#Back-office software solutions

[empowering-possibilties-online]

Top Tools to Enhance Small Business Productivity and Management

Managing your small business’s back-office tasks doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I used to spend hours on tasks like updating spreadsheets and chasing approvals. But then, I found tools that changed everything. These tools, like computer monitoring software and automation platforms, made my work easier. They turned chaos into order. Now, I can focus on growing my business instead of getting…

[theinnovatorsinsights]

With Innrly | Streamline Your Hospitality Operations

Manage all your hotels from anywhere | Transformation without transition

Managing a hotel or a multi-brand portfolio can be overwhelming, especially when juggling multiple systems, reports, and data sources. INNRLY, a cutting-edge hotel management software, revolutionizes the way hospitality businesses operate by delivering intelligent insights and simplifying workflows—all without the need for system changes or upgrades. Designed for seamless integration and powerful automation, INNRLY empowers hotel owners and managers to make data-driven decisions and enhance operational efficiency.

Revolutionizing Hotel Management

In the fast-paced world of hospitality, efficiency is the cornerstone of success. INNRLY’s cloud-based platform offers a brand-neutral, user-friendly interface that consolidates critical business data across all your properties. Whether you manage a single boutique hotel or a portfolio of properties spanning different regions, INNRLY provides an all-in-one solution for optimizing performance and boosting productivity.

One Dashboard for All Your Properties:

Say goodbye to fragmented data and manual processes. INNRLY enables you to monitor your entire portfolio from a single dashboard, providing instant access to key metrics like revenue, occupancy, labor costs, and guest satisfaction. With this unified view, hotel managers can make informed decisions in real time.

Customizable and Scalable Solutions:

No two hospitality businesses are alike, and INNRLY understands that. Its customizable features adapt to your unique needs, whether you're running a small chain or managing an extensive enterprise. INNRLY grows with your business, ensuring that your operations remain efficient and effective.

Seamless Integration for Effortless Operations:

One of INNRLY’s standout features is its ability to integrate seamlessly with your existing systems. Whether it's your property management system (PMS), accounting software, payroll/labor management tools, or even guest feedback platforms, INNRLY pulls data together effortlessly, eliminating the need for system overhauls.

Automated Night Audits:

Tired of labor-intensive night audits? INNRLY’s Night Audit+ automates this crucial process, providing detailed reports that are automatically synced with your accounting software. It identifies issues such as declined credit cards or high balances, ensuring no problem goes unnoticed.

A/R and A/P Optimization:

Streamline your accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P) processes to improve cash flow and avoid costly mistakes. INNRLY’s automation reduces manual entry, speeding up credit cycles and ensuring accurate payments.

Labor and Cost Management:

With INNRLY, you can pinpoint inefficiencies, monitor labor hours, and reduce costs. Detailed insights into overtime risks, housekeeping minutes per room (MPR), and other labor metrics help you manage staff productivity effectively.

Empowering Data-Driven Decisions:

INNRLY simplifies decision-making by surfacing actionable insights through its robust reporting and analytics tools.

Comprehensive Reporting:

Access reports on your schedule, from detailed night audit summaries to trial balances and franchise billing reconciliations. Consolidated data across multiple properties allows for easy performance comparisons and trend analysis.

Benchmarking for Success:

Compare your properties' performance against industry standards or other hotels in your portfolio. Metrics such as ADR (Average Daily Rate), RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room), and occupancy rates are presented in an easy-to-understand format, empowering you to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Guest Satisfaction Insights:

INNRLY compiles guest feedback and satisfaction scores, enabling you to take prompt action to enhance the guest experience. Happy guests lead to better reviews and increased bookings, driving long-term success.

Key Benefits of INNRLY

Single Login, Full Control: Manage all properties with one login, saving time and reducing complexity.

Error-Free Automation: Eliminate manual data entry, reducing errors and increasing productivity.

Cost Savings: Pinpoint problem areas to reduce labor costs and optimize spending.

Enhanced Accountability: Hold each property accountable for issues flagged by INNRLY’s tools, supported by an optional Cash Flow Protection Team at the enterprise level.

Data Security: Protect your credentials and data while maintaining your existing systems.

Transforming Hospitality Without Transition

INNRLY’s philosophy is simple: transformation without transition. You don’t need to replace or upgrade your existing systems to benefit from INNRLY. The software integrates effortlessly into your current setup, allowing you to focus on what matters most—delivering exceptional guest experiences and achieving your business goals.

Who Can Benefit from INNRLY?

Hotel Owners:

For owners managing multiple properties, INNRLY offers a centralized platform to monitor performance, identify inefficiencies, and maximize profitability.

General Managers:

Simplify day-to-day operations with automated processes and real-time insights, freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives.

Accounting Teams:

INNRLY ensures accurate financial reporting by syncing data across systems, reducing errors, and streamlining reconciliation processes.

Multi-Brand Portfolios:

For operators managing properties across different brands, INNRLY’s brand-neutral platform consolidates data, making it easy to compare and optimize performance.

Contact INNRLY Today

Ready to revolutionize your hotel management? Join the growing number of hospitality businesses transforming their operations with INNRLY.

Website: www.innrly.com

Email: contact@innrly.com

Phone: 833-311-0777

[gujpreneur]

Back Office Solutions Maestro: Parag Turakhia’s Journey

The business of Parag Turakhia has emerged as a leader in website services, software development, and back office solutions. We will examine his incredible accomplishments, his amazing journey, and the difficulties he encountered in this blog.

[chloedecker0]

Maximizing Retail Profits: Harnessing B2B Price Optimization Software

In the ever-evolving world of retail and e-commerce, businesses are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge. Among the many strategies employed, B2B Price Optimization and Management Software stands out as a game-changer. Price optimisation and management (PO&M) software solutions enable businesses to oversee and optimize the prices of their goods and services. These services also provide a growing range of sales intelligence advice, such as best-next-action suggestions and customer churn warnings. In the industry, vendors either focus on back-office price management and product management roles, or they focus on providing real-time sales intelligence to sales representatives and B2B digital commerce websites, or both. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, a leading global advisory and consulting firm, has recognized the significance of this technology in their report, “B2B Price Optimization and Management Applications, 2023”. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions focuses on helping clients in achieving business transformation goals with Strategic Business, and Growth Advisory Services. 

Download the sample report of Market Share: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

Understanding the Retail and E-commerce Landscape 

The retail and e-commerce industry is a highly dynamic and competitive space. Companies within this domain face the continuous challenge of pricing their products right to maximize profitability while staying attractive to their customers. In this context, pricing becomes a critical element of their strategy. Let's delve into some of these challenges: 

Rapidly Changing Market Dynamics: Retail and e-commerce markets are highly volatile, with ever-shifting consumer preferences and market trends. Adapting to these changes in real-time is essential to stay competitive. Without the right tools, businesses risk making pricing decisions that are out of sync with market realities. 

Intense Competition: In retail and e-commerce, competition is fierce. With numerous players offering similar products or services, pricing becomes a key differentiator. Setting prices too high can drive customers away, while pricing too low can erode profit margins. 

Complex Supply Chain and Cost Structures: The retail and e-commerce sector often deals with complex supply chain operations and cost structures. Understanding the true costs associated with a product or service is essential for setting optimal prices. Traditional methods of cost calculation can be time-consuming and error-prone. 

Customer Behaviour and Expectations: Today's consumers are more informed and price-sensitive than ever before. Their buying behaviour can change rapidly in response to various factors, including promotions, discounts, and market trends. Retailers must be agile in responding to these changes. 

Competitor Pricing Strategies: Keeping a constant eye on competitor pricing is crucial. Businesses need to respond promptly to pricing moves made by competitors to remain competitive. Manual tracking and analysis of competitor pricing are arduous and inefficient processes. 

Download the sample report of Market Forecast: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software: A Necessity 

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software is the solution to these challenges. This technology leverages advanced algorithms, data analytics, and real-time market insights to help businesses make data-driven pricing decisions. It empowers retail and e-commerce companies to optimize their prices efficiently while taking into account factors like demand fluctuations, competitor pricing, and customer behaviour.

Talk To Analyst: https://quadrant-solutions.com/talk-to-analyst

[intiviontechnologies]

Forex Crm Software - Intivion Technologies

Intivion.com offers a comprehensive suite of Forex CRM software solutions to help you manage your business. Our software is designed to streamline customer relationship management, automate processes, and increase efficiency. Get started today and take your business to the next level.

Forex Crm Software

[reasonsforhope]

"As a Deaf man, Adam Munder has long been advocating for communication rights in a world that chiefly caters to hearing people. 

