#rod it has been less than 24 hours

[londonhalcyon]

Dear London, merry christmas! (or in my case, felíz día de reyes :))

I have this personal tradition, wherein I like to do something special, for very special stories. These days I find it very hard to find a story that really grips and makes me want more. The Mad Witch is certainly that rare kind of story. All the effort you put into it is translated into one of the nicest reading experiences, and hopefully, this fanmade cover can show just how appreciated your work is <3

Cannot wait for more of Lilianna Flores!

[submission by @therodrigator6]

[luvfae]

47 with eddie roundtree please! maybe a last minute vegas wedding whilst on tour?

WAKING UP IN VEGAS

47: wedding day

fandom: daisy jones & the six

parings: eddie roundtree x f reader

warnings: alcohol use, drug use, swearing

You sipped from the straw that was floating around in your drink, smiling at your fiancé, Eddie, as he spoke to Warren from beside you.

“No man, you don’t understand,” Eddie said, responding to Warren’s question about the attractive women that were constantly around them. “Groupie’s are not a temptation, not when i’ve already found the love of my life,” he wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

“I’m happy for you guys, man,” Warren grinned, stoned out of his mind from all the marijuana he had smoked that day.

“Seriously, I would marry Y/N right now if I could,” Eddie said.

“Who said you can’t?” You piped up. “We’re in Vegas after all,” you smiled.

You hadn’t been engaged to Eddie Roundtree for very long, 3 months at best, but right now, tipsy from one too many margaritas, getting married this instant seemed like the right thing to do.

Hence why now the pair of you, and the rest of the band, were stood in a wedding chapel at 2pm on a Tuesday in Las Vegas. You were wearing a white sundress that you had bought back in Albuquerque, it wasn’t a wedding dress by any means, but it did the trick. Eddie was wearing a white suit he had found in the bottom of his suitcase.

Your hair was a mess, your makeup was mediocre but you didn’t care, not when you were standing hand in hand with Eddie in front of the altar, listening to him spill his heart out to you during his vows.

“You just get me, Y/N,” Eddie grinned from ear to ear, his cheeks rosy. “And that’s how I knew from the day I met you that i’d marry you.”

Warren sniffed, wiping the tears that were pooling below his eyes. “Love is beautiful, man,” he whispered to Graham, who was watching in shock horror as two of his friends impulsively got married.

There was mixed emotions in the chapel. Karen, Daisy and Warren thought it was a great idea, Billy and Graham thought it was ridiculous and Rod was stressed out, praying that the two of you didn’t regret this once you were sober.

“Do you, Y/N, take Eddie to be your husband. To have and to hold until death do you part?” The celebrant asked.

“I do,” you smiled, nodding your head. You had never been more sure of anything in your entire life.

“And do you, Eddie, take Y/N to be your wife. To have and to hold until death do you part?”

“I do,” Eddie said, instantly, his heart full, eyes swimming with adornment as he stared at you.

“I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride,” the celebrant said, a sour look on his face, repeating the same speech all day long to impulsive couples who decided to get married in Vegas.

Eddie grabbed your waist, pulling you towards him, pressing his lips firmly against yours. Your palms rested flat against his chest, smiling into the kiss, slowly pulling away as everyone cheered and applauded the pair of you.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present for the very first time, Mr and Mrs Roundtree,” the celebrant said, making everyone cheer again, especially Karen, Daisy and Warren who were jumping up and down in joy.

“This could be a fucking disaster by tomorrow morning,” Rod mumbled to Billy, clapping his hands, fake smiling. Praying to the Gods above that he wasn’t fetching divorce papers for the pair of you in less than 24 hours.

You threw the bouquet of flowers you had bought from a nearby florist over your shoulder, Karen was the first to catch them, cheering herself on happily, as if she ever wanted to get married.

“Sorry, but we have a line up of 2 more couples who want to get married so everyone has to clear out!” The celebrant yelled.

You left, hand in hand with Eddie, returning to the tour buses with the rest of the band where you spent the night partying and clinging to Eddie’s side.

When you woke up the next morning you had a pounding headache and you were attempting to go back to sleep, until memories from the day before flooded your mind and you gasped, sitting straight up in bed.

“What are you doing?” Eddie groaned, rubbing his eyes, watching you as you looked down at the dainty wedding band that now adorned your engagement ring. Then it hit him also, the pair of you had drunkenly gotten married yesterday. “No!” He yelled and your eyes snapped onto his as he sat up, running his hands through his messy hair.

“What?” You asked, worried that maybe he thought this was a mistake.

“We were supposed to get married on the beach or something,” Eddie said. “I was supposed to blow a shit ton of money on our wedding, not buy you a cheap ring and take you to a wedding chapel in Vegas.”

You giggled, your hands pressing against his cheeks, pushing your lips against his. “It’s a story for the grandchildren,” you said, resting your forehead against his. “I’m just happy that i’m finally your wife.”

—

Y/N ROUNDTREE: yeah, I thought my wedding would be big and glamorous, y’know, considering I was marrying a rockstar with money to burn… but it’s a story to tell and it was perfect.

[mariacallous]

“Ireland is on the brink of civil war,” white nationalist Nick Fuentes declared Monday during his show on Rumble. “It’s going to be ugly.”

Ireland is not on the brink of a civil war, but riots did break out in Dublin last week following a stabbing outside a school that left three children and two adults hospitalized. Despite an unknown attack motive, the situation spiraled.

Ireland’s far-right community quickly claimed that this proved immigrants pose an inherent danger to Irish society: Within minutes of the stabbing, far-right Telegram channels lit up with questions about the attacker’s ethnicity. It was eventually reported that the attacker was a naturalized Irish citizen who came to Ireland from Algeria in 2003. Less than two hours later, well-known figures within the Irish far-right community were organizing their followers to meet up in Dublin’s city center that evening. The riots quickly turned violent with police cars, buses, and trams set on fire. Dozens of shops were looted, and a number of police officers were injured. In total, 34 people were arrested on November 23.

Ireland’s own far-right community, like the far-right in the US, has been fueling anti-immigrant sentiments in the country for years. And this dark international alliance of far-right, anti-asylum American and Irish influencers is unsurprising. During his show, Fuentes, the leader of the America First movement, said that Conor McGregor, an Irish MMA star who called for war in Ireland in response to a report that noncitizens could vote in Irish elections prior to last week’s Dublin riot, should “rise up.”

McGregor, Fuentes said, needed to “salvage the country because it’s either going to be the Irish or it’s going to be the blacks … only one side is going to come out of this alive.”

Some far-right influencers in the US have also pushed elements of the great replacement theory, a conspiracy claiming that a globalist elite is working with Western governments to force out native populations through immigration.

Tucker Carlson, who now broadcasts his show on X, told his millions of followers that “the Irish government is trying to replace the population of Ireland with people from the third world.”

Former White House adviser and 2020 election conspiracist Steve Bannon, who is currently strategizing for former US president Donald Trump, responded to Carlson by declaring: “Ireland is a powder keg.”

Meanwhile, Catturd, the hugely influential pro-Trump account on X run by Florida shitposter Phillip Buchanan, told his 2 million followers to make the hashtag #IrishLivesMatter trend—which many duly did.

Elon Musk, who this week told X advertisers to “go fuck yourself,” also weighed in, claiming on X that the Irish prime minister “hates the Irish people,” and agreeing with another far-right influencer who posted on X saying Ireland needed McGregor to run for office. “Not a bad idea,” Musk wrote in reply.

McGregor, who, just 24 hours before the riots broke out, posted “Ireland, we are at war” to his 10 million followers on X, has become a lightning rod for international and local far-right support. McGregor has not fought an MMA fight for more than two years and has since spent much of his time outside of Ireland, including in his home in Florida. His social media posts over the past year have become increasingly political and have been directly influenced by many of the same far–right figures who encouraged their followers to meet in the center of Dublin ahead of the riots. The Irish police are currently investigating the riots, and McGregor is one of many currently under investigation for alleged incitement to hatred.

In far-right Telegram channels, poorly-generated AI images of McGregor proliferated, showing him in various poses ranging from standing patriotically in front of a burning bus to debating in parliament, as well as ones of a bare-chested McGregor holding a rifle and leading a mob of similarly-armed Irishmen. “Rebellion 2023?” wrote the operator of the far-right Telegram channel who posted an image.

Some experts believe that all of the attention that US far-right figures are giving to Ireland’s far-right community is now emboldening Irish figures to continue pushing their rhetoric. “In Ireland, this international attention appears to have been largely welcomed by far-right communities here who see such attention and promotion of their cause as a positive, and are drawing on this attention as further support for their campaign to target asylum seekers and migrants based on lies and falsehoods,” Ciarán O’Connor, a senior analyst with the Institute of Strategic Dialogue think tank, tells WIRED.

Irish far-right influencer Keith O’Brien, who is known online as Keith Woods, has maintained relationships with the far right in the US. O’Brien has become a leading figure within the Irish far-right movement in recent years, and spoke at a notorious white supremacist conference in Tennessee this summer. Over the past 12 months, his profile has grown internationally too, thanks in large part to both Fuentes and Musk. Fuentes has hosted O’Brien on his online show several times, while Musk has responded directly to O’Brien on X, particularly around a new anti-hate-speech law that is set to come into force in Ireland soon.

O’Brien, who did not attend the riots in person, told his Telegram followers that they were the government’s fault. “They flooded our country with unsustainable levels of migrants, planted small communities with migrant centers, responded to legitimate concerns by labeling all opposition ‘far right,’ and passed the most draconian hate speech laws in the world to shut us up,” he wrote. “When you deny people an outlet to express concerns they know are reasonable, you make them desperate.”

While two of the children injured in the stabbing attack have been released from hospital, a 5-year-old girl is still there with critical injuries.

[cluelessmoose]

Hello! I've been working my way through Follow the Lights and I was wondering, would you be able to go more in depth of how magically adept each Link is and who is most and least affected by the portals/shine magic? I find the incorporation of their inherent magic such a cool element in the story along with the soulbonds the boys share with each other.

