#its 4:51 am

[2d-dreams]

The Arts of Being || Chapter 13: Peace Cry

it goes downhill from here! Yay!

[dietmimo]

Memopad? 👀

[lightseoul]

cw. worker!reader, prohero!katsuki, aged-up (25), pining (squint harder y'all), a lot of cussing (wouldn't be a bkg fic w/o 'em), reader has an ex-boyfriend, our boy kiri finally makes an appearance

words. 2.7k (i had to stop my head was aching)

masterlist | part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

If you were to suddenly rise to fame overnight, for what reason would it be?

The answer you’ve always had for these silly icebreaker questions was simple. That one passion you’ve nurtured as a hobby, perhaps? Or the hidden talent—party trick, really—that your friends always goaded you into demonstrating during get-togethers? Or it could be getting recognized for the work that you do and how much of your soul you put into it.

Really, it could have easily been any of the three.

Which is why you couldn’t have seen this reality hurling straight at you even if it was waving a shining red flag at you from a safe distance.

You adjust the face mask that’s snug against your cheeks for the umpteenth time, vaguely aware of the child seated in front of you who’s also staring like he’s trying to make out who you’re supposed to be under the barrier.

Tamping down the annoyance springing in your gut over a kid occupying a precious chair in this crowded subway train during rush hour, you shift on your feet and tug down with your extra hand the hat that you quickly threw on on your way out this morning.

It was the least you could do after unceremoniously finding out through your best friend at 5:37 AM that you’ve become one of the Internet’s sensational hits overnight, now being dubbed as #2 Pro-hero Bakugou Katsuki’s heavy-handed girlfriend, emphasis on the heavy.

Needless to say, the news sent you into panic and you couldn’t go back to sleep no matter how hard you tried. Your emotions and thoughts went into overdrive, and you found yourself at the crack of dawn mulling over the options you had in front of you.

You knew you were grasping for straws when you started thinking about stealing someone else’s identity and moving far, far away from Japan where the concepts of pro-heroes and the World Wide Web were unbeknownst to the living population.

That pipeline got you nowhere.

Which leads you to the present: decked out in a flimsy disguise, horridly sleep-deprived, anxious as hell, squished between late salarymen and chatty high schoolers in a cramped train carriage, and subject to the increasingly scrutinizing stare of this kid in front of you.

To your relief, you arrive at your station before the child can put two and two together and expose you to the rest of the crowd. You quickly shuffle out and expertly weave yourself through the sea of people, desperate to get out of the public space and into the safety of Ground Riot agency.

Though your imagined bubble of safety is immediately popped the moment you enter the building and feel what has to be dozens of pairs of eyes on you.

You hurriedly scan your employee ID and head for the elevators, heaving a relieved sigh when no one follows you into the space.

It’s barely 8 AM, and you’re already drenched in sweat. You’re in the middle of wondering if you’re already sporting a fucking pit stain when your phone chimes its familiar tune, signifying a text message.

You peek at the notification banner to see Bakugou’s name, alongside a short directive.

(7:51 AM) Bakugou (Dynamight): Conference Room A—be there in 10. PR and the rest want to see both of us.

Fuck.

The room’s not empty by the time you stumble in seven minutes later. Hiramasa Hikari, your direct subordinate in charge of employee relations, is seated on one of the comfy office chairs circling the long, oval table, looking indubitably harrowed as she thumbs through an all-too-familiar booklet.

Wordlessly, you walk towards where she is and plop yourself down on the seat across from her, right on the side of the end-of-the-table throne where Bakugou usually plants his butt during meetings.

You might have moved a little too silently because she startles when she looks up and sees you looking at her like you don’t know what to say.

Because you don’t.

Instead, you flash her an uneasy smile, which she returns right back. Although it morphs into a frown, “I’m guessing we both recognize how comical the situation is right now?”

At that, both of your gazes drift to the said document, conveniently titled ‘Workplace Relationships: Policies and Protocols,’ with your name written underneath as one of the principal authors.

You purse your lips into a tight line, suddenly feeling the tiniest bit of shame spurring in your gut.

You wouldn’t call yourself militant when it comes to carrying out rules and regulations related to your job, but being on the receiving end of a lecture regarding workplace relationships is—for the lack of a better term—humbling.

Even if the whole thing that led you here is fake.

Before you can stutter out an appropriately vague enough response to your colleague, the glass doors open like flood gates and in comes Bakugou in his hero costume, followed by Mikuri (the PR head you’ve talked about during your meltdown), and a group of coworkers who you’ve identified as a portion of the agency’s legal team.

You and Hikari stand up at their arrival, and sure enough, Bakugou pulls out the seat to your right, barely sparing you a glance as he situates himself.

The rest quickly follow suit, the atmosphere so tense you could cut it with a meat cleaver.

Nobody says anything for a while before Hikari clears her throat awkwardly, evidently feeling self-conscious over speaking in front of her higher-ups. “I guess I can start, then?”

You give her an encouraging nod as if you’re not about to be roasted by the very same girl you’ve been training directly since she got recruited two years ago.

Hikari clears her throat again before fixing her firm gaze on you. “It has come to our attention that multiple news articles have been circulating since last night,” she pauses as her eyes dart between you and Bakugou, “about the two of you.”

A pregnant pause.

“…Care to explain?”

You can’t believe it. You’re about to expose yourself and this embarrassing stunt you pulled. And you can’t help the dread that courses through your system at the thought of admitting out loud how you roped in your boss, of all people, to pretend as your date so that you could hide from the ex who dumped you over the phone how much of a loser you are.

How much a loser you’ve become, the present moment in mind.

It couldn’t get any more pitiful than that.

But you have to face the truth, and you realize that time is running out fast as you survey the expectant looks directed at you one by one as if everything’s in slow motion.

Finally, you open your mouth to blurt it out and get it over with, but Bakugou beats you to it.

In fact, he doesn’t miss a beat.

Which is fucking astounding, because what he’s about to say next quite literally causes your jaw to drop.

“We’re dating,” he states, voice even. “There’s your explanation.”

The exact moment he says that outright, blatant lie, it’s like all the air in the conference room gets sucked into a vacuum. You find yourself feeling lightheaded and it takes everything in you not to collapse like a boneless heap on the lawyer beside you. You think Bakugou notices because his eyes shift to look at you, and his eyebrows furrow so minutely as if he’s telepathically saying ‘Get it together.’

And so you do.

You don’t know what the fuck he’s thinking, lying like this to the very people who need to know the truth to effectively clean up the mess you’ve inadvertently made in just one Sunday, but at this point, you know better than to contradict Bakugou’s words.

“We’re dating,” you parrot, voice wobbly, “…yes.”

You will yourself to look up from the clasped hands on your lap, only to immediately regret it. Some of the members of the legal team are staring at either Bakugou and you with straight-up disbelief, while the others toss you a playful wink. Hikari, Mikuri, and Sawamura, the lead lawyer, however, look unsettled at best.

“Since when,” Sawamura starts, although he sort of chokes on his spit. He clears his throat, “—since when has this been happening?”

The pro-hero’s reply is almost instantaneous. “Why the fuck would I tell you that?”

Ignoring Bakugou’s defensive retort, you instead jump in to respond as calmly as you can. “Around two months ago. When we worked late nights on that issue under Hikari’s unit. We, uh—” you chance a glance at Bakugou, who’s looking at you intently, “—we were actually planning to disclose it to HR today, if you can believe that.”

“And you punching the groom at the wedding you attended,” Mikuri suddenly adds, voice pointed. “Was that part of the plan, too?”

At the reminder of your act of sin, you visibly cringe in front of your colleagues. You hear Hikari hold back a snort, and you flush further in embarrassment.

To your surprise, Bakugou speaks up. “That was her dickhead of an ex, and he was being an asshole to her.” He grunts, “She was only defending her name.”

Despite yourself, you can’t help but gawk at the man. The last thing you expected was for him to defend you. And so sincerely, at that. He could be a great actor.

“Well, regardless of the intentions, we have to deal with the act and its resulting consequences,” Sawamura sighs, before turning to face you. “We already briefed Bakugou on the way here but the guy and his family are threatening to sue for damages.”

“S-sue?” you choke out.

Mikuri nods solemnly in response. “I know Bakugou here wants to fight fire with fire by exposing the guy’s character but we believe it’s best to keep things as hush-hush as possible to prevent any more repercussions on his general popularity rating.” She gives you a once-over, “Would that be okay with you?”

You barely manage a nod, although she seemingly finds it more than enough.

