#its 10:26 AM

[mieczyhale]

"i had to surrender my cat bc he's got incontinence issues and i'm just not equipped to deal with that"

i'm stealing your fucking kneecaps

[fuupan]

i had this in mind a few days ago while running on 2 hrs of sleep

decided to finally draw it lol

i have some more ideas in mind of them that i will hopefully get to get around drawing

[elisedonut]

I wonder if Bill and/or Charlie ever came back to the burrow and felt like they didn't belong anymore

[allbeendonebefore]

Can we turn down the sun a smidge please can we just block it out for a little bit

The longer this goes on the more the risk of fire grows and the more I feel that days with fresh air are numbered and if I can no longer air out the house at the end of the day I will simply expire. I don't know how to cope.

[trans-yllz]

I showed my housemate a picture of all of the available babies together and he was like that's a lot of babies and I was like well I'm not getting All of them that would be too many and he was like "honestly if you were getting all of them I would tell you no" and I know he was probably mostly joking but I'm still like. excuse me

[opens-up-4-nobody]

hi so so sorry if this sounds genuinely deranged but I need to know did you write a fanfiction in like 2014 that was set during ww2 where zoro from one piece was sent to a japanese internment camp and sanji went to conversion therapy I remembered it recently because it blew my mind at age 13 and I had to reread it + need a kind of where are they now with the author so if that's you 1) what's your stance on the fic today 2) how much of the research was done during writing and how much did you just know beforehand and used as inspo 3) did you have any ideas for where the other characters ended up because I did always wonder if like idk chopper overcame the trauma of being in the war and also just what usopp's situation would be in general what with the political climate. once again. if you didn't actually write this fic so sorry this must look like the ravings of a crazy person. godspeed

Hi. Uh, yeah I did write that fic. I would have been like only 17 at the time. I did do A LOT of research, like the fic was basically an excuse for me to research Japanese internment and WWII history in general bc I thought it was super fucked up. I was absolutely hyperfixated on the topic and my parents probably thought i was nuts for my ability to talk at length on this particular area of history. I just finished skim reading back through the fic and woof. What a bleak fucking story. I was very cruel to everyone. It's frustrating bc I think it's an interesting and compelling idea for a story. But to me it feels like: here is all the research I did and also characters talking in what feels like a too modern way. Plus, I was 17 and didnt understand people very well. I wish I had the energy and motivation to rewrite it. Although, I forgot I used to do song lyrics at the start of each chapter and the tonal dissonance of Owl City lyrics at the top of a chapter of harrowing events around the time of WWII is unfathomablly unhinged.

[1327-1]

back on week to week appts with my therapist which means every monday i feel like he takes a pickax to my skull

[reserwrekt]

I've not been very active but for some reason ppl are following me. I get exhausted by apps sometimes and need long breaks. Actually, I'm exhausted by people. You don't understand, they put me in the pound and labeled me unadoptable.

[clear-kuriboh]

So I just had a dream about going back to complete highschool... again. As these are reoccurring stress dreams. And I just wanted to make a list of common things that go wrong in these dreams. :') List under readmore lmao

1. I can't find paper or writing utensils at all.

2. Forgot my locker number.

3. Forgot the combination for my lock on my locker once I find the damn thing! Then have to go to the principals office to get the backup key.

4. Speaking of finding the principals office, I can't!!

5. Did I mention I'm late for class??

6. Did I also mention my textbooks are locked in my stuck locker? And even worse, I get into it and oops. Left them at home. And late for class.

7. Not only am I late for class, I'm behind like a couple weeks to even an entire quarter in the school year. And am needing to catch up.

8. Oh yeah and I recognize no-one in the class because either I'm going back to finish HS or my classmates I knew are just mysteriously missing.

9. By the end of it, I can't find my class either, and often call it quits and just give up.

[oddball-in-the-scarf]

I get many asks and contacts from Palestinians now and I cannot go through them all, so I am making a compilement post of the ones I've found or who have contacted me to spread awareness of their campaigns.

This list will be updated as time goes on but I can't seem to add any more links and cant post anymore fundraisers than the ones listed, so once one has reached its goal, I will replace it with another.

Because I can't post anymore links, I do encourage any palestinian blogger to leave them in the replies.