I absolutely would LOVE to! Three things to note before I begin , though:

First off, I've got things mentally split between active magic and passive magic. Active magic is a spell, like Hyrule's Life or Fairy spell and Time's Nayru's Love. This is a direct use of magic, and requires more skill, power, and awareness of one's magic to use, hence why only stronger magic users can generally perform it. Passive magic on the other hand is using a magic tool, so pretty much any 'item' in any of the Chain's arsenals that have any kind of cool property. Fire rod, Wind's baton, Twilight's sword. Still needs magic to power, but the shape of the magic is already built into the tool, so the Link is just acting as fuel, basically. All this to just give myself a ranking system: Links who use active magic are stronger, more self-aware magic users than those who only use passive magic.

All the Chain is naturally more magically gifted than the average person, but they vary a lot in terms of power and skill between them.

Secondly, the portal that brought the Chain to Wild's Hyrule in FtL is not indicative of /every/ portal they go through; something went wrong, some kind of clash between Hylia's time and space voodoo and Wild's Sheikah tech or whatever, and the Chain got caught in the backlash. So most of them would be perfectly fine in the portal travels (except Four and Roolie, poor beans), but THIS ONE was an outlier

Which brings us to the third thing to tie those together: The reason magic strength/sensitivity matters is because the magical shockwave of that collison between portal and sheikah tech did more in bigger magic pools and affected those more attuned to their magic more harshly. Hyrule and Time pay the most attention to their magic, so when something messes with it it's way worse for them than say, Legend, who's really magically strong but pays less constant attention to his own magic.

So, as if that wasn't already an information dump, here they are in order of weakest to strongest magically, and how they are/were affected by the initial portal vs. shrine travel with Wild:

1)Twilight!

Twi is, so far as Links go, a magical dud. He has some items that are magical in nature - the shadow crystal, some armor, and his hawk eye mask to name the most important ones- but none of them require any kind of skill from him, at ALL. Literally they just need him to add magic, no shaping it, no directionality or nuances. Even the dark crystal is more of a curse than anything. So the initial arrival at the shrine for him was nothing, like at all. Did he even pass out? Probably not. He never got teleported by Wild's slate, but if he /had/ it would have knocked him on his ass for the greater part of the next 24 hours, which would have been vindicating for Four and Hyrule especially considering how utterly unruffled he usually is by the portals.

2) Warriors:

Wars is better than Twilight so far as shaping his magic goes, but not by much. Part of why he likes the fire rod so much- he can control the flame, but since its /fire/ if he flubs it up it doesn't matter, who cares as long as the monster's being roasted? He's not too terribly phased by the initial portal dump into Wild's Hyrule since he's barely aware at all of his own magic usually, but he's a bit woozy afterwards. The shrine teleportation is gonna knock him RIGHT out though, and he's gonna be pretty useless for a good few hours after he wakes up, too.

3) Wind!

Based on what little I recall of his games, Wind doesn't actually use any spells, but I still give him active magic points for being able to see and interact with ghosts in Phantom Hourglass, and the Wind Waker may be a passive magic item but it's pretty involved so far as magic control would go, so he gets added skill/power for that. Still ranks pretty low on the power scale, but he's young yet and that factors in as well. The portal wasn't very fun for him, though his youth had some to do with that -sick for awhile afterward, poor little guy- but the shrine teleporting wouldn't be great either. He'd pass out for sure, and everybody would FREAK OUT. Do it twice? Fever for sure

4) Sky

He and Wind are actually tied very closely, but I'm gonna give Sky the benefit of the doubt being much closer to the Goddess' blessing as the Chosen Hero and her future husband. Not that he himself is very powerful or skilled, but he does radiate power, even if its not exactly his to use very freely. He's not super magically sensitive on a conscious level, but he does get weirdly accurate vibes, so there's some unconscious 'listening' going on for sure. The initial portal arrival knocked him out and made him nauseous, and the shrine teleport did much the same. He's about as balanced as you can get for reactions to the two means of Links getting whacked around Wild's Hyrule.

5) Four

Four's got the FourSword and the Shadow thing and the Minish transformation as well as a whole slew of magical items, so he gets boosted to middle of the pack. He's pretty skilled but very specialized and not overly powerful magic wise, which is why he's not ranked higher. The portal threw him for an absolute LOOP but the Colors are always the real confounding factor there, which is why his reaction was so very bad even though he's only ranked at number 5. Shrine teleport -when he's not already hypothermic, hehe whoops- wouldn't be so bad: very refreshing, for once. Worth the literal headache if it means not being split into four broken pieces and smashed back together HYLIA LOOKING AT YOU

6) Time

Time has some actual spells -one for each goddess- and all of those masks as well, each with its own ability. This makes for a pretty strong and flexible magic user in him, and since magic tends to grow with age (by virtue of experience and use if nothing else) then that only boosts him higher. The initial arrival via portal sucked quite a bit for him -boy did it ever mess with his magic and he HATED that because of how in control he usually has it- and the fact that he got a particularly zappy shrine didn't help at all. Wild taking him somewhere via shrine would leave him staggering a little but otherwise okay

7) Legend

Look I know nothing about his games but he seems very /magical/ so honestly basis or no I'm putting him HERE on the list because I stan a mage Legend. He's got all the tools and knows how to use everyone of them, and he's also got the most know how, with Time as a close second for theoretical knowledge and Hyrule having the most instinctual knowledge but that's VERY useless when it comes to explaining something, though interesting to discuss and puzzle out from Roolie's weird descriptions (and boy do they). The original portal jump would take him out at the KNEES, so here's hoping there's nothing too dangerous around while he's passed out and recovering. A normal shrine jump wouldn't be so bad, but what actually happened in FtL was that since Wild was so low Legend donated his own magic to power it for both of them, which is why he was so whooped and Wild was surprisingly not completely down for the count despite the shape he was in before using the slate again. yes, Legend did this on purpose. No, Wild has no idea

8) Wild

speaking of, here he is! I'd like to reiterate that this is in terms of strength, not skill, or else Wild would rank lower. But in terms of raw amount, he's got everyone except Hyrule beat. He had the powers of the Champions (active magic, though they were the ones wielding it through him so he loses points) and his own time manipulation in the form of bullet time. Not to mention his constant use of the slate, which has built up his stores by a crazy amount. He didn't go through the portal, but if he did it actually wouldn't have affected him that badly, considering it was his own world. So no snap-back, no weird magic that messed with Rule and Time so badly, because it would have been familiar to him. We all know he can take the shrine travel like, twenty at a time usually, but eh, it's attuned to his magic so he's getting major bargains so far as magic consumption goes on that.

9) Hyrule

Its probably not a huge surprise to find out that Roolie's the strongest, magic wise, at least in the FtL universe. I love the idea that he's part fairy, and he's got the largest arsenal of actual spells in his games. He's got far fewer magical items, but because of the active magic he's still way out in front. This is why he got wreckt on the initial portal landing in wild's world. His fairy heritage didn't help, but he almost went into toxic magic shock or whatever and despite what he thought, could have died if the Great Fairy hadn't been nearby. He didn't do so hot when Wild teleported him with the slate, but to be honest that was more the overuse of magic and lingering heat exhaustion then anything else. Were he at peak strength, he'd brush a shrine teleport off with Wild's usual ease.

This is messy and idk how helpful it is but if you want clarification feel free to ASK

I've got no problem at all continuing to ramble on~

[eldamandate07]

Exemptions from the ELD Mandate

A 2014 study conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) revealed that the implementation of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) could potentially prevent approximately 1,714 crashes, 522 injuries, and 24 fatalities annually. In 2016, there were 4,400 fatal accidents involving large buses and trucks, highlighting the alarming frequency of casualties resulting from motor accidents. To address this issue, the FMCSA introduced the ELD Mandate, requiring digital tracking of a driver's Hours of Service (HOS).

Before delving into the specific exemptions of the ELD Mandate, it's essential to understand what an ELD device is and why it's necessary.

An ELD, or Electronic Logging Device, monitors a truck's engine and records its hours of operation. The FMCSA has mandated the use of ELD devices in almost all commercial vehicles that cross state lines to accurately calculate HOS. ELDs replace the manual paper logs that drivers used to maintain, saving them time and effort. While some argue that ELDs have limitations and impose rigid requirements, they are legally required for most long-haul truck drivers. In this article, we will discuss the exemptions to this mandate. But first, let's clarify what HOS entails. 

HOS (Hours of Service) Rules In 1938, the Federal Government began regulating commercial vehicles, introducing the Hours of Service (HOS) rule. This rule aimed to prevent trucking companies from overexploiting drivers and to ensure drivers didn't operate vehicles while fatigued. Fatigued driving is a leading cause of road accidents. In 2015, approximately 5,000 people died in accidents related to drowsy driving, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that each year, there are about 100,000 drowsy driving-related crashes in the United States. The economic impact of these accidents, including deaths and injuries, is estimated at around $109 billion annually, excluding property damage.

To enforce HOS compliance, the government has been stringent with both drivers and fleet owners. For example, the case of C & J Trucking Company in Londonderry, New Hampshire, involved a deadly crash in 1995 due to HOS violations. The company's owners allowed drivers to exceed HOS limits and paid them "illegal hours" off the books, leading to their sentencing to federal prison in 1999. HOS Rules Overview: A commercial vehicle driver can drive for up to 8 hours consecutively. After 8 hours of driving, a mandatory 30-minute break is required. The total hours driven in a 14-hour workday cannot exceed 11 hours. After a 14-hour shift, drivers must have a minimum of 10 hours off-duty. Drivers cannot work more than 60 hours in a 7-day workweek. Additional HOS rules may apply depending on the state. The FMCSA requires most commercial drivers to use an ELD device unless they fall under specific exemption categories, which we will discuss below. If a driver's duty takes them outside the United States, they can annotate their duty records to indicate time spent working outside the country using the ELD device. This ELD mandate also applies to commercial trucks and buses, including domiciled drivers from Canada and Mexico.

Domiciled Drivers: A domiciled driver is someone who maintains permanent residence in a particular area or locality, with the intent to return after any period of absence. Each person can have only one domicile at a time. Thus, a domiciled driver of Canada or Mexico refers to someone who is a permanent registered resident of Canada or Mexico.

