#supply chain orchestration

[procurement-insights]

What is "Supply Chain Orchestration?"

On April 23rd, Vineet Khanna, the former Global Head of Supply Chain at Nestlé, will share his roadmap to Supply Chain Orchestration Success. In the meantime, these are my thoughts; please share yours. Here is an excerpt from a post I wrote in 2007 about Supply Chain Orchestration – back then, we referred to it as agent-based modelling within a dynamic Metaprise – https://bit.ly/3Q2fLpQ “In…

[awlusa]

What Is End To End Logistics & Supply Chain Solutions?

In today's rapidly evolving and highly competitive business landscape, companies understand the critical role that efficient supply chain management plays in gaining a competitive edge. Among the various approaches available, one that has gained significant attention is the implementation of end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions. These comprehensive solutions cover the entire spectrum of the supply chain process, starting from raw material sourcing all the way to the final product delivery. The primary objective of these solutions is to optimize operational efficiency, drive cost reduction, and enhance customer satisfaction. In this blog, we will take a deep dive into the concept of end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions, shedding light on its definition, key components, benefits, and effective implementation strategies. By exploring these aspects, businesses can gain valuable insights into how they can leverage end-to-end solutions to elevate their supply chain management practices and achieve sustainable success in today's dynamic marketplace.

Definition of End-to-End Logistics & Supply Chain Solutions

End-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions encompass the comprehensive integration and management of all activities involved in the supply chain process, from procurement to distribution. This holistic approach covers a wide range of functions, including procurement, production, inventory management, transportation, warehousing, and customer service. The overarching goal is to optimize the flow of goods, information, and funds throughout the supply chain, ensuring smooth coordination and collaboration among all stakeholders. By leveraging advanced technologies and strategic planning, businesses can achieve end-to-end visibility, transparency, and control over their supply chain operations.

This allows for better demand forecasting, improved inventory management, efficient order fulfillment, reduced lead times, and enhanced customer service. Moreover, end-to-end solutions enable businesses to identify bottlenecks, streamline processes, mitigate risks, and seize opportunities for cost savings and operational efficiencies. Ultimately, implementing end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions empowers businesses to gain a competitive advantage by delivering products to customers faster, more reliably, and with greater customer satisfaction.

Key Components of End-to-End Logistics & Supply Chain Solutions

To fully understand end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions, it is essential to explore the key components that make up this comprehensive approach. These components encompass critical aspects of the supply chain. Let's dive deeper into each of these components and their significance in optimizing the supply chain process. The list of the components of end to end logistics and supply chain solution is as follows:

Supply Chain Capacity Planning

Capacity planning involves analyzing and determining the resources, including production capabilities, warehouse space, and transportation capacity, required to meet demand effectively. By accurately forecasting demand and aligning it with available resources, companies can optimize their supply chain capacity and avoid bottlenecks or excess capacity.

Supply Chain Orchestration

Supply chain orchestration focuses on synchronizing and coordinating activities across different functions and entities within the supply chain. It involves real-time visibility, communication, and collaboration among suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to ensure efficient order fulfillment and timely delivery.

Order Orchestration

Order orchestration refers to the process of managing and optimizing customer orders throughout the supply chain. It involves capturing, processing, and tracking orders, ensuring that they are fulfilled accurately and delivered on time. Order orchestration also includes managing order changes, cancellations, and returns.

RFID Warehouse Management System

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology plays a crucial role in enhancing warehouse management and inventory tracking. RFID tags are attached to products or packaging, allowing for real-time identification, tracking, and monitoring of inventory. This technology improves inventory accuracy, reduces manual errors, and enables efficient order fulfillment.

F&B Supply Chain

The food and beverage (F&B) industry has unique supply chain challenges, including perishable products, stringent regulations, and complex distribution networks. End-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions for the F&B industry focus on maintaining product quality, ensuring compliance, optimizing inventory, and minimizing waste.

RFID Inventory Management

RFID technology enables efficient inventory management by providing real-time visibility into inventory levels, location, and movement. RFID tags and readers automate the tracking and monitoring of inventory, minimizing manual efforts and improving inventory accuracy. This technology also facilitates efficient stock replenishment, reduces stockouts, and enhances overall inventory control.

Fulfillment Center vs Distribution Center

While often used interchangeably, fulfillment centers and distribution centers serve different purposes in the supply chain. A fulfillment center is a facility dedicated to e-commerce order fulfillment, involving activities such as picking, packing, and shipping. On the other hand, a distribution center focuses on receiving, storing, and redistributing products to retail locations or other distribution centers.

Ecommerce Fulfillment Services India

India's booming e-commerce market has led to the emergence of specialized fulfillment service providers. These companies offer end-to-end fulfillment solutions, including warehousing, order processing, inventory management, and last-mile delivery, catering to the unique needs of e-commerce businesses in India.

Benefits of End-to-End Logistics & Supply Chain Solutions

Implementing end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions offers several benefits for businesses. By streamlining and integrating various supply chain processes, companies can enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge in the market. Let's explore the list of significant advantages that businesses can derive from adopting end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions:

Improved Efficiency

By streamlining processes, optimizing inventory levels, and enhancing coordination among supply chain partners, end-to-end solutions improve overall operational efficiency. This leads to reduced lead times, faster order fulfillment, and improved customer satisfaction.

Cost Reduction

Effective supply chain management helps identify cost-saving opportunities, such as optimizing transportation routes, reducing inventory holding costs, and minimizing stock outs or overstock situations. By eliminating inefficiencies and enhancing resource utilization, businesses can achieve significant cost reductions.

Enhanced Customer Service

End-to-end solutions enable better visibility and control over the supply chain, resulting in improved customer service. Companies can provide accurate order tracking, faster delivery, and proactive communication, meeting customer expectations and building long-term loyalty.

Agility and Flexibility

End-to-end solutions empower businesses to respond quickly to changing market demands and unforeseen disruptions. With better visibility and coordination, companies can adapt their supply chain processes, reroute shipments, and manage inventory effectively to minimize the impact of disruptions and maintain a competitive edge.

Competitive Advantage

By optimizing the entire supply chain, businesses gain a competitive advantage in the market. Efficient supply chain management enables cost leadership, faster time-to-market, and the ability to meet customer demands promptly, setting businesses apart from their competitors.

Implementing End-to-End Logistics & Supply Chain Solutions

To implement end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions effectively, businesses should consider the following steps:

Assess Current Supply Chain- Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the existing supply chain processes, identifying bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and areas for improvement.

Collaborate with Partners- Establish strong relationships and collaboration with suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and other supply chain partners to ensure seamless coordination and information sharing.

Invest in Technology- Leverage advanced technologies such as supply chain management software, RFID systems, and analytics tools to enable real-time visibility, data-driven decision-making, and process automation.

Continuous Improvement- Implement a culture of continuous improvement, regularly evaluating performance metrics, monitoring market trends, and making necessary adjustments to optimize supply chain operations.

Partner with Experts- Consider partnering with experienced logistics and supply chain service providers who specialize in end-to-end solutions. These experts can bring in-depth industry knowledge, expertise, and resources to drive efficient and effective supply chain management.

Conclusion

In conclusion, adopting end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions is a strategic move for businesses seeking to optimize their operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive advantage. By integrating key components such as supply chain capacity planning, supply chain orchestration, order orchestration, and RFID warehouse management systems, companies can achieve improved efficiency, cost reduction, and enhanced customer service. This is particularly relevant in specialized industries like F&B, where tailored solutions are essential. With the support of experienced partners like AWL, businesses can navigate the complexities of implementing end-to-end solutions and leverage their expertise to drive success in today's dynamic and competitive business environment. By embracing end-to-end logistics and supply chain solutions, companies can transform their supply chain processes and position themselves for long-term growth and sustainability.

Source : https://www.awlindia.com/us-en/blog-details/what-is-end-to-end-logistics-supply-chain-solutions

[reality-detective]

I think I posted this 👇 before, but this NEEDS to circulate...

🚨ALERT: FBI UNCOVERS HUMAN REMAINS IN MCDONALD’S MEAT SUPPLY? THE DARK TRUTH YOU WON’T BELIEVE

The FBI just uncovered something straight out of a nightmare: human remains found at a Detroit business tied to McDonald’s meat supply. This isn’t just another rumor – it’s a revelation that could shake the fast-food industry to its core and expose the darkest side of the American food chain.

What’s Happening?

A routine investigation spiraled into a horror show when the FBI stumbled upon boxes of human body parts at a business that allegedly supplies meat to McDonald’s. This isn’t a simple case of spoiled meat—this is far more sinister. Human remains, body parts, and a twisted network of illegal activity now at the forefront of this explosive story. If true, this means millions of Americans could have unknowingly consumed products from a supply chain tainted with human remains.

Corruption Behind the Funeral Industry

It doesn’t stop there. The business at the heart of this scandal, International Biological, is more than just a medical supplier. It’s allegedly been illegally trafficking human body parts for years, all under the guise of education and medical purposes. And who’s behind this? Art Rathburn, a mortician licensed in Michigan for over 30 years, now exposed as the orchestrator of this gruesome operation.

What Does This Mean for You?

Let’s be real: if these remains made it into the food chain, this is the biggest scandal McDonald’s has ever faced. The implications? Terrifying. Think about the consequences of human remains mixing into what’s supposed to be your fast-food meal. This isn't just a fast-food issue; it’s a wake-up call to rethink everything we trust about the food industry.

The Truth is Unfolding, And It’s Darker Than You Think

The FBI is still piecing this together, but what we know now should have every American questioning the integrity of what’s really on their plate. Is this just one supplier, or are there more secrets buried in the fast-food empire? 🤔

[ach-sss-no]

someone asked why i loudly asserted that the stewing rabbits bit of lotr is the opposite book vs. movie and i think it is time to move off of the giant reblog chain i'm making

The Premise: Sam, Frodo and Gollum are all doing the opposite of what they are doing in the book in some fashion or another

(first off: in the movie they abandon the stew and don't eat it. the book takes a lot longer with all of this, and they do in fact eat the stew, and I definitely understand the movie couldn't be as expansive with the pacing but it's just. funny to me. they don't eat the stew vs. they do eat the stew, there's your first opposite)

now. THE SCENE: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

(Small disclaimer/disclosure: I referenced the script instead of a movie clip for this, so there may be some nuance missed in visuals or whatever but I don't think it would be enough of a difference to matter and hopefully you will soon see why not)

Frodo

Starting with him because this is simplest.

In the movie, Frodo is just sitting there minding his own business when Gollum dumps dead rabbits in his lap. (Then he doesn't interact with the ensuing conversation at all)

In the book he's asleep when Gollum brings the rabbits and does not participate in the scene. Okay, so he's awake vs. asleep. Easy.

(Also, book Frodo didn't witness the conflict between the other two characters and had no opportunity to intervene, which creates an interesting 'what could have been', but I am digressing. We are only 10% of the way in. buckle up)

Sam

In the movie, Sam is passive and reacting. Gollum dumps dead rabbits in Mr. Frodo's lap oh no what do I guess we'll cook them

In the book, Sam is active and orchestrating events.

Sam decides of his own accord that he wants to address their dwindling supplies:

Sam had been giving earnest thought to food as they marched. Now that the despair of the impassable Gate was behind him, he did not feel so inclined as his master to take no thought for their livelihood beyond the end of their errand; [in case you forgot. Earlier on Sam was like 'we won't have enough food for the way back' and frodo essentially responds with 'the way back. oh you sweet summer child'] and anyway it seemed wiser to him to save the waybread of the Elves for worse times ahead.

Note: This is all very good reasoning by Mr. Samwise and an excellent example of why he's so necessary to the quest! Yes, staying alive is step one.

But Where to get food? In both movie and book Sam is taking advantage of his resources (dead rabbits acquired via gollum), but in the book he's way more proactive about it:

An idea struck him and he turned to Gollum. Gollum had just begun to sneak off on his own, and he was crawling away on all fours through the fern. 'Hi! Gollum!' said Sam. 'Where are you going? Hunting? Well see here, old noser, you don't like our food, and I'd not be sorry for a change myself. Your new motto's always ready to help. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit? ' 'Yes, perhaps, yes,' said Gollum. 'Sméagol always helps, if they asks-- if they asks nicely.' 'Right!' said Sam. 'I does ask. And if that isn't nice enough, I begs.'

In this point in the book Sam has now:

Decided of his own accord that he has a problem and that he wants to actively solve it

Arrived at a solution to the problem without any outside help or suggestions

Commanded Gollum to go hunt

In the point in the movie Sam has done:

Nothing

I'm not exaggerating. In the movie the scene hasn't started yet.

In both book and movie, rabbits are acquired a little while later. In the book this is a nonevent because Sam requested and expected rabbits. In the movie, the rabbits unexpectedly appear, and Gollum says they are for the hobbits to eat (Sam doesn't even come up with the idea to eat them on his own!)

They are young. They are tender. They are nice. Yes they are! Eat them! Eat them! [He bites and tears into the raw meat.]

GOLLUM SHOWED HIM HOW TO EAT THEM LIKE A MOTHER CAT.

Anyway, in the movie, we just cut to Sam stewing the rabbits after that.

But in the book, Sam isn't done arranging things:

He thought for a bit, while he took out his knife, cleaned and whetted it, and began to dress the rabbits. He was not going to leave Frodo alone asleep even for a few minutes. 'Now, Gollum,' he said, 'I've another job for you. Go and fill these pans with water, and bring 'em back! '

'Sméagol will fetch water, yes,' said Gollum. 'But what does the hobbit want all that water for? He has drunk, he has washed.' 'Never you mind,' said Sam. `If you can't guess, you'll soon find out. And the sooner you fetch the water, the sooner you'll learn. Don't you damage one of my pans, or I'll carve you into mincemeat.'

So now Sam has:

Decided of his own accord that he has a problem and that he wants to actively solve it

Arrived at a solution to the problem without any outside help or suggestions

Commanded Gollum to go hunt

Lovingly watched Frodo sleep

Collected rabbits after they were provided and begun skinning them

Assigned Gollum to fill his cook-pans

Gollum leaves to do this new errand and Sam starts building a cook fire.

