#mutual funds in 2022

[commiepinkofag]

“GLAAD used this event in a way to attract media attention and resources and legitimacy for their organization, but in reality most [survivors] never talked to GLAAD or got to interact with them,” according to Z Williams, Co-founder of Bread and Roses Legal Center…

“GLAAD used this event in a way to attract media attention and resources and legitimacy for their organization, but in reality most [survivors] never talked to GLAAD or got to interact with them,” … Williams told Truthout that GLAAD “picked a group of people that were supposed to be the representatives of the community, and it was three white men.”

In December, GLAAD invited survivors of the shooting, James Slaugh and Michael Anderson, and the owner of Club Q, Matthew Haynes, all white men, to provide testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, extremism and violence.

…

“[Colorado Healing Fund] is an organization that I have seen constantly re-victimize people because of their model and especially, I think, in this setting we saw it even more because of the size of the group of victims, the age of the group of victims and just the complete unfamiliarity with what it means to work with queer folks,” Williams explained. 

…

At one point, CHF asked Bread and Roses Legal Center if binders, a piece of clothing commonly worn by transmasculine people, could be purchased at Home Depot, according to Williams.

…

Bread and Roses Legal Center advocates for survivor-led mutual aid predicated on a queer solidarity approach which rejects charity models that “raise a bunch of money and give it out to people,” as Williams stated, or come into the community with a plan and use media generated from events for an organization’s own gain. 

…

[Zane McNeill, Truthout, May 2, 2023]

Open Letter from Victims First to Colorado Healing Fund, criticizing the fund for its lack of transparency and predatory model.

[phantomrose96]

If anyone wants to know why every tech company in the world right now is clamoring for AI like drowned rats scrabbling to board a ship, I decided to make a post to explain what's happening.

(Disclaimer to start: I'm a software engineer who's been employed full time since 2018. I am not a historian nor an overconfident Youtube essayist, so this post is my working knowledge of what I see around me and the logical bridges between pieces.)

Okay anyway. The explanation starts further back than what's going on now. I'm gonna start with the year 2000. The Dot Com Bubble just spectacularly burst. The model of "we get the users first, we learn how to profit off them later" went out in a no-money-having bang (remember this, it will be relevant later). A lot of money was lost. A lot of people ended up out of a job. A lot of startup companies went under. Investors left with a sour taste in their mouth and, in general, investment in the internet stayed pretty cooled for that decade. This was, in my opinion, very good for the internet as it was an era not suffocating under the grip of mega-corporation oligarchs and was, instead, filled with Club Penguin and I Can Haz Cheezburger websites.

Then around the 2010-2012 years, a few things happened. Interest rates got low, and then lower. Facebook got huge. The iPhone took off. And suddenly there was a huge new potential market of internet users and phone-havers, and the cheap money was available to start backing new tech startup companies trying to hop on this opportunity. Companies like Uber, Netflix, and Amazon either started in this time, or hit their ramp-up in these years by shifting focus to the internet and apps.

Now, every start-up tech company dreaming of being the next big thing has one thing in common: they need to start off by getting themselves massively in debt. Because before you can turn a profit you need to first spend money on employees and spend money on equipment and spend money on data centers and spend money on advertising and spend money on scale and and and

But also, everyone wants to be on the ship for The Next Big Thing that takes off to the moon.

So there is a mutual interest between new tech companies, and venture capitalists who are willing to invest $$$ into said new tech companies. Because if the venture capitalists can identify a prize pig and get in early, that money could come back to them 100-fold or 1,000-fold. In fact it hardly matters if they invest in 10 or 20 total bust projects along the way to find that unicorn.

But also, becoming profitable takes time. And that might mean being in debt for a long long time before that rocket ship takes off to make everyone onboard a gazzilionaire.

But luckily, for tech startup bros and venture capitalists, being in debt in the 2010's was cheap, and it only got cheaper between 2010 and 2020. If people could secure loans for ~3% or 4% annual interest, well then a $100,000 loan only really costs $3,000 of interest a year to keep afloat. And if inflation is higher than that or at least similar, you're still beating the system.

So from 2010 through early 2022, times were good for tech companies. Startups could take off with massive growth, showing massive potential for something, and venture capitalists would throw infinite money at them in the hopes of pegging just one winner who will take off. And supporting the struggling investments or the long-haulers remained pretty cheap to keep funding.

You hear constantly about "Such and such app has 10-bazillion users gained over the last 10 years and has never once been profitable", yet the thing keeps chugging along because the investors backing it aren't stressed about the immediate future, and are still banking on that "eventually" when it learns how to really monetize its users and turn that profit.

The pandemic in 2020 took a magnifying-glass-in-the-sun effect to this, as EVERYTHING was forcibly turned online which pumped a ton of money and workers into tech investment. Simultaneously, money got really REALLY cheap, bottoming out with historic lows for interest rates.

