#su cobalt

[pocket-gems]

Could you fuse Neon and Lime into a mega Pearl?

Cobalt Pearl

[reasoningdaily]

https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/17/19/us-tech-giants-sued-over-cobalt-mine-child-labor-deaths

US tech giants sued over cobalt mine child labor deaths

NEW YORK - Five US tech giants including Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have been named in a lawsuit over the death of child laborers in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Impoverished but mineral-rich DR Congo is the world's largest producer of the rare metal, which is crucial for making batteries used in mobile phones and electric vehicles.

The case was lodged Sunday in the name of 14 unidentified victims, who are members of the families of children killed in tunnel collapses, as well as children maimed as they worked.

It lists Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla as defendants and was submitted by the International Rights Advocates (IRA) campaign group to a Washington tribunal.

A boom in the technological sector has led to a huge increase in the demand for cobalt, IRA wrote in its statement, adding the tech companies were aware the DR Congo's mining sector relies on children. 

Child miners work for $2-3 a day "under stone age conditions for paltry wages and at immense personal risk", it said.

BMW along with German chemical giant BASF and Samsung announced a joint project to ensure "responsible" cobalt mining in DR Congo earlier this year.

The mining industry has said it wants to adopt standards of good governance to improve working conditions.

The London Metal Exchange, the global center for trading in industrial metals, recently adopted new ethical standards to ensure better traceability of raw materials, including cobalt.

And earlier this year, the World Gold Council issued "Responsible Gold Mining Principles", although the guidance is non-binding.

[sam-gb]

Some OCs I've done recently

Cubic Zirconia, a gem that strangely appears in many universes...

Green Plastic, a gem that controls petroleum and loves nature;

Cobalt Bloom, a gem that emerged with two gemstones (it's like the Rutile Twins but with two gemstones and a fused form);

Geuda, a judge gem with 10 powers;

And finally, Hauyne (he/him) and Septarian (she/her, despite looking like a he), two gems that emerged connected to each other, thanks to a shard of their gemstones that one has from the other; Hauyne is a gem capable of solidifying and molding energy; And Septarian is a very unlucky gem (literally, she risks her life every day just because she exists).

NOTE: These gems have nothing to do with each other (except for Hauyne and Septarian).

[ffs-abalisk]

HAHAHA FUCK

you are personally and directly hit by a bus¹ and isekai-ed, via resurrection, into the body of the main character your most recent WIP

reblog and tell me: on a scale of 1–10, how screwed are you right now?

¹ this is, transparently, a plot device, so if you are about to tell me "joke's on you, I never leave my fifteenth floor apartment!" then you may rest assured it will have tremendous comedic value when the bus is launched into the sky and crashes through your apartment wall to flatten you anyway

[longliveblackness]

Congo is silently going through a silent genocide. Millions of people are being killed so that the western world can benefit from its natural resources.

More than 60% of the world's cobalt reserves are found in Congo, used in the production of smartphones.

Western countries are providing financial military aid to invade regions filled with reserves and in the process millions are getting killed and millions homeless.

Multinational mining companies are enslaving people especially children to mine.

•••

La República Democrática del Congo vive un genocidio silencioso. Millones de personas están siendo asesinadas para que la parte occidental del mundo pueda beneficiarse de sus recursos naturales.

Más del 60% de las reservas mundiales de cobalto se encuentran en el Congo, y se utiliza en la producción de teléfonos inteligentes.

Los países occidentales están proporcionando asistencia financiera militar para invadir regiones llenas de reservas y en el proceso millones de personas mueren y millones se quedan sin hogar.

Las empresas mineras multinacionales están esclavizando a la gente, especialmente a los niños, para trabajar en las minas.

Street Art and Photo by Artist Eduardo Relero

(https://eduardorelero.com)

[emprysza]

translation!!

1. making trollsonas for trolls with explanations

2. branch is teal because he is the squarest troll alive and does everything by the book, he also sued creek once. vest is olive because lets pretend floyd is an oliveblood and since trolls don't have families they are platonic moyrals and branch is wearing his quadrants color and its very common in troll culture. branch is also already teal in movies.

3. cobaltblooded trolls usually have some kind of business, because they are mid aristocracy and guy is kinda rich judging by "glamping" episode in bgo series, he also made a lot of stuff to sell so he fits the stereotype. i thought about making him indigo because hes a big fan of drama (it's similar to loving art which is indigo stereotype) but it fits cobalt too.

his sign is a G mixed with diamond symbol..because he is..Guy....diamond

I also chose cobalt because guy has a lot of blue colors in his palette already (blue eyebrows blue eyes blue glitter undertone) and also cobalt trolls are usually very moraly controversial...SO ARE GUY'S HUMOR like... it's not high comedy for sure, his character is funny like a cobalt type of funny too.