He was just stooping over his fire, shielding it and building it up with heavier wood, when Gollum returned, carrying the pans carefully and grumbling to himself. He set the pans down, and then suddenly saw what Sam was doing. He gave a thin hissing shriek, and seemed to be both frightened and angry. 'Ach! Sss -- no!' he cried. 'No! Silly hobbits, foolish, yes foolish! They mustn't do it!' 'Mustn't do what?' asked Sam in surprise. 'Not make the nassty red tongues,' hissed Gollum. `Fire, fire! It's dangerous, yes it is. It burns, it kills. And it will bring enemies, yes it will.'

Sam has just been given a completely sane and rational reason why a fire is a bad idea (they are in a dangerous area and can't risk attention!) (as well as a reason that is less pertinent- it looks like Gollum is afraid of fire, and he may have sensible reasons to be afraid of fire because it is dangerous, but this is not Sam's problem)

Sam addresses the 'it will bring enemies' thing

'I don't think so,' said Sam. `Don't see why it should, if you don't put wet stuff on it and make a smother. But if it does, it does. I'm going to risk it, anyhow. I'm going to stew these coneys.'

And Sam is like, nah.

Now Gollum gets upset that he's 'ruining good meat' by cooking it

Now Sam de-escalates

Now, now! ' said Sam. 'Each to his own fashion. Our bread chokes you, and raw coney chokes me. If you give me a coney, the coney's mine, see, to cook, if I have a mind. And I have. You needn't watch me. Go and catch another and eat it as you fancy -- somewhere private and out o' my sight. Then you won't see the fire, and I shan't see you, and we'll both be the happier. [He still managed to slip in a 'get out of my sight'] I'll see the fire don't smoke, if that's any comfort to you.'

In the movie he just insults the quality of the meat:

SAM What's to ruin? There's hardly any meat on 'em.

...which I suppose is fair in this alternate universe where the rabbits were just dumped in his lap, unwanted.

Then in the movie they skip to the taters conversation, but in the book, there's more!

Back to the book:

Gollum withdrew grumbling, and crawled into the fern. Sam busied himself with his pans. 'What a hobbit needs with coney,' he said to himself, 'is some herbs and roots, especially taters -- not to mention bread. Herbs we can manage, seemingly.' 'Gollum!' he called softly. 'Third time pays for all. I want some herbs.'

Gollum says no.

'Sméagol'll get into real true hot water, when this water boils, if he don't do as he's asked,' growled Sam. 'Sam'll put his head in it, yes precious. And I'd make him look for turnips and carrots, and taters too, if it was the time o' the year. I'll bet there's all sorts of good things running wild in this country. I'd give a lot for half a dozen taters.'

Now Gollum asks what taters are, gets a cryptic answer, and is offered a kind of food he has just expressed he does not want (cooked food) and again ordered to fetch herbs. Gollum declines.

'You couldn't say no to that.' 'Yes, yes we could. Spoiling nice fish, scorching it. Give me fish now, and keep nassty chips!' 'Oh you're hopeless,' said Sam. 'Go to sleep!'

The movie finally has some of the same words in almost the same place:

SAM PO-TAY-TOES! Boil 'em. Mash 'em. Stick 'em in a stew. Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish…. SM�AGOL [i'm not fixing it blah] [Sticks out his tongue in disgust] Pbbbttt!! [so now he's just devolved into making fart noises] SAM Even you couldn't say no to that. [He takes a sip of the stew] SM�AGOL Oh yes we could! Spoil nice fish... [scrambles up close to Sam] Give it to usss rrraw... and wrrriggling! [That line is not in the book. every time i see it quoted i age a year] [Makes sickeningly happy face.] You keep nasty chips. [Hops away] SAM You're hopeless.

The scene here ends in the movie.

In the movie, Sam has:

Watched rabbits be thrown at Frodo

Started cooking them after being all but commanded to eat them

Had some banter with Gollum

Left the scene without eating his stew

Sam is a passive character who is not orchestrating events, but rather reacting to them. A character being passive is not in and of itself a bad thing. I am only pointing it out because it is different from the book and a big change to this specific character (wanted to mention that because some people really don't like passive characters in general, I think they have a place. Frodo is rather passive in this scene but he obviously has a purpose.)

...In the book, Sam stews the rabbits for an hour and then eats the stew with Frodo

Frodo yawned and stretched. 'You should have been resting Sam,' he said. 'And lighting a fire was dangerous in these parts.

Wow! Was it? I feel like someone mentioned that earlier.

'Gollum! ' Sam called and whistled softly. 'Come on! Still time to change your mind. There's some left, if you want to try stewed coney.' There was no answer. 'Oh well, I suppose he's gone off to find something for himself. We'll finish it,' said Sam. [...] We don't see eye to eye, and he's not pleased with Sam, O no precious, not pleased at all.'

Whyever not?

To sum, book!Sam has:

Decided of his own accord that he has a problem and that he wants to actively solve it

Decided he's going to assign Gollum to the problem (This also demonstrates Sam's interpersonal intelligence. He notices what Gollum's capable of and understands intuitively how it can be turned to something industrious and useful) (Sam has made some missteps in other areas which are in the next section)

Commanded Gollum to go hunt

Collected rabbits after they were provided (according to his request), and began skinning them

Watched Frodo sleep

Assigned Gollum to fill his cook-pans, specifically because he does not want to leave Gollum and Frodo alone together, which is sensible

Threatened to carve Gollum into mincemeat, while holding a knife

Watched Frodo sleep and reflected on his poor health

Skinned the rabbits and put them in stew

Been told a cook fire is a bad idea and declined to stop what he's doing. A character being told to stop doing something & continuing with it anyway is another way for that character to show agency.

Asked Gollum to fetch herbs and potatoes (was refused)

Foraged a few herbs himself

Eaten lovely stew (while lamenting that there are no onions in it, and no bowls to put it in ;_;)

Offered Gollum stew long after (hours after) Gollum got angry and left

...all because Sam initially decided he wanted to acquire and cook food, and then took every necessary step to make that happen of his own accord.

Sam is an active character with high agency.

He is also showing more care for Frodo here (watching him while asleep and fretting over his health, lamenting that he somehow made rabbit stew from nothing by using his resources (which do here include another character- people are also resources!) but he can't put it in a nice bowl for mr. frodo- there's just a lot more here, which is natural because prose is a more detail-rich medium. Not all of this would have fit in the movie and I'm not saying it should have.

Even allowing for time, however, I do think there would have been a way to collapse this scene to the needed time requirement and still have Sam in charge of it instead of Gollum.

The scene finally ends on:

Then he noticed a thin spiral of blue-grey, smoke, plain to see as it caught the sunlight, rising from a thicket above him. With a shock he realized that this was the smoke from his little cooking-fire, which he had neglected to put out.

Did anyone foresee this?

Gollum

In the movie, Gollum is foisting a gift on Frodo and forcing social interaction that he doesn't want.

In the book, Gollum wants to go away somewhere so he can eat and is pressed into reluctant manual labor instead

Gollum is a little different from the other two characters in that his personality and motivations are also completely different here. (Where as Sam at least still has the same goals of looking after Frodo and making food.)

The scene is in Sam's POV so what Gollum is thinking and feeling has to be inferred from his actions/words/tone, but he's not exactly subtle.

The movie scene starts off with Gollum turning up with rabbits. He dumps them in Frodo's lap. He makes a spectacle of himself. He starts mauling the corpses.

The book scene starts off with Gollum trying to slip away somewhere to eat in private.

That's another thing. Gollum doesn't demonstratively bite into things Gollum always slips away somewhere to eat in private. Earlier:

It was actually not long before Gollum returned; but he came so quietly that they did not hear him till he stood before them. His fingers and face were soiled with black mud. He was still chewing and slavering. [He didn't bring food back on purpose. He's still chewing because he only has six teeth.] What he was chewing, they did not ask or like to think. 'Worms or beetles or something slimy out of holes,' thought Sam. 'Brr! The nasty creature; the poor wretch! ' Gollum said nothing to them, until he had drunk deeply and washed himself in the stream. Then he came up to them, licking his lips. 'Better now,' he said.

(Emphasis added.. Imagine you just recruited a serial killer to your D&D-party-in-real-life and he silently turns up covered in mud and won't talk to you. It looks like he's been eating bugs. He won't speak. he won't tell you what he's eating.)

Back to the scene in question: Gollum's leaving. Sam flags him down and asks him to hunt.

'Hi! Gollum!' said Sam. 'Where are you going? Hunting? Well see here, old noser, you don't like our food, and I'd not be sorry for a change myself. Your new motto's always ready to help. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit? '

He asks in an insulting and confrontational way. ('old noser' + 'Your new motto's always ready to help' reeking of suspicion)

To be clear, I'm not criticizing Sam whatsoever for disliking and being suspicious of the known murderer he's traveling with against his will. but the way he talks to Gollum does have consequences.

'Yes, perhaps, yes,' said Gollum. 'Sméagol always helps, if they asks -- if they asks nicely.'

Gollum is reluctant and asks to be treated politely. I don't find this response disproportionate or unreasonable. Consider what would happen if anyone talked to LOTR-era Bilbo Baggins the way Sam just talked to Gollum. The ash would still be falling from the sky.

Anyway Sam's response is to mimic the way he talks.

'Right!' said Sam. 'I does ask. And if that isn't nice enough, I begs.'

Gollum leaves, and is gone a long time. While he's gone, Sam gazes lovingly at Frodo, and - this is not directly relevant but I wanted to note it:

Gollum returned quietly and peered over Sam's shoulder. Looking at Frodo, he shut his eyes and crawled away without a sound. [Seeing that Sam and Frodo are occupied, Gollum slips away without interrupting, which is also a different vibe from 'assaulting Frodo with rabbits while he's just sitting there.'] Sam came to him a moment later and found him chewing something and muttering to himself

Look! There's a character arc happening in the background [but not in the movies] It will reach fruition at Cirith Ungol [in the books]

Anyway, Gollum is chewing on something so he's clearly taken time out to hunt for himself as well (note for context: He's disastrously underweight and has been complaining of hunger).

On the ground beside him lay two small rabbits, which he was beginning to eye greedily. 'Sméagol always helps,' he said. `He has brought rabbits, nice rabbits. But master has gone to sleep, and perhaps Sam wants to sleep. Doesn't want rabbits now? Sméagol tries to help, but he can't catch things all in a minute.'

Gollum has brought rabbits on command, and he's reluctant to hand them over. This is the direct opposite of bringing rabbits of his own accord out of nowhere and forcing them onto somebody.

'Now, Gollum,' he said, 'I've another job for you. Go and fill these pans with water, and bring 'em back! ' 'Sméagol will fetch water, yes,' said Gollum. 'But what does the hobbit want all that water for? He has drunk, he has washed.' 'Never you mind,' said Sam.

That was a reasonable question, asked politely and prefaced by 'yes I'll do it'. There's no call for a 'never you mind' and there's certainly no call for this:

`If you can't guess, you'll soon find out. And the sooner you fetch the water, the sooner you'll learn. Don't you damage one of my pans, or I'll carve you into mincemeat.'

Gollum does the work and is careful with the pans as requested.

He was just stooping over his fire, shielding it and building it up with heavier wood, when Gollum returned, carrying the pans carefully and grumbling to himself.

He set the pans down, and then suddenly saw what Sam was doing.

Gollum discovers that 'Never you mind' meant 'I am going to do something you find dangerous and terrifying' i'm pretty sure this is what he's seeing in his POV

He gave a thin hissing shriek, and seemed to be both frightened and angry. `Ach! Sss -- no!' he cried.

Gollum gets angry.

At this point in the movie, Gollum has:

Dumped rabbits in Frodo's lap

Told him to eat them

Played with the dead animals in front of Frodo

there's a cut to Sam cooking the rabbits- Gollum makes no comment at all on the safety or feasibility of a fire, but gets right up close to it to peer into the cookpot, so he must not be too scared of it.

In the book, Gollum has:

Tried to slip away, presumably to eat, because he's hungry. Or maybe he just wants alone time! Shelob is not in visiting range. He's not being dastardly. Leave him alone

He's been flagged down to do additional work, and interrupted from whatever he wanted to do

Went off somewhere. Caught two rabbits (with his bare hands, I assume??) Also caught at least one other thing, because he's chewing something when he comes back

Came back with rabbits

Left Sam to his tender moment with Frodo and went off for more alone time

Gently floated the idea that perhaps Sam doesn't want these rabbits anymore, surrendered the rabbits when asked

Agreed to another errand that is probably difficult for him to do, after hunting down at least two rabbits Up to this point Gollum has been called 'old noser', had his speech patterns parroted at him in a mocking way, had a polite question refused, and been told he will be 'carved into mincemeat' if he damages the cooking pans (does Gollum even know what a cooking pan is? When was the last time he's seen one? Was he just handed some foreign object and told 'put water in it and don't break it' 'of course! why?' 'stfu') Gollum has a whole long complicated history that would reasonably make him very prone to difficulties with emotional regulation. Severe trauma and centuries of social isolation are involved.

He only just now gets angry, now that he thinks Sam is going to start a forest fire and summon orcs and the first word out of his mouth is a relatively restrained 'Ach!' a word that doesn't even start with an F!

Gollum says fire is harmful and will draw enemy attention. Sam says essentially 'probably not but if it does that's too bad'.

Another bit of context is that Gollum has been presenting himself as the 'wilderness survival guy' and has obvious pride when he's talking about finding his way through the marsh. Sam isn't just being dismissive of Gollum, he's particularly dismissing something Gollum has real knowledge of and takes pride in that has nothing to do with being a corrupted evildoer.

Then Sam says he's going to cook the food.

'Stew the rabbits!' squealed Gollum in dismay. `Spoil beautiful meat Sméagol saved for you, poor hungry Sméagol! What for? What for, silly hobbit? They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!' He clawed at the nearest rabbit, already skinned and lying by the fire.

After all of that, we are at 'They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!' In the movie, the scene started with this line, apropros of nothing, and it's just. Yelled at Frodo. It's an invitation.

