#lockdown 2 new guideline
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Foxy, a villainess' 007 Fest 2023 masterpost
REFLECTION
One word: community
Everywhere I looked this year I saw community: the challenges + joys of participation; how much we learn from one another when we're in one; what it takes to be a beneficial participant; the value of structures + guidelines to keep them moving forward; appreciating stepping back to look at what's working well + what needs fine-tuning; learning how to clean up when there's conflict; holding one another accountable with compassion while navigating that conflict; the importance of honouring one who left the earth this year; and --ALWAYS!!!-- celebrating one another's joys + concerns along the way.
At the end of my second Fest I'm mulling on these questions:Â
What are the qualities + experiences which draw people into Fest? Which aspects cause people to step back from it?
.
How do we-as-a-fandom support a more sustainable Fest in our post-lockdown lives? Could two weeks twice a year work better for more people than four weeks once a year? Â
.
How might we stretch our ability + capacity to incorporate + support newcomers into the experience + the fandom? How about support for those who have been around for a longer time + could use a boost underneath their wings?
.
For some people earning points is a huge motivation. For others, not so much. How do we balance + reward time spent bEiNg ToGeThEr during Fest with creating + sharing fancreations?
.
How might team configurations + calculating points equitably support all types of fan creations?Â
GRATITUDE
. . . Thanks to the many hands + hearts + brains who made this year's event run smoothly: @castillon02 , @spiritofcamelot for hosting Fest! All the mods of the 00Q Slack holding us steady during it! @teamofvillains for making room for me in the collective lair + to @3nigm4art for captaining us! . . .
PARTICIPATION
POINTS (specifics below the cut) : 743
THE NON-POINTS POINT : Last year I said I wanted to Be braver: collaborate w/team-mates + create some of my own content in 2023. Guess what? Yes, yes + and, thanks to @ato-the-bean, yes! This year Watch Parties were a shining star. LoVeD chatting w/people while watching old favourites + new shows. Thanks to: @wambold for hosting weekly Bond content all year long! @anyawen for so.many.weekday parties! @kmk1701d for hosting The Hour! and @lapsang-and-earlgrey for answering m a n y of this US citizenâs questions about UK + European history!
2024 goals are simple:Â host 1 watch party + post 1 gif + collaborate on something.
SPECIFICS
COMMENTS: 626 Fics commented on AO3 + Tumblr - 456 Bonus points - 170
EVENT PARTICIPATION:Â Productivity hour: 1 Watch Parties: 26
WRITING The Island (collab with @ato-the-beanâ)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
OTHER FANCREATIONS The Island moodboards - 6
SCAVENGER HUNTÂ #2 Create a code #48 Collaborate with team-mate @eleanor-is-fine on Ch 6 of The Island
WORDS READ ON AO3: 316,468
#007 fest 2023#007 fest 2023 masterpost#thx to everyone on all teams who played#teambondvillains#foxy the villainess#it was a FULL month#thinking of you too dear tenshi
24 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Enterprise Mobility Management & What it Entails.
We live in a time where mobile device technologies are evolving at a rapid pace. The dynamics of the usability of a mobile device are expanding onto an entire range of platforms, models, and applications. Such rapid innovations are used to pioneer new business ventures and branch into novel streams of revenue.
For a 21st-century organization, enterprise mobility management is an important cog in their machinery. EMM allows companies to put forth an engaging service and marketing channel to their consumers, as well as set up communication links within corporate networks.
And thatâs where Tabnova steps in. With a proven record of innovative solutions that effectively reduce costs and complexity of enterprise mobility, Tabnova has been at the forefront of securing, managing and supporting the mobile operations of many companies across the globe.
NovaEMM is an Android enterprise-ready and ensures businesses are presented with countless opportunities through the cloud.
đđ¨, đđĄđđ đđąđđđđĽđ˛ đđŹ đđđ?
Enterprise Mobility Management, when you break it down, is a set of software processes and tools that bind all mobile devices and applications of a business securely.
These devices can be both corporate-owned or BYOD device that is used to tap into sensitive corporate files. With NovaEMM, a company can ensure complete control over the way users access these devices and applications. The tenet here is to bring about a balance between information security and a productive mobile workforce.
When a company rides on NovaEMM, they get 24/7 comprehensive visibility into their entire array of mobile devices, which can include smartphones, tablets, scanners, laptops, kiosks, etc. The corporate management will have access to various features like the status of the mobile device, location, security status, software updates, and more. Without such extensive visibility, an organization could fall prey to potential malicious attacks that can hamper its overall productivity.
đđĄđđ đ˘đŹ đđ¨đŻđđđđ đđŹđđ đ
đ¨đŤ?
NovaEMM suite houses a handful of features and administrative control, including the capability to remotely and centrally control corporate mobility guidelines that govern the use of mobile devices in workplaces. Let us take a broader look into what NovaEMM can accomplish.
2. Enrolment: With NovaEMM, it is extremely easy to deploy any application or software into an organizationâs fleet of mobile devices, and this includes clientless enrolment using QR Codes. Moreover, with NovaEMM, Android Enterprise enrolment and KNOX mobile enrolment are easily accomplished.
3. Security: NovaEMM improves the overall security of devices through its robust security feature like enforcing a password policy. Mobile devices can also be controlled to provide only restricted access to applications. Even if any device from the fleet is lost or missing, one can impose a lockdown on that device to prevent loss of data or data intrusion.
4. Monitor Remotely: NovaEMMâs remote monitoring facility provides the administrator the ability to screen share any information needed. Also, the user can set up alerts and a messaging system to intimate any information of consequence to the whole fleet of devices.
5. Compliance: NovaEMM is GDPR compliant and meets all the regulatory standards that are expected from it. The cloud server is located in the EU, and there are Data Protection Agreements in place to prevent unauthorized use or theft of data and information.
With GDPR compliance, the following aspects are put in place:
⢠Enforcing Passcode requirements
⢠Data encryption on the device
⢠Deploy and Enforce settings and restrictions
⢠Separate work and personal space on the device
⢠Wipe sensitive information
⢠Blacklist applications
⢠Generate reports for data security
⢠Factory reset stolen devices
đđĄđđ đđŤđ đđĄđ đđđ§đđđ˘đđŹ đ¨đ đđŹđ˘đ§đ đđ¨đŻđđđđ?
There are a host of benefits from using NovaEMM that an organization enjoys. Apart from the robust security, NovaEMM is an affordable option to go for.
Let us take a look at some of the other advantages of using NovaEMM.
1. Multiple Kiosk Options: With NovaEMM, organizations can set up any desired kiosk that they want. Single App Kiosks, Dashboard Kiosks, Browser Kiosks, and Video Looper Kiosks are some of the options that can be set up and managed through mobility management. Kiosk Mode - Convert Your Devices into Dedicated single-Purpose Kiosks.
2. Multiplatform Support: Just like the Kiosk options, NovaEMM offers multiplatform support. Whether an organization employs Android or IOS, Nova EMM is capable of functioning effectively on devices that run on both platforms.
3. Enterprise Apps: NovaEMM has a suite of enterprise apps that one can select and deploy according to requirements. Moreover, any custom application can be integrated into the MDM platform.
4. DRM Content Delivery: The audio and video content that is used for live streams is encrypted and DRM protected.
NovaEMM helps corporate businesses achieve the full benefits from using a fleet of mobile devices cost-effectively, while they gain a higher return on investment, thus ensuring an increase in their productivity scales.
If you like to configure your device with an official android enterprise quickly and easily, please contact us below.
2 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Dark Chocolate Market: The Rise of Premium and Artisanal Chocolate Brands
The dark chocolate market consists of chocolate with high cocoa content, usually 70% cocoa or higher. Dark chocolate is appreciated for its intense chocolate flavor as well as various health benefits arising from its antioxidant and nutrient content. It is a rich source of minerals like copper, iron, magnesium and manganese along with methylxanthines like theobromine and polyphenols which are known to improve heart health and blood flow. Increasing health consciousness among consumers and awareness regarding the favorable attributes of dark chocolate as a healthy indulgence has been driving its demand. The Global Dark Chocolate Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 144.71 Billion in 2024 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.0% over the forecast period 2024 to 2031. Key Takeaways
Key players operating in the dark chocolate market are Mars Inc., The Hershey Company, NestlĂŠ S.A., Godiva, Amul, Lindt & SprĂźngli AG, Ghirardelli Chocolate Co., Patchi, Harry & David Holdings, Inc., and Mondelez International. These major players dominate the global market with their variety of dark chocolate products across price segments. The growing popularity of dark chocolate due to its health benefits has encouraged established as well as emerging new players to enter the market and introduce new product lines. The demand for dark chocolate is growing exponentially worldwide due to increasing health awareness among consumers and recognition of dark chocolate as a healthier alternative to ordinary chocolates. Dark chocolate consumption has surged for health-conscious consumers, athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Furthermore, rising disposable incomes in developing nations have enabled customers to opt for premium chocolates including dark chocolate variants.
Technological advancements in chocolate manufacturing such as advanced processing equipment, ingredient treatments, packaging solutions etc. are helping players launch differentiated products, improve shelf-life and gain consumer attraction. Innovation in flavor blends, textures, product forms and formats like ready-to-drink and on-the-go products are also fueling the dark chocolate industry growth. Market Trends
Health and wellness trend - Rising prominence of health attributes of dark chocolate is driving more consumers towards it. Players are prominently highlighting nutritional aspects like antioxidants, minerals etc. on packaging to leverage this trend.
Premiumization trend - Growing brand awareness and disposable incomes have accelerated the demand for premium and super-premium dark chocolate products with novel flavors, innovative formats and exotic sourcing.
Market Opportunities
E-commerce sales - Online retail provides huge opportunities to expand consumer reach and distribution of dark chocolate globally. Players can leverage e-commerce to tap the surging demand from tier-2/3 cities.
Innovative product launches - There is scope to increase penetration with launches of newer variants customized for regional tastes as well as health-oriented products like sugar-free, keto-friendly, vegan options.
