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[jprattconstructioninc]

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[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

Hangman Master List

Back to Main Master List

Multi-Part Stories

THE DANGER ZONE MASTERLIST >

Left at the Altar Part 2 [*] Part 3 Epilogue [*] - Fem!Reader (Ex-Girlfriend!Reader)

CW: Suggestive/Implied Sexual Content (Part 2 and Epilogue), Angst, Exes, Pregnancy and Kids (Epilogue only)

Summary: When you get left at the altar, a familiar face swoops in to save the day.

COMPLETED

Sequel: Stay Away from the Altar

What is L-O-V-E? Part 2 Part 3 - Bradshaw!Fem!OC (Lena) (Ex-Wife!OC)

Summary: Lena Bradshaw (formerly Seresin) struggles once again to keep the peace between her ex-husband Jake and her older brother Bradley for her son's sake. And the uranium facility mission only seems to heighten the stakes of it all.

DISCONTINUED

Prologue To Be a Man Part 2 Part 3 - Wife!OC (Sophie)

CW: Secret Marriage; Non-Traditional Family Dynamics; Marriage of Convenience; Type 1 Diabetes

Summary: Hangman is married. And it’s no one else’s business.

PART 4 COMING SOON

Blood in the Water - Cain!OC (Alina)

CW: Arranged & Political Marriage; Post-Apocalypse AU with a Medieval Feel; Blatant Sexism; Abuse from Family Members

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world, the livable landscape is carved up by warlords. After a long war with the Dagger Clan, the Cain Empire has been defeated, but peace cannot be brokered without a sacrifice. Hangman assumes that a marriage is that sacrifice. Cain thinks that Hangman’s death is a better trade.

DISCONTINUED

Never Have I Ever Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 - Civilian Contractor! Female! Reader (Dove)

CW: Not Necessarily Healthy Decisions/Coping Mechanisms; Shy! Reader; Slow Burn; Coworkers to Friends to Lovers; Excessive Pining

Summary: Dove is tired of being stereotyped as the nice, quiet girl who's so innocent it hurts. So, who does she call to help her? Hangman.

PART 4 COMING SOON

One Shots

Wedding Day - Fem!Reader

Summary: Hangman falls in love with his wife all over again when he sees her in her wedding dress for the first time.

I'll Carry You - Fem!Reader (Wife!Reader)

Summary: Hangman and his wife attend a naval ball. When her shoes give her blisters, Hangman ensures that she gets back to the car comfortably.

Lunch Break [*] - Fem!Reader (Wife!Reader)

CW: Suggestive Situations/Content

Summary: Jake and his wife are going through a dry spell. Luckily, his secretary Linda is the best wingwoman in all of Miramar.

A Morning Work Out - Fem!Reader (Wife!Reader)

CW: Implied Sexual Content

Summary: Jake goes through his normal morning routine with his son and wife.

Beach Day - Fem!Reader (Wife!Reader)

CW: Referenced Sexual Innuedos/Situations

Summary: Jake and his wife enjoy a beach day with their three kids.

Stay Away from the Altar - Wife!Reader; Fem!Seresin!OC / Male!Bradshaw!OC

CW: (Over)protective Dad!Hangman; Angst; Fighting; Rebellious Teenagers; Crying; References to Previous Pregnancy Scares

Summary: Jake isn't ready to accept that his daughter is growing up. And he's definitely not ready to accept that his daughter seems to have fallen for Rooster's spawn.

A Little Tag-a-Long - Female!Reader (Peach)

Summary: Hangman is excited to finally take out Peach, the woman that he's been in love with for months now. Except Peach gets called into babysitting duty right before their date.

A Happy Fourth - Wife!Reader

CW: Implied Sexual Content; Outdoor Shower

Summary: You and Hangman enjoy your Fourth of July together.

Three Four, That’s the Magic Number - Wife!Reader

CW: (Unplanned) Pregnancy; (Failed) Vasectomies; Threats of Kicks to the Balls

Summary: You thought that three kids was it. But apparently your husband, Hangman, didn't have as successful of a vasectomy as you initially thought.

The Love Game - Fem!Reader (Glitch)

CW: Unrequited Love; Angst; Emotional Angst; One-Sided Relationship; ‘He’s in Love with Someone Else’ Trope

Summary: Glitch has been in love with Hangman for years but he’s getting married to another woman.

A.N. Multiple Pairings: Hangman/Glitch; Hangman/Fem!OC; Glitch /Mystery Dagger

Gray - Fem!Reader

CW: Jake’s Sad; Showering Together; Half-Naked Cuddling

Summary: You try to cheer your boyfriend Hangman up.

Little Seresin - Wife!Reader

Summary: You surprise your husband by putting your daughter in an opposing team's jersey.

[twice-inamillion]

Playing In The Future Home

Fluff and Smut

1.4 K words

(Jihyo and OC making new memories)

"I can't wait to see where we are going to build our future house," Jihyo said as she looked outside the window. The two of you are on your way to visit the plot of land that you showed her before through FaceTime. 

"Minji gave me the keys to the gate so we can park the car inside and walk around." Jihyo puts up her hands closer, "Look, my hand is shaking from how excited I am right now." 

"Don't be nervous. I know you are going to like it. We are almost there; just a couple more minutes."

You exit the highway and immediately make a left turn. Then drive down the windy road up a small hill and turn right into a private road. Only two hundred feet into a private road filled with trees and bushes, you are met with a large metal gate, "I'm going to open the gate; I'll be right back." Once the gate is open, you drive inside and close the gate around before driving again. The dirty road eventually leads you to a grass-filled field, "we're here." 

The two of you get out of the car; Jihyo walks around for a bit as you get your backpack and binder. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing, and it's big. I love the trees and bushes that surround the entrance." 

"Yes, Minji said that the previous owner fenced the entire estate so their animals wouldn't get out. Makes it easier for us because it ensures our privacy."

 You take out your binder and show Jihyo some sketches that you and Minji worked on for the past two days. "Look, here are some examples of the potential layout," as you point at the 2D view of the whole estate. "This right here is the layout of the entrance layout just came in front, and we are standing here," as you point at the spot you are standing in. "The lot is huge, and it does have a slight hill towards the back and trees throughout the lot. What Minji and I thought was to keep the entrance untouched, just grass and the house in the middle. Because the area has so much space, we have the option of a one-story house that has spread out or a two-story house. We can also have detached buildings like a music room and multiple guest houses away from the main house but still close. We can even have a large pool with a building on its own, but we would need to childproof it. We have a lot of options to make this place perfect. Towards the back of the lot are multiple trees and a small stream that runs across the end of the property." 

The both of you walk around, and Jihyo tries to visualize the house with the binder in her hands. "I like it, and I think the members will be happy. When do you think we can buy it and start building?"

"I talked to Minji about it, and she said that the owner has wanted to sell the property for a while since all his family has moved to the city abroad and has no more use for it. Regarding the building, we can talk to a few contractors and get the permits ready after we buy the property. Shouldn't be too long, but it all depends on the layout of the house."

"The faster, the better; I can just see the babies running around and having fun with each other. I want Jisoo to have a memorable childhood and grow up safe without the eyes of the public on her and the rest."

"She will; just imagine her playing with the twins on a swing or going down the slide. It's going to be perfect." You hold her hand and start to walk, "let me show you the best part." The both of you walk up toward the end of the property, where you see a hill surrounded by numerous trees. There is a special tree that is much older than the rest, and as you both get closer, Jihyo is amazed by its size, "Wow, the tree is huge." 

"The tree isn't the only thing; turn around." Jihyo turns to see a fantastic view of the landscape. Her future is right before her, and the rest of the world is in the background. "Omg, the view is wonderful. Thank you, oppa," hugging you. 

"Everything here is for us, our future. You deserve the whole world, and I will try my best to give you that." Jihyo tears up from happiness, and the both of you share a passionate kiss. 

"Thank you." 

