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dresshistorynerd · 1 year ago

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How to see through the greenwashing propaganda of the fashion industry - 1

For some background info I made an overview about the impact of fashion industry.

In the light of the Shein brand trip nonsense, I was thinking about how literally every clothing company now engages in greenwashing, even when it's such obvious lie like with Shein. And while most people are not fooled in such blatant cases like that, most cases are not as blatant. To see through the less obvious propaganda often needs a lot of knowledge of the clothing industry, which the average person doesn't have, yet the average person still needs clothing. So instead of trying to expose every company for their bad practices, I thought it might be more helpful to make a post on how to detect greenwashing. I'm going to use four examples, all in the different levels of honesty and responsibility, Shein, H&M, Burberry and Tentree. First I will go into frankly unnecessary amount of detail on Shein, because I fell into a horrifyingly fascinating research rabbit hole and I think it's excellent example on how companies can get away with blatant crimes (allegedly of course). In this first part we will just look into Shien, it's propaganda and reality behind it.

But before I go deeper into this, I want to stress one thing: this is not to say that you can never buy from any brand engaging in dishonest greenwashing, because then you couldn't buy almost any clothing, and you do need clothing. Though I will say, please don't buy from Shein if you in any way can afford not to. There is levels of how bad business practices can be, and they can't be much worse than Shein's, and even beside that, even when super cheep, it's not worth your money. There are other cheep options too. Though I won't hold it against anyone if they buy individual pieces from Shein from time to time, but I would implore at least to considerate, if they really need it and if it might be possible to get something similar from somewhere else. But my point in this is not necessarily to help you make better consumer decisions, because consumption will not save us, but to see through the corporate propaganda and not become complaisant after hearing comforting lies. The corporations are doing everything they can to make you believe they are already fixing the problems within the industry and there's no need for government intervention pinky promise, just keep consuming. But that's all bullshit and government intervention is exactly what is needed.

Before taking a look at our cases, I'll outline the key things I think are good to look for, when presented with sustainability PR.

TRANSPARENCY - Companies are not required to publish much of the information about their practices, but as it has become clear to everyone that the whole fashion industry is a massive problem, opacity has become rightly seen as suspicious. It has become also a sort of marketing method to disclose any evidence of good practices, so when a company is not doing that, and missing out on well working marketing, it raises the question, what are they hiding. Companies may try to give the appearance of transparency, without actually disclosing information. They might write in an easily accessible page about all their lofty goals, promises and achievements in a very vague language, they might talk about being transparent and publishing their data, but that data might be buried somewhere, where it's not easily accessible. Good sign on the other hand would be for example providing supply chain information for a product in the product description.

RELIABLE INFORMATION - Usually it's safer for a company to be vague or silent than to lie, because that might lead to legal consequences, but by cherry-picking and subtly twisting data, it can be turned to be flattering for them. Small companies might provide raw evidence of their facilities and supply chain, like photos, locations, contractor names etc. to give proof for their word. For bigger companies this is not of course possible as their supply chains might be massive and they might have thousands of facilities. However, there are many different independent and governmental organizations that give different kinds of certifications. The certifications are meant to give some reassurance of quality and/or accurate information. However not all certifications are made equal. Most reliable certifications don't have ties to the industry (aka are actually independent, not just in name), have governmental oversight and are given access to the data, from which they do the research themselves.

SUPPLY CHAIN - Giving the origin country of the final product is nowadays standard information to give, as it's required by law for example in EU. It's a red flag, if it's produced in a country, that has lacking environmental or labour laws, poor oversight and/or little protections for people. However, this does not mean that all production in those countries is unethical or questionable, but the risk for that is higher and the need for evidence of the working conditions is also higher. This is however just one part of the production. Before clothing can be sewn, the raw material for fiber must be made/acquired, that material must be turned into fiber, which must be turned into yarn and then the yarn must be woven into fabric. All of these steps in the process need workers, who deserve good working conditions. And depending on what fabric is in question, there's potential for major environmental issues in the different processes. This is why it's important to know more than just the country where the clothing was sewn. There could be certification for ethical sourcing of the fabric for example. With supply chain it's also better if the materials are sourced as locally as possible, to avoid a lot of extra carbon emissions from transportation. Best case scenario would be if the company manages the supply chain themselves locally, so they can know for sure where their materials come from and also avoid middlemen.

BUSINESS MODEL - The reason why it's often so hard to get information on the supply chain is that many companies, especially the large ones, outsource as much as possible. This might seem unintuitive, as the middlemen make production less efficient and costly as everyone takes a cut. However, they do it to outsource risks and responsibility. They don't have to invest into factories or raw material production and they have plausible deniability, if and when there's issues in their supply chain. The complexity of the supply chain provides opacity that is impossible and unreasonable to monitor, which allows the company to buy materials that are unreasonably cheep, while feigning ignorance of worker exploitation. How much the clothing cost can also give some idea on their business model. If it's super cheep, the only way for it to be that cheep is if workers are not payed enough and everything is poorly made. Cheep is always a red flag, though, if it's fairly cheep and I mean basic clothing is not much more than 100 eur (little more in USDs) but not much less than 50 eur, it can be okay or even good quality and with proper pay for workers, if the company doesn't take massive margins and don't have a ton of middlemen in their supply chain. However, expensive is not insurance of quality or good pay for workers. Many expensive brands take massive margins while their production has little difference to fast fashion and their products are poor quality.

CASE STUDY 1: SHEIN

Let's start with the propaganda. In Shein's About Us page, they say:

"SHEIN is a global fashion and lifestyle e-retailer committed to making the beauty of fashion accessible to all."

You see, their goal is to make fashion accessible to everyone, not just privileged few. They back this up by informing how they work in 150 countries, have very wide variety of clothing, are one of the most popular shopping apps, connect with the customers on where they are - social media - and, of course, have ridiculously low prices. Their team of nearly 10,000 employees (of which 58% are women for your information) loves to serve their many many customers, who are most important for Shein. They use "cutting-edge technology" and digitized agile supply chain to track sales and demand and adjust their manufacturing in real time. When they notice a new trend, they immediately put something trendy on sale, make prototypes and order small batches from factories. This is how they keep their inventory waste low and get products quickly to their customers. In their own words:

"By developing proprietary logistics and ecommerce technology, we are disrupting the fashion space and improving outcomes for manufacturers, suppliers and consumers."

We will see, if the "outcomes" are really "improved".

Shein group's website has very extensive information about their sustainability goals and efforts, giving the impression of transparency. It's pretty clear this is in an effort to combat all the allegations towards them. To make their business sustainable in addition to their reduced inventory waste they are "accelerating their transition" to use recycled polyester, promoting their "peer-to-peer resale platform" for Shein products, "eshtablishing" a recycling program for end-of-life products, tracing the material supply chain through their own material tracking platform and conserving forests by replacing viscose with "next generation fibers".

Most of the information they provide is fully meaningless corporate speak and should be taken with the biggest bucket of salt, so let's ask some questions.

DO THEY PROVIDE SPECIFIC DATA ABOUT THEIR PRODUCTION? Surprisingly Shein is much more transparent than I expected. (Though of course the info is in different website than where the average consumer would go.) Shein hasn't taken the standard route, which is to provide as little information as possible, and keeping it vague too, se they could just keep feigning ignorance. As I said, I think it's pretty clear they are providing this much information because their reputation is so bad. Their lack of transparency has been taken as an admission of guilt, so it's not working anymore, and they have taken a new approach into maintaining their plausible deniability. In their website, they provide a sustainability report from years 2021 and 2022. I took a look at the latest one. In it there's a lot of fluff, but they show actual numbers of how many code of conduct violations have been found in audits to supplier facilities, the carbon emissions of their supply chain and the amounts of different fabrics they have used during 2022. That's not nothing, so we have a relatively good start here.

WHO DID THE RESEARCH? The research is not at all independent, but done in-house. They have all the financial incentives to cherry-pick and frame their research in a way that shows them in the best possible light, even if we assumed they would not tamper with their own evidence, which I don't think we can fully assume either. There's an attempt though to convince us to believe the data they are showing:

"We have reported with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2021 standard for certain sections of this report. Selected information in this report was assured, to the limited assurance standard, by an external independent assurer as per ISAE 3000."

Emphasis by me. So even if they did the research themselves, they did get it independently audited to get an assurance that they did follow the GRI standards in their reporting and that it doesn't contain lies. However, the "certain sections" and "selected information" with "limited assurance" does not give me much assurance, in fact, my assurance is very limited. To understand what does this actually mean, I did a bit of googling and delved into the annex of the report.

ISAE 3000 is a standard for auditing financial information issued by International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, which an independent body that has governmental oversight. Financial information can get either reasonable assurance or limited assurance. Reasonable assurance is the most assurance this standard allows. Limited assurance is given, if the information provided to the assurer, time or extent of the procedure is lacking, but from those limited resources the assurer doesn't find anything that suggests "the subject matter information is materially misstated" aka that the company is lying. GRI is the most used reporting standard for sustainability for businesses and other organizations. I'm a bit suspicious of how effective their standards are, if they are most widely used, since most companies are absolutely terrible about sustainability yet they all claim they are great with it. So I decided to check who is in the board. Unsurprisingly it's mostly representatives of massive corporations, including Coca Cola and DuPond, a professor of accounting, national research director of Australia's Mining and Energy Union and one (1) environmental scientist.

The annex revealed quite interesting details. The only information that was AssuredTM (in a limited manner) for accurate information was the data on Shein's emissions and that of code of conduct violations. Only the report on emissions was AssuredTM (in a limited manner) to follow GRI standards. Shein got to select and prepare the relevant data for the audition, which was according to it, lacking. Crucially the audition report states that they didn't verify the results of supply audits or any potential violations of labor law found in them, rather they just checked that the math on the grading of the audits matched with Shein's stated criteria and that they actually did the audits. So if you really think about it, the (limited) assurance is that they graded themselves like they promised they would, not that their reporting of the amounts of violated labor laws or even just their own code of conduct was accurate. Additionally assurance of the accuracy of the emissions was only of Shein's own facilities, which do not produce any of their products, but not of their supply chain. 99,7% of their emissions come from their supply chain. So keep all this in mind when we look at the data itself.

WHAT ARE THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS AND HOW ARE THEY CALCULATED? Shein's emissions were 9,17 million tonnes of CO2, or 9,22 million tonnes if we don't count them purchasing Renewable Energy Credits. To put it into perspective that would be around 0,27-0,3% of the estimation of the annual emissions of the whole textile industry. Now that would be pretty low. In fact, suspiciously low. The fact that they got their own emissions auditioned, but not the emissions of their supply chain, suggests to me that perhaps, their numbers don't hold up to scrutiny. They also don't disclose their methodology for the numbers of the supply chain, like they do with their own facilities. Of course their response would be to say it's so much easier for them to calculate their own emissions than their suppliers. But I say that's not a bug, that's a feature.

Though looking at the methodology of the emissions from their own operating sites, which includes warehouses and offices, they don't take into account at all any emissions from building anything. They grew massively between 2021 and 2022 and I find it hard to believe they didn't built any of the new offices or warehouses they gained. Certainly they would have bought a lot of new equipment even if they moved to existing buildings. But none of this is taken into account in their calculations. And I must assume, it's not taken into account in their supply chain calculations either.

Even if we took them at their word, by their own admission, their carbon emissions have grown from 2021 to 2022 52%, which is alarming. (Interestingly they use the 2021 numbers in their actual website, which I think is so misleading that it's basically a lie.) They write it off as just side effect of their massive growth in production volume, which had 57% increase during the same time frame.

"We are at the beginning of our mitigation journey and began implementing decarbonization programs at the end of fiscal year 2022."

So they first scale their business as fast as they can, having absolutely no care of the environmental effect, so that when they have massive market share, and they reduce their massive emissions slightly, they can be like "oh look we did something!" They can then moan and wail how hard and time consuming it is to reduce the emissions of an existing supply chain, when they were the ones who decided to not take that into account from the start. Their "science based goal" (which they repeatedly stress in their website) is to reduce their emissions 25% by 2030. It's nothing. Less than nothing. They scaled without care their production in a time, when our ecology is collapsing, and then they claim that it's just science we possibly can't do anything about it. Apparently it's a natural law that they just have to make more and more money, like gravity.

WHAT MATERIALS DO THEY USE? Last year 64% of Shein's clothing (measured in weight) was polyester. Production of polyester is estimated to count for 40% of all carbon emissions of the textile industry. It's also a plastic made out of oil, so we have to take into account the fracking and refinement of oil and the eventual release of the CO2 from the oil that would have been secured in the ground otherwise. This most certainly is not counted into the supply chain emissions. Shein loves to pay lip service to the idea of circular economy, but they don't actually think about it. Because if they did, they would have taken into account the microplastics polyester fabric sheds when it's washed. When microplastics get into the soil and freshwater, they get into the organs of animals, including us, and they don't easily come off. Already it has been shown that they have led to the decrease of small soil fauna, which are very important for the fertility of the soil. Over time microplastics also break down further into nanoplastics. There's already evidence of nanoplastics being small enough to pass through veins into the brain, and that causing behavioral changes in fish. We don't know the long term consequences off this micro and nano plastic pollution yet, and we're just seeing the effects they have on small animals, but as they built up over years and decades inside our organs, we well likely see much larger effects.

Important for the lifecycle thinking is not just focusing on how much burden the production puts on the environment, but also how long it lasts and how can it be reused and eventually the impact of the end of it's lifecycle. If you remember from the beginning, Shein claims to take all this into account by having a resale program, somewhere in the future establishing a recycling program for unusable old clothes and increasing their share of recycled polyester. This is nothing. Again it's less than nothing. Polyester is not only bad fabric because of the things I've already said, but it's also just as a material for clothing very weak. It's not warm or breathable, which makes it at the same time sweaty and cold. It has no anti-bacterial qualities at all (which basically all natural fabrics have at least to small extent), so when you get easily sweaty in it, it starts also smelling very easily, and so needs washing very often. On top of washing releasing microplastics, it also weakens the fabric, because polyester doesn't get stronger when wet unlike plant fibers, like cotton and linen. Other synthetic fibers even get weaker when wet. Polyester is also very hard to dye effectively and has bad color retaining properties, so it needs chemical treatments and strong industrial dyes, all of which adds to it's carbon footprint and toxic pollution. Bad color retaining properties though also mean it looses it's color quite easily when washed. All of this makes it's life span significantly shorter than natural fabrics. I mean with some natural fabrics like wool and silk we are talking about multiple decades, with polyester it's easily in the low one digit years. These are inherent issues with polyester, but Shein clothes have repeatedly got complaints of their poor quality in general. This makes the resale program frankly meaningless.

On the surface the recycling program for polyester sounds good, right? You don't have to use more oil and use as much energy in making of it (according to Shein themselves, which again not a trustworthy source, it saves up to 70% emissions). Shein has promised to increase their share of recycled polyester to 31% of their polyester usage by 2030. Currently less than 1% of their production is recycled polyester. This is however a terrible solution. It still sheds microplastics and it's even worse as a fabric than virgin polyester. It is weaker and stiffer, making it impossible to use on it's own in fabric but when mixed with other fibers in a fabric significantly shortens it's life span. When we take into account the lifecycle of a clothing, the length of it and it's lifetime emissions become much more important than the production emissions. If you have to produce from scratch new clothing three times, in the time you could be using another clothing, it doesn't really matter if the emissions during the production were somewhat lower. (There's little reliable and comparable data available on production emissions of different fabrics, so I don't know how exactly recycled polyester compares to different natural fabrics.) Especially when we take into account the consumer use emissions, which in the case of polyester are 30% of it's lifetime emissions. And wast majority of it comes from washing, which you have to do more with polyester (how much more depends on what fabric you compere it to). Any responsible disposal of polyester at the end of it's lifecycle, especially any attempts at recycling it, cause additional emissions, unlike with natural fibers, which naturally degrade.

WHERE ARE THE SUPPLIERS? Shein boasts having fully integrated digital supply chain and with it they can track the whole supply chain of individual product. However they don't reveal any of that information publicly. Or rather only thing we know is that their factories making the end products are in China. But the question is, where does their fabrics come from? There's no countries listed in their report in any capacity and none of their products have any information of their origins nor the origins of the fabrics. This is very suspicious in my opinion. We can get no indication on how fibers might have been produced and made into fabric from the labor and environmental laws and practices of different countries. However, there is an interesting bit in the report about cotton:

"For cotton products, to further enhance our compliance with US laws, we request that our manufacturing suppliers only source cotton from Australia, Brazil, India, the United States and other approved regions."

This sentence is there pretty obviously because they have been caught selling clothing with cotton grown in Xinjiang in US markets, which US has banned. This is because Xinjiang, the Autonomous Uighur region, where 90% of China's raw cotton is grown, has been accused of genocidal oppression of the Uighur population, including having massive forced labour camps for Uighurs. Because of the police state nature of Xinjiang, there's no reliable numbers on how much of the cotton is produced with forced labour, but presumably most of it. Moreover, China limits the imports of cotton, which is why only 20% of cotton used by the textile industry in China is imported. Shein claims they know exactly where their fabrics come from, but the wording of the sentence above makes it clear they don't even plan on enforcing any policy to use imported cotton by their suppliers. Cotton is just 10% of fabric they used last year, but given their massive production volume, it's still a lot. This gets us to our next question.

IS THERE PROOF OF GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS? Shein reports doing in total 2 812 audits into 1 941 of their 5 400 contract manufacturers. According to them it accounted for 84% of their Shein branded products (so not their other 10 brands). This information, if you remember, was given limited assurance, by the audition into their numbers. However, we are to trust Shein alone that the reports of their auditions are accurate. I'm not really willing to trust them, but let's sustain our disbelief for a moment to look at their findings. From their report:

"A: 90 points and above: minor flaws. Continued improvement is advised. B: 75 to 90 points: some general risks. Continued improvement is advised. C: 60 to 75 points: 1-3 major risks. Corrective action is required. D: below 60 points: >3 major risks. Corrective action is required. ZTV: Zero Tolerance Violation detetected. Immediate corrective action is required."

Even without knowing what do these things mean in practice, I don't think this paints a pretty picture. Only 4% of their manufacturing facilities had minor flaws and 82% of their facilities have major risks or worse? Does that mean none of their manufacturers fully comply with their Code of Conduct? They try to make it sound like it looks this bad because they have tightened their criteria and still the numbers are better than last year, but even with all of that, this is imo unacceptable. But it gets worse.

The report shows the amount of each ZTV found in the audits. This was explicitly not assured in any way by an independent party, so considering this information is given despite the lack of oversight and the interests of Shein, it's grim. Most of the 11% of ZTVs were gross safety violations. For example 4,2% of the audits, which means 118 facilities, found lacking emergency exits. However, they also found child labour in 6 facilities and forced labour in 3 facilities. So according to their own reporting, their manufacturers have used child labour and forced labour. And just to remind you, this is covering just 36% of their contract manufacturers. What I found interesting (read disturbing), was that violence or sexual misconduct against workers were not among Zero Tolerance Violations. I know it's not a situation, where they don't consider it violation of Code of Conduct, but rather just calls the police and let them handle it, because the violations counted here are based on their CoC, in which there's an item 7 named "No harassment or abuse of employees", which explicitly forbids physical, sexual, mental and verbal abuse. They don't however breakdown the make up of the non-ZTV violations that have occured, nor do their reveal how are they graded the ratings, so there's really no way to know what the 71% of their manufacturers have done to warrant their low (C or D) grading.

