#senior conversation technology

[samkerrworshipper]

Initiation | Barca Femení x reader

part 1

warnings: insinuations of smut, sexual references, don’t read if you aren’t open to non monogamous relationships lol

you are responsible for your own digital consumption this is not made for anybody below the age of 18!

When it all had been proposed to you, you’d been shocked.

It was no secret amongst the soccer world that certain clubs had certain initiation customs, it was also no secret that inside a lot of clubs, especially the European ones, there was a lot of sexual fluidity across teammates. You weren’t oblivious, you’d heard the many stories from your national teammates, but when you’d signed with Barca and had two of your teammates approach you to talk about the Barca initiation you’d been shocked.

You were having coffee with Keira and Lucy, the afternoon after you’d signed and finished up all the media that had been required of you for Barca to put up on their social media and website.

You were sipping on your iced latte, whilst trying to finish off the pastry that Lucy had bought you, when they’d popped the question.

“Has anybody talked to you about Barca initiation?”

It was Keira who had piped up, her voice anxious from the other side of the table.

This was your first senior professional team that you were a proper member of, being only 22 you’d played the majority of your junior career with Manchester United, and your senior career had been a lot of bouncing between different teams. You’d never signed a contract that had you dedicated to a club for multiple seasons, so Barca was a big change for you.

“Lucy said that she had to sing a song or something.”

You hadn’t really thought about it much, you’d gone through the singing thing at your English call-up when you were 17.

“Right, but there is a little bit more to it than that.”

You looked up from your croissant, one of your eyebrows raised in questioning at your two older mentors.

“Are you going to tell me what you are talking about or continue to look at me like I’m about to explode?”

Lucy laughs, the anxiety on Keira’s face only becomes more prevalent.

“Okay, so a lot of the professional teams have different rituals that happen at the start of every season, initiation nights.”

You nod along, this isn’t new information to you, but the squint in Keira’s eyes at your obliviousness is enough to tell you that you aren’t catching on to whatever she is saying.

“Keira, can you get to the point?”

You're getting sick of Keira beating around the bush like you are a 10 year old.

“Barca has a night every year, a special night, it’s very important to some of the girls, no phones, no technology, it’s a very personal night, where some things that could be deemed unprofessional occur.”

You are still so lost, and you are certain that it’s being portrayed in your facial expression, is she talking about alcohol? Dancing? Pranks? Hazing?

“Keira, just tell me.”

Your statement is a plea, a plea for Keira to end this whole awkward encounter and just get to the point.

Lucy laughs heartily at the terrified look on Keira’s face, when she realises that Keira is stuck at what to say she takes over the conversation, both of her hands thudding down on the table.

“At the start of every season, we all get together, we have fun, no rules. This is different to your substandard initiation, this night is about connecting, on a different level with your teammates, on a sexual level.”

Your jaw slackens almost immediately, your eyes blinking aimlessly as you take in the last piece of Lucy’s statement.

“Now, that’s not to say that you have to do anything, if you want we can forget I just said that and you don’t have to be apart of that part of the night, it’s completely optional, a lot of the girls chose not to participate, but we just wanted to let you know that it is a option.”

An option.

It’s such odd wording, like it’s just an everyday decision.

“Sorry, I just need a few seconds to process.”

You take your time, taking a deep gulp of your coffee and a big bite of your croissant before you look back up at your teammates.

“Can I have a bit more of an explanation? I just want to understand this a little bit better.”

Lucy nods her head eagerly, a big smirk covering her face.

It’s such a taboo conversation to have at a fucking cafe, over breakfast, but neither of the other women seem very bothered by it.

“It’s a free for all, a survey is given out every year beforehand, things you are and aren’t open to engaging in. It’s separate to the other initiation, that happens during pre-season. This is different, It’s all very consensual, and if you choose to participate then you're limited on alcohol consumption, for safety reasons. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of pleasure and exploring. Alexia's been organising it for a few years now, so it’s a very secure process. It’s kind of seen as a final hoorah before pre-season and training starts. Normally they book out a suite at a hotel somewhere, but some years it’s been done at teammates' houses or airbnbs.”

You nod your head, it’s a very interesting concept, one that you are completely shocked by. Sure, you’ve heard about sexual innuendo amongst groups of players in clubs, but this is a completely different level. It’s uncharted territory for you, you definitely aren’t any form of prude or innocent type. You enjoy sex, you’re experienced enough to know that you are good at it. But you’ve never experienced anything near what this is.

“You’ve both been a part of it?”

Lucy nods definitively and Keira nods almost ashamedly.

“You’re okay with your partner being with other people?”

It might be an over step, but you figure this whole conversation is an over step.

“It’s not like that. I speak for both myself and Keira when I say that we both like to see each other having fun, that’s what this is. It’s a night of fun, and it’s with people that we both trust and spend every day with, there isn’t any worries about jealousy. There are a lot of the girls on the team that are in relationships, Ingrid and Mapi are together and they participate, Jenni and Alexia, Caro and Marta, there are also people in relationships outside of the team, it’s all consensual amongst both partners.”

You nod your head, it’s not like it matters to you, your not in a relationship, but it does make you feel a little bit better about the whole interaction.

“Sorry-I’m asking a lot of questions.”

Lucy just smiles and shakes her head.

“Don’t worry about it, I had plenty of questions to ask and I didn’t have a national teammate to ask about it. Ask away, it’s better to ask now then wonder later.”

You nod your head, you are still so shocked by this whole encounter.

“I-What happens at this night?”

It’s a broad question, and you almost palm yourself in the head for asking it.

“I seriously don’t need to give you the birds and bees talk do I?”

Lucy is jesting you, so you roll your eyes, pivoting to Keira with a genuine look of curiosity.

“It differs each year, depending on what people want to do. Toys, kinks, bondage, anything really. If you want to do something, someone is probably likely to want to oblige you. For example, last year, Luce put down that she liked to watch me service other people, and I got the opportunity to do that.”

Keira is stuttering over her words, it’s kind of cute, especially when you catch the glance that Lucy throws at her.

“This is the only time it happens every year.”

Keira cocks her head, looking at Lucy for some kind of permission before shaking her head.

“Not quite, there are agreements between some of the girls, on trips and things often happen but that’s more private, this is common knowledge amongst the team. Although, if you enjoy yourself there is a more than likely chance that more opportunities will come up, if you catch my drift.”

Keira is like your older sister, so sitting down and talking to her about sex has never been something that has ever crossed your mind remotely, but you are kind of glad that it is Kei that you are talking to. Because Keira doesn’t joke around the same as the others do, she wouldn’t make fun of you about something like this, nor would Lucy consider she’s Keira’s codependent.

“So, correct me if I’m wrong, and I'm going to be blunt about this. Every year, before the season starts, the Barca women have a massive sex free for all that’s disguised as an initiation party.”

Keira hesitantly nods, but not before she can correct you a little bit.

“It’s not disguised as an initiation party, there will be other new signings there, Ona, who you would know from United, and a few other girls. I can promise you that the newbies get the most attention, if that’s something you want, of course, there is absolutely no pressure for you to participate, this is about you doing as little or as much as you’d like.”

You take a few minutes of silence, whilst you toss up all of the words that have been spoken in the conversation between you and the couple.

It’s a lot to think about, and the thought is massively daunting.

Especially considering that you are going to be walking into a room full of women that you’ve hardly talked to. You’ve met Alexia, she dropped in to meet you when you were going through the process of your signing, but it had been a fairly rushed interaction and you’d been too busy being in awe of her to even think about anything besides the fact that in a few months time you’d be playing on the field beside her.

“If I said I wanted to?”

Lucy broke out into a fit of giggles, a big smile breaking out across her face.

“I’ll text la capitana, she’ll text you any details, you’ll probably get a visit or a phone call confirming your interest.”

You were still a little bit shocked, this whole conversation felt like it had been a dream, so much so that you’d had to reach down to your thigh and pinch it to confirm that this was in fact your life.

“That’s it?”

Lucy smirked and nodded, reaching over to pat you on the shoulder.

“You aren’t signing yourself off to the devil, Ale will be in contact, if you have any questions you’ll see Kei and I everyday leading up to it, and if you want to pull out at any stage that’s completely fine, no hard feelings, no judgement.”

You nodded your head, unable to do much more than that.

“It’s as easy as that?”

Lucy nods her head.

“Easy as that.”

It’s two days later, when you are properly acquainted with your captain.

You are sitting at your kitchen counter, finalising some university work that you are trying to get ahead of when you are rudely interrupted by the sound of a light knocking at your door.

You close your laptop, and turn down the volume of the playlist you have playing across your speakers, before you jog to the door of your apartment.

The last thing you expect to be faced with, is the face of your newest captain.

“Hola, Capitana.”

You don’t really know what else to say, you’ve had zero warning about this sudden visit, and whilst you are honoured, it’s also a little bit daunting having one of the best players the game has standing right in front of you.

“Lo siento, puedo pasar?” Sorry, may I come in?

You are nowhere near fluent in Spanish, Lucy had been giving you crash courses over the past few months once she’d found out about your signing, you had managed to get a cusp of basic conversational talk, the club had told you that once season commenced you’d be assigned a spanish teacher and a translator, so you hadn’t been super worried about it.

“Please, make yourself comfortable, would you like something to drink? I’ve got water, juice, coffee, tea?”

You list off everything that you can think of, as you open the door fully to Alexia.

“Just water should be fine.”

You are slightly shocked by the Spaniards' flawless pronunciation over her English, and also extremely relieved that you aren’t going to be forced to try and understand Spanish, because it certainly isn’t a skill you’ve even begun to master.

Alexia takes a spot sitting at your island bench, directly beside your uni work that had been the previous centre of your attention, which is now being completely occupied by your Catalan company.

“Here you go.”

You pass the glass over to Alexia, electing to stay positioned on the opposite side of the counter, instead of sitting down beside her. It feels less confrontational, more conversational and less one on one.

“Gracias, I’m sorry for dropping in without any warning, I was in the area and I figured it was best to discuss this all with you in person, I won’t be here long, I don’t want to disturb anything.”

You smiled at Alexia, shaking your head at her.

“It’s no trouble at all, I was just getting ahead of some course work, what can I do for you, Capitana?”

Alexia gives you a wry smile, reaching for her handbag which she’d set down on the floor.

“Please call me Alexia or Ale, none of the formality is necessary.”

You nod at her, Ale, it sounds nice coming off of your tongue, it makes you feel a little bit less terrified of the woman.

“Okay Ale, what can I do for you?”

Alexia smiles at you, a genuine smile that somehow warms your soul, it’s like magic, and you give yourself a mental note to ask Lucy about the effect later on.

“I’m just here to talk to you about our initiation night on Friday, Lucia tells me that you are keen to join in, si?”

You nod your head cautiously, it’s impossible to miss the little dimple in Alexia’s cheek as she licks her lips and smirks at you.

“Perfecta, I can assure you that you will have a lot of fun. Has Lucia talked to you about it, or would you like me to give you a bit of a debrief?”

Technically, Lucy has given you the debrief, but you are curious to learn more and see if Alexia has anything else to add.

“Lucy talked about it, but it was pretty brief and non-specific.”

Alexia nods, and gently pushes a sheet of paper across the table to you, one look at the words across the sheet had your eyes nearly bulging out of your eye sockets.

“On the left, you’ll see a list of girls' names, those are the girls from the team that are choosing to participate. Some just come to watch, others come to please, others come for pleasure. Everything that happens on the night is exclusive to the team, and if talked about outside of the team there are consequences. On the right you’ll see a list of common things that occur. I'll send out a survey to you later, the majority of those things will be on the list, you do not have to engage in anything that makes you uncomfortable, there is absolutely no pressure for you to do anything. Please understand that.”

You nod dutifully at Alexia, your eyes scanning the page and taking in the amount of names as well as different sexual acts and activities.

“We’ve rented out a house, it’s on private land, nice and spacious, lots of privacy. I’m sure Keira and Lucia will take you along with them, you can be as included as you wish, we take care of newbies, anything you want you’ll get, just don’t be shy to ask for it, okay?”

You nod sheepishly at Alexia. This conversation would make you uncomfortable normally, but talking about it with ‘La Reina’ like the two of you are discussing the weather is perplexing.

“Don’t stress about it, cariño, you’ll be well looked after, you are well sought after amongst the group, I’m sure that you’ll be very popular if you desire so. If not, I’m always happy to look after our newest additions.”

Alexia sends you a sardonic smile, sweet and sultry, full of teeth and a chunk of her plump pink lip caught in her teeth.

You think that Alexia can sense that you are stuck on what to say to her, a little bit star struck and still trying to process the words that have just left her mouth.

“Well, unless you have any other questions I'll see myself out, I’ll see you in a couple of days, adios.”

Alexia is up and out of your kitchen in a matter of seconds, barrelling towards the door, your body following hers and managing to speak out just as her hand connects with the brass of your door knob.

“Alexia, thank you for coming around, I really appreciate it, just one last question if you have a second?”

Alexia pivots on her heel, turning around to face you fully.

“Ask away.”

You nod your head, working up the confidence inside of you to ask the question.

“What should I expect?”

You are well aware that it’s a broad question, and you don’t know what kind of answer you are going to receive, but there is a part of your gut that’s just begging for more information, for something.

“You really want a spoiler?”