After settling down, you both sit on the blanket and snacks you brought and enjoy a bottle of wine. Jihyo, a good drinker, enjoys the wine more than you and, little by little, gets tipsy. "Oppa, want to mess around a little bit? We're alone, so we can have a little fun," giving you a sexy wink.

"For you, I'm able to go all the way." 

She pushes you down, gets on top of you, and starts to unbutton your shirt. "Don't do anything; I'll take care of everything and just enjoy." With your chest exposed, she kisses every inch of you, "oppa, you have a manly chest; I love it." 

You give a soft moan as she kisses your neck, "Jihyo, it hurts." 

Jihyo looks down and sees the large bulge in your pants, "Oh wow, hard already?"

"It's just that you're too sexy, I can't help it."

She undoes your pants and fishes out your cock. "Don't worry, little fellow; you'll get your turn soon enough." Once she's done with your neck, she stands up and pulls down her leggings and panties. Jihyo sits on your shaft, causing you to moan, "Ahhh, you're bending my cock." 

"Hmmm, I can feel your cock throbbing, but it's not time yet," as she begins to grind on you. The feeling of her lips hugging your cock throws you over the edge, and Jihyo knows it. "How do you like that? You like it when I grind my pussy on your cock?"

"Jihyo, please don't tease; let me put in it." 

"Just a bit longer," as she increases the pace. She puts more of her weight on your cock, causing you to moan in pain. "Fuck, I can feel your hot cock throbbing. You're such a bad boy, but good job on holding on. Here is your reward." 

Jihyo grabs your cock and lifts herself, aligning it to her entrance. You watch as the head of your cock spreads her lips apart, causing you to gasp, "Fuck, you're so tight." She drops her whole weight, and her cunt swallows you whole, "Ahh… fuck, you're cumming already?"

You grab her waist and hold her tight, "take all of my cum!" She places her hands on your chest and digs her nails as she begins to ride you as you cum inside her. "Let it all out; I'll milk you of all you're worth." 

You see her lustful eyes, the eyes of someone who's found her prey. She rides you as you cum, her tits swaying from side to side, "come on baby, do you like how I ride your big cock? Your cock that's filling me up with baby batter. Stay hard for me, okay." 

Jihyo, with her head on your chest, can hear your heavy breathing, she knows that she has you in her hands. "You think you can go for another round?"

“Ye…yeah… I… I can."

She sits back up, ties her hair in a ponytail, looks you in the eyes, and begins to ride you once more. You can help you move your gaze, but she says, "Don't, look at me. You're mine." 

All you hear now is the noise of flesh grinding against each other, Jihyo's tight walls choking your cock. 

She rides you for about five minutes until you cum once, filling her womb with baby batter. "Yeah… just like that. Fill me up with your cum” as she tightens up her cunt. Once she's done milking you for the second, she lifts herself up and lays beside you. 

Haven gotten a happy ending you look at her erect nipple and attach yourself you it. "Aww, my poor baby, there, there. Suck on mommy's tits until you're full, okay" as she caresses your head. You fall asleep attached to her breast as Jihyo hugs you tight in her arms. 

[trulybetty]

joel miller x masterlist

x. main masterlist

series.

Gold Rush Old lovers Joel and Charlotte find themselves unexpectedly reunited in the community of Jackson. Struggling to navigate the complexities of their shared history and the harsh realities of their new lives, the pair find themselves again drawn to one another. Strings (Complete) Your arrangement with Joel Miller is supposed to be uncomplicated. No attachments. However, you're not sure how long this is going to last. 323 Mulefall Crt. (no outbreak!Joel x OFC) | Delta Landscaping Crossover In the sunny, eclectic neighbourhood of Mulefall Crt., Katie has been navigating her fresh start away from her past life in Chicago, finding unexpected friendships and found family with the street's residents. As she rebuilds her life, and the fixer-upper she purchased sight unseen, love is the last thing on her mind after being burned. However, Joel Miller's arrival has sparks flying and has her wondering if having fun might not be such a bad idea in helping her move on from her past. Honey (Jackson!Joel x f!reader) A series of oneshots, which can be read as a collective or on their own, depicting life for Joel in Jackson after the events of TLOU. The Little Coffee Shop Around the Corner Maplewood, a small town nestled in northern BC where people flock to see the festive decorations of the main street and enjoy the festive traditions. finding yourself back home and working for the family business, you strike up a friendship with the town's local contractor.

one shots.

Drip (warning potential TLOU2 spoilers) In the quiet of the house, you can hear voices arguing, but all you can focus on is the drip, drip, drip of the tap. Sequins (no outbreak!joel) On a night out with friends, you run into a broad-shouldered stranger and there's no denying that there's an immediate attraction between the two of you. happy birthday (no outbreak!joel) happy birthday Joel Miller. Tess (Gold Rush) (Joel x Tess & Joel x OFC) Tess doesn't hold any delusions from her complex, and often one-sided, relationship with Joel. Long Time (Gold Rush) (Joel x OFC) Inspired by The Last of Us Episode S1x03 - leaving Bill and Frank's home and Joel reminisces after Ellie finds a mix tape that unlocks some old buried memories.

prompts & drabbles.

oct' x 01 - ruffled hair (joel x gn!reader) oct' x 04 - walks in the forest (strings!joel x reader) oct' x 06 - falling leaves (gold rush!joel x charlotte) oct' x 10 - oktoberfest (sequins!joel x reader) oct' x 12 - cornfields (sequins!joel x f!reader) oct' x 15 - first wine (sequins!joel x reader) oct' x 18 - picking apples (sequins!joel x reader) oct' x 23 - harvest (gold rush!joel x charlotte) oct' x 27 - witches (sequins!joel x f!reader) oct' x 29 - stormy days (sequins!joel x f!reader)

[cleolinda]

Story time: yard chaos

[I told this story on Twitter today, 11/29/22, because I like to be as dramatic and ominous as possible.]

Friends, you may be aware that I often tell Neighborhood Gothic tales about the happenings on my street. I have another one.

So yesterday I look out the kitchen window and see about 15-20 fluorescent-vested workers (who do they work for? We just don’t know) hanging out about 1-2 houses down. Just chilling on both sides of the street, sitting on the storm drain, in the yards, what have you.

And they are more than welcome to; I just don’t know why. Tons of trucks around. Including multiple USIC trucks: People What Identify Your Underground Utilities. You may remember that I ran into one while I was tripping on yard nightshade. Good people, necessary, ideal.

I go about my business (cleaning out my tea kettle). Sometime later, loud machine noises. Bear in mind that I live in an area where there is always someone working loudly on something. Cutting down dangerous trees (RIP🌲), building new houses, eternally landscaping. I shrug.

I look out the window again. The corner of my neighbor’s yard is thoroughly dug up. Now, this summer, I watched a man cut down a whole-ass tree and every single bush (including two beautiful gardenias) of hers branch by branch. There are naught but stubs now.

Am I now that old lady who peers out the window at the doings of the street? Yes. Do I know Debra’s life? No. Do I have any idea why twenty workers are needed to dig up one corner of her yard? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some hours later, my mom comes home for lunch. She is INCANDESCENT with rage. I assume it’s because our street is clogged with trucks. Why u mad tho? “WHY AREN’T YOU MAD?” After some confusion, my mom gets it through my placid head that the workers

are digging up

OUR YARD

I hadn’t looked out the FRONT window; our dog had been asleep and hadn’t needed to go out. There are three GIANT HOLES, like 3x3 and half a grave deep, at the street end of our yard, like prairie dog holes from hell. Nobody said FUCK ALL to me about this.

My mom’s higher self is a capable, savvy woman who knows her worth. My mom’s shadow self is a Karen. She marches out there to ask what the FUCK is going on. A foreman steps forward. “Oh, they didn’t put a letter on your door?” NO!!!!

I can’t tell if this [a tweet that did not in fact go through] went through or not, because they keep cutting off the wifi. There is a crane over my street now

What is GOING ON, asks my mom. “Something about fiber optic cables,” the foreman says. SOMETHING?? “Something about phones.” IN 2022??? We Just Don’t Know.

Holes begin to spread up the street.