“We’ve since been in contact with their lawyer and are on our way to a settlement,” the head lawyer packs on. “We’re scheduled to meet them in,” he checks his sports watch, “two hours.”

“In the meantime,” Mikuri interjects, “we might suggest you stay off your non-essential social media sites as we wait for the issue to die down.”

You nod again, failing to repress a weak laugh at the belated advice. “Don’t worry, I’m already on that.”

“In fact,” you quickly add before anyone else can interrupt you, “So much so that I don’t know what the hell is going on out there. How is Bakugou fairing in the ranks right now?”

Again, you feel the said man eyeing your side profile.

Mikuri cocks her head to the side in reflection, “Surprisingly, he’s holding up okay. We’ve had a marked increase in activity from the adolescent to young adult female demographic especially, but they’re all mixed reviews.”

At that, Bakugou sneers. “What am I, a fucking movie for these extras to rate?”

You snort, and now you see Bakugou side-eye you, although there’s no bite to it.

“Anyway,” Sawamura interjects, “That’s more or less it from us and PR as well, I believe. We’ll keep you both posted.” The man glances at Hikari, “Hiramasa-san, anything else from your department?”

“Oh, yes,” she quickly riffles through her documents before settling on the booklet from earlier and timidly handing it to Bakugou, who accepts it gingerly. “My supervisor here knows the guidebook by heart so you two should be good in keeping yourselves in check.”

Her eyes quickly dart to you as if to watch your reaction before they just as quickly dart back to Bakugou. “But just to reiterate, we strive to keep everything professional here at Ground Riot agency, so that means drawing a clear boundary between your work and personal lives. That also means no inappropriate PDA.”

“Tch.”

You gulp, feeling all sorts of weird all of a sudden. Accidentally demonstrating PDA with Bakugou should be the least of your worries but there’s no denying the pulse of anxiety that resonates at the mention of it.

After you and Bakugou begrudgingly agree to the terms and conditions, the meeting finally gets adjourned and your workmates pile out of the room one by one. You don’t realize how tense your shoulders are until you’re left alone with Bakugou, and you allow yourself one deep exhale.

Your boss, who’s still sporting a sour expression on his face, shifts his attention to you at the sound. You feel yourself shrink in a bit under his penetrating gaze, although you try to straighten your spine soon thereafter.

You take a few steps towards the doorway and peek through the hall for any bystanders. Once sure that you’re most definitely alone, you turn to Bakugou. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

He’s not looking at you but his eyebrows furrow still, revealing his listening. He doesn’t say anything, though.

You continue. “It’s obviously bothering you that we’re keeping up this charade. Never mind your ranking potentially slipping, what about the stress of having to pretend and hearing people talk? You don’t need that on top of—”

“I don’t give a single fuck what people say about me.”

You knew that, yet you still frown at his tone. “But you give a fuck about being number one.”

At that, Bakugou finally moves to face you. “Look, I hate that I have to say this, but even if I had no dating scandal affecting my popularity rating, good or bad, all this doesn’t make a difference in helping me get past shitty De– Izuku, at least in a way that matters.”

He huffs before looking away to the floor-to-ceiling windows. “That popularity shit’s out of my control and has nothing to do with my abilities. The other metrics are.”

As you gaze at his back, you think about how image is in fact important when it comes to being the ultimate hero—mind drifting back to All Might and how he served as the pinnacle of safety with his powers and impactful symbolism. But then it gravitates to Endeavor and how, despite his far from amiable personality akin to that of Bakugou’s, he earned the people’s trust in his own way as the new #1 upon All Might’s retirement.

“Okay,” you exhale again, “I believe you. Still doesn’t explain why you seem so bothered, though.”

Bakugou immediately whips around to look at you, frustration etched on his pretty features. “Why did that jackass even invite you in the first place?”

That’s what’s bothering him?

You chuckle, although what you’re about to say probably isn’t a laughing matter. “I think it’s because he saw me as a charity case,” you pause, debating whether or not to tell him the embarrassing truth, eventually opting to do so. “He always made me feel like I should thank my lucky stars I scored him, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was doing me a favor by inviting me to his wedding.”

“…You know you can do better than that dipshit, right?”

You smile despite yourself, “I know… That’s why I’m dating you, right?”

You only meant to lighten the mood after what has been a grueling, impromptu meeting, but you didn’t expect Bakugou to redden in what you think is annoyance at the innocent quip.

You immediately backtrack. “I was just—trying to, uh—’m just joking around…”

Bakugou doesn’t get the chance to potentially snap at you in irritation because Kirishima, Red Riot, waltzes in with a big, toothy grin on his face.

He beams at you then turns to regard his best friend, grin growing even more in size as if that was still possible.

And what he says next confuses the shit out of you and grants him a hard shove from your now fake boyfriend.

“Congrats, Bakubro! Freaking finally!”

tagging. @kitthepurplepotato @chelbyisbord @lovra974 @katsukis1wife @brunnetteiwik @bunnysaursushii @k0z3me @meeeepsworld @asura-rose @dragonscribble @moonz33 @citrustsuki @deadhands69

˖⁺‧₊ as always, reblogs, replies, and tags are much appreciated <3 they really do make a difference! have a lovely day~

[devotedlystrangewizard]

special place in hell for people with alarms that wake up others in their household at ungodly hours of the day btw

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How to shatter the class solidarity of the ruling class

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me WEDNESDAY (Apr 11) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Audre Lorde counsels us that "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," while MLK said "the law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me." Somewhere between replacing the system and using the system lies a pragmatic – if easily derailed – course.

Lorde is telling us that a rotten system can't be redeemed by using its own chosen reform mechanisms. King's telling us that unless we live, we can't fight – so anything within the system that makes it easier for your comrades to fight on can hasten the end of the system.

Take the problems of journalism. One old model of journalism funding involved wealthy newspaper families profiting handsomely by selling local appliance store owners the right to reach the townspeople who wanted to read sports-scores. These families expressed their patrician love of their town by peeling off some of those profits to pay reporters to sit through municipal council meetings or even travel overseas and get shot at.

In retrospect, this wasn't ever going to be a stable arrangement. It relied on both the inconstant generosity of newspaper barons and the absence of a superior way to show washing-machine ads to people who might want to buy washing machines. Neither of these were good long-term bets. Not only were newspaper barons easily distracted from their sense of patrician duty (especially when their own power was called into question), but there were lots of better ways to connect buyers and sellers lurking in potentia.

All of this was grossly exacerbated by tech monopolies. Tech barons aren't smarter or more evil than newspaper barons, but they have better tools, and so now they take 51 cents out of every ad dollar and 30 cents out of ever subscriber dollar and they refuse to deliver the news to users who explicitly requested it, unless the news company pays them a bribe to "boost" their posts:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

The news is important, and people sign up to make, digest, and discuss the news for many non-economic reasons, which means that the news continues to struggle along, despite all the economic impediments and the vulture capitalists and tech monopolists who fight one another for which one will get to take the biggest bite out of the press. We've got outstanding nonprofit news outlets like Propublica, journalist-owned outlets like 404 Media, and crowdfunded reporters like Molly White (and winner-take-all outlets like the New York Times).

But as Hamilton Nolan points out, "that pot of money…is only large enough to produce a small fraction of the journalism that was being produced in past generations":

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/what-will-replace-advertising-revenue

For Nolan, "public funding of journalism is the only way to fix this…If we accept that journalism is not just a business or a form of entertainment but a public good, then funding it with public money makes perfect sense":

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/public-funding-of-journalism-is-the

Having grown up in Canada – under the CBC – and then lived for a quarter of my life in the UK – under the BBC – I am very enthusiastic about Nolan's solution. There are obvious problems with publicly funded journalism, like the politicization of news coverage:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/24/panel-approving-richard-sharp-as-bbc-chair-included-tory-party-donor

And the transformation of the funding into a cheap political football:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-defund-cbc-change-law-1.6810434

But the worst version of those problems is still better than the best version of the private-equity-funded model of news production.

But Nolan notes the emergence of a new form of hedge fund news, one that is awfully promising, and also terribly fraught: Hunterbrook Media, an investigative news outlet owned by short-sellers who pay journalists to research and publish damning reports on companies they hold a short position on:

https://hntrbrk.com/

For those of you who are blissfully distant from the machinations of the financial markets, "short selling" is a wager that a company's stock price will go down. A gambler who takes a short position on a company's stock can make a lot of money if the company stumbles or fails altogether (but if the company does well, the short can suffer literally unlimited losses).