4. in smidge's wiki it's written that she is a teaspoon troll so i made her horns look like teaspoons

SMIDGE IS AN OBVIOUS INDIGO firstly she is the strongest troll or something?? secondly she is queen's right hand so she should be violet OR AT LEAST indigo. also little indigo trolls are canon since there is amisia in hiveswap

smidge's dress can be fuchsia because umm they're best friends with poppy so like platonic moiral again and it means she uses her quadrant colors

5.poppy is fuchsia..because she is a queen..and she is also very pink, so it suits her. i think every queen and king of trolls are fuchsia because they are different tribes so it's ok to have more than one fuchsia.

SHE HAS A LOT OF TEAL THINGIES BECAUSE BRANCH IS TEAL AND THEY ARE MATESPRITSS

also i think poppy is wearing not only her quadrants colors but also every best friend color. she has it on her dress and on her bracelets. she is also not limited with black and white colors since she is a queen.

her horns are flowers bc idk

5. sinth is violetblood because he is ambassador of techno trolls, a big shot, violetbloods are aristocracy so it fits, plus he can wear whatever due to status of aristocracy. he is also a fish and violetbloods are fishes, everything is perfectly fitting

[fenrirmoon]

Tear of Cobalt is an Iterator installed in a huge desert, her structure is surrounded by four mountains that collect water. Cobalt is the older sister of four iterators (I can change this later), she only gets along with her second brother, he is Parallel Extension. Cobalt is unpleasant to the other iterators due to her character but she managed to make a friend, her name is Contemplative Silk and she is installed on the other side of the world.

...

Tear of Cobalt es un Iterador instalado en un enorme desierto, su estructura está rodeada por cuatro montañas que recogen agua. Cobalt es la hermana mayor de cuatro iteradores (puedo cambiar esto más adelante), solo se lleva bien con su segundo hermano, él es Parallel Extension. Cobalt es desagradable para los demás iteradores debido a su carácter, pero logró hacer una amiga, su nombre es Contemplative Silk y está instalada en el otro lado del mundo.

[magnhild]

OC-tober Day 14: Who/what inspired your OC?

This is much more a writing prompt than a drawing prompt, so I'm simply going to go over each member of Team LLAC and explain my inspirations for each character!

First and foremost, Team LLAC are all fankids of characters from RWBY, so a lot of the inspiration comes from that. Luna is the child of Blake and Yang, so she takes a lot of design and character elements from them - she looks like them, of course, but also shares their goal of becoming a huntress and counteracting the bad in the world with some good. Her personality differs pretty greatly from either, though. All of Team LLAC were also inspired by aspects of myself and Luna got my anxiety (of both the social and general kind). This part of her personality, alongside some aspects of her design, was also partially inspired by the moon symbolism I talked about in an earlier prompt.

Lily is the daughter of Emerald and a lot of her personality, character, and design stems from that. When she was just an unnamed concept in my mind, I wasn't going to have her be a fankid like her teammates, but I recognised the potential in having her be related to a former antagonist from the show - especially because, at that point in time, Emerald hadn't begun her redemption arc yet. Funnily enough though, parts of her arc in Year 1 were also inspired by Blake - seeking redemption and liberation through becoming a huntsman and initially being more closed-off to her teammates, and Jaune - struggling to find her Semblance when many her age had already done so by then. My own desire to prove myself as a good person while also being adverse to socialising played a part there as well. Parts of her personality - namely her dry wit - and Year 2 design were also inspired by Mercury even though there's no direct relation between the two. Her Semblance was inspired by my general love for plant-based powers in other media. As a kid, I always loved the scene near the end of Sky High where Layla finally unleashes her powers on one of the antagonists and defeats them in a matter of seconds. Plants are cool.

Astra is the daughter of Neon Katt, though I fully don't remember what inspired me to make that decision. I knew I didn't want the team to be comprised entirely of children of main characters, but why I specifically chose a character that had only spoken in a single episode at that point in time, only 2019 Blaire could tell you. Still, she provided plenty of inspiration for Astra, to the point where, on the surface, the two are strikingly similar in terms of design and personality. Astra also inherited my (and Neon's, as far as I'm concerned) ADHD. Both in-story and outside of it, she was also inspired by Nora in regard to her endless enthusiasm, reckless energy, primarily pink colour scheme, and even her hammer weapon. The archetype of 'character who is feminine, silly, and cheerful but also reckless and powerful' is one I am very fond of, so one of Team LLAC was bound to end up with it. I also happen to love that archetype even more when deeply buried identity issues are thrown into it. I love when the perpetually enthusiastic character secretly has crippling self-worth issues - see Korra LoK, Amethyst SU (or even Steven himself), Akko LWA, and, of course, Nora again. I couldn't not saddle Astra with that. My desire for RWBY to properly explore Yang's self-sacrificial tendencies also saw me giving similar habits to Astra, and it all came together perfectly.