By sundown, every single yard upstreet of mine has a minimum of three deep pits exposing Unknown Cables. Turf has been skinned off and thrown aside. I’m just like, this might as well happen. My mom now has a contractor’s business card. Neighbors are mad. Nobody was warned.

I’m out with Cooper on the deck (where he likes to chase falling leaves) in the dimming sunlight, and I happen to look around at the street.

Water is cascading down the road.

I live on a hill. You know how it looks during a hard rain, just little wavelets washing down the road? That. Water pouring down the entire width of the street, gutter to gutter. The deluge has already reached the intersection and shows no sign of stopping.

My phone has no wifi.

The Workers from Somewhere have hit a water main up the street. In front of a lawyer’s house, I’m told, so have fun with that. What I learn later is, despite there being 3-4 USIC trucks on the street, no one ever marked any utilities. Somebody told the workers not to wait.

Birmingham Water Works trucks, flashing their lights in the darkness, show up at 9 pm to fix the busted water main. Neighbors are wandering around fretting that the Great Flood of ‘22 is going to show up on their utility bills. The lawyer is very popular.

I get up this morning. By 6 am, they are back out there, doubling down. This is not the workers’ fault, btw. Honest day’s work, dishonest employer.

Every single house on my side of the street has a minimum of four (4) fiber optic prairie dog pits now.

I don’t know WHAT and I don’t know WHY. And now, there is a crane over my street for something happening underground. Orange cones and a giant wheel of orange and blue cable have appeared. Someone is brandishing a rake. End transmission for now.

UPDATE: The crane is ripping out a small tree (RIP 🌳) near the top of the street. I do not know if this is related or not. Either shit just got real with the cable digging, or we have dueling contractors.

[Situation in progress, more later]

[therobotmonster]

i wondered if you had anything i could read about your perspective on ai art stuff. im wary of it as an artist whos had trouble finding work, some of the jobs i would normally do as a contractor are being replaced with ai that in some cases very closely copies specific peoples labor, and the wages are dropping and youre expected to deliver much quicker to compete with the machines, which is my main issue. in a vacuum, it would be a cool tool, but i worry about making rent.

I have a lot of discussion about it in my posts on deepdreamnights.tumblr.com, under the fold on various posts. My stances on IP have been consistent for a very long time. I think copyright terms need to be slashed, fair use is essential, and that people do not own culture.

I'm not going to lie, jobs will be lost over this tech. It is to no one's advantage to pretend that a technology this powerful won't change the landscape. The advances in computer assisted animation put hand animators out of work, but it also opened up the possibility of small teams doing independent animation online. I think we'll see similar outcomes here.

I'm also an artist who works on commission. I am mainly a 3d modeller and graphic designer, but I do digital painting, photomanipulation, character design. The AI hasn't come for 3d quite yet, but it's coming. Graphic design has been very automated for quite some time. I'm not a carpetbagger or an outside invader, I'm a working artist, in the trenches, adapting to the new tools.

By working AI into my workflow, I've been able to ramp up my abilities. I can mock up mood pieces and concepts with AI, offer a client far more options than I'd have the time to do on spec, and then develop those ideas manually and with AI assistance.

I've used image prompting to work up wild variations on my own character designs to break through artist block and get a quick glimpse of whether a direction is interesting to go before putting my increasingly stiff, pain-riddled fingers to drawing it out by hand. There's opportunities there, and a trained artist with AI as a tool is going to outstrip an artistic layperson with the same gear.

There's also going to be opportunities to sell your abilities on the things that AI does poorly. Consistency, responsiveness to client feedback, cohesion with aspects like narrative. Symbolism and visual wit. Getting it right, or close to, on the first attempt.

That's part of why I share my processes and my prompts. I want people to have an honest understanding of what the tech is capable of, and actual facts about how it works. I hammer home how everything is curated, because while I have posted hundreds of AI generated and assisted pieces...

Those are the cream of the crop.

I hope this helps.

[fatehbaz]

[S]and has acquired a conspicuous profile in contemporary urbanization over the past two decades. [...] [S]and but also gravel and crushed rock, are the fastest-growing category of extracted material. Their extraction has increased six-fold in the Asia-Pacific region over the last two decades. Singapore, a city-state in Southeast Asia the size of New York City and half the size of London, is the largest per capita importer of sand in the world. The city-state’s urbanization and never-ending construction [...] is partly responsible for its considerable appetite for sand, but this use pales in comparison to the amount it requires for its land reclamation project, which has seen the city-state expand its territory from 585 square kilometers in 1959 to 724 in 2022. Singapore’s construction of territory, and the sand it has imported from all over Southeast Asia to resource its geophysical projection of sovereignty, invites us to consider the implications of urbanization’s enrollment of greater and greater volumes of sediment, and the geopolitics of the global sand crisis. [...]

As sediment flows and locks into place, it expresses characteristics of all three states of matter, depositing and eroding [...]. A geomorphological errantry, sediment is always on the move [...]. In its multiplicity, sand becomes a kind of narrator for those elements [...]. In its modulation [...], sediment sutures together landscapes that are neither solid nor fluid, but the porous interplay [...].

---

Between 2006 and 2016, Singapore, with a population of less than six million, was the top importer of sand in the world four times. Land reclamation there truly began with colonization by the British East India Company, with Boat Quay in 1822, when three hundred or so convict laborers who were paid pittances chopped down hills and cut up stones to embank a swamp, lest it remain fallow. When Singapore became an independent city-state in 1965, reclamation projects initially cut down hills for fill material, flattening the interior and exterior of the main island alike. [...] As these projects grew more expansive and the city-state’s demand for sand intensified, Malaysia and then Indonesia banned sand exports to Singapore [...]. This [resulting] price spike shook the city-state to its core, prompting the opening of a series of construction sand stockpiles [...]. The government began purchasing sand through its web of contractors and subcontractors from Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Myanmar. [...]

The securitization of sand in multiple stockpiles in Singapore eerily mirrors what happened in the extractive sandscapes of its origin: similarly sized dunes bloomed along the banks of mangroves in Koh Kong, Cambodia, like a dream herniating into reality, an invasive species of landscape bursting at the seam where the land met the water, still haunting riverbeds years after the dredging stopped. [...]

---

[T]he fantasy of reclaimed land through dubiously sourced rudiments of city-statecraft. [...] This kind of work is normally kept out of sight behind physical partitions as well as the labyrinthine contractual involutions of procurement arrangements, until it is seamlessly assumed by the whole, consumed by land as a homogenous legal entity [...] [B]ehind the mask, another mask. [...] [T]he sand barges and ships enter the maritime waters of Singapore from [...] legally undisclosable sources of its origin.

The eponymous proclamation [...] is the legal mechanism by which a piece of reclaimed land is “proclaimed” as state land proper by the president. A reclamation can only become state land by the text of a proclamation, a eucharistic procedure which purifies the land of its ambiguous sedimentary origin. Prior to that it is foreshore or seabed, but once it has been proclaimed, “thereupon that land shall immediately vest in the State freed and discharged from all public and private rights [...] over the foreshore or the sea-bed before the same were so reclaimed.” [...]

---

The limit to seeing like a state is that the state has a way of doing things that it can’t see, and of refusing to register that which does not meet its threshold of intelligibility.

It blinds itself through the loophole, the nondisclosure agreement, the handshake and its subtle para-political fission. [...]

Singapore’s continued economic prosperity depends on the speculative projection of its territory through unequal economic exchange, disguising it through fabulations of sovereign ingenuity like the Gardens by the Bay. [...]

[There is an] asymmetry between its curated artifice and the remote terraqueous landscapes this curation predates upon, unsettling the ground on which the city-state projects its most delirious fictions of sovereignty [...].

But those very spaces of nondescript hinterland are the logistical and industrial engines which make the Gardens possible. [...]