Some of the unverified campaigns have now since been verified, consider supporting them. Vetted @/abuzuhrisahar1 - Help me save the future of children and treat cancer (€899 raised of €20,000 goal) (vetted here listed at 253) (LOW ON FUNDS)

@/m8hammed - Help Mohammed and his family get through this war in Gaza (€10,231 raised of €25,000 goal) (vetted by ibtisams before they deactivated)

@/mahmoud-1995 - Help this family evacuate from gaza ($17,635 raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/sameer-47 - Help My Family Evacuate to Safety ($6,622 raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here) @/eslamfamily - Help Eslam Save Her Family ($16,311USD raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/anasfamilys - Evacuate My Last Family Members in Gaza (€3,275 raised of €50,000 goal) (family tiktok)

@/fidaa-family2 - Help Fidaa and her children ($$56,004USD raised of $75,000 target) (vetted here) @/fatma--gaza - Support Fatima's Family in Gaza After Heartbreaking Tragedy (€10,175raised of €20,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/dinamahammed99 - Help me save my children from death in the Gaza war ($14,456USD raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/monashamali - Help the Munna Tashmali Family Rebuild Their Home and Future (£14,735 raised of £30,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/odayalanqar-2002 - Help Oday And Family Evacuate Gaza , Rebuild Lives (€1,101 raised of €50,000 goal) (vetted here) (campaign had to be restarted)

@/girlquee - Save the life of an innocent child (€23,084 raised of €30,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/lina-gaza - Support Family escape from rafah to save place (€43,765 raised of €60,000 goal) (Vetted here)

@/mohiy-gaza - Support Mohi's Fight for Survival in Gaza ($79,615USD raised of $120,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/aahed225 - Help Aahed and his family get through this war in Gaza (€€3,591 raised of €40,000 goal) (vetted here) @/safaaaa01 - Support Safaa's Quest To Get Her Family To Safety. ($22,095 USD raised of $75,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/ahmed4palestine - Save Ahmed and His Family in Gaza ($20,298USD raised of $30,000 goal) (vetted here)

ashraf-family2 (deactivated) - Hope for Gaza: Support Ashraf's Family Rebuild Their Lives (€25,820 raised of €30,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/mayadayyad81 - Help little children of Gaza stay safe and alive! ($43,117USD raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/mohdiwais - GAZA : HELP IWAIS FAMILY TO REBUILD THIER LIFES (kr618,564SEK raised of kr800,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/yahyaahmed5 - Support Gaza Family's Journey to Recovery ($$1,591USD raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/ahmeadhilles - Helping the Helles family achieve a better future (€20,078 raised of €80,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/mohamed-mikki - Help Mohammed To Survive and Restore His Life ($2,163 raised of $20,000) (vetted here)

@/anqar - From War to Education: Abdelrahman Resilient Journey (€19,866 raised of €30,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/malkzaeem - Help my family to get out of Gaza ($26,673CAD raised of $50,000 goal) (vetted here)

@/hayanahed - Emergency: Help Evacuate My Family From GAZA WAR (€92,504 raised of €100,000 goal) (vetted here, is number 26)

@/karamrafeek - Help Karam and his family rebuild their life (£848 raised of £7,000 target) (vetted here) (campaign had to be restarted) (LOW ON FUNDS)

@/dinafamily - Help me to evacuate my family from Gaza (€2,147 raised of €30,000 goal) (verified here, #10)

@/mohammedabasan - Support & Help My Family From Gaza Strip (£1,085 raised of £10,000 goal) (WARNING: BLOG, VERIFIED LINK AND GFM SHOWS IMAGES OF INJURED AND MUTILATED CHILDREN) (verified by 90-ghost)

@/mones1998gaza - Help a Father and His Children Survive Gaza's War ($2,505USD raised of $20,000 goal) (vetted here at #64 here)

Unvetted but most likely true @/mohammedmoner - Helping Muhammad and his family escape genocide (€760 raised of €50,000 goal) @/mohammednasers-blog - I want to buy water and medicine for my young children (€6,435 raised of €38,000 goal)

@/ranoshfamily - Help Rana’s family toleave Gaza before it too late (€540 raised of €70,000 goal)

@/mohamadsmeer33 - Help Mohamad in his medical studies & evacuation ($1,865AUD raised of $45,000 goal)

@/azharfreij - Save My Elderly Mother: Evacuation from Gaza (€1,975 raised of €6,000 goal)

[ilovedinodino]

…I was so miserable? l.hc smau

SYNOPSIS : Haechan was in love with a girl from his dance studio, but one day he accidentally found her Twitter account with her terrible secrets

or how Haechan found out that his crush suffers from depression and anxiety and he's trying to hide it.

nonidol!haechan x f!reader

status: completed!