Would you at this point be surprised, if I told you it gets worse? Yeah, their so called Zero Tolerance Violations are not very zero tolerance after all. You might think zero tolerance means, that if manufacturers are caught doing it, their contract is immediately terminated and they are reported to authorities? Well, let's look what is the "immediate corrective action" outlined in their Responsible Sourcing Policy. Among the ZTVs they define even more zero tolerance violations, let's say negative tolerance violations. These are 1. forging documents, bribery or refusing to get assessed 2. child labour and 3. forced labour. Surely these lead to immediate contract termination and reporting to authorities?

So if Shein encounters slavery or probable coverup of it in their facilities, they stop placing new orders until the enslaved people and children are taken somewhere else or otherwise their contracts are fixed (at least for now), so there's no more slavery in sight, when someone comes back to assess them again and decides it's all good to continue business as usual. They have 30 days to make everything look like there's no issues, which sounds pretty easy task, and after that they can grab the kids and the slaves back there like nothing happened. Also notice how they didn't say they demand stopping the work entirely in the facility, just that they'll stop placing orders? Yeah, they don't stop production even if they find literal children or enslaved people producing them. Gotta get those dresses to the customer.

If they find any other ZTV, they come back in 30 days, and if the violation continues, they give a warning, come back again in 30 days, and if still the issue is there, then they stop placing orders. After that it continues like with child or forced labour violations. If after another 30 days it's not fixed, the contract is terminated. If a supplier gets two ZTVs within two years, they go straight to the even less than zero tolerance model straight away. If they get three ZTVs in two years, then their contract is immediately terminated. Nothing different happens though, if you get caught doing child or forced labour two times in two years, so you can just get caught once a year as long as you always pretend to stop doing it. But even if you do get caught third time in two years, or fail to pretend you fixed it, it's fine, you'll just have to do other stuff for the next year, and then you can apply again to work with Shien. Also the policy does not at any point require reporting these alleged crimes to authorities. If they at some point stop placing orders for a supplier (for example because of child or forced labour), they have to just sent all the files and documents of the goods that are produced by that supplier during the time they aren't giving them new orders to the relevant tax and customs authorities.

To answer the question I started this section with, sounds like Shein provides more evidence of bad working conditions in their suppliers' facilities, than they provide evidence of good working conditions. They even give evidence that their monitoring of those conditions is just a joke, and they have no mechanisms to actually get rid of suppliers who have inhumane working conditions. Elsewhere they try to give very weak evidence of good working conditions. The influencer brand trip to their facility in China was a PR stunt like that. However, it's easily dismissable, as the facility was not at one of the factories, where their clothing is made, all of which are third parties, but Shien's own facility they call Innovation Center. There they innovate new technologies, train their suppliers to use their new technologies and consult their suppliers on how to make new factories, which I assume means they have factory templates to give to their suppliers.

However, independent sources give much more reliable evidence of terrible working conditions in their factories. Like when undercover operation into one of their factories found employees working 18 hours a day earning 2 cents per item. When asked for comment, they answered: "Any non-compliance with this code is dealt with swiftly, and we will terminate partnerships that do not meet our standards." This is not severe ZTV, so what they mean by "dealt with swiftly" is "told to stop breaking labour laws, given some time, given warning, given more time, stopped giving new orders, given even more time and if after three months they have not stop then they gotta go". Because yes, they do terminate those who don't meet their standards. Their standards are just in the gutter.

HOW IS THE COMPANY STRUCTURED? While falling down this rabbit hole I came to the realization that Shein is the Uber of fashion. It's just the gig economy all over again. Let me explain. Unlike traditional fashion companies, Shein has outsourced even the sewing of the clothing. Shein itself is an app company, like Uber, though they technically do design their own clothes. I say technically because they have been repeatedly accused of copyright infringement to the point where they are now sued for racketeering. Allegation from the lawsuit:

"Shein has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating."

It relates to the other reason why I say their only technically design too, because a huge amount of their designs are also outsourced. In their sustainability report, they boast about how their SHEIN X program is meant to "empower" young designers to get their business off the ground, by taking their designs and using them for their clothing productions. This sounds a lot like SHEIN X designers are gig workers. They are basically just designers for Shein, but oh no they are not workers, labour laws won't apply! Shein specifically targets young designers, even students, so it's clear that they really just want impressionable people desperate for money and work experience. Obviously they won't get much money for their designs, since there's such a massive flood of products and designers, Shein says they have 3 000 designers in SHEIN X, and the products are so, so cheep. It's the exact same thing as with Uber and the like, they put their "workers" into competition with each other. To tie it back to the lawsuit, they use these third party designers as fodder against accusations of copyright infringement. They did not steal the design from the independent artist, they are just the platform provider.

This is also exactly how they operate with their factories. When their massive production is spread across all the 5 400 small separate suppliers, they are forced to compete for scraps. They can't organize together to demand better pay or better working conditions, and Shein can act like they have no part in them. Moreover, due to their extremely low prices, Shein has to offer only really low rates for the production of their clothing. On top of that because of the contractor structure, the actual fanctory owners taken an extra cut from those low rates, leaving extremely little for the actual workers. The prices are so low, they demand inhumane working conditions. It's impossible to sell clothing in the prices Shein does and pay well for the workers, especially with their business structure. All the talk about technological innovation is also bullshit, because this gig economy competition model ensures that most of the gig workers (in this case factories) will stay poor, so they can hardly invest in the new technologies.

This model is also what Shein holds as their most significant sustainability claim, because it allows them to cut most inventory waste. Traditional fashion companies always have a significant overhead, because their supply must always be higher than demand, otherwise, they would loose customers to their competitors. Because Shein orders small batches from large amount of factories, they can change their production in real time, adjusting to the demand much quicker than any competitor. Yes, it means they have minimal inventory loss, but it's not actually efficient. Or rather not efficient in any other way than for maximizing profits. There is a massive amount of overlap of facilities, machinery, organization structures and bureaucracy, if we look at Shein's whole production, because the small factories are all producing same things, but because Shein drives them to compete with each other, they don't have to pay for that overlap. More than that, it's extremely inefficient way to maximize people getting clothed while minimizing materials. And I don't mean producing as much clothes as possible while minimizing materials, because that is what they are doing, but the goal shouldn't be as much clothes as possible, but maximizing everyone having enough clothing, which is much less that what we produce today. And if clothing was made to last instead of making as many of them as possible, even less could be made and still everyone would have enough clothes.

Shein's extremely quick rise to the top of fashion markets was due to how effectively they managed to use the pandemic for their advantage. During the lock-downs around the world, people spend increasingly more time on their phones and social media, which Shein managed turn into their profit. They utilize social media and influencers effectively for marketing. Their platform also uses many of the same psychological tricks social media uses to keep customers scrolling and consuming. This is on itself is not at all new, but because of their business model, they turned attention into sales and sales into more attention. All that combined with their ability to response in real time to new trends and scale production extremely quickly, turned any new trend in social media into hype and micro-fashion cycles, which they would burn through increasingly fast. Their competitors wouldn't even have the time to get into that trend before it would be replaced with a new trend. Then all they needed to do was to contract new small factories, they didn't even have to spend time and money to built them, and they could take over the fast fashion market.

Shein's effect won't stop there though. Their competitors will and are already starting to adapt their methods. It means quality of clothing will keep getting worse, the whole industry will keep increasing their carbon emissions and the working conditions from cotton farmers to designers will get worse as gig economy spreads in the industry. I'll talk more about this in the conclusions of the second part, but to fix this, there needs to be government intervention. It's good that there's a lawsuit over their wider practices, not just a singular act, but it won't be enough. If they don't face significant consequences, every other company will take note that they can profit off of (allegedly) systematic crimes.

IN CONCLUSION Shein as a company is a glorified optimization algorithm which only real function is to drive up consumption and in exchange take all the profits from everyone else's labour. They use the modern classic Uber model to take the neoliberal principle of outsourcing risks and responsibilities to it's logical conclusion. Their extremely exploitative business model only works if their designers and factories and other gig workers break laws. They do the absolute bare minimum to comply with law and (allegedly) not even that when they believe they can get away with it by blaming others, which is fucking bad indictment of those laws, since my god they are terrible. Their greenwashing propaganda is honestly laughable, it's a joke and they must know it. It feels more like gaslighting than propaganda.

#this is not exactly what i usually write about but one of the reasons i care about historical fashion is because i care about sustainability #fashion #sustainable fashion #environment #climate crisis #shein #fashion industry #shein clothes #fast fashion #slavery mentioned #genocide mentioned

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decapolicemoment · 4 months ago

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decapolice trailer

surprised that they confirmed he was top of his class (i knew he could do it). i wonder what carl placed

also going by their dynamic yk boston’s gonna be worrying about harvard later in the game (father figure of the year)

2. in most of the stuff we had before, the order was always harvard carl zhang mani mikey, though ig they log in the order harvard carl mani mikey zhang. does it mean anything? probably not

3. “My world is starting to move forward again”

☹️ therapy arc will go crazy

two things. one, did they change where the bear comes in or is it going to be a reoccurring criminal? or does the bear stand for something else, maybe a criminal who they don’t have the identity of, so the bear’s a placeholder until they get better footage.

other thing is the lyric: “A line, once crossed. But compulsion’s strong.” He’s definitely going to go too far, or do some morally dubious things.

i’m wondering if the hacker can take over characters data, in the sense that he can control them, cause it seems to be a Decasim employee who hands them the box/bomb/hack. Harvard had a gun pointed at him, so he was probably acting suspicious, and then the hack opened and changed stuff, like a trojan horse virus

(i love her design) her hair reminds me of the clown’s, possibly related? she’s also the only one to have hair i wonder why

6.5, the lyrics at that moment “wings stained white as shadows descend without a trace” while showing her. in most cases (cause stained glass windows) things don’t get stained on purpose and they don’t stain themselves, usually it’s an outside force (staining a shirt, etc). perhaps she’s painted as a good person w/o her doing anything, while her true self (the clown) keeps doing things without anyone noticing. or maybe i’m reaching

going back to 5, if the hacker’s able to override controls, then ig he got taken over or it’s js really convenient lighting. that or carl’s going to betray us/knows more than he should

the lighting makes him look like he has eyebags go to sleep silly

she might be human?? no name but atleast we have a full design

10.

the cat plush means smt im js wondering what. ❌’s for eyes, is harvard gonna almost die. maybe the clown has a lil harvard cat plush, for whatever reason he/she may need one

also “Just one thing remains”, his whole family is dead ig, but he only seems to care about his mother, probably because she was the only one murdered.

11. the thing that i still can’t understand

just about everything is confusing with this photo. why is his father ugly, and why does he have zero traits from him? why are his eyes GREEN?? neither of his parents have it so what’s up with that. why does he have the cat plush, and is there an in game reason why Harvard looks like it? who’s the cake for, it can’t be for him.

my biggest guess is that the hacker made it in his mother’s house in decasim, maybe as a way to mess with Harvard, show him what could have been or smt. maybe he’s trying to convince harvard to stay in decasim for whatever reason, showing his family alive and well, celebrating him becoming a detective, and the lil boy is his brother.

and finally 12.

who is telling him “we’ll meet again”? chances are it’s the clown, but maybe it’s his brother/clone/fakevard

anyways 10/10 trailer except for the 2026 release date

#decapolice #harvard marks #carl oxford #mikey princeton #zhang tsinghua #manimani manoa #theory #level 5 #technically speaking #it’s only a year away since 2024s basically over #and this year went fast so the next hopefully will too #so i rlly js need to make it through one year before decapolice #this entire trailer actually rearranged my brain so much i have so many thoughts and im gonna end up coming up with more ughhhh #atleast i got to change my pfp

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likeadevils · 2 years ago

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Timeline anon; how do you find pictures of studio?? And the date a song was recorded if there are no pap pics?

finding pictures in the studio depends on how big you artist is? i have searched “taylor swift studio” and crawled through spring 2012 week by week— that’s how i found what date she recorded everything has changed— and i think that should work if your artist has any level of notoriety, but most of the time a photo will just float across my dash or pop up while i’m researching something else and i’ll get curious. i would say finding in studio photos and trying to reverse engineer what song she’s recording is maybe the slowest way to go about figuring out when they recorded what song, but it can be a lot of fun and i do use it as a little treat sometimes

as for finding out what date a song was recorded with no pictures, that’s where social media and interviews come in. for example, taylor has always talked about writing sad beautiful tragic on a moving bus, and on october 5th 2011 she tweeted “Leaving Little Rock, headed to New Orleans. Writing a song on a moving bus.” you can also try and match up other peoples schedules— producers, co-writers, features, etc. and a lot of time it’s figuring out what dates she absolutely couldn’t have recorded— for example, the lover diaries say taylor wrote the finished draft of all too well in march 2011, she wrote it with liz rose who was based in nashville at the time, and taylor left on tour on march 7 and was gone the rest of the month, so we’ve got a six day period she could have written it. this is going to sound hyperbolic, but figuring out what date each song was created is literally different every time— it’s genuinely just compiling as most raw data as possible and then every once and a while something clicks into place

also, exact dates (at least in taylor’s case) are relatively rare— i’d say i can only find exact dates for maybe a third of taylor’s discography, but i can make an educated guess on the month for about 80%, and a lot of the time i have to remind myself that that’s still like, crazy impressive and probably about as much as taylor herself could tell me, so don’t get discouraged

#asks*#timeline*

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izzy-b-hands · 1 year ago

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I'm gonna ask a weird question but:

Is there anything you guys (aka y'all following me lol) want to see more of from me, in terms of a potential item(s)/service(s) to purchase?

Better explanation of what the fuck I'm waxing on abt below the cut. TW for talk of money/work/the overall state of things economically for me and my plans/goals/potential options to keep making things better.

I need to bring in more money. I'm getting more stable, trying to save on top of the generous donations I've been given while using them as needed for things we absolutely need (food, basic supplies/necessities.) But we're still so tight, and I know nearly everyone is dealing with some form of this right now bc Everything Sucks Economically on like. a level of how it felt in 2008 (extra terrifying feeling now) but. It's killing me. I can't take feeling like a burden like this. I have to do more.

I have been applying elsewhere, for FT, PT, and contract jobs that pay better, though I am hoping more for the FT positions of course. Thus far, I have not had any bites back that amounted to anything, but intend to continue my efforts regardless (because what else can I do there anyway?)

I've been trying to figure out other options, w/things I know I can do somewhat well to very well. All would be cheap, but hopefully would add up over time until I can get a FT job again and while I grind away at the current PT job (which I am hoping to add more hours to for the next semester, when they have us make our scheduling choices again and allow us to potentially add at least one more shift to our schedule.)

So, a poll. To gauge interest, and see if y'all have any opinions/would even potentially purchase anything like the below things from me. I'll try and detail each option below, but first, the options:

1. Photo Prints: I've done photography since high school, though I only have my current Pixel phone available for it right now. That said, they would be as cheap as I can get away with, and my Pixel actually doesn't do too badly, plus I would be editing these to make them as good looking as possible. Ideally, I'd have a Pay What You Want option instead, so ppl can just give whatever they think the print is worth since these will be smaller, amateur prints, but I'm not sure if all the platforms that usually handle photo print sales for smaller creators allow that. So, in that case, a range of probably $1-$5 at most for each print. They would be of things out here; I have access to and experience already with taking city and nature themed pictures (it was literally all I did in hs and since then bc of where I've lived.) So general city life/scenery, plus local wildlife like the birds, squirrels, and nature surrounding us in all seasons, plus any extra pictures I can take elsewhere whenever Housemate and I are out and about (aka probably lots of mountain and ocean shots.) My speciality when I had my other camera was micro/detailed photography, and I'd like to explore this with my current setup and see how they turn out and potentially offer those as well.

If it would help to see some current pictures that I am considering as the first set I would put up for sale, please reply on this post letting me know and I can post a couple as examples 🙌

2. Poetry Commissions: I have done these on and off since middle school, usually for friends/family. Nothing wild, but usually shorter, some rhyming, some free verse, poems on varying topics. I've done them for birthdays, holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day, as well as with obits or for weddings, and even a baby shower, to go on the invites. I haven't posted much of what I've written in recent years, but as with the pictures, I would be happy to post some of the ones I've written before as examples. Poetry is where I have no fear and will work myself to the bone to provide the best work possible; if you can get me just the bare basic details (ex. You want a poem for your brother's bday. Give me his name, a couple of hobbies/likes of his, and two of your favourite memories with him and I'll write you something beautiful, to celebrate him and his place in your life and take the piss out of him too, depending on your relationship with your brother lol), I can get you a poem in a 2-4 day turnaround time for as low as 5¢/word. Electronic only, but you would get a PDF of the poem that you can do whatever you want with afterwards (I would require my name remain credited on any other posting/usage elsewhere, but you wouldn't have to pay me again if you want to reuse it for another brother, to harken back to our example.)

3. Data Entry/Transcription Assistance: This one is a pretty wide range of what I can offer. I have experience working with medical documents (neurology, ophthalmology, and optometry for specific specialities both in data entry and transcription) via two of my last jobs, technical documents from two prior jobs (public library and medical staff training specifically), and historical documents including both handwritten (including print and cursive) and typed documents and charts via my volunteer work with Zooniverse. This is my bread and butter in terms of general job skills, and one I genuinely enjoy. That means that I come into each job, regardless of field or exact task, with excitement and an open mind, ready to prioritise and organise everything to the requested system and/or standard, with the goal to go above and beyond that however possible. Usually I achieve this by completing projects as ahead of deadline as possible, as well as by taking on any additional related tasks as needed (example: you hired me on to type up all of Grandma's lifelong journal entries for archiving and easy reading at an upcoming family reunion, but now you've found that Grandpa has one too. For minimal to no additional cost, I will happily take that on and endeavour to have both sets of data typed up in an easy to send/print word doc and/or PDF well before the reunion deadline.) I am more than willing to take on contract/NDA required work for this option as well, and have done so in the past with a prior job (aka why I'm not allowed to share any of the clinic training docs I made.) Cost might depend some on project size and deadline, but a general estimate would be, to stick with our above example: $5 per 250/pg journal, with a small additional charge of $5 if a rush is requested (aka say the reunion gets moved up to three days from now vs three months or weeks.) I would endeavour to charge no higher than $25 with $5 rush fee if rush requested for bigger projects.