---

[T]he sheer colonial and postcolonial history of geographic expansion and environmental transformation implies that there are still further worlds to extract for reproducing the global city. Urban form rewired by geo-economic fortune and political repression subversively enroll land and labor into its globe-spanning machinery: it needs to keep on expanding to stay ahead of whatever anticipated global economic movement will buoy it in the future. [...] The transmutation of Singapore’s development trajectory is not historical, but contemporary: Singapore is the global city as a centripetal conjugator of space-time, funneling either term through supply chains that pass through it to produce territory as a plasticity [...].

The calamity it visited on the population of Koh Sralao was first pioneered all over Singapore and its outlying islands in the name of necessity, modernization, and the nation, displacing Orang Laut and Orang Pulau communities, who faced a choice to either abandon their maritime ways or resettle further afield in Malaysia or Indonesia. Many of Singapore’s southern islands were grafted together and erased by land reclamation, with Jurong Island in particular becoming an agglomeration of eighteen different islands, their Malay names now lost, sunk together into the catacombs of a dedicated petrochemical refining and storage complex.

Instead of being haunted by the sediment it has reclaimed its land with, and the rhythms and ecologies this sediment subtended, the global city and its subcontracted tendrils haunt those vestiges of maritime and riverine life bound by sediment like a vengeful ghost, compelled to repeat its actions, and to forget them in the projection of another tabula rasa.

---

All text above by: William Jamieson. “Extracting Sovereignty: Land Reclamation in Southeast Asia and the Emergence of the Global Sand Crisis.” e-flux Journal Issue #137. June 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism.]

[mariacallous]

A transnational effort produced stark revelations about the extent of China’s malicious cyberactivities last week, with indictments and sanctions against Chinese government-linked hackers accusing them of targeting foreign government officials, lawmakers, politicians, voters, and companies. The accusations, made by the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, centered mainly on espionage and data theft but also involved what U.S. officials and experts said is an alarming evolution in Chinese cybertactics. 

While the main indictment against seven Chinese nationals was brought by the U.S. Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on two of those individuals and a company linked to China’s Ministry of State Security for targeting U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including a Texas energy company and a defense contractor that makes flight simulators for the U.S. military.

“What is most alarming about this is the focus is not on data theft and intellectual property theft but rather to burrow deep into our critical infrastructure with the intent of launching destructive or disruptive attacks in the event of a major conflict,” Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said in an interview. 

CISA defines critical infrastructure sectors as those whose destruction would have a “debilitating effect” on the economy, national security, public health, and safety, dividing them into 16 categories including communications, defense, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, water, and transportation. 

The highest-profile attacks on those sectors in recent years—against the Colonial Pipeline, meat production giant JBS, and government system operator SolarWinds—have been attributed to groups in Russia. But U.S. agencies last year found malware in systems in Guam, home to key U.S. military bases, that they linked to a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon. Easterly said they have found more examples since then. 

“We’ve actually spent time with our hunt teams finding Chinese cyberactors in our critical infrastructure and eradicating them,” she said. “The threat is not theoretical.”

Experts said the increased Chinese activity doesn’t so much reflect an enhancement of capabilities as it does a shift in willingness and focus amid growing competition with the United States. “I think they’ve become increasingly brazen, to the point where the U.S. government finds it necessary to call out that behavior in public,” said Katie Brooks, the director of global cybersecurity policy at Aspen Digital.

Defending U.S. critical infrastructure systems from malicious cyberactors is “magnificently difficult,” said Thomas Pace, the co-founder and CEO of the cybersecurity firm NetRise who previously led cyber-response and detection teams for the U.S. Energy Department. They are vastly spread out, and many run on older systems that were not built with cybersecurity in mind and by private entities that don’t have the government’s wherewithal.

“You have a massive resource problem—the idea that you’re going to have a water municipality in Mobile, Alabama, stop the Chinese from getting in, there’s no world where that’s true,” Pace said.

Brooks described the U.S. infrastructure landscape as “target rich, resource poor.”

The Biden administration has made cybersecurity and defense a priority, attempting to set baseline mandates for industries that would require them to ensure cybersecurity protections. 

The idea is to “empower individual agency regulators to set minimum cybersecurity standards and enforce them,” said Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies. “I think the average American assumes that we have minimum cybersecurity protections in place at their hospital, at their water system,” she said. “It’s interesting how much resistance there has been and really how much the president has just changed the game because he recognized that it was unsustainable.”

Much of the problem lies in updating and upgrading outdated systems governing critical infrastructure. CISA and Easterly have repeatedly stressed the importance of making online systems “secure by design,” advocating additional legal protections for companies that integrate cybersecurity into the production of their systems. While that movement has gained momentum in the past year, it mainly focuses on newer systems, while significant gaps remain in older ones.

“While [China] is a sophisticated cyberadversary, many of the methods that it has used to break into critical infrastructure are not, because we’ve made it easy for them. They’re taking advantage of known product defects,” Easterly said. “It has to be prioritized that some of that legacy technology is deprecated.”

Although China is becoming a far broader threat for America’s cyberdefenders, other U.S. adversaries continue to pose significant challenges. Russian-speaking ransomware groups—which cut off access to online systems unless they are paid huge sums of money—were linked to an attack in late February on a leading insurance payments platform, Change Healthcare, which led to payment systems going down at hospitals and pharmacies around the country. 

Russian state-backed hackers were also blamed for breaches of core systems at tech giants Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise this year. And late last year, cyberattackers linked to Iran compromised water systems across “multiple U.S. states,” according to a joint advisory by U.S. and Israeli agencies.

“I’ve described it as an ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’ scenario—you could see multiple disruptive attacks on critical infrastructure, and that’s something that we need to be sure that the American people and our critical infrastructure owners and operators are prepared for,” Easterly said.

In a letter to state governors last month, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Regan warned of potential cyberattacks on water systems around the country, which they said are “an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are a lifeline critical infrastructure sector but often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices.”

Neuberger said multiple sectors suffer from similar vulnerabilities. “In the health care sector’s case, hospitals and health care institutions rank among the lowest across sectors in terms of their cybersecurity protection, which is ironic because the impact of their disruption is the most significant,” she said, adding that the range of targets that adversarial hackers are willing to go after has also expanded. “We used to believe that criminals would leave hospitals alone. Hospital attacks are up 80 percent in the last quarter of 2023.”

Neuberger said the administration is likely to roll out additional cybersecurity requirements for hospitals and health care providers, particularly those participating in Medicare and Medicaid. “We have requirements for how quickly blood has to be cleaned up if spilled in a hospital. We need to have requirements for how quickly a critical patch has to be patched,” she said. Attacks like the one against Change Healthcare serve as a wake-up call to companies, she added, “because they see that this could happen. Theoretical risks become real.”

Another priority has been ensuring that companies and local authorities know what to do in the event of an attack. Last week, CISA published new proposed rules on cyberincident reporting for critical infrastructure that would require companies to report major cyberattacks to the agency within 72 hours and any ransom payments within 24 hours.

“This is not a matter of preventing. This is really a matter of building the resilience so that we can deal with these disruptions, we can respond to them, we can recover rapidly and continue to provide services to the American people,” Easterly said.

Efforts by adversaries to disrupt U.S. systems are likely to further escalate in the months leading up to November’s presidential election—along with potential efforts by China and Russia to influence the election, which the U.S. intelligence community has warned about. “I think any of these threat actors are looking for vectors of instability,” Brooks said. “So elections, definitionally, while hopefully free, fair, and democratic, are also destabilizing in many senses because they present the possibility of a change in power.”

Beyond shoring up domestic defenses, Washington is also working to bolster international cyberpartnerships and alliances, as with last week’s coordinated actions against China by the United States and the United Kingdom, followed closely by New Zealand. More than a dozen countries have signed on to CISA’s Secure by Design commitments, while the Biden administration’s International Counter Ransomware Initiative, launched in 2021, has grown to include more than 60 countries.

“The first component of our strategy has been to set rules of the road and build international alliances, because there’s one global internet, and the only way to tackle threats is to do it with partners,” Neuberger said.

“It is absolutely vital,” Easterly said. “There are no borders in cyberspace, and many critical infrastructure owners and operators are global companies.”