Exemptions to the ELD Mandate: Trucks Manufactured Before 2000:

Trucks manufactured in 1999 or earlier are exempt from the ELD mandate since they typically lack the Engine Control Module (ECM) necessary for ELD functionality. However, it's important to note that engine replacements can occur, regardless of the truck's model year, which may still require an ELD device. Drivers with RODS of 8 Days or Less:

Drivers who maintain Records of Duty Status (RODS) for 8 days or less within a 30-day period are exempt from the ELD mandate. While ELD devices are not legally required for these drivers, they must still maintain paper logs. Driveaway-Towaway Operations: When an empty or unladen truck, tractor, or trailer is being transported with at least one set of wheels on the road, and the vehicle itself is part of the cargo or shipment, an ELD device is not required. Additionally, ELDs are not required for the transport of motorhomes or recreational vehicle trailers. Short-Haul Exemptions: Short-haul drivers who meet specific criteria are exempt from the ELD mandate. These exemptions include: 100 air-mile radius: Commercial drivers who operate within a 100 air-mile radius of their reporting location, return to the same location daily, have a 12-hour working shift, and do not exceed 11 hours of driving in a day. 150 air-mile radius: Non-commercial drivers operating vehicles under 8,000 pounds within a 150 air-mile radius of their reporting location, returning after each duty tour, and not requiring a Commercial Driver's License (CDL). Farmer's Vehicles: Some exemptions are related to agricultural vehicles. Drivers transporting agricultural commodities within a 150 air-mile radius are exempt from HOS requirements and are not required to maintain paper logs. If a vehicle already has an ELD device, the driver can use an "Exempt Driver" setting or annotate the time as "exempt ag operation." Additional Limited Exemptions: The FMCSA has approved three limited exemptions extending the deadline for ELD device implementation: A. Trucks Rented for 8 Days or Less: This exemption is valid until October 11, 2022. Vehicles rented for 8 days or less, regardless of use, are exempt from ELD requirements. HOS rules still apply, and paper logs are necessary. Drivers must keep a copy of the rental agreement. B. UPS Partial Exemption: The United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has received an exemption valid for five years until October 20, 2022. UPS drivers are allowed to change their duty status on the ELD device even when not in their vehicles. Additionally, UPS can provide a special yard move option for drivers on their premises. C. Motion Picture Association Truck Drivers: This exemption is in effect until January 19, 2023, and applies to commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers transporting goods to and from television or theatrical motion picture sites. These drivers can maintain paper records of duty status instead of using an ELD device due to the complex nature of their HOS requirements. In summary, ELD mandate exemptions include trucks manufactured before 2000, drivers with RODS of 8 days or less, driveaway-towaway operations, local drivers meeting specific criteria, and certain agricultural exemptions. Keep in mind that even if your truck qualifies for an exemption, it may still be beneficial to use an ELD device to future-proof against rule changes. Additionally, some states have their own ELD requirements, such as Texas and Florida. Please note that the information provided in this article is for general informational purposes and not intended as legal advice. Always consult the relevant regulations and authorities for the most up-to-date information on ELD mandates and exemptions.

[dertaglichedan]

Without Fox News, Tucker Carlson Takes Man Cave Rants to Twitter Show — to Smaller Results

Tucker Carlson — who was booted from Fox News in April — has made a serious pile of cash practicing what I like to call the conventional wisdom of the counterintuitive take. His worldview can be whittled down to this: everything you ever heard is wrong. And I mean everything. (He still believes the English alphabet has 26 letters but give him time.) 

Last night, he began the Twitter phase of his lucrative career. Carlson was broadcasting from an undisclosed man cave of a studio — complete with unfinished wood and fishing rods that clashed with his preppy tie and blue blazer attire. It made him look like the country club money man wandering into a meeting of the Secret Society of Maladjusted Lunkheads who all loom right off-camera. 

He then provided his rote 10-minute grocery list of Greenwald-meets-Greene grievances. It’s not clear if the speech was preplanned or tied to the news of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River, but Carlson used the catastrophe as his gleeful jumping off point. It was less than 24 hours since the incident and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy denounced the act as Russian terrorism. 

Anyone who has ever watched Tucker knew where this was going. Carlson argued that it was likely — surprise! — a Ukraine terrorist operation. He said the largely held worldview that Zelenskyy was a courageous defender of his homeland was completely incorrect. Instead he is a “sweaty and rat-like comedian turn oligarch, a persecutor of Christians.” Not nice! Notice the drive-by quality of the “persecutor of Christians,” which is a classic Carlson fact-free zone created by, uh, Tucker Carlson.

Carlson’s long-honed strategy is to call bullshit on his enemies — in this case Bill Kristol and Sen. Lindsey Graham — for sculpting the conventional view that the dam explosion was a Putin operation. He then provides his own bullshit report from the upside-down world. His theory for Zelenskyy being responsible is that Putin isn’t dumb enough to do this and you’d know this if you, dear watcher, weren’t bought and brainwashed by corporate media. Carlson offered the Nord Stream pipeline explosion as precedent for Zelenskyy blowing things up. The small problem is it has not been proven that Zelenskyy or Ukraine destroyed Nord Stream.

From there it was the worst cover version of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.” Everybody knows 9/11 didn’t go down as you believe, everyone knows Oswald didn’t mow down JFK, everyone knows some “skinny dude in a dress is a girl.”

It all built up to a Carlson crescendo. The biggest news of yesterday isn’t climate crisis, transgender wars or Ukraine. No, it is the discovery that the Pentagon has UFO aircraft and the alien bodies of UFO pilots in their possession. “We know in a normal country, this news would qualify as a bombshell the story of the millennium, but in our country, it doesn’t,” said Carlson in his faux sad voice. 

***

Poor Tucker. He was big and then the picture got small.

***Yeah, 92 MILLION views.. Pretty small..

[drsteveparagioudakismd]

What is Robotic Spine Surgery?

Robotic spine surgery is a minimally invasive procedure. This means that it is done through small incisions, compared to the large incisions that are necessary for traditional surgery.

Minimally invasive techniques minimize tissue damage and blood loss during the surgery. They also reduce the risk of infection and recovery time.

In math, science, and engineering, accuracy is how close a measurement is to the actual value. Precision, on the other hand, is how consistent a size is when it is repeated.

In spinal surgery, robotic guidance reduces the risk of screw misplacement and increases the rate of correct screw insertion. This is important because screws that are misplaced can cause nerve damage and impair healing.

During surgery, the Renaissance Robot guides your surgeon through the operation according to the pre-operative plan they created. This improves the precision of your surgery, resulting in an accuracy of 1mm!

The robotic system also allows for less radiation exposure during spine surgery. This is because it uses neuronavigation software to detect and confirm the positioning of instruments. This decreases radiation doses and helps lower complication rates, recovery time, and the number of revision surgeries.

Minimal invasive surgery (MIS) means less damage to surrounding tissue and faster recovery periods. MIS is especially effective for back pain and spinal disorders that can't be treated through other methods.

The spine is a complex organ that requires special care to protect against infection, bleeding, and other complications. However, the risks associated with spine surgery can be significant.

Traditional open surgery requires long incisions that can be painful and difficult to heal from. This is because muscle and surrounding soft tissue must be moved out of the way or removed from the bone.

Today's MIS techniques involve tiny incisions that allow access to the spinal area using live X-ray or CT scan imaging for guidance.

In addition, surgeons can now gain access to the spinal area through a computer-guided surgical robot, making surgery safer and more accurate. These technologies are transforming the practice of neurosurgery and increasing patient safety and outcomes while minimizing complications.

Robotic spine surgery offers a less painful recovery than traditional open surgeries. This less painful recovery is due to the fact that automated procedures typically involve smaller incisions than conventional "open" surgeries, which reduces blood loss and allows for faster postoperative recoveries.

The procedure involves placing rods and screws that extend through skin incisions to target specific areas of the spine. This technique is often used to treat spinal degeneration, herniated discs, and other disorders affecting the vertebrae.

Traditionally, surgeons have placed these screws either freehand (using their judgment and feel) or with the assistance of X-rays taken during the operation. This is very risky as a screw misplaced by even a few millimeters can result in ongoing pain, slower recovery, and potentially repeated surgeries.

Fortunately, surgeons can now use technology to increase the accuracy of spinal procedures. This has been proven to reduce operative time, decrease the risk of radiation exposure and minimize the need for revision surgery.

Robotic spine surgery has been shown to be an excellent option for patients suffering from back pain. Compared to traditional spine surgery, which involves opening up the entire back and neck, robotic spinal surgeries are generally faster, less painful, and more accurate.

In addition, minimally invasive surgical procedures typically require less time in the hospital and have a shorter recovery period. Most patients can go home the day of the process and will experience a significant reduction in their pain within 24 hours.

Prior to the operation, our surgeons use computer planning software to create a blueprint for your specific anatomy and diagnosis. This allows them to pre-plan the procedure so that it is performed with extreme precision. Then, the robotic system and the CT imaging software are brought into position in the operating room, where they guide the surgeon.

[sinogomine]

Charcoal stick briquette machine producing charcoal rods to achieve the following 6 steps is not a problem

In general, the process of producing coal sticks is mainly coal distribution → crushing → mixed coal → adding adhesive → pile → mold → drying

1. Coal distribution: There are many raw materials that can produce coal sticks, and coal quality is uneven. In order to make the produced coal -type coal benefits better, many coal stick machine operators use coal distribution methods to produce a variety of specifications of coal. Gets to meet the needs of different customers;

2. Message: In order to produce the combustion of the coal stick, the amount of raw materials used when producing coal sticks should be as thin as possible, so some large raw materials need to be crushed with the raw coal with a crusher, but due to the crushing of raw materials, it is broken. Limited production capacity, machinery and equipment, power consumption, etc., generally crushed about 3 mm or less;

3. Mixed coal: Only when the raw coal that enters the coal rod machine can ensure that the quality of the coal stick meets the expected requirements. The crushed coal molds need to be mixed with a mixer; add adhesive It is necessary to add adhesives appropriately when coal stick mechanism is made. At present, the commonly used adhesives are mainly sodium salvate, but because the sodium salvacu acid solution must be played under a certain concentration, it can play its role. Nothing must be, so we must grasp the concentration of coal powder;

4. Packing: After the original coal is crushed with sodium and the sodium solution, it must reach the pile time for more than 24 hours to reach 48 hours. Its bonding performance, after softening and increasing plasticity, is an important part of improving the strength of the coal stick;

5. molding: The pile of raw coal is squeezed by the coal stick to form a coal stick with shape rules;

6, drying: The coal sticks just produced from the coal stick, although it has been formed, but the hardness is small. If it is easy to deform if it is directly loaded, it must be evaporated by the water. The hardness of the coal stick gradually becomes larger, becoming a coal stick with greater hardness and regular shapes.

