#task: mali

[regankaylic18]

Mommy horny not just normal horny but like super horny. Wanting to talk sext,joi,edge,rp with serious guys only

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #14

April 12-19 2024

The Department of Commerce announced a deal with Samsung to help bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing and research and development to Texas. The deal will bring 45 billion dollars of investment to Texas to help build a research center in Taylor Texas and expand Samsung's Austin, Texas, semiconductor facility. The Biden Administration estimates this will create 21,000 new jobs. Since 1990 America has fallen from making nearly 40% of the world's semiconductor to just over 10% in 2020.

The Department of Energy announced it granted New York State $158 million to help support people making their homes more energy efficient. This is the first payment out of a $8.8 billion dollar program with 11 other states having already applied. The program will rebate Americans for improvements on their homes to lower energy usage. Americans could get as much as $8,000 off for installing a heat pump, as well as for improvements in insulation, wiring, and electrical panel. The program is expected to help save Americans $1 billion in electoral costs, and help create 50,000 new jobs.

The Department of Education began the formal process to make President Biden's new Student Loan Debt relief plan a reality. The Department published the first set of draft rules for the program. The rules will face 30 days of public comment before a second draft can be released. The Administration hopes the process can be finished by the Fall to bring debt relief to 30 million Americans, and totally eliminate the debt of 4 million former students. The Administration has already wiped out the debt of 4.3 million borrowers so far.

The Department of Agriculture announced a $1 billion dollar collaboration with USAID to buy American grown foods combat global hunger. Most of the money will go to traditional shelf stable goods distributed by USAID, like wheat, rice, sorghum, lentils, chickpeas, dry peas, vegetable oil, cornmeal, navy beans, pinto beans and kidney beans, while $50 million will go to a pilot program to see if USAID can expand what it normally gives to new products. The food aid will help feed people in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen.

The Department of the Interior announced it's expanding four national wildlife refuges to protect 1.13 million wildlife habitat. The refuges are in New Mexico, North Carolina, and two in Texas. The Department also signed an order protecting parts of the Placitas area. The land is considered sacred by the Pueblos peoples of the area who have long lobbied for his protection. Security Deb Haaland the first Native American to serve as Interior Secretary and a Pueblo herself signed the order in her native New Mexico.

The Department of Labor announced new work place safety regulations about the safe amount of silica dust mine workers can be exposed to. The dust is known to cause scaring in the lungs often called black lung. It's estimated that the new regulations will save over 1,000 lives a year. The United Mine Workers have long fought for these changes and applauded the Biden Administration's actions.

The Biden Administration announced its progress in closing the racial wealth gap in America. Under President Biden the level of Black Unemployment is the lowest its ever been since it started being tracked in the 1970s, and the gap between white and black unemployment is the smallest its ever been as well. Black wealth is up 60% over where it was in 2019. The share of black owned businesses doubled between 2019 and 2022. New black businesses are being created at the fastest rate in 30 years. The Administration in 2021 Interagency Task Force to combat unfair house appraisals. Black homeowners regularly have their homes undervalued compared to whites who own comparable property. Since the Taskforce started the likelihood of such a gap has dropped by 40% and even disappeared in some states. 2023 represented a record breaking $76.2 billion in federal contracts going to small business owned by members of minority communities. This was 12% of federal contracts and the President aims to make it 15% for 2025.

The EPA announced (just now as I write this) that it plans to add PFAS, known as forever chemicals, to the Superfund law. This would require manufacturers to pay to clean up two PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. This move to force manufacturers to cover the costs of PFAS clean up comes after last week's new rule on drinking water which will remove PFAS from the nation's drinking water.

Bonus:

President Biden met a Senior named Bob in Pennsylvania who is personally benefiting from The President's capping the price of insulin for Seniors at $35, and Biden let Bob know about a cap on prosecution drug payments for seniors that will cut Bob's drug bills by more than half.

[descendantsramblings]

Just a short cute thing where Fem! Reader and Maleficent are dating and Mal just loves teasing her gf by turning into her dragon form in small

Pure fluff, thank u :>

“Short cute” is speaking my language rn. So glad to be back to writing long stuff but between these and writing a layout for a Dead Boy Detectives fic I needed a good head canon or Drabble 🖤

Also I wrote and edited this whole thing while on the clock at work so forgive me if something is a little odd, I HATE typing on mobile because it’s easier to get typos.

Play

Maleficent x Reader

Pronouns used: she/her/hers

Summary: watching her girlfriend study can get just so boring

Warnings: descriptions of Maleficent turning into a dragon but it’s really nothing (at least as a horror and body horror fan it’s absolutely nothing but I’ll warn you just in case), fluff

Word Count: 1.1K

Pic because finding gifs of my girl (who’s almost always background or literally on Hades lol) is so hard

She can’t say no one warned her. Of course, Maleficent thought her girlfriend hung the sun, she was humanities own light source. All aglow when she was excited and warm enough that the dark fae was constantly convinced she had a fever. She was obsessed with her, but that doesn’t mean the rest of her friends lied when they said dating a hero kid could get so boring. Not that (Y/n) in general was boring, it was actually pretty easy to get her running around with the villains, but when she felt like being good? She could get obnoxiously good. Like straight As helping out in soup kitchens type of good. Which if the pixie was honest, she found that side of her girlfriend extremely endearing. Sometimes she even wonders if that sweet half of her is what saw Maleficent as worthy for her. Not that she’d ever admit to that out loud, it would wreck her image. If the fact that she could watch the girl complete mundane tasks in complete infatuation didn’t already kill her image. Or at least she normally could watch her like that.

The girl had been studying for an hour, rewriting her notes in a decorative and color coded way that she swore made it easier for her to study. “Rewriting it makes me think about it harder, Mali. Engraves it into my memory.” It sounded like an excuse to her, seemed to her that the girl just liked to look at pretty things. Not that she minded, whatever she wanted to do was fine by her, (Y/n) was her own woman. And Maleficent loved to be the pretty thing she was looking at, so who was she to complain about other ones? But Mali was starting to wonder if she and Tinkerbell had something in common. If she didn’t get her girlfriend’s attention soon she was sure she’d just fall over and just die. She was growing weaker by the second, she was positive of that. And getting the girl’s attention away from swirling pretty calligraphy into a notebook was proving to be impossible.

Every nuzzle to her neck was met with a playful push. Kissing her face just earned the pixie a “Mali, doll, I’m working.” It was infuriating. Why let her in if (Y/n) only planned on ignoring her? Her pale arms make their way around the princess’ waist, face falling against the girl’s back with a dramatic sigh. “I’m almost done, Doll. Just two more pages.” Two more? That won’t do, she needs more attention now. “Come on,” she drags the word out pulling away from her girlfriend with a whine. “Since when are you so good?” “I’ve always been good, Doll. You’re the villain between us, remember?” She uncaps a different pen, readjusting the notebook before her. “You don’t seem so good when you’re out running around with me and the other VKs. You ask how high when Uliana says just just like Morgie does.” It gets her a hum, pen tapping against the page in the speedy pattern. “Yeah well, if I make Uli happy she’ll do my hair. No one else here can braid like she can.” Mali laughs, “Fine, then if we can’t cuddle, let’s go see if she’ll do your hair. Give me something.” “I’ll be done soon.” She scoffs, lightly smacking the back of the girl’s shoulder, “You said you were doing homework.” (Y/n)’s eyes roll, sparing the girl a look over her shoulder, “Studying is homework, Mali.” Now her eyes roll, throwing herself back on the bed, “This isn’t studying. Studying is reading over notes, this is some other thing.” She hums, “Maybe that’s why my grades are higher than yours.” It’s a playful remark, the girl poking her tongue out at the pixie before turning back to her work.