4. Research Assistance: More or less what it says on the tin. Can be for work, home related things, whatever (though if requested for school/in regards to homework, I only go as far as providing resource links because unfortunately, usually doing the research yourself is a part of the learning process. However, if you're struggling to find primary or secondary sources, I am happy to help find those for you so that you can peruse them to see if they'll have the information you're looking for. If they do, great! If they don't, then I would keep looking for more.) While research hasn't been my main task at any of my prior jobs, it has always been a feature in much of the day to day work regardless, and is a skill I have kept up in my volunteer work with Zooniverse on projects which requested it. Looking for sources for anything, from work projects to recipes can be a slog. Let me do it for you. Pricing on this I'm putting at $5. That's it. Pay me $5, and I'll find as much as I can in regards to whatever you have that needs researching. Turnaround might depend on project, but I'm leaning 1-4 days at the very most.

So. There we are! Vote on the poll if you'd like, reply with any opinions/feelings/ideas you have for me about these, and thank you if you read this whole thing ❤️🫂

#text post #long post #even if you don't have any interest in any of this yourself but happen to know someone who might be interested #please pass along my info to them or mention my name as potential option to assist them #like if u want professional contact info lemme know and i can pass that along to whoever wants/needs it #anyway my brain is mush after typing this and i have a stomach ache and a double shift starting in half an hour to deal w/now #so. just thank u to y'all even if u only read a line of this and pls know i appreciate any ideas/opinions y'all might share re:all of this #tumblr polls

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nazumichi · 3 years ago

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you don’t know the epic highs and lows of being a digital artist

#SO. ART TABLET FUCKING. ITS GONE. EVERYRHING IVE DRAWN ON THAT MOTHERFUCKER IS GONE.. GOD GOD GOD #FUCK ME!!!! FUCK IM GONNA EXPLODE THIS IS. SHITTINF ME U HAVE TO BE. ARGH #like everything else too photos other data etc #had a good cry abt the art though. really good cry it was so ugly and i feel so horrible that i’m having this reaction over bullcrap #um. on the positive i’ve spared many of u some cringe art. FUCK. i don’t know ok bye byw #raii talks a lot #delete later #i feel like shit anyway. um. that was. everything i’ve drawn here ever. all of it. whoops!!! fucking oopsie!!! i feel like throwing up now

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inamindfarfaraway · 2 years ago

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Tails in Sonic Underground Headcanons

Companion piece to this.

It’s the anniversary of Robotnik’s takeover of Mobius. He’s increased and upgraded security measures to finally capture and roboticize the Hedgehog triplets, and preferably Queen Aleena too, because what could be better than taking their minds and souls on the exact date he took everything else from them, with his great big celebration of that being the last thing they ever see? The triplets try to be careful, but reveal themselves to stop Robotnik doing something awful, like executing protesters or crushing a homeless person beneath his giant parade tank. They’ve been distracted with grief and anger the whole day, so they’re just uncoordinated enough to give the SWATbots an edge and are quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.

Suddenly another SWATbot approaches from a different direction and starts attacking the ones that have got them. They don’t know what’s going on, but aren’t gonna complain. The chaos and confusion allows several other civilians and protesters to leave the scene too. After escaping, the triplets wonder who reprogrammed the SWATbot. If it were a fellow Resistance member they would have heard about it in advance, as Robotnik’s coding are notoriously difficult to mess with - so difficult that Manic and Cyrus combined haven’t been able to manage it.

The answer appears out of an alleyway: an eight-year-old yellowish orange fox boy clutching a tablet, with… two tails? He assumes responsibility for repurposing the SWATbot and sending it to rescue them, though modestly and bashfully, being more excited to meet the triplets, his idols, and wanting to know if they’re okay. He introduces himself as Miles Prower. Sonic recognizes that last name, to Sonia and Manic’s further confusion. Miles explains the story of his parents.

Amadeus and Rosemary Prower were perhaps the greatest engineers in the country, friends of the royal family and Cyrus’s father Lionel, using their technology for the betterment of the people. Robotnik stole many of their concepts and devices when he took the throne. They opposed his coup and were among the founding members and leaders of the Resistance, which led Robotnik to erase all public data on them and give himself credit for everything they did. Hence why only Sonic knows of them - Uncle Chuck taught him. But he never knew they had a kid. Miles was born and raised in secret. When he was just four, his parents were captured and roboticized. They had barely enough time to leave him at an inconspicuous children’s home and give him a tablet, named the Miles Electric in his honour, that contained a complete database of both their research and inventions; and the family’s personal records, e.g. Rosemary and Amadeus’s wedding photos, Miles’s sonogram photos, birth certificate and baby pictures, voice recordings they left for him, etc.. The Miles Electric was its namesake’s closest friend. It was almost like his parents were still there with him... almost.

Unfortunately, most of the other kids scorned and bullied him for his mutant second tail, prodigious intelligence and shy disposition. So much so that by the age of seven he decided he’d be better off alone and ran away, living on the streets, stealing food and money to survive and overall doing his best to stay out of people’s way. His parents had been heroes, and they’d fallen. He could never hope to be like them. There was no point he could see in trying to be brave, since in his experience it would only get you punished. He was similar to Nine in Sonic Prime, but less hostile and more plain sad.

The Sonic Underground pulled him out of that misery. These new heroes brought the Resistance unprecedented success and support, and as the true heirs to Aleena’s throne, embodied the hope that Mobius could be saved. That things could get better. Miles became their devoted fan and has been following their progress for months. But chronically insecure, he wanted to prove that he was worth their time before meeting them. Last week he got a chance. In the aftermath of one of the triplets’ battles, he figured out how to reprogram a SWATbot Sonia had wrecked to think him its master and Robotnik’s forces enemies. He finished working on it it that day and unleashed it upon seeing the triplets in danger.

The triplets adopt him as their fourth sibling in their heads on the spot. Queen Aleena, who’s spent the day fighting through Robotnik’s forces to reach her children to comfort them and tell them that they haven’t lost everything, arrives shortly afterward and also internally adopts him as her fourth child within their first conversation, remembering his parents fondly. Miles nearly faints because the queen likes him.

The fugitive queen and her heirs can’t be in one place for long, and Robotnik gleefully interrupts the family bonding. A battle breaks out. Miles discovers his ability to fly in order to save Sonic’s life. Sonic starts calling him Tails, which delights him. Aleena even stays the night. It’s the best night Tails can remember; not a bad end to the anniversary of the worst day of the kingdom’s history. Before she reluctantly departs the next morning, she assures Tails he doesn’t need to earn his place in the family - he already has it.

The triplets shower Tails with lots of love and praise and encourage him to respect himself more, slowly building his confidence. They each know the agony it is to lose your parents, especially Sonic, and help him process it.

His relationship with Sonic is much the same as in the games.

He and Manic exchange street kid stories and deeply empathize with each other over the experiences they’ve shared that the others haven’t. Manic wants to mentor Tails in engineering, but the little prodigy is already his equal and even teaches him a few things. They also have flying races, comparing Manic’s hoverboard with Tails’s propulsion. Training and fun!

Sonia gushes about how adorable Tails’s soft, fluffy tails are when they first meet. She then regularly washes and brushes them and teaches him how to, since she’s the only sibling with any idea of thorough fur care. She even gives him decorations for them (primarily blue to match his eyes). He loves this. He’d often been told that his mutation made him an unlovable freak, and coming to consider it beautiful is a different kind of self-esteem to just realizing it can be useful. Her advanced education, unique among the triplets, lets her have more intellectual conversations with him too.

Due to his love of technology; head for plans, details and precision; and supportiveness of his older siblings, he frequently finds himself managing the logistics of the Sonic Underground’s performances, especially electronic elements like lighting design and sound system configuration and operation. His mindful personality makes him great at it, and he’s just fine not being in the spotlight. Soon theatrical technician is his official role in the band.

He bonds with Cyrus over their common interest in science. They can talk technobabble and work on some machine or software together for hours.

He had never left the inner city before he started travelling with the Resistance, so experiencing the wonders of nature fills him with awe. He is afraid of thunder and lightning, though.

He diligently keeps a multimedia log of his time in the Resistance on the Miles Electric, in the hopes that when his parents are themselves again he can tell and show them what he’s been up to and accomplished in their absences.

He eventually invents the deroboticizer, which hugely hastens Robotnik's overthrow. Aleena gives him a special medal for it. He's as humble as ever and doesn't wear the medal in public, instead framing it in his new bedroom in the palace, but everyone else is more than happy to brag about his accomplishments on his behalf. Especially Amadeus and Rosemary. Who also catch up with him on all their missed quality time, and hugs.

#sonic underground #sonic the hedgehog #miles prower #miles tails prower #tails prower #sonia the hedgehog #manic the hedgehog

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years ago

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Privacy Without Monopoly, EU edition

Tech monopoly apologists insist that there’s something exceptional about tech that makes it so concentrated: “network effects” (when a product gets better because more people use it, like a social media service).

They’re wrong.

Tech is concentrated because the Big Tech companies buy up or crush their nascent competitors — think of Facebook’s predatory acquisition of Instagram, which Zuckerberg admitted (in writing!) was driven by a desire to recapture the users who were leaving FB in droves.

Google’s scale is driven by acquisitions — Search and Gmail are Google’s only successful in-house products. Everything else, from Android to Youtube to their entire ad-tech stack, was once a standalone business that Google captured.

Monopolies extract monopoly rents — like those delivered by Googbook’s crooked ad-tech marketplaces, or Apple/Google’s 30% app shakedown — and use them to maintain their monopolies. Google gives Apple billions every year so it will be the default Ios and Safari search.

These are the same tactics that every monopolist uses — high-stakes moneyball that creates a “kill-zone” around the monopolist’s line of business that only a fool would try to enter. Tech DOES have network effects, but that’s not what’s behind tech monopolies.

We see monopolies in industries from bookselling to eyeglasses, accounting to cheerleading uniforms, pro wrestling to energy, beer to health insurance. These monopolies all follow Big Tech’s template of mobilizing monopoly rents to buy or crush all competition.

The differences between the anticompetitive tactics that monopolized these industries are largely cosmetic — swap out a few details and you might well be describing how John D Rockefeller and Standard Oil monopolized the oil markets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Big Tech does have network effects, but these are actually a tool that can be used to dismantle monopolies, as well as maintaining them. Network effects are double-edged swords: if a service gets more valuable as users join, it also gets less valuable as users leave.

If you want to understand the anticompetitive structure of the tech industry, you’d be better off analyzing switching costs, not network effects. Switching costs are the things you have to give up when you leave a service behind.

If your customers, community, family members or annotated photos and other memories are locked up in Facebook’s walled garden (or if you’ve got money sunk in proprietary media or apps on Apple’s, etc), then the switching cost is losing access to all of that.

Here’s where tech really is different: tech has intrinsically low switching costs. Latent in all digital technology is the capacity to interoperate, to plug a new service into an old one, to run an old app inside a simulator (“runtime”).

There’s no good technical reason you can’t leave Facebook but take your treasured photos with you — and continue to exchange messages with the people you left behind.

True, Facebook has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep its switching costs high, deploying technical countermeasures to block interoperability. But these aren’t particularly effective. Lots of people have figured out how to reverse-engineer FB and plug new things into it.

Power Ventures created an app that aggregated your FB feed with feeds from rival services, giving you a single dashboard. NYU’s Ad Observer scraps the political ads FB shows you for analysis to check whether FB is enforcing its own paid political disinformation rules.

And there’s a whole constellation of third-party Whatsapp clients that add features FB has decided Whatsapp users don’t deserve, like the ability to block read-receipts or run multiple accounts on the same device.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/african-whatsapp-modders-are-masters-worldwide-adversarial-interoperability

Most of these are technical successes, but they’re often legal failures. FB has used the monopoly rents it extracted to secure radical new laws and new interpretations of existing laws to make these tactics illegal.

Power Ventures was sued into oblivion. Ad Observer is fighting for its life. The Whatsapp mods are still going strong, but that may be down to the jurisdictions where they thrive — sub-Saharan Africa — where FB has less legal muscle.

With low switching costs, much of FB’s monopoly protection evaporates. Lots of people hate FB, and FB knows it. You’re on FB because your friends are there. Your friends are there because you’re there. You’ve taken each other hostage, and FB benefits.

With low switching costs, you could leave FB — but not your friends. The kill zone disappears. All we need is interoperability.

Enter the EU’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, proposed regulations to force interop on the biggest Big Tech players.

The EU has recognized that mandating interop can reduce switching costs, and reducing switching costs can weaken monopoly power.

Some critics (like me!) of the EU proposals say they don’t go far enough, asking for “full interop” for rival services.

Against these calls for broader interop come warnings about the privacy implications of forcing FB to open up its servers to rivals. It’s hard enough to keep FB from abusing its users’ privacy, how will we keep track of a constellation of services that can access user data?

Last Feb, Bennett Cyphers and I published “Privacy Without Monopoly,” for EFF, describing how interoperability can enhance privacy.

Interop means that users can choose services that have better privacy policies than Facebook or other incumbent platforms.

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

But in theory, it means that users could choose worse services — services that have worse privacy policies, services that might be able to grab your friends’ data along with your own (say, the pictures you took of them and brought with you, or their private messages to you).

That’s why, in our paper, we say that interop mandates have to be backstopped by privacy rules — democratically accountable rules from lawmakers or regulators, not self-serving “privacy” limitations set by the Big Tech companies themselves.

For example, Facebook aggressively imports your address books when you sign up, to connect you to the people you know (this isn’t always a good experience — say, if your stalker has you in their address book and automatically gets “friended” with you).

If you try to take your address book with you when you quit, FB claims your contact list isn’t “yours” — it belongs to your contacts. To protect their privacy, FB has to block you from exporting the data — making it it much harder to establish social ties on a new service.

It’s not obvious who that contact info “belongs to” (if “belong to” is even the right way to talk about private information that implicates multiple people!).

But what is obvious is that Facebook can’t be trusted to make that call.

Not only has Facebook repeatedly disqualified itself from being trusted to defend its users’ privacy, but it also has a hopeless conflict of interest, because privacy claims can be used to raise switching costs and shore up its monopoly.

In our paper, Bennett and I say that these thorny questions should be resolved democratically, not in a corporate boardroom.

Now, as it happens, there’s a region where 500M people are protected by a broad, democratically enacted privacy law: Europe, home of the GDPR.

Today, in a new appendix to “Privacy Without Monopoly,” EFF has published “The GDPR, Privacy and Monopoly,” my analysis of how the GDPR makes interoperability safer from a privacy perspective.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/gdpr-privacy-and-monopoly

Working with EFF’s Christoph Schmon and Bennett Cyphers, we develop a detailed analysis of the GDPR, and describe how the GDPR provides a lawful framework for resolving thorny questions about consent and blended title to data.

The GDPR itself seeks to promote interoperability; it’s right there in Recital 68: “data controllers should be encouraged to develop interoperable formats that enable data portability.” But loopholes in the rules have allowed dominant companies to stymie interop.

For years, Europeans have had the “right” to port their data, but nowhere to port that data to. The DMA closes the loopholes and dismantles the hurdles that kept switching costs high.

The GDPR’s consent/security/minimization framework sets out the parameters for any interoperability, meaning we don’t have to trust Facebook (or Google, or Amazon, or Apple) to decide when interop must be blocked “to defend users’ privacy” (and also shareholders’ profits).

Big Tech platforms already have consent mechanisms (and must continue to build them) to create the legal basis for processing user data. An interoperable FB could be a consent conduit, letting your friends decide when and whether you can take their data to a new service.

And the GDPR (not a tech executive) also determines when a new service meets the privacy standards needed for interop. It governs how that new service must handle user data, and it gives users a way to punish companies that break the rules.

Today, if you leave Facebook, your friends might not even notice. But in a world where FB is a consent conduit to manage your departure and resettlement, all your friends get signals about your departure — perhaps prompting them to consider whether they should go, too.

Far from prohibiting interop, the GDPR enables it, by creating an explicit privacy framework that is consistent across all services, both the old monopolies and the new co-ops, startups, public utilities, and other alternatives that interop would make possible.

Monopolies distort the world in two ways. The most obvious harm is to competition, choking out or buying out every alternative, so you have to live by whatever rules the monopolist sets.

But the other kind of harm is even worse: monopolists can use their political power to get away with terrible abuses.

Ad-tech concentration produced monopoly rents that blocked or weakened privacy law for decades, allowing for a grotesque degree of commercial surveillance.

We don’t want competition in surveillance.

Opening space for interop poses a legitimate risk of creating a contest to see who can violate your human rights most efficiently.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#monkeys-paw

Yet, it’s obvious that monopolists themselves shouldn’t get to decide where they should be subjected to competition and where they should be subjected to regulation. That’s a job for democratic institutions, not autocratic board-rooms.

Adding privacy regulation (strong privacy regulation, with a private right of action allowing users to sue companies for breaking the rules) to interop is how we resolve this conundrum, how we make sure we’re banning surveillance, rather than “democratizing” it.

#pluralistic

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ockmolina · 3 years ago

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Dream: Alfred & the office!

No idea where I was to start with. Some large building with little rooms inside. I was outside of one room in a cafeteria I think. Talking with some other people. In the other room there were tables (another part of the cafeteria, but fancier). Alfred (with a full beard) was sitting with someone and they were a couple but had problems and broke up. Felt like one of those reality shows cos people either rooted for him with that woman or they rooted for him with someone else.

The other person showed up and they sat together while my friends and I were sad that the other woman didn’t work out. We said we had to get them back together. Skip ahead to somehow achieving this. The woman walked back in and they made up. I was ducked down outside the room (now more private and not so much a cafeteria) and was peeking into the window, then ducking back down when he looked my way. I had one of those weird dream things where I knew he was coming around behind me to catch me spying, but I just kept doing it. The dream skipped that bit when he caught me, though.

Now there was a fancy office building up the stairs, lovely wood flooring, and he and his partner (a guy, now; a John Lithgow type of course lol) had just started up their little business and it was doing well considering they had just opened and already had appointments. I got to go in and look around while they were still setting up (putting a laptop on the counter for the client, etc) and as a “thank you” for helping them get together. When the client showed up, I left. It was a place where they offered very secure work that was extremely confidential and they were in charge of keeping the client’s data secure.

Later, I had to go to the bathroom, which triggered a bunch of other people to have to go, but there wasn’t one available in the usual spot. A man at the top of the stairs said people could use the ones in the office. I ran up the steps and said they couldn’t and they weren’t allowed in there, but a dozen people had already gone in. They were no longer interested in using the bathroom once they realized there were a bunch of top-secret things in there. People were looking through filing cabinets, files, etc. I grabbed a bunch of files and put them in an empty draw (which took forever to even find). A guy took photos with his phone so I grabbed it and threw it in the drawer with a safe/lock and also put some files in there, too.

A teenage girl walked by and I realized it was Alfred’s daughter (dream version) and she was talking about how she could finally get info on something or other that she wanted to know. I told her she shouldn’t be there and she’d be in trouble, etc. I was running around rampant trying to get all these files back and Alfred finally came in and settled everything. He was glad I had been there to start handling everything. Of course I woke up after that cos I really did have to go to the bathroom, lol!