The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the global dark chocolate market in several ways. During the initial stages of the pandemic, when lockdowns were imposed worldwide, the demand and sales of dark chocolate declined significantly due to restricted mobility and supply chain disruptions. Production and transportation of raw materials such as cocoa and sugar were hampered. This led to an increase in raw material prices and shortage in supply. Manufacturing and packaging processes faced difficulties maintaining social distancing guidelines, further affecting production volumes. However, as the pandemic ensued and lockdowns continued for longer durations, consumer behavior started changing. People turned to darker varieties of chocolates for their perceived health benefits such as containing antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties and ability to boost mood. Online sales and e-commerce saw substantial growth as consumers preferred contactless shopping from the comfort of their homes. Major players strategized on innovative product launches, appealing packaging and effective digital marketing campaigns to tap into this growing demand through online mediums. As economies start opening up in a phased manner with vaccination drives worldwide, the dark chocolate market is expected to recover steadily. Manufacturers will focus on expanding production capacities, ensuring uninterrupted supply chains, controlling costs and optimizing operations. Consumer preference for health-focused foods and snacks is likely to remain even in the post-pandemic phase. Dark chocolate companies need to prioritize product diversification, sustainable sourcing of cocoa, operational efficiency, omnichannel distribution and regional expansions to strengthen their market presence. In terms of value, Europe accounts for the largest share of revenue in the global dark chocolate market. It is characterized by growing consumer preference for premium and artisanal varieties of dark chocolates containing 70-85% cocoa. North America closely follows Europe as a major market, driven by increasing health consciousness, veganism and clean label trends. The Asia Pacific region has been witnessing rapid growth over the past few years, especially in densely populated countries like China and India, attributed to rising disposable incomes, westernization of diets and expansion of major chocolate brands. The Middle East and Africa region represents the fastest growing market for dark chocolate globally. This can be attributed to exponential population growth rates and economic development witnessed by emerging nations in this region like UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc. Rising chocolate consumption driven by expanding middle classes and importance ascribed to confectionery gifts during religious festivals are driving market growth in MEA at a higher pace compared to other regions.
0 notes
Text
Essential Skills Every Successful Restaurant Owner Should Have â A Guide by the Owner of the Ram's Horn Restaurant
Restaurant ownership requires special skills to adapt quickly to changing environments, anticipating what could occur during busy periods and anticipating potential hurdles ahead.
Implement carry-out and delivery services during COVID-19 lockdowns; create an engaging menu to draw in new customers; or implement other services to maximize profitability in your restaurant. To succeed at running your restaurant successfully, master these essential skills:
1. Customer Service
Customer service is one of the cornerstones of running a restaurant successfully, as it plays an essential role in developing relationships and satisfying guests. Customer service could take many forms: simply making sure every guest feels welcome or going the extra mile to create an unforgettable dining experience for everyone.
The owner of Ramâs Horn Restaurant Fraser suggests that restaurant owners should set clear guidelines for their staff for customer service, including training on proper etiquette and creating protocols for handling various situations. Delivering outstanding customer service will result in happy customers and an ever-thriving business.  Â
A critical customer service skill is making quick decisions when necessary. If an issue with one of their guests' meals or an item runs out quickly, a good manager should have no trouble coming up with an effective solution immediately. Furthermore, restaurant owners who prioritize customer service usually set up processes for overseeing inventory and tracking financials that help guarantee they have enough resources for success in running their restaurant.
2. Management
Many dreams of becoming restaurant owners because they love the industry, but many more aspects must come together for any restaurant to succeed. Accounting, staff scheduling, and inventory management tasks must all come together seamlessly for success to occur - using a restaurant POS with all-in-one management systems can streamline these tedious processes while leaving more time for more enjoyable tasks like socializing!
Effective leadership is another essential aspect of restaurant ownership. Ram's Horn Restaurant's owner mentioned that managers need to set clear expectations, provide constructive feedback, and effectively handle problems when they arise. Furthermore, having a friendly personality among their staff makes working harder more likely.
Attracting customers requires perseverance; most restaurants fail within their first year. With low industry profit margins and tight regulations limiting profits to single digits, only experienced restaurateurs can successfully manage operational hurdles while maintaining consistent profits. As per the owner of Ram's Horn Restaurant, a good restaurant manager must possess both problem-solving abilities and an enthusiasm for food and hospitality.
3. Inventory Management
An effective restaurant owner must be able to make quick decisions during busy service. Being responsive quickly can make a critical difference when handling customer issues or food shortages, so short decision-making skills can make all the difference in customer experience.
One essential ability of any successful restaurant manager is their inventory control abilities. Restaurants require ordering large amounts of food in advance and could lose significant funds by not selling through all their purchases, as mentioned by the owner of Ram's Horn Restaurant. Regularly monitor the sell-through rate to prevent this scenario while creating an organized inventory system.
Restaurants should take inventory twice daily - before and after service - for optimal accuracy and to ensure items that must be used immediately are in front while items that can be used later are in the back. Furthermore, adopting a first-in, first-out policy helps reduce waste significantly; many restaurants opt to invest in an inventory management system with easy-to-read reports.
4. Finance
An effective restaurant business requires significant capital to start and grow, and successful owners must be able to manage their finances effectively and know exactly where and when they spend it. They should also know how best to market their restaurant to attract customers and increase sales.
It involves understanding what foods people prefer and developing new dishes to meet these preferences. Furthermore, this involves monitoring P&L statements regularly to assess the restaurant's health and identify issues as they arise.
Establishing an atmosphere conducive to teamwork means fostering an atmosphere where employees and managers feel free to openly communicate with the owner about any concerns affecting the establishment, such as issues affecting supplies or when employees must leave due to personal emergencies. Problem-solving skills also play an essential part in this equation - these allow an owner to be flexible enough to adapt quickly when unexpected circumstances arise.
5. Marketing
Marketing skills are critical for driving customers and increasing profits in any restaurant business. They include creating a compelling brand identity and advertising plan, being aware of current trends, and recognizing opportunities.
Because restaurants rely heavily on repeat business to remain profitable, effective marketing is critical to increasing revenue and driving profitability. Social media should also be leveraged effectively in this process to raise brand awareness and generate word-of-mouth referrals, according to the owner of Ramâs Horn Restaurant Fraser.
Leadership is another essential characteristic of restaurant owners. This involves creating an atmosphere that fosters teamwork, motivating staff to achieve maximum potential, accepting feedback as an avenue for continuous improvement of operations, and remaining open to suggestions about improving the operation.
Though it is impossible for restaurant owners to master all these skills simultaneously, they should at least possess the capacity to prioritize tasks and delegate them as appropriate to members of their management team. Furthermore, it is essential they can read financial documents effectively as well as balance their profit and loss statements regularly.
0 notes
Text
The Impact of COVID-19 on Malaysia's Foodservice Market: Adaptations and Resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on Malaysia's foodservice market, prompting significant adaptations and resilience efforts within the industry.
For more channel insights in the Malaysia foodservice market, download a free sample report
Here's an overview of how the sector has been affected and the strategies adopted in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic:
1. Disruption to Operations:
Lockdowns and Movement Restrictions: The implementation of lockdowns and movement restrictions severely impacted the restaurant industry, leading to closures, reduced operating hours, and limited dine-in services.
2. Shift to Delivery and Takeout:
Rise of Food Delivery Services: To adapt to restrictions on dine-in services, many restaurants shifted their focus to food delivery and takeout services. This led to an increased reliance on food delivery platforms.
3. Digital Transformation:
Online Ordering and Contactless Payments: Restaurants embraced digital solutions, implementing online ordering systems and contactless payment methods to minimize physical contact and enhance safety for both customers and staff.
4. Menu Simplification:
Streamlining Operations: To cope with challenges such as supply chain disruptions and reduced staff capacity, many restaurants simplified their menus, focusing on core offerings to improve efficiency.
5. Hygiene and Safety Measures:
Enhanced Sanitation Protocols: Stringent hygiene and safety measures were implemented, including increased sanitation, temperature checks, and social distancing within dining spaces, to reassure customers and comply with health regulations.
6. Collaboration with Food Platforms:
Partnerships with Delivery Platforms: Many restaurants collaborated with food delivery platforms to reach a broader customer base and maintain revenue streams during periods of restricted dine-in services.
7. Government Support and Incentives:
Financial Assistance: The Malaysian government introduced various financial assistance programs and incentives to support businesses, including those in the foodservice sector, to weather the economic impact of the pandemic.
8. Adaptive Business Models:
Ghost Kitchens and Cloud Kitchens: Some businesses explored alternative models, such as ghost kitchens and cloud kitchens, to reduce overhead costs and focus on fulfilling delivery orders without the need for a traditional dine-in space.
9. Consumer Behavior Shifts:
Preference for Safety: Consumer preferences shifted towards establishments that prioritized safety measures, cleanliness, and transparency about their adherence to health guidelines.
10. Resilience and Innovation:
Menu Innovation: Despite challenges, some restaurants embraced innovation by introducing new menu items, promotions, and loyalty programs to maintain customer engagement and interest.
11. Reopening and Recovery:
Gradual Resumption of Dine-In Services: With the easing of restrictions, restaurants gradually resumed dine-in services, but many continued to prioritize safety measures and maintain an online presence.
12. Global Supply Chain Challenges:
Impact on Ingredients and Supplies: Disruptions in the global supply chain affected the availability and cost of certain ingredients, leading to menu adjustments and cost management strategies.
13. Vaccination Efforts:
Impact of Vaccination Rollout: The rollout of vaccination programs influenced consumer confidence, and the industry's recovery was influenced by the success of vaccination efforts in managing the spread of the virus.
The resilience of Malaysia's foodservice market during the COVID-19 pandemic has been evident through its ability to adapt to changing circumstances, embrace digital transformation, and implement innovative strategies. While challenges persist, the industry's response reflects its determination to navigate the evolving landscape and recover with a focus on safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
0 notes
Text
Navigating the Pandemic: How Social Media is Shaping Malaysia's COVID-19 Response
In the era of digital communication, social media has become an indispensable tool for sharing information, connecting people, and shaping public opinion. When it comes to public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of social media in disseminating information and fostering a sense of community cannot be overstated. In this blog, I will delve into how social media has been used to spread information about COVID-19 in Malaysia and its impact on the country's response to the pandemic. The Power of Social Media during the Pandemic Social media platforms have kept Malaysians informed and engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some ways in which these platforms have been beneficial: 1. Real-time Updates Social media allows the dissemination of real-time information. Government healthcare agencies such as Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia and health experts like Noor Hisham Abdullah have used platforms like Twitter and Facebook to share updates on COVID-19 cases, vaccination schedules, and safety guidelines. This immediate access to information has empowered Malaysians to make informed decisions and stay safe.
2. Community Support Online communities, such as "Caremongering Malaysia - Community Response to COVID19" (a Facebook group), have emerged as platforms where Malaysians share experiences, concerns, and support. These communities have helped individuals navigate the challenges brought on by the pandemic, from finding essential supplies to accessing mental health resources. This showcases the power of digital communities in fostering solidarity during times of crisis.
3. Myths or Misinformation Debunking Social media has been instrumental in debunking COVID-19-related myths and misinformation. It has provided a platform for experts to counter false claims and share scientific knowledge, ultimately contributing to a more informed public. For example, "Sarawak Disaster Information" on their Facebook page has actively clarified misinformation, such as the false news claiming that the State Government of Sarawak initiated a challenge for the public to have 3 days of total lockdown.