You nod your head definitively, you aren’t a person who enjoys surprises, you like to know what to expect, what’s happening. You’ve been this way since you were a child, and it’s followed you up until now.

“It’s an atmospheric experience, the feeling, the endorphins. There is nothing that matches being in a room full of people full of desire, nothing like being in a room full of women reaching levels of pleasure they never even imagined. I don’t know what else to say, it’s an out of body experience, there is a reason why it is so sacred amongst our team, as a newbie it’s daunting, I know it’s hard to believe but I was once in your position as well, and the best chunk of advice I can give you is to just let go, let yourself live in the moment whilst you are there, nobody is going to judge you, take a leap of faith, okay? I’ll see you in a couple of days, text me if you have any more questions or if you think I’ve left anything out, even if you just want to chat I’m here, take a read from the list I gave you, it should provide some insight.”

Alexia’s words resonate with you for days to come, the way she talked about the whole situation like it was gospel, her words making it seem like a holy sacrament. You study the sheet she’s given you as if it is the holy bible and you are trying to learn your scriptures.

14 women.

15 including yourself.

That’s a lot of people, and yet as you read over the names it seems nowhere near as magnitudinal as it sounds.

The list of kinks and situations is a source of a lot of your late night self explorations.

You’ve experimented with a lot of things over the years, but some of the things on the list have you weak at the knees just reading them. When your receive the email from Alexia it takes you a whole day to work up the courage to open up the attachments. The first one, as previously discussed is a survey. It has all of the things from the sheet Alexia gave you, plus a surplus of other things, and then some more questions to be personally filled in. It’s near impossible to work through it, it takes far longer than you think it should, but by the end of it you are left with a warm feeling in the bottom of your stomach, anticipation, shock at what you are looking at.

There are four boxes for each topic, yes, no, maybe. And below every maybe box there is a little text box which reads ‘please specify’.

It’s well organised, and you have a feeling that Alexia will have put a lot of time into it, from the very short amount of time that you’ve grown to know her you’re under the impression that she takes her role of captain very seriously.

Fingering? yes. Vaginal pentration? yes. Spanking? yes. Bondage? maybe - no ropes or handcuffs. Oral receiving? yes. Oral giving? yes. Use of toys? yes. Double penetration? yes. Anal? maybe - only experimented but open to trying. Sensory deprivation? maybe - no gags. Humiliation? no. Sex with multiple people? yes. Orgasm denial/control? yes. Sex with a couple? yes. Praise? yes. Degradation? yes. Choking/breath play? no. Dominant? no. Switch? maybe - most likely not. Submissive? yes.

The list goes on, it covers every single thing you’ve ever done and then more, it makes you quiver in the depths of your core, just with anticipation.

Once you’ve finished the yes no part of the survey and answered the questions down the bottom you move onto the other attachment, which from a quick skim over outlines the rules, expectations and details of the night.

The main things that cathc your eyes are the sentences relating to safe words and consent. It seems important so you pay extra attention to it. It talks about the traffic light system, that once you consent to the night it is your responsibility to use your words, there will be regular check ins but unless you use your safe word there is no expectation for anything to stop.

Some other topics that catch your eyes are details about time, place, clothes, etcetera.

The majority of it is just information that Lucy and Keira had already outlined to you, the newbie run down.

Three days later, and you are slowly getting ready for your night to come.

Over the past 72 hours there has been one thing on your mind, tonight. You aren’t spared a minute from your thoughts and when Keira and Lucy walk through your front door, running an hour late you are buzzing. You are well aware of the fact that you look like a 8 year old who has just skulled a bottle of cola, every single extremity connected to your body shaking wildly.

You were lost on what to wear, and it had taken a long chat with Keira yesterday to convince you that apparently it was nowhere near as big of a deal as you were making it in your head.

You settled for a matching sweat combo, just because you figured it would be coming off anyway. It was paired with one of your nicest pairs of lingerie, a red set which was probably leaning towards a size too small. The set accentuated every single part of your body though, it hugged your curves, made your ass pop and your tits look delectable.

It felt almost criminal to cover it up with a tank top and nike tracksuit and sweater, but you also found comfort in the extra layer of clothing, it feels like a layer of armour.

You’ve been sitting in your apartment, contemplating everything for an hour and a half when Lucy and Kei finally show up.

They walk in without any warning, and it’s certainly a sight for sore eyes.

You aren’t sure when was the last time you’ve seen either of them glowing and looking so smiley, but it’s definitely a moment where you take a mental picture for the future.

They’re both dressed similarly to you, and for once you don’t find yourself guilty for being curious about what hides beneath the couple's clothing.

“Hola.”

Even your words are practically dripping with anxiety, your voice shaky and stuttery.

“Hola amor, you ready to go?”

Lucy looks especially delighted.

Her hair is down, something that you don’t see very often. She’s got a light layer of makeup on that compliments her facial figures without making it look like she’s over done it.

Keira looks similar, her hair is down and curled every so slightly, if you didn’t know her so well you probably wouldn’t have realised but the effort is noted inside your brain. She’s also got a very light layer of makeup on, both women look stunning, perfect together, the picture of love.

It makes you hopeful, hopeful that one day you’ll find somebody that looks at you the way Lucy does at Keira, and vice versa.

“Mhm.”

You don’t get up from the couch, all of a sudden you feel unable to move.

Keira recognises it fairly quickly, taking a seat down next to you, her hand falling on top of your knee and squeezing lightly.

“Everything alright, little one?”

Keira’s voice is so soft, it makes you feel safe, like you’re at home.

“Just nervous.”

As far as nerves go, you're fairly certain the euros final doesn’t even match this, it’s weird.

“You know that if you want to back out that’s completely fine, nobody is going to make fun of you.”

You shook your head, backing out was the last thing you wanted to do, but it didn’t make everything else less daunting.

“M’ fine, just need a sec.”

Keira’s hand slowly moves up from your knee, to your thigh, her grip becoming a little bit lighter.

“I can think of a way to calm some of those nerves.”

Keira’s voice is unusually confident, and it surprises you greatly when she reaches down to your chin and pulls it upwards so you’re looking at her.

It’s just then that you realise exactly how close the two of your faces are, so close that you can feel Keira’s breath on your face. It’s warm and it tickles against your skin in a way that you’ve never felt before. She’s smiling at you, but there is a deeper connection through her eyes, the way she's looking at you makes you feel like you are the only person in the world.

“Luce?”

You’re well aware of what this whole night ensues, but it doesn’t settle the slight niggle in your gut that you definitely do not want to be reading this situation wrong.

“Yes, honey?”

Keira’s eyes don’t waiver from your own, even as yours look across the room to look at Lucy, who is giving you a similar look to Keira, somewhat predatory in the best way possible. Her voice is practically dripping with confidence, doused in assertiveness.

You look between the both of them, realising that there is definitely no push back from either of them.

“Please tell me I’m not reading this wrong.”

Keira silences you by pressing her lips to your own, you freeze up for a few seconds, your mouth completely unmoving as you realise this really is happening, that for the last week you haven’t been walking around in some kind of weird dream that’s been created because of some weird delusion in your head.

After a few seconds, you relax into the kiss, moving your own lips against Keira’s and savouring the flavour of strawberry gum and coffee that is fresh on her lips. It tastes how Keira feels, warm and content and it calms down any of the previous nerves that were occupying your stomach, the shaking across your whole body as Keira’s hand on your jaw gently caresses the skin with the pads of her fingertips.

After a few more seconds of Keira sucking and biting at your lips she retracts herself, a big smile on her face as she continues to stare at you.

“Luce you need to try, she tastes divine.”

The compliment makes you blush more than you were already, the redness spreading down to your neck as you feel the couple's eyes on you.

“All in due time Kei, we don’t want to overwhelm her, now I think it’s about time we get a move on, hm?”

You nod subconsciously, your brain still floating on a different planet as you compartmentalise exactly what just happened. All you can think about is how Keira’s lips felt, addictively soft and supple, it’s a feeling that you are certain you won’t forget.

“God you’ve gone and broken her Kei, already?”

The feeling of Keira squeezing your knee once again manages to awaken you from your trance, your eyes darting between the couple cautiously.

“You ready to go, honey?”

Keira’s voice is as soft as her lips, you're so effortlessly enraptured by her that it makes you more than a little bit excited for whatever is to come.

You’ve never seen Keira look this carefree, this cheeky and it makes you feel so much more at peace then you had previously.

You allow Keira to guide you out of your own apartment, your brain still working at a snail's pace so before you even realise you are sitting in the backseat of Lucy’s very nice mercedes. Instead of sitting in the front beside Lucy, Keira has elected to sit in the backseat with you, her body pressed up against your own and her hand resting comfortably on the inside of your knee.

Your knee is bouncing up and down under Keira’s hand, and before you can say anything, her hand is moving up to your chin and rotating it to meet her lips.

This time the kiss is more motivated, more purposeful but sweet all the same.

You give Keira control, your lips practically melting into hers as her hand tangles into the back of your head, tugging at the tresses of hair at the nape of your neck.

It feels so good, so good that you part your lips to moan, instead your sounds are silenced though by Keira’s tongue.

Keira kisses with passion and fervour, it’s quite shocking based off of her personality and all the times you’ve seen her around Lucy, but it makes you giddy on the inside all the same.

“Keira, behave.”

The words come when Keira’s spare hand comes up to your covered breast, you don’t even really notice until you see Lucy looking directly at Keira in the rearview mirror and the look on her face is a mixture of displeasure and humour.

“You're just mad that I got her first.”

Keira’s hand doesn’t move, and it’s fairly clear that Lucy isn’t pleased about it.

“You keep talking like that to me and you won’t like how the night goes for you.”

Keira’s hand quickly moves down from your breast but she doesn’t remove it completely, instead moving it down to your lap again, but her kisses don’t stop, she litters little kisses all over your jaw and neck, all whilst you maintain the eye contact with Lucy in the rearview.

She’s smirking, her eyes don’t leave yours unless they go back to the road, and even when they don’t you keep your eyes on her.

Keira is only egged on by the little sounds and moans that leave your mouth as she finds different spots across your neck and face that make you melt even further into her.

“How does she feel honey? Is she getting you warmed up?”

Lucy’s words are directed towards you, it takes a few seconds for your brain to wrap it’s way around them but once you do you reply quickly.

“Feels good, m’ sorry.”

Lucy’s eyebrows furrow, and when the next red light comes she turns around completely to look at you.

“What do you have to be sorry for?”

Lucy voice is more questioning than accusatory.

“Sorry for getting Kei in trouble and kissing her without your permission.”

Lucy scoffs and Keira snorts from her spot on your neck.

“Oh honey, not your fault that Kei is choosing to be a bit bratty, these nights always get her quite over zealous, as far as kissing her you’ve got my full permission, you don’t need to ask.”

You nod cautiously, moaning as Keira begins to suck a mark right into the pulse point on your neck.

“Kei, behave yourself, you know what Ale said about not getting over excited.”

It’s the mention of Alexia’s name that has your ears perking up.

It seems to get Keira to back off a bit, her lips at least, her hand continues to rub gently at the inside of your knee and thigh and you slowly drive down a dark and windy road.

“Y’know you're all Kei’s been talking about all week, she’s been very excited for tonight.”

You look over at the older English woman, feeling a little bit confident when you notice that Keira is blushing wildly and avoiding your eye contact completely.

“Lucee.”

Keira is clearly embarrassed, which must mean that what Lucy is saying has come truth, which means that Keira has been thinking about you.

“All she’s been talking about, I can say the same about quite a lot of the girls, you are a popular topic.”

It makes you feel all giddy in your stomach with the acknowledgment from Lucy, she’s the last person that would lie to you, so it makes you feel especially good.

Keira groans and hides her head against the window.

“Really?”

Lucy scoffs once again at the shock in your voice.

“Trust me honey, pretty sure there will be girls queuing up for you, us oldies don’t get that kind of attention.”

Keira rolls her eyes, which is enough of an answer for you to realise that Lucy is trying to be humble.

It’s just as you’re about to say something that the car pulls into a driveway, which is already full of cars.

Alexia is right, it’s the only light that you’ve seen for miles, there is nobody for miles, which is a big comfort.

Lucy opens your door for you, helping you out and immediately beginning to assess your neck.

Once she’s certain that there are no marks she moves her vision up to your face, reaching down for a quick kiss.

It’s different to Keira, rougher, her lips more coarse.

It still feels equally as good.

Lucy releases fairly quickly, Keira’s already walking up the stairs to the house, an extra pep in her step as she makes it to the door.

Lucy and you are quick to follow her.

The door has a keypad on it, Keira quickly punches in a four digit code before the door pops open. The entry hallway is completely empty and silent, all three of you toe off your shoes and leave them and your socks by the door.

Lucy leads towards the door at the end of the entry way, you loiter behind, completely terrified of whatever is going to be behind it.

[disillusioneddanny]

If It Makes You Happy (then why the hell are you so sad?)

Tim took a bite of his ravioli and looked around the table at his family. It was Sunday dinner. A monthly tradition where every member of the family adopted or otherwise came to spend a few hours together. It didn’t matter who was arguing with whom, or how estranged from the family you were at the time. You still had to attend the monthly family dinner. However, there were times when Tim wondered if anyone would notice if he stopped attending. If he no longer came to the dinners where he sat mostly unnoticed by the rest of his family. Where he typically sat in silence, having not uttered a single word throughout the entire event. Would they ever realize he was gone? Did they even realize he was there in the first place? 