Shorts have historically paid analysts to dig into companies and uncover the sins hidden on their balance-sheets, but as Matt Levine points out, journalists work for a fraction of the price of analysts and are at least as good at uncovering dirt as MBAs are:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper

What's more, shorts who discover dirt on a company still need to convince journalists to publicize their findings and trigger the sell-off that makes their short position pay off. Shorts who own a muckraking journalistic operation can skip this step: they are the journalists.

There's a way in which this is sheer genius. Well-funded shorts who don't care about the news per se can still be motivated into funding freely available, high-quality investigative journalism about corporate malfeasance (notoriously, one of the least attractive forms of journalism for advertisers). They can pay journalists top dollar – even bid against each other for the most talented journalists – and supply them with all the tools they need to ply their trade. A short won't ever try the kind of bullshit the owners of Vice pulled, paying themselves millions while their journalists lose access to Lexisnexis or the PACER database:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/24/anti-posse/#when-you-absolutely-positively-dont-give-a-solitary-single-fuck

The shorts whose journalists are best equipped stand to make the most money. What's not to like?

Well, the issue here is whether the ruling class's sense of solidarity is stronger than its greed. The wealthy have historically oscillated between real solidarity (think of the ultrawealthy lobbying to support bipartisan votes for tax cuts and bailouts) and "war of all against all" (as when wealthy colonizers dragged their countries into WWI after the supply of countries to steal ran out).

After all, the reason companies engage in the scams that shorts reveal is that they are profitable. "Behind every great fortune is a great crime," and that's just great. You don't win the game when you get into heaven, you win it when you get into the Forbes Rich List.

Take monopolies: investors like the upside of backing an upstart company that gobbles up some staid industry's margins – Amazon vs publishing, say, or Uber vs taxis. But while there's a lot of upside in that move, there's also a lot of risk: most companies that set out to "disrupt" an industry sink, taking their investors' capital down with them.

Contrast that with monopolies: backing a company that merges with its rivals and buys every small company that might someday grow large is a sure thing. Shriven of "wasteful competition," a company can lower quality, raise prices, capture its regulators, screw its workers and suppliers and laugh all the way to Davos. A big enough company can ignore the complaints of those workers, customers and regulators. They're not just too big to fail. They're not just too big to jail. They're too big to care:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Would-be monopolists are stuck in a high-stakes Prisoner's Dilemma. If they cooperate, they can screw over everyone else and get unimaginably rich. But if one party defects, they can raid the monopolist's margins, short its stock, and snitch to its regulators.

It's true that there's a clear incentive for hedge-fund managers to fund investigative journalism into other hedge-fund managers' portfolio companies. But it would be even more profitable for both of those hedgies to join forces and collude to screw the rest of us over. So long as they mistrust each other, we might see some benefit from that adversarial relationship. But the point of the 0.1% is that there aren't very many of them. The Aspen Institute can rent a hall that will hold an appreciable fraction of that crowd. They buy their private jets and bespoke suits and powdered rhino horn from the same exclusive sellers. Their kids go to the same elite schools. They know each other, and they have every opportunity to get drunk together at a charity ball or a society wedding and cook up a plan to join forces.

This is the problem at the core of "mechanism design" grounded in "rational self-interest." If you try to create a system where people do the right thing because they're selfish assholes, you normalize being a selfish asshole. Eventually, the selfish assholes form a cozy little League of Selfish Assholes and turn on the rest of us.

Appeals to morality don't work on unethical people, but appeals to immorality crowds out ethics. Take the ancient split between "free software" (software that is designed to maximize the freedom of the people who use it) and "open source software" (identical to free software, but promoted as a better way to make robust code through transparency and peer review).

Over the years, open source – an appeal to your own selfish need for better code – triumphed over free software, and its appeal to the ethics of a world of "software freedom." But it turns out that while the difference between "open" and "free" was once mere semantics, it's fully possible to decouple the two. Today, we have lots of "open source": you can see the code that Google, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook uses, and even contribute your labor to it for free. But you can't actually decide how the software you write works, because it all takes a loop through Google, Microsoft, Apple or Facebook's servers, and only those trillion-dollar tech monopolists have the software freedom to determine how those servers work:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/04/which-side-are-you-on/#tivoization-and-beyond

That's ruling class solidarity. The Big Tech firms have hidden a myriad of sins beneath their bafflegab and balance-sheets. These (as yet) undiscovered scams constitute a "bezzle," which JK Galbraith defined as "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it."

The purpose of Hunterbrook is to discover and destroy bezzles, hastening the moment of realization that the wealth we all feel in a world of seemingly orderly technology is really an illusion. Hunterbrook certainly has its pick of bezzles to choose from, because we are living in a Golden Age of the Bezzle.

Which is why I titled my new novel The Bezzle. It's a tale of high-tech finance scams, starring my two-fisted forensic accountant Marty Hench, and in this volume, Hench is called upon to unwind a predatory prison-tech scam that victimizes the most vulnerable people in America – our army of prisoners – and their families:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

The scheme I fictionalize in The Bezzle is very real. Prison-tech monopolists like Securus and Viapath bribe prison officials to abolish calls, in-person visits, mail and parcels, then they supply prisoners with "free" tablets where they pay hugely inflated rates to receive mail, speak to their families, and access ebooks, distance education and other electronic media:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch

But a group of activists have cornered these high-tech predators, run them to ground and driven them to the brink of extinction, and they've done it using "the master's tools" – with appeals to regulators and the finance sector itself.

Writing for The Appeal, Dana Floberg and Morgan Duckett describe the campaign they waged with Worth Rises to bankrupt the prison-tech sector:

https://theappeal.org/securus-bankruptcy-prison-telecom-industry/

Here's the headline figure: Securus is $1.8 billion in debt, and it has eight months to find a financier or it will go bust. What's more, all the creditors it might reasonably approach have rejected its overtures, and its bonds have been downrated to junk status. It's a dead duck.

Even better is how this happened. Securus's debt problems started with its acquisition, a leveraged buyout by Platinum Equity, who borrowed heavily against the firm and then looted it with bogus "management fees" that meant that the debt continued to grow, despite Securus's $700m in annual revenue from America's prisoners. Platinum was just the last in a long line of PE companies that loaded up Securus with debt and merged it with its competitors, who were also mortgaged to make profits for other private equity funds.

For years, Securus and Platinum were able to service their debt and roll it over when it came due. But after Worth Rises got NYC to pass a law making jail calls free, creditors started to back away from Securus. It's one thing for Securus to charge $18 for a local call from a prison when it's splitting the money with the city jail system. But when that $18 needs to be paid by the city, they're going to demand much lower prices. To make things worse for Securus, prison reformers got similar laws passed in San Francisco and in Connecticut.

Securus tried to outrun its problems by gobbling up one of its major rivals, Icsolutions, but Worth Rises and its coalition convinced regulators at the FCC to block the merger. Securus abandoned the deal:

https://worthrises.org/blogpost/securusmerger

Then, Worth Rises targeted Platinum Equity, going after the pension funds and other investors whose capital Platinum used to keep Securus going. The massive negative press campaign led to eight-figure disinvestments:

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-05/la-fi-tom-gores-securus-prison-phone-mass-incarceration

Now, Securus's debt became "distressed," trading at $0.47 on the dollar. A brief, covid-fueled reprieve gave Securus a temporary lifeline, as prisoners' families were barred from in-person visits and had to pay Securus's rates to talk to their incarcerated loved ones. But after lockdown, Securus's troubles picked up right where they left off.

They targeted Platinum's founder, Tom Gores, who papered over his bloody fortune by styling himself as a philanthropist and sports-team owner. After a campaign by Worth Rises and Color of Change, Gores was kicked off the Los Angeles County Museum of Art board. When Gores tried to flip Securus to a SPAC – the same scam Trump pulled with Truth Social – the negative publicity about Securus's unsound morals and financials killed the deal:

https://twitter.com/WorthRises/status/1578034977828384769

Meanwhile, more states and cities are making prisoners' communications free, further worsening Securus's finances:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/14/minnesota-nice/#shitty-technology-adoption-curve

Congress passed the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, giving the FCC the power to regulate the price of federal prisoners' communications. Securus's debt prices tumbled further:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541

Securus's debts were coming due: it owes $1.3b in 2024, and hundreds of millions more in 2025. Platinum has promised a $400m cash infusion, but that didn't sway S&P Global, a bond-rating agency that re-rated Securus's bonds as "CCC" (compare with "AAA"). Moody's concurred. Now, Securus is stuck selling junk-bonds:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541

The company's creditors have given Securus an eight-month runway to find a new lender before they force it into bankruptcy. The company's debt is trading at $0.08 on the dollar.