She wants to play? Okay, they can play. She cuts a look to the girl, a pen cap held loosely in her mouth as she delicately drags a pen brush across a page. She was distracted enough. Turning into a large dragon took far too much energy from her, but a small one? One that could fit right in the girl’s lap? That was easy. Maleficent could barely feel it as her bones gave way. Shoulder blades and vertebrae stretching out to form the structure of wings. Purple scales forcing their way through pale skin, tearing their way into veins to beseen. She hasn’t let wings of any kind come out in so long, it felt heavenly. The stretch making her suppress a whimper. She desperately needed to do this more, instead of just when she felt the need to harass her way into getting what she wants.

Slowly, careful not to make too much noise, she flaps her wings, once, twice. By the third time, when she realized the sound wasn’t alerting (Y/n), she knew she could take flight. Fluttering through the dorm, she lands on the girl’s dresser, blowing a small puff of flames onto a candle then settling beside it. Waiting, glowing green eyes trained on the girl who had playfully become her prey. The smell of smoke would alert her, it always did. Lilac and smoke slowly and softly fill the air, making the princess look up, worried eyes glancing around the room before landing on her dresser. “Really? You’re that desperate for me?” Desperate? No, she was anything but that. While her eyes are away from the page, Maleficent takes flight again, swooping up the pens the girl was using before fluttering over her head.

“Mali, you’re just prolonging how long it will be before I can lay back and cuddle with you. You know that, right?” Her hand shoots up for her pens and the dragon flies closer to the ceiling. “This is ridiculous, you are being ridiculous.” Pens clatter into the wastebasket by the girl’s desk, the dragon swooping in to fill the girl’s lap before she can get up to retrieve them. “Are all fae this needy or just you?” The question is met with a nuzzle against her stomach, the dragon refusing to get too close to her skin in case she’d scratch the delicate stretch of flesh.

Sighing, the girl closes her two notebooks, pushing them to the side before she lays back. “If I take a little study break will you let me finish my work without whining?” The dragon crawls up her stomach, tilting her head to the side. Sweeten the deal. “If we cuddle?” Letting out a sigh, Mali curls up on the girl’s chest, her head laying just so close to her heart she feels as if she’s hearing the lubb-Dubb of it in her own head. “You’re not gonna turn back into a girl for me? Made you wait so long that I only deserve scales?” It’s not a complaint, not a real one at least. Her nails digging into the space between two wings, a glorious scratching sensation that makes Maleficent’s eyes lull closed. She was never above playing if the Royal wanted to play. She was always the winner of the girl’s long games.

[sweetsreverie]

Thanks to You

Thanks to Y/N's quick thinking, 141 escapes a sticky situation with their lives... Barely. pairing: task force 141 x reader wc: 1,320 warnings/notes: canon-typical violence, near-death experiences, my attempt at angst after mostly writing and reading fluff, incorrect military terminology probably.

Terrorism in Mali had been on the rise for months, and the team had been notified of a growing terrorist cell in Bamako, the capital. The team had arrived early in the morning, now you and the rest of 141 were waiting for exfil that night after successfully raiding the base of operations. 

While you were inspecting some of the stolen weapons and ammo that was in the building, your radio along with everyone else’s crackles to life.

“Bravo team this is Watcher-1. We've got eyes on four vehicles heading your way. They’re not friendly. Stay alert.”

You look over at Price and the others, and Ghost lets out a huff in annoyance more than anything.

“Fucking hell.”

“They must have called for reinforcements once they knew we were here-” You say quickly as you look over at Price, and he nods in agreement.

“Precisely.”

Just as Price had finished speaking, the five of you heard the vehicles outside, along with dozens of voices speaking a language you didn’t understand. You had hardly any time to react before grenades were blasting the doors open, and you were ducking for cover. Quickly assessing the layout of the place, you identify three doors ahead of you, and you know there’s a door behind you. Hopefully you could use it to escape.

“We’ve got to get to the truck outside if we’re to catch the helo for exfil.” Soap calls as the five of you begin to fire your rifles at the combatants that were entering the building.

“We’re not going anywhere until these fuckers are dead!” Ghost shouts over the sound of gunfire, and you briefly glance at the double doors behind you. The truck was parked a few dozen yards away behind a treeline, if you ran, you could make it. It’s going to take quick thinking to get out of here with your lives.

“We take this back door to the truck- Go! I’ll cover ya!” You call out to them, and Price looks at you briefly before he tosses a frag grenade towards the other side of the building.

“Hell no, there’s too many of them Y/N.” Price says firmly, his knuckles turning white as he grips his rifle.

“We don’t have time to argue about it!” Ghost shouts, and your mind is racing, trying to think of how the hell you’re going to get out of here with the team.

“Wait- I- I planted C4 when we finished clearing the place-” You ramble quickly, and Soap’s eyes are wide as you explain.

“Laswell wanted us to destroy any contraband we found- I planted it to take this building down, I can detonate it if you guys go for the truck!” You say with wide eyes, and the corner of Soap’s mouth raises slightly. They hadn’t even noticed you had done it. Sometimes you were just that quick and quiet.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here then. Go! Go!” Price shouts, and the five of you move away from your cover and duck out of the back door of the building as the gunfire continues from behind you. Bullets whizz by, flying past you and hitting the concrete walls.

Once you’re out and a few dozen yards away from the building, you activate the detonator. The five of you duck briefly as a loud boom sounds through the area, and the building comes crashing down. The screams of the men inside nearly make you sick, even though they were just trying to kill you.

“Steamin’ Jesus Y/N- Can’t believe you thought of that. We all got outta there thanks to you.” Soap calls over to you as you all pile into the truck.

You gather your bearings once you’re seated, and you cough a few times to clear your airway of some dust and debris from your surroundings. When you pull your hand away, there’s a splatter of blood on the palm of your glove.

Fuck.

Gaz notices the way you briefly freeze, and he sits up in his seat stiffly.

“Y/N- You good? Hey-” He says before he turns on his flashlight to see you in the dark truck, and when the light shines on your abdomen and waist, Gaz and Soap see your uniform was stained with blood. Your dark blue coat was shining with the blood that was rapidly flowing from your middle.

You don’t know when it happened, and you didn’t even feel it until now, now that the adrenaline has worn off.