In the book: The same line is a cry of frustration. This isn't a non sequitur, this is a last straw! Gollum is hungry. He's been chronically hungry for a long time. The rabbits are exactly the kind of thing he likes to eat. They must smell amazing to him because now they're skinned. He had to turn them over to Sam after going to the work of hunting them (he didn't have to do this, he could have just not come back, or pretended he didn't find anything- whether or not his motives are pure, and they probably aren't, he's doing what he promised).

In return: Sam told him to do more work, and then started a fire- which Gollum seems to genuinely think is idiotic and puts his own safety at risk because he's stuck with these hobbits for the time being- Sam won't listen to reason and put it out, and to add insult to injury, that meat he insisted on?

HE'S JUST GOING TO RUIN IT

Imagine you were hungry and you brought someone an oreo (also you had to wander around in the woods and find the oreo and then surprise it from behind and break its neck), and that person just! scraped off the cream filling and replaced it with spray cheese! after that person called you a jerk and set a fire in a trash can! Maybe that person loves spray-cheese oreos! Maybe everyone but you loves them! I think you'd still be frustrated! (If you're the person who loves spray cheese oreos, pretend it's something else.)

On my first reading of the book this is where I got that sinking 'I am feeling a mite sympathetic to the horrible murderer that I know is just going to stay evil and die in the end' feeling. Gollum is being dreadfully annoying, but he's been pushed past his ability to self-regulate. It feels like the dynamic of antagonizing someone until they melt down and then criticizing them for melting down (Sam is not intending to do this, and doesn't even seem to notice that's what's happened, but the result is the same.)

Sam smooths things over and lets Gollum leave! until

Until

'Gollum!' he called softly. 'Third time pays for all. I want some herbs.' Gollum's head peeped out of the fern, but his looks were neither helpful nor friendly.

WHYEVER NOT?

'A few bay-leaves, some thyme and sage, will do -- before the water boils,' said Sam. 'No! ' said Gollum. `Sméagol is not pleased. And Sméagol doesn't like smelly leaves. He doesn't eat grasses or roots, no precious, not till he's starving or very sick, poor Sméagol.'

(Gollum was retching at the scent of flowers earlier. He may be annoyingly dramatic but I have no cause to doubt that they really did make him feel ill)

(also, I'm out in the weeds speculating now, but I just noticed Gollum is starting to spout off talking about himself and how he feels after Sam pooh-poohed his fretting about the fire, and it feels like a bid for recognition, did you notice Sam has not been calling him Sméagol? Sam isn't using his real name.)

The response:

'Sméagol'll get into real true hot water, when this water boils, if he don't do as he's asked,' growled Sam.

Gollum is here under duress and is cooperating with a quest that is in every way opposed to his personal interests and survival.

'Sméagol won't go, O no precious, not this time,' hissed Gollum. 'He's frightened, and he's very tired, and this hobbit's not nice, not nice at all. Sméagol won't grub for roots and carrotses and -- taters. What's taters, precious, eh, what's taters?

He hasn't had any rest because he was immediately sent off to hunt. I'll bet he is tired

Gollum is still willing to stop being angry because he saw a shiny new word, let's see how this goes

`Po-ta-toes,' said Sam. 'The Gaffer's delight, and rare good ballast for an empty belly. But you won't find any, so you needn't look. But be good Sméagol and fetch me the herbs, and I'll think better of you

Sam gives a cryptic answer and demands more work. 'I'll think better of you?' Lies! Gollum just did two errands and received nothing but more verbal abuse. Sam did not even thank him. This was where on my first reading I was saying to myself 'oh no Sam is mishandling this really badly and doesn't even notice'

I'll cook you some taters one of these days. I will: fried fish and chips served by S. Gamgee. You couldn't say no to that.' 'Yes, yes we could. Spoiling nice fish, scorching it. Give me fish now, and keep nassty chips! ' 'Oh you're hopeless,' said Sam. 'Go to sleep!'

Gollum doesn't understand what chips are. He just said he doesn't like plants or cooked food. He's tired and hungry and has been ordered around all day. He did everything asked up to now and in return he gets called hopeless.

Sméagol willingly, nonconfrontationally, successfully did two out of the three tasks, and when he refuses a third task after being demeaned and dismissed, he's called hopeless.

So Gollum leaves. That's the end of his involvement in this scene. he didn't hit anyone, bite anyone, or call Sam anything worse than 'not nice', 'silly' and 'foolish' (He does not call Sam a 'stupid fat hobbit', that appears to be a movie invention as well)

In the movies, he threw dead animals at frodo and some of this dialog was said without any of the context. haha funni.

The takeaways from the book version are that Gollum can understand and follow verbal commands and do errands (this is important because Gollum needs to be somewhat sane and lucid in order to satisfyingly be held accountable for his crimes), will cooperate when asked, communicates poorly, has trouble controlling his temper, and may at any time be in physical distress and not show it. (He doesn't give outward signs of fatigue.)

The takeaways from the movie version seem to be that Gollum is hyperactive, doesn't understand facial expressions, and finds cooking to be an alien custom. No one tried to ask him to do anything, so I have no idea whether he can understand requests and do tasks or not. May or may not be lucid.

Can we at least agree that Sam saying 'You're hopeless' after this:

Give it to usss rrraw… and wrrriggling! [Makes sickeningly happy face.]

is a different vibe from Sam saying 'You're hopeless' after hearing this?

'[Sméagol]'s frightened, and he's very tired, and this hobbit's not nice, not nice at all.'

Summary

Why is this scene the opposite?

Frodo has gone from being asleep but serving as an emotional anchor (both Sam and Gollum look at him and have some kind of emotional revelation, although the latter has his in private and we don't ever know what it is, the cad) to being awake but doing nothing and leaving. (He does go and find Faramir when the scene ends, but at that point, we are moving on to the next scene. so I don't count it.) Frodo has gone from affecting events while asleep to having no effect while awake

Sam has gone from being in charge of what's happening to passively reacting to a chaos gremlin

Gollum has gone from following orders until he can't take it anymore and suffering to being a chaos gremlin who does whatever he wants and seemingly having a good time? he's dancing around

The stew goes from eaten to uneaten

The overall purpose of the original scene appears to have been mainly to establish character and relationship dynamics. The movie scene... is doing the same, I suppose, but it's so brief and stripped of context that it almost feels like an homage more than a real scene, like it's there because they couldn't get away with entirely cutting it. And as every character is behaving contrary to what they used to in one form or another, the overall effect is:

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Ask me about the waterfall scene next

[evita-shelby]

A tale of two Evies

or what if @novashelby 's Evelyn Shelby and Eva existed in the same universe

cw: mentions of war, refrenced child abuse, absent mother

Eva has always had a soft spot for children.

Whether it was the children in Altamira, the ones in Veracruz or the ones she met in the war. The ones who followed the army to be with their fathers and mothers who gave their all for the revolution or simply had nowhere else to go.

Polly trusts her with the Shelby children, Evelyn and Finn.

Finn who worships the ground she walks just like Oviedo ---who used to follow her like a puppy until their camps were attacked and died in Diosdado's arms--- and Evie who shares her name and an insatiable curiosity to make even a saint lose their patience.

“If you keep your plan for tomorrow you will lose your appendix, and your father will be very disappointed in you.” Eva says from the kitchen as Finn vehemently refused to participate in his niece’s scheme tomorrow.

Evie is terrible at math, had the same problem one of the girls at school had where it was just impossible for the nuns to teach her, so they just gave up. Eva is no quitter and if she could teach orphaned children to read and write in war torn Chihuaha, she could have Evelyn Shelby at least learn the basics until her father has enough money and influence to let her be a lady of leisure.

Just needed the time, patience and right set of things to help her. Oviedo learned times tables through the annoying song Eva’s governess taught her, Eva learned math with an abacus and using her infinite number of toy and other things in the nursery she shared with her cousins in Altamira. Her aunt Livia, taking the role of mother after Eva’s mother realized for the fourth time in her life that she never wanted kids, had rewarded every milestone she reached no matter how small.

Besides, Eva knew exactly what she would be tested on and even if ten-year-old Evelyn failed, she wouldn’t fail so badly. Or worse lose a fucking organ.

And so, it began.

Evelyn Shelby joins the Shelbys who found themselves embracing the lonely witch with tales of a far-off land and an endless supply of affection and gifts. Spellbound, one might say.

Spring becomes summer and summer becomes fall. Evie and Finn become regular fixtures in her life to Grace’s envy. Grace who is forbidden by Polly from getting close to the children because the witches know better than to trust someone who smells too strongly of death.

“You smell like daddy’s pillows.” Evie points out when she hugs her in greeting after being allowed to skip school as long as she stayed with her while Polly ran her errands.

So that had been who Polly wanted the satchel of sleeping scents for.

Thomas Shelby who not only eye fucks her every morning she passes by his window but sleeps over the satchel with Eva’s anise and lavender to ease his nightmares.

No wonder Grace felt so threatened by Eva even if the witch and the devil have never even spoken to each other.

“It’s a scent to keep nightmares away, would you like one, mi niña?”  the witch smiles and dismisses the little girl’s pangs of jealousy regarding her father.

Good thing Eva and Tommy were nothing but strangers even with Polly and her uncle trying their hardest to match them up.

And yet when she and Evie walk down Garrison Lane, she hears three gunshots and sees Shelby being shot near the heart. As much as the witch tries to shake off the vision, the girl notices the sudden fear and worry in her grown up friend and sets off the chain of events that leads to the last thing either adult in her life wanted.

It began with those gifts Polly had foreseen he’d need ---to make his intentions clear from that night after he survived the ambush Grace had stupidly helped Campbell orchestrate--- and ended with him taking her to the Derby and them becoming engaged less than a week later. Eva had kept him at bay the entire winter and the spring after only for June to come and have the strength of their feelings for each other breakdown each of her walls.

Now he snuck away while his daughter was asleep in his bed to be in hers and leave before Evie noticed he was gone. Strangely, the little girl has not noticed their courtship occurring under her nose and now would learn she and her father will be eloping in about two weeks.

“Do you think she’ll hate me?” Eva asks, fearing how the sting of this betrayal will hurt Evie. She adores her namesake and her namesake adores her, but its one thing being her friend and another thing becoming her mother before she’s even had the time to tell her they were courting.

“Never, she adores you.” Tommy assures her with a sweet sounding lie.

As if Evie will refuse to see her as anything else than the wicked witch stealing her father’s love from her.

Evie has never liked the idea of someone else in their lives.

They wouldn’t fit in his bed, for a start, she would be like those evil stepmothers in stories and send her far away where people will hurt her like that woman did.

Eva was like a fairy godmother, but if the fairy was also a witch who liked the color black and smelled like the little bag of sweet-smelling stuff her dad keeps under their pillows.

Mrs. Changretta, who Polly and Eva had enlisted to help her pass the school year, said Eva and her son could suit if Eva had no serious offer still. Evie didn’t know him and while she supposed Eva would want a husband, maybe Eva wanted someone who lived in Birmingham and not in America.

“So, you want her to stay too?” her dad asked as she told him about what the former schoolteacher and Aunt Pol talked about while Evie practiced her mathematics since Eva was gone for the day.

“Yeah,” Evie admitted and didn’t like that smile her dad seemed to get when they talked about or saw Eva now.

Finn had said his brother was in love with Eva and she was going to become her stepmother because Polly is never wrong when it comes to romance or so John and Arthur said.

Then she saw it, what everyone had already known since last December when he went alone to her house with pink flowers and a box of cards Eva doesn’t let her open.

She liked Eva, she was not like Grace or even Lizzie and they were friends, strange some kids thought because Eva was a grown-up and Evie a kid. Even the nuns at school liked Eva and they barely liked Evie’s family.

But her dad and Eva said they were just friends, and she believed them until now that she knows that smile her dad has on his face is because he is thinking about Eva.

“Do you like her, daddy?” Evie asks the question she’s been dreading since May.

He pauses, unsure of how to answer. As if wondering if he can tell the truth or lie to her face. “Yes, very much. She is lovely and loves you more than you might even love her.”

Love. Three times if you count lovely.

Evie asks her father again, a knot in her throat because she knows now why Eva and her father were busy today, they had been together! “Do you love her?”

“Yes. I do.”

Evie doesn’t know why she hates it so much. She likes Eva, she knows Eva wouldn’t be an evil witch stepmother, but even the idea of her being with her dad made Evie hate it so much.

“I hate her.” It hurts more because she loved Eva like she loved Aunt Ada and even Aunt Polly. That traitor had been her friend and now she would take her dad away from her and give him babies he would love more than Evie and Evie would be sent back to that woman.

Evelyn Shelby is shouting at Eva’s door and having to be held back by her father who tries to explain things Evie doesn’t want to here.

“Bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress, Tommy.” It’s not Eva who opens the door, but her friend, Linda, who demands Tommy not come in with a laugh.

It is much worse than Evelyn had thought.

A wedding? Their wedding?!

Was anyone going to tell her about it? Why didn’t she know about it?

“How could you do this to me, you were my friend!” the ten-year-old girl shouts at the witch wearing a wedding dress and Aunt Esme’s veil as the women in the neighborhood stopped on their tracks.

So, everyone was in on it? Everyone knew it except Evie.

“Sweetheart, we can explain.” The witch says and looks at her father who had come into the house anyways.

The three sit there where everyone had been preparing for a wedding no one had considered telling Evie about. She can recognize the suit jacket as her father’s, and Linda’s neat handwriting on the list of people who were invited and even worse, a picture of Eva and her dad kissing at the Derby they went last week. They had gone with them to Epsom, to celebrate how great things were going now that Billy Kimber was gone. Never did Evie think that her dad would be taking them so he could propose to Eva.

“How long have you been seeing him behind my back?” Evie asks the woman still in her wedding dress and being forced to sit apart from them because Evie refuses to let her be near her.

“We wanted to tell you, sweetheart, believe me, we were going to tell you we were seeing each other since the Derby, but things changed. I am sorry you had to find out this way.” Eva doesn’t like lying, says the truth hurts but it’s still better than lying. “I hope you can forgive us for it.”

“Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I don’t want you to take my daddy away from me!”  Evie refused to let it happen, her dad was hers and hers alone.

“Evie, she’s not taking me from you. As a matter of fact, Eva will come live with us and be the mother you deserve to have.” Tommy tries to take her face in his hands to get her to understand them, but his daughter refuses to even look at him. “It would break my heart if she left. It would break yours too, I know.”

“I don’t care.” The girl lies. She would miss her, Finn too and her dad never looked as happy as he did since they became friends and sweethearts behind her back.

“They will kill her if she leaves England.” He says as seriously as he had told her to stay in the patch with Esme’s family that day he came back with a bandage over his chest. “I can’t let that happen, and neither could you.”

Because he saved her that day and even if everyone says he’s a bad man, he still the man who saved her and made her a Shelby.

And even if Evie hates it, she must let it happen because even if she really hates Eva right now, she doesn’t want her to die.

“Fine, but we aren’t friends anymore and I won’t ever call her my mother.” The girl crossed her arms and resigned herself to her fate.

“I will take what I can get.” Eva tells her father and agrees to Evie’s terms. “I promise I won’t ever become your wicked stepmother, and I won’t ever make you call me mother.”

They keep their word; Evie isn’t forced to be nice to her ---even when they take her to Brighton and London with them on their honeymoon--- and Eva never becomes her evil stepmother even when 1922 rolls around and comes with the news that Eva is having a baby.

And yet, when May Carleton shows up looking for her father at the betting shop, Evie introduces a very pregnant Eva as her mother because there is only one other person Evelyn Shelby can share her father with and that is Eva Shelby.

[enigmaticexplorer]

I Yearn, and so I Fear - Chapter XXIV

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

General Summary. Nearly a year since the Galactic Empire’s rise to power, Kazi Ennari is trying to survive. But her routine is interrupted—and life upended—when she’s forced to cohabitate with former Imperial soldiers. Clone soldiers. 

Pairing. Commander Wolffe x female!OC

General Warnings. Canon-typical violence and assault, familial struggles, terminal disease, bigotry, explicit sexual content, death. This story deals with heavy content. If you’re easily triggered, please do not read. For a more comprehensive list of tags, click here.

Fic Rating. E (explicit)/18+/Minors DNI.

Chapter Word Count. 4.9K

22 Welona

Someone was crying. 

She wanted to reach out and quiet the person—hold them until their distant sobs grew silent.

But her hand wouldn’t move. 

It laid beside her. Heavy, tingling. 

And then the pain hit.

Agony along her spine, burning, contracting.

A pounding in the back of her head, hammer-like.

Excruciating ache in her neck, tightening, stabbing.

Her eyes tried to open. Light blinded her. Watery images floated around her.

A little girl off to the side, curled on the floor, sobbing. 

Two pairs of legs nearby. 

A face so familiar it hurt; a yearning so poignant her heart strained for him, a hand trying to reach for his own, tie itself to his. 

She tried to smile. But darkness swarmed her—a colony of bats fluttering at the edges of her vision. 

Through it she saw someone at the door. A man, gruff and aged, his smile weary yet tender. She hadn’t seen that face in seventeen years. 

A reminder.

A reminder that the happiness she had experienced, she didn’t deserve. Because she wasn’t kind to him in his final moments, and she knew, this was her comeuppance.

This was what she deserved.

So she closed her eyes.

23 Welona

Orchestral music ebbed from the aircar’s radio, a ballad, presumably a recording of an Inner Rim symphony. The lilt and flow of the woodwinds told a tranquil story, a necessary breath before the intensity of the story’s final moments and ultimate tragedies. 

“Your sister’s still ill,” Carinthia said. A hand on the wheel, she lowered the music further. “But her healer said rest and food will have her back on her feet tomorrow. The day after, at the latest.”

Kazi loosed a shaky breath. Soreness trickled through her muscles, a dull throb slowly bouncing behind her eyes. 

“Wolffe kept you updated?” she asked, rubbing the dragon pendant between her fingers. The necklace’s chain slid across her wrist, cool to the touch.

“Yes.” Carinthia slid her a sidelong glance. “He was…demanding when he first commed Fehr.”

Outside, rain drizzled from the ashy sky. The trees bordering their route shuddered, their green subdued from the fog crawling across the hilly landscape. 

Pressing a hand to her temple, an attempt to massage away the building ache, she asked, “Demanding?”

“More like threatening,” Carinthia said, amused. “What were his exact words? Oh right: You fucking owe her.”

Kazi grimaced. “He didn’t.”

“He did.” Carinthia’s chuckle sobered and she clutched the steering wheel tighter, the drizzle outside harshening. “There was no need for such theatrics. Fehr would have helped, regardless.”

“Wolffe will never believe that,” Kazi said quietly. At Carinthia’s probing silence, she shrugged. “He doesn’t trust any of you.” A moment passed, and she added, “I don’t blame him for it.”

The music filled their silence, and Kazi pressed a hand to her stomach, telling herself she wouldn’t vomit. Her thumb swept across the dark-green dragon pendant, again. She wanted… 

Well, it didn’t matter what she wanted.

Four hours ago, she awoke in the med center, her shoulder and back still healing from an expensive bout of bacta supply. Apparently she had caught herself falling, wrenching her shoulder in the process. But it saved her from breaking her spine. 

The med droid’s main concern was her cracked skull. Bacta stitches were required. Even now, she could feel them, cool and relieving at the base of her head. A look in the mirror before she left the med center revealed the faded abrasions lacerating her back. Her neck was still stiff. 

However, it was the weariness drilled into her bones that bothered her the most. A somber weariness leeched into her soul. A weariness she couldn’t shake. 

“I heard something of interest,” Carinthia said. Nausea coiled in her stomach and Kazi fisted her hands beneath her thighs, nodding for Carinthia to continue. “The network has dismissed Ceaia for larger operations.”

“I know.” Kazi tried to concentrate on a spot in the distance. Impossible, considering the dark drizzle. “I saw the update.”

“I wasn’t aware that you remain updated on Ceaia.”

“I didn’t—don’t.” The fog thickened and the aircar slowed. Her skin burned too hot, and she gritted her teeth, swallowing a lump of bile. “But I saw a random update last month.”

With a disbelieving look, Carinthia turned the aircar onto a dirt path. “There’s a contact on Ceaia. She informed me that some Ceaian towns are harboring rebels, refugees, those persecuted by the Empire. It’s all hushed, and only a few can be protected.” Carinthia paused. “But I have heard they’re willing to protect former Imperial supporters.”

Kazi mulled her words. Tried to analyze the heavier note in Carinthia’s tone. However, she couldn’t parse the intent through the nausea twisting in her gut. Or maybe she didn’t want to.

“You could return,” Carinthia said. 

“I can’t.” The tunnel of trees widened and the house emerged, a white stain amid the dense fog. Tucking the necklace into her pocket, she said, “Ceaia is in the past. I’ve moved on.”

The aircar stalled and Carinthia glanced her over, skeptical. “Have you moved on? Or are you running from something?”

A snarky remark was on the tip of her tongue but Kazi swung open the door, leaned over the side, and vomited. It was mostly bile. Wiping her mouth, she glanced at Carinthia.

“Thank you”—Carinthia scrunched her nose—“for doing that outside.”

“Thanks for the ride.” The front door opened and Wolffe strode down the porch steps, a poncho shielding him from the rain. Kazi stared at him. Her heart beat faster; tension she hadn’t even known existed eased, faded. “And tell Fehr thanks, too. I appreciate what you both did.”

Wolffe had reached the car by the time she was stepping into the drizzle, bundling her into an overlarge poncho. He steadied her as she straightened. His eyes roved across her face, searching, relieved, and then he nodded at Carinthia. The door slammed shut. With a wave of her hand, Carinthia disappeared into the fog.

Outside the front door, the porch roof protection from the rain, Wolffe faced Kazi. Dark circles bruised his under eyes; harried lines worried his forehead. His hands cupped her jaw and he studied her. 

“Kazi,” he whispered hoarsely.

At the tenderness in his touch, the gentle concern in his expression, Kazi could only bury her face in his chest, trembling at the onslaught of emotion. Cold, persistent like the drizzle. 

A hand nestled into her lower back. Held her closer. Tired muscles uncurled, and her body seemed to sink into him, to seek him. To rely on him. 

“She pushed me.” Swallowing her tears, Kazi breathed him in, letting his familiarity soothe the sudden ache in her heart. The bruises marring her very soul. “She pushed me.”

“I know.” Wolffe surrounded her—his warmth, his scent, his hold unyielding, his chin nuzzled to the top of her head. “We didn’t tell her. And we didn’t tell Neyti. They think you fell down the stairs.”

“Good.” She burrowed further into his chest, for just another moment, and then she straightened, lifting her chin. “I don’t want them to know. Ever.”

Pressing a gentle, lingering kiss to her forehead, he released her. “Neyti has been…distraught.” Kazi winced, and he sighed. “She’s eager to see you.” He scrubbed his jaw, bristles coating his skin. “I wanted to see how you were first.”

“I can see her,” she said. 

Based on the narrowing of his eyes, he seemed inclined to disagree. So she brushed a swift, grateful kiss to his cheek, squeezed his arm, and then stepped into the house.

Warmth seeped into her bones. The lights were dim and welcoming, and a strong aroma of roasting vegetables wafted through the air. Shucking off her boots and poncho, Wolffe hanging the latter on the rack, she made her way into the living area.

A film played on the holoscreen—her favorite. In one of the armchairs, Fluffy sat on Nova’s lap. Both canine and man were watching the screen intently.

On the couch, Neyti was curled beneath Nova’s quilt, the dark gray panels as tumultuous as the storm raging outside. But it wasn’t Neyti’s somber countenance that surprised her. It was the man holding her. Fox. 

The little girl’s cheek rested against his chest; a large hand splayed across her shoulder, tucking her into his body.

As if he could feel her stare, Fox looked over his shoulder, meeting her gaze. His chin dipped. 

Before Kazi could analyze the situation, Fox was tapping Neyti’s shoulder and gesturing to her and Wolffe. Neyti’s head snapped around; she stared at Kazi. Her lower lip started to tremble. Tears filled her gray eyes. 

Stumbling from the couch, Neyti hurried toward her, hesitating half a meter away. She wrung her hands.

“Hi,” Kazi said, smiling. She knelt and, cautiously, Neyti stepped into her, tucking her face into her chest. Kazi closed her eyes, hugging the little girl tightly. 

“I missed you,” Neyti whispered. 

“I missed you, too,” Kazi whispered back. 

A quiet sniffle; a tiny hand gripping her sweater, like the little girl was too scared to release her. Ignoring the ache in her back and the throb worsening behind her eyes, Kazi held Neyti. Let her cheek rest atop her hair, her twin braids disheveled. Hugged Neyti tighter because she was shaking.

Eventually, Neyti leaned away, and Kazi reached into her pocket, retrieving the dragon-pendant necklace. “I found this on my bedside table when I woke up.” She peered into Neyti’s face. “You know something about it?”

“I put it in your pocket.” Shyly, Neyti accepted her necklace. “I wanted Vaeloria to watch over you.” 

Emotion burned the back of her throat, and Kazi squeezed Neyti’s shoulder. “She did. She watched over me.”

Satisfaction lit her face and Neyti tucked her necklace into her trousers’ pocket. Slowly regaining her feet, Kazi looked to the kitchen. Cody was pouring a boiling pot into the sink. A timer neared its completion. 

Her stomach lurched at the thought of dinner, and she grimaced. 

Wolffe must have noticed her unease because he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and then crouched in front of Neyti. He tapped a knuckle to Neyti’s chin. The little girl ducked her head with a bashful grin. “I’m gonna take her upstairs”—he gestured to Kazi—“and I need you to get the table ready. Got it?”

Shifting between her bunny slippers, Neyti cast a worried glance at Kazi. Before Kazi could comfort her, Wolffe tugged on Neyti’s braid. His voice was low, secretive, as he said, “She’s not going anywhere. I’m gonna keep her safe. Remember?”

Neyti nodded, looked Kazi over once more, and then she raced for the kitchen. 

Kazi watched, for a moment, as Cody helped Neyti grab the plates. Still, that weariness gnawed on her bones, shark teeth jagged and painful.

Soon, Kazi found herself in her sister’s room, her hair leaking down her back. 

Wolffe had offered to help her with the shower but she refused. Everything had happened so quickly, from her waking at the med center, to the droid pestering her, to Carinthia picking her up, that she needed to be alone. To compose herself.

The heat of the shower’s water had warmed her muscles. Yet her inner self remained drained. Exhausted. 

Kazi let her gaze sweep across Daria, her sister sleeping, though Daria’s fingers spasmed occasionally. 

A note—Healer Natasha’s most recent update from that morning—sat on Daria’s nightstand. Kazi read through it. Dread sluiced her body at the last comment: 

I have increased the dosage of morning/evening potions. They have reached their maximum. The disease will nullify their effectiveness, primarily in regards to memory loss, in the next three months. Succumbing to terminality is expected soon after.

The note fluttered from her hand and Kazi could only stare at Daria. At her little sister. 

The back of her throat tightened. Something heavy constricted her chest. 

She had been so fucking stupid these last few months. She had been happy, fucking happy, avoiding the inevitable because she was selfish and she took everything—Wolffe, Neyti, her sister—for granted.

“Fuck,” Kazi hissed. She pinched her arm. Pinched herself until she wanted to cry. 

Why was her little sister sick? Why not her?

None of this was fair. It wasn’t fucking fair—

The door tipped open and Kazi stiffened.

With a nod in her direction, Cody stepped into the room, approaching Daria’s bed and reaching for her sister’s hand. Kazi frowned at the device wrapped around Daria’s wrist: small like a wrist-chrono. Numbers flashed across its screen. It was new. Unfamiliar.

She gritted her teeth and took a step forward. The bed separated her from Cody. “What are you doing.”

“I’m checking her vital signs,” Cody said, tapping the device’s screen. “I’m keeping a log of noticeable symptoms. For Healer Natasha.”