4. Government Engagement Malaysian government agencies and officials have actively used platforms like Instagram and YouTube to engage with the public. Through informative videos and interactive sessions, they have addressed concerns and explained the government's strategies to combat the pandemic. This interactive approach on social media highlights the government's commitment to transparent communication and building trust within the digital community, effectively bridging the gap between authorities and the public. 5. Vaccination Campaigns The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia received extensive coverage on social media. Vaccine selfies have encouraged others to get vaccinated, fostering a sense of community responsibility. These campaigns have increased vaccination rates and demonstrated the power of social media in creating a united front against the pandemic, showing how digital communities can unite for a common cause.
Challenges and Dangers of Social Media
While social media has been an invaluable tool for spreading information about COVID-19, there are also challenges and dangers associated with its use: 1. Misinformation The same platforms that help debunk myths also spread them. Misinformation can be disseminated quickly, making it essential for users to critically evaluate the sources of information. Therefore, as users, we must be vigilant and responsible in curating and sharing information, recognizing the need for fact-checking within digital communities.
2. Anxiety & Fatigue The constant influx of information can be overwhelming, leading to information fatigue and anxiety. Research shows that a significant portion of users experience panic attacks, and social media plays a substantial role in spreading inaccurate information (Lelisho et al. 2022, pp. 125-136). Therefore, as users, we must find a balance between staying informed and preserving our mental health.
The Conversation Aspect Public health campaigns on social media can be one-way communication and a conversation. While official channels primarily disseminate information, they often encourage user engagement through comments, likes, and shares. Interactive elements like Q&A sessions, polls, and live streams foster two-way communication and allow the public to seek clarification and share their concerns. This dynamic interaction within digital communities ensures that public health campaigns are not just about information dissemination but also about engaging with and addressing the community's concerns.
Conclusion Social media has proven to be a powerful tool in spreading information about COVID-19 in Malaysia. It has enabled real-time updates, fostered a sense of community, and engaged the public in critical conversations. However, the reliance on social media also comes with challenges, such as the spread of misinformation and privacy concerns. To maximize its potential, it's essential to use social media thoughtfully, critically evaluate information, and engage in constructive dialogue, turning it into a force for positive change in public health campaigns.
Reference(s) Lelisho ME, Pandey D, Alemu BD, Pandey BK & Tareke SA 2022, 'The Negative Impact of Social Media during COVID-19 Pandemic', Trends in Psychology 2023; vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 123â142, viewed 16 October 2023, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9110023/pdf/43076_2022_Article_192.pdf.>
0 notes
Text
Supply Chain Security Market Size, Growth and Forecast, 2022-2031
According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, âSupply Chain Security Market,â The supply chain security market size was valued at $2 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $6.3 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 12.6% from 2022 to 2031.
Supply chain security is the management of the supply chain that focuses on risk management of external suppliers, vendors, logistics, and transportation. It identifies, analyzes, and mitigates risks associated with working with outside organizations as part of your supply chain. It can include both physical security and cybersecurity for software and devices. Though there are no established one-size-fits-all guidelines for supply chain security, a complete strategy requires combining risk management principles with cyber defense while also taking governmental protocols into account.
Companies are highly adopting supply chain security solutions as it has become imperative to prevent their company from any cyber-attacks. To address these issues, companies are adopting supply chain security solutions. An increase in supply chain attacks, rise in ransoms, demands for better risk prediction and mitigation, growing number of IoT devices in the supply chain, and excessive adoption of automation technology are some of the factors that are increasing the demand for the supply chain security market.
Furthermore, major market players have undertaken various strategies to increase the competition and offer enhanced services to their customers. For instance, in September 2022, Accenture acquired MacGregor Partners, a leading supply chain consultancy and technology provider specializing in intelligent logistics and warehouse management. The acquisition expands Accentureâs supply chain network and fulfillment transformation capabilities powered by Blue Yonder technology. Therefore, such a strategy helps to grow the supply chain security market in the upcoming years.
On the basis of component, the software segment is the highest growing segment. This is attributed to the fact that, as software segment of the supply chain security market provides various software solutions that help organizations protect their supply chain from cyber threats and other security risks. However, the service segment is considered to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. This is because there is an increasing demand for cloud-based solutions, which offer greater scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness compared to on-premises solutions, which is one of the key trends of the market. Moreover, the growing adoption of advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to better predict and prevent supply chain disruptions, helps to boost the market in the upcoming years.
By region, North America attained the highest growth in 2021. This is attributed to the fact that, the supply chain security market in North America is expected to continue its growth trajectory due to the increasing demand for secure and reliable supply chains, government regulations and initiatives, and the adoption of advanced technologies. However, the Asia-Pacific region is considered to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period. This is because of the regionâs expanding economies, increasing trade volumes, and growing demand for secure and efficient supply chain operations. Thus, these factors propel the growth of the market in the Asia Pacific region.
Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/54165
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a moderate impact on the supply chain security market, both in terms of demand for solutions and changes in the market landscape. One major impact of the pandemic has been an increase in demand for supply chain security solutions, as companies have had to adapt to disruptions in global supply chains caused by lockdowns, travel restrictions, and other pandemic-related factors. This has led to an increased focus on supply chain visibility, risk management, and resilience, with many companies investing in technologies such as IoT sensors, blockchain, and artificial intelligence to improve their supply chain security. At the same time, the pandemic has also led to changes in the competitive landscape of the supply chain security market. For instance, some established vendors have struggled as a result of disruptions to their own supply chains, while others have seen increased demand for their services. In addition, new players have entered the market, offering innovative solutions to address emerging supply chain security challenges. Overall, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of supply chain security market and has led to increased investment in solutions that can help companies to mitigate risks and ensure the continuity of their operations. Therefore, the COVID-19 moderately impacted the supply chain security market.
Key findings of the study
By security type, the data protection segment generated the highest revenue in supply chain security market share in 2021.
By enterprise size, the small and medium-sized enterprises segment is expected to register the highest growth rate during the supply chain security market forecast.
By end user, the retail and e-commerce segment led the supply chain security market in terms of revenue in 2021.
By region, North America generated the highest revenue in 2021.
The key players profiled in the supply chain security market analysis are Accenture, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Cold Chain Technologies, Controlant, Emerson Electric Co., IBM, NXP Semiconductors, Omega Compliance, SailPoint Technologies, Inc., and Tagbox. These players have adopted various strategies to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry.
About Us:
Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of âMarket Research Reports Insightsâ and âBusiness Intelligence Solutions.â AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.
Contact Us:
David Correa
1209 Orange Street
Corporation Trust Center
Wilmington
New Castle
Delaware 19801
USA Intâl: +1â503â894â6022
Toll Free: +1â800â792â5285
Fax: +1â800â792â5285
#Supply Chain Security Market#Supply Chain Security#Software and Services#Data Protection#Data Visibility and Governance
0 notes
Text
Adapting to COVID and Lockdown Challenges: How AI Sales Enablement Leads Business Resilience
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on businesses worldwide. Lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, and changing consumer behaviors have presented unprecedented challenges. However, amidst these difficulties, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has emerged as a beacon of hope, offering innovative solutions for sales enablement, marketing, and product innovation. In this blog, weâll explore how AI is transforming businesses by addressing the unique challenges posed by COVID-19 and lockdowns.
AI Sales Enablement: Unlocking New Possibilities
The traditional sales model, heavily reliant on face-to-face interactions, was severely impacted by lockdowns and social distancing measures. AI stepped in to bridge the gap, offering sales teams powerful tools to adapt and thrive:
1. Virtual Sales Assistants: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants became essential for businesses. These intelligent bots can engage with customers 24/7, answer queries, and guide them through the sales process, all while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
2. Predictive Analytics: With the uncertainty brought by the pandemic, businesses needed to make data-driven decisions. AI-driven predictive analytics helped sales teams forecast demand, identify trends, and optimize their sales strategies in real-time.
3. Personalization: Understanding individual customer preferences became even more critical in the absence of in-person interactions. AI algorithms analyze data to offer tailored product recommendations, boosting sales and customer satisfaction.
AI for Marketing and Product Innovation: Meeting Shifting Consumer Demands
Consumer behaviors shifted drastically during the pandemic. People turned to online shopping, digital experiences, and contactless services. AI played a pivotal role in helping businesses adapt:
Digital Marketing Optimization: With physical advertising channels less effective, businesses turned to digital marketing. AI-driven tools enable marketers to optimize ad campaigns, target the right audiences, and allocate resources efficiently.
2. Customer Insights: AI analyzes vast amounts of customer data to provide insights into changing preferences and behaviors. This information fuels product innovation by helping businesses create offerings that resonate with evolving market demands.
3. Supply Chain Management: Disruptions in supply chains forced businesses to rethink their operations. AI-enabled predictive analytics helped optimize inventory management, ensuring products were available when and where customers needed them.
AI Solutions for Business: A Resilient Future
The pandemic highlighted the importance of resilience and adaptability for businesses. AI solutions proved invaluable in navigating the uncertain terrain:
1. Remote Work Optimization: AI-powered tools for project management, employee engagement, and collaboration helped businesses transition to remote work seamlessly.
2. Cost Optimization: AI-driven cost optimization models analyzed expenses and identified areas for savings, vital for businesses facing financial uncertainties.
3. Risk Management: AIâs ability to process vast datasets quickly allowed businesses to assess and mitigate risks effectively, enabling better decision-making during turbulent times.
Conclusion
As we continue to navigate the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the uncertainties of lockdowns, AI has demonstrated its capability to transform businesses. From sales enablement to marketing and product innovation, AI solutions have empowered organizations to adapt, thrive, and meet the evolving needs of consumers. While the pandemic has been a formidable test, it has also showcased the resilience and innovation that AI brings to the business world, offering hope and possibilities for a brighter and more agile future. Embracing AI is not just an option; itâs a strategic imperative for businesses seeking to thrive in the post-pandemic landscape.