Cobalt is the son of Velvet, but also the adoptive son of the rest of Team CFVY, so I took inspiration from all four characters to build his basis. Design-wise, he mostly draws from Velvet, but his Year 2 outfit especially has at least one element from each of the others as well. Personality-wise, I took Velvet's kindness, Coco's cool-headedness, Fox's sense of humor, and Yatsuhashi's calm nature, and mashed them all together into Cobalt. In-universe, this is the way each of them have rubbed off on him. From me, he got his desire to people-please and his strong sense of justice, which clash just as much for him as they do for me. There's more of his character that actually takes inspiration from my hatred for a common trope in any given media, but I don't think I can get too much into it without hinting at spoilers for things to come ;)

[auxiliarydetective]

Straw Hat Fun Facts - Evie's OCs Edition

A while ago, I posted these character bulding questions on my resources blog. And now, in the light of my lingering obsession with One Piece, my growing number of OCs for the fandom AND my recent milestone, I've decided that now is as good a time as any to finally answer them for my own OCs! Not all of them are, in fact, Straw Hats, but I'll still answer the questions for them because I can.

Featured are Aurelia, Cora, Inari, Lily, Luna and Lux AND the two still undeveloped ones, for now code-named Betta Fish and Flying Squirrel because... well, that's what they're based on.

Have fun!

Note: I wrote this post over a week ago, told myself I'd proofread it and never did... And then I proofread it last night at about 11pm, so... Yeah, you'll find no braincells here, just pure vibes and the braincells that were already there a week ago. That being said, I'm particularly proud of the "As a Family" section

Animal Resemblances

Aurelia: Peacock

Cora: Mouse

Inari: Red fox

Lily: Fennec fox (obviously)

Luna: Swan

Lux: Lynx (once again, obviously)

Betta Fish: Well.... a betta fish! Also known as Siamese flying fish!

Flying Squirrel: I actually get to say some more here, it's specifically a Japanese giant flying squirrel.

Specific Numbers

Aurelia: 107 (do-na)

Cora: 6/5 (sixth Straw Hat to join if you count Luffy, fifth if you don't, i.e. fifth recruited), 96 (ko-ra), 25510 (a-ka-i-to), 19 (ichi-ku)

Inari: 8/7 (eighth Straw Hat to join, seventh recruited), 176/576 (i-na-ri), 53 (ka-mi)

Lily: 5/4 (fifth Straw Hat to join, fourth recruited), 66 (ri-ri -> Lily)

Luna: 8/7 (eighth Straw Hat to join, seventh recruited)

Lux: 106 (ji-rou), 693 (ru-kku-su -> Lux) 080 (ou-ya-ma; short for ouyamaneko = lynx)

Betta Fish: to be determined

Flying Squirrel: 6331 (mu-sa-sa-bi = Japanese giant flying squirrel)

Specific Colors

Aurelia: black, gold

Cora: a very dark fuchsia/dark red

Inari: pastel orange/pink mixture

Lily: pastel purple/pink mixture

Luna: (soft) icy blue

Lux: beige, white

Betta Fish: Cobalt blue, rainbow

Flying Squirrel: Dark cyan/blue

Specific Smells

Aurelia: violets, a hint of sandalwood, expensive perfume

Cora: cherries, cinnamon

Inari: strawberries, birthday cake

Lily: sea salt (the smell gets caught in her fur), water lilies, usually a hint of cigarette smoke because she's been around Sanji for a while

Luna: almond milk and honey

Lux: cheap cologne; grease or oil if he hasn't showered since last working on the Tang

Betta Fish: salt water, lavender

Flying Squirrel: Incense, wax, fireworks

Favourite Type of Island and Season

Aurelia: Previously spring on a summer island, now spring on an autumn island

Cora: Spring on a spring island

Inari: Any season on Totto Land; summer on a spring island

Lily: Summer on a spring island

Luna: Winter on a spring island

Lux: Winter on a winter island

Betta fish: Autumn on any island with a forest

Flying Squirrel: only knows Wano seasons

Favourite Food

Aurelia: Spaghetti carbonara, most likely

Cora: Honestly? Fish and chips. I don't know why. But not the cheap kind. High-end fish and chips, freshly made by Sanji. Fish that is fresh out of the sea, with a crispy crust, and the chips aren't your typical burger fries but more like fried potatoes. I feel like she'd also enjoy sweet potato fries

Inari: Inarizushi, which is a pouch of fried tofu filled with sushi rice. She loves it because it has the same name as her and because it has little fox ears. Sanji usually decorates it with a fox face to match

Lily: Omelette. Why? Because fennec foxes love eggs. Generally, preparing her an egg is good enough, whether you cook it or fry it, she loves eggs, but she especially adores omelettes because they look cool and because of the way Sanji makes them

Luna: Yoghurt, preferably with honey. She also loves elderberries, or yoghurt with elderberry jam

Lux: I feel like he'd like turkey hen? Generally, some sort of poultry. Also chicken (which is a poultry, I know)

Betta fish: Oysters, seaweed

Flying Squirrel: Daifuku (the food, not the character), udon

Least Favourite Food

Aurelia: Chips as in crisps, specifically she doesn't like salted ones. ESPECIALLY not salt and vinegar ones

Cora: I feel like she's not a fan of bitter foods in general and she hates it when food gets burned and she has to eat that charred black stuff. Luckily, that doesn't happen to Sanji. For somewhat obvious reasons, I feel like she also doesn't like oregano