GENRE : angst, fluff, haechan is obsessed with y/n but she doesnt care.. comedyy im not funny but i will try😁

WARNINGS : depression and suicidal stuff but only in y/n’s account, yn is suffering from anxiety… kms kys jokes, good ending! idk what else

NOTE : its angst and sad (actually not much i lied), bc i AM miserable rn so sorry. Also idk if I should to write this but if someone wants it i will think about it

profiles one | profiles two 1. lied again 2. lee jeno 3. he's dead 4. who am i? 5. the sexiest couple 6. she loves my taste in music 7. I’m so exited 8. now, get up (written) 9. maybe they’re right 10. Can any car hit me 11. what?… 12. I’m sorry 13. I’m not i swear 14. just felt 15. haechan and y/n's dynamic 16. im feeling happy 17. haechan? 18. I don’t understand you 19. i like her more 20. who are u 21.1 crazy stalker 21.2 please stop 21.3 who are you? pt.2 22. you will never be yunho 23. are you serious? 24. crap 25. friday! 26. different (written) 27. yn? 28. hello 29. don't be dramatic 30. if you want this 31. what is that 32. today (written) 33. dummy (written) 34. im still shocked 35. you are literally my girlfriend?

36. I’m not miserable anymore. (written)

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: moray eels

This week on Wet Beast Wednesday I'll be going over something amazing, a fish with a sense of morality. You see, the moral eel is known for, what... I think I'm reading this wrong. Oh, MoRAY eel, not moral. Well this is awkward. Hang tight, I need to go redo my research.

(Image: a green moray (Gymnothorax funebris) swimming outside of its burry, with its whole body visible from the side. It is a long, slender fish that looks a bit like a snake. A long fin starts just below the head and continues down the length of the body. The body is arranged in a wave pattern. It has a pointed snout and small eyes. Its body is a yellow-green color. In the background is the sandy seafloor, dotted with various sponges and corals. End ID)

Moray eels are true eels, meaning they are in the order Anguiliformes. Yeah, I did wolf eels, electric eels, and lamprey eels before I got around to actual eels. There are over 200 known species of moray eel in 15 genera. Like other eels, they are elongated bony fish with extra vertebrae and reduced fins. Moray eels have fewer fins than most eel species, only having a dorsal, anal and tail fin that merge together and run down the back of most of the body and underneath portion of it. They achieve motion by undulating this long fin and sometimes undulating the rest of the body as well. Moray eels aren't the fastest of fish, but they can swim backwards, something almost no fish can. The head has a long snout with wide jaws. Most species have long fangs used to grab onto prey, but a few species are adapted to eat hard-shelled prey and have molar-like teeth to crush through shells instead. Probably the coolest feature of morays are the pharyngeal jaws. This is a second set of jaws located in the back of the mouth. When the eel bites onto prey, the jaws can be shot forward to grab the food and help pull it into the throat. While lots of fish have pharyngeal jaws, morays are the only ones who can extend their pharyngeal jaws forward and use them to grab prey. Morays have smooth, scaleless skin that is often patterned to provide camouflage. The skin is coated in mucus that provides protection from damage and infection. In some species, the mucus can be used to glue sand together to help reinforce burrows. Morays lack lateral lines, a system of organs found in most fish that senses changes in water movement. Their sense of smell is their primary sense. The size of morays varies between species. The smallest species is the dwarf moray eel (Gymnothorax melatremus) which reaches 26 cm (10 in) long. The largest species by mass is the giant moray eel (Gymnothorax javanicus) which can reach 3 meters (10 ft) and 30 kg (66 lbs) while the longest species is the slender giant moray (Strophidon sathete), the longest known specimen of which measured in at 3.94 m (12.9 ft).