The global approach also includes offensive cyberactions against adversaries, which was one of the key pillars of the Biden administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy released last year. “Offensive cyberoperations, much like the defensive, have to be integrated into our geopolitical goals,” Neuberger said. “The president has made clear that cybersecurity and emerging technologies are fundamental national security geopolitical issues, which has enabled the administration to be more aggressive in integrating defensive and offensive cyberoperations into a larger strategy.”

Neuberger declined to comment on specific offensive cyberactions but said the United States and its allies must use offensive capabilities in a more considered manner than their adversaries might.

“I would note that defense and offense are closely linked because before launching an offensive attack, one must consider what comes next in terms of the adversary’s response,” she said. “It’s much easier to be on the attack. An attacker has to find one open window. A defender has to lock down every door and every window.”

[xenosagaepisodeone]

falling down (1993) is a movie I frequently think about because it's a film so saturated in racial politics that doesn't end up saying anything about race. it's not even that the movie is milquetoast in it's messages, it's very upfront about everything else, but when it comes to race, it suddenly stops in its tracks and sputters confusingly in a few different directions.

i would say that it's fair to interpret the film as at least a little racist (despite being critical of it's protagonist, it does seem to thoughtlessly regard his beef as legitimate in some ways), but it's inaccurate to insist that the protagonist is presented as a normal guy who goes berserk. he's referred to as D-FENS instead of by an actual name because he is a symbolic representation of mid century american values. he is an ex-defense contractor employee who comes from a patriarchal military family and inflicts abuse upon his wife and daughter (potentially his mother as well) in the tradition of american chauvinism. his sense of identity is rooted in the power that these things afford him, and the film is about him lashing out because he feels that sense of domination waning with the changing times. many people use the scene where he kills the neo nazi as evidence that he isn't actually racist, but the next scene literally uses the nazi flag to frame him as he calls his wife to threaten her! him taking weapons and supplies from the nazi is meant to be indicative of the fact that their ideologies draw from the same well.

what's odd is that the good guys of the film aren't particularly emblematic of any kind of just ideology, they actually kind of exist outside of the paradigm of racial politics that occupy D-FENS' life. I feel as if this creative decision was made as to not make them look unsympathetic by exploring any implications of their profession as cops within a heavily racialized landscape LOL. D-FENS' foil is a white cop whose name I forgot, so i'm just going to call him White Cop. White Cop's grief comes entirely from his white higher ups, who undermine his work ethic, experience and his care for his wife. he communicates normally with the people of colour that D-FENS torments, but is also nonplussed by the swaths of people of colour being treated unfairly by his colleagues (who are also Cops of Colour(CoC if you will)). it's also worth pointing out that D-FENS' wife attempts to reach out to her local police many times for them to do something about her husband, and they respond by repeatedly disregarding her very valid concerns. White Cop punctuates one of the film's main themes by chastising D-FENS for ever believing that the american dream was a real thing, and tells him the most important thing is being good to your family. D-FENS chooses death by cop due to being unable to adapt to this.

the film conveys that modern life is chaotic and unpredictable, it recognizes the relationship between nationalism, fascism and domestic violence, but it completely sidesteps making a statement on race. LA Gangs and The Homeless are simplistically framed as something that just exists that you have to contend with, and while they aren't framed as being equal to racist vigilantism, they also aren't given any kind of depth or roundedness. they arent approached with the same degree of thoughtful curiosity as the film's other components. if D-FENS is at all a victim of circumstance, then so are the people who wrong him throughout the film. gangs just exist like atoms slowly bouncing around without cause or purpose, which leads one to cannot help but wonder about the director truly thinks about them. I wish there were more scenes like the fast food scene.

[vbhinconstruction]

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[catsler]

Top Snow Removal Challenges Faced by Pickering Residents

Winter in Pickering, Ontario, is often synonymous with picturesque landscapes and frosty mornings. However, the heavy snowfalls that grace the region bring with them a set of significant challenges for residents. Snow removal becomes not just a routine task but a critical aspect of maintaining safety, Snow Removal in Pickering mobility, and daily life. Below, we explore the top snow removal challenges faced by Pickering residents and discuss their implications.

1. Volume and Frequency of Snowfall

One of the primary challenges in Pickering is dealing with the sheer volume and frequency of snowfall. During peak winter months, back-to-back snowstorms often blanket the city, leaving little time for residents to clear their driveways and sidewalks before the next storm hits. This can lead to accumulations that are harder to manage, especially for those without appropriate tools or machinery.

2. Lack of Proper Equipment

Not all residents have access to snowblowers, shovels, or de-icing materials needed to combat heavy snow. Many rely on manual tools, which are less effective for large-scale snow removal and can be physically demanding. Additionally, purchasing and maintaining specialized snow removal equipment is costly, discouraging many homeowners from investing in these tools.

3. Health and Physical Strain

Clearing snow is a labor-intensive activity that can take a toll on physical health. For older adults and those with pre-existing health conditions, shoveling snow poses risks such as muscle strain, back injuries, or even heart attacks. These risks are exacerbated during prolonged snow removal sessions following severe storms.

4. Limited Professional Services

While professional snow removal services are available in Pickering, they often face their own set of challenges, such as high demand and limited availability during peak snowfalls. As a result, residents may experience delays in service or find it difficult to secure reliable contractors. Additionally, the cost of hiring professionals can be prohibitive for some households.

5. Impact on Daily Life and Transportation

Snow-covered driveways, sidewalks, and streets can disrupt daily routines. Commuters face challenges navigating icy or unplowed roads, while pedestrians must contend with slippery sidewalks. For families with children, snow-covered school bus stops and pathways further complicate morning routines.

6. Environmental Concerns

The use of salt and chemical de-icers, while effective in managing ice, raises environmental concerns. Runoff from these materials can harm local water sources, vegetation, and wildlife. Residents face the dual challenge of finding eco-friendly alternatives while ensuring safety and functionality during the winter months.

7. Municipal Plowing Challenges

While the city of Pickering works diligently to clear main roads and public spaces, plowing residential streets often takes longer. In some cases, municipal snowplows leave mounds of snow at the ends of driveways, creating additional work for residents. The unpredictable timing of plowing schedules can further complicate snow removal efforts.

Conclusion

Snow removal in Pickering is a multifaceted challenge that demands time, effort, and resources from residents. From the physical strain of shoveling to the environmental impact of de-icing materials, each winter storm brings its own set of hurdles. However, addressing these challenges requires a collaborative approach. Residents can benefit from adopting innovative tools and techniques, while the city can continue improving plowing schedules and promoting eco-friendly practices. By working together, Pickering can ensure that winter remains a season of beauty and community rather than a season of stress.

[stonefootings]

Transform Your Outdoor Space with Porcelain Paving and Tiles in the UK

Porcelain paving and tiles have become a popular choice among homeowners and landscapers in the UK. Known for their durability, versatility, and aesthetic appeal, these tiles are ideal for both indoor and outdoor applications. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your patio, enhance your outdoor spaces, or renovate your floors, porcelain floor tiles UK offer a stylish and functional solution.

Why Choose Porcelain Patio Packs for Your Outdoor Projects?

A porcelain patio pack is a pre-selected set of tiles designed specifically for outdoor use. These packs often contain tiles of various sizes, allowing for creative patterns and layouts. They’re perfect for homeowners who want to achieve a polished look without worrying about selecting individual tiles. Buy Porcelain Patio Pack in UK

Durability and Weather ResistancePorcelain tiles are fired at high temperatures, making them incredibly dense and strong. This density makes them resistant to cracks, stains, and scratches, even in the harshest weather conditions. For UK homeowners, where rain and frost are common, porcelain paving is an ideal choice.

Slip-Resistant SurfaceOutdoor porcelain tiles often come with a textured surface, ensuring they remain slip-resistant even when wet. This feature is essential for patios, garden paths, and poolside areas.

Low MaintenanceUnlike natural stone or concrete, porcelain requires minimal upkeep. A quick wash with water and a mild detergent is all it takes to keep them looking new.