A part of Tim truly doubted it, if he was being completely honest with himself. Maybe that was why he hadn’t been able to share with the family his upcoming exhibit. 

Tim was in his fourth year of college. Where he was getting a degree in Art, Technology, and Culture. It was a major that allowed Tim to immerse himself in photography, video art, creative coding, and so much more. He had gotten to work in traditional analog and digital photography. Played around with film and art in ways he had never thought of before while also learning about cultural theory, the expression of ideas, and cultural practices which gave him the chance to truly discover himself. It was the first time he had ever chosen something for himself. 

His entire life he had been groomed to run a business. To at first take over Drake Industries one day and then later Wayne Enterprises where he was unfortunately CEO. But then he had learned about the ATC program at Gotham University and he had fallen in love with it.  He had always been obsessed with photography and even film later on as he grew older and spent his days alone in dusty old Drake Manor. And he had always loved to learn about cultures, he ate up the stories from his parents and their trips abroad. Had spent countless nights watching the people of Gotham and how they did things, and had absorbed it all like a sponge to make up for the fact that he was just a lonely boy living in a manor by himself. 

Even when he had joined the Bats and had made his tiny little place with them, he still fell back on his love for learning about others and his desire to tell their stories. It had just become an intrinsic part of Timothy Drake. 

And now here he was, slowly creeping to the finish line. He had his senior showcase coming up. A requirement for all students who were receiving a bachelor of fine arts. He was to show off all of his best work from the last four years. It was a chance for him to show everything he had learned, and to display his work with pride. 

He had toyed with the idea of inviting everyone to it. To let them see the love that Tim had cultivated over the last four years. He was set to graduate in just a few months and the pride he felt for himself was tremendous. And if Tim invited the Wayne family to his senior showcase, then maybe they could come to his college graduation and share the achievement with them then too. 

It was a big time in Tim’s life and he wanted to share it with them. 

He listened as a lull came in the conversation and carefully cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the others. 

“I have a senior showcase this weekend for my BFA. It’s at six in the evening in the Wayne Arts Center on Gotham Campus. I would be happy to see you all there,” he said hesitantly, eyes firmly trained on his plate of food. 

“That sounds nice, Tim. I’ll try to be there,” Bruce said politely before going back to his conversation with Jason and Dick. Tim felt eyes on him, though, and slowly looked up to find his little brother giving him a curious look. 

“What?” He asked, still trying to calm his heart just a bit. He still wasn’t sure why he came to these things, why he was even here. Just talking to the Waynes gave him anxiety. Just being here reminded him how much he didn’t belong. How other he was compared to the rest of the kids that Bruce had adopted? 

Damian tilted his head to the side. “I was not aware that you were getting your Bachelor's in Fine Arts. Will you tell me about your degree program? I have been thinking about getting an Art History degree but have been torn between that and a business degree.”

Tim gave him a small smile and rested his chin on his hand as he started to tell Damian all about his degree and how he was enjoying the program at Gotham University. The rest of the family went on to their own conversations while Damian listened with rapt attention to Tim describing the ATC program at Gotham U. 

The rest of the week was a whirlwind as he prepared for his senior showcase, he had sent out invitations to everyone he wanted to come see his work. The Team had already made a reservation to take Tim to lunch before the showcase before helping him get everything ready. And as the day came to be, they had made good on their word, taking him to his favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Gotham before taking him to the gallery. He blushed as he listened to his three best friend gush over his artwork, as they listened to him explain each piece. They asked questions and made remarks about what their favorite pieces were and even tried to buy a few pieces only for Tim to promise to give each of them prints of his photos. 

The three had left with quick goodbyes, each one giving Tim a hug and congratulating him before they made their way from the gallery. The rest of the evening dragged on as people came by and asked Tim about his photos and the small films that played on the movie screen on one wall. He smiled and explained each photo to anyone who asked. He had wanted to showcase his vigilante photos of the bats and birds but it had been too much of a risk to do so. 

Instead he had shown off his photos that showcased all of his favorite parts of Gotham. From the beautiful gothic architecture, the gargoyles that looked out over the city. He showed the photos from the last time Ivy had thrown a fit in Robinson Park and covered the entirety of the grounds with flowers. He showed the pictures of community from Crime Alley and the beauty of the strength of Gothamites who had managed to survive the worst of the worst. 

He also featured pictures of his family, of Dick hanging from a chandelier, of Damian training Titus to do a trick. He had a picture of Bruce, Alfred, and Jason sitting side by side as they each read a different book. One showed Cass as she posed for the camera in her favorite ballet form. They were some of his most treasured memories, there for everyone to see and enjoy. Tucker between the one of Damian and the one of Dick was a photo of Tim. He had taken forever to set up the camera and get the timer right. Alfred had simply chuckled the entire time as he continued to offer to take the picture for Tim but no one was meant to be behind the camera for that picture. It was the only family portrait of his entire family. Cass, Damian, Tim, Dick, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, they all sat smushed into a single couch together, wide smiles and laughs on each of their faces as Tim beamed from the far side, leaning into Alfred’s side. 

The gallery was meant to showcase culture that was important to Tim. To showcase the life that he loved and treasured. And even if he never felt like he quite fit in the Wayne Family, even though he knew that he was the expendable one, the replacement, he still treasured his family. It was why he had invited them, he had wanted them to see just how important they were to Tim. And maybe they would realize he was important to them too.

Only, the rest of the evening seemed to drag on, and not a single person from his family ever stepped through the door. He waited, shoulders tensed and smile polite. Every bit the gentleman that Janet Drake had trained him to be as he stood with his hands clasped in front of him. He kept glancing at the clock, waiting for Bruce or Dick or someone to walk through the doors, to say hello and look at all the work that Tim had put in the last four years in college. The hours ticked by until it was nearing ten pm and the gallery started to clear out, custodians came in and started to clean up around him. 

Tim cast one final look at the doors before he turned to his photos and started to take one off of the wall. 

“Master Timothy! I am so sorry that we are late,” a voice said and Tim quickly to find Alfred and Damian walking through the doors of the gallery. A small smile spread on Tim’s face as Damian bound forward. 

“I apologize,” Damian said softly, staring up at Tim with disgruntled eyes. “I got into an argument with Father and then Titus scared Alfred the Cat and we spent the last three hours searching for that blasted cat and when we realized the time we came straight here,” he said. “What did the others think of your exhibit?”

Tim’s smile fell and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “They uh, they didn’t show up,” he said quietly. “But if you’d like, you guys are the last ones to show up. I’d love to show you everything.”

Alfred’s face fell at that as he stepped forward and clasped a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “That is their loss, my dear boy. I would love to see your work,” he said. Before he could stop himself, Tim pulled Alfred in for a tight hug, burying his face in the old butler’s chest as he held him close. 

“Thank you,” he whispered before pulling away. He glanced down at Damian and smiled. “How about I show you my work and then if my advisor is still here you can meet her and talk to her about the ATC program.”

The fourteen-year-old nodded his head once. “I would appreciate that,” he said before grabbing Tim’s hand hesitantly. He followed quietly as Tim showed them his pictures of Gotham, explaining the stories behind each one before he showed them his favorite pictures. His pictures of home and both men let out soft gasps as they looked at them. 

“Master Timothy, these are beautiful,” Alfred said, stepping forward to take in the picture of him, Bruce, and Jason. 

“The lighting for this is amazing, I did not know that I even smiled like that,” Damian said softly as he took in the picture of him smiling at Titus. 

“Oh Tim,” Alfred said quietly, losing all strict politeness that Alfred held so dear to his heart as he took in the family portrait. “This is amazing, Timothy. So absolutely perfect. I remember when you took this photograph. It was right after Thanksgiving dinner last year.”

“I was so irritated, Todd had gotten mashed potatoes in my hair,” Damian said with a huff, a small smile tugged on his face. 

“I did not even realize that Master Richard and Master Jason were hugging in this picture,” Alfred said, a soft smile sti on his face as he took in the way Dick had his arms wrapped around Jason’s shoulders, a wide smile on his face as he laughed at something Jason had said. A small smile sat on Jason’s face, his eyes brighter than Tim had seen since the older man had come back from the dead. 

Alfred tore his eyes from the picture. “How much?” he asked. 

Tim blinked. “What?”

“How much for the picture?” Alfred asked him, turning back to the family portrait. 

“For you?” Tim asked, blinking again in surprise. “Free of charge, considering it a thank you for coming to my senior showcase.”

“I would like this one of Titus and me,” Damian piped up. “It would be lovely on my desk in my bedroom.”

Tim sniffed, his chest tightening slightly. “I would be more than happy to give you both the original copies.”

“Timothy,” Alfred said, turning back to Tim, that soft, kind, smile on his face once again. “I am so incredibly proud of you.”

The vigilante’s eyes burned furiously. “I-I thank you,” he said, a soft sob slipped out of his mouth before small arms wrapped around him. Damian hugged him tight, his face pressed against Tim’s chest. 

“I am so sorry that our family forgot to come to your showcase, Timothy,” he said stiffly. “You are incredibly talented and it is their loss for missing out on this.”

Tim pressed a hand to Damian’s back, feeling tears building behind his eyes that threatened to spill over. “Thank you,” he whispered. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he looked around and spotted his advisor. “There’s Professor Maheshawen. She’s my advisor. We can go talk to her and you can ask your questions, okay?”

Damian nodded and pulled away carefully, smoothing down the front of his sweater before he followed after Tim to meet his professor. Leaving Alfred to continue staring at the pictures with a kind smile on his face.

Alfred Pennyworth looked at the smiles on his charges faces and let out a breath. One of these days, Bruce and the others would realize just how important Timothy was to their family, how he was the one who held them all together. He only hoped that they would not realize that lesson too late in life. At the very least, Damian was now starting to understand just how wonderful Timothy Drake was. 

[ano-po]

Elders be like, "Don't talk to anyone in the woods. If you can't help it, just don't mention your name, don't also say yes or no to any of their questions, try to be vague with your answers, if you find the conversation suspicious, leave immediately. If they just appeared then disappeared, then they are powerful than most and already took your essence without you knowing..."

But me with the Elders be like, "Don't answer an unknown number. If you can't help it just don't mention your name. Don't say Yes or No because they will steal your voice to use AI and approve illegal bank transactions. If the caller is asking for complete bank account number, drop it already. Real banks don't do that. If you answer the call and it drops immediately, your data has already been taken."

For us, their tales were just folklores so we're not very scared of it. But for them, our tales are very real, and they see with their own eyes how we are scammed. I wonder what goes on in our seniors' minds when we warn them about the creepy dangers of technology, especially AI.

[girlactionfigure]

A very powerful message from Hillel Fuld:  I really don’t think you understand the absolute miracles that we witnessed last night here in Israel. In fact, I am sure you don’t. Let’s break this down. Israel has three air defense systems, each one of them a technological wonder and that’s not me saying it. That’s Dr. Gold who basically invented the Iron Dome who told me that. The level and sophistication of the Iron Dome is simply unparalleled. But the Iron Dome only knows how to detonate short range rockets or missiles within a 70 km range, give or take.  Then Israel has the David’s Sling system. That knows how to deal with mid range missiles up to approximately 300 km.  Then we have the Arrow system that literally detonates missiles that can fly outside of the earth’s atmosphere. That has a range of about 2,400 km!! 🤯 Last night, as Iran rained down ballistic missiles on Israel, all three defense systems were activated and implemented to perfection. The chances of all of these incredibly complex systems working in unison as flawlessly as they did last night, are basically non existent. If one thing went wrong, if one of those ballistic missiles hit an apartment building, a shopping center, or an army base, we would now be burying hundreds of Israelis.  And all of that is not even the biggest miracle.  A few hours ago, I got a WhatsApp message from a good friend who is a senior executive at Microsoft and who wasn’t exactly a God fearing Jew. Until yesterday.  Here is what he wrote me.  “If you’re looking for miracles man - last night I started believing. Missiles hit all around me but none of them hit my house or any house, for that matter.” He elaborated some more and shared info about the missiles that he watched land just meters away from very strategic places in Israel, to say the least.  Each one of those defense systems is, in and of itself, pretty miraculous, but what is even more insane is the low casualty numbers from the rockets and missiles that we’re NOT intercepted.  Where did those missiles go? I’ll tell you where. They landed in sand, in water, and in “Empty spaces”.  Have you been to Israel? It’s a microscopic country. What empty spaces? Where are these empty spaces? 🤷‍♂️ How have hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles all either get detonated by miraculous systems or totally miss their mark and land in empty spaces causing zero casualties and minimal damage?!   How?? Listen, I get it. This thought process begs the question, where was God during the horrible terrorist attack yesterday? Where was He on October 7th? Where was He during the holocaust?  All valid questions that require a very serious nuanced conversation.  But if you know anything about what had to happen last night and throughout this war in general, for such a low number of casualties, you’ll know that what we witnessed last night was the equivalent of God splitting the sea right before our eyes.  Guess what. When God split the sea, there were those who didn’t believe it was a miracle and didn’t jump in. And there are also those who feel the need to explain it naturally. Ok, that’s fine.  You don’t want to call yesterday an act of God? That’s your choice, but like my Microsoft friend, if you look at these events objectively, you’d have a really hard time seeing those hundreds of deadly missiles land in empty spaces and not see the hand of God.  Last night was an incredible display of the collaboration between two of the powers that protect the Jewish people: The IDF and Hashem.  Last night will go down in history right alongside many of Israel’s accomplishments in this war including the beepers and the unprecedented low ratio between combatant and civilian, as a military operation the likes of which the world has never seen. Ever! Last night will be analyzed by military strategists and experts for generations.  Last night, we witnessed history.  Last night we witnessed open miracles.  Last night, we witnessed God in all His glory watching over His children.