New reaction image

(Image: a giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) emerging from a burrow. It is brown and mottled with yellowish patches. Its head is pointed at the camera and it's mouth is wide open, aming it look shocked. End ID)

(Image: an anatomical diagram of the skeleton of a moray eel emphasizing the pharyngeal jaws and the muscle attachments. End ID. Art by Zina Deretsky)

Moray eels are found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Different species are found in different temperatures and depths, though most species live in relatively shallow, warm water. Several species can live in brackish water and a few will swim upriver and live for a time in fresh water, though there do not appear to be any species that live their entire lives in fresh water. Morays are ambush predators who rely on the element of surprise. They live in small, tight places such as holes in coral, gaps between rocks, or sandy burrows. When prey passes, the eel can lunge out and grab it. Unlike most fish, the eel cannot use suction feeding due to the shapes of their mouths. They have to rely on lunging froward and catching prey with their mouths. Their mouths are adapted in shape to push water to the sides. This reduces water resistance and avoids creating a wave that could push prey away from the eel. If an eel catches prey that cannot be swallowed whole, it will tie itself in a knot while biting on to the food. By pulling its head through the loop, the eel can rip the food into bite-sized pieces. Spending most of their times in burrows also provides protection from predators, especially in juveniles or smaller species. At night, the eels will come out of their burrows to hunt sleeping prey while the larger predators are asleep. Giant morays have also been seen engaging in interspecies cooperative hunting with roving coral groupers (Plectropomus pessuliferus). The eels can fit into small crevices the groupers can't to flush prey into the grouper's path while catching their own. Morays are mostly solitary species and many can be territorial. They are known to be shy and will retreat into their burrows if they feel threatened. They are also curious and many species are quite intelligent.

(Image: a male ribbon eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita) on a coral reef. It is a very long and slender eel with its body curved in many waves. It is brightly colored, with a blue-purple body, yellow fin and face, and a long black and white stripe running down the back half of the body. On the nostrils are two feather-like structures. End ID)

Morays reproductive strategies are poorly known and differ based on species. While many species seem to have no set mating season and will reproduce whenever they can, others will mate at the same time every year. Some species seem to have dedicated spots to lay their eggs and a few are believed to be anadromous, meaning they travel from the sea to fresh water to spawn. Meanwhile, some of the species that spend a lot of time in fresh water are catadromous, meaning they return to sea to mate. Females will lay their eggs and the male fertilize them. After this, they depart, providing no parental care. As with all true eels, moray eels begin life as leptocephalus larvae. This type of fish larvae is notable for its resemblance to a simple, transparent leaf with a head on one end. These larvae are unique and poorly understood, despite being the larval stage of a lot of different species of fish. They are unusually well developed for larvae, capable of active swimming and generally living life. In fact, some particularly large leptocephalus larvae were initially mistaken for adult fish. They feed mostly on bits of drifting organic material called marine snow and can remain in the larval stage for up to 3 years, with those in colder conditions usually taking longer to metamorphose. All leptocephalus larvae start out with no sex organs, then develop female organs, then develop male ones, becoming simultaneous hermaphrodites. They will ultimately become eith male or female and it is likely that environmental factors are the main determining factor. During metamorphosis into a juvenile, the leptocephalus can reduce in size by up to 90%, resulting in the juvenile being smaller than the larva. The process of maturation is poorly understood, but it seems that most morays will be sexually mature by three years of age.

(Image: multiple photos of a particularly large leptocephalus larva (not sure what species). It is a translucent organis, wth a body shaped like a very long leaf, narrow at both ends. In the frint is a very tiny head. End ID)

Morays are shy and generally avoid humans. Though some cultures have hunted them for food, they are often not considered a particularly good food source. Many species have high levels of chemicals called ciguatoxins in their bodies, which can lead to a condition called ciguatera fish poisoning if eaten. The largest threat to morays is habitat loss. This is especially true for the many species that live in coral reefs, which are in increasing danger due to global warming. Attacks on humans are rare and usually happen as a response to a human sticking their hand in the eel's burrow. Some of the large species could cause significant damage with a bite. Some species, usually the smaller ones, are found in the aquarium trade, thought they are not good pets for beginners as even the smallest morays are still large for aquarium fish and have some specific requirements. The curiosity many morays have has led to some becoming familiar with and even friendly to humans, often the result of feeding them. They can recognize individual humans and remember them over the course of years. Aquarium employees sometimes report that the eels will come to nuzzle and play with them and have personalities like dogs. Marine biologists and professional SCUBA divers Ron and Valorie Taylor befriended a pair of eels they named Harry and Fang at the Great Barrier Reef who would remember them and come out to visit them year after year.