Porcelain Paving Wholesalers in the UK: What to Look For

If you’re planning a large-scale project or need bulk quantities, purchasing from porcelain paving wholesalers  in UK can save you money. Here’s what to consider when choosing a supplier:

Variety and AvailabilityWholesalers typically offer a wide range of designs, colours, and finishes. From classic greys and whites to contemporary patterns, you can find options that match your aesthetic preferences.

Quality AssuranceEnsure the tiles meet high-quality standards, especially for outdoor applications. Look for certifications or customer reviews that guarantee durability and performance.

Competitive PricingOne of the main advantages of buying from wholesalers is cost savings. Compare prices among different suppliers to find the best deals without compromising on quality.

Delivery OptionsMany UK wholesalers offer doorstep delivery, making it convenient for homeowners and contractors to receive large orders.

Porcelain Floor Tiles: A Modern Interior Solution

Porcelain floor tiles are not limited to outdoor use. They’re a fantastic choice for interior spaces, offering a seamless and sophisticated look. Here’s why they’re worth considering:

Versatile DesignsPorcelain tiles come in a wide range of textures and patterns. From wood-look finishes to marble-effect designs, they can replicate the appearance of natural materials without the associated drawbacks.

Waterproof and Stain-ResistantThese tiles are virtually impermeable to water and stains, making them ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and utility areas.

Easy InstallationMany porcelain tiles are designed for simple installation, and their uniform sizing reduces the need for excessive adjustments during laying.

Transforming Your Outdoors with Porcelain Tiles

Outside porcelain tiles can completely change the look and feel of your exterior spaces. Whether you’re designing a garden walkway, an outdoor dining area, or a stylish patio, porcelain tiles provide an elegant and practical solution.

Benefits of Outside Porcelain Tiles

Frost ResistanceThe UK climate can be unpredictable, with frost being a common concern. Porcelain tiles are frost-proof, ensuring they won’t crack or deteriorate over time.

UV StabilityHigh-quality porcelain tiles maintain their colour and finish even after prolonged exposure to sunlight, ensuring your patio looks vibrant for years.

Eco-Friendly ChoicePorcelain tiles are often made from natural materials like clay, making them an environmentally conscious option.

Tips for Choosing the Right Porcelain Tiles

When selecting porcelain tiles for your home, consider the following factors:

Thickness and StrengthFor outdoor use, opt for tiles with a thickness of at least 20mm. This ensures they can withstand heavy foot traffic and outdoor furniture.

Finish and TextureChoose a finish that complements your design aesthetic. For example, a matte finish works well for contemporary designs, while textured tiles are better for areas prone to slipping.

Colour and PatternNeutral tones like beige, grey, and white are versatile and timeless, while patterned tiles can add a bold statement to your space.

Tile SizeLarge-format tiles create a seamless look and are perfect for modern spaces, while smaller tiles can be used for intricate designs or borders.

Installation and Maintenance Tips

Porcelain tiles are straightforward to install, but proper preparation is key to achieving the best results. Here are some tips:

Prepare the BaseEnsure the surface is clean, level, and stable before laying the tiles. A solid base prevents shifting and cracking.

Use the Right AdhesiveFor outdoor installations, use a high-quality adhesive designed for porcelain tiles. This ensures a strong bond and long-lasting results.

Seal the Grout LinesWhile porcelain tiles themselves don’t require sealing, the grout lines might benefit from a sealant to prevent staining.

Regular CleaningSweep away debris and wash the tiles periodically to maintain their appearance. Avoid using harsh chemicals that could damage the tiles.

Conclusion: Upgrade Your Spaces with Porcelain Tiles

Porcelain paving and tiles are an excellent investment for UK homeowners. They combine style, durability, and low maintenance, making them suitable for a variety of applications. Whether you’re revamping your patio, creating an outdoor entertainment area, or updating your interior floors, porcelain tiles offer endless design possibilities.

When purchasing tiles, consider factors like quality, design, and supplier reliability to ensure you get the best value for your money. With the right selection and proper installation, porcelain tiles can transform your home into a stylish and functional space for years to come.

[divinejhonson]

Ready Mix Concrete Delivery in Pakistan: Timely and Efficient Solutions

Concrete plays an essential role in the construction industry, acting as the foundation of buildings, infrastructure, and various other projects. In Pakistan, the demand for high-quality, timely, and efficient concrete solutions is growing rapidly as the country experiences an increase in urban development and construction. Ready mix concrete is increasingly popular as it provides a solution that is both convenient and efficient for large and small construction projects alike. Here, we will delve into the value of ready mix concrete delivery in Pakistan and explore why this option is a preferred choice for builders across the nation.

Understanding Ready Mix Concrete and Its Importance

Ready mix concrete is a type of concrete that is manufactured in a batching plant and delivered directly to the construction site. Unlike traditional site-mixed concrete, which is made on-site, ready mix concrete is prepared in controlled conditions, ensuring uniform quality and consistency. Ready mix concrete is formulated with precise ratios of cement, sand, water, and aggregates, producing a mix with optimal strength, durability, and workability.

The significance of ready mix concrete lies in its quality control and convenience. Since the mixture is produced in a factory, it is less susceptible to errors and inconsistencies that can happen with on-site mixing. Additionally, ready mix concrete delivery saves time and labor, enabling faster project completion without compromising on quality.

For those interested in exploring ready mix concrete in Pakistan, this solution provides a reliable and consistent option tailored to meet the needs of Pakistan’s construction industry.

Why Ready Mix Concrete Is Essential for the Construction Sector in Pakistan

Quality Assurance: One of the main advantages of ready mix concrete is the high quality it offers. The controlled environment of batching plants ensures that the mix is accurate and reliable. With ready mix concrete, contractors in Pakistan can be confident they are receiving a material that meets industry standards and project requirements.

Time Efficiency: In construction, time is often of the essence. Traditional concrete mixing requires substantial preparation and mixing time on-site, which can delay projects. Ready mix concrete delivery cuts down on this time, allowing for quicker project turnover and higher productivity.

Reduced Labor Costs: Site-mixed concrete requires more manpower to measure, mix, and pour accurately. With ready mix concrete, the mixture arrives pre-prepared and ready to use, reducing the need for on-site labor, cutting labor costs, and minimizing the chances of errors due to manual handling.

Minimized Waste: Since ready mix concrete is made in precise quantities, there is very little wastage. For builders in Pakistan seeking sustainable practices, ready mix concrete is an excellent option that promotes waste reduction and environmental responsibility.

Enhanced Durability: The precise formulation used in ready mix concrete means the final product has better strength and durability than site-mixed concrete. This is particularly important in Pakistan, where infrastructure must withstand varying environmental conditions, from extreme heat to monsoon rains.

The Role of Ready Mix Concrete Delivery in Meeting Construction Deadlines

The availability of timely and efficient ready mix concrete delivery services across Pakistan is transforming the construction landscape. The ability to receive concrete at the right time and place is a game-changer for contractors managing tight schedules and complex project logistics. Here’s how ready mix concrete delivery aids in meeting construction deadlines:

1. On-Demand Supply

Ready mix concrete delivery allows builders to schedule concrete supply exactly when it is needed. This “just-in-time” supply eliminates unnecessary waiting times and helps construction teams adhere to project schedules without delays.

2. Scalable Solutions for Large Projects

For large construction projects such as commercial buildings, high-rises, and infrastructure development, ready mix concrete delivery is essential for maintaining the scale and pace of work. In cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, large-scale projects require a steady flow of concrete. Ready mix delivery ensures a constant supply, allowing work to continue without interruptions.

3. Weather Considerations

Weather can be a major factor affecting concrete work in Pakistan. Ready mix concrete delivery services can adjust their schedules and delivery methods to account for weather conditions, ensuring that concrete is poured under optimal conditions for curing and durability.

4. Efficient Resource Management

With ready mix concrete delivery, resources such as time, money, and labor are utilized more effectively. This contributes to overall project efficiency, as contractors are able to allocate their resources to other critical aspects of construction rather than focusing on mixing and preparation.