The Intel software engineer and his wife — who is also Deaf — are often unable to use American Sign Language in daily interactions, instead defaulting to texting on a smartphone or passing a pen and paper back and forth with service workers, teachers, and lawyers. 

It can make simple tasks, like ordering coffee, more complicated than it should be. 

But there are life events that hold greater weight than a cup of coffee. 

Recently, Munder and his wife took their daughter in for a doctor’s appointment — and no interpreter was available. 

To their surprise, their doctor said: “It’s alright, we’ll just have your daughter interpret for you!” ...

That day at the doctor’s office came at the heels of a thousand frustrating interactions and miscommunications — and Munder is not isolated in his experience.

“Where I live in Arizona, there are more than 1.1 million individuals with a hearing loss,” Munder said, “and only about 400 licensed interpreters.”

In addition to being hard to find, interpreters are expensive. And texting and writing aren’t always practical options — they leave out the emotion, detail, and nuance of a spoken conversation. 

ASL is a rich, complex language with its own grammar and culture; a subtle change in speed, direction, facial expression, or gesture can completely change the meaning and tone of a sign. 

“Writing back and forth on paper and pen or using a smartphone to text is not equivalent to American Sign Language,” Munder emphasized. “The details and nuance that make us human are lost in both our personal and business conversations.”

His solution? An AI-powered platform called Omnibridge. 

“My team has established this bridge between the Deaf world and the hearing world, bringing these worlds together without forcing one to adapt to the other,” Munder said. 

Trained on thousands of signs, Omnibridge is engineered to transcribe spoken English and interpret sign language on screen in seconds...

“Our dream is that the technology will be available to everyone, everywhere,” Munder said. “I feel like three to four years from now, we're going to have an app on a phone. Our team has already started working on a cloud-based product, and we're hoping that will be an easy switch from cloud to mobile to an app.” ...

At its heart, Omnibridge is a testament to the positive capabilities of artificial intelligence. "

-via GoodGoodGood, October 25, 2024. More info below the cut!

To test an alpha version of his invention, Munder welcomed TED associate Hasiba Haq on stage. 

“I want to show you how this could have changed my interaction at the doctor appointment, had this been available,” Munder said. 

He went on to explain that the software would generate a bi-directional conversation, in which Munder’s signs would appear as blue text and spoken word would appear in gray. 

At first, there was a brief hiccup on the TED stage. Haq, who was standing in as the doctor’s office receptionist, spoke — but the screen remained blank. 

“I don’t believe this; this is the first time that AI has ever failed,” Munder joked, getting a big laugh from the crowd. “Thanks for your patience.”

After a quick reboot, they rolled with the punches and tried again.

Haq asked: “Hi, how’s it going?” 

Her words popped up in blue. 

Munder signed in reply: “I am good.” 

His response popped up in gray. 

Back and forth, they recreated the scene from the doctor’s office. But this time Munder retained his autonomy, and no one suggested a 7-year-old should play interpreter. 

Munder’s TED debut and tech demonstration didn’t happen overnight — the engineer has been working on Omnibridge for over a decade. 

“It takes a lot to build something like this,” Munder told Good Good Good in an exclusive interview, communicating with our team in ASL. “It couldn't just be one or two people. It takes a large team, a lot of resources, millions and millions of dollars to work on a project like this.” 

After five years of pitching and research, Intel handpicked Munder’s team for a specialty training program. It was through that backing that Omnibridge began to truly take shape...

“Our dream is that the technology will be available to everyone, everywhere,” Munder said. “I feel like three to four years from now, we're going to have an app on a phone. Our team has already started working on a cloud-based product, and we're hoping that will be an easy switch from cloud to mobile to an app.” 

In order to achieve that dream — of transposing their technology to a smartphone — Munder and his team have to play a bit of a waiting game. Today, their platform necessitates building the technology on a PC, with an AI engine. 

“A lot of things don't have those AI PC types of chips,” Munder explained. “But as the technology evolves, we expect that smartphones will start to include AI engines. They'll start to include the capability in processing within smartphones. It will take time for the technology to catch up to it, and it probably won't need the power that we're requiring right now on a PC.” 

At its heart, Omnibridge is a testament to the positive capabilities of artificial intelligence. 

But it is more than a transcription service — it allows people to have face-to-face conversations with each other. There’s a world of difference between passing around a phone or pen and paper and looking someone in the eyes when you speak to them. 

It also allows Deaf people to speak ASL directly, without doing the mental gymnastics of translating their words into English.

“For me, English is my second language,” Munder told Good Good Good. “So when I write in English, I have to think: How am I going to adjust the words? How am I going to write it just right so somebody can understand me? It takes me some time and effort, and it's hard for me to express myself actually in doing that. This technology allows someone to be able to express themselves in their native language.” 

Ultimately, Munder said that Omnibridge is about “bringing humanity back” to these conversations. 

“We’re changing the world through the power of AI, not just revolutionizing technology, but enhancing that human connection,” Munder said at the end of his TED Talk. 

“It’s two languages,” he concluded, “signed and spoken, in one seamless conversation.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, October 25, 2024

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Brother makes a demon-haunted printer

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in RICHMOND TOMORROW (Mar 5) and in AUSTIN> on Mar 10. More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

You guys, I don't want to bum you out or anything, but I think there's a good chance than some self-described capitalists aren't really into capitalism.

Sorry.

Take incentives: Charlie Munger, capitalism's quippiest pitchman, famously said, "Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome." And here's some mindblowing horseshoe theory for ya: Munger agrees with the noted Communist agitator Adam Smith, whose anti-rentier, pro-government-regulation jeremiad "The Wealth of Nations" contains this notorious passage:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.

Incentives matter – if you design a system that permits abuse, you should expect abuse. Now, I'm not 100% on board with this: every one of us has ways to undetectably cheat the system and enrich ourselves, but most of the time, most of us play by the rules.

But it's different for corporations: the myth of "shareholder supremacy" has reached pandemic levels among the artificial lifeforms we call corporate persons, and it's impossible to rise through the corporate ranks without repeating and believing the catechism that there is a law that requires executives to lie, cheat and steal if it results in an extra dollar for the investors, in the name of "fiduciary duty":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/18/falsifiability/#figleaves-not-rubrics

And this attitude has leaked out into politics and everyday life, so that many of our neighbors have been brainwashed into thinking that a successful cheat is a success in life, that pulling a fast one "makes you smart":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/04/its-not-a-lie/#its-a-premature-truth

In a world dominated by a belief in the moral virtue and legal necessity of ripping off anyone you can get away with cheating, then, sure, any system that permits cheating is a system in which cheating will occur.

This shouldn't be controversial, but if so, how are we to explain the whole concept of the Internet of Things? Installing networked computers into our appliances, office equipment, vehicles and homes is an invitation of mischief: the software in those computers can be remotely altered after you purchase them, taking away the features you paid for and then selling them back to you.

Now, an advocate for market-based solutions has a ready-made response to this: if a company downgrades a device you own, this merely invites another company to step in with a disenshittifying plug-in that makes things better. If the company that made your garage-door opener pushes an over-the-air update that blocks you from using an ad-free, well-designed app and forces you to use an enshittified app that forces you to look at ads before you can open the garage, well, that's an opportunity for a rival company to sell you a better software update for your garage-door opener, one that restores the lost functionality:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

I'm no hayekpilled market truefan, but I'm pretty sure that would work.

However.

The problem is that since 1998, that kind of reverse-engineering has been a felony under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing "an effective access control"

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

There's a pretty obvious incentive at play when companies have the ability to unilaterally alter how their products work after you buy them and you are legally prohibited to change how the product works after you buy them. This is the first lesson of the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

I've been banging this drum for decades now – like when I got into a public (friendly) spat with the editor of Wired magazine over their reviews of DRM-based media devices. I argued that it was irresponsible to review a device that could be unilaterally downgraded by the manufacturer at any time, without – at a minimum – noting that the feature you're buying the gadget for might disappear without warning after you've shelled out your hard-earned money:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences

Of course, companies that get a reputation for these kinds of shenanigans might lose market share to better competitors. Sure, if the company that made your phone or your thermostat or your insulin pump reached into it across the internet and made it worse, you're shit out of luck when it comes to that device. But you can buy your next device from a better company, right?

Well, sure – in a competitive market, that's a plausible theory of "market discipline." Companies that fear losing business to rivals might behave themselves better.

In theory.