0 notes
Text
Cultural Crackdown in China Shuts Comedy and Music Shows
Performances across the country were canceled last week
The cancellations rippled across the country: A Japanese choral band touring China, stand-up comedy shows in several cities, jazz shows in Beijing. In the span of a few days, the performances were among more than a dozen that were abruptly called off â some just minutes before they were supposed to begin â with virtually no explanation. Just before the performances were scrapped, the authorities in Beijing had fined a Chinese comedy studio around $2 million, after one of its stand-up performers was accused of insulting the Chinese military in a joke; the police in northern China also detained a woman who had defended the comedian online. Those penalties, and the sudden spate of cancellations that followed, point to the growing scrutiny of Chinaâs already heavily censored creative landscape. Chinaâs top leader, Xi Jinping, has made arts and culture a central arena for ideological crackdowns, demanding that artists align their creative ambitions with Chinese Communist Party goals and promote a nationalist vision of Chinese identity. Performers must submit scripts or set lists for vetting, and publications are closely monitored. On Tuesday, Mr. Xi sent a letter to the National Art Museum of China for its 60th anniversary, reminding staff to âadhere to the correct political orientation.â Mr. Xiâs emphasis on the arts is also part of a broader preoccupation with national security and eliminating supposedly malign foreign influence. The authorities in recent weeks have raided the corporate offices of several Western consulting or advisory companies based in China, and broadened the range of behaviors covered under counterespionage laws. Xi Jinping, Chinaâs top leader, sent a letter to the National Art Museum of China on Tuesday reminding staff there to âadhere to the correct political orientation. Many of the canceled events were supposed to feature foreign performers or speakers. It was only to be expected that Beijing would also look to the cultural realm, as its deteriorating relationship with the West has made it more fixated on maintaining its grip on power at home, said Zhang Ping, a former journalist and political commentator in China who now lives in Germany. âOne way to respond to anxiety about power is to increase control,â said Mr. Zhang, who writes under the pen name Chang Ping. âDictatorships have always sought to control peopleâs entertainment, speech, laughter and tears.â While the party has long regulated the arts â one target of the Cultural Revolution was creative work deemed insufficiently ârevolutionaryâ â the intensity has increased sharply under Mr. Xi. In 2021, a state-backed performing arts association published a list of morality guidelines for artists, which included prescriptions for patriotism. The same year, the government banned âsissy menâ from appearing on television, accusing them of weakening the nation. Image A bookstore in Zibo, China. Literature is closely regulated by the authorities.Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times Officials have also taken notice of stand-up comedy, which has gained popularity in recent years and offered a rare medium for limited barbs about life in contemporary China. The government fined a comedian for making jokes about last yearâs coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai. Peopleâs Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, published a commentary in November that said jokes had to be âmoderateâ and noted that stand-up as an art form was a foreign import; the Chinese name for stand-up, âtuo kou xiu,â is itself a transliteration from âtalk show.â The recent crackdown began after an anonymous social media user complained about a set that a popular stand-up comedian, Li Haoshi, performed in Beijing on May 13. Mr. Li, who uses the stage name House, had said that watching his two adopted stray dogs chase a squirrel reminded him of a Chinese military slogan: âMaintain exemplary conduct, fight to win.â The user suggested that Mr. Li had slanderously compared soldiers to wild dogs. Outrage grew among nationalist social media users, and the authorities quickly piled on. In addition to fining Xiaoguo Culture Media, the firm that manages Mr. Li, the authorities â who said the joke had a âvile societal impactâ â indefinitely suspended the companyâs performances in Beijing and Shanghai. Xiaoguo fired Mr. Li, and the Beijing police said they were investigating him. Within hours of the penalty being announced on Wednesday, organizers of stand-up shows in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and eastern Shandong Province canceled their performances. A few days later, Chinese social media platforms suspended the accounts of Uncle Roger, a Britain-based Malaysian comic whose real name is Nigel Ng; Mr. Ng had posted a video poking fun at the Chinese government on Twitter (which is banned in mainland China). But the apparent fallout was not limited to comedy. Scheduled musical performances began disappearing, too, including a stop in southern China by a Shanghai rock band that includes foreign members, a Beijing folk music festival and several jazz performances, and a Canadian rapperâs show in the southern city of Changsha. The frontman of a Buddhist-influenced Japanese chorus group, Kissaquo, said last Wednesday that his concert that night in the southern city of Guangzhou had been canceled. Hours later, the frontman, Kanho Yakushiji, said a performance in Hangzhou, in eastern China, had been canceled, too. And the next day, he announced that Beijing and Shanghai shows had also been called off. âI was writing a set list, but I stopped in the middle,â Mr. Yakushiji, whose management company did not respond to a request for comment, wrote on his Facebook page. âI still donât understand what the meaning of all this is. I have nothing but regrets.â Organizersâ announcements for nearly all of the canceled events cited âforce majeure,â a term that means circumstances beyond oneâs control â and, in China, has often been used as shorthand for government pressure. Stand-up show organizers did not return requests for comment. Several organizers of canceled musical performances denied that they had been told not to feature foreigners. An employee at a Nanjing music venue that canceled a tribute to the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto said not enough tickets had been sold. Image A Chinese rock band concert in Qinhuangdao, China, last year. Scheduled musical performances have been canceled, with organizers citing âforce majeure.âCredit...Wu Hao/EPA, via Shutterstock Some of the foreign musicians whose shows were canceled have since been able to perform in other cities or at other venues. But a foreign musician in Beijing, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said his band was scheduled to play at a bar on Sunday and was told by the venue several days before that the gig was canceled because featuring foreigners would bring trouble. Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto, said it was unlikely that the central government had issued direct instructions to spur the recent cultural crackdowns. Local governments or venue owners, conscious of how the political environment had changed, were likely being especially cautious, she said. âIn Xiâs China, people are so scared and fearful that they become extremely risk-averse,â she said. âOverall, itâs a very paranoid party.â In the past, when nationalism has gone to extremes, or local officials overzealously enforced the rules, the central government would eventually step in to cool down the rhetoric, in part to preserve economic or diplomatic relationships. But Professor Ong said Beijingâs current emphasis on security above all would give it no reason to intervene here. âIf people donât watch comedy, thereâs no loss for the party,â she said. Joy Dong and Li You contributed research. Vivian Wang is a China correspondent based in Beijing, where she writes about how the country's global rise and ambitions are shaping the daily lives of its people. @vwang3 ek after Beijing began investigating a stand-up comedian. Cultural Crackdown in China Shuts Comedy and Music Shows Read the full article
0 notes
Text
2 examples of popular advertisements brought to us by the pandemic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfXkbJlHgDU&pp=ygULcGFuZGVtaWMgYWQ%3D The advertisement depicts a woman watching the morning news when it is announced that a virus has started to surface, this causes lockdowns all over the country and it was unclear whether she would go outside again. The news seemingly never ends, as it continues to announce new variants of the virus and more community guidelines that prevent people from going outside. It shows the slow descent of her hygiene and self-care as she slowly gains weight and acne on her face. In the end it shows that she has gained an immense amount of weight, has overgrown facial hair, and has also gained a lot of acne on her face. The end shows her receiving a call with her friends as the ad fades to a message by the Belo company. The intended audiences are the people who use beauty products and have a worry for their self - image. The products helped the audience take care of themselves, however it does not fully tackle the problem shown in the ad. While the Belo company can solve some of the problems shown in the ad, it may not be able to fix all of them as some of them can be avoided through the proper maintenance and care of our bodies. The ad wants to make it feel like their services are the only option in looking good again. There were forms of media manipulation in the ad with the most prominent being fear mongering. The advertisement wanted to feed into the fear of how we would look if we let go of ourselves based on the person shown in it. They used that fear in order to influence the peoplesâ decision into buying their beauty products and services with the hopes that they would not end up like the person shown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-N8K0xRaeY&t=121s The advertisement shows a story of a man and the world falling apart around him. It insinuated the damages the COVID - 19 pandemic would bring, for the man it meant losing his business. He claimed that everyone he knew lost something valuable to them or someone who they loved dearly. In his own life his family struggled to accept the situation, people they knew were sick and felt like everything was a struggle. This came with the realization that even with everything going on they still had each other, with that they spent all the time they could with one another and tried to make the most of the bad situation.Their family spent time doing activities such as storytelling and playing with all the free time they had due to the lack of an occupation and other factors that prevent it. Later on they grab a Jollibee family meal to symbolize the importance of family and the bond between them. It is at the end when the narrator reveals that in his memory, that was the year of family. He passes this knowledge onto his granddaughter who wants her to know that even when times get tough, she should not take things for granted. The targeted audience are the general public that are getting through the pandemic, specifically families. Jollibeeâs products are one way to help get families together but are still not the best way to do so. There are many ways for families to get together that do not require Jollibee or even food for it to happen. While it can help, Jollibee is a fast food company which is not necessarily 100% good for the health of the consumers. The ad features little to no trace of media manipulation as it only featured a genuine story and did not try to trick the viewers into buying their product. The ad however wanted to get people to buy their product through these stories, in the hopes that they are captivating enough for people to buy their products as an appreciation gesture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-N8K0xRaeY&t=121s
1 note
¡
View note
Text
2022 In Review
The first year of the post-pandemic era has gone fairly well, to say the least. I had lofty plans for this year, like the big instalments I have lined up for Kisekae Insights, Doctor Who 10 for 10 or getting back into the Koei Tecmo fandom with a new review series, but those things have had to be pushed back because for most of this year, I was working on my version of Kamen Rider Zi-O for my personal project, which was meant to have aired late last year. I initially thought I could have everything done in 4 months, but I ended up taking basically the whole year to do it.
One thing that I learnt after going through six lockdowns and my first year of full-time work is that I can only focus on one project at a time and I shouldnât be obligated to run to my own schedule, so I decided to break the script and just release stuff whenever I felt like it, though I like to have a bit of a loose guideline to help build a sort of schedule. Anyway, despite being unable to complete most of what I wanted to do this year, I managed to achieve some other things as well.
Iâm releasing this yearâs review a little earlier because I want to get it over and done with, so letâs jump right into it.
Sea Princesses
So last year, I decided to embrace the Sea Princesses renaissance and even got involved with a few people in it as well. After covering Liamasterinkâs Sea Princesses Iceberg videos and giving my own takes on them, I was asked by him to do a review of his fanarts. In that review, I decided to fully call him out for posting horny on main, which I held back on in Iceberg Part 2. Since then, a couple other people, namely VotrexGames (his videoâs been deleted now) and VistaMacaw have called him out on similar subjects as well. To his credit, Liam has taken the criticisms well and over the past few months, he has been doing considerably less contentious content, which was mostly requested by a fan on his channel. On that note, I want to specifically point out that I never said that he shouldnât be hornyposting at all, but that I wanted him to be mindful of what he posts considering the platforms he is on and the demographics of his audience; if he insists on hornyposting, then there are certainly other platforms out there that are rather accommodating of such contents.
After briefly joining MJZD Gamingâs Discord server for Sea Princesses and leaving after feeling like I was being a nuisance, I decided to come back for real, but surprisingly, the serverâs dead most of the time. My correspondence with Liam, however, did move from Tumblr to Discord, which was a good thing since Tumblrâs asks donât keep receipts if you reply privately and the chat system is a bit janky. Later on, I also joined a couple other Sea Princesses-related servers by invitation, but I donât really do anything because theyâre practically dead most of the time. I really should do something lol.