The Process of Ready Mix Concrete Delivery in Pakistan

The delivery of ready mix concrete in Pakistan is a systematic process designed to maintain quality and efficiency. Here’s an outline of how it works:

Order Placement: Contractors can place orders based on the specific volume, strength, and type of concrete needed for their project. Many companies in Pakistan offer customized concrete mixes to meet varying project requirements.

Mixing and Quality Control: Once an order is received, the batching plant prepares the mix according to the specified formula. Quality control tests are conducted to ensure the mix meets the required standards.

Delivery: Ready mix concrete is transported to the construction site using specialized trucks known as transit mixers. These trucks have rotating drums that keep the concrete in a fluid state, ensuring that it does not set before reaching the destination.

On-Site Pouring: Once the concrete arrives at the site, it can be poured directly where needed. In some cases, concrete pumps are used to transfer the mix to hard-to-reach areas, such as upper floors or confined spaces.

Finishing: After pouring, the concrete is leveled, finished, and left to cure according to project requirements.

For builders seeking reliable ready mix concrete in Pakistan, this streamlined process ensures a timely, consistent, and high-quality delivery every time.

Selecting the Right Ready Mix Concrete Supplier in Pakistan

Choosing a dependable ready mix concrete supplier is key to ensuring a successful project outcome. Here are a few factors to consider when selecting a supplier in Pakistan:

Reputation and Experience: Look for suppliers with a solid track record and positive reviews from previous clients. Experienced suppliers have established procedures for quality control and delivery efficiency.

Quality Standards: Make sure the supplier adheres to industry quality standards. Ask about their quality control processes, certifications, and the types of concrete they offer.

Range of Services: Some suppliers provide additional services, such as concrete pumping, technical support, and project-specific consultations. These extra services can add value and convenience.

On-Time Delivery: A supplier with a reputation for on-time delivery is essential, especially for projects with tight schedules. Delayed delivery can disrupt project timelines and lead to costly setbacks.

Cost and Transparency: Price is an important factor, but so is transparency. Choose a supplier that offers competitive pricing and clear, transparent pricing policies without hidden fees.

Future of Ready Mix Concrete in Pakistan

The demand for ready mix concrete in Pakistan is expected to grow as urbanization continues and infrastructure needs expand. Government initiatives to improve infrastructure, such as highways, bridges, and residential developments, are driving this demand.

Moreover, ready mix concrete technology is evolving with advancements in eco-friendly and sustainable practices. Many suppliers are exploring ways to incorporate recycled materials and reduce the carbon footprint of concrete production. This aligns with Pakistan’s growing focus on sustainable construction and environmental responsibility.

For construction companies, architects, and developers, ready mix concrete offers a future-ready solution that combines quality, efficiency, and sustainability. As Pakistan's construction industry continues to evolve, ready mix concrete is poised to play an increasingly important role.

Conclusion

Ready mix concrete delivery is a vital component of the construction process in Pakistan, offering a high-quality, efficient, and cost-effective solution for projects of all sizes. By opting for ready mix concrete, builders and developers can ensure consistent quality, timely delivery, and improved productivity, all while reducing labor costs and waste.

As the construction industry in Pakistan grows, so too will the demand for reliable ready mix concrete services. For builders aiming to achieve quality and durability in their projects, partnering with a trusted supplier of ready mix concrete in Pakistan is a wise choice.

[sitesupply]

Complete Guide to Hiring a Contractor in Lucknow: Civil, Building, and Online Cement Purchases

If you’re planning a construction project in Lucknow, finding the right contractor and building materials is essential to ensure quality and efficiency. This guide will cover the types of contractors available in Lucknow, including civil and building contractors, as well as the advantages of buying construction materials like white cement and POP online. With Site Supply, a trusted provider in the construction industry, you can make informed choices to help your project succeed.

Understanding Different Types of Contractors in Lucknow

In Lucknow, contractors play a crucial role in various stages of construction. Here’s a look at the main types of contractors:

1. Civil Contractors

Civil contractors specialize in large-scale infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, water systems, and public buildings. Their work is often highly regulated, requiring expertise in structural engineering, project management, and adherence to safety codes.

2. Building Contractors

Building contractor in Lucknow focus on residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. They oversee tasks from design planning and material procurement to construction and finishing. Building contractors in Lucknow are equipped to handle projects like home construction, office buildings, and renovations.

3. Specialized Contractors

There are also specialized contractors for tasks such as interior decoration, plumbing, electrical work, and landscaping. These contractors bring in specific expertise needed for specialized parts of the project.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Contractor in Lucknow

Finding the right contractor in Lucknow is essential for a successful project. Here are key factors to keep in mind:

Experience and Reputation: Check the contractor’s background and client reviews to ensure they have experience handling similar projects.

Licenses and Insurance: Verify that the contractor has the necessary licenses and insurance to protect your project and workers.

Material Quality: A good contractor will recommend high-quality materials and collaborate with trusted suppliers.

Pricing and Transparency: Get a detailed quote from the contractor, including materials, labor, and other costs. Look for transparency in pricing to avoid unexpected expenses.

Communication: Effective communication is crucial to keep the project on track. Choose a contractor who values clear, timely updates.

White Cement and Its Use in Construction

White cement is a popular choice in construction due to its high-quality finish and versatility. It’s often used for aesthetic purposes, including wall finishing, floorings, and decorative work.

Benefits of White Cement

Aesthetic Appeal: White cement provides a clean, bright finish that enhances the look of interiors and exteriors.

Versatile Applications: It’s ideal for wall coatings, mosaics, and flooring, especially when used with pigments to create decorative effects.

Durability: White cement is durable and resistant to moisture, making it a solid choice for high-humidity areas.

POP (Plaster of Paris): Usage and Pricing

Plaster of Paris (POP price) is widely used in interior decoration for false ceilings, wall cornices, and other decorative elements. It’s easy to mold and shape, providing a smooth, attractive finish.

Average Price and Buying Options

POP prices can vary depending on the brand and quality. On average, the cost of POP ranges between ₹25 to ₹35 per kilogram. Buying online from suppliers like Site Supply offers the convenience of comparing prices and brands, helping you make an informed choice.

Advantages of Using POP in Construction

Easy to Apply: POP is lightweight, quick-drying, and easy to mold.

Aesthetic Versatility: It can be crafted into intricate designs for ceilings, moldings, and wall textures.

Durability: When properly applied, POP is durable and can withstand minor wear and tear.

Buy Cement Online: Convenience and Cost Efficiency

Purchasing cement online has become increasingly popular due to the availability of quality materials and competitive prices. Site Supply offers an extensive selection of cement options, including both white and grey varieties.

Advantages of Buying Cement Online

Variety of Brands: You can browse a wide range of cement brands, such as JK, Ultratech, and Duraguard if you wanna buy cement online.

Price Comparison: Online platforms allow for easy price comparison to find the best value for your budget.

Home Delivery: Buying online often includes delivery, saving time and logistics costs.

Popular Cement Types Available Online

White Cement: Used for decorative finishes, aesthetic details, and smooth finishes.

Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC): Commonly used for structural concrete work and general construction.

Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC): Known for its durability, making it suitable for infrastructure projects and structures exposed to water.

FAQs About White Cement, POP Price, Tata Tiscon and More Materials

1. What is the difference between civil contractors and building contractors?  Civil contractors focus on public infrastructure, like roads and bridges, while building contractors handle residential and commercial buildings, including homes and offices.

2. How can I check if a contractor in Lucknow is reliable?  Check their portfolio, client reviews, licenses, and insurance coverage. Request references from previous clients and assess their transparency in pricing.

3. What are the common uses of white cement?  White cement is often used for wall finishes, floor tiles, mosaics, and decorative work. It provides a polished, aesthetic finish ideal for interior and exterior applications.

4. Is it safe to buy cement online?  Yes, reputable suppliers like Site Supply ensure the quality of the cement and provide reliable delivery. Make sure to choose a trusted platform and verify their return policy.