But in practice, the world's "advanced economies" have spent the past 40 years running an uncontrolled experiment in what happens if you don't enforce competition law, and instead allow companies to buy all their competitors. The result is across-the-board industrial oligopolies, cartels, duopolies and monopolies in nearly every category of good and service:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

Now, even a duopoly has some competition. If you don't like Coke, there's always Pepsi. But again, in practice, companies in concentrated industries find it easy to "tacitly collude" to adopt one another's worst habits – the differences between the outrageous payment processing charged by Apple's App Store and the junk fees charged by Google Play are about as meaningful as the differences between Coke and Pepsi.

Which brings me to printers.

I know.

Ugh.

Printers are the worst and HP is the worst of the worst. For years, HP has been abusing its market dominance – and its customers' wallets – by inflating the price of ink and rolling out countermeasures to prevent you from refilling your old cartridges or buying third-party ink. Worse, HP have mastered the Darth Vader MBA, bushing updates to its printers that sneakily downgrade them after you've bought them and taken them home.

Here's a sneaky trick HP came up with: they send a "security update" to your printer. After you click "OK," a little progress bar zips across the screen and the printer reboots itself, and then…nothing. The printer declares itself to be "up to date" and works exactly like it did before you installed the update. But inside the printer, a countdown timer has kicked off, and then, months later, the "security update" activates itself, like a software Manchurian Candidate.

Because that "security update" protects the security of HP, against HP customers. It is designed to detect and reject the very latest third-party ink cartridges, which means that if you've just bought a year's worth of ink at Costco, you might wake up the next day and discover that your printer will no longer accept them – because of an update you ran six months before.

Why does HP put such a long fuse on its logic bomb? For the same reason that viruses like covid evolve to be contagious before you show symptoms. If the update immediately broke compatibility with third party ink, word would spread, and some HP customers would turn off their printers' wifi before the "security update" could be applied to them.

By asymptomatically incubating the infection over a long, patient timescale, HP maximizes the spread of the contagion, guaranteeing a global pandemic of enshittiification:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

HP has done this – and worse – over and over, and every time I write about it, people pop up to recommend their Brother printers as the enshittification-free alternative. I own a Brother, an HL3170-CDW laser printer that's basically indestructible, cheerfully accepts third-party toner, and costs almost nothing to run.

But I still don't connect it to my wifi. The idea that Brother is a better company than HP – that is possesses some intrinsic antienshittificatory virtue – has always struck me as a foolish belief. Brother has means, motive and opportunity to push over-the-air downgrades to block third-party ink as HP.

Which is exactly what they've done.

Yesterday, Louis Rossman, hero of the Right to Repair movement, revealed that Brother had just pushed a mandatory over-the-air update that locks out third-party ink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHX_9fHNqE

Rossman has a thorough technical breakdown of the heist, but it boils down to this. Brother is just as shit as HP. Look from the men to the pigs and the pigs to the men all you want – you will never spot the difference. Take the Pepsi Challenge – bet you won't be able to guess which is which:

https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Brother_ink_lockout_%26_quality_sabotage

This was the absolutely predictable outcome of the regulatory incentives our corporate overlords created, the enormous, far-reaching power we handed to these corporations. With that great power came no responsibility:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/#franklinite

Filling our devices with computers that run programs that can be changed in secret, that we're not allowed to inspect or alter? It's a recipe for a demon-haunted world, where the devices we entrust with our livelihood, our privacy and our wellbeing are possessed by hellions who escape from the digital Tartarus and are unleashed upon humanity.

Demons have possessed the Internet of Things. It's in Teslas:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

and in every other car, too:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

Our devices – phones, pacemakers, appliances and home security systems – are designed to prevent us to find out what they're doing. That means that when malicious software infects them, then – by design – these devices prevent us from knowing about it or doing anything about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/18/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome.

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/2025/03/05/printers-devil/#show-me-the-incentives-i-will-show-you-the-outcome

[rubylace]

PART 2. LIKES TO WATCH

m.list

pairing: musician!jay x reader (f) ft. yunjin lsrfm ; suga bts, mingyu svt, yeonjun txt

genre: coming-of-age, new adult, personal growth, sexual tension, fams dynamic, lovehate

wordcount: 17k

warning: nsfw pov, explicit acts, voyeurism . if you are not comfortable please just dni I put div for the cue. no disguised words.

a/n: really confused about how to be intense ㅠㅠ not me check out jay's hot edits to get the mood-

Things hadn’t gotten any better between Jay and you. The house had four bedrooms. Since you’d turned one of them into an exercise room. Jay used the other one as an office during the day. His muffled voice could often be heard from behind the door as he made work calls. Apparently, the company he worked for sold business solutions software.

Yunjin and you were working almost every night at Yeonjun’s as well as the occasional afternoon. One day in particular, you were on break when we overheard the restaurant owner, Suga, complaining that the band who performed most nights had suddenly quit.

Mingyu’s was probably the most popular spot on the entire island for live music. That’s what it was known for even more than the food. So, this didn’t bode well for business. Her voice was low. “I wonder if Jay would be interested in playing here.”

You’d been feeling kind of sick this afternoon, but the mere mention of his name made your stomach feel even more unsettled. “You think he would want to perform in a place like this?”

“Yeah. he’s used to bigger venues, but it’s not like he’s doing anything else. He took the summer off, but I get the feeling he actually regrets it. He’s been in a horrible mood since we got here. I think he’s itching to play again. It might do him some good to get back in the game for a bit on a smaller scale. It’s not like there would be any pressure. No one knows him out here.”

The thought of getting to see Jay perform gave you goosebumps. On one hand, it would be amazing. On the other, you knew it would be painful for you to have to endure him here at night. His actually agreeing to it probably wouldn’t pan out, so you vowed not to obsess over it unless it became a reality.

“I’m gonna talk to Suga,” Yunjin said.

“Do you think you and Jay will get married?” Not sure why asking that question. You’d been curious as to how serious they were, and it just came out.

Yunjin hesitated. “I don’t know. I really love him. I hope so if we can work out our differences.”

“Differences? Like what?”

She took a sip of her water then frowned. “Well, Jay doesn’t want kids.”

“What? He told you that?”

“He says he feels it’s irresponsible to bring children into the world unless he can be 100% sure of capabilities as a parent. He says he doesn’t feel that his own parents should have ever had children, and he just doesn’t think it’s for him.”

“Really?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want kids anytime soon. My career comes first right now, but someday I would like to have them. So, if he definitely doesn’t want kids, then that could be a problem.”

“He’ll probably change his mind as he gets older. He’s still so young.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s really bad. He won’t even have sex with me without a condom, even though I’m on the pill. He refuses to take even the slightest chance because he’s so fearful. He’s super paranoid.”

Trying to block out the images of them having sex, you simply said, “Wow.”

It made you really sad that Jay felt that way because of his parents. They were constantly working and never paid enough attention to him when he were kids. His mother was always away on business trips.

That was part of why Ameryn was so important to him. Truthfully, your mother shouldn’t have had a child either. But her poor parenting didn’t stop you from wanting to have a child of your own someday.

Yunjin took a closer look at your face. “Are you feeling alright?”

Thinking about the stress of your reunion with Jay was finally catching up with you. Your nerves were shot, and it was all making you sick.

“Actually, I’ve been feeling ill all day. My stomach is upset, and I have a headache.”

“Why don’t you go home early? I’ll cover your shift and let Sakura know what’s up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll owe you then.”

“Believe me, there will come a time that I get called back to NYC, and you’ll make due on that.”

“Okay,” you said, getting up and unfastening the black smock tied around your back.

The entire walk home, despite your vowing not to think about it, your thoughts once again turned to Jay and the fact that Yunjin was going to try to get him the gig at Yeonjun’s. It had been years since you’d heard his singing voice. You wondered what it sounded like now that it was deeper and with years of practice.

Jay’s car was parked outside of the house. He was expecting Yunjin and you to both be at work. You had to pass through the kitchen to get upstairs to your room and hoped you didn’t have to run into him without Yunjin here as a buffer.

Relief washed over you as you entered the empty kitchen. You grabbed a water bottle and some Advil for your headache and tiptoed up the stairs so that Jay didn’t notice you home.

The sound of heavy breathing coming from his bedroom stopped you in your tracks at the top of the stairwell. you could hear sheets rustling. Your heart beat faster. He didn’t think anyone would be home. “He must have a girl in there. How could he do that to her?”

You had to pass his room to get to yours anyway. Ameryn had the hallway carpeted. Covering your chest with your hand, you crept slowly toward his door which was cracked open. You closed your eyes briefly to prepare yourself for what you might witness when you peeked inside.