Inari: Funnily enough, she doesn't like fried tofu. Her favourite food is inarizushi but she doesn't like fried tofu. That's because it takes the correct tofu, the proper frying technique and enough rice for her to like inarizushi. She doesn't like the taste of just fried tofu on its own

Lily: I'd say she doesn't like dried, salted fish. It's a common preserve on sea travels and she probably had to eat it a few too many times. Poor girl. She may also be slightly allergic against high amounts of salt

Luna: I don't know. Honestly, she might not be a fan of alcohol? Or at least drinks where you can taste the alcohol, so anything spiked probably isn't for her. There's this dish called Herrencreme in Germany - she wouldn't like it

Lux: Lux isn't exactly a picky eater, but I feel like he has a personal vendetta against cooked meat, especially if it's overcooked

Betta fish: Easy, mermaids don't eat meat and they don't eat fish. A certain group of people tricked her into eating fish at some point and, when she learned what she ate, she immediately had to throw up and felt bad about it for years after

Flying squirrel: I feel like she wouldn't like typical American™ fast food. Too greasy and weird

As a Family

Aurelia is normally the mother but, in the case of the Straw Hats, she might as well be the rich aunt

Cora has middle child vibes (says I, the person with no siblings). She's younger than Nami, vibes-wise. Then again, she's Sanji and Zoro's boyfriend, so... She's the girlfriend that's already part of the family

Inari: The youngest daughter, but only because her and Lily don't exist in the same universe. Technically, she'd be a cousin though? Or a half-sister? Yeah, she's a half-sister!

Lily: Well, you got me there. Youngest daughter, but she's also Sanji's daughter, which would mess up all the generations, so let's say she's the baby daughter that Sanji mainly takes care of

Luna: She's the oldest sister, or, because she's Sanji's girlfriend, she's the girlfriend who the parents like more than their actual child because she's so responsible

Lux: Technically not a Straw Hat, so let's say he's either a cousin or the kid living next door who's always playing soccer with the Straw Hat kids and comes over so often that he practically already lives with them

Betta fish: I can't give too much away without spoilers, but she's the other mother. She's the dad's girlfriend. We're doing a patchwork family here, people. Two moms, two dads.

Flying Squirrel: Neighbour kid who helped the Straw Hats get their ball out of a tree that one time and now they love her. Her and dad no. 1 bond over woodworking

Real-World Nationalities

Aurelia is Mexican, no doubt about it

Cora is English

See, this is where "nationality" becomes the deciding factor because, nationality-wise, Inari is English. As for her heritage, she's probably not just white. I see her as being part Japanese

Lily doesn't really have a nationality because she grew up on a ship, but she eventually moved in with Kaya, who is English

Lux, I'd say, is Russian

Betta fish lady is Thai, because betta fish are also known as Siamese fighting fish and Siam is the historical name of Thailand

Flying Squirrel person is Japanese and of Chinese and Japanese descent

Inner Brain

Aurelia: It depends! Her inner brain is either fully on danger mode or fawning over Mihawk 24/7

Cora: Mostly sewing-related. The other half belongs to her boys <3

Inari: Sweets and chaos.

Lily: There's no way to pin it down. Her mind is 100% childlike whimy and chaos

Lux: Is Zoro around? If so, he's 100% in love. Otherwise, he's honestly either about training or repairing the Tang - or a no thoughts head empty sort of person. He loves his naps

Betta fish lady I honestly don't know too much about yet. Further in the story, she's thinking about her partners for sure (and trying to babysit the Straw Hats, probably), but before that...? I dunno. Let's say she's thinking about tea.

Flying squirrel person is thinking about archery, revenge, stealing, honor and the occasional woodworking project

Suited Flower

Aurelia: Aster flower

Cora: Somehow, I'd say it's a poppy. Because poppies make you fall asleep, which is something that Cora is notoriously bad at lol - and it's red!

Inari: Snapdragon

Lily: Water lily

Lux: Zinnia

Betta fish lady: Hyacinth

Flying squirrel person: Hydrangea

I think I'll leave it at these for now? Maybe you'll find some interesting fun facts here <3

Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!

[franavu]

So, we can all agree that Prism is super sus, right? I mean, that backstory makes literally zero sense. The Cobalt Soul is not just gonna send out a random apprentice to do a survey on the Apogee Solstice with no way to contact the Soul or return.

Like, it's been established that the vast majority of people have no idea what the Apogee Solstice is, so most survey responses will range from "Whut?" to "Oh yes, an Applebee Sunrise, I had that once at the Chroma Dawn Cave, lovely cocktail."

Not to mention, "I'm just an apprentice, I have never cast a spell." Promptly pulls of a 4th and a 5th level spell flawlesly.

So, some of my ideas of what she really could be:

A Vollstrucker dispatched at short notice. Great at murder, terrible at thinking up a backstory on the fly.