“Captain- Y/N’s hit, we gotta move fast.” Soap calls out, and when he leans over and begins to undo the velcro of your vest, you let out a whine as you’re slightly jostled by the motion. Searing pain was blooming throughout your body, and every movement made by the truck worsened it. 

Soap moves your vest to the side before he unzips your jacket, and he sighs when he sees the lower half of your gray shirt was now almost totally soaked in blood. Amongst the blood, he sees two exit wounds; you had been shot from behind.

The pain was growing to be unbearable, and as you close your eyes, Soap gives your arm a firm squeeze.

“Hey- Y/N, you gotta stay with me, aye? It’s not your time yet. We’re gonna get you fixed up.” Soap speaks quickly as he leans over and begins to apply pressure to the wounds as best he can, and his heart breaks when he hears your cries of agony. 

The truck soon comes to a stop at the set rendezvous point. Luckily for you, the lights from the helo soon appear as the helicopter begins its descent to get your team out of there.

“C’mon kid, you’re not getting away from us this easily. Someone’s gotta help me keep Ghost and Price on their toes.” Soap says as he begins to help you out of the truck. Ghost comes around the side to help Soap move you, and he puts his arm around your back so you could lean against him.

You’re the youngest of 141, and they were going to make sure that you had a future with them. 

The next time you woke up, although your vision was bleary, you recognized your surroundings as the infirmary on the base. You remember what happened. Soap’s words, and him and Ghost loading you into the helicopter. The rest is fuzzy. 

Considering you felt no pain, you could only guess what kind of cocktail of medications the doctors had you on.

As you regain consciousness, you hear voices nearby. You recognize Ghost first, followed by Soap and Gaz. You guessed Price was working on the debrief. How long were you out?

Just like that, a few pairs of footsteps approach, and when the nurse pulls back the curtain, you’re met with Ghost, Soap, and Gaz. Ghost has his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket, Soap is holding a stuffed dinosaur and Gaz is holding a few of your favorite candy bars.

“Maybe I should get shot at more often.” You murmur, and Soap grins while he hands you the stuffie and the candy that Gaz had been holding. 

“Looks like you’re feeling good then. You gave us a scare back there, Y/N.” Gaz says while Soap sits down in one of the chairs near your bed.

“I feel okay- The drugs are helping.”

“Your quick thinking saved our asses back there. I wish you hadn’t gotten hurt though.” Soap says seriously, and you look down at him with a little smile.

“I’m young, I’ll heal in no time. At least it wasn’t one of you.” Ghost rolls his eyes at that, but you can tell he’s trying not to laugh.

“And… There it is.” He says, having been waiting for your smart ass to say something. That’s how they knew you were feeling like yourself again.

[simazinblr]

The Label

Mali Rich Records

[Malaysia Narrating]

While Ben’s been off at camp, I’ve been working at my dad’s record label. He’s got me doing everything from recording demos and singing background vocals to designing album covers and handling all sorts of office tasks. It’s been a lot of fun spending so much time with him. We don’t usually get this kind of quality time together. Plus, the attorneys mentioned it’ll look good to show I’m earning my own income.

[kimhortons]

friday.

it was a calm morning, listened to soft music while doing my task— i always listen to metal songs kasi recently since galit ako, so they know they can't talk to me. until we were called to our sdm's office aka principal's office haha.

ni-raise pala ni zha sa manager namin yung issue naming tatlo ng ka-department ko, without her coming to me first, and asking if okay na ba kami nung dalawa—as acting TL diba sana tinry niya muna ayusin kung hindi pa man naaayos, hindi yung dederetcho agad sa higher ops. nalaman pa tuloy ng managers namin. kaloka.

kalma parin naman ako after, medyo inooverthink ko lang that time kung anong part sa mga sinabi ko yung nalaman nila. hindi ko naman idedeny and i'm not sorry i said some things, kasi hindi ko naman na mababawi. it is what it is. and actually, wala na kong pake kung ako lagi yung masama at mali sa paningin nila, kung anong gusto nilang isipin bahala sila. feeling ko nasa bahay ako ni kuya at kailangan ko lagi magpaka totoo haha.

sabi ko nga today kay a, i think yung friendship namin ni zha hindi na maaayos, ayaw ko na ng ganung friendship, hindi ganun yung kailangan ko. she's merely a co-worker to me from now on.

i was calm all day, pero pag uwi ko feeling ko pagod na pagod parin ako. maybe bc of stress? and sobrang traffic din kahapon. kaya pag uwi ko hindi ko na nalagay sa box yung sapatos ko at iniwan ko nalang ng ganyan. kagabi pa nga sana ako magkukwento dito pero nakatulugan ko nalang din. haha.

i was calm, or atleast i'm trying to kasi ang bigat bigat parin talaga ng pakiramdam ko, nabawasan lang pero andun parin yung bigat. feeling ko na naman mag isa ako—well di naman big deal, kasi as much as possible i don't wanna be a burdern to anyone maski kay J. kaya i'm trying to help myself, kaso ang hirap pala. hehe.

I made it before, pero ngayon para akong nasa ibang level. parang i need to call a friend, pero hesitant ako. baka naman kayanin ko naman ng ako lang this time. hehe.

[yamayuandadu]

In my opinion, instead of constant clamoring for Greek mythology retellings where largely or entirely villainous or monstrous female figures are reinvented as heroic, what we need is more media which acknowledges any goddesses from outside the conventional groupings of “main” Olympians (which is something variable, the version of the dodecatheon from Olympia had the personified river Alpheios and the  Charites in it , but that’s beside the point). Multiple of them actually have well defined, more or less consistent characters in myths and it’s mind-boggling that they are losing the quest for popcultural relevance with “what if Medusa was the central protagonist of Greek mythology” text posts. Off the top of my head, some good examples of such goddesses would be:

Hecate, who despite being portrayed firmly positively in her two main mythical roles, in the Homeric Hymn Demeter (where she helps Demeter look for Persephone and is later tasked with escorting her on her annual journey) and in the Theogony (where she aids Zeus and co. during the titanomachy), only ever appears as a villain in modern media, often with the point of reference being godawful new age literature or worse. The only two works of media which actually try to do something broadly accurate to her character in myths would be Theia Mania and, of all things, Touhou.

Selene, who basically doesn’t exist as a separate character in modern media because her gimmick has been reassigned to Artemis. To be fair, it’s been this way for centuries, but she actually has a plenty to offer if treated as separate. She has a very distinct iconography (lunar crescent behind the shoulders looks so cool), and at least according to Seneca a very warm relationship with her brother (in his Phaedra he fills in for her every now and then so that she can spend time with Endymion). There’s also a bonkers addition to the Labors of Heracles where she’s credited with raising Nemean Lion from the moon.

Iris, who acts as a messenger of the gods (or specifically Hera) pretty often, including during the titanomachy. She also has a unique genealogy, and an “evil twin”, Arke, who acted as the messenger for the titans and to my knowledge plays no other role anywhere otherwise. One of the only references to offerings made to Iris mentions cheesecake which one surely could turn into a personality quirk if the actual literary texts are not enough, too.