I spent a couple of months working on a Sea Princesses music video and the kid who inspired me to do it reposted the video, didnât give me credit and deleted one of my fanâs comments when they called him out on it. I donât have any other plans for videos like this relating to Sea Princesses, but in the future, Iâm looking to post some other music videos and memes Iâve made over the years, possibly in relation to Kisekae Insights instalments.
Later on, I took a monthâs break from writing Zi-O (after finishing the main series and just before writing the epilogue specials) to work on the v2 book transcripts and translations along with refreshed versions of the book and cartoon reviews as part of the Sea Princesses Refresh. I didnât mention this when I made the post about it, but there were some things that I did manage to miss in translation. They have been fixed now, but I hope I wonât have to revisit any mistakes again because Iâve been a bit of a perfectionist and having to revisit things is admittedly taking time away from me doing other things.
September 2022 also marked the 15th anniversary of Sea Princesses premiering in Australia, which I celebrated with a special instalment of Kisekae Insights. On a similar note, I also noticed that 2024 will mark the 20th anniversary of the book that started it all. I brought this up with Fabio Yabu and he said that he would talk to his publisher about an anniversary edition or something. Since I also want to take advantage of this occasion regardless of whether Yabu will be publishing anything substantial, I would like to announce that just as Russell T Davies is writing three Doctor Who specials featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate for the 60th anniversary, I will be writing a one-off continuation fanfic for Sea Princesses, currently titled The Conquerors of the Lost and Forgotten.
Hereâs what I can tell you now. The story will be compatible with both the book and animated series continuities as the canon that this story is set in is one where both continuities are intertwined. Thereâs going to be quite a bit of meta-humour and Iâm probably going to throw a few memes (mostly from mainland China) in there as well. The story doesnât take place in the universe of my personal project, but some elements from it will be in there as it will be a condensed interpretation of the Sea Princesses storylines but without all the Kamen Rider stuff. In addition to this being a love letter to the series, itâs also going to be a love letter to the renaissance, so Iâm unashamedly going to include shoutouts in the form of characters named after people who have contributed to it, along with Liamasterinkâs original characters and storylines (because I only have like 1 or 2 OCs lol). Iâm going to spend the next year writing it, then figure out how to release it when we get to 2024.
Doctor Who
After the disappointment that was Flux and Eve of the Daleks from towards the end of last year, the Thirteenth Doctor Reviews concluded with Legend of the Sea Devils and The Power of the Doctor, which honestly turned out better than I expected because my scores for those specials slightly redeemed the total score for Series 13. Although I said that I would continue doing reviews of new episodes with the RTD2 era and Ncuti Gatwa, I felt like I was rushing into it when it was announced that the new episodes would be exclusive to Disney+ outside of the UK and Ireland, meaning that the ABC no longer has the rights to them so I canât watch them on ABC iView right after itâs aired in the UK. I know Iâll find a way around this, itâs just that the news did a number on my interest to do those reviews.
Last year, I promised that I would do Doctor Who 10 for 10 as a weekly series, but by June this year, I realised that I probably wouldnât have time for it because I was so focused on Kamen Rider Zi-O. I did the heading for the first post in September last year, then worked on it occasionally in February and March. Barring minor changes, I only have 2 out of 10 points left to finish for the Series 1 post and given all the discourse regarding Noel Clarke and John Barrowman, Iâm probably going to have quite a bit to say about it. Doctor Who 10 for 10 will be the first thing Iâm going to work on in 2023 and each part will be released when they are done; it wonât be a weekly series.
Kisekae Insights
Like I said, I was too busy working on Zi-O to cover what I wanted to cover in Kisekae Insights, starting off with the My Little Pony instalments. I began working on some material that would be required for those instalments, but by the time I originally planned to do them, I thought that it would be better to work on some smaller topics, plus I havenât really had time to finish what I needed for the MLP instalments. As such, the third run of Kisekae Insights was a short one, but the fourth run will begin sometime in 2023.
Koei Warriors things
After announcing my intentions to come back to the Koei Tecmo fanbase with my own lineup of content, including reviews of Koei Warriors games, I only got to do one or two things before I had to focus on writing Zi-O. At the same time, thanks to me building a gaming PC last year, I got to play basically all the Koei Warriors games I could play, whether it was their PC games, the Samurai Warriors games on my PS3 emulator, or going back to the classic Dynasty Warriors games on my PS2 emulator. Unfortunately, Dynasty Warriors Godseekers crashed while trying to play the first mission and I donât think the Vita emulatorâs polished enough yet because I canât play the aforementioned game and Dynasty Warriors Next without significant glitches, which means that I am unable to review those games, however I might give my thoughts when I get to it.
As I gradually played through those games, my love for Koei Warriors games started to be rekindled despite my thoughts on them in the past - in fact, itâs mostly because of those thoughts (which Iâll elaborate when I get to them) that I play the Japanese/Asian versions of the games where possible (also because some games were never released to the West so the Japanese versions are the only way I can play them). However, when it comes to the Dynasty Warriors Empires games, I might have to play the English versions because of the nature of those games (and besides, the only version of 7 Empires I could easily get was the English version). Samurai Warriors Empires games will be reviewed with the Japanese version because the PS3 port of 2 Empires and 3 Empires were only released in Japan and also because I played 4 and 4-II in Japanese and I wanted to import my edit characters into 4 Empires. Right now, Iâm beginning to have an interest in reviewing Dynasty Warriors 9 and Samurai Warriors 5, games that I originally never planned to cover given my thoughts on the post-modern era of Koei Tecmo (post-2016).
The Dynasty Warriors Weapon Moveset Power Rankings are still on and they will come before the game reviews, which will form a new Koei Warriors Rant Series from different perspectives to the original. This series will only cover the weapon systems in Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8; if I wanted to do those in 9 it would have to be a separate series after my review of that game. The redo of Warriors Orochi: The Recollective is still in the pipeline.
Responding to a couple of people
This year I made a couple of posts that got attention from a couple of people. The first post was about the ethics of reposting fanart which I made back in March. Five months later in August, an artist named Mazeru reblogged it to her sideblog and it was basically this:
I could have looked over her insults towards me and my fanbase and calmly made a rebuttal to that post, but she really hasnât attempted to make any decent and coherent points that I couldnât easily counter with anything from the post, plus I didnât want to waste my time with someone who clearly wonât see reason. Right now, artists are banding against the rise of AI art and even I think thatâs a better cause to support compared to people reposting art.
I will address a few things from her post, though. Mazeru says that sites like Danbooru tag their artists and link back to the sources, plus they also take posts down if artists request it, however she conveniently neglects to mention that booru sites are (arguably) the biggest source of art reposts. On top of that, booru sites are like wikis for art, so anyone can tag posts and add sources. If the poster wonât add the source, chances are that someone else will do it.
âbUt RePOsTINg oThEr PeOPlE's arTWORkS iS AgAiNsT The TOsâ Social media sites havenât been consistently enforcing their ToS for years now, on top of the fact that DMCA and copyright systems are broken because theyâre either inconsistent or easily exploited by bad actors, so why would you trust them to do anything? People like you are the reason why Elon Musk bought Twitter.
Also, youâre one to tell me âyOU dOn't HaVE a faNBASEâ. I checked your social media accounts. Youâve been on social media (or at least Twitter) for about the same time as me and you donât even have half the followers I have, reposts or no reposts. As iDubbbz once said to RiceGum, âYou have nothing to be boastful about, you fucking moron.â
Despite me disagreeing with like 80% (or thereabouts) of the reblog, never let it be said that Mazeru didnât have a point, even if it was marred in ad hominems and walls of text (a line break doesnât make it a separate paragraph). I made that post because people like the OP of the Twitter thread I was responding to constantly talk down to people who likely wonât be convinced by what they are talking about and I want to bring a dose of reality to the former. It was because of Mazeru that I decided to include artist credits to every Waifu Network post since October this year. If people like a piece enough, theyâll stop at no length to find the source and maybe even follow the artist if they care about them enough, otherwise theyâll just scroll past whether itâs a repost or not.
Iâve already said that abandoning the majority of my fanbase by not reposting art is not an option for me, so stop trying to convince me otherwise. Because I believe in ethical art reposting, I will make sure that artists are credited and sources are included (provided that the original source isnât deleted at the time of posting), I will respect artistsâ wishes if they donât want their art reposted and as an extra, I will refrain from reposting AI-generated art in an effort to support real artists. At the same time, I encourage anyone who sees my posts to support the artists however they can (using the source links or SauceNAO as a starting point), but I canât force anyone to do so.
You called me an ignorant twat, Mazeru, and this compromise is how Iâm responding to you. If you or any other artist donât like it, then you can cope harder.
The second post was the expected copepost I made following the Victorian election in late-November, where the Labor Party received another victory thanks to people who donât understand freedom. Someone called pixies-chasing-white-dandelions reblogged my post to respond to one sentence and then blocked me so I canât see what they wrote unless I go incognito.
If they had a blog behind her Tumblr link then I might have been able to see the post, but they didnât and clicking into the link takes me to the dashboard where the post doesnât load (like with the-archlich, who I had a couple of conversations about English dubs in Koei Warriors games before he blocked me for some reason because I canât see his posts on the dashboard but I can see his posts if I go into his blog).
This is what they wrote below. For a comment that seems pretty benign, you sure are a fucking pussy.
On the day I made the post, I edited it a few times because I rushed it out and didnât get all my thoughts in. The reblog was made just before I was about to make an edit that added âat least in the face of vaccines that werenât as effective as people expected them to beâ.
Look, I can get behind caring about our communities and banding together against bigots, but what I canât get behind is people being forced to do it at the cost of our livelihoods or privileges. Getting vaccinated against the coronavirus has been marketed as something people should be doing for their communities when given what we would later learn, it should have been about themselves and possibly the people around them. The highlighted sentence was really me calling people who support vaccine mandates âentitledâ. I was okay with the mask mandates. I was okay with the lockdowns even though I didnât know the effect it would have on some individuals businesses. But when Daniel Andrews announced that the sixth lockdown would end soon and that our freedom depended on getting vaccinated, that was the last straw for me even though I supported people getting vaccinated (of their own volition no less). The fact that you thought this was about bigots shows that you missed the point of what I was talking about, though I canât fault you that much for that because you reblogged the post before I made the clarification.
Unpopular opinion, but sometimes the people you call âbigotsâ might not be bigots and they might have had a point about some things all along. When you tell people that they have a responsibility to their community and then you threaten them with punishments or loss of privileges for not upholding that responsibility in a society that is supposed to be âfreeâ, people are going to double down and think that other people are not entitled to their contribution to society.
In the end, only you are responsible for your own health, and if you decide you want to be responsible for the health of others by doing things like wearing masks, washing hands and staying home when youâre sick, that is a choice you can make on your own volition which extends from yourself. Basically, everyone else is collateral and they should not be expected to be responsible for your health.