Not a Vollstrucker, but one of Astrid Beck's agents, trying to figure out why Caleb suddenly went silent. Didn't think she needed a backstory, and panicked when she had to think one up.

A servant of the Raven Queen trying to figure out what happened to Her Champion.

Yet another Unseelie assassin, with a bunch of red flags that happily go ignored. Again.

Pure crack, but it would be really funny: Yu in disguise. When they are unmasked Erika Ishii jumps out from under the table and takes over playing.

[mariacallous]

It was a revelation that astounded the Irish parliament — and prompted suspicions, accusations, denials and calls for inquiries among members and observers.

The Sunday Times told last week how Russian intelligence had recruited a politician to act as an agent for the Kremlin during the Brexit talks and that, remarkably, they are still at large.

The bombshell reverberated all week with some parliamentarians getting to their feet to deny they were the agent nicknamed Cobalt. But while the question for the tearooms and the pubs was “who is Cobalt?”, the more important question is “what does Russia want with Ireland?”

“It shouldn’t come as any surprise to any of us that Russia seeks to influence public opinion, distort facts, and is active in relation to that across the world — and Ireland is not immune,” Simon Harris, the taoiseach, said.

“We have seen a significant increase in that level of activity since the brutal illegal invasion by Russia of Ukraine over the last number of years. The gardaí and our security services take all of this extremely seriously.”

Yet it was not always thus. Historically neutral, Ireland is now facing the stark realities of Russian espionage, underscoring a new heightened awareness of the threats posed by the Kremlin and the malign activities of its intelligence services.

Ireland has quietly evolved into a strategic hub for Russian intelligence operations. Its geopolitical position on the western periphery of Europe, neutral stance and open economy have made it an attractive base for Russian spies to engage in active measures or covert actions targeting the UK and the EU.

“Russia’s interest in Ireland is the same as that of many multinationals. It’s an English-speaking country that serves as a backdoor into Europe, with weaker regulatory frameworks, meaning it doesn’t take foreign threats seriously,” said Professor Neil Robinson, an expert on Russian and post-communist politics at the University of Limerick.

“Ireland always thought of itself as neutral, not entangled in many of the world’s problems. It didn’t really see itself as part of the Cold War,” he said. “So the Russians were effectively given a free pass by the Irish state, and they used Ireland as a conduit for agents, intelligence and strategic information from its position as a gateway for technology and companies into Europe.”

For Ireland’s under-resourced military and security agencies, the writing has been on the wall for years. Russia has become increasingly active in Ireland’s air, sea, land and cyber domains, much to its embarrassment.

Russian military Tupolev TU-160 Blackjack bombers and anti-submarine patrol aircraft have buzzed Irish airspace to see how quickly Nato responds, as Ireland lacks its own fighter jets. The first publicised incursions were in 2015 when Tu-95 bombers crisscrossed important civilian airline traffic lanes. In 2017 the RAF scrambled Typhoon combat aircraft from its Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) stations to respond to a sortie by Russian strategic bomber aircraft that skirted close to Irish sovereign airspace. A pair of high-profile incursions in 2020 involving six Russian aircraft prompted Ian Paisley Jr to raise the matter in the House of Commons.

Russian warships, submarines, and more recently ghost ships — disguised as research vessels and fishing trawlers — have become frequent visitors to Ireland’s exclusive maritime zones off the south and west coast.

Russian warships regularly converge in Irish-controlled waters, causing concern on both sides of the Atlantic. But more recent Russian tactics fall firmly into the realm of hybrid warfare, which involves everything short of firing a shot.

Russia regularly mounts influence and disinformation campaigns to sway public opinion across Ireland. Russian compatriot groups, supported by its Dublin embassy, organise anti-Ukrainian demonstrations on the streets of Dublin in conjunction with fringe republican groups. Footage of the protests are later broadcast on Russian TV as propaganda.

In April 2022 a convoy of cars waving Russian flags and marked with the pro-war Z symbol paraded down the M50 in Dublin, Ireland’s busiest motorway. The Ukrainian embassy slammed the “disgusting disrespect” against the “Irish people who stand against Russia’s war on Ukraine”.

Most worryingly, Russia has begun to foster connections with loyalist, republican and ultra-left groups in Ireland, further deepening concerns.

Last month the Russian embassy in Dublin hosted a deputation led by John Connolly, a convicted Real IRA bomber, who now leads the Truth and Neutrality Alliance, an ultra-left group which campaigns to defend Irish neutrality and resist entry into military alliances such as Nato. Connolly is a hardline dissident who was sentenced to 14 years in jail after being caught with a large “barrack buster” mortar bomb in Fermanagh in 2000. His Truth and Neutrality Alliance has participated in protests against the use of Shannon airport in Co Clare by the US air force, often waving Ukrainian separatist flags.

Russian services have exploited all these factors to use the country as a platform for mounting broader operations across Europe and beyond.

Russian agents have also been found living long-term double lives in Dublin. It is not known when Russia first began sending these deep cover agents — known in the intelligence world as legends — to Ireland to create false identities and background stories but cases have come to light.