Eos, dawn, the OTHER sister of Helios, who persistently appears in myths indicating she was the one female deity sort of trying to keep up with male gods in the “romancing mortals” department. One of her lovers turned into a cicada because she forgot to ask for eternal youth when asking for eternal life for him which feels like it came out of a modern parody.

Styx, who I think basically is entirely forgotten as a personified deity in modern fiction, despite being portrayed as one of Zeus’ key allies in the Theogony, and as the mother of his various minor courtiers. You’d think a character as edgy as the personification of the arguably most famous location in the underworld would not be entirely absent from mythology adaptations but alas, she basically is. 

I would also like Thetis to not be portrayed as antagonistic in media, both of her highest profile adaptations in recent years essentially are. Thetis is the best character in the Iliad and I’d like to see an adaptation which actually keeps the scene where she brings Briareus to Olympus, but it feels like Iliad adaptations are often ashamed of having gods in there.

If you want to dig deeper, there are oddities like Malis/Maliya, a craftsmanship(?) goddess from Lydia and Lycia treated as analogous to Athena back at home, but seemingly as a river nymph in Greece (I worked on her wiki page recently).

[akonaman]

sobrang love ko talaga tong palabas na to. Everytime na nafefeel ko na parang nawawala ako sa sarili ko, pag pinapanood ko to, feeling ko im going back to my 2016 self.

Monday na naman nga po, tambak sa tasks and madaming kailangan icoach because of some behavior na di naman na dapat ginawa pero ginawa pa rin. I really hate putting an effort to ppl's shit lalo na pag aminado silang ginawa nila yung "mali" na nga at pwede nilang ikatanggal sa work.

Kaya nakakatamad magwork minsan kase sobrang entitled na ng mga tao, to the point na wala ng work ethic, di iniisip yung consequences ng ginagawa nila and di kayang gumawa ng paraan para magbago.

I can only do so much to ppl na willing. I can only influence. But I can't fucking change them.

[ausrache]

Mali has a very particular way of talking to people, especially to strangers or to individuals she has to yet to get to know better. Until today, I've not been able to pinpoint why that is ( except for her general disdain to socializing because of her being such a huge introvert ) but now I sort of have a hunch: She talks like a . . . lawyer? Or more so like a judge. It always seems like she's sort of trying to get a feel for the other person & thus, gives them questions that resemble that of something spoken in the courtroom. Why is that? Because she's been a literal judge her entire life. While she does see herself of more of a vessel than the actual person doing the judging, it is still within her tasks to do so.

So, if your muse does get uncomfortable by her way of talking to them — Honestly, very valid. She's always putting people through interrogations, mostly unconsciously & because she thinks it's the best of getting to know them. However, will definitely stop once made aware of it or simply asked to stop.

[govindhtech]

Dimensity 7300 : Unbelievable Speed and Power Unleashed

MediaTek launched the 4nm Dimensity 7300 and Dimensity 7300X high-end mobile device processors today. Best-in-class power economy and performance make Dimensity 7300 chipsets ideal for AI-enhanced computing, faster gaming, better photography, and effortless multitasking. Dimensity 7300X supports twin displays for flip-style foldable devices.

Both MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipsets have 2.5GHz octa-core CPUs with 4X Arm Cortex-A78 and A55 cores. 4nm reduces A78 core power consumption by 25% over Dimensity 7050. To speed up gaming, the CPU combines the most recent Arm Mali-G615 GPU with a number of MediaTek HyperEngine optimisations. The Dimensity 7300 series provides 20% quicker FPS and 20% more energy efficiency than competing options. The new chips optimise 5G and Wi-Fi game connections, use clever resource optimisation, support Dual-Link True Wireless Stereo Audio and Bluetooth LE Audio technology to significantly improve gaming experiences.

According to MediaTek’s Wireless Communications Business Deputy General Manager Dr. According to Yenchi Lee, “The MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chips will help integrate the newest AI and connectivity technologies consumers can stream and game seamlessly. “Furthermore, the dual display capability of the Dimensity 7300X allows OEMs to create creative new form factors.”

With compatibility for a 200MP primary camera and a premium-grade 12-bit HDR-ISP, the MediaTek Imagiq 950 is another enhanced photographic feature available with the Dimensity 7300 chipsets. New hardware engines provide accurate noise reduction (MCNR), face detection (HWFD), and video HDR in the Dimensity 7300. This allows users to take beautiful pictures and videos in any kind of lighting. Compared to the Dimensity 7050, live focus and photo remastering are 1.3X and 1.5X faster, respectively. In addition, 4K HDR video may be recorded with a dynamic range that is more than 50% broader than competing solutions, allowing users to capture more detail in their recordings.

The MediaTek APU 655 doubles the performance of the Dimensity 7050 while also greatly increasing the efficiency of AI tasks. Also, in order to reduce memory requirements for larger AI models and more effectively use memory bandwidth, the Dimensity 7300 chips support new mixed precision data types.

The Dimensity 7300 SoCs enable global HDR standards and remarkably detailed WFHD+ displays with 10-bit true colour thanks to MediaTek’s built-in MiraVision 955. This improves media streaming and playing. Additionally, OEMs find it simpler to satisfy the expanding market demand for cutting-edge form factors thanks to the Dimensity 7300X’s specialised support for dual display flip phones.

Dimensity 7300 and Dimensity 7300X important features

With MediaTek’s own optimisations and a full suite of R16 power-saving advancements, MediaTek 5G UltraSave 3.0+ technology offers 13–30% more power efficiency than competing options in typical 5G sub-6GHz connectivity settings.

Supporting 3CC carrier aggregation up to 3.27Gb/s 5G downstream speed, which enables better downlink rates in suburban and urban settings.

Support for multi-band Wi-Fi 6E allows for dependable and quick multi-gigabit wireless access.

Users will have more options with dual 5G SIM capability and dual VoNR.

This was addressed by MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300 series in May 2024. The Dimensity 7300 and 7300X chipset series boosts high-end to smartphone and foldable device performance, energy efficiency, and AI.

Constructed for Rapidity and Effectiveness

A powerful octa-core CPU powers the Dimensity 7300. This combo is ideal for gaming and multitasking with four 2.5 GHz Arm Cortex-A78 cores. Four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, which are energy-efficient, complement these and guarantee dependable performance for daily use. In comparison to the Dimensity 7050, this combination represents a major advancement.

The advanced 4nm manufacturing process is a feature of the 7300 series. This corresponds to a 25% decrease in power usage over the 6nm technique utilised in earlier generations. Users will benefit from longer battery life as a result, while manufacturers can create sleeker devices without compromising functionality.

Superpower in Graphics

Immersive mobile experiences require strong visuals. The Dimensity 7300 has an Arm Mali-G615 GPU to fix this. This graphics processor runs even the most demanding games smoothly, and MediaTek’s HyperEngine technology stabilises the network and efficiently manages resources. MediaTek says the 7300 series is appealing to mobile gamers due to its 20% higher frame rates (FPS) and energy economy.