Nothing could have prepared you for the reality behind that door. There was no girl. Jay’s eyes were tightly shut as he lay back on the bed, alone. His jeans were undone, halfway down his legs. His left hand was firmly wrapped around his enormous cock as he pressed down on his balls with his other hand. “Holy mother of…” you speak inwardly.

Swallowing the saliva building in your mouth, you watched the movement of his hand as he stroked himself hard in a twisting motion. He’d gotten himself so aroused that you could hear the slick sound of the wetness as he pumped into his palm.

You knew that watching him was absolutely wrong. In fact, this was probably the lowest thing you’d ever done. But there was absolutely no way you could look away, if this were going to be the reason you went to hell, then so be it. You’d never witnessed something so intense, never imagined that he could be deriving so much pleasure alone.

Jay’s mouth was agape, the tip of his tongue slowly sliding back and forth across his bottom lip as if it were seeking out the taste of something or someone. Your own body was shaking, your clit throbbing. The ache to be with him, to join him was immense.

So enraptured in every move he made, you was no longer thinking about whether you watching him was right or wrong. He was fisting the sheets with one hand now while fcking his palm faster. With every movement, your muscles clenched tighter. You was wet, bewildered at your mind’s complete surrender to your body.

The low and deep groans of pleasure that came out of his mouth were making it that much worse. You knew wholeheartedly that this watching him pleasure himself was the single biggest turn on you had ever experienced.

Getting off was normally such work for you. You needed a vibrator and porn and even then, sometimes it was impossible to relax enough to really make yourself come. Right now, you had to cross your legs to control the need building between them as he licked over his bottom lip again your own tongue tingled as you imagined what his wet mouth would feel like against your own lips, he pumped into his hand imagined that it was you wrapped around his cock.

You had never wanted anyone as badly as you wanted him in that moment. His hair was matted and messy as the back of his head pressed against the headboard. The clank of his belt buckle became more pronounced as he thrust his hips, his fist working harder to keep up. The intensity of his self-pleasure left you in total awe. His breathing became even more ragged as his eyes rolled back.

You swallowed hard and watched, mesmerized as streams of cum shot out from his large crown like a fountain. The grunts of pleasure escaping him as he orgasmed were just about the sexiest sounds you’d ever heard come out of a man’s mouth. Your heart felt like it was pounding out of your chest.

Watching this whole thing unfold had making you totally lose sense of reality. You feel like you’d been experiencing every movement, every feeling right along with him, except you wasn’t allowed to come. It was as if you’d seriously lost your mind in the process.

That was the only thing that could possibly explain why your body decided to betray you, letting out an involuntary sigh, a moan. You wasn’t sure and couldn’t even tell you what it was except to say whatever sound you made caused Jay to jump back.

---------------

His head whipped toward you, and his shocked eyes meet yours for a brief second before you ran back down the stairs. You heart felt like it was in your mouth. Escaping out the front door and down to the water, you continued to run aimlessly on the sand. About a mile down the beach, it became necessary to stop and catch your breath, even though you wanted to keep running.

You’d gotten so wrapped up in Jay that you’d forgotten how sick you was this afternoon. It was all hitting you again as you stumbled over to the shoreline and vomited into the ocean.

You collapsed into the sand and must have sat there for over an hour. The sun was starting to go down, and the tide was coming in. It felt like everything was closing in on you. You knew you couldn’t avoid going home forever.

“What if he told Yunjin what I’d done? That I was watching him.”

What excuse could possibly give him that would explain why hiding behind his door, watching him ejaculate like it was a Fourth of July fireworks performance?

You decided that you needed to get home before Yunjin did. Maybe you could convince him not to say anything. Brushing the sand off your thighs, you made your way back over to the house. Your heart nearly stopped upon finding Jay standing in the kitchen, drinking out of a glass of lychee juice.

You stood silently behind him and watched as he put the container back. Jay turned around and finally noticed you standing there. His hair was wet. He must have taken a shower to wash away the awkwardness of your encounter.

Looking painfully handsome in a brown t-shirt that fit his chest like a glove, he just stared you down. You braced yourself for his humiliating words. Your heart was beating out of your chest as he just continued to look at you blankly without saying anything. He slowly walked toward you, and all of the muscles in your body tightened. He was going to get in your face and do it.

Jay stood inches away from you. He smelled so effing good, like soap and cologne. You can feel the heat of his body, and you knees started to feel weak. He stared deeply into your eyes. It wasn’t necessarily an angry glare, but it wasn’t a happy or amused look either. After several seconds of silence, he took a deep breath in and said, “You smell like vomit.”

Just as you opened your mouth to respond, he turned around and walked away back toward the stairs before disappearing. “Is that all? I smelled like vomit?”

Wondering he was going to let the whole thing go or was he just saving it for later when Yunjin came home.

Business at Yeonjun’s had really suffered since losing The Ruckus their headlining band. Suga had managed to fill the spot each night with mediocre local talent, but people were noticing the difference. The place would empty out much earlier than normal, and you weren’t getting as many customers in general.

You knew that Yunjin had spoken to Jay about taking on a few nights, but last you’d heard, he wasn’t interested. So, you could imagine your surprise when he turned up at Yeonjun’s one early Friday evening with his guitar strap wrapped around him.

At first, you didn’t realize it was him until he looked over at you. Butterflies swarmed in your stomach the moment you noticed him standing near the door, looking like he didn’t know where to go. Since it was unseasonably cool out, he was wearing a navy hoodie and a beanie. It always seemed to bring out his eyes.

Given how he’d treated you, your physical attraction to him never ceased to amaze you. Jay’s exterior, which was so different from what you remembered, helped distract from what you knew was inside. The truth was, as much as you wanted him physically, it still didn’t compare to the longing that remained for your old friend.

He never mentioned the jerk-off encounter to Yunjin, nor did he torture you about it. You didn’t know why he decided to give you a pass on that, but it was eternally grateful. Yunjin had gotten called out of town for an audition this morning. You’d assumed that he was going to go back with her.

You stopped wiping the table you’d been cleaning and walked over to him. “What are you doing here?”

He lifted his guitar from around his neck. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“I thought you went to NY with Yunjin.”

“She’s not going to be gone very long. And I already committed to this gig.” He’d said it almost scornfully.

“I thought you were against playing here. I overheard you telling her that you’d rather perform at a prison than a lowly beach hut.”

“Yeah. Well, I guess she showed your boss some footage of me, and he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“How long will you be playing here?”

“I don’t know. A few weeks. Until we leave.”

“You’re not staying the whole summer?”

“No. That was never the plan.”

Disappointment set in. You should have been happy that he was leaving soon, but hearing that news had the opposite effect on you. “Wow. Okay. Well, do you need me to show you around?”

“I’m good,” he said before walking away from you, heading toward the back of the restaurant. Jay disappeared for at least an hour. He was scheduled to perform at 8, so he had about 10 minutes to go before show time.

Your curiosity got the best of you as you went in search of him. The door to one of the back rooms was cracked open, and you could see him downing a bottle of beer and looking stressed. You wondered if he ever got nervous before a show.

Even he considered performing here a joke, he was still going to be putting himself out there.

His eyes darted to the side, and he noticed you standing there. Just stared at each other. It was ironic, but the only times you could ever feel the remnants of your old connection were in fleeting moments of silent eye contact. Sometimes moments of silence spoke the loudest.

You left him alone again, making your way back down the hall and into the restaurant to tend to the customers you’d been ignoring.

Without Yunjin working tonight, you were short-staffed, and you was having a hard time keeping up with the orders. Yeonjun’s had indoor and outdoor seating. Normally, you would only be working one section, but tonight you was going back and forth between the two.

It was nice out, so you knew they would have Jay performing outside. You kept glancing over to the stage to see if he was there. It's 8:05 pm, and he hadn’t made an appearance yet.

You was in the middle of serving a large party of ten when you first heard it the chilling sound of a soulful voice that was not familiar in the least. He gave no introduction, just started to sing out the first few words followed by the strum of his guitar. The song that Jay had chosen to start with was a cover of Drunk Text by Henry Moodie.

The entire room soon quieted down, and all eyes were on the stunning blond male specimen with the spotlight shining down on him. Despite the fact that you was carrying a large round tray of dirty dishes, you couldn’t move. Aside from the lone teardrop that fell the night he lost it on you during steak dinner, you hadn’t shed any more tears until now.

It was all too much. Hearing how different his voice sounded, how he’d trained it over the years, was a wake-up call as to how much you had missed. All of the hours of practice that must have gone into honing that beautiful voice, and you wasn’t there for any of it. The guilt, the emotions, the reality of a decade gone, everything started to pummel you at once.