If you want to know about more charcoal stick briquette machine informations, you can visit our website: https://www.sinobriquettemachine.com/briquette-machine/

[justtogetthrough]

I'm trying to slowly unpack boxes to make my new place not a disaster, but so much has to go to storage I'm not really making much progress as the unit doesn't become available til Dec 4th thus I can't do anything with the giant things that are in my way.

But this does mean that my cats, who have been used to climbing and sleeping on top of a mountain of boxes for 2 weeks, are now being unpleasantly surprised by jumping onto things they immediately fall into and once or twice a day lately I hear the telltale sounds of a mistaken and potentially painful fall into an open/weakened box after weeks of gentle compression that separates the tape from the box flaps.

The first time it happened my cat got straight up absorbed by a box full of curtain rods whose top was folded 4 ways rather than taped so it just... twisted open to eat him then twisted shut again like nothing happened except he was YOWLING from the terror of what just happened and spent 24 hours glued to my face like he was so happy to he alive.

I take it the cats are getting used to falling into boxes now because I hear the sound of the flaps sliding, the items banging around, and the scrambling back out and not so much a meow of contempt anymore.

To be fair, I haven't built them their cat tree yet. I usually set one up right away for them when we move but my life has been such a disaster that I haven't and so it's my fault they've had to substitute the stacks of boxes for climbing and sleeping.

I need the fucking storage unit so I can make space to build them their tree.

Unpacking is a nightmare. The boxes from my house all fit in the apartment bc I purged so much stuff but it's nice to have them stored in boxes. I don't have that much stuff anymore I guess but I just have nowhere to put them once they come out of boxes because with sloped ceilings, 3 couches I need to keep, plus a kitchen table, I have significantly less storage. I may have to ask them to remove the kitchen table even though I'd love to have one. I will re-evaluate when the storage stuff gets removed though. Maybe they'll indulge me and get a 4 seater table rather than 6. They do want me to live here long term. I have many requests though so I'm trying to pace them and not be a burden 😖

I still don't know where to setup my office. The only place that makes sense is where the 3 couches are right now (due to heat sources) but where the couches need to be moved to set up my office is where the storage stuff and boxes are so I'm at a fucking stale mate and I'm going insane.

I wish I had friends I could ask for help. I wish the friends I did have didn't all live hours away from me. I need to make friends here but social skills are my worst domain of skills and I am so SO bad at it that I have little hope of succeeding and it just makes me stay home and isolate and be miserable about being alone. Nothing about my life lends itself to getting to know people without alienating them right off the bat and it's a really big problem for me.

So. Idk. I'm just... in a new place, in crisis, stressed that my cats are stressed, having a massive flare up of mental illness symptoms, got a fresh IUD yesterday so beginning another hormonal rollercoaster, and I 100% wish I was dead and am full of so much self loathing I am ashamed to exist at all.

Getting out of bed to do anything is hard and I wish I was capable of having multiple close relationships that weren't plagued and poisoned by crippling fear of abandonment.

[ipscindia]

Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty for Osteoporotic spine fracture and spine metastasis

Advanced age, asthma, diabetes, emphysema, menopause, chronic steroid use and rheumatoid arthritis are all risk factors for osteoporosis. The resultant weakening of bones can lead to compression fractures of the spine causing severe pain, deformity, loss of height, immobilization, and in some cases, failure to thrive.

Historically, vertebral compression fractures have been treated either with conservative methods of cast or brace immobilization with long term bed resting or with major surgery. This surgery requires a long incision, screws and rods for fixation and is done under general Anaesthesia. These treatments are limited by long recovery times and disruption of daily life.

Now, these painful spine fractures can be treated with a Minimally Invasive, Non Surgical procedure known as VERTEBROPLASTY, an innovative alternative to traditional treatments which stabilizes fractures of the spine safely and effectively, often providing immediate pain relief.

Q. Do we have any non-surgical procedure to fix spine fracture?

Vertebroplasty or targeted cementoplasty is one of the most advanced procedure for immediate and significant pain relief in patients with spine fracture or compression fracture due to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition where the bones becomes porous and fragile and leads to fracture with even minor trauma or jerk.

Q. How complicated is this vertebroplasty procedure for compression fracture of spine?

The procedure is very safe in experienced hands. There are costly options available but they have not proved to be more safer than vertebroplasty.

This procedure is done in Local anaesthesia, so we can even avoid the effects of general anaesthesia and patient can be discharged same day.

IPSC India is pioneer in performing this procedure.

Q. Is vertebroplasty a major surgery?

The goal of a vertebroplasty procedure is to stabilize the vertebral compression fracture to stop its painful movements. Vertebroplasty is considered a minimally invasive surgery because it is done through a small puncture in the skin instead of an open incision.

Q. Which procedure is better for spine fracture, Vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty.

Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty, both the procedures are done to fix the compression fracture of spine vertebrae. In Kyphoplasty, we use balloon to create some space inside the vertebrae and then fill that space with cement. But this makes kyphoplasty a difficult procedure as compared to Vertebroplasty and requires general anesthesia. Most of the recent studies have shown that there is no difference in outcome between the two procedures. Cost of the procedure is also less as compared to Kyphoplasty which is done under general anesthesia and may require hospital admission.

Q. What are the advantages compared to Surgical Fixation?

 Vertebroplasty has several advantages:

Do not require general anaesthesia.

No need to open spine.

No need to put rods and screws.

No need of prolonged hospitalization.

All these reduces the risk of complications.

Q. How long does it take to recover from vertebroplasty?

Most people are able to walk after the procedure, but you may need to restrict yourself to home for 24 hours afterward to rest. Then you can slowly resume normal activity. Some patients, but not all, feel pain relief soon after vertebroplasty. These patients report that their pain is gone or is much better within 48 hours.

At times, due to involvement of other nearby structures, pain relief is not complete after the procedures. In such cases, your pain specialist may advise another procedure like facet joint block or facet denervation, or myofascial trigger point injection.

Q. Can we use vertebroplasty for old age and osteoporotic spine?

Yes! percutaneous vertebroplasty can be performed in spinal vertebrae that are not suitable for surgical fixation, for instance because of osteoporosis or because general anaesthesia may not be advised in patients who are very sick.

This procedure can also be performed in spine fractures due to spinal metastasis. Some cancers at some stages of cancer, spread to other areas like spine.  These spinal pathologies are very painful and at times lead to fracture of spine.

Q. How this procedure is performed?

The beauty of this procedure is its simplicity. “A small needle is advanced into the fracture using only local anaesthetic followed by the placement of bone cement into the fractured area. The cement hardens in about 10-15 minutes and remarkably the pain is gone.”

“After performing good number of vertebroplasties, I can confirm that this is one of the most significant procedures for the treatment for vertebral compression fractures,”

Q. How long does bone cement take to set?

The calcium phosphate cement flows into the spongy inside portion of the bone, filling in microfractures and other damaged areas, and it hardens in about 10 minutes' time.

Dr (Maj) Pankaj N Surange

Interventional Spine and Pain Specialist

Spine Endoscopist and Vertebral Augmentation Specialist Director, IPSC India, New Delhi Director, IPSC India training institute. Hon. Secretary, Indian society for study of pain

[the-griffons-saddlebag]

💎 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! Naga's Caduceus of Rebirth
Rod, rare ___ This scepter has a skull at its top with a diamond fitted into each of its two eye sockets. When found, the rod has 1d2 diamonds remaining. While holding the scepter, you can use an action to cast the "revivify" spell from it, without consuming any costly components. When you do, one of the diamonds in the scepter's skull shatters. Once the second diamond shatters, it can't be used to cast the spell again. The scepter can also be used as a magic mace, which has a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙖𝙜𝙖 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣. The following properties are only discovered 24 hours after the second diamond has been shattered, or by a "legend lore" spell. An "identify" spell fails to reveal them. A spirit naga is held captive within this rod. 24 hours after the second diamond shatters, the rod turns black and ashen as the naga is released, appearing in the nearest unoccupied space within 30 feet of the rod. The naga is hostile, and is determined to end the lives of any creature that was revived using the rod's magic. The naga always knows the general direction to the nearest creature revived in this way. The only way to prevent the naga from returning to life after 1d6 days (short of a "wish" spell), is to slay it with the rod. When you do, both the rod and naga are destroyed. ___ ✨ Patrons get huge perks! Access this and hundreds of other item cards, art files, and compendium entries when you support The Griffon's Saddlebag on Patreon for less than $10 a month!

[even-love-unreturned]

Meanings behind Chain of Iron chapter titles (part II, Ch16-29)

16. Dark Breaks to Dawn

Likely from another Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem, “Found”, a companion to his painting of the same name. It was published in 1881 in his volume Ballads and Sonnets.

“There is a budding morrow in midnight:”— So sang our Keats, our English nightingale. And here, as lamps across the bridge turn pale In London's smokeless resurrection-light, Dark breaks to dawn. But o'er the deadly blight Of Love deflowered and sorrow of none avail, Which makes this man gasp and this woman quail, Can day from darkness ever again take flight?

17. Prophet of Evil

In “The Raven”, Edgar Allen Poe calls the raven a “Prophet” and a “thing of evil”.

In the Iliad, Cachas the seer/prophet is called a “Prophet/seer of evil”:

To Calchas first of all he spoke, and his look threatened evil: “Prophet of evil, never yet have you spoken to me a pleasant thing; ever is evil dear to your heart to prophesy, but a word of good you have never yet spoken, nor brought to pass. […]”

I don’t think either of these two are the reference used here though.