Then the tide changed with the massive inflation that struck late 2021. Because this all-gas no-brakes state of things was also contributing to off-the-rails inflation (along with your standard-fare greedflation and price gouging, given the extremely convenient excuses of pandemic hardships and supply chain issues). The federal reserve whipped out interest rate hikes to try to curb this huge inflation, which is like a fire extinguisher dousing and suffocating your really-cool, actively-on-fire party where everyone else is burning but you're in the pool. And then they did this more, and then more. And the financial climate followed suit. And suddenly money was not cheap anymore, and new loans became expensive, because loans that used to compound at 2% a year are now compounding at 7 or 8% which, in the language of compounding, is a HUGE difference. A $100,000 loan at a 2% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, accrues to $121,899. A $100,000 loan at an 8% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, more than doubles to $215,892.

Now it is scary and risky to throw money at "could eventually be profitable" tech companies. Now investors are watching companies burn through their current funding and, when the companies come back asking for more, investors are tightening their coin purses instead. The bill is coming due. The free money is drying up and companies are under compounding pressure to produce a profit for their waiting investors who are now done waiting.

You get enshittification. You get quality going down and price going up. You get "now that you're a captive audience here, we're forcing ads or we're forcing subscriptions on you." Don't get me wrong, the plan was ALWAYS to monetize the users. It's just that it's come earlier than expected, with way more feet-to-the-fire than these companies were expecting. ESPECIALLY with Wall Street as the other factor in funding (public) companies, where Wall Street exhibits roughly the same temperament as a baby screaming crying upset that it's soiled its own diaper (maybe that's too mean a comparison to babies), and now companies are being put through the wringer for anything LESS than infinite growth that Wall Street demands of them.

Internal to the tech industry, you get MASSIVE wide-spread layoffs. You get an industry that used to be easy to land multiple job offers shriveling up and leaving recent graduates in a desperately awful situation where no company is hiring and the market is flooded with laid-off workers trying to get back on their feet.

Because those coin-purse-clutching investors DO love virtue-signaling efforts from companies that say "See! We're not being frivolous with your money! We only spend on the essentials." And this is true even for MASSIVE, PROFITABLE companies, because those companies' value is based on the Rich Person Feeling Graph (their stock) rather than the literal profit money. A company making a genuine gazillion dollars a year still tears through layoffs and freezes hiring and removes the free batteries from the printer room (totally not speaking from experience, surely) because the investors LOVE when you cut costs and take away employee perks. The "beer on tap, ping pong table in the common area" era of tech is drying up. And we're still unionless.

Never mind that last part.

And then in early 2023, AI (more specifically, Chat-GPT which is OpenAI's Large Language Model creation) tears its way into the tech scene with a meteor's amount of momentum. Here's Microsoft's prize pig, which it invested heavily in and is galivanting around the pig-show with, to the desperate jealousy and rapture of every other tech company and investor wishing it had that pig. And for the first time since the interest rate hikes, investors have dollar signs in their eyes, both venture capital and Wall Street alike. They're willing to restart the hose of money (even with the new risk) because this feels big enough for them to take the risk.

Now all these companies, who were in varying stages of sweating as their bill came due, or wringing their hands as their stock prices tanked, see a single glorious gold-plated rocket up out of here, the likes of which haven't been seen since the free money days. It's their ticket to buy time, and buy investors, and say "see THIS is what will wring money forth, finally, we promise, just let us show you."

To be clear, AI is NOT profitable yet. It's a money-sink. Perhaps a money-black-hole. But everyone in the space is so wowed by it that there is a wide-spread and powerful conviction that it will become profitable and earn its keep. (Let's be real, half of that profit "potential" is the promise of automating away jobs of pesky employees who peskily cost money.) It's a tech-space industrial revolution that will automate away skilled jobs, and getting in on the ground floor is the absolute best thing you can do to get your pie slice's worth.

It's the thing that will win investors back. It's the thing that will get the investment money coming in again (or, get it second-hand if the company can be the PROVIDER of something needed for AI, which other companies with venture-back will pay handsomely for). It's the thing companies are terrified of missing out on, lest it leave them utterly irrelevant in a future where not having AI-integration is like not having a mobile phone app for your company or not having a website.

So I guess to reiterate on my earlier point:

Drowned rats. Swimming to the one ship in sight.

[gamepassofficial]

SWP क्या है | SWP देगा बिना नौकरी के सैलरी ज़िंदगी भर | SWP Vs SIP

सुनने में अजीब लग सकता है लेकिन है बात बिल्कुल सही बिना नौकरी के सैलरी बिना कामकाज किए सैलरी और यह सैलरी कब तक जब तक जिंदगी रहे तब तक और जिंदगी ना रहे उसके बाद भी और आपकी अगली जनरेशन की जिंदगी ना रहे तब भी अगली की अगली जनरेशन ना रहे तब भी और यह सब कुछ बिना काम किए हां बिना काम किए की बात कर रहा हूं इसका मतलब यह नहीं कह रहा कि इसमें इन्वेस्टमेंट शामिल नहीं है वन टाइम इस्ट शामिल है सिर्फ एक बार का…

[sharemarketinsider]

Why Mutual Funds Are Better Than Stocks: A Comprehensive Guide

“Why Mutual Funds Are Better Than Stocks”

In recent years, investment has become a hot topic as more people look for ways to grow their wealth. While stocks have been a popular choice for many, mutual funds have been gaining ground as a better alternative for long-term investment. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the reasons why mutual funds are better than stocks and help you make an informed decision about your investment strategy.