He had to have true talent to perform solo acoustically. All eyes were on him and nothing else. There were no distractions to take away from a cracked voice or any other screw ups. Jay singing the song flawlessly. The vibration of his voice is like a deep massage to your entire being.

“I’m Jay. I’ll be here for the next few weeks. Thanks for coming out tonight.”

Applause and a few whistles rang out. Your focus on Jay had prevented you from tending to your customers. A few of them were waving you down, antsy for refills, so you took their orders and made your way over to the bar. He took a sip of beer then spoke through the mic again.

“This next song is an original I recently wrote myself. Hope you like it.” He strummed the guitar once and added, “It’s called, She Likes to Watch.”

Your body stilled upon hearing the title and it took a few seconds to register. “This song goes out to all the sneaky little voyeurs out there. You know who you are.”

The retaliation that you’d assumed he’d waived was in fact simply delayed and about to be dished out in all its glory. You refused to look over toward the stage. The bartender placed the drinks in front of you, and you forced your wobbly legs to move long enough to drop them off to their rightful owners before the song started.

When the song eventually ended, the crowd went wild. They apparently loved the idea behind it.

”Did he really just put things that just happened? Or just a coincidence?” When you finally garnered the courage to look over at him, he flashed a mischievous smile before moving right into the next song.

*****

At nine the next morning, you was still in bed when you heard the front door open. You could hear the muffled sounds of Yunjin and Jay’s voices as she joined him in couch. She must have left the city really early in the morning to come back here.

As much as you really liked Yunjin, something was unsettling about her return. There was always an underlying jealousy that you couldn’t help feeling.

Around noon, you threw on a terry cloth sundress before joining them in downstairs. The sun pouring into the kitchen was blinding. Jay smirked and lifted the carafe. “Coffee?”

You flashed an exaggerated smile. “You know what? Yes. I would love some.” Determined to continue your façade about loving Jay’s coffee, instead you becoming addicted to his coffee fusion.

He brushed it off. “It was fine. It’ll give me something to do to pass the time here.”

“What did you play?”

“I tried out a new song.”

You swallowed.

“The one you played for me the other night?” she asked.

“No. A different one.”

It dawned on you that Jay probably chose to perform She Likes To Watch last night in particular only because Yunjin wasn’t there. It still baffled you that he was keeping the whole incident to himself when he could have just told her and embarrassed the sh*t out of you. He smiled at you. “Want a refill?”

You smiled bigger. “Don’t mind if I do. This stuff is really growing on me. Quite a surprise.”

“Well, I know you love surprises.” You rolled your eyes at him. Thankfully, Yunjin had no way of knowing what he was referring to.

At night, Jay practically become a local star in Newport overnight. The crowd at Yeojun’s was nearly double what it had been before he became the nightly entertainment. The newest patrons were primarily young women who had heard about the hot new headlining guitarist. Yunjin and you were just headed out the door to work when her cell phone rang.

“Sh*t. Hold up. It’s my agent,” she said.

You waited in the doorway for her to take the call. After a few seconds, her hands started trembling.

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding!” Jumping up and down, she covered her mouth.

“Oh my God! Yes, of course, I can.” Finally, she just let out a yelp of excitement.

“Thank you for letting me know! So, what’s next? Okay. I’ll call you tonight,” she said before hanging up.

“What’s going on?”

Yunjin let out a scream of joy and pulled you into a hug, her boney frame pressing against your ample chest.

“I got the part of understudy for a pretty big role on Broadway! It was one of the two auditions I had last week. I had thought it was a longshot. My agent wasn’t even going to send me initially!” When she let out another loud squeal, Jay came downstairs.

“What the hell is going on down here?” She ran toward him and threw herself into his arms.

“I got understudy!”

“Are you kidding? That’s awesome!”

Feeling awkward and like a third wheel, you cleared my throat and said, “Congratulations, Yunjin. I’m so happy for you.”

“When does this all go down?”

“They want me in NY in a couple of days.”

He looked frazzled. “Oh, Alright. I wish I hadn’t committed to that gig at Yeonjun’s. I would have just gone back with you.”

“It’s okay. It’s only a couple more weeks that you promised him, right? It’ll go by fast.”

“Yeah.”

Yunjin smiled. “Be nice to Y/n.”

taglist: @rikizm @sumzysworld @xyzcxx @morganaawriterr @maccaab @jungwoniee

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[bluejayblueskies]

Do you have any advice/suggestions for getting into bookbinding? What is the process like if you don't mind sharing?

Hello! Very happy to share bookbinding advice/resources 💜 it's a wonderful and delightfully rewarding hobby, and while it can be complicated and easy to get stuck in the weeds with it, you can also get started with some really simple binds with materials you may already have around your living space.

Info below the cut:

First off, there are a lot of instructional videos and guides out there for bookbinding. My favorite YouTube channel for those just starting out bookbinding is Sea Lemon, who has a ton of instructional videos for various styles of bookbinding. Her method of explaining things is clear and concise, and she tends to work with simpler tools and materials that don't cost much and that you may already have on hand. She is not a professional bookbinder with professional tools (afaik) but in my opinion, that's perfect for a beginner because it's not as overwhelming and has a much lower barrier to entry. Perusing her channel and watching a bunch of videos was where I started before even picking up tools to start my first bind.

Another guide I highly recommend is How to Make A Book, by ArmoredSuperHeavy. This is a wonderful step-by-step guide for taking a fic from AO3 and turning it into a book. The most helpful part of this guide, for me, was the typesetting instructions. Typesetting is the act of taking a piece of text (eg. a fic on AO3) and formatting it in the correct way for printing and binding into a book. Note that this guide is specifically for MS Word, though you can also typeset in Google Docs, Libre Office, Affinity Publisher, InDesign, and other programs (even LaTex!).

(Pro tip: save yourself the headache of trying to use Word's bookfold option and just set your document page size to the page size of your finished book (if you're printing on letter paper, this is 5.5" x 8.5") and then use this software to put your pages in the correct order: https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/)

A final resource that I recommend, but that can also get a bit overwhelming, is the Renegade Guild Bookbinding Discord. It's a space specifically for people doing fanbinding, and there are a ton of resources within it, including typesetting guides for various softwares, guides for where to get the tools you need and which tools are best, and people who can answer any questions you may have along the way. It's gotten quite big since I joined, and it can be overwhelming since there's so much information available and so many people who have been binding for a while and thus often offer up solutions or advice that's hard for beginners to understand, but it has never failed me when I've had a tricky question that I needed answered that I couldn't find information on anywhere else.

All that said, here's some more advice from me when just starting out!

Start with a simple bind. A single-section pamphlet bind is easy, cheap, and quick. Here's a Sea Lemon video for how to put together a pamphlet bind.

If typesetting seems intimidating, you can bind blank notebooks. This is also a good way to practice new binding styles if you don't want to go through the hassle of typesetting, imposing, and printing for something you worry you might mess up.

A good word count range for fics when you're learning how to bind case-bound books (ie, the typical hardcover books you see in stores) is 25-50k. Shorter than that, and your books will be thin and a bit fiddly to work with. Longer than that is probably fine, but it will be a quicker process for a thinner book, which is nice when you're just starting out. (And then you don't have to worry about rounding and/or backing, which can be complicated.)

There are very, very few tools that you absolutely need to make a book. There are quite a few tools that will make your life easier, or that will make your book look nicer, or that will make your book last longer, but when you're just starting out (especially if you're trying to minimize cost or deal with space constraints), you can forgo a lot of "required" tools. I'll include a list below of the general bookbinding tools you'll want and some substitutions for them.

You might hear talk about the grain direction of paper or bookboard. When you're just getting started, don't worry about this. Once you get more comfortable with the bookbinding process, then you can start ensuring that your bookboard has the correct grain direction (parallel to the spine) to reduce the warping of your covers. The grain direction of your textblock paper matters the least, and I didn't start using "proper" textblock paper (ie short grain) until about 2.5 years after I started binding.

Bind something you like! Pick one of your favorite fics and bind it, even if it's your first bind and you're worried about it turning out ugly. The excited feeling of having bound your first book will be that much more exhilarating when you're able to put a story that you love on your shelf for the first time.

So you're ready to bind a hardcover book! Here are the tools you will want/need:

An awl, for punching holes in your signatures (groups of paper). You can use a thumbtack for this, or even a strong needle if you have something to cushion the end of it that you'll be holding, like an eraser. Awls are typically pretty cheap, though. You'll want a thinner one so you don't make huge holes in your paper. I have this one and it's worked just fine for me.

A bone folder, for creasing the pages. Historically, these are made out of actual bone, and the reason for using one is to get sharp creases in your paper without tearing or damaging it. You can also use basically anything else in your house that can accomplish this task. When I'm feeling lazy and just need to crease one piece of paper, I use my thumbnail. Bone folders are also cheap, though--I have this one. (As a tangent--when you're making your signatures for your book, you're going to be folding and slotting together usually between 4-6 sheets of paper. Fold the paper normally without creasing with the bone folder, slot them together, and then use the bone folder to sharply crease them all together. Trust me on this--the pages will fit together much better if you crease after putting the signature together.)

PVA glue, for all aspects of gluing involved when making the book. You can, I've heard, use Elmer’s glue for this in a pinch, but I've never tried it. PVA will dry flexible, which is what you need for your book, especially when gluing the spine. For things like attaching decorative paper to your covers, this is less important. If you're making a book that doesn't require gluing the spine (like a pamphlet or coptic stitch book), you may not need PVA. There are also lots of other glue mixtures you can use when bookbinding (paste is a popular one) but I've been a straight PVA guy for over three years now and I can't offer any advice when it comes to other types of adhesives. One note about PVA is it dries quick, so once you've stuck something to it, that's that. Prepare yourself for some crooked books until you get the hang of it.

Gluebrush/paintbrush, for applying glue. I recommend something with bristles; the foam brushes technically work but will absorb most of the glue and will probably cause you a headache. Silicone brushes are wonderful, as you can just wait for the PVA to dry and then peel it off, but a regular glue brush will also work; just be sure to put it in water immediately once you're done with it, otherwise the PVA will dry on it and ruin your brush.

Ruler + pencil, for measuring. Any kind of ruler will do, but if you have access to a quilting square or something similar, this will help you get nice and even right angles.

Needle and thread, for sewing the signatures together. You can use regular sewing needles and sewing thread (doubled up for more strength) if you don't want to buy anything specific for this. An easy step up from this that I recommend is buying a block of beeswax (I got mine for like $4 from a farmer's market) and waxing your thread (running the thread along the block a few times). This will keep your thread from tangling and make it easier to work with. You can also use embroidery thread, especially if you're doing a pamphlet or coptic stitch bind and want some color. I recently upgraded to linen thread (thread weight 35/3), which is the standard for archival-quality books, but you absolutely can use cotton thread and it will be fine.

Paper, for the textblock. You can use your standard white copy paper for this and all will be well. Or, if you want to get a bit fancier, you can use cream-colored paper; 8.5 x 11 hammermill 20lb cream colored paper is easy to find and relatively cheap and will make your books look better, as plain white paper can look almost blue in a book. (That said, I also have some actual published books that use white paper, and I've never noticed anything off about them.) If you decide you want to get really into the proper grain direction, I get my short-grain cream-colored paper from Church Paper. They have both 20lb (typical copy paper weight) and 24lb (slightly heavier) weight. I have both and I actually really like the 24lb; it has a luxurious feel to it, with less bleed from my inkjet printer. If you feel like springing for nice paper, check out their site!

Book press, for pressing your book while it dries and pressing your folded pages before sewing. There are a lot of different kinds of book presses out there, many of which are very very expensive. You can usually make do with some heavy books to weigh down your book while it dries, or thin boards and C-clamps if you have those on hand. If you have access to basic power tools, it's also super easy to make your own press with carriage bolts and cutting boards (this is what I did). There's a lot of videos out there with instructions; here's one from Sea Lemon.

Printer and ink, or a printing service/print shop like Staples. Print shops can get expensive in the long run, and it's nice to have your own printer so you can do test prints of your typesets. If you're going out and buying a printer, I highly recommend either a black and white laser printer (if you're not planning on printing in color; Brother is a good brand) or a tank inkjet printer (like the Epson Ecotank). Do NOT get a new HP if you can help it; their ink subscriptions are brutal. I'm upgrading to a black and white laser this year, but I've been using a very old, cheap HP inkjet that I got off Facebook marketplace for the past few years and it's been reliable (if a bit restrictive). If you do have an inkjet currently that takes cartridges, I highly recommend looking up how to refill your own cartridges. Buying one set of genuine HP cartridges and then refilling them with generic brand ink until they die has saved me probably hundreds of dollars by this point.

Book board, for the covers. Otherwise known as chipboard, which is easy to find on Amazon or at craft stores. This is NOT the same as corrugated cardboard; that will not work. You can cannibalize old three-ring folders, which have chipboard inside them, or even old hardcover books/textbooks. Don't bother with genuine bookbinding chipboard; imo, it's overpriced and unnecessary. You can find chipboard on Amazon for relatively cheap; I recommend the 12x12, as you can get a front and back cover out of one sheet with the correct grain direction. You can use chipboard for your book spine, if you're making a flatback, or you can use a thinner material that you can bend if you're making a rounded book (or for flatbacks as well). For this, thin cardboard (eg. old cereal boxes) or thicker cardstock will work just fine; you don't have to go out and buy genuine bristol board, and I've never bothered with it.

Exacto knife, for cutting things. You could also use a boxcutter, but a craft knife will be easier to handle. You will probably need to frequently change the blade, as cutting chipboard will dull it quickly, so get one that comes with a bunch of replacement blades.

Bookcloth and/or decorative paper, for covering your book board. Bookcloth is basically fabric with a paper backing on it. You can make your own using heat and bond, tissue paper (I use white tissue paper), and fabric; iron the fabric so it doesn't have any wrinkles in it, then iron the heat and bond onto the fabric, then iron the tissue paper onto the heat and bond. There are other methods out there that you may find easier/better, but this is the one I use. The purpose of the paper backing is to prevent glue from striking through the fabric; if you use a thicker fabric or paper, this is not necessary. For your first books, you may find it easiest to just use paper, or to go out and buy some premade bookcloth.

That's a lot of information, but I hope it was helpful! I'm more than happy to answer any more questions you (or anybody else) might have, and happy binding!

[kinhsworld]

Two queen eternal Souls And the princess Daughter (vuzi royal au)

Chapter 1

Decades or many years or 400 years later, since the two immortal souls also known as the newest two guardian deities in a city for their different drones and the two women who have the new immortal leadership also known as the queen in their city for their different drones with the lesbian wife couple whose real name in the doorman family is uzi and the serial designation v doorman whose appearance includes: a short woman with hair also with purple eyes or she has her favorite old royal coat of theirs or she has her favorite old woolen hat with a golden crown of hers. A tall woman with white hair of her own kind of drones disassembled or she has an old coat with a red scarf of her own ancient color and a large spacious cloak hiding her body with a yellow color on top of her white feathers with her right leg not healed and has to use a yellow metal cane with many patterns of her own or she extremely has a bracelet like a golden crown of her own or vuzi extremely has a new born daughter coming into this world has an immortal life of their royal family doorman or v often walks like a limp of her own especially two young lesbian couples also called their royal doctor or v often carries her own daughter in her arms starting to get confused maternal love has overwhelmed and she chose a kinder solution and she often works a professional psychiatrist of her own herself with her extremely free time likes knitting and crocheting along with talking to her biological daughter or uzi doorman busy with software work in their drone society and she often necklace of her mother who passed away in her own family with her often hug her biological daughter feeling lonely.

Good morning (first Sunday of this week), at a mansion house palace family doorman and throne room

A tall woman is holding her newborn biological daughter in her arms and an old butler beside the immortal soul queen also known as the guardian deity

The two women standing already kneeled down to greet

Butler:(sigh and serious) two people don't know how to greet in front of our immortal soul queen also known as the guardian deity right?

???:(sweating and smiling slightly gently) we know the story about our history!

Butler: (seriously) best, please let me introduce a tall woman with immortal power to rule over a city of our social security real name is serial designation v doorman and a biological daughter into the arms of her mother real name is anne doorman!

V: (seriously) why don't you two introduce me to the story about you two graduating from the university of medical science to become a royal professional doctor in my family?

Hazel: (sweating) my name is hazel brinkman!

Hazel pointed to his wife then

Hazel: (sweating) my wife's name is naomi brinkman, we finally decided to apply for the job of the first royal professional doctor okay?

V: (seriously) wait a moment, have I heard of the brinkman family?

Hezel: (sweating) you know our family's ancestors right?

V:(seriously) I know about your family's ancestors who did everything in our family from a few years ago to this modern day!

Naomi:(sweating) we understand about our family's ancestral history, who is the butler next to you?

V looked back at the butler next to him and looked back at the two people in the brinkman family

V:(seriously) our family's butler is him not your family!

Butler:(seriously)...!!!

V:(sighs and smiles gently seriously) you two have to prepare my wife and my wife is busy with our different drones' political and social government policy work!

Hazel:(sweating and smiling gently slightly) where is your wife?

V:(seriously smiles gently seriously) let me remember where my wife is in which room?

V started to sit on their golden throne sofa and placed his royal staff beside him and placed his other hand on his biological daughter's chest

V:(seriously smiling gently) my wife is in the office right now!

V looked back at the butler

V:(seriously smiling gently) hey butler in my family!

The butler looked back at the master serial designation v doorman

Butler:(sweating and slightly serious) can you hear me?

V:(seriously smiling gently) you brought our family's two royal professional doctors to meet the shortest woman also known as my beautiful wife?

Butler:(sighing in relief and doubting quiet) I understand.

A second later, the throne room without a single guest became a quiet living room with a mother and daughter talking about their mother-daughter relationship

V's tail wagged happily

V:(smiling happily) no one is bothering us!

V looked back at a newborn daughter who looked like a baby drone

V:(smiling happily) anne, my little princess!

Anne started to giggle

V:(smiling happily) hehe...!

At uzi doorman's office

Uzi was sitting in a chair next to the desk and uzi reclined his chair, he started to feel lonely

The butler stood next to the immortal soul solver also known as the queen uzi doorman

Butler:(sweating and smiling slightly) sir uzi doorman, do you need anything to make you feel happy?

Uzi:(sighs in relief) I'm fine!

Knocking on the door

Uzi:(seriously angry) who's in front of my office?

The familiar voice of the butler of serial designation v

Butler:(confused and sweating and smiling slightly) well sir uzi doorman, there are two guests who want to see you, right?

Uzi:(seriously angry) bite me, they can see me!

The door opens and two lesbian couple women appear and close the door

The two lesbian couple women bow their heads to greet each other and say in unison

The two lesbian couple women:(sweating and smiling slightly) we greet you and wish you always be healthy and never die at any time!

Butler: (seriously) best __

Uzi: (seriously angry) I know the names of you two living together in the brinkman family, you two lesbian couple who have been married for more than a year, your real names are hazel and naomi brinkman right?

Hazel: (sweating and smiling slightly) how do you know our real names and family right?

Uzi: (seriously angry) my wife just heard a meeting!

Naomi: (sweating and smiling slightly) we understand!

Tonight, in the bedroom of the lesbian couple

V is sitting on their sofa and v is knitting his yarn

Uzi doorman is sitting on his bed and is holding his newborn daughter in his mother's arms feeling comfortable lulling her to sleep early

Finally anne doorman is sleeping lying in his mother's arms

Uzi: (smiling softly happily and whispering) oh my god robot, anne doorman is really beautiful cute and obedient girl much feel comfortable all the loneliness of mother!

Uzi gets up from his bed and puts his newborn daughter on the crib the small bed gently lets go of his hand very gently takes the crib sheet and puts it on the newborn baby

V starts to whisper a familiar voice in his bedroom

V: (smiling softly happily) hey uzi, is our daughter asleep yet?

Uzi:(smiling softly happily) oh my dear wife, our daughter is sleeping soundly in our little royal bed cradle!

Uzi walked to where his wife was sitting and uzi sat on the sofa leaning his body on his wife's lap

Uzi:(blushing and smiling softly charmingly innocently happy) i'm really scared about our daughter's genetic solver and our immortality, we are the two mothers of our daughter to train right?

V:(blushing and smiling softly charmingly happy) hey immortal soul or guardian deity or queen uzi doorman in our city, we are the two mothers of our newborn daughter professional college in the huge royal family never contain the strongest health have an immortal life find the best care or education or private training for our newborn daughter only!

Uzi:(blushing and smiling softly charmingly innocently happy) what about our daughter having a hard time making new friends?

V put his knitting project aside and put his hand on his wife's waist

V:(blushing and smiling softly charmingly happy) oh our little uzi doorman, I said hey and our daughter makes new friends easily!

Uzi:(and smiling softly charmingly innocently happy) v said it right, so I'm really in love with you!

V:(blushing and smiling softly charmingly happy) I'm in love with you too!

@devastator1775

[xinyuehui]

Hello there! do you still have an older version of evolwallpaper? I was late to the party and I can't install it properly anymore T_T

Hi anon, unfortunately I no longer have the old .exe 😩 I checked weibo, other users in China are having problems with it as well, my conclusion to this is that it's a broken app full of bugs, probably got nothing to do with regions (ノへ￣、)

Babe because of your ask, I spent good 5 hours tonight trying to debug it, because I insist we all get the dynamic wallpapers!!!

Original guide // Deepspace PC guide

By the end of this tutorial, we should have a video like this applied to our computer wallpaper:

There's Nikki, MLQC, Deepspace and The Perceiver wallpapers.

New guide:

https://paperwall.papegames.com/

Same step as before, download this but don't install yet!

The following was actually hidden in their Q&A, you'll also need this for it to run, download the runtime version.

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48

After you install the .NET Framework 4.8 go ahead and try to install the PAPERWALL .exe

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you get this error message, ugh congratulations, this is where I tried about 67 solutions for hours just so you don't have to

It's weird, because at this point, the thing have successfully installed on your local drive but it won't run.

Let's go back a step, if you open the .exe again, take note of where it's at on your computer. For me you can see that it's in the C drive, I presume it'll be the same for you.

Find the folder, open it

Open the app

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you get the same error message, read on:

If the images haven't loaded in the 1.0.1 version it will most likely going to crash when you try to do anything on it, so read on:

Let go back to the C drive

We are gonna move this somewhere else, if you have a hard drive, paste it to your hard drive, if you have another drive on your pc, you can move it to the other drive. BUT DO NOT MOVE IT TO YOUR DESKTOP!!!! Because we practice good computer hygiene 🙏

Once you've moved everything away, open it back up and try to install it again in your new file location

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you still get the same error message, I will send my portfolio to Paper Games to be a software developer in their office and write a new app

Once you get it running *fingers crossed* move the entire folder back to your C drive if you moved it to your hard drive, unless your hard drive is plugged in all the time.

If for whatever reason you get the "access to the path is denied" error message, try the right click and select the "Run as administrator" option.

For easy access:

Go onto your desktop, or wherever you want to access it from quickly and paste shortcut!! Remember it's the shortcut!!

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

How to use the app

The UI has changed a little since the original one, but it's easy to navigate.

Change the language to English, it should reboot the app

From here it's self explanatory

For good computer hygiene you might want to double check where the wallpapers are stored and change directory if needed.

If you're like me and have 2 monitors, this is what it'll look like with the wallpapers applied and the game opened, looks like I need a 3rd monitor for Shen Xinghui ⭐

(Desktop icons should show up, I just don't have icons on the desktop)

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

If you still have problems, check your PC specifications against the following that were recommended on the official site:

System: Windows10 or above

RAM: 1024MB or above

Processor: 1.66Hz Intel i5 or above

Graphics: HD Graphics 4000 or above

DirectX: 10

Secret third thing: you might be able to run it and have the lovely wallpapers but it suddenly goes glitchy or black screen... that's because of the faulty app, I've seen people mention it on weibo, it's not just you 😔

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

Feel free to drop me an ask with images if you still run into problems, hope this helps, until next time~ (✿◠‿◠)

Check out this tag for already answered questions #/wallpaper woes

[meret118]

In 2008, a software developer in San Francisco named Curtis Yarvin, writing under a pseudonym, proposed a horrific solution for people he deemed “not productive”: “convert them into biodiesel, which can help power the Muni buses.”

Yarvin, a self-described reactionary and extremist who was 35 years old at the time, clarified that he was “just kidding.” But then he continued, “The trouble with the biodiesel solution is that no one would want to live in a city whose public transportation was fueled, even just partly, by the distilled remains of its late underclass. However, it helps us describe the problem we are trying to solve. Our goal, in short, is a humane alternative to genocide.”

He then concluded that the “best humane alternative to genocide” is to “virtualize” these people: Imprison them in “permanent solitary confinement” where, to avoid making them insane, they would be connected to an “immersive virtual-reality interface” so they could “experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.”

Yarvin’s disturbing manifestos have earned him influential followers, chief among them: tech billionaire Peter Thiel and his onetime Silicon Valley protégé Senator J.D. Vance, whom the Republican Party just nominated to be Donald Trump’s vice president. If Trump wins the election, there is little doubt that Vance will bring Yarvin’s twisted techno-authoritarianism to the White House, and one can imagine—with horror—what a receptive would-be autocrat like Trump might do with those ideas.