AI Gains Strength

AI is increasingly changing the smartphone experience, enabling intelligent assistants, better photography, and facial recognition. The Dimensity 7300 uses the MediaTek APU 655, following this trend. This AI processing unit doubles the efficiency of the Dimensity 7050, resulting in a notable performance boost. New mixed precision data types, which enable more effective memory bandwidth utilisation and lower memory requirements for larger AI models, are also supported by the 7300 series. Future smartphones will be able to incorporate even more advanced AI features thanks to this.

Gorgeous Images

For a fascinating mobile experience, a stunning display is essential; a strong processor is only half the story. This demand is met by the Dimensity 7300 series, which supports powerful screens. With the ability to support WFHD+ resolutions at frame rates of up to 120 Hz, these chipsets guarantee fluid and visually spectacular images. For an even smoother user experience, the 7300 series also supports Full HD+ screens at an even higher refresh rate of 144Hz.

Concentrate on Take Pictures

Users now place a greater value on mobile photography, and the Dimensity 7300 series delivers. The chip has MediaTek’s Imagiq 950 image signal processor (ISP), which provides sophisticated photographic features. With the 12-bit HDR pipeline supported by this ISP, detailed information and brilliant colours may be captured. Furthermore, the Imagiq 950 enables features like video HDR, face detection, and precise noise reduction, guaranteeing beautiful images and movies in a range of lighting scenarios. The 7300 series stands out for its ability to enable dual simultaneous video capture, which allows for the development of more imaginative content.

A Set of Chips for Foldables

A 7300 variation called the Dimensity 7300X goes one step farther by being designed with foldable cellphones in mind. One essential component of these cutting-edge gadgets is dual display compatibility, which this chipset provides. Manufacturers may design foldable phones with seamless experiences on both the cover and main displays thanks to the 7300X.

Mobile’s Future

Mobile processing power has advanced significantly with the release of the Dimensity 7300 series. This chipset family, with its emphasis on efficiency, performance, AI capabilities, and support for cutting-edge technologies like foldable devices and high refresh rate screens, is positioned to have a significant impact on the direction of mobile technology. The Dimensity 7300 series offers makers a strong and adaptable foundation to develop next-generation smartphones that offer outstanding user experiences as smartphones continue to advance.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[hazel-of-sodor]

What's Lost is Found

Ch.17 Into Autumn

Other Stories

Other Chapters

With the last of the Argol engines recovered, life on the Uman and Din returned to normal. Well, what passed for normal on a railway with an Eldritch goods engine anyway. 

There was an incident about a week after they returned, which saw a group of teenage boys thrown through an old wooden shed when they attempted to bother Mali. When asked to explain Screech was unrepentant. Miss Morgan and the group's parents were no more impressed with the teen's behavior than Screech had been and they had given her permission to do as she saw fit if she caught them again as long as the boys received no permanent harm. 

Summer passed into Autumn and the workload lessened as the tourist traffic fell away with the temperatures. Becca went in for overhaul, Screech picking up her trains now that Avon no longer needed her help. The restoration of the line to Glain had begun, with Screech on track clearing duty every other weekend. She enjoyed the task, as simple and quiet as it was, as it gave her a chance to rip and tear without worrying about damage.

Work had also begun on repairing 590, Seren, and the rest of the recovered rolling stock. All of this had given Mali an idea.

Screech had been relaxing in the yard before her next train, enjoying basking in the sunlight while she still could as Gwyn worked to refill her tender with coal. She had offered to help, but he had said that he needed the exercise at his age. 

She lazily watched the teen approach.

"Little Thief."

"Hey, Miss Screech." Mali hopped up onto the corner of the coal bunker. "I wanted to run an idea past you."

The eldritch giant eyed her curiously, "And what idea would that be."

"How to restore Argol."

Screech raised an eyebrow, "oh?"

Mali nodded, "My parents took me to visit the Talyllyn a few weeks ago. A preserved narrow gauge railway, run entirely by volunteers. People come from all over to see it. What if we did that with the old Argol line? We already have two engines and their coaches to run the line, and the only way to reach Argol would be by the Uman and Din, so it would help our railway as well."

Screech considered the idea. "I have no idea what would be required for such a venture, or if it is even doable."

Mali's face fell.

Screech thought a moment longer..."You have finished your duties for the day?

"Yes?" Mali said, confused.

"Then you will ride on my next train to Din. Miss Morgan will know if the idea has merit."

[salvadorbonaparte]

Spoilers for Views by Marc-Uwe Kling and also CW for rape and racist hate crimes

I'm still thinking about how unsatisfying this book was, in a good way.

The police is investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl. A video goes viral in which the girl is raped by a group of black men, linguistic analysis revealing they are likely from Mali. There are no clues as to where it happened, who the men are, where the girl is. The only clue is her secret older drug dealer boyfriend but he doesn't seem to have anything to do with the video.

As a reaction to the video, another video is uploaded by an armed man calling for "active homeland security" and more and more Nazis join the new group and a man hunt for the rapists. No one can identify this leader. A disturbing video is uploaded of him executing one of the rapists but they still can't identify him. A copycat video leads to a man who lynched a refugee from Eritrea in blind hate. Right wing marches happen, one group even tries to storm the government building and kills a policeman with a grenade.

And then the protagonist has a disturbing hunch: what if the video is fake? What if it's AI generated by the right wing or a foreign agent to fuel nazi groups?

And then comes the plot twist. She's right. But she's also wrong: the video is AI generated. But its only purpose was to generate views and revenue. A tech guy living in isolation has tasked his very advanced generative AI to generate videos based on what might become popular. When he died by accident the AI simply continued, calculating that a rape video of a missing teenager would go viral in no time. It generated the video based on the girls very active Instagram feed. The neo nazi leader is also AI generated.

But the protagonist doesn't have time to process that because she, a cop and second gen immigrant from Lebanon, is the new scapegoat for the very real Nazis who joined the imaginary new hate group. They want justice for the girl (who, she realises, probably died of an overdose at her boyfriend or got murdered by a hitchhiker). They want to avenge the girl, by hurting her. She survives and the novel ends as she tries to make it to safety.

And you're left with the knowledge that an innocent refugee was lynched, a woman was revenge raped for a crime that did not happen, the German government was nearly stormed and people injured and killed. And the AI is still working because she had no time to disable it before being attacked. All of that for money and views and hubris. And the guy behind it is dead already and cannot be made responsible. How do you put AI on trial?

And it could happen again. What has been thought cannot be unthought. It could continue happening. Because the hate is real.

[astrxlfinale]

“I think it has been about time that I come clean about something…” the inexpressive & somewhat flat nature of her tone could definitely be mistaken as seriousness as she approaches him. “i’ve been keeping a secret — I’m actually a single parent of one.” a pause, lips quivering somewhat as a giggle was threatening to spill over the tip of her tongue. after leaving her words to hang in the air for a moment longer, she’d finally reveal what she had been hiding behind her back. within gloved hands, a tiny animal could be seen. the floppy ears would remind him of a certain train conductor, yet it was far tinier & unable to talk. a brown & white rabbit sat diligently within mali’s grasp as she held it up to caelus’ golden gaze. “this is my son. his name is moon.” a smile finally settled, warmth softening her features as the previous joke finally had been revealed. there was just so much love that spread upon her features whilst her own irises flickered from the animal to the trailblazer. “would you like to hold him? he’s very fluffy.”