[apkusa]

5 Best Mutual Fund Apps To Invest In 2022

5 Best Mutual Fund Apps To Invest In 2022- Assuming you are asking for the best mutual fund apps for 2022, here are five: 1. Acorns – This app offers a simple way to start investing with your spare change. It rounds up your credit and debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and invests that money into a portfolio of ETFs. 2. Betterment – This app is geared towards helping you reach your…

[anarchotahdigism]

I know i say "wear a mask and riot" and "fuck a peaceful protest" but I'd had a nice long post about how digital work and advocacy is praxis (or can be) on my old account. Right now, COVID is spreading and killing thousands of people in the US alone and nearly all """radicals""""" and """""leftists"""" are philosophically no different than the fascists they claim to oppose because they are so thoroughly wedded to eugenics that they refuse to wear and enforce masking. COVID causes long COVID in 10-30% of cases so the so-called US alone may well be a majority disabled nation now due to rampant eugenics forcing the spread of COVID. Long COVID is a rotting death and makes everything an order of magnitude more difficult if you still are able to do the things you were prior. Repeated COVID infections means you're guaranteed to be immunocompromised permanently and disabled in other ways you'll likely find out the hard way. With 40% of cases being asymptomatic and most only showing severe symptoms after 2-3 infections, and many starting to drop dead after 3 to 5 infections, many people accrue damage from and spread COVID without realizing it until it is far, far too late. As a result, it's guaranteed that the ableists have disabled and killed people. They've kept disabled people like me who are high risk out of radical spaces & communities. They've abandoned solidarity for everyone but the abled, ableist middle class while focusing most of their efforts on electoralism, despite the clear and constant failures of such actions. The BLM Rebellion of 2020-2021 had significant---albeit broadly temporary--impacts on electoral politics, society, and communities because it was a constant and ongoing rebellion that was also much more disability inclusive than prior leftist movement moments. For the first time, people recognized the need for remote actions & support because while masking was at the high water mark, more abled people understood that a lot of us disabled could not and would not risk COVID but we had had skills vital to the project. Things disabled people were absolutely critical for during the BLM Rebellion: police scanner observation and transcription, evacuation coordination, event & route planning, translation services, postering, graphics art & design, self defense seminars, radio nets, mutual aid fundraising, mutual aid distribution, bail fund coordination, zine writing, mask & test distributions, contact tracing (remember this??!??!), car brigades, organizing medical supplies, teaching first aid skills, and countless other roles often organized & performed remotely. For every fighter, there are at least a dozen support roles and with some thought and effort, those roles can be aided or done digitally. Posting on its own can be praxis in that it shares information, knowledge, tactics, demonstrates that there are other radicals out there willing to do what they can, normalizes radicalism, and in some cases, regimes pay close attention to internet support.

During the height of the Jina Amini rebellion in 2022, the Iranian regime tried to cut the internet repeatedly to stifle information out of and into Iran to hinder protest coordination and outrage. It also paid extremely close attention to when the rebellion was trending and refrained from reprisals until the mass attention of the internet citizenry turned away. Posting literally helped save lives by forcing the regime to wait, buying people time to organize, prepare, and act accordingly in Iran and internationally. Personally, I will always remember and be grateful for the Palestinians who turned out across the world, but especially in occupied Palestine, for Iranians. Iran is not the only regime that will wait until posts slacken and attention wanes before massacring people. If you are disabled, if you have arrest risks, if for any reasons you don't want to be involved in a radical riot, but you want to support those who can and do, there is so much you can do year round but especially things kick off!! Any skills, resources, knowledge, or support you can organize or contribute is valuable! eSims for Gaza right now are monumental in ensuring Gazans can coordinate information, requests, record Israeli occupation war crimes & apartheid cruelty, and many disabled graphics designers are offering their services in exchange for esim donations. It's been incredible to see.

The people who are against digital activism are ableist and racist and ignorant as hell beyond that. You can make an impact and even save and change lives while homebound. Begging genociders to stop profitable genocides has never and will never work. Riots & boycotts work because they directly confront and attack power and if those actions are supported by communities, they can continue for quite some time, as we saw with the BLM uprising. Regimes do not fall because people ask regime leaders to please stop committing atrocities; they fall when the people are able to bring to bear the sum of their hopes and wrath and bring the fight to those who have been oppressing them. That requires inclusive community & an outright rejection of the regime and its systems of cooptation & recuperation.

If a revolution or movement isn't inclusive, if it excludes the disabled, the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, it's not a revolution or movement, it's just another genocidal regime change.