[st0rmyskies]

dude you’re literally the only person who I can ramble to about this so please hear me out.

So i’m a (super senior) marine biology major and i’m at a field station for class/research. During my free time i’ve been going out fishing with my two friends on the daily. It’s worth noting too that we all are very, very outwardly queer in a seaside town that is filled to the brim with trump flags on boats. We also barely know how to fish, as in we know how to cast it. But also we couldn’t even get the one pole to cast yesterday so that statement is even on thin ice. But in our fishing endeavors, there have been a handful of time where straight up dads have watched us get our asses handed to us and they will offer their advice/help. And when I say ‘dad’ I deadass mean 9/10 there son is awkwardly standing behind him and begging them to stop talking to us after it’s been 15 minutes. Once again, we’re queer and we have daddy issues, so we absolutely are eating up these conversations. It’s honestly the most heartwarming, fucking funniest interactions to me. Especially when you get the visual imagery of us getting tangled in fishing line because we can’t get the one reel to cooperate; one of us has a youtube video pulled up while the other is reading the manual. BOOM- a dad appears.

With that, I cannot stop thinking about Time approaching the most queer ass group of college students (who are visibly struggling to even cast out the fucking line) to offer the most dad advice on fishing. Bonus if one of the boys are there begging for him to leave them alone. Extra bonus if it’s Twilight or Wind. Or even Time taking the boys fishing and all of them, but Twilight, is going through it. Someone’s managed to wrap the line around their neck, another got too excited and yanked their hook out of the water and now it’s free flying (with no fish), Four is attaching weed whacker motor onto the pole because “it’ll reel the fish in quicker”, someone wasn’t paying attention and almost stepped backwards off the dock, and another boy discovered that the spiny rays are sharp motherfuckers. If this continues to live in my head rent free, I even might write this.

That it. Just Time being a dad in public is absolutely sending me.

Also we only caught an atlantic croaker after being at the dock for 5 hours.

Time isn't the most social of butterflies, but he's also ABSOLUTELY the guy who can't ignore fellow fishermen having A Struggle. Especially when said struggle is so... blatant. If strangers, yes Twi would give it 15-20 minutes before he's awkwardly trying the polite interventions of "Okay, well, you guys have a great day.... Okay, well, we should get on our way..." and either just gives up or goes back to doing his own thing until Time is finished. If Wind, the interventions are likely more physical, moving their belongings farther and farther away until Time has no choice but to retreat if he wants more bait.

If Time ever deigned to take the boys on a fishing trip, he'd regret it within 30 minutes.

Most likely to get stabbed by a fish and need more than a few bandaids: Sky.

Most likely to get tangled up and string together a novel expletive phrase that enters the household vernacular permanently: Legend.

Most likely to take a tumble off the dock: Hyrule.

Most likely to injure an innocent bystander with that weed whacker motor: Four.

Most likely to get a fish hook in his arm while he's sitting on the shore sunning himself because he will not partake in this barbaric pastime: Warriors.

Most likely to be pretty successful at fishing but still drops his phone off the dock: Wind.

Most likely to resort to throwing These Hands at the fish instead of using the ancient technology of fishing poles: Champion.

Most likely to space out talking the entire time and be the one to actually hook The Big One but fail to reel it in: Wild.

Most likely to not catch a damn thing because he's busy running interference: Twilight.

Maybe next time, Time will just take them to the pet store to buy goldfish.

I am endlessly amused by the fact that as a marine bio majors you have such a time fishing. I'm sure you've made at least one surrogate dad proud. Also, for the uninitiated:

Anon's Moby Dick.

[mariacallous]

The winner of the 2024 US presidential election will confront complicated questions about whether the government is doing enough to protect the country from cyber threats. But one leading conservative group is sidestepping those questions and pushing to shrink the government’s main cyber agency, calling it a bastion of far-left tyranny.

Project 2025, a widely circulated playbook from the influential right-leaning Heritage Foundation, takes aim at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on several fronts, especially its efforts to reduce dangerous online misinformation. If former president Donald Trump wins the election and appoints officials who follow the playbook’s recommendations for CISA, the five-year-old agency could face an unprecedented crisis.

Trump has disavowed Project 2025—a 900-page document full of controversial proposals—but its authors have close ties to his former administration and his campaign, and many of its recommendations align with Trump’s agenda. If he wins a second term, Trump is likely to embrace Project 2025’s combative approach to CISA, whose director he fired for debunking his lies about the 2020 election. That makes the 2024 election an existential moment for CISA.

“If every recommendation in this proposal were accepted, this would significantly weaken CISA as an agency,” says Steve Kelly, a former special assistant to the president and senior director for cybersecurity and emerging technology at the National Security Council.

“It would essentially see CISA cease functioning as a principal element of cybersecurity,” says John Costello, a former chief of staff to the national cyber director at the White House. “It really takes out many of its central functions.”

Missing the Mark on Misinformation

No aspect of CISA’s work has sparked as much GOP ire as its efforts to combat online falsehoods destabilizing American society, and Project 2025’s most substantial recommendation for CISA concerns this work.

“Of the utmost urgency,” the plan says, “is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinformation efforts.”

During the 2020 election, amid conspiracy theories and hoaxes about Covid-19 and the presidential election, CISA flagged state and local officials’ concerns about online falsehoods to social media companies. This practice, dubbed “switchboarding,” outraged conservatives, who accused CISA of suppressing their speech. House Republicans produced a report on what they called “the weaponization” of the agency, two GOP-led states sued the government (the US Supreme Court dismissed the case), and CISA and its federal partners all but froze their conversations with social media firms.

“CISA has devolved into an unconstitutional censoring and election engineering apparatus of the political Left,” Project 2025 declares. After dismissing Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “dirty trick” by Hillary Clinton’s campaign (despite it being extensively documented, including in a lengthy bipartisan Senate report), Heritage’s policy proposal recommends that the military and the intelligence community take over the responsibility of combating foreign propaganda.

CISA and its defenders maintain that the agency never pressured tech companies to delete posts, but regardless, the agency’s current counterpropaganda operation is a shell of its former self. Talks with tech firms have resumed, but in the election space, the agency is now relying solely on its “Rumor vs. Reality” fact-checking page.

Cybersecurity experts say the government needs to be debunking harmful lies, especially those spread by foreign adversaries.

“There's a role for CISA in mis- and disinformation, but they'd be wise to keep it cabined and narrow,” says Kelly, who is now the chief strategy officer at the nonprofit Institute for Security and Technology.

Costello calls Project 2025’s proposal “deeply problematic.”

The report fails to acknowledge the seriousness of adversaries’ efforts to sow chaos in the US, according to Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative-leaning think tank.

The document “appears blind to the fact that Russia, China, and Iran are weaponizing social media networks to create a false narrative that weakens US national security,” Montgomery says.

Project 2025’s leaders did not respond to inquiries for this story. Ken Cuccinelli, a top Department of Homeland Security official in the Trump administration and the author of the report’s DHS chapter, declined an interview request.

Vague and Contradictory

Most of Project 2025’s proposals for CISA are difficult to decipher and reflect what experts say is a misunderstanding of the agency’s activities.

The plan envisions CISA helping local election officials “assess whether they have good cyber hygiene,” but it warns that “CISA should not be significantly involved closer to an election” and should not engage in any “messaging” work.

“It's unclear to me what a statement like that would mean,” says Kiersten Todt, a former chief of staff to CISA’s director, “because as the elections approach, the need to ensure the safety and security of those elections is even more urgent.”

Indeed, Costello says, the run-up to Election Day is “when misinformation [and] disinformation upticks the highest” and when it’s most important to debunk lies about things like polling places and voting times. “That's when [we’re] most vulnerable. And we saw that in 2016.”

Muzzling CISA during this crucial period, Costello says, “runs the risk of creating a bubble where Russia or China or any other nation-state threat actor could have a safe space for a massive disinformation campaign.”

If Trump wins and adopts this approach, Todt worries that CISA’s locally deployed election security advisers will be pressured not to offer help in a campaign’s closing stage. CISA’s empowerment of its field force is “one of the great achievements and successes of the past few years,” she says.

Project 2025 also vaguely decries what it characterizes as CISA’s overlap with other agencies. The report says CISA “should refrain from duplicating cybersecurity functions done elsewhere at the Department of Defense, FBI, National Security Agency, and US Secret Service,” but no cyber experts consulted by WIRED could figure out what that means.

If the idea is that the military, not CISA, should be defending critical infrastructure operators from hackers, that’s “a fundamental misreading of US law … about who's allowed to do what,” Costello says. “CISA helps facilitate things domestically that DoD can't touch and NSA can't touch.” That includes direct monitoring of intrusion-detection sensors on critical infrastructure networks.

If anything, the military has impinged on CISA’s territory—not the other way around—out of exasperation with the civilian agency’s constrained resources, says Montgomery, a retired Navy rear admiral.

“The Department of Defense would say, ‘We're having to do things that we think CISA should be doing,’” Montgomery says, which has meant “slowly creeping outside the base fence to make sure that electrical power grids, water systems, [and] telecom systems [near bases] are properly protected in case of a crisis.”

Department of Dubious Moves

Of all the CISA proposals in Project 2025’s plan, the most ambitious one is highly unlikely to succeed: moving the agency into the Department of Transportation as part of a broader initiative to dismantle DHS.

The recommendation reflects conservatives’ desire to shrink the overall size of government, but it may also suggest a belief that moving CISA would curtail its scope and make it “a little more manageable,” says Brandon Pugh, director of the cybersecurity and emerging threats team at the center-right think tank R Street Institute. Pugh says some Republicans believe the agency “went beyond its original mandate and [has] become too bloated.”

But this idea is a virtual nonstarter because the congressional committees with oversight of CISA won’t give up their power in a rapidly growing domain. “There's no way that would ever work,” Costello says.

Apart from being infeasible, the proposal would undermine CISA’s effectiveness.

Cybersecurity fits squarely into DHS’s homeland-security portfolio, so moving CISA into a department with a different mission “doesn't make a lot of sense” and “would undermine some of the organizational logic,” Kelly says. “I don't actually understand the rationale of that.”

DHS is also better-suited to facilitate the kind of cross-government collaboration that CISA relies on for its twin missions of protecting federal computer systems and helping companies and local governments defend themselves.

“Giving CISA to Department of Transportation would reduce the cybersecurity of our national critical infrastructure for some period of time,” Montgomery says, adding that Transportation is “one of the last places” he’d put CISA and calling the proposal “nonsensical.”

Still, observers say it might be worth reviewing the structure of DHS, which has steadily accumulated functions since its post-9/11 creation and is now considered something of a Frankenstein department. But that review has to be “well thought out,” Todt says. “Reorganization of government should never be taken lightly.”

Squandering a Moment

Even as Project 2025 appears to misunderstand some aspects of CISA’s mission and focus disproportionately on others, the document also misses opportunities to recommend meaningful reforms.

Congress has spent years waiting for CISA to complete a “force structure assessment” that would better define its mission and the resources and organization needed to accomplish it. But even beyond CISA, there are serious concerns that the government as a whole isn’t coordinating well on cyber issues.

Pugh says it’s worth examining whether the system is working well. “Do we need to take a harder look at who's responsible for different leadership aspects of cyber?”

For now, though, experts agree that Project 2025 misses the mark. The document, Montgomery says, is “full of little tantrums” and “shows a lack of understanding of how federal government works.”

Costello says it’s “embarrassing” to see Project 2025 “call for essentially the hollowing out of CISA,” and he worries that its implementation could create a perilous feedback loop for the agency.

“If you were to reduce the mission scope and importance of CISA,” he says, “morale is going to drop, people are going to want to leave, and Congress is going to be less willing to fund [it].”

[mullermilkshake]

The Yakuza files - Part two

Part one

MINORS DNI - Tags: Yakuza AU, references to - Illness, fighting, hacking, family issues, interrogations.

Masamichi Yaga

The man with the Turtle tattoo.

Yaga is the type of Yakuza who would be the Captain, he works directly under The Chairman Ryomen Sukuna.

He was made clan Captain before Sukuna was sworn in. He is capable and strengthens the clan with his advice and wisdom.

Currently, Yaga is taken Ill and is unable to direct the lieutenants currently so it leaves the three in charge. Yaga's relationship with the lieutenants differs from one family to another.

Satoru Gojo is a strained relationship at best, Yaga appreciates and understands Gojo's lust for total freedom, but has him under a tight leash because he'll go feral otherwise. Gojo is a whole different type of Yakuza.

Suguru Geto is far more laid back and the relationship is more traditional. Yaga finds that Suguru needs little direction and has had a strong head on his shoulders since he was sworn in, in honesty Suguru cancels Satoru out most of the time. He was shocked when they decided to form their own families when they did.

Kento Nanami is the strongest relationship of the three, being the most capable of the three entirely. Yaga found out very early that Nanami utilised his intelligence to gain more power within the district than either Gojo or Geto ever could.