#alfred molina #dreams #more chaotic stuff with little reward #another one from 3 years ago lol

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shikantazaart · 4 years ago

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Shikantaza Creativity Interview III - SPARTALIEN

At Shikantaza we are not content to just create art. We want to understand art. We want to understand the people who make art. Into the act of creation. Who are the people behind the art work? What motivates them? Where do they find their inspiration?

No two people think and act alike, so it is even less likely to find two artists who think and act alike. Yet, there will be crossovers, shared thoughts and shared experiences. Where do we adjoin and where do we diverge?

Our series of interviews with artists and creators aims to answer these questions.

In interview number three we speak to multimedia experimenter SPARTALIEN. You can find his creations here https://spartalien.com/visual as well as a collection of his work in the Shikantaza gallery.

1 - Starting with the most important question - Who is Memoria?

Memoria is Latin and means, when translated, memory / remembrance.

I named the merchandise for the album "2358" Memoria instead of Memory, because the main track titles are also translated into Latin.

I see my merchandise as small memories/artefacts. Not only because they are very rare, but because I can never go back to that time.

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” - Cicero

2 - You work across different mediums. Do you have any preference for a specific form? When did you first find the format that was “you”?

I became really infected with the digital virus around in the late 90s when I built my first computer. A year or two later I started taking photos and manipulating them digitally. I also had a few printed, which allowed me to bring the digital into the real world. Then I discovered IRC and started learning a little bit of TCL. Since I had fun coding, I decided to learn the basics of web development because I needed a website to show my pictures to other people. In general, I was fascinated by the flow of information on the Internet. That distance is no longer a real hurdle when it comes to data transmission.

I've always loved music as a listener and small collector. I was then and still am one of those people who never go out of the house for long periods of time without a Walkman. Music production came into play when a couple of friends set up a small studio where they produced Techno/Psy. When I was there for the first time, I knew immediately that I wanted to try it too. A few old tracks from back then are still available on my website.

From then on, many of my projects have developed in the direction of music. The input for a program was often music metadata or it was a website that was about music in some way or another. But since I was still at the very beginning of my learning process, I kept discarding practically everything in order to improve it or to learn new things. Around 2001, I started a web radio with friends, which was online for several years. The music was mainly Downtempo, Trip-Hop, IDM and Ambient. Promos from unknown artists from around the world were also broadcasted.

The atmosphere, the feeling I got from this time - how the music finds me and not the other way around, how it can change people's thoughts - has never left me since then.

3 - Do you feel that each medium allows you to express yourself differently from the others? How do you choose which medium you work in any given moment?

Yes. But I think you can convey the same feelings with any medium. The question is how direct it is. For example, pain can be expressed with fire but also with a chair in an empty room. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it's not about the artist's intention but about the perception of the viewer and his or her subsequent thoughts and actions. For example, imagine you make a dark ambient track that you experience as sad and heavy, but someone else tells you that it helped to relax and develop thoughts.

In addition to all of this, each medium also has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to technical implementation. So, sometimes the choice can also purely depend on skill or resources.

We all have ideas and often out ambitions outweigh our resources. Sometimes we need more resources, but more often than not we need to chip away at our ideas until our ambitions and resources align.

4 - Do you seek different sources of inspiration for your music than you would for your visual creations?

It's everything in the world around me that inspires me. Everything I perceive and feel, so to speak. Most of the time I don't have a melody or a picture in my head. It is more of a feeling and then I look for the right tone or shape for it, so to speak.

5 - How closely are your creations connected to each other?

Very close one could say - through my thoughts that I have wrapped in it. I always had a bit of a problem putting my thoughts into words. I tend to stray through various topics when I talk about something. With music and visuals, it feels lighter and more natural to get to the point. The "message" doesn't always get through, but being able to do so is liberating and invaluable to me.

6 - If you were to direct people to a specific piece of work that you feel really nails what you are aiming for with your creations, which would it be?

This is a hard question. Maybe I would ask you to sit down and listen to the album "FLOATING HIGH" in one sitting. Since it felt like coming home to me while making it. The music is less intrusive and not as precise in its message as the previous releases. Like its cover art, where the clouds could be seen as opening or closing. I wanted to create tracks that leave more room for thought while still telling a story.

7 - You have “X minutes of peace” on your site. Why is this needed? Was this made for you or for others?

For others but also for myself. For me it is self-reflection that allows me to understand myself better. But since I have problems with "just switching off my head", the moments in which I just sit quietly and let the recording device do its work are very valuable. In moments like these I can really switch off and think about something very carefully. Asking questions even though I feel like I don't have an answer. Or simply enjoying the precious fresh air and sounds of nature.

Unfortunately, too many people don't have time for that kind of peace. Too much pressure is on them. They either get this or that, or they can't survive. It's so sad how the system works. I simply think that if everyone would have more inner-peace, the world would be a better place. But then again, what do I know living under a rock between mountains?

The videos should allow us to find peace for a few minutes, no matter where we are. So that new and hopefully useful thoughts can develop.

The series Let It All Go is actually the same thing, just with music.

For the really dark hours there is BRAIN I/O. From time to time I prefer to embrace the pressure. Difficult to describe. The concept is basically: don't think, just feel and record it. It's about things that I personally want to leave behind or at least want to learn to accept (not necessarily being okay with) them if I can't change them.

Peace is an issue for me. When I briefly find it only points the way to the next act. This is fantastic but self defeating. Why can’t we just stay in peace?

8 - When inspiration has left the building where do you look to find it?

I'm not really actively looking for inspiration. Somehow it doesn't work that way for me. So variety is important to me. That is why I usually have several side projects going on in the areas that I do not much publicize. Much of it never leaves my hard drive and is mainly intended to free my mind and get on to new ideas in the process. Coding, graphics, drawing, etc. But the music production is and remains the main focus.

9 - These are the questions I am asking all the interviewees. Why do you create? What is it that pushes you to keep creating?

The inner child is just too strong. I've been living for a while and I know exactly nothing. It kind of feels like that. So many things that you can create with the computer alone. I'm stuck in that loop where you just love to create things and learn - and use the new knowledge to create new things. Things!

10 - What would most assist you to create more works? Is there an ultimate goal for your creations?

More time and resources for sure. but most important to me is the feeling that my loved ones are safe. When I have to worry about their future because the system is going the way it is, it feels like a pile of stones in my head.

The creative / social goal of my art is relatively simple and based on my own experience. Art has helped me tremendously when I felt lost - or when I was just "bored". Taking time to really listen to or look at something can be very liberating.

My short-term financial goal is to generate a more or less regular income through art. But since I never released anything commercially before 2016, this world is still new to me.

My dream goal is to hear my music in film and games and to generate an income that supports my family.

Nonetheless, I think goals are here to create an initial path, not necessarily motivation.

I do not know of a single soul who has not been lost. Some never find their way back. Some don’t need to find their way back, they are happier in the place they found.

11 - If you were to offer a creator any advice what would it be?

Based on my own experience in no particular order:

Stay curious and open minded for different viewpoints.

Tutorials can limit your creativity. Sure, learn the basics, but explore as much as you can on your own and never be afraid to fail. It's a process, not a game.

On projects that take longer than a day to complete, set yourself a deadline when you want to have it completed. Not important if it takes longer, but in general that helps to stay more focused.

Very few things are easy when you start.

Limitations are not necessarily bad.

Don't wait for motivation to create. It will kick in usually a few minutes after you've started. Therefore keep your tools ready and organized so you can start creating at any time.

You can always turn off the internet.

Be open for constructive criticism.

Especially for the digital crowd, backup your stuff!

(All images and works by SPARTALIEN)

#shikantaza #art #music #video #visual #creation #peace

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assassinscreed-photomode · 4 years ago

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Break down Ivarr pls. I love how they wrote him so much and I'd love to have your take on him 🖤🖤

Thank you for the ask!

Ok ok, I put off doing this one, my feelings on Ivarr are complicated and kinda sad.

IVARR

-SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SHROPSHIRE LOOK AWAY NOW-

Also, this is going to be LONG i have

THOUGHTS.

How I feel about this character At first I thought he was gross lmao. I was so caught up with the graphic scene in the church when we first met that I completely missed the part where he explained that those people were spies etc. But after that drinking scene something changed.

When he was talking away I found myself seeing many similarities between him and Eivor. Or my Eivor at least because I know we all play them a little different. Both scrappy younger siblings of these strong confident (and tall af) well loved leaders. Both a bit different from the classic viking ideal of a warrior. Both are seen as a little strange. Both a little bit unsure of what the hell they were doing there or why they followed their brothers so loyally.

My brain decided (against my will) that he was my new fave, as quickly as turning on a light.

So when he went off the deep end in Shropshire, I was heartbroken. ( and was instantly reminded of my first devastating betrayal in viddy games SOLAS FROM DRAGON AGE, which messed me UP, same feelings arose ). I really thought his story was indicating a different direction and was blind to the red flags.

It was terrible to see someone that you see your own reflection in spiral down like that. To not be able to coax them back down from the edge, to help someone you see yourself in. Watch them destroy themselves in front of you. It's such a disaster.

To not be able to help them see that there is more to life than the endless battle and bloodshed. To fail.

I thought about him in that final scene with Odin, when Odin asked what more Eivor wants, what more does she want apart from glory and battle etc and she said “everything else”. That hit me hard.

I feel like his character was not a lost cause from the moment he was born, that could have been him but it wasn’t and that's what makes it so sad for me, for Eivor.

Ivarr felt like a character that reflected what Eivor could have become if she was too far gone and wasn’t able to step back and see what else was there. Wasn’t able to see that value in being alive for the sake of it.

[side note! When I went to uni I studied art. (stay with me lol) and the one thing I looked at was people who make art about the day to day mundane aspect of living and the value of everyday life. So people who collect data on weeds growing in the concrete outside their house or people who fall in love with all the little details in their tacky washed out motel room and make photo series about it. Loving the tiny little aspects of life holds great value to me and I find it sad when I meet people, or find characters who can’t see the joy in it.

Characters who want to only muddy a battlefield but do not stare in wonder and love when grass and wildflowers grow back on said battlefield after so much destruction are characters that have so much potential for growth. When I find characters like that, like Ivarr I can’t help thinking that if I can show them that from the dirt a flower must grow, I can help them. They might be happier.] -

How do I feel about the character? Sad. Sad and Angry that we weren’t able to pull him back from the edge of his own destruction.

I’m not sure if he was written well as a tragedy or if I’m mad at the writers for not allowing him to be a more three dimensional character.

All the people I ship romantically with this character Well, after the drinking scene I hardcore shipped him with Eivor. I mean they basically have the same name! With the similarities between them that was honestly where I thought it was heading. But of course it headed in the opposite direction.

So maybe in an AU where Ivarr was not so close to the edge, where he was able to take a step back from his own obsessions, not kill Coelbert and fight us, then that’s where I’d ship him.

My non-romantic OTP for this character I loved that he seemed to be very particular about whome he surrounds himself with and does not consider someone a friend easily. I like that Ubba seemed to know this and know him very well. I’d like to see more of him and Ubba. Coelbert too of course.

My unpopular opinion about this character Gods what can I say here that hasn’t already been said. I think he’s weirdly attractive? One side of me wishes we could romance him, but the other side was glad we couldn’t see where his story went. I wish Eivor was able to pull him back from the edge, but that’s already been said.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. Therapy? Seriously, he clearly had a lot going on. His fixation on Rhodri and what Rhodri did to him made him into the worst version of himself while Shropshire. Blinded him to everything else.

I wish we could have helped him back from the edge, I wish he hadn’t killed Coelbert and tried to kill us. I wish we were able to show him there is some value in life outside of the battlefield. I wish we could have helped each other. I wish he hadn’t died.

I wanted him for my longboat, if he hadn’t you know, died horribly.

GIVE ME A CHARACTER and I’ll break their ass down

#ask meme #ivarr #ivarr ragnarrson #ivarr the boneless #valhalla #character meme #ask #ghoulishfrightanddelight

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nyarmand · 4 years ago

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30 days of autism acceptance except i haven't been doing it so you get 15 all at once

April 1st: Introduce yourself. Talk about who you are as a person. Your age, hobbies, special interests, family, etc. Anything you feel comfortable sharing.

I'm Penny, I'm 19, I love cats and writing and music and my brain skips from fixation to fixation like a rock on the surface of a pond. BUT special interests are law and Sherlock Holmes. I have a lot of siblings that I picked out myself and one sibling that I didn't but we don't talk about him. When I die I'm going to become a ghost and go around the world playing everyone's pianos

April 2nd: Post your redinstead photos today. Alternatively, you could talk about what autistic pride/autism acceptance month means to you.

I don't post photos but I think that autistic pride is great. Like yeah, I have problems with my autism sometimes, but also it literally shapes my personality so... That's Me. And I'm going to be proud of that not self-hating about it thank you

April 3rd: How do you feel about dating/romantic relationships? Have you dated in the past/are you currently in a relationship/do you eventually want one? Do you feel that your experience of autism/stereotypes around autism and relationships impacts this?

I would like to have a girlfriend someday... I don't really care about the stereotypes, I don't pay attention to them.

April 4th: Are there any topics regarding autism that you feel don’t get discussed enough?

did you mean: autism in general

April 5th: What was school like for you, or what is it currently like for you if you are still in school? Elementary, high school, post-secondary?

I'm one of those kings who got homeschooled because my parents knew everyone would torment me in public school. But I did go to a co-op for a while and that was pretty cool mostly. I met my best friend there who is ALSO an autistic icon. Now I am in college and it sure is an experience but it's not a bad one.

April 6th: Are you able to drive? If so, was it difficult to learn? What was difficult about it? If not, do you use any alternatives?

I am not but I plan to try and learn soon.

April 7th: How are you with sarcasm and/or metaphors/figures of speech? Do you interpret things very literally?

Sarcasm my beloved! I use it so much. Metaphors too, but a lot of the time they make no sense to anyone except me. And yet somehow I still take things literally a majority of the time... Sarcasm for me, not for thee.

April 8th: Talk about friendship. How important are friends to you? Do you find it hard to make and maintain friendships? Are your friends generally supportive? Is there anything about having friends that confuses you?

I love having friends. Genuinely makes me insane when my friends are loving and supportive of me. Unfortunately I have no idea when someone counts as a friend so I just sort of fake it until I make it and then have difficulty maintaining it because I don't know the proper amount of communication or other such things that I should engage in. Which kinda sucks. My autistic friends are great though because we can have conversations consisting entirely of sending fanart of a single character back and forth for an hour. Allistics wish they were us.

April 9th: How has the pandemic impacted you? Has it changed routines? Do you like or dislike masks? What do you wish allistics and neurotypicals knew/understood about how the pandemic is impacting autistic people?

Well, in terms of autism, the pandemic has been... interesting. My hand sanitizer usage has of course increased drastically. I like masks because I don't like being perceived. I love to be unknown. I wish people knew they're annoying the hell out of me with their scaremongering, inability to use logic, and anti-vax sentiments. Not This Shit Again.

April 10th: How important is representation to you? Is the representation that is out there generally good or bad? What is your favorite piece of representation? What you like to see more of in autism representation? What would you like to see less of?

I loooooove representation. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of canon autistic representation and when there is I find it usually sucks, but I take my icons. Sherlock Holmes is autistic and you can never tell me otherwise. Data from Star Trek may be an android but he's still autistic as fuck. I want more positive representation and less 'the poor autistic person trapped inside their own body' bullshit.

April 11th: What are your thoughts/feelings about masking (a term for when autistic people hide their autistic traits)? Do you mask?

I hate that anyone has to, but yes, I do mask a lot because otherwise I get treated like shit. I don't hate allistic people, I just think they could at least try to act a little autistic sometimes...

April 12th: Is there anything you find hard to do because of being autistic? Is there anything that you find easy?

I LOGIC EVERYTHING. Plus I'm very good at making connections other people tend to miss. On the other hand, sensory overload leaves me in hell on a worryingly regular basis. Plus, well, y'know. Socializing.

April 13th: How much preparation and planning do you need before doing new things, or even for familiar things? Do you need to be totally prepared ahead of time or are you more comfortable with being spontaneous/just going for it? Does it vary for you depending on the thing or the day?

PREPARE ME FOR NEW THINGS OR ELSE. If it's familiar I can be more spontaneous about it but I hate having new things sprung on me. My parents always used to try and get me to do things without telling me what and it was really upsetting. Glad they cut that shit out.

April 14th: What do you like about being autistic?

I like that it makes me very cool and funny and smart. I like being able to logic things other people can't. I like how I view the world. I like a lot of things.

April 15th: Do you work? If so, what is that like for you? Are you open about being autistic at work? Alternatively, how open are you about being autistic? Do you tell a lot of people? Or just a select few? How do people normally react when you tell them? If you don’t tell people, then why?

I'm just trying to deal with college right now. I'm usually pretty open about being autistic because that way I can spot the ableists right away. I refuse to hide who I am because of some assholes who don't know how to deal with anyone who isn't like them. Most people ask a lot of questions, but it's largely fine.

#30daysofautismacceptance

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furrycowboypeach · 4 years ago

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car insurance : 10 questions with answers

Dear reader, we are honored to visit

our site

and hope to find everything you need in this article.

1.How does classic car insurance differ from conventional car insurance ?Classic car insurance will give you what the car is actually worth and or what you feel the car is worth. Conventional insurance will not. Let’s say you have a beautiful 1965 split window corvette. Maybe it’s worth a $100,000. Collection insurance will want photos of the car and maybe an inspection of the vehicle. Once they agree on the value your good to go. However there are rules, like limited miles you can drive, garage kept, they can be very picky. Regular insurance last I heard will give you blue book value. Do the research. There are some very good collection companies around.

Insurance companies and having fun with this.

The UK MOT test now has public information data about current and historical mileage.

Thus now we can see/prove/audit that there are many tens of thousands of old cherished cars - that literally do not move for years on end. (Less than 500 miles every 5 years).

Big data analysis will show clearly to insurance companies which classic cars are massively profitable to insure.

A mainstream loved semi-classic car has a market value of £4,000 or less. (eg. 18 year old Mercedes convertible) driven by a busy,, employed, 50 year old with 2+ cars

On fully comprehensive insurance - the risk held by the insurance company is £3.5K for total write off of the car and any 3rd party claims (on a vehicle that hardly moves). The risk to the policy owner is loss of 4 years no claims bonus and a 10+ year claim free profile.

Big data will show to the insurance companies that these are very profitable policies

2.Does the wrong address invalidate car insurance ?

That depends on why it is wrong. If you move, while you should notify your insurance company, but don’t you are more likely to get cancelled because you didn’t pay your mailed bill (assuming that is the option that you selected).

But if say that you live in Miami, Florida (the most expensive place in the state to get auto insurance, and you claim that you live just outside of DeFuniak Springs, Florida and then have an accident in Miami, Florida, the insurance company could say FRAUD and VOID your policy as if it never existed. Because you had an uninsured accident, you would probably lose your driver’s license until you made the other driver whole again! Short of that, it usually wouldn’t be considered Material, and they would back bill you for premium OR give you a refund.