[cloudmancy]

ANNOUNCING: CALROY! (in the real) (not clickbait)

I know tumblr wasn’t QUITE as involved in the ‘raising funds for the calroy mini’ collective as twitter was, but I thought you guys might appreciate knowing about this update anyway :) 

TLDR; On June 21st, 2022, Dimension 20 announced an auction for the minis used in their A Crown of Candy season. Almost immediately, a group of friends who loved ACOC, and Calroy specifically, began talking about the viability of getting Calroy's mini.

We opened commissions and began raising funds, appealing to the kindness of the Dimension 20 fan community: Help this group of people who care about Calroy bring him home, and help us send him on the world tour he deserves.

The Collective raised just over $11,000, but it wasn't enough to beat Calroy's final selling price of a whopping $11,200! Despite that, the Collective was happy about the solidarity shown by the fandom. 

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the Calroy fund donors who agreed to put the money toward charity in case we didn't win the auction, we were able to donate an astounding $8,580 to 5 different mutual aid funds after refunds and PayPal fees!

And that was the end of it... Until the Collective received a message from Dropout in early August. 

Dimension 20 congratulated the Collective on their efforts and their donation to charity.... and offered a surprise gift: a second Calroy mini, made specially by Rick Perry! 8 months later and after getting lost in the mail TWICE, that 2nd custom Calroy mini has now arrived safe and sound.

Anyway! You can find more information about it on the carrd here and on the Twitter account where he’ll be posting updates. I was so excited to share this with you guys but we had to be so patient... hope the wait was worth it!

[mastcrmarksman]

Cliff Notes Version of Main 616 Verse

Some of these events have happened through plotting, discord, and wire, and why you may not find the threads on my blog.

ZERO Upon clint's return to new york post freefall events and the headcanon/blog lore events of ohio (reason for going sober) [ see this post ]

ONE He has been attempting to go sober, he's had a few relapses and has almost given up a few times, his longest stretch and it'd the one he is on now is five and a half months

TWO He was recruited for the Thunderbolts after several rejections from trying to start a new team or move back out to the west coast

THREE Carol Danvers is his sponsor, who has helped him out and been a friend toward him when he hasn't thought he has had any left. ( @ / danversiism is the Carol )

FOUR Even after the months and time he has dedicated to the Thunderbolts, he still has not felt that it is his team or that they are doing anything meaningful and he has been an unhappy "leader" om probation

SIDENOTE Additionally, I think TBolts 2022 did a shoddy job with the whole PR centric team and in general, it'd a short read with poor attempts at call backs and does not treat clint with respect. So in taking inspiration some other comic events and media at the time

FIVE Roxxon is the parent company of the PR agency that Mayor Cage is using for the Thunderbolts. Helen is a very good PR manager, and perhaps doesn't realize, that Roxxon owns her agency, as Roxxon is generally a corporate evil and anti superheroes, Roxxon had funded the Underage Hero Welfare Act which wasn't a good thing, as it genuinely arrested children / young heroes and vigilantes and put them in "schools" and mistreated them and attempted to brainwash them.

SIX So based on that, you imagine the idea of if Marvel had given Tbolts 2022 an actual plot and cared about the team, if they had perhaps taken an angle like introduce Roxxon since in past few years, it seems we are gearing towards a crossover wild Roxxon takedown event (Tony's new run is literally going to be Roxxon-Stark war. Thor's run has Roxxon trying to slander Thor to the public)

SEVEN While Clint has been quietly back in New York, he encountered a disheveled (for lack of better term) Hank Pym ( @ / pympartic ) and takes him in. Gets Hank to doctors and Doctor Strange, and manages to confirm this Hank alive and Ultron free. Not wanting to alert everyone, due to his own worries about Hank and respect for Hank's wishes, he tells no one about his appearance and takes Hank in. Hank Pym becomes his roommate rent free, and honestly has helped Clint find some stability by having someone living with him. He's kept Hank a secret, letting Hank be the one to dictate who knows he is alive or not

EIGHT Additionally, consequences for Clint's actions, he truly does not own the Bed Stuy building anymore and it's one of his biggest regrets. He does not live in Bed Stuy anymore, his new apartment is a two bedroom in a different neighborhood in Brooklyn arranged by Tbolts PR Manager, Helen, who happens to have a key by the way (canon fact).

NINE The combo of asking Carol's advice and her becoming his sponsor along for the fact, Clint has been living with Hank Pym and seeing him recover from his traumas, has lead to Clint really trying these days, and always managing to get back go sober because he likes being sober after his slips, as well as it has led Clint to opening his eyes with how dissatisfied with the state of the Thunderbolts.

TEN His roommate, Hank, has begun to make contact with more and more of their mutuals friends, letting them know he's alive and doing well amd this eventually leads to Clint getting back in contact with a lot with a more people.