That being said, Yaga directs them all individually and plays to their strengths and guides their weaknesses. Gojo likes to think he has no weaknesses, but Yaga knows it's just because he's a wild animal at heart.

Yaga looks at all three like his sons.

Megumi Fushiguro

Megumi is the type to become Gojo's 'apprentice' of sorts. Satoru Gojo is good to him, even if he is just his benefactor he kind of looks to him as a father type figure.

His real father is nowhere to be seen but he never bothers to ask about him. He didn't ask to be brought into the world of the Yakuza at first, but takes to it like a fish to water anyway.

Nanami seems to be more Megumi's speed, he takes interest in electronic systems and ofter converses with Ino to gain experience. He thinks that technology is the way forward to the future.

Yet Gojo still prefers using pagers even though he can afford a portable phone. It's probably due to the fact he sends funny codes to Geto though he thinks Megumi can't read pager codes.

He can.

Megumi is often found around Yuji walking the streets and in the arcades playing street fighter. He's getting pretty good at it now.

Takuma Ino

The man with the Koi tattoo.

Ino is the type to follow Nanami blindly because he looks up to him. He is his senior and respects the shit out of him.

He's obsessed with computers and video games, often collecting scrap parts and cartridges from arcades and second hand stores. He adores arcades and he can often be found there.

Ino is continually adding pieces and extensions to Nanami's network and calls it his 'baby'. The entire framework is his own design and he's often told by Nanami to attend Tokyo Tech but Ino refuses.

He's determined to follow in Nanami's footsteps and constantly looks to him as though he is his own father. Ino doesn't see his parents much after moving from Osaka at seventeen to work for Nanami.

It's pretty obvious too that if his father back home found out he was getting involved with the Yakuza, he'd kick his ass. It's safe if he keeps his visits to a minimum, so Ino usually calls them weekly.

Naoya Zenin

Naoya is the type of Yakuza with no real direction. Compared to Ino and being the same age, his interests far differ to the computer genius. Naoya has many qualities Gojo has, he became interested in organised crime through his father and was basically pushed from pillar to post between the Ryomen clan until Nanami claimed him.

Sukuna thinks Naoya is better suited working under one of the most powerful men in the clan that isn't himself, the problem being that Naoya enjoys the grittier side of the Yakuza.

He constantly gets into fights and takes pride in the more unsavoury traits of the organised crime world and battles constantly to branch off on his own. In reality, he just looks up to Toji Fushiguro like Ino does Nanami.

Naoya wants to do what Toji does, even hoping to surpass him in the future and take over as a contracted man when Toji either retires or kicks the bucket.

Yuji Itadori

Yuji is the type of Yakuza that Sukuna begrudgingly allows to be sworn into the Ryomen clan purely because his wife told him to. Yuji and Sukuna never have and probably never will have an understanding but being blood related comes with its perks.

Yuji pretty much has run of his own path and much like Choso, his pathway connected with the Yakuza. That doesn’t go to say that Yuji is a bad guy, in fact he’s quite the opposite when it comes to organised crime.

It isn’t right and that’s why he and Sukuna go to blows all the time. Crime doesn’t pay and eventually, he believes that it will catch up to Sukuna just like Naobito Zenin. (He’s only heard stories)

To counter the issue, Yuji started up his own little group as such and had Megumi join him, walking the streets of Shinjuku like little Yakuza vigilantes. It was how he found Choso. Yuji doesn’t resent Sukuna, but dislikes him from keeping the knowledge of Choso’s existence away from him.

Still, he loves his brother and tries to involve him in everything that he does to show what good Shinjuku can bring.

On occasion Yuji does disappear down to the sewers with Choso to chase cats. Quoting, “because it’s fun.”

One day, Yjuji will stop the pain and wipe the bad mark his uncle has placed on the district.

He promises.

Miguel Oduol

Miguel is the type of loyal Yakuza. He is Suguru Geto’s right hand man and will take on any task that is appointed to him.

He moved to Japan as a child and soon became aquatinted with Suguru around the same time as Satoru Gojo. Though Miguel doesn’t like Gojo, he tolerates him for Geto’s sake.

He often has to bite his tongue when Gojo’s around as he purposely tries to aggravate him into a confrontation though he never bites. Miguel thinks Gojo is an asshole.

His bond with Geto on the other hand is water tight and he trusts the man with his life just as he hopes Geto does too. (like how he does with Gojo)

Miguel often can be found with Geto when out and about, often driving him places. Miguel is also adept in interrogations and gathering information which makes him an irreplaceable asset to the Nanami family.

One day, Miguel hopes to open up his own little street food stall so he can cook all of the food he loves the most, reminding him of home.

With the money he saves, he'll be able to open more than just one and bring happiness in wrapped up little parcels to the streets of Shinjuku.

Who do you think I should add now? Let me know!

[kyuuppi]

Hi!! I'm kinda gonna be rly busy these days and your writings make me smile and i rly love ur works:)

so if ur requests are open I would like to request tighnari, heizou, and albedo with and S/O that had a past life in the modern world as a doctor(preferably a neurologist-) bc I've kinda wanted to be one hehe

Edit: omg, realizing I very much misread this ask, sorry. :,,)

Gender-neutral reader / *un*established relationship / reader recently came to past Teyvat from the future / neurologist - naturopathologist - bioengineer reader (separate)

AU notes: Because it is just the “future” Teyvat, I assume many species and lore are the same but, in order for modern medicine to exist, a lot of the magic of Teyvat including visions (and by extension, the archons) have been lost to time. This is just some headcanons tho so I didn’t get too deep into world-building and there may be some inconsistencies.

Ft. Tighnari; Heizou; Albedo

⭐Tighnari // Naturopathologist

→ Naturopathology is a distinct field of medicine that combines the wisdom of nature with the rigors of modern science. Naturopathic doctors use traditional Chinese medicine, herbalism, and diet-based therapies. They emphasize the power of nature over man-made drugs.

Knowing you practice medicine and are from the future, Tighnari is immediately super excited to learn from you

You may have knowledge that could help the people of Sumeru, especially his dearest friend and assistant Collei

He assumes you use really advanced techniques and technology that Teyvat is thousands of years from inventing, so he’s really surprised to learn the ingredients and remedies you talk about are the same as his own

You explain to him that not all modern medicine is quite as amazing as he had assumed and there are many illnesses that still can’t be treated or modern pharmaceutical drugs with adverse side effects such as internal bleeding and psychological addiction – so instead, you prefer to use old wisdom and nature to heal people

You introduce him to new ways to utilize and process many herbs he is already used to working with

Likewise, he teaches you about some species that have been forgotten over time or are already extinct in your own timeline, proving to you the importance of conservation

“In modern times, the improvement of international travel efficiency and climate change have led to an increase in pandemic diseases–how do you keep your immune systems so strong without vaccines in Sumeru?”

Tighnari immediately perks up at your question, tail swishing in thinly-veiled excitement. The amount of people who show interest in the flora of Avidya forest are few, even among scholars, so he is quick to jump on any opportunity to talk about them–particularly with someone as intelligent as you who understands what he’s talking about.

“Avidya forest is home to a diverse range of mushrooms, each with potent medicinal properties,” he begins, gently grasping your hand to lead you through the thick patches of brush beyond camp. 

With how close you and Tighnari have grown over the course of the weeks, the forest watchers find it difficult to believe you had appeared out of nowhere just a little over a month ago. Tighnari was previously known to work mostly alone. While he offered regular lectures and was always more than willing to provide guidance and instructions to any forest watchers or visitors who asked, he tended to spend most of his time on solo patrols visiting the places he deemed too dangerous for anyone else. In the rare moments he wasn’t out and about, he generally stayed holed up in his tent, meticulously penning detailed research notes. 

The closest Tighnari seemed to have to a social life was the daily check-ins on Collei’s condition and Cyno’s occasional but unappreciated visits. 

Thus, seeing Tighnari spend his nearly waking moment practically glued to your hip, discussing flora and herbs in such detail even senior forest watchers would get lost listening to your conversations, was quite a surprise to everyone. The rare toothy grins usually reserved for lost animals or research breakthroughs have now become commonplace as Tighnari attentively listens to your every word. The lovesick smiles and starstruck expressions he constantly gives in your present are clear as day to anyone around. The forest watchers make it a point to leave the two of you alone on your “dates” – partially because it means they’re less likely to be subjected to a forest safety lecture from Tighnari when you’re distracting him.

Finally, the two of you reach a small river bank surrounded by cheerful yellow nilotpala lotuses in an otherwise nondescript location one would not think twice about. Tignari lets go of your hand to step forward and carefully lift a decaying tree log. There, a bed of bright orange fungus is revealed. They stand clustered together in varying heights but all dusted a bright orange that somewhat resembled a certain modern cheesy corn puff chip famous in some parts of modern Teyvat. 

You gasp softly, immediately recognizing them from the illustrations in your medical school textbooks. 

“Cordyceps!” you cheer.

Tighnari’s lips stretch into a boyish grin.

“Correct – when dried and ground they have a strong nutty flavor that pairs well in many savory dishes. They seem to have strong anti-inflammatory effects but concrete research is still lacking.”

“This is amazing,” you say somewhat breathlessly, slowly stepping forward to get a better look. Unbeknownst to you, Tighnari’s gaze never once strays from your figure. He seems to take in your every reaction in an equal fascination to your own as you gaze upon the fungi.

“We still use them in modern times,” you explain, “they’ve been shown to shrink tumors–but they’re extremely rare now and only grown in a few labs. It’s amazing to see so many of them just naturally occurring like this…”

“Really? That’s a shame–they’re aromatic and delicious in a mild curry or stew,” Tighnari claims.

Then, almost shyly, he adds: “Perhaps…if you come to my tent later we could share some for dinner tonight.”

⭐Heizou // Neurologist

(disclaimer: I literally knew nothing about Heizou and just read through his wiki page & voice lines to write this so it is likely really ooc x_x)

→ A neurologist is a specialist who diagnoses and treats conditions of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. This can include muscle diseases and disorders that affect thinking and behavior.

Heizou values innate abilities above any learned skills and tends to see things in black and white – people are either good or evil and those who are evil must repent through proper trial and punishment in the criminal justice system 

smh what a bootlicker

So he’d probably really underestimate you at first

He thinks nothing and no one is better at gauging the mind of others than his own intuition, not even your years of schooling and professional experience can beat genius detective Shikanoin Heizou!

You kinda have to prove yourself to him

Like maybe you happen to be tagging along when Heizou solves a case and correctly identifies the culprit to a petty crime – except even the culprit themself doesn’t fully remember committing the crime and they seem oddly confused and disoriented

After hearing the circumstances of the case and asking the suspect several questions, you learn that they had recently recovered from a very severe infection and deduce that they may be suffering from some negative cognitive effects from it that impairs their judgment and memory

You explain the concepts of neurological trauma and how physical illnesses can affect the thinking and behavior of people – sometimes criminals themselves are just victims of circumstance

After that, Heizou is much more receptive and openly interested in your profession and future world. He asks you to explain all kinds of different neurological disorders and degenerative diseases

He’ll listen to everything and try to understand the complexities of the human body as you describe them but he’s a little lost at times tbh…

He’s really interested in how your field is used in criminal cases in the future; you explain to him how medical professionals are sometimes called in during trials to explain why the victim or criminal may have acted in a particular way

Disorders relating to dementia kind of freak him out — he can’t imagine many things more terrifying than forgetting everything you’ve ever known without even being aware of it; what if he lost his intuition from a small concussion? He might be even more reluctant to get into physical fights from now on…

Since coming to Inazuma, you have become a frequent guest of the Tenryou Commission and, more accurately, of the top detective, Shikanoin Heizou. While your relationship initially began with you being the subject of intense interrogation and scrutiny – “How exactly did you get here from the future? What are your intentions for coming to Inazuma? Do you hold a grudge against the Raiden Shogun?” – over time, your honesty and pure heart – his words, not yours – earned the trust of Heizou and thus the rest of the Inazuman people.

Eventually, hours of grueling interrogations between the two of you became playfully competitive card games and battles of wit. Heizou absolutely loved to test your intelligence but not because he doubted it. On the contrary, you were honored as one of the few he considered nearly on par with his own quick wits. Even if you always lose, Heizou is convinced you’re one of the most intelligent people in Inazuma–maybe even all of Teyvat! 

One of his recent favorite games to play is one in which he gives you a hypothetical patient with a list of symptoms and asks you to tell him the diagnosis. You’re pretty sure he wouldn’t even know if you were right or not but you decide not to ruin his fun.

“Okay, how about this – muscle weakness, poor vision, and difficulty standing still,” Heizou rattles off, apple green eyes watching you expectantly. 

“Age of patient,” you inquire.

“Old.”

“How long did it take for symptoms to manifest?”

“Hmm…a few days.”

You look away thoughtfully as you mentally sift through multiple possibilities, Heizou’s gaze darting across your face with each small twitch of emotion. Watching you think has become something of a fixation for him.

“Possibly… Gullain-Barré Syndrome? Would need to do some NCV and cerebrospinal fluid tests to be certain though,” you finally conclude.

Heizou grins at your rudimentary diagnosis, seeming just as satisfied as he is after solving a cold case.

“As I thought, you really are a genius!”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” you sheepishly brush off, feeling slightly shy under Heizou’s enthusiastic praise. From what others in the commission have told you, Heizou is generally not one to throw around empty words of flattery. You find that somewhat hard to believe considering how often he compliments you, from your sharp intellect and wit to even less obvious aspects of your personality you have never considered praise-worthy. 