3.Is rental car insurance a rip-off ?

yes and no.

if you are using your insurance and crash the rental car, you can be liable for the complete cost of repairs AND lost revenue while it is being repaired. this can be full price of the rental all the time it is being repaired. this can be a ton of cash. also if you chip the windshield the rental co can charge you for a complete new windshield or repair the that one. your insurance may or may not cover any or all of this. needless to say you will have to deal with it one way or another.

if you buy the EXPENSIVE rental car insurance you are covered for all damages including all the “little scratches”

i was 21 and rented a car to go to a job interview 2 day rental. well i put almost 1600 miles on the car. when i returned the rental agent was mad i had put that many miles on an unlimited rental. so she went out and nitpicked everything …. i just watched as she pointed bugs out as dents and everything else. when we went in she disappeared a returned with a 2400.00 repair dollar bill. and demanded how i was going to pay. i just said i paid the 15.00 for the full insurance and that would cover it , she grabbed the rental agreement and read it, her face turned red. and i left….

4.Is it okay to not have car insurance for a few months ?

Probably expecting a bit of heat for this one but here goes.. lol.

I live in Spain and about 14 years ago or so I was forced under pressure to get rid of the Suzuki jeep… which looked a fair bit like this I suppose. No power steering and the uncanny ability to just spin right around on itself in slightly greasy roads….

which had the widest back tyres I think I have ever seen on a car.., anyway, it had to go, saw an ad for a Mitsubishi Shogun , a lot like this

UK plates and only came with an export certificate from UK. Seems the guy who brought it over was intending to change it over to Spanish plates but never got round to it. Swapped the Suzuki plus 3 grand and off we went. First time I had driven an automatic, was a joy and no mistake…proper built like a tank too.. awesome car.

Drove that car for almost 8 years on that export certificate, no MOT and insurance papers I made my self on the computer by copying a mates documents and changing the pertinent details. Spanish cops had at that time.. and possibly still now, no way of actually checking the veracity of insurance papers, if they looked legit, they were accepted.

I understand that in the last few years DVLA having softened a little and offer a yes or no answer to Spanish enquiries as to whether a UK registered car has a valid MOT or not… no other info is given. I assume thats data protection at work or some such. Its that yes or no that has gotten rid of a load of UK plated cars from Spanish roads, now you actually have to have one, so either you know someone who has an MOT garage and can produce one for you or you drive back to get it done, which isnt usually viable.

So ye, its ok to not have insurance for a few months or even a few years, as long as you can get away with it.

5.Can realtors write off car insurance ?

It depends on the method they choose to use to write off their car expenses. If their car is used less than 50% for business, they must use the mileage method which includes all operating expenses including insurance. If they use it more than 50% they may choose to use the actual expense method or the mileage method. If they use the actual expense method they can deduct the business % of gas, repairs, interest, insurance, depreciation, etc. Either method requires them to keep a mileage log.

6.Does my car insurance cover my friend when they borrow my car for a day?

In the UK read your certifcate of motor insurance.

If it says

“Any person driving on the policyholder’s behalf or with their permission” or WTTE then they will be covered. (There may be age limits in the schedule of insurance but these cannot appear on the certificate). (Also cover will be for pleasure use only unless the wording on the certificate specifically includes business use by your friend).

If it does not say that then, unless your friend is named on the certificate of insurance, they are not covered under your policy.

This does not necessarily mean that they are uninsured when they drive your car, since they may have an insurance policy covereing their own car with the “driving other cars” extension. “The policyholder may drive, with the owner’s permission a car not belonging to the policyholder nor hired to him under a hire-purchase agreement”. If this clause is in effect it only covers their Road Traffic Act Liability and does not cover loss or damage to the car whilst in their control. Note that it is your duty to check this. If your friend doesn’t have such cover then you are ‘aiding and abetting’ a motor offence of driving without insurance - offence code IN12 - which will substantially increase your car insurance premium - despite the FCA announcements today.

7.Can a 19-year-old afford car insurance ?

Driving a car is a privilige, not a right.

Unless you are in gainful employment and living at home, I suspect you will have to rely on the bank of mum and dad. But if you think getting insurance at 19 is hard - imagine trying to get it at 17 and 18.

Many teenagers go with a company that assesses the premium based on information sent to them by a ‘black box’ added to the car. People who drive sensibly and only durting the day pay a lot less than those who drive recklessley and at night - even if the latter have no accidents.

The first year is by far the worst. If you go claim free for a year then no only will you be 20 rather than 19 - but you will have one years no claims discount - which will knock about a third off your premium.

(Oh and don’t try and pretend the car you drive is owned and registered with your parents and that your mother is the main user. Insurance companies are not stupid. People who own a vehicle one or two years old don’t normally decide to buy a second vehcile that is 10 years old for their own use.)

8.What are the worst car insurance companies in America ?

As others have alluded to, the whole insurance cabal and racket is on par with a level or two less integrity than the drug cartels run in Mexico and South America.

Still, some insurance companies make an effort to comply with law and regulation, while others just have a standard operating procedure to act like bad-faith criminals.

One company stands out as the worst of the worst:

Bristol West

If you bought insurance from these scoundrel's, do yourself a favor, and immediately change. But don’t change early, or you’ll pay outrageous cancellation.

If you get hit by someone with this insurance, put in your claim with your own insurance, or you’ll just be wasting your own time.

9.How much do I need to pay for car insurance ?

Without knowing where in the world that you live, nor your age, sex marital status, other drivers in your household, driving records, and car or cars you trying to insure.

You can't save time or money by asking an ambiguous non informational question here. You will have to do it the old fashioned way, calling around to agents or companies. You can also go online to the companies and agents but NOT TO THOSE SITES THAT PROMISE TO TELL YOU THAT THEY'LL TELL YOU EVERY COMPANY'S RATES. That is a LIE plus you are putting yourself at risk for identity theft, and here are the reasons:

None of these sites has ALL of the companies. They only show those companies paying them to be there.

Even if they show an Allstate, a Progressive and/or Geico, these companies all have multiple rating levels for different types of drivers from preferred for the very best risks down to theworst risks out there. Those kinds companies might only have one or two of their rating levels on each of these sites, so if you don't qualify for those that rating tiers you won't be given a rate from those companies. Likewise if the company that truly is cheapest for you didn't pay for that website to show their rates, you won't see them.

They will sell your personal information to multiple agents and/or companies. This means that you will be bombarded by people trying to sell you auto insurance.

And since they don't check that the person indeed buying the leads are insurance agents all of your personal information could end up in the hands of identity thieves.

NOTE: IDENTITY THEFT DOES NOT HAPPEN FROM INSURANCE COMPANY OR AGENT'S WEBSITES!

10.What do

sports

car

lovers need to know about car insurance ?

Find out how buying a sports car impacts on your car insurance, from cost to cover. There’s nothing specific you need to look for in an insurance policy on a sports car, per se, but it’s always a good idea to read the policy wording in advance if you have anything specific you want covered.

Some of us love football. Some of us love cricket. And some of us love motorsport. The sports we like are part of our identity, and if you’re a motorsport fan you might want to express that through your choice of car.

We’ve put together this short guide to help you better understand the implications of owning a sports car from an insurance point of view.

Find out how buying a sports car impacts on your car insurance, from cost to cover.

What to look for in an insurance policy on a sports car

There’s nothing specific you need to look for in an insurance policy on a sports car, per se, but it’s always a good idea to read the policy wording in advance if you have anything specific you want covered.

For instance, you might want to be sure you’re covered against vandalism or other such malicious damage to the tyres, paintwork or (on a cabriolet) the fabric roof.

Even if you’ve found a policy that covers every scenario you can imagine, you must fully disclose all details of the car to avoid having an insurance claim refused. This includes any optional extras or other modifications that have been made by you or a previous owner.

What qualifies as a sports car ?

For the purposes of insurance underwriting, Admiral defines sports cars as cars designed as performance vehicles ‘from the get-go’: things like coupes, roadsters and GTs.

Having said that, your car may be considered a sports car even if it doesn’t fall into one of these categories.

Car manufacturers recognised years ago the demand for high-performance cars which were practical and spacious enough for the real world – cars for people with children and hobbies, essentially.

Traditional sports cars are designed to be lightweight, compact and aerodynamic, but this usually means a cramped interior and little or no luggage space.

So, over the years, and with changing attitudes towards what ‘sporty’ means, we’ve seen the arrival of the hot hatchback (as defined by the iconic VW Golf GTI), the sports saloon (think BMW M5) and, more recently, the performance SUV (such as the Porsche Cayenne).

Why is insurance on sports cars more expensive ?

Every new car is placed into an insurance group based on the risk associated with it, and risk is calculated using statistics about past claims on similar cars. Risk takes into account both how likely you are to make a claim, and how much it could cost to put right if you do.

When it comes to sports cars, the first (and perhaps most obvious) thing insurers look at is their performance. Many sports cars are fitted with engines that provide rapid acceleration and high top speeds.

And they’re engineered to mimic the driving characteristics of racing cars, with responsive handling and potent brakes – all designed to help you carry as much speed into, through, and out of corners as possible. All of which increases your likelihood of being involved in an accident.

They are also, often, more expensive to repair or replace, because of their high sale prices or because parts are more specialised. And they may present a more irresistible temptation to thieves, making a theft claim more likely.

What are the cheapest sports cars to insure ?

We've compiled a list of the 10 sports cars with the cheapest average premium between January and March 2021.

Of course, the car itself is only one of the factors used in calculating premiums, so the characteristics of the average owner of these cars (including age, driving history and No Claims Bonus) could explain why the premiums are so affordable.

The models listed combine cars of all ages and values, including both hard-top and roadster equivalents sharing the same name.

Porsche Boxster - £404.04

BMW Z4 - £437.52

Polestar 2 - £446.07

Mazda MX-5 - £451.80

Porsche Cayman - £488.42

Porsche 911 - £509.19

Porsche Macan - £518.03

Nissan GT-R - £582.02

Toyota MR2 - £586.39

Ford Mustang - £586.77

After you've finished reading, we hope you've benefited. And we invite you to comment in your opinion. And we're happy with that, and we love reading it.

#home #car #book blog #insurance

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shadow-assassin-blix · 4 years ago

Text

Beauty & Her Beast

CHAPTER 1

Another Blix story, I know. I always wanted to write her into the Marvel-verse and this was one of many ideas that I came up with: Blix as a mutant. I want to eventually add mutants to this world. This chapter goes through Civil War, and the rest will follow through the other movies and eventually the tv show. There will also be flashbacks to how they met, and missions etc in later chapters.

Let me know if you want to be tagged.

Steve was after Rumlow; chasing him down in a marketplace in Lagos. The chase ended as he caught up to him, throwing punches left and right. Rumlow gauntlets had hidden blades that he attempted to stab Steve with.

It took several more powerful blows until Rumlow was on his knees, ripping his helmet off. Steve stumbled over to him, breathing hard.

He frowned upon seeing the extensive burns on Rumlow’s face.

“All things considering, I think I turned out okay,” Rumlow weakly joked.

“It’s over Rumlow. You’ve lost,” Steve stated staring down at him.

“He remembered you,” Rumlow began with a pant.

Steve stared at him confused, “Wha-”

“Your buddy, your pal, your Bucky. Got all weepy about it. Looking for him, right? You won’t be able to find him. Not unless you find her,” He teased, further distracting Steve.

“Her who?” Steve questioned.

“My old second. She’d know where to find him. Hell, I’d bet money she’s with him right now. Too bad you’ll never learn that,” Rumlow ended showing the detonator he had in his hand.

He pressed it, Steve jerked his shield to protect himself from the blast, but it didn’t explode as he expected. Steve looked around and spotted Wanda using her magic to contain the explosion. She tried to redirect it to explode in the air, but her power went awry. The exploding sphere crashed into a building, injuring many.

The days that followed were tense as the damage done in Lagos gained more attention, especially when it was revealed that there were emissaries from Wakanda that were killed.

When Steve and Wanda were requested to meet with the rest of the team and the Secretary of State, he knew nothing good would come of it.

They were presented with the Sokovian Accords. As they discussed what happened, Steve turned to Natasha.

“Nat. Rumlow… mentioned I should look for his former second. Do you know who that was?” Steve asked trying to make sense of what he was told.

“I’m guessing you’re not referring to Rollins?” Sam asked sitting down, wondering where this was going.

“Rollins was his third in command for quite some time. His previous second? Her name was Blix. She never… gave a last name. In fact, no one even knew her age. She was strong, and… I remember hearing rumors about her having some sort of power, but no one knew what. Well. Rumlow probably did, they dated for a time,” Natasha explained thinking on it.

“So. Her connection to Bucky would also be a mystery,” Steve concluded with a sigh.

Natasha nodded with a frown.

“There… should be some photos of her though,” Natasha noted as she typed on the table’s keyboard.

A moment later they were shown a file, that was mostly blacked out and several data points incomplete. Her face appeared, and Steve studied it for a moment.

She had brown hair, green eyes, facial scars on tanned skin. The only info they really had beyond that was a note that stated she had left SHIELD of her own accord and it was marked a month and a half before the events of the Lemurian Star.

“Does it say why she left?” Steve wondered looking over the file trying to find some sort of clue.

“No. But I did hear something about… getting badly injured. She almost died and that led to her leaving,” Natasha replied crossing her arms.

“Sorry. Why is this important?” Tony cut in, tired of this redirection.

“Rumlow said that if I wanted to find Bucky, I need to find her. But she may already be with him,” Steve explained tiredly as his phone went off.

“So. You’re looking for a ghost with a ghost? Awesome. Great,” Tony snarked rolling his eyes.

“Listen, I-” Steve began his phone buzzing again.

A text message came in, stating that she had died in her sleep.

The she in question, he knew was Peggy, and he felt his heart drop. He knew it was inevitable, but it didn’t stop the sting of it.

He got up stating he had to go, and as he made his way downstairs, he paused. Everything felt like it was crashing all around him. He knew he had to focus on one thing at a time, but he was not signing the Accords. Not unless he knew what they were getting into with them.

A few days later, he was in London, at Peggy’s funeral. He thought about what could have been, but he also thought about his life since waking up a few years back. He had been fairly happy, and he knows once he finds Bucky again, his life would feel semi-normal again. Beyond that, it was nice to have Peggy back in his life, even if it was just for a short time.

He was thrown off his stroll down memory lane when Sam nudged him, directing his attention to the current speaker. The “nurse” who spied on him. She introduced herself as Sharon, Peggy’s niece.

The service went on, and Natasha told him about who signed the Accords, and how she was on her way to Geneva to be a representative of it. Steve refused to go; he couldn’t trust what these documents would lead to. He couldn’t risk potentially being under someone’s rule, their thumb, when innocent lives were in harm’s way.

Barely two hours later, there had been an attack at the conference. They were scrambling to figure out what had happened. All they knew, was someone matching Bucky’s description was seen near the crime scene. Everyone was determined to paint Bucky as the villain, and everyone was on high alert for him.

Steve knew one thing: he had to get to Bucky first before anyone else. There had to be a logical explanation for this.

Sharon was able to give him a slight head start, which he appreciated. He was in Bucharest, Romania within an hour. It didn’t take long to find the apartment Bucky was hiding in. Steve stepped inside cautiously, looking around.

He spied two mugs sitting on the counter and spotted some gear that was nowhere near meant to fit Bucky.

“What are you doing here?” Came Bucky’s voice behind him.

Steve turned around and tried to explain the situation as Sam told him that the building was surrounded by cops.

Suddenly he felt a presence behind him, and he glanced back to see the woman, Blix, holding a gun pointed at him. She slowly circled around to his front, standing protectively in front of Bucky.

“We are surrounded. We need to move quickly, Soldat,” She spoke, her voice slightly gravelly.

“This doesn’t have to end violently. I want to hear his side of the story,” Steve tried to explain calmly, looking around hearing all the cops approaching their location.

“We’ve been here for months. As far as I am aware, Bucky does not have the power to be in two places at once. I could possibly find a mutant or two who has that power, but it wasn’t us,” Blix said heatedly.

“Then come with me and explain that to the others. Because so far, they all think he set that bomb,” Steve pleaded.

“We’re out of time,” Blix whispered to Bucky in Russian.

SWAT busted through the windows, and Steve and Bucky began to fight them off. Bucky threw a piece of furniture to further block the door, as police tried to bash it down.

“Bucky! Stop! You’re going to kill someone!” Steve shouted at him.

Bucky grunted as he smashed a cop into the floorboards, to reveal the hidey hole that had his stuff in it.

“I’m not going to kill anyone,” Bucky growled as he grabbed the bag, before tossing Steve out of the window.

Blix grabbed her stuff, dodging flying bodies as the guys fought. One cop tried to grab her arm, and she quickly twisted his arm around, slamming her palm into his shoulder, dislocating it, before tossing him into the wall, knocking him out.

When Steve was thrown out, she moved over to Bucky.

“Get to that roof. I’ll meet you there,” Bucky tells her as he made to move to the door.

She nodded, “Be quick.”

Using her power, feeling shadows all around her, she teleported from the apartment to the roof across the way. As she waited, she would use her powers to stop cops from entering the apartment building. She would send the ones repelling from the roof to random locations far away from the building.

Five minutes passed, and Bucky came bursting through a lower window, landing on the roof in a roll. He snatched up his bag, took her hand and they ran forward. Suddenly Bucky was tackled, and in turn so was she, by a man in an elaborate cat suit. Bucky shoved her out of the way as they fought, trying to protect her.

When the guy had Bucky pinned, claws desperately reaching for Bucky’s face, Blix acted. She moved forward and whistled for his attention. As he glanced up, she threw her foot upward in a kick aimed at his face. He moved to dodge, allowing Bucky to rollaway.

A helicopter whirled above them; a cop was shooting bullets at them. It was quickly knocked out of the sky by a man wearing a flight suit. Steve, who had caught up, was trying to stop the man who attacked them. Blix and Bucky took that as the opportunity to run.

When they got close to the edge, Bucky suddenly picked her up, holding her to him as he jumped down, his metal arm grabbing ahold of the side of the building to slow their descent.

As they straightened up, and rushed down a busy street, Blix grumbled, “Really wish you would give more warning when you’re going to do that.”

They ran hard, racing out onto a busy highway; Bucky, after tossing the driver, stole a motorcycle and Blix hopped onto the back with him.

Bucky was dodging cars left and right, trying to outrun their pursuers. Blix ducked under one of his arms, swinging around to face the opposite direction. She pulled out her handgun, shooting at the tires of the police cars. She disabled several before turning her attention to the man who was chasing them.

She tried to aim at his legs/feet, trying to either trip him up or hinder him. He dodged the bullets easily. Her clip ran out, and she grabbed a small grenade from her pack. She threw it up at the ceiling, causing a small explosion. It did them no good as the man caught up to them and caused the motorcycle to crash by swiping at the wheel.

Blix held onto Bucky, using her powers to try and lessen the blow as they skid to a stop.