(Image: a SCUBA diver hugging a large, brown moray with black spots. End ID)

(Video: A shot video showing Valeria Taylor and a moray eel she befriended)

(Video: the song "That's a Moray", a parody of the song "That's Amore" by Dean Martin)

[kiddycup]

Amal reached out to me to help spread her fundraiser, and its goal is nearly reached. She and her 1 year old baby is trying to get out of Gaza to safety from the relentless attacks by the IOF, and have been constantly displaced for the past year. Please check out her campaign! This fundraiser is vetted.

Her target is 50,000 euro, with 44,476 euro already raised!! (as of 10/08/24)

if you can spare anything, please do, and if you can't, consider sharing it and reblogging.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Private equity rips off its investors, too

I'm coming to DEFCON! TOMORROW (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

It's amazing how many of the scams that have devastated our economy and everyday people owe their success to the fact that we assume that rich people know what they're doing, so if they're doing something, it must be real.

Think of how many people lost everything by gambling on junk bonds, exotic mortgage derivatives, cryptocurrency and web3, because they saw that the largest financial institutions in the world were going all-in on these weird, incomprehensible bets.

Then there are the people who are convinced that online advertising is built around a mind-control ray, because tech companies claim that's what they have ("I am an evil dopamine-loop-hacking wizard and I can sell anything to anyone!"), and because huge, sober blue-chip companies hand billions to these soi dissant svengalis. Sure, online ads are a swamp of clickfraud and garbage, but would these super smart captains of industry spend so much on online advertising if it didn't work super-well?

http://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

From our worms'-eye-view here on the ground, it's easy to assume that rich people and the people who sell them stuff are all on the same side. "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product," right? If Facebook is tormenting you with surveillance advertising, it must be doing so on behalf of the surveillance advertisers, for whom Mark Zuckerberg has bottomless reservoirs of honest, forthright impulses.

The reality is simultaneously weirder, and obvious in hindsight. The reason Zuck is tormenting you is that he's a remorseless sociopath who doesn't care who he hurts. He rips off everyone he can rip off, and that includes advertisers, who have seen steady price-hikes and lower-fidelity targeting, even as ad-fraud has skyrocketed while Facebook draws down its anti-fraud spending:

https://www.404media.co/where-facebooks-ai-slop-comes-from/

This is not to say that Facebook advertisers have your best interests at heart, that they aren't engaged in active deception in order to better themselves at your expense. Rather, it's to say that there's no honor among thieves, and Zuck is an equal-opportunity predator. Moreover, both Zuck and his advertisers are credulous dolts, so the mere fact that they are pouring money into something (advertisers: FB ads; Zuck: metaverse) it doesn't follow that these are real or important or the coming thing.

For me, the Ur-example of "rich people are dumb, even when it comes to money" is the private equity sector. I've written a lot about PE, and how destructive it is to the real economy, from Toys R Us to pet grooming:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/05/rugged-individuals/#misleading-by-analogy

How they killed Red Lobster:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/#invertebrates

And how they actually created the death panels that Sarah Palin warned us about (it's OK, though: these death panels are run by the efficient private sector, not government bureaucrats):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

The devastating effect of private equity on the real economy is increasingly well understood, and a curious side-effect of this is that people assume that if PE is destroying their lives, they must be doing so on behalf of their investors, who are making bank.

But – like Zuck – PE bosses are just as happy to steal from their investors as they are to to steal from the workers and customers of the businesses they acquire on those investors' behalf. They swaddle this theft in performative complexity and specialized jargon, but when you strip all that away, you find more fraud.