One involved Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a Russian military intelligence officer who spent four years studying at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) using a false identity.

Cherkasov purported to be a Brazilian named Victor Muller Ferreira, when he studied political science at TCD between 2014 and 2018 before moving to the United States to undertake a master’s at Johns Hopkins University, where he specialised in American politics. He was unmasked as a spy as he attempted to take up a post at the International Criminal Court in the Hague in 2022.

Dublin is also used as a staging ground for Russian intelligence operations in the UK and Europe. As a neutral and accessible European capital, it provides a convenient base from which intelligence activities are coordinated and launched, targeting both Ireland and neighbouring countries including the UK. Much of this activity is directed from the federation’s embassy complex on Orwell Road, a half-finished eyesore in the suburbs of south Dublin.

A massive expansion of the complex was halted when the government introduced emergency legislation to stop the project in 2018 after The Sunday Times revealed how the Kremlin was using its diplomatic post in Dublin to run a network of spies in Europe.

An analysis of the architectural plans had revealed a self-contained structure, the tell-tale sign of a signals base used to transmit and intercept secret communications. The embassy was already being used to assess intelligence collected by Russian spies across Europe before its transmission to Moscow by cypher clerks in Dublin, all working under diplomatic cover.

“Russian spies have always been a problem in Dublin,” said Liam Smaul, a retired Special Branch detective who worked in counterintelligence and spent much of his career monitoring the embassy.

“They came here to enter the UK during the Cold War. It was made worse because, at one stage, Aeroflot used to fly into Shannon. They had means and ways of getting their people in Ireland. Counter-intelligence was never a priority for the garda or the military.”

Declan Power, a defence analyst, said Ireland’s inability to understand the threat made the problem worse.

“No one in the government ever asks where the threats are coming from. We don’t act well on intelligence as policymakers don’t have a good understanding of the threat environment and where the problems are coming from,” he said.

The nature and complexity of the Russian threat now facing Ireland cannot be overstated. The Irish military and the garda intelligence division know the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service, and the GU, the military intelligence branch of the Russian armed forces, are both operating in Ireland. They also suspect the FSB, Russia’s principal security agency, is spying on multinationals based in Ireland, deploying vans full of equipment that can intercept private communications or planting agents inside the companies themselves. More recently, Ireland has been warned that Unit 29155, an elite GU unit that conducts sensitive foreign operations including assassinations and targeted attacks, might have members travelling through the Republic to enter Britain and France.

Of all the security and defence issues that could cause a problem for the government, the Russian threat to the undersea fibre optic cables that carry communication data and internet traffic between Europe to North America is top of the list. The geopolitical consequences if something were to happen are profound. Ireland has an important, often underappreciated, value as a central node in the network of communications cables that criss-cross the globe.

The first signs of Russian interest in the cables in Irish-controlled waters emerged in 2021 when Yantar, an intelligence collection ship, arrived unexpectedly off the northwest coast and began searching the area in a zigzag fashion, suggesting it was mapping the seafloor. The vessel belongs to Russia’s directorate of underwater research, which is part of the defence ministry. It is also capable of mounting underwater sabotage operations using submersibles. This is why Nato continually monitors its movements to assess if it is targeting European or American subsea communications infrastructure. GU agents have also been observed mapping the landing points of subsea cables that come ashore on the west coast, presumably should they ever want to damage them.

The revelation of Cobalt’s existence comes as Ireland swiftly enhances its defence capabilities and further aligns itself with European security frameworks — steps likely to attract the ire of Putin’s Russia. The department of foreign affairs in Dublin has already cut Russian diplomats in the capital from 30 to just five. Dublin has also boosted its defence budget, investing in maritime patrol aircraft, naval vessels, a new primary radar system and missile defence. Last week’s disclosures are expected to drive even more substantial actions.

Keir Giles, a Russian expert at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank, said: “Russia has always found it easier to operate in environments where it was not viewed as a threat.” Ireland, he continued, has now realised that neutrality provides no safeguard against a determined aggressor.

Giles expects Russia to remain a persistent threat in Ireland but foresees a shift towards using proxies to pursue its goals.

This type of action can include organising anti-Ukrainian protests and fomenting opposition to initiatives such as Brexit. By influencing, at times unwitting, factions to campaign against issues such as a border on the Irish Sea or land post-Brexit, Russian actors can cause maximum disruption behind the scenes, but with no attributable blame.

“Russia has demonstrated that it can extend its influence through various means, including organised crime, disaffected individuals and other proxies,” Giles said. “These agents are capable of carrying out espionage, spreading disinformation, and even executing acts of sabotage and arson across Europe. Ireland may yet face similar hybrid threats.”

[berrypass-de-murdler]

72. Prism or Prison?

Sometimes my murdle obsession makes me very sad, as I realize the true state of my mental health and how much I'm not getting better.

And yes, it is causing me pain that G.T. Karber will never see goat irratino In this episode!

'Supreme Master Cobalt'. I'mma be real, I don't know who tf he is or if he ever appears again after this episode. What does 'supreme master' even mean?? So I didn't try too hard on him rip, he's apparently a 'penguin'?