Bucky muttered, “I hate when you do that. Guess I deserved it.”

“Would you rather I have road rash? Cause… unlike you… I don’t have super healing,” She groaned, the crash having landed both him and the bike onto her.

They got up as Steve and the man in flight suit, caught up to them. They were both staring at the man in the cat suit, trying to figure out who he was.

There was a loud CLUNK as a man in a silver iron-man suit appeared and informed them that they were under arrest. Blix and Bucky sighed simultaneously; annoyed by everything. Blix quietly held her hands up in surrender as an officer walked up to her to take her things. A pair of cuffs was placed on her and she was escorted to a car, alongside Steve and the other 2 men.

Bucky was taken into a separate car and placed in a glass box. Blix glared at it angrily; he was being treated like an animal and it infuriated her.

As they were taken away, the man she sat next to, Sam as she found out, began talking…

“So… you like cats?” Sam asked T��Challa, who simply sighed in response.

“Sam,” Steve stated, in an admonishing tone.

“What? Guy shows up in a cat suit, and you don’t want to know more?” Sam questioned.

“Your suit. Its vibranium, isn’t it?” Steve confirmed moreso than asked.

T’Challa explained the history behind the Black Panther, the myth, the legend of it to the Wakandans.

“And you? How the hell did you get to the other roof so quickly?” Sam asked Blix turning to look at her. “Better yet, were you the one making all the cops disappear randomly?”

Blix glanced at him briefly, ignoring his questions.

“It is also curious that you have no wounds from the motorcycle crashing as well. Barnes, it is understandable, super soldier and all. But you? As far as anyone is aware, you are simply human,” T’Challa also commented, glancing back toward her.

“‘Simply human.’ Hm. Never heard those words used to describe me. Let’s just say, your majesty, I am far more complicated than you’ll ever know,” Blix said raising an eyebrow.

The SUV had pulled into a large garage, teeming with agents and cops everywhere. The doors were opened, and the three men with her, impatiently waited to have their cuffs removed.

When an agent approached her, she pulled her hands forward, revealing she had gotten out of the cuffs. She dropped them with a purse of her lips, turning to the vehicle that held Bucky. As he was unloaded essentially, she moved toward him.

A burly cop began to step into her path, to stop her.

“If you know what’s good for your own health, you’ll move out of my way,” Blix warned, her stare hard.

He looked at her for a moment, looking between her and the agent in charge, before slowly stepping away. She moved past him, making her way to Bucky.

As she came up to the glass, she squatted down, and looked around for a moment.

“Are you okay, my Soldier?” She asked him in Russian, her voice quiet.

He nodded, his eyes glancing around behind her, before connecting to hers.

“I’ll get us out of here,” She whispered her promise, her hand touching the glass for a moment.

“I know. Be careful,” He murmured back. “Don’t do anything reckless.”

She sighed at that, nodding before standing up, and walking back over to Rogers and the others, joining them as they made their way upstairs. A short blonde man informed them that their belongings were now in their custody, and they would get a receipt of the items confiscated.

A redhead, Natasha Romanoff, appeared, saying it was now government property. Blix grew somewhat annoyed at that, thinking over the items she had kept in her small duffel and the weapons she had.

They were led into a conference room, where Stark was on a call, finishing it with faked outrage.

After a brief argument between Tony and Steve, Tony turned his attention to her.

“And you. Who or what the hell are you? I have 15 very confused SWAT officers trying to figure out how they went from breaching a building to standing in dumpsters 10 blocks away?” Tony questioned her, planting his hands onto the table as he leaned over it, scrutinizing her.

She doesn’t answer him, her right hand she noticed was twitching and somewhat shaking. She frowned deeply at the behavior, trying to make a fist but was unable to.

T’challa who had taken a seat near her, noticed his ring reacting to her presence.

“Your arm… is it vibranium?” T’Challa asked her curiously.

She looked over at him, sighing as she weighed her options for a moment. She wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to answer or not.

Steve sat across from her, connecting the dots, “In your file… what little that wasn’t redacted… it said you left after an injury? Your arm?”

She turned her arm, to face her palm upward, tapping the middle of it. The skin tone faded to reveal a dark silvery robotic arm, that ended halfway up her forearm.

“One of my last missions… STRIKE… or... I guess HYDRA rather… sent me and my team into this tiny village in Ethiopia. We were told it was to protect them from mercenaries who wanted to steal from their diamond mines,” Blix began with a roll of her eyes.

“Let me guess… it wasn’t diamonds?” Steve asked sarcastically.

Blix shook her head, “They had a small mine of vibranium. We were there for 3 days… nothing. Started to believe it was just rumors. On the 4th day, a group of men appeared, and tried to take over. They… tried to show their strength and make everyone fear them… by threatening a child. Little girl who was just trying to get some bread. I jumped in front of her, held my arm out to try and deflect the blade as much as possible.”

“The blade was so sharp… that I didn’t feel it. Took a full minute for the pain to register. By that point, my team had taken care of the mercs and I was passing out from the pain and blood loss. When I woke up, I had this,” She wiggled her fingers, or at least tried to, the fingers moved for a second before stopping.

“Apparently that child was the Chieftain’s daughter. He was very appreciative of my protectiveness. The blades amongst my things were gifts from him as well,” She finished with a pointed stare at Natasha.

“Why is your hand malfunctioning?” Sam asked staring at curiously.

“Pierce saw an opportunity. A new super soldier for his arsenal. The programming… or brainwashing whatever you want to call it, was never finished. The first year or so it worked fine, but it slowly began to have problems. Small things, not being able to fully grasp cups, fingers not moving properly. The past few months, it has taken to twitching/shaking at random times. Can’t really use it when that happens,” Blix explained waving her left arm with a half-shrug.

“Where does Bucky fit into this?” Steve asked quietly.

“I was his handler. About 2 months before the whole Lemurian Star nonsense… Well. Pierce realized that his memory was returning to him. That the usual wipes… weren’t doing it anymore. He realized that Bucky was becoming attached to me…and I him. So. He made sure to do a very thorough mind wipe... and had Bucky attack me. He didn’t recognize me at all. He strangled me until Pierce called him off,” Blix answered with a grimace.

Steve sighed heavily, nodding his head absentmindedly.

“Hello? Am I chopped liver here? What about my questions?” Tony cut in, annoyed.

“It’s long and complicated. Let’s just say, I don’t agree with your Accords and would gladly toss such documentation into an active volcano,” Blix replied with a tired sigh.

“So, you’re a powered being? Great. Let me ask you this though. How the hell can you defend Barnes when he attacked you? How could you willingly harbor and protect a man who strangled you?” Tony questioned her.

“You don’t get it do you? Powered, super soldier, mutant. It doesn’t matter how you slice it; we don’t fear each other. Regular people like you Stark? Who have the influence, the power to change our lives, to control us, with a mere flick of a pen? That’s far more terrifying,” She countered glaring at him.

“I don’t fear Bucky because I know him far better than most of you. That man,” She pointed to the screen that popped up showing Bucky on one of the lower levels. “Has saved my life far more times than he has ever put it at risk. So yeah. I’ll defend him till my dying breath.”

She stood up at some point during her rant and stepped out once she was done. She paced up and down in the hallway near the command center, trying to calm down.

About 10 minutes had passed, and Steve joined her out in the hallway. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, shaking his head every now and again.

“What did he say to piss you off?” Blix inquired joining him in leaning against the wall.

“Was about to agree with him. Sign the Accords and make it easy. Then… he tells me that he’s had Wanda under house arrest, to keep her and her powers in control. This happens too often, we start to agree and see eye to eye, and he does something to ruin it,” Steve muttered angrily.

Blix rolled her eyes, “And then wonders why you are so angry? Acts like he doesn’t understand why you are mad?”

Steve huffed out a laugh, nodding his head.

“Tell me something… does… does Bucky really not remember who I am?” Steve asked quietly.

“He remembers. He… he was nervous as to why you were there. Last time you 2 saw each other wasn’t exactly for a cup of tea. There are some things that are still blanks, but he remembers quite a bit,” She whispered reassuringly, placing a hand on his bicep.

“C’mon. We should head back in, they’ll be starting the psych eval soon,” Steve mentioned, patting her hand on his arm, before grabbing it to pull her along.

Blix allowed him to drag her back inside, with a small sigh. They went back into the glass box when an agent joined them and turned on the sound for the eval.

As the psychiatrist spoke, Blix felt a shiver go down her spine. A whisper echoed in her ear. She turned her head slightly, listening to the voice. She turned her attention back to what was going on hearing Steve ask why the task force put out that photo of Bucky in the newspaper.

As everyone realized something was hinky, Blix spoke softly, “Something’s about to happen.”

Steve looked at her confused, as the power went out. The agent tells them what floor Bucky was on quickly.

“How fast can you get to him?” Steve looked over to Blix.

“Faster than you,” Blix commented as she disappeared.

She reappeared in front of Bucky, turning toward the other man. Her eyes went wide as she spotted the book he held.

“H-… How did you get that?” She stammered staring at him.

“Ah. Yes. I wondered how long it would take you to get down here. The beauty… protecting her beast. As sweet as I think it is… I’m going to need you to not intervene,” Came the man’s lightly accented voice.

He had walked around the table and from within his jacket pulled out a taser and shot her before she could react. Her body locked up, and she dropped harshly to the ground. Once the initial shock of it had worn off, she could hear the man speaking Russian. The trigger words. Bucky’s yells.

She painfully tried to roll over, to get up, but her movements were sluggish. He had shot her in the leg, and her hands shakily removed the barbs, as she struggled to sit up. By that point, Bucky had broken free, but the damage was done. The trigger words had been said.

“Ready to comply,” Came Bucky’s robotic voice as he straightened up.

“No. Do you know what you have done?” Blix didn’t want to admit it, but she was nervous.

The man ignored her, as he commanded Bucky to give him a mission report, before ordering him to go take care of the guards outside.

The man then turned to her and came to squat down beside her.

“I must admit… you are quite beautiful. I can see why he’s protective of you,” He reached out to brush her hair behind her ear.

She tried to lean away, but her body was still shaking off the pain of the taser so she couldn’t move away from his touch. When Bucky returned to the room, the man pretended to be injured, and had Bucky pick her up, hiding her just next to the door. Steve came in, staring at him and the scene, suspiciously.

Before Steve could ask anything, Bucky attacked him, eventually tossing him down the elevator shaft. Sam ran in, pulling Blix up, helping her stand. The man used the distraction to run out.

“Who was that asshole?” She asked him as she stood shakily.

“Don’t know, we can ask him when we get him, Steve will get Bucky,” Sam waved her to follow him.

She stretched and bent her leg for a moment, before racing after him, limping a bit. She trusted Steve; knew he wouldn’t do anything to harm Bucky. Her and Sam ran as fast as they could through the rushing crowd of people.

When they made it outside, they realized the man had ditched his jacket, and was nowhere to be seen.

They continued their search, moving further away from the building when Sam got a text from Steve, saying to meet him by the water. The two of them made their way over there and found Steve with an unconscious Bucky. Blix rushed over taking his other arm, helping lift him, so Steve wasn’t carrying his whole weight.

They wandered underneath an overpass, where there was an abandoned car. Blix dragged the two of them over to the door, and using her power, she unlocked the door.

Steve stared at her, “I hope you explain your powers soon, cause… I am trying to figure it out and drawing a blank.”

She snorted quietly not answering. She opened the door, ripping out the panel below the steering wheel, to reveal the wires. She looked on the ground for a moment, grabbing a shard of glass to cut the wires. Using it, she quickly hotwired the car, and started it a minute later. She gets into the driver’s seat as Steve places Bucky in the back, and Sam hops in the passenger seat.

She quickly drives off, following Steve’s suggestion to go to an abandoned warehouse of some sort.

They parked once they were a safe distance and Steve dragged Bucky inside, pinning his arm down under some heavy machinery just in case.

While they waited for Bucky to regain consciousness, Blix sighed briefly.

“Shadows,” She started.

Steve and Sam looked at her surprised, and slightly confused.

“I can move through and manipulate shadows. When I teleport, I go through what I call the Void. It’s… a haunting darkness, where I hear whispers. Voices. Some are pleasant…others… not so much. They warn me of things. Usually. Earlier before the power went out, I heard a whisper warning me of it. I can also… summon things through it, usually small stuff. Been told I could go bigger and create things but…” She further explained, with a shrug.

She waved her hand out to a lone rusted wrench about 20 feet away, it fell away into nothingness, and reappeared in her hand. She presented it halfheartedly, tossing it to the side a moment later.

“That’s… somewhat terrifying but really cool?” Sam said after a moment. “So, when the bike crashed?”

“Used my powers to somewhat brings us into an in-between plane. Not quite teleport but we didn’t really feel the asphalt. Bucky hates it since any person I teleport with they can temporarily hear the voices too. It’s… unnerving,” She answered taking a seat next to Bucky.

“Understandable. I think? So… if there’s a shadow you can do what you want with it?” Sam asked trying to clarify.

“Essentially. The more light there is, the more difficult it is to do anything,” She noted with a nod.

Steve wandered away for a moment, wanting to check the perimeter really quick. As he did that Bucky began to come to. Blix turned to him, moving to sit on her knees, watching him worriedly.

Sam called for Steve’s attention, and as Steve walked over, he quietly asked, “Which Bucky am I talking to?”

“…Your mom’s name is Sarah… and you used to wear newspapers in your shoes,” He replied slowly, with a small chuckle.

Blix smiled softly at that, and Steve weakly joked, “Can’t read that in a museum.”

Steve lifted the machinery off his arm, realizing he’s not a threat.

Bucky looked toward Blix his eyes checking her over, making sure she was okay. His hand gently took hers into his, holding tightly.

“What did I do?” Bucky questioned, his other hand gingerly touching his head where he had hit it.

“Enough,” Steve answered shortly, with a sigh.

“All that stuff. The crap HYDRA put in my head… it’s still there. All he had to do was say the damn words,” Bucky groaned, guilt consuming him.

Bucky further explained what Zemo had asked about, a mission report, the lab, the other soldiers. Blix closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she listened. Once everything was explained, Steve and Sam began to make some phone calls to some allies.

Bucky looked down at their joined hands, and asked, “It’s been acting up, hasn’t it?”

Blix nodded once, with a frown.

“Once… once this is over, we’re gonna go find someone to help you. Get your hand sorted finally,” Bucky whispered as he reached up to brush a lock of her hair back.

She leaned forward, resting her head against his for a moment, replying, “Then the two of us are going to find someplace to hideaway… preferably with a nice bed.”

She felt him chuckle as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in close.

“Sounds like a plan, doll,” he muttered softly.

Steve who had finished his calls had stepped into the doorway and began to say something but stopped when he saw the two of them. He took in their postures, noting how relaxed they were. Sam, who stepped up next to him, made a small noise.

“Hm. Guess we see what she meant earlier about the whole “he got attached and so did she” thing. Think after the incident at the Triskelion he ran to her?” Sam quietly asked, watching the 2 of them with a raised eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Steve murmured, clearing his throat before speaking to them. “We gotta go. The rest of our backup is on their way to us. Got to make some stops beforehand.”

Blix and Bucky stood up, following them out. Steve drove this time, after stealing a smaller car, with her and Bucky crammed in the back. Blix tried to make herself small, trying to give Bucky more room with how little space there was.

They drove for about an hour, to a random location, where they met up with the agent from earlier. Steve got out, to talk to her and get their gear that had been snuck out. Bucky asked Sam if he could move his seat up, to which Sam gave a firm no.

Bucky slid over to sit in the middle seat. Blix shifted herself, throwing her legs over his lap, trying to help.

Steve had got back into the car, after moving their gear into the trunk.

“It’s like being trapped in a clown car full of testosterone,” She grumbled as they took off.

“Would’ve thought you’d be used to it, working with STRIKE. Did you really date Rumlow of all people?” Sam wondered turning to look back at her.

“Listen. I had to work my ass off to prove myself to those meatheads for years that I was a damn good agent. I never enjoyed being trapped with them in small spaces for hours at a time. As for Rumlow… yes. 3 years of my life wasted,” Blix said bitterly.

“Damn. Okay. When did uhh… when did the two of you become a thing?” He further questioned, pointing at her and Bucky.

“… It’s a long story,” Blix mumbled.

“We got time,” Sam encouraged. “Do we need popcorn?”

Blix gave him a look, unamused.

“A couple of years ago… my office… in the Triskelion, it was next to a hidden hallway. I only knew it existed because people would walk by and disappear. I was there late one evening trying to finish up mission reports, when I heard yelling in the distance. I stepped out, saw that the usual wall was gone, and followed the noise,” Blix began, adjusting herself in her seat.

“The Triskelion had secret hallways? Seriously?” Sam questioned shaking his head.

“Remind me to tell you where they moved Bucky after this incident,” Blix said with a snort.

“Ooh. Alright explain this incident. Get the feelin’ we should’ve gotten popcorn,” Sam was oddly invested.

“Followed the noise, to a room that held the mindwipe machine and cryotube they kept Bucky in. 10 STRIKE agents were on the ground, alongside a doctor. A nurse was cowering in the corner. Bucky was… agitated,” She continued, rolling her eyes when Sam snorted.

*Flashback*

Blix’s eyes widen in surprise at the sight before her. She tried to walk over to the nurse to check on her, when the man turned his attention to her.

She stopped, holding up her hands, “Easy honey. I’m not armed.”

She spun around, lifting her shirt, showing him that she had no weapon on her. He was breathing harshly and was staring at her confused. He would pace for a bit and then stop suddenly. She looked around, sighing for a moment, and holding her hand out to him.

“C’mon. Let’s… let’s go on a field trip. You’re safe with me,” She beckoned him softly.

He stared at her, watching her as she stepped slowly up to him. She took his hand gently and began to pull him forward. He numbly followed, allowing her to pull him along. She led him back to her office, locking the door behind them. She took a seat behind her desks, patting the stool seat next to her. She quietly finished up her paperwork as he silently made his way to sit next to her.

She emailed the documents off to Pierce, turning toward him with a small smile. She looked him over, taking in his posture. He was still tensed, but his breathing had eased back to normal.

“Ok. I can only hide you in here for so long before the vultures come a-knocking. So. How about… I give you a haircut? And you can go shower afterward?” Blix offered politely not really knowing what else to say or do.

He shrugged a smidge, but otherwise didn’t respond. She had a pair of scissors and an electric razor in one of her drawers, so she grabbed both.

“I’m not a professional hairstylist but I know my way around a pair of scissors,” She said as she grabbed a lock of his hair.

He only raised an eyebrow in response.

She began to cut his hair, making the locks short, before switching to the razor to trim it up. The process took about 20 mins, and as she brushed off the fallen hairs, she smiled at him. She gently ran her fingers through his hair making sure she hadn’t missed any long strands.

“There you go. Feel better? There’s a shower over there, clothes and towels in the cabinet. Go clean up,” She pointed at the door behind him.

He quietly does what she said, and as he showered, she cleaned up the mess. She had just finished sweeping when there was a loud knock at her door. Followed by Brock yelling at her to open the door.