All the misery that PE inflicts on workers, communities and customers are just a convincer in a Big Store con, a bid to make the scam seem credible. For a certain kind of investor, any economic activity that destroys communities and workers' livelihoods must be a good bet. This is the dynamic at work in the pitch of AI image-generator companies, who spend tens of billions on technology that there is no substantial market for:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/25/accountability-sinks/#work-harder-not-smarter

AI image generators represent a high-profile, extremely visible example of "a job that AI can do." Nevermind that AI illustration went from a novelty to a tired cliche in less than a year. Even if you think that AI illustrations are a perfect substitute for commercial illustrations, that still won't come anywhere near making AI companies a profit. Add up the entire wage bill for every commercial illustrator in the world, hand it to Open AI, and you're not even gonna cover the kombucha budget for Open AI's staff kitchens.

Hell, all the wages of every commercial illustrator that ever lived won't pay back even a fraction of the money the AI companies spent on image generators. The pauperization of an entire class of creative workers is just a canned demo, a way to fool investors into thinking that there is a whole universe of similarly situated workers whose wages can be diverted to AI companies. This is the logic of small-time spammers, scaled up to the scale of the entire S&P 500. Smalltime spammers looked at AI and thought, "OK, I can generate as much botshit as I want on demand for free. Science fiction magazines pay $0.10/word. So if I generate a billion words, I'll get $100 million." But that's not how any of that works: sf magazines don't buy botshit, and even if they did, the entire market for short fiction adds up to what Sam Altman spends on a single designer t-shirt. The point of destroying these beloved, useful things isn't to make a lot of money by taking their markets – it's to convince dopey, panicked rich people to give you lots of money you can steal, because they think you can do this to every market and they don't want to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

Take "divi recaps": after a private equity firm acquires a company (by borrowing money against its assets), it typically declares a "special dividend," emptying out the company's cash reserves and pocketing them. A "divi recap" is when PE then takes out another massive loan against the company's (remaining) assets and pockets that:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/17/divi-recaps/#graebers-ghost

All of this happens under an opaque cloud, thanks to the light-to-nonexistent disclosure rules for PE. A public company has to open its books for the SEC, its investors, and the world. PE is private – and so are its finances. It is absolutely routine for PE bosses to put their spouses, kids, and pals on the payroll and hand them millions for doing little to nothing, all at the expense of their investors:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/sec-set-to-lower-massive-boom-on-private-equity-industry.html

PE bosses charge huge fees to their investors – not merely the usual 2-and-20 (2% of the funds under management and 20% of any profits) – but also a wide variety of special one-off fees that pile to the sky. They also dip into their investors' funds to issue themselves massive loans that they use to make side-bets, without telling the investors about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#gary-gensler

PE investors are chickens ripe for the plucking: take "continuation funds," which allow PE bosses to soak the rich people and pension funds who supply them with billions:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-acquisitions/matt-levines-money-stuff-buyout-funds-buy-from-themselves

Remember 2-and-20? 2% of all the money you manage, every year, and 20% of all the profits. You'd think that these would be somewhat zero sum, right? If you use some of your investors' cash to buy a company, and then sell off that company for a profit, you get the 20%, but now the pot of money you're managing has gone down by the amount you used to buy the company, and so your 2% carry goes down, too.

But what if you sell your portfolio companies to yourself, using your investors' own money? When you do that, you continue to hold the company on your PE firm's books, meaning you continue to get the 2% carry, and you can pocket 20% of the sale price as a "profit":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/20/continuation-fraud/#buyout-groups

This is straight-up fraud, wrapped up in so much jargon that it can successfully masquerade as "financial engineering" ("financial engineering" is really just a euphemism for "fraud"). PE bosses keep coming up with new, exotic ways to steal from their investors. The latest scam is "tax receivable agreements":

https://archive.ph/RczJ9

On its face, this is a tax scam. When a company goes public, early investors generally hold stock in the original partnership or LLC; this company ends up holding a ton of shares in the new, public company. When they sell those non-public shares in the LLC, this creates a (potentially gigantic) tax credit.

A TRA hustle involves tracking down these LLC shareholders and convincing them to sign off on dumping the LLC's shares, which generates a huge tax credit for the public company. The hustler offers to split these credits with the LLC holders.