“That’s my job,” Kazi said flatly. Another step forward but Daria rested on the opposite side, away from her. Away from her care. Her jaw ached, the spot behind her eyes pulsed faster, as she clenched her jaw harder. “You’re not needed. I’ll take care of it.”

Surprise furrowed his brows and Cody straightened. Slowly, he said, “Do you know how to operate it?”

She fisted her hands behind her back. “We don’t need you.”

“That so?” he drawled. A burst of restrained anger ticked in his jaw, but it quickly disappeared. Sighing, he lifted a hand. “I’m more than willing to do it—”

“Why are you here?” Kazi looked him over. “You don’t get to pretend like you care about Daria. You’re not her family, I am. And we don’t need you.”

“I may not be family,” Cody said calmly, lethally, “but I still care for her.”

Kazi scoffed. “The only thing you care about are your missions.” His nostrils flared, and she huffed a mirthless laugh. “You think she isn’t worth committing to and it’s fucked up—”

“That’s enough.” Rage glinted in his eyes, and his shoulders grew rigid. “Have you asked her about our situation? Have you asked her what she wants?” 

“She told me—” 

“Did she? Or did you assume you understood what she was saying?”

“I know my sister,” she said.

“I don’t doubt that.” Releasing a heavy breath, Cody held her glare. “Daria and I have discussed these things. I would never hurt her. And I have made my intentions clear from the beginning. We have an understanding. That’s all you need to know.”

The finality in his tone—his fucking composure when her little sister was dying—grated on her nerves, and Kazi dug her fingernails into her palms. 

“You know she’s going to forget you,” she said quietly. Cody tensed, and she laughed, the noise choked. Broken. “She’s going to forget you. She’s going to forget Neyti. She’s going to forget me. She’s going to forget all of us.” Her vision started to blur, and she gulped. “Are you going to be here when that happens, Commander? Are you going to ‘check on her’ when she looks you in the eye and is scared because she doesn’t fucking recognize you?”

A tear scorched her cheek and she swiped it away. Her breaths sharpened. Loud and ragged to her ears. Placing a hand against her chest, she tried to breathe. It was hard. It was so fucking hard. Like her lungs didn’t want to cooperate.

“She’s going to forget you,” she repeated hoarsely. “She’s going to forget all of us. And then she’s going to die, and she’s going to die not remembering she was my sister.”

For a long, silent minute, they stared at one another, and then Kazi turned on her heel and locked herself in Daria’s refresher. 

She collapsed to the floor. 

She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and she bit. 

She bit into her skin, muffling the sobs trying to choke her. Bit her wrist and squeezed her eyes closed, refusing to cry. 

Because she wasn’t allowed to cry. Her little sister was suffering, and she had no fucking right to cry.

The ‘fresher door opened, and someone was kneeling beside her, and strong arms were pulling her into a chest.

“It’s okay,” Wolffe murmured through her harsh pants. “It’s okay.”

“She’s going to forget me,” she whispered brokenly. A metallic taste filled her mouth and she shoved her hand away, ignoring the smidgen of blood. “She’s going to forget me.”

Lightning crawled across the sky, the white lighting the bedroom for long, unnatural seconds. Tucked beneath her covers, Kazi watched the storm. 

Beyond her bedroom, the house was silent. Wolffe had tucked Neyti into bed, and the men were downstairs, enjoying a horror film Nova recommended. All except Wolffe. He was drawing shapes on her arm, seemingly content to endure her silence, as he had the last hour.

Another burst of lightning purpled the night sky. 

Kazi knew she should talk to him. Explain. However, embarrassment kept her back to him. Embarrassment and shame. She owed Cody an apology for attacking his character, and she owed Wolffe an apology for not being competent. For not being in control. 

But she was too tired, really, to care about apologies. And why bother when she didn’t deserve the possible forgiveness? 

“I was scared.” 

The words, though softly spoken, startled her enough she jumped. Looking over her shoulder, she found Wolffe staring at her ceiling. His expression was haunted. 

“I watched you fall. And I couldn’t get to you,” he said. “I heard your head hit the edge of that stair and I thought…I fucking thought…” His throat bobbed, and his eyes sought hers. “What happened can’t happen again.”

Kazi flinched at the tremble in his voice, and she turned over, lying on her back.

“Daria will need better care soon,” Wolffe said. Beneath the covers, his finger caressed her hand. “Will that be 24-hour care?”

Massaging her temple, she blinked at the ceiling. “Yes. I need to figure out the specifics. I haven’t done that yet.”

“Kazi.” Hesitation lengthened the silence between them and then his hand engulfed hers. “You don’t have to do this alone. You have me.”

Lightning splintered and fractured. A low roll of thunder echoed across Eluca’s jungled hills.

“It’s not your responsibility,” she said. “You have your own concerns with your missions and keeping your brothers safe. You can’t concern yourself with my family’s issues.”

Rustling sheets drew her gaze back to Wolffe. He’d pushed himself upright, leaning against her headboard, a knee bent. He regarded her with a hard look. 

“We’ve reached a point where we need to be honest,” he said. “I’m here. I’m in this with you. And I’ve got your back.” His hand twitched atop hers. “All you need to do is let me in.” 

It was determination in his features. Determination and tenacity. And yet a hint of hurt belied the steadiness in his demeanor. 

And she knew. Her insistence to maintain a semblance of distance—her insistence to rely on herself rather than rely on him—had hurt him more than he would ever admit.

Slowly pushing herself to a seated position, she gripped her knees and met his gaze. The combination of his unflinching stare and flickers of lightning left her bare. Open and vulnerable. A gutted fish abandoned on the deck of a sailboat. 

“I have spent a majority of my life relying on myself,” Kazi said quietly. Her hands started to tremble and she tightened her grasp on her knees. “I don’t want to burden you.” 

“You’re not a burden,” Wolffe said. A hand warmed her shoulder. “How have I not proven this to you?” 

She shook her head, her half-smile exasperated. Self-deprecating. Because it wasn’t his fault. He was so, so good, and it wasn’t his fucking fault for her conflicted, irrational feelings. 

“I don’t know how to let you in.” She wanted to pull away from his hand. From the heat scorching parts of her she didn’t want touched—dormant parts of her too sullied for him to see. “I don’t know how to rely on anyone but myself.” 

“I know.” He sighed, refusing to release her. “But you told me you would trust me.” 

“I do.” 

“Then trust me. Rely on me.” 

“What about you?” she demanded. Bewilderment scrunched his face and she scoffed. “You’re always so composed, Wolffe. You’re always in control. You never have any burdens—”

Wolffe snatched the black, worn notebook from her opposite nightstand. He flipped open the first page and shoved it into her hands.

“These are names,” he growled. His hands were shaking. “These are names of everyone I care about. My general. My men. My brothers.”

A white flash highlighted the inked names on the first page. Some were crossed out. The blood drained from her face.

“When I wake up in the middle of the night”—he flipped the page and even more names were crossed out—“or when I get stressed on a mission, I have to read these fucking pages to reassure myself that not everyone I care about is dead.” 

Thunder droned outside the house and Wolffe swallowed.

“I can’t look at raw meat. I can’t smell it. I can’t fucking eat meat anymore because it reminds me of the bodies…” Shaking his head, he cleared his throat. “Fireworks remind me of Abregado. When I see Neyti sparring with my brothers, I immediately look for Nova. Because I need a fucking medic on hand just in case she gets hurt.” He exhaled a sharp breath. His eyes hollowed. “I count the minutes until you return from work. Because I’m scared you won’t return.”

More pages riffled. Only one or two names remained unblemished. 

Kazi started to flip another when Wolffe halted her. Even in the darkness she could see more names written on the next page. They must have been personal, if he didn’t want her seeing them.

“This what you want, Ennari?” He tapped the book. “To know that I’m so fucked in the head I need a book to keep my fucking thoughts straight?”  

“Wolffe…” Kazi searched his face, the exhaustion and resignation dulling his eyes.

“I think I’m stained,” he said quietly. Gently closing the notebook, he returned it to her nightstand. “My hands are stained. And every time I get in your bed, I’m reminded that—” His shoulders hunched and his mouth pressed into a flat line. 

A scowl marred his features, an attempt to guard his vulnerability. And it was vulnerability, raw and honest, rounding his eyes and wearying his face. So she offered him her own vulnerability.

“I hate med centers.” A humorless smile pinched her cheeks. “My father was brought to one right before he died. And ever since then, I’ve hated them.” She fiddled with the hem of her sheet. “I know it’s stupid, but waking up there…” 

Seeing Neyti’s necklace was a comfort when she first awoke. A comfort that calmed some of her initial panic. 

“Being there today reminded me of what’s to come for Daria,” she whispered. “And I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared to lose her.”

Purple lightning lit her room and it was then that she noticed the small object on her nightstand. Gray petals. A thin, long stem. Another tear trickled down her cheek.

“She didn’t recognize me, Wolffe. She looked me in the eye and didn’t recognize me,” Kazi whispered. A few seconds followed, and then she added, “Ever since I first learned about her disease, I’ve numbed myself to any thought of it. I thought it would go away”—she scoffed—“and it was so fucking stupid of me. But I really thought if I ignored it and avoided any thought of death it would disappear. It wouldn’t be my problem.”

The gray flower mocked her. Innocent. Delicate. A vestige of life.

“I’ve failed to protect her,” she said. “I failed her.”

Wolffe cleared his throat. “You can’t protect your sister from a disease. That’s outside your control.” 

“I should’ve researched more—”

“You can’t control certain things, Ennari,” he said. Her lips pursed, and Wolffe ran his tongue along his teeth. A wildness lit his eyes, desperate and raging. “I sent men to die. Men who I shared blood with. I ordered them into battle, and not all of them made it. I couldn’t protect them all. Do you think I should blame myself for their deaths?”

Her grip tightened on her sheets. “No.”

“Then stop blaming yourself for Daria’s disease.”

The decisiveness in his tone brokered no room for further argument. But it was the guilt in his expression—the guilt still gnawing on him—that convinced her to let it go. 

Settling beneath her sheet, she rested her head on a pillow. Wolffe lowered himself to the mattress, too. Tension thrummed from him, and she reached for his hand, brought it to her mouth. Softly kissed his palm. Kissed his fingers. Held his hand close to her heart as she closed her eyes.

Sometime in the witching hour of night, Kazi woke. The storm had settled, and the moons limned the darkness, and a cloud of lightning bugs flitted across the sky formerly bearing their namesake. 

Like one of those bugs fluttering to a new place, Kazi made her way to her sister’s room. Warm light seeped from the cracked door. She peeked inside.

Daria and Cody were speaking, their voices quiet, their touches purposeless until Daria noticed her. With a small smile, her sister beckoned her inside. Kazi nodded at Cody, and she hoped he could see the apology in her face. He vacated his seat. On his way out, his elbow knocked hers. Gentle. Reassuring. Remnants of her guilt eased, and she sat in his chair.

To her surprise, Daria reached for her hand, her sister’s fingers a cold blanket around her own. Her grasp was weak.

“Cody said you fell,” Daria said, her eyebrows knitted in concern. “He said you fell down the stairs and you had to go to the med center.”

Kazi mustered a smile. “I’m fine. A little sore, but the pain meds should make it go away within the next day.”

A few seconds passed in stilted silence as Daria scrutinized her. “I’ve never known you to be careless.” 

“I fell from the boat’s mast once,” Kazi said. “Luckily I only sprained—”

“Your ankle.” Daria licked her lips, the usual pink paled. “I remember.”

Hesitation worried the lines of Daria’s face. Squeezing her sister’s hand, Kazi murmured, “I tripped, Dee. Things like that happen.”

“But you’re always so careful,” Daria said. “The stairs at the lighthouse never tripped you up. I remember…” Her eyelashes quivered, and it was then that Kazi realized some of them were missing. “I remember one of the steps gave out. But you caught yourself.” 

“I was young,” Kazi said. “I had more mobility—”

“You’re still young. And you’re as athletic and agile as you used to be.”

A single sweep of her sister’s face and the mistrust haunting her gaze told Kazi everything she needed to know. Her sister surmised the truth.

She could try to convince Daria otherwise, but, ultimately, it would be pointless. And she wasn’t interested in isolating Daria again—jeopardizing the relationship they were still nurturing. Instead, she rounded the bed and slid beneath the covers. 

While Daria sipped from a water glass, Kazi surveyed her sister’s nightstand. A dragon carving reared, its wings splayed, its wood a sea glass reminiscent of the ocean on a calm day. A frame housed an old, faded photo.  

“Do you miss them?” Kazi asked quietly, studying her parents.

“I do,” Daria murmured, her smile wistful.

“Did you ever write them letters?” 

A tradition in Traditionalist and Reformist culture: When a loved one died—whether a family member, friend, or even a pet—you wrote a letter. Well-wishes. Reflection. Gratitude. Issues laid to rest. 

The letters were private. Only for the dead and the stars to overhear. They were a formal plea to the dragons—to guide a lost soul to the afterlife.

When the moon was full, the letter was read. For Ceaians believed all humans were formed from stardust, and it was to stardust the dead returned. 

The letters were also a reassurance to the dead. A reassurance that their loved ones could continue onward, without them.

Kazi never wrote her parents letters. 

“I did,” Daria said. “I read them, and I burnt them.”

The one differentiator between Traditionalists and Reformists: The Traditionalists drowned their letters at sea, and the Reformists burnt them. 

The former believed drowning the letter allowed a piece of their dead loved one to remain on Ceaia. A burial. The latter believed burning the letter symbolized an individual’s readiness to continue. To keep living.

Staring at Daria’s dragon carving, Kazi frowned. “Are you…afraid of dying?”

Understanding softened her features and Daria smiled sadly. “Not anymore.” 

Daria closed her eyes, and Kazi knew, without being told, that her sister was imagining Ceaia. Most likely their old home on the beach shore. 

“I lived,” Daria said softly. “And while it wasn’t the life I envisioned for myself, I still had the chance to truly live.”

For a while, Kazi mused her sister’s answer, and as Daria’s breathing started to even, she whispered, “I’m starting to remember what it’s like. To actually live.”