Securus's major competitor is Viapath (prison tech is a duopoly). Viapath is also debt-burdened and desperate, thanks to a parallel campaign by Worth Rises, and has tried all of Securus's tricks, and failed:

https://pestakeholder.org/news/american-securities-fails-to-sell-prison-telecom-company-viapath/

Viapath's debts are due next year, and if Securus tanks, no one in their right mind will give Viapath a dime. They're the walking dead.

Worth Rise's brilliant guerrilla warfare against prison-tech and its private equity backers are a master class in using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house. The finance sector isn't a friend of justice or working people, but sometimes it can be used tactically against financialization itself. To paraphrase MLK, "finance can't make a corporation love you, but it can stop a corporation from destroying you."

Yes, the ruling class finds solidarity at the most unexpected moments, and yes, it's easy for appeals to greed to institutionalize greediness. But whether it's funding unbezzling journalism through short selling, or freeing prisons by brandishing their cooked balance-sheets in the faces of bond-rating agencies, there's a lot of good we can do on the way to dismantling the system.

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/2024/04/08/money-talks/#bullshit-walks

Image: KMJ (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boerse_01_KMJ.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[kideternity]

Uhmmmmm soo. Over the past few months I've been seeing a lot of complaints or comments that digimon has too many designs which essentially boil down to “There are too many designs that are just humans in costumes.”

And for a while I just nodded my head and went Yeah Alright, because I Understood where it was coming from (the way most perfect + ultimate levels tend to become more humanoid over their predecessors) and thought it was a valid complaint even if I don’t agree. But eventually it got to the point where I got legitimately invested in wanting to know How Many Digimon there were that you could classify as “basically humans” and well. Here I am.

For the past week or so I came up with my own “categories” and counted how many digimon fit under each category to then later put into a graph like the one you see above ^

I did all of this for like, first and foremost My Own Interest, but I decided to share the results anyways in case someone else thinks this topic of discussion is interesting? I'll include as well under a read more a more in depth guide to the data i've accumulated as well

FYI, Important disclaimers: This is all highly subjective. Im not trying to claim these are any sort of objective categories canon to Digimon or that the results are objectively canon. You may think some or all of these categories are deeply redundant, or you will disagree with me over what counts as say, A Monster or A Furry or A Humanoid, and that’s fine. There are also digimon excluded from the total, most notably digimon that are cameo/minor characters in a singular digimon property, or recolours (ie Gabumon versus Psychemon) or which had minute design differences (Like, almost all of the different Agumons) because I thought including all of that was redundant or unnecessary. If there was a major difference in designs (ie Original Falcomon versus 2006 Savers Falcomon) however I did consider it as a separate design. Also, no X antibody designs were included, because oh my god there are already so many digimon and the X antibody designs could probably merit its own pie chart.

Baby 1 + 2:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 89

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 17

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries, inclu robotic anthros): n/a

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: n/a

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: n/a

Rookie:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 73

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 26

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic anthros): 7

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 7

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 4

Adult:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 96

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 51

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic designs): 18

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 23

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 6

Perfect:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 64

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 46

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic anthros): 39

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 46

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 9

Ultimate + Super Ultimate:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 68

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 41

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic anthros): 48

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 95

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 17

Hybrid:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 7

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 4

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic anthros): 6

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 8

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 7

Armour:

Explicitly Creatures/Animals/Naturalistic Monsters/etc: 40

Inhuman/Monstrous in other ways (example- Robots/objects/undead): 5

Anthropomorphic animals/creatures (Furries inclu robotic anthros): 11

Humanoid but still inhuman/monstrous/weird in some way: 7

Essentially humans/Humans in costumes: 1

[sinligh]

I woke up hyperaware of every inch of my body. A bone must be missing, a tooth or two my hair feels like an extension of the pillow that i hide my dreams underneath

And my head is too heavy with the weight of everything I said i will think about later…

Childhood, adolescence, adulthood

It all overlaps sometimes, and I worry that my childhood is all I’m going to grow up to live and relive.

I worry that it’s a punishment,

Like Prometheus; that I’ll spend my nights picking at it trying to cleanse myself from all that a young version of me wasn’t strong enough to process

only to wake up and realize I’m carrying it between my ribs again.

To be pregnant with another girl that will relive my life like I’m reliving my mothers.

I’m overthinking again

Stages of life like gates to the many graveyard’s that I have built inside me.

A sanctuary

A place of residence to all the feelings i had no time to over analyze.

I digged my phone from underneath the pillow, something must be said..

A phantom of the words that are trying to escape is at hands reach..

An Aura. A migraine.

Its 04:51 am. The sun didn’t rise yet, why am I awake again?

Thoughts are fighting each other for a way out, like a newborn waiting to be called by a name, any would be fine; as long as it gets acknowledgment.

On my way to the bathroom, i stumbled upon keywords

Some that I believe i missed the night before..

When anxiety was eating another pathway for itself. A way out, out of my brain

Necrosis.

I spent the past couple of months studying all that can go wrong in a woman’s body.

Starting from puberty highlighting child bearing period and ending with menopause.

It’s all prewritten

And I get mad with rage because improvisations are treated like a sin that can never be forgiven.

I watched women bleeding incomplete lives from between their legs, that without shedding a tear.

We’re used to that, aren’t we ?

Bleeding.

And incomplete lives.

Distant dreams of motherhood bleeding classic tragedies into an ink jar

to be hand written as another passage in the wrenching history of all the fabricated religious books that swore by women.

•••

•Quotes: Blythe Baird/ Paul Guest/Molly McCully Brown/ Uma Thurman/ Sylvia Plath/ Joel Coen/ Emily Rose Cole

•Original context: Sinligh

•Art reference:

1.painting by Domenico Induno. 2. Painting by Henry Asencio. 3.painting by graham dean. 4. Art by Patricia Cronin. 5. Art by Amelie, Maison d'art. 6. Spirit Body Consciousness by Byron Tik. 7. Painting by Francesca Strino 8. Charles-August Mengin (detail)

[urdepressedslut]

Stray ❝part three❞

♡ Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader/The Winter Soldier x Fem!Reader

♡ Summary: A glimpse into your past is shown. You and Bucky seem to be getting a little closer, maybe even starting to trust each other.

♡ Warnings: angst, hints to imprisonment, child abuse, injuries, fluff, dark themes

Italics are flashbacks

Part 4

You watched as the spider spun its web, creating the intricate design in the corner of the ceiling. The silk strings connected into a final product of beauty, something you’d grown to appreciate in this time of isolation.

You didn’t like it down here. It was cold, smelling rancid of something rotting. The worst of it all, was that the only lighting was a tiny flickering candle, sitting a top a wooden chair near the door. The rest of the room was blanketed in a thick gloom, leaving much to your imagination to create unsettling figures to creep in the corners of confinement.

You didn’t believe you deserved to be trapped down here. You had simply asked a question to your unbalanced Mother, wondering why there was crimson staining the front porch. As innocent as the question seemed, it had made Mother angry.

Her eyes were red with rage, her chest heaving like a rabid animal. Her grip on your scalp was excruciating as she dragged you by your hair to the basement stairs. You cried and begged for her to stop until you were thrown down the flight, silencing your wails as your ears rung, your body throbbing in pain. You didn’t have time to prepare for her returning grip on your scalp, as she dragged you into your current room. She carelessly threw you into the space, your body landing on the concrete with a loud thud.

The slam of the door alerted you that you were alone, leaving you in the small space, accompanied only by your sobs and whimpers for someone to help. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it never failed to confuse you. You just didn’t understand what you were doing wrong.

Snapping out of the memory of only hours ago, you focused back on the spider spinning it’s web, and wondered if the spider had another way out of this room, or if it was trapped… Like you.

The door swung open, causing you to flinch back into the wall, squinting your eyes as they became accustomed to the brightness of the light. Your vision cleared to see your Mother standing menacingly in the doorway, a leather whip dangling from her left palm.

Immediately, you knew what was to come. But it had been awhile since you last received punishment, and your old slashes had only fully healed days ago.

“Mommy please don’t!” You cried, watching your Mothers lip twitch.

“Take your dress off.” She spat, causing your breathing to come in quicker.

“Momm—”

“Turn around. Hands against the wall.” She commanded, her voice dripping venom.

“Please Mommy— I’m sorry!” You sobbed, your wails echoing against the stone.