ELEVEN Such as Tony ( @ / transistorized ) whom Clint has since asked for help from and announced he wants to be an Avenger again and is in the process of quitting the Thunderbolts, once he gets out the contract he signed but didn't necessary scruntize over details. Additionally, Tony has been kind enough to offer to help Clint and Hank out by allowing them to move into an old brownstone he still has (since your pr manger/boss having keys to your apartment is a red flag).

IN SUMMARY Clint's sponsor is Carol, he's sober and going on 6 months soon, he is quitting the Thunderbolts, focusing efforts to be Avenger worthy, he's moving into a vacant brownstone Tony owns, his roommate is Hank Pym back from "the dead" and he'd reconnecting with people such as kate bishop ( looks at dani @ / purplearchcr ) , steve rogers ( looks at dean @ / shieldslinger ), as well as making new connections ( looking at Cass spider zombie @ / spiderz0mbie ). Clint's in his recovery and redemption era.

This is in general the details I am working with when I write with everyone, and is my main 616 setting and plotlines I am developing or have had an increased interest in writing. So if you see these mentions in other threads, now you know.

There is going be shipping in this main verse in which Clint and Hank are gonna smooch (aka Pow and I are severely brainrotted over Hawkant. Clint should kiss his friend, should marry the old Ant Man and adopt kids with him).

Yet here's a little disclaimer / reminder. I am still multiship

(I love all my ship partners and the verses we develop 💜💕 shout out to lynn, aurora, archer, rain, rocky, pom, and ce. I love our ships so much i am looking at all of you)

I do have other 616 verses beautifully crafted with other writers/friends and based around my ship partners and our ships, and I have posts for those somewhere, or I will make a new own when I redo my connections page, but hey if you're writing partner you're my bestie and we could develop verses too).

[comfortcomes]

the fact that libs on here will smugly repeat ad nauseum the “leftists be like voting isn’t as effective as firebombing walmart and then don’t firebomb walmart😎” shit and consistently assert that DNC loyalists are the ones doing the most on the ground action compared to hypocritical keyboard commies or w/e……. and then when they’re tasked with coming up with an idea for what someone might do to protect abortion access other than voting their best answer is “actively supporting women” LMFAO

utterly meaningless!!!! this isn’t even an anti voting argument bc abortion is the #1 reason i still vote but omfg. no matter where in the us you live i guarantee your state has an abortion fund experiencing a severe funding crisis; pretty much every org has seen a massive drop in donations compared to the original surge in 2022, but abortion is much more expensive and difficult to access today than it was two years ago. local abortion funds are one of the only orgs you can donate to that can guarantee your money goes directly into the hands of someone in your community who needs it, it is genuinely actually mutual aid and it is NOT the same as donating to planned parenthood (which i generally don’t think is the best place to put your money). if you want to aCtIvElY sUpPoRt wOmEn you can volunteer or donate or set up a fundraiser for these orgs literally Today, you do not have to wait until november to spend 30 mins at your polling station and that’s enough activism for today. you can also volunteer as a clinic escort at most abortion providers, it’s not my area of experience but that is another way you can physically and easily help increase abortion access near you. but omg. Actively supporting women. shut the fuck up. lmao

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Do you have any long domestic fics like 100k+? Like we are stuck in happy ever after

Hey Nonny!

Ah, this is a good question!

I've gone through all my Platonics and Domestics (Dec 2022) Johnlock lists as well as my offline lists, and I've decided to do a 50K+ list so I can have MOAR FICS lol. Hope that's okay!!

Enjoy!

If you have a long-fic that focuses heavily on Domestics with a happy ending, please do add them, friends!

LONG DOMESTIC JOHNLOCK (50K+ w)

A Study Of Living With Sherlock Holmes by  AllesandraQuartermaine (T, 50,234 w., 22 Ch. || Post-ASiP/Pre-TAB, Domestics, Friendship, POV John) – Learn about what happened between John and Sherlock January 31st and March 22. From John's pov on how to survive and learn to live with one eccentric mad genius known as Sherlock Holmes. 

A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w., 16 Ch. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because...new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride... prepare for blast off. Part 1 of SpaceBois go to Space

Isosceles by SilentAuror (E, 56,609 w., 7 Ch. || Post-S4, POV John, Original Male Character / Sherlock Dates Another Man, Love Triangle, Jealous John, Virgin Sherlock, Sexual Coaching, Angst, Romance, Domesticity, Unrequited Feelings, Miscommunication, First Kiss/Time, For a Case, Friends With Benefits, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Spooning) – After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date...

The Book of Silence by SilentAuror (E, 60,056 w., 2 Ch. || S4 Fix It / Post S4, Virgin Sherlock, Rosie / Parentlock, Domesticity, Fluff, Praise Kink, Sex Toys, First Person POV) – As spring blooms in London, John and Sherlock begin to take new cases and cautiously negotiate this new phase of life with John living at Baker Street again. Despite how well it's all going, John struggles to forgive himself for the way he treated Sherlock following Mary’s death as well as trying to figure out how to finally put his long-time feelings for Sherlock into words. Part 1 of The Book of Silence/Rosa Felicia

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court. Part 1 of the Care And Companionship series

MARKED FOR LATER

The Homecoming Series by sussexbound (M, 51,744 w. across 12 stories, WIP || Domestics, PTSD, Love Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling, Jealousy, Family Issues) – Sometimes home is all you need. After three years of horror, betrayals, and crushing loss, John and Sherlock find their way back home to one another, and together find new footing in a world that has changed forever.