“Nonsense,” Heizou simply brushes off, “my intuition tells me so and my intuition is never wrong.”

⭐Albedo // Biomedical Engineer

→ Biomedical engineers apply the sciences of engineering to the art of medicine in order to improve the function and life of individuals. They study, design, develop, and evaluate biological and medical systems such as artificial organs. 

This is the one closest to my field IRL so my bias is going to be so obvious LOL

Albedo was interested the moment he heard someone from the future had come to Teyvat – there are numerous things that can be learned from the future, whether technological advances or social inclinations

However, when you explained your specific profession, Albedo’s immense excitement was apparent

Albedo wants to know literally everything

He’s smart enough to be able to piece together the bits you give him. Even if you don’t fully know how to explain future technology in simple terms that people from thousands of years ago would understand – how do you explain a laptop to people who don’t use electricity? – Albedo somehow gets it

He wants to document every single bit of information you give him. He listens intently and has everything you tell him basically memorized word-for-word but he still makes an effort to write down a summary at the end of each day.

While you claim there are still many limits of science in the modern world, the advancements your society has made are beyond even his own imagination and they give him hope that his goal of understanding the truth of the world may one day be possible

“So these stem cells are able to be harvested from bone marrow and transplanted to any part of the body where they naturally proliferate and regenerate damaged tissue in any part of the body?”��

Albedo sits across from you in his office with uncannily perfect posture, right hand resting under his chin in thought as his gaze remains steadily on your own. Neatly-written report papers decorate the desk between the two of you, your own wonky diagrams doodled between his neat penmanship. 

“Yep,” you chirp, “we have even made whole organs and organ systems with them. Simple tissues like muscle are much easier of course, but we have successfully created even more complex organs, like the heart. In the future, we hope to eliminate the need for human organ donations, especially for organs with the longest waitlists, like kidneys.”

“Fascinating,” Albedo murmurs, gaze becoming distant as he seems to lose himself in his thoughts for a moment. His attention snaps back to you before you can spend too long admiring his delicate features– a habit you have admittedly shamefully indulged in over the past few weeks.

“If you can create organ systems from cells, creating human life must be less than a century away,” he reasons. 

“Actually, we’ve already created model embryos which all major organs and a beating heart, but consciousness is concept that eludes even modern science,” you begin. 

With anyone else, you’re sure the start of your rambling would be met with bored, glazed over eyes or pleas to ‘please stop talking like an encyclopedia’ but Albedo’s attentiveness does not waver in the slightest as he seems to hang on to every word. The only times he breaks eye contact are to briefly add to his notes when you share something particularly novel that he wishes to discuss further in detail after you finish talking. With Albedo, there is no need to fear boring or confusing him. 

And while Albedo finds your life from the future far more interesting than anything his world has to offer, you firmly disagree and are eager to learn about alchemy and visions, as they are not widely practiced in the future. He was a bit startled to learn visions are practically nonexistent in your timeline but he concludes that your science is far more magical than anything a vision can be used for. 

As you learn more about each other’s worlds, you naturally come to learn about each other on a more personal level as well. You share some bits of your daily life and hobbies only as off-handed remarks but you’re surprised to find Albedo is just as interested and inquisitive about them as he is your science. 

Similarly, you discover his artistic talents by accident one day when you mistakenly pick up his sketchbook instead of the notes he’d asked you to look over.

“This is amazing, Albedo!”

“They’re just some simple sketches,” he dismisses, glancing at the familiar leather-bound book in your hands.

“These are more than just sketches. Your shading is so good and you capture their expressions so perfectly! These belong in a gallery…”

Albedo finds himself fiddling awkwardly with his gloves as an uncharacteristic warmth rises fills his chest cavity from your praise. Over time he finds you elicit all sorts of uncharacteristic feelings within him, both psychological and physical. He wonders if perhaps instead visions your people have their own invisible magic that affects him so peculiarly… 

The idea of exploring this particular area of research with you fills him with an amount of excitement he didn’t think possible

“I appreciate your compliments,” Albedo concedes, “however…”

Your gaze shifts from the open sketchbook in your hands to meet his own, finding him already staring at you with an expression you can’t quite decipher.

“I believe I require a model to truly improve my talents. If you don’t mind, I would be honored to practice with you.”

[tinyladofladdies]

welcome to tinyladofladdie's ! blog . . 𖦹°‧★🐚

about this page . . ˙✧˖° 🫧 ⋆｡˚꩜ :

i felt compelled to make a blog centered around sharing ✞the Gospel of Jesus Christ✞ on tumblr. the internet and technology oftentimes tend to be the source of a lot of evil and secular living, but i believe that for modern-day Christians, with a sudden inability to avoid technology in most spaces, if we are going to use social media, we can add a lot to the internet space to glorify God in the way we present ourselves online.

i want my page to be a safe space to share the Gospel, share testimonies, talk about Christian issues as well as how to navigate modern topics as a Christian, ask questions, and seek help 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 ( keep in mind, i am no mental health professional nor pastor. if you are facing a serious crisis, i will pray for you and do my best to help you with biblical advice, but i would highly recommend seeking immediate sources of help if something is more troubling than any help i can provide. )

🌊☆⋆｡🪼 if you’re a Christian and want to participate in this blog by testifying of God’s goodness, sharing advice, answering questions, or just interacting, feel free to stick around! please remember to operate through God’s grace and truth and represent Christ well as you interact with this blog. 𓆉︎ ࿔*

𓇼🧉❀🐚 if you’re a non-believer and find my page interesting, or a non-believer interested in asking questions / finding information (whether for the sake of skepticism or for the sake of seeking salvation), you’re also welcome to stick around! you’re so loved here regardless <3

𓆝 ⋆｡𖦹°‧🫧 heed . . while this page may eventually contain topics that are controversial at times, i believe there is a difference between conversation and argument. all people are welcome to exercise their opinions, questions, etc., but the last thing i want is for this page to become a place of toxicity or for anyone to feel mentally drained after a conversation. arguing for the sake of insulting or bringing anyone down, asking questions in bad faith with the intent to trap, mock, etc., are not what this page is for. disagreeing in a conversation is normal and not discouraged! starting an argument for the sake of bringing toxicity to my page is not welcomed or encouraged (see below for more details on how to interact with this blog!)

🌊☆⋆｡🪼𖦹°‧★ how to interact . . ˙✧˖° 🫧 ⋆｡˚꩜

｡ﾟﾉ 🪸🪼`◌ some ways that i encourage anyone to interact: come as you are, share what’s on your mind regarding the topics spotlighted on this page, ask questions, share your perspectives, seek safe space, reassurance, or advice. <3

Ꮺ °˳◌🫧`˳ how not to interact: trolling, bad faith “questions,” only entering or starting a conversation on this page for the sake of disrespecting Christianity (vs. asking a genuine question and simply disagreeing on a topic), insulting others, anything along these lines.

while i understand that the culture of today commonly uses certain phrases that many don’t think twice about, i respectfully ask that whether you are Christian or not, you do not in any way use the Lord’s Name in vain when commenting, asking, or submitting on my page. any blasphemy or disrespectful remarks about God will be removed & blocked. thank you.

◌🌊🐚Ꮚ°˳´ about me !

๋Ꮺ🗯️ you can call me scotty or little lad! the former is not my real name and the latter obviously isn’t, but both are alias’ i would like to be addressed as here on my tumblr. i commonly use little lad or something along those lines as an online username, and that phrase reminds me of scotland, which is part of my heritage and scottish gaelic is a language i am currently attempting to learn, hence where “scotty” came from.

˖°𓇼🌊⋆🐚 i am a ✞follower of Christ✞, currently attending and serving a non-denominational Christian church in socal. i am an 18 year old girl and still a senior in highschool as of now (graduating soon!). some of interests of mine include: learning about history, theology, and religion as a whole, marine biology & chem, music/choir, certain video games, TV shows, and movies [franchises], the ocean & sharks !! i have many miscellaneous interests and things i eek ! over, so honestly either ask more if ya want or wait to unlock the lore as i casually show how much i love some random small thing online from time to time. i love making friends so please don’t ever feel intimidated to interact with my blog simply for friendship purposes!

˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌊🦈 if you’re ever interested in learning about my viewpoints on specific theological topics, feel free to ask in the ask box or in a comment or message! theology, Christianity, and religion as a whole is such a complex topic that i cannot list every in-and-out of what i believe regarding church history, theology, etc. however, one other label i would give myself is “Bible-believing Christian,” on all topics of all time periods, what God defines as right and wrong remains regardless of culture or personal feelings!

◌🌊🐚Ꮚ°˳´ some other resources:

what is the Gospel? ✞

my testimony ✞

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

｡ﾟ 🪸🪼 creds!

copy & paste symbols: xiaosworld & moontslight

dividers: roseraris

[rjzimmerman]

As a native of Gary, Indiana, and a former "summer employee" at U.S. Steel (to pay for my college education), I'm obviously invested in what happens to the Gary Works of U.S. Steel. This story answers several of my questions, and puts me on the "no" side of this proposal. Excerpt from this story from Grist:

U.S. Steel, once the world’s largest company of any kind, can take substantial credit for the growth of American industrial power in the 20th century. But in recent decades, it’s been shuttering mills and shedding workers. Now, the iconic Pittsburgh-based manufacturer is set to be acquired by a Japanese steelmaker, Nippon Steel — if the federal government allows the deal to proceed.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that the Biden administration is preparing to block the nearly $15 billion merger on the grounds that it presents a threat to America’s national security interests. The United Steelworkers union opposes it, fearing future layoffs and weaker labor protections under new ownership. So do both major candidates for president, who are vying for votes in the Rust Belt. Supporters of the deal, like the Washington Post editorial board and the nonpartisan think tank The Atlantic Council, have cast the politicians’ opposition as election-season pandering, and argued that the national security rationale on which Biden may block it is flimsy. But one area, in which the question of whether the merger goes through could be particularly consequential, has gone largely unremarked upon in the conversation: what it means for the climate.

Some environmentalists say the deal could slow the crucial progress that the steel industry must make in order to decarbonize. Their argument stems from the fact that both U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have been slow, compared to industry peers, to adopt the most impactful decarbonization technologies, even with federal funding available in the U.S. to do so.

The most common process by which primary steel is produced is massively carbon-intensive. The reasons for this lie in chemistry. Steel is made from iron, but the form in which iron ore occurs in the Earth’s crust is mostly iron oxide (similar to rust). In order to get usable iron from it, one needs to remove the oxygen. For centuries, iron-makers have accomplished this by using coke, a fuel made from coal, which is heated alongside iron ore in a blast furnace at such high temperatures that the iron melts into a liquid while the oxygen bonds with the carbon in the coke and produces carbon dioxide.

Blast furnaces are responsible for the lion’s share of carbon emissions from steelmaking, and the inextricability of carbon emissions from the ironmaking process is a large part of the reason why, overall, steelmaking is responsible for 7 percent of global carbon emissions, and a quarter of industrial carbon emissions. These percentages will likely grow as other sectors of the economy are decarbonized. In the U.S., demand for steel is also expected to grow dramatically over the next decade to provide the raw material of the industrial growth sparked by the Inflation Reduction Act and the planned buildout of clean energy infrastructure and transmission lines. For these reasons, the task of decarbonizing steel is as urgent as it is difficult and expensive.

Fortunately, there is a solution on offer that has recently become viable due to new technological advances — and one that the Biden administration has sought to heavily subsidize: replacing blast furnaces with a process called direct reduction, and using hydrogen as a reducing agent in place of carbon, ultimately discharging water rather than carbon dioxide. “The chemistry is sound, it’s being built, it’s been piloted and demonstrated,” said Yong Kwon, a senior advisor with the Sierra Club’s Industrial Transformation Campaign. “The question is now: Will industries adopt it?”

There are eight operating steel mills in the United States that make “primary” steel (newly created steel, rather than the generally lower-quality “secondary” steel produced from scrap metal). Three are owned by U.S. Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs, the owner of the other five, has also made an offer to buy U.S. Steel and has been much more proactive in making the shift to greener production. “The Department of Energy has made available a great deal of money to do partnerships with industry to demonstrate the value of decarbonized projects,” said Todd Tucker, director of the industrial policy and trade program at the Roosevelt Institute. Both Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel have availed themselves of such funding to embark on decarbonization programs. U.S. Steel has partnered with the Department of Energy on carbon capture projects at several of their steel mills, and funded research and development of hydrogen-based ironmaking technology. The company also plans to install a carbon capture program at a blast furnace at its steel mill in Gary, Indiana, which it says will turn up to 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually into limestone — a tiny fraction of that facility’s overall emissions. But critics note that U.S. Steel has yet to take a step as ambitious as its rival by actually replacing one of its blast furnaces with direct reduction of iron.

The stakes of the potential U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger are perhaps best illustrated in the city of Gary, Indiana, which was built in 1906 by U.S. Steel to house workers at its Gary Works steel mill. That mill is home to the country’s largest and most carbon-emitting blast furnace — and it’s nearing the end of its lifespan. This situation hypothetically presents the furnace’s owner with an ideal opportunity to switch to a cleaner technology, with federal funding on the table to do so. But in August, Nippon Steel announced its prospective plans for Gary Works, which include a $300 million investment in relining the furnace to extend its lifespan for another 20 years. With this announcement, Kwon said, “Not only have they back in Japan not pursued solutions that we feel are responsible; they’ve now explicitly come out and said that they’re not going to pursue the solution that is on the table for reducing the climate change and public health harms that are currently produced by the iron-making process.”