“Take. Your dress. Off.” She shot out, each word more aggressive than the last. You could barely hear her over the pounding of your heartbeat in your ears.

You shook your head, weeping in pure terror of what was to come.

“Don’t make me get your Father.” She threatened, causing your pupils to blow out in horror, your heartbeat thundering.

You shook your head weakly, not wanting to accept defeat, but your fear drove you to slide the dress down your shaking frame, exposed and humiliated standing before your Mother.

“Now turn around. Hands against the wall.” She spoke coldly, then suddenly switching her demeanor to a sweet gentle voice, “I love you… But you still need to learn.”

☾

Your eyes flung open, your breathing erratic as you took in the water damaged ceiling. It hadn’t come as a shock to you when your sleep was interrupted by a memory. You sat up, shivering from the air hitting you clammy skin. Your sheets and blankets were soaked with sweat, your pillow slightly damp from tears. With a sniffle, you glanced over to the clock.

3:51 AM

Huffing in annoyance that you couldn’t sleep through the night, you swung your legs over the edge of the bed, deciding that you would rather start your day early, than possibly fall back into the void of torturous memories.

Meanwhile Bucky downstairs hadn’t even attempted sleep, knowing it wouldn’t come. He’d rather stare into the wall, letting himself get lost in thought. Picking through flashes of memories that would come rushing through his head. He was sat on the floor, letting his back lean against the couch. His mind convinced him he didn’t deserve something so soft, though he didn’t think he could even find comfort in the softness when he had grown so used to sleeping on practically nothing.

Instead of suffering through horrid memories, he let his mind wander to you. He couldn’t comprehend why he would let his guard down around you, but you held a safe, comforting aura, that made it hard to stop himself. He really wanted to trust you, and even more so— He didn’t want to leave.

He found your kindness and sweet demeanor infectious, sparking urges inside of him that he didn’t know he still had. His mind was overwhelmed with your kind gestures, it almost made him want to smile. Almost.

Although, he could see easily that behind your tenderness, was something darker. You were doing a poor job at hiding it, but he didn’t seem to be in a place to judge. Besides, everyone has their demons.

Meanwhile, you discovered that the power had come back on at some point during your restless slumber. You forced yourself to look more presentable, smoothing down your hair, and slipping on a new dress.

Yesterday you had on a white dress, light ruffles at the ends. Although, by the end of the day, the dress wasn’t the pristine white it had been. Dirt and walks around the fields had dirtied the dress. Now you wore a white blouse, with a baby blue thin strapped dress overtop. Your feet were wrapped in white lace ruffle socks, this pair clean versus the ones you wore yesterday.

Some might agree that your sock collection was far too excessive, but what people didn’t know, was that you were never given a pair of shoes. Your parents figured you’d never need to leave the house, and they didn’t mind you walking around in your socks, even through the flower fields.

You made your way down the stairs, heading towards Bucky. Taking note that he sat awake against the couch. You frowned at the thought that he didn’t sleep on the couch, you wondered if it wasn’t comfortable enough.

“Good morning Bucky.” You announced. He turned and met your gaze, his expression glum. “You’re up early.”

All you received was a slow nod.

Although, he’d wanted to ask what you were doing up so early, the sun hadn’t risen yet.

“Did you sleep okay?” You asked him, walking further into the room.

He wasn’t sure why he felt he needed to lie, but a part of him didn’t want to see you upset. After all you’d done for him.

He nodded, not trusting his voice to make the lie convincing enough.

You didn’t mind that he was quiet, you found his presence calming. Although he had a kind voice, from what you had heard little from yesterday.

“Okay well, I’m going to make some breakfast. I know it’s early but…I’ll let you know when it’s done.” You told him, nodding when he didn’t make a move to respond.

You made it a couple steps when his voice halted you in your spot.

“(Y/n)?” He called out, his voice gentle.

You turned and met his hesitant eyes.

“Yes?”

“Could you… Could you um…” He trailed off, “M-my… I uh…”

You quickly realized what he was trying to ask, and you felt relieved that he trusted you enough to help him with his arm finally. You had felt terrible watching him wince in pain every now and then.

“Yes of course.” You told him, walking over to the couch slowly, taking a seat.

Bucky lifted himself off the ground and sat down next to you, his arm cradled to his stomach. Why he felt comfortable enough for you to help him with something so vulnerable? He didn't know.

You could tell he was anxious, he was swallowing nervously, his eyes darting around the room, seeking to focus on anything but you.

“What happened to your arm?” You asked, trying to calm him down before you even attempted to touch him.

“It’s uh… It’s my shoulder. It’s dislocated.” He corrected, his eyes focused on the floor, ignoring your question.

“Oh. Okay um, I know what to do. I just need to set it back in place. Okay?” You told him, waiting patiently for his approval.

His brows furrowed. You knew how to set a dislocated shoulder?

“I’m going to touch you now okay? I’m going to grab your wrist. Is that alright?” You told him carefully, waiting for his consent.

While he was confused, he was also very appreciative that you respected him. You were patient like no one had ever been towards him before, and it was a foreign feeling, but one he welcomed.

He nodded, letting you know he was ready.

You kept your movements slow and steady, wrapping your fingers around his wrist, ignoring the heated sensation from the contact. He flinched slightly at your touch, and you stopped your movements.

“You okay?” You asked him, worry evident in your tone.

He took a deep breath, gathering himself before nodding for you to continue.

You wrapped your whole hand around his wrist now, debating whether you should count down or…

With a hard pull of his arm forward and straight, the ball of his arm bone connected back to his shoulder socket with a dull pop. Bucky grimaced in pain, but otherwise held no larger reaction. Releasing his wrist, you folded your hands in your lap.

Bucky could already feel himself healing slowly, the movement in his arm easier, less painful. He tried to ignore the buzzing sensation your touch left on his skin, he assumed it was from lack of gentle touch he’s had in over 70 years.

He glanced up and met your gentle gaze, forcing a small smile in appreciation.

“Thank you.” He whispered to you, watching your face brighten.

“No need. Happy to help.” You told him, standing up and heading towards the kitchen.

“(Y/n)?” His voice called to you, causing you to turn and meet his eyes again.

“Bucky?” You teased back.

“Thank you for everything.” He repeated, and you waved him off about to tell him not to worry.

“Seriously, you don’t have t—”

“No, you didn’t have to help me. You shouldn’t of… But you did. So… thank you.” He trailed off, the crease in between his brows back.

His words were a bit confusing to you, and you weren’t going to pry, but he was already so mysterious, his words were too vague for your liking.

“What do you mean I shouldn’t of helped you?”

Bucky’s face paled slightly, his breathing heavy. He figured there’d be no harm in telling you, and he absolutely didn’t have to tell you— But he wanted to.

“I’ve done bad things.” He confessed in a whisper, and you walked closer and sat back down on the couch so you could hear him.

“Bad things..?” You asked him hesitantly.

“I’m…” He hesitated, “I’m a monster.”

Your skin erupted in goosebumps at the way he said it, but you were having a hard time believing this skittish man was anything like a monster.

“Why... Why would you say that about yourself? Everyone has done bad things, but it doesn’t define you. You are who you wanna be.” You told him, wondering why you couldn’t believe your own words for yourself. “Do you wanna be a monster?”

“No.” He answered quickly, voice wavering.

“Then you aren’t a monster.”

“I am,” He argued, “If you knew everything I’ve done… You’d see me as a monster too.”

His words should’ve been alarming to you, but they had you thinking of how you viewed yourself. You were the monster.

“You don’t seem like a monster to me.” You whispered, your eyes holding his, understanding his dilemma.

“Trust me… I am.” He finished, tears gathered in his eyes. He looked away from your intense gaze, focusing on the feeling of the blanket.

“You haven’t hurt me in anyway, you’ve done nothing that would label you as a monster. You… You aren’t gonna hurt me right?”

Bucky winced from the question, knowing you were just trying to prove a point, but it still hurt to hear you say.

“Never.”

“Okay then,” You stood up, wiping your clammy hands down your dress, “I’m gonna go make breakfast.”

Without giving him a chance to say anything more, you left the room quickly, busying yourself in the kitchen.

Bucky was left deep in thought, wondering why you were so nonchalant about everything he’d said. Yes, he was trying to scare you, make you disgusted by him. That way when he had to leave, it’d be easier. But you had reacted so differently than he was expecting, and your understanding and softness had him speechless.

You truly were his guardian angel.