Other current affairs
Unsurprisingly, the situation between Russia and Ukraine is still going on. Regardless of what you think about either countryâs government, I think some empathy needs to go to the Ukranian people for what they are going through and as such, I would prefer to side with Ukraineâs plights even though Iâm not one to virtue signal.
Sadly, despite all efforts and expectations, the Labor Party won the federal election and the Victorian state election, with freedom parties achieving little to no success, which only goes to show that Australians (and by extension the entire world) do not understand freedom. Together with Bidenâs victory in 2019, Trudeauâs reelection in 2021 and Lulaâs election in 2022, I feel that this world is experiencing a shift to the left, which is admittedly a problem in a world of people who do not understand freedom.
Around the time I did a follow-up post to How the world failed Chris-chan, Kiwi Farms was in the midst of a deplatforming campaign led by trans activist Keffals. Although the Kiwi Farms would weather the storm eventually (as they always do somehow), the campaign was largely successful compared to previous attacks (mostly involving DDoSing which is a crime) and as a result, I was unable to access the CWCki to do my research on Chris-chan as they shared the same servers as Kiwi Farms (though the CWCki would later move to different servers separate from them).
Conspiracies about the trans community having power over big tech and society aside, I kind of want to share my thoughts about people being âdoxxedâ by sites like Kiwi Farms which kind of runs into the topic of cancel culture. Personally, the way I see it is that having your personal details leaked isnât as big of a concern compared to the ramifications of it, such as what people could potentially do with that information. Kiwi Farms runs on a platform that laughs and ridicules the antics of internet figures, which may or may not include highlighting or exposing the good and bad things that people do. Trolling plans are generally frowned upon and anyone dumb enough to brag about how they trolled someone is usually ridiculed because of an unspoken âlook, but donât touchâ rule. Although Null may be the owner of the site, he is not responsible for what users do outside of the site, so he or the site as a whole shouldnât really be blamed for anything, including causing suicides. That being said, letâs just say Iâm glad I only discovered the Kiwi Farms after 2017.
If people who have threads on Kiwi Farms donât do lolcow-ish things for a certain period of time, their thread may likely get buried and people will probably stop talking about them. If people keep bringing attention to the existence of their thread by constantly talking about it in an effort to get it taken down, then Kiwi Farms will just laugh at it. The site does not participate in systematic censorship like big tech sites have been doing nowadays, but they remove content that is unlawful in the US or under court order. DMCAs are usually laughed at because they are incomplete or they donât actually break laws.
âWhen you tear out a manâs tongue, you are not proving him a liar, youâre only telling the world that you fear what he might say.â While people may want gossip about them taken down because they are complete lies, I feel that the main reason why people go on these âdeplatforming campaignsâ is because they have something to hide or because the gossip was actually the truth all along. Although I canât speak for everyone, if youâre not a content creator with a large following and you get exposed on Kiwi Farms, my advice would be to stay humble and improve yourself, because the minute you react to these people, theyâll take the first opportunity to laugh at you and keep digging for hidden bones. Like I said, itâs not about being exposed on the internet, itâs about what you do after being exposed.
Moving on now. Elon Musk brought Twitter in an effort to bring free speech back to it. Aside from people on the left being butthurt over a private company doing whatever they want and enforcing rules on themselves that they continuously dodged while people on the right were being censored and deplatformed (thanks to government collusion), people became afraid that Elon Musk would destroy Twitter, to which I say, âCall me back when he actually does something on the scale of Tumblrâs NSFW banâ. However, I donât know if Elon is serious about anything he does because he created a poll asking users if he should resign and a majority voted âYesâ. Then again, Iâm not a CEO who pumps-and-dumps or thinks Taiwan should be a Chinese SAR like Hong Kong or Macau, so yeah. Tumblr updated their NSFW ban to allow nudity on the site (with appropriate community labelling), but when youâve had your inactive NSFW blog deleted for the hilarious justification of âcontent involving minorsâ, you can see why Iâm not interested in going back to it.
People have been moving to defederated social media sites like Mastodon instances as an alternative to Twitter. I would like to say here that I did create an account on a Mastodon instance last year to try it out. I was planning to put a link to it in last yearâs end-of-year review post, but after one of my haters showed that he still lets me live rent-free in his head, I decided against it and I also wonât be putting a link here because I donât want to give him the satisfaction of stalking me in the hope that it can help him move on. All I can say is that my Mastodon is basically just me posting links to the posts on my Tumblr like I do on my Facebook page, along with some reposts of old content here and there (tbf, this is what Iâd do as well if I decided to use Twitter).
Although 2022 may not have been the year some people wanted, there are also things that are worth celebrating. Because I had to finish off my personal project, a few projects I had planned to do this year had to be pushed back, so 2023 for me will be catching up with the pipeline before I propose any new projects.
Since Iâm early enough for it, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all in 2023.
0 notes
Text
MSF Dance Near Me
An important message to the MSF dance fam.
Dear Dance Family,
Firstly, we would like to send our love and well wishes to all in our community who are currently unwell, in isolation or caring for a loved one. We wish for a full recovery and hope to see you in good health and happiness soon.
We know your inbox has been flooded with âour response to the coronavirusâ for 2 years now but as we enter year 3 of this rollercoaster, in the current climate, it feels more important than ever to let you know our plans going forward.
We are aware of all of the uncertainties in the air at the moment, as we feel them too. They are also reflected in our current enrollment numbers. It is clear there is a lot of hesitancy in putting your name down for classes and many people, we suspect, are holding off from enrolling. It feels risky to commit to anything right now and we get that.
We are sad to have not heard from a large portion of our dance family. Dancers who have danced with us for a decade, newbies who started so keenly in term 4 last year, families who are usually so dedicated and loyal and kids who have been consistent right throughout the pandemic up until now. It is heartbreaking that this virus continues to hurt the individuals who are the very heart of our small business. You, our students.
As we are just two weeks off from starting a new dancing year, we wanted to address your concerns as best as we can in the hopes that we might give you some peace of mind, and get these kids back on the dance floor doing what they love.
In the event of:
Your child has to miss class due to being covid positive or isolating as a close contact:Â please let us know that you will be away and we will credit your account for the missed class/es.
If your child is isolating but feels well enough to dance:Â we can set up a device to film class via zoom so your child can participate from home.
If there is a positive case at the studio or in your childâs class:Â although you wonât be considered a close contact, we will still communicate with you so you can look out for symptoms and take any steps you deem appropriate.
A lockdown: We will, like we have always done, run classes via zoom and offer unlimited class participation for all students (within their age groups).
If there is a lockdown and your child cannot participate via zoom:Â please let us know immediately, before zoom classes commence, we will credit your account for the missed lessons.
Covidsafe Plans and Vaccination Requirements
Main St Funk has always and will continue to implement a covidsafe plan that is in line with the current government guidelines. This is continuously updated as the guidelines are ever-changing but we will communicate with you every tweak and update as we have always done. In the same way, vaccination requirements for businesses like ours have changed recently too and we will always uphold our obligation as a small business to keep our community safe. A quick summary is:
Wear a mask
Keep a safe distance
Check-in via the QR code
Show vax certificate before entering (18 years old and older)
Sanitize or wash hands
You can read the full version here:Â https://mainstfunk.com/2020/06/29/covidsafe-plan/
Please enrol now so that you donât miss out.
At this stage, many classes run the risk of being cancelled due to low numbers and others are close to being marked as full. After such a tumultuous two years, we would hate for there to be more disappointment and heartbreak if it turns out your childâs dance class is no longer available to them.Â
While we completely understand that you still may be feeling nervous about returning to the studio, our advice is to enrol now and communicate with us along the way. If it gets to the beginning of term and you still donât feel ready or you are still isolating, let us know and we wonât charge you until you are ready to come back.
Enrol here:Â https://dancestudio-pro.com/online/mainstfunk
If the class times arenât working for you, please talk to us. We are reasonable and flexible and sometimes we can find an alternative class for your child to ensure they can keep dancing.
With so much uncertainty in the air, we are 100 per cent sure of one thing. Main St Funkâs commitment to providing a safe and inclusive environment where all children can grow, dance and laugh in a space dedicated to their happiness and wellbeing.
No, we donât have a crystal ball to know what the next year will bring but we are moving forward with positivity and determination to make this a wonderful year of dance, no matter what.Â
0 notes
Text
Karnataka Unlock Guidelines: Restrictions relaxed in 16 districts, including Bengaluru, from TODAY; what is OPEN vs what is CLOSED - Check full list here
Karnataka Unlock Guidelines: Restrictions relaxed in 16 districts, including Bengaluru, from TODAY; what is OPEN vs what is CLOSED â Check full list here
Karnataka Unlock Guidelines: Lockdown in Karnatakaâs Dakshin Kannada district has been extended till July 5, 2021. However, the Karnataka government on Saturday announced the relaxation in lockdown in 16 districts out of 30, including Bengaluru Urban. The districts where relaxations have been decided, have recorded less than five per cent COVID-19 positivity rate. See Zee Business Live TVâŚ
View On WordPress
#karnataka bangalore lockdown#Karnataka lockdown#karnataka lockdown news#karnataka lockwon what is allowed#karnataka lockwon what is open and what is closed#Karnataka news#karnataka unlock#karnataka unlock 2 guidelines#karnataka unlock 2.0 guidelines 2021#karnataka unlock district list#karnataka unlock guidelines#karnataka unlock guidelines june 2021#karnataka unlock news
0 notes
Text
Essential Skills Every Successful Restaurant Owner Should Have â A Guide by the Owner of the Ram's Horn Restaurant
Restaurant ownership requires special skills to adapt quickly to changing environments, anticipating what could occur during busy periods and anticipating potential hurdles ahead.
Implement carry-out and delivery services during COVID-19 lockdowns; create an engaging menu to draw in new customers; or implement other services to maximize profitability in your restaurant. To succeed at running your restaurant successfully, master these essential skills:
1. Customer Service
Customer service is one of the cornerstones of running a restaurant successfully, as it plays an essential role in developing relationships and satisfying guests. Customer service could take many forms: simply making sure every guest feels welcome or going the extra mile to create an unforgettable dining experience for everyone.
The owner of Ramâs Horn Restaurant Fraser suggests that restaurant owners should set clear guidelines for their staff for customer service, including training on proper etiquette and creating protocols for handling various situations. Delivering outstanding customer service will result in happy customers and an ever-thriving business.  Â
A critical customer service skill is making quick decisions when necessary. If an issue with one of their guests' meals or an item runs out quickly, a good manager should have no trouble coming up with an effective solution immediately. Furthermore, restaurant owners who prioritize customer service usually set up processes for overseeing inventory and tracking financials that help guarantee they have enough resources for success in running their restaurant.