All of this is especially attractive to PE bosses, who often take a company private, do a bunch of "financial engineering" and then take it public again, leaving the PE firm as the owner of those LLC shares that can be converted to a TRA and a huge windfall – which the PE bosses pocket, because they (not their investors) are holding those credits.

This scam is really doing big numbers. KKR – the monsters who killed Toys R Us – just diverted $650 million in TRA loot, prompting a lawsuit from Steamfitters union pension fund, which had handed these jerks millions of its members' money to gamble with:

https://archive.ph/kqQvI

This highlights another very weird aspect of the PE scam: they are absolutely dependent on pension funds. To add insult to injury, PE funds are notorious union-busters – they use union money to buy companies and destroy their unions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/05/mr-gotcha/#no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism

People who try to understand the PE business model often give up, because it seems to make no sense, leading many to assume that they're too unsophisticated to grasp the complex financials here. For example, PE is absolutely dependent on massive loans as a way of looting its businesses, but it also often defaults on those loans. Why do banks and investors keep making huge loans to PE deadbeats? Because – like the PE fund investors – they are credulous dolts.

The reason PE seems like a scam is that it is a scam. It is a fractal scam – every part of it is a scam. You might have heard about the "carried interest" tax loophole that allows PE bosses to avoid billions in taxes on the money they steal from their investors, creditors, workers and customers. Most people assume "carried interest" has something to do with "interest" on a loan. Nope: "carried interest" is a 16th century nautical tax rule designed for mercantalist sea-captains who had an "interest" in the cargo they "carried":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest

But rich people and other "sophisticated investors" (like pension fund investment managers) are no smarter than the rest of us. They are herd animals. When they see other rich people piling into some scheme or asset class, they rush to join them, which makes the asset price go up, which makes them think they're smart (until the inevitable rug-pull). When one plute jumps off the Empire State Building, the rest of them jump, too.

Which is why there's more money flooding into PE than at any time in history, $2.62T in "dry powder," handed over to greedy, thieving PE bosses in a poker game where everyone is the sucker at the table:

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2di1vzgjcmzovkcea8f0g/portfolio/private-equitys-dry-powder-mountain-reaches-record-height

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/08/sucker-at-the-table/#clucks-definance

[rageserenity]

It's 2024. Are you still thinking about movieverse!Cherik? Because I am.

For the past several months, there's only been a very slow trickle of posts/fics in the xmcu cherik tag. Let's try to breathe some life back into this incredible pairing!

With one clear winner of my poll, here's thirty prompts for the thirty days of April. (This is a super chill, laid-back event---do these in any order, interpret them as loosely as you like! Create in any medium! Fic, art, gifs, meta, incoherent screaming about the otp…all winners in my book.)

The only rule here is to cherik too close to the sun. Alright. Here are the prompts.

Mutual Pining

Doesn't really even need elaboration! Write that horrifically slow slow-burn. Gif every time McAvoy made insane fuck me eyes on screen. Make a playlist of songs about impossible love.

2. Alternate Meetings

There are endless quotes about how these two complete each other in a way no one they'd met before or after ever did. How else could they have met?

3. Erik Has A Telepathy Kink

This is basically canon. Let my boy get freaky!

4. Canon Fix-It

All the times Fox fucked it up. There are endless options.

5. Hurt/Comfort

Put them in that Situation. Put them in that Blender. Break them apart and put them back together ❤️‍🩹

6. Canon Compliant

Draw that missing scene! Gif your favourite cherik moment!

7. Beach Divorce

Make it worse. Make it better. Show it to us exactly how it was. Break it down in a 3,000 word meta. Go wild!

8. Domestics

Sometimes you just want to see them doing normal couple things. Erik put the gun down.

9. Found Family

The real heart of x-men!

10. Time Travel

There are SO many possibilities here. Stick them in a time loop. Give them a chance to change their past.

11. AU

Love a good AU!

12. There Is Only One Bed

Had to get this one in here. What better way to amp up the tension?

13. Genosha

By some miracle, cherik actually did end up together at the end of 2019s trash bag disaster Dark Phoenix. We aren’t making a big enough deal about this.

14. Declaration(s) of Love

Who says it first? How do they say it and when? Have they said it…without saying it?