She typed into her computer to pull up the camera outside her office. Brock and several other STRIKE members, along with Pierce himself, were standing outside her door. She connected to the speaker that was attached to her keypad.

“Do you mind? I quite like my door and would prefer you didn’t bang on it like you owe it dinner,” She said dully.

“B. Open the door. He’s not safe, let us in,” Brock pleaded, jiggling the door handle.

“Nope. Chill. I’m fine,” Blix hung up.

At that point, the man had wandered out, dressed, and freshly showered. She waved him over, and he sat down back in the stool. She grabbed a pulse and blood pressure monitor. She checked both of them, as he got comfortable. She grabbed a sticky note and wrote down the information they gave.

Once that was done, she sighed heavily, “I hate to do this, but I gotta return you. Just stay with me. I’ll get you back to the lab without incident.”

She stood up, taking his hand again. They walked to the door, and she called out, “Back away from the door please.”

She waited a moment, before unlocking and opening it. She was faced with several men holding guns pointed in her direction.

“Guns. Down. Now. I just got him calmed down, do not stress him out,” She ordered pushing Brock who stood in the doorframe back.

She led him through the crowd of armed soldiers, taking him back down to the lab. Bucky quietly sat down in the mindwipe chair with a sigh. Blix handed the sticky note to the nurse who stood nearby, watching him warily.

“Where do these need to go?” Blix asked her, holding up the wires.

The nurse pointed out where the nodes needed to go, and how to hook him up the machine. Once he was set, including his mouth guard, she glanced at the monitor.

“Is that set appropriately?” She asked the nurse.

The nurse glanced nervously at her and then at the still unconscious doctor. Blix frowned deeply.

“Fix it,” She quietly ordered her. “I’ll deal with that idiot later.”

The nurse made the adjustments, as Blix felt a hand brush against hers. She looked down to see his hand near hers. Her eyes flicked up to meet his before he settled into the chair.

“He’s ready,” The nurse tells her.

Blix nodded her head, telling her to proceed. She winced at his yells and turned around to leave. She stopped next to Brock and Pierce.

“I saw nothing, I know nothing, I don’t want anything to do with this,” She said in Spanish before continuing on.

*End Flashback*

“However, according to the both of them, they’ve ‘never seen the asset so compliant before.’ And insisted I become his new handler,” Blix concluded.

“So, you literally stumbled into that situation? Damn. Tough break. Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Sam asked curiously.

“My hands were tied. I had to sign many NDAs when I first joined, and I had to sign even more after that incident. I couldn’t say anything without putting myself into legal hell. Plus, no offense Steve, but we had never met. Would you have believed me if I came up to you, a complete stranger, and said ‘hey your best friend from the 40s is alive and I’m his handler?’ Cause… I feel like you wouldn’t,” Blix turned her attention to Steve.

Steve began to say something but stopped, sighing, “Honestly… probably not.”

“After I fished you out of the water, I went to her place. HYDRA, Pierce, they all thought that the mindwipes would erase everything, it doesn’t. I always, eventually, remembered everything. The longer I was awake the easier it was to recall. I had hoped… she wouldn’t hold it against me when I was ordered to hurt her, and help me,” Bucky added, his hands fiddling with the pockets on her cargo pants.

“Appeared in my apartment, like a damn ninja, soaking wet,” Blix said with a laugh. “I knew that he wasn’t in control of his actions. I forgave him a long time ago. I packed up the necessities, and we ran.”

“Hm. Interesting. So… the two of you, what? Spent the last 2 years hiding in various countries?” Steve asked curious.

“Yeah. Essentially. Couldn’t stay at my place. What was left of HYDRA knew of my location. So, we had to move,” Blix answered with a shrug. “Kept low profiles. We were in Romania for several months before you crashed into our apartment.”

The conversation died after that as they made their way to an airport. They parked in a garage nearby, waiting for backup. The four of them stepped out of the car to wait. Steve and Sam walked up to a white van that had pulled up. Bucky and Blix waited by the trunk, watching the interaction.

“This is our backup? Tsk. Times like these make me wish I had my STRIKE team,” Blix whispered in Romanian.

Bucky smiled, clearing his throat to stop the chuckle that tried to escape.

“Play nicely, doll. They are here to help us, after all,” He whispered back, nudging her slightly.

“Never,” She giggled.

Steve who heard the giggle, turned to them, waving them over. The 2 of them were introduced to everyone. Clint Barton/Hawkeye. Scott Lang/Antman. Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.

She held her hand out to shake Wanda’s and a curious thing happened. Both of their powers activated as their hands hovered near each other, swirling around each other. It was almost like the wisps were playing with one another.

“Huh. Never seen that before. Think we just became best friends?” Blix said surprised.

“Me neither. I think we did,” Wanda said amazed.

The two of them smiled at one another, turning to the guys who had been watching.

“Well. That’s new,” Clint spoke first.

Before anything else could be said, they heard in the distance a voice asking for the airport to evacuate.

“Time to go to work it seems,” Blix announced walking over to the trunk, tossing it open.

She grabbed her bag that was set to the side, placed it on the hood of the car. She grabbed her bulletproof vest, and a corset that had adamantium boning. She grabbed Bucky and forced him to stand behind her, using his bulkiness to shield her from the others. Scott, Steve, and Clint looked away or turned around; Sam was busy getting his gear on, he glanced at her but otherwise paid her no mind.

She took off her shirt and clasped a few of the buttons on the corset first, before tossing her bra into her bag. She quickly finished clasping it, adjusting it briefly. She threw her shirt back on, followed by her bulletproof vest.

“Why exactly are you wearing a corset? Isn’t that… I don’t know. Uncomfortable?” Sam asked as he finished getting his gear sorted.

“The boning of it is made of adamantium. I learned early on that bulletproof only does so much,” Blix explained, as she grabbed her weapons.

She had twin Wakizashi blades, various knives, a gun she put on her hip and another on her thigh.

“I sense a story there,” Sam noted slyly.

“Are you a former soldier or a gossip columnist?” She asked him as she finished up.

She was tossing spare clips into various pockets and waited for the others to gear up as well. Wanda moved to stand next to her.

“May I ask about this story then? I’m guessing Sam has been interrogating you,” Wanda giggled slightly.

Blix glanced at her, making minor adjustments so everything sat comfortably.

“First solo assignment. Had to steal valuable information and eliminate the target. Got the info. But before I was able to eliminate the target, he managed to shoot me 3 times. Two of them broke ribs, the other managed to tear through the fabric and tried to rip through my left lung,” Blix answered, rubbing her side.

“The guys made jokes. Said I should get a bulletproof bra or corset. Knew a guy who owed me a favor. Got me a corset with adamantium boning. He sends me an updated version every couple of months. Showing up to training with that on, shut them all up real quick,” Blix smirked.

Wanda snickered in response, “I’ll bet.”

The guys finished gearing up, and they made their plan of attack, moving toward the hangers.

They were confronted by Stark and his allies.

“Wanda. Are you able to control the purple one? He doesn’t create a shadow, so I can’t control him,” Blix said softly to her.

Wanda nodded subtly, the two of them stepping forward after a kid appeared and stole Steve’s shield.

Blix held her hands out, taking control of the shadows around the others, while Wanda’s hands glowed bright red as she stopped Vision in his tracks.

“Split up. Now,” Blix ordered as she held everyone in their tracks.

“What the hell is this?” Tony asked as he tried to step forward but couldn’t.

Bucky and Sam went one way, Steve, Scott, and Hawkeye in another.

“Hm. Interesting. There appears to be a basement in this airport. Bye bye,” Blix teased as she opened portals directly beneath them, dropping them down.

Wanda shoved Vision down to join them, and then the 2 of them ran forward.

They ran past where Tony and his team had been originally, barely able to make it past before Vision resurfaced with the others. The 2 of them ran faster as they split up to start fighting.

T’Challa appeared suddenly swiping at her face. Blix whipped out her swords, blocking his hands left and right. She was doing well, until her right hand acted up. She had raised her hand up to block when it began to malfunction causing her to drop the sword. She winced as the spasms began to actually cause a bit of pain. T’Challa stopped fighting her, staring at her somewhat concerned.

She quietly sheathed one of her swords, picking the fallen one up, taking a stance once more with just her left hand. Before either of them could say or do anything, she hears Scott mention something about splitting himself in half?

She looked over toward him, confused and then shocked as she watched him become very large.

She used the distraction to teleport over to Bucky.

“I take back my previous statement. STRIKE team got nothing on this,” Blix panted.

Bucky chuckled, “Good to know. We got to get to the plane. Think you can teleport over there, and get her ready for liftoff? It might wind up being just the 3 of us.”

She salutes him with a grin, “Can do… Sergeant.”

Bucky chuckled, shaking his head, “Go… Commander.”

She slipped away, teleporting to the hanger, slipping inside the jet easily. She discreetly began to warm the ship up. She spotted Steve and Bucky racing toward her, after being stopped briefly by Natasha, they joined her onboard. She finished getting the ship ready before allowing to Steve take care control. Her and Bucky collapsed into the chairs behind him buckling up quickly.

They were just barely able to escape the fight, flying off to Russia.

Once they could breathe easy, Bucky turned to her, asking, “Your hand?” He had noticed she was favoring her left more.

She frowned, staring down at it, not wanting to admit it was hurting.

He held his hand out, wanting to look at it. She quietly placed her hand in his, he examined it for a moment. He pressed on a couple of locations, which slowly helped the hand relax and she was able to move it freely again.

She quietly thanked him, and he planted a kiss to her hand, with a smile.

A few hours later they were landing outside the bunker. They opened the ramp, and Steve and Bucky stopped for a moment. She listened to them talk about Coney Island, and the dates they had.

She shook her head at the two of them.

“You spent today’s equivalent of $50 on carnival games?” She asked him surprised. “Did you at least win her a prize?”

“Yeah. A creepy clown doll thing that she loved,” Bucky answered before asking noticing her frown. “Why?”

“… Should’ve had you take me on a date to Coney Island. Would’ve been less disappointing,” She muttered, walking out.

Bucky raised an eyebrow at that, and Steve looked down to hide his smile.

“What happened?” Steve asked as they walked up to the door.

“… Date gone wrong. The guy spent $100 on four different games. Failed miserably with each one,” Blix grumbled. “I wound up spending $5 on a 5th game to win my own prize.”

Steve winced empathically, “That’s…. wow. Even I wasn’t that terrible.”

Steve ripped open the panel, and somehow got the doors opened. The 3 of them made their way in, Bucky and her walking up the stairs, turning around when Tony Stark had appeared. Bucky pointed his gun at him, while Blix’s hand hovered over her sword handles.

“Alright Manchurian Candidate and Satan’s Mistress calm down. Same team,” Tony said as the face guard lifted.

Blix gave him an unimpressed look, as she relaxed.

The four of them moved deeper into the bunker, walking into the chamber that held several glass containers, that had people in them, but none were alive.

“They died in their sleep, if that’s any consolation,” Came Zemo’s voice over the intercom.

The four of them stepped closer to the window, Zemo still speaking. He directed their attention to the monitor near them. It began to play footage… of Bucky killing Stark’s parents. Blix tensed moving to stand in front of Bucky.

“Don’t. Go after Zemo. Don’t get involved in this fight,” Bucky whispered, in a pained voice.

“I’m not leaving you,” Blix whispered back.

“Go. Please. I can’t risk you getting hurt,” Bucky quietly begged.

She glanced back at him, not wanting to do this, but she sighed seeing the look on his face. She disappeared and reappeared in the room Zemo had been in. She spotted the red book, abandoned. She grabbed it, as she followed the path that was before her. She winced every time she heard a loud crash or blast.

She had made her way back outside, and she spotted Zemo sitting down, listening to his phone.

She walked around to stand in front of him as T’Challa appeared.

Zemo quietly explained that his family died in the battle against Ultron.

“I’m sorry that you lost your family. I truly am. But you threw a man, who had nothing to with that battle, under a freight train. Just to get revenge on the Avengers. Do you really think your family would want that?” Blix questioned, waving her hand when she spotted his gun.

She summoned it into her hand, ejecting the clip and the bullet that was in the chamber.

“The living still have use for you,” T’Challa said grabbing him, and pulling him up.

She reached into one her pockets and pulled out zip-ties. She handed them to T’Challa and used them to make makeshift handcuffs.

“I need to go check on my guys. You got him?” She asked T’Challa.

T’Challa nodded, keeping a firm grip on Zemo’s shoulders.

Blix spent a moment, searching through the shadows, trying to find where they wound up. She found them, all 3 of them, on one of the upper levels. She teleported into the room, her eyes widening in horror when she saw the state of Bucky’s arm. She rushed over to him, as Steve hobbled over.

She sucked in a sharp breath, as she took in his state as well.

“Been through worse, if you can believe that,” Steve said with a wince as he knelt down.

The two of them lifted Bucky up, and they started to walk away.

“Wait,” She adjusted her grip on Bucky, leaning over to put a free hand on Steve. “Do me a favor. Don’t talk to any voice you hear.”

She teleported the 3 of them back up top. Steve made a face when they reappeared topside.

“I can understand Bucky’s discomfort. That was… nightmarish. Do you always hear that many voices?” Steve asked shaking his head, trying to clear the sounds from his mind.

“Yep. At the very least you were an adult when you experienced that for the first time. I experienced that when I was 7,” Blix replied with a fake smile.

“That’s… horrifying,” Steve responded as they began to make their way to the ship.

T’Challa was waiting for them, with Zemo. They climbed aboard and made their way back into Europe. A quick phone call to the agent that they had been working with, Sharon, came, and took Zemo off their hands. T’Challa then told Steve to go to Wakanda.

“We’re not being led to our doom here, yeah?” Blix confirmed, looking at him.

“No. The two of you will be safe,” T’Challa assured with a small smile.

When they arrived in Wakanda, they were led to an infirmary where the guys were treated for their injuries, and someone gently removed the remains of Bucky’s arm.

While they were tended to, T’Challa pulled her over to a table. A young woman appeared, attacking T’Challa in a hug. She watched them with a smile, and when they turned back to her T’Challa introduced her.

“This is my sister, Shuri. She will be helping take care of your arm, and Mr. Barnes,” He said proudly.

She stepped forward, telling her to place her arm on the table, flat. Blix does so, and Shuri taps on the table, bringing it to life. A light flashed over her arm, scanning it slowly.

Shuri stared at the info that was the presented once the scan was done.

“It appears nothing is physically wrong with the arm, so it must be in the chip meant to help you control it. The programming is off,” Shuri noted.

“The programming technically was never finished. Since they wanted to recondition me and turn me into a prettier version of Bucky. So…” Blix explained.

“Oh. Well then. We will just have to fix that and redo your arm, so it works more smoothly. Should be an easy fix. Thought you had something challenging for me brother dear,” Shuri teased.

He then began to explain Bucky’s issues and the conditioning that he needed removed. While they talked, Blix wandered back over to Bucky. She sighed in relief seeing him sitting up and looking more awake.

She stood in front of him, checking him over. He pulled her in close, his arm settling around her waist.

“They’re… talking about putting you in a cryotube. I hate seeing you go in those things,” Blix said lowly, her hands gripping onto his shirt tightly.

“It’ll be the last time. One more time, get rid of HYDRA in my head, and then it’s just you and me. Just us. And… when we are no longer considered wanted criminals… I’m going to take you to Coney Island, and take you on a proper date,” He said charmingly.

“Hm. I’m starting to think that it’s probably a good thing I didn’t know 40s you. A girl wouldn’t be able to handle such gentlemanly ways,” She teased fanning herself jokingly.

“In the 40s you would be my wife at this point,” Bucky pointed out.

“Oh? Is that so? Hmmm. Appears you need to make an honest woman outta me. We’re living in sin, it’s quite scandalous,” She said with a grin, kissing him on the lips.

He returned her smile, kissing back. They pulled away when they heard Steve clear his throat.

“I’ll give you 2 a minute,” She whispered, stepping away from them.

Steve walked over to Bucky.

“T’Challa apparently wants to make amends. He’s offering the both of you asylum and going to help fix you two up as well. Not sure how I feel about you going into deep freeze again,” Steve remarked with a heavy sigh.

“Yeah. I’m… I’m not safe. Not safe out there, or… around her,” He whispered the last part.

“… Never seen you look at a woman the way you do her. You actually going to marry her?” Steve asked quietly, smiling at him.

Bucky quietly reached into one of his pockets on his pants, and pulled out a small velvet pouch, handing it to him. Steve opened it, dumping it out onto his open palm. A small silver ring appeared; it had a green stone. He chuckled at the small raven and skull that decorated the sides of it.

Steve returned it to the bag and handed it back to him. Bucky held it in his hand, sighing softly.

“She’s… been there for me. For years. She’s put up with a lot and stayed by my side. She only left STRIKE because they had put her in danger,” Bucky said slowly. “She’s… she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Steve laughed lowly, causing Bucky to go, “What?”

“Just… 40s you was never interested in marriage or commitment. It’s nice to see you swoon over someone for a change,” Steve ribbed lightly.

“Shut it man,” He mumbled, somewhat embarrassed, with a short laugh.

Steve wished him luck and told him he’d be in contact. He had to go rescue the rest of his team.

Blix returned to his side, knowing that their time was limited until he went under again.

She stared at his closed hand, suspicious, but didn’t say anything until he presented it to her.

“Need you to keep something safe for me until I get out,” Bucky tells her with a secretive smile.

“Am I allowed to look in the bag?” She asked in a childlike tone.

“If you want,” Bucky allowed standing up.

She reached into it, pausing in her movements when she felt the item inside. She slowly pulled it out, taking a deep breath as she held it.

“… You sure you want to marry a hot mess like me?” She asked jokingly biting her lip.

“Yeah. Pretty sure,” He replied, his hand brushing along her jaw.

She slipped the ring onto her left hand and smiled brightly at it.

“Blix Barnes. Sounds more normal than Blix Lage. Less pretentious sounding, at least… Wait… how long have you had this?” Blix wondered staring up at him.

“Got it a week after we moved to Romania. Specifically, after that date when we hiked in Băneasa Forest, and you… bit your fingers trying to stuff 3 fries into your mouth,” Bucky reminded her, a smile growing on his face.

“That did it for you? Me being unladylike and stuffing my face? That’s when you thought, ‘imma seal the deal on this one’?” She was in disbelief.

He laughed at that, “Yep. You make me happy. An emotion I haven’t truly felt… in decades.”

She looked down, biting her lip, as she tried to hold in the tears that were trying to escape.

He gently bumped her chin up, making her look back up at him.

He leaned his forehead against hers, whispering, “Marry me?”

“Yes,” She replied with a smile that was growing.

He kissed her firmly at her answer, and she kissed back with as much enthusiasm. When they parted, she watched silently as the staff got him prepped for the cryotube before he stepped inside.

‘One last time.’ She quietly thought.

She watched with a slight wince as the tube closed and froze quickly. She stared at his face, sighing softly.

She turned to T’Challa and said, “So. What now?”