2. Management
Many dreams of becoming restaurant owners because they love the industry, but many more aspects must come together for any restaurant to succeed. Accounting, staff scheduling, and inventory management tasks must all come together seamlessly for success to occur - using a restaurant POS with all-in-one management systems can streamline these tedious processes while leaving more time for more enjoyable tasks like socializing!
Effective leadership is another essential aspect of restaurant ownership. Ram's Horn Restaurant's owner mentioned that managers need to set clear expectations, provide constructive feedback, and effectively handle problems when they arise. Furthermore, having a friendly personality among their staff makes working harder more likely.
Attracting customers requires perseverance; most restaurants fail within their first year. With low industry profit margins and tight regulations limiting profits to single digits, only experienced restaurateurs can successfully manage operational hurdles while maintaining consistent profits. As per the owner of Ram's Horn Restaurant, a good restaurant manager must possess both problem-solving abilities and an enthusiasm for food and hospitality.
3. Inventory Management
An effective restaurant owner must be able to make quick decisions during busy service. Being responsive quickly can make a critical difference when handling customer issues or food shortages, so short decision-making skills can make all the difference in customer experience.
One essential ability of any successful restaurant manager is their inventory control abilities. Restaurants require ordering large amounts of food in advance and could lose significant funds by not selling through all their purchases, as mentioned by the owner of Ram's Horn Restaurant. Regularly monitor the sell-through rate to prevent this scenario while creating an organized inventory system.
Restaurants should take inventory twice daily - before and after service - for optimal accuracy and to ensure items that must be used immediately are in front while items that can be used later are in the back. Furthermore, adopting a first-in, first-out policy helps reduce waste significantly; many restaurants opt to invest in an inventory management system with easy-to-read reports.
4. Finance
An effective restaurant business requires significant capital to start and grow, and successful owners must be able to manage their finances effectively and know exactly where and when they spend it. They should also know how best to market their restaurant to attract customers and increase sales.
It involves understanding what foods people prefer and developing new dishes to meet these preferences. Furthermore, this involves monitoring P&L statements regularly to assess the restaurant's health and identify issues as they arise.
Establishing an atmosphere conducive to teamwork means fostering an atmosphere where employees and managers feel free to openly communicate with the owner about any concerns affecting the establishment, such as issues affecting supplies or when employees must leave due to personal emergencies. Problem-solving skills also play an essential part in this equation - these allow an owner to be flexible enough to adapt quickly when unexpected circumstances arise.
5. Marketing
Marketing skills are critical for driving customers and increasing profits in any restaurant business. They include creating a compelling brand identity and advertising plan, being aware of current trends, and recognizing opportunities.
Because restaurants rely heavily on repeat business to remain profitable, effective marketing is critical to increasing revenue and driving profitability. Social media should also be leveraged effectively in this process to raise brand awareness and generate word-of-mouth referrals, according to the owner of Ramâs Horn Restaurant Fraser.
Leadership is another essential characteristic of restaurant owners. This involves creating an atmosphere that fosters teamwork, motivating staff to achieve maximum potential, accepting feedback as an avenue for continuous improvement of operations, and remaining open to suggestions about improving the operation.
Though it is impossible for restaurant owners to master all these skills simultaneously, they should at least possess the capacity to prioritize tasks and delegate them as appropriate to members of their management team. Furthermore, it is essential they can read financial documents effectively as well as balance their profit and loss statements regularly.
0 notes
Text
You and I - Henry Cavill smut
The one where Henry comes over to fix your computer
Warnings: reader is a henry fan, pandemic theme, lockdown and quarentine-ing, little bit of second-hand embarrassment?, heatwave, henry is feeling deprived in this one, oral sex (f), masturbation (f), dirty talk, brief hairpulling, the name of God in vain, Henryâs monster dick, Â laughing and teasing while fucking, hand over throat but no actual choking, orgasm control, p in v, unprotected sex
Word count: over 3k, âcause I got no chill
A/N: this was inspired by a tik tok someone requested me to write a fic about it. Obviously I took it in a different direction because can I ever follow guidelines? No. I do love this fic, though. Thank you to @lokiscollarâ for giving this a read for me!
Y/Nâs P.O.V
Driving to a secluded location to spend lockdown in felt like a wonderful idea. There was a working wi-fi connection, so I could work remotely from the seashore cabin without any problem whatsoever, and the view was obviously to die for.
I did not expect someone else to have the same idea as me. The cabin next door had been occupied on the same day that I arrived, and much to my surprise, I recognized my new neighbor as someone I never expected Iâd come to meet in my entire life: an actor. An actor I actually had a crush on.
Thankfully, the situation didnât exactly call for mingling. I ran off to hide inside my cottage as soon as I realized who he was, occupying myself with fixing everything for the next day instead of daydreaming about the man next-door.
There would be time for that later, once I got in bed. But weirdly enough, that was the only time I really thought about him during those first weeks of quarantine. Every once in a while Iâd get the random wave of curiosity about what he was doing - what did Henry Cavill get up to while spending lockdown by himself? But that was pretty much it.
I woke up every day, had breakfast, worked and then went to bed. Sometimes Iâd sit by the balcony and watch the birds fly, taking in the scenery and breathing in the salty water. Even as a kid, Iâd always loved the sea. It was comforting, so it made sense for me to turn to it in such a stressful time.
Sometimes Iâd hear a bark or two, reminding me of the man who was staying in the other cabin, and it made me smile. I always did like his dog, whenever I saw pictures of him.
I hoped they were alright and that the absence of any human contact wasnât getting to them, even though it was getting to me. I could feel my own social abilities - which werenât exactly stellar before - slowly becoming decrepit, and I was scared to think of what my first human interaction would be like once lockdown was over.
I just hadnât anticipated it would be come so soon.
The morning began as it usually would. I took my shower, I had my breakfast, and I sat in front of the computer with my coffee in hands, ready to start working for the day.
Only the computer wasnât ready for it, too.
âWhat?â I talked to myself - something that had become more usual the longer lockdown went on. âOh, no, no, noâŚâ The situation was looking drearier the longer I stared at my lifeless screen.
Looking up at the clock, I considered my options. Even supposing I could get someone to come to this middle of nowhere to fix it, there was no way Iâd be able to get it done before work started.
Sighing, I pushed away from my designated desk to call my boss. Thankfully, he understood and I was left to repair the damn thing and come up with a solution for the next day.
My heart ached at the prospect of having to abandon my refuge because of an electronic malfunction. And that is, if there even was anyone willing to fix the damn thing, considering the pandemic and the rules of social distancing. Thatâs when suddenly, an idea popped up.
I remembered all the fuss a few months back over a video of Henry assembling a computer all by himself. There was no way someone with that much hardware prowess couldnât at least know enough to fix this simple laptop.
With that thought in mind, I gathered all of my courage to leave my little shack and make my way to the neighboring cabin. I took a deep breath before knocking on the door, and after a few seconds of silence - he was probably surprised and certainly not expecting anyone - a voice sounded from within.
âWho is it?â Now, I had thought this through. If this man came as far as I had come to this damn forgotten town, it was because 1) he wanted peace and quiet and 2) he was as terrified of the virus as I was. So I knew what I needed to say - what I would like to hear if the roles were reversed.
âItâs your neighbor. My nameâs Y/N. Iâm so sorry to disturb, but my computer broke and I need it to work and youâre the only person Iâm 100% sure has been socially distancing for long enough not to put my life in risk.â After all, I would have seen if someone had come to visit him. I didnât need to say this because both of us knew it. âWould you pretty pretty please come and check it out?â
Silence followed my question and I sighed, rubbing my sweaty forehead as I knew this was a long-shot. âI understand if youâre unable or uncomfortable doing so, I just figured Iâd ask. Thanks anyway!â
I had already turned my back to his front door when I heard it swinging open, the pitter patter of paws following close behind. My eyes took in the man in front of me for only a second before looking down at the dog at his feet, head tilted in interest as he analyzed me.
Immediately, my eyes lit up. âKal!â I exclaimed, kneeling down to let the animal sniff me so I could pet it. My heart stopped working for a second when I realized what Iâd done, though.
âSorry!â I looked up at him from my kneeling position, trying to ignore how awkward it was, considering what I was close to. âI-I do know who you are, Iâm not gonna lie about that.â
I straightened up as he kept looking at me in a way I couldnât quite define. Neither could I determine how it made me feel, just that it made me avert my gaze so Iâd stare at my feet.
âSo⌠Are you gonna help me?â He chuckled at my question, closing the door behind him and taking a step in my direction, making me fumble as I instinctively stepped back.
âSure.â It was the first thing he spoke to me, but we walked back to my own place in silence. He had his hands in his pockets as Kal followed us closely, his tongue hanging outside his mouth as he happily explored the outside for this little while. âCome on in.â
The way the cottage was set up left little space for him to wonder where he should be helping me. The desk in which I had prepared my set-up stood right by the wall to our left, and there he went without me having to point it out.
I watched a drop of sweat roll down the nape of his neck and fall under his tank top, distracting me as I licked my lips at the sight of it. Then his head turned to look at me and I realized that he was waiting for an answer to a question I hadnât heard.
âYeah, huh?â He chuckled again, making my face feel warm - an not (only) because of the overwhelming heat.
âIs it okay if I disconnect the wi-fi?â I wave my hand dismissively, shrugging.
âAs long as youâre able to fix this, you can do whatever the hell you want.â I got the impression that I amused him, but he didnât say anything else as he got to work on my (seemingly) dead computer.
Minutes went by of complete silence, safe from the sounds of typing and metal as Henry worked on the machine and I tried not to bite my nails. Finally, he pulled away from the screen and put his hands on his hips as if assuming some sort of decided stance - but if it was a good or bad thing, I couldnât tell.
âTell me, doctor.â I asked, pushing myself away from the sofa to approach him. The smell of a manâs sweat really had no right to be this arousing. âIs it life or death?â Henry turned to stare at me with a quirked eyebrow, and in the seconds it took for him to answer, I was once again distracted by just how hot he was.
âSorry, what?â I asked when he became silent and I realized heâd asked me something I hadnât heard once more. His smile said he was annoyed and entertained at the same time. âSorry, youâre hot, itâs hot, and I canât think straight,â I sighed, brushing the hair away from my eyes as I pressed my palms against them, trying to pull myself together.
âI swear to God, Iâm not crazy.â I tried to look him directly as I said that, but was surprised at what I saw when our gazes met. There was a peculiar sense of yearning that he exuded, something I couldnât quite place but that took my breath away all the same, especially when he took my silence as an invitation to invade my personal space.
âIf you want me so badly, all you have to do is ask.â Silence fell heavily and I was out of breath just from his words - not a good sign. My throat felt dry, too dry, so I swiped my tongue over my bottom lip as I struggled to say something.