A/N: let me know what you think🤍 i love and appreciate the feedback 🥰

TAGLIST: @buckybarnesandmarvel @viperchick47 @hunitweet @vixi-3303 @mirtaqueen @buckyb-stan @happinessinthebeing

[refeminizeme]

THIS IS A KINK BLOG

18+ ONLY MINORS DNI

Mandatory disclaimer that transphobia in real life sucks and so does misogyny etc and i dont condone pretty much anything on this blog if its not in a consensual kink context, obviously. If this content triggers you pls block me, your mental health comes first.

_______________________________________________

kink list

loves

forcefem/feminization!!!!!!!

bondage esp sh1bari

brainwashing/conditioning/mind control

bimboification/dumbification

hypnosis!!!!!

breathplay (incl. being choked and more)

dp

edging & denial

sensory deprivation ♡

humiliation

consensual blackmailing but only w ppl i REALLY trust

gaslighting/manipulation (consensually and negotiated first, and only w the right person so dont do this right out the gate)

likes

cnc (if in the mood, with the right person i trust, etc)

breeding/sometimes pregnancy

spirals

intox (consensually and for the right person)

degradation in very specific circumstances/with certain people

exhibitionism/voyeurism

misogyny kink

hucow

curious about

lactation

currently exploring piss kink (will be tagged #piss kink, for those who wish to avoid it)

will update as i like, think of more???? if u think of anything not on this list ask me about it n like, it just may get added hahahahahaha

limits

findom/me

v0mit

scat

cgl/ddlg/daddy dom anything

age/re

alternate personality stuff/anything related to that

feet

body shaming, esp weight related

weight control/eating disorder stuff

racism/racist slurs/etc

any kind of inc3st including daddy/mommy as a title

ass to mouth in any capacity

rimming (giving)

_______________________________________________

i occasionally make detr4ns/misgen/bimbofication files (you can find them here!!) but im primarily a sub.

__________________________________

I used to be ftm and hypnosis fixed my brain 🥴

I've been listening to files for like 4 years+ and this is like, how ive turned out bc of it???? I really am detransitioning n becoming the best bimbo i CAN be irl this is not like, ENTIRELY a fantasy for me but i dont like, condone this stuff outside of a consensual kink context to be clear. if this stuff upsets you please block and move on.

currently my tits are an F/I cup depending on the day bc i haven't been keeping up my regimen 😅

also fwiw i AM a bigger girl, which like, means dont expect me to be the waifish manic pixie dream girl many guys like, seem to expect??? My icon + header are both me so that shld give u an idea of what to expect.

I have a gdrive folder full of nüdes (51 things including a few videos!!) n im offering access 2 that 4 an upfront donation of whatever we agree is reasonable n a small upkeep donation every so often. I dont update it often, but I do update a lot at once.

Alternatively, should you be interested in saucier content on the reg, I've made an MYM.fans acct!! I plan 2 upload all the good stuff on there n thats $10 a month, ish.

I also do custom hypnofiles, pics/vids/audios/etc. DM 4 details.

Lastly, should you feel like being generous n tipping/ buying me a gift, my c4sh4pp is $pavementflower n you can buy me gifts/contribute 2 gift money here!!

im in a polyamorous relationship with someone, n also a dynamic with a Dom. im not really looking atm but im open 2 play through asks just dont ask me 2 touch myself 🙈 I'm also not allowed to send nudes 4 free soooo yeah 😅

[ms-m-astrologer]

The Week Ahead: October 28 - November 3, 2024

Lunar Phases

Monday, October 28, 09:00 UT - Balsamic Moon, 20°25’ Virgo

The key phrases for the Balsamic lunar phase are “let go of the past,” and “envision the future.” A great time to rest up, take your vitamins, eat healthy food, and hydrate - the whole Virgo agenda!

Friday, November 1, 12:47 UT - New Moon, 9°35’ Scorpio

The key phrase for the New lunar phase is “set a new intention for the month” - nothing drastic, just some good habit we think we can establish in one month’s time. Doing whatever it takes for us to remain calm, focused, and conscientious, is m suggestion. Lots of hype out there. Ignore it as best you can.

Void of Course Moon

Tuesday, October 29, 03:54 UT (Virgo) - 04:30 UT (Libra)

Thursday, October 31, 16:57 UT (Libra) - 17:29 UT (Scorpio)

Sunday, November 3, 04:51 UT (Scorpio) - 05:19 UT (Sagittarius)

Retrograde/Direct/Etc.

Pre-retrograde shadow: Mars/Cancer-Leo

Retrograde: Jupiter/Gemini, Saturn/Pisces, Chiron/Aries, Uranus/Taurus, Neptune/Pisces, Eris/Aries

Post-retrograde shadow: Ceres/Capricorn

Ingresses

Saturday, November 2 - transiting Mercury enters Sagittarius

It spends a few days here before entering its pre-retrograde shadow next week, on November 7. We’ll probably get a terrific new idea to take into the retrograde zone.

Sunday, November 3 - transiting Juno enters Scorpio

Sexy! ‘Til death do us part! Transformative relationship work! This is also (like Mercury) leading up to Juno entering her pre-retrograde shadow on December 22.

Monday, November 4 - transiting Mars enters Leo

A “mulligan,” do-over ingress - because Mars stations retrograde on December 6, at 6°10’ Leo, and returns to Cancer on January 6.

Et Cetera

There is one Opportunity Period this week: Monday, October 28, 23:31 UT - Tuesday, October 29, 03:54 UT. “Excellent for cleaning up and getting organized during the Last Quarter Moon.”

If you live in the US, stupid fucking Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday, November 3, at 2:00 am local time.

Currently fighting off my latest cold (occupational hazard: I work in a school), and I apologize for this brevity! Thought it was better to get something posted.

———————————

Venmo Mary_Brack

PayPal MaryVBrack

Thank you!

[amethystamanda]

Peaceful Mourning

I can't be the only one who reads the buff on a sim when someone they love dies, sees that it says to mourn at a headstone or urn to feel better, and then is always disappointed when it does absolutely nothing. It's supposed to help, but it does absolutely nothing in my game, with or without mods.

This mod adds an interaction to headstones and urns that lets your sims actually feel better.

Their sad buffs decrease.

And they get a new buff that boosts the fine emotion--it's not going to make them happy, but it can bring them a little bit of peace. It may also boost positive emotions.

This does not replace the Mourning interaction. It adds a new one. If you ever want your sims to feel sad about the death of their loved one again (or any sim, really) use the regular Mourn interaction. It's possible to have buffs from both interactions at the same time, but if you use the Mourn to Feel at Peace interaction, it will decrease the duration of all sad buffs, whatever their origin, as long as they are able to decrease. (In other words, don't count on mourning helping with teen mood swings.)

It's an autonomous interaction, the same as the in-game mourning I based it off of. I've never found that one to be spammy, so I left it on. It uses the default crying animation, because I am not and have no desire to be an animator.

It works for toddler to elder sims, and for cats and dogs, on human/occult headstones/urns, and for cats and dogs on cat and dog headstones, but not for human sims on cat or dog headstones/urns, and not for horses or horse headstones or urns at all. That's not a choice, it's just how it is. I don't know why pet headstones are different, and I cannot find any mourning interaction for horses on any headstone, just the autonomous mourning they do when someone dies.

The interaction requires at least 30-35 positive friendship (green, not red) for human sims. I'm assuming that most people don't find peace mourning people they barely know or who they dislike. For cats and dogs, the scale is slightly different, and I'm not sure what the exact number is. 50 seemed to work in my testing, but lower may also work.

It counts for the Remembrance holiday tradition if you have Seasons.

(Poor, poor randomly generated in CAS sim whose name I don't know. So many sims died in the making of this mod.)

There are three different strengths, 3x (just a little help, takes 16 hours of constant mourning to run out the 2 day buff that most sims get in an unmodded game), 6x (takes 8 hours of constant non-stop mourning), and the cheaty 12x (takes 4 hours to run through the 2 day buff). How long it actually takes depends on how much you use it, your sim's traits, and your other mods--I once had a sim with a 12-day mourning buff, so that would take a while.

Something that came up in testing: if you're mourning to find peace and stop, the time will increase again. This is normal, and happens if you do things like give yourself a pep talk too. The timer assumes that you will continue doing what you're doing, and when you stop, the timer adjusts. It will have taken a chunk of time out of the total while you were using the interaction.

PICK ONE VERSION!

REQUIRES LOT 51'S CORE LIBRARY! https://lot51.cc/core

Base Game Compatible. Not compatible with the headstones/urns of playable ghosts (Life and Death expansion pack).