Next is someone I actually first started drafting at around the same time as the Blues, so a long time ago, this is the barely-recognizable Dr. Seashell, stupidly an anthropomorphic seahorse. Murdle is not the first thing I have done where I gave designs to characters that don't have them, the first was for an obscure game called 'Superliminal' - Seashell is based off of an old design I made for that. I honestly love his design a lot for him being such a minor character.

DON'T READ THE EPISODES UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE FIRST BOOK!!

Logico remembers that Shadow went crystal shop. 

SHADOW: I’m just browsing.

Logico wants to get something beautiful and occult for Irratino. He cries. 

SHADOW: What are you doing… LOGICO: I WANTED TO GET A JEWEL FOR MY JEWEL!!! THE GOAT KING!!! SHADOW: Alright I'm gonna head out. We’re supposed to be looking for ruins??

After a small breakdown, Logico finally realizes that the clerk is also DEAD. No human can live! Anyway, don’t know why Night and Blackstone are shopping here. Also a man with a STUPENDOUS beard named Supreme Master Cobalt, and some weird mad doctor seahorse named Dr. Seashell, DDS. 

Seashell is carrying a GIANT BOOK called ‘Re-dead-able’ by ‘ghosts’ that has a sticker on it that says ‘LONGER than Bookie’s Book!!!’ Alrighty then.

Night is being sus… they are actually MADLY in love with the new man Cobalt, despite the fact that he’s over 100. Blackstone is just bathing in crystal shine, and finds it cool what you can do with the light.

Blackstone wanted money from the clerk, and destroyed them. He lifts up two giant sacks of cash and runs away. Meanwhile, Night leaps out of a giant safe with a dagger to prove their love, scaring Cobalt into a heart attack. NOT my kind of relationship goals!

Logico goes to meet Shad-Shad by the ruins and it’s not there.

The end! That was uneventful

Have a happy ink to cure your pain

At least Aubergine is in the next episode I love her

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[lsotp]

Hi-! I'm here to submit my daily barrage of questions.

1.) Why is Cerulean's last name 'Neue' when he and Cobalt were both 'Helvetica's?

When married, is the last name changed to the last name of the wife? But if that were the case, then that'd mean we won't have any 'Helvetica's but instead 'Marigold's.

2.) What did Goudy do that made him call the Institute on Lilith?

Did Goudy even know that Lilith and Rose were related?

If he did know, was he just too desperate and set aside that fact?

3.) Not a question, but i FINALLY found him-!

I FOUND SWIFF!

*does a little happy dance* 🎉〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜🎉

Fell’s face flushed a little darker. “Yer’ tellin’ me. She had me blushing with words alone. I didn’t hear the end of it from Mr. PocketDog down there.”

He nodded to the window where the night shift Generals were on duty, watching over dinner.

His eyes glared at the Purple General, Swapfell.

Said general’s lazy grin and half lidded gaze still predatory. He would dress down any soldier for the slightest mistake. Though Fell never stopped him.

“The slightest mistake can and will cost you dearly.” And honestly, he agreed.

4.) Chapter 4 when there was a twister coming. In Chapter End Notes, you said this.

"AH LAWD HE’s COMIN!"

This term or phrasing seemed a little sus to me ����.

Is the twister man-made or is it purely natural?

(1)

Cerulean’s last name is Neue because his fathers last name was Neue. Cobalt’s last name is Helvetica because his fathers’s last name was Helvetica.

°They do not share the same father. Their mother had two husbands due to a business deal their parents made. Poly relationships are rare, but not unheard of.

°Cobalt and Cerulean are very close and good friends, with Cobalt being the older brother.

°Cobalt was supposed to inherit the pharmaceuticals company, but gave it up so Cerulean didn’t have to struggle.

“I ain’t got the brains for that anyway. You know I’m always the brawn of the operation.”

“Then it’s a good thing you can be considered handsome… if you squint.”

°At 18, Cobalt joins the army and meets a 17 year old weirdo named “Leo.”

——————

(2)

Lilith didn’t actually do anything wrong. Goudy lost his marbles when Rose passed and barely kept it together whenever he saw Lilith. In Goudy’s eyes, no well-to-do woman should be getting her hands dirty working on a disgusting farm.

(3)

Yeah. I didn’t want to keep writing Swapfell- every time I mentioned him. So his name from now on is Swiff. I pulled it from the stronger sounds from Swapfell and dropping the vowels, leaving you with- “SW-F” or to me, it sounds like the word Swiff.