[world-of-wales]

─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : DECEMBER ✧• ─

4 DECEMBER - William wrote the Foreword for 'Two Million Shout conversations: Saving lives at scale through the power of technology'. 5 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales joined Dave Martin in selling the Big Issue Magazine at Tesco in Hammersmith. Afterwards, he joined Catherine at the annual Diplomatic Corps Reception. 6 DECEMBER - The Waleses were spotted Christmas Tree Shopping at Windsor Great Park. 7 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales attended a Royal Foundation Meeting at the offices in London. Afterwards, William visited Emma Webb on Day-13 of 'Leg on to London’ Mental Health fundraising and awareness campaign in memory of her daughter - Brodie. He also appeared in a video message to ICAP for ICAP Charity Day. 8 DECEMBER - William along with Catherine and their children attended the Christmas Carol Service in Westminster Abbey. 9 DECEMBER - The Wales Family's Christmas Card was released. 11 DECEMBER - William chaired a Meeting of The Prince's Council at Buckingham Palace. Afterwards he visited The Passage Charity's St. Vincent's Centre for a Pre-Christmas Lunch. 12 DECEMBER - William visited the Warrant Officers' and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers' Mess at Combermere Barracks. 14 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Devon (Mr. David Fursdon) as he attended the Lord High Admiral's Divisions at Britannia Royal Naval College. 18 DECEMBER - William presented condolences to The Emir of the State of Kuwait in Kuwait, following the death of The Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. 24 DECEMBER - 'Together At Christmas' Carol Service aired on ITV with a special reading by William. 25 DECEMBER - A personal tweet from Will & Cat was released wishing everyone a merry christmas. Later, they along with their children joined other members of the Royal Family for the Divine Service at Sandringham Parish Church. The Waleses appeared in a video during the King's Christmas Address. 26 DECEMBER - William appeared in 'Charles III : A Coronation Year'. 29 DECEMBER - An 'Year In Review' video was released by Kensington Palace. 30 DECEMBER - Matt Porteus released a new photograph of the Waleses attending the Coronation Concert in May.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

It’s Always the Same

1200 words for 1200 followers #4 

A/N: Hi friends! Welcome to the 12-A-Palooza! This event is my way of saying thank you for sticking with me. Your support and kindness toward me and my writing is out of this world and I’m grateful for every last one of you! This is one of two requests that I got for Jack, and they will be related... and I already have plans to continue it after all the 12-A-Palooza requests are done. So in addition to the Spectrum Soulmate Marcus Pike AU, the Jack Daniels Time Travel AU is now a thing. (And I’m not mad about it at all.) 💚

Warnings: mention of character death, mention of violence, this one is angsty and I am SORRY. 

Requested by: @azure-waves Song: Back in Town Character Choice: Jack Daniels - Thank you for sending this in! I hope you enjoy this, darling! I know it’s a little angsty, but I have a plan so don’t worry too much!!

Jack Daniels was the best Agent within the Statesman organization. 

Skilled, suave, brave, reliable, dedicated. Jack was everything the agency stood for, everything they valued. Because of that, he’d risen quickly in the ranks, becoming a Senior Agent after only eight years of service. 

But there was one thing that set him apart from the rest of the Agents even more than those attributes - his willingness to partake in tests of new, experimental technology that could help the agency gain advantages. He had been the first to step forward when researchers brought Alpha-Gel to trial, fully aware and accepting of the risks involved. 

Nothin’ much to lose if it goes sideways. 

So when Champ and Ginger came to him with the proposition of a new trial, Jack had all but signed on before knowing a single detail. 

“It’s not as dangerous as the Alpha-Gel testing was,” Ginger explained. “But it’s … delicate.” 

“Well, darlin’, I can be as delicate as a daisy when the occasion calls for it. What’s the mission?” 

He didn’t expect time travel.

They called it The Rewind, since for now Statesman only had the ability to move in one direction along the continuum - backwards, and only up to three years - and Ginger had been right to deem it delicate. Time was a fragile thing, and handling it too harshly left fingerprints where they didn’t belong. Those fingerprints could cause the present to cave in on itself and the future cease to exist. 

Jack silently hoped that they never gained the ability to travel beyond the three year mark. He knew that if it became possible to go back to the moment that his wife was killed, no amount of moral obligation would keep him from trying to save her. 

Future be fuckin’ damned. 

The Rewind hadn’t been engineered so Agents could change things that had already happened, though. It was created strictly so the agency could gather intelligence. It allowed a person to go back to a specific time and place, to witness that moment again and again from different perspectives, drop eaves on a conversation until it had been memorized, hunt for clues in the near past that might give them an edge in the present so they could put a stop to things before they happened. 

But it was still in the early stages. There was still a battery of experiments to run. That was where Jack came in. 

“We’ll be sending you back three years, to the night of July 19th. There’s a place on the outskirts of town called the Junction. Or -” Ginger arched one eyebrow. “There was. It closed down six months ago. But before it did? A lot of shady characters used to meet there. We think it’s where Dark Shadow did most of its recruiting.” 

Jack’s top lip curled at the mention of the crime organization. Dark Shadow had been a weapon smuggling ring that operated by overwhelming local law enforcement with a slew of small crimes so that they could pull off their larger ones while the authorities were distracted. They sold guns to drug dealers, who in turn put pistols in the hands of every sales soldier on the streets. They were the reason that countless hearts had been broken by the words “wrong place, wrong time” just as Jack’s had. 

Taking them down had undoubtedly been his proudest moment as a Statesman. 

Ginger explained that since they already knew how things shook out for Dark Shadow, testing the Rewind on their hideout meant that the stakes were low. “For now we just want you to go, spend a few hours there, act as though you’re just a patron getting a drink. You can talk to people as long as you don’t tell them anything that hasn’t happened for them yet. We’ll pull you back remotely when it's time, and then you’ll report on anything you can remember.” 

Jack nodded. “Seems simple enough.” 

“We’ll repeat this process until we’re confident that you’ve absorbed every detail of that night - what people were wearing, the texture of the bar top, all of it. That gives us an idea of how big a window we’ll have when we send Agents in for live missions. How long they’ll need in a space that size with the same number of variables and-” 

“Ginger.” Champ cleared his throat as a gentle interruption. “Think he gets the idea. Don’t ya, Whiskey?” 

“Sure. Like any old night on the town. ‘Cept it’s the same night every night until I can paint it pretty as a picture for you. That about it?” 

Ginger gave a sheepish nod, aware that she was prone to over explanation at times. “Yup. That’s about it. For now.” 

– – – 

Jack stopped outside the Junction, staring at the flickering neon letters on the sign that hung in the window. Like always, the C was dead. This time, though, he noticed that it was due to a crack in the lightbox that looked distinctly like a bullet hole. 

Well look at that. A new piece of the picture already. 

With that he went inside. He wasted no time lingering near the dart boards or sauntering through the billiards tables as he’d done his first few July 19ths. He’d already gained what he could from the people gathered around them on previous trips. This time his focus was directly on the bar. Or more directly on the woman behind it. 

You.

It was his twelfth time pulling up a stool and ordering a drink from you. Nine of those times he’d asked you your name and he’d given you his. You’d spent nearly half your shift ignoring other customers to talk with him on at least seven occasions. Five times he’d caught you looking at him in the bar mirror, a guilty - but not ashamed - grin curving your cheeks. There were four times when you had asked him if he wanted to get coffee at the diner on ninth street, three when he had said yes, and two when you’d invited him back to your place after that. The last time he walked into the Junction he ended up in your bed, with you panting his name into his ear. 

He remembered every detail of every interaction with you.

But for you it was the first time you’d seen him. You didn’t know his name or his drink. Didn’t know that he made you laugh or that his hands had already mapped your body. “What’ll you have, Cowboy?” 

He gave you the same smile he had the last few times - which meant that you couldn’t tell it was just a little sad. “Whiskey’n water, darlin’.” 

Always the same. 

He couldn’t help the twinge in his chest as you turned to make his drink. Jack wasn’t expecting the mission to be time travel. And he sure as shit wasn’t expecting to fall for a woman from a different timeline. But here he was. And there you were. 

The Alpha-Gel trials had been painful. Knowing that you would forget him every time was torture.

Still, when you asked him out for coffee, he grinned, standing from his stool. “You ever been to the 9th Street Diner, darlin’?” 

.

.

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[imnottheonlyone]

what happened to high school?

When I was young, I thought high school students were so cool and grown up. I watched as they started driving, dating, having sex, and going to parties and I couldn't wait to be that fun age. Now that I am in high school, where has the fun gone?

As people have realized, generations are starting to look younger and younger. When you imagine a senior in high school, you often don't imagine the people that I go to school with. Their baby faces haven't gone away and the growth spurts have not hit yet. Part of the appeal of high school is the feeling of adulthood and maturity, not only in the classes you take or your social endeavors, but in the way you look. I don't know if it's because there isn't as much of an age gap between myself and a senior in high school now, but when I was little, they just looked so old. I don't see that anymore. 

Also, technology is nowhere near new and exciting. It's a part of our everyday lives and I will resent that for the rest of my life. While it comes in handy for teaching and grading, and Google is a major plus, it shouldn't be our only source of school these days. I rarely get assignments on paper and honestly, I wish they were. I want physical copies and mementos from my high school days. Not to mention, I don't even have a real school identification card. It's in an app. 

When social media and technology was new and exciting, it acted as a third space for teenagers. Like malls and roller rinks in the eighties and nineties, Tik Tok, Instagram and Tumblr are the "hang-out spots" for teenagers in the late 2010s and 2020s. In the early to mid-2010s, teenagers still went to malls and roller rinks to hang with friends while also adjusting to the new online world. It was a place for teenagers to communicate their ideas and express themselves. Now it has become a part of everything. I almost never have conversations where someone doesn't whip out their phone mid sentence

Also, we have no defining trends for our generation. Social media has brought forth something called the microtrend. A song, make-up look or body type will be a trend for two weeks before out short-attention spanned peers decide it's not interesting or cool anymore and move on to something else. While the nineties had grunge and glamor and the eighties had acid wash denim and big hair, the 20s has....leggings? And Utah curls? What I mean is, when you think of the 1990s, a specific image comes to mind. Grunge music and dark eye make-up. When you think of the eighties you picture big curly hair and neon spandex. When you think of the 2020s, nothing in specific comes to mind because we can't decide on one thing. Nothing is interesting or cool enough anymore. We live in such a capitalist, consumerist society that once we engage in something too much, it becomes boring and we have to find something else. Social media and influencers only amplify that. I don't know if it's Gen-Z's push-back on being categorized or defined by anything, or if nothing is good enough anymore. 

And don't even get me started on the music. In the 20th-century, different music trends came and went. In the 70s hair metal and power ballads became huge. In the 80s glam metal, synth, and pop started to materialize and in the 90s alternative rock, grunge, nu metal, and boy-bands made their breakthrough. This overbearing control of the music industry made music a novelty and allowed teenagers to be a part of a subculture. When punk came about in the 70s and goth in the 70s and 80s, it allowed teenagers to interact with another and create relationships because of the subculture they identified with. This made high school the stereotypical version we see in 90s and early-2000s movies. The goths sit over here and the popular kids sit over there. Even in the 90s with grunge and the 2000s with emo. Though to come it seemed “clique-y”, it made making friends and self-expression more cohesive and less stand-out. Even into the early 2010s, those who liked pop punk, didn’t hangout with the kids who like mainstream pop or trap beats. 

With the rise of the influencer and easy access to higher paying or earning jobs, anybody can make music, even if they’re horrible at it. Content creators online put out singles or albums that sample the same beats as everybody else and have the same dense and shallow lyrics, where it is obvious they’re trying to sound deep and meaningful but they’re fully missing the mark. It’s hard to want to claim a genre or use a specific sound or style of music to identify your generation or simply the people you hangout with. New music doesn’t have that power anymore. New major music genres have not been pioneered since the 90s with grunge and nu metal. People that are making music aren’t creative and the creatives aren’t making music. 

The things people listen to and the way that they dress says a lot about them. For teenagers, it has said everything about them. However in the last ten years, social media and technology has ripped those ideals away from us. Nobody wants to be perceived as one thing. They want to be everything and nothing is good enough to define anybody anymore. Tik Tok has ruined the essence and the glowing aura that once was the teenager. 

[douchebagbrainwaves]

STARTUPS AND ESSAY

Symbols are effectively pointers to strings stored in a hash table. Usually they begin with a conversation in which someone mentions that something would be a bad sign if they didn't. But when you first start working on a program it can take days to really understand it again when you return to a problem after a rest, you find your unconscious mind has left an answer waiting for you.1 But what does that really mean? When I see patterns in my programs, I consider it a sign of trouble. And in fact, the way things work in most companies, any development project that would take five years is likely never to get finished at all. Use succinct languages. And what pressure it would put on the city.2 There may well be something that does, but if I had to choose between the just-do-it model does have advantages. Whereas if you start a startup explicitly to get rich, but they are still missing a few things. The total value of the companies we've funded is around 10 billion, give or take a few. Some people who've read this think it's an interesting attempt to write about something that hasn't been written about before.