15. Jealousy

Need I say more.

16. Reunion

These two have absolutely no chill.

17. Soulmates

Classic prompt, had to get this in here too.

18. The DOFP Aircraft

The TENSION here. Break it down for me. How does Charles feel about his injury? How does Erik feel about his injury?

19. Gay Mutant Road Trip

You already know.

20. Body Swap

SO fun when people have superpowers.

21. First Kiss

When? How? Who initiated it?

22. The Mansion

Mansion!content is a genre of its own.

23. Conflicting Ideology

Give me your theses. Who’s right? Can they ever reconcile completely? Write a fic where it drives them apart.

24. Sebastian Shaw

A trope unto himself.

25. Team As Matchmaker

They had to have known something was going on, didn’t they?

26. Cooking

Charles deserves a good meal. Also, imagine Erik using his powers in the kitchen. The sheer domesticity…

27. Hurt No Comfort

Plenty of scope with these two 🥲

28. Growing Old Together

Giving Sirs Ian Mckellan and Patrick Stewart their props as well!

29. Making Up

*pushes chess board across the table* sorry babe

30. Charles Xavier Did More For Mutants Than You'll Ever Know

Rising to each other’s defense. Only I can insult this man.

I will be tracking #revivecherik to reblog stuff! Here’s a fic collection for the same. Let’s get this ball rolling! Please feel free to send me an ask if you’ve got anything to say! And most importantly, let’s all have fun 😁

*I know a few of you preferred something like a gift exchange because of the commitment factor—I’m super down to organise a tiny one for the handful of us! If this promptathon doesn’t flop horribly, we can hopefully do a whole bunch of stuff :)

If you read this post all the way through, please reblog for reach! Thank you! Hoping you participate come April.

Shoutout to @inmymagnetoera for reaching out and helping with this!

[exocynraku]

Desperately need you to drop how you made that family tree in google sheets or like. the link to the template or something

i'd share a template but i actually got this tree-making style from someone on twitter, and just reconstructed it myself (i use sheets a lot so i was able to figure out how they did it) i will teach:

start with empty sheet. go view->show-> and uncheck gridlines

2) click this box and colour fill the sheet with a nice colour that doesn't hurt your eyes and is readable with black or white text overtop

3) select all of the columns, hit resize columns, and set it to 30. this will make your sheet very small, so make sure to keep your selection and click "insert 26 columns to the left/right" to make it larger

^ as you can see here the box that im selecting is very small now! this is correct.

4) select a 4 spaces wide x 6 spaces tall box, reset its colour to white, and click 'merge cells'

5) select the 4 squares directly below the box and click merge cells again. this is your text box, where names can go. if you aren't adding names you don't need this.

^ i am using the font verdana, 10 font size, with central horizontal and vertical align 6) you now have your character box. i copy and paste the same box around, and just change the name. next i will show you how to put the picture in. 6.5) you will need a picture or screenshot of your character/picture. i should add that the picture squares aren't actually perfect squares (they're taller) so make sure the pic you get isn't one either! select your picture box and copy+paste the picture it. it will appear VERY big usually but this is OK. art used here is ursidays

next, click the 3 dots at the right corner at click 'put image in selected cell' at the bottom.

now your picture is in the cell! 7) now i will teach how to do the lines: the red and blue boxes are to show how many spaces are between characters, they are not things you will add. i do TWO spaces between people right next to eachother horizontally and THREE vertically.

first, i do all of the horizontal lines, between the lovers and above the children.

you will click the 'borders' button. in the lineweight options (bottom right button) i set it to the 2nd thickness. then, click the button that creates a line on the TOP of what youre selecting.

that makes this;

next, select the right spaces to where your lines end. you can select the left side, but make sure all of the things you select are on the same side.

you will now go back to the 'borders' menu and click the left-border button.

and that gives you this!

this is pretty much all you need to know. for me, if a character is divorced/disowned, i change the lines to red, and if a character is adopted, i change the lines to blue. a character w/o a known lover but who has children i give a line coming from the bottom of their name. if two unrelated lines intersect, i colour one of the touching lines the background colour but slightly darker to make sure it's obvious they aren't connected. ok thats it! if you/anyone else needs more help just ask me :3