(4)

Nope. This isn’t important. Sometimes I might put important stuff in the notes, but it’s highly rare. I do admit I like to drop really important information in single sentences and breeze past it. (EX: The snook) But in this case it was for comic relief after a high stress situation.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

one thing i don't think i ever actually said is that much like canon su fusions, warden fusion au critters can like. stack. like the two guardians of a region (the noble-warden fusions) can fuse together to make one super-guardian, etc. and they follow the same naming pattern as the base fusions, so the regional guardians are obsidian, crimson, cobalt, coronet, and alabaster probably.

but while with the base fusions it's basically up to the noble-warden duo how often they bring it out, the higher-chain fusions are really only for emergencies where they need a Lot of firepower. in part bc naturally as you get more people and pokemon involved it gets harder to keep them all in harmony. there's also probably been a weird cultural thing in the past about diamond/pearl interclan fusion as well. there's also the potential for a fusion that involves all of them, of course, which would just be called straight-up Hisui. but this has probably never been necessary bc it would be so fuckoff powerful that it'd be both difficult to control and also complete overkill

[abr]

Roger Atkins - the founder of the consultancy, Electric Vehicles Outlook Ltd, and host of the Electric and Eclectic podcast - had spent the previous five years travelling the globe as something of an electric vehicle evangelist.  His talk at the University of Bath back in 2020, by contrast, was titled: 

Mass adoption of electric vehicles would be a big mistake. 

"It went down badly," he admits to LinkedIn News Europe three years on. "Someone even accused me of taking money from oil companies." But Atkins, who still runs Electric Vehicles Outlook and hosts his podcast, stands by it.

If we really want to save the planet, the solution isn't manufacturing 70 million EVs, it is re-evaluating whether we need to drive altogether.  "We cannot make 70m electric vehicles a year –  each of them with a 60kw battery, with the current mining capability that exists on the planet. If we try to do that, we're going to have to dig up half of Indonesia and mine the ocean floor," he said. 

EV batteries use substantial amounts of minerals including copper, cobalt, nickel, rare earth and lithium. Since 2015, EVs and battery storage have surpassed consumer electronics to become the largest consumer of lithium, making up 30% of demand. By 2040, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that demand for lithium could be 13 times higher. 

(...) Environmentalists warn of soil degradation and damage to local ecosystems, as well as water shortages: 2.2m litres of water is needed to produce one tonne of lithium. (...)

For Atkins, that means EVs cannot be the future of transport. Or at least, not the future of individual transport. Instead, the world needs to (...) ... yes, stop (people) driving their own cars.

Creating EVs instead of petrol vehicles is only replacing one bad habit with another, Atkins says. "Of course it is going to p*ss people off. Of course people like to drive. But we live on a resource constrained planet," he says. "We need a paradigm shift." 

(Another english expert) pointed out that as many as 50% of car journeys were used to cover distances of under 5km and could be replaced by active transportation, such as e-scooters. (...)

via (1) Why EVs may not save the planet | LinkedIn

L'ipocrisia sta svanendo, non regge al vero fact check:

è sempre stato chiaro che le auto elettriche, e tutte le fnti Energetiche Rinnovabili, rischiano di fare più danni ambientali al Pianeta che dar benefici, senza citare l'evidente danno allo sviluppo economico;

è sempre stato altrettanto chiaro che, anche volendo, non è fisicamente possibile sostituire anche solo la metà del parco circolante con EVs (perché? Ma perché "le risorse del Pianeta sono limitate", qual contrappasso micidiale);

finalmente anche gli "esperti" si tolgono la maschera e rivelano il vero intento: TOGLIERE LA MOBILITA' A GRAN PARTE DELLE PERSONE.

Il vincolo all'area di appartenenza era il principio base fondante della servitù della gleba, il successore della schiavitù: lì vogliono far tornare la maggioranza della gente. Il famoso "tutto quello che vi serve (e decidiamo noi cosa sia) a 15 minuti di distanza" dei Sala.

(si può dire, senza denegare la denuncia, che non tutto il male verrebbe per nuocere? Sarei grato a chi indirizzasse su pista ciclabile certe signore col Suv, un tot di impiegate con la Yaris ibrida, molti artiggiani da'a qualità col Transit che si credono Max Verstappen ... ).

[artlasllm]

aaand the last of dress up night: casual paladins!

here's some notes i did of them:

Ruby's shirt is based off of the MCR candle logo shirt; the white pants is also a nod to Party Poison's. The jacket she has tied around her waist however, is meant to be a slightly edgier version of the official "human Sonic" jacket

I have Jay's outfit IRL! The only issue is that the fox shirt they have is actually based off of my corgi shirt lol

Blaze's is somewhat loosely based off of Amethyst from SU

Rina's is based off of @/miru667's Audrey; I feel like the mix of the cottagecore dresses and really edgy jackets fits Rina IMMENSELY lol. However I struggle if her outfit in this pic is "green enough" to pinpoint her as the Green Paladin; blame Rina's palette for already being so desaturated, oops!

Turqbalt's is pretty self explanatory; he likes being comfortable! I imagine even moreso as Cobalt, hence why he switches the "fashionable" baseball cap for a softer beanie

Nothing notable for Amethyst; I've always had this dress design for her and am glad to draw it over and over again lol

Rose's outfit is based off of Mew Ichigo, some Marinette (Miraculous Ladybug) concept art, and Blossom in Powerpuff Girls Z. The heart is actually a pocket!