18. Goblin Market

This title is clearly from the poem “Goblin Market” written by Christina Rossetti in 1859, a tale of two sisters tempted by magical and dangerous fruit sold by goblins. According to some analyses, the poem might read as an allegory of addiction and recovery. (This poem has also been quoted in chapter 6 of CA)

19. Thine Own Palace

From one of John Donne’s verse letters to Sir Henry Wotton beginning “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls”:

“Be then thine own home, and in thyself dwell; Inn anywhere; continuance maketh hell. And seeing the snail which everywhere doth roam, Carrying his own house still, still is at home, Follow (for he is easy paced) this snail, Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail.”

20. Equal Temper

From the poem “Ulysses” written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1833.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

21. Hell’s Own Track

From another Christina Rossetti poem, “Amor Mundi”, published in 1865.

“Turn again, O my sweetest,—turn again, false and fleetest:  This beaten way thou beatest I fear is hell’s own track.” “Nay, too steep for hill-mounting; nay, too late for cost-counting:  This downhill path is easy, but there’s no turning back.”

22. Heart of Iron

Perhaps from “The Belfry of Bruges” (1866) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

At my feet the city slumbered.  From its chimneys, here and there, Wreaths of snow-white smoke, ascending, vanished, ghost-like, into air.

Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour, But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower.

23. Silken Thread

Possibly from the poem attributed under its first line “O Lady, leave thy silken thread” by Thomas Hood.

O lady, leave thy silken thread And flowery tapestrie: There's living roses on the bush, And blossoms on the tree; Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand Some random bud will meet; Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find The daisy at thy feet.

24. He Shall Rise

This is either a biblical passage, or from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Kraken”, first published in 1830.

There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

25. Archangel Ruined

Finally we have Cassie’s obligatory Paradise Lost reference in every book!

[…] He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent,⁠ Stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost All her original brightness, nor appeared Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured. […]

- Paradise Lost, Book I (1674), John Milton

26. Older Than Gods

The only thing I can find for the exact phrase “older than gods” is something from the play The Birds by Aristophanes, performed 414 BCE, in which characters argue that if birds are older than earth and therefore “older than gods”, then the birds are the heirs of the world, for the oldest always inherits. Somehow I don’t. Think that’s the reference used here ajskfkd.

Then, there’s a line that goes “older than all ye gods” in Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem, “Hymn to Proserpine (After the Proclamation in Rome of the Christian Faith)”:

Will ye bridle the deep sea with reins, will ye chasten the high sea with rods?/Will ye take her to chain her with chains, who is older than all ye Gods?

27. Wake With Wings

From another poem relating to Prosepine (which is one of the Latin names for Persephone) “The Garden of Proserpine” (1866) by Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Though one were strong as seven, He too with death shall dwell, Nor wake with wings in heaven, Nor weep for pains in hell; Though one were fair as roses, His beauty clouds and closes; And well though love reposes, In the end it is not well.

28. No Wise Man

Possibly from the famous quote, written by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in essay: “No wise man ever wished to be younger.” But I doubt it, considering all the other references are of poems and verse.

29. A Broken Mirror

Possibly from poem XXXIII in the long narrative poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” by Lord Byron, published between 1812-1818. The wikipedia description has it as: “it describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man, who is disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry and looks for distraction in foreign lands.”

Even as a broken mirror, which the glass In every fragment multiplies; and makes A thousand images of one that was, The same, and still the more, the more it breaks; And thus the heart will do which not forsakes, Living in shatter'd guise, and still, and cold, And bloodless, with its sleepless sorrow aches, Yet withers on till all without is old, Showing no visible sign, for such things are untold.

Part 1 (chapters 1-15) here.

[mrsluttystark]

Repeat After Me Part 2

Part 1 

You guys have no idea how much it meant to me that part 1 was so well received. Thank you from the bottom of my little starker heart! 

Tags: nff, age difference, former teacher/student, mention of daddy kink, mention of choking

Word count: 3.1k

Read below the cut

Peter wakes up five minutes before his alarm, like he always does.  He absolutely hates the shrill screech of it.  His bed creaks and groans as he sits up and swings his legs over the side.  Suddenly, the springs that had previously been holding him up collapse under him, making him yelp in surprise.  Peter made a mental note that maybe it was time for a new bed, he’d been holding on to the rickety twin mattress he had all his childhood since it was the only thing he had left from May’s.

He usually went into the lab on Saturdays, even though he was supposed to be off during the weekend.  It’s not like he has plans or anything, but he guesses he could shift his schedule around a little to go mattress shopping.

His arm darts out like clockwork and taps his screen to turn the alarm off before his phone could utter the first mind melting ring. Peter runs a hand through his hair to brush some stray curls out of his face and stretches before getting out of bed to do his morning routine.

It’s not until Peter sits down at his two-seater dining table with a bowl of captain crunch berries, two pieces of toast, and a cup of earl gray tea, does he finally check his phone.  

The spoon is barely out of his mouth when he sees the notifications.  Eyes wide, he chokes on the cereal trying to force its half chewed self down his throat.  He can taste the oat milk is his nose and it is not good. 

Mr. Stark accepted his friend request and messaged him?  Peter looked around his apartment, skeptical.  Was he dreaming? Was this one of those life-like dreams where he gets ready for the day then wakes up and has to do it all over again?  He looked down at his arm, should he pinch himself? No, Peter, that’s stupid.

He shook his head and looked at his phone again, opening the Messenger app.

Hey, Kid.

Shit, he was toast.  Collecting himself, Peter took a deep breath to prepare himself for a conversation with his former high school teacher (that he may or may not want to fuck him senseless and cuddle afterward). He racked his brain thinking about how to approach this.  Should he be bold? 

Hi, Daddy. Please cum down my throat? Yeah...that might be too bold.

Hello, Mr. Stark.  I humbly thank you for accepting my friend request.  Ugh, too weird.

He’s overthinking it, he knows. Peter types out and deletes maybe five more messages before he finally settles on:

09:10 am 

Hi, Mr. Stark.  It’s Peter.

09:11 am

Parker.

Peter threw his phone down on the table and put his head in his hands, bowl of cereal soggy and forgotten. He made a face at it and pushed the bowl away, pulling his toast closer.  He took bites of a slice distractedly and washed it down with some tea.  He’d regret not eating a proper breakfast later, but right now his appetite was replaced with a turning feeling that he couldn’t quite place.  His phone vibrates on the table, startling him from his thoughts.

From Tony Stark 09:22 am

Yeah, Peter.  I did read your name on your profile.

09:23 am

Right. Sorry.

From Tony Stark 09:23 am

Don’t worry about it, Kid. Just pokin’ fun.

09:24 am

(sweating emoji)

Thanks for accepting my friend request btw, Mr. Stark.

From Tony Stark 09:26 am

No big deal, thanks for the request, it’s been a while.

And Tony is fine, you’re not my student anymore, Pete.

09:26 am

Yeah, okay. Tony. I can do that

So you remember me?

From Tony Stark 09:27 am

I remember all my students

09:27 am

Really???

From Tony Stark 09:28 am

No, not really lol

But I do remember you, you were a lot skinnier back then.

09:30 am

(eye roll emoji) And you were a lot younger 

From Tony Stark 09:31 am

Ouch, that was uncalled for

09:32 am

You asked for it

So what have you been up to?

From Tony Stark 09:34 am

I’m a mechanical engineer now, quit teaching a few years ago. What about you?

09:35 am

That’s awesome! You were way too smart to be a teacher.

I’m a research chemist

From Tony Stark 09:38 am

Thanks, kid.

That’s about where I’d thought you’d end up, as smart as you are.

09:40 am

Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Stark

Tony*

Sorry.

From Tony Stark 09:40 am

Everywhere?

09:41 am

Everywhere.

From Tony Stark 09:50 am

Say, Pete. I don’t actually have a habit of checking this app and I’m about to head out of the house for the day.  I’d like to continue this conversation, so here’s my number if you wanna text me [hidden contact information].

No pressure of course.

From Tony Stark 09:53 am

Peter?

New Message

To: Tony

You know who I am.

From: Tony

Had me there for a second kid. 

I’m about to drive, I’ll text you in a bit.

Peter put his phone down for the first time in almost an hour, eyes straining to refocus after staring at his screen intensely for so long.  His heart was pounding in his chest and his cheeks were starting to ache from smiling.  Had that really happened? Peter brought a hand up to rub at his jaw, still in a daze.  He was finding it very hard to believe that this wasn’t some elaborate dream because there is absolutely no way that this could’ve happened in real life.  Talk about a glitch in the simulation.

He really got Tony Stark’s phone number, and he didn’t even have to ask for it!

Peter scoffed in disbelief, no fucking way! He opened the Facebook app again and went to Tony’s profile.  Turns out there wasn’t much else on it, he had a total of 3 profile pictures and less than 100 friends, none of which were other students and only a few midtown teachers.  So, he either was a very private person or he didn’t use Facebook at all.  And if it was the latter (or both for that matter), why did he accept Peter’s friend request in the first place?

Peter decided not to think about it right now.

He went to his profile pictures and glanced at the current one he already studied last night.  The previous one was just the Guns N’ Roses album cover for Appetite for Destruction.  Classic Rock fan, noted.  His first profile picture, though, was an absolute masterpiece.  Tony looked to be on a beach somewhere, his hair was wet and messy from the clear blue salt water.  Peter wanted to run his tongue over every inch of the olive toned skin exposed to the sun.  His smile was radiant, framed by neatly trimmed facial hair, with thick, dark eyebrows peeking over his sunglasses.  Swung low on his hips right below a toned stomach were hot rod red swim shorts that stopped in the middle of his thigh, showing off his tan legs dusted with dark hair.

Peter tried not to look, he really did, but he could not stop his eyes from landing on the older man’s crotch.  And he was not disappointed.  There, curving onto his thigh, was a long, thick unmistakable dick print.  Peter’s mouth watered at the sight as his own cock stirred with interest.