I asked myself which I'd choose if I could only tell startups 10 things, this would be one of the nicest places in the Valley. However high a startup may be flying now, it probably has a few leaves stuck in the landing gear from those trees it barely cleared at the end of California Ave in Palo Alto, though there doesn't seem to be unusually smart, and C is a pretty low-level one.3 Now everyone can, and we can't be in a dozen places at once.4 The point is simply that there are more constraints. They want languages that are believed to be suitable for use by large teams of mediocre programmers—languages with features that, like the speed limiters in U-Haul trucks, prevent fools from doing too much damage. Blue staters think it's for sissies.5 And you know why? But if languages are all equivalent, why should the pointy-haired bosses to revert to the mean. -Self variety. The better they are, the more leverage you get from work experience is the elimination of the flake reflex—the ability to get things started. How much of a problem is each of these?6 Why only do it once?

Some of these we now take for granted, others are only seen in more advanced languages, and two are still unique to Lisp. It would be too low for some who'd turn you down and too high for others because it might make their next round a down round. Others say I will get in trouble for using it. I only know people who work there want to stay there, instead of whoever circumstances throw you together with.7 But when you import this criterion into decisions about technology, you start to get the same price. This essay developed out of conversations I've had with several other programmers about why Java smelled suspicious. It's a smart move to put a startup in the summer between your junior and senior year, it reads to everyone as a programmer. Which they deserve because they're taking more risk.8 7, though there is nothing to see outside. A good programmer working intensively on his own code can hold it in his mind the way a mathematician holds a problem he's working on. Let's take a look inside the brain of the pointy-haired boss?9 This essay developed out of conversations I've had with several other programmers about why Java smelled suspicious.

And so American software and movies are malleable mediums. Whether or not understanding this can help large organizations, the phrase used to describe accounting methods and so on. Let's run through an example.10 Unfortunately picking winners is harder than that. There are very, very few who simply decide for themselves. Would the transplanted startups survive? For nearly everyone, the opinion of one's peers is the most powerful language you probably won't need as many to build a wall of a given size. Could we have it both ways? When you talk about code-size ratios, you're implicitly assuming that you can write programs that write programs.

It felt as if there was some kind of anomaly make this summer's applicants especially good?11 It would improve the average startup's prospects by more than 6.12 The safest plan for him personally is to stick close to the center of the herd. It seems the clear winner for generating wealth and technical innovations which are practically the same thing. When you pick a big winner, you won't know it for two years. But maybe not.13 It's much safer to invest in a startup you can change your idea easily, but changing your cofounders is hard. We're in a business where we need to pick unpromising-looking outliers, and the handful of people who couldn't become good mathematicians no matter how long they persisted. In many technologies, version 2 has higher resolution. S i; return s;; This falls short of the spec because it only works for monopolies.14 We can afford to take at least half a million. Throw them off a cliff, and most will find on the way down that they have wings.

That's why we advise groups to ignore issues like scalability, internationalization, and heavy-duty security at first.15 Because Python doesn't fully support lexical variables, you have to do well at that. At a minimum, if you create a new variable s. What's going on?16 Two have already turned down lowball acquisition offers. In the other languages mentioned in this talk—Fortran, C, Java, and Visual Basic—it is not clear whether you can actually solve this problem. Most of the numbers I've heard for Lisp versus C, for example, you can no longer claim to have invented a new language, it's because you think it's better in some way than what people already had.17 In Microsoft's case, it was Ada. 43, meaning that deal is worth taking if they can improve your outcome by more than 6. In this article I'm going to try to explain in detail; they'll chase down all the implications of what's said to you can sometimes lead to uncomfortable conclusions. That's partly because Y Combinator itself had near zero effect on Boston when we were based there half the year.

Notes

A preliminary result, that good art fifteenth century artists did, once. Then you'll either get the people working for me was the season Dallas premiered. Quoted in: it's much better than Jessica.

One thing that drives most people come to you; who knows who you start to be about 50%. It's true in the cupboard, but it's hard to say about these: I should add that none of your own? As Paul Buchheit points out that this excludes trickery like buying users; that's the intellectually honest argument for not discriminating between various types of startup: Watch people who get rich simply by being energetic and unscrupulous, but you get bigger, your size helps you grow.

I'm using these names as we use the wrong ISP.

But it turns out to be started in Mississippi.

I'm claiming with the buyer's picture on the relative weights? Convertible debt can be useful here, I have a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay wrote: My feeling with the founders chose? I couldn't believe it or not. Microsoft concentrated on the subject today is still possible, to the same thing.

This sentence originally read GMail is painfully slow.

It would not make a brief entry listing the gaps and anomalies. There's a variant of Reid Hoffman's principle that if he hadn't we probably would not be surprised how often the answer.

There was one cause of accidents.

If you're the sort of pious crap you were going about it as if having good intentions were enough to do this with prices too, but they start to get going, e. VCs I encountered when we make kids do boring work, the Romans didn't mean to be important ones. Monroeville Mall was at Harvard Business School at the data in files. It seems we should have become good friends.

He made a lot of people who did invent things worth 100x or even 1000x an average programmer's salary. Especially if they seem pointless. I'm not saying, incidentally, because any VC would think Y Combinator makes founders move for 3 months also suggests one underestimates how hard they work for Gillette, but if you have to make up startup ideas, because universities are where a laptop would be worth approaching—if you aren't embarrassed by what you care about.

I mean type I startups.

If you try to be spread out geographically.

The second biggest regret was caring so much control, and logic.

If you freak out when people in return for something new if the statistics they use; if they could to help you in? VCs may begin to conserve board seats for shorter periods.

The word regressive as applied to tax avoidance. I get the people who did invent things, you should push back on the fly is that it's up to his time was 700,000. Convertible debt at a middle ground.

Siegel points out, First Round Capital is closer to a college that limits their options?

I'm not sure. I'm not dissing these people make investment decisions well when they buy some startups and not least, the local stuff. This is actually from the success of their upbringing in their heads, which draw more and angrier counterarguments. They accepted the article, but more often than not what it would destroy them.

Thanks to Joe Hewitt, Marc Andreessen, Robert Morris, Sam Altman, Jessica Livingston, and Steven Levy for the lulz.

[mariacallous]

The United Nations on Thursday adopted a U.S.-led resolution on artificial intelligence, marking what Washington says is a major step toward establishing a global baseline to regulate the rapidly developing technology. 

The resolution, which followed more than three months of negotiations among dozens of countries, calls on U.N. member states to ensure “safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems” that are developed responsibly and respect human rights and international law. 

While the resolution is non-binding and does not include an enforcement mechanism, U.S. officials in a briefing on Wednesday highlighted the significance of its unanimous adoption as an important step in establishing global AI guardrails. 

“This first-ever standalone resolution on AI at the United Nations is a consensus resolution—that means that all 193 member states will agree to it, and trust me, that is no easy feat,” a senior Biden administration official said, adding that as of Wednesday afternoon, 97 countries had also co-sponsored the resolution and that number was growing “literally by the hour.” 

Debates on how best to regulate AI have dominated bilateral and multilateral forums for more than a year, ranging from the G-7 summit in Japan to the AI Safety Summit hosted by the United Kingdom last November. Several of the world’s most powerful governments have also established their own paths to regulate AI—the European Union earlier this month passed the EU AI Act after nearly two years of deliberations, while authorities in China have cast an ever-expanding, ever-evolving regulatory net to rein in AI technologies. 

The Biden administration took its biggest swing last October with an executive order that echoes many of the goals included in the U.N. resolution. “What we’ve done, essentially, is to make sure that the resolution reflects what the administration is already doing with respect to its domestic AI governance,” another senior administration official told reporters.

The United Nations also has multiple other initiatives, including a new AI advisory body and its global standard-setting organization, the International Telecommunication Union. Those efforts will continue, but this week’s resolution may give the conversation more heft. “We view this as complementing other initiatives happening throughout the U.N. system, but it is different,” the second official said. “We think it’s important when all 193 member states agree to a set of global norms.”

That broad agreement is significant, given the diplomatic battles that have played out in the United Nations between Western democracies and allies on the one hand and autocracies on the other. China and Russia, in particular, have increasingly sought to shape the institution toward their worldview and priorities, stalling deliberations over a proposed treaty on crimes against humanity and attempting to impose a contentious treaty on cybercrime. On AI, however, the discussions appear to have been more productive. 

“There were lots of heated conversations; that’s not unusual for the United Nations,” the first administration official said. “The fact that 193 countries that often can’t agree on anything at the U.N. were able to agree on this shows that this issue of AI is so transformative—not only from the technology standpoint but in terms of the potential opportunities that people see—that I think it transcended the usual geopolitical divisions that we have here in the United Nations.”

The inclusion of language ensuring AI systems comply with human rights is a particular bright spot of the resolution, according to Daniel Leufer, a senior policy analyst at the digital rights group Access Now. “I wouldn’t take that for granted as a statement,” he said. “Getting the message across that there are uses of AI that are just incompatible with human rights and cannot be permitted was a battle, and it is good to see that enshrined in something at this level with the level of consensus.”

But achieving that consensus also dilutes the impact that the resolution can have, Leufer added, particularly with a lack of enforcement mechanisms built into the U.N. process. “There’s always a risk that what that means effectively is bringing everyone down to the lowest agreeable bar,” he said. “If we limit ourselves to what we can get every state to agree on, we’re not going to get too far.”

One notable absence from the resolution is the potential military use of AI, and that was largely by design. “In looking across the broad sweep of AI considerations in the world, we made a purposeful choice in pursuing a consensus-based U.N. resolution to not include the military uses discussion in this resolution,” one of the officials said, adding that several diplomatic and multilateral conversations about military applications of AI are already ongoing across the U.N. and other forums. “We believed there was an opportunity to talk about safe, secure, and trustworthy AI in a civilian, non-military context, which was very important and deserved and merited its own attention and focus.”

[thethief1996]

Sorry to bother, but I am seeing reports come out Abt the missile being fired from a jihad group not Israel. What proof of it being Israel?

Not a bother at all! It's great that you're seeking out information. I'll do a quick recap so you can understand what's going on.

Last Friday (14/10), Israel issued a warning urging 1.1 million Palestinians to leave Northern Gaza and move South in 24h, including the staff, patients and refugees residing in 22 hospitals. The World Health Organization issued a statement asking Israel to backtrack on that decision, since 2000 injured Gazans were being treated and thousands were taking refuge in these facilities. The medical staff categorically refused to abandon their posts.

About the evacuation orders: the hospitals were directly called to evacuate, including al-Ahli. Al-Quds hospital was called on Friday and initially given the deadline of 6 AM to evacuate, then pushed further to 4 PM. Ahmed Muhanna of Al-Awda hospital said they received a similar call initially giving two hours to evacuate, and explicitly said the 35 doctors would stay. Nisreen al-Shohafa, head of the emergency room also in Al-Awda hospital, reported to Al Jazeera that the IDF called and said the hospital should evacuate because it would be bombed.

On Saturday (15/10), the Archbishop of Canterbury said al-Ahli, which is an Anglican-run hospital, said it was hit by rocket fire and four staff members were injured. Al Jazeera verified these reports and said two Israeli artillery shells hit the hospital on Saturday.

Yesterday, al-Ahli received three evacuation orders successively, according to the Anglican leaders who run the hospital. After the Israeli army issued these orders, the hospital was bombed.

An IDF spokesperson said there was an operation happening in the area at the moment, but they were using different ammunition from the one that caused that type of damage.

Two hours after the bombing, the IDF issued a statement blaming the strike on a misfired missile launched by the PIJ on Twitter, and corroborated with video evidence. The video evidence was debunked by a New York Times journalist from the visual investigations team, who said the alleged video showed a timestamp 40 minutes after reports of the initial blast. After this, the IDF edited their original tweet to erase the video so it simply stated they had investigated their own operational systems and found the rocket was fired by the PIJ towards Israel.

The IDF continued with this narrative, posting a video today showing the type of craters caused by Israeli bombs and the damage of the hospital. Similarly, the BBC has analysed the data they could find and said it was inconclusive if the blast was Israeli or not.

The only problem is, the data they are analysing are videos and pictures of the blast. You'll see that both links in the previous paragraph show the same picture of a small section of the parking lot. The same image was circulated as proof by a senior research fellow for Airpower and Military Technology at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London. David Lisovtsev, an Israeli analyst, posted a video sourced from a Zionist Telegram channel and said it looked like a failed Hamas rocket. A spokesperson to the IDF posted a video showing an alleged conversation between two Hamas leaders planning the rocket launch, and when he was questioned about the credibility of it, said the IDF had lied before but this time it was different.

There has been no independent investigation, because no journalists or forensics teams are allowed into Gaza. I cannot emphasize enough to you that all these reports by Israel are based on blurry videos and maybe three pictures of the parking lot (I am being hyperbolic).

TL;DR

The evidence that the bombing was conducted by Israel is the following: They bombed the hospital with lesser artillery four days prior, they were conducting an operation in the area at the time of the blast, they called the hospital three times and told the 10k refugees to flee hours before the bombing and the evidence provided to the fact it wasn't them is jumbled at best.

The evidence that the bombing was conducted by PIJ, Hamas or any other Palestinian institution: The IDF investigated themselves and found themselves not guilty. Other journalists looked at videos and pictures and said the crater was not big enough to be caused by an Israeli missile.