Your Many Tendencies Series by apliddell (T, 52,222+ w. across 5 works || WiP || Femlock, POC Characters, Enby Character, Sherlock’s Violin, YouTuber John, UST, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Slow Burn, Domesticity, Fluff, Recreational Drug Use, Friends to Lovers, Sherlock’s Past, First Kiss, Love Confessions, John’s Family, Christmas, Anxious Sherlock, Hurt / Comfort, Institutional Racism) – John Watson returns to London after a long absence, somewhat the worse for wear. She meets Sherlock Holmes, and starts feeling excited about life again.

Following the (Silver) Fox by Jobooksandcoffee (E, 54,355 w., 15 Ch. || S3 Fix It Fic, Sherstrade, John/Mary, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Pining Sherlock, Resentful John, Regretful John, Domestic Life, Drug Use, Happy Ending, Greg’s Children, Friendship, Unrequited Love) – After two lonely and painful years away eliminating the threads of Moriarty’s web, Sherlock comes home to find John living with Mary. John is also hurt and resentful, determined to not allow Sherlock to undermine his relationship with his new fiancée. Greg, who always thought Sherlock and John belonged together, becomes a closer friend to Sherlock. He gives the Consulting Detective a place to stay, a friend to have dinner with, someone who will listen to him. He tries to keep all interfering feelings at bay. As Sherlock notices his friendship with Greg becomes stronger, he begins to accept that maybe he can be alright even with John not living at Baker Street any more. He and Lestrade can work at the Yard, and talk about cases. Greg is good at rescuing Sherlock when John and Mary’s wedding preparations get intense. They are friends. This is enough for Sherlock. Right?

Hearts Don't Break Around Here by thatawkwardfriend (M, 54,796 w, 12 Ch. || Teenager AU || Homophobia, Past Abuse, Artistic John, John saves Sherlock, BAMF John, Horse Riding, Swimming, Minor Violence, First Kiss / Time, Making Out, Fireworks, Carnival, Fluff and Humour, Angst with Happy Ending, Death / Funeral, Hurt / Comfort, Morning After, Domestic Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining) – When John gets in a fight at school, his parents send him to Sussex for the summer in hopes that living with the Holmes’ will shape him up. It is there that he meets Sherlock Holmes: a class A asshole too smart for his own good. John expects a long, dull, lonely summer. What he does not expect is to form an unlikely friendship with the strange boy across the hall. What he expects even less is to fall in love with him.

Ours Series by KeelieThompson1 (M, 76,922 w. across 7 works || Omegaverse || Omega John, Alpha Sherlock, Domestics, MPreg, Pre/Post Reichenbach) – John is an omega who has been on heat suppressants his entire life. When Sherlock realises this and shows an interest in John, they have to work their way through the problems caused by John having never had a real heat in his life.

The Things That Haunt Us by BRNZ (E, 92,993+ w., 18/? Ch. || Graphic Depictions of Violence, Dead People, Child Death, PTSD John, Psychological Horror, Nightmares, Bed Sharing, Heavy Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, Childhood Trauma, Domestic Bliss, BAMF John, Friendship / Love, POV John, Pining John, Therapy) – What happens when a post war vet with PTSD takes up with a madman detective and they spend time investigating and solving some truly horrific crimes? How does the doctor who can kill with steady hand process all that additional trauma? How do we recognise that our past still haunts us, in ways we don't realise? When you are caught in a vicious cycle of needing the thrill of the chase, and having to deal with the fallout...what happens when you might need to choose between the two for your own sanity? The story of how two damaged men managed to find their way back to each other and begin to make a future together.

The Trouble with Sentiment by Khansfringe (E, 95,153 w., 16 Ch. || Omegaverse || Omega Sherlock, Alpha John, Knotting, Blow Jobs, Rough Sex, Pregnancy Prevention, Love Letters, Soldier John, Fingerfucking, Heat Suppressants, Implied Alcoholism, Implied Drug Use, Mating Cycles, PTSD Symptoms, Slave Trading, Angst, Fluff, Domesticity) – When John, a twenty-two year old Alpha university student, gets dragged to an Omega auction house by his friend, Mike Stamford, he wasn't planning on buying anything. At least, not until he saw Sherlock, the eighteen year old, emaciated Omega with trust issues. Now John and Sherlock have to find a way to work through both of their troubles, including Sherlock's tragic past and John's volunteering to join the army. Part 1 of the Always series

A Vintage Exceptionally to Your Liking by EmmyAngua (E, 95,334 w., 19 Ch. || Alternate Dimensions AU || S3 Fix It, Lies, Angst, Pining Sherlock, Superpowers, Domestics, BAMF Mary, Hiatus, First Time, Magical Realism, Slow Burn, Colliding Universes, Moral Dilemmas, Betrayal, Mary’s Past) – Sherlock and John met seven years earlier than canon and fell in love. When John dies, Sherlock is introduced to the concept of alternate dimensions and given the opportunity to visit a different universe where he can have a second chance with a new John Watson. A love story across alternate dimensions.