Fuck. He wondered how big he really was in person.  How far he could take it down his throat.  He wanted to know how it would feel to be stretched and filled by Tony’s cock.

Scooting his chair back abruptly, Peter shot up off of it.  His hard-on tenting almost painfully in his pajama pants and it was starting to create a wet spot.  Mattress shopping can wait, Peter needed to cum, like, yesterday.

He rushes to his room and yanks the drawer of his night stand open, revealing a wooden box.  Peter unlatches the box and grabs a bottle of lube and his veiny lifelike vibrating dildo with a suction cup right behind the silicone balls from his small collection.  This one was by far his favorite, it’s eight inches long and he loved feeling the veins and the girth of it filling him up. 

Peter lays a towel down on his bed and climbs to the middle, carefully avoiding the new dent in the mattress. He bunches up the pillows behind his back so he’s laying at an incline, then starts rubbing himself over his pajama pants while he uncaps the lube and squeezes some onto his fingertips. Clumsily, he pulls and shimmies his pants down his hips with his left hand, breath hitching when his heated erection makes contact with the cool air in his apartment.  It lands with a light smack against his abs and Peter tugs his shirt up and under his chin.  Kicking his pants off his bed, Peter spreads his legs.  He can feel his hole puckering in anticipation of being used.

His left hand begins lightly skimming his torso, feeling his abs contract under his finger tips.  Bringing them higher, he rubs across his chest, pinching his nipples softly.  Peter rubs the lube between his thumb and forefinger to warm it up, then starts rubbing the tight ring of muscle in circles, making his cock jump.

Once he’s coated, he sinks a finger in slowly to coax himself open.  His left hand continues caressing his body, skirting across the area right above his cock.  Peter lets out a plethora of whines and pants, eyes screwed shut at the feeling.  The image of Tony’s face urging him to take another finger.

He knows Tony’s fingers would be thicker, stretching him wider than Peter ever could with his own.  The younger man hoped his former teacher would be able to handle him the way he wanted.  Peter imagined large, strong hands encircling his throat while the other gripped hard on his hips while he took him.

Three of his fingers are buried deep in himself before he even touches his neglected, leaking cock.  His left hand comes to collect the precum pooling at the head and dribbling down his shaft, allowing his hand to glide along his hot skin. He strokes himself lazily as he pulls his fingers out and reaches for the dildo.  Uncapping the lube again he slicks up the silicone and brings it to his open, waiting hole. 

Pulling his left hand off of his cock, Peter grabs one of the pillows and stuffs it under the small of his back.

He imagines Tony looking down at him with dark, analytical eyes, watching Peters every movement.  The rise and fall of his chest, his heaving breaths.  The way Peter keens when he’s stretched like he longs for the sting of it.  Would he fuck into him slowly or would he seath himself in one smooth, quick stroke?

Peter chooses the latter.

He cries out as he pushes the dildo balls deep into his ass without pause.  The pain from the stretch mixes deliciously with pleasure.  Sweat beading on his forehead has Peter’s curls sticking wetly to his skin.  His entire body is covered in a thin sheen of it.

The young man turns onto his left side, dildo still deep inside him.  Peter reaches around his back with his right hand and grips the bottom of the suction cup.  He sighs, easing the dildo out slowly before pressing the button at the base of the shaft to turn on the vibration and ramming it into himself once more.

Tony would be taking him from behind, a long arm encircling Peter’s body, hand coming to grip him at the base of his neck, right above his collarbone so that he could pull the younger man down and onto his thick cock while he fucks up into him.  

Peter continued to fuck himself roughly with the dildo while he thought of Tony’s hard body doing it to him instead.  He’d whisper dirty things in Peter’s ear while he fucked him.  Tell him that he’s such a good little slut for his teacher.  Peter whined at the thought, he’d love it if Tony let him call him Mr. Stark in bed.

He starts stroking his cock faster, feeling his orgasm build in the pit of his stomach.  His right arm is starting to get tired from fucking the dildo into his ass for so long, he’s gotta cum soon.

Peter’s eyes fly open when he hears his phone vibrate through the thrumming in his ears.  It’s a text from Tony.

How’s my favorite student? Miss me?

That does it.  Peter’s entire body jolts as he cums all over his hand and the towel he laid on the bed, a high whine caught in his throat. 

He’s still trying to catch his breath a few minutes later, after he eases the dildo out and places it on the towel.  He wipes his hand off on it as well before he grabs his phone.  He definitely needs a shower now. Then he’ll go to the mall.

To: Tony

Don’t flatter yourself

To: Tony

Maybe a little

-

Tony can’t help but smile at his phone, he might have been a little too eager with the message, typing it up as soon as he put his car in park.  The easy banter going on between him and Peter was refreshing.  Tony couldn’t remember the last time he felt genuinely excited to talk to someone, let alone text.

As the conversation kept flowing while Tony picked up his dry cleaning, he could only deduce that it was because they were nearly equal on an intellectual level.  It may have helped that Peter was easy on the eyes as well.

They talked about their projects at work and the research behind it, what it was like at Columbia for Peter, and how MIT had been to Tony.  The older man made a mental note to ask where Peter worked at a later date, maybe he could recruit him.  He learned that Peter’s favorite colors were blue and red.  That he hated horror movies but watched them anyway just to spite himself.  He loved rom-coms and (surprise, surprise) sci-fi movies.  He couldn’t cook to save his life, Tony assured him he could give him lessons if he wanted, he could make a mean Chicken Piccata.

Tony couldn’t even bring himself to feel guilty about it at all.  The conversation was innocent and Tony was a flirt by nature, Pepper never had a problem with it.  If anything, this thing with Peter was just a budding friendship.  The universe knows Tony needed someone to talk to.

Around noon, Tony’s stomach started to grumble, not surprising considering the hearty breakfast of black coffee he had this morning.  Peter mentioned earlier that he’d been craving Gyros, and that didn’t sound half bad right about now.  He was a few blocks away from the mall anyway.

From: Peter

Here’s a contact picture, in case you needed one...

[see attachment]

The picture Peter sent was absolutely adorable.  His bangs fell over his forehead, slightly parted to the side so it wasn’t completely covered.  Tony felt utterly entranced by the younger man’s smile and the way his left eyebrow looked like he’d slept with his face buried in a pillow.  He was wearing a T-Shirt with a science pun on it, as if the kid couldn’t be any dorkier.  Tony loved it.

To: Peter

Is that a sly way of getting me to send you a selfie back?

Cute shirt by the way, where ya headed?

From: Peter

Maybe...did it work?

I’m going shopping for a new mattress, old one crapped out on me.

To: Peter

Here, since you asked so nicely

[see attachment]

From: Peter

Oof, you can just delete mine.  You just made me go from a solid 6 to like a 2

To: Peter

Hey, give yourself some credit, you’re definitely at least a 5

KIDDING, I’d rate you a solid 9, kid. Just because there’s always room for improvement

From Peter:

I would just like to know who gave you the right to be so sassy and RUDE

To: Peter

Definitely my narcissistic ego

No, but seriously Pete, you’re stunning.  Don’t listen to the old guy

From: Peter

Pls you’re not that old, Tony.

To: Peter

A man after my own heart.  Thanks, kid.

From: Peter

Anytime :-)

You’re more like my friend’s hot dad if anything

To: Peter

Little shit.

From Peter:

;-)

Tony shook his head fondly and stuffed his phone in his pocket as he entered the mall, looking around for something indicating what direction the food court was in.  He hadn’t been to this mall in a while, he admits since he’s been making more money it’s kept him from coming and eating the fast food they had here.  So he followed the signs until he got to the food court, and noticed there were still quite a few tables open for him to sit and eat at.  He made a point to stay as far away from the family with three screaming children as possible.

He scanned the choices until he found somewhere that had gyros and went to go stand in line.  The menu wasn’t too extensive, he could either get a gyro platter or a falafel platter, and he already knew what he was here for.  His eyes fell from the menu to the person in front of him.  Not to be a creep, he’s only human, but he had a fantastic ass.  A perfect little bubble butt.

The man was a little shorter than him, he had a trim waist that opened up to broad shoulders not bigger than Tony’s.  Incredible figure.  He’s probably a dancer or a marathon runner.  He also noticed this man had brown curls.  That made him snort softly to himself, he either had a type or Peter just invaded his mind in a short amount of time.  It could be either, honestly.

His eyes dropped to the phrase printed on the back of his shirt.

Never trust an atom, they make up everything

Ha.  Peter would love that shirt.

Wait.

Peter has that shirt.  It’s the one he was wearing in his selfie.

“Peter?”

The man in front of him whirled around to look at him with a puzzled expression.  Tony suddenly found himself unable to move or say another word.  He was instantly captivated by doe eyes and one of the prettiest faces he’d seen in a long time.

He watched his confusion turn into realization and then disbelief and dare he say: panic.

“Tony?”

@sweetqueen449, @slut-for-starker, @dim-ships-johnlock, @starkerhowlter, @sthefystarkersworld, @crazycocococonut, @bris-sins, @delicateavenuenacho, @ironspiderstarker, @katzenbaby1, @spider-iron-man, @rebel13lion39, @twokinkybeans, @frenchfrostpudding, @cherrygoldlove, @silkystarkk, @icandoakickflip, @irondaddio, @briesb1tch

creds to @problemchildnoonewanted for some of the messages in the beginning

[back-and-totheleft]

Oliver Stone Settles the Score with Cannes Debut ‘JFK Revisited,’ Feels Unappreciated at Home

When you think reliable narrator, Oliver Stone doesn’t exactly come to mind. Since his start as a director in the 1970s, the lightning-rod filmmaker, now 74, has leaned into fiction narratives with political points of view, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,” arguably his peak of high regard in Hollywood. It’s hard to recall that in 1992, controversial global smash “JFK” earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

Times change, and Stone’s complex historic and global point of view is far more layered and nuanced than current American partisanship will accept. That’s why the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet has managed to alienate folks on every side of the political spectrum, including accusations of promulgating violence with “Natural Born Killers,” promoting a whistleblower in “Snowden,” and conducting friendly documentary interviews with dictators, Cuba’s Fidel Castro in “Comandante” (2003) and more recently Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Showtime’s four-part “The Putin Interviews”).

“Many people are scared and touchy,” said Stone’s long-term backer, Argentinian producer Fernando Sulichin (“Alexander,” “Savages”), “because he goes to talk openly to big powerful people who are not liked in the West and gets their point of view. He does that as an exploration. If you have a chance to speak to these people, they will be judged by history. For example, Nelson Mandela and the NSA were declared a terrorist organization, then 20 years later he’s the savior Nelson Mandela. It’s an overview of the geopolitical system, [Stone] is not affiliated. And everything is coherent within a historical time frame; it’s a historical approach to modern reality that is not made by the people in the political world of the newspapers.”

So when it comes to setting the record straight on who killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in that motorcade in Dallas, Texas, Stone might not seem the most objective documentarian to tell that story. After all, isn’t he just trying to prove the same conspiracy theories he put forward in “JFK” almost 30 years ago, that got him in hot water at the time? “Of course,” he told me at Cannes, where he world-premiered and launched world sales on documentary “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass,” which he finished during the pandemic. “To make this documentary is to prove our case. We proved it as far as possible. There is no absolute proof.”

When producer Rob Wilson proposed the idea of returning to the shooting of JFK, Stone decided it was important to bring multi-generations up to speed on what really happened back in 1963. At first, Stone pitched four one-hour episodes for television, but no sale. So he fashioned a two-hour movie instead, completed, along with his recent memoir, during the pandemic. “The 1991 movie was a dramatization, nothing wrong with it,” he said “I got nailed by people, literalists, saying Stone made up this and that, like, Kevin Bacon was an amalgam of five homosexual characters in New Orleans.”

For “JFK Revisited,” Stone leaned on a screenplay based on facts, culled by indefatigable Kennedy researcher and autodidact James DiEugenio, who deconstructed two assassination tomes published after the release of “JFK” — Gerald Posner’s “Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK” (1993), and Vincent Bugliosi’s “Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy” (2007). Stone also wanted to assemble all the primary evidence that has been declassified and revealed in the last decades, from the initial Warren Commission Report to subsequent government investigations that undermine many of the Warren Commission’s findings.

“When the 50th anniversary rolled around,” said Stone, “I was depressed that even the networks and print outlets were ignoring alternate theories on the Warren Commission. You’d have thought it was the Bible. It was a cover-up whitewash.”

DiEugenio had read every text about the assassination, Stone said: “He went after everything. The script was wonkish. Rob and I simplified it.” While one could argue with Stone’s choice to add to his own narration the familiar voices of Whoopi Goldberg and Donald Sutherland (who starred in “JFK”), nonetheless the movie makes a persuasive argument against the Warren Commission’s lone gunman theory, which had Lee Harvey Oswald fire a “magic bullet” that passed through Kennedy’s body in multiple unlikely locations, and was mysteriously found in an untarnished state. “JFK Revisited” persuasively argues for a conspiracy theory involving multiple players and makes a cohesive case that two rogue arms of government, the FBI and the CIA, both contributed misleading evidence to the Warren Commission, which overlooked evidence that was subsequently unveiled.

And the movie is unabashedly pro-Kennedy. “Kennedy was a true true warrior for peace, he did not want proliferation,” said Stone at the Cannes press conference, “a great American leader. Had he succeeded we would be in a whole different place.” And if the assassination had happened in an age of mobile cameras, the investigation would have gone very differently, too. “But what is the absolute truth? We don’t have it. History itself is up for grabs.”

Stone sees Kennedy as the last president to question the power of the entrenched and well-funded military industrial complex, the FBI and the CIA — which may explain why he often seems sympathetic to Donald Trump. As far as Stone is concerned, George W. Bush was a much worse president. “He led us into the war on terror,” he said. “The Liberal movement changed after September 11, 2001, became super-patriotic, identifying America as an oppressed nation, because it was attacked by terrorists — as if we hadn’t committed acts of terrorism abroad ourselves. 2001 was a payback for a lot of stuff we’d done.”

Next up: “Starpower,” a clean energy eco-documentary. “I’m looking to global interests,” said Stone. “We have to realize energy is an international issue. A lot of businessmen are progressive when it comes to energy. It’s not political, it’s beyond that. With energy and climate change, we’re looking at the danger of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. It’s crucial we solve that problem by 2050. The Russians and Chinese are doing a lot of work with new energy, and the U.S. is doing it at a smaller level with less government support. I believe that a world of peace and coexistence is more crucial than anything.”

And Stone worries that Netflix algorithms that predict what moviegoers want to see preclude greenlighting the kind of movies that made his career. “I always believe that if you build it they will come,” he said. “I struggled to make my first films, like ‘Salvador.’ I don’t think anyone could question military strategy today like I could in ‘Platoon.’ An algorithm couldn’t predict who would come to ‘Platoon’ or ‘Born on the Fourth of July,’ which both took 10 years to make. The film dictates the audience. If it’s good, it brings the audience. Algorithms don’t work that way.”

The director also fears that Americans aren’t getting the full story via their news media, with censorship on the rise. He sees himself being funded by more international outlets than domestic ones. While “JFK Revisited” scored favorable early reviews and strong international sales, North American distribution is still up for grabs. “If this movie is not shown in America,” said Stone, “something is wrong with our system.”

-Anne Thompson, IndieWire, Jul 24 2021 [x]

[iloveyou3thousand]

Tony's birthday is coming up and Peter doesn't have any money for his boyfriend.

I’ve had this idea for a looong time so I’m glad I’m finally getting a good excuse to write it :p Enjoy :)

——————————————————————————————

Peter takes a deep breath in, and a deep breath out, and opens up the jar to empty the contents onto his empty desk.

He’s been saving every penny he can spare, putting them all into the jar, and now it’s time to see how much he’s accumulated over the past few months.

He tries not to think about the few times that he needed to take a couple of dollars out of there to get something fixed, or to be able to go out for lunch with his friends, or to put towards some new clothes from the thrift store. Even despite that he must have been able to save quite a bit, right? He’s been putting money in the jar for what feels like ages.

But when he’s done counting every single coin, he’s just a few pennies shy of twenty dollars, and his heart sinks into his stomach.

The best he’s going to be able to buy with that is a half decent box of chocolates. But that’s not anything special. He needs to have something special.

He’s been with Tony for about eight months and some change now, and his birthday is coming up, and Peter wants so desperately to give him something special – but how can he give him something special when Tony is a man who practically has it all when all Peter has to his name is 19 dollars and 86 cents?

It nearly makes him cry, dropping his forehead to his desk with a loud thud. What is he going to do now? Tony’s birthday is in less than a week and he’s got nothing to show for it. He’s not going to ask other people for money because then it won’t be his present when he gives it to Tony, and anyway, he doesn’t even know what he wants to buy for him.

Peter puts the money away again and just tells himself that he’ll find something. Hell, maybe he’ll just…steal some of May’s lingerie that he pretends he doesn’t know about, and show up on Tony’s doorstep half naked. That’s something that people do in movies sometimes. Peter is half convinced that Tony would like that, too.

The next day and five days to Tony’s birthday, there’s aliens in town again, and while they’re in the middle of battle, suddenly Peter has an idea.

He locks himself into Tony’s workshop the minute they get back to the compound, and doesn’t get out the rest of the day.

Technically this might be cheating, but it doesn’t matter. It’s something that’s going to take Tony by surprise, and that’s really all that Peter can ask for at this point. He just wants something that will make Tony smile.

It takes a couple of days to finish because whenever Tony is in the workshop, Peter can’t really work on it. And Tony is in the workshop a lot.

He works all throughout the night the day before Tony’s birthday, and even manages to convince Tony to go and get some sleep, that if he does he’ll have coffee ready for him in the morning.

And Peter does.

Around 5:30, he finishes his project and swings into the city to spend his last couple of dollars on a box of donuts from a 24-hour place that Tony loves, then comes back and brews a big pot of coffee for him, making it nice and strong. Tony’s alarm goes at six as it always does, and when he wakes he’s met with a text from Peter telling him to come directly down into the workshop.

Peter’s standing by the door to greet him, looking visibly excited and nervous at the same time. He leads Tony over to his workbench, which Peter tidied up earlier so he could display the pot of coffee with Tony’s favorite mug sitting next to it, the box of donuts right beside it, both surrounded by some decorations that Peter threw together.

“What is all this?” Tony asks, puzzled.

“Surprise!” Peter exclaims.

He pours Tony a mug of coffee while Tony picks out a donut and takes a big bite.

“What’d I do to deserve all this?” He asks when he’s washed the mouthful down with a swig of hot coffee.

Peter gives him a look as if to say ‘like you don’t know’, and produces a sleek black metal case with a white bow that Peter fashioned out of a piece of paper on top, biting at his lower lip to try and contain his excited smile.

“Happy birthday, Tony,” he says. Recognition sparks in Tony’s eyes before he looks down at the suitcase with a curious kind of wonder.

“Don’t tell me you put all your life savings into buying me a gift, Peter,” Tony warns as he puts down his donut and coffee and wipes his hands before he carefully takes the case.

Peter shakes his head. “I didn’t. I spent those on the donuts.”

Tony looks horrified for a second before Peter flashes him a grin and taps his arm quickly. “C’mon, open it!”

Tony sets the case down on the workbench and flips the locks to open it. Inside lay two hot-rod red, metal devices. They look familiar and yet not quite. Like he’s supposed to know what they are and yet it takes Tony a second to realize what he’s looking at, taking one of the devices out of the soft foam that holds them in place.

Peter is watching Tony with bated breath, his heart racing all the way up in his throat. He almost feels sick with nerves. If Tony doesn’t like this then he doesn’t know what he’s going to do.

He feels like he’s about to burst when Tony picks one up and turns it around in his hands.

“They’re webshooter extensions,” Peter pipes up, unable to keep the words contained any longer, unable to watch Tony fumble, and once he starts he can’t stop, “For the Iron Man suit. I haven’t been able to actually test them out on one of your suits for obvious reasons so I have no idea if they really work and I mean you probably won’t use them anyway because the Iron Man suit doesn’t need anything like that and you’ve always got me there to help you out if you do anyway but Aunt May said…”

He trails off, and takes a deep breath, trying not to get flustered by the way Tony is looking at him.