“It’s terrifying,” Daria whispered back. “But so, so exciting.”*

Later, Kazi made her way back to her room. 

The moment she rejoined Wolffe beneath her covers, he wrapped an arm around her front and pulled her into his body. His breath warmed the back of her neck. A few seconds later and he was asleep again. She soon followed him.

Masterlist | Chapter 23 | A Muse

A/N: Kazi and Wolffe in the last scene.

By the way, just in case people don’t know, I wrote this version of Wolffe before we even knew that Wolffe would be in season 3 of TBB. So my portrayal of him is not reflective of the storyline pursued in canon Star Wars post-TCW. 

* Line inspired by Night at the Museum (2006): "It's time for your next adventure." "I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow." "How exciting."

[projectforawesome]

Project for Awesome 2023 Perk Fulfillment

Welcome to the 2023 Perk Fulfillment post!

This post will continuously be updated as perks are fulfilled, so you can keep track of whether or not you should have received yours. You can bookmark this page and refer back to it to check on the status of your perks.

Digital perks will be emailed as they come in throughout the year, so please make sure info@projectforawesome.com is marked as a safe sender on your email.

Even if you bought a digital download bundle perk individually (i.e. you didn’t buy the whole bundle) you should still receive it at the date listed. If it’s not listed, it hasn’t been sent out yet! 

Please keep in mind that there are still supply chain issues and shipping disruptions that are impacting shipping times.  Note that you will receive an email from DFTBA when your physical perk ships.

If you have any questions you can email us at info@projectforawesome.com

Please note: If a perk is not on this list, it has not been sent out yet. Thank you!

Digital Download Bundle Perks

Bonus Perks - 3/1/23

Pneumatology of Hogwarts Pneumatology podcast - 3/1/23

Orchestral version of Tessa Violet's "Yes Mom" - 3/1/23

Nerdfighter Knit Socks Patterns - 3/1/23

Digital Nerdfighter Art Bundle - 3/13/23

2 Chapters of A Thing John's Working On ("The Trauma Plot") - 3/15/23

E.T. Movie Commentary w/Joe & Craig - 5/25/23

Hank's TikTok Drafts - 6/2/23

Dadcast - 6/9/23

John's TikTok Drafts - 6/14/23

The Clowncast - 6/15/23

Dear Katherine and Sarah - 7/5/23

Nerdfighter Knitted Book Cover Pattern - 7/17/23

John & Rosianna podcast - 8/23/23

"16 Weeks to Glory" song and lyric sheet by the Gregory Brothers - 9/1/23

Like Letters podcast - 9/19/23

Exclusive Dear Hank & John - 12/11/23

SciShow Tangents Butt Fact Zine (Digital) - 1/16/24

Exclusive Digital Perks

Crabulo.us (monthly subscription) - first email sent 2/27/23

Digital Media Workshop with Danielle Bainbridge - 3/25/23

Mentalist Private Zoom Show - 3/10/23

IG follow from Vitus Spehar - 3/27/23

TikTok follow from Vitus Spehar - 3/27/23

Dear Hank and John Personal Message - 3/21/23

Trivia Night with Hank #1 - 4/6/23

Personalized Video from Grace Helbig & Mamrie Hart - 4/12/23

Club Crochet Memberships - 4/18/23

Get Animated into Crash Course - 4/16/23 - 1/16/24

Zoom AMA with Vitus Spehar - 4/24/23

Suggest a topic for Under The Desk news - 4/24/23 (episodes will be rolling out through July)

Name in the P4A Recap Video - 4/25/23

Zoom call with Aaron Caroll - 5/9/23

Trivia with John & Stan #1 - 5/24/23

Animated Into Crash Course - 3/21/23

P4A Recap Video - 4/25/23

Trivia with John & Stan #2 - 6/5/23

Personalized Soundscape from Flula Borg - 6/9/23

Trivia with John & Stan #3 - 6/13/23

Personalized D&D Character Sheets (first half) - 7/5/23

Personalized Book Recommendations with John - July 10-21, 2023

Hank's TikTok Thanks - 10/10/23

John's TikTok Thanks - 10/16/23

Trivia Night with Hank #2 - 11/2/23

Personalized D&D Character Sheets (second half) - 11/14/23

Crabulo.us - 1/25/24

Physical Perks

P4A 2023 Calendars - sent 3/17/23

Eons 2023 Calendar - sent 3/16/23

Journey to the Microcosmos 2023 calendar - sent 3/16/23

SciShow 2023 Calendar - sent 3/16/23

SciShow Space 2023 Calendar - sent 3/16/23

Awesome Socks Club Bundle (s/m & m/l) - sent 4/4/23

Mystery P4A Perks - sent 4/5/23

Signed Drawfee Poster - sent 4/10/23

Penny Passports - sent 4/10/23

Taylor Behnke's Bat Art - sent 4/10/23

Hanklerfish Temporary Tattoos - sent 4/11/23

Color Canvas Board Hanklerfish - sent 4/11/23

Black Paper Hanklerfish - sent 4/12/23

Hank's Confetti - sent 4/12/23

Katherine's Little Art - sent 4/12/23

Character We Mail to You (Destin's Stream) - sent 4/27/23

Hank Green Books (foreign editions) - sent 5/2/23

A Book from John's Library - sent 5/2/23

P4A Quilt - sent 5/2/23

GMM Floor is Lava Tumbler - sent 5/2/23

GMM Nightlight - sent 5/2/23

GMM Poetry Magnets - sent 5/2/23

GMM Mythical Backpack - sent 5/2/23

GMM We're Still Good Game - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Beginner's Dinosaur Kit - sent 5/2/23

Bad Astronomer Bundle -sent 5/2/23

Tyler Thrasher pinned insects - sent 5/2/23

Vintage NASA Sticker - sent 5/2/23

Vintage NASA pin - sent 5/2/23

Vintage NASA Postcard - sent 5/2/23

Sydney Green's Acrylic Artwork - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Tiny T-Rex - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Hankceratops - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Set of 2 Meeps - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Red Goblin - sent 5/2/23

Club Crochet Green Goblin - sent 5/2/23

2023 T-shirt - sent 5/5/23

Picture Books from John's Library (w/bookplate) - sent 5/5/23

Orin's Country Population Poster - sent 5/9/23

Mini Hanklerfish - sent 5/16/23

2023 P4A Iron-on patch - sent 5/18/23

Dino going to the moon - sent 5/24/23

Dino going to Mars - sent 5/24/23

Character or Dino going to the moon - sent 5/24/23

Dino going to JWST - sent 5/24/23

2023 Enamel Pin - sent 5/25/23

John's Agloe, NY Maps - sent 5/26/23

Tyler Thrasher Glowing Bouquet - sent 5/26/23

P4A 2023 Blanket - sent 5/26/2023

2023 Commemorative Coin - sent 5/31/2023

202 P4A Logo Beanie - sent 6/1/2023

Sarah's "Doubles" Prints - sent 6/7/2023

Sydney Green's Watercolor Art - sent 6/19/2023

Hanklerfish Framed Art - sent 6/27/2023

Lemon Man - sent 7/10/2023

Signed John Green Foreign Edition Book - sent 8/10/2023

Alice's Cat Drawings - sent 8/10/2023

P4A Keychain - sent 08/31/2023

DFTBA Wall Hanging - sent 08/31/2023

We're Hummus Because We're Hummus Coaster - sent 09/21/2023

2023 Pressed Pennies - sent 9/27/2023

Signed Random John Green Book - sent 10/23/2023

Eons Painted Wooden Dinos - sent 10/23/2023

Eons Sculptures - sent 10/23/2023

Bananagrams from John's collection - sent 10/23/2023

Annotated The Anthropocene Reviewed in German - sent 10/30/2023

Eons Signed Scale Bar - sent 10/30/2023

Inky the Possum Paintings - sent 11/17/2023

John's Vision Board - sent 12/28/2023

Original Butt Facts Zine - sent 1/04/2024

P4A Logo Sticker Set - sent 1/30/2024

Self Care Bunny Prints - sent 1/30/2024

Drawfee Print- Lemon Lips - sent 1/30/2024

Drawfee Print- T-Rax - sent 1/30/2024

Drawfee Print- Crabulous - sent 1/30/2024

Little Monster Postcards - sent 2/8/2024

Animal Wonders Paper Plate Painting - sent 2/8/2024

2023 Quarter Zip - sent 2/21/2024

Self Care Bunny Stickers - sent 2/28/2024

2023 Sticky Notes - sent 3/15/2024

SciShow Tangents Butt Fact Zine (physical) - sent 3/20/2024

Please note: If a perk is not on this list, it has not been sent out yet. Thank you!

[ukrainenews]

Daily(ish) Wrap Up December 23-28, 2022

I’m back from traveling! I hope you’re all doing as well as can be!

Under the cut:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed again on Tuesday to “work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace, and defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure” as it faces a tough winter of Russian attacks.

Ukrainian officials are urging residents to evacuate from the city of Kherson as Russian forces stepped up mortar and artillery attacks on the recently liberated southern Ukrainian city.

A hospital maternity ward in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was hit by Russian shelling, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine said Tuesday. “They shelled the place where two children were born today. Before the attack, doctors managed to complete a cesarean section. There are 5 women in the institution after childbirth. Miraculously, no one was injured,” Timoshenko said via the Telegram messaging platform.

The electricity deficit in the Ukrainian power grid grew on Wednesday due to shelling of gas infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, according to the latest update from state power utility Ukrenergo.

Three Ukrainian emergency services workers were killed on Saturday when a mine exploded while they were demining parts of the Kherson region, said the emergency service of another region, in which they served.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that Kharkiv came under Russian attack for the second time on Dec. 28. Russian forces reportedly launched Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, but Terekhov did not report any damages or casualties.

The Kremlin has dismissed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan, and insisted any proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine must take into account what it calls “today’s realities” of four Ukrainian regions Moscow has unilaterally declared part of Russia. Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – in September after holding Kremlin-orchestrated fake referendums. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions. Kyiv and its western allies have said they would never recognise Russia’s claims on Ukraine’s territory.

“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed again on Tuesday to “work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace, and defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure” as it faces a tough winter of Russian attacks.

But that effort will not come without challenges.

An initial tranche of US electrical equipment, which a US official told CNN included big items like circuit breakers, relays, disconnectors, arrived in Ukraine more than a week ago — part of a multimillion dollar pledge by the Biden administration to help to support Ukraine’s electrical system.

However, as the US and its partners work to try to supply the capital of Kyiv with the supplies it needs to keep the electricity and heat on this winter, they have had to contend with worldwide supply chain issues, the US official said.

There is a global effort to try to deal with this, the official explained, and the US is working with the private sector to try to narrow the gap in equipment, but with the existing supply chain issues, there is not as much extra supply.”-via CNN

~

“Ukrainian officials are urging residents to evacuate from the city of Kherson as Russian forces stepped up mortar and artillery attacks on the recently liberated southern Ukrainian city.

Some residents who lived through the Russian occupation are reluctant to leave despite the bombardment, according to a local official who has been involved in the evacuation.

Kherson city council member, Dmytro Poddubniy, told CNN:

I’m telling these people that Kherson is one of the most dangerous cities right now. So I ask them to imagine that they are going on vacation for a couple of weeks. It may be easier for them to decide to move this way. But still, a lot of people are staying in the city.”

-via The Guardian

~

“A hospital maternity ward in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was hit by Russian shelling, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine said Tuesday.

“They shelled the place where two children were born today. Before the attack, doctors managed to complete a cesarean section. There are 5 women in the institution after childbirth. Miraculously, no one was injured,” Timoshenko said via the Telegram messaging platform.

Russian shelling also damaged the civilian infrastructure of the Antonivka settlement in the Kherson region and Kherson city, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said via Facebook, adding that there are casualties among civilians.

Meanwhile, the threat of air and missile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities remains on the whole territory of Ukraine, as Russia's offensive took place in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, trying to improve the tactical situation in the direction of Lyman, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.”-via CNN

~

“The electricity deficit in the Ukrainian power grid grew on Wednesday due to shelling of gas infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, according to the latest update from state power utility Ukrenergo.

“As of December 28, the electricity deficit in the system has increased. This is due to the stop of some units of power plants due to the shelling of gas infrastructure in the eastern region,” Ukrenergo said in a statement.

Ukraine has been facing a wide assault on critical infrastructure and power sources since early October.

The deficit did not mean further power restrictions because of “relatively warm weather," Ukenergo said, but added: "the available capacity in the system is not enough to meet all the needs of consumers in the country. In this regard, all regions were informed about consumption limits, the excess of which leads to the need for emergency outages.”

In the last three months, the power grid has suffered nine missile and 12 Russian UAV attacks, according to Ukrenergo.

“As a result, generation facilities and transmission systems suffered large-scale and complex damage. Their restoration requires significant resources and time. Repair teams of Ukrenergo, electricity producers and distribution system operators are working continuously,” the statement said.”-via CNN

~

“Three Ukrainian emergency services workers were killed on Saturday when a mine exploded while they were demining parts of the Kherson region, said the emergency service of another region, in which they served.

"All three selflessly served in the emergency and rescue squad of the Special Purpose Unit of the State Department of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region and performed the task of demining territories liberated from the enemy in the Kherson region," the Zhytomyr emergency service said on its Facebook page.

The Zhytomyr region is west of Kyiv, in northern Ukraine.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine 10 months ago, controls most but not all of Kherson region. By mid-November, Ukrainian forces retook Kherson city - the region's administrative centre - and a number of settlements in the region.

Explosive experts have worked there since, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russian forces had heavily mined buildings and objects. They have also done so in many other areas that Ukraine has been able to retake.

The U.S. State Department estimated in early December that some 160,000 square kilometres (62,000 square miles) of Ukrainian land needed to be checked for explosives hazards. That is nearly half the size of Germany's land area.

"We expect this to be one of the largest landmine and unexploded ordinance challenges since World War Two," the State Department said in a briefing posted on its website.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said a Russian strike had killed at least 10 people in the Kherson City, while Moscow blamed Ukrainian forces for the attack.”-via Reuters

~

“Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that Kharkiv came under Russian attack for the second time on Dec. 28.