Minutiae (Or 156 Things I Know About You) by AtlinMerrick (E, 106,114 w., 80 Ch. || Marriage, Anal/Oral Sex, Domestics, Stand Alone Chapters, Humour, Prompts, Lovers, Short Stories) – Here, in no particular order, are some of the things John has learned about Sherlock, and some of the things Sherlock has learned about John. In the end there will be 156 mundane and unusual facts for each of them. (Um...I never stopped at 156.) (All chapters stand alone.)

Ex Files by 7PercentSolution (T, 161,586+ w., 58/? Ch. || Autistic Sherlock, Blogger John, Neurodiversity, Depression, Suicidal Ideations, Kidlock, Chemistry, Protective Mycroft, Bullying, Sherlock’s Violin, Case Fic, Missing Scene, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Domesticity in Flatsharing) – A collection of one shot stand alone ficlets of varying lengths that cover aspects of Sherlock's world. Not in chronological order, nor linked, but together adding up. Varying points of view, but mostly John's at the start. Each chapter informs and illuminates some aspect of character or an event in their back story. Part 1 of the Ex Files series

The Only One in the World; I Invented the Job by apliddell (E, 323,869 w., 460 Ch. || Post-TRF, Developing Relationship, Flirting, Texting, POV Sherlock First Person, Domestic Fluff) – This is the sequel to The Adventure of the Consulting Corpse. It's a serial with short plot arcs and long characterisation arcs. It follows John and Sherlock through the development of their relationship. Part 2 of the The Most Human series

Reichenbach Falls by VeeTheRee (M, 536,133+ w., 101/303 Ch. || WiP || Gravity Falls /  Multifandom AU || Alternate First Meeting, Gay Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Unilock, Summer Romance/Love, Fluff, Insecure Sherlock, Villain Mary, First Kiss, Slow Burn, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Canadian John, French Canadian Lestrade, Insecure Sherlock, Mystery, Domestic Fluff, Developing Relationship Summer Love, Light Angst, BAMF! John, Case Fic) – Two Canadians, two Brits studying in Canada, and an upkeeper walk into a Mystery Shack…. and live there. Summer holidays are here, and the step-siblings, Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes, find themselves in a boring town called Reichenbach Falls, Oregon, USA. It isn’t as boring as it seems, however, once Sherlock stumbles upon a mystery journal, and the author is unknown. The journal contains ciphers, a strange colour wheel, and information about magical creatures that are said to be looming in the Northwestern forests. With mysteries to solve in hand, he and Irene set out to get to the roots of the town, and the abrupt disappearance of the author of the journal. But they’re not alone - John Watson, quite the handsome nephew of the Mystery Shack owner Greg Lestrade, is on their side to help out, plus mess with Sherlock’s feelings, in a good way. Shenanigans, romance, fun, danger, and deductions ensue. Oh, and there’s also occasional SuperWhoLock and two dorky Winchester brothers to spark up the action later on. Part 1 of the Reichenbach Falls series

[zvaigzdelasas]

[RFA is US State Media]

The Philippines will no longer seek financial aid from China for a package of ambitious railway projects, the transportation secretary said, adding that officials were confident the projects could move ahead with funding from interested sources.

China had been slated to build two of the rail lines on the main Philippine island of Luzon and the third on southern Mindanao island, officials said. 

The Marcos administration announced the decision to drop the Chinese loans amid tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea and days after a pair of minor collisions in disputed waters between ships and boats from both nations. 

Philippine Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the territorial tensions were not tied to this decision.[...]

["]our government is looking for other sources of funding.”[...]

Less than a month after Duterte left office in mid-2022, Ernesto Pernia, who had served as his socioeconomic planning secretary, said the Philippines would be wise to drop the three Chinese-backed projects.

“Much better to deal with ODA with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the U.S. and the E.U.,” Pernia told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news outlet, at the time while using an acronym for official development assistance. [...]

Rates through the China-based lending agency Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), were “significantly higher” compared to funding from Japan or South Korean ODAs, Gatchalian said. [...]

Biden criticized Chinese ships for acting “dangerously and unlawfully as our Philippine friends conducted a routine resupply mission within … their own exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea,” according to a transcript from the White House. 

“I want to be very clear: The United States’ defense commitment to the Philippines is ironclad,” Biden said. “Any attack on the Filipino aircraft, vessels, or armed forces will invoke our Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines.” 

In an apparent response to Biden, the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Thursday said that the “escalation of activities has been inflated by the U.S. actions.” 

“Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. has been blatantly emboldening the Philippines’ acts of infringing upon China’s sovereignty and inciting and supporting the Philippines’ attempts to repair and reinforce its warship that was deliberately grounded on Ren’ai Jiao,” it said, using the Chinese name for the shoal. 

26 Oct 23

[propalahramota]

For several months now I`ve been working on a program that supports Ukrainian refugees in the UK. Today I sadly learned that one of the people I supported, Dima Tipakov, has passed away at only 38 years old. He had epilepsy.

Dima worked at a restaurant as a kitchen assistant, he loved the Cornish nature, and every time we spoke, he told me how much he enjoyed living so close to the ocean and taking walks on the beach. He was good at fixing shoes and we were searching for an apprenticeship for him as a cobbler.

The war separated Dima from his family. His mother and brother are in Ukraine and have not seen Dima since he went to the UK in 2022. Now, his friends are raising funds to bring his body back home and help his family with funeral costs.

I ask my dear mutuals and followers, especially those from the UK, for help if you can give right now.

[sharemarketinsider]

15 Risk Management Strategies for Successful Investing

[tomorrowusa]

Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. As 2024 begins, the platform is valued at $12.5 billion. That's a loss of 71.59%. Buying California lottery tickets or spending a long weekend at a Las Vegas casino might have been better investments for Elon. 😆

SOCIAL media platform X/Twitter has lost 71% of its value since Elon Musk took over the site, according to an investment fund. Fidelity, a mutual fund which owns a stake in X Holdings, the parent company of X, said it had marked down the value of its shares in the company by 71.5% since Musk purchased the site. Currently, Fidelity estimates the value of X at around $12.5 billion. The tech billionaire acquired Twitter for $44 billion October 2022. He then renamed the site 'X' in July 2023. After Musk took over the site many companies halted their advertising spending.

Who can blame the advertisers? Would you want an ad for your company next to a tweet praising Hitler or spewing anti-vax conspiracy theories?

Don't expect Twitter X to improve as long as Musk owns it. The big question is whether Musk will try to sell it or just close it down.

There's certainly the possibility that he could sell it to somebody even worse than him – just to spite his critics.

It's not too late to quit Twitter/X, but first make sure as much as possible of your personal information there is scrubbed.

[kyra45]

i was mutuals with raisedeyebrowemojii from mid-late 2022 to when they deactivated, when they first followed me they messaged me to talk about a show i had listed as one of my interests and said it was one of their favorites theyve watched for a long time (but no further discussion from them after that when i talked about the show further) and i decided to follow them back to keep tabs on their posts so i could reblog them bc i felt horrible for their situation and wanted to help boost them as much as i could as i was unable to donate, and when they suddenly went afk i feared the worst and would regularly search their username to see if there was any news. thank you for bringing awareness that they were a scammer, im shocked and hurt to know someone who i wanted so badly to thrive and raise survival funds was all a lie and just using people's compassion and want to help to scam them when theyre also just barely getting by. I'm also a little ashamed that i never noticed anything suspicious 😔

Thanks for the ask, anon! Unfortunately a lot of people didn’t notice anything suspicious but that’s because there wasn’t much yet out there to bring everything together. It takes a while to figure out the truth. It’s like the Laura Deramas situation; It takes quite some time to eventually get to drawing a conclusion on if someone’s a scammer or not.

Don’t feel ashamed. You wasn’t the only one who was tricked by them. It happens to everyone. Hopefully more people will start to learn about the scam and learn the truth if they feared the worst.

[lboogie1906]

Mellody Hobson (born April 3, 1969) is a businesswoman who is President and co-CEO of Ariel Investments and the chairwoman of Starbucks Corporation, the first African American woman to be chairperson of an S&P 500 company. She is the former chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation, having stepped down after negotiating the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., by NBCUniversal. She became the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago.

As of 2020, she is listed as #94 on the Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

The youngest in a family of six children, she graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago and from Princeton University. She was a member of the Cottage Club.

After graduation, she joined Ariel Investments, a Chicago investment firm that manages nearly $13 billion in assets as an intern. She rose to become the firm’s senior vice president and director of marketing. In 2000, she ascended to become the company’s president. It is one of the largest African-American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the US. She was a contributor to financial segments on Good Morning America for many years. She is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Investment Trust. She is a regular contributor on financial issues on CBS This Morning and was formerly a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey. She was a regular contributor on financial matters on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

She serves on the board of many organizations, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., the Chicago Public Education Fund, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and the Sundance Institute. She has been acclaimed in selections such as Time’s 2015 Time 100 List, Ebony magazine’s “20 Leaders of the Future”, Working Women Magazine’s “20 Under 30”, the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow”, Esquire’s “America’s Best and Brightest”, The Wall Street Journal’s 50 “Women to Watch”.

On June 7, 2022, she became part owner of the Denver Broncos.

She married George Lucas (2013) and they have one child. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha