#you benefit from the city and its infrastructure

[2mo3cm-man]

YES! YES! Fuck you Hochul and fuck you car commuters. Stop shitting up the city with your damn cars and take the train.

[xclowniex]

I criticize the left so frequently as I am a leftist. I want to see leftism thrive and prosper, especially in a time where so many countries are having right wing governments.

And honestly every criticism I have can be boiled down to two root factors.

1. The left loves to watch people suffer more than seeing people succeed

2. The left will 100% harm their neighbors if it means they can be viewed as radical

To elaborate;

The LA fires are a prime recent example. The majority of people in LA are not the elite. Most are closer to homelessness than being the elite. And even if we are talking about the non elite rich, the vast majority aren't rich. I know it's hard to think that when you see a lot of celebs living in LA, but you're forgetting that there are people who are these celebs assistants, people who work on sets. Artists and animators. People who do so much behind the scenes who aren't rich. You also have all the supporting infrastructure. People who work at all the stores, teachers, builders and other trades folk building the infrastructures and keeping people's cars running. Nurses and health care workers.

LA isn't a city full of just rich folk with everyone else spawning in for their shifts and being teleported back to the void when they're done for the day. And these people aren't all just chucked into the "poor" parts of LA. They live all throughout. Some people who live in the rich homes either bought the house themselves decades ago and can't afford it in today's economy. Some their grandparents had money but they don't and the house was passed down to them. Others are forced to live in these areas as that's where the work is and barely scrape by or even have to choose between seeing the doctor and eating.

And the fires are spreading. There is a real possibility that they might not stay in these rich neighborhoods. What happens when they spread? Will the "let is burn" sentiment still exist?. And that's not even touching on the health effects. Smoke travels. It is not safe to breathe in. Its not rare for firefighters to get cancer after fighting massive wildfires. Imagine what it's doing even short-term to people in higher class, middle class and lower class neighborhoods where the smoke has traveled to.

Yet so many on the left have chosen to point and laugh because some of those affected are wealthy. People are so focused on the suffering of those they dislike, that they don't give a shit about those they are neutral towards or like being affected. Not that it should matter. Adam Sandler isn't the one keeping your wages low. Mandy Moore isn't the one causing the cost of living crisis.

And the reaction from the left since Oct 7th is prime example for the second point.

You would rather harm jews to get your radical short lived relief for palestinians than work with jews to create a long term solution and relief for palestinians.

Putting jews down to uplift Palestinians isn't being pro Palestine, it's called being antisemitic. There should be Jewish palestinian solidarity, that is the key to peace. But when goyim actively harm jews for their radikewl revolution moment, it prevents that from happening.

The left is so individualistic currently. You would eat your neighbor if it benefited you. This is not what leftist values are about. It's amount community, getting rid of bigotry, supporting each other.

[owepossum]

Viktor is a character who wants to help people and is very empathetic. Will he have conflicts with Silco later in the story when Silco starts distributing shimmer and changes undercity for the worse? Or will your story go in different direction ?

Hello anon, thank you for this fascinating question! I’ll put spoilers under cut again but I think the treatment of shimmer / drug / opioid epidemic analogy was done quite poorly in the show. I suspect mostly because of screen time constraints, which is entirely understandable. However I find it hard to ignore the old adage: those who preach non violence often have violence done on their behalf. In the arc of oppression, violence is never the answer until it’s the only answer.

That’s not to say the harm in canon caused by Shimmer is justified (obviously) but I think wanting to “help” is not itself a clear moral compass.

Both Silco and Viktor wanted to help Zaunites.

Viktor tried helping within the system. He did everything the “right” way — he legitimised himself via education, he abhorred violence, he innovated in accordance with that systems imperatives (profit) and tried to maximise social good despite that. In the end, I’d argue that the system won. His innovations were used entirely to benefit Piltover, inc weapons and commerce.

Silco recognised the “base violence necessary for change” in a corrupt system. Yes he profited from shimmer, but the goal was not excess for himself. It was to arm zaunites to secure independence (and freedom from Enforcer violence). We never got to see what he would have done after that, which is a shame, as his movement was cut short.

Idek if it’s because I’m POC but It’s very telling (even without the S2 writer leak) that the writers positioned Vander as “the good guy” ultimately, because he was “peaceful”. Vander upheld a status quo that was systematically killing + exploiting Zaunites. As an audience we can absolutely empathise with his dilemma! He’s trying to protect people in a non violent way. But he’s the one with a memorial statue. Was separate really equal? Look how tenuous that “peace” was. He also wanted to help Zaunites. And yet.

I guess I jsut don’t like the dichotomy in a lot of fics that feed into this “non violence is what will heal”. That ending narration was so fucking patronising.

Then again, this is a show that has to be sold in the USA and Ch1na. God forbid you overthrow the plutocrats. Here, have one (1) seat.

Silco’s actions (and consequences) cannot be compartmentalised from Piltover (which, by definition of what we’ve been shown is a plutocratic police city-state where half its population (zaunites) have no governing voice). The fact that an unelected plutocrat can mobilise chemical warfare against half the population because she controls public utility / infrastructure is absolutely horrific.

•• mild spoilers •• the role and treatment of Shimmer follows a different arc in Devotions, partly precisely because Viktor does not abandon Silco. It’s his presence that changes Silco’s priorities and methods. He’s less consumed with betrayal and that mitigates the myopia in canon. I also think Silco’s pragmatism and revolutionary views affect Viktor too.

I’m hoping the blend is a canon divergence worth reading!

Sorry for the long post. Also: fuck Heimerdinger. Mealy mouthed self righteous hamster. complicit and wilfully ignorant.

[clinicse]

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[maxiemumdamage]

Although far from the most heinous of villains, there’s one Avatar: the Last Airbender character whom I still harbor a very generous amount of hatred for:

King Kuei, aka the ruler of Ba Sing Se, aka the Earth King who somehow managed not to know his kingdom had been under siege by a foreign power for over a century.

And I know most people, the narrative included, forgive him for his ignorance due to the fact it was Long Feng’s conspiracy that made it so. But for a man in King Kuei’s position, I think the ignorance is a cruelty and abuse of power, even if not at the same level as Long Feng, the Dai Li and their conspiracy.

Because in order for Kuei not to know about the war, he had to not knos about anything that was happening in his kingdom. To not know about the war, he also had to not know about the refugees pouring into his kingdom. He had to therefore be clueless about things like housing, food, water, citizenship/immigration, foreign policy, and trade. He had to not know anything about the general standard of living of his people, in addition to their safety — and we see that in action when Team Avatar takes him outside the palace!

And MAYBE Kuei was just tricked by faked documents, if you really wanna give him the benefit of the doubt — maybe he just read the summary reports saying all was well and believed them, or made whatever allocations his advisors suggested without looking at the data personally or confirming through a secondary source. But Long Feng made it sound more like the king just runs museums and cultural preservation programs and delegates all the rest. Which just circles back to him not looking closely enough at what’s happening to actually see it! That is not good leadership.

And if you wanna talk about what Kuei does after he learns the truth about his loyal advisor and tries to take charge himself…uh.

He immediately spills the invasion plan and all its details to Azula, which led to the eclipse invasion failing. (Yes, she was disguised as an allied warrior, but she was still a total stranger and a random teenager from an arguably foreign island. A good leader wouldn’t have told her everything he did, even with good reason to think her trustworthy. And sure, Azula might’ve learned of the invasion regardless, but Kuei definitely made the situation worse.)

Kuei does nothing to help with the modified solar eclipse invasion, either — he tells Team Avatar to do what they want and fucks off to travel the world with his pet for a few months. Maybe acceptable behavior from an influencer, but not from a king whose country has been invaded and colonized by a hostile, genocidal nation. Kuei completely abandoned his people during their worst hour, which he helped bring about! Instead of trying to make up for his failure, he shrugs it off and moves on, then comes back and retakes his throne once someone else has done all the work of getting rid of those pesky invaders.

Kuei doesn’t show up when the White Lotus retakes Ba Sing Se — he doesn’t even know it’s happening, which speaks to his apathy towards the well-being of his people. The invaders are finally being kicked out, the war is about to end, and King Kuei has no idea. If word hadn’t reached him after the war ended, would someone else have been installed as king? Frankly, I think it might’ve been for the best, had they not needed to make it seem like the Earth Kingdom was going back to normal.

Like, at the end of the day, Jeong-Jeong, Piandao, and Iroh — all three Fire Nation deserters, and one a former enemy general who once pillaged the city and a BROTHER OF THE CURRENT FIRE LORD — did more to help Ba Sing Se than its king. And you can’t even blame the White Lotus for not making an effort to find and include Kuei, because he would’ve just been dead weight for them. He wouldn’t actually know enough about the infrastructure to be an asset, and it’s not like his face is known by the people enough for him to grant morale to local earthbenders. For all its tragic Kuei had no clue his city was being reclaimed, he would’ve been unable to do anything if he knew. Because Iroh knew more about Kuei’s city than he did!

And then in the comics, once he’s back on the throne he immediately almost restarts the war. The HUNDRED YEAR WAR that ended like a MONTH ago. Because Zuko says “hey actually these Fire Nation colonies existed for almost a century, it’ll be hard to tear them apart without hurting a ton of people and splitting up families. let them stay while we sort things out.” Kuei then goes to war (he mobilized his army and everything) because Zuko the teenage Firelord does one (1) mean and slightly concerning thing that.

(I will freely admit: Zuko was also at fault, he did not handle that situation well by any means. And even if his conclusions were reasonable, he sure expressed them in a way that would made the nation they just stopped targeting the Earth Kingdom in war very tetchy. But Kuei doesn’t know enough about the war or Zuko or his own kingdom to actually know why this is bad! It’s not a trauma response nor fear for the well-being of his people, but a desire to prove his own worth that motivates Kuei to send armed forces to remove the Fire Nation colonies. He’s certainly not absolved for how fast he pulled the trigger and wanted to resume war, just to feel like he was doing something.)

Zuko’s bad choices were rooted in concern for his people and having visited the colonies himself and seen how difficult the situation was. Kuei just wanted to appease his ego by feeling strong and decisive even when it meant making an uninformed decision. “Well I was useless before so I gotta make sure I take swift actions now, even if that means being uninformed and using liberal violence. Soldiers move out!”

WHY DID HE HAVE TO GO BACK ON THE THRONE. CAN’T BUMI OR TOPH TAKE OVER RULING BA SING SE???

The fact most of Kuei’s sins are born of ignorance doesn’t absolve him, because a person in his position should never be ignorant to that extent. And Kuei knows it — that’s why he’s defensive, but also ashamed, when Team Avatar proves the existence of the war to him. Kuei has all the resources and tools to educate himself. He just…chooses not to.

The fact he makes one good decision when he trusts team Avatar over Long Feng ALSO falls short when you remember how long it took them to get there and how little that actually achieved. He goes right back to ignoring them after the war once they stop telling him what he wants to hear, anyway!

(Plus, if they’d NOT gone to him for help, the Invasion on the Day of Black Sun might have succeeded. The water tribe soldiers, mechanists, and earthbenders not from Ba Sing Se were the forces they actually ended up with — they didn’t need Kuei’s armies to get as far as the palace! — and they could’ve won if they’d had the element of surprise.)

Anyway. Kuei was useless and given his position, had no right to be. What happened to even noblesse oblige? All those privileges he earned from the labor of his people, and he couldn’t actually be bothered to know a damn thing about their lives. Much less protect them.

So yeah. King Kuei hate mail time.

For some reason extra incompetent people inserting themselves into political offices and then ignoring the well-being of their country makes me extra mad lately.

[akzgaj-writing]

How to describe a real war

These are prompts and descriptions of real events that happen in a real war. There is no censorship here.

Contents by @akzgaj-writing

Prompts:

Destruction of infrastructure and cities: during war you should stay away from the city, and places where there are groups of people and places of transport: hospitals, post offices, schools, offices, stadiums, bridges, highways, kindergartens etc.

During the war, thieves rob houses and apartments. Blocks of flats are especially vulnerable to thieves, because this is a buffet for them.

You don't know if you're about to die, because the drones fly very high, and if a bomb falls on you, you won't even know when you're going up in the Heaven.

When the enemy army retreats, it often leaves traps in civilian homes and mines them (it also mines cities and farmland). It sometimes takes years to get rid of landmines.

At the beginning of the war, bodies are buried and honorary funerals are held. Over time, the coffins turn into sheets and blankets, and many bodies are placed in one grave. The longer the war continues, people stop burying bodies and they are left abandoned on the road.

Tanks and trucks run over people and bodies.

Cannibalism from starvation may occur.

People kill people for a piece of food or a coin.

During war, people become calloused and the sight of bodies, blood, entrails, or poverty does not make them want to cry or feel pain; they often feel numb and indifferent.

Bodies lie on the roads, eaten by animals, and torn remains also hang on trees (becouse of bombs).

A very large part of people abandons morality and fights for survival at all costs.

Water is often unsuitable for drinking because it is poisoned (during wars, water is poisoned or bodies are thrown into wells and water reservoirs by enemy troops).

Diseases are common due to lack of hygiene, many injured people and overcrowded shelters.

Being a good and just person during war is very difficult because you often have to make choices between life and moral.

During war, the goverment often takes advantage of situations and do ethnic cleansing in its land, which involves sending young people to the army. At the same time, it may also happen that people murder people of another race/religion in order to take over their land and property.

There is a shortage of water, food and medicine.

Propaganda and disinformation. People outside the war zones will not know what is really happening.

Politics will not help people and victims if they if they do not benefit from it.

Children grow up faster during war and become more responsible. Teenagers and young people age faster: people in their twenties often look as if they were thirty, and people in their forties as if they were sixty.

If soldiers survived the first months of the war, they have a better chance of surviving to the end of the war than those who have just joined now (they are more prepared and more careful and know more than novices).

[robertreich]

Republicans Don’t Own Patriotism

Republicans claim they love America.

But they sure don’t seem to like the American people.

They consistently oppose reforms that a majority of Americans believe would make their lives better, like raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, and student debt relief.

And these supposedly America-loving Republicans also seem to hate American cities, which is where 80% of Americans live.

So they must love rural America, right?

Ehhh…not so much.

Republicans have historically tried to block Medicaid expansion and cut its funding, which rural Americans have especially benefited from. They’ve sought to slash funding for rural infrastructure and development. They’ve sided with big ag over independent farmers. And they’re continually trying to cut food stamps, which rural Americans depend on — even more than those in cities.

So maybe it’s the land itself they love.

Except that while in office, Donald Trump rolled back more than a hundred environmental regulations, making it easier to pollute America’s air, water, and land.

And he opened about two million acres of federally protected (and culturally significant) land to oil drilling.

Rather than conserving our land, they seem more interested in conserving Big Oil profits.

And sadly, Republicans are increasingly rejecting America’s core principles. They’re attacking freedom of speech with book bans. They’re attacking freedom of assembly with laws restricting protests. And they’re rejecting the separation of church and state.

Republicans are even shunning democracy itself, denying election results, passing laws that make it harder to vote, and kicking out legitimately elected lawmakers they disagree with.

It’s time to stop letting Republicans claim the mantle of patriotism without actually being patriots.

Patriotism means loving freedom: the freedom to make your own health care choices, the freedom to choose who and how you love, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to unionize.

Patriotism also means wanting Americans to be free from the fear of gun violence and free from crushing student debt.

Above all, patriotism involves strengthening our democracy. True patriots don’t put loyalty to their political party above their love of America. True patriots don’t support an attempted coup.

Now is the time for the rest of us to reclaim patriotism and affirm its true meaning.

[someartistsammy]

FF7 Rebirth: All Region Intel

Wanted to make a way to easily access & read all the world/region intel you can get in Rebirth so here's a giant post for that. Everything below the cut.

GRASSLANDS

Kalm: A Recent History

This humble town serves as a transport hub for the grasslands, hence the distinctive bailey built for the monitoring of commercial and private traffic. During the war with the Republic of Junon, Shinra saw fit to occupy Kalm, due to its stout fortifications and strategic value, and it has remained under company control ever since.

As it lacks a reactor of its own, Kalm is reliant on Midgar and its pipelines for a steady supply of mako, which is stored in a large tank for regulated use. This arrangement allows the residents to enjoy both modern conveniences and a healthy environment—a combination that has attracted many new residents of late.

Ten years ago, a significant portion of the town was “damaged,” though Shinra quickly intervened and carried out a comprehensive reconstruction effort. Details regarding the incident and the extent of the destruction are sparse.

Flora and Fauna of the Grasslands

In stark contrast to the barren, mako-ravaged outskirts of Midgar, the ecosystem of the grasslands remains relatively unscathed. Streams flowing from the central mountain range nourish the lush meadows below, which sustain a diverse range of species. Ranchers and farmers also benefit greatly from this bountiful environment.

Vast wetlands make up much of the southern region. In days past, boats and chocobo carriages were a common sight, but as most goods are now transported by sea or air, traffic through the wetlands has steadily decreased. Moreover, as an immense, man-eating serpent dubbed Midgardsormr has been sighted in this area of late, few dare to brave the old trails. Even those capable of evading the gargantuan snake may yet fall victim to one of the many inescapable quagmires.

The Mythril Mine: Changing with the Times.

A natural passage through the mountains between Junon and the grasslands, this mine has long served as a rich source of mithril. The mineral boasts an exquisite shimmer and remarkable strength, and was historically used to fashion the very finest weapons and armor, but it fell out of favor after Shinra developed superior synthetic materials.

After the mine was closed, the Republic of Junon converted it into a tunnel for the general public, allowing travel to and from the grasslands. The glistening mithril deposits drew regular sightseers as well. Following Shinra’s triumph over the republic, however, the tunnel has been effectively abandoned. Various sections have fallen into disrepair, and the depths are host to untold dangers.

JUNON REGION

The Rise and Fall of the Republic of Junon

The people of Junon were once largely seafarers, who only returned to the shore to peddle the bounty of the ocean. Unlike other communities that settled in a single location and gradually expanded their territory, these sailors preferred the freedom of the open sea, and over time banded together with like-minded souls to form a unique society.

As a republic, they repurposed a flotilla of large vessels to construct a floating city that would serve as the center of their trade network. Having forged a robust infrastructure, they then set their sights on uniting the disparate peoples of the world.

Though Junon ushered in an era of economic and cultural prosperity, it was not to last. Shinra’s revolutionary mako technology put paid to their ambitions, and their once proud city now slumbers beneath the waves.

Junon: The Fortress City

Having conquered the Republic of Junon, Shinra constructed a nigh-impregnable fortress on the coast in the heart of their enemy’s former territory. Powered by the world’s only underwater mako reactor and equipped with a colossal cannon capable of firing as far as Wutai, the stronghold resembles a vast battleship, risen from the deep to defend the eastern continent.

Junon is a city composed of multiple levels, each of which is lined with uniform buildings that were originally designed to serve the needs of military personnel. After the war with Wutai, some were converted into hotels and retail outlets, and the arbor and airport now see a constant stream of civilian visitors.

Military exercises are still conducted frequently, however, and should the need arise, defense countermeasures can be deployed at a moment’s notice, transforming the city in to a fortress, ready to repel would-be invaders.

COREL REGION

Costa del Sol: A Recent History

Though Costa del Sol is now a renowned beach resort, it was once home to a string of humble fishing villages. However, when relations between Shinra and the Republic of Junon began to deteriorate, Shinra annexed this portion of the coast. After the war, the company designated the area for redevelopment, transforming it into the must-visit location for avid sunseekers that it is today.

Costa del Sol offers vacation packages to suit any budget, allowing travelers from every corner of the globe to savor the idyllic beaches. Plans that include a trip to the Gold Saucer have proven particularly popular.

Corel: A Tale of Decline

Coal was in high demand in the days of the republic, and the wealth of Mt. Corel drew miners from far and wide. Though the work was hard and dangerous, the laborers banded together to overcome their difficulties, forming a close-knit community in the process.

Alas, the advent of mako saw the price of coal plummet, spelling disaster for the people of Corel. As they struggled to find a way forward, Shinra proposed the construction of a mako reactor, and after much debate, the villagers accepted the offer.

The reactor was constructed with astonishing haste, but just prior to being brought online, it was torn apart by an immense explosion, and has been left in ruins ever since.

The Rise of the Gold Saucer

The tale of the Gold Saucer began with a Shinra employee named Dio, who convinced the company to build a museum called the Reliquary. Although it was doomed to failure, Dio was not to be deterred, and he set about founding the world’s largest theme park, which he first conceived as a small-scale fairground.

In the wake of the Corel Mako Reactor explosion four years ago, plans were set in motion to revitalize the local economy. Hearing this, Dio decided to relocate his fairground to the region, eventually transforming it into a state-of-the-art entertainment complex.

Now known as the Gold Saucer, it is powered by several modular reactors, which are responsible for the surrounding area’s accelerated desertification. In light of this, the reactors are now run at minimum output, in an attempt to mitigate further damage to the environment.

GONGAGA REGION

Gongaga: A Recent History

In ancient times, Gongaga was settled by descendants of the Cetra, who lived in quiet seclusion. The region was largely ignored by later kingdoms and empires, until the Republic of Junon thought to expand its influence westward. They soon discovered, though, that the expense of establishing trade routes through such dense jungle far outweighed the benefits of reaching the small communities there, and elected to instead construct an airstrip and little else.

When war erupted between the republic and Shinra, people the world over were impacted to varying degrees. Those in Gongaga were the rare exception, as being so far removed from the theater of war meant that they were not subject to forced conscription, nor were their villages ever host to the bloodshed.

Life in Gongaga

The village of Gongaga lies at the heart of the humid jungle, where many species of moss, fern, and mushroom thrive. Its people have a long tradition of self-sustenance, growing only enough produce and raising only enough livestock to support their collective. Though the village is by no means commercially enterprising, the Gongaga mushroom endemic to the region is renowned for its rich aroma, and commands a high price.

Gongaga’s fortunes took a turn for the worse following an explosion at the nearby mako reactor. Though much of the jungle was temporarily declared a disaster area, due to its elevation position, the village itself escaped the worst of the fallout—a small mercy considering the devastation wrought below.

The Gongaga Mako Reactor Incident

First generation mako reactors based on the one built in Nibel are prone to malfunction due to flaws in the pressurization system’s design. This, however, did not deter Shinra from installing them at various locations throughout the world, including Gongaga.

The company’s failure to follow their own inspection and maintenance procedures led to a disastrous explosion which claimed the lives of many villagers. Acknowledging its part in the incident, Shinra dedicated a monument to the victims.

This accident was not an isolated occurrence, though, as at least one other reactor is known to have exploded in a similar fashion. Stranger yet, Shinra has been investigating alleged sightings of gigantic life-forms known as “Weapons” near the remains of these destroyed mako reactors.

COSMO CANYON REGION

Cosmo Canyon: Environmental Conditions

Cosmo Canyon is located in the south of the western continent, where countless valleys and caverns have formed in the red clay. In ages past, seismic activity forced this soil to the surface, where it was later eroded by the surging lifestream below, giving the region its unique appearance.

Throughout the year, the canyon sees very little rainfall, and the temperature variation between the plateaus and gorges is considerable. As such, it is extremely difficult to grow crops, and the mere act of survival is a daily struggle. Nevertheless, the canyon is a prime destination for students of planetology. In addition to scholars and devotees, many tourists can also be found here, seeking to take in the “mystical” air. In more practical terms, the arid conditions and lack of cloud cover facilitate the observation of celestial bodies, making the canyon popular among astronomers.

Life in Cosmo Canyon

The founders of the canyon’s eponymous village made use of the naturally formed caves, and following the emergence of planetology, more and more people found themselves drawn to the place. The makeshift walkways and tent-like domiciles have only increased in number as the settlement continues to expand to this day.

Rather than rely on mako, the villagers built an array of windmills, and each home is equipped to store the generated electricity. A leading planetologist, Bugenhagen, introduced this form of wind power to Cosmo Canyon, and it is said his technical marvel was inspired by the ways of the Cetra.

When it comes to nutrition, the villagers’ diet consists mainly of grain and legumes grown around the village, supplemented by game meat obtained with traditional hunting methods.

The Cetra and the Gi

In the distant past, the Cetra made contact with the Gi, entities who could not return to the lifestream. Pitying their plight, the Cetra build altars to commune with and calm these tormented souls in the hope of finding a means to coexist peaceably.

Over time, the Cetra grew increasingly aware of the dire fate that would befall the planet, and resolved to entrust their knowledge to the people of Cosmo Canyon. These teachings would become the foundation of planetology, which continues to be refined through research and discourse even as it is spread throughout the world.

When the Cetra finally departed Cosmo Canyon, none remained to provide solace to the Gi, who in their festering anguish and rage were driven to turn on the villagers. Many brave warriors gave their lives to beat back these vengeful spirits, entombing them in their prison once more.

NIBEL REGION

Mt. Nibel and the Birth of Mako Energy

It is said that beyond the desolate, jagged crags of Mt. Nibel lies the land of the dead, and few dare to approach its slopes. Indeed, even plant life struggles to find a foothold here, and with tumbling boulders and rockslides a constant threat, the locals see little reason to make such a perilous journey.

Many of the mountain’s caves are filled with mako vapor, and the inner reaches contain mako springs and naturally formed materia. Shinra’s search for a new energy source led them to Mt. Nibel, and its abundant supply of mako made it the ideal site for the world’s first reactor.

Although it played an instrumental role in the proliferation of mako energy, the Nibel reactor’s time in the spotlight was brief, and it now operates at greatly reduced capacity.

Nibelheim: A Recent History

In the shadow of the jagged formations at the foot of Mt. Nibel, the village of Nibelheim had little to offer the outside world. However, their quiet existence would change dramatically with Shinra’s discovery of vast reserves of mako within the mountain.

The company’s efforts began with the construction of Shinra Manor on a plot of leased land. It was there that the head of Research and Development, Professor Gast, and his assistant, Professor Hojo, pioneered studies on mako and Jenova.

Shinra’s financial investment delivered the people of Nibelheim from poverty. Their newfound happiness and prosperity would be short-lived, though, as the entire village was burned to the ground and countless innocents slaughtered by Sephiroth.

A perfect reconstruction of Nibelheim was later erected on the site in secret, and now serves as a treatment center for victims of mako poisoning.

[isaysboo]

Americorps NCCC has just been disbanded. This is not the end and we cannot cave in to apathy. What now?

I've listed actionable steps below.

Step by step:

Sign petition and leave a response of why you signed and your personal experience.

Use templates provided bel (or write your own) to contact who you can. Calling is more effective than emailing, but either will do. Add your own personal experiences to the templates if you'd like.

Make sure your immediate circle is aware, especially people who are alumni of any program, partners, close friends and family. Send the link and make sure they know the steps.

Share what is happening on social media. Make a video, text post, post it on a story. Include the link and a bit about why it's important to you. Encourage others to share the link and post.

Talk to people in real life. Coworkers, classmates, people you attend religious services with and folks you volunteer with. If you're a more social person, even seeing if you can do this in a public place is awesome. Save the QR code so it's easily accessible.

Below are links and templates:

Link to petition: https://chng.it/VybhKkxyKJ

QR Code for Petition:

Call Script for elected officials if needed:

Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State].

I’m calling to express my concern about the defunding and shutdown of AmeriCorps NCCC. This program has provided service to communities across the country for decades — from disaster relief and environmental conservation to education and public health.

NCCC gives young adults a chance to serve their country while gaining valuable experience and leadership skills. It’s a program that builds stronger communities and future leaders. It's a loss that will affect so many people and communities Nationwide.

I urge [Senator/Representative Name] to support the continued funding and future of AmeriCorps NCCC. We need programs like this now more than ever.

Thank you for your time.

E-mail/Written message:

Subject: Please Support AmeriCorps NCCC

Dear [Senator/Representative Name],

My name is [Your Name], and I am a resident of [Your City, State]. I’m writing to express my deep concern over the recent defunding and effective shutdown of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

NCCC has been a vital service program for decades, mobilizing young adults to respond to community needs — from disaster recovery and infrastructure improvement to environmental conservation and education. It has not only benefited countless communities across the U.S., but it has also shaped the lives of thousands of young people who served through it.

This program embodies the values of community engagement, national service, and resilience. Losing it would be a significant step backward at a time when service and unity are more important than ever.

I respectfully urge you to support the restoration of funding for AmeriCorps NCCC and advocate for its continued operation.

Thank you for your time and your service.

Sincerely,

[Your Full Name]

[Your City, State]

[Optional: Phone Number / Email]

Mesaged previous sponsors/ Community members you may be in contact with:

Hello,

As you may have heard, AmeriCorps NCCC has recently been defunded and effectively shut down. Many of you know the positive impact NCCC teams have made across communities throughout the country — perhaps you’ve even worked with a team before.

You can help by spreading the word among staff, colleagues, and community members. If you or your organization believe in the value of NCCC, we encourage you to reach out to your state and federal representatives to express your support.

We've also created a petition (linked below) to ensure our voices are heard. After all the work NCCC members have done in service to communities nationwide, it’s critical that we speak up now.

Thank you so much for your support,

[Your name]

Petition link: https://chng.it/VybhKkxyKJ

[sharpened--edges]

Poor people, people of color, Indigenous people, queer people, and women receive the least benefit from the nuclear complex and are most exposed to its harm: the most toxic nuclear technology sites are located on Indigenous land and in proximity to poor communities and communities of color; predominantly Black cities are established as nuclear bait to protect the white suburbs, with the result that by 1984, an estimated 88 percent of the African American population would have been wiped out in the first minutes of a full-scale atomic conflict; safety standards regulating exposure to radiation are established based on the male body when women exposed to the same sources are 37.5 percent more likely to develop cancer; homosexuals are purged from the government at twice the rate of communists as the security of the nuclear complex is perceived to be threatened by their vulnerability to blackmail. As the activist Jan in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters (1980) argues to a friend who semijokingly wants to keep the struggle focused on “good ole-fashioned” racism, “They’re connected. Whose community do you think they ship radioactive waste through, or dig up waste burial grounds near? Who do you think they hire for the dangerous dirty work at those plants? What parts of the world do they test-blast in? And all them illegal uranium mines dug up on Navajo turf—the crops dying, the sheep dying, the horses, water, cancer, Ruby, cancer. And the plant on the Harlem River.... Hell, it’s an emergency situation, has been for years. All those thrown-together plants they built in the forties and fifties are falling apart now. War is not the threat. It’s all the ‘peacetime’ construction that’s wiping us out.”

Jessica Hurley, Infrastructures of Apocalypse: American Literature and the Nuclear Complex (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), pp. 14–15.

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

Looking at comments in this silly bike helmet debate does show me how many people are used to painted bicycle gutters without separation from car traffic as the optimistic high end of cycling infrastructure.

I suspect helmets never caught on here (though the authorities are trying) because of a number of factors such as 1) overconfidence due to riding a bike - often alone - since being a preteen if not a toddler, to the point it’s second nature 2) most trips being short and a part of other activities such as riding two-three streets over to the local shop or public transport, rather than being classified as a separate category of activity like a sport, like “jogging” is different from walking. It strikes me that North-Americans often classify it more like a sport and I’ve heard multiple cycling advocates talk about the way this is a hurdle as cycling is dismissed by car drivers as a leisure activity rather than legitimate means of transport 3) the benefits of a helmet are seen as rather marginal because the streets are already pretty safe here (car fatalities occur at one tenth the rate they do in the US for example) because a) since the 70s Dutch street design has tried its best to physically separate bikes from the biggest danger on the road (cars) through segregated bike lanes, curbs, barriers and foliage in between. According to design guides mixing is only allowed in places where cars drive very slowly (30km/h, or about 19mph) and the volume of traffic is very low b) city design routes cars and bikes through different routes through the city to common destinations (the most direct route for a cyclist might be a straight shot through a residential neighborhood while the cars are routed along the highway around the city) to avoid them coming into conflict with each other. This is called “ontvlechten”, meaning ‘to disentangle’ c) most drivers are not overtly and actively hostile to cyclists. Almost all of them cycle too, so they tend to be aware and deferential to cyclists because they know what it’s like to be outside their steel cage.

Because of this, the hassle of using a helmet is likely seen as not really worth it, because the context doesn’t necessitate it as much. Here’s some typical Dutch street design.

Look at that sweet sweet separation.

I mean if I had to cycle on what passes for biking infrastructure in North America where you’re wedged on a tiny painted lane between SUVs trying to run you off the road for daring to infringe on their sacred asfalt while needing to go onto the road to circumvent rows of cars parked in the bike path, while trying not to get launched into the air like a SpaceX rocket due to potholes, before the bikelane inevitably simply ends and you need to bike on the road for a couple blocks before it resumes… I wouldn’t be wearing a helmet because I simply would not be fucking cycling at all.

[dragonthunders01]

Spectember D8: Artificial selection

66 million years ago an extraterrestrial object landed on earth… not collided… landed.

It was itself artificial in nature, intelligent, very large and ready to prepare this world for occupants that were never going to come here, this machine was throw by an already extinct civilization that was colonizing the galaxy millions of years ago, leaving these behemoth terraforming drones that readjust the biosphere of a whole planet to be turned into a Arcology structured Ecumenopolis which can let them colonize the new alien planet. The artificial construct is not high intelligent, is more automatic than anything so this would only keep going for what was programmed without the ability to learn anything more of what it needs to maintain the global Arcological cities on the end cretaceous earth, even if it remains millions of years on the same task, following the same protocols and only adapting to an extend.

This has turned the history of earth into a new age, one where a civilization formed without its residents, now affecting the biosphere of the late cretaceous earth and carrying it into a strange new period, this causing a transformation on ways that benefited the survival of no avian dinosaurs and other animals and plants that could have perished if the asteroid collided as this whole system would protect them of the asteroid impact as part of its protocol of preservation. However, the existence of this artificial being would shape that fauna in ways that only could rival to changes made by geological and climate events, the machine would focus its goal on trying to adjust the animals that now live inside the cities to regulate their impact.

On what would be called reserves formed a more fragmentary ecosystems, pockets and islands between cities they are the most natural place on earth, they would see the evolution and extinction of new animals, meanwhile inside cities, there has been two trends: either these animals just adapt to the urbanized the environment remaining almost like their reserve relatives or the machine has modified the animals that tried to pass or live there to accommodate into specific tasks that benefit the infrastructure, indirectly domesticating them by artificial means and indirectly modifying their genes at long term by breeding, though these domesticated fauna sometimes would became extinct for a unexpected catastrophic event or are replaced by another group that the same global machine reshaped into a similar niche. Herbivores that feed on gardens and maintain them clean, predators that hunt animal plagues and balance the population of the other non-domesticated fauna, scavengers that keep streets clean from other animal remains. Although this machine has an army of small drones and systems that self-clean and maintain the cities, it didn’t stop to create its urban ecology to keep everything in check outside of the synthetic drone hands.

With all of this, it was possible that if there was not sentient species going to colonize this new earth, properly a sapient one would evolve inside the cities? Would even the machine would welcome its rise? In sort of way… it happened, but not in the way you could expect.

After 66 million years of constant modifications of these urban ecosystems, and jut since 6 million years ago a unique theropod species evolved, this is the Mockery folk (Scoptosapienoides), derived from a branch of oviraptorosaurs that evolved to hunt down perching animals on the tall building, it lives in these mega cities built and mean to host the long gone alien colonizers, and these theropods are capable of use the shelters with their rooms and beds, and sitting places to rest; these can go away from their specific home to “work” in hunting down the small animals that invaded the gardens of the tall buildings, often taking the transports, they can walk around streets too but they are taking the advantage of these special “elevators” to avoid wasting energy. They work out a whole day on their hunt, in a way this was their whole reward, a good hunt to eat food; they reach up their main homes to rest on the night, they are able to recognize their own houses, marks on them or simply by memory; they normally live solitary unless they establish a monogamous pair with a member of the opposite sex, which can nest and then raise their young in one single shelter until they reach age adult, at that point the monogamous couple separates and lives their lives as before, usually in a span period of more than 5 years; the mockery folk lives accommodated and in the case some of these get sick, old or crippled, these are cared properly if needed by the machine system.

Populations are largely limited to tall building apartments, normally only moving away when population overgrow the shelter amount or if one of the couples of the original family or the children leave and there is no way to properly way to establish a home nearby, normally remains homeless for days or week until they are guided by the machine to a new available building to live.

Their lives are easy, sustained by their hunting an interactive activity outside they can relax and sleep mostly in their shelters, the machine maintains its basic necessities including cleaning of these homes; the machine identifies these as residents of the buildings rather than animals, both collaborating and receiving the actions done, which the machine interprets as sentience acting, but is not, these animals are barely grasping a intelligence higher than a 4 year old human, they are as smart as a parrot and the majority of actions correspond to instinct and beneficial gain, and has been for the last 6 million years without really much advancement except more skill in using the systems of these cities.

The machine itself created them nudging its behavior, a product of mutual improvement and accommodation that produced at the end animals that could fill up a niche other organism couldn't fit, the one of the colonizers, to an extent of course because the machine itself is not capable of uplift these creatures, just to fulfill their needs and the mockery folk corresponds this for their own advantage, but not developed further for the mundane and dull life they obtained.

They became domesticated “people” which took the activities and tasks sapient beings were supposed to do, doing things they were planned to accommodate these unknown creators, though not fully guided by consciousness, they cannot understand why they can live in homes, or how these systems work, they cannot use things above simple color panels which they can touch with their derived finger in order to do an action, they cannot gather information or have a language, or history, they just live and die. There is no way to know if something might help them to evolve of being accommodate being in this artificial world, and the machine is likely not going to push this animal, just to let them live a sort of luxurious life until they all die out like with many other species.

[its-a-rat-trap]

BOB GELDOF: OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING CITIZENS OF BOOMTOWN

From The Pen of Bob Geldof:

My Fellow Citizens…

Time moves on alas and Boomtown needs to re-purpose its infrastructural modalities. That’s right Citizens we need to up-scale, downsize and re-position ourselves vertically but on a horizontally focussed axis to be better prepared online-sly speaking for the coming mega-celebratory 50th Boomtown Birthday.

The Citizens of Boomtown site and forum will shortly be seamlessly absorbed into the NEW BOOMTOWN SUPERSITE!! still giving you all the current extraordinary benefits of Citizenship, geeky discursive debating platforms but not really! Wow!!

Basically there’s no point in having two sites in effect doing the same thing so some maddened managerial time and motion efficiency freak begged Pete (blame him) to allow Mayor Jennifer and Techno buff Joke to “rationalise” our online presence, be slightly more professional (who? Us? The Rats? - you’re joking mate) and frankly get it together webbily-speaking. So…

COB is a great album but being released two days before lockdown, like a lot of things and people it got obstructed by Covid 19. So goodbye promotion, tour and what we had hoped would be a different route of approaching the band and music through a site or device where fans would be the same as the band in a shared experience of being Citizens of the “idea” of what Boomtown might be or could be and which, as a result become self-growing, outside of the band where the band and its members became irrelevant to the ongoing life of the site/idea/citizens. But still the background hum that united it all was the music coming out of that towering imaginary Ratopolis.

So feel free to jump in your leaky inflatable rubber dinghy, don your useless safety vest, pay a scumbag Rat-trafficker and migrate the tricky electric tides away from the doomed but forever beautiful city to the fun-lovin’, hip-swingin’, ga-roovey, ca-razey sunny uplands of brand new/old Ratland! That country where even the Rats roam free and zephyr winds carry wafts of gentle heavenly Ratmusik to all the green corners of its lush pastures. Where parliaments of citizens still carry on arcane esoteric deconstructive debates over the “true” meaning of “Do The Rat” and it’s global implications to the coming US elections particularly with regard to the swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin wherever the fuck that is.

So..thank you for all the fun of COB and hello to Ratsite 2. If you think it’s crap you’ll let us know and remember Pete is the one to blame..

Rat On..

BG xxx

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Rent control works

This Saturday (May 20), I’ll be at the GAITHERSBURG Book Festival with my novel Red Team Blues; then on May 22, I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference in DC.

On May 23, I’ll be in TORONTO for a book launch that’s part of WEPFest, a benefit for the West End Phoenix, onstage with Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Ron Diebert (Citizen Lab) and the whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri.

David Roth memorably described the job of neoliberal economists as finding “new ways to say ‘actually, your boss is right.’” Not just your boss: for decades, economists have formed a bulwark against seemingly obvious responses to the most painful parts of our daily lives, from wages to education to health to shelter:

https://popula.com/2023/04/30/yakkin-about-chatgpt-with-david-roth/

How can we solve the student debt crisis? Well, we could cancel student debt and regulate the price of education, either directly or through free state college.

How can we solve America’s heath-debt crisis? We could cancel health debt and create Medicare For All.

How can we solve America’s homelessness crisis? We could build houses and let homeless people live in them.

How can we solve America’s wage-stagnation crisis? We could raise the minimum wage and/or create a federal jobs guarantee.

How can we solve America’s workplace abuse crisis? We could allow workers to unionize.

How can we solve America’s price-gouging greedflation crisis? With price controls and/or windfall taxes.

How can we solve America’s inequality crisis? We could tax billionaires.

How can we solve America’s monopoly crisis? We could break up monopolies.

How can we solve America’s traffic crisis? We could build public transit.

How can we solve America’s carbon crisis? We can regulate carbon emissions.

These answers make sense to everyone except neoliberal economists and people in their thrall. Rather than doing the thing we want, neoliberal economists insist we must unleash “markets” to solve the problems, by “creating incentives.” That may sound like a recipe for a small state, but in practice, “creating incentives” often involves building huge bureaucracies to “keep the incentives aligned” (that is, to prevent private firms from ripping off public agencies).

This is how we get “solutions” that fail catastrophically, like:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness instead of debt cancellation and free college:

https://studentloansherpa.com/likely-ineligible/

The gig economy instead of unions and minimum wages:

https://www.newswise.com/articles/research-reveals-majority-of-gig-economy-workers-are-earning-below-minimum-wage

Interest rate hikes instead of price caps and windfall taxes:

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/03/1173371788/the-fed-raises-interest-rates-again-in-what-could-be-its-final-attack-on-inflati

Tax breaks for billionaire philanthropists instead of taxing billionaires:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/11/10/winners-take-all-modern-philanthropy-means-that-giving-some-away-is-more-important-than-how-you-got-it/

Subsidizing Uber instead of building mass transit:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/cities-turn-uber-instead-buses-trains/

Fraud-riddled carbon trading instead of emissions limits:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/27/voluntary-carbon-market/#trust-me

As infuriating as all of this “actually, your boss is right” nonsense is, the most immediate and continuously frustrating aspect of it is the housing crisis, which has engulfed cities all over the world, to the detriment of nearly everyone.

America led the way on screwing up housing. There were two major New Deal/post-war policies that created broad (but imperfect and racially biased) prosperity in America: housing subsidies and labor unions. Of the two, labor unions were the most broadly inclusive, most available across racial and gender lines, and most engaged with civil rights struggles and other progressive causes.

So America declared war on labor unions and told working people that their only path to intergenerational wealth was to buy a home, wait for it to “appreciate,” and sell it on for a profit. This is a disaster. Without unions to provide countervailing force, every part of American life has worsened, with stagnating wages lagging behind skyrocketing expenses for education, health, retirement, and long-term care. For nearly every homeowner, this means that their “most valuable asset” — the roof over their head — must be liquidated to cover debts. Meanwhile, their kids, burdened with six-figure student debt — will have little or nothing left from the sale of the family home with which to cover a downpayment in a hyperinflated market:

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

Meanwhile, rent inflation is screaming ahead of other forms of inflation, burdening working people beyond any ability to pay. Giant Wall Street firms have bought up huge swathes of the country’s housing stock, transforming it into overpriced, undermaintained slums that you can be evicted from at the drop of a hat:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords

Transforming housing from a human right to an “asset” was always going to end in a failure to build new housing stock and regulate the rental market. It’s reaching a breaking point. “Superstar cities” like New York and San Francisco have long been priced out of the reach of working people, but now they’re becoming unattainable for double-income, childless, college-educated adults in their prime working years:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/15/upshot/migrations-college-super-cities.html

A city that you can’t live in is a failure. A system that can’t provide decent housing is a failure. The “your boss is right, actually” crowd won: we don’t build public housing, we don’t regulate rents, and it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Maybe we could try doing things instead of “aligning incentives?”

Like, how about rent control.

God, you can already hear them squealing! “Price controls artificially distort well-functioning markets, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand and the creation of the dreaded deadweight loss triangle!”

Rent control “causes widespread shortages, leaving would-be renters high and dry while screwing landlords (the road to hell, so says the orthodox economist, is paved with good intentions).”

That’s been the received wisdom for decades, fed to us by Chicago School economists who are so besotted with their own mathematical models that any mismatch between the models’ predictions and the real world is chalked up to errors in the real world, not the models. It’s pure economism: “If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

But, as Mark Paul writes for The American Prospect, rent control works:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/housing/2023-05-16-economists-hate-rent-control/

Rent control doesn’t constrain housing supply:

https://dornsife.usc.edu/pere/rent-matters

At least some of the time, rent control expands housing supply:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2007.00334.x

The real risk of rent control is landlords exploiting badly written laws to kick out tenants and convert their units to condos — that’s not a problem with rent control, it’s a problem with eviction law:

https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/DMQ.pdf

Meanwhile, removing rent control doesn’t trigger the predicted increases in housing supply:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119006000635

Rent control might create winners (tenants) and losers (landlords), but it certainly doesn’t make everyone worse off — as the neoliberal doctrine insists it must. Instead, tenants who benefit from rent control have extra money in their pockets to spend on groceries, debt service, vacations, and child-care.

Those happier, more prosperous people, in turn, increase the value of their landlords’ properties, by creating happy, prosperous neighborhoods. Rent control means that when people in a neighborhood increase its value, their landlords can’t kick them out and rent to richer people, capturing all the value the old tenants created.

What is life like under rent control? It’s great. You and your family get to stay put until you’re ready to move on, as do your neighbors. Your kids don’t have to change schools and find new friends. Old people aren’t torn away from communities who care for them:

https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/landec/v58y1982i1p109-117.html

In Massachusetts, tenants with rent control pay half the rent that their non-rent-controlled neighbors pay:

https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/publications/housing%20market%202014.pdf

Rent control doesn’t just make tenants better off, it makes society better off. Rather than money flowing from a neighborhood to landlords, rent control allows the people in a community to invest it there: opening and patronizing businesses.

Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop. As the housing crisis worsens, states are finally bringing back rent control. New York has strengthened rent control for the first time in 40 years:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/nyregion/rent-regulation-laws-new-york.html

California has a new statewide rent control law:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/business/economy/california-rent-control.html

They’re battling against anti-rent-control state laws pushed by ALEC, the right-wing architects of model legislation banning action on climate change, broadband access, and abortion:

https://www.nmhc.org/research-insight/analysis-and-guidance/rent-control-laws-by-state/

But rent control has broad, democratic support. Strong majorities of likely voters support rent control:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/07/metro/new-statewide-poll-shows-strong-support-rent-control/

And there’s a kind of rent control that has near unanimous support: the 30-year fixed mortgage. For the 67% of Americans who live in owner-occupied homes, the existence of the federally-backed (and thus federally subsidized) fixed mortgage means that your monthly shelter costs are fixed for life. What’s more, these costs go down the longer you pay them, as mortgage borrowers refinance when interest rates dip.

We have a two-tier system: if you own a home, then the longer you stay put, the cheaper your “rent” gets. If you rent a home, the longer you stay put, the more expensive your home gets over time.

America needs a shit-ton more housing — regular housing for working people. Mr Market doesn’t want to build it, no matter how many “incentives” we dangle. Maybe it’s time we just did stuff instead of building elaborate Rube Goldberg machines in the hopes of luring the market’s animal sentiments into doing it for us.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

[Image ID: A beautifully laid dining room table in a luxury flat. Outside of the windows looms a rotting shanty town with storm-clouds overhead.]

Image: ozz13x (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shanty_Town_Hong_Kong_China_March_2013.jpg

Matt Brown (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dining_room_in_Centre_Point_penthouse.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[krutika786]

Strategic Location Advantage: Why Alembic City is Perfectly Placed for Business

Vadodara: A Rising Business Destination

Over the past decade, Vadodara has rapidly emerged as a preferred commercial hub in Vadodara, Gujarat. With excellent infrastructure, growing industrial presence, and an educated workforce, it has become the city of choice for startups, professionals, and multinational corporations alike. At the center of this evolution is Alembic City, an integrated commercial district that delivers the right balance of accessibility, infrastructure, and sustainability.

Alembic City Vadodara: An Address That Works for You

Spread across 1 million sq. ft. of built space and featuring seven and counting premium office buildings, Alembic City Vadodara is purpose-built to meet modern business needs. From boutique firms to corporate headquarters, every enterprise finds a home here.

The commercial district offers:

Customizable office spaces designed to grow with your business

Dedicated parking for all tenants

24/7 power backup to ensure business continuity

An expansive internal road network for smooth mobility

State-of-the-art facility management to support seamless operations

Strategic Connectivity: Everything Within Reach

Alembic City’s location ensures your business is always connected—whether it’s your clients, team, or essential services.

Here’s how well-positioned Alembic City really is:

Alembic Vidyalaya – 0.6 KM

Bhailal Amin General Hospital – 0.1 KM

Maharaja Sayajirao University – 3.6 KM

Vadodara Junction Railway Station – 2.6 KM

Vadodara Airport – 6.7 KM

Whether you need to catch a flight, meet clients arriving by train, or offer team members access to top education and healthcare—Alembic City places everything within minutes.

A Green Vision for the Future

Alembic City is also home to Vadodara’s first USGBC Gold-rated commercial building, making it a leader in sustainable development. With energy-efficient systems, green landscapes, and employee-friendly environments, businesses here enjoy lower operational costs and healthier workplaces—benefits that extend to both people and planet.

The Legacy Behind the Vision

Developed by the reputed Alembic Group with over a century of excellence, Alembic City brings together the best of legacy and modernity. The brand is known for creating sustainable, future-ready ecosystems that integrate commerce, lifestyle, and community living. Alembic City Vadodara continues this tradition by offering a commercial environment designed for today’s needs and tomorrow’s ambitions.

Conclusion: The Perfect Launchpad for Growth

With its premium infrastructure, unbeatable location, and commitment to sustainability, Alembic City Vadodara is more than a business address, it's a growth partner.

Ready to elevate your business?

Explore the commercial projects at Alembic City Vadodara and discover a new standard of workspaces designed for the future.

[freshcrusadeluminary]

**Navigating Cybersecurity within the Big Apple: Essential IT Support Solutions for New York Businesses**

Introduction

In this present day’s electronic landscape, cybersecurity is an integral consideration for establishments of all sizes, especially in bustling metropolises like New York City. With hundreds of thousands of transactions taking place each day and a plethora of delicate documents being exchanged, making sure powerful IT help solutions has under https://www.tumblr.com/saemonwowi/781497055777619968/maximizing-efficiency-the-role-of-managed-it no circumstances been more fundamental. As corporations a growing number of rely upon cloud services, network infrastructure, and varying science companies, knowledge the intricacies of cybersecurity becomes paramount.

New York agencies face exceptional challenges in the case of retaining their data and infrastructure. The city is a melting pot of industries—from finance to healthcare—every with its very own certain compliance necessities such as NIST, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. In this accomplished consultant, we’ll explore needed IT help suggestions tailored for New York firms, targeting strategies to navigate the tricky global of cybersecurity.

The Importance of Cybersecurity for New York Businesses Understanding Cyber Threats

Every day, cybercriminals boost new strategies to make the most vulnerabilities within trade programs. Whether it’s by using phishing assaults or exploiting susceptible endpoints, these threats can end in outstanding financial losses and reputational wreck.

Types of Cyber Threats Malware: Malicious device designed to harm or make the most gadgets. Ransomware: A variety of malware that locks customers out unless a ransom is paid. Phishing Attacks: Fraudulent tries to download touchy details through disguising as risk-free entities. The Cost of Downtime

Did you realize that downtime can check businesses lots, if no longer hundreds of thousands? A record from Forbes envisioned that unplanned outages can expense prone up to $5,600 per minute. This staggering parent underscores the importance of getting potent cybersecurity measures in situation.

Regulatory Compliance in NYC

Different industries have exact regulatory specifications that dictate how they should always arrange info security:

Healthcare (HIPAA): Mandates stringent safeguards for patient suggestions. Finance (PCI DSS): Protects cardholder tips from breaches.

Understanding these regulations is essential for enforcing amazing cybersecurity options.

Navigating Cybersecurity within the Big Apple: Essential IT Support Solutions for New York Businesses Managed IT Services: A Comprehensive Approach

When it comes to securing your commercial in New York City, outsourcing your IT necessities might possibly be among the best approaches forward. Managed IT prone provide organizations with non-stop monitoring and control in their IT procedures.

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Benefits of Managed IT Services 24/7 Monitoring: Ensure consistent surveillance against energy threats. Scalable Solutions: Adaptable expertise that grow with your