"Come clean..? So was it you that ate up all the Express's whipped cream that one day? I did grill March about that and now it has me wonderin'.." Naturally one of the more bygone, sillier occurrences would be one of the first things on his mind. Try as he might to keep the air amiable, color him surprised once Mali steps forth, a certain shine to those eyes that only heightened the measure of mystery that comes with this particular event!

"A.. Mama!? Y'know how important meetings would be and!" Yet what in the world did he have to draw any concerns for? For this Emanator sure had her means thinking on the fast lane! It wouldn't be long at all as the cradle of her hands unveiled the most adorably cute looking rabbit he's ever come to see! The fine flop to those ears, the way their dark eyes simply served as ebony mirrors to the surrounding world, for an instant he's just stunned before his mind connects to language once again.

"D'awwwwwww look at this little guy!" It twists such a joyful feeling within at the mere view of them. The way Mali found herself freed from the required, colder exteriors of her work and introducing her warmth, and her excitement to the private moments of her life. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Moon managed to bring many, many good days to busywork and the tasks of a higher plane slotted upon her shoulders.

"No wonder why there's never a hair outta place on you. Your lil hero here has been holding down the fort, huh?"

Catching the tenderness within those ruby eyes as she makes an offer, it briefly makes her perk up as a quick double take is made between their faces. "I uh.. y'sure? Most I've ever handled were those cake cats." Yet that only stirred more confidence as the bunny bundle of fluff was handed to him. Instinct alone prompted him to ready those gloved hands, allowing them to bounce over and the mere action along making his heart charge with a peaceful brand of energy. True to those declared words, the guy felt like 99% fluff from top to bottom. Something about it just made it peaceful as he brought them closer, becoming immersed in the moment as he brushed along those cream colored floppy ears. "Nice to meet'cha, superstar. Not sure if Mali here ever mentioned a rabid Clockie fan to ya, but, you're talkin' to him here. Name's Caelus, and I've been wanting to join up on this right."

"Heheh! While I think I have Mali's blessing here, how about yours?" He comes to ask Moon.

"I'm not looking like too much trouble, am I?"

@ausrache

[mariacallous]

NWAARE, Ghana—In July 2023, an audio message, calling for attacks on the Ghanaian government in response to the forced repatriation of ethnic Fulani asylum-seekers, spread via WhatsApp in northern Ghana.

“The Ghanaian government has begun to forcefully arrest and deport Fulani refugees to Burkina Faso … to destroy and exterminate the Fulani population in Ghana … I’m appealing to [Muslims] located along Ghana-Burkina Faso border to hurry to intervene,” said the message, which was heard by thousands of people. “Please do well to retaliate the blood spilt by the Ghanaian government,” it concluded.

The message was recorded and distributed by a media wing of Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), a West African jihadi insurgent group affiliated with al Qaeda.

Between JNIM and affiliates of the Islamic State, insurgents today control almost half of Burkina Faso, parts of central and northern Mali, and territory along Niger’s borders with the two countries. Over the past two years, they have slowly expanded their campaign south into the northern parts of West Africa’s coastal states. Despite a handful of messages attempting to incite attacks against the Ghanaian government, of the four coastal states bordering Burkina Faso, Ghana is the only one that reports that it has not suffered an attack by insurgents.

In interviews, representatives of the Ghanaian government chalk this up to their firm response and the country’s inherent resiliency. However, despite Accra’s confident messaging, evidence gathered across Ghana’s northern regions suggests that insurgents are already operating there. At this point, it appears that insurgents see their access to the country as a safe haven and smuggling route as too useful to destabilize with direct attacks.

However, if the militants’ calculus were to change, they would find many of the same vulnerabilities in Ghana that they have exploited in other countries.

Officials in air-conditioned offices in Ghana’s capital, Accra, projected confidence as they insisted that their government’s robust response has kept the insurgents at bay. Ghana’s decision to spearhead the Accra Initiative, a regional association intended to prevent the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel toward coastal countries, is one of many examples, said Daniel Osei Bonsu, the deputy director of Ghana’s National Counter Terrorism Center.

Since being established by Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin in 2017, a handful of joint operations along border regions and meetings of intelligence chiefs have been coordinated through the initiative, which is funded in part by the European Union. At a summit in November 2022, leaders announced the creation of a multinational joint task force that will be comprised of 10,000 soldiers and headquartered in Tamale, a city in northern Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Ghanaian government has reinforced the military’s presence across the north. In 2020, Accra released the funds to construct and upgrade 15 forward operating bases close to the borders of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Three new brigades and two battalions were created and deployed to the Upper East and Upper West regions. The military has acquired new vehicles and communications equipment from the United Kingdom and Israel. And the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, recently promised “aerial surveillance, electronic warfare [systems] and river crafts” as a part of a 20 million euro ($21.5 million) aid package to the military.

In 2022, the government launched a “see something, say something” campaign to urge citizens to report suspicious behavior. While officials say the program is a success, Ghanaian journalists have reported officials bemoaning the number of people calling with no other reason than to beg for cell phone credit.

Members of the National Counter Terrorism Center insisted that Ghana’s relatively high level of development compared to some of its neighbors and its culture of democracy protect the country from the same fate that has befallen Mali and Burkina Faso. They pointed out that the country is economically far better off than its Sahelian neighbors, with a GDP per capita more than twice that of Mali and Burkina Faso.

As coups spread across the region, insecurity is growing—and international military involvement could make it worse.

Furthermore, they added, unlike Sahelian countries where most people are Muslim, Ghana is split roughly in half between Christians and Muslims, and thus calls to radicalism have fewer potential followers. Referring to the insurgents’ strategy in the Sahel, they insisted that aggrieved Ghanaians would never be lulled by jihadis promising a more just order because “people know they can receive justice through the country’s institutions,” as Bonsu said. “There might be sentiments in the north,” he continued, “but there are no grievances.”

However, while officials insist that the government is mounting a robust response, there is significant evidence that it has failed to stop insurgents from entering Ghanaian territory.

Communities across Ghana’s 374-mile border with Burkina Faso have long used small footpaths and dilapidated dirt roads to smuggle fuel, fertilizer, and other basic goods far from Accra’s watchful eye. Over the past few years, insurgents have used these informal networks to acquire resources for their campaign in Burkina Faso. Dynamite manufactured in Ghana has been found at militant camps in Burkina Faso.

Sources in Ghana’s Upper East region—who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons—indicated that insurgents have paid Ghanaians to smuggle fuel and personnel across the border on motorcycles. Last September, Burkinabe security forces raided an insurgent camp close to the border and found Ghanaian voter registration cards along with receipts from a Ghanaian shop for bicycles, likely used for the smuggling of goods across the bush paths as motorcycles have become too conspicuous.