Russian forces reportedly launched Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, but Terekhov did not report any damages or casualties.

Earlier on Dec. 28, Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim reported that Russian forces launched Shahed-136 drones on Ukraine, threatening the city of Odesa.

Overnight on Dec. 28, an air raid alert was activated across several Ukrainian oblasts, including Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, and Kirovohrad.

Russia has been attacking Ukraine with Iranian-made kamikaze drones since September, targeting civilians and destroying energy infrastructure across the country.”-via Kyiv Independent

~

“The Kremlin has dismissed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan, and insisted any proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine must take into account what it calls “today’s realities” of four Ukrainian regions Moscow has unilaterally declared part of Russia.

In a regular briefing with reporters, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said:

There can be no peace plan for Ukraine that does not take into account today’s realities regarding Russian territory, with the entry of four regions into Russia. Plans that do not take these realities into account cannot be peaceful.

Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – in September after holding Kremlin-orchestrated fake referendums. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions.

Kyiv and its western allies have said they would never recognise Russia’s claims on Ukraine’s territory.

President Zelenskiy has been promoting his 10-point peace plan, first announced in November, which includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Zelenskiy’s foreign minister, Dmtryo Kuleba, said on Monday that Ukraine was aiming to hold a peace summit by the end of February – preferably at the UN with its secretary general, António Guterres, as a possible mediator.”-via The Guardian

[the-strange-world-of-jplovecraft]

What really happened to the Hamburgler?

by JPLOVECRAFT based on concepts generated by AI Lovecraft

There are many opinions, some bordering on conspiracy, about the fate of beloved and freakishly weird hamburger headed fast food mascot: The Hamburgler. Some site corporate espionage, some speculate conspiracy by McDonald’s to silence through murder. Some theories go as far as revenge and cannibalism. What’s true, what’s speculation, if a walking, talking hamburger hybrid being eats a human head is that really considered cannibalism? In this piece we will be presenting three versions of this story, each more extreme than the other. Which one is true, are any of them true, do any of them contain McNuggets of truth…?

Fucked if I know.

Theory one: The Hamburgler gets canned.

The Hamburglar, beloved yet forgotten hamburger headed mascot of the McDonald’s hamburger sandwich franchise was officially fired from the company after years of service. While the official reason for his termination was not given, many have speculated that the cause sinister.

It is believed that the Hamburglar’s firing was politically motivated. For years, the Hamburglar had been a vocal critic of the company’s policies and practices, and had become increasingly vocal in recent years. He had been vocal about the company’s use of unhealthy ingredients, their labor and environmental policies. He had also been vocal about the company’s use of artificial ingredients and the lack of transparency in their supply chain.

The corporation was also nervous about rumours that the mascot was not merely an actor in costume but… well… some sort of “experiment.”

This criticism had become increasingly uncomfortable for the company, and it is believed that they decided to silence the Hamburglar by firing him.

It is also believed that the company was concerned with the Hamburglar’s increasingly maniacal behavior. He had become unpredictable and erratic, and the company worried that his behavior could reflect poorly on their brand.

The firing of the Hamburglar is a tragedy, and it is a reminder of the real, horrible, twisted, political and maniacal reasons why corporations often make decisions. It is a reminder that corporations are not always driven by moral or ethical principles, but rather by their own self-interest. The Hamburglar’s firing serves as a stark reminder of the power of corporations and the need to hold them accountable for their actions.

The Hamburgler has since gone into seclusion and has not been seen for many years.

Theory two: The Hamburgler was assassinated.

The world was shocked when theories surfaced that the beloved McDonald’s mascot, the Hamburglar, had been murdered. The character had been a staple of the McDonald’s brand for over 40 years, and his sudden disappearance was a mystery that had many people asking questions.

After his sudden disappearance an anonymous source claimed that the McDonald’s corporation had orchestrated his murder in order to silence him for what he had seen and was about to expose.

The source claimed that the Hamburglar had stumbled upon evidence of a major cover-up involving the company’s use of unhealthy ingredients in their food. The Hamburglar had been planning to reveal this information to the public, a move that would have been disastrous for McDonald’s reputation.

In order to prevent this from happening, the McDonald’s corporation reportedly hired a hitman to eliminate the Hamburglar. The Hamburglar was silenced. His hamburger head supposedly repurposed as the main ingredient in a limited edition “happy meal.” While his human half is kept in an underground lab providing stem cells for future mascots.

The news of the Hamburglar’s murder sent shockwaves through the fast food industry, and many people began to question the integrity of the McDonald’s brand. The company has since denied any involvement in the Hamburglar’s death, but the story of his demise serves as a reminder of the lengths that some corporations will go to in order to protect their secrets.

This theory is both shocking and flimsy. In all honesty I personally find it hard to believe that the Hamburgler was that concerned with ethics in food prep, I mean, dude was straight stealing those delicious burgers, that’s the calling card of an addict. Plus… this theory pushes even further that the Hamburgler was half human, half delicious burger and well… let’s move on.

Theory three: Lab experiments, revenge, cannibalism…?

The Hamburgler, was / is a mysterious, mischievous figure who seemed to appear and disappear at will. He had a penchant for stealing hamburgers. That’s weird and confusing.

No one knew where the Hamburgler had come from or why he was stealing hamburgers, but everyone knew he was up to no good.

One day, the Hamburgler had had enough. Driven mad by the horrific lab experiments that birthed him from a test tube decades earlier. Heartbroken from watching the systematic drowning of the chicken McNugget mascots in the great sauce massacre of the late 90s. Emotionally scarred by the untimely suicide of his musician friend MacTonight. It was all too much.

He had watched as humans gorged themselves on hamburgers, McNuggets, hot apple pies, McRibs, big n tasties, McDonald’s pizza?!!! It would never end. His hamburger addiction was swelling, his paranoia crippling, his sudden awareness that when he ate a burger he was eating a tiny version of his own head…! Mac Tonight, the McNuggets, the fry girls, him… were all victims, pawns. He decided it was time for revenge.

A series of horrific murders ensued, targeting those who had consumed the most hamburgers. He would sneak into their homes in the middle of the night and stun them with a hammer, but it didn't stop there. The Hamburgler would then proceed to “cannibalize” his victims, suffocating them with large saucy sesame seed buns and cheese before methodically consuming their heads in a gruesome display of revenge and gluttony. At each crime scene, scrawled on the wall in ketchup and special sauce, punctuated with pickles and onions were the words: HOW’D YOU LIKE IT IF SOMEONE ATE YOUR HEAD!!!? MAC TONIGHT WAS A MUSICAL GENIUS!!!! I WAS MADE IN A LAB!!! I HAVE A CHEESEBURGER FOR A HEAD!!!

Does the Hamburgler's reign of terror continue to this day? No witnesses have been left alive to testify or help locate the hamburger headed mad mascot. Legend says he waits behind dumpsters for the closing crew to exit work at random McDonald’s locations to pounce on whatever unlucky employee has no buddy to walk with and consequently, a big fat delicious head.

Whether there’s any truth to these theories, I can’t say. I can say though that it’s going to take way more than a hamburger headed, human head eating monster, the suicide of a musical genius / Bobby Darin soundalike with a crescent moon face or the mass drowning of the McNuggets to keep me away from Mac deeezy fo sheezy. Them breakfast sammies are on point.

The Hamburgler's story serves as a reminder to us all that the consequences of fame, fortune and gluttony can be dire.

A 20 piece McNugget box is only $5.

That damned clown is still out there somewhere.

[procurement-insights]

The GenAI Metaprise (Orchestration) and Operating System (Intake) Priority

How well would your PC work without an operating system?

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an insightful exchange I had with AOP’s Philip Ideson’s comment on my recent post, DPW Remote Dispatch: To Build Or Not To Build In-House. PHILIP IDESON COMMENT: Jon its a good question. I moderated a main stage panel with two leading CPOs where this discussion came up. The issue at hand is AI governance and risk – and so at least the CPOs I talked to are…

[awlusa]

Optimized Service Through Transformative Orchestration

Welcome to the digital era of logistics where optimization and efficiency reign supreme. AWL is at the forefront of this transformative wave, offering cutting-edge logistics orchestration and automation solutions. Our advanced order orchestration and supply chain orchestration technologies empower businesses to streamline their operations, enhance productivity, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. At AWL, we understand the complex challenges businesses face in managing their logistics operations. With our logistics orchestration solutions, we offer a comprehensive approach to optimizing and automating your supply chain. Our innovative technologies seamlessly connect different components of your logistics network, enabling real-time visibility, seamless collaboration, and agile decision-making.

Our logistics automation solutions are designed to eliminate manual tasks and streamline repetitive processes, enabling your team to focus on strategic initiatives. By leveraging automation technologies, we can optimize your order management, inventory control, transportation planning, and warehouse operations. This results in faster order fulfillment, reduced errors, and improved operational efficiency. With AWL’s logistics automation solutions, you can achieve significant cost savings and accelerate your time-to-market. Moreover, efficient order orchestration is the key to delivering exceptional customer experiences.

AWL’s order orchestration technology ensures that every order is seamlessly processed, fulfilled, and delivered, regardless of the sales channel or fulfillment location. Our system intelligently routes orders, optimizes inventory allocation, and orchestrates multi-channel fulfillment, enabling you to meet customer expectations while minimizing costs and lead times. By centralizing order management and automating the fulfillment process, AWL empowers your business to deliver fast, accurate, and reliable service.

Furthermore, the complexity of modern supply chains demands intelligent coordination and synchronization. AWL’s supply chain orchestration solution enables end-to-end visibility and control across your entire supply chain ecosystem. We leverage advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI-driven algorithms to anticipate demand, optimize inventory levels, and dynamically adjust transportation routes. With AWL’s supply chain orchestration, you can proactively respond to market demands, minimize stockouts, reduce costs, and drive sustainable growth.

In this era of rapid digital transformation, logistics orchestration has emerged as a game-changer for businesses seeking to optimize their operations and provide exceptional customer service. AWL is your trusted partner, offering state-of-the-art logistics automation solutions, order orchestration, and supply chain orchestration services. With our transformative technologies, we empower you to drive efficiency, enhance visibility, and deliver a seamless logistics experience. Join hands with AWL and embark on a journey towards optimized service and accelerated business growth. Contact us today to learn how AWL can revolutionize your logistics operations.

Source : https://awlusa.blogspot.com/2023/05/optimized-service-through.html

[latescryptoblogs]

MasterDEX Rolls Out Most Awaited Airdrop for $MDEX Tokens

In a landmark move, MasterDEX has unveiled its much-anticipated “First Loyalty Package”, marking its inaugural airdrop designed to foster community cohesion and reward its dedicated members. This program is meticulously tailored for the LCX Community, with holders of LCX tokens being on the receiving end of $MDEX tokens. $MDEX is destined to serve as the quintessential ecosystem utility token, pivotal to the operations of MasterDEX. An initial minting of 300 million $MDEX is set at genesis, with a structured release over a 5-year timeline. A notable 51% of the total tokens, translating to 153,000,000 $MDEX (153 million $MDEX), are allocated for the community’s benefit. The First Loyalty Package is allocated 17% of the total supply, amounting to a substantial 51,000,000 $MDEX tokens (51 million $MDEX).

The eligibility criteria for this exclusive Loyalty Package are clear and concise. LCX token holders, as of 10th October 2023, are earmarked to benefit from this airdrop. The holdings can be in a non-custodial wallet or directly on the LCX platform, which is also spearheading the distribution of $MDEX tokens to all eligible LCX token holders.

As per the official announcement, the distribution of $MDEX tokens is slated for 12th December 2023. On this milestone date, the Community Allocation will be available for claim, in line with the vesting schedules attributed to each allocation. MasterDEX’s ambition transcends mere distribution; it is eyeing a synchronized listing of $MDEX on a variety of centralized and decentralized exchanges on the distribution day. This initiative is in concert with several ecosystem partners and market makers to ensure a seamless listing on multiple trading venues immediately following the distribution.

The distribution mechanism is orchestrated to be conducted on-chain, wherein all eligible LCX token holders will receive $MDEX tokens as rewards on a pro-rata basis, in harmony with the token economics.

Here’s a delineation of how to qualify and claim your $MDEX tokens:

● Eligibility: Retain LCX tokens on or before 10/10/2023 in a non-custodial wallet or on the LCX platform. It’s crucial to note that currently, other centralized platforms like Coinbase and Kraken are not supporting this Airdrop, although dialogues are ongoing to secure their support.

● Claiming $MDEX Tokens:

● For LCX token holders on the LCX platform: On 12/12/2023, $MDEX tokens will automatically materialize in your main wallet, with no further actions required.

● For LCX token holders at Non-Custodial Wallets: Users are necessitated to visit the claim page at MasterDEX.xyz on or after 12/12/2023 to receive their $MDEX tokens on-chain, pro-rata in alignment with the token economics.

To mitigate the risk of scams or phishing endeavors, holders are urged to ensure they are connecting their wallets exclusively to https://masterdex.xyz/ and to remain vigilant against any fraudulent or cloned websites.

Additionally, MasterDEX has engineered an $MDEX airdrop calculator to illuminate the amount of $MDEX tokens one would receive. For instance, holding 0.1% of LCX tokens (950,000 LCX) would entitle you to 51,000 $MDEX. Further details about the Airdrop are expounded here.

This airdrop exemplifies MasterDEX’s unwavering commitment to cultivating a robust community and reciprocating the early supporters and believers of the LCX and MasterDEX ecosystem. With the imminent distribution and listing of $MDEX tokens, MasterDEX is decisively laying down a robust groundwork for its forthcoming ventures in the DeFi landscape.