There are custom strings. This is my first time creating custom strings. Everything should show up in English in all games. If you have blank text, please let me know. If you want to offer a translation, please also let me know, so I can include it or link to it.

Compatible with It’s All Grave-Y Customizable Graves by Ravasheen https://ravasheen.com/download/its-all-grave-y-customizable-graves/

Incompatible with Mortem in weird ways--it seems to make the mourning buff disappear when at a funeral, which I don't understand, but it is what it is. Please don't try to use them together.

If you have any other functional cc headstone/urn replacements that let you add passed sims to them, they may or may not be compatible, depending on which tags they use. If they're not, let me know, and I'll reach out to the creator and see if they mind me making my mod compatible. Headstones/urns that are purely decorative and don't have the regular mourning interactions will not be compatible.

Thanks so much to 𝐸-𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘒𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘢, BRi, and Vee for testing the mod. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

July 24, 2024: Cleared for patch 1.108.318, and added compatibility with Happy Haunts by Chipped Sims

Download (Pick one version please): http://simfileshare.net/folder/220760/

[grogusmum]

💚March Fic Madness - Fic Recs💚

I've joined @the-blind-assassin-12 Alyssa's March Fic Madness! The goal is 63 reblogs/reads in 31 days (I'm not sure that I will get there its been A Month!) and I think I've not put the tag on everyfic ive read/reblogged in March (I'm going to go back to add tags to any I missed).

With all these incredible writers, I am reccing every one! As always, mind the warnings

Adrift by @morallyinept ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, ch 6 (Frankie Morales)

The Producer @coulsons-fullmetal-cellist (Dieter Bravo)

Are You Sure You're Ready For This by @missredherring (Marcus Pike)

Drunk Text by@kteague (Frankie Morales)

Fluffbruary: 13 by @oonajaeadira (Jack Daniels)

The Sweepstakes: Frankie Morales epilogue by @katareyoudrilling

The Sweepstakes: Dave York epilogue by @katareyoudrilling

Joel, Interrupted by @iamskyereads

You Were Marked: Day One @handspunyarns (Din Djarin)

Baker's Dozen Ezra part 2 @avastrasposts

Day 10: Comet by @nerdieforpedro (Din Djarin)

Uneven Odds ch 1 and ch 2 by @theetherealbloom (Din Djarin)

Darkroom Din Intro Crit Solargrams Knock Before You Enter** The Bar Is Set High Overdeveloped** Muse Get Away With** Letting The Light In by @honestly-shite

You Brought Poison Flowers Chapter 1: Larkspur Chapter 2: Yarrow Chapter 3: Lettuce * Chapter 4: Echinacea Chapter 5: Onion * Chapter 6: Cherry * Chapter 7: Maple Chapter 8: Beet * by @ohforficsake (Joel Miller)

Lush by @the-scandalorian (Din Djarin)

We Had Today by @deadhumourist

He With the Dark Curls, You With the Watercolor Eyes by @hellishjoel (Frankie Morales)

The Lack of Kenergy by @coulsons-fullmetal-cellist (Dieter Bravo)

G.O.M.E.R. by @disgruntledspacedad (Frankie Morales)

Threefold by @insomniamamma (Ezra)

She Made Me Feel by @nerdieforpedro (Din Djarin)

Hunters Gambit Part One (501 AS) | Part Two (501 AS) | Part Three (501 AS) Part Four (501 AS) by @chaoticgeminate (Frankie Morales)

Bright Lights ii and iii by @ezrasbirdie (Dieter Bravo)

Silent Affection by @kteague (Frankie Morales)

E. + "Are you sure you're ready for this?" by @missredherring (Ezra)

Not My Stars ch 11 by @keldabe-kriff (Din Djarin)

Able by @ladamedusoif (Joel Miller)

final tally 51

Thanks to all you beautiful, brilliant writers!

It occurred to me that I should include the 4 fic I posted this month -

Class of 1974 Taking Chances Part 3 All In (Javier Peña)

Please Mister Please (Joel Miller)

November: Mourning Moon (Frankie Morales)

Posting tomorrow: IRL Part 3 (Javi Gutiérrez)

[justicegundam82]

Pathfinder 2E to 1E Conversion: Karina

Here I am, back with a new conversion.

The Karina is a creature that comes from the book The Mwangi Expanse. I thought it was a fairly cool and rather uncomplicated creature, so I decided to try my hand at converting it. As always, please let me know what I can do to get better at this! XD

KARINA

Image (c) Paizo Publishing. Accessible at the Archives of Nethys here

This odd creature looks like an oversized owl with reddish-brown feathers, but its face has an intense, malevolent look to it. It has a pair of human-like arms, ending in taloned fingers.

KARINA CR 5

XP 1’600

NE Large Outsider (native)

Init +5; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Perception +14

DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+5 Dex, +5 natural, -1 size)

hp 51 (6d10+18)

Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +6

Damage Reduction 5 / good; Spell Resistance 16

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)

Melee bite +9 (1d8+4 plus disease), 2 claws +9 (1d6+4 plus disease); or 2 talons +10 (1d6+4 plus grab)

Special Attacks grab, grave blight, mocking cry

STATISTICS

Str 19, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 19

Base Atk +6; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 26

Feats Deceitful, Flyby Attack, Weapon Focus (talon)

Skills Acrobatics +14, Bluff +12 (+20 to mimic voices), Fly +9, Perception +14, Stealth +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception

Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal (cannot speak)

Special Qualities sound mimicry

ECOLOGY

Environment warm forests

Organization solitary, pair or trio

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Grave Blight (Ex): Disease, bite or claw – injury; save Fort DC 16; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Con damage and 1d3 Wis damage plus confused for 1 day; cure 2 consecutive saves. Grave blight manifests itself through fever, gray patches on the skin, disorientation and, at later stages, an innate urge to attack others and spread the disease. Anyone who touches a victim sufffering from grave blight must make a Fortitude save (DC 14) or contract the disease as well. The save DC is Constitution-based

Mocking Cry (Su): As a swift action once per round, a karina can choose to demoralize a single creature who failed to see through its sound mimicry (see below). The creature is affected as though by a crushing despair spell (-2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls) for the duration of 1 minute. Whether or not the creature succeeds at their saving throw, they cannot be affected by the same karina’s docking cry again for 24 hours.

Sound Mimicry (Ex): As general monster rules; a karina can mimic any voice they have heard.

A karina, also known as a plague bird, is a sinister creature whose goal is to spread pestilence and cause communities to collapse. A deeply sadistic creature, a karina lurks in the wilderness surrounding small cities and villages, waiting for a potential victim to attack and infect with the foul disease carried by their beaks and claws. They usually attract their victims by mimicrying the voices of the victim’s friends or loved ones, infect the victim and then retreat. They repeat this process a few times, enjoying themselves as the newly diseased fall to madness and spread their pestilence further, potentially destroying entire cities unless something is done to halt the progress of the malady.

The karina’s malevolence and unnatural behavior suggests an extraplanar origin for them. The most popular hypotesis posits them as creations of either Urgathoa or Apollyon, but other theories counter that karinas were born from the souls of the first mortals that murdered and cannibalized one of their kind. The fact that karinas have a habit of stealing corpses from graveyards in order to feed on them gives credence to this theory, but nothing is known for certain, and the karinas are not interested in clarifying.

A karina is usually about 10 feet tall, but is relatively light for its size. They are usually solitary creatures, but they sometimes join forces with a few more of their kind in order to better terrorize a town.

[mrs-monaghan]

OMG Tae did way worse than I expected 💀💀💀

Slow Dancing - #3 on Billboard's Global Excl US. Jimin did #2 because of that Morgan whale

#4 on Billboard's Global 200 this week! - JM #2

BB 200 - Tae - #2 100K album, JM #2 164K.

BB 100 - Jm #1, Tae - #51 💀💀

the way most popular member charted below than Suga is crazy lol. Even Jimin's all hated Bside SMF ate it up so bad (#30 BB). This is answer to his rabid stans than internet popularity doesn't give you a shit irl. First outchart supposedly unpopular rapline before getting Park Jimin's lowest numbers lmao

Before I comment on this I would just like it to be known; I AM NOT A V ANTI!!!!!

This isn't a disclaimer. I am only stating this because of the asks I've go10 shitting on him. I will not be posting those. I don't blame anyone but myself. I know I have allowed people to vent about him here before and I was definitely among the people getting pissed at the JK name dropping but I'm pretty chill these days. So V's antics don't bother me and also there is something about binging all that Layover content continously that just reminds you that V is not the monster people paint him out to be.