Beyond using the Ghanaian border to meet their immediate material needs, there is concern that militants are also involved in trafficking illicit goods to boost their coffers. Analysts have raised the alarm about the presence of insurgents at artisanal gold mines in the Upper West region as well as involvement in the opiate trade. And Maxwell Suuk, a Ghanaian journalist, recently reported that cattle stolen by jihadis were being sold in Ghana’s lucrative livestock markets.

Furthermore, as fighting in Burkina Faso has approached Ghanaian territory, there have been reports of militants retreating tactically across the border and using Ghanaian soil as a temporary safe haven. Late last year in Garinga, a Burkinabe border community, civilian auxiliaries to the Burkinabe military complained that the absence of Ghanaian troops nearby meant jihadis sometimes escaped across the border.

In the nearby Ghanaian village of Nwaare, a community leader confirmed that locals had seen mysterious men who pushed their motorcycles around the edge of town and spent the night in nearby shrubs. Local assemblymen and village chiefs from half a dozen nearby communities reported similar sightings.

Beyond the immediate border, insurgents from Burkina Faso have used Ghana for recuperation. Sources in Tamale who asked to remain anonymous for their safety revealed that they personally knew at least two young Ghanaian men who spent around four months in 2022 resting and receiving medical care at a local hospital before returning to Burkina Faso.

Ghana is not a hotbed of recruitment, but there have been some notable cases. In 2017, Burkinabe preachers visited the dusty town of Karaga and urged young men to join the fight in the Sahel; around a dozen people heeded the call. In 2021, one of these recruits—with the nom de guerre Abu Dujana—recorded a video urging Ghanaians from the Fulani ethnic group to join the jihad. The man later committed a suicide attack against French forces in northern Mali.

While the insurgents operate in Ghana, reports suggest that they explicitly avoid targeting Ghanaian citizens who travel through the territory that they control. There have been multiple reports of people with Ghanaian identification cards being spared at JNIM roadblocks in Burkina Faso. A Ghanaian man who had been detained by insurgents told one of the authors that his captors released him once he was able to prove his nationality.

Ultimately, the insurgents derive significant benefits from using Ghana as a place to rest and restock. “If the insurgents attack Ghana, it would become much harder for them to use Ghana as a safe haven,” said Clement Aapengnuo, a peace and security activist: “At this point, Ghana is more useful stable.”

But the strategy of insurgent groups could change.

Ghana suffers many of the same vulnerabilities that militants have preyed upon in other countries. Similarly to other coastal states in West Africa, northern Ghana is comparatively less developed than the south—a trend with roots in the nation’s colonial history, as a recent analysis by Ghanaian Ph.D. candidate Iddrisu Mohammed Kambala showed. Banditry—ambushes of container trucks, kidnapping of wealthy individuals, and even attacks on businesses in towns—has long been a problem. Beyond relative deprivation and a degree of lawlessness, there are social cleavages and disputes over chieftaincy that could be manipulated by savvy recruiters.

Growing anti-Fulani sentiment across Ghanaian society is also concerning. In the Sahel, some insurgent groups initially attracted recruits from marginalized segments of Fulani communities, which led to stigmatization and widespread abuses against Fulani, which in turn facilitated further recruitment. In Ghana, where Fulani make up around 1 percent of the population, they are often derided as foreigners, scapegoated for crimes, and victimized in mob violence—and high-level officials still repeat dangerous tropes about Fulani being rootless nomads prone to criminality.

These attitudes have resulted in the kind of discrimination that feeds insurgent propaganda. In mid-July 2023, Ghanaian security services forcibly repatriated at least 250 Burkinabe Fulani asylum-seekers who had fled to Ghana. The government claims that these were targeted operations based on security threats, but multiple communities describe mass arrests targeting Fulani—including Ghanaian citizens.

There also appear to be worrying lapses in the Ghanaian government’s response to the escalating conflict in Burkina Faso and Togo. Ghanaian troops were deployed in border regions in 2021, but it was not until a JNIM attack that struck two miles from the border in early 2023 that the soldiers began to patrol with any regularity. A local military source who requested anonymity revealed that the infrequency of patrols was related to a lack of fuel. Residents of border communities still complain that they only see security forces on weekly market days, when they harass rural residents traveling into towns.

Despite the fanfare around the Accra Initiative, information-sharing between Ghanaian forces and their counterparts in neighboring countries is sparse. A Burkinabe commander in the border town of Bittou complained that his conversations with Ghanaian security personnel were infrequent compared to talks with Togolese commanders, and that he instead relied on trusted Ghanaian citizens to pass important messages to Ghanaian soldiers. Beninese Col. Faïzou Gomina confirmed that bilateral channels have thus far been far more useful for coordination than going through Accra. Meanwhile, the multinational joint task force has barely broken ground on its Tamale headquarters.

Informal conversations with police, immigration officers, and other security services reveal a profound ignorance of the severity of the situation in Burkina Faso and Togo. The military purposefully deploys soldiers from southern Ghana; as a result, personnel lack local context and often do not speak the languages of the places they are deployed. When visiting the hamlet of Zakoli, where eight Fulani were killed in mob violence in April 2022, nearby soldiers asked one of the authors to translate for them so they could speak to the survivors that they were guarding.

Furthermore, there have been a number of incidents in which Ghanaian soldiers reportedly used excessive force against citizens, further alienating themselves from the population they are meant to serve. In October, personnel from the Ghana Armed Forces stormed the town of Garu in Upper East, allegedly brutalizing around a dozen men in retaliation for an attack on national security operatives by local vigilantes. In June 2022, police responded to students protesting in Kumasi with pepper spray and live bullets.

While the situation across coastal West Africa is precarious, Ghana is better positioned than its neighbors to confront it. Accra still has time to increase investments in infrastructure, health, and education in the north. Changing the narrative around Fulani and other minorities is also critical. Abuses by security services must be investigated, and perpetrators held accountable.

Ghana can learn from its neighbors and eschew the overly militaristic, Western-led “counterterrorism” approach that enflamed the crisis in the Sahel. It is not too late for Ghana to harness its institutions, resources, and personnel to deal with the threat at its doorstep.

[thevividgreenmoss]

we stumble into reckonings with history carving inscenced rivers of blood through our frigid veins, expelled from the shelter of cracked pavilions into a storm without oases.

I was born into paradise. Four years the warmth of my nana's gaze holding his hand walking through the garden, my mother's eyes the camera lens witnessing the scene from the balcony. Her tone softens recalling those four years we lived off of for the next twenty five. Held in her arms in the garden her father and the mali worked with their own hands, the garden of the house he had built following his return to the city of our birth, Lahore and its vivid greens and commotion, the house in which my mother, her father, daughter, sister, brother, and son shared a few years. Together, in paradise.

Yes other things happen in paradise there are fears and anger and disappointment yet love and laughter and enjoyment persist and persist even across the ocean.