“Aunt May always says that it’s the thought that counts. Do you…like them?”

Tony hasn’t said a word yet and Peter is anxious for some answers, although he is looking at Peter in that fondly exasperated way he always looks at him when he’s said too much. Or just a lot, all at once.

Tony slowly puts the extension down so that he can turn to Peter and wrap him up in a tight hug. Peter immediately hugs back and lets out a soft little ‘oh’ when Tony presses a kiss to the crook of his neck.

When he pulls back, Tony’s gaze is just as soft as his words as he cups Peter’s cheek.

“Peter Benjamin Parker. I have never loved anything, or anyone for that matter, more than I do this, and you.”

Needless to say, it’s a pretty successful birthday.

[pluto-art]

- PINKY AND THE BRAIN - EXPERIMENTS -

Below the cut is a personal project on the much more morbid side. Animal lab experimentation is always something I’ve found equal parts horrible and fascinating. Once in a blue moon, I’ll do research on the subject out of curiosity and/or for storytelling purposes. Even as a kid, I found this of interest, and when watching Pinky and the Brain I was always a bit disappointed that we never saw more of what the characters actually went through in the lab during the day. Granted, there’s a reason as to why this was never shown, as a child audience had to be kept in mind, yet still I pondered about it....

Over the last few days, I’ve been churning out compositions based on internet findings -- old and new experiments that rats and mice are put through, many of them humane, some of them very much not. It was an eye-opening journey for me artistically and otherwise, discovering what I’m comfortable drawing and what I never want to sketch again, as well as learning more about this realm of the scientific world.

WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW THE CUT. If needles, patients dealing with the effects of cancer, and general portrayals of pain bother you, I wouldn’t bother venturing onward. I not only drew out experiments that the characters might have gone through, but also describe all of my findings in detail and provide video footage to go along with it. While I didn’t go full-on vivisection or anything, some of this might still be disturbing, so I’m taking extra precaution.

All of the images below are “color-coded” and graded. The experiments start out fairly tame, then get worse... and worse... and worse. The backgrounds reflect this, going from fairly light to quite dark.

-------------

Experiment #1 - Tail Flick Test

A fairly harmless experiment. The subject is mostly restrained, leaving only their tail exposed. An intense light beam is projected onto the exposed appendage, with the animal flicking their tail when the pain/heat becomes too much. This test is utilized in basic pain research and to measure analgesic effectiveness.

I wanted Brain to wear an expression of deep apathy -- he’s done this a million times and will probably do it a million times more. At this point, he doesn’t even care anymore.

For the background, I simply copied an environment in one of the videos I found.

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzrA1tDTfkQ

Experiment #2 - Rotarod Performance Test

Another experiment that’s generally harmless. One or multiple subjects are placed on elevated rotating rods so as to measure such things as endurance, balance, grip strength, and more.

I imagine Pinky would enjoy this test, as he’s familiar with running on a wheel and actually enjoys more strenuous activities. Brain, on the other hand, would only participate via sheer force. He’d also be more prone to fall after a shorter period of time, getting tired faster than his cage mate.

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v56MtrmWAs0

Experiment #3 - Shot (General)

Nothing special. Just Brain about to get shot.

This is all highly exaggerated, of course. A mouse would simply be held firmly, not strapped down, for a simple injection. Also, I can’t imagine why they’d be shot in the face, although Meg told me that scientists tend to draw blood samples from a mouse’s cheek. Need to look that up. I wasn’t at all going for accuracy here, but rather how it might feel -- how scary it would be.

Experiment #4 - Sciatic Nerve Constriction

An experiment in chronic neuropathic pain, due to the central or peripheral nervous system sustaining damage. Under anesthesia, the animal’s sciatic nerve is exposed via skin incision. The connective tissue between the biceps femoris muscles and the gluteus superficialis is cut. The nerve is then loosely tied with four chrome gut ligatures so to occlude, but not arrest, blood flow. The wound is sutured, the animal is given 24 hours to recover, and then both hindpaws are tested for pain sensitivity. Sounds terrible, but it’s certainly not the worst of the experiments I researched.

I have no idea what’s going on with the coloring in this. Again, going for feel more than accuracy, but the hues are way too calm.

Information link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22433911

Experiment #5 - Writhing Test

Particularly cruel test in which acetic acid is introduced into the system, inducing severe internal pain. The typical response includes writhing, abdominal retraction, and stretching of the hind limbs. Despite the test being withdrawn in 2004 for unethical reasons, it is still employed by some.

This was my favorite one to draw. Although the lighting and shading are not the greatest, it made for an interesting experiment. I did not intend for the lines to be so bold, but it kind of turned into an almost comic-style illustration. I ended up playing around with it a bit and like the result enough to post it.

I would not watch the video below if you are squeamish. It is difficult to swallow. On another note, you may find the “Empathetic Behavior: Emotional Contagion in Mice” section in the second link of interest. For cage mates in particular, if one or both mice were injected with the same acid, and allowed to observe one another, an injected mouse would writhe more if its partner was also in pain. I can’t help but imagine Brain and Pinky in this type of situation....

Information link #1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3543562/

Information link #2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/writhing-test

Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib63O4F856w

Experiment #6 - Transgenic K5ras Mouse / Nude Mouse (Combination)

Experiment in which cancer is induced in the system. Nude mice are bred for a number of tests, and are used for this one, as well.

My least favorite to draw, but my favorite to color. One particular experiment I found showed a tumor in every follicle on a mouse’s muzzle. Was trying to go for this look, albeit exacerbated.

Information link #1: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(98)70203-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982298702039%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Information link #2: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/weirdest-lab-mice/

-------

Bonus:

This is based on a test that I found absolutely hilarious. There’s a certain chemical, called W-18, that’s been on the drug market for... some years. The potency of it is supposedly insanely high, although this has never been proven. It’s basically a research chemical (created at a university in the 80s) with analgesic properties that were shown to be “painkillers or blockers of the painkilling effect of morphine in mice”. Mice, not humans. To quote a specific article:

“... when they first injected some of these chemicals into the animals at a dose similar to aspirin, the mice stood up for about a minute and fell over unconscious. They remained unconscious – for five days. But they weren’t dead. They were still breathing. And when they woke, they seemed fine, other than being really hungry and thirsty.”

They literally keeled over from the supposed potency of it. From what I recall, they don’t even know exactly what it was doing to their system, other than the fact that it knocked them out. I just find it funny that they were completely fine after awakening days later.

Although the pure smell of it wouldn’t cause such a reaction, I liked the idea of it in picture form and so depicted Brain simply taking a whiff before passing out.

Information link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2016/04/30/w-18-the-high-potency-research-chemical-making-news-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt/#2c45a5dd4757

-------------

Experiments researched, but not implemented:

- Tail dipped in ice cold water (mentioned here: cold water) - Morris water maze - Porton Down nerve agent test(s) (the worst; not even sure how I’d depict this)

The Porton Down tests sounded so indescribably cruel that I simply couldn’t bear to put Brain or Pinky through either of those, much less draw them out. It was the most horrific of the experiments I found, second only to a story about a French physiologist in the 1700s/1800s who performed, I believe, vivisection on live, six-week-old puppies. There’s a limit and that’s my limit. Even the cancer-based composition above was difficult to create. I legit felt dirty drawing it.

Researching these subjects was incredibly interesting, and I came across a few articles that touched on animal experimentation and the question of whether or not it’s ethical. Should such practices continue? It’s more complicated than a simple “yes” or no” answer. Some tests are fairly harmless, whilst others border on the inhumane, and some are downright cruel. Some people say that, without testing, there would be a lot less medicine on the shelves to assist in relieving and curing our ailments, whilst others argue that 90+% of the time the testing done is unnecessary, the results yielded by the subjects dissimilar to those that would be shown by humans and, henceforth, stating that the inaccuracies are numerous. This particular article offered up what I thought was a pretty genuine and interesting debate on the matter:

Pain in Lab Animals: How Much is Too Much?

In an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Mogil, a neuroscientist, he mentions that:

“You have complete control over everything in mice. Within limits, you can do whatever you want as long as you minimize pain and suffering of the subjects.“

Full interview: https://www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/latest_podcast/sex-differences-in-pain-and-pain-inhibition-with-dr-jeffrey-mogil/

While many establishments do follow the Animal Welfare Act, other laboratories still implement unethical practices. Also, the rules for what constitutes as acceptable in regards to tests that can only be performed without painkillers or anesthesia administered is... nebulous.

Thankfully, there is a number of lab testing equipment on the market specifically designed to be more humane and less stress-inducing to its subjects. These restrainers, for example, allow the animal to “walk in” without having to be physically forced backwards into a container:

Restrainers

Here is another example of testing that is relatively pain-free:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4401362/

It’s simple and inexpensive while still allowing scientists to perform tests.

Below is a video showing how a type of rotarod works, one that doesn’t place the rods too high and provides a cushion underneath in case the subjects fall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38fDS2i13k

This tail flick analgesia meter comes installed with a cut off timer to avoid damage to the animal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgaStZt143o

So there are options. How often are such options utilized in the field? I have no idea, although there are laws that should be followed and, from the sound of it, generally are adhered to. Not everyone in this business is cruel. Though you do have your occasional psychopath who performs very morally questionable operations behind closed doors, I believe that this is a great exception to the rule, and that there are a lot of laboratory workers who genuinely want to inflict as little pain as possible upon the animal. Just an opinion. I don’t have tons of evidence, but it seems like most people are sane. Lol.

Most of the experiments I inflicted upon Brain because, I think, Pinky is so pure that I have a hard time imagining him sustaining any kind of extreme pain that would genuinely hurt him. Also, he borders on being freakin’ masochistic, finding pleasure in a lot of painful situations, whereas Brain does not. Brain has been through a lot, mentally and physically. It seemed more... “appropriate” to put him in these situations, as terrible as that sounds.

All of that having been said, I never want to do this kind of exercise again. While a lot of it was interesting, and some of it even fun, parts of it were legitimately painful. The cancer one.... I felt horrible....