“Let’s get you settled someplace. Tomorrow we will begin the process of fixing your hand,” T’Challa informed her, offering his arm to her.

She politely took it, and he led her outside. She stared at everything with awe.

“Why ever would you want to leave here?” She asked craning her neck every which way trying to take in as much as she could.

She heard T’Challa chuckle softly, nodding in agreement.

“Ya know… was gonna ask if I was dreaming…. But then I realized… my imagination is not that great,” Blix admitted. “Not possible for me to dream something this beautiful.”

T’Challa thanked her quietly, leading her to a small place that was near a lake, goats roaming about.

“This should be big enough for the both of you. Either myself or my best warrior Okoye will be here in the morning to retrieve you. Sleep well Miss Blix,” He presented the home to her. “Also… congratulations.”

She smiled at him, walking further inside. She easily found the bedroom, and after stripping off most of her gear, she collapsed onto the bed. She slowly fell asleep, the events of the day catching up to her.

#bucky barnes x oc #james buchanan barnes #marvelverse #mutants

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thisnerdsadventures · 4 years ago

Text

2020 is over (finally)

So obviously 2020 was a bit of a shitshow and everyone is eagerly awaiting 2021 as if it will automatically grant us mercy because of the hellhole that 2020 was. Honestly - same, I really have such low expectations for 2021 that they make my 2020 resolutions seem like such high reaches.

Even though 2020 was ... 2020, I still feel like I did accomplish to some extent my goals for the year. I didn’t write them out on this blog, but I think broadly, my goals were

to work out more - I definitely think I did this on and off. Like many, I took up running, and actually stuck with it for a while, so I’m very happy about that. I think I’ll keep that as a goal for 2021, and probably every year, otherwise I won’t actually keep myself accountable on it lol

to follow through on things more - this was the high key most vague goal I have ever published on the internet omg, but I think this was in reference to how I always flake on my hobbies halfway through, like if I’m trying to learn a language or write music or actually learn photography skills. I think I did accomplish this - my Duolingo streak is up to 200 (though not in Mandarin smh) and I dropped my mixtape a few days ago. I think I would say I did a good job here.

advocate or something?????? - something something Amplify!!?!??!? there was definitely a very solid attempt here, and i have no idea what this was referring to anyways, but I definitely feel like this is a long-term goal for the next 5, 10 years regardless.

How the year went:

Honestly in the beginning of it all, I wasn’t feeling 2020 very much. There was a lot going on in my life, and I wasn’t feeling my classes. I think I just needed a bit of a shakeup. And then there was a shakeup, and I was like, “no, not that kind of shakeup.” And then we went home, and then I graduated from college, I interned at Google again, I started my MEng in Cambridge, had fun with my friends, got a full-time job for next year, went home again for the winter, and now we’re here.

For better or worse, the main theme of this year was definitely “reflection” - a whole ton of it. With so much time at home, I had a lot of time to think and overthink everything in my life, past present and future. I thought about my friends from years past and why we didn’t talk anymore. I reflected a lot on my MIT years, how I wish I had made a couple key decisions very differently, and how that would’ve affected my present. I thought about all the things I should’ve done. I thought about who I was, and how I changed, and how it took me years to finally find a skin I was comfortable in. I thought about my current friends and whether they’d stick around. I thought really hard about how I treated other people and how they treated me, and whether that was ok. I journaled a lot, and read a lot of poetry to find answers, and failed to find them. I thought about whether I’d have friends in the future. I thought about whether people were supposed to feel alone in this world, or whether I’d find a home in New York, where I’m going next year.

And I changed a lot of my expectations from life - after some time, finally I started to expect less of myself in a time where getting things done is literally impossible sometimes. From other people, I expected less, and am unsure how to feel about reaching that conclusion, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. From life, I expected it to give me nothing and to throw everything bad possible in my way, because for a while, it seemed like that’s what it was trying to do. (That actually sounds really depressing, but it means that I started making the moves to make my life better on my own, and I don’t stop anymore to wait for the universe to magically make it happen.)

A lot of this reflection surrounded events in my life - finally, mentally letting go of people in the past (i.e. giving up on them lol), losing a friendship, feeling incredible loneliness and anxiety during the pandemic, failing to find fulfillment in my research. I wonder if COVID didn’t happen, if 2020 would’ve gotten better for me. I think a lot about how I was supposed to go to Europe, go to Michigan, go to New York, visit DC, Seattle, Chicago, etc. I think a lot about if COVID didn’t happen, would I still have the friends I had, would I still have made the friends I did, would my expectations of myself and others have changed in the ways they did? I don’t know. My mental health would probably not be in shambles though. I’d probably sleep easier at night. To be honest, I think a lot about this post, and I have no real, solid conclusions about 2020, it was a very rough year, and the only thing I can say is “I’m glad I’m alive, and that’s all the good I need to extract out of it.”

But of course, there were some pretty key highlights that still happened, so I’ll just bullet that here

I interned at MSFT! Everyone was very very nice, though it fully cemented the fact that I absolutely do not want to do data analytics, ever

I took this negotiation class, which will likely be the peak class I took at MIT, which is fine tbh. Honestly wish I took more adventurous classes at MIT, but that’s a topic to dissect another day

I actually got published this year lol, first authored a paper, I sometimes forget about this [x]

I spent like literally 80 hours helping my friend campaign for the undergrad assoc election over 2 weeks, which was a really strange tangent in my life

I graduated!! from MIT!! What a dream <3 honestly still shocked they accepted me

I became the CTO of amplify, our nonprofit org

I interned at google cloud and absolutely rocked my internship project

I chaired for the alibaba committee for mitmunc china (virtual)

I started my Masters program

I joined this new club on campus, which is our campus chapter of the google developer student club, which is really just me refusing to actually ever leave google

I became an interviewer for MIT

I got like 6 job offers and accepted an offer to work at Stripe next year!

I dropped a mixtape lol and have some exciting stuff planned in a couple weeks re:music if things go through

Ah, I should have some goals for next year:

graduate with my Masters! can be from Killian, or from living room. I have an entire photo shoot with my friends for grad pics and you know I have an entire countdown waiting for the day I can post those pictures

continue to learn languages! because what else am i going to do with my time. maybe this will finally be the year i learn mandarin....... nope that’s setting the bar too high

read more! I should read more. I really should because it is embarrassing how little I read. I should really read more. I should have a goal of reading 12 books next year ! Yes, we are setting the goal low, but again, low expectations!

Actually, I also want to apply to some MBA programs, so I’m writing that down here to manifest it

See my friends again - I have pretty reasonable hopes that 2021 will let us at some point see each other, whether it be during the spring, the summer, the winter, maybe exactly one year from now on 12/31/21, idk, but it will happen! Manifest that

Make like 2 friends..... ok make one (1) new friend.,,,,,

Let go of old things from 2020 that I miss or wish would happen. Open myself to new things.

please, please 2021, be better lol

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greenwaterskeeter · 4 years ago

Link

I took fairly complete notes from an informational session held by local organizers and lawyers with relevant experience from the National Lawyers’ Guild. I learned a lot! At the beginning, it also includes some notes on how to approach going to actions regardless of outcome. Some portion of the information is Chicago-specific, but not all, and most of it translates within the US, I think. It’s at the link above, and also under the read more:

[missed first 5 minutes]

At Actions:

-wear nondescript, practical clothes. pants that allow motion: close to skin so as not to get caught. Jeans are better than sweats. Shorts are great, except that they don't protect you from sprayed chemicals. Wear pants that stay on, unless leaving them behind is something you're willing to do in a pinch (a strategy that Has Worked). Try not to have holes in clothes (they get caught on things). no jewelry, layer up. Ok to wear belts, although [presenter] doesn't like to need to wear one. Best to have as little as possible on you in case of arrest.

-if you have long hair, put it up out of your face. Hats are good: they can be taken off to change your identity if need be. Never ever wear sandals to an action. They will be lost and either way your feet are vulnerable. Wear shoes you're able to run in: shoes that tie. Broken-in tennis shoes are good. Boots, especially steel-toe boots, are very good, but only wear them to actions if you're used to wearing them (and running in them).

-Helmet: for batons and thrown objects. Bike helmets have limited usefulness bc they only take one hit. Skateboarding and skiing helmets take multiple hits. Construction helmets can work ok but don't stay on well usually. Spin is giving away helmets right now, all you have to pay is shipping.

-always bring goggles: not swimming goggles, not construction glasses. Goggles that 1. seal to keep out gases and 2. can handle high impact. Don't wear contacts either, and try to bring glasses that can break and not leave you without a pair.

-Gloves: go a size down from normal so they fit snugly. Welder's gloves are good for protection, including for picking up tear gas canisters. Any gloves are good for keeping your fingerprints to yourself.

-Multitools are useful, you never know when you'll need it. Umbrellas can be useful too.

-Backpack contains: snacks, water bottle with nozzle for washing out tear gas, gauze and bandaids, little towel (like a tea towel), extra N95 masks/respirators (which can be found at hardware stores and paint stores-- it's hard to keep moving when you can't breathe!), anything else you want.

-Tell people before actions that you're going, and make sure someone else at the action knows your full legal name and birthday so you can be gotten out more quickly in case of arrest

Social media: don't post videos or photos of yourself or others at actions, especially ones in which people are identifiable. This amounts to snitching. Don't wear logos or other identifiable clothing (see Etsy arrest and conviction). Also, don't post pictures of yourself or others NOT at actions but showing off stuff taken from cops etc.

-National Lawyers' Guild > National Bar Association

If Arrested (in Chicago):

The result of being stopped by police is only likely to result in a ticket and immediate release at actions organized with the input and approval of police: scripted demonstrations. At other actions, if they arrest you, they take you into custody and then to the station. The point is to intimidate you and your comrades. There are things you can control about the situation.

What you should do depends on what your goal is. If you want to get out asap, that's one track. If you want to make a point of being arrested, that's a different track.

Sometimes they use metal and sometimes they use plastic cuffs.

When you get to the station they'll take your address, name, and fingerprints-- these are the only demands you should grant. They are not covered by your constitutional right to refuse to answer (that only covers information that could be used as evidence to incriminate you, not information used to identify you). Speaking of: they will not read your Miranda rights right away, if at all. They only are supposed to do that right before asking incriminating questions.

Being arrested typically leads to lots of waiting. People who have been arrested more times usually get out quicker (their fingerprints are already in the system, and they can check for warrants easily). This is largely what they are making you wait for: checking to see how high to set your bond based on any warrants you may have.

They will put you in a cell and not give you food or medicine, typically. If you get food it will not be tasty, so eat right before the action and bring food with you.

If they've arrested a bunch of people at once, it might be 12-14 hours before you're released.

I-bond: they release you without you having to pay money for it. The bond consists of a promise to attend court later. The bond slip may not be legible (it should have the court date, place, and maybe the charge on it), but don't worry about that. It can be figured out.

D-bond: They make you pay to leave as a punitive measure. Still trying to intimidate you. The Chicago Bond Fund has covered all such bonds resulting from arrests at actions so far.

Don't count on getting a phone call, especially in case of mass arrest. If you get it, call a trusted person or the National Lawyers Guild, who can take care of getting you out. Tell whoever you call: where you are, if there is anyone with you who is injured, names of any other people you know who have been arrested.

Even though they won't offer it, if you need medical care, request it. They might tell you getting treated will make releasing you take longer or some other reason you shouldn't get treated: they are probably lying, and in any case, it's worth it to A. get the care you need, B. get it on record that they hurt you, and/or C. get it on record how long they put you off/that they refused to get you care. These records can be used in civil cases.

When you're released, they give you your stuff back that they confiscated, unless they're keeping it as evidence in charges (cellphone, shoelaces, belt. They take the laces and belt in an attempt to prevent suicide)

Would not advise taking cellphone to demonstration. Take a burner phone if you must. If you're arrested, the police will definitely take it and will try to get into it. They technically need a warrant to do that, and they may get one. In general, don't bring anything you'd be sad to lose or can't replace.

Charges: most common ones put on protestors are misdemeanors. The difference between a misdemeanor and a felony is that the maximum sentence on a misdemeanor is 364 days, and the minimum sentence on a felony is 365 days. It's very unusual as of now for a protestor to actually go to jail. The common misdemeanors applied to protestors are disorderly conduct, mob action, and destruction of property. They require different kinds of evidence but result in the same punishment. Earlier this year they charged more people with disorderly conduct, but the sentences weren't harsh enough/ too many people's charges were dismissed, so now they're charging people with mob action, since "mob" has a violent connotation.

Felonies: include theft, criminal damage to property, aggravated battery, resisting arrest. What defines felony theft and felony property damage is how much money is "lost" (more than $300 for a felony. Might have been increased to $500 or $800 recently). No matter what you do to a cop, if they are injured at all or perceive or can suggest that you tried to hurt them, that will be aggravated battery. Resisting arrest is rarely made a felony but it can be if the cop is particularly offended.

Resisting arrest carries more weight than other misdemeanors because police take everything personally. The punishment is harsher than for other misdemeanors. Technically the arrest has to be legal for resistance to count as resisting arrest. In practice, they will not respect any refusal to be arrested. The best thing to hope for if they do arrest you while you're resisting is that you'll be declared innocent later due to unlawful arrest. Resisting arrest can be a lot of things: jerking away, refusing to stand up to be arrested, taking too long to stand up... They can definitely charge you with resisting when you're not resisting. If you are resisting (by the legal definition), you'll know you are because you'll be doing it on purpose. If they order you to move and then push you and you fall over, that can't lawfully be considered resisting, but it has.

Grand juries: have been called for actions around [George] Floyd. Whatever they may once have been, they are now used to repress and that's about it. The city can't call one, but the feds and state can. Technically, must be composed of fellow citizens called to evaluate evidence for felony charges. In practice, the people they put together listen to the state's attorney, who tells them what to do. If you're subpoenaed to a grand jury, they're not trying to get you personally (or at least not only trying to get you personally), they're after information. They want you to give people up. Police want to know who's organizing. Compliance is snitching. No matter how clever you are, trying to act compliant but keep information back, if you answer at all they will get more information out of you than you want them to have.

If you do comply, they'll get what they can out of you. If you refuse, they can charge you with contempt and imprison you up to the length of the grand jury or 18 months (or until you snitch). They can charge you with either civil or criminal contempt.

Information security: Police put a lot of effort into tracking data. They also make attempts to infiltrate and get informants. Sensitive information can't be said over the phone or texted, not even on Signal. Meet in person to plan.

Nothing you say to police will help. They are only looking for evidence against you, and will do everything they can to use what you say as evidence. There have been many cases of people thinking they can explain and show that they're innocent, only to have their own words used as the evidence that puts them in prison.

When they confiscate your things, police can also confiscate any protective gear (and of course weapons) you have as evidence that you came to start a fight. (they did this at Standing Rock).

When police give you an order to leave, they lawfully must 1. give an order to disperse 2. that everyone can hear and then 3. wait a reasonable amount of time for you to follow the order. If you don't have the ability to leave, they legally cannot arrest you. This doesn't mean they won't.

While filing a complaint against police with COPA is an option that gives lawyers evidence they can use in your favor, there are problems. 1. it will ensure that your charges won't be dropped, because police take these claims personally and 2. COPA requires people who file complaints to come and give evidence under oath (which they will make you do under unfavorable conditions and mess you up). Don't file a complaint with COPA in criminal cases, they will use it against you. Don't do it for civil cases except for very specific circumstances, since they will try to use it against you there too.

If you are not a citizen / do not have a green card, being arrested can be a longer-term problem even if they don't charge you. There are ways around it (ask an immigration attorney).

If you have a previous misdemeanor or arrest, this will not increase your chances of being arrested again, since they almost certainly won't recognize you. It won't increase your chances of being charged again either, since they decide whether or not to charge you before they look up your record. However, once they do look up your record, it may increase the chances of them deciding to increase your charge from civil to criminal.

Typically, they will put more charges on you the more you do to get away (if you are not successful or they get your identity). Any struggling will likely be construed as "aggravated battery on a police officer" (a felony). Attempts at dearrest, when not successful, are charged as aggravated battery on a police officer. For this reason, practice dearresting ahead of time, run, drill, drill, drill.

What you bring can be seized as evidence, yes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't bring it. The point of all this is that you can go into it with your eyes open, making informed choices. Practical advice and legal advice do not always agree.

Dearrests: person initially being arrested may be charged extra if the dearrest is unsuccessful or if their identity is known/found out. Police will definitely charge them if possible, as they are easily offended.

Court: don't worry about finding or paying for representation. The National Lawyers' Guild has plenty of volunteer attorneys working pro bono representing activists. You can talk to an attorney and go over your options over zoom before court. Court is also on zoom these days. Lots of waiting involved in this. One person is known to have mown their lawn while in court over zoom.

You can refuse an attorney to go to trial; there is empowerment in this option. May be most prudent to do this only if you've been to court several times.

You can talk to the corporation [illegible] (who covers city law) or the state's attorney (covers state law) and see whether they're going ahead with your case. 1/2 of cases involving protestors have been thrown out so far. If they throw it out, there's nothing else you need to do to prevent being convicted.

You can request discovery (access to evidence) which will tell you how likely you are to win. It will also tell you how bad police records are. Another thing that can make you more likely to win is if a different cop arrested you than wrote the report about it.

There's no one right answer to how to approach this, whether to prioritize getting it over with or making a point. That depends on your goals. If you're going for quick, that will usually involve a plea deal. They may assign you 3 months to a year of "supervision." This means that if you don't make trouble in that time (specifically, if you're not convicted of breaking the law in that time), they'll clear the present conviction from your record in 2 years.

State cases are supposed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Smaller cases can be decided by "a preponderance of evidence."

necessity defense- "I did it, but I felt that I needed to do it to prevent further harm or illegality from ocurring." This is a common defense for activists, and can be a good strategy.

Even if your case is thrown out, arrests stay on your record unless expunged. If your case is thrown out, if you undergo supervision, or if you are found not guilty, you can get the arrest expunged. It's something you have to do on your own initiative. Cabrini Green Legal Aid will help you do this for free. It's easy, it's a form you fill out, but processing can take a year or two (backlog).

If you're arrested during a protest, you can contact the National Lawyers' Guild as soon as you can, or have someone do it for you, and they'll help you get out. hotline 773-309-1198

Before an action, if you're putting one together, you can contact the National Lawyers' Guild and they'll help with jail support (it helps to specify whether you expect arrest).

Don't use 1800 law rep 4 anymore

If you're arrested NOT at an action, the Cook County Public Defender hotline is 844-817-4448

They gave personal contact info for the people who presented all this information, but I'm not going to share that here. They were local organizers and lawyers from the National Lawyers' Guild (with experience defending activists and being arrested themselves).

#police #very information dense #not news to many of you i'm sure!#but super helpful for me #how to #resources #and i trust the organizer who hosted if that is helpful to you #i liked the lawyers but don't know them or anything #idk what to tag this to make sure people see it #blm #black lives matter #activism #?? would love suggestions for what to tag tbh

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