Yes there are varied occurrences, things happen and people leave and arrive and you are in tears and see your mother in tears and strength and solitude and commune, and a little more than four years have passed in that house and things have begun to unravel as they always have been unravelling and you cross the ocean away from your and your mother's father and your home and the city of your birth across the ocean to a different city, a different house, a different father, and the atmosphere is unlike what you have felt before. After a couple of years of this you see that a plane has flown into two towers and you see the strange land wherein you have found yourself raining hellfire upon people and a land that bear much greater resemblance to the people and land that you had left in Spring of 1999, the land in which you were born, the people among whom at that point you had spent the majority of your life, although with time that fact will erode, the land of your grandfather and your mother and her daughter and husband and sisters and brothers and their children and so many others. You listen to the hushed fear in adult voices, you sense that we are being lobotomised and that there are things we will lose our ability to say and that even our memories are crippling. You learn that in the country from which you were uprooted there are people who seek and uphold power who in their greed and cowardice conspire with the powerful in the imperial core in which you are now planted to destroy their own neighbors and ensure our own doom.

You return to the city of your birth and your mother and her father's birth into that house that was paradise knowing that two nations have been broken by the empire wherein you have been tasked with finding a different home, the empire built upon the graves of another colonised people, hunted to near extinction now sequestered in reservations, buried by the signature of the deed called property. An empire built and fed by and at the expense of people rendered property and brought in chains across the same Atlantic ocean that you once crossed. You see the misery and desperation and utter lack of enjoyment and sincerity consuming the lives and deaths of those subjected to and self-subjectivised through the regime of law and money, the misery that persists in commodified existence irrespective of the scale or value a given individual or family or people's collection of commodities.

It is impossible to shake the recognition that beneath all appearances, behind the real abstraction that is the dollar, behind the eyes of studiously silent faces, behind everything it is obvious that some deeply entrenched turbulence bursts at the seems, it is impossible that everyone does not feel and is not maddened by that which you feel and by which you are driven mad. It is impossible to ignore that your mother has no mother of her own present.

Baghdad has fallen when you return to your grandfather's house in Lahore for the second time since your initial departure, that same year your mother's sister had a baby and you and your sister and cousins and your mother and her sisters sing to that baby when she is too fussy to eat. Your grandfather shows you and your cousin his copy of The Silmarillion, pulled from his high bookshelves. You go out into the resplendent beauty of that city, you eat at bundu khan. You are overwhelmed by the profusion of color and pattern and texture dancing along store and sidestreet stalls covered in garments, layers and layers of intricately woven and decorated fabrics crafted by the hands of the people of that land, those strange people with their crinkled humour and shining eyes. The laughter and music of that city, the chorus of our crowds, street vendors, housewives, laborers, students, visitors, children like myself with their mothers and khalas, children unaccompanied beseeching our mothers and khalas for alms, offering for a pittance a balloon or a water pistol or a cup of sugarcane juice that you are told by those you are with that you can not drink because the water will make you sick it must be boiled or bottled for us to stomach. What you are not told but is made evident is that if it will make me sick it will and does also make the children on the other side of the car window sick and that those children likely can not afford bottled water nor energy to boil non-bottled water with the same ease as us. It is evident that something must have and still is going terrible wrong when the water from which life is produced and reproduced can not be stomached. It is evident that we are all dying of thirst.

As this second visitation is concluding, the night before you will leave you are playing with your cousins in your grandfather's house as your mother and her sisters and the neighbors are talking across the room you overhear that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and you are struck dead. You may have heard this phrase before yet you are stricken. You leave and the entire passage away you are bawling, throughout the half day layover in petropolis across the ocean back to Texas you are in tears, bawling your heart out because you miss your cousins and your khalas, because you feel your mother weeping alongside you even as she does not shed a tear, weeping for the rupturous history that snatched you from the commotion and laughing pain of that city, away from your nana and his and your home. Bawling because the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and all will grow more miserable as we are entombed beneath our respective and shared collections of commodities. Bawling because you will be told again and again that this is the way it must be, bawling at the ease with which we lie to our children and ourselves. Bawling because you miss your nana and because you will not return to the land of his and your birth until time has passed and passed and all that remains are a few weeks to watch him die then wash and bury his body, not in the city of his and your birth, the city you still have not seen since that flight away in 2003, the city where it turns out, as you learned in 2018, that your mother's mother had been living this whole time.

A nine year old child bawled that entire flight back and for days after arriving back in Texas until his mother invited his cousins over to settle his shattered heart and his heart was settled as he laughed and played with his brothers and sister although as yet much remained unsettling.

Across the ocean there is a house that was my grandfather's house and a garden that was the garden in which my grandfather held my hand so many paradisaic mornings. Across the ocean there is a tree leaning over a small patch of earth into which you and your mother's sister's husband lowered your grandfather, surrounded by strangers, a sandstone hill overlooking. You could not tear yourself away that afternoon until your mother's cousin gently guided you back. Across the ocean, in an overlooked part of the city to which you still have not returned is a house and in that house lives the grandmother you have never met. You can not and will not return to any of these places because you have never left. You can not and will not return to any of these places because you were never there.

Across the ocean in an overlooked part of Dallas you are struck transfixed standing on a balcony with black thoughts and marijuana and Emily & Charlotte and trees and light and beauty encompassing all.

[kimhortons]

napapa isip ako minsan, what if mag try din ako mag aral ulit at mag LET exam. siguro one of my insecurities, yung hindi na nga na aappreciate yung mga effort ko, wala pang ka proud proud saken. yung om ko kasi parang yung magulang mo na napaka taas ng expectations.

tatlo samen LPT passer, yung isa nag resign kasi nag masters. laging proud na proud yung om namin at inaannounce sa buong cluster. masaya naman ako sa mga kateam ko, siguro naiinggit lang ako kasi ito lang ako. wala akong magandang credentials, kaya di ako nag eexpect na mapromote sa team namin kasi parang hindi naman ako deserving. parang nawawalan din ako ng gana lalo pag hindi ako yung ina-assign sa isang task, hindi ako yung incharge, feeling ko hindi ako mapagkakatiwalaan, feeling ko hindi ako magaling kaya madalas talaga tutok nalang ako sa ginagawa ko.

dati narin kasi ako inalok na kumuha ng methods of teaching, pag kagraduate ko palang ng college. kinukuha rin sana ako dati ng tita ko sa Australia, andun sana siguro ako ngayon. ilang beses ko rin binalak mag trabaho sa abroad pero laging di natutuloy. parang laging may mali sa mga desisyon ko sa buhay haha, minsan nga iniisip ko rin kung tama bang nag settle ako dito kasi feeling ko lumiit yung mundo ko dito. napapa isip parin ako kung ito ba talaga yung gusto ko sa buhay, hindi ko parin alam.

alam ko wala naman naitutulong yung pag compare ng sarili mo sa buhay ng iba, pero minsan talaga di ko maiwasan, pero madalas ginagawa ko nalang inspirasyon. kanya kanyang diskarte lang naman, di porke nag work sa iba, mag wowork din sakin kasi mag kakaiba naman tayo ng mga pinag dadaanan. basta ang mahalaga saken ngayon, wala na akong utang hahaha. chariz