Telegram: https://t.me/masterdex_xyz

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MASTERDEX_XYZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/masterdex_xyz/

[f-shipping]

How Warehouse Management Services Elevate Shipping Efficiency

Within the bustling domain of shipping, proficiency is the bedrock on which victory is built. Behind the scenes, a noiseless orchestrator guarantees that this effectiveness rules supreme—warehouse management services. These unsung heroes are the planners of synchronized supply chains, real-time overhauls, and consistent arrangement handling, all of which contribute to raising shipping proficiency in unused states. In this article, we dive into the advantageous relationship between distribution center administration administrations and shipping operations, disclosing how their interconnection changes the coordination scene, decreases travel times, and minimizes costs. 

The Move of Synchronized Supply Chains 

Imagine an ensemble where each note is played in ideal agreement, making a showstopper of sound. Additionally, distribution center administration choreographs the components of shipping operations into a synchronized supply chain move. By closely checking stock levels, following arrange statuses, and encouraging consistent communication between stockrooms and shipping centers, these administrations dispense with disturbances and bottlenecks, resulting in an agreeable stream of merchandise from beginning to end. 

Real-Time Stock Upgrades: The Pulse of Accuracy 

Within the fast-paced world of shipping, each diminutive tower Usually, real-time stock overhauls are the pulse of proficiency. Warehouse management services gives shipping companies a digital window into their inventory's status, advertising a bird's-eye view of stock levels, area, and development. This real-time perceivability enables companies to make educated choices, designate assets wisely, and react instantly to changing requests, guaranteeing that items are continuously prepared to set out on their journey. 

The Craftsmanship of Consistent Arrange Handling 

Arrange preparing is the foundation of shipping, and warehouse services refine it to a craftsmanship frame. These administrations consistently coordinated demands with stock accessibility, guaranteeing that items in stock were advertised for sale. This integration amplifies the advance, robotizing the picking, pressing, and dispatching of forms. The result isn't fair speedier fulfillment, but moreover a lessening in mistakes as human intercession is minimized, driving to enchanted clients and reinforced validity. 

Exact Request Determining: Precious Stone Ball of Effectiveness 

One of the privileged insights behind proficient shipping lies in expecting requests. Warehouse management services tackle the control of exact request estimating, permitting shipping companies to remain one step ahead. By analyzing authentic information, showcase patterns, and even outside variables, these administrations offer insights into what clients will need and when they'll need it. Equipped with this prescient ability, shipping companies like Focal Shipping can optimize stock levels, allocate assets effectively, and dodge pointless over abundances or stockouts. 

Diminished Travel Times: The Domino Impact of Productivity 

Time is cash, particularly in shipping. Warehouse administrations set off a domino impact that diminishes travel times and opens up productivity. With synchronized supply chains, real-time stock upgrades, and streamlined order handling, items move consistently from distribution center racks to shipping vehicles. Diminished travel times decipher speedier conveyances, increased client fulfillment, and the potential for taking a toll on investment funds as fewer assets are spent holding stock. 

Fetched Minimization: A Byproduct of Optimized Operations 

Effectiveness and fetched minimization are kindred spirits. Warehouse services use the control to cut costs through optimized operations. By guaranteeing that the correct items are promptly accessible and abundance stock is minimized, these administrations decrease capacity costs and dispose of the need for crisis shipments due to stockouts. The result may be a leaner, more resource-efficient operation that straightforwardly impacts the bottom line. 

Ideal Space Utilization: 

Maximizing every inch of effectiveness in shipping operations goes hand in hand with ideal space utilization. Warehouse management services play a significant part in guaranteeing that distribution center space is utilized to its fullest potential. Through clever stock following and capacity optimization methodologies, these administrations offer assistance to shipping companies in avoiding overloading or underutilizing distribution center capacity. This results in a more organized and streamlined capacity format, diminishing the need for extra capacity space and contributing to general fetched reserve funds. 

Effective Returns Administration: Closing the Circle 

Within the world of shipping, returns are an unavoidable perspective. Warehouse administration like Focal Shipping expand their effectiveness in return administration, closing the circle on the shipping cycle. These administrations encourage smooth and effective return preparation, guaranteeing that returned items are expeditiously restocked, repaired, or arranged as vital. By minimizing the time items spend in limbo, shipping companies can keep up stock precision and swiftly return things to saleable status. 

Administrative Compliance: Exploring Complexities with Ease 

Navigating the regulatory scene could be a critical aspect of shipping operations, particularly when managing assorted markets. Warehouse management services lend a helping hand by consolidating administrative compliance into their forms. This includes guaranteeing that items are stored and transported according to particular controls, such as temperature-sensitive merchandise or dangerous materials. By keeping up compliance, shipping companies not only dodge potential punishments but also construct notoriety for reliability and polished skill. 

Improved Client Bits of Knowledge: Fueling Key Choices 

Client bits of knowledge are priceless for forming trade procedures and offerings. Warehouse administration contributes to improved client knowledge through information collection and examination. By following arranged designs, inclinations, and input, these administrations give shipping companies a more profound understanding of client behavior. This understanding can direct stocking choices, item collections, and indeed promoting campaigns, resulting in more focused and successful procedures that reverberate with clients. 

Within the energetic world of shipping, where time is of the substance and client fulfillment rules are incomparable, Warehouse management services emerge as the unsung heroes of effectiveness. Through synchronized supply chains, real-time stock overhauls, and precise request forecasting, these administrations bridge the gap between coordination and client desires. They change shipping operations into well-organized endeavors, guaranteeing that items move consistently from distribution center to client, eventually delivering not just merchandise but uncommon encounters.

[examstudyzone]

Mastering SAP Certifications: A Deep Dive into Key Questions

SAP certifications are a hallmark of expertise in various SAP technologies, offering professionals a competitive edge in the ever-evolving IT landscape. This article delves into crucial certification questions across multiple domains, aiding aspiring candidates in their preparation journey.

SAP HANA Technology Questions: SAP HANA's prowess in in-memory computing is undeniable. Aspiring HANA professionals must grapple with questions on architecture, data modeling, performance optimization, and security. Prepare to tackle inquiries about column vs. row storage, partitioning strategies, data replication, and disaster recovery in your pursuit of SAP HANA certification success.

SAP CPI Certification Questions: Integration is at the heart of modern enterprises, and SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI) plays a pivotal role. Prospective CPI certified individuals will encounter questions regarding integration scenarios, adapters, transformations, error handling, and orchestration techniques. Knowledge of RESTful APIs, message mapping, and cloud security is paramount.

SAP Certification Dumps: While shortcut methods like certification dumps might promise an easy route to success, they undermine the true purpose of certification - genuine expertise. Sap Certification Dumps are designed to validate deep understanding and practical skills. Relying on dumps not only risks failure but also hampers your professional growth. Embrace authentic learning materials and hands-on experience for a solid foundation.

SAP IBP Certification Questions: In the realm of supply chain and demand planning, SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) certification holds great significance. Prepare to navigate through questions concerning demand sensing, inventory optimization, sales and operations planning, and advanced analytics. Mastery of IBP modules, real-time data synchronization, and collaborative planning is key.

As you embark on your SAP certification journey, remember that success comes not only from memorizing answers but from truly grasping the concepts. Diligent study, hands-on experience, and a commitment to continuous learning will serve as your best companions. Embrace the challenges posed by these questions, for they are the stepping stones to becoming a certified SAP expert.

For more info:-

sap hana cloud provisioning and administration dumps

sap sales cloud certification questions

[on-logistic]

The vital role of logistics and shipping providers in E-commerce success

In the dynamic world of e-commerce, logistics stands tall as the linchpin for operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. From order processing to the final delivery, every step in the supply chain heavily relies on the smooth orchestration of logistics processes, with shipping providers taking center stage.

Shipping providers wield immense significance in the realm of e-commerce, being the key facilitators of physical product movement. Their contribution is indispensable, directly impacting the overall customer experience and shaping brand perception.

One of the primary advantages of partnering with proficient shipping providers lies in their ability to elevate delivery speed and reliability. In the era of instant gratification, customers expect nothing less than swift and accurate deliveries. Top-notch shipping providers leverage advanced technologies and streamlined processes to optimize transportation routes and offer real-time tracking, ensuring parcels reach their destinations with punctuality.

Market expansion becomes a reality for e-commerce businesses through strategic collaborations with reliable shipping providers. By tapping into the extensive delivery networks of these providers, online retailers can conquer new territories and serve a wider customer base. The inclusion of international shipping services broadens horizons, unlocking access to a global audience and propelling business growth to unprecedented heights.

The financial advantages of aligning with proficient shipping providers are far-reaching. Reduced shipping costs, made possible by the shipping companies' economies of scale, empower e-commerce businesses to improve their profitability and remain competitive. By outsourcing shipping to specialized providers, e-retailers can focus on core competencies, product innovation, and customer service, driving overall business success.

An often-underestimated aspect of logistics in e-commerce is its pivotal role in inventory management. Collaborating with shipping providers enables businesses to implement efficient inventory practices, minimize storage costs, and prevent stockouts. The seamless coordination between e-commerce entities and shipping partners results in a well-synchronized supply chain, a prerequisite for enhancing customer satisfaction and optimizing operational efficiency.

In conclusion, logistics, and shipping providers are the lifeline of e-commerce triumph. Their expert synchronization ensures timely deliveries, expands market reach, optimizes costs, and creates superior customer experiences. In today's cutthroat e-commerce landscape, partnering with a reputable shipping provider is a strategic move that can transform an online business into a market leader. The value they bring to the table is not just a competitive edge but the foundation for sustainable growth and customer loyalty.

[psalm22-6]

Source: the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 17 November 1989

WHERE were you in 1822? Not Paris I hope. Talk about inconveniences; pastry prices were sky high and you couldn't turn a corner without fear of running into ranting anarchists or soldiers' bayonets. [where do I begin....] Now, with the advent of hightech stage wizardry, France's turbulent in-between-revolutionary era can be taken in much more comfortably. With some effort, one can secure a seat at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, (8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays), and see "Les Miserables," the blockbuster musical hit based on Victor Hugo's epic novel.

Who would have ever guessed that Hugo's 1200 page tale of vallantry [sic], combat, love, hate, and suffering would wind up a hit musical? Alain Boublil (author) and Claude-Michel Schonberg (composer), that's who. There's no denying that the story of "Les Miserables" has all the makings of grand theatre, but its long-windedness makes it no breeze for stage adaptation; kind of like setting the Bible.

Boulil and Schonberg scaled the work down to fit into 3VJ hours running time, and though various omissions and truncations might rattle purists, the musical stands on its own, matching at least the novel's grandeur. Directors and adapters John Caird and Travor [sic] Nunn put theatrical means to exhaustive and imaginative ends in this multi-tiered spectacle. 

In terms of the grand sweep and nuances also, production values are on target. The novel's ideologies are tucked smoothly into context and character, their themes developed skillfully within the confines of the musical's somewhat synoptic form. 

Surprisingly, the show's most oft used and effective technology is dirt simple. With a large rotating disc planted midstage, time and Paris' dank back streets whisk by seamlessly. The highlighted hide n' seek saga between protagonist Jean Valjean and his nemesis Inspector Javert is just one strata of Hugo's bigger-than-life story that make the rounds. Other plots and subplots unwind upon the lazy-susan treadmill, eclipsing each other from scene to scene as if in planetary orbits. 

Though the story is broken down to essentials, it remains far more engrossing and elaborate than the greater bulk of Broadway fare. Jean Valjean has just served 20 years on the chain gang for stealing a loaf of bread, and his return to the free world is painstakingly encumbered by his inmate markings, (evinced by a yellow ID card). After thwarted attempts at making a straight-laced go of it, he assumes a new identity and destroys his card. He then pops up in scene two as mayor of the town and a successful businessman, but alas, Javert is hot on the trail, and before long he is forced to give up his respected station. The chase snakes through city and countryside, touching on a panoramic assortment of societal ranks. Jean Valjean's encounters with street people and malcontent students adds breadth to the political context, keeps the audience abreast of the situation as unrest foments to rebellion. 

Schonberg's apt and catchy song settings with John Cameron's glitzy orchestral packaging are ingeniously woven into the show's dramatic and technical pacing. Schonberg supplies a dynamic spectrum of musical atmospheres that correspond effectively with the story's dramatic scheme; a trove of memorable songs beginning to end. The simple, folk/rock flavored ballads "I Dreamed a Dream" and "On My Own" have already gained signature status, and underline a good deal of the show's progress via assorted retreadings. Noble and forthright, the stately chaconne accompaniment of the former tune echos the visionary strength of France's downtrodden, while "On My Own" intimates vulnerability and longing, sounding not too unlike "Shall We Gather at the River." The action scenes and larger music builds are more the work of Cameron's instrumental episodes, which are at times intriguingly shaded by acoustic/synthetic mixes. 

A toast to Herbert Kretzmer's irresistable lyrics. The serious songs touch both persona feelings and greater concerns, and there's no shortage of laughs, either. Ribald rhymes and ruthless punning make "Master of the House" (later "Beggars at the Feast") and "Dog Eats Dog" hilarious foils to the story's grimmer moments. The songs are sung by M. & Mme. Thenardier (Gary Beach and Gina Ferrall), shameless skalleywags whose pure wretchedness give the show a breath of fresh air. 

You couldn't hope for a better cast ... for the most part. Rich Herbert gives an unusually winning portrayal of the ever-valiant Jean Valjean. Playing a saint is no picnic and Herbert wears his halo credibly. His physical presence is a given asset for the role, but he also brings dynamic acting ability and beautifully voiced arias. Richard Kinsey poses a menacing presence as Javert, Jean Valjean's pursuer; a real swine. With a booming bass voice that shoots up the spine like an aftershock, Kinsey looms relentlessly on the heels of our hero from beginning to near-end. Javert's final withdrawal from the chase, (we're talking terminal) features one of the show's most ingenious technical displays, a stunt that is perfectly suited to the character's formidable stature. 

With all the pieces artfully made and fit in place, there remains something to be desired in "Les Miserables." By virtue of the sheer magnitude of spectacle, gadgetry overwhelms humanity. Guts and glory are mere ingredients of the multi-tiered phenomena rather than the meat of it all wedged in between hardware and software like the ewoks in "Star Wars." The musical's emotional resonance is strategically planted into the scheme of things, designed so neatly and predictably that the stitches show. 

For tickets call (415) 474-3800