating in CEFC offering tanks and surveillance equipment to military coup leader Deby (Gadio lauded him a Pan Africanist, citing no less than Marcus Garvey). Gadio's emails may kill off once and for all his ambition to run again for President of Senegal. In one, he complains that in 2005 when he was Foreign Minister and Senegal switched from recognizing Taiwan to the PR China, he didn't get paid. He wrote that the then President of Senegal got millions of dollars from the Chinese but didn't pass through any to him and that he complained to his Chinese counterparts about it. How will this play in Senegal? Watch this site. The opening statements were given on November 26. US Prosecutor Paul A. Hayden said Patrick Ho used UN accredited NGO CEFC to cultivate Sam Kutesa while he was President of the General Assembly, and is caught on audio tape planning to bribe other high UN official(s) - and still no audit by UNSG Antonio Guterres. On November 27 after former UN President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic under subpoena testified about the role of Cheikh Gadio in CEFC reaching Chad's president Deby, Gadio himself took the stand at 4:35 pm. Post-testimony stand-up video here. He said he didn't know that CEFC's Ho would have $2 million in gift boxes to hand over at Deby's mansion -- he said he could "only think of it as a bribery attempt" -- but that he "didn't walk away." Why not? Gadio said he wanted to get paid for his and his company SARATAs work - and then Gadio said Deby needed help to fight Boko Haram, an excused use for example by the also long term president of Cameroon, Paul Biya. Inner City Press has heard from Senegal that, contrary to a portion of the defense's opening statement, Gadio is no longer running for president there but instead supports incumbent Macky Sall. He stopped abruptly a few minutes before five o'clock and, unwittingly, stayed in the court room as defense and prosecution began to argue about whethere Ho's visits to the US when he did not enter the UN should still come into evidence. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN to disclose its knowledge of how many times Ho, from his base across First Avenue in Trump World Tower, entered the UN - but Guterres' UN has refused. Likewise, Gadio when asked to disclose his jobs after being Senegal's foreign minister listed a political party but NOT his stint as the Organization for Islamic Cooperation's envoy on Central African Republic. We'll have more on this - and this: earlier on November 27 a CEFC voluteer then staffer, David Riccardi-Zhu, said he was referred to CEFC by his father who worked for the UN. He attended meetings in CEFC's office / apartment in the Trump World Tower, where Ho met with a yet to be named "foreign representative from the United Kingdom." He described UN DESA bending over for CEFC and its sustainable development award - which in 2017 Guterres' DESA still took CEFC's money for even after Ho was arrested and indicted for UN bribery. Inner City Press asked the UN repeatedly about it - and was then roughed up by Guterres' security and has been banned from entering the UN 145 days and counting. Earlier on November 27, Jeremic described doing work for CEFC while still PGA. He tried to get CEFC business with Mexico's PEMEX through "Emilio." He later tried to broker the sale of a potash mine - in court he said since this is related to fertilizer, it is "a high priority of the UN." He went to meetings in Trump Tower - the one across from the UN, in Apartment 78B, not the one on Fifth Avenue - and acted as a go-between for a CEFC Texas foray, with Noel Thompson who, Jeremic said, promoted wrestling in the UN. The UN comes off as entirely corrupt. And it emerged that Ho was trying to cut his own deal, around CEFC which is paying his legal fees. As soon as Jeremic left he started the process to sign on as a CEFC consultant at $333,333 a year. This require a waiver from Serbia, where he had been foreign minister. But the UN, then as now, has NO cooling off period. Inner City Press asked Jeremic about it during the court's lunch break. He said he had complied with rules - Serbian rules. There are no UN rules; UNSG Antonio Guterres refused to audit CEFC, lawlessly roughs up and bans Inner City Press which asks, including banning it from UNGA week which must now be seen as a hotbed of oil and gas and potash deals. We'll have more on this - it is unclear if Jeremic will take up the rest of the court's day, or if Gadio may start before the end of November 27. On November 26 at 9 am before heading to cover jury selection, Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed and Global Communicator Alison Smale: "November 26-7: On this the day the UN bribery trial of Ho / China Energy Fund Committee / PGA Kutesa begins, please immediately provide the UN's read out of the DSG's meeting Nov 22 with China's FM, and separately state where the increasingly reported issue of Chinese (government aligned) NGO bribery in the UN was discussed. Relatedly, again, what safeguards are in place for the SG's appearance, for which money is being charged, to ensure that the (Ng Lap Seng) pattern does not repeat itself on the evening of December 5, 2018." Hours later, lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq replied with this, seeming recycled from the Ng Lap Seng case: "Regarding question Nov. 26-7, we can say that the Organization has cooperated extensively in this matter by making thousands of pages of documents available, as well as providing access to UN personnel." Did Guterres' UN really make thousands of pages of documents available in this Patrick Ho case? If so, how can Guterres claim the case does not concern the UN and merit an audit? We'll have more on this.

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