Way back in 2012, in a speech on “How to Reboot the US Government,” he said, “If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia.” He had also written favorably of slavery and white nationalists in the late 2000s (though he has stated that he is not a white nationalist himself).

Both Thiel and Vance are friends of Yarvin.

. . .

In 2016, Yarvin attended Thiel’s election night party in San Francisco where, according to Chafkin, champagne flowed once it became clear that Thiel’s investment in Donald Trump would pay off.

Since entering politics, Vance has publicly praised—and parroted—Yarvin’s ideas. 

. . .

When Vance ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, Thiel spent an unprecedented $15 million on the campaign and persuaded Trump to endorse him (Vance had previously compared Trump to Hitler). In 2024, Thiel led the charge to convince Trump to pick Vance as V.P.

. . .

Yarvin is the chief thinker behind an obscure but increasingly influential far-right neoreaction, or NRx, movement, that some call the “Dark Enlightenment.” Among other things, it openly promotes dictatorships as superior to democracies and views nations like the United States as outdated software systems. Yarvin seeks to reengineer governments by breaking them up into smaller entities called “patchworks,” which would be controlled by tech corporations.

More at the link.

------

Are you fucking kidding me?!! Why isn't this leading every news report? Is this well known, and I somehow just missed knowing about this yarvin sociopath? This needs to be exposed like project 2050 is!

It's like republicans are deliberately trying to see if they can find someone worse to put in the oval office each time - nixon, reagan, dumbya, trump, and eventually vance.

[marta-bee]

News of the Day 6/11/25: AI

Paywall free.

More seriously, from the NY Times:

"For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here" (Paywall Free)

You can see hints of this in the economic data. Unemployment for recent college graduates has jumped to an unusually high 5.8 percent in recent months, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently warned that the employment situation for these workers had “deteriorated noticeably.” Oxford Economics, a research firm that studies labor markets, found that unemployment for recent graduates was heavily concentrated in technical fields like finance and computer science, where A.I. has made faster gains. [...] Using A.I. to automate white-collar jobs has been a dream among executives for years. (I heard them fantasizing about it in Davos back in 2019.) But until recently, the technology simply wasn’t good enough. You could use A.I. to automate some routine back-office tasks — and many companies did — but when it came to the more complex and technical parts of many jobs, A.I. couldn’t hold a candle to humans. That is starting to change, especially in fields, such as software engineering, where there are clear markers of success and failure. (Such as: Does the code work or not?) In these fields, A.I. systems can be trained using a trial-and-error process known as reinforcement learning to perform complex sequences of actions on their own. Eventually, they can become competent at carrying out tasks that would take human workers hours or days to complete.

I've been hearing my whole life how automation was coming for all our jobs. First it was giant robots replacing big burly men on factory assembly lines. Now it seems to be increasingly sophisticated bits of code coming after paper-movers like me. I'm not sure we're there yet, quite, but the NYT piece does make a compelling argument that we're getting close.

The real question is, why is this a bad thing? And the obvious answer is people need to support themselves, and every job cut is one less person who can do that. But what I really mean is, if we can get the outputs we need to live well with one less person having to put in a day's work to get there, what does it say about us that we haven't worked out a way to make that a good thing?

Put another way, how come we haven't worked out a better way to share resources and get everyone what they need to thrive when we honestly don't need as much labor-hours for them to "earn" it as we once did?

I don't have the solution, but if some enterprising progressive politician wants to get on that, they could do worse. I keep hearing how Democrats need bold new ideas directed to helping the working class.

More on the Coming AI-Job-Pocalypse

I’m a LinkedIn Executive. I See the Bottom Rung of the Career Ladder Breaking. (X)

Paul Krugman: “What Deindustrialization Can Teach Us About The Effects of AI on Workers” (X)

How AI agents are transforming work—and why human talent still matters (X)

AI agents will do programmers' grunt work (X)

At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work (X)

Why Esther Perel is going all in on saving the American workforce in the age of AI

Junior analysts, beware: Your coveted and cushy entry-level Wall Street jobs may soon be eliminated by AI (X)

The biggest barrier to AI adoption in the business world isn’t tech – it’s user confidence  (X)

Experts predicted that artificial intelligence would steal radiology jobs. But at the Mayo Clinic, the technology has been more friend than foe. (X)

AI Will Devastate the Future of Work. But Only If We Let It (X)

AI in the workplace is nearly 3 times more likely to take a woman’s job as a man’s, UN report finds (X)

Klarna CEO predicts AI-driven job displacement will cause a recession (X)

& on AI Generally

19th-century Catholic teachings, 21st-century tech: How concerns about AI guided Pope Leo’s choice of name (X)

Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? (X)

Two Paths for A.I. (X)

The Danger of Outsourcing Our Brains: Counting on AI to learn for us makes humans boring, awkward, and gullible. (X)

AI Is a Weapon Pointed at America. Our Best Defense Is Education. (X)

The Trump administration has asked artificial intelligence publishers to rebalance what it considers to be 'ideological bias' around actions like protecting minorities and banning hateful content. (X)

What is Google even for anymore? (X)

AI can spontaneously develop human-like communication, study finds

AI Didn’t Invent Desire, But It’s Rewiring Human Sex And Intimacy (X)

Mark Zuckerberg Wants AI to Solve America’s Loneliness Crisis. It Won’t. (X)

The growing environmental impact of AI data centers’ energy demands

Tesla Is Launching Robotaxis in Austin. Safety Advocates Are Concerned (X)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act would ban states from regulating AI (X)

& on the Job-Pocalypse & Other Labor-Related Shenanigans Generally, Too

What Unions Face With Trump EOs (X)

AI may be exposing jobseekers to discrimination. Here’s how we could better protect them (X)

Jamie Dimon says he’s not against remote workers—but they ‘will not tell JPMorgan what to do’  (X)

Direct-selling schemes are considered fringe businesses, but their values have bled into the national economy. (X)

Are you "functionally unemployed"? Here's what the unemployment rate doesn't show. (X)

Being monitored at work? A new report calls for tougher workplace surveillance controls  (X)

Josh Hawley and the Republican Effort to Love Labor (X)

Karl Marx’s American Boom (X)

Hiring slows in U.S. amid uncertainty over Trump’s trade wars

Vanishing immigration is the ‘real story’ for the economy and a bigger supply shock than tariffs, analyst says (X)

[mariacallous]

For the past eight months, Europeans uncomfortable with the way Meta tracks their data for personalized advertising have had another option: They can pay the tech giant up to €12.99 ($14) per month for their privacy instead.

Launched in November 2023, Meta introduced its “pay or consent” subscription model as fines, legal cases, and regulatory attention pressured the company to change the way it asks users to consent to targeted advertising. On Monday, however, the European Commision rejected its latest solution, arguing its “pay or consent” subscription is illegal under the bloc’s new digital markets act (DMA).

“Our preliminary view is that Meta’s ‘Pay or Consent’ business model is in breach of the DMA,” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the EU’s Internal Market, said in a statement. “The DMA is there to give back to the users the power to decide how their data is used and ensure innovative companies can compete on equal footing with tech giants on data access.”

Meta denied its subscription model broke the rules. “Subscription for no ads follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA,” Meta spokesperson Matt Pollard told WIRED, referring to a Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision in July that said that Meta needed to offer users an alternative to ads, if necessary for an appropriate fee. “We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close.”

In a press briefing on Monday morning, Commission officials said their concern was not that the company was charging for an ad-free service. “This is perfectly fine for us, as long as we have the middle option,” they said, explaining there should be a third option that may still contain ads but are just less targeted. There are different, less-specific ways of providing advertising to users, they added, such as contextual advertising. “The consumer needs to be in a position to choose an alternative version of the service which relies on non personalization of the ads.”

Under the DMA, very large tech platforms must ask users for consent if they want to share their personal data with other parts of their businesses. In Meta’s case, the Commission said it is particularly concerned about the competitive advantage Meta receives over its rivals by being able to combine the data from platforms like Instagram and its advertising business.

Meta has a chance to respond to the charges issued on Monday. However if the company cannot reach an agreement with regulators before March 2025, Brussels has the power to levy fines of up to 10 percent of the company’s global turnover.

In the past week, the EU has issued a series of reprimands to US tech giants. The Commission warned Apple that its App Store is in breach of EU rules for preventing app developers offering promotions directly to their users. Brussels also accused Microsoft of abusing its dominance in the office-software market, following a complaint from rival Slack.

[intiviontechnologies]

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