âW-why, though?â He tilted his head to the side, eyes inscrutable while he judged my question, trying to understand where it came from just like I was trying to understand his interest in me, when he suddenly smiled.
âI figured itâs a nice way for you to pay me back.â It took me a second to understand what he was referring to, and then my eyes darted from the computer to him, my mouth falling open in offense until he started chuckling. âIâm joking!â But even so, the question remainedâŚ
âSweetheartâŚâ He spoke, voice low and velvety as two strong hands suddenly enveloped my hips. âYouâre seriously underestimating how hot you are.â I didnât know what to say, so I had to make sure Iâd hear him right.
âM-me?â A predatory smirk took over his face, slowly. I gulped under its intensity, feeling much like prey as he started to back me against the couch. I fell on top of it with a gasp, and another one escaped me when he used my ankles to pull me closer.
âI wanna eat you out.â It was all I got as an answer, but I canât say that I minded it. As he dropped to his knees before me, pulling down my underwear before spreading my legs for his eyes to take in, it felt like I got a response from the gesture in itself.
âDo you know how long itâs been since I ate pussy?â The unexpected question made me choke on my own saliva, as he chuckled darkly in amusement at my bashfulness. I could only breathe through my mouth when he leaned down to run his tongue on the edge of my lips, slowly acquainting himself with my taste, making me moan softly.
âI-I definitely and decidedly donât.â He seemed to like this answer, understand that it delimited exactly the type of fan that I was: the kind that knew what he was and what he liked - his dog, his computer - but not someone who was obsessed with his entire dating history, eager to know his every secret.
The longer Henry ate me out, the clearer it became just how long itâd been since heâd done this. It was obviously something he liked - the way he buried his face against my cunt and engulfed it entirely with his open mouth showed so. And the fact that he licked me and sucked me like he was a starved man? This was a man denied of a pleasure he genuinely enjoyed, that much I was certain of.
âDo you like this?â He asked once he inserted one of his thick fingers inside of me, already stretching me beyond what I could do with my own hand.
âHow could I not?â I managed to moan a response, making him chuckle.
âShow me how to find it,â he instructed, eyes sparkling with determination. âI want to find your sweet spot.â Iâd never had someone I was with so interested in giving me pleasure before.
Hypnotized, my fingers circled his wrist as best as I could, slowly moving him to run his digits over the top of my channel. He knew when he found it because I cried out for him, closing my eyes momentarily.
âCum for me,â he ordered, and how could I deny him that, especially when he was looking at me with those darkened eyes? He milked my orgasm until my pussy had stopped clenching around him, but the second that it was done, he growled, getting up to his knees. âGonna fuck you now.â
He pulled me by my hair, making me moan out loud as he slowly inserted his monster cock inside of me. âOh, God!â His groan had me panting, cunt clenching around his thickness. I couldnât understand how I was able to take it, but I was glad that was the case. âSo⌠tightâŚâ
Through his grip on my hair, he pulled me to deposit quick kisses down my jaw. âYou take me so well, darling.â It was a compliment I was proud to receive, even though I wasnât too sure how I managed to earn it in the first place.
âI honestly donât know how,â I admitted, gasping when he slowly dragged his cock out to slam it in me, but I instinctively pulled my hips away, earning an amused chuckle from him.
âCome back here,â he ordered, already pulling me back to spear me with his painfully hard length. Iâd have to be inhuman not to cry out at the feeling of his bulbous head bumping against my cervix. âAre you scared?â He joked as I bit on my bottom lip not to give in and laugh. âYou think Iâm too big?â
âYouâre more than enough, Iâll tell you that.â Now, that had his own laugh escaping his chest, making my body tremble underneath his, inadvertently getting some friction between the both of us. It earned me a moaned out, âYesâŚâ that got his attention back to where I hoped it would be, and as his eyes settled on me, I briefly wondered if I was prepared for what was to come.
âBut now that you got all of me inside of you, do you really want to go?â The whispered question made me shiver. I never expected him to be the type to talk dirty, but then again, I never expected Iâd be fucked by him, either.
âNo.â It was all the permission he needed.
âThen let me fuck you hard.â And hard he did fuck me. He was hard inside of me, it probably would have been painful for him if he wasnât so desperately trying to alleviate it by frantically fucking me against the couch.
It was the most deliciously torturous experience Iâd ever gone through. I had to bite my lip while I held onto his shoulders for dear life, trying to stop my moans from escaping because I was sure that for once, Iâd become a screamer.
Unfortunately, it seemed like Henry didnât appreciate my efforts to keep his ears from deafening. âWhatâs wrong?â He questioned, fingers tightening on my hips. âI thought you wanted this.â
Confused, all I could think to say was, âI-I do.â
âThen let me hear you,â he insisted. âYou know you can scream all you want. Weâre all alone up here on the coast.â Well, he wasnât wrong. And with that reassurance, I allowed my head to fall back and my mouth to fall open, my moans flowing freely from my body as Henry kept fucking me.
âThis is so much better than touching myself in search of a release,â he mumbled at some point, like he was talking to himself. âI was so damn lonely and you have such a tight little pussy.â
Being fucked by him felt like a religious experience. Henry somehow knew the map to my pleasure, easily bringing me to the brink of bliss before I had even managed to wrap my head around this turn of events.
My moans grew louder as I climbed higher and higher, but before I could fully tip over his hand curled around my throat, not constricting any air, just calling my attention.
âAsk for permission, baby.â Just the order had me clenching around him, prompting him to release a moan of his own. All the while, I was groaning in frustration, trying to control myself or say what he wanted me to say, but all that came out of me was, âGoddamn! You canât say stuff like that.â Henryâs laughter flowed freely once more, making my heart skip a beat. âWhy not?â
âBecause youâre a fucking movie star and I am not up to fall in love with you.â That had his eyebrows raising in surprise, the smile disappearing from his face before it came back as a teasing smirk.
âOh, so this is a one-time thing.â The taunting manner in which he said it surprised me in turn, so I hesitated before nodding. I mean, of course it was, right? He didnât even know me. This was strictly sexual and physical, I would not be fooled by my own hormones. âMy cock is not enough for you to want to get to know me some is that it?â ⌠Was he testing me?
âYes.â His smirk only grew at the word. âThis is a one-time thing.â
âWeâll see about that.â His fingers ran down my body to graze over my clit. I sucked in a breath, trying to keep it in, knowing I was going to lose. Eventually, as my thighs began to tremble, I gave in altogether.
âPlease, let me cum, please.â His eyes softened at my broken and desperate plea, hand gripping my cheeks as he finally nodded.
âKeep staring at me as you cum,â he commanded, still just as bossy. âShow me how pretty you look when you cream all over my dick.â That was all I needed to succumb to the pleasure he was subjecting me to.
I felt his cock, still hard as it pumped rope after rope of cum inside of me, and by the time I was able to open my eyes again, he was panting over me, sweat dripping from his forehead onto my face.
I didnât have the time to think about what I should do - push him away, try to pretend this didnât happen - because the second I began to adjust on the couch, he pulled me to rest against his chest.
âLetâs stay here for a little while,â he quietly asked me. âThen weâll figure out if thereâs enough room for me to take you in your bed.â
#my fics#henry cavill smut#henry cavill#smut#henry cavill request#henry cavill requests#my requests#henry cavill x reader#henry cavill reader#henry cavill reader insert#henry cavill reader inserts#rpf#fanfiction#henry cavill oneshot
1K notes
¡
View notes
Text
Minecraft Tragedy
Fandom: DC Characters: Jason Todd and Dick Grayson A/N: Based on real-life events from 2 years ago at the start of the pandemic. When I played Minecraft with @itzlinhwritesnerdythings and @latinavictoria-kotone âWhy donât we play Minecraft?â You suggested a week into the lockdown. The city of Gotham had slowed down a lot since the pandemic started. Even the villains that were out respected quarantine guidelines. Given a much-deserved break to the local vigilantes. Jason and Dick two of the said vigilantes didnât know what to do with themselves after a week. The pair were quick to bug you and every quicker to agree. So the three of your set off on your Minecraft adventures.
As the three of you talked in voice chat more and played Minecraft along with a few other co-op games. You grew used to the background voices; mostly on Dickâs side. Most of the time it was Damian because Dick would tease the new Robin with his nickname. Damian, of course, threatened to cut him with a sword. So today was no different there was a soft voice talking to Dick as you zone out in your Minecraft home. Storing the items in your chest was tedious but worth it. Everything was great. âAre you sure?â Dick questioned the unknown person. âJust do it.â Was the reply he received. Thatâs when you saw what âitâ was in the chat.
DickieBird summoned lighting
You heard your dogs cry. Turning to the block dogs you saw a few on fire as parts of your wooden floor were burning. âDick!â You shouted trying to put out the fires on your floor. âYou killed my animals!â You were forced to watch a few of your dog pack die from the fire; brought on by Dickâs lighting. âOh my god!â Jason shouts mixed in with yours. âWhich brother was that?â You shouted at Dick again. Your floor was now patchyâfour of your ten dogs were gone. You need to know who to blame this on. âHe doesn't want to answer.â Dick nervously chuckled. Which he should. Because you will hurt him and whoever helped him the nice time you're at the manor. âDamian is watching a movie with Bruce and Cass,â Jason spoke up as his Minecraft self entered your base. âOh damn.â Your once beautiful house was a mess now. "So it was Tim.â You gathered your breath and shouted as loud as you could âHey Tim fuck off!" Dick began to apologize but you ignored him. Jason quickly asked if he could help since his base wasnât as damaged as yours. You thanked him pointing into the wood chest and asked him to fix the spots in your flooring; are you checking the other parts of your base.
Into the enchanting room, you saw no birds. You had worked hard from those birds. The jungle was a long way from where you guys set up. The birds didnât teleport with you like the dogs. So you had to walk all the way back with the parrots. Who were now dead. âDick,â you sighed as you spoke. "Ya?" He questioned quietly. "You're no longer the favorite Robin." There was a long pause until the first Robin sighed. "I know." "You killed my animals.â Reiterating the damage he allowed Tim to do on his account. "I'm sorry!"
As the three of you moved on your base was fixed thanks to Jasonâs help. You when out to deal with your farm animals. Hoping they would calm you down. As the fences of what should be overcrowded animals came into view. You saw some fences missing. Wool, leather, feather, and meat littered the ground as the animals that were spared from the lighting roamed freely. âDick Grayson!â âIâm sorry!â
#DC comics#dc comics imagine#dc imagine#Jason Todd#jason todd imagine#red hood#red hood imagine#jason todd x reader#red hood x reader#dick grayson#dick grayson x reader#dick grayson imagine#nightwing#nightwing x reader#nightwing imagine
122 notes
¡
View notes