If you haven't had the time i recommend this video. It was my favourite and I quite enjoyed it.

He is funny and honestly I also wanna say adorable 😂😂

Sure, the way he treats those around him could use some adjustment. But those around him seem to love him just fine so who I'm I to be mad at him, you know?

Now that that's out of the way, let's indeed talk numbers. I've said multiple times the 2 most popular members are Jimin and JK. Not V and JK. We've seen this before but sure, let's revisit the topic.

So a friend of mine who quite enjoys keeping tabs on numbers did the following math:

September 9th Streams, Thailand percentage compared to overall Streams:

Seven: 17,6 %

Slow Dancing: 29,6 %

Like Crazy: 8,7 %

So this is the amount of Streams Thailand had for the Maknae line Main Tracks on September 9th, Compared to worldwide Streams.

😁

Maknae Line, Main Track Streams Debut Day. Global vs USA vs Thailand

Debut Streams "Seven":

Global: 15,99 M

USA: 2,064 M (12,9 %)

Thailand: 1,3 M (8,13 %)

*

Debut Streams "Like Crazy":

Global: 6,6 M

USA: 0.997 M (15,1 %)

Thailand: 0,165 M (7,5 %)

*

Debut Streams "Slow Dancing":

Global: 6,14 M

USA: 0,388 M (6,3 %)

Thailand: 0,970 M (15,8 %)

These are the Streams for each Main Track's Debut Day. Global vs US vs Thailand

In conclusion:

-USA and Thailand looooooove JK. BUT Seven is charting in 71 out of 72 (wow) eligble Spotify countries. So it's a bob and a hit globally.

-USA loooooooooves Jimin. Thailand, not so much 😬

-Thailand absolutely looooooves V. USA, not so much.

But we kinda already knew this no? Alot of vermin are in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, etc. SouthEastAsian is Taekook domain statistically speaking. But the thing is, its still mostly V they prioritize. SEVEN experienced global success coz JK appears to be a fan favourite everywhere. So that helps him even when the SouthEastAsians decide to mostly support V.

So assuming these calculations are correct, which they should be since they are from Spotify Global, (feel free to go do your own) I really don't understand how it was concluded V is the most popular member. And there is many more countries to choose from, my friend only used Thailand coz its one of the countries that stream the most.

People assuming V is the most popular coz of his followers on IG, Guys, Instagram is only one app. V solos n V biased Armys can convince themselves that he's the most popular but numbers do not lie. Chapter 2 has shown that that, is not the case at all. I mean if you've been on twitter you've seen V hasn't even been able to beat Suga in certain categories and records. Like anon said.

The purpose of my post is not to say V isn't liked. That would be a lie. I'm just saying if anything JK is the most popular BTS member. And that's on fax 💯💯💯💯 with Jimin being a very, very, close second. And I know by saying this I am beating a dead horse atp but if Jimin had go10 the push JK did they would either be head to head or he would have surpassed him. So imagine what a big deal it is, that Jimin is doing so well right now and he didn't even get that huge company support.

US album sales were 3K according to Billboard, thats like 30k singles. China did 800k 😱 Asia loves V. US however, which is where it counts for Billboard, do not. Billboard sabotaged all Asians after Jimin won, which means if JK hadn't go10 radio play he never would have won. So, without radio play, V was never going to get that number 1. Those who aren't dillusional already knew this. So we aren't surprised

[monkeyssalad-blog]

260 Dodge WC51 Three Quarter Ton Truck (1957) CSK 824 by Robert Knight Via Flickr: Dodge WC51 Three Quater Ton Truck (1957) Engine 3900cc U.S. Army stencil number : 2817823. Registration Number CSK 824 ( SK was allocated to Caithness but only ASK was used for the region, BSK-YSK xxx are all regionless re-reg series for pre-1963 vehicles.) DODGE ALBUM www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623789157832... The Dodge WC series (nicknamed Beeps) is a prolific range of light 4WD and medium 6WD military utility trucks, produced by Chrysler under the Dodge and Fargo marques during World War II Contrary to the versatility of the highly standardized jeep, which was mostly achieved through field modification, the Dodge WC‑series came in many different, purpose-built, but mechanically uniform variants from the factory. The WC series evolved out of, and was part of a more extended family of trucks, with great mechanical parts commonality, that included open- and closed-cab cargo, troops and weapons carriers, (radio) command, and reconnaissance cars, ambulances, carry-alls, panel vans, and mobile telephone installation and (emergency) field workshop trucks. essentially built in two generations. From 1940 to early 1942, almost 82,400 of the 1⁄2‑ton 4x4 Dodge trucks were built — initially called the VC series, but the great majority, from 1941, in the WC series, With the most prolific of the many WCs being the 3⁄4-ton, 4×4, WC-51 and WC-52 Weapons Carriers All in all, not counting mechanically related variants, the WC series alone involved 52 model versions (thirty 1⁄2‑ton 4×4, eight 1⁄2‑ton 4×2, twelve 3⁄4‑ton 4×4, and two 11⁄2‑ton 6×6 models). Creating vehicles of a common platform in such a variety of designs, with payloads ranging from 1⁄2‑ton to 11⁄2‑tons, had no equal in its time, and is seen as an extraordinary feat of the WWII American auto industry Diolch am 87,419,630 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn 90cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr. Thanks for 87,419,630 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated. Shot 12.09.2021 at Cars in the Park, Lichfield Ref. 121-260

[usafphantom2]

Sonic booms certainly had its place in history. David Peters recently told me about flying over Cuba when a Soviet friend of the Cubans was arriving they just happened to be the right place at the right time to leave the signature boom boom. I applaud the X 59 and its effort for passenger air travel mission. But let’s also remember the sonic boom had its place in history,

“No one could believe that we came within two seconds of the mark,’ Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield, SR-71 Blackbird RSO.”

The Sound of Freedom. 51 years ago, on May 2, 1972.

During the Vietnam War, the word was out that the prisoners that the Vietnamese had captured were being tortured. They were struggling to find a plan to rescue the POWs. Attempts to escape had been met with beatings for the entire camp of prisoners of war if one person attempted to escape. In May 1972 a new plan was installed telling the POWs that if they hear the sound of thunder that they were to escape and run down to the river where there would be Navy SEALs waiting to rescue them. There was disagreement among the inmates about whether to risk another escape. A senior POW convinced them that it wasn’t right to make everyone in the camp suffer if they were captured during the escape. Without knowing that the POWs were not going to escape the plan went forth.

The plan was for two SR-71 Blackbird spy planes to fly over the Hanoi Hilton.

The flight plan was to fly the SR‘s so close that their sonic booms would be only 30 seconds apart. On May 2 and May 4 this happened. POW signal, May 2, 1972, SR-71 number, 979, first of three aircraft. The first indication I had that we might fly a mission like this, (where two SR-71 would crisscross over North Vietnam thirty seconds apart), was when one of the planners asked me at the OL “how close, in time, can you come over a point on the ground?” I told him, “as close as you want.” I don’t think he believed me because he said, “can you come to the point within thirty seconds to two minutes?” I said, “of course, we can control airspeed and reach the point at the time you want us to be at the point in space.”We had this capability because we had insisted at Edwards’, in 1965, that we know the time to the next point, (time to go) something the computer experts and engineers at Edwards’ never thought about and never understood why we needed this information.

Flying the mission was easy. All we asked for was a destination point be placed in the computer where they wanted us to be and the time to be there.

The mission planners told us to make it as close to thirty seconds as we could and they realized that would be very hard to do because we would be closing on each other at a combined speed of Mach six. Bob Spencer and I, Richard “Butch” Sheffield we were the senior crew in the wing at the time, and Chief of the Standardization Division; were selected to lead both the missions and take off first. Darrel Cobb and Reg Blackwell was the spare crew and took off later to position themselves to replace either aircraft. Tom Pugh and Ron Rice took off about an hour later and met us over Hanoi.

After refueling over Thailand, we climbed to altitude and heading north along the China boarder. Once we reach the speed were our inlets and spikes programmed properly, we clicked our mike to single Cobb and Blackwell that we were OK and going on to the target. They flew a random course back to Kadena. About three days after we landed back at Kadena, the staff decided to look at Cobb and Blackwell’s film collected on the random course back to Kadena. A POW camp was found.

On May 4, 1972 we did it all over again the same exact mission (SR-71 number 980, first of three).

Same results, but we shaved one half second off the separation time to thirty-one and one half second.

I am proud of my father that he participated in and helped in the planning of the mission of the sound of freedom.`Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X