5. How does POP compare to traditional plaster?  POP is lightweight, dries faster, and offers greater flexibility in design compared to traditional plaster. It’s commonly used for false ceilings, cornices, and decorative wall finishes.

6. What is the average cost of white cement?  White cement costs can vary but typically range from ₹600 to ₹900 per 50 kg bag, depending on the brand and quality. Prices may vary for online and bulk purchases.

7. Can I negotiate the price with a contractor in Lucknow?  Yes, many contractors are open to negotiation. However, ensure that any discounts do not compromise material quality or project timelines.

8. How do I calculate the amount of cement needed for my project?  Your contractor can help with precise calculations, but online cement calculators are also available for estimating quantities based on area size and type of construction.

9. How long does it take to complete a typical home construction project in Lucknow?  Home construction timelines vary based on project size, complexity, and contractor efficiency. A standard home may take 6–12 months to complete.

10. What is the difference between white and grey cement?  The primary difference is color, but white cement is typically used for aesthetic and decorative purposes, while grey cement is used for structural applications.

Conclusion

Whether you’re planning a small home renovation or a large-scale construction project, finding the right contractor and materials in Lucknow is essential for success. Civil and building contractors bring specialized skills to different projects, while materials like white cement and POP provide the finishing touches that make a space stand out. With Site Supply, you have the option to conveniently buy high-quality cement and construction materials online, ensuring competitive pricing and reliable delivery.

For more information or to connect with a qualified contractor in Lucknow, Site Supply is here to help you get started on your next project with the resources and guidance you need.

[catsler]

Top Snow Removal Challenges Faced by Pickering Residents

Winter in Pickering, Ontario, is often synonymous with picturesque landscapes and frosty mornings. However, the heavy snowfalls that grace the region bring with them a set of significant challenges for residents. Snow removal becomes not just a routine task but a critical aspect of maintaining safety, Snow Removal in Pickering mobility, and daily life. Below, we explore the top snow removal challenges faced by Pickering residents and discuss their implications.

1. Volume and Frequency of Snowfall

One of the primary challenges in Pickering is dealing with the sheer volume and frequency of snowfall. During peak winter months, back-to-back snowstorms often blanket the city, leaving little time for residents to clear their driveways and sidewalks before the next storm hits. This can lead to accumulations that are harder to manage, especially for those without appropriate tools or machinery.

2. Lack of Proper Equipment

Not all residents have access to snowblowers, shovels, or de-icing materials needed to combat heavy snow. Many rely on manual tools, which are less effective for large-scale snow removal and can be physically demanding. Additionally, purchasing and maintaining specialized snow removal equipment is costly, discouraging many homeowners from investing in these tools.

3. Health and Physical Strain

Clearing snow is a labor-intensive activity that can take a toll on physical health. For older adults and those with pre-existing health conditions, shoveling snow poses risks such as muscle strain, back injuries, or even heart attacks. These risks are exacerbated during prolonged snow removal sessions following severe storms.

4. Limited Professional Services

While professional snow removal services are available in Pickering, they often face their own set of challenges, such as high demand and limited availability during peak snowfalls. As a result, residents may experience delays in service or find it difficult to secure reliable contractors. Additionally, the cost of hiring professionals can be prohibitive for some households.

5. Impact on Daily Life and Transportation

Snow-covered driveways, sidewalks, and streets can disrupt daily routines. Commuters face challenges navigating icy or unplowed roads, while pedestrians must contend with slippery sidewalks. For families with children, snow-covered school bus stops and pathways further complicate morning routines.

6. Environmental Concerns

The use of salt and chemical de-icers, while effective in managing ice, raises environmental concerns. Runoff from these materials can harm local water sources, vegetation, and wildlife. Residents face the dual challenge of finding eco-friendly alternatives while ensuring safety and functionality during the winter months.

7. Municipal Plowing Challenges

While the city of Pickering works diligently to clear main roads and public spaces, plowing residential streets often takes longer. In some cases, municipal snowplows leave mounds of snow at the ends of driveways, creating additional work for residents. The unpredictable timing of plowing schedules can further complicate snow removal efforts.

Conclusion

Snow removal in Pickering is a multifaceted challenge that demands time, effort, and resources from residents. From the physical strain of shoveling to the environmental impact of de-icing materials, each winter storm brings its own set of hurdles. However, addressing these challenges requires a collaborative approach. Residents can benefit from adopting innovative tools and techniques, while the city can continue improving plowing schedules and promoting eco-friendly practices. By working together, Pickering can ensure that winter remains a season of beauty and community rather than a season of stress.

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Swimming Pool Maintenance

Swimming Pool Cleaning Contractors in Dubai

When it comes to hiring swimming pool cleaning companies for the perfect swimming pool cleaning services you are looking for, you must make the right decision carefully. If you are not on the right track, then it’s sure that things will end up wrong, resulting in health problems or even accidents. A well-maintained pool is an asset to you and your family. Whether it’s an indoor pool, outdoor pool, or spa, you need to keep your pool well-maintained by giving it periodic maintenance. Professional swimming pool cleaning servicing will help to keep your pool and everything related at its best. Fajar Technical Services is one of the premier swimming pool maintenance companies in UAE and has been serving for years. Our team of experts always sticks to innovative techniques and equipment to keep your pool clean, clear, healthy, and safe to use by all means. We specialize in taking care of all aspects of swimming pool repair and services, including weekly, monthly, or yearly swimming pool cleaning service in UAE, installation of new pool equipment, leak repairs, water testing, or any other damage to the pool surface or its lining. We work by identifying the root cause of ‌maintenance issues that help us resolve your exact concerns.

If you are in search of premier swimming pool cleaning contractors in Dubai, you have come to the right destination. Fajar technical Pools and Gardens specializes in designing and building exceptional swimming pools for clients across all major cities in the UAE, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ajman. Our commitment to excellence, diligent work ethic, and superior service quality have enabled us to distinguish ourselves in the competitive swimming pool and landscape construction market in the UAE. 

WHY DOES YOUR SWIMMING POOL CLEANING NEED PROPER SERVICS?

Using the pool will result in causing disturbance to the natural balance of the water. Over time, a swimming pool that is not maintained will act as a better place for the germs and bacteria to grow. Even the particles in the pool will get settled at the bottom side of the pool making spots and discoloration. All these results in taking your health graph down.

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WE DESIGN, BUILD AND SWIMMING POOL CLEANING AND PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL POOLS

Fajar Technical Services has been providing exceptional swimming pool construction, repair, and maintenance services in Dubai. We have been in the field of servicing the swimming pools for a decade and know exactly how it is done. With extensive experience in swimming pool maintenance and repair, our swimming pool technicians are certified professionals whom you can rely upon and be assured that swimming pools are maintained professionally and with proper hygiene.

Our expert team offers exceptional pool construction and maintenance services while keeping your requirements in view. Be it one-time clean-up, balancing the chemicals, pump replacement, or any other trivial pool-related task, our team will start the process with a detailed survey first. Your pool will be inspected and then the procedure will begin. Our main motto is to provide on-time and high-quality services.

Our expert team offers exceptional pool construction and maintenance services while keeping your requirements in view. Be it one-time clean-up, balancing the chemicals, pump replacement, or any other trivial pool-related task, our team will start the process with a detailed survey first. Your pool will be inspected and then the procedure will begin. Our main motto is to provide on-time and high-quality services.

We specialize in the design and construction of exquisite swimming pools, serving all the prominent cities within the UAE, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ajman. Our extensive footprint throughout the nation is a testament to our expertise, as we have successfully completed numerous swimming pool projects across the UAE.

We offer high quality residential landscaping services. From retainer wall construction to tree care, our team can enhance the look of your property. A well-designed and maintained landscape can bring out the beauty and add value to your home. We have the expertise and knowledge to design, install, and maintain the quality of your home. Our services include building retaining walls, planting, creating pool decks, and designing outdoor living area essentials. In addition to irrigation and landscaping, we also do hardscaping and outdoor lighting. Our dedicated team will make sure every job is done with the most care and to your specifications.